Sasuke looked at her, sheseemed really shocked somehow, but he didn´t actually cared so he answered with a half-hearted expression.

Nagisa wasn´t able to say another word, she was too startled, her mind was blank, what was she going to do? he didn't seem curious at all, but still, it would be too awkward if he didn´t ask her about it, and what was she going to say then? This wasn´t supposed to be happening, she hadn´t prepared a good explanation for it yet…other than the truth.

It was taking too long, Sasuke just stared at her indifferently, waiting for her to speak; he actually was curious about it, but he was hoping that she would just tell him before he had to ask, she seemed like the kind of person who would do that. She just stayed there with a petrified look on her face. He sighed and thought that maybe he should say something, but before he got to ask if she was okay, she disappeared.

Nagisa just ran back to her room. She came to the conclusion that she wasn´t able to handle the situation and instinctively ran away. How uncool was that? He would probably think that she was some sort of weirdo. But what else could she do? She was a terrible liar. It would have taken her at least two days to come up with a reasonable thing to say and she didn´t had that much time. Or did she? Maybe if she could manage to avoid the subject for a couple of days she would be able to explain it to him without telling everything, or even better, by doing that he would probably just forget it and she wouldn´t have to explain it at all.

That was the plan.

Nagisa woke up at dawn the next day. She could barely sleep because of the nerves, even tho she already had a plan, the fact of dealing with it was still nerve wrecking. She didn´t train that morning.

…

He was staring at her; she could feel it. Those black eyes pierced through her like arrows. Nagisa was feeling too much of a coward to stare back at him, so she just focused on finishing her breakfast as fast as she could, following the plan.

-Hey! Why are you so tense Nagisa? - said the blond ninja. He had just entered the kitchen and seeing Nagisa in such a dreadful gloom made him curious. He was too much of an idiot to notice things like that, so Nagisa´s mood was much too obvious at the stance for him to notice.

Nagisa almost choked. She was so focused on Sasuke that she lost all consciousness over her surroundings and Naruto´s powerful voice startled her. As soon as he sat down at the breakfast table she felt the black eyed arrows gradually pulling away from her. That was a relief.

-It´s nothing- she said suddenly recovering her usual cheerfulness. – and please call me Nagi! the only one that calls me by my full name is my mother and it feels kinda weird hearing it from someone else- she added almost laughing.

-You look really cute with a smile Nagi-chan! - said Naruto. He actually liked her better like that. His first impression of her wouldn´t have made him think that she could be this approachable.

She giggled and smiled at him again. Avoiding Sasuke´s glances was going to be easier now that Naruto was around.

-Kakashi sensei is finally awake! - yelled the pink haired girl, suddenly entering the kitchen. Both ninjas stood up instantly and followed her to their sensei´s bedroom. Nagisa followed them too, but she just stayed outside next to the bedroom's door, she didn´t feel like it was her place to be in but she also wanted to hear what they were going to say. Her mother and grandfather were there too.

They explained him what happened after he passed out and then Tazuna introduced Nagisa and her mother to him. Kakashi greeted them cordially and then asked Tazuna to clarify the situation for him, because he had payed for a low rank ninja escort when he actually required a high rank one.

Tazuna sighed.

-We just don´t have the money. We´re a very poor country and we couldn´t have payed it even if we wanted to- he said laughing sheepishly, but then continued with resignation: -feel free to abort the mission, I understand, after all, I was the one who lied and I shouldn´t make you risk your lives because of it. -

Kakashi remained silent for a moment. Zabuza's apparent death was odd, cause when a ninja hunter killed their target they usually began to destroy it on the spot, but the ninja whom they'd met had taken Zabuza's body elsewhere. This, coupled with the fact that Zabuza had been "killed" with weapons that were rarely fatal, led him to believe that Zabuza was still alive, and that he would certainly be back, so things weren´t going to be easy for them because they barely defeated him last time. He told this to Tazuna and everyone else there.

-Please stay! -

Nagisa finally entered the room.

-Please stay- she repeated. She couldn´t let them leave just like that because deep inside she knew that they were the ones who could help the country, and protect her family. She wasn´t sure if she was strong enough to protect them by herself against a ninja, she didn´t even had a real chance to test her powers like that. What if her powers weren´t enough? Her sensei wasn´t there to guide her and she was too scared of making wrong decisions. She wasn´t even a real ninja. But they were. She could lean on them to make things right.

-I know that what my grandfather did was wrong, but you have to understand that it was the only thing he could do in order to keep trying to free our country from Gatoh´s control. Please, just stay until the bridge is done and we won´t bother you anymore. Please…- she said without taking her eyes off Kakashi, trying to ignore those dark eyes staring again at her.

Kakashi seemed like he had already made a decision.

-We couldn´t call ourselves ninjas if we didn´t stay- he said in what it looked like a smile under his half mask. -Right guys? - he added looking to the three genins.

-Right- said Sakura and Sasuke, both with very different expressions but agreeing at last to what their sensei said.

- Alright! Don´t worry Nagi-chan! we will protect your grandpa and save this country-ttebayo! – yelled Naruto in excitement.

Nagisa sighed in relief and smiled afterwards, her mother and grandfather smiled too.

-Gatoh will kill all of you, nobody can save this country from him- said a little boy who just showed up at the door. It was Nagisa´s younger brother, Inari. He went to hug his grandfather.

-Inari, don´t talk like that- said his mother but he just ignored her. He looked angrily to the ninjas and then left the room.

-What the hell is wrong with that kid? - said Naruto in a rush of anger.

Nagisa looked down sadly. -Just let him be- she said.

…

Kakashi was still recovering from his injuries but that didn´t stop him from giving his students something to train for.

Nagisa quietly followed them and spied them from the top of a nearby tree. She wanted to see how ninjas actually trained, maybe she would learn something from it.

The training consisted in climbing a tree without using their hands. The goal was to learn how to accumulate chakra in specific parts of the body, in this case, their feet; being the lowest part of the body made it very difficult to move and maintain a considerable amount of chakra there, and that was perfect for what Kakashi wanted to teach them. "Manipulating chakra is one of the most important things a ninja must learn to do in order to perform whatever jutsu they want" he said, and then instructed them to make a mark in the tree with a kunai to record their progress. After they made a few tries, Kakashi left.

It was kind of funny watching them train. Sakura climbed the tree in only a couple of tries, her chakra control was obviously superior than the rest of them; Naruto started badly but he slowly improved with every try, he wasn´t going to give up easily; and Sasuke seemed to have a natural talent to develop quickly; it felt like Naruto and him were in some sort of competition by the way they looked at each other. Nagisa felt kind of jealous, training with friends seemed to be very fun.

She felt someone approaching, it was Inari. He stared at the ninjas while they were training for a few minutes and then left with a bitter expression on his face. Nagisa sighed gloomily.

…

The house lights were already turned off when Nagisa went to the basement to get some blankets for their guests. It was a chilly night so her mother asked her to go look for them.

As she began to make her way up the stairs with the pile of blankets, she lost herself in thoughts of how excited she was to try what Kakashi taught their students that day. She observed them very meticulously for some hours and she felt ready to go and try it herself. Her mind wandered a bit more and remembered that thanks to that training she managed to stay out of sight from Sasuke, so her plan was going just fine. She smiled for herself.

She was almost at the top of the staircase when she suddenly noticed a pair of black eyes waiting for her at the door.

-Kyaaaaa!-

…

I´m so sorry if you find this chapter a bit boring… Please look forward to the next one! Some revelations of Nagisa´s past are coming…

Thank you!