By The Strings

11~ future

He jumped up a bit panicked at my words, "you have to come to see Kiba..." I said grabbing his hand to drag him into the kitchen.

I fed the kiddo the bottle in my hand as we walked into the familiar kitchen. Kankuro was following behind me as I sat down at the table, it made it easier to feed him.

"So when did you two get back?" Kiba asked fully dressed. "I'm not sure if im being honest." I smiled down at the child.

"Good, Kanturo was starting to miss you!" He chuckled as he grabbed a premade lunch from the fridge.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind... I stole Yoshiko for the night." He admitted scratching the back of his neck.

"I have a commercial to film this morning but we can spend the day together when I get back, I've missed you." He kissed the baby's forehead and then mine before rushing out of the house.

I looked over at Kankuro who was in shock, neither of us knew what was going on. "Do you think it could be a genjutsu? Or maybe some strange most in the air?" He tried to figure out what was happening around us.

"It has to be, there's no way is ever marry you, let alone ever want to touch you again." I grimaced at the thought.

"Yeah, same to you." He sounded out of it. "Let's go look around, maybe we can figure out what was going on."

I gently rubbed the sleeping baby's back, he was adorable... his brown hair matched that of his father's. I smiled feeling an overwhelming happiness for some reason. He gripped my shirt in his sleep nuzzling into my chest.

"We should go look around now, stop fawning over that kid." He rolled his eyes putting 3 scrolls on his back before walking out the door leaving me in the kitchen.

A dog walked out of Kibas room happy to see me, his tail wagged as he put his head on my lap. I had no idea who's dog it was.

I itched behind his ear before following behind Kankuro, the dog followed behind me foursome reason.

The town was busy, I had lost track of where Kankuro ran off to, I walked around taking in everything. The village had changed so much.

"Masako, why are you alone?" Shinos voice came from behind me making me jump. "Oh I um, im not sure, he just took off..." My tone was annoyed, he seemed to pick up on it.

"That's not like him, are you two okay? Did you fight or something?" He sounded worried about us. "Yeah... Something like that." I mumbled looking down at the child.

Shino looked much different, it threw me off but I knew I needed to act natural. "Do you want to go see Temari? She has no problem knocking some sense into him." He patted my back walking beside me.

According to Kiba, we were there for the night so it's possible a clue was left there. "Yeah, let's go see Temari..." I mumbled walking beside him.

"She was extremely worried when neither of you where there this morning, I came by to see if you had gone home." He explained trying to keep the conversation going as we walked.

"Yeah, I don't remember much of anything from last night, only waking up this morning in my bed," I admitted still leaving out some details.

We continued chatting and walking as if I belonged here, which I didn't. "Hey, Shino..." I brushed my bangs behind my ear, "do you remember why I fell in love with Kankuro?" I questioned not seeing anything special about the jerk.

"Hmm," he put his fingers on his chin thinking for a moment, "I never really understood what you saw in him, but you said it was 'because of that stupid face of his'" he quoted me.

I shrugged it off knowing none of this was real to begin with. We were in front of Shikamaru's house, "I have to go check on my students, are you okay alone?" He asked nicely leaving before I could respond to his question.

I knocked on the door making the baby I think was named Kanturo, stir awake at the loud sound.

"Auntie Masako!" A small boy cheered making Kanturo cry. "There you are, you just disappeared last night." Temari scolded me as she took the crying baby from my arm.

"Where's Kankuro?" Shikamaru questioned looking behind me. "He ran off earlier, I have no idea where he went," I admitted, I seriously had no idea where he disappeared too.

"I'll knock some sense into him," Temari said shushing the still crying child. I walked into their house, the child from before gripping my leg. "Shikadai, let go." Shikamaru scolded making the young child get off of me.

"What a drag," he mumbled just like his father making me laugh a bit, the both of them looked so different.

I sat down at the table as Temari handed back Kanturo so she could go make some tea for us.

I stared at the child who smiled up at me giggling, he grabbed my nose playing. His eyes matched mine along with his sharp teeth. I poked his cheek making him smile.

"Any idea where he ran off to?" I shook my head no as I took the tea from her hand. I looked at the ring on my finger I hadn't noticed before. "I know you two were fighting about where you wanted to live, but it's unlike him to run off even during a small argument." She knew him better than anyone.

"I'm sure he will come back around, he's probably looking for Gaara or something." I shrugged it off hoping I was right.

"He's not going to find him in the hidden leaf, he's taking care of some business in the sand right now." She expanded.

I simply nodded taking another sip of my tea, it was surprisingly good.

"I think I should go look for him, I don't want him getting lost or something."

She laughed a bit, "you know he's not a kid right? He can find his way back. I'm sure of it." She ruffled her son's hair before going back into the kitchen.