DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I don't own Hikari Aino.

A/C: Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated, as well as readers' suggestions/ideas (particularly when it comes to Lemons – I really suck at those! :S).

CHEATERS ALWAYS PROSPER

"Fast bind, fast find; a proverb never stale in thrifty mind."
~William Shakespeare

~HIKARI P.O.V~

Ibiki Morino, the scary looking Jounin who had burst into the room to break up the fight stared at the shifty looking Sound Ninja sternly with an almost calculating expression on his face. It was like he was trying to figure out if he was lying or not.

Eventually he grunted like he couldn't really care less just as the Sound Ninja started to sweat nervously and gestured for us to follow him into another room.

"Okay you brats, file in and take a seat at any desk with your teams."

We obeyed his instructions, curious about what the exam was going to be like.

"And make it snappy!"

There was frantic running to make it inside so that we didn't suffer the Jounin's wrath for wasting his time. It was made obvious that this guy was not one to fuck with.

I quickly moved towards the nearest aisle and sat down in my seat. Naruto sat on my left side, wringing his hands nervously and watching Ibiki carefully, Sasuke sat down on my other side looking stoic as usual and frowning curiously at Ibiki. Sakura sat down on Sasuke's other side - she still looked really nervous about this entire test.

Once everyone was inside Ibiki shut the door behind him and moved over towards the blackboard where he started writing down the rules. When they were up, he turned and stared us down with a stern glare. There was a united gulp from almost everyone.

"Alright! This is how it's going down. There are three tests that each one of you must undergo in order to qualify for the rank of Chuunin. However, only a very strict amount of Genins will be able to do this. This test is to see who those Genins are."

We stared at Ibiki waiting for him to continue.

Suddenly, two Chuunin ninjas appeared in the room carrying clipboards and looking serious. Ibiki must have seen us frowning at them in confusion as he began vying for our attention again.

"Don't pay any attention to them. They're just here to see that you follow the rules set out for you." He gathered up a stack of tests lying in front of him on the desk and divided them up between the Chuunin volunteers.

"Do NOT start, until everyone has a test. And no cheating. Anyone caught cheating will have two points deducted from their test. If anyone in the team gets a zero on their test, then the entire team will automatically fail."

I noticed Sakura and Sasuke glaring warningly at Naruto, who gulped uncomfortably.

"Everyone will get a chance to read their test beforehand, so we'll start in an hour. Understood?" We nodded, some sighing in relief.

"The total points accumulated by your team members will determine if your team moves on to the next round." he added for last minute information.

I looked over at Naruto who looked extremely worried about the concept of doing a written test - particularly one where he couldn't cheat off the test of the person sitting beside him. I've seen him doing it before when we were Academy students. However, I relaxed when I realised that Hinata had deliberately chosen the seat next to Naruto.

"Ready? Begin reading!" said Ibiki who started pacing the length of the room.

The sounds of pages turning immediately occurred, followed by the occasional groan at a particular question somebody had read. Finally, an hour passed and Ibiki announced the beginning of the test which signalled pencils to start scratching away at paper.

Pretty soon it was the only thing that could be heard in that classroom. I glanced at the first question written in front of me. It was multiple choice, which meant that I had a 1 in 4 chance of getting the answer right the first time. After studying the question and the available answers for a couple more seconds I reluctantly circled an answer before moving on to the next one.

Occasionally, I looked up and scanned the room to see what my other teammates and the other teams were fairing.

Naruto looked extremely worried. Written tests weren't exactly his best point and it was a somewhat miracle that he even managed to become a Genin in the first place. It was a blessing in disguise when Hinata had chosen to sit beside him in the row.

She apparently didn't appear to mind that Naruto was trying to subtly copy her answers from her test, all without getting caught in the process. After all, Ibiki said if we were caught we'd get two marks deducted from our test, he didn't say we couldn't cheat. I sighed in amusement before looking away and observing Sakura and Sasuke with their tests.

Sakura seemed a bit more calmer than Naruto, but it didn't mean that she didn't look stressed out despite the fact that she was writing furiously on her test.

Sasuke on the other hand was as cool as a cucumber and was answering questions without freaking out - unlike the others. However, I noticed that he had his Sharingans on display and that caused me to frown a bit. I studied him closely and realised that he was studying the papers of the people around him - although it appeared that he was just pausing for a moment to think about his answers.

