HoF Ch. 5- One Year Ago

I don’t own Naruto. I do own Kanna and all other OCs.
“Talking”   ‘thinking’   ;Ryuunosuke;     
Although Kanna is telling her story, it will be like a flashback.

Chapter 5: One Year Ago
It was the day of the graduation tests. Kanna shifted nervously in her chair. She looked around. All the other students were talking to their friends. Kanna stared down at her hands. She had no friends, no one to talk out her nervousness to. Kanna started to fidget, twiddling her thumbs, and humming to herself.
“Hey, Freak!” A voice rang out.
“Yes?” Kanna looked up, “Oh, it’s you, Rafu. What do you want?”  Rafu Tachiubi, an average sized boy, had dark hair in a small Mohawk, wearing a plain dark brown long-sleeved shirt with beige pants. He had mean-looking dark brown eyes and a sneer on his ratty-looking face most of the time.
“Well, Freak, aren’t you nervous? I mean, you’re not going to pass this year. Are you sure you want to go through with that?” Rafu taunted.
“Why should I worry, Rat Face?” Kanna asked, “And actually, I have a chance for ‘Rookie of the Year’, seeing as I’m second in the class right now.”
“Yeah, but you won’t win. Who’d ever want YOU as ‘Rookie of the Year?” Rafu sneered.
“If I win, they’ll just have to deal with it!” Kanna growled, starting to get annoyed, “Now why don’t you go stick your head in a blender?”
“Heh, no one likes you, Freak, so why don’t you just leave the village? You’re an outsider, after all.” Rafu smirked.
“I may not have been born in this village, but at least I’m not a disconnected, disagreeable, disgusting dorky douche bag, like you, Rat Face!” Kanna yelled. The whole room went quiet. Rafu laughed.
“Oh, really, Freak? Well, you need to learn some manners!” He drew back his fist, ready to hit Kanna. As he swung his fist forward, Kanna knocked it aside. She jumped off her chair to perch on her desk.
“Don’t make me have to break your nose, Rat Face,” Kanna growled, cracking her knuckles.
“Just try it, Freak!” Rafu smirked, letting another punch fly, “You’re just a failure!” He finished. Kanna ducked, and lunged off the desk, launching herself forward. She punched Rafu on the jaw, hard enough to knock him down. The other students watching struck up a chant.
“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” Kanna and Rafu rolled around on the floor in a whirl of fists, feet, and elbows. Kanna’s fist made a sharp connection with Rafu’s nose. Rafu’s foot collided with Kanna’s shin.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” The chant continued. Kanna scratched Rafu’s arm. Rafu punched Kanna in the eye.
“You fight like a girl, Freak!” Rafu shouted.
“I AM a girl, Rat Face!” Kanna yelled back.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” The other students chanted.
Kanna punched and  Rafu on the side of the face. Rafu yanked a handful of Kanna’s hair.
“I’ll show YOU which of us the failure is!” Kanna shrieked, infuriated.
“WHAT’S GOING ON IN HERE!” a new voice yelled. Kanna and Rafu were yanked apart, but not before Kanna punched Rafu in the nose again. They both looked over at who was holding them in the air.
“Oh, Hi, Iruka-sensei.” Kanna waved, “How’s it going?”
“What do you two think you’re doing?” Iruka demanded, having heard the commotion and rushed to see what was going on.
“We’re solving a disagreement,” Kanna replied after a moment’s hesitation.
“Just look at yourselves! That is no way to solve anything!” Iruka barked.
Kanna glanced at Rafu. He had a bloody nose that looked broken, a bruised cheek, a scratch on his face, and a torn shirt sleeve. Kanna had a black eye, a bruised shin, and several scratches on her arms. Rafu’s hair now stuck out in all directions, and Kanna’s hair was a tangled mess. Their clothing was in a rather rumpled state.
  “He provoked me, Iruka sensei,” Kanna grumbled, “He said I was a failure… and tried to hit me twice before I retaliated.”
“Heh, excuses excuses, Freak!” Rafu sneered, “You just keep on sniffling, you coward!”
“Oh, a coward, am I? I’ll show you who the coward is!” Kanna shouted, attempting to get free and punch Rafu again, but after failing, managed to give Rafu a good kick in the shins.
“Stop that Kanna!” Iruka spoke sharply. “It’s time for the exams. Take your seats.” He put them both back on the ground. Kanna sat back down, and Rafu walked back to two rows in front, to where his two friends waited. Kanna stuck out her tongue at his back.
“Alright; the test for graduation is Replication! Now, we begin! When your name is called, come to the classroom next door!”
Kanna watched as the class walked out, one by one. Finaly, she heard
“Kanna Sato! Your turn!” she got up, and started walking down the row of desks.  When she passed Rafu’s desk, she suddenly stumbled, falling flat on her front. The whole class started laughing. Kanna scrambled to her feet, and dusted herself off. Willing herself to grin, she turned, and took a bow.
“Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week,” Kanna joked, waving. Applause and cheers started around the class.Rafu glared, confirming the fact that he had tripped her. Sticking out her tongue at him, Kanna walked out the classroom door. She stepped into the exam room, and closed the door behind her.
“Alright, Kanna,” said Mizuki-sensei, the other teacher in the room,  “show us your replication jutsu,”
“Okay! Ninpou! Bunshin no Jutsu!” Kanna yelled. In a puff of smoke, there were six Kannas.
“How’s that?”  Thay all asked in unison.
“Very good, Kanna,” Iruka commented.
“So… is it good enough for me to be Rookie of the year?” Kanna (x6) asked hopefully.
“Sorry, Kanna… You’re a great student, but you got into too many fights, skipped one too many classes. You just aren’t quite cut out to be Rookie of the Year.” Iruka looked down at his clipboard again.
“WHAT?!” yelled Kanna (x6), “THAT’S A LOAD OF CRAP!  WHEN I SKIPPED THOSE CLASSES, WHICH WAS BACK BEFORE I STRTED WORKING HARD, I WAS WORKING ON OTHER NINJA SKILLS! AND THAT DASTARDLY DOUCHEBAG WAS ASKING FOR IT EVERY TIME I PUNCHED HIM!” all the other Kannas vanished, leaving just the origional.  
“Kanna, calm down, it’s just the way things are,” Mizuki-sensei attempted to calm the furious Kanna down, “Besides, second in the class is still good. And, well, you do have a good nose-breaking ability,”
“I will calm down, but I REFUSE to accept this as the way things are!” yelled Kanna. She stomped out, slamming the door behind her.

