Hello again! I know, so soon! I honestly have never been so invested in writing a story as I have been with this one. I just can't stop writing. And plus reviews motivate me as well, which speaking of, thank you again Dekuton, and now Calcu22 for your reviews! I know I tend to rush everything, but I am working on it, it may take some time, but hopefully I will get it under control soon, I'll work on making chapters longer as well. Also a warning for this chapter, and for future chapters. I am not good at writing fighting scenes, I have a bit of a hard time with it, which I am also hoping I can get better at, so please bear with me. Also, if you would like me to not post chapters one right after the other let me know, and I will get a schedule going, and post them once a week on a certain day. So that's it for now, please R&R! (:

-Updated chapter! Please let me know if you feel I should change it again, and please tell me why. Even if you're a new reader.

As the year went on I trained harder with Lee, making my taijutsu a bit better, but no where near Lee. Which frustrated me to no end. But Lee was still so proud to see me making progress, so he kept pushing me harder.

School was better, I was making friends, and wasn't as timid and quiet anymore. Instead I was more loud, much to the dismay of Ino. And I was also doing well with my chakra.

I was able to get on a friendly level with Sasuke, by interfering whenever Ino and Sakura tried to force their love on him. I didn't think they realized how terrible it was for him to lose his whole clan, due to his older brother killing them all. To them him being distant, and quiet, made him cool, and hot. Which was pretty stupid of them in my opinion. He wanted to be left alone, and I honestly didn't blame him. But I already decided that if I was put on team 7, I was going to do everything I could to show him he didn't have to be alone.

During sparring matches I made sure to be the most annoying person ever cheering Naruto, Ino, and Sakura on. Sakura and Ino would complain about it, but I knew they loved it. Naruto ended up doing the same to me when I had a match.

One day after Naruto had a sparring match with Shino, (which Naruto lost by the way) I was up next against Sasuke.

Sasuke just calmly stepped into the ring while I bounded into it.

"Good luck." I said as calmly as I could. I was excited. He just nodded his head to me.

"Begin." Iruka sensei said, stepping out of the ring.

I waited for Sasuke to make the first move. When he did, he threw two kunai at me. I was able to quickly deflect them, with my own kunai. He started circling me. I watched him carefully. Was he looking for an opening? Before I could even blink he was running at me, getting close, fast. I moved as quickly as I could, which wasn't fast enough. Which ended in Sasuke slamming into me, knocking all the air out of me. I landed hard on my back and gasped. I could faintly hear Naruto yelling. I couldn't make out what he was saying though. I was trying to pay attention to Sasuke. He started running at me again, and I was able to roll away just as he tried to land a kick where I was once was. I quickly got up and put as much distance as I could between us. He was faster than me, and stronger than me. I would have a hard time beating him, if I was even able. I would have to make myself faster using chakra. I channeled chakra into my feet, and Sasuke ran at me again. I was able to move more quickly now, and almost matched Sasuke's speed. But he was still stronger. I went at him with all the strength I could muster. I acted like I was going to hit him, but at the last moment, I turned and planted a hard kick to his stomache. He grunted, and skidded back a bit. I went at him again. But this time he knew my moves, and was able to block every hit. It was starting to get hard to keep up with him. In the end he was able to get another hard hit in, which I knew the moment I hit the ground I lost. Iruka sensei called the match when I didn't get up, and called Sasuke the winner.

I sighed. I was really disappointed. I sat up slowly, to see Sasuke standing next to me, holding his hand out, with his head turned away from me. I smiled and grabbed onto his hand, as he helped me stand up.

"You did a good job." He said, still looking everywhere else but at me.

"Thank you. You did too." He nodded, let go of my hand, and walked away.

"Hotaru, that was so awesome!" Naruto yelled, running full speed to me. I saw Sakura and Ino coming over as well, but they weren't running like Naruto.

"That was pretty awesome. At one point I really thought you were going to beat him." Ino said, coming up next to Naruto.

"Well maybe next time I can." I said, feeling a bit better, even though I lost. It wasn't the end of the world. It just meant I would have to train harder. Much harder.

The day ended soon, after two more matches, and I meant up with Lee outside. As I ran up to Lee, I noticed Naruto, and how he looked a little upset.

"Hey Lee?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind if my friend Naruto came over for dinner?" I asked, a bit scared of him saying no, which I knew was silly, because Lee was so kind to everyone.

