A/N: Typed another one. Aren't I on a roll. Hope you enjoy this chapter! The end I thought was very cute :) I'm sorry if Hanabi seems OOC, but the show doesn't really go into detail about her personality. I'm assuming because she's a Hyuuga, she's hard and doesn't laugh, but I would enjoy giving her some emotions for the sake of the story. Enjoy my update :)

It was fun working at the Academy actually. I met most of the teachers and the students seemed to take a liking to me. A lot of the little girls wanted to sit down with me at lunch time so that they could brush my hair. Of course I blushed when they kept calling me such a pretty lady. I don't really consider myself a lady. I'm only just seventeen. I'd have to wait till I was about twenty before I fully considered myself a lady. A small girl with pale eyes just like myself that went by the name of Hanabi seemed to take an interest in me. Most of the time she sat by herself, but occasionally she would sit next to me and ask me about my life. She was a very quiet spoken girl who knew when to ask questions and when to just listen. I was actually glad that she was like that.

Most of the girls that were around me seemed to love to yell in my ear at every chance they got. My ears couldn't take thousands of Naruto's at once, so I made up this game that whoever stays quiet the longest when Cho-sensei was tired, got candy at the end of the day.

You could imagine that by the time I got home my pocket was void of candy. I found out that Iruka-sensei worked here and we usually sat together at lunch time with Inaba-sensei and Raiko-sensei in the far corner of the school. It was close enough to the children if they needed help, but far away that all the screaming didn't get to our heads. On this particular day it was quite gloomy. All the kids had already left except Hanabi. She was sitting by herself on the swing waiting for her father to pick her up, but it seemed like he forgot. Iruka and all the other teachers had already left so I offered to stay with Hanabi until her dad came. Half an hour passed and still no sign of her dad.

I pouted at the sky and whipped out my umbrella as rain started pouring down.

"Come on Hanabi-chan. I'll walk you home." She nodded and slipped her tiny hand into mine as we walked in the direction of her house. My umbrella was a little tiny to share with two people so I picked her up and held her as she gave me directions to her house.

"I'm sure you're dad lost track of time Hanabi-chan."

"It's ok Cho-sensei." She mumbled, while leaning her head against my shoulder. Kids made me smile, and Hanabi acting like such an adorable kid made me want to squeeze her tightly. I restrained myself of course as I didn't want to suffocate the poor child. "Make a left here and the compound is right up ahead." I nodded and made a left down a small alley before a huge compound came upon us. I tried not to gasp at the sheer size of it, but my brain never functioned with my mouth to well. "Waoh.." I said gazing up at the tall Japanese style house.

"You're really rich Hanabi-chan." She giggled at my awed stare, but I ignored it and entered into the courtyard. Sitting on the steps was a boy with long brown hair that seemed to be meditating. I didn't want to disturb him so I headed towards the back where shoes were lined up against the doorway. Placing Hanabi unto her feet, I watched her quickly slip off her sandals and run inside of the house. I hesitated for a moment not sure if I should wait for someone to come out and say goodnight. I doubted a Hyuuga would bother with someone like me. After a minute or so of thinking I turned around to leave , but a slight tugging of my sleeve halted me midstride. I turned around to see Hanabi and her father standing in front of me. I knew that Hanabi's clan was well respected so I placed both hands over my stomach and bowed as low as I could. "I thank you for bringing my child home safely." I smiled and bowed again "There is no need to thank me. I did what was right." His hard gaze bore into my soft one and he turned around with a flutter of his clothes leaving Hanabi and I in the courtyard. "Thank you Cho-sensei."

I sent a goofy grin towards her and ruffled her hair a bit. "Any time honey." I made my way back towards the entrance of the compound to see the boy that was once meditating staring at me with a strange look on his face. I smiled and waved at him as he nodded in my direction. Before long I was back on the empty roads of Konoha making my way back towards the academy as I had forgotten that my bag was still in the teacher's room. The trek back took longer than expected as the wind became harsher throwing me off balance more than once.

