Preview:
There was a loud knock on the door. I scowl a little.
Opening the doors, I am surprised to see an ANBU operative standing there.
"The Hokage expects you for an S-Ranked mission, pertaining to the missing Naruto Namikaze. You have half an hour to report." The nin was gone just like that.
"Friendship means understanding, not agreement. Forgiveness, not forgetting. It means memories that last, even when we are lost." ~unknown
I stared at Sakura across the breakfast table and smiled. She was pouring herself a glass of orange juice, but had somehow dipped her elbow into the syrup on her plate. Now she was childishly trying to lick it off.
"It is physically impossible to do that. You should know. I thought your were one of the top medic nin in the village?" She smirks.
"I am, I just wanted to be the one to prove the book wrong," I smile, and lean across the table to wipe her elbow, which was stuck out towards me at a strange angle. She huffs, and goes back to her meal.
We had been dating for a few months now and I had invited her to breakfast at my house before training. I had cooked chocolate chips pancakes, knowing they were some of her favorite. As we both reached the last quarter of our pancakes however, there was a loud knock on the door. I scowl a little.
Opening the doors, I am surprised to see an ANBU operative standing there.
"The Hokage expects you for an S-Ranked mission, pertaining to the missing Naruto Namikaze. You have half an hour to report." The nin was gone just like that.
We quickly finished our pancakes, knowing that it could be a while before our next meal.
It had been so long since I last saw her. She had left in a whirlwind, only bringing pain. I had watched her leave that night with my subordinates. It was only about two months after I left.
She just left our poor teammate, Sakura, the last of the original team seven, to fend for herself in the grief I left her in. We are the same in that matter. Now three years later I had returned while she had not.
I knew she was a selfish bitch, but she shouldn't have been gone this long.
That was my only train of thought as I walked to the Hokage's office with Sakura. Sai, the boy who had replaced me while I was gone had already been there outside, waiting for us.
As we walked in we found Tsunade sitting behind her desk, with her hands folded in front of her face. She looked frustrated, almost as if she didn't know what to think. It had been so long since I had seen such a pensive look on her face, that I became slightly worried.
"Is something wrong? You seem troubled," Sakura said cautiously, looking upon her old mentor with concern. It was then I notice the paper sitting on her desk. She lifted it up and pointed at the signature. I would notice the girlie scrawl anywhere. Sakura snatched the paper from her fingers and read through it. She glanced up at the older woman, tears in her worried, sorrowful eyes.
"Where did you get this?" Her voice was broken, much like it had been when she spoke to me the first time I returned to the village...
It was raining.
The drops clung to my cloak, and the cold was oppressive. I could hardly stand in the sight of the old village gates. As soon as the guard saw me, they jumped at me, weapons raised. I raise my hands in surrender, causing them to give me confused looks.
"I finally escaped the tyranny that has oppressed me for so long. I have returned to the village as a willing to servant, and will face whatever charges the Hokage places on me."
As we walk through the streets, people glared at me. Some gave me looks of fear, whilst others hid their children behind their legs, trying to protect them from the evil that I had once been. It saddens me how well I understand their reluctance to let me back here again, to become a part of the community, to even see my face.
It had been a long two years, years that I can't say I miss. I've done many things I regret under the command of the wretched man Orochimaru.
Just as we're turning the corner to the Hokage the tower and catch a familiar head of pink hair into my vision. She's walking towards me. She's wearing the same red dress that I'd seen her in the first time we met, the one with a white circle across the front. Her apple green eyes are looking at the stores as she walks past.
Her eyes scan across her field of vision, when finally the land and mine. They widen, and she gasps, dropping everything that was in her hands. It seems I've interrupted a routine grocery trip. Her hand covers her mouth, and her eyes fill with tears.
"Sasuke?" Her voice is so broken and cold, that it stings my heart and brings tears to my eyes. I nod. She walks up to me and stands there, frozen. Then, with blinding speed her hand reaches up and strikes across my face. I don't flinch, I know I deserved it. It's not the physical pain that hurts me, though. It's the fact that she had every right.
