• "Oh well still sorry about the field, you didn't give us any rules," I looked down at my feet, and the dizzy sensation came back. Ignoring it I looked up and gave a sheepish smile.
    "Well seeing as it's close to the end of the day you all can go home and rest up! You all did great today!" Guy announced. Everybody started to prance off, excpet for Neji and his scowl. As I began walking everything began to become dizzier with every step, and my vision was becoming blurry. 'Great now what?' I thought so nobody would be worried. A couple steps later, I collapsed to the ground with a loud thud, which caused my teammates to turn around and look at me. I think there was worry in their eyes, but I couldn't tell with my vision.
    Everything felt like it did during the fight, but now the heat wasn't coming from the magma jutsu it was coming from me. I heard the thuds of everybody as they made their to me. I felt a hand on my head.
    "She's got a fever!" I heard Tenten shout. Next thing I knew I wasn't on the ground anymore, I was in the secure arms of either Guy, or Lee, not be able to tell since they wore the same thing.
    "Alright everybody can go home while, Lee and I take Akane to the hospital," Guy ordered Tenten and Neji to go. My head began to ache as I felt who ever was carrying me to the hospital.
    "I'm sorry, again," I told them. I felt disappointed in myself for getting sick right after the first time of practice.
    "There's no need to be," I heard the voice close to me, it must be Guy carrying me then.
    "Guy sensei is right, Akane. There's no need to be sorry for something you didn't cause, since your sick," I heard Lee from beside me. Trying to look over to Lee, I could only see another green blob of spandex, and I finally gave up to trying to make myself feel better about being sick, since Guy and Lee were right.
    "Okay then, you're right, and I'm wrong I shouldn't be worried about this," I told them. "But I've always been worried it's natural for me," I looked down to only see two fuzzy feeling objects on my lap, must be Miki and Sho.
    "Then why are you always worried?" I heard Guy asked from where he was carrying me.



    I turned. All of the other ninja were on the ground, unconcious. Kiba brushed off his dusty sleeves, a small cut on his cheek. Shino was untouched. "You're bleeding," KIba suddenly cried, looking at me with huge eyes. I glanced down at my arm, where the wolf had bitten me. (by the way, it had vanished when i knocked it's Summoner unconcious). blood was trickling down to the ground. Kiba hurried over and pulled a roll of bandages out of his pouch, wrapping the wound. "Sorry for being such a jerk," He said quietly. "You're actually kind of okay." his face flushed. "i'm just worried about Akamaru."
    i nodded. "I get it."
    He finished wrapping the bite marks. shino turned. "Didn't you say you could control plants?"
    "Yeah." I looked at the disturbed earth. "Oh. The roots. I controled the roots."
    he nodded. "Let's get back to Kurenai."
    "wait," Kiba objected. "We need to find Akamaru and her raccoon thingy!"
    "My tanuki." I said dryly. "Momoko."
    "Yeah, whatever." Kiba snapped. "We have time. We have like...five hours."
    Shino seemed hesitant. "Three hours. By then, we will return to Kurenai Sensei."
    "Deal." Kiba turned to me. "Do you have a whistle or something for Momoko?"
    I shook my head. "I love how we all brush off the whole 'we got attacked by ninjas' thing that just happened."
    "Kurenai Sensei set it up, duh." Kiba said irritably. "Let's go."
    We hurried through the forest, cupping hands aruond our mouths and yelling out their names. Shino didn't speak, but he contributed to the search. we finally entered a clearing, where a net dangled from a tree, in which a squirming Akamaru and Momoko were. "Thank goodness!" I breathed. Just then, everything around us sank into black and white, before swirling around us. I jerked to the side. "What's going on?"
    'genjutsu," Shino said coolly. "Stay calm. Try to still your chakra."
    "why is there genjutsu? Is it kurenai sensei setting this up?" Kiba asked, not calming down.
    The swirls continued. I began to take deep breaths, in through my nose, out through my mouth. Soon the dizzying sensation was lessened. Kiba was the only one who wasn't calm. He was completely freaking out. Finally, wanting to get out of the Genjutsu, I jabbed him in the neck - right where the major pressure point was. His eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground. "Sorry." I whispered. soon the black and white swirls stilled, and color drained back into the environment. Shino crouched. "I'll wake him up," he said. "Go get your pets."
    I hurried over and cut down the Tanuki and dog, before handing akamaru to a trembling, angry Kiba and holding Momoko close to me. "Let's go," I said. I looked at Kiba. "Sorry, again."
    with this, we hurried back to the village.


