Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the Naruto series. never will.

sorry about the REALLY-REALLY-REEEEEALY late update... kinda fell out of writing anything for a while. I should be back on track soon. I'm also working on a story with myimagination339 , and I should have an entry for that up soon. I'm just trying to survive my honors classes... they all suck. God, do I miss my plain old enriched math class...

Akari rounded the corner, praying that she wouldn't be stopped once she got in the building.Even with Tsunade leading her back, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was late, and would be in big trouble. No matter if she was excused or not, she always thought she would be in trouble for something. She thought about how she wished she had inherited her father's ability to lie straight faced. He could lie his way out of anything in heartbeat.. I on the other hand, can't lie very well. Akari thought with slight anguish. Too bad for him though, I can always tell when he's lying.

"Alright," Tsunade's voice interupted her thought, "You just get in to your classroom. I need to speak with a few teachers anyway."

"Okay." She replied, stopping only a second to open the door. She ran down the hall, and found that no one was in sight. She slowed down when she reach her own hallway, and stopped outside her classroom long enough to catch her breath. Akari opened the door and looked to the front of the room. Iruka sensei sat at his desk, looked up at her, and nooded his head in a gesture for her to come. She silently made her way to the front, and stopped in front of her teacher's desk.

"You gave Tsunade the letter right?" He wispered, a smile greeting her.

"Yes. I'm sorry I'm late." She replyed, her hands held behind her back.

"It's okay. Here's your test. Go ahead and take your seat." He said, handing her a packet from a stack on his desk. Akari took the papers, nodded, and walked back to her seat.. She noticed her friend Kayko looking at her and smiling from her seat. Her books had been taken from her desk, and she suspected that Kayko had moved them herself. They sat next to each other, and messed with eachother's stuff from time to time.

She sat down next to her friend, who greeted her with a silent smile. She sat the packet down and flipped it open to the first page. From the looks of it, this wouldn't be too hard. It looked mostly like any of the other written tests she had taken that year, but was a lot longer. She gave a sigh of resignation and prepared herself for a long test.

Akari grabbed her lunch on her way out the door. She had finished on time, like everybdy else, but had turned hers in last minute. She was quick to figure things out, but could only do so well on certain parts, before she had to give up and move on, for the sake of finishing. She sat on the stone edge of the garden and watched the other students talking as they slowly filed out of the building. She heard several students talking about how easy it was, while others complained about it's dificulty.

"Hey! Akari!" She looked up to see Kayko running towards her. She smiled and waved at her childhood friend, motioning for her to come over. "What'cha doin?" She displayed the same welcoming smile, her arms crossed in the boyish attitude she wore so proudly.

"Wanna see what my dad got me as a gift? It's really cool!" Akari asked, a rare cheerfulness coming over her. "Look!" She dug around a large bag until she found what she wanted and gently pulled it out of the bag. In her hands she held a short , slightly curved sword. Kayko watched intently as she drew it out of the ornately decorated sheath, and held it so that the blade was pointed towards her elbow, the stance similar to that used when holding a Kunai in a defensive stance.

"Wow... where in the world did he get that?" She asked, her curiosity mounting at the sight of the engraving on the blade of the sword.

"I have no clue! He gave it to me yesterday, and didn't really tell me anything about it, other than how to hold it! I swear, sometimes I feel like I don't even know the guy!"

"Well, I can help you with that!" Kayko lened forward, her smile genuinely silly. "First off, what color is his bath robe?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's a personality thing! Duh! Now answer the question!"

"Um, blue?" Akari mumbled, rubbing the back of her head.

"Then he's a secretively cheerful guy!" she expressed, her hands flying about wildly. "Okay, so that was just something stupidly random. So what's your dad like?"

"Ummm..." Akari stalled, trying to find the right words without giving out too much info. "Well, he's pretty tall... and he never brushes his hair... and he's kind of dull... He doesn't talk much. He's always got his head stuck in some book or other... He looks a lot like me I guess." She gave an anemic smile, her expression slightly pained.

"Hmm." she mumbled, mulling the info over in her head. "How come I've never seen him before? There aren't too many people around here that look like you."

"Well, he's out of town a lot. I hardly see him myself. He almost always leaves before I do in the mornings too... " she said profoundly. That much was true. He thought that it would help if he didn't attract too much attention to her by hanging around the house.

"Maybe you could introduce me to him sometime?" Kayko asked inquired, a soft smile gracing her usually lively face.

"Maybe. I'll have to ask."

"Great! I'll see you later, okay? I'm going to try and sneak in the house without my mom getting all emotional on me." She rolled her eyes, and stood to face her companion. She waved, a rapturious simle crossing fer face, as she bounced off, her hair flowing out behind her.

She got up, grabbed her stuff, and turned down the opposite street. Well, at least she was telling part of the truth. She felt guilty for lying about most of it though. Her dad would have to explain all of this sooner or later. She didn't want to go on telling only part of the truth for the rest of her life.