Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 5: Mr. Dead Last

I looked into the bathroom mirror as I tidied myself up. I put my chocolate brown hair in a long ponytail and tied it with a thin, yellow ribbon. In the sunlight, my hair looked fire red, a trait that I had inherited from my mother, it was the least I remembered of my parents. My turquoise eyes shone like small pools of water on my face, like my father. I just didn't understand why I attracted so much attention, I didn't think that I looked like those models on all of those posters around the village. I looked at my forehead. It was partially covered by my bangs but I knew that that was where my headband was supposed to be. I didn't have one yet, I didn't know if I really belonged here yet...

"Wake up, Naruto, we don't want to be late," I shook Naruto gently.

He had himself wrapped up in his blankets on his bed and was murmuring something about my name and a date. I had already rolled up the sleeping bag that Naruto had lent me to sleep in since I volunteered to sleep on the ground. I kicked him off of the bed.

"Ow! I'm up, I'm up! Sheesh!" groaned a sleepy Naruto.

I turned and waited as he changed, "Okay! I'm ready, let's go!" he shouted.

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast first?" I asked, dragging him back into the house.

"What? No! Didn't you hear what Kakashi-Sensei said? You'll throw up!" he stared at me with a look of terror scribbled across his face.

I sighed, "Fine."

I was a specially trained shinobi, I didn't remember throwing up in my whole life. Another bolt of pain flashed across my mind causing me to bump into Naruto.

"Sorry," I said automatically.

Naruto looked at me with concern, "It's no problem."

I checked for my ninja tools and my broadsword, they were all strapped tightly to me. It was the crack of dawn, we had only ten minutes to reach the field. We would have to run.

"Let's hurry, Naruto, or we'll be late," I leaped onto the nearest building and ran at top speed towards the training field with Naruto a few meters behind me.

If we had walked, the field would've been twenty minutes away but with my speed, I reached the field within three minutes. Naruto, however, was not as fast as me so he arrived five minutes late for the meeting time.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry I-I'm l-late," he panted as he collapsed into the clearing.

The meeting place was a small open space in the middle of the training grounds that were free of trees and bushes located right next to a river.

"Kakashi-Sensei isn't even here yet, Naruto, it's okay," Sakura said regarding Naruto with distaste.

I helped Naruto up to see Sasuke glaring at me with all the hate he could muster up.

I walked over to him and looked into his straight face, "Today we're to complete our first duty, let's not allow the disagreements of yesterday affect our performance today," I said, holding out my hand.

Sakura looked on with obvious jealousy as Sasuke grunted an affirmative and shook my hand. I walked back over to Naruto's side and sat down in the lush, green grass to wait for our Sensei.

"Hey everybody! Good morning!" came a cheery voice that we identified to be Kakashi's.

Everyone but me shouted, "You're late!"

All Kakashi did was scratch his head and smile.

"Let's just get on with it," Sasuke said, exasperated.

"Alright then," Kakashi pulled an alarm clock out from his bag and set it on a stump, "Okay, it's set for noon."

I stood up and we looked on curiously.