Sasuke remembers that night vividly. The moon with a slight reddish hue in the sky, the swirling red of his brother's eyes, the thick, sticky red that caked his toenails the next morning when he'd failed to clean them off after stepping into his clansmen's blood.

He remembers it all clearly, too clearly and the memories of that single night overshadow all the soft smiles of his brother, the rare pat of his father and the mellow, kind voice of his mother that had once cast a warm glow inside his chest but now only serve to constrict his lungs.

Sasuke recalls those days when his family was whole and happy and full of life despite the small rifts making their way into his house. He dreams sometimes of his father and brother talking in hushed tones around the kotatsu while he played in the courtyard. He never sees himself as the one receiving his father's attention. That had never been him. It had been Itachi. Always Itachi.

He dreams of his brother telling him some story or other about his academy days and though his voice was flat and plain, Sasuke had always found those stories riveting from his safe perch atop Itachi's shoulders.

But more often than not, he dreams of a katana lined with the blood of his parents, positioned at his neck and the cold, frosty red eyes staring at him as if he's a mere pest, a cockroach left alive not out of love or fondness but disgust and pity.

He hates those dreams. He hates all of them.

So he tries not to sleep, not to let his mind linger in the past and he sets his eyes onto the future. He lies unblinking on his futon and then fights against his drowsiness and most nights, he wins.

He gets up again at midnight when he can't be bothered with the pretense of relaxing anymore and goes straight to the small training field at the end of his clan compound. It's silent except the whispers of the dead, the phantom sounds that Sasuke can't help but hear. It's times like these, when the aloneness is glaring and so obvious that he wonders why he didn't give up this compound. This piece of land that had once been the home of his family but now was only a shell of its former glory.

The Hokage had told him that morning, several days after the massacre. Sasuke was seated across the leader of his village with loads of anger and resentment.

Because how could this man call himself the Hokage and fail to protect his family, his clan?

The Kage though, hadn't so much as frowned at his behaviour and taken all his rude answers in stride. Then the man had offered him a place, a safe and quiet apartment just three blocks away from the Kage Tower. Promised him that he would get all the support and all the help to get adjusted and settled in.

Sasuke had refused vehemently. And even after he'd calmed down a month later, and even after he'd been haunted by the lingering echoes in his clan compound, he didn't regret his decision.

Because this compound, these empty houses with the paint slowly chipping away had been his family's, his clan's and now it is his to keep. It is a connection, however fickle, to his dead clan and he prefers it much more than that traitor, that brother that once had been.

He pounds away at the logs till they batter and bruise and imagines Itachi there instead, punching with renewed vigour. When he gets back to his room again, it's always sunrise already and he gets some shut-eye before heading to the academy. Nobody questions the increasing bulges beneath his eyes, too occupied in idolising him as some novelty, a rarity. And he wonders, with no small amount of bitterness about what exactly he'd accomplished by failing to die that night.

He always sits beside the window and glares at anyone who so much as glances at the seat next to his. After the first couple of times one of the Kunoichi-in-training had been stubborn about pestering him, he'd pulled out his kunai that had sent her yelping away. Since then his classmates had learned to leave him be and respect his personal space. Even Iruka sensei hadn't reprimanded him but he'd cast this...this pitying look instead that always made Sasuke grit his teeth. He didn't need anyone's pity.

He'd been an attentive kid once. Full of curiosity and enthusiasm and innocence. Now he's got way too many voices in his head to focus on what his sensei says during class. He still listens though. Because he wants to become strong. He wants that strength to someday defeat his brother. But his mind inevitably wanders away sometimes and he looks at the outstretched grass outside detachedly. Flashes of blood and metal and icy gazes return but something even more hurtful resurfaces in his head.

Laughter. Bright and soft and genuine.

Itachi's laughter.

He'd only ever heard it twice.

Once when he was 5 and had tried to mimick his brother's senbon attack with barbeque sticks and none of them had embedded into his target board. He'd huffed petulantly and accused the sticks of being 'uncooperative little jerks' while Itachi had watched on from the sidelines. When some sticks somehow landed in his hair in a tangled mess, Itachi had laughed and the warm tone and pleasant ring had surprised Sasuke so much, he'd forgotten to show his offense when Itachi had flicked his forehead.

The second time Sasuke hadn't made Itachi laugh. Shisui had. Only a few months before his cousin had died.

