A/N - OMG THANK GOD IM DONE WITH THIS CHAP 😂 I feel so bad for taking so long to update this story but here is chapter TWENTY! Sorry guys, just like my Menma chapter, I kept changing this one over and over and no lie, I was literally obsessing over My Hero Academia lol.

Quick update on my list of fave class 1-A characters, Kirishima is now my 3rd favorite and everyone else is pushed back one number behind than originally. In case y'all don't know, I've been shipping him and Bakugou SO DAMN HARD! UGH ❤️❤️❤️ like y'all don't understand, I'm literally in love and obsessed with this pairing! They would be such a beautiful thing to happen lmao.

If any of you ship them too, message me cause I would LOVE to talk about KiriBaku! They are my OTP! NaruHina will have to move to 2nd place now cause this new gay ship gives me LIFE 😂 lemme stop now.

Please consider commenting and voting! Hope you enjoy ❤️

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Chapter 20: A Daring Deed

"So why is it you've decided to visit me?" Lee continually did pushups with his fingertips while his feet were in the air. "I thought you were busy caring for Naruto, were you not?"

"Lord Kazekage and his siblings are speaking with him in private and well, I just used this chance to go buy some things and meet up with some of you," Nia explained as she carried an umbrella to protect her from the rain and stared at the bandage around Lee's thigh and bowed. "I'd still like to apologize for the injury I gave you during the recent battle! I still feel horrible about it! I'm very, very sorry, Lee!"

"Pathetic..." Another voice suddenly came into hearing as Neji made his appearance, walking to his teammate's side and folding his arms.

Lee quickly placed his feet back to the training grounds and straightened his posture.

"Neji..." He was then lightly brushed back when the Hyuga decided to stand in front of the kunoichi with an intimidating look in his eyes.

"You..." He said lowly.

"Um... yes?" Nia was rather uncomfortable about his action. "Is something... the matter?"

"Seeing as you're right here, I'd like to ask you something: Why are you always so soft-hearted in situations such as this? You harming Lee was due to self-defense when he was being controlled to kill you. Why apologize for every little injury you made?"

"Well cause I just feel... it's the right thing to do and cause I feel so bad that I had to injure him in order to escape from his attack. Lee's a very nice person, so-"

"Let's say he weren't..." Neji wanted to speak hypothetically. "Would you still hesitate to inflict damage on him or even feel guilt if you were to wound him with your own hand?"

"I don't take pleasure in harming people in anyway in general, so... yes... I do think I'd feel the same way even if he were a little more mean. How come you're asking me this?"

"I'll make this quick and to the point: If I were to be honest with you... I don't think I like you very much..."

"Huh? What're you saying, Neji?" Lee was displeased to have heard this. "What has she done to you to make you say something like that?"

"Can't you all see she's not suited for this sort of lifestyle?" He grumbled. "Not to mention, not capable of having had push Hinata to her limits? I still refuse to believe someone like you could possibly have had landed a scratch on a Hyuga, much less Hinata."

"So, you're still sulking over the battle I had with her while she was under genjutsu?" Nia tried to remain calm. "Didn't I tell you already? I lost to her. She made me take a seat."

"No... you were hesitant!" The young man took a step forward with a frown. "You held back because she was brainwashed."

"I wouldn't necessarily say all that..."

Neji gritted his teeth. Nia, on the other hand, felt a bead of sweat roll down her temple.

Oh crap... this guy really looks like he wants to strangle me or something.

"Well anyway," She tried to get herself out of the intense situation with a smile. "I'm going to be taking my leave now. Naruto's still sick, so... I really need to bring these things I bought back over to his place. Have a good day, you two. Goodbye for now."

"YES! You too!" Lee grinned and gave a thumbs up. "And no need to worry for me as I said before — I am fine. Please give Naruto my earnest get well wishes!"

"Yep, I will!" Nia replied before getting herself out of the training grounds.

When she did, Neji narrowed his eyes while Lee took a step forward to get a look of him.

"It seems you really don't like her now as of late, my friend," He said.

The Hyuga closed his eyes and nodded.

"Yes... and for two reasons: One: I'm very offended over her ability to give a Hyuga some form of injury, and two: Ever since she's publicly declared she's with Naruto, Lady Hinata hasn't been herself for a very long time. As their relationship goes on, I can tell she's getting more and more depressed. Quite frankly, I'm reaching a breaking point with not only her, but Naruto as well."

