Chapter 3: Home

Naruto's POV

"This is it!" Kira stared ahead, her blue-green eyes filled with excitement.

The four of us stood in front of a small cottage/house thingy, on the outskirts of Konoha.

I looked it over skeptically. "So… this belonged to your dad or something…?"

Kira nodded, not taking her eyes off of the little building. "Yep. He and my mom rented this place a while back and ended up keeping it. It still belonged to my dad when he died, and everything in his will was given to me… including this baby!" she walked over to the front door and pulled out a key that the Hokage had given her.

Sasuke, Sakura and I had witnessed Kira's discussion with the Hokage. The most I could get out of all of it was that Kira actually was a traveling ninja. Her parents

Used to be buddys with the Hokage or whatever, and they had even helped out a lot with the village since they didn't have an official one of their own.

Lord Hokage had never really met Kira before, but she had her birth certificate stuff and apparently she looks a lot like her dad and sounds like her mom so he was really nice about letting her stay. He gave her the key to her house and said she was welcome anytime.

So anyway, I was about to go over to Kira when I heard a familiar voice shout, "Hey, Naruto-san!"

I turned to see Inuzuka Kiba with his dog Akamaru, Aburame Shino, and Hyuga Hinata.

"Hey guys!" I yelled and waved.

I saw Kira, who had just opened the front door, looked up at Team 8. She hesitated, glancing at the door before walking back over to me, Sasuke and Sakura (who hadn't been saying much to each other, let alone Kira or me.)

"Who do we have here…?" Kiba asked as he and the rest of his squad came to a stop in front of us.

"Oh yeah, this is Shitoya Kira." I pointed at her.

She gave a little bow. "Hi there! I'm a traveling ninja and I'll be staying in your village for a while. I hope we can become great friends!" She scanned the three of them. "What are your names?"

Kiba took the liberty of introducing her to his squad. I tried not to look at Hinata, who had suddenly become very interested in her two index fingers.

Why does she keep starin at me like that? It's kinda creepy… she won't stop blushing either…

Akamaru barked, jumping off Kiba's head and on top of Kira. She caught him with surprise as he started licking her face.

Kira giggled.

"Akamaru! Where are your manners?" Kiba said sternly.

"Oh it's ok," Kira said, cuddling Akamaru. "I love dogs!"

The little white dog yelped in delight.

Kiba half-grinned. "So you have a way with animals, huh?"

"Oh yes." She said, now swaying back and forth with Akamaru still in her arms.

"This guy here has a way with bugs." He jabbed a finger at Shino, whose face was half hidden by a jacket and round, dark glasses.

I looked over at Kira who leaned forward, interested. "Really? How so?"

Heh, she has no idea.

Kira turned to look at me. "No idea about what, Naruto?"

I stood there, stunned and confused about what had just happened but before I could ask anything, Kira screamed and leapt about three yards backwards.

Kiba burst out laughing.

I thought for sure she would have dropped Akamaru but instead she was clinging to him tightly. It must have been a little too tightly because now the dog was squirming and barking.

Kira set him down and ran back over to us. "Whoa!"

Finally I saw what had made Kira jump. Little black beetles were crawling out of Shino's ears and nose.

Sakura made a disgusted sound. Hinata just looked away into the distance with those dreamy eyes of hers. She was used to this kind of act.

"THAT IS WEIRD!" Kira yelled. Her expression was a mixture of surprise, amazement, and a little bit of fear.

"The bugs live inside of him." Kiba explained after he had finally stopped laughing his head off. "He uses them for pretty much all of his techniques."

"That is gross!" Kira shrieked but when I looked over to catch her expression she had a big smile on her face. "You'll have to show me sometime!"

Shino nodded.

I saw Sasuke lean towards Kira and whisper, "He's not a man of many words."

"I can tell. Do I even wanna know what's behind those glasses?"

"No."

She laughed a little, and then moved over towards Hinata. "Hi there! Are you Naruto's girlfriend?"

