When we finished eating, Itachi brought us back to the Akimichi compound. We returned to the room where all of us had been in earlier. It was quiet…and a little awkward, if you think about it, since the adults were still in the room next door. Naruto seemed rather tense, but then Shikamaru asked him if he wanted to learn how to play shōgi.

Hinata, Shino, Chōji, Sasuke, and I sat around the shōgi board as Shikamaru taught Naruto the rules of shōgi. Itachi sat nearby us to keep a close eye on us, like the good babysitter he is. And Neji decided not to isolate himself away from us (and me)…surprisingly. He, instead, sat next to Itachi, who seemed a tad bit amused with the slight change in character the Hyuuga had.

About half an hour later, Naruto was still learning the basics of shōgi, but was getting the hang of it and doing somewhat decent against Shikamaru, who, let's be honest, was going to win, no matter what. It was around this time that the door opened and, almost reflexively, all of us turned our heads. We were all a little tense, but I think we all relaxed upon seeing Sasuke's mother, Mikoto, enter the room.

Mikoto approached us tentatively, almost afraid that any wrong move could set us off. As she neared us, Naruto tensed, having noticed that Mikoto was looking right at him. He looked at me for reassurance, since I was the reason Naruto was even here today in the first place. I was about ready to say something, but Mikoto beat me to it.

"You're Naruto-kun, aren't you?" Mikoto's tone was soft and gentle.

Naruto looked nervously at Mikoto as he timidly nodded his head.

"Okaa-san, you're not going to be mean to him, are you?" Sasuke, who had been sitting next to Naruto, inched closer to the blond-haired boy. "Are you?"

"No…I just wanted to ask him a question," Mikoto replied as she knelt down to our level. "Since Itachi's birthday is coming up, I was wondering if you would like to come over to the Uchiha compound for it…would you?"

Naruto stared agape at Mikoto. "W-Would I?"

Mikoto smiled warmly at Naruto. "Do you want to, Naruto-kun?"

"O-Of course I do, dattebayo!" Naruto was completely ecstatic, a large grin crossing his face.

Mikoto looked about ready to cry upon seeing Naruto's reaction. She excused herself and then walked out of the room. I didn't know exactly how I should feel about this, but then I remembered a small detail that I had learned about Mikoto.

Mikoto had been friends with Naruto's mother, Kushina…Kushina had her own verbal tic that was "dattebane" and hearing Naruto's "dattebayo" must have unearthed some past memories, since Kushina is, well, dead…

Oh no…

Now I just made myself sad…but at the same time, I feel happy. It's like a bittersweet feeling, just seeing how happy Naruto is, and realizing that Mikoto must have seen Kushina in Naruto. Still, the fact that Mikoto had invited Naruto over to the Uchiha compound for Itachi's birthday means that the Uchiha clan is willing to associate with the kid…to a certain extent, as far as I know. I wonder if this is a sign of change…I can only hope.

And oh, how I hope…

…

…

Since Sasuke joined our circle of friends, you can bet that we saw an increase of Itachi's presence in our lives…whenever Itachi wasn't busy being a Genin. Naruto was all over Itachi for that, and Sasuke couldn't be any prouder. Itachi just seemed pretty neutral, if a bit amused with how Neji was slowly being dragged unwillingly into our circle of friends. I'm still leader of this circle of friends, by the way…and I really want that to change.

Of course, no one really trusts Naruto to be leader, much to his annoyance, and Hinata refused, saying that I made a better leader (which is bullshit). Chōji flat-out stated that he wouldn't be a good older brother if he took my leader status away from me…the traitor. Shikamaru said it would be too troublesome for him to be leader and Shino already accepted me as leader, using means of the insect hierarchy to explain the situation. I'm not exactly happy with his explanation, but there was no changing his mind after that…and Sasuke was pretty cool with me being leader.

You guys freaking suck!

I am friends with people who have no idea of the recklessness I am capable of…they are going to regret everything. And, unlike any other situation, I will not be laughing once they find out the hard way, because chances are, I'll be finding out the hard way as well.

