Madara watched Sasuke during his rehearsals. It was the most nerve wracking experience the boy ever had in a while but he made sure he did everything absolutely perfectly. Despite his clear disdain for his choice of performing arts, Madara was adamant about perfection to an almost obsessive level. If Sasuke wanted better chances at convincing Madara it was by being the best in his field.

Although Madara wasn't looking any more impressed than he had been when he found Sasuke interacting with who he considered lowlifes. Sasuke knew Kakashi being his coach had something to do with it. He was good friends with Sasuke's uncle, Obito and from the stories he'd heard Madara didn't like Kakashi too much. Not that he liked anybody anyway but his dislike for the silver haired man increased when Obito gave Kakashi legal guardianship over Tobi in case something happened instead of the Uchiha head like it was supposed to be.

Something did happen to both Obito and his wife, Rin and Sasuke couldn't be more glad for Tobi that his legal guardian was Kakashi and not Madara. He didn't think his cousin would have been able to handle the stress along with the mental torture Madara would have surely put him through.

The man left sometime in the middle of Sasuke's rehearsal, perhaps bored of his dancing, and finally both he and Kakashi had enough air to breathe. Sasuke knew that Madara was going to call a family meeting, most likely not pleased with Fugaku's laid back parenting and honestly Sasuke was scared. Scared that his father would go back to being the dictator he was before.

Sasuke allowed himself a little ray of hope though. There was no way his parents would want to go through what they went through to get to this stage again, and neither did he so Madara was not going to get his way easily. The raven shook his head free of the thoughts. Whatever, he'll cross that bridge when he gets there. For now he would focus on beating Naruto in the winter finals, that was what mattered.

Xxx harmony xxX

Ino turned sideways as she checked herself in her standing mirror. Her hand cupped the little bump that was beginning to show on her abdomen. For now she was hidden underneath her bulky winter clothes but it would only take an amount of time before some people noticed. Shikamaru was already suspicious and sometimes she caught Hinata's stare on her.

What would she do when she starts showing obviously? She would have to withdraw from school and get homeschooled, that was certain, but what would she tell her friends when they inevitably asked about her absence? She didn't want to lie about her baby but she was also afraid of what they were going to say about her. Would they call her names and avoid her at all costs? Would they be cruel and tell her to, God forbid, terminate her baby?

Ino didn't realize she was crying until her father knocked at her door, prompting her to hurry up or she would be late for school. When she didn't answer him immediately he asked if she was feeling alright enough to even want to go to school. Ino wiped her tears and tried to keep her voice as steady as possible as she replied.

"No daddy, I'm fine. I just need to get my sweater and I'll be down."

Inoichi lingered for a few moments as he clearly saw through her but he decided to take her word for it after a few beats of silence. "Well okay. You can still change your mind if you want. I asked Sai for his katsudon recipe so I could make it for you. I noticed you liked it."

Ino's heart warmed up at that. Her father didn't necessarily like Sai but he was willing to put up with him for her. He understood how much she loved him and saw that he loved her too and tried his best to make sure she was happy, even when she disappointed him by being pregnant before she was even eighteen.

"Hey Ino, you're not a disappointment okay? No matter what you do I will always be proud of you. And I'm sure your mum would feel the same way if she were here." Inoichi's voice broke through the silence and opened another dam in Ino's eyes because, how could he always read her mind? He was the best.

Ino sniffed. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I have mustard on my katsudon? Lots of it please." It wasn't what she wanted to say but she was sure her father understood her wordless gratitude to him for being such a supporting father. She heard Inoichi chuckle before he replied.

"Anything for the little one. Come downstairs for breakfast okay?"

"Okay."

Sai was already waiting for her at school with a flask of hot tea or soup as he always did. He bowed to Inoichi as Ino waved him off, the man glared at him a bit but that was normal, and the both of them went inside the school. Sakura met them halfway and began chatting about the cute onesie she saw online and how it would look wonderful on the baby. Sakura and Sai still didn't get along but it was clear that they were trying for her sake. Sai had stuck to calling Sakura "ugly" as a nickname and Sakura punching the living daylights out of the pale boy wasn't a surprising occurrence anymore.

As the three of them walked to their class Ino realized that even even if she was abandoned by other people, the most important people to her were still at her side and that was what mattered the most. So she was contented.

