**I don't own anything**
It's was the middle of the night and all was quiet with the exception of the lullaby of the rain coming down on the roof of Steve's house where Suzanna, Kiba, Akakmaru and Naruto were staying. Suzanna couldn't sleep and tossed and turned often and occasionally woke Kiba up.
"Is everything ok babe?" Kiba ask quietly as Suzanna rolled onto her side and face Kiba.
"No nothing is ok. I got a bad feeling about Colby, Ino and Sakura staying over with Nagato. Last time he and Colby met was on the battle field a while ago. Colby had tried to keep Nagato from attacking the Leaf Village but Nagato was too strong for him. Colby told the family that the injuries he got from the fight were from trying to do some light work on the engine by himself and parts had fallen on top of him."
"Oh, so nobody suspects that Nagato could turn on us." Kiba said.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Suzanna said with a shudder.
"We can't really help him we aren't there with him. We will see what the morning brings." Kiba said.
"Yeah, I'm still worried about him, Ino and Sakura over there." Suzanna said.
"I know, but try to get some sleep." Kiba said.
Over at Nagato's house neither Ino or Colby had gotten much sleep.
"Hey Ino, I'm going to check on Sakura." Colby said as he got up and grabbed the revolver and a flashlight.
"Okay." Ino said as she rolled over and faced the door as he walked out. The floor boards squeaked with each step Colby took and added creepiness to an already uneasy feeling he had. When he got to the living room Sakura was awake on the couch looking up at the ceiling.
"Hey Sakura you awake?" Colby asked.
"Yeah what's up? You and Ino can't sleep either?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, and I'd personally feel better if all three of us were in the same room. Less of a chance that one of us get taken out." Colby said.
"Yeah, I'll join you guys. It's creepy being out here alone." Sakura said as she got up and grabbed her bag as the two of them walked down the hall and into the room Ino was in.
"Hey I'm back. I got Sakura with me too." Colby said.
"Ok, hey Sakura. You get any sleep?" Ino asked.
"No I haven't gotten any sleep. I don't like it here." Sakura said as she set her gear down on the floor and sat in a small recliner. The lullaby of the rain had stopped and rays of moonlight started to peak through the black clouds. The cry of a midnight express running through town echoed eerily through the air.
"Pack your gear and get ready to go. I ain't staying here. I'll sleep on the floor back with the others if I have too." Colby said and he threw on his sweatshirt and put his boots on.
"Yeah let's go, I don't think we are safe here." Sakura said and Ino nodded in agreement as she threw on her pants and didn't bother putting on a shirt as she threw on her sweatshirt. Sakura was already packed and ready to go.
"We ready?" Colby asked.
"Yeah" Ino and Sakura said and the three of them walked out the door to the hallway and as Colby opened up the main door to walk out the sound of foot steps coming down the hall set everyone on high alert.
"Go, go, go" Colby urgently whispered as he rushed Ino and Sakura out the door and out into the damp late night air closing the door behind him. "Move!" Colby said as the three of them darted down the street towards Steve's house.
Nagato watched from the living room window as Ino, Sakura and Colby vanished into the night. Sasuke came walking up next to him.
"They took off?" Sasuke said.
"Yes. Something must have tipped them off to your being here." Nagato said.
"So much for ambushing them while they slept." Sasuke said flatly.
"We'll have another shot sooner than later." Nagato said.
Colby had his revolver and his flashlight drawn as they ran down the street. Both Ino and Sakura had their kuni at the ready as they followed Colby. It wasn't long til they reached Steve's house and Colby tried the door but it was locked. He rattled the door knob a few times then left it alone. Then he rattled it again. Colby did this a third time then left it alone.
"Door is locked you know." Ino said.
"I know. It's a code me and Suzanna use when she would come over to my house at night I'd pretend to fall asleep on the living room couch by the door and when I'd here it rattle 3 distinct time in a row I knew it was her. It's the same for her." Colby said.
Suzanna was lying in bed when she heard the door knob to the front door rattle once, twice then three times. Suzanna rolled over fast and fell out of the bed and woke Kiba up in the process.
