Training? Shade laughed as she followed her friend from the rooftops. Her brother wouldn't send her out to do something like this for training. There had to be a reason for it. Maybe he secretly loves Sakura. He'd be lost if anything happened to her and he sent me out because he'd look like a huge creep if he followed her home. Shade shook her head. She couldn't see her brother liking anyone, especially Sakura. He probably just wanted me out of the house so he can read his perverted book. Shade shook her head. No matter what way she looked at it, her brother was a pervert. She just hoped it wasn't hereditary.

"Found you!" Shade mumbled when she caught up to Sakura. They were a few blocks from Kakashi's house and the street was relatively empty, only a few people were still out and they appeared to be heading home. She followed her friend quietly, trying to figure out why her brother would send her to follow Sakura while staying hidden. She didn't even know any jutsu! What was she supposed to do if something actually happened?!

Sakura slowed down, listening to the things around her. She felt like someone was watching her. There was someone following her, she just knew it. But, when she turned around to see who it was, she couldn't see anyone. She was completely alone; no one was outside anymore.

When she turned around, Shade did the only thing she had time to do. She dropped down into an alley. Now, she didn't go all the way to the ground, she was holding herself up by pushing against the wall on either side of her. Since it wasn't an overly wide alley, it was easy to do. She let herself slip down just enough to hide from Sakura's view, not noticing the man several feet beneath her.

"Come here, girl." Shade heard the man say from below her. Someone had stepped out of the alley and was quickly approaching Sakura.

Oh no… Shade pulled herself up, only to slip when she was almost on the roof. She managed to grab onto the ledge and stop her descent, but she sprained her wrist in the process. Shit… she struggled to pull herself up with only one arm. Once she was safely on the roof, she looked for Sakura.

The man was holding the pink haired girl. He had one arm around her waist and another was under her chin. "Why don't you let me walk you home? It's dangerous at night. I could protect you."

"Umm, no that's…" Sakura's eye twitched. "I'd rather not. I think I can take care of myself."

The man smirked down at her and tightened his grip. Sakura pushed against him but she couldn't get away. "I'm not so sure about that."

I have to do something! Shade was freaking out on the roof. She needed to help her friend, but she couldn't let Sakura see her. If she was caught, she Kakashi wouldn't give her money. What should I do? What should I do?! I could throw a rock, but they would wonder where it came from. Sakura's smart, she would be able to figure it out…

Shade froze when she heard something chitter from behind her. She turned to see a squirrel sitting on the peak. It was staring at her. Shade slowly smiled and lunged at the small creature, grabbing it before it could get away from her. When she had it, she turned and threw it at the man. It hit his face and started running around his head and shoulders. Sakura used the distraction to punch the man in the face and run away.

It worked! Shade almost jumped up, forgetting that she was supposed to be hiding. Oh Sakura… where did you go? Shade looked for the girl, but she found her just in time to see her walk into her house. When she turned around to go back home, she nearly fell off of the roof.

Sasuke was crouching on the roof behind Shade. She fell back so she was sitting on the roof. "Sasuke… what are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he smirked at her.

"You probably want to know what I'm doing… don't you?" Shade stood up and dusted herself off. If she was going to explain this to him, she wasn't going to do it where Sakura could see her.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't really care what you were doing or why you were doing it."

"Then why were you following me?"

"I wasn't following you."

"So you were following Sakura?"

"Well, no… I saw you following her and I wanted to see how good you are," he chuckled, "you really suck."

"Well I think I did pretty well for someone with no ninja training!"

"You've been trained. The thing you did with the tree today proves that."

"Whatever. She still didn't notice I was there." Shade jumped off of the roof and walked away from the boy. If he wasn't going to do anything, she wasn't going to stay there. She heard him jump down and follow her. "How did you see me? No one was out."

"I was going somewhere and following you seemed like it would be more interesting."

"So you WERE following me!"

Sasuke shrugged. "What was with the squirrel?"

"Fine, just change the subject then." She turned and smiled at him. When she saw how far back he was, she slowed down so she was walking beside him. "I needed to do something to help her get away from the man."

Sasuke shrugged and rolled his eyes. "You're almost as bad as Naruto."

"Thank you," Shade smiled. Sure, Naruto had almost killed her, sure he was the worst in the class, but he seemed like he would be funny.

"That wasn't a compliment," Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"So where were you going when you saw me?"

Sasuke shrugged. "There's a party. It was Naruto's idea and he wanted me to go. I wasn't actually going to; I just wanted to see how many people actually showed up."

"Does that mean Naruto lives around here?"

"No, but you do."

"What..?" Shade was confused. But, when she turned the corner and saw her house, her questions were answered. All of the lights were on and there was a large group of people inside. Shade stopped in the front yard. "Why are there people in my house…?"

"Shade!" Naruto yelled when he saw her standing there with Sasuke. He started running toward her but Sakura got there first.

"Naruto! Back off!" Sakura pushed him away from the girl. "I'll explain!"

"But it was my idea!" The blonde boy whined. Even though he wasn't the one who got to do much of the talking, he still followed the two girls closely.

Sakura started to explain what was going on. "Naruto had an idea, and it actually wasn't terrible. He thought that we should throw you a party. Since you're new, no one knows you and you don't know any of the other ninja. He thought that we-"

"I had the great idea of throwing you a welcome home party! It was the best and most fun way to get you to meet people!" Naruto interjected.

"But I thought I followed you home," Shade looked at Sakura.

"That's where Sasuke came in. We had to get you out of the house so we could set up the party. So, Kakashi sensei got you to follow me. We had Sasuke waiting to walk back with you. That way I could get here before you did!"

"You mean… Kakashi isn't a pervert?"

"No," Sasuke smirked, "I'm pretty sure he's still a pervert."

Kakashi walked up behind them. "I'm not a pervert."

Shade grabbed Kakashi's arm and pulled him down so she could pat his head. "Whatever you say, big brother."

"Well let's go meet people!" Sakura and Naruto each grabbed one of her arms and pulled her into the crowd.

So here's chapter 5! Sorry it took so long but I just really couldn't get into this chapter. Oh well, things will start picking up in the next chapter! YAY!

MrAzazael- I'm glad you like it, and I do plan to continue until it's done. Things will start picking up, but I didn't want to throw her into a mission right away. I wanted to have her meet people (because I'd forget to do it later and I can really see Naruto trying to throw a party like this) and have a few days to adjust to life in the village. In the next chapter or the one after she should have a mission… she might even get to meet Zabuza! He's just so awesome! And then we'll really get to see what Shade can do.

Please leave a review to tell me what you think!