The Plan
I own the plan but not the show/ characters who enacted the plan.
The hot sun blazed on the man as he crouched, waiting for his students to pounce. They were training again, training for the hundredth time in teamwork. While he was waiting for them to strike, he realized how bored he had become. Kakashi always had a book on him; so much so that all the books he has read, were reread two-fold, three-fold tops. He was even helping the author of the Make-out Paradise books but today he had to train. 'Make your own Icha Icha series.' He looked around and smiled under that black mask of his, his face lighting up. 'Thank you; I know exactly how to make it come true.'
"I'm so tired." Sakura was laying supine position, looking up at the clouds as she groaned from the intense training.
"Come on Sakura, it wasn't that hard." Kakashi said. She looked at him. He grinned.
"Come on Kakashi sensei." Naruto was rushing the jounin out of the training area. After such training or long missions they usually would go out for some good ol' Ichiraku Ramen. "Let's go, I want some ramen." They walked to the restaurant and sat down on the wooden stools as they placed their orders. Kakashi was watching two of his students with obvious satisfaction shown on his face.
"Um Sasuke…" started Sakura, "Is it me or is sensei staring at us?" The Uchiha shifted his eyes to the man and winced. Sure enough, his eyes were closed and his smile wide; Sasuke knew he was up to something, but what?
"Meet me tomorrow at the gate. We are going on a mission."
"Alright!" Naruto screamed as he pumped his fists in the air. "I'm going to train. Then eat ramen, train some more, and then eat more ramen." They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
Lying down in the dark room, the man decided to implement the plan tomorrow as early as possible. He wanted everything to go on without a hitch and he knew exactly who he was dealing with. Things were going to be interesting.
He wanted to leave early but he couldn't seem too eager to get his plans in motion. A smoke swirled around the three genin as their sensei stepped out.
"You're late!" said the two. It was almost a ritual, this was. He would come late and they would yell 'You're late, and then he'd make up an excuse.
"Well you see, I was helping someone find love-"
"Save it." Yelled Naruto and Sakura.
The forest was huge. Even running the tops of these huge trees you couldn't see the tops, or too far ahead of you: Enemy attack was imminent. Kunai were getting thrown as Team Seven moved to evade it. The metal weapons hit the trees with a distinct thump. Kakashi moved forward as one of them grabbed Naruto and started running with him. "Hey, what are you doing, put me down!" he yelled to no avail. Kakashi ran after him.
"Sasuke, get Sakura out of here now. I'll be back with Naruto." He ran after the blonde. Sasuke took Sakura's hand as a ninja started to chase them. He turned around after a while and saw that he was no where to be seen.
"Sasuke what about Naruto…and Kakashi?" Sakura was pacing as she waited for him to answer.
"He can take care of them. Right now we have to find a way to get out of here." She nodded. "We'll go into the next town and wait for them ok?" They walked in silence, keeping on their minds how they would do this. It was about thirty minutes before they made it to the town. The town was not big, but it also wasn't small. Many people were outside, strolling in the afternoon sun as the students stepped up to a hotel. Inside was an elderly lady leaning over a mahogany desk, her eyes perked up at the sight of them. "Hello and welcome." Her eyes shone with greed.
"Can we have two rooms please?"
"I'm sorry, we only have one open." She saw Sakura blush. "For a fee I can kick one of the others out."
"Sasuke," Sakura started, "We don't have enough to get another room. It's okay, I don't mind."
"No, just look; we need separate rooms." She smiled slightly as she shifted through the book which held the reservations. On one page was a table full of blank cells -those rooms were empty- and she continued to flip.
"Nope like I originally said, all rooms are filled…for a price." Her voice was dripping with taunts but he pressed it no further. Reaching into his pocket Sasuke pulled out the money and paid her, keeping his dislike evident on his face. Her small wrinkly hands dangled the key in his face and he snatched it up with out a word; he knew deep inside that this was a very, very bad idea.
