My italics STILL aren't working. Sorry.

Wow. I must admit I'm surprised. Here are the results: Option 1: one vote. 2 got no votes. 3 got one vote. 4 got one vote, 5 got five votes, and 6 got one vote. Actually, two people said KarinSai. I hadn't thought of that. It's a really cool idea, but…I have an idea for option 5, so we're going to do that.

Thanks to: The Crazy Evil Akatsuki Neko, Shrimps of Mass Destruction, Dragon of Twilight, Herm-Own-Ninny879, ellabell, Shashuko the Paisley Maiden, Shukoru, Not a FFnet member, Love-Hidden-Under-Blood, Favrite of Chaos, craziness101, originalatorian, multi guy, Fred Black, and Haku's No. 1 girl.

I can't believe i'm already updating...but it's all thanks to you people screaming: UPDATE! Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

You're all wondering, where is Sasuke?

No?

Oh, well. We'll find out, anyway. Yay!

Sasuke, was in fact, talking to Orochimaru and Kabuto.

"You're sure it isn't time yet?"

"Yes."

Zenaku slid from Sasuke's sleeve, and dropped on the floor. She slid over and bit Orochimaru's leg.

He jumped and kicked her off, hissing.

She returned to Sasuke, and hissed into his ear. Yep, still pretending to be a snake.

Sasuke snickered. Karin, who had just walked into the room looked around in confusion.

"Is there a real snake in here?"

Zenaku turned to glance at her.

Briefly, they stared into each other's eyes. Karin smiled. "Can I hold her?"

Sasuke merely nodded. Orochimaru grabbed her arm. "Be careful," he said, "It likes to bite people."

She frowned. "Let go of me." Still, she walked with a bit more caution over to Sasuke and Zenaku.

Zenaku didn't wait—she dropped onto the floor, and slid towards Karin.

Karin paused. If Orochimaru was right, and the snake did like to bite people, she sure had a lot of leg showing—ample opportunity for the snake to bite her. Still, she knelt down, and picked the snake up. The snake seemed to like her.

"What's her name?"

"Zenaku."

"Good and evil..."

Sasuke shrugged. "It seemed to fit."

It fits you, too, she thought.

Orochimaru and Sasuke started discussing the attack again.

Zenaku looked like she was trying to communicate with her. Karin summoned a snake. (I have no idea if she can do this…but go with it, okay?)

"See what she's trying to say, Laila." (I used another of Shrimps of Mass Destruction's suggestions! How cool is that?)

"Okay." Laila spoke Japanese and …snakese! (Oh yes, I made up a word.)

Zenaku and Laila had a conversation.

Laila slithered up her arm, and whispered in her ear, quietly enough that no one else would hear it, "She says Sasuke talks about you often, and that he needs your help."

"My help?"

"To defeat Orochimaru."

"He's going to do it?"

The whispered conversation had drawn the conversation of the others. "What? I can't talk to Laila?"

It was obvious that no one had heard anything, to Karin's immense relief. They ignored her again.

"How can I help him?"

"She says he needs an ally with your power."

Karin hesitated. "Tell Zenaku to tell him I'll do it."

Laila nodded, and returned to Zenaku.

Zenaku bowed to her, then returned to Sasuke. She hissed into his ear, and his gaze fell on Karin, as though he was sizing her up.

She stared back at him.

He smiled—not smirked—and nodded. He returned his attention to Orochimaru, who hadn't even noticed that Sasuke's attention had wandered.

Karin let out a sigh of gratitude. That he respected her enough to ask for her help was…amazing. Superb. Spectacular. Smiling, she let Laila return to wherever summoning animals rested, and started to leave the room. As her foot was halfway through the doorway, Sasuke's voice called her back.

"Wait. I want to talk to Karin alone."

Karin flushed, and returned to the room. Kabuto winked as he passed her, which only deepened her blush.

She took off her glasses.

He was sitting on the couch, now. She sat down next to him, maybe a bit too close. Okay, she was almost on top of him.

"What is it, Sasuke?" she questioned, her voice breathless. "Have you finally realized that we should leave Orochimaru and be a team of our own?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Part of that." His voice was quiet. "Whisper, okay? I don't want Emo Lord to hear our conversation."

She giggled and nodded.

"And could you move a bit? You're too close."

She frowned. Seemed Sasuke was clueless as ever. She moved about a millimeter, and Sasuke, seemingly understanding that was all he was going to get, accepted that.

"Zenaku told you?" His eyes searched hers hopefully. "She wasn't lying to me, right?"

Zenaku hissed in a disgruntled manner.

Karin assumed it was along the lines of 'Like I'd lie to you.'

"Yeah. I'll help you."

He smiled. "Great."

"What do I need to do?"

"You'll know. I don't want to disclose too much here. Can you meet me some place?"

"Isn't your school at Hogsmeade, today?"

"Yeah."

"Well…meet me there. At Honeydukes."

"How do you know all this?"

She shrugged. "Orochimaru makes me keep tabs on you."

You just love that, don't you? Was Sasuke's only thought. He wasn't as clueless as she thought he was.

