Title: Koumajutsu
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out.

Chapter twentyone: Talking Teens

Three days had passed before Naruto got his first chance to take a breather from his increased duty load. Between making sure Sasuke was living like an ordinary citizen, meeting up with Sakura and Kakashi, and then working his behind off doing menial tasks for his community service work, he was too exhausted to even remember his father's journey log much less read any of it.

Then to top off his exhaustion, Iruka's dorm was usually too hot to sleep in for Naruto's comfort, and so he wasn't sleeping well. His mild sleeping discomfort was also due to the fact that he woke several times during the night to be sure Sasuke was still in the room. He was almost afraid to fall asleep, as though if he did Sasuke wouldn't be there when he woke.

He had reason to fear that though; reason one being Sasuke's disappearance years ago just after the Uchiha massacre. That night so long ago, when Naruto had fallen asleep with his best friend lying beside him, he'd woken up with Sasuke gone and no note to where the boy went off to. Reason two was obvious enough to go without mention.

But finally Naruto got his momentary time alone. Sasuke had gone to work, and Team Kakashi wasn't meeting because Kakashi finally found someone who could bleach his hair and skin back to their normal colors. Naruto still found it hilarious how long it took Kakashi to find someone who could do the job. Since they weren't meeting, Sakura signed up for a few hours work at the hospital, leaving Naruto to amuse himself.

He'd toyed with the idea of going to the academy and bugging Iruka and seeing if there was anything he could help with, but decided against it after recalling Iruka's classroom no-nonsense temperament. After that, he thought about visiting some of his other friends around Konoha, but most of them had gone on missions. Only Kiba's group remained, and Naruto was sort of unnerved by the way Hinata kept sneaking glances at him when he was around so he decided against going to see Kiba.

Besides that, they were with Kurenai, and that woman was somehow very scary. He didn't have to show up to his community service either, because Tsunade didn't have anything for him to do. Apparently Konohamaru painted Tsunade's stone face so to punish him, Tsunade gave him one hundred hours of community service and was keeping the mini-Naruto running with all his work.

So, Naruto had a whole day free, at least until Tsunade found drudge work for him. He sighed as he pulled on clothes just like what he wore every day and his nin-gear. There was no point in being unprepared, especially with Kakashi as a teammate-slash-teacher. He could remember the days when Kakashi used to test them all to make sure they were 'prepared' for a battle at any time.

All Kakashi seemed to do by sneaking up on Team 7 was make them all super paranoid.

With a slightly forlorn smile on his face, Naruto grabbed up the journey log and left Iruka's dorm. Yes, he could remember many happier days. He just wished things had never changed. He would trade all the techniques the last three years had given him for Sasuke to have never left. However, that wasn't going to happen and he had to face that truth.

He went to the bank first thing; he knew he needed money since he'd spent almost all his remaining cash on Sakura's flower. There had been two large deposits in his account. One was from Real Electronics—a deposit he had no intention of touching because he was too embarrassed still by how he'd come by that money. The other was from the city of Konohagakure treasury—that being the deposit for his last mission with Team Kakashi (escorting Kagome home).

While he was at the bank taking money out, he realized then that he didn't have Gama-chan to put his money in. At first he was just confused by Gama-chan's disappearance but he figured he must have just left Gama-chan at Iruka's dorm. So, he went back to Iruka's dorm to check, but a thorough search provided no results. Next he decided to check for Gama-chan in his other jumpsuits at the storage shed, but still he had no results.

That was when his panic meter started going up. It went from mildly concerned straight to Oh-My-Goodness-Gama-chan-Is-Lost-All-Hell-Will-Break-Loose!

"Agh!" he yelled in frustration, trying to remember the last time he'd seen Gama-chan. The little frog wallet, from what Naruto could remember, had last been seen in Ino's flower shop. Of course, he was sure he must have used it somewhere else, since that was three days ago. Plus there were thousands of places he could have gone where he maybe dropped Gama-chan.

"Poor Gama-chan," Naruto whined as he made his way from the storage shed to Ino's flower shop. Since it was the last place he remembered seeing Gama-chan, he decided it was as good a place to start looking as any.

Ino's mother was not pleased to see Naruto back, but upon questioning her, the woman was able to verify that she had seen the wallet and Ino had said she would return it three days earlier. Naruto supposed it would be reasonable to assume that Ino had ended up going on her mission before she could return Gama-chan, since Ino's team left on a mission three days before and that seemed to coincide with the last time Gama-chan had been seen.

