The following three weeks after Akemi's informative visit to Tamotsu's home were fairly uneventful. Azumi finally relented and allowed her daughter and the white-eyed boy to be friends, much to the happiness of both. They spent almost every afternoon training or studying together, most often under Azumi's watchful eye, or once or twice with Hitomi. Finally, the day of Tamotsu's 6th birthday came around, and Akemi begged her mother to attend.

'all right, but I'm going with you,' Azumi said after several afternoons and a morning of her child's pleading. 'I don't mind your friend, but I don't trust his father. Haven't you noticed I don't let you go to his house when he's home?' that was true- whenever Tamotsu invited her over, Akemi's mother would ask if his father was home. If the boy said yes, Akemi would suddenly find herself with made-up chores to do so that she couldn't go.

'aww, mom! Nobody else's parents are going to be there! Don't embarrass me!' the silver-haired girl whined, pouting a little.

'either I go with you, or you don't go. And that's my final word.' The little girl grumbled under her breath but finally gave a little bow of agreement.

'I don't know what you have against them. Their "white eye" isn't dangerous.'

Azumi, who had turned to finish making breakfast, turned back around in shock. 'what did you say?' Akemi immediately realised her mistake- rather than saying "white eyes" in the normal way, she had used the term Hideaki had- byakugan.

'their eyes aren't dangerous,' Akemi said, hoping her mother wouldn't notice the substitution, but of course she did.

'no, you said Byakugan. Who taught you that word?' Azumi was brandishing the cooking chopsticks and looked ready to skewer something- or someone- with them.

'well…'

'answer me, Akemi. Who taught you that word?!'

'Tamotsu's dad did! I met him already a few weeks ago. He's super nice and he taught both of us about his byakugan and what it could do. It's not dangerous, mom, it's really cool. He's going to teach Tamotsu how to use his now that he's six.' Akemi had blurted all of this with her eyes shut, not wanting to see if her mother decided to use those chopsticks on her. After a second of silence, she peeked an eye open to see her mother standing stock-still with a shocked expression.

'Akemi…why didn't you tell me this before?' she said in a small voice after a moment. Catching a whiff of the stove, she quickly turned back to breakfast, rescuing it and putting it in bowls. She set them on the table and Akemi started scarfing down her food so she wouldn't be late for class.

'I thought you'd be really mad at me.' The little girl finished her food and scooped up her pack, hurrying out the door without another word, darting through the streets on the way to the academy. About two-thirds of the way there, she accidentally ran into someone only a little bit bigger than her, bouncing backwards and falling down. 'sorry!' she yelped, scrambling back to her feet. The 7 year old boy turned and glared at her angrily, and Akemi trembled as she took in the details. Hate-filled pupilless mint green eyes, ringed with black, pale skin and scruffy, unkempt auburn hair. The Kanji for love was marked on the left side of the boy's forehead. Gaara. 'Sorry!' she squeaked again, running off before the boy could do anything. She'd heard rumors in class already about that boy and wasn't keen on finding out if any of them were true.

Class, luckily, passed without incident, and Azumi was waiting for Akemi when school let out, guiding her back home and having her change into something a little more fancy than her everyday clothes. 'so, are you going to let me go alone now?' the little girl asked her mother, and she laughed a little.

'of course not. I need to go with you now more than ever. I have to apologize to Hideaki for my misconceptions of him.' She straightened her daughter's sash, tightening the butterfly bow in the back of the simple kimono and eyeing her unruly and untameable silvery hair. She had to get her father's hair. 'come on, the party begins at 6.'

'I know, mom. I told you that.' Akemi giggled a little, grinning at her mother, wearing a pretty yellow yukata with a green sash, deep black eyes shining and long pitch-black hair hanging straight as always. She offered her hand for her mother to take and led her on the usual path to her friend's house.

A few of Akemi and Tamotsu's classmates were already there at the party, and there were, contrary to Akemi's expectations, a few other adults present, most notably Masaaki, who she hadn't seen since her father's memorial. Akemi went to play with the other children and Azumi went to the other adults, quickly spotting Hideaki by his eyes. He was chatting with Masaaki about gossip from the other nations.

'-the worst one I've heard, though, is from the leaf village,' Azumi overheard as she approached.

'do tell,' Hideaki said, leaning closer with great interest.

'I heard just recently that one of the Leaf's famous clans- they've got a lot, you know- one of them has been slaughtered. Every member, in one night.'

'WHAT?! Do you know which one?' the man looked very distressed, and Azumi was likewise horror-struck beyond the other adults, who were now all listening in.

'if I remember right, it was the Uchihas. Those scary copycats from the third world war. Only one little kid was left alive, and the murderer I guess. Who else could be strong enough to wipe out the whole clan but one of their own, eh?'

While Hideaki let out a great sigh of relief that it had not been the Hyuuga clan, as he had feared, Azumi found herself unable to breathe. She quickly found herself a seat and sank into it, onyx eyes staring at nothing at all.