"What the hell?" Kiba asked as Suzanna popped up from the floor.
"Colby's at the door!" Suzanna said as she darted out the door and down the stairs and opened the front door. Colby, Ino and Sakura were waiting on the other side as Suzanna tackle hugged all three of them.
"I was worried about all three of you!" Suzanna said as Kiba came down the stairs with the little ones right behind him.
"Yeah, I'm glad we got out when we did." Ino said as she picked up a half awake Taylor.
"I think we just barely escaped being ambushed by Nagato and Sasuke. Shinkasen told me he felt Sasuke's chakra appear as we were scrambling to get out." Colby said. Naruto was sleeping on a recliner but slowly woke up to the conversation.
"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Long story. Go back to sleep Naruto we will tell you in the morning." Sakura said, Naruto nodded and went back to sleep.
"Sakura you can have the couch. I've got cots for you two." Suzanna said.
"Hey Colby, Ino can you two stay in our room tonight and keep the monsters away?" Taylor asked. Morgan, Zeek and Joe nodded together looking at Colby.
"Of course we can stay in your room tonight, Miss Taylor." Ino said.
"Zeke, Joe are the monsters been too much for you to handle tonight?" Colby asked the brothers.
"Yeah, we need help and Uncle Steve and Uncle Tally have helped us once but we don't want to keep waking them up." Zeke said.
"Alright everyone let's head to bed. Suz, the cots still in the kids room?" Colby asked.
"Yeah under their beds" Suzanna said as she and Kiba headed up the stairs. "Morgan you going to come sleep with me and Kiba?" Morgan nodded and followed her sister up the stairs.
"Ino, can you sleep with me?" Taylor asked. Ino smiled and nodded as they followed Colby, Zeke and Joe up the stairs.
In the kids room, Colby set up his cot by the bunk beds the boys were using and put his gear under it. Ino laid down on Taylor's bed and Taylor crawled in and snuggled next to Ino.
"Hey Ino, how did I get the short end of the stick on getting to snuggle with you tonight?" Colby teased.
"Because I asked first!" Taylor said. Colby and Ino both laughed.
"Yeap, and you had your chance to snuggle with me but you also made me run in the middle of the night! So there, you don't get to snuggle with me for the rest of the night." Ino said.
"Ouch Colby, you just dog housed." Joe said. Colby spun around and Ino and Taylor laughed.
"Joe your time is coming. You will dog housed one day too." Colby said as he laid down on his cot.
"Night boys." Ino said.
"Night babe. Night Taylor, Joe, Zeke." Colby echoed.
"Night" the kids echoed. It wasn't long afterwards that the kids were asleep but Colby and Ino were still awake as the clock down stair rang out the 2am chime.
"Ino you still awake?" Colby whispered.
"Yeah, I am." Ino said.
"I dunno about you but I feel a lot better here."
"Yeah same here, it feels safer." Ino said as she carefully rolled over to face Colby and tried not to wake Taylor up.
"Yeah it does. Goodnight babe. I love you." Colby said.
"Night, love you too. Say come here for a sec." Ino said Colby got up and walked over to Ino and knelt next to her. "Come closer." Ino said and Colby grinned as he leaned in and kissed Ino.
"Der can't forget about the goodnight kiss." Colby chuckled as did Ino. Colby went back over to his cot and laid down. Ino rolled back over and drifted off the sleep. Colby laid there looking at the ceiling waiting for sleep to come to him and listening to the slow steady breathing of Ino and the kids when he heard Akamaru growl and bark aggressively. Colby quietly got up and grabbed his rifle, screwed on a silencer, grabbed a clip and walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Turning on the flashlight on his rifle and loading the clip he headed down stairs and heard Akamaru by the back door.
"Hey what do you got?" Colby asked Akamaru as the two of them stepped outside. Colby scanned the back yard with his light but saw nothing.
"Is Kiba still inside sleeping?" Colby asked and Akamaru nodded. "You smell someone that is not welcome here don't you?" Akamaru nodded again. Colby sat down on the back porch and watched the clouds move out and the moon come out.
