Sinking.

He was sinking beneath the depths of his sanity, hand reaching out in the hopes that anyone would reach out to grasp onto it, pulling me from the black depths that seemed so interested in pulling him to the bottom of wherever it was that he was lost within. Bright blues would gaze above him with a foggy grasp on what was to be his reality, body feeling so heavy despite the ease that he was floating down further and further away from the surface.

"-i"

Such a pretty voice.

It was such a shame that it was so far away.

"-I!"

On second thought..maybe it was closer than he thought.

A soft sigh would escape the Saito heir before his eyes would close, mind overpowering the illusion and bringing him back to the grasp of reality as those bright blues would slowly open, a small smirk forming across those pale lips as those cat-like blues danced with a mischievous light as they took in the form of his cute little teammate. Yuna Tsukino was easily someone who was more than capable of catching someone's eye with that blue hair and those bright blue eyes along with those very pretty features, it was almost a given that she would grow up a to be a very stunning kunoichi especially when one took into consideration that she had a very gentle and patient demeanor along with an affinity for medical ninjutsu.

She was going to make some lucky bastard very happy one day.

"Now, now Yuna. I was having a very nice dream and you had to go and wake me up."

That voice was silky and smooth, as he purred softly up at the kunoichi, gifting her a smile that was akin to a cat who finally managed to eat the prized canary. A soft groan would leave him as he would stretch and managed to pop his back after having stood up before his gaze would fall upon the blue-haired kunoichi who leaned against the pillar, that smile widening as he would all but skip to her side, cool hand lifting to gently lift the girl's chin so those eyes would meet his own as his hand moved to cage her in as he would lean down, smiling when he saw those eyes widening and the slightest bit of color forming on those cheeks.

She was too cute.

"I think I deserve a little present from you for being such a good sport and waking up when you called for me, don't you?"

Closer and closer he leaned in, smile widening as he could almost feel those pretty lips against his own before he would feel the familiar presence of the famed fun killer, a sigh leaving him as he counted down the seconds before he knew that he would be sent flying by the nightmare that was their third teammate.

Three.

Two.

One.

It was a matter of seconds before the long-haired male would find himself laying on the ground. Dazed blues would blink curiously up at the sky as he tried to recall just what had happened and how he had ended up on the ground when he had just been by Yuna's side only seconds before, pieces clicking into place a moment later as his gaze would fall upon the glaring third member of Team One and it all came falling back into place.

The nerve of that hard-headed Akio!

The Saito heir would manage to calm his growing anger as he sat up, breathing heavily before those cat-like blues would turn upon their glaring teammate as a low hiss would leave the long-haired male.

"Surely you do know that it is not necessary for you to throw me each and every time you see me with our teammate, Akio. Yuna is more than capable of telling me if she is uncomfortable. Perhaps you should use that brain of yours before I decide to lock you into a genjutsu so powerful that you will not be able to find your way out of it for the next three months!"

"I would like to see you try you-"

"Ah- Please do not fight you two. Now is most certainly not the time or place. Ryosuke-sensei will be here soon and the last thing we need is for him to catch you two fighting like a bunch of-"

"Children. Children. I thought we had all grown too close for a bunch of silly arguments. I'm pretty sure I told the three of you that I needed you all to be on your best behavior. That means no fighting, Yuuki or Akio! The Hokage is trusting us to accompany a squad of genin fresh from the academy and you all need to be on your best behavior."

The three genins in question would turn to fall upon the form of their sensei, each having a different reaction to his sudden arrival as the Ninjutsu user Akio would simply look away as he huffed silently in protest, the young woman on their team would hang onto every word that the older man said before looking at the other members of her team with a sheepish smile while Yuuki would easily have the most memorable reaction out of the three.

He simply smirked.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with who we're going to be teaming up with, would it sensei? I could have sworn I heard something about Team Seven getting a higher ranked mission after their version of Akio complained to the Hokage himself about how boring the missions are and all of this other juicy gossip."

"That would certainly explain why Ryosuke-sensei is on edge. Isn't Hatake-sensei the Jonin for that team?"

"Everyone in the village has talked about how long he's been pining after Hatake. Maybe this is the chance he needs in order for him to-"

"I don't know where any of you heard any of this, but I'm going to be kind and give you a chance to run before I come after all of you. Make fun of my issues, will you? Let's see how well all of you do once you're busy dodging whatever I feel like throwing at you."

For a moment the three would stand there, staring at the older man as if they were contemplating just how serious he was before that familiar dangerous glint in his eyes paired with the dark smile was enough to send the three running away as though the hounds of hell were on their heels, Yuuki being the only one who was clever enough to duck and hide while subjecting a few passersby with a few minor genjutsu that would send his sensei in a circle a few times before he would manage to catch on and by then it would have been safe for him to change locations.

He was not going to be an easy target, that was for damn sure.