Ramenlvr15: HELLO!! Long time no write! Meow!

Nori-chan: Erm...I think she might be sick...

Ramenlvr15: Nope!! Just a few too many cans of pop! Onto the disclaimer!!

Disclaimer: IdOnOToWNnARUTO!!OnlyNori-chanAndThePlot!! YAY FOR CAFFIENE!!


"Target in sight

"Target in sight. Noriko-san, use genjutsu to subdue it for a moment."

"H…Hai," her nervous voice crackled over the radio frequency. "But are you sure it'll work on-?"

"Will you two stop being so serious?! It's a freaking squirrel! How hard can it be to get it out of some old lady's garden??" interrupted Shisui so loudly that Noriko almost doubled over when her radio squealed in her ear.

"Earth to idiot, just help the other two finish up? I have things to do!" ordered Yoshiko-sensei from on top of a building somewhere.

"Fine!" Shisui suddenly tore out of his hiding place behind a tree and flinging himself at the squirrel with a sharpened kunai clasped in his hand.

"Shisui-kun, stop! You'll hurt it!" Noriko went chasing after him. Mustering up her courage she took a flying leap and tackled him around the knees, dropping him to the ground. However, there in his hand squirming and squeaking loudly, was a fuzzy brown squirrel.

"Nori-chan! Why'd you do that?" he complained getting to his feet and brushing off his shirt with a free hand as the squirrel attempted to bite the thumb on the hand gripping him a little too tightly.

Itachi had joined them and was shaking his head in both amusement and disproval. "Well, that makes six. That should be all of them."

"It took you three long enough," sighed Yoshiko-sensei appearing from nowhere on a nearby tree branch. "How are you ever going to get harder missions if you take so long to just catch squirrels?"

"Not like you were any help," Shisui grumbled. "It would have been faster if we could have just killed the little rodents."

Noriko went red. I'm the one that didn't want to hurt them…Some ninja I am. It's my fault we took so long…

"Some missions require that targets are captured instead of killed," reminded Itachi, coming to her rescue. "Let's just call it a day."

"Alright. I'll have your pay tomorrow at training," said Yoshiko-sensei shrugging. He disappeared leaving the trio to themselves.

The three walked down the street silently for a little while. Noriko on the end beside Itachi and Shisui on his other side. They looked quite a sight with their arms scratched up and dirt smudged all over their faces.

"I'm hungry," said Shisui suddenly as he ran a hand through his short black hair.

"You're always hungry."

Noriko giggled. "There's a dumpling shop over there. Let's go."

The boys followed her and in a few minutes they had their food and had stopped to eat at the training grounds. The three sat next to their favorite and biggest tree on the training grounds. Noriko looked at her half-eaten dumplings for a while and finally said, "I….I'm sorry I wasn't much help today."

"Wharutalkingbout?" said Shisui with his mouth full.

"W-what?"

He gulped. "What are you talking about? You were plenty of help today. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I tried to talk you into killing them."

"Can we not talk about dying things while I'm trying to eat?" asked Itachi with a grimace as he finished his last dumpling.

"Sorry, Itachi-kun," said Noriko quietly. "I guess I'm just being silly. I'll work harder from now on."

Shisui looked down at his watch and then yelped. "Itachi, we're late! We've got to get back to the house."

"Oh….See you tomorrow Noriko," said Itachi getting up and heading off with his friend.

"Yeah, later!" exclaimed Shisui as they ran off toward the Uchiha clan's compound.

Noriko smiled and fixed her pigtails before turning the opposite direction and heading home. It's nice when they're both happy… she thought.


Ramenlvr15: Well, there you have it, a rather slow chapter but –

Shisui-kun: I want some excitement already! Sheesh! You make Nori-chan seem exciting!

Ramenlvr15: (Hits with shoe) Well, I apologize for the long break, I'll try to update before I leave for work… and then you know….move! Before I forget, Virtual cookies for all! Meow!