A/N: Kyaaah!! I'm so sorry! For those who want to get their reviews in (anonymous) but can't, gomenasai!! I was so surprised when Midnight Fairy told me I should allow anonymous reviews. I'm a newbie here so I had no idea why the reviews can't come in. Then, yesterday when I was logging in, I suddenly had the urge to check my settings. Holy crap, no wonder the reviews are blocked! Thank you, Kami-sama! And thanks to the really, really nice people who reviewed, babowonsuni, Midnight Fairy, Ookima and Aleh. As for the paragraph breaks, I'm not exactly sure what that is, ahehehe ^^; But I'll find out and fix it! Now, on to chapter 3. Have a good time.

Disclaimer: If I own Naruto, I'll be Kishimoto-sensei, who owns it.

"…" talk

[…] thoughts

= = = change of scene and time

Chapter 3: Where's The Dobe?

"Watashi wa Shuri desu. Uchiha Shuri. Hajimemashite, Tsukishi-kun."

[Uchiha?] (A/N: I'll be referring to Kyubi as Kyo so please take note.) Kyo had heard of the famous Uchiha clan and wondered what one of them was doing here. As far as he knew, most of the Uchihas were excellent shinobis. However, Kyo just smiled and nodded. "Anou, I'd like to purchase some flowers." A call rang from the counter. Shuri quickly ran to her service. "Hai!" That left Kyo with the pregnant Sumire. There was a sort of polite silence between, none of them quite knowing what to say.

The overbearing silence made her uncomfortable, so Sumire decided to break it. "Anou, Tsukishi-kun, are you from around here?" Kyo looked up, "Eto, not really. I…travel around! Though I know some things about this village." "Oh, you travel? Where to?" "Places." "Sou ka?" Again, silence settled in until Kyo finally decided to ask Sumire about something bothering him. "Yamanaka-san, as far as I know, the Uchihas are famous for producing ninja prodigies. Why is…" Kyo trailed off.

A sigh escaped Sumire. "As you probably know, the Uchiha clan has a special ability, the Sharingan." Kyo nodded. The Sharingan was an ability that developed from the Byakugan and could copy jutsus. "You see, Shuri had not shown any signs of the Sharingan since birth. Her parents thought if they waited a few years, it'll show in time." Sumire continued after a pause, "As it turned out to be, she didn't. The clan started to think of her as a…. a defect. Some Uchihas wanted to banish her away, because she was different. That led to an argument amongst the clan." Sumire sighed and watched as Shuri attended to the shop. "Kono baka. She was too kind…leaving just because she didn't want them to fall apart. I offered to let her stay with me, and she helps me with the flower shop, especially since I'm pregnant." Kyo nodded. [Why does prejudice and bias exist in the world?]

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Meanwhile, back in real time…

[Hn. Why must I do this? Of all people, it had to be me. He could've sent Sakura instead.] Sasuke frowned as he slowly made his way to Naruto's apartment. Kakashi had just made Sasuke walk to Naruto's to inform him about the mission Team 7 received. Upon reaching, he rapped on the door impatiently. "Hai, hai, I'm coming." The door opened to reveal Kankuro. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?" "Is Naruto home?" "Nope, he's not back yet." At this Sasuke's frown deepened. "Thank you." He turned to leave. Kakashi had told him to inform Naruto, directly. [Great. Now I'll have to find that dobe.] He headed off to the training grounds, hoping to find him there.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Sakura's home

[I wonder what's wrong with Naruto-kun? He didn't even turn up today which is a rarity. Even if he's sick, he'll drag himself to meet us. And yet…] The pink-haired kunoichi stared worriedly at the ceiling. Their sensei had declared that Naruto probably wasn't coming after a few hours wait and ordered her to go home. Sasuke, on the other, was supposed to go tell Naruto about the mission they've received. Sakura sighed heavily. Naruto had been acting weird lately. Sometimes, when he thought she wasn't looking, his face lost the smile and there were times Sakura noticed the sorrow in his eyes. And being the Naruto that he is, he put on a show by being loud, ignorant and cheerful. [He seemed to find it difficult to maintain that mask lately and he wouldn't confide in us. It's like he's growing distant.]

Suddenly there was a knock on her door and her mother popped her head into the room. "Sakura, Sasuke-kun is here to see you." Immediately, all thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind as she bounded downstairs to meet her teammate. "Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke restrained from covering his ears and remained expressionless. Even when Sakura's with Lee, she still had the tendency to act like that. Well, habits are hard to change "Have you seen Naruto?" "I have no idea. I thought Kakashi-sensei asked you to find him?"  "That dobe left his apartment early and haven't returned yet." Sasuke said icily. "I couldn't find him at the training grounds."

