A/N: Holy fricking ball sacks. I finally get to post something. I am so sooo sorry guys! I would have had something posted last week, but guess what little old me decided to put off a research paper for three months. And then idiotic me accidentally threw out all her notes on garbage day on Wednesday last week. So of course I pulled crap out my ass to finish my one research paper for History which I legit just finished printing. Then I had another research paper to do in AP English, and you could only imagine the stress that I had trying to finish both research papers. God these past few weeks have been hell for me. But now I get to sit down and finally type up a well needed chapter. Thank you to everyone that has been patiently waiting. I can't help but apologize a gazillion times for my lack of updates.

Question: Where is this story going if Cho isn't a ninja?

Answer: Well she has a problem to solve which is to return home. Even though I haven't really discussed her past and her wanting to get home it will come up eventually. As for where it's going…well…you'll just have to wait and see :).

And I just realized how many mistakes were in the last chapter. *hides head in shame* Seriously embarrassing. I'll fix those when I get the chance.

The sun was waving me goodbye as it descended behind the horizon, creating a glow that seemed to stretch for miles. Pink and orange hues seemed to dance circles around the place where the sun once was. I watched as the dark blue colors began to emerge from the hiding spots to invite night upon the village. It was a sight to see as there wasn't any pollution in the air to distort the beautiful picture of the sunset. Watching this dampened my mood as watching the sunset was supposed to be something happy. It was to be a sight that lifted up ones mood, but it only helped to darken mine. My mood hadn't been the greatest after I left the Hokage's office, and I made an effort to avoid everyone that I spotted. Ishida-sensei had been a few ways off in front of me on the walk home, but I turned down an alley way to avoid talking with her. This sudden mood was brought upon by the Hokage. His sudden tone and brushing me off like dirt on his shoulder seemed to open my eyes.

I didn't belong here. I was in a village that was built around ninja's. Wasn't that just crazy? Back home if I had come upon a town like that, I would have called every single resident of that town crazy. But now that I'm living in one, I can only see how much of an outsider I really am. My true home was in Okinawa, a beautiful island south of the rest of Japan. I remembered that before all of this had happened I had been in Kyoto at a job interview for a popular animation company. I didn't really want to go, but my parents had forced me to fly out and at least apply for it. Why? Well my parents were sticklers for animation companies. My mother worked at Studio Ghibli and my father worked for Toei Animation. They both left me in Okinawa with my uncle to finish up schooling before moving to Kyoto to live with them. Now that I think about it I couldn't remember anyone's name. My uncle who I lived with for almost ten years, his name just completely escaped me. As for my father and mother…their names were blank slates.

How could I have forgotten all of this while here? Something must have been chipping away at my memory to make me forget everything. I brought my covers closer to my body as tears traveled down my face to pool at the bottom of my pillow. Realizing that I almost forgot my family had me crying louder. My sobs echoed throughout my empty apartment and I couldn't help but cry harder at the realization that I had no one. Sure I had my friends here, but they weren't really true friends. They didn't know everything about me. They didn't know my favorite colors, or my dreams, likes or dislikes. Conversations were made on a whim about nonsensical stuff. It was either me teasing someone or them teasing me. Our topics were centered around anything that had to do with the village but it was never anything personal.

I couldn't help but feel even more alone. All my friends' students were off to do the Chuunin exams, and everyone was just busy. No one thought of me, little old Cho. Cho wasn't even my real name. I can't even remember my real name. It was there inside of my head, but I couldn't' say it. It was like someone had a hold of my name, but wasn't giving it up. "Dammit." I cursed, wiping roughly at my eyes. I needed to get rid of these tears. There's no point in crying over spilt milk. What's done is done, and there's no way I'd be able to return home. I'm stuck here and I might as well make the most of it. I was no longer going to be shy Cho, but I was going to be determined Cho who lived life like it was her last day.

I threw the covers off of my body and stood up from my bed. Slapping a grin unto my face I smiled and started stretching to get the kinks out of my back. Starting now I was going to live life. And living life meant getting a boyfriend. And getting a boyfriend meant…asking someone out. A light blush covered my cheeks as I thought of Bear and Izumo. Well, I couldn't really ask Bear out to dinner since I have no idea where he was, and I do know where Izumo is. His shift of guard watch at the front gates was going to be over soon so I should head over to his house and ask him if he wanted to head to dinner.

