The Next Morning - Tsubaki's POV

"Tsubaki! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Hiroto and Hiroko yell as they jump on me.

I open my eyes to look at them as they grin at me.

I just turn and pull the blanket over my head, effectively making them fall.

"Tsubaki!" The twins whine on the floor.

"Breakfast is ready!" Mrs. Amano calls.

The twins pull the blanket off me and I pout.

"Adorable." Hiroko murmurs.

I get up and join them for breakfast.

"Ah, your so cute Tsubaki." Mrs. Amano says with a smile.

I look at her confused and she giggles.

I finish my breakfast and Mrs. Amano returns my clothes to me.

The door gets knocked on as me and the twins sit in the living room.

"Oh, Takahiro!" Mrs. Amano says surprised

"Hey, are the three here?" We hear Sensei ask.

I just pull a blanket over me.

"Adorable." Hiroko murmurs amused.

"Hey, you three, the funeral for the Hokage is in 2 days." Sensei says as he sits in front of us. "And Tsubaki, Hinata is being treated in the hospital, she was captured, but Neji and Tenten saved her, she'll be ok, Kurenai wants you to take it easy and rest as well." Sensei says to me.

"Guess I have to give a proper thanks to my pompous cousin." I say as I look at the ceiling and I pull the blanket over my head.

"Not looking forward to that?" Hiroko asks me.

I pull the blanket onto my shoulders and I look at Hiroko. "Its not that." I say to him. "Neji's his own person, and its the last thing he wants is for me to say thank you, since I'm part of the main branch." I say and the three nod.

"And for dinner tonight, I'll take all four of you out for Ichiraku's." Sensei says to us and we nod.

"I'll go give my thanks to Neji, and come back, I should do it now while I have some time and less sense than the twins." I say and Sensei chuckles as I get up.

"I felt like she hit us with an insult." Hiroto says to Hiroko.

"She did." Hiroko replies amused.

I get up and I set the blanket on the floor next to the twins. "I'll see you guys in a bit." I say and Mrs. Amano smiles.

"Ok." The twins say to me with grins.

I nod and I go put on my sandals.

I then go find Neji and he's at the compound, talking with Father.

"Tsubaki." Father says to me in mild annoyance. "Why weren't you at home last night?" Father asks me.

"Excuse me Father, I didn't come here to speak to you. I came to speak to Neji concerning my sister Hinata." I say and the two look surprised. I turn to look at Neji and I look him in the eyes for a moment and I bow. "Thank you for saving Hinata yesterday." I start. "I owe you a favor, as long as its reasonable." I say as I stand up straight to look at Neji.

Neji and Father look at me very surprised.

Neji clears his throat and manages to compose himself. "Why did you come to thank me?" Neji asks me.

I control the urge to call him stupid. "Because its respectful and I'm grateful to you, that's why." I say to him.

Neji eyes widen a bit.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a change of clothes and a hair tie." I say to the two.

"Where were you last night?" Father asks me.

I look at him for a moment. "The Amano's, the twins and their mother wanted me to spend the night there, and its rude to refuse an offer." I say to Father. "And also, men really need to stop asking me stupid questions. Where else would I be? And why else would I thank someone?" I ask as I walk towards the main house.

"Is that any way to speak to your father?" Father asks me.

"No." I reply. "This is just how you prefer me to speak, with respect rather than love." I say to Father and I head to the house.

I get changed into a white shirt and black leggings and then I sit in front of my vanity, brushing my hair.

I just leave it as a side ponytail and I go put my sandals on.

"Where are you going?" Father asks me.

I get up and I look at him for a moment. "I have to return the clothes I borrowed from Mrs. Amano." I say to him as I hold the folded stack of clothes in my hands.

"I see." Father starts and I nod. "Don't be a burden on her, I imagine she has enough to take care of as it is." Father finishes and turns around.

I feel resentful inside, so I just leave.

I head back to the Amano's and I return the clothes.

"Where are you going now?" Hiroko asks curiously.

"Well seeing as how I have energy, I'm gonna train for a while." I say to the twins.

"Your supposed to be resting." Hiroto says to me with a sweat drop.

"I don't feel like it." I say to them and the two fall.

"Fine, we're coming to watch you." Hiroto says to me as he gets up, grinning.

"Just to make sure you don't over do it." Hiroko adds with a smirk.

I look at the two and I nod. "Fine." I say and I wait for them to get ready.

"You two should rest." Mrs. Amano says to the twins as they run towards me.

"But we are Mom, we're gonna watch Tsubaki." Hiroto says to her as they move behind me.

I look at the twins for a moment and I sigh. "Boys, don't hide behind me when talking to your Mother." I say as I hit them on the heads.

They pout. "But Tsubaki!" The twins whine as they rub their heads.

"And where are you going?" Mrs. Amano asks me. "Your supposed to be resting too." She says to me.

I tilt my head to the side, thinking. "Well I was going to go work off some negative energy in training, these two were gonna watch so I don't over work myself." I say to her as I point towards the door while looking at her.

"Negative energy?" Mrs. Amano asks confused.

"Her Dad made her mad, and she can't hit him like she would hit idiots." Hiroto translates.

