Since we have reached the first turn in the story, it is now going to get a little different storywise. Either way, enjoy.

Thoughts: 'Thoughts'

Speaking: "Speaking"

Chapter 11: Departure

It was a winter evening during their voyage. It has been a week since they left Konoha. Naruto departed with Kakashi and Yamato with Konan trailing a little further behind than usual. They were in search of a particular person and didn't have time to waste. Every second counted.

"K-k-kakashi-sensei, How much longer d-d-do you think i-i-it will be before we reach there? I'm f-f-freezing my ass o-o-off," Naruto replied through chattering teeth.

The Jounin could only sigh as he watched his student wrap his stiff limbs around himself, rubbing his arms furiously to stop the cold chill, "Not much further Naruto, we will be there by tomorrow afternoon."

Naruto whined about that because that was still a day away. Oh how he wished he were under a heatlamp or a fireplace, or just being back in plain old Konoha with sweltering heat. He would rather have anything except the cold. He did host the Kyuubi. They continued running and jumping as the sun slowly set in the sky. Naruto looked from the corner of his eye and saw Konan. She was keeping a much longer distance than she normally would away from the boy. On top of that, she hasn't even spoken a word to him during the entire trip. If anything was said, she only spoke one word sentences that usually agreed or disagreed. If Naruto tried to say something to her, she would turn her head and avoid eye contact. It was something that Naruto became worried about. 'I wonder if it has something to do about the time she kissed me?' Naruto thought silently as he continued looking at Konan through his peripheral. She was still avoiding his gaze as if she knew he was watching, although the look on her face told him that she also seemed to be deep in thought.

(FLASHBACK)

Everything came to a screeching halt as Konan absorbed exactly what happened. Silence encased the room as she slowly backed away from Naruto's face. She couldn't believe that she could do something like that. How could she be so careless? Both of their faces matched each other's as shock set in the both of them.

"I… We… Naruto-san," The blue haired woman responded with a lump in her throat. How could she do this? She did the one thing that she never would have thought in a million years she would do.

She kissed Naruto.

How can that even be possible? Even the thought of doing that to the boy was unreal, so how did it come to pass? Both of their faces were flushed and there was an obvious reason why, but neither could speak their own opinion. There were many things wrong with this picture and Konan could name them off automatically. If this was Konan a month ago in this situation, she would have left an impassive face and automatically told him it was nothing, unless she just didn't allow herself to get into that position at all back then. Then again, the only other way she could have gotten this way back then would be if she were about to trick someone and kill them in order to get information for the Akatsuki. But that was then, now it was as if she was jumbled and mix-matched. On top of that, she was even blushing. She hasn't blushed since the day she professed her love by kissing Yahi-

Konan immediately jumped off of Naruto and ran outside of his house slamming his front door behind her. Naruto tried to call her back but she ignored him, completely fleeing the scene. As Naruto sat down, the earlier moments activity sat in his brain. Placing two fingers to his mouth in awe, it was as if he was trying to feel the same sensation he had when their lips met one another's.

"She kissed me… I don't understand," He continued questioning the reason behind it, "Why did she kiss me?"

(Space Break)

Konan ran to the forest and continued running until civilization was harder to see. She didn't want anyone to notice her in such a vulnerable state. People could be very cruel to someone like her. She kept sprinting at full speed before she tripped on a root and fell to the ground with a loud thud. She completely unnoticed the root because her eyes were teared up making everything blurry and distorted. Once she hit the ground, she groaned and sniffled as she picked herself up and held herself on her hands and knees. Her tears were falling profusely, patting the ground and dampening the dirt into a darker shade. Her face was contorted and full of unsettled melancholy emotion. Her teeth were clenched because she could no longer hold it in.

She came to an idea, but brushed it off before as coincidence. After kissing Naruto, this coincidence became something she couldn't tolerate. Was Naruto transforming into some alternate form of Yahiko? No, that couldn't be true. No one could ever replace Yahiko, Especially Naruto Uzumaki.

She picked herself up and patted the dirt off of her clothes, sniffling and wiping her eyes continuously to try and assure herself that she needed to be stronger than she is now. 'Yahiko died years ago, there's no reason for me to cry this way.'

