<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: palatino;">As she slowly ate her lunch, picking the pieces of fish from the top of the nigiri to eat first, then eating the rice second, Midori contemplated her new seat-neighbors. The boy.. he had been very friendly-seeming, which was interesting. He had managed to somehow argue with his friend while speaking to her and introducing them both somehow in the process. with embarrassment, Midori realized she had spend a lot of time just staring at them when they had been speaking to her, until she had completely run out of time and teacher had begun talking.<br/><br/>Then, of course, it was time to listen and pay attention, rather than see about socializing, which she wasn't quite sure she wanted to do. Not again. She had tried before, and been met with nothing, and tried again and gotten in trouble, and tried a third time and still...<br/><br/>Well, anyway, the idea of trying again really sort of scared her.<br/><br/>Still, though, when the two next to her offered a farewell, she had managed to get her mouth to work before they got too far down the isle, and had offered a soft, "It was nice to meet you Yamanaka Mika and Komori Shun." What she should have said before class had begun, she said late. But better late than not at all, right? Maybe?<br/><br/>At least they seemed friendly. Well, Komori Shun seemed friendly, Yamanaka Mika was.. kind of harsh, but not unkind. That was interesting. Maybe it would be okay to try to socialize with them, even if Komori Shun seemed sort of loud.<br/><br/>Quietly, the small girl glanced up at who else remained in the class: not many. There was the kid who covered up a lot, eating quietly and not really interacting with anyone, and there were three others, two boys and a girl, who were socializing toward the front of the class. None of them had been at the test, so.. they had made it in some other way, then. Or... well, no, one of the boys had been at the test, but she remembered him doing well: not a fast runner, but good at throwing things and he seemed to know answers at the questions part at the end.<br/><br/>What had his name been? Tsuji Kaku? No, no... oh! Tasuji Kakeru. That was it. He seemed pretty rowdy, as did his two friends, and the girl was really loud and boisterous, with long, braided hair. They seemed to be having fun teasing the other boy, but he seemed to be teasing them back.<br/><br/>Friendships were weird, it seemed. Midori still wasn't sure if she would like that sort of thing. Mostly, she just liked talking to Sunako, because Sunako never got mean or mad or anything, and mostly just liked to purr and cuddle. In fact, she was part way through her piece of fish, now, and seemed to be pretty pleased, actually. The little sand-colored cat was purring so hard she was almost falling over from the vibrations. She really did like the fish. Still, Midori knew she'd be lucky if the little thing managed to finish the piece she'd been given.<br/><br/>For her own part, she'd made it through the nigiri and part of the weird-colored rice ball. Whatever gave it the red-orange color also made it a little spicy, and so she ended up drinking a lot of the tea that had been packed in a thermos as well. It was even still warm, but not hot, so very good for drinking...<br/><br/>____ ___ __ _<br/><br/>Noboru was surprised, when he returned to the classroom from turning in his preliminary report about his observations of the students, to find that some were still in the classroom. There was the young Aburame boy, he was only seven, but had proven to be extremely intelligent and adept, and so had been let into the class full of mostly older children. Especially after his tests had shown that he was as qualified as the other children who were older and larger than he. <br/><br/>Then, there was the three who were certain to be trouble makers, as they'd banded together quickly, even though one was a civilian boy, he obviously knew the other two who were from families that might soon be considered as full-fledged clans in the village. The girl was from the Nara family, her elder sibling and mother were both well-regarded shinobi, and her father was an animal breeder that specialized in deer. She seemed to have inherited her mother's harsh personality. The other boy was not as rowdy, the girl seemed to be the ring leader, but he liked to rile her up. The red marks on his face were interesting, but seemed to be a family trait of the Inuzuka.<br/><br/>Noboru just knew he was going to have trouble with them, just from observing them now. They'd also sat in the middle of the class, entered almost late, and would have sat in the back, he thought, if the seats hadn't all been taken already. The Hyuga girl, the Yuhara girl, and the Hyuga boy were the others that were left. And none of them were interacting so far. The Yuhara girl seemed to have closed down, while the Hyuga girl was annoyed by his lessons, and the Hyuga boy was attentive but probably bored. Really, even the civilian Yuhara had to have been a little bored: she'd written enough details in her test about the different nations that his summary had to have been review for her too.<br/><br/>Interesting that she had so many details, but then again, his information said that her father was a traveling merchant, and she'd only recently come to live in the village. Her information and experience would be useful if she graduated. That sort of practical traveling experience and knowledge of the culture would set her ahead of her peers on their fist mission out of the village.<br/><br/>Actually, quite a few of the civilian children were turning out to have quite a bit of potential.<br/><br/>Just when he thought his break would be boring, the Hyuga boy surprised him by standing and making his way over to the civilian Yuhara girl. Interesting...<br/><br/>____ ___ __ _<br/><br/>Midori felt like she was being watched, and so she looked up to find Huyga Ibiki at her desk, and he spoke just as she looked up. He wasn't really looking at her, though, but at Sunako, who perked up at the new voice and abandoned her mostly-eaten fish to climb up onto the desk surface, her little tummy full and round and making her waddle more than usual. <br/><br/>As if she knew she had been being spoken about, the little critter sat down next to the lunch box, puffed out her chest like she was about to preen, then promptly yawned big enough that she almost fell over. Midori caught her before she could totally fall. Of course, then the kitten decided that she should just cuddle up to the hand that held her and roll over to show her belly and stick her tiny legs in the air, purring hard.<br/><br/>"It is nice to see you again, Hyuga Ibiki," she mumbled softly, most of her attention on Sunako and keeping her steady, but as soon as the kitten rolled over, she looked up again. "Yes, I have to bring Sunako with me; she is very little and is my responsibility. I had her the other day, too, by the wall? Um... but she was in my pocket then, she likes to sleep there, and she sleeps a lot."<br/><br/>Sunako continued to roll around on her back, her full stomach making her somewhat extra round-looking. Midori scritched her hand over until she was tickling at the kitten's tummy, and she got two paws full of tiny claws as a reward. Then again, her right hand was covered in scratches and did not seem to mind.<br/><br/>"Um... did you want to pet her? She is really soft. If I flip her over she won't use her claws any more. She's so little she doesn't know how to bring them back into her paws yet, so they're always out. When she gets bigger, she won't scratch any more, unless she means to," Since the kitten was small enough to fit in her one hand, it was really easy for Midori to flip the kitten over but keep a hold of her, so her tummy and chest rested in her hand, and her front paws could curl around the girl's hand to cling to her. The kitten's back legs, though, dangled off her palm, like she was very used to being held like that. Well, because she was. Sunako was handled pretty much all the time by Midori, and had decided she pretty much liked to be held however the young girl wanted to do it...</span>