(A/N: Sorry, I just realized... Back then, Katsuaki and Naruto weren't 16, they were twelve. And they're 14 now. K? K.)

Katsuaki
By Areku1993

Yamato and team Kakashi, consisting of Naruto, Sakura and Sai, were about to move out, when Naruto suddenly remembered something. Something big.

"Sakura! Sai! Can this wait? Just another ten minutes?"

"Why, Naruto?" Sai asked, that annoying cheerful look on his face. "Are you scared? Cowardly?"

Naruto shot him a cold glare. "There's someone I have to see..."

"Girlfriend?"

"She's NOT my girlfriend...!"

"Oh!" Sakura smiled. "Katsuaki! The Hyuuga girl? She lives nearby, why don't you come with us, Sai? You too, Yamato sensei!"

Naruto scratched at his hair furiously. "Great, great, invite Orochimaru why don't you..."

Naruto tapped his foot on the ground. "Come on, come on, open up..."

"No ones inside... Up here... Who is it? I was asleep, so I'm afraid I didn't see you."

Naruto stepped back from the porch and looked up. There was Katsuaki, sitting on the roof, but she looked different. Her hair was up, and her eyes stood out more, the color fading late into the famous Hyuuga white eyes. She wore a white miniskirt and tank top, but with a black jumpsuit underneath, with mesh sleeves. She wore no shoes, for... No reason, really.

Katsuaki's face screwed up in confusion, but soon she beamed. "Naruto! You're back!" She blinked down at him. "...But where were you?"

Naruto grinned. "I was training! What about you? You look different."

Katsuaki jumped down while Naruto went on, "You're hair is shorter, I guess, and your eyes are whiter, and you're taller and..." His eyes paused momentarily on her chest before moving on. "... Older. And hey, you still have your byakugen! I guess Kakashi sensei's been taking good care of you!"

Katsuaki blushed and smiled. "I guess he has..."

Katsuaki turned on her byakugen and looked around. "Who're they?" She asked without turning towards Sai, Yamato or Sakura.

"Sai is replacing Sasuke in our team, and Kakashi is busy, so Yamato is leading our team... And you know Sakura."

"Righto." She turned to look at Sai and Sakura and Yamato and turned off her byakugen. "Hi. I'm Katsuaki Hyuuga, it's nice to meet you both!" She smiled and shook Yamato's hand, offering hers to Sai. Sai just sort of looked at it.
Katsuaki pulled her hand back. Then it shot back down and grabbed Sai's, shaking happily. "It's nice to have you back, Naruto. It was quiet here without you. Do you want to come in?"

"Sorry, Katsuaki, but we have to go again. Big mission!"

Katsuaki grinned. "All right. Come back alive, you hear?"

"Gotcha, Katsu. Bye!"

When team Kakashi finally disappeared around a building, Katsuaki sighed and leaned on the doorframe. Naruto... At least come back soon... I have no one else to talk to when you're gone...

Katsuaki returned in the house and we directly to her room. Her home also doubled as a gift shop, which she ran with her mother, but they were closed today. She flung herself on her bed and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

"Katsuaki!"

She sat up, hollering an irritated "WHAT!" back to her mother.

"Come downstairs into the shop! It's urgent!"

Katsuaki slid down the banister and trotted into the shop, alert. "What is it? Someone here?"

Two men sat in the shop, their expressionless animal masks turning towards Katsuaki. "Katsuaki Hyuuga?" One asked. Katsuaki nodded.

"We understand that your father has been gone for a long time," One of them began. "Do you have any idea where he is? This is important."

Katsuaki scoured her brain, but came up blank. "Nope. I'm sorry... You're from the ANBU, right? Why don't you just run around near Konoha, ask the Kazekage, or whatever?"

The ANBU ninjas ignored this. "Are you sure you have absolutely NO IDEA where he is? We need him to go on a very, VERY important mission!"

Katsuaki stood up. "I'll go on the mission. How hard could it be?"

"Oh, this is a very important mission indeed."

