Aligning the Stars

Casting a Shadow

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"A wisp? ... wait sensei, give me back those numbers!" She yelled as she ran after him.

"Nope! Not going to happen!" He laughed as his cute apprentice pouted ...

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"What do you mean Naruko was nearly killed and is no longer in the village?"

Kiba gulped as he and Hinata stared at their clearly pissed off teammate who just returned from a mission. "Shino, calm down-gah!"

Shino grabbed the Inuzuka by the collar, "Don't tell me to calm down. Naruko is out there somewhere with some unknown man who is doing god knows what to her. Why didn't you protect her? You were on that mission."

Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten and Gaara came over, "Shino cool it! Don't blame Kiba. Most of us were there, but we couldn't help her ... and you know damn well we would have done anything for Naruko." said Shikamaru and the bug user finally let Kiba go.

Tenten frowned, "Hinata and I know how you feel man. We couldn't go on the mission either ... we're all worried about her. She'll come back-"

"I hope she doesn't." Everyone looked at Neji with shock and anger. "Don't look at me like that. I ... I care for her just like all of you, but now people know who her relatives are. She'd be turned into breeding stock the second she enters the village ... she can't come back no matter how much we want her to."

Gaara closed his eyes, "You're right, I hope this sensei of hers is taking good care of her ... if any of you see her first tell her to come to Sand. She would be safe there." The boys went their own way as they wondered where the golden hair girl was ...

Hinata sat down on a tree stump not far away and pulled a picture out of his pocket. "Please be alright, Naruko." He whispered softly a he looked at the photo of Naruko staring at the cherry blossoms with her orange jacket off and a soft smile on her lips ...

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Naruko yawned and sat up in her bed. Taiyo gave her the entire attic, which was pretty big. She has her own bathroom and sitting area with a wardrobe for her clothes that her sensei apparently forgot he had ...

"Hey Naruko, I'm starting breakfast so why don't you check your garden and come eat?" Her sensei called from downstairs.

"Ok, sensei." She jumped out of bed and dressed in a red T-shirt and plain jeans before heading down the stairs. Taiyo handed her a bowl of eggshells to up in the fertilizer. She put on her shoes and went out back to the greenhouse. It was a rather big glass building hidden behind her sensei's house. There were several rows of long tables going along the first half of the building and on the other side were two stations for everything potion making, even his and her cauldrons that were floating over pentagrams ...

The girl jumped at the sound of growling and saw the cranky orange flower baring its teeth at her, "It's ok, I'm just going to water you and the other seeds." She said as she filled the watering can next to her cauldron and ground down the eggshells in to a fine powder. After sprinkling the eggshells into the soil of both her new slightly bare garden and her sensei's full lush garden she grabbed the watering can ... the cranky orange flower was not happy!

*chomp* The cranky plant bit down on the spout of the watering can. "Hey let go!" Naruko pouted, if she pulled she could knock the plant and its pot over, but if she did nothing the plant would keep biting. She wasn't sure what to do so she reached over and patted the cranky plant's petals. The plant froze and let go with what sounded like a purr ...

"Thanks." She finished watering without a problem and joined her sensei for breakfast "Wow! Everything looks delicious!" exclaimed the young blonde as she saw a stack of pancakes in the center of the table next to a bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate of bacon.