AN2: You guys trust me not to use stupid cliches in stupid ways, right? If you run into something that bugs you, just bear with it a little bit and I think you'll see a decent payoff.
ooOoo
I always had trouble sleeping when I was a kid. It's actually not unheard of for a six year old to suffer from insomnia, not in a place like Konoha where military service starts young and military training starts even younger. In my case, the problem wasn't anything to do with the training-rather, the problem lay with my fellow trainees.
I was a natural target for bullies at that age. I was a quiet kid, and preferred the company of my books to the company of my classmates. My unusually colored pink hair and large forehead provided convenient hooks for my tormentors. It only took a week or so from the time the academy began for somebody to coin the term "billboard brow," after which my given name was only ever used by my instructors.
They didn't escalate to physical abuse until a month after school started, when I made the mistake of upstaging Ami Uzuki in class. I didn't really mean to do it, but I had a hard time staying quiet when the instructor asked an easy question. Of course, Ami didn't accept that excuse, and I was sporting a black eye before afternoon classes started.
That seemed to open the floodgates, and there soon developed a group of girls that couldn't hold a candle to me in the classroom, but who were able and willing to demonstrate their practical superiority over me in the ninja arts at every opportunity. My days at the academy became a steady drumbeat of taunting and beatings, only interrupted by class sessions.
After school I would escape to the library. At first I hoped to find some kind of super powerful technique that would let me fight off the bullies, but that kind of information wasn't shared with the general public. The library contained some helpful reference materials, but nothing of any immediate practical use. Still, the supervising chuunin would prevent any fights from breaking out, and I was happy to have a refuge to do my homework and escape into fictional ninja adventures like the Legend of the Gutsy Shinobi. It was always with a heavy heart that I left the library to head home for dinner and, all too soon, bed time.
When falling asleep would just bring me closer to the next day's torment, is in it any wonder that I would stay awake late into the night? Falling asleep offered little respite in any event, as my dreams were filled with images of bullying from the past and anticipated bullying in the future.
After a few weeks of sleepless nights, the waking world started to take on a dreamlike quality. Days and nights blurred together, and at any given moment I had a hard time distinguishing between a beating Ami was currently administering and the dream in which I relived it. Meeting Ino stands out as the most real memory that I have from that time.
Ami and her friends Fuki and Kasumi had me surrounded in an open field. We were in the middle of a class on flower arranging, but the instructor had moved on to teach another group and wasn't paying any attention to us. I knew from experience that tattling was futile-Ami would be the picture of innocence by the time the teacher arrived, and nobody would do anything when it was just my word against hers. Besides, the Academy generally believed in letting us future ninja work things out for ourselves. In any event, Ami had shoved me down to the ground, and was stepping forward to dish out more punishment when a flower hit her forehead, stem first.
Ami stopped, more out of surprise than anything else, and I saw a blonde girl step between us and address my tormenter.
"Why don't you try picking on somebody else for once?" She asked, her voice clear and confident. "Or try picking a fight that isn't three on one?"
"Why you-" Ami began, throwing a punch at my protector. Ami was cut off when the blonde dodged to the side and trapped her arm. I recognized the hold as part of the taijutsu forms we were being taught, but I never would have been confident enough to try it in an actual fight.
"Ha! Not so confident when somebody fights back, are you?" The blonde girl taunted. Fuki tried to move in and save Ami, but stopped when Ami let out a pained yelp. "If you try to gang up on me, I can break her arm. Do you think I won't do it?"
Her voice, which had started out clear and cheerful, was now low and menacing. I felt a shiver down my spine at her words, even though she had only acted so far to protect me. Fuki and Kasumi ran off, presumably to find a teacher. The blonde released Ami, shoving her down to the ground, and I wasn't surprised when Ami scrambled away as quickly as she could. I was surprised when my protector turned to face me, as none of the dangerous anger that had colored her voice was apparent on her face.
"Hi there!" She said, holding out her hand. "I'm Ino. Want to be friends?"
I nodded my agreement as I accepted her hand up. I was still too shy to look her in the eyes, instead focusing my eyes on the ground and hiding behind my hair.
"Hey, you shouldn't hide like that," Ino said, pushing my bangs back from my face. "You have a cute face, you should show it off."
