FUUSHIGI YUME

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

00.16

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Tohru turned over in her bed as light poured in through the window. 'Morning already?' She sighed, and then felt something next to her. Something warm. Her eyes snapped open and Kakashi grinned at her.

"Morning, sexy."

It took Tohru all of 0.5 seconds to respond.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

POW.

The silver-haired man hit the wall and exploded in a puff of smoke, DJ grinning lop-sidedly at her confused friend as the smoke cleared. "Good morning, sexy," she repeated as Tohru realized what had happened. "You shoulda seen the LOOK on your face!"

"DJ!" She leapt from the bed, chasing after her friend. "You come back here right now! I'll show you how it wasn't funny!"

"Ha! Let's see you try, sexy!" DJ called over her shoulder as she scooped up a change of clothes and retreated into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Tohru growled and banged on the wood between her and her soon-to-be-victim. "DJ! You come outta there right now!"

"No!"

"DJ!"

"I'm changing, you pervert!"

"Ha-ha, very funny," Tohru replied drily, "at least hurry up so we can get out of here! We're late ..."

An hour later, Tohru and DJ appeared in front of their team, one blushing and the other sporting a large lump on her head and an even larger grin.

"Well, don't you two look happy this morning," Kakashi monotoned, raising an eyebrow at the lump on DJ's head.

"You could say so ..." DJ trailed off, smirking at her cousin, who shot her a death glare.

"Ok, listen up--we have a new mission today..."

"Aw man, sensei, please tell me that we don't have to find that fat lady's cat again," Naruto groaned as Kakashi began with his usual tone, the one that said 'this-is-going-to-be-a-pain-in-the-rear-but-we're-getting-paid-so-suck-it-up'. Both Inner Sakura and Sakura frowned at the possibilities that tone held; DJ grimaced at the thought of having to weed gardens, and Sasuke didn't look too fond of the prospect of having to carry old people's groceries. Fortunately, Kakahi shook his head, to the delight of his students.

"This is a B-rank mission," he said, surprising Sakura and Tohru, and causing the two boys to smirk in anticipation. Kakashi noted this and happily drenched their hopes. "Sorry, this isn't a single-cell mission. We're teaming up with another team ..." He smirked and looked around at the group. "I want you all to perform to the best of your abilities, and try not to die." With that, he waved and disappered.

The five members of team seven looked at each other. Sasuke coughed.

"So ..."

"He never told us where we were meeting that team, right?" DJ asked with some annoyance. Sasuke nodded.

"Ok. Why don't we split up and find them?" Tohru suggested.

Sakura nodded. "That'd be a good idea ... if Kakashi-sensei had told us who we were going to be working with."

The group sweat dropped.

"He really is an idiot, then?" DJ asked Naruto as the group halfheartedly decided to stick together. The blonde nodded, eyes rolled skyward. "You don't know the half of it," he murmured as they headed to the center of the village.

About ten minutes later, DJ and Tohru winced as Gai announced himself at the sight of them. "Ah! My rival's youthful subordinates!!! How nice to finally see you! I see that Kakashi's lateness is beginning to rub off on you!" Naruto's eye twitched and shouted, "If we were even a bit like him we wouldn't be here for another two hours!!!"

Somewhere on the other side of the village, a silver-haired jounin sneezed.

Back to the recently expanded Team 7, Tohru's jaw dropped slightly at the sight of two smirking boys on Gai's team.

"Wel, well... it seems that fate has divined that we meet again, Uchiha-san, Uchiha-san."

Sasuke looked up, confused. "What's with the double greeting?" he asked. The older gennin didn't spare him a second glance. "I wasn't speaking to you," Neji said, his gaze on Tohru and DJ. "I was referring to the kunoichis to your right."

"It's DJ," said the long-haired girl, "DJ Sabaku."

"And my name's Tohru Tsuraki, not Uchiha," her cousin corrected, glaring at the offending persons. Shuuji and Neji just smirked at her.

"You were right; they ARE vicious," Tenten said coyly, putting one hand on her hip and resting her other elbow on Shuuji's shoulder. Sakura could sense heat roll off her two female teammates; anger from Tohru and annoyance from DJ. Before any sparks could fly, Gai intervened.

"Ahhh, rivalry! While I agree that youthful rivalry is good, we will be working together for a while." His grin softened slightly to a smile. "So I must ask you to put aside your beautiful rivalry for now, and work together as one!" Tears streamed from his eyes.

Lee was sobbing.

