I'm way late, aren't I? I'm sorry. With christmas, new years-Pfft. I barely did anything for those days. Just another day. Haven't been that motivated to get the new chapter done, and well, as always, I'm not proud of this chapter. Lazy, half-assed.

I also noticed that Grinning Figure goes from italic writing to bold writing. My bad. Hope you can ignore that fact.

Anyways. Thank you for the support, all of you. Would be great if you reviewed. I'm lazy right now and always, so mistakes will be here. It's a bit short. I'll try to make it longer next time. Enjoy.

"You have to teach us, please!" The monkey pleaded to the swordsman, his arms ensnared around the snarling Zabuza's leg.

"Get off me, you damn leech!" Zabuza growled at the blonde, trying to shake him off.

I looked to my right, where Haku and Sasuke were in an open space together. They thrusted forward, their weapons clashing at a fierce speed. It was a pretty damn amazing speed, I say.

The two were exchanging words, the Uchiha smirking whilst Haku smiled pleasantly. I stepped closer, so their voices were within my hearing range.

"I hope you're ready." Haku's voice caused my ear to twitch. It was like a whisper since I was just in range.

"I won't go easy on you." Sasuke's voice replied with a tone of confidence. A small chuckle escaped Haku's lips.

"Neither. Let's begin, shall we?" Almost instantly, the missing-nin's expression became serious. He brought up his free hand and with amazing speed and precision, his did handsigns with only one hand! He is just awesome. I stepped back and found myself standing next to Kakashi, whose expression was one of shock.

"Only one hand! I've never seen that before." Kakashi exclaimed, his eye glued to the fight. I turned back, and found the two opponents surrounded by a web of water that had bits formed into water needles.

I placed my hands in my pockets and watched as Sasuke closed his eyes in concentration as the water needles began to rapidly close in on him. As they closed in on the Uchiha, his form disappeared whilst Haku jumped back. Haku frowned, but jumped back again as shuriken thrown his way from above. Another shuriken rebounded from a rock and caused Haku to shift to the side. In a blur, Sasuke appeared behind him with a kunai to the back of the missing-nin's neck.

The Uchiha shifted his limbs back so he could go in for a strike, but Haku turned back and blocked his striked with his forearm. Haku's eyes widened in the slightest before he ducked down and out of the way of the kunai that flew out of the raven-haired genin's hand. Said genin lifted his other foot to kick the crouching ninja.

It hit! And Haku was sent flying back. He quickly recovered and flipped back, his feet skidded along the dirt, kicking up dust. The mist ninja wiped off the blood that slid down his lip, his eyes were surprisingly calm; but fierce. He stood up, and I could feel the sudden chill. Water began to rise up from the lake or ocean and grass to form mirrors around Sasuke. Haku stepped into one of the mirrors, and seemingly disappeared, but his form was apparently reflected on all surrounding mirrors.

"Well, at this moment in time, he's fucked." I commented, glancing to my left to find that Zabuza and Naruto were sitting on the ground, watching as well.

"He's already got the sharingan, doesn't he? He should be able to find a way." Kakashi responded. My mind wandered to the canon version of this fight. Where they spoke of destroying their hearts to kill another.

The moment senbon needles began to fly from all directions to Sasuke, I saw his eyes swirl with red. He disappeared into a blur, and once the wave of needles had ended; his body blurred back into my vision. He panted lightly, a few scratches from the needles on him, but otherwise not too bad.

We waited for what was going to happen next, but Tsunami's voice all brought us out of our concentrated looks. "Guys? It's time for lunch."

Instantly, Haku dropped the jutsu, causing the mirrors to melt back into water and fall. I blinked, and the missing-nin was standing casually beside the roughed up Uchiha.

"Well, that was a boring ending." I commented, but trudged my way over to the wounded raven. Haku smiled at me as I passed him.

"Nice fighting." I complimented. "How do you manage to fit that many needles on your person?"

He tilted his head. "I have my ways." He enigmatically responded, and continued walking towards his teacher.

When I stood in front of the Uchiha, his sharingan was deactivated. He stared at me.

"He's strong." Sasuke nearly whispered. I grabbed his hands and laced my fingers with his. He leaned against me. "I don't think I would've won if we continued."

"You never know." I smiled softly, then let go of one of his hands and began to lead him back to the house. He fell into step beside me, but we never let go of each other's hands. "I'm going to have to bandage you up now, aren't I?"

"They're just cuts, nothing serious." He glanced at me with a smirk. I nudged him.

