Do You Hate Me?
Title subject to change, rating PG13 to be on the safe side.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I do own the plot of this story (for as far as there is one) and the extra characters I may or may not add.
Response to reviews at the bottom be sure to read the A/N's.
Chapter 9 – Secrets Revealed:
(This chapter is dedicated to Princess Tsunade and her little sister (who bops Princess on the head for me every once in a while)).
Naruto was in a happy daze. Even though he was awoken quite abruptly by something he couldn't quite identify, he felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Even a sweet angelic voice was calling to him. Aah, it was bliss... Hang on, the voice called again. He opened his eyes blearily, squinting and scratching his head with his left hand, he yawned before he focused on a pretty face hovering in front of him.
"Naruto-kun, could you please wait outside for a few minutes?" The sweet voice said.
Nodding, he stood up, wobbling slightly. He yawned again and unsteadily walked towards the door of the room he found himself in. Naruto wanted to do anything the pretty face asked of him, it sounded so sweet and innocent. He never noticed a brown-haired boy standing frozen in the doorway with a horrified expression on his face.
After he stepped outside, Naruto closed the door and stood tottering in the hallway, blinking slowly every few seconds. He heard a few muffled sentences coming from one source in the room he just exited, which sounded awfully like; 'What's going on here?' 'What the hell are you going to do with that?' And 'Now hang on, let's talk about this!' Quite suddenly, he was sure he heard the shrill scream of what sounded like a six year old girl and a heavy something being thrown against the door. The sleepy boy jumped slightly, turned his gaze towards the sound and tilted his head sideways slightly. He wasn't sure what was going on in there but he didn't think he wanted to find out...
After Naruto heard someone stomping on something in the room, the door opened again and revealed a shell-shocked looking boy who seemed to wince with every step he took. However, in an instant he forgot everything that just happened as that same sweet voice invited him back inside again. Quite content, he smacked his lips a few times and staggered back inside, still in his dreamy daze, lying down next to the body the sweet voice belonged to, embracing it tightly before falling asleep again.
A few hours later, Kumiko found herself being led towards the house of the three siblings and Naruto by her new sensei, Kakashi. When they arrived, her eyes grew wide as saucers as she saw the immensity of the building. 'They actually live here?' She thought.
She started slightly when her sensei grasped one of her shoulders, and turned around to gaze up at him, her eyes still wide. His visible eye was drooping a bit as usual but a small comforting smile was barely visible beneath his partial facemask. "Don't worry, ok?" He said.
Kumiko nodded and smiled half-heartedly. "Ok."
They walked up to the large front door and knocked. Just as they were about to knock again, the door was swung open by a red-haired boy. Kumiko barely suppressed a shudder when the boy locked his black-rimmed eyes on her and asked, "What do you want?" in a deep drawl.
'Well, he certainly doesn't have any social skills.' She thought grumpily.
Her sensei spoke up. "Is Naruto home?"
"I will tell him to come down." The boy said.
To Kumiko's amazement, the boy didn't move, he simply closed his eyes and what seemed to be like a small ball of sand flew behind him and then up the stairs. After a few seconds a boy suddenly screamed.
"GAARA!"
The red-haired boy seemed to be smiling for a brief moment before quickly squashing it back into the usual impassive gaze. "We will wait for him in the living room." He said simply as he turned his back on them, walked down the corridor, eventually swallowed by the shadows.
Kumiko blinked several times, then turned and looked up at her sensei for some sort of explanation, but all she received was a puzzled shrug.
Having no other choice than to follow the boy, they arrived in a spacious living room and seated themselves on the two sofas that stood there in the middle of the room. Kumiko sat down, somewhat gingerly, on the edge of the sofa. After discovering that she sat directly across Gaara, she unconsciously scooted away from him, since the way he was looking at her was slightly unnerving. She grasped the end of her long white hair and started twirling it around a finger; something she always did when she was nervous about something.
She squeaked and quickly let her hair go when Gaara spoke up. "Why are you doing that?"
"O-oh, no reason." Kumiko said quickly and put her hands on her knees as she looked down at the floor.