Or maybe I should ask Kakashi. A larger blush covered my cheeks and I slapped both hands unto my cheeks. "Stop it!" I don't like him. He's just an annoying friend who loves to argue with me all the time. Besides, didn't I say that I had a crush on Izumo.

Well that was before…..

"Since I'm having such a hard time, I might as well just flip a coin and see who comes out the winner."

Once that was decided I figured getting ready was the smartest thing to do. For the next half hour I took my time and dressed myself up. My shower didn't last as long as I wanted, but the anxiety of seeing who I would be asking out got the best of me and I couldn't help but move my routine along faster. I chose to wear a fitting dark green kimono with gold dragon designs all over. The kimono was a little on the short end as it stopped just a little before my knees. For something more comfortable, I decided that instead of wearing heels, I would wear black ninja sandals. The sandals gave it a little more of a casual look, which I was happy for because I didn't want my outfit to scream desperate. Once my outfit was on, I didn't really do anything fancy with my hair. I decided to leave it out which was out of the norm for me because it would either be in a high ponytail or a bun. My hair had grown out a lot longer and now it was hanging past my butt. Long hair like that in my opinion wasn't attractive, but it seemed to fit the look nicely. My bangs framed my face and the long hair made me actually look elegant for once. I left my face bare and just added some chap stick as my lips were a little bit dry. Smiling at my reflection I headed over to my wallet and took out a coin.

I stared at the coin longer than need be. I was actually quite nervous. Butterflies were swarming in my stomach and I couldn't help but swallow the lump that was forming in my throat.

"Heads for Kakashi and tails for Izumo..."

I placed the coin on the nail of my thumb and flipped it into the air. As it descended towards me I snatched it out of the air and placed it on the back of my hand.

Lifting my hand off of the coin I slowly looked towards the coin to see what side it landed on.

My eyes widened as I read the coin.

"Holy fudge.."

"You see….I didn't really expect you to be here since I figured you might have been in the Chuunin exams."

"No. The kids are in the Forest of Death for five days before the Prelims begin. "

"Oh." An awkward silence fell upon us. After a few moments he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Um…What are you doing here dressed like that." I nervously laughed while scratching the back of my head. "Well you see…I decided that I no longer wanted to be shy and that I was going to live life to the fullest."

"Uh-huh." He said while nodding. "And then I figured that I might as well flip a coin and see who I would ask out to dinner."

"Okay…" His voice seemed to hold the tone of 'I don't get where this is going'. "So I flipped the coin after getting ready and it ended up on Tails."

"…"

"Tails was actually Izumo, but he wasn't home at the time, and you were heads...and well…you're a smart man. You know where this is heading." He chuckled at me and switched positions so that he was now leaning up against the door with his arms and legs crossed. "Oh. Do I?" My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Exact reason why we're better off being just friends and not trying to go out on a date. He's seriously going to kill me with his stupidity acts. "Oh don't give me that. You know where this is going."

I'm asking you out to dinner you moronic fool. What! Does he want to me spell it for him?

"Are you asking me out to dinner?"

"No I'm forcing you." He laughed and headed inside his apartment. "Give me fifteen minutes and I'll be out." I followed behind him as he continued to laugh. My cheeks flushed in embarrassment as he just laughed and laughed and laughed. "You know it's not that funny."

"Ah no. It is funny. But make yourself at home while I get ready." I grumbled and threw myself into the couch in the living room. Kakashi left to go do his business while I sat there looking around his apartment. It was actually neater than I expected. His living room was smaller than mine, but the décor had me feeling jealous of his decorating skills. The couches matched perfectly, both were a dark blue, while mine at home were random colors that made my apartment look more hippy than intended. The walls were painted a tan color and had two large pictures of green landscapes hanging on the wall.

Three white pillows were on both couches and a dark brown coffee table was set in the middle. A bookshelf with a dark brown color that matched the coffee table was resting behind the couch I was sitting on. The carpets were a fluffy white and I was surprised to see that he actually could keep the carpet clean.

