Connection Between Puppets and Plants

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in it. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own Haruka and Emmi, though.

**************************************************************************************************************

~Next Day (Haruka's POV)~

“Today, I will divide you into three-man cells. Each of which will be mentored by a Jonin, a more senior ninja, who will guide and coach you as you become familiar with your various assignments.” The teacher amplified in front of the class.

You were bored out of your mind, like always. Some of the students were excited to find out who would their teammates be, some of them were just as bored as you are. The teacher had arranged the team members based on their grades in class. Your grades were just average, meaning that you could either be paired up with a smart kid or a dumb one.

Satoshi began calling out some names. You counted the numbers of students who had been put into groups by your teacher. Twenty one names have been checked on the list, except yours, Sasori’s, and one last student's whom you cared-less of.

Oh joy, I’m gonna be in the same team as Sasori... you thought in your mind. You didn’t really mind having him in your team, though. The only thing that was bothering you was the unknown last member of your team. Who was it gonna be?

“Next, cell number eight.” Satoshi announced, clearing up his throat before continuing. “Akasuna no Sasori, Shokubutsu no Haruka...”

You gulped slightly, waiting for the next name that was going to be called.

“... and Kimi Raikkichi.”

The bustling class suddenly turned silent as the bright atmosphere began to change into a dark one. The students' gazes immediately fell on you and Sasori, who were both gaping at the last name of the member on your team which had been declared by your teacher. The tense ambiance was suddenly broken by the cheering Kimi Raikkichi, who immediately ran up to you and hugged you tightly in the middle of nowhere. “Yay! Kimi Raikkichi and Haruka-chan are now teammates!”

You were still busy jaw-dropping at the moment, you didn’t notice that Sasori was glaring daggers at the boy who was glomping you. The red-head suddenly stood up and slammed his hands onto the desk in process. “Satoshi-sensei.”

The teacher looked up from his list and toward Sasori’s angry face. “Yes, Sasori?”

“I can’t assimilate why you have to put me in the same team as him.” Sasori stated coldly, emphasizing the word 'him' at the end of the sentence.

The teacher scratched his cheek nervously while grinning at the puppeteer. “Well, as you can see, Sasori, you have the best grades in class, while Kimi’s gra-“

“KIMI RAIKKICHI!” the childish boy corrected loudly, still hugging onto the stunned you.

“Hai, hai, Kimi Raikkichi!” Satoshi exhaled deeply, trying to regain his composure. “Anyway, Kimi Raikkichi’s grades are probably the worst in the class. I need to balance your different strengths, that’s why I put you both together in the same team.”

Sasori didn't seem to buy the explanations. "Are you trying to flatter me, sensei?" he asked blatantly. The teacher was about to answer, but the red-head cut him off. "Even if you aren’t, I don't see why you have to put Haruka in the same team as ours."

Satoshi sweatdropped at his stubborn pupil. "Obviously, I need her to stop you two from killing each other, isn't that right, Haruka?" he asked while glancing at you.

You were still too shocked to even say anything, so you only nodded your head as an answer.

"Aw... Haruka-chan is too happy, Satoshi-sensei! She can't even say anything to express it!" Kimi Raikkichi said, staring at your gaping face. "Kimi Raikkichi is happy to be with Haruka-chan too!" he exclaimed and kissed your right cheek. Your eyes widened at the sudden contact, but you couldn't control the heat that was rising up to your face. Despite his brain problems, Kimi Raikkichi was still a total cutie, after all.

The whole class gasped at the sight of you being kissed by the hyperactive boy. Everyone except the angy Sasori, whose eyes had almost fallen out of his sockets. "THAT'S IT!" the puppeteer yelled out loud. His face was almost as red as his hair, infuriated by what Kimi Raikkichi just did to you. He jumped to your seat and tackled the blonde onto the ground, ready to punch him square on the face.

You immediately snapped out of your trance as soon as Sasori leap himself onto the poor Kimi Raikkichi. "YAMETE, SASORI!" you yelled while catching Sasori's striking fist with both of your hands, stopping him from pulling the gut out of Kimi Raikkichi's body.

"Sasori! Kimi Raikkichi!" Satoshi called out loudly, turning everyone's attention back to him, except for Sasori and Kimi Raikkichi's of course. "If you keep this up, none of you will be trained by the jonin this afternoon! And I will give you both detentions!"

Sasori still didn't move and neither did Kimi Raikkichi. They were busy glaring at each other, with Sasori still sitting ontop of the blonde.

"Yamete Kudasai, Sasori..." you whispered the sentence out, since you knew yelling at your childhood friend would not do you any good.

With a final glare at the blonde, Sasori stood back up and went back to his seat. Satoshi exhaled in relief and smiled thankfully at you, while you only nodded in return. "Okay, so we have 8 teams in total. The jonins will be here after school, and your test will start afterward." he informed before the bell finally rang, giving the students sighs of reliefs as they were finally free from the previously strained atmosphere. "Class dismissed."