Hoping for the best safety of Gama-chan, Naruto decided against scouring the rest of Konoha and resigned himself to keeping his money in his pocket in loose form until Ino returned. Sighing to himself, he made his way to the bridge by the academy district. He knew he could have been spending his time training, but the call of the book had only grown during the time he couldn't read.

He settled in for a long afternoon of relaxation under the bridge. Sakura had said she'd meet him there for lunch; he didn't know if that meant they would meet up and go to lunch, or what, but he decided to find out when she came.

Opening the plain leather-bound book, he riffled through the pages for the entry he'd left off on, reviewing what he had read before that and then continuing on with the next entry. Almost instantly he was captivated by the simple words the Fourth Hokage had written.

October 9. I miss mom a lot. I wonder what she's up to and if Huro is back on missions again. I asked Reitle-sensei if she knew Huro, but she said it was a whole other part of the clan that worked with Summoners. You know, it's really strange to me, because there's got to be only fifty of us, and yet there's hardly any interaction between Summoners and Summon Exterminators. …I really miss mom.

Again, Naruto wondered who Huro was to the Fourth, since he'd never heard of anyone with that name before. From what he remembered and what was written, Huro was a Summoner just like Sasuke believed Naruto was capable of being. But who was he?

January 23. Reitle-sensei said I'm not taking control of my Maryoku enough. I have to try harder. She said it's especially important because next month I'll begin the Hunt. It means that every week, I'll train with a Summoner for one hour, and try to surpass the Summon Creatures.

Naruto found himself secretly wishing his father good luck on his 'Hunt'. If he had to be stronger than a Summon Creature, and they were anything like those talking dogs or Kyuubi, then anyone would need that luck.

January 19. Wow, I didn't realize it had been a year since I wrote in here last. I know, daily journey log means every day, but sometimes I barely have the energy to chew my food (lunch is usually soup broth, so I don't have to waste the energy).

Naruto could empathize with that, especially the last few days. He was running back and forth so much that he didn't seem to have time to eat. It was only because of Sakura that Naruto ate lunch the last few days—she'd gotten real nice toward him lately—and only because of Iruka that he ate supper. He hadn't eaten breakfast since the day Sasuke got his job.

I can make clones. Oh, sweet clones! I can't wait to get back to Konoha. I'm going to walk up to the academy with an army of clones at my back and sensei will run away screaming like a girl.

Naruto laughed out loud at that description of his father's sensei even while congratulating Kyo internally for the progress he'd made. Naruto knew from experience how tough that used to be to make clones. Now it was almost an unconscious action that he performed during battles.

There's this weapon that is really hard to master, but Reitle-sensei said my progress with it is going better than the others'. I guess that's not a lot to compare it to, considering there are only three others in my class. It's called 'Hiraikotsu' and it's a giant boomerang made of the bones of a Summon Creature. A lot of weapons and armor the Yobidasu uses are made of the bones of a Summon Creature, actually.

That sort of sounded gross to Naruto. He preferred metal weapons, and he did wonder about that. Wouldn't metal be sharper than bone? Naruto found himself a little miffed that he didn't get to know how the Hunt had gone.

See, even the Summon Creatures who are dead serve a purpose with these guys, but the Summon Creatures don't seem bothered by the fact that their bones go to the use of weapons and armor. I met a Summoner who had a Summon Creature summoned a few months ago and asked about the bones thing, and do you know what the Summon Creature said? "A smart youkai does not get himself killed."

A little weird. But then I talked to the Summoner and he told me their weapons-smith is a Summon Creature. Not one weapon goes out of the forge without Toutousai's approval, and Toutousai uses the remains of Summon Creatures so they really have no choice but to accept bones for weapons.

Maybe, Naruto thought, a Summon Creature could make a bone weapon as sharp as metal?

My Hunt is going great.

Ah, there: he would get to know about the Hunt after all.

It's helping me prepare against the fear of going up against Summon Creatures, since that's what I'm essentially being trained to do. Each time I manage to surpass one level of Summon Creature, I go up against a new, higher level one. The higher the level of Summon Creature, the more human looking they are. I used to hear talk about tails being a regard for how powerful the creature is, but when I asked Reitle-sensei about that, she laughed at me. "I'd be more scared if I found out you were a Summon Creature than if I found out some puppy with five tails was a Summon Creature." I sort of get it, I think.

