Chapter Seven

I shiver and wake up. I look at the clock and it is seven in the morning. Where am I? I look around with droopy eyes and realize that the fight, Master Edo, and sand were not a dream. I sigh and sit up slowly rubbing my eyes. I look at Rhianna. She is surprisingly still asleep. She will probably wake up soon though; maybe I should start the coffee for her since she didn't get any yesterday.

I lift off my covers and look at the window with the blinds closed. Oh well, I will open them later. I get up and grab the same thing I wore yesterday since I thought it wouldn't hurt to wear it for one more day. Besides, it isn't like I have my entire wardrobe here for my disposal. I sigh at my option and go to the nearest bathroom which took me some time to find. I take a quick shower and get ready.

I get out of the bathroom and hear clanking. I follow the noise into a light green colored kitchen. Master Edo is starting some eggs while Saniiro is lazily sitting at the table reading Come Come Paradise with a cup of coffee in the other hand. Well, the coffee is taken care of.

"Hello lovely," he says looking up at me with a big smile. I grunt and turn to Makoto.

"Good morning," I say to him as I lean against the counter, "Can I help?"

"Good morning to you too, and no, you don't need to unless you want something else to eat," he says with a grin on his face, but his attention is turned to his cooking.

"I like eggs," I respond with a smile as I grab water from the fridge.

"Today you three have a mission," he says still concentrating. At this I grunt inwardly, but tune in. He continues, "You will go to the market and pick up these things," he says motioning to the counter with a list on it.

"Just grocery shopping?" I say quickly scanning the list.

"Somewhat," he responds bustling about.

"Okay…" I say a little confused at this, "How long will we be here may I ask?" I say still looking at the list. We need to get a book?

"A few days at the least," he says finally turning off the stove and placing the eggs into a big bowl. He turns to me, "We need to protect Saniiro for a bit longer until his task is complete, and that his enemies are defeated either politically, verbally, or physically. That is the point of our mission."

I sigh, "You said a deal would be worked out?" I ask in a rephrase like way.

"Err…yes…we are working on it, but…it isn't working too well. Akano won't give up if I know him well enough. As for Genji, the ANBU squad and I need to speak with him. In the meantime, we will defend Saniiro and his work."

"Alright…" I say looking outside. It is so…well…hot looking.

"Urgh…" I hear someone grunt and walk into the room. It is Rhianna all ready. I didn't even hear the shower going.

"Morning," I say to the cranky girl.

"Is that coffee?" she says pointing to the confused Saniiro. He nods with a smile as she finds the coffee pot and pours some into a cup. She sits down and drinks it adding in some cream and sugar. Well that's one up, now I need to wake Matt.

"Don't…" I hear Rhianna say from behind me while glaring at Saniiro. Is he already up to it this early?

"Master Edo? Should I wake Matt?" I ask.

"Don't you want to eat first?" he says motioning his head at the eggs with a smile. I smile back and help myself. After I eat my fill, I go into Matt's room. Aw, he is sleeping.

"Matt," I say gently shaking him. I don't want to be too mean today because of yesterday, but that may be a bit difficult. He grunts and turns to his side.

"Matt," I say a little more urgent shaking a bit harder, "Don't you want to eat?"

This time I get nothing. I sigh and decide that I would have to wake him up my way. I take my finger and jab him in his side. He yelps in pain and sits up.
"OW!" he says rubbing his side.

"Sorry, you need to wake up now. Take a shower then come and eat. I LOVE YOU!" I say shutting the door quickly and running out. I said that last part just to annoy him. He makes me laugh so hard sometimes.

"What was that all about?" Saniiro asks as I walk into the kitchen.

"Nothing, just giving Matt his wake up call," I say trying to make my response as short as possible.

We all wait for Pucher to come out ready for our mission. When we are all ready, Makoto repeats the mission to us and hands me the list.

"Alright team, are we ready?" he asks. We nod and he gives us three a communicator as well as himself. "This is how we will keep in touch. When you three split up, stay in contact. If anything happens with Akano or his team, you may want to contact me. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT talk to Genji himself. Understood?" he says in a serious tone.

"Right," we all respond. With that, we walk out the door into the heat. Just like yesterday.

"Okay, Matt, you get…" Rhianna says looking down. She grunts and looks up. "Come Come Paradise Volume 2," she says with the most distasteful expression on. I give her the same expression back and Matt looks annoyed.

"How are we, three 15 year olds, going to purchase an adult book?" He says with a look of irritation.

"Easy, you walk in, grab the book, walk to the counter, give the cashier the cash, and walk out," Rhianna says simply looking back over the list.

"Okay, how about this. Matt, you get the books, the paper, and the pens and pencils since they are most likely going to be in the same area. TAKE YOUR TIME. Rhianna, you start out at the vegetable and fruits section of the market while I start by the other things. We will work our way towards each other and keep your communicators on at all times." They nod at my plan.

"Alright, and we meet at the fountain," Rhianna adds. I agree and Matt grunts at his part.

