Disclaimer: Read Chapter One.

Note to readers: Here is chapter seven, long at last, and I'm happy to give it over - well, not really give since its online...anyway, here it is. A lot happens in this chapter...I guess. I can say this - this is where the story starts to get serious.

Rating: T

When the Sun Starts to Set

Seven

As the days changed and hours passed, Gwyn feared things could not get any worse – or, as she figured it, any stranger. She was wrong on the second note. After two days, things started to get a bit weird. Her mom had this happy glow to her, her dad was trying to avoid awkward conversations, and her brother looks plain confused. At school – it isn't much better. Her small gang has been getting similar reactions from their family – minus the anti-social Sasuke who is not on good terms with any of his family. But now, standing at the train station with a suitcase in hand, she has to say that weird has gone to crazy.

"Where is that idiot?" Sakura snaps as she glances down at the watch adoring her wrist and Ino, blond and vibrantly happy, hums her agreement. Hinata twiddles her fingers.

Sasuke, along with Shikamaru and a large group of kids she knows but is not all that familiar with, are arriving as well. The silent and somber Uchiha marches right up to them, drops his own suitcase next to Gwyn's, and stuffs his hands in his pockets. Shikamaru does a similar action but takes the time to ask how their morning is first.

"Oh, I don't know. Been really weird, like 'get your ass out of bed before I murder you' weird," Gwyn brushes her hair over her shoulder with a flip of her wrist and adds, "And what about you?"

He just shrugs before looking up at the clock on the pillar behind her before commenting, "If Naruto doesn't hurry, he'll miss the train."

"Does anyone even know what the hell this is about?" Ino asks as she props her hands on her hips with a glare and huff.

"If we did, don't you think we would have told you, Pig?"

"Can it, Forehead."

Gwyn sighs, shakes her head. She absently strokes her bandaged arms, hiding them from view with ease, but turns to look at all the students around her. Now that she thinks about it, she hasn't heard anything about a field trip – or a trip where they'll be staying for longer than a day.

This is just so…odd.

"Gwyn-san!" for a moment, the voice does not sound familiar until a certain male with white-silver hair and glasses strolls up to them.

Kabuto, that's his name. He's wearing a white button-down shirt again and casual, black pants. Trailing behind him is the red-head named Karin and two boys she has never seen before. Karin just looks plain pissed to see her, the white-haired male has a leer on his face, and the one with the orange colored hair just seems…indecisive.

About what, she does not know.

"Ah, Kabuto-san, correct?" she shifts slightly and Sakura, along with Hinata and Ino and her boys, all glance at the newcomers with either curiosity or boredom.

"Yes, that would be I. This is all so…unexplained. I thought you might know what is going on for we have not been able to figure it out ourselves." He smiles that boyish smile.

"Sadly, we don't know either." Ino props her elbow on Sasuke and Sakura's shoulder as she pens a level gaze, not a glare but nothing pleasant, on the white-haired male with glasses.

If that isn't a dismissal, than Gwyn is rather uncertain what one is.

For a few minutes, they all stand there in an uneasy silence before, "Hey, Gwyn-chan!"

Those three words are dragged out like a child just found his favorite food. She turns, seeing Naruto closing the distance between them at breakneck speed. And, as she hoped he would not do, he slams right into her and sends them sprawling to the ground – along with Hinata who did not get out of the way fast enough.

They roll around, Gwyn trying to regain her feet and Hinata sputtering and blushing like mad. As she attempts to pull herself up, a large hand curls around her forearm and hauls her up. She turns to thank the person and sees it is the orange-haired male, the one with the reddish-brown eyes that is with Kabuto, and pauses.

"Ah, thank you," she pauses a second time as he supplies, "Jugo."

"Yes, right. Thanks, Jugo." He still holds onto her arm, watching Naruto and Hinata behind her, and she turns slightly to watch them as well.

For a moment, they stand among the rest who watch. Jugo, silent and calm, slowly steps forward and grabs Hinata's shoulder. She can see him say something and a moment later she holds still. Jugo careful untangles them, gentle despite the fact he's a giant, and then pulls both Hinata and Naruto to their feet. He asks if she is alright before turning and, to Gwyn's shock, starts to scold Naruto for being careless.

Naruto, who is currently getting his ears chewed out, hangs his head in shame and mutters a 'I'm sorry' before Jugo nods and returns to where he stood – right next to Gwyn's side. He has his arms folded across his chest but the passive, calm look does not leave his face. Not even when the guy with the white-blue hangs off one shoulder to pin a look on Gwyn, a look that is starting to make her feel very insecure.