I look at him, slightly annoyed.

"Correction, her father made her feel very angry and its bubbling inside her, usually she would strike down whoever made her angry and walk away as if nothing has happened, but she can not this time and it infuriates her majesty." Hiroto says to his mother.

I look at him this time, as if he were stupid. "That's it, I'm leaving them here." I say and the twins laugh as I turn around.

"Be careful." Mrs. Amano says to me.

"Careful is not in her dictionary, considering she was captured by not only robbers, but a giant bird too. A cat has also clawed her to shreds, she fell off the side of a small waterfall and babies don't like her face, so they aim their spit up, at her face." Hiroko says amused.

"I was knocked out by a paper bomb, held hostage for a week, stabbed myself in the shoulder, not once but twice, and stared down a giant tiger to save your sons who were blubbering in front of it." I continue. "Yeah, I've had a lot of near death experiences, anyways, I'll be going now." I say and Mrs. Amano just stares at me surprised.

"Tsubaki, how, how haven't you gone crazy? You just graduated from the academy not even 3 months ago, and to have been near death that many times?" Mrs. Amano asks me.

I look at the twins for a moment and then I think about this for another moment. "Because your boys just sort of absorb it, I don't get crazy because they know exactly when to see me before I blow a fuse and they just flip it around with their nonsense talking." I say to her.

"AWW! YOU CARE ABOUT US!" The twins cry and glomp me.

"I would have assumed you knew this by now, considering I've saved your life more than you guys can remember." I say to them with a huff. "Now get off me." I say to them and they jump off me with grins.

I shake my head as they give me puppy eyes.

"Stay here if your gonna blubber." I say to the twins. "I'll be going now." I say and Mrs. Amano nods.

I leave and the twins follow like lost puppies, but they chatter constantly.

"Tsubaki!"

I look over to see TenTen, Lee and Neji.

Did they find me?

"Good Morning." I say to them and the twins hit my back because they weren't paying attention.

"Ow, Tsubaki, why'd you stop?" Hiroto asks me.

"We heard you thanked Neji in person." Tenten says to me with a sly smile.

I look at her, confused. "Were you not taught as children to say thank you?" I ask them and Hiroto pushes my head down.

"Stop being mean." Hiroko says to me.

"She was so passive aggressive with that sentence, it confused me for a moment." Tenten says surprised.

Neji looks me in the eyes. "That favor you owe me," Neji starts and I hum. "I want to train with you today." Neji finishes.

"HUH?" The twins yell surprised behind me.

"Ok." I say and the twins just stare at me as if I were crazy. "I don't like to be indebted to people for very long." I say to the twins and Neji nods in agreement.

"I can't wait to see how strong the twins are." Tenten says excitedly.

I look back at the twins for a moment. "That'll have to wait for another day, their mother wants them resting even though they've barely done any thing since the second exam." I say as I shake my head. "And even then they were hiding behind me most of the time." I say and the twins smile nervously.

"Well we did run, a lot." Hiroto defends him and his brother.

"Yeah, away from training, away from fights and away from your Mother." I retort and the twins laugh nervously.

"Lady Tsubaki, Neji."

I look over at a Hyuga that Father always sends to bring me home.

"Good afternoon Daichi." I say to him with a small greeting bow and Neji does the same.

"Tsubaki, your Father is requesting you come home." Daichi says to me.

"That's not a good idea." Hiroko says almost immediately.

"I'll have to politely decline, I don't want to spend my time inside listening to a 4 hour long one sided speech about respect while my blood usually boils beneath my skin. Its a beautiful day, so I'm not wasting it inside, and you can tell my Father what I said, I'll deal with the consequences later." I say and the twins look at me surprised.

"But Lady Tsubaki, he's gonna be kind of angry." Daichi reasons.

The twins step away from me as I tilt my head to the side. "Her dad made her mad this morning, don't test her dude, she gets scary." Hiroto says to him.

"Tell him not to pop a blood vessel." I say to him and Daichi's eyes widen a fraction.

"I can't do that!" Daichi says worried and scared.

"I know." I reply and Daichi gulps. "He can get angry, and I'll get hysterical and no one in our compound will sleep tonight, so why don't you improvise, because I've seen Neji when he doesn't get enough sleep, the same with Hinata, she may be timid but she gets just as irritated as I do." I say and Daichi gets nervous and leaves very quickly.

"Wow." Tenten and Lee say surprised.

My blood boils but I keep a calm facade.

"Tsubaki, why don't we go now, before someone comes to find us." The twins say as they start pushing me towards the forest.

I just move out of the way and they fall over. "Don't push me." I say to them.

"Is it always like that between you and your father?" Tenten asks me.

I look at her for a moment. "My Father has his own way of viewing people." I say and Neji nods.

"Let's not talk about this, Tsubaki, let's keep going." Hiroko says worried.

I look between the twins for a moment and I know what they're doing, they're distracting me from my anger.

Hiroko's POV

If it was only for a moment, Tsubaki's eyes flashed with an anger I've never seen before in her.

She tells Daichi to go and I look at Tsubaki worried as her eyes hide her anger again.

Me and Hiroto look at each other worried.
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