IK: Hey guys. I just had to get this started. Me and Glory-chan have been plannin this for a while but Glory decided not to write it. So this first chapter is hers sorry if the following chapters aren't as good. I don't have any one in the studio today. T/-\T Oh well. I don't own Naruto.
I can see the future. Only my own of course. Why? Because I do the same damn thing every fucking day, without fail. Period. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I work as the Hokage's secretary. A dead end job answering phones and buying booze. This is what I do.
"Uchiha! Get me more sake!" there came a yell from behind the wooden doors.
"Uhhnn..." Sasuke let his head fall to his desk with an audible thump that made the repairman who was fixing the phone wince. He rose to his feet, dragging them slowly as he made his way towards the mini-fridge. He honestly didn't see why the bitch couldn't just get off her ass and get the booze herself. He pulled the long-necked white bottle from the rack and pushed open the doors, placing the bottle down on Tsunade's desk.
"Took you long enough." she growled, popping out the cork and throwing back a swig. "Say, shouldn't you be doing paperwork or something?"
You mean the paperwork that you were too lazy to get to yesterday? He thought angrily. Out loud however, he said; "Yes Tsunade-sama." like a good little drone and walked back to his desk, groaning and letting his head fall into his hands.
"Holy shit-wads, you look like you need a long vacation." he looked up and saw a long-haired blonde looking down at him.
"Not now Ino..." he groaned. "I'm busy..." he pulled a sheet of paper from the large pile looming from his 'to do' pile and started to fill it out.
"No you're not." Ino said firmly, plucking the paper from under his pen and swiftly folding it into a paper airplane. She tossed it over her shoulder and it glided towards the repairman, hitting him in the temple.
"Oh?" Sasuke grunted, looking up at her blearily.
"Yes oh." Ino said, grinning. "You need something to get you're mind off of things. Come to the flower shop after you get out of work." Sasuke looked back to his paperwork.
"Nah. I'll just go home. M'tired." he mumbled. Ino smacked him upside the head then gave him puppy-dog eyes.
"Noooo Inooo..." he whined. "Not the puppy eyes, please!"
"Come oooonn!" Ino whimpered, pouting. "Just today, pleeaaassee?" Sasuke groaned.
"Fine, fine! I'll go to the damn flower shop. I don't see what's so exciting about it anyway."
"Great!" Ino said happily, flouncing out the door.
"Uchiha! Sake!" came the call again. He sighed and headed for the mini-fridge.
XXX
"Ino! You here?" Sasuke called, stepping into the flowershop.
"Sasuke-kun! You came!" he was tackled by the bubbly blonde as she hugged him briefly before backing off, knowing how he wasn't exactly a touchy-feely person.
"So what is it you wanted?" he asked, already bored out of his mind as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"I wanted you to meet someone." she said, turning towards the door to the back room. "Akakouu! Come out!"
Akakouu? Sasuke cocked his head at the macabre name, then his jaw dropped so far it might have hit the floor. What now stood in the doorway had to be the hottest chick he'd ever seen. She was tall and willowy with long, flowing pink hair that was streaked with blood red. He wondered if it was even remotely possible that that was her normal shade, remembering how a friend of his who had lond since gone MIA had had similar hair. She had brilliantly emerald green eyes that sparkled with something he might have seen in the eyes of a feral beast.
"This him Roze? Seriously? Doesn't look like much. Looks like a wimp." Sasuke drew back his lips in an indignant snarl.
"I think he could really work out. After all he is-" Ino broke off as this 'Akakouu' gave her an icy glare.
"Would you mind explaining this?" Sasuke asked. Ino stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Sasuke, there's some thing that you need to kno-Oh shit! Get behind the counter now!" Ino launched him behind the counter with impossible strength, the breath knocked out of him with a whoosh. He landed so that he could just see from behind the sliding door that lead behind the counter. He saw five men burst into the shop, brandishing large guns. Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. The back of Ino's legs became visible as she backed against the counter. Akakouu seemed to have vanished.
"Where is he?!" the foremost man shouted, waving the gun at Ino.
"Who?" Ino asked innocently.
"You know damn well who! The son of Fugaku! Tell us where he is damnit! Speak up bitch and maybe you won't get hurt!" Sasuke was utterly flabbergasted as Ino continued to speak in a calm voice. Her hand appeared over the counter and began to grope about for a drawer.
