Natsumi slowly opened her eyes for what felt like the fifth time that week. Her eyes focused to see Sauske in front of her. He looked peaceful in his slumber. Natsumi took a moment to analyze Sasuke closely. His face was a light, but pale shade. His face looked like velvet up close, Natsumi shivered, remembering how his hand felt in hers, and how soft his face was when her hand touched it the night before. His hair was slightly tousled. Natsumi reached out her hand to move his hair from his eyes, he stirred a bit, but then stopped moving and resumed his peaceful slumber. Natsumi then remembered how he looked last night. He looked so human, so full of emotion. Was she his girlfriend? Or was he just as confused as she was on the whole subject.

Sighing, she slowly moved herself out of his arms and into a sitting position. She felt like herself, just a little bit more tired then usual. She let one foot hit the ground, it was cold. Slowly she let her other foot fall beside it, a shiver ran up her spine. She looked back, Sasuke was still motionless. Relieved that she hadn't woken him, she, using the bed as a balance, stood up. She swayed slightly, but quickly regained full balance. She smiled to herself proudly. She took off to the bathroom to change, when she got back, Sasuke was still in the same position.

She shook her head playfully, it was just like any guy to sleep in that long. Natsumi sat on the edge of the bed looking down at Sasuke. He still looked so peaceful, like nothing bad had ever happened in his life. The way he was laying, the collar of his shirt was low, she could fully see the mark Orochimaru had placed upon his smooth skin. Unwillingly, she let her hand trace over the mark. He stirred again, but this time, he was facing her more. Natsumi starred at his face, to the curse mark. She lowered her head, closing the space between her lips and his skin. She kissed the mark so softly that she even made herself shiver. When she lifted her head, he still hadn't moved. Then there was a knock to the door.

Natsumi let her hand caress his cheek quickly before she stood up to answer the door. Behind it was Rao.

"Natsumi, how are you feeling hun?" She asked.

"Fine Rao. Much better now." Natsumi smiled and she reached out and hugged her mother.

She took in the familiar sent of home, it felt like ages since she had been home. Natsumi suddenly heard her mother gasp, she let go to see what was wrong.

"R-rao?"

"What is he doing here?" She asked pointing toward Sasuke.

"I woke up last night he was here... I felt scared so I told him to lay there... is that a problem?" There was a sense of coldness Natsumi created, but had not meant to.

"Well, no. Hun, can I ask you somethin?"

"Of course Rao."

"Do you realise how many times that boy has saved your life?"

She thought for a moment, "No."

"Four."

"F-four? How is it four?"

"First he came to warn you bout' Sakura, and trust me, I know that was a life saver. Then he ran to get Tsunade. And he ran to get Naruto to help him bring you back here."

"Oh... B-but... what's the fourth thing then?"

"He saved you from darkness, as you did him."

Natsumi's eyes widened as she began to realise just how true that was. Natsumi turned to look at Sasuke, he had stirred, but he was still fast asleep.

"I like that boy Natsumi."

"M-me too Rao... B-but... I do fear for him... He has so much hatred..."

"Do you blame him? His brother killed all that he had, sparing only him."

"No, I understand why I just... I fear he will let it take hold of him... he has so much... and the fact that he has Orochimaru's mark on him don't help much either..." Natsumi walked over to the bed and sat down beside the sleeping ninja.

"Stick around him hun, I can see a change in that boy already. Years ago, I got to observe his skills when he trained at school. All these years hes been such a mopey and lonely boy, but since you two met, hes changed so much. You're the first girl I've seen him talk to willingly other then Sakura."

"R-Mother..."

"M-Mother? Are you feelin' okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine... I just, I've been tryin' to say that for a while... I'm sorry Rao, it just doesn't work for me..."

"That's quite alright hun..." Rao smiled warmly.

"Alright then... Rao, can I ask you somethin'?"

"Of course hun..."

"Ryo... your husband... was he, I mean, what was he like?"

