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A/N: The timeline discrepancy I mentioned before? It'll be obvious within the story and explained in an A/N at the end. Cheers.

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"To be nobody but
yourself in a world
which is doing its best day and night to make you like
everybody else means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight and never stop fighting."
― E.E. Cummings

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There's something to be said about the tension of war, Chika figured, even when your country isn't the one at war. It made her nerves fire off like livewires, a constant, uncomfortable tingling under her skin (and it made her worry – because the Land of Rain had been the stomping grounds for previous wars, and she had two children who were on the shinobi track of life). Even though Chika knew a declaration of war hadn't been formally issued just yet, the tensions were so high that it was only a matter of time – then again they'd known for some years now that there was an impending war, the tension had been so bad.

"If you keep wringing your hands like that," Chika jerked as Asuka's hand landed softly on her shoulder, "they'll get raw. Now, why don't we have some tea, calm our nerves?"

"That – that might be nice, yes." Normally, Chika would be less likely to accept the offer; she preferred not to indulge, plus it was hard and somewhat expensive to get tea in Ame right now.

In an attempt to keep her from returning to wringing her hands, Chika made due with organizing the items on the rickety front desk before turning to running her fingers over the age marks in the wooden surface. Even with her hands busy, her mind still wandered, bringing back all the worry and faint memories of the past. After all, it was the last Shinobi World War that had apparently displaced her father – he had told her stories when she was younger, about his life in the Land of Lightning, of meeting a civilian woman from the Land of Fire in peril during the war (he claimed to be struck by love at first sight, he did), and of running to find refuge in the Land of Rain, a place known for being made up of war refugees as it was. And Rain hadn't really noticed its new additions in the midst of the chaos – and once they did Hanzō didn't seem to mind as long as they were loyal to Rain and only Rain.

"You look as if you have a heavy weight upon your shoulders," Asuka's voice was accompanied by the soft thump of a glass being placed on wood, "I can probably guess why, no?"

Chika hesitated, focusing for a moment on the warmth that seeped into her hands from the cup. "Souma is already a ninja, and Yuuka is in the Academy – about to go into her second year, too. With this… what if Rain is pulled into this again? The past has proved this land unlucky in that way."

"From the bits and pieces of what rumors I've heard, the main bit of fighting will take place in the Land of Grass this time around." A bit of the tenseness left Chika at this. "And our new leader – the one many refer to as god – has so far seemed the type to prefer a bit of isolation; I doubt we'll willingly be sent into war."

"Our allies though –"

Asuka shook her head, "Konoha would be a fool to call a country so ravaged by past wars and a recent civil war into this – what could our little country offer them right now?"

Lives. Chika didn't say. Lives of men and women and children.

But what Asuka had said, the points she'd made, were true enough. Trying to get a country like Rain to mobilize after its recent problems would be madness, and would more than likely lead Rain to rather dislike Konoha for requesting such a thing (and no one, Chika knew, would want to lose an ally unless they couldn't help it; plus, in a situation like this it was likely that Rain might choose to oppose them for asking). Even having these thoughts wasn't enough to placate all of Chika's worries though – the unlikely did happen on occasion.

"I just don't want even the slightest chance of my children having to suffer through a war." The tang of the tea was bitterer than it should be on her tongue. "Not so young; not ever."

"Yes, well, I wouldn't wish it upon them either." A deep exhale. "But we never know what our futures hold, dear."

Chika knew that too well – she hadn't known that her parents would die before she married; she hadn't known her husband would die young, not getting the chance to see his children grow. Oh, she knew, and she hadn't had the best of luck when it came to 'what the future holds.' Now she could only hope that her luck worked out for the better this time around, with this new generation that her children were a part of. She would still worry, no matter what, it was her job as a mother to do so – she just hoped she didn't have anything significant to worry over.

Because right now – this war – was pretty significant. And until it was well done and over with she would continue to worry.

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Yuuka knew there was something wrong; many of the adults tried to hide it, but Yuuka liked to think she was fairly perceptive. Her mother was so tense now, and Souma was too (and twitchy, Souma was real twitchy), and there was an odd thickness to the air that wasn't there before. Even the Academy teachers had a new, sharper edge to them – but they were far better at hiding it than the civilians were. She had tried asking about it – what was wrong – but everyone ended up brushing her off easily enough (sometimes it sucked to be a kid).

("Amano-sensei, why has everyone gotten so grouchy and tense?"

"They haven't. Focus on the worksheets."

"But sensei –"

"Worksheets, Noya.")

All of it made her antsy too, and she didn't like it. She didn't like knowing that there was something wrong, but not knowing what was wrong. It was an uncomfortable sort of situation, like there was a rock in her gut but she had no clue who put it there. Kotone had been more sullen too, some of her other classmates too (but not all of them, some of them were as normal as they always were; Yuuka thought they were odd for not noticing).