"Of course not, I would love for him to. I would love to finally meet him." Lee said, grinning. I grinned back and then ran to Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, wait!" I yelled.

Naruto stopped and turned around.

"Hey Hotaru, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you would like to come over for dinner at my house?"

His eyes widened. "You want me to have dinner with you?" He asked quietly.

I laughed nervously, and rubbed the back of my head. "Uh yeah, if you want to of course."

For a moment he was quiet, and I was starting to think he would say no. But then he just smiled.

"I would love to." He said, his voice cracking.

I grinned and grabbed his hand.

"Come on then, you have to meet my brother!" I said, dragging him along with me, to Lee.

"Lee, this is my friend Naruto. Naruto, this is my brother Lee." I said, introducing them.

"Hello Naruto, it is nice to finally meet you. Hotaru has told me a lot about you."

I felt my face heat up, as Naruto turned his attention to me looking a bit shocked. Thanks Lee.

"It's nice to meet you too. Hotaru talks about you all the time." Naruto replied, getting over his shock.

"Alright, let's go, I'm hungry." I said pushing both Lee and Naruto towards the house. Both of them laughing at me.

Having Naruto over was a lot of fun. We all made dinner together, laughing, and messing around. Naruto even told Lee about my match with Sasuke. Even though I lost he still looked proud. It was even more fun at the dinner table. It soon had to come to an end though when it became late.

"I should probably get going now. Thank you both for inviting me to have dinner with you. It was a lot of fun." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head, and grinning.

"It's no problem, we're glad you came over. It was a lot of fun. And if you want I can walk you home?" I offered.

"Sure."

"I'll be back Lee."

"Alright. I hope to see you again Naruto. You are welcome here at any time."

Naruto froze at the door, and I noticed his eyes started to water. I felt my heart break. I hated it. I hated how everyone treated him. How no one ever gave him a chance. How no one saw how great, and kind he truly was.

"Thank you, so much. Both of you."

I gave him a small smile. "We should get going now. I won't be long Lee."

I quickly ushered Naruto out of the door.

The first few minutes of the walk was quiet, until Naruto broke it.

"You and your brother. You're different then everyone else. That day, the day you sat down and shared your lunch with me, I was so surprised. I thought I had dreamt the whole thing. But the next day, you sat next to me in class. Talked to me, and again shared your lunch with me. Why?" He asked. His voice breaking multiple times.

I thought about my answer.

"I saw how others acted around you. I never understood why. Still don't. (Lie). I hated it. So that day when I saw you sitting alone, I decided to do something. I wanted to be your friend. And i'm glad I did. You're my best friend Naruto."

Naruto stopped walking, and I could see his shouders shaking, due to the street lights. Soon tears started to fall to the ground.

I didn't know what to do. But didn't have to think about that for long before Naruto straightened up, and turned to me with a big smile on his face. I could clearly see that he had been crying. His eyes were puffy, and his face was tear streaked.

"You're my best friend too."

I smiled. I was actually very honored to be Naruto's best friend.

We started walking again, and were both silent. It was a good silence though.

We soon came to an apartment building, that wasn't very far from me and Lee's apartment.

"Well this is where I live. Thanks for walking with me."

"No problem. You'll have to come over again soon for dinner."

"Yeah, I would love that."

"Good, cause you don't have much of a choice." I said grinning, but was completely serious. "Goodnight Naruto."

He laughed. "Goodnight Hotaru."

"See you tomorrow!" I yelled as I started to run back home. I was beyond happy with how today turned out.

Days turned to months, and months turned to years, and we were getting closer to graduation.

At first Naruto would come over twice a week for dinner, and then it was like he practically lived with us.

And Sasuke. We still weren't friends, but after that match he started to acknowledge me more. Would reply to me if I talked to him. Ino and Sakura had been shocked and asked me how I did it. My answer to them was simply, I was a civillized human being, and tried to actually have an acutal conversation with him, and not flirt and oogle at him. Though they pretty much ignored what I said and just continued to do what I told them not to do, which had me rolling my eyes. They'd get over their crush eventually. Well at least I knew Ino would. Sakura I wasn't sure about.

And Lee. He passed his exam, and became a Ninja. He was put on a team with Neji Hyuga, and TenTen. Their sensei being Might Gai. To which Lee adored, and wanted to be JUST. LIKE. HIM. He cut his hair, and made it into a bowl cut, and started wearing green spandex tights, and orange leg warmers. If I wasn't his sister I wouldn't exactly care, but since I am his sister, I wasn't a big fan of it at first. I knew this was what he wore in the show, but it was different now. I spent a lot of time with him and his team. I loved Gai and TenTen but Neji and I didn't get along. Gai had to constantly seperate us, because we always fought, because he was an asshole to Lee. Even when Gai would make us run 20 laps I didn't stop. Nobody messed with my brother.