Just as Kakashi was about to say something, an angry Naruto interrupted him as he stomped inside the living room, hair covered by sand. "Gaara, you bastard, why did you do that? You could've called me like a normal person!"
The verbal lashing from the blonde boy didn't seem to faze Gaara at all and he kept gazing blankly at nothing in particular. Seeing this, Naruto growled in annoyance and glanced across at the two visitors.
"Eh? Kakashi-sensei? What are you and Kumiko-san doing here?" (1) He asked, slightly surprised at seeing the two of them in the house he shared with the three Sand siblings.
The silver-haired Jounin scratched the back of his head and chuckled rather sheepishly, which was never a good sign if you asked Naruto. Whenever his sensei did that he was going to say something horribly unpleasant or needed to get something done for him...
"Naruto, I uhm... I need a favor." Kakashi said. Yep, he wanted something done all right.
Kumiko, a muscle working in her cheek and eyes darting restlessly, glanced across at Naruto and started twirling her hair around her finger again. Kakashi cleared his throat and clapped his palms together in front of his face, the excessive cheeriness in his voice quite unnerving to the now-wary Naruto...
'What could he have to ask that is so...?'
"Kumiko needs to stay with you guys for a while."
Naruto was speechless and it was therefore up to Gaara to ask the obvious question, which he did in the same monotonous drawl. "Why?"
"Well ... she was living with me for a while but she wanted to live somewhere else and we haven't been able to find appropriate housing anywhere else." Kakashi explained.
"Why?" Gaara asked again.
"B-because Kakashi-sensei is a pervert!" Kumiko suddenly yelled, pointing her accusing finger at the older man and then blushed at her sudden outburst.
After this somewhat embarrassing revelation, the silver-haired Jounin was happy his other female student wasn't here, who, unlike Naruto, would surely try to behead him. Gaara, who had maintained his stoic silence throughout this whole ordeal, gave Kumiko permission to live in their house until she could find a proper place of her own. She gratefully thanked the boy – whom she still found rather scary – and rose to take her leave and go to Kakashi's house to pack her things. The Jounin, who was highly mortified, quickly followed.
This couldn't be! He only to wanted eat a little bit before dinner, where was it?
Searching frantically, Naruto threw open all the cabinets in the kitchen and found them all emptied of ...
"WHAT THE! WHERE'S MY RAMEN?!"
He almost broke down in tears then and there; beef, pork, shrimp and miso, all his favorite flavors... gone... Over the past week he had painstakingly collected a large amount in one of the cabinets, in fact, it was to be his personal survival rations should a nuclear holocaust occur so to speak. Who could have had committed this heinous act, this crime of all crimes?!
"Ah, I see you've noticed that your ramen is gone, Naruto-kun."
Her...
That shrewd, yet so sweet and cute sand-devil ...
He turned, crest-fallen..."Temari-chan... My ramen, how could you?!" He managed between desperate sobs.
"No use in getting all upset, Naruto-kun. I hid it and I won't tell you were it is unless you do something for me." She said with an air of superiority and a smug look on her face as she leaned against the doorpost behind him with her arms folded in front of her chest.
"So you didn't throw it away?" The blonde boy said, newfound hope lighting up his face. "Wait a minute, do something for you? What exactly..." He continued and narrowed his eyes at the Sand-nin.
Temari smiled and walked up to him. "We're going shopping!" She said brightly and pecked him on the check.
As soon as she said shopping, Temari was sure she saw a hint of fear flash across Naruto's eyes before he quickly looked down. 'Hmm? Why would he be afraid?'
Naruto quickly looked up again though and hid any internal emotions that he might have had under his usual broad grin. "Ok, but only if I get my ramen back!"
"Fine, fine." Temari conceded and dragged the ramen-addicted boy out of the house by his left arm.
As she took in the scenery outside, Temari really was amazed by the radiance of Konoha in the autumn. The trees that lined the streets were a collection of vibrant shades of brown and yellow with a few leaves that stubbornly remained their original green color. The sky was dotted with heavy grey clouds that threatened to spill their watery contents on the earth below, and only now and again did a sunbeam manage to break through, creating a cone of golden light that lit up parts of the village. Squirrels were already flitting everywhere to find enough food and store it before the snow would finally begin to fall. Even the boy who was resisting the firm grasp she had of his arm couldn't spoil the beauty of it all.
