We had little small talk whilst we were eating. Nothing to important, probably for fear we'd forget what we were talking about. Although, there was a question floating around in the back of my mind, dying to be asked. So after dinner I finally asked.

"Where's Naruto? I figured I'd see him around the village or at least out bugging me every once in a while."

"Naruto left after hearing about Master Jiraiya's death." Shikamaru answered.

"What?! That can't be true!" I exclaimed. My mother and I occasionally ran into Jiraiya and Tsunade when we went out together when I was little. I didn't know him as much as I knew Lady Tsunade, but I did know he was a strong shinobi. Well, he'd have to be, especially since he was also considered a Sannin. "What happened to him?"

"He was collecting information on the leader of the Akatsuki." Shikamaru replied.

"I see." I couldn't find the right words to respond to him. I couldn't think of any other questions, other than the ones that're rattling inside my brain about Lady Tsunade. Was she all right? How was she taking the news of Jiraiya's death? What was Naruto doing during his leave? When was he coming back? But I couldn't find the breath to ask.

So we were silent yet again.

"Well Choji and I live this way, so this is where we'll take our leave." Shikamaru stated boredly as we exited the restaurant. I felt my shoulders droop and I hoped the disappointment on my face wasn't as evident as it was in my posture. Outside, the sun had already started setting. It wasn't completely dark out yet, but the sun wasn't visible in the sky anymore.

"Oh, okay. See you some other time." I waved goodbye to the pair.

"See you soon, Sayuri!" Choji said happily. With Shikamaru's back turned, I heard the flick and glow of a lighter and a stream of smoke rise above his head. Although, I didn't find smoking attractive, I did realize the cigarette hanging out of his mouth slightly attractive.

"Well, I'll walk with you a little bit of the way." Ino snapped me back to reality.

"Okay. Thanks." So we separated, Ino and I going one way and Choji and Shikamaru going another way.

Ino and I made a right and headed towards the main road.

"So, how long have you known Shikamaru and Choji?" I asked Ino.

"Well, since just about forever. Our parents are best friends. In fact, they were a team together when they were young."

"Oh? Is that why you guys are on a team together?"

"Yeah, more or less. The Yamanaka, Akamichi, and Nara clan have a combination move called "Ino-Shika-Cho" that my dad's team used when they go on missions."

"Who's your sensei then? I never see you guys with your sensei."

"He died." Ino sullenly stated.

"Oh.. I am sooo sorry."

"It's all right. We're trying to get back into the swing of things without him still. It's also the reason Shikamaru smokes. Asuma-sensei use to do it. He picked it up while he was grieving."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I'm hoping it doesn't become an addiction like it did with Asuma." She sighed. We made a left onto the main road, mothers holding their child's hands heading home for the night. Not many people paid attention to us as we walked through the village. Ino and I walked in a comfortable silence.

After a minute I heard a sigh from Ino, "Well, this is my stop. Hopefully I'll see you soon."

"Okay." I said, waving a goodbye.

Slowly, the village started getting darker and darker. The street lights started to turn on, illuminating the road out of the village. People were disappearing into their homes, laughter could be heard from the bars I passed. The road out of the village at night was a familiar one for me. Memories started swirling through my head from when I left, the very first time.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Where do you think you're going at this time of night, young lady?" The short red haired woman asked sternly.

"I'm leaving." I replied simply. I strapped on my sandals and grabbed my backpack that sat on the floor with a spare change of clothes and my wallet inside.

"And where are you going so late?"

"I'm moving out."

"No, you're not. Now get back inside."

"No."

"Where would you stay? You don't have any friends. How would you live? You don't have any money."

"I'll figure something out. Anything is better than being pushed around by you." I said walking out the door of the home I was leaving. Little did my mother know, I had been saving up a fair bit of money from a few small part time jobs I acquired.

"Oh please. What would your father say?"

"I don't know. If you haven't noticed, he's not around! He hasn't been around for years. For all we know- He's dead!" I shouted, unaware of the commotion that was now causing a lot of unneeded attention.

"Don't you dare say that to me! Your father is not dead!" She insisted.

"He could be! He hasn't been home in years! You haven't seen him since I was a toddler." I calmly stated the last part.

"You aren't my child… My child would never treat me like this.." My mother sighed defeated, retreating into her home and closing the door behind her.

