Ah, I so do love getting reviews. Getting a little under ten a chapter now. So far I have…oh…5 beta readers for this story, each skilled in their own fields. Should make the updates a touch slower, but hey, having no errors is a good thing, eh?

I'm also experimenting with symbols to mean different things, to see what will accept.

UPDATE: ((Insert Shikamaru's voice)) Trig is still a giant pain in my ass…it's too troublesome to do. That and a couple of my Beta's haven't done their Beta-ing yet, so This chapter will have some updates later…Thanks Scorpio V1.2!

All reviews that I've received for the last chapter that need answering will be answered at the end of the chapter, as they take time, effort, and a lot of room to answer. And getting to the story as fast as possible is a good thing, eh?

All criticisms, flames, slaps on the back, free food, free money, and/or advice are welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor would I want to…I just would like Hyuuga Hinata to be mine, so long as a certain someone didn't mind of course.

" Spoken "

' Thoughts '

( Random Thoughts)

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Chapter Four: Punishment Fits the Crime

Naruto's mind churned in contemplation as he strolled towards his apartment. 'And is even stranger is that she'd even want to… Most times when people look at me, they have a contemptible look in their eyes, as if they'd like nothing more than to have me disappear down a deep dark hole or something similar. Iruka used to be the only one who didn't look at me like that. And Hinata doesn't either it seems…why else would she hold my hand? Does this mean she doesn't hate me? That'd be AWESOME! Then I'd have another person that I could talk to, and she'd be my age too, so there would be less awkwardness when I talk to her. That and maybe I could try to hold her hand again…it was the first time, but I never realized that a girl's hands were so soft or warm…'

'Astute observation Naruto. What's the next one? Discovering that grass is green? I can't wait to hear it.'

'Hush. And some grass isn't green, it's blue.' Naruto mentally stuck his tongue out at his other personality. That's what it had to be, right? No one could have something inside of them. It was impractical; after all, how would they eat? And besides…it didn't sound too human, maybe it was just his unhyper side.

Ignoring the random comments sent his direction, both inside and outside of his head; Naruto stumbled over a rock on the sidewalk. At least, it looked like a rock if you were falling and caught it out of the corner of your eye. It had corners…and eyeholes…and moved on its own. Sighing, Naruto walked over to the box, a.k.a. Konohamaru, as he was the only one who would walk around under a box like that, and picked it up.

"Nnh?" The box actually was a rock…albeit a rock with feet. Thinking of a unique and semi-clever way to make Konohamaru show himself, Naruto bent down and threw him/it up into the air and waited. Sure enough, the rock transformed back into the Third Hokage's grandson, who promptly fell headfirst into a tree.

"Hey Boss! Were you impressed by my new Henge?" Came a faint cry from the form clinging to the top of the tree.

"Next time look more like a rock! They still don't have square edges!" was the cheerful reply. Naruto was rather pleased that Konohamaru was getting the hang of the Henge Genjutsu. After all, they still gave HIM trouble. And what's better, although they didn't take much chakra to create, you still had to have a quick mind to make them look correct. The hardest part about his favorite Henge, the Sexy no Jutsu, was getting the breasts right. If he screwed up, then the breasts didn't have the perk that they needed to be a highly effective, and perverted, Jutsu, at least against males. He learned that lesson from the closet pervert Ebisu, when he messed up his first Sexy no Jutsu. He was forced to improvise using Kage Bunshin no Justu to make the Harem no Jutsu. Oh well. That new Jutsu would be handy later on maybe.

Waving cheerfully to Konohamaru, who had now fallen about 10 feet down the tree and was hanging by his scarf, Naruto turned and continued home, confident that his little friend could get out of the tree with minimal harm. As he got closer to his cluttered mess/home, he noticed a scent of something, a sharp tang, almost like cheese, but far worse. He took another few sniffs before sniffing himself and gagging.

'Maybe I should take a quick bath before I go back to see Hinata. All the staff must have done was rinse off the worst of the dirt. Probably because of Kyuubi being sealed inside of me. They see me as if I am the kitsune and don't treat me as the human being I am. Oh well. I'll have time enough to be sad later, after washing off this dirt and seeing Hinata up at the hospital. If I wallow in self-pity now, then the nurses won't let me in to see her, and then I won't be able to keep my promise to her. I refuse to break my nindo for that'

Engrossed in his thoughts, Naruto allowed his feet to lead him home. He looked up, finished trying to figure out how long it had been since he last had a bath, and lost count of the days somewhere around 5 when he spied his door slightly ajar. He would have been counting faster, but the last day and a half had been rather hectic.