Smirking, I subtly made hand signs underneath my desk and sent out little reflecting ice crystals to each Genin (except for Naruto of course) to copy off their answers. It appeared to be working out flawlessly until nearly all of us jumped in surprise when Ibiki slammed his hands down on a desk and I froze thinking I had been sprung - but I breathed slightly when I realised it would be my first warning.

Everyone's heads snapped up to see who he had busted. Ibiki was smirking unsympathetically at a male Genin sitting directly behind Naruto - who had turned ghostly white, thinking he had been sprung cheating like I did. Hinata had flushed pink in embarrassment as well.

"Goodbye" was all he said before picking up the horrified Genin's test and tearing it in half, before grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and pulling him to the door of the classroom and pushing him out. He was followed swiftly by a redheaded girl and a bleach blonde dye job boy who were both looking murderous.

I cringed and looked sideways at Sasuke who narrowed his eyes in concern.

"I guess he wasn't kidding." I muttered underneath my breath.

He nodded before continuing with his test.

"Don't pay attention to him, he's just trying to intimidate us. Keep going." He reassured me before focusing on his test again.

Occasionally, several more teams saw the door like the other team did and the amount of Genins in the classroom thinned considerably. Soon it was obvious that about 13 teams had been disqualified from the exam. I looked up at the clock and realised that the test was almost over - and it was almost time for the question Ibiki was going to give at the end…

~NARUTO P.O.V~

This test is pretty intense.

Nearly half of the teams have already been kicked out of the exam already for cheating and there was only one question left. I just hope I didn't blow it. If I did, I'm pretty sure I won't get up for a week, considering Sakura will have knocked me out with her fists.

Morino turned and gave us all an incredibly intimidating look that made me gulp. I looked over at the rest of my team and I sighed in relief - both Sakura-chan and Hikari-chan looked nervous too. Teme was his usual stick-up-the-ass bastard self, but I was surprised and a little pleased to see him sweat dropping as well.

"Okay, listen up! There's are a few rules for this last question." He said staring us all down.

I gulped again as Morino counted out the rules on his fingers with a particularly nasty grin on his scarred face.

"First rule is: every student has the opportunity to take the last question or not. If you do not accept the question then your entire team will fail."

I felt glares digging into the back of my head from Sasuke, Sakura-chan and Hikari-chan. I flushed angrily - why are they gaining up on me?

"Second rule: if you do choose to take the last question and you get it wrong, then you ALL will lose any future opportunity of re-taking the chunnin exam ever again. The students who took the exam last year didn't apply to this rule." said Morino matter-of-factly.

I was about to open my mouth to complain about how unfair that was when Morino beat me to it.

"And all those punks who wanna complain to me about how unfair that rule is, can either suck it up, or take it up with the Hokage. Are we agreed?" I nodded dejectedly and scowled at my feet. There were several people bitching underneath their breath but didn't say anything to Morino.

He smirked.

"Good. Now whoever does not want to take the last question, please raise your hand…and leave." instructed Morino.

There was a stunned silence for a few moments. I looked at my teammates who looked at me with some concern. I knew that they were concerned that I might blow this for them, but it didn't make me feel any better about their lack of faith in me.

"Alright then, off you go."

Huh?

I turned back in and heard the sounds of chair legs scraping on the hard wooden floor and I saw some defeated looking teams filing out of the door and realised that they had given up.

Works for me - the less people to knock me down the success ladder on their way up, the better.

But then again, I'm having doubts that I'm actually able to answer the question. I looked over at my teammates to see if they were going to give up themselves. Sasuke looked determined to continue with the exam, as usual; Hikari-chan looked a little wary, but not likely to back down from the challenge. Sakura-chan however, looked like she was hesitating a bit.

My eyes widened in horror as her hand twitched and started to rise into the air.

"No!" I hissed at her and she looked at me in shock…and hope?

What the? Did they really have that much lack of faith in me?

"I'm NOT going to give up!" I declared causing my three teammates to smile at me in approval and relief that I was willing to give the rest of the exam a go.

Morino looked slightly surprised that so many of us still remained. He cracked an approving smirk.

