Ai and Sasuke walked back home together after the academy day was completely, Sasuke had his hands shoved in the pockets of his shorts while Ai had her arms wrapped around her waist, holding it tightly.

"You okay, Ai?" He asked his sister, who simply shrugged her shoulders and continued on walking with him, making sure to watch where she was going so that no one got in her way. "If you're not, you know we can talk about it right?"

"Hn." She replied as they walked into their house, and the little girl let out a long sigh of relief. She was ready to be home, because being at the academy all day annoyed her. After she dropped off her fan in her bedroom, she went into the kitchen and began to search for food. The ramen she had thought she has was gonna, and she took a deep breath before Ai walked into the living room and looked at her brother who had his back to her.

She cleared her throat and her brother turned towards her, raising an eyebrow as he saw the nervous look in her eyes. She let out another large breath before opening her mouth. "R-Ramen." She said, before she shut her mouth again. Sasuke nodded his head before he grabbed his money pouch off of the table and glanced at her.

"I'll go get some. Will you be okay by yourself?" He asked, and the girl nodded as she sat down on the couch, her hands in her lap, and she glanced over at the door as Sasuke slowly left, unsure about leaving his sister.

"G-Go." Ai said, and Sasuke nodded slightly and left. With a sigh, Ai slouched back against the couch and closed her eyes. Physically and mentally she was exhausted. Every day after the academy she was tired, even if it was just sitting in the room doing nothing, she was always tired after. And today, she was making an attempt to talk more for the sake of her brother, but it hurt to talk. She had gone so long without the need to properly talk, or without wanting to, that sometimes if she talked too much it hurt.

There was a knocked at the door, and Ai tilted her head slightly as she got up and walked over to the door. Dragging over her stepping stool, she climbed up on it and used the peep hole. There was a guy in a green spandex outfit, with a horrible bowl cut, and huge eyebrows that looked like they would pop off of his face at anymore.

Ai slowly opened the door to the strange man, who smiled and shot her thumb at her in a thumbs up motion, causing Ai to jump slightly back at his motions. "Hello!" The tall man said as he continued to keep his thumb up towards the girl. "My name is Might Gai, and I was sent here by the Hokage to bring an Ai Uchiha to my training session and show her Taijutsu! How youthful!" Gai said, and Ai raised her eyebrow at him. "Are you the youthful young flower?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Then let us go!" He shouted, and Ai continued to raise her eyebrow at him before shaking her head slightly.

"H-Have to w-wait for N-Niisan." She said, and Gai nodded his head before he walked into the Uchiha apartment, sat himself down on the Uchiha couch, and made himself at home.

"Then we will wait together, youth flower!" He shouted. Ai rolled her eyes slightly as she sauntered back to her room and grabbed her fan, placing it on her back. When she came back into the living room, Sasuke was standing across from Gai, who was smiling and staring at Ai, who was staring at Sasuke, who was staring at Gai.

"Who is this, Ai?" Sasuke asked his asked his sister as he glanced over at her, and she shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"My name is Might Gai, and I was sent here to help the girl with her Taijutsu skills under orders of the youthful Hokage!" Gai said, throwing his fist up in the air again. Instead of jumping this time, Ai had to hold back a smile. She liked this guy, he was funny.

"If she isn't back by 9, there will be a payment." Sasuke said as he glanced at his sister, watching as she nodded her head slightly.

"Yes, Young Youthful Uchiha!" Gai said as he jumped up from the seat on the couch and dragged Ai out of the house, Sasuke chuckled quietly to himself as he watched the reaction of his sister.

Gai pulled Ai all the way to the training field in which his team of Genin were already standing, waiting for their sensei who is never usually late.

"Where is Gai-Sensei?!" A boy who resembled his sensei a lot screamed, pouting up towards the air.

"He'll be here. He never misses a training session." A girl with two buns on her head said.

Gai pulled Ai up the large hill, and smiled at his Genin team. "Hello my youthful flowers!" Gai shouted, and from behind him Ai rolled his eyes slightly. Her movements were stopped when the boy who looked like Gai-sensei came running towards them.

"My youthful sensei!" He screamed out, and Ai shook her arm from Gai and quickly moved closer to the other two teammates at the sensei and Genin had a very awkward hugging moment.

"Who are you?" A boy with pale eyes said, and Ai took note that he was defiantly a Hyuga. Ai just stared at him before she glanced back over at Gai. This seemed to irritate the Hyuga, because he walked in front of the ten year old and grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her up so that she was face to face with him. The very blank expression that Ai normally held was on her face, and she stared into the Hyuga's pale eyes.

"I'll ask you again, who are you?" Neji said as he moved closer to her face, his female teammate attempting to get him to let the little girl down, while also attempting not to laugh when the girl just raised her eyebrow at him.

"Neji, put down the youth Uchiha princess!" Gai screamed as he ran towards his student, who glared at the young Uchiha but sat her down on the ground.

"Who is she and why is she here? We're suppose to train." Neji said to Gai, who shot him a large grin.

