(Pronunciation:
Shikyo Kusubana: Shiek-yoe Coo-sue-baan-ah
Atra: Aah-traah
Kitade: Key-tahh-day)
"Good morning, Kakashi Sensei…" Naruto yawned, sitting up. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were sitting in the woods, waiting for Kakashi. He finally arrived.
"Hey. Guess what?"
"Um… You're going to stop making us wake up early?" Naruto guessed hopefully.
"Nope!"
"Damn."
"Ooh! We're going to swap Naruto for someone else?" Sakura asked.
"No."
"Damn."
"You signed us up for something."
"How'd you know, Sasuke?"
"I saw you yesterday after lunch. You had a pen, and were looking at a poster. What is it?"
"Well, there are new teams graduating from the academy. And we're out of Jounins to train them. SO! You three will be training them while I train you. At the same time!"
"Really?" Naruto seemed happy. "That's great! I can teach one of them my Shadow Clone no Jutsu!"
"Don't rush into that, Naruto." Kakashi replied. "Teach them the basics, first."
"So when do we meet our little apprentices?" Sakura asked.
"After lunch. Soon, they'll be getting their teams in the academy."
"So what do we do until then?" Naruto questioned.
"Goof off."
Morning. How she hated it. Like Naruto, Shikyo Kusubana wore goggles on her forehead. She looked at her bedside table and saw the head protector, neatly folded up. Unlike Naruto, Shikyo had a cold, quiet personality, more like Sasuke. But like Naruto, Shikyo had no parents. She had arrived two years ago and had been training ever since. She was quite skilled, yet she was the kind no one noticed. She tied the head protector around her leg, just below the knee. So it was a head protector. From now on, it would protect her knee.
Shikyo Kusubana roughly meant "Death Flower." And Shikyo was well aware of it, so she made her reputation fit the description. She was quiet, but deadly.
Shikyo had a fair face and white teeth. Her hair was blood red, and she liked it. Her eyes were a cold onyx, always flashing around for signs of trouble, or danger. Not that there were many. She wore fingerless black leather gloves, and a dark brown jacket, that was open to reveal a black tube top. Ripped jeans hung on her hips, and rough black boots were on her feet. She had kunai holsters on each hip. Sure, Shikyo pulled off the badass look, but no one had actually seen her do something bad. She had two piercings in her right ear and three in the other. It just looked good. She didn't care what other people thought.
The best jutsu Shikyo knew was her own. The Death Bell no jutsu. The Zetsumei Yobirin no jutsu. What it did was take the hand sign she made and turned it into a bell. Every time the bell rang, the victim would lose either chakra or stamina. Like Ino's specialty jutsu, Shikyo had to aim for the enemy. The jutsu took stamina from the user at first, but restored it, depending on how much stamina is sucked from the victim. Her weapons? Oh, just kunai and shruiken. And a katana sheathed across her back.
Shikyo picked up her backpack and sighed. Well. Time to go meet her team.
Shikyo walked into the room and sat down at a random table. She was silently surprised when someone sat next to her. She simply turned her face to see.
The girl was small, with sky blue hair that fell to her shoulders in a mess of tangled waves. Her attire was a simple gray sweater and khakis, and her head protector of course. She noticed Shikyo looking at her and smiled, stuttering, "H-hi, Shikyo."
Shikyo said nothing. Because she was quiet like that.
Shikyo had heard this girl speak before. She was a brainiac, and knew the answer to everything. She didn't stutter then. Why was she nervous now?
Shikyo's cold, quiet eyes said it all. The girl turned her face forward again, sighing. Iruka walked in, waving and smiling. "Good afternoon, everyone! You are all here because you've become Genin. Jounin will lead half of the teams, and the teams that graduated before you will lead the other half. You will all be put into groups of three. I will now announce the teams!"
Iruka droned on with the teams for a little while. Shikyo took this time to look around her. In front of her sat Atra, last name unknown to Shikyo. Atra was Latin for "dark," though Atra hardly fit the description. Atra was a cheerful, handsome boy, with a good humor andgood jutsu. The class clown. In short, Shikyo hated him for being so happy all the freaking time.
"Team number seven." Iruka said. "Shikyo Kusubana,"
Shikyo looked up. It was about time!
"Ayeka Kitade…"
The girl next to Shikyo smiled. So that was her name. Ayeka. Huh. Didn't mean anything.
"And Atra Sanji. An older group will lead your team. Come back here after lunch with the others, and your head Jounin will come get you."
Right. Shikyo could wait. She had only waited half her life for something interesting to happen, anyway.
Lunch had been eaten, the other teams had left, and team seven was still waiting. Kakashi was late like he was for Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke.
Shikyo quietly sat in a chair while Ayeka drew on a piece of paper. She was a good drawer. Atra, however, was pacing the room, more bored than he had ever been in his life.
