Welcome, welcome. This is chapter 6. Wow, already. Anyways, sorry for the long wait. My dad and sister got in this argument and my dad got really pissed, so he took the internet off. It was…horrible. There was nothing to do. Anyways, onto the chapter. Thanks for the reviews, guys! Keep 'em coming…In the meantime, Uzumaki Akiko is here to entertain you.

None of your concern: Oh crap…you're right…oh my God…I can't believe I wrote that…I have to go edit that now…oh my God….well, thanks for telling me o.o;

Rikki-Boy: THANKS! well, I wrote two more chapters…so YAY! Ha ha ha

Agent Vash: Rawrrrrrr HA HA HA!

Disclaimer: I own Akiko, Hiro, all of Akiko's attacks, all of Hiro's attacks, the little girl in the white dress, Ame Kishi and the jester. But feel free to imagine you're in my story. You can be the person who's in the background who's fanning over Naruto XD.

-----------------------------------Chapter 6- Heaven and Hell---------------------------------------

The next day, Akiko woke up with a huge headache. She stared up at the ceiling and tried to remember what she did yesterday. Yesterday was like a blur. She sat up in bed and sighed. She was so groggy this morning. She got up and walked to the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror for 10 minutes before leaving.

She fell back onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling. What did she do yesterday? Akiko hated it when this kind of thing happened. She sat up and looked through the window. It was raining again. And it looked like there was gonna be a storm.

She suddenly felt something in her room. A kind of presence. She turned around, and saw nothing. The room turned cold.

"Who's there?" she called out. She suddenly got this weird feeling. She couldn't see straight. She couldn't concentrate…

She slowly blinked a couple of times, but she couldn't see anything. She could feel cold hands grasping her, but she couldn't do anything about it. She looked around a little, but then all she could see was black.

Akiko suddenly woke up with a start. She was all cold and clammy. She looked around her, taking in her surroundings. Her breathing was heavy, and she trembled all over.

'Oh God…It was just a dream…' she told herself. She heard a small noise from across her, like a book falling. She gasped, and tried to calm herself down.

"Jeez…"

She lay back in bed, and closed her eyes. She wanted to go home so badly. She couldn't go to sleep after that, so she got up and walked out of her room. She walked past the kitchen, and onto the balcony. It was really cold this night. She shivered, and looked at all the tiny little shops and houses down below.

She could feel something whirling around her ankles. It slowly raced up her legs, and then stopped at her waist. She looked down, but there was nothing there. She turned around and saw nothing.

"Okay…" Akiko turned to look back at the trees. 'I swear if this keeps on happening, I'm gonna go crazy,' she thought.

After a while, she began feeling cold so she headed back inside. But before she left, she turned back to look outside. The moon was out…

Akiko looked away sadly, and then closed the door. How could she not notice all the sand laying on the floor?


The next day, I mean, the real next day, Akiko woke up late so she decided to stay home, while Naruto was out. She decided to put on regular day-to-day clothes, not the ones she wore for training. She put her brown, silky hair into a ponytail, and tied her head-band to her arm. She decided to explore Konoha today; maybe she would meet some more people.

She left the apartment, and made her way to downtown Konoha.


Naruto finished training early, so he decided to make his way to the ramen stand. He was really happy today. You know why? Because he found two coupons for ramen in his room today. He sat down on a chair and ordered his ramen. While he was waiting, he saw Hinata walking around.

"Hinata-chan!" He happily called to her. Hinata turned to look at him. When she saw him calling her over, she blushed a deep red.

She slowly made her way to Naruto and sat down beside him. She started fiddling with her fingers, like she always did.

"Hinata-chan, what's up?" Naruto grinned at her.

"N-nothing…Naruto-kun," she whispered. Naruto could barely hear her, but he made it out.

"Want some ramen? Look, I found two coupons!"

Hinata blushed some more. She smiled a little bit.

"N-n-no, that's o-ok," she said. She looked at Naruto from the corner of her eye. He was staring at her, so she quickly looked away. "U-um, so how a-are you, N-N-Naruto-kun?" she asked.

Naruto smiled. "I'm great!" he replied. Hinata smiled. They began talking, even if Hinata kept on stammering. After a while, she suddenly stopped talking.

She looked around her, afraid. But she could see no one. Naruto started looking around too, but he didn't know what Hinata was looking at.

"I-I have t-to go n-now," she whispered. She looked around again. Naruto stared at her in confusion. She quietly left, and looked back at Naruto before disappearing into the crowd.

'Strange…'


Akiko made her way to the top of a hill, so she could see all of Konoha. Today was a nice day; she met Lee, Tenten, Neji, and their master Gui, who was so strange. And for some odd reason, Lee and Gui had green speedos on…and bushman eyebrows, it scared her.

