Sorry for the long wait, been busy with life. For those who waited, I offer my thanks. And for those who are just getting to this point, I hope for your support.

Chapter 25: The Spectacle

Yuuki woke up in the morning to a pounding headache. Groggy and in a foul mood she made her way to the bathroom. She'd smack Kyuubi later for that stupid torture session the other night. Who'd seriously have copper weapons anyway! Most weapons these days were made from metals and silver. Annoyed, she brushed her teeth with a bit more aggressive strokes. Was it just her imagination or were her fangs protruding a bit more than usual? Nah, it was probably just her imagination running wild due to sleep deprivation. Either way since she woke up late; she'd have to hurry to school and skip breakfast, maybe get it to-go or something.

"Seras! You up?"

Her guardian walked in relaxed and dressed for the day. "Yes, Yuuki I'm up. What can I do for you?"

"Any chance you can help me with my hair today too?" she tried adding a smile for persuasion.

Seras chuckled, "silly girl, no need for that. I'll help, come seat here."

She patted the bed with her hand to indicate where Yuuki should seat. Taking her fair hair into her hands and working some magic. "How about a braid today, it might help you better at practice than to leave it flying around."

Yuuki nodded, that sounded like a great idea. "Any mail today?"

Seras chuckled, "I actually feel sorry for the mail boy, being forced to come all the way out here just to deliver our mail. I gave him an extras tip out of guilt. But no; not yet, I don't think they'll reply so soon Yuuki. The week hasn't ended yet. Give it another day or two."

Yuuki sighed but nodded her head in agreement. That Sarutobi was taking so much time to reply proved he was a very good Hokage. You don't just jump on things like this; you examine and watch with care.

"Try not to get stuck with anymore copper kunais little missy or Kyuubi will have your head."

Yuuki crossed her fingers over her heart, "But of course, cross my heart and hope to die right."

Seras chuckled, "I'm done, now off with you. Naruto and the others have been waiting for some time now."

"Wait, the others?" asked Yuuki, startled that the others would come all the way out here to pick her up. It would make it twice the walk for them.

Seras nodded, "Yup, they all came to pick you up and see how you were doing. Aren't they just wonderful friends?"

Yuuki nodded, not sure how she felt about becoming that close to the group. She couldn't jeopardize the future she knew or else all of this would be for not. Quickly heading out her room; she found Sasuke, Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Chouji, and Kiba waiting for her. It made her smile despite her worries. Waving goodbye to Kyuubi, she rushed off with the others. They seemed to cheer up by seeing her awake and well.

"So you feeling better now?" asked Shikamaru.

She nodded, "Yeah, sorry to worry ya. So what happened after we left?"

"Iruka-sensei got us all to go back to class and made us all promise not to tell what happened to anyone else. I doubt some people will keep their mouth shut though" said Kiba.

Sasuke had the dignity to look a little bit guilty at that. Yuuki saw it and she knew what it meant. He'd told his parents and likely Itachi of what had happened. She should be worried; having her weakness known to her enemy and all, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to be. At least now she wouldn't have to worry about them giving her copper knives and spoons to use.

"So how were the test results?" she asked.

"Great!" said Naruto, he looked so excited. Digging into his book bag, he pulled out a sheet of paper. Yuuki took a closer look at it. It was his test paper, more importantly it had a red C+ circle at the top with words of encouragement from Iruka. She smiled at that. So she'd been right. At the moment Naruto wasn't a full clown yet, as long as he showed effort and hard work, he'd win Iruka over again. While Iruka took the death of his parents personal and carried a huge hatchet for Kyuubi, he'd bury it in a heartbeat at the sight of a spirited student. This had been her gamble from the start; it was rather nice to see her inner intuition on people's character hadn't turned to mush yet.

