Strange.

Someone’s coughing. Hacking. Sneezing.

Someone’s…

Somi grunted, her left hand coming up to scratch her nose. Idly, she felt the rough surface under her. What? She remembered sleeping on her bed. Her bed didn’t do rough…

“Somi?” a voice entered her hazy mind. Mum? “Wake up, Somi. You’re going to be late to your first day as a genin.”

Somi groaned. Half to answer her mother’s words. Half to ask, what’s a genin? That sounded like something Sejeong ever mentioned to her, in an off chance. Wait, she knew Sejeong had mentioned about it, once…

“Somi?” her mother’s voice rang again, clearly this time. “You really should wake up, sweetheart. You’ll find out your jonin sensei today. Be excited—you were excited last night.”

Sensei? Somi groaned again. Why’s Mum suddenly inserting Japanese words? Did she learn it from Sana unnie? She shifted, and rolled to lie on her back. The rough surface hurt her skin, goodness. Somi blinked her eyes open, squinting immediately from the bright lighting.

“SOMI—“

“I’M UP,” Somi screeched finally, making attempts to sit. She blinked several times to gain full consciousness, feeling her pupils adjusting to the brightness around her. “Is Dad there to drive me?” She called out, knowing that wherever it was she was supposed to go, her father would be there to help at least.

“Drive?” Her mother’s questioning reply quickly set alarms inside Somi’s head. “What are you saying, dear? You’ll be jumping roofs—you’re a ninja.”

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

Somi shrugged that little piece of confirmation, ah, so I’m a ninja—

“I’M A WHAT??!”

Chungha noted with an amused smile that it’s been the third time Sejeong whipped her head to look around, eyes narrowing, as if someone had been whispering something to her ear. All in the span of five minutes.

“Something bothering you, teammate?”

She saw Sejeong pursing her lips—and felt her own heart skipping a beat. I want to kiss that pout away—no. Chungha shifted her gaze elsewhere. This is ridiculous, she mentally sighed, even in a dream, I can’t stop feeling like this around her.

“Say,” Sejeong’s voice replied, “don’t you feel like someone’s coughing and sneezing around here?”

Chungha drew up a smile before looking at Sejeong again. “I don’t think I feel—“

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

“There it is again!” Sejeong exclaimed, looking around wildly before staring back at Chungha. “You heard it too?”

Chungha blinked. Indeed, she did. But she thought it’s happening inside her mind? Which didn’t explain Sejeong being able to hear it too. Except—

“Hold on.” Sejeong frowned, and Chungha could see the gears turning furiously inside Sejeong’s head. “This has happened before. Chungha?”

“What?”

Sejeong stared at her, a bead of sweat trickling past her right temple.

“Could I be in love?”

Chungha’s eyebrows rose, her heart thumped in a maddening pace.

“Sejeong—“

“I have completely fell in,” Sejeong whispered, her gaze softening and melting Chungha’s heart at the same time. “You’re knock, knock, knock, knocking on me—“

That kicked Chungha’s mind back to Earth.

“What?” she incredulously asked.

Sejeong groaned. “Great, seems like I’m wrong, never mind—“

Mind out of romance, Chungha quickly caught on what Sejeong’s words had meant. She shook her head, “Were you trying to cite Knock Knock’s lyrics to me?” Inside, she mentally skinned Sejeong alive for making her think that she’s actually confessing. This dork…

Sejeong’s eyes lighted up. “So you know!”

“Again, again, again, my heart always,” Chungha deadpanned. “You could’ve at least sung it. Would clue me in a whole lot quicker.”

“This is exactly like the last time,” Sejeong said, ignoring Chungha’s complaint. “We’re having a same dream, yeah?”

“The last time? You meant the time we accidentally helped Voldemort to kill Dumbledore,” Chungha dryly recounted. “Chae still thought we’re a bunch of idiots.” Of course, she already knew that this was a dream. Why else would she found herself standing in front of a waterfall with Sejeong, away from schedules and the snaps of their fansite masters’ cameras?

“Won’t happen,” Sejeong waved off. “Judging from our forehead protector, this is Naruto universe. Hana unnie has drilled us, Mina and I, enough Naruto facts—we won’t be helping the villain by accident, now.”