Sasuke looked like he wanted to barf.

Sakura, Tohru, Naruto, and DJ settled for grimacing at the sight.

And Tenten threw something at her sensei's bowl-cut.

Life was good.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

00.17

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

After receiving instructions from the Hokage and meeting up with Kakashi again, the small group set off on their short mission. "Ok. So we've gotta protect this idiot from sand-nins," Shuuji said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the aforementioned man, "Shouldn't be too hard."

"Excuse me?" The man piped up, looking offended, but was paid no mind as the gennins continued to talk amongst them selves.

"Don't forget that the Hokage classified this as a class B mission," Neji said warily, keeping his eyes trained on their charge, "I don't think we'll face any gennins from the sand..."

Tohru sighed. 'I wish that we could get there soon ... I'd like to go back to training.'

"Me too," DJ grumbled. Tohru looked at DJ, and DJ's visible eye widened.

'Telepathy?'

'Seems like it,' DJ thought as they walked along, their revelation unnoticed and not shared with the others. 'Don't tell.'

'I won't,' Tohru promised before they continued on their way.

Night fell soon, and the group stopped to set up camp. A few hours later, they were sitting around a fire and eating a meal of fried rice, ramen and salmon made by Tohru, since no one else in the group wanted to attempt cooking. Once most of the food had been consumed and Naruto started to yawn, Kakashi spoke up. "Ok. Night shifts: Naruto, Neji, Sasuke, and DJ. Everyone else get a good rest."

"I can take a shift, sensei," Tohru piped up over a yawn.

"Yeah right. Get some sleep," DJ said, shoving the other girl lightly. The brown-skinned girl shook her head. "I'm going to take a bath first. We passed a hot springs on the way up ..." She wandered off in the general direction of the springs. The other two girls agreed to join her shortly after. "We're off! Take care of the campsite while we're gone, Lee," Tenten ordered happily as she and DJ trudged off after Tohru. The two girls joined Tohru in the hot springs, folding her clothes into a square pile and sliding into the steaming pool.

"So, how's being with team 7?" began Tenten conversationally.

The three talked for quite some time, laughing every now and then. After a while, there were footsteps that approached the pool with a certain loudness. Tohru and Tenten whipped out kunai from their nearby holsters, ready to attack whatever peeked at them.

"Hey," said DJ, poking out from behind a tree, "there's something going on at camp. Get back." Tohru sighed and dropped her kunai, though Tenten had nearly launched hers. The brown-haired girl looked back and forth between the DJ in the spring and the DJ fully-clothed. "Which one ... how ..."

The clothed DJ disappeared. "It's a doppelganger," Tohru explained as the real thing got out of the hot springs, towel around her body.

"I sent some out when we set out to watch camp," DJ said as they drew on dry clothes, "I guess it's a good thing." She stood guard as Tenten changed, Tohru charging on ahead to the camp to provide any assistance she could.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

00.18

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Sasuke and Lee were panting, standing rather uneasily in front of their charge. The man was trembling at the sight before him; the three sand nins had appeared from nowhere in the night and attacked. It had been Naruto's watch, and the blonde had screamed a warning before he was thrown back against a tree and knocked out. Neji was supporting an unconscious Shuuji next to Naruto. Jade eyes bored down on the two boys still standing in the way.

"Relinquish the man," began the blonde teenager at the red head's side, "or we'll have to use force."

Kakashi shook his head. "We can't do that," he said, actually eyeing the three nins warily over the top of his orange novel, "We were assigned to his protection."

The other boy of the sand trio thrust a finger at the trembling man. "You don't even know who he is, what he's done--"

"That's true," Kakashi acknowledged, causing the boy's gaze to focus on him, "but we are ninja; we are tools to be used by our village. If our Kage wishes the protection of this man, then we shall protect him to the best of our abilities." Although his words were cold, his single eye shifted over toward their charge, curious. The man gave a nervous laugh. 'Well... this situation was uncalled for. But, since I'm here and since they're worn down ...' he thought, making several hand seals.

"SENSEI!!!!" Tohru shouted, charging onto the campsite. The man's head shot out, aimed for what had distracted him. Kakashi's single eye widened, and the blonde kunoichi drew her giant fan in preparation to attack. Tohru felt sharp fangs prick her skin, then a blur flashed over her shoulder, and pain shot down her arm. Tohru heard a distinct 'shit' from somewhere behind her before she was hit with a wave of pain, fire rushing down her arm as blood ran down from the wound.

