AN: Just wanted to say a quick thank you for the nice comments this story has gotten! They all really make my day^^

The following day we do three missions in total. All are D-rank inside Suna. And that continues. We do countless D-rank missions and only a few C-rank ones. In the end our team spends a lot more time with training and I quickly realize this strategy helps me a lot, with having a real opponent to fight. We usually train two versus one, rotating the one who has to be alone. Sanji has the most difficulties in keeping up with me and Kazuto, but we all develop gradually.

Kazuto has succeeded in adding some wind style into his arsenal and is now using it with his swords. Sanji's genjutsu has gotten better as well, and Kazuto cannot break it anymore so easily. Even I have problems with it from time to time. As for me… I have two new jutsu under my belt and have been training with my other ones.

I do spend some time with Ayaka, Terumi, and Nozomi as well, but slowly our time together is getting rarer and rarer – the trio rarely wants to train, and training is pretty much all I do nowadays. Without even really realizing it, I have decided to become a powerful shinobi.

I have thought about the future a little as well. Part of me wants to stay in Suna and get my own genin team and all that fun stuff, but the other part of me wants to leave, maybe become a bounty hunter of sorts. Something about being a criminal just appeals to me – maybe it is the thought of being feared and chased, the exciting life of never being bored. But I also know that I am way too young to be thinking about something like this. So aside from a few occasions I don't think about it too much, focusing on the present instead.

When the summer is coming to an end and it is the last day of the break for the ones in Academy, I find myself in a tea shop with Ayaka, Terumi, Nozomi, Kazuto, Sanji, and Karura. Why Karura is there, I have no idea about. Why Sasori isn't there is because of his solo mission that has been going on for a few days already.

"Why haven't you thought of using genjutsu, Kuro-chan?" Ayaka suddenly throws me a question.

I raise my eyebrows at her. "Why would I?"

"Well, you know, everybody says your mind is your best asset," she explains, gesturing vaguely around herself. "And I think that means you could do some pretty nasty genjutsu."

"Who's everybody?" I mumble, absentmindedly biting the dango stick. Terumi hurries to answer me:

"You know, Sasori-kun and Kazuto and Sanji and even Karura…"

"Hm?" I sigh. I haven't even thought about that. "Don't know. I honestly have never thought about it. Anyways, how do you guys even know Karura?"

"Hey, don't talk like I'm not here." She purses her lips at me. Now that she isn't in the same room as Sasori, she is almost bearable.

Nozomi smirks. "Well, Kuro-chan… And Kazuto and Sanji, you haven't heard this story either. You know me and Komushi were pretty good friends. So, since we spent a lot of time together and he was also close friends with Sasori-kun, I eventually got to know him and his teammates as well. And Karura-chan is in the same team as Sasori-kun, so… Karura-chan and I kind of hit it off right away…"

"I don't think you're supposed to use that wording when talking about friends." Karura sighs. "Anyways, she kept popping up in my life and I grew to tolerate her presence…and the rest is history."

"Ha ha, exactly!" Nozomi laughs.

All of a sudden, Terumi jumps up with eyes gleaming. Most of us barely react at all before she asks: "Hey, you guys want to play hide and seek?!"

"Seriously?" Kazuto scoffs as few others start looking around the table. "That's for kids."

"Oh, just think of it as tracking training!" I clap my hands together. "I want to!"

"You shouldn't even be allowed to play." Terumi rolls her eyes. "No one can sense your chakra."

"You might encounter enemies like that as well," I smirk. "I'm not it!"

The others quickly turn the role of the seeker down, and only Sanji stays quiet. When some of us turn to him with questioning gazes, he smiles: "I want to improve my tracking skills. Now go on. We use the village borders. No going inside of houses or any structures. I'll count to 100."

Everybody knows the rules since hide and seek is a game we have all played before, whether that be in Academy or before it. I have played it with the girls and a few times in the Academy as well.

When Sanji starts counting, we run off into all directions. I think about my own training ground for a moment but realize then that it is way too obvious. Everybody knows about it at this point.