As they entered the busy shopping district of Konoha, Temari understood why she had seen the fear in those blue orbs...
Every time she walked the streets with her two brothers, she received stares and the occasional insult, but it was nothing compared to what the boy who was now walking beside her received ...
The glares... The whispers behind their hands to their companions... And those eyes, always those cold eyes... Looking sideways at Naruto, she saw him looking down at the ground dejectedly, the usual brightness in his blue skies shadowed as if a storm cloud had glided over it and she was sure he was trying hard to ignore the coldness projected towards him. She herself had to endure it all the time back in her own village so she knew exactly what he was going through, but she couldn't understand why... Why would they treat the one that had single-handedly defeated her brother and the demon Shukaku and who had brought back one of their most prized geniuses like this?
Looking around, she spotted a clothes store and was already halfway towards it when the owner suddenly stepped outside and put a closed sign on the outside of one of the windows. 'What the...?' Temari thought. 'Well that might have been coincidence...' Trying at the store that was next to it, its owner also repeated the action of his neighbour.
This was an outrage! Closing the shop before the daughter of the late Kazekage had a chance to browse the goods? Stomping her foot indignantly, she was about to bash both their heads in when she felt a small tug on one her arms. Naruto shook his head at her and grimacing slightly, he pointed at the end of the street where they would exit the busy part of the shopping district and enter a small area with second hand stores.
Temari had half a mind to just go back to their house and ask Gaara to engulf the whole area with his Sand-based ninjutsu but decided against it, no reason to get him into more trouble. Raising her head proudly she stalked towards where Naruto had pointed and ignored the reactions of the people that walked past them.
When they finally reached the area, they were greeted by shops that could only be described as shabby.
"Ok Naruto-kun, let's try some of these shops here, we both need some new clothes." Temari said, still slightly angry about the treatment they had both received a few moments earlier.
"What do we need new clothes for?" Naruto mumbled. "I just got a whole batch from Obaa-chan."
"I know but..." Temari sighed, trailing off and fidgeting a little. She had just wanted to spend some time together with him but she couldn't demand that he had to take her on a date, now could she?
It was then that her gaze fell upon a small shop that barely stood out between all the others. It wasn't anything special, if anything it was even shabbier than the rest but for some reason it also looked more inviting. Not wasting any time, Temari ignored Naruto's 'But what?' and dragged him inside through the front door of the little shop.
'Wow!' was the first thing that Temari could think of when they stepped inside. The shop certainly seemed a lot bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. Sure it was a little dusty and the various pieces of clothing were randomly and haphazardly strewn across a few tables or hung on several racks but the overall effect was that it seemed a very comfy and welcoming establishment.
When the two of them walked up to the counter with their footwear making soft tapping noises on the carpet floor, a woman appeared from behind a curtain that no doubt covered an exit towards a back room. She looked like she was in her forties and had a round and wrinkled but friendly face, her frizzy brown hair was tied into a single ponytail with a red ribbon and was dressed in a simple brown sweatshirt and pants.
"Hello, welcome to my shop, can I help you?" She asked with a large smile.
Temari, who was slightly taken aback by the woman nodded. "We're looking for some new clothes."
The woman beamed. "Yes I'd imagine so, it's getting colder fast and I doubt that your current attire will be sufficient. Not that your current outfit isn't lovely my dear." She quickly added. "I've got the perfect thing for you so why don't you follow me and then your brother can pick something out for himself."
Naruto and Temari blushed. "He's not my brother, ma'am." The slightly older girl explained.
"Oh!" The friendly looking woman clapped her hands in front of her mouth, as she quickly understood the relation between the two of them. "I'm sorry, don't mind me. But let's get you your new outfit and maybe I can help him after we're done."
The two women quickly went towards the back of the shop after the owner had dug up a variety of clothing and shoved Temari into the only dressing cabin which left Naruto to try and find some new clothes on his own. Of course, he failed miserably and decided to wait until the shop owner and Temari were done so they could help him. When he was scrutinizing several sweaters a few minutes later he heard someone speak up behind him.
