Ouroboros: Side Stories

A/N: So, what the heck is this then? This, my friends, is a small side project for my fic Naruto: Ouroborous. Here I will put stories not really relevant to the main plot but that might give a little more feeling for the universe in which Ouroboros takes place. Feel free to read or not, it will not spoil the main story if you haven't but if you're curious on this world and want to see it from other viewpoints, knock yourself out. Oh and as a note to the more seasoned readers: do not worry, I have made it a rule that these chapters will NOT be drabbles or any such things, they will be juicy 5000+ words chapters.

Ouroboros: A day in the life of a jinchuuriki.

"Okay everybody!" the scarred chuunin teacher yelled as the large group of academy students had gathered at the outskirts of training field five, an area about two kilometres across filled with the kind of giant trees that the fire country was known for. He was only barely audible over the commotion as the students were scuffling back and forth, the Sarutobi fan-club fighting over who would get to stands next to their of the students having started to wrestle due to impatience, the Nara having gone to sleep. The Akamichi currently working his way through a large bag of chips, being eagerly aided in this endeavour by the Inuzuka and the Hokage's daughter. One of the all to few students that were even the least well behaved was Uchiha Sasuke, the quiet, withdrawn ace student sitting with his bespectacled face buried in a book as always.

"Sometimes this job is like herding cats," his silver-haired colleague said beside him, the man nearly chortling at the accurate description of it all. These kids were so hyperactive and so oblivious to what they were training for and he didn't have the heart to shatter those dreams and hopes. Still, their lack of order wasn't anything he was the least fond of.

"Shut up and listen up you little brats!" Iruka roared, getting most of the class to start in shock and some measure of order to be restored. Running a hand through his hair he sighed, he wasn't paid well enough for this. Having calmed down somewhat after this he continued. "Today you'll be working on long-distance runs. You'll split into three-man teams and compete in a relay-run, don't even think about it!" he added upon noticing the Sarutobi fan-club immediately moving to try to tag their beloved Konohamaru for being in their team. "Mizuki-sensei and I will be the ones to choose the teams. The obstacle course will be marked with red bands, you need to reach the end two kilometres away and collect one of these scrolls from there," he held up one of the scrolls to show the group.

"Furthermore don't try to sabotage your classmates," his colleague added, "Also you'll be expected to stay in the trees, if you touch the ground it's an instant loss for your team. And believe me, Iruka-sensei and I will know since the ground between here and the goal currently consists of hip-deep mud." The look on the Konohamaru-fangirls' face nearly made both Iruka and Mizuki chuckle as pure horror played across their faces at the prospect of being drenched in mud.

"The teams are as follows," Iruka begun and started to divide his class into ten different teams. To the great despair of the fangirls none of them ended up in Konohamaru's trio, those places being taken by Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. Iruka was grateful that there was no outright wailing this time but the girls still seemed utterly devastated. He just thanked the gods that the girl who definitely would have wailed, Namikaze Kimiko, the daughter of the Hokage, wasn't a fangirl, she could be extremely vocal if she wanted and the thought of her being a Sarutobi fangirl was horrifying to say the least.

In the end the teams were all ready and Iruka looked across the trios that had formed. Thankfully he had managed to balance it so that none of the fangirls were on the same team. He couldn't for the love of the gods not understand how girls who were so devoted to the same cause and who worked as one still were so vehemently hostile against each other.

"Teams one to five will begin," he yelled, "To the starting lines and choose in what order you will run. You have ten minutes each, failing to make it within that timeframe means an instant loss for your team. Get set," he raised his arm "GO!" the five academy students were all away, moving with decent speed all of them.

"A shame they aren't a bit older," Mizuki whispered, "I'm thinking it could be very interesting to see some of the fangirls land in the mud." Iruka only glared at his friend and colleague now however. He did like Mizuki's humour usually but joking about students like that was taboo to him. Eventually Mizuki lowered his head in a gesture of apology and Iruka sighed before he turned to look towards the remaining teams.

