Disclaimer: I'm rather depressed that Seito has a much better disclaimer than me. /You forgot that you don't own Naruto either/ Oh yes; I don't own Naruto...NOOOOOO!!! The horror! You know what else is horrible? My penname doesn't completely show up in the summary. /That's despicable! / Don't mock me. /I'm you/ Which is why you shouldn't mock me. /The disclaimer is a bit long, isn't it?/ Shutting up.

If you want to, ignore everything except the bold in the author's notes. I'm following Seito.

La/=/er: Er...any notes you find in between the slashes are from my inner voice, usually pessimistic, but sometimes expresses secret desires of mine. It's a bit perverted too and sarcastic. So cover your virgin eyes when you see the slashes appearing. I think it's trying to evolve into an OC, but I'm gonna try not to let it. So...

=Seito appears=

La/=/er: Why are you here? /See, trying to send us into an early grave/ This is my chapter! My First Chapter! /Gee, look at all the capitals/

Seito: Hide me!

La/=/er: Hide...you? Why should I do that? And I see you escaped from the last chapter when Seika locked you.

Seito: Yeah, I escaped and now Seika's trying to kill me!

La/=/er: She always tries to do that.

Seito: Yes, well, she found out some of the...stuff I'm going to do to her in 'Kagau waku wa hana no shita ni te'

La/=/er: There's a lot of stuff you're doing to her. Which one is it now?

Seito: Well, you know when I told you about...=whisper=

La/=/er: She found out about that?

Seito: wince Yeah.

La/=/er: =pause= HAHAHAHAHAHA! =rolls on the ground=

Seito: =looks down at the insane girl= It's not funny! She might succeed this time!

La/=/er: =still laughing= Go hide then, I'll protect you for this chapter.

Seito: Thanks, I'll pay you back...wait, this chapter?

La/=/er: =whistles...wait damnit, I can't whistle. Stupid whistling =grumble=

Seito: La/=/er...that's such an awkward name, do you know how long it takes me to type it?

La/=/er: Uh, not very long?

Seito: NOT...oh yeah. Don't worry, I'll get you back for this next chapter.

La/=/er: /Ooo, I'm so scared/

Seito: =cackle= You should be scared, you just wait. You know what I do to Seika and I created her. Who knows what will happen to you...

La/=/er: =nervous chuckle= Yeah... Anywayz! Sorry about the long conversation, first chapter to be able to do this and all, got a little excited talking to Seito. And something Seito forgot to say. This story will not have SasuNaru/NaruSasu (Haven't decided which one, probably won't be too much of a factor. We're probably not writing too much about things that would need the difference...I think) until somewhere deep in the story. Friendship comes first. And action, can't forget about the action. And it's my first multi-chap anyway, so I'm bullying Seito into it. (Seito: No, you're not. La/=/er: Oh, shush.) The horror! I almost forgot something! As some of you may know, there are two pairings that I have established in the prequel. That of Ino/Sakura and Neji/Lee. There is a slim chance that I will change the second pairing, as it is one of my newer obsessions, but if someone vehemently declares that they cannot stand Ino/Sakura, I still won't do anything. Naw, I'm just kidding, depending on how you ask, I might change the pairing. But the two couples shouldn't hold too much significance. Although it might change in this chapter...I'll get back to you at the end. I almost forgot, KakaIru is another established couple.

Seito: =smile= Her favorite pairing aside from Sasunaru.

La/=/er: Yuppity yup yup. =wide grin=

Review Responses: /This should be fun/

Dark Mimiru-Chan- You're way into it already, huh? Hope you still will be after this chap... And I started writing the day the first chapter was posted. So it's quick. Interesting face btw, it's...cute.

RuByMoOn17- I'm making it a point to answer every review, for the first few chaps anyway. So here's the chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Kisu- It's Kisu! Hey, look Seito, it's Kisu! She loves your first chapter! Seito: I'm glad you do. Now keep answering the reviews. La/=/er: =blows raspberry= Hey, you need to answer this question anyway! Seito: Ah, Shin. The reason for his name...I just randomly chose a name! Well, actually, the name wouldn't leave me alone and at the time I was writing the chapter, I couldn't think of one, so I used Shin. I made plans to change it, but forgot to. And this dangerous man is...I won't tell you! Nice to know this looks promising. I hope you enjoy La/=/er's chapter. I'm starting to write the third one already. La/=/er: I hate you. I haven't started. Seito: If she sees this, it means you finished. So stop saying that. I know you love me.

Maboroshi-hime- That's horrible! I'm insulted! You didn't get instantly interested by my /butchered/ name and Seito's?! But still, glad you got hooked. And hope you still think it's amazing after this. I'm sure Seito would comment, but she seems to have run off.