Sasuke had complained and complained, pouted and prodded till his brother had finally caved and let him attend one of his training sessions with Shisui. Sasuke had been entranced with their spar and had gleefully obliged when Shisui had offered to fight him. He'd been aware that the older jounin was just humoring him but he'd given his best anyway and when Itachi had ruffled his hair later and said "good job, little brother" Sasuke had only beamed. Then Shisui had said something witty, and nudged Itachi with an elbow and then his brother had laughed again. A short, startled kind but gentle and cheerful anyway.

Now these memories only serve to remind Sasuke what once had been and what he'd never have again. Shisui was dead and so was his brother. He didn't know this Itachi Uchiha, whoever he was, with hatred in his eyes and blood on his palms. His brother had been kind, and polite and patient. His brother hadn't been this ruthless killer.

Yet, Sasuke knows, deep down that Itachi was the murderer of his clan as much as he'd been his brother. It only fans the raging flames of his anger towards Itachi.

Sasuke's always been a fighter at heart. Fighting for his father's approval. Fighting to get his brother's affections. Fighting to step outside his brother's shadow.

He'll fight in the future too. He'll fight his brother because he knows that the dead eyes of Itachi will be ten times better than the chilly frostiness that shroud them now.

[ Sealing chakra into an inanimate object is a tricky endeavour. The process itself requires the user of the seal to be proficient in the skills of seal-activation and mediation. Especially so when the chakra is highly volatile and/or the object isn't well-suited to hold the chakra being stored in it.

Rudimentary seals usually necessitate the user's constant attention to work perfectly. Remember that the symbols you draw onto a page aren't mere symbols. When a seal is created, the sum of these individual symbols has a result far greater than the effect of one comma or swiggle alone. Seals, as I like to call them, are semi-sentient. Symbolism is heavily applied in seals – like a wavy line used for a water-storage scroll or a sharp bolt to contain a lightning jutsu. Do not forget that seals are temperamental and as a beginner, controlling advanced seals to work the way you want them to will be an uphill battle.

The following are the 3 Cs of Chakra sealing (inanimate) that will allow you to understand the process in its basic format:

1. Channel Intent.

2. Coax Cooperation.

3. Control Transfer.

Take all my advice with a grain of salt, since I'm but a simple human with limited experiences and the tricks that work for me might turn out fruitless for you.]

Naruto absentmindedly eats some toast with butter and jam smeared on it. His attention is focused on the fifth page of the third chapter of this book that's teaching him more about sealing arts than his sensei at the academy ever could. He hadn't noticed before, but reading this – some of his failures with seal-activation make sense.

Last week, he'd tried to activate a seal that repaired tears in paper. He knows it's completely unnecessary, given that paper is a very common resource – especially so when they're heavily surrounded with forests. But his aim was to mend the tears of important documents or fragile parchments. Seeing the state this monograph is in may or may not have contributed towards Naruto's invention of this seal.

While activating the seal, however, he found that it didn't work. His chakra output was perfect, the symbols drawn were all distinguishable and well-meshed and yet nothing happened.

Now Naruto knows what he'd done wrong. Instead of focusing his intent on commanding the seal to repair the tear (basically coaxing his chakra to follow the order laid down by the symbols), he'd instead focused solely on expending the right amount of chakra. In his defence, the seal required an amount of chakra too tiny for his massive reserves to give out with ease.

Naruto takes another bite, only for his teeth to meet flesh. He snorts upon realising that he'd been too engrossed to notice he'd eaten all his breakfast already. Glancing at the clock tells him he has about 20 minutes to reach the academy and he reluctantly closes the book after laying out his handmade bookmark between the pages.

Time to get going then.

It's been going on for a while now, Shikamaru muses.

Even though the blond and pinkhead across him think they're being subtle with the exaggerated eyebrow movements and ridiculous hand gesturing. It's not like they'd get in trouble for talking either. Iruka sensei is writing their sparring routines on the board and as such paying no attention to them.

That leaves only one reason why the two would do the comical hand signing. They want him to notice them. Possibly ask them what they're up to.

Well, Shikamaru will happily go along with it. He's curious afterall.

He clears his throat just like his father does and both of them immediately look towards him, twin expressions of fake innocence plastered on expertly.

