Kyoko peeked over the edge of her book and down to the row of seats below her and onto the form of one Yamada Ranmaru. She blushed lightly and quickly peered back down onto the dull type on the pages before her, peeking up once more to see him looking up and towards her. Of course, she knew that the boy could never really be logically looking at her, but it was still a nice thought that had her whole face flaming red and made her quickly focus once more on the words before her.

"Um, hey." She looked up and saw Ranmaru's best friend Ren standing beside her wearing a devil-may-care grin and rocking back and forth on his heels. She didn't know why he was there since she had never even spoken to him before, but she figured that if she gave him a minute he'd get around to it.

"What are you reading?" Kyoko blinked, fumbling with her book to try and recall the name that she had suddenly forgotten, even though she had read it nearly a dozen times. "Um, Foreign War Tactics and Peace Policies." The boy blinked at her.

"Seriously?" She blushed even brighter and nodded. Suddenly the boy started laughing, holding his sides as if the laughter pained him.

"Oh, oh God! Hey Ran, did you hear that? Foreign War- I can't even say all of that! The name alone is boring enough to put you to sleep, why would you read something like that?" Kyoko's embarrassment receded beneath the overwhelming wave of mortification that she was soon drowning in.

Tears filled her eyes as she kept them downcast, her hands trembling as she held the thick book in a desperate grip. Did he have to be so loud? Everyone was staring, she could feel it. Why had she decided to read in the park on one of the staggered benches that surrounded the concrete stage where the local bands held their mini concert? It was so public and so horribly terrible.

"Ren, shut up." Ranmaru hissed, coming up behind his friend to put him in a choke hold, blushing slightly in light embarrassment as he looked back up. "Listen, I'm sor-" But there was no one there, Kyoko having run away as soon as the boys had been distracted and she had been able to find escape.

She slowed down when she had gotten the appropriate distance away, hunching over slightly and holding her book tightly to her chest. She knew that it was supposed to be boring like the text books they had read during school, but she liked it. Books like this were the kind of books that her grandfather and father had flipped through with her when she had been little to keep her mind busy, the kind of books that she had read with Asuma before they fell asleep on those missions their father had taken, the facts forcing their minds off the fact that they could be losing their other parent.

Why was that bad?

She kept her head down as she entered the house and walked into the living room, letting the book slide out of her hands and onto the coffee table, flopping bodily down on the couch and onto her stomach, burying her face into the cushion beneath her.

Shikamaru stepped into the room to investigate why his daughter hadn't gone to get her usual snack like she did whenever she came home in the middle of the day on her days off as a genin, pausing as he took in her position.

"Something wrong?" Kyoko grunted, not bothering to look up at her father or move from her completely limp pose. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. He knew that pose. It was the same one that her mother had used when something had managed to depress her. Of course, this was just before she managed to get pissed off and in his experience trying to talk just brought the 'pissed off' part around a bit sooner.

So he eased out of the room, going into the kitchen where Maria was sitting at the table waiting for his return, flipping through the newspaper to try and find something interesting to read.

"So, is Kyoko home?" She asked, twisting a piece of her hair around in sequence with the spinning of her foot.

"Yeah, but you need to go talk to her." Shikamaru said, sitting at the table and wiping his hands of the entire thing. Kyoko was far less likely to get mad at Maria than him.

Maria rolled her eyes at the man, already guessing that his laziness was the largest contributing factor to Kyoko suddenly needing a talk, but she still stood up and went to the girl.

"Hey," She said, sitting down on the free space on the couch that the thin and boney girl had left, looking at the sight she made. "What's the matter?" Kyoko twisted her head so that her face was turned towards Maria, and sighed heavily.

"Am I boring?"

"Nope." She answered, believing it completely. The girl was a ninja after all, there was no way she could be boring. Kyoko rolled her eyes, acting like every other young teen girl when faced with a truthful compliment.

"No I'm not. I read boring books, I wear boring clothes, and I have boring hair." She said, looking her baggy clothes over with disgust and tugging on one of her pigtails. "I mean, if Asuma was taller we'd get our clothes mixed up, and I've worn the same hair for years. I don't even know what I look like with my hair down."

"Ah." Was all that Maria said, prompting the girl to peer at her questioningly.

"What do you mean, 'Ah'?"

"Ah as in, 'Ah, I see and I understand.'. And since I see and understand, I now know the solution to your problem." She said, getting up and striding back into the kitchen. "Hey, Shikamaru, give me some money so I can fix your daughter." He sighed and grumbled about how troublesome everything was but he still gave her his wallet so that she could take as much money as she deemed fit plus one of his cards.

She smiled sweetly and handed the now lighter wallet back, walking back into the living room to drag Kyoko up off of the couch and out of the door, making her way merrily down to the town center while a still depressed Kyoko along with her.

"Maria, what are you doing? Why did you take money from my dad?" Kyoko pulled on the hold the woman had on her wrist, wanting to go back to her house and hide away from all of those judging eyes. "And why am I with you?"

"So we can go shopping."

