YOSH! Gomen Nasai! I am very sorry about how late this is. If you want to know why please read the end of the chapter.

Vote (tus far)

Neji/Tenten-1
Gaara/Sakura-1
Naruto/Temari-1
Shikamaru/Ino-1
Ino/Naruto/Sakura-1
Naruto/Ino-2
(Onesided coughitachicough)Itachi/Kagome-?? (Suggestion made to appease Yue Hime)

He nodded to the two ninja that guarded the entrance. The building was nothing overly special, merely the tower where the village leader resided and shinobi received missions. He nodded toward a few ninja as he strolled by to deliver his report. Letting out a quite sigh he pushed open the shouji door and stepped inside and equally unfantastic room. The woman seated on the far right of the room perked up at his entrance. He strode over to her and placed the report on her desk.

"My, my on time are we. May I ask the occasion?", the woman said. His response to the question was a mere shrug of the shoulders. The woman laughed slightly, "Oh, maybe it has something to do with those two that Lady Tsundae instated here in Kohona", as she said thishis interest perked up slightly. With and eyebrow raised he waited to see if she would say more. Nothing more seemed to come from her lips so he turned and began to leave. Just as he left the room he could have sworn that she had said something else.

When she noticed that he was leaving she snapped out of her thoughts and said, "Wait Kakashi-san! Don't you want to... ugh well that sucks and here I was going to tell himsomething of importance. Well if he doesn't want to know then fine let him be that way", she huffed, crossing her arms and turning away.

"You know talking to yourself is what they say is the first sign of insanity", a young man said as he and his partner came up to her desk to lay down their report.

"Well who are they? 'Mister-know-it-all", she said while collecting the report figuring that she would catch them off guard with her enquiry. At this his partner piped up to share her two cents.

"Why, they are they. They are the ones who know", she said with a smirk adorning her face. Then asked, "So who where you talking about anyway?".

"Oh no one special, I'm just thinking out loud!", the woman answered with a nervous laugh. Ifone could see inside her mind they would find that the woman was cheering for the fact that these two did not hear who she had been addressing and that she was praying that they would take her answer. The two looked at her with what was most likely suspicion. The woman was never good at reading emotions, that she was not. "So anyway," she began with fringed annoyance, "don't you two have--". It was then she noticed that the two had left already. "Damn people and damn their walking out on me when I'm talking!"

The sent of ramen created a bubble around the small restaurant. The sound of slurping noodles was not uncommon considering the company. Two old stools at the counter were occupied. One customer and one post customer. The post customer sat lazily in his stool,arms supporting his figure on the counter, and sported a look of serious cloud envy. The other, well one could say that he was in ramen heaven.

Both young men let out a sigh, one of content and one of boredom. "What a drag", one said while scanning the hustling and bustling people traveling about the market. His eyes landed on two people whom he was most certain that he had never seen before. Granted the Kohonawas large, quite large, but once you live somewhere for your whole life you tend to see mostly everyone that resides there. Thinking momentarily, he remembered hearing tell of Tsunadeinstating two new people here. 'That's most likely them', he mused. He sighed mentally; he was bored, very bored. Might as well ask a question that he basically new the answer to.

"Hey. Naruto", he said taking his eyes off the two for a minute second.

"Eh, what is it Shikamaru?", the blond known as Naruto answered, while turning to his friend.

"Those two", he pointed to the young man and woman standing at a vegetable and fruit stand that he had been watching," have you ever seen them before?", he finished. At this point the two had begun to walk in their general direction. Had Shikamrau not been glancing out of the corner of his eye to see Naruto's response, he would have not noticed that Naruto seemed to be shocked at something. Or someone.

Hurriedly, Naruto slammed down the money and dashed into the crowd. Shikamaru lost sight of the blonde quite quickly. "Hey! Naruto! Ah man what a drag...", he said as he began to chase after the young man.

