It was the first meeting after the teams had been selected. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were all waiting in a clearing for their Sensei to arrive. They had already been there for what felt like hours. Shikamaru was leaned back against a tree looking at the clouds; Choji was stuffing his face, and Ino was playing with her hair getting very irritated.

After a few more minutes, Ino started tapping her foot with her arms crossed. "Where in the world is Asuma-sensei?! This is ridiculous! I have other things I could be doing!"

"Like spying on Sasuke?" came a muffled by chips comment from Choji.

"Shut up Choji!"

They were having a stare down when Asuma finally arrived. "Calm down children, I have a surprise for you today."

The three of them looked at their sensei with confused faces. Shikamaru was the one to comment.

"You're not normally one for surprises sensei. What's up?"

Asuma gave a big smile. "Well, do you guys remember how when we were choosing teams and what not how it was mentioned that there would be one lucky team who'd get a fourth member due to the odd number of genin we had this year?"

The three genin nodded in sync and said, "What about it?"

Asuma scratched his head a little. "Well, we're the lucky team. Please say hello to your new fellow team member, Yukiko Hiwatari."

A small frame stepped out from behind Asuma. She was about 5'4'', very slender, short silver hair ending at her chin covering her matching silver eyes. She shyly looked up at the other three and did a small wave to say hi.

The other three looked back and forth between Asuma and Yukiko for about a minute before Ino had an outburst.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold it! Ok, first I have the pig and the lazy bum, but now I get the loner girl who never talks?! What the hell sensei?! Why can't one of the other teams have her and switch with us or something? Like swap her with Sasuke."

Shikamaru and Choji glared at Ino. Shikamaru sighed and said, "Harsh as always aren't you Ino?"

Ino just glared at him as Asuma spoke. "You know that's not how things work Ino. You were explained everything yesterday." He turned his attention to Yukiko. "Don't mind her, that's how she always is."

Yukiko just nodded her head. Asuma scratched his chin for a moment and said, "Ok then. Well, it looks like there's no break for you genin. We have a mission from the Hokage. Of course it's nothing too hard, just a simple mission of finding a lost pet. We'll leave out from here first thing in the morning. Until then, due some training in case we run into anything on the way."

And with that Asuma took his leave, leaving the four genin to stand in silence; aside from Choji's munching. Ino gave an exasperated sigh and said she was going home. Choji mumbled through food that he was going to do the same; leaving Yukiko and Shikamaru left.

Yukiko looked around for a moment before she started walking towards the forest. Curious, Shikamaru started to follow her. No one knew anything about this girl except that she had no friends in any of the classes and she never spoke. So, Shikamaru thought it might be interesting to follow her and see if he could find out anything about her.

He followed her for what seemed like hours. Yukiko kept looking back at him, but she never said a word to him. They were well into the forest by now; Shikamaru didn't even know if he quite knew where he was.

After a while, Yukiko finally stopped at a clearing. She walked over and sat on a rock as Shikamaru looked around; he was somewhat impressed. It was like he had just walked into a little training center. There were targets for shuriken, and there were many wooden dummies around to practice whatever was needed.

After taking a little bit to look around, he turned to Yukiko and asked, "Do you train in mostly taijutsu?"

Yukiko nodded her head.

"Do you do anything else other taijutsu?"

Another nod.

"Do you ever speak?"

She looked up from her lap and looked at him. He thought he might get an actual response but was given another nod.

Shikamaru put his hand to his temple and rubbed a little. "So, when do you speak?"

"When it's necessary."

He froze for a moment. No one in class, or most of the village for that matter, had ever heard her speak. It was quiet, but yet not too quiet and it seemed to have somewhat of a musical tone to it.

He looked up at her, "Ya know, you might not be such a loner if you'd actually talk to people more, instead of acting like you're an outcast. I mean, look at Naruto. That kid is always so obnoxious it's annoying."

She smiled. "That's why I only talk when necessary. Otherwise you turn out like Naruto who most people get annoyed by. Though, it does seem that everyone's kinda drawn to him."

"Sadly, that is kinda true. Anyway, how long you been hanging out here?"

