Again, thank you for the reviews, everyone. You rock! Here's the next chapter...

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"Yasu!"

"Yasu!"

"Yasu!" Ino sighed.

"Oh, where is he!?" she asked. "He was right beside me, now it's like he disappeared into thin air!"

"Yasu's real fast," Tomoko said. "And it isn't the first time he's run away."

"It isn't?" Ino looked at her with raised eyebrows. Tomoko nodded.

"Yeah, once we were being babysat by this girl, and she took us for a walk, and then Yasu ran off and we found him at the park near my house." Ino let out a frustrated yell.

"Then why the heck didn't his mom tell us!?" she exclaimed. Biting her lip, Shizuka took out her scroll, unrolled it all, and scanned through the instructions. Not one sentance explained Yasu's run away antics.

"Does your mom know about Yasu running off?" Chouji asked.

"No, our old babysitter never told her," Tomoko said.

"Why?"

"Because she and Yasu made a deal: She wouldn't tell Mommy that he ran away, and he won't tell Mommy that she invited her boyfriend over once when she wasn't allowed."

"Oh my gosh..." Ino went from being high-strung and worried to tired and defeated. "What are we going to do?"

"I have an idea," Shikamaru said. "We'll split up: I'll look for him North of the district; Chouji will look South; Ino will look West; and Shizuka will look East."

"How are we going to let each other know that we've found Yasu if we have?" Shizuka wrote. Shikamaru thought for a minute and answered.

"We'll all meet each other at the front desk. If no one's found him, we'll tell Asuma-sensei," he said.

"Wait, what about Tomoko? She can't stay here on her own," Ino said, nodding to the little girl.

"I wanna help find Yasu!" she said. "I wanna be a ninja like you guys!"

"Fine, go with Ino," Shikamaru said. Tomoko frowned.

"I don't wanna go with Ino," she whined. "I wanna go with Chouji!"

"Whatever, let's just go," Shikamaru eyed his three team mates and nodded. Returning his nod, Shizuka bounded off in an East-ward direction.

Running as fast as she could, terrifying thoughts suddenly filled the gennin's head. What if they wouldn't be able to find Yasu? What would happen to him? What would Ran think? Biting her lip in anxiety, Shizuka picked up her pace. She sped down the walkways, made her way around buildings, and weaved in and out through people, but there was absoulutely no sign of Yasu. She rounded a corner like a barrel horse, and slammed right into someone else, knocking them down. After she crash landed on the cement, Shizuka wearily lifted her head to see who she run into.

"What the heck are you doing here?" asked Shikamaru, sitting up and rubbing his head. Furrowing her brow, Shizuka got to her feet, helped up her team mate and wrote him a note.

"What the heck am I doing here? What the heck are you doing here? I thought you were checking the North side!" Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"You don't know your directions, do you?" he asked. "This is the North side. The East side is over there," He pointed. Shizuka blushed, mouthed a, "sorry" and ran off in the proper direction.

As she ran, Shizuka began to think she wasn't supposed to be in the Eastern side of the district because she only saw men walking around, and everytime she passed a bathhouse, its signs would always read, "Men's bathhouse". She didn't know if Shikamaru sent her to search the East side because he thought it'd be funny to see her be made a fool of, or if he didn't know. She suspected he just didn't know, for he didn't seem to be the type to play pranks on people.

Well, it's too late to switch sides with either of the two boys now, we could lose Yasu even more! Shizuka conitnued to run down the path, trying her best not be seen very long by any of the men. Suddenly, she felt the toe of her sandal hit something, then it hit her other foot, and she went flying. Shizuka landed in the dirt. She made a face. She wasn't very well coordinated today.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" asked a voice. Shizuak looked up. A tall, serious looking man was there, looking down at Shizuka. The young girl didn't know how to tell the man she was looking for a lost little boy, so she remained immobile. After a pause, the man offered her a hand. She took it and he pulled her up.

"You new around here?" he asked. Shizuka nodded. The man gave an understanding nod.

"Well, so that you know for next time, this is the men's bath section," he said. "And women aren't allowed here." Shizuka nodded and waved as the man walked away. She glanced at what she had tripped over.

Lying in the middle of the walkway was a battered up old cap. Shizuka frowned.

What am I going to do? How can I search this place without being recognized as a girl? The gennin glanced at the hat again. She had an idea.

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Well, at least I look somewhat like a boy, Shizuka thought. She now had the battered up cap on her head, her long black hair stuffed under it. She was praying she wouldn't get lice. She had taken off her skirt and re-wrapped it around her legs so that it looked like she was wearing capri pants, her headband serving as a belt so that the skirt was extra secure around her waist. Shizuka didn't worry about her tank top becuase she knew some boys wore tank tops, and she also wasn't developping very fast, so her chest was hardly noticable. And just to be sure nobody recognized her feminine facial features, she had smeared dirt around her eyes, nose, and cheeks to enhance the shadow the cap's brim cast on her visage. Checking to make sure she was as boy-ish as she could be, Shizuka took off.

God only knew how long Shizuka ran around the East side of the hot spring district for. She searched every nook and cranny for Yasu, but she saw no bright green eyes or jet black hair about the place. After probably her fifth round about the men's side, Shizuka decided to stop.

