Sorry this took so long, but I haven't been myself lately.

Where the Hell Are We Now!
By Kaori

They made a strange parade as they proceeded down the streets of Konohagakure no Sato: an oversized St. Bernard pulling a wheelchair with a brown-skinned girl in it, another less dark-skinned girl walking next to it.

"I can friggin' walk you know." Groused Kotorra as she was wheeled down the street.

"Oh really?" Gina said, amused.

"Ya really!"

"No way (1) am I letting you out of that chair, Hokage-sama would murder me."

Kotorra had been released from the hospital this morning and the Hokage gave strict orders that she was to refrain from strenuous activity for the next few days. Since their new house was some distance away from the hospital, Tsunade had forced the girl into a wheelchair.

"I'm going to murder you if you guys don't let me get up and walk!"

"Sorry, nothing doing." Bradley's amused voice sounded in their heads. "I guess we'll just have to be murdered and you'll have to cry over our graves."

"You mean cardboard box."

"Cheapo!"

"Be thankful I even considered putting you in a box at all."

"I don't know why you're complaining, I'd kill for a chance to be pulled around in a chair all the time." Gina drawled.

"I am not an invalid." Kotorra protested.

"And you're in the chair to make sure you don't become one. Now stop complaining and enjoy the ride."

"Yeah, we're not going to haul your butt around forever you know." Agreed Gina.

"Like I even want you hauling me around now!" glared Kotorra, before letting out an annoyed puff of air. She normally wasn't this openly agitated but showing vulnerability when it doesn't work to your advantage was against everything she'd been taught. "And where are we going anyway, this isn't the way to the apartment."

"Oh, we won't be going back to the apartment anyway. We've already started moving into the new house. Right now though, we're going to the restaurant. Naruto and the others wanted to throw you a "getting out of the hospital" party and who were we to say no?" This actually cheered Kotorra up a little.

"All right! Real food for a change!"

"Surely the hospital food wasn't that bad." Snorted Bradley.

"No it was worse. Everything either tasted like cardboard or looked like tapioca."

Unnoticed by the trio, an old man watched them go with more interest than the other spectators had been showing. A small smile graced his face as he observed them before he walked into a nearby alley and disappeared.

Fast forward ten minutes and Kotorra is still in the wheelchair, only now she's at the restaurant and been placed at the front of the room with Bradley standing on her left and Gina on her right.

"Good Lord it's a scene from The Godfather…" muttered Kotorra.

"Admit it, you're enjoying this." Gina grinned.

"Maybe a little. By the way, who made the food?"

"Hinata cooked though it's hard to understand how she got anything done with Naruto assisting her in the kitchen. I thought she was going to faint at least a dozen times. She was so red!"

"Man, I'd pay good money to watch that!" whined Kotorra. "It must've been so cute!"

"What was even cuter was Naruto constantly checking her for a fever."

"Damn…we've got to get Hinata to cook for him at his apartment before we move!"

"Yes! They are so cute together I can hardly stand it!"

"Women are scary." Muttered Bradley. "For the love of God, they're only twelve!"

Both girls ceased their plotting for a moment and looked at each other solemnly.

"He's right." Kotorra acquiesced.

"So what? That doesn't mean we can't keep setting them up for the true love that is just waiting to bloom for them!" Gina held her hand in a fist in a pose similar to Lee's determined one. "It is destiny! I have declared it!"

"I take it back, women are horrifying." Bradley cowered.

"WAAACHOO!" sneezed Naruto.

"Hey, be careful!" Sakura scolded him. "You'll get germs all over the food!"

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but I can't help it!" sniffed the blonde boy. "Somebody must be talking about me"

Elsewhere in the village, an old man was casually leafing through a book in the Konoha library. Truthfully, he wasn't even reading the words, it was just a ruse to justify his being there. He was beginning to come to the end of the tome when a lanky, disheveled-looking chuunin walked into the library. After making small talk with the librarian, he walked over to a shelf, picked up a book, and then sat down behind the old man.

"Where?" the old man asked simply.

"I left it in practice area fifty." Whispered the chuunin.

"And you are certain that the information is correct?"

"Hai. It was not easy but I managed to follow the jounin that used to train her to the place the Kurama heir (2) is being kept. I must warn you, it is under heavy ANBU guard. Getting in will be difficult, but getting out with the girl will be almost impossible."

"You needn't concern yourself. Your part in this is over. In the meantime, I suggest you refrain from any more…activity until you receive instructions to the contrary. We don't want you to draw any suspicion on yourself."

"Hai, Kabuto-san."

The party was long since over and now the Kejibi and Naruto were settling in to their new dwelling. Granted they still had to move out a lot of the old furniture (there were some pieces that everyone agreed were worth keeping) and clean the place, but that could all wait until tomorrow.

Naruto stared out at the window of his new room and sighed happily. He'd specifically chosen this room because it was facing the Hokage Monument. Granted he couldn't see the faces because of all the trees in the area, but knowing it was there and so close was all that mattered. He yawned, and decided that he should probably go to sleep now. There was going to be a lot of work to do in the morning, especially since Kotorra wasn't well enough to help out much.

Morning came quickly and after going out for a hearty breakfast, as the kitchen at the house was dirty and the appliances were outdated, Kotorra stayed in her bedroom out of the way of Naruto, Gina, and Bradley as they (with the help of Naruto's kage bunshin) made the house more livable.

It took the whole day but they managed to get the place look like people actually lived there. Gina was especially pleased with what she had done, having cleaned the kitchen, dining room, pantry, and study by herself.

"All right, phase one completed." She smiled, running a hand through her disheveled hair.

"What do you mean "phase one"?" asked Naruto, who was lying on the floor spread-eagle and looking for all the world like he just finished fighting a dozen Lees.

"Are you kidding? There's still work to be done! We have to update the kitchen, renovate the bathrooms, buy new furniture for the study and bedrooms, oh, and this dreary wallpaper has got to go!" she continued to rattle off home improvement ideas and the blonde genin groaned. Bradley shook his head.

"I said it before, I'll say it again: women are scary."

1) Oh rly? Ya rly. No wai!! (snicker)

2) Kurama Yakumo is a character from Season 8 of the anime (which most people didn't watch because it was filler and, with regard to the manga, didn't happen anyway).