::Twelve Years Later...::
A bored-looking Amegawa Ryuu rested her head on the desk in front of her, roaring headphones concealed in her mass of tangled, ginger hair. Amidst the clash of guitars and drums, she heard the voice of her teacher scolding a student. Her guess was that it was Naruto had done something stupid.
Raising her head from its spot, Ryuu pushed her headphones down to the base of her neck; she promptly shut off the CD player after recieving a stern glare from Iruka-sensei.
The students who passed his exam the day before recieved forehead protectors, or Hitae-ate (Ryuu was wearing hers on her thigh). The scar-faced Chunin held a clipboard in his hand, ready to announce whatever was given to him. Even Shikamaru was giving him the utmost attention. Iruka clared his throat politely and began:
"Okay...Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and...Uzumaki Naruto."
Immediately upon hearing his name, Naruto stood up straight and started throwing one of his trademark fits. Ryuu sighed internally with anxiety and turned to Shikamaru, of whom was sitting adjacent to her and looking quite distressed. His eyes still had dark rings around them from the day before, from his smoking and staying up late. Ryuu nudged him with her elbow.
"...Everything okay?"
He sighed and slumped back into his seat. "No...Knowing me, I'll probably get stuck with Ino on my team. Ridiculous Ino-Shika-Chou garbage has been going on for three generations now, it's my own bad luck."
"Come on--it won't be that bad. Aren't you friends with Chouji?" The Kunoichi gripped her headphones and pushed them back over her ears. "You're probably just worrying yourself for nothing."
That elicited a slight chuckle from the Shadow-nin. "No, you're right; I'm not. But this is logic: mine and Chouji's grades even out, and then there's Ino's fighting skills. More or less we'll be on the same team." Ryuu nodded, her brows knitted in thought. Since becoming friends with Shikamaru, her reasoning had improved considerably.
"I guess that makes sense. Say, would you mind waking me up when they announce my team?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at his odd friend, as if to ask her what the hell she was talking about. She was frozen in his reaction.
"Uh, what?"
"Weren't you paying attention? He's already announced it!" Ryuu's eyes grew wide.
"Huh?!"
"Relax...don't act so troublesome; you're on Team Six with Tsuyo and Yumi."
"Oh, uh...thanks. Who are they?"
The Shadow-nin almost collapsed in an anime-style fall. Christ, if there was anything Ryuu was, it was inattentive. She stayed in her own little world most of the time, drifting into whatever fantasic dream she lived in. That was a big no-no for a Shinobi. ...But as one could notice, Amegawa Ryuu was not your average Shinobi.
[[After a Detention for listening to music in class...]]
Still wearing the said headphones, the Kunoichi strolled past the parted sea of hallways and classrooms, opening the door to a particular room: number Six, where she and her team were informed to meet.
"Look out!"
"Do, wha--ahh! It's cold!!"
Someone has stragetically placed a glass of water on the top of the door, causing it to fall directly onto a surprised Ryuu. The liquid slithering down her face, the Kunoichi's left eye twitched with well-surpressed anger, as a short girl ((Sorry, Yu-chan!)) with brown hair streaming down her back approached her with a nervous smile plastered across her face.
"I-I'm sorry! That was--"
"It's okay! Just...It's okay--I said it's okay, dammit! Please, I'm fine...For crying out loud." Ryuu shook her hair out like a sheepdog in an attempt to dry herself.
"Umm...Team six, I take it? You're Yumi and..." The brunette nodded cheerfully. A girl with ivory hair and skin rose from behind one of the front desks. Her expression was so delicate and fragile that the meer touch of your fingertip could shatter her to pieces. Yumi tried gentley to coax the white-haired girl from her sanctuary behind the desks.
"...Tsuyo. Come on--she's not gonna hurt you, or anything."
The girl refused to budge, sitting down defiantly in one of the seats. Ryuu suddenly became nervous; what had she done to evoke such a adverse response? But as long as this kid didn't try and...Say, how DID they find water? There wasn't a sink in the room, and neither of the two appeared to have drinking bottles...Taking a quick glance at the floor and her clothes, she noticed that they didn't retain any liquid at all...
"Um, Yumi? I know this sounds like a dumb question, but...where did the water go?"
The brunette smirked at her new teammate cheerfully.
"Yeah, about that...that wasn't water; it was me." As if on cue, Ryuu's eyes grew the size of lollipops. Did she step into some kind of fictional world out of an Asimov novel?
"...Uh, come again?"
"Seriously--my family came from Mist, and taught me that trick. So, I can, um, 'melt', into liquid at will. I convinced Tsuyo over there to place me over the door, and then..."
Ryuu nodded. "I see. That is interesting... But what about that girl over there?"
"That, I haven't figured out, yet. So, what're you...?"
Oh, crap--she'd forgotten to introduce herself.
"Uh, Amegawa Ryuu. And um...I don't know what I am, really."
Her teammate's eyebrow twitched out of curiousity.
"You don't? Well, do you have a Kekkei Genkai?"
"Um...I can...do you have a kunai, by any chance?"
"What for?"
"Come on--this is cool! I wanna show you!"
Yumi complied, unsheathing the blade and handing it to her teammate, a look of confusion on her face. Holding her arm at a ninety-dgree angle, Ryuu positioned the knife at her wrist and focused energy into the blade. There was no visable change as its molecules slowly broke down at the speed of a snail.
Yumi and Tsuyo raised disappointed, confused eyebrows. "If you just want attention, that's fine, Ryuu, but don't--oh. My. God."
Ryuu had dropped the kunai onto the floor, watching the weapon shatter pathetically like glass. Its gritty remnents dirtied the surface, tiny grains of steel and rawhide seeping into its cracks. The Kunoichi smiled broadly at her accomplishment.
"And I can do MUCH more than that. I can...I can create things...Like, um, I can just focus my emotions into the thing and it..." '
It dies.
Upon seeing the expressions on her teammates' faces, her smile faded. "But...you probably think I'm a freak, don't you?"
Yumi shook her head. "No way! I think it's amazing...Think about it: I can use water...you can do that, and, and Tsuyo over there has summoning skills that'll knock your socks off!" She turned to the pearly-haired chick. "Right, Tsuyo-kun?"
Surprised at the high level of emotion filling the room, Tsuyo nodded nervously. Ryuu took a step towards the girl, and extended her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Tsuyo-kun."
She smiled kindly. The other girl simply stood there like a stone, fear and apology burning painfully in her eyes and face. The brunette laid a hand on the Kunoichi's shoulder, gaining her attention.
"Ryuu...I'm sorry to tell you this, but...Tsuyo's deaf. She doesn't read lips, but...I can communicate with her through telepathy."
"Is that her...?" Yumi shook her head.
"No; her sixth sense is just so powerful, and mine is, too, so, the both of use are able to have that special friendship."
"Now THAT'S amazing." Ryuu smiled kindly.
///