I wasn't sure how to start this chapter, but here's the final product. Make your guesses on who the foreigners are. I DARE YOU.

I snuggled up deeper into the covers. The winter was actually pretty damn chilly when you didn't have a heater in your apartment. Konoha normally has high temperatures three seasons out of four, so for it to suddenly plummet from twenty degree temps down to the teens and sometimes lower was somewhat jarring. It was kind of humiliating for me – I'd already lived in cold places before, but my new body wasn't used to chillier temperatures. I've never had an opportunity to leave the village before. I was kind of looking forward to becoming a genin, because even if it meant I would essentially be doing chores across the village for a while, I still had an opportunity to leave and head elsewhere.

A knock came to my door as I buried my head underneath my pillow.

"Get up. Breakfast's ready," came the soft voice of my sister.

"It's cold," I whined. "I'll eat later."

There was a pause on her end before she threatened, "I could always throw a fire jutsu into your bed for further incentive. Don't think I won't."

My covers were off in a flash, only for me to shiver as a blast of cold air hit me. As my feet touched down on the freezing cold, wooden floors, I pattered across my room to open the door as Anko looked down at me. Seeking warmth, I threw my arms around one of her legs and stuck to her like glue.

"Gah," she muttered, nearly losing her balance. "If you actually put some clothes on, you wouldn't be so cold."

I clung harder to her. "If you actually bought a heater, I wouldn't have to worry about it."

"You're the one who warned me about conserving our money... Put on a sweatshirt if you're so cold."

I just nuzzled my nose into her sweats and heard her sigh. Then, without my being able to duck away, she tucked her hands underneath my arms and lifted me up to eye level with her. I saw her shake her head before taking two steps into my room and launching me back onto my bed. I allowed myself to roll halfway over and then jumped up and did a small backwards flip. By the time I landed on my feet, she was already gone back down the hallway. I felt myself scowl. That had been completely unnecessary.

Five minutes later, I was all dressed for the day. I took a glance at the clock and grumbled when I saw the numbers flip to six-thirty-two in the morning. I was up way too early today, like all days, but if I didn't get up now, I'd never really have time to see Anko anymore. She worked a very odd schedule lately. Normally, she'd work from around seven to three, when I got out of school. She would train with me, sometimes, and then go straight back to work for another number of hours. We didn't eat dinner together anymore, and lunch was pretty much nonexistent. When she wasn't working at T&I, Anko was off on one mission after another, though the highest ranking she'd touched as of late was B. Still, B-Ranked missions brought in a good source of income, and so long as she kept up the hours at her normal job, we led a pretty comfortable life. She was doing damn well for a teenager with a dependent.

I yawned as I shuffled into the kitchen area and sat in my chair. I grinned when I saw the pancakes. She never made me pancakes. Wait.

"You never make pancakes," I pointed out with a frown. "What's the occasion?"

Anko sighed and cut to the chase without preamble: "I'll be heading out on a one-to-three month mission, starting today. I figured I'd leave you with something good to go with that little bit of info."

The pancakes no longer held my attention. "Where are you off to?"

"Some little place called Rice Field Country," she said, an expression of concern on her face.

My fork cut into one pancake. "You don't sound happy about that."

She tapped her own fork against her plate, her gaze looking far away from me. "Something about it all is just annoying the hell out of me, but I'm not sure what it is. I mean, it's a relatively small country, and nothing has happened there, but there's word that something's going down."

I shoveled half a pancake into my mouth, and her expression showed that she was less than impressed. I grinned at her as best as I could and she glared back as I chuckled and swallowed. As I stabbed at the other half of that pancake, I glanced up at her.

"You worried?"

I caught her mid-bite and she chewed for a bit, swallowed, and shook her head. "No. Not really. Something just feels off."

"You're worried."

She shook her head again. "That' s just it. I'm not. At least, not about my end."

I frowned but said nothing more, choosing instead to focus solely on my pancakes. We both ate in silence, and when she finished, she set her fork down gently. Her eyes were shadowed more so than usual, and not just because she kept a busy schedule. My sister was deeply concerned about something, but I couldn't say that I shared the same worry. It was obvious that she didn't want to leave me behind because her instincts kept telling her that something would go wrong. I, however, was completely confident in my safety.

