A/N: I prefer replying to reviews here, instead of each one seperately, so... hope you don't mind, guys. And of course, THANK YOU for the reviews! ^_^

Jeffismyhero1217: My first review/reviewer for this story! Thank you so much. You know, at first I was a little scared no one was liking/reading this story since I wasn't getting any feedback, so you couldn't believe how happy I was to see your review. :3 I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!

KibaGirl: What can I say, I LOVE long reviews! I'm glad that you're liking it! I'm also very glad that you like my OC. ^_^ Though I must admit, truthfully, to me sometimes she can be slightly Mary-Sue. I know, I DID just say that. -sweatdrop- Though she's a lot about character development to me. She grows throughout each story. I have one story (that I won't be posting up here, unfortunately) that goes much deeper in depth with her character and shows a lot more to her... But alas, I've been working on that story for roughly two years, and am waaay to scared to post it up because I've worked so hard on it. -sweatdrop- Anyway, I hope that snippet made any sense at all.. o_O With the quote, I'm glad that you can see that! Because that's what I'm trying to get across~ ^_^ And, ah, the sunset scene... I'm a major fluff lover, so you'll probably see more fluff, if not sunsets in the story. Foreshadowing? Well, that's for you to see.. ;) Anyway, long reply is equivalent to long review. x'D

XxMichyBabyxX: Thanks for the review, I'm really glad you like it~ ^_^

Sir Greatness: And I'm really glad you like it. ^_^ Ahaa, I'm also sleepy... But here's the update~ ;D

"Ow, Naruto!" Jade cried the next day, when a certain ninja dressed in orange pounced on her back.

"Where ya headed!?" he asked, sliding off of her back as she sighed, and glanced at him as she continued to walk.

"Um, Kiba's... Why?" she asked timidly, slowing her steps and coming to a halt. Naruto stopped with her, his face softening suddenly as her eyes widened. "What?"

He smiled lightly, "You...really like him don't you?"

Silence washed over the two of them, as they stood by the Yamanaka Flower Shop, as Jade blinked. Then she closed her eyes, and sighed, "Naruto..." She recoiled, her eyes and mouth wide, "WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THAT!?"

Naruto laughed, "Heh..." He clasped his hands behind his head of blond spikes, "But really. You know I already know."

They started walking again, "Yeah, I know." she replied carelessly, acting as if the topic wasn't making her giddy and nervous.

"Well do ya or not?" he asked, peeking at her from the corner of his eye.

She watched her feet as she walked, before glancing ahead at the dirt ground, "I guess so... It's not that I don't want to like him... But... eh..." She looked ahead now,the blue sky stretching on endlessly.

"You're scared."

He said it as more of a fact than a question. She was about to protest, until realizing that that was true... She shifted her eyes, "He's my best friend."

"Yeah, I know that," he squinted his eyes. "Ya think I'm stupid, Jade-chan? You two are almost always together. I think anyone could guess that."

"It's just..." she came to another halt for a second, turning to look at her teammate. "It's like if you were to like Sasuke, or something... You guys are like best friends, right? You wouldn't wanna ruin that. You'd be scared...of losing them... If..." she trailed off. "...Naruto?"

Observing him more closely she could see that his jaw was hanging open, and his eyes were wide and blank - his left eye twitching. With a shake of his head, he seemed to tower over her - his eyes glowing red with fury and an anger mark throbbing by his forehead. He shook hard fists at her, "WHAT!?!?!?"

(I...don't like yaoi. *shot* Just trying to add some fun and humor in here. I mean, I don't mind like, fluff picture of SasuNaru or whoever. Like hugs and just cute, sweet, innocent things. x'D I also don't mind AkuRoku (totally different series, wtf) because Roxy doesn't seem to enjoy Axel's... actions much. x'D)

She laughed, "I was just trying to make an example!" But then her lit eyes dimmed, as she looked to her friend again, "But...you understand right?" She looked away, "If I ever told him... I could ruin our friendship. I don't want that to happen..."

