Yaaay! New chapter within less than two weeks! You have no idea how good I feel about that. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck on that fighting scene in the next chapter. On top of that, I have to start writing the next chapter for 'Truth and Reasons' and I'm still in Spain and supposed to be working on my Spanish (not writing or reading fanfiction).

A massive thank you to everyone who reviewed, watched, favourited and followed this story! I really appreciate it!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

The Meeting Of Fighting Spirits

"Behind you."

Sanji whipped around to face his friends and Koga and Riku looked up to the source of the voice. All three once again froze in fear at the sight of the figure crouched on top of the stacked crates. The red haired stranger stared down at them with an expressionless face. Dark black rings circled his dark blank eyes and the kanji for "Love" drawn in blood red was on his forehead. He was young, they realised. This stranger looked like he couldn't be much older than Sanji and yet; it was obvious to the kids that he could kill them without hesitation. He would kill them without hesitation if they did anything he thought was wrong. The scariest thing of all though… He would kill them without hesitation and he wouldn't care.

Silence reined, as that single thought float round the three kid's heads. The red headed stranger decided to break the silence seeing as the boys weren't going to.

"Well?"

Silence. Koga gulped audibly, tears escaped down Riku's cheeks but Sanji's unblinking eyes never left the stranger. The red head tried again.

"Why were you following us?"

Silence.

The three young boys paled to paper white when the red headed stranger began to lose his patience and glare. A bark of laughter broke the silence and the heavy, suffocating air vanished as the red head looked up in surprise, along with the three petrified kids. A brash, cheerful voice broke the silent, fearful spell, as the second blonde stranger made his presence known.

"Jeez, Gaara, you told me you wanted to ask them a question. Not scare them to half to death by glaring at them."

Koga and Riku looked up to the second stranger in awe, as he perched himself on the roof of the shack over looking the alleyway. Sanji cursed himself for not sensing him sooner. At least the red head, Gaara, was in an unsuspected place to be, mixing his presence with that of his brother's. This guy was on the roof for crying out loud! It should've been obvious.

"I was asking them my question, but they were being annoying and not answering."

It was a quiet voice. Soft, a bit raspy but gentle. It had a distinct whining tone in it too, but it was very subtle. It took Sanji a good minute to realise that it was the red head that had spoken. Then it took a good thirty seconds more for it to click in Koga and Riku's mind. It didn't faze the blonde in the slightest and he smiled sweetly as he said,

"Don't sulk, it's not becoming. Especially of you, Gaara."

Riku gasped at the stranger's bravery and all three kids looked at Gaara. They shivered at the daggers Gaara was glaring at the newcomer with and were extremely glad they weren't on the receiving end of such a glare. The blonde swung his leg as it dangled over the edge of the roof and rested his head lazily on his other bent knee. When he was comfortable he gazed through sleepy eyes at Gaara as he continued.

"Besides, you can't blame them for not answering. You petrified them. A chùnin can barely resist that amount of KI, never mind a bunch of civilian kids. I'm surprised their still standing."

"It's a force of habit, and besides they could've been a threat. I was when I was that age and you know that, Naruto," Gaara nonchalantly argued, trying to defend himself.

Sanji, Koga and Riku watched as newly dubbed Naruto went from sleepy and easy-going to angry in a second. His eyes narrowed dangerously and they began to wonder if Gaara was really the scarier one of the pair. Naruto raised his head from his leg and looked Gaara straight in the eye. His voice was hard as he spoke firmly and clearly.

"Threat, my ass. That's bull, Gaara, and you know it. Yes, I'll admit that you were dangerous when you were that age, but your one in a million and have had a very different life to them. Even I know that these are civilian kids and you of all people should be able to tell the difference between an innocent child and a threat. Pull yourself together, you were Kazekage, so force of habit or not, you should be able to show some restraint."

