A/N: I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I hope you guys enjoy! We get to see a different side of Midori!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The lyrics are from Lost One's Weeping.


Can you even say the formula of area now?
Can you even scream the dreams you swore would never go out?
Who was the one who let my hopes just curl up die?
Hey, who could it be?
No, it's gotta be...
Just open up your eyes, why don't you grow up and see?
But what the hell is "growing up" and tell me when will I be?
Can a single person out there just explain it to me?


Eight months passed before I could even realize what was happening. I had thought that I'd have crumbled by now. My mother's death lurked in my shadow waiting to spring on me like a hungry cat when I let down my guard. There were moments when I could feel the terrible grief filling my chest. All of the emotions swelled against my carefully crafted walls and I could feel cracks forming. The day they fell I would have one hell of a ride.

I held firm.

Gamakichi kept me distracted enough with his constant need to prank. We didn't just bug Aoda, though picking on the snake became quite the past time. Our antics spread to the mountain as well. A lot of it had to do with teasing poor Gamatatsu. The pale yellow frog would eat almost anything we threw in front of him, and sometimes we sabotaged the hell out of the food. This normally landed both of us with rigorous training.

Yup.

Training.

Not long after my first month here Gramps and Ma voluntold me that I would be training if I remained here. I was in pretty good shape. Kaa-chan trained me well, and I wasn't exactly a rookie when it came to fighting. So, despite my rather violent protests, I began learning Senjutstu. For the first few months all I did was a whole lot of physical training. Senjustu was apparently wearing on both the body and chakra.

"Do we even know if I have the chakra reserves for this?" I asked skeptically as I stared at the weird looking fountain. "I could die. I could literally die. Wait- this isn't another ploy to try and eat me is it?"

"Midori-girl, how many times do I have to tell you.." I could hear him forcing the words through grinding teeth. Giving a wide grin I turned to see the old frog glaring at me with his eye twitching.

"Breath Gramps, I'm just teasing. Seriously though, what if I can't handle this." he hopped onto the ledge I was leaning on. He lifted a webbed palm as if to smack me on the back of the head. I got that reaction a lot from both him and Ma.

"Well, I was just assuming you were like your father in that aspect." he lowered his palm and looked at the webbing almost like a girl would check her nails. Blood rushed to my cheeks and I cracked my knuckles. His mouth began to twitch at the corners. He knew how to push my buttons.

"You're wrong." the words came out a little quick. "I'm better. Okaa-chan was better. I'm more like Okaa-chan. So I guess you're right. If he can do it then I'll do it twenty times better."

"Good! Now then, we are going to use the oil to help you out to start with." he reminded me. On our walk up here he'd briefly explained what Senjutsu was. "yes, put some one you're hand. Come on now! It's not going to hurt you. Make sure you rub it into the skin. That's how you can tap into the natural energy. Eventually you should be able to tap into it with out the oil."

My hand hovered over the oil and I gave him one finally dramatic look before dipping two of my fingers in the oil. Immediately I felt a this weird rush jolt through my system. I felt like a fire cracker with a newly ignited fuse. Not an unpleasant feeling at all. I felt like I was on the best adrenaline rush of my life. Then something weird happened, and I swear the old man set me up.

"Oh, and if you don't focus it properly... You turn into a frog."

Bull shit

I didn't sign up for this.

Sure enough my hand had this weird webbing on it. I could see little wart like bumps forming on my perfect skin. Looking past my hand I caught sight of my reflection. My face looked a bit rounder. There was a deep red around both of my eyes, and my nose looked swollen. Trembling I used my one normal hand to poke at my bloated cheeks.

I looked awful...

SMACK

Solid wood connected with the back of me head. A pain so sharp my ears rang pulsed from the back of my head down my spine. Here it was. The inevitable betrayal I'd been fearing. Letting out a high pitch whine I cradled the back of my skull. I have no idea what he hit me with, but holy hell did it hurt.

"To keep that from happening I have this." he twirled a wooden baton in his hand. "One good whack and you're good as new!"

"Yeah, sure.. Good as new.." I grumbled rubbing fiercely at the aching spot. "Minus the concussion."

"Again!"

Gods what had I gotten myself into.


This continued for ten months before I saw results. By result I mean I was able to hit this sage mode and hold it for a good six minutes. That's no laughing matter! That makes me basically a bad ass. I think. I hope.

"Ne, Gama-baka why don't we lay off today." I said glaring at the pointed rocks that we we came to balance on. I absolutely hated this part of the training. Sitting still was a whole lot harder then I cared to admit. Gramps had originally said something about animals (humans included) having a particular instinct that told them to move. Sitting still apparently resulted in getting eaten. From my experience simply existing could result in being eaten. Hell, between Manda and Aoda I'd almost been swallowed four times.

"Nope, gotta stay.. fit and stuff." he said in a distracted manner. Quirking an eyebrow I leaned towards him. He was looking back towards the house with an almost disappointed look. With my right hand I snapped in front of his eyes.

"You sure? I mean as much as I'm love to help Ma and Gramps with cleaning or whatever it is they're doing." he blinked at me twice. "Seriously, they told us to get the hell out. Why would you want to go back? Maybe we can go bother Aoda or something. Gramps would never know right?"