Kyoko blinked at the obviously crazy woman. "Shopping? Shopping where?" Maria stopped, turning the girl so that they were facing the little clothing store she had determined to be perfect. The clothes in the window were cute and stylish, the shop itself charming and tidy.

"Here!" She declared, shoving her through the doors enthusiastically.

Kyoko flailed her arms around, desperate to grab onto something and stop her decent into depths unknown. She had never been into one of these girl shops, all of her clothes having been bought at bigger faceless stores where she simply went with her father and brother into the boy's section, all of them too afraid to even dare to venture into the girly part of the store. The only time she had ever ventured over into that part of the store was when she was with her Aunt Ino to get underwear, and that had become so desperately embarrassing that she usually tried to go alone now and grab the first package she came across.

They got through the doors and Kyoko looked around, wincing at just how... feminine everything looked. She felt like a fish flopping around in the desert and all she wanted to do was just go home and get back to comfort and familiarity. But there was a very determined woman behind her who wouldn't let her, instead pushing her deeper into the store.

"Maria... what?" Suddenly the woman stopped and stepped in front of the girl, turning and motioning widely.

"Go ahead, look around."

Kyoko shook her head, wrapping her arms protectively around herself. "No thank you." Maria rolled her eyes at her and tugged her to one of the racks.

"See all of this?" She asked, lifting up some of the shirts. "These are clothes. Nothing to be afraid of, just something to appreciate. These aren't overly cute or frilly, they're very simple. But they'll fit you better than what you're wearing now. Just look around and find some things you like and try them on. If you need any help I'm right here. I'm pretty much an expert at this stuff."

Hesitantly Kyoko reached out and rubbed the fabric of one of the shirt sleeves between her fingers, slowly pushing the hangers aside to study the clothes carefully, not really sure what she was looking for. Did she want something cute? She didn't think cute clothes would look good on her, but maybe something sporty. She was tall and thin, so sporty clothes should look good on her, right?

Eventually it got so that her arms were stacked high with shirts and jeans and such, most of which had been forced onto her by Maria. She stepped into the dressing room and dropped the pile on the bench, pulling the curtain closed and tugging her baggy clothes off. She had just picked up the first pair of jeans when Maria slipped through the curtain to join her.

"Maria!" Kyoko gasped, trying to cover herself as best as she could with the pair of jeans in her hands. Maria waved her embarrassment away, looking over the boney girl.

"Oh hush now, you're not my type. I like em lean, dark, and handsome. And I lean more towards men." Kyoko widened her eyes at the woman, wanting to shrivel up and die.

"That's not why I'm embarrassed! Maria, I'm naked!"

"No, you're in your underwear. We'll get you some more of that too while we're here." The girl visibly paled at the thought of that hellish experience, shaking her head frantically.

"No. No no no no no." Maria rolled her eyes at the girl but decided to let the subject rest.

"Fine, just come out here when you've got something on."

An hour later Kyoko watched as Maria studied the outfits they had chosen critically, nodding when she was done. "I was right, simpler things look better on you." Kyoko looked at one of the outfits -a red t-shirt dress and dark gray leggings- unsure about it. "But when am I going to wear this? It's short and I'm a ninja, and I don't really wear dresses anyways."

"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't have one, especially one as versatile as this one. And you have leggings to make up for the shortness." Kyoko followed her to the register, but blinked when Maria walked past it.

"Ah, Maria...?" She then saw where the woman was headed and ran to stop her. "No! Maria, let's just leave." Maria sighed at the girl.

"It's underwear, Kyoko. It's not that big of a deal, and you need new ones."

"Why?"

"Because. When you wear cute underwear you feel more confident, more like a woman." Kyoko looked at the lunatic disbelievingly, not really all that sure why she liked the woman. She might have been pretty but her logic could use some work.

"Maria, it's something no one sees."

Maria wagged her finger at the girl, smirking at her. "Ah, but one day someone will. And no one has to see it for you to be confident because of it. It's a sexy little secret that no one needs to know about but you."

"Maria, I'm thirteen. I can't be sexy. I don't want to be sexy." Maria rolled her eyes at her again and continued to push her into the little section of the store that the girl fought so vehemently against.

Kyoko blushed until she swore her whole body was red, wondering why such a private thing should be displayed so publicly in the store. There were people passing by and even though they weren't looking at her they could.

"You know," Maria said conversationally, studying a lacy pair that had caught her fancy. "This will go faster if you just cooperate." Lowering her head Kyoko began to pick through the pile -why on earth were they all piled in a bin?- trying to find something to appease the woman.

When they were finally –oh good God, finally- out of the store and making their way back, Maria threw her arm around Kyoko's shoulders. "Well now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Kyoko blew out her breath in a heavy and burdened sigh, feeling so indefinitely tired.

"I hate you." She grunted and Maria merely laughed, tugging her up the steps to her half of the building they shared instead of letting her go to her own home. "Oh God," Kyoko groaned, not even bothering to fight to woman anymore. "What now?"

Maria grinned and ushered her inside. "First I'll show you how to properly wash all of this and then I'll teach you how to put on makeup."

"Makeup? Maria... Why?" She asked, dropping her bags down in the laundry room. Maria smiled.

"It's a skill every woman needs to know."

