Rising Shinobis [Discontinued]

7: Hiori

"I-I'm so s-sorry!" exclaims a girl with brown hair and light brown eyes.

The girl was hovering over Hamura's fallen body. Hamura opens his eyes to find the brown-haired girl. Before Hamura could say anything, something tickles his nose and causes him to sneeze.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry!" apologizes the girl once again as she grabs what looks like a tail and hugs it.

Hamura takes in the girl's abnormal features.

"Are you... What are you?" questions Hamura as he stares at the girl's cat ears and tail.

"W-What? That's not a question that you should be asking s-sir! I sh-should be the one a-asking the questions here! W-Who are you and w-why are you in my r-room?" questions the girl as she manages to get a hold of confidence.

"Oh, I see you met Hiori, Hamura," states Aito as he and the two high-classed shinobis walk into the shack.

. . .

Everyone is sitting at a large wooden table as they eat a meal that Aito prepared. On one side of the table, from left to right, are Tamaki, Kichi, Tamit, Snow, and Shuji. Hamura is on the end closest to Shuji while Hiori is sitting on the other end of the table closest to Tamaki. Aito is on the opposite side of the young shinobis near Hiori with Keiji-Sensei and Akira-Sensei on his left. Hamura stares at Hiori as he feels his face burning a little.

"C-Could you not stare at me so much?" mumbles Hiori as she squirms in her seat a little.

"O-Oh, I'm s-sorry," blushes Hamura.

The group of rising shinobis looks at Hamura in awe. Hamura notices the stares from his friends.

"Would you guys quit staring? Jeez!" blurts out Hamura as he shoves a forkful of pork ramen noodles in his mouth.

"Well, it's kinda hard not to when you're stuttering in embarrassment for the first time ever," states Kichi.

"Not to mention that you're blushing too! I've never seen you blush before Hamura!" yells Tamaki.

Everyone nods in agreement as Hiori and the grown-ups watch to see where this conversation is going.

"Well, I wasn't stuttering! I was just choking on some pork, plus my face is just red from the steam that the great meal is giving off!" denies Hamura.

Before anyone could tease Hamura some more, Hiori quietly stutters out, "W-Well, I c-could get one of my r-rags and wet it with c-cold water. Th-Then you could put it on your f-face to cool it down. I need some help turning the rusty lever of our w-well though."

"That sounds like a great idea Hiori, why don't you go pick out a rag for Hamura and have him help you with that old rusty lever!" exclaims Aito as he smiles.

"O-Oh, okay..." mumbles Hiori as she gets up from her spot at the table and walks out the dining room.

"I'm coming," says Hamura as he quickly stands up to bump his knees on the dining table.

After swearing to himself, he ran after Hiori.

"Well, that must've hurt," says Tamaki as she finishes eating her noodles.

"Wha! How did you finish so quickly Tamaki?" questions Snow.

"What do you mean 'finish', I've only started!" exclaims Tamaki as she gets another bowl of pork ramen noodles.

"What! Don't eat it all!" whines Snow.

"Then you better eat faster!" yells Tamaki as she inhales her second bowl of pork ramen noodles.

. . .

"I-I have this purple rag," says Hiori as she pulls out a purple rag from her drawer and shows it to Hamura.

"Okay, thanks," says Hamura as he takes the purple rag, ignoring its girly color.

Hiori leads Hamura to the well outside. Hamura turns the old, rusty lever as Hiori watches the pail come up.

"You're strong, it's hard for me to turn the lever... considering the fact it's rusty," mumbles Hiori.

"Thank you," replies Hamura. "By the way, you can call me Hammy, that's what my friends call me."

"Okay."

. . .

"So, Keiji-Sensei, back to our conversation about Animal Contracts. How can we get one?" questions Tamaki as she finishes her third, and final bowl of pork ramen noodles.

"Well, sometimes you can go after an animal and ask for their contract, but keep in mind that not every animal gives out a contract. So, don't go harassing animals, Tamaki. Other times, animals go after you if they like you. For example, after helping Isamu, he followed me home to give me the necklace around my neck," explains Keiji-Sensei.

"Okay, and what was the emphasis on my name for? I wouldn't harass an animal!" exclaims Tamaki.

"I know you wouldn't do it on purpose Tamaki, but..." Keiji-Sensei pauses as he remembers how persistent Tamaki is due to the cheesecake incident.

"But what?" question Tamaki.

"You're just a very determined girl, that's all," gulps Keiji-Sensei.

"Oh, okay!" exclaims Tamaki with a smile.

"Speaking of animal contracts," begins Aito, "There is a story about an animal contract that lives on top of Ocha Mountain."

"Really!" yells Tamaki with excitement.

"Yup, but he only stays up there because he hates humans. It's been said that his hatred for humans is fueled due to his first, and only, summoner," explains Aito.

"Huh, what happened?" questions Tamaki as the others listen.

"His summoner summoned him in the middle of battle, and ran, leaving him to be abused by the enemy. Though the summoner only left because he was told to retreat, his squad leader didn't give him enough time to summon back his animal contract. And then, the animal contract broke the contract he had with his summoner and never had another summoner," explains Aito furthermore.

"Oh wow, it seems that the summoner was misunderstood," replies Tamaki.

"I suppose you can say that, but the summoner shouldn't have summoned his animal contract that late in battle," says Aito with eyes of regret.

"Oh, do you know what the animal contract is?" questions Tamaki.

"Hm, let me think, I believe he's a giant bird," says Aito.

"Can he fly?" asks Tamaki.

"I'm not sure, it would depend on how bad he was injured," says Aito.

"Okay, either way, I'm gonna befriend him and ask him if he can be my animal contract!" exclaims Tamaki.

Everyone at the table chokes on their meal.

"Are you crazy Tamaki? That bird hates humans! It's also apparently giant, who knows how big it is! It could eat you!" yells Shuji.

"I'll take my chances, heck, I'll go now!" yells Tamaki as she jumps out her chair and runs out the door.

Hammy and Hiori enter the room and sit back at their spots.

"What happened to Tamaki that made her run out like that?" questions Hammy.

"She's after a giant bird to make it her animal contract after befriending it even though it's said to hate humans," says Kichi as calm as possible even though her best friend could be injured.

"Why are you so chill! This could end up being more worse than the cheesecake incident!" yells Snow frantically.

"Cheesecake... incident?" questions everyone at the table except Team Keiji and Keiji-Sensei himself.

"Well ya see..." begins Snow.