This is the first chapter, I own nothing of this story. This part won't make sense if you didn't read my partners story.

We were finally inside the walls of our only home. I could tell Shi was reluctant to continue and so could my sister. So Aki took the lead. Aki was walking ahead of Shi and I. Isn't it weird how things and time change? This place looks the same, but feels different. Everyone was doing what they normally would do. Talking and laughing. Working and shopping. We all knew where we had to go first. It was only right. I suggested to check either the main hall or the academy. It's where they usually are so might as well check there first right?

We started to walk towards the main building. Shi scratched her nose and I glared at her. I didn't want her to be in pain. I was overprotective towards her for a reason. For this reason. So she wouldn't have to be in pain. As we continued to walk we met some kids that were arguing. Their were four ninjas and three kids, from the looks of it they were academy kids and ninja fresh out of the academy. We should do something, these kids could get hurt. Dude with the black suit looks like trouble and not even from our village. Aki knows me all too well because she started to skip ahead giggling like a moron. The guy from the other village was holding a small boy by his shirt and it seemed like he wanted to kill him. I squinted slightly and seen that it was Konohamaru. That pissed me off, even if it didn't show, I wanted to stab this guy. There was a blond girl standing next to him and shaking her head in annoyance. I couldn't see there faces but I could so Konohamarus.

My attention shifted to the other ninja standing a few steps ahead of them. One was a girl with pink hair, Haruno. I remember her family. Annoying family to be honest, and she's the worst out of them all. There were two small children, Konohamarus little group of followers, they are too young to be fighting, they can't even stand up for themselves, instead they just follow Konohamaru around. I shook my head slightly as I seen a boy with a bright orange jumpsuit on. What the hell? What ninja wears orange!

I smirked slightly as my sister stood in front of the guy, shaking her finger. "I do not believe that is how you hold a child."

Me and Shi slowly caught up with Aki. I pulled her back and looked up at the ninja in front of us, He's kinda cute, oi, Aki you moron. As I looked at him a small smile showed on my face that quickly went away. I sighed slightly as I looked in his eyes.

"I apologize for my sister's rudeness."

"Who the heck are you three?" He totally ignored me! What the hell!

I don't like when people ignore me. "Excuse me, I was talking to you!" I had to look up at him to actually see his face. He was probably a half foot taller than me. He looked down at me, and smiled. Why the hell is he smiling at me?

"Don't you ignore me! I can kill you faster than you can even think of grabbing a kunai!"

The kid with the jumpsuit used this distraction and ran at the guy but tripped. He looked back at Konohamaru and smiled. "You're annoying, all of you. I don't like runts or any other scrawny weaklings, so when a wimp like this starts shooting his mouth, I just want to break him in half."

"Okay, whatever, I'm not in this." Temari sighed.

Just as Naruto ran at the guy again, a pebble came flying at his hand, causing him to drop Konohamaru. Aki leapt for him and caught him before he hit the floor. I smirked and stepped back a little to look at Konohamaru. He was glad to see us.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Aki? Shi? Naoko? You guys are back!" He wrapped his arms around Aki's neck and held her tight.

The others looked up at where the rock came from and noticed another ninja. I heard Shi gasp and looked at her, she was looking up and into a tree.

"You're the kind of pesky little snot I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up." I looked back at the guy in a jumpsuit as he pulled the wrapped object from off his back.

Blondie behind him finally showed some sort of emotion by gasping. "What? Are you going to use the Crow for this?"

"Kankurō, back off."

I raised my eyebrow at the sound of another voice, who was that? I looked up at the tree where, Kankurō, interesting name, was looking. There was a boy with a large gourd on his back with red shaggy hair, he was hanging upside down from the tree branch, interesting kid.

"You are an embarrassment to our village." He muttered.

Kankurō let out a nervous sounding laugh, as if he were scared of this kid, "Hey Gaara."

"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way over here?"

"Uh, I know…I mean, they challenged us. They started the whole thing really…It was like this-"

Gaara interrupted Kankurō. "Shut up…Or I'll kill you."

"Uh…right, I was totally out of line…I'm…I'm sorry, Gaara. I was totally out of line."

"I'm sorry…for any trouble he caused."

