"Very much! You look nice."

She smiles at her and heads towards the door. "Uh. Do you know how to get there?"

"...Um. We can ask Iruka-sensei where she lives? That'd be mildly embarrassing but not as much as getting lost and running late."

"...do you also know where he lives?" She tries to surpress an amused smile 

"Yeah, I do. He should be home by now, what with school getting out early... C'mon, he's pretty near the Academy."

Sora follows Rian.

She explains the problem to Iruka once they get there (he's amused, but mostly hiding it), and he gives them Sayuri's address. Luckily, they can still get there in plenty of time, even without hurrying.

Sora stays silent and keeps a distance between herself and Iruka. She's vaguely uncomfortable.

"Thank you, sensei." She says as they leave.

"You're welcome, Sora. Both of you feel free to stop by anytime you need something, I'm here to help."

And they leave. "Have you been to see him often?"

"Not super much, though I needed some help with schoolwork at one point - I was having trouble remembering all the kanji we were learning, and struggling with math on top of that. He helped me figure out how to learn, which was nice."

"..that was really nice of him. Huh."

"I'm pretty sure he helps out anyone who asks. He's always been my favorite of our teachers - he just. Cares more, I guess."

"I can see that. I think he didn't much like me when he first started teaching us. But he never treated me any different from anyone else. He seems to have mellowed out a bit now though."

Small smile. "You're a hard person to dislike, once somebody gets to know you."

She blushes. "Most people don't get that far, I supppse."

"More fools them."

Sora is silent at this and eventually they arrive at a nice little house in a very respectable neighborhood.

"Are we early?"

Rian shrugs. "Not by much, I don't think."

Theres movement at the window and then the door opens and Sayuri runs out to greet them.

"Hi! Oh wow you two look really good! I like your hair clip, Sora. And it matches your shirt, Rian. That's so sweet." She jumps around on her feet with nervous energy. "My mama is really excited to meet you both. And I've made a lot of food, I hope you're hungry!"

"Thanks! I'm excited to meet your mom, too. And I'm definitely plenty hungry!"

This is a definite good first sign. "Me too. Did you have a good day since we last saw you?"

"Yup! I went to the market with Ino and we did a bunch of shopping. Mostly groceries for tonight, but also a couple of new clothes. I wanted to replace one of my shirts, I tore one of my old ones while training last week and instead of mending it mama let me pick out a new one as a graduation present. And we went by her families shop and picked out a floral arrangement, Ino knows how to pick the best flowers-"

She leads them into the house, and slips on her house slippers. "I also picked up some new slippers for you both to use when you visit!"

She follows Sayuri's lead. "Thank you again. You really didn't have to go to all this trouble..."

"We're a team now. This is what that looks like. Or at least that's what Ino's mum said. She's usually right about most things. So get used to it." She smiles wide.