A/N First, the part where Naomi freaks out in her room and acts all suspicious and stuff, is not my work. it's from a story on quizilla and i wish i could remember which one. all i know is that i was granted permission, so please don't accuse me of plagerism. And one more thing, if you can answer the following question I will dedicate one of the chapters to you...
In a world where rhinoceroses (is that the plural of rhinoceros?) are domesticated pets, who wins the Second World War? (hint, you'd know this if you watch The Big Bang Theory a.k.a. the best television show other than anime ever created)
Naomi had no alarm. She always managed to wake ten minutes before the sun rose. She’d make herself a cup of warming, soothing Jasmine tea and leaned on her balcony railing, watching the magnificent sunrise as it painted the sky red and gold, her two favorite colors.
That morning was no different. She breathed in the cool, refreshing smell of the brisk morning air, enjoying the silent peace throughout the village, quite opposite of the usual, bustling life in the streets. She tried to enjoy the sunrise like usual, but her mind kept wandering back to what Asuma had told them the previous day.
We’re going to have an invigorating training session tomorrow!
The grip on her tea cup suddenly tightened immensely as a low growl escape her lips. If it meant kicking Shika’s ass, she’d put up with anything, even a few more insults from Ino and a few more days of neglect from Asuma.
Snorting a laugh, Naomi shook her head and took a sip from her tea. She was thinking too much. She watched the early morning sunrise for a reason, and one reason only: to clear her mind and calm her for the day’s upcoming lessons.
So she slumped her shoulders and downed the rest of her tea just as the sun showed itself fully above the horizon. She was going to make the best of this day. She had a good feeling about it.
Her cat gave a hungry meow from the kitchen as she sauntered up to Naomi and pleaded at her with her large golden eyes. Well, she technically didn’t belong to Naomi. She was a stray cat, an alley cat, which Naomi happened to find sneaking through her garbage one night.
Ever since then, the two had become undeniably close, and although the cat didn’t have an officially name, she always knew when Naomi was calling to her.
“Okay, okay,” Naomi giggled, “you’re hungry, I get it. I’ll go get you some food.”
The cat followed at her heels impatiently. Naomi pulled out a can of processed tuna and scrunched her nose at the thought.
“I don’t know how you guys eat this stuff. It’s repulsive,” she muttered before peeling back the metal lid and plopping the mushy substance onto a plate. “Here you are. Eat up.”
Her cat dashed towards the food instantly, purring as she did. Naomi wasted no time in preparing a bowl of warm milk for Her Royal Highness before she could complain again. The bowl was set right beside the plate as Naomi watched her little kitten with adoring eyes.
“I suppose I do have to give you a name, though,” she mused thoughtfully, scratching her kitten’s ears. “Why not just Cat? It’s what I’ve been calling you all this time, anyways.”
Her kitten raised its head to glare at her like a deriding mother before returning back to her food, but she’d gotten the message across. The look she’d clearly given her Master was ‘at least try to be the slightest bit creative.’
Chuckling, Naomi sighed in exasperation, “Okay, okay, fine.” Her expression scrunched adorably as she thought of another name. “How about Neko? It means cat in Japanese. That’s your name. Neko.”
Neko gave a disgruntled huff as she licked her lips in satisfaction before prancing over to the balcony and jumping off. Of course, even though they were on the third floor, Neko managed to land gracefully and silently on all fours.
Naomi did nothing to stop her. She was an outside cat, after all. But she did sigh dreamily after Neko left.
“If only I could always land on my feet like that. That would make things so much easier.”
She set to washing the dishes. The minutes ticked by slowly, almost too slowly for Naomi. After what seemed like forever, she decided that there was no harm in arriving at the training grounds a little early to get a head start.
She grabbed her Leaf headband on the way out and wrapped it around her slim waist like usual.
Screw forehead protectors, the waist was more vulnerable. It was easier to pierce through than skull.
As she stood before the empty training grounds silently, her eyes fixed on one particular spot: one specific tree that she always trained with. Naomi turned her back towards it, twirling a shuriken skillfully in her right hand.
