I DON'T OWN NARUTO!!!!!!!!! SO DON'T SUE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'thinking', "talking", 'jutsu', action happening to characters (not in story) (ME)

Chapter 2

1 week later

Shikamaru leaned against the wall of the academy waiting for his partner. 'She's late, again.' He looked down the path looking for the familiar face of Kaya in the morning light. He had first met Kaya in the library when she was sent there to take the Chunin exam and met her later on in the hospital when he had gotten injured on a mission. The clock struck 10:00 A.M. He sighed deeply and was about to walk away to tell Tsunade, the Hokage, that Kaya was late and he would start the mission without her, when he saw her running towards him, waving her arms in the air and her blonde 'n' red hair flying out behind her.

"You're late," he said with mock seriousness. "This is the THIRD time this week. You're starting to act like Kakashi-sensei."

"I'M SO SORRY! I had misplaced my kunai and I was havin' a hard time finding it!" Kaya said, obviously flustered. "I'm sorry and won't happen again, 'k?"

"HA! Fat chance. You're the most organized person when it comes to weapons, Hokage-sama says so herself. You couldn't have possibly lost your kunai. Besides, you're much more prone to sleeping in." Kaya turned a dark shade of red and Shikamaru grinned at her as if to say, I told you so.

"Damn. I wish you didn't know me so well. I did sleep in, OK? Man. It's just one of my many flaws. Let's just go. Now."

"Is grumpiness one of your quirks then?" he asked jokingly.

"Oh yes, one of the best of my traits," she rolled her eyes.

"Oh really? I thought that was just how you were," She glared at him and stalked off with her hands in her pockets and grumbling. Then together they walked into the academy and towards Tsunade's office.

"What's today's mission? Something different I hope," Shikamaru said as they walked into Tsunade's office.

"Yes, yes. It is different than what you got yesterday. Are you ready?" Tsunade's voice was slurred and they could tell that she also had gotten up not too long ago.

"Uh, sure we are," Kaya said looking at Shikamaru with her eyebrows raised. This was not unusual, at least not for the Fifth Hokage. She was always falling asleep at her desk. But she was always up at dawn ready to go, not just waking up 10:00 A.M.

"Alright, your assignment is… TO TAKE A DAY OFF!" everyone does the anime fall over and sweat drops except Tsunade who looks at them like they're crazy

"WHAT THE HECK? YOU'RE GIVING US A DAY OFF?!" Shikamaru said as his eyes bulged out of his head.

"Yerp, that's right, one day full of relaxation and it's also a time to get to know each other since you only became partners a week ago," Tsunade explained. "You can also train, and Shikamaru, no offense, but you need it." Kaya snickered and Shikamaru turned red as a strawberry.

Between snickers Kaya said, "Oh come on, Hokage-sama, he's not that horrible. He's pretty good at strategies, you know."

"Yes, I agree, but he needs to build up his chakra." Shikamau looked like a balloon about to burst, a red balloon that is. "I'M RIGHT HERE, YOU KNOW! I CAN ANSWER SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS TOO! Phew! I'm glad I got that out of my system." He looked at them and smiled like he had done nothing out of behavior for him. Kaya shook her head, "Alright, we'll take the day off," she turned to Shikamaru, "I think you need it, badly." Shikamau glared and Tsunade laughed.

"Have fun you two!" she called after them. Kaya turned and waved back at her.

---Outside---

"YESS!!!!!!!! WE HAVE A DAY OF PEACE!!!!!!! Let's go get some ramen!" Kaya skipped towards the ramen shop. 'Geez she looks, and sounds, like Naruto.' Shikamaru watched in awe as she skipped over to the stall and ordered some ramen for herself and him. They finished eating their ramen and went outside to find a place to train.

Shikamaru glanced over at her. '"She'll be scared for life," that's what the Hokage said. I hope she'll learn to live with it.' Shikamaru thought as he watched her look in shops for new weapons. He sighed and looked back up at the clouds and then he started to remember….

FLASHBACK 3 DAYS!

Shikamaru and Kaya looked around the clearing. It was their first serious mission together and they had almost blew it. They had almost let the enemy know where they were and now here they were in a clearing making sure the enemy was no where in sight.

"Where are they? Come on, come on. Where are you?" Shikamaru heard Kaya mutter to herself. He glanced at her and motioned to not make a sound. He was trying as hard as he could to think of a plan. Glancing around, he reached for a kunai. THWAK! A kunai flew and missed him by inches. "Shit," he mumbled and threw the kunai in the direction that the other came. A ninja leaped down with a huge smirk on the ugly pig's face. Kaya let out something that sounded a lot like a growl. Shikamaru prepared himself when the ninja lunged at them with a kunai in each hand. Kaya roared and threw an acupuncture needle at the ninja. The needle hit him right below the collar bone and he yelled as a kunai whizzed by and when she caught it he threw another she dodged and threw another needle at the opposing ninja. It hit the ninja square in the chest. Shikamaru took his chance to through his own weapon. Unfortunately, the ninja had recovered and caught it. The ninja ran towards Kaya who was getting ready to attack with Shikamaru.