I smiled back at her as I started to hope that things were going to change for me. That night, I slept like a baby.
ooOoo
Ino was everything I wanted to be: pretty, popular, and confident in her abilities as a ninja. I was a little worried at first that she might be trying to build me up so that she could cut me down as some kind of cruel prank, but those fears soon fell by the wayside. She never really talked me up to her friends, but she never put me down either, instead helping me to become more confident so I could make friends of my own.
We were nearly inseperable after school ended. I would follow Ino out to the training grounds and watch her work out. She trained with an intensity that was almost frightening, showing a single minded commitment at improving that I could only admire. I would train a little on my own, but often just watching her train was such an intense experience that I felt drained afterwards.
In turn, Ino joined me in the library when she was done with her physical training. She was as disappointed as I was at the lack of an awesome technique depository, but she refused to give up on the idea like I had. While I did my academy homework and relaxed with recreational reading, she would try to cross reference wildly varying reference materials in an attempt to put together some kind of secret technique. Of course, even a remarkable six year old like Ino didn't enjoy any success cobbling a technique together from scratch.
At the time that we met, Ino and I actually had similar middling to low rankings in the class taijutsu ladder, but that didn't last. Ino's training showed up in the results as she began a steady climb up the ladder until, two years after we first met, only a few of the boys stood above her. Even they would never take her lightly in a spar-Ino fought with complete dedication and absolute confidence, and nobody walked away from a fight with her unmarked. Being her friend, I couldn't help but improve somewhat in taijutsu, but I still lagged behind her in the rankings. I didn't mind, though, as I maintained my standing as tops in the academic rankings.
Ino introduced me to many social customs, including the appreciation of boys. When we were nine we founded the Sasuke Fan Club, dedicated to the admiration and emulation of our class's top ninja. Ino was president, and wore a red and black armband in honor of the Uchiha clan's bloodline, the mighty Sharingan. I was the club treasurer and secretary and, to show my support, changed out my red hair ribbon for a ribbon of alternating red and black stripes.
Club meetings were largely devoted to ninja training. As far as we knew, prowess in the ninja arts was the only thing Sasuke was interested in, so we were determined to be the best kunoichi that we could be. It was at our celebration of our first anniversery as a club that Ino showed me her first original technique.
"Hey, check this out!" Ino called out, before punching a log. She left a good sized dent, and then jogged across the clearing to stand next to me. "That's about as hard as I can hit, right?"
"Right," I agreed. I could put nearly as much of a dent in the log, although my punches would not be delivered with the same skill. I was shocked out of my thoughts when Ino disappeared in a blur, reappearing with a loud crack as she put her fist most of the way through the log.
"Ha!" She shouted. "It works!"
"What the hell?" I asked, perplexed. "How is that possible?"
After taking a few seconds to work her fist free of the training log, Ino walked over to me and rolled up her captain's arm band. Underneath I could see a tattoo in a strange, abstract design.
"This seal," Ino explained, "allows for a burst of great speed and strength. Unfortunately it will be several hours before it can be used again."
"And how did you get ahold of a seal like that?" I asked.
"I made it." Ino said, smiling smugly at my obvious disbelief. "A bunch of those books in the library talk about different aspects of seal design, it wasn't that hard to put the bits and pieces together into something useful."
"No way." I said, shaking my head. "Absolutely no way does an academy student invent a brand new seal just like that."
"Well..." Ino said, putting her finger to her chin. "I may have had to conduct some animal experiments before I arrived at the final design."
"What?" I asked.
"Oh, it was just some stray cats that nobody is going to miss." Ino said, waving her hand dismissively. "I didn't put the seal on myself until I had a few successes under my belt. So, do you want one for yourself?"
"No way!" I exclaimed. "It's pure luck you didn't kill yourself with that thing, I don't want you to burn out my chakra coils or something."
"Suit yourself." Ino said, shrugging. "Just one more advantage for me in the fight for Sasuke's heart."
"Please," I replied, "Sasuke doesn't need to date some thug for her battlefield prowess. He needs a theoretical genius like me to back him up in the areas where he hasn't focused."
ooOoo
Neither one of us managed to win Sasuke's heart by the time graduation rolled around. I was pretty pleased when I graduated as the top kunoichi in the class-the instructors all said that my taijutsu needed to be more consistent, but my academic performance was head and shoulders above the competition. Ino passed too, of course, and the real battle would be joined the next day, when our teams were announced.
