Well, here's chapter two, I hope you enjoy. Oh, and thanks for the review. I was afraid no one was reading this.

Chapter 2

The ramen shop was crowded. Libra had to wait in line for a while before he was able to get his food. In the mean time, he pondered what he was going to do next. Of course the medics were going to discover some of the oddities that his team had. But he had already explained that to Shikamaru. He did feel however that the nature of his friends' abilities should be kept in the dark for now. It was always best to keep everything on a need to know basis.

As Libra adjusted his glasses he noticed someone at the far side of the ramen shop. It was him. Libra immediately left the shop and ran into Shikamaru outside. He quickly put on a straight face and hoped Shikamaru hadn't seen his look of fear. That would lead to unwanted questions. If Shikamaru did notice he didn't show it. Libra sighed quietly. He was pretty sure the man in the Ramen shop hadn't seen him.

Unfortunately he was still hungry and he wasn't about to go back in the ramen shop. But Shikamaru knew he wanted Ramen. How was he going to get out of going back in the shop? He was trying to think of a way out of the situation when Shikamaru simply walked into the shop. A few minutes later he walked out, mumbled about how the place was crowded and motioned Libra to follow him to a new location.

Where exactly they were now headed for, Libra never found out because their journey was interrupted by a loud feminine voice.

"Shikamaru! There you are! You're late! Asuma wanted to meet you over an hour ago! What are you doing in this part of town? Hey, who's this?"

"Ino, this is Libra. He's new here. I was just showing him around town. Libra, this is my teammate, Ino. She's a real pain in the neck."

"Hey! I ought to slap you! But we've got to get moving. Come on!"

With that, Ino proceeded to drag Shikamaru off to meet Asuma, whoever that was. Libra was left standing there in awkward silence. He was now left alone in a village he didn't know. He was lost. He probably couldn't even find the hospital now. At this point he was reduced to walking up to a random stranger to ask for directions.

"Excuse me but would you by any chance be able to lead me to the hospital? I have to check on some friends."

"Of course I can get you there! Believe it!"

"Believe what? That you can get me there? Why wouldn't I believe you?"

Libra eyed the stranger and decided that this was probably the wrong person to ask. But it was to late now, for the blonde had completely ignored his question and was now dragging him along. As they went, he began to wonder about the mental health of the people here. A certain someone he knew would fit in here perfectly.

"Hey Libra! You're back! I missed you! The others haven't woken up yet. Who's that hottie with you? Can I have him? Please?"

Speak of the devil. It just had to be her that woke up and not one of the others. Libra wished desperately for someone sane to talk to. But that would have to wait. The girl who had spoken up was headed in their direction. Libra's blonde companion was now confused, and he was about to get more confused. For when the girl was within arms reach, she cuddled up real close to the poor unsuspecting boy and wrapped her arms around him in a death grip. Meanwhile, a certain shy girl with pupil-less eyes was watching from a safe distance and started having conniptions. Libra decided to intervene.

"Alex, will you please let go of him so he can introduce himself."

He turned to the other boy, who was completely stunned, to say the least.

"You'll have to forgive Alex. She's…different.

The boy regained his composure as he introduced himself.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

"Do you always say that?"

"Say what?"

"You know, 'believe it!"

"I don't know, why?"

"Nevermind."

"Another hottie!"

"What the…let go of me. I don't even know you. Man this is such a drag."

Libra watched, exasperatedly as Alex tried to nuzzle a very reluctant Shikamaru, who was looking desperately at Ino and two other people who he brought with him. One of them, a noticeably chubby kid laughed while the other, an older man with a beard and cigarette, gave Shikamaru suggestive looks. Ino's eye twitched ever so slightly as she put on an extremely fake smile.

"Is this what you wanted to skip training for?"

"Libra, get your friend off me. I can't breathe."

"Alex, how about you save your weird urges for when Lem's awake."

"LEM! Aw, man when's he gonna wake up so I can smother him with my love?"

Libra shrugged helplessly. He knew Lem was going to kill him for this. The guy had been the main target of her affections for as long as Libra could remember. But Lem was always less than enthusiastic. Libra silently begged the heavens that Lem was in a rational mood when he woke up.

Eventually they were met with a medic-nin who wished to speak with Libra.

"Excuse me sir, but we've encountered some complications with one of your companions. It's the overly-pale one. He has some sort of disease. We can operate but we need your permission. Also you should know that some of disease has made it's way into the vital organs. To completely get rid of it is to risk killing him in the process."

"Leave him be. I'm not about to take any risks."

"Are you sure?"

"He would not benefit from any operation, let me assure you. He's had that disease for awhile. Trying to get rid of it at this point is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. Quarantine him if need be, but don't touch him otherwise."

The medic-nin nodded and walked away. Meanwhile, Libra realized he was still very hungry and his stomach began to make noises one would typically not want to hear in a jungle. Alex stared at him and giggled to herself. Naruto spoke up.

"Let's get something to eat!

The chubby boy, who introduced himself as Chouji, cheered and immediately began to lick his chops in anticipation. They all headed off to a barbeque place that the guy with the cigarette, Asuma, suggested. All except Ino, bid them farewell, saying she needed to check up on the family flower shop.

At the restaurant, everyone had just picked out what they wanted to eat. Chouji, of course, got the most and was quite ready to stuff himself while the others watched. Libra had struck up a conversation with Shikamaru, Alex sat by Naruto with a smirk on her face that always meant trouble, Naruto was slowly edging away from her, and Asuma was busy trying to figure out how much all of chouji's food was going to cost this time. None of them noticed that the man that Libra spotted in the Ramen shop had been following them. He had found two of his targets, and as soon as they were out of public view, he would strike.

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Hm. This isn't one of my better chapters. Hopefully the next one will be much better. I hope you enjoyed Alex' character. She's one of if not the main reason why the rating is what it is. You'll be introduced to the other characters later on.

Shendo