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SPANDEX RULES BITCHES!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Mizukara, Prin, Tanoshii, Togaru, and some other people I can't remember. :B The other shit is Kishimoto-sama's.

Mizukara's POV

I stood outside the academy with Prin waiting on Naruto to show up for exams. Prin was a nervous wreck, and I knew the only way to get her mind off of the test was to gossip about mindless unimportant crap. Of course, the only thing I'd been thinking about for the past two days was that stupid kiss. Well, I take that back.. It wasn't stupid. A better word would be confusing. And aside from that I kind of liked it.

Ah shit. Here I go again.

I shook the thought away, trying to stop the repetitive cycle that had been going through my mind for the past two days; his eyes, his skin, his hair, his lips.

I turned to Prin and blurted, "We kissed." My face was burning as she stared back at me with wide, shocked eyes. I looked at my feet and let my hair fall in my face to cover up my red cheeks.

"What?" She shifted her weight to her other foot. "Who?"

I looked up at her, though I'm sure I looked ridiculous with my hair in front of my eyes. At least my plan was working.. for her. "I, um, N-Neji." It was almost inaudible, but I didn't want any of the other students to hear our conversation; several people had glanced at us and whispered to others with looks of shock and confusion.

Prin's eyes shrunk down to teasing slits and she directed her gaze directly at me. "You're kidding. That'd only make the cutest couple in all of Konoha!" She giggled as I gave her an uncomfortable stare that said "I really wish you wouldn't do this here", but she failed to get the message. Thankfully, Naruto came walking over, his team in tow.

"Stupid sand nin," he snarled under his breath. I cocked my head to the side. "Why're they even here?"

"What happened?" I asked him only to recieve a growl.

"Naruto thought it'd be cute to confront them. Naturally he made an ass of himself, almost getting his ass kicked," Sasuke said. Prin groaned.

"Naruto you know better than to be that way with people. It's childish!" she scolded. Naruto looked at the ground, his hands calmly at his sides. Normally, he would be jumping up and down trying to explain something to his defense, but he seemed content. How odd.

Just then, the students began filing into the building and we gave eachother a final glance, almost as if we were saying "good luck" before going out into a bloody battle of some sort. I was first out of our group to head through the door, only to roughy bump shoulders with a tall, lanky girl who looked like she was ready to bite someones head off. She turned her head at me and barked, "Watch it."

"Stay out of my way baka," I snarled, letting the iritation that I'd been holding in from impatiently standing outside for a half our waiting for them to let us in be known. She turned to fully face me, her blonde, spikey ponytails swooshing with the movement of her head. She did in fact have a Suna hitai ate around her neck and a large fan strapped around her torso; I immediately guessed this girl and her two boy counterparts were the sand nins who had caused Naruto trouble. I didn't hesitate when I met her intimidating stare. I stepped towards her.

"What did you call me?" Her teeth were clenched tight and I felt a thrill at the thought of fighting her. She looked pretty good.

"Did I stutter?" Sakura had shifted uncomfortably behind Sasuke, who had an intense stare directed at one of the boys behind the bitchy blonde. I glanced over at him and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw who it was. I heard another growl ripple through Naruto's throat, but Prin elbowed him shaply in the sides and it came out as an awkward gush of air.

"Temari," the boy with the weird face paint and black suit started. "let it go. We've got more important things to worry about."

She grumbled something under her breath before turning to follow the guys. "Bye Temari." She snarled at my friendly yet unfriendly jesture as she stomped along with the boys, only one of them wavered slightly longer, a hard stare directed at.. me. I stared back, slightly frightened by the discovery of what he was. I remembered hearing it around the village; that there was another demon besides Naruto not far from Konoha. It was Garra of Suna, the holder of the one tailed Shukaku.

He didn't smile. He didn't blink. He didn't flinch, even when Temari layed a hand on his shoulder. He simply turned his head slowly toward her, staring up into her blue-green orbs. He glanced back at us before parting with his group, leaving us in a stoney silence.

We took our seats in the large academy class room, one I remembered from all my years at the academy. The long desks, the uncomfortable seating; we knew it all too well. I liked where I was seated; between Prin and Tenten, two of my favorite female kunoichi. Before we had started, Tenten offered a warm smile and said, "I hope you guys do well. This is so intimidating, I don't know about you guys.."

Then Lee piped up from next to her. "We'll all do well. The question is, who will do better? Mizu-chan, or Neji-san?" Neji glanced at us from where he was seated, at Lee's left, and offered a confused stare. I put my hands up.

