I panted as I wiped my forehead of invisible sweat. I was running so fast that everything around me was a blur. I am running away from something. I need to get away but somehow I am running on the same place again and again. It was like an unending maze.
I heard footsteps behind me. It was gaining on me.
‘Faster Nami.’ I told myself all over again. I hadn’t noticed I fell flat on my face when I felt a pain on my forehead. I pushed myself up but my vision is spinning. I decided to rest for a second and look back. I choked on my breath. My blood running cold. I was eye to eye with a very familiar snake-like man. The very same man who murdered my father.
I bolted upright in bed, panting. I’ve put my hand on my chest to make myself calm. Suddenly, a hand was on my shoulder which made me flinch and punch whoever it is but he caught my fist.
“Easy, Nami. It’s me.” He breathed. He was also caught off guard by what I did, luckily he caught my fist.
“Sasuke..” I called and hugged him, burying my face on his shoulder. “He... I’ve dreamed of it again..”
“You were screaming in your sleep.” He told me and rubbed my back.
I suddenly froze and remembered something. I slowly pulled out from Sasuke and smiled at him.
“What.Are.You.Doing.In.My.Room?!” I shouted, emphasizing each word and pushed him from my bed. Throwing pillows at him. He’s lucky my ninja weapons is on the other room.
He just walked casually outside. “It’s already 10:30. Douchebag. We have a meeting later.”
“Shut it, Duck-butt. My alarm went off. But thanks for waking me up.” I shouted at him. I heard him leave the house. I sighed and shook my head. That guy. Always worrying about me. His apartment was just behind our house. So if I was screaming, that means he was hearing it clearly from his place. My room is just in front of his apartment’s window.
We are supposed to meet at 12:00 pm today at the bridge. But I decided to go to Naruto's house. Maybe that guy is still snoring.
I knocked at the door and called for Naruto but no one was answering. When I turned the doorknob, it was open.
Isn’t Naruto here? Why is his door open? I pushed the door slowly to open and it hit something on the ground.
"I'm coming in." I announced and opened the door widely. I felt my smile turn into a scowl as I saw Naruto’s apartment. It was dirty and messy wherever you look. Dirty clothes and empty ramen cups were scattered across the floor. Is this even called a house? or rather, an apartment?!
I went to his bed. I was right, Naruto is still sleeping in his bed, his sleeping t-shirt was slightly elevated and his mouth hanging open and his saliva falling freely on his cheeks. He still wears the cute hat as a part of his sleeping attire.
I went to his kitchen and got a glass full of water and went back to his sleeping figure again. I splashed the water to his sleeping face and made him bolt upright.
"WHA--" He exclaimed, seeing me holding the now empty glass and grinning at him. He frowned and jumped down to his bed.
"Whaddya do that for?!" He asked, rubbing his face with a dry towel. He went to his kitchen and just kicked the things scattered across the floor.
"How can you live in a dirty place like this?" I asked raising my brows at him.
"Heh." He just answered.
"Clean. it. now." I commanded. I sat at his bed, I think it’s the only part of his room that is clean.
He turned around "What're you my mom?!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah. Now, start. I'll help you." I said, picking and rolling up the scrolls in the ground.
We finished cleaning his apartment in 30 minutes. There were loads of dirty clothes that I told him to bring to the laundry shop after our mission.
"At least your room is clean now." I said and dusted myself off before I sat at the floor crossed-legs.
“Yeah. Thanks for the help.” He told me and sat infront of me.
Silence ensued. He was looking outside the window.
"Sooo... What happened in the Land of the Waves?" I asked, curiously.
He grinned and started explaining everything. He added that they were surprised when Kakashi-sensei told them that I am not going to join the mission with them. At first, they were not talking to Kakashi-sensei because they were mad or something but then, the mist ninja attacked them. They met this rogue ninja called Zabuza and they fought him. They told Zabuza that I am their teammate and He told them the famous and powerful Koizumi Clan. And this Zabuza have this henchmen called Haku and their fights with them. Oh and Sasuke's death. They thought Sasuke was dead but then he suddenly woke up from the dead.
"I knew it! I wish I could've gone with you guys." I told him and sighed.
"Hehe. How about you? You can now control your appearance at will, right?" He asked.
I nodded. I can have these orange hair with shades of black and slitted eyes at will. Controlling it was like second-nature to me.
"Awesome, right?" I grinned at him while changing my appearance.
"Yeah! It makes you look like a bad guy. Believe it! " He stood up.
“I will take that as a compliment.” I told him and stood up.
A red chakra suddenly enveloped him but Naruto didn’t feel anything wrong with him. Like the red chakra enveloping him isn’t there.
“Naruto.” I called. He turned around.
"What's wrong Nami-chan?" He asked.
I grabbed his wrist, thinking if it will hurt me. I closed my eyes for a second. Trying to feel if the red chakra is hurting me or not.
I shrugged and opened my eyes. But Naruto isn’t the one who is infront of me. It was a huge metal cage. A seal glued in the middle of it.
