I am a Dancer (Naruto fanfiction)

5: Inescapable Desperation

As I sat through Iruka Sensei's class, I continued to wonder why I couldn't remember my home state.

I should make a profile of myself, I thought, scribbling a note to myself to buy a notebook. This way, I'll at least know my basic info and background.

When class ended, Ino turned to me, saying "Hey, Hirano, want to join us for lunch?"

"If you're alright with me intruding..." I said politely. Ino smiled and clasped my hand.

"You won't be intruding. Join us!"

When the lunch bell rang, Ino led me and several of the other girls outside of the Academy. I bought myself a can of sweet tea from the vending machines and listened to the girls' chatter.

"Hirano, wasn't it?" A girl with bright pink hair called to me. My head shot up to look at her bright green eyes.  "I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way." She extending her hand out to me in a friendly gesture.

"Hi, Sakura."

"You can also call her 'Forehead Girl'!" Ino intervenes, snootily.

"Shut up, Ino-Pig!" The two girls tumbled into another scuffle, and the other girls laughed and drew me away from their wrestling.

"I'm Tenten," A brunette introduced. "That's Hinata, Ino and Sakura you know already. There's only four-well, now five-of us in class 2-B."

"And we have twice the number of boys as there are girls," Ino said, coming back into the circle. "Well, that gives us all the opportunity to ogle them more."

The girls and I laughed, and once we've calmed down, Sakura turns to me. "Hirano, so what nation are you from?"

I was taken back by her question. "I'm from the United States of America."

Sakura frowned at me. "I've never heard of such a nation. There's only five, anyways."

"Major nations," Ino said. "Maybe you're from one of the minor nations?"

"I'm from one of the minor nations," I agreed. "I think close by this village." The other girls looked at me a little confused, but let it slide.

"So, why did you come here to study?" Tenten asks.

"Educational reasons," I said, lying through my teeth. "My parents wanted me to get a higher education, so they sent me here."

"What's your homeland like?" Sakura asked.

"We have many tall buildings that we call 'skyscrapers'," I said, patting myself on the back for remembering the term. "Sometimes, when we have a lot of tall buildings, apartments, and businesses flooding in one area, we call them 'cities'."

"Sounds nice," Hinata said. "I would love to see these 'cities' and skyscrapers'."

"You'll love it, Hinata," I grinned. I talked with the girls some more, before the bell rang again.

"Let's go! We've got training today," Tenten exclaims, leaping to her feet. I crack my joints, neck, and knuckles for good measure before following them to the training grounds behind the Academy.

"So, what do we do here?" I whispered to Ino as we observed the other students throwing something at wooden posts. I also noticed there were more students than I remembered from class time.

"Those are the other students from the other six classes," Ino whispered to me. "We all have training period together. We throw shurikens, sparring, and other cool stuff to prepare ourselves to become ninjas."

"Tenten is the girls' best  shuriken-thrower," Sakura added. "Didn't you learn this back at home?"

"No," I admitted. "My homeland weren't interested on fighting. We had several schools, but nothing like this." Especially weapon training for elementary to middle school kids!

Sakura sighed, and pulled me over to the other group of girls who were cheering for the boys. Sakura and Ino began cheering as well, as a raven-haired boy stepped up and with amazing speed, threw all his shurikens in a neat line on the wooden post.

"YOU'RE SO COOL, SASUKE-KUN!" The girls screamed. Tenten and Hinata, stood next to me, not cheering at all.

"I can do better than that!" Tenten grumbled, pushing her way to the front. Thanks to my height, I was able to look over several girls and watch Tenten throw her shurikens in a form of a 'H'. "This is for you, Hirano and Hinata!"

"Good work," I praised Tenten, exchanging a high-five. "You need to teach me how to do that next time!"

"I can top that, believe it!" A familiar blond boy boasted, going to the front. Giggles and laughter erupted from everyone else, when not a single shuriken hit the wooden post. One actually came close to hitting Iruka Sensei!

After training, we were all excused to go home. I hurried to a nearby store to by a small notebook to fill out my profile of myself, just in case I lost my memory.

"Thank you, and have a nice day!" The lady behind the counter called to me politely as I left the store. I ran back to my apartment and sat down on my bed to recall everything I remembered.

"My birthday is May 26th," I said, scribbling it down. "Last time I checked, I'm around 5'2" tall and what's my weight? Skip that."

"I live in the United States of America, one of the fifty states, and I am part of the Abby Lee Dance Company or the ALDC. My mom's full name is--"

Fear sunk in me, as if a cold weight had been dropped over my entire body. "What's my mom's full name?" I asked slowly to myself.

No.

I can't be--

Dread filled my throat, and the pen dropped from my hands. I watched in shock as every last word I had written magically vanished.

"What?" I clutched the notebook, flipping through the pages trying to find the missing words. The notebook was completely empty.

No wait, I gasped, terror seizing me in its clutches. I can't lose my memory! I have a team to support! I have a life before me! I have parents.....

I slumped back on the bed, the notebook falling to the floor. What was going on? What was happening to me in this world? Why couldn't I recall anything of my real family?