'Must have forgotten to close the door last night when I came in.' He dismissed the peculiar state of his door, still owing it to the fact that he simly hadn't been HOME for a day or so, and pushed it the rest of the way open and headed vaguely in the direction of his bedroom; actually, he would have gone straight there, had he not had to dodge random piles of ramen packets, trash, and dirty clothes. Hunting around in his closet for more clothes, he found another suit much like he always wore, except it was a dark blue, and the spiral was a much darker red. 'Damn! It's my last one. I'll have to do laundry before I go back as well or I won't have anything to wear tomorrow…and then the nurses definitely won't let me in to see Hinata.' He threw it on the bed for after his shower. You can't get clean clothes dirty after all…well…excepting the noodles on the bed…but that'd be fine.

He walked out of his room to the kitchen and threw some water on to boil, and then inhaled the bowl of ramen before he searched for all of his dirty clothes, which was a chore in and of itself…some were hidden quite well, and bagged them. After finishing that…disturbing chore, Naruto took a quick shower, making sure to clean himself really well. That job accomplished, and smelling like dried herbs and spices, Naruto left his warm, steamy bathroom, grabbed his giant sack of cloths and embarked to the nearest Laundromat. Several hours later, and a bit of money down from the stupid machines, as well as a few girls who ignored him completely after they saw who he was, Naruto finally had cleaner clothes. He stuffed them back into the bag and trotted back to his apartment where, being Naruto, he located a semi-clean space on the floor and unceremoniously upended the bag, dropping his cloths in a heap. Feeling as if he'd done enough for the day, Naruto polpped down on his couch and looked out his window towards the Hokage mountain.

'Someday…It'll be my face carved into that cliff, with the same long shadows pouring over my stone face…wait. Shadows? Oh crap! It's afternoon already!' Naruto whipped his eyes over to the clock on the wall and read the time before leaping to his feet twice, the first attempt being spoiled by his feet landing squarely on a plastic instant ramen wrapper, making his fall over backwards onto his couch.

'It's three already…and I have to go to Sakura's before visiting Hinata.'

Naruto, in his blue jumpsuit, dashed out his door and was halfway down his block before returning to close and lock his door.

Back at the Hospital, that morning

Hinata watched Naruto walk out of his room, thinking the entire time, 'Naruto's hand in mine…what a wonderful feeling. I wonder if he liked it as well. Should I ask him about it later? What if he says no? But his hand in mine…so comforting… ' This particular stream of thought continued for a few hours, until breakfast came in, and Hinata wondered if he was the person who brought her to the hospital or not. Then, while eating her paper-thin bacon and runny eggs wondered if he had eaten, and if it was better than the goop they were having her eat.

Only twice did her thoughts not include him in some fashion. The first was when she attempted to figure out why the other girls would attack her with such ferocity. Yes, she was on the Team with Sasuke, which would cause overwhelming jealousy in a few of the girls and normal jealously or envy in the rest, but enough to attack her like that? Sakura was the main assailant, so it made sense that she was the most jealous, but most of other kunoichi Hinata had talked to at some point…well, maybe talked with was a bit of an overstatement, but she at least was courteous to them.

The second was when a gruff voice, as familiar to Hinata as her own face was, was heard speaking outside of her door. Her father, Hyuuga Hiashi.

"Yes, I am aware of that, will you let me in now?"

"I will when she's done eating, Hyuuga-sama. Perhaps 15 minutes?"

"Now works just as well. I can see that she's not only finished eating, but is listening to us."

Hinata's nurse peeked her head in through the door, giving Hinata a 'sorry, but I tried' look before nodding and ushering in Hiashi.

He was not a physically intimidating man, but the looks he could give someone when he was displeased with them could most likely bring the Third Hokage to his knees, begging for forgiveness. Hinata had the displeasure to have one of those looks directed at her the split second that the nurse left them alone.

"You didn't come home last night." His tone wasn't accusatory, just a simple fact, and that made it all worse somehow. "I wake up this morning, and discover that you had not been home since you left for the academy yesterday morning. Some of the Clan spotted you at a ramen shop in town eating with that Uzumaki boy." He began to advance on Hinata's prone form. "People saw you there early in the afternoon, and then again at dusk. They claim you were sitting in the same place even. What were you doing for that long, Hinata? Telling the Clan's secrets to him?"

