:: Author: KillerMay ::

Sasuke twitched and glared at the retreating figure. Sakura rolled her eyes and reluctantly sat up from her position. "I'm going to take Sakurako upstairs," she said quietly, smiling at the young girl in her arms.

"'Kay," Kaede replied. Sasuke simply gave her a nod. She walked up the stairs slowly as to not wake up the sleeping girl in her arms.

Thus left Kaede and Sasuke.

The atmosphere between them was always rather awkward when they were alone. Her dad wasn't much of a talker and, while she was perfectly comfortable with talking, she preferred to have a conversation with someone who would reply. So, they always sat in silence. Sometimes, it was a comfortable silence. This time however, with Kaede's boyfriend just leaving and Sasuke glaring at nothing, it was kind of awkward.

Kaede twirled a strand of her dark hair, shifting her eyes around the room and looking at anything that wasn't her dad.

Eventually, she stood up. "So... Uh, I'll be upstairs," she said, walking backwards and motioning towards the stairs with both thumbs. Sasuke grunted in reply and she took that as her cue to turn around and run up the stairs.

Kaede was fast which was very useful since she was a ninja. She wasn't sure where she got it from though. Her mother was decently fast, but not to an extreme. Then her father of course was a civilian. Still, she didn't worry about that for too long because being quick got her out of a lot of situations—whether they be life-threatening or just plain awkward.

When she got to her room, she opened the door with a relieved sigh and matching smile. Once she actually looked inside of her room though, that quickly vanished.

Jiro blinked looking up at her and glanced over at Akira, who was also staring at her. The younger of the two was standing on a small stool and rummaging through her drawer; the other was sitting on the edge of her bed, holding her diary.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Jiro said, crossing his arms. He looked over at Kaede. "It was his"—he pointed at Akira—"idea. I didn't want to do it but he threatened me with the new stuff his sensei taught him!"

Kaede took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose like she had seen her dad do countless times. Eventually, she snapped her head up, rage burning in her eyes. "Get out of my room," she hissed.

"But—" Akira began, holding up a finger like he was about to say the most important thing in the world.

"No," she hissed. "OUT!" she yelled, stepping aside and pointing towards the door. The two boys began walking out of the room. "Oh, give me that," she said to Akira, snatching her diary from his hands. He was hoping she wouldn't notice.

She groaned and flopped back onto her bed. She had to baby-sit tomorrow.

:: ::

"She's alone now," Akihiro hissed at his partner. They were standing across the street from the Uchiha house, keeping tabs on their target.

"She's not alone. She's in a house full of ninja and ninja-in-training," Hideo replied, pulling a cigarette from his pocket.

"Her father hasn't been a ninja for nearly twenty years and her mother is slow to react," Akihiro reasoned.

Taking a drag from the newly lit bud, Hideo narrowed his eyes. "And when she does react, she's capable of smashing your brain in with one finger."

"Then how do you suggest we do this?" Akihiro asked, gruffly. He was preparing to smash Hideo's head in if he didn't get off his high horse.

Hideo rolled his eyes. "When she's asleep, maybe?" he asked, mockingly. "When we can gag her and tie her up so she can't call out for help?"

"She won't be asleep for hours."

"Then we wait for hours. We might even need to wait a couple days, just in case she saw us at that ramen stand."

Akihiro groaned. This was quite possibly the worst mission he'd been sent on yet.