Areku chuckled lightly at that. "She already wants to take my head off, I'm sure. How bad was it out there with the others? he asked the fox, hoping that it wasn't too bad.

Naruto shook his head. "It's pretty bad, 'tebayo. It's a whole range of comments, some people are impressed and want to know her- you know, the jump on the bandwagon type. But most of them think she's crazy, or a bitch, or just a weakling. It took everything I had not to beat them all up, dattebayo." He said, disgusted.

Areku growled at that. "Well...I think this is what we should do. Anything verbal we'll ignore and have her prove them all wrong. Anything physical...well, we are training to be Hunters and Huntresses. She's also asked for me to help train her and well...I was hoping that you could help her too. She wants to learn and get out of her parent's shadow" he explained, hoping that they would agree.

Amaya shrugged her shoulders lightly with her weapons strapped to her arms at the moment. "I don't see why not. But she's not going to quit on us halfway is she?" the ravenette asked as she saw Ark shake his head in the negative. "Good. Then count me in. What about you Naruto?" she asked. She, of course, also agreed with Areku's plan when it came to what he had in mind. "I do have one question to ask you though Ark...why did you turn down the role of leader?" she asked, confused.

Naruto nodded. "I'm in. We're a team now, so we all have to help each other, dattebayo. That's how it works." He said. It would be hard to ignore the verbal insults, but he would do it. Seeing Hikari prove them all wrong would be rewarding enough. "Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. Why would you turn down the chance to be leader?"

"There's two reasons for that actually. One is because I think she could use the experience. Other people know her as the heir of the Starr family, and even if she hates it, she'll have to use the power that comes with her name eventually. Secondly...I think HANA sounds better," he replied with a slight chuckle and scratching the back of his head.

Naruto nodded through the first explanation. It seemed pretty legitimate to him. A good enough reason. However, once hearing the second reason, his eyes popped open and he sweatdropped. "R-really? That's one of your reasons...? Wow. Just...wow." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hey, it's a legitimate reason,"Ark exclaimed, keeping as quiet as he could for Hikari.

"If you say so..." Amaya responded while shaking her head. "Anyways, we should all get some shuteye. Thankfully, the Headmaster is giving us the day off tomorrow so as to recover from today's events."

Naruto sighed in relief. "That's great. Good night..." He said, falling back on the bed he had sat on and falling asleep almost instantly.

Areku was glad to hear that as well, knowing that they could use that time to get to know each other better, and hopefully the other teams would be doing that as well. The only team that he thought they would have problems with was that all boy's team, but he'd wait and see what would become of that. "Night everyone," he said as he placed his quarterstaff underneath the bed, but within easy reach if he needed it.

((Skip to next day?))

(sounds like a plan.)

Areku slowly woke up at his usual time, moaning softly as he realized that his biological clock still woke him up before the sun would have. Muttering about something he couldn't change, he kept his eyes opened as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He just hoped that Hikari was alright after everything that happened yesterday.

Speaking of Hikari, he had to think of how to word what he was going to say to their new leader. 'Should probably give the first reason before the second, and more stupid, sounding one...though HANA does sound better, and it means flower, which at least means something,' he thought to himself as he noticed the sun starting to rise.

Naruto was the next to wake. He always woke before dawn, no matter how late he got to sleep. He figured he re-energized faster than regular people, and used it as an advantage to train early in the morning. Sitting up and stretching, he noticed that Areku was also awake. "Oh. Hey. Morning, Ark. Why are you up so early?" He asked.

Hikari woke slowly, her mind fuzzy with sleep. It took her a few moments to remember where she was, but once she did it all came rushing back. She groaned as she realized the repercussions her little outburst must have had. Not even one day at Beacon and already she was an outcast. She sat up and caught sight of Ark, and instantly glared at him.

"Morning. and to answer your question, I've always been an early riser. Most of the time I usually use it to get some practice in," he replied to fox faunice. He was glad that they had today off and hoped that the four of them could get the most out of the day. Seeing Hikari waking up, he braced himself for the worse...especially with the glare that she was now giving him. Then again, he did deserve this. "Um...good morning?" he asked sheepishly.

Amaya yawned as she woke up. Stretching lightly as she felt bones popping back into place, she could already sense the tension within the room and decided to stay silent.

Naruto brightened at that. "Hey, me too! Uh-oh...." He gulped a bit as he saw Hikari wake up and instantly glare at Ark. He decided to stay quiet for the moment.

