Chapter 13

Setsuna stared down at the paper laying on the desk before her. Everywhere around the room, resounding off each corner of every wall, was the sound of the other candidates scribbling down their answer.. which could, or could not be correct.

Setsuna, however, unlike everyone else, wasn't writing anything. Instead, she merely sat in her seat and stared down to the front of the room where Ibiki stood in an intimidating stance: arms crossed tightly over his chest and an impassive look plastered over his face. Said man, she noticed, had been looking at her from the corner of his eyes from the moment she went up to the front to collect her seat number. She knew he was doing this as she had previously caught him in the action. His eyes had widened considerately and he quickly turned the other way, making it so that his expression was back to being impassive.

Of course, Setsuna was used to having many people, adults and children alike, staring at her (although, probably, for different reasons) But she felt slightly uncomfortable under Ibiki's gaze. It was as if every time he was analysing her every move, although she was barely doing anything that could interest him so.

'Perhaps..' she pondered as a thought just popped into her mind. 'Perhaps that man told him what he saw in my mind..' Yes, she was sure of it now. Ibiki was merely interested in why she clouded her mind so. As to why she wouldn't let anyone in. To every unanswered questions Ibiki may have wanted to have answered, Setsuna's answer, in her mind, was always the same.

She wanted to be left alone. It was no ones business except for hers and she wanted to keep it that way. Although.. Sentaro she would allow in and perhaps Mayonaka if she got to know him more.

Setsuna gave a small shake of her head as she threw all those thoughts from her mind and turned back down to the clean paper in front of her. She couldn't decide whether to just answer the damn questions or not. They were all really easy and if she did answer them, she'd only be done a minute or so later..

Already 15 minutes had passed since the start of the first test and all Setsuna had been doing was staring off into space. Ibiki cou1ldn't quite understand this. She should have at least tried at them, or tried to cheat at least. He knew that she was smart for her age as well as talented and was sure that if she even tried at cheating, she would succeed.  So why wouldn't she?

Remembering back to what Inoichi had told them, he inwardly shuddered. Of course, Ibiki was a torture and interregation expert. But even he didn't like the sound of what his old time friend went through inside the young girls mind. He couldn't help but feel a shiver go up his spine at the mere thoughts.. it wasn't a very nice feeling. Feeling scared, even if only slightly.

Coming back out from his, kinda scary, thoughts, Ibiki sighed inwardly and glanced over the room. Many of the candidates had already been forced to leave for being caught cheating and many of the candidates had also not been caught cheating. Ibiki noticed that the ones who weren't caught were mostly the young rookies. This surprised him, though he didn't show it, but being a trained ninja meant that he had to expect the unexpected; which right now was very talented rookies.

Finishing writing down the answers to the questions, which were surprisingly easier than she first thought as she first glanced over them, Setsuna let out a sigh and stared out the window as she began to think about everything that's been happening lately. For some reason, after all this time of not feeling anything, she had began to experience weird things in certain situations. Both her brother and Mayonaka had told her that it was normal, but she couldn't help but feel as though she was becoming something she didn't want to be. After so long of feeling nothing, Setsuna wanted it to stay that way; she knew that it would be best if she stayed that way. 

A shift in the seat beside her brought her back from her thoughts. 

Kuro had watched her since the moment she took the seat right beside him; she interested him greatly: the way she moved, her consistant impassive expression, everything. When Mayonaka had first spoke of her, Kuro didn't understand why his new teammate wouldn't stop gushing, but now he understood. Everything about Setsuna made you want to stay with her, to protect her. Even though Kuro had just met the young girl, he already felt this way. 

However, it surprised him a bit when she sat beside him and barely even shot him a glance. Perhaps she was ignoring him? Was his first thought, but then he came to the conclusion that she merely hadn't noticed him. Since, to him, the questiones were simple, Kuro had finished the test in the first ten minutes since the exam started. As soon as he let his pancil down, Kuro began to watch the blue tinted haired girl with interest as she merely stared out into space.

Many minutes passed before Setsuna had began to write; however what shocked Kuro most of everything that she'd placed her pencil down only just under three minutes later. 'she couldn't have finished that quick' he inwardly exclaimed to himself, an inpressed expression plastered over his face, although he forced it away a second later as he shifted into a more comfortable possition.

That simple movement had caught Setsuna's eye and for the first time since their first meeting, she noticed he was there. A pang of annoyance boiled inside Kuro's stomach at the mere thought of it; although he had no idea as to why he felt that way. Shaking it off, Kuro let a slirk grace his handsom features. The two didn't talk to each other, as they were in the middle of the exam and could be caught for cheating (even though they weren't), though they did enter into a staring contest, trying to see who would be the first to back down. 

In Setsuna's point of view, she wasn't really staring at him - she was simply staring off into space which happened to be in his direction. Although, she was interested in Mayonakas new teammates, she thought against being kind to him, or even talking to him at that. A short while ago, just after she found Mayonaka, Setsuna came to the conclusion that she shouldn't do anything unnecessary from now on as she would always end up in bad situations.

Even though her new panther/boy(friend) was different from others and she couldn't help but have this feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her to open up to him, there was something that was also telling her that he wasn't someone she wanted to be around. This confused Setsuna even further, so she pushed the feeling away. His new teammates also gave her such feelings, especially the one to her right; although it wasn't telling her to open up to him, or to push him away, it was telling her to be wary - which was exactly what she would do from now on: be wary of him.

