New chapter coming at ya

New chapter coming at ya! In this one, a couple of different plot arches get going, one minor one, and the part of the plot that will be the basis for how the story works – in other words, what they’ll be doing during the course of the story.

--

Chapter Five: Alien or Not

Walking for hours is extremely boring, as you may have guessed, and it helps to pass the time by doing something. So Hsaw busied himself teaching Misuk his technique as well as the basics, while the others talked amongst themselves.

Traveling the night before had given them time to get a feel for each other’s personalities. Eri, Yodo, Tenten and Sakura all talked constantly, like a high school clique of popular girls, as Naruto’s teammates filled Yodo in on what had happened since she left Konoha. Neji kept to himself predominantly, while Lee begrudgingly put up with being picked on by Hsaw to Misuk’s amusement, whom seemed to think something about him was funny, and Naruto tried to stay awake, having not slept quite as much as he’d have liked.

“Sorry, Tweek, but it’s kind of distracting to have you in my face at the moment,” Misuk said to her cat as she pulled her off of her shoulder. “Naruto, would you be a dear and carry Tweek for a while?”

He murmured something indistinct as a response, being half asleep. She gently placed the cat on his shoulders, and Tweek meowed before deciding his head was a better place to perch.

“Good, good; I think you’ve got it,” Hsaw said and Misuk half-laughed.

“How weird to think that I’m the sensei, and you’re teaching me.”

“Okay, now try putting it all together, just the way you’ve seen me do it.”

“What an odd group of people,” Lee commented to Neji absentmindedly in a whisper.

“Indeed. In particular, that Misuk-sensei. No experience whatsoever, and claims to be from another dimension. Not exactly run-of-the-mill.”

“Do you believe the ‘other dimension’ story?”

“No. But they seem to adamantly believe it, so they are either psychotic or they are telling the truth. Time will tell, I suppose.”

“Hm,” Lee agreed, then thinking of something. “Is it just me, or does it seem like Misuk-sensei has something against me?”

Behind them, Misuk was trying to think of a song to use. “Oh, I got it.” She focused as hard as she could, having had a lot of practice over the years thanks to meditation, and did the hand sign just as Hsaw had taught her. “Siren jutsu – walk like and Egyptian.”

Still half asleep and totally unaware that it was even happening, Naruto started doing the Egyptian. Tweek meowed, trying to keep her balance on his head.

“It’s like she thinks something about me is hilarious. I don’t know wha - ” Lee was interrupted when Naruto, who was behind him, walked into him and they ended up in a heap on the ground, with Tweek sitting on top.

“Uh, how did I end up on the ground?” Naruto asked, looking around. “And, err, why am I on top of Lee?”

“Sorry – I didn’t think that was actually going to work,” Misuk said, scratching her head with a sheepish expression.

Later in the afternoon…

“Wow, this place is even nicer to look at in person,” Misuk said, looking at Konoha in wonder as they entered the village.

After a fair amount of time walking and walking some more, they had finally reached their destination. Now it was time for a bit of a breather. Or so they thought.

But for the moment, they were home free. And being somewhere she felt like she’d be safe, put Misuk in the mood to whistle. After a moment, Hsaw started singing to the tune.

“I’ve got a song, I’ve got a song…”

The two exchanged looks and started singing together loudly. “And I carry it with me and I sing it loud. If it gets me nowhere, I’ll go there proud. Moving me down the highway, rolling me down the highway. Movin’ ahead so life won’t pass me by!”

People were staring, but they didn’t care.

“And I’m gonna go there free! Like the fool I am and always will be, I’ve got a dream, I’ve got a dream.”

People actually seemed to like the unusual spectacle.

“Oh, I know I could share it if you’d want me to. If you’re going my way, I’ll go with you!”

As if he’d been waiting for them all along (maybe he was), Kakashi came up to them and smiled pleasantly. “Welcome back.”

“Kakashi-sensei, we made some new friends! Naruto said with a tone of excitement, his old perky self again now that he was fully awake.

Of course, Kakashi had noticed that quite a while ago, but he played coy anyway.

“Welcome to you, too,” he said to the two teens who weren’t singing with a pleasant, though obviously hidden, smile.

Tenten went about explaining who they were and where they were from, while Hsaw and Misuk were still singing away.

