The C.A.K.E Girls

Edited: 4/18/13

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

(Kiku's PV)

I tugged on the bandage wrapped around my eyes. Someone, most likely Azula, slapped my hand away. Two days had passed rather quickly for me. I spent most of my time walking around Konoha with Azula, Naruto, Sakura, or Kiba. The day of the operation I had to wait in the hospital alone. Tsunade said that after the operation, I would have to leave the bandages on for at least a week. It's kind of annoying to be walking around with bandages around your eyes.

"Don't touch them," Azula scolded.

"But it bothers me," I whined.

"Oh don't whine. You'll have them off in a few seconds." Frowning, I slide further into my seat.

A week had passed rather fast, but I really wanted to see. Also, I had an itch and just had to scratch it. Azula had been bothering me all week when she found out about my operation. She made sure I ate and didn't touch my bandages. She gave me a long lecture about not telling her that I couldn't see and to be more careful next time. I told her she was acting like Callia, mother hen, and she told me that I needed her or I would probably end up killing myself.

"Kiku, come on in." I heard Sakura walk toward me and guide me into the hospital room. I sighed and mentally rolled my eyes at her, not that she would have noticed in the first place.

"Sakura, I'm very capable of walking into a room that is right across from me." With that I slammed my knee on the hospital bed.

"Ow!" I rubbed my aching knee.

"Yeah, you're very capable of walking by yourself," Azula said sarcastically. I could just see her rolling her eyes at me.

"Oh, shut up. I never liked these bed things anyways," I retorted lamely. Sitting down again I listened for Tsunade to come in. I heard the faint clicks of her heels and the door opened.

"Hello, Kiku. How are you today?" she asked, pleasantly.

"My knee hurts." I pouted slightly.

"..."

"What no 'poor Kiku' or anything? How rude. You're supposed to be a doctor." I huffed and crossed my arms.

"Ignore her, Tsunade. She's just a little grumpy today. Kiku's usually nice 55% of the time," Azula commented.

"Hey!" Azula ignored my call of protest.

"The other 45% she's just clumsy," she said in an amused voice.

"I feel highly offended. I'm not that clumsy. Sure I've had more stitches than a person has fingers, but that doesn't make me clumsy." I made a weak protest.

"You're the only person who can trip while walking on a flat surface and need five stitches." If she could see my eyes, Azula would have seen my death glare.

"Are you two ladies done?" I could hear the annoyance in Tsunade's voice and wondered if her eye was twitching. I nodded while Azula remained quiet.

"Okay, well let me take these bandages off. You'll be able to open your eyes after that." I felt her hands pulling off the bandages slowly. I could feel the tight wrappings falling away. Finally she stopped and I heard her step back.

Slowly I opened my eyes. At first everything was blurry and grayish. As I kept blinking everything was coming into focus. I could see Azula, Sakura, and Tsunade looking at me with curiosity. Everything was so bright, before my whole world was night and now I could see.

"Kiku?" Azula asked cautiously.

"I-I can see again! This is amazing! Thank you so much Tsunade!" I jumped up and hugged her. Tsunade was in shock but laughed. I felt so happy, I could see everything, including my best friend's face.

"Azula this is wonderful. I can see you now and...what are you wearing?" I raised one eyebrow at her attire. Azula shook her head at me but smiled.

"That's the first thing you notice about me? I'm hurt that you don't notice my happy face." I pulled her into a hug. It was nice to see everything in color, not just hear everything around me.

"Hey, let's celebrate and go to the ramen shop!" I said excitedly.

"Why am I not surprised that you want to eat," amusement laced her words.

"Because you know me so well." I grinned and grabbed her arm, dragging her out of the hospital room.

"Later, Tsunade and Sakura! Thanks again!" Waving good-bye, we headed out. Konoha looked even better in real life than in the anime. It was so green and so colorful; it was beautiful. Up ahead I saw a large white dog walking next to a boy in a black jacket.

"Kiba! Akamaru! Hi!" Both boy and dog turned around. Kiba stared at me while Akamaru ran up to us. He jumped on me, nearly knocking us onto the ground.

"Hey big boy. I can finally see you and you really are big." I ruffled his fur and patted his head. Kiba came up to us. I smiled at him.

"Y-you can see me?" His eyes were wide with shock.

"Yup! I just got the bandages off a few moments ago. I can finally see." I felt giddy with excitement and couldn't stand still. Azula rolled her eyes at me and smiled.

"We're going to go get ramen. Want to come?" I cocked my head to the side in question.

Akamaru barked while Kiba answered, "Sure."

All four of us headed off again. Akamaru walked between Kiba and me. Kiba kept staring at me; probably still surprised I could see now. Now that I could see, I had a lot of things I wanted to do.

(Azula's PV)

I watched a Kiku ate her ramen rather quickly. I really wasn't a fan of ramen so I just picked at my noodles. Kiku would probably eat it for me anyways. She seemed in a much better mood now that she had her eye sight back.

"Kiku, swallow or you'll choke," I warned her.

"Ah, you worry too much Az. I may fall and trip a lot, but I definitely won't choke on my food," she informed before shoving more noodles in her mouth with gusto.