Xxx harmony xxX

At first Neji thought Sora was just being weird. He'd caught the other staring at Naruto on more than two occasions now but he didn't count it as more than the normal staring someone did to their crush– Hinata did it a lot so he had just assumed Sora was like her. Things didn't seem to be that way though now that Neji looked deeper into it.

Naruto was oblivious to it but Sora's stalking had increased and he always typed something into his phone afterwards when he thought nobody was looking at him. Neji stuck to watching Sora from afar to see what he was really up to as he was not one to recklessly jump into conclusions, but he hoped that whatever it was, it wasn't something too serious.

"Rapunzel!"

Neji grunted as Tenten jumped on him abruptly. He managed to catch both her and himself before they toppled over and met her with a stern but halfhearted glare.

"Ten, you shouldn't jump on me like that. What if I didn't catch you?" Neji lectured as he placed her down.

"Well you did." Tenten pointed out unhelpfully. "By the way what were you doing standing in an empty hallway? Aren't you supposed to be at the music room for practice?" She tapped his violin case which was strapped to his shoulder for emphasis.

Neji was indeed heading to the music room to meet with Asuma-sensei but he got sidetracked by another scene of Sora stalking Naruto. The other boy saw him approaching and quickly turned the other way but Neji had stopped to wonder why he was following Naruto around anyway. The blond couldn't be more oblivious.

"And aren't you supposed to be with Hinata right now?" Neji thwarted Tenten's question with his own question. The girl grinned in return.

"We've gotten everything down perfectly. She's practicing alone but that's left me bored. I was checking in on everyone's rehearsals until I saw you, standing." Tenten replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She hooked her arm around his and began walking to the music room, pulling him along. "Now that I've found you I can listen to your awesome violin skills though it would bore me to sleep."

"Ten, can you not raise my ego and then bash it in the same sentence?"

"Oh sorry, I shoulda been honest. Your violin bores me to death." Tenten corrected her sentence and Neji sighed fondly.

"You're insufferable." He breathed a laugh.

"But you knew that, right?"

Neji chuckled this time. He sure knew that. His mind drifted back to the thought of Sora and the mysterious texts he was always inputting on his phone. He didn't feel too good about it but he felt like challenging the blue haired boy would lead to something more serious than when he watched silently from afar. He could only hope that his silence wouldn't be too costly, that Sora was just being weird.

Xxx harmony xxX

Konoha was buzzing with life as the week all school students had been waiting for was finally here. It was the week of the Winter Competitions, the final qualifier of one of the biggest highschool awards in the Five Nations. This year the Fire Country was hosting it in its capital city, Konoha, where the state's biggest private school was located.

Konoha School of Arts was initially built for only the wealthiest and elites, prodigies who would take creative art to the next level, but thanks to the new principal, Senju Tsunade, the school's expensive services were extended to talented people who couldn't afford it. These people were placed in what was called Recuperative...

"...we had to have heard this a thousand times already." Naruto groaned into his scarf, tired as the PA system kept repeating the history of Konoha School of Arts and how the Recuperative class came to be. After this recorded speech another one would come up about the past heroes of KSA, the geniuses that won awards and made the school proud. It was routine he was already getting tired of.

Naruto was in the general room with a few other classmates in the boys' dorm. Since the winter finals finally started all participants were told to rest to calm their nerves before the day of their performance. The winter finals started off with the piano competition and as far as Naruto's grade was concerned, nobody played the piano, hence all of them lounging around. There was a Livestream but nobody was interested in it.

Naruto leaned sideways until his head landed on the empty space beside him on the sofa he sat on and released a loud whine. "I know we were told to rest but I can't help feeling giddy. Why does Haku get to practice and not us?" He complained despite knowing fully well what the answer to his question was.

After the piano competition came the strings, which was tomorrow. Haku couldn't afford to slack on the eve of his competition. Naruto was fairly certain Neji was working just as hard at the Hyuga mansion.

Aside from the fact that strings had their competition tomorrow, all dancers were placed on full rest till two days before the dance section came on to make sure that their bodies were at their peak. Despite the school's instructions Naruto knew that Hinata wasn't getting any rest because of her intrusive father. He was worried for the girl.

