I was headed to the park when I rammed into someone. "Sorry," I said before looking up and noticing who it was. "Never mind." I turned to walk away from Sai but he put his hand onto my shoulder to stop me. I stared at it oddly, and then looked up to his face with a glare on my own.

"What do you want?" I said as coldly as I could.

"Why did you lie?" he asked. I was taken aback for a moment.

"What are you talking about?" I said coldly—again. Before I knew it Sai was leading me away from the busy market place—no, not leading, pushing; forcing me. Could I call for help and blame him for sexual assault?

"You said you liked chocolate chips, and then you told Ino that you didn't." I dug my heels into the ground, making it so he couldn't keep pushing me.

"I was being nice, you idiot," I said to him emotionlessly, while staring blankly at the road in front of me.

"How is not telling someone the truth being nice?" he questioned; his voice sincere. I didn't roll my eyes, I didn't blink, and I didn't do anything really. I stood there staring off into no where.

"I was saving her feelings," I said just as emotionlessly as before.

"Wouldn't she rather the truth?" he questioned; his voice puzzled.

"I've been doing this for years," I told him. "People would rather believe something untrue than to know the painful truth."

"How is the truth painful to Ino?"

"Because she…" likes you. I'm glad I came to my senses before finishing the sentence. I turned toward him abruptly; annoyance shown on my face.

"Go ask her," I said coldly before pushing his hand off my shoulder and walking away. Sai just stayed there staring off into the distance, probably thinking. Why did I get so soft back there? I rolled my eyes at myself before heading to my home. I needed a decent amount of rest.

"I'm home!" I said as I entered my home. Where is everyone? I took of my shoes. The lights were on but no one was in the living room or the kitchen. I walked down the hall and opened the door out to the garden. I abruptly dropped my bag. Standing outside were my mother, father, and sister. They were all laughing at something someone had said; large smiles on all of their faces.

My mouth hung open wide as a glare crept onto my face. My sister looked happy. My sister…it was so weird saying that. Suddenly, my sister turned her head to look at me. She must have sensed me. Her smiled was no longer on her face. She glared at me behind my parents' backs. Then she turned back around and her smile was back as she laughed at something my father said.

Leaving my bag in the doorway I sprinted away. I ran as fast as my feet would take me. I ran as fast as I could, not caring about glass and rocks digging into the bottom of my bare feet. I wasn't sure where I was going and honestly, I had never even been there before.

My feet stopped in front of a small apartment. Who's apartment? I didn't know. Why I knocked on the door? I didn't know. You know what I else I didn't know and hadn't noticed? It was pouring outside. The door opened to reveal a confused Sai. As soon as I saw him I wanted to rip his head off before stabbing it a million times with needles.

You might wonder why I didn't attack the dark haired boy in front of me. You might also wonder why I broke down right there and cried as I latched onto him for comfort. I don't know why I did. I did, but it wasn't like I was going to admit anything to anyone…not even myself.

"Are you alright Chishio-chan?" Sai asked. It was one thing for me to be latched onto the Sasuke replacement and crying. It's another to admit why I'm crying.

"No," I responded through the tears. His rough leather jacket quieted my already quiet voice. Since I did not want to admit to myself why I was crying, I opted for the easier thing to think about—why I was latched onto Sai. I pushed my face deeper into the leather and held onto his back harder. I was latched onto him for comfort. I needed someone to just grab onto and cry on. It turned out that he was the closest someone at that moment.

Sai did the thing that I would have expected him to if I were in my right mind. He stood motionless, with his hands at his sides. It was not the ordinary embrace. Nor could it actually have been considered an embrace from him. In all honesty, it was like hugging a statue.

I was like a dam; once it broke, the water kept coming until it was all gone. There I was, crying on the chest of someone I hated so entirely—so fully. I was being a hypocrite, I noticed as I cried. I promise myself that I'll hate him, then come to his house crying…looking for comfort, even!

I couldn't make myself let go of him, though. My hands felt as if they were one with the back of his jacket—which they happened to be clutching onto quite strongly. Perhaps I was going crazy. Perhaps I had finally lost my mind. That was a lot easier to explain than my sudden change of heart.

Why couldn't Sasuke have just died back when the rest of his clan did? Why didn't the murderer kill them all? Darn it! Why? My loud sobs caught my attention and my eyes closed. I'm being a baby, I told myself. You're sixteen years old, Chishio! Act like it for once!

I just wish it didn't have to end this way, I said as I sniffled. Everything would be so much easier if they had just stayed. Couldn't Sasuke stay? He didn't have to leave. My life would be so complete if he were still here.

Complete? I was lying to myself again. I needed to stop doing that. Him staying would not make my life complete. It would have changed nothing. One person cannot change someone else's life so entirely.

After some time of bawling my eyes out, I pulled away from Sai and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. I sniffled and tried to fix my disarray of hair. I need to fix this mistake, I thought as I gazed up at Sai.

"So," I said as I shifted backward. "This never happened." Sai's penetrating gaze fell on me and I shifted uneasily onto my other leg. The room became quiet and I grew more and more uncomfortable.

"How did you get in here, Chishio-kun?" he asked with a flash of understanding in his usually emotionless eyes. The expression in his eyes made what was left of my composure falter. He showed emotion, I thought as my heart skidded. It was so odd and so out of place that it surprised me that I almost liked seeing it. Almost, of course, being the key word in the sentence. Even though I hated him—or so I told myself repeatedly—a smile threatened to tug at my lips as I turned around and scoffed.

