A tall fifteen year old kid with restless, spikey brown hair and a giant, panting, white dog at his side knocked on the log cabin door. While he waited for an answer, the breeze rustled through the surrounding trees, tumbling the crackly autumn leaves.

After a few minutes, the girl standing next to him with chopped cotton candy pink hair and a white and cherry pink dress sighed.

"She must be gone again."

Kiba nodded. Annie had dissappeared to the mysterious place only she and Naruto knew about. Sakura and Kiba had known about the training place for years, but they'd never found out exactly where it was.

Annie often took advantage of this and hid in it whenever she had what Kiba called a "dry spell." Short periods of depression where she became more reserved and sad, thoughts of Naruto flooding her mind. She became distant and—Sakura couldn't believe it—quiet. On a visit to Ichiraku or any other normal hang-out place, Annie would normally be the center of attention. She was the loud, witty, hilarious, friendly girl. But when a dry spell hit, she was almost invisible. In fact, there were quite a few times where Annie had actually turned invisible and floated off to her private hideout.

There were a lot of rumors about her too. It was to be expected. After all, she was the Elemental Girl, Erementaru Hana.

And not only that, but she'd been disappearing, rarely taking missions. To those who didn't know her, she did seem very mysterious. She hadn't even participated in the Chunnin Exams and tried to advance with everyone else. Sometimes, Annie didn't wear her ninja headband to training, though she always stated that she "accidentally" left it. She never even wore shoes that often, and just floated through the streets. Flying seemed like a much more fun option than walking, so Sakura at least understood that bit.

The rumors had made Sakura laugh the first time she'd heard them. They described Annie as a tragic heroine. A beautiful ghost or an angel; graceful, lonely, and sad.

Sakura knew her as a rambunctious, joking rebel, kind but ready to pound you into dust if you made the wrong move. She had a huge smile and just wanted to have fun all of the time.

Even when Annie was acting normal, she smiled a lot less with him gone.

The dry spells had become much more frequent and unpredictable. Kiba and Sakura were worried. That's why they were there, at Annie's log home, unfortunately fruitless.

Now, Sakura wasn't sure what to believe.

"Annie better get her act together. Naruto should be home any day now." Kiba whined as they left the little log house.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You just want a chance at her before Naruto gets back."

Kiba's cheeks went bright red. "Nuh-uh! I could totally charm Annie if I wanted, with Naruto here!"

Sakura face-palmed. "Boys are clueless."

"Whatever." Kiba muttered. They made their way back to Ichiraku slowly, not exactly anxious to share news, or lack of, with Lee, Shikamaru, and Chouji. They had become close to Annie over the last year, when she'd needed friends the most.

Sakura had especially become closer to Annie, because she knew that Annie was suffering from a lot more then a lost best friend.

She missed her family.

Sakura saw Ichiraku just a few steps ahead. Most of her friends were already there. Ino, Lee, Chouji, and Shikamaru were chatting pleasantly as they slurped noodles. Everyone was here except for Naruto and Ann—

Annie!

"There you are, spazz! We couldn't find you at your house!"

Annie looked up from her noodles with a slight smile. "That's because I'm here, silly."

"We haven't seen you around for a while. I was getting worried."

Annie stood up from her seat, straightening her knee-length, simple white dress. "Oh, you've got nothing to worry about, Sakura-Chan." She winked.

Sakura shook her head. "Annie, with you, I'm never certain." The group of kids laughed. Annie glanced at Akamaru, Kiba's now ginormous dog.

"Can you ride him?"

Kiba looked disturbed for a second. "Excuse me?"

"Can you ride him? On his back? 'Cause that would be awesome."

Kiba's cheeks turned red. "Uh...yeah. I did that once."

Her eyes lit up. "Can I try?"

He grinned. "Okay. I'll get Akamaru cleaned up, then we'll see to it, okay?"

Annie clapped her hands together. "Awesome!"

Naruto stepped into Konoha's gate with a flashy smile.

"You're a sight for sore eyes." He grinned. His heart leaped with joy as he imagined finally seeing Annie again, not to mention all of his other friends. Lee, Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, Neji, and Sakura. But, of course, Annie was special.

What bugged Naruto at the back of his mind was that he'd realized on his trip that half the guys in Konoha liked her, and that was when she was just thirteen. Now, she was almost fifteen as of November 21st, and it was nearly October. She had most likely become even more stunningly beautigul then before. There was no way she'd been single this whole time. When they'd kissed before he'd left, it had been amazing and special for him. Who knew if she'd taken other guys on a fly before, and shared that with them, too?

"What are you waiting for, Naruto?" Jiraiya smacked his back. "Worried your home changed?"

"A little." Naruto admitted.

"Don't worry. If your Annie-Chan has changed at all in the last two years, it's only been for the better." He winked. Naruto wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that.

Jiraiya and Naruto separated, which felt weird, considering that they'd been at each other's side for nearly two years straight.

