"N-Naruto? "

He hugs me.

"Ketei-chan... "

I slapped him off me.

"Where am I? " I said, sitting up.

"Hospital. " he said.

I saw I was on the floor.

"Umm... Why am I on the floor? " I said.

"You kept going through the bed! It was really werid! " naruto said.

So, I'm not completely alive yet...

That sucks.

"You passed out from blood loss, is what the doctors said. We traveled as fast as we could back to konohna but we couldn't make it in time... "

"What are you talking about? "

Did something happen to me?

What's going on!

"You have a huge scar now! " naruto shouted.

I kicked him.

"Really stupid? I thought it was something serious! " I said.

"It is serious! "

"It's a scar! I could give a damn about how my skin looks! "

"Something else happened too... " naruto trailed off.

"What! " I said.

Naruto helped me stand up and showed me to the mirror in the bathroom.

My hair...

My hair is longer...

Well, this is some freaky shit.

"Stupid, my hair is... longer? " I said, grabbing some strands of it and inspecting it to make sure it wasn't an alien.

You never know, they could come to earth and invade our scalps and over time hatch eggs in our brains and one day the baby aliens would come out of us, killing everyone and then they'd team up with the bunnies and the entire world would be plunged into darkness and -

"Ketei-chan, I don't think that's going to happen." naruto said.

"What are you talking about? "

"Were you thinking out loud? "

I grabbed my mouth.

Damn my not realising stuff!

My brain could actually be useful for once and help me out with stuff like this!

My brain is probably saying "Fuck you, Ketei!" right about now.

Well, guess what brain?

You can just shove it up your ass and -

"Umm, Ketei? You're doing it again. "

I slapped myself.

"Ahhh! " I screamed out in frustration.

"Ketei-chan, are you okay? " naruto asked.

I looked at him and sighed.

"Not really. I just had a dream and I know deep down it wasn't a dream and well, I'm scared, stupid."

"That's not right. " he said.

"What do you mean? "

"The Ketei I know isn't scared of anything. " naruto said.

I laughed.

"That's supposed to be inspiring I know but if you think about it stupid, everyone is afraid of something. " I said.

In a attempt to change the subject, naruto said, "Umm, Ketei, why do you think your hair grew? "

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed.

"I have no idea. I don't really care either. My hair spontaneously grew so I know somethings up but eh, it's not like the answer is gonna fall down right in front of my face in bright neon colors. " I said.

Unless I'm smoking the hokage's pipe. Who knows what type of psychedelic stuff that old dude puts in there. Maybe he gets to see flying turtles.

I wanna see flying turtles.

I better polish my pickpocketing skills....

"Oh, Ketei, I forgot to tell you! Sakura told me that if you woke up to tell you that she's happy and she's glad that there's another girl on the team. " he said.

That made me grin.

For some reason, I don't hate sakura as much as I used to. That's a little scary.

I stood up and grabbed some clothes from the bathroom closet and pushed naruto out and shut the door.

"What was that for! "

"Getting dressed! " I said, so he'd know I didn't just push him out for nothing.

I put on the dark green pants that kinda looked like sweat pants and a black tank top and wrapped a bright orange jacket around my waist.

I put on my shoes and looked at myself in the mirror again.

Uggh. I really do hate long hair.

Then I noticed something even more frightening.

"I HAVE BOOBS! " I screamed.

I could literally hear naruto fall over outside.

Guess, I haven't really looked at myself in a mirror in a long time. I forgot they were there...

I posed in front of mirror and smirked.

"Hello, me. And how are we today? Awesome? Of course! " I said to myself.

"Ketei, I can hear you. " naruto said outside the door.

"I don't care if you can hear my thoughts anymore! I can't help it! They're just coming out of my mouth! " I shouted.

Then I cracked the door open a bit and grabbed naruto and pulled him over.

"Stupid, this is a robbery. I need a roll of duct tape, a small knife, a pair of scissors, and a pen. Okay? "

Naruto just shook his head yes and backed away slowly.

"Go! " I yelled and he raced out of the room.

-21 minutes later-

I stepped out of the hospital with naruto holding my hand.

"Where do I go now? " I asked him.

"You can stay with me! " naruto said.

"Wouldn't that give people the wrong idea? " I said, and patted his head.

Naruto blushed.