SasuNaru123- At the time that I'm writing this, I'm staring at your sn on AIM. I feel like I should talk to you, but that involves moving my hand from over the keyboard to the mouse...so no. You proposed very interesting questions, all of which I made Seito answer. Normally she would pop up here and tell you, but she's still missing. So Shin is still going to be walking with the cloak and scarf. And the reason why Seito gave it to him in the first place was so that people wouldn't recognize him easily and that he wouldn't get the same cold stares as Naruto did. The reason in the story is because...he thinks it's cool! Naw, personally I think it's because of what Shin is doing. Looking for that dangerous man, he can't exactly flash his face everywhere. And about the jutsu thing, you'll find out. Sometime...I think, lemme go ask my co-writer. I'll get back to you, look out for a response at the bottom.

ghostninja85- Aw, she...um, person here, likes both our fics! Person looks forward to it! You'll find out who stole his memory. And Tsunade doesn't really know that it's Naruto. I'm thinking it's because she had her hopes brought up so much, that she doesn't really believe it's him. Added to the fact that Shin looked really confused when she called him Naruto, sort of buries her hopes. But she still has her suspicions, she's not Hokage for nothing. And the thing with Sasuke was there originally when Seito first wrote it. I didn't think it would flow right if I didn't keep it there. So like I said before, it's going to be some time before anything major comes out of it. Although definitely expect minor stuff. I'm also looking forward to how the plot progresses. This chapter's sort of a filler... Yes and it is a shame that we take time to update. Unless I post this up like a day or so after this moment, then it's a short time. And Seito's starting chapter third too as we speak, or as I type anyway.

izumi- =cackle= I'm not too sure why I'm cackling at your questions, but it may be because it's a new day. I'm guessing all your questions are rhetorical, since if I actually answer 'em all, I'll ruin the story. So just keep reading and find out! But like I said before, this is sort of a filler, so not too many answers here.

Gisela- The story always seems more interesting when the reader knows what's going on, but the actual characters in the story doesn't. And questions are presented on purpose, if you know everything right off the bat, it'll be sort of pointless to read the rest, ya know? Originally, in the prequel to this 'His Arms', the effect of Naruto disappearing wasn't quite as dramatic. It was more of a subtle undertone. But Seito had already written this, so I didn't want to change it too much. I already took out the existing SasuNaru relationship she originally had in here. If you want a reaction that's slightly more easy to swallow, for you anyway, read the prequel =nudge nudge= Go on, read it after this. For easy access, my penname's in this account's favorite authors. And you could say that the overall village doesn't give a damn, but that doesn't mean they won't be affected. That's two different issues. Because really... Seito: La/=/er, shut up, she doesn't want to know what you think. She just wants to read the story. La/=/er: Yeah, sorry about that, got over excited. Hey! Where've you been? You ditched me! Seito: Uh, hiding, remember? La/=/er: Oh...right. Okay, you can go back now. sniff And I resent that remark about it being a defect...hold on, I didn't write this...okay never mind, it's okay. Seito: =far off= I heard that!

Jenniyah- Glad you think it's neat. I feel a little weird answering all these reviews, since they're not really for me. But I'll take them as my compliments anyway! And the thing about the necklace is that Shin is wearing a cloak and scarf. I expect the necklace is buried underneath it all, so she can't really see it. And when he took it off, his shirt was still hiding it. Guys tend not to flaunt their necklaces too much, not even if they have amnesia, or a form of it anyway. And I agree, if someone saw it, it would give away his identity. Thanks for reminding us. Seito: Really? I thought he left it at home the day he disappeared. La/=/er- Well then, it appears Seito came back to answer that question. Apparently, he left it at home. So, no necklace. I guess he wouldn't wear it when he was training anyway, which he was doing before he disappeared.

darkiris- Um...glad you liked. So enthusiastic! Hope you still like after this!

Yum- =chuckle= Interesting name you have there. And there's no such thing as a stupid review =cough= just as there's no such thing as a stupid question. And the answer to your question is in Kisu's response from us. Too lazy to type it over again and I'm procrastinating from writing the chapter as it is.

Gopu- Glad you think it's a great start. Here's to a great continuation! Cheers! /Crazy girl/

Shinobi- =giggle= Here's more! /I think she's delirious from hunger/

Erm...sorry about the long response to some of the questions. I blame it on the excitement that comes from doing this the first time. Now onwards and forwards. And...scroll!

I edited this as I posted it and realized that without the extra spacing your eyes would die. But it was originally only 9 pages, now it's...a bit more.

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Without Life

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Chapter II: Introduction and Reintroduction

Tsunade stood up and beckoned Shin to follow her. With slight hesitation, Shin also stood up and walked with her down the stairs. He glanced around as he walked, seeing various shinobi running around to do their duties. He saw Eyebrows, who seemed to be walking with a longhaired boy. He saw the sand-nin walking toward a male with something wrapped in bandages and a girl with a large fan. He saw all this and grew curious. He grew...very curious. It was not everyday that he saw so many people gathered in one place. He hadn't even been in such a crowd for quite some time. Especially not one with such different personalities apparent all over the place.

As Shin continued to observe his surroundings, he failed to notice that Tsunade had stopped to talk to a shinobi a few feet away. He proceeded to walk forward, not noticing where he walking until a voice was heard in his head.

Otouto, you might want to stop before you...

There was a slight crash of bodies and both bodies involved fell to the ground. Tsunade had looked up after speaking with the shinobi and saw the incident. She struggled to hide a few chuckles for the position the two were in was...interesting to say the least. A pale skinned boy standing apart from the mess of bodies, rose his eyebrow curiously before asking, "Lee, where exactly are your hands?"

Startled, both boys looked at their position on the ground and immediately blushed. Somehow, someway, they had managed to fall on top of one another. A hand trapped under one body, a leg trapping another hand. A foot there, a finger here. It was a rather confusing scene if one had only taken a glance at it. Worst of all, the boy on top had his head extremely close to the other's, ahem, private parts. Meaning that they had suddenly turned into a creature with 8 extending limbs and a head on each end.