DJ shot at Orochimaru's retreating head, the amber eyes widening as her fist connected with an audible 'CRACK', sending it at the red-headed boy from the sand. The girl didn't even pause to see if it'd been caught; she was back at Tohru's side looking over the wound she'd made a whole lot worse.

"This is seriously going to suck," she muttered to herself before pulling out a kunai. Before she could raise it, Sasuke was at her side.

"Don't," he said curtly, taking the kunai from her, "don't cut yourself--"

"But she needs blood," DJ argued, eyes trained on the wound she'd helped inflict. She heard a soft hiss and turned to see blood beginning to flow from Sasuke's forearm. She stared at him openly before he pressed his forearm to Tohru's upper arm. "Glory hog," DJ muttered, watching their blood mingle. Sakura, who had just woken Naruto, watched as the blonde rose and walked over, gauze in hand.

"Aa, look what you did, you bastard," Naruto complained loudly, "you let Tohru-chan get hurt while I was out!" Sasuke shot him a glare as the blonde sat down next to them and moved Sasuke's arm away from Tohru's wound. The gaze fell when Naruto addressed the gash. The blonde frowned as he checked both of their blood flows. Neji and Tenten worked on reviving Shuuji as Lee sat down next to them; exhausted. The blonde kunoichi of the sand team was looking at Kakashi, who was the only member of the Konoha team still looking at them. Orochimaru's body was being held in a pile of sand. "Well? What will you do now that we have this man?"

Kakashi sighed dramatically. "Well, since all my subordinates are busy repairing themselves, I'd say that we'll have to abort this mission. We're in no condition to try and take back that man; we'll have to pull out for the time being."

Tenmari sighed internally. 'Good. I wouldn't want to risk Gaara fighting two Konoha jounin... there would be a high chance of 'it' getting out ...' She and the other boy turned to leave; however the middle boy hadn't moved. Kankuro touched his shoulder. "Hey, kiddo, mission accomplished. We can go back now." She didn't say 'we can go home'. They never returned to a 'home'. A home was a place where people that cared about each other resided. She couldn't fool her brothers, telling them they were going home when no one there cared about them. Gaara watched the group of gennin behind Kakash's back. "Back... hn." Tenmari bit her lip, seeing his hesitation, but they really needed to get going. She reached out, chancing his wrath, and touched his shoulder. She felt him tense at her touch, but gently coaxed him. "C'mon," she said, "Let's go back." They turned, Gaara's sand securing the man inside, and disappeared.

Behind Kakashi, Tohru was beginning to breathe hard.

"Sasuke, you asshole!!!"

The gennin jumped at the sudden outburst. Naruto gestured to Tohru's arm while calling Sakura over. "You should've let DJ give her blood--you've lost blood already! There isn't enough!" He grabbed the bloody kunai from Sasuke's stunned hands and slit his own forearm. He tossed the tool to the approaching Sakura and grabbed Sasuke's arm, thrusting his against the self-inflicted wound. Black eyes watched, surprised and maybe a little relieved.

"... Thanks..." he said softly, letting himself show how tired he really was as the blonde blocked him from the other's view. Naruto nodded, silent understanding passing between them. Sakura, in the meantime, cut her own untouched arm and gently pressed the open wound against Tohru's, sighing slightly as the blood mingled on their skin.

DJ looked at the four bleeding teenagers and rolled her eyes.

"Next time you all decide to go insane, warn me first," she said, lying her head on Tohru's undamaged shoulder.

Naruto and Sasuke pulled their arms apart as Shuuji woke up, and Sakura and Tohru drew their wounds apart, the latter hissing slightly from the pain of fresh air on her wound. DJ quickly cleaned and wrapped the wound, three clones popping into existence to help the others. As soon as they were done, they poofed away, and Sasuke looked over at Tohru with a look of hidden amusement.

"Now it's true."

"Eh?" Tohru said, looking up.

Sasuke held up his arm. "Now you are really of Uchiha blood."

DJ looked between the two and then calmly slugged Sasuke in the face.

Naruto swallowed, edging away from the fuming gennin as her cousin tried to calm her down. DJ turned to Naruto, who jumped. "You too," she said, pointing at him. Naruto blinked. "Wha--"

"Now you've got Uchiha blood, too," she clarified, then, almost mysteriously, she continued in a soft voice, "and both of you have the power to awaken the Sharingan."

Team seven's eyes widened.

