It had been almost a week since Kruno arrived back in Konoha, and the day that she was to meet up with Sasuke again was coming up soon, three days to be exact. She sighed heavily, knowing it would only take two days to get there, so she figured she could stop and visit her friends on the way there.

Currently, the girl was standing in her room, packing a bag for the next couple of days. Her brother was standing beside of her, watching everything that she packed so that he knew she didn't pack anything for longer than the period of time it would take her to get there, and get back.

"Who are you going to see?" Kiba asked for the tenth time, causing Kruno to glare over at him and shake her head slightly.

"For the tenth time, I am going to see my friends." She said, referring to the Akatsuki. She had only told him about seeing them, not Sasuke. If they knew she was going to see Sasuke, she knew they would follow her and force the Uchiha to travel back to Konoha with them for interrogation, and she knew he didn't want that.

"The Akatsuki?" Kiba asked in a hush voice, receiving a nod from his sister. "How are you possibly friends with a bunch of S-Rank criminals?" Kiba said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Because they care about me." She said in a simple tone, placing her bag on her back. "And I care about them. When Sasori was killed by Sakura and Lady Chiyo, I cried for a while. I hadn't mourned a death in a really long time, because I saw death every day. But when I heard that he was dead, I cried. That's how I knew that they really meant something to me." Kruno said softly, and her brother sighed softly and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head slightly.

"I love you, Kruno."

"I love you too, Kiba." She said as she nuzzled her nose into her brothers chest. Kiba laughed softly, the vibration in his chest causing the girl against it to giggle slightly before they moved away from each other.

"Promise you're coming back?" He asked, and Kruno stuck her pinky up in the air, smiling a small smile at him. Kiba wrapped his pinky around hers, chuckling lightly.

"I promise." She said honestly, and Kiba nodded. "If you promised I will not be followed. That was in the terms and conditions of me coming home, you know that." She said, and Kiba nodded slightly.

"We know, the Hokage has been informed and she said it was fine, as long as you were back within the time period she gave you, which is a week." He said, and she nodded slightly.

"I should be back before that." Kruno said with a shrug as her and Kiba walked out of her room, Watamote walking beside of them, whimpering slightly at her partner. Once in the living room, Kruno bent down beside of her a friend and ran her fingers through the large dogs white fur.

"I'm actually coming back this time, Watamote. I promise." She said with a small smile, and Watamote whimpered but licked her owners face slightly. Kruno laughed and hugged the dog tightly before she stood up, and turned towards her mother Tsume. Tsume stared at her daughter for a moment, before pulling her into a very tight hug.

"Do you promise you'll come home this time?" She asked, and Kruno nodded.

"I swear." Kruno said as she kissed her mothers cheek and released her from the hug. Kruno's head turned towards the door as a gentle knock was placed against it, her feet carrying her towards the large wooden frame. She opened the door to reveal Shikamaru standing in the doorway, his hands shoved lazily in his pockets, his normal half grin on his face as he looked at Kruno.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked, and Kruno nodded slightly, hugging her brother and mother one more time before she walked out of the door with Shikamaru, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders lightly, pulling her against his side. Since she had gotten back, the two had gotten somewhat close again, no where near as close as they were, but it was a start.

Kruno laughed softly as she leaned against his side, ignoring the stares of the villagers who were still confused as to how she was here, the majority still under the impression that she was dead. The first couple of days the stares bothered the girl, but now she was so used to them that they barely fazed her. She sighed heavily as they closer to the gates of Konoha, her feet slowing down only slightly.

As happy as she was to go see her family, she didn't want to have to leave behind the bonds she was starting to fix with everyone. She was finally starting to gain back everyone's trust, and her own trust in everyone else. The girl adjusted her black top as they got closer to the gates, attempting to make sure she was completely put together before she left, knowing that when she saw the Akatsuki, they would probably murder her in a lot of ways. Itachi would put a Genjutsu on her, Kisame would cut up her body and feed to fish, Deidara would blow her up, Hidan would hit her in the head as many times as he could, Kakuzu would ask about the money she owed him, Zetzu would threaten to eat her, Tobi would hug her to death, Pein would simply nod and look the other way, and Konan would through paper at her. She laughed slightly as she pictured all of the events happening in her head.

"I'm gonna miss you." Shikamaru said, the closer they got to the gates.

