Birds were singing cheerily, the sun was shining, and there didn't seem to be a cloud in the sky. Oh God, it was already morning.

"I hate my life," I mumbled into my pillow. Why was I so incredibly tired? Oh right. Staying up half the night showing genetically malfunctioning midgets their rooms doesn't really make you well rested.

"Oh, are you finally awake?"

I turned over to see Sakura sitting on her bed, already dressed and no doubt packed, shining, and sprinkled lightly with rose water. Stupid morning person.

"Ugh, what time is it?" I finally rasped out. Come to think of it, it was partly her fault I was so tired too. If she hadn't made me laugh with her yelling, I could probably have fallen asleep earlier.

"Six-thirty," she chirped, the perfect little…

"Why are you already awake?" I asked, preparing to go back to sleep. "It's too early!"

"Your housekeeper, or whatever, said that we should be ready earlier so we can get to your dad's sooner. Hey wanna come wake up Naruto with me? It's fun."

"Nooo… why would I want to do something like that?" I asked. Honestly. Like I dream of waking people up? I don't think so.

"Your loss," she announced stiffly and walked out of the room.

I took advantage of the situation to grab a tunic and leggings. It's not like I really needed an audience to get dressed.

"Aaaahhhh!!! What the hell is wrong with you? You always do weird stuff like this! You could have just tapped me on my shoulder or something! What is wrong with you? Uh, never mind. I take it back!" I guess Sakura had gotten Naruto up.

There was a crashing noise down the hall, and I briefly considered checking it out before deciding I didn't really want to know.

I glanced in the mirror for a second, then looked back again more carefully. Did my hair look stupid? I usually just wore it down, but maybe that looked dumb to someone like the two supposed ninja who were always on the move. For some reason, this worried me. I told myself I just wasn't used to having anyone my age around, and I was being stupid. Despite the logic of my self-talk, I quickly braided my long hair into a braid. Just to keep it out of the way while we were traveling, of course.

I slid into a chair at the table ready to eat anything. I was surprised by how hungry I felt. Naruto and Sakura were already sitting there, Sakura eating daintily and looking supremely calm while Naruto glowered at her and shoveled huge amounts of food into his mouth.

"Are you packed?" Aoi said in a no-nonsense tone as she slid bacon onto my plate.

"No, not yet," I groaned. I didn't even want to think about that yet.

"You should get a move on," Aoi reminded me. "We're leaving in half an hour. Sakura's already packed and Naruto said he'll finish in a minute."

Well isn't that awesome for Sakura and Naruto? Who gives? I'll finish in a second.

"Okay okay, I'll go pack right now. Stop nagging me!" Come on now. I said I would.

"Aoi-san," Sakura started, "Naruto and I should go out to make sure everything's ready outside. Don't want to forget anything."

I looked up, mildly interested. What did they have to bring other than their clothes?

"C'mon!" hissed Sakura, grabbing Naruto by the front of his ridiculously colored jacket and dragging him after her. He promptly choked, and had to be whacked a couple of times on the back before they made it outside. I watched their ungraceful exit in quiet wonderment, not really aware that my mouth was hanging slightly open. I was used to everything being quiet and peaceful. I was not sure if I could stand too much more of this.

Aoi looked back at me, also shaking her head at their antics. "Go! Pack! Get a move on!" she commanded.

I went.

xXx

Once we had finally gotten underway, Naruto stopped running circles around the procession to come back and ask me, "Wow, how rich are you?"

Sakura, overhearing, quickly turned back and whacked him upside the head. "Sorry, he doesn't mean it," she said.

"I do too," he said, already sounding recovered. "You're bringing five servants and a wagon just to go meet up with your dad."

I frowned. It sounded pretty reasonable to me. In fact, I was somewhat annoyed the wagon was only able to carry stuff and I couldn't ride in it. Sure, walking was supposed to be good for your health, but who really wants to walk day in and day out?

"Nevermind!" broke in Sakura. "Forget him. We'll go up and scout ahead," she announced, staring daggers at the boy.

"Uh right," he grinned and sprinted off, Sakura following him.

Aoi came over to talk to me, looking worried. "I still can't believe they were considered good enough to protect us," she said. "Sakura is nice enough but look at her, she's just a young girl. And I doubt Naruto would even be able to focus long enough to recognize a threat, much less do anything about it. That boy is so ridiculous, I wonder if he's ever worried about a thing in his life. I have to think we' be safer off by ourselves, without having to babysit them."

I had to agree. They were harmless at best, most of the time they were basically too irritating to stand. I mean, there was a difference in being able to walk along next to a wagon and being able to fight off ruthless robbers. How could the stories about ninja be so wrong? Were they even the right people? Maybe they were just frauds that were pretending they were ninja.

"How does someone become a ninja?" I asked Aoi. Hey, maybe I could be one if the standards were so low. That was a new career option.

"Well the stories say that they're schooled since childhood, but I have to wonder about the stories with results like this. You could ask them, I suppose."

I considered it, but when I looked around, Naruto was busy talking to several of the servants at once, and Sakura was looking gloomy. It's not like I really wanted to interrupt that.

"Please don't tell them anything I said," Aoi requested. "They're nice enough people and I don't want to hurt their feelings, I just don't want to think about what would happen if we were actually attacked. I mean, look at them. Neither of them could even take a real punch, much less do any damage themselves." Aoi sighed. "I guess we'll just have to hope we don't look too tempting of a target to bandits."

I started to feel nervous myself. I had never really thought we'd be in any actual danger. "I think I'm going to go up and talk to them," I told Aoi.

"Be nice, won't you?" she asked me. Well duh. I'm always nice.

xXx

Author's Notes:

Sorry if not much happened in this chapter, it's mostly just setting up the scene lol. I'll make the next one more interesting.

Also, I'm really sorry it's been so long since I've updated, you can blame my school for that. Hopefully, I'll stay more on top of things and update more. Hmm… maybe lots of reviews would help convince me, haha. Ok, sorry about that. It's always worth a try. Hope you enjoyed, and please review!

2nd note: I'm not sure if I stated before, but this takes place between when Sasuke left and before the time skip. So, fittingly, it's in the middle of all the fillers. Sakura's started medical and strength training and Naruto is still short. XD