Chapter three, whee hee hee! 'Kay, so I know that these first few chapters may have been a bit slow (I tried to get in some good parts) but thats how it is with most fanfiction. I promise, the story is gonna speed up pretty quick, we just need to get by the introductions. Hope you guys like this chapter! (So maybe I was a bit busier during the break than I thought. Sorry it wasn't out sooner...) --Nina

WARNINGS: Yaoi, Language, OOC maybe, this chapter's not too bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I claim to. This is merely for mine and your own enjoyment.

Chapter Three – Not a Bed of Roses

First day in a new school. Great. First day in a new school feigning the opposite gender. Even better. Not even the first day at this new school and Sasuke is already being hit on by unknowing guys in the hall. Priceless. But if something is priceless, then it has no price. Which generally means it also has no worth, which would make it worthless. Which perfectly described Sasuke's life. Worthless.

He didn't even want to go to class. The whole scenario that morning had him freaked out of his skin and now he was paranoid.

'It's fine. Everything is fine. I haven't done anything strange yet, so no one should be suspicious. You look fine, just like any other girl in here. No one suspects you. God, damn you, Asuma, for making me go through with this stupid plan.'

Sasuke uneasily snaked his way through the mesh of people that had already accumulated in the lobby. He was to report to Principal Tsunade's office first thing in the morning for a quick meeting before class started. It would probably bite into the first few minutes of class, but it didn't matter. He didn't want to go anyway. He squeezed through thick crowds of students, trying as hard as possible not to touch anyone in any means, and clutching his messenger bag to his chest tightly. Oh, how he hated crowded areas. Alas, his efforts were foiled as a particularly enthusiastic girl was flailing about when Sasuke had tried to sneak by and they ended up bumping into each other.

Sasuke immediately stumbled back, startled, then lowered his head, mumbling, "Sorry..."

The girl just gave him a strange look as he whipped around and darted skillfully through the crowd. 'Oh god. She knew. That's it, I blew it! It's all over!' Sasuke ranted inside his mind, considering calling up Asuma and telling his to call the whole thing off. The raven suddenly screeched to a halt in the middle of a crowd, his eyes wide. "Shit...!!" he whipped around and scanned the floor. 'My cell phone!!'

Sasuke had a small strap attached to his thigh just under the bottom hem of his skirt, with a pocket he used to keep his cell phone, in case of emergency. Sasuke pushed aside the fabric on the skirt and searched the pocket for the phone. He bit his lower lip and looked back in the direction he came. 'It must have fallen out when I bumped into her...'

Finding a cell phone on the floor of a crowded school lobby is like finding a needle in a haystack. Feet shifted around the floor in all directions and for all Sasuke knew, someone may have stolen it already. God, he hoped not. The raven tried to carefully search the floor for the lost piece of technology, without bumping into anyone, but it was far harder than it seemed. At one point, he was so transfixed on finding his phone, he wasn't paying attention to what was ahead of him and he tripped over another students leg.

Sasuke winced as he landed face down on the floor, although he had turned his face so he wasn't technically face down. He lifted himself to his hands and knees and looked ahead. Sure enough, there was the rebellious phone lying a few feet in front of him.

Smirking lightly, Sasuke moved forward and reached for the phone, only to watch in dismay as a tanned hand picked it up. His eyes followed the hand until it reached a scarred face framed in wild blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes.

Sasuke's breath caught when his steely dark gaze locked with the lively ocean diamonds now staring down at him.

'Uzumaki Naruto...'

The sunbathed teen smiled widely, as if in response to his name being thought of, then bent down in front of the kneeling girl. He held out the small silver phone but she didn't take it, they remained with their eyes locked on each other.

"Looks like we meet again. Must be fate," the boy joked and nudged the phone forward. "Here."

The dark-haired girl blinked and hastily took the phone from him, mumbling a quiet, "thanks," and averting her eyes.

But to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto didn't allow him to simply take the phone. Instead, he grabbed hold of the raven's wrist when he took the phone, grasping the other as well, and stood up quickly, taking Sasuke with him.

Sasuke shot up like a rocket and it was very startling. He let out a small pant of surprise when he planted his feet on the ground again, then gave the blonde an irritated look. Naruto just chuckled and was about to say something, when a loud, quick series of beeps echoed from the speakers high up on the walls of the lobby, signaling class to start in 5 minutes.