While I run around on the streets, I get my fair share of weird looks. Sanji… Thinking of his skills, I remember the doves. I would have to find a hiding place which couldn't be seen from above. Sighing, I wish the village would have some nice, bushy trees. They would be so good hiding places…and obvious. I bite my lip as the seconds pass by and I can't think of a hiding place. In the end I find myself diving to some alley and hiding under wooden pallets. I drag a tarp over them and sit down by the wall.

When minutes start passing by, I realize we hadn't settled on a time to leave the hiding places. I grimace. I highly doubt Sanji would find me with my chakra being invisible and all. So, when should I leave…? I sigh and get out a scroll from my bag, getting a notebook out from it. I had quickly learned to use the scrolls to their full potential and am nowadays carrying a shit ton of stuff around just because I can.

I start drawing some vague shapes in the notebook. It is full of plans for my puppets, which I now have seven of. Ichi had been the first, with its tail being a demanding one. In the end I had succeeded in getting the needles to their places, and Ichi is now quite the nimble one. Hebi is the snake that I made a bit longer some time ago so that more senbon would fit inside it. Hachi is the octopus meant for capture. I can finally control it perfectly.

Besides those three I have two birds that aren't puppets in the meaning the word has here. They are not used for battle, but for delivering messages. With kaachan's help I have succeeded in creating seals that allow them to carry messages. I haven't been able to make one to get the messages to anyone I want, so at the moment one of the birds can get a message to Sasori, and the other one to Rasa. Their names are Scorpion and Gold.

My second newest puppet is a bigger version of Hebi, and I call it Manda. The purple snake is fast and deadly. It has the most dangerous poison I can make, which could kill in the matter of minutes. I had gotten help with it from both Sasori and Chiyo, but mostly I had done it by myself. It has a bad side effect of turning the victim's skin purple, which I yet have not found a solution for.

My latest puppet is called Mamoru. The puppet could maybe be likened to a crocodile. On its back it has a big shield standing up, and it is used only to shield me – though I have not yet used it a single time in real battle. The shield should be quite durable, but Mamoru couldn't be used for much else.

I doodle some flowers on the notebook. I wonder what I could do… Oh yeah, I hadn't even asked Sasori how he turned Komushi into a puppet. And did Chiyo know about it yet…? Based on the anime she should know, but in the manga Komushi hadn't even existed…

I sense someone getting closer to me. I stop my pen and slow my breathing down. The steps stop right in front of me, and then the tarp is raised.

"Found you, Kuro-chan." Sanji smirks at me. I scoff and seal the notebook back into its scroll. "The others are at your training ground. They were talking something about Capture the Flag… I still have to find Karura and Ayaka. See ya!"

The boy jumps from the alley to the rooftops. I wanted to ask how he found me, but that chance is now gone, so I just head for the training ground as the sun sets behind me. Capture the Flag…? It could be fun. As long as nobody uses genjutsu like the one used against Sarada in her chuunin exams… Since we don't have a Sharingan to tell the right flag apart from others. But luckily no one in our group apart from Sanji really uses genjutsu.

I chuckle to myself as I realize how exciting it is to know things about this world's future. For a moment I return to the thought of how much I could change things. The only thing I really want to change is Akatsuki. They don't deserve to die. I wonder if I could go and find Obito and kill him before he does anything… I frown as I think back on how the plot of Naruto had gone again. Would that act even have much effect…?

I sigh as I get to my training ground. It is full of people.

"Risu-chan!" a really familiar voice exclaims, and from somewhere Sasori jumps next to me.

With a wide smile immediately spreading on my lips, I turn to him. And I would stop him from turning himself into a puppet. Maybe I could somehow stop whole Akatsuki from being created… "Sasori-kun! You got back from your mission?"

"Yeah, it was quite easy in the end."

"Oh? What was it?"

"Hm… Just massacring some shinobi along our borders." Sasori shrugs, and I sigh in jealousy.

"I wish we got missions like that too…"

"Kuro-chan! Sasori-kun!" Terumi shouts at us. "You're both playing Capture the Flag, right? Right?!"

"Of course." I grin at her, then giving the redhead a pleading look. "Sasori-kun will too, right?"

"Sure." He rolls his eyes. "But don't blame me when I pass out since you won't let me rest after my mission."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll carry you home if you do." I wink at him, and he only shakes his head in surrender.

