Chapter seven: Meeting the Friends.

It has been a week since the Hokage had laid out the agreement plan that Yasuhi and I was to follow; seeing that mentioned that the kids were in summer vacation I would have to find some means of work till school started up again. From what I was told that the year I was going to be placed in was the same year as Choza's son and it was the final year of school before they were place in a ninja squad.

When I had met Choji he was almost as shy as Yasuhi is and didn't really try to socialize much with me or Yasuhi for that matter. I wonder if he was thinking something similar to what Yasuhi thought when I first met him in the forests outside of Yuki. It was the start of the second week when he actually started talking to us. Choji is a fun loving kid who loves his snacks and to be honest it kind of grosses me out that he can eat that much and still want more after he's finished.

Choji had decided at some point to drag me and Yasuhi out somewhere to meet his friends. He had said that it was better to know someone in the village then to be an outsider and know none; that way one doesn't have to be lonely when they go out to play. The first friend we went to meet was a boy who was looking at the clouds and seemed to be asleep but wasn't from what I gathered. The boy's name as Choji had introduced to us was Shikamaru Nara. Choji had taken a seat next to his friend and they watched the clouds and started asking questions about me and Yasuhi, as both boys were really curious about us. I think Shikamaru was trying more to deem if I was someone who could be trusted. They both asked where we had come from; I think that will be a major topic that comes up when meeting all of his friends, I don't think that it would be wise to mention Amegakure just yet, so I figured I should just decline to answering that for the time being.

Yasuhi was quiet the whole time and declined to answer anything by shaking his head in a no fashion, if he continues this way people will consider him a mute. It had come to my attention that there were two chakra signatures nearby and was coming closer, it wasn't familiar to me so I tried my best to ignore it and act like I felt nothing while we were talking to Shikamaru.

"So are you really not going to tell us where you guys are from, are you?" Shikamaru asked

"No, but I'm sure you have tons of guesses as to where we are from, don't you?" he sighed and proceeded to mumble something about being troublesome and went back to watching clouds with Choji when the chakras I mentioned earlier had decided to make its appearance. They were around the same age as Choza but were taller. One man looked like Shikamaru and the other had blond hair that was tied up into a pony tail. The man that looked like Shikamaru had called for him, to which he said his good byes. The blond haired man stayed after they had left. Choji had told me that the man's name was Yamanaka Inoichi and that he was going to introduce us to Yamanaka-san's daughter later. Yamanaka had started to walk towards us and spoke to Choji.

"Good afternoon Choji, how are you? And who are they? Are they your friends?" He questioned

"I'm good Yamanaka-san, and this is Fuyuka and Yasuhi. They moved in with us about a week ago and… I'm not sure if they are; they don't socialize much with me." He trailed off at the end

"Well give them time to get used to their surroundings and I'm sure they will open up more." He said, looking at us. "Say, Fuyuka-chan could I borrow you for a while?" I gave him a confused look and was about to say something when Choji had pushed me forward saying that he would watch Yasuhi while I was gone. I took his word that he would; I turned to Yasuhi who was glaring at Yamanaka.

"Now listen, and listen good okay. I'm going to be gone for a bit, but I will be back. In the mean time you will listen to Choji and try to behave, and I know you don't want to but try and talk as well, please. Do you understand?" He nodded and turned back to Choji and started walking away

"Choji, I trust you to watch him and if he gives you trouble let me know kay?" I smiled at him before waving and turning back to Yamanaka-san who was waiting patiently for me to stand by him. When I was standing next to him he started walking. We didn't really talk for the most part till we got to where we were going. He seemed to have a relaxed demeanor that told me that he was most likely going to talk with me and that was it. No surprise attacks or anything. It was only when a large building with a bell on the top of a tower was spotted in the distance did he start speaking to me.

"Tell me Fuyuka, do you have any relation to Rikki Kurosaki?"

"Why do you wish to know?" I said now staring at a small church in the village.

"I'm just curious, that's all." he responded to which I nodded to his statement; he just nodded back and turned his gaze back to the church. For the most part we ended up just staring at the church. This brought me back to the time I was helping mother cleanse a church near Ame, she said that this was her duty as a priestess. She would sometimes spend days just for her job; there was one time that she wasn't home for a month; that's how devoted she is. After a few more minutes of staring at the church I spoke up, more like I was told to by Ame-san.

"I don't think that this was the only thing you wished to talk about right? There is something else you were asked to do weren't you Yamanaka-san?" I asked, to which he chuckled

"How perceptive of you, yes I was asked to do something that involves you. I am to see what you're hiding; the hokage had decided not to have me do that but the counsel had persuaded him otherwise. I hope you don't mind."

