Not a moment had been wasted jumping right into the action, and of course, after already being troubled and mutually feeling he had his own troubles, Sasuke Uchiha took a spot in the first match. Of course everyone was paying attention; the room was so quiet simply because it appeared everyone around the sidelines was watching him intently to see just what he was all about. For the locals, she was sure, it was everything to do with Sasuke, while for the foreigners, it appeared it had less to do with that and more to do with the 'Uchiha'.

For Eri, it was less to do with either of those things. Her eyes watched his every move, studying his actions and always darting to the crook of his shoulder. She didn't have the jurisdiction to stop the match. If things got out of hand she couldn't just shout 'stop the fight' as if her words held weight.

She supposed she could alert Kakashi if things got out of hand, but... the idea of things getting out of hand in the first place was something she hoped wouldn't happen.

'I can already tell something's not right,' She thought, tense. He was generally a quick-paced guy, and sure injuries from the forest would be enough to slow anyone down, but the arcs of his limbs were slowed noticeably. It was like he had sandbags strapped to them. On top of that, she could catch sight of little falters in his movements, of second-guesses and missteps, and it all left her on edge.

"Mmmm..." Tatsuo hummed pensively to himself, "it seems that he'll lose then."

"Huh?!" Momo spoke up abruptly in response, "what makes you say that? Nothing's even really happened yet." The dark haired girl turned her head swiftly to Eri, looking for some sort of response, "what do you think?"

"If she thought otherwise, she would have been cheering for him by now..."

"Ah..."

Eri rubbed her knuckles awkwardly against the pink whisker-like marks on her cheeks. "That's not it..." It truly wasn't. Her not cheering had nothing to do with her not believing in him. Surely, they didn't understand her concerns, but even if he wasn't struggling with that strange mark, maybe even then she wouldn't have - not because she didn't believe in him, but...

Her eyes cast a wary glance out of their corners, catching a brief glimpse of Sakura then of Ino. Everything was just really complicated...

"Ah forget about them!" Momo spoke up so spiritedly upon catching her glance, "Nobody cares what they have to say anyway! Why are you so worried about what they think?"

'That... isn't entirely it either...' Eri thought ruefully, her fanged tooth grazing roughly at her lip. Sure, she cared about what they thought, but it wasn't some intimidation thing. She wasn't afraid they'd be angry, but...

"Hey, I hope it'll make them mad!" Momo spoke up eagerly, gripping the edge of the railing, sucking in a breath and shouting, "GO SASUKE GO! KICK HIS BUTT!"

"Ah! Hey!" Eri spoke up, though the moment she reached towards Momo, she was greeted with an urging shove to her back. She peered up to Tatsuo, and of course, despite the falsely innocent smile on his face, she could see the way his mischief practically leaked out shamelessly for all to see.

She wet her drying lips, and all she could think was 'How evil. He really is the devil of some sort, isn't he..?' She raised her hands, up to her mouth, shouting with a half-as-hardy, "YOU CAN DO IT!"

"HEY, SASUKE!"

Both girls quieted their cheering and peered down the way -Tatsuo in tow-, hearing the familiar voice of their rowdy blond classmate shouting over the vastness of the preliminary stage.

"AND YOU CALL YOURSELF AN UCHIHA!? YOU'RE GONNA LET THIS DUDE WALK ALL OVER YOU! COME ON! STOP MESSING AROUND AND GET IT IN GEAR!"

"Dang," Momo spoke up, her eyes practically shrinking to the size of small dots in surprise, "N-Naruto geez... dude just completely destroyed him..."

"Yeah, really..." Eri trailed in tow, brushing her finger once again at her cheek, "what a pep talk..." She trailed off quietly, reaching out and lightly elbowing Tatsuo swiftly for the way he chuckled quietly at the expense of the poor Uchiha.

"Wha..." Tatsuo spoke up in surprise, "what did I do..?"

They continued to watch the match, studying the tide of the battle. At the very least Sasuke was reaching a point where he was dodging consistently now.

"Come on... Recognize the pattern..." Eri thought quietly, though aloud. She knew it was easy to say that as a spectator, she didn't expect him to catch on so quickly in the heat of battle. All she could do was hope it into him.

