Before the disclaimer, I'd like to say something. I read a story once, and I don't know who wrote it or what it was called. It was about a girl named Kitsune, who came to Konoha villiage. She met Sasuke- and, well, things happened. That story got a lot of flames, because of the Mary-sue ing. After that, the author removed the story. To that author If you're reading this- Don't get discouraged because of one failed story. You have talent as a writer and to let a few bad reviews get to you is a waste of a good author. Keep going. This chapter is dedicated to you.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. The characters in this story are copyright@ Kishimoto Masashi. The only characters I own in this story are Narumi Katiyou, Kounouri Oyasume and Natsume Shinzue. If these characters in any way resemble another character not owned by me or a living person, please notify me and I will fix it. Please do not sue.

-----------Chapter 6 - "Scattered"------------------------------------------------



"Ehhh... stupid thorns..." Kankuro walked out of the bushes, holding the carcass of some unidentifyable animal. He tugged one last time and fell free of the bushes, and the leaves stopped moving. He looked around at the two others and squinted his eyes.

"Naani?" Temari sighed and sat down in front of the cooking fire. She took a pan off the fire and placed it on the table. It was filled with boiling water, which she poured into a cup and mixed with a few herbs. She passed it to Kiba, hastily saying "Eat." She took Kankuro and dragged him off to the side, muttering a conversation with him. Kiba, if he'd tried, could have easily heard them, but he felt it not important and looked around the camp as he drank his tea.

'I need to get out of here..' he thought to himself as he spotted the break in the bushes where Kankuro had climbed through. 'But first, I need to figure out how I got here...' he looked over to Temari, who gestured to the animal while talking to Kankuro. He nodded and walked over, picking it up and dragging it to the clearing where Kiba'd woken up not long before. Temari walked over to her seat by the fire and smothered it out, beginning to pack things up.

"What are you doing?" Kiba still was dizzied by talking, but not so much as before. He watched as she hurried around camp, grabbing things like weapons and the such.

"We're leaving." She replied, rolling up her blankets. "For the villiage."

Kiba stood for a few moments and then spoke, an inquiring tone flowing through his voice.

"Am I going?" He followed Temari as she made her way around the camp.

"Yes, and stop following me. Grab your dog and go get Kankuro, He should be done by now."

"Done what?"

"Gutting the meat."

"Oh. Are we going right now?"

"What does it look like? Now GO!"

Kiba grinned and stepped through the bushes, grabbing Akamaru and placeing him on his head.

"Ne, Ne, Kankur-" He stopped, when he saw the greusome sight which played before his eyes. Scattered around the clearing were organs and limbs, Skin hanging in pieces over them.

"Ai, Kankuro! We're going!" He shouted and ran back to the camp, before he gagged.

"Hai!" He heard the other boy shout as he stepped into the clearing.

"He's coming." He muttered as he heard Kankuro walking through the bushes. Temari nodded and stuffed one last thing into a pack, before handing one to Kankuro and one to Kiba and leaping off. She ran through the trees and stopped, looking back.

"Well, are you coming?"

The two boys started off behind her and followed the path she led, which curved and turned a little too much for the weakened Kiba. Kankuro kept pace with him and nodded for Temari to keep going. For the next hour, things went well. Temari always stayed within view of the two, a sign that Kiba was strengthening. At that point she gestured for them to stop and take a break.

"Gaara said he'd meet us here, So he can take your pack, Kiba." She promptly spoke and handed them all sandwhiches, and as they unwrapped their food, Gaara arrived. He stayed silent and took Kiba's pack, as was planned. He didn't eat, and Kiba hadn't expected him to.



Despite the fact that Kiba didn't know about Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's involvement in the conspiracy that plagued them, he didn't trust the three. He wondered why they hadn't taken him to his team, and he wondered more how he ended up with them in the first place.

"Ne, ne, Kankuro!"

"Eh?"

"What happpened to me?"

There was a silence, and Kiba at first thought Kankuro hadn't heard him and started to repeat his question.

"What h-"

"I heard you." Kankuro interrupted.

{{A/N: GAH! I'm all out of pumpkin seeds!}}

Another silence followed an Kiba got frustrated.

"Tell me!"

Kankuro sighed and slowed a little.

"I don't know whether you want to know...."

*************************************************************************

Naruto walked out onto the cliff where his team was standing, and his mouth dropped open.

"Sugoooi!" He looked over the falling sand and stared, falling into the example of his fellow ninja.

"Where were you?" Shino asked, being the only to notice that Naruto had only just arrived.