"Haha, they came just like you said they would. I can't wait to see them blossom into a beautiful couple!" yelled the old lady into the phone.
"Of course they would and I can't thank you enough."
"No problem. It's all in the name of love." Kakashi turned to the knuckle-head ninja still yelling behind him as he flipped the cell close. "Hey, be quiet Naruto."
"What's going on? What happened to the ninja?"
"Okay Naruto. I need your complete cooperation for this." The jounin leaned closer as he looked back and forth, left and right, in all directions, as if to make sure no one would overhear. Naruto followed suit and was inches away from Kakashi, hands encircling his ears. "I'm on a secret mission."
"What! Really? Wow, can I help? What's the mission?"
"I'm trying to get Sasuke and Sakura together?"
He stopped all his movements as he heard. "Sasuke. Sakura. Together." Naruto thought about it and instantly shook his head no. "Why would I help Sasuke get Sakura? She's too good for him." Kakashi knew what to expect so he gave Naruto a push.
"Okay, but I just thought that I should let you in the plan since I know how much Sakura would love," he enunciated the word; letting each letter roll off his tongue into the listening boy's ears, "that." He finished his sentence leaving Naruto blushing red and nodding crazily. Hook, line, and sinker.
Sakura was standing on one side of the one bed bedroom. She had been in places with her team before where they spent overnight in the company of each other. I mean that's just bound to happen, but never before has she slept… in a room, with a door that could lock, by herself…with Sasuke. She was blushing as she watched him, thinking about how she would ever make it. He interrupted her thoughts.
"I'm going out to look for them. Stay here. I'll pick up some food."
"Oh alright then. I'll just look around town then."
"Whatever." And they parted ways. Sakura walked on the dirt road looking at all this town had to offer her. She saw the merchants, calling out to her, the only foreigner whom they could actually trick to buy their products.
The pink haired kunoichi walked by a shop. Inside was dark and she swore she saw some fog drifting from under the worn blue silk curtains. She would have surely kept away from such a shop if it hadn't been for a lone sign: Find your love. She entered the physic shop and called out. "Hello? Anybody here?"
"Hello my dear child." Out came a decrepit old man. His skin was sagging in places that normally shouldn't sag and also he had a limited supply of gray strands atop his head. His eyes shone wisdom and his smile, although toothless, made her feel welcomed. "Have you come to find your love?" She nodded slightly. "Come this way…sit."
"Um how much is this, I'm kinda short." She asked pulling her wallet out.
"I feel you are special, this is on the house. Now tell me about this boy."
After searching the places that would seem the most logical, Sasuke started wondering what had happened. How could Kakashi, one of the best jounin he's ever seen, be captured so easily? And to top it all off, not even Naruto made it back? They would never be so easily defeated, not if they [Sasuke and Sakura] made it back so easily. It didn't make sense to the Uchiha. He gave up on searching for today and went to get some food for the two of them. He went to a Chinese food store and ordered.
"Can I have one order of General Tao's chicken, with beef fried rice, and a shrimp egg roll. Then another order of honey chicken with vegetable fried rice, and two spring rolls."
"Is that all?" He nodded. "Twenty-three twenty-four. About twenty minutes." As Sasuke started walking around, the man behind the counter asked a few questions. "Your new around these parts aren't ya?" A nod. "What you here for?"
"Looking for some people."
"Oh, really?" Another nod. "I saw you walk into that hotel over there. Was that pink haired beauty your girlfriend?" Sasuke took a while to answer. "If I was a couple of years younger…" and that was when the man smiled wide his eyes twinkled with a mischief that Sasuke remembered to have seen sometime before.
"You remind me of someone, your manner of speaking and that grin…"
"Oh, no, no, this is the first time you've ever seen me."
"I didn't say I've seen you before."
"Oh well um…" Sasuke eyed him. Something wasn't right about how suspicious he was acting. "Here's your food. Enjoy." The man smiled as he disappeared behind the cooks.