"Maybe I just don't like seeing you hurt." I teased, leaning in with a mischievous grin. He snorted and nudged me back.

"Shut up." He said without any force or malice. I glanced through the open door to see Inari and Naruto conversing happily with Haku smiling at them. Beams of energy, the blonde.

"Did you expect things to turn out like they did?" I asked the Uchiha as we passed the house and towards the water.

"Expect two missing-nins from the hidden mist village to come and be friends with us? No, not really." Sasuke replied sarcastically. I snickered.

"It's a better outcome. Imagine would could've happened if we weren't friends with them." I smiled, then let go of his hand. He was about to turn to me but I quickly pushed him into the water. A gasp escaped his lips and he plummeted into the water with a large splash. I immediately found myself busting out with laughter.

"Aha! Ahahahaha! Best way to wash all the blood off, I say!" I declared through my fits of laughter. Naruto and the others came outside to see what the commotion was, but like myself, the blonde instantly laughed his heart out at the seething Uchiha who was glaring at me. I swear steam was rising with his anger.

"AHAHAHAHA! Teme, you! You...! AHAHAHA!" Naruto pointed and laughed so much that he cried. Zabuza and Kakashi stood together, one looking with amusement, the other with exhasperation.

"I'll get my revenge, Kuroki." Sasuke swore in a surprisingly calm but seething voice. I finally calmed down to see his wet form. "Just you wait."

"I'm guessing I'm not going to like this." I sighed, I'd have to be on guard at all times now.

A dark smile crept its way to his lips.

I yawned as we stood on the now completed bridge. I was tired, keeping a close eye on a vengeful Uchiha all the time really does a lot to your ability to sleep.

"So, what are you going to call it, Tazuna-san!" Naruto chirped with his hands behind his head. I noticed that Inari and Naruto had become quite close, and the look Tazuna gave the blonde had changed. Something happened when I wasn't paying attention?

"I'm calling it...The Great Naruto Bridge!" He declared with gusto. I blinked with mildly surprised eyes. But...nothing really happened with Naruto.

"Because you, Naruto, were able to make my little Inari-chan smile with such happiness when I felt I would never see it again. And Team 7 brought hope to our village...I'm grateful."

"Hey, Monkey." Sasuke nudged the frozen blonde. "You're crying." He stated smugly. Instantly, the sniffling monkey rubbed his eyes free of the tears furiously.

"Am not!" He declared after sniffing again. "I'm honoured to be the one who made Inari-kun smile with happiness again, Tazuna-san!"

"Can we just go home already?" I asked tiredly, rubbing my eyes.

"One moment, Kuroki-chan." Kakashi replied patiently.

I glanced over to the two missing-nins. "What are you two going to do?"

"Who knows?" Zabuza rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe find a few mercenary jobs here and there."

"Just don't die." I said seriously. The tone in my voice seemed to catch the both of their attentions. "I know someone who'd just love to use your corpses as their own personal soldiers."

"You mean...someone who knows the forbidden technique?" Haku asked incredulously, but kept his voice low as the small vilage celebrated the completion of the bridge behind them.

Changing the subject, I grinned at Zabuza. "I've got to thank you for helping me with water release jutsus. It's not my first element, so it was rather difficult using it."

"Keh. No problem, kid." The swordsman decided not to return the conversation back to the previous topic, which I was thankful for, but Haku was giving me a certain look.

"Alright." Kakashi stepped behind me. "Time to go, guys."

"Finally." I stretched my arms as Sasuke stood beside me.

"Where's the monkey?" I asked, glancing back into the crowd of people.

"Saying goodbye to the villagers." The Uchiha answered, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Well, I guess we're leaving too then." Zabuza began to walk away, but Haku lingered, bowing formerly before us. "Let's hope to meet again, Hatake Kakashi and Taidana Kuroki." He waved a hand as his back retreated further from us.

"I bid you farewell." Haku smiled. He was about to turn but I stepped forward.

"Hey, Haku." He turned back to me, and I leaned forward. His eyes widened and he stilled for a split second before I stepped back with a casual grin. "I'll see you."

It appeared that the three ninja in my range were temporarily stunned, the one in front of me slowly brought a hand to his rather feminine lips. "Kuroki...-chan..."

I waved a dismissive hand. "Just a simple goodbye kiss. Now, shoo, Haku. Zabuza's waiting."

The feminine male before me blushed, but smiled. I didn't expect him to stepped forward and return the favour. "Goodbye, Kuroki-chan."

A whistle escaped my mouth as I watched his back follow after his teacher. "Didn't expect that." I grinned as I heard a sigh. "Also can't believe they stayed with us for about a month too."