Blushing, there was a scramble of legs and a rustle of clothes before both boys managed to straighten their clothes and their limbs. Well, Shin adjusted his cloak and scarf, Lee sort of just... brushed off his green suit. Fully upright, they realized that they had attracted quite a crowd, all of whom were trying hard to hide their amusement; most were failing. Lee, never one to be brought down, simply turned to Shin and greeted him.

"Hello, I'm Rock Lee! And if I may ask, who is the person that I managed to stumble onto?"

Smiling, Shin replied with amusement apparent in his words, "My name's Shin, pleased to meet you." They shook hands and continued grinning at each other, although with Shin's scarf, it was hard to see. His curved eyes revealed all that was needed to know.

"If you guys are done grinning at each other, do you think you wanna move away from the middle of the field?" The blank eyed boy questioned them, looking at them with obvious amusement. "And do you think you could let go of each other's hands? You've been holding each other for some time now."

Before any action could be brought out from that statement, a girl with two buns on her hair walked up and teasingly said, "Aw, Neji-kun, are you jealous?" The aforementioned boy looked away and said firmly, "Of course not, why would I be?" The blush on his face seemed to detract the seriousness of his statement. The remaining onlookers swiveled their heads dramatically toward Neji, each holding an expression of disbelief. Each seemed to scream out the words, "Are you kidding me?"

Before further embarrassment was to be brought down upon the poor boy, Tsunade stepped in and said, a bit too brightly, "What a coincidence! Just who we were looking for."

"Huh? What were you looking for us for?" Lee paused and continued "We didn't do anything wrong, did we? If we did, I'll be sure to make it up somehow" Neji just glanced at Lee exasperatedly and thought to himself 'I can't believe I like this guy...'

"Oh no, you didn't do anything wrong. Is there something you need to tell me though Lee?"

"Er...no, of course not, there's nothing."

With those statements, that poor Lee should've never uttered, the remaining people there glanced at him curiously. 'The pupil of Gai, that was so much like him, did something wrong? And didn't admit it yet?' were the thoughts running through their heads. While Lee was never the poster child for obedience, the absence of his parents led to a child who was eager to please. With that eagerness to please, he always tried to do what was right. And whenever he couldn't or later regretted his decision...well, let's just say he had a tendency to confess, in a most dramatic way.

Anticipating the questions that would inevitably follow Lee's words, Tsunade, not suppressing her own, continued on with her inquiry. Meanwhile, Shin continued to look on with the utmost curiosity. He didn't understand the looks that Eyebrows, Lee, were getting, but still, they were funny. What he really didn't understand was the reason for Neji's supposed jealousy, nor the blush on his face.

[[Onee-chan, do you understand what's going on? I don't comprehend the blush on Neji's face, nor the looks Eyebrows...I mean Lee, are getting.]]

My dear otouto, I'm pretty sure the looks Lee are getting have something to do with him that we don't quite know about. But you of all people, should understand the blush on Neji's face

[[What do you mean?]]

Remember Akari?

[[Akari? Oh! Oh...I see]] (1)

By the time that Tsunade stopped interrogating Lee and turned toward Shin, there was an obvious blush on his face. One that could be seen, even with his high scarf. "Shin?" Tsunade spoke to him with a slightly concerned look on her face, "Are you feeling okay? You seem to be getting a bit red."

With a nervous chuckle, Shin replied "Oh no, I'm fine. But perhaps we should follow Neji-san's advice and move off of the field. I think they're getting impatient." He pointed at several shinobi standing off to the sides, each holding an annoyed expression on their face. "I think they're trying to clean up the field."

"Of course they are, that's what I told them to do." Tsunade replied with a look that bordered on sadism, "I think it would do them some good to respect their Hokage and wait patiently for us to move."

"I don't think that's a good idea"

"And why not Hyuuga Neji?"

"It might have something to do with the fact that they look ready to pounce on you, Hokage or not. It's probably because of the familiar attitude that you show to them everyday. Using your authority as leader in this situation isn't going to work." With those words, as if to prove them true, several of the waiting shinobi started to run after them, shaking the sticks they held in their hands threateningly. Laughing, the small group ran from the field and stepped out of the perimeter of the surrounding building.

Still chuckling lightly, Tsunade turned and spoke to Lee, "I should probably tell you the reason for me looking for you." Lee cocked his head curiously and replied, "Whatever it is that the Hokage wants me to do, I will do it with all my ability!" Smiling fondly, Tsunade replied, "That's good to know. I wanted to ask if you would be willing to allow Shin to stay in your home for the next few weeks. And also to show him around the village."

"No problem! I would be glad to help." Lee spoke enthusiastically. You could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he thought about all the things that he would be able to show Shin. "I want to introduce him to Gai- sensei! May I go now, Tsunade-sama?" Both Lee and Shin looked at the Hokage curiously. With a laugh, Tsunade assented with a word of warning, "Just be careful not to wear him out. I'm sure he's tired from his journey."