"So I can tell you're really in love with him no?" She blushed. The psychic had gotten most of her questions right and she knew he was real because she'd never been to this town before. "Oh, no."
"What? What is it?" Looking into the quartz crystal ball that stood upon a table of tarot cards and other astronomy items, the old sage frowned.
"I see hardships along this road. Sadness will come, and tears, lots of tears. But also, I see change and loyalties. Is this the boy you long for?" She gasped as a picture of Sasuke appeared and she blushed. "An Uchiha, the last of his kind too. Take good care of him and I promise he will return the favor…eventually."
"Oh thank you." She said with glee.
"One more thing, when you see your sensei and your other friend, give them a big hug. You'll want to when you find out what they did."
"Wait!" Sakura yelled as he started walking away, "you know where they are? Tell me!" He laughed into the fog behind the worn blue silk curtain.
Sasuke entered the hotel and found it to be empty; he paid no mind to it either way. She was a grown girl after all. Once he sat down to eat, the door flew open. "Sasuke, you'll never guess what happened." Sakura opened up her food, thanked him and began to tell him about the fortune teller. "The only weird thing though is that I felt like I knew him. I mean, I was comfortable around him you know?"
"You too huh?"
"Why? Did something like that happen to you too?"
"Yea, the guy at the restaurant, he reminded me of…Naruto." The silence grew as they pondered the situation; a knock disturbed the silence. It was the old lady.
"Aww, look at you two, having dinner together. Just like me and my husband when we were young. Haha."
"Is that what you came here for?" questioned Sasuke still loathing the elder.
"No, actually, I've got a letter here for you." She handed it to the boy who read it and became shocked.
"Who gave this to you?"
"I don't know. It was on my desk when I came back. Well anyway see you two later." And with that she left leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone.
"What's in the letter Sasuke?"
"They want us to meet them at the bath house. I just don't know who."
"We'll just have to find out and while were waiting for the time to pass by tomorrow, why don't we go and check out the fortune teller and the strange guy at the restaurant?"
"All right is this where you saw him?" Sakura walked forward and stood in front of an old building that had clearly never been used for ages.
"But it was here yesterday…" she said confused. Sasuke didn't doubt her; she wasn't the type to make small mistakes like forgetting where a creepy but comfortable old man took your fortune.
"It's alright Sakura, we'll go to the restaurant I went to yesterday and then the hot springs." When they arrived at the Chinese food store, Sasuke also couldn't find who he was looking for. "He's not here either…"
"Well let's go to the bathhouse."
Sasuke and Sakura entered the bathhouse. Immediately upon entering, the clerk waved them down. "Are you by chance Sasuke and Sakura?" They nodded. "A man brought this in. He said when a pink haired girl accompanied by a serious looking boy, come in, give them this."
"It's the same letter as before. Do you know what he looked like?" asked Sasuke.
"No, I'm sorry, he was wearing a cloak. Well anyway, enjoy."
"Sakura, he might still be here. Be on your guard."
"Right."
The boys' and girls' changing rooms were located on opposite ends of the bathhouse though to get to the bath itself, they converged into one path. Sasuke walked out and just as he reached the door, he saw Sakura. He saw how the steam from the bath before them had already collected on her supple white skin; how the towel wrapped around her body protectively. Sasuke shook his head; why was he thinking things like this? When Sakura reached Sasuke she froze. He was wearing only a towel wrapped tightly around his waist; bare chest fully exposed. She had never seen him like this before. A blush had crept onto both the ninja's faces as they quickly entered the uni…sex…bath? The bath was unisex! No longer could either of them hold the surprise as they saw both naked men and women sitting around. Two pairs of eyes turned and two men came up to Sakura.
"Hey beautiful, why don't you come down here." She kept quiet and still, not looking either of them in the eye. Even with the terrifying glare that was given to them, they both continued their original plan as both grabbed one of the girl's arms and pulled her down to the water. Sakura cried out, pulling back in vain. No one but her felt that the only article of clothing that was on her was getting loose. Sasuke, obviously enraged, punched both men in the faces, noses leaking blood.