Once back inside of the teacher's room, I saw the man that was supposed to lock up the academy for the day. Even though I didn't know his name I still called out and waved to him before picking up my belongings and leaving once again. The sky seemed to darken more as heavy clouds loomed above, casting dark shadows across the streets. No one was out at this time because of the weather condition, leaving the streets void of life. I was the only one walking on this main road making a shiver run down my spine.

I felt like someone was watching me, which creeped me out because feelings like this were usually true. I began to walk quicker, annoyed that these sandals weren't really meant for walking through mud. More than once my foot got stuck inside of a pile of mud, but I safely made it back to my apartment without any trouble.

Still….

I felt like someone was watching me though.

Opening the apartment door I saw Bear and his friend Tiger once again sitting in my living room playing shogi. I don't know why Bear started bring his so called friend over, but it was starting to get a little tiresome seeing Tiger and another animal besides Bear inside of my apartment.

This isn't just some shack you can hole yourself up in whenever you please.

But as the kind host that I am. I made a vegetable soup for all three of us.

Dinner was soup, because outside was very cold and I'm sure that they were cold as the heat wasn't on in the apartment.

But maybe ninja are used to this sort of thing. Placing some two cups of tea, and two bowls of soup I entered in the living room to see another "ANBU", making three sitting in my living room. I turned back around and placed another bowl and cup unto the tray before making my way back into the living room.

If I see one more goddamn animal inside here, I swear I'm going to have an aneurism right on this floor. Thankfully it was still just those three, and they graciously accepted my soup and tea with a nod of their heads. I headed back into the kitchen to eat by myself, just to give them their privacy. The most ANBU I've seen in my apartment at one time had been five. Apparently it was some sort of game night as dice were being thrown and money was being slapped down unto the table. That night I met three other animals. Hawk, Eagle, and Raccoon. They weren't very welcoming the first time, but after a while they warmed up to me. Now I set five bowls of food on my table almost every night, to wake up the next morning to see them all empty. Seems like I'm feeding an army of ANBU now.

It was a nice company, even though they weren't really talkative, but just knowing that they were there made me happy.

I wonder what ANBU stands for.

I woke up the next morning to find five masks staring at me.

Yup. They were hungry. Ushering them out of my room with my hand I slipped on a black sports bra and black pants before making my way into the kitchen. Six people sat at my table this morning and I had to force myself not to scowl. Bear, Tiger, Hawk, Eagle, Raccoon, and an unknown.

I'm seriously going to have to lay down some ground rules.

"What does everyone want for breakfast?"

Silence.

"Now don't everyone talk at once. I know this is a tough decision."

Of course that went on hard ears. Damn these poker faced ninja. I can't see their damn expressions behind those masks.

"Guess its eggs then."

I prepared a large meal that consisted of tea, grilled cheese, eggs, bacon, and toast. These men surely know how to eat. After placing everything on the table, I quickly grabbed my share and headed into the living room. The poofs that came twenty minutes later indicated that it was alright for me to enter the kitchen.

The only person sitting at the table was Bear, and I asked him a question.

"So who's the sixth?"

"Crow." And with that he poofed away.

Before leaving the house I changed into a light blue kimono top with white pants and wrote a quick note to those ANBU guys.

ANBU,

Food is in the fridge if you get hungry. Dinner will be served around six and I expect no more than six people in this damn apartment. If I find one more ANBU member in this apartment, I swear to any living god out there that hell will be raised. I may not be a ninja, but I have my ways of persuasion. Now be kind and don't make a mess of my apartment. I cleaned it this morning and don't want to come home to see a tornado has run through my house. Have fun big boys.

Cho.

That night I did only get six people. But the next morning two more came into existence and for the next three days, three more people showed up.

Great.

One Month later.