"Try locking your door, idiot." I slammed the door shut behind me. Sure, Sai was practically a reincarnation of the devil himself. I chuckled to myself as I pulled my hand through my hair. But he had gorgeous eyes. I skidded to a halt and looked scanned the area around me. Was my brain being manipulated by an unknown source? I rubbed my temples and stood up straight. It was a long day. The devil is no prince charming.

Now, from what you've seen of my life so far you must think that being a ninja is a walk in a park. Life is full of gossip, sleepovers, giggles, and of course boys. Sure, I have a few family problems—ahem—my sister—ahem—but life is bright and cheery and I'm just a bitc…well, you know what I'm going to say. Anyways, I'm just a big downer with no reason to be such a grump.

Really, it makes me seem like I'm in the Sasuke category.

Heck to the no!

But I'm not as big of a grump as you may think. I'm relatively happy, in my fake life. I smile, giggle, and laugh with my friends. Sometimes it's even real. Sometimes I feel like I really belong in this world. I spend time with my parents, both of whom I love and adore. Up until recently I haven't even thought of my older sister. But it's normal for siblings to fight, right?

I train with my sensei. I go on missions. I eat ramen with Naruto. Really, my life couldn't be much better. I'm not the best ninja in the world but hey, I never had much motivation. So don't judge me based on the few moments of my life you've seen. I hate it when people do that!

I'm just…I'm just lonely, 'is all.

"Hey, Chishio!"

—and I don't mean lonely because I never have friends around me.

"Chishio…are you listening to me?"

—or family. I have my mom and dad.

"Hello? Earth to Chishio!"

—I just feel like I'm walking through the motions.

"Holy crap! Is something wrong with her?

—like I'm watching someone else's life.

"Should we get Neji? He'll know what to do."

That probably doesn't even make any sense.

"Manami!"

"…yes?" I blinked up at the two girls from under my lashes. How long had they been standing there, I wondered. I pushed myself up from my sitting position against the tree and smiled at them. "Hey guys, what's up?"

Ino frowned, "We've been trying to get your attention for like an hour."

"Yeah, we thought somebody used some kind of mind jutsu on you," Tenten added.

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Er, what'd you want me for?" Ino's face lit up and she flailed her arms around. She kind of reminded me of a bird at that second.

"I'm going on a mission with Sai!" She screamed. I winced at the loud, grating sound.

"Aw, that's great, Ino!" My smile matched hers perfectly.

"Guess who's the third person!"

"Er…Tenten?" I looked over at said person who had been uncharacteristically quiet. Something must have happened between her and Neji.

"No, silly—you!" I blinked a few times.

Aw, heck no! My brain screamed. I bit my tongue, counting to ten, and controlling myself.

"That's perfect for you, Ino," I smiled like a best friend should. I felt bad when she smiled so happily back at me. She truly thought I was her best friend. She truly thought she knew everything about me. I felt terrible for lying to her—I really did. But I had been lying to her since the day I met her….

I stared from my spot on top of the monkey bars toward where a dark haired boy sat by himself. Other children played and ran around me but I kept on staring. I felt weird sitting here around all of my friends and classmates as he sat over there all by himself. I mean, it's not like people didn't want to talk to him. He just brushed them off. Why did he want to be lonely?

"Hey!" I glanced over at the loud, blond girl standing across from me on the slide, not really paying attention. "You're not staring at my Sasuke over there, are you?" I looked the girl up and down, deciding if I was going to take the time from my thoughts to talk to her. Deciding that it would spare a lot of annoyance to just lie, I did.

"No, I was looking at the boy in the tree," I said, pointing toward the pineapple-headed boy just incase her blond mind couldn't find him herself. Funny I was so prejudice against blonds when I myself was a blond.

"Oh, Shikamaru?" She giggled before crawling next to me. I honestly thought she was going to fall down. Now that would be really irritating. "He's pretty good looking too."

"Yep," I said, taking my eyes off of her and back toward the Uchiha boy. Why did I watch him so much? I didn't know but I wondered if it was getting to a stalker level.

"My name's Ino," the blond said from my side. I looked over at her and saw she had a hand held out for me to take. I glanced down at the hand, then back at her, and begrudgingly took it.

"Manami."

"Manami Konishi?" she quickly asked. I inwardly sighed.

"Yep, that's me."

"Your sister is Lidia Konishi?" She gasped. I nearly growled.

"Yep! I'm pretty proud." My hands balled into fists at my sides and my teeth grinded together, but I looked pretty outwardly calm. Inside I was streaming words that a nine year old shouldn't know.

We sat in what I felt was a comfortable silence. Obviously, she had other plans.

"Let's be best friends!" Ino stated proudly, like she just had the best idea in the entire universe. I just gawked at her for a good few minutes. She couldn't be serious, could she? I mean, I met her like ten seconds ago.

I removed my eyes for just a second to look at the dark figure who was pushing away from a pink-haired girl who always seemed to be obsessed with him. No way in heck was I going to become like that! At least not in front of people. Wow, I was a creep.

"I'd love that," I smiled to the blond girl—Ino, I think. She smiled broadly, so broadly that I wondered if it were even a real smile. But then I mentally shrugged. I didn't really care anyways...

"Hello? Are you sure there isn't something wrong in there?" Ino had her hands on her hips, her foot pounding impatiently on the ground. I had managed to get locked up in my mind again.

"No," I said and winked at her, "but you love it." Ino giggled.

"Well duh, you're my best friend!"

Uh…yeah.