I shook my head at her as she kept eating. I looked down at the big white dog sitting next to her stool. Akamaru was taking a snooze, I think. Looking at Kiba, I saw him staring at Kiku. He had been doing that a lot, staring that is. Even when she couldn't see he would stare at her; but since she could see he had to turn away whenever she looked at him.

"Kiba? How's your ramen?" I asked with a grin. Kiba looked at me and turned a nice shade of red. His face marks almost blended in with his cheeks. I laughed while Kiku gave me a quizzical look. I just shook my head and she went back to eating.

She doesn't even know what's going on. I wonder if she will ever know;.probably not unless he tells her or someone else tells her.

Kiku was clueless to the fact that Kiba had a major crush on her from the moment she came to Konoha. She was naive in that sense, she assumed every boy who approached her wanted to be friends. It was like this in school as well. Boys would try and get close to her, but she would remain under the illusion that they only wanted to be friends.

Kiba seemed like a nice enough guy. At least she wasn't crushing on Sasuke anymore. She had gone on a rant about how cold hearted he was and how on earth she could've liked him. I just nodded and agreed with her. Everyone else thought that Sasuke was a jerk from the beginning. I'm just glad she got over it; who knows, maybe she might fall for the dog boy.

While my love life is getting complicated...I sometimes hate my life.

I haven't seen Gaara since the last time I talked to him and that was two weeks ago. He and Kankuro were still in Konoha. I didn't know when they had to go back, but probably soon. I told Kankuro that I only liked him as a friend. Boy did that go well for me. I think he was hurt that I didn't like him the same way. He guessed that I liked Gaara, but stalked off before I could say anything else. He'd been avoiding me like the plague ever since.

"Az? You there, Azula?" I blinked as Kiku waved a hand in front of my face. She had finished eating and I noticed my bowl was gone as well.

"Yeah, I was just thinking. So what do you want to do now?" I asked.

"Well Kiba suggested a walk around Konoha." I looked over at him, but he didn't meet my eyes.

"Actually why don't you two just go. I've been around Konoha already and I'm tired." Kiba stared at me with shock. Kiku turned to look at him and he quickly shut his mouth.

"Well, I guess that's fine." Kiku looked at Akamaru and patted his head. I locked eyes with the dog ninja and mouthed 'Good luck' and winked. I wanted to laugh when his face turned red again.

Waving goodbye to both of them I headed off to the school. I don't know why, but I just felt the need to take a walk. It was a nice day, actually it's always a nice day in Konoha. I went into the schoolyard and sat on the swing under the tree. The kids were still in class, so it was quiet. I swung lightly back and forth on the swing trying to clear my head.

"Azula?" I looked at a pair of black ninja sandals and black pants. I lifted my head up to meet brown eyes and face paint. Kankuro stared at me for a while not saying anything. I looked back down at his shoes trying to calm down.

"What are you doing here?" he, finally, asked.

"Just chilling out. What are you doing here?" I tried to sound nonchalant.

"Taking a walk." he said flatly.

"Oh." Again there was a long pause. I wondered if he was still mad at the fact that I chosen Gaara over him. I've always liked Gaara from the start so it made sense. I just didn't like the fact that I hurt him.

"Listen, I'm sorry," he muttered. My head snapped up and I stared at him.

"W-what?" The shock was evident on my face.

He looked away from me. "Sorry for the way I acted that time. I just let my emotions get the better of me. So...friends?" My brain tried to process this but failed. I just nodded dumbly at him. He gave me a small smile and put out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Kankuro." Slowly a smile formed on my face.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Azula." I giggled as we shook hands. I felt so much better now that he didn't hate me. I really did like Kankuro, just more like a friend. He treated me well even though we sometimes argued.

"So where's your friend?" he inquired.

"Kiku? She's walking around Konoha with Kiba. Now that she can see she wants a tour of the place. I kind of set them up because Kiba seems to like her a lot."

"No kidding. He's like a dog following her around," Kankuro snorted with amusement. Sighing I looked up at the clear blue sky. The clouds looked so fluffy and light. They moved across the sky in a lazy fashion.

"Now I understand why Shikamaru likes looking at the clouds so much." I said, more to myself.

Kankuro made a face. "Who, the pineapple kid?"

I gave him a half hearted glare saying, "It's not nice to call him that. He has a name. How would you like if everyone referred to you as the kitty cat guy?" Kankuro grinned at me and just shook his head. He took a seat under the tree and leaned back, hands folded behind his head.

"I don't really mind. Who cares what they call me," he said and shrugged.

I smirked before questioning him. "So you wouldn't mind if I called your face paint makeup?"

"That I would mind. Its face paint," he said in mock hurt.

"Whatever you say." I chuckled and looked at the school. I missed my home. I missed my mom and dad. I didn't know if they were worried about me or had no idea I was gone. Sure Konoha was great and being in the Naruto was like a dream come true, but I still missed my old life. A life I didn't have to worry about getting killed or kidnapped by an evil organization.

"What's up?" Kankuro gave me a curious look.

"Just thinking."

"About?" He was being persistent.