I watched as Kankurō started to shut up, he was really frightened of this kid, maybe this new guy is someone we should watch out for. He could be a threat. I just scoffed at what the kid was saying, people who threatened others without actually doing anything just didn't catch my interest, they just annoyed me. I rolled my eyes and looked at the other ninja surrounding us. They are all so weird, but these ninja, that jerk that ignored me, they seemed like their our age.

"Let's go, we didn't come here to play games." The red heads body dissolved into sand and reappeared into him crouching down on the ground just feet away from his team. That's when I noticed their headbands, why were they here? Before they could turn away, I decided to speak up.

"What are you three doing here? Y'all are from…" I glanced at Kankurō's hood to make sure I seen the symbol correctly, "Sunagakure, the Land of Wind…the Village Hidden in the Sand. So why are you here?"

Sakura nodded, "the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allies, but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission." She said proudly. "So state your purpose and it better be good."

Wow, Kankurō was right…so far, these Genin are snot-nosed brats. Would it have been so wrong to let him pound some sense into her, or at least manners, I wasn't finished talking! I hissed silently, dang brat needs to keep her mouth shut.

Shi giggled and I shot her a glare from the corner of my eye, not sure if she seen it though.

"Really? Have you guys all been living under a rock or what? You don't know what's going on, do you?" Then the girl with the blond hair pulled out her pass. "We have permission. Of course you're correct, we are Hidden Sand Genin, our home is the Land of the Wind, and we're here for the Chūnin exams."

I growled slightly, that explains it, these kids are all Chūnin. And annoying. As Konohamaru explained to Naruto what the Chūnin exams were Gaara spun around and began walking off. Kankurō and the girl followed behind, but that emo looking kid stopped them.

"Identify yourself!" He said as he jumped to the ground.

"Who, you mean me?" The blondie said in a flirtatious way, as she fluttered her eyes.

"No, the guy with the gourd on his back."

Gaara stopped and turned to face Sasuke. Before he could speak, Shi lowered her mask, the bandages still showed, I hate those bandages. "Gaara of the Desert, sixteen, blood type…AB. Birthday…January nineteen."

Aki and I shook our heads. Know-it-all. I thought to her. Shi smiled in return.

"How did you…" Kankurō stopped himself. "How do you know this?"

"Kankurō, Temari." Shi nodded and turned to the other shinobi that stood there in shock. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, it was nice meeting you all. I am sure we will see each other soon enough." Shi just smiled and walked away. I just shook my head and laughed to myself, she just loved screwing with Genin.

"What's with…"

Aki stopped Sakura. "Shi…Shi is like a walking dictionary. She knows everything about everything. She'll know whatever you know, as you think it, before you say it, before you even know you know what you know."

"You don't make sense sometimes." I sighed as I grabbed my sister's arm and pulled her along. As we left the others still looked shocked. This is fun, we just returned and messing with the genin was actually fun this time. But that boy, Kankuro, something about him made me...nervous in a way. I wonder what he looks like without that jumpsuit and make up.

I somehow had ended up leading the three of us this time. We walked towards the academy first, figured since the Genin were out they were probably in trying to fix things. It dawned on me when we entered the building that they didn't know what happened.

I swear I can be slow at times. Why didn't I think of some thing earlier? Just a couple minutes ago Shi had scratched her nose and I looked right at her. I should have been thinking about what to say to them instead of thinking about that boy...even though he is kinda cute. What the hell is wrong with me?

I made myself think of what we could or should tell them. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of two men arguing.

"Nine months…Tomorrow will be nine months."

"I should have gone with them."

"Hell yes you should have! It's your fault they aren't here!"

Then a womans voice.

"Guys, every month or so, you two have this argument. It's not Kakashi's fault, they are old enough and strong enough to take on missions like this by themselves. They were actually supposed to go separate, but unlike the other Jounins, they have a bond. And Asuma…if you were so worried, why didn't you go after them?"

That's when I realized they were arguing about us and that "they" were Asuma, Kakashi, and Kurenai.

Every month? Were they really that worried?

"Kurenai is right, had you been that worried, you would have tried to come find us." I snickered as they were talking. They stopped in the middle of their sentences and looked at us.

"It's-"

"But it can't be…"

"But it is…"

Shi stayed behind us. This was a bad idea, Shi isn't ready for this. Shoot.

