Kimiko Manami

Midori wanders like she often does in the forest on a warm sunny day. All seems pretty uneventful and relaxing until the sweet serenity is disrupted by an unfamiliar character with a colorful vocabulary.

Midori stretched her arms out and yawned. "I wish I could sleep all day." she groaned and put her arms down at her sides. It was bright and sunny out. It felt really good after her fight with Kioko a few days before. She didn't have a mission today of course and had decided she'd train later. Midori walked into the forest thinking about how much had changed after she had met Kioko and Mizuki, the hyper and incompetent duo. She laughed at the thought.

Midori's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden bang and screaming not far from where she now stood in surprise. "What could that be?!" Midori wondered and jumped into the nearest tree. She started leaping tree to tree to get a look at what was happening. The sound got louder as she closed the distance between her and two figures.

"You cockbite!" came an angry voice of a girl. When the two people came into Midori's view she stopped a safe distance away to observe. Midori gasped when she saw a young-looking girl roll her fists and punched a boy in the face. The young girl had long blond waist-length hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore a plain white top with blue jeans. The boy had blue-black, raven-colored hair. He wore a dark blue t-shirt with white shorts. "You f*****g a*****e!" she screamed at the boy furiously. The boy was tossed back into a tree. "Ouch! Violent." Midori whispered to herself.

The boy jumped up "What the hell was that for?! I just saved you!" the boy yelled back. "Sasuke?" Midori wondered when she found the sharp yet deep voice of the boy familiar. Midori held a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Did I look like a person needing your help?! You just wasted my fun!" the girl hissed. "You idiot!" Sasuke snarled.

Midori was laughing so hard that she fell out of the tree she'd been perched in a moment before. She hit the ground with a loud thump and sudden rustle of the bushes under her. Pain shot through Midori's back from the impact and she struggled to sit up. When she looked up both the girl and Sasuke were staring at her. "Heh...hi...what'cha doin' here?" Midori giggled stupidly, not asking anyone in particular. "What are YOU doing here?" Sasuke glared at her.

Midori stopped laughing and returned his fierce glare. "What do you care?" she retorted sharply. "Grr...what the hell are either of you doing here?! I'm trying to train!" the other girl shouted at them. Midori was taken aback and stared at her. "Just passing through when I heard screaming and Sasuke got what was coming to him." Midori answered with a smirk.

Sasuke's glare on Midori only intensified at her comment. After a long moment he tore his gaze away and shook his head quickly as if to clear it a little. "Another pathetic loser." he growled under his breath, but still loud enough for Midori to hear before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Midori laughed again. "What?!" the girl demanded irritably. Midori tried to slow her laughter enough to speak. "Ya'know what? Your the first chick I've ever heard of thats actually hit Sasuke. That must've been one hell of a wake up call for him. What's your name?" she giggled. "I am Kimiko Manami." the girl replied, calming down some.

Midori got up and was able to see Kimiko more clearly. She wore a white shirt that had straps that went around her shoulders, then connected a sleeve that started near her elbow and a small dagger in her left hand. What really caught Midori's eye was that Kimiko bore no headband, only a cool-looking choker on her neck.

"Are you ninja?" Midori asked. Kimiko was briefly silent, then spoke. "I have no village if that's what your wondering. Although I am a ninja nonetheless. This is my personal symbol." she smirked proudly and pointed at her choker. It was a black leather strap that lead into a chain, which lead to a beautiful black gem that was shaped similar to a tear drop with a green tinge to it. It had a cloud-like shape on the top and there was three blood red claw marks in the center.

"That's so cool! So you have that instead of a headband?" Midori asked curiously to confirm it. "Yep, pretty much." Kimiko smiled. "That's awesome!" Midori grinned. Kimiko held out her hand to Midori. Midori grasped it and Kimiko pulled her to her feet. "Oww...I'm going to be sore tomorrow." Midori grumbled as she dusted herself off. Kimiko chuckled to herself. Midori gave her a puzzled look. "So are you coming to town?" Midori asked .