One of the most noticeable teams were the team consisting of Namikaze Kimiko, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata. Even though the shy Hyuuga wasn't doing more than sitting on a log, the girl effortlessly sitting in seiza position, Kiba and Kimiko were more than compensating for it. Unlike most of the girls in the current class Kimiko was all for physical activity, the girl loved nothing more than a good bit of exercise, be it taijutsu, obstacle-courses or what have you. She was currently bouncing up and down, punching into the air to warm herself up. Normally he'd recommend her to stop, it was thirty minutes until they'd begin, but Kimiko never ran out of energy, ever. Kiba was currently stretching, the Inuzuka boy taking it a bit easier but still making sure to keep himself active.

"Come on Hinata-chan!" Kimiko said to the heiress of the Hyuuga, grinning widely as she thought about the race that lay ahead, this would be fun! "Don't just sit there, warm up!" Kimiko was currently busy stretching, her orange jacked unzipped and her equally orange pants already a bit stained. Her red pigtails swung behind her whiskered face as she made a spin. However Hinata only shook her head.

"I'm fine Kimiko-san," she declined Kimiko's invitation softly. Kimiko stopped now and bent her knees. Taking a deep breath she shot into the air, managing to complete a full backwards somersault and land on her feet.

"Yeah!" she yelled triumphantly as Kiba cheered for her in the background. Making the victory sign towards Kiba she dragged Hinata to her feet.

"Come on now Hinata-chan," she said again, "You'll grow stiff if you keep sitting like that, work up some sweat." Hinata was unable to resist as the nearly one full head shorter girl dragged her away from the log and tugged at the zipper of her jacket. "And get this coat off, it's only in the way!" Hinata squealed and tried to stop Kimiko but the tiny girl was too quick and the zipper went down with a loud and short zipping sound. However before she managed to take it off Hinata Kimiko froze, her jaw dropping a moment later.

Hinata quickly stepped back and held the coat tightly around her, turning around with her face bright red. Behind her, Kimiko was standing with her mouth wide open and her eyes widened, the former moving up and down like that of a fish.

"Th..." Kimiko stuttered after a few seconds. "That's not fair!" She said, raising one hand to point at Hinata, who still was turned away with her face beet red. After a few seconds Hinata's eye widened however as Kimiko had gotten up to her from behind and wrapped her arms around Hinata, now groping her chest. "Are you stuffing or something," Kimiko asked with her eyes still wide in shock as she groped Hinata's chest. The girl couldn't understand how a twelve-year old could be so well grown. She herself hadn't even started to get boobs yet! "How the heck did you get them so big?" Kimiko continued as Hinata's mouth was wide open now, the girl's entire face a visage in pure horror as she tried to comprehend what was happening.

Before she could do so however, a thud was heard from the side and Kimiko turned to look towards their teammate only to discover that Kiba had suddenly collapsed, blood streaming from his nose as he was lying on his back, not moving. Akamaru had run up to his owner now and was barking at the limp shape of Kiba but the dog-boy didn't respond. Kimiko stared dumbly at the scene, her eyes blinking, before Hinata went limp in her grip.

Sagging down to the ground and only partially held up by Kimiko's grip, the Hyuuga heiress followed Kiba into unconsciousness. Kimiko's head snapped to look forwards, shock evident on her face as she tried to handle the limp Hinata somehow.

"Senseeeeei!" she yelled after a second, "My teammates fainted!"

Over by the teachers' spot Iruka had witnessed the entire incident and he was now gritting his teeth, counting backwards from one hundred as a twitch was starting to develop in his eyebrow. Meanwhile his colleague was currently bending over as he clutched his stomach to stop himself from howling with laughter.

"I..." Mizuki croaked, tears forming in his eyes, "Gods I wished they were a bit older." Thankfully only Iruka heard him and he was already busy stomping over to Kimiko to give her the dressing down of her lifetime, as he seemed to have to do daily.

Kimiko was in a very sour mood when she got back to the academy. That proved it, Iruka-sensei hated her. There was no other explanation. She hadn't meant for that to happen! But Iruka-baka had chewed her out anyhow! Even when she had done really great at the run, she had been first in her team, he had only given her a glare as she came back. It wasn't fair! Getting into her seat, Kimiko folded her arms and begun to sulk.

