So here I am in Lady Tsunade's office, waiting for a mission to be assigned to me. Oh, wait, my apologies. It's already been assigned to me. In fact, everyone was waiting for my answer whether to accept it or not. And by everyone I mean Tsunade, Shizune, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and my guardian Kasaigaru. So what he's a giant wolf that I can ride on because his back reaches a little above my hip? He's still my guardian and only family left. Couldn't get better than that…

Anyways, the mission wasn't comforting at all. I was to help out an ANBU member who was keeping an eye out for a group of savages. We were to go and keep the group away from any villages… Which meant if they didn't cooperate, we'd have to kill them. I really didn't enjoy killing. That's why I had half no for an answer. But the other half of a yes was because my best friend Hikuro was there. They suspect he was captured with the rest of his team members, Itazura and Kinaga. I sighed mentally. Great. Gotta go save a best friend and kill some drunk savages.

Kasaigaru snapped me back to reality. He was in his wolf form with the colors of black and an amazing blue I admired. His long hair was in his glowing neon green eyes and his boring emotionless muzzle/face was facing towards me. "You don't have to do this mission, Ryume."

Sasuke muttered under his breath but loud enough for me to hear all the way across the room, "It'd save you another trip to the hospital."

I did two seconds of anime tears with my long brown hair hanging in front of my face and apologized. Then I started to wave my arms everywhere, "Of course I accept the mission! Hikuro, Itazura and Kinaga are my friends! Even my own group members are there waiting for me. How can I decline?"

"You know it took ya a while, Ryume-Chan." Naruto said with his hands behind his head, trying to act cool.

All I did was sigh. He was right. I've been out of it lately. This morning I was so out of it I almost ate my giant fan-which is my weapon. Go me. Ryume Kazemizu, the always-tired kunounchi.

I saw a smirk appear on Sasuke's face. He was smirking at me. My face turned an oh-so faint pink and I hid my face with my long bangs.

Tsunade half sighed half groaned and said, "Whatever. All of you are going and are to help Team 11; Rika, Rynn, and Risu. Help them retrieve Team 12; Kinaga, Itazura, and Hikuro. If you need to, kill the savages. I truthfully couldn't care less about them. All the villages want them out of the anyway."

Everyone nodded. Tsunade dismissed us and we all walked out with Kakashi waiting for us outside. He nodded towards Kasaigaru and he nodded back. Some welcoming, huh? It's the new thing these days. Just lift your chin and say 'sup?'.

"Alright everyone," Kasaigaru started, "Kakashi and I will be leading this team-"

Naruto interrupted, "Why both of you?"

Kasaigaru raised an eyebrow at him and grinned, showing his thumb-sized fangs. "Someone's gotta control everyone on the way back."

I stopped walking and everyone looked back at me. I hadn't thought about that. It had totally slipped my mind! No! NO! Hikuro, Sasuke, Rynn, Naruto, and me all together on a long trip?! Noooo waaaay! Hikuro and Sasuke HATE each other! Almost everyone doesn't like Hikuro, except myself. Rynn loves to tease everyone. Sasuke likes to tease Hikuro and me. Naruto's going to start something with Hikuro- and omigod this is going to be hell!

I fell to my knees, reached towards the sky and yelled a long, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" I sighed and had more anime tears. Hanging my head, I stared at the ground. Then a shadow appeared above me. I looked up and Sasuke was standing in front of me, smirking again.

"Everyone get ready and we'll meet at the gates as soon as possible." Kasaigaru announced. Everyone nodded and left to their homes to pack… except me and Sasuke, that is. He was still smirking that amazing smirk of his at me.

"You gonna get up?" He asked in his deep voice.

"No," I said casually, "I think I'll stay right here."

"Yeah right." Then he suddenly leaned down, grabbed my wrists, and brought me up in one smooth motion. He jerked my wrists behind him so I fell into him, my face pink again. He held me against him and said in my ear, "Who'll control me on the mission with that asshole Atsukai near me? Who knows, I might end up killing him."

No way did I want my best friend Hikuro who was in love with me to be killed by another best friend who happened to be Sasuke. I gave him my triangular eyes look and tried to push away from him. His grip tightened around me while he hugged me, his breath soft against my ear and hair. Oh geez, how embarrassing this is to me. I felt him smirk in my hair again. He was enjoying this! Why I autta… "Um, Sasuke, I need to go pack for the mission and change my clothes."

