A/N: So, Tomoko here, is the result of my request for someone to build me a new team member. PortgasDMaria was kind enough to provide Tomoko, picture and all! Hope you guys like her and hope I'm doing her justice!

Oh, and I'll have you know how hard this chapter was to write! Jun when he's not pretending to be... well, lazy and uncaring, is more difficult than you'd think!

Their mission was a rather easy- if not boring- one. Keep an eye on the Moon shinobi while the daimyo and his fiance took off on a trip.

"Goodbye, Noriaki-kun, Tomoko-chan! Keep an eye on Saichi, will you? Make sure he doesn't get in any trouble!"

Noriaki simply nodded in response to Princess Ai's dismissal. Tomoko, on the other hand, frowned, grumbling a few choice words under her breath. At the disapproving expression Noriaki sent her way, Tomoko's expression turned defensive.

"What?" she demanded. "If she was really worried about that brat, she'd be taking him with her!"

Noriaki studied the kunoichi silently for a moment, as if attempting to discern whether or not she was right. A moment later he shrugged, dismissing her opinion and starting down the dirt path that would take them away from the Daimyo's mansion and back towards Konoha. With another choice few words under her breath, she trailed along behind him. Saichi, to his credit, only allowed the slightest bit of amusement to his expression.

"So, Noriaki-san, how is Jun-kun?" he questioned lightly.

Before Noriaki could- if he'd ever planned on doing so- voice his opinion, Tomoko interrupted with her own.

"How do you think the brat is? As lazy and annoying as ever," she interjected. "Now stop asking. I can't understand why you're so concerned with him."

Noriaki, of the opinion that she'd explained the situation rather well, once again simply nodded agreement. Saichi shrugged in response to the sharp words, seemingly unconcerned by it all. Instead, he allowed his amusement to become more obvious as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Why wouldn't I be concerned? We're good friends after-all."

Here, Noriaki rose a questioning brow. Saichi and Jun... from what he could tell, those two weren't exactly friends.

"Let's hurry up, shall we? I'd like to get there with enough time to talk."

_____________________________

"Jun!"

The Kurama stiffened, casting an uneasy glance over his shoulder. When he spotted the speaker he almost sighed, the stray thought crossing his mind that instead of shopping he would have been better off spending the rest of his free day holed up in his house. Keeping this thought to himself, however, he put on a cheeky grin and turned to completely face the Moon shinobi.

"Saichi- aren't you supposed to have an escort?"

He shrugged, looking back as if the chuunin and jounin in question would suddenly appear.

"I think I lost them about the time I performed the body flicker jutsu," he announced.

Jun simply sighed, dropping the falsely cheerful expression as he realized that there was on one beyond Saichi to see it. Instead, he crossed his arms, ignoring how Kurei pulled himself up on his tip-toes to study Saichi curiously.

"What do you want?"

Saichi seemed to consider this for a moment before shrugging, his bemused expression still on his face.

"To talk," he replied simply. "That alright?"

Jun studied him for a moment, eyes narrowed, before slowly nodding and turning away.

"I guess. Let's go back to my house. My family are out, so we should be alone."

Not bothering to respond to the statement, Saichi simply trailed behind him, studying Jun with a thoughtful gaze. Like the last time he'd seen him, he couldn't help but notice how quickly Jun seemed to be changing anymore. The once almost scrawny frame the boy had possessed had filled out, enough so that while he was still slender, he no longer had the slightly feminine feeling that he'd produced when they first met. His face, however, still boasted softness, an almost child-like quality where his Asari teammate had gained sharp features. The boy had allowed his hair to grow out, something that when combined with the un-cared for style gave him an easy-going feel.

Something, Saichi mused, was far from the truth. Over the two years they'd known each other he'd easily gathered that if you looked past the surface, Jun was anything but easy-going. He might avoid serious conversations like the plague, but from what Saichi could tell the boy's thoughts were nothing except serious.

He'd also discovered that mentioning this knowledge to Jun had led to the loss of all pretend emotion. It'd been sometime since Jun had forgone cheerfulness and a joking attitude before Saichi, something that he couldn't help but find amusement in as well.

Eventually the silent walk came to an end as they reached a small house tucked between two much larger buildings. The yard was gated, something that instead of dealing with, Jun bypassed by simply grasping the top of the gate and propelling himself over. Saichi, seeing no reason not to, simply copied the motion and trailed the boy into the house. The interior was rather welcoming, something that surprised him. Pictures of Jun and what he assumed was his family decorated the walls, none of the ones including Jun going back any further than a few years.

He was torn away from this observation as Jun tugged open a sliding door and gestured towards what Saichi assumed was the livingroom.

"Well? Take a seat."

At those words, Saichi examined the well decorated room before moving to drop down on a couch. The coffee table, he noted, was covered in different texts covering everything from sealing jutsu, to tracking, to simple nature books. For every book there seemed to be at least five scrolls. He turned a questioning gaze to Jun at this, but the boy simply shrugged, dismissing them without a word.

"You wanted to talk?"