"All done!"
He swiveled around and felt his jaw drop in amazement. Standing before him was Temari wearing a black skintight top that ran up to her neck underneath a thigh length beige woolen sweater with a braid pattern that fitted snugly around her figure, it also showed the top part of the top and her slender shoulders. She still wore the same black-netted garment but it now covered both of her calves and sported a pair of black skin-tight shorts that ended just above her knees. Heavy light brown boots, with warm woolen beige socks sticking out of them, covered her feet.
"Isn't she just lovely?" The shop owner squealed, at which Naruto could only nod dumbly in agreement.
Temari was inwardly very pleased she could have this effect on him and grinned. "Did you find some clothes for yourself, Naruto-kun?"
When he shook his head, the shop owner and Temari quickly went to work and rummaged throughout the vast collection of clothing the shop had in stock. Knowing that the blonde boy had just received a large quantity of clothes from the fifth Hokage, Temari told the owner that they only had to pick out some sweaters for him. After they had looked through what seemed all the sweaters in the store, they had picked a slightly overlarge blue one which brought out the color of the boy's eyes and a white woolen one which would undoubtedly keep him warm on even the coldest nights.
Temari decided to continue wearing the outfit she had just put together with the owner and Naruto proceeded to pay for the several bags of other clothing she had picked out, the two sweaters for himself and a couple of matching blue scarves they had picked out together. Though slightly disgruntled that his precious Froggy wallet had been emptied by half, he quickly forgot about it when Temari kissed him and thanked him with a smile that reached up into her emerald eyes.
When they left the store the shop owner sighed wistfully at days gone by. She was there when Kyuubi had attacked Konoha but never held a grudge against Naruto, because in her mind there was simply no way that the boy, who seemed to light up whenever he saw the girl whom he was with, could be the demon itself...
She sighed again and went to the back room to resume knitting her own clothes that she might never sell but was happy to make anyway. Rare customers like the ones she had today made it all worthwhile.
After they were done with picking out new clothes and had dropped them at their home, Temari and Naruto had decided to take a stroll in one of the many small parks that Konoha had to offer. They were currently walking across a field, admiring the simple beauty of leaves being carried off by the wind and were holding hands as they every now and again bumped into each other slightly.
"You know..." Naruto began. "I'm glad we found that shop."
Temari squeezed his hand a little tighter, laughing softly. "Yeah me too."
The blonde boy cleared his throat nervously and scratched his nose with one of his thumbs. "I kinda had fun, so maybe we could, uh, do this again sometime?"
She was about to answer when Naruto suddenly shoved her aside suddenly, causing her to tumble and fall on her behind. "What was that for?!" She screamed.
Any ideas of horrible retaliation were instantly squashed when she gasped at the sight that greeted her. A flurry of senbon was embedded in the boy's chest and it obviously hurt him immensely.
Naruto stood panting, a furious expression on his face as he quickly pulled out the needles. The instant he was done extracting them he moaned in agony, clutching his arms around his midsection and dropping to the ground.
'What...'
'This pain...'
'What's happening...?'
'Feels like ... flames are shooting through my entire body...
...Like... I'm about to be reduced to ash...'
Emerald green eyes widened in horror as she turned and caught sight of him, the pain etched across his strained features...
Instinctively, Temari swiftly reached over her shoulder for her fan...
...but only grasped thin air...
'What...'
'Where's my...'
Her voice caught tightly in her throat as she realized she'd left it at home...
"Well well, I'm surprised he's still alive..." A surprised voice snorted. Temari instinctively stiffened, scanning her surroundings carefully.
"Oh well... he'll die soon enough anyway."
"Who are you?! Show yourself!" She yelled furiously. "What the hell did you do to Naruto?!"
The voice laughed mockingly, and turning her head sharply in the direction of the voice, Temari caught sight of a man balanced on a tree branch that stood a short distance away.
She blinked in shock...