Naruto nearly jumped three feet into the air in fright when Sakura startled him out of his reading stupor by demanding, "Are you reading those pervert books, Uzumaki, Naruto!" She had two take-out dishes stacked in her hands and was standing over him with anger in her features. He knew she had just come from the hospital since she was still dressed in the white uniform.

Naruto hid the book behind him, a bit of a guilty look on his face to be caught reading. He had planned to put the book away just before her expected arrival time and act like he'd been training the whole time. "No," he told her, not daring to look at her.

Sakura glared at the guilty look on her friend's face. She was sure he was lying to her, but it wasn't like he was giving her much reason to think otherwise. He looked guilty, he sounded guilty, and he was hiding the book. It seemed almost worse than Kakashi reading them right out in the open.

She set the take-out trays down and advanced on Naruto, holding her hand out expectantly. "Hand it over!" she ordered. "It's for your own good, Naruto! If you keep reading pervert books, you'll just end up like Kakashi-sensei, or that perverted hermit Jiraiya!"

Naruto stood stubbornly, holding it tight to him. "I won't give it to you." Of course, he didn't really want to tell her what the actual book was about. Somehow it seemed too personal to tell Sakura and he had the impression she wouldn't believe him anyway. He wasn't giving her enough credit though.

"Naruto, give!" Sakura told him, stepping closer to him. She reached out and had her hand on the book; the two of them got into a bit of a scuffle over the book. It was his own fault for giving his teammate so little trust. "Naruto, it's for your own good!" Sakura insisted, trying to pry the book away. "And I won't let you be corrupt!"

Naruto fell on his rump again, but managed to keep a hold of the book. Sakura bent and reached for the book but he continued to hold it out of her reach. It wasn't until Sakura could feel the heat of Naruto's breath on her neck that she realized what sort of awkward position the two of them were in.

Naruto sat on the ground, one hand on her waist to keep her somewhat distanced, the other stretched out to keep the book out of her reach. Sakura practically straddled Naruto's lap, her hand reaching for the book while the other was on his shoulder to steady her. Her bosom was nearly pressed flush against his chest and their proximity made Sakura's heart race. A cherry sprinkling flew across the pink-haired fifteen-year-old's features.

Sakura meant to leap away from Naruto and their strange, intimate contact. She meant to bounce up and brush herself off and shout at Naruto for how they had ended up. Then their eyes locked together and what she meant to do and what she did do were two entirely different things. She pulled back the hand reaching for the book and ran it through Naruto's blond hair, watching as he blushed in minor embarrassment.

"Sa-Sakura-chan," Naruto stammered, wondering where all the butterflies that used to occupy his stomach had gone. Yes, he was embarrassed, but it wasn't because he was somewhat intimate with a girl he used to have a crush on. No, he was quite positive he no longer cared for Sakura in that fashion. But there was some sort of deeper feeling that he had for the girl in his lap.

It was a similar situation for Sakura. She knew she didn't love him, at least like that. But for some reason, it made sense to be like she was with Naruto. She was his teammate, so she should be close to him, or at least for her own sanity she decided that was how it was.

"Naruto," Sakura smiled at him before wrapping her arms around his chest and relaxing on his lap. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and knew he was surprised by her actions. But, slowly he relaxed the tension from his body when he realized it wasn't a trick. He set the book on the ground and turned them both so Sakura was lying with her back on the ground.

Leaning next to her, Naruto wondered where his crush for her had gone. She was still incredibly beautiful to him, but the butterflies were gone. Determined to bring those butterflies back—he missed them already—he leaned down and kissed her lush pink lips. His first kiss had gone to Sasuke, though it was entirely by accident. This one was fully on purpose, but it didn't bring back the butterflies. It simply confirmed that he was hoping blindly for something that wouldn't return.

But even though there were no butterflies, he found he couldn't stop kissing Sakura. She didn't have any protests or complaints. To her, it just felt right. She brought her hands up to wrap around him, pulling him closer. She felt for a moment like time had stopped and only the two of them moved. It was a silly notion, of course. Time couldn't stop, could it? It could only go one way: forward.

Then, almost simultaneously, they asked themselves what they were doing and suddenly their actions felt wrong while only a moment earlier it felt perfect. The two teens flew apart, blushing deep cherry colored and both of them muttered hasty apologies and spoke no more of the issue.

Not entirely sure what to do next—what to say, how to act—they ate a quiet (now cold) lunch of the take-out food. It wasn't that neither of them disliked it, but somehow it seemed like what they had done was taboo. That also seemed like a silly notion, but neither could explain what had transpired so they thought silence would be easier.

