Wow, three months without an update on this story. I'm a bit sorry to say it, but this chapter has been sitting in the backseat of my truck, inside a composition notebook, for the past TWO months. That just goes to show the true power of procrastination, huh?

I updated Dusk/Dawn and got a good ways through Reflections/Illusions, when I remembered this story. If your pissed off about me recent decision about Reflections, then I've got a bit of news that ought to de-piss you. I'll explain in my next update for it, but I'm not starting over. Yeah, your heard right.

Anyways, this is a fairly short chapter, especially when you take into consideration the amount of time since my last update. Be warned, this contains some mild fluff. I've gotta do a bit of research before I can get through the next few chapters, so, with my procrastination...

This story was written entire while listening to 'Artist in the Ambulance' by Thrice, 'Jersey' by Mayday Parade, and 'Feathers' by Coheed and Cambria. Those are what set my mind frame while writing, so I suggest listening to them while reading, to help set the pace.

Anyways, I don't own Naruto, the locations, characters, and whatnot. I do own this particular storyline, though, so don't steal this. If you wanna try to redo it, then ask permission.

Chapter 10

Moonlight

"I can't do this." she chanted silently to herself as she was pulled relentlessly against her will. "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this..."

"Yeff, u' gan." corrected Sakura, her voice muffled by the comb held in her mouth, while dragging her by her left arm. "Ang' fop fruggl'in awoun, o' u'll get urty."

She quickly glanced down, checking her clothes for dirt. They weren't her usual style, but then again, she wasn't the one that dress herself. The constant tugging of her hair got stronger until she laid her head back again.

"Your clothes are fine," assured Ino, who tightly gripped her right arm. The blond didn't have anything in her mouth, though her neck was turned to an odd angle as she tried to hold the small makeup bag in the nook between her shoulder and jaw. "but hold still!"

"U'r da vun dat ash kuss ta ou vish foa 'u," Sakura said as she struggled against her arm. "Sho u'r duin it!"

"Please," she pleaded desperately "can we do it on another day? Please?" People around her watched in confusion as she begged. "I'm a mess today, and he's probably busy."

"Comb." demanded a female voice from behind her as a hand plucked the comb from Sakura's mouth.

"The guy keeps to a morning schedule almost as faithfully as Gai and Lee." explained Sakura, after stretching her jaw around for a couple seconds. "He wakes up, goes to the bathroom, bathes, eats, then finds something to scream at. He should be eating right now, so we'll probably just be helping out with the screaming part." She finished it up with a meaningful wink.

She felt herself blush as the hair tugging stopped, only to continue as the comb.

"Don't get so nervous," said the voice from behind her again. "we'll be with you the whole time." After several more tugs, the unidentified voice happily declared "Done!"

The hand dove into the bag by Ino's neck and pulled out a small mirror as the two girls started forcing her up a flight of stairs. When they were finally at the top, the slender hand held the mirror in front of her, while the other hand pushed her forward. The reflection showed her hair wasn't fixed to catch attention, but more to frame her face.

For a brief moment, the mirror shifted and showed the reflection of the one behind her. It was a woman in her late teens, slightly older than herself. Brown hair, fixed skillfully up in two twin buns and beautifully brown, mature eyes.

"Tenten," coed Sakura enviously as she stared at her hair, "your a genius! He'll love it."

"If he even notices." grumbled Ino. "I swear, I'll spend an hour fixing my hair, but boys are always too busy looking lower to even realize."

"Oh," started the girl apparently named Tenten, "he'll notice. You weren't with us when she passed him all dressed up."

"He just stared at her while pouring boiling tea on his lap." laughed Sakura. "It took him about two seconds before he started raising Hell."

"Was he really st-staring?" she asked with a deeper blush.

"You bet!" encouraged Tenten as they stopped outside a door.

Sakura, ever so gently, pounded on the door. "I'd be surprised is he didn't approach you within the week." the pink haired girl whispered as the sound of quick shuffling came from the other side of the door.

"Too bad," said Ino mischievously, "that that's not the case."