"Well, we'd better get to-" Naruto halted, when the dark-haired girl tore away from him and dashed towards the office. "Hey wait!! I'll walk to class with you!" he called and started to follow.

"No, it's fine!" was the hollered reply shot over Sasuke's shoulder, and the blonde stopped.

"So...was that her?" Naruto heard someone say from his left side and he felt someone lean against his shoulder. He turned his head to see Kiba looking off in the direction she took off, then followed suit.

"Yeah...Yuzuru Saki."

Sasuke panted against the door in the office, trying to catch his breath. What was with that kid? Why was he so friendly? He shook his head and approached the principal's office, rapping on the door twice and waiting for a reply.

The meeting was over in about 15 minutes. Tsunade went over the whole gamut of school rules and policies and went over Sasuke's schedule in detail. She told him that she was there if he had any question at all, although there were probably other students he could ask. One problem that had suddenly come up, was changing for P.E. Obviously, since Sasuke was not a girl, he would be immediately found out if he were to change in the girls' locker room. Luckily, there were bathrooms located inside the locker room so he would simply change in there. He would just have to make sure he gets to the locker room before all the other girls start to change.

'This is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth. I bet Asuma never even thought about the whole changing factor,' Sasuke thought spitefully, as he walked slowly to his classroom. Class had already started so he was in no hurry. Unfortunately, he wasn't walking slow enough because Sasuke found himself in front of the classroom door much to soon for his liking. He warily reached for the handle, then paused to gather himself together and put on a determined face. 'Here we go.'

The moment his hand landed on the handle, a pair of large hands were firmly planted on his shoulders and his blood froze.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" a deep voice, full of amusement, said from behind him.

Naruto yawned loudly and stretched out his arms behind his head. He then settled his arms down on his desk and laid his head on them, closing his eyes. A light prodding to his left shoulder kept him from the yearnings of sleep and he grumbled as he cracked open an eye. Kiba was once again in his line of sight with that annoying grin of his.

"Hey, you're not gonna fall asleep on me, are ya?" he asked.

The blonde grumbled again, then sat up. "Well, not anymore. What do you want?"

He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "I don't know. Just felt like buggin' ya, I guess. Did ya hear of who the new class heart throb is? The girls are all talkin' about him."

Naruto leaned back and listened to the mindless chatter of the girls in the back of the class. Indeed, there was a new heart throb this year. Apparently, he was kind, funny, and very athletic and smart. Not to mention, extremely cute. He sounded perfect. Oh, how Naruto envied that boy, Kigure Toshio was his name. He was never really accepted by the girls in his class, maybe it was because of the incident a few years ago, but he grew used to the neglect. There was a certain girl from the popular clique that he had liked for the longest time. Haruno Sakura, was her name. She was smart and very pretty, and had a wonderful personality from what he could tell. She was also one of the class representatives, along with Toshio and two other members. But he knew that he never stood a chance, for she had her own eyes set on Toshio.

Naruto turned around and faced the front of the room again, where the teacher should be teaching if he were on-time for once.

Then there was that other girl. Yuzuru Saki. He had just met her, but she seemed likable. Although, maybe she was too shy for her own good because she always acted so cautious around people. Like this morning in the lobby, watching her worm her way to the office was truly a laughable sight. She seemed so uncomfortable around people, or maybe it was just Naruto. God, he hoped not. Because that's the last thing he would want, to make people uncomfortable or even cause them to ignore him.

"Ya know," Kiba announced, "It sure would be nice if Kakashi-sensei would actually show up on time, for on-"

"Good morning class!!"

As if on cue, the belated teacher suddenly burst through the door, smiling cheerfully and waving as if he weren't already 20 minutes late.

"Sorry I made you all wait, but I found a little lost birdie on the way here and decided to help her find her way," the silver-haired man explained, then reached past the threshold of the door he held open with his foot and pulled from behind the door, a delicate-looking, raven-haired girl.

Naruto sat up at the sight of the girl.

"Class, I would like you all to meet our new student, Yuzuru Saki-chan!" Kakashi announced, clamping down on her small shoulder, looking like they were going to break.

