May the Chibi be with you.

"Eat ramen and watch the clouds go by..?" She looked at the girl like she was completely alien for a moment, her brow raised again,
"Back when I was your age it was train, eat, sleep, train and the loops would continue. Throw in every mission our team could get our hands on and I was almost always busy, way too busy to sit down and watch the clouds.."

She shrugged for a moment, chuckling at the thought,
"Are you alright?" She asked then, looking toward her, "The thought of labor worrying you? I figure, hell, if I can survive debris tot he face, my arm being cut off, my spleen being nearly sliced open completely, being impaled.. I can brave pregnancy. I want a family of my own one day.. But I don't know many people who'd go with some-one like me, my bad luck I suppose."

Naka looked grim. "Pregnancy hurts like a total son of a b-tch...anyway, I have all the time in the world, luckily. I guess Kami kinda likes me, somewhat." She laughed.

Midori looked at her, this time with some skepticism, stopping still, this time a little more judgmental,
"You don't look old enough to have experienced such a thing as pregnancy. You aren't physically developed enough to compensate for such at your age," She felt slightly guarded now as she turned toward Naka, tilting her head slightly,
"Call me crazy but you sounded like you were talking from personal experience.. I could understand you saying such a thing out of the assumption, perhaps."

Naka smiled, a bit embarrassed. "Eheh... I said too much..." she mumbled, blushing. "Um...my past will seem unbelievable..."

"Trust me.. I have a knack for the unbelievable.." She replied, shaking her head and looking forward, "Dont bother telling me.. just try to remember what you are right now, or you'll just draw suspicion on yourself.. Besides I probably couldn't wrap my head around it anyway." She chuckled calmly as she walked again, lowering her head to look at her katana a moment, seeming to think for a while before looking at her again,
"I have secrets of my own." the woman started, smirking a little, "The man who gave me this sword.. I was young, and though he was a teacher and I his mere student.. I think a little part of me fell in love with him.." Midori stared forward, sighing, strangely enough, in a dreaming manner, "That is several secrets upon itself, the man, his teaching me, what he taught, this weapon and.. My love for him.. Perhaps it was a teenage crush.. I could try to write it off as such.. But I still would have given myself to him, had he asked, I would have begged for it, were I not con-.." She stopped, shaking her head and chuckling,
"I loved him.. It was all that mattered.."

"I know what that feels," Naka said, giggling. "To be in love unconditionally and without limit...that's how I feel for my master. Neh, Haruno-san, can you give me advice on relationships?"

"Nope, besides that man, I've never been in love, that's the only thing I have to go by, or what I feel love is like." Midori shook her head looking at Naka and shrugging a little,
"Well I guess I c-.. Hrm.." Midori stopped again as she slipped her hand from Naka's grip and covered her face for a moment before smoothing her hand down from her face and pointing at Naka with a warning finger,
"Dont you dare tell Sakura about this. I read romance novels." She stated bluntly, putting her hand on her hip, "You could say I'm an unofficial expert on love and romance.."

"Oh! I keep reading fantasy," Naka said, giggling. "Anyway..." Then she turned serious. "This boy wants me to pick between him and my nushi," she said, looking down. "But I can't...it's impossible."

"Well when that situation shows you, usually the one demanding that you choose will result in a bad relationship if you went with them," Midori shrugged a moment, frowning a little, "But there are always other more unique cases.. I really don't know enough about them to judge.. I'd need an insight into character, their personalities, who they are to you."

Midori looked down at her, leaning forward calmly and smirking,
"I'd basically need to know you and them as intimately as reading a book would be before I could judge or predict the results.."

"Well....the boy is Kaji Nara. He used to be so sweet and loving and gentle, a-and now...he just...argh..." Naka shook her head. "As for my nushi, his name is Aiden Akuma. He's my soulmate, in a way."

"Hm.. If you were attracted to this Kaji for the man he used to be and not the man he is now, then you would do well to go for Aiden. Unless he too has changed?" Midori asked, motioning to continue with her along the road.

She was rather interested in the predicament being presented, curious for it, but she wondered if her advice would result in something bad occurring.. What if Kaji was in fact a better choice?

"Aiden says that Kaji is good for me, but...but... I don't know what to do! Aiden says that logically, I should be with someone nearer my age, but I still love him..."

"I see.. It has something to do with your age too.." She wondered a moment, stopping again kneeling by her, resting her arm across her knee, "This Aiden is willing to make a great sacrifice for you, it seems. If you do love him, perhaps you should respect his wishes, so long as you always love him in your heart you'd never lose that part of him. It takes a great and noble love for a man to let you go, I imagine you would be in his heart too."