She looked around her little training camp that she had made over the years. "Since before I started the academy, I believe; I've been adding to it little by little over the years."

He looked around again as he said, "I can see that. It almost looks like you live here."

When he got no response, he looked over at Yukiko. She had her eyes covered and was playing with her fingers in her lap. After about a minute, she looked up.

"No, not quite here. Close by. My…family…has a cabin that I stay at."

He shrugged, "That works. Well, I suppose I'll let you be. Don't forget, leaving bright and early tomorrow."

She smiled and nodded and watched Shikamaru leave. Once he was completely gone, a black wolf came and sat by Yukiko.

"You almost let that one slip."

She resituated herself so that she was using the wolf as a pillow. "I know, I'm sorry. That's why I don't normally talk. But it's kinda hard not to when there's only two of you. I lucked out in class because there were so many other people that I could keep to myself. Plus Naruto was always so hyper and annoying that no one ever paid much attention anywhere else."

The wolf's mouth made what seemed to be a smile. "Valid point. Just be careful please. We've been good til now, but if word starts spreading, you know what'll happen."

Yukiko sighed, "I know Riku. I know. I'll be careful from now on. Promise."

Riku nodded in agreement. "Up for a run?"

Yukiko smiled, "You know it!"

She bolted off of Riku and was out of sight in a split second with Riku right at her heels.

***Next morning***

Asuma and Ino were at the meeting spot waiting for the others. Choji and Shikamaru showed up a little but later, Choji munching and Shikamaru yawning.

Ino started tapping her foot, "Where the hell is the loner chick?"

"Now, now Ino. No need to be like that. It's still early yet."

"If the lazy genius over there can be here by now, she should be. I hate waiting on people!" She punched the tree that she was standing by and screamed when she heard something rustling in the leaves.

Yukiko hopped down out of the tree rubbing her eyes and yawning.

Asuma looked at her a little concerned. "Yukiko, why were you sleeping in a tree?"

She smirked and looked over at Ino, "Because I got tired of waiting for slow pokes."

Ino and Choji's eyes bugged out of their heads as they screamed in unison, "DUDE! SHE CAN TALK!"

Shikamaru glared at them, "No need to be so loud so early in the morning. I thought I had gotten away from Naruto."

"Don't you DARE compare me to that knuckleheaded loser! We are nothing alike!" screamed Ino

Choji laughed, "In voice volume and annoyance you are."

Ino started yelling at Choji as Asuma sighed, shook his head and turned towards the other two.

"Alright, here's a picture of the pet that we're supposed to be finding."

By this time, Ino and Choji had joined in. The picture showed a little black puppy with a blue bow tied around its neck.

"We were told that it ran off somewhere near the village so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Its name is Blacky. We'll meet back here by the end of the day. You guys can work in groups or by yourselves. Just make sure to find a way to keep in touch."

Asuma left the picture with them and then disappeared, leaving the four genin by themselves.

Ino glared at where her sensei had been standing. "That jerk, just leaving like that."

Shikamaru yawned, "Shut up Ino. Ok, so do we wanna work in groups or by ourselves?"

Yukiko piped up, "I think we should do partners. That way, no one gets left stranded anywhere and if anything happens the other one can go get help."

Ino scuffed at her, "What in the world could possibly go wrong with a simple mission like this?"

"Yukiko's got a point Ino," commented Shikamaru, "We have no idea what's out there in those woods. A ninja squad from a different village could be out there planning an ambush on our village. Plus all the animals. I like Yukiko's idea, split up in pairs. Who wants to go with who?"

Ino groaned, "I don't wanna paired up with the lazy one and I DEFINITELY don't want the loner girl. Come on Choji, let's go."

And with that Ino was off into the forest with Choji at her heels, munching on something.

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his temples, "How did I manage to get someone like her on my team. Oh well, looks like it's me and you. Where would you like to go first?"

Yukiko smiled as she put her fingers to her lips and whistled loud enough that Shikamaru had to cover his ears. Yukiko looked around like she was waiting for something. Shikamaru followed her gaze when she got a big smile on her face and kneeled closer to ground like she was petting something.

