I will be making a time skip later on in this story. Just so you know.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters.

I own Tsukiko and some of the plot.

Enjoy.

Chapter 2

"Mommy?" I asked as I was washing the dishes with her after breakfast.

"What is it Tsukiko?" she asked.

"Does...um...Daddy hate me?" I questioned pausing. I looked over at my mom and she paused in what she was doing also.

"Of course he doesn't, Tsukiko!" she said hugging me.

"Oh, okay."

"What ever made you think such a horrible thing?"

"Well, he ignores me, and he always watches Itachi...and I know he secretly watches Sasuke," I replied.

"Honey, he loves you just as much as he loved them."

"Really?"

"Yes. Now why don't you go play?"

"Alright, I love you mom." I put down the towel and headed out of the house. Then I headed to Ryuu's house.

"Hi, is Ryuu there?"'

"One second," his mom said before slightly closing the door. "Ryuu! You're friend's here!" '

"Coming!" within seconds Ryuu was down and smiling. He said good bye to his mom and headed off with me.

"We can ask Itachi for one," I suggested.

"Do you think he'd give us some kunai too?" Ryuu said excited.

"Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?"

"Well, I've never asked him for something like this."

"Oh," he responded simply. We arrived at the clan police tower and were greeted by a few of the guards.

"If it isn't Fugaku's little girl," one said patting me on the head. I didn't much like it, but everyone always did it so I put up with it, assuming it was some kind of greeting.

"Can I see Itachi?" I asked politely.

"You're older brother? He's not here right now. He went on a mission."

"A-a mission?" I questioned. The guards tensed and looked around them.

"Just to take care of some bad people, that's all. He'll be back safe and sound," the other said.

"Oh...okay...thank you," I replied before leaving with Ryuu.

"Brother is a killer?" I said to myself as we were walking.

"Killing bad people doesn't make you a criminal, it makes you a hero," Ryuu explained.

"It sounds like who ever made the dictionary had the wrong definition."

"What do you mean?" Ryuu asked.

"A hero is someone who saves people, someone who doesn't kill people...any people."

"So you're saying that people who kill are bad? So the Hokage's bad, all the ninja here are bad...pretty much our whole clan is bad?" Ryuu questioned confused.

"I think so, not all of us though. Mommy's not bad, she'd never hurt anyone."

"That's what you say. For all you know she could've been a ninja."

"She wouldn't," I replied confidently.

"He's late...again," I said sitting next to Ryuu. We were sitting on a bench outside of the academy.

"Maybe he's practicing late."

"Probably. Do you know where the training place is?" I asked my friend while jumping off the bench.

"Yeah, it's just the down the road to the left."

"Then let's go," I said heading that way. Ryuu looked at me a second before following me.

"Are you sure it's on this street?" I asked.

"I think so." Just then we heard a large clanking sound.

"I think that's him!" I said running to where I had heard the sound come from. When I got there I was out of breath...and the person there wasn't the person I was expecting. It was Neji.

"Hey Neji!" I said still out of breath. He turned around to look at me, a puzzled expression on his face. "Sorry, I thought you were Sasuke at first." I laughed at myself. Neji scoffed.

"You got me confused with that jerk?" he asked before going back to throwing shuriken at the targets. I just stared at him. Some people are just too confusing. I walked up closer to him and watched as he hit the target right in the middle.

"Wow," I said. I might hate fighting but that was cool.

"Tsukiko!" Ryuu said catching up. I turned and looked at my friend as I remembered leaving my friend and running.

"I'm so sorry!" I said. He just glared at Neji who I was still standing right next to.

"Oh. Hey Neji, can I...um...borrow some shuriken?" I asked and he looked over at me puzzled again.

"Sure," he said going over to the target and pulling two out. Then he handed the two to me.

"Thank you," I said.

"We should go," Ryuu said while glaring at Neji. "Sasuke's probably looking for you."

"Oh yeah," I said turning but pausing to look at Neji. "Bye Neji."

"Bye," he responded simply before going back to his practice. Ryuu and I ran to the academy.

"Where were you?" Sasuke asked as we got there out of breath.

"We....you...training...Neji," I said in between breaths.

"What with Neji?" he asked bitterly. I stood up straight and took a deep breath.

"We thought you might be at the training ground, but instead Neji was there."

"Let's go home," Sasuke said and I rolled my eyes before following. I'll never understand some people.

"Food's ready!" I said as my dad and brothers came into the house. They sat down at the table and I helped mom bring in the food. When the all the food was on the table we sat down and we all started to eat after the head of the home, my dad, ate his first bite.

"Tsukiko made the seafood sushi," my mom said happily bragging. I blushed and looked over at my dad. He looked down at the sushi he had put onto his plate and finished the food he had already put in his mouth.

"I'm not hungry. Today was a long day at work," he said getting up and exiting the room. I watched him sadly as he did. Itachi, Sasuke, and mom watched him too. No one moved until they heard me sniffle.

"The sushi is delicious," Itachi said taking a large bite followed by Sasuke.

"Yeah, it's really really good!" he said.

"Mommy, can I be excused?" I asked.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked.

"No, I just want to go to bed. I don't feel well."

"Alright." With that I stood up and left the room. I walked down the long wooden hallway but stopped right in front of my door. I stared at it a minute before looking down the hall. I sighed and walked further down until I got to Itachi's room and went in there instead.

"Why does he hate me..?" I mumbled. I was lying under Itachi's bed poking the wooden boards. "Is it 'cause I'm not a boy...or because I'm not smart...because I can't go to the academy...or because..." I gasped. "I can't fight." I thought about it for a few seconds but moved so I could see the door when I heard it creek open. I recognized Itachi's footsteps and knew he would know I was under there. He always knew. He closed the door behind him and sat down at his desk and sighed.

Neither of us talked. That's what I liked about Itachi; he never said anything unless it needed to be said. He didn't ask stupid questions to fill in silence like most people did. So I stayed under his bed and he wrote on his scrolls or read them...or whatever he was doing.

"Mom's looking for you," he said after a while. I climbed out from under the bed and looked at what Itachi was doing. He was reading some kind of scroll...the word "Jutsu" was on the front.

"Night brother, thank you," I said before leaving the room.

"There you are!" my mom said coming up to me and hugging me. "I couldn't find you any where."

"Sorry Mommy," I said to her.

"Where were you?" I wasn't going to tell her I was in Itachi's room because that was my secret hiding place.

"I was in the garden," I replied.

"Don't you know not to go outside after dark? It's not safe," she said leading me to my room and I responded with a "yes" and a "I'm sorry".