Author's Note: Er…it's been quite a while since I last updated, hasn't it? Um…I actually don't have anything to blame it on this time. 'Cept my lousy English grades and really strict parents. I've been busy pulling up my grade and being in band. (Lousy excuse, I know.) At any rate, I should probably be able to update a little more consistently for a little while. Anyway, here's the very tardy Chapter 2. :)

Ninjas were some of the most physically-fit people on the planet. Sprinting, dodging, aiming, bobbing, balancing, punching, stretching, kicking-a good ninja-in-training knew how to do all of it. Above all, a good ninja-in-training should have an excellent stamina. A good ninja-in-training would never, ever-

"Sasuke!"

"Yes, mommy?"

"Do you want to take a walk with Mommy?"

Sasuke made a face. "But I just got back from school and we were finger-painting all day, and it's almost four o'clock and Power Rangers is on!"

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-a good ninja in-training would never, ever get tired.

Much less act like a couch potato.

Unfortunately, Uchiha Sasuke was also a six-year-old with a current fixation on a mind-numbing kid's television show.

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"Sasuke, would you rather watch TV or go and get some fresh air?" his mommy protested.

"TV."

"You might even get to see one of your classmates!" his mommy hinted with a smile.

"Definitely TV," Sasuke repeated with a shudder.

"Why's that?" his mommy asked confusedly.

"Classmates mean fifty percent chance of girls, and girls mean icky cooties or something along those lines, according to Itachi-niisan!"

"For the record," Itachi interrupted, having entered the room during the converstation, "I said girls are an annoyance, not that they have something as childish as cooties. It's stupid to think someone carries an illness based solely on their gender and not something more important like clan affiliation or village."

Drat. Sasuke had been so sure 'icky cooties' had sounded cool too.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Itachi muttered, sitting down on the couch with the TV remote in hand.

"See, Sasuke? Walking sure clears your head. Isn't this more fun than sitting at home, watching TV?"

"Dumb Itachi hogging the TV," Sasuke mumbled with what looked suspiciously like a pout.

"So how was your day, Sasuke?" his mommy asked him as they started to walk through a completely abandoned, completely silent path.

"Fine," he blurted out automatically. "We finger-painted," he added after a few seconds of silence. "Sensei said we had to paint something that made us feel happy. Most of the girls ended up painting dumb things like dresses," he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"What did you paint, Sasuke?" his mommy asked curiously.

"Our crest," he answered matter-of-factly. "Sensei said it was very accurate for a six-year-old. It was definitely better than all of the other kids'."

His mother frowned a bit. "Really? There wasn't anybody else's that you liked?"

"Of course not! It was all dumb stuff."

"That's too bad."

"…"

"…"

"There was one I liked. It was a picture of a flower. It wasn't very good or anything," he added quickly. "Mines was lots better. 'Sides, there were lots of flower pictures, so it wasn't very special."

"Oh? Why did you like it?"

"I dunno. It just felt happy."

"And who painted it?"

"That's the dumb thing. Sensei really liked it but when he showed it to the entire class, nobody claimed it."

"And there was no name on it?" his mother asked.

"Nope. And it's also weird beca-" Sasuke stopped in his tracks as he finally looked up from the ground. "Mommy?"

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"You said we were taking a walk."

"We are."

"Then why have we been heading in one direction this entire time?"

"That's generally how you take walks, Sasuke."

"But we've been walking for a long time. We should have turned back by now. Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"We're going to visit your friend that lives in that compound, aren't we?"

His mommy smiled guiltily and for the hundredth time, Sasuke thought his mommy was very, very sneaky indeed.

"She has a garden with very pretty flowers," she smiled, "maybe even better than your classmate's finger-painting, ne?"

Sasuke scowled and decided to stick to a "Fine" no matter what, next time his mommy asked him how his day was.

While his mommy chatted away with her friend, Sasuke stifled a yawn. Pretty flowers were definitely not as interesting as Power Rangers. Absent-mindedly, he sat down near a smaller flower patch.

"U-um…hello. W-why a-are you in my g-garden?" a familiar voice squeaked out.

Sasuke turned around and frowned. "Who are you again?" he asked the pale-eyed girl that was his classmate.

"H-Hinata. H-Hyuuga Hinata. M-my cousin's N-Neji-niisan."

"You're in my class and he isn't. I think I'd remember you before him," he said, annoyed.

"Oh. Um, sorry. Most people remember him better."

"So this is your garden?" Sasuke asked, looking at the small flower patch with renewed interest.

"Um, y-yes."

"Seems like a lot of work for a six-year-old."

"U-um, I'm o-only five. My birthday's in D-December. There aren't very many flowers around th-then, so I like g-growing them-flowers, I mean-when they can grow."

"Why?" Sasuke asked, giving a well-rehearsed blank stare.

With what seemed to be a familiar blush, Hinata looked up. "W-well…th-that's because s-seeing flowers makes me h-happy."

Sasuke blinked and stared fiercely at Hinata's face. "You were the one who painted that flower Sensei liked so much, weren't you?"

Blushing harder (if that was even possible…) Hinata shook her head frantically.

Sasuke smirked. "You're really bad at lying. I won't tell anybody though, since you can't seem to handle attention."

Hinata looked up and smiled at him for a brief second before Sasuke felt his hand being tugged.

"Time to go, Sasuke," his mommy said aloud.

If the look on his mommy's face was any indication, not only was she very sneaky, but she purposely had the worst timing possible.

Oh well. It wasn't as if it was that important to him anyway-it was only a walk, and it wasn't as if she had interrupted an interesting conversation or anything-

"Sasuke! Power Rangers is on," his mommy told him a day later, with a slightly devious smile on her face.

Sasuke made sure to keep his face blank.

"Why Sasuke, why are you grabbing your scarf?"

"It's cold outside," he explained sensibly. "I'm going to need it if I'm going to take a walk with you, aren't I?

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Lesson Two: In which we learn why Sasuke likes taking walks

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Author's Note: Believe it or not, it's based off a very serious conversation Sasuke and Hinata had in Stuffy Noses. Having quit writing for so long, I decided to recycle one of my plot bunnies.

And yes, Power Rangers. I realize it'd probably be called Super Sentai or something over in Japan, but I couldn't resist. Six year old Sasuke would be just as vulnerable to addiction to cheesy superhero shows as other six year olds, right? XD

And, just for fun, one of the paragraphs I ended up cutting out:

"B-but I was…here first…um…Itachi-niisan, are you going to watch-?"

Blank silence.

As the TV screen flickered on to show something that definitely wasn't power-suited, super-hero action, Sasuke grabbed his mommy's hand and yanked her out to take a walk.

Anyway. Please read and review. Mainly because it's been months since I've written something even remotely fun and not standard-student-essay-response-to-the-yuckiest-topics-schools-can-give-you-about-century-old-books. :)