Getting to the school she could feel all the different sets of eyes on her. Her friends tried to shield her as best they could but they had their own desks to occupy. No, she'd just have to face this one by herself. Occasionally she'd see Sakura and Ino turn back to her and smirk, as though they'd won something big. She frowned; she'd have to be more careful with those two. While she never pegged them as people capable of doing intentional harm to anyone, she didn't want to chance finding copper items in her desk or something.

"Welcome back to another day of class, I'd like to take role and then we'll be discussing trapping techniques before going out for practical lessons later. Everyone will be using only the weapons and equipment given to you by a teacher. Anyone who disobeys will be brought before me to explain why they couldn't follow instructions, and I will punish them as I see fit. Are we clear?" said Iruka, glaring holes at the kids to make sure they got the point.

"Yes!"

"Good, now lets begin…"

Yuuki watched as the lesson got underway, trying hard to hide her waning focus. She didn't want to upset Iruka but at the same time, there were only so many times you could hear something described over and over again. She had three years of academy repeats to draw from after all. Instead she let her mind begin to wonder about her deal with Sarutobi. She wasn't so sure if she'd handled it exactly well enough. She may have come off too demanding, ringing alarm bells in his head. Or perhaps she'd caved in too much and given him access to more information than necessary. She wasn't sure and it kept her gnawing at her pencil.

Before she knew it the theory part of the lesson had gone by and the rest of the class was moving towards the field for practical lessons.

Naruto gave her a bit of a nudge to move her along but she didn't really feel up to it. Not that the copper incident was scaring her away, Kyuubi had certainly done more damage. No, she just didn't feel like this is what she should be doing at the moment. Not with two huge decisions resting on her shoulders at the moment. Sarutobi is yet to give her an answer and in a few nights she planned to kill a distant relative to two of her friends. Life sucked at the moment and it was sucking away her energy to even try.

Today they'd start sparring; picking three other students that they'd work with for the rest of the school year. Had she been a wiser student back when she'd been a genin the first time, she'd have noticed the pattern earlier on. Everything happened in a unit of threes. Without much thought or effort Hinata and Sasuke grabbed onto her arm. She paused, too shocked for words. She'd expected Naruto to be one of the first to grab her, maybe Sasuke next but she'd never pictured Hinata with enough courage at the moment to pick her in earnest. It made her smile, already Hinata was learning to express her demands. The odd group wasn't what she'd expected nor planned but she didn't mind, it would work in the end.

"Yuuki-chan would you be one of my partners?" asked Hinata a slight stutter to her words. She looked a bit embarrassed at her own forwardness.

Yuuki smiled, "Nope, I don't mind one bit"

"Well that sucks, I was hoping to work with Yuuki-chan too but it's cool. We'll just be a group of all guys, right Shikamaru?" said Naurto, raising a brow to the silent genius.

The said boy barely bothered to nod. Chouji continued to chew down on his chips. Kiba looked between the groups, highly uncomfortable as he began to realize he was the odd man out. He felt the hairs on his back stand as two other presences appeared behind him. Slowly turning, he made eye contact with an annoyed blonde and a pouting Sakura.

"Hello Ino…Sakura…" he wanted to die, a very slow, slow, painful death. He looked to the others for an escape but they'd already moved on to warm-up stretches and Shino was with another group. He was left alone, a dog in the den of lions. He gulped, let the havoc begin.

Within Yuuki's group they were already done with warm ups, pulling her arms into herself she couldn't help but feel sorry for Kiba. Someday he'd forgive them, but for today he'd have to make due. Concentrating on her situation she listened to Iruka's instructions carefully.

"Today before we proceed to trapping, we'll begin with light spars between the members of each group. Think of it as a mini tournament; begin with two partners while the other watches, then have the winner spar with the remaining member. From there we'll have the final winner fight with the winners of other groups till we have one winner left. I hope this lesson will give you all a feel of how your fellow classmates move and gear you up for the future on what to expect. Now remember, this is not to maim, harm or degrade anyone. Should I find someone being excessively brutal I'll call this whole session off and deal with the culprit directly. Am I clear?"

"Yes!"