"They were still following us," Gaara defended again, but while the kids thought he was confident in his defence, Naruto was the one looking in Gaara's eyes. His eyes held doubt and uncertainty. Gaara was seeing reason. Naruto's eyes softened, but his voice didn't.

"Of course they were following us. Look at them, Gaara. They're kids and kids do that all the time, it's natural. You've had groups of young kids follow you around before; you know they don't mean any harm. For heaven's sake, Gaara, they're just curious!"

Gaara bowed his head and sighed in defeat. When it came to things like this, Naruto was nearly always right. And while Gaara may believe he had no time for feelings of guilt, Naruto was also the only person in existence to ever make Gaara feel guilty about anything.

"Your right, Naruto. I'm sorry."

"Don't say sorry to me. Say sorry to them. And don't expect them to trust you after that either. No one likes having KI directed at them, especially when they've never felt anything like it before," Naruto lectured quietly.

Gaara nodded, his head still bowed and hopped down from the crate. He turned to the three kids, who had scrambled into a standing position as soon as he'd moved and took in their appearances. Pale skin was covered in dust marks and scratches. Their feet were bare and their linen looking tunics were old and worn. The tallest and seemingly the eldest had short sandy blonde hair which hung over one of his amber eyes. The second eldest was slightly shorter and bulkier than the blonde. Dark, muddy brown hair was spiked and stuck up out of storm grey eyes.

The shortest and the evident youngest looked the picture of innocence and curiosity. Long silver hair hung down to his shoulders and a few strands hung just above his eyes. His eyes were what struck Gaara. They were the same as Gaara's own emerald green, though not nearly as haunted. Gaara quickly repressed the thought that he had once been told he had got his eye colour from his mother. Closing his own eyes, he sighed before looking each of them in the eye and apologising,

"I'm sorry. I should've known better and I'm sorry for acting on suspicion and impulse." Gaara looked down at the ground in front of him and Sanji, Koga and Riku realised he was being quite sincere and they weren't really sure what to say. Naruto sighed heavily and slid from the roof's edge. Riku gaped in awe as he watched Naruto's graceful descent and quiet landing, bending his knees ever so slightly to absorb shock. Naruto then walked slowly to Gaara's side, tapping Riku's chin upwards lightly as he passed. He draped his arm over Gaara's shoulder and leaned on him, while looking at Riku, amusement shining brightly in his eyes and he smiled as he commented,

"You'll catch a lot of flies like that".

Riku blushed in embarrassment and Koga giggled at him. Sanji simply stared curiously at Naruto. Naruto caught him staring and flashed him a toothy grin before facing Gaara, who was still looking at the ground.

"Cheer up, Gaara. Everyone slips up every now and then. Even you."

"But, you said it yourself, Naruto. I should've shown restraint, I should've known better," Gaara muttered lowly, finally looking up from the ground to turn to Naruto. Koga then decided to speak up.

"Don't worry about it," he proclaimed loudly, drawing everyone's attention, "We should've been more obvious to show that we meant no harm." He grinned, Riku face palmed and Sanji hit Koga upside the head scowling at his friend and brother.

"No, we shouldn't have, you idiot. We should've approached them if we were so curious or left them be if we didn't have the guts to do that. We shouldn't have followed them. Full. Stop." Sanji growled.

As Koga groaned in pain, Gaara smirked slyly and whispered to Naruto.

"Funny, isn't it? He reminds me of you when you were younger."

Naruto, who had also been smiling at the scene, choked, snorted and covered it all up with, heavy, violent coughing. The three each gave him their own respective funny look. When Naruto had calmed down enough to breathe normally, Riku steeled his resolve and took a few steps towards the pair.

"Em?" he began, not really knowing how to phrase his question.

"Yes, Shortie?" Naruto asked, curious. Sniggers and giggles erupted from behind Riku, but he didn't turn around, choosing to glare at Naruto instead. Gaara shrugged Naruto off his shoulder and went to sit down against the shack, hiding his own amusement as he did so. Naruto, you are on your own, he thought. Finally growing tired of the sniggering, Riku corrected Naruto, clearly accentuating each word.

