Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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Shikamaru yawned, gazing up at the clouds, listening to Chouji munch on his chips and Ino fuss over her clothes and hair. Asuma-sensei was late for some reason. This wasn't like him. Usually, he was here before any of them

"Oh, where is Asuma-sensei!?" demanded Ino, pulling her ponytail tighter. "The heat's making my hair frizz up; I wanna go some place cool!" Shikamaru sighed.

Hair, clothes, physical appearence... he thought. It's all such a drag... I really don't know why she gets all worked up over something as simple as a strand of hair outta place...

"Hey, Team. Sorry I'm late," said Asuma's voice. Shikamaru made an annoyed face and sat up, glancing around the forest clearing until he spotted his teacher.

But he wasn't alone.

Following Asuma was a girl who looked about thirteen. She was a head shorter than most thirteen year olds, and looked kind of skinny. She had dark eyes, black hair, a slightly ski jump nose, and full lips. She wore a red tank top, a black skirt tied loosely over black cotton leggings. Bandages were wrapped around her shins, and, like any ninja, her red bandana was tied around her head, hidden slightly by her bangs.

"Hey, who're you?" Ino asked, glancing at the girl. She didn't answer. Instead, Asuma spoke.

"This is Shizuka Kobayashi from the Kobayashi clan," he explained. "She's new to the Konaha, and hasn't been put in a team yet, so the Hokage put her in our team until further notice. Sure, it may be bending the rules a little, but oh well."

"Oh, and which village are you from?" Ino inquired, studying Shizuka.

"She's from the Getsugakure, the Moon Village," Asuma said. "The clan moved because..." he turned to Shizuka. "Why did your clan move again?" Shizuka didn't say anything, only took up a fighting stance.

"Oh, that's right," Asuma nodded. "The Kobayashi clan moved because the Getsugakure is at war with the Tonobogakure, the Dragonfly village." Shizuka tapped Asuma on the shoulder, took up a fighting stance, pointed to herself and shook her head.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Asuma added, "the Kobayashi's weren't called to battle, so, for their own safety, they came here."

"What's wrong?" Ino asked Shizuka. "Cat got your tongue?" Shizuka shook her head and put her hands over her mouth.

"Oh, you don't feel like talking?" guessed Chouji, shoving more chips in his mouth. Shizuka shook her head again, pointed to herself, and pointed to her mouth.

"You're... too shy to talk?" Ino assumed. Asuma rolled his eyes and stopped the charades game.

"No, no," he said. "Shizuka can't talk, she was born like that."

"Ohhh, I see," Ino nodded. "So you're mute?" Shizuka nodded.

"Let me introduce my students," Asuma offered to the new girl. "This is Ino Yamanaka-" Ino gave a casual wave and a wink. "-the boy with the light brown hair is Choji Akimichi, from the Akimichi clan-" Choji mumbled a 'hi' as he stuffed more chips in his mouth. "-and the last boy is Shikamaru Nara, from the Nara clan." Shikamaru lazily raised his hand in greeting, looking disinterested. Shizuka waved to her new temporary team mates, smiling warmly.

"Okay, everybody who is currently on their rear ends, UP!" Asuma ordered. Shikamaru slowly got up, Chouji following, putting his empty chip bag in his pocket. Shizuka surveyed her team mates.

Well, Ino seems very inquistive, Chouji evidently like to eat, and Shikamaru looks kinda tired... What an interesting team... Shizuka joined Team 10 as they assembled in a single line infront of Asuma.

"We won't be going on any missions today," he said to the four teens before him. "You'll spar here instead. You'll pair up in two for one on one combat to start." The teacher turned to Shizuka. "Part of this is for me to get a general idea about your abilities, strong points, and weak points. Understood?" The team nodded. "Good. Pair up." Shikamaru and Choji paired up right away, leaving Shizuka with Ino.

"Now, don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're the newbie around here," Ino warned. Shizuka put on her game face and nodded. And the battle commenced.

The two girls started their fight using basic tai-jutsu. Ino learnt Shizuka knew quite a bit of tai-jutsu. She was quick to react and her hits were very precise. By the time the girls decided to switch techniques, Ino had a bloody lip, and Shizuka had a cut cheek.

The new girl made a few quick hand signs, mouthing the words, "Rat! Monkey! Dragon! Ram!" Afterwards, she mouthed a few words that Ino couldn't read. Suddenly, the blonde kunoichi barely dodge a huge mound of earth that rose up near her. Shizuka kept her hands glued in a ram seal, her black eyes following Ino as she moved.

Ino had to constantly move, for everytime she kept her feet in one place, another mound of earth would try and throw her off. Fianlly, she just leaped into the air, trying to escape her opponent's jutsu. She looked down at Shizuka who just stared straight back.

She has to always track my movements to direct her attacks, she noted. She continued to observe her adversary. Wait! That's it! Ino smiled and landed, avoiding another earth mound that rose up to meet her. She swerved out of the way of the other mounds as she ran at Shizuka. She bore her blue eyes into Shizuka's black ones as she made the ram seal with her hand and aimed her jutsu at her opposer...

Shizuka stared back into Ino's eyes without blinking, unafraid of the girl running at her, stalling her with her Earth Eminence Jutsu.

C'mon! she thought, grinning. Surely you would know some jutsu too? Suddenly, as Ino made what looked like a lopsided 'O' with her hands, Shizuka felt something hit her in the chest. Not hard, but it did feel like a gust of wind had hit her...

Well, well, so this is what being Shizuka feels like? Ino thought, looking around through Shizuka's eyes. Hey, she's mute, I wonder what'll happen if I speak... Ino glanced at Shikamaru and Chouji fighting. Shikamaru had Chouji paralyzed by his Shadow Possession Jutsu. Ino drew in a breath and held, "Choji! You're lousy at dodging attacks!" But no sounds came out of Shizuka's mouth.