"Do what Yamanaka-san?"

"Scan your memories."

"If you must, I will not disagree to that. But before we begin why did you take me to this church?"

-Inoichi's POV-

"Oh, this was the place that I first met Rikki. I was sent as back up just in case something happened on his mission Hokage's orders." I had explained to Fuyuka as I got up and walked inside the church. Fuyuka was not that far behind me when we made it to the altar. When I told her to take a seat she did so as told with no qualms. This was going to be easy probably the easiest job that the Hokage had told me to do. Placing my hand on her forehead I concentrated on what I wanted to do. After a while I was able to enter her mind; it wasn't what I was expecting. It was gray and dull and wet, it was a constant downpour of rain and in the middle of the rain was a house that was gray in color.

Once in the house, I made my way around which didn't seem to hold anything that would deem her to be a threat, which was good. After checking each room in the house; I saw memories and snippets of missions she went on. In the last room I was in, I noticed that there was a small stair case leading down to a door that was covered in chains with a lock dawned on it. I was about to go back upstairs to try and find the key to opening it when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Please allow me to open that for you." The person said who sounded a lot like Fuyuka. As the person made their way in front of me, the voice was who I was thinking of.

"What's behind here? And how did you?" I asked her response was short.

"It wasn't hard and it will be known soon. Follow me." She said walking forward after getting the door unlocked. It was almost odd stepping through the door from inside a house to water with flowers growing out of it and being able to see the roots and the fish swimming around minding their own. The sky above was clear but the closer we got to our destination it started to rain and get heavier just like outside the house but the sky didn't turn to a gray color. Fuyuka had stopped at one point and looked up to the sky.

"Hello Ame-san." She also said as a woman had rose out of the water. She had short choppy hair that was the same blue as Fuyuka's , she was also a bit taller than her. What I wanted to know why she had another person inside of her.

"Hello, Fuyuka. It's a pleasure to see you here, and I see we have a visitor." She smiled and clapped her hands together making her way to me. "it's not often we have visitors of the friendly type, may I ask what is your name?"

"Yamanaka Inoichi, and I'm assuming that yours is Ame, correct."

"It's a pleasure to meet you and yes you presumed correct; but before we get to know each other more you have a bunch of questions, do you not? Ask away and I will answer to the best of my ability." I nodded and started to ask any and all questions that came to mind but the one I wanted to know the most was how she had ended up in here. Once I asked she had explained to me and took the time to explain everything to avoid questions later. Sometime had passed when Ame said that the conversation had to cut short and she apologized as well before disappearing into a puddle like the way she came in and Fuyuka had also started to walk the way we came from. I was satisfied with the information I had gotten and I would think that the hokage would be as well. Another thing is that this should suffice the council as well I hope…

-Fuyuka's Pov-

Opening my eyes, I saw that I was still in the church and Yamanaka-san was leaning against the altar and was waiting for me to regain conscious again.

"Thank you for allowing me to do that, Fuyuka." He said holding his hand out "Say, I know this out of the blue but why don't you come over for dinner and meet my daughter."

"Sure" I nodded "What should I expect once I get there?"

"To be bombarded with questions, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all..." I smiled as we walked to his house. The walk to his house was as quiet as it was walking to the church. In the distance I could hear children laughing, I smiled as I let my mind wander and think that, that could be Yasuhi in a few months if he actually opens up. My thoughts were soon interrupted when I bumped into Yamanaka-san, he stopped and smiled at me before he spoke.

"Before I forget, my daughter might sound a bit defensive when talking about boys, particularly a boy named Sasuke." After hearing that I sighed inwardly this was probably going to be… I don't know fun. I never actually took the time to think about boys, it was almost a taboo topic with my family now that I think about it. Yamanaka- san had walked in the door and was greeted by a young girl and an older one that had a regal look about her; she dressed what seem to be more of the upper class. During the time Yamanaka-san was talking to his daughter did the mother see me and smiled slightly. I had smiled back before I was met with a young girl that looked like her father.

"Hi, my name's Ino. What's your name?" she asked looking me up and down.

"Fuyuka Kurosaki, it's a pleasure to meet you Ino-san" I held out my hand to which she shook

"Please call me Ino, there's no need for the honorific. So Fuyuka where were you from before here, since I haven't seen you around before." She questioned dragging me away from the door and from what I'm guessing was her room. Her room was girly in a way and her closet was over flowing with clothes. She also had a desk near the window with a mirror on top, where make up was scattered about. Also on her desk was a picture of a boy with short spikey black hair and cold black eyes to match his hair. He was slightly tanned in the picture all in all he was a good looking boy. I was too busy looking around to answer her question quickly which I think annoyed her.

"That's a secret." I smiled.