Hello~! *dodges flying kunai and flames* I'm sorry for the wait! Really! But it was a combination of nerves over this chapter (I always get nervous on posting new chapters) and ectasy over watching my review count soar. I have over one hundred and sixty reviews~! *squee* But then a lovely reviewer by the name of colbub reminded me that I was doing this for pleasure! And I am! I made this story with not all that much thought into the finer details because a: my initial intention was for this story to sit like a bump on my computer and be for me to never actually post b: if it was just for me I wouldn't really care about such details and c: ... I just don't care. But I really should pay more attention to detail if I'm going to post this, so I will do my best to pay better attention in the future.

But I do know about the dattebayo and Believe It thing. I just happened to put in the Believe It for this fic. I swear in any other story I write I will incorporate the dattebayo instead though. But I don't know about food stuff like a wonderous reviewer by the name of Xynth pointed out (seriously awesome reviews, btw) so I would appreciate someone pushing me in the right direction for that kind of stuff.

And I was extra nervous about this chapter, but let me get something clear: Rae will never, ever (read: EVER) be a real ninja. Ever. Because a: I like to avoid the obvious, and b: It's just not freaking possible. The only reason I had her know martial arts was for NARUTO'S development. Not so she could have a background that would lead to a fabulous ninja life.

Anyway, enjoy.


Naruto sighed as he flipped a page in his book. This was a rather boring part, when the enemy ninja were plotting in the background. He wanted to get to the main part, dammit! But he knew that if he didn't read this part first he wouldn't understand the rest of the story at all. He scowled.

"When's Kakashi-sensei going to get here?" He finally shouted, snapping his book closed. Sasuke grumbled to the side as Sakura huffed.

"I don't know," She said, crossing her arms. "But it's already been over an hour! Stupid, lazy-"

"Yo." Kakashi suddenly appeared before them with a puff of smoke. Naruto stood and pointed at him accusingly.

"You're late!" He snapped. Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Ah, you see there was this little old lady that had some groceries she needed help with." He said pleasantly. "As a member of society, it's my duty to do such." The three genin gaped in disbelief at the painfully obvious excuse.

"Liar!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi hmmphed, pulling out his orange book.

"Well, Team Seven's been called in a meeting with the Hokage before any missions are assigned." He said, walking down the path towards the tower. Sakura blinked, following after.

"Why, Kakashi-sensei?" She asked. "Did we do something?" Kakashi shrugged.

"I have no idea, actually." He said lazily. "I thought maybe one of you could answer that."

The three sweat dropped.

Naruto watched in awe as the jounin weaved through the crowd with ease, never once looking up from his orange book. When they went inside the tower and to the receptionist he declared that he had to teach him that. Kakashi blinked up from his book.

"Teach you what?"

"How to read and walk at the same time!" Naruto exclaimed. "Rae-chan's okay at it, but you didn't look up even once! That's amazing!" Sasuke scoffed.

"Like it's that hard, dobe." Naruto whipped and glared at him.

"Teme!" He snapped, shaking his fist at Sasuke. "It's a lot harder than you think! I'd like to see you try and not walk into anything while reading!"

"I don't need to."

"Actually," Kakashi said thoughtfully as the receptionist took them to the Hokage's room. "That's not a half-bad idea. It would really work on your awareness level, an essential skill for a ninja. Hmmm..." Then the receptionist knocked on the door, and after a voice called the team filed into the room.

Sakura blinked in surprise at a dark-haired woman with oddly-familiar goggles on her head turned and blinked right back at them before settling into a scowl and turning back towards the Hokage.

"... Hokage-sama?" She asked. The Hokage coughed, motioning for the team to walk forward.

"Team Seven, I'd like to introduce you to Kuroda Rae." He said formally, ignoring the sulking look on the woman's face. Naruto blinked rapidly.

"Rae-chan?" He asked in bewilderment. "What's going on?"

"Like hell if I know." Rae said shortly, shoving her hands in her pockets. Sakura blinked. This was the Rae that Naruto was always going on about? Even as far as she remembered in the academy, Naruto had always been boasting about some lady that would tell him things that contradicted with Iruka's and Mizuki's teachings. Sakura had honestly expected some older, perhaps ditzier version of Naruto himself. But this...