"KAYA! WATCH OUT!" Shikamaru shouted, but it was too late. The ninja threw Kaya against a tree and she slid down the tree without much as a groan. 'No. No, no, no, no! Damn, damn. I have to help her!' Shikamaru thought as he readied himself against Ugly Pig, as he had doted the ninja, as he, Ugly Pig, walked slowly towards him.

"He, he, he. Angry with me whelp? Heh, not surprised since I just demolished your beloved girlfriend," Ugly Pig said exposing extremely dirty teeth. Shikamarui glared but refused to let the ninja see that he was raving mad. Ugly Pig stopped in front of him and threw him against a tree; pain shot up and down his back like little needles hitting him on each vertebrae. He was picked by the heartless ninja who was obviously having fun torturing him. Shikamaru was dropped on his feet and he looked, with much pain, up at the face of Ugly Pig.

"Heh, unlike the little girl over there, you will go slowly," Ugly said raising a kunai to his stomach, a bad place to be hit, it guaranteed to be a slow, painful death. He readied himself for the impact when he then heard someone cough and he heard Ugly fall. He looked up and saw Kaya standing in front of him with blood trickling down her mouth. He thought she was dead, then she doubled over and started to hack up blood on to the ground. Shikamaru watched in horror and noticed that Ugly was on the ground, dead.

"Why?" was all he could manage to croak out to her.

"Why, you ask? I had to, it's what I had to do. I'm your PARTNER. I… had… to," she whispered. Her face twisted in pain then she collapsed. He stared then, picking her up, pulled her to the tree behind him and stopped the flow of blood.

"Thank you," he whispered with tears in his eyes.

End Flashback

"Hello? Anyone there? Shika-kun? You in there? EARTH TO SHIKAMARU?!"

"Huh? Oh, uh, sorry." Kaya looked at Shikamaru with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"You've been thinkin' 'bout 3 days ago, huh? Well, forget about it, I had to do it and I'm still alive, aren't I?" she said looking at him. "I had no idea that you could tune out so well, I thought I had lost you."

"Ha, ha. Very funny. And no, I wasn't thinking about 3days ago," Shikamaru said, his voice guarded while he glared at Kaya. Kaya narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously.

"YOU were thinking about THAT weren't you?" It was more of an exclamation than a question, really. Shikamaru looked at her with rebuke even though he knew she could see right through his guise.

"WHAT? NO I WASN'T! "

"YES! YOU WERE! YOU KNOW IT TOO!!!" Kaya stomped her foot and growled, she hated people worrying about her. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and walked towards the training area. "HEY! GET BACK OVER HERE!!"

"I'm gunna go look at the clouds," said he looking over his shoulder. Kaya huffed and stomped after.

"'I'm gunna go look at the clouds' he says!!! My god, at home WE NEVER did that, WE trained in our spare time," Kaya said promptly forgetting that she and her friends did no such thing. Shiakmaru snorted as they walked in to a training field. Both did not notice their "guest" following close behind.

Training Area

Kaya readied herself and looked at the clouds. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on it's not that hard. I mean it is only climbing a tree," Shikamaru said looking at her with scorn.

"SHUT UP!! I'm concentratin', so be quiet," Kaya answered. Shikamaru thought he heard something like "stinkin' pig" after, but he wasn't sure. He noticed her feet glow then the glow faded. She opened her eyes then ran towards to the tree in front of her. She raced up the tree, as nimble as a squirrel. She made it half way up the tree before she lost her footing. She was able to mark her spot before she pushed off and flipped over so she wouldn't hurt herself when she fell.  Shikamaru gaped at what he saw.

"How in all the 7 hells did you do that?"

"I just talked to the tree whom then helped me go farther than you," she responded as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Shikamaru's jaw dropped involuntarily.

"Bu-but trees can't talk!" he exclaimed, looking incredulous.

"Yes, they can. You just have to listen." Her face suddenly froze. "I…take that back. I forgot that you didn't grow up being taught this sort of thing. In my village everyone was taught to listen to nature. Every clan had their own animal that they communicated with. Talking with trees and the like was standard." She sighed, "How can I say this? Well, I can talk with wolves, foxes, birds, fire, wind, and plants. Sometimes I can learn things from rocks, believe it or not." She ran her hand over her face. Shikamaru looked at her with disbelief.

"That's not possible! How can anyone, and I mean ANYONE, speak with nature? Or animals? That's impossible, Kaya! It just doesn't happen." Shikamaru sighed and flopped down. "Prove that you can speak with nature."

"Alright." Kaya stood her feet slightly apart, her hands pressed together in a symbol. Her purple eyes were shut tightly together. Wind blew around her; black fire burst around her. A dragon rose around her and flew towards a tree that seemed way past its prime. Once the wind/fire dragon hit the tree the wind/fire dragon dissipated; all that remained was a splinter.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?! YOU KNOW THAT YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO BLOW UP TREES AT YOUR OWN FREE WILL!" Shikamaru exclaimed, jumping up.