It was the day of the chuunin exams. I was quite happy for everyone as they would be taking tests in order to become chuunin's. I gave told Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto that I got them a gift for their "advancement" towards chuunin. Sakura got an emerald necklace to match her eyes, and she thanked me more than once for it. Naruto got a black Konoha headband, although he said he wouldn't wear it until he got stronger, and I got Sasuke a red necklace to match his Sharingan eyes. Although I don't know what that meant, it still looked pretty cool whenever I saw him activate it.

I'll never get over these weird people.

Over this past month I became closer and closer with everyone I knew. Iruka and I were practically inseparable as we were always doing stuff together. It wasn't anything romantic, but more of a brother sister relationship. Raidou seemed to speak more when around me and I felt like he was my cute little brother even though he was older than me. That didn't really make sense, but since when do I have to make sense to make sense…

That sounds so retarded.

Kakashi seemed to enjoy my company and he even introduced me to Kurenai and Asuma. To be honest when Asuma and I saw each other he wasn't really happy to see me. I had apologized to the point where he got fed up and just told me to shut up. After that it was like magic. Not really, but we got along more. I could tell that Kurenai and Asuma had a thing going on as they both always stole glances at each other when they thought others weren't looking.

Hey I can be a ninja too if I wanted.

Gai…well. Gai honestly scared me. He always yelled about youth and blossoming flowers that I couldn't help but try not to associate myself with him. Kakashi always teased me about it, but I always denied it saying that his green spandex suit was what drew me away. Gai's fashion was just…

Let's not even go there. His thing was just sitting there, like it was waiting for someone to either just grab it and go, or kick it to the next millennium. Not that I thought about grabbing and…

Izumo was sweet to the point where I developed a small crush on him. Of course Kakashi knew because he said I wasn't really being inconspicuous about my gazes and small giggles. Now he blackmails me and says that if I don't do as he says he's going to tell Izumo. I already suspected that he did already know, but he never really acted as if he did. Looks like that's getting me nowhere.

Kotetsu was like that goofy older kid that you just got along with. He would listen to my problems, not that I really had many, but he was still such a great listened. I had a feeling he liked me, but I couldn't like someone that I looked up to as a nice goofy brother. Izumo on the other hand….

Naruto. I can't even describe how close Naruto and I have gotten together. We always had Ramen night where he would come over and I would cook a huge pot of Ramen and we would both stuff our faces until we couldn't eat anymore. Then we would play a round of Shogi, which he actually wasn't too bad at, before we called it a night. He slept in the extra bedroom, and on those nights no ANBU showed up. Thank goodness for that. Naruto was just a little bubble of joy in my life and I felt like if I lost him, I would lose myself as well.

Sakura was very nice, but her complete infatuation with Sasuke had me puking just thinking about it. She doesn't focus on her training and only swoons over how good Sasuke-kun is. I remember taking her out to lunch one day and telling her my entire thoughts about her and Sasuke, and she seemed to dislike me after that, but one day she came up to me and apologized. She said that I was completely right and that she should be more focused on her training. After that Sasuke seemed to warm up to me more.

Sasuke warmed up to me, but he was still cold at sometimes. To be honest I actually took him out to lunch once, even though he didn't really talk, it was still a nice meal. He told me a little about himself, while I practically spilled my life story. I told him that I hated animals like Bears and Tigers, but he really didn't get the hidden meaning.

I met some of my friends' students and they were very nice to me. My favorite person to bother though was Shikamaru. He was really really reallllyyyy lazy. Like I sometimes had to come to his house just to wake him up. But I knew where his lazy attitude came from.

His father.

Shikamaru was like a splitting image of his dad. Same hairstyle, same piercings, same bored and drawled out tone. I felt like they were twins. The only difference was that his dad had scars on his face while Shikamaru's was bare.

The person that I loved to talk to the most even though there weren't really many responses was Shino. I loved how bugs were used in his style of fighting, even though the fact that the bugs lived in his system creeped me out. He was a very calm and collected person who more observed than engaged.