"Okay, we'll meet there."

She smiled. "Great."

"Bye, Emo Lord. Twenty minutes?" He directed the last part to Karin.

"Okay."

Sasuke vanished in a puff of smoke.

Haku sat in his office, staring at the wall.

He felt sick. Awful.

How…how could he have said those things to Usagi?

He'd been frustrated, of course, but she didn't deserve that.

He had to apologize.

He stood up, leaving his office, and ran through the halls. It was necessary that he found her.

(Look. All the sentences at the beginning of the line start with H. How weird!)

To his surprise, he found her listlessly pacing outside, in front of Hagrid's hut. The one she was staying in to look after Fang.

"Usagi."

She looked up. She was exhausted, and looked like she hadn't slept in days.

He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She hugged him back. She was crying. "It's not your fault. I had no right. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Haku shook his head. "You had every right."

"NO! How can I accuse you? You didn't make Juugo do that. It was his own stupid choice. I'm sorry."

"…I accept this, but I shouldn't have gotten angry."

"We all get angry, Haku-kun. Our argument was proof of that."

He kissed the top of her head.

For a while, they just held onto each other.

Then, "Haku-kun…why am I attracted to you?"

The question caught him completely off guard. "Come again?"

"You're…I don't know. I shouldn't be. You're totally feminine in appearance, which should be slightly repulsive. But…I find it…hot."

"Maybe you're gay," he said seriously.

Silence. "Oh, my gosh, what if you're right?"

He rolled his eyes. "I was kidding. You know I'm a guy. So you're obviously straight."

"Yeah, but—" He cut her off, kissing her soft lips.

She didn't hesitate in returning the kiss.

He ended the kiss. "Now," he said calmly, "Was the person you kissed male or female?"

"Male."

"See? Straight."

She laughed, and laid her head on his chest.

"I think I love you."

"I love you, too," he whispered running his fingers through her hair.

Everyone's favorite lazy ninja was sitting by the lake, looking up at clouds. Everyone else, except for Neji and Tenten, who were in the library "studying", had gone to Hogsmeade.

He claimed it was too troublesome, and had walked down to the lake. Tsunade might kill him if she found out, but that was okay. Hinata, Naruto, and Sakura would be more than enough to deal with any trouble.

And it really would have been a drag.

He placed a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it, watching the smoke waft upward.

Temari's shadow fell over him.

"Hey, crybaby. How you doin'?"

He sighed. "A lot better before you showed up."

She frowned and considered hitting him with her fan, then remembered it was in her office.

They sat in silence for a while.

"Shikamaru, I've been thinking…"

"Sounds dangerous."

"Shut up. I've been wondering. Since I am a teacher of Muggle Studies, I've noticed distinct similarities between us, as shinobi, and these muggles. My question is…Are we muggles?"

He glanced at her.

"That would be too much of a drag to think through…I don't think so. We can use these seemingly useless pieces of wood." As if to make a point, he waved the wand, and murmured, "Orchideous." A bouquet of flowers burst from the tip of his wand. "For you," he said offering the bouquet to her. (Real spell! See Goblet of Fire, page 308.)

She blushed and accepted the flowers.

They let the silence engulf them for a moment.

Then, "I thought you quit smoking."

"Nah. Just while Ino was around."

"Ino?"

"She bugs me about it all the time, and it got to be too troublesome. So I don't smoke around her."

Temari chuckled. "Just like you, crybaby. Give up when things get to troublesome."

"More like strategic retreat."

"Because everything's strategic, for you, right?" she said.

He grinned. "Yep."

She rolled her eyes and threw one of the flowers at him.

He glanced at her. "What?"

"Is our relationship 'strategic'?"

"What? No."

She shook her head and stood up. "Bye crybaby."

She walked back to the castle muttering, "Stupid. So stupid!"

Oh no! Temari's mad at Shika-kun! But hey! Haku and Usagi made up.

Poll numeró trés! (Er…I hope I didn't accent that wrong. Ugh.)
What's your favorite Naruto character? I have a top five list. Check it out:

1. Gaara (Duh)
2. Haku (He's just so cool!)
3. Juugo (He's bi-polar. How can you not love that?)
4. Sai (He's got that hair…and he's awesome--currently, cuz he's trying to improve.)
5. Shikamaru (He's a genius! And lazy…just like me!)

Those aren't your only options: choose any character! You can give me a list of any character, or just your all time fave--your choice.

Oh, and can someone tell me: what color is Karin's hair? I don't know if it's pink or red… If it is pink, I guess we can decide that pastel haired people like Sasuke. Weird, eh?

Oh, and did you know, when I type Sasuke, my spell check says: Sauce! Naruto: Maputo! (What is that?) Hinata: Piñata. Makes me laugh, every time. You know what's really cool, when I type Zenaku, spell check claims that I mean snake! I thought that was amazing, considering Zenaku is a snake.

You know the CD I burned, with all the Naruto stuff on it? I'm listening to it…It was fun. (Thanks to Not a FFnetMember for telling me it was okay that I didn't understand what the heck they were saying. He or She's right—They're just cool songs.)

IBG out!