"Shinkasen you picking up anything" Colby thought.
"No, I'm not getting anything." Shinkasen said.
"Akamaru you probably smell old scents. Let's head back inside and get some rest." Colby said and went inside Akamaru followed. The two of them went back to their rooms and got a precious few hours of sleep before the sun woke up.
"Colby! Colby! It's 530 in the morning! Colby wake up!" Zeke and Joe said as they started pushing on Colby's shoulder trying to wake him up. Ino rolled over with Taylor in her arms so the two of them could watch the events to follow.
"Meh! I don't wanna!" Colby said as he pulled the covers over his head.
"You have to train us!" Joe and Zeke said.
"This is part of your training. Trying to get me out of bed!" Colby grunted.
"Zeke, Joe you two are going about it all the wrong way." Ino said as she got up.
"We are?" Zeke said.
"Yeah you are. Watch how I do it." Ino said as Taylor giggled. "Good morning darling!" Ino said in a sweet voice as she pulled the covers back from Colby's head and kissed him.
"Ooh well good morning there beautiful." Colby said as Ino pulled the cover partly off of him. "Come to join me finally?"
"No not really." Ino said as she laid on top of him. Colby looked at her confused.
"What do you mean not really?" He asked.
"It's time to get up." Ino said as she kissed him again then grabbed him and rolled over off the cot and onto the floor. Next thing Colby knew he was on his back on the floor with Ino on top of him. Taylor, Zeke, and Joe all laughed as Ino got up off Colby.
"One that is so cheating and two it's not 530am." Colby said with a grin as he got up and hit the clock that was on the dresser. The hour hand jumped ahead by three hours so it read 830 am instead of 530 am.
"Rule one of training. Make sure your clock is correct before going to bed and if you get up at night check it again. You both fail lesson one." Colby said.
"What do you mean it's 830?" Ino said as she put on her camo pants and threw on her sweatshirt and went down stairs where Suzanna, Kiba, Tallus, Steve, Morgan and Akamaru were having breakfast.
"Well one of them is up." Steve chuckled.
"What happened to the 0530 wake up time to train the boys?" Tallus said.
"He switched the time on the clock in the bed room by three hours. Is it really 8:30?" Ino said.
"Yeah it is." Suzanna laughed. Ino rolled her eyes and went back up stairs. Shortly after that Colby came flying down stairs with Ino hot on his heels. Zeke, Joe and Taylor came scrambling down after her. Ino chased him around the living then out the back door. Zeke, Taylor and Joe followed her outside.
"Looks like someone is in trouble" Suzanna said as Ino and the kids came walking back in but Colby was missing from the group.
"Don't worry we got him. So how about some breakfast guys?" Ino said as Joe, Taylor and Zeke were all giggling and laughing.
"What you guys do to poor Colb?" Steve said trying not to laugh as he saw Colby stumble through the back door.
"Ino kicked his butt and we helped!" Taylor piped up as Colby came walking up to the kitchen's island counter and sat down on the bar stool and plopped his head face down on the counter top.
"Looks like you had quite the night and quite the morning there bro." Suzanna teased as Sakura came walking out of the bathroom and Naruto came in from sitting on the front porch.
"You have no idea what kind of night it was. Nagato is no where's close to being a trust worthy friend or even a friend. He's teamed up with Sasuke. Which is part of the reason why I set the clock off by three hours is cause I didn't want to get caught with the kids alone should we get ambushed, but anyways I got a train to meet at the station. Zeke and Joe you are coming with me. Ino you coming?" Colby said.
"Yeah I'll come." Ino said and the four of them headed out.
"That was kind rushed." Suzanna said. "He didn't even give Zeke or Joe a chance to have breakfast."
"Don't worry about them. Colby is probably going to treat them to breakfast at the Diner by the station. Those boys love going there." Tallus said.
Ino, Colby, Joe and Zeke were walking down the main drag of town heading towards the station. Colby and Ino had their clan sweatshirts as did Zeke and Joe. The two boys walked between Colby and Ino as they walked past an old diner. The outside was all stainless steel and had the shape of a passenger railroad car. On the side in cream white letters outlined in blue was "Railroad Diner". Zeke and Joe started to walk towards it when Ino called over to them.