The dark-haired girl cracked an awkward smile for a split-second then dropped her gaze to the floor.

"Now, why don't you take a seat behind Uzumaki-kun over there," the teacher whispered in her ear and gave her a small shove forward. "Let's all make Yuzuru-san feel comfortable in this class and welcome her!"

Sasuke's eyes remained on the floor as he passed a few rows of students and took his seat, paying no attention to the practiced applause by the class that was meant to welcome him. The applause subsided and Kakashi gathered his things for today's lesson in English, and Naruto spun around to face the girl he was just recently pondering about.

"Hey," he greeted, flashing a smile and waving with a two-finger salute.

Sasuke looked up. He just couldn't seem to get away from this kid. "Hello," he greeted monotonously.

"I'm glad, we've got first period together. I wonder what other classes we'll have?"

"Yeah, I wonder..." Sasuke sank a bit further in his seat.

Naruto gave him a confused look, then laughed softly and scratched his chin shyly, out of habit. "Sorry, was that supposed to be sarcastic? I'm not very good with sarcasm..."

'Yeah...no shit, Sherlock.' Sasuke sighed and started picking at his fingernails when another boy leaned over and started talking to him.

"Aah, don't worry. Blondie here may be annoying at first, but he'll grow on ya!" the brunet grinned and stuck out his hand. "Name's Inuzuka Kiba, nice to meet ya!

Sasuke shook his hand out of politeness, then quietly returned to his own little world.

Kiba shot Naruto a strange look, then Naruto leaned over and whispered, "I think she's just shy. It's her first day and all. Not to mention, she was being picked on earlier by Makoto and Keigo."

The brunet nodded, then faced the front of the room just as Kakashi began the lesson.

About 10 minutes of Kakashi-sensei speaking to the class, and then 80 more to pretty much screw off. All he really did was talk about some big book project that was due in a week and late assignments were not accepted. Sasuke was given the book and told that he would get a few days grace period because the rest of the class had already started the book. He would probably have it done before half the class was finished anyway. While Sasuke was trying to catch up in the book he was given, that stupid blonde wouldn't leave him alone. The raven gave short replies, such as a nod of the head or an occasional 'hn,' but most of the time said nothing, until he was fed up and put the book down. It was a long, one-sided conversation, for Sasuke refused to take part in it, until finally the bell rang and signaled that the students leave for their next class.

"So, I was thinking, maybe we can walk to our next class together. Or, at least, part of the way," The blonde suggested, as Saki placed her books in her bag.

She pulled it up onto her shoulder and faced him. "No, I don't think-"

"Yuzuru-san."

Both Naruto and Saki looked towards Kakashi-sensei, who was smiling and waving for the girl to come forward. "She'll catch up to you later, Naruto-kun."

The boy nodded and exited the room, seeing Kiba outside the door waiting for him.

"Are you sure about her, dude?" Kiba asked.

Naruto looked perplexed. "What are you talking about?"

"That Yuzuru chick. She seems a bit too down-to-earth for you to be looking at her like-"

"Wait wait wait. What do mean by 'looking at her?' "

Kiba gave Naruto a suggestive smirk. "You know what I mean. I mean, hot damn, she's cute!"

The blonde shot Kiba an irritated look. "Well, so what? That doesn't mean I want to go out with her or anything."

"You sure seemed interested in her during class," Kiba offered, off-handedly.

"I'm just trying to make her feel comfortable, that's all!"

"Who are you talking about, Naruto?"

Kiba looked over Naruto's shoulder, and Naruto turned around to see the pink-haired beauty from his class. "Sakura-chan! Uhm...it's nothing. We were just talking..." the blonde trailed off.

"About that new girl from class," Kiba finished, receiving a sharp jab in the side from his friend.

Sakura blinked. "Oh, I see. But, Naruto, I though I was the girl you liked."

"I-I still do! I was just trying to make her feel welcome, since it's her first day and all," Naruto quickly recovered.

The pink-haired girl smiled and spun around on her heel, walking back towards her group of friends, "Well, that's good. I'll see you around, Naruto!"

Naruto waved to her, then dropped his arm and sighed.

Kiba fixed him with a worried look, but he ignored it.

