Proving The Rumors Right

[Haruka]

Sai's eyes blinked slightly as he heard a growling sound, and he looked over to see where it came from, the source being Kako. He then noticed a blush from embarrassment on the snake-princess' face and reached up, feeling to see if she had a fever or anything. His thoughts went to her, however, as she told him that she would love to have dinner with him, and he smiled slightly towards her. He didn't know how big of a deal it was to go eat dinner with her, but he didn't really care that much, either. Besides, he had had dinner with Naruto and Sakura a few times, so he figured that asking someone to dinner was just something that friends did. Sai went back into a small stage of thought again, not noticing that they were still holding hands, but was disrupted when the 'Cold-hearted Vixen' asked if she could see some of his paintings when she got to his house. He thought for a moment, to see what to say, then smiled towards her as he replied, "Of course, Kako-chan. They're hung up all over my walls, anyways, so you'll see them as soon as we walk inside." He commented. "Oh and um...how does Ramen sound? Naruto-kun and Sakura-s...-chan have taken me there." He commented with a smile.

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He chuckled slightly towards the Godaime. "There is no way that they would come to Konoha anyways. You're here, not to mention Jiraiya-san. The Akatsuki are strong, but standing up to two of the Sannin? Not to mention all the shinobi.." He commented, then listened to the rest that the Female Hokage had to say. "well...There was more that I would like to tell you. One, obviously there are a lot more hideouts than the one in the Waterfall Country, but that one hideout confuses me..." Haruka stated. "The Waterfall Country has been in a Civil War for quite some time, so why have a base there? The security to even have a chance of getting IN to the country is a slim-to-none chance." The elemental nin commented, then looked over towards Shizune and laughed slightly. He decided to make another Kage Bunshin and smiled lightly towards her. "Shizune-chan, you can stop if you want. I was the one that caused the hole, I'll fix it." Haruka told the woman, though he wasn't too sure if she would stop. She was a workaholic for the Hokage, after all.

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Kakashi laughed slightly and smiled towards the pink-haired medical nin. "Oh, I'm feeling fine, Sakura. I'll just need a few weeks of recuperation is all." The 'Copy Nin' commented towards her. Yamato looked towards Sakura. "hm...Sakura. Can you tell me a few things about Haruka-san? Like...his fighting style and other details? Kakashi-sempai doesn't know that much about him, so I was hoping to ask someone who knew him quite well." Yamato asked.

[Kako]

Kako`s blush only got worse when she felt Sai place his hand on her face. Though she knew that it seemed the Artist just thought that she had a fever or something it still made her slightly embarrassed. "Eh...Um...Sai-kun I`m ok. A...Arigatou" she stammered out cutely and soon focused herself back on walking with Sai and speaking with him which caused her blush to settle down alittle. She felt kinda silly getting so easily flustered over Sai`s actions. Especially since it seemed Sai didn`t even realize what such actions even fully meant or what they could be mistaken for. But she couldn`t really help it. Kako may have tried to keep up a strong and calm demeaner but when it came to guys she may or may not have a thing for, she seemed to get easily embarrassed.

It was then she snapped out of her thoughts. What was she thinking? Getting hooked on a guy she just met. If Sasuke could see her he would surely find her completly pathetic. She then noticed him answer her answer and she smiled happily in return. She was kinda excited to see Sai`s paintings. "Thats good! I can`t wait to see them" she stated and was next faced with Sai`s question on if Ramen would be fine. She didn`t really think Ramen was a dinner type food but Kako did love ramen. She was probley the second biggest ramen lover in the village, after Uzumaki Naruto ofcoarse. "Ramen sounds fine" she replied and was giving her now classic smile when she suddenly felt something wet hit her nose. The snake princess blinked and looked up at the sky and soon more of the wet stuff began to fall or in simple terms it was raining. She wiped some rain off her face and giggled lightly. Kako loved the rain and especially thunderstorms so it was easy to tell that the weather that would normaly cause most people to be gloomy and flee for shelter was actually making the 'Cold Hearted Vixen`s' day.

