"Shintarou, have you seen Konoha anywhere?"

"Huh?" I looked up to see the second member of our Mekakushi Dan, Seto Kousuke, with his trademark green outfit and yellow hair clip. "No, I haven't seen the guy today. Why'd you want to know where he was..?" I raised an eyebrow, not really thinking much about it, though I might have been around Marry too much lately. Little thing is a bad example on the subject of guys meeting each other.

"He's been saying he wants to play baseball with me," Ah, that made sense. Konoha loved that game, and it was nice to know he wasn't bugging me alone about it. Sports really aren't my thing. "I agreed to do it today with him, seeing as I had the day off, but I can't find him. Thanks anyway." The boy turned to leave.

"I saw him early this morning," Kido's voice could be heard from the kitchen, where member No. 1 was busy making lunch for the group. "He just went out without saying anything. He didn't come back yet?"

"I checked around Seto," Cat eyed Kano stepped into the room, "He doesn't seem to be home."

I frowned a little bit, thinking it was a little odd, but Konoha tended to do weird things anyway. I shrugged it off.

"But, doesn't Konoha have amnesia?" The little demon in my phone piped up, looking somewhat concerned and pretending to be innocent again. She probably killed Konoha. I wouldn't put it past her to do something like that. "He could be lost somewhere."

Kido took the frying pan off the burner, turning the stove off before leaving the kitchen. "He could be fine, but it wouldn't hurt to try looking for him, just in case. Oi Kano, go tell Marry, Momo, and Hibiya to come help." Her hands went behind her back, grabbing at the strings of her apron and pulling it off. "We'll contact each other via cell phone, and nobody gets lunch until Konoha is found," At this comment, Kano immediately left to tell the others. Breakfast was small earlier, and I have to admit Danchou was a good cook. Seto and Kano definitely didn't want to miss out on it.

I had been running around all over the place looking for a character with anime hair, unable to take a break without Ene pestering the heck out of me, and I couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious about how everyone was staring at the sweaty boy dashing down the street. I was able to go past them anyway, being as much as a shut in as I am I'd probably never see those people again and thus making their opinion obsolete. Hours of this passed, out in the heat of summer, and I reached a park as the sun began to set. "T-they didn't find h-him yet..?" I should have brought some water or something, or had brung some change for a vending machine, but it was a little late for that. "They agreed to call if-f they did..."

"Master, quite panting like that. It's rather unpleasant." She still had that concerned tone of voice, and I didn't really know if she was actually worried or bluffing again. "Hey!" I didn't have the energy to deal with her right now, so I just shoved her into the pocket of the jersey I was wearing.

As soon as I caught my breath, I got going again, walking through the park. "Konoha!" I called, hoping he was close by.

That was when I heard rustling in the bushes beside me. Quite suddenly, a white haired boy leaped out the bushes, leaves blowing around and the way his head tilted to see me making the move seem more dramatic than it had to be. He landed in front of me, in a near ball but both feet firmly on the ground. His face turned upward to look at mine, "What is it Shintarou?"

"What do you mean 'what is it,' I've been looking for you all day!" Konoha flinched and I snapped at him. "What were you doing all this time?"

He stood up, and walked back to the bush he had been lurking in, brushing aside some leaves so I could see better. Through the leaves, there were three like kittens of varying colors.

"You were playing with cats the whole time?"

He nodded, "They're my friends now."

I sighed, resisting the urge to face palm over the simple reason for messing up my entire day. "It's time to go home now, Konoha."

"But..."

"But what?"

"But my friends..." His eyes locked down onto the tiny, mewing creatures.

"Just take them with you or something!" I just wanted to get back to the hideout already.

"So you found him, Onii-chan?"

"Yes, I did," I was exhausted, and wanted to collapse right there, though the doorway of the hideout's entrance didn't seem like a good place for that. Why did Momo have to stop us there anyway?

"Konoha, what are those?" Danchou started, gesturing to the basket of kittens.

"They're my friends," He spoke with a genuinely pure sounding voice, and it was plain on Kido's face that she didn't want to crush his hopes by saying he could keep them. Even though Konoha was bigger than she was, it did feel like trying to say no to a innocent little child.

"Konoha, uh..." She started, trying to pick her words, when Hibiya walked out of his room to meet them in the doorway.

"So, you're back," Hibiya said, as the one person who didn't actually go looking for him. He opened his mouth to say something, but froze when he saw what Konoha held. "YOU," The shota's voice went from cold to alarmed in a moment's notice and he started running toward them.

"Ah, Hibiya..." Konoha was cut off as the smaller boy grabbed the basket from his hands, and flung it away from the house and into a bush, not even pausing long enough to realize the black one's eyes were blue instead of red. The cats didn't like this at all, and started hissing as Konoha came close.

"Konoha, it's time for breakfast."

Normally the idea of food would bring him straight to the kitchen, but this morning he was sulking in his room, curled up in a pathetic ball.

"I'm not coming out until Hibiya apologizes to the cats."