Reveries of Life, Love, and Revenge

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long delay. There also might be another downside, too… School is coming up in two weeks, and I have a project I need to finish. I shall try to get at least two or three more chapters in before school, maybe even more, then have to delay the stories progress for awhile. Don't think I won't continue to update, though. I'll work on chapters bit by bit during the school year. Maybe that'll occupy me and keep me alive during my first year of middle school, ne? Okay, now back to the basics and such. In this chapter, they'll be some hinted relationships, not clearly identified ones, though. You'll see bits and pieces of Zeo and Shikamaru's 'relationship' mainly in this one. But I also have to try to fit in something between Gaara and Delana… oh, the agony. Oh well, I'll find a way. Okay, and… as far as Nikko and Kabuto go? Well, they'll keep having their relationship moving along smoothly; I'll have both of them in this chapter, too.

Kuragekido: Thanks for the heads up. I can't deny that many Naruto fans don't, indeed, like original characters. But I'm not one of those fans. I find original characters quite interesting in any anime; Naruto especially. You read fictions to your discretion. If you don't like fictions with original characters, don't read the fiction. Simply put.

Anna: I'm glad you're happy! I sort of had to imagine how you'd want Delana to act, and I assumed you'd be the type of person who went for the hyper-ish character. I laughed at Nikko's quote, too. Besides Delana, she's pretty much the funny one of the group. It's nice to know that my intentions of making people feel certain ways about characters is being carried out smoothly. Thanks for updating!

Quick note and disclaimer: The chapter may contain grotesque content and/or offensive language. 'Reader discretion is advised'. I do not own Naruto in any way whatsoever. I just own Sasuke and Kiba.

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Chapter 5: Sheath your claws,
Sandy-boy!
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Nikko and Alona were unable to attend the little meeting at the ramen shop. Nikko could barely move her body, really, in her current condition. Kabuto had only really made the cuts seal up, not heal the numbness and aching of her wounds. Everyone else was in fine condition, however, with merely a few gashes here and there. Alona just… couldn't make it, do to her parents and their curfew. Kakashi had been the one whom took the responsibility of taking Nikko home.

"K-sensei."

The silver haired Jounin peered curiously at the spectacled female in the corner of his eye. Letting out a slight nod, he silently urged her to continue on. "Do you happen to know… if a ninja named Kabuto is in cahoots with that hunter-nin lady?" At this, Kakashi made a slight face. Kabuto was there? He honestly thought someone had hit Nikko's head a little too hard back there. Kabuto hadn't made an appearance in Konoha ever since the last Chuunin exam. There seemed to be no point in him coming back; unless Orochimaru was up to something. But then again, even if Orochimaru was plotting something in that sick mind of his, why would Kabuto leave his boss's side just to go to a scene that had nothing to do with him? It just didn't make sense. "I know of Kabuto. But he's not working with the hunter-nin." In all honestly, this had eased Nikko's nerves a bit. Right when she had seen the teenager, he seemed a little suspicious to her. His semblance, the aura that he left off… it just made it seem like he was misleading her somehow, in some way. "Alright." Was all the adolescent replied simply, pushing up her ever-so circular glasses up the bridge of her nose.

If only she knew. No, really knew. Kabuto… wasn't the person she thought him to be.

But nonetheless, her mind still focused on identifying the good points about him. And she'd still continue to analyze those good traits. She'd have to, being as since he was coming over for a check-up, she'd have to know how to act. Kind or not, this… Kabuto, was still technically a stranger. She had to keep her guard up. As Nikko lied idly in her bed, thoughts bombarded every corner of her mind. Who was Kabuto generally? Why did he appear? Furthermore, why did he appear to her? She'd have to ask him to clear everything up when he came for her checkup. This, really, was all too confusing. If only she knew that if she considered THIS predicament confusing, figuring out Kabuto would be ten times more confusing in magnitude.

"I see you're resting, Nikko. Mind scooting over so I can look you over?"