"He's got him in the air!" Momo exclaimed, somewhat pumped for the shifting course of the battle.

Things appeared to be changing for the better, but abruptly it seemed Sasuke's movements had faltered. He was uttering a strangled cry of pain, and it seemed difficult for him to recompose himself so quickly.

"What's going on..?" Momo now changed her thought, "did the guy do something to him..? But he has the upper-hand right..?"

Eri's hand coiled in towards her chest, her shoulders raising in response to the pain that nearly forced her hand up to her own neck. She had been feeling uneasy this whole fight, and she was sure most of it came from nerves, but she couldn't help but wonder... did that feeling have merit? Was that mark the thing that was making her so uneasy before?

'It... looks like it's... spreading...' She hesitantly turned her head away, her eyes settling on Kakashi's location. He had to be seeing this too, right..? Was it right for her to intervene if he had yet to? Her eyes kept flickering back and forth until on their glance back, she noticed the mark was seeming to retreat. What was going on? What on earth was that thing, and why did it move so strangely, as if of its own volition?

"I'm almost too nervous to say he got him again...!" Momo spoke up, turning to Eri, "this is kind of weird isn't it? Is something going on with him?"

"Huh..?" Eri perked up suddenly from her thoughtful state, looking to Momo, then peering back to the fight to avoid any shaky eye contact that could possibly give her away, "Umm... I'm not really sure, but I get what you mean. It is pretty weird, isn't it..? Maybe the battle's more strenuous than it looks..."

Without any suspicion from her seemingly normal remark, the squad returned to watching the match. Sasuke had managed to deal a devastating blow. What was it that he called that technique? 'Lion's Barrage?' That was certainly a new one. It was direct hit, but it looked like all of the effort it took to use it did a number on Sasuke too; they were both down.

"Wait..." Eri began in hush, Momo finishing her sentiment.

"It's a tie?" Momo peered to Tatsuo and Eri, confusion visible on her face, "does that happen? Can that happen..?"

"I guess we're about to find out," Tatsuo mused, amusement lithe in his face, "I'm sure it would be an interesting start to the exams if it did end in a tie."

"Hold on -He's getting up!" Eri broke between their commentary, pressing her hands together, fidgety but eagerly.

"I'm declaring this match over."

The entire room fell silent to hear the proctor that spoke from so far down in the arena.

"As the winner of this preliminary round, Sasuke Uchiha advances to the finals."

"Wow!"

Eri's hands clapped together, practically bounding up to her toes with excitement, "Congratulations! You did amazing! Really amazing!"

"That was so close!" Momo asserted as well, her hand over her chest as she finally released a pent up breath.

It felt like the entire stadium had collectively taken the same breath at the same time - well maybe most of the locals anyway. There were quite a few people in their academy that didn't find themselves so close with Sasuke, nor did they have the same romantic intrigue in him as many of the girls in the class. Regardless, they knew one thing in particular; Sasuke Uchiha was one of the highest performers in the class. When stacked against various shinobi from different lands and villages, there was a level of unknown present. Sasuke was currently one of their few opportunities to measure themselves up against the competition.

This battle set the tone.

Eri turned away for a moment - even if it wasn't a part of the deal, a part of her at least wanted to talk with Kakashi to maybe see if she could feel out his opinion towards the situation. Even for such a short distance, walking away from her team felt somewhat unsafe, but it seemed she wouldn't have the opportunity.

"Kou-sensei..." She spoke up to the hand that she abruptly found on her forehead, halting her like a playground bully, "I was-"

"They'll be calling the next matches any moment now," the pale-blue haired sensei spoke up, though with a cheshire-like smile across his face, "you should be here for them." She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that he knew, but finding it difficult to speak against his words, Eri turned back to the arena. Kakashi was there already; did Kou-sensei know what she was trying to- then did he know about the mark?

Rather than fully give herself and her intentions away, Eri merely faced back forward and watched as the masked sensei seemed to take Sasuke with him and suddenly head out. How strange... but at the same time -with what she knew- not particularly so.

The next few matches seemed to skate by in a blur. Between waiting for one's match, and remaining observant yet on edge for the others, it was easy to feel like every fight lasted only a couple of minutes.

