“He’s the one you want to know most about, right? What did he pull today?” Kakashi’s eyes widened. There was no way he was going to tell his peer about his utter humiliation at the hands of a boy and his dumb common sense and *y fingers.
“Whatdoyoumean, nothing happened,” Kakashi slurred, all of the words trying to get out of his mouth at once. Iruka snorted and rolled his eyes, but went on casually briefing Kakashi.
“Scarlet bears resemblance to the Uchiha clan, does he not? Black hair, red eyes, fire user… And, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen his parents come to conferences… Anyways, despite the numerous stunts he’s pulled and the devilish gleam in his eyes, he’s actually a sweet kid. Un-Uchiha like.” Kakashi tilted his head, slowly raising an eyebrow. Iruka laughed.
“And despite never listening during class, like another student I could name, he also never scores less than 93% on exams. Having a good sense of perception, he can find weaknesses in his enemies’ ninjutsu. He likes using fire to attack, and also uses it as support and for genjutsu. Standard attacks include Flame and Feather Illusion Jutsu. Special attacks are Phoenix Fire, Dragon Flame, and Seal of Red Lotus. I would say he’s good at attacking multiple enemies, especially with that Dragon Flame. In battle, he always keeps a cool head, hehe. It’s funny because he’s… he’s a fire type. Get it? Hehehe, I guess we’ll never find out if he’s got Sharingan or not, haha!” Kakashi gave the school instructor a pained look, and Iruka cleared his throat.
“He really is smarter than he seems though. I’m not sure what happened today, but I’m sure it all seemed like a deceptively simple fluke. His first trick is always like that, follower by a long period of nothing to lull you into a false sense of security… Another thing- he doesn’t get angry. He might get fake angry, or mildly upset, mainly for comic relief, but I’ve never seen him really * up at someone. He uses this to his advantage very effectively on the battlefield, riling his opponents into a blind rage. They’ll tear up the area but their moves get sloppy and easy to dodge- and when they’re tired and are out of chakra- that’s when he goes in for a killing move. It’s quite something to see.”
Kakashi sat back in the chair, running a hand through his hair and thinking at the ceiling. So, a trickster of the worst kind. Grah… Why him?
“Anything else? Otherwise I’m going home. To my lovely, soft, fluffy bed.” Kakashi blinked.
“Yeah… How long have they all known each other? Seems like they’re pretty close. Except for Scarlet and Midnight; I dunno what happened but seem to hate each other.”
“Hm… I know that Azure, Breeze, and Crimson have been neighbors and good friends since childhood. The Blade clan compound seemed to be fairly close, but as far as I know Midnight never left it before school began. And Scarlet… I’ve never seen him before school began either, but he lives across the street from Breeze now, I think. Don’t be fooled by those two, though. They’re a lot more alike than they know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going home, that’s what I mean. See ya Kakashi. Good luck,” he snickered, waltzing out the door with a snarky little wave.Kakashi stared at the door with his uncovered eye.
‘I’m screwed,’ was the one bleak thought that swirled through his mind, over and over.


Back in a different part of the city, a certain white haired boy was having trouble sleeping. He turned. Fluffed his pillow. Turned again. Rearranged the sheets more comfortably. Turned onto his stomach. Finally, his clenched eyelids shot open.
“Kuso!” He whisper-screamed, throwing his pillow at the wall. It flopped pathetically to the ground. How appropriate- that was just how Midnight felt now. He ran his fingers through his wild, fluffy white hair.
Why, of ALL people, did Midnight have to be indebted to him!? It’d be fine if it was just that blue haired girl… he could probably get away with just giving her a flower picked from his aunt’s garden or something… Girls were easy to pay back. A smile, a flower, a simple thank you and they’d get all red and say that it was nothing. But his worst enemy? How could he have looked so weak in front of, of all people, Scarlet Blaze? He flopped backwards back onto the mattress, kicking and strangling his sheets, suddenly finding it way too hot. Humiliation worked it’s way up his neck, ears, cheeks, dying him pink. He clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to forget, but it only played again beneath his eyelids.