"Oh, stop complaining. Besides, you can't even tell a grapefruit from an orange can you?" Rhianna says to Matt.

"Yeah, I can," he responds a little upset at her comment.

"Come on guys, let's get this over with." I mediate between them.

We split up and head in different directions with our small maps.

"Copy, copy, this is Pucher, I repeat, this is Pucher," Matt says over the speaker. I sigh and yell into it.

"MATT, KNOCK IT OFF! YOU ONLY DO THAT IF IT IS IMPORTANT!"

"Copy, over," he responds in a cool tone. I growl at him.

"Urgh Matt, yeah, don't do that," Rhianna says. We walk on and I reach my destination. Alright, so I have to get the…

"Hey, um, what do I get again?" Matt says over the speaker. I growl and respond through clenched teeth.

"The books, paper, pens, and pencils, a few candles, um….," I say. Wait a minute, he has a list too! "Matt, you have a list you jerk!" I can hear him laughing on the other side. Whatever, I will ignore him, and then beat him later.

Okay, so, I need to get milk, cheese, and all that basic stuff. Basically I am left getting all the other things that don't include vegetables and fruits. I look around and find a lot of the stuff we needed. The only thing they don't have is popcorn which I find depressing. I have everything stored into the two bags Makoto gave me.

"Done," Matt says over the speaker.

"Done already?" I ask. I have everything I think, but, he got the book? "You got the book?" I repeat now to him.

"Yeah…" was all I got out of him. I sigh.

"Okay, meet me at the fountain then," I say starting to head off. "Rhianna?" I decide to check while I am making the trip. I don't hear an answer so I repeat myself a little more worked up than I should be.

"What?" she says a bit irritated. I sigh in relief.

"You ready yet?" I ask.

"No…just a few more things. I will meet you there in a few minutes." I agree and walk to the fountain where I see Matt sitting down and playing with the water. I sit next to him.

"So how did you get the book?" I ask out of my own curiosity.

"Oh, I asked," he says not looking up.

"Oh really?" I look at his turned head in disbelief.

"Really," he responds. He is such a smart ass sometimes.

"Hey," I hear Rhianna's voice.

I turn to face her and she too has a full bag. "Hey, you get everything?" I ask.

"Yeah, did you?" she asks back.

"Almost," I say looking back at Matt, "Matt got EVERYTHING." At this he looks up with an irritated expression.

"Really?" Rhianna says sitting next to me.

"What now?" Matt asks taking up his previous occupation.

"Well…we should head back don't you think?" I say looking into the market.

"Yeah I guess," Rhianna says with a deep sigh. She sounds a bit disappointed.

"What's wrong?" I ask from instinct.

"Nothing," is her response. Then again, what girl doesn't usually say 'nothing' and mean 'everything'?

"For some strange reason, I don't believe you," I say with a smile. She gives a forced smile back and mine disappears.

"Well…I don't know…I just got my hopes up too high I guess…" she says trailing off and looking down. I knew what she was talking about. There was this boy back home in Suna that she had a heart for. When they moved, she never talked to him again and she has been longing to go back to Suna ever since. Her hopes were probably high in seeing him.

"I just thought that I would see him again…" she says looking like she is about to cry. I sigh and give her a hug. Matt looks sympathetically at Rhianna and looks away. He sees a garbage can and decides to get up and throw away his gum wrapper. I watch him a short glare because of the fact he bought gum from somewhere which wasn't part of our mission.

"What? It was like ten cents," he says shrugging his shoulders and looking at me like he didn't do anything. He starts to head back when he knocks into a 15 year old boy. Both Matt and the boy are sitting on the ground. Matt is rubbing his shoulder while the boy rubs his chest. Oh Pucher. Everyone around those two is staring.

Rhianna looks up and gapes at the two in front of her. She quickly gets up and runs over to the boy, crouching down at his side. No one helps Pucher, so I sigh and help him up.

"Tyler?" Rhianna asks with a few tears in her eyes.

"Rhi?" the boy replies.

"Tyler!" she gets him in a constricting hug and Matt and I just look at the two. I touch Rhianna's shoulder, motioning for her to get out of the middle of the street. She gets up and helps Tyler up on his feet. She wipes the tears from her eyes and looks at us with a smile.

"Guys…meet my Tyler."

Tyler gives off a goofy grin and looks at us both. I have the urge to laugh and Matt is just confused. I bow. "Hello Tyler, a friend of Rhi's is a friend of mine."

"Uh, ditto," replies Matt.

"Rhi…I didn't expect to see you again, but there wasn't one day where I didn't wish for it," he says grabbing her around her waist. Rhianna reaches up and kisses him passionately. Matt has this 'ew, gross' face on and I have that 'aw' face.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Matt says to me in a whisper. I quietly agree wanting to leave Rhianna with her Tyler. I wasn't really sure what to call him yet. Rhianna has her head against his shoulder and he has his head rested on hers in a tight embrace. Matt and I quietly walk off.