"I. Am. Not. Short. I. Am. Just. A. Late. Bloomer."

The sniggering and giggling intensified and Gaara gave two quiet coughs. It took everything Naruto had to not laugh at the child before him as he explained his reasoning. He still smiled as he said,

"While that may be true, compared to me you're short. Besides, what else am I meant to call you, when I don't even know your name?"

Riku opened his mouth to protest but flattered as Naruto finished, completely caught off guard, Riku blushed again, his cheeks turning pink his ears turning bright red. Laughter erupted from behind Riku, as his elder friends clutched their stomachs.

"Shut Up!" Riku yelled. Amazingly the laughter died back down to sniggers.

"It's Riku, sir. My name is Riku."

A loud snort sounded from the side of the alley and nearly all present looked over towards the silent, shaking form of Gaara. The kids were surprised and slightly confused. Riku's name was quite normal and Gaara didn't really seem to be the type to show his amusement often. Naruto, on the other hand, while surprised, had an educated guess on what he was laughing at.

"Something funny, Gaara?" he asked. It took Gaara a minute but he finally managed to wheeze;

"H-he called y-you sir. Y-your still a-a-a Genin and h-h-he c-called you s-s-sir " and covered his mouth with his hand again in a vain attempt to keep the laughter at bay. Gaara wasn't sure why he found this so funny but Naruto's twitching eyebrow only made it that much worse. Riku let his curiosity get the better of him.

"I don't get it. What's so funny?"

"It's nothing important, just something a lot of people would find funny in our old life. Gaara, however, forgets that I can and will kick his ass any day no matter what title I have." Naruto grumbled.

Gaara finally forced the laughter down and looked up at Naruto, stating clearly with a smirk, something that made Naruto groan and regret ever saying anything.

"I'll hold you to that."

The three kids looked between the two just the littlest bit confused.

Ignoring their confusion, Naruto turned back to Riku and got his attention.

"Riku? How about we get your friends to introduce themselves and then you can ask your question, yeah?" Naruto asked looking back at the two boys behind Riku. Said two boys looked at each other and shrugged before looking back at Naruto, with the taller of the two introducing them both.

"Well, I'm Sanji and this is Koga and the three of us are adoptive brothers" Sanji explained.

"Adoptive brothers?" Gaara asked.

"Hardly anyone the Soul Society is actually related, so we all make up adoptive families to look after one another" Koga explained.

Both Naruto and Gaara having asked about the term Soul Society before nodded in acceptance.

"What about you guys? Are you brothers?" Riku asked, curious to know more about the strangers, now knowing he was fairly safe from being killed.

"Well, as you may have guessed, I'm Naruto-"

"And I'm Gaara and no we're not brothers" Gaara clarified, waiting to see Naruto's reaction. He wasn't disappointed. Naruto mock gasped in utter horror.

"Gaara! I thought you cared. How could you wound me so?"

"When you act like that?" Gaara asked with a smirk on his face. "Easily."

Naruto looked to be on the verge of tears and wailed dramatically to the sky something about the cruelty of it all. The three boys watch the over dramatised scene in fits of giggles. They were beginning to really like these two and were slowly forgetting their original meeting.

When Naruto had calmed down from his dramatic high, he turned back to Riku and said,

"Never you mind Gaara. He just hates admitting how brotherly close we really are" Gaara snorted and Naruto mock glared at him. Then Gaara sighed in defeat.

"All right. I'll admit it. We too, are adoptive brothers," he admitted reluctantly. Naruto lit up like a light bulb and made a move to hug Gaara. Gaara, however, was already two steps ahead and said three words that haunt and terrify many people for various different reasons.

"Gai and Lee."

It was like someone flicked Naruto's light switch off. He paled to sickly greenish colour and started to sway. He stumbled his way over to Gaara anyway and slid down into a sitting position against the shack beside him. Just before putting his head between his knees, he muttered weakly to Gaara,

"That was beyond cruel."

