"Contact Left!" Shouted a male in his mid-20's. He had brown hair and brown eyes that were protected with a pair of clear safety glasses. He wore an olive drab green helmet. His slim but muscular build fit into a military green camouflage jacket that sported a single gold oak leaf on either side of the collar. The last name 'Miles' was embroidered on a name tag that was sewn in place on the right side of the chest just above one of the four pockets the jacket had. Dried mud stains dotted the matching green camo pants and olive green boots. There were ten other similarly dressed people that were hunkered down with him, in a shallow trench along the edge of a stand of pine trees. That overlooked a hay field. Each member of the eleven mad squad was equipped with a CO2 powered paintball gun that was similar in design to a modern assault rifle. The pinging sound of compressed CO2 forcing a small plastic ball filled with paint out of a barrel echoed from the pine trees. As 'enemy' team members could be seen darting from tree to tree getting ever closer to the trench. The plastic paint filled capsules made a snapping sound as they burst on impact with rocks, branches, trees and the entrenched squad members. One by one each member of the entrenched squad raised their weapon above their head to signal that they have been hit. It wasn't long before 'Miles' was the sole defender of the trench. He had his back to the field when a single paintball came wizzing through the air and made impact on his right shoulder. The bright orange paint splatter left by the shot clearly marked it's intended target. 'Miles' rolled his eyes in frustration as he looked over his shoulder while raising his weapon. Out in the hay field a green camo clad, blonde haired, blue eyed girl in her mid-20's stepped out from behind a bale of hay. A blue ribbon flapped in the breeze as she took off her helmet and waved at him.

"Again Ino!? From across the field!?" 'Miles' shouted out to his wife.

"Hahaha Colby you know how she likes to play sniper when we do these paint ball games." A male in his mid-20's chuckled. The male had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils. He wore a black headband that had an engraved metal plate. The metal plate was engraved with a symbol that resembled a leaf. On each of his cheeks was a red fang-like mark that stretched from his upper cheek to his lower jaw. On this occasion he wore a green camo outfit that was similar to the one Colby wore.

"Not telling me anything new Kiba, but she is still a better shot than you are." Quipped Colby as Kiba offered a hand to help Colby up. Kiba just smiled and stayed quiet as he knew it was true. The two guys walked back to a red Ford F150 pickup truck that was parked at the edge of the hay field. The other players of the recently completed paintball match were gathering under a red 10'x10' popup tent that shaded the lowered tailgate of the truck. There was food, water, CO2 and paint balls to feed and resupply the players.

Colby was laughing with Kiba while holding a slice of pepperoni pizza. He was facing the bed of the truck as a sneaky Ino crept up behind him. She pounced onto his back and wrapped her legs around his waist. The surprise attack startled Colby and his hand that was holding the slice of pizza flew back into Ino's face. She saw the incoming pizza slice and caught it with her mouth. Once she had it, Ino let go of Colby and finished eating the slice of pizza like nothing happened. No sooner had Colby felt the sudden weight leave his back. He spun around to see Ino eating his slice of pizza. Colby's mouth hung open is disbelief as it registered that Ino had his pizza.

"You could have just asked for a slice and I would have gotten you one therah wifey." Colby shook his head as he got himself another slice. Kiba and the others in the group started laughing as Ino just shrugged her shoulders.

"It's wouldn't have been as fun for me though hubby." Ino giggled as a trio came walking down the dirt road towards the group. The trio consisted of two girls in their mid-20's and a guy also in his mid-20's. The first girl had brown shoulder length hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. She had brown eyes and marks on her cheeks that matched the red fang-like ones Kiba had. She wore a black tank top that reviled a green wolf paw print mark on her right shoulder. She had on a pair of green camo capris with black sneakers. The other girl had long black hair with hazel eyes. She wore a purple t-shirt with a white tiger paw print on the back that was covered by a small backpack. The backpack was loaded with sketch books, colored pencils and other drawing supplies. She wore a pair of tan capris with white sneakers. Round out the trio was the male. He had black hair that was in a pony tail that was more resembling of a pineapple than anything else. He worn the standard uniform of the Hidden Leaf Village, consisting of olive green flak vest with chest pockets. He had on a black long sleeve shirt that had an engraved metal plate, that was exactly like the one on Kiba's headband, on his left arm. Along with black pants and sandals. Kiba spotted the trio first and got excited to see his wife was among them. The light breeze carried the smell of the pizza to the trio as their stomachs all started to growl.

"You guys must be hungry. I could hear the growl of your stomachs. How's your day been Angel?" Kiba asked his wife she was about to answer when Ino called over to her.

"Hey Suzanna! Where is the mini-you?" Ino asked.

"Desna is with my parents for the weekend. It's their turn to watch her." Suzanna said as Kiba brought her a slice of the pizza.

"Hey Shikamaru, have you been giving them strategy tips and ideas on how to beat my squad at paint ball?" Colby called over to the guy with the pineapple pony tail.

"Hahaha. You and your squad got beat badly did they?" Shikamaru laughed.

"Three times in a row we got beat after having a 3 week win streak." It's was clear Colby's pride had been bruised in the recent losses. The other squad members chuckled to themselves as they saw Colby's pride get hurt.

"Hey Amanda, we saw you watching us up on the hill. You draw any picture while you were up there?" One of the squad members asked. He was in the same age group as everyone one that was hanging around the tail gate of the truck, mid-20's. He had short curly brown hair and brow eyes. While all the other guys had a slim but muscular build to them. His build was just muscular, not like ripped, bulging muscle, six pack muscular. It was closer to looking like he could hold his own in a fight. His camo outfit matched Colby's exactly, even right down to the name tag.

"Alex, bro, she is already taken. Stop trying to hit on her." Colby smiled as he gave his younger brother crap for the fun of it.

"You be quiet you wise cracking imbecile. I was asking if she had drawn as pictures of the match. Not seeing if she was free for dinner and a movie later today." Alex adjusted his glasses as they slid from their usual spot due to the sweat on his face. Amanda giggled as the brothers started throwing insults at each other in an attempt to out do the other one.

"Ok you two bear cubs. That's enough!" Ino spoke up as she stepped in between the two brothers. "I swear putting up with you two is like dealing with children. Now I know how your mother must have felt." Colby and Alex looked at each other and chuckled before turning to Ino.

"You have no idea." The brothers said together.

"Anyways!" Amanda finally saw her chance to add to the conversation. "Yes I was watching the match and yes I did draw a few sketches. However I'm not finished with them yet. I'll finished them when we get home." It was like a switch had been flipped when Amanda said 'home'. The light and cheerful mood of Colby, Alex, Suzanna and the rest of the paintball group disappeared like the morning fog. Only to be replaced with the lonely feeling of being far away from a familiar place that was deeply cherished.

"Home? You mean Maine or New Hampshire, New England. The land we were born and raised. Where all of our best memories live. Where the moose, chickadees, cardinals, lobsters and beavers live. Where we are a half an hour from the ocean at best. Where you can get frostbite and a sunburn in the same day as the seasons change. Where we all first met and formed the friendship we have today. That is home to me. It's been almost seven years now, it's time for us to go home." Tears wear starting to well up and Colby's chest got tight as the feelings of being homesick started to hit. Some of the other paintball players had already broken down into tears as the memories from home came flooding back to them.