I liked people that observed.

Anyway. I'm getting a little off track.

I woke up to see nine masks staring at me, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

It seemed to be a daily occurrence now. Wake up with six or more animal masks staring at me. Make breakfast, give them their food, eat by myself in my bedroom or living room, and then clean up the dishes.

They were actually much nicer and some even offered to clean the dishes while I took a shower in the morning. Because I have so many people in my house sometimes, I was actually thinking of buying the apartment next door and knocking down the wall so that it was extended. I could change the living room next door into a bedding area as well as have the three extra bedrooms next door to. I told Bear my thoughts but he poofed away without even answering me.

I figured that it was a yes since he didn't object, but you know it'd still be nice if people answered once in a while. If I were to actually buy the next apartment I'd have to get another job.

That would actually be very nice. I wouldn't be tired at all because going from a rowdy Academy to a quite bookstore seemed enjoyable.

The bookstore down the street was looking for a cashier and I heard that you get paid ten ryo an hour. Now that's pretty darn good. The hours were bendable, so if I were to stay late at the academy I'd still be able to get to the bookstore and work late as well. It just worked out perfectly.

Since it was going to be a big event, in my mind of course, I changed into the most expensive clothes I had. It was a white kimono top with pale blue flowers etched in it to bring out my eyes. I then had white ninja pants on and black sandals. Brushing out my hair quickly I let my bangs frame my face before putting it into a Japanese style bun. Looking at myself in the mirror was never something I would get used to. My pale skin, white hair and practically blind eyes stood out more than anything. Sighing I exited my bedroom and entered the kitchen. Only six people sat there while the other three seemed to be in the living room. I made a large breakfast of Oriental Ramen and for those that might not want it, I cooked up some steamed vegetables with rice and poured a rich spicy sauce over it.

"Enjoy boys."

Some mumbled thanks, while others just nodded. Quickly taking my share of rice and vegetables I swiped a piece of bread from the counter and headed back into my room. The poofs started coming and soon Bear was left in the kitchen.

How did I know? Well I only heard eight poofs and Bear always stays after to either just sit in a calm silence with me or say Thank you. Today I expected an answer from him though.

"Bear." He turned to stare at me.

"Do you think it's a good idea, since you guys are always here?" I grabbed unto his arm before he could poof away. Of course with me now on his arm he couldn't just disappear so he sat there staring at the table. I assumed he was staring at the table since his mask was pointing in that direction. What came out of his mouth shocked me though.

"We shouldn't get attached to you."

That was the most he's said to me since we've known each other. "And why not?" I challenged, clearly not affected by his words. "It's dangerous to have a weakness."

"I'm a weakness?" He nodded. Well that's a shocker. Glad to know that he enjoys my company. "How would anyone know though? I mean I haven't told anyone about you guys staying in my apartment."

"I know."

"Then what?"

He seemed to sigh at my constant badgering. "Cho…" My eyes widened as he called me by my name. He never did that…ever. This must be something serious then. "Does that mean I won't see you again?" I could feel my voice tremble and the tears stinging the back of my eyes. He couldn't just leave like that. I was just starting to crack his shell. It took me a month to do that…more than a month. He couldn't just leave. This entire time I was here I hadn't cried once, but now the tears started flowing and I couldn't help but let out a sob as the thought of him leaving hit me again and again.

"Cho…" He said this time more softly. I felt hands on both sides of my face as he turned my head so that he was staring at me. Well more like me staring at his mask. I could see the little eye holes and bright blue eyes started back at me. At seeing his eyes I couldn't help but let the tears flow harder. He sighed and slowly took one hand from my face and placed it over my eyes. His hands were warm.

I was scared at what was going to happen, but then warm lips were covering mine and I couldn't help but kiss back. I wanted it to last longer but at the sound of a poof, and the coldness of my lips I knew he was gone. He wouldn't be coming back.