Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.

"So please accept my honest apologies!" I swung my head down and bowed for the three people in front of me, remaining in that position for a few seconds until one of them spoke up hesitatingly.

"Ano Miraiko-chan…You didn't have to do this sort of a thing…" Naruto started, looking slightly taken aback, accompanied by an expression that displayed embarrassment.

"Yeah we did pressure you earlier. We should be the ones apologizing.." Sakura agreed, a somewhat guilty tone wavering through her voice.

I shook my head as I straightened my body to face them. "No, I shouldn't have yelled at any of you the way I did…I'm the one who overreacted. So please don't blame yourself."

They both still seemed a little uneasy about it, but they nodded anyway, adding a small smile to their features. I smiled back appreciatively, before turning my attention to the only adult in the room, who was following the conversation thoughtfully.

"So you're willing to give me a proper explanation about what happened between you and the Akatsuki now? And you'll accept any consequences?" She inquired straightforwardly once her hazel eyes locked with my emerald green ones.

Consequences..?

"Yes." I responded promptly, not giving myself a chance to worry about the unpleasant punishment she could have in store for me.

I was determined to handle things differently from now on.

More mature. I have to be mature. I reminded myself sternly, reflecting on how careless I'd treated them yesterday. I didn't want it to happen again. I didn't want my pride or stubbornness to get in the way this time.

The blonde female's expression remained neutral, making it hard for me to get an idea of what she was thinking about. "Very well then, Naruto, Sakura, you may leave. I'll need to hear out Miraiko-san's story now. Privately."

"Ah but Tsunade baa-chan--" Naruto began, but his attempt to protest was cut off when he got struck by a warning gaze from the Hokage.

With a grumpy look on his face he accepted her authority over him and moved towards the door with the pink haired girl following him closely. The kunoichi turned her head over her shoulder briefly to offer me a reassuring smile.

"We'll see you later then, okay Miraiko-san?"

I nodded faintly, watching as she closed the door behind her until Tsunade cleared her throat, guiding my eyes back to focus on her.

"Lets begin."

I wonder…What could my punishment possibly be? Curiosity occupied my mind as I walked past the villagers who were scattered over Konoha's local market.

It'd been about ten minutes since Tsunade dismissed me after hearing out my story. She appeared to understand what had happened, though she still felt the need to give me a suitable punishment for behaving reckless and disrespectful towards her.

Apparently I would find this 'punishment' somewhere near a large tree that stood at the end of the busy market. While heading towards my destination, I could already see the tall tree sticking out in the distance, but I couldn't detect any potential threats or things that should worry me.

My curiosity was starting to turn into anxiety.

I mean…what if the tree wasn't an actual tree? What if it was just someone in disguise as a tree? What if she sent out a creepy ninja after me to scare me and lecture me to death?

…What if there was no punishment at all? Would she make me wait there all day and make me starve until I--

Whoa. Paranoid much? Calm down, it can't be THAT bad.

"Right. I'll be fine…just fine…Yeah right." I muttered to myself, not feeling very confident at all as I continued to decrease the distance between me and the object of my worry.

By the time I finally stood next to the tree, my nerves still hadn't calmed down and my eyes kept moving back and forth between the people that walked past me. No creepy ninja stepped up to me; everyone was minding their own business.

Which left me feeling confused. The tree had to be some sort of place to meet up with someone right? So why was no one showing up to lecture me?

Unless…

"Ara…Miraiko-san?"

"Huh?" I spun around swiftly when a familiar voice uttered my name, a look of surprise appearing on my blank face. Curious, dark eyes locked with my emerald ones that held the same emotion.

"Iruka-sensei?" His name left my lips as I took in his form, noticing that he had a thick stack of papers tucked underneath his left arm.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be with Tsunade-sama right now?" He asked while adjusting the weight of the package he carried, so it was resting against his moss green vest.

"Yeah, I just left…" I replied softly, running a hand through my grass green hair to flip it over my shoulder. I noticed his eyes following the smooth movement before he returned his gaze to my face.

"Ah I see. Uhm…So how did it go?" He continued talking, sounding genuinely curious.

"Oh it went okay. I think she was a bit irritated and she was quite generous with her snappy comments, but in the end she seemed to understand what I went through." I explained with a sigh, knowing the relief on my face was overly obvious.

He smiled softly, nodding. "That's good. For a moment I was a bit worried that her temper would get the better of her…But I'm happy things turned out good for you."