"Cheer up Kimiko-chan," Sakura said next to him, her friend pushing at her a bit. "You did well today didn't you?"

"Hmh!" Kimiko grunted, not placated by this at all. It was all so unfair! Students kept entering the room to sit down for the last review for the day or whatever. Neither of the senseis were anywhere to be seen though.

"Come on!" Sakura insisted, "I mean it wasn't like you ended up in the mud, right?"

"It's not that!" Kimiko snapped now. Sitting up, she gave voice to her frustration. "I swear that Iruka-baka is out to get me!" she screamed now, not caring or even noticing that the entire class turned to look at her. Sakura's eyes widened now and she leaned back. "Every time I ever do anything he's always on me and yells at me! It's not my fault that things happen!"

"Kimiko-chan!" Sakura hissed now, motioning for her to calm down, Kimiko didn't however.

"I swear," she kept yelling, "just because I'm the Hokage's daughter that stupid meanie has decided he's gonna try to blame me for every little thing that happens! Like with that time with the glue! How was I supposed to know that was superglue? And if he hadn't tried to pick the paper up none of that would have happened!"

"Shut up!" someone yelled from the other side of the room and Kimiko made a rude gesture in that direction.

"You shut up!" she yelled before turning back to her friend.

"Kimiko-chan!" Sakura hissed now, a bit louder, making nodding motions towards behind her. Kimiko still didn't care.

"He's just being unfair! I bet he's trying to take revenge on me because he was too bad at being a ninja and got stuck here at school!" the girl continued her tirade, "I hope he goes bald soon... and fat too! That stupid, unfair, scarfaced meanie!" Now however a hand landed on her head, making Kimiko freeze immediately.

"Oh really?" Iruka's voice said behind her, smooth as velvet, and Kimiko whimpered. Oh no... Iruka was behind her now, leaning in over her shoulder so he looked at her from the side. He towered there behind her like a demon with the smile of a nightmare ready to pounce upon her. Light itself seemed to vanish around her and only she and Iruka was left in an abyss of terror. "Why don't you stay here for a little while Kimiko-san?" Iruka said now, Kimiko feeling how she trembled, no, no, no... this wasn't good at all, not one bit! Was that what Sakura-chan had tried to warn her about? Why was she so stupid that she didn't get it?

"Class is over for the rest of you!" Now Iruka spoke to the others. "Tomorrow will be taijutsu so make sure to bring what you'll need for that. Dismissed." The rest of the class left now, most of them through the door but Sarutobi Konohamaru, noticing that the way out seemed to be blocked by fangirls, walked over to the window. One of his fans came up to him to ask him whether or not he wanted to go home with her but before she could say anything Konohamaru opened the window and raised one hand to shut her up. Getting into the window, the dour, sour grandson of the third Hokage looked back one last time. He looked straight at Kimiko and for one second, Kimiko could see how the contempt dripped off him as he sighed and shook his head before leaping out of the window, no doubt landing perfectly on the ground below too, the smug dummy.

Sakura however remained behind, hesitating to leave. She stood by her seat for a short while, intending to wait for Kimiko. "You can leave too Haruno-san." Iruka said after about ten seconds, still holding onto Kimiko's head. Sakura looked one last time at Kimiko before leaving, not wanting to get on Iruka's bad side, especially not now. So she left, leaving Kimiko alone with Iruka-sensei and hardly had the door closed before Iruka spoke up.

"You might want to step up to the teacher's desk Namikaze-san." Iruka said now, still having that smile in his voice and Kimiko stiffly obeyed, walking almost robotically down towards it. A sense of dread was building in her. Twice in one day, this wasn't good. When she gave Iruka-sensei reason to yell at her twice in one day... it wasn't a good thing. Iruka-sensei could be scary, very scary, and when he yelled at her the second time in one day he was very, very scary. Swallowing, Kimiko watched as Iruka-sensei walked around her and got behind the desk.

"Now." he begun mildly, "Perhaps you would like to repeat what you told Haruno-san?" Kimiko swallowed, having a feeling she wouldn't survive this.