Naruto dashed into the crowd looking for the young woman of the pair that his friend had pointed out. He looked around, his eyes darting in every which way. Alas he could not locate them. He sighed and shook his head. Of course it couldn't be her. Just someone who lookedlike her... rather how she would probably look. And besides they were a distance away and he only got a small look at them. He shook his head once more, 'Gah! What am I thinking?There is no way...' He looked in the direction he saw the pair go with a slight look of lament in his eyes. He turned to his friend who was looking at him with a raised brow and plastered a smile on to his face. "So how about another Shogi lesson, huh?". Shikamaru merely rolled his eyes in response and walked away, with Naruto following.

The sound of a clock ticking away would have been heard, had there been one near, signalling each second. One, two, three... twelve... twenty. Then finally came the sound of wood on wood. "You loose", Shikamaru said in a bored tone. The game had gone on for roughly half an hour now, and he was the winner again. Shikamaru looked intently at the shogi board. 'Man, if Naruto had placed that tile three up he could have put me in a tight spot. Even if I'm going easy on him...', he sighed mentally. He looked at the blond across from him, he waslearning quite fast. He supposed that it was sort of normal. After all kitsune are said to be fast learners.

"Ah man! I was close that time too", Naruto cried and flopped back onto the bridge. It was a nice day so they packed up the board and tiles and headed out the bridge were he met his team for training. Rolling over, he stared at the water following under them and sighed. He wasstill thinking about that person who looked like she could have. He knew it wasn't her, it couldn't be her. Although, he wanted it to be her.

"Hey... you seem distracted", Shikamaru stated, silently asking him what it was.

"Just thought I saw my best friend from when I was still at the academy", he answered knowing that his friend raised an eyebrow he continued," it wasn't her; don't even know what she looks like now".

"I is kidnapping you", said a little raven haired girl. Next thing the little boy she said it to knew, his hands were tied and he was being pushed through the trees to the clearing. "Mommy! Daddy! Looks I kidnapped someone!", she yelled to the two young adults in the clearing while giggling. The girl untied his hands and pulled him over to the blanket that the young couple were sitting on. She sat down, pulling him with her. "Hi'ya, this is my Mommy and Daddy and I'm Kagome! I kidnapped you 'cause I was bored and you looked bored. We're having a picnic. What's your name?", the little girl said in a speedy manner and coked her head to the side in a cute questioning way.

The little boy looked at her with eyes wide, the glanced at the young couple. They all looked at him gently as they waited for him to answer. "I'm Naruto", he said sheepishly.

"Well, Naru-chan it is nice to have you join us. I hope you enjoy homemade ramen and oden, because that's what's on the picnic menu today", the mother said with a smile. The mother then proceeded to serve the noodle oriented dishes to the three of them and then herself. "Dig in!".

Naruto smiled at the memory. He didn't know if it was the kidnapping due to boredom or the picnic itself, but either way the two of them had become fast friends. Then something clicked in his mind, " We were only three... wow", he whispered to himself. Catching the slightlystrange look his friend was giving him he began to laugh. Laugh at his own slowness and at the look his friend was giving him. He then realized something else, it was Kagome's motherthat started his love of ramen, and this caused him to only laugh harder. Thus earning him the intensified strange look from Shikamaru.

Although it was Shikamaru's turn to laugh when Naruto accidentally rolled off the bridge and into the water.

"Uh, Naruto what are you doing?", the now soggy teen scrambled up from his watery bed and onto the bridge. He new who that was. Hell, he would know that voice anywhere. Therefore; Naruto was not surprised to see the roseate haired kunoichi. Nor was he surprised to seeher friend beside her. Naruto, chucked slightly while running his hands through his hair to remove some of the water collected in the golden locks.

"Hey Sakura. Hey Hinata. What are you doing here?", Naruto questioned.

"I was going to Ino's flower shop", Hinata replied in her usual small voice. She blushed lightly when she noticed the looks of question from both male teens, "Since it is such a nice day I decided to take the long way and bumped into Sakura".

Sakura nodded," Yeah, so I decided to go with her. So why was he in the river?", she askednodding toward Naruto, whom was busy attempting to dry himself off somewhat.

"How the hell should I know? One minute he's fine, next he laughing and rolls off the bridge", Shikamaru answered lazily, as he put the the board and tiles away. He sighed, once again the roseate haired one and the blond one were arguing of something. 'Day in and day out it'sbasically the same', he thought as he looked toward Naruto and Sakura, ' can't they just meet up at least once without getting into an argument of some sort? How troublesome'. Shikamaruturned his face towards the sky. Tuning out the bickering, he stared at the clouds. And once again his cloud envy surfaced.

