Yuuka turned her head just as the sun was rising outside the window. She glanced at her brother's back, seeing that he was still asleep. His red-brown hair was shaggy, and needed a trim. She felt her own, knowing that a haircut was long overdue.

She sat up carefully, not to wake her older brother. She tiptoed towards the window, and got a breath of fresh, cool air. She glanced at her brother, who was still asleep. Stupid Mao, she thought to herself, why do you have to be the one sleeping?

"MAO!" Yuuka shrieked.

The boy rose and eyed the girl. He was about to stand on the bed and scold her for yelling so loud but then his foot got tangled in the bed sheets and fell to the ground.

"Ugh, Mao, you're so useless. Be more careful!" Yuuka warned.

"Hey, don't call me that. I'm older than you so that means you gotta be nicer to me!" Mao stated.

"No, I don't. Just cause mom's not around doesn't mean you get to be the boss."

"Come on! I never said anything about bossing you around, I-"

"You just ordered me to be nicer to you, right? Not happening."

"Oh, yeah? Just wait! I'll get my ninja headband and you'll wanna be nicer to me!"

"Like that's gonna happen. You can barely hold up a gallon of milk and you're saying-"

They suddenly heard a crash in the next apartment. Running out the door to see what happened, they saw their neighbor, a flash of orange, speeding across their faces. Then, he turned around with a pleading look to his eyes.

"Sorry, guys, but do you mind if I stop by for some breakfast? I thought I had some ramen left in my kitchen and I guess I forgot to pick some up at the store. I have to see my friends in 30 minutes, and I'm kinda out of cash, so-"

"Come on in…" Yuuka and Mao sighed in unison.

The children trekked into their apartment with their blonde neighbor close at heel. Silently, they poured hot water into a cup of instant ramen and shoved it into the blonde's face.

"T-thank you," he said as his cerulean eyes started to tear up.

They stared at him for a long time and then-

"HAHAHAHA! BWAHAHA!" the two laughed.

"You're such a baby for ramen! Hey, I'm Naruto- I want to hold my precious ramen, and then EAT THE LIFE OUT OF IT! HAHA!" Mao teased.

"I can see it now- a cup of ramen for a bride and Naruto as a groom… but wait! It seems the groom has an undying hunger for soup and noodles! HAHAHA!" Yuuka giggled.

"Hey, stop it! It's not funny! Come on, I don't get crazy over ramen that much. I mean, it's a once in a while thing-"

"Yeah, once a while really means every meal!" Mao snorted.

"Speaking of every meal, didn't you say that you were gonna ask that Sakura girl out? How'd it go? Bring us any souvenirs?" Yuuka started.

"Um, well… you see…" Naruto stuttered.

"I get it now, that pink-haired fangirl said no. I see her in the streets ALL the time! She's always following the apathetic jerk around. I mean, what girl would like that guy? He's so rude," Mao stated.

"Yeah. One time, I accidently said that my parents suck. My mom's never around to pay the bill and our father… well, he's always drunk, so we kicked him out. It's like we never had parents. Then, that jerk said that we don't know what we have until it's gone," Yuuka said, annoyed.

Mao glanced at the clock. 10:45,he thought, wasn't Naruto supposed meet his friends 15 minutes ago…? Nah, I won't say anything.

"AHH! I was supposed to meet my friends 15 minutes ago! Gotta run, believe it!" and with that, Naruto leaped out view.

"What do we do now, Mao? I'm bored. And our academy's out for today. Wanna see Hinata?"

"Yeah. I bet she'll give us something to do. Hopefully, dog boy won't be around. He might have rabies," Mao added.

The two dressed up in their ninja wear. Mao had a white shirt with the word "FIGHT!" on the front and khaki shorts. He had the ninja sandals on and kunai in his pocket. Pouches were just too expensive these days. Yuuka had her bangs held to the side of her face by a butterfly clip and had a sleeveless white dress on with black shorts. She also had the ninja sandals on, but her kunai in a bag, on her belt.

"Alright, Mao! To the Hyuuga residence! Wait. What if that other guy is there?"

"What other guy? Oh, you must mean Neji. I heard he was on a mission from Choji or something," Mao suggested.

"How would Choji know anything? All he does it eat. No matter! Let's go see Hinata!" Yuuka said as she dragged her sibling out the door.

The two walked side by side towards the street when they saw her.

"Hey, isn't that Ino Yamanaka? I heard that she is another Sasuke fangirl. Wait, I see Shikamaru there too. Is he giving flowers to her?" Mao said, straining his eyes.

"Come on, I wanna see Hinata. If we get there, she might give us some sweets."

"Right, I'm going," Mao said, walking towards the Hyuuga residence.

They walked past the academy, seeing their friends play in the park.

"Mao! Yuuka! Wanna play with us?" a girl called.

"Sorry! We wanna see one of our other friends right now! Next time, okay?" Yuuka responded.

After they got past the park, they spotted Konahamaru arguing with Moegi.

"Konahamaru! You still owe me 70 yen from last time! Why can't you just pay up?" Moegi yelled.

Mao and Yuuka ran past to avoid having to be witnesses of Konahamaru's past crime. A little while later, they reached the Hyuuga residence. Huffing and puffing, Yuuka reached for the door and-

"What are you guys doing here?" a long-haired boy asked.

"Maybe you can just stop coming here-" Neji said, annoyed.

"She's at the general store getting some sweets," a girl with buns cut off.

"Thank you, Tenten," Mao said.

"We'll see you later!" added Yuuka.

And with that, the siblings went their way.