SUMMARY: A little insight into some of the characters.
Ru is looking forward to the Chunin Exams.
And now Naruto is signing up for them!
Ru is still sad that he cannot go as Hikaru but he supposes it is just a name.
A name he was forced to agree to.
Why wasn't he allowed to pick his own name, like Sakura and Simure?
He knows why.
He understands that people like labels.
He get it.
Still, why can't he pick his own label?
His parents picked it for him.
His dead parents.
The people he respects.
But doesn't love.
How can he love them?
He didn't know them.
He respects them for bringing him into the world.
For sacrificing themselves for him.
But he cannot love them.
Ru has seen people so in love with other dead people that they become shells.
He loves Ra and Re like that.
Because he knows them.
Because they are a team.
He is grateful to his parents.
He thinks he should love them.
Kurenai says that if his parents loved him - they did - they would be happy with that.
Naruto doesn't know what love is.
Ru thinks he does.
It doesn't matter.
Not really.
He cannot miss that which he has never had.
So it is with a little bit of annoyance at the label 'Naruto' that he signs up for the exams alongside Sakura and Simure.
It is not like it is his parents' fault.
They wouldn't have known that he preferred Hikaru.
Anyway, why was Ra elbowing him?
Oh.
In front of them, in all his broody glory, stood Duck with his arms crossed.
Duck had only gotten more violent after Ru had found him in the District.
Honestly, what was the Dobe's problem?
Naruto didn't mind being beaten up if it made the guy feel a little better but Ru was starting too.
Then, the Dobe had tried to beat Re because she was covering Naruto from being injured any further.
Ru had snapped.
Naruto had flailed uselessly but it took Duck's attention off Re.
Ru knew the guy was grieving and that he hadn't received any proper help but that wasn't their fault.
This was the first time they were meeting again.
Naruto gulped.
Ru raged.
Temari, Kankuro and Gaara weren't sure what to do.
Suna was meant to attack during the third round of the Exams but they didn't want to.
Temari had really come to like the three and the other team that came to join them.
It was because of the three that she and Gaara had managed to mend their relationship.
Gaara still didn't feel like a brother but he was more than a casual acquaintance.
They were... friends.
Friends because three Genin from a rival village had looked past the monster and decided to help.
And now they were going to invade their village.
And what about the other two they had met?
The boy who would have been scrapped but managed to make it wit sheer determination?
The weapons specialist who wanted to show that girls could be strong enough?
Temari had bonded with her, hadn't she?
And she wasn't the only one having second thoughts.
As well as the three, Gaara had come to admire Lee for his sheer will and determination.
Kankuro enjoyed drawn out discussion with the pinkette about puppetry and tactics.
When she was younger, Temari hadn't really had friends.
Being the Kazekage's eldest child meant people had constantly tried to take advantage of her.
She'd never really had friends before.
It was addictive.
But, as Temari caught sight of Baki, she realised that she had a choice to make.
After her father, she was heir.
She had had to work extremely hard for it - be better than Kankuro but he didn't want to be it.
If her father failed, she was Suna's leader.
But could she really turn her back on her father like that?
For now, she plastered a grin on her face and turned to her friends.
(For now.)
As she let herself be drawn into their antics, she found her smile becoming more real.
(Enjoy it while it lasts.)
Re is happily chatting to Lee and Gaara before Lee and Tenten's teammate cuts in.
He says something dismissive.
Re can't bother to remember what he says.
What she does take notice of is Tenten's reaction.
Tenten winces like it hurts but she is used to it.
Re knows that words can hurt just as much - if not more than - physical wounds.
She prepares herself to step in, blood boiling in anger.
The boy hurt Tenten, repeatedly.
"Naruto, dobe!"
Re's readiness to punch someone goes up a notch.
Before she can do anything more than turn to face him, another Konoha Genin cuts in.
"Shh." he says, "you are drawing attention to yourselves."
"And?" the prideful Hyuu-
He is a Hyuuga.
Re tries not to tremble.
It's a good thing she has figured out how to make a more reliable seal for her eyes.
She cannot let him catch her.
Cannot be lax and get separated from her friends.
Re doesn't know how to use Byakagun.
Perhaps she should have learned.
But even without it, she is not weak.
The little girl who was left on the streets was weak.
She fought her way out of her pursuers grip but she was still weak.
The little girl who trusted people instantly was weak.
The little girl who allowed them to take what she didn't want to give was weak.
But she was even stronger.
She didn't give up.
She cannot give up.
She doesn't want to.
No one is going to make her do something she doesn't want to again.
This boy whose eyes are like hers.
Eyes that made her try to...
She can't.
Maybe the eyes see everything.
But they can see everything and nothing at all.
She has survived years with no one picking up on the traits that indicate she is a Hyuuga.
She won't let a prideful boy step in and ruin all that.
She has a family.
She has friends.
She is as close to happy as she is probably going to get.
This egoistic boy will not take that from her.
But she cannot afford to be suspicious.
That means she can't attack him for what he did to Tenten.
She likes Tenten, she really does but she has to protect herself more.
No one else is going to look after her.
She has to.