Getting the feeling that someone was staring at her, Setsuna turned slightly in her seat and glanced at said person from the corner of her eyes. Just diagonal from her seat, Sasuke was staring at her with his coal-like gaze. Why? she didn't know, but to say she was 'a-ok' with it, wouldn't exactly be true. Setsuna also noted that the red haired boy, Gaara, was also glancing every so often in her direction. She had been slightly interested in his situation, as it was similar to Narutos, but him being interested in her as well? she had not seen this coming. The two hadn't even exchanged names, although she knew his, they had merely caught sight of each other in another annoying situation.

"Alright!" 

Snapping out of her thoughts and turning back around in her seat so that she was facing the front, Setsuna caught the smug look of Ibiki - the first exams proctor. "We will now start the final question! But before we get to it, I'd like to go over the added rules for this questione" From her right, Setsuna could hear the faint groan coming from Kuro. He was right in doing so as well because Setsuna also couldn't bother listening to some stupid rules. 

Staring outside, Setsuna took in the clear blue sky as if it was a gift, which it was. For such a nice day, everyone should be outside instead of sitting a test inside a stuffy room - as she was doing. With her hearing, Setsuna could hear birds tweet from their nests in the closest trees, small children playing in the busy streets as well as the many shoppers shopping in the market.

Setsuna didn't know how long she'd spaced out for, but a loud hand slamming down on one of the desks brought her back from the noises coming from outside the room. She turned towards the source of the noise, only to spot Naruto. 'I should have known it'd be him' A strange feeling entered Setsunas stomach and she had the sudden urge to do something she's never done before. Something that Sentaro had always pushed her to do. She felt the need to laugh. But Setsuna didn't like this feeling, she didn't need it. She kept telling herself this.

As Ibiki began explaining why everyone who stayed in their seats passed, Kuro turned around in that of his own to face Setsuna, the smirk still plastered over his face. "Ne, why did you wait until half way through the test before completing the paper?" Setsuna tilted her head to the right slightly and Kuro couldn't help but think of her as adorable as she did so.

He hadn't yet fully taken the young girl in and decided that now would be as good of time as any. The girl before him was not as petite as some of the girls her age currently taking the exam, but she was still more than a head shorter than himself. Her midnight blue kimono wrapped fittingly around her curvy figure and her long sleeves which flowed freely past her fingertips gave her an innocent look. Her hair, which passed the small of her back and was the same colour as her kimono, was silky smooth and Kuro had the urge to run his fingers through it. Shaking the thoughts away, Kuro stared into her midnight blue eyes that had a tint to grey.

'I.. you could say that I was bored' Her answer was short and simple, although it wasn't all true. Sure, Setsuna was truley bored, but she felt as though she should test her knoledge and this exam was the perfect chance. Setsuna recieved a nod as a reply from Kuro, although he had a thoughtful look in his eyes showing that he was thinking about her answer. 'Did you not cheat?' This question caught Kuro off guard and he was slightly offended that she would think he wasn't smart enough to anwser some simple questions. Sure, he wasn't a chunin, but he'd already passed chunin level and was already nearing jonin. His knowledge was surely higher than that of most, perhaps all, in the room except from Ibiki - the proctor.

With a shake of his head, Kuro let a smug look grace his features. "Nope, this test is for babies. You also think the same, right? You completed all the questions in under three minutes. I gotta say.. that's impressive" Confused, Setsuna furrowed her eyebrows, however slightly it was. If Kuro knew the exact amount of time it took for her to complete the test, does that mean he's been watching her. Setsuna decided to out right ask him as she felt like it would be interesting to watch his expressions. 'Have you been watching me?' Startled, Kuro coughed behind his hand and shifted his gaze elsewhere. Because of her character, he wouldn't have expected her to ask something like that so straight forward. Of course, she was kind of correct, he had been watching her: since the moment she sat beside him, as she and Ibiki exchanged looks, as she began writing...

Before Kuro had the chance to even reply though, a crash came from the front of the room as something launched through the window. Shards of glass flew everywhere and the candidates had to duck down under desks to make sure they wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. "Alright you guys!! This is no time to be celebrating! I'm the examinor for the second test.. Mitarashi Anko!! Now, lets go!" 

Everyone sat in silence as they looked over the woman who entered in one of the weirdest ways. Setsuna, however, thought her entrance was rather interesting and the mysterious woman - Anko, as she'd introduced herself as - reminded her of Naruto in quite a few ways. One of such was her loudness as well as her ability to make trouble.

"78? Ibiki, you left 28 teams? this time the test was too easy" Many of the candidates shook in anger as they felt Anko was underestilating. This, Ibiki also noticed and with a shake of his head, he answered. "This time there are a lot of outstanding ones" "Bah!" A wide grin, sadistic at that - Setsuna noted - spread across Ankos face "That's fine. I'll just cut them in half in the second exam. I'll explain everything one we've changed places. Follow me" Without even awaiting everyones reply, the woman jumped back out the, now broken to pieces, window with everyone else following in her dust. 

Setsuna was one of the last of the room to leave, as was Mayonaka, Kuro and Toshiro. Ibiki had noticed this and let a wide smug grace his rough features. "Kanashimi!" The large mans call caught the midnight blue haired girls attention, as well as the others, and she stopped on the spot to see what he wanted. Setsuna was sure that Ibiki knew that the quicker she folowed Anko the better, so what would he possible need? 

After a small nod, Ibiki lost the grin and smiled softly. "Good luck and be careful. Your on your own in the exam and the second test will surely be difficult" Ibiki had no idea as to why he was even warning the young girl, but she was the first genin to ever take the exams alone, a girl at that. For some reason, something was telling him to do whatever he could to make sure she knew what she was getting herself into. 'I see.. Arigatou Ibiki-san' This surprised Ibiki. He didn't think that the girl would thank him, in such a kind voice at that. 

With a simple nod of her head, Setsuna turned around to follow after Mayonaka, taking Ibiki's warning to heart.