Disclaimer: Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto

Ninja Romance or The Teebletubbies? Ninja Romance or The Teebletubbies? Mind-rotting soap opera or juvenile children's programs? I switched to The Teebletubies. When I had bitched about the lack of programs to watch on daytime T.V., Sakura mentioned children's programs were more bearable to watch when you pretended all the characters were on drugs. To my surprise she was right. When you deliberately misconstrue everything they say and invent bizarre back-stories for all the characters, the show suddenly becomes a lot more amusing. Sometimes I would even chuckle to myself watching it, which tended to deeply disturb my ANBU guard – and let's face it, that never gets old.

Today however, I was even more restless than usual. I didn't even make it to the end credits of The Teebletubbies, before I started mindless channel surfing again, eyes glazed over, seeing nothing. Naruto and Sakura were supposed to come back today. I had been counting down the days. I had received a large calendar in the mail advertising products from the local grocers but had thrown it out. It felt too much like scraping notches in a prison cell wall to mark down the days.

I was looking forward to their visit, not that I'd ever admit that out loud. Despite how annoying they could be, they broke up the monotony in my day, bringing smiles and playful bickering to my apartment. These visits hadn't always been as pleasant as they were now. At the beginning there had been a lot of tears and harsh words yelled in anger, fists swung and strained smiles. It hadn't been pretty. It seemed that no matter what I threw at them they still cared. Sooner or later they would come back with ramen, tomatoes and the latest gossip. Looking back at that time and their strained smiles still wasn't easy.

Things had been improving between us. Although we still had our hiccups, I didn't find them constantly bracing themselves every time they began to walk up my front steps. We still had a long way to go, but I'd been trying – not as much as I should have, not as much as they deserved, but trying all the same.

I glanced back at the clock and scowled. They still wouldn't be over for quite some time, so I got up and moved to the kitchen. I then began digging in the fridge, in search of something to fix them when they arrived.

Covering my face with one arm, I slowly reached out with the other while trying to maintain my hunched position. I turned my head away, closed my eyes and gently prodded the door with a pointed finger. I remained tensed and strained to hear a telltale click or any sign at all that something was about to blow up in my face. I slowly uncurled myself and looked around, not seeing any remaining tripwires, pressure sensors or other booby-traps. I grinned. Looks like Erro-Sennin's lessons on seals came in handy after all. Stepping into the room and seeing all the forbidden scrolls, my grin became even wider. Sasuke-teme isn't going to know what hit him when I get my rematch! I spun around in a slow circle drooling at all my options. Snapping myself out of my fantasy of trouncing Teme, I headed to the nearest shelf, grabbed a scroll at random, and started reading.

Carrying a large stack of paperwork handed to me by Kotetsu Hagane regarding the upcoming Chuunin exams, I made my way up the Hokage tower to Sensei's office. Entering her office, I avoided the obstacle course of sake bottles, and lay the stack of papers on the least cluttered space on her desk. Now I can finally take the rest of the day off to go study those new jutsu scrolls.

"Achoo!"

Hearing the noise, I spun around and readied chakra in my fist. It was then I spied the open hidden passageway. Sishou would have mentioned to me if someone had been authorised to enter the forbidden archives. She hadn't. Someone had broken in.

The protection and concealment barriers protecting the archive prevented me from sensing the intuder's chakra signature. For all I knew I could be outnumbered.

Not letting this deter me, I crept forward, making sure I made as little noise as possible. All the traps were disabled. You're gonna regret breaking in here! The familiar and comforting scent of books and scrolls wafted to my nose and I stepped forward opening the final door.

Floor to ceiling rows of neatly ordered scrolls, potions, weapons and objects of indeterminate function surrounded me. Everything was labeled and referenced back to files diligently ordered in large filing cabinets backed against the far wall. Despite the wealth of knowledge and rare items in the room, it did not appear the room had frequent visitors if the impressive layers of dust were any indication. It was this layer of dust that let me know I had a single adversary in the room. I followed the footprints towards the South-East corner and readied myself.