"I guess it's me and you Hinata" said Yuuki, cutting in before Sasuke could jump in. While she'd like to take a whack at Sasuke, she didn't want to discourage Hinata from the start. Over the past four months her confidence was on the rise, she didn't want to damage that now. Surprisingly Sasuke didn't even look offended; apparently she didn't give him enough credit on matters of sensitivity. Doing one last stretch with her legs, she got into the basic academy stance. It felt so damn nostalgic.

"Come on Hinata-chan, give it your best. I want us to both enjoy this ok" she encouraged.

This seemed to set the mood of their duel. Hinata looked less anxious; she likely thought this meant it would strictly be a friendly match. And it would for the most part, but Yuuki would do her best to draw out the inner workings of Hinata's true nature to light.

Waiting patiently for Iruka to give the signal, the sparring began. As expected Hinata didn't come at her at full force the first time, her palm strike to Yuuki's arm was gently. She seemed to be testing Yuuki's reaction speed. Not being one to disappoint, Yuuki easily stepped aside, aiming a chop to Hinata's clavicle. Surprising even herself; Hinata lightly grabbed hold of her hand, steering it away from herself with a twist of her entire body, forcing Yuuki forward. With no intentions of allowing her back to remain unguarded and exposed, the blonde instinctively kicked inward. Being the one able to see ahead of herself, Hinata had more than enough forewarning. She moved out of the way with a grace she didn't think she had.

Yuuki used the chance to turn around, grinning from ear to ear. The pleasantly pleased expression Hinata had on her face rewarding her efforts. This probably felt different for Hinata than her other fights within her Clan. There were no elders here to judge and as far as they were concerned they were the only ones that existed in the world right now, them and this friendly fight. Gearing herself for what's to come Yuuki got back into her stance, her fist clenched at her front to strike or defend given the need.

When Hinata didn't look like she was about to move Yuuki allowed herself to take the most novice approach and charged towards her. Skilled and prepared for such occurrences, Hinata found that without the extra pressure it was easier to remember what her trainers drilled into her. Relaxing her small frame, she waited for the opportune moment and grabbed hold of Yuuki's hands, allowed her knees to cave and pushed forward.

Yuuki found herself joyfully stunned to watch as she was tossed to the other side of their little arena. At the last minute she tucked in and rolled, minimizing damage. She stood with a huff, not evening needing to fake her sudden need for air. That had been an excellent throw. Smiling she called to Hinata, "That was great! Let's keep going"

"O-Ok!" yelled Hinata, surprised by how exhilarating this felt even though it was the very thing she dreaded most days. Getting back in pace she planted her feet like most Hyugas would. Yuuki noticed and frowned, knowing Hinata's true style would need more fluidity than that. She charged again but this time with a different purpose. Hinata braced herself thinking there would be a repeat but gasped when Yuuki slowed right before her and crouched. She kicked out, aiming for Hinata's shins. Instinctively Hinata hopped aside, losing her solid footing but not minding as Yuuki's next attack came.

With full knowledge of how superior Hyugas were with their upper body strength, Yuuki feigned the mistake of jabbing Hinata in the face. Of course her attempt was caught and used against her as Hinata fluidly twisted her right arm, pulling her into a submissive pose for a second and then tossed her over. Yuuki allowed herself to hit the ground and groaned. She was beginning to rethink this deskilling business. Growling she hopped up to her fight. "Again!" she called.

"Enough!" yelled Iruka, startling the two from their spar and momentarily bringing them back to reality. Apparently all the other groups had finished and everyone had found this fight to be too intense to disrupt. Hinata and Yuuki gaped. Sasuke look unrepentant about not alerting them of having passed the time limit. Hinata blushed, a nice bit of sweat gathering on her brow but she found herself more at ease. Yuuki sighed and looked around, hopefully she hadn't given them too much of a good show. They'd mostly seen her get thrown around like a rag doll by Hinata. Walking over to the resting bench, she took a drink of water from her little bottle. Tossing a towel over her head to keep the stares at bay for the moment, she heard unexpected voices.