Rae was still scowling heavily, before she sighed and shrugged. "Hi." She said dully. Behind Sakura, Kakashi blinked slowly then waved.

"Hello." He said, eye curving into a smile. "This is Haruno Sakura," Sakura waved uncertainly. "And Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke hned and scowled, and Rae scowled back at him. He pointed to himself. "Hatake Kakashi. Nice to meet you." He said cheerfully. Something that he said made Rae raise an eyebrow, but she didn't say anything on the matter. The Hokage nodded.

"Now then," He finally said. "Kuroda-san, I called you here to meet with Team Seven, seeing how your business is so... directly involved with its members." Sakura blinked. This grumpy woman had business with them? Rae was still scowling and Sakura sweat dropped; did she ever smile? For someone who apparently was always around the ever-smiling Naruto...

Probably as much as Sasuke-kun, Inner Sakura grumbled. Sakura agreed.

"Oh? Business with us?" Kakashi blinked as he stared at the woman. "What kind of business?"

"My business." Rae snapped back. She then flinched back and sighed, rubbing the back of her ear. "Sorry." She grumbled. "I'm in a bad mood today." Kakashi shrugged, turning to the Hokage.

"So what does this mean for our team, Sandaime-sama?" He asked. "Kuroda-san isn't a ninja, after all." Sakura blinked at Kakashi's words but then looked at Rae closely.

Huh. With the odd scar on Rae's neck, Sakura had at first thought that she had put her hitai-ate somewhere not immediately visible. But as she scanned the darkly-dressed woman (another thing that threw her off) there wasn't a sign of any standard ninja gear or a hitai-ate.

A civilian, then?

"No," The Hokage agreed, puffing on his pipe. "But her... mission is quite beneficial to Konoha, and especially to your own team, Kakashi. She will accompany you and your team for the next month; not as a ninja, but as an observer." Rae flinched in surprise as Kakashi blinked.

"Hokage-sama," She immediately protested. "I have a job!" The Hokage nodded.

"As a participant in the team's D-ranks, you will receive your payment like any genin." He explained patiently. "So you may not want to miss any missions; Teuchi-san has already received word that you no longer work at Ichiraku's." Rae scowled hard at the floor, silent. Kakashi hmmed.

"And during training times?" He asked finally.

"Then she is free to do as she wishes." The Hokage nodded at Rae. "I would have told you before they arrived," He said apologetically. "But Kakashi's expected tardiness was... unusually early. But I believe this may be the best solution to our problem. You will report in at the end of each week on your observations. Any objections, Kuroda-san?" Rae scowled a long moment then sighed, slumping over.

"... No, Hokage-sama." She muttered. The Sandaime seemed to find this amusing, but held out a scroll for Kakashi to take.

"Your first mission." He explained as Kakashi took it. "It's not for at least another three hours, so you may do as you will until then. I'd suggest getting to know Kuroda-san, seeing how her mission involves getting to know you all." The Hokage nodded at them. "Dismissed."


"So," Kakashi clapped his hands together as the five stood on the bridge. "Now let's all get to know each other again. Naruto, you already know Rae-san, but you go first anyway." Naruto, who had been beaming the entire walk to the bridge, grinned.

"All right!" He said in excitement. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup ramen, but Ichiraku's is even better! I also like learning martial arts! I hate the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, and people who go back on their word! My hobbies are reading and pranks! And someday I'll surpass every Hokage in the world with my own martial arts and protect all my precious people! Believe it!" Kakashi nodded; it was the same thing he had said before.

"Sasuke." Sasuke grunted.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really like anything and I dislike a lot of things. I don't have a 'dream', but an 'ambition'. I will revive the Uchiha clan, and kill a certain man." He said darkly. Rae watched him carefully, shuddering inwardly.

Scary. Kakashi noted Rae's reaction dully and moved on.

"Sakura." Sakura nodded, looking at Rae.

"My name's Haruno Sakura. I like... well, who I like..." Sakura blushed as she snuck a look at Sasuke. "Oh, should I say my dreams for the future?" She asked, squealing at the thought. Rae twitched.

"That's fine. I think I get the gist of it." She muttered. Kakashi only sighed.

"Hatake Kakashi." He said dully. "I like some things, dislike others, and I have far too many hobbies to count. I think for the future..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, Rae-san?" He instead said. Rae sighed, crossing her arms.

