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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Naruto characters. Masashi Kishimoto does.

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Chapter/Episode 53

Summoning Animals

Kyoko woke up in her apartment to the smell of breakfast. "What the," she questioned aloud as she got dressed and brushed her hair quickly.

The smell of breakfast in the morning was abnormal for her. She opened her bedroom door and heard someone, or rather some people, talking in her kitchen. The sound of sizzling echoed throughout the apartment.

Kyoko carefully stepped out of her bedroom door and made her way to the kitchen. She breathed in sharply out of surprise. Standing in her kitchen, and staring at her, was Sasuke and Itachi...and they were cooking breakfast.

"Good morning," Itachi greeted as he set the table.

"Um…morning," Kyoko said uncertainly.

"Breakfast is ready," Sasuke added rather bluntly. "It's about time you got up."

"U-Um…I-I…," Kyoko didn't know what to say. Despite the fact that Sasuke had obviously just insulted her, she couldn't think of anything to say back to him since she did not expect him and Itachi to be in her apartment making breakfast.

"H-How did you get in here," Kyoko asked, dumbfounded, as she sat down.

"We are ninjas of course," Itachi replied smiling as he looked down at her.

"And you left your door unlocked, idiot," Sasuke told her as he served her breakfast.

Sasuke and Itachi sat down and started to eat, but Kyoko just sat there and stared at the food on her plate.

"Aren't you going to eat," Itachi asked her.

"Oh, uh, ya," Kyoko nodded. "It's just…I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen…I, um, thank you."

Itachi smiled, "No problem. It was Sasuke's idea."

Kyoko looked toward Sasuke; however, he didn't look up from his food and said nothing.

"He had Sai draw that picture too," she thought. "Why is he being so nice to me? Why does he care?"

She shrugged and decided to start eating her breakfast as her stomach had started to growl.

-Later that Morning-

Lady Tsunade sighed. "Orochimaru has been quiet recently," she remarked as Jiraya and Shizune walked beside her.

"I know," Jiraya replied worriedly.

"He's probably planning his next attack to obtain Kyoko," Lady Tsunade remarked.

"I can kick his ass," Kyoko exclaimed from behind, surprising them. "I've been getting so good lately and if I can get any new kekkei genkai, he won't stand a chance!"

Sasuke glared at her as he followed, "Idiot."

"Beating Orochimaru isn't going to be that easy," Jiraya informed the kunoichi. "Now that he is in good health, he's stronger than before."

"And not only that," Lady Tsunade added. "He is one of the legendary Sanin. To stand a pretty good chance you'd have to have a summoning animal, which you don't have."

"Then I'll just get one," Kyoko smiled proudly.

"Why do you think everything's so easy," Jiraya asked. "And why are you so cheerful this morning?"

"What," Kyoko pouted. "I can't be happy?"

Jiraya frowned. "Lucky for you then that I have a mission for you today," Lady Tsunade broke in. "And if you play your cards right, you might just end up getting a contract with a summoning animal."

"Really," Kyoko asked, her eyes sparkling. "Alright, I'm going to be a summoner! Wait, can Sasuke summon animals?"

"I have a contract with Hawks," Sasuke informed her.

"That's it," Kyoko exclaimed punching her fist into the air. "I'm not going to screw this up! I'll get a contract with a summoning animal for sure!"

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes, "So what is this mission anyways?"

"I'll tell you about it later," Lady Tsunade informed him. "Go get the other members of Team 7 first."

-Later on, walking with Sakura-

"You sure seem to be in a good mood," Sakura remarked as Kyoko smiled brightly.

"YA," Kyoko exclaimed suddenly, making Sakura sweat drop. "Today's the day I'm going to get a summoning animal!"

"Really," Sakura asked. "Is that what this mission is about?"

"Not exactly," Kyoko replied. "Actually, I'm not sure what the mission is, but Lady Tsunade said that if I played my cards right I could get a summoning animal!"

Kyoko smiled even more brightly, making Sakura giggle. "Hey, I just realized something," Kyoko exclaimed as they went into the Academy. "This is my first out-of-town mission!"

"You're just realizing that now," Sakura muttered with another sweat drop.

"Hey Sakura, Kyo," Naruto exclaimed as they walked into the room. "What took you so long?"

"It took a while to find Sakura," Kyoko explained as she looked from Sasuke to Kakashi to Naruto. "Huh? Where's everyone else?"

"Both Itachi and Sai have things to take care of within ANBU," Lady Tsunade explained. "So it will just be the five of you."

"Oh, OK," Kyoko nodded. "So what's the mission?"

"The mission was given to us by Nekobaa," Lady Tsunade explained. "Nekobaa is an older lady who lives in an abandoned city within the Land of Fire. It appears that the cats of the ninja cat underworld have become restless recently, including Nekomata."

