The sun had set long ago, and now the moon was shining down brightly. Mirai seen her house in the distance and was dreading every step she took towards it. It wasn't that she hated home, but being out two hours after curfew without informing her mother wasn't exactly comforting. Mirai knew that her mother would yell at her, but what she didn't expect was for that yelling to be tonight.

Mirai tried to slowly open the door, hoping that her mother was asleep. She was cautious with every move: slowly taking off her shoes, tiptoeing to her bedroom, ensuring that the wooden floors didn't squeak. She was sure that her mother didn't hear anything, or at least she thought.

"Mirai...Come here." Kurenai called from out her own bedroom. Her voice wasn't loud or harsh like Mirai had expected, but instead it was calm and for some reason this was scarier than the yelling she had expected.

Taking a deep breath, Mirai opened the door to her mother's room, stepping in. She stood closely by the door as she watched her mother sit on the bed with her legs folded.

"You think I would be asleep without knowing where you are?" Mirai was never one to disobey her mother. In fact, it was rare for Mirai to do anything like this. So Kurenai wasn't angry, she was worried about her daughter.

"No" Mirai whispered, looking down, avoiding the bright red eyes of her mother as they intensely stared at her. Even in this pitch black room, her mother's eyes seemed to perfectly visible.

"So why did you try to sneak in, and why didn't you tell me where you were?"

"Because I needed some time to think...that's all."

"But I was expecting you to come straight home after your first day of training. I wanted to hear all about it. I called Shikamaru to ask where you were and he said you headed home, but I called Ino and she told you went to visit-"

"I didn't have a great first day mom." Mirai finally admitted as tears started to run down her face. Kurenai ran to hug her, allowing her daughters tears to run down her dress. "I disappointed Shikamaru, and I knew that would only disappoint you. So I went to talk to dad, because I felt like he was the only one who I could talk to."

"There's nothing you can do to disappoint me Mirai. Now what happened?"

"We had one simple task and I failed. Only one person passed and"

"And let me guess, you thought he was the weakest out the three of you?"

"Well I wasn't going to say it like that. In class he just never proved he had any skill. That's all."

"You can't underestimate people Mirai." Kurenai took a step back to glance down at her daughter, placing her hands on Mirai's shoulders. "Once, there was this shy girl who I had to train, and because she didn't speak out loud and a gentle, kind nature, everyone believed her to be weak. But many times she proved herself, putting herself in danger to show her strength and determination. To this day I still believe she is one of the strongest shinobi I met."

"Who was she?" Mirai wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes, finally able to keep her composure.

"Now, that would be no fun just telling you the answer. Part of being a shinobi is figuring things out on your own. I'm pretty sure you'll talk to her, and I bet she could tell her story better than I did." Kurenai had a sly smile on her face that kinda creeped Mirai out. All Mirai wanted was the name of the person so she could have a conversation with her. She knew that if she got advice maybe she could understand her teammate more, but maybe her mother was right. I would be best to learn something on her own.

"Momm..." Mirai tried to beg on last time, but her mom quickly interrupted her.

"Time for bed Mirai, You've stayed up long enough already."

"Fine...good night mom." Mirai headed to the bathroom, ready to take a shower and hop in the bed.

"Good night Mirai." Kurenai quickly grabbed her before she could leave the room completely and placed a kiss on her forehead.