"Home. I miss my family. I miss having all my friends together. We use to have sleepovers and go out and have fun. I'm worried that the Akatsuki might try and come after Kiku and me. I'm afraid I'll never see Callia or Eri again," I admitted.

Kankuro remained silent. There were times I forgot about all the danger we were in. It was those times I wish I could have all the time. Then, something would remind me that two of my best friends were missing and that Kiku and I might be next.

"Well, if the Akatsuki do come for you, I won't let you go without a fight. I'm pretty sure everyone would fight to get you guys back," he reassured.

"Let's just hope Kiku doesn't meet Deidara again. She wants to kill the guy for throwing a bomb at her. She can be too rash sometimes." In my opinion Kiku could be like Naruto, act without thinking about the consequences.

(With Kiku, Kiba and Akamaru)

"Aaaaahchooo!"

"Bless you," Kiba said. He glanced at the girl with concern.

"Thanks. My Kiku senses are tingling. Someone is talking about me." Kiba raised an eyebrow at the blond girl.

"How would you know that?" he asked, half amused.

"Like Spider Man can sense when someone is in trouble I can sense when someone is talking about me," she explained matter of factly.

"Who's Spider Man?" Kiku sighed and shook her head.

"Never mind. You wouldn't understand it anyways."

"Try me," Kiba insisted.

"Okay. So Spider Man is this guy who was normal until he got bitten by a 'special' spider and gained spider like abilities. He uses his powers to save people and all that stuff. He hides his identity by wearing a mask so his loved ones won't get hurt. Now there are different versions of Spider Man. We have the comic version, movie version, and cartoon version. Well, actually there's even a musical on him too. Oh yeah, he's not real either, he's like made up from someone's mind. Okay, so he has a lot of enemies like The Sand Man, Dr. Octopus, and the Green Goblin. Now, in his world-"

"I'm so lost." Kiba had a very lost look on his face.

"Hate to say I told you so but...I told you so!" Kiku sang. Kiba shook his head at her.

"I think I have a headache now." Kiku laughed at him and looked down at Akamaru. He wagged his tail at her and stared happily at the two.

"Well, I want to do something fun," she said while looking around.

"Like what?" Kiba wondered if he really wanted to know.

"Climb the Hokage Mountain!" Kiku pointed at the mountain in front of them.

"Uh, why?" Kiba rubbed the back of his head.

"I don't know. It looked like a lot of fun when Naruto was hanging upside down from the Hokage's nose. Come on let's do it." She widened her eyes and jutted out her lip. Kiba groaned, it was the pouty face. He couldn't say no to a face like that. Well, it's not like he would've said no in the first place, not to Kiku at least.

"Fine let's go." He groaned slightly.

"Yeah! I officially love you, Kiba!" The blonde ran off ahead enthusiastically not seeing that Kiba's face had turned a brilliant shade of red.

(Meanwhile...)

"Aaaahchooo!"

"Bless you. Are you getting sick Deidara?" Callia looked concerned at the blond boy. He sniffed and proceeded to eat.

"I don't get sick," he said.

"They say when you sneeze that means someone is talking about you. I'm not surprised that people would talk about you," Eri stated not taking her eyes off her sketchpad.

"I'm flattered people like to talk about me, yeah," Deidara said.

"They're probably saying bad things about you. You aren't a very popular ninja to talk about unless it's to bad mouth you," Callia pointed out. Eri nodded in agreement with Callia. People rarely talked nice about a rouge ninja let alone a rouge ninja that's part of the Akatsuki.

"Whatever...you were still worried about me though, hmm." Deidara gave a smug smile at the redhead. Callia stuck her tongue out.

"Only because I don't want you to die because of a cold. If you're going to die I rather see you blown up or something way cooler and more painful." Deidara raised an eyebrow. He had no idea that she had violent thoughts, but it made it all the more appealing.

"I'm touched by your concern, un. You know, I can teach you a few things you could do with that tongue of yours." He wiggled his eyes at her. Callia face flushed and she turned her head away without another word.

Eri chuckled at the two. They argued almost all the time. It was amusing to see who would top who.

"You two done flirting? I swear just make out already. I can feel the sexual tension between you two. It's going to make me sick," Kisame said while walking into the room. He said it half mockingly. Both teens turned bright red at his statement. Eri was choking on her spit and rolled off the couch.

"I don't know what you're talking about, fish face, un," Deidara mumbled.

"Please, Deidara, a blind person can see that you two have the hots for each other," Eri said while laughing. Callia started coughing and excused herself from the room. Eri could see her ears were slightly red. Deidara mumbled something inaudible and walked out the opposite side of the room.

Eri grinned widely at the blue man. "Nice one, Kisame." He laughed and gave Eri a toothy smile. Getting back on the couch, the girl flipped a new page in her book.

"Hey, want to be my model?" She gave him a devious smile.

"..." Kisame looked unsure of himself.

"Come on you have nothing better to do. Just sit down and relax," Eri insisted. Kisame grunted but complied. The room was quiet while Eri sketched the blue man. It was a comfortable silence and both didn't realize a certain black haired man watching the whole scene.

Kitkat d(^.^)b