"You all pass!"

WHAT!?

Morino revealed that the first test was to test our information gathering skills and that the extra ninjas in the room were Chunnin volunteers that he had snuck in to be sources of information for us to cheat off of.

"That was a dirty trick." Sakura complained and slumped back in her seat, just as Morino suddenly took off his hat and showed us some really bad looking scars and burns on his head.

I shuddered with horror.

"Shit…" muttered Hikari who had paled a little.

Morino looked at us grimly.

"This-" He indicated his entire face "-is the direct result of severe torture." He explained grimly.

~HIKARI P.O.V~

Ibiki explained the relevance between insecure choices between the test and the mission that chunnins would need to be able to undergo.

Well that was a nice twist, but I can't say I liked the result though - it was almost as bad as the surprise twist Kakashi-sensei pulled during the bell test.

I heard more frustrated grumbles all around me, particularly from Sakura that were cut short when a large black curtain suddenly fell in front of Ibiki. A female Jounin randomly appeared out of thin air and was standing in front of us with an almost sinister looking smirk on her beautiful, flawless face.

She was thin and muscular with spiky purple coloured hair tied up like Shikamaru's and had sharp brown coloured eyes. She wore a mesh fishnet-like body suit that ended at her upper thighs and left nothing to the imagination and a tan coloured skirt. She wore knee-high black shinobi sandals and a beige coloured trench-coat that she left open showing her revealing clothing underneath. I noticed with interest that she was one of the few shinobi that preferred wearing her forehead protector around her forehead.

"Listen up maggots! My name is Anko Mitarashi and I'm your second exam instructor." she introduced herself.

The smirk deepened.

"Good job on making it this far. But from here on out it's going to get harder. Your next test starts tomorrow at the Forest of Death, meet us there tomorrow early. You're dismissed!" She instructed us.

We got to our feet and filed out of the room, many muttering amongst themselves about what the test tomorrow might be. I turned towards Sasuke almost certain I had an uneasy expression on my face.

"Why am I getting a bad feeling about tomorrow?" I asked rhetorically.

Sasuke shrugged absently, aware that my question was rhetorical. Naruto and Sakura were oblivious to my uneasiness, seeming to be relieved that they had managed to pass this first test.

The next day, the four of us fronted up bright and early to the training area #44, AKA the 'Forest of Death.' I had been told by my Grandmother that the Forest of Death has been known to scar many ninjas for life and I was intrigued to find out exactly why that was.

The 'Forest of Death' turned out to be a large, dark foreboding looking clump of trees surrounded by a chain-link fence. At the centre of the Forest was a tall tower. Standing in front of the fence was an evil looking Anko, who was leaning casually against the entrance with her arms crossed over her chest.

Not too faraway from where Anko was standing was a table with a bunch of scrolls on it with some volunteer chuunin sitting behind it with crappy expressions on their faces. Clearly they didn't want to be here, particularly this early in the morning.

Perched in front of the table and reading one of his orange porno books was Kakashi-sensei.

"What are you doing here, Sensei?" I asked frowning at him suspiciously.

Kakashi's eyes flicked up at me before looking back down at the page he was currently reading.

"What? Can't I come and see off my students?" he asked pretending to sound hurt.

I rolled my eyes.

"Sure. Unless you had some other motive." I replied dubiously.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you think I have a different motive?" He asked, amused.

"Because you're usually late to things like this. You always turn up late to anything concerning us. Training, Missions. Shall I go on?" I listed the reasons on my fingers.

Kakashi frowned sheepishly, looking like he was just caught out.

"What's the real reason?" asked Sakura sceptically.

This time he seemed defensive that we didn't believe him so he ignored the question and continued reading his book, but I noticed him subtly checking out Anko and everything suddenly clicked together and I smirked. Naruto nudged me in the side - he had obviously seen my face.

"What?" He asked grinning.

I linked arms with him and moved off towards Anko. A large group of pumped but nervous looking Genins were waiting for the next part of the exams to begin.

"I'll tell you later." I whispered.

Naruto looked confused but shrugged and started dragging me excitedly towards the head of the group. Sakura looked at us strangely before jogging to catch up. Sasuke was already there - waiting impatiently for the test to begin. I casually sidled up to him and linked arms with him too.