Over the years, I had forgotten many things that had happened in the Naruto story. But, besides the Uchiha Massacre, something I had no intention of sticking my nose into anyway, I knew for certain that nothing important really happened until Naruto graduated from the academy. So, from now until then, I still had a good nine to ten years of complete and utter peace. I'd just graduate quietly from the academy, become a genin, train a bit, maybe hit chuunin level, and bam, I'd be doing pretty good. For survival's sake, if I could hit jounin by the time Naruto graduated, that would put me in a lot better situation. Even so, I still had a number of years of peace.

"Hey," she murmured aloud, regaining my attention. "Don't stay out too late, all right?"

"What, you mean for the next three months?" I asked, somewhat bewildered. "You're kidding, right? This is crunch time for me."

"I know that," Anko replied testily, her eyes narrowing. "Just try not to overdo it. I don't even know why a brat like you is even out training so late, anyway. I want you indoors by seven, at the latest. Preferably six."

I shrugged. "Yeah, yeah."

"I'm serious," she said, forcing her point more. I haven't asked you for much lately, so you can at least do me that much, can't you?"

With a groan, I nodded. She was right – she really hadn't been asking me for much of anything as of late. She was always gone, so I'd taken to making dinner at night (hah, the look on her face when she realized I could cook. Priceless.) and doing random chores. Every so often, she would leave a random scroll on my bed for me to read and try to figure out the way to do the jutsu. They were always D-Ranked ones, but anything I could add to my arsenal was good enough for me. Anko was probably still pissed when Kurenai told Asuma my chakra affinity, and then ran off and told Kakashi. Then Kakashi decided to tick off my sister by teaching me a super-powered lightning jutsu that nearly landed me in the hospital for chakra exhaustion. I never got to see Kakashi after that. I thanked him very much for the new technique though.

It was kind of Anko's own fault though, and a little bit of Kakashi's. He tried to belittle her a little by telling her the women in his book sounded way hotter than Anko would ever grow up to be. She, in revenge, snuck into his apartment and doused the whole collection of his with a water jutsu. Then she'd sat on his couch with a malicious grin, asking him who was the hotter woman now.

You know, I'd thought that with myself in the equation, Anko wouldn't turn into that promiscuous woman with sadistic tendencies, and, honestly, she wasn't. At least, not with me. The second she'd started going on missions more, though, she'd needed a persona to keep people at arm's length without having to kill them for either trying to take a piss on her life or putting her down because of her past. So, outside of the apartment, Anko was that crazy person I'd always seen on television. At home, she was...fairly normal. It was a bit difficult to get used to at first, but I adapted.

The thing was, with her change, I'd felt a need to have an outer persona, too, but I just didn't have it in me to attempt to act like some blood-thirsty brat who was one twitch away from plunging a kunai into the nearest person's eye. And, what with all the shit that went down with Rouri and those other idiots at school, it was just easier to show no emotion to anyone whatsoever. It was hardly any different from how I'd normally acted anyway – I just never smiled at all anymore if I could help it. People left me alone for the most part, and I didn't have to act like a normal child at all. All along, I'd thought that Sasuke was a fucking prick, but he'd actually had the right idea. I, unlike him, though, just wasn't at the top of the totem pole, nor was I at the bottom. I'd put myself in the exact middle so no one gave a fuck about me unless I forced myself to stand out...which was never.

Anyway. Back to the previous conversation. No, Anko hadn't asked for much of anything from me lately, which put me in the awkward situation of having to agree to whatever little she did ask. And hey, it probably wasn't a good idea for a child my age to be out so late anyway. It was an easy thing to concede to.

Anko smiled at me again, which instantly filled me with warmth. She was doing that more and more lately. I loved it. Then, she suddenly frowned.

"And I swear," she started, her voice low, "if I ever hear a peep that you'd even attempted to perform that damn lightning jutsu, I am going to summon fucking Manda and let him deal with you."

I paled immediately. My voice came out in a little squeak. "What?"

"I'm not kidding."

"That jutsu is awesome!"

"I don't give a shit."

I stared at her with horror as she stood up, picked up her plate, and set it into the sink. She gave me a small smirk before heading towards her bedroom.

"Do the dishes," she ordered as she walked away. "I need to finish putting my gear together. After that, I can walk you to school."

I didn't budge from my seat, even after she'd left my vision. I'd been planning on practicing that very jutsu the moment I'd realized she'd be gone for a while – chakra exhaustion be damned. Now I'd have to be a bit more creative with how I went about things. Maybe I could do something for Kakashi and get him to owe me a favor? Ah, but just thinking about whatever he might actually make me do made me sick to my stomach and I sighed. I couldn't practice at home alone, either, because my chakra control was still too shitty with the new jutsu. It required far too much, and the moment it went haywire, it would probably burn the whole place down, or at least ruin everything with scorch marks.