The Uchiha pulled her across to the other side and she kept on trying and pleading with him to stop. He kept on and before they made it to the end her towel fell. She was still in Sasuke's hand, trying to get underwater but, him walking forward, knew nothing. "Sasuke!"
"What?" he said still walking.
"My towel, it fell…" Before she could stop him he turned around and saw her naked body. He let go of her hand and she went in the water. Her towel was no where to be seen. "I can't find it." His own towel was ripped off his body and handed to her. Now was her turn to be in awe. She saw nothing but his butt, because of the way he was faced, but the butt was enough.
"Hurry up and put it on." She did and they continued to the other side of the bath, ready to wait for the mysterious man.
Both figures stood transfixed at what just occurred. Sakura…Sakura just lost her towel and they had both seen it. Of course Kakashi held in whatever he felt but Naruto, his nose was still bleeding. "Good job with taking the towel Naruto."
"That was an accident; Sakura's going to kill me if she finds out."
'This plan is coming out better than I thought.'
"Hey, Sasuke are you okay…you seem kind of mad."
"Wait for me in the hotel." Sakura was about to start but the boy interrupted, "Just go. Now."
"All right. Be careful." The kunoichi exited the bath alone and set off for the hotel. She still couldn't believe that she had seen Sasuke naked. Could this day get any better? Sakura was walking in the afternoon sun and as she made it to the steps in her room, she was knocked out and kidnapped. The men left a note for the Uchiha on the table as they sauntered away with their prize.
Sasuke Uchiha was waiting tirelessly as he looked around for anyone who could have called him out here. No one came but another note came floating by in a basin. As he read the paper he gritted his teeth, they were playing games with him. He hurried off to the hotel to get Sakura. When he arrived he was even more infuriated; she had been kidnapped. He saw the note on the table.
'If you want to see your friend again, bring us our money.' Sasuke was confused. One note had specifically told him where to find his teammates and the other about Sakura's kidnapping. Something told him that both of them were related in one way, or probably the same people, but he decided to go after Sakura first.
Kakashi and Naruto were waiting and waiting for Sasuke and Sakura to arrive. "What's taking them so long? I know he got our note." Kakashi was wondering that as well, knowing that his students would not hold off on saving teammates. He felt something was wrong.
"Come on Naruto. Let's go."
"Where are we going? Kakashi-sensei!" The jounin made his way into the kids' hotel room. He saw many signs of trouble. For example, the door wasn't locked. Looking even more closely, you could see the footprints of the captors.
Sasuke reread the note as it had listed the location for the exchange. He stepped into an alleyway a ways away from the bustling town market just a few feet west. In his hands he held his backpack and then out of nowhere came Sakura and two men. One of them had very dark hair which matched the way he dressed. The other had red hair in a ponytail. His eyes instantly fell to Sakura's eyes which were wrapped by a bandana.
"Give her back to me now or else…"
"Kakashi-sensei, something's wrong isn't it?" Nauto asked as the two rushed tree by tree, following Pakkun.
"You were right Kakashi. Sasuke and Sakura are definitely there, as well as some others."
"Thanks Pakkun, I'll take it from here." Pakkun poofed out. "Naruto," Kakashi started. They were watching Sasuke from a building a little back. "Whatever you do, do not intervene. Let's let Sasuke handle this himself alright?"
"But Sensei…"
"Naruto, this is his pride and his future on the line; do you understand me?" He nodded. "Good, let's just watch."
"Give her back to me."
"You got our money?" Sasuke sported a smirk as he ravaged through his backpack and threw a shuriken. The kidnappers jumped out the way. "Like I'd ever do that."
"So I guess you don't care what happens to your girlfriend then." The dark one had a kunai next to her neck. "Surrender."