"Eheheh..." Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned stupidly. "I was... umm.. I had to pee...." he coughed and went back to staring at the Sand-Fall.



For the next few minutes, that was all they did. the few ninja of the team that had recollected themselves chatted for a bit about how something as amazing as a sandfall could even exist, and then got back to their search for Kiba.

"Ano... maybe he got caught by Gaara?" Hinata's timidness had returned with the talk of Kiba's disappearance, and everyone's personalities seemed to return to normal as they walked back to the clearing where Naruto's... err... incident.. occured.

"Well, of course he got caught by someone, because Kiba's not one to get lost. But it couldn't be Gaara, he was fighting us when Kiba went missing. Maybe his affiliates or something." Sakura stated her comment matter-of-factly and the Konoha teens agreed on one option:

Just keep looking.

As they continued to walk, Naruto's thoughts were drawn to his feelings about Gaara. Until that day, Gaara had been viewed to him as an enemy; a threat. He'd never really thought about his sexuality, either. It all came at him so fast that he had no time to think. There was no doubt that Naruto had liked the kiss; and there was no doubt that he did want to do something like that again. But it was his enemy; a boy; who'd kissed him, and until then Naruto would have never even brought up the topic. These thoughts were so confusing.

Did he like Gaara; Did he not? It was a simple question, but the answer expected for it was so complicated that Naruto even stopped yelling for Kiba. Naruto sighed and pulled his attention back to the mission on hand. The problem was; what was it?

When the mission began, Kakashi apperently was to meet the KazeKage and have a stationary mission. This meant that Kakashi and his team would be living in wind country for up to a month; just to study the way the people lived and how it was different from the way of life in Konohagakure. It was a simple stationary socialogy mission; no threat to it. They thought.

The letter had arrived, notifying them of the conspiracy at hand and the risks they'd be taking with the sociology mission. It assinged a second team; Kiba's; to the site. Kurenai was not to come because of the low danger rate of the situation. After that, the ANBU team arrived, and the stakes were risen. They'd told that the sociology mission had never existed; it was all a plan to get them there. At that point, Hokage-sama had sent in Gai and Asuma's teams, along with Kurenai. That was when it got complicated. Gaara seemed to have no reason to be involved with Katiyou, Oyasume or Shinzue.

So now one of their team mates was gone, and there was no telling where he'd went.

Now, Naruto's thoughts were once again dragged back to the kiss with Gaara. He had no more things to work out; he'd figured out the mission, and what he was to do as far as that went. What else could he figure out? He needed help. And he knew one person who just might be able to help him.

"Ne, Ne, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called to ahead of him. Sakura looked behind her and slowed down, letting him catch up.

"What is it?" She asked, a tone of true curiousity in her voice.

"Can I talk to you in private?" Sakura looked at Naruto inquisitively and then nodded.

"Sure." She raised her voice a bit. "Sasuke-kun, We are going to take a break, You keep going and we'll catch up, okay?" Sasuke looked back at her out of the side of his eye and nodded.

"Aa."

Naruto waited for Sasuke to make his way out of earshot and turned back to Sakura.

"Uhh... I was wondering if.. I needed help with.. umm.. could you... uh..." Naruto stuttered, looking for the right words to tell her what had happened.

"What is it that you dragged me back for, Naruto?" She looked at him, A tinge of annoyance playing across her face.

"It's about Gaara." Sakura's eyes widened and she stiffened up.

"What about him?" A silence followed as Naruto worked out the words in his head.

"We... me and him, I mean.. we...we... kissed." He told her the story, about everything. How he'd been caught, and how out of nowhere he'd been kissed, and the thoughts that followed.

"Can you help me? I need to figure this out." Naruto looked up at Sakura, his hands shaking. She wore a blank expression, and if anything she seemed simply shocked. Her mind kicked in and she started talking.

"Well... It could be a trick, but I don't see the thought behind it. He could have easily killed you then and there, and there doesn't seem to be any reason to play you into a trick. Is it that you just don't trust him or don't know if you like him?" She looked him straight in the eye now, and nothing about the way she talked seemed to have been any different than if Naruto had been kissed by a girl.

"Both." Sakura thought for a moment. Her face showed only a thoughtful expression and suddenly her face brightened.

"I have an idea!" She smiled at Naruto.

"What is it?" Naruto was still timid and reluctant after his 'event', and didn't want to talk about it any further.... but he had to know.

