A/N: For the longer-than-usual wait on the last chapter, it's just that me and my beta reader had busy lives that weekend. Hopefully you aren't so mad at me that you hate this new chapter!

Disclaimer: Sorry SasuNaru fans, had I owned the series, things would've turned out different...trust me on that...

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Dreams

Flashbacks

Walking to her next tutoring session with Naruto, Megumi thought about how she'd been dazed and distracted all day and how Naruto looked at her quizzically, wondering what was wrong. Megumi knew that Naruto didn't tell her everything about his life, but maybe he could help her...Or maybe he'd just laugh?

Megumi sighed, closed her eyes, and screamed to the heavens, "What do you want from me?! At least send me a sign!" At that moment an acorn landed hard on her forehead and her eyes opened in surprise. As she was rubbing her forehead, her eyes were now looking at a billboard with two people, a man and a woman. They both were grinning from ear to ear as the man held out a velvet box with a beautiful diamond necklace inside.

"This Christmas, tell her how much you love her." That's what the caption read. Megumi sighed again. Even if that wasn't quite her situation, or gender for that matter (A/N: Oh Meg, you have NO idea! XD), if her eyes went straight to the words "tell" and "her", she knew the message was clear.

It was time to tell Naruto.

??

"Hey Neji!" Gaara yelled, running up to the lavender-eyed boy. The latter shushed him.

"Megumi's walking somewhere muttering to herself about Naruto." He explained when Gaara looked scandalized at the harsh welcome. "She didn't even notice when I said hi." Gaara's brow raised.

"Could it be possible that little Neji has a crush on Megumi?" Gaara nudged Neji in the ribs jokingly. Neji came out of his reverie slowly.

"Wait...wha? Oh...no! I like-" the Hyuuga cut himself off before he completely humiliated himself.

Gaara's eyes widened in feigned shock. "Oh, wait. Don't you like Hinata?"

Neji's pale eyes copied Gaara's. "Sh-Shut up!"

"You do!" Gaara laughed. "When are you going to tell her?"

The brunette's eyes dimmed. "I'm not."

Now Gaara really looked shocked. " But it's not like you're family or anything! (1) I mean, since you're part of the same clan, you might be somewhere down the line, but you aren't immediate family so you have a chance of being with her! All you have to do is ask."

"It's not that easy Gaara. Even if she says yes, who says the clan will allow it? Princesses don't date servant boys."

Gaara sighed. "Neji, even servant boys deserve to to be with the person they care about. And your clan-"

"My clan," Neji cut off suddenly, "doesn't caer about what people deserve they only care about tradition. And besides," he cut off the Suna lover as he opened his mouth to speak. "I'm quite content with the way things are." He checked the sun's position in the sky and turned back to Gaara. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be going to a Cadet meeting."

"Uh yeah, sure." Gaara murmured, letting Neji brush past in the direction the redhead just came from. He looked back to where Megumi had been, not at all surprised to find she had already disappeared down the road.

??

"So you think a tragedy happened here," Naruto repeated back to Megumi. He continued after her confirmation. "Except you don't know to who, you don't know what, you don't remember where, and you don't know why or how it happened. Or, not that I think about it, you're not even sure about when. And you still don't know why you keep having these dreams of you can't remember them."

They were having their next tutoring session-Naruto was still in essays, Megumi couldn't see what was so great about sine and cosine-and as usual, Naruto opted to go to the library instead of his house. Megumi didn't know why they couldn't go there at least once, but since she loved reading, she couldn't complain about being surrounded by, literally, hundreds of books. Besides, maybe she could research what had happened who knew how many years ago.

"It's more than that though."

"Oh?" Naruto's eyebrows rose. "Do explain."

Megumi glared at him half-heartedly, thinking too much to actually care. "It was like I knew him." Megumi closed her eyes as she desperately tried to remember the boy's face. "Like we were connected somehow. But I honestly can't remember meeting this boy before."

"Maybe you can't remember him because you can't recall his face..." Naruto replied slowly, patting her shoulder gently. The girl glared at him, opened her mouth menacingly when the library changed. All of a sudden, the atmosphere seemed to shift like it had the day before in Iruka-sensei's classroom. Megumi opened her eyes, only partly surprised at what she saw.

Once again, her eyes found the small, raven boy. This time though, he wasn't alone. This time another boy, blond and seemingly the same age, was playing with the first. Their laughter made tears well in her golden eyes for some strange reason. She felt like she should leave, seeing as she was intruding on a "memory" that wasn't hers, but she also felt as though it was hers. Then the raven said something that completely floored Megumi: he said the second boy's name.

