a/n Thanks for your wonderful reviews and for your patience! I think I'll stick to an update-every-two-weeks schedule; my beta is awfully busy, so this will be easier on her, too.

Thanks as well for all your kind messages while I was on hiatus; I was going through a big ol' writer's slump, and your encouragement was definitely appreciated!

In other news, I'm almost finished my original novel I started for NaNoWriMo-it's at 170,000 words, about 450 pages! Whew! I'm going to throw a cyber party when that's done!

Special thanks to Uchiha.S, my beta and friend:) You rock girl:)

Published to "Crystaline" by Bjork, from Biophilia:)

Chapter 21: Stronger

Said she, "It does not matter at all to me,

They are dead, my dad and mother;

And likewise lifeless lay all my kin,

I've given you the eyes of my brother.

~The Second Book of Akash, verse VIII

Yuki barely heard what Kakashi-sensei was saying to her; his words were garbled, his eyes were crinkled with forced, false cheer. The smell of incense overlaid the odor of burnt flesh; it made hard for her to concentrate on what Kakashi was saying, and she itched to run away from the field where the funeral had been held. Though Yuki had wished fervently throughout the service that the adults around her could have shown more emotional restraint, she found Kakashi's nonchalance even more unnerving than the her father's effusive tears.

"Hokage-sama told me that you have awakened your sharingan. Would you like to train with me, Yuki?" came Kakashi's quiet voice, breaking through the fog of her thoughts. "The Hokage-sama—"

"Yes, let's go now," Yuki broke in forcefully, not caring what else Kakashi was going to say. She turned and began stalking off towards the training grounds.

"I—er—that is to say, you want to train now?" Kakashi forced a chuckle, which grated on her nerves. "I thought—"

But Yuki turned to face him, spearing him with a glare; she gestured with her head towards the smoldering funeral pyre. "Now is good for me."

Kakashi gave her an unreadable expression. "Tomorrow. We'll start training tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning. Okay?"

Before Yuki could answer, Kakashi had already turned back into the crowd, probably to seek out her parents, or Naruto.

Yuki placed a hand on her hip, deep in thought, wondering why Kakashi had ended the conversation so abrubtly: perhaps she had unsettled him in some way? She shook her head; honestly, she cared little what other people might think of her today. While everyone else was distracted, she snuck out of the crowd and into the woods towards the training grounds. The underbrush whispered in the faint breeze, and the cruel sun shone in a clear blue sky, as if to signify that today was a beautiful day.

She mused that from now on, she would detest all clear, sunny summer days. Running a hand through her cropped hair, she took a cursory look at the path behind her; she did not want anyone to follow her. Then she forced chakra into her feet and sprinted through the forest, ignoring the dull ache in her shoulder at the rapid movement.

The training grounds were deserted. Here, under the canopy of trees, Yuki could pretend that the day was overcast, as it should have been. She rummaged through her satchel and withdrew her pack of ninja tools, then placed her flute in its case on the ground.

She let out a long, slow exhalation. She wasn't sure what had possessed her to play—in fact, it was an accident that the flute had been with her in the first place. She had told her mother to bring her the ninja tools, which happened to be in her black bag...which also happened to hold the instrument. She ran her fingers over the cool metal case. It wasn't something she often played anymore, preferring instead to focus on her ninja training.

But somehow she had found the flute in her bag; she had run her fingers over the cold case while the priest droned on over the polished casket. Then, when her father had commenced to make an ass of himself in front of the whole village, she had felt incredible anger and hopelessness welling up inside of her. Father is supposed to be an elite ninja and a renowned musician. Ha. He just stood in front of all those people and cried like a baby. Even his stupid shiny glasses hiding his stolen eyes couldn't hide that.

Ninja were not supposed to show emotion; that was what they had learned in school. And yet, she was surrounded by bawling adults. Even the Hokage-sama, a supposed example for the whole village, was crying like a little girl. How depressing. She was surrounded by complete and utter incompetence.

All she knew was that one moment, she had been standing with the remnants of her team, Cho and Konohamaru crying unabashedly while Yuki ignored them. Then suddenly, overwhelmed by shame from association with her father—and other emotions she didn't want to name, emotions she wasn't supposed to have—she was standing in front of a sea of people, playing her flute.

But as she played, the anger and the shame faded. Strangely, as she gazed at the pyre, she had an odd feeling that Ryuu could hear her; that the higher the notes, the better he could hear her flute sing. She had never considered herself more than an adequate musician, but at that moment she was playing for her teammate, and for him alone, and she knew that he could hear her. That was good enough for her.