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

Chungha shuddered, suddenly overcame by an ominous feeling. “And that’s totally why everything’s going to go wrong, isn’t it?”

Yoojung blinked.

Doyeon blinked back.

Between them, Mina blinked owlishly, feeling like a third wheel in a blinking competition she didn’t remember being held.

“Well?” Doyeon said.

“Well,” Yoojung replied, “this is shaping to be quite a dream.”

Yoojung looked to her left. Doyeon and Mina followed, the three of them now stared at a man with grey hair, one eye covered by the strange head band that held a piece of metal with a weird eye-like shape carved on its center.

The man blinked.

“I don’t think we know your name, old man,” Yoojung offered.

Mina facepalmed.

Doyeon merely hummed.

The visible eye of the man twitched. “Well, though rare, you’re not the only one—“

“What,” Doyeon interrupted, “you don’t remember your own name?”

Mina facepalmed again.

“No, I know my own name,” the man grunted. “I suppose I worded that poorly. Well, for starters, I’m Hatake Kakashi—and I’m your jonin sensei.” He glowered at them, then. “Since yesterday, actually. The three of you passed my bell test. I’d like to assume that you’ve memorized my name since then.”

“What’s a bell—mmph!” Yoojung’s sentence ended in a muffled whine against Mina’s hand.

“We’re sorry, Kakashi sensei,” Mina apologized. “Doyeon and Yoojung seem to…” she paused to look over her friends, “…develop a temporary amnesia this morning.”

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

Mina rolled her eyes. These weird sounds in her head were distracting, goddamn.

“Is my bell test that traumatic?” the jonin mused.

“It’s not that traumatic, sensei,” Doyeon attempted to answer. “We’re just depressing.”

“Huh.” The man blinked. Was a genin team always this weird? He shook his head. “Alright, then, onto your first mission… and don’t you forget my name this time…”

“There are many battles where, at the slightest hint of a screw up, you’re gonna die.”

“That motivates us greatly, Nayoung sensei, thanks,” said Sohye dryly. Nayoung looked down at her with that passive expression of hers, before cracking a small smile and nodding once.

“I try.”

“How d’ya end up being a jonin sensei, anyway?” Jieqiong asked, twirling a kunai lazily between her fingers. Sohye inched away from her just in case. It was a sharp object, okay.

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

“I’m not sure,” Nayoung replied, “but—“

“E-excuse me?” a voice squeaked. All three’s gaze shifted to the voice—a boy with googles hanging lightly around his neck. “Who-who are you guys? And where’re my teammates?” He looked around wildly, before resting his gaze on Nayoung. “Where’s my sensei??”

Poor boy was almost reaching the state of hysteria, Jieqiong quickly concluded. “Whoa, whoa, slow down mate, we’re your teammates.”

“Liars!” The boy backed away, a trembling hand making a move towards his kunai pocket. “My teammates don’t comfortably talk to Nayoung sensei or call me mate. And my sensei can not smile!”

Nayoung let out an insufferable sigh, while Jieqiong cackled. For three seconds. She immediately composed herself at the thought that the boy’s teammates probably didn’t cackle at such situation.

“I know how to smile,” Nayoung started. “I’m very sorry if I don’t perform that certain gesture often before, but—“

“What’s your name, by the way?” Sohye blurted out, genuinely curious.

“SEE? YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW MY NAME!” The boy leapt back, his hands moving in a quick speed to form seals. “YOU MUST BE ENEMY!”

Nayoung moaned. “Good gracious, Sohye, you’re a great help.”

“Knock him out?” Jieqiong offered.

“I know a jutsu to swing an animated rock to the back of someone’s head, right on the spot to render someone unconscious,” Sohye mused. Jieqiong and Nayoung stared. “What? It’s in my family’s scroll that I happened to read this morning.”

Nayoung sighed. Sohye probably saw the scroll when she’s having breakfast, thought that the scroll was trash, went to pick it up, then got curious and opened it, only to find that it’s her family scroll. It’s a relief Sohye didn’t immediately dispose of it, like she usually did after she picked up trashes around the area.

