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Kohona High Book I: Freshmen; Shinobi in Training

Chapter I
Umi Uchiha

“Hey! Billboard Brow!” Ino Yamanaka called out in the middle of a crowded hallway.

“What do you want, Inopig!?” Sakura yelled back, using their old nicknames for each other. The two girls were best friends, but they often viewed each other as rivals, especially when it came to Sasuke Uchiha, the most popular boy at Kohona High.

“Did you hear? There’s a new transfer student here somewhere.” Ino told the pink haired kunoichi, waving her hands about like it was yesterday’s news.

“Really? What’s her name?” Sakura asked with a smile.

“I-I-How would I know!” Ino growled. “I haven’t even met her yet. I just heard it from Tenten.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Ino-chan.” Sakura apologized, smile widening. She figured that Ino wouldn’t know the girl’s name.

“But I do know where she’s coming from!” Ino said, covering up for herself.

“Where?”

“The Village Hidden in the Shadows.” Ino said casually. Sakura was shocked, but she would never let that show to Ino. She was shocked that the blond girl actually did know, unless she was making up.

No, Sakura decided. Ino was telling the truth. You could tell when she was lying. Ino Yamanaka had a terrible poker face.

The two friends headed together towards their homeroom, where they met up with a bunch of their other ninja friends. Shino Aburame was already sitting in a seat in the far back corner of the room, like always. He was a bit mysterious, and because of his “bug” problem, Sakura found a little creepy. Ino flounced over to the desk where Tenten was sitting, planning to ask her about the new girl. Sakura followed, equally curious.

“Hey Tenten, do you know--” Ino started, but Tenten cut her off by pointing behind her towards Shino.

Sakura and Ino looked over to where Shino was sitting at the same time, spotting a girl standing in front of him, talking. She had shoulder length, shining black hair and dark blue, almost black, eyes, and was wearing low black jeans with a silver belt that was tilted at her hips, and a black tank top that barely reached her jeans. She also wore black boots and at least six bangles on her right wrist, five on the other. Her right ear was pierce three times, so Sakura was guessing that the other ear was too, and a strange looking tattoo under her right eye.

“She’s…the new girl?” Ino asked slowly. “She’s kind of…gothic, don’t ya think?”

“She looks friendly though.” Sakura pointed out. “It’s not every day that someone talks to Shino.”

Ino then walked over confidently to where the girl was standing to introduce herself. The girl looked at Ino with emotionless eyes that reminded Sakura of Sasuke’s eyes for some weird reason. “Hey, I’m I-:”

“Don’t care.” The girl said bluntly. “I’ve heard about you. Stuck up, think you’re gorgeous.” She laughed. “I think that about sums it up.”
Ino opened her mouth to reply, but at that instant the bell rang and the teacher, Kurenai-sensei, walked in, yelling for her students to stand in the back of the room so she could take attendance and assign seats. Please put me with Sasuke, Sakura prayed in the back of her mind.

“Shino Aburame,” Kurenai-sensei said. “You’ll stay where you are.” She had never really liked bugs now that Sakura thought about it. Not that she could blame her.

The door slid open just before Kurenai-sensei could speak again. “Shikamaru Nara. Late again.” She paused, checking off Shikamaru’s name on her sheet. “First row, front desk.”

Shikamaru groaned, “How troublesome. I knew I should have skipped today.” That last part was under his breath, because he knew that he’s get in trouble if Kurenai-sensei had heard him.

“Beside Shikamaru is Choji Akimichi, and beside him is Ino Yamanaka.” She finished.

How ironic, Ino thought glumly. I have to sit with my Shinobi partners.

Kurenai-sensei continued through the seating chart. Sakura got stuck with Rock Lee and Sasuke, so she wasn’t really complaining, though Rock Lee did creep her out too. Hinata, Naruto, and Neji sat together, and Tenten was stuck with Sai and Gaara, a boy from the Suna, the Village Hidden in the Sand.

“Okay, now for our newest student, Emi Uchiha.” Kurenai read off, checking the sheet of paper as she read. Sakura held back a gasp and glanced as Sasuke, who was as calm as ever. Where they related? “You’ll be sitting with Shino and Kiba Inuzuka…Kiba! What have I told you about bringing the dog to class?”