With a cry not to worry, Lee took hold of both Neji and Shin's hands, eager to show Shin to Gai. Tenten stayed behind momentarily, gazing at the village's leader with a thoughtful expression. 'I haven't heard you laugh and smile so much in a long while Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade smiled wistfully, and replied with a soothing tone, "There's something about Shin that seems to brighten up the air around him. Did you see?"

Tenten tilted her head and spoke with a soft smile, "Yeah, I haven't seen the people around here laugh so freely for some time. It's almost like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders and we are able to relax now. It's a subtle difference individually, but look, even the sky's brightened up!"

"I think, perhaps for a little while at least, we will be able to revert to the Konoha that was free in every sense." Tsunade paused and shook her head, "You better run along now Tenten, I'm sure Lee's waiting for you impatiently." "Well, who told him to only hold Shin and Neji's hands?" Tenten laughed and began to walk, "I'll see you later Tsunade- sama!" She smiled and waved to Tenten and for the first time in a long while, she decided to take a stroll around the village. She missed seeing all the faces of her town.

======

True to Tsunade's word, Lee was waiting apprehensively for Tenten to arrive when she reached him. Letting go of both Neji and Shin's hand, he waved towards her and yelled at her to hurry. "Come on, I think I see Gai- sensei up ahead!"

SWOOSH! There was a blast of wind and a hint of cheesy music in the background. "I have arrived, the...Lee, stop jumping around! You're still injured from the fight!" "Gai-sensei! You're here!"

"Well of course I'm here, here else would I be?" Gai spoke with an amused tone in his voice. There seemed to be a lot of people that day speaking to Lee with amusement in their voice, hasn't there? Ignoring Gai's words, Lee continued to move with excitement, "Look, Gai-sensei! This is Shin! He's gong to be my housemate for the next few weeks."

"New housemate, eh? How do you feel about that Neji?" Gai teased his student with a chuckle, pushing his statement a little further, "You're not jealous are you? I know you and Lee have grown quite close now, I don't suppose you wish you were in Shin's shoes, do you?"

In typical Neji form, he decided to ignore them and simply grunted. Shin, meanwhile, blinked curiously at the new arrival. His sense of style was practically the same as Eyebrows! "And he seems to have the same excitement as his student' Shin thought. Before any more observations could be made, Gai turned to him and brightly exclaimed, "Well then! This must be Shin! Pleased to meet you, I'm Maito Gai, teacher to Lee, Tenten and Neji. Rival to Hatake Kakashi..."

"Someone called?"

With startled gasps and a silenced shriek (from Lee), the group turned to a nearby tree (they were standing on the edge of the training field they usually went to) and found Kakashi sitting calmly on a branch with a book. "Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?"

"I heard my name and I came, why else would I be here?"

"Kakashi, you are truly worthy to be my rival to be able to hear your name and appear so quickly!" Gai spoke with a fire in his eyes.

Neji, on the other hand, scoffed and said, "He was there all the time; he was just hiding himself. I don't think he's fast enough to appear from wherever he was to that tree in the three seconds it took him to respond."

"Neji! You are definitely my genius student to have figured that out so quickly. I am so proud of you!"

Bewildered by everything that was happening around him, Shin was only able to stand and watch as the scene unfolded in front of his eyes.

[[The people in this village are a bit weird, aren't they?]]

Haha, don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll find that this is a place that you would like to be in.

[[Huh? Onee-chan, what does that mean? Onee-chan?]]

Shrugging his shoulders mentally, he looked back to the group only to find that they had turned to him and started staring at him curiously. "What? What happened?" He spoke; startled by the intense looks he received. Distracted, Gai replied, "Nothing, you just seemed...familiar for a second." Shin jerked in surprise. There was no way that he would've seemed familiar. Besides the fact that he was covered from head to toe by his cloak and scarf, he had never seen the man before in his life. Although there was still a feeling in the back of his mind that disproved of that thought.

Lee shrugged his shoulders and spoke to Shin, "If you feel up to it, I can start showing you around the village now." "Yeah, sure, no problem." "You guys want to come with us?" Neji shook his head and replied, "I promised Hiashi-sama to return to help him after the rounds were finished. I should be getting there now." Tenten also shook her head and said, "I need to run some errands for my mom, sorry."

Disappointed, Lee turned to his teacher and looked up pleadingly. Knowing that Lee wanted more people to come to show that Shin was welcomed, Gai spoke, "I also have some things to do, but I'll walk with you for a little while into the village." Curiously, Kakashi jumped down from the tree and also nodded, "I'll follow you guys a little too, it's on the way to where I'm going anyway..." He trailed off and looked at Shin curiously, "Besides, I want to learn a little more about the kid who'll be staying with us for the next few weeks."

Shin chuckled nervously, but still brightly replied, "Thanks for showing me around. But I don't think there's really anything very interesting about me to say." "Nonsense, there's something interesting to say about everyone!" Kakashi swung his arm around Shin's shoulders and led him towards the village, he called back toward Lee and Gai, "Are you guys coming? We'll leave without you!" Intrigued by the man's behavior, the two quickly spoke a farewell to the rest of their team and hurried to catch up. Tenten and Neji stood there for a few moments, looking at the group, before glancing at each other and leaving the field.

======

Walking with Kakashi's arm around his shoulder brought weird feelings to Shin. Not feelings that would induce blushing, but a feeling of comfort, as if this was an action that was brought upon him daily. However, Shin hadn't had real human contact for some time now. For all he knew, it could be a feeling that would've came from anybody else. But deep within him, he felt content and he did not understand. So he decided to push those feelings away for now and focus on what was happening in the outside world.

