The Color Blue

*~~*

The next morning each and every ninja was present in the dining area, emphatically eating breakfast. Naruto was busy ignoring jealous looks from Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji as Asayake paid him a plethora of attention.

Ino, Sakura, and TenTen were also partly miffed.

"Just cause she isn't a ninja, I bet you," Ino spat.

"Can't believe she's paying him so much attention," Sakura frowned at the waitress subtly. "Is it because he's blonde?"

"Hm. She's sure putting the moves on him, all right," TenTen snarked. The others nodded in agreement.

Of course, all the "moves" were all in the girls' heads. If they had been sitting at the same table, they would have realized that Asayake was simply making small talk with an old friend, asking him what he did now with great interest.

As the redhead retreated into the back room with the breakfast dishes, the kunoichi, minus a very uninformed Hinata, stormed Naruto's table.

"So who was that, Naruto?" Sakura asked with false sweetness as they dragged extra chairs over to the table.

"Um, the waitress?" he blinked at her with confusion.

"She seems to like you a lot…" Ino trailed off suggestively.

"Okay…" Naruto was at a loss for words.

"She does seem excessively curious. Don'tcha think that's dangerous to the mission?" TenTen queried. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji nodded in agreement.

"Uh, no. She's a waitress. What's she gonna do, beat me to death with a menu? Burn me with a hot bowl of soup? Overcharge me for my ramen?" Naruto grew angrier as he posed each guess. They had a right to worry, of course, but they were insulting his friend.

"I think you should be more careful, Naruto," Sakura chided. "This girl's obviously got you head-over-heels already, and you don't know a thing about her."

Pissed, Naruto jerked out of his seat and moved over to Sasuke's table, closer to the door. As he sat, he noticed the spiky-haired girl from the previous night enter the inn and walk over to the group of ninja. Although she caught his eye for a moment, she moved passed him and approached the older ninja.

"Are you the group of ninja from Konoha?" she asked loudly, making sure she had their attention.

The sixteen ninja turned and gawked at the girl, quickly memorizing her appearance for future reference. She was approximately twenty, with short, spiky, chestnut hair, green eyes, and outrageous clothes. She wore a light blue shirt with wide straps and no sleeves that hugged tightly to her frame and dipped low on her breasts. A bird in flight was embroidered in dark blue on her light-colored shirt, and several similar birds were embroidered in light blue on her dark blue, baggy pants. She wore dark blue ninja sandals, dark blue ninja gloves, and a dark blue jacket with short sleeves that reached down to her feet. A silver bird of some sort dangled on the end of her necklace.

"Well?" she demanded shortly. "Are you or not?"

"Um, yes. How may we help you?" Kurenai barely mustered the will to speak; the girl's clothing had simply frozen everyone else's minds with its unusual style.

"Once our leader learned of your location, he sent me to retrieve you. Are you ready to go?" Despite her unusual flair, the ninja seemed all-business.

"Now?" Sakura gasped in surprise.

"Yes, now," the girl snapped at pink-haired kunoichi. "We have a lot for you to accomplish, and we don't have much time, I'm afraid. Please, if you are finished eating, follow me." Without waiting for confirmation, the girl began to walk away.

"Wait!" Ino shouted after the girl. "Let us get our things, at least!"

The girl waited impatiently for the Konoha ninja, and then led them down a twisting series of alleyways/streets. Finally, they exited one last alley and found themselves in the immense front yard of an enormous mansion.

"Welcome to our base!" the girl announced loudly, with a cheer that rivaled Lee's. "This is where you'll be staying for the next few months!"

Smiling, she led the sixteen foreign ninja inside the front door into a large chamber. Inside the room, a large, muscular, older man stood speaking with two younger men in whispers. As they walked deeper into the room, the older man looked up and quietly dismissed the other two.

"Ah, ninja of Konoha," he greeted in a deep, sagacious voice. "As leader of Guild, I would like to welcome you to the Quadgram and my humble home."

*~~*