Their heads upturned to the screen that randomized the match-ups, and once again, they waited with anticipation. Who would be next? There were still plenty of participants to be thrown into the next match, so it really could have been anyone against anyone.

Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanka

Eri felt a chill creep through her body, but in the same manner, she felt rising anxiety. She wanted to wish them good luck, or maybe try to set their minds at ease. She knew how difficult it must have been having to fight against one's friend. Her head swiveled to the path they took, and coming through she noticed Sakura passing by. Her lips parted to say something, anything, but the moment the pink haired girl's green-eyed stare met her, all of those words fizzled to nothing.

Momo's eyes narrowed, and after misreading the situation, she stood protectively at the aid of Eri, casting her dark brown eyes threateningly towards Sakura.

"Don't do that," Eri whispered in scolding hush, planting her hands against her friend's shoulders and easing her somewhat out of the way. "Good luck... Sakura..." She said instead with much difficulty, now not just to give her a little luck, but also hopefully to diffuse some of the tension that Momo had lended.

Sakura's lips took to an uneasy, forced smile, something obscure and uncertain was within her expression but regardless she uttered a just-as-hesitant, "thanks..." And with that, she continued on.

Eri released a weighted sigh a pocket in her barely-parted lips. She didn't anticipate how much that would take out of her, but in the end, she felt glad she was able to do it. Unfortunately, her friend didn't seem nearly as pleased.

"Why did you do that..?"

"I don't have anything against her," Eri responded, once again avoiding eye contact and turning away to peer down at the currently empty arena, "there's no reason to be rude, you know?"

"Yeah, okay," she retorted sarcastically, draping her arms down over the rail, "you may think that, but there's every reason to be rude. You can forgive her, but that doesn't mean I do."

"Is there something I'm missing out on here..?" Tatsuo inquired so curiously. He knew that Momo had a pretty serious disdain towards those two, but he also knew that it seemed mostly directed at Sakura. The reason for it, well, he hadn't the slightest clue. It felt like there was a story he was left out of the loop about.

To his question, Momo cast a wary glance towards to Eri, as if asking if it was alright to share, though seemingly apathetic, Eri merely offered a tired shrug.

"Correct me if I get it wrong," Momo began, though with her chin in her hand, she started, "see... it wasn't always this way. When we were little..."

"This is Momo!" Eri introduced, motioning to the girl that practically hid behind her. Momo was new to Konoha, only having moved there a week or so ago, and only having been attending the academy for a couple of days. She was energetic, but sometimes she seemed to have a hard time settling in. Things must have been vastly different between the Leaf and the Sand. Thankfully, from what Iruka had said, their villages were allies, so it was really easy for her family to move.

"Yeah, she's a new student, right?" Ino spoke up, her hand placed on her hip and a curious yet studious expression on her face.

It was like looking at a mirror of the same situation. Eri stood with Momo, trying to offer her a little extra comfort to speak up, and Ino stood with Sakura, trying to encourage her to do the same.

"Uhuh!" Eri peered down to Momo, attempting to urge her out into the open a little more, "it's okay. This is Ino and Sakura. They're my friends... They're really nice, I promise!"

Momo practically sank into her hoodie, her fingers barely peeking out from under her oversized sleeve as she uttered a quiet, "h-hi..."

"See?" A pleased, kitten-like smile took to her lips, "that wasn't so bad, right?"

"How cute," Tatsuo remarked almost teasingly, "but I suppose the story changes somehow, right?"

"Yeah," Momo dryly remarked, an exasperated fold digging under her eye, "just wait for it..."

Eri tuned out the story's retelling. She knew it was for Tatsuo to understand, and she was asked to correct any of the details, but she found it somewhat difficult to focus on when the events were sticking to her mind like fresh memories.

"Why did you throw the fight? Don't you know your grade'll go down?!"

Eri looked to Ino with an innocent confusion, tilting her head to the side as if she genuinely didn't understand. "Throw the fight..?" It was just a class spar, there wasn't much that she should have been concerned about, right? Iruka didn't grade so strictly, and not by a win or lose basis.