"Sorry to disrupt your class Iruka, we just wanted to speak with miss Yuuki. But we're grateful for the incredible match we just got to witness" said Sarutobi.

Underneath her towel's shade Yuuki bit the inside of her cheek. Of course she could pick out the smug tone in the Hokage's voice. This was without a doubt no coincidence, he'd picked this day because he'd known they'd be sparring. He'd wanted to see her in a mock fight and that's exactly what she'd unknowingly given him. Not enough juicy material to incriminate herself but enough to let him know she wasn't as defenseless as she tried to play. "Father!"

Finally she got the courage to look up when she heard both Sasuke and Hinata call for their fathers. Sure enough, it seems like the Hokage was not the only one who'd gotten a free show. Hiashi and Fugaku stood beside him, the former looking pleased to finally see Hinata show her merits.

Hinata looked startled, shamed and embarrassed at the same time. She didn't know what to do or expect so Yuuki saved her the trouble.

"You wished to see me" she said, coming out of her shell. Everyone seemed to watch; biting on their tongue till the group walked out of the courtyard to start waging them. If the situation wasn't so nerve wrecking she'd laugh at how the silence gave way the moment they were five yards from the arena. Konoha was full of gossips.

"That was quite a display Yuuki" said Fugaku, his undertone quite clear.

She tried her best to act nonchalant. "After I got stuck with a kunai during the last session, Katsu thought it was best to up the difficulty level of my training. He doesn't want to see me hurt again."

"I'm sure he doesn't" said Fugaku, though he didn't seem to believe that was all to be said about the matter.

Sarutobi stepped in, feeling it was unnecessary to get the girl edgy. "We've come in regards to your proposal. We've agreed as long as you provide us with the documents and mock fights within this week. We will allow you to attend the next Council meeting."

Yuuki stopped and whirled around. "This week! The mock fights are this weekend?" she asked, honestly shocked but not unprepared.

Hiashi nodded, "Yes, the other Clan heads and I would like to see Katsu and Seras' skills before we give our full approval. There are some standards that need to be upheld in the matter of strength if you understand what I mean."

Yuuki nodded, she did. "Okay I'll tell them and I'll have the documents at your office later today if you'd like Sarutobi-sama."

The third waved off her formality. "Ojisan is fine. I'd also like to think of you as a granddaughter Yuuki-chan."

She blushed a bit at that, and fidgeted with her hair. "I should be heading back soon. The others might begin to wonder if I'm being suspended or something" she half-joked.

The adults had little smiles of their own, knowing the sudden open familiarity was probably too much for her now. "Okay dear, I'll expect you in my office later today then."

"Right!" she grinned before high-tailing it back to her classmates. The adults chuckled at her escape. It was so nice to finally win a round against the little girl.

"Upped her training hm, certainly promising for Naruto-kun if her skills are a reflection of Katsu's work" said Fugaku, briefly wondering if he could get Sasuke involved as well.

"Indeed, I never knew my daughter could move like that. She seemed so relaxed and at peace with herself" mused Hiashi, finding this too incredible to keep to himself for once. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing to have gotten Hinata involved with Yuuki as he'd feared. Allegiances aside, Yuuki Hellsing seemed to be a good influence to his daughters.

"It looked like your daughter was winning Hiashi…however why do I get the feeling they could have been even" whispered Sarutobi as they continued to walk out of the Academy.

NHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHSCENE SKIPNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNH

Yuuki said she'd return to the group but found herself walking towards the academy playground, taking a seat on the swing. For some reason she felt truly drained today and she didn't know why. The short spar with Hinata shouldn't be affecting her this much but she found herself feeling thirsty and drained. She closed her eyes just for a bit, hoping a little catnap would rejuvenate her energy.