As soon as she finished, the door flew open to reveal Naruto in boxer shorts and a guppy sleeping cap on his head. "What!?" he screamed with eyes half closed.

"THIS!" yelled three of the girls as they pushed her towards him.

She fell into him as her lips were pressed against something.

She sat up in a rush. Eyes wide open as she looked around at her dark, empty room.

Reaching up gently, she touched her bottom lip. They tingled slightly, as if the blood inside them had been pressed away.

Those weird dreams had always felt eerily real, but she could still feel a light pressure on her lips. Almost as if there really was someone...

Her bedroom door makes a annoying, high pitched squeak every time it opens, so nobody could have gone through it without waking her. The moonlight coming through the blinds illuminated the room, showing nobody else inside, but her senses picked up small, subtle details. Small irregularities that told her something was wrong.

The small tassel she had won in the third grade. It swayed softly from its place on the cork-board. The faint, unfamiliar scent that clashed with the smell of her cotton bedspread. A soft indention in her thick carpet.

Then, it was all gone. The tassel stopped its swaying, the scent vanished, and her carpet settled.

"You just woke up." she reasonedto herself. "Your still half-asleep."

Hesitantly, she reached over and grabbed the small, stereo remote and pressed the 'power' button.

The radio's dim, blue light flooded the room. Usually, the light kept her awake, which is why she never used it at night.

"The music will help me sleep." she tried to convince herself as she layed back down, turning to face the wall. It didn't feel comfortable to be facing the rest of the room. "I'm not using it for the light."

It was nearing four in the morning when she decided that, if she were to fall asleep, it would only make her more tired when she awoke. After slipping on her house-shoes, she tiptoed downstairs, quietly slid open the door, walked out into her backyard.

The moon was only half full, but that allowed for more stars to fill the vast, cloudless sky. Her backyard wasn't very large, but it was neatly kept. Her parents had bought her a swing set and slide when she was five. It wasn't one of the cheap, plastic sets; They had gotten the sturdy, steel set.

This wasn't the first night she had spent gently swinging, staring at the stars. It also wasn't the first night she had woken up from one of her 'weird' dreams, more than a little shaken.

There had been times, when, in the dreams, she had been stabbed, fallen from high cliffs, and generally, had been attacked in the most fantastical ways. People say that, when in dreams, you couldn't feel pain. But more times than once, she had been writhing in pain for hours before waking up in her bed.

The dreams, as far as she knew, had started when she was around seven. The first one she could remember, happened in the second grade, after Kiba had bluntly asked her if she was blind. Shino, who was sitting in the desk next to her, scolded the rough boy. From that point on, the two boys had been as close as brothers to both her and each other.

The dream involved her, Kiba, Shino, and a group of people she had never seen before. They were being instructed on how to cross a tightrope by an older man with a large scar on his face.

She had never told the two about the dreams until the sixth grade. Until then, admitting you were dreaming about boys was somewhat taboo. They told her about similar dreams. She had yet to tell any of her other friends about the odd fantasies, but her mother did know.

Close to her thirteenth birthday, was when she experienced her first painful dream. In the dream, she was in a actual fight with a man much bigger than she was. Somehow or another, she was able to avoid most of his punches, but one hit landed squarely in her stomach. Kiba, who was fending for himself during the confrontation, then attacked the man while she nearly passed out from pain.

Euruki ended up with a large bruise because of it. The woman had come to see why her daughter was screaming and found her thrashing around in her sleep. When Euruki tried to calm her down, she shot her hand forward and struck her throat. Now, anytime she has a particularly eventful dream, Euruki would sit up with her until the sun rose or she fell asleep.

She was brought out of her mind by a small pebble lightly tapping her forehead.

"Psst!" came a muffled voice. The sound came from above her.

There, on the roof of his house, was Naruto. He was waving in an exaggerated motion and grinning from ear to ear. He was wearing basic baggy pants and his orange and black jacket.

Though shocked, she did manage to wave back.

Grabbing the edge, he swung himself agilely down to the ground. The ground impact didn't seem to jostle him at all.

"Be careful!" she called out as quietly as she could manage.