Hinata stared at her, eyes wide and cheeks turning several shades of red. "Uh- um…"

"What???" I heard myself say. My face instantly felt hot and I knew I must have been blushing just as much as Hinata was.

Kira's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought…."

Kira struggled to explain but I could barely hear her. Blood was thumping loudly through my ears. Kiba and Sakura were laughing hysterically while Sasuke and Shino just stood there, smirking.

I struggled to calm myself down. "Uh, it's ok…." I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. "An honest mistake…" I said, trying to be cool about it.

Hinata was on the edge of fainting. Her eyelids fluttered and she was swaying back and forth.

I noticed it before anyone else had, and just as she began to fall backwards, I stepped quickly behind her, catching her in my arms.

This act brought more laughing from Kiba, worried motions from Sakura, and an incredible scheming look from Kira.

"Um…" I looked down at Hinata, who was out cold. I tried picking her up but she was a little heavy.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kira rushed over after her strange stare had disappeared. She helped me carry Hinata.

"Heh…" Kiba had finally recovered. "Well I guess we should take her home, then… come on guys, I'll lead the way!"

Kira and I followed him in the direction towards Hinata's home, leaving the rest of our friends behind.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hinata finally came round once we were at her house. By this time I had gotten used to Hinata's weight, though my arms were a little sore, and Kira was no longer helping me carry her.

Her face turned a little pink once she noticed that she was in my arms. To be honest, I kind of enjoyed myself. Kira was apologizing frantically and asking Hinata if she was okay.

"I'm alright," she said in her soft little voice. She glanced up at Kira. "We should hang out sometime and get to know each other."

"Yes, yes of course!" Kira smiled at her. "We can be friends?"

"Sure."

Neji was already there, waiting at the Hyuga home, and after a quick introduction to Kira he disappeared into the house with Hinata wobbling behind him.

As we walked back, Kiba and I on either side of Kira, we got to talk about our training.

"Hey here's an idea," Kiba grinned widely at Kira. "Why don't you come swing by the training grounds tomorrow and show us what you can do??"

She blinked, surprised by the sudden offer. "Yes, I would love that! Thank you Kiba!" She smiled at both of us. "That would be fun!"

We reached her house again and said our goodbyes to Kiba, who seemed to be reluctant to leave Akamaru, on the other hand, kept tugging at his ears impatiently. So, Finally, he waved and headed off.

"Thank you so much, Naruto!" Kira said, turning back to me after waving goodbye the Kiba.

The sun was setting now, and Kira seemed to have a certain glow about her. I put my hands behind my head and couldn't help but to feel happy. "Sure thing, sis!"

She brightened even more. "So I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

"Yeah for training!"

"And not only that," she wagged her index finger at me, "Lord Hokage told you three to help me out, remember?"

Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten that part.

"Well Sure thing, then!" I replied, pretending like I hadn't forgotten. "See ya later!"

She watched as I turned and started to walk away.

I'll play hard-to-get by not looking back!

I could have sworn I heard her giggle, but I kept on walking.

AND SO BEGINS THE ADVENTURES OF KIRA

WARNING!!!!

IMPORTANT MESSAGE!! PLEASE READ NOW!!!ok so here's what's up, (author speaking) to keep myself from trailing off into never land with this thing, instead of really laying this story out in "chapters" (well i guess you can still call them chapters) I'll post certain events that happen to Konoha and the rest of the Naruto world now that Kira is around. Don't worry, Gaara's gonna be coming up next ;) bear with me! and i apologize that it took me soooo long to put p the second and third chapters. I'm sorry. really, I am. I also apologize if there are any spelling/grammatical errors in any of my chapters... I'll have you know that spelling is certainly not my best subject. BARE WITH ME! 3 oh and thank you to those who have been reading :) :) feel free to review (please do!!!) and send me a message if you have anything to say at all!

THANKS!!!