Hinata let out a sigh. Somehow, someway, she was not surprised by the out break of argument. It seemed to be happening more often between the two. Glancing to Shikamaru,she noticed that once again he had toned the arguing out in favour of turning to his fluffyfriends that he so envied. Shaking her head slightly, she spoke. "Ano... please Sakura could we head to the shop... sometime soon", the two stopped their argument about... what ever it was and looked at the achromatic eyed teen, "Ano, Naruto, Shikamaru you may come to... that is if you want". Ivory cheeks becoming a pastel pink. Hinata heard an affirmative mumble from Shikamaru and clear positive response from Naruto.

As they entered the shop they could clearly see and hear the blonde speaking with a customer. It looked to be that she was flirting slightly with the young atramentous haired man.She was leaning forward onto the counter with her long blonde hair draped over her shoulderwhile, perhaps, perhaps not, making sure to hold a come-hither smirk on her face. "So, what do you have in mind?", she questioned.

"Nothing much really", he replied leaning slightly on the counter as well, "just a simple plant to brighten up a dull apartment", he said while looking not overly interested in the girl before him. "Preferably something that does not need a lot of care. Because I can't promise, nor canmy friend, that we will be there to take care of it everyday". If one looked closely they could see the young man eyeing the attributes of the one before him with a perverted gleam in his eye.

"Oh", she straightened up and walked around the counter, nodding to the others, "We haveplants that adapt to conditions very well. They're perfect for people who don't have a knack with plants or can't be there all the time". She lead him over to a section filled with both flowerand none flower bearing plants. "All of the plants to the right a perfect of apartments. Theydon't really need much sun and they can go a week or so with out water", she looked at the customer, and let out an inaudible sigh. 'Is he gay or something? He must be. He does noteven look interested!', she silently fumed. "I'll let you look around", she said and walkedtowards the others.

"Hello Ino", Hinata greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Hinata. You here for the herbs?", Ino replied. Seeing Hinata nod, she began to walk toward the door to the back room, "Alright. They are in the back room; I'll be back in aminute", she said before disappearing into said room.

The four returned to their conversation of miscellaneous things that easily branched from one topic to another. Giving any unknowing passer byers the implication that they were perfectly normal young men and women. Or rather that was if they had passed by a good distanceaway, considering that their conversation involved such things as: training, kunai, herbs and ramen. Their conversation was short lived; for the young man, whom had being speaking withIno, came to them with an inquiry.

"Excuse me", he began, "Could you lovely ladies give me your input on something?", he finished. The group turned to him, instantly noticing the two plants that he held in his hands.One a simple plant with shining emerald leaves and small yellow-white buds, while the otherbearing small lavender coloured flowers. "Which of these would you prefer? The Cosmos", he said holding up the plant with the yellow-white buds, "Or, the Iris?", he finished with a smile as he held up the other flowered plant.

Both Sakura and Hinata looked over the plants. As they did this they both silently wondered who it was for. "Well ano... personally I would choose the Iris", Hinata said softly, " But... if you don't mind... who is it for?"

The atramentous haired one smiled in her direction, "I'm purchasing this for a good friend of mine. She seems to be rather bored with our dull looking apartment, so I thought I would get something to brighten it up". He raised the Iris to his eye-level and looked it over, then turned to Sakura, "And your thoughts as well?", he asked.

Sakura looked from the man to the flower, absent mindedly she wondered why his hair covered his left eye, but all things aside she had to agree with Hinata. The Iris was nicer looking than the Cosmos. "I agree with Hinata. The Iris looks better than the Cosmos", she finished as she noticed Ino had entered the room. She with held her small amount of laughter when she saw the blonde bristle slightly at the comment.

He nodded, "Thank you. I was leaning toward the Iris myself but I thought it'd be best to get another opinion", he then placed the cosmos plant back in its place and walked over to thecounter.