"Just chill Naruto." Shikamaru chimed from where he lay half asleep on the twin couch. "It's no good showing up on your day with a broken leg or something like that."

"Easy for you to say. All you're doing is singing." Naruto groused bitterly. Shikamaru would retort but he was too comfortable to be bothered. Naruto and his short fuse of a brain could sneak off and dance for all he cared.

Everywhere was silent after that save for the noise from Choji's incessant munching and the PA system repeating itself once more. Naruto's blue eyes glanced over to Sasuke who didn't comment on anything that had been said so far. He was laying on the heated floor, nose deep into a novel he was reading. Naruto snorted. There was no way he could have heard anything with his attention caught by the book. Nerd.

Gaara was lounging on a single couch across Naruto, laptop on his legs and headphones over his ears. He also was too out of their world to be bothered by boredom. Shino was at the dining area doing something he'd rather not know with one of his pet bugs, Shikamaru was already half asleep on the twin couch and Choji just ripped open another pack of chips. Naruto sighed.

Kiba wasn't around to pester and Lee was outside on a run. The bowl cut boy had invited them but nobody was willing to jog around in the cold. Naruto was beginning to consider joining Lee when his phone dinged with an incoming text. He'd forgotten the device even existed, too hyperactive to keep his attention on social media or games for too long. Sasuke looked up briefly before he went back to his book, unbothered.

The text was from Sakura which was very surprising. She rarely texted him. Along with the text came a hastily taken picture, as if she was not allowed to take any but she did anyway. It was of a stage and in the center of it was a grand piano. The piano wasn't what she intended to show him though, it was who sat behind it she wanted him to see.

Sakura-chan:

You won't believe who I found! Come with Choji and Shikamaru and quickly.

Naruto sprung up from the sofa, pleasantly surprised. It caused Sasuke to raise his head, hiss at him and return to his book but Naruto paid him no mind as he bounded over to sleepy Shikamaru. "Hey Shikamaru, Choji, come look!" The lazy pineapple was not happy about being shaken awake but he did humour the blond by peering into the phone.

"Woah." Shikamaru muttered, also quite surprised by the picture. "I had no idea he was participating in this competition."

"Me neither. We should go see him!" Naruto suggested.

"Who?" Choji asked, looking over Naruto's sholder into the phone screen. He stopped munching for a few seconds in surprise. "Wow is that...?"

"Yeah it is. So are we going or not?" Naruto asked the both of them and they agreed to go. The competition was being held at the grand opera house which was some distance away from the school. They wondered if they would make it in time to catch some performance before it ended. They hoped to make it in time.

The three of them made it in time to catch some of the performance. It was amazingly good despite hearing so little. The standing ovation it received was a testament to that. It was Choji that first spotted Sakura and Ino among the crowd. They were making her way outside to the meet and greet. Sakura caught Choji's wave and pointed them to Ino. They both came over.

"You guys made it." Sakura commented when they got there and all of them started walking outside the theatre.

"Sure we did! We wouldn't miss it for the world." Naruto's grin was bright and full. It had been a while so he was happy.

"Didn't expect to see you here though, Ino." Shikamaru eyed the blond lazily. She was wrapped up in winter clothes but she somehow looked...bigger. Was she putting on weight? He shrugged internally. It wasn't his business anyway.

"Of course I'm here! He's my baby, why would I miss his competition?" Ino huffed. "Now that we're all here we're only missing one person."

Just as she spoke a bark came from the entryway that they all recognized. It was Akamaru which meant that Kiba was around. They walked a little bit further and they saw the Inuzuka and his animal companion. Kiba noticed them and waved. "Yo I saw him over there!" He announced, pointing towards the meet and greet at a young boy who was shyly receiving flowers for his performance. A man was shielding him from people so that they wouldn't overcrowd him.

At Kiba's voice though, the boy looked up and towards their direction. His face broke into an excited smile as he bounced on the balls of his feet. "K-Kiba! Akamaru! Sakura! Ino! Naruto! Choji! Shikamaru!" He squealed happily as they ran to him. Well the girls did, their motherly instincts kicking in to want to hug and coddle him. Kiba, Choji and Naruto were not too far behind the girls and Shikamaru took his time getting to the boy.