It was a good thing they had separated when they did, of course. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino invaded the underside of the bridge just a few minutes later and brought chatter back to the two embarrassed teens.

"Hey, forehead girl!" Ino called as she approached, waving somewhat cheerfully. In her hand was Gama-chan, which totally brought Naruto out of his quiet reverie and he nearly tackled Ino into the river to get Gama-chan back.

"Gama-chan, Gama-chan, Gama-chan!" he sang, attempting to bury his face in the little frog wallet. "Thank you, Ino!" he chirped.

Ino rolled her eyes at her fellow graduate. "You know, you should watch where you put things, Naruto!" Ino scolded him and then everything was right again in the world.

Sakura set her tray beside her and looked at the others, the blush now long gone. "I thought you guys were on a mission?" she inquired curiously.

Shikamaru grumbled, "We're Tsunade-sama's personal delivery service; how troublesome," as he sat down in a spot that would allow him access to cloud-viewing.

"Meh!" Ino sighed as she sat down in the spot beside Sakura (Naruto's vacated seat). "We just had to deliver some medicine to a village. Tsunade-sama was going to have you do it, but of course Naruto had to go get himself community service work!"

Chouji sat near Shikamaru, pulling out a bag of chips. Really, it was a wonder where he kept all his snacks because sometimes it seemed like he pulled them from thin air. "It wasn't so bad a mission," Chouji said between munches. It was almost a mission just to understand him.

Shikamaru clucked his tongue in his usual form of disapproval—what he did when he thought something 'troublesome'. "Naruto, can you plan your next battle in our barn?" he asked the orange (dancing) teen.

"In your barn?" Sakura asked, slightly confused.

Shikamaru shrugged. "I figure if he breaks the place, I won't have to help clean the barn this weekend." He raised his arms, folding them behind his head as he lazily watched the clouds.

"Clean the barn?" Naruto asked before snickering. "You got suckered into doing that again by your mom, didn't you?"

Ino said wisely, "I don't think 'suckered' is the right word. More like…"

Chouji muttered, "Forced…"

"…Kindly requested. Women don't stoop to trickery to get their gains." Ino finished. Sakura nodded her agreement.

Shikamaru snorted in half-amusement. "If you say so, troublesome woman."

Sakura gasped suddenly, as if she just remembered some incredible bit of juicy news that she'd been dying to tell someone. "Oh my goodness, Ino, you'll never believe what happened the other day!" Sakura was already almost laughing.

"If it's about the new training program at the hospital, I already know," Ino said.

"No, no! It's about Kakashi!" Sakura giggled and Naruto found himself grinning. The other three's attention was perked almost instantly and Sakura regaled the tale of how Kakashi had fallen for the old pranks they'd set in his house. All five teenagers were thrown into fits of laughter and the kiss was finally secured in the very darkest corners of Sakura and Naruto's mind.

"Oh, oh!" Naruto laughed, "And Sasuke too! Guess what happened to him!!"

Sakura was thrown into another fit of heavy laughter, tears of mirth springing from her eyes. Naruto was barely able to contain his laughter enough to tell the story about Sasuke and his new job. "And the best part," Naruto finished with all of them laughing themselves silly, "is that when I see Sasuke at night and ask him how work was, he kind of, like scowls in his eyes!"

They all could remember Sasuke's 'eye-scowl' and it only made them laugh harder. Ino and Sakura were beating their fists on the ground in their amusement, Chouji had to stop eating for fear of choking, Naruto was holding his stomach, and Shikamaru was chuckling.

xXx

Sasuke sighed inaudibly as he listened to the laughter on the underside of the bridge from his place on top of it. He couldn't quite hear what they had been talking about, but they seemed so happy. He wondered if there was really a place for him. It was his third day hoping to catch the rest of Team 7, hoping to eat lunch with them and perhaps grovel for forgiveness.

Today was the first time he'd found them there. But now, listening to their laughter he wondered if there truthfully was a place in Konoha that he even belonged. He couldn't go down there; he just couldn't get up the nerve. He was as much a stranger to them as any ordinary other person.

He sighed and walked away from the bridge, deciding from now on to find something productive to do at lunch time—like work? Mariemi always went to lunch so he would be able to work in relative peace and if there was a task he couldn't figure out, he could wait until she got back from lunch and ask then.