Hikari frowned. "What. The hell. Were you thinking?!" She growled, skipping any greetings. "Setting me up as leader?! You're trying to humiliate me, aren't you? Do you have some agenda against me? Or do you just enjoy making fools of people? Trying to expose me as the failure I am? Where do you get off doing that, without even consulting me first?! Did you ever think that I don't want to be leader?! Maybe I was happier taking orders, did you ever think of that?! But no, you go and set me up, never event hinking of how I might feel about it, and now I'm stuck with it! How could you do that?! How could you?!" By now she was standing up. She didn't even remember walking towards him, But she was standing over the male, looking rather frightening for someone so small.

"Dude, you better explain fast before she hits you." Naruto muttered.

'Quick note to self, Kari-chan in a pissed off mood is scary... he thought before mentally gulping as he heard Naruto. Giving him a deadpanned look that just screamed 'Duh!' he then turned back to the girl in question, getting angry at her accusations. "Why would I try humiliating you now of all times Hikari? Okay, I didn't think everything through and you're right, I didn't consult you. I apologize. A little late, but better late than never," he started to say before taking a breath, calming himself down. It would do no good if he was as angry as she was.

"The reason I suggested you for team leader instead of myself was two-fold. One, people will expect you to do several things like your parents did, and this is one way for you to get your own recognition. I know you don't like it, but that's fame for you," he said before holding a hand up, hoping that she would let him continue. "There's also the fact that during the fight, you kept yourself much more composed than I did," he admitted, hoping those two facts would aid him. There was one more reason, but he'd tell her that after she cooled down some.

Hikari shook her head. "But I don't want recognition!! I came here with every intention of flying under the radar and never having anyone know who I was! Even if people know who I am, I don't want them noticing me at all! So what if they expect me to be like my parents? Or my grandparents or great-grandparents or anyone else in my whole stinking family! Who the hell cares?! I don't care to correct them! I never even wanted to come to this stupid school in the first place!! I'm not famous, my family is! I'm no one and that's all I ever wanted to be!" She was ready to hit him, but held back as best she could. "And so what if I was composed? I wasn't thinking about anyone else! I wasn't leading or giving orders! I was only thinking about myself and not dying! The truth is I really didn't care at the moment what happened to the rest of you! There is no way I'll ever be any kind of leader, because when it comes down to danger I'll never think of anyone else before myself! I'm a coward, don't you get it?! I don't belong on a team at all, never mind being the leader! And now you've gone and put me in the spotlight, put me in charge of three people I can't ever take care of! You have some damned nerve!!" Clearly those two facts only damned him further.

Despite your anger at me, and at my rashness, I think you can make a good leader," Areku said softly, his bangs covering his face. You also need to not be afraid of the spotlight...because you're already in it. You say you aren't worth being in a team, much less the leader of it, but I think you're wrong. Just because you aren't perfect doesn't mean you should put yourself down like that..."

She was crying now, whether from rage or despair she couldn't tell. "How would you know? You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. How could you make that kind of judgement? It's not just me, you've put yourself and the others in danger, too. You went and risked their lives, and for what? A hunch. A guess. You took a gamble and you were wrong." She wasn't yelling anymore. "And now we all lose."

"You think too little of yourself Kari-chan, and we'll be with you every step of the way. I may have gambled on you as our leader, but I think I made the right choice," Areku replied before moving over to wipe her tears. "Now then...could you please stop crying? I hate seeing beautiful girls cry."

Hikari blushed slightly and sniffled. "Yeah, right. I'm just beautiful, all dirty and sleep ruffled and puffy eyed." She said sarcastically, wiping at her eyes. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

"Now why would I lie, hm?" he asked. "And I'm pretty sure that we can all take care of ourselves Kari-chan, that fight against the Anglerfish showed as such."

Hikari nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry I yelled...even though you deserved it." She said, only half joking.

Naruto sighed in relief, sensing that the danger was over. His ears perked up and he grinned. "Hey, Ark, why don't you tell her the other reason?" He asked.

"I did deserve it, but I'm glad to see you're doing better now. Speaking of which, Ozpin gave everyone the day off so that we could probably get to know each other," he said before hearing Naruto and glared at him. He already disposed of one problem, he didn't want another so soon.

"Yeah Ark, tell her the second reason," she said with a light grin, curious as to how Hikari would react to the comment.

Naruto chuckled at the look Ark gave him, and laughed even harder when Amaya spoke up as well.

Hikari tilted her head in confusion, glancing first to Naruto then to Amaya. Turning back to Areku, she liften an eyebrow. "What are they talking about, Ark-san?"

Areku scratched the back of his head lightly, clearly embarrassed and unsure of telling Hikari this like he had with the others."Well...do you happen to know what the Japanese word for flower is?" he asked, hoping that she would just answer the question.