The blond shot his usual smile as he made his way to her. "Hey," he greeted when he was finally within low-speaking distance. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I-I couldn't sleep." she whispered gently. "Why are you up?"

"Same." he said as he gracefully climbed up the slick end of the steel slide. "It's a new house and all, so it's kinda tough adjusting." Once he reached the top, he twisted around, hooked his feet in the handles and layed upside down on the slide.

Giving herself another gentle push, her swing started gently moving back and forth.

"You nervous about the whole 'museum thing' later on?" he asked bluntly.

"I guess..." she sighed. It wasn't really the reason she was up, but now that she thought about it, it would be wearing on her nerves for the rest of the day.

"Well, don't be." he demanded confidently "I'll be there with you, and nobody expects you to do perfectly on your first try. Hell, I'll probably end up smashing something priceless within the first hour."

A small laugh escaped her. "I'm just scared I'll let my mom down."

He shrugged slightly. "I doubt it'll matter to her how it turns out. She seemed really excited that you were even gonna try it, so I bet she's just happy that your giving it a chance."

"Do you really think so?" she asked as she gently started to rub her arms. It wasn't very cold out, but the constant chill was starting to get to her.

"Yup. I don't really know them that well, but I've gotta admit, I'm pretty good when it comes to reading people." He let a small hint of smugness seep into his voice. "Oh, you getting cold?" he asked.

"A little," she answered "but I'm fine." It was then that she realized it. In the entire time she had been outside, she had been wearing her pajama's. They weren't all that embarrassing, in themselves. They were just a soft, cotton blue shirt and pants set, but in front of him...

For what felt like the hundredth time within two days, she blushed a deep, scarlet red.

"Here," offered Naruto as he took off his jacket and handed it to her.

Did he realize her embarrassment, or was he just being a gentleman? Both were equally romantic and even more embarrassing.

"I have to say, though," he said with a mischievous smile, almost as if he read her mind "those pajama's are pretty cute."

"Naruto!" she snapped in shock, her blush deepening. As quickly as she could manage, she slipped the over-sided jacket on and pulled it closed.

He laughed to himself for a moment.

"That wasn't nice." she mumbled loud enough for him to hear.

"It's true, though." he amended without shame. "They match well with your skin."

"Can we stop talking about my clothes?" her whined; a bit exaggerated, but sincere, nonetheless. "I wasn't expecting to meet you out here!" She was then reminded that she came straight from bed to outside, so her hair was bound to be a mess. She decided that it would be best to discreetly work it down, instead of calling attention to it.

"Fine, fine, we'll drop it," he sighed. "but you owe me a free conversation drop. No matter the subject, we forget it, deal?" He held his hand out, far to serious to actually be serious.

"Deal." she agreed as she took his hand and shook it lightly.

They both fell into a comfortable silence after that. Each content in just staring into space.

The sun was starting to show signs of morning. A small portion of the sky was already orange, and half of the stars had vanished.

"Well," started Naruto, still upside down on the slide. "I'm gonna get a jump-start on my breakfast. Wanna join me?"

"No, but thanks anyways." she declined politely. "I have some stuff that I have to get done before school."

"Okay," he said as he climbed off the slide and casually jumped the fence. "Don't forget," he yelled back to her with a huge grin on his face "you promised me a ride to school!"

The perfect, most witty response she had ever thought of popped into her mind at that moment, but before she could yell it out to him, he called out "And those PJ's of yours were dead sexy!"

The witty response died in her mouth as he disappeared into his house, laughing loudly.

(AN: There you have it. You can now yell at me, praise me, curse me, or give me money. Preferably option two and four, but if you do perform option four, its solely due to you randomly wanting to give me money, not because I'm making money off of this story.

Believe it or not, this story may actually have some plot to it, besides the surface story, as hinted in this chapter. Anyways, before I can get to the next few chapters, I've gotta research basic museum life. If anyone by chance - a very small chance - has any experience in that field, you may speed up the next update by giving me some basic duties that have to be performed. I didn't think that part through before I threw it into the story, so it'll be a bit of a challenge. I usually don't write about something unless I understand it fairly well.

Anyways, I urge you to review and tell me how to improve.)