"Don't worry, it told me that it wanted to go." Shikamaru grinded his teeth and he looked like he was about to say something when Kaya said in a dry voice, "And you come down, too, Naruto."

At the ramen shop

Naruto stared down into his ramen. He felt sick for following Kaya and Shikamaru, especially since Shikamaru had helped him a couple times. Shikamaru glared at him. Naruto sighed and felt like he had just betrayed someone that was his friend. And Shiakamaru was his friend, in a way. Kaya, well, was just someone that he had met and then disappeared. She had fought Sasuke as a test for the Chunin exam. Sasuke didn't know this, but she did. When Sasuke found out that Kakashi knew that the girl was being tested, which was why she didn't hold back, Sasuke had been raving mad. Naruto was kinda jealous of Sasuke to be chosen to test someone and he wasn't.

"Hey," Kaya said, "no need to beat yourself up about." She smiled at Naruto. Naruto looked at her and sighed.

"Well, it was wrong for you to follow us in the first place," Shikamaru said with his hands behind his head and his feet on the table. Naruto glared.

"Lazy ass! Shut the fck up!!  I feel guilty as it is and I want no guilt trips!" Naruto shouted, jumping out of his seat.
"Calm down. I don't know what the hell is goin' on between ya two, but I know that I don't like it one bit," Kaya said with a glare. "Let's settle this like decent teenagers."

"Decent?" questioned Shikamau. "Decent? You've GOT to be joking. I don't think that we could settle—"

"SHUT UP! Now, why were you followin' us, Naruto? There has to be a good reason."

"Well, I saw you walking and I was curious and I followed you. I feel bad, but I don't know why."

Kaya groaned and stood up. "It's alright. I'll see you around, 'k? Come on Shika-kun, we gotta go." Shikamaru rolled his eyes and got up. 'I wonder why she let him get off for spying, but then again…it is a petty thing to get mad at him. Why did I get mad about anyway?' Shikamaru thought with a quizzical look on his face.

PHWACK!!

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOUUUUUUUUCHHHHHH!!!!!!!! WHAT IN ALL THE FCKIN' HELLS WAS THAT FOR!?!?!?!?!?" Shikamaru yelled while holding his newly bruised head. Kaya looked at him with a look of disgust.

"Shut up. I didn't even do that."

"I did." Shikamaru turned and saw Ino standing there with a smirk on her face. Next to her was Chouji, Shikasmaru's childhood friend.

"Uh, um, er, Ino wh-what are you d-doing here?" Shikamaru asked uncertainly, looking at Ino with the classic anime confused and caught-in-the-act look on his face. Kaya rolled her eyes.

"They were lookin' for you, stupid. I think you already know that Shika's a little slow, huh, Ino?" Kaya said with a look of amusement on her face. Ino grinned, exposing her teeth like a fox would. Ino looked at Chouji, "Well, you found him. Happy now? I'm going to see Sasuke!" Ino blushed, waved, and ran off. Chouji sighed and looked at Shikamaru then Kaya. He looked as if comparing them. Kaya had always been uncomfortable with someone examining her.

"Well, his partner is, uh, pretty," whispered Chouji, to no one in particular. Kaya shifted uneasily, she didn't care what people thought of her, but she really didn't like being in the spotlight. 'Oh well, I think he'll be fine if I leave now…' Kaya smiled and walked off, her face said See you later!

At Kaya's apartment

Kaya flopped down onto her couch and looked around. She knew Ino from a previous experience with Shiakamaru. She had been nice to her. At least, Kaya thought that was as close to nice Ino would treat her. Shikamaru told her that Ino wasn't always like that, but judging from what she saw today, she wasn't so sure that Ino was all that nice.

Kaya looked around. The apartment was all she needed, for now. She knew it wasn't her clan's vacation estate or her family's humongo house. The apartment was a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, kitchen, and a dining/living room. It was lonely in the apartment, but she was used to that. She did miss her brother's presence, considering that he understood her more than anyone else than anyone else. She felt that Shikakmaru would understand her, if not as well, like her brother. She sighed and looked out the window and her eyes felt heavy. She leaned back and fell asleep. And dreamt.

ME: Ok, that's all for now!

Squigy: Good, that chapter used up all I could think of.

WHACK!

ME [holding bat]: OK, I'm sorry that I took soOoOoOo long! I had to start over because LAD gave me some "advice" grumbles Oh well! I like this version much better anyway! The rating went up because the swearing went from mild to worse. OK. I WILL NOT UPDATE UNTIL I SEE SOME MORE REVIEWS!!!!!!! & I MEAN THAT!!!!!!! So…REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's an ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHACK!!!!!!

Squigy: She really does mean it. I think you really should review. Even if you just say please update soon I'm sure she'll be happy. So please review!!!!!