"So, is everybody here?" We hear Sanji's voice as he gets here with Karura and Ayaka in tow. When I notice Karura heading right towards me and Sasori, I take a step back so that I am standing right in between the two. Karura stops and Sasori chuckles shortly, but nobody says anything as Terumi asks how we should make the teams.

"There's eight of us so four and four," Nozomi nods. Ayaka is looking at us with a thoughtful gaze.

"We should divide the genin – and chuunin – into different teams," she then states. "I'll be in the team with two genins. Which means that Terumi and Nozomi go to different teams."

"Sounds good." I give her the credit when no one objects. "So? How do we divide the rest?"

"Nozomi, stand there. And Terumi over there." Ayaka points the girls to their places. As the duo hurries to obey, she turns to the people left. When I notice many of us looking at her, waiting for her to tell us what to do, I give a quick smile. I bet she's going to be a great leader one day.

"I'll go with Terumi. Kazuto is with us. Kuro-chan with Nozomi… And Sasori too. Karura comes with us and Sanji is with Kuro-chan. Everyone fine with this?"

Nobody objects, though I can feel Karura's annoyance in the air. For a moment I feel like a jealous girlfriend or something. But Sasori himself has said several times he doesn't like her company! So, basically, I'm just doing him a favor by getting between them. In no way am I jealous.

"So, how are we going to divide the village?" Sanji asks. "And how about rules? Do we get jails or not?"

Ayaka takes the lead once again. "Let's divide the village in two with the 4th and 8th district. You can have this side."

'This side' being the one closer to the entrance.

"If you get caught – by touch, and techniques count too – you must follow your captor to the jail. If they don't take you there, you are free to return to your own side, and then continue. The jail must be in an open place. And your teammates can free you by touch. Is there anything else…?"

"What are we using as flags?" Nozomi asks, and Ayaka smiles, taking out two pieces of fabric, one blue and one red.

"We are blue!" Ayaka announces, giving the red one to me. "And the flag must be placed in a reachable place, so no doves or puppets to hide them under the sand or anything."

I grin and Sasori smiles shortly. Seems like we were thinking the same thing, and Ayaka noticed it.

"And not inside the buildings, obviously. You win by bringing the flag to the Kazekage Office's rooftop. The game starts in…" Ayaka's voice quiets as she searches her pockets and takes out two timers. How she knows to carry this stuff around with her, I do now know. She probably went to get it before I got here – though I have noticed she has a tendency to always carry some useful things around on her person, having almost supernatural ability to sense what things she would be needing each day. "When these go off. I'll set them at twenty minutes. That should probably be plenty of time to hide the flag and pick a place for the jail – try to mark it somehow, and you can't move it. Is everything clear now?"

"I guess." Kazuto sighs. "Do we have any prices?"

"Losers must fulfill one request from the winners!" Nozomi exclaims.

"And they must treat the winners to a meal at Thornside!" Terumi gets excited, and I feel shivers run down my spine. Thornside is quite the expensive restaurant. It isn't that special or luxurious, but the food is fantastic and it's very homely… And expensive. So expensive.

"Everyone accept?" Ayaka looks us over, and once again no one objects. Not even me, even though I keep grimacing. "Alright. Let's get going!"

Ayaka, Kazuto, Karura, and Terumi hurry towards their own area after giving us the timer. I turn to my team.

"So, where will we hide this?" I raise the flag. Nozomi keeps looking after the others as they disappear.

"I know a good place," Sanji tells us. "Found it while we were playing hide and seek… We should probably all go and check it so we can all defend it if needed."

We all follow him to the building. Sanji dives under it, and feeling a bit confused, I follow. He gives me a wide smile. "You don't even realize this place exists, right?"

The almost cave-like area is low, and we can barely stand up straight there. On its ceiling – or on the floor of the building – are hanging numerous metal rods. When my eyes get used to the dark, I realize that the building is only a little bit above the ground, with many columns keeping it up.

"Does this count as outside of a building?" Nozomi asks worriedly. Sanji rolls his eyes.

"Sure it does. It's the perfect place, right?" Sanji ties the red flag to one of the metal pipes, and I am once again reminded of Sarada's chuunin exams.