"I see... but why Naruto? What has he done?"

"His oblivious nature is why this whole mess even started. Since she was young, Lady Hinata has always admired him. It was fairly obvious to the rest of us at one point that she was infatuated with Naruto, but he was always so unaware of it. If he were to just had found out about her feelings earlier, I'm sure Lady Hinata would've been his girlfriend by now. No... I'm sure if he were to find out even right now, he'd-"

"Don't even think about it," The two watched as Akamaru landed in front of them with Kiba on his back. "I've already tried it for the longest... and it backfired."

Lee smiled upon seeing them. "Kiba! Akamaru! How's it going?"

"Ugh... I'm still trying to recover from the attack on the village," The Inuzuka was wearing a cast on his right arm. "Found out I fractured a bone in my right arm and supposedly am suffering from a mild concussion right now."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I am glad you are not suffering from anything worse than that."

"Ah thanks, and I'll definitely be just fine. Anyway, I happened to overhear you guys' conversation and couldn't help but to allow myself in on it. Listen... it's just not worth meddling in their relationship anymore. We gotta just accept it and move on from it — like Hinata needs to do as well."

"I never had a problem with it, so I'm not particularly against it," Lee shared.

Neji frowned.

"Well I'm tired of Nia draining Lady Hinata's happiness from her every single day she's with Naruto. I even heard her cry a few times myself and their relationship is a complete abomination that needs to be dispelled as soon as possible."

"Tch, I figured you'd say something like that," Kiba shook his head then rested his hand on his chest. "This time around however, you can leave me out of this."

"That's funny... you always seemed to be the most willing to break those two up. Why the change of heart?" The Hyuga raised an eyebrow.

"Why the change of- Have you already forgotten? Nia gave her life for him. I was there to witness it firsthand! She gave it with no hesitation. I couldn't say or do anything against that after that whole thing played out. Just trust me on this... nothing you do will work cause you'll only make Naruto want to stay with her even more. You'd probably would have to go to extreme measures to break them up, and even then, there's a good chance you won't succeed in the long run."

"Hmph... I'll find a way by myself then... for Lady Hinata..." Neji then turned and began to walk away.

He was going to pay his cousin a visit.

"Man... Neji's gotten really intense all of a sudden. I thought he was cool with Nia... I guess it might've been an act this entire time." Kiba watched as the Ninja left.

"No, that was not an act. It's just overtime Hinata's sadness over Naruto being taken is starting to take a toll on him for the most part. He doesn't like to see her upset."

"I've told her multiple times to just tell the guy how she feels, but she just keeps shying away from him and now it's too late. There's no way in hell Nia's gonna let her get close to him, especially knowing how she feels about him.

"I guess you're right..." Lee agreed. "Sometimes I can't help but feel sorry for Hinata... but at the same time, her lack of effort was the reason she couldn't win him over. Naruto's too dense on his own to figure out someone likes him in that way."

As the two would continue to talk, back where Nia was, she used a key to open the front door of Naruto's apartment then closed it behind her, leaning her back against the door with her hands still on the handle while her head hung low and a black shadow drooped over her eyes.

She knew Neji Hyuga was now a problem. Somehow... no matter how hard she would try to avoid and run from it, new drama would just keep leashing onto her due to others not liking her for some asinine reason despite her treating them well.

"Take a looksy," Kankoro peeked outside of Naruto's room to see who had just entered the building. "Your girl is back, Naruto."

'His girl?' Nia completely forgotten what happened with the Hyuga outside and went into dreamland. 'Haaah... his girl... that sounds great to my ears...'

"Well?" Temari walked out of the room and approached the girl. "Did you get the stuff?"

Snapping out of it, the girl nodded and handed over her bag. Wanting to know how Naruto was doing, she then walked passed Temari and headed to his room, only to see him panting a bit while sweat dripped down his forehead.

Immediately, she grabbed a clean rag and wet it with water then proceeded to wipe his face with it and placed it on his forehead.

"Thank you for watching over him while I was gone, Lord Kazekage," She next bowed toward the red head. "I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Gaara stood out of his seat. "I've finished speaking with Naruto. It's time for me to head back to the Sand. My people have gone long enough without my presence."

