[computer screen] : Your time limit is now up. Click OK to submit quiz.

"I've been clicking forever… Ah – I'M NOT DONE YET!"

CLICK. CLICK. CLICK . Nothing.

*Computer screen moved*

"Sweeettt!"

[computer screen] :

Quiz submitted.

Lesson 7 Score: 1.83%

. . .

"Wha – NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mai shrieked as she (successfully and fortunately) controlled herself from breaking her laptop in half – or pieces.

"I was still on question number two when you decided to freeze! I'm FAILING this online class already! WHYYYY would you do that to me, computer?"

A small child, around four years old, with chubby cheeks, fair skin and tousled black hair, dropped his toy trucks and robots in the sandbox as he approached and stood by the girl. "Neechan… no fighting with Mr. Computer again, ok?"

"But it froze. Agaaainnnnn..." Mai clenched her fist in frustration and glared at the computer.

The little boy patted her left arm and said, "Say sorry to Neechan Mr. Computer…" as he looked at the laptop and patted it too.

"Peace, peace!" he said, as he looked back and forth from the laptop to Mai with a smile.

Mai looked at the child and instantly felt herself calm down. She took a deep breath and sighed while she put her right elbow on the picnic table and rested her chin on her right hand. 'The innocence of a child…'

She turned and looked at the little boy once again, smiled and patted his head, "Thanks, Hiroki..." then playfully messed with his already seemingly disheveled hair.

The little boy laughed and jumped excitedly as he tried to reach Mai's hair to mess with it too. If her hair wasn't put up in a high bun, secured by a pink, unsharpened hello kitty pencil, Hiroki would have no difficulty reaching over Mai's naturally wavy, dark brown hair that usually flows down to the middle of her back. But Mai stood up and started running around their backyard while the little boy chased after her; both of them laughing together.

It was just another summer afternoon. The light breeze blew gently, sending silent echoes to one's ears, while the sun was shooting its blistering heat from the exact midpoint of the sky.

::: Mai's POV :::

'He's too cute! Hehe... He looks like a running... no, bouncing, cabbage patch baby! Hehehe!'

Our backyard has a lot of open space. This whole lot, including the main house has a lot of space in general, period. It actually looks more like a forest preserve with all the trees around. Or maybe it was until people decided to build over it. Beyond the fence in our backyard is a small stream that leads to a river. Across the small stream. . . are more trees. It has its… charm.

Apparently, this house has been passed on from one generation to the next. It's the only one that looks ancient compared to the modern looking houses in this spacious neighborhood. And I mean, SPA-CI-OUS. It's a gated community, but my grandmother told me that this house was the very first one built in this area – way back in the 1900's. Most of the newer houses here are just as big, if not bigger than this house. So big that this "community" of a neighborhood only consists of about eight houses – or mansions, whatever they want to call it. I heard they're planning on building more. . . I guess you could say that people who live here are pretty loaded. Yes, loaded with pride and egoistic personalities with their elitist way of thinking. But not my aunt, Asami.

My little cousin, Hiroki, and I live with her. This is her house now. Well, she was the only one who accepted it among her brother and sister – Hiroki's dad and my mother – from my grandmother before she passed away. Aunt Asami took me in when I was fourteen, that was seven years ago, but I've always spent my summers here when my grandmother was still alive. Hiroki, on the other hand, has only lived here for about ten months. I look up to my Aunt Asami with great admiration. She's kind hearted, optimistic, and a great cook! And someday, I'm going to become a great pediatrician, just like her. But for now, most of the experience I've had with taking care of kids comes from playing and taking care of my little cousin, Hiroki.

"Wait, neechan!" Hiroki yelled after me. I thought he sounded upset. I was still running ahead as I looked back at him, and noticed that he stopped running. 'I wonder why?'

"Hiroki, what's wrong?" I asked. He was vehemently scratching his eyes.

"Urgh . . ehhh. . ." Hiroki moaned in frustration. I started walking towards him.

"Did dirt get into your eyes again? Don't scratch it too hard. Here, neechan will help, ok?" When I reached Hiroki, he had his eyes shut tightly but already had his arms raised up high, open for me to carry him. 'Poor kid. He's always scratching his eyes. Darn dirt! Maybe I should make him wear goggles? No. Geez, I don't want to be blamed if he ever develops a weird sense of fashion someday. But still…'

I carried Hiroki inside the house and headed towards the bathroom. I put him down to stand on his kiddy stool (the one he uses to be able to reach the sink and brush his teeth by himself. CUTE!)

I let water run in the faucet while I helped him wash his face and eyes.

"All better?" I asked.

"Li.. ttle…" he said

"Look here…" Hiroki turned towards me while I reached for a face towel in the bathroom closet beside me. He still had his eyes shut as I patted his face dry.

"How's that?" I asked.

"Eyes. . . ." He then covered his eyes with his hands. 'Crap. What if he got an eye infection?' *internally panicking* 'Look calm. Sound calm.'

"Does it hurt? Can you try to open your eyes slowly so neechan can check?"

