Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto cuz if I did Naruto would kick Sasuke's sorry ass… ahem… I don't own any of Tolkien's elvish language either.

A tall man walked up the stairs to the Hokage tower gracefully, escorted on each side by a Konoha chuunin. The material of his clothing dragged a couple steps behind him. He wore what seemed to be a dark-blue robe over a kimono and pants of matching colors. The robe was fitted to an awkwardly slender frame, flaring out after the hips, producing round shoulders and a stiff, round collar that rose up enough in the back enough to cover his neck, then angled downwards until it rose only an inch off his chest in the front. There were snarling dragons embroidered all the way around the material in a dark blue-green. It was kept together in the front by four black and silver eyelet clasps about four inches apart down his chest.

All this was observed by the Godaime of the Village Hidden in the Leaf… the kimono and pants seemed to have some form of flower embroidered in them in dark purple as well as dark pink. His hair was straight and black, with two streaks of bright red from his temples back… as it was pulled into a neat bun on the back of his head, held in place with a black leather thong and two chopsticks, lapis lazuli and silver, with two pieces of hair left to frame his face. His slitted and slanted amber eyes never looked anywhere but forward and his perfect posture never failed, hands clasped neutrally in front of him, large sleeves of his robes nearly covering his long fingers.

"Looks like a high-paying client." Shizune mused… shaking her head to get her short black hair to a more comfortable positions and absently stroking her pot-bellied pig, Tonton.

Tsunade nods, "Hai… but the high-paying clients tend to have the most difficult mission requests… why would he come all the way here? Why not send the request via messenger?" Her brow crinkles in thought.

"An escort perhaps?" Shizune offers, straightening her purple dress.

"Perhaps."

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Elsewhere in the Hidden Village… the door to a certain pink-haired kunoichi's apartment is being thrown open.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

"Onee-san?" (much quieter)

"Ugly? Are you ready yet?" Sai casually walks in past the small living room and kitchen. Seeing a light on under the bathroom door and the sound of a shower running… he opens it without stopping… to find a clothed Sakura leaning over the sink, waterproof mascara halfway to her face. Sai puts on his fake smile and eye-crinkle while moving his head to the right to dodge her incoming fist.

"Sai!?!" she shrieks, "What's wrong with you? The showers running! I could have been in it!"

Sai chuckles, "You only keep the water running to drown out the sound of your neighbor's radio… and if you had actually been in there…" he shrugs, "There wouldn't have been much to see."

"What did he say?!?" Inner Sakura was wreathed in flames, shaking her fist, hair flying wildly.

"Why you little…" Sakura takes a swipe at Sai's porcelain face with the mascara brush.

Sai grabs Sakura's wrist and other arm, turning her and bending her backwards towards the toilet, legs tangled, hips pressed together, and torsos only an inch apart, with a dam good impression of Naruto's cheeky grin on his face, "I'm not sure you washed your hair well enough today Ugly…"

"…" "Is he threatening us with a swirly?"

Outer Sakura was still flustered about their close proximity, small blush covering her cheeks… so it took a while for his information to process.

Apple-green eyes widened considerably. "Sai?" she squeaks, "Don't you dare…"
Sai responded by lowering her head a couple more inches toward the toilet bowl. "You shouldn't have threatened me with your feminine products used to enhance your ugliness."

Sakura was about to retort when a small voice pushed from the doorway, "Maybe he meant there wouldn't be much to see because of the shower curtain…" Sakura and Sai both turned their heads to look at the little girl in the doorway.

"AH KAWAII! She's so naïve!!!" Inner Sakura squeals.

Sai smiles again, no Coriander-chan, I meant what I said –" Sakura growls after that, trying to wiggle out of Sai's grip.

Sai jerks his head towards the shower, "—Her shower curtain's opaque." In response to Sakura's struggling, he just pulls her closer to prevent further movement, and pushes down until her head is literally only a couple of inches above the water.

Naruto's blonde head popped out of the doorway, munching on some grapes he raided from Sakura's fridge. "What about Sakura in the shower?" His expression quickly changed from teasing to rage as his eyes took in the scene before him, "Teme! Get off of Sakura-chan!" his voice lowering to a hiss, "There are children present!" He adds, placing a large hand on a small head of auburn hair… and pushing it away from the bathroom.