"Hm? Is that so? I was hoping if you all would like to stay for dinner before you go on your way? I don't mind cooking."

"Thank you, but we really must be going," Gaara replied. "Being away from our village for this long is already causing me to feel fairly anxious. It was nice meeting you. Please make sure to keep Naruto out of trouble."

"Yeah, that guy is not only reckless, but careless too," Kankoro cracked a smile. "I'm not surprised he ate a wild mushroom and got himself feeling miserable."

"Thanks for the concern, ya know..." Naruto responded sarcastically.

"Sorry man, don't get me wrong: I hope you get better, but what you did was incredibly stupid."

"W-What was that?!" The blonde weakly sat up, closing his fist into a ball. "Who you calling stupid?!"

Nia sighed and turned toward the brown-haired young man.

"Please don't get him riled up. His fever is still really bad. I don't want him getting stressed and make his head feel even worse."

With that she faced toward the ninja again, fluffed his pillow and then lightly placed her hands on his shoulders, gently getting him to lay back down.

"Naruto, you just made a mistake, but just note to yourself to not grab something you're not completely sure is edible, kay?"

"Well, we'll be on our way now," Temari said her goodbyes as her and Kankuro went ahead of Gaara and went out the door. "Take care."

"Goodbye. I hope to see you both in the near future," The Kazekage then have his parting too before wishing Naruto to get well and then leaving out the door, closing it behind him.

When he did, Nia gasped in amazement.

"Wooow, it's really amazing that you know these kinds of people, Naruto. You're so outgoing. They're really good people."

"Didn't I tell you Gaara was a good-hearted person?" The blonde cracked a smile.

The kunoichi nodded. "Yeah... he's a lot more calmer and gentle than Tsunade and the Raikage from my old village. I thought all kage were pretty rough, but I'm glad I'm wrong."

Naruto touched her hand.

"Hey so, you said you were going to make dinner, right? Do you think it's okay for me to have a real meal this time? I haven't vomited at all today."

"Sorry... I feel like we should give your stomach more time. I feel tomorrow or the next day I'll be able to whip you up something really satisfying, 'kay?"

The genin pouted, but nodded. Seeing this, Nia would then grab a thermometer and instruct him to open his mouth as she placed the item underneath his tongue. When it beeped, she pulled it from out of there and smiled in relief at the degree read.

"Thank goodness, your fever is going down. You should be fine within the next couple days if you rest up and drink plenty of water. I'm so relieved, honey..."

With that, she would then spend the next half hour or so making something for the sick genin to eat. However, as time passed, he started to act strange. Thinking he was just trying to stretch, Nia continued cooking, eventually finishing up and taking his bowl of food toward him, but as soon as she did, a poof of smoke blasted in the air with the blonde no longer on the bed resting.

The Naruto she was tending to was nothing but a shadow clone. The real one had went off somewhere much earlier in the day.

Realizing the situation at hand, Nia immediately set the bowl down, grabbed an umbrella and headed on outside.

'Is he serious?!' She was somewhat annoyed as she was forced to look for him during a bad weather storm. 'Why would he leave bed when he's not feeling well and especially in this weather?! It's crazy right now! He shouldn't be anywhere but inside the apartment!'

"Naruto!" Nia ran through the streets of Konoha as rain splattered onto the umbrella she was hovering over her head. "Naruto, where are you?!"

First, she searched in the places he would most frequently visit but when she didn't spot him in those areas, she asked around, hoping someone might've seen him. However, no luck. For a while she searched for him with no leads.

Finally, after about half an hour, she would make her way to the training grounds, where sure enough, he was honing his skills.

"Naruto!" She called out to him as he stopped fighting his clones and turned blue upon realizing he'd been caught.

Nia just came up to him, visibly concerned as she hovered her umbrella over both of them.

"Honey, what're you doing? It's raining, you shouldn't be out here."

"Man, I knew it was a matter of time before I was caught... Sorry, but I can't stay bedridden any longer," The genin told her. "I need to move around outside, ya know."

"But you're sick," The girl rested a hand on his shoulder. "It's pouring out here, look at you: you're drenched from head to toe. You already have a fever... being out here is just gonna make things worse. You're gonna get a nasty cold."