"Don't play dumb," Ino huffed. She planted her hands on her hips, leaning forward towards the girl whilst steepening her disapproving pout, "I know you didn't do as good as you could have."

Eri's purely innocent and natural facade began to crumble slightly. She hadn't expected Ino to see through her so easily. Instead of confusion, sheepishness began to take her face and she plucked at her own fingers to distract from the way she faltered under Ino's displeasure, "well I..." she twisted her lips thoughtfully, looking for an excuse, but there was no guarantee Ino wouldn't just see through that too, "Sakura seems like she's really trying hard. I was hoping it would give her a little confidence boost."

"Mm..." Ino seemed mildly surprised by the assertion, but played it off simply, "yeah, I thought that was it..." She raised her hand, thumping Eri lightly against the top of her head, "don't do something like that again, you hear me? Sure that's nice and all, but don't you ever stop and think about yourself?

"Haaah..?" Eri rubbed the top of her head, a small pout forming on her lips, "hey, is that really fair? Don't you do things like that too? I always see you holding back!"

"Sure I'll take it easy, but I won't give up," Ino seemed to scoff, but in reality she knew it to be true. The two of them seemed like the older ones in their friend circle, even if that wasn't always the case. They looked after Momo and Sakura, and in building them up, sometimes they forgot to think of themselves too. That was what the other was for, Ino would look after Eri, and Eri would look after Ino.

Frankly, when thinking back, sometimes Eri would think that she was a little closer to Ino than she was to Sakura. It was quite the twist of fate now that it appeared Ino was the one she felt the most distant with.

Lunch, class time, breaks - the group of four spent just about all of their time together. Even when they weren't in the academy, they would have sleepovers and things. They remembered the number of times they had to find crafty ways to sneak Momo out of the house. Sometimes Eri even insisted that they took Hinata along, refusing to let go of this deeply-rooted assumption that Hinata was lonely. Sakura became more outgoing, and Momo became more outspoken. It was nice.

Then it seemed like things suddenly started to change.

Eri peered down to the arena, settling her chin in both of her hands and feeling her eyes growing heavy with stress. She watched the way Ino and Sakura removed their headbands, the former from her waist and the latter from the top of her head. Towards the beginning of the match, Ino was clearly hesitating, but it seemed now it was finally getting serious. It should have been fascinating seeing this come to a head. It should have been this big pay-off for all of their arguing and rivalry up until this point and yet Eri could feel a churning in her stomach.

"So what changed?" Tatsuo spoke up, also idly watching the match whilst dividing his attention between it and Momo.

"The stupidest thing happened..." Momo grumbled in annoyance.

'It was my fault...' Eri felt her thoughts reel to the tune of suppressed guilt.

She became friends with Sasuke.

She didn't know about their crushes; she didn't pay attention to those things when she was young. She just knew that everyone had something to say about him. Kiba found him obnoxious. Shikamaru found him tiring and 'too intense'. The girls fluttered all around him and Eri never understood why.

He always just seemed... really lonely to her. She remembered every lunch break, she was off with a different set of people. Almost every time, she saw him going off by himself and keeping his distance. He never talked to anyone, rarely ever spoke up in class, and if it wasn't for the amount of attention that was always on him from afar, it would have been easy to forget that he even existed: like a shadow on the wall. Just looking at him made her feel sympathy.

"You're... hanging out with Sasuke, really..?" Sakura had a tone that made her sound as if she were upset by that. Despite that fact, she forced the remnants of a smile that was every bit forced.

"Yeah," Eri casually spoke up, fastening down the extra bag, "he's not so bad, you know? But he never talks unless I make him, so I think I have to help him come out of his shell a little..." After finally managing to get the bag closed, she held it up triumphantly, "he really likes my mom's food too! When I told her, she made another lunch for him!"

"Yeah..! That's great...!" Sakura managed from her reserved tone, "but you don't... like him or anything, right?"

"Huh..?" The brown haired girl pressed her fingers through her hair, pushing them back out of her face after all that labor in stocking the lunch box, "like how? I think we're really good friends and stuff."

"N-no... you know, like..." Sakura hesitated, diverted her eyes and pursed her lips. Her voice grew quieter and more uncertain, " like him, like him..."