When our sensei said that I would be on Sasuke's team, I was so happy that I spaced out throughout the remainder of his speech, focusing on my future with Sasuke instead of the construction of the other teams. I came out of my little daydream to see that all of the other teams had left, and Ino and Naruto were both in the room with Sasuke and me.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked, indignant.
"What? I'm on this team too." Naruto replied.
"Yeah, didn't you hear?" Ino asked. "Or were you just so excited to be on the same team as Sasuke that you stopped paying attention to your environment? Violating Shinobi Rule Eight, not a good way to start your career."
"Whatever." I replied. "Just stay out of my way while I win Sasuke's heart."
"Not likely." Ino said, sticking her tongue out at me.
Sasuke just grunted, not wanting to be drawn into our argument.
Figuring that our new commander wasn't going to show up any time soon, I pulled out a book and settled down to read, ignoring Ino's comments about how I was never going to impress Sasuke by being a bookworm. Sasuke was content to stare holes in the wall, while Naruto was a little stir crazy, pacing around the classroom like a caged animal. After an hour had passed, Naruto expressed his displeasure with the delay by setting an eraser across the to of the door, poised to fall on the next person to walk in.
I was about to express my skepticism that a jounin would ever be caught by such a simple prank when the door opened, and the eraser fell onto the head of our instructor. He ignored the chalk dust as he surveyed the room with his one visible eye, his expression remaining placid throughout.
"My first impression is... disappointment." With that statement, he turned and walked out of the room. We all scrambled to follow as he led us out of the room. He didn't seem inclined to say anything, and we all followed his lead and kept silent. Finally he led us out onto the roof, and turned to watch us with his single visible eye.
"Now, I'd like you all to tell us a little about yourselves." He said.
"Like what?" I asked.
"You know, the usual. Your favorite thing, what you hate most. Dreams, ambitions, hobbies, things like that." He answered, spreading his arms as if to invite a reply. None of us jumped in to say anything, and I took the opportunity to examine our instructor. He was dressed in fairly nondescript clothing, topped off with a standard Konoha combat vest. The most distinctive thing about him was the mask that covered the bottom half of his face, making his expressions difficult to read. He had a striking shock of grey hair, held back by his forehead protector, which he wore slanted down across his face to cover his left eye.
After a moment, Naruto broke the silence. "Help us out here, sensei. You go first. Show us how it's done."
"Me?" He asked. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm the kind of herson who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams are none of your business... but anyway, I have lots of hobbies."
"Hey, he said a lot," I said, thinking out loud. "But all we really learned was his name."
"Yeah, this is stupid!" Ino said, nearly shouting in her anger. "I'm not going to tell you anything if you aren't going to tell us anything."
"Tsch," Kakashi said, his indifferent body posture remaining unchanged. "Let's start with you on the right."
As Naruto launched into a paen to ramen-and to his dream of becoming Hokage-I took a second look at our sensei. I expected that a senior ninja would be a lot more serious. Kakashi didn't even really carry himself like a ninja, instead standing in a relaxed slouch couldn't be farther from a decent combat stance. On the other hand, if he really was an elite ninja, he could be so strong that the normal shinobi rules didn't apply to him. He certainly didn't seem inclined to obey the rule about punctuality.
Sasuke was the next to introduce himself, explaining that his only dream was to kill a single man. I was a little taken aback by that-everybody knew that Sasuke had lost his family in some kind of tragic event, but he seemed to be saying that it was all caused by a single person. For one person to kill the Uchiha, he had to be monstrously strong. If catching that person was his goal, that certainly helped explain Sasuke's focus on his training. That drive was part of what made Sasuke so attractive, of course, and I was heartened to hear that part of his dream was to rebuild his clan... now I just have to worry about beating out Ino for his attention.
I stammered my way through my introduction. I was embarassed to be so open about my crush on Sasuke, but I couldn't back down, not with Ino right there. When I was done, Kakashi dropped a bombshell: we would have to take another test, this one with a 66% failure rate, before we could count ourselves as ninja.