About an hour later Kimiko walked out of the classroom, feeling slightly stomped upon after what just had happened. Iruka-sensei didn't hold back at all. When he wanted her to feel bad, he made her feel bad and it was a slightly squashed Kimiko that left the room, closing the door and beginning to head for the exit. Ugh... this was the worst day ever... Yelled at twice and she had homework waiting for her at home as well! And she didn't even have any pocket money to go and buy ramen with to cheer herself up! Kimiko decided to head home quickly, feeling very sullen at the moment. Beginning down the corridor, she picked up the pace since right now she didn't want to be here for even a second more than necessary. With a scowl on her face she walked as fast as she could with her hands in her pockets, too focused on sulking to notice when she walked around a corner that someone was coming from the other direction. Said person crashed into her and she into him and they both fell down to the floor.

"Ow!" Kimiko yelled, angrily looking up to see who she had crashed into. In a rain of notes that had been thrown into the air she saw one of her classmates, Sasuke. The guy had been thrown to the ground and was currently rubbing his face. She seemed to have head-butted him right in the nose.

"Can't you ever look where you are going?" her classmate asked angrily, adjusting the thick glasses he wore. Looking around, the class' number one nerd sighed. "God damn it..." he said as he watched his notes. Kimiko looked around as well and felt a bit stupid.

"Sorry..." she said sheepishly, "my mind was elsewhere." Despite her foul mood she felt a bit embarrassed over herself and begun to gather up the notes. "Let me help you pick them up." she said quickly.

"Hmh..." was all Sasuke said in response. Kimiko didn't mind however, that's how he was. Despite being the ace in the class the boy she now helped gather his notes always was so withdrawn, shy even. With thick glasses and unruly hair, the little brother of Uchiha Itachi was as different from his brother as could be. Strange thing was that she remembered him from the first months as an active, tough guy much like Konohamaru but he had steadily retreated into this nerdy appearance. Kimiko felt kinda sorry for him, he seemed so lonely all the time. That's why she had made it a goal in her life to be friendly with him.

"Were you staying in the library after school again?" she asked him as they picked up the notes, knowing he always did that. "What did you look up this time? Some jutsu or something?"

"Yeah..." Sasuke said, not saying too much more. Kimiko assumed he was just shy.

"That's cool," she said, "I bet your family knows lots of cool jutsu they can teach you too. What jutsu are you looking forward to learning the most? I wanna learn Shunshin no jutsu." Now Sasuke stopped for a second.

"I don't really have a favourite jutsu," he said, "All of them are useful, it's all about finding the right way to use them."

"Yeah sure," Kimiko said, "But really, if you can move just like that," she snapped her fingers, "I mean imagine the possibilities. You could get away with anything. If they think you've done something you can be all like "woosh!" and then you're over there and can be all like "what, I was just over here!" Kimiko grinned at the thought. If she only knew that jutsu then Iruka-baka would get what was coming to him. Now Sasuke looked at her, his eyes visible through the thick glasses.

"I don't plan to learn jutsu just to prank with them," he said icily. "We are about to become shinobi, warriors who will have to be in life or death situations constantly."

"Yeah, sure, sure," Kimiko agreed. "That's of course true but still, if you can have some fun with it, why not?" Sasuke sighed.

"Sometimes I wonder how exactly your brain works," he said, taking the last of his notes from her. Kimiko grinned, taking it as a compliment.

"My brother says that too," she told him. "I'm just one big mystery!" she said happily. That was a good ninja quality, she knew that much.

"Mystery is the word." Sasuke said, shuffling his notes together into a neat pile, "bye." With that, he left heading for the library again.

"Bye!" Kimiko said, waving after him. Yeah Sasuke was an alright sort. Being in a better mood, Kimiko begun down the stairs and headed for the exit. Iruka's berating had come and gone out of her mind and now she was in her usual mindset again, skipping as she moved down the stairs and out of the building. The courtyard was empty at the moment and she wasn't planning to occupy it for too long, instead dear dashing towards the exit and towards home. Freedom!

Still, there seemed to be someone out to get her, when she dashed out of the courtyard she collided with yet another person. She moved too fast and was unable to stop herself before she crashed into the poor person walking there like a freight train, ending up tripping over something and crashing into the ground face first.

