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Chapter 6

Only a Photo

Sasuke lay in his bed, still awake. When did his brother get into his apartment and leave that note? In his hand, he held one thing in his hand. It was a silk scarf that had the emblem of the Uchiha sewn on both ends. The silk scarf that once belonged to his sibling. Outside his window, it was early morning. Some birds started chirping outside. Morning dew was dripping off the trees and dropping onto the cold ground.

The Uchiha lay there, tousling the scarf around in his hand, almost lovingly. The note was sitting on his beside table. That note brought him grief, sorrow, but even joy. He was not sure what to do. Yesterday he leaned against the fence, trying to figure out who it is. They said they were in the village, but he probably didn't know them, and how was he supposed to recognize them when he did see them? Maybe he'll go around town asking people about her. That would possibly work, hopefully, or else he's going to have to go to drastic measures he'd rather not think about at the moment. Yah, when he heard the people walking down the streets, he'll get up and grab the latest photo of her and go asking around. He sighed at this. This was going to take up all day. Oh well, he still had about an hour left till sunrise.

At the moment, a group of four walked into the town. Three of them were young, only around thirteen. One was a girl that had long hair that tied up in two buns with hair dangling off them. She wore a black skirt of some sort and leather pads on the lower par of her legs and arms, and her eyes were dazzling sapphire eyes.

One of the boys wore a brownish robe that reached only to his waist and wore a normal pair of pants. Something about him made him seem respectful. Though, as they stopped on the top of the hill, he rather clumsily almost tripped over his own feet. He tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robe and tried to look wisely at the village. His eyes were a soul full looking pale white.

The other boy was small and scrawny looking. He was short for his age and almost nothing could be seen of him besides the little pale of white under his blanket of hair. The rest of his clothes were a complete black. Around his waist was a thick rope that held a sword. The rims of his robes were a patterned design. His eyes were a shining yellow, surrounded by a purple rimming that runs down his nose.

"This is actually our village? Things seemed to have changed completely," The clumsy boy said, looking curiously at his village.

"Yes, things have changed, hasn't it?" the jounin said, behind them. He was around his twenties, with hair that reached just past his shoulders, in a ponytail. He was tall, and had a warm face. He wore the normal jounin jacket and shirt a pants. The markings on his face faintly rimmed around his eyes and went down a bit on his cheeks. On his back was a long sword.

"Here I come, my beloved!" The girl sang out happily over the village. Then she started skipping down the hill. Her hair flew everywhere and bounced up and down in its violet color. The other three started following her down the hill. The pale boy cautiously cocked his head at the jounin.

"Kazan-sensei? Do you think anyone will remember us?" He asked quietly, almost to a whisper.

"I sure hope so, if not, we'll be in a lot of trouble!" The jounin said enthusiastically.

"I'm pretty sure my own family will remember, especially my sister," The pale eyed boy said.

"Probably…but I don't think anyone I know will still remember me," The scrawny boy said.

"You shouldn't worry about it so much Yomo!" The girl said, as she stood still from down the hill and called at them. Yomo looked up from surprise at how she could've heard him from so long away. The morning slowly crept up from the hill and it's warm rays bore into the four's skin. Dawn was upon them, splashing them with color. "I can't wait to get to your house, Kitei! Your cousin is soooo cool! Do you think he remembers me?"

"He'll probably remember you Kinu. After all, you were stalking him all the time back in the academy!" Kitei said, sighing. He would probably have to deal with his cousin after Kinu would leave. That would take a while.

"I didn't ALWAYS follow him! Remember that time when I was all over Sasuke?" Kinu said, sticking her tongue out.

"And how long did that last? Three days?" Kitei said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh! Your just jealous that your not at all like your cousin!" Kinu said sticking out her lower lip this time.

"Oh, don't get into another argument!" Kazan said, worriedly. "Let's first get something to eat!" Yomo looked nervously at the village surrounding him. He didn't remember any of it. Then suddenly, as people started opening their shops, a figure jumped down from a window and landed in front of them. Maybe these people will recognize her…that girl looks familiar some how. The raven black-haired boy thought as he started digging into his pocket for the photo.

"Sasuke-kun?" Kinu asked, surprised that Sasuke landed right in front of them suddenly.

"What is it?"

"So you do know me, who are you again?" Sasuke said, momentarily forgetting his photo as he pulled it out.