I bit my lip and glared over at where my sister had disappeared. Siblings were a pain in the ass, sometimes.

A little under an hour later, Anko and I had left the apartment and started heading down steps of our complex. She was decked out in her chuunin jacket, and I loved seeing her in it, much to her usual amusement. It was just so cool seeing her look so official and ready for action. Anko smirked but didn't do anything more than that. Now that we were outside and out and about, she had a reputation to keep. As for me, I was just being my less-than-cuddly self.

"How are those bullies doing lately?" she asked as we walked down the road.

I smirked evilly, cackling laughter echoing through my mind as I thought about my latest stunt with Rouri. "Oh, I made good use of those ingredients you bought for me. Those guys may as well be married to the toilet with as much crap as I put into those brownies."

Anko chuckled. "It's at times like this that I have no doubt that we're related."

"Hey," I spoke out, not the least bit offended. "It's their fault for trying to steal my food. I just helped their GI tract out a bit."

"With as much as you seem to know about the human body, I wonder why you're not more interested in becoming a medical ninja," she pondered softly.

I scoffed, turning away. "I'll never be one of those."

At one point in time, I'd sincerely wanted to go back to school to become a medical professional. I remember this much clearly about my old life. An anesthesiologist had been my overall goal, but that was before my mysterious incident, or whatever had forced me into my new life. I guess the reason I didn't want to carry on with that goal was the same reason I'd never chosen to be a medic in video games – medics always got shafted. The tanks would all die, and the medic would try to heal, but if the medic died due to lack of protection, then somehow, everything was the medic's fault. Now, that's not saying that real life would prove to be the exact same, but I wasn't sure I was ready to tangle with the style of healing in this world. Of course, I still had a lot of time to choose my career path, but I just couldn't see myself going down that route. Then again, I wasn't sure what I would become.

When the academy came into view, I smiled a bit wistfully. After this, I wouldn't be seeing my sister for a long while. I was no stranger to being alone, but since Anko hadn't said anything about Kurenai coming over to watch after me, I could only assume that I was on my own this time around.

The two of us stopped some distance away from the main entrance to the ground and I turned around to look at her. She frowned at me for a moment before giving me a cocky grin. Translation: "I'm worried about leaving you alone, but I'm sure you'll be fine."

Her grin transformed into a menacing smirk and, admittedly, I gulped. Translation: "And if I find out that you've done anything I've told you not to, your ass is going to get a beat-down."

I shrugged and she let out a small sigh. Her hand ruffled my hair before she walked away, waving her hand slightly as a goodbye. Then, I saw her stop and turn back to look at me.

"I forgot one thing," Anko called out. "My boss will be checking in on you every now and then, and you know how he can be."

I immediately froze, an unbidden "urk" coming out of my mouth.

Anko obviously couldn't help but chuckle at this. "That's why I said to make sure to be home by those times. He might even decide to pick you up from school at times, or the training grounds, even. Be on your best behavior."

Inoichi, I thought darkly to myself as she really did leave this time. Why him of all people? His kid's cute and all, and I love his wife, but I just genuinely cannot stand the guy.

It didn't make much sense either for me to dislike him. The man hadn't actually done anything wrong, and was always asking about how I was doing, but I guess I was insulted because he'd always insinuated that Anko wasn't doing the best she possibly could given the circumstances. It irritated me, not for my sake, but hers. Then again, I was the only one who really knew how much effort she was putting both into our relationship and our lives in general. She worked damn hard, but Inoichi could only see one aspect of it all. That wasn't his fault, but that first meeting, and consequently, every single one after, had rubbed me the wrong way. Oh well. At least little Ino was adorable, for a toddler.

I scowled and turned to make my way into the academy grounds. As I was about to go into the building itself, someone called out my name, forcing me to turn my glare on them instead. I paused momentarily when I saw who had caught my attention.

"Hotaru-chan," the girl said with little inflection, her expression hidden by her high collar and sunglasses.

"Shina," I replied with just as much expression. "How goes it?"

I sensed her smile as her deeper voice responded, "I am well, thank you."