"Nevermind that, just be at the sandfall at..... 7:00 tonight." She grinned and ran back up to Sasuke, grabbing his hand as they intertwined their fingers. Naruto stared at this with great suprise; what had happened?

**********************************************************************************

Sasuke felt a familiar hand wrap itself around his. He returned the gesture and looked over at Sakura, a smile crashing it's way through his emotional barriers and reaching his face. Sakura blushed and smiled ecstatically, her unsaid words heard clearly. 'thank you'.

~*~*~*~ FLASHBACK ~*~*~*~

Sakura tapped her foot as she waited for Naruto and Sasuke to return. Ever since Kiba's disappearance, the teams had been switching camp-watch shifts. Hinata and Shino were on one team, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura on another, Gai and his team on yet another, Asuma and his on ANOTHER and Kakashi and Kurenai pulling individual teams. Sure, there were a lot of different points, but it was a greater chance of finding him that way.

Sasuke had left Naruto and Sakura to 'go on a walk' as he'd said. His teammates thought of it as odd, he never left his post, but agreed indifferently. Naruto, soon after Sasuke left, decided he'd needed to use the bathroom and lept away from the camp. Sakura assumed he had gotten bored, considering he'd been gone for about 15 minutes now.

Sakura heard footsteps trudging down the path, and turned to see Sasuke. He obviously did not sense a threatening presence, or he would have walked unnoticably. He looked up from his feet to see Sakura staring at him, and fought back the urge to blush. He'd been thinking, all his walk, about her,and had decided to tell her now. Right now.

"Ano... Sakura...." he walked closer to her now, his heart pounding. He closed his eyes for a moment and gulped, sighing and forcing himself forward.

"Ne, what is it, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked at him with attentive eyes, and in the afternoon sunlight, they flickered over with a shine that only Sakura could aquire. It was beauty, what he saw in her, and that's what drove him on. The beauty wasn't all that made him like her, it was her intelligence and detrmination.... he sighed again. This time, it was a release of any nervousness he'd felt. It was a sigh signalling that right then and there was exactly the time. The right time.

He leaned forward and pulled her close to him, looking into her eyes.

" I do like you, Sakura, never doubt it. " Though Sasuke's face registered emotionless, years of barriers against any emotion had caused that, his voice was welled up with truthfulness and admirance. At that very moment, when Sakura was speechless, he leaned in and kissed her.



It was a short kiss, but nontheless it sparkled and burned itself into their memories. Sakura grinned and wrapped her arms around Sasuke.

"Arigatou."

~*~*~*~ FLASHBACK END ~*~*~*~

So now, as a smile burned down the emotional barriers that years of hate had built, Sasuke could honestly say that he was happy. He sighed contently and looked up at the sky, the beautiful day coming to an end.

"It's almost six, Sakura. We should head back to camp." The team had agreed all to meet back at the camp at that time, where they would build a fire and prepare a meal. After that, they'd have recreational time. It was required on a more-than one night mission, that the ninja have 2 hours free time a day. And this worked it's way into Sakura's plan as she nodded.

*****************************************************************************

Kakashi returned to his camp a few minutes before the arranged time. He had given up on trying to find his team and just waited for them to arrive. He saw Shinzue, still out cold and pinned to the tree. He looked down at her, and jumped down from the tree in which he was sitting as he heard his team members coming up the path. He unpinned Shinzue and laid her down on a cot, covering her with a blanket. He had a pot of water for ramen boiling before his team mates even took their first step onto the camp. As they did, he was in for a surprise.

Sasuke and Sakura were holding hands- And Naruto was quiet.



The team was quite out of the ordinary. He thought nothing of it. As far as he knew, Sakura liked Sasuke- which was proved- and Naruto liked Sakura- which explained the quietness. That was as far as he knew, though. The real thing was, Naruto's fancyings of Sakura were diminished with the kiss with Gaara- he realized now that the love he had felt for her was one that a friend felt for a friend.



When they saw Shinzue on the bed- they immediately asked quesions, but as the other ninja arrived, Kakashi became more stubborn and did not answer them. Finally, everyone, noting the absence of Kiba, arrived.

The meager meal had a light mood to it. Despite the failure of finding Kiba; the Konoha team was in high spirits. So it seemed. Kurenai told of meeting Katiyou, but left out the part about Kage Ningyou no Jitsu. Asuma and his team, Ino, Shikamaruo, and Chouji, had apperently covered a lot of ground area and had no obstacles or encounters. Gai's team, Tenten, Lee, and Neji, also had an obstacle-free day. Despite that, they'd moved slowly, as many things were distractive to the bored team. Shino and Hinata told of their meeting with Naruto's cell and the Sandfall. Naruto told of almost everything- note the almost. Only he and Sakura knew of the incident with Gaara.