"Neko…mata…," Kyoko asked aloud.

"Yes," Lady Tsunade nodded. "He is the boss of the ninja cat underworld. You're mission is to find out what is making them so restless recently."

"Awwwww," Naruto complained. "Seriously, we have to deal with that fur ball again? This is such an easy mission."

Sasuke looked at the blond haired ninja, "We? You didn't do anything last time besides get us busted."

"That's not true," Naruto complained, turning on the raven haired ninja. "I saved your butt from getting crushed to death!"

"Whatever," Sasuke replied turning away from him. "Naruto is right to some degree though. Why do all of us have to go? This should be a relatively simple mission."

"It's not as simple as it sounds," Lady Tsunade explained. "The cats have caused major damage in the surrounding area including injuring some villagers from other towns. This could actually be quite serious."

Things went quiet…really quiet. Everyone turned to look at Kyoko who had stars in her eyes.

"U-Umm," Sakura stammered. "What's with you, Kyo?"

"I LOVE CATS," Kyoko exclaimed. "Let's GO! I'm going to sign a contract with ninja cats!"

"Hm," Sasuke muttered. "I doubt you will be able to. There's no chance Nekomata and the other ninja cats will sign a contract with you."

Kyoko scowled at him, "Shush! I can do anything!"

Kyoko grabbed Sakura's hand and rushed out the door, "LET'S GO!"

-An Hour or So Later-

Sakura collapsed in a heap as Kyoko walked around the abandoned city, awed by everything.

"Why'd we have to run," Sakura panted.

"You sure can run fast when you're excited," Naruto muttered as he stopped to catch his breath.

"You're like that too idiot," Sasuke reminded Naruto. "Where's Kakashi. We lost him somewhere back there."

"Oh Sasuke," a frail old voice replied. "And Naruto and Sakura too."

"Oh, hey Nekobaa," Naruto replied before Kyoko rushed up to the old woman.

"Omigosh," she exclaimed, feeling the cat ears on the older woman's head. "You look just like a cat!"

"Um…," the old lady stammered. "And who might you be?"

"Kyoko Tanaka," Kyoko said formally. "I'm from the leaf village too. See?" She pointed at her headband, brushing away some of her bangs so you could see the Leaf symbol underneath.

"I see," Nekobaa nodded. "She is one of your friends?"

"Ya," Sakura started before she was interrupted by a squeal.

"You're soooo cute," Kyoko exclaimed as she picked up and pet a beige and brown cat. "Adorable! You're even wearing clothes!"

"Please put me down," the cat told her.

"WH-What," Kyoko exclaimed. "You can talk!"

She put the cat down beside another cat, which was also wearing clothes.

"This is Denka and Hina," Nekobaa introduced.

"They can talk," Kyoko exclaimed yet again.

"So you said," Sasuke remarked.

A sigh floated through the air and Kakashi arrived behind Sasuke and Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto breathed. "Where have you been?"

"Well, I was walking when I saw a little bird caught up in a thorn bush and I just had to help it," he lied. "After I had freed it, it sang me a song and I felt it was too rude leave during the middle of it."

"LIAR," Naruto yelled at him. "You probably just stopped to read Jiraya-sensei's porno book."

"At any rate," Kakashi continued, ignoring Naruto's comment. "Do you think you could restrain your student Sasuke?"

Everyone looked back over at Kyoko who seemed to be playing in a pile of cats. She had a giant smile on her face and even the cats seemed to be having a good time.

"Oh," Nekobaa said in awe. "She's your student Sasuke? My how you've grown so fast, already taking on an apprentice."

Sasuke smirked. "Kyoko get over here and stop playing around," he said in a demanding voice.

There was a tense moment and Nekobaa looked expectantly over at Kyoko to return to Sasuke's side but she didn't move.

There was a dead pan moment as Kyoko stared at Sasuke, "Psh, what am I your dog?"

A vein popped out from Sasuke's head, "Just get over here."

"Say please," Kyoko teased.

A death threatening glare from Sasuke made her sigh and get up. "Fine, fine," she surrendered. "I suppose I want to get on with the mission anyway."

Nekobaa smiled as Kyoko moved toward the others. "Who's the real student between them," she whispered to Hina and Denka.

"Right," Kakashi began again. "So about the mission…what's going on exactly?"

The air suddenly seemed to tense. "Well…," Nekobaa began. "It all began about a few days ago…"

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Kyoko: O.o Cliff hanger! Muhahahahaha. Sorry it took forever to update! Lots of stuff to do! Family's coming this coming week and I promised I draw something for my anime liking cousin. Something Ah My Goddess hopefully… I'm also working on a 10 (well it's actually 12) page short story for writer's craft. XP So much to do and so little time lolz. :D well that's it I think…PEACE :P
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