At least Neji had some sense in disagreeing with everyone, but at the same time, he included his fatalism in his reasons, which I didn't want to hear and made him promptly shut up by saying his name without an honorific. That…tends to happen whenever I get annoyed or mad. It's embarrassing for me, because I can come off as rude when I do that and everyone just stares at me for it. Again, it's just embarrassing…

Naruto is at least improving academically. He's by no means a prodigy, which is, in hindsight, a good thing…he's still far behind, but he isn't completely dead-last as he was in canon. That still doesn't mean everyone has stopped picking on him (the little twerps!). In fact, no matter how much of a big deal I make over how Naruto has been improving, to everyone else (that isn't within our circle of friends), Naruto is still dead-last. I'm thinking this might be a sign of denial, since no one really wants to admit that Naruto has been improving.

Sasuke is currently at the top of our class, which is no surprise. Hinata and I are actually tied for second place, and I'm honestly surprised I'm actually doing that well… Then again, I spent a good amount of years in my past life being afraid of failure when it came to academics… It's a fear that never leaves!

It never leaves!

Shino is averagely good and Chōji is at least doing better than Naruto, as is Shikamaru…the lazy ass sloth. And from what Hinata has told me, Neji is at the top of his class, which, again, is no surprise.

Month two of kunoichi classes consisted of calligraphy. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but by the end of the month, I noticed an immense improvement in my writing, so I'd be lying if I said the class was a waste of time. I will say this…I am quite aware that there are cons to wearing my hair in a braid and one of those cons is having the end of the braid used as a calligraphy brush. I have no idea who did it or how they managed to get ink on my hair, as my hair isn't that long, but I have a slight suspicion that it was either Ami or one of her friends, Kasumi or Fuki.

I mean, Suzume-sensei has been putting me in the spotlight as of lately upon noticing how much I've improved. She's always had her eye on me ever since the ikebana test. Did you know that I was one of four girls who passed the ikebana test? I did that…I also scored highly, just behind Ino and Hinata, who scored the highest out of all of us. Everyone else after me did either decently (enough to pass, which only one person did, and that was Sakura) or terrible (the majority of the class). And if you want to know how I managed to score highly, I have no idea. I totally bullshitted that test, but I'm not gonna openly admit that, since I'll just piss off my classmates who didn't pass and had to take remedial lessons because of it.

In regards to the toxicology and non-toxicology of plants and flowers, everyone passed that test and I did averagely well. Not like that matters as everyone knows me as one of the girls who didn't have to take the remedial lessons for ikebana. I stood out the most because of this as Ino and Hinata had been expected to score highly, and Sakura has Ino as a friend, so again, it was only expected because of her connections with Ino. While it could be argued that I had Hinata as a friend, the fact still stands that I did better than Sakura instead of being on her level. And with Suzume-sensei putting me in the spotlight because of my improvements in calligraphy, this only makes me stand out even more…

So I have a number of girls who are jealous of me, with Ami, Kasumi, and Fuki being the most prominent of those girls. I've had girls bump into me purposely as I'm writing, therefore ruining whatever progress I had been making on my paper. I've had ink spilled on my finished calligraphy. I have even had my papers ripped up, with my progress gone to waste because of it. In all those cases, I have been forced to start over.

And the thing about calligraphy is that for any particular piece of paper, the calligrapher has but one chance, and one chance only, to create something with the brush. The brush strokes cannot be corrected, and even a lack of confidence shows up in the work, as Suzume-sensei says. She then adds that the calligrapher must concentrate and be fluid in execution. It is as difficult as it sounds.

So I guess I could say the reason for the huge spike in improvement was the result of girls forcing me to start over from scratch. It certainly seems plausible…and ironic. Not sure if I should appreciate it. I mean, on one hand, I'm doing well, but on the other hand, I'm getting picked on…and if I do badly, I'll probably never hear the end of it. Ugh, this is like the worst scenario ever…and it only adds more weight to the fear of failure. The fear just never leaves, I say!

It just gets worse…

Despite this, life continued on as usual…and on Itachi's tenth birthday, which was also turned into a gathering for the Four Noble Clans, Naruto was actually welcomed into the Uchiha compound. No one even protested. Of course, a good number of the Uchiha did look at Naruto with strained expressions and the Hyuuga avoided looking at Naruto entirely. It's not exactly much, but it's a start.

Since then, visits to the Uchiha compound have increased, with Naruto always being welcomed. By Sasuke's fifth birthday, which turned into yet another gathering (this going to be a thing, isn't it?), the strained expressions from the Uchiha lessened and the Hyuuga have started looking at Naruto. Naruto still wasn't allowed into the Hyuuga compound, which is predictable.