Near the end of dinner, Sakura announced that she would be back within a half hour and was going to get some things from the villiage. She left before anyone could protest. The other ninja hung around as the sun set, and by 6:30, Naruto had already headed out to the Sandfall. Luckily, no one wished to accompany him.

Hinata could not stop thinking about Kiba. She, like Naruto, had realized how she'd felt for him was not true. She wasn't quite sure if she liked Kiba yet, but there was no doubt that she respected him. Eagerly, she waited for the recreational time to pass. At the end of the two hours, she'd ask for a night shift to search for Kiba. She paced around camp, and soon after Naruto left, Sakura arrived.

"Kon'ban wa, Minna-san!" {A/N- "Good evening, everyone!"} Sakura's tone was light, and she shot smiles to anyone that looked at her. She had a bag in hand and walked up to Kakashi, whispering something in his ear. He nodded and she went back to the younger ninja.

"Kakashi-sensei says we can go out onto the sand plain between here and the villiage, I have a surprise for you!"

************************************************************************

Naruto sat on the edge of the cliff, watching the sandfall. For a few minutes now, he'd seen the figures of his team mates walk out onto the sand plain. He waited for 7:00, which was only a few minutes away. He had met Sakura on her way back from the villiage, she'd said just to wait, that all things had gone well. She'd carried a bag, and through it he could not see it's contents. She'd headed back to camp then, smiling.

Now, he watched as what was presumably Sakura and his team mates walk out onto the open plain and take seats.

"Naruto."

Naruto whipped around, only to see Gaara standing behind him, silent as usual. He stared down at the other boy, the usual tinge of hate gone from his eyes. He sat down beside Naruto and looked out onto the sillhouettes of Naruto's friends.

"What are friends like, Naruto?" The question came out of nowhere, and Naruto had no idea how to answer it. He thought about how he'd felt when he was alone, and realized that despite the lonliness he'd convinced himself to feel, he now had friends. Sakura was willing to give him a 'surprise' and Hinata had offered him many ointments when he'd been hurt. He remembered the many times when Sasuke had saved his life, and how him and Shikamaru conversed regularily. He thought about Shino and Kiba, who necessarily weren't his friends, but were one of the few that didn't hate him. He thought so hard for so long that he almost forgot he'd been asked a question.

"It's sort of like.... flying, I guess. You live all your life alone and suddenly you have people there behind you, giving you wings and bringing you upward with them...." He trailed off, feeling he'd addequately described the feeling of friendship.

Gaara was silent for a moment, and then quietly stated

"Aa." Naruto felt a little guilty and pitied the boy. He had no one there for him, no one to love.

"Gaara.... do you feel alone?" Naruto looked over at Gaara, who kept looking into the distance. "Sometimes. I never used to feel anything... but now.." He sighed. "I get so alone...." Naruto looked back up to the stars as they twinkled into view.

"Well.... you don't have to feel that way anymore." It was Gaara's turn to look over at the other boy, and his gaze was returned.

There was a crack, and the boys turned the view to the sky, which was illuminated with sparkles that exploded with color. The raining sparks fell downwards around them, and then the sky was dark again. A few moments later, another explosion, this time green, treated their eyes. Naruto and Gaara stared upwards in awe, Naruto's blue eyes twinkling at the light show.

"Fireworks... that was her surprise..." Naruto whispered this under his breath and smiled. His feelings were clear now. He turned back to Gaara, and spoke the words clearly.

"You don't have to feel alone anymore, You have me." He hugged the other boy, who in turn put his arm around Naruto's shoulders. The figures down in the plain were lit up, and they waved sparklers in the air with laughs and cheers.

Gaara, for the first time in his life, smiled out of simple happiness.

*********************************************************************************

Kiba looked up into the sky. The villiagers' attention was caught with the loud explosions of colour, and as they dropped their responsibilities in awe to watch the display, Kiba started running. Akamaru trailed quick behind him, and both ignored Temari and Kankuro's shouts.

"Kiba!" Was all they could yell, and to Kiba, it was all echoes. He was going back to his team mates. Behind him, he called

"Ja Ne!" and kept running. He was no longer afraid of the sand-nins, after hearing how he'd arrived at their camp. He panted and kept running, far out of the villiage now. His feet flew towards the source of the firworks, and he didn't feel a thing until he was feet away from his destination.