"I haven't seen you around the village before", Naruto stated eyeing the leaf forehead protector. worn around the young man's waist as a sash, "You new?". It wasn't unthinkable that someone would try and pose as a ninja from their village. In fact it had been done before. The statement caused the others in the shop to look at him. Immediately feeling their eyes upon him; the man raised his hands in self defence.

"Yes I am new to the village. My friend and I were instated roughly a month ago by Lady Tsunade. I'm Miroku by the way", Miroku explained.

A sigh escaped her lips as she absent mindedly petted her feline friend. It was a nice day. It seemed to grow even nicer now that she rediscovered 'her spot'. Nothing much really, just a small clearing with a pond in the centre and a flat rock in the pond; large enough for one to lie on. Although, it would be rather wet to get to the flat rock if one did not posses the ability of attaching chakra to ones feet so that they could walk on water. In fact now that she thought about it, the concept of walking on water seemed sort of ironic. The privilege was said to be for gods alone, yet she was one of the farthest things from a god.

'A god wouldn't be nervous over something like this... but I can't help but be nervous. I've been able to avoid them for a month; unless I become a hermit, which is out of the question, I wont be able to avoid them much longer', the whole time she had been here this was one of the things that plagued her thoughts. 'I really have to stop worrying so much...' she thought some what solemnly. She frowned slightly, she knew full well that if Tusnade did not gain any form of a whisper that she had made contact of some sort, she was going to come and make sure that they met. Damn that persistent woman. She wished slightly that Tusnade would just take up knitting or something... but then again, that wouldn't exactly be all that good.

"This mission is directed at Kagome alone", said the well endowed blonde woman, "Kagome as I'm sure you know, have ties to this village. Your first mission is to reunite with those ties", as Kagome was about to interrupt, the woman spoke, "You have roughly a month and one week to do this". Kagome paled slightly at this. "Do you accept this mission?"

Kagome was just about open her mouth to state her objection when, once again, someone else interjected. "Of course Lady Tsunade. She readily accepts this mission", stated her friend and partner, whom Kagome glared towards.

"Excellent, dismissed", the two began to leave the room when Tsunade spoke once more, "Oh and if you fail... I shall be forced to step in". They needed not turn to know that she held a smirk on her face.

As they walked thought the door her friend whispered to her "I wont do anything to stop her Kagome".

"Miroku!",Kagome hissed at him with a glare.

Sighing once more, she opended her eyes and watched the clouds roll by. 'Its not as easy as they think it is. I can't just go up them and say 'Hi! remeber me I'm your best friend from ten years back. And I'm your daughter that you haven't seen for ten years. How did I return? Ohwell you see there was this evil hanyou that my friends and I had to kill, then when we killed it the jewle sent us here'. Yes thats absolutly perfect and while I'm at it I might as well tell them the story 'A city without people'. This is so inane', she mentally scoffed at the thought.

To be truthful she was never good with certain types of people. People like, relatives andfriends that she had not seen or spoken to in a long while. And thus this posed a problem; hence the avoiding of the two 'ties' as Tsunade liked to call them. As much as she wanted to have the lovely reunion, she still couldn't deny that lump of apprehension which seemed to always appear in such situations. Although, she thought herself to be quite good at hiding it; for the only ones whom seemed to notice her slight issue with people were her younger
brother, Miroku and the feline which currently rested on her stomach.

She noticed instantly when said feline snapped her head up to look behind Kagome. Sittingup Kagome listened quietly. It seemed that someone was coming towards them. She frowned slightly, last she checked this area was infrequent to visitors besides her... then again it had been ten years. She looked down towards the feline and spoke softly, "Ignore it for now Kirara". Kirara blinked innocently up at her for a moment then wagged her tails and moved to the end of the rock to play with a small school of fishes. Kagome changed her position so that she was lying on her stomach and gazed idly into the water as she swirled her finger around in it. Seemingly joining Kirara in her play as she kept an open ear.

He traveled leisurely though the wood; stepping lightly as it had become a trained norm. He had been rather board after he had taken his traditional post mission shower. Unwilling to venture farther into town and finding no need or want to train, he had decided to journey to 'his
spot'.