**************************************************************************************************************

The classroom was already empty. The other teams had left off with their jonins, leaving you, Sasori, and Kimi Raikkichi sitting tediously on each of your own seats. You had no idea what was taking your jonin so long to arrive at the class. You could tell that Sasori was extremely pissed off, since waiting is one thing that he hated the most.

You glanced at the red-head, who was staring off into space, then to Kimi Raikkichi who was busy paying attention to the clock on the wall. You sighed before putting your face in your palms desperately. This team is going to be sooooo miserable...

You then heard someone taking a seat next to you, and you saw that it was Kimi Raikkichi. "Hey there Kimi... er, I mean, Kimi Raikkichi..." you corrected yourself with a sweat drop.

"It's okay if Haruka-chan wants to call Kimi Raikkichi that..." the blonde said, fidgeting a bit. "Kimi Raikkichi doesn't mind."

You raised your eyebrow at him before smiling hesitantly. "Oh, okay then. Kimi it is." you uttered, earning an unnoticeable glare from the puppeteer.

Kimi Raikkichi suddenly took your hands in his own and grinned widely at you. "Kimi Raikkichi is very happy to be in the same team as Haruka-chan! Is Haruka-chan happy to be in the same team as Kimi Raikkichi?" he asked hopefully.

You looked at his face and thought to yourself. You got a special permission to call him with his first name only, and he told you that he was happy to be in the same team as you. Even your lovely childhood friend hadn't expressed his happiness of being federated with you. Maybe being in the same team as him isn't so bad after all...

You were about to answer, but suddenly, the red-head yanked you out of Kimi's grip by your arm, and dragged you over to his own seat. Kimi Raikkichi puffed his cheeks angrily while Sasori only continued to glare at him.

"Geez, what's got into you all of the sudden?" you asked, rubbing your sore arm as soon as he released his firm grip on you.

Sasori stopped glaring at the boy and looked at you. "You shouldn't get near him, you'll catch some of his harebrained disease."

You looked at his angry face and giggled, making him stared down at you in confusion. "What's so funny?"

You stopped giggling and ruffled his red locks. "Oh nothing... nothing at all... except for the fact that you are totally JEALOUS!" you laughed at him.

Sasori's face flushed with anger and embarassment, despite the fact that you were just trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere with one of your silly jokes. Seriously, Akasuna no Sasori? Jealous? That didn't even come across your mind, but making fun of him did for sure.

"I am not jealous!" he snapped at you, standing up from his seat.

"Yeah, right..." you sneered.

Sasori suddenly banged his fist on the table, making you jolted on your seat in surprise. "Whoa, relax, Sasori! I was just kidding!" you defended yourself, finally able to stop your laughing fit.

Sasori didn't listen to you. He moved out from his chair and walked his way out of the room. "Whatever, I'm out of here."

"Matte, Sasori!" you called out, running after him outside the classroom's door. You took a hold of his arm and tried to pull him back with you. "We still have to wait for our jonin!"

"I don't give a damn about our Jonin! I don't want to waste my time waiting for a person who's one hour late!" Sasori spat, pulling his arm away from your grip.

Kimi Raikkichi suddenly ran up to your side and grabbed your right arm, stopping you from pulling the red-head back to you. "Haruka-chan, just let this stupid red-head go! He's a burden to our team!"

Seeing that the blonde had once again invaded your personal space, Sasori quickly grabbed your other arm and pulled your body toward him. "How many times do I have to tell you to GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER?"

"NO!" Kimi Raikkichi yelled, yanking you back at him. "Haruka-chan wants to be with Kimi Raikkichi, not with Akasuna no Baka!"

The boys kept quarreling while drawing you by each of your arms toward their sides. You tried to tell them to stop pulling you around, but no avail. They were acting like children who weren't wiling to share their toy with one-another.

"Well, well... what do we have here?" came a gentle voice from behind you, making the three of you stopped what you were doing in reflex.

The owner of the voice walked in front of you three. He was a tall man with short black spiky hair and soft looking black eyes. He wore the same uniform as your teacher. A hint of interest was shown on his face.

"When your teacher told me that there's a certain problem in this team, he didn't say that it was a love triangle !" the man laughed.

Kimi Raikkichi suddenly let go of you, making you fell into Sasori's strong arms instead. "Our Jonin is here!" said the happy blonde, running over to the Jonin's side.

Sasori abruptly released his grip on you, making your unbalanced body fell on the ground with a thud. "Ouch! That hurts, baka!" you cursed, rubbing your butt.

He only smirked at your reaction, making you pouted angrily at him. The Jonin gazed at you, then at Sasori, then at Kimi Raikkichi who was already standing beside him.

"Now now, before the three of you continue to fight for your love affair, let's just start by introducing ourselves outside, shall we?" the jonin suggested, smiling warmly at the three of you.

"Yay! Kimi Raikkichi loves introductions! Kimi Raikkichi bets Jonin-sensei wants to know what Kimi Raikkichi's name is!" the blonde exclaimed happily, not realizing that he had already mentioned his full name in every sentence that he said.

The jonin sweatdropped, before leading your team outside to begin your introductions, along with your test of becoming his official pupils.