"As if." Sasuke's hands moved at incomprehensible speeds and in a second came the phoenix flower jutsu. The fireballs circulated and hit the red head, who had jumped in front of the other. Sasuke ran forward and jabbed at the other in front of him, desperately trying to get the girl and leave.
Sakura felt weird. Her head hurt and it felt like she was tied and on the floor; no matter what she did she saw black. She regained as much of herself as she could and wriggled around. Her arms were definitely tied. "Mmmmm." Her muffled cries did not get unnoticed. Sasuke jumped back as the other closed in; he threw a kunai and two shuriken this time. They quickly ignored the lone kunai, sweeping the shuriken aside and redirecting it at the origin.
"You have bad aim, mate." The red head laughed and the darker one smiled.
"It wasn't for you." Dark looked down and saw the log.
"How? When?"
"My kunai; I freed her and she figured what was next. Now then, let's start over shall we." Sakura appeared next the Uchiha and they took there stances. Together they fought the two kidnappers and Sakura (as well as the fellow teammates) noticed that Sasuke was being a little more rough than usual.
"Sasuke…it's okay. I think they got it." He relaxed just a bit as they walked away. "Thank you for saving me."
"Hn."
As they were already on their way to Kakashi and Naruto's supposed place of capture, the latter jumped down and looked at the mess on the ground. The kidnappers were on the ground bruised and bleeding but of course not without compensation for taking Sakura. Both of them got a few more blows in before they returned to the others.
Sasuke and Sakura made their way into the dense forest in search of the others. The location that was on the note had told them specifically what to follow and once he found those clue, he hurried onto the next one. The duo made it about a couple of feet away from an abandoned village. "Stay on your guard." But not all always went according to plan. Sasuke was knocked out from behind as Sakura laughed and dragged him into the abandoned village before them.
Fire blazed around the boy as he started coming too. The blaze crackled and he felt the heat surrounding him. "What's going on? Where's Sakura?"
"Sasuke?" Sasuke looked up above him and in a cage was Sakura. Her eyes were red and puffy, possibly crying over him. His attention was focused at the people walking toward him. As the inhabitants made their way around the fire, they moved away, as did the water with Noah. A soothsayer sat in front of him.
"Are you the one that attacked us? Where's Kakashi?" The old man said nothing. One of the other men brought up a goat, soon afterword, some chanting started. The goat was killed and lain down. With the sharpest of knives, the shaman cut open a slit and pushed his hands inside the creature; his eyes were closed but his mouth was open to speak.
"Boy, you are the Uchiha known as Sasuke?"
"How'd you…"
"You reside in the land of the fire and tell me you have a rivalry with a boy just as young as you no?" Sasuke was speechless. He looked to Sakura; she looked dead. "We need sacrifices and I will give you a choice, you or the girl."
"What? You want me to choose…"
"Yes. We just need one sacrifice, and since you are the man, you get to choose who lives. Will you sacrifice yourself, or her."
"I can't choose," he replied. He looked again to the girl. "I'm not going to choose."
"Alright then it is not an option. Pick. I will give you a moment to decide. If you try to escape, I will take the girl." Sasuke did not know what to do. How did everything he did get him into this situation. One thing he couldn't ignore was that he actually wanted to do whatever he could to save her; he'd rather sacrifice himself than her.
"Sakura." No response. "I know you probably heard all that and I'm going to free you."
"No Sasuke. Don't do that. You actually have something to aim for; I don't want all your training wasted on me, a girl with nothing in her life for her. I know I have my friends but what can I do." She laughed. "I'm weakest in the whole team, I can't do anything. Just save yourself. It won't be a waste of your life."
"Time's up. What's your decision." The shaman looked into the Uchiha's dark eyes, awaiting his answer. Sakura was about to speak up when he interrupted.
"I'll go. I'll be the sacrifice." His eyes closed as he heard Sakura cry out. The tears fell onto his heating skin.
"Very good. Now just one more thing. Why?"
"What?"
"Why do you want to save her and not yourself?"