The man could only be described as a cross between a human and monkey. Arms that were too large swung stupidly at his side and he stood a bit hunched over. He had a large amount of black spiky hair on top and black facial hair framed his face. In the middle of it all was a nose with overly large nostrils. A flak jacket covered a black one-piece jump suit and revealed his rank as Chuunin.
"It's too bad he took those poisoned senbon intended for you... it was all I had." The ape-man scoffed. "Oh well, he might've well taken them... he deserved it to have helped murderous traitors like you Sand-nin here in Konoha... he should therefore be punished accordingly."
"W-what?" Temari spluttered. Why would a Chuunin of all things attack them?
"The poison acts quickly, he'll die in less than a half hour. That'll give me time enough to beat you to death." The face sneered cruelly, his large hands raised as he cracked his knuckles. "You traitors are going to pay for killing my best friend..."
Without giving her a chance to defend herself, the Chuunin reached her at incredible speed, and had delivered a forceful punch to her face before she even had time to dodge, causing her to fly back several feet.
She quickly raised herself to one knee, wiping her now bloody nose with the back of her hand... Temari knew she was in trouble, she might be an above average Genin but she relied on her fan for long and close distance combat ...
"What is it with you Leaf bastards and revenge?" She spat out and put on her very own patented battle face; 'Psychotic Bitch'. "I'm going to break every single bone in your body, you hairy freak."
'Crap...'
'Oh well... If I'm going to bluff, might as well do it properly...'
'Maybe I could hold out until someone else sees the battle and intervene...' Was the trail of thoughts running through her mind. She had absolutely no intention of dying today, especially not when things were going so well lately...
The so called 'hairy freak' laughed.
The so-called 'hairy freak' laughed. "You've got guts, little girl, I'll give you that. We'll see how cocky you are when I beat it out of you." He said, and with that he flew at her once more... Punches and kicks followed one another in such rapid succession that Temari could only barely dodge them.
Finally she saw an opening when she dodged a punch that went over her head. She moved forward slightly to give him an uppercut but received a knee in the chest instead.
Temari grunted and leapt back swiftly, clutching her chest, her breathing slightly forced.
'Damn, this isn't going well. Where are the ANBU? Why haven't they sensed this fight yet, are they really that incompetent?'
"Well! That was pretty fun, let's step up the pace a little shall we?"
The Chuunin launched himself swiftly from the stout tree branch he had jumped on, his fist flung before him. Temari's breath caught in her throat as she saw the shadow descending upon her, framed by the midday sun behind him.
She quickly rolled to the side as the ape-man impacted.
What happened next, she could only describe as being slammed with several heavy mallets all over her body.
She tried to deflect or block all the punches and kicks but just couldn't keep up; the man's speed surpassed her own...
As the fight continued in the Chuunin's favor, a certain boy was stirring...
He looked up and saw Temari receive a knee in the stomach and a hard elbow in the back as she doubled over. When her face twisted in pain, Naruto felt like as if a vicious clawed hand was ripping his heart to shreds until all that remained were slivers of burning hatred...
Hatred that wanted Naruto to cause as much pain as he could to the Chuunin that was attacking them...
Attacking Temari...
He stood up gingerly and bared his teeth as he heard his girlfriend cry out...
The boy's teeth clenched... he felt an anger swelling and swelling within him...
A savage, primeval roar rumbled from somewhere deep inside him...
The fury rose...
And grew...
Suddenly, a raging hurricane of chakra started to swirl around him...
It was then that the Chuunin became aware of a strange chakra emanating from a source just beside him. He turned slightly and simultaneously leaped away from Temari. Focusing on the boy, who was now surrounded by a rising tower of raging, swirling and deadly red chakra, his eyes widened.
The man's voice became hoarse... "What the –?! I-It's you! You're that m- monster!"
Gritting his teeth, he snarled and leapt further away from the girl, hurling every kunai and shuriken he possessed at Naruto. The red chakra that now encircled the boy seemed almost like a living thing, as all the weapons was swept away, bounced backwards or simply destroyed under huge pressure.
The blonde boy raised his eyes slowly, focusing on the man. A powerful, almost maniacal glint shot across those glowing red orbs...
"Monster? Well I guess I am in a way."
The voice coming from Naruto was a growl, a tone that almost seemed unearthly...