"Sanji, can you do other genjutsu than the one with your doves?" I ask knowing he can, but I just want to get his thoughts running to the right direction.

Sanji raises his eyebrows at me. "Sure I can. Why?"

"Can you cast it over this place so that all the metal rods have a flag in them? And preferably so that we can tell which one is ours."

Sanji's eyes fly open. "You're quite clever, Kuro-chan! I didn't even think about that… Give me a second…"

The sea of metal rods turns red as small flags appear on all of them. One of them is shimmering a little.

"That should do it." Sanji nods.

Nozomi looks around herself in amazement. "That's amazing…"

"Next, the jail." I sigh and look at the timer Ayaka had given me. "We still have over ten minutes, so no need to hurry."

"Should we place it on the other side of our area?" Nozomi wonders, with Sasori immediately commenting:

"Or right next to this place. They wouldn't expect us to do that."

"Somewhere far away from the center would be good," Sanji muses. "It takes them more time to get out of there."

"And more time for us to bring them there," I point out. "And once they know where it is, it doesn't matter too much either way."

"So, somewhere relatively close to the center…" Sanji mumbles.

"How about some blocks from here to the center?" Sasori offers, and I nod.

"Could do. Thoughts?"

"Guess it will do," Sanji says and Nozomi nods.

Together we find the place on a roof.

"So, now we should think about our roles." I turn to face my team. "We still have five minutes. I think one should be guarding the jail and keeping an eye on the flag at the same time. Positioned on that building."

I point at the building behind us. Between it and the flag is one more house.

"Sounds like a plan." Sanji nods. "I think I will have to do it. I am not sure if the genjutsu will hold if I go attacking. So, is someone going to stay with me or do you all attack?"

"Dividing into pairs of two would be the most efficient plan," Sasori says.

"So, who's going to stay here with Sanji?" I look at him and Nozomi.

"We should probably consider who they're sending to attack and decide based on that," Sasori ponders, and I nod. "Of course, we can't be sure, but I do believe they will listen to Karura since she's the oldest at nine…"

I raise my eyebrows but do not interrupt him. She seriously doesn't feel that much older than us.

"She will most likely use the same two and two -plan. Ayaka and Kazuto would be the ones attacking."

I purse my lips, nodding slowly. "Probably. So… Kazuto uses his swords and wind style. Ayaka has gotten quite good with shuriken and kunai and has some wind style under her belt too."

Nozomi sighs. "So, I should probably stay. I can counter her wind style with my fire… I'm not very good at it, so I probably can't do anything about Kazuto…"

"That's why I'm here." Sanji smirks. "He always falls for my genjutsu. So, dear puppet masters, you will be taking the front lines."

I grin and glance at Sasori who chuckles at my excitement. "Not really a place for a puppeteer, but we got this."

The timer beeps after I have said the words. We look at each other.

"Good luck," Sanji says, and turns around. "Come on, Nozomi. You will take that building over there…"

"Shall we go?" I smile at Sasori who sighs as the night around us grows darker and colder.

"Do we have a plan of attack?" the redhead asks when we jump down to the streets. "I can only use Karasu and Koma. The others are not in good enough shape after the mission."

"Hmm…" I ponder. "They're both puppets not to be used against friends, eh? We just have to hope we don't run into them. Stop."

I pull Sasori next to me against an alley wall. We're already in enemy territory. A quick figure jumps over the alley we're hiding in. I don't recognize them, but I do believe they're one of the players.

"Plan A: I fight, and you back me up. And try not to use your puppets; they have deadly poison in them, right? We don't want for them all to turn against us just because of one stupid game." I roll my eyes and Sasori nods with a thin smile. "And Plan B: you stop them, and I continue alone, since they can't detect me as easily. We use A if we run into one enemy, and B if we run into more."

Sasori nods and we continue carefully. When we have gotten almost to the middle of the enemy territory, we climb atop one building and start studying the area. I bite my lip as I check my scrolls. Only Gold, Scorpion, Ichi, and Hebi are with me, but I probably don't need more than that.

I summon Ichi and get out one seal, modifying it a bit. Then I attach the seal to Ichi and send it forward alone, giving it some chakra so that it would keep moving. The amount I give it should last for about twenty minutes.