Naruto ran straight for Annie's log home.

He knocked, and no one answered. He let himself in. Annie's one room home looked exactly the same as the night before he'd left. He could picture Annie sitting on her bed in Sakura's borrowed pajamas, reading a scroll about Earth jutsus, whining about how boring it was, yet still reading it. He could see her making a mirror out of water and running her hands through her tangled, curly light brown hair for about half a second before letting the mirror splash on the floor. He could see her sitting on the floor, leaning on her bedside table, playing with her necklace that she almost never took off, her brow furrowed in deep thought.

Then he stopped thinking, and decided he wanted to see the real thing.

He checked out their hideout next.

Nope, not there.

Ichiraku?

Negative.

Barbecue restaurant?

Nope. More likely he would find Chouji there.

Naruto ran back to Ichiraku, upset that not only had he not found Annie, but he hadn't found anyone.

He decided that it may be possible they were all on a mission or something, and he stepped inside the ramen shop to finally have the best food in the world.

Instead, he found Lee and Sakura, happily enjoying a bowl of ramen between the two of them.

The old man that owned Ichiraku turned around to hand them another bowl, but dropped it in shock.

"N...Nah..." He stuttered. The other two looked at him strangely.

"What is it, Baa-San?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, What?" Lee asked.

The old man pointed at Naruto, and the two slowly turned around, then gasped.

"Naruto!" She grinned.

Lee stood up. "Naruto-San!"

He smiled. "Hey, guys. It's been a while."

"You think?" Sakura punched him playfully. She tried not to blush at how tall and muscular Naruto had become. He was at least five inches taller then her, when before he'd been the shortest kid her age. His eyes were more intense and blue, filled with longing and nostalgia.

"Have you seen Annie yet?" Lee asked him. He shook his head.

"I can't find her anywhere. You guys are the first people I've found."

Sakura grinned at the prospect of watching Naruto finally see Annie after two long years. "Try the Fish Shop. I think I saw her and Kiba-Kun there."

"Okay, thank you, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto ran off to find the fish shop. He did want to visit with Lee and Sakura after so long, but if Annie was with Kiba...

Annie didn't even like fish!

He looked in the green-tinted windows of the shop. Kiba was there, chatting with a girl in a flowy white dress that fell just past her knees. Curly blonde hair cascaded down her back, and her small feet were bare. She and Kiba walked across the fish shop, her graceful gait and flowy dress making her seem elegant and ghost-like. He wished the girl would turn around so that he could see her face.

He wondered where Annie could be. Probably somewhere in the corner, rolling her eyes at the girl in the dress. Annie wouldn't be caught dead in a dress. And barefoot? Only on the weekends. She always wore capris and sneakers.

Then Kiba took the girl's hand and they walked towards the door. Naruto caught a flash of her dark blue eyes, perfectly angled chin, white smile, and raised eyebrows that he'd seen so many times.

No way.

It was...It was...

Annie!

Naruto was so shocked at finding her like this, that for once, he was completely speechless. He watched her walk out the door, and step into the blinding sunlight, which made her dress shine.

As she started to walk away, he was finally able to stutter out, "A-Annie-Chan."

Annie stopped. That voice... It was different, but familiar. It had the same articulation of her name as someone she'd imagined speaking to her so many times over the last two years. She turned around slowly. Painfully slowly. She didn't want to be faced with disappointment. She didn't want to be reminded that he was gone.

She saw the orange jumpsuit, and she was already running. She fell into his arms and registered how much taller he was, and how he had black in the design of his jumpsuit. His arms were muscular and huge, and his eyes were brighter. His baby fat was gone, his face filled out with a fully set jaw. It was him, though. His smile was exactly the same, and by some miracle, he smelled the same. Her hands ran through the same spiky, thick blonde hair as before.

"Naru-Kun, it's you." She sighed.

"It's me, Watashi no Karu."

"I missed you, Muso-Ka."

"I missed you, too."

Naruto held Annie tightly, his hands knotting in her curly blonde hair.

A crowd began to gather, among them, Sakura and Ino and Kiba. They started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Annie grinned up at Naruto, her night blue eyes sparkling. Naruto smiled, and their lips locked in front of the whole world.

"They still love each other." Kiba blinked. He didn't know whether to be happy for them or disappointed.

Ino stood with her hip popped out beside him.

"I still think Annie could do better. I mean, look at her! She's gorgeous, and she's running after the goof who left her for an eternity and a half."

Sakura punched Ino in the arm. "Shut up, Ino."

Ino looked at Sakura strangely while rubbing her arm, wondering why she deserved that.

Sakura sighed. Ino could never understand the concept of real, honest love. Sakura could see it in Annie's eyes. She could see it in Naruto's eyes. They were in true, unbreakable love. Being separated for two years had only made that feeling sharper and more focused.

And yet, their true separation was still an impending deadline...

60 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.