I'll just meet Ino and the others at the front desk, she thought. She started in the direction out of the men's bathouses, but suddenly, something jumped onto her from behind.

"Rokurou!" yelled a boy's voice in Shizuka's ear. "Geez, man, you take long to find one hat!"

"Okay, let's not strangle poor Rokurou, Taichi," said a deeper voice. Shizuka pushed the boy named Taichi off her and turned around. Walking towards her was a burly, balding man with a beard and a purple shirt on. She didn't know who this was.

"Well, at least you found your hat, eh, Rokurou?" asked Taichi. Shizuka looked at him. The boy who had jumped on her was a little shorter than her. He had brown, curly hair, grey eyes, and a goofy grin. She had never seen him before.

Why are they calling me Rokurou? she wondered. Suddenly, she got scared. Oh no! Maybe they think I'm someone they know! What do I do!?

"I told you we'd wait for you near the fourth bathouse," said the man, approaching the disguised kunoichi. "We waited for over thirty minutes, why didn't you give us a ring on the cell phone and say you hadn't found it yet?" Shizuka didn't know what to do. If she revealed her true identity, she'd be be in trouble. But is she remained this Rokurou person these peopl knew, that could cause a whole lot of trouble.

"Ah, don't give him heck about it, Dad," said Taichi. "Let's just get going. I wanna take that bath we've been talking about for a while." Shizuka felt like she had fallen down the stairs. Was it their plan to all go to the bathouse? Taichi, his father, and Rokurou? Shizuka was about to come up with some desperate actions to show she wasn't Rokurou, but she didn't have time, for Taichi had draped an arm over her shoudlers, and was practically dragging her with him as he walked.

"Hey, Rokurou, you said you've been here before, what's it like in the bathouse?" he asked, his grey eyes sparkling with interest. Shizuka guessed this was Taichi's first time here. But it was her's too so she shrugged, shaking off his arm around her at the same time.

"Aw, c'mon, you said you'd tell me all about it," Taichi whined. Shizuka shrugged again, keeping her head down, hoping they wouldn't noticed this was actually Shizuka Kobayashi, and not their friend.

"Well, I heard from Naoki that they're real nice inside," Taichi said. "And that the tub's real big, and it's real steamy in there..." If Shizuka could, she would bolt off without looking back, but a) that would be kind of rude and b) she had to somehow let these two know she wasn't Rokurou. Many timed she had tried to take out her note book and write them a message, btu Taichi had his eye on her the whole time, and would not stop to breathe while he talked. Shizuka only half listened until he asked her a question on her attire.

"Hey, you're wearing bandages on your shins, where'd you get 'em?" he asked. "And what'er those pouches on your thigh and waist for, eh? I don't think you had them before." Shizuka felt her stomach get twisted into a knot. She casually shrugged. Taichi looked at her suspicious.

"You aren't talking very much, what's wrong with you?" he inquired. Shizuka made up an excuse quick and rubbed her throat, hopin he would get the meeage. But Taichi wasn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

"Huh? What's up? Feeling your pulse?" Shizuka shook her head.

"Then what are you doing?" Shizuka pointed to her throat.

"Come on, answer!" Tacihi pleaded. Shizuka was ready to smack this boy upside the head. Couldn't he tell his 'friend' had a sore thraot?

"Rokurou, why aren't you talking?"

Because I'm not Rokurou, and I'm mute, you imbecile! Shizuka thought, angrily. Suddenly, Taichi's father spoke.

"Here we are!" he gestured to a sign that read, "Men's Bathouse #4". Shizuka felt panic fill her system. What was she going to do!? She wasn't allowed in there! She didn't want to go in there! No. No way. There was no way in the history of the Konaha and Getsu put together that she was going in that bathouse. But, Taichi thought diffrently.

"Alright! Alright! Alright! Let's go, Rokurou, let's go!" he was practically jumping on her again. Shizuka moved away from him slowly.

I think Taichi forgot to take his pills this morning, she thought. Suddenly, Taichi dragged her through the doors of the bathouse, and into the changing room. Shizuka could sense other men in there so she shut her eyes. She pulled away from Taichi once they were in an isolated area surrounded by lockers. She glanced nervously around at the men's changing room.

This is bad... This is really, really bad! she thought.

"Okay, boys, here are your towels-" Taichi's dad tossed both his son and Shizuka one fluffy white towel. "-now let's hurry and take the bath before this place closes!" Shizuka was on the brink of a panic attack as her two 'companions' removed their shirts. Suddenly, a voice called their names.

"Taichi? Arata?" Shizuka turned her head. Standing near some of the lockers was a boy with a towel wrapped around his waist with black hair and black eyes, and a soft, girl-ish face. Arata and Taichi raised their eyebrows.

"Rokurou!?" they said to the boy in unision. That was it. That was her cue to leave. Shizuka bolted from the men's dressing room, not looking back, knowing she left the other three in a deeply confused state.

She ran out of the hot spring's Eastern side at full speed, and didn't not slow her pace down until she saw the front lobby's building up ahead. Shizuka ran up to the doors, wrenched them open, and ran in.