Midnight awoke with a gasp… and a throbbing headache. Gritting his teeth, he reached a hand up and gingerly rubbed the back of his head. It came away bloody. He looked over his shoulder with a wince. There was a broken branch jutting out of the trunk that must’ve stabbed into his head. Glowering, he pulled out his sword in one smooth movement and sliced off the offending branch, but having been precariously balanced, ended up falling out of the tree and landing hard on his side in a heap on the forest floor. Agony exploded through his body. The breath left his lungs with a whoosh, stars flashed before his eyes, and he couldn’t keep back panting whimpers of pain.
‘…Well, at least no one heard that,’ he thought, flushing with embarrassment and squeezing his eyes shut. * branch. How could he be so weak-
“That you, Midnight?” A laughing voice washed into his disoriented brain.
‘**** my life.’
“Hey, Midnight!”
The lightning ninja moved his lips, but no sound escaped them. Tried to roll his eyes, but found that the forest was already moving. Blurry double images rippled to and fro.
“Midnight? Are you okay…? Midnight!?” Mild concern turned to panic as Midnight didn’t answer, and the mulch on the ground could not muffle the sound of pounding footsteps.
“Oi! Are you really hurt that bad? Shinobi gods, a dead teammate on the first day! This is very bad, very very-”
“Shut… up…” Midnight rasped, barely audible. Did the moron ever stop talking?
“Oh, he’s not dead! Wait. Huh? What’d you say?” Scarlet, genuinely not having heard Midnight, bent his ear over Midnight’s mouth so he could hear him better. A faint whiff of shampoo drifted into his nose. Something rich and fruity, with an under layering of mint and coconut. It was nice. Kind of homey, in a strange way. Midnight let his eyes drift close, inhaling the fragrance… And then he realized what he was doing. A hand came up and shoved Scarlet’s fruity-smelling head out of the way. He struggled to prop himself up on his elbows.
“I said shut up; I’ve already got a headache and- !?!” A sharp gasp of pain left Midnight’s lips, and he fell back to the earth. The last of his breath was driven from his lungs on impact, and he tried to stay as still as possible, holding his breath to keep the pain at bay. What breaths he could * were shallow- hardly satisfying- but Midnight knew what kind of hell awaited him if he tried to get more air in his lungs. His eyes flickered over to Scarlet, half expecting another quip about his condition. Instead, he was shocked to find all traces of mirth sapped from his expression, replaced by a grim alarm he had never seen on the other’s face before.
“Seems like you have fractured ribs. Even falling such a short distance can be fatal if you don’t land correctly. Can you stand?” Midnight nodded *ily, but when he made to get up his body would not obey, flopping pathetically back to the ground. Scarlet’s face seemed to tighten fractionally. He gently picked up the larger male, cradling his head and taking extra care not to jostle his ribs as much as was possible. It would be better to bring Azure to him rather than risking further damage, but that would take a long time.
‘His injuries don’t seem life threatening. It might be okay to move him.’
“I’m sorry, but this is the only way. I’ll take you back to the stakes and Azure can patch you up. Okay?” Scarlet spoke softly, and once again Midnight was struck by how considerate he was being. He’d never seen this side of the raven haired boy before- Heck, maybe no one in the entire world had- It was almost unsettling how different he was, but at the same time Midnight was fascinated at how even someone like this could wear different masks. Which begged to ask another question- which was the real him? But by now, the lightning nin was too sleepy to ponder existential questions. Perhaps it was a haze of pain that forced his mind to shut down, but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of security at the fact that someone, anyone had found him lying there. Who cared if his pride was shattered? At least he wasn’t alone, dying in the forest.
This post was last edited by Goat_Kiddie911 at 2017-5-29 11:22