She raised her hand a moment, rubbing her chin and thinking, as though devising a tactical strategy before smirking,
"As for this Kaji.. Bribe him. Tell him your choice will be him, if he returns to what he once was, the sweet, gentle one you loved before he changed, only then could you allow yourself to be with him.. Not a bad deal, don't you think?" She asked, but shook her head,
"My advise isn't necessarily the best.. I've only ever loved one man that I'd give of myself for him. Whatever it is you have, it is probably far greater than I can fathom."

"Aiden-Danna is my master, how can I betray him like this... I fathered two of his children and I love them all, but Kaji wants me to be...well, wanted me to be the mother of his children." Naka sighed. "If only Kami could help me."

"Would you be betraying him if you did as he desired? You're mistaking your own feelings as a betrayal to him when this is the very thing he has asked of you, correct?" Midori stood again, looked down on her with a bit of a frown,
"I don't even know how I ended up in this conversation.. Thinking the things you inspire in my mind.. Fathering two children.. You certainly could not have done it in your current body unless it is not the one you began in." Midori replied, figuring this out on her own but then shook her head,
"You are letting your love for both drive you, they will argue in your head like parents bickering between each other hoping you the child will pick which one is right. A new life, a new body, I would go for some-one that would match me if I had a new body, but in my heart I would always love the man who once meant everything to me and still did. You do not betray him when you love him forever." Midori rubbed her head, wondering where she herself got this kind of wisdom.. Perhaps there really was something to romance novels. She began along the patch again, shrugging once more
"Or you can wallow in doubt and fear until you lose both of them. You're looking at two options when there are four."

"Uwahh...boys make things so complicated," she said, following Midori. "Well, danna's not really a boy. He should be twenty one right now and Kaji is coming sixteen." She sighed and kicked a nearby stone. "I wish I could split myself in two, but I only know how to do the reverse."

"Well then to that I would have to say.. Pull yourself together.." Midori snickered a little, placing her hand on Naka's left shoulder,
"Well now I think I owe you a couple secrets, considering you've told me so much about yourself," Midori turning her head down to look at her from above,
"I was six years old when the Kyuubi attacked. Sakura had been born that same year. The loss of my eyesight was not as jarring as people wanted to believe.. However when I was made a genin six years later, after another year my squad and I encountered a stray nukenin of jounin level while performing a routine C-grade mission.." She made a pained face, remembering it quite clearly,
"While I was so young I looked upon a fiend like him as a monster comparable to the Kyuubi."

She looked about, eventually finding a suitable place, a bench and wandered over to it, sitting down and sighing,
"Ahh.. I've been on my feet since this morning.. So where was I..?"

"You said you came across a jounin-level nukenin when you and your squad were on a C-rank mission," Naka said, sitting down as well. "I was in Kusa when the Kyuubi attacked..." 'You were around nine months old back then, but I remember...' 'I know, I know, now let me talk with Midori.' 'Fine, fine, I think I'll take a nap.' "And then what happened, Haruno-san?"

"Well he managed to bind our captain, a technique I cannot recall, I believe he had attained a lucky hit with a genjutsu.. And us three genin, the only assistance for our master.. We were no match.. In spite of our greatest efforts he killed Kaori first, impaled her against a nearby oak, then Ezo.." Midori sighed, shaking her head sadly,
"I lasted the longest, I was able to predict his movements based on what I had seen, but he had moves I had not seen. A single mistake on my part and he slid his katana past my defenses.. It was over so quick I barely even registered that my arm was gone. He placed upon me a finishing blow."

Midori shifted the obi around her waist down until a large scar cutting across her torso could be seen, rested but an inch below her breasts. She tugged the waistband up and secured her haori again.
"It was not until I was on the ground I realized when I wanted to lift my right arm it refused to budge.. I saw it laying meters away. it was of no further use now. The jounin, in his rush to kill me, had made but a single mistake. He had cut deep into my chest, yes, but he had not penetrated the flesh completely. In his arrogance and swagger he was only able to turn and hope to defend himself at the last moment after I'd gotten up and charged him with my tanto."

She chuckled patting a spot under her ribs,
"I'd show you that one but we are in a public place.. He had almost succeeded in stopping me but I was already upon him, he bore the full length of the tanto through his left eye socket.." Midori stopped there, leaning back and looking up,
"I was satisfied that I had avenged Ezo and Kaori.. It was a good kill.." She smirked, "And one again I defied death..My master took me to a local hospital, not outfitted like that of the villages, but it still managed to save me."