It was a rather nice spot. Nothing to special. Just a small clearing with a pond and a flat rock in the middle of said pond. He often went there to think... or be alone, not that it was that hard to be alone considering his residence. Visitations by others to this spot were rather infrequent, and it was nice, boring days like this that made him seek out 'his spot'. Pushing aside a branch that hung too far out, allowing it to snap back noisily, he continued down his fixed path towards 'his spot'.

He stepped through that last bit of foliage and entered the clearing. Frowning slightly when he noticed that he was not alone. There was someone at 'his spot'. A young woman to be exact, she did not give any indication that she noticed him. From his current position he could not tell if she wore a forehead protector. So it was one of two things; either she had not noticed him, understandable for a non-ninja, or she had noticed him and chose to ignore him. Perhaps she did not deem him a possible threat? That thought angered him, though it did not show all that much on his outside.

He was just about to address the young woman when he heard her speak to the feline that was beside her.

"Come on. If we stay any longer he'll most likely come to find us and some how wind up in the onesen part of town", what she was implying was pretty obvious. Who ever this "he" is, is a pervert. The feline lept up onto her shoulder and looked back at him. He gave a mock glare at the feline and then noticed that it had not one but two tails! Defanitly not normal. Sure he had seen talking frogs dogs and other such things, but those were summons. Surely no one would have their summon out other than for missions or battle. There was also strange... vibe, one could say, emanating from the animal. Perhaps it had something to do with it's large red eyes.

He noticed, as the young woman turned to him, that she wore a forehead protector around her neck. "You would be...?", he spoke in an unadorned tone. She stepped out onto the water and began to walk toward him. She rubbed the head of the feline on her shoulder calmly.

"Hm, no one important. But if you must know, I'm Kagome. And you would be...?", she stated insouciantly; deciding against stating her last name, seeing as she herself was unsure of which to use. Kagome could see a imperceptible territorial gleem in his eye. 'He probably has adopted this spot as 'his'... well thats not going to change that fact that this is my spot'. She steped on the grass at this time the young raven man replied.

"Uchiha Sasuke", he said artlessly. He would not admit it but her ignoring of the treat he possibly presented and the fact that she was in his spot angered him. He did not let it show. Kagome reminded him of someone. Who, however, he could not think of at the moment, nor did he really care.

Kagome nodded to him, "Well, I suppose that I will see you around. Ja ne". She walked past him and disappeared into the grove.

Sasuke eyed the spot where she vanished from his sight. A small frown upon his face. There just was something about her that he did not like. He immediately told himself that it was the fact that she had invaded his spot and that he was not familiar with her; she wore a forehead protector of the village and had enough skill to walk on water. As he thought about it more, more possibilities of why he had not seen her came to mind. She could have been an ANBU out of uniform for all he knew. Mentally sighing the turned away from his spot; he had come here to be alone and to simply do nothing. He decided that he would venture farther into town.

Whipping the non-existent sweat off of his brow, Naruto stood up. It was part of his usual monthly routine. Walking over to the wall, he took the mop in his hands and began to mop up any excess water on the floor from his scrubbing. Contrary to what some may believe; he rather disliked when his apartment was a dirty mess. Placing the mop back in its proper place, he looked to the black clock that hung on the kitchen wall. 'Good', thought Naruto, 'Just enough time to shower and then out the door'.

He growled slightly as he left the bathroom while he rubbed his hip. "Damn soap", he grumbled. If he didn't know better, he'd say that it was out to get him. That was the second time this month! As he walked down the hall to his room he caught sight of the clock. He had ten minutes till he was to meet them. Upon entering his room, he tossed the towel from his head and into the clothesbasket. Placing his forehead protector on and grabbing his keys, he walked out the door.

He knew that he should have probably been wearier of Miroku but something told him that he was not someone to be weary of. Perhaps it was his demeanor in a combination with a gut feeling… at any rate Tsunade had enlisted him, so he should and could at the very least try and be a friend to Miroku. Speaking of friends, he wondered who was Miroku's friend that he was bringing. From his understanding, his friend was a young woman his age and that was all he really knew.

Naruto was so in his thoughts that he almost failed to notice that he had reached his destination, The Ichi Raku Raman stand. He scanned the small restaurant for his new friend and his friend.

"So who is this new friend of yours?", Kagome questioned once more.