They were still walking in silence, despite what Kakashi had said about finding more about the boy. They were also walking quick, quick enough that Gai and Lee decided to just walk behind them for now and as a result, Shin could not see them and could not even hear them. Suddenly, he felt the arm around his shoulder loosen. He looked up, but before he could completely do so, he was slammed against a tree. They had still not exited the forest and the village was still a ways to go. He grunted slightly and lifted his head to look at Kakashi.

He was startled to see a fiercely intense look on his face, different from the joking eyes that he had seen before. Shin saw Kakashi fully for the first time, noticing the cloth that was connected to Kakashi's shirt that covered most of his face. The hitai-ate that was originally covering his left eye had been lifted into his silver hair to reveal an eye unlike anything he had ever seen. At that moment, he was jolted with a feeling of familiarity and was torn between the deep feelings within that told him to either laugh or start shaking. He ignored both emotions and started straight into Kakashi's eyes.

"Kakashi-san, if I may ask. Is there a particular reason why you just slammed me up against a tree? I'm certain I've not done anything to offend you...yet."(2)

The man in front of him growled lightly and spoke, "I do not know the reasons for your presence here yet, but you can be sure that I will find out. And if I find something wrong, there will be no doubt that I will come after you. This village has put up with enough pain, it doesn't need anything else to deal with."

"While I wish to say that I understand, Kakashi-sempai, I can assure you that I will do nothing to harm the people of this village. Now let go of me."(2) The boy looked at the man in front of him with a glare of his own. Suddenly, Kakashi laughed and released his grip on the boy. Puzzled, the boy dropped his glare and instead stared at the laughing man curiously.

"Is there a particular reason why you decided to threaten me and then laugh at my response?" Shin started to grow annoyed as the man continued to laugh. He grew further confused as the man looked up and apologized.

"Sorry about that, I had to make sure that you weren't here for the wrong reasons. Visitors do not come to the village often and we had a few problems with our last visitors." Kakashi brought his hitai-ate back into position over his scarred eye. "I'm still not totally sure of your intentions, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now."

"That explains you slamming me against the tree and threatening me. Now why were you laughing?" Shin asked Kakashi warily, as if expecting the other to start laughing again.

However, Kakashi simply waved his hand at him and replied, "It's nothing, just that for a second, you reminded me of someone..."

"You mean Naruto?"

Kakashi looked up, startled, "Where did you hear that name?" He spoke with a demanding tone, one full of urgency.

With a tilt of his head and a curious voice, Shin said, "Your Hokage called me Naruto when she saw me."

"What?! Take off your scarf and cloak."

Shin looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Looking just slightly pained, Kakashi added a quiet "Please". With a satisfied nod, Shin took off his scarf and cloak to reveal what Tsunade had seen a mere hour before. Wild blond hair, whiskered cheeks, blue, red-speckled eyes, a tanned face, and most significantly to Kakashi, a grin that seemed oddly fox-like. Shin narrowed his eyes curiously as Kakashi seemed to turned frozen upon the sight of his face. After a while of that frozenness, Shin waved his hand in front of the man's face. "Um, are you okay?"

Kakashi shook himself awake and gruffly told Shin to put on his scarf and cloak again. Slightly worried about the man, Shin did as he was asked, only to hear a few seconds later the obvious noise of Lee and Gai approaching. Lee stepped up to the two males and looked at them with confusion. "I thought you guys would've been at the village already, with the pace you were going at. I know! You were waiting for us, right?"

Seeing Lee's enthusiasm, Shin nodded and grinned; which once again was signified by his curved eyes. "Well, come on, the sun's not going to wait for us!" Shin and Kakashi looked up, finally noticing that there were only a few more hours left till sunset. They nodded and started their trek back to the village.

A few minutes later, with their pace increased, they reached the village. They stepped into a place with people milling around and shops opened with a slightly subdued air, although the villagers still appeared to be happy. Shin, noticing the subtle gloomy air that seemed to hang around the village, glanced around curiously before turning to Lee, "Lee? Why does the village seem a bit...down?" Lee took a while to answer that question, all of them appeared to be startled by his question. Meanwhile, Shin looked around the village, seeing several clothing shops, weapon stores, and food stores. At that moment, his stomach decided to protest that it was unable to do its job. It wanted food and it wanted it now, damnit.

Glad to have found an excuse not to answer the question, Lee eagerly dragged Shin off to one of the nearby food shops. "How silly of us! We should've realized that you would be hungry after journeying into our village!" By coincidence, the nearest shop was Ichiraku, where Kurenai's team was currently eating. Sighting the team, the two teachers and Lee walked over with Shin in tow over to their part of the counter.

Greetings and introductions went around the counter. Shin was introduced to the teacher of the team, Yuuhi Kurenai, a woman with red eyes and an outfit that seemed to have been made by bandages. The only female of the team, Hyuuga Hinata, boasted white eyes and a shy demeanor. Shin had a feeling she was related to Neji. The two males of the team, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba also greeted him. Aburame Shino wore a coat whose neck reached to cover the bottom half of his face. On the bridge of his nose, there rested a pair of sunglasses. Everything about him seemed to point to mystery. Inuzuka Kiba, a boy wearing a coat with a furred hood and with red triangular markings on his face, had with him a white brown-spotted dog, which was introduced as Akamaru. The two of them combined seemed to make the area just that much louder.