School remained relatively the same, with the only difference being that Naruto was still improving. Naruto was catching up to Shikamaru, who took it as a challenge and decided to put a little more extra effort into his exams (just a little). Chōji decided to pick up the pace as well and improved as well. Both he and Shikamaru are still doing better than Naruto, who is only growing annoyed, especially since Sasuke keeps flaunting his perfect scores.

Kunoichi classes became increasingly difficult once Suzume-sensei introduced us to musical instruments. Now I'm willing to put in effort into anything remotely musical (so long as it isn't theory, because I suck at that). I've been a band geek in my past life since the fourth grade up until the day of my high school graduation, so I felt rather excited that we were learning how to play musical instruments…then I found out the learning objective for this month's course.

Each of us was assigned to a certain instrument, which is pretty cool, except guess who got the simple-looking samisen and the complicated-looking koto? I can tell you for certain, I didn't get the kokyū (Sakura did, in case you're wondering) and Hinata was lucky enough to get the simple-looking samisen, while I was stuck with the freaking koto.

The koto I was assigned was to be a thirteen-stringed koto, modified for my playing convenience. Thirteen…just looking at the number made me realize…the number thirteen is still a part of my life. From my birth, being the younger twin by about thirteen minutes, to this…it's like my past life. One way or another, I somehow end up encountering the number in my past life, whether it's my number on a softball team, or a number I encounter in video games (I'm looking at you, Kingdom Hearts), or even the year I graduated from high school… It's just a number that seems to favor me. I'm not triskaidekaphobic; I just find the number rather intriguing.

Now upon being assigned our instrument, we were given that month, plus the entirety of summer vacation (which, by the way, isn't a civilian-exclusive, so yay) to learn how to play it. We don't have to be complete professionals; we have to be decent at the very least. Suzume-sensei made sure we weren't completely blind by having other kunoichi, other than herself, to help teach us the basics. Hinata and I were taught by a kunoichi named Hotaru.

Hotaru-sensei was a very informative young lady who seemed quite pleased to see how fast Hinata and I were learning how to play our instruments. It kinda helps that Hinata's mother, Himawari, knew how to play both the koto and the samisen, and that my visits to the Hyuuga compound have recently increased because of it. I guess you can say Hinata and I sort of cheated…then again, it was never against the rules to ask for outside help, so there's that.

Still, I do not like the koto…I do not like the blisters I've been getting on my fingers (though, that's entirely my fault for misplacing my tsume—they're just so easy to lose!). I certainly do not like how much they hurt. Hinata is facing the same problem as me. In fact, most of the students are facing this problem…except for Ino, Fuki, and a couple of other students, who got the shakuhachi…the lucky punks.

The same can also be said about those who don't misplace their tsume, like me, but whatever!

We don't talk about them, as they flaunt their non-blistered fingers!

When everyone in the Academy was let out for summer vacation, Hinata and I were quick to discard our instruments and take a break. We freaking needed that break…and Himawari said it was fine for us to enjoy our summer vacation. She still said it was necessary for us to practice at least twice a week, so there's that…still, freedom!

Sweet, sweet freedom…

"Hey, hey, are any of you gonna go to the summer festival?" Sasuke decided to ask all of us during a visit to the Uchiha compound. At the moment, he was playing a game of shōgi with Shikamaru…and was doing quite decently. Hinata, Shino, Naruto, Chōji, and I sat around them, watching them as they played. Itachi was stuck babysitting us and Neji was just there.

"When's that again?" Shikamaru asked as he moved a piece across the board.

"I-I think i-it's next week…" Hinata didn't seem too sure.

"It is," Neji confirmed in a somewhat curt tone. "Hinata-sama, this is something you should already know."

"Neji, Hinata and I have been busy…so excuse us if something as simple as a festival date passes any one of our minds." I want to see you try learning how to play the samisen, Neji and—I omitted the honorific, didn't I?

"Heehee." Hinata tried to stifle a couple of giggles as she looked at Neji's flustered face. "A-Are you okay, Neji-nii-sama?"

"I believe Hyuuga-san's face speaks for itself," Itachi remarked, immediately earning a glare from Neji.

"So, are you going to the summer festival?" Sasuke decided to bring our attention back to his question. "Nii-san's taking me!"