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Shizune blinked when suddenly another Haruka clone appeared and Haruka said that she could finish working. She almost objected but the woman thought it might be rude to object the kind gesture and just nodded toward Haruka and smiled. "Hai...Arigatou Haruka-kun" she stated and walked over to the hokage`s desk to pick up some papers that the hokage had already dealt with and to make sure there were no mistakes.

Tsunade listened to the elemental nin`s comment on the Waterfall village and also found what he said very interesting. "Hm...you have a point Haruka-kun. I`ll keep that fact in mind but none the less I`ll say the same as before. Just relax for now and if anything comes up I promise to inform you. Kay?" she asked and glanced up at the red head.

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Sakura was happy to hear that Kakashi was feeling well but was soon distracted by Yamato`s question. "Hm...well Haruka-kun doesn`t really seem to have a specific fighting style actually. He`s really really good at all elemental jutsus which makes him a very tough rival to practically anyone. He also has a blood line trait called Piercing Lightning Eyes. It functions somewhat like the Sharingan, in the sense that he can see the opponents next move before it happens. It doesn't copy the move, though. It views the opponent in slow motion so he can come up with counters to enemy attacks, and it triples to quadruples or more his chakra, but when he cancels it, it decreases his chakra almost completely. It also heightens the power of his lightning jutsu and such." she stated. Sakura didn`t really understand it much but she was basically just quoting from what Haruka had told her awhile back when she asked about his eyes.

[Haruka]

Sai laughed slightly towards her and side-glanced away from her, scratching his chin once again as he commented towards her, "They aren't all that good, really..." Sai commented, then waited for her to reply to him on the offer to go to ramen. He didn't really know any other place in the village, since he never actually explored the village that much. The only place he really knew was the ramen place, since he had been taken there by his comrades. He then looked over towards her as he heard her reply to him about the ramen and smiled slightly towards her, nodding. "Alright then." Sai commented as he continued to walk with the snake-princess. He paused for a moment to look at the sky as he felt a drop of water, namely rain, fall upon his cheek and he blinked slightly, pointing into the air. "The sky is crying." Sai commented, then started to walk forward, until the two of them finally got into the Ichiraku Ramen Stand, and he picked a spot at one of the stools in front of the counter. "What'll you have?" The chef asked politely and Sai blinked, trying to think back on what Naruto had gotten when he was with him. "A um....Miso Pork Ramen..?" Sai commented and the Chef smiled. "Comin' right up!" He then looked towards Kako. "My, haven't seen you in years...the usual?" He asked.

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Haruka shrugged slightly towards the Hokage, then looked out the window and let out a slight sigh. "Well, there goes my plans for training." Haruka said with a slight laugh, then glanced over towards the clones that had been working on the wall. It was finished, so he canceled his Kage Bunshin and stretched slightly. "Well, I guess I'll go get my house readied up. Haven't been there in three years." Haruka commented, then looked towards Tsunade. Giving her a slight chuckle, he vanished from his spot in a slight flash of lightning.

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Yamato listened to Sakura's explanation of Haruka's bloodline trait and blinked slightly. There was another eye technique out there? What were these ninja inventing these days...He chuckled slightly and looked over towards Sakura. "Hm...that's interesting. Well...how about his demon? Is he able to suppress it alright, or has it escaped before?" Yamato asked the female medic-nin.

Kakashi sat back and listened to their conversation. He too didn't know all that much about Haruka, having only been on a mission with him once. In that mission, however, Haruka had taken out quite a few enemy nin, so that proved he was quite skilled...and that was back to when he was a Chuunin three years ago. To him, that was quite a feat for someone at that rank...not to say that he was calling Haruka an amateur; needless to say, he was far from it. That was most likely because he knew that the Akatsuki would be after him, so he trained very hard, just like Naruto did with Jiraiya.