"You want to know what my husband was like?"

"Yes... I've been curious..."

"Well let's see. He was a caring man. Always put others before himself... He was taller then me by about this much," She measured her hands apart about half a foot. "... He always wanted a daughter with me... but then we found out I was unable to have children..." Rao began to choke up a bit. "W-when he got back from the war, we were planning on adopting... but ah... he didn't make it... he protected his best friend, and the attack killed both of them anyway..." By now several tears had fallen down her face. "He would have loved you so much Natsumi... I wish so much that you could have met him... Sasuke... He reminds me of a younger version of Ryo... I see love between you and Sasuke... Make it work... because if you loose him, the hole in your heart will never repair... never!" Rao used the sleeve of her shirt to dry her tears.

"I-I apologise Rao..."

"For what?"

"F-for asking..."

"No... It's alright... you deserved an answer to your question. But honestly Natsumi... if you loose Sasuke, you'll never be able to replace him..."

"L-love... You see that?"

"Yes, I really do."

"Hm.."

"Well I'm gonna go alright... I'll catch you at home?"

"Yes. I'll be home soon Rao."

"I love you hun."

"You too Rao."

Rao smiled as she walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

Natsumi turned her attention back to Sasuke, he was so cute. She couldn't take looking at his sleeping figure anymore, so she reached out and shook his shoulder. He stirred. She shook him again more roughly, this time he mumbled something,

"N-no... Ita... Mom... ugh..."

"S-sasuke..."

"Ugh, wha...?"

"I need to leave the hospital, and I kinda can't leave you here..." She laughed.

"N-Natsumi? You're up?" He asked as he sat up, rubbing the fatigue from his head.

"Do I look up?" She smiled again.

"Yes."

"Was that more comfy then that damn chair?" She laughed again, causing him to smirk.

"Yes, I must say it was."

"Haha... Come on though, I gotta get outta here, and you're coming with me..."

"Coming where?"

"My place... Not like you got anythin' better to do... right?" She grabbed his hand, attempting to pull him off the bed.

He willingly let her pull him up and off the bed. He stretched and yawned before sighing.

"You are way too full of energy in the morning..." He didn't sound even slightly amused.

"I know... Sasuke... you don't have to come with me... I mean to my place..."

"I wasn't going to anyway... I got some... stuff I have to do."

"Like...?"

"None of your buisness." His words stung her.

"I apologise for asking." Anger filled her voice as the two walked out of the building, Natsumi up ahead of Sasuke.

Natsumi began heading toward her home when she felt someone grab her wrist.

"What, I don't have time for- Uzamaki?" The all time annoying Ninja had grabbed Natsumi's wrist.

"Hey, ah Natsumi, you look a lot better." Naruto said as he let go of her wrist.

"Ah thanks, I feel a lot better. Thanks for helping Sasuke bring me back to the hospital..."

"Ah it was nothing... I was, wondering what you were doing, like right now..."

"Well, I was gonna go home and have a shower, after that, train I guess, why you ask?"

"Well, if you want, I was gonna go hang out with the gang... I thought if you weren't busy, you could come meet everyone." His eyes traced the ground.

"Sure Uzamaki, that'd be great!"

"R-really?" He sounded shocked.

"Yes, I can take a shower really quick, you wanna come to my place to wait for me?" She smiled warmly.

"Ah yeah, sure..." His face turned red.

The two walked to Natsumi's place. Natsumi greeted her mother with a hug and introduced Naruto to her more properly, since the first time she actually saw him was when Natsumi was still in the hospital. Natsumi told Naruto he could explore the house of train in the backyard while she had a shower. He nodded as she disappeared to her room, he followed her, she didn't even notice him. When she walked out of her room, Naruto went in.

Her room was white, with writing, drawings, and formulas. Naruto examined them each closely. There was one picture that really caught his eye. The picture was a rough sketch of Natsumi, but it wasn't a very welcoming picture. It was her all alone, surrounded by people, pointing and laughing. She had a large frown, and below the picture it had a caption, the caption said,

"I am alone. I am lost. Why did you leave me? I want to die."