Shin greeted each of them carefully, startled yet once again by all the differing personalities in just this one area, in this one team. They sat with them and ordered their choice of ramen. Having never eaten ramen before, he asked Hinata for her opinion, seeing her look over at him shyly. She ordered for him a bowl of miso ramen and when the food came, they all dug in gratefully. Each was hungry for different reasons, but all ravenous nevertheless. With the first taste of the miso ramen, Shin was filled with the curious emotion again; a sense of familiarity, a sense of comfort, a sense of happiness.

"Wow, this is really good!" he exclaimed with wonder, causing those at the table to look up curiously.

"You've never eaten it before?"

"No, that's why I had Hyuuga-san order for me."

The aforementioned girl started before replying, "You can call me Hinata. So this is really your first time eating?"

"Yup, I never had a chance to eat ramen before. I regret that now, this is really good! But then, I don't think I would want to eat this everyday."

"Why not?" Kakashi asked with narrowed eyes, 'Could he be...but it doesn't make sense...'

"Well, the best foods are only meant to be eaten once in a while, right? Eating this everyday would ruin its good flavor!"

Pondering, the group agreed and with that the slight tension broke and they started to chat excitedly. Soon laughter filled the table and weaved through the air of the shop. People began to enter the shop, wondering who was laughing so cheerfully. Soon, news spread of the stranger laughing with Kurenai's team, Kakashi, Lee and Gai. Speculations and stories of the stranger were created. Within a few minutes, the part of town that seemed gloomy only moments before, buzzed with curiosity and excitement. The villagers expected to see strangers around the town, after all, the Chuunin exams were taking place. But a stranger that so readily laughed with one of their teams puzzled them. And so, gossip about that perked up a town that never even realized it was down.

======

The meal was soon finished and it was time for the group to part ways. Kurenai's team was to go to the field to train some more; Kakashi and Gai each went to run their own errands; and Lee went off to show Shin more of the village. With full stomachs, they parted and wished each other well.

Lee and Shin continued to walk through the town. Everywhere they turned, they found another shop to talk about, another shop to go into. And with every shop they passed, more people continued to gossip. Soon, it elevated to a point where they, the villagers, sent out a little girl carrying flowers up to them.

The girl shyly offered the bunch of tiger lilies held in her hands to Shin. The villagers at that spot, watched him curiously, wondering how he would react. Shin knelt down in front of the girl, took the flowers and patted her on the head. "Thank you flower-sama, to what do I owe this honor?" Shin smiled brightly at the little girl, of course, no one saw the smile, for his scarf was still covering his face, but the smile was heard through his voice.(3)

The girl giggled, "Okaa-san brought the flowers from the Yamanaka flower shop. She said that she wanted to give you the best flowers available from our village to welcome you here." she recited word for word, or close to what her mom wanted her to say. "Can you show me where the flower shop is?" Shin asked her, tilting his head at the girl. She ran ahead a bit and looked back, "Follow me!" she said.

He walked up to her with a glance to Lee and held the girl's hand, waiting to be led. "What's your name anyway?" "Yuri, my name is Yuri" "Yuri, huh? That's a pretty name. It means lily, right?" "Yup, it's my mom's favorite flower!"

Laughing Shin replied, "Well I think you're as lovely as the flower you were named after." The villagers silently approved his choice of words. Yuri, around this part of the village, was highly adored. If Shin had treated her differently, there was no telling what would have happened. With the good reaction, the people began to spread more gossip, this one telling of the stranger's kindness, and apparent love of children.

Both Lee and Shin followed Yuri to Yamanaka's flower shop. When they arrived, they found both Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura. Yamanaka Ino had a high long blonde ponytail, a purple outfit covered by an apron and arm warmers. Haruno Sakura wore a red dress to match with her short pink hair. Lee cried out in glee, fully realizing the shop they were in. He excitedly greeted the two and introduced them to Shin. Meanwhile, Yuri went to find her mother to introduce to Shin.

Around the corner, she found her mom and led her to the boy. Walking up to Shin, Yuri's mother bowed slightly and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Yuri's mother, Tamashii Rei. And who might you be?"

Shin turned and also bowed, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Shin. I'm here visiting for the next few weeks."

"Really? Well, I hope you enjoy your stay here. It was nice meeting you. I'm sure we'll see each other again. Say goodbye to Shin, Yuri" Rei beckoned to her daughter, anxious to leave to tell more stories about the boy in front of her. Yuri skipped the short distance up to Shin, tugged at his cloak and signaled him to bend down. Shin did so and was surprised by the kiss she bestowed upon him on the cheek. "I'll see you around!" Yuri giggled and ran to her mother who was waiting by the door.

"Well, well, well, it seems that our new arrival is already on the receiving end of a crush." The remark came from Ino, who seemed amused by the events which unfolded in front of her. Sakura lightly hit Ino and quietly scolded her, "Ino! Really, you just met the guy, don't say stuff like that." Shin laughed in reply, "I don't mind, really. It's nice to know you've accepted me enough to be able to tease me."

"An interesting way of putting it."