"Hey watch it you..." the other person yelled before she stopped. Kimiko, neither hurt nor startled, only looked up and saw to her surprise one of her friends, Yamanaka Ino.

"Hey Ino-chan!" Kimiko greeted her happily. If she was gonna bump into anyone her friends really were the best candidates. Ino blinked at her but smiled soon in the end too.

"As clumsy as always I see," she said as she extended a hand to help Kimiko up. The other girl took it and got to her feet. Yet, even then she only reached up roughly to Ino's head, her eyes were on the same level as Ino's shoulders. She hated being short. "So you got to go home at last?" Ino asked her now and Kimiko nodded, giving her friend a grimace.

"Yeah," she said, "Not until Iruka-baka took his sweet time time to yell at me though." Ino raised one eyebrow, doing that curious look Kimiko had tried to emulate time and time again. She didn't look that kind of "stupid curious" Kimiko always looked like, instead she looked "cool curious".

"Are you really surprised about that though?" she asked, "I mean really, yelling with him right behind you that you want him to be bald?" Ino couldn't stop herself now and the last words were giggled and a smile settled on her friend's face.

"How was I supposed to know he was there?" Kimiko defended herself, Ino only looking at her with that "Ino-look", that look that told you you were being super-stupid and that she pitied you for it. There was something about it and Kimiko found herself wincing under it. "Yeah yeah..." she muttered, "But really, I don't get why he has to yell at me when my teammates faint," she continued, desperate to keep at least some dignity.

"A tip next time," Ino said with a chuckle, "Don't grope Hinata. Those parts are well, kinda sensitive." Ino winked at her and Kimiko only blinked in confusion.

"Really?" she said, "I mean, I don't get that, what's the deal. If I try that on myself nothing special happens, there's nothing weird about it," she patted herself up and down her chest to show. She just didn't get what the big deal was.

Ino rolled her eyes. "You'll know one day Kimiko," the girl said now and Kimiko grunted. Yeah that was how it was wasn't it? She was still flat and looked pretty much like she had done when she was ten years old. Ino and even Sakura, not to MENTION Hinata, all had grown and filled out, becoming more and more woman-like while she still looked like a little kid.

"Well jeez, sorry for not knowing," Kimiko told Ino. "It's not my fault. Besides, It's not like I enjoy being flat either." Folding her arms behind her head, Kimiko looked away. She didn't say it but she was jealous, very jealous, of Ino's length and her curves. Ino was one of the first girls who got boobs while Kimiko still hadn't gotten any.

"Hey don't worry about that Kimiko-chan," Ino ruffled her friend's hair. "You're young, it'll come sooner or later."

"Hhm," Kimiko muttered, not content at all with that answer. Now Ino brought out the heavy weapons however.

"Hey stop sulking!" the girl said to her. Poking Kimiko in the ribs – something that made the little redhead squeal in protest – Ino glared at her with a dry look. "Don't think that I'm not jealous of you too. I mean seriously! You eat ramen all the time and you don't even gain an ounce of fat! Seriously, I have to watch my weight all the time and you don't even care but still remain slim as a beanpole. You know what I'd give for having that ability?" Kimiko sighed at this.

"So what," she said, "I want what you have and you want what I have? I should ask oniisan to make some kinda switch-machine-thing for that."

"Or just be happy with who you are," Ino told her, "Seriously, I swear that sometimes you and Sakura are both two little walking complexes."

"Yeah... hey wait..." Kimiko blinked now. "Wasn't that something you did?" she looked to her friend now, "You gave Sakura-chan that ribbon to have in her hair so people wouldn't notice her forehead, right?"

"Yeah, how so?"

"Couldn't you do something like that for me?" Kimiko wondered, "Isn't there some hairstyle or something that could make me look taller?" Ino blinked at this.

"Uhm..." she begun, "I don't think so..." thinking for a second, Ino suddenly burst out giggling. Her friend raised both hands to her mouth and covered it, beginning to giggle like crazy.

"What?" Kimiko asked, "What is it?"