After a deep breath, she swung around and released the weapon, watching as it landed dead on her mark; straight on the X she’d carved into it many years ago.
Instead of smiling in victory, she frowned and tilted her head. “Why aren’t I good enough?” she muttered before pulling her shuriken out of the bark and replacing it in her pouch. “Why aren’t I strong enough?”
Shikamaru’s shuriken would’ve inflicted much more damage if he’d hit. She knew it. She’d seen what he could do. So why couldn’t she?
A silver flash whisked out of her hand as a kunai hit the mark. Smirking, Naomi flung more and more weapons at the mark, each time picturing Shikamaru’s head right where the target was. By the time she’d run out of weapons, she was sweaty and panting from exhaustion. But she was happy.
“Naomi! What are you doing out here so early?”
“Asuma-sensei!” she gasped in surprise. “I—I was just getting some practice in before we started training.” She flushed sheepishly and toyed with the end of her shirt. He chuckled at her, ruffling the top of her hair parentally.
“Yes, but now you’ve worn yourself out. We still have another hour ‘til training starts. Why don’t you go home and rest? I’ll let you skip warm-up. It seems you’ve got that part down already.” He glanced nervously at the beaten down tree. “Just be back in two hours so you don’t miss the main part.”
She bowed her head and nodded obediently. “Yes, sensei.”
He flashed a reassuring smile. “Hey, you’ve seemed out of sorts lately. Is anything wrong?”
“N—No, sensei. I’m going to go home now.”
By the look in his eyes, she could tell he didn’t believe her, but he still let it slip. “Alright then. Rest up.”
“Thank you, sensei.”
Naomi could feel his eyes on her back as she made her way sluggishly back to her apartment.
Her natural instinct took over as she locked the door behind her. Her eyes scanned the simple room before finally deciding to take a step forward, only to analyze the chamber she called her room once more.
Now certain nothing or no one was unknowingly in there, she began to step cautiously and quietly, making almost no sound as her bare feet slipped across the plush carpet that inhabited the floor. Stretching out her delicate hand, she reached for the closet door. Pinpricks of ghostly fear, of not knowing what was going to happen, entered her soul, causing goose bumps to emerge as a cold sweat broke in.
She turned the silver knob, gulping down a dreaded scream. The door slowly creaked open.
It was empty.
Her grey eyes shifted to the bed. Crouching down, she reached for the long ruler that she kept on the floor every day in the exact position and distance she needed.
The end of the ruler began to lift the fur cover that dangled at the side of the bed, allowing just enough light to shine into the darkness. Once more did her eyes begin to work, scanning all the corners for any sign of the creature she was looking for, but nothing appeared.
Letting out a relieved sigh, she began to walk back towards the window.
Three long steps, five short steps, Naomi come on! You’ve done this so many times!
Finally deciding to take the long steps, she allowed herself to meet the cold glass. Closing her eyes, she turned around and reached for the thick, black satin curtains on each side with trembling fingers. She pulled them, hearing the metal rings slide against the silver rod before coming to a halt as the fabric ends touched each other.
Naomi’s eyes opened. She made her way to turn off the lights only to turn around and end up running for her life before landing on her bed.
She hated this apartment. It had already been two months, but she still hated it with every fiber in her body. She knew with her burning core that she hated it.
The last apartment had endured the same punishment: hated by her and constantly despised. Especially her room.
…
Okay, so it wasn’t the house. It was her room, in every apartment she’d been to. Except for the first. But back then she’d been living with—
Her wandering mind was interrupted by a muffled voice, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on edge. The sound seemed to be coming from beneath the kitchen sink.
Naomi let out an exasperated sigh, knowing exactly who it was. Her guard dropped instantly. She was right yet again. She’d found him. He was back.
Sliding gracefully across the plush carpet, she slipped into her tiled kitchen, making sure her delicate footwork never strayed or stepped out of the shadows’ boundaries. Her dainty hand reached the handle, and she yanked, springing quickly back onto her granite island.
