Stranger Like Me

By DarkChiDemon

"Damn it… where is she?" A dirty blond haired, blue eyed boy asked to nobody in particular. "She's always running off… it's getting really old really fast." He scanned the Village Hidden in the Leaves once more then ran off in a random direction.

"Was that guy… talking to himself?" Naruto, another blond (though a much lighter shade) boy with blue eyes and about fourteen years of age, asked, slightly amused, to the boy next to him.

The boy Naruto was talking to, also fourteen, had very dark hair and eyes, his name was Saske. "So it appeared, but that really isn't anything new to you, is it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, the tension between them thickening.

"You know what it means." Saske replied, his emotion unchanging, it was and pretty much always is a sedated kind of clam.

Naruto, whose emotions were anything but sedated and calm, grew angrier. "What if I don't?! What then?"

"Can't you two go a second without arguing?" Asked a semi-frustrated voice. It belonged to an older male with dark eyes (well eye, the second eye was concealed by the headband worn by Ninjas) and grey-ish hair that looked hair sprayed in a vertical position, asked from behind the two arguing Ninjas. His name was Kakashi.

"I think it's a guy thing, Sensei." Sakura, another fourteen year old responded. Unlike Naruto and Saske, Sakura was a girl with short pink hair and blue eyes. "No offense." She added quickly.

"None taken, Sakura. I wonder what that boy was doing? He's most certainly not from this village." Kakashi leaped onto the roof of the building the team was sitting in, a Sushi bar that also served very good ramen. Just ask Naruto.

"Do you see him, Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"No, but I can see another definite outsider close by. Maybe that's what the boy was looking for."

The second "outsider" Kakashi was referring to was a girl about Sakura's age who was wondering around in the opposite direction that the first outsider went. The girl had blue eyes as well, but to the village people, they were hard and almost impossible to see. Her hair was impossible to see, for the large straw hat she was wearing concealed it completely. You could see, however, the bottom of her face, which contained the strange animal-like lines that Naruto's face had. She was in baggy blue cloth pants and a shirt that was once white, but now was mostly deep red. She saw the group of people sitting in the Sushi bar and decided to ask them for help, she need all the help she could get right now.

"She's coming." Saske announced quietly to his team members.

And sure enough, the girl approached them cautiously, her hidden eyes scanning each one of them. "E-excuse me… I was wondering if any of you would be able to help me…" Her voice trailed off on the last few words.

Kakashi, who had jumped off the building the second Saske's announcement had been broadcasted, now stepped forward. He was very tall in comparison.

"And just what with?" He asked, studying what of her face he could see. Kakashi was very surprised to see that her face had the same streaks as Naruto did, but did not let it show.

"There's a boy looking for me, kind of looks like him," She pointed to Naruto. "Except his hair is darker and he's a little older. And… well I just want him to leave me alone."

"Is he a threat?" Saske asked, now secretly intrigued at the idea of saving the village from a couple of possibly dangerous outsiders.

"No, not really. Just to me, and-" She cut off, her concealed eyes now staring the figure who stood a few feet before them. "H-hi there, Hiroshi."

"I finally found you, Shina." The blond boy from earlier, Hiroshi, replied, his tone sounded as though he was talking to a complete child, not a girl a year younger than him. "Come on now, I want to leave this stupid village.

What you could see of Shina's face consisted of pure terror. She took a few steps further into the Sushi Bar and hid behind the confused and somewhat nervous Naruto. "Can you help me or not?" She whispered softly into his ear.

Naruto's cocky heroic side took over right then and there. "Look," He said loudly and confidently. "Its obvious this girl doesn't want to go with you, so just beat it now or you'll have to deal with me. Believe it!"

Saske and Kakashi meanwhile, were both standing there looking slightly humiliated. This was one of those not-so-rare occasions where Naruto gets them into more than they really want to be in at the moment. But none the less, he had gotten them into it, and the fastest thing to do to bring the entire scenario to an end was to help the girl.

"I have no desire to fight you idiots," Hiroshi muttered angrily, his fists clenched tightly together. "Just give me Shina, and we'll both leave and this whole thing will blow away."

Shina uttered a high pitched cry and wrapped her arms around the back of Naruto's waist. "Please, I don't want to go with him." She whimpered.

Kakashi felt a sudden feeling of sorrow for the girl and then turned his attention to Sakura. "Sakura, grab her and go hide. We'll get you when its safe."

Sakura nodded slightly and grabbed one of Shina's arms. Shina let go of Naruto and both girls proceeded to run through the back of the Sushi bar, leaving the guys there in a glaring contest.

"Oh no, she's MINE!" Hiroshi snarled, and then he jumped with amazing height and length after the running girls, all desire to leave peacefully gone completely.