A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

"Hey... where are we going again?" Lloyd asks me in a hushed whisper.

"Seriously, do you ever pay attention?" I ask back, gazing up at the clear blue sky, averting his eyes.

"Umm... I don't think that that was the answer to the question that I asked you," he states, with a playful smirk.

"Well, if you were paying attention at the time... then you wouldn't have to ask me," I reply sharply.

He looks at me blankly for a moment before replying, "So, are you gonna' answer my question or not?"

I sigh out in defeat. "We're going to our squad's training area in the northeast woods. For what? I don't know."

"Alright, you guys. Were here," Naria sensei tells us all, jumping into the trees on the left.

"But I guess were about to find out," I say lowly with Lloyd, Rakuyo, and I following after her.

~~*~~

Moments later, we come into a huge circle clearing. I land on the grass beside Rakuyo, and gaze around my surroundings.

"Over here," Naria sensei calls out. She slowly walks over to the center of the field, and sits down on the grass with an excited smile. My teammates and I all exchange glances before walking up to her.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" I ask her, sitting down hesitantly opposite her.

"Well, today we will just be introducing ourselves. To get to know each other better as a squad," she answers simply.

"Oh. Well... this should be fun," Lloyd bellows out sarcastically, sitting down next to me. Rakuyo says nothing, and just sits down on the other side of me. I observe him the entire time he sits down, with sympathetic and sorrowful eyes.

"Alright. So, I guess I'll go first then. My name is Naria and I am from the Kuroda clan. I generally don't hate a lot of things, and I'm usually just an all around well-mannered person," she states with a smile. "So, who wants to go next?"

'Man is this really our sensei?' Lloyd thinks to himself, staring at her with a bored expression.

"I'll go," I propose, raising my hand.

"Alright. Just state your name, and a couple things about yourself," Naria-sensei suggests pleasantly.

"Okay. Well... my name is Kimina Fujimaru. I try to train whenever I can, and I always strive to do the best that I can. I like to help others, and I don't hate a lot of things," I finish saying, with a determined smile. Well, besides that loser Sasuke I don’t hate a lot of things,

"Alright. My turn. My name is Lloyd Yukohama. I like to train and show people what I can do. I'm usually a nice person, and I'm strong and also confident!" he says, all of it with a cocky expression. Oh boy…

"Good, good. Now... it's your turn," Naria says, turning to Rakuyo.

"Umm... my name is Rakuyo Sesetsu. And… I am very good in the art of strategy," he tentatively answers.

'Sesetsu? So... this is the boy?' Naria thinks to herself, with a saddening expression. She shakes herself of her distracting thoughts and announces lastly, "Good! It seems that you all have your own way of thinking and your own different techniques in the way of the shinobi. Now... we will be having our first mission tomorrow."

"What? Seriously? What will we be doing on this mission?" I inquire curiously.

"It will be a survival excercise... that all of us will particapate in. We will meet here in this spot, tomorrow morning at eight o'clock. That will give you all plenty of time to get ready. Now... you are all dismissed. I will see you guys tomorrow!" she finishes explaining, with a bright smile.

"Alright then. Guess I'll be heading on home," Lloyd sighs out, standing up on his feet. Naria stands up also, and with a nod of agreement to Lloyd, disappears in a wind of leaves.

"Need help getting up?" Lloyd questions me, eyeing me still in my kneeled position.

"Yeah. Why not?" I answer back, reluctantly taking his hand.

"Umm... so Rakuyo? I..." I stop there, noticing that Rakuyo was not where he was before. "Where... where did he go? I didn't sense him leave or anything."

"So what if he left? No big deal in my opinion. Anyway, since were all alone... I was thinking..." He trails off.

"You are such a pervert, you know that? I can't believe that you would even think about bringing something like that up," I interrupt him, morally disgusted.

"No, no, no, no! Nothing like that! I wouldn't try anything like that on you!" he replies quickly, shaking his head back and forth. "I was just gonna' say now that it's just you and me... how about we battle it out one on one?" His tone was serious.

"Are you for real? No. We have to keep our strength up for tomorrow's mission. Maybe some other time," I suggest, turning my back on him and taking a couple steps away.

"Hmmm. Yeah, I guess your right. Well, I bet if I were Sasuke and I was asking you this... you'd probably jump at the chance in a heartbeat. I would understand if you would. I mean, if I wanted to be close to the person I admired... I would," Lloyd says, with a ominous smirk.

"What did you say?! Admire? You gotta' be joking if you think that I would ever admire that stuck-up idoit!" I scream at him, turning back around towards him. I knew I fell right into his trap. But that didn’t matter now.

"Yeah, of course I know that. But I had to get you riled up enough to want to fight me, now didn't I?" Lloyd replies, with a boastful smile.

"Hmph. Yeah... and I guessed it worked too. Alright then... fine. I'll take you up on your challenge," I tell him smirking, while getting into a fighting stance.

"Hmph. Alright. Now... get ready! And no holding back, understand?" Lloyd yells to me, also positioning himself in a fighting stance.

"Don't worry. I wasn't planning on to anyway," I reply, grabbing out a kunai knive from my weapon pouch.