"Kuroda Rae." She said finally, scowling slightly as she fiddled with the goggles on her head. "I like... um..." Rae blinked and tapped the goggles in thought. "Does just living a peaceful life count?" She asked, making the others sweat drop. "I hate backstabbers." She growled, careful not to look at Sasuke. "And people that can't see past the end of their nose. My hobby is reading in a nice, quiet place." They waited a moment for her to continue before Kakashi coughed.

"Dreams for the future?" He asked. Rae shrugged.

"I want to survive the next three years. Twenty-five would be a fine age to reach."

The four sweat dropped again.

"... Right." Kakashi hmmed, shoving his hands in his pockets and pulling out the scroll the Hokage had given him. "So, our first mission is a D-rank. A weeding job." He said, ignoring the stunned looks on the genin's faces. "But the client won't be home until two, so we have until then to do whatever."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, making the others cringe and put their hands over their ears. "But that's boring! What about the cool ninja jobs?" He demanded.

"You have to work your way to those." Kakashi simply said. "All genin start out with low level D-ranks." Naruto looked over at Rae, who only smirked back. He scowled.

"Fine." He grumbled under his breath. Kakashi seemed confused at the exchange before shrugging.

"So while I seemed to get a fairly good assessment of your skills yesterday... It was rather stupid." He said bluntly, making all three genin scowl. "So I want you to warm up with fifty push-ups, crunches, and squats. Then we can do some sparring." His eye curved up in a smile. "Except for Rae-san, of course." Rae shrugged and moved to sit under a nearby tree.

"But Rae-chan can fight, too!" Naruto protested. "She's as strong as any ninja!"

"No, I'm not." Rae said, pulling out her book. "I told you a thousand times, hero. I'm not a ninja."

"So why do you have a mission?" Sakura asked suddenly. "Civilians don't get missions, and they don't fight."

"I'm not a civilian either." At this all four blinked.

"You're not?" Naruto asked in surprise. Rae shook her head, still looking at her book.

"Nope."

"Then what are you?" Sasuke asked. Rae blinked at his voice and looked at him, then shrugged.

"No idea." She said flatly. "I'm not a citizen in any of the Shinobi nations. I'm not a ninja of any of the Shinobi nations. I was given a mission by the Hokage. That is the extent of my knowledge."

"And your mission?" Kakashi asked, eyebrow raised. Rae winced.

"That's... classified." She said lamely, ducking her head a bit. "The Hokage told me that I was free to tell who I wanted, but..." She shrugged helplessly. "I don't really think it's wise to tell you guys when I barely know you."

"Understandable." Kakashi said easily, turning to the genin. "Now, begin your warm-ups! Afterwards I want to see you in your taijutsu forms." Rae went back to reading as the three struggled through their exercises, flipping a page in her book as she considered her situation.

The meeting with the Hokage had gone in a different direction that what she'd assumed. Sure, she knew that after telling the Hokage one of his new genin was mentally unstable and would defect would warrant someone to watch him carefully, but she never thought that she'd be the one to do so. Rae scowled as she realized that she would have to get to know the bloody little emo—she hadn't exactly been a Sasuke fan in her own world, and getting to know Naruto and knowing what Sasuke would do to him made it all the worse.

She really, really hated backstabbers.

"You look unhappy." Rae jumped and tossed the book at the unknown intrusion, scowling when Kakashi snatched it out of the air. "That was familiar." He said in bemusement, looking over the pages with a raised eyebrow. "Icha Icha Violence?" He asked incredulously. Rae blushed.

"That... That's not your business!" She finally snapped. "And I'm very unhappy, thank you. I really wish there was another way to do this." Kakashi shrugged and handed back the book.

"Why?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Rae asked. "I like peace and quiet. Your team is the epitome of chaos. At least I can get Naruto to just sit and read quietly when I'm reading myself!"

"How would you know what my team's like?" He asked in bemusement. "We were just formed yesterday, after all." Rae scowled, pointing at Sakura.

"A fangirl that squeals around her precious 'Sasuke-kun'." Rae pointed to Naruto. "A little moron that feels the need to be as loud as possible when agitated." Rae pointed to Sasuke. "An emo hell-bent on getting as much power as possible to destroy his older brother. I call that opposing forces. Not that you help much." Kakashi shrugged.

