Azami Senju

Chapter IX: Icha Icha Paradise

"Oooohh, Lora, damn..." I mumbled offhandedly.

"Why are you reading Kakashi-sensei's book?" Sakura asked suddenly.

"Oh shit! Um, no." I quickly dashed behind the nearest possible hiding place.

Then my hiding place coughed. I looked up sheepishly and saw I was using some poor hyuga kid as my hiding place.

I quickly jumped away and bowed, saying, "Sumimasen, Hyuga-san."

"Fate says you should watch where you are hiding next time." It didn't come out as nesessarily aggressive, but I could tell it was a threat.

I stood straight again and flashed a quick smile, then decided to introduce myself, ignoring team seven completely, "Hai, I'll make sure of it. Anyway, I'm Azami, what's your name?"

"Hyuga Neji. These are my teammates Tenten," He gestured to a pretty girl with brown hair in two buns, "and Rock Lee." this time a boy who looked suspiciously like the mini version of the strange man who always challenges Kakashi waved excitedly, I can tell this Lee kid has something wrong with his chakra, but not what it is exactly.

Suddenly Lee walked up to Sakura and said, "My name is Rock Lee, you are Sakura, right?" without waiting for confirmation he continued, "Please be my girlfriend, I vow to protect you with my life!" He even gave a 'nice guy' pose.

I could hardly hold in my laughter, he is so innocent and sweet, just a bit weird. Sakura's eyebrow twitched and she harshly told him "No. You're a weirdo." Lee looked so sad that I just had to give him a pat on the back, but when he looked up at me with twinkling eyes I prepared myself for the most innocent thing of my life.

"Azami-chan, will you be my girlfriend?" He put extra emphasis on the 'you'.

"No, Lee, I will not." Just before he could become depressed like Oji-san used to I added, "I, however, would like to be your friend. If that would be alright with you?"

His entire demeaner went back to the happy-go-lucky kid from before and nodded vigorously, I laughed a bit and said my goodbyes to Lee, Neji, Tenten, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. I walked up the stairs and Kakashi stopped me before I could go in to the exam room.

"Azami, please be careful, I know you are strong, but don't let that get to your head. You don't have a team in there, but I am sure Naruto would help in anyway he could."

"Don't worry about me, I've been trained not to underestimate anyone, no matter how weak or strong they may look or act. By the way, Icha Icha is a great series, although I just started the first book. Its very well written, especially certain... parts..." I grinned perversely, walking past him and into the room.

I can just imagine his reaction, he's probably freaking out, oh, and when Hiruzen finds out... lets just say I'll be praying for Kakashi.

Azami opened the door and the entire room stopped talking, they had heard about her. She was taking the exams alone, some were interested, some thought about fighting her, others didn't care or simply underestimated her. She didn't mind, it meant people would pay attention, and you want attention in these exams, it gives you a better chance of promotion. However, she knew that it was a double edged sword, as it could also lead to her death. But she was weird, she enjoyed the adrenaline, it was exhilarating! She had developed masochistic tendencies ever since arriving in the new era, but would never admit it outloud, and enjoyed the pain in midst a fight. It proved she was alive, that she was there, not just in some sort of horrible dream. She wasn't sure whether or not that was exactly a good thing, but it was real, true, and she appreciated the truth.

While she was lost in thought Kakashi was outside talking to team seven who had just arrived, after getting over the fact that it was his fault a thirteen year old was into a pornographic novel. The three walked in and everyone once again quieted down from their hushed whispers, even more interested in this team than the lone female because of a certain Uchiha. Azami was leaning on the wall with her eyes closed, sensing out everyone's chakra, getting whatever info she could on each person. One of them really stood out to her, it was calm and controlled, there was malice, just like the others besides the rookies, but it was focused on a certain person. Sasuke. She was definetly going to pay attention to him.