"Ah, Kuroki-chan. You really shouldn't kiss others in front of Sasuke-kun." Kakashi's voice was laced with exhasperation. I turned around and was met with an incredibly dark glare. I leaned back a little bit as to try and distance myself from the immensely dark aura.

"It was just a simple goodbye kiss. Really." I tried to reassure the demonic Uchiha. I took a step back. "So, you know. I'm going to go on ahead. If I'm dead, make sure to put food on my grave."

And I was bolting down the bridge in hopes of saving my life. I chuckled nervously as I felt that dark aura just behind me.

"Get back here, Taidana!" His voice only made me speed up.

"Hell no, Uchiha! You'll end me as soon as I do!" I yelled back.

"I'll do more than end you, dammit! How dare you kiss another guy in front of me! How dare you kiss anyone other than me at all!" Jealous, much?

"I told you, it was a simple kis-whoa!" I jumped up as the branch I was once on was smashed by the impact of that one pissed off Uchiha's foot. "I'll let you kiss me whenever you want for the next three days to make it up to you!" I tried to bargain my way out of this, and I turned to find that he was right behind me, standing on the rather thick branch with me.

"A week."

"Four days."

"Seven days."

"Three and a half days."

"Six days."

"Four days and a weeks worth of omusubi."

"Deal."

I was about to reply but the fact that some Uchiha was taking the immediate chance for a kiss ruled out my ability to speak for a bit.

"Goddammit, Teme! Why do you always have to kiss Kuroki-chan?!" Oh, look. There's the blonde.

"Home! Sweet, sweet home!" I cheered as I cherished the sight of the gates.

"We have to check in first, you know." Kakashi pointed out with a playful tone. I growled at him.

"Don't ruin my moment of happiness, damn you."

"There's money involved." I don't know which one of the boys said it, but it bought me.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go." I jumped up and headed to the place where we reported in our missions.

"I don't want to write a damn report!" I whined as I sunk into my chair.

"Well, we have to." Sasuke retorted. I snorted at him.

"Want to tell them how I kissed a missing-nin?" His pencil snapped him half. Welp.

"Kuroki..." He said my name warningly, and I sighed, sitting up and scooting my chair closer to him.

"There's no need to worry, Sasuke~." I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and leaning my forehead against his. His onyx eyes scrutinized mine. "I'll always be yours."

"Stop playing with me, Kuroki..." He whispered in defeat, which caught me off guard. He turned in his chair so his body was now facing mine. "I mean it when I say that I'd kill anyone who touches you in a way I don't like."

"You'd be killing a lot of people, then." I replied with dull tone. He scowled at me and I ran my hands up the back of his head and through his hair. "Chill out, Uchiha. I don't do this with anyone else except you."

"Stop kissing other people, then." The Uchiha placed his hands on either side of my neck. "It hurts...when you do."

"Sasuke-" The door slammed open to reveal Naruto, whom I looked at with little interest. "How dare you interrupt me when I'm reassuring my beloved Uchiha."

"Ah...uh..." The blonde scratched his head nervously and averted his eyes. "Well, uh...Kakashi-sensei says we got until tomorrow to get them handed in."

"What?!" I released Sasuke and stood abruptly, the chair being forced to skid across the floor. I grabbed the damned paper I needed to write the report and grabbed another pencil nearby. I leaned over the table and began to furiously write in my report.

"You know, you have a nice ass." The Uchiha whistled. I snorted at him.

"Kiss it, then." I retorted.

"Tempting." I could hear that damn smirk.

"I'll uh...just be leaving now..." Naruto awkwardly backed up and closed the door.

"I've wondered what would've happened if you grew up the way you have now, but without me." I wondered out loud, my mind wandering but my hand still writing.

"You mean if I wasn't keen on revenge and you weren't here?" He asked from behind me. I heard his chair legs scraping against the floor and his footfalls. Probably getting another pencil.

"Yeah. You'd probably be a player." I snorted. "You would've been a man slut."

"Good thing the only woman I need with me is you." ...Smooth, Uchiha. Smooth.

"That's sweet. But what if I die?" It was a simple question, but apparently it was something akin to tabboo in the Uchiha's head. I was abruptly flipped onto my back on the damned table.

"Really?! What the fuck, man?" I snarled as I rubbed the back of my head, but slowly paused at the dark look in the Uchiha's eyes. Isn't it wonderful that he has to be on top of me at this moment in time?