"Remember? In the academy? I stalked you everywhere for three days? The girl older than you?" Kinu asked hopefully. It took a little time for Sasuke to remember, but then it became clear that this was the girl that followed him into the bathroom: Embarrassing.

"Oh…that's right, Kinu, right?" Sasuke asked, frowning. Kinu nodded very happily.

"What's that in your hand, Sasuke-kun?" Kinu asked, as she saw Sasuke holding the photo. Sasuke put the photo to face level and showed her it.

"Do you know where this girl is?" Sasuke asked, he felt kind of stupid standing there, asking if they saw a girl in a photo that was taken years ago. Kinu shook her head. So did the other three as they saw it. Sasuke sighed and started walking to person to person asking them the same question. All with the same answer: No.

Rei was awoken by barking from under her bed. She rolled over.

"Let me sleep!" Rei said. The barking continued. "Ok, ok! Let me get up!" she said, shifting into a sitting position with her feet dangling to the side. She looked down and saw the dogs looking back at her. One wasn't there. Which one was it? Oh yes, the Dalmatian, Zehi Rei thought. Rei leaned over the bed to look upside down at the sleeping dog. Yup, Zehi is asleep alright.

Rei back flipped off her bed and stood on the floor. Rei changed her clothes and ran downstairs. At the stairs, she looked down, and to her great displeasure, everyone was already up and eating. Hizume was on the phone though, probably with Hana, Jin and Masura were talking very quietly about something. Probably about me! They don't need to worry about me! Rei thought. Rei quietly ran down the stairs. She stopped a few inches away from the entrance of the kitchen door. She decided that acting completely normally would confuse them so she chose to do just that.

"Hello, and good morning peeps!" Rei said, entering the kitchen in her casual way. Hizume glanced over and nervously smiled, waving. Then he turned back to talking with Hana. Jin looked up in confusion. Masura nervously said, "Good Morning, Rei-san!"

"Rei-san?" Rei asked as she sat down in her normal spot. In front of her was a full course meal with eggs and sausages to perfection with hot coco. Masura looked at Jin, as if asking him something as Jin shrugged. "Rei-san? Why so formal?" Rei asked at Masura. Hizume put down the phone and sat down. There was a long silence as Masura hurriedly thought of something. Jin and Hizume held their breath as Masura opened his mouth.

"About last night with Kiba….well, are you…?"

"Kiba? Oh! THAT jerk! I'm fine! Why?" Rei asked, poking at her food.

"Well, uh, I guess we thought he…well…hurt your feelings some how," Jin said, and then covered his face with his arms, ready for a full blow on punch.

"Nah, just took a walk," Rei said, "Now put down your arms! What do you think I'm gonna do? Punch you?"

"Hehe," Jin nervously laughed as he slowly put down his arms. After some silence, the barking upstairs was heard again.

"Uh, is it me, or s it dog barks I hear?" Masura asked, looking up the stairs.

"Oh!" Rei started saying, but then swallowed down her last bite, "Wait one second!" Rei skid her chair back and rushed up stairs. Rei jumped up the stairs and flung open the door to her room. The dogs were all up and rushed at Rei's feet when they spotted her. "Nice to see you, too! Now come, follow me!" Rei said, walking back wards toward the stairs. The dogs obediently followed her, even down the stairs. She looked back as she came to the kitchen and saw all of them there. Good, no one decided to run off some where else. The dogs smelt the food and rushed into the room. Jin almost choked on his food. Masura bent down and pet Sunao, the black retriever. Hizume was…well appalled.

"You got mad at Kiba-kun, and decided to buy FIVE DOGS?" Hizume yelled, standing up.

"Ok, one thing, why Kiba-KUN? And another thing, I didn't BUY them, I FOUND them! They were starving last night! You expect me to just leave them there?" Rei yelled back.

"You could've gave them to the pound!"

"RIGHT! You just don't like dogs!"

"So what?"

"You'd be saying something else if it were CATS!"

"Maybe, because they don't have to get constant LOOKING AFTER!"

"Well, who said YOU were going to take care of them?" Rei asked, daringly. Hizume cocked his head back. Rei smirked; she got the better of him.

"Where are you going to get the money for the food?" Hizume asked.

"Well, I'm a genin now, so we'll be getting money from the missions we do, and if that's not enough, I can always get a part time job or something," Rei said, shrugging. Rei went over to the covert and pulled out some cereal that no one has eaten for months. "Until then, they can eat our cereal. After that, I'll take them on a walk."