"So, how was your first day so far? You're not lost in the lesson, are you?" Kakashi asked politely, leaning back in his chair at his desk.

"No, not really. I've missed maybe a few weeks of school, but we picked up when my last school left off. I catch on quick, so it's nothing to worry about," Sasuke explained.

The man nodded. "That's good. Are you comfortable finding your way around the campus yet, because we could assign an escort for the first week or so?"

Sasuke shook his head and flashed his eyes up at the man. "I don't think that's necessary."

Kakashi-sensei was...different, to say the least. He wore a mask that covered the bottom half of his face, and an eye-patch over his left eye. He had unruly silver hair that defied gravity itself and stuck up in the air, leaning towards the left side. Sasuke wondered it his neck muscles were stronger on that side because of the lop-sidedness his hair caused.

'Weird.' Sasuke shifted a bit, standing in front of his teacher. "If that's all, then I should be getting to my next class..."

Kakashi nodded again. "Indeed, you should."

The raven warily turned towards the door, eying up Kakashi one last time, then headed towards the door.

"Oh, Saki." He was once again stopped by his teacher just before he reached for the door. "I have one more thing to ask you."

"Yes?" Sasuke turned to his teacher, who had suddenly materialized right behind him, bending forward so he was eye-to-eye with his student. He suddenly felt as though his personal space was being invaded and it made him terribly nervous.

Kakashi smiled. "You're not really a girl, are you?"

The raven's eyes widened in shock. 'How did he...?' "E-Excuse me?" he squeaked out, unable to shuffle back away from his teacher. He couldn't move.

"You heard me. You're not really a girl...are you?" the silver-haired man repeated slowly, then set a hand on top of Sasuke's head.

Sasuke gasped and moved to swat the hand away, but fingers enclosed around the dark tresses and there was a slight breeze when it was swiftly removed from his head.

'It's over.'

Sasuke tentatively brought up a hand and found only his short, layered hair that was pressed flat from the wig. His eyebrows drew together and he risked a glance up. His teacher stood, examining the dark wig in his hand with a bored expression, before the expression was suddenly directed at Sasuke.

The teen hastily took a few steps back, slamming his lower back into a desk in his haste, to get distance between the two.

Kakashi watched the teen with curiosity, although it didn't show. Now, it was quite obvious that 'Yuzuru Saki' was a boy. He knew the moment his hands touched the boy's shoulders and when he got a closer look at his features. The man always had a very sharp eye, and any other person would have absolutely no suspicion whatsoever. I mean, the boy was, indeed, gorgeous, and had no problem at all with pulling off the girl look, but why? Why would he want to pretend to be a girl? And more importantly, what should he do now?

That's the exact same question that Sasuke was wondering. What should he do now?

"Saki-" Kakashi started, but stopped and Sasuke looked up. "No...what's your real name? And why are you...?"

The raven bit his lower lip out of nervous habit. It was no good. No use hiding it anymore, might as well tell the truth. "You have to promise me first," he mumbled.

"Hm?"

"Promise me that you won't tell anyone! You can't tell anyone!!" he demanded, getting back the intimidating gleam in his eyes.

"But why-"

"Promise me!!"

Kakashi flinched at the volume in the boy's voice, "Alright, alright. I won't tell anyone. Now tell me why the hell you're dressing like that? Does anyone else know about this?"

Sasuke looked away, as if embarrassed. "No, no one else knows."

The man sighed, then strolled back to his desk, leaning back and propping his feet up on the desk. "Well," he sighed again, "do you want to enlighten me about your unusual attire then?"

The boy followed his teacher and pulled up a desk in front of him. He paused to gather himself together before beginning what was going to be a long, tiring explanation. "I'm...under special protection."

"Protection?" his teacher repeated.

Sasuke nodded. "I'm being tracked down by...someone," he chose his words carefully. "I've transferred schools several times now and they still seem to find me. The only way my guardian thought I would have the best protection is if I were to feign as a girl for the next school term. So, here I am."

"Tracked down? By a psychopath or something?"

The raven shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened in realization. "Wait...you mean you're-" He thought he recognized the boy from somewhere. About 5 years ago, there was a report on the news about some teenage boy who had killed his entire family, save for his little brother. It was all coming back now. "Uchiha..."