"Huh..." At this point the cat-like girl was exhibiting physical distress. It was like she had been asked the most outlandish question that she had ever heard in her life. "No!" She quickly retorted, nearly spilling into a fit of giggles after such an off-base assumption, "I don't like anybody! He's just my friend, that's all!"

If only it had just stayed that simple. There were little instances. Different points where she was asked about his likes and his dislikes. Asked about his tastes and his preferences, the secrets that he had shared with her, and she just couldn't share that information. Maybe it was something she should have seen coming all that time, and maybe in some ways she did, but she just let it go past in the hopes that it was no big deal.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"You're really doing this?" Momo spoke up disdainfully. It had been years now. They weren't just little six and seven years old anymore, but fully recognized genin, only one day away from being assigned to a squad. Growth had taken a different form for each of them, but for Momo it granted the ability to say more of what was on her mind, without fear of stepping on toes, and she full utilized it. "you're just driving everybody away! Because what!? Because you're so obsessed with Sasuke!?"

"Liking Sasuke has nothing to do with it!" Sakura spoke up immediately. She pointed an accusatory finger in Eri's direction, "Going over his house, bringing him lunches and gifts, keeping all of the secrets - and do you really expect me to believe him liking long hair and you growing your hair out like that is just a coincidence?! You've just been lying to me!"

"Sakura, it's REALLY not like that," Eri spoke up near-desperately, louder than usual in pleading her case, "I really want to tell you that isn't right! I just..." her conviction wavered, and her frown began to deepen, "I just.. can't right now." She couldn't tell her about the things Sasuke had shared with her. She couldn't explain the extra effort that she went through to try providing him comfort after the bomb he had dropped on her a while back. He was going through a lot of things right now, but those were things that she swore would never pass through her lips once they passed through her ears.

A flash of hurt appeared in the pink haired girl's green eyes, her head whirring away as she practically scoffed, "Yeah I bet you can't. You must think I'm stupid."

"Don't TALK to her like that!" Momo shot protectively, "Nobody thinks you're stupid! You're sad! You're pathetic and sad!"

"Hey!" Ino shot just then, standing in front of Sakura, "just who do you think you are?! You'd better watch your mouth!"

Likewise to Ino's movement to guard Sakura, Eri took her role defending Momo by pulling her behind her back, "That's enough! Seriously! This whole thing is stupid!"

Standing in front of Ino that day with tensions running high was probably the most unpleasant feeling she had for a while. The only think she could think that was worse, was the way they went out of their way to avoid each other after that. Sakura and Ino had fallen out just as well, but it bred a rivalry that kept them bickering. The bickering, at the very least was better than silence. It wasn't the accusations that bothered her, it was just seeing how genuinely upset she was when this all came to peak. Even after the fact, Momo was crushed - a lot more hurt than she ever acted now.

Eri knew well why things became how they are. Ino protected Sakura and she protected Momo. When Sakura came under fire, Ino stepped up, and when Momo came under fire, Eri stepped up. It made the tension much worse between she and Ino, even if they weren't the ones that initially had any issue with each other.

"Girls are needlessly complicated," Tatsuo breathed a chuckle, "why is this even on-going?"

"It just happened," Momo shot, huffing, "it isn't our fault they're being like this."

"Wouldn't it be best to just squash it?"

"You can't, because they still act like that. They're not sorry at all."

Eri settled breathed a sigh, coming back to reality and peering down at the fight to see what was going on at the moment. She abruptly sat up, surprise in her eyes, "Ah... I practically missed the whole thing..." She quietly remarked, looking down to see both of them incapacitated.

"There wasn't much to see anyway," Momo bitterly waved off.

"That's rude..."

"It's the truth though!"

A/N: Ah yes. A little background. It always feels so funny writing this sometimes, because I really feel like Tatsuo towards the end of this chapter. I also know there is more to everything that will slowly come to light, and I also have to remember they're young. They focus on the wrong things sometimes.

Either way. Thank you so much to those of you that have read and reviewed! I really appreciate hearing your opinions and feedback!

My Naruto story 'The Boy Called Trouble' is just about over, so a lot of time and focus is going to be put into this story after that. I really look forward to picking up speed on my update times!