~Shikamaru's point of view~

Ugh. What is this troublesome girl up to? I thought after she asked me if I liked fruit cobbler. Out of nowhere, a man in a distinctive black cloak grabbed Lori from behind. I pulled out some kunais, but if I threw them, Lori could have gotten hurt. So I stood there in shock, waiting for something to happen like the man pulling the huge broadsword off of his back and slicing her throat wide open. Her leaned down by her ear and whispered in the faint accent that Lori had, "Rain. I missed you so much."

Then she just collapsed in his arms and whispered that all too familiar name, "Ryu…"

Gently, Ryu turned her in his arms and hugged her close. It looked like Lori was crying, but I wasn't certain. She hugged him in a death grip and I saw that he winced with pain. After about 30 seconds, Lori finished her little breakdown and regained her composure. Standing up straight, she fixed the battle fan she had brought out back into her sleeve. She turned to me and asked skeptically, "Shika, is this an illusion?"

I shook my head. It sure as hell wasn't. "What do you mean, 'is this an illusion'? I'm right here, aren't I? And it has been almost a year, so if this was an illusion, it probably would have happened a little sooner." Ryu said, touching her shoulder.

"Ryu, I thought you had been killed! No. I sure you were. You know what, this is just some psycho dream I am having. I haven't been getting enough sleep. Yeah, that's it! And I'll just wait until dawn and wake up, with none of this really happening." Lori murmured to herself, sitting back down and closing her eyes.

"What do I have to do to prove it to you? Tickle you until you can't breathe and actually let you pass out?" She shrugged. "God, woman, you are so freaking stubborn!" Ryu howled, quite upset.

Then he pounced on her and tickled Lori until she turned a lovely shade of purple. "Okay, okay! It really is you! Just get off of me you big oaf!" Lori giggled, rolling on the floor. Ryu stood and helped her to her feet.

The guy turned around and looked at me. Of course, I still had the kunai in my hand like a total fool. Woah. Didn't expect that to happen. "Oh, sorry about that. Ryuga Hibachi, this is Shikamaru Nara. Shika, Ryu." Lori introduced us calmly as if the friend she hadn't seen in…

"Wait, you've been away from your village for over a year!" I asked, completely dumbfounded. She has only been here for a few weeks. Where was she for the rest of that time?

"Shika, I went and traveled to each and every country on the continent before I made it here. I was on the road for months." She said and immediately turned to Ryu.

"How long have you been searching for me?" Lori asked, tapping her foot like Mom does when she is about to explode.

"Well, it depends on what you measure your time in…" And he received a good whack in the head.

The look in her grey-blue eyes was truly terrifying. "Ryuga Hibachi, you had better tell me right now in simple terms, or I will tell everyone in the village about the time I took your…"

"Okay, Mercy, Mercy! I've been on the road ever since you left, trying to track you down." He turned to face me and nodded his head. "If my Rain doesn't want to be found, then she won't be found. At least not by conventional means."

Lori hit him in the head hard enough that he bent over and grabbed him by the waist, throwing the 6-foot giant over her shoulder as if he were a pillowcase. "Shika, sorry that I have to cut our game short, but Ryu here needs to eat and get some sleep. And by the smell of it, a shower too." I nodded, still dumbfounded by the new Lori that Ryu seemed to bring out. She switched from being a little sister to a mother in an instant. Then she hopped down from my window and jumped up to her own without breaking stride. Ryu pounded her shoulders like a little baby, crying, "Let me down, Rain! I can walk by myself!"

Ryu just snuck up on the both of us. Even Lori didn't sense him before it was too late. What is up with him and calling her Rain? He hasn't called her Lori or Lorraine since he got here. And now that I think about it, Lori has a bit of an accent. I thought it was just by the way she talks, but Ryu has it too. I pondered, my mind switching from new thought to new thought without intervals. I feel like something bad is going to happen because of this new arrival to Konoha.

~Lori's Point of View~

I felt little pebbles beating on my back as Ryu complained, "Let me down, Rain! I can walk by myself!"

"You may be able to, but your footsteps are so heavy you would wake up everyone in my apartment complex and that would get me in trouble." I said, slipping into Dragon, my first language. Tha, and the fact that I just wanted to hold you, I thought, I missed you so much, Little Ryu. When we got up to the balcony, I strolled through my bedroom and into the bathroom. "You don't get to sleep or eat until you shower, Little Ryu. I won't have you messing up the sheets on my bed. And your grimy little paws aren't coming within ten feet of my kitchen. All the things you'll need are in the tub already." I said, reaching up and ruffling his shaggy black hair. He nodded and grinned his familiar toothy smile. Then I grabbed a towel and some wash clothes from the cabinet, passing them to him.

