Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter One- Introduction

Saeko- 8 years old (Present Tense)

My name is Saeko Haruno. For as long as I can remember (which is practically my whole life), I've been raised by my single mother, Sakura Haruno. Her friends and people at the hospital helped –help- out, including Shizune, Tsunade, Tenten, Hinata, and Ino… And so on. Ever since I was old enough to walk and speak and knew what chakra was, I have attended the Konoha Ninja Academy.

But, I've only been there for three years.

In the eight years that I have been alive, I have never known –or even met, for that matter- my father. At least, not as far as I can remember, which, as I said before, is pretty far back.

But you know what… I've never really missed him. But, then again, how can you miss someone who you know nothing about. Mom never talks about him, and, more surprisingly, she doesn't seem depressed, as one would expect. She walks through the streets every day, with her head held high. Then she goes to work, and always picks me up on time after school (if I don't walk home with my friends). And at home, she's nice and caring and always has time for me. She always listens to me when I need to talk, and talks when I want to listen.

I do, sometimes, think of my father –whoever he is-. On these rare occasions, I find myself wondering if my mom really misses him somewhere deep down in her heart. Did she love him? Did he love her? Did he leave, or is he dead? Had he ever seen me? Where was he now? And, of course, will I ever meet him?

Even if I didn't, I figured, I'd be ok. But still, what if mom missed him? Had he walked out on her? Was he even like that? Surely, whoever he was, he wouldn't have been cruel enough to just leave.

"Hey, Saeko! Wake up! Earth to Saeko!"

I blink, suddenly aware of everything around me. Toshi, Kane, Kiyoshi, and Takeshi are standing around my desk; the group of boys that I have always chosen to hag out with over the rest of the girls. I was a major tomboy, which was rare in the academy. According to the other girls, I only hung out with them to get attention, or that I liked one of them, but it wasn't true. Besides, I was only eight and was more interested in sports and training then flirting.

That sets me apart.

"I'm sorry, what now?" I ask, looking at Kane. Being the oldest (due to his low grades). he is our sort of self-elected leader, though I had often heard the boys say that they would rather have me as captain. Not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty tough for a girl.

Kane rolled his eyes and turned away. "Time to go," he said, and my eyes went wide.

I had done it again. The last three hours had gone by in a torrent of thoughts about my father, and I hadn't even taken a single note. I looked down at my blank notebook and sighed. Mom was going to kill me.

Not really, though. She wasn't strict enough. People often said that that was a good thing, but I found it pretty boring sometimes.

"You comin'?" Toshi asked. I nodded and stood up, following after them with my notebook in hand.

A Few Minutes Later

"What's with you lately?" Kane asks, kicking the ball over to me. I kick it back, and then turn around to walk backwards, with my hands folded across my chest. Of course, I'm walking at the front, since we always walk in the same formation, so I'm facing all the boys as we continue through the forest, on the path home.

"Nothing," I tell him. Really, I didn't think there was anything wrong. Sure, I was wondering about my mystery dad more and more often, though I honestly couldn't tell you why. "Why, does it seem like something's wrong with me?"

Kane kicks the ball to Toshi, who kicks it into the air. Kiyoshi jumps up, bouncing the ball on his head, and then it flies over to Takeshi, who, obviously, is also lost in thought, since he doesn't see it coming.

"Ow! What was that for?!" He rubs the top of his head fervently, glaring daggers at Kiyoshi, whose eyes are already watering from laughter. Kane snickers, and Toshi just shrugs and continues watching. I'm the only one who isn't laughing- I know what it's like to be caught off guard.

Besides, Takeshi comes from the family with the most 'problems', so it's only natural that he is lost in thought. The last news that I heard of his family, their had been a terrible fight between his parents, and his mom had been seen the next day, wearing long-sleeved clothes (it was the middle of summer) and dark glasses. I felt guilty, being a little sorry for myself about not knowing my dad. Takeshi, and so many others, had much worse things to worry about.

