~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~

After what seemed like an hour, Kira emerged from her room. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her face was screwed up deep in thought. She looked to the three ninjas that were in her living room who were still there after all these hours. Her friends had seen them so they were surely not schizophrenic hallucinations. She noticed that Sasuke was still absent from the group which helped her make up her mind about what she was going to do with them. A completely rational decision that she thought would be fair on everyone. She looked to Kakashi who returned her stare.

"When Sasuke wakes up, you all have to leave," she announced, "I'll give you some tips on how not to get killed here but that'll be it. I do not want to see you again, understand?"

Kakashi nodded with a short sigh, "Completely. We thank you for your hospitality." Kira nodded curtly, leaving the room once more. She returned a moment later with a pile of clothes which she dumped on the floor in the middle of the couches. She then sat down and organised it into piles of girls and boys. Naruto stared at her with curiosity.

"How is doing the laundry helping us?" he asked.

"Seeing as you guys would stick out like a sore thumb," explained Kira, "I will loan you some clothes. I don't need to be haunted by you turning up on the news dressed as you with people calling you nutcases." She threw a dull orange top and a pair of army green cargoes at Naruto, "That should fit you, coincidentally enough. You can change in my room; it was the one I came out of." Naruto stalked off to put his new outfit on while Sakura awaited something to be chosen for her.

"I'm sorry but," stuttered Sakura with a blush, "Can I have that dark crimson pink one?" She pointed to the t-shirt with the stars on it. Kira looked puzzled but nodded and gave it to her, also handing her a knee-length black skirt. "Thank you very much. Which way is your bathroom?"

"Down the hall and to the right," replied Kira, "Knock first just in case someone's in there." Sakura nodded and went off down the hall. Kira was left in the room with Kakashi who seemed disinterested to say the least but that was how he always looked. He stared across the room blankly, not flinching when Kira stood and handed him a dark olive green shirt, though he took it all the same. "You can keep your pants as long as you take the bandages off the ends." She went back to the pile of clothes and gathered them up, taking them back to the room she got them from. She came back into the room and took her wallet out, sifting through it until she found money and not receipts.

"This should last you until tomorrow night," she said, handing him a couple of hundred, "There's a motel down the road, they're pretty cheap there and they do breakfast. You'll have to get your own dinner though, there's a McDonalds just across the road from the motel." She put her wallet back in the drawer of the stand at the door. "About your weapons, you can't have them with you. They're illegal to carry."

"I see," muttered Kakashi, "Then I suppose we will be leaving them here with you."

"When you find what you're looking for," said Kira, "I will give them back to you. Hopefully you won't take too long, Zoey has a way of finding things she shouldn't. Even if they are locked up." At that moment, the door to Kira's room creaked open and Naruto stepped out dressed in the outfit Kira had given him, his clothes folded over his arm. The look on his face was that of someone guilty of doing something. A glint came out from under his clothing which turned his expression into one of someone who'd been caught.

"Eeerrmm… I accidentally knocked something over and it spilled on the floor," he said, "The thing it was in is kinda broken." He showed what he had in his hand which was a small crystal elephant. He laughed sheepishly, "Sorry about that."

'I just got that last night…' Kira sighed, "At least you said something about it… put it over on the bench, I'll clean it in a minute." It was at this time that Sakura returned to the living room, staring in shame at the object Naruto had broken, scolding him quietly as Kira explained to Kakashi what he should be careful of and what not to do when out on the streets. Kakashi sat seriously the entire time, his gaze never faltering, attention never leaving Kira.

"I'm not exactly sure how you're supposed to go about looking for this jewel," finished Kira, "But don't go robbing jewellery stores. That's it, I suppose. I, erm, hope you get home safely. I'll give you a bag for your clothes and other stuff." Kakashi didn't say a word but gave her a nod to signal that he had heard her. He then got up and went into Kira's room.

"We thank you for your help," said Sakura, deciding to speak in her teacher's absence, "And sorry for troubling you." Kira nodded then disappeared into the hall, leaving the two genin alone. They sat in silence, unsure of what to do until Naruto leaned over to Sakura.

"Hey, you wanna watch that DVD thing?" he asked, "You've gotta be curious about it too Sakura."

"Not in the least," retorted Sakura, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. She sneakily looked down at the cover that sat in the coffee table, not wanting to be the one to put it on.

"Fine," said Naruto, "I'll watch it then. You can just leave the room." He picked the DVD off the table but was stopped by Sakura who snatched it away from him.

"As if," she said, "You'll probably break it. And that's no way to thank someone for their help. You've already broken something far more valuable." She stared pointedly at the elephant that was missing its hind-quarters. Naruto thrust himself backwards onto his hands in exasperation.

"Well you put it on then," he said, "If you don't trust me with it."

"I'm not the one that wants to watch it," defended Sakura, "Who wants to watch this dumb cartoon about you anyway?"

"Me for one," answered Naruto, "Come on Sakura, please?" Sakura stared down at the DVD in her hands, still not wanting to admit she was curious. Taking a deep breath, she opened the cover softly and popped the centre, taking the disc onto her finger. She then looked to the small rectangular boxes below the TV.

'Now… which one did she take it out of?' she thought, 'What button do I press? We should have asked her to explain it before she left.'

"Haven't you ever watched a DVD before ?" asked a small voice from the hall. Sakura and Naruto turned to see Zoey staring at them curiously. "I thought everyone had." She approached the two, taking the DVD from Sakura and placing it in the second box under the TV before pressing the button with the triangle on it. Just as it had when Kira had demonstrated it, a black warning screen came up. Zoey too skipped this and went straight to the main menu.

"What episode do you want to watch?" she asked, "Or do you just want it from the start?"

