A/N: Ahh, finally. My Science exam is done! Wasn't too bad either, finished after half an hour and went to sleep (I always have a 10 minute nap in exams, it's tradition) it was my best guy friend's birthday Sunday, so happy birthday to him :) Also, thank you for the wonderful reviews, do you think I should reply to them? It's up to you, say at the end if you'd like a personal reply. Enjoy...

Disclaimer: All aspects of 'Naruto' belong to Matashi Kishimoto-sama. Love him.

Claimer: Kari and Kita are mine.

Getting Back to Normal

Feeling at peace she smiled,

At last, for now, it all seems right.

"Ughh it's too quiet, where's Naru-kun" Kari sighed sadly, leaning back onto Sasuke's legs. The Uchiha's eyebrow gave an annoyed twitch as he gave her an irritated glare. It had been a nightmare getting her up at five this morning; she had been sleeping like the dead. Kita was currently asleep in Kari's arms, it still being too early for the young cub to be running about.

"Speak of the devil" Sasuke mumbled, as an orange blob appeared in the near distance, heading straight towards them.

"Heeeey! Ohayo Kari-chan, Sakura-chan, what's up?!" Naruto said happily. Kari got up from her comfortable position and proceeded to embrace her dear fox-brother.

"Thank goodness! I was so bored" Kari whined. Sakura chose to ignore Naruto and seize the opportunity to scoot closer to Sasuke. Her movement didn't go unnoticed and Sasuke's glare soon made her back off again. The handsome Uchiha then turned his glare onto the conversing blonde shinobi. Catching this, Naruto immediately shot a glare back, pausing his conversation with Kari. The wolf girl expected it anyway so hoisted herself up to sit on the railings of the bridge, which Sasuke was leaning on beside her. She chose to ignore the glare he sent her and entertained herself by turning her ipod up to full blast and humming along to the song.

"Aghhhh! I'm soooo damn bored!" Naruto shrieked a couple of hours later. Kari wasn't paying attention, her ipod was now off and she was enjoying the pleasantries of the world. The sun warmed her leaving her skin slightly tingly and the breeze ran through her long golden locks, blowing it out of her face. She could hear the water trickling in the stream beneath her, as well as the steady rhythm of her team-mates hearts and breathing patterns. Kita was now awake, sitting comfortably in Kari's lap and watched as the clouds rolled lazily across the sky. "Ne, ne, Kari-chan? Are you asleep?" Naruto asked. Kari simply smiled and shook her head, not seeing the need to open her eyes.

"How can you be so calm? Aren't you at least a little impatient?" Sakura asked looking up. Kari shrugged, her bangs tickling her face as the wind ran its fingers through her golden hair once more. True, she wasn't the most patient, but for some reason the sounds, sights, everything was so much clearer, so magical. She was grateful for this new found appreciation of the world, even if she had to put up with the stares of people that saw her peculiar canine characteristics.

"She's at peace, leave her be" Sasuke said, surprising everyone. "She's quiet, I want her to stay like that" ah, never mind...

"Hey guys, ohayo, sorry I'm late. I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life" Kakashi said as he appeared in a poof of smoke on one of the arches over the bridge. He offered a lazy wave as three of his four students shot him glares.

"NANIII?" Sakura and Naruto screeched in outrage. They'd been waiting hours and he comes up with a pathetic excuse like that?

"Hey Kashi" Kari said with a wave, her eyes finally opening. As the silver haired jounin jumped down to join them, he took her new nickname into account, glad she'd stopped calling him 'Kakashi-roba' for now. Kashi was far more tolerable.

"I'm ready for the next ninja mission sensei! And hey no more of this dumb beginner stuff ok! I wanna chance to prove myself! I'm talkin' a real mission where I can show what I'm made of! I gotta break out and burn it up! SEE!!" Naruto cried with a huge amount of gusto.

"Uh... yeah I get it, that's great Naruto now take it easy would you" Kakashi said, trying to get the young shinobi out of his face. Naruto glared at Sasuke. Sakura glared at Naruto. Sasuke looked bored. Kari sighed at the chain of glares, thinking their immaturity was a poor example to Kita.

"Geez Naru-kun why are you getting so fired up? It's only Sasuke" Kari sighed, placing a hand on top Sasuke's head. She grinned in pride at being able to do so, ignoring the fact she could only reach because she was sitting on the railing. She subconsciously noticed how beautiful his hair was and how it was wonderfully silky to the touch. Sasuke narrowed his eyes to continue the chain of glares and Kari immediately prepared herself to grab hold of him if he felt the need to shove her off the side of the bridge. Kakashi chuckled awkwardly, placing a hand on Kari's head, sensing she was the only one of his students in a fairly good mood. Her ears immediately twitched and she leaned into his touch.