An alarmed squeak and then, "Sai-kun!" was heard from the hallway.

Sai immediately dropped Sakura and appeared in the hallway, snatching up the little girl and holding her to his chest protectively.

Sakura wind milled for a second, then threw both arms behind her and caught her self, one hand on each side of the toilet seat, still clutching the mascara brush and container, to save herself. Her wrists were still throbbing slightly from his grip and body suddenly missing the warmth that had disappeared.

Naruto was ranting about "Why was Sai, Sai-kun, and he was 'Mr. Orange-san'???'

Sakura stood up, straightening her dark red tank top and black shorts, quickly finishing the mascara, black eyeliner already in place, "Hai…" she mutters, "Children are definitely present…"

"I can't figure out whether to be pissed at Sai for almost flushing our head in a toilet, or for moving away from us…"

Sakura shakes her head in denial, putting on her 'happy face'. She walks into the hallway, casually punching the whining Naruto on the arm and bending down, hands between her knees, to come eye-level with the little girl cradled against Sai's chest.

"Ohayo Coriander-chan."

"Ohayo Onee-san." She replies back shyly.

"Call me Sakura. Are you ready to buy some pretty dresses?"

Coriander's violet eyes lit up like someone had struck a match behind them, "Hai!" She confirmed, hugging Sai's neck in excitement, who stiffened at first, but then smirked, turning to Naruto, "See? I told you she enjoys my company more than yours."

"N-Not true!" Naruto sputtered, "Y-you just happened to be holding her when she got all happy!" he ended with a flourish, pointing at Sai, black-and-orange jacket twisting with the effort.

Sakura stood up and turned to appraise her indignant friend, "Ney Naruto… we should get you some new pants too…" She points towards the poorly done patch job on the thigh where a kunai had severed the material.

Naruto stiffened, then quickly covered the patch with a large tan hand and looked away, uttering a sheepish, "Hai…"

Sakura laughed, "It's no bid deal Naruto! Now where's the smile button?" She stroked a gloved thumb across one of his whisker-like markings on his face, form the end closest to his mouth to the end closest to his ear, earning a cheeky grin. Eyes crinkling and head tilted to the side she chirps, "There it is!"

An amazed gasp sounds from behind her, and Sakura turns to see what caused it, "Do you have a smile button too Sai-kun?" Coriander asks wide-eyed, leaning away to search over his face.

"Sure." He smiles, poking her in the forehead, "It's right there! You're my smile-button."

Coriander giggles for a second, then her small face with its chubby cheeks grows solemn, "Do you have a real-smile button Sai-kun? Or just a fake-smile button?"

The hallway grows silent and Sai's eyes widen slightly, smile disappearing as if it had never been. Then he quickly recovers, and the smile and crinkled eyes are back, like he had just put on a mask… "You're a very perceptive little girl Coriander-chan. If I have one, I haven't found it yet, maybe you can help me?"

Coriander nods then giggles, "Ok!"

Sakura and Naruto both laugh nervously.

"That was slightly awkward…"

"Yosh! Let's head to the shopping district!" Naruto thrusts a fist into the air.

Sakura and Coriander sweatdrop, Sai just gives him a blank stare.

"If he starts screaming nonsense about youth…" Sai leaves the threat unfinished… letting their imaginations fill in the blank.

"Tied upside down to a tree in only his underwear." (Sakura's inner mind theatre.)

"No Ramen for a week…" (Coriander's inner mind theatre.)

"Anything painful." (Sai's inner mind theatre.)

"…" "Maybe I should clean out that thing in my fridge… I'm pretty sure it's developed a spinal column and teeth by now…" (Naruto's inner mind theatre.) Naruto visibly shudders at the thought, and Sai is satisfied, thinking Naruto's was shuddering at his threat… he has no idea…

Sakura and Sai turn on their heels and leave… walking towards the door.

"Oh come on guys! Don't you admire their enthusiasm just a little bit?" Naruto yells, running after them.

A resounding, "NO!" was heard throughout the Konoha. The remainder of the conversation was audible only to the surrounding neighborhoods however.

"And how'd you find my spare key Naruto?"
"How do you know it was me?!?"

"Sai would have come in through the window or picked the lock! … and the key's sticking out of your pocket."