She shook her head and turned her attention to her weapons in front of her, withdrawing a set of kunai and jogging over to the target practice area. I've got to train harder. She stood in the center of ten targets and regarded them coolly. Taking a deep breath, she leapt in the air and chucked ten knives in a perfect circle. A series of thwaks resounded through the forest, while Yuki landed on the balls of her feet with practiced grace.

Excellent. Bulls-eyes on all ten targets. Yuki nodded thoughtfully before retrieving her kunai. She produced a long white scarf from her pouch and tied it around her eyes, then proceeded to repeat the exercise. When she lifted the scarf to admire her handiwork, she noticed that she had only hit eight out of ten bulls-eyes. Well, fucked if I'm going home until I've got this down perfectly.

An hour later, she was panting for breath, but she had finally hit all the targets in the center with her blindfold in place. She shook her head.

"It's not good enough. I should have been able to hit them all perfectly on my first go."

Gulping water from her canteen, she resolved to practice more tomorrow. For now, her damned shoulder was starting to hurt again. Gah. Mom said I couldn't do any jutsu...she didn't say training in general was going to be fucked. Wincing, Yuki put her opposite hand over her aching shoulder and channeled healing chakra into her wound. It helped to ease the pain, but also made her feel even more exhausted. She sat down under a tree and closed her eyes.

"I really, really, don't feel like going home..." she said aloud to no one in particular. No one was going to understand, least of all her father. And she didn't want to see him remove those dark glasses, only to reveal bright blue eyes...

She shuddered. Perhaps she should talk to Cho? She shook her head again; Cho was a sweet girl and a good teammate, but in all honesty Yuki didn't have that much in common with her. Yuki was a fighter, constantly training herself into the ground and polishing her skills to prove her worth. Cho was a medic, who liked to take it easy, enjoying the company of young children and picking flowers in the fields.

Not that Cho wasn't adequate ninja; it was just that Yuki didn't think Cho would understand. Although what specifically Yuki wanted to be understood was a mystery to Yuki herself. She began chewing on a fingernail, worrying it with her front teeth and ripping off a hangnail until she drew blood. And then she smiled as an idea formed in her head. She slammed the bloody finger to the ground and funneled as much chakra as she dared into the summoning.

"Mistress?" Tama purred as she rubbed up against Yuki's legs. "Are you in danger?"

"Nah." Yuki leaned against the rough bark of a tree trunk, feeling relieved for the first time that day.

Tama blinked up at her mistress curiously, but settled for sitting beside her and purring as Yuki scratched her behind the ears.

Two nights after the funeral, Sasuke found himself in Naruto's office. Although this time, both he and Naruto found themselves on the other side of the desk, and they were on the receiving end of Tsunade and Shikamaru's ire.

"You realize what you're doing is asinine," Tsunade intoned, exasperated.

Shikamaru crossed his arms and merely glowered at them, as if they were children and he and Tsunade were their stern parents. It was an affect that might have been comical, had the situation not been so severe.

Sasuke took a slow, deep breath. "Listen. I said I'd go with the dobe. Everyone thinks he's home on temporary leave anyway; I hardly leave the house, so no one will suspect that he and I have left the village to do this reconnaissance mission." Sasuke pushed his shades higher up on the bridge of his nose and suppressed a growl. Sakura had warned him to keep his cool, and so he would—for Naruto's sake.

Shikamaru uncrossed his arms and leaned forward on the table before replying. "I believe it is unwise for the Hokage to leave the village for this mission, not while any other ANBU would do. Shino, head of the Black Ops, has already offered to go to Akash personally to assess the situation."

Naruto frowned. "I'm going. And that's final."

"Dammit Naruto! Just because you're the Hokage—it doesn't mean you can just go haring off when ever you want!" Tsunade slammed her hand down on the desk, making it shake; Sasuke winced, surprised that the furniture didn't snap in two. Whoever had build the desk had made it with Tsunade's anger management problem in mind.

Naruto merely sighed and crossed his arms while his top two advisers glared down at him. Guess it's time for me to step in... Sasuke was no diplomat—his social skills were still considered inept at best, even by his closest friends—but Naruto was his responsibility now. Fortunately, Sakura had already schooled him on exactly what to say and how to say it to Tsunade and Shikamaru to win them over. Sasuke cleared his throat and ventured, "May I offer my opinion?"