Mean while Hinata and the rest of her friends stared off in concern. Yuuki hadn't returned after her talk with the Hokage. What if what the others were saying was true and they'd taken her aside to suspend her or something. Though no one liked to be a gossip, they didn't want to ignore a possible problem in one of their friend's lives.

Iruka had called for a lunch break shortly after Yuuki was called away. Hinata stared at the girl's abandoned bento with a concerned frown, maybe she'd take it to her. Yuuki must be so hungry right now after such a fight.

"Guys I think I'm going to go find Yuuki and give this to her."

"You sure you don't want any of us to come with you?" asked Naruto, glad for any moment he could get with the heiress.

Hinata smiled at his offer but shook her head in refusal. Grabbing the lone bento box, she headed towards the Academy playground where she'd last been seen. Hinata spotted Yuuki leaning against the swing's rope, looking thoroughly exhausted. Quietly she inched closer to obliviously sleeping girl; she looked so tired, maybe it was best not to wake her.

Just when Hinata was about to turn around and leave after changing her mind, she felt a hand grab her wrist. She tried to turn around to get a clear view of her assailant but the other's grip was too strong, welding her in place.

With her heart thundering in her chest she felt another's breath ghosting over her shoulder. A tongue lapped out at her neck, causing her to shiver and blush. "Y-Yuuki…" she tried to reason.

"hmm…"

That was the only response she got before sharp incisors bit into her neck, right onto her veins. The pain was instant and she found herself too scared to speak, let alone scream for help. She felt it as her attacker began to draw swigs of her blood, making content sounds. Hinata felt her eyes begin to droop and her limbs beginning to grow heavy. Briefly she wondered if she was going to die here when a euphoric feeling rushed through her system. Her knees were giving out on her now for another reason; she could barely keep herself from making some kind of lewd sound. It was scary how good this was beginning to feeling but thankfully, as abruptly as it began it stopped. The sucking stopped with a last lick to her neck.

Her attacker let her go and with no strength of her own Hinata fell to her knees. Slowly she turned around to see her friend Yuuki staring back at her. Her eyes were still molten lava red with stray drops of blood on her lips. There was no denying that she had just been the one to attack Hinata.

There was an awkward moment of silence between the two as they stared at each other. Hinata couldn't help but noticed how scared Yuuki looked, like a cornered animal. Clearly she hadn't meant to do what she'd just done; the regret was plain on her face.

"Hinata-chan I'm so sorry!" her voice came out in a rush of panic. "I didn't mean to…it wasn't supposed to happen like that…how could I have been so stupid! The teeth…the hunger…the lack of strength, I should have known something was wrong" she kept mumbling to herself.

Perhaps it was how besides herself Yuuki seemed to be acting, or the insecure rant but somehow Hinata found that she'd calmed down. She took a tentative feel of her neck, expecting to feel the punctured skin and wet substance of her blood but there was nothing. Her skin was as smooth as before, with no indication of what had happened just a few minutes ago.

"Y-Yuuki-chan…what just happened?"

The blonde stopped her rant and looked back at the dazed Hyuuga heiress. She couldn't believe what she'd just done and didn't feel right about lying to her either. When it came to matters regarding Hinata Yuuki was never one to shirk her responsibilities. With a deep breath she sat down in front of the girl, carefully taking her hands into her own with the fear that the other would pull back at any moment. Those pale hands never did and it gave her enough courage to continue her explanation.

"Hinata-chan I know what I'm about to say is crazy but I swear to you, it's the truth. First I want to apologize for what I just did, it wasn't planned and I really shouldn't have done that without asking. Second, I suppose I should start by saying I am a vampire."

"!"

"I know I know, it sounds crazy right but it's true. Technically I'm a half vampire; a dhampir but I still need blood occasionally. I didn't mean to startle you but I was so out of it and hungry I couldn't think straight."

Hinata opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out so she tried again. "Yuuki-chan does Naruto know?"

She nearly rolled her eyes to this; her best friend just mauls her throat and that's all she could think to ask. Well at least it proves that the relationship was going somewhere between the two. To answer her question Yuuki shook her head.