    I just looked up at him with a confused face, seeing as I didn't know why he wanted to know. "As a concerned sensei I like to know about my students," Guy said. I sighed seeing as I knew he wasn't going to give up.
    "Well ya know how I told you about my family going on missions, and being kidnapped," I said, both of them nodding. "After my brother, Jugo left and never came back, I'm just so worried that I'll never see my family again, or other ninja's and I won't find my brother," I didn't want to sat more, so I tried changing the subject. "Can I be let down please? It feels totally embarrassing and weird having you carry me," I stated.
    Guy and Lee gave me a contemplating look and then, asked yet another question. "If you don't fall over I will let you," He set me down lightly. Wobbling a bit I finally got my balance back.
    "Now that your walking fine your going to the hospital!" Lee said a bit to loudly. I yawned, and then remembered something I forgot to tell Guy sensei.
    "Uh Guy I'm sorry but when I collapsed earlier it wasn't because I was sick, I forgot to tell you if I don't practice my Magma jutsu the heat get to my head and will give me a fever, for about an hour. So it's totally fine if I go home now right?" I explained giving a sheepish smile once again.
    He looked at me with a strict glare. "It was from the jutsu?" He questioned not sure if I was lying through my teeth or not. I nodded to tell him yes. "Fine! You can go home! As long as you let Rock Lee escort you home to make sure you don't collapse again," after Guy said that I turned my head to look over at Lee, who didn't seem to mind one bit.
    "okay then," I told him looking down at the ground.




    When Kurenai returned, we were sitting on the bench. I had apologized to Kiba at least ten times and he had begrudgingly forgiven me, happy enough with Akamaru being back. Shino was as stoic as ever. I sat inbetween them again, cradling my wounded arm, which was throbbing painfully, along with my jaw.
    "Do you have the headband?" Kurenai Sensei asked.
    Shino held out the forehead protector. She took it. "Impressive. Did you learn anything?"
    "That we can't get anywhere if we fight," Shino said, pointedly directing the comment at Kiba.
    "And that it's good to have a plan." Kiba muttered. Akamaru wiggled his tail in agreement.
    I shrugged when they all looked at me. "Pretty much what they said."
    Kurenai nodded. "Good work. I'll assign your first mission tomorrow. For now, you guys can go home and get some rest." She turned and strode away.
    "See you guys later," I yawned, picking up Momoko and walking towards Iruka's house. All I wanted to do was curl up in a fetal position, and the best place to do this was on his couch.
    "I'll walk with you." I turned at the voice. Shino was walking aside of me, hands in pockets. "My house is only a few down from yours," he said, in way of explanation.
    I smiled at him. The walk was in silence, and I said goodbye to him before ducking into my house. He nodded as I closed the door. "How'd it go?" Iruka asked, looking up from where he had been pacing.
    "Wow, Uncle Iruka. You practically left tread marks in the floor," I laughed, going over to give him a one armed hug. "It went great. I have a good team." I crossed over to the sink, unwrapping my bandages.
    He frowned. "Were you hurt?"
    I cast him a sheepish grin. "Just a wolf. And an enemy ninja. Don't worry, I took care of them."
    He walked over and took my injured arm gently, peering at it. "I won't even ask about the wolf."
    "Good." I pulled my arm away and poured some cool water over it, before washing the bite marks and disinfecting them. I rewrapped them with bandages from a pouch on my belt before hugging Iruka again. "Good night."
    He ruffled my hair. "Night."
    I curled up in my bed, turning off my lamp. I was lucky to have someone to come home to everyday, who cared about me. I closed my eyes. Uncle Iruka was great, but it would never be the same as it would be with two parents. I'll find my dad, I vowed to myself, before falling asleep.