Naruto lightly brushed her hand off him.

"I'll be fine, all right? Just wait for me back at home, kay? You made dinner, right? I'll be back soon." He received that knowledge when his clone vanished.

"But... I just don't want you feeling ill any longer..."

Nia then gently grabbed his hand. "Please come back with me? I know you need to train, but you should do so when you're all better, or at least do it while it's not pouring like this. You need a change of clothing. You can get terrible rashes if you stay in wet clothing for too long."

"I can't do that right now... you see, while you were in the shower today, Kakashi-sensei came knocking on my window and told me that my team would be leaving on an important mission in a few days. Apparently, it has something to do with another jinchuuriki. Besides... everything Gaara chatted to me about has me needing to get back into shape."

"You're... already leaving? But you've only been back for a little bit since your last mission. Not only that, but this village just got done from being attacked. Don't we all need to rest for a bit?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't, sweetie. This mission... is something that I can't just stay away from, even if I'm not feeling well by the time I gotta head for the gates."

"Honey, at least do this after the rain has stopped," The kunoichi pleaded. "I'm serious..."

Naruto sighed and rubbed his face.

"Fine... I'll wait," He agreed, prompting a smile of relief from the girl. "But tomorrow, I'm spending the whole day training."

"Yes, I understand. That's fine." Nia then kissed his cheek and lightly tugged at his hand, signaling for him to start walking. "I have to sub for Iruka, but I'll make you some breakfast before I leave and when I'm done teaching class, I'll accompany you and bring you some lunch, kay? Or maybe we can go to Ichiraku, if you'd prefer to go there. It's been a while since you've had top quality ramen, right?"

"Wait, we can go to Ichiraku tomorrow?!" The blonde's mouth began to water. "Are you sure?"

Nia smiled widely.

"Of course we can. It can be a little lunch date. I'm kinda in the mood for noodles too! I wanted to try out a new flavor this time anyway and I know this will definitely elevate your mood after having had not been able to eat it for a while due to your stomach being too weak to eat something like ramen."

"OH MAN! ALL RIGHT! RAMEN!" Naruto pumped his fists up in excitement, accidentally hitting the umbrella before reacting fast and balancing it in Nia's hand before the rain could get to her.

Immediately, he apologized.

"S-Sorry, I got a little eager right there. I didn't mean to hit the umbrella like that," He then lightly grasped onto the handle and held it up for them instead. "Here... I'm a bit taller so I should just be the one to carry this for the rest of the way, ya know?"

"Huh? But are you sure? I didn't min-"

"I'm positive," The ninja grinned. "Anyway, when you sub in for Iruka-sensei, do you get paid for that?"

"Well, yeah... I don't see why I shouldn't. I'm there for hours, helping a bunch of kids learn some things. I'm not sure why I'm allowed to sub in without some kind of certificate or license for me to do so, but... I guess it's pretty fun to teach a class."

"Honestly, that sounds like a pain. Especially when you have Konohamaru's class to teach. I wouldn't be able to focus on the other kids if he and his friends are in there, ya know."

Nia giggled.

"Aw, they're not that bad. I mean they disrupt the class sometimes, but those three are actually the most passionate of becoming great ninja. They kinda make the classroom more lively sometimes."

"I just don't get why they're still in there while they've already had become genin. Ain't it kinda weird? You shouldn't be in the academy once you have a team established."

"Iruka told me that the village recently made the decision to have genin stay in the academy for a little while longer," The girl then glanced over at Naruto. "That means you're supposed to be going back there any day now, Honey."

"WHA?! HOLD ON!" The ninja clearly objected  to this. "Why the hell do I gotta go back?! That's totally not fair! The only reason I'm not chunin right now is cause I was traveling with Pervy Sage while the test was taking place, ya know! I'm not going back there!"

"Haha, I'm just kidding," Nia playfully pushed at his arm. "But in all seriousness, Iruka was thinking of sending you back there. Not because you're not an experienced shinobi, but because he wants everything to be fair and wants to stick to the rules. So the fact that all the younger genin are forced to be in the academy until they're chunin, he didn't want even you to be counted out of that."

"So then... how come I wasn't forced back...?"

