That night Aceso was folding clothes on the roof, she was embracing the almost full moon, in tears. How could she be stupid? How could she be naive? She actually believed Gaara wanted to be her friend, did something bad happen to Grain?" She began to put up the wet fabric. A slow breeze came through, and through the flap, in the distance, she could see a silhouette sitting on a roof. She looked away, she could not bear to look.

After she was finished doing the laundry, she went down to her room. When she opened the door she saw Lee passed out on her bed, sitting up and a flower sitting on her desk.

"Lee?" Aceso asked, his eyes opened and he looked over at her.

" What took you so long?" Lee asked.

" What are you doing here?" Aceso asked as she closed the door.

" I was feeling lonely," Lee answered. " What do you think of the moon?"

" It's pretty," Aceso answered as she walked over to the flower, it was a red rose, and it was in the same vase as a decayed flower.

" Gai-sensei got that for me," Lee said.

" He did?" Aceso asked as she picked out the dead one.

" Gai-sensei told me what happened earlier, I thought it would cheer you up," Lee said as he stretched his one arm.

" Thanks," Aceso breathed softly as she walked over to the window with the old one. She got on the bed, knee walked over to the window, she then opened it. Picked all the petals off the stem, and threw the stem out the window.

" What are doing?" Lee asked as he tried to get a look. With great struggle, he scooted over to the window.

" It's windy tonight," Aceso answered as she looked at him.

" Huh?" Lee asked.

" Hold out your hand," Aceso suggested. He put his good hand out as he leaned against the window with his shoulder. She put some of the petals in his hand. " Hold it out the window." He put it out the window, and seconds later a breeze swept by, picking up the flower petals and transporting them to a mysterious destination. Aceso glanced at him, his eyes were staring at the flying petals. " Want to do it again?"

" Yes," Lee answered. " But what about you?"

" We can do it together," Aceso said. She cupped her hand against his, till the point they both had petals, they held it out the window, and seconds later the breeze came by and swept those up as well. " I like watching them fly away."

" It looks like they are doing the Leaf Hurricane," Lee said.

" Are they fighting the wind?" Aceso asked as she turned around.

" Yes," Lee confirmed as she picked a folder and book off the end of her bed. " Don't you think it's a bit late?" She opened and continued her notes on everyone in the competition.

" It's for tomorrow," Aceso answered. " I have all the ointments, that will be best to be treated on them." Lee adjusted so he could look down at it. " You should get some rest, Lee."

" As soon as you do," Lee argued.

" The competition is tomorrow," Aceso reminded him.

" You need sleep if you wanna be wide awake while you're working it," Lee advised. " The youthful patient will give the youthful doctor advice this time. I will stay here until you finish."

Now the petals all flew in different directions, one of them landed on Gaara. He peeled it off and stared at it, a purple petal.

Friendship, to actually think he would be friends with anyone, he heard a meow, he looked over to see Grain walking over to him. He sat down and swatted at the petal. Gaara reached out a hand, he went to go strangle the kitty, but then he stopped. He grabbed his head and groaned, Aceso popped into his head, from when she was holding the cat, and Gai popped into his head, with some others.

*****

The next morning Aceso woke up to the sun hitting her feet, she was confused, her feet were at the front of her bed. She sat up and saw a bowl cut head right next to her feet. She looked over to see that it was an hour before the competition started and she was supposed to be there thirty minutes ago.

" I'm late!" Aceso cried out in horror. She jumped out of her bed, grabbed clothes, and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. Lee woke up to hear the water running, he then looked around and saw that he was not in his hospital room. Two minutes, the door opened and he saw Aceso emerge from the bathroom in fresh clothes and long wet hair. She grabbed a brush as her room door opened.

" Youth!" a voice boomed, they both looked over to see Gai-Sensei.

" Gai-Sensei!" Lee cheered as he sat up.

" What are you doing in this young lady's room?" Gai asked.

" I fell asleep on accident," Lee answered as flailed his good arm. " I'm sorry!" Tears flowed down his cheeks dramatically.

" It's my fault, Gai-sensei," Aceso apologized. " I'm not really supposed to have a patient up here."

" You are late!" Gai boomed as he pointed at her.

" I'm sorry," Aceso dramatically cried.

" Give me the brush, I use taijutsu on you," Gai said as he held out his hand.

" You can't use taijutsu to do braids," Aceso said as she held out the brush.

" I disagree," Gai smiled, his teeth shined. He took the brush and at incredible speed, he did the braids, and he faced her in the mirror.

" Thanks, Dad," Aceso breathed with wide eyes. " I have to go now. " She then grabbed her notes and a bag of supplies. " Hope to see you both there." She then bolted out of the room and out of the hospital. She was so focused on getting to the arena, that she didn't see where she was going.

