"Mom?" I yelled as I opened the door. My mom quickly turned toward me a sheepish smile on her lips.

"What did you do?" I asked avoiding the blood on the floor and going over to her. Their was a large slice on her hand that she was trying to stop from beading.

"I cut it, the da** knife." I examined the cut before putting it back under the water. She shrieked as the water fell over her cut.

"All this blood just from being a klutz?" I mumbled to myself. I dabbed it slowly with a towel before wrapping bandages around it.

"Thank you, honey."

"No problem, mom. Where's dad?" I asked putting the bandages away.

"He went to visit your sister," she responded simply. I suddenly stopped everything I was doing and the bandages in my hand fell onto the counter. My sister.

"M-my sister?" I asked.

"Yes," my mom replied then smiles. "She's in the sand village for a visit." Then she left the bathroom. Visit? Since when did she come to visit? I sat down on the counter. What kind of "visit"?

"Welcome Chishio!" Ino greeted as I stepped in her door.

"Am I early?" I asked putting my bag down.

"Only a little. I wanted to talk to you," Ino said sitting down on the couch and patting it beside her. I slowly walked over and sat next to her.

"How can I help?" I asked.

"Well, you know how I have a crush on Sai?" I grit my teeth. The Sasuke replacement.

"Yes."

"I want your help...with something."

"And what is that?" I questioned.

"I want you to get him to like me," she stated. What the heck?

"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked almost raising my voice.

"By spending time with him. You get him to like me by saying great things about me. Okay?" I stared at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Please."

"Fine!" I complained. "I'll try my best."

"Yay!" She yelled clasping her hands together.

"We're going to be the cutest couple ever!" she sang happily.

"It's your funeral," I mumbled to myself.

"Don't you think we're perfect for each other?" she asked turning toward me, finally remembering I was there.

"Uh, yeah," I said quickly. The door bell rung.

"Guests!" she said happily going to the door. I sat glaring at the wall. What had I just gotten myself into? Spending time with him! Ugh! I sighed. I guess it could be a lot worse. But still, this was pretty bad.

"Guess who's here, Chishio!" Ino said coming into the room.

"I don't even want to know," I said under my breath. Then spoke louder,"Who?"

"Sai!" she said happily. I sunk into the chair. He did come. So here it was, the beginning of my death. This sleepover would be the end of me. I knew it.

"Sai, this is Chishio, Chishio, this is Sai," Ino said introducing us.

"We've already met," Sai said. I glared at him.

"Oh." The door bell rang and Ino hurried to it. I kept glaring at him, hoping he'd get the idea that I didn't like him.

"Staring isn't polite."

"I don't care."

"That was not polite either."

"Talk to the hand."

"Why would I do that?"

"Chishio! Naruto, Sakura, and Shika-"

"Because you're a fricken a** whole!" I yelled at him. The four of them in the door way just stood there staring at us. Sai looked around the room, carefully analyzing it.

"Staring isn't polite," he stated to them. They quickly changed their glances and started talking to each other.

"The death of me," I mumbled to myself.

"What are you making?"

"Toast."

"That's not toast."

"Fine, I admit it, it's bread!"

"That's not bread."

"That's what you think," I mumbled to Sai. He wouldn't leave me alone! Yikes, what does a girl have to do to get some peace and quiet around here?

"I know that's not bread," he said emphasizing the 'know'. I dropped the spoon and looked up at him.

"There's a genjutsu over it making it so it doesn't look like bread," I said glaring at him. He remained quiet for a second and I went back to stiring the mix. I started to hum as I stirred it until I felt a hand on my arm.

"What is this?" he asked moving my arm to show me a scar on it. I stared at the scar before looking back up at him and pulling my arm out of his grasp.

"None of your business." I grabbed the bowl and stirred resentlessly.

"Who did it to you?" he asked, his emotionless face staring at it carefully.

"I think you should f...!"

"Chishio!" Ino said coming into the room and whispering in my ear. "did you tell him?" I inwardly rolled my eyes. Then I nodded. She smiled and skipped out of the room.

"Okay look," I said turning to him quickly. "I'm sorry for what I said, blah, blah, blah. Want to start over?" I had to grit my teeth to get the words to come out. He stared at me for a while; he looked like he was calculating in his head.

"Sure," he suddenly said and it caught me off of my guard. Then I looked up at him. He put his hand out toward me. "I'm Sai, what's your name?"