"Well you can't just keep those feelings bottled up inside, forever," Naruto said pointedly.

She never replied. Half because she didn't know how to, and half because she didn't want to.

"And how do you know he doesn't feel the same way, too?" he asked, as they began to walk again. "If you never try? Life is full of risks... It's kind of like fear, and I guess it's the same... but sometimes you've just gotta keep moving forward."

She seemed dazed in her own thoughts, as Naruto sweatdropped. One of the deepest things he'd said since he'd woken up that morning and she hadn't heard him...

He cleared his throat, "You still goin' to Kiba's?"

She nodded, absentmindedly.

"I forgot to tell you," he started, grabbing her attention again. "We have a mission."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT SOONER!?"

oOo

Jade sighed, her, Naruto and Sasuke busy cleaning bird droppings off of the Hokage Place. She had just finished her area when she heard Naruto busy yelling at Kakashi Sensei.

"Couldn't you of gotten us a better mission than this, Sensei!?" he demanded, crossing his legs and sitting down on top of the roof, tossing his rag away.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Jade just sighed again as Kakashi looked up from his book.

"This... was one of the only missions available," he said. "I...wanted to stay away from some of the higher ranked missions."

"Why!?"

Jade had caught Kakashi's eye as he said the last part, which made her bow her head. She looked down at her hands, sitting on her knees on the roof. She could tell that Kakashi was hiding reason behind his last words. It was her weakness from the last mission, when they bumped into Kitai that had made him avoid the higher ranked missions. It was like... someone losing faith in her. Sure, she wasn't incredibly strong - but she wasn't incredibly weak, either. She could handle higher ranked missions. She had before! There was just something eerie about those wolves and Kitai - she wasn't sure what had happened...

With an inhale of fresh air, she stretched her legs out in front of her, propping her hands up behind her to keep her balance.

"I think we could all use a bit of a break," Sasuke's calm voice reached her ears, as she looked his way - Naruto arguing with Kakashi Sensei away from them.

"Huh?"

A smug look appeared on his face as he shrugged, "Nevermind. I was trying to make you feel better or something."

"Who says I need cheering up?" she demanded, furrowing her eyebrows a little.

"I knew that'd be a waste of breath..."

"Hey!" she made a fist at him, standing up.

"Uh, watch out..." he said, before she realized she was slipping.

"Hey, wait!" she shouted, falling down and then tumbling down the roof. Sasuke only sighed - so, both of his teammates were pretty much clumsy idiots...

Grabbing onto the piping on the edge of the roof, Jade released a relieved breath and looked up to see Sasuke back to work, neglecting to ask if she was alright. Conjuring up her best death glare, she sent it his way - only hoping that it would send shivers down his back.

Carefully getting a better grip on the roof, she began to pull herself up. Her stomach was only grazing the edge when her fingers lost their grip on the shingles, making her slip again.

'Way to help me out, Sasuke...' she thought, looking for something to grab onto. That is...until she landed on someone: causing them to crash to the ground with her coming down on top of them.

She heard a high and surprised gasp, a shocked gawk and a groan from beneath her. Looking down to meet the face of her cushion, she saw Shino's black glasses looking up at her. With a fat sweatdrop rolling slowly down her head, she jumped back, tumbling onto the ground a little ways away from him. But then her mind clicked... Shino.

"Ah, gomen!" she apologized quickly, as Hinata helped her fallen teammate up.

"What're you doing falling from the sky?" Kiba asked, crouching down in front of her with Akamaru right by his side - his hands on his knees.

She showed a timid smile, "I, uh... lost my balance." She murmured the last part, as Kiba just showed her an almost amused smirk.

She glanced past him for a second to see Shino wiping dust off of his jacket, and Hinata standing shyly by him.

"I really am sorry, Shino," she repeated. "I didn't mean to."

"It's fine."

She looked back at Kiba, "...What about you? What're you guys doing walking around? I thought you had a mission."