He told us not to eat breakfast the next morning, but I had a hard time even choking down some food for dinner with such an alarming task ahead of me.
ooOoo
I was the first to arrive to our meeting place the next morning. Well, technically Ino arrived at the same time, but I sat down in front of the training posts before she did. We both got there fifteen minutes before the designated time, and we both had brought some reading material in case our sensei was late again. I had brought the publicly available information on Kakashi that I had been able to dig up, hoping that I could find a weakness on review that hadn't jumped out at me yesterday. As I started flipping through the pages, I saw that Ino was looking over some kind of technique scroll, although she kept it angled away so I couldn't see exactly what it was.
Naruto and Sasuke arrived minutes apart, right around the appointed meeting time. Our teacher didn't show up until three hours later.
"You're late!" We all said in unison, our first real moment of team togetherness. Kakashi didn't respond as he set an alarm clock down on one of the training stumps.
"I've set this alarm clock to go off at noon." He said. I was about to say something about how he could have used the alarm clock earlier in the day when he continued. "I have here two small bells. Your challenge is to steal them from me before the timer sounds."
Kakashi held up a pair of bells for our examination. They were not much larger than the tip of his thumb, and were attached to short pieces of string. He tied the bells to his belt before he continued.
"Anyone who fails, doesn't get any lunch." He explained. "Instead, you will be tied to that tree stump, so I can eat your lunch in front of you."
Beside me, Naruto groaned as his stomach let out a well-timed rumble. I could feel a sympathetic gurgle starting up in my gut, but I held it down with sheer force of will. It wouldn't do to look unladylike in front of Sasuke.
"All you need is just one bell apiece," Kakashi continued, "but since there aren't enough to go around, one of you is definitely headed for the stump. Whoever that is will be the first of you to fail. One of you is on your way back to school... and disgrace."
Kakashi paused a moment to let that sink in. "Attack as though you mean to kill or you'll never stand a chance."
"But that's so dangerous..." I said, half to myself. In the academy we were never allowed to use live weapons, or use potentially lethal moves. For our instructor to invite that kind of thing, he must be really strong.
"You couldn't even dodge an eraser!" Naruto called out, ably demonstrating how two genin could look at the same statement and come to two totally different conclusions. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"Only the weak speak loudly." Kakashi said, unruffled. "Now let's forget the dunce, and we'll start on my signal."
That was too much for Naruto, and with a growl he drew a kunai and charged. It was an impressive effort, and looked like it might succeed, as Kakashi didn't react at all. Just before Naruto was in striking range, there was a blur of motion, and Naruto was face-first on the ground with his own kunai held against the back of his head.
"Not so fast. I didn't say 'go.'" Kakashi said, still calm. "But at least you struck to kill... it seems you've begun to respect me."
With that, Kakashi released Naruto and gave the signal to start. I immediately darted for a hiding place in the brush surrounding the clearing with Ino by my side. Sasuke disappeared somewhere, and Naruto stayed in the clearing where he challenged our sensei directly.
Naruto showed some impressive skill-including a solid clone technique that must have been some kind of clan secret-but the ending was a foregone conclusion. Kakashi didn't even have to use both hands to make a fool out of him. When Naruto was strung up in the tree by a simple rope trap, I tugged on Ino's sleeve and we withdrew into the forest to find Sasuke.
Sasuke wasn't the rookie of the year for nothing, though, and he proved surprisingly difficult to find. I don't know how long we were wandering around in the forest before I finally heard Sasuke's voice calling out for me. Something about it sounded off, but I didn't realize what it was until I rounded the last tree that separated us.
"Please... help me." He gasped out, voice raw in a way I had never heard before. He staggered forward a few more steps, and then collapsed to his knees. It was amazing that he had been on his feet to begin with, as shuriken and kunai peppered every limb, and a fair few were pinned in his chest and back.
For all that, it was the kunai embedded in his throat that held my attention, and as I watched his lifeblood seep from his body I felt consciousness escape me.
ooOoo
I woke in the clearing where our team had originally met. I rubbed my aching head, lamenting the physical side effects that came along with what must have been a high-level genjutsu. A bento box was placed next to me, and a glance to my right showed Sasuke with his own lunch. Naruto was tied to the post on the other side of me, trying to look defiant despite the obvious hunger in his eyes. Kakashi stood in front of us, lazy as ever, although he looked a little disappointed.