&&&&&&&$&&&&&&&&&
All the genin who had passed all were out in the yard, wearing their shiny new headbands, surrounded by proud parents. Kanna sat on the swing, alone. She sighed. Her new ninja headband glinted slightly on her forehead. She had passed at second place in her class, but who could she tell? She didn’t know anything about her parents. Kanna kicked her foot on the ground moodily. She had trouble making friends, too. The loner, others called her. The Freak. All because she had not been born in the leaf, but arrived mysteriously at age 5. Kanna had no memory of anything about her life before that day. She sighed heavily.  
“Um… Hi…” Someone said nearby. Kanna looked up. A boy stood there. He had mahogany hair that was spiked on one side, green eyes, camoflauge patterned shorts, a black shirt, and his headband around his neck. He was a bit taller then her, and built thin.
“Hey,” Kanna greeted, “What do you want?”
“Um… My name is Katsuo…” the boy introduced himself.
“You probably already know my name,” Kanna stated in a grumpy tone.
“Well, yes I do. I just wanted to say… uh…. congratulations for making second in the class, Kanna!” Katsuo said with a smile. Kanna stared in shock. No one had ever congratulated her about anything before.
“Th… thanks…” Kanna blinked. “Why are you talking to me?” she asked, “I’m the Freak, remember?”
“You’re not a freak to me,’ Katsuo said, his ears turning red.
Kanna stared. Then she smiled.
“Thanks, Katsuo. That means a whole lot to me.”
“So, uh… do you want to… um…  go to… Ichiraku ramen with me?” Katsuo stuttered, looking away. Kanna’s mouth fell open.
“Really? Well… Yes! I’d love to!” Kanna smiled the biggest she’d ever smiled.

Over the next week, even though they’d been assigned to different squads, Kanna and Katsuo continued to see each other. Kanna was happier then she’d ever been, skipping through the village, singing as she performed D-rank missions. Then, at the end of the week, disaster struck.