With a sigh, I turn, and Takeshi and I start walking to catch up with the others.

"I can't believe how much homework she gave us!" Toshi was saying, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Seriously," Kiyoshi, who was still choking from laughter, replied. "I mean, what, with tests coming up and all."

I gulped at his last sentence. Not only I had not taken notes today, but I had not taken notes when tests were right around the corner.

"Ah, who cares?" Kane said. "No one's gonna study for them anyway." By anyone, he meant himself. In his point of view, the world revolved around him and everyone should just bow down and give him his way.

Kane Sasaki was just like that. Stubborn, arrogant, greedy, a major bully. I laughed out loud, picturing him after he graduated (if he ever graduated, that was), picking on the Academy students. He heard me and turned around, as if he knew I was laughing at him. "What's so funny?" I shrugged, and we went on. Kane's family had been transferred from Iwagakure, for reasons unknown. He was probably an embarrassment to his own village, I told myself. It was all I could do to not break out into another fit of giggles.

Takeshi, as I said, came from a bad family. His last name was Takahaski (which went really well with his first name, I thought). But, I figured he had changed his name. Or his mother had changed his name for him, due to the bad history of their family. He was a sad kid, and quiet. Which brings me to Kiyoshi Inuzuka, Takeshi's exact opposite.

Kiyoshi, like me, was an only child. His mother is Temari from Sunagakure, his dad Kiba Inuzuka, of Konohagakure. According to mom, those two had been the least expected to ever get together. But, they had, and they brought into this world the lovely bundle of joy, Kiyoshi. Note the sarcasm. As I had heard, 'Kiyoshi' meant 'quiet', but he was anything but quiet. On the contrary, he was hyper, and no matter what the situation, he could make us –well, me, at least- smile. Though sometimes, I add, he is a hard-headed idiot, like I've heard his dad is. He has a pet dog, named Akihito, which meant bright. (As I'll tell you later, this was also due to Kiyoshi's sense of humor.)

Toshi Yamanaka. Son of Shikamaru and Ino Nara. Lazy, like his dad, at times, and loud like his mom at other times. If the couch isn't available (AKA- Taken by Shikamaru), he likes to venture out and disappear for hours on long walks. He doesn't talk much, and there's really not too much to say about him. Besides the fact that he finds his recently born baby sister, Satoru. I think she's adorable.

So I guess that leaves me. Yay. Once again, note the sarcasm. I won't lie, I'm a really sarcastic person (in case you hadn't noticed). I've already told you about my family, so I guess I'll get right down to my personality. For the most part, I'm quiet. I try –most of the time, I fail- to be nice and cheerful, but most of the time, I'm mute and indifferent. Oh yeah, and I have a rival.

Her name? Suzume Yamaguchi. Seriously, just saying her name makes me shiver. I don't know much about her family, except that her dad travels and her mom works at a shop across town, part-time. But, her family isn't the main focus here. She is. I figure that I better tell you all about her, though it's gonna make my blood boil. Ok, moving along now… But seriously, I hate her. She's the biggest preppy, girly-girl that ever walked the face of this earth. We're only eight, but still, I can tell what she'll be like when she grows up. At first, when we met, we were friendly towards each others, and unlike Ino Yamanaka and my mom, this rivalry is not over a guy. It's just a constant struggle for superiority. And I'm as determined as she is to win.

Honestly, I could go on for days about how I loathe her, but I figure, with another paragraph about her, you'll leave, so anyways…

"You're awful quiet."

I blinked, to see Kiyoshi hanging upside down from a tree, his face barely an inch away from mine. Our eyes were connected for a brief moment, and then I drew away, shocked from the sudden lack of personal face. He cocked an eyebrow (which made me laugh, since it was funny the way he did it upside down.) His dirty-blonde hair hung upside down, almost long enough to make him look like a girl. I figured Temari would cut it soon (though he'd resist violently).