"No," Tsunade grumbled.

"Go ahead," muttered the Nara.

Sasuke took that as a yes. "Perhaps it would be prudent to let the Hokage-sama leave the village—just for the week—to gain some perspective, as well to accomplish the mission. It's been a trying week; it would be good for the Hokage-sama's health to go on a trip."

Naruto groaned, "You can just call me by my first name. What's with the formalities, bastard?"

Sasuke ignored his compatriot, for Sakura had schooled Sasuke in the best way to override Tsunade's irrational fears: with formalities and with cold, hard logic. Sasuke continued. "I'll be there to guard the Hokage-sama. If anything untoward happens, we can hiraishin back here at a moment's notice. Furthermore, you can summon us whenever you need us. What's the problem?" he concluded in his best impression of Sakura.

Tsunade exhaled, the bite taken out of her anger; Shikamaru finally sat down. After a pregnant silence, Shikamaru finally mumbled, "I suppose..."

Tsunade eyed the Hokage askance. "You really want to–"

"Yes," Naruto cut in, his lifeless eyes meeting Tsunade's concerned gaze.

Sasuke, attempting to smooth over the dobe's unskillful maneuvering, replied, "We've already told our families that we'll be gone on a top secret mission. Our bags are already packed. We'll be back before the week is out." Sasuke rose and shouldered his pack, while Naruto followed his lead. "We're going."

With that, both friends turned to leave. But before Naruto could reach the door, Tsunade strode forward and crushed the Hokage in an embrace.

"Just be careful, Naruto-kun."

"I will, baachan." Naruto offered her a demi-smile.

With that, the two disciples of the Sanin left the office before anyone else could argue with them, and slipped out into the night and out of the village.

Yuki was dripping with sweat and panting heavily. Kakashi lowered his headband back over his sharingan eye and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"I think that's enough for today, Yuki-chan."

"San. Yuki-san."

Kakashi rolled his cyclopic eye. "Yuki-chan or Yuki-kun. Pick one."

She grimaced. "Yuki-kun."

"In any event, you did well today Yuki-kun. It's just about noon, why don't you take a break and meet up with your team?"

Yuki narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. She muttered, "It's noon because I had to wait two hours for you to show up, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi nodded. "Well you see, I was coming to meet you at nine o'clock sharp, but then this little old lady was crossing the street with her groceries—"

Yuki put her hands over her ears and glared.

Kakashi casually removed one of her hands from her head and continued, "Besides, Konohamaru said I needed to return you. You know where to meet them; I hear you have a new teammate."

Yuki winced. She hadn't realized that today was the day. And anyway, wasn't it a little early to have a new teammate? Instead, she replied, "Yes sir. Thank you for training me today, Kakashi-sensei." She bowed politely. Kakashi waved amicably and meandered back to the village, but whether it was to read porn or do something official, Yuki could not be certain.

Damn.

Yuki was not used to having the stuffing beaten out of her, but Kakashi had throughly just thrashed what little strength she had regained. Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she strode over to her pack to retrieve her lunch.

I wonder if it's true...a new teammate? Kami, it had only been a handful of days since the funeral. It seemed time didn't stop in this village, especially not with ominous (yet nebulous) threats of war hovering in the air. Personally, Yuki wasn't convinced that there was going to be a war, even despite the fact that random people were disappearing along the border, that she had been targeted and Ryuu had... Well, it just didn't add up to war in her opinion. Unless there is something the adults aren't telling us...

Yuki took a thoughtful bite of her sandwich. That could be it. Usually she could squeeze secrets out of her father, but he was off on some mission, and her mother was eternally busy with the hospital. Yuki vowed to keep her eyes and ears open and, dusting her uniform free of crumbs, went to go meet her team in their usual rendezvous point.

As she approached training field three, she could see Konohamaru seated in his wheelchair. Cho stood behind him dutifully. I wonder what kind of training or missions we're going to be able to do while sensei's lung is healing...

"Hey, Yuki-san!" Cho called, waving frenetically, as if Yuki didn't see them already.

"Hey." Yuki jogged up to meet them and then ventured, somewhat apprehensively, "So. Kakashi-sensei mentioned something about a new teammate?"

Konohamaru chuckled. "Well, he still has to pass the genin test next week, but I don't doubt he'll do it. After all, he's at the top of his age group."

"Tadashi..?" Yuki hazarded. Tadashi was Neji and Tenten's only child, rumored to be the up-and-coming genius of the Hyuga clan.