Naruto's eyes widened at the caption. He felt the same years ago.

"Hmmm."

Naruto jumped in his skin and turned around quickly. Natsumi stood there with damp hair, and her eye uncovered.

"What are you looking at?" Natsumi asked with a smirk.

Naruto's eyes shifted to the picture before looking back at her. Her smirk faded. And then she sighed.

"I've always felt like that, even after Rao took me in." She walked over to sit on her bed, Naruto's gaze followed her. "Seems all us ninja's have a sad childhood eh?" She laughed under her breath.

"Yeah... Well, you ready to go?"

"Yep. Let's go."

Natsumi said bye to Rao. Naruto led her to a large field, all the teams were there.

"Hey guys!" Nartuto called out.

"Hey Naruto!" Kiba yelled back.

"Bark!" Akamaru began barking at Natsumi.

"Hey boy suttle down."

"Ah, every one, this is Natsumi, the girl me and Sasuke were telling you about."

Every starred at her, she instantly became uneasy.

"Ah... Hi?" She said nervously.

"Hey who's that?" Naruto asked pointing to a boy in the far back of the group.

He had medium length black hair with a long purple streak down the middle. His eyes were almost if not more bizarre then Natsumi's. One eye was red, while the other was purple. He wore a checkered red and gray long sleeve shirt with the buttons down, underneath he wore a black t-shirt. His eyes were piercing, it made Natsumi feel even more uneasy. He was standing beside another guy, this guy looked very tired as he put his hands in his pockets.

"That is Yushiro Namagaki, remember Naruto? We were telling you about him last week." The lazy looking boy responded.

"Oh yeah, I remember now. Nice to meet you Yushiro, I'm Naruto Uzamaki." Naruto held out his hand to the boy politely with a large grin on his face.

The boy looked at Naruto's hand with a look of confusion and disgust.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Yushiro asked, his voice was cold, filled of what could be called anger.

"Don't bother with that Naruto, this guy is just plain weird." Ino said as she crossed her arms.

"Oh," Naruto pulled his hand away as a blush crossed his face. "Well anyway Natsumi, this is Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru, Neji, Shino, Fuzzy brow-"

"Fuzzy brow?" She cocked an eye brow at Naruto.

"Oh, I meant Lee, and that's Tenten, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari." Everyone smiled and some waved at Natsumi, casuing her to blush.

"But, where's Sasuke and Sakura?" She asked realising some where missing.

"Dunno, couldn't find them." Kiba said looking amused.

"Good thing too. Builboard brow would have taken up the whole area." Ino said before bursting out into hystarical laughter.

"Y-You mean Haruno?" Natsumi asked breaking Ino's laughter.

"Duh! Don't you know anything?" Ino's words were cold.

There was a silence over the group. Natsumi was tempted to kill Ino right on the spot.

"C'mon, Ino. Natsumi, is a little new to the village, be at least a little nice for a bit." Yushiro broke the painful silence, he stood between the two, Natsumi swore she saw him wink at her.

Ino looked just as shocked as Natsumi felt. She stepped back a bit from Yushiro and Natsumi and glared at him.

"What is wrong with you? Since when do you care bout' anyone but yourself?" Ino asked sounded furious.

"I just said Be nicer to Natsumi, she is just as new as I am. Your not mean to me, Why is that?" Was his come back as he moved back a bit from the two.

"Oh shut up Yushiro." Ino said as she walked off away from the group.

"Well that was interesting..." Natsumi said as she slowly began to walk away.

"Hey where you goin' Natsumi?"

"Home... Sorry I can't stay longer. Byee guys!" She yelled as she ran toward home.

Author's notes: Chapter 6... done :) Good? Bad? Yushiro is my friends OC. :)

XxSoulNoteWritterxX