"Dori.." he finally leveled me with a some what serious look. "Up."

"Fiiiiine! Gah, you're no fun." I groaned putting chakra into my feet. Popping my neck I started walking up the side of the spire. In my hand was a rather dingy flat piece of wood. I was so excited to start meditating so I could fall a million times.

Gama-baka made a grunting noise that told me he still wasn't really paying attention. I had the urge to throw the wood piece at him, but in the end that would only gain me entertainment for a few minutes. When that toad got something in his mind there really was no distracting him.

"Are you not coming up?" I shouted down to him. He glanced up for a second with a rather pointed look. Sticking my bottom lip out I pouted. With practiced ease I balanced the board on the peak of the jagged rock. Looks like Gama-baka wasn't going to help me with the whole boredom thing.

Fine.. I'll meditate by myself.


After battling my mind for almost two hours I finally opened my eyes. Guess what I saw. Just take a guess. Had my friend joined me in channeling nature's energy? Nope. Was he waiting patiently for me to finish? Nope. Was he battling an angry purple snake? Nope. He wasn't even there. That jerk had left me ALONE.

Surprise surprise the theme of the day continued to be irritation. Months of training and you'd think I could get a day off or something. Today I'd been chased out of the house for 'cleaning' purposes, forced to meditate with the chance of falling to my death, and now abandoned. Unfair as hell in my opinion.

CRACK

The wood splintered and all but exploded in my hand as I tightened my fist around it. There was still a lot of natural chakra running through me and I hadn't realized how hard I'd been clutching the wood. Taking a deep breath I shook my had and let the energy disperse. I wasn't supposed to use the chakra with out some one watching over me. I would hate to break another rule.

Popping my neck I pumped some good ole fashion normal chakra into my legs and ran back to the hut. During my quick little sprint I passed Gamabunta. He called after me, but I didn't really hear what he said. I was to focused on finding his offspring. Gamakichi was going to die for leaving me all by myself. He was supposed to be my best friend. That clearly meant he had to suffer with me. Since he decided to skip out on two hours worth of suffering I had to make that up right?

Swinging the door open with an audible bang I marched into the house. From the kitchen I heard several voices. None of them were Gamakichi's. I clearly heard Gramps and Ma, but the third voice wasn't one I remembered. Maybe a toad I hadn't met yet. Maybe I could recruit them in my torture scheme.

"Gamakichi! I told you to stay with Midori!" Gramps called from the kitchen. Well, at least I knew the stupid head had been here.

"It's me, old man." I called walking towards the kitchen. "I'm looking for that nit wit. How long ago..."

"Midori stay out there!"

To late

I turned the corner and found myself staring at the first human I'd seen in almost a year. In my chest I felt my heart stall out. Both toads were talking to me in soft tones. I think they were trying to keep me calm. Shock registered in his dark eyes. I imagine his face mirrored my own in more then one way.

At least I know where I get those stupid red marks from now.

I can't do this.

I'm not ready for this.

Those two sentences repeated over and over in my head. We sat there and stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. All I could hear was blood pounding in my ears. He shifted and in the dim light of the hut I became painfully aware how much I truly looked like him. His movement caused an weird feeling to flood my system.

In two seconds I had a smoke pellet out of one of my pouches and cracked it on the floor. Thick grey smoke filled the room and caused everyone to start coughing. Ma yelled my name her voice pitched with worry and a bit of aggravation. She could scold me later. Right now I needed to put as much distance between myself and this place as possible.

I made it about three yards before a rather strong hand caught my wrist. How did he get there so fast? A panicked whine came from my mouth. This was not how I wanted things to happen. I'd always imagined that if I ever met my father I'd beat his ass and then walk away. Why was I so scared?

Twisting around I did the only thing I could really think of. I punched him squarely in the nose. I don't think he was expecting it. Even still his hand maintained a firm grip my wrist. He probably had no intention of harming me, but I couldn't help but thrash around.

"Hey! Knock it off!"

"Let me go!"

He caught my fist as I came around for the second punch. His hands slid over my wrists and held firmly to my biceps. Pain seized my chest and my heart rate skyrocketed. My entire body began to shake uncontrollably. Breathing became rather difficult as I felt some one had completely deflated my lungs. I started to hyperventilate.

"Never had a woman react this strongly to me." he said with a grin. His joke did not calm my nerves. My breathing continued to speed up, and occasionally a high pitched hiccup pop in. I felt the world around me start to tilt.

"Let her go, Jiraiya boy!" Gramps called from behind us.

"You sure about that?" he asked rather confused. I weakly kicked at his shins. He sighed and released my arms. I fully planned on running. My body on the other hand had other ideas. Unable to normalize my breathing I dropped to my knees.

"What's wrong with her?" I heard his voice ask as the old toad settled next to me. A fin patted my back, and suddenly I was worried more about breathing then my father. Black spots were starting to dance across my vision. Tears were flowing freely down my cheeks. Clutching my chest I tried my best to calm my racing heart.

"Breath, Midori-girl. Slowly." Gramps continued calmly.

"She's going to pass out." Daddy-dearest said kneeling down so we were eye level. Spirits I hated him. First, he abandoned me and now... Now..

I passed the hell out.