"Why?"

"Why not?" She asked, shrugging, going through all the clothes and explaining it to the girl, dragging her up the stairs as the machine whirled and sitting her down at her vanity.

"I don't use foundation or anything like that- it usually makes people look ridiculous because they try and cake it on- but I like to focus on the eyes, which is what we'll do with you." She grabbed her little brushes and smiled gently at the girl. "After all, you have such beautiful eyes."

Later Kyoko studied her reflection as Maria stood behind her and brushed her hair. Her eyes now seemed wider and darker and smokey, the sharp angles of her face made softer by the blush Maria had brushed on her cheeks, the lip gloss making her lips shine. With her hair down she looked girlier, the awkwardness hidden and making her look almost pretty.

"Maria... there's this boy." Maria fought to keep the smile off of her face, though it was hard since she had figured all of this out hours ago.

"Oh?"

"And... he thinks that I'm boring."

"Well, he doesn't sound very smart."

"Oh he is!" Kyoko was quick to protest. "He was one of the top students in my class. And he didn't say I was boring, his best friend did. But he probably thinks it." She sighed and met Maria's eyes in the mirror, silently asking her for help.

"If he thinks that he's an idiot." Kyoko's lips twitched and then she sighed, studying herself once more.

"Maria, am I pretty now?"

Maria sat the brush down and smoothed her hair, smiling down at the girl. "What do you mean now? You've always been pretty. This stuff isn't meant to make you pretty, it's meant to show other people that you're confident and comfortable. The prettiness is all your own." Kyoko faintly blushed.

"Thank you." She said quietly. Maria nodded and brushed her hands off.

"Now then, let's get you in one of those outfits and go show your dad. I bet we'll leave him speechless."

Kyoko smiled.

Shikamaru looked down at the two boys on his doorstep, making them both fidget under the strength of his stare. "What do you want?" They shifted from foot to foot, swallowing past their nervousness.

"Um, I said we were here to see Kyoko. Sir."

"And?"

"Ah..." Ranmaru rubbed his sweaty palms off on his pants and tried to figure out if it would be better to just retreat or not. "Well, you see..."

"Dad?" Everyone turned to look down at Kyoko and just stared. "Ren? Ranmaru? What are you two doing here?" Kyoko blushed and hoped that she hadn't somehow messed up Maria's handy work. The way everyone was staring at her was unsettling.

"K-Kyoko?" Ranmaru blinked, flushing as the girl's eyes met his. They seemed so... big. "Um, ah, you look..."

"What's on your face?" Kyoko looked up at her father and smiled sheepishly.

"Makeup. Maria and I had a girl's day." Maria waved from behind the girl, smiling at the group and holding in her laughter. This was all just too funny.

"You look good." Ren said, earning an elbow from Ranmaru, a hard look from Shikamaru and a blush from Kyoko.

"Ah, Kyoko. I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. I asked Ren to see what you were reading and I guess it would have been better if I had just gone and talked to you myself."

"You..." Kyoko wondered if her face could get any redder. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Well yeah." The boy said, scratching the back of his head and blushing just as red as the girl. "I've wanted to talk to you for a pretty long time." Kyoko sweetly smiled at him, happy as she had ever been.

"I've been wanting to talk to you too!"

"That's great." Ranmaru said, both of them standing on the steps and grinning at each other like fools.

"Um, hey. There's this movie and..." The boy blinked as Shikamaru moved past him, picking up Kyoko by her upper arms and carrying her into the house, setting the girl behind him as he stared at the foolish children before him.

"Ah..."

Kyoko peeked around her father, smiling at the boy. "I'd love to go to the movies with you."

"Really? That's great. Saturday at five?"

"Saturday at five." She confirmed, smiling at the boy until her father closed the door on the sight of him. As soon as it was shut she turned to Maria and wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging her as tightly as possible.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed, releasing her to run up into her room and laugh over just how wonderful life was.

Maria grinned at her receding form, "He liked you before the makeup!" She called out, still smiling as she turned to face Shikamaru.

"What did you do to my daughter?"

"I helped her come out of the shell she was in. Come on now, it's just a little makeup and clothes."

"Boys, Maria. And boys." She laughed and made her way back to the kitchen to grab a snack. Shopping and changing lives really worked up an appetite. "Really now, I didn't have anything to do with that. He was here even before he got a look at how she looks now."

Shikamaru sat down at the table and closed his eyes, suddenly tired. "Troublesome. Teenagers are so troublesome."

A few points:

No1) No, clothes and make up do not make a person pretty. That thought is shallow and petty.

No2) Kyoko and Ranmaru aren't really a forever thing. They're 13.

No3) Yes, pretty underwear can give you confidence.

A shout out to my newest little darling coreejones.52! You make me so happy and I love you so much! I promise I'll resolve the ShikaTema thing as soon as Kathy will let me. (And no, Temari is not dead. None of my characters will be dieing in these stories.) And thank you for saying that I have talent! I practically squealed like a little girl at that!

Here, have a doughnut.

I love you all, my amazing and precious darlings! Until next time! Caio! (look at me being all sophisticated!)