"Thanks…" I smiled back appreciatively, meeting eyes with him.

His smile wavered slightly and he broke the eye contact, turning his eyes into a random direction with a somewhat nervous air to him. I blinked at him, tilting my head to the left lightly.

What is wrong with hi- Oh! Of course…How could I forget?

I lowered my gaze to the sandy ground, smiling awkwardly.

Iruka…Of course he still had to be feeling a bit weird around me. I mean, he was the first one whom I'd (stupidly screamed) honestly confessed my true feelings to. Not to mention that I (pressed my freaking chest against) hugged him while doing it…

…He was probably just a bit shy. I think.

"So…What are the papers for?" I questioned, trying to start a random conversation to retrieve a normal atmosphere.

He glanced down at the stack pressed against his vest, uttering an 'oh' as he raised the pile of white sheets up in the air. "These are some recent reports and files about the Akatsuki…I'm supposed to bring them to Tsunade-sama."

"Oh. Okay." I stared at them for a few seconds.

"Ne…Miraiko…" Iruka suddenly began, regaining my attention. His expression was unreadable to me, but I had a slight hunch about his thoughts.

"Could you tell--"

"I can't tell you anything about them." I said sternly, not allowing him to finish his sentence.

He raised his eyebrows at me, seemingly caught off guard. I sent him a knowing look.

"Come on Iruka, you know I can't tell you anything about the Akatsuki. I already--"

"No, no. I wasn't going to ask you to give me information about them! I was…" He quickly stopped me from lecturing me, this time turning me in the one who was caught off guard.

"Eh?" I blinked at him blankly.

"I was…erm…going to ask you…doyouwanttohaveramenwithmesometime."

"…What? I didn't quite catch that." I asked slowly, not understanding one bit of what just rattled out of his mouth.

His face gained a colour that strangely reminded me of strawberries burning in the sun, before he cleared his throat and shot me a sideway look. "Do you…want to have ramen with me sometime?"

Absolute horror was written all over my face.

Ra-RAMEN?!

"Uhm…" I looked away, to the ground, pretending to be fascinated with the grey rocks that were scattered over the sandy road.

Say no. Say hell no. Heck whatever you say, just DON'T say yes!

"Uh…"

Chopsticks and you don't mix, remember?! CHOPSTICKS ARE THE ENEMY!

"Well…"

Unless you want him to feed you.

"No…I'm sorry, I can't…I have stuff to do. Yeah…stuff." I lied awkwardly, not wanting to embarrass myself by telling him that I couldn't hold those damn sticks properly.

"Oh…I see." He replied softly, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice loud and clear.

"Uhm, but maybe you can come by my house sometime. I can cook some dinner if you like." I offered quickly, guilt stabbing me in the back.

A faint smile reappeared on his face, but it wasn't quite the usual genuine one that I'd gotten used to. "Sure. That's sounds good. But I have to go now."

"Ah bye." I waved him goodbye, smiling weakly as he turned his back to me and began to walk towards the hokage's office.

This is the right thing to do. This'll save us both a lot of embarrassment and awkwardness…And I can invite him over for dinner whenever I feel like it anyway…right..?

That's what my mind told me, but still I kept pondering about the question 'if this is right, then why do I feel like a selfish brat right now?'

I sighed and moved towards the tree, turning around to lean against it. It seemed like I would be waiting a while for my 'punishment' to come, so I might as well get comfortable--

"Well that was interesting…" I jumped up in surprise when all of a sudden a muffled voice chuckled at me.

I jerked my head to the right, then to the left, but there was no one there.

Then I gawked at the tree, which was my only company.

Holy crap! THE TREE JUST SPOKE TO ME!

"Uhm…Hello?" I replied hesitatingly, a bit freaked out as I started to back away slowly from the tall brown tree before me where the voice came from.

My eyes travelled up, narrowing when they caught a glimpse of a little green book that had the words 'Icha Icha Tactics' stamped on the cover in thick yellow letters.

Wait a sec. Trees don't read perverted books! …Oh God. It can't be…HIM?!

"KAKASHI?!"

Horrible realization bitch-slapped me right in the face when I noticed the familiar grey haired man sitting high in the tree, lounging there comfortably as if he owned it.

"Yo." He acknowledged lazily with a small wave of the hand, before dropping it back in his lap again. It didn't surprise me that he didn't even take the time to look at me, because his eyes were glued to the perverted novel in his hand.