"Now now boys, I suppose we might be able to work something out." and with that there were three metal roses in her hand, their petals closed into buds and the stems ending in wicked points. She flung her arm about and in as many seconds three of the men lay dead, the roses embedded squarely between the eyes. The other two men cried out in outrage and fear, and were about to pump Ino full of lead when Akakouu appeared out of nowhere, action diving into view and firing off twin pistols into the mens' chests. They were dead before they hit the ground.
"Holy hell!" Sasuke yelled as Ino reached over the counter and grabbed him by his collar, flipping him over to sit on the floor in front of them. Akakouu was at the door, looking out at the street.
"Shit! Shit! How the hell did they find us here?!" she hissed, looking to Ino. "Tell Bomu to fire it off! We have to get underground! Now!"
"What the fuck is going on?! Who were those guys?!" Sasuke yelled as Ino dragged him through the back door, Akakouu close behind. She pushed him into Akakouu's arms and looked at her watch, holding down a button and speaking into it.
"Bomu, blow this joint to Kingdom Come!" she said, opening a trap door hidden under a rug.
"Are you guys safely out?" came a voice from the watch.
"Who cares?! The snake has found the rat! Repeat, the snake has found the rat!" before Sasuke could say anything Akakouu had shoved him down the trap door, jumping down after him. Ino followed and the door was shut above them. Ino grabbed him by the wrist and they began to run down a series of pitch-black tunnels through which he could see nothing, but the girls navigated with ease. Seconds later an earth-wracking explosion shook the ground all around him, making him stumble. A bomb?
"Good." Akakouu sighed, slowing her pace to a leisurely walk beside Ino.
"What the hell happened back there?! Why were those guys looking for me? What-I-you-WHAT THE HELL?!" Sasuke fumbled for words that wold describe his current sitation with justice, but there were none. Ino and Akakouu halted, and the blonde turned to him, putting a hand on his shoulder again.
"You don't recognize her do you?" Ino asked, jerking a thumb towards Akakouu. "This is Sakura." Sasuke blanched. Sakura? The Sakura who had fawned over him so many years ago? The one who, if this was true, had just kiled two men with ease?
"That's not possible! She went MIA just after the ninja villages were put out of business!" Ino sighed, then sat down on the dirt floor of the cavern, motioning for Sakura and he to do the same, to which they obliged.
"A lot has happened since the ninja villages were disbanded and turned into democrative towns. The nation's leaders figured that without ninja, there would be peace, and so they erased every memory we had of ours skills learned as ninja, and told us to lead normal lives. All those ex-ninja that dissapeared after that...not one of them is dead." Sasuke's jaw hit the floor.
"We knew that there would always be war in this world, even when all the weapons were broken, and we knew that there had to be someone to set things back into balance, so all of us, all those that went MIA...joined Akatsuki."
"But the Akatsuki are blood-thirsty criminals! Killing for their own gain!" Sasuke interjected. Sakura gave him a fierce look, and again he wondered if this could really be her. Ino began again.
"All of that is a front so that we can work a little less than subtly when need be. Even the name Akatsuki is a front. We are really called The Fraternity. A guild of highly trained assassins. If one threatens the safety of thousands, we eliminate them. Up until now I was the proprietor of the Yamanaka Flower Shop, which was a cover used to hide a safe-house for any Fraternity member who might need it. I was assigned to get you to Headquarters ASAP for obvious reasons." This was all so much to take in at one time! They were all alive? Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, the rest of the rookie nine? All alive? And even worse, trained as assassins?!
"But what did they want to kill me for? Why did they care that my dad was Fugaku?!" this time it was Sakura who spoke.
"Fugaku and Kakashi's father were the founders of the modern Fraternity. Kakashi's father opted to remain a part of Konoha, but Fugaku was the deadliest assassin to ever fight for this ancient organization. One that has been around for centuries, occasionaly surfacing with a new crew when the time was right. They believe you may have inherited the inate talent for killing that your father possessed, and not only that, you may well have the ability to..." she paused. "Well, that is why, in their eyes, you must be killed. We have other plans for you however..." Sasuke still felt just as confused as before, but at least now he had a base line to work with.