"Shikamaru! What are you doing here?" The group turned toward the door where two boys were standing. Akimichi Chouji was a large boy carrying a bag a potato chips and every once in a while, reaching in to eat one, or rather, several. Next to him, the boy who spoke, Nara Shikamaru, leaned against the doorframe with a lazy look on his face. To Shin, everything about the boy screamed a slow and lazy personality.

The boy pushed himself off the doorframe and walked up to Shin...slowly. So slowly, that Shin decided to just meet him halfway. They held out their hands, shook and introduced themselves. Ino repeated her question and Shikamaru replied, "Asuma-sensei wants us to meet him at the Korean BBQ. He said something about celebrating...something."

"We have something to celebrate?" Ino questioned Shikamaru, puzzled over the reason of their outing.

"I'm not sure, but apparently, he wants us to meet him there now."

"I can't leave right now, I have to look after the shop."

Sakura glanced around, "Well, I could stay here if you want, there doesn't seem to be much business today anyway." "Are you sure? Asuma-sensei probably just wants an excuse to pig out without seeming like he is." "Yeah, you guys go ahead, I don't have anything to do anyway."

With those words, Ino took off her apron and prepared to exit the shop. She turned around before she did and said, "You can close up shop early today. I don't think there's going to be a lot of people buying flowers after the stall in the Chuunin exam." Sakura nodded and waved goodbye. After Ino left, she turned to the two remaining boys and asked, "Are you guys going anywhere today?"

Lee answered, "I was bringing Shin around the village, but when Yuri brought us here, we walked through most of the town already." As those words exited Lee's mouth, the shop's door opened and the curious people outside poured in, using the excuse of buying flowers to see the stranger. Suddenly, with the shop full of people wanting to buy flowers, Sakura looked at the two boys pleadingly and said, "Well, if you're not going to do anything, can you help me out? We seem to be a bit busy now." Stunned by the sudden rush of people. the two boys nodded and Shin took his place around the shop while Lee helped by going behind the register. Sakura was helping the customers to wrap, arrange, and pot their flowers.

Shin walked among the crowd, pointing out flowers to some, leading others through the crowd to the register. Soon, more and more people seemed to have questions and it was a long time before everyone was satisfied. Slowly, but surely, the crowd began to thin, people started to trickle out through the doorway. Most had already purchased flowers and left because of the lack of reason to stay any longer. By then, a couple of hours had passed and the sun had set. The three teenagers collapsed in front of the register after closing the doors behind the last of the customers.

"You're good for the business Shin, you should come over more often." Sakura turned to Shin and continued, "I haven't seen this many people needing to buy flowers since..."

"Since what?" Shin looked at Sakura curiously, imploring her to continue. Instead, Lee replied, "Since the Sandaime's funeral." "Your third Hokage?" "Aa, we haven't had much reason to celebrate or mourn quite as much since then."

"Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't know. Besides, it's been five years since then." Here, Sakura's voice dropped, "Also five years since he disappeared."

Noticing the sad look on her face, Shin decided to refrain from asking any more questions. He was saved from having to say anything else when Lee jumped up and exclaimed, "Well, we still have a little bit of the town to explore, let's go Shin. We'll see you later Sakura."

Sakura nodded before getting up, Shin following shortly after. "I'll see you around Shin, it was nice to meet you." "Yeah, you too."

Shin and Lee walked to the door and said another farewell before stepping out into the night air. =Grumble= Shin chuckled nervously, "It seems that I'm hungry again." "That's fine, we're going to be passing a restaurant in the direction we're going. Can you wait a little bit more?" Lee said anxiously. He took his duties very seriously, he didn't want his guest to become uncomfortable. "Nah, it's okay. I can wait a while." "Good." With that they continued to walk.

"The village looks nice late at night."

"Yeah, some of the shops and houses put up nice lights after dark. We like having our nights calm and soothing. Each light here signifies something different." (4)

"Really? What does that mean"

"That light is for peaceful dreams. The one next to it signifies soothing dreams"

"Oh! And the one over that shop over there?"

"That one's nice. It's for strength to fulfill your dreams"

"I'm noticing a trend here."

Lee laughed, "This particular street tends to put up lights for dreams every few weeks. You're lucky to see this. Any other time, the lights wouldn't be as coordinated. It creates a different mood around here."

"Yeah, I feel the calm here tonight. Ano sa, ano sa, is that the restaurant you were talking about?" Shin paused when Lee abruptly turned his head toward him. "What? What is it?"

"Nothing, sorry, you just reminded me of someone for a second."

A wave of deja vu washed over Shin. "You know, I'm starting to get really annoyed. You're the third person today who thought I seemed like someone."

Lee's mood seemed to dim at that statement, "Sorry about that, it's just the person you remind us about...was very important to us."

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't understand. Want to talk about it?"

"It's okay, like Sakura said, it's been five years. We should probably stop thinking about it. Anyway, that's the restaurant I was talking about. Let's go! They have really good sushi there!"

Slightly puzzled by Lee's change in mood, Shin shrugged it off and put the thought away for another day. For right now, he was hungry.

======

An hour later, with yet another full stomach, the two leisurely walked back toward Lee's house. It seemed that Lee's house was near the middle of the village. Since they had eaten at the edge of the town, they had a long way to walk before they reached the beds that were crying out their names. They walked in silence, taking in their surroundings and the patterns the lights created.