"I talked him out of it, of course. I got you. I mean, c'mon, you having to go back to the academy just cause of some dumb new rule? He was being ridiculous. Aren't you more powerful than your own sensei right now? You should be jonin or at the very least, chunin right now in my opinion."

"You... really think so?" Naruto was turning a bit red.

"Of course!" Nia replied firmly. "Why is that even a question? You think so too, don't you?"

"My face should be already carved into that mountain, dammit!" He pointed at the Hokage monument as the two walked up the stairs that would lead to his apartment.

Hearing this, Nia had to stop to bend over and laugh.

"Of course you'd say that, but that's so damn true. Too bad you gotta climb the ranks first though."

"Guh..." The genin head and shoulders drooped in disappointment. "I know..."

"Aw... poor baby," She felt a little bad for him before remembering something and using it to help cheer him up. "OH! Honey, I forgot to tell you this since I was focused on caring for you while you were sick, but soon a chunin exam will be happening really soon! You can move up the ranking very soon!"

"What?! Foreal?!" This did the trick as Naruto straightened up and appeared overly ecstatic.

"Yeah, Iruka told me not too long ago! It'll be filled with a lot of younger genin though, so you'll be sticking out like a sore thumb, but at least you'll be given another chance!"

"Oh man, that means I'll be one step closer to becoming Hokage! To make my dream come true!"

"Yep!" Nia grinned and clasped her hands together. "And I'll be here supporting you the whole way through!"

"You'll be there that day, Nia?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I wanna see you excel and I actually have to be one of the judges anyway since I occasionally teach the youngsters. I'll always be rooting my hero on forever and always!"

Hearing this, Naruto looked down and smiled to himself.

Seeing this, Nia tilted her head, unable to see the curve of his lips.

"How come you're looking down? Did I say something wrong?"

When she tried getting a better look of his face, the ninja turned his head from her, his face noticeably getting redder.

"Naruto?" She kept trying to look at him, only to have him hide his face from her.

Finally, he simply threw his hand over his face as to keep her from realizing what was happening. However, since his fingers were spread out so he could still glance at her.

"Oh and now that you mentioned that Hokage monument, you and I should go back to that spot for a really romantic date. My heart races so much just by being able to gaze at the beautiful night sky with you. It was always a dream of mine to gaze at the stars with the guy I like and I remember that first time we went, it literally felt so amazing to me. I like that we don't always have to say something for a moment to be magical. Literally the littlest thing makes my heart flutter when I get to be by you. Even right now is magical. Do you think we can go again once the weather is nice?"

Suddenly, steam slowly poured from the genin's burning face, seeping through the open space of his fingers.

"I just think you're the most amazing person I'd ever had the privilege of knowing," Nia continued, placing her hand on her heart and blushing. "My hero is so cool and kind and kicks hella ass! I can't wait to see everyone put respect on your name, Honeybun!"

"GYAHHHH! DAMMIT, I CANT TAKE IT NO MOOOORE!" Naruto randomly bursted out, unintentionally causing Nia to jolt a bit. Instantly, he embraced her and nuzzled his cheek against hers, his face still as red as a tomato. "YOU'RE REALLY CUTE! NIA, I LOVE YOU!"

"N-Naruto," This made her extremely timid as she didn't expect to get this sort of a reaction from him. However, there was no denying that her heart completely melted.

"MY HERO IS SO NICE TO ME!" She couldn't bear it any longer and hugged him back tightly. "I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, I CANT TAKE IT!"

'So nice,' She started to gush over him. 'Even from the beginning he was nice. Even when I was being such a bitch back then, he still tried to be nice to me. He stood up for me when I couldn't at the time and told people off whenever they treated me badly or insulted me. He even went out of his way to understand me better despite me desperately trying to push him away cause I didn't believe there was a such thing as a kindhearted person — especially a kindhearted guy. He was such an angel. I never had anyone be kind to me to my face and speak good of me behind my back. I always only ever knew two-face people for the most part.'

However, though the moment felt like absolute heaven, it was drastically cut short as Naruto's eyes widened at a mysterious figure across from him.

Black long coat, black hair... an orange mask. The person's menacing stare pierced through his soul. When they managed to capture his attention, they jumped to the roof of the building. In response, Naruto handed Nia the umbrella and lightly moved her out of the way, completely leaving her behind to give chase.

"HEY! YOU! GET BACK HERE!"