Sasuke tensed up the moment I touched his arm and he turned to glare at me. However, his glare softened to a frown when he realised who it was and smiled slightly before tightening the grip and returning his attention to Anko.

Sakura glared at the back of my head before moving to stand at Sasuke's other side and stared determinedly at Anko who waited patiently for everyone who was supposed to be there to arrive.

"Stop shoving, Konohamaru!" I looked behind when I heard the voice and saw a small box that seemed to be crawling along at snail's pace behind us.

I nudged Naruto.

He looked at me questioningly before I pointed behind us and he turned and scoffed unimpressed. He gestures to me to follow him and I nod and tug Sasuke along with me. He grunts a little as I move away, but he stands his ground and pulls his arm away in annoyance. I sigh resignedly - getting fed up with Sasuke's mood swings.

It wasn't long before Sasuke realised why I was trying to drag him away us and quickly moved to follow Naruto and I, grabbing Sakura's sleeve as he did so.

"Sasuke-kun? What are you doing?" she blurted out.

We didn't answer her, preferring to get away from the box that was stalking us. Unfortunately, we couldn't avoid the stupid box, so Naruto rounded on it.

"Okay, this is getting stupid. Stop following me!"

Without warning, the box vanished and was replaced by random smoke and out popped Konohamaru and his friends. They all struck superhero poses before fixing Naruto with admiring glances.

"Hey Naruto, we're doing an article for our school's newspaper!" Konohamaru explains holding up a notepad and pen, eagerly anticipating the information we already knew Naruto was going to tell him.

"Yeah, and we were wondering if you'd be able to tell us what's been going on?" adds Moegi excitedly.

Sakura and I stood there feeling slightly offended that we had been shoved aside in favour of what Naruto had to say.

"What are we, chopped liver?" I pouted.

Naruto naturally grinned obnoxiously but before he could actually say anything Anko suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. I blinked in confusion - looking from where we were standing to where she had been standing only seconds before. I thought she had been standing in front of the gate waiting for us?

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" she demands then notices Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon who blink up at her nervously.

Didn't blame them - she did radiate sinister vibes sometimes. Anko's face relaxes the moment she notices the notepad and pens they had in their hands.

"Oh yeah, the Hokage did mention that there would be people coming down here to interview people about the Exam. Go nuts." and then turns around to head back to the front gate.

Konohamaru turns and looks expectantly at us, pen poised over the lined paper. I opened my mouth to speak, but was rudely shoved aside by Naruto who clearly wanted to brag. I stumbled slightly before turning and glaring at Naruto's head.

"Okay, you listening? My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I'm a Ninja from Konoha and the future Hokage!" He said grinning and looking freakishly like a fox.

"In fact, I'm going to the greatest of ALL the Hokages!"

I pulled a face at Sasuke who scowled at Naruto in irritation. I sighed and turned to walk back to the table where Anko was perched waiting for the rest of the Genins to arrive so we could get the second part of the exam up and running.

"Waah waah waah!" I drawled unimpressed by how obnoxious Naruto was acting.

"Get over yourself, Naruto." Sasuke agreed as we retreated to a safe distance to watch Naruto brag about himself. In fact we could hear it from all the way over here. Sakura hadn't budged an inch. It was clear she wanted to put her two cents in as well.

"Sasuke's a total tool - he's completely up himself and really anti-social-" Naruto said in conversation-like mode and I thought I saw Sasuke's eyebrow twitch.

"I mean even Sakura-chan's in love with him. That's just something I really don't get. But Hikari-chan's cool, she's been my friend since we started out at the Academy." He said grinning at me and I rolled my eyes and looked away, shaking my head. But inwardly I was smiling a little at what he said.

Sasuke on the other hand looked like he wanted to serve Naruto a knuckle-sandwich for most of the comments Naruto had made about him.

"In our group of four me, Sasuke, Hikari-chan and Sakura-chan took on some really dangerous missions-" I frowned immediately scoffing at that comment, just as Sasuke snorted in humourless amusement.

The only dangerous mission we had was the Wave Country disaster which we ended up taking on Zabuza and Haku. Other than that, our missions mostly consisted of D-rank missions like walking dogs or picking up trash. Sakura had by now given up altogether of having any say on what went into the interview as she was just as disgusted as Sasuke and I were about the drivel Naruto was going on about.

