Sasuke left Kiba's house disappointedly. Arrow wasn't there. Neither had he been there all day. Now he had no leads of where the dog may be. Sasuke stopped in the middle of the empty street. Could it be… he shook his head and put his hand of his brow. But it had been half a year already, why would she be here now? Wouldn't she had come earlier? No matter what he said to himself the thoughts of her being here were undefeatable.
"Would that be why Arrow was so excited to leave?" Sasuke picked up his pace to get into town.
Naruto slurped happily on the ramen he always got. The bowl was soon empty and he paid his bill.
"Hey, Naruto," Sakura called. Naruto spun around in surprise. She was waving as she walked closer by herself.
"H-Hey, Sakura," Naruto replied in confusion.
"Can I talk to you, Naruto," Sakura said as she grabbed Naruto's hand to pull him along. Naruto's face turned red.
"You want to talk…to me?"
"Mm-hm," Sakura nodded, "But in secret." Naruto's face glowed even more. Sakura led him to the outer woods of the village. Kali glared down at the two and smiled. With one wave of the hand, she signaled Oji on the ground to move. "Naruto, I"- Sakura was interrupted by a rustle in the bushes. Naruto looked around, completely caught off guard.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I don't know," Sakura lied as she took a step away from Naruto. A rumbled followed and Naruto was frozen with fear. Before he could do anything, a black mass leapt from the bushes and bowled him over like a helpless rabbit. A scream of surprise from Naruto and a snarl from the beast on him mixed in a second before silence. Akkan gave Naruto a big lick and purred loudly. Sakura burst out laughing along with Oji and Kali as they emerged from the bushes. Naruto sat up.
"What the…!?" Naruto started before being drowned in another lick from Akkan.
"Is that all you have to say to your long lost friends, Blondie?" Oji said as Akkan returned to his side. Naruto stood.
"Kali! Oji!" Naruto exclaimed. The two siblings smiled wide. Arrow trotted up to the group and licked Kali's hand.
"Hey, buddy!" Kali knelt down and hugged the wolf around the neck. "What did you end up naming him?" She asked Naruto.
"His name is Arrow now," Naruto answered.
"Arrow…how sweet…"
"Sasuke named him after that necklace."
"Hey! A headband! Arrow, are you a ninken dog!?" Arrow barked happily and she laughed excitedly. "I'm so proud of you. What you have become is astounding." Oji smiled and coughed emphatically.
"Alright, now that almost everyone's here," Oji said. "It is time to talk about the plan of action." Oji flinched. "Well, Little Sasuke sure is being generous with that whistle of his. Or should I say, my whistle." He continued with his plan, all the friends listening intently. All happy to finally be reunited, and all excited about Sasuke and Kali's reunion. Naruto and Sakura added there thoughts into the plan and eventually, Oji just settled onto a simple yet decent plan of action.
"We only have one person left," Kali said as Oji finished. Oji smiled and scratched his head.
"Yeah the only person we haven't actually met yet," Oji laughed, "I'm actually nervous." Sakura laughed at his humorous face as he said this.
Naruto and Sakura had only one place to look for their master and that was at the academy. Arrow sniffed out the sensei with Kali's request. The wolf trotted at a good pace and found Kakashi casually walking down the street, fully absorbed in his book.
"Hey, Kakashi sensei!" Naruto called. Kakashi looked back.
"Hello, Naruto," He said nonchalantly.
"There's some people we want you to meet, Sensei," Sakura said. "This is Kali and Oji from the island. Kali and Oji bowed politely at the same time.
"It's nice to meet you, Kakashi sensei," Kali said.
"So this is the Kali and Oji I have heard about," Kakashi said in surprise. "You know, Sasuke has been waiting for you." Kali smiled at him.
"Yeah, I've heard," she said. Oji took over.
"It truly is an honor to meet you. Hearing of you from this team is not the only I've heard. You are an amazing ninja to look up to." He shook Kakashi's hand.
"Thank you," Kakashi said humbly.
"Alright, Brother," Kali fidgeted restlessly and touched his arm in a childlike fashion. "Can we get this done now. We've kinda been waiting for a while already."
"Hm...yeah, ok," Oji shrugged and adjusted his hat from his back to his head. "Let there be a reunion." Kali smiled and Arrow whined excitedly.
Sasuke put the whistle back. Oji had to have heard that. If the whistle even worked that way. He got to the ramen shop expecting to see Naruto at his usual spot. But he was surprised when Naruto wasn't there. It didn't bother him too much, though, Naruto being the spontaneous idiot that he was could be anywhere. Sasuke walked and found himself at the academy and saw Sakura petting Arrow. He approached.
"Hey, Sasuke!" She said in slight surprise.
"Hello, Sakura. Where did you find Arrow?"
"Oh, he was here already." Sasuke knelt by Arrow.
"Arrow, what's wrong?" The puppy licked his face then whined and fidgeted. When Sasuke stood he felt a hard hand on his shoulder. The hand spun him around and angry eyes glared him in the face.
"Hey!" and angry voice roared. A rimmed hat covered the man's face. "You… rang?" Oji changed his voice to a happy one and pulled his hat off with a bow. Sasuke couldn't breathe. It was the bright orange-headed Oji!
"But…but," Sasuke's mind reeled at the sight of the long lost friend. Oji laughed.
"What's wrong, Little Sasuke, not expecting to see the person you kept ringing for!?" Oji put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder again and held out the other hand expectantly. "Hand it over before you hurt someone with it." Sasuke snapped out of it and pulled out the whistle. Before he could put it in Oji's hand he heard a warm voice.
"Don't give it to him. You'll never get it back," Kali said as she stepped up. Arrow pranced around her and then around everyone with excitement. Sasuke froze. He felt the relief of knowing she was here and seeing her out of the deep forest. She wore a pine green shirt that had a V-neck and one side swept from her right shoulder to her left hip, and some brown Capri pants. Kali had the blue flower set in her hair around her ear; surprisingly, a human ear, not wolven.
"Kali..." He sighed. She laughed lightly and clasped her hands behind her.
"Nice to see you too," she said. Not a second after she had said that Sasuke embraced her. She was surprised at first, but soon returned the hug.
"I was worried you weren't coming," he said.
"Me too," she replied. Akkan appeared and sat next to Naruto. He purred loudly and surprised Naruto. Kali and Sasuke separated and Kali laughed at Naruto's face of surprise.
"What happened to your ears?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh," Kali touched her ear, "Thank Oji for that," she looked at her brother. He bowed sarcastically.
"Yeah, it's a trick I've learned." Oji explained. "A jutsu I discovered in a small village along the way. As a matter of fact, a very warm, market town." He smiled. Sasuke realized the girl he had seen was Kali after all. "It allows me to hide the unsightly feature of the ears so she could fit in better with the academy students.
"Wait," Sakura said in confusion, "Are you saying Kali is going to be in the ninja academy?" Kali's smile gleamed.
"Not just me," She said, "Oji's going into it, too. We just couldn't resist being ninja's again." They continued to talk for a while as the sun finally set on the busy day. When the darkness came they all had to depart to their dorms and homes.
"So where are you two going to stay?" Naruto asked as they were about to split.
"Oh, I found a decent-priced dorm that we'll share for a while, until we find something better," Oji answered with a yawn following.
"It will be different, this new way of life, but I think we'll manage." Kali continued as Oji yawned. His tail flicked and he wiped his eyes sleepily. Sakura noted he acted like a child a lot for being the older brother. He was immature and responsible at the same time, which is a strange combination. They all said goodbye and for the first time, Kali felt at home; as if this is where she was supposed to be. The restless feeling in her gut was gone, and all seemed right.