Hello all! This is cute lil' me speaking!!! X3

Cherry Blossom Haiku, and NinjaVampirate, as you guys now, YOU ROCK, and so does all others who joined the reviewing-on–this-story club, which so far only these fella's have joined. (HINT, HINT!)

Also, Jasmine Hatake and NinjaVampirate who added my story to their favs, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! x3

Sorry that this chapter is so short, but you see, I broke my right arm when I skiing in Idre, so I can' really type that well. (I'm typing this with my left hand. It's not going very fast.) anyway, I had written about half of this chapter, and then my arm went on strike, so this chapter is not that long. Sorry guys.

Well, that's about it I guess.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own, you don't sue. Deal?

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'A strange place'

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The hospital did have shoes. Well, actually spare slippers for the nurses, but beggars can't be pickers so what the hell. At least people didn't look at me weird when Tsubaki and I made our way through the village. They didn't even seem to think that it was weird that a small girl was carrying weapons. But like a said, no glares, so that's good right?

My new home, aka the orphanage, turned out to be a huge traditional Japanese wooden building not that far from the hospital. I wasn't really sure what I should say about it. I mean, I wanted to be polite and say something like 'Oh what a lovely house! I'm sure I'll LOVE it here!' But it just seemed kind of … I don't know. It was nice, pretty actually. But it didn't seem like a home.

But then again, I didn't want Tsubaki to think of me as a liar, which is what I would become if I said anything like that, and I'm pretty sure she'd notice.

I soon found myself in Tsubaki's office, with a wooden desk between us. This situation made me feel very, very small for some reason. The rest of the room was spartanly decorated. There were no pictures on the wall, only one lamp, Tsubaki's desk and chair, a bookcase and a chest of drawers.

"Welcome to the Camellia, Konoha's orphanage." She said. "We only accept girls in the Camellia; boys live in the other orphanage, called the Crane." She paused to clear her throat. "You will not only live here, you will be educated. You will be taught, along with the other girls, how to become a good woman, and a good wife." She informed me.

"Wife!? But I'm only six!" I exclaimed. No villagers had given me any bad looks on the way here, but after experiencing the nurse's and the man's reaction, I found myself highly doubting that someone would ever love me. I mean, who knows? Maybe they had told their friends, who told their friends, who told theirs... the thought made me shudder.

"Don't be silly, the training takes many years, when you're done you'll be an adult." She grunted. "And as you might have noticed, this is a prestigious school, we don't take in just anyone, so be sure not to let us down."

I found myself sceptical to that, since she had dragged me here from the hospital without even knowing who I was, plus the fact that this was an orphanage. I had to fight the urge to raise an eyebrow, a skill I was very proud of.

"Will I be educated in any different areas?" I asked instead. I had a feeling Tsubaki was in charge, and I didn't think people in charge liked being questioned.

"Your uniform and nightgown are in your room." She barked curtly, completely ignoring my question. "You'll meet the others at dinner, and make sure you look presentable."

'I suppose that means no then…'

"Ano, Tsubaki-san… I haven't got the chance to introduce myself properly. My name is Fuyuno Yuri." I said, still proud of the name Touki gave me.

"There's no need for that." she waved me off, like an annoying bug. "All girls get a number. Yours is number sixty-seven, since you're the sixty-seventh student here."

"I see..."I said softly. Her words hurt me. I didn't own much, but everyone deserved to keep their name. But I didn't even have my name now, I had a number.

A number.

I had this feeling that she was trying to remove as much personality as she could from me and all the other girls; no names, same clothes, same home, same education.

Well, at least I had Miyako-nee-chan's locket.

'You forgot me again! You are sooomeeeaan!!!' Touki whined.

'I'm sorry nii-chan, I'm just not that used to having a second person inside of me…'

'Tch! Excuses, excuses… You know, one of these days, I'm gonna start singing REALLY annoying songs, the loudest I can, until your brain explodes.' he threatened.

I gulped.

'Ano… what kinds of songs exactly?' I nervously asked.