"Good afternoon. You must be my new team."
Kakashi stood in the doorway, his half-closed eye scanning his new Genin. Atra and Ayeka wore their head protectors, but…
"You know you're supposed to wear your head protector on your head." Kakashi commented, his eye falling on Shikyo. Shikyo said nothing. No response whatsoever.
"Okay. Right. Come with me to meet your new Senseis."
They were on the roof, like last time when Kakashi met his students.
"There are your new teachers. Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. Please, introduce yourselves."
"How?" Ayeka asked. "Can we get a basic idea of what we should say?"
"Well, your name, of course. Your likes and dislikes. Hobbies." Kakashi replied. "You, on the left."
"My name is Atra Sanji. My first names means 'dark' in Latin, but I'm not very dark, or gothic, or whatever. I like having lots and lots of fun and junk, and I dislike it when people say—" Here he lowered his voice to indicate someone else talking. "—'Atra! Ninjas are serious people and are not prone to having tons of fun!' My hobbies are probably pranking people and laughing… Junk like that."
"Okay… You, in the middle."
"My name is Ayeka Kitade. I like to draw, and read, but I dislike learning and junk. My hobbies are reading, drawing, writing, et cetera. You know, language arts stuff."
"Right. And the last one?"
Shikyo sighed, not wanting to talk. "My name is Shikyo Kusubana. I don't like anything, besides martial arts. My hobbies… Well, I don't have any hobbies, I guess. I tend to notice things other people don't, and I often get distracted by details."
"And your dislikes?"
"Atra."
"Aw, come on…" Atra muttered, sulking.
Great, at least she doesn't hate ME. Ayeka thought.
"Shikyo Kusubana… 'Death Flower,' no?"
"Correct."
I don't know about death, but she sure is a flower in my book… Naruto thought. Um… "Dibs on training Shikyo!" Naruto shouted happily.
Sakura bashed the back of his head. "No dibs. We train them together!"
"Right, right, right…" Naruto rubbed his head. "So, um, let's go train, or whatever."
"Alrighty." Naruto held up two bells. "Your task is to steal one of these bells from me. What you have to do is find a way to obtain one of these bells before dinnertime. But there's a catch. If you don't pass, you go back for another year at the academy!"
Sounds easy enough, Shikyo thought. How hard could it be to take a bell from a loser like Uzumaki? But I'd better not lose…
"But there are only two bells!" Ayeka pointed out.
"Duh! Those who do get bells will get dinner. Whoever doesn't has to sit tied to a post and watch us eat. Alright? I hope you had big lunches. I'll give you thirty seconds to hide yourselves. Go!"
The threw shot off in different directions. Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura sat off to the side, watching carefully. They're hidden well… But I'm interested in that Shikyo… Kakashi thought.
Naruto opened his eyes. "Great, you're all hidden, waiting for an opening… Huh?"
Shikyo leaned against a tree watching. She did not hide herself at all.
"Stupid, you were supposed to hide!" Naruto fumed.
Shikyo was silent, not moving, and not blinking. Creepy. She lifted her hands into a hand sign and aimed for Naruto. Her voice was little more than a whisper… "Zetsumei Yobirin no jutsu."
Klong.
"What?" Naruto looked around. "What's that? Where's it coming from?"
Klong.
Her hands?
Klong.
Naruto began to feel slightly weak. What was going on? What was this Shikyo girl doing?
Klong.
Naruto staggered slightly. What…
Shikyo withdrew her hand signal, regenerated with at least two times her natural chakra. She simply pulled out a kunai and summoned her chakra into her hands, giving it even more force and speed.
"Ah!" Naruto skipped aside, but the kunai dug into his jumpsuit and pinned him to a tree. Shikyo smoothly walked over to snatch a bell when…
"Shadow clone no jutsu!"
…She was instantly surrounded by Naruto clones.
She growled and backed into a tree. "Shadow clones…" She drew her katana.
"Ah!" Several clones backed away. "Don't like, behead me or something!" One screamed. "Me either!"
"I'll dispatch all your heads until I find the real Naruto." Shikyo replied.
"Undo the jutsu!"
"No way! She's right where we want her!"
"But she'll kill us all, and the real Naruto in the process!"
"Just undo the jutsu!"
Pop.
And the jutsu was undone, leaving Naruto and Shikyo alone.
"Not fair, I don't have…"
"Twinkle, twinkle, little bell…" Shikyo snickered. She jingled the bell in her fingers. "Look what I stole?"
"How did you—"
"Simple." She drew a diagram in the dirt with her katana. "While you had all your clones, it was simple to find the real one. The one that was still pinned to the tree! So I cut off a bell with my katana."
"Then why…"
"I took them both." She pulled the other from her pocket.
"Um… Okay, test over!"
Ayeka and Atra gloomily came out of hiding. "So I guess we don't get dinner, huh?" Atra asked.