"Nah, we finished up pretty quick. It was only small," he told her, as he took one of her hands in his and hoisted her up.

"Oh, alright," she looked up at the Hokage Place. "We're almost done, too. Maybe..."

"JAAAAAAAAAAAADE!"

With a small cringe, she looked up again, Kiba following her gaze. A blur of orange that was Naruto was jumping from building to building, making his way down. And in a moment, he was on the ground and by Jade and Kiba, bumping Akamaru out of the way which made him whimper and Kiba give the back of his head a glare.

"Sasuke said you fell off the roof!" Naruto motioned with his hands. "I was just checking to see if you were OK."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Uh, thanks to...Shino..." Jade laughed nervously, somewhat embarassed.

"Shino...?" Naruto turned to look at him, but all he got was a wary feeling. He turned back to his teammate, "I see..." His eyes landed on Hinata, raising a hand to wave to her, "Hey, Hinata."

Jade and Kiba watched as the Hyuuga girl's face quickly turned crimson, her eyes fluttering slowly, "N-Naruto..."

"Hey, are you OK?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.

"Anyway," Kiba said, bumping Naruto out of the way and closer to Hinata. He looked back to his best friend, "What were you saying?"

"Um, nothing. I forget..." she shifted her eyes around, chocolate orbs being confronted with cerulean ones. Naruto didn't seem pleased with her reply, as he gave her a flat look and crossed his arms.

But Kiba laughed, "Typical." And with a shy smile, Jade quietly laughed along before Naruto came walking over and shoved her out of the way, taking her place in front of Kiba.

"Hey, Kiba. Wanna get a ramen with me and Jade later?" he asked cooly. "We're almost done of our mission. We can meet you there in a few minutes."

Jade's jaw dropped, as one of her hands slowly balled into a fist. Alright, what was he thinking? It wasn't like she couldn't ask Kiba to hang out herself - I mean, she did all the time. They were together everyday. Crossing her arms, she shook her head to herself, "Like he'll accept an invitation from Naruto..."

"Sure."

"Alright, meet you there," Naruto said, as Jade watched from the sideline. Did that just happen? I mean, Naruto and Kiba were friends - but not the best of friends. You could say they weren't on the best terms.

"Just make sure you save some ramen for us..." Kiba told him, in a lower voice than previous.

"Hey!"

"Um," Jade grabbed Naruto's collar, slapping a hand over his moving mouth. "I'll, er, we'll meet you there?"

"Yeah," Kiba nodded, as he picked up Akamaru. "Don't be too long, though. I'm getting kinda hungry."

"Hey, uh," Jade looked Hinata's way. "Why don't you come, too?" She asked, taking note of Naruto's flying mouth. And like Kiba and him would get along with just her there.

Hinata just blinked her pale eyes, "O-OK."

And then a wave of secondhand depression washed over the group, as they all looked Shino's way. Who was, currently, off to the side by himself, his collar shielding the majority of his face.

"Shino-kun..." Hinata said quietly, as Akamaru whined and Kiba sighed, "He's sulking."

"You...can come, too," Jade told him quickly, before giving Kiba and Hinata a grin and leaping off, dragging Naruto with her.

Prying her hand off of his lips, he turned his head to look at her, "Inviting Hinata's one thing! But Shino!?"

"He was sulking!"

"I only did that so you and Kiba would hang out! Not so us and all of Squad Eight could hang out!"

"Me and Kiba hang out everyday, Naruto!"

"Yeah, whatever!"

"Well it's not much difference!"

"Then why wouldn't you ask him to do something!"

"'Cause we would've done something anyway!"

"Whatever."

"Whatever!"

oOo

"I can't believe I paid for Naruto's eleventh helping of ramen," Kiba groaned that evening, mourning the loss of pretty much all of his money, having bought ramen helpings three to eleven.

Jade showed a meek smile, "That was really nice of you, though Kiba..."