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

And then there were these weird noises she kept hearing. Nayoung almost wanted to whine. It’s distracting. She settled for another sigh, then to Sohye she commanded,

“Do it, then.”

Yeonjung stared at the bowl of ramen before her. She then glanced to Chaeyeon, who stared at the bowl of ramen in front of her, too.

“You aren’t going to touch those?”

Both looked up at the voice. A strange man with bandaged neck, a shade, and spiky brown hair smiled down at them warmly.

“I know that your mood isn’t bright because it hasn’t even been a week since…” the man trails off, sobering up. “But we are ninjas, and we go on with our lives to continue the will of fire of those deceased before us.”

Yeonjung looked down again, blinking. Would the man be disappointed if she asked who died? He probably would. They’re not supposed to forget the name of the deceased, more so if they’d actually been quite close to him or her that the man thought they’d be down for more than a week.

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

Yeonjung blinked again. She glanced at Chaeyeon, who’s looking at her with curious eyes. It’s a wonder if Chaeyeon heard the series of weird sounds just like her…

Secret? Chaeyeon mouthed.

Yeonjung caught on the meaning almost instantly. Hoping she wasn’t wrong in her assumption, she mouthed back to Chaeyeon, Mr. Potter.

Chaeyeon smiled. Yeonjung’s shoulders sagged in relief.

“Well,” the man said, sounding visibly relieved, “it’s nice to see your smile again, Chaeyeon.”

Doowap? Chaeyeon mouthed.

Yeonjung grinned.

“Okay, Yeonjung…” the man continued, sounding puzzled, “I wasn’t expecting you to grin that quickly, though—“

Are we playing mention-song-names game now? Yeonjung mouthed.

Fingertips, Chaeyeon mouthed as a reply, eyes twinkling.

Yum Yum, Yeonjung retaliated.

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

DREAM GIRLS, they mouthed at the same time, staring at each other with a giddy feeling rushing through their veins.

Then they cackled out loud, throwing the man off.

“What the ???”            

The Fourth Hokage blinked at the distraught jonins in front of him. Oddly enough, the only one not looking distraught was the only female jonin handling the genin teams. Then again, Im Nayoung rarely showed emotions, if any. A perfect characteristic for ninja, if the Fourth might say so himself. Probably why she climbed up the rank so quickly, too.

“Kakashi?” the Fourth inquired.

“I wondered if I could file a complaint and a resignation letter on my first day as a jonin sensei,” Kakashi mildly said, stepping forward.

The Fourth paused. “What?”

“What, indeed.” The roll of Kakashi’s visible eye was enough to hint that the young jonin was exasperated. “That’s also my question because my genin team apparently undergone a temporary amnesia and, off all things to forget, they forget that they’re ninjas.”

Kakashi then proceeded to recap the events of their first mission. Throughout the story, the Fourth grew more and more concerned, the man with bandaged neck becoming more restless, the man with a snake rolling around his arm shifting uneasily, while the woman kept her straight face on.

“I have to explain that they have chakra.” Kakashi sounded very close to whining, something the Fourth realized he witnessed for the first time today, even after being his jonin sensei for years. “And the tall and short kids bicker like an old couple. Why did I pass them, why? Why did I even agree to take on a genin team? Hell, whatever, I want to take my decision back—”

“Did they say something indecipherable like whatta or hotline bling?” Nayoung interrupted. The men blinked, not suspecting that the woman would speak. Kakashi, in particular, was thrown off because of the oddly specific question.

“As a matter of fact, they did.” Kakashi blinked. “Why did you ask?”

“Nothing,” Nayoung calmly replied, schooling her expression back to a straight face, though the edge of her lips tilted up. The Fourth thought it’s equivalent as laughing her off, though he’s not sure why she would laugh her off.

“Alright,” the Fourth cleared his throat. “Next.”

“But sensei,” Kakashi interrupted, outright whining now. He suddenly looked very young again, like his real age. Despite his rank, after all, Kakashi hadn’t even hit twenty yet. “What of my resignation letter?”

“None of that, Kakashi,” the Fourth smiled. “You said it yourself that it’s temporary. I also notice that you didn’t complain about Kang Mina, so it’s not all bad, surely. Wait ‘till tomorrow, they might surprise you.”