Baffled by his sudden take off, Nia turned around, trying to get a clue on what just happened.

"Naruto, where are you go-MMPH!" A strong hand covered her mouth from behind suddenly as she dropped the umbrella and struggled to free herself from their grasp.

"Jugo, make sure she doesn't squirm her way out," A familiar voice ordered her attacker as this mystery person and two others landed near Naruto's home.

They wore the same long coat as the man Naruto went to chase after with their hoodies up as to help shield them from the rain. Because the weather was so harsh, no one was outside nor able to hear anything that was going on. It was a perfect time for a familiar face to invade the village.

With quivering eyes, Nia observed as red eyes made direct eye contact with her dark brown orbs and when it did, she slipped into blackness. Her body became limp as she had fallen prey to the power of an Uchiha's eyes.

"There, I've subdued her," Sasuke confirmed to his team. "Now we should hurry and take her before Naruto realizes he's been set up and comes back to check on her."

With that, Jugo carried the unconscious girl over his shoulder and in seconds, the group left the area.

"Oh man, that sharingan of yours is really scary, Sasuke," Suigetsu commented as they hurriedly attempted to make their way out of the village without being spotted. "I best make sure I stay on your good side, huh?"

"Suigetsu, I wish Sasuke would use his power on you just to get you to shut up," Karin grumbled, only to get scolded by the Uchiha.

"Be quiet! Both of you. We're still inside this village and if we're caught, we may not be able to ever make it out. Save the arguing for later on focus on the mission given to us!"

Meanwhile, where Naruto was, the genin charged at the orange masked man with a balled fist ready to send him flying.

"YOU'RE TOBI, RIGHT?! What the hell is a member of the Akatsuki doing here?! Did Fuyuka had some backup this entire time?! And tell me everything you know about Sauske's whereabouts, ya know! WHERE IS HE?!"

"You'll never be able to catch up to me with how slow you're running! You afraid you might slip and hurt yourself because of the rain?" The man taunted as this made the blonde grit his teeth and front flip into the air, landing quite a bit aways in front of the enemy.

"The hell you take me for?!" He whipped a kunai out and bounded forward, attempting to create a wound on his opponent, only for them to magically go through the genin and keep running forward.

'What the?! Again?!' Naruto looked over his shoulder with slightly widened eyes. 'He just... went right through me... like in our first encounter..."

"Well, well... you're no fun!" Tobi waved his hands as he headed towards the gates of the village, knowing his distraction was a success. "I'll leave now since you're so boring! Goodbye for now!"

And just like that, the enemy escaped, leaving the genin utterly bewildered.

"This doesn't make sense... he just... transported or something?!" He viewed his surroundings, though the intense rain was making it difficult to see clearly as it was also foggy. "Where'd the hell did he go?!"

Minutes of looking around for the enemy frustrated the genin. Knowing the guy had simply just left, he would then proceed to head back to his home to check on Nia.

However, all he got on his front doorstep was the umbrella she was carrying lying right there near his feet.

"Wait..." His eyes began to quiver as everything began to come together. "Where the hell is Nia?!"

Multiple sandal prints stained the small area as it immediately became apparent to him what had happened.

No... that guy... this whole thing was just... a distraction, wasn't it?!

"NIA!" He then kicked up onto his roof, proceeding to run across it and hop on another building while summoning a large heap of clones to help search for the missing kunoichi.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and his group successfully made it out of the village with no one catching them. They mainly had the weather to than as it helped keep lookouts from properly seeing them sneak pass their eyes.

It wasn't known why the group had even accepted going to the Leaf for such a task they were assigned, but... they kidnapped Nia... and that was all they needed to do.

———

A/N - I am sooo glad that this story is finally going to end sometime soon lol well not super fast but I am getting there. I don't plan for this to drag on for more than fifty chapters so I'm hoping I can end it before then but if not, dang 😂😂

Anyway, thanks for reading! Please comment and vote and have a greasy rest of your day ❤️

QOTD

1. Fave Part?

2. How would you describe Nia's character development from the beginning of the story to now? Like what can you see from point A to point B?

3. What loose ends would you like for me to address before ending this story? (The prophecy, Hinata situation, and the state of Narunia's relationship will be touched on before the story ends so think of something other than those three major factors.)