[Kako]

Kako listened when Sai suddenly commented about his paintings to which she simply smiled and shook her head at. "I bet they`re REALLY good Sai-kun. After all they gotta be for you to do most of your jutsu" she complimented and was soon distracted by the rain. She was kind of enjoying the cool rain falling on her face. Especially after a day like today. She suddenly heard Sai state that the sky was 'crying'. She couldn’t hold in a giggle at that statement. It wasn’t just what he said but the way Sai said it. Sai was just too cute. "Hai but I guess the real question is whether it’s crying in happiness or sadness" she stated and took one glance up at the 'crying' sky before turning to walk with Sai into the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

After taking a seat beside the painter she looked around the stand. Nearly three years and the place still hadn’t changed. She wasn’t surprised though, hardly anything had changed in Konoha. But she was kinda happy about that. Konoha had a quaint feeling to it that just felt like....well....home. And if anyplace in this village was home it was definatly Ichiraku. She had probley been in this stand about as much as Naruto had. She noticed the chef speak to her and she nodded her head and smiled at him. "Hai...gomen. I guess with both me and Naruto-kun gone for so long you must have lost over half your business, ne?" she said playfully. She then listened to him ask for her 'usual' order and she nodded her head happily. She was really excited to have some ramen after so long. Orochimaru never had such a kind of food and even if he had it probley wouldn’t be anything to compare to Konoha`s own Ichiraku ramen. "Hai! Lime Shrimp Ramen Onegai!" she stated happily. She was so happy to soon have her favorite food that if she had a tail it would probley be wagging so fast you couldn’t even see it.

After the chef had left after a moment his daughter soon entered and had an almost shocked look when she saw Kako. "Ah! Sakura-chan was right! You are back Kako-chan" she stated and walked over to the girl and the two shared a friendly hug which made Kako have to stand up slightly on her stool to reach over the bar. She almost fell but luckily she caught herself when she moved to sit back down. "Did Sakura-chan come by on her way to the hospital and tell you that?" Kako asked and the girl nodded in reply. "Oh! Be right back! I left one of the ramen pots boiling!" the chef’s daughter stated after she heard a slight bubbling sound from the back. She hurried back to quickly fix the problem.

Kako let out a sigh as she waited impatiently for her ramen. She took a slight glance at Sai and noticed he had a raindrop on his cheek. "You have a rain drop on your cheek Sai-kun" she said and smiled as she leaned over toward the man to wipe the water away gently. "Got it!" she confirmed cheerfully. Unfortunately the chef’s daughter soon walked back into the kitchen right when Kako`s hand was still on Sai`s cheek, providing an easily mistakable scene. The girl gave a small laugh which earned a confused look from Kako. "Huh? What is it?" "Nothing. Gomen I didn’t know this was a date for you Kako-chan. I didn’t think you’d be on one after being back for only a day" the girl teased and gave another laugh. Kako blushed lightly and blinked confused. "D...Date?! Oh no! I....It’s nothing like that. Sai-kun just took me to eat and the rain and um...." Kako began calmly enough but ended up not really knowing what to say seeming as her brain was being blocked by her slight embarrassment and eventually her answer to the whole ordeal was to just blush a little more and look away shyly. Kako`s reaction caused the chef’s daughter to let out another laugh and walk over and nestle Kako`s hair. "You haven’t changed a bit. You still take things to seriously Kako-chan.”

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Tsunade gave a nod to Haruka when he said he would just go fix up his house and watched as the elemental nin disappeared. She looked over at the previously broken wall and smiled lightly seeing it was fixed and just gave a sigh as she began to go over some papers with Shizune.

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Sakura had to think for a moment when she was asked about Haruka`s demon. She didn’t know as much about his demon as she did his ocular jutsu. "Hm...He’s fairly good at controlling his demon. I`ve only seen him lose control once and Kako saw him lose control on one other occasions. I think he may be a bit better at controlling it than Naruto-kun is. Of coarse his demon is only seven tails and Naruto-kun`s is nine tailed so that would make it tougher. But both times he did lose control had to do with Orochimaru. He tends to lose his temper very easily around him. Which explains why he was kind of mad when he wasn’t able to defeat Orochimaru earlier today" she explained and let out a small sigh as she looked out the window and into the rain. Orochimaru had caused so much trouble for everyone. She wished she could do more to help get rid of the snake lord but she supposed she would have to wait. She hoped that Kako may know a few things about Orochimaru so she was hoping to later go ask the girl about it.