Riku, Koga and Sanji followed Naruto over to Gaara and sat in front of the pair before Koga asked the obvious question.

"Who are Gai and Lee?"

"A horror story for another time." Gaara answered with a wicked smile.

"In the very far away future" Naruto declared suddenly, though it was muffled by the position he was in. While Naruto recovered Gaara turned to Riku.

"You had a question?"

Belatedly realising Gaara was talking to him, Riku nodded quickly.

"What's KI? I heard Naruto mention it and I was just wondering what it was," Riku explained.

"KI or Ki is the short term for Killer Intent. It's something a warrior uses to instil fear or doubt in his enemy. By making the enemy fear you or doubt his own abilities, he becomes much easier to defeat. And, before you ask, it can also be used in interrogation, which is why I used it on you" Gaara explained.

Sanji narrowed his eyes in suspicion, as he gazed at the pair. That description sounded very similar to Reiatsu, something he and his brothers were teaching themselves to use. It was the reason they were always hungry and always moving. The only people Sanji knew of that could use Reiatsu, were the people he and his brothers were trying to run from. The people who, on a daily basis, terrified this part of the Soul Society.

"You guys aren't Shinigami, are you?" Sanji accused.

Riku gasped and Koga's eyes widened. Both losing any colour they may have regained from Naruto's arrival. Neither had thought of the possibility that the two strangers may be Shinigami in disguise. Sanji waited patiently for the answers and reactions of the two strangers, promising himself that if they acted suspiciously, he would take his brothers and run as fast and as far away as possible. Sanji shouldn't have worried.

Naruto and Gaara stared at Sanji blankly. The minute he said Shinigami, an image of a large, almost see through demonic looking being with long, white hair, horns and a dagger held in it's fanged mouth came into their minds. This was the picture depicted in the scrolls and storybooks of their immensely deprived childhood. They turned and stared at each other, as if waiting for either of them to turn into such a beast. A minute of staring from all involved passed before Naruto and, yes, even Gaara began howling in uncontrollable laughter, clutching their sides and leaning against each other for support. To them, the idea was hilariously ridiculous. Still, Sanji glared at the pair in rage, but Koga and Riku gazed at them anxiously. To the pre-teens, the idea was not so far fetched. Finally, Sanji, unsure what to make of this reaction, lost his patience.

"Will you answer the question?" he shouted, silencing the two new souls.

This little out-burst made Naruto and Gaara pause. As they observed the three pre-teens before them, they saw the tension in their bodies and the fear in their eyes. It was a sincere question. Again, Naruto and Gaara looked at each other, this time in confusion, both wondering what the kids could see that they couldn't. Finally, Naruto turned his questioning gaze to Sanji.

"No, not as far as we know. Why? Do we look like we are?"

Now it was children's turn to look confused.

"Well, yes actually, you do. The only visible thing that distinguishes Shinigami from any soul you see walking around is the black robes they wear. That and the zanpakutò they have on their hip" Sanji answered, wondering if the pair sitting in front of him really didn't know or if they were really, really good actors.

There was a pregnant pause, as Gaara and Naruto absorbed this piece of information. Neither was quite sure how to react to what they had just been told after years of believing that there was only one shinigami, the Shinigami, who could be summoned at the cost of a person's life, with a sealing jutsu. The pair also noticed how tense the three kids became at the thought of being around these so-called shinigami. A concerned frown came over Naruto's face as theories and possible reasons ran through his head, but it was Gaara that asked the question with narrowed eyes.

"You seem to dislike these shinigami. Why is that?"

Sanji narrowed his own eyes. He didn't like the way Gaara phrased the question and it made him think that Gaara and Naruto really were just good actors. Koga on the other hand had no such thoughts.

"They're a bunch of no good, rotten, bastards, who enjoy stealing, beating and sometimes killing people for fun" he spat, rage evident on his face. Sanji glared at him for his lack of suspicion, but hit upside the head for a different reason.