"I'm not playing that game, Lee-kun." They all grew silent at that as the ninja at the front of the room started discussing the rules about cheating, how to answer the questions, yada, yada, yada.

And that brought us to our current state; Prin stumped and confused, staring at her test paper like it had two heads, Tenten mindlessly gnawing at her pencil, and Lee sweating profusely as he wrote down an answer only to erase it soon after. Me and Neji weren't on our usual roll either, but I refused to let him know I had no idea what I was doing. Every question I came to I had no logical answer to and simply tried to answer as best as I possibly could, and at the rate Neji was writing I could only assume he didn't, either. I could see how people would try to cheat; admittedly the questions were as intimidating as hell. The way they were so intellectually written sent many of the Genin's thoughts into a spiral, this being conclusive to the way they had terrified and wide-eyed expressions on their faces. It was a lot of pressure to take the exam seeing as if you were to fail miserably or get caught cheating, your whole team was likely to fail with you. And the fact that the guy watching you, Morino Ibiki, is the leader of the ANBU's torture and interrogation squad didn't help much either.

There was something about the way Ibiki worded the rules and guidelines of the test that made me somewhat skeptical. Nobody in this room knew the answers, clearly. It had to be a mistake, maybe they gave the wrong test? Maybe I'm in the wrong room? Anything? If there was one thing I was almost sure of, it was that this test must be, well, a test. Maybe we weren't suppose to pass. Maybe it's not really customary and they're just trying to see what we know or how well we work under pressure.

I gasped when a kunai flew past my head and broke me from my thoughts as it hit the desk behind my head. I looked at the front of the room to see the instructor's eyes somewhat fixed on me. I looked over at Prin who's eyes were wide in shock and surprise, much like Tenten and Lee's as well. When I looked at Neji he flashed me a look of concern and slight pitty. I hadn't cheated! Why was he chuckin' weapons at me if I didn't fucking do anything wrong? Everyone was staring back at me. I've worked so hard to get this far; and now I was being falsely accused of cheating. I didn't know whether to cry or fly off my rocker.

"You, boy." The rough looking man pointed above me. "Failed. Your team fails too." I glanced back at the boy who opened his mouth to protest but only got the snot knocked out of him by his teammates, who had been failed with him. I let out a relaxed sigh. As long as I wasn't in trouble, there was nothing to be upset about.. Yet I still continued to shake uncontrollably. One by one, teams began to exit the room due to cheating, most of them shouting in meaningless protest. I swallowed hard. There couldn't be more than thirty teams left. This was intense.

We all looked up from our mostly blank test papers when Ibiki stood up from his seat at the front of the room. "Now it's time for your last question," he said in a gruff tone of voice. "However, I'd like to give you a choice to answer or leave now."

"What's the catch?" Kiba spoke from the back as Akamaru shifted uncomfortably on top of his head. Ibiki chuckled.

"There's always a catch. To put it as bluntly as I can, if you leave, you fail the test completely. If you stay and answer the question but answer it incorrectly, you fail and never take the exams again."

"Fuck!" I sneered under my breath as I cast a glance and Tanoshii with a disappointed expression. I had zero confidence in Tanoshii, and I'm sure Togaru was reciting my same phrase from where he was seated a few seats below me. I put my face in my hands and leaned my elbows on the table in front of me, very much on the verge of tears. There was no way my team would pass with Tanoshii's unrealistic logic, especially with the probability of this last question being a doosy. Tenten put a calm hand on my shoulder.

"So who's quitting?" Ibiki raised an eyebrow.

"I'm out." I looked up, fearing that Tanoshii may have already given up. I let out a gush of air when I saw it was a completely different team. One team turned into three, then five, then so on. When Naruto stood, I felt my whole face go pale.

"I refuse to give up! I'm not afraid of this test! I'm never backing down!" Then he sat. Ibiki looked confused, then annoyed, than satisfied, oddly enough.

After no one else was willing to give up, Ibiki cast a deathly glance on us.

"The rest of you.." He smirked. "..pass." Gasps were heard all over the room.

"WHAT?" Sakura Haruno asked from behind me. Me and Prin groaned. "What about the last question?"

"There isn't one, fool! This test isn't even fit for your level of intelligence. It was simply to see how well you gather information in a tense situation, like your whole team failing due to your own slip up."

"So we were meant to cheat?" Naruto asked in an annoying tone of voice. I love him to death but, hell, he can be annoying.

"It would have been smart, yes." Ibiki smirked again.

"Wait, so these last nine questions weren't even important?" Tanoshii asked. "What kind of test is that?"