"They're all pretty unique." He admitted, scratching the back of his head. "But you're close to Naruto, aren't you?"

"That doesn't change his intellectual status." Kakashi chuckled.

"I suppose not." The two watched Naruto glare over at Sasuke, who had finished his exercises and was watching Naruto smugly. "He's grown up in an interesting way." Kakashi said thoughtfully, shaking his head before looking sideways at Rae. "I assume that is on your part?" Rae shook her head.

"Nah, mostly genetics I think." She said lightly. "He only gets reading from me. The rest is all on his parents. You know, the only reason I gave him that kit was because it was rather obvious he had a pranking gene. And it would simply be dishonorable to the parent with the gene if I didn't encourage that." Kakashi nodded as he thought of Kushina. Though she had always been more of a vengeful prankster than anything, it was still there.

Konoha still shuddered when it thought of the bath house incident, when Jiraiya had been caught-

Wait.

"You know... Naruto's parents?" Kakashi asked carefully, turning to stare at Rae with a hard look in his eye. Naruto's heritage was something only disclosed to himself, Jiraiya, and the Hokage. While his name was Uzumaki, many simply assumed it was in remembrance of the precious jinchuuriki. Not that Kushina had been all that popular either.

Rae cringed guiltily before snapping her book shut and scowling at Kakashi. "It's really bloody obvious." She snapped, rubbing the back of her ear. "He's a spitting image of him, and then that last name. I don't see how the entire world hasn't connected the dots." Kakashi winced as he realized that, yes, Naruto was a spitting image of Minato. The only thing he'd gotten from his mother was her eye shape. And... well, those whisker marks. And the Kyuubi.

And... Oh.

"That book you gave him." Kakashi suddenly realized. "You know who his godfather is as well." Rae sighed and nodded.

"I figured someday it would come clean." She admitted. "I wanted him to at least know why he'd been named after ramen. Though he only assumes it's because ramen is the greatest food in the world." She rolled her eyes, opening her book again. "And that book is actually pretty special."

"How so?" Kakashi asked curiously, but Rae simply pressed her lips together and continued to read.

"Kakashi-sensei! We're ready!" Kakashi blinked and looked over to the genin, who were all standing in ready positions. Except for... Naruto?

"Naruto, your stance?" He asked pointedly. Naruto blinked, arms casually at his sides and standing up straight.

"This is my stance, sensei!" He exclaimed. Kakashi's eye shifted from Sasuke to Naruto, and Sasuke nodded before turning and punching at Naruto.

Naruto immediately deflected, grabbing Sasuke's arm and using his weight to throw him to the ground, kneeling forward on his neck and twisting his arm behind his back.

Rae snickered behind Kakashi as Naruto eventually let go, scowling.

"What the hell was that for, teme?" He yelled. "I was talking to sensei!"

"But he- you- ..." Sasuke glowered at Naruto as he stiffly got up, maintaining as much dignity as possible. "... Hn." He finally said, looking away with a scowl. Sakura blinked rapidly.

"What the hell was that?" She cried, running forward to check over Sasuke. Naruto blinked.

"Martial arts." He said simply, pointing to Rae. "Rae-chan taught me! I'm a green belt in it!" Sasuke turned his scowl to Rae, who scowled back over the top of her book.

"... Hn." Sasuke said again, looking away. Kakashi coughed.

"Right. I think it's best if Naruto spars with a kage bunshin then." He said mildly.

"I can handle the dead last!" Sasuke snapped, and Kakashi held up his hands.

"It's not that." He said reassuringly. "Naruto's fighting style is simply different than any taijutsu, and isn't to be used on allies. You could get seriously injured." He said, thinking of a clone getting its arm ripped. He rubbed his shoulder at the thought.

Naruto grinned and nodded, forming a seal. Another Naruto appeared with a poof of smoke.

"Right!" Naruto declared, smirking at his clone. "I got some new moves I wanted to show you, Rae-chan! Watch!" Rae sighed and nodded, putting her book away.

"Alright, hero." She said mildly. "Just remember your shapes. That throw down was more of an oval than a circle." She said, jabbing a thumb at the still-simmering Sasuke.

Sasuke looked as though he'd strangle her.