"Yota my baby, I missed you!" Ino exclaimed softly, minding her voice as she leaned down to give him a hug. Yota squirmed in her arms but he wasn't uncomfortable. It was Ino so hugging was okay.

"Ino! Yota missed you too! Missed you too!" Yota chirped happily.

"Yota you've grown big!" Sakura complimented cheerfully.

"Sakura!"

"Hey kiddo." Kiba ruffled his hair and Akamaru nudged his palm with his wet nose.

"Kiba! Akamaru!"

"Whoa, Yota you're so good with the piano dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with a bright grin that Yota mimicked.

"Yota played piano! Piano! Dattebayo!" He chirped and Naruto couldn't help but laugh at his attempt at copying his catchphrase. He didn't change much.

"Hey Yota, I bought you some chips. It's barbecue flavoured, my favourite."

"Choji!" Yota exclaimed, happy to see the chubby boy again.

"Choji!" Ino exclaimed less than pleased. "Those things are too salty for him to take! He shouldn't be eating too much snacks anyway!"

"But it's only one bag of chips." Choji defended himself, confused at Ino's sporadic irritation. She was okay with him eating chips before, wasn't she?

"What a drag." Shikamaru yawned lazily. He flashed the boy a smile and turned to the man who had been shielding Yota from the crowd before; the boy's father. At first he was alarmed that a bunch of high schoolers were running towards his son but he recognized them and relaxed a bit. If none of them were sensible enough to regard the man Shikamaru would do it, even if it was a drag.

"Forgive my friends sir. They were so excited to see Yota." He apologized on their behalf while the others were occupied with listening to Yota's narration of the things he had been doing since his father came back for him.

"Ah it's okay. I'm actually quite happy that you all came to watch him play today. He missed you guys so much. You mean a lot to him, you know?" The man had a soft smile on as he watched Yota relate with the others freely as opposed to the nervous way he had been sticking close to him before.

Shikamaru also glanced over and smiled. Yota went through a lot with his guardian but thanks to Ino's observance and mother hen instincts they managed to save him from the wicked man. Now that his father was here to stay Yota looked happier and healthier. It was a good thing.

They hung around for a while with Yota before finally parting ways. The second round of the competition was fun, they could watch Yota play to his fullest, and while it was regrettable that he didn't win the gold medal they boy was happy and they in turn were happy.

"Boy that was fun!" Naruto exclaimed as they walked away from the theatre house together. "I'm really happy I got to see Yota dattebayo."

"Me too." Choji beamed. "By the way Sakura, how did you know that Yota was competing today?" He asked the pink haired girl the same question Naruto had been thinking of since he received her message.

"I didn't." Sakura confessed. "Ino and I were just auditing the competitions for fun when Yota came on. We were so surprised!"

"Good thing we didn't decide to watch the live stream huh? We wouldn't have been on time for his performance otherwise." Ino sighed smugly to herself, happy that her decision to go out when Sakura wanted to watch the competition on TV was correct.

"Though not much of a difference would have been made even if we arrived post performance." Sakura shrugged and Ino got annoyed.

"Hah?! Of course there would have been a difference!" She yelled.

"Yes, yes." Sakura conceded before an argument broke out between them. They had already gotten to where their driver parked their car. "Well boys we'll be going our way." She waved the boys goodbye as she and Ino went to the car where the driver was out waiting for them.

"Bye guys." Ino waved too. The boys waved their goodbyes and continued their journey to the dorm. Well Kiba had to part because he was going directly home and not to the dorms.

Naruto was especially happy that he got to see Yota again after so long. The boy was one of his first friends and he held a special place in his heart. It was really good to see him again. However seeing all those pianists competing fiercely made him all the more giddy in anticipation for his own competition. He looked at the date on his calendar and groaned. It was still too far away.

"Ugh I can't wait!" He yelled into his pillow.

Another date stared at him from the calendar besides his own. It was the day of Hinata's competition. The day that the normally timid girl was going to publicly tell her father what she really wanted to do though at her expense. He would have to sneak out of the dorms to make it but it was nothing too big for him to handle.

Everything would be worth it. He hoped.

Hi! I've been away for so long, haven't I? I'm sorry about that! Hope you enjoyed the chapter.