The goofy, familiar blonde tumbled out, along with a carton of milk, some cups of instant-ramen, and an apple or two. He immediately sprung to his feet, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.
“I, uh…”
Crossing her arms playfully over her chest, she raised an eyebrow and tapped her foot impatiently. “Yes, Naruto? What’s your excuse this time?”
“Um…fixing the pipe?”
Naomi snorted and shook her head. “If you’re going to continuously try and unsuccessfully steal food from me, the least you can do when you’re caught is come up with a reasonable excuse.”
She stooped down and gathered the food items, placing them each in their respectable spot in the fridge.
Naruto scowled in defeat and muttered, “Turn on the lights before something gets you.”
The comment was made to tease Naomi, but her heart throbbed harder as light flooded the kitchen with a swift flick of her wrist. Her eyes narrowed at her friend’s blue ones, almost exact replicas of her own but shaded a different color.
“What do you want, Naruto?”
“Geez, way to be blunt, Nay.” He plopped himself down on my couch, switching the tv on with a simple click of a button. As his eyes searched the show with interest, he asked, “Can I crash here tonight? I forgot to pay the electricity bill, so the fan isn’t working at my place. It’s much cooler here.”
Looking away, she shrugged. “Sure, but…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he interjected, “I have to check your closet and under the bed to see if there’s monsters. Nay, I’ve been doing that for you ever since we were little.”
Naomi shook her head. Of course he didn’t understand. Boys never did. Being a paranoid ninja tended to do that to you.
There were things that lurked in the night. In every dark corner that she left unchecked those creatures hid. When she took a shower when nobody was there, her overactive imagination could only imagine the things coming out of her drawers, slithering, sliding towards her, watching. Waiting. Waiting to kill her.
“Whatever, just keep to your side of the bed and you won’t hear any complaints from me,” she sighed uninterestedly as she crawled into bed. Pulling the covers up to cover her nose, she eyed Naruto from a distance.
They were too much alike, Naruto and her. They both lost their parents at an unusually young age, and they were both too weak to help themselves. Only Naruto had what she never obtained: determination. He worked until he bled, and he never gave up. It was one of the few things Naomi admired about him.
That and he never seemed lonely without anyone around, much unlike her.
“Shouldn’t you be training for the Chuunin Exams?”
Naruto’s voice and sudden question snapped her back into reality.
“No. Asuma-sensei gave me a few extra hours since I started training so early on my own. Wake me up in an hour and a half, okay? It’s the least you can do for barging in here unannounced. And shouldn’t I ask the same question of you?”
Cracking a goofy smile, Naruto shook his head and flicked through the channels in boredom. “Nope. Kakashi-sensei gave us the day off to rest up for the big event. Tomorrow we’ll do a bit of review for half the day, then we get the rest of the day to ourselves. You’re not doing anything tomorrow, right?”
“No, we get the day off, too,” I yawned curling into a little ball under my down comforter.
“Awesome, then you won’t mind grabbing some ramen with me at lunch, do you? Our team’s meeting up there to have a pre-exam party. Hey, maybe you can invite Ino-Shika-Cho and Asuma!”
That was another thing Naomi hated. She always heard Ino-Shika-Cho, but never Ino-Shika-Cho-Nay. She was never a part of her team’s nicknames.
“Sure, but you’re paying for Choji’s bill,” she snickered. Naruto moaned.
“Forget it!” he snapped. “Just leave Cho and bring the rest.”
I giggled. “You just called Choji a butterfly.”
“What?” Naruto’s face read pure confusion.
“Nothing, just ‘cho’ means butterfly in Japanese.”
“Oh.” Then he gave me that look he always did, the one that read ‘you’re so weird, Nay.’
Giving another audible yawn, I curled further into the warmth of my bed and snuggled into my pillow. “G’night, Naruto.”
“Night, Nay. And don’t sweat it, I’ll wake y—”
She was already asleep.