A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

He snatches the bowl out of my reach and picks up a big heap of noodles with his chopstick, and slurps them up with a lopsided grin.

"Hey, no fair!" I bellow dramatically. He sticks out his tongue at me.

A plan them forms in my head. I sit back down on my stool and look at the cook, Teuchi. "Oh! That new ramen dish looks really delicious!"

Naruto's head snaps quickly in Teuchi's direction. He sets his ramen bowl back down on the counter, straining to see the new-flavored noodles. But there were none.

"Yonk!" I grab a shrimp out of Naruto's bowl and hurriedly pop it into my mouth.

"Hey! Now that's no fair!"

This time I stick my tongue out. "Then you shouldn't have eaten one of my shrimps." I see out of the corner of my eyes Teuchi shaking his head at the two of us, a kind expression on his face.

He was amused, just like he was every evening Naruto and I came to eat here. Well, not every evening, but every other night. It was what we did together. Just go on out to Ichiraku's and eat as much ramen as we could, laughing and acting silly with each other.

This time, after Naruto and I got done with our second bowl and before we were about to order our third, Sakura steps inside.

"There you are, Naruto. I've been looking for you everywhere. Kakashi sensei wants to see us now," she explains all in a rush.

"Aw, man!" Naruto whines. He slumps over in his seat and stares down in misery at his empty bowl.

"It's okay, Naruto. You go on...you need to anyway," I say, sympathy in my voice.

He nods and gets up, and still drooped over sadly, walks out of the ramen bar behind Sakura.

"I guess he really wanted that third bowl," Teuchi mutters with a small smile.

I look at him and nod my head. "Yeah."

Teuchi chuckles, but then turns serious. "I'm just really glad that that boy has found someone who would actually talk to him. It's been doing him some real good. He's lonely most of the time and people just won't notice him."

I take on a serious look as well. "Yeah, but that's not the only reason I became friends with him."

"Oh? So, what is the other reason...or reasons?" he asks curiously. I smile in response.

~~*~~

This was it. The week was finally over, and the Chunin Exams were set to begin. Rakuyo, Lloyd and I were standing outside of the building where the exams were to begin.

"So...this is it," I mutter, slightly nerved. When I first heard about the Chunin Exams I was anticipating it, but now that it was upon us my heart was racing frantically.

I felt the new chakra in me stir, easing me of my worry. In the past seven days we all had learned new jutsus and were much stronger than when we had started out. I even learned to have more control over my healing power. Now, when one of us became injured, I could summon the power more quickly.

Flashback

Kunai knives flew past me, slicing over my skin where they made contact. Blood trickled down my arms and neck, and I winced slightly from the sting.

"Kimina, summon it!" Naria sensei orders, throwing shurikens, which tore through my clothing and into my flesh on my legs.

I close my eyes in concentration and in pain.

"Kimina, have control over it! Summon it!" She hurls more weapons, but this time at Rakuyo and Lloyd. They try to block her attack, but get hit a few times with shuriken.

Naria sensei throws a several more knives at me, but I dodge them all by jumping out of the way and to my two teammates. I was getting tired of this and a burst of energy escapes from me. The green chakra ripples over my skin like ocean waves, and travels off of my body to both Lloyd and Rakuyo, healing our wounds as it flowed around us.

End Flashback

Naria sensei and I chose not to tell Rakuyo or Lloyd that my healing force was really a curse, and that it would one day drive me insane or betray me and let me die. We thought it better to not have them worry about me. At least throughout these Chunin Exams, but in time we would.

"You alright, Kimina?" I hear Lloyd ask me.

"Yeah, I am," I reply briskly.

Lloyd then puts his arm around my shoulders. "Well, come on, let's go on inside. I'm just dying to show everyone what I've learned."

My hair blows around my face as the wind picks up speed. "I bet you are. But so am I though," I say, smirking. "And we won't let you down, Naria sensei."

She smiles sweetly. "I know you guys won't. And am really proud of all of you. You three are very unique and promising students and I couldn't have asked for a better team."

"And we couldn't have asked for a better sensei," I reply honestly.

"The Chunin Exams are finally going to begin," Yasu says, his eyes closed.

A man was standing beside him, sneering. "You will finally be able to exact your revenge for the deaths of your brothers."

Yasu's stony glare watches Squad 9 as they walked into the tan brick building. "I wish I didn't have to kill that girl. She seems like she would be quite enjoyable." Yasu smiles wickedly, and the other man throws his head back in laughter, knowing exactly what Yasu meant.

"Humph. She may be a beauty, but she also is the most dangerous, with that healing power of her's anyway."