"Don't. Ever. Think that you dying is a possibility." His voice was several times deeper than normal, and the seriousness in his demeanour was rather impressive.

"Dude, chill. It was just a simple question." I sighed, pulling myself in to a cross legged sitting position on the table. The tense raven-haired boy barely moved at all, so our faces were much closer now.

"You...you have no idea how precious you are to me, Kuroki...I don't know what'd I do if you were gone..." He whispered, leaning closer. I cupped his cheek and he leaned into my touch automatically.

"You know...we're going to be separated in the future." I stated, looking down. I didn't like it, this feeling of dread.

"I-" Sasuke was cut off when the door was again slammed open.

"Hey, are you kids-" Welp.

"Yo, Iruka! Sup?" I grinned sheepishly. I pushed the Uchiha off of the table and scratched the back of my head.

"Uh...am I interrupting something?" Our academy teacher asked with a light blush.

"Yes."

"No."

Onyx eyes connected with mine in a death stare.

"Well, I just came to say good job...I heard that the mission was upped to A Rank since there were enemy jounin involved."

"Ah, yes!" Something popped into my mind. "How much do we get paid?"

"Hm..." Iruka groped his chin in thought. "I think it's about one hundred fifty thousand ryo."

"My father is going to be so proud." I grinned, tackling the Uchiha to the floor. "And we're both getting the same pay! Ahahaha!"

"We're hooome!" I announced as I burst through the door with Sasuke following behind. In a moment, a large ass dog named Shiruba sprinted down the stairs, down the hall and to me. I braced myself and caught him as he placed his giant paws on my shoulders and began licking the side of my face.

"Did you miss us! Of course you missed us!" I rubbed behind his ears, laughing and grinning at our reunion. I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.

"You didn't miss me, Shiruba?" Sasuke asked in a sly, amused tone. Simultaneously, the two released me and began their own little reunion. Chuckling, I walked to the lounge to find Kuroi lounging on the couch. His eyes lazily shifted over to me.

"Oh, welcome back Kuroki." He greeted me, a slight smile gracing his lips. I walked up to him and jumped on him, since his body took up the entire couch. He 'oof'ed and placed a hand on my back.

"Glad to be back. D'you miss me?" I asked, grinning at my father. A small chuckle escaped his throat.

"I did." He nodded. "Were you training?"

"Everyday. I even learnt some new jutsu! I'm betting Kakashi told you already." I said, tilting my head.

"Ah. Yeah. He told me you encountered mist ninja. And that you were able to stop them with ease both times." He the light gleam of pride twinkled in his eye and made me swell with happiness.

"I wouldn't have been able to do it so easily if I didn't have you as my trainer and father."

"I'm proud to have you as my daughter." Kuroi praised. You'd think I'd be used to the feeling of being loved by a family, but every time they praise me, I can never get used to it.

"By the way, where's mum?" I asked, glancing around to find Aonami nowhere in sight.

"Tsume's place. Kiba missed you. Should go see him." My father smirked, as if he knew something I didn't. Suspicions are growing...

"You make it sound suspicious, Kuroi-sensei." I turned to see Sasuke leaning against the arch way to the hall, smirking at me.

Kuroi also turned to look at the Uchiha, who returned the smirk. Should I start smirking?

"Well, anyways." I started, jumping off my father. "We'll be going to Kiba's then." I waved to Kuroi as I grabbed Sasuke's hand and began to pull him back to the door we entered only a few minutes ago.

"Have fun." I heard Kuroi call with a tone of amusement.

"Where's Shiruba?" I asked the Uchiha, opening the door and looking down the hall to find no sign of the massive silver dog.

"Upstairs." He replied, jutting a thumb behind him as he walked outside. He stopped and waited for me as I closed the door seeing as we were holding hands and he seemed incredibly set on keeping it that way.

I grinned as we began to walk to Kiba's house, nudging the raven-haired boy's shoulder playfully.

"You're so possessive." I teased. He frowned at me, soon pulling me closer than we already were.

"I don't want you taken away from me." He all but whispered. I sighed and turned a corner with him following after.

"I don't want you taken away from me." I muttered, glaring at the ground and thinking of a certain snake man.

I can't let him get what he wants.

Really...short. Goddamn. It's a bit of a filler chapter, I guess. Sorry that after all this while, you get some filler chapter like this. Mergerhd. Anyways. I hope it was somewhat likeable. I mean, Haku's a gentleman right? He'd repay the favour even if it was a kiss.

Right? Well, review, favourite, follow, all that lovely stuff. I'll see you in the next chapter whenever that is.