"Ichi's going to be on a lookout for the flag," I explain quietly to Sasori. He is observing the roofs and doesn't answer. I join him, and it takes only a few dozen seconds for him to tug at my sleeve and point to a certain house. I squint my eyes. Something is moving on its roof. "Is that one of us, or…?"

"Let's go find out."

We move quietly through the roofs to get closer. Instead of running straight to them we circle around almost at the last houses on the edge of the village, then turning back.

"It's Terumi," Sasori mumbles. I recognize the spiky hair as well. "Wonder if we're prohibited from knocking them out…"

"Of course not." I shrug. "How else would we beat them? …Do you think I can hit her from this distance?"

I measure the two buildings in between us. Sasori glances at me. "Of course you can. You have paralyzing poison?"

"Mm-hm." I nod and take out one senbon. I look at Terumi's figure for a moment. She hasn't moved at all. "Do you think she might be looking at where the flag is?"

Sasori glances at the girl. "I'll check."

I nod, and Sasori starts circling towards the girl. I follow his movements, keeping Terumi in my eyesight as well. No one else is moving on the rooftops close by.

When I notice Sasori stopping, I wait a few seconds and throw the senbon right at Terumi. She never moves, and the needle buries itself into her back, and she falls down silently. I sneak up to her without much hurry. Her eyes are staring at me, and I give her an apologetic smile.

"It should wear off in a few hours. But right now, I need to get you to some place to hide you…" I pull the girl to the alley below us with me and hide her in its corner. "Sit there like a good girl."

Sasori drops down next to me and glances at Terumi. "I know what she was looking at. It is a storage building with open sliding doors. It is possible they could've hidden the flag there."

I nod, thoughts quickly going to Ichi. It is running out of time. If it doesn't get back soon, I would have to go and find it… "Let's check it out."

I let Sasori lead me to the storage building where several wooden crates have been stacked atop each other, and there are some piles of empty pallets by the walls as well. We do not see the flag at least right away. We go search the different sides of the building. First, I find nothing, but then I run into Ichi. The squirrel chirps at me. When I attach a few chakra threads to it, few blurry images go through my head. Maybe I could make them clearer one day…

"So, you found it?" I hum at the squirrel and return it to its scroll. I scuttle back over to Sasori, wondering where in the village the building Ichi had seen is. I remember just as I find Sasori. "Sasori-kun. I know where the flag is. Can you head back to make sure no one gets our flag?"

It feels like I am saying that he is the only one whose abilities I acknowledge, but it isn't like that. I know Sanji is a fine shinobi. And if Terumi can do fire jutsu at that age, she can't be half bad either… But I want to be sure.

"Alright." Sasori nods without doubting me for a second, hurrying towards our territory. I head carefully for the building Ichi had pointed out.

The house I am heading for has a canopy on the roof, with the flag being hidden under it. It's relatively easy to spot. I immediately notice Kazuto from where I am coming from, but the boy is actually very well hidden. The only place he can be seen from is from where the flag is. He also has a clear visual of the flag and would notice me the moment I would try to get any closer.

Biting my lip, I hide behind some pallets and stop to think about my strategy. I could try to take it with a puppet. Or I could take it myself and hope to win Kazuto in a race. I know I am faster thanks to my lightning chakra and constant speed training, but he could still catch me with his wind techniques and make me trip… What should I do?

From this angle Kazuto would immediately see if I try to throw a senbon at him. I could try some bigger technique to slow him down… Or… I blink and summon Hebi. I check its senbon. Petrifying. I start guiding it first down my building and then up Kazuto's building's side.

I cannot see Hebi at all, but through the long chakra threads I can feel its presence. It scales up the wall and climbs atop the pallets Kazuto is hiding under. It leans down so that its mouth is pointing towards Kazuto's back, launching two senbon right at him. He lets out a surprised squeak and freezes. I jump out from my hiding spot and pull Hebi to me. I remove the blue flag and seal Hebi back into its scroll. I then wave my fingers at the annoyed boy and head for the village center.

No one is there to stop me when I run up the wall of the Kazekage building and jump onto its roof. I sit down on the edge, and nothing happens. Soon I take out my notebook as well as Scorpion. I write a quick message and send the bird on its way to Sasori.

