Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

A big shout-out to Carvaiine for the constructive criticism! I hope that I can incorporate your advice in future chapters.

And another shout-out to YaoiLovinKitsune! I appreciate reading how you view this story and your predictions :)

Now on to the next chapter! Warning: filler/crack chapter XD

Chapter 20

Yanagi stretched lazily, his arms bending back behind his head as he arched his back. A satisfying pop had him letting out a sigh of contentment that turned into a lazy yawn. Guard duty was boring. Relaxing, but boring.

He eyed his childhood friend out of the corner of his eye. Suji looked as if he was going to fall asleep at any moment. A sharp-toothed grin spread across Yanagi's features, his fatigue all but forgotten. Perfect.

Suji was usually all business. He yelled, poked, jabbed, and smacked Yanagi around like some kind of abusive, disciplinary dictator. "Pay attention, Yanagi." "You should always be alert, Yanagi." "You should take your duty seriously, Yanagi."

The nagging jerk.

The indigo-eyed shinobi mentally cackled. He'd been waiting for a moment like this. He would soon have his revenge!

Suji's head nodded, his chin starting to rest on his chest, his arms crossed. Just a bit more, and Yanagi could move toward his goal. He'd been biding his time for weeks now, he could wait patiently for a few more minutes.

When a light snore emanated from his long-time companion, a low, dark chuckle escaped Yanagi as he slowly rose from his chair and went over to his pack. After rustling through it for a moment, he pulled out a storage scroll and held it up in silent triumph. After weeks of training, of waiting, it was time to see the fruits of his labor!

Turning sly eyes to the sleeping redhead, the wiry shinobi slinked over, opened the scroll, and started to gather the barest drop of chakra to activate the seal-

When he was suddenly ambushed from behind by a pipsqueak.

"Yanagi-nii-san! Good morning! What're you doing? What's that scroll? Why were you laughing like a crazy person? I know what a crazy person sounds like. Back in my old village there was a crazy guy that would always walk around with a chicken. He would put it on his head like a hat and sing strange songs. I don't know how he got the chicken to stay there. Do you have a chicken?"

Yanagi groaned in despair. It was a combination of the slight bump on his forehead, the chatterbox that was Kimi-chan, and the lost opportunity for retribution.

On top of it all, Kimi was currently sitting on him while his face was planted on the ground. It couldn't get any worse than this.

"Well, well, well. Look who let a five year old sneak up on him," came Suji's amused baritone, "What have I told you about being aware of your surroundings?"

Damn.

"Shut up, Suji! You were asleep! Talk about being unaware of your surroundings," the prone shinobi snarled. The effect of the threatening gesture was greatly reduced by the innocent looking child in pigtails still panted firmly between his shoulder blades.

"Get off me Kimi!"

"But nii-san! You're comfy!"

"Off! Or no sweets for you," when the little urchin just giggled and patted him on the head patronizingly, Yanagi glanced at her over his shoulder, eyes gleaming with mischief. Sure, he could just shrug the kid off, but where would the fun be in that? "That's it, I guess I'll have to tickle you into submission."

Kimi let out a gasp of horror and quickly scrambled off to hide behind a chuckling Suji.

"Meanie!"

With a huff, Yanagi stood up and brushed off the dirt. He turned his eyes to his new foe.

Kimi let out a squeak and grabbed Suji around the legs, hiding her face in the back of his knees.

Unhindered by the clinging girl, Suji bent at the waist and scooped something up that made Yanagi pale and start to slowly back away.

"And what's this, Hozuki? A storage scroll?" came the cloyingly sweet tone that meant sure death on the battlefield. Suji straightened and gently tossed the scroll in the air before catching it again, "Now why would you be holding this over my head?" he asked in feigned ignorance.

Yanagi held his hands up in a placating gesture and chuckled nervously, "N-now Suji, you wouldn't want to do something rash, now w-would you? T-think of Kimi! She would be traumatized!"

Suji glanced down to the child and noticed a gleam in her eyes that matched the deviousness of most shinobi, "What do you think kid? Would you be 'traumatized?'"

A tinkling, bell-like giggle escaped rosy lips. A shiver ran up Yanagi's spine. How in the world did an innocent civilian kid's laugh sound so sinister? That shouldn't be possible!

"Don't worry about me, Suji-nii-san!" Kimi said, matching the sugared tone of the muscled man next to her, "Yanagi-nii-san was going to tickle me. He deserves whatever you do to him."

Before Yanagi could accuse the runt of being a traitor to her poor nii-san, a poof was heard, followed by a chittering sound.

Oh. Oh, no.

"EEP!"

Hozuki Yanagi would never admit that his shriek of terror had sounded more girly than Kimi's. It was a manly yell.

A well-deserved manly yell.

Suji and Kimi both watched with unrestrained glee as Yanagi ran screaming from the large hoard of squirrels.

"So," Suji said as he glanced at the 'innocent' gremlin at his side, "Why did you attack the idiot?"

"What do you mean nii-san? I was just glomping him with love! Not attacking him!" Large doe eyes stared at him, practically glittering with child-like purity.

Suji snorted, "Nice try kid."

Kimi's guileless features melted into a smirk and she shrugged, her eyes turning back to the supposed chunin...who was now covered in squirrels. Where those tiny swords in their paws?

"Weeeeeeeeell," Kimi said, rocking back on her heals, "He was going to open that thing on you, but you were awake and just pretending, so I didn't want him to get hurt when you attacked him back."

"YOW!" came a pained scream. Huh….apparently those were tiny swords. Go figure.

Suji raised a brow, "Didn't want him to get hurt, huh?"

Kimi shrugged unrepentantly, "He was going to tickle me," she said, as if that was explanation enough. And it kinda was. She did not like to be tickled.

"Not bad, kid. Not bad."

The smile that crossed her face seemed to glow with happiness. Suji reached down to ruffle her hair. As she swatted at him, he smiled. She was a good kid.

"I swear if you don't help me, you big buffoon, I'm going to tell Akari-oba-san!"

Suji sighed in annoyance and moved to dislodge the samurai squirrels, "You'll tell my mom what? That your own trap was used against you? And how the hell did you train these things to use a sword!?"

Kimi watched the bickering struggle between two of her favorite people left in Kiri with a sad smile. She'd miss these two when she left. Just one more day, then she could go home and grieve properly. Until then, it was nice to distract herself with her two loveable baka-nii-sans.

A/N: As I said, a bit of a filler/crack chapter, but I needed something to lighten this story up :D Please review!