How did this man do it? He was always on missions and outside of his home. Who took care of his apartment while he was gone? Did he have a housekeeper? Just looking at how beautiful the living room was had my curiosity stirring to see the rest of his apartment. I wonder what color scheme his room was. Was it as neat as the living room or was it messy. Does it smell as lovely as the living room? Kakashi seriously had me looking twice though. I never ever expected this from a man who loved to read porn in public. And the room smelled of such a rich coffee and cinnamon flavor that it had my mouth watering.

I had to see the kitchen. Quickly scanning the hallway to see if he was there I scurried off towards the kitchen. Opening the door, my mouth dropped at how neat and sparkling it was. He kept up with the same dark blue scheme, but inside here everything was neater than the living room. That seemed impossible to me seeing as how the living room was pretty darn neat. I noticed some dog bowls on the floor, and I counted eight bowls. If he had eight bowls, where were the dogs? And if he had dogs, how come inside didn't smell like dogs.

Kakashi was seriously a mystery to me. I sighed and turned around, only to bump into said man. A squeak escaped my throat as I stumbled back a little from the sudden impact. "Heyy…You could've at least warned me that you were there." I mumbled while rubbing my forehead.

"I didn't think I had to." I rolled my eyes and looked up at him only to have my eyes almost pop out of my head. Kakashi was dressed in a nice dark blue button down that showed off his already large muscles. I had the sudden urge to squeeze them to see if they were actually as hard as they looked, but shot that thought down because he would probably look at me weirdly if I did. Of course he kept the dark blue mask and head band on, but he changed his regular ninja pants to a nice pair of black slacks.

"Uh…wow…You look…um….good." I tried to hide the once again annoying blush that seemed to always love to cover my cheeks, but hiding it was practically impossible. When you had sickly white skin like mine, it was practically useless to cover up. "I know."

"You and your damn ego." I pushed past him and headed for the door only to be stopped by a bumping into a hard chest...again. "No."

"No what?" I asked clearly annoyed at the way he got my attention.

"Since you asked me out to dinner…I will pick where we eat."

"What? That doesn't even make any sense. The person that asks the other out obviously gets to choose where to go."

"Well I don't think you should pick somewhere to eat."

"And why not?"

"Ichiraku's ramen stand is not a romantic place to eat."

I blushed as he guessed the exact place where I was going to take us. "Who said anything about romantic? And what's wrong with Ichiraku's. Their ramen is really good."

"Well...a date is supposed to be romantic, and I don't want my first date with you to be at a ramen stand." This was the reason why we were better off not doing this. You see how much trouble it is just to decide on where to eat. Plus we argued more than the average person should. "Then where do you purpose we go."

"A nice restaurant."

"I don't have money to pay for a fancy restaurant."

"Who said you were going to pay?" I growled and crossed my arms while glaring right into his eye. Kakashi was seriously going to give me a stroke. "You do realize that it's going to eat your wallet."

"Well that's what dates like you are supposed to do, right."

"Excuse me. Are you trying to insinuate something?"

"No."

"Can we just go please?" I asked, with anger clearly in my voice. I swear I could practically see the smirk right behind that stupid blue mask of his. For once we agreed on something as the both of us left his apartment. As soon as we exited his apartment and had gotten a few feet away he decided to link arms with me. At this point I was already fed up with our previous argument, and the fact that he did this pissed me off even more. "What are you doing?"

"Walking."

"Of course you're walking. I mean why are our arms linked?"

"Because dates do that..."

"Kakashi, I'm not keeping my arm in yours."

"Why not?" He asked turning to look at me. I brushed my hair out of my face and looked up at him.

"Because if people see us they'll think that we're dating."

"Are we?" A look of horror crossed my face at his question. "Of course we aren't."

"Then what does it matter what they think."

"You mean you wouldn't care if rumors start going around that we're dating."

"Actually no." Wow. I never knew Kakashi to be so…I don't know nonchalant. He just never came off as an 'I don't really care' type of person to me. I figured that he wouldn't want others to see us together like this. Those butterflies came back again and I looked down to avoid his gaze. Just looking at him made my anger dissipate. I was confused as to why it was so easy to not be mad at him. One moment we would be at each other's throats by bickering but then later on we would act like the best of friends.