She also spotted Shikamaru in the crowd, so she made her way towards him. She clung onto his arm for most of the day, and made him walk around with her. When he said no, she would start to cry (pfft, yeah right), so that Shikamaru would have to walk with her. She knew it was wrong, so when she was leaving, she bought him a present. You want to know what that present was? We'll talk about that later, heh heh heh…

Anyways, she made her way towards the top of this huge hill, and stopped. She was so tired! She decided to stop here, she could see most of Konoha anyways…She sat down on a bench, and closed her eyes.

"Hey," a voice called out to her. She opened her eyes, and a looked around. She saw Sasuke standing beside her. She sat up straight and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Hey…" she said. She loved the way he looked…his eyes…his smile…She suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and moved over. Sasuke sat down beside her. They both sat there, looking at the sun set.

"So how was your day, Sasuke-kun?" Akiko asked him. He looked at Akiko and smiled.

"It was kinda bad in the morning…but it got better when I saw you," he said. Akiko looked at him, and then looked away. She lightly blushed. "So how was your day?" Sasuke finally asked her. She looked at Sasuke, and then began explaining how her day was. They began talking about other stuff as well.

"You look so different from Naruto," Sasuke told Akiko. Akiko turned to look at him.

"Of course I do. I'm a girl. You're so funny, Sasuke-kun," Akiko said. She smiled at him.

Sasuke reached out and moved strands of hair from her face. He moved closer to Akiko. Akiko slightly backed away. Sasuke smiled. He held Akiko's hand and then went back to looking at the sunset. Akiko looked at her hand, and then at Sasuke. She blushed. Sasuke turned to look at her, and they both couldn't keep their eyes off each other. Sasuke moved closer…and closer…

"Sasuke….kun?"

Sasuke and Akiko broke the gaze and stared at Sakura.

"What…How…?" Sakura started. She couldn't even finish her sentence. She turned away and started to walk.

Akiko felt so guilty. Why was she doing this? She did such a horrible thing. Sasuke got up and said

"Sorry. I have to go now," And he left. Akiko just stared at him.

She sighed. How could she do such a horrible thing? She felt so guilty…

"No, no. I don't want this…" Night had set in, and once again, the moon was out.

'What do you want then?' It seemed like the moon was asking her.

"I want to go home," she said. She started to cry. She looked at all the tears falling down.

"Stop that,"

Akiko stopped. She recognized that voice…She looked out from the corner of her eye, and stopped.

Right there, sitting beside her…was Gaara. His eyes were closed, and his gourd was lying on the ground, near the bench. His arms were crossed. Akiko turned to look at him.

"Oh…no…"


Sakura felt so lonely. Why would Sasuke do that? She felt like she was such a loser. No wonder Sasuke never liked her…he probably liked girls who were strong, unlike Sakura. Sakura felt so small at times, like she couldn't do anything. She felt that someone always had to look out for her.

Right now she was sitting on the forest floor, near a tree. For the past 10 minutes, she was just sitting there, and thinking about how much of a loser she was. She felt so down…She just kept on picking at the little flowers that grew on the forest floor. She ran out of tears as soon as she sat down.

She felt so sick…she didn't think she could go to practice tomorrow…

Suddenly, she could feel someone's arms wrap around her stomach from behind. She gasped. Sasuke whispered words into her ear, and pulled her closer to him. Sakura blushed furiously. She sighed happily…

And then was brought back to reality when she realized something was scratching at her ankles.

"Huh?" She turned and looked at the most cutest kitten sitting there, scratching at her ankles. It looked so cold…She picked it up and held it close.

Silently, he kneeled down beside her. He saw her smiling at the kitten, and he saw her crying. He smiled and shook his head.

"You're hopeless…you know that?"

Sakura turned to the side and looked at Sasuke. Sasuke was smiling at her. Sakura looked away. Sasuke sat down beside her. The kitten wriggled out of Sakura's hands and ran towards Sasuke. It playfully jumped at his knees, and then fell asleep in front of him.

"Sorry..." Sasuke said to Sakura. Sakura looked at the ground. Should she accept his apology?

"No...n-no…Sasuke…kun…How can you just say it like that?" She shook her head as freshly fallen tears fell from her eyes. Sasuke stared at her and then looked back down at the ground.

"Why…didn't you just say no the first time? You knew I liked you…" she continued. She stood up.

"You could have told me…." She started. Sasuke looked up at her, but then she looked away. "You could have told me you loved Uzumaki Akiko," she whispered. She started to walk away, but then stopped. She turned and said,

"Be careful with that cat,"

And then she left Sasuke in the darkness of the night.


Shikamaru opened the front door of his house and entered. It was so late at night, and he was so tired. In his hand, he was holding Akiko's present. He didn't have a chance to open it yet though. He made his way to his room and switched on the light. He tossed the present onto his bed as he sat down. For most of the day, he had to walk around with Akiko. It was so troublesome. He remembered her telling him that she loved window shopping even if she didn't get a lot of chances to do it.

He yawned and stretched. He looked at the present that Akiko had given him. He took it out of the bag, and stared at it. It was wrapped up. He lazily opened the wrapping paper, and then just stared at it.

