Authors' Notes: Now to add in another character, to Akemi and Jiyou's dismay...

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After an hour or so of the concentration drill Jiyou whispered to Akemi, "I can't feel my forehead!"

"QUIET!" yelled sensei, "This is a concentration drill!"

Jiyou glared up at her leaf. Stupid leaf, I HATE YOU! Almost as much as I hate Sensei!

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Another hour passed before Sensei finally announced the end of the task. "Now on to running!" The three students got up, all feeling dizzy and light-headed. "Move it! Fifty laps. I want all of you to run around the edge of the forest."

"But you said-" Maro's complaining was cut short by the sensei's harsh voice, " I KNOW what I said Maro! This is what I'm saying now. I've decided to have you work harder. Now GET! And I'll know if you take any short cuts!"

Maro and Akemi started immediately. Jiyou, however, paused to crush her leaf deep into the ground before she joined them. HMPH! That'll teach ya! she thought at her leaf, feeling very pleased with herself.

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The first five miles went by quickly. Wow! This isn't so bad. Running from Naruto does wonders. I really should thank him….Nah! Akemi thought. Jiyou was on her heels but Maro was lagging.

Jiyou turned and jogged backwards, "Pick it up Maro…or is your hair weighing you down?" Before she could add a cruel laugh, she saw her cousin charging angrily towards her. Damn it! Jiyou turned back to her sister and started to run at full speed, jumping over rocks and anything else in her way.

"I'll meet up with you later!" Jiyou called to Akemi. With that, she jumped off the trail into the dark forest. Akemi reluctantly followed her as best she could. Maro (slow and dimwitted) also pursued, but was yards away from the two girls.

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Panting heavily, Jiyou stopped to sit under a tall pine. Where am I? How far did I go? Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud CRACK! nearby. Frightened at first Jiyou laughed airily, "Haha. Very funny Maro. I give up, I'm sorry."

CRACK! "Ok! NOT FUNNY!" Jiyou heard a third SNAP! and was now officially unnerved. "Alright! Quit it! Some people don't know when to stop!"

There was silence. An even more eerie thing than loud noises.

Relax Jiyou….See? Nothing. Whatever it was, its gone now…. She sat up alert, sensing chakra from somewhere close and was startled when she heard a dull, mocking voice from behind.

"Who doesn't know when to stop?" Jiyou almost screamed when she turned and saw Kankuro staring at her dangerously. Before she could answer he grabbed her by her shirt and lifted her a few feet from the ground. " What are you doing here? Trying to steal my moves?"

Hmph…Moves? What moves? You play with stupid mannequins! And what a strange day! First Temari, now Kankuro. Maybe I'll see Gaara! Wait, I can't! My hair's still messed up. Kankuro shook her hard, breaking her lost-in-thought stare, "Huh? Answer me!" Jiyou glared at him angrily.

Meanwhile, Akemi, who was running until she spotted Kankuro threatening Jiyou, stopped and advanced quietly.

Jiyou didn't want to be afraid, but Kankuro could frighten a lot of people. Especially with all those tiki-looking lines on his face. Of course she definitely didn't want him to know she was intimidated, so she masked her terror with attitude, "Put me down you jerk! I wasn't stealing any of your dumb moves!"

He tightened his grip and Akemi saw the danger. She stepped from the protection of the trees and yelled over to him, "KANKURO!" His ugly face turned towards her voice, malevolence in his eyes.

Oops…Not a very good idea! Akemi panicked internally. But she continued, "Let go of my sister!" Oh right, like he'd listen to that! I guess I could use weapons if I had to….seeing as I'm not in any condition to fight, dumb Leaf Concentration!

"And what could you do to me?"

Ugh! Enough of his taunting! Instead of rushing at him (she was sure he would spot that sort of attack and prevent it) Akemi struck her fists into the ground. Kankuro lost his balance as the earth corroded beneath his feet. He instantly let go of Jiyou, who fell hard on her butt. While Kankuro was temporarily distracted Akemi yelled to her younger sister, "I know we shouldn't run from a fight, but RUN!"

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The two hadn't gotten far before they caught up with Maro. He gave them a confused look.

"Ack! Just run!" Jiyou yelled.

"T'cha! From what? I've already run my laps and I don't need you telling me to run more!"

"Please! For once will you just listen to us? Kankuro's back there!" Akemi was becoming frustrated with how troublesome her team had been all day.

Maro snickered mockingly, "Oh no! Not Kankuro! Geez you're pathetic; I could take him down in two seconds!"

"Well good, you do that! We, on the other hand, want to report back to Sensei in one piece!" Jiyou retorted. Akemi wasn't that keen on how Jiyou handled things. Egging Maro on wasn't the best way to get him to listen. But the two girls continued to jog, leaving their cousin back in the forest.

"Should we just leave him there?" asked Akemi. Jiyou was about to say "yes," but she remembered how important teamwork was to their sensei. They groaned and headed back to where they had left Maro.

Neither one wanted another run-in with Gaara's brother so they dodged behind every other rock or tree. They had no doubt in their minds that they probably looked completely insane.

"Jiyou, I hear something ahead," Akemi whispered to her sister. Both peered out from the rock they shared for camoflague and saw their cousin running towards them.

"I thought you said you could take him!" Akemi teased as the team ran side-by-side.

"Yeah, well, I figured it should be a team effort…and he looks pretty angry," Maro replied trying to sound matter-of-fact.

Whatever. Jiyou rolled her eyes and looked back over her shoulder, for what she didn't know.

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When they finally reached the path they slowed down. "Do you think that counts for our fifty laps?" Jiyou panted.

"It had better!" Akemi grumbled. Now to face Sensei's wrath…again.

They found their sensei and were surprised when he didn't question the cause of their delayed return. And I thought he knew everything, Akemi thought.

"Hopefully I won't catch you pulling pranks again. I trust you all learned your lesson and will be more responsible."

Akemi gave Maro a warning glare, not wanting him to mention anything that happened, but when she looked over at her sensei, he seemed to have a knowing gleam in his eyes.

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It was still somewhat early in the day but the Hasekura sisters walked home, having had enough excitement.

"Thanks for helping me back there," Jiyou admitted.

"Oh, I'm sure you could've handled Kankuro…if you didn't get so easily distracted!" Akemi told her with a smile. "Hopefully you'll have more luck with your hair tomorrow," she added.

Amazingly Jiyou's hair hadn't changed much since the morning. Jiyou replied with an annoyed groan and clasped her hands over her brown hair.

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