Disclaimer: I do not own the original Naruto characters used in this fiction, just the couples' kids.

Ages: Same ages as previous chapter (I forgot to mention that all the 16-year-olds are chuunin and all the 13-year-olds are genin)

Parenting 101

Story 10: Change

Daisuke and Ryuu find change more difficult to accept than they had thought.

A week after Kiku, Cho, Daisuke, and Ryuu had returned home from their mission, Naruto and Hinata had returned home and things had started to turn back to normal. Things had fallen into a routine life again, and they went a few days without any extremely out of the ordinary incidents happening.

That is, until Daisuke woke up again to find his family gathered in the kitchen. Kitsune was there once more, only Naruto and Hinata joined them as well.

"What's going on now?" Daisuke asked.

"The Suna Exchange Program."

"The Suna what now?"

Kitsune giggled. "The Suna Exchange Program," she repeated. "That's the important business Aka-san and Oto-san personally went to Suna for."

"Gaara and I have been discussing it for awhile, actually," Naruto explained to everyone. "Everyone knows that the future of the village is determined by the village's youths, and we want both Konoha and Suna to prosper. This year's generation of genin from both villages is an exceptionally talented bunch. We figured that everyone would benefit if we take the two groups and bring them together."

"It's not just an opportunity to strengthen our genin," Hinata added. "If the youth of Konoha and Suna learn to work together, the alliance will be stronger than ever before."

There was silence for a moment as the Uchihas pondered this new information.

Sakura was the first to speak. "When is this taking place exactly?"

"They will be arriving in two weeks and will be staying for two weeks as well," Hinata answered. "Then afterward, our genin and chuunin will go to Suna for two weeks."

"Two weeks, huh?" Daisuke asked, beaming at Kitsune. "Guess that means we'll all have to train ten times harder before they get here!"

"It's not a competition, Daisuke," Sasuke reminded.

"I know," he said. Though, his smile was still impossibly wide, and his confidence or determination didn't falter for a second.

"Well, if that's all," Kiku said as she stepped towards the hallway and bowed respectfully, "I'd like to excuse myself."

"Where are you going, Kiku?" Sakura asked.

She was a few more steps into the hallway already. "Oh, just hanging out with Cho, Rei, Takara, Tomoko, and Katai, like usual."

Daisuke followed her. "Wait, but I thought you said we could train before lunch?"

Kiku's hand was already on the knob, the door opened. "Sorry, Daisuke, but we'll be busy all day and they would be disappointed if a ruined everything." Daisuke opened his mouth to protest, but she was already out the door, calling out "See ya!" over her shoulder before shutting the door.

Daisuke stared at the door for a few more seconds before spinning around to find his audience in the hall watching him.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't take it too personally, Daisuke," Sakura reminded.

"What makes you think I took it personally?" he questioned, shrugging. But the disappointment on his face betrayed his words.

It was silent for a moment.

"Neh, Daisuke-kun," Kitsune finally said. "Wanna go train now?"

He smiled at this. He was still disappointed, and the smile was small, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Sure."

Cho was halfway across the living room, where her father and mother were reading in each other's arms like usual and Ryuu was just walking in from the kitchen. "I'll be heading out now!" she called over her shoulder. "I'll be back by dinner!" she added. But her fingertips barely grazed the doorknob when Ryuu interrupted her attempt to dash out of the house.

"Are the four of us still going to train after lunch?" he asked.

"Ah, well, actually, Ryuu," Cho half-stuttered out, "Kiku and I are going to be pretty occupied all day. But I'm pretty sure Daisuke and everyone else can train with you."

Cho turned back, about to wrench the door open, only to be interrupted by Ryuu again. "What are you going to be doing all day?"

"Um, you know," she hurriedly replied, opening the door. "Just girl stuff. Well, Katai and Chairomaru will be there, but you know what I mean."

"But I thought two you promised us we could train?"

"I know, I'm sorry," Cho apologized, aware of her parents' now watching them—watching her—suspiciously from the couch.

"Oh," Ryuu said after he took a moment to look at Cho's expression, which was somewhere crossed between reluctant and panicked. "Okay," he finally continued as Cho slowly opened the door, her back to them. "Maybe another time."

"Yeah, maybe," she answered. Then she slipped out, shutting the door softly behind her.

Tenten and Neji exchanged worried looks as Ryuu still stood there, staring at the door.

"Ryuu," Tenten had begun to say.

But Ryuu cut her off as if she had never spoken. "I know."

"She'll be back, Ryuu," Neji reminded.

He nodded. "I think I'm going to go find Daisuke. Maybe spar a little and eat lunch."

"Take your time," Tenten reassured.

But Ryuu was already halfway out the door. "Right."

They were only half-focused for the entire hour they had been sparring for. They rotated partners since there was an odd number to pair up; Misaki was currently sparring against Daisuke, Kitsune was currently sparring against Ryuu, and Shikarou just sat on the grass beside Shiroko, half-watching.

Misaki saw Daisuke's unfocused eyes stare somewhere past her shoulder. An opening is what she thought.