One of the ANBU ninjas unrolled a scroll and held it up, while the other one pointed. "This is the one-year peace treaty we have with the sand. All of our birds have disappeared, and the only one that came back was our fastest hawk. And she died several hours later. We need someone to run this to the sand."

"But why my father? We have many more ninjas."

"We want to test the Hyuuga blood."

"Katsuaki, you're a very fast runner. You can do this, of couse. It's just a trek to the sand and back." Her mother urged.

Katsuaki took the peace treaty and looked it over. "Hm..."

"There's something coming!"

Naruto glared at the black-haired boy. "And how would you know, Sai?"

"If you were a real ninja you'd be able to hear it, dope!"

Naruto, Sai, Sakura and Yamato stopped. Listening, they looked around and backed into the shrubbery. It was clearly not a ninja, for whoever it was did now hide his or her presence.

All of a sudden, Katsuaki leapted through the clearing, her hand clamped tightly over the peace treaty.

Sproing.

Moments later, Katsuaki's ear was pushed into the ground, a firm hand holding her arm behind her back and the side of her head in the dirt. Sai smiled annoyingly. "Why were you following us?"

"I wasn't," Katsuaki growled. Her hand twitched. "I have to deliver this peace treaty to Kazekage Gaara. Now get off me, pervert..."

"SAI!"

Naruto crouched down and bent his head close to the groud to look at Katsuaki's face. "Sorry, Katsuaki. And Sai's not a pervert, I think he's gay. He wears a miniskirt and a tank top."

Sai twitched and scowled, but soon regained his cheerful smile.

Katsuaki laughed. "Fine. Just get the queer off my back so I can deliver this to Gaara."

That was the last straw. Sai whipped out the long knife on his back and twirled it, aiming for the back of Katsuaki's skull.

He was interrupted by a giggle.

Katsuaki grinned. "I see you... Put that knife away!" Her byakugen was on, and she was watching the whirling blade. She was scared... But she was a Hyuuga, and even if she wasn't a ninja, she was courageous. Tossing the peace treaty to Naruto, she used her free hand to reach back to poke Sai's arm. The knife spun away into a tree as Sai pulled his arm back with a jerk, wincing. "Byakugen can see the coil system..." He muttered angrily, leaping off Katsuaki into a tree.

Katsuaki took the treaty from Naruto and ran off, stopping at the edge of the clearing. She turned towards him and flashed a grin. "Now you get on with your little mission thing. I'll be home by six o'clock tomorrow." She winked and blew him a kiss. "Byyyeee."

Watching her disappear in the plants, Naruto blushed red and fell over.

"Naruto!" Yamato scolded. "Get up. Sai, get down here, we're on a mission!"

Katsuaki took a whiff of the air and grinned. Ah the sand. The air was so dusty here, not at all clear like the leaf's air. It wasn't lovely, but it was a change.

She walked through the crowded streets, swinging a lanyard from one hand. On the end of the lanyard was a pass that stated she was visiting from the leaf, given to her at the main gate.

Pausing in the streets, still swinging that lanyard, her eyes turned to admire a kimono hanging in a show window. She felt a thump, and looked up.

A boy with purple makeup on his face blinked, and grinned evilly. "You hit me."

"I wasn't paying attention, I, um, did see you, and I, um..." She took several steps back. "Sorry?"

The boy (AKA Kankurou) took a step forward, pulling his marionette off his back. "Sorry, huh..."

Katsuaki just squealed and held up her pass. "I'm from Konoha! I have to deliver something to the kazekage!"

"Gaara?" Kankurou blinked. "OF COURSE!" He put his marionette on his back and shook her hand vigorously. "You have the peace treaty from Konoha. The last bird they sent said it would come soon. But we haven't gotten any messages since!"

Katsuaki glared. "Mm. All of our birds are now dead or injured by unknown causes. My name is Katsuaki Hyuuga of the main branch family."

"Hyuuga! So you have byakugen!"

"...Yeah..."

Kankurou was about to reply, when Katsuaki turned it on all of a sudden. "Do you know where Gaara is now? I promised... This guy I'd be home by six o'clock tomorrow."

"What guy?"