"Is..." Ino giggled, hard enough that she could hardly even stand up, "Is an afro okay?" she forced out and Kimiko's eyes shot open in shock.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" Kimiko exclaimed, horrified by the very idea. Waving her hands frantically, she showed with all possible clarity what a bad idea that was. Ino only grinned however.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes," she giggled, raising her hands as she advanced on Kimiko. The Hokage's daughter took one step back in fear. "Come here now," Ino sing-songed, making Kimiko take another step back before she turned around and fled, screaming as she did so. Ino was left behind, laughing so hard that she bent over as her friend vanished around the next corner.

"And then sensei just started yelling at me again!" Kimiko exclaimed as she sat by the kitchen table, waving her arms around. She was aggravated enough that she flailed with her chopsticks in her hands. "It's like he's out for me and... what's wrong with you two!" she yelled, seeing that her parents weren't giving her the kind of support she wanted from them. In fact, her mother was standing by the sink, leaning against it with her hands covering her face. She was also shivering at the moment. Her father, meanwhile, was bent over the table, his body twitching every now and then as he held his chopsticks in a vice-like grip.

"Kimiko...chan..." Her mother begun, her voice strained and tense like a feather. "You... you can't grope your classmates..." That was also all she had time to say before Minato bust out laughing. The Yondaime Hokage begun to howl with laughter. He begun to slam his palm into the table as the mirth became unbearable, Kimiko quickly turning more and more red.

"What's wrong with you!" she yelled again, this time getting up and pointing an accusing finger at her parents! "Iruka-sensei's is bullying me all day and you just laugh at it!" Minato, having calmed down somewhat, managed to sit up and wave a denying hand towards his daughter. Tears were running down his face from all the laughing and he was somewhat red in the face.

"Kimiko-chan..." Minato managed to squeeze out now before he burst out laughing once again. Meanwhile, his daughter folded her arms on the table and buried her face in it, deciding to sulk. Even her parents were being mean to her, this wasn't fair at all! "By all gods Kimiko-chan..." her father said after a whole. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to take Iruka-sensei's side on this."

"What?" Kimiko yelled now, incensed at her dad. "Why?" she screamed at the top of her lungs only to have a ladle bop her over the head. "Ow!"

"Don't scream at the table," her mother said as she came up to the table with the food in her other hand. Putting the bowl down on the table, she was still smiling to herself, "let's eat then." Kimiko rubbed her head surly now, giving her mother a massive scowl. When she saw what they were having however she lost her bad mood. Pork curry!

"Yum!" Minato said happily and soon they were all digging in. Kimiko especially scarfed down, happy they were having her second most favourite dish (ramen was and would always be number one). The issue with Iruka-sensei soon became forgotten as she and her parents begun to talk about everything between heaven and earth and it would take until the end of dinner before Kimiko's mood crashed again. As she helped her father clean up the table that one question came, the one that would destroy the good mood and make Kimiko despair.

"So how is your homework going?"

The evening that day found Kimiko sitting by her workdesk inside her chaotic room, staring down at the desk by the window. Amongst the clutter covering it and indeed most of her room a scroll lay. Illuminated by the bright orange lamp hanging from the ceiling it lay there, grinning at her. Homework... the bane of all good emotions. A lump formed in her throat as she looked on the scroll they were meant to have decoded until next week... Her normal tactics of procrastinating until the last moment wouldn't work here. This was a week's solid work. A week of boring as heck numbers and diagrams. Why was she so bad at this?

"Looks like you already got started," a voice said behind her, making Kimiko jump into the air with fright. Spinning around with her heart pounding, she was overjoyed when she saw who it was. In the doorway the second of her two best friends stood with her arms folded and a crooked smile on her face. Haruno Sakura.

"Sakura-sama!" Kimiko yelled, throwing herself at the feet of her friend. "I beg you Sakura-sama, please save me from the horrors of homework. Don't let it take meeeee!" however all her melodramatic and cheesy act did was to make Sakura laugh, at the sight of Kimiko prostrating herself like that the girl almost collapsed. Kimiko looked up at her friend and smiled at the sight and sound of Sakura's laughter. Getting to her feet, she closed the door behind Sakura and pushed her friend into the room. "Come on, please, help."

