A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

"Bye, mom! I'm off to the Academy," I yell over my shoulder, making my way down the wooden stairs to the front door.

"Alright, Kimina! Good luck on your final exam today!" I hear her reply from the kitchen.

"Thanks, mom! I'll need it!" I open the door and walk outside out onto the road. The light breeze of the wind softly hits my face, as I look up at the bright blue sky and the bright shining sun above. Sigh. Perfect. Not a cloud in the sky.

"Looks like it's going to be another nice day," I say aloud, stumbling my way through the bustling crowds to the Ninja Academy.

~~**~~

"Hey! I want to seat next to Sasuke!"

"No! I do! I want to seat next to Sasuke!"

'Man, here we go again. Whatever those girl's see in that jerk-faced loser, I'll never know,' I think with a small chuckle. I shake myself of my thoughts, and slide the door open and walk into the classroom. I look around the room at the same scene that occurs every morning. A huge group of girls surrounding the most infamous stuck-up boy a person would ever meet; Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto was trying to get some of the girl's attention, but failing miserably. Kiba and Lloyd battling it out in small contests, to see who was the best. Shikamaru watching them lazily, along with Chouji who was eating a bag of chips. Hah, that never fails. And Rakuyo was sitting in his usually corner away from the crowds. My gaze lingers on him until I hear a soft voice whisper my name.

"Hmm? Oh, hey, Hinata!" I exclaim happily, spotting her sitting right in the front row. I begin to walk over to her, but Kiba Inuzuka and Lloyd Yukohama stop me short.

"Hey, Kimina. You ready for the final exam today?" Kiba asks me, smirking.

"Yeah, of course I am! I've been practicing all week for this!" I answer his cocky smirk with my confident grin.

"Yeah, me too! Even though I didn't really have to. I mean, I'm already a natural at being a ninja!" Lloyd nods his head matter-of-factly.

I roll my eyes dramatically. "Pfft. Yeah, right Lloyd. I bet you don't even know the basic meaning of being a Leaf shinobi,"

"I do too! Just you wait! I'm gonna' past this exam with flying colors! Then I'll become a great ninja!" he exclaims boastly.

"Yeah, we'll see about that. Just don't let it fill up your head too much... don't want you to get too disappointed," I state sarcastically. I walk away then with a broad smile, leaving Lloyd glaring after me.

"Hey, Hinata," I say, sitting down on the chair next to her.

"Oh. Hi... Kimina," she replies, smiling slightly. I smile back at her, and then look over to the group of girl's standing across from me, completely and literally drooling over the black-haired loser.

"Yep... I'll never know," I mutter annoyed.

"Hmm? Did... did you say something?" Hinata asks me kindly.

"Oh... no I didn't. Just me talking to myself, is all!" I shake me head widly, my black hair hitting me across the face.

"Oh. So... so... are you ready for the exam today?" she asks a bit shyly. I notice her cheeks were a bit flushed.

"Yeah, I am! I'm kinda psyched actually! And you?" I question her back.

"Uhhh... yes... I am. Oh!" Hinata turns her face from me, blushing.

"Hmmm? Hinata? What's the matter?" I ask surprised, bewildered by her sudden change of mind. I then look to the other side of me and see a bright color of orange, and a mess of yellow hair. Naruto. Now I understood why Hinata was acting the way she was.

"Hey, Kimina! How are you?" he asks happily.

'Oh, Hinata.' I glance back at her. "I'm doing fine, Naruto. And you?"

"Hehe. I'm doing fine too!"

"That's good to hear. So, are you ready for the exam today?" I inquire him. At just that exact moment, the whole room seemed to have just frozen in mid-air. "Uhh... Naruto? Are you okay? I'm..."

"WHAT?!" Naruto screams at the top of his lungs, almost making me fall out of my chair.

"Naruto? What's wrong?" I ask, completely surprised by his outburst.

"What do you mean an exam today? I didn't know about any exam!" he proclaims, obviously freaking out.

"What are you talking about you didn't know? Iruka sensei told us ahead of time that we would be having our final exam today," I tell him with a confused face. "I mean, you were here when he said it... so I don't get how you don't know."