"Hinata!" He yelled, grabbing the attention of the other ninja who were watching the firworks, set off by Shino. Hinata looked over to her team mate, and saw him bright-eyed and running towards them.

"Kiba!" The cheers ran through the small crowd of ninja as they lit their sparklers in tribute. They were waved in the air, and as Kiba breathed heavily, he couldn't take his eyes off Hinata.



She was the one thing he had missed throughout the day, the one thing his mind would not stop racing about. Even as he had heard the story of his arrival into the Sand-nin camp, he was ever-dazed into thought of Hinata. Here she was, in front of him. Going along with his loud, spontanious nature, Kiba grinned. He walked closer to Hinata, until he was inches away from her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, Hugging her as tight as he could. He didn't go any farther than that, a hug, but for him, it was enough. The two looked up at the ongoing fireworks, and as their vision moved upwards simultaniously, he saw Sasuke and Sakura sharing a kiss.

Ino saw all this. She saw the kiss between Sakura and Sasuke, and was not broken to the extent she'd imagined she would be. Recently, Shikamaru had shown the intelligence he had potential to hold, and she had not taken heed of it. But here, in the midst of the surprising feelings that were spread through her fellow ninja, She couldn't stop thinking about it. She looked around her at the romantic scene, and could not take her thoughts off the friendship that had grown between her and her teammates. She saw, beyond the fireworks that Shino had Chouji light, a shooting star.

'I wish...' she thought, and before she could finish her thought there was a tap on her shoulder. She saw Shikamaru, standing there, blushing like an idiot. She laughed lightly and smiled at the boy, as she saw a firefly fly between their faces. There was an understanding, and she reached out to grab Shikamaru's hand.

The scene was surreal. Compliments of Shino, there were now firflies routinely circling the group. All this romance was amazing. Kiba and Hinata... Sakura and Sasuke... Shikamaru and Ino... and the unkown Naruto and Gaara. Chouji, Neji, Tenten, Lee and Shino stood in a group, watching the last firworks blink out, and there was an unspoken love shared between them all as the last light of the fireflies blinked out. It was dark, but it was a welcoming dark. The mood was silently joyful, and Hinata rested her head on Kiba's shoulder as the ninja walked back to their camp.

*********************************************************************

Kurenai showed the Jounin her markings, and told of the incident with Katiyou. She told of the forbidden jitsu, and the battle she'd had. Kakashi told everyone about Shinzue, and as Gai and Asuma nodded, Kurenai made her way over to check on the knocked-out ninja. Her eyes widened and she called over the other Jounin. She said something quietly to Gai, and he held his thumb up to Shinzue's wrist.

"She's dead." It was all Gai could choke out, and Kurenai pulled off the blanket covering Shinzue's arm. Sure enough, their was the inscription that told of her being controlled.

'Blood of Katiyou, kill thou soul'.

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A/N- Awwz, romance! I know I sort of ruined it with Shinzue's death, but the romantic part sort of had a 'this-story-is-done' mood to it. I had to tell everyone that THIS IS NOT THE END!! Teehee... anyways, I am damn proud of this story so far. Many of you may not like it, but I think it is pretty excellent for my second fanfic. I am so happy, writing is my life, and Naruto is awesome.

As far as time goes, I have no idea when this story takes place. Probably sometime after the second Chuunin exam test, but before Naruto leaves with Jaraiya, maybe? I haven't read the manga, but I've heard a lot through character summaries and junk, so a lot of the stuff that should have happened AFTER this story takes place will be mentioned. Oh well, sort of an AU I guess. So have fun reading ^^;;

Thanks to anyone who reviewed, I'm sorta tired here so I don't remember if anyone actually did review or what they said. Take no offence. As far as the dedication, I will do my best to dedicate most of the chapters after this to someone. I just thought that the flames that author recieved were too mean; she/he didn't deserve flames. I think that it would trample all over any aspiring author like me to get flames like that; no necassarily just one, but multiple situations like that.

Anyways, R&R!

-Kounouri

Thanks to:

CCS 1rst movie theme - For most of the inspiration for this chapter

Sparklers and Fireworks on Victoria's Day - for the rest of the inspiration for this chapter

Tom - For liking my story and keeping me up long enough to write it

My Neighbor, Stephen - For understanding that, although you don't know what it's like to live off writing like I do, and even though it's boring to you, it's really important to me to have someone listen to me about it, like you do. Thanks.