"You don't, Ayeka does." Shikyo tossed a bell to Ayeka.
"Um…" Naruto looked at Kakashi for guidance. "Can she do that?"
"Hey!" Shikyo demanded. "Ayeka obtained a bell one way or another! She deserves dinner, even if she did not do anything to get it."
Clapping interrupted them. Sasuke stood up. "Teamwork, that's what it is. Ninjas need to learn how to use teamwork with their allies."
Shikyo lifted her eyes. She hadn't acknowledged Sasuke since she introduced herself. He was very.
Very.
VERY.
… Hot. And she just realized it.
She blushed. "…Whatever. So does Ayeka get dinner or not?"
"Yeah, she does."
Atra began crying anime style. "I didn't even get lunch… I was too busy wearing it."
Shikyo looked at him. "Well…"
And this was how Shikyo got tied to the post. She didn't squirm, and she didn't scream. She just sat there, watching Atra and Ayeka eat their food.
"Alright, listen, we have to go off and find a place where we'll train tomorrow. DON'T give Shikyo any food or you fail!"
And so Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto left. They went into the forest not to look, but to talk.
"She dislikes Atra very much, you know." Kakashi said. "Yet she gave up her bell for him. I don't know if we should send her back to the academy or not."
Naruto peered through the bushes at the team. "Hey! Come watch this…"
"Shikyo, please, eat something!" Ayeka urged.
"No." Shikyo replied. "Stop trying. I'm not hungry." What she was doing, other than not being hungry, was thinking about Sasuke. Even quiet girls had someone to crush on.
"But Shikyo, you'll have to go back to the academy…"
"If you give me food or not I'll go back. I don't care. It will be good for me. I'll learn more about Tai, Gai and Nin jutsu."
"So? You barely use jutsu anyway. You always struck me as a martial arts 'I'll kick your ass!' chick." Atra commented.
Shikyo glared at him coldly. Annoying jackass…
"Besides, this is the longest time I've ever even heard you SPEAK! Don't you want to make friends?" Ayeka asked.
"I don't needs friends, they slow me down. To get what I want, I need to be able to move quickly."
Huh, just like Sasuke… Naruto thought, glaring at his dark-haired teammate.
"Yeah? Well, what is it you want? A cup of tea, perhaps?" Atra snapped, angry.
"Number one, tea is gross. And there's someone… Something… I need to kill."
"The nine-tailed fox? Everyone knows that was sealed away…"
Naruto's heart skipped a beat. It better not be him…
"No. Don't ask. Please. Because if he's nearby, I don't want him to know. I feel like he's watching me, but he's not."
"Shikyo, just let out you feelings, okay?" Ayeka smiled. "We won't tell anyone. We promise, right, Atra?"
"Rightness."
"Okay…" Shikyo took a deep breath. She clenched her fist even thought it was useless, tied to that post. "I can't go back to the academy now! I've come so far to be pushed back. I've practiced, I've studied, and I've developed my own super powerful jutsu! Yet I only just got this far, and now I'm going to be pushed back again."
"Shikyo? Why did you give me your bell? Instead of going back to the academy, you could have been trained alone instead of us." Atra asked.
"Good point," Whispered Sakura.
"You've both worked hard. Atra, your jutsu is fantastic. And Ayeka, everything we've learned at the academy, you remember. You deserve to move on."
"GUESS WHAT?"
Shikyo looked up blankly. Naruto was standing on the post she was tied to, grinning. "You three all PASS!"
"Great." Shikyo bumped her heel on the ground, pressing a small black button. A razor-sharp blade shot from the toe of her boot. Shikyo lifted her foot and brought it over to the post, sawing through the ropes.
"Could you have done that at any time?" Sakura asked, as she, Sasuke and Kakashi came from the bushes.
"Yeah. So?" Shikyo replied. "I passed, didn't I? I thought it would be a good idea to wait." She lifted her dull, emotionless eyes to Naruto and Kakashi. "If there is a problem, I'd just love to hear it."
"No problem! None at all!" Naruto waved his hands innocently. "Hehe… No problem!"
Naruto looked at Kakashi, who nodded. "Okay, go home and junk like that. I'm taking you to a special friend of mine to talk to. She's leaving in a week and I want you to talk to her. Maybe her arm has healed…"
Shikyo, Atra and Ayeka looked at each other. "Huh?"
"Now listen, she might still be sensitive." Sakura explained. She was acting as tour guide. "So don't comment on anything bad."
"Where are we?" Atra asked. "Slowly going into the past?"
In truth, the walls and furniture kept getting old fashioned as they went back.
"No, these are the back rooms. Not many people come back here, so no one has done any recent redecorating."
"Yo, At." Naruto pulled Atra back so they were walking at the back of the group. "Even if her arm doesn't work yet…" He swiped a hand through the air. "Cynthia Lalaurana Suhn is damn hot. So at least acknowledge her."
