A/N: Different perspective than the last chapter, but I like the flow.  No one's really worried about consistency in writing style here, are they?  I didn't think so.

This chapter is in the Naruto world, and I've decided it will take place after the chuunin exam, in that mysterious parallel dimension that the Jump Specials seem to take place in.  Why?  I want Sakura's hair short.  'Nuff said.

Again, there's a glossary at the bottom.


Chapter Two:   From Bad to Worse




Sakura was not having a good day.

She glared at two of her male companions, and barely refrained from glaring at the third.

All three remained oblivious.

Sakura decided to settle for just glaring at Naruto, in the hopes that he would eventually notice and shut up.  After all, it was his fault that she was having a bad day.  Well, Kakashi-sensei’s too.  She glared at him briefly before recognizing that even if he did notice her frustration, he wouldn’t acknowledge it.

She glared at Naruto some more.

Stupid Kakashi-sensei and his “missions.”  This time the team had needed to retrieve a book from the library for a visiting daimyo.  Sakura wasn’t even sure how getting a book qualified as a mission.  She had recognized the title of the book as one that her father had in his library, and expected that she and her team would have been able to find it in the library and leave within a matter of minutes.  Of course, nothing was ever that simple where Naruto was concerned.

As she continued to glare at Naruto, she remembered how everything had gone wrong so quickly.  She had gone up to ask the librarian where to find the book, and Naruto had been practically tripping on her heels, looking around with his mouth agape.  Sasuke was also looking around, but with much more dignity, and an air of apparent boredom.  Kakashi had, of course, decided that a library was a great place to read his book.

The librarian had been looking up the row where their book could be found in a massive cabinet that housed the card catalog.  Naruto had been concentrating chakra to his feet and legs and jumping up and down to see if he could jump high enough to see over the top of the enormous bookshelves.  Just as Sakura had been about to put him in a headlock to stop his jumping, he fell sideways into the card catalog, knocking it over, and spilling the cards everywhere.

Sakura remembered the librarian turning a disturbing shade of red for someone that old before fiercely whispering at the team to remove themselves from the premises and never return.  Sakura kicked a loose rock in her path.  How could *she* have been kicked out of a library?  Stupid, stupid Naruto.  She was acknowledged as the smartest person in their class and now she couldn’t go to the library!

Naruto suddenly stopped talking.

Sakura sighed with relief, but continued to glare.

Naruto stared right back at her.  “Sakura-chan?”

Sakura narrowed her eyes, then switched her gaze to the road to her house.  After Naruto had gotten them kicked out, she had told Kakashi-sensei that her father owned the book, so now the entire team was going to her house to retrieve it, despite her protests that she could manage by herself if she had a little help, mainly from Sasuke.  She glared at Kakashi briefly.  Stupid teamwork.

Naruto had started talking again.  Sakura’s eyebrow twitched.

Five...

"...I mean, how was I supposed to know..."

Four...

"...why wouldn't it be bolted to the floor?"

Three...

"...wonder what would've happened if I'd run into a bookshelf?"

Two...

"...dare you to go in and try it, Sasuke..."

One...

“Naruto, you moron!” she yelled, accompanying her words with a punch to his jaw.  The boy quit talking with a yelp of pain.  “This is all your fault!  You got me kicked out of the library!  The library!!  I think you’ve done enough for one day, so would you just SHUT UP?!”

Kakashi and Sasuke wisely stopped a few feet away from the entrance to the alley where Sakura had cornered Naruto.

Kakashi decided to intervene before the blonde boy was knocked unconscious.  “Maa, maa, Sakura—“  He stopped talking and glanced down into the alleyway.  Sasuke took a step toward them, as Sakura let Naruto slump to the ground from where she had him pinned against the wall.

“You guys—do you feel that?” she whispered.

Neither answered, and she reached nervously into her kunai pouch and gripped the handle of her weapon.  Naruto stood up dizzily and joined them at the entrance to the alley.  Together, the four of them stared intently into the darkness, trying to pinpoint the reason for their unease.



If you watch Naruto, these terms are probably familiar, but if you don't, here's my little glossary for current and possible future reference.

daimyo: feudal lord

shinobi: another term for a ninja

chakra: energy that a ninja concentrates to parts of the body or into jutsus (techniques)

kunoichi: female ninja

kunai: ninja dagger

shuriken: throwing stars

genin: beginner ninjas...the first level out of the academy

jounin: elite, advanced ninjas

Konoha: the village this story takes place in, home of the Hidden Leaf (Naruto, etc) shinobi


And, just in case anyone is completely lost at this point, the characters from the first chapter are from the anime ROD the TV.  Michelle (oldest, at 24 I think), Maggie (19), and Anita (youngest, at 12) are three sisters who can manipulate paper into doing things like forming shields, bow and arrows (Michelle), animals for fighting, flying, or lifting (Maggie), or using each sheet for a dagger-like weapon (Anita's specialty).  Of course, they can do other things with the paper too, but those are the basics.  Nenene is an author in Japan who the sisters are stying with and protecting from further assassination attempts like the one which occured in the first episode.

The characters from this chapter are from Naruto.  Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are twelve-year-old rookie genin who make up one team, headed by the jounin teacher Kakashi.  Sasuke and Naruto both have special abilities, and are quite strong, especially for genin, but Sakura is a fairly undeveloped character, whose only real practical assets in battle so far are her intelligence and perfect chakra control.  I have a feeling that most people reading this story will be familiar with Naruto, so it probably doesn't require as much of an explanation.  Plus, I think I did a better job of portraying the characters and relationships in this chapter than I did in the previous one.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to email me a review and I will definitely respond to you. It's not like I have an overwhelming number of them... :::checks empty mailbox:::  Constructive criticsm is most assuredly welcome.  I'm an English major, so editing is important to me.  I also tried to keep everyone in character, so if I've failed in either of these aspects (or any others ~_^ ), please feel free to let me know.


Next chapter: Face to Face!  Nenene's San Shimai vs. Kakashi's Team Seven!

...actually, not much happens.  They just meet, yell at each other, etc...  But reactions are fun.