    Guy had left Lee and I in a puff of smoke. I just starred ahead till I notice Lee was waiting for me to show him to where my apartment was.
    "So how long are you planning on staying in the Leaf?" I looked over to see Lee ask the question.
    I started stroking my imaginary beard, while thinking. "Honestly," I started out. "I have no idea how long I'll stay here in the Leaf," I told him looking up at the star filled sky.
    "But why stay in a place you didn't even grow up in?" He pushed further.
    "I don't know change of scenery, probably to learn what it's like to live in another village, or to see if I can even find a trace of if my family had been through here," I mentioned looking over to him with a serious look. He seemed to be processing what I had told him, about why I was staying here in the first place, and such.
    "Must be hard then," I heard Lee say out of the blue. I just starred. "Oh well you growing up most of your life with your family away, sounds just like Naruto almost," Once he said I was almost like Naruto it clicked in my head what I felt when I looked into his past, as I never saw any family members around him in my vision.
    "Yeah I guess so," I said back.
    After a couple of minutes later I made it back to my apartment safely to Lee's surprise without collapsing.


    "Daddy, where are we going?'
    "To visit Uncle Iruka," my dad said, his voice deep and wistful, barely disguising a deep-running pain. I glanced up at him, wiggling in my poofy white coat, purple hat, and purple mittens.
    "How long are we going to stay?"
    "You'll be spending the night," he said, leading me by the hand. "I'll only stay a little while.'
    We trudged through the snow all the way to Iruka's door. My dad knocked once, twice, and when there was no response, he crouched to eye level. I glanced at his odd coloured purple headband, before I looked into his violet eyes. "Stay here," he said, looking at me imploringly. "Alright? I'll be back sometime. Iruka will take good care of you for me."
    i smiled at him. "Where are you going?"
    "It's...far away." He said, brushing a blond strand out of my face. "Bye, Matty." he pressed his lips to my forehead before standing. "I love you."
    "i love you too, daddy." I said, waving at him as he started to walk backwards. "Bye!"
    He waved slightly before turning back around and vanishing into the swirling snow. I turned back to the door and knocked, with gumption. after about twelve knocks, the door swung open, to reveal a drowsy looking Iruka. "Matsuo?" he asked. "What are you doing here? What are you doing? What are you..."
    "Matsuo!"
    I jumped, to see iruka shaking my shoulder roughly. "You have to get to your team. Your alarm didn't go off. You have about ten minutes, so hurry!'


    "Miki, Sho can you feed yourselves, I'm still not feeling well from training," I said putting my hands to my head, and making my way to finally sleep in my bed. Lying down I could already hear ringing in my ears, which made a headache come on. Just wanting to fall asleep, I curled up in a little ball, and closed my eyes. Everything was still hot as always, when I felt the dry heat of the dessert go across my face. Looking around in a dream I've had so many times, I saw other ninja in training, being picked up by family members. 'Where was my brother?' I thought, since he was never late. Instead after all the other children left, a ninja who I knew to be a chuunin stood in front of me, she informed me that the present Kazekage wished to speak to me.
    We had gotten there, the Kazekage told me what happened to my brother, and I dropped to my knees. I was alone now. Getting from my knees I left the room. I made my way back to my Sand village house, and just flopped onto my bed, with a bouncing sensation that woke me up.
    It was only dawn when I looked out the window. I trudged to the kitchen to get a snack, and then decided I'd stay up the rest of the day, as I was tired anymore.