Naruto focused his blazing red-slitted eyes on the now cowering man who, just minutes ago, was confident that he had killed the boy...
Temari on the other hand, felt the evil chakra wash over her and a strange thought leapt into her mind...
Was this why the Chuunin had called Naruto a monster... what had happened to him?
The man didn't even have time to blink before he felt the boy in front of him, grabbing his throat and right arm so the Chuunin was now being held in a vice-like grip.
(Even though he was a lot large, he was still pinned down on his knees by the smaller boy, and screamed in horror as he sensed the unbridled killer intent radiating from him.)
The evil, deep growling from the boy twisted into a menacing laugh...
"You scream like a little girl..." The grip tightened. "You worthless trash... you're going to pay for hurting Temari." Naruto grinned and licked his new- grown fangs. "Just die."
Temari was still frozen, on one knee, her palms flat against the ground...
Her heart was thundering against her chest, her eye widened in shock as she watched this...
'No...'
'No... if he does what I think he's going to do...'
"Naruto-kun, stop!"
Naruto froze as he heard the girl's desperate voice.
Turning slightly, he focused his gaze on Temari, who was struggling to lift herself off the ground. "Don't kill him!"
"Why... He deserves to die!" Naruto growled angrily.
"I know that." She whispered weakly, as she almost felt her knees give way. "But you'll only get into trouble."
Really, she had no problem with killing the man, but the way Naruto appeared now scared her... perhaps even more than how her brother once did?
Just moments ago he had been lying on the ground, dying and yet here he was with strength that she had only sensed during his fight with Gaara...
She jumped as a loud cracking noise filled the air, which was quickly followed by an anguished scream. She felt her breath catch in her throat again as she saw what had just happened...
Naruto had grabbed both of the Chuunin's arms and snapped them like mere twigs.
He then dropped him and the girl had a glimpse of the absolute terror in the Chuunin's eyes... the rippling waves of pain and agony...
Naruto stepped back, tossing a scornful gaze at the defeated, anguished man. That low, terrible growl again rumbled from Naruto's throat...
"Go. Get out of here... she just saved your life... remember that..."
Her eyes widening in horror at what she just saw, at the incredible, powerful waves of chakra that was still washing over her, she watched the man rise, amble away awkwardly, the pain still shooting throughout his bruised body ...
The girl turned shocked, slightly fearful blue eyes to the boy ...
"Naruto-kun ... what – what are you?" A weak whisper...
Temari immediately saw this was the wrong thing to say. The red eyes transformed back into sky blue and were filled with...
...fear.
Fright turned to confusion as she saw this...
Naruto's breathing deepened, coming out in rasping, hoarse breaths...
'I can't tell her, I just can't. She'll hate me just like everyone else!'
The boy took a small step backwards...
Temari's brows knitted together, and she took a step towards him, stretching one of her arms towards him. "N-Naruto-kun? What's wrong?"
'No, I can't tell her...'
'She'll hate me... I can't risk this... not after I found someone so special...'
The frightened boy took another step backwards...
Temari stared in shock as he turned around swiftly, and before she could blink, he was already running out of the park towards the forest that surrounded Konoha.
"Wait! Where are you going!" Temari shouted, almost panicking after his retreating back.
'Why did he run away? What was that weird red chakra? What's wrong with him?'
She set off after the fast-retreating figure at a run...
'Only one way to find out the answers...'
(1) –san suffix, Naruto calls her Kumiko-san because he doesn't know her that well and therefore –chan would be a bit presumptuous.
A/N: Sorry that it took this long for me to update everyone. I had a mild case of writers block. But thanks to the awesome help of my beta "refused" and "Princess-Tsunade" I've been able to create, what is hopefully a good chapter.
Now I'm going to shamelessly advertise their stories because they are both plain awesome. So look them up (I can't put links here) and read them!
Behind a Mask from "refused"
Tenten, now an 18 years old Chuunin, takes her first step as ANBU. Never did she imagine that a certain (ex?)-loudmouth would be the new captain of her team.