Hinata started to protest, but Hiashi simply plowed onward, now standing next to her and leaning over her, his voice rasping in her ear.

"Then I have the Clan look all around town, and where did we locate you? In the one place a Hyuuga must never… EVER be. In the public hospital. Not on our private hospital, but in the public hospital, where other jealous clans may attempt to learn the secrets of the Byakugan. Something that must never happen." Hiashi's voice was horrible to Hinata's ears, a low voice meant only for her, which hinted at horrible things to come.

"The only reason that I'm even warning you is that you are my daughter. Had you not been that lucky, you would have been disowned in a heartbeat. Do you understand me, Hinata?" His breath merged with the air above her bed, causing her room to smell slightly of day-old sake. Tentatively, Hinata squeaked out an answer that might please him, and might not get Naruto-kun into trouble; which was, of course, more important.

"G-gomen Nasai, hon-honered Father. S-some girls in th-the class am-ambushed me, and I di-didn't want to kill them, but th-there were too many of them. T-they kn-knocked me out a-and brought m-me here. T-they didn't kn-know about our hospital."

Hiashi attempted to digest this bit of information before standing upright once more.

"How many did you recognize?"

"I-I didn't get a v-very good look."

His eyes narrowed at her, the Byakugan activated.

"You're lying, Hinata. Didn't we discuss what would happen if you lied to me ever again?"

A street in Konohagakure

'Crap! I'm lost in my own village. It's bad enough I'm lost, but in my own village? That's something that Sasuke would do. Wait… I know this street, I'm not lost anymore! And I'm not too far from Sakura's place.'

Naruto strolled up the street and carefully checked each house number against the number he had written on a slip of paper. Several minutes later, he found the Haruno's house. Summoning courage, he jumped their gate and knocked on their door three times, and waited.

A curtain opened near the door and Sakura peeked out and lurched back in the house. She told her mother it was one of her friends and that they were going out for a short walk. She promised she wouldn't come late. Her mother out of the way, Sakura opened the door and shut it again before ushering Naruto out of her yard and down the street till they reached a small park. Once there, Sakura sat down on a bench, her arms folded.

"And what do YOU want, Naruto-dobe?" Naruto figured that she was pissed, but curious as to why he would randomly show up at her house.

"You left this." Naruto smoothly slid the kunai out of his pouch, took a long pink hair off of it, and handed it to her, handle first. "And I was a bit too pissed to ask a simple question last night. Why were you guys out there, and why was Hinata hurt?"

Shocked by getting her kunai back as well as the blunt question directed towards her, she stammered for a minute before saying, "Why should I tell you?"

"Because if you don't, then I turn you in to the Hokage for attacking and seriously injuring a fellow Shinobi. You would be summarily turned into a missing-nin and hunted down without remorse by the ANBU within a week. Since I don't want that do happen to anybody, especially anybody that I know, and that I used to like."

"Used to? Good, I didn't want to you to be chasing after me anyway. And again, why should I tell you…The Third wouldn't believe you anyway. He would believe me because I at least got good grades at the academy. You didn't get squat."

Naruto's face almost fell. She had a point; his grades were not that spectacular, and some people did put the person's personality on what their grades were, and not on what their actions were. Forcing a sly grin on his face along with enough confidence to match it, Naruto opened his mouth to say the best lie he had ever told.

"You're right…I didn't get good grades…but Hinata will back me up, and because she is the heir, her Clan will back HER up. How many weak links do you think were in that group you had trailing behind you? Some looked more frightened of you then they were sure of themselves and in what they were doing. I'm pretty sure I can find a few of them, and get them to speak against you. So how about you give me the answer I want?"

Sakura was shocked once again. She was cornered…if she told him what he wanted to know, she was going to be in some deep shit. But if she didn't, then she'd be even deeper in shit, simply because other people would know, instead of just Naruto. She hung her head and began her story.

"Damn you Naruto…" "I rounded up the girls in our class and…inspired them to help me go beat up Hinata simply because she was on your Team, with Sasuke-kun. It's a crappy reason but…it's the only one that I have." 'Well…the only one that you're going to get in any case.'

Naruto nodded, suspecting something of the case from Sakura's actions back at the academy, always hanging around Uchiha Sasuke. His eyes, however, saw Sakura's slightly shuddering body as she looked as the ground. Feeling kind of bad, he was tempted to reach out and comfort her…except that something didn't sound right. If it was jealously, then why didn't Sakura advance on Hinata alone? There was a hole so large that even he coulkd see it, so she was leaving something out.