"This is Ai Uchiha, and she will be joining us for the day as the Hokage asked me to teach her youthful Taijutsu!" Gai said, swirling around in a circle and throwing his thumb up, his teeth gleaming with in his smile. Neji scoffed slightly and walked away, not wanting to deal with the young girl.

"But sensei, why is she training with us? I mean, she doesn't look older than 8, there's no reason for her to know Taijutsu at your level." TenTen said, before glancing over at Ai. "No offense." She said with a nervous chuckle, but relaxed when she saw Ai wave her hand as if she was waving off any offense the statement brought to her.

"Ai is ten, TenTen!" Gai said, his expression turning to one of horror. "And she will be taking the youthful graduation exam tomorrow, the Hokage wanted to make sure she was youthful and perfect in all subject matters!"

"Hai." TenTen said, as she glanced over at Ai. "You don't talk much do you?" She asked, and Ai shook her head from side to side, signaling a 'no.'

TenTen sighed as she nodded, and glanced over at Neji. "I'll go spar with Neji. You two teach her Tai." She said before she walked over to her Hyuga teammate. Lee smiled at Ai, who gave him a small nod in return.

"First!" Gai said, throwing his hand up in the air. "500 laps around the walls of Konoha, go!" He shouted, and Ai's eyes widened as she stared at the bushy browed freak she was growing to like less and less by the moment. But nonetheless, the moment Lee took off, Ai took off with him. For a ten year old, she was fast. As fast as Sasuke was, Ai was a little bit faster. So she had no trouble keeping up with Lee as they ran the entire 500 laps, without a single break.

When they were done, Lee ended up carrying Ai back to the training ground because the poor little girl collapsed on the ground after the last lap, and refused to get up. So now a stranger in a spandex green jumpsuit was carrying her back to the training grounds.

Great.

Ai sighed heavily as they arrived back the training grounds, her breathing finally regulating itself out when Lee placed her on the ground. "All done Gai-Sensei!" Lee shouted, and Ai nodded in agreement.

"Wonderful, my youthful flowers! Now, for the fun part." He said as he pulled his bag off of back and placed it on the ground. Flipping the bag open, he pulled out training weight that each weighed ten pounds -- but there's a catch. There are four ten pound training weights, meaning that little Ai would be gaining forty new pounds to her body.

Ai let out a huff of air as Gai finished strapping the weight on her arms and legs, the extra weight beginning to put an uncomfortable feeling on her skin, but she decided that she was going to wear them. Because if they somehow magically could make her better at Taijutsu, she was all for it.

"Now, Spar with Lee. Lee, take it easy on the youthful flower, because she is so young and youthful!" Gai said, and Lee nodded his head.

"Yes sensei!" He shouted before he took his normal Taijutsu stance. Ai took a deep breathe and slowly took her stance, sliding her left leg back behind her slightly to support herself, placing her right hand up the air and the other at her side slightly, before glancing at Gai. He nodded his head.

"Begin!" He shouted, and the two quick ninja took off towards each other. Lee brought up his arm and attempted to hit Ai in the head, but the girl quickly knocked his arm away with the quick movement of her forearm. Dropping low to the ground, Ai brought her leg around and attempted to knock Lee's feet out from under him, but the weights slowed her down and he was able to jump and dodge the attack.

He returned with a kick, but Ai leaped from the ground and jumped back to where she started from. She was breathing heavily as she watched Lee quickly move towards her, but only for a second before he was nearly invisible due to his speed.

A swift kick was delivered to Ai's back, sending her flying to the ground. But the moment Ai hit the ground, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and the sound of wood clanking against the ground was what filled the air around them.

From behind of Lee, Ai used her small foot to deliver a swift kick to the side of Lee's face, sending the much larger Genin to the ground. The sparing between the two went on like this for a few hours before Ai has finally had enough, and she called a forfeit with the shake of a hand.

"Are you done, youthful flower?" He asked, and the girl nodded slowly, letting out a deep breath. "Alright, allow me escort you home!" He said, but Ai shook her head once again and began to walk home, by herself, denying the scream and cries of Gai and Lee.

Ai arrived home at 8:59 on the dot, and when she opened the door the first the she was met with was the concerned look of her brother.

"Are you okay?" He asked, and Ai waved him off with he hand, rolling her eyes slightly. "Why are you all scratched up? What are those things on your arms?" Sasuke asked, bombarding his sister with questions as If he was an over protective parent.

Ai held up her hand with her palm facing her brother, a signal Sasuke had learned meant to shut up. Ai sighed heavily and opened her mouth to speak. "T-Taijutsu, Train-ning w-weights." She replied, and Sasuke nodded before he hugged his sister close to him. Ai hugged back tightly, nuzzling her nose against the fabric of his chest.

"I love you, Ai." He said, and the two separated. He gently poked her forehead with his fingers, only to receive a poke back. That was how they had always shown affection between the two. It had started with their older brother Itachi doing it to Sasuke, and once Ai was born, Sasuke began to do if Ai. It was a vicious cycle.

But the two knew that it gave each other hope. And hope, that was all that they had.

//