Hi again everyone.

Thanks for staying faithful.

Umm... Neji will probably be pretty OOC throughout, sorry.

I don't think you'll be hearing much from Hinata until later.

I think that sometime later, I might write a bit of a series of shorts using this story as a base. What I like in a Naruto fanfic is more of an anime version of That '70s Show. I like to see them doing normal things, experiencing the same things a lot of teens do. Not so much the knife fights and... oh, wait...

Anyway, I've got a decent plot line, a six pack of Guinness, iTunes open, and the bagpipes blaring. Might as well set to work.

The pen scratched quickly and deliberately on the last sheet of the stack.

Shizune sat on the only other chair Naruto owned. With her feet up on the table opposite Haku, she tipped back and forth as she read a book she had pulled from her pocket.

The last of the scribbling was heard, and the pen dropped to the table with a 'clack'. Shizune looked up.

"Uhg!" Haku massaged his wrist, twisting it and popping it. "My wrist sounds like a castanet!"

"Huh. Tsunade-sama describes hers as an ice pick." She said in an unsympathetic fashion. "My simile of choice is pebbles in a grain thresher." She rotated her wrist slowly, which made a terrible popping noise. Haku shuddered.

Shizune picked up the papers. "Well, your appeal is tomorrow at midnight." She said, and started to leave, but stopped at the doorway. "Oh, and... good luck, Haku-kun." And with that she left.

Haku gave a weak chuckle, and returned to the pile of clothes, which smelled worse than before because of the rotting rats. Giving a heaving sigh, he set out to find a laundry basket. But this kid knew where to look, he did. Being raised on the streets, and living off of half-eaten pudding cups and old rotten sausage even the Welsh wouldn't eat, he became quite good at trash picking. After a quick glance at the garbage dump out back, he spotted an old wicker basket that seemed like such a waste to throw away. The only problem with it was that it smelled like hamster pee. But what difference would it make?

After piling up the clothes, he took the spare key and set out to the laundromat. It would take more than a cupful of detergent to get rid of five months of BO, ramen broth, and blood (both rat and human).

After quite a bit of wandering, he came across a laundromat in a plaza that no one seemed to be showing any interest in. There were maybe one or two other guys, bachelors like himself probably, After he tossed in the laundry, and all of the detergent and fabric softener he could afford, he threw the only clothes he had into another washer. His battle robes, and his casual ones, which left him sitting there in boxers. Those clothes hadn't had a wash for probably just as long.

Finally he had some time to think, for the first time in six months. However, as he contemplated the appeal the next day, he attracted a few confused glances from some of the other customers.

Obviously he noticed that he was attracting the attention and asked the manager for a piece of paper, on which he wrote "I'm a dude," and taped to his chest.

Getting back to the appeal of course, he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. This would, after all, decide his future, but what would he do if he didn't pass? Get a civilian job working for the flower shop down the street? Or maybe this town had a Yakuza... no. No, he was done with the mob.

The washers buzzed, and Haku wearily stood, popping his back. He piled the clothes into a dryer, threw in a sheet, and sat back down on the bench. Picking up a magazine, he waited out the cycle, put his clothes back on, and left with the hamster pee wicker basket.

Twenty minutes later found Haku back at the apartment folding clothes on the floor, when the door swung open slowly, and a big orange blob stumbled in and onto the couch. "Back already?" Haku asked nonchalantly.

"It's 8:00" Naruto grumbled.

Haku turned his head, and was surprised to find that the sky was darkening. His internal clock must have been really screwed up from sleeping in until... what, 1:00 PM? "Well, I have your clothes washed here, and I'll get to the dishes next. Where do you want these?

Naruto made a kind of incoherent mumble. "Just slide it und'r the door...z..zz..."

Haku shook his head in astonishment. What did this guy do all day? He walked the pile of clothes to Naruto's room and stacked them by the dresser.

Of course, the dishes came as very little trouble to Haku, due to his, ah, proficiency with water, and he was done in about ten minutes.

When he was finished, he flipped over the scrap of paper Naruto had left his note on, and wrote his own and plopped it down on the nightstand.

Went out. Not entirely sure when I'll be back, but probably before the night's out.

--Haku

Okay, that's a wrap people. It's still short, I know, but it's a little longer, at least. Right?

The updates probably won't be as frequent as before, but hopefully more than this.

Uh... please r&r.

--Rai