&&&&&#&&&&&&&&
Here, Kanna paused, then, with some difficulty, continued.
“Katsuo was… he was… well… murdered right in front of me.”  Here Kanna sniffled, and took a deep breath, but said no more.
“So you lost your important person, that must really be hard,” The black haired person had listened quietly to Kanna’s story.
Kanna nodded, and wiped her eyes, muttering to herself quietly, “A shinobi must never show emotion… that is the rule… never show emotion, keep all emotion inside… never show emotion…” Then, voice cracking, she suddenly shouted, “Oh, screw the damn rules!” and hiding her face with her hands, Kanna began to sob. The person didn’t seem to know what to do, so they just sat there.
“You know…” Kanna choked out, “I’ve been bottling this up for far too long. I hardly manage to keep this inside nowadays. ”
“Um… uh… why are you telling me all this?” The person seemed a bit desprate to change the subject.
“W-well,” Kanna sniffed, still not looking up, “ I feel like you really understand me strange, huh?”
“Yeah. So, uh… why are you training?”
“I guess I work so hard so I can serve my village as best I can… and so that, when I finaly make new friends… I’ll be able to save them when they get into trouble like Katsuo did, or at least the best a thirteen year old can do, anyway,” Kanna replied.
“You’re thirteen? Wow, I thought you were eleven.”
“Common mistake,” Kanna shrugged.
“I see. So, I guess your cut means you’ve been in a battle reecently?” The person asked.
“Yeah! I was!” and Kanna was off giving play-by-play of the battle in the forest.
“…And then, BAM! He got hit with flying senbon! It was someone pretending to be a hunter nin, but they really were trying to save that Zabuza guy. Even so, that senbon thing was so cool!” Kanna finished.
“Wow, that sounds very exciting,”  the person stated, sounding interested.
“Yeah… but I’m wondering why that hunter nin told me not to use jutsu I don’t know how to use properly. He shouldn’t have been concerned for my safety if he was working with Zabuza,”
“Maybe he thought you were some poor eleven-year old who got caught in the cross-fire,” the Person suggested off-handedly.
“Yeah…” Kanna trailed off thoughtfully. “I wonder if he’s good-looking,” she thought aloud. The person blushed slightly, but Kanna wasn’t sure if she actually saw it. Then suddenly, she spoke up.
“You’re  not a girl, are you?”
The person did a double take.
“”How did you know?” they asked, a bit startled.
“Well, any girl would have badgered me for details of the week I was dating Katsuo… and, well, you didn’t. Also, I think I saw you blush just now when I thought out loud right then, and any boy would probably be embarassed by a girl wondering aloud if another guy was good looking or not,” Kanna explained. “Although, I was really just noticing weird details and jumping to conclusions again,”  she added as an afterthought.
“Ah… well, you’re right… I am a boy,” he replied. Kanna grinned, her face still tear stained.
“Oh darn, I think I left my weapons pouch up the tree after I tried to use it as a pillow,” said Kanna, suddenly grumpy. She climbed back up, using only her feet and chakra.
CRACK!
With the sound of breaking wood, Kanna fell out of the tree once again, landing on her back, but this time with a broken branch.
“Ow… not again…” groaned Kanna, “but I got my weapons pouch…” she added, holding it up.
“You’re not having a very good morning, are you?” The boy seemed to be trying not to laugh.
“That tree hates me,” Kanna grumbled, sitting up and rubbing her back.
Then, Kanna realized something.
“Oh, darn, I’d better get back! They might be worried that I didn’t come back yet!” she exclaimed. Scrambling to her feet, and hurried away.
“Nice to meet you, and thanks for listening to me! See ya!” Kanna called over her shoulder.

&&&&&&&&&#&&&&&&&&

Kanna found Sasuke and Naruto a short way off.
“Good morning, all!” she called.
“There you are, Kanna,” Sasuke looked over, “You didn’t come back after you left last night,”
“No, but I can take care of myself. I have for the past 8 years now,”
“That’s why we weren’t worried about you,” Sasuke muttered.
;Oh, that’s nice;  Ryuunosuke grumbled sarcasticly.    
“I’m starving. I’m heading back for some breakfast!” Kanna walked into the forest back towards Tazuna’s house.

&&&&&&&&&&&&#&&&&&&&&&

After she ate, Kanna went back into the forest.  After finding two big rocks, she climed into a tree, and started shaping them, using her chakra and a kunai. She finished shaping one of them, and was working on the other, when she suddenly felt like someone was watching her. She glanced up, and around, and stratched her arms, looking as casual as she could. She saw no one. That didn’t calm her down one little bit. She bent over, and pretended to work some more. Then, a huge, magnificent silver wolf stepped out of the trees. Kanna gasped.
;Don’t worry.;  Ryuunosuke stated, ;She won’t hurt you. She is bringing you a weapon.;
“A-a weapon?” Kanna asked. She looked and saw a thin katana sword in the wolf’s mouth. The wolf laid the weapon doown, and bounded off.
“Strange day…” Mumbled Kanna, “But I might have made a new friend!”