I also was able to use my spear with ease now. I wanted to be able to do more with it though, so I looked into being able to use chakra thread, like a puppet master. I had asked Iruka sensei about it, and he gave me what books and information he was able to give, to me. He wouldn't be able to teach me though, so I would have to teach myself, which I was fine with. I also was able to tree walk now. Next would be water walking, which I wasn't too worried about now. I was more focused on being able to use chakra thread. I already knew it was going to be hard, but I knew in the end it would be worth it.

The day before graduation was a long one. Naruto had put graffiti all over the faces on the Hokage mountain. I wondered why he hadn't been in class. The idiot. I had forgot he did that. Apparently he was running from a few older ninja, who couldn't catch him, so Iruka sensei was sent to do it.

"Alright class, I have to leave for a moment. Hotaru, you're in charge until I get back." He said, quickly leaving the classroom. My head snapped up. I was in charge? Me? I groaned inwardly. Great.

Everything was quiet for a minute, until everyone started talking at once.

"I wonder what that idiot did this time." Shikamaru said, streatching. Probably just waking up from a nap.

"I don't know, but these stupid pranks are getting out of hand. He needs to grow up a little." Ino said, huffing. Clearly agitated at Naruto.

It wasn't long before Iruka sensei came back with a tied up Naruto.

"I'm at the end of my rope Naruto. You're too old for these silly little pranks now. If you want to be a ninja, you're going to have to get it together, and grow up a little." Iruka sensei said, a bit hotly. I flinched at his tone towards Naruto, but a part of me knew Iruka sensei was right, and he just wanted to see Naruto succeed.

Naruto just humfed and turned his head.

You could practically see the vein buldging out of Iruka sensei's head.

"Alright fine! Because you missed it Naruto, everyone will be review the transformation jutsu again!"

Everyone groaned.

Iruka sensei made us line up. He called me, Sakura, and Sasuke up, before Naruto. Sakura and Sasuke transformed into Iruka Sensei, but I decided to transform into Gai. Iruka sensei looked a little taken aback at first, but soon got over it.

"Alright Naruto, you're up." He said.

"This is a total waste of time Naruto." Shikamaru said, sticking his hands in his pockets, and slouching a bit.

"We always pay for your screw ups." Ino added, looking like she wanted to do nothing but strangle him.

"Like I care." Naruto said, a bit coldly, going up to Iruka sensei.

I sighed. "Come on guys, just give him a break." I said, trying to defend him as best I could.

"It's not fair to us to have to be punished too!" Ino replied hotly. All I could do is shake my head in response.

"Transform!"

I could see blue chakra surrounding him, and then a puff of smoke. In his place was a pretty naked girl, with long blonde hair, in pigtails.

Iruka sensei freaked out and got a nose bleed. It took everything in me not to bust out laughing. In the end I snorted, which caused a few people to turn to me. I just coughed. Pretending that's what I wanted to do in the first place. No one seemed to believe that though, but said nothing.

Naruto turned back into himself, howling with laughter.

"Haha, got you! That was my sexy jutsu!"

Iruka sensei composed himself the best he could, and got into Naruto's face.

"Cut the stupid tricks! This is your last warning!" He yelled it so loudly I was sure the Hokage himself heard it.

Naruto just glared at him, and Iruka sensei dismissed the class.

I wanted to talk to Naruto, but as soon as class was dismissed he ran out of the room. I sighed. I'd just have to talk to him tomorrow.

Lee wasn't there after school was out, so I walked home alone. I felt bad for Naruto, even though I knew what he did was childish. I just didn't like when people yelled at him like that.

Once home I went straight to my room, to think things through. Graduation day was tomorrow. In a way I kinda dreaded it. I had wanted to make sure Naruto graduated, by helping him with his chakra control so he could do the clone jutsu, but I knew he had to fail at first, because if he didn't he wouldn't steal the secret scroll that contained the shadow clone jutsu, for Mizuki, and wouldn't learn how to use the technique, which I knew was very important for him to use. So in the end I couldn't help him like I wanted to. I just really hoped the events wouldn't change. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day.