"I'm gonna miss you too, but I'll be back in a week! Maybe less!" She said with a smile, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly as they came to a stop in front of Izumo and Kotetsu. They stared at the pair and smiled slightly, watching as Shikamaru wrapped his arms around her waist slowly, as if he touched her too quickly, held her too closely, she would disappear. The girl on her tiptoes kissed the boys nose gently before she rested her head against his chest, her hand placed lightly on the boys shoulders as they rocked from side to side.

"I love you." Shikamaru whispered quietly to the girl so that only she could hear him, because frankly she was the only person who needed to hear those words from him.

"I love you too." She said back just as softly, laughing quietly when he kissed her forehead gently, his lips lingering along her pale skin for a moment before the pair of them finally released each other and Shika stared down into Kruno's dark brown orbs. She gave him a smile, another piece of the light in her eyes he had missed so much fixing itself, causing the dark chocolate brown eyes to become a slightly more caramel color.

"You better get going." Shika said, and she nodded with a sigh.

"I guess I better." She said softly as she hugged him tightly, for a brief moment one last time before she turned on her heel and began to walk out of the gates of Konoha.

"Please be careful!" Shikamaru called out after her, and she threw her arm up in the air, her thumb extending the air as a sign of 'Will do.' . Shikamaru chuckled slightly and waited at the gates until he couldn't see the girl anymore, turning and heading towards the training grounds.

Kruno had her hands wrapped tightly around the straps of the backpack as she trotted along at a normal speed, the katana she used bouncing against her back slightly. She was so excited, but nervous. Was everyone going to be mad at her? She was a dedicated member of the Akatsuki, and she just up and left them, so what if they didn't even want her back? She sighed heavily as she lost the bounce in her step and began to walk through the forest in the direction of the base they were last at, hoping and praying that they were still there.

//

A few hours into the darkness of night, Kruno finally decided to call it a night and make camp. She was currently sitting on her sleeping bag, a small fire burning in front of her. Her eyes were drifting open and close from exhaustion, but she attempting to stay up for a little longer, since she didn't have a guard for this mission.

Eventually the girl fell asleep in a sitting position, her back pressed up against a tree, the gentle bark leaving slight impressions in her back. A slightly snore escaped the girls lips as she slept, and that was enough to alert the passing looters that she was asleep.

They snuck around her camp and began to glance at the items she had placed around herself, a few scrolls, her weapons, a few very expensive I teams she had stolen money from Kakuzu to buy. That's when they began to go through her stuff, thinking they had been quiet enough and that she was asleep, and even if she woke up, she wouldn't be much of a fight.

They had no idea what they were in for.

"What are you guys doing? Going through a ladies stuff." A dark voice said, their heads all snapping towards Kruno. She was now standing with her Katana in her hand, her eyes a deadly dark brown that looked black in the nighttime, only the light of the fire giving away that her eyes had specks of brown in them.

"Get what you need and run!" The tallest looter said, before his head landed on the ground beside of him, it slowly rolling towards the fire beside of him. A scream irrupted from the other two looters, and they attempted to run, but they were not fast enough to escape the pissed off Kruno.

Their dead bodies soon laid in a heap on the ground, and Kruno cleaned off her blade on her shirt, rolling her eyes. "Weak." She said as she began to clean up her camp, now annoyed with the night time visitors she had had.

She placed her bag on her back and began her journey to the base, her feet only accompanying the birds, crickets, and other sounds of the night.

The girl sighed softly as she walked, singing quietly to herself to keep herself entertained on the journey, not noticing that she was already fairly close to the new base, and that the sun was coming up. The tip of her ninja shoe kicked a small pebble on the ground, moving around the forest path so that she didn't lose the rock she was playing with out of boredom.

The sun was now up and shining over the girl, her eyes fully alert of her surrounding, a smile forming over her lips. Finally, somewhere familiar. She smiled as she began to run towards the large rock base, tripping over her feet slightly from the speed of her running, the excitement coursing through her veins as she finally looked at the large rock surface.

"Home sweet home." She whispered quietly as she opened the door to the base, walking into the living room. All of the eyes in the room turned towards her, and everyone stopped breathing. No one made a sound, no one moved.

This lasted for a couple of minutes before someone broke the silence by shuffling around slightly, jumping from the couch and running towards the teenager, throwing their arms around her tightly and hugging her close. Kruno laughed and hugged the person tightly, resting her head on their shoulder.

She felt at home for moment, but she had to constantly remind herself that she didn't live her anymore. She held the person in her arms close, holding onto a memory.

//

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