My first in a while. Please let me know what you think.

Non-yaoi, mild violence, mild alcohol use, mild language, mild sexual themes, cross-dressing.

Okay, I know I said I'd never do this again, bu with the help of my girlfriend and my best friend, I'm BACK baby!

Really short intro chappie, as usual. I've gotten better at writing, and I promise it won't skip around as often as it does here! The characters get all squished together soon, anyway. World War II FTW!

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Kankurou's hands trembled. He put the letter down on the table. "Oh, man," he muttered in disbelief. "Oh, man... Gaara?" he called his younger brother's name.

"Yes, Kankurou?" The redhead reponded from the top of the stairs.

"Can you..." Kankurou swallowed, hard. "Can you come downstairs for a minute?"

"...Sure... Why?" Gaara was wrapped in a towel, his hair slightly wet. He glided across the room, stopping just next to his brother.

"G-Got a letter. 'S on the table." Kankurou stuttered, still trembling. Gaara shrugged and picked it up. He began reading the letter out loud.

"By direction of the President under authority contained in Public Resolution number 96, 76th Congress, approved 27 August 1940..." He stopped reading for a moment, his eyes scanning the page furiously. "...The following men are ordered to active duty, effective 25 November 1940, for a period of one year, unless sooner relieved..." His eyes moved farther down the page, his brow furrowing. "Kankurou Sabaku... Gaara Sabaku..."

"Gaara," Kankurou said, collapsing into a chair, "We got drafted."

"...I will go telephone Temari and her husband..."

"Yeah. Father probably already knows. I... I gotta go meet Tenten..."

---

"Hey ma!" Kiba called from the front door. "I got the mail! And I got the pills for Hana's new mutt!"

"That's good!" his mother came into the room, taking a curler out of her hair. "Let me see the mail, then..." She took the letters from him. Her face blanched when she read the first one.

"What is it, ma?"

"Kiba, go see your girl."

"Why?"

"You won't see her for a long time, boy. Not where you're going."

---

"Hey, brat," Itachi said, throwing an envelope at his brother, "we've recieved a letter."

"What kind of letter?" Sasuke asked, returning Itachi's cold glare.

"Consignment letter." He walked back out of the room without saying anything more.

Sasuke blinked and read the note several times over, then crumpled it up and tossed it in the garbage can. He shrugged in acceptance. The phone rang.

"Sasuke Uchiha speaking. Oh, it's you, dobe... Itachi and I got a draft letter. ...Hm. You won't last a second out there, you know. Yeah, right. We'll see about that..."

---

"New Jersey may be a tough place, Naruto," said Iruka, pacing the room as he had been the past hour... As he had been ever since he checked the mail and found the letter that any father dreaded in a wartime. "But New Jersey is nothing compared to a warzone..."

"Big deal," Naruto said, putting his hands behind his head and grinning. "If I got one of those letter deals, then I'll bet Sasuke did too! And I'm sure as hell not gonna wimp out on this if he's going too! In fact..." He sat up straight, excitement edging into his voice, "I'm gonna call him right now just to see!" He raced over to the telephone.

"Hey! ...Yeah, it's me, Naruto! ...You got one too? Hah! ...Whadda you mean?! I bet I'll blast way more Germans than you...!"

Iruka sighed. "There's just no getting through to that boy."