BAM!

Aceso was now on top of someone, she looked up to see Tenten.

" I'm sorry, Tenten," Aceso apologized as she got off of her.

" Why are you in such a hurry?" Tenten asked.

" I was supposed to be at the arena about an hour ago," Aceso answered as she got up. " I'm late!" She then took off again, she then arrived, and everyone turned and looked at her.

" Where have you been?" Ibiki asked.

" I overslept and I apologize," Aceso apologized.

" It's quite alright," Lord Hokage said. " We all slip up, thankfully it wasn't a mission."

" I'm sorry," Aceos apologized again.

" Don't sweat it kiddo," Anko laughed. " What you up late doing anyway?"

" Laundry," Aceso answered as the color rose to her cheeks.

" No matters," Lord Hokage said. " Go set up."

" Thank you, sir," Aceso breathed. She went to an infirmary room and started to supply up and set up the room.

" Doctor Matsuba," a voice breathed, she looked over to see a few ninjas at the doorway and the Kazekage.

"Welcome, Lord Kazekage," Aceso greeted.

" The rumors are true," Lord Kazekage. " Pretty young for a doctor, you must feel honored"

" Yes, sir," Aceso nodded.

" You should come to the Sunakagure sometime," Lord Kazekage advised.

" If the future provides an opportunity, then I shall," Aceso said. He then left and others followed. Soon time Aceso was standing at the bottom, at the entrance, fireworks were being lit off. The third phase was starting. She looked out to see everyone there, but Dosu, Naruto, and Sasuke. Moments later the doors were forced open, and someone came sliding into the room screaming, everyone turned to see who it was. It was Naruto and he slid all the way over to Shikamaru's feet. Aceso put a hand to her mouth and giggled. She walked over to the two.

" Why is it that you and your sibling are late today?" Genma Shiranui asked as he looked over at her. He was the referee of the matches today.

" He must have rubbed off on me," Aceso laughed.

" Oh man, what a drag," Shikamaru groaned as he picked up Naruto.

" Ah!" Naruto exclaimed as he got out his arms. " Guys, run!"

" Run?" Aceso asked.

" Yeah!" Naruto breathed. " You won't believe this, but there's a huge herd of stampeding bulls coming this way?" He pointed towards the door.

" What?" Shikamaru asked. " Yeah, you're right. I don't believe it."

" I'm serious," Naruto stuck with his words. " There must be a million of them coming right this way." He turned to see everyone looking at him, silently.

" How much ramen did you have last night?" Aceso asked him.

" That doesn't affect anything," Naruto denied as he looked around. " Where's Sasuke?" She walked back to the door and leaned against it.

" I'm fighting Dosu, but he's missing too," Shikamaru pointed out.

" Hey, knock it off," Genma ordered. " Quit you fidgeting you two. Stand up straight and present yourself proudly to the spectators." They looked around to see so many people high up in the stands. " You guys are the heroes of this final competition." Then Lord Hokage stood up and faced everyone.

" Welcome all," Lord Hokage greeted loudly. " And our deepest thanks for coming here to the Village Hidden in the Leaves for this year's Chunin Selection. We have come to the final competition between the eight candidates who made it through the preliminaries. We ask that no one leaves until all the matches have been completed. Now everyone enjoy."

" Oh, there's one more thing before we get started," Genma brought up. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. " Aceso redid this for us last night. Look it over."

" Huh?" Naruto asked as Shikamaru began to look sick.

" There's been a slight change in the match-ups," Genma informed. " But now it's set, so everyone take one last look at who you'll be facing."

" Question, question?" Naruto asked as he raised his hand.

"What is it?" Genma asked.

" I was just wondering what will happen to Sasuke if he doesn't show up?" Naruto asked.

" If a candidate is not here in the arena at the time his name is called, he forfeits the match," Genma explained. " All right, listen up. The terrain's different, but the rules are the same as before. That is that there are no rules. The match continues until one candidate acknowledges defeat or dies. That being said, if I determine that a match is over I can step in and stop it at any time. Aceso will be right over when I stop it. And no arguments are permitted. Understood?" They all stared at him. " These are the opponents for the first match. Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga. Those two stay. The rest of you can go to the waiting area. Everyone started to leave the floor as the two candidates stayed.

" How do you think this match is going to go?" Shikamaru asked as they started to pass her.

" Not sure," Aceso answered honestly. " I do hope Naruto wins."

" Choosing favorites?" Shikamaru asked. " I hope you cheer on your brother's friend."

" Will you put in an effort?" Aceso asked.

" Honestly don't want to," Shikamaru shrugged. " What a drag." She smiled as they passed her and went up into the waiting area.