He hummed in my ear and rubbed his nose along my face, "I can come with you.."

"I don't think so, Sasuke," Oops. Said that a little too quickly…

He chuckled quietly and brought his face in front of mine. His dark black eyes staring into my bright green ones. I blushed. I blush way too damn easily. I hate it. Sasuke loves it. He smirked again and leaned down, brushing his lips against mine. By instinct, I closed my eyes and heard the vibration of his soft laugh. I felt him let go of me and give me some space. I finally opened my eyes and let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. Go Ryume. Going nervous with her long distant cousin. Yeah, I'm half Uchiha. But also a Kazemizu. That's whom I'm known for.

"See you later," I said and started to go off. Then he was suddenly in front of me. A second later, he had his lips planted on mine. My eyes widened and I turned red. I jumped back and started yelling at him, "W-w-what was that for?! We're about t-to go on a m-mission! Don't get me so jumpy-stop laughing!"

"I'm not laughing out loud," Sasuke replied smartly. "You're just so cute when you're mad. Especially when you're still red and stuttering out nonsense." He smirked at his last remark.

I opened my mouth then closed it. No use arguing with an Uchiha. Especially Sasuke. You just don't win. It's like with Kasaigaru. You don't talk back. You just listen and obey, no questions asked.

I glared at him, turned away, and walked to my apartment. I didn't even look back. Brownie point for me.

Oh, and did I forget to mention Sasuke and I are in love with each other?

I waited at the gates with Sakura, Kasaigaru and Kakashi, waiting for everyone else to show up. I'm pretty fast at packing, only getting what's necessary. Tip from Kasaigaru that everyone likes to miss or forget. Leaning against the gates, I started to play with my chain bracelet. It had a locket attached to the silver chain with decorative designs on it. Very expensive. And the best part, Hikuro and Sasuke got it for me. That was probably one of the best days of my life. They had actually forced each other to get along, do some missions, and buy the locket for me. It was a shame they were both in love with me and I was having trouble with everything in that category. But aside that, I stared at the pictures I had in my locket.

The first one was of me Sasuke and Hikuro. All in one picture. My favorite. The other two were of me and Sasuke and me and Hikuro. Gotta be equal, ya know? The one of me and Hikuro was fun. He had me in a bear hug and had my favorite grin on his face with his fang showing. His long dark brown hair all of his face and his brown and golden-rimmed eyes glowing with excitement. If you want a good time, you hang out with Hikuro. When I first met him it was in the Sand Village for a mission and he was the most hated in the whole village. He had no home, no respect, was rude, and did stupid things. No one could control him. Until I came and showed him respect. He thought it was stupid at first because he had a thing for girls being ninja. He thought it was ridiculous. I made his opinion change on that. Next thing I knew, after the mission, he came with me back to the Leaf Village and got put into Team 12 with his new friends Kinaga and Itazura.

It feels real good to help people out. I was still staring at the picture in my wallet when a puff of smoke appeared right next to me, making me blink the light smoke away. Sasuke appeared and looked down at the locket, raising an eyebrow. At first I didn't know what he was looking at but once I finally caught on, I yelped slightly and closed the locket, pushing the chain further up my arm so it was hidden under my midnight blue sleeves.

Sasuke smirked and snaked an arm around my waist. Sakura gaped at me, her eyes white and Inner Sakura showing. Oh boy. I could imagine Ino here too. We didn't get along… Not a pretty sight to have her near me… Especially if either Sasuke or Hikuro were nearby too. I sighed mentally. Naruto finally showed up and we were all off with Sakura and Naruto arguing at how long he took because he wanted to bring enough ramen for the trip. Haha. You just gotta love that Naruto.

I was smiling at Naruto's complaints and Sakura's backfires when we were told to pick up the pace. It wasn't until it got really late did we stop. It was getting more difficult to see who was in front of whom and Naruto kept bumping into everyone. Poor guy. Couldn't really blame him.

So we stopped and got some rest until morning came over the horizon. Instead of Sasuke snoozing next to me, Kasaigaru took the spot first and cuddled next to me. Sure he can be VERY scary looking and vicious, but he can get really cute when he's peaceful or in his puppy form. He was in that form now and I had him in my arms, letting him fall asleep on me.

Morning came and went and we'd been on the move for a while. There wasn't much talk and it irritated Naruto and made Sakura nervous. They weren't used to this kind of awkward silence. The rest of us were. More mature, possibly?