Disclaimer: I do not own the original Naruto characters used in this fiction, just the couples' kids.

Ages: Same as the previous chapter (Kiku, Cho, Rei, and Katai are all 11)

Parenting 101

Story 07: Count Me In

Sometimes, especially in the world of the ninjas, it's helpful to consider all of your options.

Kiku and Cho were training, as usual, with Katai, Itachi and Hana's son and therefore Kiku's cousin, and Rei, Kakashi and Kurenai's daughter. The usual group of six was cut down by two since Takara and Tomoko were visiting Suna.

Katai had an uncanny resemblance of both men in his mother's life: his father and his uncle, Itachi and Kiba. While he had Itachi's face and onyx-colored eyes, he had Kiba's wild brunette hair. Though, despite his appearance, he is reserved and level-headed like Itachi. Also, being from the Inuzuka clan, he has the red fang-like tattoos on his cheek and his canine companion, a brown-colored wolf with charcoal gray eyes named Chairomaru.

Rei had wavy hair and her eyes were vibrant red like her mother, though her hair color was silverfish like Kakashi's almost snow white. She had Kakashi's face (though, since many people haven't seen his entire face, it was hard to determine) but Kurenai's independent and compassionate personality.

Cho laughed, clearly enjoying herself as she tossed the handful of kunai in her hands and hit the center of each target across the field from her.

"Chairomaru, catch this!" Cho exclaimed to the medium-sized brown wolf pup as she loaded a beribboned arrow onto her bow.

She drew back as Chairomaru charged ahead of her, and she waited until he was a few dozen yards away until she shot the arrow high into the air. It made a perfect semi-oval, arching high into the air and circling back down in what seemed to be almost the exact angles as its ascension, only flipped.

"Man," Katai said in an amazed tone of voice.

"I know," Rei agreed as they watched Chairomaru leap into the air and catch the arrow with his teeth.

"She's perfected it," Kiku pointed out. "That was a nearly perfect arch."

"You like?" Cho asked once she rejoined her friends with Chairomaru at her side. "I've been working on it for a couple days."

"It's scary-accurate," Rei remarked, but then she grinned widely. "I love it!"

Cho laughed. "Not quite 'scary-accurate,' but getting there," she half-agreed, taking the arrow from Chairomaru and wiping it clean with the used rag she usually brought along. "I'm hoping that, once I've perfected it, I'll be able to increase my range. That way, if ever we have to invade enemy territory, I'll be able to sent ones with explosive tags attached to it."

"Always one step ahead, huh?" Kiku asked. "We've just become genin last year."

"Yeah, but the chuunin exams are coming up soon, and I'm thinking we should all pass," she said.

"That's more of a goal than a plan," Katai reminded.

"Well we have all this time to practice," Cho said. "I say if we at least nail everything down and perfect our unique abilities, it's almost guaranteed."

"We may have all the time to practice," Rei countered, "but what about the space? We can't occupy the training grounds all the time and it's not like we spar in our backyards."

Katai laughed, causing the three girls to stare at him strangely.

"I don't know about you guys," he said, "but for me, the world is my backyard! Or, at least Konoha is."

"Are you suggesting that we run around Konoha practicing?" Rei half-joked.

He matched her tone. "That's exactly what I'm suggesting."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Cho said. "Just think about how greater the challenge is with all of Konoha being the field!"

"Are you serious?" Rei asked. She looked to Kiku, who seemed to be pondering the idea. They all knew that, if ever they needed to decide something, Kiku would make the decision that worked to everyone's advantages.

"Please," Katai said, more in a joking matter since "pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top" never worked with Kiku.

"Well, maybe we could give it a shot," she sighed. Then she smiled. "Okay, I'm in."

"Count me in!" Cho exclaimed.

Rei sighed in defeat. "If we get in trouble I am so blaming you!" she said, glaring at Katai.

"Is that a yes?"

Another sigh.

"Yeah. Alright. I'm in."

A/N

Quote: "The world is my backyard!"—from The Aristocrats.

This was originally written just to introduce the Rei and Katai, though it also served a purpose of showing the close friendships.

Also, it's kind of funny how Daisuke, Ryuu, Shikarou, Misaki, Naomi, and occasionally Yua are all close friends and are the same age, and Kiku, Cho, Katai, Rei, Takara, and Tomoko are all close friends and the same age. Then again, that's how it works. (Whoa, I just noticed Katai is surrounded by girls! Hahah)

I also noticed that there are more girls than guys—don't worry! Everyone's paired up (as in coupled up) so there will eventually be an even girl-to-guy ratio.

Well, here are more fun-facts! Katai's name and Chairomaru's name was determined the same way I determined Misaki and Shiroko's names—Katai is the Japanese word for "leg," and obvious creature, let alone dog, limb, and Chairomaru is 'Chairo,' the Japanese word for "brown," and the Japanese male suffix 'maru' combined. As for Rei, well, Rei means "orchid," which was a significant flower in a KakaKure love story thing I had planned but never went through with. So, that's where her name came from.

From here on out, the actual story will begin!

Don't worry about the skipped childhood years, because they will be mentioned in later chapters!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Criticism? Flames? Don't hesitate to make your opinions known in a review or PM, whatever suits you.

Ciao! Au Reveoir! Zai Jian! Hasta Lavista! Ja Ne! Goodbye (till next time, at least!)