It was strange that after I left the academy, I didn't feel any ANBU. I was happy I didn't have a babysitter, but also worried. Hound had been missing when we woke up this morning and hadn't told us he was going on a mission like he began doing before he leaves. Nervously, I left the academy grounds and started toward the Yamanaka's. Since there was no ANBU guard, I decided it was better to be safe than sorry so I was flashing my chakra sense as I walked through the crowd of morning shoppers.

Then suddenly, I sensed Hound. Blinking a few times, I looked in the direction of the outskirts of the village towards where I knew most of the training grounds were. Making a quick decision, I glanced back at the flower shop and whispered a quick prayer that Inoichi wouldn't kill me later before rushing off in the opposite direction to Hound. I was glad he was still in the village and hadn't left without saying bye, but he wasn't watching us like he was supposed to so that meant I had to make sure he was okay.

A few minutes later, I rushed right through the market and immediately stopped dead at the crowd I saw. There was a fight between women over some tuna that was on sale. The first was a blue haired woman who was currently using the tuna to slap another to which a brunette retaliated by shoving the fish down a blondes shirt because she thought that the blonde had slapped her. I snuffled a laugh and watched as the growing crowd cheered them on. Somewhat distracted from my mission, I ducked into a nearby ally and channeled chakra to my feet to climb onto the roof to get a better look. But, by the time I got up there and sat on the corner on the roof to watch, Uchiha police were already breaking up the flight.

Pouting at missing a good cat fight, I got back up and started towards Hound's chakra again by jumping roof to roof. This was my first time doing this, but it was similar to jumping tree to tree and Naruto had told me he'd done it before so I wasn't too scared. The only difference was that I just had to watch out for shinobi now so I didn't run into them by accident. Traversing the rooftops was pretty fun and gave me a new outlook to the village. It really was beautiful.

I once told Naruto that this was the most amazing place I'd seen before, and it was true. There were so many colors, so many homes, and so much culture. One house could be traditional and the next modern, yet all of them mashed together so simply it just seemed like it should always have been that way. There was civilization everywhere, but it was intertwined with nature almost as if it had grown there as the plants did. Trees weaved through certain pathways and the grass was greener than I had seen anywhere else. There were gardens wafting the aroma of flowers through the air, bakeries and restaurants fanning the smell of freshly baked or cooked foods, and chatter filled the air as birds chirped above.

I paused to watch the figures of ninja speed through the rooftops and I felt safe. And wasn't that something? Despite the glares Naruto and I receive, despite all the animosity, I still felt safe here. Everything here, all of these wonderfully simple day to day things, came together to create Konoha and it was my home. Maybe this was one of the reasons why Naruto wanted to become Hokage. If it was, I guess I couldn't blame him. I'd want to protect this place too.

Shaking my head to dismiss my thoughts, I continued on my way. It didn't take long to find Hound. I walked slowly up to him while taking in the area. Training ground three was spacious and surrounded by trees on all sides. It was shaped in a rectangle with a large notch in the side where three stumps and a stone of some sort had been placed. As I stopped next to Hound, I noticed with a small amount of shock that he was out of his ANBU gear and instead in more comfortable clothes. He still had his black mask on though, but now donned a hitai-ate which covered his Uchiha eye.

I stood there staring for a moment before realizing he hadn't moved to even acknowledge me. He just stood staring down at the stone. I glanced at it and noticed it was covered in words. Curious, I walked forward and placed my hand on the cold marble and traced the engravings realizing they were all names. Tilting my head back, I took in Hounds constricted face as he continued to stand unmoving. He didn't even blink. Frowning with worry, I walked in front of him and tugged his pant leg. "Hound?"

He flinched at my voice and his visible eye trailed down noticing me. He didn't reply at first, but placed his hand on my head. We stayed that way for a while before he asked, "What are you doing here? It's late, you should be in bed."

I blinked at this and looked up at him confused. "Hound, it's almost noon. You've been missing, so I came to look for you," I said.

"Aa," he eventually replied after sluggishly looking up at the sky. "I see that now. Sorry for worrying you."

Still concerned for him, I tugged his arm down and he crouched obligingly whist continuing to stare at the stone distractedly. In a quick swipe, I pulled off his hatai-ate to feel his forehead and he looked back at me questioningly. "You're a little warm. Are you sick?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he replied as he took his forehead protector back and stood up.

I observed him for the next couple minutes as he went back into a daze. Sitting to pass time, I picked a few blades of grass and blew on each slightly until one made a small pi sound. Smiling at my accomplishment, I turned back to Hound to show him, but he was out of it. Frowning sadly, I dropped the piece of grass and just looked at the stone as he did. "What is this stone for?"

Hound didn't reply. I tugged his pants again and repeated the question. Looking down at me he answered, "It's the memorial stone."

"Oh," I glanced back to the marble. "What's a memorial stone?"

He remained silent and I almost thought I had to grab his attention again when he abruptly replied, "It holds the names for all the nin who were...killed in action."

I took notice of when he faltered near the end and asked fearfully, "Did you know anyone with their name carved into the stone?"

"…all of my precious people's names are written here."

I looked down sadly. "I'm sorry, you must miss them. But, you still have Naruto-nii and me," I tried to cheer him up.

His hand caressed my head again and I looked back up to see him giving me a hesitant smile through the mask. "I guess I do," he murmured. "Come on, let's get you home."

"Okay," I nodded and got up brushing grass off my dress. "Guess what I did today!"

"Pranked ANBU, as usual," he replied immediately as he took my hand and led me out of the training grounds.

"Not yet," I grinned. "I joined the academy!"

His next step faltered and he paused to look down at me with his eyebrows scrunched up. "What exactly did you do today while I was gone?"

I laughed at his expression, "Well…"