When he drapes an arm over her shoulder, and another around her waist, she is pulled till she is flushed flat against his chest. She can feel a heart beating against her back as the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Jugo turns slightly, levels a frown on the male and his lips tighten into a white line before commenting, "Suigetsu, I believe that is not a wise action on your part."

"You say, Jugo-san?" contempt leaks from the voice behind her, adding malice to the honorific as his grip tightens before adding, "Anyway, I'd like to get to know this girl better. And her friends,"

She can see Sakura's hands curl into fists from the corner of her eye and see Ino, turning red with anger, step forward. Hinata even looks ready to stomp over here and punch this guy's lights out. That, all in all, is a really scary thing due to the fact that the Hyuga opposes fighting.

This little scene has also caught Naruto and Sasuke's attention. Even Shikamaru, brows furrowed and hands folded over his chest, doesn't look pleased. And Neji, standing off to the side with his own friends, is making his way in their direction.

Well, I guess it's good that everyone likes me…to a certain extent. The last part of the thought goes to the male behind her and those she does not know. Most likely, no one wants this to escalate into a fight – which is where it's heading.

"Let go of Gwyn-chan," Naruto's voice is nearly a growl, a deep snarl that rumbles in the back of his throat, and Suigetsu remarks, "Or what?"

"Suigetsu," another voice adds, a deeper one with a load of displeasure added to it, and the arms around her seem to stiffen for a moment before the male mutters, "Hai, Sensei."

He lets her go and steps away. Everyone else has also paused, each eyeing the group of teachers who have made their way to them. Gwyn, seeing Kakashi and Kurenai, breaths out in relief and smiles when the close the distance between them.

"Tsunade-baa-chan!" Naruto's jaws drop when the school's 'headmaster' strolls up with a man with unnaturally long, shaggy white hair. A male that is grinning like some kind of lecher and Gwyn, seeing the look on Naruto's face, has a feeling that this is the 'man' that he mentioned earlier in the year – the one he lives with.

"Naruto-kun," the woman greets them with a smile as Sakura and Ino drag Gwyn to their side, tucking her in their arms, and Hinata glares at the male who had his hands on her moments before.

He, in turn, levels a sneer at her and she turns away. To Gwyn, it is a little too quickly.

Then she sees him, a man with Kabuto. It is a man with long, black hair and sickly white skin that has the eyes of a snake. He is a man that is glaring with such malicious intent that her stomach plummets to the bottom on her stomach. She is only thankful that he doesn't turn those eyes on her.

Kabuto walks over to his little group as this man pauses next to Tsunade and the white-haired man. She watches them exchange greetings, all tense-like and formal, and then she hears Naruto murmur, "Kami, how do I hate Orochimaru."

She sees Sasuke nod his agreement and Gwyn leans into them as she asks, "Who is he? And that white-haired man,"

"Orochimaru is a teacher in the school this year, or was if judging by today says anything, and the white-haired man is my pervy adopted guardian – he has a thing for Tsunade-baa-chan." Naruto murmurs and Sasuke adds a moment later, "All I know about Orochimaru is that he isn't…in the right circle anymore. He was one of the higher-ups in Konoha years back."

She frowns, a line creasing between her brows as she watches them, and asks, "They seem to know each other pretty well."

"They do." Sakura says as she comes to stand next to them. "From what my mom told me, they grew up together and worked together at a later date before coming to work at the school."

"Station 5 is arriving, step back from platform. Station 5 is arriving, step back from platform." The speakers go off, a low hum of noise, and Naruto grins.

"About damn time, I'd say!" he pups a fist in the air as he says this.

Gwyn grabs her suitcase and turns to see her friends doing the same. Naruto, oddly enough, has three of them while Sasuke and the other boys have two. Ino, on the other hand, has about five of them and Sakura has the same Naruto. Hinata is the only other one besides Gwyn herself who only has one bag of luggage.

With the help of Shikamaru, Ino strides up two with a suitcase in each hand. Shikamaru, who is behind her, now has four suitcases – one black and three that are pink. He only sighs and mutters something along the lines of 'women are troublesome' before Hinata grabs one of the suitcases with a smile. Gwyn takes one of the three, having two suitcases instead of one – along with Hinata and Shikamaru who nods his thanks.

The train screams to a halt and all of the people board it ten within ten minutes. Suitcases from all sides get stuffed under the seats and in the baggage holdings above their heads. Gwyn, who is currently sitting, sighs as Hinata collapses besides her with a groan. Ino and Sakura follow suit as Naruto just plops down on the ground at their feet. A moment later he buries his face as a certain red-head with raccoon eyes takes the seat across the aisle from them.

