Recap- The group sobered up once they sensed the Kazekage behind them.

"Let's go." he said once he reached them. They took off silently. —

Their formation was simple; Tenten took the lead in front of Gaara. The other two were slightly behind Gaara, so they could cover his back, Rin on the left and Naruto on the right. Everything had gone smoothly on the way back to Konohagakure until the last day.

"Tenten," Naruto called. She turned her head slightly towards him, showing him that she was listening.

"They've been following us for the past 10 minutes. I didn't bother telling you 'cause I thought we were going to make it," he told her

"But now they're moving fast, about a mile behind me."

"How many?" she asked

"Five."

"Drop out and hold them. Catch up when you're done," she commanded. Rin and Naruto both nodded. They stopped and dropped down through the many branches.

"Come one," she told Gaara. After about a couple of minutes of smooth travel Gaara spoke up

"Stop." He told her in his quite but commanding voice, she did.

Two ninjas appeared before them. They had headbands with their villages symbol scratched out. Rogue Ninjas thought Tenten. She was about to move up a branch when Gaara grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"They have a baby with them," he answered the question in her eyes. She looked closer at the men saw that they did have a baby with them. It was strapped in a bundle on the back of the tallest man.

"I see it," she said looking yet again "But it's not real," She summoned a large shuriken and threw it. As it flew the giant shuriken broke off into smaller ones that caught fire once they hit. The men disappeared once the shuriken caught fire.

"Oh, what a sharp kid," remarked a voice above them. They both looked up, at the real form of the ninjas.

"Now if you move out the way, we only want the Kazekage," The man smirked.

"You're funny," replied Tenten with her own smirk thought it couldn't be seen.

"You guard the one with the kid, I'll take care of the other one," Gaara nodded at her request. She went up a branch to get closer, while with a wall of sand, Gaara isolated the man with the child.

"Come're princess," the man teased Tenten. He had a raspy voice that only spelled out trouble for Tenten. She slowly went up the next branch.

"Good. Now come closer so I can kill you," said the man.

Tenten just giggled and summoned a sword. It looked familiar and Gaara noted that it was one of Rin's swords.

"That's not gonna touch me," said the man. Tenten ignored him, she threw the sword, with such force so he wouldn't snatch it from the air. It went spinning over his head until it landed on the branch behind him with a thud.

"It's not suppose to," Tenten said in reply to his earlier comment. With a quick hand seal, the sword behind the man became Rin and as quick as lighting she pierce him from behind.

"One left," remarked Rin with a devious smile. Tenten slid her mask behind her head.

"We aren't going to make this easy," she called to the kidnapper behind Gaara's sand.

"Rin!" she called just as she opened her scroll and threw shuriken shower again. Rin disappeared then reappeared along side the shuriken. Right before the shurikens hit the bad man she pushed him down with her. Her momentum made him turn so he could catch himself. Rin then untied the baby and disappeared again right before they hit the next branch. Naruto appeared right in Rin's spot and in the next seconds. He slammed the culprit down into the next three branches with a shout "Rasengan!"

Both Tenten and Gaara went for the baby. She jumped to catch it and fell back down with the baby until sand surrounded her and set her on her feet.

The baby opened her eyes as if nothing had happened. To Tenten's surprise, the baby had deep purple eyes that looked so intelligent for a baby. She rocked the baby and shushed it when she started to stir.

A couple of branches back Naruto and Rin were high-fiving each other and commenting on their teamwork. They soon joined Tenten, praising her for the plan. As Gaara joined them they decided to head for Konoha once more.

"Tenten are you sure you don't need help with the baby?" Rin pleaded once again. Tenten knew Rin only wanted the baby so she could walk into the village and have everyone praise her for saving a baby.

"Fine. Here," Tenten said, handing the baby over to the eager shinobi. When she had the girl in her arms Rin sped up. As they stopped near the gates entrance right before walking through, Gaara turned to Tenten and asked her

"Why did you do that?"

She looked him directly in the eye before answering.

"Because I don't want all the fame, and praise. I have a feeling that baby was something important,"

"Good job Ten-Chan," Naruto said with a quick kiss on her cheek, and a ruffle of her hair, before catching up to Rin.

"Come, Tsunade-Sama is expecting you," she told the Kazekage.

Lady Hokage dismissed Tenten but told to wait outside her office for a moment. Tenten bowed to both Kages and felt Gaara's gaze follow her from behind. Strangely, it made her stomach flutter.

After waiting for almost a whole hour, Tsunade opened her office door and stepped outside. Shizune followed suit with the child in her arms.

"Escort the Kazekage to laboratory 2. Someone will be expecting him there. By the end of the week Gaara must be escorted back to Suna. A Kage can only be away from home so long before something happens," "I will take care of it," Tenten said, nodding to every order. She looked around really quick, looking for the young Kage.

"Good, go." Tsunade nodded towards outside, answering Tenten's looks.

Tenten turned to go, but stopped before she rounded the corner

"Tenten," Called the Hokage. She turned slightly.

"Rin and Naruto told me what happened. Good job." Tenten nodded in acknowledgment before leaving.

Outside stood the Kazekage waiting for her. His expression was unreadable.

"Sorry for making you wait Kazekage-Sama," Tenten said with a slight bow.

"I think we've known each other long enough to stop with the titles," he told her. She smiled slightly ashamed that that was the second time he told her that. As they walked across Konoha to lab 2 Tenten made small talk with him.

"So, how's running a village?"

"Not as easy as it sounds," he smirked

"I bet. I saw your desk over at Suna. It was stacked with papers," she remarked.

"Well that's embarrassing," he said

"What is?" she said, truly curious that he would admit embarrassment.

"The way you put it, it doesn't seem like I'm doing such a good job does it?" he said looking away from her.

Tenten softened her look and touched his arm without thinking.

"I didn't say that. I think your doing a great job," Gaara looked back at her, which made her stutter.

"I-I mean you protected your village with your life," she said softly avoiding his stare.

He stopped walking and really looked at her.

"That's not what the other Kages think," he said.

"That's not it," Tenten said thoughtfully.

"They're just looking out for you. You know, because you're the youngest. Just like how Neji and Lee always look out for me," realizing she was still touching him, she dropped her arm awkwardly.

Gaara knew it was weird but as soon as her hand left his arm all the warmth left with her.

"Has Naruto been rubbing off on you?" he asked her with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood. He continued walking once again.

"No," she said thoughtfully " He's just taught me many things. I never really expected him to become one of my closest friends. Plus, you haven't known me long enough to assume," she said jokingly.

"Yeah," Gaara said softly "I never really expected Naruto to become my friend either,"

Tenten considered his words for a while, but said nothing. She wanted to tell him that she was his friend too, but thought that it would sound too straightforward.

"We're here," she said opening the door to Lab 2.

"Shikamaru!" Tenten said excitedly once she opened the door and saw the only person in the lab.

"Oh, are you expecting Gaara-Sama?"

"Actually yeah, we have things to discuss, it's troublesome but, I can't ignore Lady Hokage," he drawled in his lazy voice.

"Alright, I'll see you later Shikamaru, and Gaara-Sama," Tenten said turning to go. But before she opened the door all the way she stopped and turned around.

"Shikamaru?" she said softly from the doorway.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said. Answering her unspoken question. With a big smile on her face Tenten left the lab.

"Troublesome women," Shikamaru murmured shaking his head.