It was then that a nurse opened the door and smiled at everyone before looking at Sakura. "Sakura-chan you may go see Naruto-kun now if you want. The Medical nins just got done with him" the nurse stated and Sakura nodded her head and looked back at Yamato before standing up. "Yamato-taicho, do you have anymore questions? Or do you wanna go see Naruto-kun with me?"

[Haruka]

As Sai sat on the stool, he started to ponder a little bit on what Kako had mention about the sky crying. He had never really thought about whether it would be crying out of sadness or happiness all the times he had mentioned it raining in such a manner. Of course, he never really thought upon feelings until just recently, when Naruto and Sakura had persuaded him of such things while talking about Sasuke. Sai glanced outside and watched as each individual raindrop fell unto the ground; the ground already a little darker due to absorbing the moisture. Sai thought for a few moments more, then made a small smile as he thought to himself, I think that the sky is crying out of happiness...to have Kako-s..chan back into the village...

Sai's thoughts were disrupted by the 'comedy' that was all happening beside him. He had seen things happen similar to this before, but he found this particular one amusing. He noticed Kako's extremely flustered face and blinked slightly, wondering why she was blushing while the chef's daughter talked about how they were on a...date. On a brink of thought, Sai decided to butt into the conversation, saying, "But Kako-chan...we are on a date, aren't we?" Sai started, thinking back to what he had read. "In the book I read, dates are between people who like each other and have a small attraction towards each other, and you said you thought I was a good artist, so..." Sai started, happy with the conclusion he had come to.

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Yamato listened intently to Sakura's explanation on the history on the Elemental Ninja, making note of every single detail that she painted for him. So he was a very experienced jinchuuriki, and had a vast layout of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and even genjutsu. To top it all off, he had a very powerful bloodline trait, which would make him an even more formidable foe. No wonder the akatsuki were having a hard time capturing him. He would make it safer for Naruto to navigate around places too. Yamato sighed slightly and let a chuckle escape from his lips. "So he has some power even compared to mine..." Yamato murmured quietly.

Yamato then looked up towards Sakura and the medic-nin as they announced they could visit Naruto and listened to Sakura's question. He laughed slightly. "No, Sakura-san, I have no more questions for you." He then looked over towards Kakashi. "Ah, Kakashi-sempai, do you mind if I visit Naruto for now?" "No, not at all. I'm curious to hear how he's doing," Kakashi replied, and Yamato nodded as he stood up. "Let's go, Sakura-san."

[Kako]

Kako blinked when she heard Sai's voice and looked toward the painter to hear him give his own explanation of the situation. It was easy to say that the painter's remarks brought a bright red tint to her face. H...Huh.....Sai agrees it's a date? Does he like me? But we just met?! Oh my.....I'm so confused.....and what's with these weird books he's been reading??? she thought and after her clouded mind had settled a bit she decided to make words. "U....Um....yeah I think Sai-kun's an excellent artist b...but you're um.....attracted to me Sai-kun? How and why and....uh...." she easily realized how stupid she sounded and looked into her lap nervously. "Gomen....I sound pretty stupid huh? I'm just easily flustered Sai-kun, especially when I'm confused." she tried to explain and gave Sai and friendly smile.