"Hey where you two think you're going?" Ino said.
"Breakfast!" Zeke called back.
"Hey come on you two. We'll come back and have breakfast later, I got a surprise waiting for you at the station!" Colby called and soon as he finished the two boys raced back to Ino and him. Just as they turned to go Denny comes walking out of the diner with Jerris and George.
"Hey! It's the Colb monster with his little minions The Zeke mister and Rockin Joe!" Jerris calls out and Zeke and Joe go racing it them.
"Hey Uncle Jerris, Denny, George." Colby calls as they walk up to him and Ino.
"Well I see he hasn't scared you off Ino." George teased.
"Haha. No he hasn't, he can't seem to get rid of me." Ino said.
"Why would I want to get rid of you?" Colby said. "You guys just finish having breakfast?"
"Yeah we did. Are you heading down to the station?" Jerris asked.
"Yeah I am. You also heading that way?" Colby asked.
"Yes we are." Jerris said. Zeke and Joe giggling and laughing grabbed Colby and Jerris' attention as Denny had Joe tucked under one are and Zeke tucked ender the other arm.
"You guys ready to go?" He said laughing as he put the boys down. Jerris, Ino, Colby and George all laughed.
As they walked down to the station Colby and Jerris talked about what happened last night while Ino, George and Dennis shot the breeze. The station was empty except for a few people waiting for the 9am morning mixed local train. The station platform had a roof running the length of the platform but did not cover the tracks. The station was an older Victorian style station with decorative wood awnings and trim.
"Hey Colby where is the surprise you are talking about?" Zeke and Joe asked.
"It's coming. It should be here in a little bit." Colby said.
"The only train that comes through is the morning mixed at 9 no other trains come during that time." Joe said.
"Today is the exception." Colby grinned as a loud, throaty but clear whistle roared through the air grabbing everyone's attention as it echoed from down the tracks. Zeke and Joe's eye grew wide as the unfamiliar whistle roared through the air.
"No it can't be THAT engine!" Joe said as the whistle again roared through the air and the light from a headlight glared down the tracks despite a bright morning sun.
"Ah but it is THAT engine." Colby said smiling as the concrete platform stated to vibrate and sound of the rail groaning became known. A huge white circle perched on top of an equally massive pilot with the shining headlight mounted between the two. A column of black smoke erupted skyward after each "chug" of the engine. The number boards on either side of the headlight along with a pair of number boards at the top of the smoke box just in front of the dual inline smoke stacks displayed the numbers "4023" in white numbers. Zeke and Joe's jaws hung wide open as the bell on the engine started to ring as the massive engine entered the station and it's true size was made apparent as the top of the boiler stood well above the roof that covered the platform. The leading truck had two axels and the wheels that were attached to them were as tall as Zeke and Joe and were black with white trim. The cylinder that sat between the two axles barely had any clearance between it and the platform and it was as tall as Colby who stands 6 feet tall. The white connecting rods, driving rods and running gear clanked and rattled as they moved. The massive driving wheels were taller than anyone on the platform and there were four connected to the cylinder. The white smoke box ended just after the last driving wheel and the rest of the boiler was all black and it shined like a mirror in the morning sun. Also after the last driving wheel was another cylinder that was the same massive size as the first one and connected to it too was four massive driving wheels. A maze of pipes and valves traveled just above the tops of the wheels and under the walking platform that ran the length of boiler. The sides of the white painted firebox sat on top of the trailing truck which was like the leading pilot truck. The cab of the engine loomed over the platform and Joe and Zeke had to look straight up to see the engineer waving to them from his window. "4023" Was painted in white on the side of the cab.
"HEY MIKE! ENJOYING YOUR NEW BABY!?" Colby yelled out as the cab rolled by.
"She's not mine but I am enjoying her! We just got her today!" Mike shouted down from the cab.