"N-Neji-nii-sama is t-taking me…" Hinata replied. "I w-want to try and w-win a goldfish…"

"Well, I don't have anything better to do, so I might as well go." Even if it means I have to wear a yukata…bluh, restricted movement… At least it's not as bad as a kimono and, thankfully, it is much lighter, too…

"I'm in!" Chōji was quick to exclaim. "Festival food is the best!"

"Guess that means I'll be going, then…" Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome."

"I will also participate," Shino said. "I assume we will be meeting up for the fireworks display?"

"Are we, leader?" Sasuke looked questioningly at me.

"Stop calling me that!" Dammit, I want that title to fade into obscurity! "Hey, Naruto, you haven't said anything. Are you gonna go?"

Naruto blinked. "I don't know. I've never been to one and when I tried going to last year's summer festival, everyone started staring at me, so I just left. I don't think I'm wanted…it looks fun, though. Is it fun?"

…

"Wh-Why don't you s-see for yourself, Naruto-kun?" Hinata was quick ask. "I-I mean…it wouldn't be the s-same without you."

"Yeah!" Sasuke agreed. "Who else is going to lose to me in any of the games?"

Naruto scowled at Sasuke. "Like hell I'm gonna lose to you, dattebayo!"

"So then you're going?" I looked questioningly at Naruto.

"Uh…" Naruto seemed confused. "Um…"

"Your presence is required at the festival if you wish to challenge Sasuke-kun," Shino explained. "If you do not participate, then Sasuke-kun will win by default…do you wish for that to happen?"

"Hell no!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm gonna go and kick your ass, dattebayo! You hear that, Sasuke?!"

"Loud and clear," Sasuke replied.

"I guess everyone is going, then!" Chōji grinned widely.

Shikamaru smirked when he looked at me. "So, leader…would that be a yes or no on the meet up for the fireworks display?"

"Oh, you are doing that on purpose!" I am not amused, dammit! There is nothing amusing about this, so you guys can just stop laughing—hey! "Stop laughing—you guys are the worst!"

Even Itachi is laughing and I think Neji is getting a kick out of this. What is my life? Just…what is it? Neji, I swear, you better enjoy this while it lasts, because it's not going to happen again! Of course, knowing my luck, it probably will.

C'est la vie.

…

…

…

A/N 4-10-16 So like apart from edits, I also added in some information when it comes to Chōko's blisters, because I've had reviewers tell me that with tsume (which are things you put on your fingers to play the koto), she shouldn't be getting them. Of course, this is Chōko we're talking about, and the reason she gets hers is because she keeps losing track of where she places her tsume. So yeah, that's why she's been getting blisters.

So I ended up spending some time looking at some traditional Japanese instruments and I came across the koto, kokyū, shakuhachi, and samisen. The shakuhachi is basically a flute, the samisen is a 3-stringed instrument, the kokyū is a bowed instrument, and the koto is, typically, a 13-stringed instrument (nowadays, there are koto with even more strings). Speaking of the number 13, yes, this number has popped up a number of times in my life. I find it funny.

Also, you know that feel when the teacher puts you in the spotlight because you did well on something that everyone else had trouble on? Yeah, that happened to me…the only difference between Chōko and I, is that I had confidentiality. And nothing is worse than bullshitting a test and scoring higher than a friend who studied their ass off. I'll leave it at that…

By the by, I've taken a look at the ending to Naruto and let me just say…I named Hinata's mother Himawari because the name was fitting, not because of Uzumaki Himawari! It was a total coincidence…one hell of a huge coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless! Seriously, though…that fucking coincidence. ChibiFoxAI was the one who told me about this…she's also the friend who told me about Kushina and Mikoto, so yeah…

Moving on, one thing I'd like to point out that Chōko hasn't noticed yet is that Naruto's friends have started taking the initiative to cheering him up, instead of just Chōko. Change is occurring, and the Uchiha clan has taken to associating with Naruto, despite his jinchuuriki status. The Hyuuga clan is slowly opening up to Naruto. And Naruto is also improving academically. It's slow, but change nonetheless.

Chōko still doesn't like being called leader, Itachi is the designated babysitter, and Neji is just there… Oh, and he's finally six-years-old. The reason I didn't go into his birthday is because nothing much really happened, it just happened. Plus, I doubt Neji would really tell anyone when his birthday was and he probably made Hinata keep it a secret. Neji is just being Neji.

Well, that's about it for this chapter, so I hope you guys enjoyed it. I keep trying to make long chapters, but I'm guessing it'll take a while before that'll happen. So until next time, everyone! KD out! XD