Sasuke shot to his feet and grabbed DJ's shirt with his other arm. "How do you know about the Sharingan?" he hissed. She simply pushed his hands away. "The Sharingan is a trait inherited only by select members of the Uchiha clan, and also of Hatake Kakashi," DJ recited, as if reading from a book. Kakashi stared at DJ as the girl turned away from Sasuke to lean back on Tohru's shoulder. Neji, who had watched and heard the entire exchange, stored their faces and names away for later usage. Kakashi looked around.

"Aa ... well, seeing as it's really still late, and seeing how we've failed our mission, we should probably get moving back to Konoha."

Neji got to his feet and walked over to Sasuke. "Looks like you need some help," he said, extending his hand. Sasuke looked blankly at the hand for a moment before reaching out with one of his own, tentative until it grasped the other boy's hand. Lee offered Naruto a hand but the boy refused and jumped to his feet, only to trip over nothing and fall backwards into Lee. He then accepted Lee's generous offer. Tenten insisted on carrying Sakura in her arms, the pink-haired kunoich blushing at Tenten's strength. Shuuji walked up to Tohru and began to kneel down in order to scoop her up when Kakashi appeared next to him.

"I think I'll have to take her back," he said to Shuuji. The aforementioned gennin frowned.

"But Hatake-sensei, I can capable of carrying her; I won't drop her if that's what you're worried about."

"Well I won't give you the chance," Kakashi replied.

"I'm not giving either of you the chance," DJ retorted from some 50 feet away, Tohru slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, "C'mon. We're heading back."

Both Kakashi and Shuuji stared, wondering when the other girl had picked Tohru up, and followed as the two teams deserted the campsite.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

00.19

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Back in Konoha, Naruto collapsed against his bed, falling asleep instantly. In his own house, Sasuke pulled the covers over his head, deep in thought about Tohru and Naruto, who now shared his blood. Sakura slipped into her own silky covers, saying goodnight to no one in particular. And Kakashi removed his mask in an empty apartment, falling back against a sheet-less futon to dream of Obito, Rin, and his own sensei. Neji slept soundly in the Hyuuga estate, Tenten and Lee taking their rest there as well. The only ones still active after the mission's failure were Tohru, DJ, and Shuuji. The two girls had gone home while Shuuji had followed them. Inside, DJ and Tohru collapsed on their own beds. The blue-haired boy grinned once he was sure they had fallen into a deep slumber. Breaking in would be no problem at al--

CRACK

With a dull thud, Shuuji fell limp in the dark figure's arms. The shorter boy tossed Shuuji's unmoving form into the nearest alley, and disappeared, the wind toying with the pile of sand he'd left behind.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

00.20

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Tohru woke early the next morning to the sound of DJ yelling in pain, and the scent of smoke lingering in the air. 'Wha... DJ? DJ? Crap!' Struggling out of bed, she gathered strength and threw off the covers constricting her. Bursting through the door that ajoined the bedroom to the living room, she dashed into the kitchen, fearing the worst. "DJ--!!!!" She paused at the sight before her. The long-haired girl was gripping her burnt hand from her crouching position on the counter, glaring full-force at the overturned frying pan full of what once might have resembled an omelet. The charred mess was still smoking, and the entire stovetop was singed from flames. A half-empty bottle of cooking oil stood innocently next to the mess. DJ looked up from the wreck and beamed.

"Food-sama," she said, almost in tears. Tohru burst out laughing.

After cleaning up DJ's terrible mess, Tohru made them a real breakfast before they headed out. They hadn't received any special orders for the day, so they decided to head for the bridge where they had first met team 7, minus Kakashi. Heading over, Tohru caught a glimpse of a boy who looked familiar. They finally made it to the bridge, and were slightly comforted to see the rest of their teamates already there. Tohru walked up to the group with a big smile.

"Good Morning!"

Sakura jogged over to her and took hold of her arm. "So? How'd you sleep?"

Tohru blushed. "Oh, I was fine... Were you worried about me?"

"Of course we were," blurted Sasuke, then shut up when everyone turned to stare at him.

"How could we not worry about you?" demanded Naruto in lieu of the silence, "you had that huge wound on your shoulder from that freak!"

"I can't believe I was so stupid," DJ grumbled to herself. Tohru turned on her quickly. "What're you talking about?" DJ crossed her arms over her chest. "If I hadn't kicked his head at that angle the wound wouldn've been so much less severe! I just ..." She paused, then let out a tired sigh. "I just feel like a complete idiot." Tohru frowned. "Don't be like that--it's not your fault!"

