So, I know I told you that I wouldn't be able to write anything until Sunday night (Which is tonight) and y'all'd have to wait until ... Tuesday night before I could publish... BUT... My plans were cancled and I found myself writing until I realized I had enough for a new chapter and wanted to publish it as fast as I could for you guys.

So... like before.

My Disclaimer: I do not own anything writen/drawn/published by Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my own OC(s) that appear in this story.

Previously:

"Kumo-san, what kind of fighting do you do? I see that you use swords, are you well off in tai-jutsu?" Her whole body seems to relax and the smile on her lips grew.

"Yes, I suppose I'm decent in tai-jutsu… although I mostly work with gen-jutsu and nin-jutsu."

"You work with gen?" Neji asks, he seemed very interested and her smile drops with his next question. "Would you mind showing me some of your gen later after dinner?"
"Ah… Well," She smiles sheepishly, her eyes closing so she wouldn't have to see his disappointed face "My gen isn't something you would want to see. It's strictly for my enemies."

"Awww!" Naruto comes in, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. "I was hoping to fight you!"

She laughs; setting down the menu she leans forward and leans her head against her hand, which was propped up on the table. "Uzumaki-kun, there was only one companion I was comfortable fighting with and it was only because he said if I didn't fight him he would kill me the next time we crossed paths." The smile on her face didn't quite reach her eyes, telling only the most observant that she didn't really like that one bit.

"Really?" Kiba asks, leaning forward to see her better, "Who was he?"

"Hmm?" She turns her head to look at him before her smile changes, a softness seemingly touching her eyes. "Uchiha-kun."

Silence filled the table, so heavy that it seemed like one small sound would cause complete chaos; Kumo picks her menu back up and starts to scan it again. It was several minutes before someone finally spoke up.

"Sasuke?" One of them, Kumo wasn't quite sure for her head was down, hesitates to ask; the whole group of friends were tense, staring at the girl who claimed to be a traveling companion to the missing Nin.

"Oh?" Her eyebrow rose, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere as the waitress comes back with drinks. "So you know him? I thought he said he didn't have any friends. Oh, miss, I would like the beef noodles, hold the onions."

The waitress nods, writing down the order before looking to everyone else. No one moved for a time then slowly, starting with the lazy Nin besides her, they order and the waitress walks away. For the longest time they all sat in silence until the food came out and they slowly started to eat; every action from the friends seemed to be done with hesitation. "Where is he?" Sakura finally asks, keeping her head down and her voice soft; as if she was straining to keep her voice from breaking.

"Don't know." Kumo responds absently, slipping a chopstick full of noodles into her mouth.

"Where is he?" She asks again, this time a lot stronger than before, her head raised to look Kumo dead in the eyes.

"I. Don't. Know." Kumo states, as her eyes hardened, putting a slight pause between words to empathize her answer.

"What do you mean you don't know!" Naruto snaps, slamming his hands on top of the tables as he stands. "If you say you travel with him you HAVE to tell us! We've been looking for him for...for"

He drifts off, his voice breaking as his eyes darken before Hinata finishes more quietly, "A long t-time, now..."

Setting her chopsticks down gently onto her plate she frowns and leans back in her chair to view them all. Slipping her hands into her sleeves absently she crosses her arms over her stomach and sighs, she could obviously tell their desperation at finding where their friend was.

"Look." She starts, shifting her eyes to meet each and every one of theirs. "Uchiha-kun and I… we met on accident a year or so ago… We don't keep in touch and we barely see each other… whenever we do he challenges me to a fight and if he wins he kills me, if I win I can travel with him until we part ways… obviously I'm still alive and he's out there somewhere." A sad smile touches her lips and she looks down at her half eaten plate.

"Can… you tell us… how you met Sasuke-kun?" Ino asks; her normal strong voice was timid as she held back the urge to yell like Naruto had done.

Her eyes soften and the smile becomes a little bit warmer. "Sure."

Around the time when I became a nomad it seemed like I looked weak and naïve because I often had a 'lost in thought' look. So while I was walking I was ambushed by three robbers… Before I could do anything though Uchiha-kun jumps out of the trees and kills two of them with his sword pretty quickly… The third one decides to use me as a hostage and demand that Uchiha-kun let him go or he'll harm me. Kumo at this time laughs dully, slipping her right hand into her bangs and pushes them back behind her ear, which after her hand left fell right back into her face again, before continuing. Of course Uchiha-kun didn't care if I died or not and would have ran his sword through me to get to him if I hadn't of used my gin-jutsu and escape. So … Uchiha-kun ended up killing all of the bandits. When he finally takes his sword out of the last one he looks at me, who at the time was leaning against the tree quietly; he starts to walk towards me, ready to kill me just like the others but I stopped him. Raising my hands I say "Oi, there's no reason to kill a nomad, is there? I don't know who you are, nor do I want to, but what I do know is that there is no reason to kill a random nomadic female." Of course he only stopped but from the look in his eyes it seemed like he didn't care either way if it was a waste of time or not to kill me. Finally though he crosses his arms over his chest and asks "Are you strong?" Before I could answer though he scoffs and says, "of course not; a strong person wouldn't have gotten caught by those idiots." Laughing as if the memory highly amused her she picks up her chopsticks with her right hand, which still sat inside her kimono, and twirls it around her noodles; obviously she wasn't going to eat it anymore and was unsure what to do with it. I got mad… so I told him to shove it and that I was strong, in fact I was stronger than him. That got his attention and his arm drop before he placed one on his hip. "Fine; I won't kill you if you can beat me." So we fought, right there in the middle of the road… although it moved from place to place until finally I beat him. He was angry but he admitted that a promise was, in fact, a promise and said he would let me live but said if we ran into each other again we would fight. When he was turning to leave, bleeding and all, I asked him if he wanted to be treated and that I would do it if he allowed me to travel with him for a time. He declined, obviously, but I pushed until he finally gave in and sat still enough for me to bandage him. After words I found myself walking besides him, though we were a good meter or so apart, for three days. We stayed away from villages and hunted our own food… sometimes if I found something big enough we would share it together but if he did he'd say I had to earn my own keep. Laughing again she motions for the waitress to take her unfinished plate away and asked for a refill. She waited for the waitress to come back with the drink and disappear before continuing; a small, sad smile touching her lips. On the fourth night… I left him. We were sitting at the fire when I felt like I should move on… So I stood up, told him my name, and began to walk away. A moment later he was in front of me with the sword at my neck, asking me "where the hell do you think you're going so quickly?" Laughing I told him that I often get called by the wind, and I find myself following it to my next destination… and that if he didn't like it I was almost happy to stay with him. He finally lets his sword drop from my neck and steps aside; a deep frown set on his lips as he watches me walk by him. To my shock before I was out of hearing range he said "My name is Uchiha, Sasuke."