"What's up?" he asks, "I noticed the excessive hand signalling and thought I'd make sure y'all didn't get genjutsu'd."

Naruto throws him a sheepish look while Sakura grins and tells him, "Thanks for the concern Shikamaru! But we're totally fine. Just...talking about something."

And oh, Shikamaru knows a bait when he hears one. He falls for it willingly just this once.

"Yes? And what's that about."

"A seal," Naruto says, bearly concealing his excitement, "Remember the chakra transfer chain we were working on?"

Shikamaru remembers. Ofcourse he does. But it's only been a little over a month and if Naruto's already managed to form that seal, well, Shikamaru will have to change all his preconceived notions about the blond's minimal intelligence very soon.

"I do," he replies, "Are you done making it?"

Naruto's snort surprises him, "As if. The seal's far too advanced for me to make at the moment," he pauses and looks at Sakura who gives a tiny nod and then he's facing Shikamaru again, intense blue eyes zeroing in on him, "but I did manage to make a draft seal, a precursor to the precursor of the final seal so to speak."

"That's nice," Shikamaru says somewhat lamely but hurries to get to the point, "I'm assuming you need me to do something for you then?"

He expects a request to maybe look over the seal and point out flaws or holes. Maybe asked to help Naruto in the making of the final seal itself. Intellectually help, that is.

"Yes!" Naruto says brightly, "You know how to manipulate chakra externally right?"

Shikamaru blinks, thrown for a loop. Yes, he can do that but he wasn't expected that question or the implications of it.

"Hmm," he hums in agreement, "My clan's justus require it."

"Awesome! Then you can help us test this seal." Sakura leans her elbow on his desk with an eager expression. Naruto's not any better and Shikamaru wants to say no. That there's no way in hell he'll spend his leisure time expending his chakra instead of lounging at his usual spot for cloud gazing but his curiosity rears its ugly, very very ugly head inside his mind and cheerfully threatens him to comply or it'll plague his mind with horrors of unanswered questions.

He nods his head slowly, careful to keep his face bored, "Okay. I think I can manage that."

Sakura smiles at him, not the shy one she only wears but something bolder and wild and Shikamaru can't help but wonder how he'd never noticed this side of her. But then he turns to see Naruto's brightened visage, his brilliant grin and he knows his answer even as he finds himself smiling back at the two

Because he doesn't think anyone can remain reserved in this exuberant blond's presence.

Sasuke glances at the afternoon sun, swiping the sweat off his brow. The rays are mild today, even outside the holed shade of the trees. He's training at the public grounds today, one that's safely tucked at the edge of Konoha's boundary with rough, dry grass and an overabundance of dummy logs. Usually no one bothers him here except the occasional chunin or jounin that come to exercise but they have the good sense to not approach him. Today's no different.

Or so Sasuke thinks right until the moment three familiar faces enter the space, one of them talking animatedly with the other two.

Sasuke goes right back to his furious punching and kicking and pays them no mind. If they have even some vague semblance of intelligence, they'll leave him alone.

For a long while that's exactly what they do. Not even the pinkheaded girl who Sasuke knows had liked him once, spares a glance towards him. Instead the three huddle up at the far end of the ground, a long scroll neatly unfolded with the blond sitting at its side by the middle, hands on the paper while the Nara sits on the ground and listens attentively to the Uzumaki.

That surprises Sasuke. He wasn't aware that Naruto is capable of having enough knowledge about seals to be able to impart it. He can't hear them but the Nara's intrigue is almost palpable and even Sasuke finds himself somewhat curious about what they're upto. He easily restrains his inquisitiveness under layers and layers of rage and single minded goals and keeps up with his katas.

At some point he senses an output of chakra from the area the trio occupy before it just...vanishes. A single stream of chakra coming out before getting swallowed up by the scroll acting as some sort of blackhole. Not a single trace of it remains. That's unusual.

Then there's a faint blast and the smell of smoke and the next moment Naruto is marching towards him with a purposeful look on his face.

"You!" the blond says when he's finally in front of Sasuke, a thumb pointing towards the other two staring dubiously at them, "Come with me over there!"

Sasuke just raises a single eyebrow but Naruto doesn't budge, hands on his hips and the determined gleam set in his blue eyes.

"Why would I do such a thing?"

"Because I said so!" Naruto says childishly, "Now hurry up, we've not got all day!"