"Yo, Panda-san!" Gwyn waves at him and his gaze snaps right at her and his brows furrow while the two sitting next to him, both older, pale – tan skin goes to white.

"G-G-G-Gwyn," Naruto stutters as he shuffles around on the ground, paling as the red-head narrows his eyes in distaste, but Gwyn ignores him, "I've only seen you, like, once at school. Where'd you move from?"

"Suna." A one-worded answer but she nods.

"Konoha must be different. I went to Suna once, a trip, and it was so hot up there. You like Konoha so far?" now he looks confused as he answers, if a bit carefully, "It is alright. The weather is…hard to get use to."

She nods again as Naruto starts to relax against her legs and she comments, "So, yeah, you're called Gaara, right?"

He nods.

"And the two next to you…"

"I'm Kankuro and this is my sister Temari." The male next to him says as he brushes brown bangs from his face.

"Sister? You two don't look anything alike! Her hair's blond and…you have brown hair…"

Kankuro grins, a glint of fang-like teeth flicker out, and he comments, "Get that all the time. We're the Suna Siblings."

"So…Gaara is your brother?" Gwyn cocks her head to the side as Temari answers, "Youngest, in fact."

"And the oldest?" Temari raises her hand, a smirk on her face.

Now Gwyn's entire group is watching in awe as she talks to the Sand Siblings, lightly and carefree and completely at ease. Gwyn leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees as she does so. Gaara, still frowning, has appeared to relax as he asks, "Are you also a new student?"

"I can in last year. About three weeks after second semester," he mimics her pose, elbows on knees, as he says, "And you have yet to say introduce yourself."

"I'm Gwyn Armstrong, age sixteen!" She grins, an ear to ear grin, and the older siblings give a close impression of a returned smile.

"You're younger than Gaara," Temari cocks her head to the side before asking, "You are an intelligent girl, I'd say. Skipping grades in Konoha High School is not an easy thing to do."

"Scholarship or Honor Student, I've been told." Gwyn smiles, brushing her hair over her shoulder as, to her surprise, a very large person plops down on her free side.

Ino, Sakura, and Hinata peer around her to see the large Jugo sitting with them as he says, "I hope you do not mind that I sit here. Karin and Suigetsu are fighting."

"Don't mind at all. From what I can tell, those two must not be the easiest people to be around." He nods his agreement before nodding a greeting to the three sitting across from him.

They all settle into a comfortable silence as they speak of different topics – from school to Noriko Café and to the hysterical events of last year and how Gwyn plotted it all. Said brown-haired girl shrugged a shoulder and said that they give her too much credit. She also put in that Shikamaru needs acknowledgment due to his ingenious hacking skills.

Finally, Naruto pups in a question that all have been thinking, "Where the hell are we going, anyway?"

"I'd say somewhere far away. We've been in here for over an hour." Sakura answers and Hinata adds, "We have went past the border to Mist and, if I am right, we are heading in the direction of Stone. I have seen a few signs at other stations we passed."

"Kami, if my ears pop one more time, I'm gonna cry." Ino mutters as she drops her head in her hands.

Jugo offers gum.

Ino thanks them as she takes it and pops it into her mouth with a hum of pleasure. Blue eyes close as she leans back against the seat. Hinata giggles and Gwyn rolls her eyes.

"So, no one knows where we are going?" Temari crosses one leg over the other as she twists in her seat.

"Nope."

Sasuke waltzes up to them then, drops to the ground next to Naruto, and sighs. He rests his head against Sakura's knees, eyes closed.

"Someone doesn't seem to like trains very much." Black orbs crack open to glare at Gwyn who, in turn, gives him an innocent that says 'I didn't say it.'

He rolls his eyes and shifts, getting comfortable once more.

They all lapse in silence, dozing off and talking quietly amongst each other. With a yawn and sleepy blink of her eyes, Gwyn soon falls asleep against Jugo, a soft murmur of sweet dreams and chocolate, as the train continues along its path.

Holy shit, this is one hell of a chapter. I started writing it and, by the time it was done, it was around 3 thousand words long! This chapter leaves a lot of questions. Mainly: Where the hell are they going? And why so many people? And how did I display Jugo? He happens to be one of my fav - besides Panda-kun. And Pein...and the rest of the Akatsuki who are this much closer to finally showing up! Yeah! Anyway, here is chapter seven.

I hope you all enjoed this chapter.

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~CideanForever