Rui walked though the streets of Konoha, not feeling particularly sad, nor particularly happy. He was simply bored and in need of something to do.

A few years ago, Rui would have gone out and scared a few innocent kids to amuse himself. However, he was no longer the ruthless rouge that he had once been.

Now, he amused himself by going out and flirting with innocent girls.

He supposed he hadn't changed that much.

With that thought in mind, Rui spotted his target; a pretty blonde reading a book under the shade of a large oak tree. Grinning evilly, Rui strolled over to her and plopped down beside her.

"Hmm." Rui glanced at the cover of the book. "Is that a good book?"

The girl hummed in response, but otherwise didn't acknowledge Rui's existence.

Rui continued. "So, what's a beautiful girl like you doing all by herself?"

Finally, the girl looked up at Rui with light brown eyes. "I am obviously reading, and reading is usually done by yourself."

Rui cocked his head. "You sure are a pretty one."

"Is that all you've got?" The girl looked back down at the book.

Rui growled. "Hey! I was trying to be nice!"

"Sure. You're one of those guys who just go out and flirt for the sake of flirting, aren't you?" The girl didn't lift her head.

Rui fell silent and just simply rested his head on the trunk of the tree, consenting to defeat.

The next morning, Rui found his feet carrying to the the same tree. He sat under it and waited. For what? He wasn't sure.

The blonde girl soon arrived, her book stashed under her arm. "What are you doing here?"

Rui shrugged, not really knowing himself.

The girl copied his response, shrugging as well, before sitting down beside him and opening her book.

After a few hours of silence, the girl finished her book, stood up, and left.

The next day, Rui found himself doing the same thing.

And the next.

And the one after that too.

Soon, it became a hobby for him. He would check in with the hokage to see if she had any odd jobs for him, and if not, he would go straight to the tree.

Finally, on the third month of sitting in comfortable silence with the girl, Rui realized that he didn't even know her name, considering that most days they didn't talk much if at all. He had just been referring to her as 'The Girl' in his head.

But Rui found himself content with this. That was, until Sakura showed up.

"Rui!" A voice thundered. "Are you avoiding me?" Sakura suddenly appeared before him.

"What? No!"

"Ok, then why did you ditch my plans for lunch to sit here with..." Rui's eyes widened when Sakura's narrowed at The Girl. "Who are you?"

The Girl had a similar expression of panic. "I-I'm sorry Ma'am." She stammered. "My name is Lihn, and I didn't mean to be here with your boyfriend. I can assure you that nothing happened."

Sakura froze. Rui froze. Lihn froze. Sakura burst out in laughter.

"Him? My boyfriend?" She laughed so hard she had to slide down to the ground, clutching her stomach. Rui joined in with the laughter, partly because Sakura's laughter was contagious, and partly because Lihn's confused face was adorable.

Sakura finally stopped laughing and sat down beside Rui, looking over at Lihn. "Rui's my older brother."

"But you two look nothing alike!" Lihn protested.

"Not by blood." Rui confirmed. "We're kinda like adoptive siblings. Though I don't think we've ever met each other's parents..." He trailed off for a second. "It's complicated."

"So, Lihn." Sakura scooted forwards and sat cross-legged in front of them. "What are you reading?"

"The Tales of The Utterly Gusty Shinobi." Lihn answered with the smile she had yet to give Rui. Rui was captivated by it.

The conversation continued between the two girls, but Rui payed no attention to the dialogue, instead focusing on the cute flick of Lihn's eyebrow every time she answered a question. Or how her brown eyes revealed flecks of gold in the rays of light shining though the canopy of leaves above them. And how her wispy, blonde hair fell in soft curls over her shoulders and down her back, twisting and turning in the slight breeze that blew by.

Sakura suddenly turned to Rui with a teasing glint in her eyes. "I approve." With that, she stood up and left.

Lihn turned to Rui with question in her eyes.

Rui shrugged. "I dunno, she can be a bit of a weird one sometimes."