"What have I told you about swearing in front of Riku?" he hissed.

"It's not my fault that's the only way I can describe them the best" Koga retorted, glaring back at his brother figure.

" You could've said 'putting it lightly', moron."

" That was putting it lightly."

Deciding that the argument was an old one and going nowhere, Naruto tried to redirect the conversation, as Koga's description, while worryingly ringing with the tone of truth, sounded a little bit biased.

"They can't all be like that, though, can they?" he asked.

Sanji sighed. He really didn't want to say anything to that and he was really regretting agreeing with Koga to follow the pair. He looked at Naruto and his face filled with concern, apprehension and a little bit of hope. He looked at Gaara and found his face was completely blank. No emotion what so ever showed on his face, yet, it was completely obvious that Sanji had his undivided attention. They didn't look like shinigami. They looked like normal souls. Souls who cared about what happened to Sanji and his brothers. That in itself put Sanji on guard. No one here cared what happened to three kids who needed to eat. Families banded together, but anyone who needed to eat attracted trouble. The only people who cared were the shinigami who tried to recruit Sanji and his brothers because they had high levels of spiritual energy and would make good shinigami. Sanji didn't want that, neither did Koga or Riku. None of them wanted to become shinigami. But, Sanji was tired. He was tired of being the eldest, the responsible one, the suspicious one. Focusing again on the two in front of him he decided to take a leap of faith. Who knew, maybe he would get two older brothers by the end of the day. Sanji sighed again at such hopeful thoughts, before answering honestly, much to Koga and Riku's amazement.

"Not all of them are like the bandits that Koga described, but those who aren't either have nothing to do with this part of the Soul Society or try to recruit people like Riku, Koga and I" Sanji explained quietly.

"People like you?" Gaara asked, only a speck of curiosity in his tone.

"People who need to eat" Riku chirped, trying to get back into the conversation. Unfortunately, his answer only left Gaara and Naruto confused. Sanji smiled slightly at his childish brother and explained.

"People with high spiritual levels need to eat food to keep up their strength. These people are also supposed to make very good shinigami. In theory."

The entire group snorted at the idea of such a theory, Naruto and Gaara having had experience with similar ideas in life, and the three kids living with the result of such a "theory" every day.

"The problem is food is scarce in this part of the Soul Society. Any food that is here is either stolen, only sold to wealthier merchants or rotten. Anyone that does have food isn't sharing" Sanji finished.

There was silence after that, while the new souls absorbed this information. That was something they hadn't heard when they asked around the streets and it concerned them greatly. Both Gaara and Naruto knew they had large reserves of power, if being Kage level shinobi said anything and this lack of food to keep such reserves might become a problem, if they didn't do something.

"The shinigami have food though, don't they? Why not just go with the recruiters?" Naruto asked suddenly. The kid's faces darkened at the idea, but it was Koga who snarled at Naruto.

"Why would we want to go with them? So we could learn to become bloody murderers ourselves, or become Hollow feed because some arrogant asshole gave us orders? -"

Had Riku not grabbed Koga's hand and looked at him with teary eyes, he probably would've kept going. Even though he stopped talking, it was clear Koga was still raging on the inside and the calming hand Sanji placed on his shoulder could only do so much. Naruto and Gaara got the feeling that becoming a shinigami was a taboo subject for these kids and their reasons sounded more than a little personal. To their surprise, Sanji quietly explained their reasons, while Riku hugged Koga who looked to be on the verge of tears.

"We used to have parents. People who looked after us at least and we thought about going with the recruiters back then because our parents didn't need to eat and it was getting harder to look after us as we grew. Then we heard that we would be split up from each other if we went to the Shinigami academy. Kids from this area aren't well liked there. We're thought to be bad influences on others. Then, our parents were murdered. Those bandits we told you about wanted to recruit us as well, but our parents said if we didn't want to go then they wouldn't make us. They stood up to them and for that they were killed."