"Well, did you try the ramen shop?" Sasuke mentally slapped his forehead. Of course, why hadn't he thought of that? He turned to walk away but Sakura stopped him. "Sasuke-kun, wait! I'm coming too." "Kaasan, I'm going out for a while!" she yelled into the house before running after Sasuke's retreating figure.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

At Ichiraku

"Naruto? No, he hadn't been here at all today." Kiba answered Sakura's query with a mouthful of ramen. Sakura and Sasuke frowned visibly. Shikamaru looked at them and then said "What's the problem?" Sakura quickly told him about Naruto's absence. The others there, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino, nodded. Indeed it was strange for Naruto to miss any training, he was always so enthusiastic about it. Said it was essential for him to train to become Hokage. "I'll help you look for him." "Mendokuze." They turned to leave.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Somewhere along the streets

Shikamaru yawned for the fifth time as Kiba continued to walk around asking about Naruto. So far they weren't making progress. But something else bugged him. Some of the older villagers avoided eye contact when they mentioned Naruto, some visibly scowled or darkened, while others looked like Kiba was going to bite them. Shikamaru scowled. He didn't understand why they had to be afraid of Naruto. Sure, he had the Kyubi inside of him but Naruto was still Naruto. Shikamaru simply couldn't see the point of regarding Naruto differently, it was too troublesome.

Kiba was currently thinking along the same lines. He was growing impatient. Can't these people give straight answers? To hell with discrimination, to hell with prejudgment. [Why are old geezers so damn narrow-minded?] Kiba didn't like narrow-minded people. They treated everything odd like a taboo. Things they can't accept, like two people of the same sex who love each other. Yes, he'd admit he was gay and right now he's in a relationship with Shino. No one so far knew about this, and Kiba wasn't eager to let them know, especially not his parents. He was content with the way things were going.

Snapping out of his reverie, he approached another man. "Ossan, have you seen a boy with blond hair, about this tall? He goes by Uzumaki Naruto." The man narrowed his eyes and answered in a disgusted tone "Why would you want to be around that kitsune?" Kiba could smell sake, this man must be drunk. "Don't you know that he's the kitsune? He's a disgrace and a danger to the village." The drunkard continued his ranting. Both Kiba and Shikamaru got increasingly angrier. "I don't care where he is. I hope something bad happened to wipe him off the planet."

That was all Kiba could stand. He moved forward intending to punch him, but before he did anything, the man was lying on the ground holding his face. Kiba turned his head. Shikamaru had his fists clenched and he looked scary. "Don't speak like you know him. You don't. Yeah, we know he's got Kyubi but he's still human like the rest of us." "But he could kill us any time!" "Kyubi could, and Naruto's the person who's holding it back. You should be damn grateful for his sacrifice to be the Kyubi's vessel. It's not like he got a choice anyway." Then, Shikamaru simply walked away. Kiba stand rooted on the spot. Was that Shikamaru? The calm lazy-ass Shikamaru? He sounded so dangerously calm that it scared Kiba to see this other side of Shikamaru. "Oy, are you coming or not?" Kiba regained his senses and ran to catch up. He decided that an angry Shikamaru wasn't a good thing.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Somewhere at the edge of the forest

Sasuke leapt up a tree, trying to get a better view. He was feeling pretty much on the borders of his short fuse and the heat wasn't making things better. He leapt to another tree, grabbing the branch with chakra-concentrated feet.  After a little while he finally lost his temper and let a frustrated yell, "Where the hell is that dobe?" Suddenly, he heard a soft rustle in the leaves and a few shurikens shot out, headed for him.

A/N: Well, that was Chapter 3. I think it's kinda short but okay maybe. Hontou ni ureshii ne! I got a review from Ookima-san, who's one of my favourite authors. I don't know about you, but I like it when Shikamaru punched that guy (Hell yeah! You go, Shika!) Just wanna show that he cares a lot about his friends and can express other emotions other than boredom. Oh, and for the KibaShino fans out there, gomene, there won't be any hints of it going on. I just wanna relate to my sister's fanfic. I'm really sorry if you were looking forward to it and feel disappointed. If you want, you can go check up Three For Three by sachiroyurei. It's got KibaShino in it. Please review now that I've removed that cursed block, kami-sama knows how it got activated. Ja, arigotou.