• 'Ugh! Bu-Bu is late again,' though Ariel as she impatiently waited against a doorway. Sure, Kabuto was studying to become a doctor, but that didn't mean he could skip out on training with her.

    (After he had recovered from his injuries on the night they had met, at a surprising rate too, he had sworn he would become a medical ninja to prevent those types of injuries from ever being inflicted on him again.)

    Ariel stamped her foot with impatience; she was fiddling with her headband, again, when Kabuto rounded the corner. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "The lecture we had on making casts out of organic materials ran overtime. Normally, I would have come straight away. I'm so sorry my lady."

    "Ditch the fomality. It's just me," grimaced Ariel. Her birthmark was burning again. She had gotten better at suppressing the pain but it still leaked out every now and then.

    She grabbed Kabuto's arm and started dragging him along to the courtyard in order to hide her pained expression. On her sixth birthday, it had been transformed into her practice area for taijutsu. Her father had made it a law that any ninja who passed through the courtyard, without permission, would be punished. (Seems like him right?)

    Orochimaru was waiting for them, like always, but someone else was with him today. Kabuto and Ariel didn't have to look at each other to know they were thinking the same thing: 'Who is that? We almost never have visiting teachers.'

    As if he had heard their thoughts, Orochimaru called out, "Welcome students. Today, we have a guest teacher, so please be on your best behavior. This is Kidomaru." He pointed to the 14-year old youth beside him. "He'll be your handsign teacher from now on." And then he left.

    Ariel stared at him quizzically. 'How can someone with six arms be a jutsu specialist?' she thought. Kabuto whispered, "I bet those extra arms are fake." She giggled.

    "Hey!" Kidomaru yelled, startling them out of their quiet conversation. "No laughing. That's the number one rule if you guys want to train under me."

    "I think that's going to be a little difficult, considering our sensei has six arms," Kabuto challenged, bursting into a fit of giggles.

    What happened then was a thing Ariel could never forgive Kidomaru for. He hit her best friend across the face, causing Kabuto to fall to the ground and sending his glasses sailing across the courtyard. "While your down there, give me fifty push-ups on your knuckles, pretty boy. You too princess. This is not a drill!"

    Epilogue

    Ariel went to bed that night with every part of body aching, her fingers in particular. Who had known that hand-signs could hurt so much to make? "I don't care what Master Orochimaru says. That guy is bad news," said Kabuto getting into the bed beside hers.

    "No kidding," she replied. "I just hope we don't have to be his students for too long."

    "Oh well," said Kabuto as the musicians began to play. (A flute, a violin, and a harp always serenaded them before they went to sleep when Kabuto spent the night among the Sound, which was about once a month. This was one of the many things Ariel loved about having Bu-Bu coming to visit.) "Maybe tomorrow will be better. Who knows? I might actually feel my knuckles by the end of the day."

    Ariel laughed as she drifted off to sleep, exhausted but happy. Happy that Bu-Bu would always be around.