"Shi…is that you?" Asuma muttered.

"Shi…" Kakashi stepped forward, but Asuma was quicker. He held her in his arms, tears running down his face. Shi tried to take a step back but Asuma wouldn't let her. When Asuma pulled back, Shi rubbed her arm. She's trying not to cry. Asuma stared at her a couple seconds longer. "What's with the change of…what happened?"

I had no idea what to say. Shi started to giggle. The giggling turned into laughter. Kakashi sighed. "Have a seat, all of you, and explain." He sat in the chair across from the three person couch. Asuma sat next to Shi with Kurenai next to him and Aki and myself sat on either side of Shis legs so she knew we were there for her. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs, Aki did the same. Asuma held his cigarette in his hand as he stared at Shi, waiting to sighed and grabbed the cigarette from his grasp. I shot her a glare but I don't think she seen me.

"Smoking is bad for your health, you know…" She chuckled and pulled the right side of the mask downwards. She took a deep drag then passed it back to him.

"After…what happened, you're still going to smoke?" Aki asked.

"You said you were trying to stop." I butt in, it pissed me off that she was smoking again.

"One; I said that two months ago. Do you really think I stopped cold turkey? Two; smoking is a hard habit to break…and it isn't going to happen with me. Three: stay out of this, both of you. Now, shut up so I can get on with the story." She rubbed her right eye then after a moment, she reached around and pulled the rest of the mask down.

Aki shook her head. "When we left nine months ago…we were faced with other ninja."

"The battle went..." Horrible, awful, completely wrong, is what I thought but instead I said; "…bad. Twelve to three, we tried to make it even…but Aki and I couldn't hold off, let alone fight off, four each…not with their strength."

I kept thinking back on what happened, each step and move I made, where did I go wrong? I know I did something wrong, that's why we got burned...but what is it?.

"Some were able to get through…as they saw that Shi was a main threat…Too bad her mind control can only reach out to one person."

Aki smiled. "She was able to save us though, but at the risk of her death. We did win…but yet, in a way we lost"

Shi and Aki continued to talk as I went back to the battle.

"Naoko wasn't affected much, nothing life threatening…maybe, scaring of the lungs, but I doubt it, she wasn't near in the smoke long enough. Aki suffers from some burns on her legs."

Aki smiled sadly. "But Shi-chan…she was the one hurt the most. She now suffers from burns and scars left across her entire body, because she saved us."

As I seen the picture of how badly Shi was burned, I shuttered slightly and then started talking again. Shi removed her jacket and stared at her noticeable marks just under the fishnet shirt. "She's still very beautiful, but she won't admit it. She's become very self-conscious, thought, I think being back home could change that. Shi has returned to her shell, and neither of us want her like that."

"After the incident...the burns that attacked over seventy percent of her body...she was in critical condition. They said her heart stopped for a moment. But Shi is a fighter."
I held back my anger as Shi cut the bandages and Aki continued the story. I looked at the three senseis and then to Aki. As always she was doing some random movement.

I had things I had to do. It wasn't my time to go." A smile crossed Shis face. "Besides, if I were gone, who would have protected you on your way back to the village?"

Asuma stared at her, with a sad look in his eyes. Aki chuckled. "And two months ago, we were captured, but they couldn't hold us for long. We stayed some time, practiced a little, became stronger, and slaughtered them." She punched the air with her clenched fist.

"Don't you mean Shi slaughtered them?" I snickered again. "When it came to fighting them, you nearly fainted."

Shi shrugged, damn her and her mind reading, what were they thinking? "I only did what I did for my team…their thoughts…broke something inside of me. Who would have thought…that I would have enjoyed killing them so much?"

Everyone was silent for what seemed like eternity. I'm not sure what they were thinking about but I know what I was thinking about. The battle. Fire everywhere, the heat, the scream of pain from my sister and Shi. Then Asuma let out a laugh. "Well, since you three returned at this time…would you like to help out the Chūnin Exams?"

"Can we pretend to be students from another village?" Aki questioned.

"No." Asuma, Kakashi, and Kurenai said in unison. I smiled brightly at his request for us to help with the Chunin Exams. So its back to those? This should be fun. I thought, hoping Shi would hear me.