Sasuke catches Sakura's eyes who just smiles sheepishly at him and Shikamaru whose face betrays nothing.

He shrugs, unbothered and turns back to his log to continue his onslaught of attacks.

Naruto stands there tapping his foot impatiently before huffing in annoyance.

"Don't ignore me," he says irritatedly, "Just come over okay? I'll explain everything."

Sasuke doesn't entertain any thoughts of relenting and proceeds to ignore the blond with faint traces of amusement when Naruto turns more and more agitated.

But then Naruto's face changes, and it takes over the same grin Sasuke has seen on the blond before he does a prank on Mizuki-sensei and then Naruto's behind him. Arms lock under his own and with one rough, strong pull Naruto is hauling Sasuke away from the log and Sasuke lashes with a back kick which the blond somehow dodges even as he tightens his grip on Sasuke.

The Uchiha grits his teeth, finding himself annoyed instead of Naruto and in a petty attempt to get free he pinches Naruto's arm viciously. The blond yelps but holds strong regardless and Sasuke hears him snicker in his ear.

"Let me go," he says quietly because shouting never helped his father, "Or I'll injure you so badly you'll be limping till you're 80."

And okay maybe that's a bit too much but Sasuke really is annoyed and making exaggerated threats is somehow therapeutic.

"Sure," Naruto says cheerfully, still dragging him to their little base of operations, "You can do that just after you're done helping me."

The moment they reach the other two, Naruto let's go of him and Sasuke tries to do his best to appear as dignified as he can even as he smoothes out the wrinkles on his t-shirt from where Naruto had gripped it. From the twitch on Sakura's lips and faint amusement in Shikamaru's eyes, Sasuke guesses he's failing splendidly.

All the more reason to maim Naruto then.

"What do you need my help for?" Sasuke asks, surprising himself by being the one initiating a conversation.

"You can do nature transformation for your chakra right?" Naruto inquires, absently removing another scroll from his pouch.

"I can," Sasuke confirms, "Why?"

Naruto turns towards Sakura who jumps into the conversation.

"Naruto wants you to test out his seal. Basically, you need to feed fire type chakra into the opening of the seal. We tried to do it with Shikamaru's chakra which is mix of yin and yang that he uses for his clan jutsu. But there was an error in Naruto's seal. He says that the symbols for pure chakra and fire chakra are very similar and while describing the kind of chakra the scroll's meant to store and transfer, he exchanged the two symbols. It didn't work for Shikamaru but since you can actually release fire natured chakra, it should work just fine."

Naruto gives her a grateful smile and Sakura beams in return. The small interaction is almost...sweet. Sakura is adept at theory and can explain and exchange facts which Naruto can't. Meanwhile Naruto boosts her confidence and treats her with respect, something Sasuke is certain Sakura doesn't receive very often.

"Yes. So you got all that Sasuke?" Naruto asks.

Sasuke nods at him, "I think. But I've got a few questions."

Naruto settles down comfortably and unrolls the scroll, waving a hand at him to go forward with the queries.

"What does this scroll do?"

"It's meant to take chakra inside from one end and then transfer it along the chain drawn across it and store it at the other end."

Sasuke eyes Naruto as the blond scrutinizes the scroll, sharp and intelligent eyes scanning all the symbols and he knows that this scroll is Naruto's work however difficult it may be to wrap his mind around the fact.

"Why the extra chain? Don't chakra storage scrolls already do the same thing? Take chakra and store it?"

Naruto smiles faintly, and Sasuke joins him on the ground along with Sakura and Shikamaru.

"It's only a testing seal. The main task is the transfer of chakra through the chain. I intend to remove the component that stores the chakra at the opposite end, instead add a matrix so that the chakra can be transferred to another object that's kept on it, or is in contact with it or another person under similar conditions."

Sasuke's eyes widen just a bit. Human-object chakra transfer is extremely rare and human-human chakra transfer is almost unheard of. The only case of the latter is in the medical field where medics allow healing chakra to intrude into the patient's body but it never enters the patient's chakra circulation.

How Naruto worded it, Sasuke thinks it sounds like chakra transfusion – something not even the Sannin Tsunade has been able to accomplish.

"Oh," he says a bit stupidly, failing to keep his doubtful tone at bay.

