Disclaimer: Aki's story is © to me, all events referring to Naruto and his friends that Dragon Man included in his fic, "Naruto the Kitsune Hanyou" are hereby © to him. All other things are hereby © to their respectful and rightful owners.

Fifth Shadow: Changed, Yet Still the Same

"So, are you sure about this? I mean, it's a year away. You sure you want to join?" Itachi's voice asked.

"Hai, I'll even do it the same night you do." Toji replied.

"What about your mother and sister?" The elder Uchiha brother enquired.

"Well, I don't want to leave Aki-chan alone. I'll do nothing about my mother. My father, sure. He's easy. But my Okaa-san is someone you don't want to mess with. She's a tough kunoichi when she needs to be."

"That's what the point of the training was! So you could be able to eliminate them! You're lucky your clan is so small. I've got over five people on my list already."

"Heh. That sucks."

"Hey, who's that kid in front of us? She looks like your sister. Oh Kami-sama! She is your sister."

"Hopefully she didn't hear anything…"

"Yeah, hopefully…"

"Aki-chan!"

I turned, hearing myself be addressed.

"Nii-chan!" I exclaimed, acting surprised.

"Why aren't you home yet?"

Geez, nice to see you too, Toji. I bet you're just worried I heard you, right?

"I kind of…anno…got sidetracked…"

"What'd you do? Buy another book?"

Ok, that sarcasm's pushing it. Who are you and what've you done with my brother? You're being…such a jerk.

"For your information, Nii-chan, I went to go help Neji-san find Hinata-san." I replied, my bitterness seeping into my voice slightly.

"Alright then. Well Itachi, looks like we have to go our separate ways."

"Ja ne, Toji!"

"Ja ne, Itachi!"

And so, at long last they parted. Finally! Seriously, those two are never not with each other. They're on the same team for Kami's sake! You would think he sees his best friend enough.

"Oi, we're going home." He said, not looking at me.

"Fine." I replied, not looking at him either.

"And don't talk to me with that attitude."

"Yes, Nii-chan, I apologize. I'm just grumpy from all the notes in class today."

Wow, that sounded sarcastic. Hopefully he doesn't care. He never really cares when I use sarcasm. Toji seemed not to care, just as I had hoped and predicted, and he ruffled my hair.

"C'mon, I'll give you a piggy-back ride, Miss Grumpy-face. That might cheer you up."

I smiled. Now that he's finally acting like himself. He crouched down and I jumped onto his back like I always do, and we passed by the Uchiha bakery stand, and Nii-chan stopped and turned to me.

"Do you want a cinnamon roll?" He asked.

"Hai! Hai! Hai!" I said excitedly, bouncing on his back, eager for the baked good which I adored.

Cinnamon rolls were my most favorite baked good. Well, cake and bread imported from a faraway country called Korea was the top of the list, followed by cookies and cinnamon rolls, and immediately after that was Konoha-baked cakes and sweet breads and other baked goods from other hidden villages.

"We got another shipment of the Korea baked things. I saved some for Aki-chan, since I know she likes it so much." The Uchiha woman behind the counter said with a smile.

I never knew her name, but she knew mine, and she knew what kind of stuff I liked. I watched her as she pulled out a bag specially labeled "Special gift for Aki-chan" along with a separate bag which contained my cinnamon roll.

"Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! YAY!" I chirped happily from my perch on my brother's back. "I'm getting cinnamon rolls and Korean baked yummy-stuffs!" I sang.

My brother laughed at me.

"Ok, so how much is all of that going to be?" He asked.

"It's on the house, Toji-san! I saw Aki-chan had a frown on earlier, so I want her to smile that beautiful smile she always does!"

"Arigatou gozaimashita!" (A/N: A very, very respectful way to thank someone. Also means "Thank you very much" I believe. Provided that the Japanese my own Chichiue taught me is correct…)

"Thank you!" I said, bowing to the best of my ability on my Nii-chan's back.

Toji handed me the bags, and I pulled out my cinnamon roll, in its sticky, frosting-covered, sugar-loaded glory and bit into, savoring the taste of it in my mouth.

"If you wipe any of the cinnamon or frosting on my shirt, you are so dead." Toji warned.

I knew he was joking. I playfully put a bit of the roll in his hair.

"Aww, Aki-chan! Now it's gonna stick together and it'll hurt when I have to comb it!" he whined, once he realized what I'd done.

"That's why you wash your hair. Silly, Nii-chan."

"Alright mischief maker! Prepare to meet your DOOM!" My brother said in a faked evil voice, adding a well-practiced evil cackle at the end.

"Waah! Oh no, Nii-chan's gone crazy!" I replied, pretending to be scared.

We'd played this game before, so many times.

"Let's see how you fare against the forces of gravity! I shall make you fear me and your little cinnamon roll too! Muahaha!"

I couldn't help myself. I started giggling like crazy. Brother made a one-handed seal, and he broke out into a run, and next thing I knew he was standing on the side wall of our shop, and passerby watched us as we, to them, hung horizontally from the wall. He walked around to the back of the shop and walked back down to the landing of the stairwell that led to the front door of our apartment that resided on the floor above the clan store.

"Weee! That was fun Nii-chan!"

Toji laughed again, and opened the front door using a Kage Chozou. That was how we locked everything. Only clan members who knew the jutsu could open the locks. Of course, the blood of every Tamahashi had to be smeared on all the locks so the jutsu knew who to disengage itself to. I guess that's probably why we've never gotten robbed. People have undoubtedly tried. There's a special burn left on anyone who has tried to force entry through any one of our locks or doors. I've seen a few around. They're mostly teenagers, I hardly see adults since they're usually evil nin, which is why they were trying to force entry in the first place. So the adults are usually caught before I ever see them. But there are a couple of them around.