Kimiko didn't answer, but there was a sudden uneasy feeling in the air. Kimiko lifted the feeling with a question. "Leaf village, right? Who is the Hokage?" Midori blinked at her dumbfounded. It was a suspicious question to use as a reply to a simple yes or no question. "Yeah. Lady Tsunade is the current Hokage. Why do you ask?" Midori asked carefully. "Oh, just wondering! I guess I can stay for a while." Kimiko answered quickly with one of those not-so-convincing smiles.

Midori shrugged it off "Alright. Maybe we can get some ramen too. Got money?" she asked. "Some." Kimiko replied shortly. "Then its settled. We'll go into the village and have some ramen. I still want to know why you hit Sasuke earlier." Midori smirked. She spun around on one foot to face the direction of the village.

Kimiko walked alertedly behind Midori, spinning her small blade between her fingers almost anxiously. It wasn't long before they had arrived at the ramen shop. They each ordered a bowl of ramen and started to talk.

"So what exactly did happen back there anyway?" Midori asked curiously. "Oh, just a couple of bandits attacked me. It was five against one. I fought them, but was caught in a simple Genjutsu." Kimiko explained absent-minded. The ramen was placed in front of her and Midori as she spoke. "When I came back out of the Genjutsu I awoke to see that raven-haired kid arrive and start beating the s**t out of the bandits. I didn't need nor want his help." her voice lowered to a sharp growl.

Midori listened as she ate her ramen. Kimiko picked up and broke her chopsticks apart then started to eat. "Mmmkay..." Midori swallowed her mouthful of ramen and was unsure of what to say next. There was a weird silence. "So...what brings you to Konoha?" Midori broke the silence. "No reason in particular. I never stay in one place for very long." Kimiko shrugged thoughtfully.

Midori looked at her blankly. "Well, thats cool" she blinked "...well, do you have a place to stay then?" she asked, already sure of the answer. "No. I usually stay outside." Kimiko replied simply. Midori smirked slightly. "Heh." She said, thinking about her small apartment with Mizuki and Kioko "I guess you could stay with me for a while, but I must warn you there are two other genin there too." Midori offered slowly. Kimiko gave her an expression of disbelief. "Why would you?" she asked. "I don't know. Just helping a fellow ninja out is all." Midori shrugged.

Kimiko stared at her in silence for one long moment. "Sure. I guess it doesn't really matter." Kimiko smirked more to herself than to Midori. Midori sighed "Alright, in that case we should head there now. I supposedly have a mission tomorrow." With a nod she tipped her bowl back and finished her ramen. Kimiko did the same.

Soon after Midori and Kimiko left the ramen shop to go to Midori's apartment. Almost as soon as Midori opened the door Mizuki and Kioko jumped on her. "Hi Midori! You're back!" they smiled. They had pinned her to the ground in a dog pile, their eyes glittered with energy. Midori grunted under their weight. "Are you two trying to kill me?!" Midori gasped for the breath that was knocked out of her on impact.

"Ah! Who is that?" Kioko pointed to Kimiko curiously. Midori squeezed out from under them and stood up unsteadily. She looked at the dark-haired girl's surprised expression. "Kimiko, meet my room mates Kioko and Mizuki. Kioko, Mizuki, meet Kimiko." Midori sighed suddenly tired. Kioko and Mizuki got up and waved to Kimiko with bright smiles. "Hi!" they said in unison. "Hey." Kimiko greeted.

Midori walked passed the girls "Sorry, but I think I'm going to call it an early night. I'm really tired all of a sudden." she groaned and walked over to her room. "Kimiko, go ahead and make yourself at home. Mizuki and Kioko can grab you a blanket and pillow." Midori said loudly from her room.

The apartment was small with only one room, but it had plenty of floor space in the living room area so that was usually where Mizuki and Kioko slept on small futons that Tsunade was good enough to supply until they could get a bigger place. Midori fell back on her bed with a sigh and stared at her white ceiling. She stayed like that for a while listening to the soft giggles, footsteps and flopping blanket sounds that echoed from the living room.

Midori began to zone out, but quickly snapped out of it. She got up and got changed into her pajamas, took her hair out of its high pigtails to let her hair fall freely, then crawled into her bed. It was not long before she'd fallen asleep.

Reviews

[Sseoni]

Oo, another new character is introduced! I think she's awesome! Full of spunk and she can fight! I think... oh well! She's awesome! It was so nice of Midori to let her stay with her. Great chapter!