"Don't say that," DJ said, eyes cast on the ground, "If I'd been a second earlier, the wound could've been avoided all together!"

Naruto and Sakura were silent, for the first time witnessing a hint of disagreement between the two.

"DJ, it's not your fault at all! Don't blame yourself," Tohru chided pleadingly. DJ was about to retort when she saw that Tohru wasn't willing to argue on the issue further. Just as Kakashi popped in, DJ wrapped her arms around Tohru's waist and said, "I love you."

Kakashi fell off the bridge.

Tohru beamed. "Oh, DJ!" She glomped the other girl around the neck as Kakashi came back up onto the bridge. DJ saw him over Tohru's shoulder and ran a hand along Tohru's hip before tightening her grip. Kakashi's eye widened and he fell backwards into the water again.

Sasuke rose an eyebrow at the development, a light blush rising to his cheeks, and Naruto was biting his lower lip, trying to hold back a grin.

"I love you Tohru," DJ said with a smile. "I love you, too!" exclaimed Tohru.

"I love you guys," Sakura said, shocking her male teammates, along with the silver-haired man that had just crawled back up onto dry land. DJ and Tohru each opened an arm to the pink-haired girl, inviting her into the hug. The three girls squeezed each other and giggled, just in time to make Kakashi fall off the bridge for the third time. The three girls pulled back and looked curiously over the edge, DJ alone privy to the reason Kakashi was so slippery.

"Kakashi-sensei!!!" Sakura called, "You ok?"

"Yes, he said, jumping up onto the bridge, "Just a tad wet this morning." He sent DJ a glance and then announced that they'd be working on teamwork that day. Tohru automatically walked towards DJ, but Kakashi rose his voice in objection. "Today, I think Tsuraki should work with me." DJ looked at him and shook her head. "It'd be silly to do that at your level. It would be more beneficial to pair us off two against three and then oversee the progress." Kakashi sighed. 'I know that's more effective for the good of the team... but it's not what I want...' But Sasuke had already seen the effectiveness of DJ's proposal.

"Well, that sounds about right. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto, attack DJ."

Tohru frowned. "What about me?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his neck. "Well, since the strength is already evenly distributed, you can watch with me."

DJ gave the older man a flat look. "You know perfectly well that if you pair Sasuke or Naruto on my team and leave Tohru with the other two, then it'll be even." Kakashi frowned, but before he could protest, Sasuke had defected to DJ's team. DJ rose an eyebrow at Kakashi and the corner of her mouth rose in a smirk. Kakashi didn't dignifiy her with a response as Tohru and Naruto greeted each other with high-fives. He shook his head, and announced the beginning of the battle.

Sasuke and DJ separated as Naruto charged head first at them. Sakura and Tohru aimed a flurry of shuriken at them as they dodged Naruto, when DJ hit the ground with an open-palm. A wall of earth rose between her and Sakura, who jumped away to re-evaluate her battle strategy.

The youngest Uchiha clashed with Tohru, kunai to kunai, and then jumped back as she took in a deep breath. Sasuke dodged several fireballs, parrying with one of his own. DJ spotted something Sakura threw, and lunged at her own teammate, knocking him to the ground as they connected. An explosion rocked the area and threw everyone to the ground. There was a thin curtain of smoke laid over the battlefield. Kakashi removed his headband to watch Sakura set up two traps in the thin smoke. 'Good girl,' he thought.

DJ and Sasuke lay in wait until most of the smoke was gone, then sprang at Tohru together. Sakura snapped the trigger for the first trap, which sent several kunais into the clone's bodies. They dissolved violently in a puff of smoke while the real DJ and Sasuke shot towards Naruto. The blonde countered DJ's punch but fell with a sweep of Sasuke's leg, while Sakura unleashed the second trap. Naruto turned into a log while DJ and Sasuke dodged the array of throwing stars that had been sent at them. "Now!" Naruto shouted as the opposing team was caught off-guard and he flung himself into the fray, sending some twenty shuriken at the two. Sasuke flung himself to the side while DJ stared at the attack, frozen, and then shut her eyes.

Everyone's eyes widened as the metal sunk into a wall of sand.

The long-haired asian opened her eyes in surprise. "What happe..."

Kakashi spotted the red-head who was the reason for the failure of their last mission. Immediately he dropped down onto the field. "State your name and business in the leaf," he said curtly, "You're from the village hidden in the sand, so you better have a damn good reason for being here."