"He should be here soon", Miroku replied with a simper. Kagome eyed him carefully.

"What are you up to?"

"Now why would you think that I am up to something? I merely wish for you, my very good friend, to meet with a friend that I have made today. Nothing more", Miroku then looked up, scanning the small restaurant, his gaze stopped when he sighted his new friend. Kagome, ignored the slight uneasy feeling that formed in her stomach and followed his gaze. There where a few heads in her way, all he could see was a mop of blonde.

Her eyes widened slightly, 'Could he have? He couldn't, he just couldn't! But he would. Did he?' she thought semi-franticly. She sighed mentally, 'The is more than just one blonde person in this village', she thought with relief. The odds of Miroku finding him and having him come here is very unlikely. She smiled inwardly she had almost gotten worked up over nothing.

To bad the odds were against her.

"Over here, Naruto!", Miroku called to the young 17 year old blond man. Kagome merely winced and was about to get out of there when Miroku placed his death grip upon her shoulder keeping her in her seat. She glared at her friend in such a way that it cause shivers to run up and down his back.

Miroku grinned down at Kagome with obvious fear in his smile. Sometimes she could just terrify him so much. At this point Naruto had made it to the table and only stared down in disbelief. Miroku noticed this and swallowed his fear and summoned a large smile.

"Naruto Uzumaki please meet my very good friend, Kagome Higurashi-Hakake", closing his eyes his smile grew slightly wearie, "I think you two might know eachother from a few years ago, so why don't I order the ramen and then you two can catch up", Miroku finnished, and just before he zipped away, he pushed Naruto into the seat across from Kagome.

Kagome just swallowed nervously and continued to mentally murder Miroku while devising plans to kill him when the got home. Naruto on the other hand just stared blankly at her still having a hard time with the fact that she was here, alive and well. Soon he did the only thing he could do at the moment, move.

In the mist of her plans for a particularly cruel way to murder Miroku, which involved kunai, a toilet plunger and fire... lots of fire, when she found herself consumed in a hug. She instantly stiffened, putting aside her anger at Miroku and foucsed on the fact that she was being huged by Naruto, a friend whom she hadn't seen in about ten years. Suddenly he pulled away from her, looked she square in the eye and spoke.

"Where have you been all this time? I thought you'd never come back", he said in a voice full of mirth and seriousness.

"I- uh..."

And there you have it!
My issues with this chapter (if you choose to read them)- Firstly I had Shikamaru Block, which is combo of sheer laziness and writer's block, secondly I had about 6 different ideas to begin this chapter with, thridly my computer(or rather my internet) is becoming VERY termpermental! It works one day and doesn't for the next 3 or it work just fine then it doesn't!(very grr-full). Fouth, my muse(whom/what is unknowne to me) decided to take a vaction or something.Fifth I meant to update after exams but I got banded from the computer at school for 2 weeks, over something I didn't do, then I had a number of write ups to do. This brings us to March. My computer got not 1, not 2 but 8! 8 trogan viruses and had to be wiped CLEAN! and I lost some of my stuff cuz the trogan infected it (my computer is virus free now YAY!) And these past few weeks have just been evil. Nothing more to say.

No I don't mean to give excuses I am just telling you WHY it was so late thought you might like to know. Okay?

And to the people who didjn't review but sent me PM's (Private messages) about Why I had the jewle in Naraku's Head I shall elaborate. I had it there cuz it seems to be logical. Haven't you ever noticed how when the fight him his head is always left intact (or relitivly so) and then he reasembels himself? I figure that he is kinda like Picalo from DB/DBZ(is he in DBGT?) as long as his head is good, he can regenerate. Therefore placing the jewle in his head for safe keeping is logical, yes?

A note to some reviewers: Bloodcherry- Yes it is a Sas/Kag and thanks for the thoughts about the Mir/Hina but I can't take all the credit naru-chan13 gave me the idea
Yue Hime- You can't vote for Kagome since she is gonna be with Sasuke. However I may have a Onesided Itachi/Kagome
Karaku-chan- Do you think you can wait for chapter 5? I have the whole Kakashi-Kagome meeting/moment planed.

Well Ja ne
ShojoNoHiSora