"DATTEBAYO!!" Naruto roared all of a sudden, his eyes ablaze with determination.

"Let me know when you're done fantasising Naruto so we can start the mission all right?" Kakashi said, flicking his book open with his spare hand as he started rubbing one of Kari's ears. Kari half-hated him and half-loved him for this, it felt wonderful, but he was treating her like a freaking dog. Like anyone, she held her fair amount of pride.

"RIGHT!" Naruto cried, still in his fiery daydream. Everyone just looked at him, all thinking along the similar lines of the word baka.

"Ughh! Could you NOT be so annoying Naruto! Just for ONCE!" Sakura cried reaching the end of her tether. Dear, innocent, little Naruto was struggling to pull out stubborn weeds and with the last one he dragged out, he had sent a shower of dirt all over the bubblegum kunoichi.

"Well I'm gonna beat Sasuke anyway!" Naruto cried indignantly, ignoring Sakura's comment as he rolled up his sleeves. His eyes held that fiery determination again and Kari sighed as she had a sense of foreboding. Kita who was watching her Okaa-san pull weeds from in-between Kari's ears, lying on the top of the wolf-girls head watched with interest at Naruto's strange behaviour.

"Oh dear…" Kari said as she looked up at the green mountain a triumphant Naruto was standing beside. "Naruto-kun, you're in such deep shit…"

"Okaa-san what's shit?" Kita asked. Kari instantly stiffened.

"Err…It's a vulgar word for saying poo. Kita's do not use naughty words like that."

"What's a naughty word?" Kita said tilting her head.

"A word that is naughty" Kari replied. "Words that you aren't allowed to say Kita-ko."

"HEY YOU!"

Kari immediately tensed again and glanced round at a beaming Naruto and a very, very angry client.

"Hey lady! I got rid of all your weeds pretty cool huh?!" Naruto cried happily, gesturing to the weeds, flowers, herbs and all of the other plant life that had been carefully planted in the garden by the lady. The lady's face was an angry blotchy red, her eyes were narrowed and her jaw was clenched. "Eh? Doushita?" Naruto asked, wondering what in the world was wrong.

"You pulled the weeds and you also pulled up my plants! Those were special herbs I've been growing and you DESTROYED THEM!!" the lady shouted beating up Naruto with her broom. Kari covered Kita's eyes and quickly scooted behind Sakura and Sasuke for safety, hoping they didn't notice one or two accidental herbs in her piles.

"Ah I see, my apologies on behalf of Naruto" Kakashi said awkwardly to the fuming woman. Dodging a violent swoosh from the client's broom, Kakashi proceeded to explain our next D-rank mission. "Well team, we have a mission to clean out the river" Kakashi said, flicking open his book and leading the way.

"Hey Kashi! Where were you?" Kari called chasing after him. The grey haired jonin placed a hand on top of her head and smiled under his mask, not giving her an answer. Kari folded her arms and gave him a scolding look. "You were reading porn again weren't you" she said. Kakashi chuckled and shook his head.

"Would I?" Kakashi asked innocently as he walked on again. Kari refused to let him off the hook that easily and chased after him, leaving Kita to ride on a bruised Naruto's head while Sasuke ignored Sakura who struggled to strike up conversation with him.

"Well, get to it. The sooner you start the sooner you finish" Kakashi said as he sat under the shade of a tree, Kita's head resting on his knee. He leisurely began reading the next chapter.

"Oi Kashi!" Kari called, sending an almighty splash at him. Kakashi simply used one of his many jutsu to send it back at her. "Hey! That's cheating!" she whined. Naruto started splashing her too. Kari began an onslaught of soaking Naruto causing him to slip and fall off the edge of the waterfall. "Oops. Hang on Naruto-kun!" she called as she threw her basket and litter picking stick on the bank, oblivious to Naruto screaming his head off. She dived underwater and swam through the current. They both hurtled over the edge, Naruto screaming in fear, Kari screaming in delight. She grabbed hold of Naruto's ankle and prepared to sprout her wings and attempt to fly, but her falling was ceased by Sasuke grabbing hold of them both. She scowled at the spoil sport until a delightful idea struck her.