"What's on the menu, Rain?" Ryu called after I left the bathroom.

"Oh, so I am your personal chef now? Okay, whatever you want to eat. I only added about 20 new recipes to my list over the past year." I responded, hearing the water turn on.

"Woah, twenty? All I want are some rice cakes, less honey than your normal recipe if you please. I already ate dinner at that weird Ichiraku Ramen Shop before I came." He said, and I got to work in the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, just as I was flipping the rice cakes, Ryu came out. "Nice and clean." He said childishly, plopping down onto the stool that Shikamaru had brought over from his house after complaining he couldn't see over the counter. Ryu's legs almost touched his chin as he rested his feet on the middle bar.

"Damn boy! How tall are you now?" I asked as I took the food out of the pan. Passing them to him, I put some powdered sugar on them.

"OUCH! Dats ott!" He mouthed through a huge bite of rice cake.

I sighed. "No duh, numb nuts, it just came out of the pan."

He got back on topic pretty quickly. "I'm about 5'11.5" I think." Might as well round it to six. We munched in peace for a while and I had to make another batch.

"And an appetite to match a 5'11.5 foot tall dude."

"I can't believe I survived almost a year without these things. But I probably shouldn't eat anymore for a week. Too much comfort food makes you spoiled." Ryu philosophized.

He got a little hit on the head at his weird tone. "Whatever, Mr. Know-it-all. Why did you track me down, Ryu?"

"You couldn't just give us time to be happy before ruining our little reunion, could you Rain? Well, I set off after you left…for the hunt. When I finally caught up with you, it must have been an a few hours after you took care of your business. I've been tracking you down from each insignificant country you've been to but I lost your trail in that huge desert North East of here."

"Let me guess; you didn't find the town there, did you?" I said, knowing how bad Ryu was at detecting shifts in nature.

His black eyes went wide. "There was a town? Damn. Well, I finally tracked you down here an hour ago, but I had to get clearance from the Hokage to be here. But when I told her I was looking for you, she gave me your apartment address. I couldn't find you anywhere, so I stopped for some dinner. Then I passed that dude's apartment and you know the rest.

I pondered over it for a little while and asked, "Ryu, why did you actually follow me? Was it an order from the Elders?" He shook his head.

"If those old farts had their way, I would have let you leave with my blessing. But I didn't. Rain, all of those ninja you killed back there were mercenaries in a very prominent organization and you also happened to kill their leader's son. I came to tell you that they're hot on your trail. And they are seeking revenge. We have to take care of this ASAP."

I sat in complete shock as I took in all that my childhood friend told me. He went into detail on how long they had been tracking me, who they were sending, and how powerful they were. Most of them were top rank ninja from new and old bingo books. *For those who do not know, a bingo book is a book of powerful and dangerous ninja*

After everything he said, I calculated how quickly they would be onto me. In two more days tops. "From what I know," Ryu murmured, "No one you know is safe. They will hunt them down too and use them against you." It crashed down on me in an instant. Shikamaru is in danger. Because of me. I came up with a plan but my heart and soul ached with my decision.

"We have to take them down and soon," Ryu repeated. I shook my head. "Why not?" He asked, puzzled.

"Tomorrow is Shikamaru's birthday. And I want his last memory of me to be happy and complete." A look of confusion crossed Ryu's face.

"What do you mean? Once you and I get rid of these goons, you can come back. We just have to leave so that they won't find your friends now.

"No, Ryu. I knew that after what I did, I wouldn't be able to live a normal life. But I came here anyway, got an apartment, made friends, and lived happily for a while. This sick daydream has to end. I will not put my friends in danger ever again. This means they can never see me. I have to fade into their memories, and disappear without a trace. And the only way for them to put me behind in their memories is that they must think they will never see Lorraine Arashi again."

At that, I got to writing. Ryu fell asleep after a while and I put him in my bed since I didn't plan to sleep at all that night. I wrote and wrote the whole time through, a letter for each and every single one of my friends. Coming up with a cover story was easy. I almost decided to leave the letters for them and leave the following morning. But I had to see Shika one more time: see a smile on his face before I could never see him again. So I scribbled my heart and soul out, giving all the guidance I could to my friends for I would not be around to give them the advice myself.