SIMM: The Series, Land of the Plague is my baby, so to speak. It is, frankly, the greatest idea I have had since I came up with my flagship original novel: The House of Claw. Words cannot express how awesome I hope this will be. The series I had originally planed to put here will now be a series all its own and will not appear until this one is finished. But this will be awesome, totally awesome. My track record should prove that.

"That and you don't churn out new chapters like you say you will."

Shut up Baldwin.

Disclaimer: If I actually owned Naruto do you think I'd be posting this on a website called fanfiction . net? No, because then it wouldn't be a fanfiction but an anime all its own and it would be cannon and everything here on in would have actually happened.

So, in other words, no I do not own Naruto or any of its associated characters.

I do, however, own Kelly, Shinobi Griffin and the copyright to this story itself. Plus, I have all these loyal fans to back me up.

They're like lawyers only rabid.

Memory/Years Later

(Kelly's P.O.V.)

I watched as my love stumbled back into our room, his ANBU uniform covered in mud and blood. He collapsed onto the bed next to me with a shudder and a groan. I carefully unstrapped the katana from his back and slipped my hand under his vest, rubbing his back in slow circles.

"You look awful dear."

"You should see the other guy." He mumbled into the pillow.

I let out a soft laugh as he turned to face me, exhaustion evident on his face. He pulled me into his arms, burying his face into the crook of my neck. I began to stroke his hair and noticed that mud and god knows what else was beginning to crust in it.

"You should take a shower, you're all over blood." I whispered in his ear.

He grunted and let go, hesitating.

"Can you get up?" I asked.

He nodded and slowly eased himself off the bed. I winced as I heard his joints pop and crack. He'd be sore in the morning. I was about to get up and begin changing the now muddy sheets but then I had a better idea. Slipping out of all but my underwear, I stepped into the bathroom and right into the shower.

"Ah! Kelly…" He gasped as my arms encircled his waist.

"Hello love." I said, giving him a peck on the cheek. "I thought I'd give you a break and wash you myself."

"Hrm," he grunted, raising an eyebrow, "I think this is one of your clever ways of getting frisky with me."

I gave him my best kicked-kitten look. I like cats.

"That's only partially true. I can tell you can barely stand up let alone enjoy my 'friskiness". I won't even go there if that's what you want. Look, I still have my underwear on."

He smiled and I felt him relax against me.

"Alright then." He said.

I coaxed him to lean against the wall as I took the soap in my hands and lathered my hands in it before drawing them up his chest and over his shoulders. I heard him let out a deep purr of satisfaction as I massaged his sore and aching muscles. Suddenly, he turned around and kissed me. I couldn't help it, I kissed back. The next thing I knew, we were up against the tiled walls of the shower, he was kissing me and I was trying my hardest to keep my hands from going lower.

"I missed you." He said as he broke the kiss.

I ran my fingers through the wet strands of his hair.

"And I missed you. But no sex when you're this exhausted, you'd never finish." I said teasingly.

He gave a soft laugh and smiled.

"I know, I know." He kissed me again, "It's so tempting right now though."

I smiled coyly and kissed him on the forehead.

"You finish washing up. I'm going to change to covers you muddied up."

I left him to shower in peace and stripped the covers off the bed before throwing them into the hall for Kabuto to trip on and eventually wash. By the time I was done putting fresh covers on my love had finished his shower and reentered the bedroom with a towel slung around his waist as he wrung the excess water out of his hair. He fell onto the bed with a contented sigh as I took the towel from his hands and began lovingly drying him off. I handed him the black silk slacks he wore to bed as well as the haori with the snake emblem on it before we bundled up under the covers. He pulled me close and nuzzled himself in the crook of my neck, instantly asleep. I smiled and draped an arm over him, drifting off soon after.

(3rd person flashback)

It was strange. Like he was having an out of body experience; simply a spirit, floating, observing. And what he observed made his heart ache.

Three young children were walking along a dusty road, following an older man, their sensei. Two of the children, a blonde girl and a boy with short white hair, were talking with one another. The girl seemed to be chastising the boy for something which he was either trying to deny or apologize for. In the back was another boy, pale with long black hair. And while he normally displayed annoyance at his two teammates, a small smiled on his lips told a different story, a story that said he was happy to be with people who were willing to be his friends.

I awoke when I felt the weight on the bed shift. Mumbling sleepily, I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Mrm…Ochi?" I muttered.

I saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, running his fingers through his hair worriedly. Even in the darkness I noticed that he was shivering slightly.

"Sweetie?" I said softly, climbing over to him and embracing him, he was covered in cold sweat. "Sweetheart what's wrong?"

"Just a…a dream." He said, clearly embarrassed by his own 'weakness'.

"A bad dream?"

He nodded.

I kissed him on the cheek and on the neck, slowly pulling him back down and under the covers again. That was when he embraced me fiercely, pulling me as close as physics would allow and burying his head against my chest. I shushed him and kissed him again, rubbing his back slowly. After a while I looked into his eyes. From those golden orbs I gleaned that he was still in much need of rest. I kissed him again.

"No more bad dreams. Okay?"

He nodded.

"Okay."

As he drifted off to sleep the little voice in my head spoke up.

"What do you think caused that?" Baldwin asked incredulously.

"He's probably nervous about tomorrow." I informed the ghost, "After all, it'll be the first time he's been back to Konoha since the incident with the Third Hokage. He won't be welcomed."

"Yes. Probably stressing over how his former teammates with react. You and Tsunade are on okay terms thus far but Jiraiya we have yet to see."

"Yes. And Anko." I sighed. i "Oh well, I suppose we'll just have to see what tomorrow brings."/i