"They mattered. They were to test your ability to gather information. I don't need to repeat myself." He directed his attention to the window and, almost as if on que, a purple haired woman burst through it, a red banner pinned to the wall by kunai as she did.

"Hello children!" She flashed a giddy smile. "I'll be your next proctor. We'll meet at the Fourty-fourth Battle Training Zone tomorrow afternoon. Dismissed!"

After I regained composure from my confused state, I walked out of the academy with Prin. "That was so messed up," she grumbled. "So are you coming by the bakery?"

"Absolutely," I replied. I glanced over my shoulder as Neji walked by, my curiosity getting the better of me. "but I've got something to do first. I'll see you there." I saw her shrug and walk off before I started after Neji. He had started off away from the academy and I followed unquestioningly. Why was I doing this? I shook it off. I need to stop questioning my actions when he's involved because they never make sense anyway.

"Neji." I jogged to catch up with him. "I.."

"You what?" he asked in an irritated tone that made me flinch. Stupid bastard.

I kept the polite tone in my voice. "I wanted to say thank you for what you said last night. It really opened my eyes." His steps slowed slightly. "I'm sorry for the way I acted. You were trying to help me and I-"

"Don't bother," he said abruptly, causing me to scowl while he wasn't looking. Good thing his Byakugan wasn't activated or he'd be chewing my ass out. Guess I'll just have to cut to the chase, I thought. I stepped into his path causing him to stop and give me a cold, hard stare, one that I probably wouldn't have been able to stand getting a few days ago. But I was weaker then.

"Why'd you kiss me?" He wasn't surprised by this question, clearly, but he still looked to the side unable to look directly into my eyes. I smiled inwardly, being able to mess with the Hyuuga's emotions was admittedly delightful. When he didn't answer I took a step closer and repeated, "Why?"

He turned his head to look directly at me, uncomfortable with the fact that it felt as if I were standing over him, though I clearly wasn't with the three or four inches he had over my head. Then he said in a voice as calm as he could muster, "I don't know.."

"What do you mean you 'Don't know'? You could have done anything you wanted to me, but you went easy on me. I just want to know why."

"I didn't want to hurt you." I took a step back and struggled not to gasp from the shock. Since when didn't he want to hurt me? I thought we were enemies at one point, but..

"Why not..? I beat you at that stupid chakra control thing." I paused as he scowled at the memory before continuing. "Then everyone made a big deal about it, like I beat your ass or something. I know for a fact you wanted to hurt me. You wanted me dead. And all you had to do to make all the stupid talking stop was hurt me and you wouldn't even do that." He blinked calmly.

"I got lucky. That's it. I just got lucky when I fought you and when I beat you at that chakra control practice bullshit."

He added, "Your bloodline gives you the ability to perfect chakra control unnaturally easily. That wasn't luck. You were just.." I knew he was going to say better but I didn't bother to finish his sentence for him.

I blinked at the realization as I stared at me feet. My fists were balled at my sides. "Did you.. pity me..?" When he didn't reply I looked up at him to find his eyes fixed on me. "Thats the one thing I hate more than losing. I especially don't want any from you." I stepped around him and made to go back towards the academy, saying the three words that were going through my mind repetitively. "I hate you."

They were only three words, but I had no idea how deep they cut.

"Well.. We passed. Thats pretty good.. Right?" Prin and I stood behind the counter of the Ibaraka Bakery, almost completely silent until her question. I had been deep in thought about Neji and how he only went easy on me because he pitied me. It was one of the worst feelings ever, having someone you never wanted to look down on you, well, look down on you. It really felt like shit.

"Yeah," I replied, suddenly remembering her question. I took a young academy student's order and went back into the kitchen, Prin following sharply on my heels.

"What's bugging you? I thought you felt better after we went out the other night..?" I turned to Prin and saw how concerned she looked. I was so lucky to have a friend like her who always looked out for me and always cared about me. I shouldn't worry her any more than I already do.

"It's not that.." I told her. "Um, do you think your parents will let you stay the night?" She shrugged and nodded. It's not like she had anything better to do but work. Her parents were gone again on a trip to the mist for some unknown reason; they never tell Prin anything other than where they're going and when they should be back. Sometimes she feels they don't care for her when they leave spontaneously for so long. Sometimes it's days, weeks, and even months before they get back. She's constantly worrying about them because they usually don't get back until at least three or four days after the day they originally planned to get back. Hell, they probably just told her that so she'd stop asking when they'd get back. Back in our early academy days, she didn't much mind them leaving because they'd bring her back cool shit for her to mess around with until she got bored with it or broke it. Then she'd ask when they were leaving again.