During this time the chef's daughter had gone back to the back of the ramen shop to tend to the food and after a few minutes returned with the two nin's orders. "Lime shrimp for Kako-chan" she stated and sat a steaming hot bowl of ramen in front of Kako. This made Kako's mind temporarily forget the confusion and embarrassment she was just experiencing and obsess over the delicious bowl of ramen. "Arigato! Itadakimasu!" she shouted and broke her chop sticks apart to begin eating the ramen with the most pure form of pleasure on her face as she ate the food she missed for so long. The chef's daughter giggled in delight at Kako's happiness and handed Sai his bowl "And Miso pork for you Sai-kun. Enjoy! I know Kako-chan is" she stated and giggled when Kako didn't even seem to notice her last comment. She walked back toward the back of the shop but before walking out she stated "Enjoy your 'date' you two" and giggled before she was out of sight.

Kako did hear this and swallowed down the noodles she was currently eating before going back to her previous blushing and starting to eat more slowly, embarrassed of her previous table manners.

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The nurse lead Sakura and Yamamoto down the hall of the hospital till they reached a door with the name 'Uzumaki Naruto' next to it. Sakura smiled lightly as she noticed that this was the same room they've given Naruto practically any other time he got hurt. Guess it's hard to break old habits.

The nurse opened the door slowly and peeked in to make sure Naruto hadn't fallen back asleep while she was gone but once she was sure he hadn't she opened the door for Sakura and Yamamoto before announcing to the kyuubi, "Your friends are here to see you Naruto-kun."

Sakura walked over to see her friend and make sure he was indeed ok. A smile graced her face when such was confirmed. "How are you feeling Naruto-kun?"

[Haruka]

Sai just glanced towards the female in a confused manner as she started to babble on and on - her embarrassment starting to get the best of the poor 'Snake Princess'. He didn't exactly understand why Kako was so flabbergasted, but he figured she must have a good reason for it and decided to ignore it for now. The Artist was soon watching the Miso Pork ramen be placed in front of him and picked up his chopsticks, about to say the good ol' "Itadakimasu" before he heard Ayame say something about them enjoying the date. Sai, being the oblivious male that he was, smiled towards her and responded, "Hai! Arigatou!~"

After this oblivious statement was said, he stated, "Itadakimasu," and started to slowly guide the noodles into his mouth and swallow them. He loved the taste of the broth and noodles combined. It was a unique flavor only to Ichiraku. He was also eating in a much more...polite manner than his female companion.

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Naruto had been gazing at his hands for quite some time now, just thinking quietly. He had almost gone demon...again. But why? Why did he get so angry? Sometimes he didn't quite understand. He just sighed softly before his thoughts were disrupted by the nurse's voice, as well as Sakura's. He flashed a perfectly believable fake smile towards her. "Heh...I'm feeling fine, Sakura-chan! You DID treat me, after all," The Orange-clad nin said playfully.

Yamato soon walked in, nodding towards the jinchuuriki. "I'm glad that you are doing well, Naruto-kun..." He stated, not wanting to bring up the event that had almost occurred with Naruto and his inner demon. With that being said, Naruto suddenly chimed in, "G-gomen, Yamato-taichou...I just...sorry..." He stated. Yamato sighed. "But you controlled it, Naruto...that's the important th-" "T'ch..." Haruka suddenly stated as he appeared behind Yamato, surprising him a bit. "I need to talk to you," He told the Wood nin, causing him to nod. "Excuse us," The ANBU stated before he and Haruka vanished, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone to talk.

[Kako]

The fire nin embarrassingly enough finished her bowl of ramen quickly. She wiped her mouth politely before looking to Sai and seeing he wasn't near finished yet, which was normal. "Heh....You like your ramen Sai-kun?" she asked with a light blush on her cheeks, feeling kinda silly for having such bad manners in front of Sai, or any boy she for some reason happened to be on a 'date' with.

"Ayame-chan! Can I have ano-" "Already got another bowl for you Kako-chan" the chef's daughter said with a laugh and placed the bowl infront of Kako. "Heh Arigatou Ayame-chan" she said sweetly and smiled before she started on her second bowl of ramen, this time going slower so she could enjoy it more and not seem like a total slob.

As she ate she suddenly started thinking on the topic of this being a date again. Sai had acted very casually about the term and suddenly something hit her. "Hey Sai...what exactly if your definition of a date?"