“I’ve had enough surprise today,” Kakashi grumbled, but didn’t object anymore. He stepped back, huffing.

The man with bandaged neck stepped forward. “As for me,” his voice shook slightly, causing the Fourth to lean forward in even more great concern if it was even possible, “I think my genin team has gone senile.”

…………

The Fourth blinked.

“What?”

After their jonin dismissed them, Yoojung, Doyeon, and Mina had agreed to go to Ichiraku Ramen, the former two being told a brief explanation of the food stall by Mina, who heard about it from—drumrolls…—Hana. They had met Chaeyeon, Yeonjung, and Somi, the youngest sporting a black eye.

Yoojung, Doyeon, and Mina shared a look. They had known that they shared a dream, but did the other three?

“Are you going to just keep standing there,” Chaeyeon said while the three were holding a staring-based discussion, “or are you going to tell us how much you’ve messed up since you woke up this morning?”

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

“Why would we mess up?” Mina asked.

“I don’t know—maybe by suddenly humming Pick Me while you’re taking a shower, with your sister banging on your bathroom’s door and begged you to stop singing such horrendous song?” replied Somi dryly. The six of them laughed. If there were any doubt that they were all in this dream together, it had vanished. There’d be no way anyone in Naruto universe knew about Pick Me.

“What happened to your eye, Som?” asked Doyeon when they’d been all seated, the three newcomers ordering a bowl of ramen each. They had some pocket money from their first mission—although they almost failed it.

“Well Mum suddenly told me that I go from place to place by jumping roofs,” Somi shared. From the first line, the other five were already cracking up. “I told her that she must’ve gone mental. Then she came up to the roof with me, saying that I just have to jump, focus chakra on my feet, and all that big words I was supposed to understand—then she pushed me.”

The five were howling in laughter then. Mina tried to get out some words, “Did you… hit your neighbor’s roof?”

“Oh it was worse than that,” Somi sighed forlornly, “I charged head on against my neighbor’s wall. My course was completely parabolic. I love physics, magical stuffs, totally hinted me the pain I was about to face, no pun intended.”

“So your mother…” Yeonjung gasped out in between her laughter, trying to get the story going.

“She fixed me with some healing spell, or jutsu, or whatever,” Somi gestured to her swollen eye, “couldn’t get this one right, though. No longer hurt, but totally uncool.”

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

“I wish I could witness that,” Doyeon sighed.

“Nope, not providing you a repeat,” Somi quickly denied, scowling.

Just then, bowls of ramen for the newcomers came.

“You know,” Chaeyeon mused, watching the three inhaling their food, “I think we made our jonin sensei get traumatized.”

“Yes, about that,” Somi said in puzzlement, “what did you two do? Obana sensei seemed quite shaken when he called me in.”

“Well, you are supposed to be a replacement for our dead teammate,” Yeonjung explained. “We supposedly lost him last week, in a C-ranked mission.”

“We’re supposed to be mourning,” Chaeyeon added.

“Obana sensei expected us to be down and even reject the notion of replacing him,” Yeonjung nodded.

“Oh my,” Mina exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you were cheering when he announced that Somi was the new addition to your team.”

“It’s worse than that,” Chaeyeon waved off, “we were cackling even before Obana sensei told us that there would be a replacement.”

Yoojung stopped chewing. Doyeon stared. Mina dropped her fork back to her bowl.

Somi snorted. “So sensei was thinking, oh no, my two genin must’ve been distressed and I had a news that wouldn’t help their distress one bit… and then you guys suddenly went cackling?”

Chaeyeon nodded. “When you said it like that—yeah, we do sound senile.”

Yoojung resumed chewing again, Mina picking back her fork, while Doyeon hummed. “And here I thought we’re the craziest with our temporary-amnesia plot device.”

“Well, well,” a voice interrupted them, a voice they were too familiar with, for it often sang the critical part of their songs with Yeonjung, “what do we have there?”

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

Mina’s expression brightened, her upper body twisting to look at the voice’s owner.

“Sejeong unnie!”