    I hurried to the park, holding toast in my mouth and struggling to clasp on my green bead choker, holding my gloves tightly under my arms. Momoko was running with me, chittering angrily.
    When we reached the park only Shino was there, and he turned at my approach. "Matsuo," he agreed dryly. I nodded at him, before picking up Momoko and sitting down next to him. "Is your arm better?"
    i glanced at him nervously before showing him the bite marks. "Yeah. It'll just take a while for them to go away."
    He nodded, and then pulled one of my green fans out of his pocket. "You left this behind after the fight," he said, handing it to me. "I don't think you noticed."
    "Oh." my face flushed as i took the fan. "Thanks. That would be bad to only have one in a fight, huh?" I said, laughing uneasily.
    He nodded, and then grew silent again.
    In a few minutes, Kiba and Kurenai walked up. Kiba plopped down next to me, and Akamaru licked my face happily. I pet him with a laugh. "You're so cute," I cooed, wiggling my nose at him. He licked my nose before Kiba pulled him back, grinning.
    'you must be a dog person."
    "More like tanuki," I said, smirking. "But dogs are a pretty close second."
    Kurenai cleared her throat. "You three..." her voice was shockingly hoarse. All three of us looked up at her in worry. "I'm not feeling very well," she said. "So you will be partnering with Guy's team for your first mission. I"m sorry i can't be there to help you.'
    "It's no problem," I assured her.
    Kiba nodded. "Yeah. Guy's team is fun."
    Kurenai nodded and left, after saying that Guy's team would be meeting us here. Kiba leaned close to me. "Who's on Guy's team?"


    Once it was time to leave, my ferrets and I ate, and ran out to the area Guy told us to go to. I found Tenten on our way to the other training. It was silent for awhile till Tenten broke it. "So you feeling better?" She questioned unsure of herself.
    I nodded back to her with a smile to reassure her. "Yeah that was just something, like a reaction to a jutsu nothing much to worry about," I explained back. "So what are we doing today exactly seeing as I was passed out for part of the time Guy wouldn't really explain anything to me?" I heard children laughing the next second, while looking at Tenten for an answer, and then them saying watch out, to what I thought was another person. I was wrong. The next moment after hearing the young boys yelling, something collided with my head making a thud sound, and me being knocked over. Standing up I glared over at the boys, who seemed to cringe at this. Looking around to see what had hit me, I found a ball next to my feet. Picking it up, I looked back over to the boys. Tossing it back over to them, they thanked me, and went on with their playing.
    "Wow," Tenten said. "Never seen such an evil look on someone before." Tenten told me.
    "Yeah well I don't like getting hit in the head, it's like one big magnet to getting hit with objects. But it wasn't really their fault it hit me," I told her.
    "Okay then, so you wanted to know what we're doing today right?" She questioned again. " Well we're actually going to team up with another team on a mission isn't that cool."
    I thought this over and it seemed like a great idea! Now who's on the team, and if we'd get along?



    I looked up, hearing people approach, and saw Guy's team. There was Tenten - I never talked to her much but she was alright, Neji - who acted stuck-up from what I knew of him, Lee - the infamous bench smasher, and...Akane? I stood and hurried over to her. "Akane!" I chirped. "You're on Guy's team? Awesome!"
    She glanced behind me. "Why are there only three people?"
    Neji, arms folded, glanced over. "Hinata's on their team, as well. But she's sick right now."
    "Whoa.' I turned to Akane. "I didn't even know that."
    There were some light footfalls as Shino and Kiba came up to stand behind me. I could practically sense Kiba bristle in anger like a dog at the thought of teaming up with four more people. Shino seemed pretty neutral about the whole thing. Akane eyed him and Kiba warily. I ignored this. "Well, uh, this is Shino Aburame-" I gestured at him. He didn't move. "Shino, this is Akane Mokoto." I turned. "And this is Kiba Inuzuka."
    Kiba nodded. "Hey.'
    Akamaru launched himself at Akane, who yelped but managed to catch him. Kiba flushed. "Sorry!" he reached out and took the puppy back. "wow. Between you two Akamaru's like...in love."
    I laughed and the seven us slipped into awkward silence. Akane turned to talk with Tenten about something and I turned to Shino. "Hey, you know when we were fighting the other day?" He stared at me blankly. My face flushed. "Not with eachother. But when we were fighting those ninjas that Kurenai set up?''
    'yes."
    "Where had all the bugs come from?"
    Shino held my gaze. (Well, I think he did. I couldn't tell with the sunglasses.) "The Aburame Clan is a clan that lets bugs inhabit their body, feeding off of their chakra in exchange for tremendous power."
    I gaped at him. "So...so there are bugs inside you right now?"
    'yes."
    "Moving around?"
    "Yes."
    I reached out and poked him in the shoulder. "Could they feel that?"
    "Most likely."
    "What would they do if you ran out of chakra?"
    Shino opened his mouth to speak, when Guy sauntered up. "Hello, youthful Genin!" he beamed. "I"m Guy Sensei, and today, we get to be one big team!"