Konohamaru laughed again. "I can't get anything past you, can I, Yuki? That's right. He's requested to have a formal training session with you and Cho, but I thought I would ask you two first. Are you okay...so soon...?"

Cho sniffled at that. Yuki offered, "It's a little soon...yeah. At least, that's what I think, personally. But it seems like the Hokage-sama is concerned with making as many capable teams as possible right now..." She trailed off and raised her open hands, as if she were offering something.

Cho added, softly, "If it's for the good of the village..."

Their sensei sighed. "If you aren't ready for a new teammate quite yet, that would be understandable. After all, we don't want to form a team that isn't ready to be formed. However, Tadashi seems very excited to work with you two—especially you, Yuki—and I thought..."

Yuki smiled self-depricatingly. It seemed like only yesterday, she was complaining that Ryuu was on her team when she would have preferred Tadashi in his stead. Be careful what you wish for, huh Yuki? Feeling guilty, but having no real reason to feel that way, she shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. "It's okay, sensei. Why don't we start training right away? I could use the practice."

Cho snorted—since when did Yuki need more practice?—but instead replied, "Yeah. I'm down if Yuki is."

"Good." Konohamaru whistled loudly, and Tadashi strode forward from the tree line. The boy was a year younger than Yuki but stood just as tall as she. His long chestnut hair flowed freely except for a few small braids, and his eyes shown with the typical opalescence of the Hyuga clan.

"Good afternoon." Tadashi bowed, his face a placid, polite mask. "I'm honored to be a part of your team, Konohamaru-sensei, Yuki-san, Cho-san."

Cho offered, "Nice to have you with us, Tadashi-san."

He's formal. And he uses the proper honorifics. This could work out okay... Yuki thought idly. Yuki bowed but otherwise remained silent, still measuring him with her eyes.

Konohamaru cleared his throat and intoned, "Well, obviously I'm not much help today, but I thought you could all do a team building mission together."

Tadashi ventured, "Will we be escorting someone from the village? Or delivering important messages?"

"Not quite..." Something about the twinkle in Konohamaru's eye when he said this made Yuki and Cho cringe.

Yuki moaned. "Let me guess, we're going to be catching a cat?"

"Not just any cat..." Konohamaru intoned with a grin.

Cho groaned, "No. Oh no. Anything but that!"

Their sensei all but chortled at the look of confusion on Tadashi's face. "For your first unofficial mission, you are to locate Mr. Fluffy, who coincidentally was lost today."

Yuki slapped herself in the face. "That damned cat is near impossible to catch. I swear that thing has ninja skills–"

"Speaking of ninja skills, Yuki, there's a new rule. You can't use your summons to help you." Konohamaru wheeled himself into the shade and checked his watch. "Let's see if Team Five can collect said cat within the next three hours." He tossed them all one walkie-talkie each. "Now go!"

"Yes sir, Konohamaru-sensei!" Tadashi replied. From the look on his face, Yuki could read Tadashi's thoughts as plain as day: Three hours to catch one kitten? Surely you jest...

"Yes, sensei," Cho and Yuki groaned in unison.

"Good luck!" Konohamaru called as the three genin receded from sight. He took out a book from his vest pocket—a book that looked suspiciously similar to one of Kakashi's illicit volumes—and began to read as his students took off for the village.

"Yuki-san?" Tadashi began.

"Hn?"

"Do you really think it will take three hours to locate a cat?"

Cho snorted while Yuki replied, "If we're lucky, it will only take three hours."

Clearly, the new recruit did not believe her, but Yuki ignored the hapless Hyuga and instead began giving out orders. "Cho, you take the eastern side of the village, I'll take the west, and Tadashi..." Here, Yuki stalled for a moment. "Hey...Tadashi, are you any good with shadow clones?"

Tadashi shook his head. "I specialize in the gentle fist style..."

Yuki exhaled slowly. "Usually I could spare a clone, but I've got to conserve chakra. Cho?"

The girl nodded. "I can't do shadow clones, but I can certainly make an earth-style clone." Cho formed some hand-signs, and in minute a clone was born from the ground they stood upon.

"Okay, Cho and clone, take the eastern and southern sides. I'll cover the west, Tadashi you get the north. Got it?"

Tadashi raised his hand and ventured, "Why don't we start at the target's home and then work our way outwards?"

There was a moment of silence.

"That would save time..." Cho agreed.