It was clear Naruto desperately wanted to be seen as something he really wasn't, and it was kind of sad when you thought about it.

"Are you sure that's really what happened?" Konohamaru was now asking Naruto sceptically with a 'are-you-for-real' frown on his face.

It was clear that what Naruto was saying must have been complete bullshit if Konohamaru was even questioning it himself. Naruto reply was a swift smack to his head for questioning his judgement. Konohamaru and his friends then looked over to where we were sitting and rushed over to us for our input.

"What about you? What's your name and can you tell us about Chakra?" asks Moegi.

Sakura immediately smiled and her eyes started getting that faraway glaze that caused everyone to sweat drop.

"Oh great. She's thinking about Sasuke again…" I mumbled underneath my breath and hid my face in my hand.

And sure enough, that's EXACTLY what came up - no mention of chakra actually was said. Poor Moegi looked uncomfortable and Sasuke looked like he was about to burst a vein in his forehead.

I chuckled nervously and beckoned the ginger-haired girl over.

"Don't worry about her, sweetie. She's too wrapped up in Sasuke to understand that not everyone gives a crap." I reassured her.

I pretended not to notice Sakura glaring at the back of my head. Moegi giggled and looked relieved before repeating her question.

"Well, my name is Hikari Aino and I'm a Kunoichi from Konoha. We were taught that Chakra is the moulding of the physical energy which is present in every cell of our bodies and the spiritual energy is gained from constant exercise and experience." I shuddered realising how much I sounded like Sakura at that moment.

An amused grunt greeted my ears and I glanced over my shoulder at Sasuke who was smirking at me. I poked my tongue at him and he winked. I continued my explanation.

"Once the chakra is moulded, it can be channelled through the chakra circulatory system, which is to chakra as the regular circulatory system is to blood, to any of the 361 chakra points in the body." I said smiling at Moegi who was scribbling away in her notepad.

"Wow. Thanks so much!" she said grinning at me.

"You're welcome." I replied and straightened up, slouching against the table.

Sasuke was still smirking at me and I blushed in embarrassment. I flushed even redder when I felt Sasuke caressing my arm with his thin fingers. He leaned forward to whisper in my ear.

"Don't be embarrassed. At least you paid attention in class." He complimented me.

I smiled softly and leaned my head against Sasuke's shoulder. I was getting really bored waiting for the second part of this stupid exam to begin. Eventually, the second round commences.

"Finally!" I heard somebody exclaim, while Naruto studied the Forest with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not afraid of that dumb forest!" Naruto declared, trying to convince both himself and everyone else around him - but it was clear that he was not looking forward to wondering around aimlessly in an unfamiliar, dark forest by himself.

Naruto had told me once that he was afraid of ghosts and anything to do with haunted places, however when confronted with people, places and things revolving around the concept of horror or haunted anything - he denied that he was afraid and tried to keep a stiff upper lip.

The both of us nearly jumped out of our skins when a sharpened kunai flew out of the air, missing Naruto by inches and embedded itself in the ground, narrowly missing our feet.

"Where did that come from?" Sakura asked looking worried.

We glanced up and saw the smirking face of Anko, who had obviously heard Naruto's comment. Something with a very long tongue returns her kunai to her and we all shudder in disgust.

This chick was freaky.

"Everyone take one of these." our freaky instructor instructed us.

We all grabbed the piece of paper as it was passed around and waited for the explanation.

"Please sign these consent forms before you enter the Forest." Anko instructed flippantly like we were signing up for free gym sessions and that it was no big deal.

I didn't buy it - there had to be some sort of catch.

"What for?" asked a Genin from the Mist Village who had a sceptical expression on her face. Anko maintained her flippant expression as she answered the question.

"There is a high chance that you might die in this forest during this second part of the exam." she explained causing several jaws to drop open. Yeah, that's really going to convince us to sign this - telling us that we're likely to be killed once we set foot in there.

Great - I'm all choked up from the love I'm feeling.

Not.

"Konoha is not responsible for any deaths any villages may sustain if their Genins do not sign this form. So I suggest you sign it if you want a proper burial should you die unfortunately in there." said Anko her face without any emotion on it.