A few minutes pass, and then Sasori, Sanji, Nozomi, Ayaka, and Karura get to the roof. I grin, waving the blue flag, and Nozomi squeaks in excitement.

"Great job, Kuro-chan!" She flies to hug me, and I almost fall of the roof.

"You really do have some good ideas," Ayaka hums. "The genjutsu thing with the flags…"

Sanji smirks. "Yeah, that was Kuro-chan's idea. But you still almost got it. Without Sasori there they might have just won…"

"It was Risu-chan's idea to send me," Sasori announces, and I almost blush.

"What happened to Terumi and Kazuto?" Ayaka asks, and I chuckle, gesturing in their direction.

"They're both paralyzed. We should probably go and retrieve them. And talk about the thing you're going to do for us…"

"I can't wait," Karura mumbles, and Nozomi lets out a fake, wicked laugh.

"Just you wait…"

We pick Terumi up first, and then Kazuto. Together we end up sitting in some park while Sasori removes the poison from them. I am not at all surprised at his skills with healing.

"So…the request." Sanji smiles. Ayaka sighs and Nozomi chuckles wickedly, immediately gaining a look from her.

"Nothing too stupid or wrong or embarrassing or dangerous."

"But that takes all the fun things away!" Nozomi complains. I turn to stare at the sky where hundreds of stars are blinking.

"What do you say about… You can think about this for one full week. And next Sunday we will meet at the Academy training grounds to hear your request?" Ayaka proposes, and nobody objects. "I want to get some sleep before tomorrow…"

"Same," can be heard from many others as well and soon we're all heading for our homes.

The following day a message is delivered to everyone in the village; the war is finally over. Our team runs annoying missions for the whole week, but on Saturday evening we ask for Sunday off, and luckily Rasa agrees. That same evening we're sitting at my home with Sasori, Sanji, and Nozomi. We have gathered around the dining table while kaachan makes us pancakes.

"So?" I sigh, tapping the table with my fingers. "Any of you have ideas?"

"Be someone's slave for a week!" Nozomi raises her hand, and I roll my eyes.

"Calm down, Nozomi, you're eight. You're not supposed to think like that," I mutter.

"Think like what?" She winks at me, and I groan. I think I see kaachan smiling and maybe even holding back a laugh. The two boys don't seem to understand our conversation at all.

"What about being someone's pet for one day?" Sanji offers, and I just shake my head with a wrinkled nose.

"Why are you all so weird… We could always just blindfold them." I sigh, not really caring about this thing at all. I'd rather be training now that me and Sasori are finally free at the same time…

"They're shinobi."

"Or force them to wear paper bags for a week."

"Sounds actually quite good."

"That's lame!"

We throw ideas around but none of them seem quite good enough. In the end kaachan gives us all pancakes, and our planning stops for a second. And then she gives us an idea I really grow to like.

"They're going to hate it." Nozomi smiles excitedly.

"But it's not too bad, I don't think they can refuse." Sanji smirks. I am surprised when I notice the almost wicked look on Sasori's face.

"I love the idea," the redhead announces. I clap my hands together.

"Wonderful! So, we have our request. Thanks, kaachan! Now, how are we going to do this…?"

»»-««

The following day we are standing in the yard of the Academy when the sun gets to its highest point. Kazuto and Terumi seem restless. Karura looks bored while Ayaka doesn't seem to care about her destiny one bit. Me and Sasori are giving them a wicked smile and Nozomi tries to do the same but looks mostly only excited. Sanji's smile is content.

"I have a really bad feeling about this…" Kazuto sighs when he sees us. I let my eyes fly over all of them. Kazuto's hair is still almost identical to mine; long and thick, though his reminds me a lot more of Madara thanks to the black color. Terumi's orange hair is spiky, and has calmed down only somewhat – it no longer points to every other direction, only to about half of them. Karura's brown, straight hair reaches a bit lower than her shoulders. Ayaka's blueish gray hair has gotten a bit brighter over the past years. It's straight and as short as with the other two girls.

"So. What's the request?" Ayaka dares to ask.

I chuckle. "You will let us give each and every one of you a new haircut!"