She lunged forward playfully. He made no move to counter her or dodge her, so she easily knocked them both down to the ground. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed, mimicking his infamous line whenever he defeated people in a sparring match. Shikarou and Shiroko looked up and saw Misaki sitting on Daisuke's chest, pinning him down. His eyes narrowed up at her, but they were still unfocused. Still distracted. And he made no effort to push her off, either.

"Daisuke?" Misaki asked, now a little worried. "Hey," she began to shake his shoulder lightly, "what's the matter with you?"

A few yards away from them, Ryuu seemed distracted to Kitsune as well.

While he seemed distracted, Kitsune hit him half-heartedly and he stumbled backwards. Kitsune's eyes widened and she threw her hands over her gaping mouth. "I-I'm so sorry!" she apologized immediately. Her sudden screaming brought Ryuu back to reality.

He rubbed the shoulder she had hit. "No, no," he reassured. "That felt more directed than the others. Good job, Kitsune."

Kitsune nodded, but wasn't distracted. "Neh, Ryuu-kun, is something wrong?"

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Well," she trailed off, hesitant to answer. "You seem distracted. Daisuke-kun did, too, when we were sparring.

"Yeah, what's up with you guys?" Misaki half-demanded. She looked between Daisuke and Ryuu.

The two looked at each other and before anyone could speak, Ryuu's eyes darted towards the path connected to the main roads on the other side of the field just as Kiku, Cho, Rei, Takara, Tomoko, Katai, and Chairomaru strolled by. They didn't seem to notice the six of them occupying the field.

Shikarou looked from the group of their sempai to Daisuke and Ryuu and it finally hit him.

"Is this because Kiku-nee-san and Cho-nee-san bailed on you two?"

Neither of them answered.

"Geez is that all?" Misaki asked.

Daisuke narrowed his eyes again. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, come on," she sighed. "You can't really expect two sixteen-year-olds like Kiku and Cho would spend all of their free time with their younger brothers, would they?"

"Mimi-chan…" Kitsune cautioned, warning her with the tone of her voice not to continue.

"But they have never backed down from a training session with us," Daisuke reminded. "Besides, they promised."

Misaki arched an eyebrow. "Really? Is that really what's bothering you two? Because the Daisuke and Ryuu I know have a better relationship with Kiku and Cho than that." No one said a word, so she continued. "The Daisuke and Ryuu I know wouldn't be bothered by something that stupid."

Daisuke was glaring now. "Shut up."

She looked over at Ryuu, who stared in no particular direction, not fully meeting her gaze.

Kitsune looked worriedly between her crush and her cousin, and then looked to Shikarou for help, reassurance, or something. He seemed unnaturally stiff. Usually he wouldn't bother being involved in petty arguments, though everyone seemed to feel the weight of this argument, even if it just consisted of Misaki lecturing and Daisuke glaring. The only one who didn't seem affected with Shiroko, who yawned lazily and rested her back down.

"Daisuke, Ryuu…"

"Don't say it," Daisuke threatened through gritted teeth.

"Sooner or later, people have to grow up."

Daisuke glared down at the grass, his hand clenched tightly into fists at his sides.

"I know," he muttered back.

"Do you?"

A/N

I'm going to play a game with you. Instead of telling you where the quote it from, I want you to guess! Tell me in a review or PM what you think the quote is from. Here's an obvious pointer: all the quotes from a Disney movie are completely italicized, excluding a word I may have swapped. I will reveal the quotes in the chapter that follows!

And whoever guesses it right will…. Actually, there are no prizes. This is completely for fun. But I'm open to suggestions.

I want to see how well you guys do!

So have fun.

On a sadder not, however… :( This chapter was kind of sad to write, but the distancing between Daisuke and Ryuu and their sisters is kind of unavoidable.

- R E P L I E S -

Rao hyuga 18 (review for chapter 9)—Well, I can't necessarily answer your question because it will spoil everything! But you'll just have to hold on tight and keep reading!

Gaarasracoon (review for chapters 2 & 9)—Glad you like the story. Don't worry, I'm only using quotes (and maybe lyrics) from the movies like Cinderella, Peter Pan, Finding Nemo, etc., etc. So you don't have to worry about Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers and stuff.

InoIceQueen (review for chapter 9)—That's true: I'm surely a true and hopeless romantic! Hahah everyone's such good guessers, but not quite. Don't worry, everything will be revealed in do time as long as you continue to read :D

MYinnerNINJA (review for chapter 9)—Thanks! And welcome to the series. Hope you'll love it!

Princess of blah blah blah (review for chapter 9)—Hahah :D everyone is so curious about Raiden. Guess that means I'm doing my job right?

Thanks for the awesome reviews and thanks to everyone who reads, favorited, and/or subscribed to this story :D

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Criticism? Flames? Don't hesitate to make your opinions known in a review or PM, whatever suits you.

Ciao! Au Reveoir! Zai Jian! Hasta Lavista! Ja Ne! Goodbye (till next time, at least!)