“Sorry, Kurenai-sensei, but Akamaru and I go everywhere together.” Kiba said, but he didn’t really sound sorry. “If he goes, I go.”

Kurenai sighed. “Fine.” She said tightly. “He can stay.”

“Ya-hoo! I could hug you sensei!” Kiba cried.

“Please don’t. I have a headache already. Dammit, looks like Kakashi won that bet.” Kurenai rubbed her temple, closing her eyes tight.

“What bet, sensei?” Sakura asked curiously, as Emi and Kiba took their seats.

“How long it would take for Kiba to give me a headache.” She groaned. “I said all day, he bet that it would only take about five minutes.”

Kiba grinned and tilted his chair onto the two back legs, grinning as he said, “It looks like you don’t know me well enough, Sensei, which is a shame since I trained with you almost every day.”

Emi frowned, and her hand shot out, pushing the chair all the way back so Kiba fell backwards and landed on his head. “YEOW! What was that for!?”

“One, for being a smart a**, and two, that’s why you don’t tilt back in your chair around me.” Emi replied as emotionless as Sai used to be.

“Hmph!” Kiba growled as he sat his chair back up.

“It probably wasn’t the best idea to set them together, Sensei.” Sakura stated.

“Shut it, Haruno!” Kiba shouted, starting to loose his temper.

“All of you! Quiet!” Kurenai-sensei shouted, regaining order quickly. “Okay…please, let’s just all try to get along for about a half an hour. Then you’re free and I’ll only see a few of you again until next marking period in a few months. Basically, all I have to do is go over Kohona High rules and regulations, all of which no one enforces and are all entirely pointless.” This earned a few laughs. “If it stays quiet,” She continued. “I’ll let you go early.”

The room stayed dead silent the entire time, and it took Kurenai-sensei only about ten minutes to go over everything, and they were free for twenty minutes, then they’d have to head to first period. Emi made sure she was the last one out since she didn’t want to talk to anyone, especially that blond haired pig, and she was sure everyone would want to talk to her about her last name. She already had to explain it to Kiba, and she was thankful that Shino wasn’t nosy.

Emi’s first class was biology, and she didn’t really need to bring anything other than her pencil. She exited Kurenai-sensei’s room cautiously, and headed across the hall to her next room. Again, she entered cautiously, and then figured that she wouldn’t be able to hide from the questions forever. She picked a seat far away from people and stared at the seat in front of her.

“Ah! You’re in this class too?”

Emi twitched. That voice…that annoying, scratchy, obnoxious voice. She opened her eyes and glared up at Naruto. “Yeah, what about it?”

Naruto shrugged. “Nothing. At least there’s somebody I know here. I’ll sit with you!”

“No, that’s okay!” Emi protested, but Naruto chose to ignore her, sitting down beside her anyway. She mentally sighed. “So, there’s really no one else in this class that you could bug?”

“Nope! We’re the only ones from Kurenai-sensei’s homeroom. Why? Don’t you like talking to people?” Naruto asked.

“I’m not the social type, if you couldn’t tell.” She said dully. “And I really don’t like it when people don’t take the hint that they’re not wanted around right now.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean!” Naruto agreed. “I hate it when people bug me, and I give them hints to leave me alone, and they just don’t take ‘em!”

“Baka…” Emi muttered, rolling her eyes. “You just don’t get it, do you?”

Class had started, however, leaving Naruto unable to reply as Hayate, their teacher, stepped into the classroom, coughing like usual.

***

Biology had always been her worst subject, and there was no way that Emi would sink so low as to admit that she actually enjoyed Naruto’s company. Heck, she even refused to laugh at his jokes, which were hilarious half the time. She frowned, remembering why she had been banished to the Land of Shadow in the first place. Thinking about Naruto had brought up unwanted memories that she thought she had disposed of years ago. “Apparently not…” She muttered in annoyance.

“Apparently not what?”

Emi froze and turned around, half ashamed that she dropped her guard and let someone sneak up on her, and she was even more ashamed when she saw that that someone was Kiba himself. “None of your business!” She snapped.

“Headin’ to English class?” Kiba asked, ignoring Emi’s rude tone.

