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Three months. It had been three long agonizing months since Kumo ended up in The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Sure, she was starting to love the village that she had been unceremoniously dumped in, but it wasn't Kirigakure.

She missed her water filled village and how it would rain every day. She missed the grey stone buildings and how the civilians had managed to make each building look different despite being built the exact same way. She missed the friendly villagers, and how they always went out of their way to say hello to her even though she was covered from head to toe in clothing and they couldn't make out any distinguishable features. She missed being treated like she wasn't different from anybody else.

She missed the Great Dane that she had grown to love since the day she was born. She missed the way that Daisuke would come and snuggle up next to her in the evenings before bed, wanting her to scratch the backs of his ears. She missed the way that he always seemed to know when something was bothering her, whether she had mentioned it or not. And most of all, she missed how he was always there by her side whenever her father was away on errands as if guarding her from trouble.

She missed the peppermint sticks that her father kept in jars on the counters, and how her father was almost always chewing on one, making him smell as if he had bathed in peppermints. She missed how he would come home from a long day of work and a smile would instantly appear on his face washing away the small frown that had adorned his face when he thought she wasn't looking. She missed his ninja lessons, and how he was always firm in his teachings even though she could obviously tell it hurt him to have to teach her those things. She missed his slouched posture, and how he always had his hands in his pockets and more than anything his loud, almost room shaking laugh. She even missed how distrustful her father was of strangers, almost as if he was afraid that one would snatch her away from him. But what she missed most of all, was how she remembered her dad before the rouge ninja had tried to kidnap her.

Now whenever she thought of her father all she could picture was him in that shinobi gear. The last day that she had seen him he was wearing black pants, with white tape wrapped around his left leg with a kunai holder strapped around it, and he had a mesh shirt on underneath an unzipped dark green jacket with a high collar. He was wearing what she had come to know as standard issue shinobi sandals and he had a hitai-ate with bleach stains marring the fabric wrapped around his forehead.

She still couldn't believe that he had hidden being a shinobi from her. Looking back, as much as it hurt, it did make some sense that he was a shinobi. He was gone an awful lot, and he did know way more about being a shinobi than a civilian should ever have known. "You must always see the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings." Her father liked to tell her that often during their lessons. Maybe this was all part of one of his lessons. He did like to turn EVERYTHING in to a shinobi lesson after all.

She just wished he would hurry up and come back and tell her what this was all about, and why he decided to dump her in this village. Well, he probably wouldn't giver her a straight answer anyways. He would most likely wave her off and say "It was necessary," and not give her a further answer.

Maybe he had enemies. Maybe he was dangerous. Maybe-just maybe-he was actually a missing nin from the Leaf Village and wanted to make others believe that he was still loyal to it to trick them into believing he was trustworthy!

Well, that last one couldn't actually be a viable choice. She remembered how fondly the Hokage had spoken of her father that day months ago after her doctor's appointment. Sandaime-sama sounded sincere in his wishing of him to return home alive, too much so for it to have simply been for him wanting to put her father in jail when he returns.

It would, though, explain why the Hokage was having her followed every day. It seemed to be a team of people. Only one person a day, and it rotated between four different people. They didn't do a very good job of it though since she was able to pinpoint them, or slip out of their sight constantly. Naruto insisted that slipping out of their sight was an easy thing to do though, as he had done it frequently while he was younger.

Maybe, they allowed them to slip out of their view and away from them though. She had over the last three months noticed how this village treated her blonde friend. They would call him names under their breaths, and scurry away from him when he walked past. Children were shielded from him as if he would bite and were ordered by their parents not to talk to him. Store owners would increase their prices solely for him, and if that didn't deter him, then they would do all they could to only sell him rotten or spoiled food.

Kumo had caught on to this and would go into the stores to purchase the necessary things for the both of them. She did well with this at the very beginning, and went in to each store with no issues. A well-placed lie here and there secured a cover story as to why a young child was shopping without the aide of her parents, it was a shinobi village after all, and no-one questioned her parents being on a 'mission'. At least, until someone saw her meeting up with Naruto halfway home.

Neither of them were hurt too much, but the groceries were spilled across the ground and ruined. It happened so quickly that Kumo hadn't the chance to get a good look at the men, but she could still hear the one's voice whispering in her ear.