Flower of Konoha from "Princess-Tsunade"
Loneliness ends for Naruto when his sister returns, where she ran from after heartbreak as a child - to catch up, rebuild their lives, start being a family. But to where did she run & what happened in her mysterious past? (KakashiOC) Please give it a try!
Oh by the way, if you're wondering why Temari is already up and about, well she had a slight concussion but as a Kunoichi she has an amazing recovery rate so there :P
Well I'm not going to write a longer A/N because the chapter is long enough itself, on to the review response!
Ice Dragon XXI: Ah sorry about that, thanks for the review!
One Azn Dragon: We'll see what's going on with Sasuke in the next chapter, thanks for the review!
Black Fyre Dragun: Hahaha, sorry you had to wait this long for your "fix", I hope you enjoyed it!
Kuwabaras pupil: Gaara knows and Kankuro too, but that doesn't mean the puppet-using Genin is happy about it... Thanks for the review!
MC-88: Yeah sorry, another cliffie :P Thanks for the review!
Max Knight: Yeah I know what her summoning technique is called but I picked the name for her summon from narutoinfo(dot)com. Thanks for the review!
Grand Admiral Gin: Thanks!
sleeper: Thanks. :)
Anime Lance: I also hate cliffhangers but I couldn't seem to avoid it, I didn't want all my chapters becoming too long. Thanks for the review!
RyuLong: Thanks! :D
omnidragon82: Yeah they'll find out, when though is a secret... Thanks for the review!
element4life: This isn't what the whole fic is going to be about, it's more going to be about dealing with what Sasuke will do and the history of the OC. But seeing there aren't a lot of Naruto/Temari fics out there I wanted to contribute my small part. Thanks for the review!
luxas prime: Hehehe, Naruto a playboy? :P
Crutches: Thanks for adding me to your favorites and of course for the review! :)
LostDeasertWolf: Thanks a lot! :)
me: Thanks, I hope you enjoyed it so far.
weirddramagirl: Yeah Gaara wants to talk to Naruto but he's biding his time a bit first. Look for their talk in a couple of chapters!
K34: Kankuro is scared of Naruto but seeing he is hot-headed and really doesn't like the brat he more or less forgets his fear. Thanks for the review!
ookami-kun: Thanks!
Kashisenshey: No you didn't say anything wrong I think but you said you were going to sleep in the last review so I thought maybe my fic was a bit boring for you? :P
refused: Yeah yeah, instead of reviewing my story, why don't you work on your own fic, I want to read the second chapter dangit! . ... Pervert! :P
Inferno-Dragonz: Hehe, no they didn't get drunk :P
blaboy: Nope, this won't get R-rated later on, you're welcome to make lemon outtakes yourself but I won't make them, sorry. Thanks for the review!
Gopu: Thanks!
Lucas: Thanks for the suggestion but I had already thought of something like that. It'll all be revealed in later chapters.
SxStrngSamurai13: Thanks for the kind words, sorry about the slight rush but I don't want to spend too much time on it even though I really like it all. Thanks for the review!
EvilP: Well if someone throws a rock at your head from a blind spot while you're standing in the middle of a jeering crowd it's kind of hard to detect small objects. And no this isn't a rewrite, I haven't consciously used anything from another fic either... Thanks for the review!
Princess-Tsunade: Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate it :)
Jaxis Obrien: Haha, thanks!
Raidin: Thanks for the review! :D
Nameless: Thank you and I hope you'll keep reading.
d-scribe: Look, don't say anything about what you don't know about. I talk to her about her fanfic on ICQ so I don't need to put lengthy essays as a review. Please don't talk to me about guide-lines as you've proven yourself to breaking them if there are any. I responded the way I did because you were very rude to a dear friend of mine and I'd appreciate it if you would just stop. Thanks for the suggestions because some of them make sense, I already planned on going back and improve my previous chapters as I continue to (in my opinion) improve as I'm writing more. Any other reviews from you with more suggestions are appreciated just don't go about senselessly bashing someone's fic and for some odd reason their profiles.
Well! That's the whole lot of them I think, I thank everyone for their reviews they are really appreciated a lot. So since you've all risen to the cause of getting the review count up to and over 100, let's go forward to 150! (dare I suggest 200?)