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Sakura smiled happily when she saw that Naruto was ok. It was hard not to believe that goofball smile the kyuubi had but a sixth sense seemed to tell her that something was bother Naruto. "Well I suppose that's one thing to say about you always getting hurt. It gives me lots of practice on my healing techniques." she said playfully and laughed.

She blinked in a confused manner as she watched the sudden arrival of Haruka and how the boy took Yamato away to talk. "Hm....That Haruka-kun. He's always doing something surprising." she stated and then allowed her attention to focus back on Naruto. "Well I know Kako-chan is no Sasuke-kun but to you feel a bit better? Getting Kako-chan to come back to the village? She seemed pretty upset when you got yourself hurt and she didn't really put up much of a fight when taken back. So I'm pretty sure she never stopped being our friend."

[Haruka]

Sai had managed to sideglance over towards Kako, noticing that she had already finished her first bowl of ramen. Just seeing the sight reminded him of Naruto - although, in all reality, Naruto would have finished his much quicker. He then thought about her question about the ramen and nodded his head towards her. "Hai, Kako-chan. It is quite delicious," He replied in his normal 'polite' demeanor.

The artist was somewhat surprised by the question that Kako had asked him about dating. He didn't think that she was still curious about the subject. He put down his chopsticks and thought for a moment before getting an idea. He dug out a scroll and opened it up, showing it to her. On it was a written definition of what 'dating' was. "Is this what you're asking for, Kako-chan?"

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"So what is it you want, Haruka-kun?" Yamato asked as he looked around his surroundings, noticing that he was now in Haruka's own house. The Elemental-nin sighed softly as he looked over the information that he had received about the Akatsuki. The Wood-user sighed. "Hm...it looks like they're ready to make their next move...and Tsunade-sama just wants you to do-" "Just lay low for now and wait," Haruka finished with a sigh. "But...it bothers me. We can't just sit still for too long..." "We could discuss the urgency with Tsunade-sama right?" "She just said to wait. We can't leave the village without her permission, so that's what we gotta do..." "Hm..." Yamato said with a sigh. "In any case...I think you should train Naruto a little," "I was planning on it," Haruka said with a grin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Silence flooded the room after Sakura had started to talk about Kako's return. It hadn't really dawned on Naruto that Kako had actually returned, since he was kinda...out of it when she had made that decision. He decided to finally speak up: "I guess....but that isn't what's bothering me," Naruto started to say as he gazed down at his hands.

"All of that training, and I still lost control..." The jinchuuriki said softly before he gazed out the window. "And then there's the fact that Teme is still out there. And then the Akatsuki. It's all..." The male sighed before giving her a fake smile. "B-but what about you Sakura-chan? Are you happy Kako-chan is back?"

[Kako]

Kako blinked in a confused manner when Sai presented her with a scroll. After further inspection she found the scroll to be a definition of the term "date". "A meeting arranged in advance" She sighed and smiled before letting out a laugh. The puzzle peices had come together and she had in return learned something about Sai's personality. "Well....yes that is technically the meaning of date but....It's usually considered something more intimate. Between people who like each other....in a deeper way than friends." she explained and let out another laugh, thinking her embarrassment and confusion till now seemed rather silly. "Heh...you're so fun Sai-kun."

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Sakura's mood saddened as she watched Naruto get down on his own mistakes. But she managed to hide it with a caring smile. She laughed slightly at his question to her about Kako. "Well...me and Kako haven't been that close before, she's practically like another Ino to me but I'm extremely happy to have her back. After all she is one of our friends, prectically like family." she said happily.

She knew Naruto was being troubled by his own self consious and she wanted to make him feel better. She placed a hand on his in attempt to comfort him. "Naruto-kun you've tried really hard to control yourself and you've done really good. But controlling a Bijuu isn't easy, especially the kyuubi. But there's still plenty of time to get that control you want as well as bring Sasuke back. Everything'll work out just be positive. I know you can do it."