Age 10/Year 10 [Part 3]

Ah shit.

Those thoughts practically shake my bones and have the enamel on my teeth peeling as I clamp my mouth shut.

Oh shit.

I've been found, and not by some normal civilian. Even though I'm still in school and not even a genin,  I knew there wasn't anyone in the change room. I checked not once, not twice, but thrice before coming in here. How the hell could I miss someone!? No, whoever this is can't be a normal person.

I've been caught by a ninja.

"Well? What you up to, little boy?" The woman's voice slithers into my ear. She keeps a fair distance, yet her voice is no less menacing.

Shit!

How the hell do I respond to this? Being in the women's changing room is a sexual offence! They could fine me and-

...

Oh...

Wait. I'm a kid. I nearly chock as panic was threatening to swallow my mind. When I panic, I forget the most basic of things. It's why the first rule in emergencies is not to do that. I take a deep, calming breath and put on the best "innocent" look that I could on my face.

I'm just a kid. My mind is a cobbled mess of my last life and the childish musing of my new one. The more time passes, the less like an adult I felt, but, no one else knows that. To them, I'm just a child. A weird, maybe creepy kid, but still just a kid.

"Oh! Hello there." I turned Around, a small, casual smile on my lip. Lying? No, if she is a ninja, then there's no way I could deceive her. However, there's more than one way to hide the truth. Lying is just the easiest. "Who are you, lady?"

I look up, eyes meeting a dull pair of orbs. She wears a smile familiar to my own. That's not a good thing. Who does she have to deceive?

"Hmm?" She steps closer, bending down to get a better look at me. "That's what I want to know." Without hesitation, she reaches down and pats my chest. "You're no girl, so what are you doing in the girl's side?"

I swallow and answer as calmly as possible.

"Mom said that strangers touching me is against the law." I step back, hands rising to cover my chest. I needed time- time to think up a way out of this mess.

"Well, then she must have told you that going into the wrong bath is also illegal." Her violet hair spikes up into short ponytail. It feels like I should know this girl; she can't be older than twenty? Twenty-one?

I open my mouth, just about ready to ask her if this was the girl's change room. As her hollow gaze pierces into me, that quickly changes. I can't lie. It won't work.

"Well, I was on a treasure hunt, and I couldn't think of a better way to do it!" I'm not going to trick this ninja. The look in her eyes is like the Hokage's, but far less subtle. No doubt that it was her curiosity that had her speak to me. I've got to use that somehow.

"Treasure?" The young woman asks. "What sort of treasure?"

I shrug.

"My friend's grandpa said he hid something here a long time ago or something," I say, "I was going to try and find it, but, well, it looks like you found me." It's not what I say that matters, but what I don't say.

The girl hums, fingers digging through her chin. I could see the gears turn in her head.

"Ok," She answers, nodding in understanding. I hold back a relieved breath. "I believe that, but that doesn't change the fact that you snuck into the woman's side."

Ah shit.

"Umm... c-can you please not tell anyone else?" Time for plan B. I attach myself to her leg like a tick. Worst case, she kicks me away and calls the owner. Yeah, it'll look really bad and my mother won't be happy, but it's not like I'll go to jail.

I'm just a kid.

"H-Hey. What are you doing?!" She sputters, kicking her leg in an attempt to remove me. "L-Let go."

I hold on for dear life.

"N-Not before you promise me to keep it a secret!" As a child, I had the special ability known as "looking innocent." I've yet to grow old enough to lose it, so best to put it to good use while I can. "I-If you do, I'll do anything you want!"

A bit of a sacrifice, but I had to actually give her incentive to help me out. Honestly, If some kid pulled this on me, well, I wouldn't have helping them. Now, if they offered to do something for me, that's a different story. There's always trash to pick up or a wall to paint. Surely she's the same, right?

"What's that noise?"

"It's coming from the changing room."

"Does someone need help?"

My heart sinks as voices trickle in from the women's bath. Loud, wet footsteps bounce through the door and toward us. People are coming to investigate.

"Ah, shit!" The girl next to me curses. Her eyes snap to me, a frustrated spark burning within. "Fine, you're mine, kid!"

Before I could say anything, the world twists, bends, and my vision swims. Somehow, I find myself outside. I collapse onto my hands and knees, doing the best I could to hold in my lunch.

W-What the hell just happened?

"Don't be a pansy, you little bastard!" The girl's here with me and she doesn't look very happy. "Look, I saved your ass, so you owe me, ok?"

"W-Wha-"

She bites her tongue and glares at me.

"All I wanted was a nice, hot bath after a long mission." She crosses her arms and glares harder. "And you interrupted that, so I'll take that offer." She bends down.

"Now, I'm going to give you three choices. Pick one or I'll go to the highest spot in town and drop you." Her smile is wicked and curved like a dangerous scythe. "Don't worry, I'll grab you near the bottom, but listening to you scream, and maybe piss your pants should cheer me up a bit."

...

What a bitch.

"So, what's it going to be, little treasure hunter?"

==========

"So, what's it going to be, little treasure hunter?"

Her words still stick in my mind, even as I stare down at her "pet."

"Well? Are you going to do it or not?" If this girl was one thing, it wasn't patient. Her brow twitched in annoyance as she glared at me, arms crossed. "Snake's not going to feed itself."