Meet Aburame Shina, the twin sister of Shiyou, one of my classmates. Shina was one of the rare few females in her clan, a fact that had considerably surprised me when we'd first met. I'd figured her to be a more feminine boy until both she and Shiyou had told me otherwise. I honestly hadn't thought the clan bore any females, but it wasn't that they didn't, but that they were so rare that the fact wasn't worth mentioning in the first place. I'd met her one day when I'd been bored and had gone up to talk to the one person who hadn't treated me like crap when I'd first joined the academy.

Shiyou had respectfully introduced me to Shina, a girl who hadn't said single word to me at all until I'd known her for some time. Whereas Shiyou was simply quiet, this girl had a hidden anger deep within her that spurred her forward. Being one of the few women of the family made them quite protective of her, which in turn, forced her to grow angry with being treated like she was a China doll. Shina didn't show her anger very often, if at all, and the only reason I knew was from how she would react when teachers attempted to treat her with white gloves, as if she would fall apart. She wasn't very receptive to such things, at all.

I'd learnt a few things about these two kids. One: Shiyou was smart. And I mean, he was really smart. He was actually at the top of our class due to his intelligence, but he couldn't apply himself as well in battle. He knew what to do, but Shiyou would oft times second-guess himself and considered too many paths instead of going with his instincts. Due to this, despite how he would often score in the academic department, no one paid him much attention. Plus, he was always quiet and didn't proactively try to make friends, so no one really knew or cared much about him.

Shina, however, was probably the exact opposite of her brother. She was strong, and had amazing fighting capabilities. She knew how to plant her kikaichuu on her opponent and use other various tricks to confuse them as her insects simultaneously sucked their victims dry, or, at least, until the officiator called the match. Shina, I found, could prove deadly and had a narrow-minded view that whoever she opposed was her guaranteed enemy. There was no grey portion with her – if she was facing down a classmate, that classmate would be taken down. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts to it. Because of this, most people wouldn't go near her, and if one cared to tack on the facts of her being a female Aburame and someone ridden with bugs in her body, that made her doubly terrible. It was somewhat terrible to realize, because outside of battle, she was simply a shy, young woman who wanted friends as much as any other.

The first day she'd called me "Hotaru-chan", I think I'd choked on my banana.

"Where's Shiyou?" I said, glancing around. Where one twin was, the other was usually to follow.

"He is already in the classroom. I was simply waiting for you."

"That was nice of you," I told her, the two of us walking inside of the building. "You doing all right, seriously? You seem nervous."

Shina didn't bother to answer, but I only knew of that nervousness because I saw a few insects kind of blitzing around her. She stayed silent for a few more moments before turning to me as we reached my classroom.

"I am curious," she began. "Would you be interested in joining my brother and I for lunch?"

Well, this was rare. The two were fairly close, but they didn't normally eat together with one another. For them to even consider inviting an outsider to that was definitely strange. It wasn't the first time she'd invited me though, nor was it the first time I'd accepted, so I wasn't sure what had her nervous.

"Is that all?" I asked, tilting my head with some confusion. "Why would I mind doing that?"

"I will see you at lunch then," she said, effectively ending the conversation as she turned away and walked down the corridor, her black locks of hair waving from side to side as she walked away.

I frowned, somewhat confused. Her behavior was strange, even for her. But hey, what did I know about her, really?

I walked into the classroom and sat down in the top row, furthest back in the classroom, next to Shiyou. He gave me a nod of acknowledgement, but otherwise said nothing. I was used to this. If the boy said anything more than ten words on any given day in public, away from his sister, then that would be reason enough to get him checked out by a medical professional. Shiyou didn't talk – hell, Shina spoke more than he ever did, and that was saying something.

My eyes flickered over to the door where I saw Rouri and his group of flunkies come inside. He looked up and made eye contact with me immediately, his mouth forming a scowl until he noticed who I was sitting next to. He gave me one last glance before shuffling away to his spot. I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked at Shiyou, who never indicated that anything was amiss outwardly. I'd always wondered what it was about the Aburame that seemed to freak out Rouri, but whatever it was, I couldn't say I really cared all that much. As long as it forced the guy to leave me the hell alone, I couldn't say that it was all that big a deal.

When Maria-sensei finally stood up and asked for silence, I stopped thinking about my bullies and strange friend and focused solely on her. Speaking of my teacher, we were on far better terms now, especially after she'd helped keep my part-time job a secret. We weren't exactly bosom buddies, but so long as I did well in school in didn't make much trouble, she ignored my dastardly deeds with forcing doom upon my bullies. You'd think the boys would've learnt to stop messing with me after the sixtieth time.