Yuki shook her head. "It's obvious you have much to learn in the way of cats. When a cat escapes, they make a bee-line as far away from home as possible. Additionally, I have reason to believe that Mr. Fluffy is having a rendezvous with Mrs. Penelope, a cat whom I suspect is in heat. And she lives on the west side."

Tadashi eyed her askance. "You are very well acquainted with…um…cat gossip."

Yuki, perfectly serious, nodded. "Unfortunately, my sister has a feline communication unit and keeps me up to date on the soap opera-esque affairs of the cat world."

"Well, if he's meeting up with...um...Mrs. Penelope, shouldn't we all converge on the west side?"

"Good thinking, except that Mr. Fluffy is also known to have...relations with Tabby, who lives over on the south side. He also enjoys fishing in at the park on the east side—you know, the one with the pond. So thus, it's best to split up to cover more ground."

Tadashi shook his head. "I'll start from the center of town and work my way out. You girls can cover the circumference and work your way in. I should be done in no time with my byakugan."

Yuki crossed her arms. "We work as a team, Tadashi-san." And by team, Yuki meant that everyone should be listening to her brilliant plan.

Cho, ever the peacemaker, offered, "Let's all work from the center outwards and utilize Tadashi's eyes as a starting point. Then we can split up from there."

"Fine," Yuki practically spat.

The ninja were off in a flash, and quickly made their way to Mr. Fluffy's apartment building. Tadashi activated his ocular jutsu and called, "I see a total of ten cats in the area. Cho, you and your clone split up and take eight through eleven o'clock. I'll take twelve and one. Yuki, you should be able to handle two to four, since you're the expert—that's where the highest concentration of cats are. Ok, let's go."

Yuki, grinding her teeth, rushed off to her assigned quadrant. After searching diligently, she found five cats, none of whom were their target. "Kchhh. Come in, come in. This is Black Crow. No sign of target."

"Rodger that. This is Red Monarch. No sign of target here, either. What about you...what's your code name?"

There was a sigh on the walkie line. "I'll go with Opal. No sign of our target either. Damn."

"Kchh. Language, Opal. Let's keep spreading out. I'm going to head to the west side. Black Crow, over."

"Black Crow, this is Opal. Excuse my profanities; my mother is a bad influence. As per your proposal, I don't sense too many cats on the west side. Are you sure...?"

"Call it a gut feeling. Over and out." Yuki rolled her eyes; was Tadashi always going to be questioning her excellence? She suspired slowly. Perhaps she should just cut the kid some slack. After all, today was his first day on the team. Shaking her head, Yuki ran towards the west side.

Sure enough, as she approached the west side, she heard the unsavory wails of cats doing their reproductive "thing." How horrible. When are the Oniki family going to spay their cat...or is it neuter for male cats? Well, that guy definitely needs his balls chopped... Yuki winced and pressed the button on her walkie. "Kchhh. This is Black Crow. Target is in sight, west side of town, thirty degrees north from the mochi vendor. Do you read me?"

"Kchhh, this is Red Monarch. I'm coming."

"Dear gods, what is the target doing."

Yuki sighed. "Opal, I believe that is what we would call, in common parlance, cats 'getting it on.' Let's wait until the target is finished...his…er…business...before apprehending him. Blech. Over."

Yuki staked out a spot on a tree directly across from the fornicating felines. She stifled a groan. This is the worst mission ever.

"Gah, when are they going to be done...you know...their thing?" Cho's voice came in from the other side of the line.

Yuki shook her head. "Let's just wait...it can't be that much longer."

"Kchhh, this is Opal. I suggest we throw a net over them...while they are otherwise...occupied."

"This is Black Crow. You're welcome to it, Opal. Except that when cats...ahem...fornicate, the male's...apparatus becomes barbed, and won't retract from the female until he's...satisfied."

"Oh."

"Ergo, I recommend we should wait until...yeah." Yuki grimaced and settled back into her perch on the tree. After a few moments, she shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet. This was taking forever.

"Kchh. This is Opal. I certainly wish sensei would give us more dignified missions. This...is terrible."

"Kchh, this is Red Monarch. Opal...suck it up."

Yuki snickered.

"Kchh, this is Opal. I certainly can't believe you would talk to a teammate this way!" There was no response to his plaintive whine.

Yuki rolled her eyes and went back to observing the target.

The line went dead for a while. Yuki began to tire of the sounds of cat sex. Damn it. I wish Ryuu were here. He'd be cracking stupid jokes and making things more interesting... Yuki felt a pang at that thought.