"Yuu-chan," Kotone leaned to press into her side, "Yuu-chan, I heard people talkin' bout fighting."

Yuuka reciprocated Kotone's actions. "Fighting? Like the chūnin exams? Sparring?"

The slate-grey haired girl shook her head, paused, and then spoke. "I don't think so? They said somethin' like deployment and how they hoped not."

Scarcely a second passed before it clicked in Yuuka's head; what this fighting was, why everyone was to tense, so sad –

"War; there's a war, or there's going to be."

Kotone stiffened for a moment before relaxing, going almost slack against Yuuka's side (Yuuka rather liked that they were leaning on each other so; it was supportive in an odd sort of way, she felt). An odd sound came from her friend – a sort of odd whine mixed with a groan and a sigh – before Kotone moved away from her, turning her torso so she could face her, a movement which Yuuka mimicked.

"Think we'll be okay? I don't want to go to war, Yuu-chan." Kotone's eyes flickered about the room as she nibbled on her bottom lip.

"I don't think we will…from what you said it sounded like it's not us going to war." Yuuka caught an odd spot of red bobbing around, but focused back on Kotone. "There was a civil war here, right? Not long ago…wouldn't it be odd to ask us to join the war after that? I think it would."

Kotone blinked, nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

Yuuka was sure her mother wouldn't want her knowing this – it was why she wouldn't tell her herself – but that didn't mean that she shouldn't know. It was Yuuka's opinion that it would be better for her (and Kotone, and everyone else, too) to be aware so that they could understand. Then again, maybe it was better they didn't, if some kids were already so affected by the tense air. She herself felt a little more hyperaware of things – of how people were acting, particularly. But she figured she – they – shouldn't really worry about it, not right now, not while Ame wasn't involved –

"Hey! You girls – can I sit with you?"

His hair was red, was the first thing that Yuuka registered (a red that wasn't quite like the dark, cold red of blood, and that wasn't quite the soft, bright red of a tomato). The second thing she registered was that his eyes were violet, then she saw the bright grin on his face that she couldn't see on any other face in Ame.

"Huh?" Kotone was the first to gather herself, her eyes squinted and lips pursed. "Why d'you want to sit with us? Who're you anyways?"

"I'm Saeki, and I'm new." His grin widened, nose scrunching. "I want to sit with ya 'cause you're odd like me."

Yuuka blinked and Kotone made a rather confused sound, and Yuuka didn't quite know whether she should be offended or not. The boy – Saeki – just laughed –

"Your hair. And her eyes. Not a lotta people in Rain have odd colors, do they? Blue-green and grey hair? And suck light blue eyes?"

Kotone blustered, "My hair is silver."

She went ignored, not that she really minded that, as she was too absorbed in raking her finger through her hair. Yuuka herself only laughed a bit – because how silly of a reason. But maybe it would be okay; he did seem nice, and he was so bright in the current dull(er than usual) atmosphere.

"So, you want to sit with us because of our hair? My eyes?" Yuuka giggled at his enthusiastic nod, and she noticed Kotone was more settled from her previous bout of ire. "I don't mind, I suppose. I'm Yuuka, it's nice to meet you."

"Kotone." Mud-brown eyes squinted. "It's nice to meet you, I guess."

It felt right, somehow, having him join their little group. Her brother had teased her about making friends, since she'd only claimed Kotone and Fukui Asuka as friends before. Though Yuuka had a feeling it would take Kotone a little longer to warm up to Saeki than it would for her.

("Let's be great friends, Yuu-chan, Ko-chan!"

An indignant look. "Don't call me Ko-chan!"

The gentle side-tilt of a head. "Ne-chan?"

A strange choking sound garnered some attention.

"Don't call me that either!"

A blinding grin. "Nene-chan, then!"

"I don't like you!"

"You're funny, Nene-chan!"

"Ugh!")

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It was with a modicum of disappointment that Souma took the news of the chūnin exams being an in-country, in-village exam. Though he would concede that the reasoning for it was good – because who wanted to send a bunch genin outside of the village when there was a war? – Souma was still disappointed, because he wanted to see other villages.

How did Konoha compare to Rain? Suna?

How did foreign shinobi think? What kind of mindsets did they have?

Souma wanted to know. Though, he supposed he'd get his chance later on; besides, Ame was the only village he really cared about. Hopefully Ame would one day be a village that others looked at with great respect, too.

"Hey, Souma-kun, Kensuke-kun," Nami leaned back on her heels and peered over her shoulder, "Do either of you have any idea what chūnin exams in Ame might be like? I don't think we've had them here before, have we?"

"Nope. When would we have had the chance?" Souma rather disliked the harsh tone his male teammate always seemed to use. "Rain has always been war-torn, plus none of our leaders have had any particular want for outsiders to come in."