That voice. His voice. She'd recognize it anywhere now. "Aa, sure, Kabuto-san." Nikko's bright, warm smile had found its way back onto her fine face. The lamp's faint light had been turned on high enough just to enlighten her facial structure, and the male adolescent had noticed her smile.

Damn. She was almost as good as him in this little game of disguising themselves.

---

Everyone was pretty much at the ramen shop, now. The straw haired Uzumaki was already on his fifth bowl of ramen, irking Kakashi quite much as he imagined how large the bill would be. Let's see, if that's about ten dollars for a bowl of ramen… And Naruto is on his fifth bowl, and still going at it, that means that's about fifty dollars of ramen worth for him…. Really now. Imagine that; a bill going to be over fifty dollars for one person. ONE person. That's ridiculous, no? I guess Naruto will have to put, 'A great ramen eater' on his resume when he needs a job, ne? Sakura and Ino had been annoying Sasuke, as usual, switching back from eating their ramen to pestering him about a date or something.

Are fangirls really that hopeful?

As for Zeo, she was quietly eating her ramen, Shikamaru sitting to the right of her and Delana on her left. The fourteen year old really knew how to keep yapping, that was for sure. But it was okay as she rambled on, if you thought that. Because the information she was giving was valuable. Really, it never really fazed anyone that an average person would consider Delana a 'nuisance'. Whilst eating her ramen, Zeo's arm accidentally bumped into Shikamaru's. She turned to face him, "Oh, I'm sorry."

And yet again, just like on the mission, their eyes met.

Now, don't consider the two ninjas romanticists or anything. They were just… looking at each other, right? When someone talks to you, you're supposed to look at them, thus initiating eye contact, right? Right? The young Nara simply shrugged it off and scowled, "Whatever." Zeo had taken the last comment as a valid reply, then turned back to Delana, who wasn't yapping anymore. Instead, she was looking at a trio. Well, another trio, that is. Like the usually pairings of ninja teams, there were two boys and a girl. The girl carried around a quite large fan, and wore a dress. Her straw-colored hair was put up in multi-pony tails, making her hair style quite… interesting. One of the boys was sort of cloaked, purple face-painting hiding his true facial structure. Because of this, you couldn't really see what he looked like generally. On his back, he carried a wrapped up puppet. This, clearly, identified him as a puppeteer.

The last boy appeared much younger than the other two. He had oddly colored hair, which took on a blood red shade. Just like Sakura's pink hair, you don't see a shade so unique very often. His eyes showed obvious signs of insomnia, judging by the thick black outlining around them. His lime green eyes lacked showing his pupils; in all, he was quite frightening looking. Sasuke had seemed to recognize this boy all too well, really, which pretty much struck everyone by surprise a bit. 'Everyone' was pretty much made up of Alona and Delana. Had Nikko been there, this would have also surprised her, too. The blonde girl had led her two brothers to the cashier. They weren't to make any contact with the leaf ninjas, except the Hokage. "C'mon, Gaara. Don't pay attention to that Naruto-kid or Uchiha boy."

Delana's eyes were still focused on Gaara. So, his name is Gaara, huh? Now, the sand ninja had fully ignored his older brother's comment. Such was the nature of Sabakuno Gaara. In all honesty, he had never really considered his 'brother' or 'sister' his siblings. They were just beings wasting up air. But then again, one must realize that Gaara considers practically everyone on this planets beings that waste air. He's just like that. The blonde had turned to the boy behind her, "Kankuro, let him look at his rivals." Twitch, twitch. Rivals? Pah. Kankuro merely shrugged, "Alright, but if he starts acting up, Temari…"

"He won't."

Taking that as a valid answer, the foreign ninja shrugged. Gaara's eyes had been piercing Sasuke's dark ones for quite a long time now. "And what are you doing back here?" was all the Uchiha asked, quite on an agitated note. Mitsarugi, who had been sitting next to the Uchiha, had known about the mishaps including Gaara and Sasuke. This tone of voice that was being used didn't seem all too strange to her. Kankuro's eyes had slowly drifted over to Gaara, awaiting his response. To his surprise, his brother did not speak. No, he didn't speak.