"I have an announcement about this exercise." Kakashi said. "None of you need to worry about going back to the academy."
I felt my heart leap. After my pathetic performance I didn't understand how I had even earned lunch, and now he was announcing we had passed. Next to me Naruto was doing his best to jump up and down in celebration.
"Yes!" Naruto shouted. "This means we all-"
"Are hopeless." Kakashi interrupted. "More schooling would be pointless. None of you will ever be shinobi. Not one of you has what it takes."
"Give me a break!" Naruto yelled. "So maybe none of us got one of your stupid bells. So what, we can still be great ninja."
"Really, when your every action has been an insult to every real ninja?" Kakashi said, glaring at us. "Did you miss the entire point of this exercise?"
"It had a point?" Naruto asked.
"Of course. And that point determines whether or not you would succeed." Kakashi replied.
"But..." I said, "you didn't tell us what it is."
"I don't believe this." Kakashi said, shaking his head. "The point is teamwork. If you had come at me together you might have been able to take the bells."
"Wait a minute!" I replied, "Even if we'd worked together, there weren't enough bells to go around. You preach teamwork, but you played us off against each other!"
"Of course." Kakashi said. "This test was designed to cause dissension in your ranks. The situation was set up to reveal which of you would set aside your own individual interests and propose to the others that you work together for the good of all.
"Instead of which, you all acted as individuals. No matter what your individual strength," Kakashi continued, pausing to stare at Sasuke and me, "making a play as an individual is bad for the team and exposes your comrades to unnecessary danger."
Kakashi turned away from us for a moment, and seemed to be lost in thought. I thought he might be looking at the stone marker on the other side of the training ground, but I couldn't tell from where I was sitting. After a moment he shook his head and turned back to us.
"I'm giving you all one last chance. One that will be far more difficult than our last little game with the bells." He said. "If you're prepared to continue, you may eat one of the bento boxes. But no sharing with Naruto, he goes hungry."
"What? Why?" I asked. The instruction certainly seemed contrary to his big speech on teamwork.
"He brought it on himself when he tried to sneak lunch for himself." Kakashi said. "If one of you feeds him, you fail the test right here. My word is law, you understand."
With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto tried to play off his hunger, but he was obviously suffering. Going directly at Kakashi like he had must have taken a lot out of him. I was trying to decide what to do when Sasuke held out his lunch to Naruto.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, obviously surprised at the gesture of kindness from Sasuke.
"Kakashi is probably miles away by now, and we'll all need our strength if we're going to work together to get those bells." Sasuke said. "You're no good to me if you're just going to be a liability."
"He's right, forehead." Ino said, walking across the clearing toward us. "We're going to need all the help we can get to get a bell, and Naruto is no good to us how he is."
I chewed my lip for a moment, still worried about the potential fallout, before holding out my lunch for Naruto. He smiled at me and was just taking his first bite when there was another puff of smoke and all the light in the clearing seemed to go out.
"You guys..." Kakashi said, appearing behind us with an ominous look on his face. He didn't say anything for a moment, and suddenly the atmosphere lightened. "Pass!"
"What?" I asked. "But we broke your rule."
"You have just taken a giant step forward. Up until now, all any of you have done is listen unquestioningly to everything I say. A true shinobi seeks for the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings." Kakashi explained. "In a ninja's world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders are lower than garbage. However, those who do not care for and support their fellows are lower than that."
We all paused to consider that bit of wisdom before the import of the rest of his statement hit us. Naruto started jumping up and down again like an idiot, celebrating our passage. Ino and I were more restrained, merely sharing a satisfied smile. Sasuke barely reacted at all.
"That's all for today, team seven." Kakashi said. "Your duties will commence tomorrow!"
ooOoo
Our duties turned out to be largely comprised of household chores. Babysitting for important village figures, digging weeds out of personal gardens, fetching groceries for the elderly... the most excitement we had was catching a runaway cat.
I didn't mind the monotonous duties too much. Ino was good company, even if the boys on the team didn't seem to appreciate her sense of humor. Chatting with her helped the time go faster, and we still trained on our own when the team wasn't on a mission.
