Hi guys! Hi Ronnie! (Much love for you dahling, from me. You make everything better!!) This is for any and everyone who has put their time into reading the crub I come up with. As I'm typing this, I'm listening to DJ Cammy's Endless Summer, and also Celebrate the Summer. Yes, I miss the summertime. I miss the sunshine. In Calgary, winter has no good sunshine. Rawrz.

'K guys, I still have no idea where this is going (well, actually, I do, but that's not of importance, I just don't know how it's going to there,) so, if there's anything you want me to put in, just tell me.

Ok, I have NO inspiration, and that's the reason this took so long. And I say later, I was grounded off the computer. Thanks to everyone who read it and took a second to review. You're all the best.

Oh, and I turned 16. I feel old.

Disclaimer: Wow, I haven't written one of these in a long time…. Sweetheart, this is called FANfiction. If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't be writing this. I'm not that arrogant. I don't own anything, except a pair of well-worn AirWalks, and this laptop. So go away.

Dedication: To my darling Ronnie! I hope that plagiarizing bitch gets' what she deserves. The "Friends" series is the best, and it's all yours!! Sweetie, I'm sorry this is taking so long; I got grounded of the computer. Tomorrow all I'll be doing is reading the rest of "Secret", and I'll start on "Crushed", ok? Also to Tanner, because you're just so cute.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Either lyrics or emphasis on certain words.

((My awesome ANs that make everyone bow to their awesomeness. XD God, I'm a freak…)))

Suigetsu picked up the Sunday paper, still half asleep. He yawned, and stretched as he opened it to the front page.

His eyes popped open, his mouth gaped, and all he could do was cheer. There, on the front page, was a picture of him and Karin! The black and scarlet silk dress really did wonders for her figure.

He rushed down the stairs to Shikamaru's hidey-hole, and started yelling.

Upon hearing Shikamaru's low groan, he stopped his screaming, and lowered his voice.

"Shikamaru, I found a picture in the paper. Look, isn't she beautiful? Isn't she the most gorgeous thing ever?"

"She's very pretty… It says she's part of a rich group of businesswomen who got an invitation for their huge contribution to a local charity, hence the Charity Ball. It also says that her other business associates declined comment, and didn't want their names posted. How odd. …There's also something else here… Apparently, Temari no Sabaku was seen pulling Karin Fukumoto out of the ball."

He was quiet for a moment.

"We've found them Suigetsu. I found Temari, you found Karin…"

"Well, now what?"

"Now we set some bait and end up capturing them like butterflies caught in a spider's web."

"Because that's not morbid at all."

"Oh, shut up Suigetsu, no one wants' to hear your shit anyway."

"Haha, you wish. Anyways, I'm out of here. I have to go check the mail, in case of possible openings for jobs. I'm so bored, I'm gonna die."

"Alright, I'll see you later."

As Suigetsu ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, all he could think of was the fact that he was going to see her again. It was all that mattered to him.

He ran past Sasuke, who seemed to be in a daze. His eyes were glazed over, and he looked like he had got no sleep.

Suigetsu half-turned towards him to talk to him, but thought better of it. His brain was in another world, one called "Strawberry", and because of it, he tripped, fell, and landed flat on his face.

"Damn," was all he muttered as he pulled himself up off the floor. He dusted off his faded jeans and his favorite loose dark grey t-shirt, made sure his chain necklace was still in place, and off he went again, his thoughts closer to the ground.

He forced the mailbox open, and pulled out the mail.

The poor mailbox was in horrible condition. It was bent and dented in several places, and the door hinge always got stuck. This was probably due to the fact that Kakashi was usually the one who got the mail, and if there were ever bills (and there usually were), he would immediately punch the thing closest to him (which was always the mailbox).

Suigetsu just shook his head as he glanced at it, and muttered to himself.

"Gonna need a new one of those soon…"

He chuckled out loud and slowly walked up the drive. This gave him, nosy person that he was, more time to open the others mail.

