Chapter 36

AN: Kishimoto owns all except my characters-Kiminari, and Kimiko, and later characters. Also I'm probably not going to follow any of the story line except a few small things. I may take the characters outside their natural personalities, but that's because it's my story, and it'll add to it. Another thing: since I'm not following the story line of the series- All main (good) characters will start out the same age as they should be, but even though the Akatsuki will be around, the war will not happen until later; if it does at all. Again this is because I'm making up my own story line; it gets kinda boring when nothing has changed and, you readers would be able to guess what was going to happen all the time. So, enjoy, and please comment, review, rate, whatever you wanna do. :D

P.S. I don't like to go into detail to tell you things most of you already know, and if you don't already know them, then it's best I don't tell you.

Three days later, Lady Tsunade allowed Haru to leave the hospital. Although he could walk with the aide of a crutch, and was therefore free to leave, Kazuma had asked to stay with him just to make sure nothing weird happened; I had returned with Kakashi to the apartment so I could make them food every day. When I had returned to the hospital the first time with a bundle of food I noticed Tsunade and Sakura in a very heated argument. Later, when the Hokage came in to check on our patient, I questioned her about it.

"Hokage-sama? Is Sakura alright? She's seemed really stressed. She's only come over with Naruto to visit once, and she didn't say much; she had to leave early too."

"To be completely honest with you, Kimiko, she has been upset. The problem is, she's upset with you."

"Me?!" I asked incredulously. "What did I do?" Did my hair look bad; I still wear the same style clothes and she's never complained about them, did she think it was time for a change? I thought with a mental chuckle.

"She's been suspicious of you ever since you returned. Honestly, we all have been."

"Oh." I said glumly. "I guess I understand. And it's worse now that they have shown up." I nodded my head in Kazuma and Haru's direction.

"Yeah. I've gone over everything we've learned about the Akatsuki since then, and I couldn't find any activity that would involve you three. That pretty much says you're all clear, but she still won't believe it. I really don't know why though." She finished thoughtfully.

I giggled a little. "Well if Sasuke were in my place I'm sure he'd have nothing to worry about." She chuckled at that too, but hers seemed different, almost like she was glad it was me.

Later that day, Haru was released from the hospital, and I took my best friend, and my 'extremely close' friend to go get some new clothes for themselves as well as some replacements for mine. Luckily, Ibiki had let them keep what they'd been wearing, so all we had to do was get rid of the stupid home-made cloaks once they'd been settled into the hospital.

Afterwards, we ate at a small tea shop, then I lead them to Kakashi's apartment, where they emptied their clothes into makeshift drawers that Kakashi had made while we were out. While both had bought standard fish-net undershirts and sweat-like pants similar to my own-Kazuma's dark blue but Haru's black-, they had each chosen different styles of shirts.

Kazuma had picked out relatively simple blues and blacks with low collars and a loose, black, protective vest to go over them. We, being the three of us and Kakashi, had decided it would be best to tell the hokage about his lineage in the next few days, so, after that I would take his shirts to get the clan crest emblazoned onto the sleeves or backs.

Haru had chosen lighter colors for his shirts. He had one light tan, one light blue, one forest green, and one bright sunset red. When I had questioned him about his choices, he told me had chosen the red one, because it matched my hair, and that the others he just liked to look at. The three of us and Kakashi all got a good laugh out of that one.

The next day, Kakashi insisted that I show them around the Uchiha compound, saying that since I had someone else around, I would probably feel safer; and that he didn't have enough room for everyone. The boys really enjoyed it, especially Kazuma, whom I told he would one day have a house of his own here.

The day after that, I moved back into my old home along with my family. It seemed that someone, in their free time had kept the place in decent order –probably Kakashi- so I didn't have to do much for us to settle in. I had shown Kazuma to what used to be Itatchi's/my room, and we had shared a short smile, remembering our old Akatsuki 'brother'.

Officially, Haru's room was what used to be Sasuke's, but until we were sure the poison's effects would not come back, we'd decided he could stay on a mat in my new room (the clan head room); that was short lived. That night, I was awakened by someone shaking me gently. "Hmm?" I lazily questioned.

"Sorry, Kimi-chan, but I just can't go to sleep on the hard floor." He whined in a childish way. I mentally giggled at his actions.

"You sleep on the ground just fine when you're on a mission. Are my floors really harder to sleep on than the ground, because you're welcome to the garden." I lightly teased.

He huffed a little, reminding me of the trait he had picked up from his adopted brother. "But my ribs still hurt. Can't I just stay with you?" He whined again, more desperate this time.

"Fine." I said, giving in tiredly, and with a bit of guilt, remembering his injury. "Just be sure to get up early. Knowing Kakashi, if he decides to come over for a visit, he'll try to find a reason to get at your throat. I wouldn't put it past him sneaking into my room, or looking for chakra signatures through the window with his Sharingan." I giggled a little at the thought of what he would do if he saw us laying together. I'd decided it would be best for us to not even hold hands in front of him until he got to know Haru better.

I moved to one side of the bed as he lay down, but as soon as he was under the covers, he quickly wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his body. I hadn't been expecting that, and since I was still drowsy, I had no time to react, so I simply froze. When he snuggled his nose into my neck from behind me, I slowly turned my head so I could glare at him.

"What?" He questioned innocently. "We're together, so it shouldn't be weird. Calm down, I don't really want to do anything else yet anyway." My face turned as red as my hair for a moment, and I was glad it was dark. "I just haven't gotten to hug you for so long, I figure this'll make up for it." He grinned cheekily. I just rolled my eyes, and chuckled a little, before turning my head back around, and relaxing.

Please Review

AN: Don't forget about the drawing entries! If you would like, I'm starting a competition. Just send me a link in the reviews, or on private messaging of a drawing, sketch, or painting of your favorite characters from my stories. You may include characters that are from the actual universe, but all entries must include at least one of the stories OCs. I'll start the first drawing on March 1, but if you're just reading, don't worry. I plan to continue this for a while