"He doesn't and I really don't want him to. I don't want him to think I'm weird you know."

Hinata nodded her head in understanding. "Have you always been like this?"

Again Yuuki nodded her head, "yes. It's rare but I was born this way. I'm so sorry Hinata. I know I should have told you guys but everything was going so well and I didn't think you'd want to hang out with a freak!"

Few things could be more shocking at this point, but Hinata's reaction to her confession stunned her. The shy heiress pulled her cheek like you would a naughty child, her pale eyes blazing with determination.

"Repeat after me 'I am not a Freak'" she said.

Yuuki did repeat the words or tried to, the fact that Hinata was still pulling on her cheek wasn't helping her pronunciation much.

Taking a deep breath Hinata nodded in approval. "Good, I don't ever want any of my friends thinking anything like that. Yes, I think it's odd but you're still you and you healed me right after. I don't think you meant to hurt me and I shouldn't have snuck up on you."

Yuuki shook her head in disbelief, despite what most people thought Hinata was a person of a sound mind and reasoning. She just didn't get the chance to voice it much. But at times like these when she did, it always warmed Yuuki's heart. She couldn't stop the smile from forming on her face. "Thank you Hinata-chan for being so understanding."

The Hyuuga nodded her head in acceptance. "You might want to wipe off of the blood from your lips and shirt before we meet the others. They must be worried by now. I'm surprised Naruto didn't come to check on us already."

Yuuki chuckled, "He's probably trying do the mature thing and give you space to impress you."

"What!"

The blonde chuckled at the blush her friend was sporting. It was quite adorable to see how the two fumbled around each other, never quite brave enough to take the plunge. Getting to her feet she offered a hand to Hinata.

"Oh! That's right I came here to give you lunch…" she noticed the dejected bento lying on the ground in disarray. "I'm sorry."

Hinata would always be Hinata no matter the time period. Yuuki laughed at the cute display of distress from the other. "Oh, but Hinata-chan you did give me lunch."

She probably shouldn't have joked about what had just taken place but she couldn't help it. The rising blush on the heiress' face was worth it. Chuckling she dragged her friend back to the group and disposed of the now useless bento box. The others were a bit startled to see them, having been expecting them for so long that they'd gone off on another tangent.

"What took you so long?" called Kiba, his confusion mirrored by the others.

"Oh nothing, just giving Hinata some love advise, you know; Girl Talk" said Yuuki with air quotation marks.

Naruto paled and looked towards Hinata, then Yuuki and then back. His unease was palpable.

"hmm" was Sasuke's predictable response.

Yuuki rolled her eyes, "So what now?"

Shikamaru shrugged, eyeing the two with a bit more speculation. "Nothing much, lunch break is over. We should be heading back to class."

"Okay! Lead the way guys."

Kiba raised a brow to her sudden cheer. "Did someone just recharge your batteries or something?"

Yuuki grinned, "You could say that."

The others watched her stroll back into the classroom with mixed thoughts on her sanity. Hinata found herself blushing the whole time, looking suspiciously guilty.

They'd already used too much time on sparring so they would have to go over trapping the next week. Due to the thought of homework some of the excitement seemed to settle a bit.

Walking home the group began their conversation anew.

"That was epic Yuuki-chan!" cried Naruto; she could already see the stars forming in his eyes. "You were like ka-yaa! And Hinata was like hu-uh. You should have told me you could fight like that!" he gushed.

She chuckled, "words Naruto, use your words not sound effects."

This got the group to laugh for a second or two. Hinata came forward and stretched out her hand, a smile on her face. "Thank you so much Yuuki, I never thought I could do so well" she whispered.

Gently shaking the hand extended to her, Yuuki shook her head. "No, I should be thanking you. You're really strong Hinata, thanks for giving me a fair fight." There was a double meaning there, the clan heiress was sure of it.

The shy girl nodded, not used to so many compliments in a day. She'd been hounded by her friends and classmates during the earlier pause too. Many saying they'd never seen her quite like that before.