"Don't 'yo' me! What are you doing here? Were you eavesdropping on us?!" I demanded irritably, followed by a sharp gasp when my mind caught up with everything that just happened.

"Are YOU my punishment?!"

At the sound of my horrified scream the man looked up from his book to cast down a frown upon me. "Punishment? What are you talking about? I only recently got out of the hospital and you already find my presence disturbing enough to call it a punishment…?"

Heck yes!

"No not like that! I meant: are you the one who was assigned to lecture me or whatever for Tsunade-sama?" I interjected quickly, looking up anxiously.

Please say no. Please say you just happened to be reading porn here shamelessly like the perverted old man you are and know nothing about my--

"Oh that. Yes, now I remember."

…

Seriously. Someone up there must really hate me.

I was about to blurt out another stupid comment when the jounin leapt out of the tree and landed in front of me effortlessly, not once taking his eye off his book.

"I heard about your little sleepover with the enemy from Tsunade-sama." He stated tonelessly, though I could sense some disapproval hanging in the air.

I narrowed my eyes at him in annoyance. "It wasn't a sleepover, I got kidnapped."

He only made a 'hn' noise without bothering to answer me with a full sentence, intensifying the irritation that was bubbling up inside of me. "Don't tell me you still think I'm some sort of weird spy! Haven't I already told--"

"I said no such thing." He drawled lazily, cutting me off. I raised an eyebrow at him when he glanced up at me briefly, letting him know that I had a different opinion.

"You don't have to say it anymore. You're always looking at me in that way."

"What way?"

"That disapproving, distrustful, annoying way."

"Do I really..?"

"Yes! You always do that whenever I'm around you!"

"Hn. Hold on a sec, I'm getting to a good part…"

It took a lot of effort for me not to drop my jaw at him when he waved his hand at me in a 'shoo go away' sort of way and returned his gaze to his book. I stared at him incredulously.

Sure, I knew he wasn't exactly fond of being around me for obvious reasons, but I was trying to have a serious conversation here. And he found his stupid porn more important?!

Acting on impulse my hand shot out to smack his book out of his hands. His reflexes were much faster than mine though and he moved out of my reach just in time before the impact took place. However I did manage to get a hold of his attention now.

"What do you think you're doing--"

"Why?" I snapped at him, not giving him the chance to question my aggressive behaviour.

Judging by the blank look on his face that answered my question, he did not understand where that question came from. He probably hadn't even been listening to what I'd been saying to him just now. I made an 'ugh' noise, followed by a frustrated sigh.

"Why do you keep treating me like I'm a criminal?" I asked, deciding to be more straightforward with this easily distracted-by-porn man.

"Does my opinion really matter?" He replied with a light shrug, sending me an impassive look.

"Of course it matters! You're the one who's supposed to supervise me and--"

"--And that's exactly what I'm doing. I did not sign up to do this to become friends with you, I'm merely making sure that you don't start trouble while you're here. Engaging in a discussion about whether or not I like you is not part of the job." He interjected, looking completely unbothered by the stunned look on my face.

…Well that was blunt. The words rang in my mind, but I didn't say them out loud. I just blinked at his boldness; the way the words had rolled out of his mouth so easily almost seemed cruel.

In my momentarily speechless state, I could only nod and put up with the effect his words had on me. I didn't catch the look on his face when he spoke again, but by the tone of his voice I could hear that he was trying to lighten up the mood.

"Anyway, you'll probably be relieved to hear that Tsunade-sama decided to give you a minor punishment, in the form of helping a ninja who's currently not on duty much."

"Who?" I asked curiously, forcing myself to go along with the more tolerable, pleasant, atmosphere he was trying to create.

His eyes darted up, away from mine, to settle with a view of something behind me. Through the black material of his mask I noticed a faint curling of his lips. "Ah, looks like she's already here."

She?

I raised my eyebrows with the curiosity that took over my actions, turning around to see who he was looking at. The small image of a woman with midnight black hair and a somewhat round stomach came into my vision.

She appeared to be wearing a white dress made out of bandages with red sleeves, and some more bandages wrapped around her arms and legs.

She was walking towards us, carrying a couple of light beige bags that dangled down lightly from her slender arms.

In my mind I tried to remember her form, comparing her to images of female ninja that I'd seen in episodes of this anime world I was stuck in. It finally clicked when I caught sight of the flashy scarlet eyes on her face.

"Kurenai?"