But there was a momentary splotch of doubt in his mind. Did he even belong in Konoha? Was there a place for him, or was he just kidding himself with the blind hope?

Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, he heard Kyuubi whispering in his mind.

"Go away, fox." Sasuke breathed out, but he was still listening. Maybe he was insane for listening to the 'voice' in his head. It wasn't like he had a choice though: it was hard to ignore Kyuubi.

You have to talk to them some time. You know you do; how will you pay the cute pink-haired girl back if you don't? And the longer you wait, the harder it will be to confront them. Sasuke had to admit that Kyuubi had a very valid point. But that didn't make it any easier for him.

Come, I will help you face them.

Sasuke stopped walking and his eyes went to the narrow path that led down to the underside of the bridge. "Why would you help me? Why would you care?" he asked. "What's in it for you?" An elderly lady glanced at Sasuke with an odd look on her face; she probably thought he was insane. And he could very well be.

Kyuubi laughed in a mockery of amusement. Can't a poor youkai like myself do something out of the goodness of his heart? Does there have to be a benefit for me? Do I need a reason to…care…? Sasuke swore he heard the true demon somewhere in that voice.

But he shrugged and made his way down the path. "Are you serious?" he heard Ino laugh, "He actually looked like that?"

"Uh huh!" Naruto laughed. "Sasuke was terrified of Mariemi, I swear it on my status as a shinobi. It's really true!"

Sasuke tried to turn around but found he couldn't move. They were laughing at him. That affected him greatly. Would his return only sponsor being a mere rumor? Did no one care? If even Naruto would laugh at him, what did he have to stay in Konoha for?

Oh, shush up you big baby, Kyuubi ordered. They're not just talking about you. This is what friends do amongst their peers. They talk about people, laugh at people, and have a good time together. It's something you seem to have never partaken in because of the Uchiha Massacre, because of course everyone else was beneath your notice. It's time you learn that teens are like this, and you're one of them.

Sasuke gulped but opened his ears to listen again to the others.

"Oh!" Ino giggled and suddenly changed the subject, "Naruto, did your 'special someone' like their flower?"

Naruto laughed again but this time it was more of a nervous, embarrassed laugh. Chouji said, "Naruto got someone a flower?"

"Yup!" Ino and Sakura seemed to share a giggle at Naruto's seeming embarrassment.

"Who was it for?" Shikamaru asked, and then he joked, "Girls are so troublesome, Naruto, I'd recommend forgetting the whole thing."

"Haha," Naruto's blush practically was vocalized. Sasuke had the image of Naruto rubbing the back of his neck fluttering in his mind's eye. "Yeah, um, she liked it, I think." He said, sounding guilty and embarrassed simultaneously.

"Naruto's got a girlfriend?" Chouji asked.

That question seemed to bring helpless laughter to the others and Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino all burst into teasing song, "Naruto's got a girlfriend," over and over.

You see? Kyuubi asked. It's not just you. It's everyone. Now get going. Sasuke could have sworn he felt something invisible give him a rough shove and he tripped the rest of the way down the path, falling on his hands and knees and making enough raucous to raise the dead in his descent. You're so graceful. Kyuubi snickered.

Thanks for the reviews everybody! regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, ancient-relic (I heard them as I wrote them; what a coincidence!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (More Kagome/Kakashi to come in future chapters), fridge (...aggressive, but apparently effective), Kagome lady of Darkness, feagrif (I feel so weird having to resort to review responses to talk to you! Pakkun the summoned dog is canon), KibaSin (LeGasp! You totally cheated, didn't you? How else would you know the pairing?), supersillee06 (Hehe, Kyuubi's fun), starlitBaby, KuroxTenshi (it's even funnier to me 'cause I know who 'Kakashi' is...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 20 after I posted chapter 21.

ANSWER: Hm... Hm hm... I'm hungry. But at this point, I suppose I need to make this clear to those who don't already know/realize. This story is NOT a Sakura/Naruto or a Sakura/Sasuke. It is also NOT a Sasuke/Naruto pairing story. I think I scared Canis Black away. I intend to cover several years throughout the course of the story, so it's not going to be clear immediately, and besides that they're still 15 years old and have some growing up and experimentation to do before then. I like to have fun with my stories too, so I'll be picking apart lots of characters. I'm trying to keep most of them in character, but generally speaking, I change my character's personalities to match the story.

My home is in motion as darkness unfolds the air overloaded disguised and in gold but you went away you left me to stay we see us in heaven I'm counting the days...until you review!!