"Can do."
Sakura turned the knob, listening through the door. "Cynthia and Edward sound busy…"
"I'm not even going to ask what 'busy' is supposed to mean." Ayeka shuddered.
"No, not that."
Sakura pushed open the door. Loud, metallic clashing filled their ears, getting into their heads.
The first thing they saw was a short, long blonde haired boy in an old karate uniform jumping back. His left arm was organic, but his right was made entirely of metal. Was it just casing, or was it really just wires and circuits?
"Cynthia!" He laughed. "Naruto's here. ACK!" He blocked. "Didn't you freaking hear me?"
"Sorry! My arm's a little jerky."
The girl was taller, with even longer hair that was let free to fall down her shoulders. She, like Edward, wore an old karate uniform. Instead of her right, her left one was made of metal.
Cynthia's fingers twitched and her arm jerked to the side a bit. "Is it supposed to do this, Ed?"
"Yeah. In a few days it will stop that." Edward wiped his forehead with the cold metal of his arm. "Hey, Naruto, something wrong? Seen Gaara? Or the homunculi?"
"No, Ed. I just brought my students to some talk to Cynthia."
"Oh, sure. Talk to the handicapped kid… Wait, did you say students?"
"That's right!" Naruto struck a proud pose. "I, Naruto Uzumaki, am training ninjas with my team!"
Cynthia and Edward just looked at each other. Then they both burst out laughing.
"YOU! NARUTO UZUMAKI! TEACHING!" Cynthia gasped. "I THINK I'M GONNA DIE!"
"I KNOW!" Edward replied. "NARUTO, OF ALL PEOPLE!"
Naruto fumed and flailed his arms. "HEY NO FAIR I SURE AS HELL CAN TEACH!"
"Yeah, how to lose! You ran away like a kitten when you even glimpsed a Lalaurana demon!"
Cynthia stopped and glared at Edward. "I'll have you know, Lalauranas are very fearsome beasts."
Shikyo and Ayeka looked at each other. "What's a Lalaurana?" Ayeka asked.
Cynthia just stared at them. "Who are you?"
"Um, we're Naruto Sensei's students."
"…NARUTO SENSEI! HAH!"
"Now, um, Miss. Suhn, what's a Lalaurana?""
"A Lalaurana is a dangerous, majestic creature. With the tail of a fox, the body of a wolf, and the head of a cat, it has fangs that was four inches long that can tear the shit out of you. A swipe of a mighty paw, and you're halfway dead."
"Wow. Lalauranas sound dangerous!" Ayeka gasped. "I never knew there was such a thing!"
Sakura looked at Cynthia, sighing. "You have no idea."
Sasuke walked in. "Naruto, why did you bring them to Cynthia anyway? Just to talk?"
"SASUKE!"
Sasuke was nearly bowled over. Cynthia threw herself over into a hug. "HIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
"OH OF COURSE SHE HUGS YOU!" Naruto screamed in outrage.
Shikyo watched with interest. The girl was very strange. And unique, in some way. And she seemed very close to Sasuke.
Edward pulled her off of Sasuke. "Sheesh, Cynth, don't kill the man…"
Cynthia muttered "Whatever" and swiped a hand across her forehead. "So, Naruto, what's wrong? Hello, I'm still wondering why the Hell you're here."
"I just thought you could demonstrate to my team." Naruto shrugged.
"Whatever. So where are the little students?"
"We're right here!" Ayeka said brightly.
"Forgetful, much?" Atra whispered to Ayeka.
"Of course. Of course."
"Cynthia, this is Ayeka Kitade…" Sakura began.
"Hi!"
"Atra Shoji…"
"My name means dark but I don't seem very dark, do I?"
"And Shikyo. Shikyo Kusubana."
Shikyo said nothing. Because she was quiet like that. Moving on.
"Well, um, I'm Cynthia Suhn, heiress to Lalaurana's school of indiscriminate grappling." She bow and smiled.
"And I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist from the country of Amestris."
And then, Shikyo changed.
First she twitched… Then…
"OH MY GOD I LOVE ALCHEMY YOU HAVE TO TEACH ME SOME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"
Edward shook his leg. Shikyo was clinging to it. "Hey! Let go!"
"PLEEEEEEASE! YOU'VE GOT TO!"
"Well, um, I have to leave in a week, and I can't teach you much in that time…"
"I already know like SO much! I know all the basic laws, principals, and I can even transmute basic household items! You MUST teach me PLEASE!"
"FINE just don't tear my leg off!"
"YAY!" Shikyo bounced up and down. Then she calmed and resumed her usual personality. I have to stop doing that, she thought. It's embarrassing. But in every nice, happy story, there lies a terrible one, ready to snap at you with gaping jaws.