"Swing us!" Kari cried excitedly as Naruto stopped screaming, finally realising he had stopped falling.

"No baka. Throw Naruto over in Sakura's direction, you're both to heavy to hoist up together." Sasuke said boredly. Kari inflated indignantly.

"I'll have you know I can lift myself up! I'm not that heavy you're just lazy!" Kari cried pointing accusingly. Unfortunately, to point, she had let go of Naruto, throwing him rather violently in Sakura's direction.

"AAAAAAH!!"

Splash.

For their next D-rank, Naruto was rather damp, having been thrown into Sakura, resulting in a very ruthless punishment. Sakura was incredibly scary when angry and Kari made a vow to never be on the receiving end of her rage and when she seemed in a bad mood, to put Sasuke in-between them for protection.

Of course, from the selection of dogs they had to walk for their mission, Naruto demanded the biggest, strongest, most masculine looking dog. Sasuke was stuck with a tiny, girly looking dog that was almost identical to Sakura's and was stubbornly trying to hump it, much to Sasuke's disgust. Kari had a Siberian husky, the best deal in her opinion. Kita asked a million questions on why these animals looked a little like her and if they were types of 'Kita'. Kari once had to explain that Kita was a wolf, and try to explain the ancestry of dogs and wolves. Kita became confused and questioned further but their little lesson was interrupted by Naruto's desperate bellowing.

"NO! STOP! WE CANT GO IN THERE! HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" The massive bulldog-like-dog took no heed of Naruto and continued to drag him along, unaffected by Naruto attempting to yank on the lead or dig his heels into the ground.

"Loser" Sasuke mumbled.

"UH! Of course! He just HAD to have the biggest dog" Sakura said annoyed as she watched Naruto struggle.

"STOP PULLING WOULD YOU! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO GO OVER THERE!" Naruto shouted desperately to the happily oblivious dog. Kakashi sat in a tree peacefully reading his book, though Kari knew he was secretly watching Naruto from the corner of his eye. After all, the jonin had already nearly been decapitated with a broom this morning; he didn't want another angry client after his blood. "THAT'S NOT A PLACE FOR DOGS IT'S A MINEFIELD!!" Naruto shrieked as he was dragged to his doom. Explosions went off with Naruto's cries of "AAH!" every few seconds; Kita watched the light show excitedly as another 'BOOM' went off. All of us stared blankly and then sighed. Naruto came out smoking while the dog panted happily beside him, unphased and unharmed.

"Kita I hope you learned something today" Kari said as Naruto fell onto his front.

"Hai Okaa-san! Don't go into minefields or places that go boom without a Naruto-kun!" she replied happily.

"Look at you! You're hopeless Naruto!" Sakura scolded looking back at his worn form. Kari and Sasuke each had one of his arms over their shoulders and were dragging him along, his feet leaving little furrows in the ground.

"You really are just one big problem dobe—OW!" Sasuke was cut off when a fist collided with the back of his head. He shot a glare at Kari who was giving a scolding look.

"Give him a break, or I'll drag you through a minefield and see how you come out."

"Kari! Sasuke-kun is perfectly right! Naruto should have left the larger dog to someone more capable!" Sakura cried, immediately taking Sasuke's side. Kari rolled her eyes; hating the fact Madam Bubblegum was so one-minded. Surely as friends they should back each other up and just once tell Sasuke he was wrong. Ok… we don't want to get ahead of ourselves…

"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted letting go of his support and preparing to pounce and beat the living daylights out of the stuck up Uchiha. Sakura flung her arm in front of Naruto to protect her precious Sasuke. Sasuke ungratefully began walking off looking bored.

"IF YOU KEEP THIS UP I'LL FINISH YOU OFF MYSELF!" Sakura threatened, glaring daggers at poor Naruto. Kakashi sighed.

"I guess we're not making a lot of progress on the teamwork thing" Their Sensei observed sadly. Kari nodded sadly in agreement.

"We're all doomed…"

"Actually, you're not too bad Kari-chan, but the others, well..." Kakashi trailed off looking thoughtful.

"THAT'S RIGHT OUR TEAMWORK'S ALL MESSED UP AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU SASUKE!!" Naruto shouted angrily at Sasuke's back. "YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE!"

"Not everyone" Sasuke said slowly. Kari raised an eyebrow sceptically. Well duh, of course he wasn't as good as Kashi or Neji, and Lee and TenTen are pretty awesome too.

