Naoko stretched her arms as the first ray of sunlight shone into her tiny room. She was changing into her usual black robes when she suddenly noticed words forming on her wardrobe door.

She squinted her eyes and scanned the words quickly before they faded.

Naoko,

Be careful of Haruno Sakura and the pale boy from Konoha. She is a close friend of mine and the pale boy is very observant, a slip and they will find out the truth. On the other hand, the white-haired guy is fine, he already knew my existence, but still, keep alert. Ditch your boyish attitude slowly, so that they won't suspect you. And don't yell dattebayo in front of them no matter what. I can't think of any way to cover up for yesterday, but I think the white-haired guy will have convinced Sakura into believing my death by now. So don't worry, act as normal as possible.

Naruto (*^* I can't get it to the right!)

Naoko sighed. Another bossy message from her hidden soul. Ever since Gaara saved her from some sort of fight where she had lost her memory, she had been receiving messages appearing at various locations within the room. This Naruto had claimed himself to be hidden within her because someone was hunting him down, and often gave her instructions to keep him hidden. If she did something too flashy like making slightly more clones then the usual amount, a message would pop up the next day as soon as she touches the object. It haven't appeared for quite some time, and she was glad about the incident which she thought was the disappearance of the soul, until now.

***Sakura***

The kunoichis were in the green house again. Due to Sakura's request, Naoko had taken her to the medical storehouse once again to inspect if there were any suitable ingredients available at the moment. As the young girl showed Sakura around the green house, Sakura paid her attention, however, not to what Naoko said, but to Naoko herself.

Sakura had other purposes than the stated one.

The member of Team 7 had decided that Kakashi's explanation wasn't convincing enough, and then she took her inner self's advice: observe her. She found that her suspect was more feminine and less loud then yesterday. Naoko also seems to have a passion for plants. She knew all the names, the uses, and what they symbolize.

Sakura didn't know if Naruto liked gardening. His apartment was simply too messy, and apparently she can't get to the balcony without tripping over some ramen cups. So she didn't bother to do so.

"There, Yarrows, the pure, sacred one," She smiled at some plants with white flowers. It took a while for Sakura to realize that Naoko was talking to her. She quickly squatted down and fussed over the plant.

"So? What do you think? Eh? Is it ready yet?" Naoko crouched beside her.

"Yeah, I think this will do the trick." She plucked several flowers. "Okay, that's all for here. Take me to the nursery."

***Naoko***

The kunoichis nearly ran through all the 2143 plants that existed in the medical storehouse before Sakura was satisfied. Naoko had gladly showed them all to the medical-nin and did not show a trace of tiredness, as the plants were like friends to her. They didn't ask her "Why haven't I seen you before?" "Who were your parents?" "How did they die?" etc. etc. But she doubt if her friends could survive the marathon. Take the former officer in charge as an example. He collapsed after he met a particularly picky medical ninja and he swore to remove all the plants in his house as soon as he is strong enough to carry the potted plants. His wife, however is a plant addict, and would rather have the plants instead of him. And that caused quite a commotion. Naoko sniggered under her breath. So the man quitted his job and they decided to let the 17-year old Naoko be his successor.

At last, they proceeded to making the antidote for the rest of the morning. By the time Sakura finished giving the antidote to all the remaining patients, the clock had struck two. Naoko stomach was already grumbling in protest. She wondered what Sakura had for breakfast. Even two cups of ramen won't stand that long.

As expected, the canteen was closed. Sakura apologized to Naoko who had insisted to wait for her.

"It's fine." Said Naoko who didn't think it's fine at all. She wondered why she didn't just leave the pink-haired kunoichi to the work and fill her own stomach. "I'll cook then, let's eat at my house!"

Before Sakura could consider whether to accept her invitation or not, the flaming-red headed girl dragged her to a shabby apartment.

***Sakura***

Sakura watched in amazement as Naoko prepared the lunch effortlessly, with the jade-green eyed clumsy girl as her assistant. Sakura was, although she refused to admit it, not very good at cooking, as it was always her mum who did the work. In a blink of an eye, several scrumptious Japanese dishes were ready to serve.

"Erm, did you learn these all by yourself?" asked Sakura as she put the dishes onto a little table near the kitchen. Naoko managed to get another chair for Sakura from the mess in her house. Sakura thought that if she had more possessions, her house would look like a dump site.

"Of course, who would be bothered to teach me? And I can't eat instant ramen for the rest of my life, I'd be bored to death." Naoko gulped down everything. She was really hungry, thought Sakura.

"So you like ramen too?"

"My favourite! But I can't remember where I had the good ones. There doesn't seem to be any ramen shops around Sunakagure." Naoko had finished her share. Sakura, who was halfway through hers, stared at her wide-eyed. She tried to finish hers quickly (with some difficulty as Naoko kept talking to her), and helped her clean up the aftermath.

***Sakura***

As Sakura waved goodbye to the cheerful kunoichi, she wondered whether she enjoyed Naoko's hospitality or not. Although she was supposed to find out her identity, Naoko had turned the 'mission' into a hang out with her. Sakura sighed. Now she didn't know what to do.

Until when she reached the bottom of the stairs, and heard a scream, "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU ORANGE LOLLIPOP!"

Author note: New record! Two chapters a day! haha. Won't be that devoted once the school starts though. I'm trying to finish it by Monday. Anyway, REVIEWS PLEASE~~

P.S. How do you think about the lollipop part? I can't stop laughing but my sister said it's lame. Let me know! Reviews please!!