"What?!" Terumi shrieks. "No way! No!"

"Oh shit," Kazuto groans, and Ayaka squints at us.

"Fine," she bites out, and my smile widens.

"As compensation, I'll let you choose your stylists. Ayaka can start, since she agreed first," I offer. Too bad we have decided on their haircuts beforehand, so the stylist doesn't matter much.

"Nozomi can cut my hair." Ayaka sighs. I turn to Terumi.

"Terumi?"

"You."

"Kazuto?"

"…I'm not trusting Sasori with my hair, so Sanji."

I smile shortly. Just as we had thought. "So Karura gets Sasori. Now then, please sit down at the table. On the ground, so that we can sit behind you."

Slowly the four obey, and I get four pairs of scissors and combs.

"Now then…" I hum and attack Terumi's hair with the scissors. I glance at Karura who seems a bit too relaxed. I raise my gaze to Sasori who's smiling a little.

"Don't take this personally." He almost smirks and starts cutting Karura's hair like no tomorrow.

The girl freezes. "What are you doing?"

"Why, just giving you a haircut," the redhead chirps and I laugh, turning back to my own work.

Me and Sasori had decided Karura's hairstyle together. Sanji had hesitated when they heard it, but had eventually given in. Nozomi had suggested Kazuto's haircut which we all had quickly agreed on. Terumi's hairstyle had given us the most trouble. In the end Nozomi had given us a suggestion we had ended with. Ayaka's hair had been last. Me and Nozomi like the blue hair and didn't really come up with any ideas since we didn't want to destroy it. In the end Sanji had given us an idea which had made Sasori agree with a laugh, and me and Nozomi had to agree to it after that.

"And one more thing," I explain as I comb Terumi's hair, "you cannot change this haircut for a week."

Sanji hums contently, and I can almost hear Kazuto gulp.

"Done," Sasori chirps first in a voice that doesn't really match his personality, but is lovely, nonetheless. Karura is sitting grimly on the ground and doesn't move at all. She can clearly feel her new hairstyle.

I am the next one ready, and Nozomi and Sanji follow quickly after. We give the four mirrors and step back to admire our work.

Terumi's hairstyle is the least changed. Her hair has been cut just enough so that they have lost their straightness, now once again sticking out into every direction. She seems only a little nervous about it.

Ayaka's eyebrow twitches in annoyance as she stares at her reflection. Her beautiful, blue hair is mostly lying on the ground. She got the same treatment as Terumi, but with a different outcome. Her smooth hair is now lying flat on her head, and is too short to be modified in any way without professional help.

"Who came up with this idea?" Kazuto stares grimly at his reflection. He is almost fully bald. Only in the back of his head has been left a shred of black hair in all their length, leaving him with one ponytail. It is quite funny.

"I hate you all," Karura mumbles without even glancing at the mirror. "You planned this together, right? Tell me, Sasori, you wouldn't otherwise do this to me. They forced you to do this, right?"

"Right." Sasori smiles at the completely bald girl.

"Oh, shush." I roll my eyes. "You lost; you pay the price. You want to go to Thornside right away?"

"Let's go!" Nozomi jumps up. The idea meets only some opposition, and soon we're heading to the restaurant. We get loads of looks – or maybe the looks go to only half of us. And in the restaurant, we may be stared at because of our age.

"One meal and drink per person." Ayaka sighs as she looks at her suffering teammates. "I'll pay now and ask for your money later."

I enjoy the food to its fullest. I get a bowl of tempura and fall in love completely. The lunch is over too quickly and soon Ayaka runs away from public, Karura not far behind her. Everyone else stays a bit longer just to talk, but soon we leave as well. I spend the rest of the day with poisons at home.

»»-««

"Well, what happened to you?" Rasa raises his eyebrows at Kazuto when we meet up Monday morning at the village entrance. Kazuto mumbles something vague, staring to the side.

"We played Capture the Flag and his team lost, sensei~" I chirp happily. Rasa almost chuckles.

"Is that so? Well, I have a new mission for you guys. This is a C-rank mission. We're to hunt down and annihilate a pack of hyenas terrorizing the village of Bara."

"Oh joy." Kazuto rolls his eyes, and we get moving.