Naruto doesn't seem to mind though as the blond only nods at him, before smoothing out the scroll and adding a little tomoe, a straight line here and there.

"Perfect," Naruto mutters before turning to him, "Come on then, place your palm right here."

Sasuke does as instructed and Sakura stands up behind where Naruto's bent and Shikamaru looks on with interest.

"Once I activate the seal," Naruto begins, "you need to give out your chakra after internally transforming its nature type to fire. Right now my own plain chakra will power the seal, and the seal will do it's job. I need a bit more time before I can make the user's chakra itself power the seal without a mediator's assistance."

Sasuke shrugs, accepting the piece of information and gets to the task at hand. He feels his fiery chakra building beneath his palm, senses it as it enters the scroll and travels through the chain at near-instant speed before it seemingly vanishes and Sasuke can't sense it anymore.

A minute passes as Sasuke keeps pushing his chakra through the scroll before Naruto raises a silent hand, motioning for him to stop. Sasuke does so and lifts his palm off the parchment just like Naruto.

The blond sits still for a moment, staring blankly at the other end of the scroll where the chakra's stored supposedly before he blinks and a huge smile overtakes his face. He turns towards him excitedly,

"It worked!" he tells Sasuke rather redundantly, "Oh Kami, it actually worked!"

Sakura seems equally delighted, "Good job Naruto," she says, "The chakra behaved just like you intended it to."

Naruto turns his attention to her and the two share a brief high-five before the blond looks at both Sasuke and Shikamaru.

"Thanks guys!" he says, genuine gratitude lacing his words, "you've been great help! Let me know if you need anything, I'll definitely repay y'all."

Shikamaru waves a dismissive hand.

"It's nothing. Besides, this was...fun," he scratches his neck awkwardly. "Fuuinjutsu is interesting."

Sasuke agrees but he doesn't forego the small debt Naruto owes him. He's learned to never refuse any advantage and though he doesn't think Naruto can do anything particularly beneficial for him, it won't harm to have his help if he ever requires it.

Naruto smiles slightly at the Nara before turning guilty all of a sudden.

"Sorry for that explosion," he says to Shikamaru, "I should've been more careful with the seal. It could've been worse and I don't know...you could've gotten injured."

Sasuke can't help but feel a bit amused at the blond's extreme sincerity. He's sure Shikamaru doesn't know how to handle so many blatant emotions either. He's always noticed Naruto, somewhere in the background, lingering in his periphery with grins and smiles and cheer and joy – but also a heavy sorrow clinging to him. It feels odd interacting with Naruto after ignoring his existence for so long.

It's not as bad as Sasuke thought it'd be

"It's okay Naruto," Shikamaru says, rolling his eyes, "I didn't get hurt. Neither did you. And experimentation always has its risks. When I agreed to help you, I knew what I was in for."

Naruto nods uncertainly, not sure if Shikamaru had accepted his apology or simply dismissed it before Sakura tells Naruto to pack his stuff and that the sun's already setting so he better hurry up or Sakura will leave him behind.

And that's that.

Sasuke stays in the ground even after the three leave. He stays there till midnight before heading home and when his head hits the pillow that night, his thoughts linger towards Naruto's seals, and Shikamaru's lazy posture and Sakura's green eyes. He won't realise until much much later that this night had been the first of many when his dead clan or Itachi hadn't plagued his dreams.

Yamanakas are largely referred to as mind readers in Konoha. Not only because they're able to literally read minds through their unique invasive jutsu but also because they're instinctively more capable of reading people, their signs and tics and discern abnormalities and variations in their behaviours.

So it's no wonder that it's Ino who first notices the changes. They're so subtle that she's sure everyone else in her class full of idiots must've missed them.

The changes being Sakura's shift in personality.

Ino had been Sakura's first true (not true, she corrects) friend, before boys and jealousy had turned them into rivals, bitter and petty. So Ino knew how Sakura had been a shy little thing, hiding behind too huge bangs, shielding herself with bulky tomes straight out of the archives, avoiding confrontation and complying without fuss to follow her lead.

Not anymore though.

Oh, she's still as booksmart as ever, poring over some book or the other everyday. She's still one to subtly solve the issue instead of tackling the problem head-on but the shyness, the insecurity? It's all gone. Not hidden. Not supressed. But overcome with silent confidence which just shows when Sakura walks towards her seat, sure of each step and always content to expose her forehead after tucking her bangs behind her ears.