"Ha, just kidding! Of course I'm gonna crash at your place! " I said.

I ran a hand through my hair examining my craftsmanship.

I had cut it extremely short in the bathroom of the hospital.

It doesn't look that bad.

I used the duct tape to patch a hole in my shoe and the pen to sign my out papers.

I just wanted the knife to carry around.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna stab anyone...

Unless they call me a name, or step on my toes, or point a finger at naruto.

This is gonna be harder than I thought.

I smiled.

"So, what do we do now? " I said.

"I have no idea. I'm bored. " naruto said.

We sound like two middle schoolers on a Sunday.

"How is the rest of the team? " I asked.

"Alright. I guess. "

I saw his eyes dart towards the ground and he turned his head away.

"Whatdaya mean, you guess?" I said.

Naruto sounds suspicious.

He looks suspicious.

Normally I'd just say "Well, that's just naruto being naruto! " but something's off.

"Please, Ketei, you really don't want to know. " naruto said.

"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't be asking! "

"Well, Kakashi-Sensi told me not to tell you yet... That not telling you would protect you... "

I kicked him in the shins.

"Protecting me by not telling me anything! Bullshit! And by the way I'm the one who's supposed to be protecting you, okay! " I shouted.

"I don't need you to protect me! You're not my mother! " he shouted back at me.

I took a step forward.

"Of course I'm not. But I am your friend. And I'd be a really crappy friend if I didn't want to protect you. " I said.

"But I don't want you to. I want to. I wanna be strong so you don't get hurt! " he said.

I laughed dryly.

"Well, my friend, we are stuck at a standstill. You want to protect me and I want to protect you. Maybe we should make a compromise. You protect me when I NEED to be protected and I'll protect you when you NEED to be protected. " I said.

Naruto nodded his head yes.

"You know, I just noticed something Ketei. " naruto said.

"What? "

"No matter what you say, I can always find it in myself to believe in it. It's like something in me is saying "trust her" whenever I feel like we can't agree. I've never really acted like this around anyone but you. " he said.

I thought about what he just said and stood there in shock.

He believes in me?

"You know, when you keep saying cheesy little lines like that it makes me turn into a girl. " I said quietly.

Naruto blushed deeply and I cleared my throat.

"We've gotten off track haven't we? What did you not want to tell me? " I said.

"Kakashi-Sensi told us that he's signing us up for the chunin exams! " naruto said.

"What are the chunin exams?" I thought aloud.

Hmm. The name kinda sounds familiar...

Wait, a second!

Those exams!

"That dumbass! " I seethed through my teeth.

"Ketei, it's alright-"

"No. It's not "alright"! People die in those exams! " I said.

"Ketei, I'll be fine! " naruto shouted.

"No, you won't! " I shouted back.

"You'll be there with me, right? "

"Wait, what? "

"You're the "unofficial" member of team 7 right? You're gonna do this with me. " naruto said.

"W-We can go on a adventure... together? " I said.

He grabbed my hand.

"Believe it!" naruto said and gave me a thumbs up.

"For once, I don't give a rats ass about that stupid catchphrase. " I said.

"Oh, but first, Kakashi-Sensi told me to take you to go see the hokage. " naruto said.

"So we're off to see the pipe smoker. I have a strange feeling about this. " I said.

"Whatdaya mean? "

"Something's in the air. I don't know how but it's like I feel something... familiar is coming here. "

"Familiar? "

"I can't explain it naruto. It's like a part of me is celebrating. "

"Celebrating what? "

"A reunion. It's like someone I haven't seen in a long time is finally going to see me again. " I said.

Naruto frowned so I shook that feeling off.

"Oh and stupid, how did you get to come see me? I thought Kakashi would've had you and the others doing some lame ass mission. "

"I had to give my lunch to Kakashi-Sensi to go see you..." he said, with pain in his eyes.

"That's cruel, my poor baby... " I said and patted naruto's head.

"How about we go out for ramen tonight? " I said.

"But, Ketei, you don't eat. " naruto said.

"Has it ever mattered before? "

"No, but people can see you now. "

That's right...

People can see me now.

This is going to be... intresting.

---------------------

A/N

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Needless to say, It's really helped.

I've got something planned for all of you....

*evil laugh*

Bye for now! - bluelion2