"Hello? Naruto? Are you here? " I called. My voice echoed throughout the closed room with a large cage. There was a dim light surrounding me except for the cage. Inside it was pitch black. There was water that reached up to my ankle. Weird. Where did this water came from?
A movement from inside the cage caught my attention. And a pair of intimidating eyes stared back at me. Eyes full of anger and hate but there was another. Another emotion behind it. But instead of feeling fear, I felt calm.
My brows furrowed as I stared back at the eyes that started criticizing me.
I realized it is the Kyuubi sealed inside Naruto.
"kurama..." a hoarse voice whispered.
My head whipped from left to right. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. What was that?! Was that a ghost?! I looked around me to check if there was another person here beside me.
“What the heck was that?” I murmured to myself.
"Koizumi.." The Kyuubi talked. It really was the Kyuubi. I can now see the tails’ silhouette.
"How did you know that?" I asked walking towards it. I stopped just in front of the cage.
"Koizumis are the only one who can get inside Jinchuurikis and meet the tailed-beasts sealed inside. What else?" It smirked, mocking me.
"Ohhh." I told him. “Then do you know who Kurama is?”
"Could you be... the last Koizumi?" He asked,now serious. Its claws barely outside the cage.
"Yeah.” I answered. “Does that mean you are Kurama?”
"Don't tell my name to anyone, brat.. Farewell."
With that, I was snapped back to reality. My questions, unanswered.
Naruto was snapping his fingers in front of me. "Hellooo. Earth to Nami. You still there?" he shouted.
"Hey!" I shouted back, covering my ears. He can be really loud, sometimes.
"What happened to you? You spaced out." He asked again and I looked at his clock.
It was 11:30. We are supposed to meet at 12.
"It's already 11:30, Naruto! I need to go home first and take a bath! We have a meeting at 12!" I slammed the door behind me and sprinted to my house. His expression told me that he forgot that we have a meeting today. Heh. He’s lucky I went by.
I've met the Kyuubi. It is the one that attacked the village, right? They told me that Tailed-Beasts are blood-thirsty monsters. But the Kyuubi was calm. It wasn't like their description.
"Yo Guys!" I greeted them. I arrived an hour late because I know Kakashi-sensei will arrive later than me.
I noticed the tension between the three, Naruto and Sasuke glare at each other once they make eye-contact.
"Sakura? What's with the two?" I asked her.
"They weren't like this before." Sakura sighed.
"Ohhh! Now I get it! It's rivalry." I whispered to myself and got a "what?" from Sakura.
"Hey Guys ! " I jumped at them, putting my hands on each of their shoulders.
They stopped looking at each other as soon as I did that and ‘hmph-ed’ away.
Kakashi-sensei was late as usual with his unbelievable excuses. Naruto told Kakashi-sensei that he wants an exciting mission, with fire burning in his eyes. I wonder what is going on inside his head.
The mission given to us was to pull weeds. Naruto, made a competition on whoever pulls the most weeds. And of course, being him, he pulled all the weeds including the plants that shouldn’t be pulled out and received a black eye from the big Lady.
The next days were as usual. Our missions were simple stuff but Naruto was always making it hard. Of Course, Being the usual loud-mouthed Naruto.
One of the given missions was to pick litter from a stream. Naruto ended up falling to the waterfall and made Sasuke and I save him.
Second one concerns on walking dogs. I chose three dogs and played with them, like playing tag. Naruto chose the biggest dog that he couldn't control. It pulled him to the landmines but the funny thing is, only Naruto was the one hit by the explosives.
After the missions, Sasuke gave the cold shoulder to Naruto and Sakura. He told Naruto to become stronger to have his recognition and told Sakura that her skills was worst than Naruto. Kakashi just stared at us. We were dismissed and each of them went their own way.
"Kakashi-sensei?" I stopped him. He turned to me and gave me a closed-eye smile, pulling his perverted book from his pouch.
"Did something happen to the Land of the Waves and made Sasuke like that?" I asked him, sighing.
"Let me think about it." He said, staring at the sky. "Ah! Maybe when we fought Haku. He was strong. Maybe Sasuke felt inferior to him. Oh, Haku was ---"
"Yeah, yeah. Naruto already told me about him." I intervened. Suddenly a bird came flying above us and made some circles in the air and flew away.
"I need to go now. Ja." He disappeared in a puff of smoke. Without waiting for my response. Oh. Kakashi-sensei.
I walked towards Sasuke's house. It’s just behind my house so I can just jump there and jump back on my house.
I jumped towards the window, I am going to surprise Sasuke. It's been a while since I did this. A payback for earlier.
I stealthily walked inside his apartment, finding him. I can easily hide my presence so it was easy to infiltrate houses without being sensed.
I found him on the living room, standing. I jumped at his back and it really made him surprised and lose his balance. We tumbled to the ground.
"Sasuke-kuuuuun! " I flashed a peace sign and hugged him again.
He smirked and pushed me playfully away.