"I can't go back to Konoha." he stated, sighing. "They'll kill me. The medics may have erased my meories of my jutsu and how to access my chakra, but I have not lost my sense of logic. I'll go with you." Ino nodded approvingly, but Sakura snorted.
"Not like you have a choice." she grunted, scowling. Ino cast her a glare, then pulled Sasuke up and gestured for him to walk with them once more. Sasuke kept his hand on Ino's shoulder so that she could guide him through the dim light.
"Now, just so you know..." Ino said, her voice permeating the darkness. "We all have cover names. Even if you recognize someone, you are to ask their name, and use the one they give you. It is in the creed of the Fraternity that we must use fake names, it supposedly keeps use from developing connections to our fellow members. And that's another rule, no romantic relationships with anyone, especially a fellow assassin. We cannot allow for such distractions." Sasuke furrowed his brows. Was this really the Ino he knew? The loudmouthed romantic he had known for so long?
"As you should already know," Sakura growled. "I am Akakouu."
"And I am Roze." Ino put in. "You will recieve your name soon enough. Shikon will need to enter the Abyss and consult with the Ancients first. Don't ask questions about them please, I don't know much either. There are only a few who can contact them. Shirosouon has been known to be used as a medium before, but Shikon is the only one alive who can talk to them as far as we know." Sasuke simply grunted, obeying Ino and not asking any of the burning questions he was dying to get answers to.
"We'll be getting there soon." Sakura growled.
XXX
"Alright." Ino said in a soft whisper as the three crouched somewhere deep within the labyrinth of tunnels. "We're near the entrance to the Headquarters. Do exactly as we do, and don't hesitate, got it?" Sasuke cocked his head, but nodded. Sakura moved forward and pressed her hand firmly against a spot int he tunnel wall. Without warning it gave way, and broken light began shimmering into the tunnel, burning Sasuke's eyes. Sakura unhesitantly pushed her way through a clump of thorns into the open air, Ino pulling Sasuke out after her. He winced as the thorns cut his skin, but Ino seemed completely unnaftected.
They emmerged into the daylight, and Sasuke's jaw nearly hit the earth at the sight before him. They were at the top of a gargantuan waterfall, looking down into the turbulent waters nearly a hundred feet below. The pool branched out to be about seventy yards in diamter, a semi-circle attached to the white-washed cliff face, and a few feet beyond its banks began a vertible forest of thorns and brambles that stretched on for miles. There was absolutely no way to reach the pool aside from leaping from the cliffside, and Sasuke nearly died ont he spot when Ino did just that, diving flawlessly.
"Wha-? But she-! In-I mean, Roze!" he spluttered, gesturing madly to Sakura.
"Don't hesitate Uchiha." Sakura said coldly before simply strolling off the cliff and down the waterfall.
"Holy shit!" Sasuke yelled and, without thinking, leapt off the waterfall after Sakura. He quickly caught up to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her, attempting to shield her from the blow they would no doubt recieve upon landing. Fuck, fuck, fuck...he was going to die! He going to-...hey...she's really warm. Sasuke shook his head. Rapid freefall was not the time to be ogling the curves of a girl you hadn't seen in years. A girl who had inexplicably become a woman.
"Baka!" he heard Sakura scream over the howl of the wind in their ears. She snapped her back straight, streamlining them just in time for them to slide into the water.
Sasuke had no idea what was happening. Up was down, black was white, and he couldn't breath. He swam desperately to the surface, pulling a struggling Sakura up with him. The two broke the surface and struggled onto the bank, panting heavily and coughing up water.
"You frickin'...baka..." Sakura gasped. "You could've...got us...killed..."
"You were gonna...commit...suicide...you flippin'...phsycopath!" Sasuke reponded.
"Baka..." Sakura repeated, regaining her breath. "That's how you get into HQ. Now let go of me you pervert, before I pile-drive you!" Sasuke then realized that he was still holding Sakura tightly to his chest.
"Oh! Sorry!" Sasuke stammered, letting go of her and backing away, nervously wringing out his shirt.
"Come on!" Sakura snarled, pushing Sasuke in front of her and leading him to the waterfall.
Bomu- Boom
Akakouu- Blooddrop
Shikon- White Fang
Shirosouon- White Noise
Well there you go. Review please. Ja.