Despite the curt nature of the words, there was a hint of curiosity coloring the boy's face. He'd defaulted back into his usual, cheerful smile, but the tenseness of his frame and the fact his arms were crossed over his chest indicated he was anything but relaxed.

"I did," Saichi agreed. "Remember what I said about my dad asking about why I was digging into your family?"

Jun hesitated, pulling up the conversation in his mind before slowly nodding that he did.

"Well... the man wants to meet you."

Jun simply stared at Saichi for a moment.

"He what?"

Saichi simply shrugged in response to the wariness in Jun's expression.

"It's nothing big. I told you my family has interest in the unusual, the monsters, of our world. He said he'd like to meet a gifted Kurama in person."

"Gifted," Jun snorted. "Don't tell me those were his exact words."

Saichi shrugged once more, dismissing that matter as unimportant. To him, it was. He'd long since dismissed any concerns of the nature of his family and their strange ways. To him, the fact that they were different, darker and less caring, than most he knew wasn't a matter of concern. He could kill without thought, so what? Did that change the fact he'd also saved a number of people through those actions? Or that while he was a monster that couldn't be poisoned, did that change that he had suffered through years of pain and sickness in order to reach that level of immunity?

To Saichi, the idea of being a monster was as normal as that of being a human.

It was amusing that Jun couldn't view it the same.

"Perhaps. The important matter here is that he gave me a letter of request to give to the hokage while I was here. I haven't read it, but I imagine he's come up with some excuse to give to her so that I can drag you out there and satisfy his curiosity."

He could see the questions swirling about behind Jun's default, cheerful expression, as the boy considered the matter. After a moment, Jun sighed, raising one hand to rub his temple as he cast an annoyed expression towards a different part of the room. Out of curiousity, Saichi glanced in that direction as well, to find an empty chair the target of the glare.

"Would it be just you and me?" he questioned.

Saichi frowned slightly, pulling up the instructions that he'd imagined his father would have given. A second later he shook his head.

"I doubt it. Even he would be aware that our position wouldn't win us very many favors in a different country. He wouldn't expect the hokage to be willing to send one of her shinobi out alone."

With those words, he saw Jun's expression turned thoughtful. A second later the boy sighed once more and dropped back in the chair that he'd been standing before this entire time.

"I don't really have a choice in this, do I?"

Saichi's lips twisted up in amusement.

"You always have a choice, Jun-kun."

"No, I don't. Come on, I'll take you to the mansion so you can deliver that letter."

____________________________________

Tsunade studied the letter laid out on her desk, her mind pulling up the even expression that the Moon shinobi had been wearing when he'd delivered it. Running her fingers over the long since dried ink, she reached for her sake bottle, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. A long swing and rub of her temples later, she found herself waving a hand at the door as a knock echoed through the room.

"Come in."

Almost instantly a white-haired girl stepped around the door, her gaze almost immediately settling on the sake bottle in view.

"You're drinking? Can I have some?"

Tsunade chuckled despite herself, plucking the bottle from the surface of her desk without a second thought.

"Get your own. If I let you have a sip it'll be gone. Besides, that's not what I called you for."

A heavy sigh escaped her daughters' lips as Momoe settled her hands on her hips, eyeing the bottle with annoyance.

"Then what did you call me for?" she grumbled.

"This."

Flicking the letter across her desk, she took another long drink from the bottle as Momoe stepped forward to read it. A second later, she glanced back up at Tsunade, curiosity coloring her face.

"That one's on the team you wanted me to watch, isn't he?" she asked.

Tsunade nodded confirmation, her fingers tapping against the surface of her desk.

"He is and I'd send the entire team for this matter, except... his teammates aren't particularly... they don't pay much attention to him. If something about this trip set him off..."

"You don't think they'd pick up on the signs," Momoe finished for her.

Tsunade nodded once again, her gaze dropping to the letter.

"I can't send the regular team," she announced. "But... you'll go with them."

Eagerness filled Momoe's expression as she once again plucked the letter from the surface of Tsunade's desk. Her eyes flickered across the lines, drinking in the information for a second time.

"You mean I don't have to stick around here?" she demanded.

Amusement flickered across Tsunade's expression as well as a certain knowing edge.

"I thought you enjoyed bothering Gai," she said.

Momoe shrugged, once again dropping the letter as she defensively crossed her arms.

"I might, but that doesn't change the fact I didn't grow up in one place. You know me, I can't stand being stuck here for long. I can't stand being stuck anywhere for long. When do we leave? Who are you giving me?"

Tsunade studied her daughter for a moment, as if making sure that those slightly pointed words weren't meant as an insult to herself, before raising a hand to tick off the members as she spoke.

"Jun, of course. Tenten, they're friends so she's more likely to pick up on matters. And..." here Tsunade paused, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully as she considered who might be more useful. There weren't many people that actually paid attention to the boy. "Tomoko, I suppose. She doesn't like him, but... she's a better choice than Noriaki."

"And when we leave?" Momoe asked again, tucking away the names for later reference.

"As soon as Princess Ai returns from her trip. Gai's team left on a mission early this morning, anyways. They should be back by then."