A black wolf was trotting towards them. Shikamaru stepped back a little as it stopped right in front of Yukiko head butting her hand with its tongue out to the side in a happy smile.

"Can I have the picture Shika?"

Yukiko's voice brought him out of his trance of there being a wolf there and Yukiko acting like it was nothing. He handed her the picture and watched as she showed it to the wolf and talking to it like she thought it understood her or something.

"Can you help me find this cute puppy Riku? Pretty please?"

Riku barked in approval and started towards the forest.

"You're such a good girl Riku. Come on Shika, let's go!"

Shikamaru watched her run after Riku for a moment, shook his head and then started after them.

Shikamaru yawned as they had stopped, yet again, to let Riku sniff around. He turned to Yukiko, "How exactly does the sniffing work when we don't even have anything of the puppy for her to smell?"

Yukiko flashed him a quick smile, "Riku's special."

Shikamaru was about to make a comment when Riku took a stance like she had found something and darted off in a blink of an eye.

"She's found the puppy! Let's go Shika!"

Yukiko disappeared just as quickly as Riku did.

"What exactly has our team gotten into with this girl?"

He shook his head and ran after them as fast as he was able.

After a while of running, Shikamaru stopped to catch his breath and looked around. He had lost site of the two almost as soon as he started running, and he wasn't sure if he was even going the right way or not.

He continued onward in a little slower pace til he heard a voice coming from somewhere. It kind of sounded like laughing, but he wasn't quite sure. He picked up the pace a little until he found a clearing with Yukiko rolling in the grass with two animals: Riku and their mission. She was laughing so hard she was clutching her sides and it looked like her eyes were watering.

Shikamaru smiled as he walked closer to the scene. "I see someone's having a good time."

Yukiko stood up holding the black puppy, a bright smile on her face.

"Well, you can't help it when it's something this cute."

She nuzzled it a little and then went over to pet Riku. Riku gave her a lick on the cheek and then ran off in a random direction.

"Is that ok?"

She looked at him curiously, "Is what ok?"

"That Riku ran off like that."

Yukiko giggled, "Of course. She just went back to the house. Now, we should get back to meeting place with this little cutie."

She started back through the forest from the way that they had just came. Shikamaru shook his head and followed.

It had taken them the rest of the day to walk back to the meeting place. Ino and Choji were already there, looking very disappointed with each other.

As Shikamaru and Yukiko approached, they could hear Ino yelling at Choji, "You're the worst partner ever! Gah! Next time, I'm going by myself I swear!"

Ino felt a smack to the back of her head and she whirled around to see Asuma-Sensei standing right behind her. "Oh, hi sensei, when did you get here?"

Asuma shook his head and looked over at his other two genin that were walking towards them. "Now Ino, if you would learn to cooperate with others, you would've completed the mission."

Ino looked over at Shikamaru and Yukiko, glared at them, and then stormed off. Choji walked over to Shikamaru and gave him a pat on the back. "I knew you could do it buddy. I'm gonna go home now ok?"

Shikamaru smiled, "Yeah, sounds good buddy. See ya later."

Asuma took Blacky from Yukiko. "Good job you two. I'll take this little guy back to the Hokage. I'll see you guys later."

And he was gone. Yukiko yawned and started walking towards the forest, "I'm gonna go home too. See ya later Shika!"

Shikamaru ran up next to her. "Hey, wanna hang out for a while?"

Yukiko gave him a suspicious look, "Whatever for?"

Shikamaru stuck his hands in his pockets, "I don't know, something to do I guess."

Yukiko laughed at him, "You just wanna test out my training area don't you?"

He cracked a smile at her, "Yeah, kinda. I wanna see what you all have out there."

She laughed, "Alright, but just for a little while ok?"

He nodded and they both walked into the forest.

Alright, there's the first new chapter of my Naruto story. I'm hoping to keep up with this one this time. But mind you, I will be working on another one as well. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, I hope that it's better than my old one, and I hope to see some reviews and wanting of more chapters. Thanks for reading! :)