DJ gave the boy a good long look and then said, "Sensei, I'll trade Sasuke for this guy."

Sasuke immediately decided he didn't like the boy. "So what's your name?" he asked quickly, glaring daggers at him. .

"...Gaara," the red head replied, looking at those on the field, passing his eyes over Kakashi and Sasuke, then slowing down to study Tohru, Naruto, and Sakura. Then his gaze fell back to DJ.

"... you're all right," he stated more than asked as DJ got to her feet.

"Thanks," she said as Sasuke fumed, "who's in the trees behind you?" Two of the three that came out at the sound of DJ's voice were familiar, Gaara's brother and sister, but the other character was unknown to everyone, including DJ and Tohru. He bore suna's headband and was lighting a cigarette in his left hand. Kakashi grimaced slightly at the sight of the joint. 'He's some ten years too young smoking,' he thought to himself as he thought of Asuma.

"Who's that?" DJ asked as Tohru exploded. "WHAAAAA!!!! You've got brown skin!" She almost flew over to him and touched his cheeks and the exposed skin of his arms.

"Whoa, whoa, back off," he said, blocking her hands, "you can look all you want, babe, but I don't like my ladies grabby."

Kakashi's eye twitched.

"My name's Kurai, by the way," he said, taking a drag from his cigarette. Tohru backed up apologetically, relenting that she had only ever seen very few people with skin the same color as hers. Gaara looked between Tohru and Kurai and rose a nonexistent eyebrow. "You know each other?" he asked. Kurai nodded, grinning. "Sure! These two were in the sand Not a week ago." Kakashi's eyes widened. 'They were telling the truth?'

DJ and Tohru looked at each other. 'But...' Tohru thought, confused. 'I'm not asking questions,' DJ thought back, 'I'm going with it.'

Gaara nodded. "Yes, but do you know them personally?"

Kurai grinned. "Hah! No way, man, s'not like we're related or anything. That'd be too weird, me hitting on my cousin. Besides, she's from the Uchiha clan," he said, jerking a thumb in Tohru's direction. DJ and Tohru looked at each other.

'What's up with this?' thought Tohru, really confused, 'everything is happening like we said! First I got Uchiha blood, then we're following up with our 'i'm from the sand' act!'

DJ sighed and looked at the clear, blue sky. "Well, while we're at it, it'd be nice to have some rain."

Tohru laughed. "DJ, that's silly. Look at the sky! It's such a beautiful--"

KABOOM.

"--day?"

The clouds that had been bright and sunny were now dark and foreboding. Kakashi ended the training session in favor of returning his team to their respective homes. Before they departed, DJ turned to the youngest of the Sand siblings. Gaara gave her a blank look.

"You wanna come stay our place?" she asked. The red head nodded, oblivious to the looks Kakashi and Sasuke were sending him, one suspicious and the other angry.

"Would you like to stay, too, Kurai-kun?" asked Tohru, smiling brightly. Kurai looked at Kakashi, then threw the cigarette on the ground, stepped it out, and sent Tohru a smooth look. "Sure thing, babe," he said, walking closer to the dark-skinned girl, "but how 'bout you tell me your name first, Uchiha-kun?"

"Ano... it's Tsuraki. Tohru Tsuraki, actually," Tohru said as Kurai stepped just into her personal space. The flame-haired boy grinned as her face heated slightly. "Heh... you're even cuter up close. What'd'ya say we--"

He was cut off by Kakashi, who practically yanked the poor boy off of her. "I'll thank you to refrain from flirting with my students in my presence," he said, leveling a hot glare at the dark-skinned boy. "Hey, that hurt man!" Kurai protested, rubbing his back.

DJ sighed at the scene which had unfolded before her and grabbed Gaara's sleeve. "Let's go."

"What? You were serious?" Kakashi asked in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" DJ said, brow raised in confusion.

"What can't I spend the night?" blurted Kakashi and Sasuke at the same time. They both paused and looked at each other.

"Gaara looks like he wouldn't make a move on anyone, unlike you two," Sakura pointed out flatly.

"Yeah! Poor Tohru wouldn't last the night with you two over!" Naruto predicted. He stopped laughing when his face was planted into the nearest tree trunk.

"If everyone's finished here, then let's go," DJ said tartly, pulling Tohru and Gaara away in the direction of their house, Kurai close behind.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

End . Chapters . 16-20

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Thanks again for your interest and time. : )

Next chapters 21-25