Katsuaki turned red. "... You probably don't know him."

"So he's a loser."

"No!"

"What's his name?"

"N--"

"Naruto?"

"God..."

"GOOOOOOD BYE!" Katsuaki spun around and took off at a run. Say good bye to the Hyuuga courage.

"Kazekage, sir, there is someone here to see you."

Gaara blinked slowly. He wasn't planning this..."

"Thank you." Katsuaki nodded to the assistant and closed the door behind her. "Kazekage, sir, I'm from Konoha, my name is Katsuaki Hyuuga." She unrolled the scroll. "This is the peace treaty... All of our messenger birds are dead, so we had to run it over by hand."

"'We?'"

"Well, just me. Stupid ANBU sent me, I'm not even a ninja. Just a kid who can run too fast for her own freaking good..." She set the scroll down on the table. "Here..."

"Aren't you going to read it?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm the Kazekage."

"...Right..."

She picked the scroll back up and unrolled it, scanning the words. "Erm..." She looked up at Gaara, then set the scroll back on the table. "I don't read very well, sir..." She sighed nervously and turned. "I'll just leave and get it later..."

She left the room and closed the door, leaning on it and sighing again. Her byakugen on, she watched Gaara pick up the scroll and unroll it to read.

"Watching Gaara? He'll kill you if he found out."

Katsuaki's byakugen picked up the shape and details of Temari. She turned and shivered. "Uh, I'm sorry, I was just in there, to deliver something from Konoha, and..."

"Don't be stiff. I'll keep quiet, no matter how hard it is for me." Temari smiled and turned. "Come on, I'll show you around. It'll take Gaara ages to consider his options and sign the stupid thing anyway. The sand isn't exactly a tourist spot, but we have our moments in the spotlight."

About an hour later, Temari led Katsuaki to a cafe to eat.

"So you're Katsuaki Hyuuga, you're no ninja, but the Konoha ANBU sent you on this mission?" Temari summarized as they ordered their food.

Katsuaki nodded and nervously looked at a clock. "Do you think Gaara's done yet? I need to get home!"

"Why?"

"I... I promised someone I'd be home by six tomorrow."

"Promised who?"

"You don't know him..."

"So he's a guy."

"...But he's on a mission..."

"So he's a ninja."

"...But he and team Kakashi will be back soon..."

"So it's Naruto."

"Yes... I mean no, I mean..." She looked around and commented. "That is a really big fan!"

Temari sweatdropped. "You're going out with the number one knuckleheaded hyperactive ninja of Konoha?"

"He's not like that anymore... He's a LITTLE more sophisticated than he was when he was twelve. And we're not... Officially going out. He had to go on a mission the day I realized he was home."

They were interrupted as a waiter shuffled up nervously. "My boss is going to kill me, but I forgot to ask you... What do you want to drink?"

"I'll have a diet Coke," Temari nodded towards Katsuaki. "And she wants..."

Katsuaki pulled out a small badge and said, "Margarita, please."

The waiter looked at the badge and nodded, walking away.

"You can't have alcohol, you're a minor!" Temari murmered. Katsuaki showed her the badge. "Actually, I've been legally amacipated since I was nine. That's why I can't read very well, I haven't been to school since third grade."

Katsuaki turned on her byakugen and looked around, like she did every few minutes. "My mom didn't want to pay extra money for school supplies. I rather don't like school, anyway, and I'm proud to be the only Hyuuga who's NOT a ninja."

She paused and grinned, turning around in her chair and shouting out the open window, "HEY, SHIKAMARU!"

Shikamaru turned and his eyes flickered. "Katsuaki... How troublesome... Hi, Kat." His eyes shifted and he nodded. "...Temari."

"What are you doing here?" Katsuaki asked with a fleeting grin.

"Chuunin business, don't ask. What about you?"

"I'm on business, too. I had to deliver a peace treaty to the Kazekage."

"How's your mom?"

Katsuaki jumped up. "Oh, crap! Mom! I have to call her... Tell her how I'm doing... Temari?"

Temari stood up and rummaged around in her pocket. "You can use my cell."