"Bills, bills, more bills… Jeez, Kakashi's gonna have an apoplexy. Junk, more junk, something for Sasuke, so junk… let's see here… some shit for Shino, not junk, Naruto's biking magazine ((I was nice here. I had been planning on making it a knitting or a Chatelaine magazine, but I couldn't be that mean. Can you imagine Naruto reading a knitting magazine? It's too funny. XD)), not junk, because I actually like reading that thing, a package for Shikamaru, if I throw that out I'm gonna get murdered,and, what the hell, a credit card company's number for me? What the fuck? I don't need another credit card; I've already got so many I don't know what to do with them all. Totally junk."

He grumbled and let himself into the house, bringing the mail with him. He set down the mail in piles, the same way Kakashi had forced into their brains time and time again. Kakashi did not like things out of place, so even the mail had to be in order.

'Pile for Shino, pile for Naruto, package for Shikamaru, junk, bills. There we go, that's everything.'

He left, and went upstairs just as Shino came slowly into the kitchen.

Shino walked to the table, where he assumed the mail was. He picked up his mail, a letter from someone important, asking for their financial help yet again.

Anyone who knew anything knew to go to Shino Aburame if they needed financial assistance, because he took care of all Sharingan's financial business, although Kakashi did it sometimes as well. Kakashi took care of the bills, and he often ended up in the hospital because he got so easily angered about how expensive they were.

To put it bluntly, everyone else in Sharingan thought it was the funniest thing any of them had ever seen, because Kakashi hated hospitals more then anything else, including Bloody Blossoms.

When he was in the hospital was usually the time that the boys had the most fun, because they could be gay-ass teenage boys if they wanted too, and there was no one to tell them different. They always made sure they cleaned up before he got home.

Temari was shaking. She had just woken up from another nightmare that involved Shikamaru snuffing it. This time, he had fallen off a bridge, and she had almost been there to save him, but for some reason, she couldn't move.

She shivered, and in through her door burst Ino, all gussied up.

"C'mon sweetie, we're going out!"

"W-what? Ino, what time is it?"

"It's half past twelve. You need to get up." Ino laughed as she spoke.

"Why, your greatness, must I leave the comfortable, warm confines of my bedroom?"

The sarcasm in Temari's voice was palpable.

"Because, silly! We're going shopping. That's what you need. You need a shop-til-you-drop, and you also need ice cream. So. Get up, get dressed, and get ready to go!"

Temari laughed at Ino's obvious enthusiasm. It was infectious, getting into Temari's veins. She hadn't had fun in so long…

She jumped out of bed, still laughing. What the hell, right? Shopping with Ino was always fun, because the tall, beautiful blonde got hit on more then most models. The last time they had been shopping together, Ino had almost kicked some random guy in the balls because he wouldn't leave her alone. It was always worth the laughs.

And besides. Ice cream on a cold, blowy day always made everyone feel better, right?

As she got dressed, Temari turned to Ino.

"Ice cream in the morning? That seems a little unorthodox."

"Ice cream is appropriate at any time of the day darling, whether you like it or not. Now hurry up. I have one of Anko's several platinum cards, and I don't intend to give it back until it's empty."

"Uhhh… Ino… That thing has no limit…"

"And that is exactly why I'll be depleating it. It's not like we don't have enough money. All Saku has to do is go steal something big and shiny, and we'll be set. After all, that –thing, I can't remember what it's called, the one that Karin found- should be able to get us through several years without ever needing to work."

"Ha, as if Sakura would ever stop stealing for more then two minutes at a time. She can get through almost any type of security without help on her own, and she has no ethics."

"Temari sweetheart? Sorry to burst your bubble, but none of us has ethics. If we did, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing."

Temari stopped for a moment, before slowly grinning. It was slightly feral, and Ino smirked at the sight of it.

"Well then, Ino dear. We have shopping to do. What are we going to take, and where are we going to go?"

"I'm not quite sure. Prada sound good for a start? And we can go see that wonderfully huge new mall downtown. I'm sure there's an Urban Trade somewhere in there. We can buy a few movies too, while we're at it."

"Ino, we can just down-"

"No downloading, I like owning the movie better. That way we can watch it over and over again. And over and over and over. We should also grab Karin, she seemed really down this morning… Not really sure why though."

