Chapter seventeen… Let's see where this mess ends up…

I sighed as I walked around town. I hadn't been here for so long. I was glad to be back in my village. I smiled. Heading down the nostalgic (Haha… Shippuden joke…) road I found my familiar house. Finally, at long last, I was home. My parents were pretty well off, although I was the only ninja of the family. My little brother, Arata, was only seven months old when I was captured, and my parents worked together at a large business, which paid well. I stepped up the cement steps and slowly reached up for the doorbell. It was smooth and comforting when I pressed it and the sweet bell rang through the house. I heard my little kitten mewl so softly. Her name was Honoka, which means star. She was a tiny thing, with a black spot on one of her eyes and brown fur everywhere else. She had a striking white blaze across her nose and up to her forehead, which looked like a star, hence the name. Footsteps were coming down the hallway. The doorknob turned and the door slowly opened.

"Momma, Momma! Come look! It's Kasi!!!" I picked him up in my arms and kissed him on the nose.

"I missed you, Arata!" I snuggled him close. I heard heavier steps come down the hallway, rushing.

"Oh, Kasumi, you're back!" I was engulfed in a huge hug from my mother. "Baby, what happened to you? We were so worried, but we knew you'd make it back safe and sound!" She attacked my face with her kisses.

"Mom, I missed you so much!" I put Arata down and Honoka jumped into my arms. "I missed you too, little kitten!" I kissed her little paw and she purred softly.

"Oh, your father will be so happy to see you when he comes home! Come in, and eat! I can make you anything you want. I was just about to start dinner anyway."

"Actually, mom… I have something that I need you to tell me." She turned and the smile faded from her face. "I was captured by someone named Michira, and then I was rescued by the Hidden Leaf Village. There, I met Uchiha Sasuke, you know, the one I've always talked about?" She nodded solemnly.

"I understand. I'll explain everything to you…" She led me over to the kitchen table and sat down. I let Honoka slip out of my hands and onto the floor. "Kasumi, this is about the picture, right?" Nodding, she continued, "I thought so. It is a picture of his parents and there is a good reason for that. We were very good friends to his parents, and since we weren't ninjas, it didn't matter that we came from two different villages. We had lived very close at one point before we moved here. Isamu and I…" I noted she didn't say 'father' like she usually did, "knew that you wouldn't understand until you were older, and I guess we can't keep it from you any longer." What was she getting at? They were keeping something from me? "You know how Sasuke's brother, Itachi, destroyed his clan?"

"Yes, you've always told me about that."

"Right. Well, Sasuke's mother and father had a third child that they worried about. They could tell that there was something wrong with Itachi. They knew that Sasuke wouldn't be killed, but they were very frightened that there only female child would be." A third child? What does this have to do with me? "So, they gave her to very close friends so that she would be safe. Sasuke and Itachi don't even know she exists."

"Why are you telling me this? Why would that matter to me?"

"Kasumi, you… you're adopted. You are Uchiha Kasumi."

I stood at the gate to Konoha. I sighed as I looked around to see other ninja from the Cloud village, some I knew, and some I didn't.

"I'll miss you, Aria." I turned and frowned.

"I'll miss you too." We stood and looked into each other's eyes for a little while. Then we both began crying and hugged.

"I can't believe that you are going to…"

"I'm really sorry. I'll miss you so much. Say hi to my parents for me, all right?"

"I will. I promise. I'll tell them everything and make sure that they know you've found your brother finally." I smiled and hugged my life long friend one last time before she turned and walked out of Konoha. I felt soft tears dripping down my face. I hadn't been able to say goodbye to my parents. I most likely won't see them ever again. I had no siblings, but my parents were both Cloud ninja Jounin. I missed my friend already and she wasn't even out of my view yet. It had been about a week since Naruto had come back and he was fine and already out of the hospital. I watched until my best friend disappeared from my view and then turned solemnly back towards my room where, I guess where I'll be living from now on. I looked up at the sky. The clouds were gray and it looked like it was about to snow… or rain or maybe hail or whatever. Either way it looked as miserable as I felt right now. Had I made the right choice? What if I regretted not leaving and missed my parents so much I went crazy? Aria, you're being ridiculous. Suddenly I heard a strange sound that snapped me back into reality. What was that? I turned. Nothing… had I imagined it? Oh, great, I was already losing it! Then it came again. Well, at least that's a relief. I retraced my steps and found myself staring down a dark alleyway. Creepy… I walked in further, very cautiously, scanning the walls and the floor for… well, whatever was making the noise.