He did.

And by along the terms of did, I mean, put forth something in action. The youngest Sabakuno's hands had made their way to the top of his sand gourd, thus initiating panic in Kankuro. Sasuke had been ready, his hand near the shuriken holster. But before any action could really start, and sand had began to make its way out of the oversized jar…

"Sheath your claws, Sandy-boy!"

---

Kabuto was rewrapping Nikko's wounds. The superficial cuts had seemed to have gotten slightly better, but they were still infected from the dirt that had made its way in. Her condition had seemed to have improved greatly, but nonetheless, she still wouldn't be able to move for awhile. Any idiot could see that. Although he had made it so that she wouldn't get gang-green and have to have a body part amputated, she'd still suffer from aches, pains, and continuous surges of numbness. The silver-haired Genin poured some ointment onto an open wound, causing Nikko to take in a sharp breath.

"Sorry."

To that, a barely audible, "It's okay." made its way to Kabuto's ears. It appeared as if the pain killers he'd given her earlier were kicking in. She sounded drowsy. "Hey, Kabuto-san…" Nikko began, yawning slightly. No, Nikko, keep awake! His onyx eyes bore their gaze onto her's, prompting her to continue. "Back out there, with that hunter-nin person and all… How'd you know where to find me? I don't remember you being there originally." Kabuto tugged at a bandage a bit, then tied it so that it stuck together properly. "Alona, the girl from the medical team, called me with her flute. It's a communication thing, you should ask her to explain it. I can't all that well." The spectacled fourteen year old nodded, then didn't press the matter on that question much. She pretty much had an idea why he came to her now. Alona called him to fix her up, he came, Alona led everyone away, and then she woke up while Kabuto was helping her out. That seemed pretty logical and simple enough for an explanation. She'd ask Alona later how she used her flute to call Kabuto, though. That seemed a little strange. Now it was Kabuto's turn to take in a sharp breath as he examined her stomach. There was a gaping wound that reached up from her breasts to her lower abdomen. In width, it was similar to the width on your index-finger, middle-finger, and ring-finger put together. She had to have gotten that after a hunter-nin hit her with a fumma. "Where'd you get that?" the Yakushi questioned quite seriously, his face somewhat grim although he knew he could fix this. A shrug was the only given response for that. His hands had worked away furiously at the wound. She had to stay awake, really, for him to see when her expression wavered from pain.

And with the pain medicine trying to submit her into slumber, it only made the situation more complicated and difficult.

---

The whole ramen shop quieted at this last comment from Delana. What struck Gaara by surprise was how a girl had gotten so bold as to yell at him with a nickname. Never in his life had he met someone with such stupidity. Or maybe the right word to put there is guts. Honestly, he didn't really know at the moment. The young Sabakuno's eyes removed their piercing gaze away from Sasuke, and over to Delana. That gaze didn't waver the slightest bit, and Delana returned the gaze. It was as if she was challenging him. Now this girl really did seem a mixture of both. Gutsy and stupid.

But automatically, he placed the top back onto his gourd. Temari had noted this. She knew the girl couldn't have had any effect on her brother. Yet, she did. Temari just didn't realize it. She simply thought that Gaara didn't want to waste his breath on making a big scene. But nonetheless, the answer to his ceased assault was Delana, and he knew it. It would just take him a long time to care. Mitsarugi was a little surprised at how Delana acted, too. Gaara, Gaara of the Sand was a Sand beast. He was a demon himself, and most people… well, pretty much feared him. The only people she knew who didn't fear Gaara were herself, Sasuke, Naruto, Rock Lee, and, well… Delana, now. That's not a lot of people.

Kakashi had already escorted Temari and Kankuro to the entrance of the ramen shop. Gaara followed behind quietly. 'Sandy-boy', huh? Was pretty much the only thought that was running through the blood-haired sand ninja at the moment. This single thought struck him by surprise yet again. Rarely did he ever ponder upon such matters. This was getting ridiculous. … She's next on my hit list.

