Kakashi's Teammate, the Lightning Goddess

The Chunin Exams: P.9

*edited*

Chapter 22: The Chunin Exams: P.9

                “Kira, hurry up!” Kakashi yelled from behind me, and I threw him a dirty look as I quickly stuffed the rest of my materials into my bag. I slung it over my shoulder and went to join them.

                One month was finally up. The exam was today, and it had already started; it had been going on for nearly an hour already, actually. It was ironic how Kakashi was telling me to hurry up when he hadn’t even packed away his scrolls.

                “You hurry up,” I retorted, crossing my arms. “Sasuke, if you don’t want to be late, we’d better get going.”

                “Hang on,” he said, absentmindedly touching his kunai pouch, then shuriken pouch, and then his forehead, as though trying to make sure he had everything.

                “You’ve got everything,” I said, exasperated. Could these two be any slower? “Come on, I don’t want to teleport from here. It’s too far. We should get closer to the edge, if we’re going to bring you with us.”

                “The most you’ll do is fall over,” Kakashi replied, starting to collect his scrolls. I glanced at my watch and instantly panicked. The exam was probably already halfway through, but Sasuke was one of the first… would he be disqualified?

                “You know what, if Sasuke gets disqualified, it’s all your fault, Kakashi.” I motioned for Sasuke to go ahead of me. He obediently started walking, heading for the edge of the training ground. I followed him, ignoring Kakashi completely. Serves him right.

                Once the two of us got to the edge, which took about a minute speed-walking, I made my signs and raised my fingers up to my lips, concentrating. There was a flash, and I knew we’d arrived in the stadium when I heard the voices and the solid ground beneath my feet.

                “Sasuke!” a voice screamed, carrying above all the others. I opened my eyes to see Naruto standing there, grinning. “You were almost disqualified, loser!”

                “Idiot,” Sasuke shot back, and I sighed. As immature as ever. “You won, right?”

                “Of course. Now you’d better not let us down!”

                “He’s not disqualified yet?” I asked the proctor. I knew him, but not his name. A sudden thought struck me: where was Hayate? Wasn’t he supposed to be watching these matches as well? I glanced over and saw a familiar redhead standing not too far away. Right. He was Sasuke’s opponent.

                I smiled at Gaara, and he kind of just stared at me, no emotion flitting across his face.

                “Not yet,” he replied, twitching the stick, in his mouth. “A few more moments, and he would’ve been.”

                “Blame Kakashi,” I replied, and the ends of his lips twitched upwards. He pointed up to where the Hokage and Kazekage were sitting in the balcony.

                “Lord Hokage wants you,” he said, and I nodded and sprang off. Landing on the balcony beside the Hokage and an ANBU whose chakra signature I recognized as one of my old friends, I mentally kicked myself for forgetting his name.

                “Lord Hokage,” I said respectfully, and he smiled and nodded at me.      

                “Nice to see you back, Kira. How was your last day? Sasuke picking up Kakashi’s habits?”