“Yeah…” She said quietly.

“Don’t worry, if we get seated next to each other again, I’ll remember to sit on all four legs this time. If I don’t, I might get a concussion.” Kiba laughed when Akamaru voice his opinions in two high pitched barks.
“Yeah, or Akamaru could get hurt.”

“You can understand him?”

“Sure! We spend so much time together, I guess I just picked up a few words here and there.” Kiba spoke as if everyone could understand dog language.

“Words? All he said was “arf”.” Emi said in disbelief.

“Nah. You just have to look past that. After spending so much time with an animal, you sort of…form a bond with them. I can understand Akamaru, and I can’t stand eating any food I can’t chew on.” Kiba shrugged.

Emi stayed silent. She knew Kohona ninja were amazingly talented, but she didn’t know they were that talented. She hadn’t been in Kohona since she was three because she had been banished at an extremely young age for reasons she didn’t quite understand yet. To make a bond with an animal that was so strong he could actually understand what it said. That was simply amazing, not that she would say that out loud.

“Oh great.” Kiba groaned.

“What?” Emi asked, breaking out of her train of thought.

“Neji Hyuga’s got this class too.” Kiba informed her.

“Who?”

“Neji Hyuga. He’s a ninja prodigy. A genius.” Kiba repeated. “You know…Byakugen*…See inside your body type thing. God, that guy gives me the creeps sometimes.”

See inside your body? Emi frowned. “That is…disturbing.” She admitted.

Kiba laughed dryly. “You’re telling’ me! Neji is pretty much better than everyone at everything, and he’s not afraid to show it.”

“I know you’re talking about me, Inuzuka.” Neji said from behind them, his dry voice pissing Emi off for some reason.

“Damn it.” Was all Kiba said.

Emi turned around to face Neji and was taken aback. “Um…you said Neji was a he, right?” She asked Kiba loudly, earning laughs from the crowd around them. Kiba made a strange hissing noise that would’ve gone perfectly with a cat, making a slicing motion with his hand across his neck. Emi turned back to Neji. “Right.”

The “boy” called Neji had long black hair and pupil-less purple eyes. He wore a frown on his face, and was clearly angry that someone had openly made fun of him. “Normally, I don’t care what people think about me, but when the new girl who made many bad first impressions thinks she’s funny, then I get mad. But I won’t make a fool of myself like Inuzuka and loose my temper. No. I actually know how to control it.”

Emi bared her teeth. “What makes you think you’re so great, huh?” She hissed. She was really starting to despise Neji Hyuga. She wanted to pound his face in and make him learn a thing or two. She held it back, clenching her hands into fists.

“It looks like someone else has a temper too. You two will make great friends.” Neji laughed and pushed past Emi and into the English room.

Emi cracked her knuckles in fury, trying her hardest to calm down. Her first real enemy in Kohona. And she had been hoping to avoid socializing at all so things like this wouldn’t happen. Shino was easy to talk to, since they were pretty much interested in the same thing. Butterflies. But Kiba, she found it easy to talk to him too, even though she thought he was annoying, like Naruto.

“What’s wrong?”

Emi looked up only to find herself starring at the pink haired girl from homeroom. “Eh?”

“I asked, what’s wrong?” She repeated.

“We had a run-in with Neji.” Kiba answered for her.

“Oh, so now you got Emi tangled in with your personal problems?” The girl scolded, green eyes furious.

“WHAT!?” Kiba yelled in shock. “No! She picked a fight on her own!”

“I did. My fights are my own. I wouldn’t fight Kiba’s for him. I’m sure he could handle Neji on his own.” Emi said with a shrug.

The girl laughed and Kiba grunted but didn’t respond, though Emi thought she saw a light tinge of pink on his cheeks. Was he embarrassed? She tried her hardest not to burst out laughing.

“I’m Sakura, by the way.” The girl said, introducing herself.

“Emi, but you probably already know that.” Emi responded.

“You bet she does.” Kiba agreed. “Sakura Haruno is one of the smartest students here.”

Sakura blushed. “I am not, Kiba!”

“Stop being so modest all the time!” Kiba growled. “You are too, and you should be proud of it. Don’t be afraid to show off sometimes.”