Oh, it would. The little problem was that I was supposed to grab a live rat and toss it inside the snake's enclosure. The poor, fluffy little rodent looked up at me, eyes watering and filled with fear. This... this didn't feel right.

"Don't you have something else?" A slice of meat? Some chicken? Heck, eggs would work.

"You interrupt my bath and now you're telling me what to feed my snake?" She huffs, brow rising. "Look, if you're not going to apologize, then get out." The girl huffs.

She clicks her tongue and shakes her head.

"God damned waste of time. Probably won't have a chance to bathe again till tomorrow night."

I flinch at her mumbled words. That bad? I didn't mean to screw her over that badly. Still, she's a bit of a bitch. Should I feel that bad?

...

A sigh slips from my lip.

"Is there no other way to feed it? I really don't want to kill this cute rat."

She shakes her head.

"Rats are ugly. Snakes are cute." She huffs and reaches into the box, nabbing a rat and tossing it into the snake enclosure. I could only watch as the large python strikes, instantly coiling around the rat and shaping its spine. Not missing a beat, "Sir Snakey" opens its maw and chomps down on the poor rats' head.

At least she can pick cute names...

I watched as the snake devours it whole and slithers toward the window, soaking up the evening sun's fading rays.

"Since you can't feed him, you're going to have to help me feed Ms.Slither."

...

"Am I going to have to feed it another rat?" I asked, somewhat disturbed at the thought.

"Rats?" The grin that splits her face sends chills down my spine. "Nah, we're going to need something bigger," she says with a chuckle, "don't worry though, I'll kill it first."

...

Great.

------------------

Admittedly, I did not expect to be entering the Forest of Death again so soon. Was she insane? I were just a kid!

"This here's the Forest of death." She tells you, a wicked smile on her face. "My friend's inside, and you'll be helping me feed him a cow."

A cow?! How big is this sna-

I bite my tongue. No, I knew exactly how big it's going to be. The creatures inside that place are nightmare-horrors. Do I really have to go inside?

"So? Ya pissed your pants yet?" The shit-eating grin on her face practically wipes any doubt in my mind. She's a right smart ass! Well, I'm pretty sure I've got an idea about who she is. Violet hair, a snake theme, and the fact that she stopped to grab some of those sweet ball things on a stick on the way here...

There's only one person she could possibly be.

"You know, if you kiss the ground and apologize, I don't mind letting you go." She says.

Really now? Well, I'm not backing down. Honestly, she's pissed me off a bit.

"Well, I don't mind going inside, Anko! Let's go!" She stiffens as I spoke her name, eyes immediately narrowing into slits.

"I didn't tell you my name..." She grumbles; I smile.

"You didn't!" And that's how I find her standing behind me, arm on my shoulder. She's really strong.

"Welp, I wasn't actually going to take you inside." She mutters. "Gota get permission and all that, plus people would be really pissed."

She's really starting to squeeze hard! I bite my lip.

"But, considering you're such a smart ass... maybe-"

"Anko?" She freezes as an unknown voice cuts through the entrance. "What are you doing?"

I slowly turn, finding a strange man walking toward us.

"Nothing." Anko curses, clicking her tongue. "I was just showing this kid Konoha's training grounds. He kinda ruined my bath, so I wanted to scare him a bit."

The strange man nods.

"Well, I think you've done a fine job at that. Best you leave before it gets dark." He motions back the way we came. It's hard to really get a good look at him, but his dark brown hair and plain face don't really stick out. He's not anyone I know.

"Bah. Fine." And with that, Anko slings me over her shoulder and rushed off. This time, I  do throw my lunch away.

What a bitch.

------------------------

"Right. that's it kid, beat it." I get nothing more. She leaves me back by the hot spring and vanishes. Thankfully, I didn't get dragged into something stupid, but she definitely didn't look very happy.

Shikamaru and Choji find me soon enough, and then it's back to talking about the treasure. The three of us find a nice, secluded spot and I reach for the scroll. Before we even think of opening it, Shikamaru grabs my hand.

"What if it's boobie traped?"

...

A great point. Suffice to say, we end up looping a small bit of string around the scroll and setting it up on a tree. It's the forest and no one's here, so we dee8m it safe enough. When everyone's ready, we find a good, safe spot in the distance and pull. The scroll unfurls and the three of us hit the deck.

A minute passes.

Then three.

Then five.

All seems safe, so we head on over and start inspecting.

"Wait..." Shikamaru's eyes narrow.

"Is this-" Choji looks to me, then back to Shikamaru, a massive smile on his face.

I sigh and palm my forehead.

Why did I expect anything else? God...

"I can't believe it." Shikamaru shakes his head in disappointment.

"I know!" Unlike him, Choji is only filled with satisfaction.

"This is a super-secret cooking recipe! I can't believe we got this!"

And thus ends our treasure hunt.

At least I got wish points out of it.

Yue also had a lot of fun eating Choji's snacks.

Well, it could have been a lot worse.

And thus, ends my tenth year of life.

Nothing bad happened, which I really appreciate.

When school starts again, they finally go about teaching people a new Jutsu. Interestingly enough, they let the students decide what they want to learn.

[Reward: Quest Finished! +4 WP | Yue Happy! +1 WP | Shikamaru and Choji opinion up! | Anko met!]