Ino had an extreme dislike of downloading, because it meant that she couldn't spend money. And Karin had been extraordinarily quiet that morning, so both Temari and Ino thought that she should get out of the house.

"That's a good idea Ino, she did look sad. So, when are we going to get going?"

"As soon as you get the rest of your clothes on."

Temari laughed, and got up to change. Ino flounced out of the room, her golden hair swinging from side to side as she walked.

Temari's door closed with a click behind her, and she heard the unmistakable sounds of Paramore's Misery Business blasting through the usually sound-proof walls. Ino sighed. Temari was going to cause herself to go deaf.

Twenty minutes later, Temari came out, fully dressed, hair up in her signature four ponytails. Ino shook her head at her one of her dearest friends choice of style but said nothing.

They rushed down the stairs, grabbing a moping Karin, and zipped out the door.

Ino pulled Temari and Karin out the door into the garage. The only thing Ino could do was hope that the both of them would be alright once they got out into the open air, and once they got some serious shopping done.

Hinata's sneaking suspicion was turning into full-out alarm. He had to be a thief. His stance was on guard, and he moved with the trained care that any master thief had to have learned. She surreptitiously watched his movements. His hands didn't stop fidgeting. She had watched Anko and Sakura come back from many jobs. She knew what it looked like when you were trained and, despite that training, couldn't stop moving. That was the way he moved.

And despite her alarm, Hinata found it undeniably sexy.

Ten Ten and Sakura were somewhere else, farther down the pathway. They had all decided against shopping in favor of a walk.

Naruto was still holding her hand, and she was still two seconds away from fainting. But she had survived this long. Maybe, hopefully, luckily, she would make it through the rest of the afternoon, and then she could interrogate Sakura and Ten Ten alone.

Or maybe not. This was rather nice, after all. Usually, boys went strait for Sakura's big green eyes and her pink hair, or Ten Ten's incredibly curvy figure. They usually didn't even look her way. But Naruto had looked past the both of them, straight into her eyes, and she realized that she might be falling in love with him.

And that was bad.

Very bad.

Naruto and Hinata continued to wander the pathway after Sakura and Ten Ten, enjoying the scenery and the other's company, even though neither of them said anything. It was like they had known each other for their entire lives, and had only recently realized they were in love.

Sakura smirked and snickered.

"This was our best idea yet Ten Ten, and that includes all those random pranks we played on the neighbors when we were kids. This is so great. Look at them, they look like they're in total bliss!"

Ten Ten giggled.

"I know, isn't it great?! But I think Hinata suspects he's part of Sharingan, I could see her watching the way he moves, and I'm sure she saw the fidgets. He gets' them when he hasn't had anything to do in a while. And since you take all the work, they have nothing to do…"

"C'mon Panda, I know they're cute, but admit it, you like watching me steal all the work, and then you get to see their faces the next day. It's gotta be worth it."

"That. Is very true. And I must admit it is amusing."

"Anyways, what are we going to do now? I don't think we can get out of the interrogation Hinata's planning in the back of her mind."

"Then we tell her truth. The whole truth, because you know she knows when we lie. I still don't know how she does it, but she's able to."

"I suppose. It might be the only thing we can do."

"It is."

Anko lay in the circle of Kakashi's arms, half awake, half asleep, not sure where she was, not sure who she was. She had no idea how she'd tell her girls that she was in love with someone. She'd feel even more like a hypocrite then she already did now.

She thought of the look on Temari's face after she had forced her to leave Shikamaru, for all their safety, and knew she could never do it. She could see Karin's face, dark eyes accusing –full of betrayed hurt-, in her mind's eye, and knew that without a doubt she would never be able to hurt her girls that way.

This was a choice between her two loves, and she knew she wasn't ready to make that choice yet, if she ever made it at all. She knew, deep inside her, the answer.

It would be the girls, it would always be her girls. She could never destroy them the way they way that this would. She stared at Kakashi's face for only a second, and then kissed the scar on his right eye.

Kakashi stirred next to her, and all she could do was soothe him back into the deep slumber he had just been currently removed from. She snuggled closer to his chest, and closed her eyes. He stopped moving, and wrapped his arms more securely around her waist.

All she could do for now was keep living the double lie she had come to adore.