Ino regrets not being there to witness this change, but she regrets not being the cause of it more.

Ino stares when Sakura hits Naruto playfully over the head and when she says something witty that makes Shikamaru snort.

Ino stares when Sakura chews on her pencil and hums distractedly as Naruto rambles in her ears or when she glares at Kiba when Akamaru sits on her book.

Ino stares and sometimes Sakura stares right back, too many emotions swimming behind pale blue and bright green eyes before both turn away simultaneously; each wondering when this invisible boundary between the two would cease to exist.

Then one day Naruto approaches Ino, failing to seem nonchalant and says softly,

"Hi Ino."

Ino frowns at him, "What do you want?"

Naruto brushes off her rudeness and continues in the same soft voice, "Sakura-chan...talks about you."

Ino stiffens because she knows what's coming next. Accusations maybe, anger even. She has no doubt that Sakura must've told Naruto – her friend, because that's who he is now – about the hurtful comments Ino had made, about how she'd acted and broken their friendship when they were only seven years old.

But none of that comes out of Naruto's mouth. Instead, he smiles at her, a tiny one and tells her about the snippets Sakura had shared with him. Of open fields and pink headbands. Of promises and lilies and sunflowers. Of two girls sharing a small bond, one helping the other.

He tells her what Sakura told him. None of the vitriol Ino had spewed and which Sakura had spewed right back but of days before that. When they'd had a sleepover at Ino's place and she'd lectured the pinkhead about the right way to sow a seed and take care of roses. About the times Sakura had dragged Ino to her clan compound and her mother had taken one look at the two and decided they'd be good for each other.

Ino doesn't cry. She doesn't show even a single emotion on her face because she knows what will happen if she does. If not a sobbing mess, she'll murder Sasuke for coming between their friendship. She knows how unfair her thoughts are but she can't bring herself to care.

"So," Naruto says atlast, subtly glancing at Sakura to make sure she doesn't see this interaction, "She doesn't think ill of you Ino. Atleast not anymore."

Ino bites her lip and glares at her desk, prompting the silly piece of wood to give her an answer. What should she do? Reconcile? Ignore? Make an effort to rebuild the friendship?

Turns out, it's Naruto who makes the decision for her. The blond takes one look at the empty seat beside Sasuke then at the empty seat beside Sakura where he usually sits before nodding to himself and trudging towards Sasuke.

Ino pays no mind to the argument that breaks out when Sasuke realises who's invaded his peace and marches resolutely towards Sakura. Sliding in the seat next to hers, Ino ignores the way Sakura's eyes widen or the knowing look Shikamaru gives her.

"Hello," she says, happy that her voice doesn't waver and resists the urge to throw her arms around Sakura and telling her you can keep that stupid Uchiha, I just want our friendship back.

Sakura looks at her, and Ino doesn't squirm under the scrutiny of those green eyes and when Sakura smiles at her, Ino dares to hope.

"Hi," Sakura replies carefully.

And it'll take many months, maybe a year before the two mend what's broken, but they will do it with small, stolen conversations and agitated apologies, and equally guilty confessions. There'll be no accusing, no pointing of fingers. They won't yell, they won't say words that they know would hurt the other. They won't look at boys and give unfair ultimatums.

They're eleven, not as immature as they'd been when they were seven so they will snatch the balm that'll soothe their ache and they will do it together.

But mostly, they will respect their friendship and they will respect each other.

But for now, Sakura simply turns away and Kiba continues to tell her his tale of how Hana dyed one of her ninken's hair pink and Ino is fine with that.

She can wait. She will wait.

Author's Note:

-this story is going to be focused on Naruto's development in the sealing arts yes, but also many other characters (rookie genin team gai and Kakashi). I've got alot of directions I want to take this story in and while I sort it all out, I hope you'll be patient to wait for my sporadic updates!

-the main ships will both be slow burns as well as the friendships between Sasuke and his peers will be slow to develop. Not in the sense of time in the Narutoverse but word count lmao.

-all the to-be rookie genin are 10 years old at this point in the story. Future Team Gai genin are 11. That's two years before canon so just wanted to let y'all know that this story will go in during pre-canon for a bit before entering the canon timeline (not canon compliant whatsoever).

Thank you so much for reading!