There we go, now the old Gaara is back.

….But there's three more people before her. Hopefully she's patient. Well, technically that was the truth. First there was Uchiha Sasuke, then Rock Lee, then Uzumaki Naruto, and now this… girl. He'd ask for her name later.

---

Back at the ramen shop, everyone was talking yet again. As usual, Sakura and Ino were bitching over Sasuke while Mitsa watched in an amused manner, Delana continued talking to Zeo, Naruto was finishing on up his –Fifteenth one, mind you- bowl of ramen, and Shikamaru, of course, was continuing to scowl at the ludicrous site of Ino and Sakura. A few audible, "How troublesome…" sentences were made out of his mouths as the two fought.

"Sasuke-kun, you're going to walk ME home, right?"

"Oh hush, Ino-pig-chan! Sasuke-kun is taking ME home!" Oh, how amusing fan girl fights were. But Mitsa knew that they were backing Sasuke into a corner right now. He'd eventually end up taking someone home; most likely Sakura. So, doing something that wasn't quite… unusual for her, she spoke up. "He's walking me home, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan. We live closer together than you two do, anyway." Sasuke blinked, considering his options. If he agreed to that, the two crazy fangirls would leave him alone. If he disagreed, they'd continue to bitch over the topic. If he did nothing, they'd assume Mitsarugi was lying, then continue to bitch him anyway. So he went with the first choice, a smirk planted on his face. "Yeah. I'm walking Mitsa home."

Both of the girls' faces fell. To Sasuke, this sight was better than… better than beating Naruto. And we ALL know how great a victory from Naruto is to Sasuke. Gai had finally spoke up, telling the Genins to hush, "Yosh, young pupils! It's time for you all to go home, so get going! Train well from tomorrows training! You'll each be given a new mission in the morning!" A loud GROAN filled the room. "Well, it's nice to know you all sound so enthusiastic! Konbonwa!"

Silently getting up to keep their act going, Mitsarugi and Sasuke exited the ramen shop together, leaving… well…. Two quite jealous fangirls behind. Ino had dragged Shikamaru away; I guess she needed someone to bother when she walked home? Naruto had managed to get Sakura to agree for him to walk her home, and Delana and Zeo… Well, they went their ways. If you're ever so curious about what's happening, I'll answer that simply. The walk home between Mitsarugi and Sasuke is quiet, Ino is yapping Shikamaru's head of, and… well… Naruto is trying to get close to Sakura. Either way, they all ended up getting home eventually.

---

"I think you'll need stitches for the cut on your stomach, Nikko. Call Tsunade-sama and ask her if she could make a house appointment; I'm sure she can stitch up your cut." He pushed up his glasses, then pushed Nikko's up too, smiling genuinely. Nikko weakly smiled back because… well… she's in pain and she's tired. "Arigatou, Kabuto-san." She said drowsily, continuing to look up at the silver-haired medical ninja. He nodded, gave a slight wave, then hopped out her window. (A/N: Let's just say her window was open, shall we? He needed a way to get in firstly, right?)

Nikko just looked at the window, then reached over to her phone. She did exactly what was ordered; Call Tsunade. She would be able to stitch up her cut, of course, but in two days. She needed a day to get supplies ready and such. After hearing this, she hung up, then called Mitsarugi, who answered ever-so quickly. "Urashima residence."

"Hey, Mitsa-chan. It's Nikko."

Mitsa made a face, processing that through her brain. Wasn't Nikko supposed to be asleep by now? Oh well, as long as she's feeling good… "Hey, Nikk. How are you feeling?" she asked simply, her voice a little raspy. She was tired. It was about nine-thirty now; who wouldn't be sleepy? "Fine… Um, can you tell K-sensei that I'll be out longer for a week? I'm getting stitches." This comment, of course, didn't strike Mitsarugi by surprise. She had seen her condition on the battle field; it wasn't pretty. "Can do. Now, you, get to bed. I have to go to sleep anyway, we're getting missions tomorrow."