'The most annoying that have ever existed… YODELLING!!!!'

'Ne, nii-chan, what's yodelling…?'

'Weeell…' he chuckled evilly. 'Believe me; it isn't pretty, especially with my voice… The only thing that's worse is country music!'

I shuddered. I had no idea what that was, but I had a feeling that I should trust nii-chan on this one. Besides, I bet he could make anything sound bad.

'Ano… I don't know what those are, but please don't sing!'

'Well say sorry then!' he huffed

'Ano, I've already done tha..'

'SAY IT, DAMMIT!!!'

'Gomennasai, Touki-nii-chan. Please don't sing!!!' I begged on my imaginary knees.

'Hmph! Well, I suppose you're forgiven, but if you ever forget me like that again, I'm gonna start singing! It hurts my feelings y'know!'

'Hai, hai, nii-chan.'

'HAH! GO ME!'

'…'

The conversation with Touki had prevented me from talking quite a while, and I suddenly realised that Tsubaki was looking at me weird. I didn't know how long I had spaced out, but from the look of Tsubaki's face, and the fact that my mouth was wide open, and there was drool on my chin, it seemed like a long time. I didn't want her to think of me as an idiot, so I had to come up with some good excuse…

"A-Ano…" I said with as much dignity I could muster with drool on my face.

"What?" she grunted in her bulldog-like way.

'Think, Yuri!'

"Well…" I said hesitantly, trying to buy more time while wiping off the drool as discretely as I could.

"Well what?" she said impatiently.

"Ah, I was just… well, I was just wondering…"

I could hear Touki snicker at me in my head. Tsubaki eyed me suspiciously, as if I was mentally retarded.

"I was just wondering in what areas I will be taught. What does a wife have to know?"

'It sort of made sense! GO ME! In your face nii-chan!'

'Where did that attitude come from? What did I do wrong?' he whined. (Yet again)

'You snickered at me. Now shush! I don't want to look like a moron again because of you!'

'Fine, fine… is it your period or something?'

'What's that?'

'Uh, never mind…'

'…?'

"Well," she began, "You will learn many things, but I can narrow it down to three steps. The first step is attracting a man. You will do this with music, dance, conversation, charm and elegance. The second step is marrying a man. To do that you will advance your skills in the areas I mentioned before. The third step is keeping your husband content, which is achieved by cooking good meals, keeping your home clean, giving birth to strong sons, sewing, etcetera." She finished. Apparently this speech was used often and well memorized, considering that she used an uncharacteristically monotone voice.

"Also, we have, naturally, certain rules here." She continued her monotone speech. "Each time you break a rule, you will be punished. You will find all the rules written down on a note in your room, which you will share with another girl your age. But I'll let you know the most important rule right away. You may, under no circumstances have any romantic relationship whatsoever with boys we haven't approved of, especially not the ones in 'The Crane'."

Now I really was confused. Wasn't I supposed to become a wife in the future? Then why couldn't I be with boys? What a strange person.

"Why?" I simply asked.

"Because you have to marry someone suitable, of course!" she said in her normal dog voice. Apparently no one had asked this question before, since the monotone voice was gone. Weird.

'What does she mean, suitable? Isn't it alright if he's cute and kind?'

'I think she means rich, imouto-chan…' Touki said, sounding serious for once. I gulped. That had to be a bad sign.

"Well, if that's all, I will show you to your room." She said.

I simply nodded and followed her out of the room.

~ OoOoO ~

Tsubaki had just left me in my new room. I didn't feel like reading the long list of rules, and besides, I was pretty sure I could behave properly. I was still tired from the walk here, and my injuries still ached a bit, even though they were healing, so I just couldn't concentrate on the small letters.

The fact that a girl was staring at me from across the room had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Nu-uh.

I couldn't bring myself to look away from her violet eyes, they so were hypnotic; my gaze was hopelessly locked with hers. She didn't look angry, she didn't glare, and she didn't seem scared she just… looked.

I had never had a friend my own age before, so I was determined to make her like me. But her intensive staring was slightly distracting, if you get my meaning.