"Just you Naruto, face it, I'm better and stronger than you are. It's a fact unless you have what it takes to prove me wrong" Sasuke said sending the fox-boy a smirk. Naruto glared at him. Kari went to defend Naruto but Kakashi put a hand on her head as a gentle warning. Instead, she decided to change tactics, one which wouldn't involve her getting locked out of the apartment tonight.

"Yeah but..." the rivals turned their gaze onto the young kunoichi, Sakura too turned her attention to Kari hoping what she had to say would finish the argument. "You're stronger in different ways" she said simply. Naruto grinned in appreciation while Sasuke scoffed.

"SEE! KARI-CHAN LOVES ME MORE!" Naruto cried victoriously.

"Tch. Why would anyone like you?" Sasuke said. That was the last straw for Kari as she sent the cocky Uchiha a protective glare. Kakashi, seeing that this was going nowhere decided to take his leave.

"All right guys, lets call it a day. You can beat each other to a pulp another time anyway I have to file my report on this mission. Ja Kari-chan" Kakashi said as he disappeared into a poof of smoke.

"Ja Kashi" Kari said with a wave. Good thing he said goodbye, she would have told him off tomorrow morning if he didn't.

"Whatever I'm outta here" Sasuke mumbled, turning and leaving.

"Hey! I wasn't finished!" Kari cried. Aware she hadn't properly scolded Sasuke for picking on her beloved Naru-kun. Kita looked up at her, telling her Okaa-san through a telepathic link that she would stay and watch over Naruto for her.

"Whatever, you can come if you want" Sasuke said.

"Wait! Sasuke-kun! I'll go with you too!" Sakura cried rushing over to him. "So why don't we um… you know, let's do something more personal! I mean to improve our teamwork and all—"

"And maybe we can ditch poor little Kari-chan on the way" Kari mumbled.

"And maybe we can— Hey! I wasn't going to ditch you Kari!" Sakura cried indignantly. "I just thought it would be better if I and Sasuke-kun had some time alone!" Kari grinned and suppressed her giggles when Sasuke shot her a nasty glare. He hadn't forgiven her for allowing Sakura into his apartment, it had taken a full half hour to get rid of her, and an extra hour after that before his headache finally eased.

"I swear you're just as bad as Naruto, instead of flirting why don't you practice your jutsu and make the team stronger? Let's face it you're actually WORSE than Naruto" Sasuke said.

"HEY! Sasuke that was harsh! Lowering her confidence isn't gonna help! And she's smarter than you and much more experienced than me! Besides every girl and guy goes through the flirting stage, do you not have hormones?" Kari said, immediately standing up for Sakura, hating it when people were put down.

"You actually did something, you nearly got killed but at least you contributed. And I don't let my feelings interfere with my fighting."

"She protected Tazuna!" Kari cried indignantly, standing in front of Sakura and glaring up at him. Sasuke scoffed turning away, uncomfortable with the close proximity.

"Besides you're only coming because you got moved in with me and I have the key" Sasuke continued, choosing to ignore her comment.

"How come you get the key?!" Kari cried. Sasuke ignored her and walked off. "I'll be back later Naruto-kun, once I get that damn key! Sasuke! Oi Sasuke! Hey wait up!"

"Sakura-chan just forget about Sasuke! Me, you and Kari-chan can develop our teamwork all day!" Naruto cried, oblivious to the real reason for Sakura's depression. Hearing something he looked round, completely forgetting about Sakura. A square boxy, rocky, err… thing, walked forward. Testing out his theory, Naruto ran forward and back a few times getting faster every time. The rock followed. Naruto stopped turning and glaring dramatically at the rock, taking on one of Iruka's poses – Hands on hips, leaning forward with a menacing glare and slightly bulging eyes. Naruto then pointed at the 'rock' accusingly with the air of a hero catching a villain.

"That's the worst disguise I've ever seen, there's no such thing as square rocks! IT'S COMPLETELY OBVIOUS!" Sakura looked up from her depressed sitting position to stare at Naruto blankly. The bouncy orange-clad boy failed to notice the even more obvious fact that the rock was moving and was simply a cardboard box with a fair amount of tape keeping it together. Hell there was even a few random stickers on it.

"You saw through my camouflage again! You're slick boss, just what I'd expect from my greatest rival!" a voice cried. The box exploded and pink blue and yellow smoke appeared. After a moment or two, it cleared to reveal three kids on their knees coughing. "I think we used a little too much gunpowder you guys" a boy Naruto recognised as Konohamaru said. Noticing Naruto's blank, confused stare, the three immediately jumped to their feet and sprang into poses.