"Wish I could learn some of those moves" mumbled Naruto, his mind already trying to replay the match in his head.

Yuuki chuckled, "Don't worry soon you might be able to." She let her words hang for a bit and then asked how the other matches went; admittedly she hadn't been as observant as she should have. She'd wanted to gauge how far along everyone was in their growth. But she couldn't help it; anything that deals with Hinata always got her full attention.

"Not much to say really. Kiba won the match against Ino and Sakura hands down. Ino had been too slow to perform whatever jutsu she'd been trying to get Kiba with. And Sakura had been distracted by Sasuke's handsome face!" teased Naruto, dodging the dull punch aimed his way.

"I sort of lost to chouji though. Did not know he could spin so fast, definitely wasn't expecting that but mark my words. Next time Chouji it will be my victory!" boasted Naruto, his usually good sportsman spirit shining through. The big boy just shrugged and ate another chip.

"And Shikamaru?" asked Yuuki, really wanting to see how well the smarty pants did.

"You mean mister pineapple here, he was too busy sleeping. Iruka-sensei had to scare him awake but by then everyone had stopped to watch your match" narrated Naruto.

Shikamaru didn't even bat an eyelash to the accusations.

"And of course Sasuke never got a chance, did ya teme!" teased Naruto, running around to avoid capture from the said Uchiha.

"Oh that's right, sorry Sasuke-kun, didn't mean to cut into your debut like that" teased Yuuki, grinning at the lost look he gave the two. At this point he didn't know who to throttle.

"Well I got to get home, Aki's waiting for me!" called Naruto, already heading to his apartment.

"Oh right! Tell him hello for me!" called Yuuki.

"Who's Aki?" asked Shikamaru.

"Naruto's new pet fox" said a grinning Yuuki, walking past her startled friends. Soon the group dissolved, each going to their respective houses except Sasuke. He stayed silent till after Hinata was taken home by one of her attendants. Yuuki looked to him in wonder, could he want to go to the cabin with her. They hadn't been expecting any guests today.

"Good evening Yuuki" said a familiar voice from behind. She stopped walking, just stopped as her heart began to race. Slowly she turned to see Itachi standing beside his equally startled brother with Shisui.

"Hey ya Yuuki-chan, heard about your big match. You're really something aren't ya" chirped Shisui, faking an accent.

She couldn't help but chuckle, "Hello to you too. What are you guys doing here?"

Those dark eyes found hers again and she couldn't bring herself to look away. "We were hoping you'd like to have dinner with us at our house."

She gasped, he'd used 'we' and 'our' but why did she feel like she'd heard 'I' and 'my'. Shaking out her daze she smiled, "I don't mind but I'll have to get changed though. I don't exactly look presentable with dirt smears all over me."

Stepping forward, Itachi leaned closer to her ear. "I don't mind, I don't think I ever will."

She shivers, like a jolt had traveled down her spine and back just to get stuck at her heart. How did he always get such a rise from her body, it shouldn't be possible. Was it the bloodlust thing again? Cuz biting one friend today was more than enough.

"Thank you" she said shying away from his eyes, not sure if she could face him right now without giving herself away. "I'll be going then…" she mumbled, stumbling a bit as she moved back. Strong hands steadied her and her breath caught in her throat. Taking those strong, larger hands into her own, she slowly lead them away from her person. "Thanks…again."

With this she made sure to disappear, running as fast as her legs would take her past the village gates.

"Smooth Ita-chan, real smooth" said a smirking Shisui. He chuckled as he ducked past a flying kunai, laughing all the way back to the Uchiha manor with two very silent Uchiha brothers in tow.

"Yuuki then?" asked Sasuke, recognizing his brother's interest for what it is.

"It appears so little brother"

"You have my vote then"

"Thanks".

So yeah minor changes to the chapter I hope most of you don't mind. It was in the original plan but I never got quite to it till now.