"What the hell!"

Inside, was volume 1 of Icha Icha Paradise. He just stared at it in horror. He quickly flipped through the book, thinking this was just some weird kind of joke. When he flipped to the middle of the book, a picture fell out. He picked up the picture and looked at it. It was a picture of Akiko at her house in the sand village. He turned the picture to the back, and read what it said-

"The book is for men's romantic fantasies! You know what I mean…Best Friends Forever! Ok, now you give me a picture of you!"

-Akiko

Shikamaru just dropped everything.

What…the…hell..?

He looked at the fallen bag, and picked it up. There was still something in there. He reached in and pulled it out. It was…a Shikamaru plushie!

"Huh?" Shikamaru said. He looked on the tag, and it said-

"I made one for everyone! This one's yours "

Shikamaru weirdly stared at the plushie. Then, he heard a knock on his door. He quickly stuffed the plushie, and the bag, and the magazine under his bed. But it was too late.

His mother entered the room and was about to nag at him about being late, until she saw the magazine in his hands.

"Shikamaru! What is that!" she yelled at him. Shikamaru dropped everything he was holding and quickly backed away from his mother.

"It's not what you think!" he yelled. His mother picked up the magazine, and then fainted.

'I'm in trouble…' Shikamaru sighed unhappily.


Naruto paced back and forth in his living room. Where was she? He was waiting for 3 hours so far. Akiko hadn't come home yet. He sighed. He hated worrying…and waiting. He walked into Akiko's room and looked around. Everything was organized, nothing on the ground.

He walked over to her dresser and looked at all the photos she had on her desk. There was one she had with her and two other girls. Naruto could see some writing in the corner of picture. It said "Graduation Day" on it. He put that down, and picked up another one. This one…this one…had Akiko and…Gaara in it. Only they looked younger. Maybe, 6 or 7. Naruto dropped the picture. Akiko knew Gaara? That same Gaara that tried to kill Lee?

Naruto walked away from the dresser and looked around for more stuff. He found a letter on her bed that was addressed to her. It was already opened, so Naruto took it out. It was from a person named "Ame Kishi". Must have been one of Akiko's friends from the sand. It read—

"Hey Aki-chan! I can't believe you're gone…we all miss you here. Guess what? Aiko passed her finals! She started crying so much after. I wish you were here. I heard you had to leave because some weirdo guy was after you. Is that true? We're all worried over here, stop making us worry! So how is life so far? We're all fine over here…I also heard that Gaara kid, the one who you kept on talking too (and I have no clue how you were able to do that), is coming to the leaf. We don't know why, but people are saying he likes you. But we don't believe that. Maybe he's just coming for some other reason. He's so scary! Um…sorry. Anyways, you ABSOLUTLY have to visit us. It's so lonely over here without you! And bring your brother too! What's his name again? Narrey? Nuto? Oh well, I'll figure it out some time. Ha ha ha. Anyways, write back as soon as possible!

-Ame

Naruto stared at the letter. How could this girl think his name is Narrey? It's Naruto! Anyways, he re-read the letter again. Which weirdo guy? What was she talking about? Come to think about it…no one really told him why she was coming. Other then "We think it's time you should know," No, there has to be another reason. And another thing, what was this whole Gaara Akiko thing? Naruto put the letter back into its envelope and put it back on her bed.

He sat there thinking about many more things. Finally, he got up and went to the kitchen to wait some more.


Akiko and Gaara sat silently on the bench. They both were gazing at the moon in front of them.

Finally, Akiko broke the silence.

"How did you know I was here?" Gaara didn't say anything. Akiko looked at the ground. "You never talk to me anymore. You know I don't like that," Gaara still remained silent. What was going on in his head? Akiko sighed. "I guess you must have seen me and Sasuke, right?" She looked at Gaara, but he kept on looking at the night sky. She looked away. "I don't know what was wrong with me…I'm so—"

"Don't,"

Akiko looked at Gaara. He was looking at the ground now. He closed his eyes.

"Then…please don't…be mad at me," Akiko whispered. She laid her head on his shoulder, and fell asleep. Gaara looked at her from the corner of his eye, and then went back to watching the night. Sand flowed out of his gourd and loosely wrapped itself around Akiko, pulling her closer to him.


I think someone got seriously burned in this chapter. I get so squealish on parts like these. And I'm the one who wrote them -.- Yes, I'm weird. That's why my stories are so twisted. Or…story. Or is it stories? O.o; I just have this thing for writing imaginations, and then making the person "snap back into reality". It's so funny. Anyways, I got the idea for the Icha Icha Paradise thing from my head. It's so funny! Man, Shikamaru's in deep trouble now. I also don't know what a kitten would be doing roaming the forest at night time. Maybe it was out partying, and then got drunk. Ha ha ha, just kidding. "Be careful with that cat," Ha ha ha, I got that line from Constantine, ha ha ha. Anyways, R and R! Chapter 7 coming soon…