"Hey Naruto! I think I hear my brother calling!" Instead of the hoarse, pleading voice from the dream, this one was light and bubbly. They hugged their goodbyes, causing the teardrops to fall from Megumi's eyes. The scene finally faded and Megumi found herself face to face with the older version of the boy from the vision. Looking at the Uzumaki's features, Megumi realized something. Even if she couldn't remember the boy's face because she'd never met the boy in her life...the boy in front of her hand.

"Naruto, did you ever meet another boy in your childhood? Someone who suddenly just suddenly...disappeared." She asked excitedly. She didn't know for sure that he had disappeared, but it sounded logical. Besides, she couldn't believe she was close to solving this mystery.

He looked at the ceiling, stratching his chin in concentration. "As a fact, I have. But Megumi, before I tell you about him, I have a question and a concern." Megumi gestured for him to hurry. "Well, first my concern is that you suddenly spaced and after a while you began muttering something like, 'Don't go home. Oh Kami, please don't go home.' You were crying and I was worried." Megumi was allowed a moment to look startled, then Naruto persisted. "And my question is: how did you know about a childhood friend you've obviously never met?"

Megumi smiled. "Well-"

"Naruto, why are you talking to this whore? You DO realize she's only tolerating you to get you in her pants, right?" Megumi inwardly groaned as she turned to face who she officially dubbed, "The Bitch".

"Haruno, please. We're only trying to get some tutoring done."

"With your heads that close together? I don't think so." The snowy-haired girl turned crimson as she realized she'd been unconsiously leaning closer to her companion during their whispered conversation. Naruto just flushed in anger.

"What's you problem Sakura? Why do you hate Megumi so much?" The latter mentioned girl thought she might have an idea...

"Sakura?"

"Hello Megumi! May I come in?"

"Uh, actually, I was about to cook din-"

"That's okay, I won't be long." Pink hair pushed past Megumi and into the house. Half-dazed, Megumi followed behind, closing the door. They sat in two chairs that faced each other, neither speaking for a long time.

'Small talk Sakura!' The popualr girl thought desperately. 'Save this conversation! Say anything! ANYTHING!!

"So...how does it feel to have somone from high up on the social food chain in your house?" Sakura asked. 'That's right Gorgeous, keep the talking going. There's nothing I hate more than silence.

Usually there was nothing Megumi loved more than silences. They could be so comfortable sometimes. However, there was nothing comfortable about both girls just staring awkwardly at each other from across the room. That's why a smile started to form on Megumi's face when the silence was broken, but it immediately became strained at the words. Did Sakure think Megumi was some sniveling wannabe, eager to worship the ground she walked on? Megumi almost instantly calmed down. There was no reason to start assuming things just because Sakura usually didn't talk to kids like Megumi. The yellow-eyed girl was willing to give the other the benefit of the doubt. (The strained smile didn't leave though.)

"Well, it doesn't feel any different than usual. You know, since Naruto comes over regularly and he's more popular than you are." Ouch. She hadn't meant for it to sound so harsh. She was glad that Sakura's smile didn't waver.

"Speaking of which, people are saying that you're fast because starting only a month after arriving, you've managed to take the most popular guy in school to your house every other day. And who knows what you guys do in here." Sakura managed to mantain her sickenly sweet smile (A/N: sudders,) even though she wanted to punch the girl in front of her. "What I'm trying to get at is, what would you say to them if you met with them face to face?" She stragetically left out the part where she had been the one to start those rumors.

The grin on Megumi's face became forced. "Well, I would tell them that it's really none of their business what we do. Also, I'd say that it's pretty pathetic that they have such boring lives that they need to fantasize about others' nonexist sexual pursuits. And I feel sorry for them." Sakura let out a single noise that sounded more like a cough than a laugh.

"Of course it's not their place to say," she stated, not realizing this would lead to her demise. "But it is the girlfriend's place to ask what's going on."

"Of course," Megmui replied. They smiled at each other gracefully. "However," she cut off Sakura as she opened her mouth, "it would be nice for the said girlfriend to trust aforementioned boyfriend and say to herself, "You know what? I don't believe those rumors that everyone else does because I know he'd never do that to me."

