"Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul." Alexander Pope, The Rape of The Lock

"They say that mermaids are the souls of women who were thrown off of boats by sailors. As women on ship were considered bad luck, stowaway women were tied to a weight, and thrown overboard to ensure safe travel. These women drowned, and their spirits remained chained to the weight as their body. They suffered the same way as their living counterpart, until they learned to breath the salt water, and swim with their legs conjoined at the weight. The mermaids would swim to rocky shores, and sing. They would sing in their gravelly, enchanting voices, luring the evil sailors who had doomed them to a fate as tragic as their own."

I rolled my eyes. My friend Chiacy was telling another scary story. We were outside preparing with our other teammate the night before the Chunin exams. At the moment, we were taking a break, and just stretching each other out. Chiacy was short, with long-ish black hair and green eyes. She had an angular face and small hands. She wore a long, blue, bell sleeved shirt and her forehead protector as a hair-tie, to keep hair out of her face. She also wore black shorts, fishnet pants, and navy colored shoes. Don't let her size fool you, though. Her ninjutsu is on point. The only other genin better at ninjutsu is Sasuke, but he's an Uchiha.

"Whoa," I said to Chiacy. "You're really into this freaky occult stuff, aren't you?"

"Eh, I guess. Where is Tai? Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe he's getting drinks? We left them by the table."

Tai is the third member of our squad. He's a member of the Kimitsu clan. They're wicked genjutsu users, and their Kekkei Genkai actually allows them to feel the genjutsu of others. Not only that, but their heavy chakra sensitivity allows them to track others really well. It's almost as if they can smell them. Most of our plans revolve around his ability to "see" with his sensory abilities, so we're able to ambush effectively. Tai is really strong and great at Taijutsu, to boot.

"I think you're right," Chiacy said. She looked at me strangely. "You know, Mika, you look thirteen, but I don't think your appearance is ever going to age you past thirteen."

Um, was that a compliment? "Thanks, Chiacy... I guess."

She was probably right. I had extremely tanned skin and short black hair that was cropped at my ears. I wore a short sleeved shirt that was somewhat form fitting, but loose enough to work in, and a fishnet undershirt that went to my forearms. I had dark brown, almost black eyes, and a cherubic face, I guess. I don't know why, but apparently it looked pretty baby-like. I wore a pair of blue pants with white ankle wrapping, and black shoes. I had long legs and arms. I was pretty much for locomotion. That was my talent, I guess. Movement. I could run, swim, jump, climb, as well, if not better than anyone else. I could out sprint anybody, and only few people could touch my speed in long runs, unless they were trained for that sort of thing, which I wasn't, until recently. I went to our sensei, Goka Tsukisho, who gave me ankle and arm weights, and a parachute. He then made me race him until I was able to keep his pace while running.

A little crazy, but that's the way our teacher was.

"Hey! I've got our drinks! After this, we'll continue!" That was Tai. He handed us each a bottle of water, and kept one for himself. He was tall and well built. He had short, spiky brown hair and brown eyes. He had an angular jaw and tan skin. He wore a grey V-neck T-shirt and black shorts. He also wore black combat boots and a coin with a leather strap laced through it to be a necklace.

"I've been thinking," Chiacy said. "Maybe we should try the ice bucket after this instead of any actual training. To loosen our muscles, y'know?"

The "ice bucket" was the bane of my existence. You got in the bucket, as it was filled with cold water and ice. Then, you stayed inside of it for quite some time, because it's supposed to help you relax and chill your body, in more ways than one.

"Sure," Tai said. "I don't think we should do much either." He sat down in the grass of the training field next to us. It was beginning to get dark.

"So, any plans for tomorrow? Like, how are we gonna run this? The first stage is going to be an academic exam, or so I've heard. I know we'll all pass that."

"Definitely," I said. Behind Sakura, Sasuke, and Ino, we were the next top three in grades at the Academy.

"I'm not sure," Chiacy said. "Lately, Ino has been talking about how she might use her jutsu to put the incorrect answers in some student's heads."

"Don't worry about her," I told her. "Ino's cool with me, and I know for a fact she wouldn't harass other Konoha-nin. Maybe, just maybe, some others, like Suna or Kisa, but she would never touch a Konohagakure shinobi."

She nodded. "Well, I don't think there's much left to do besides the ice bucket. Let's get to it, men!"

Tai began preparing the ice bucket with me. It was a well-known fact that we were kind of a "thing."

"So, babe," He said to me. "You ready?"

I nodded. "I'll definitely be able to outspeed anybody in fights. And if it's a team battle, you can shut down their genjutsu, and Chiacy can blast them with ninjutsu. In the meantime, I keep them distracted with bombs and other defensive weapons."

I held up my scrolls. I kept them in my back pockets, but they were always there in case we needed them. They held a bunch of defensive tools, and my prized weapon. It was a long steel cord, with shuriken and kunai along the length, save for the handle. I used it to keep our enemies out of range while we handled them. Tai was our eyes, Chiacy our weapon, and I was our body. We worked in conjunction to handle most of our foes, which hasn't been much, save for a few bandits.

The only thing that's able to handle us easily is a ranged foe. We haven't been able to figure out how to handle them. I can handle ranged weapons easily, as my Earth Release jutsu let me construct walls and other defensive structures. But, ninjutsu is a problem. As we haven't been able to deflect them, we're relying on our ability to move. Chiacy is the definition of a glass cannon, as well. When she casts jutsu, she does it great. But when she needs to take a hit, she's out. We've been bulking her up and she's gotten better, but Chiacy is still physically weak when it comes to Taijutsu. She needs range desperately.

Tai noticed the worry on my face as I silently analyzed our team. "Don't worry," he told me. "We're going to come out of this on top." He smiled. I did, too. "You're right."

Chiacy walked over as we were finishing the ice bucket of death. "Ready?" We all prepared to climb in.

"One, two, three!"

A/N: I know, there's yaoi in here, blah blah. It's going to be a minor part of the story, it just happened to be there.

So this was my first chapter of my first fic! *throws confetti* So I would LOVE feedback, please! I would love to know what I should do better! And I'm sorry this chapter was so short, it was only an introduction chapter. It takes place in the original, pre-shippuden series. This is happening the day before the Chunin exams, in which they are participating.