"I don't believe that's everything Sakura-san." He emphasized '-san' when he said it, and got his reaction, a twitch from Sakura. "You're leaving something out…you said you were going to beat up Hianta, right? Well…beating someone up doesn't send someone to a hospital, ever. Finish telling me everything."

Kami he hated being this mean to anyone. It just wasn't in his nature, but he had to get the truth, and if this was the way to get it, then he'd…he'd have to make it up later.

Sakura blushed the color of her hair before muttering softly, so that Naruto had to lean in to hear her, "I guess I have to come clean now then, so that I can remain a genin…" Sakura paused for a breath before plowing on. "I snuck into Iruka-sensei's house late at night after he fell asleep. It was easy enough, especially since he taught us how to pick simple locks. I found his list on his table and I simply copied everything perfectly…except that I put myself on Team Seven with you and Sasuke-kun. To change the dossier, I had to move a girl off of your team and onto anothers…the girl who was supposed to be on your team was Yamanaka Ino."

Naruto interrupted Sakura while she took another shuddering breath. "Wait…didn't Ino help you when you…" He left the rest of the question unasked, but it wasn't necessary. It was obvious as to what the rest was.

"Yes, well, I didn't tell her about that. And I never plan to. Let me finish though, so I'm not holding anything back from you. My original Team was with Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. What confused me was that when the Teams were called…my name wasn't with Team Seven. Hinata's was in my place. The only explanation for this was that Hinata herself copied me by sneaking in and changing the list herself. If it had been anyone else, then their name would be there, therefore it hod to have been Hinata. Hence how I got put in with Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino; her original Team. Both of us had cheated for our Teams…only she won. She got to be on the Team with Sasuke-kun." Sakura had tears brimming in her green eyes while she halted for a moment, out of breath. Then she plowed onwards.

"I was livid at losing my chance to prove that I was the best to Sasuke-kun and I felt like I needed some revenge. So I rounded up the other girls who had a crush on Sasuke-kun, and we went out looking for Hinata. I had them convinced that Hinata had cheated to be on Sasuke's Team, which was true, but I told them nothing of how I knew this. When we finally found her I…I went a little overboard. Once the feeling of revenge was gone…and my actions had already been taken, I thought about what I did…and my conscience started to eat at me on the inside. I felt guilty for what I had done. But telling you has…has lifted some of that."

Sakura looked up at Naruto, tears brimming in her eyes, wanting to know what Naruto would think about her now.

Naruto was, rather obviously, shocked at this news. Sakura had cheated by writing her name down for Team Seven, to be with Sasuke-bastard. But her change to the dossier hadn't made it to Team selection…Hinata's name had been called instead. Except Hinata wasn't supposed to be on Team Seven either; the only solution for this would be what Sakura had said; Hinata had cheated…only why did Hinata want to be on Team Seven?

'Actually Naruto, it makes sense. You just don't see how it makes sense.'

'Shut up, I'm thinking.'

'You only assume you're thinking.' And then the voice fell silent.

'Bastard… stop confusing me.'

Naruto glanced back at Sakura, having already understood and come to terms with her admitting cheating to try to get to on to Sasuke's team. What he saw was… strange to say the least though. Sakura's head was downcast, her pink hair was hanging limply over her face and there was a weak sobbing noise coming from her; tears were splashing to the ground.

"Sakura… why are you crying? I can see why you…well, no I can't, but I can kind of sympathize. But you are a nice person Sakura. We'll just say it was a misunderstanding of some kind. Somehow. Does that sound good?" Her head turned towards Naruto, granting him a view of her leaking eyes.

"Why are you being nice to me Naruto?" Her voice was pleading with him for an answer, "Your parents are dead, so there is no way they could have forced you to come talk to me. Why Naruto? Why do you need to talk with someone who injured one of your teammates. Why?" Her voice kept being interrupted by snivels before she collapsed onto Naruto, weeping inconsolably into his jacket, staining it an even darker blue in the twilight. She still muttered into his chest, "Why Naruto? Why…"

'Well…this is new.' Naruto awkwardly put an arm around the kunoichi's shoulders in a vain attempt to calm her down. It might have even worked, had her sobs not increased in volume and intensity the second that she felt his comforting touch. Naruto tried to wriggle out of Sakura's grasp, but found that he couldn't. He was trapped in her arms, forced to wait until she calmed down enough on her own that he could move.