The tender was a block of black painted steel the rolled on seven axels totaling fourteen wheels. In white letters "Leaf Valley Railroad" was painted on the side of the tender. Mike opened up the throttle a little bit and the dual inline stacks barked out black smoke that shot skyward and the chugs coming from the stack was a small display of the power contained inside the boiler.
"Wow!" Zeke and Joe said in awe.
"They seriously make them that big?" Ino asked.
"Yeap they do build them that big." Denny said as an air horn blared from down the tracks.
"There you go Joe and Zeke that was your surprise." Colby said.
"That was totally WICKED!" the boys yelled together. "Can we go the breakfast now?"
Back at the house Suzanna, Steve, Tallus, Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Morgan and Taylor has just finished breakfast and were talking about the day's game plan when there was a knock at the door.
"Hey Jazz! Come on in." Suzanna said as she opened the door. Taylor ran straight to her sister and Jazz scooped her up.
"Hey Suzanna! HEY there is my little trouble maker!" Jazz said as Taylor hugged her.
"Ino and Colby are in town and they brought friends!" Taylor said excitedly.
"Really? I thought I had seen him and Ino by the station with the boys and Jerris, Denny and George." Jazz said.
"Hey Jazz, when is Jason supposed to come get the boys? I need to talk to him about the current events." Tallus said.
"Later today." Jazz said.
"Ok, also Jazz this is Naruto and Sakura if you could I need you, Suzanna and Kiba to make sure they meet the rest of the family. We have a situation developing and we may need to ask for more help from the Leaf should we be unable to handle it ourselves."
"Yeap, no problem Uncle Tallus." Jazz said "You guys ready to head out?"
Suzanna, Kiba, Naruto and Sakura all nodded and the group headed out the door.
"I think we may need to tap the Leaf for more support. I'd put a word into the Superintendent to have a passenger consist and one of the diesels at the ready in the Leaf. In case we need them we can't have a crew constantly keeping a steam engine at the ready. A diesel you fire it up and go." Steve said when the group had left.
"We will see. I think we maybe able to handle it." Tallus said.
"Well we should get Jerris over here and talk with him about this too." Steve said.
"Yes, I agree we should" Tallus said.
Jerris, Zeke, Ino, Colby, Denny, George, and Joe were heading back to the house the streets were empty which was highly unusual for that time of the morning. Usually the street was crowded with people heading to work, crews coming off their shift and merchants set up in the street.
"I don't like this." Denny said as he and Georg dropped back a few steps and had Joe and Zeke between them and Colby and Jerris.
"I don't either." Jerris said.
"Hey Colby is everything ok?" Zeke asked.
"No. Now I really need you guys to stay quiet and keep an ear and an eye out for anything that looks odd. Ok? This part of your training. Being able to detect and spot potential threats in an urban area." Colby said.
"Ok" the boys said together.
"Jerris we are being watched. Roof top at three o'clock." George said. Jerris nodded and Colby looked over and saw Sasuke on the roof top.
"This is not good." Colby said "That's Sasuke Uchiha and wait there is another with him…" Colby said as a figure landed next to Sasuke and stood up ".. Oh you got to be shitting me. Please not now." Colby said as the figure turned out to be Nagato.
"Is that Nagato?" Jerris said confused.
"Yeah it is. I never told anyone but me and him had a huge falling out and he's got a grudge and I have a score to settle with him. I really don't want to do it with Zeke and Joe with us."
"We will help you Colby!" Joe said.
"No. You and Zeke aren't strong enough yet to help out. Can one of you guys get the boys out of here and find Jason." Jerris said. George nodded and grabbed Zeke and Joe.
"Come on let's go find your father. You guys need to get to a safe place." George said as he and the boy darted down an alley way.
"Jerris, Denny. So nice to see you two again." Nagato spoke.
"I would say the feeling is likewise but seeing you on the opposing side doesn't put a good taste in my mouth." Jerris said.
"Too bad. My quarrel is with Colby not with you are Denny." Nagato said as he jumped down from the roof top to the street.
"Old scores never settle easily do they?" Colby said.
"No they don't" Nagato said.