"A-ano… who are you?" I finally managed to say.

The girl blinked and tilted her head to the side a bit, but she didn't say anything.

"What's your name?" I tried.

Still nothing. I decided to change strategy. My eyes caught sight of her deep red hair, which was almost as long as mine.

"I like your hair" I said. "It makes me think of cherries. Do you like cherries?"

She smiled a little and nodded. I mentally cheered. Progress at last!

"I'm Fuyuno Yuri, or number sixty-seven if you want to call me that. So what's your name?"

Her smile disappeared in an instant. She looked down and shook her head.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She stopped shaking her head, and began to point at her throat, gesturing with her hands, and I finally understood what it was she tried to say.

"Oh…you can't speak, can you..?" I asked carefully.

She nodded sorrowfully, wrapping her arms around herself, as if she wanted to protect herself from my presence. Then she pointed at the tidily folded uniform at my bed.

"I should probably get dressed, shouldn't I? The bulldog-like woman, I mean Tsubaki, seems like a strict…"

Her silent giggles interrupted me. I stared at her, not understanding one bit of this. One second she was trying to shut me out, in the next she was giggling at me.

"Eh?" was my intelligent question.

She stopped giggling, but she still smiled like the sun. But then she pointed at the uniform again.

"I really should change, shouldn't I?" I said.

She nodded, still smiling.

~ OoOoO ~

Our geta sandals clattered against the wooden floor as we made our way through the corridors with all the other girls. We looked like a huge mass of clones running around. After all, we all wore identical clothes, a simple black yukata. Well, not really, the older students wore dark blue ones with white camellias. I wasn't sure what it was made of, but it was nice and warm without making me sweat.

We entered one of the many doors, and I was really glad that I had her with me, or else I wouldn't have found the way. There seemed to be people everywhere, all going in different directions. I had tried to follow my silent roommate the best I could, since I didn't want to get lost in this huge place.

The room we entered had tatami mats on the floor, and was big enough for about fifteen girls, which was about how many we were. Once everyone was seated, our attention was turned to a woman in a black kimono in front of us.

"Good afternoon, girls" she said. "Today, we'll be working on your charm. In other words, the way you smile, talk, laugh and act." She paused. "Allow me to show you. When you're together with someone you want to make fall in love with you, you must be smiling like this:"

She smiled sweetly and her eyes twinkled.

"Oh my, you're a ninja? You must be really strong!" she said to an imaginary man and cocked her head to the side, giggling cutely.

I felt slightly sick. And I didn't exactly feel better when she told us to try it ourselves. Soon there were girls giggling, tossing their hair and saying sugary words surrounding me. Memories of how oka-san had taunted me while killing Miyako came to my mind. She had been smiling just like that… and she had been giggling just like that…

I wasn't thinking anymore. I didn't see them as girls my age anymore. They had all turned into oka-san, scorning me again. I was vaguely aware of Touki telling me to stop. He sounded somewhat frightened for some reason. How strange. Oh well. I had more important things to do than listening to my eccentric brother. Like getting rid of all oka-san. I briefly wondered why there were so many of them, but then I brushed it off.

Before I knew it I was on my feet, walking towards one of them.i soon my hands around her neck and I began to choke her. I smiled as I felt her gasp for air and squirm helplessly, trying to break free. And for the first time that day, I began to giggle.

Well, until I found out that it wasn't oka-san I was choking, but my silent roommate. Her terrified violet eyes stared at me frantically. Her hands were desperately trying to remove my hands from her neck.

I let go of her as if I had burned my hands. Then I felt someone grab me and drag me away from the room. The last thing I saw of the girls were their shocked and horrified faces staring at me in disbelief. Then the door was shut.

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Hello all! please rewied if you liked it! The reason it's so short is that my right arm is broken. -.- I was skiing in Idre last week, and I had a bit too much fun, you see...

Anyhow, I can't really type that fast right now. :)

The story I'm going to recommend this time is:

'Narutotachi goes to hogwarts!'

Hugs and cookies to y'all!