After about thirty minutes, Naruto's was starting to get tired. Not physically, but mentally. Being cried on and being asked, in between sobs, why he was doing something nice to such a horrible person was confused to him; Naruto figured that he would never try to figure out something a girl was doing for a few days, to avoid headaches.

"Sakura. While I am kinda touched that you…umm…still trust me enough to soak my jacket with your tears, I need to leave soon. It's getting dark and I promised Hinata-san that I'd go back to the Hospital to visit her today. I'll walk you home just in case, you know, you can't find it or something. Here, let me help you up." Naruto wrested out of her grasp and offered a hand to her.

Sakura wiped her eyes with her wrists before looking up at Naruto's face, her eyes red from her tears, and she took his offered hand and stood up before letting go of his hand quickly, as if he might decide to stab her hand with one of his kunai. Sakura walked somberly towards her house after that, with Naruto following a few feet behind her, with his hands in his pockets, his eyes and face in a mask of concentration. They walked like this, without talking, until they reached Sakura's house. She undid the latch, stepped inside her yard, and closed it again. She stopped for a moment, facing her door, and her voice drifted across the yard to Naruto.

"Naruto…please tell Hinata that I'm sorry. I…I…It was just a mistake."

"A mistake doesn't send anyone to the Hospital…remember our deal." Was Naruto's reply before he turned and walked towards the Hospital, hoping that visiting hours hadn't passed. He turned fast enough, that he didn't see Sakura falling to her knees in the grass and begin to weep once again.

The Hospital, that evening

Hinata was shaking for hours after her Father had left. She lied, and he had caught it. The only way that she managed not to be disowned was by her giving up the names of the two that she recognized. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. Hinata felt overwhelming guilt and pity for those two. Hiashi might do anything to them, from simply lecturing them, which was bad enough, to hospitalizing them himself. As it was, Hinata's punishment was bad enough: she was no longer the heir to the Hyuuga Clan, because, in his own words, a liar was not worthy of being the leader of the Hyuugas. And she was half a step away from switching Houses with Neji.

Switching Houses included as well switching the seal between the two. An involuntary shudder ran up Hinata's spine at that thought. She'd seen the seal activated before, and the resultant screams still rang in her mind. She was only 3 and had been sparring with her father with her uncle, Hizashi, and Neji sitting off to the side, watching. Hizashi became upset about something, but her father had taken it wrong, and had activated his brother's seal, almost killing him. She could see Hizashi's pained face as he rolled about on the floor in agony, his eyes tightly closed and his mouth wide open, emitting screams that were not human in their intensity.

Hinata shook her head. Now was not the time to think of what could have happened, but what is happening. Her Father was likely out hunting down the two girls and explaining to them, in as painful a manner as possible, that hurting his daughter was not allowed... except by him of course.

'I have to get out of here before he comes back. Just in case he changes his mind about which House I should belong to.' Hinata looked about for a way out of the room, spying only the door as the exit. Other than the window of course, but that could not be opened enough to leave by, only enough to let some fresh air in the building. She sighed and lay back in her bed; the nurses said she could go tomorrow, so whatever sentence Hiashi had chosen for her would be carried out then. Not only that, but Naruto hadn't shown up like he promised he would.

'Naruto-kun… are you all right?'

A Park in Konohagakure

Naruto sat heavily on a bench, the fourth one so far. He had to keep moving around because people continually stared at him whenever he stayed in one area too long. Some of the people he recognized, like Sasuke-bastard, and a few Hyuuga's walked by, including the head of the Clan, Hyuuga Hiashi. Naruto wouldn't have recognized him except the fact that he shared the same hair color and facial shape that Hinata had. That and he had asked Naruto where "Haruno Sakura's house was. She is a friend of my daughter's." Naruto couldn't pass the question off as being just a random question, but he still answered truthfully. He may not have much respect for adults, but he was related to a Team mate, so he should at least be civil. Hiashi nodded at him after receiving that information and stalked off in that direction, allowing Naruto to dive back into his thoughts. Most were about Hinata, but some were about Sakura's confession.

'Okay…so Hinata cheated to get herself on Team Seven, but why? She never seemed like the kind of girl that idolized Sasuke. She seemed kind of indifferent towards him in fact. Maybe she didn't like her original partners; Kiba and Shino. That would be the only reason I can think of…'

'Ohh…so close boy, so close.'

'So she likes them… but didn't want to be on a Team with them?' Naruto, having had a few conversations with himself, had learned that his other voice was usually correct about things.