"You said all I had to do was decide! Just let her go!"
"And we are," the soothsayer responded, "after she hears exactly why you want to save her. Do you want her to leave without her knowing why? It's not like you're going to see her again, might as well tell her." Sasuke was conflicted. The heat from the fire was giving him a headache and now everything was just ending before him. Why was he letting this decision pester him? The cage was lowered and Sakura was let out. She instantly went to the boy behind the wall of fire.
"Sasuke. Please don't do this."
"It's okay Sakura…" he said as the flames engulfed him. "I'm just glad that you're safe." Her cries rang out in the clearing and the soothsayer spoke one last time before Sasuke was devoured.
"Tell her how you feel Uchiha…don't let her go like this." Sakura's emerald eyes looked into the obsidian eyes of the boy and the last of his breath was used to say only one thing.
"Sakura…you're not that…annoying…" All that was left as the blaze grew fierce was a pile of ash. A zephyr blew past, cooling the hot skin of the lamenting girl and took the ashes on a ride somewhere else.
"It is done. You may leave. Remember what has happened here…"
Sakura looked up at the soothsayer and her vision started to blur. The scene twisted and she woke up to the smell of something burning. She looked around at her surroundings. The cage was open and right next to her. Was that just a dream? Adjacent to the overturned confinement, was a ring of blackened earth. In the center was the boy of her dreams—Sasuke Uchiha. She quickly raced over to him and shook him up.
"Sasuke. Sasuke." He stirred and shot awake.
"Sakura…" he yelled.
"Yeah, I'm here." Again her tears started flowing as she hugged him. "I just had this crazy dream, and now…"
"It wasn't a dream." He got up and examined the site. The blood was there. The ash and the cage were present. "Let's get out of here."
"Take care of her." Said a apparition that faded away. Sasuke could do nothing but smile at the craziness that he felt as they left the village. A ways away, in the depths of the forest they heard rustling and out of nowhere jumped Naruto, kunai in hand, onto Sasuke knocking him down.
"You'll never capture us again!"
"Get off of me."
"Sasuke? Sakura? What are you doing here?"
"Naruto!" They reunited as Kakashi came into view. "Kakashi-sensei," Sakura yelled.
"Where were you guys? When we escaped, we came to find you and now we can get back to the village," Naruto offered. "So," he said with a sly smile, "did anything interesting happen while we were gone?" Sakura blushed but Sasuke walked away toward the town.
The next day Kakashi and Naruto were in front of the hotel entrance waiting on Sasuke and Sakura to return the key. "I hope you guys have a nice day…" The old lady smiled big and winked at Kakashi. Sasuke's eyes followed it to his sensei and of course he was oblivious. They left the town and entered the Leaf Village.
"It's nice to be back home, see you all at Ichiraku." Naruto sped off to the restaurant.
"I'll be going too, bye." With no one around them, Sakura asked Sasuke a question.
"So was everything we experienced at that village real?" Sasuke looked away quickly and started walking; she went up to him. "I know and thank you. Until the day that you admit it, you know I'll be right here." Her pink tresses flowed behind as she walked in the direction of her house. He pulled her back. His hand wrapped around her arm and he turned her around. His lips pressed onto her lips and just as she was getting over the shock he released himself from her.
"I meant what I said." The boy disappeared in an instant.
The students had gone over with Kakashi what had happened, of course leaving out the 'intimate' parts. He was wondering about the soothsayer. That wasn't part of his plan. The old lady, the restaurant owner and the psychic, the two men at the bath, they were his ideas, but the kidnappers and the ghost village? Where did those come from? Fate must have really wanted them to be together. Kakashi went back to his room after the adventurous week and smiled down at the paper in front of him. 'This will be one of the best Make-Out Paradise books ever, with some modifications of course.'
A/N: The end. I hope you all enjoyed it. And I'm not really good at making complicated plans like this so it was a stretch. But anyway… it turned out alright to me.