"But your not worried about it," Yasu concludes. But it wasn't a question, it was a statement.

The man laughs again. "Of course not. It's just like I told you before." He looks Yasu straight in the eye. "You kill her first, so that she can't use that healing chakra. And to make sure that she doesn't come back to life again,"--he trails his long huge dagger across his hand, drawing crimson red blood--"I'm going to sever her head from her shoulders."

~~*~~

Kabuto picks up a card and twirls it around on the floor with his middle finger. Seconds later a map poofs onto the card of the different ranks of shinobi that have come from each village.

A teaching of balance of power ensues, and Shikamaru sighs tiredly. "Oh boy, this is certainly a drag."

Kabuto continues on, not seeming to have heard him. "But the Sound village is very small. Not much is known about it. Their a mystery all of their own." Kabuto puts the card back on top of the deck. "There is a lot of shinobi here for these Chunin Exams. This year it's going to be really intense. I never seen this much potential before."

"I'll...say," Hinata mumbles nervously.

'Figures,' Ino thinks mentally.

"Humph." Naruto crosses his arms over his chest defiantly. Suddenly, he turns to the other shinobi in the room, right arm raised and finger pointing. "Hey! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna' beat everyone here! Believe it!"

Sakura pumbles him down to the ground. "You idoit! Shut-up! Do you want to make everything worse?"

Sasuke shakes his head, smirking. Kabuto smirks also. But the other ninja in the room all stare with malevolent eyes.

"Humph. That's the kid from before," Kankuro mutters.

"That kid sure has a lot of spunk," Neji says to his teammates. Rock Lee nods in agreement. Temari just says silent.

"Did you guys just hear that boy talk about us? He called us a mystery," one of the three Sound ninja says in an irritated tone.

"I say we teach him a little something, and clear up all the mystery," the girl replies callously.

"Yes, I agree," the third one says, his eyes narrowing. The Sound ninja disperse through the room, traveling silently and invisibly to the boy who insulted them.

"Hey, where the heck is Lloyd and Kimina at, anyway? They were supposed to be here already," Kiba says aloud. Hinata shrugs, looking uneasy.

"Yeah, they really were," Ino pipes in. Chouji glances at her, then goes back to munching on his chips.

Kabuto's attention turns away from the genin rookies just as one of the Sound shinobi jumps into the air and throws a couple kunai knives at him. Kabuto dodges them easily, sliding backwards towards the wall.

The second male runs up on Kabuto and swipes his arm out in front of his face. But he misses and Kabuto smiles in triumph. But it didn't last long and Kabuto's glasses shatter into tiny pieces, and he falls onto the floor and retches everywhere.

'What? I thought he dodged him!' Sasuke thinks, surprised. Everyone there was staring at the spectacle, with the same surprised look as Sasuke and others with unreadable expressions.

"Kabuto!" Naruto and Sakura yell, running over to his side.

Poof. Poof. Poof.

Three figures appear out of the air, each of them holding a kunai knive to one of the three Sound shinobi.

"What?" the girl exclaims, staring at the boy who held the weapon to her neck.

"You know, I don't think were supposed to be fighting each other yet," Lloyd tells her with a cocky grin.

"That's enough," Rakuyo asserts, clutching the knive harder into the boy's adam's apple.

My eyes narrow at the one I held my her knive to. His face was all wrapped up in bandages, and his left eye that was the only thing visible, stared at me calmly. "Well, this is very surprising indeed."

Something about the boy's stare set me on edge. Rakuyo, Lloyd, and I had all seen the incident that had happened moments before, and we were all dumbfounded as to how the Sound ninja had attacked Kabuto. He didn't even touch him but yet still brought pain onto his victim. That was certainly something to look out for.

The boy still stares at me, and I stare at him back. He then steps out from under my kunai and his two teammates step back beside him, all with cool facades.

I look out to the huge crowd of shinobi behind the Sound ninja, and I try my best to put on a confident face. It worked, surprisingly, and the green chakra stirs calmly inside me, adding to that confidence. My eyes rest for a moment on the red-headed boy from the Sand village, and he was glaring at me, his nails digging into his arms.

I take my eyes off of him and smile back at my Leaf comrades. We were all together again; the twelve rookies.

"This is going to be a very interesting, these Chunin Exams. I can't wait to see what's gonna' happen," Lloyd whispers to me excitedly.

"Whoa, Kimina...!" Naruto begins, but a voice interrupts him.

"Alright, you sorry miserable maggots! Shut-up and listen!" A man appears in back of the room, with several Leaf shinobi behind him. "It's time to begin the Chunin Exams. I am Ibiki Morino, your worst nightmare."