"Shit!"
Loud gasp "Orange-kun! That's a naughty word!"

"Language Uzumaki."

CRUNCH!

"OW!"

"How'd you find the spare key baka?!?"

"tee-hee, I blackmailed Neji into using his Byakugan."

"Nani!?!"

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah, he was really protective of that poetry notebook… he didn't even try to kick my ass –" "gasp BAD WORD!" "Language Uzumaki!" "—Sorry! for it… He didn't want to risk it… Shoot! I wasn't supposed to say anything about that!"

"NARUTO!" The people on the surrounding streets just shook their heads, used to those three's antics by now.

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"I hope you understand that what's been said here must not be repeated anywhere else at any time…"

"No… I think I'd rather not be sent to the loony bin Umamoto-sama."

"Please Hokage-sama, do not make light of this…" He looked almost pained, voice strained, "a very good man's life is at stake here… a person very dear to me, and that is rare in my world." Here he regained all of his perfect composure, voice leveling, "And again, I am of very low status comparatively to yours, you give me too much respect. San would be fine."

"Your presence seems to demand respect Umamoto-san, as does your…" She waves a pale manicured hand toward his expensive ensemble of clothing, "appearance."

"Wealth is not everything Hokage-sama." Was his curt reply.

She bit off a sharp retort, almost piercing her bottom lift in the process, "Also, please do not mistake my difficulty with taking so much information in at one time with mockery of this rather… delicate… request." Tsunade steepled her fingers and paused, closing her eyes and gathering her thoughts, 'I need a drink' coming up most frequently. The man infront of her remained silent, waiting for her to continue, his perfect posture not lapsing for even a second during their entire, lengthy exchange.

Ideas pulled into a form of semi-organization, Tsunade continues "This man… is very important to you?" A nod in response. She looks him straight in the eye, "Then you must understand how hard it is going to be for me to send any one of my shinobi, all of whom I care for deeply, on such an… eccentric mission."

"Hai, milady. I understand very well… I have already given you my reasoning for approaching this village instead of any of the others…"

Tsunade felt like she would choke on his formality, "Shizune, write this down." Her frazzled assistant scurried to find a pen and clean sheet of paper among the mountains of other paperwork yet to be done cluttering the Hokage's desk. "This is my decision to the mission request of one Umamoto Shinji and his… superiors…"

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Naruto… newly bought black pants on and already being put to the test… was chasing after a giggling Coriander, Sai and Sakura not far behind.

Laughing, Naruto calls ahead, "Cori-chan! If you get dango on that new dress, you'll have no one to blame but yourself!"

Pausing only long enough to stop and admire her new lime-green sparkly dress (Sai's purchase surprisingly enough) by twirling around, she was off again, giggling, and disappearing behind a corner.

Sai and Sakura caught up to Naruto as they rounded the corner to find a stone-still Coriander, dress, dango, and game all seemingly forgotten, and a confused Naruto trying to decipher what was wrong with the little girl without actually asking.

They had come on in a small square, sunlight streaming down. The surrounding houses mostly vacant for now, it being the most popular time of day to do any forms shopping. 12-5 o'clock was always a sort of rush hour for Konoha. Other than themselves, there were very few people there, and other than them, there was only one other who was standing still, observing the sky it seemed… Everyone else was simply passing through on the way to another street.

Coriander was staring up at this man, the other person who stood still. He seemed to shake his head in wonderment, though it was hard to tell through the massive, plain gray cloak he wore… appropriate, as it was a massive man… height-wise anyway. He had to be nearly 7 feet tall. The man reached up, long slender fingers grasping either side of the hood, and throwing it back, still seemingly oblivious to the 4 staring unabashedly at him. Long (the cloak prevented them from seeing just how long), dark-red hair was pulled into a half-ponytail and seemed to be alive like a flame.. .an illusion created by the strong sun seemingly glowing off of it. A strong jaw line dragged your eyes to full but pale lips eased into a comfortable smile… which pushed your eyes up to high cheekbones, sliding you over to glittering red-gold eyes with black lashes that swept down towards a long, straight nose.

"I think we lost control of our eyes for a couple seconds there…"

'I could have blinked,'

"No, I don't think we could have…. not that I minded." The kunoichi's cheeks suddenly matched her hair, a fact that was not lost on Sai, who raised an eyebrow in response… but she was in too much of a daze to notice.

