Another Day at the Academy

Maruko could see as Teru realized that the trick was not working. His opponents pace slipped while Teru was obviously trying to figure out what to do next. "Now's my chance to go on the offensive," thought Maruko. Just then, Teru started shouting unintelligibly, presumably at him. "He can talk all he wants, but I think I've got him now," he muttered. However, as Maruko readied to take the fight to his opponent, Teru lept without warning at him. Maruko had no time to react, and simply braced himself for the coming blow. He realized too late, though, that Teru's dog had placed himself just behind Maruko's legs. "Oh crap!" the boy shouted as he went sprawling backwards. Before he knew it Maruko was on his back with Teru and the dog standing right over him.

"That's the match," announced Kurumo. "The winner is Teru Inuzuka." Maruko picked himself slowly up, embarassed that he had forgotten entirely about Teru's dog. "And here I thought I had a chance," thought Maruko glumly. He slowly returned to the circle to await what Kurumo had to say next.

"Alright everyone, that's class for today. I'm fairly impressed with your overall performances. There's plenty of room for improvement, of course, but better than I had expected. I think its lunch now, so you're all dismissed." The class excitedly rose and exited the gym, eager to get some chow before the next class. Maruko followed the wave of students as they ran from the Academy doors, and went home. Over his sandwich, he silently swore to get better and never have something like that happen to him ever again.

It only took a moment, but Teru's plan went off without a hitch. He had won the sparing match and shown everybody some of his and Shirokokuo's skills. As the pair was leaving for lunch, Teru could'nt help but feel proud. "Shiro that was great! You came in right at the perfect moment. You're a good boy!" Shiro jumped up, leaning on Teru wagging his tail and smiling. Teru reached up into a tree and pulled off a stick and threw it to Shiro. As it hit the ground, he noticed somebody sitting by himself scowling and eating a sandwich. Teru sniffed the air and realized it was Maruko. "Oh man, he looks glum," he thought. He looked at Shiro and said," I think we should go and eat with him boy." Shiro barked in approval, so the two went and joined his classmate for lunch.

Total Word counts:

Maruko: 1522; +7stat +15jp

Teru: 1364; +6stat +13jp