    Whatever floats Shino's boat, I thought about how he had bugs living inside him, Guy started talking. I looked to Matsuo, "How's your team so far?" I asked seeing as not much else was available to talk about. "Mines pretty good in my opinion, except Mr. Sourface over there," I told her jerking my thumb towards Neji's direction.
    "Yep well mines pretty good too! We get along, almost all time, except for our little quarrels, about stuff," She said happily.
    "Yeah I had to fight Neji yesterday," I told her scowling.
    "How'd it go?" She asked.
    "Almost beat him, but the heat got to me," I told her back thinking she'd get what I mean.
    "Oh yeah Neji is one mean fighter can't blame you for giving up," She said nudging my ribs with her elbow.
    "I didn't give up I mean the heat literally got to me when using a jutsu of mine," I explained.
    "Oh sorry, I didn't understand. What type of jutsu is it, a fire jutsu? I'm a gen, and ninjutsu user myself, and have an unnamed kekkei genkei," It sounded a bit like she was bragging but I knew she wouldn't really do that unless she was trying to annoy someone.
    "Ah cool sounding jutsu's. And no not exactly a fire type jutsu, you could say it is more of a combo," Saying the thing about the combo she looked confused about this. "I can actually combine Earth, and Fire style jutsu to create something called Magma style, that's what I meant when I said the heat got to me," I told her smiling. "Also I can see into peoples pasts, it's a kekkei genkai too, but only useful at certain times," I finished my sentence, and looked over to Guy who was using odd hand gestures.


    I glanced at Guy but decided to ignore him, and turned back to Akane. "That Magma style sounds pretty neat. And so does that Kekkei Genkei." I paused in deep thought. "well, I know it wouldn't work that well in the middle of a battle, but I would love to be able to see into the past."
    she nodded. "It has some use. Mostly antagonizing the enemy."
    I laughed. "I'll bet."
    Suddenly Guy clapped his hands. "Team Guy Alphas, our first mission-"
    'whoa whoa whoa." Kiba shook his head furiously. "Team Guy Alphas?!"
    "Yes." Guy nodded. "It's perfectly youthful."
    kiba went to argue but I hurriedly clapped a hand over his mouth. "Go on, Guy Sensei."
    Guy gave me a double thumbs up and dazzling grin before continuing. "Our first mission is to go to the Land of Grass and bring back an elder to consult with the Hokage. We'll have to be on our toes, people, and we have to be ready to fight with the fires of youth!!"
    Lee punched the air. "Yeah!!"
    I removed my hand from Kiba's mouth and reached up to stroke Momoko's muzzle from where he perched on my shoulder. This was a pretty dangerous mission for a group of Genin. My stomach churned anxiously as Guy handed out backpacks to everyone. I turned to Akane - but she was busy talking to Tenten. i glanced behind me. shino and kiba were talking - well, bickering. So there was no one to talk to. I inhaled deeply - I was a Genin now. I had to be able to handle stuff like this. I was tough- yeah! the blood of an Arata and an Umino ran through my veins. nothing could stop me!
    And then I thought of the cemetary in the village and my stomach dropped.
    Slinging the backpack over my shoulder, I followed the group to the village gates.