Naruto nodded. "Right." He turned to his clone as Kakashi sighed.

"Well, I'd say for Sasuke to spar Sakura," He said. "But I don't think Sakura will lift a finger against you. So," Kakashi formed a seal and two of his own kage bunshin appeared. "Let's begin."

Rae watched Naruto twist mid air and kick his clone in the back of its neck, snapping it to the ground and landing on its back before it dispersed. She hmmed. A move that still incorporated the circle rotation that was involved with levers and still didn't use quite as much effort, but could only be attempted with ninja speed and mid air.

When Naruto looked up at her she smirked and held up a thumb in response. "Absolutely genius." She said sincerely; it was an impressive move, and something that she almost wished she could attempt herself.

If she weren't so damn squeamish about breaking other people.

"That's nothing, Rae-chan!" Naruto declared, puffing up at the praise. Rae rarely praised him like that, after all. "I've got at least three more! Check this out!" Naruto suddenly formed three more kage bunshin, setting one in the middle as he and the other two stood in a triangle around it.

Rae inwardly grinned; this would certainly be interesting.


Kakashi flipped a page in his book as he glanced to the four that were on their hands and knees, pulling up weeds from the civilian's garden. He was fairly grateful for Rae then; she seemed to be the only thing that could make Naruto stay on task long enough without complaining. Even if it was for an argument.

"And when your second clone jumped," Rae was saying, digging into the roots of a particularly large weed. "Its grapple on the shoulder seemed off-balance. I couldn't see a hint of a triangle there."

"It was relying on the other two." Naruto huffed, digging in his own part of the garden. "When I grabbed the other shoulder and the third clone went for the neck, it made a triangle."

"A sloppy triangle." Rae scolded. "Good timing, but that was more three awkward angles than a good, equilateral triangle."

"Aw, come on!"

"No! That was sloppy, Naruto! You are not learning sloppiness, at all." Watching Naruto scowl, Kakashi idly thought that he was supposed to be the teacher. Even if he didn't know anything about that weird so-called martial arts.

Which really didn't help any. Kakashi sighed and closed his orange book. "If you keep arguing like that," He said mildly. "Then you'll never get any work done." Both Rae and Naruto turned and gave him similar dirty looks, making him sweat drop.

Sasuke was still scowling over his previous loss to Naruto, making him brood even more than before and occasionally scowl at Rae, who never failed to scowl back. Sakura seemed put off by her crush's silence, but she finally sighed and looked at Rae.

"If you aren't a ninja," She suddenly asked. "How'd you get that scar?" Rae blinked at Sakura's question and reached for said scar. Kakashi shrugged as he flipped a page in his book; scars were actually fairly common in Konoha, ninja or not.

"Someone tried to slit my throat." Rae said after a pause. "Obviously." Sakura scowled as Naruto seemed to choke on something.

"What?" He yelped, staring at Rae with wide eyes. "Who did that?" He demanded. Rae rolled her eyes.

"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, hero." She said, waving him off. "It's fine. The guy's gone now. Kami knows where, and all that." When Naruto still stared at her she sighed. "What? You thought it was a tattoo that decided to bleed all over my only shirt?" She asked in bemusement. Naruto seemed to flinch at that and turned back to his weeding.

Kakashi sighed as Sakura blinked in confusion and opened her mouth; why couldn't they just be quiet and get the job done? "Only shirt?" She repeated in confusion. Kakashi was surprised she picked up on that. Must be a girl thing. Rae scowled and waved her off.

"Just some money issues at the time." She said. "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Naruto repeated incredulously. "But you were-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll castrate you!" Rae snarled at Naruto, making all three males wince and Sakura stare at Rae. Sakura giggled when Rae smirked at her, Naruto whimpering before returning to his work quietly.

Kakashi let out a breath of relief when silence descended on the team; apparently Rae hadn't been kidding when she'd said that the group was nothing but opposing forces. Sakura opposed Naruto, who opposed Sasuke, who opposed... well, human contact, and Rae seemed to have something against the entire lot of them. Minus Naruto. But at least she attempted to be civil towards Sakura.

Sasuke glowered at Rae again, and she sneered back, making Kakashi sigh. For one reason or another, Rae couldn't stand the boy. Which was odd, because he might have expected the grumpy woman to get along better with the equally quiet, dark boy rather than the noisy, sunshine-all-around brat that seemed amused to no end whenever her scowl was turned on him.