The Fourth Hokage rubbed his temples. He could feel a rising headache after going through Kakashi and Obana’s reports, and he hadn’t even listened to the last two teams.

“I’m starting to question if we need to hold a MSR examination,” the Fourth murmured.

“MSR?” the male jonin that hadn’t reported squeaked. “The Minimum Sanity Requirement?”

“Yes,” the Fourth nodded. “Ninjas are eccentric, and the more powerful they are, the more eccentric they usually behave. But we draw a line on how eccentric one can be. Spontaneous killing, sudden maniacal laughter, way too youthful mannerism, and obsessive compulsive tendencies towards experiments on human bodies come to mind.”

“What about a knack to cause mental breakdowns on people?” Nayoung asked.

The Fourth eyed her strangely.

“Only on people they don’t like,” Nayoung added, as if it would’ve helped.

“I don’t think that’s a problem,” the Fourth hesitantly allowed. “But I probably need to further consult others about that, before announcing the officially reproved statement.”

Nayoung merely nodded, her stance wasn’t changing the slightest bit.

“Well then, Kanzo,” the Fourth called. “Your turn.”

“Listening to Hatake and Hanada’s reports,” the man called Kanzo nodded to Kakashi and Obana, “my team today is quite uneventful, thankfully. Only some strange things. I noticed that one of the Kims—the hamster-like one, kept blushing around the uncle-like one.”

“I thought the Kims in your team are all girls?” Obana interrupted.

“They are,” Kanzo nodded again. “The uncle-like, Kim Sejeong, is a girl. Just—she behaves like an old man more than I ever do, hence my description.”

“But then, why’s the hamster kept blushing around her?” Kakashi mused out loud.

“That’s what I thought weird,” Kanzo nodded.

“That’s unexpectedly shallow of you to think, colleagues,” Nayoung calmly spoke. “Are you implying that a kind of love blooming between two girls is strange?”

The men all went quiet in a blink.

“Who’re us to judge feelings?” Nayoung continued. “If it’s love, then it’s love. If it’s a crush, then it’s a crush. I don’t see anything strange with it, and I suggest anyone who thinks it does to mind their own happiness rather than burdening others’ with their unwanted opinions.”

The Fourth blinked, seeing a killing aura swirling around Nayoung before abruptly dissipating to nothingness again.

“Erm. Well,” the Hokage cleared his throat, “Nayoung is right. Love is love. But we’re not here to talk about love, are we?” He smiled thinly to Kanzo, who looked surprised at the turn of events. Nayoung’s calm-spoken words were equivalent to her lashing out, but none men was brave enough to point it out.

“Yeah, erm,” Kanzo shook his head, “other weird thing is… well, Fourth Hokage, this one had me freaking out.”

“Care to tell us what it was?” the Fourth prompted. “Maybe we can freak out with you,” he offered.

“Well. What do you think of a ten-tailed bijuu?”

“Sejeong unnie!”

“Chungha unnie!”

“Jieqiong unnie!”

“PENGUIN!!”

The four newcomers laughed lightly at the chorused greetings, Sejeong opening her arms wide as Mina stumbled from her seat to claim a hug.

“So, when the cherry blossoms fade?” Sejeong offered, eyebrows wriggling.

“And in the same place,” Chaeyeon nodded, smiling in relief at the inside joke.

“We should really set a code to confirm our identity,” Jieqiong said. “This is the second time we shared a dream, eleven of us.”

“Where’s Nayoung unnie, though?” asked Mina, pouting.

“Hey! I thought I’m your favorite unnie,” Sejeong said, faking a hurt look.

“Nayoung unnie is a jonin sensei,” Sohye informed the girls. Those who didn’t know it yet stared at her, wide-eyed.

“Our Nayoung unnie?”

“Jonin sensei?”

“I know,” Jieqiong nodded. “She was very enthusiastic about it, too.”

“What kind of enthusiastic are we talking about here?” Somi asked.

“The one where she reminded us that death could befall us anytime anywhere,” Sohye cheerily replied.

“So glad I don’t end up in her team,” Sejeong sighed, slinging an arm around Chungha. “So, so glad I ended up with you instead.”

Chungha’s ear that wasn’t covered by her hair tinged in pink.