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are."

Despite the fact that I had been standing still for probably ten minutes, I just then realized that we had stopped, and I criticized myself for being so slow.

"What's on your mind?" Kane asked, flopping down. I shrugged. Yeah, like you care.

"Liar."

"How can I be a liar?" I demanded, gritting my teeth. "I didn't even say anything!" Kane flinched from my sudden outburst, and my eyes went wide. I never, ever blurted out like that. Not without the release of long-term, built-up anger. As far as I knew, I hadn't been mad all day. I shook my head, a hand coming to my mouth.

"Dude, what's with you?" Kane jumped up, so that he was towering over me.

"I don't know," I told him, but I wasn't about to say I was sorry. I never said I was sorry. I guess it was a 'pride' thing. And that, I knew, had to come from my dad. Just like my dark, almost black hair had to have. I had often used my hair as a clue, and gone to the library to see if I could find identical hair-colors in books. Of course, I didn't.

"You are such a girl," he hissed, flopping back down. I ignored his 'insult' and dug out my notebook.

"Hey, did anyone here actually take notes?" I asked, looking at everyone except Kane. Takeshi was still spacing out, so no response came from him. Toshi shrugged. "I don't see the point in all that effort," he said. "A drag, really."

I looked pleadingly over at Kiyoshi, which started a staring contest. That was his way of saying, if I won, I could see the notes. Though he was silly, he made good grades. Normally, I did too.

Everyone watched, making faces and waving their hands in the air as they tried to distract us. I felt the game to be extremely hard: just looking at Kiyoshi made me want to laugh. And no, I don't mean that his face was funny or anything. In fact, he was rather…. Never mind.

I tried hard to focus, but I felt the corners of my mouth twisting into a smile, and I bit my lower lip, trying to bite back the laughter and failing miserably. I caved, and started giggling.

"You lose," he said.

"Oh, come on!" I choked out. "You know that's not fair!'

He shrugged and closed his eyes. "Whatever."

Sighing, I did something that was also extremely rare. From me, that is.

"Please?"

He cracked one eye open, his dark eyes meeting my own emerald ones. For emphasis, I weaved my fingers together and clasped my hands together tightly, sticking out my bottom lip pleadingly. For a second, I thought he was going to grin, but he turned away, acting all cool. That was hard for him, since he was such a goofball.

"Kiyoshi, come on! I'm serious!"

He tossed the notebook over and I grinned. "Thank you!"

Of course, his hand writing sucked –all boys' handwriting sucked-, and it took me almost an hour to copy the single page. Obviously, I hadn't missed much.

We all stood, and I quickly jotted down the last note as the sun began to cast tree-shadows (as I had called them) over the path. Though then again, it's a park in the middle of the forest. There's gonna be tree-shadows.

"Here ya go." I handed the notebook back to Kiyoshi. "Thank you!"

"Whatever." He was still trying to act cool and indifferent –like I behaved most of the time-, but I saw him turn his head to hide a grin.

That Night

"Oh, hey honey…" Mom looked tired when I walked in the kitchen, but that wasn't rare. Working as a single mom was probably pretty hard.

"Hi, Mom," I walked over and hugged her, trying to make her brighten up. She reached down and patted my head, tousling my hair.

"How was your day?"

I shrugged, yawned, and stretched. "It was ok," I said. "You?"

She sighed. "Busy. There were a lot of patients today. But, there's been worse. Do you have any homework?"

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am. A lot."

Mom went over to the counter for a minute. I could hear dishes clanking together and the opening of the oven, but I wasn't paying attention. In fact, I was thinking about my 'missing' father. I really had no idea why I had been thinking of him so often lately, I just was. I mean, surely it's natural that a girl being raised by a single mother wonders who her father is. Right?

The rest of the meal went by in silence, and I was hasty to clean my plate, grab my bag, and retreat up to my room.