I sighed - I'd rather be buried properly so my Grandmother won't be insulted. I motioned for Naruto (who was standing next to me looking undecided) to turn around. When he did so, after frowning at me questioningly, I used his back to sign the stupid form and folded it up and stomped determinedly over to Anko who smirked at me, obviously impressed at the fact that I was willing to look death straight in the eye and laugh.

"Good choice. Anyone else brave enough?"

Yep. Sasuke and Naruto were - in fact pretty much everyone representing Konoha were game and take death by the balls.

Crude, but a fact.

Eventually, everyone signs the forms and Anko moves to give last minute instructions.

"Alright maggots, listen up! The objective of this test is to attempt to steal the other team's strolls and bring them to the Tower in the middle of the Forest. These two scrolls are the Earth scroll and the Heaven scrolls. Without these scrolls you WILL NOT move on to the next level."

We nodded, understanding.

"As of this moment, all other teams are the enemy." Anko turned towards the table behind her and picked up a random scroll and handed it to a nearby team who took the scroll and moved off to inspect what it was.

"So it's every man for themselves, huh?" I drawled under my breath, not aiming for any of my other teammates to hear me, but apparently Sasuke did.

"I think that was just established, Hikari." He scoffed and looked at me like I was an idiot.

I scowled at him.

"Get off your high horse, Uchiha. I was just confirming that for myself!" I snapped just as Anko approached me and handed off a scroll which I immediately unfurled.

"Oi Naruto! Get over here!" I called out to where Naruto was standing next to Hinata.

He nodded and came over without saying anything to Hinata. She seemed to be concerned about something that was on Naruto's cheek. Sasuke looks over my shoulder at the contents of the scroll and Sakura copies him looking over my right shoulder.

"Looks like we have an Earth scroll…" Sakura stated the obvious.

Instead of being an asshole, Sasuke merely ignored her as I rolled up the scroll. I went to put the scroll into my backpack when Sasuke stopped me by placing a hand on my shoulder. I stared at the pale hand questioningly before looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you need something?" I asked coldly.

Sasuke narrowed his black eyes at me before pulling me aside just as Sakura spied a bloody scratch on Naruto's cheek and was currently examining it - oblivious to the tense atmosphere hovering around Sasuke and I.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked calmly as he took the scroll from my hands and stuffed it in his backpack.

"You're not acting like yourself." he commented still not removing his hand from my shoulder.

I looked away from him.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black." I muttered back causing Sasuke to raise an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you've been acting all high and mighty ever since you had your ass handed to you by Lee." I replied coolly. Sasuke bristled but managed to shake it off before acknowledging my statement.

"Was I? Hmm…how strange." he smirked and hooked a finger underneath my chin to make me look at him.

I didn't like how Sasuke was acting, but something else was bothering me and I had a feeling it had something to do with the both of us.

And I didn't like it one bit.

"Something bad is going to happen, Sasuke. I can feel it." I admitted and the playful smirk dropped from Sasuke's face. All serious now.

"What are you talking about?" he asked frowning at me.

"I don't know - it's just I'm getting the feeling that somebody is watching us, studying us and…it sounds crazy but it's really familiar." I shuddered suddenly feeling really cold.

The last time I felt like this was when I had watched my father and grandfather get cut down in cold blood. Sasuke saw me shudder and pulled against his chest in a tight, protective hug.

"Whatever it is, I promise I won't let it hurt you." He whispered in my ear.

His warm breath tickled my neck and I shuddered again, only this time with pleasure. I felt something warm and wet touching my forehead and I realised that Sasuke had just kissed it tenderly. I snuck a look over at Sakura, hoping that she hadn't just seen that.

She hadn't, but Naruto did and he snuck me a thumbs up and a really cheeky grin. I rolled my eyes but returned Naruto's smile.

"We better get going. Nearly all the teams are in the forest…what?" said Sakura.

She had seen the secretive smirks on all our faces as we sprinted for the gate, passing by Kakashi who was flirting with a slightly interested Anko.

Sakura looked worried.

"What? What did I miss?" I heard her ask desperately as she jogged to catch up to us.

I couldn't help but laugh and nearly choked when I heard Sasuke chuckling too.

It was a very pleasant sound.