I huff quietly to myself making my… I don't even know which number of lap around the block yet I haven't shaken my tail. Honestly I'm starting to get the feeling I should just go and confront Ami… this is the second day in a row she's been following me around. The first day had been easy enough to shake her. She hadn't actually been subtle and a simple 'are you following me?' Had turned her into a blushing messing who quickly denied the sort of allegation and ran off. However today it seemed she was putting extra effort into NOT being found out. Too bad she doesn't know how to hide her chakra!

Sensing Proficiency Level has risen X1

Sensing Proficiency Level 77

Ability to sense or detect others based on their energy signature and pick out details about them. To double range and accuracy cost 25-50 energy type per minute depending on accuracy wanted. (Available energies to sense- chakra) Range increase per level by 5 m, accuracy and details increase per level and closer to you the person is. Current range 385m.

I could just run and run until I loose her if I REALLY wanted to. However I have a feeling that is more like sticking a band-aid on a gushing wound. So I am left at an impasse of choices.

I could confront her once again. Would she run off like she had yesterday? I could simply ignore her and wait for her to loose interest. An option but something tells me it's a bad idea because WHY is Ami following me to begin with?

Did she need more help with her homework and was too shy to ask? She hadn't mentioned anything and they haven't introduced anything new in class… then again we are in separate classes so the schedule of work might not be the exact same. Still I don't feel like that's it… so why do I have a stalker?

I turn towards the back hills without thinking and sigh. I can't go any further or I could risk Yota and Ami meeting and that would be… huh… why am I trying to keep Yota and Ami separate?

Ok so there is the whole Yota isn't from the village thing that could get him and me in trouble if Ami blabbed… still I doubt she would. When Koharu had subtly probed for information Ami had (according to her) not told Koharu anything. While ironically Iruka a CHUNNIN told Koharu enough to get me in the still (desperately trying to ignoring) situation of whether or not to spy on the Akimichi clan. You know the more I think about it the funnier that whole thought is…

Koharu had tried from DAY 1 to divide Ami and I. I geuss playing on Ami's jealousy in hopes to have a willing source of information that would eagerly spew anything that would conceivably make me look bad… man that is really messed up. A adult (how old exactly is Koharu? Definitely old enough to be my grandmother honestly) pitting children against each other for better control. Then again it is probably common, didn't Kakashi try something kind of similar with Sasuke and Naruto using their rivalry and general jealousy of one another to increase their training? For a village that is so proud of teamwork it isn't really a very TEAMLY way to operate. Not that it worked out anyway… kids just don't know how to process those kinds of things, especially attention starved orphans… oh…

Ami is an attention starved orphan who has slowly been pulling away from her main source of attention (her 'friends') in favour of spending time with me even if only through tutoring and normal household interactions. However in the past few days I've been distracted with Yota and training that I haven't had quite as much time as I usually do.

It's childish but I get it. Ami IS a child. Or maybe I'm just overthinking everything again? That's also a possibility.

Either way I… don't think Ami will blab about Yota's existence. But is it my secret to tell? Yet at the same time NOT telling Ami is tricky because the more secrets the harder to keep them all hidden, and even at my current physical age of six I have LOTS of secrets. Would knowledge of Yota endanger Ami? I mean it really COULD. A part of me even wants to tell Yota to scram, to run, because if he is found it won't end well. He's just a kid but a kid who is a reanimating and has weather control powers. Even if he couldn't die there were things worse than death. They can't release the jutsu but they could take him apart to learn more about the technique, or they could seal him away. Not being able to move and talk, trapped for all eternity? Or what about the seals that do more than that? Doesn't the reaper death seal make you tortured in the stomach of the shinigami? Yes, Yota being caught would be TERRIBLE. At the same time sending him away is barely any better… what exactly is there for him? Is his clan still around? I'm yet to find a mention of them… out there is equally dangerous. But what if Orochimaru somehow regains control of him? What could happen to the village with Yota's abilities do before he is able to be taken down?

I shudder but not at the thought of what he COULD do but at my own thought process. It was wrong. Thinking about turning away a kid that I had begun to mentally call my friend because of a possibility? How am I better than the villagers and their fears of Naruto's possibilities?!

Taking a breath I decide that I won't win this self argument either way and so might as well go along with it. I'll ask Yota. It's HIS life (well existence) so he can decide. I move forward at a slightly faster pace weaving through the trees to loose Ami before finding Yota but not so far that she'll give up. Though something tells me she wouldn't give up easily either way…

"Hey Yota!" I say barely registering my lack of honorific. I've stopped using it with Ami and well… Yota often forgets to use it anyway and I don't talk to that many people… I say this in a cheerful bright tone. The sun is shining, there's a light breeze and well Yota just has that effect on people.

"You find me!" Yota declares a big smile as he jumps out from the bush her was… hiding in? That's a odd right? "You always find me Sa-ori!" He says his childish tone messing with his words again as they do when he seems to get particularly excited. "How do it?" He asks and jumps REALLY high, he has to be using chakra, he just HAS to, and I can sense it. He's actually pretty good to have around for training as odd as that may sound. He is a strange mix of incredibly advanced, yet simultaneously inexperienced. He does all these crazy things as easily as the 'normal' person walks, however because it is so natural, it is also crude. Like watching water run through a river instead of a tube. They both are doing the same thing but one isn't as controlled and concealed. It's helping me get used to sensing exact chakra fluctuations as they happen. Not to mention the kids nearly mastered the leaf sticking exercise despite just being at it a few days. Though if I had unlimited chakra and stamina it would probably be easier too.

Still there is also something else… the off-ness aside there is something more that I can sorta sense, yet sorta not, it grinds against the back of my mind, it feels like I am trying to catch a cloud, I just can't fully grasp it. It puzzles and annoyed me, I feel like it's something I KNOW something that I've been around often yet at the same time it is completely foreign and new. Maybe it's the feel of his bloodline?

"I feel you…" I say leaning down speaking in what I've dubbed my 'hush secret voice'. He nods understanding the secret part more than my description. Sensing isn't really something I can explain. "Hey Yota… want to meet my… ummm… best friend?" I ask choosing the right word.

"Yes, Yota love meeting new friends. Freind of Sa-ori, freind of Yota." Yota says resolutely and I nod a mix of pleased and anxious.

"Ok then… she should be here soon." I tell the boy who's grin remains impossibly wide. It's not four minutes later (I'm rather impressed with the time) that Ami finds us. She dodged back behind a tree but I think even Yota saw that one. "Ami, want to meet Yota-kun?" I call out from where I am sitting resting against a tree a small smile on my face. A practically sunburnt Ami appears.

"How do you keep doing that googly-eyes?" Ami whines and my smirk widens.

"Sa-ori can feel…" Yota says then giggling seeing the frustration in Ami's eyes a mirror of his own with the very vague description.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean!" Ami yells out in exasperation. It makes me smirk.

"A ninja never reveals her secrets…" I say covering up my grin with a forced serious expression. It's true after all. "Ami, this is Yota, Yota this is Ami. Yota doesn't have anywhere to go so I've been coming to check on him." I inform Ami whose face softens at the younger boy.

"Well… want to play?" Ami asks a slightly awkward tone and I smile.