When we reach our house I trip over something falling down onto my palms. I groan and push myself up with the help of Matt grabbing onto my elbow.

"You alright there clumsy?" he says with his smart tone again and a smile.

"Shut up," I say dusting myself off and standing up. What was that?

"I turn around and look at what knocked me over. Well, what do you know? It is a kunai with a note attached to it. Matt walks over to it and pulls the kunai out of the ground with some difficulty. He detaches the note and reads it with a serious expression. I glance over his shoulder with a wince of pain and my badly cut knee. I hate rocks.

Makoto,

There is a meeting outside of Suna at midnight. Be there. We have important matters to discuss. Leave the children behind. They will have their turn soon enough.

Genji Kimura

"I think we give this to Makoto," matt says to me glancing over his shoulder.

"Let's go," I say as we both rush off to our place. We run into the house panting and find a very confused Saniiro looking back at us from the table from his book.

"Makoto," Matt huffs out.

"Porch," Saniiro simply responds with a grin. We rush out to the back and find Makoto sitting on the hammock, shirtless, looking at the darkening sky. When he hears us panting he sits up with a confused expression but is alert. I gasp at his bare chest and I can feel heat in my cheeks. I am such a child sometimes. Matt looks at me like I am a freak when I do this; Makoto seems to shrug it off even though he notices.

"Letter," Matt says gathering his breath. Matt walks over to the sitting Makoto and hands him the letter and the kunai. Makoto examines the letter carefully and grabs his shirt putting it on.

"Alright, you two…" he starts looking for a third person, "Where is Rhianna?" he asks.

"Oh, she had other things to attend to," I say.

"Oh…well, you two look after Saniiro carefully until I get back, and let Rhianna know. I need to attend this. I will have my communicator on me if you MUST reach me. I will be back as soon as possible. We may be able to leave if all goes well."

"Right," Matt and I say in unison following Makoto into the house.

"Saniiro, you do not leave the house and you must stay in Matt's and Chelsea's site until I get back, understood?" Makoto says gathering this and that.

"Yup," Saniiro says involved in his novel. I sigh; what a pervert. With that, Makoto is gone. Matt sits on the couch and so do I. I am a bit concerned for Rhianna and that Tyler. Matt looks deep in thought and I barely see him that way.

"What's wrong?" I ask looking at him. My knee is bleeding again and Saniiro see's this. Oh boy.

"Oh, you are hurt, let me get that for you," he says grabbing some medical supplies out from a cabinet.

"I can do it myself, thank you," I say holding out my hands for the bandages and cream. I would heal it with my chakra, but, I am too tired right now when I could just handle it normally.

"No, really, let me," he says seizing my right leg and carefully applying each step of cut care to my cut. When it was bandaged, he looked up at me and smiled with his hands on my knees. I guess this could make him earn a point, I mean, he didn't really do anything perverted if you exclude the touching thing.

"All better," he says gathering up the supplies. I get a little angry at his child statement.

"Thanks," I growl a bit pretending to examine his work. Next he sits by me. I knew this wasn't good. Matt seems not to care. I could bash him in the head right about now.

"Want to read?" he says motioning the book towards my face.

"No, I am good," I say looking at the door. Come on Rhianna, walk in.

Just like on cue, Rhianna walks in with Tyler at her side. I get up and walk over to them and give Rhianna a hug.

"I was worried, God!" I say in a playful tone.

"Sorry," she responds seriously, "Tyler will stay with us tonight," she states officially.

"Okay…where will he sleep?" I say looking at the cold faced boy.

"In our room," she says with a grin. Really…wow.

"Um…" I start.

"He will sleep next to me, I will bring in a futon for him," she says not losing her smile.

"Okay," I say looking back at the boy. I tell Rhianna about Makoto and the note and she nods her head.

"Matt, you go and sleep with Saniiro tonight, okay?" I ask looking at him harshly. He sighs and nods his head.

"Alright, let's go, we need to wait for Makoto," I say getting up. We walk into our rooms and Rhianna lays out Tyler's futon. I am guessing she stopped by his house then because Tyler walks into the room changed into a big black shirt with the kanji for sand on the front in yellow and tan comfy shorts.

Rhianna and I get dressed into some pajamas and lay down. I can hear Rhianna and Tyler whispering to one another.

"Tyler…I don't want to leave Suna behind anymore…I want to come back."

"Rhianna…as much as I want you to come back, you are a shinobi of the Konoha village, nothing could change that."

"I was once of the Sand…come with me," she pleads for what seems like more than just this time.

"I can't…I have a job here and everything."

"You can, quit and come with me."

"Rhi…"

"Please."

I hear Tyler sigh. "You know what Rhianna…" he begins, "I will."

Rhianna squeals and tackles him to the bed. I don't even want to know what else is going on behind me.

I finally hear something again and it's Rhianna. "Tyler I love you."

"I love you too Rhianna…forgive me for never coming to find you."

"Forgiven."

I hear rustling and decide that's when I fall asleep now. I breathe in deep and wait for tomorrow to come.