I jumped out quickly tucking myself into a roll and jabbed at their knees. They went down with a yelp and threw a scroll in my direction. The scroll gave me a glancing blow on the side but little damage. I started the hand seals for an effective paralysing jutsu to take them alive and avoid destroying any valuables. The ninja spun around, letting fly a bottle they had instinctively grabbed nearby, and it was only then we were able to grab our first good look at each other.

"Sakura-chan?"

The voice and face stunned me. I froze in recognition. "Naruto?" Just as I was about to interrogate him as to what the fuck he thought he was doing, the room began to spin and the ground rushed up to meet me.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Eyes narrowing I rolled over and glared at the door. With a sigh I lifted myself off the couch and headed to the door. I didn't recognize the chakra signature, strongly suggesting I wouldn't like the reason for this impromptu visit. I probably have to run more errands. The ANBU assigned to guard me usually took great delight in telling me of the latest pet that needed retrieving or garden I would weed for my probation. However, when I opened the door, the ANBU simply said that the Hokage had requested to see me. Now that got my attention, not that I showed it. I could think of no reason she would need to see me in person. I had been relatively well behaved, not breaking any of the terms of my probation and completed all the D-rank missions without complaint. I came up with various scenarios for this meeting and discarded most of them immediately as I made my way to the Hokage tower, trailed by ANBU. I climbed the stairs to her office and tapped on her door.

"Enter."

I walked in and studied the Hokage. She didn't give off any sense of anger and I felt myself slightly relax. She didn't give much away, but instead gazed at me deep in thought as if trying to make some sort of judgment. I waited patiently under her gaze.

"I'm considering giving you a D-rank mission that has a chance of becoming an A or S-ranked mission if circumstances don't go in our favour. But before I consider the matter further I need to know that I can trust you to look after your old teammates. Are you willing to try and be the friend to them that they have been to you?" She gazed at me steadily, weighing my every reaction.

Was I ready? Two and a half years with Orochmaru hadn't just taught me new jutsu, it taught me the value of having people who honestly gave a damn. After years of sleeping with one eye open and being paranoid about everyone I met, coming back to Konoha and having a few people I could turn my back to, trust not to poison my food, and genuinely care, was a relief that I couldn't begin to describe. They mattered, and I needed them. I could admit that now. But was I prepared to meet them halfway?

"I'll try to the best of my ability." It was an honest answer, but I didn't know if that was the right answer she was looking for.

Tsunade slowly nodded. "Very well then, you can have it," she said. She leaned back in her chair. "It will be easier if I just bring them in." "Shizune you can bring them in now." The door swung open and in walked Shizune, slowly leading two small children by the hands.

I blinked, my eyes roving over the small children. They looked a lot like Sakura and Naruto. I glanced back at Tsunade, my gaze asking for an explanation.

"As far as we can determine, it appears Naruto broke into the forbidden archives to learn new jutsu and Sakura caught him in the act. This somehow led to them being exposed to an odorless, colourless gas of a forbidden potion. It appears the side effects of this gas reverted your old teammates physically and mentally into children. You'll be babysitting them for the foreseeable future until the potion wears off," she said.

I blinked and looked back at the kids. Sakura was wearing a navy skort and white shirt and had her thumb in her mouth while Naruto was wearing all orange, and shoes with the laces undone. Naruto then began to explore the darkest depths of his nose. "… Are you sure I'm… qualified for this?" I asked.

"It appears their memory above this age is sketchy at best. Sakura's parents are away on business and none of their year group is here at the moment due to missions. It seemed best to put them with someone familiar, and given you're free schedule, you seemed the best candidate."

I stood there trying to wrap my mind around the idea. I was failing miserably.

"Sakura, Naruto, this is Sasuke, he's going to be looking after you for a while, so try to behave for him," Tsunade said gesturing at me. Sakura gazed up at me and gave me a shy smile while Naruto frowned giving me an assessing once-over.

He turned to Tsunade. "Does this mean he has to take me to ramen?"

I internally groaned. I had hoped he wouldn't remember that fetish of his. All doubts that this was Naruto and Sakura were beginning to fly out the window. "Come on," I commanded. I headed out the door, feeling two tiny hands grasp my own.