"Damn it, I thought they weren't supposed to be back from the mission for a few days?" Naruto whispered to Vladdy.

"They weren't!" she sighed.

Raidon waved, "Vladdy! Naruto! Sai! And…" she cut off, and Neji started thinking of ways to calm the situation before one had even begun.

"Axel…" Raidon whispered, both overjoyed and cautious at the return of her student.

Axel's face fell. "If you would excuse me, my father does not know I have returned yet." She got up, and left through the backdoor of the building.

Neji and Raidon approached the table occupied by the teens. "Shes back." Raidon's eyes were glued to the door. Neji sighed and rubbed her shoulder.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be back for a few days." Vladdy stated.

"The mission was too large; the backup squads are handling it now." Neji replied.

"Maybe I should go talk to her-" Raidon started, but Vladdy cut her off.

"I don't think that would be wise, sensei." She said respectively, but with a touch of authority.

"She's right," Neji agreed.

Raidon looked at her feet. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Its fine," Vladdy said, waving her arms. "Sit down, catch up with Shika and Choji, I'm gonna go make sure Axel remembers the way back to her home." She gave Sai a kiss on the check and rushed out the door.

Axel cautiously approached her home. Would her father forgive her for leaving? She didn't go rogue, she just took a break, was that such a bad thing? She sighed, and opened the door slowly. "Hello? Father? Mother?" She said, taking her shoes off, and standing in the doorway, like a stranger. Mabye I should've gone to the shop? She thought.

Suddenly her mother appeared, her mouth open. "Axel!" She gave her daughter a hug. Her mother would be welcoming, Axel had already expected. Whether she was allowed was her father's decision.

"Good to see you mother, is father here?" She asked. Her Mother's face fell.

"Come," She said.

Axel entered an old room off to the left of the courtyard, where her father sat, his eyes closed, meditating.

She got on her knees, head down, in respect. "Father, I have returned." She stated, not ready to apologize for something she didn't quit regret.

There was a very long silence. Axel's neck started to hurt, but she kept it down.

"Raise your head." Her father said. She did, seeing him stand above her.

Suddenly he smacked her. A sharp pain flowed through her face, and her eyes fell to the floor.

"You leave without so much as a note, and you expect to be welcomed back here with open arms?" Her father scolded. "You don't even apologize?"

"Forgive me Father, I apologize for leaving without notification, but I do not regret leaving." She said, not letting weakness enter her voice. "I did not leave as a sign of betrayal, but in order to find myself."

There was another period of silence. Longer.

Her father walked passed her and opened the door. "The son of the feudal lord passed through here last week, and he came by here." Her father said, and left.

Axel smiled. She knew she had been welcomed back by her father, though it did not seem like it. Though she had just come home, she wanted to go around the village. But at the door of her home, she found Vladdy waiting for her.

"You don't need to babysit me, you know."

"Your face-"

"Its nothing." Axel waved her off. They walked out together, and Axel stopped.

Vladdy looked back, "What's wrong?"

"I'm so happy to see you, and want to spend catching up, but I think I'm going to take a walk by myself." She smiled.

Vladdy stiffened, and Axel sighed, "I'll come back, don't worry."

Axel exited the gate of Kohana, and started running towards the main cities, towards the palace of the feudal lord.

She finally arrived at the gate of the palace within an hour, flushed from running all that way. She caught her breathe, and told the guard she was there to see the son. He let her in, and she sat, waiting, on her knees, her head bowed.

"Axel?!" The son of the heir to fire country, Otoori Kyoya, stood in her midst.

"Kyoya…" she raised her head, stood up, and rapped her arms around him.

He held her tightly. "I missed you so much." He whispered.

"I missed you too."