His other voice seemed to sigh silently. 'Are you really that thick? Hinata isn't the type of person to dislike anybody that much. She would not have minded being with Kiba and Shino. But she's on your Team… and she doesn't appear to like Sasuke. What is the only option left?'

'Umm…' Naruto tried to think hard about it for a moment before giving up. 'I have no idea… can I have a hint?'

'No' The other voice, if Naruto had to put a face to it, would be smirking right about now.

'Damn you… umm… let's see… we didn't know who the Jounin-sensei would be for any Teams beforehand, so that's out of the question. She doesn't like Sasuke like the rest of the girls… especially if that gang was any indication. The only person left is… me.'

'That's right Naruto.' A hint of satisfaction graced the voice now.

'So she just wanted to learn from a superior shinobi like myself! That's awesome!'

'Uh… sure. Let's go with that for now. It's still not correct, but I suppose it's as close as your infinitesimal mind will get you.'

Naruto stood up and brushed off his bum, the last bench having been mainly made out of dust. He stretched and began to walk off towards the Hospital, finally remembering the promise he had made to Hinata that morning. As Naruto reached the park's edge, he stopped and knelt. It was a small flower, delicate and of a light purple color, and after he had taken a sniff of it, decided that it also had a soft scent.

'Hinata might like these…' Naruto picked several dozens of the pale flowers and then stood to continue on his journey; until a firm hand landed on his shoulder, halting his movement.

"Uzumaki Naruto…we have something to discuss." Hiashi's voice was as strong as his grip on Naruto's shoulder.

"Like what Hiashi-sama?" Formalities must be observed sometimes, and because one of the deadliest shinobi in the entire village had his hand on Naruto's shoulder, this was one of those times. This was doubly true when you were scared out of your mind of the man, and felt like curling into a ball under his glare.

"Like my daughter." His voice was a growl as he picked Naruto off of the ground with both hands, turned him around, and dangled him in front of his face.

The Hospital, 2 AM

Hinata woke with a start at a slight thunk on her bedside table, having just gotten to sleep in the first place. She blearily looked over to see a nurse setting a bowl down, the lovely smell of flowers drifting over to her. The nurse glanced at Hinata and explained.

"A young man in orange came in a little while ago and tried to come up to see you. He had these flowers with him, and since we told him he couldn't come up here since visiting hours were over, he asked if we could deliver these flowers for him. So we nurses scrounged around for a bowl and filled it with water and brought them in for you. Looks like the flowers match your eyes, he did a nice job picking them…in any case I'll go tell him they you have them, go back to sleep now child."

"W-wait… tell him I said thank you, please."

"Certainly, now go back to sleep."

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There is another Chapter finished. I have no idea how long this fic is going to be eventually…but I would like to say something about the tardiness of this Chapter before I get to the reviews.

I had 9 Naruto DVD's come in the mail for me, so I had to watch all of them, so I left this Chapter half written and watched them all. Hinata is far more prominent in the anime by the by. In any case, I also have Finals coming up at school, which sucks, and also means I won't be writing as much, but the wait should be less than the one for this chapter. Sorry about the wait here and in advance for the next Chapter.

I also want to say that REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY and that a happy author writes with enthusiasm. ((Insert Gai rant)) Anyway…the more reviews I get, the faster I write, so keep 'em coming, eh? Even if you just glanced at this fic, review saying "Go you!" or "You suck!" or the ever popular "How dare you do that to ((insert character's name)) that was a mean and horrible thing to do! Otherwise a great fic." And yes, that was taken from the review board and paraphrased a bit. So…onto the reviews!

Scorpio V1.2: No problems, I understand, but I won't delete the review…I have too few of them…and even though you're one of my Betas, you still have to review.

Dan Inverse: There will be no pranks…period…everything that is done is done for a reason.

Dragon Man 180: Maybe…I don't know yet…this story is alive, and it writes itself…very little work is done by me.

the DragonBard: Go you! My first Flamer! And…umm…reread that part of the story…there is one sentence that explains all of that.

Xoni Newcomer: Thanks for agreeing to be one of my Betas…and this way you get to ask the questions before reviewing with them…although you should still review.

nonengel: Sorry about the wait…but I explain near the top in any case. Stupid school…

EVERYONE ELSE: Thanks for the reviews and I hope you keep posting the reviews…I love reviews, they make me want to write more…

That seems to be it for this go around, please read and review the next chapter, which will be up in…a week or so maybe? Possibly longer. Finals really blow.

'till next time.

Drahylin Estollcri