Ara's eyes widened. "M-My biggest f-fear...?" She stuttered, still in shock. Yuito didn't react. He gave her a firm nod, his eyes held some kind of smug glint, as he crossed his arms.

"You know the rule, Ara," he mocked, "Answer the question truthfully, no matter what it is."

"I-... Well, there's a lot..."

"That's not an answer," he said calmly.

She bit her lip. "Uh... I'm not sure..."

He chuckled. "Fine, then how about this? Ryota can ask his question first. You answer his, then mine."

Ryota gulped. "Why dragging me into this?!"

Yuito glared at him, "Just make this quick."

The brunette groaned. "Fine. What do you want to be?" Seeing Ara's confused glance, he cringed, "I don't know what to ask, okay?!"

"... An S-rank shinobi." Ara muttered, looking away.

Ryota's brows furrowed, before his eyes widened. "...Eh...?"

Ara nodded, smiling slightly. "Like a certain someone, and I'm not telling you who!"

"One of your parents?" The boy guessed, causing Ara to immediately turned away.

"H-How do you know?!"

"It's so classic, Hatake."

Yuito let out a chuckle, shaking his head. "Okay, enough. Now back to my question, freak."

Ara let out a heavy breath. "You're scary, you know?"

"So, your fear, beside me?"

"... I don't know, okay?" She lied smoothly. It's not completely a false fact, she has lots of fears. She just doesn't know which one is her biggest.

"That's impossible." Yuito retorted, "It doesn't make sense."

"We walk on water, standing upside down on trees, running on rooftops, we make things by yelling out nonsense and moving our fingers, we kill people with a small blade we throw all the time. We are shinobis and we hardly ever make sense." Ara stated as in a matter of fact, giving her teammates a flat look. Ryota burst out laughing at her statement, while Yuito's jaws fell agape.

"You're getting more and more illogical."

"Thank you for the compliment. Back to the first topic, I truthfully don't know what is my biggest fear. But I try to avoid thoughtless actions as much as I can."

"... What the hell..."

Ara shrugged. "That's just how it is, Yuito."

"... I guess we can't help it. Communicating with a freak is hard already, asking questions won't be easier."

Ara nodded. "Glad you understand."

*/*\*/*\*

Around midnight, after making sure that her teammates were asleep in the living room, next to their sensei, Ara went back to her room.

Her Anbu lifestyle often require her to stay awake even during nights, seeing as she works solo. There's no taking turns on keeping watch or such.

Ara sighed at the thought, sitting in front of her desk as she took a scroll and began to read. These kinds of sleepless nights should be used well, that's one of her principles.

A knock on her window interrupted her. Ara looked up, to see a certain Uchiha standing in front of her window.

A scoff escaped her lips. With a flick of her wrist, a chakra string shot up, tying around the window's handle, pulling it open. Shisui merely grinned at her, climbing in.

"Being an Anbu is tough, huh? Messing up with our sleeping, eating, living patterns."

Ara chuckled, nodding. "What are you doing here?"

"Well... I need to talk about something..."

"Go ahead."

Shisui nodded thankfully, taking a seat on Ara's bed, "It's about the clan."

"I'm listening," Ara told him, nodding slightly.

"I'll be blunt here... They're planning on a coup de' tat."

"Why?" She was surprisingly calm, Shisui noted, more and more like Itachi.

"The elders secretly blamed the Kyūbi attack on them. You remember how they moved the clan's compound, right? The clan felt offended."

"I see. Well, I blame no one. This is some kind of serious misunderstanding, though."

"Itachi and I are now double agents. We're trying to change the elders' mind. If things got worse, I might have to use Kotoamatsukami. I might get punished for leaking intel like this, but I think you deserve to know, since the main topic is Kyūbi, and you're the jinchūriki."

"Yeah, I understand." Ara replied, "Tell me if there's any updates. They're banning outsiders from entering the compound now, right?"

"Uh-huh. Sasuke was really against it, since you always pick him up, but a kid as young as him won't get noticed much, with his brother as a prodigy, too."

