The two young friends ran as fast as their nearly seven year old legs could carry them, through the woods, across the soft ground, heading towards what seemed like a promised land to their young minds. The dark eyed boy pulled the brown eyed girl behind him, knowing that she wasn't as fast as he was, but he didn't mind helping her keep up.

'Hurry up, slow coach!' he cried as they approached their targeted destination, he knew that she was too out of breath to answer but he didn't mind because he knew what she would have said. 'Nearly there now Piggy!'

'Shut up.' she whispered on a panting out-breath. The boy laughed at her touchy voice as he tugged at her hand, feeling the glove give way slightly, but just holding on tighter and feeling her hand squeeze his slightly. They slowed at the sight of the maroon coloured slime ball… things and the boy let Mika catch her breath: she had never much liked running.

It had been nearly ten months since they had been here last, but they had always told themselves that they'd come back; it was just too good a thing to ignore, despite what had happened last time. The young boy had been yearning to come back here since a couple of days after the incident in question, but they had never got round to it, instead finding that they had full schedules to keep up… mostly running around wreaking havoc all over the village, every now and then finding that it had already been wreaked by some unknown and unimportant trouble maker.

'I'm not a piggy.' she said defiantly when her small chest had stopped heaving uncontrollably, her pretty face damp with sweat but a mischievous smile defining her lips. 'You know I don't like that name.' she added, standing up straight and rubbing her nose on the back of her hand.

'That's the only reason I use it.' answered the boy deviously, smiling down at her maliciously. She gave a sort of laugh on the out breath, still smiling up at him with his own look mirrored on her face. 'You said yourself that you don't like your name.'

'Did I?' she asked, her smile disappearing and being replaced by a look of surprised curiosity. 'That must have been forever ago, because… I really don't remember that!' she continued, her smile sneaking it's way back onto her even features. 'Did you happen to mention whether you like yours?' she asked, taking on a posh voice and a sneaky looking expression behind the endearing smile. The boy shook his head without a word a grin encroaching on his face. 'Well, do you?' asked the girl with the plum coloured hair curiously.

'Umm… I guess it's better than Itachi.' he said after a moment of thought, wincing with the effort of thought and making the girl giggle. 'But I wouldn't have chosen it for myself.' he finished, shrugging uninterestedly, starting to head slowly towards the mollusc like things which promised such fun ahead of them.

'Well, shall we make up nicknames for each other?' asked Mika enthusiastically, walking beside him and watching him hopefully. 'I can call you Blue, and you can call me… umm…' she looked away, frowning deep in thought.

'Purple?' he suggested, looking over at her quietly. 'Plum?' he continued shrugging vaguely.

'Are you crazy?' she asked whipping around to stare at him incredulously. 'Those are both dumb names… Blue is so much cooler.'

'Sorry, that's all I got right now.' he answered smiling at her expression. 'Plum is cool.' he said shrugging and putting his hands on the maroon thing they had just reached. Mika made an over incredulous face at him, with one eye half open and the other wide, making the newly named Blue laugh. 'How about… violet?' he asked tentatively.

'You are so smart!!!' she squealed as he helped her up, beaming up at him ecstatically. 'So you can call me Violet, okay?' she told him, brushing some of the strange slimy substance which oozed silently out of the thing they were now kneeling on.

'I prefer Mika.' he answered unwillingly, wincing at the thought of her reaction. 'Violet doesn't sound much like you.' he added, hoping to soften the blow.

'You had to be difficult, didn't you?' she replied, sighing exasperatedly. She looked away for a moment, the boy knowing that she was disappointed, but she was trying to hide it. 'It's okay. You can call me Mika.' she finished, smiling at him indulgently which he returned.

'But I'm Blue, right?' he asked, standing up and helping her to stand beside him, clutching his sleeves for support. She smiled at him uncertainly as she wobbled ominously, but he got the picture that she was okay with it all.

He led her further into the field of squashy red cushions, holding her hand tight as she clung to him for security. He suddenly turned and started bouncing up and down, grinning at his little friend sheepishly. He let himself be bounced higher and higher, as though he was on a trampoline with a huge grin on his slightly uncertain face, trying to persuade her to join him. She laughed nervously, gingerly starting to bounce herself a little, her eyes glancing anxiously from her feet to the newly named Blue and back again as she got higher and higher, and more and more confidence.

Soon she was bouncing nearly as high as her best friend, grinning just as wide as he was, the twinkle in their eyes shining brightly at each other in childish excitement. Their loud giggles echoed around the clearing as they both landed one after the other, Mika making her way closer to her best friend with a mischievous look in her deep hazel eyes.

Blue watched her as she encroached lightly onto his mollusc, bouncing in different rhythms, her eyes shining in delight and mischief the same look mirrored in his own deep blue eyes. They giggled at each other as the girl with the deep puce coloured hair caught up with the boy with the black hair, before she was finally at the same level as him, both laughing hard at each others faces.

Suddenly, Mika threw her young arms around the boys waist, pulling him into a friendly embrace and making him look down at her wide-eyed in surprise and terror as they fell in slow motion back towards the ground. As the time slowed right down, they fell towards the dark red squishy thing below them, Mika's face comfortably content with being pressed against her best friends chest, the boys face worried about the fall as they tumbled in slow motion, leaning further and further onto the side falling horizontally with the girl below Blue.

They landed smoothly on the maroon coloured thing, Blue lying on top of Mika with a small smile on his face as they bounced up again, Mika lifting her face up to look him in the eyes. As they came back down again, their faces were bumped together, not painfully but it was enough to make them both separate quickly, moving swiftly away from each other awkwardly. The girl shuffled hastily out from underneath her friend, the boy sitting up and smiling awkwardly at her.

'Umm… sorry…' he said quietly, shrugging uncomfortably at her sort of half heartedly. She tried to smile, but it looked more like a painful wince.

'Uhh…' she could feel herself burning bright red and knew that he would be too, but she decided that it was best not to look up at him just yet. 'Umm… shall we go home?' she asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

'Good idea.' she heard him say as she got up tentatively, but before she knew it she had slipped and was falling forwards with an empty space between two molluscs looming in front of her. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there he was. Blue's arms were there to catch her, keep her from falling into the five foot abyss.

'Are you okay?' he asked as she clutched onto his t-shirt for dear life, here eyes wide in terror at what could have happened (it doesn't seem like a lot, but to a kid, five feet is huge!). She smiled nervously up at him as he helped her get stable on the unstable maroon thing. 'That could have been messy. I got so told off last time, I think mother would have killed me if I did it again!' exclaimed Blue with a laugh.

Neither of them said anything, but it was almost painfully obvious that they were both really relieved that nothing had changed between them. It had been an accident that would never be repeated and never mentioned to anyone… especially not each other, despite the fact that both had found it strangely nice.