“Moving me down the highway, rolling me down the highway. Movin’ ahead so life won’t pass me by!”

To the two’s surprise, everyone in the vicinity started clapping.

“And Misuk-sensei,” Tenten finished her introduction.

“She’s an alien,” Naruto added, and Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow.

“No, I’m not – I told you already, I’m from another dimension, not another planet!”

“Well, can’t aliens come from other dimensions?” Naruto asked.

“Yeah, I guess, but that’s beside the point.”

“So, you could, in theory, be an alien,” Lee posed, and Misuk got a little annoyed.

“I am not an alien! As far as I can tell, this could be a partition of the fifth dimension, which mirrors my dimension – so even if there are aliens in my dimension, they’d probably sill be outnumbered on the Earth, and therefore, the likeliness of me being an alien is slim! Besides, I’m not!”

“Okay, you don’t have to bite my head off,” Lee said, “It doesn’t really matter to me if you’re an alien or not.”

“Well, I’m not!”

“Okay!”

“Fine!”

“Alright!”

“Shut up!”

“Is this going to end anytime soon?” Kakashi asked, a quizzical look on his face.

“Uh… That depends… They seem to have some kind of problem with each other, so it might not,” Yodo said, and then something happened that stopped the fight in its tracks: Guy came along.

He stopped, watching the scene with a blank look on his face.

Misuk looked over at him and their eyes met. They stared at each other for what felt like a million years, and then music began to play somewhere…

“That’s the look, that’s the look, the look of love - ” the song informed.

“That’s the look of disgust,” Kakashi corrected.

Indeed, Misuk didn’t exactly seem thrilled to see him there.

“Who is this enchanting creature?” he asked, flashing his trademark smile.

“Oh God,” she groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Look of love!” the song continued.

“Hsaw, please turn the volume down on the CD player,” Misuk pleaded, glaring at Guy and wishing she could go hide somewhere.

“Sorry,” he said, shutting it off. “Um, can I go find a public bathroom?”

“Go for it,” Misuk answered, and Kakashi pointed to the right.

“It’s that way.”

“Don’t get in any fights,” Misuk added seriously.

“I won’t,” he promised. Hsaw headed off towards the bathroom, fortunately to be spared from the scene to follow.

“I’m Na Misuk, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay far away from me, Guy,” Misuk grumbled.

“Do we know each other?” Guy questioned, wondering how she knew him.

“No. Not really. But I know you – sort of – and I’m not getting into it.”

“Ah-ha, stalker!” he said triumphantly, and she wanted to shoot herself. “Listen, I know you feel a deep connection with me, but I can’t possibly get involved with someone so young. How old are you? Sixteen?”

Misuk’s eyes narrowed. “I’m in my twenties!”

“Oh, well that changes everything!”

“I wouldn’t even be your friend, let alone date you. I mean, I’m all for giving people a chance, but spending even a second with you is torture,” she replied, noticing how Lee got offended by her making fun of his sensei. Guy, on the other hand, wasn’t even remotely fazed.

“Fiery personality, I like that,” he said thoughtfully.

Now she was getting irritated. “In the words of the Grinch ‘I HATE YOU! Hate, hate, hate; hate, hate, hate. Double hate! LOATHE ENTIRELY’!”

He simply smiled. “You know you can’t resist my charms.”

Misuk ran a hand down her face, and looked over at Kakashi who just shrugged.

Meanwhile…

Hsaw was heading back to the group from the facilities, whistling a tune and wondering how Misuk was handling the situation with the weird guy who looked like Moe from The Three Stooges.

He wasn’t particularly paying attention to where he was walking, and that’s when trouble struck.

He was seriously startled when his foot suddenly collided with something and there was a loud yelp. He looked down to see that he’d just kicked a small white dog right in the ribs. The dog whimpered and ran behind a hooded boy standing not far away.

“Akamaru!” Kiba said with great concern, crouching down to check on the dog, “Are you okay?”

Akamaru whimpered in response.

Kiba quickly stood up, and laid eyes on the person responsible.

Hsaw swallowed hard, rather frightened by the intense glare he was giving him.

“What do you think you’re doing, hurting Akamaru like that?!”

“Uh…” Hsaw began, at a total loss for words. “It was… It was an accident!”