I sometimes felt worse for her than I did for myself. It's situations like these that bring Prin, Naruto and I closer together, when one can relate to the other's problem or feeling of loneliness.

We closed up about two and a half hours early because buisiness was slow and her parents weren't there to tell us otherwise. She wanted to pry at me and ask questions, I could tell, but she just bit her lip and trotted silently beside me all the way to my apartment. When we got there, I shut the door behind me and turned to see her staring at me with curious blue eyes.

"Spill it."

"Okay, I don't really know where to begin.." I sat on the counter in the kitchen and crossed my legs uncomfortably. Prin sat delicately at the small dinner table and put her elbows on it, letting me know she had my complete and undivided attention. "I-"

"Let me in Mizu-chan! Please!" Naruto's unmistakably loud voice yelled from the other side of the door as he beat on it with his fists. I rolled my eyes and slid off the counter to go open the door.

"Naruto, what're you-?" I opened the door only to have him run in and shut the door behind himself so quick I thought I'd blinked and missed it.

"What's the deal Naruto?" Prin sighed from the table where she was picking at her nails. He laughed his cute little Naruto Laugh.

"Nothing's wrong or anything. I just wanted in and I knew you wouldn't let me in if I just came up and knocked on the door." He smiled goofily at his own "plan" as Prin rolled her eyes. "So what're you guys up to?"

"Well Mizukara was about to tell me something important untill you started wailing on the door." Prin gestured towards me. "And I'm spending the night."

"Oi! Me too!" Naruto cheered as he jumped up and down. I sighed.

"Yeah Naruto, sure, whatever, I just need to talk to Prin privately if you don't mind," I said as I gave Naruto my "Pwetty-Pwease-Just-Get-The-Hell-Outta-My-Face" look and he smiled.

"Can't I just listen too? We're best friends too, ya know," he stated as he raised a finger in the air matter-of-factly.

"It's girl stuff Naruto and, besides that, you can't keep a secret!" I told him. "Now just go step out on the patio for, like, five seconds, please!"

He groaned and said something unintelligable under his breath as he stepped out on the patio and shut the old, rugged door behind him. I turned back to Prin.

"I talked to Neji after you went to the bakery," I stated simply. "and he was an ass as usual. I played nice all I could, but when he would give me a nice straight answer I just cut to it, asking why he kissed me when he could've ran me over, like I was expecting him to." I whispered the word "kiss" out of fear someone would hear. I closed my eyes and knitted my brows together uncertainly.

"..And..?" Prin unpatiently pried.

I gave her a stern look. "Prin.. Do you, or have you ever.. pitied me..?" She looked taken back by the sudden question but her look of confusion was soon replaced with one of understanding and equal seriousness as mine.

"I've felt sorry for you, yes, and you've felt sorry for me as well." She leaned back in her chair. "But I've never really, seriously, pitied you, no." I nodded my head, satisfied with her answer. I guess, out of all of us including Naruto, I had it the best until this whole clan conspiracy. I had parents who were good to me, always supportive of my choices, always there. I had a tightly knit family and good friends; still do. When it went bad I sort of pitied myself. I could only assume that if I pitied myself than others must've, too. I looked at Prin.

"He said he didn't want to hurt me." Prin almost cracked a smile and I could feel an "Aww!" coming, but I continued. "I asked him if he pitied me and if thats why he wouldn't hurt me."

Prin blinked and said, "What'd he say?"

"Nothing." I brushed some of my hair out of my face. "That was enough though."

When Prin didn't say anything for a long time and simply hung her head down, I went for the patio door. "Don't tell him." I saw her nod and glance over at me quickly before I swiftly slid the door open, meeting Naruto who had his ear pressed against it. He stumbled almost to the ground but caught himself and stood up straight up, his eyes fixed on me. "Naruto..?"

"Neji, huh?" He almost smiled. "I couldn't see it! He's so.. rude. And he always acts like he has a bad taste in his mouth or something."

"Why did you listen, Naruto-kun?" I asked him in my best fake-hurtful tone as I gave him those sad puppy dog eyes. He simply knit his brows together in deep thought. Then he offered a warm smile.

I laughed. "How about some instant ramen?"

He followed me to the kitchen and said, "Sounds good.. Oh, and Mizu-chan?" I glanced up at and met his warm, cheerful blue eyes. "I've never pitied you. And I never will."

DAMN MY CHAPTERS ARE LONG. Sorry..

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I never realized how cheesey that was until I typed it. o_o Sorry.

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