Midori could remember the days she'd been laid out in the hospital bed, often just contemplating the lost arm. The transfer to konoha had been an enduring one and she spent several weeks in recovery,
"With only one arm.. I was doomed to fail as a kunoichi.. Bless Sakura.. She came to see me while I was recovering, though she did not truly understand the nature of the wounds.. Nor did I let her see that I had lost my right arm. Laying on it was painful when I pretended it was under the covers.." Midori chuckled for a little while, "I was a complete mess.. Wracked by guilt over Ezo and Kaori's deaths.. At a loss now that I only had one arm, I couldn't form handseals with only one hand. My dreams of being a Shinobi were being stolen from me."

"Ohh... That's so sad," Naka whispered, looking down. "I guess I really am one of the lucky ones." She sighed and examined Midori's haori. "I never noticed you were missing a limb...hey, have you ever thought of getting a pet?" she suggested, smiling.

"I like to have the empty sleeve, it sometimes deceives people. Its also amusing to see their reaction after." She chuckled, though shook her head, "A pet is more than I can handle with one arm alone.. Except maybe fish, or cats.. But I have no time for those."

She leaned back against the seat a little more comfortably as she raised her head to the sky,
"Now for the next part.. How I became successful at I am now.. And this is honest to goodness cross-your-heart-hope-to-die secret, you hear me?" Midori stared at Naka hard, actually quite serious about it. Once she got some confirmation she looked up again, taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

Naka nodded seriously, the look on her face so childishly grim it was hilarious. "Oh, and I meant ninja pet! I have a trained monkey and when I'm one-handed, I can borrow his to do a jutsu. Training might be a bit aggravating, but it's worth it in the end."

"Ah.. I do not need such a thing.." Midori grinned, "I had begun to venture out into the forest. I had taken an assortment of weapons, throwing knives, katanas, shuriken.. I was furious that I could not become a ninja but I still wanted to try.. I spent hours and hours trying to regain my aim alone, but my stamina.. I was so weak and out of shape.. And I didn't care that I was out there, exposed to whatever dark elements came my way, if they preyed on a weak one armed shinobi then so be it. I had truthfully already given up in my heart.." Midori raised her left hand to brush her hair back once before leaning on the bench with her arm,

"It was then a man came before me, a shinobi... A nukenin.." She explained, making a dramatic pause before saying what she'd encountered, "At first, out of fear, I attacked him with tanto, he proceeded to block with a simple kunai and I kept going until it ached to move my body.." Midori sighed a little, "The man I told you about.. The one I believed I loved.. This was him.. He did not want to kill me, let alone harm me. We spoke for a while.. Or rather I shouted and cursed and disagreed until he struck me with a pact. It left me dumbfounded and confused to be honest.
He promised to teach me, give me leassons to weild a katana properly, and to teach me a unique talent that would take me a year to master."

Midori pulled her right arm forward, holding it up to form one half of a hand seal. Upon finishing it there was a puff of whit smoke as on her other side a second copy of herself appeared, imitating her movements and even speaking in near perfect synchronicity with Midori,
"He taught me to use one-handed handseals."

"Ah..." Naka's eyes flashed with recognition. "You remind me of...that servant...oh yeah, Haku! So it seems, one-handed handseals are an individual trait, learned by the select few who train hard enough for it," Naka said, amazed. "And what happened after he taught you this technique?"

"When he taught me how to use it, he then trained me to constantly use it, if I had any hope of being a kunoichi then the only way I could do it was through continual practice.. We trained together, though really it was more him mentoring me constantly for a year and as part of our pact, I never told anyone where he was.." Midori stopped for a while, her face saddening when she remember him... It had been so long.. She sometimes felt that she was forgetting his face..

"What I never understood was why a rogue nukenin would so happily teach me.. I felt a connection to him.. The same sense of loss I suffered.. But he would smile.. He would smile so warmly." She swallowed a little, "By the end of the ear I as able to see him one last time, he was risking being found just to see me again and it was there he gave me his sword, I had never seen him open it, in fact he had wrapped it in a sealed bandaging. Before I could refuse him going he had left.. But I know for a brief moment of my life I loved a man, and probably lost my only chance to be with him."

Midori raised her sleeve to wipe at her right eye a moment,
"Look at me now.. A jounin and still crying over a childhood crush, how silly huh?"