"Not fair!" I exclaimed, throwing my ninja sandals to him which he easily avoided. “Don’t use your ninja strength on me.”
"What do you need?" He asked me.
"Yeah. It's nice to see you." I whispered, "Nothing. Just wanted to hang out om your place."
"Hn." He commented.
"Do you have a limited vocabulary? Your words are always ‘Hn’?" I asked.
He just rolled his eyes and sat on the sofa. I just noticed that he wasn't wearing any shirts on.
"You just came out from the bath?" I asked, sitting beside him. He nodded.
I annoyed him, like I do with Neji-nii whenever I go to their houses. They were kind of alike in their own way. Egotistical, cool and strong type. Neji and Sasuke. Maybe they were twins from their past lifetimes.
"Sooooo.." I practically shouted at his ear which made him frown. "Tell me what's your problem. What happened?" I asked him.
"You could tell?" He asked me.
"I'm not your bestfriend for nothing." I stated calmly then smirked.
".......there are many people out there that are stronger than me."
"You think you're weak, just because there are people out there stronger than you?"
"..."
"Sasuke. You're an idiot." He looked at me. "There are always people out there that are stronger. Don't think you're weak because you're not. You are one of the people I know that are strong. You can always train to become stronger. You can ask help from others. You have many friends. We have many friends. It's not always about you or me. You have to reach out to others sometimes. "
Did I just say that? Wow. That was deep.
Sasuke didn't say a thing and rested his head on my shoulder, staring off into space. I went home when it got dark outside.
There are no food left in the house, so I guess I have to eat outside.
Ramen it is!
"Ramen~ Ramen~ Ramen~" I sang inside my head and bumped to someone.
"Ah, I'm sorry." I bowed slightly.
"Nami, What're you doing outside? It's already late." I looked up at the familiar voice. I was right. It was Neji-nii.
I bumped to someone who wears a green spandex suit and weird bowl-like haircut AND thick eyebrows.
He wears his forehead protector on his waist. There were bandages around his hands and wrists. The tall guy was like the one I bumped with, a bigger version. The last one was a girl with a Chinese-style bun. She wears a pink sleeveless blouse and dark green pants.
"Ah. Yeah. I'm out for dinner." I went to him and kissed his cheeks. “I’ll be going then.”
The three was surprised.
"Hi?" I asked, uncomfortable at their staring.
"Are you two going out?" The girl asked.
"What?! No!" I exclaimed and shook my head out of embarassment. Neji-nii just sighed and ignored the question.
"Nami, here's my team you were excited to meet. Lee." He looked at the boy with green spandex suit. "And Tenten." He looked at the girl who was staring at me. "And he is our sensei. Guy-sensei." He pointed at the bigger version of Lee.
"Really?!" I grinned and held out my hand. "Hello! Hello! Lee-san! My name is Nami!" I walked over to Tenten after the noisy introduction from Lee. "Hi Tenten! It's a pleasure to meet you." I grinned at her and she made her introduction too.
And finally I walked infront of their Sensei and bowed my head. "Good evening Guy-sensei! "
"Yes! This is what youth is all about! " Guy-sensei exclaimed posing an OK sign and his teeth shining. "Come, Nami. Join us. On with the power of the youth!"
"Yes, Sensei!" Lee exclaimed, saluting at Guy-sensei and following him. I giggled at their weirdness.
“Is it okay to join,Neji?” I asked and he nodded.
Guy-sensei and Lee was a meter away when Neji and Tenten decided to start walking.
"You guys always like this?" I asked them. They just sighed and nodded.
We entered a Barbecue Restaurant. Did I tell anyone about my thing for barbecues? I looove both Ramen AND Barbecues.
Third Person's POV
It was Guy's treat, they ate a lot especially Nami. They talk about things and Guy-sensei and Lee was on and on about youth. Nami was weirded out but at the same time, fond of Lee's eyebrows. She poked it and surprised Lee. She just grinned at him and continued poking.
"Great. Another weirdo." Neji whispered to himself but unfortunately, Nami heard it. He caught Neji with a head lock.
"What was that, Neji-nii? You saying something?" She asked, innocently. After a minute, he released Neji.
It was a fun night for Nami. She ate a lot of barbecues and met new friends. She was quite relieved, because she thought that they were like other ninjas who will look at her with disgust.
"Goodnight Guys. Byebye." Nami waved, and kissed the three Genins in the cheeks. Neji was used to it. But Lee and Tenten were surprised. She started walking to the other direction oblivious of Lee and Tenten's reaction.
Neji looked at the two who was holding their cheeks, staring at Nami's retreating figure.
"It's what she do to people important to her. You guys are her friends now, you have to be used to it." Neji told the two and walked to their house' direction. ‘And I think Nami was happy that you guys didn’t glare at her or something.’ Neji thought and watched Nami disappear on the crowd.
Guy-sensei looked like he was just robbed of everything he has. His wallet, empty from the bill from the Barbecue Restaurant earlier. He hadn't thought that Nami ate that much. He didn't have any money left. He has to make Kakashi share the bill.
--end