"I must have been sleeping or something! Oh, man! This is bad, bad, bad!"

"Alright, class. Please take your seats," Iruka sensei says from the front of the class.
Everyone bustles around the room to take a seat, and I sigh out in relief that the arguing of the girl's had finally ceased. And it looked like that Sakura had won all the bickering, for she sat victoriously beside Sasuke.

"Hey, Iruka sensei! Are we really taking our final exams today!?” Naruto shouts loudly, still standing beside me.

"Yes, Naruto. We are. If you spend more time paying attention and less time pulling pranks and sleeping in class... then you would have known that. Now, please take your seat," Iruka-sensei tells him hurriedly. Naruto walks lazily to the seat behind me and plops down angrily in the chair. He places his elbow on the desk and rests his head on his hand; staring out in front of him frustrated.

"Hmph. Loser..." the jerk-faced Uchiha says lowly to himself.

I close my eyes, trying desperately not to reply to his rude comment, but my mouth betrayed me. "What did you say?" I demand, looking at the Uchiha sitting across from me. He merely glances over in my direction, with the same emotionless expression on his face.

"Hmmm?" Naruto says, getting out of his frustrated daze. He glances back and forth between Sasuke and me, along with half of the class.

"What did you say about Naruto?" I ask again, grabbing out a kunai knive from my weapon pouch.

Sasuke looks at the kunai in my hand and says, "Hn. Just put that thing away. It's not like your gonna' do anything with it."

"What did you say? I'm not gonna' do anything with it?" I repeat him, gripping the knive harder in your hand. I stand up, prepared to do anything. Even prepared to fight. Now in reality, I knew I was making a fool of myself, but that didn’t matter. Nothing did when it came to this jerk, anything he said made my blood boil over, especially when one of his slick remarks was about one of my friends.

"That's enough, Kimina!" Iruka-sensei yells at me. He throws a kunai knive of his own at mine; knocking it out of my hand. Iruka sensei's kunai then lands directly in front of Naruto on his desk.

"Aahh!!" Naruto screams, falling down onto the floor out of his chair. The whole class bursts out laughing at Naruto's embarassing predicament. "Oh, man. That was scary..." The kunai knive that was knocked out of my hand, then lands and hits him dead on the head. "Ow!" He falls back to the floor.

"Naruto..." I say softly.

"Kimina! Why is it that everyday I have to stop you from trying to fight Sasuke?" Iruka sensei asks with a perplexed face.

"That's because I am tired of him always bringing down Naruto's self-esteem and ridiculing him for everything!" I exclaim, glaring at Sasuke.

"Hmph. It's not like any of it is a lie. He's a hopeless loser..." Sasuke says, his eyes fixated on the front of the room.

"What did you say, Sasuke?!" Naruto yells, finally standing up from the kunai incident moments before.

'Oh, boy. I wonder if these kids will ever make it to becoming chuunin. Or even to becoming genin, at that,' Iruka sensei thinks to himself.

"Man... this is such a drag. Why don't they just sit down and shut-up already," Shikamaru says to himself, sighing out heavily.

“Hmph… I don’t even know why you ask that. You know how Kimina gets with Sasuke. This happens almost every class,” Lloyd answers Shikamaru with a sigh of his own.

"Alright, we're already a bit behind schedule for the final exams" --Iruka sensei begins-- "so, I'll call on the first person who will be taking their exam. And that person is... Kimina Fujimaru."

"Seriously? I'm going first?" I question, a bit nervous.

"Yes, you are. Now, follow me."

"Good luck... Kimina," Hinata says warmly.

"Thanks..." I reply, with a nervous smile.

"You'll do fine, Kimina!" Naruto says, giving me a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, thanks Naruto."

"Hey, good luck! You'll need it!" Kiba says, a broad smile on his face. I smile back at him, following Iruka sensei out of the classroom.

"You nervous?" Iruka sensei asks me.

"A bit." I take a deep breath.

"Don't be. You'll do fine. You one of the top students of the class... along with Sasuke," he says with a sure smile. I look at Iruka sensei, a little angrily because of how he compared me to Sasuke. But that feeling goes away just as quickly as it came, when we make it to the testing room. I take a deep breath and follow Iruka sensei inside.