“Really? How the hell do you miss a dog walking right in front of you?! Are you blind, or something?”

“N-no, I was just - ” Hsaw attempted, but Kiba cut him off.

“You were what? Why don’t you try picking on someone your own size!”

“Fine! I will!” Hsaw snapped back, turning to walk away.

Kiba, infuriated by the whole thing, wasn’t letting him get away so easily. “You’re not going anywhere!”

He grabbed Hsaw by the shoulder and spun him around. “What’s wrong? Afraid of me?”

Hsaw could tell from the start that this guy wanted a fight, and he was hoping he could avoid it, but it seemed he was backed into a corner. Even so, he’d said he wouldn’t get into a fight, and he intended to keep it that way.

“I’m not going to fight you, if that’s what you want,” he said, shoving Kiba away and going to pass him.

“Wuss!” Kiba taunted, and socked Hsaw in the face, knocking him backwards onto the ground.

Hsaw glared at Kiba, wiping blood from his mouth as he got up. “I won’t fight,” Hsaw reiterated, spitting blood as he talked.

Kiba took this as an invitation to rush him.

Hsaw attempted to duck a punch, but Kiba caught him off guard with a kick to the chest, once again laying him flat, just to jump on top of him and begin rolling around as he kept attacking him and Hsaw tried to get him off. After what seemed like ages, Hsaw finally managed to dislodge Kiba by kicking him in the face. Once Kiba was off, Hsaw sat up and began coughing, splattering blood all over the ground.

Kiba stood over him, wearing a sneer as he caught his breath. “Are you really not going to fight back? What a joke,” he laughed lightly. “And you call yourself a ninja?”

Hsaw looked around, realizing they were in an empty area, before his gaze dropped to the headband tied around his ankle. There was no one around to intervene in the fight, and it didn’t look like it was going to end at this rate…

“Fine. You wanna fight, I’ll fight.” Hsaw got on his feet, his eyes locked on Kiba in an icy glare. “Summoning jutsu!”

In a puff of smoke, three humanoid creatures that resembled blonde women with long braids wearing winged helmets and steel armor appeared.

“Valkyries, if you would be so kind,” Hsaw said, blood dripping on his jacket.

The Valkyries exchanged looks, and nodded with smiles. Completely in unison, they began to sing a scale. Kiba, who had no idea what was going on, just watched, while Hsaw quickly dug out his earplugs. Gradually, the notes of the scale increased in pitch, until the Valkyries suddenly hit a note it would be impossible for any human to ever hit, and held it. Kiba fell to his knees, covering his ears in pain while Akamaru ran around in circles frantically. It was the worst sound they’d ever heard – and to top it off, everything in the village made of glass began to burst.

“Oh crap,” Hsaw murmured, not even remotely audible over the Valkyries.

In the Meantime…

“Hmm,” Misuk growled, really dying to snap Guy’s neck at this point.

He had been yakking away since Hsaw left, all about how great he was.

“I really want to shoot myself right now,” she muttered, and Guy leaned close to Kakashi.

“She can’t resist me.”

Kakashi just ignored him, as usual.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched ‘La!’ that rang through the air with the force of thunder.

The rest of the group was far enough away that they could still hear themselves think, at least but the same could not be said for hearing much else below a yell.

“What the hell is that?” Naruto shouted, trying to keep Tweek still while he covered her ears.

“It sounds like Hsaw summoned the Valkyries!” Eri shouted in response.

“What’s a Valkyrie?” Naruto asked.

“Look it up in a dictionary!” Neji replied.

“God damn it, I told him not to fight!” Misuk yelled.

“What?” everyone asked in unison.

“Nevermind!” she called. “Guy, I don’t have time to talk to you right now! Try bugging me later!” She turned to the others. “Let’s go find him!”

Meanwhile…

The Valkyries finally finished singing the note, and looked to Hsaw with beautiful smiles.

“Thank you, ladies,” he said coughing, and the Valkyries disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Hsaw sat down on the ground, feeling sick.

Kiba, who was only a few feet away, was still covering his ears. When he pulled his hands away, his palms were smeared with blood. “Damn…”

Akamaru came over to him and began licking his face.

“I’m in so much trouble,” Hsaw said to himself quietly, just in time for…

“Naze Hsawaknow!” Misuk shouted from a distance as the group approached.