"The sun here is amazing." The stranger spoke for the first time, he was obviously a singer of some sort… the voice was clear, deep, and full of admiration. His remaining words were nearly lost on everyone however, as he shrugged off his cloak, "I do not mind the cold, I tolerate it well, but this –" his cloak crumpled to the ground. He was pretty much has tan as Naruto, and clad only in a…

"It's like a butt-flap turned skirt…" Sai whispered to Naruto, earning an elbow in the ribs from Sakura. Naruto just nodded, Sai caught it out of the corner of his eye.

Broad shoulders, sinewy arms with veins pushing up from the obviously often used muscles, well toned torso, straight back, and then the view was disrupted – "Sadly" Sakura was sent blushing again – by a golden band about two inches wide encircling his hips from which flowed two large strips of a billowy white material reaching to his ankles, one from the front and one from the back, leaving rather sizeable slits form the ankle to hip on either side.

"— The sun in this place is paradise!"

Extremely muscled thighs, slightly bent knees and proportional calves lead to gracefully arched feet (they got a rather good view as he was walking forward as he spoke, arms wide, on the balls of his feet.)

"Ney Sai… how many years of practice do you think it took to be able to walk in that skirt… thing… without," Naruto's voice lowered to a whisper meant only for him, Sai, and Sakura (It couldn't be avoided, she was in between them), "exposing himself?" Sakura all the fiercer at the thought, and Sai tilted his head in consideration.

A ringing laughter was heard throughout the square, "Two years actually."

The three of them quickly jolted back to reality by those 3 words. The man was walking towards them, long strides eating up the distance uncomfortably fast.

Naruto and Sakura coughed nervously, blushes covering their entire faces, Sai was as impassive as ever. Naruto muttered an apology, "Gomen, I shouldn't have asked such a question…"

But he was being ignored, the man had stopped in front of Coriander, crouching down, "And who are you princess?" He placed one finger under her already uplifted chin, "With a pretty dress like that, you should be dancing in the sunlight, not standing there gawking at some peculiar stranger."

Her eyes started to tear, then she jumped at the man's neck, holding him tightly, crying out "Daddy!"

The man wrapped his arms around the little girl and stood, his laughter echoing pleasantly across the square.

Three sets of eyes widened and two mouths gasped in shock.

"What's this?" The man laughed, "It would be an honor princess, but my vow of celibacy I took when I was 15 does not expire until next year, and I have kept true to it little one. It will be 10 years next midsummer, so such a bond is not possible for us…"

"N-n-no!" You re-remind m-me of my Daddy!" she sobbed into his neck.

"Celibacy huh? Explains him being ok with wearing a skirt." Sai comments offhandedly.

The stranger looks up, "I am a man, and I do not need sexual relations to remind me of that fact –"

"He's a man alright! Shaa!" Sakura resisted the urge to smack herself, hand twitching.

"– I gain more focus that way, which brings me more power."

Sakura strode up to the man, taking the sobbing child gently away from him, only then noticing a bright green emerald with a gold phoenix painted across it on a gold chain about this neck, "I'm sorry Mr.…?"

"I am Ruin Thalionar…" he pauses for a second, "Or I suppose here it would be Thalionar Ruin, and it was no problem, I am only sad to see such a beautiful child crying." He absently stroked the tears from the little girls face.

Sakura nods, "I am Haruno Sakura, as for the two behind me…" She turns and steps to the side to allow a view (although he simply could have looked over her head), "The blond is Uzumaki Naruto, the other boy is Sai, and this," She turns her attention back to the little girl… "It's quite a mouthful, this is Caranluin Coriander."

Ruin's red-gold eyes widen, "Caranluin?"

"Do you know of the family?" Sakura asks, looking up, trying to catch his eye.

He looks away, "Possibly… but first things first… do any of you know where I might find Tsunade-hime?"

"You mean Granny-Tsunade?"
Ruin chuckles, "I suppose, though I wouldn't have the balls to call her that –"

"No surprise there…" (Sai of course)

Ignoring the rude interruption Ruin continued, "I'm meeting her soon, I have a… mission request of sorts… and must speak with her immediately.

Lu et revue s'il vous plait !