I could see that Naruto was not enjoying the basic missions like I was, and it was no surprise when he threw a temper tantrum in the mission assignment room. What was a surprise was when the Hokage responded by personally assigning us a C-rank mission. It was even an escort mission, which sounded pretty cool. I didn't think ninja got rewarded for acting up like Naruto had, and my intuitions proved correct when we met the client.
Tazuna, the self-styled "greatest bridge builder in the world," was one of the most annoying people I'd ever met-and I worked with Naruto every day. Our mission assignment meeting was taking place in the early afternoon, and Tazuna already smelled strongly enough of sake that I had noticed it before he even walked in the door. He managed to insult pretty much our entire team within a minute of meeting us, and I was a little disappointed when Kakashi restrained Naruto from assaulting him.
Still, Tazuna was a client, and even an annoying escort mission would get us out of the village. After packing for a long journey, our team met the following morning to set out. I couldn't help feeling a little nervous at taking on my first official ninja duties outside the walls of Konoha.
Evidently Tazuna was feeling a little nervous too. At first he seemed content to drown his concerns in sake, but after a few days on the trail he was openly questioning our ability to keep him safe. Kakashi was explaining for the third time that day that yes, we were all trained ninja, and yes, Kakashi was an elite who could keep us all safe by himself, when the attack happened.
One minute Kakashi was talking, and the next there was a horrible tearing sound and an explosion of gore. A bloody chain stretched across the area where our teacher had been, each end held by a masked man. Our two opponents each wore some kind of rebreather on their face, and across their foreheads was a forehead protector from the Hidden Mist, with a line scratched through the symbol. So, we were facing missing nin.
"One down." One of them said, before the other continued. "And one to go."
With that, they charged forward, aiming to take out Tazuna. I stood, frozen, while around me my teammates burst into action. Sasuke leapt towards one of the missing nin, while Ino shot past me in a blur towards the other. I saw Ino's opponent ready himself for her charge when she disappeared in a burst of speed, reappearing with a kunai thrust through his throat.
Ino's momentum carried the two of them to the ground, and she pulled her kunai out of his throat and began repeatedly stabbing him in the face. She was shouting something, but I couldn't make it out exactly. I was shocked into immobility as I watched the blood fountain out of the missing nin, soaking Ino's arms and splashing onto her face. She didn't stop until a familiar voice spoke up from behind her.
"I think that one's not going to be any more trouble." Kakashi said.
"Sensei!" Ino exclaimed, whirling about to confirm what she had heard. "But, they killed you?"
"A simple replacement technique." Kakashi said, gesturing towards the spot where he had been "killed." A mangled log stood in his place. "I apologize for the deception, but I had to know whether they were after me, or our client."
Kakashi turned and fixed a hard gaze on Tazuna. "I think it's time we had a talk."
ooOoo
Learning that an incredibly wealthy man wanted Tazuna dead and was willing to hire missing nin to accomplish the task was just the icing on the cake. We all agreed to continue with the mission, of course, but our paranoia was ramped up to another level. Fortunately, there were no further incidents that day.
When we made camp, Kakashi announced that we would be keeping double watches, just to be safe. It was a sign of how worried we all were that nobody complained. I walked away from the others to wash up before dinner, and sensei followed me.
"Look," he said, scratching the back of his head, "I'm really not the best at giving advice on stuff like this, but I know your first deadly encounter can be difficult."
I looked down in shame. I had completely frozen up and left it to my teammates to protect me. I couldn't keep doing that, I couldn't be dead weight. "I understand, sensei. I'll do better next time."
"That's not-" he said, then sighed. "Just, if you need somebody to talk to, let me know, ok?"
I nodded, although I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, and he seemed to be satisfied.
I was still mulling over our conversation the next day while we travelled. I was distracted from my thoughts when I tripped and fell, and then grateful for the momentary bout of clumsiness when a giant sword flew over my head. Kakashi got everybody else down quickly enough to avoid the sword, but I knew that would hardly be the end of this encounter.
Sure enough, when I turned to see where the sword wound up, it was stuck into a tree with a man standing on top of it. Even from a distance, I could tell that he was on a whole different level from the two we had fought earlier. There was an aura of malevolence around him that promised a swift and certain death, and I had to wonder if Kakashi was up to the task of keeping us all alive.
I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything against a monster like that.