The boy nodded again. "Uchiha Sasuke."

"And so...you're in hiding at this school because..." Kakashi drifted off.

Sasuke finished for him, "We have reason to believe that he's been tracking me." His eyes met his teacher's with such determination, and almost threat, that it almost made Kakashi flinch. "That's why you can't tell anyone. My guardian can't even know that you found out."

"You know, there are probably rules against things like this. Not to mention you're probably breaking a lot of other rules that come with pretending to be a girl."

Sasuke stood up, causing the chair to screech loudly against the floor. He put his hands flat on the desk surface in front of Kakashi and leaned forward. "I have it all taken care of. I can do this myself, you just need to pretend that you never knew anything!"

The silvery-haired man sighed and pressed his fore finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut, then moving his fingers to rub in circles around his temples, as if warding off a headache. "It would be best if the principal knows about this..."

The temperable boy slammed a fist down hard against the desk, causing his teacher to jump slightly and give him puzzled look. "No. I told you, you can't tell anyone!"

"Saki- no...Sasuke, what do you expect me to do?"

"Nothing, pretend you didn't see anything!! You don't need to know, no one does!"

"I can't do that," Kakashi explained lowly.

Sasuke was taken aback and he gaped for a split-second, before leaning forward on the desk even more. "Why not?" he pleaded.

"Not only would it put my own job at risk, but you could be expelled if the wrong people were to find out about this."

Sasuke wasn't really sure what his teacher meant by the 'wrong people,' but he ignored it at the moment. "They won't find out. And if you keep your mouth shut on this, you can't get in trouble because they don't think you have anything to do with it."

Kakashi looked unconvinced, but it wasn't like he wasn't pondering the idea. This boy looked desperate.

Sasuke was getting nervous. What if he couldn't convince him? Of course, Sasuke had developed a technique for flawless persuasion, but he really didn't want to use it on his teacher. But if push comes to shove...

"I'll think about it."

Sasuke froze. "What?"

"I said, I'll think about it. I can't deal with this right now."

The raven's eyes narrowed and he stood there glaring at his teacher. "Hn..." Sasuke snatched the wig from his teacher and adjusted it on top of his head.

Kakashi watched slightly amazed at how, in a matter of seconds, this boy had transformed into a girl again.

Sasuke walked to the door and gave one last warning glare to the man before leaving, slamming the door behind him.

The silver-haired teacher sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. 'What now?' he thought.

After Sakura left, Naruto told Kiba that he would catch up later and decided to wait for Saki to come out of the classroom. Almost 10 minutes had passed, Naruto checked his watch, and she still hadn't come out.

'What could they be doing in there?' Naruto pondered as he turned and reached for the door handle, to see what was taking them so long.

The door suddenly flew open, the blonde's face smashing into the hard wood, and a very pissed-off looking girl stood in the doorway.

Sasuke heard a loud groan from the other side of the door. "What the..." He peeked around the corner to see that Uzumaki boy holding his nose and whining in pain. Sasuke gasped softly and quickly shut the door. "Are you okay? What were you doing standing right there by the door, it's dangerous!!" he scolded.

Naruto laughed sheepishly, "It's fine! Don't worry, it doesn't even...ow."

Sasuke looked unamused and he sighed, guiding the blonde to the floor. "Let me see, it could be broken."

"It's not broken, it just hurts, that's all!" Naruto explained, still holding his hand to his face.

The raven placed a hand on top of Naruto's and gave a gentle push.

"OW!!! Ow ow ow!!!" he wailed.

"See! It does hurt!! Now move your hand!"

The blonde hesitated, then complied and moved his hand from his face.

Sasuke frowned. The boy's nose was red, but it didn't look broken, so that was good. Still, you can never be too careful. He placed two fingers on the bridge of his nose and immediately, the boy cried out in pain.

"Stop moving!! Don't be such a baby, now sit still," Sasuke growled.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him. "Easy for you to say, you don't know how bad it hurts," he muttered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, murmuring, "Idiot," under his breath.

"What did you say- ow!!"

"I said, sit still!!"

"Huh? Hey, Saki, are you bleeding?"

"What?"

"There's blood on the floor by your shoe."