Tears spilled silently from Koga's unseeing eyes as he looked straight ahead and Riku's small body shook as he buried his head into Koga's neck and continued to hug his older brother. Sanji was silent, no tears, no tremors, just a drawn expression with eyes that longed for a happier time. A dark silence reigned over the group. Sanji sighed once again and tried to shake off the depressing thoughts in his head.

"The recruiters from both groups thought we go to them after that, thinking we'd have nowhere else to go. We've been avoiding them ever since."

Naruto, shaken from his dèjà vu and memories of Inari, looked at Sanji and gave him a sad smile.

"Thank you for telling us what happened. You didn't have to, but we're grateful. It explains a lot" he softly replied. Gaara, uncomfortable with how the conversation went so far, decided to change the subject. He may have had a rare, once on a blue moon fit of emotion since meeting the boys, but that didn't mean he liked feeling so many strong emotions at once.

"Koga mentioned something about hollows. What are they?"

Sanji stayed silent, but looked to Koga for an answer. Koga having heard the question hugged Riku back in thanks, before gently prying his arms from his neck. Shooting Riku a smile in reassurance that he was okay, Koga dried his tears and answered the best he could.

"I've only ever seen one, and apparently they're souls that went bad. The one I saw was big, bone white and kinda looked like a lizard. It had yellow eyes too."

Riku having cheered up a little gave a sly grin and jumped at the chance to annoy his brother.

"Koga's the only one of us to have seen one because he's the biggest idiot of the three of us," he goaded. Koga's eyebrow twitched but he said nothing. Riku sniggered triumphantly. Koga still said nothing. Sanji, glanced witheringly at his younger siblings before turning to Gaara and Naruto.

"Koga got lost in the forest and came across this hollow eating another soul. The fact the hollow was distract was the only reason he got away unharmed" he said matter-of-factly.

"I did not get lost. I simply didn't realise how far in I was" Koga snapped, trying to defend himself. His eyebrow twitched again. Sanji and Riku shared a look behind his back. Both were entirely convinced.

"Riiiiiight."

"Sure. Of course."

Not.

Gaara and Naruto looked on in amusement, but both had noted what Sanji had said. "...Hollow eating another soul." Storing away the information for future reference, Naruto stood up and stretched. Gaara following his lead stood up and looked to Naruto.

"It seems the afterlife is what your friend Shikamaru used to say. Troublesome" his quiet voice not projecting the amusement that was in his eyes. Naruto however laughed out loud at the truthful comment.

"I know, on the one hand you have giant white things that want to eat us and on the other you have the shinigami who use food as bribery so you'll join them, then you have daily crime, murder and violence in between. I thought the afterlife was supposed to be nice."

"Obviously, we were wrong" Gaara muttered in disappointment.

"Obviously. Still, I wonder if there's a way to just take the shinigami's offer of food and run" Naruto mused out loud. Gaara smirked.

"If anyone could figure out how to do it, it would be you, Naruto."

The three kids, however, looked up at Naruto in astonishment before Koga and Sanji jumped to their feet, their bodies livid with repressed anger. Riku scrambled up behind them not wanting to be left on the ground, while everyone else towered over him.

"Even after everything we told you? Everything you've just heard?" Sanji hissed.

"You would still join those stupid shinigami, for some food?" Koga finished with a growl of disbelief.

Gaara gave them a blank stare, uncaring of how worked up they were. Personally, he didn't think it was any of their business what he and Naruto did. He also knew, however, that Naruto had been joking when he said that and, like himself, really didn't want to have another life of being a human tool used in war or other such battles. He also knew that Naruto would explain all of this to them, and so, he kept his mouth shut.

Naruto didn't disappoint, as he widened his eyes in bewilderment.

"Woah, woah, easy, calm down. When did I ever say I'd join the shinigami?"