    "Yay my first mission," I said sarcastically enthused. I was excited and all, but it was only an escort mission. Forgetting about everything bad for once I just enjoyed being outside, with other people I guess. Looking around almost everybody was talking, except for Matsuo and Kiba. "So you two work with dogs?" I questioned looking back and forth between the two animals.
    "I do yes. And Akumaru is my best buddy!" I heard a little bark come from above him, to only find the dog on his head now.
    "Cute," I said allowed not meaning to. I looked at Kiba to see a smile on his face.
    "See unlike you Matsuo, Akane thinks I'm cute!" I heard him exclaim, while waggling his eyebrows at Matsuo.
    "I didn't mean you I meant Akumaru!" I yelled.
    "Sure you did," Kiba said. I huffed in anger. 'Well at least the team is fun,' I thought. I felt as Miki, and Sho curled up around my neck to sleep, making me like a fur collar. I looked down at them to see white, and black fur, they didn't get enough sleep last night. I left them alone. The next moment I heard a hiss next to my ear, and turned around to see Kiba with his finger extended towards Sho.
    "What are you doing Kiba?" I questioned glaring at him fro waking Sho.
    "What are those, around your neck? They do look like rodents almost," He commented.
    "Their ferrets, and yes they are a type of rodent, but I prefer not to call them that," I told him looking at Sho who was glaring at him. "Also you got on Sho's bad side, the white ferret, by poking her while she was trying to sleep," I turned back to Matsuo to see what she was doing.


    I looked up to see Akane staring at me. I waved cheerily. She waved back with a grin and turned back around. I stepped back to walk in time with Shino and Kiba. "So, our first mission!" I breathed, glancing around. We had just passed the gate and now trees were lining each side of the road. "Hope it goes well."
    "C'mon! there's no way it can go wrong!" Kiba said, slinging an arm around my shoulders and Shino's. "There's an Inuzuka, an Aburame, and an Arata here! There's no better team in Konoha!"
    "Funny." shino remarked dryly. "Considering your own teammate knocked you out."
    "Hey!" I wiggled angrily under Kiba's arm. "I had to do that, or else we never would have gotten out of that Genjutsu!"
    "I forgave her for that," Kiba said, grinning. "But seriously. We kicked butt with that fight Kurenai set up."
    I dropped my gaze for a second. "You guys did, I'm the only one who got hurt.'
    Kiba gaped at me. "Well, yeah. they summoned a WOLF. If the other guys had summoned wolves we would be hurt, too."
    I smiled. "Good point."
    We walked in silence for a moment. Kiba still had his arms around me and Shino. "Okay. We all need super-cool nicknames."
    'where did this come from?" I asked darkly. Akane turned around and hearing this, and watched Kiba expectently to hear the nicknames.
    "Matsuo is Blondie!" Kiba announced. I glared at him. Akane hid a laugh behind her hand. Kiba turned to Shino. "Shino is Shades. I am Alpha-"
    "This is rigged." Shino muttered.
    "Akane is Cherry." Kiba finished. "I don't even know the other people on your team that well to give them nicknames."
    "Cherry?" Akane asked, glaring. "Seriously?"
    Kiba nodded happily. I ducked out from under his arm and moved to walk with Akane. Momoko reached out and poked one of her pet ferrets curiously. They both turned with murderous glances. I pulled Momoko to safety. Akane glanced at my arm. "What happened?"
    "Just a wolf." I looked at her confused glance. "Our sensei set up this thing where we had to go find a headband. We got it, and a bunch of ninja jumped out to attack us. One decided to summon a wolf."
    She nodded. Tenten then turned and asked her a question, so I moved back to walk with Shino. He looked at me. "Nervous?"
    "Yeah. A little bit."
    He turned his gaze forward. "The mission is simple. The only thing to worry about is enemy ninja."
    "Whew. I'm so glad I talked to you," I said sarcastically. "I feel so much better."
    "Think. What's the chance of enemy ninjas even finding out about this? so it's close to nothing to worry about."
    I nodded. "Alright. Whatever you say."
    "You're still being sarcastic."
    "Of course."


    Tenten walked up to me, seeming to have the need to talk. "Finally we get to leave the village in such a long time," She said stretching her arms out.
    "Yeah well this, should be exciting, shouldn't it," I said back, I didn't really feel like talking to her, she kind of just blabbed on for the moment. I looked ahead to see Neji, Lee, and Guy. I decided to go talk to Lee. "Hey Lee, what's up?" I asked him to where he looked a bit confused.
    "Uh, the sky Akane. Why, is there something going to fall from the sky or something?" He asked looking around, and then to the sky.
    "No, that's not what it means. I mean what are you doing?" I said giving a smile.
    "Oh, yes!" He said enthusiastically. "Well, I'm walking of course!" He said giving one of those smiles that blinded you by the brightness.