The hours passed by slowly, but the second lunch time hit, I'd grabbed my scroll and my bag – the last time I'd decided to leave it behind, my bullies had desecrated it – and started heading for the door. Shiyou followed along after me without a word, and the two of us headed up towards the roof, where we found Shina already waiting for us. She'd sat down on one edge of the roof, her bentou in her hands as she waited for us to sit down and get situated. I sat on the concrete ground – I didn't really like sitting on chairs, benches, couches, what have you. It was just far more comfortable to sit on solid ground instead of something I could possibly fall out or off of.

I opened my scroll with flourish, almost smiling when the pieces of fried chicken were waiting for me. I preferred Anko sealing my meals instead of my bringing a bentou because when they were sealed, they stayed warm. I couldn't understand why more people wouldn't do that. Of course, sealing them for more time than necessary wasn't good for the food and it would spoil as quickly as it would unsealed, but it was nice to have warm food awaiting me instead of cold rice. If that meant I had to warm it up every morning before Anko sealed it, then that was a price I was more than willing to pay.

I clapped my hands together before digging into the delicious meal. The three of us ate in absolute silence, like we'd always done. I suppose eating in companionship was far better than eating by oneself, though I guess it was odd for us to never attempt conversation when with one another. I don't know, that's how it's always been since we first started this lunch group, and I was long since used to the fact. So, it was an absolute surprise when Shina broke the silence herself.

"Hotaru-chan," Shina began, an insect darting about haphazardly before she took in a deep breath. "My brother and I have been talking."

I grinned to myself. Now, that was an interesting thing to note.

Chewing my chicken fully, I spun my chopstick around between my fingers absentmindedly. "I take it that's why you're so nervous today, yes?"

"Yes," she confessed without hesitation. "We were curious over whether you might join us for dinner at our compound."

I nearly choked up my next piece of chicken before staring at them with bewilderment. That... That was a very strange request. It wasn't strange that they were asking me to eat with them, it was odd that they would invite me to the Aburame compound at all. The Aburame clan was well-known for their privacy, and it was strange that they would ask an outsider, willingly, to come over at all. Now I understood, partially, why she was so nervous. That must have taken some thought and courage.

I had to ask. "How long have you been considering this offer?"

Shiyou was the one to answer this time: "For the past three months."

What, three months? I got the hesitation and everything, but wasn't that pushing things just a bit? Geez, three months? What the hell was I doing that long ago? It was Anko's birthday almost two months ago, so before then... Hell, I don't even know.

I sighed and just said the hell with it. "Yeah, sure. Why not? Sounds fun."

Shina let out a sigh of her own, her shoulders slumping as she finally relaxed. I decided to poke some fun at her.

"What, you thought I was going to say no?"

"We considered the possibility."

Hell no, I wasn't going to decline. How many people can say they've seen inside the Aburame compound?

"When am I invited?" I asked eventually.

Shiyou set his chopsticks down, rejoining the conversation. "In a few weeks. Our mother's birthday is this week, and our father's is next week, so we will unfortunately be rather busy until then. We apologize, but the two of us simply wanted to confirm the probability of your coming before making permanent plans."

Oh, good. That was plenty of time for me to get over squealing in excitement over what I would be allowed to experience in a due time. And damn, I wouldn't even be able to tell my sister about the event. I'd have to settle for second-best: Kurenai. If she was even in the village, that was.

I gave them a small smile of appreciation. "Thanks for inviting me."

The twin sister looked at me for a short while before softly saying, "You should smile more often."

Her words made my smile drop away immediately. I hadn't heard those words for a while. It figured the phrase would haunt me in my new life as well.

I wasn't sure how to rely to her, so I chose not to. I stood up to shake off the strange feeling when something down on the main road caught my attention. I frowned more deeply than usual as I stared down at the people walking down the street. My eyes narrowed subconsciously as I tried to place their clothing.

"What's this?" questioned Shina with some wariness, having joined me at my side without my noticing. "Foreigners?"

"I do not recognize that uniform," Shiyou added, pushing his sunglasses further up his nose. "Perhaps there is an event taking place that we were not informed of?"

I frowned. Maybe this was what had had Anko feeling so off. I was still certain that I wouldn't have any problems whatsoever. I was guaranteed fifteen years of peace, after all.

Shina is so cute in my mind. So cute. Seriously, simply adorable.