Her new home is cosy and simple, two bedrooms and a kitchen and lounge built into one open space. It's mostly thanks to her friends that the furniture got moved in at all. Although arguably they caused more havoc than they really helped, but she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"So how's the chakra development coming along?" Kurenai asked her as they sat on her new sofa and listened to the boys argue about how to build a cabinet.

"It's better. I can see solid shapes now, but I'll never see colour or light and dark again."

She could see the hazy outline of Kurenai nodding beside her, outside of her sparring sessions with Gai there were no missions available to her so she spent a lot of time training her chakra. It meant everything became easier every day.

"What about weapons?"

Shoko sighed "I can't see anything in the air. Birds, bugs, nothing until it hits the ground."

It was going to be a huge block, not being able to defend herself from aerial attacks. She was getting better at avoiding attacks from Gai but only if she 'saw' him throw the weapon in the first place. There had been several times where Kakashi, or Asuma and Kurenai, had had to step in and save her from flying weapons.

It was infuriating, but she would find a way to work around it eventually.

They looked back towards the boys, who had managed to finally put the cabinet together and were now shifting it into the kitchen. Shoko scowled at a few pieces left on the floor, but just rolled her eyes. If it fell apart they could come back and fix it for her. Kurenai had also taken it upon herself to decorate the walls, which Shoko pointed out meant nothing to her but she wouldn't be swayed.

"The Hokage has signed Naruto up for the academy next year," Kurenai told her softly "you're not going to do anything risky are you?"

Shoko clicked her tongue but didn't answer. Kurenai had known for a long time now that her sensei had been Kushina, and that she resented the treatment of Naruto but it wasn't until now that Kurenai thought she might act on it. Although nobody had been ordered to leave the boy alone, there was an unspoken law that they did so anyways.

"Kushina sensei wouldn't treat anybody's child without love and care." Was all Shoko said to her, and Kurenai dropped it.

"Alright," Asuma came over grinning at the pair "That's all the furniture exactly where you wanted it Sho."

She smiled up at him, she had learnt to hear a person's feelings in their voice, and she was getting better and better at it every day.

"Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the help."

Gai yelled something about the delight of youth and she grinned, she was always happy to hear him shouting. Sometimes she felt like he did it just to see her smile at his antics.

"Alright, we're heading out." Kurenai told her, standing from the comfort of the sofa "We'll see you soon alright Sho?"

"See you guys soon."

Only Kakashi waited behind once the other three had gone, closing the door softly behind them. Kakashi came over and took the seat where Kurenai had been only moments before. Despite what Hiro had thought, none of her friends spent any less time with her beyond no longer going on missions together anymore. Still, Kakashi found the most time to spend with her.

"Naruto is going to be living on the next block." He told her quietly, making her frown.

"I thought that was a secret?"

She felt him shrug.

"You're going to find out one way or another, and I've seen the apartment. It's not fit for a kid."

Her frown deepened. Why? Why would the Hokage do that to Naruto? When his parents had wanted people to recognise the sacrifice he had unwillingly made for the rest of the village. He had saved so many lives and he wouldn't know for such a long time and it hurt. She felt like she would be forever trying to repay Kushina for everything she did.

"Can't you convince him to put him somewhere better?"

He shook his head "No. He doesn't want Naruto to be spoiled."

There was a big difference between spoiled and neglected. At least she would be there, no matter what she would be there.

"When is Neji coming over?" He asked her then, changing the topic.

"The weekend, I think he'll end up staying here a lot more than he will stay at the compound."

Kakashi hummed. She was tired, and it was starting to get late. She could feel the cool air rising as the sun set, and she knew Kakashi would have to leave soon for his next anbu shift. He got a lot of his not inconsiderable income from anbu, but very rarely actually spent any of it. He wasn't a particularly material person.

"You're anbu for the next week right?"

"I am. We're investigating a potential hideout for Orochimaru."

Whenever someone mentioned Orochimaru she thought of Tadaki, and his unnaturally long arms and that shrill ear-drum popping screech of his. She hated that he was one of the last things she ever got to see, that he was seared into her brain.

"Be safe."

He shifted, pressing soft lips to the side of her head before he left her for the night without another word. She sat there for a few moments, her heart fluttering in her chest before she scowled.

"Fuck."

xXx

When Neji comes over, he hurries about the small apartment with great glee and inspecting his room with great delight. He's got a bag full of clothes (far too many for the weekend) and he sets about arranging them in the drawers in the small spare room. Its hopeless calling it the spare room, she realises. It's Neji's room, it would always be Neji's room.

"How was school?" She asks him as he putters about deciding where everything belongs.

He grunts "Its' okay. The other kids are idiots."

She hides her laugh behind a cough, and he finally takes a moment to look on at his new room with a triumphant face. Yes, this is much better than the compound.

"It's not very nice to call people idiots Neji," She tells him albeit with humour in her voice "a lot of them will be trying very hard."

He scuffed his feet, at least feeling a little bad about calling them idiots. Shoko was right, he knew some of the kids worked really hard and still struggled, he must have just been lucky that he could take it easy and still do well. Not that he ever took it easy; he wanted to show everyone how much better the branch family could be compared to the main branch.

"Oh!" He shouted suddenly, diving at the bag on the bed "You got a letter from Gaara!"

She smiled and sat down on the bed beside him, she could really write currently (she definitely could read his letters herself) so Neji helped her write her letters to the young Gaara, and also read his responses to her so she could always stay in touch with him.

"Hello Shoko!" Neji began happily "We had a really bad storm the other week, the rain turned all the sand into mud and we made mud monsters together. Temari beat up Kankuro again and broke his favourite puppet, but she also helped him glue it back together after he got upset. Yashamaru has been acting weird lately, I think he misses you, come visit soon!"

She helped him write the response, it also gave him a chance to practise his handwriting which was always a bonus.

"Shoko?"

"Yes Ji-Ji?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

She blinked, and then frowned, down at him.

"What? No Neji, why?"

He shuffled in his seat "Hiro says you've been lead astray by your boyfriend."

She sighed, she was literally never going to get away from that boy and his nastiness.

"Neji, I know I said that it's not nice to call people stupid-"

"Yeah."

"-But Hiro is stupid."

"Okay."

Ah well, things could only go up from here. Right?