Opposites attract then? Kakashi mentally shrugged and returned to his book. Whatever. He was just here to train some brats and make sure they didn't fail a D-rank. And apparently be observed by a woman that seemed to know a bit too much for an obvious foreigner.

But life was just weird that way.


Rae scowled as she walked behind Team Seven, Naruto alternating between talking her ear off and blabbering to Kakashi about... well, she wasn't sure. Oh, and he was giving Sasuke dirty looks too. Hm.

Kakashi was walking up ahead, obviously ignoring Naruto despite the occasional 'hmmm' and 'oh, really?' that could be heard. Naruto was oblivious to this as they continued to the Hokage Tower, apparently elated for having completed their first mission as a team; even if it was only weeding. Sakura was... Rae suddenly blinked, looking around for the pink haired girl before nearly giving a start as she realized Sakura was right behind her.

"..." Sakura blinked back at Rae then looked away, rubbing her arm. Rae shrugged. Okay, silent walking was good. Better than what Kakashi was getting.

"Ano... Rae-san?" Rae sighed. Of course the silence wouldn't last. Didn't these people listen? If Rae had a favorite phrase, then it would be 'peace and quiet'.

"... Yes, Sakura?" Rae finally asked, looking down and trying not to scowl too much. Maybe they'd just assume her face was always like that. Her blank looks were rather creepy, after all. Sakura fidgeted.

"So... How did you like our first mission?" She asked finally, attempting a small smile. Rae blinked in confusion.

"Er... It was... boring." She said, looking at Sakura oddly. "Why? What'd you think of it?"

"I thought it was... okay." Sakura said awkwardly, looking away. She suddenly giggled a bit. "And it was so funny how you got Naruto to stop talking like that!" She suddenly exclaimed, turning to smile at Rae.

"... Right." Rae looked away uncomfortably, then suddenly looked at her suspiciously. "Are you asking for something?" Rae asked, eyes narrowed. Sakura held up her hands, shaking her head.

"N-No!" She said. "I'm just trying to be friendly! Really! Other teams don't usually get another girl on them, and you're actually kind of cool! But rude." Rae blinked rapidly.

"... Sakura." Rae finally said. "I'm not on Team Seven. I'm just an observer. I'm going back to my boring-ass life as soon as Hokage-sama says the word." Sakura looked down.

"Oh." She said softly, turning away. Rae twitched. Sakura looked just like a kicked puppy...

Damn her for never getting over small animals!

"... But..." Rae inwardly cringed. "I guess I should get to know you guys a bit..." She muttered, looking away. "So... What do you like? Besides Sasuke." She added quickly. Sakura blinked as though the thought had never occurred to her.

"Er..." She blinked. "I guess I like reading." She said finally. Rae raised an eyebrow.

"You guess?" She asked incredulously. She'd known Sakura was a fangirl, but... Sheesh. "Hm. I'd think you'd like something or you wouldn't. For example," She jabbed a thumb at Naruto. "The blonde one. He's annoying and loud, but I know I still like him. He's like my stupid little otouto." Naruto beamed, waving back and grinning like a madman. Rae jabbed her thumb then at Sasuke. "The dark one. He's just like me. Only a hell of a lot creepier and looks like he'd bite me if I got too close. I know I don't like him." Sasuke glowered as Naruto guffawed.

"Hn." He muttered, looking away. Sakura looked horrified.

"How can you not like Sasuke-kun?" She asked, mollified. "Everyone like him!" Rae scowled, rubbing her ear.

"Sakura." She said impatiently. "Give me three good reasons on Sasuke's character as to why I shouldn't consider him a creepy little emo, and I'll consider it."

"Because he's Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed, staring at Rae as thought she'd grown four arms. Or dyed her hair pink. "He's smart, he's strong, he's... he's... Sasuke-kun!" She cried, throwing her arms up and squealing at the thought of it all. Rae slapped her forehead.

"I tried." She muttered to the skies. "Kami knows I tried. I declare this a lost cause." She sighed heavily, slumping as Sakura seemed to only grow more excited over Sasuke and attempted to cling to him the rest of the way. Naruto came up and patted her back as they walked up to the desk where the Hokage was sitting.