“Just don’t show off too much, like him.” Emi joked, a small smile appearing on her face of a split second.

“Hey! How would you know!” Kiba yelled.

“I didn’t.”



Emi got through second period perfectly fine, despite the fact that Neji was in that class and some strange guy kept throwing paper balls at her head. Lunch was next, which Emi was grateful for, since her stomach decided to start rumbling at the end of class.

“Aw, is Emi hungry?” Kiba cooed.

“Do you want a fist in your face?” Emi asked.

“No, not really.”

“Then I’d shut up if I were you.”

“So violent, Emi-chan! You really should control you temper a little better.” Kiba mused.

“Like you can talk, Kiba-kun!” Naruto joked, coming up from behind. Shino and that strange guy in the green jumpsuit was with him, along with Sakura and Hinata, a shy girl who usually stood behind everyone, listening, not talking.

The six friends got in line to get a lunch, grabbing their drink (which was milk, much to Kiba’s dismay). Emi frowned, looking into the line next to the one she stood in. “Hey, Bushybrows, toss me a chocolate milk.”

He looked up, hair falling into his strangely round eyes, smiling politely. He handed me his drink, then reached to get another for himself, all without saying a word. Emi frowned, moving forward in line. Just a little strange, she thought, paying for her lunch.

When Emi got out of line, she was shocked to see Kiba waiting for her. He told her that they usually all sat together, and since she was his friend, she should sit with them too. Emi guessed, that by they, he meant Naruto, Shino, Bushybrows, Sakura, and Hinata.

“Hey…Kiba-kun?” She said slowly, as if unsure to use the honorific.

“Yeah?” Kiba replied.

“What’s that guy’s name? The one in the green jumpsuit?” She asked finally.

“Oh him? Rock Lee. He may look strange, but he’s got a heart of gold. Literally.” Kiba grinned, sitting down at an empty table and opening his lunch. “Bento, again! When will they ever feed us anything good?”

“I wouldn’t complain if I were you.” Sakura said curtly, sitting down beside Emi. “Be thankful they feed us at all.”

“I agree with Dogboy though.” Naruto admitted. “The food isn’t that good. We should have ramen. Now that would be a great lunch.”

Emi looked across the table at Shino, who sat next to Hinata, eating his lunch in silence. “I don’t know why you sit with them.” She said silently.

“Nothing better to do.” He replied bluntly.

“Shino’s just upset that Ino isn’t in his lunch this year.” Sakura teased. Shino blushed lightly, but didn’t reply.

“He’s probably sitting with us for the same reason you are, Emi-chan.” Kiba said casually.

“You forced me too!” Emi argued.

“I did not!” Kiba retorted. “You came on your own free will.”

“Is that all you guys can do?” Sakura asked.

The rest of the day went by quickly, her last two classes of the day being math and gym. The only people she knew that shared math class with her were Hinata and Ino, though Emi didn’t like to admit that she knew the blonde haired girl. She honestly couldn’t see what Shino saw in her. Gym was easily the best class of the day. She shared it with all her friends, Kiba, Sakura, Naruto, and Shino. She didn’t really talk to Hinata that much, since the girl couldn’t say a clear sentence.

At the end of the day, Emi found herself walking in uncomfortable silence with Kiba and Sasuke on either side. Kiba lived rather close to the Uchiha residence, which is where Sasuke lived and where Emi would live when she was in Kohona. She also discovered that Kiba and Sasuke got along as well as light and darkness. Kind of like Kiba and Neji. When Kiba makes enemies, he never gets rid of them.

Emi waved goodbye to Kiba when the reached the Uchiha house, and Kiba ran the rest of the way to his house, Akamaru barking at his heels. She had to admit, it was a pretty interesting first day of high school, and it probably couldn’t have gone better. She wasn’t really expecting to make any friends, and though she hated to admit it, when she went to bed that night, she was looking forward to going to school the next morning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Seven pages long. Only took me five hours. Literally. It's the ninja from Naruto in highschool. I'll put up the next chapter once I get it done. Also, If you have a fanfiction account, I'll put it up on there. Please tell me if you do, so I can add you to my fave authors list. :3

I bet Kiba's gonna find this funny. xd