"Exactly." She confirmed, rummaging through her stacks of papers and scrolls, and finally found what she was looking for. She pulled out a small wooden scorpion, sending a bit of her chakra into the puppet, bringing him into life.

"Here, take him." She said, holding Sukoshi out, "It's been a while since he's active, but he would be useful in these kinds of situation, to send information to me. He could send codes from inside the compound, and with my jutsu I can immediately know what's happening."

Shisui cringed, slowly taking the scorpion. "We got bad history, have you forgotten?"

"Sukoshi trusts you now, don't worry. He might just help you, too."

"Okay... I'm leaving soon, the patrols would realize I'm missing. Anything I have to know before I go?"

"Tell Mikoto-san, Kushina-san wants to meet her." She replied.

"Roger that, Ara-chan! See you later!" He replied, his voice suddenly cheerful, as he teleported away.

Just as he disappeared, the door opened. Aiko stood with her arms crossed, raising an eyebrow at Ara.

"At this hour, you should be asleep, young lady. You can talk with your Uchiha friend anytime else." The woman said, raising an eyebrow, her eyes filled with an amused glint.

Ara smiled slightly, scratching the back of her neck.

"Hai, hai. Gomene, Aiko-san! I guess my insomnia relapsed and brought me here! I'll return now!"

Watching the girl left, Aiko sighed. "What an actress." She commented secretly, "But seriously, Ara. I was like you, too. I can recognize my own kind."

*/*\*/*\*

Ara strolled through the village, a sigh escaped her lips as she passed the Hatake household.

It's her fault. If she now feels lonely, it's her fault.

A small sad smile made its way onto her face, as she sensed two chakra signatures inside the house. Two bright ones.

Well, she's still kinda glad. The first time she met Kakashi, he's just a rude selfish jerk who hardly has manners.

Now he's got a wife, and it will take only a while before he becomes a father (knowing his addiction on books from that certain genre).

-I told you not to move out.-

Ara sighed, glancing at Yūsha and shook her head slightly. 'I never regret it.'

-You just did. You're torturing yourself, Ara.-

'I'm not.'

-Ah, denial. How sweet.-

Ara had to hold back the urge to attack the tiger beside her. "Don't you dare mess with me, you damn cat."

-Oh? That's new. I thought you are capable of telling the difference between types of felines?-

With Kurama now laughing in her head, Ara decided not to say another word. Yūsha is really annoyed at her teammates, and that's why he has been acting like a smug asshole most of the time.

-Guess who's gonna give you a heart attack in ten seconds,- Kurama suddenly stated, -Got an answer?-

'... Hana. Yeah, now I feel it.'

Soon after, someone had hugged her tightly from behind.

"Ara!" Hana exclaimed, "You were supposed to be surprised! I swore I hid my chakra properly this time!"

"You did."

Hana released the smaller girl, "Then how did you find me, Hatake?"

"Luck, I guess?"

-Ha! I'm a legendary fox monster that people consider to be a bad omen, and now you called me luck?-

'Kusama, Yūsha, you guys are getting annoying. Are you hitting your puberty?'

"...-ra. Oi, are you listening? Ara!"

"Y-Yeah? Sorry." Ara turned her attention back towards Hana, who was staring at her in worry.

"You don't look okay, Ara."

"No! I mean, I'm alright!" Ara laughed awkwardly, "What are you doing here? Anything you need?"

"Lunch. With you. Right now," before Ara could complain, Hana already grabbed her arm and started dragging her.

"Hana, I just ate half an hour ago."

The Inuzuka grinned, "Liar~" she pulled Ara inside the Yakiniku Q and loudly ordered the meals, forcing Ara to take her seat across hers.

"If there's anything else I need, it's something I can only get from you. A serious discussion regarding our anti-social friend, Itachi."

*/*\*/*\*

1300+ words, not bad?

Ara's answer probably isn't satisfying enough for you guys, but I can't spill that kind of information this early XD Yūsha's annoyed at his master, he gets so sassy it's getting hilarious (partly because I'm feeling savage).

Quite sure you guys know what's going to happen next?

Comment and Vote! I don't know when will I be able to update again, but motivate me, please? Things are getting 'gloomy' here...

See you later!