"Oh my god!! It's bleeding!!!"

"What's bleeding?"

"Your nose, idiot!!!"

Naruto sat in the nurse's office, swinging his feet off the side of the bed in the corner. He watched the raven on the other side of the room move around, looking for things in the drawers.

"Has it stopped bleeding yet?" she asked, turning around.

Naruto blinked and pulled out the tissue in his nose. "Ah, not yet."

"Idiot!! You have to keep your head tilted back, and put in a new tissue!!"

The girl stormed over to him and wrenched his head back, shoving a clean tissue up his nose.

"Ow!! Hey, not so rough! Aren't girls supposed to be gentle?" Naruto huffed.

Sasuke almost laughed. Almost. Instead, he frowned and turned away, going back through the cabinets.

The blonde sighed and stared up at the ceiling, since his head was up-turned. It was sort of embarrassing, to get your nose smashed in by the person you were kind enough to wait for so you could walk to class together. He sighed again. 'Smooth, Naruto, smooth...'

"What's that all about?"

Naruto blinked and looked forward, "What?"

"Keep your head tilted back!!"

He quickly re-tilted his head back towards the ceiling.

"I asked, what was that all about?" Sasuke repeated himself.

"What do you mean?"

"You sighed like something was wrong. Is everything okay? Did your nose start bleeding again?" he asked, turning around and walking back over at Naruto.

The boy's face reddened slightly and he scowled at the ceiling. "No, it's fine."

Sasuke blinked and his steps faltered. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

The raven frowned, then moved and stood directly over Naruto.

The boy blushed immediately, stuttering, "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Quiet. It'll help," Sasuke said, and placed a small bandage over the bridge of the blonde's nose. "There. If it's done bleeding you can throw the tissue away."

Naruto pulled out the tissue and relieved his neck of the strain it was being put under from tilting his head. He smiled when he noticed it has stopped bleeding. Throwing away the tissue, Naruto walked over to the sink, where Saki was washing her hands already. He waited for her to finish, then washed his. The blonde frowned when he saw the unsightly bandage obstructing his features in the mirror. "Do I really have to wear this bandage on my face?" he asked.

Sasuke turned at glared at him. "Yes, you do. It'll help keep your sinuses open because they could get blocked from blood."

Naruto winced. She sounded annoyed. "Sorry," he muttered.

The raven paused. Then checked to see if he heard him right, "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry," Naruto sighed. "Sorry I had to drag you down here."

Sasuke smirked lightly. "Is that what all the sighs are about?"

The blonde looked away guiltily.

Keeping his smirk, the raven decided to tease the kid and he leaned against the counter. "Well, you should be sorry. How dare you drag me out of class to take care of you! And what in the world were you doing waiting around outside the door anyway?"

Naruto's face turned pink around the cheeks and he glanced at pale girl, before looking away quickly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow intrigued.

"I was- uh...waiting for you," he replied bashfully, turning off the water on the sink and turning away to wipe his hands on a paper towel.

Sasuke was left speechless. He looked away to gather his thoughts quickly, then asked, "Why?"

"I wanted to walk you to your next class."

He shook his head. "No, why do you do this? Ever since you met me in that hallway you've been all kind and helpful, like we're best friends, and I hardly even know you! Why are you doing this?"

Naruto turned to face Saki. She looked confused, was it so hard for her to accept people's kindness? "I'm sorry. If it bothers you, I'll stop. I just thought I could help you feel more comfortable in this school, that's all."

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek to keep him from saying something like, "it'd probably be better if you do." He shook his head. "No, it's-...whatever. I need to get back to class now."

"Oh, okay. Sorry I kept you so long," Naruto apologized again.

"It's fine," Sasuke said as he left the health office.

The blonde stood in the empty room, staring at the floor. His hands balled into fists and his tossed one against the cabinet. "Dammit..." he cursed. 'It happened again. No matter what, they always run away...'

Please don't run away.

Yay! Chapter Three! We're movin' right along! Yatta, we got some interaction with Sasuke and Naruto in as well! And uh oh! Kakashi-sensei knows already?!! What trouble will that bring our hero, or...heroine- what? Leave a review and keep me motivated, 'kay? Thanks! And sorry again for the late update! --Nina