He got to his feet quickly.

“What the fucking hell is going on over here?!” She was a lot more calm than most people would be in this situation, but her tone didn’t show it. “I told you not to get into a fight! Is this going to happen everywhere we go?”

“I’m sorry, Misuk-sensei,” Hsaw said, not looking directly at her.

“What happened? And why is there broken glass all over the place?”

Hsaw sighed. “I accidentally kicked his dog, and he was beating the crap out of me, so I used my summoning jutsu - ”

“Broke all the glass and probably deafened everyone in Konohagakure?”

“Yeah.”

She surveyed the damages in the surrounding area and immediately felt a sense of dread coming on, shaking her head slowly in disbelief.

“I didn’t think it was going to cause such a mess… And I think he needs medical attention.” He motioned to Kiba, whose ears were bleeding.

“Eww!” Misuk cringed. She turned back to her student. “Oh, Hsaw, look at you, you’re a mess,” she said, looking him over. “What’s this from?” She pointed to an odd pattern of bleeding cuts on his arm.

“Um,” he said, looking at them carefully, “I think he bit me…”

“Ugh,” she replied.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized again, and she put an arm around him.

“Don’t be. I want you to defend yourself, but it might have been a bad idea to do that in a heavily populated area… It’s spectacular that you can do that, I just don’t think this was the time to do it. And you,” she turned to Kiba, her voice becoming cold. “An accident is an accident. You ever touch Hsaw again, so help me God, I’ll bitch slap you!”

She liked Kiba a lot, but a well-placed threat was usually pretty good at keeping people in line.

Misuk took on a soft tone, observing Hsaw’s wounds again. “We’ll get you all patched up, okay? But first, I think we should go explain this mess to the Hokage…” She turned to look at Kiba. “That means you too, punk!”

“Right this way,” Kakashi said, leading the way.

A little later…

The news that someone had managed to destroy all the glass in Konoha and cause a general disruption of daily life had reached Tsunade before it even ended, since all the glass in the vicinity had shattered. Shizune was sweeping it up off the floor when Kakashi came in, followed by Kiba, a young woman and three teens. Naruto, Sakura, Neji, Tenten, and Lee waited just outside the door, watching the scene attentively.

“I bring you some visitors, from all corners of the land, even one originally from here – and then some,” he added, glancing at Misuk, “The HIC.”

“‘HIC’?” Shizune questioned.

“They left their villages and formed their own team, traveling the land as soldiers of fortune,” Kakashi explained, citing what Tenten had said earlier during the course of Hsaw and Misuk’s song. “This is their leader. Misuk-sensei?” he handed the conversation over to her.

Misuk stepped forward, eying Tsunade cautiously. “My apologies, I mean no disrespect, but I bow to no one. Been there, done that.”

“Does she mean…?” Naruto started, and Sakura cut him off.

“Not now.”

“And no, I didn’t mean it like that. Get your mind out of the gutter,” Misuk directed to Naruto, who just smiled.

“Are you the ones who caused - ?” Tsunade looked at Shizune sweeping the glass.

“These two are,” she put one hand on Kiba’s shoulder and one on Hsaw’s. “Hsaw was the one who caused all the glass to break, but he was trying to defend himself because Kiba was attacking him. So, vicariously, I guess you could say it’s both their faults.”

“Who’s responsible for starting it?”

Misuk looked at both of them. They exchanged looks and crossed their arms, apparently refusing to talk about it. “Eh… I’m not really sure…”

--

Another chapter down. The next one is nearly finished, except for the typing part, and it’s pretty long – written out, anyway.

Don’t ask where the whole thing with Guy came from – I was trying to come up with some sort of bizarre conflict when I started this that would possibly provide a source of comic relief, and that was what came to mind. In the end of the next chapter, another plot arch begins, which is supposed to be a source of comic relief, as well, though I don’t know how that will work out. I specialize in writing comedy, but that’s usually more ridiculous slapstick, so I’m a little out of my element.

I realize I’ve been focusing on Hsaw a lot, and so far there’s nothing about Yodo and Eri’s abilities, but I’m getting to them. I want to build them up one at a time, and Hsaw happens to be my favorite of the three.

Alright, I need sleep… I only got three hours of sleep last night and I’m about to pass out. Leave me a review and let me know what you think!