"From the start is good," replied Sakura in a small voice, embarrassed that she couldn't remember those simple steps, "Thank you." Zoey smiled at her and brought the remote over.

"You press this button to pause and this one to play again," she explained, "And when you're done press this red button up the top. Kira says not to do it that way coz it'll wreck the movies but they still seem to work fine. If you wanna watch something else press this button. Don't hold the discs by the silver side, that's what wrecks them." She stood up and went to the fridge.

"Thank you," repeated Sakura. Zoey nodded.

"If you get stuck I'm in the room at the end of the hall." She left the living room with a bag of chips and some cookies. The genin watched the screen, feeling strange seeing themselves reflected in it. Naruto watched on in awe, still reeling in the fact that he had a TV show. His expression changed to annoyance as Sasuke appeared on the screen, even though it was only a young Sasuke of around 8 years old. Sakura contained her squeal and kept watching.

'Maybe we can learn more about Sasuke,' she thought, 'And then I can connect with him on a deeper level and have an edge over that Ino-pig.' She watched the screen intently. The episode played through Sasuke watching Itachi train before trying what his brother was doing, twisting his ankle. Naruto laughed quietly at Sasuke's pitiful expression, Sakura giving him a dirty look but returned her attention to the episode and began blushing. Naruto went for the remote but it was snatched away from him by Sakura. He slumped back onto his hands exasperatedly, pouting but continuing to watch the episode. Kira came back into the room quietly, watching the episode mistily over their shoulders. She walked over to her room, stopping at the door.

'Does it really take that long to change?' she thought, knocking, "You done in there?"

"Eh? Just about," came the muffled reply, Kira sighed.

"Can I come in?"

"It's fine." Kira opened the door carefully, not sure what to expect when she walked in, suspicious about how long it took ninja's to change into clothes.

"You haven't broken anything have you?" She braced herself to find something else spilled on the floor, not so surprised to find a shirtless Kakashi standing pulling the shirt over his head. "Well that's better than something being broken… You ninja's take ages to change, it's highly suspicious. You weren't searching my room or anything were you?"

"Of course not," replied Kakashi, "I was admiring the view." Kira shook her head, sitting down on her bed she set the bag down.

"Here's a bag for your things…" she paused for a second, "This might be a bit much but… the mask you're wearing… you're going to have to take it off…"

"Is that so…" said Kakashi with a sigh, "I'm afraid that's impossible, I have to decline."

"So you're willing to have countless people stare at you rather than take the mask off?"

"I see nothing wrong with my mask," defended Kakashi, touching the cloth of his mask lightly.

Once more, Naruto tried to take the remote off of Sakura but failed as she hit him over the head. He lay on the floor, staring around the room boredly. He turned his attention to the bedroom where the door was ajar. Hearing the conversation between the 2 adults and finding it more interesting than what was happening in his TV show that was for some reason focussing on Sasuke, Naruto listened in on them.

'I wonder if she can get him to take the mask off,' he thought, smirking, 'We'd finally get to see under the mask… but that's not fair if she gets it off him just like that…' A scowl became plastered on his face but he remained at the door, sitting cross-legged with his arms over his chest.

"You wouldn't be able to get anything done," he heard Kira say, "There would be lots of questions…"

"I can deal with them as they come," said Kakashi.

Sakura looked over to Naruto, noticing his absence, finding him sitting annoyed at the door of Kira's room. She turned back to the screen; the picture was all pixelated with pink and green lines going across the screen. The audio was all jumpy and soon was just fragments of words. Then finally, the DVD gave up and brought up the manufacturers screen with an error message. Sakura, who had been entirely engrossed in the episode about Sasuke, now stared at the screen in horror.

"Wha… what happened?" she sobbed, "Where did the movie go? Naruto what did you do?"

Naruto looked at her in surprise, "What did I do! I was over here! It was all your staring that broke the disc thing!" Sakura looked away, angrily clutching the carpet muttering about Naruto's stupidity. It was at this time that Sasuke walked into the room, paying no attention to his team mates and merely scanning the room for Kakashi. Without a sound, he stood against the wall ignoring everything around him. Kira's bedroom door opened with a light creak as she led Kakashi out. Naruto looked up in hope that she'd gotten the teacher's mask off but was soon disappointed to find he was still wearing it.

"Sasuke, you're awake," observed Kakashi, "That will make things much easier, we're leaving now. So put your things in this bag…"

Naruto made his way over to Kakashi, shoving his clothing in the bag, "Why doesn't Sasuke have to change?"

"Coz he's wearing the most normal looking clothes," said Kira, "But you're all going to have to take your headbands off. Well good luck with looking for the jewel, hope you find it." She went over to the door, Sasuke watching her distrustfully.

'Why are we taking orders from her?' he thought, looking over to Kakashi.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke tiredly, shaking his head, "Thank you for your hospitality Kira, we will be leaving now." Naruto led the team out of the door, stopping at the elevator and staring at it in concentration.

"How does this work?" he pressed the button that pointed down and heard a rumbling noise. Sakura regarded him with annoyance.

"Don't tell me you broke that too!" she cried as she made her way over to him. Then the rumbling stopped and the doors opened, revealing the empty metal cabin, a gold rail lining along the centre of the walls. "Where did that come from?"

"Eh hem.." interjected Kira, "It's a lift, you get in it and it'll take you up and down. Generally faster than the stairs… you'll want the ground floor. Just stick to the footpath and watch the signs." The team shuffle into the elevator, Sasuke being ushered in by Kakashi. Kira heaved a sigh as the doors shut, slipping down the wall.

"Of all the times for this to happen…" she muttered mistily, "It's been nine years… almost to the day."