I didn't try to fight those words, although they stung a little. She tried pressuring me into becoming a ninja more than once. She told me if I wasn't going to be a ninja, I would have to get a job and pay rent. It didn't come much of a shock when my mother charged me almost my entire pay check as rent. "You wouldn't have rent if you had decided to be a ninja." She would say in a taunting voice. It frustrated me to no end, but eventually I picked up on another job working for an old farmer inside the village. I would woke up early every morning and meet him in his fields to do whatever needed to be done that day.

Eventually I saved up what I deemed enough money to move out.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Before I knew it I was back to the front gates of the village. There wasn't anyone at the greeters booth this time when I went through. This is going to be a freaky walk, I thought to myself. I could feel rain in the air, I could smell the rain coming, so I needed to hurry to my cottage before the rain came. But no matter how fast I thought I was going, I felt like I wasn't going anywhere fast. In the dark, all the trees looked the same. I couldn't find any of the land marks that normally signified that I was getting close to home. Now, I'm not scared of the dark. But I was starting to get freaked out.

Finally, I saw the fence to my property. I let out a breath of air that I didn't realize I was holding. The second I saw all my crops, still standing up right I felt my body release all tension that was built up. I never got this shaken up from leaving my home before. There wasn't anything to worry about, I told myself over and over trying to convince myself. Nothing to worry about. However, there was something to worry about. When I got to the gate, I noticed it had been kicked in. Along with the gate to my cottage.

"Oh-ho. What do we have here?" I heard a low gruff voice from behind me.

My blood went cold.

"It seems we have a little farm rat." The man said with a taunting voice. Terror filled my mind.

"No, I'm just a little mouse passing through." I said timidly. There was a noticeable shake in my voice.

"I don't think that is the case, what do you think, Dai?" Another man appeared in front of me, I couldn't see much of the men that were in my presence other than they were thin but muscular.

"I think she lives here, Kai. Look at how she's dressed." The man, Dai, said.

"No, I'm just passing by." I said trying to steady my voice.

"That's funny. We didn't see any other houses in the area." Kai stated.

"That's probably because you weren't looking for it" I offered.

"I don't think so, sweetheart." Kai said. The way he said it made me shiver in disgust. "Let's go inside and get a little more comfortable." He said guiding me back to my home with his hand behind my back. Dai came up on my left to keep me from running away, although I wouldn't dare.

"It's going to rain soon, Kai." Dai observed.

"All the more reason to get the farm mouse inside." Kai said with a gross grin on his face.

When we got inside, the house looked to be unharmed. Actually my guess was they hadn't even made it to the inside of the house before I got there, which was a bit of relief. Now I'm just hoping they didn't make it to the shed out back.

"Oh, looks like something was harvested today." One of the men said.

I went to the pantry and grabbed my box of matches and a lantern. I heard rustling around behind me, but I wasn't ready to get myself killed yet, so I kept quiet. I struck the match against the striking pad on the box and lit the wick on the lantern.

"Oh, seems the little mouse does live here." Kai seemed amused. I set the lantern on the table in the middle of the room, and it illuminated the room pretty well for the most part. I could see the two thugs that over ran my home. They were filthy, grimy looking people. Their hair was brown but caked in grease from lack of being washed. Kai could've been handsome had he not been caked in dirt and if his teeth weren't yellowing and falling out of his mouth. Kai had a heart shaped face whereas Dai had a round looking face. Dai looked similar to Kai, but there were noticeable differences between the two. Dai was a bit on the heavier side, and Kai looked about starved. Kai looked older, the scruff on his face made him look a thirty-something year old man, but even with scruff on his face, Dai looked to be about twenty-five at the most. Kai had a straight nose and Dai had a bit of a downward curve nose. However, there eyes looked very similar. Black and starving. Which terrified me even more.

Hi, friends. Izumi here.

Sooo, I'd really like to know what you guys think of this. Is it going a little to fast? Am I not descriptive enough? Are there any questions about Sayuri? Are there any questions about where this takes place in the actual Naruto plot? (although this chapter might help out with that) Please, if there is anything I can do to make this story more enjoyable tell me. I am open to all sorts of criticism. I will embrace everything you might think will make this better.

Thank you bunches for reading!