I opened the door to my apartment, with Riku following in close behind.

He whined at me.

"I know, Riku, it was a tough day training. I'll let you rest while I go get something to eat at Ichiraku's, 'kay?"

He threw me a grateful glance, and plopped down onto the couch.

I glanced around the room, and a feeling of peace entered me.

My apartment was small, but reasonable. Clean, with a few pieces of furniture that the landlady had let me borrow.

She had way too much for her own good anyways.

My stomach growled.

"All right," I muttered, "I'm going. Catch you later, Riku!"

I closed the door behind me, not bothering to lock it.

I don't own anything worth enough to get stolen, and Riku's a pretty good watchdog.

Er, I mean, fox.

I sped towards Ichiraku's, which should be full by now, considering it was about noon.

I was right.

I usually am.

I got an empty seat next to Naruto.

"Hey, Natsumi!" He greeted me with a grin, as well as a mouthful of ramen.

I grinned back at him. I couldn't help it. His cheerfulness just rubs off on others.

Well, with a few exceptions, of course....

And speaking of exceptions, two of them were sitting right next to him.

"Sasuke, Sakura." I smiled shyly at them.

I get shy around others I don't know very well. Other than that, I'm usually pretty hyper.

Especially after one of Ichiraku's super special ingredient ramen.

Sakura smiled in welcome, but Sasuke just nodded.

"What will ya have?" the cook smiled at me.

"The usual, please!" I responded, and he started fixing my order.

"So Naruto-kun, what did you do today?" I turned and asked him.

He grinned and filled me in on today's training with Jiraiya-sensei.

This was one of the few people I could hold a conversation with, mostly because he rambled, and therefore supplied most of the talk required.

When my order came in, Naruto had just finished his ninth bowl of ramen.

I'm telling you, that kid has an unmatched appetite. I can hardly finish one bowl, and here he is, getting ready to eat his tenth.

"Now, now, Naruto, don't go and make yourself sick. We have a lot to do this afternoon." I heard Kakashi-sensei before I saw him.

"Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei!" I greeted him enthusiastically.

He smiled his one eyed smile. "I see you've been spending a lot of time with Naruto here."

I grinned at him, and Naruto got confused. I guess he just doesn't understand the unique power he holds.

Kakashi-sensei and I are kind of close. And not in that kind of way.

When I first got to Konoha, Kakashi showed me around. I think of him as a close friend.

He waited for all of us to finish our lunch, then talked to his squad about a recent mission of pulling weeds. I started to walk away, but he saw me and called me back.

"When I'm done with these three, I have something I need to ask you, Natsumi-chan."

I gave him a confused look, but nodded anyway.

He quickly finished talking to them, and they walked off together, bickering about something.

I shook my head at them. "They're slowly becoming a team."

He nodded and smiled after them.

After a few moments, he became serious and looked back at me. "But we have more pressing matters. Follow me."

He disappeared, and I did the same.

We arrived at an apartment building. I recognized it as mine.

Following his lead, I led him to my apartment, no. 18, and opened it.

Everything was just as I left it. Riku was still curled up on the sofa, and nothing was out of place.

"What --" I started to ask, but he cut me off.

"Wait."

I stood still as he began to search my apartment. For what, I had no clue. And, seeing as I had nothing to hide from a Jounin, friend or sensei, I let him continue until he was done, staying in the exact same position.

Finally, he seemed content, and sat down on the sofa, next to Riku. I nudged Riku, and instantly he was awake, hopping off of the sofa in an instant, staring intently at Kakashi-sensei.

He sighed. "Why don't you sit down?"

Curious, I complied.

He sighed again, running his hands through his hair. "I hate to be the one to ask you this, Natsumi-chan...." He muttered.

I was silent, waiting for him to continue.

"...but, Tsunade-sama herself asked me to do this, so I have no choice but to obey. Natsumi, has anyone been in your apartment lately?"

I cocked my head at him. "Other than you, me and Riku, no. Why?"

"Well..." He paused, and took off his mask abruptly.

Every time I see his face, I have to remember to breathe properly.

It's just so breathtakingly gorgeous.

"Some people have been muttering that you...well...that you've been in communication with the Akatsuki." He finished.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are they really? Why?"

Kakashi-sensei shrugged.

My eyes widened. I'd never seen him at a loss of words before.

"Sensei...."I said softly, "I would never betray the village like that. Konoha is my home; you know that."

He looked up and into my eyes, staring hard, as if searching. I merely returned the gaze.

Suddenly, he smiled. "All right. I'm glad I can return to Tsunade-sama with good news." He ruffled my hair playfully, put on his mask, and disappeared.

An anger I hadn't realized I'd been holding in shot out of me.

"How dare those idiotic villagers accuse me, me, of all people! I obey the rules! Is it just because I don't talk to most other people?!" I felt the urge to punch something really hard.

Riku whined. And for the first time in my life, I ignored him.

I left the apartment in a rage. Apparently, my fury was visible to others around me, and they shrank back from me.

This only fueled my rage.

I arrived at Ichiraku's again without realizing this was where my feet where taking me.

The cook took one look at my face, and handed me a bowl of super spicy ramen.

Just the thing to get me out of a fit.

And it did. I calmed down enough to realize that it wasn't very smart of me to get upset over an accusation. Then it would make me look suspicious.

And I definitely wasn't. Even Kakashi-sensei could tell that.

So I paid and left, strolling through the streets. It was twilight, now, and the cool night air helped calm me down.

By the time I returned to the apartment, I was totally my old hyper self.

Except I was flat out beat. (Tired.)

So, I crawled into bed, not even bothering to change into pajamas, kicked off my shoes, and dozed off, with Riku laying beside me.

~*~

I shivered. The apartment had a slight draft tonight....

Wait, WHAT?!

I sat up immediately, and was pushed back down by a strong set of arms.

Panic rose within me, but was subsided as a cloth was placed over my mouth.