Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But, I probably could if I um, bought it. All I need now is a couple hundred thousand dollars, maybe a couple million, and um… does anyone know what else I'll need? Or a couple hundred thousand dollars to start me off?

The New Annoyance

The group made their way to the site. Keitorin kept insisting on getting out and walking (she could lean on someone), but Kakashi kept saying no. ( : P I wonder why)

The five of them took shifts. They had to go slowly, which wasn't very hard because the sand slowed them down.

In a good three hours, they arrived at their site. Tsunade wasn't there yet, so Kakashi set Keitorin down, who had fallen asleep in the shade. He told Temari to fill a bucket with water and bring it to him. He asked Ino to bring him some towels that were in his bag. He dipped the towels in the water and placed them on Keitorin's burning forehead. He figured that she didn't have a fever, but her head must be warm because of the desert heat and the fact that her head was red and raw from where the men pulled her hair. (They never did find her hair tie)

Keitorin woke up and saw her Sensei, her godfather, helping her. She looked to the side and saw her teammates anxiously watching her.

Kakashi took some cloth and wrapped it around her leg after placing a splint on her leg. He cleaned out her cuts and didn't bother to wrap them up. He then left her after sitting her up against a tree.

Her teammates came up to her.

"K-Keitorin-chan, are you all r-right?" Hinata asked.

"Oh yes, I'm fine, Hinata-chan, or at least, I am now that I'm with you guys and not… them…" Keitorin let her voice trail off. "So how are you, Ino-chan?" She asked putting on an air of false cheeriness.

Ino smiled smugly while Sasuke backed away a bit. "Oh, I'm fine, Keitorin. In fact, I don't think I've ever been better!" Her smile got bigger. "Oh, and did you know that Sasuke-kun is a good-"

"Fighter! Oh yes, he fought so hard, it makes me feel safe to know that my brother chose this expert team to protect me," Temari cut her off.

Sasuke made a mental note to thank her. He could probably get Ino to not tell anyone what she did, but if she said it out loud, Naruto would tell everyone in Konoha! He knew he would never tell anyone that Sakura kissed him, but he had to get Sakura not to tell everyone. He wished that he wouldn't have to do what he suspected they would make him do.

"Kakashi!" They heard someone shout.

They all turned around to see Tsunade and Sakura and a few other ninja coming toward them.

Tsunade greeted them and took a good look at Keitorin, trying very hard to mask her horrified emotion from showing through.

"Do you still have the-?" Tsunade asked.

"No," Keitorin answered brightly. Kakashi rolled his eyes. He had already been through this with her. So, his lecture about respecting those who hold you hostage and respecting your betters didn't work.

"What! They took it and you're making a big nothing out of it!" Tsunade asked.

"I never said they got it, Hokage-sama, I said I didn't have it! I left it home," Keitorin explained.

Tsunade sighed in relief. She talked to Kakashi for a bit, and then sent the ninjas she brought with her in the direction where Keitorin was being held.

"How are you going to get her home, Kakashi?" Tsunade asked.

"Hm… Well, I was going to send a group back with you and leave four with me, and we'll just have to walk her back, I guess," Kakashi said.

"No, you should bring them all with you. Why bring only a few of the children back? Although, Kakashi, I would recommend you stay here and wait for tomorrow night to get going."

"What? Why Hokage-sama?"

"Because the children are probably tired; Keitorin is probably exhausted; What moron would travel in the desert during the day? Why, as you know Kakashi, it gets so hot that one could easily overheat during the day!"

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Of course, Hokage-sama. Who would travel by day?"

Tsunade said her goodbyes and went to catch up with the group of ninjas ahead of her.

"Well, I guess we're staying here tonight; but look at what the Hokage brought us! We each get our own tent now," said Kakashi.

They set up their tents in a circle, (Sasuke and Kakashi, being the first ones done, put up Keitorin's) and got their mats and blankets and everything in them.

They realized they were very tired, and at around six o' clock, when everyone finished putting up their tents, they started to make a meal. They got the stuff out, the preserved fish, the Ramen, the soup, and they started to make a fire.

They were having a bit of difficulty, until Keitorin came up and asked, "Um, why don't we just use Phoenix Fire Jutsu?"

Duh! Everyone sweatdropped. So Sasuke lit the fire. They had, thankfully, finished Sakura's fish, so there was no more bad tasting fish left. So they had fish, soup, and only one bowl of Ramen (eaten by Naruto, of course!).

By the end of the night, Keitorin's leg kept swelling so it had to be re-bandaged about four times. Her scalp was hurting her a lot and Sakura and Ino were constantly annoying her. Keitorin hated Ino. Maybe she didn't know, okay, she probably didn't know that she liked Sasuke and he liked her (she just couldn't bring herself to say boyfriend and girlfriend, but that might because technically they weren't), but still, you don't just go around randomly kissing people! She used to hate Sakura, but now she liked her a bit. True, she couldn't do anything when it came to fighting except throw kunai (when Sakura throws a shuriken, the only thing safe is the target) and substitution jutsus.And true, she was obsessed with Sasuke, but since she didn't kiss him; she liked her a lot more than she did before.

Sasuke went in to Keitorin's tent and motioned for her to be quiet. It was just starting to get dark, and Keitorin could see Ino's figure running by. Keitorin was filling a bag with water and placing the bag on her head. She winced and bit her lip as it made contact with her scalp.

"What are you doing, Keitorin-chan?" Sasuke asked.

Keitorin slowly moved her head toward him, in order not to move any of the water in the bag, because even that was painful. "It's ice water. I couldn't put ice on my head, so I let a bag of ice melt and now I'm doing a balancing act."

Sasuke noticed that she looked weary and beaten. "Are you okay?" He asked.

She didn't answer. She took the bag off her head.

Sasuke moved next to her and put his arm around her. "Come on. I'm here for you, Keitorin," He soothed.

She sighed. "Nothing's going right today. After you guys rescued me, I was thinking, 'this is the worst day ever!' But then, I remembered, it wasn't. The day the Hidden Rain ninjas attacked my family, that was the worst day of my life. Then when I fell asleep, I had a really bad dream. I tried to forget about it, and think of all the good things I have now. But that just makes me think, I didn't have those things then. And I just get…" She let her voice trail off, understanding that Sasuke understood what she meant.

Sasuke saw the silvery line of tears going down her face. He pulled her close to him, gently stroking her hair, comforting her. He just hoped that Kakashi didn't catch them this time.

"Sasuke, you always make me feel so much better. It's nice to know that someone besides Sensei-san cares for me so much. You are the first person, Sasuke, besides my parents, that I have ever loved," Keitorin said. Sasuke stared into beautiful eyes as they leaned closer to each other. Sasuke braced himself for the passionate kiss that he was about to get from Keitorin.

Okay, that was a sweet but oh so boring ending. You know what? I don't pick at bad endings on other fanfictions, just my own. I really want to do something… interesting. I'll work on it, but review people!

:) :D :P :) X ) :0 >:) >. ...

(I enjoy typing smilies) Hehehehehehehehehehe