"Alright. See you later, Mitsa-chan."

"G'night, Nikk." With a single click, Mitsarugi had hung up the phone, then wandered upstairs and drifted off to sleep in her bed. Nikko, of course, had done the same.

---

The following day was pretty boring. In the beginning, at least. Everyone had arrived at the forest clearing, all having their exact same personalities pretty much. Kakashi and Gai were leaning on trees, as if waiting for something. Naruto, of course, was getting impatient. "Anou sa, anou sa! Kakashi-sensei! What are our missions already?!" The Jounin twitched a bit at the fox-demon's antics. True, he had learned to adapt to Naruto's personality, but eventually… it just got annoying, really. Mitsarugi had informed Kakashi about Nikko's position earlier, and was now talking with Delana. Alona and Zeo sat quietly on rocks. As if on cue, Tsunade entered the area, her face… quite grim, actually. She was clasping onto her Hokage necklace quite tightly, as she always did when upset or afraid, then turned to the two Jounins. "We need to talk. I'll give the Genins their mission in a bit."

Wait. Mission? What happened to mission's'?

Annoying Naruto's newfound excited personality of the missions, the other Genins continued to sit and wait. Mitsarugi's ears twitched a bit, though. Since sound traveled in waves through the air, she could hear a conversation from far, far away. Thus, she listened to the conversation between Tsunade and the others:

"I'm sure you remember that Orochimaru left us alone after the Chuunin exam mishap, due to the fact that I became Hokage. He couldn't risk endangering himself."

At this, Gai and Kakashi nodded. They knew of this. This also explained why Kabuto's visits in Konoha had decreased in numbers dramatically. "Well, I have some news. This news… has something to do with the kids' new mission." Mitsarugi continued to listen from the distance now. Tsunade sounded so calm, but had she actually been there, maybe she would have seen Tsunade's grim expression that was planted onto her face.

For Tsunade, she always looked so cheerful, so happy… so you could easily tell that something was wrong if her face had expressed any other emotion than that. Kakashi looked seriously at the Hokage in the corner of his eye, as Gai did the same. "Well…" the blonde began, tightening the grip on her Hokage necklace, then letting it go. Her eyes scanned the two Jounins, as her face lost its upset expression.

"Orochimaru is back. And the kids… they'll have to go investigate."

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A/N: UGH I feel so icky. This chapter was so 'ker-bleh' that it's not funny. And yet, the plot thickens… Okay! Now, prepare for fluff around… um… chapter ten or so with Zeo and Shikamaru. And prepare for a hook-up between Mitsa and Sasuke around then, too. I'm quite cheery today, so I might make another chapter later tonight!

To Anna: Okay, I think you've basically just gotten your character's beginning 'relationship' with Gaara, really. Do realize that I won't be able to get them together until about chapter twelve, or so, being as… He's Sabakuno Gaara. I don't think Delana will get together with him very very quickly; I think you know what I mean.

Preview of the next chapter: "Orochimaru's back?!" Gai almost screamed, but kept his voice hushed so the Genins couldn't hear him. This shouldn't have been a big surprise, really. As long as Orochimaru was alive, there would still be inevitable and imminent attempts to get all of the Ninja countries at war. Mitsa's ears twitched continuously. Zeo's chocolate brown eyes gazed at the child, as did Alona's emerald green ones.

"What's wrong, Mitsa?"

Alona's voice rang through Mitsa's ears, catching her attention immediately. Her sentence brought the eleven year old back to reality. "Well, let me put this simply…" Sasuke and Sakura looked over at the trio curiously, Ino bitching to Shikamaru and Naruto… well, being Naruto. Mitsa tossed her hair to the side, then dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Orochimaru is back."

Okay, and now…. I'll leave you all hanging with something to think about. Hopefully I gave you a nice long chapter to occupy yourself with…? 'Till next time… Mada mada, dane…