One Month Later

I've been stuck doing lousy C and D rank missions. *Sob* I'm so bored. Today I'm starting a C rank Mission. I have to go and protect this really small village from bandits. Not a hard mission in and of it's self, but… it's two weeks without Kiba. *Sob* Normally I could take care of this myself, but considering my current condition the Sixth decided to send someone with me. It wasn't Kiba. It was Ino. Oh well. Luckily the village is only about half a day away, just over the border of the Earth Country. The trip there was pretty uneventful, except for one minor event. Ino talked a lot. I only paid enough attention to respond correctly when she asked me a question or for my opinion. Ino is a good person, definitely, but she talks way to much some times.

Several Hours Later

We were greeted with much enthusiasm when we entered the village. We get to stay in the head of the village's house. Our first five days passed without anything major happening. We just helped out around the village. I learned that the Fifth and Sixth Hokages and Kiba had all told Ino to keep a close eye on me. It was a bit annoying. Ok, it was really annoying. She hovered around me twenty-four seven. She asked if I was ok every only five minutes! I'm only three months along! I'm only pulling weeds, doing odd jobs, and cooking! I'm being careful! Sometimes I was very tempted to turn off her voice. The sixth through ninth days were more extreme. The bandits decided to launch a full-scale attack. Luckily there are only fifteen of them. Though I suppose that's a lot for two people and one dog to handle. But, apparently the townsfolk will help; we just have to do the majority of the fighting. I finally managed to convince Ino that I would be okay on my own. Well, almost on my own. I have Akari. Ino doesn't trust Akari. She said Akari would cave into me if I pressured her. Which is probably true…, but anyway. So we split up. She is covering the northern half of the village, Akari and I the southern. Of course, the bandit leader and nine other bandit's decided to go south instead of north. *Sigh* How troublesome. I crisped two of them without much trouble. However, while I was crisping people one bandit snuck past me. But soon after that he met a grizzly end at the hands of the townsfolk. The remaining seven bandits plus the leader decided it would be prudent to beat a hasty retreat, for now anyway. In the northern half, Ino and the townsfolk had taken care of four of the bandits before they too retreated for the time being. Ino and I met up in the middle of the village. She immediately began to fuss over me. I just had a few cuts and bruises. Akari didn't help me. She just sniggered and wandered off. *Sob* I healed Ino's injuries. Then we went and had dinner. Around noon the next day the bandits came back, except only three of them came back to each half of the village. We got rid of them without any trouble. The next day however, was different. The bandits had called in eight of their friends. Then they all stormed the village. All ten of them. Ino, Akari, and I teamed up and met their attack head on. I was stuck using Juuken and doggy combos since Ino didn't know about my Uchiha-ness. It wasn't that bad, considering it was three on ten, or one on three and a third. I got to take on three of them plus the boss. Yeah!... *Sob* After awhile we widdled it down to two bandits plus the boss. Ino was getting tired. So were Akari and I. Then something happened. Long story short; I went Griffin. Akari got Ino out of the way as I finished the last two bandits. All that was left was the boss. I beat the crap out of him with my tails, since I couldn't fry him. After that the Griffin pulled back and I collapsed.

The Next Day

I awoke to Ino stuffing her face. When she saw I was awake she handed me some food.

"Finally. I was wondering when you were going to wake up. Don't try to move your left arm, by the way." She said as I tried to move my left arm. It was in a sling.

"Why is my arm in a sling?"

"Because you got hurt."

"How badly?"

"Very."

"Ok…"

Then she started ranting about how rash I was and that Kiba would get mad at her and so on. I listened with polite interest, all the while munching on some toast. After she finished ranting I managed to convince her that I was well enough to get up. We spent our remaining time in the village doing chores and odd jobs. Then, after a total of two long weeks, we headed back to the village. After reporting to the Sixth we went our separate ways. After I had taken ten steps onside my house I was ambushed from behind by Kiba. He hugged me tightly, not noticing that my arm was in a sling. My arm wasn't healing as fast as usual. The Griffin was probably mad that I spoiled his fun.

"Yuri! You're back!"

Obviously.

"I've been hungry since you left!"

"Huh?!"

Not I missed you. Not I love you. Not are you ok? Not I'm glad you're ok. But, I've been hungry since you left?!

"The food ran out. I wasn't sure what to buy at the store. And mom and Hana were on a mission."

So the first thing I did after a long two week mission was not sit down and relax, it was head to the store so that we could eat. I wasn't in a good mood to begin with because Ino yammered for five hours straight, so this just made me even more annoyed. When I walked in the door ten minutes later I was again ambushed by Kiba. This time however he hugged me more carefully and he plucked the grocery bags from my grasp and gave them to Akari and Akamaru. The he whisked me over to the couch and plopped me down. He then knelt down in front of me.

"I'm sorry. Akari told me everything that happened while you were gone. I didn't realize you were hurt or in a bad mood. I would be in a bad mood to if I was stuck with Ino for two weeks. How badly were you hurt?"

"It's not that bad. I'll be fine soon. I hope…"

"Good."

He stood, sat down on my right on the couch, and pulled me close.

"I'm glad you're back. I missed you. I love you."

He kissed me gently. Then he went and cooked something for dinner. After we were both no longer starving we snuggled together on the couch. Where we proceeded to swap stories about the events of the past two weeks, with lovey doveyness interspersed throughout.