When we walked in, the scent of delicious food wafted from the kitchen. I slid off Nii-chan's back, my stuff from the bakery clutched firmly in my hand, still munching on my cinnamon roll.

"Tadaima!" I called. (sp? "I'm home!")

"Okinaerinasi!" My mother greeted in reply. (sp? O.o I think it's a basic reply of "Welcome back/home!" something like that…I'm only ½ Japanese and I barely know the language. Gimme a break, okay?)

"Okaa-chan! Guess what?" I said excitedly.

"Nan ja?" she replied.

"Nii-chan got me the yummy bread and cinnamon rolls and I met the Hyuuga genius today!"

"Sugoi ne! That sounds like you had a very exciting day, my dear musume." (Musume daughter. Sugoi ne Wow.)

"Hai! It was!"

"Well, dinner's ready, so how about we talk about this over some good food, ne? Besides, I'm sure your father would love to hear about your day, it sounds very interesting."

"Okay, Kaa-chan!"

I sat down in my normal seat, Nii-chan sitting in his usual spot as well.

"Oh, Toji, I'll need you to watch the shop tonight and tomorrow all day. I've been assigned on a special project by the Hokage-sama. Besides, you could probably teach Aki how to run the shop while she's there. She's got to learn how to sometime, ne?"

"Hai!" My brother agreed with a grin.

A sudden puff of smoke caught our attention.

"Konban wa, minna-san!" My father greeted.

"Otou-san!" I exclaimed.

I leapt up from the seat I had just taken and ran to my father who wrapped me up in a tight bear hug.

"Hey kiddo!" He said while still squeezing me.

"Our daughter tells me that she had a very interesting day…" My mother began.

"Oh? Did you, Aki-chan?" He asked, releasing me and kneeling down to my height so he could look me in the eye.

"Hai! I met the Hyuuga boy today! And Nii-chan got me the yummy stuff and cinnamon rolls!"

"So you met Neji, ne? Is he a nice boy?"

"He's very polite, Otou-san. He wanted help finding Hinata-san."

Just talking about Neji made me think of his face, his captivating pale eyes, and his raven-colored hair. I could feel the heat gathering in my cheeks as my father continued talking about him. That was when my brother smirked, noticing my flushed face.

"I think Aki-chan has an ickle-crush!" He said, laughing, pointing at me.

My blush darkened. "Shut up, I do not!" I retorted defiantly.

"Oh yes you do!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Shut up, I'm not talking to you anymore."

Nii-chan started laughing again. He took a few seconds to calm down before turning to look at me. My face was still flushed, but it was more of an anger flush now.

"Look, it's ok to like someone. It's perfectly normal. But just wait a while before you start getting involved in relationships. Love is a complicated thing. It makes you happy, and sometimes it makes you cry…or, it can make you go completely ballistic and you want to bash someone's head in. Like Dad does to Mom when he complains too much."

"Oi! I don't drive your mother that crazy! Do I?" My father protested.

He looked to my mother, who simply sighed and shook her head. "You drive me to the brinks of insanity sometimes…I have no idea how I've been able to put up with it for so long…" she said finally with a laugh. "Now come on, everyone sit down before dinner gets cold."

"Hai!"

x0x0x0x

A bell tinkled and brother looked up, waiting for the approaching customer.

"Kon'nichi wa, how may I assist you?" He asked politely.

I looked up, curious to learn the tricks of the trade. A boy just a few years older than me approached the counter. He had glasses and silver hair tied back in a low ponytail, his Konoha hitai-ate resting proudly on his forehead. Obviously this kid was a genin.

"Anno…do you have those cards? The Nin-info cards?" The genin-boy asked.

"Oh, hai. We have various types, would you like some assistance in choosing the right ones?"

"Iie, I know which ones I'm looking for."

The boy seemed to notice my brother's flak jacket. "Ne, are you a Chuunin?" he questioned, his eyes widening behind his spectacles.

"Hai. Are you taking the exam that's coming up?" My brother asked, now interested.

"Yup! Is it hard?"

"Not really. My team and I, we got through alright. A bit banged up for a while, but we made it."

"Wow, then you all must have really good team work, ne?"

"Hai! Our team's so close that we thought and did everything alike. Quite scary if you put the three of us together. Only difference between us is our appearances."

The genin boy glanced over at the Nin-info card display and picked up a large stack. "Ok, I'll take these."

Nii-chan took the cards and cast a dispelling jutsu with a one-handed seal (obviously our special anti-theft jutsu that most shopkeepers had), his free hand punching in a few numbers into the register. The boy paid, and received his new cards in a special box to hold them in.

"Ok, all you need to do to use them is put some of your chakra into the stack so it knows your chakra signature. You may want to do a few practice cards with information about yourself and your friends or family. And to wipe a card blank, just use your chakra to pull the data from the card. Alright, you're all set! Have a great day and good luck with the Chuunin exam. I'm sure you'll do well!"

"I will do my best! And thank you!"

The boy took his purchase and happily ran out of the shop. Then brother turned to me. "I think now would be a good time to teach you about everything in the shop…"

I nodded. Honestly, we have so much cool stuff in here; I only know what half of them do. It'd be a bit stupid if I was running this shop and I didn't know what I was even selling. That'd look really bad. Nii-chan took my hand, and started a tour of the shop, pointing at everything and explaining, making me repeat until he approved of my explanation. It was, to say the least, a very interesting day.

A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated, but I've been super-busy, but now that I'm finally out of school, I have a bunch of time! So updates should be more frequent and not such a rare occasion. Anyways, that was chapter five, so ummm, yeah.