'Sore eyes', I thought. 'If not just an annoying dirt.' I've had sore eyes before – heck, was I glad I did. I missed a few school days in kindergarten and avoided that horrible substitute teacher with her attitude, squeaky voice and badly done perm – Ms. Ginger. Five years ago, Mrs. Santella, the sweet old lady (she gave me free piano lessons, plus cookies everytime, and extra chocolate in Halloween!) who lived right across from our house, the only neighbor I actually liked (and talked to) moved to Michigan to live with her daughter and grandchildren. I miss her..

But I'll never forget THAT day…

I was looking through the curtains of my bedroom window (Creep.) when a car pulled up in good old Mrs. Santella's drive way. A lady stepped out from the car. "Our new neighbor? That lady. . ." I've seen that poor excuse of a hairstyle before. Those blonde curls that look like scrunched up barb wires that might come to life and attack you.

Ms. Ginger. . .

I had sore eyes the next day. Coincidence? I think not.

Well…

THE POINT IS. . .

Having had sore eyes twice in my life, I know its symptoms: itchiness, some pain or burning, discomfort, soreness (Duh…), and redness of the eyes. The redness is mostly in the sclera, or the white part of the eye.

Then, how come. . .

"Uhmm. . . it feels weird oneechan" Hiroki mumbled with his head down, lightly rubbing his eyes.

"Does it hurt?" Alarm slipped in my voice.

"No. It's just. . ." Hiroki took his hands off his eyes and slowly raised his head up. At the same time, I was already trying to remember where Aunt Asami put her eye drops, so that I could put some on Hiroki to help relieve his eyes.

My thoughts stopped short when Hiroki opened his eyes to look at me. I stopped thinking altogether. For a moment, I felt as if my heart might've skipped a beat or two as well. I couldn't look away.

"Neechan, Why is there so much light… and colors? You – You're glowing… neechan? There's weird… lines… glowing… in your body. But I… I can see through it… A – Are you neechan?" Hiroki's voice staggered in confusion. "Nee-chaaaann!" I felt Hiroki shake my arms which helped snap me out of my trance.

"Oh – Yeah. Don't... Don't worry, sweetheart." Without taking my gaze off him, I tried my best to smile as I gently held Hiroki's face with both of my hands.

Don't worry? Was I reassuring him, or myself?

If my mind was blank a moment ago, now, countless thoughts seem to rush through it all at once.

I stared at Hiroki, but instead of his usual dark brown eyes, a pair of crimson eyes, with two of what looks like commas around each pupil, stared back at me.

[Flashback : 12 years ago]

"Sharrrrrr…what? Obaasa – "

It all took just one blink of an eye. I heard a swift motion cut through the air as I saw my grandmother darted something fast coming at my direction.

Just a blink of an eye. . .

Then, three kunai knives shot towards me at a murderous speed. I ducked and rolled over to my right side as fast as I could. I rolled over twice before I finally stopped and laid on my back with both my arms outstretched. I could feel the throbbing pain increasing in my right elbow. I'm sure I hurt it when I landed on the ground. As I gasped for air in shock, and struggled to sit up, I turned to look around to where I was standing just a few seconds ago – where the knives would have hit me. But the knives weren't there.

'Was that just my imagination?'

No. Because as I took a closer look at the tree that was behind me from where I was standing before, I saw three distinct sharp holes in its trunk. And as the clouds slowly uncover the sun, its glistering ray of light touched the tree and reflected something indented within. They were barely visible and were a good three inches deep within the tree trunk, but they were, in fact, the tips of the kunais' handle.

'If I hadn't moved. . .'

I looked back at my grandmother, and I didn't know whether to feel fear or anger. I expected an apologetic look from her. Perhaps, I thought, she didn't see me standing there? But her expression was not what I expected. When I looked at her, she was smirking, which she gradually changed into a smile.

She crossed her arms as she said, "You exceed my expectations, my dear. You avoided that almost perfectly. Your insti –"

'Seriously?'

"Obaasan! I know I asked for more training, but you could ha – "

"Mai. I want to know . . . if you have . . . the Sharingan." She looked at me intently as she said this.

The smile was no longer in her face.

NOTES:

Alright! So this is my first time writing a fanfic after almost 9 YEARS. Check out the username "kai-kai", I think my old fanfic was called "She's All That", a lame shot at a Slam Dunk fanfic when I was about 12 yrs old. hehe... I would've used the same username, but I forgot the password.. even for the email I used back then lol

I love Naruto, and for some reason - maybe I was just daydreaming - these scenes just keep popping in my head. And these words were screaming themselves out in there. LOL I just had to write it down. Truthfully, I don't even know where this story is going myself. Or at least, how it's going to end. haha I only know the middle part, because that's what I've been thinking about (or daydreaming) for a while, before I thought of writing a fanfic. And to start the story, I had to work backwards. But writing this page right here has been surprisingy easy for me. Words just came out naturally, and I think I'm pretty happy about it. :D

Anyway, because I'm taking summer school (LAME. I know.) I'm going to be really busy, and probably won't be able to update this in a very long while. But I'll still be checking for reviews. And those will surely help! So please feel free to give any comments or suggestions.

And thanks for reading! ^_^