I woke in the morning to freezing cold water. "M-M-Mother!" I exclaim, startled. "Wh-Why'd you do that?" I shiver, goosebumps rising on my skin as my mother pulls the sheets away, exposing my damp skin to the cold morning air. I glance at the clock. It's only 4:45 A.M!

"You know that Grandmother believes that woman should be up in the morning!" Mother reprimended. My blue lips presses together tightly, swallowing the words that were threatening to tumble out.

My mother grabs my forearm in a bruising grip, dragging me out of the room. I'm thrown into the kitchen, hair straggly and wet and my white, damp shift clinging uncomfortably to my body.

I bow hurriedly as my Grandmother walks into the room. "Shift off," She ordered. I obeyed without question, the silky fabric sliding off and landing crumpled on the ground. I resist the urge to wrap my arms around myself, wishing desperately that I had worn a bra to bed.

My Grandmother walked around me. Poking my waist, she muttered, "To fat," I flinch away from her wrinkled, pruney skin when it occasionally brushed across my body. Her gaze slid down to my feet. "Your feet are to big," She declared, "Your legs to short, not toned or skinny enough. There's to much fat clinging to your stomach. Your breasts are miniscule. Your shoulders naturally slump. Your cheeks still have baby fat on them. Your cheek bones are to low. Your hair should be longer,"

I was twelve years old. I worried so much about looking good. No matter how hard I worked out, I was still fat. My body never got the chiseled look of perfection that my sister somehow maintained. I had bad posture. I never cut my hair, but it barely made its way to the middle of my back.

I was a failure.

An accident.

A mistake.

A curse.

Imperfect.

My Grandmother stood in front of me. "Now, a good little wife should know how to cook and clean, even if she has maids to do it. You should also be able to memorize the list of chores I give you now. This is training so you can be a good wife to Sasuke, Neji, anyone from the Hyuga clan, or the others we've talked about. Understand?"

"Yes, Grandmother," I say crisply, clearly.

"Very well then. Sweep and scrub the floors around the house. Wax the floor. Dust the rooms. Polish the wood. Make the breakfast, set the table, serve breakfast correctly, in old Japanese tradition, then clean the kitchen and see if I have any other jobs for you,"

I do a quick calculation in my head. I have to meet my team at 9:00, which leaves me... Three and a half hours to work, if I got time to get ready. "Yes, Grandmother," I hold my bow until I've backed out of the room, then run softly towards the cleaning supply room, slipping on my night gown at the same time. This would be a hard morning.

I create the cleaning solution, arms straining as I carry the heavy bucket to the far end of the house. The rags I'd hurriedly slung over my shoulder brushed against my neck as they threatened to fall off. I made sure not to spill a drop of water as I set the bucket carefully down.

I dip the rag into the solution, ignoring my smarting hands as I wring it out and begin to scrub the floor. I set my body on auto pilot, ignoring my throbbing knees and aching hands as I scrub and polish and dust and sweep through the house.

I lean against the door frame. That had taken a record breaking two and a half hours. Best time yet! But I still needed to make the breakfast, and I only had about half an hour before people began to wake up.

Some maids slink into the kitchen and begin to help me cook. I'm sure that they were disobeying orders, but I found that they usually help one of there own. It didn't matter if I was to be a maid fo a few hours or a few days. They would help.

I finish the food, then quickly set the table. I had eight minutes until it was time for breakfast. "Help me," I beg one of the maids. She nods and beckons another two girls forward and they follow me to my room.

They help me change into a kimono, winding my hair up into two buns on the side of my head and swiftly applying make up. They push me out of the room when they're finished, though I take no offense.

My family walks in and we begin the procedure of a formal breakfast. I take the seat at the end of the table, the lowest spot of all as I serve the others. I don't eat at all. I was the server, so I wasn't allowed to eat.

And... I had decided not to eat anyway. Like my Grandmother said, I was fat. If I dropped a few pounds... just a few, then people would accept me, like me.