Hm... No voice at all... That'd drive me crazy! Ino looked down at Shizuka's hands that were still glued together in a ram seal.

Well, the fun's over, Dirt Princess, she thought, pulling Shizuka's hands apart. After that, Ino ended her Mind Transfer Jutsu, and went back into her own body...

Shizuka stumbled a little, as if pushed, but no one was behind her. She furrowed her brow. She felt like she had woken up from a short nap, but she knew she had been here the whole time, fighting Ino.

What happened? she wondered.

"Alright, that's enough," Asuma's voice sounded on the edge of the claering. The two pairs stopped fighting, and approached their sensei. Asuma addressed Shikamaru first.

"First things first, Shikamaru you looked asleep on yout feet over there," he said. "This may just be a practise, but it's still a fight, so treat it like one." Shikamaru gave an exasperated sigh.

"Practise fights tire me... And I didn't get as much sleep as I usually do last night..." was his excuse. Asuma ignored him an turned to Ino and Shizuka.

"Ino, good job at dodging Shizuka's attacks," he said. Ino smiled, proudly as Asuma turned his gaze over to the new girl.

"Shizuka, what technique was that?" he asked. Shizuka tapped the ground.

"Ground?" Shizuka shook her head.

"Dirt?" Another shake.

"Earth?" Shizuka nodded and made a wide arc with her hands.

"Circle?"

Nope.

"Hill?"

Nope. Shizuka just mouthed the word, hoping her teacher would be able to read her lips. Thankfully, he was able to.

"Oh, eminence?" Shizuka nodded and made a random hand sign.

"Justu?" Nod. Asuma smiled.

"Okay, so that was an Earth Eminence Justu? You do it well." Shizuka smiled and blushed. She liked being complimented.

"Okay, now we'll do some physical training," Asuma said. "All four of you jog down the main forest path until you reach the tree that got knocked down in that storm a couple of weeks ago, then jog back here." Shizuka heard the two boys groan. Asuma told them to stop complaining and just do it. Shizuka was about to run off, but she realized she was new here and didn't know where she was supposed to go. Asuma sensed her uneasiness and approached her.

"Just follow the others," he said. Shizuka nodded, and followed Ino down a clear forest path out of the clearing.

The Konaha's forest was quite nice. All sorts of trees rose high above the team's heads, their magnificent branches reaching for the sun high in the sky; The lush green grass was carpeted all over the forest floor, excluding the path the team was jogging on, which was just dirt; flowers bloomed in various patches of grass; and the occasional chirp of a bird could be heard.

Shizuka looked around at her surroundings as she jogged, smiling. She looked behind her. Shikamaru was behind her, jogging slowly, and Chouji was behind him, trotting even slower, breathing heavily.

That boy doesn't seem to be in very good shape, she observed. And the other boy looks like this is the last thing he wants to do. Shizuka gave an inward smile. This was one of the good things about being mute: She could say whatever she wanted about anyone, and they wouldn't know. She turned her head back around and sped up her pace to catch up with Ino, who was faster than she looked.

After five minutes of jogging, Ino came to an abrupt halt, causing Shizuka to nearly collide into her. She looked up. One of the forest's huge trees was on it's side, blocking their way. Ino turned around.

"It's time to head back!" she announced to Shikamaru and Chouji, whose face looked like a giant tomato by this point. Ino made her way past the other three and jogged back down the path. Shizuka followed her, keeping a controlled pace.

Once Shizuka made it back to the clearing with the others, there was light perspiration on her forehead and she was breathing a little heavier. But, Asuma wasn't finished with the training yet.

"Good, you all made it," he said. "Ten push ups." Chouji let out a tired yell, expressing his displesure.

Shizuka took in a breath, got down on her hands and feet and started, watching the others to the exercise. Ino seemed a little tired but alright none the less, Shikamaru still looked very unenthusiastic, and Choji looked as if he was going to collaps.

The rest of the training was followed by twenty sit ups, ten leg lifts, and five pull ups on a near by branch. By the time the four teens were cooling off, everyone was breathing deeply, red cheeked, and tired. Ino sat in a circle with the others, resting and studying the new girl at the same time.

Well, she's no good at avoiding my Mind Transfer Jutsu, and she nearly died doing the pull ups, she thought. But she's really good with her own jutsus, and her motor kept running the whole way through... My conclusion: She's cool... But the poor girl probably doesn't have any friends yet, or any boys that have crushes on her... Poor thing, so new to the way things work around here. Ino smiled. She had an idea.

"Okay, that was good training today, Team," Asuma said to his students. He turned to Shizuka. "We'll most likely go on a mission tomorrow. Are you ready?" Shizuka gave a definate nod. Asuma smiled.

"Good. Dismissed." The young ninja got up, said their good byes, and started to head home. Ino hung back, keeping her eye on Shizuka, who was fixing her tank top and tightening her bandana. Once Chouji and Shikamaru were out of the clearing, Ino ran up to Shizuka and stood infront of her.

"Hey, there," she said. "Do you have any plans tonight?" Shizuka shook her head and cocked her head to one side, asking Ino why.

"Well, I don't either," she said. "I was wondering, since you're new here and stuff, if you wanted to sleep over at my house tonight." I'll take her under my wing, Ino promised. It's practically my duty... It would be a shame to watch this pretty little thing spiral downwards due to her unfamiliarity to the Konaha.

Shizuka smiled. It was her first week in the Leaf village and she was already being invited over to people's houses. She nodded her head, entusiastically.

"Alright, cool," Ino smiled. "Be over at my place say... five o' clock?" Shizuka nodded. "Okay, see there." With a wave, Ino walked off.

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Yay! First chapter done! I feel so special.