Souma rolled his shoulder, wincing at a rather sharp pop. "Why do we need outsiders? They're the ones that made our country war-torn anyways. Maybe Asahi-sensei would give us a hint about what the exams might be like?"

Kensuke sent him a rather foul look that Souma couldn't help but read as 'do you really think he'll say anything, idiot.' To that Souma could only respond with a faint blush and curled lip as Nami sighed from where she stood, their sensei probably would have made some sort of scathing or sarcastic comment had he been there (or disappear in a burst of water as he was so damned fond of doing). It was a somewhat vicious cycle that they went through, Team D. Souma didn't dislike and members of his team; Nami was nice and kind, Asahi was generally disinterested and had a horrible sense of humor, and Kensuke was a morose, ass of a boy – but he didn't dislike them (which even Souma though was odd; but part of him must have enjoyed bantering with Kensuke on occasion, for whatever reason).

"Sou-nii!"

All of Team D halted in the street and Souma nearly smacked himself for his momentary befuddlement, as they were right in front of Ame's academy, and it was the correct time of day for the kids to be getting out. The only one of his teammates not annoyed by her sudden interruption and their impromptu stop was Nami, who was now smiling kindly at his sister as Kensuke rolled his eyes and turned away.

"I haven't seen you in a long while, Yuuka-chan." That was true, Souma mused as Nami conversed with his sister. His team didn't really hand around each other's family; he hadn't even met Kensuke's parents. "How are your classes going? Another month and you'll be in your second year, right?"

"Classes are fine – though I still don't like kunoichi classes." Yuuka's face scrunched up as she mentioned kunoichi classes and Souma couldn't help but to snort quietly. "Year two means we get to unlock our chakra though, so I really can't wait until then."

A sudden loud voice startled Souma and Nami, too, moved back at the sudden interruption –

"The chakra stuff is what I came for! That part sounds the coolest!"

Souma had never seen someone with hair that shade of red, or with violet eyes. He also hadn't seen someone with a grin so big it threatened to split their face; his perkiness was a bit bizarre. Not once had Souma met someone so loud or seemingly excite able in Ame, and he didn't quite know how to take in and comprehend the boy at the moment.

"Oh, this is Sae-kun." The way Yuuka introduced him was like one would say 'that over there is a chair' and the boy didn't even seem to mind. "He joined our class today, and he's our new neighbor, Sou-nii!"

The boy, 'Sae-kun', laughed. "It's awesome, innit? My new friend is my neighbor; it's like destiny, innit?"

"Oh, you joined awfully late, didn't you…" Nami paused, a prompt for the boy to give his proper name, which he supplied as a chipper 'Saeki' before Nami continued. "So, Saeki-kun, why did you start so late?"

Before the boy could respond, Kensuke bit in with a rather hacked off tone –

"Can we walk and talk? This is annoying."

It was after a minor annoyed look from Nami and a roll of eyes from Kensuke that the group began moving and Saeki took it upon himself to answer Nami's previous question properly –

"We just moved to Ame from a civilian town, me and da. He said I needa proper teacher to teach me to control my chakra and stuff."

That was reasonable, and not too odd or uncommon; there were cases where civilian kids were born with larger reserves and not all of them lived in a shinobi village, though not all of them wanted to move and become a shinobi either. Souma was just glad the boy seemed tolerable, as he had a feeling he'd be seeing a lot of him from now on (he also had a feeling that with how audacious the boy seemed that his sister hadn't had too much of a say in making a new friend, though she really didn't seem to mind – honestly the boy seemed just the type Yuuka would be friends with). Though Souma would admit that they boy's coloring seemed too odd for him to be completely civilian born, but he supposed that wasn't really any of his business in the first place.

"Well, welcome to Amegakure, Saeki-kun." Nami offered another kind smile to the kids. "I hope you have a good life here and become a wonderful shinobi."

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"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit"

E.E. Cummings

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A/N: The Third Shinobi World War is about to start, but Akatsuki took over Ame during the war; though this won't really affect the story all that much (it's AU anyways). So let's just say it happened when tensions fluxuateded a bit.

There's a boy with red hair and purple eyes. Nice combination, innit?

Chūnin exams! (Should I write those out? Am I going to have to think up two different Chūnin exams this story?)

Kotone doesn't like sudden informalities (or is it just red-haired boys?).

Nami is nice. Kensuke is just a sarcastic-grumpy-Gus.

The odd-haired-trio!

Can you smell the trouble that will be caused? No? Yes? Maybe?

Feel a bit so-so on the whole war conversation between Yuuka and Kotone.

It won't be the only time they talk about the war (world-building, yay!).

Reviews/PMs/interdimensional messages are welcome and appreciated very much so.