"Oh, God." Kakashi exhaled exasperatedly, leaning against the doorframe of the house.

He looked out to the forest to see a blue treetop protruding from the heart of the wood. He buried his face in his hands, shaking his head. The dawn mist was starting to clear up, so Kakashi had little time to say what wanted to be said. He walked to Aki's door, and quietly slipped it open. He stopped to look at Aki for a moment.

Her hair was undone, tendrils spread out like a fan across the floor. One hand was under her head while the other was holding her art binder to her chest. He watched as Aki's side rose and fell gently to her breathing, and realized just how innocent she appeared to be. He lightly shook his head and crept in, shutting the door behind him.

"Aki." He lightly shook her shoulder.

She mumbled something close to, "Five times twenty- three…" and turned slightly on her back.

"Aki." Kakashi's whispering voice was rising, and his shook her shoulder a little harder.

"Muhh, carry the two…" She twitched her head a little as if to rid a fly from her face.

Kakashi didn't want to shout, but he wanted answers.

"Aki!" He hissed.

It was as if he had stepped on a spring- loaded trap. Aki's torso went bolt upright, her hand in the air like she was waiting to be called on.

"85 ft squared!! Oh. Huh?" Aki looked down at the floor.

In her sub- consciousness, she hadn't realized that she had slapped Kakashi in the face when she swung her hand up. She saw stars fly around his head, and another sweat drop formed behind her head. Kakashi recovered from his daze, rubbing his temple.

"Oww. Damn, that hurt!" Kakashi fixed his headband back on straight.

Aki shrugged, but just realized that she wasn't wearing her shirt, just her jeans and sports bra, which was almost revealing.

"AIIEEEE!!" Her eyes went wide and white with a twitch as she pulled up her blanket.

*#%* WONK!! *#%*

A giant bump was now on Kakashi's head; Aki had used the only hard thing within her reach, which was her art binder. Stars and birds whirled around his head, his eyes becoming slightly swirly.

(I can expect enemies' movements, but not a girl's.) Kakashi ruffled his hair furiously.

"Would you turn around?!" Aki's back was trying to face him while looking for her shirt.

Tempted, but he didn't want another smack.

"Okay, you can turn around now." Aki had a cranky look on her face, "This is not the greatest wake up call, you know."

"Neither is the spectacle you left in the forest."

It took a moment to figure out what he meant.

"Hey, it's not my fault! The tree just accepted my chakra, and-" She started poking her pointer fingers together like Hinata did, "I kinda added the artisan's touch."

"Artisan's touch!? You've completely altered the tree's genetics!" Kakashi was looking a bit frazzled.

"…Oops?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^..^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kakashi buried his face in his hands. God, why do you torture me so?! The last thing he wanted was for people to turn heads to notice that something kooky was going on. Well, actually, the last thing he really wanted was for Come Come Paradise to continue forever. Well, no, the first.

What the hell?! This was serious, Godammit!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^..^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And I can't reverse it either, so don't ask." Aki was expected to be clobbered in the head by an ex- Anbu's fist right about now.

She curled up defensively, covering her head with her art binder.

Instead, Kakashi sighed.

"Not much I can do, now can I?" He ruffled Aki's hair when she thought at first it was a delayed punch.

She looked up from her binder with a tiny smile on her face.

"Good luck today." She slapped her hands to her mouth, realizing what she had said.

"What?" Kakashi was getting that uneasy vibe again.

"Uh uh, nothing! Nothing at all!" God, did she want to disappear at that moment!

She buried her heads in- between her knees, her face burning. Kakashi backed away slightly, realizing what Aki had just done. He got up and left without a word.

Aki bent over, her hands plastered to her head.

(Stupid, stupid, stupid! Idiot!)

Her head bobbed every few seconds, her eyelids drooping.

(Chakra must be getting… to……… me.) She instantly fell back asleep, lying in an awkward position.

She should have remembered what was to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UBER- short, I know! My muse has been off lately. O I'm trying to get back on track, but my imagination has been wrung of all inspiration, down to the last drop. Must…think..! Oh well, sorry it's short, but the next one won't be!

P.S. Bring a few tissues with you for those who can't handle sobbing drama that well (like me!)

* Takes out the infamous proverbial cast iron frying pan, and swings it around crazily.* I know you guys are hiding there! You can't fool me!!

Lilim: !^@(&^*&^#*&@!*&@^87!*^$&^@^$&@^$&*^@*&^$^!^. * Hides blueprints behind small, fuzzy back. * Translation: We are experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment. Please bear with us.

Lilim: SQUEEE!!!!! * Starts bouncing like wild. *

Kaiyuga: Uh- oh. He's found a sugar cube…AND A NIBBLET!!! * Places cast iron frying pan over head for cover. * RUN!!

* Like a pinball machine, Lilim bounces all across the room, squeaking in delight. Kaiyuga overturns a table to hide behind.*

Kaiyuga: LAKOHTA?!?!?!

Lakohta: KAIYUGA?!?!

Both: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?

Lilim: SQUEEEE!!!! ^__^

Both: AHHH!!! * ducks behind the table. *

Kaiyuga: Well, I'll see if I can squeeze in the next chapter, but until then—

* Lilim crashes headfirst into the camera. Fuzz emits, then those freaky color lines show up. *

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\/ Please insert 1 good review to continue.