Suddenly, Cho deadpanned over the line, "Kchhh. This is Red Monarch. Yo, Black Crow, I just picked my nose and found, like, the biggest booger."

Yuki almost fell out of the tree, she was laughing so hard. "Kchhh, ha-ha! Red Monarch! Ha-ha, you just like, gah! Wha-ha! Totally read my mind! Whaaa!" Yuki collapsed on her branch in hysterics– not too far off, she could hear Cho wailing with laughter herself.

"Kchh. Um...guys? That was seriously inappropriate," came Tadashi's stern admonishment.

That only made the girls laugh harder.

"Target is getting away! I repeat, Target is getting away!" Tadashi dashed after Mr. Fluffy while his compatriots were incapacitated with laughter.

Yuki wiped her eyes, but whether she was crying wholly from laughter or sorrow, she was not sure. "Kchhh. Red Monarch. This is Black Crow. Thanks for that."

"Ha. Hee hee. Anytime."

Yuki cast a silent glance up at the clear afternoon sky before tailing their target.

I think Ryuu would be proud...

"Not bad, Team Five; you made it back in three hours and fifty four minutes. I think that's a record for Mr. Fluffy."

Said pet was moping in his cat carrying case, held by an equally sulky Tadashi. "I can't believe this," the Hyuga muttered

"Can't believe what?" their sensei asked, slightly bemused.

Tadashi sighed. "I just thought Team Five would be more...professional, that's all."

Cho snickered; Yuki grinned and replied, "Hey, you heard sensei, we caught that hell cat in record time." Mr. Fluffy mewed in protest at the pejorative.

"I just don't think reporting back on what you found up your nose via the walkie-talkie is very..." However, Tadashi was unable to finish his sentence, because Yuki and Cho broke down in hysterical laughter.

Tadashi shook his head. "Honestly, I can see Ryuu had a bad influence on you, Yuki—they said you were at the top of your age group—"

The laughter stopped dead; Cho began to sniffle, while Yuki drew herself up to her full height, her eyes shining dangerously.

Konohamaru put his hand on the boy's shoulder and whispered, "Tadashi. Not the best timing."

Yuki glared at the boy who seemed to have the social intelligence of a golf ball. "Don't speak of things you don't understand, Tadashi."

Or I will rip you a new one... The unsaid threat rang in the silence.

Tadashi bowed politely. "Forgive me. I do not mean to speak badly of the dead. I was simply commenting that it seemed Yuki took her ninja duties more seriously at the academy...before..."

Yuki hissed, "Let's spar, Tadashi. You can see for yourself how serious I can be." Silently, she activated her sharingan; Tadashi, in turn, activated his own ocular jutsu.

Konohamaru, despite being wheelchair bound, somehow managed to place himself between his two pupils in the blink of an eye. "Deactivate. Now."

"Yes, sensei." Tadashi let his jutsu fade. Yuki held on to hers for a fraction of a second more, but then let it go as well under Konohamaru's stern glare. Even from his wheelchair, sensei was imposing.

Clearing his throat, Konohamaru stated evenly, "Yuki is a fine ninja. If anything, she is too serious all the time. If you value your life, Tadashi-kun, you won't take her lightly as an opponent, or as a teammate. And Yuki—" Konohamaru looked sternly at his irate pupil. "Please go easy on Tadashi. He's new to the team and doesn't yet understand the more...subtle points of teamwork."

Yuki ground her teeth and bowed. "Yes, sensei."

Tadashi bowed as well. "Forgive me."

Konohamaru waved his hand and attempted to lighten the mood. "All right trolls, good work today. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll take some time to spar. Sound good?"

"Sounds great. I can't wait to spar with our new teammate." Yuki said the word teammate in the same way she would have said 'leper' or 'ass-wipe.'

Cho swiped at her eyes. "Yes, sensei."

Yuki merely nodded before rushing off into the twilight, even though she wasn't particularly fond of going home. Damn, I can't wait to kick that stuck-up prick's ass. She gazed up at the emerging stars briefly and wondered what her otousan was up to; if his mission would shed any more light on Ryuu's mysterious murderer.

I have to get stronger. I have to! For Ryuu... The stars glimmered coolly in response, and Yuki had the sudden desire to leave the village all together. Something told her that she needed to leave, that she should be somewhere else entirely—but Yuki dismissed the ambiguous feeling and continued to force chakra into her legs as she ran through the woods towards home.

~Let me know how you liked it friends! :) ~Wings