"Okay okay," Sakura said, "That's why I came over anyhow."

"Thank you Sakura-sama!" Kimiko thanked her friend with teary eyes, "You are my best friend ever!" Sakura looked back at Kimiko with a wide smile.

"I am aren't I?" she said, getting something wicked in her face all of a sudden. Kimiko spotted it just too late and all of a sudden Sakura tore Kimiko around, pushing her into the chair and before the girl could do anything Sakura had tied her belt to the backrest. "But you're not getting away from doing your homework," she sing-songed as she opened the scroll.

"Noooo..." Kimiko protested weakly, not managing to get free. She rocked back and forth, trying to loosen the bonds somehow. Sakura bopped her on the head with a ruler now however.

"Eyes on the desk Kimiko," she warned, holding the ruler under Kimiko's jaw. The girl shut up at once, thinking about how tyrannical her friend could be.

They had been a curious trio back during the first years in the academy. Ino had been the popular girl who everyone liked. Sakura had been a shy, withdrawn girl who nobody thought about other than when they mentioned her big forehead. Kimiko meanwhile had been pretty much as she was now, got into trouble all the time and hated school. Yet it was via Sakura their friendship had been forged. Sakura had been teased about her forehead by some bullies in another class but Ino had defended Sakura, tricking her by stuffing a flower in the bully's mouth and saying it was poisonous. After that they had been close as could be.

Kimiko had come into that group when later the bully had returned and pushed Sakura into a puddle of water. She hadn't had many friends back then, the girls thought she was too wild and the boys were afraid of cooties so she was mostly on her own. However she hadn't been able to stand what she saw there and when the bully started throwing gravel at Sakura and said mean things about her forehead, Kimiko had leaped down from the tree she was sitting in and landed on the bully whereupon she had proceeded to rip out the girl's hair as good as she could, wanting to give the stupid meanie an even bigger forehead. Kimiko had torn out at least six handfuls of hair when she had been pulled off, still snarling at the girl as mean old Suzume-sensei dragged her away. She had been grounded for a week and gotten an extra week when she blindly refused to apologise to the girl. Totally worth it though.

After that they had become friends. Kimiko's will to protect Sakura and Sakura's gratitude had been the beginning for the trio of best friends. Sakura had once said that she was the brain, Ino the heart and Kimiko the muscle of the group. Like with Ino though Kimiko envied Sakura a bit, her soft pink hair and gentle green eyes were things Kimiko had wished for many times, not to mention her smarts! Sakura was top in the class in many things, code-cracking being just one of them. Kimiko meanwhile was awful at it, never managing to understand it at all.

Yet, as it was now she was tied to her chair and Sakura, with a ruler in hand, dragged her through every last line of the horrible code. Whenever Kimiko begun to whine she got a smack on the head with the ruler and Sakura didn't show any mercy.

"Come on Kimiko-chan," Sakura said, "If X means G here, then that means that in this section the code is..."

"Uuhhh..." Kimiko said, her eyes spinning and her head hurting. She didn't know! She thought X had been P! "If X is G... that means that P is F, doesn't it?"

"Yeah!" Sakura said, nodding as she smiles sunnily at her. "Keep going."

"But the vowels are the other way around, meaning that E is... A?" she asked after a second, getting affirmation from Sakura. "And then... that makes it a cross-code... meaning that the answer is C." Slowly, slowly, like crawling uphill through mud, Kimiko's mind got through the muddle of numbers and letters. Sakura applauded her now.

"Good work Kimiko-chan!" she said. "Tell you what, I'll let you free if you swear to not run. Okay?" Sakura looked as angelic as always but under that surface was a demon, she just knew that!

"Fine..." she muttered and Sakura reached back to undo the knot. Kimiko felt such deep relief when she finally got free and felt such an urge to dash for the windows. Yet, she had promised and therefore remained on her seat, suffering through the torture of decoding. But for all Sakura's tyranny Kimiko couldn't think of a person she'd rather have here now. Scattered laughs could be heard from the room soon and after some more time squeals came, the decoding starting to see spots of inactivity as fierce tussles broke out between Sakura and Kimiko.