Holly Jolly Jonin: Chapter 2
“Yo, Kotetsu.”
“Hmmm…Snerk…ZzZz…”
“…KOTETSU!”
“Anwah!” The spiky-haired man toppled out of the rolling chair and fell to the floor. He blinked a few times and shook the pencil shavings from his black hair. “Wha’ happened?” Izumo, who stood over him, gave an exasperated sigh.
“You fell asleep in the middle of doing Tsunade-sama’s paperwork. Again.” He stressed the word so that Kotetsu could tell he had done it all by himself.
Kotetsu smiled sheepishly. “Heh, sorry!” His friend glared at him and dumped another unholy amount of papers on his side of his desk. “You owe me. You work it off.” His stark expression denied Kotetsu of any mercy. “Aw! C’mon, Izumo-kun! I-I’ll buy you the good sake at the bar! Pleeeeeeease don’t make me sign that hellish pile of crap! I’ll share my good syrup with you!” Kotetsu clutched Izumo’s right ankle and started to cry, not that Izumo cared anyway.
“No way! I don’t want any of that sticky junk! Now, get to work!” Izumo shook his leg, furiously trying to get his colleague to loose his grip, but to no avail. They quarreled for a good six minutes before a soft giggle snapped them out of their squabbling.
“Smooth, guys. Just the way two respectable ninja should behave! Hehe!” It was the “Mabudachi Trio” of the Leaf Village: Chessy, Cat, and Zhen, all in standard ANBU winter garb. They blushed and quickly stood on their feet, attempting to regain what was left of their dignity. Zhen smiled, impishly.
“You boys looked like you were having fun there,” her voice sickly sweet as she wagged her eyebrows up and down. She smiled and wagged a finger in mock reprimand, “Naughty boys!” They gaped at her in shock and disbelief.
“Woman! I swear upon everything on this green earth, neither of us is fruity!” Izumo ground his teeth together and pointed an accusing finger at the most pervy of the ladies. She shrugged and muttered something about “denial”. Kotetsu stood ramrod straight and hissed, “What was that?”
The squabbling finally got old with Cat who stood between the chunin and her ANBU pal. She turned and smacked Zhen on top of her head. “Shuddup, Zhen-chan! You’re being mean!” The youngest ninja turned around and sighed, then smiled as if she was trying not to laugh at some private joke. “Kotetsu-san, Izumo-san,” she smiled wider this time, “do you want to come to a holiday party? It was Tsunade-sama’s idea, but she made us hold it.” Her smiled fell to an expectant line. “You don’t have to decide now. If you’d like, you can just send a letter or something…” She glanced down at the floor as if the tiles held some sort of message. The two chunin just stood there for the longest time and stared at the three women in silence. Then Cat jumped back and, for some reason, put Zhen in a headlock and gave her sempai a rather rough noogie.
“Ahahaha! I mean, you don’t have to come, but it’d be nice!” She was still laughing nervously despite her friend’s muffled objections and threats. That was halted when Chessy, who’d been sitting in the back like a sane little individual, leapt forward and grabbed her comrades’ shirt collars and leapt back to the window.
“She’s right, y’know.” The two men snapped out of their confusion and tilted their heads in confusion. Chess set her friends onto the roof and placed her scarf around her neck. “Take your time to decide, but the party’s three days from now at the Academy building. The students won’t be there so it’s pretty much ours for the evening. We hope to see you there. Remember to invite all other chunin and jonin you know. The bigger the party, the better!” She gave a wild, toothy grin and leapt into the sky along with her pals. A shadowy voice echoed in her place. “Until then, boys…Until then…” And then they were gone.
Izumo huffed and crossed his arms. He looked over at his friend and waited. “Well?”
“Huh?” Kotetsu shook his head. “Sorry. What now?”
“Are you going to the party?” Izumo sat on his side of the desk. “It might be good to get out of work for a legit reason for once.” He chuckled. A party? That was a legit reason? Oh the irony! He looked back expectantly at Kotetsu, awaiting his answer.
After a moment of thought, he clapped his hands and walked towards the door. “Why not?” He walked past the imposing heap of untouched files and various documents, not sparing them a second glance. Izumo laughed and jogged behind him to catch up.
“That’s the answer I wanted to here!” He smirked mischievously at his friend. “Besides, that little lady might there.” Kotetsu slowed his pace and shot an inquisitive glimpse out of the corner of his eye.
“Who?” He scoffed.
“Oh! You know…Neko-chan.” Izumo walked ahead of his co-worker who had stopped in a dead halt.
“H-H-How? Her? Ca-!” He snapped his mouth shut and his face burned through almost every shade of red, maroon, and vermillion you can imagine. “How…did you?”
Izumo laughed and clapped a hand on his blushing friend’s shoulder. “It kinda obvious from that stare, dude!” He walked ahead, “There’s only one explanation for it.” He looked back and snickered. “Besides, did you also know that you talk in your sleep?”
“You!” Kotetsu’s eyes blazed with fury and equal embarrassment as he rushed at his so-called “friend”. “I can’t believe you!” The chunin ran down the halls. Laughing, shouting, and causing quite the commotion. Like best friends should.