Sanji and Koga looked each other uneasily but Riku answered his semi-rhetorical question.

"You didn't."

"That's right, I didn't. I wondered if I could take their food and run, something completely different. They would probably call it stealing, but I would call it survival. Besides, I think I've had enough war, loss and bloodshed to last me a lifetime" Naruto lectured.

Gaara snorted, "It did last you a lifetime, Naruto. Or have you forgotten your old life already?"

Naruto glared at Gaara for the direct barb, while the kids wondered at exactly what the pair were talking about.

"You know what I mean, smart-ass" Naruto grumbled to his long time friend. Koga looked between Gaara and Naruto, waiting for either to elaborate. When they didn't, he huffed.

"He may know what you're talking about but we don't!" He grouched.

Naruto looked down into one grumpy and two curious faces, before looking to Gaara for support. Naruto wasn't ashamed of anything in the life he lived, but that said, he wasn't sure he wanted to tell anyone about it. Power often attracted the greed of others and Naruto really just wanted to start of with a clean slate. Gaara noticing the look closed his eyes for a moment, before settling on a vague but satisfying answer.

"We were warriors in our past life."

Two pairs of eyes shone with awe, but Sanji's turned calculative.

"What type of warriors?" Koga asked admiration layering his voice.

"Another story, for another time" Naruto answered, grateful to Gaara for his more satisfying answer and hoping it would placate them for a while.

Sanji on the other hand was running through the conversation the pair had when they first showed themselves to Sanji and his brothers. The two of them only look to be about fifteen or sixteen and they were in war? That can't be right. They're too young. But didn't Naruto say Gaara was dangerous at our age? Does that mean they've been at war all this time. Naruto also called Gaara the Kazekage. Doesn't that mean, "Wind Shadow"? Is that a nickname or a title? I wonder if it's a position of power?

Sanji's thoughts came to an abrupt halt when he felt a hand on his head. He looked up to see Naruto with a sad smile on his face looking down at him. When Sanji looked in his eyes however, he suddenly felt very young compared to Naruto. Sanji suddenly had no wish to find out what kind of warriors Naruto and Gaara were because whatever they had done in their past life had aged them beyond their actual years in the human world. Naruto shocked him however, by what he said next and it made him wonder if Naruto could read minds or if he was just that obvious.

"Don't worry about it. It was our life, so it's our problem. We'll probably tell you about it at some point, so until then, forget about it. Okay?"

Sanji nodded and Naruto gave him another smile and ruffled his hair. Gaara gave a soft smile behind them at the sight. Naruto always showed people kindness and made them at ease. It was one of the many things he admired about Naruto and Gaara once again reminded himself how lucky he was to have died with a comrade like Naruto beside him.

Having gotten his message across, Naruto stepped back and through his hands behind his head. Looking onto the street he and Gaara had stopped in before they had surprised the three kids, he made a suggestion.

"Well, this alleyway really is a sight to see and all, but how about you three show us around a bit more?" he spoke nonchalantly. Gaara shook his head at his friend, a small, soft smile on his face and walked off in the direction Naruto was looking. Naruto watched him go before shrugging and look down at Sanji, Koga and Riku.

"Well? You coming?" he asked before following Gaara.

Koga and Riku looked at each other before turning to Sanji. Sanji watched as Naruto sauntered to the entrance of the alley. There was a light feeling in his chest and a weight lifted of his shoulders. He grinned at Koga and Riku before the three of them ran to catch up with Naruto.

Awww! Hopefully, like me, you thought that was a cute little ending. I have around 4 pages written for the next chapter, but as I've kept saying I'm stuck on a fight scene, so I doubt the next chapter will come out as quickly as this one. Expect it sometime around early to mid August, maybe, don't quote me on that though. Also, I think I'll put this in the Crossover section after the last chapter. If you think I shouldn't or definately should, there's a poll on my proflie. Please vote on it! It only takes less than 30 seconds. I hope you enjoyed this! Talk to you again!