𝘉𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘚 | ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒ

thirty four

"Nope." He said, popping the 'p'.

The door swung open, slamming into the wall. Cracks spread up around the door, marking its territory. From the looks of it, it would take a dude who was really experienced with a crow bar to wedge that puppy out.

Momo sensei cringed, eyeing the door. "Whoopsie."

Dressed into her casual Kumogakure outfit of a sleeveless, mock neck red tank top, white baggy pants, and grey arm guards, she looked right at home. Her orange hair looked just as wild as it normally did, the white kumo forehead protector being the only thing keeping the hair out of her face. Well, that and the tasteless, multi colored clips all over her fucking head like an abstract painting.

"Anyways, time to head home kiddies!" Momo clapped her hands together, grinning brightly. She walked over to the window and snapped the curtains open. Ryuu cried out as the dim morning sun leaked into the room.

"My eyes!" He pulled the blanket over his face. "It burns!"

I turned around, facing my sensei who was relentless with her face splitting grin. I gestured to the opened curtains. "I think you should close them, and then rip them open again."

Momo blinked. "Why?"

"So she can torture me!" Whined Ryuu, clapping his palms over his eyes.

"I'm not doing that, Kohana." Momo frowned, though she didn't seem surprised in the slightest. She waggled her finger at me and I couldn't help but scowl at the sight of it. "Now you need to get dressed and meet me downstairs in five minutes so we can head to the gates. Kenji-San is going to meet us there along with C, Darui, and Raikage-sama."

She placed a hand on her hip and turned her sharp brown gaze toward Ryuu. She snapped multiple times, trying to get his attention. "That means you too, sleepy head!"

Ryuu whimpered a bunch of unintelligible words, but Momo sensei didn't pay him any mind as she walked out of the room with a pep in her step. She clapped on her way out, cheering 'up! up! up!' over her shoulder.

"That woman is too cheerful for the mornings." Katsu closed his eyes and shook his head side to side, before lifting the no longer steaming mug to his lips and taking a sip.

"Yes!" I grinned in triumph and pulled a simple blue shirt out from the bottom of the bag. I raised it to my nose and took a cautious sniff. My grin widened at the lack of nose burning stench. I stood up and took off toward the bathroom to change, grabbing the black shorts along the way.

Twenty minutes later I was walking toward the gate, Katsu, Ryuu, and Momo sensei walking in tow with myself. No one was saying anything, the quiet noise of our sandals hitting the dirt road filling the silence. The morning sun was barely peaking over the horizon and splaying across the still sleeping village of Konoha. Not many civilians were out, and those who were out were mostly elderly. A couple shinobi also littered the streets, people inside shops visible through store windows preparing their business for the day.

A simple way to put it, was we were one of the few people up at this hour with an actual purpose.

I wrapped my hand around the textured material of my backpack strap, while the other dangled free at my hip. The blue shirt I'd snagged from Ryuu was a little smaller than I usually liked my shirts, but it wasn't tight to the point of discomfort. There was enough slack for me to tuck the hem into the top of my black shorts. Thank Kami for that. If it was skin tight I would have taken a hard pass.

Ryuu yawned from my left and rubbed at his eye sleepily. His silver hair drooped over his face, not as spiky as it tended to be.

I guess I felt a little bad for the dude. He'd been up a lot later than any sane person tended to be, excited at the thought of getting home and seeing his sisters and aunt. The excitement came from a good place. But I didn't appreciate hearing him pacing wall to wall till three A.M.