His hands were shoved in his pockets as he glanced at her, "Yeah, well..." He ended up just grinning, and Jade joined him letting out a little laugh.

Kiba was walking her home, and the sun was only merely beginning to disappear from the sky.

"I guess we won't watch the sunset, today," she murmured, her eyes glued to the burning star. Her chocolate ores seemed to shimmer in the orange sunlight. She parted her lips like she was about to say something, but Kiba intervined.

"D'you wanna watch it?" he asked, Akamaru climbing out of his jacket and onto his head to look.

She shook her head, "No, it's alright."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I..." she paused, her face tensing as she stopped in her steps. Kiba abruptly stopped a bit ahead of her, "What's wrong?"

She turned half way around, looking behind her - her eyes searching... for something. Anything.

"Jade?"

"Uh..." she turned back, shuffling her feet a little, "I just got this weird feeling. Like... like paranoia, or something. I guess it's nothing." She just shrugged, before looking over her shoulder again.

"Are you sure?" Kiba raised an eyebrow. "You seem sort of restless all of a sudden..."

"I just thought... something... I don't know..." she put a hand to her face, her eyebrows furrowing. This awful gut feeling churned around in her stomach as she tried to think. There was nothing there. She was just being paranoid...

"This isn't settled, Kakashi!'

A cold shiver ran down her spine. But why? Kitai was out of the way - why couldn't she stop thinking about her and those wolves. She felt herself slipping away, lost in thought - images flashing through her mind rapidly. Wolves, tufts of fur, blood, kunai, dirt, rocks, Kitai, the sunset...

She blinked, taking her eyes off the sunset for a moment and trying to block these thoughts from her head. These were thoughts that were to be forgotten. Ones that were shoved to the back of the mind. Ones that she shouldn't be thinking of, seeing, hearing...

Snarls faded in her mind, and were replaced with barks. Barks from Akamaru, whom whimpered when she blinked her eyes a few times.

"You... froze up for a sec..." Kiba said, worry hiding in his tone.

Her lips slowly melted into a frown, her eyebrows knitting together. And then, something so sudden, so out of no where... her eyes began to brim with tears.

Kiba's eyes widened a little, as Akamaru whimpered, "...Jade."

Her vision was going blurry, more tears welling in her eyes as she tried to keep her focus on Kiba. Her mind was slowly drifting into those thoughts of Kitai and the wolves, and she was desperately trying to keep her eyes and thoughts on Kiba.

A frown embossed its way onto Kiba's face, as he looked at her - ignoring the people walking past him wondering what was wrong. Pretty much everyone in the village knew how close the two were, so it was odd to see Jade cry... while he just looked on.

"What's wrong with you!?"

'No...' Jade's thoughts were spinning. 'Don't think back to that... Think... Kiba... he's right there...' A few tears spilled to the ground, but she didn't do anything to stop them.

What was wrong with her lately!? She only made a fist. This was so stupid...

"Jade, are you okay...?"

Kiba's voice...

How could such a happy day turn into this? Turn into these thoughts she was trying to store away...

And then Kiba did something he didn't do all that often. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her gently. And at first she did nothing - but then she managed to move her own arms up to wrap them securely around him. She could feel her tears dissolving, and the ones that had managed to escape soaking into Kiba's chest.

She closed her eyes, thoughts of Kitai and her wolves also dissolving to the back of her mind - fading from the eyes of her mind... Because even with all of this... she still had a sanctuary to retreat to...

Translations:

Gomen: Sorry

A/N: Well... not much to say here, either. Probably didn't see the end part coming, didya!? ;D Hehheh...heh... -sweatdrop- OK, perhaps you did. But if you didn't... then, I don't know. -moar sweatdrop- It's about 2:30 in the morning right now, and I'm tired. x'D Anyway, I think Sasuke was a tad OOC here... So sorry if you also found that... But anyway, with the last hug... I'm aware that Kiba hugged her last chapter. But... just clarifying he doesn't do this much. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, reviews are very welcome! 3