"You can call me Chishio," I said shaking his hand. His hands feel cold. I pulled my hand back before stiring again.

"What is your real name?" he questioned.

"Chishio."

"No, it's not."

"Prove it."

"You're real name is Manami Konishi," he said looking into the bowl. I stopped stiring and just let my arm hang there. How did he know that?

"How the hell-!"

"I looked up your file when I was in the Root," he said his expression not changing. Yeah, sure. What the heck was root?

"So do those cheesy books even have little pictures?" I said pouring the mix onto the burner.

"No," he replied. "They have a genjutsu on it that comes out of the page and acts just like the person, telling information about them."

"Well, that's nice," I muttered finishing the pouring and putting the bowl at the end of the counter.

"What are those?" he asked pointing to the bowl of brown colored, mini hershey kiss looking things.

"You can't be serious, you don't know what chocolate chips are?" I said surprised.

"They do look a lot like deer-" I cut him off.

"You know what, don't finish that sentence," I said pulling a couple out and putting them up to his face. "Eat them."

"They could be poisoned." I sighed at his stubbornness.

"Okay look," I said taking them and putting them in my mouth and swallowing. "See? Delicious." I took a handful and held them up to him again. He stared at them for a long moment. Then he slowly brought his hand to mine. He plucked one up carefully before putting it in between the part in his lips. I blinked a few times turning to look at the pancake mix.

"How does it taste?" I questioned, still not looking at him.

"I don't know what adjective to use for it."

"Okay then," I mumbled looking at him again. "Do you want more?"

"Yes."

"Is it better tasting than ramen?"

"Much."

"Do you want some in your pancakes?"

"I want them in any food."

"Then you should use the adjective, delicious," I told him before dropping a large handful into his hand.

"What's this for?" he questioned.

"For you to put in your pancake."

"Which one is mine?" he asked. I sighed.

"Just pick one," I said through gritted teeth.

"How do I put them in?" I sighed again, exaggerating.

"Watch." I picked some up out of the bowl and sprinkled them on top of the gewy pancakes. Then I added more until I had as many chocolate chips as I wanted.

"Can I have that one?" he asked as he pointed to the largest one.

"Sure, I don't care," I replied to him. I watched him carefully as he poured them over his pancake. He was so precise as he dropped them. Each one of them was properly spaced from the other. You could probably measure them in milimeters and they'd all be exactly the same. I looked at my own, the chocolate chips were randomly splattered across the pancake.

"Do you think chocolate chips are delicious?" he questioned me.

"Yes," I responded honestly. Then he picked some more up from the bowl in my hand and spread them on my pancake.

"Your pancake looked bare," he told me.

"Your's does too," I responded coldly. Then I looked at his. Okay, scratch what I said earlier about the chips being milimeters apart exactly. There was no apart now. There was no empty section of pancake any where. It looked like a dark brown pancake.

"Wow," I muttered to myself. Then he poured more on mine. Before I knew it mine looked exactly like his. "Death by chocolate."

"Morning!" Ino yelled while entering the room. When she came in I could've sworn Sai, I mean the Sasuke replacement, was glaring at her. Nah, it was just his normal expressionless face. "Ooh, chocolate chip pancakes!" she squealed.

"Delicious chocolate chip pancakes," he corrected her. She stared at him oddly for a minute before latching onto his arm.

"I love chocolate chips too!" she squeeled happily. "What about you?" she said looked over at me. I quickly took a step back and gained my normal expression.

"On, no, not at all," I said quickly. "I guess it's just another thing the two of you have in common." I escaped the room and went to the living room. There were sleeping bodys all over the floor. I lay down on an empty spot of the couch.

"Which one's your's Sai-kun?" I heared Ino ask loudly. When was she not loud?

"That one," he said, much quieter than her. I had to strain my ears to hear him.

"Can I have that one?" she asked him. I plugged my ears. Going from straining to hear to hearing a loud girly voice was ear drumb throbbing.

"No," he said, his voice showing no emotion.

"Aw, why not? It has so many yummy chocolate chips," she questioned, putting a fake pout in her voice.

"Because it's Chishio's." Ino remained quiet for a few moments.

"But she doesn't like chocolate chips like we do. She won't want to eat it," she protested. I sighed, feeling myself welcome no longer. I grabbed my bag of stuff and pulled on my shoes before exciting Ino's house. I sighed contently when I stood outside the door. The door shut behind me. I inhaled another breath of air. Sweet clean air.

It was good to be out of that crowded house.