(END FLASHBACK)

Konan knew the boy was watching her, but she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. What she did was so unspeakable, that she couldn't even talk to the boy or anyone for that matter. It felt so wrong. Who knew that something so simple could make the paper user lose herself in uncertainty. But the question was, why was she letting this get to her? It was something so simple and meaningless. It's not like she did it on purpose. Accidents happen, right? But it was an accident that couldn't ever be forgotten. Something like this would haunt her for the rest of her days.

Whenever Naruto would try to talk to her about it, Konan would only try her best to ignore him or just disappear away from him altogether. She knew that he may have been worried, but she just couldn't bear to face him. The embarrassment was too much to bear, so much that she felt as if she had no other choice but to keep herself away from him. Konan didn't want to give the orange haired boy any ideas about what happened a week before.

Naruto knew that something was wrong as he continued eyeing her. She looked so sad. After several of Naruto's attempts to make her happy, she finally broke her depression and started smiling again. But now, it looked like she was going down the same path and would fall deeper than she did before if it was possible, but highly unlikely. He didn't want that. He knew she didn't want that either. There have been a couple of times where Naruto would try to confront the blue haired woman about what happened before, but she would walk away from the group and tell him not to follow her. Of course, Naruto being ignorant about her situation as he was, tried to follow after her, but Kakashi stopped him in his tracks. The Jinchuuriki obviously got quite upset about that, but Kakashi knew that Konan needed some time to herself for a change. Ever since they had that first talk when he followed her the first time, He knew that she felt chained and bound like a prisoner of the Leaf Village and felt that maybe some quiet time was all she needed. He figured he could give her that much, if any at all. He may not have had much trust in her, but he had enough to give her space.

The sun slowly set over the horizon as Kakashi finally stopped in a small clearing in the woods, making the others that were following him do the same.

"Alright, We will camp here for the night. We will do the same as we have been before; take turns on watch every two hours. Konan and Naruto will share the same tent while Yamato and myself share."

Naruto nodded his head while Konan stayed silent and looked in a different direction.

(Later that night.)

Konan sat by a tree listening to her surroundings and getting a feel for chakra signatures around as she did her watch. She stayed silent as she gazed at the moon in thought. The woman totally lost herself as she looked upon the big white orb in the sky, thinking about how enormous it could actually be. The view was truly remarkable, although the clouds kept floating across the moon obstructing her view. She has only seen the moon a handful of times when she was younger and other times when she was out on missions for Akatsuki. It always rained everyday in Amegakure, but once or twice a year, the rain would stop and the clouds would part, revealing a shining, beautiful circle in the sky. Konan would look onto it in amazement and awe. It was always something that she would remember and treasure, not only because of the beauty, but because it always calmed her when she looked at it. It was almost as if it was telling her that things would get better or telling her that the clouds would eventually part in her life revealing a great peace. Looking around the Moon, she also saw all of the tiny shining specks in the sky.

The stars…

They were so small and insignificant, but they complimented the moon as if they belong together. She could only smile as she softened her eyes on the sky's canvas. Things like this would make all of her worries disappear in an instant and she would feel glad about it. When she was in Akatsuki, she never had breaks like this to really enjoy nature. But now as she sat here viewing the wind blowing the tree limbs softly and looking at the snow glistening on the ground, she really became that much closer to nature.

"Konan-chan."

The woman in question abruptly snapped out of her daze and looked over to her right. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, only for her to quickly shift her gaze to the ground with a frown, "What do you want, Naruto-san?"

"I want to talk about what happened la-"

"There's nothing to talk about," The blue haired woman quickly replied while turning her gaze the opposite way from Naruto, "Now if there is nothing else to say, then leave."

"But Konan-chan, why did you do it?"

Konan fell silent as she stared at the blanket of snow on the ground as if it was something important, "I don't know why. It just happened," As soon as it escaped her mouth, She knew that was the wrong thing to say, but she couldn't think of anything else, if Konan told him that she thought he was Yahiko or that she got lost in the moment, then the woman would look crazy or as if she really did like the boy.

"But Konan-ch-"

"Look, Naruto-san," Konan replied with a sigh, "I know you are confused and probably questioning whether or not I have feelings for you."

