Back at the hidden leaf village, three months ago, the third hokaga asked one of his anbu to bring naruko to his office because he wanted to talk to her. The anbu nodded his head then left to go look for naruko.

A couple hours went by and the anbu hadn't come back yet. Sarutobi was wondering what was taking so long until suddenly the anbu came busting in and said "lord third". "What is it?" Sarutobi said. "I can't find her" the anbu said. Sarutobi then stood up and said "WHAT!" "I looked everywhere. I even called for three more anbu to look for her but we couldn't find her anywhere in the village" the anbu said.

After that Sarutobi had a lot of anbu members search for naruko inside and outside the village. They eventually managed to find a trail of blood but the trail came to an end and there was nothing else to help the anbu members find naruko.

Back to the present time, naruko is sitting by a pond with her hair shorter and down to her chin. She is also in for the biggest surprise of her life.

A kid around naruko's age walked up behind naruko and said "umm… excuse me miss". Naruko realized who's voice it was even though it's been over a year. Naruko is bad at remembering things but there was one person naruko could never forget about.

Naruko immediately turned around and saw her very first best friend. "AKITO" naruko shouted. "naruko, I thought that it was you because of your bright blonde hair" Akito said. Naruko jumped on Akito and gave him a giant hug with tears in her eyes.

A couple minutes later, naruko and Akito were both sitting by the pond talking. "By the way naruko why are you here? Shouldn't you be in Konoha?" Akito said. Naruko then explained what happened and how she got here.

"I-I'm really sorry naruko" Akito said. "It's alright it wasn't your fault" naruko said. "By the way, why did you lie and say that you didn't remember where you're from?" Akito asked. "I-I wanted to find the jonin to thank him for saving me then I'd tell them but" naruko said. "But what?" Akito said. "Then I found out that him and his family agreed to foster me until they found my village so they can take me home but after staying with them for like a week I realized that I-I don't wanna go back to konoha. Everybody's mean to me for no reason and everybody here is nice to me. I also don't have to worry about struggling to get by. For some reason everyone in Konoha sees me as nothing more than a monster but here everyone treats me like a normal girl" naruko said with tears in her eyes.

Shocked Akito scooted towards naruko and pulled her in for a hug. "If that's how you feel then you might want to go and tell Riba". Naruko shook her head then said "what if he gets mad and just kicks me out?" "Don't worry Riba isn't a bad person. Maybe he'll be a little mad that you didn't tell him sooner but I can reassure you that he wouldn't do anything to hurt you naruko" Akito said.

Twenty minutes later when naruko was done crying, Akito then asked naruko "also naruko why is you're hair so short?" "Well before I came here I asked mo- erm Kagome if she could take me to get my haircut. My hair was all the way down to my thighs but I really like short hair" naruko said.

"It's a shame, I thought that you looked cuter with your long hair" Akito said. Naruko looked hurt then put her head down and said "so you're saying that I don't look cute with short hair?" "WHAT! No that's not what I'm saying at all" Akito told naruko. Akito then put his hand on her cheek and made her look at him.

"I think that you look really cute with short hair" Akito said. Naruko's cheeks were as red as a tomato and her heart was beating faster than a predator chasing after it's pray. "I really do think that you look cute with short hair, it's just that I think that girls look even cuter with long hair" Akito said.

Akito stood up and said "I've gotta head back. If not my parents are gonna come looking for me. Remember to tell Riba how you feel because it's not good to keep your feelings bottled up like that ok?" Naruko also stood up still blushing and said shyly "o-ok".

Akito then started walking away. Naruko then started to think about how Akito told her that he thinks that girls with long hair looks cuter. 'If Akito really thinks that then I'll let my hair grow out so maybe one day I'll be able to win his heart like how he has mine' naruko thought with her hand over her heart.

But what naruko didn't know is that she already had Akito's heart and that Akito doesn't actually think that girls with longer hair look cuter he just said that because he didn't want to sound mean by telling naruko that he wants her to grow her hair out.

A couple hours later naruko was sitting on a mountain watching the sun set when someone walked up behind her and said "there you are naruko. Why didn't you come home? You had me and everyone else worried sick". Naruko turned her head to see Riba "da- erm Riba, you came looking for me?" naruko said.

Riba then walked over and sat down next to her and said "why wouldn't I?" Naruko just stayed silent. "Naruko there's something I wanted to talk to you about". Riba said "I-I do to. I had this on my mind for a while" naruko said. "Well what is it?" Riba asked.

Naruko sighed then said "I lied". "What do you mean naruko?" Riba asked. Naruko, with tears in her eyes, raised her voice a little and said "I lied about not remembering where I'm from". Riba was surprised and said "what? Why did you? We could've got you home already naruko". Naruko ,now crying, said "I-I-I originally did it because I wanted a chance to thank you for saving me. I thought that I was gonna die. Even if I did no one in my village would have cared. Everyone in my village hated me and I don't know why. I haven't done anything bad to make them hate me. It's always been that way ever since I was born".

Riba sitting there, with his eyes widened in shock, had nothing to say as naruko was still crying. "After staying with you, your family, and this village I realized that I don't wanna go back. I wanna stay here with you, Kagome, Jinora, Ikki, and Niles".

"But what about your mother and father? Won't they be worried about you?" Riba said. "I don't have a mother or a father. They died the day I was born. It's true that I went to an orphanage but by the time I was five they kicked me out. The hokaga was nice enough to give me an apartment so I didn't have to end up sleeping on the streets but every single day was a struggle. I wasn't welcomed anywhere and everyone would throw things at me, hit me, and call me names, kids or adults. Here I don't have to worry about any of that" naruko said, throwing her hands over her eyes and just started sobbing her heart out.

Riba ,speechless, pulled naruko in for a hug with naruko crying in his chest. After a couple minutes with Riba still holding naruko, he said "naruko I appreciate you telling me this". Naruko ,shocked, looked up at Riba and said "you're not mad at me?" Riba let go of naruko and told her "I mean I wish you would have told me sooner but I'm just glad that you told me. Why would I be mad at you?" "I t-thought that". Naruko was stopped by Riba when he placed his and on her shoulder and said, "Naruko there is nothing wrong with what you think or feel. After all there is no such thing as a wrong emotion or how you feel if something is bothering you. You can always tell me, Kagome, or the kids because we're here for you". Naruko sniffed and said "thank you".

"Hey that reminds me of what I wanted to ask you" Riba said. "What is it?" naruko asked. Riba then pulled out a folded piece of paper and said "I already asked everyone else about this, I even asked leader Tenshi and we all agreed to let you decide and make sure that you want this to". Riba then unfolded and showed naruko what it is.

"These are your adoption papers, completely filled out, they just need a signature to make it official. I can't sign it without you wanting the the same. So naruko if you want, me and everyone else would like you to be part of the family" Riba said.

Naruko put her hands over her mouth and started crying out of joy. Naruko walked over to Riba and gave him a hug and said "yeah dad".

Author's note: sorry for any mistakes