It made me confused.

It wasn't long before we had arrived at a nice looking restaurant. To be honest I was actually concerned about how much the bill would come up to. This place looked too expensive and I didn't want Kakashi to spend so much on just me. I wasn't anything special, and he certainly didn't have to pamper me in any way.

The man at the front greeted us warmly and led us inside. As the man led us to a table in the back I gasped at how beautiful the inside was. Every table had burgundy table coverings with roses in the middle. The chairs were a shining gold color and green vines hung from the ceiling to give it more of a romantic feel. Soft music was playing in the background and customers chatted with themselves quietly as to not disturb the atmosphere. We arrived at our table and Kakashi, being the nice gentleman that he is, pulled out my chair for me. I thanked him and sat down trying to tuck my kimono in so that it wouldn't get caught on the side of the table. Kakashi pushed my chair in before heading over to his.

The man who introduced himself as Keita handed us our menus, saying that he would be back in a few to check up on us. "This is really nice. How did you find out about this restaurant?"

"Asuma."

Ha. Figures Asuma would come here with Kurenai. "Those two make such a cute couple."

"You think?" I shrugged and looked at the menu. "He treats her right and she seems very happy whenever talking about him. I think they're perfect for each other." Looking at the menu had my stomach grumbling, and the funny thing was that this place wasn't expensive. It may look like it, but it had reasonable prices. I sighed and thanked any god out there that Kakashi wouldn't have to dent his wallet with this meal. "Have you decided what you want?"

"Hmmm…." I looked it over once more before looking up and smiling at him. "I'm going to get the Pork and Kimchi Stir Fry. What about you?"

"Maa….I haven't really decided yet." I looked back down at my menu and skimmed over everything. I knew that he liked eggplant so maybe he would enjoy the Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl with Eggplant. "I know that you like eggplant so why don't you get the Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl with Eggplant."

He nodded a bit before closing the menu. "I guess you know me too well then."

"Ahh…not really. I just figured you might like it." The both of us made small talk as we waited for Keita to return to take our orders. Somehow we were on the topics of dogs and what type of dog I preferred. I told him that I liked cute little dogs that were energetic. Something about watching a tiny dog run around in a circle trying to catch its own tail entertained me. They were just so crazy. They ran around all the time and kept an owner on its toes. "I think I would like a dog, but I don't know where to buy one."

"They have many pet shops in Konoha. You're just not looking in the correct spot." I smiled at the thought of looking for a dog. "Then how about after the Chuunin exams you help me buy a dog."

"As long as I'm not busy."

"You better clear your schedule mister." He chuckled at my failed attempt at intimidation. At that moment Keita appeared to take our orders. He set down some tea in front of us before quickly scribbling down in a pad. "It'll only be twenty minutes, but please enjoy your tea." With that he bowed and left with our menus in his hand.

"Kakashi…tell me. Do you have any siblings?" He shook his head. "What about you?"

"No. I'm an only child."

"Were you born here in Konoha?" He asked while pouring himself some tea. Crap. I forgot that he doesn't know about my situation. The only person who knew was the Hokage, and even then Kotetsu and Izumo knew that I didn't have a real name. I felt horrible that I hadn't really told Kakashi anything. Now that I'm sitting here, I realized that we barely knew anything about each other. This was a perfect opportunity for someone to get to know the real me. "Kakashi…I…haven't really been completely honest with you."

He looked confused for a second, but I couldn't blame him. He seriously was going to be in for a surprise.

"I'm….not from around here."

E/N: BWAHA! I am an evil soulless person who loves to kill people with cliff hangers. I hope this date thing threw you guys off. I figured that since you guys wanted a little romance I would throw in a little right now. Although you guys are seriously going to be thrown off with who Bear is. Like REALLY thrown off. Everything will be explained later…much later. Don't worry everyone. There won't be too much of a wait. I don't really have anything important to do besides taking a three day test next week that will decide if I graduate high school or not. Pshhh nothing important at all. *sarcasm* But seriously I'll probably have something posted either tomorrow or Tuesday.

Wise words from Itachi:

A wise Itachi once said," My swag kicks harder than Jackie Chan."

Copyright Koiketsudayou 2012