Surprisingly quickly, breakfast is over. I picked up the dishes and quickly washed them. The one good thing about serving dinner was that I didn't have to stick around for the convesation afterwords.

It was 8:45. I change quickly, a maid winding my hair into it's single bun. I sprint out the door at 8:53, dodging awakening people and praying I wouldn't be late.

I arrived, panting, only to see everyone watching me. "Daisuke-san, Shun-san, Sensei," I greet.

Sensei pulls out a pocket watch. "You're one minute late. 5 laps around the training field!"

"Haha! Now I know not to be late! Nyaaa!" Daisuke playfully teases me. I smile slightly at his antics.

"Just for that, you run five laps as well! I want you to sprint the length, and jog the width. You go as well, Shun," Sensei orders.

"What did I do?" Shun asked, his voice rising in pitch with incredulity.

"Nothing really, I just felt like it," Sensei shrugged. A grumble makes its way past Shun's lips, but he joins Daisuke and I. "Go," Sensei announced without warning. We look at him in surprise. "What are you waiting for, slowpokes? Go!"

We begin to sprint down the length of the field. Daisuke quickly draws ahead of us, jogging the width and sprinting the length. "Haha! Slowpokes!" he sticks his tongue out at us, only to faceplant in the dirt as Sensei trips him.

"That's my saying," Sensei told him as Daisuke slowly stood. We draw level with Daisuke as he begins to sprint again. We begin to jog around the width. Daisuke was ahead of me, I was ahead of Shun.

I see Daisuke begin to falter, clutching a stitch on his side. I draw ahead of him, glancing behind me as he tries to keep up.

But soon, my own breathing grows ragged. Only two more laps, Fuzen! Two more laps! Slowly but surely, I begin to lag, and Shun draws ahead of me, breathing hard yet steady. One more lap to go. I try to sprint the length, but I'm much slower then what I started.

Suddenly I feel a tug on my arm, and I look over in surprise as Shun pulls me along, helping me speed up. He also got Daisuke to start running faster. "Come on guys, keep it up," He says lowly, and we all seem to find a new burst of energy as we finish the last lap.

"Good work, guys. Daisuke, you're the fastest on the team, but you have absolutely no endurance. Fuzen, you have speed; your actually quite fast for a genin. But you have very little endurance as well. Shun, you have good endurance but you could have gone faster and still not gotten tired. Fuzen did a good job of setting a pace she could keep up with, but she got more winded then she anticipate, correct?"

We all stare at Sensei, admiring him. He learned all that... From a five lap sprint and jog.

"We'll, no stretch out," Sensei orders. "Down to your toes, hamstrings, quads, everything,"

It's Daisuke, of course, who raises his hand. "Why do we need to stretch out? I want to practice, not waste time stretching!"

Sensei grasps his hair, pulling him backwards. "Ow ow ow!" Daisuke exclaimed. .

"What if you were dodging a deadly Kunai, but couldn't lean back far enough to dodge it, hmm?" Daisuke nods frantically, well, the best he could nod when Sensei had a grasp on his hair.

"Good. Now, feet shoulder width apart, and touch the ground," Sensei ordered. I do as he says, but I can't quite touch the ground. I'm about two inches away. I glance over to see Shun with his head against his knees and hands flat against the ground.

How is that possible? I glance to my left to see Daisuke, who's hands were dangling at least six inches away from the ground. I feel a hand against my back, and I groan as my fingers brush the ground.

"Concentrate on yourself, don't compare to your teammates," the Sensei orders. I nod, the blood rushing to my face and turning it red. 

We go through a series of stretches, and I was never able to quite complete them unless Sensei came and helped me. Finally, we finished the stretches and we stood. I shook out each limb, amazed to realize that I really did feel looser.

"Now, slowpokes. The test," Sensei announced, and we all turned towards him, ready to pass no matter what it took.

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I decided to upload a short chapter instead of waiting and having it be longer!

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gaara119