"So," She finishes, "This is how I met Uchiha-kun." She was mildly pleased that they didn't interrupt her as she talked and waited patiently for them to process the story. The first one to respond was Neji.

"You beat that Uchiha." It wasn't much of a question so much as a clarification, which she gave with a single nod before Rock Lee exclaims,

"WOW! I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THE AMAZING UCHIHA WAS BEATING BY MISS KUMO!" His eyes were filled with tears as he leans forward and continues, "MISS KUMO MUST BE VERY SKILLED, PERHAPS YOU WILL ALLOW ME TO FIGHT YOU?"

"I want to fight you too!" Naruto chimes in before Ino punches him behind the head, ultimately causing him to do a face-plant onto the table. Kumo offers them all a soft smile before standing up and dropping a gold piece onto the table.
"I am sorry, Lee-kun, Uzumaki-kun, but I cannot fight you. I strictly fight my enemies, only; please understand I just do not want to injure you, or far worse." Although her smile was soft her eyes were hard and cold; the green seemingly turning to a jade shade as if it had frozen over. "Now…. I must go. It is late and I do not wish to upset the inn keepers." She slips out of her spot easily enough and was gone from the restaurant before they had any time to stop her.

She was a good two blocks away before someone called out to her.

"Hey, you troublesome woman, wait up!" When she stops and turns her head she couldn't help but smile at the lazy Nin that seemed to over exert himself while jogging up to her.

"Why, Kangaroo, I didn't realize how special I was to you to make you run." A devilish grin graces her lips as she turns to him and places her right hand on her hip. The scowl on his face almost made her laugh but she held it in, her eyes dancing with amusement the only thing that gave her away.

"That troublesome Haruno told me to catch up with you or she'd make my life hell." He growls, his hands being forcefully stuffed into his pockets before stopping in front of her. "She said a man needs to walk you home and she didn't trust any of those stupid idiots to do it."

This time she did let her laugh ring out before slipping her arm into his and started to walk forward. "Well, remind me to thank Haruno-Chan next time I see her, okay?" He grumbles but doesn't pull away as they walk through the empty streets.

There was a comfortable silence between them as they walked; him at a lethargy pace and her happily complying. No one spoke and when they finally made it to the rundown inn she was nearly falling asleep on her feet. Shikamaru rolls his eyes before pulling his arm away from her and gently shaking her shoulder.

"Hey, troublesome woman, we're here. Go inside so I can go home." Neither his voice nor his tone changing from the bored and unrushed hum; he shakes her shoulder once more before she finally yawns.

"Ja, ja," She mumbles before pulling away from him and walking towards the door. "I'll go now… bye Kangaroo." She slipped inside the inn and smiles lightly at the old couple who had stayed up to wait for her. "Aw, O bāchan, Ojīchan, You didn't have to wait up for me."

"Yes, we know," O bāchan says lightly, her hands flattening a napkin that laid on the table with both of her withered hands. "But, we wanted to make sure that you got in safely."

Kumo smiles down at the older couple before bowing low. "Thank you so much for worrying," Her voice was light and soft, as if it humbled her that someone could care so much. "I hope you don't mind that I came in late… but now I will retire to my room for I am very tired."

She didn't leave them time to say anything, as swift and as quietly as the breeze itself she slips inside her room and closes the door behind her. She looks around the room quickly for any devices that wasn't supposed to be there, a habit that she didn't quite get rid of from her past. When she was completely satisfied that nothing was there she slips her swords out of her obi, setting them down on her cot and starts to unclothe herself. First she unties her obi, folding it carefully and setting it on top of the desk before slipping her kimono off and hanging it on the back of the desk's chair. She looks down at her body with a deep frown on her face; she reaches up and undo's the bandages around her hair before setting the wad on top of her obi and running her hands through her hair. She sits down on the futon when she was done, running her hands over her white sword with bitter affection before laying stiffly on her side; placing a protective arm over all three swords before she falls asleep.

Okay... So I'll continue to write tonight but I probably wont publish anything until ... three or four days. I am moving into my dorm on the 19th so... I'm currently busy buying things I need, packing up my room and putting them in storage, all that jazz you have to do when going into college for the first time... so please bear with me if I dont add new chapters as fast as we would like.