[[Onee-chan, are you there?]]

I'm right here otouto. What do you think of the village?

[[I like it, it's really peaceful here. And the people here are nice.]]

They are. But have you noticed anything about the village and it's people?

[[They're...gloomy. Not as much as it seemed when I first came here, but it's... hard to explain. I can't really say that they're a sad people, more like there's...something missing that they don't really realize. Something small, though, not something like a great leader or the village's friend more like...]]

A person who holds the heart of the village?

[[No, it's not that...it's something more subtle.]]

If you say so otouto.

[[You seem to be saying that a lot today.]]

=giggle= Well, today is a day full of unknowns, even I didn't know things would turn out this way. I'll see you later. Take care.

[[Ja ne, onee-chan.]]

Shin turned his head toward Lee, apparently, he had been trying to get Shin's attention.

"What do you think of the town so far?" 'Whoa, deja vu' Shin chuckled and shook his head when Lee looked at him curiously. "It's been nice. I had a good time walking around the village. The people here are...different."

"But in a good way, right?"

"Oh, definitely! It's just that I haven't been around such a versatile crowd. There's so many different personalities and you're all so relaxed with each other."

"We've been though a lot. We're a pretty tight-knit village here in Konohagakure. Look, we're here! I want to show you around the house before we go to bed, just in case you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night."

Lee took out his key and opened the door into a short hallway. He showed Shin the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom and what seemed to be a training room with tatami mats covering everything except the ceiling. He gave a short story about each room, most having to do with his team and something funny that happened to each. They went up the steps and he showed him the three bedrooms and the bathroom. (5)

Then came the inevitable question, "Where's your parents?"

At that inquiry, Lee's bubbly mood seemed to diminish even further and he simply said, "They're uh...not here." (6)

"Oh. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, have a good night's sleep."

"You too."

The two teenagers went into their own bedrooms and each collapsed on their beds. The last thing on both their minds were, 'What's going to happen tomorrow?' It was an interesting and exciting day, one of introductions and unknown to all, one of reintroductions.

To be continued in Chapter Three: And You Are?

=====

(1) The reason that a random girl's name came up was because I needed Shin a way to realize that Neji and Lee were sort of together without actually verbalizing it. It's not important but the story that my mind just conjured up behind this is that Akari was a girl Shin met in his travels. She had a really huge crush on him and she was pretty vicious. She wouldn't let other girls near him and she would always blush when he was there. Pointing out her name was sort of a way to show the relationship between Neji and Lee.

(2) Some of you may have noticed that I switched from Kakashi-san to Kakashi-sempai. =blank look= I said, some of you =even more blank looks= Well, now you noticed. The insult here is very subtle. I tried to play off of the fact that the -san held more respect, it's usually given to someone either older than you or much more respectable, although not in the -sama realm yet. The -sempai honorific shows more that you admit that the person knows more and is slightly older. The insult here is really just that in that short amount of time, Kakashi got demoted an honorific. It might not make much sense, but eh, whatever.

(3) Here, I made Shin call Yuri flower-sama. I was referring to her bringing him flowers. The honorific that Shin gives Yuri, (flower) -sama, is more of a way to sweet talk to a little girl, than really saying that she's better than him. And it makes a girl happy to be referred this way. Well, at that age, anyway, makes 'em feel important.

(4) I just made this whole thing up, it's something I pulled out of my behind. However, if anyone actually knows something like this, tell me. It's nice to learn new stuff.

(5) I might plan to make short stories out of this. Although there's a high chance I'm going to slip in Neji/Lee if I do. I'm not too sure. They should be humor stories, but it won't have anything to do with this story. If anyone wants to see it, drop a note.

(6) This is Na Hoku's (Seito and I) way of avoiding the question of where Lee's parents are. Someone tell us?!

La/=/er: Um...I was delirious from hunger when I wrote most of this chapter. So the things I referred to in my notes are things that I wrote while in the peak of my deliriousness. As you can see in this chapter Neji/Lee came up a bit. Speaking of their relationship. Seito and I decided on something. Since Seito only really tolerates the set pairings, Neji/Lee and KakaIru, any reference to them is most likely going to be in my chapters. Thus, they won't be a huge deal in here. Just as a side thing that I could always fall back on if I hit a road block. I'm going to see if I could change her opinion though. Anyone wanna help?

Seito: There's nothing wrong with the pairings, I just don't really think about them. Nor do I see the connections. Anyway the other question, the issue of whether or not Shin can perform jutsus won't come up for some time. Right now, we're just establishing the whole story setting and stuff.

La/=/er: I thought you were still hiding from Seika?

Seito: Not anymore. =points to a cage= That's where she's going if I see her. I'm not running anymore. I'll see you guys next chapter!

La/=/er: So yeah, that was my first chapter ever. I hope you enjoyed! I'm saying this for the first time ever, please click on the happy little button down there that says go. It will lead you to a window in which you can comment on our story. I accept bashing of my chapters (don't do it to Seito tho, if you do, I'll come after you) as long as they make sense, to most people in the world.

Review! And have a wonderful day! /=snicker= You are so corny/

Written: 6/27/04 - 6/29/04 (You see what I did for you guys? Started the day the first chapter was posted and worked non-stop on the 29th. I wrote the beginning stuff on the 27th and 28th)