“So what messes have you been up to?” Yeonjung asked curiously, “Somi here made out with her neighbor’s wall—“

“SHE WHAT!” Chungha exclaimed, then she registered the wall part. “Oh, you said with the neighbor’s wall, phew, I thought…”

“Unnie, come on!” Somi bristled. “I’m not that bad!”

“Sorry for the poor narrative,” Yeonjung muttered. “Well, Mina and Dodaeng here came up with a theory of temporary amnesia—“

“What is this, a Thursday night k-drama?” Sohye mumbled.

“—while Chaeyeon unnie and I traumatized our jonin sensei by cackling like a maniac.”

Sejeong solemnly nodded. “My deepest condolences to whoever your jonin sensei might be.”

“Well,” Chungha began, “Sejeong here traumatized our employer.”

“The task was to dig a hundred holes in her backyard, Chungha,” Sejeong whined. “And since I could apparently grow ten tails of chalk… chucky… chicken…” Sejeong blinked and turned to Mina, “what did Hana unnie call those inner energy thingy again?”

“Chakra,” Mina offered.

“What she said,” Sejeong nodded. “So I just utilized that to our advantage, and use each tail to dig a hole. I don't know the old lady would faint.”

Mina facepalmed. “Sejeong unnie, did you even pay any attention to Hana unnie’s rants about Naruto?”

Sejeong stared at her.

“Naruto is a nine-tailed container,” Mina explained, “and he’s hated by the villagers because of that. You, apparently, house a what… ten-tailed bijuu?”

Yoojung blinked. “What’s a ‘be zoo’?”

Sejeong, on the other hand, was slack-jawed, having come to another conclusion herself. “I have a ten-tailed stranger inside me? That explained the sudden maniacal laughter I heard after the old lady fainted.”

“Oh,” Chungha mumbled. “That’s why you asked me if there was a ghost around…”

Doyeon, having known a little about Naruto herself, was in awe. “Merlin—“

“Excuse me, Doyeon,” Chaeyeon cut her off. “We’re not in the Harry Potter universe anymore.”

“Just when I’m finally used to their habit!” Doyeon threw her hands up in exasperation.

“They used Kami instead of God or Merlin around here,” Sohye informed them. All nine stared. “What? That was written on the family scroll I happened to read this morning.”

"Bet you a bowl of ramen Sohye picked it up thinking that it was trash," Sejeong whispered to Chungha. Chungha swatted her in response.

“So what have we messed up on our first day here?” Jieqiong asked.

They looked at each other, before answering the question in a synced chorus.

“A LOT.”

They cackled together, not aware of the ramen stall’s owners that grew more and more alarmed about the clients’ sanity. The little parts of their conversations they managed to eavesdrop weren’t very reassuring, and the owners—an old man and his daughter—exchanged looks of worry, pondering whether it’s way too late to close the shop and move out from the Fire Country.

And they hadn’t even met the eleventh member of the bunch!

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

"Okay but seriously, who's been coughing hacking and sneezing around me all the damn day?" Yoojung complained.

Somewhere up there in whatever address divine beings lived, Dream weakly wheezes.

"No better?" Cupid asks.

"No better," Fate solemnly replies. "I think we should let Kami handles dreams for the time being. Do you think Kami messes up?"

Cupid frowns thoughtfully. "So far, no shrieks from Life and Death, so no."

"But that could be because they're preoccupied cleaning up after Merlin's mess," Fate recalls.

"Could be but hey, no news is good news, as human usually says." Cupid beams, "What could possibly go wrong, right?"

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

Fate flinches. "I think Dream is trying to tell you that the line pretty much jinxed us."

"Fate, Fate, Fate." Cupid tsks. "Dream is trying to tell you to stop reading so much human literatures."

"They're better than your poems," Fate dryly repies.

"I refuse to dignify that with a reply."

Cough. Hack. Sneeze.

"I think Dream is trying to tell you that the line pretty much said you lose."

Cupid twitches. "What are you now, sick peeps' noises translator? Pretty admirable side job, Fate, pretty admirable side job."

"Oh, shut up."
 

(to be continued...)
if I actually manage to get around to finish a chapter two. *is bricked*