"You better watch out. That pretty red hair might just get you into trouble one day."

There was a threat and a promise, laced in that phrase and it frightened her. After that she had taken to wearing her long black trench coat over her regular clothing again. She wore it clasped round the front, the bottom reaching mid-calf and the hood pulled far over her head barely leaving her eyes visible.

Word seemed to get out after that incident though, and despite what she wore, the owners always knew who she was and she was then extended the same treatment as Naruto. 'Demon' and 'Demon spawn' 'hellion' 'beast' and 'monster' where whispered in no particular order about the two of them as they walked by.

Kumo and Naruto wouldn't let this get to them though, and had vowed to be the greatest ninjas that they could be. No matter what was said, they always responded in kindness and sincerity following the teachings of Minoru: 'Treat others how you wish to be treated.' It hadn't worked yet to make the civilians treat them better, but they were at least trying to be the bigger person, no?

Despite how the villagers treated them, she knew that one day it would get better. Her father had after all, promised that he would catch back up with her, and he always kept his promises. So, soon, he would be waltzing in to the village with that large grin across his face, and Daisuke would be trailing behind him. Her tou-san would scoop her and Naruto up and make them a home-cooked meal, and put those ruddy villagers in their place. He would pick up their training and tell them how impressed he was that they were keeping up with his regiment while he was out on his 'mission' as her and Naruto had come to call it. Things would pick up as if nothing had happened and they would be one big family again.

"Kumo!" The girl in question jerked her head up at an astonishing speed, her eyes meeting the obsidian eyes of Iruka-Sensei. "You really do need to stop spacing out like this," His eyes instantly got softer, "It is your turn."

The red head thought for a moment, trying to figure out what her teacher was talking about. She heard her classmates around her start to giggle and the pieces clicked together.

"Oh," She mumbled picking herself up off the ground where she had been sitting. "Taijutsu practice. That's right." She looked across the group of students which was split down the center, separating those that had already completed their spars from those who hadn't. "Who am I sparring against?"

The brunette gave her a sad smile before calling out her opponent "Inuzuka, Kiba!"

Kumo and Kiba had not had the most agreeable time since her joining the academy. The Inuzuka was still sore about her having gotten him into trouble that first day she was in the academy, and did everything possible to make her life torture.

"Haha! Akamaru, guess we get to fight against Tomato paste! This is going to be easy!"

Kumo rolled her eyes as she walked towards the open area used for sparring. "It's been three months, Dog-breath, one would think you could come up with a better insult by now."

"Just wait till we wipe the floor with you, you'll wish you never messed with us!" Kiba growled, Akamaru barking in agreement as the duo walked in to the sparring ring.

"Calm down, Kiba." Iruka stepped between the two students. "Now this is a taijutsu spar only. First one to leave the ring or to be knocked out, loses."

Kumo took her time looking around at the other students before acknowledging her teacher. There were significantly fewer students on her side of the ring than on the other side of the field containing the finished students. It looked like Naruto was still waiting for his match as well as Abe Noriko, Uchiha Sasuke, Yamamoto Nanami, Aburame Shino.

On the other side she could see the students that had already completed their matches lounging back and watching in half hearted interest at what was going on, most taking more interest in what their friends were talking about than the match that would be taking place in a few short moments.

Kumo finally looked up to Iruka and nodded her head in understanding to his given instructions. Kiba nodded his head in agreement as well and Akamaru jumped off Kiba's shoulders on to the ground.

Taking a good look at her opponent Kumo shook her shoulders, slowly sinking down into her favourite taijutsu stance, one that was handed down through her family, and grinned to herself ecstatic at the thought of practicing her taijutsu style on someone other than Naruto.

Kiba growled lowly as he followed suit and sunk down in to his taijutsu stance, Akamaru crouching into a defensive position next to him.

Kumo put her hand up showing the sign of confrontation to Kiba, her head cocked in slight confusion. His stance seemed familiar to her, it definitely wasn't the academy style, but she couldn't quite put a finger on why she recognized it.

She quickly shook her head free of the thought as she watched Iruka raise his hands in preparation to signal the start of the spar. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the Inuzuka in front of her.

"Hajime!"

Hope you enjoyed!

Come back next time to see what happens between Kumo and Kiba! :D