"Mrew!!" Now that I was close enough, I could recognize the sound. As I looked down a tiny little cat jumped into my arms, which were crossed over my chest to keep warm. The cat was maybe a few years old, but it sure was little. I had to get this cat somewhere warm… I ran out of the alley with the cat in my arms. It was covered in mud, the poor thing. I couldn't event tell what it looked like.

"Crap!" I shouted. "My hotel's on the other side of town!" I looked around a moment, and then realizing where I was, headed for the next best location. I looked up at my destination, and luckily, the window was open. I jumped onto the rooftops and easily leaped through the open window, shutting it behind me. I heard the shower on, all right, that works. I lay the cat down on the bed and grabbed a towel that was on the door. Sorry, but this is important. I started drying the wet cat off quickly. I went to the fridge and grabbed some milk. I opened it and, to my surprise and joy, it was fresh. I found a bowl and poured the milk into it. I smiled as the kitten drank the milk up happily. "Let's see… what can I feed you?" Of course, there wasn't much food at all. Some instant ramen was pretty much it. I did manage to find some tuna fish, though half eaten, it would have to work. The cat ate it so quickly I didn't have the chance to blink before it was gone. "Well, we'll have to get you some food, now, won't we?" Just then the bathroom door opened a smidge. Suddenly remembering what was going on I closed my eyes, turned around, and yelled, "Naruto get back in the bathroom!" He yelped in surprise but I heard the door squeak closed a little.

"Aria, what the hell are you doing in my room?! Huh?" He must've noticed my kitten. "Is that a cat?" I turned slowly, and he was behind the door by now. I smiled.

"Yeah, I found him… or her, I don't even know yet, come to think of it…" I began rambling on off topic. "Oh, um, anyway, I found him in an alley all cold and wet and had to bring him here. It was the closest place and he needed to get warm quick. You might want to get changed now, Naruto…" Looking embarrassed, Naruto agreed and I covered my eyes so he could get some clothes on. When he finished he went over to my little kitten. He kneeled down and we were both completely surprised when my cat started growling and lunged at Naruto with her paw. Naruto, being full of grace, fell over backwards.

"Ow!!!"

"Oh my gosh, are you all right?" He sat back up.

"I don't think your cat likes me very much… How did you manage to bring something that violent here without getting killed?"

"It's strange, she was perfectly calm when I found her… in fact, she jumped into my arms." I reached down carefully to pick her up, and she didn't make a threatening movement. "Well, she's a girl." I mentioned as a tangent.

"Wow, she's totally fine around you!" I smiled.

"What do you know?"

"So…?"

"So?"

"So what are you gonna name her!?"

"Hmmm…" I thought a moment. "I'll name her something sweet and perfect like her." She jumped out of my arms and over to a flower basket someone had given Naruto. She hopped in cutely. I laughed. "How adorable, a little Siamese kitten in a basket of flowers. Wait, that's it! I have the perfect name for her! Kohana, my little flower!"

All right, sorry for the huge gap in updates. I need to wait for more episodes to come out… and I don't want to ruin the suspense for me by watching the Japanese with English subtitles… so…. You'll just have to wait a little while for more updates. I really don't know what to do with my other story either, so… yeah get over it. On a brighter subject, ARIA IS STAYING! –Huge smile- She kind of replaces Sakura like –cough- spoiler –cough- Sai replaces Sasuke. Sorry to people who don't like spoilers, but this is going to go into Shippuden… eventually… and so you'll have to deal with spoilers. Or maybe not-so spoilery spoilers because I might just wait for Shippuden to come out, but… I don't know. I have too much crap to do with school anyway right now. I'm gonna post this now. Oh, and if you wanna see a picture of Kohana, it's on my profile, but yeah, the "Siamese kitten" part was kind of put in the story to describe her a little. The picture's really cute, though!

- (Insert name here )