Sakura snapped her mouth shut in shock. Why did this girl have to be so damned perfect?! "Well, maybe the girlfriend just has a hard time believing that with a boyfriend like Naruto!"

Megumi shrugged. Sakura had a point there. Just remembering the first day of school, Naruto seemed pretty eager to let Megumi know he was interested. Nonetheless, her eyes hardened. "Well I would trust him because you get as much out of a relationship as you put into it." The addressed girl became icy now as well.

"You know Meg, you're about this close to losing your privilege of becoming my friend." She held two digits impossibly close together to demstrate.

"Privilege? I don't know about calling it that." Megumi never dreamed she'd be a catty girl and she was about to take back her comment, but Sakura's next statement stopped her cold.

"Well look at you. I'd say it's a miracle that I even considered you."

Megumi's mouth dropped opened in shock before it snpped shut into a tight line. "I think it's time you left, Sakura."

"Meg, wait I-"

"First of all it's Megumi, not Meg. Second of all, you need to get out of here before something happens to that pretty face of yours." The next thing that sounded through the house was the front door slamming shut, Megumi smirked, satisfied, and walked into the kitchen to cook some rice balls. She decided not to run after the bubbly teenager. After all, if she didn't know that Megumi had no idea how to fight somebody, the white-maned girl saw no point in telling her now.

"Fine it's your life Naruto. Be with her if you want to be. But just know that if you choose her, we're through." Sakura walked away from the pair with tears glistening in her eyes. As Megumi looked after her, she suddenly realized that she felt sorry for the girl. Sure, she was rude, spiteful, and basically an all around bitch, but it was most likely just a shell.

"Come on Naruto," She whispered, turning back to her literature book, "let's get started."

Naruto started at her a lone time, wondering what she was thinking about. Why was she working so hard to solve this little mystery? Why did she ask about his friend? How did she even know about Sasuke? Was it possible she met him before? He shook his head, trying to make sense of all this. No, that was impossible. Not only would she talk about him sometimes (like Naruto talked to him about Kiba), but it seemed like if he showed her Sasuke's picture, she wouldn't know his name. Still...how did she know that Sasuke and Naruto were friends when they were younger? Could it be that Sasuke and the little boy who disappeared, the little boy who Megumi had dreams and visions about, were...the small person?! Startled out of his reverie by this sudden epiphany, he stared at Megumi's lowered head. He was too dazed to know when she lifted it to look at him.

"Naruto? Do I have somthing on my face?"

He blushed and shook his head, opening his Lit book as well. However, he continued to stare at the girl across the table from him for a few seconds longer. Could this girl honestly know where Sasuke was?

A/N: Crappy ending I know, I just really needed to finish the chapter somewhere.

(1) Um, guys? Sorry, but I messed with these people's lives since it was an AU. Gaara's from the leaf village (but he's OBSESSED with Suna) and Neji and Hinata aren't cousins. (I just really like them together. They make such a cute couple!)

Anyway, I've really fallen in love with this character Megumi and I don't want to let her go. She's almost become a part of me and I think-maybe-a lot of authors would agree (about their characters). Which leads me to the good news, bad news, and worse news.

Good news: I'm excited about being this close to the tenth chapter AND the part where Megumi discovers she's Sasuke so I'll definitely finish this story. Bad news: I've lost some of my plot idea, leaving a HUGE gap in my story. Worse news: I need to take some time off (a couple of weeks at the most) to really rethink where I'm going with this story. The plot's so lost right now that's it's really stressing me out. Sorry to those of you who really like this fic.

Well, there's a preview anyway:

"I finally get it!"

"I'm glad Naruto. You deserve this bowl of ramen." Naruto closed his eyes as he grinned. When he opened them again he found himself getting lost in a pair of eyes, the other having the same problem with his ocean-blue.

"I-" Naruto started, leaning in. He was estatic to find Megumi doing the same. Half a foot now...three inches...two...one...so close...They were interuppted as the phone rang. Naruto's companion sighed while getting up and walked through the kitchen doorway. Going across the living room, a flash of black caught her attention. She backed up a few steps and looked at the reflection the mirror showed her. Black eyes, that framed by black hair that stuck up in the back and a pale face, stared back at her. She was surprised that she didn't feel any different-body wise-than she normally did. She was surprised that nobody had said she looked different all day, not to mention the fact that Naruto had wanted to kiss her. But most of all, she was surprised that deep down, she was relieved her "old face" was back.

That's it for a while. Au revoir!

theflawintheplan