"I'm Moegi the sexiest kunoichi in pre-school check me out!" the girl cried, pulling what she obviously thought was a flirtatious pose and that Naruto found disturbing.

"I love algebra Udon!" the geeky looking boy said, which Naruto found even more disturbing.

"And I'm the number one ninja in the village; Konohamaru! And when we're all together we're the Konohamaru ninja squad" Konohamaru cried as the three of them struck yet another pose. Naruto doubted he could be any more disturbed, but hey it was cool in some… weird… demented way. He used to play ninja all the time when he was a kid.

"Yeah, I knew it was you Konohamaru—hm? What are those things? Those goggles you're wearing on your head?" Naruto asked, recognising them from somewhere. Konohamaru laughed.

"You used to wear goggles so we're copying you!" Konohamaru cried happily, grinning widely at Naruto.

"Uh..." Naruto said confused. Oh how he wished Kari was still there, she could easily make it interesting!

"C'mon boss! Why're you being like that?! You ought to be more excited!" Konohamaru cried disappointed, folding his arms and giving Naruto a huge pout.

"So do you want something?" Naruto asked in the same bored tone.

"He's just tryna be cool" Konohamaru whispered to his two friends.

"You know what we want! Are you busy now?!" Moegi asked.

"I have to train! Dattebayou!" Naruto cried, quickly making up an excuse.

"NANI!? But you promised that you would play ninja with us today! C'mon!" Konohamaru whined. Naruto chocked on his breath and dissolved into a coughing fit but managed to turn it into a shaky laugh as he awkwardly looked round at Sakura, Kita sitting beside her with her head tilted in confusion.

"How can ninja play ninja?" Kita asked confused. She didn't want to bother her Okaa-san with such a strange question, but her childish inquisitiveness was too stubborn to ignore.

"Oh did I say that?" Naruto asked, trying the act dumb tactic.

"Ugh a ninja playing ninja that is so twisted" Sakura said rolling her eyes. Kita glanced up at Sakura, finding the kunoichi's reaction puzzling.

"Huh! Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, spinning round to face her. She was staring at him and he started turning red in embarrassment, he had completely forgotten she was there.

"Hey boss who's that girl anyway? OH! I get it you're a smooth operator boss c'mon I know that she's your girlfriend!" Konohamaru cried wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Naruto held in a snort, knowing that was Kari's favourite way of teasing, that and he just found it hilarious when someone did that...

"Well, you can tell she's really crazy about me huh?" Naruto said, puffing his chest out with pride with a wide grin across his blushing cheeks. His moment was entirely ruined however, with the sudden pain of a fist colliding with his skull sending the poor kyuubi-boy crashing into a sharp, splintery fence.. Beyond the stars and dots dancing in front of Naruto's watering eyes he made out an extremely angry looking Sakura, with a puzzled Kita where she had been sulking a few moments before.

"BOSS!" Konohamaru cried, immediately rushing to Naruto's side. Moegi and Udon immediately followed in a line as though it were a game of 'follow the leader'. With an angry, disbelieving glare Konohamaru rounded on Sakura. "WHAT KIND OF GIRLFRIEND ARE YOU!?"

"I think she crushed him!" Moegi cried worriedly, crouching over Naruto's bruised form.

"We gotta check his pulse!" Udon cried anxiously.

"You're a witch and you're ugly too!" Konohamaru cried, unwisely continuing to push Sakura's patience. Sakura cracked her knuckles, alerting them all to the fact she had reached the end of her tether. Konohamaru screamed trying desperately to get away.

Sakura stormed off after violently beating Naruto and Konohamaru to within an inch of their lives. Huffily stomping her way back towards her previous place where she had been brooding over Sasuke. Kita scooted away from her slightly and luckily remained unnoticed.

"Hey Konohamaru are you ok?" Udon asked, nudging the young boy.

"Uh I don't even think she's human! Did you see how wide her forehead is?!" A severely bruised Konohamaru complained. Sakura completely froze her body rigid. Kita, who could see the kunoichi's face made a soft squeak.

"Uh oh…" she said. Slowly Sakura turned round with the most terrifying face Naruto had ever seenin his whole entire life. Like a rampaging bull, she started running towards Naruto and Konohamaru, who screamed and ran in opposite directions.

Konohamaru ran smack-bang into someone's leg. The two unknown people looked down with a menacing glare.

"Do you need something?"