"There, there, Rae-chan." Naruto said in reassurance. "Girls are just weird like that." Rae's eyebrow twitched.

"I'm a girl too, Naruto." She growled, making Naruto back away slowly. He stood on the other side of Kakashi as he handed in the mission report. The Hokage nodded as he marked something on a scroll in front of him.

"Good first mission, Team Seven." He said, nodding at Kakashi. "And Kuroda-san? How did it go?" Rae sighed, standing up straighter.

"Exactly how it should be, Hokage-sama." She said dryly, ignoring the looks from the team. "I don't think it'll change for a while, either. Hopefully before the end of the month, though, for the sake of the... mission as well as my sanity." The Hokage chuckled.

"Let's hope so," He agreed. "Dismissed. Report back tomorrow morning at ten." Rae bowed and turned to walk away, only to be stopped short as Naruto grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Rae-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, tugging her arm. "Come on! We're all gonna go get ramen to celebrate our first mission!" Rae ruffled Naruto's hair as she scowled slightly.

"Not on the team, hero." She reminded him. "I think I need a nap."

Then Naruto looked up with his large, puppy-dog eyes and Rae cringed.

"... Dammit Naruto!" She snarled, crossing her arms. "Fine!" The others sweat dropped as she growled something unintelligible under her breath, allowing herself to be dragged by the eager blonde towards Ichiraku's.

Sakura stood beside Kakashi and Sasuke as they stared after the two. "That... was the Rae that Naruto would always talk about?" Sakura asked in confusion. "But she's... so..."

"Not like Naruto?" Kakashi offered. Sakura nodded. Kakashi chuckled. "Actually, I can see how they get along." He said lightly, pulling out his book and beginning to follow after them. Sakura blinked.

"How?" She asked incredulously. "They're complete opposites! I'm surprised Rae-san can even stand Naruto!" Kakashi shrugged.

"Opposites attract." He said easily, motioning for Sasuke to follow. "It's that kind of friendship in which both friends see something they need in each other. Not all that common, and usually the hardest to put together, but they can be the longest-lasting of relationships."

"Hmmm..." Sakura suddenly blushed as she looked over at the brooding Sasuke.

Maybe... Sasuke-kun will see something he needs in me...? Sakura thought, waving shyly at the boy.

I can see what we need in him! Inner Sakura declared, pumping a fist in the air. Good looks, a strong bod, and that amazing badassity!

Sasuke almost cringed at the dreamy look on Sakura's face. Almost. He instead walked on the other side of Kakashi and firmly told himself that he wasn't hiding.

Even if he did have a good reason to.


I'm actually a Sakura fan as well. You would know this if you saw the sheer amount of KakaSaku and KakafemNaru fics in my favorites list (be warned if you do go looking for them; they're all lemons :3) I've been having a Kakashi craze like usual, only in the fairly unhealthy form of lemons. Which I once swore I would never touch. Damn me and my weak resolves. This is why I had Rae go for the Icha Icha: I wasn't kidding when I said I would have peeked.

Anyway, I'm posting a new story soon called Eclipse! (No, no reference to Twilight at all) It's a Naruto what if in the form of pre-Chunin exams~! Here's the summary if you're interested:

Before Sasuke's defection. Before Tsunade's arrival. Before Jiraiya's intervention. Before the Chunin Exams. Before it all went sky high, Konoha dropped to hell. Shimura Danzo always knew his perfect plan of assassinating the Sandaime would succeed, and as the new Godaime Hokage he has a hell of a lot of changes he wants to make. Least of which involves making one Uzumaki Naruto the perfect weapon. Not if Team Seven has anything to say about it. Whoever said that the lives of missing-nins weren't interesting?

I know it's a crappy summary, but I plan for it to be fairly light hearted and rather fun. Can you imagine sticking Team Seven in a situation where they have to deal with each other 24/7, not to mention be on the run from Kami-knows-what? The idea was just too much. Aberration is still my first priority, but I wanted to post Eclipse too.

Anyway, thanks to all that reviewed and Sousie for her awesome beta skills! And don't worry Sousie: I've found my inner muse again, and I'll have the next chapters sent to you before you can say FLAMES OF- *bricked*

Peace out.