Fate Wheel | Naruto

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"Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create."
— Roy T. Bennett

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DAWNS POV

It had been officially a week since the preliminaries and six days since the dinner at duckbutt's house and to say I wasn't enjoying the break would be a complete lie. Truth be told, I didn't realise the truth behind Kakashi's words when he had told me numerous times to take a break once in a while from training until I was forced to rest and realised that there was more to life than punching trees.

Instead, I had guiltily made my way to the Fugishima bakery with a failed attempt in baking a cake after staring at a cookbook intensely, hoping that she'd forgive me for not visiting any sooner and for completely forgetting to inform her about the Chunin Exams. Hitomi was my first real friend and there was no way I was going to ruin that friendship, fortunately for me she was on the brink of tears as she merrily accepted my poor excuse of a cake and ate it with a huge smile on her face which told me that the cake wasn't half as bad as I thought it was.

I could easily recall the look of pure adoration in her eyes as she stared at me, me. I haven't seen anyone stare at me with such emotion in their eyes.

"You made this for me?" Hitomi's bottom lip wobbled, pointing at herself as her wide, hazel eyes began to water.

I panicked, my face growing pale. Did I do anything wrong? Why was she crying. "Y-Yes? Why are you crying? I didn't mean to make you cry—"

"They're tears of joy, you doofus!" She let out a sob, I was barely able to place the cake on the table before she tackled me into a hug, her much taller frame towering over my own as she engulfed me with her arms and squeezed the soul out of my body. I was pretty certain I saw 'the light', but I didn't care. The look on her face was enough for me to be able to forget that I couldn't breath under her tight hold.

"No one has ever done such a nice thing for me before!" She sniffled, finally releasing her hold as she took her glasses off and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "Even if it looks funny this was truly the best gift ever, thank you so much shortie! I love it, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Just as I was about to tell her that it wasn't a big deal and it was the least I could do, her- totally hilarious- nickname for me had settled in. "Shortie?"

Hitomi looked at me with the widest smirk on her face, she then nodded eagerly. "Yup, after some intense thinking I've come to the conclusion that you're insanely short and decided to give you the amazing nickname 'shortie'."

A scowl formed on my face as I suppressed an eye-roll and crossed my arms. "I'm not 'insanely' short. I'm fun-sized."

She playfully grinned as she swung her arm over my shoulders. "Whatever you say, shortie."

I smiled at the memory, knowing after that I had to endure through an hour's lecture by nana who scolded me for recklessly 'using my body' as a 'shield'. Her words flew over my head but I do recall her talking about something along the lines of 'ninja' and 'suicidal pubescents'. It was safe to say that I have grown to like nana very much.