Naruto stood there dumbfounded as she completely guessed what he was thinking.

"But you should clearly know that what happened then was completely an accident. Our relationship is purely friend based, nothing more. I am only here to fulfill Yahiko's and Nagato's vision of peace and help protect the world from Madara."

Naruto inwardly felt a little sad about that, although he really didn't know why.

"Now, if you have nothing more to talk about, please leave me alone. I just want to be by myself for a while," She turned her eyesight back to the moon as she sat there trying to forget that Naruto was even around her.

Naruto stood there, soaking up everything that she said. It took him well over a few seconds before he made up his mind. He walked over nonchalantly and sat down beside Konan.

"W-What are you doing?"

The orange haired boy dropped his eyes to her direction, "I'm staying with you."

"But why? I said I didn't want you here. I need to figure things out on my own."

"Good," Naruto said confidently, "You can figure it out… while I'm sitting here."

"Naruto-san, why are you making things so difficult?" The woman replied with an annoyed but sad gesture, "Haven't you done enough already?"

"Because I made a promise and I plan to keep it."

Konan flashed her eyes to his direction and locked her gaze onto his. His look was determined, just like that night. She tried to find falseness in his gaze or voice but found none.

"I told you that I would never let you steer yourself that low again. Nobody deserves that, you know?" Naruto looked to the ground and brought his head back up to look at her with a grin, "Believe it or not, Keeping you happy is one of my most important goals in life and I vowed to keep you in the happiest mood you have ever been and ever will be."

Before she knew it, she felt a slight warmness to her cheeks. That last comment was something she wasn't expecting. Although, she already knew that Naruto didn't mean it in the other way, having someone say that to her was something that she oddly liked to hear. Before she knew it, she smiled to him, "Thank you, Naruto… Kun."

He looked over to her and grinned right back. It seemed that this was all that she needed to set her mind straight and it eased Naruto's worries. Her adding "Kun" to the end of his name only made it better. She trusted him now. Konan didn't have to think about it anymore. Of course, he reminded her so much of Yahiko, because her dead lover's will rested on this boy's shoulders. Heroes always carry the same determination. Maybe he will grow more mature with age like Yahiko did? Only time will tell.

"Konan-chan."

Stirring her from her ruminations, she looks over, "Yes?"

"I can take the rest of your shift and take mine too. You deserve more rest than I do. You haven't slept very well in the past few days and I think you should sleep a little more."

"Naruto-kun," The woman replied while looking slightly startled, "You know I can't do that. I don't want to take away from your equal resting period. You will be tired in the morning."

"Heh, Nonsense, I can handle myself," Naruto retorted while puffing out his chest, "You should relax and let me handle it. You need your beauty rest and I can't take no for an answer."

Konan was about to retort to that, but she realized that Naruto was indeed stubborn once it came down to certain things, so she just smiled a warm smile, "I guess, you're right, I do need my rest," She stood up and dusted off the snow from her pants, "I have a feeling that I won't have any more sleeping problems. Good night, Naruto-kun."

"Good night."

And with a wave of her hand, she walked back to the tent that Naruto and her share, leaving the blond boy alone with his thoughts. He could only grin as he thought about Konan's smile. He never realized that all she needed was a little talking to. He never knew it was that easy. He sighed contentedly as he lay on the trunk that Konan was laying on previously.

Konan opened the flap to her tent and took off her flak jacket and orange flower. Stretching out her arms, she crawled into her sleeping bag and took notice of the heaviness that began to descend on her eyelids. She didn't really have time to think about what she wanted to think about. All she knew was that she hasn't felt this sleepy in a long while. She never knew it was so simple. The woman closed her eyes and slowly drifted away into a bright, expansive, and grassy field.

A/N: Yes, Yes, I know that all of you are very upset with this extremely long delay of a chapter. I'm sorry. I truly am. I'm experiencing life problems and they are interfering with my motivation to write. Luckily, I am stronger than that and am willing to complete this story with whatever it takes. I don't expect this story to go over 25 chapters, but originally, I thought this would be a 40-chapter story, so we will see where it goes. Again, thanks for all of the support and I hope to see all of you in the next chapter update.

Next Chapter- Chapter 12: Rivalries