"I'm sorry. I knew Orochimaru wouldn't leave me alone, and I couldn't let him put you in danger," I said as I got down on my knees in the mud, pressing my face into the puddle beneath me. I stay completely still waiting for her response.
"You left for two years, abandoning your teammates, your village, and any responsibility you had left to your clan. On top of that, anytime me or Naruto came to find you and bring you home, you tried to kill us. You slaughtered countless people, and you expect us to forgive you?" Her voice is even more broken then it was before, and it shakes often. I keep my nose in the dirt, silent and submissive, showing proper respect to someone I had wronged.
"I want to be there to see what the Hokage says to you, when she tells you that scum is scraped off our streets, but has more purpose than you do in this world." She grabs a fistful of my hair and drags me the rest of the way through the mud to the building...
Now as I watch her struggle, I understand the pain she feels, and felt, at having lost someone, but getting the chance to have them back again. What hurt the most about her leaving, was that the man, her godfather, the one accompanying her, training her, had returned home without her. Over a year ago.
He had stumbled and the village with no recollection of what happened in the last two weeks. No recollection of how he had lost Naruto. The note he had shown us told us not to search, but of course we didn't listen. We had searched for months.
She continues to study it, before covering her face with one hand, and, dropping into the chair Shizune had placed behind her, held it out to me.
I take the paper from my pink haired woman's hand, I don't know what to feel.
I'll be coming home soon. I sent this ahead on a fox, my favorite, Rukia. I expect her to be well taken care of. I can't move very fast in the state I am in.
I'll explain everything they get there, which should be about a week after Rukia gets there. Have a team of medics on standby at the village gates, I will need them. Don't tell Jiraiya, I need to speak to him myself.
Thanks,
Naruto Namikaze
It took me a few moments to process when I was looking at, but when I did my eyes shifted to the woman behind the desk. I gazed into her amber eyes, which seem to remember the same thing I had moments before, and I speak.
"How long ago did you receive this?" I had to fight to keep my voice steady.
"Six days."
"No offense, but why did you call us here?"
"I want you three to go find her. She should be close to the city, and I'm sure, if you take her fox, you will find her. Sakura can handle the on site healing, but I want to look over her when you guys return."
"When do we leave?"
"Now, if that's possible."
"Yes Hokage!" We turn to leave, but she stops us. We turn around a look at her.
"Make sure all of you come home safely." We nod and smile. Then, I nod at the other two, and we take our leave.
We raced through the village, reaching speeds I never thought possible. We fly through the gates so fast the ANBU guarding them have to do a double take to catch us in their vision. I'm looking all around myself, listening so intently, trying to catch the smallest sound of my teammate, my old teammate.
After an hour two, I hear the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing. Someone shouts but it's not a voice I was happy to hear.
It's the voice of my older brother, Itachi.
The footsteps stop, and there is a loud thud.
Then another voice, weak and feminine, tries to respond, but comes to a strangling end. I'm not close enough to understand what they're saying, but I can understand the emotion in their voices.
Itachi seemed to be commanding the female, while the female the been arguing, fighting back. We were finally within hearing range, as the deep voice of my brother spoke again.
"Let her go, and I will go back with you. Just please, let her go." I freeze at the edge of the tree line. I have never hea`rd my brother's voice sounds so heartfelt and broken in my entire life.
I can see them now, a man with bright orange hair, wearing the red and black clouded cloak of the Akatsuki, stands with his back to me, his arms wrapped around something, the girl I presume.
My brother stands across from us, his expression pained, but his hands are at the ready, to fight or perform ninjutsu. His black hair is ruffled, and his tear troughs are even deeper than I remember. His sharingan flares in an attempt to intimidate his opponent. I see now that he was trying to protect the girl. His eyes widen a fraction when he notices me. I put a finger over my lips to show him to be quiet, and he nods slightly. My team masks their chakra more than they already had as to avoid detection.
The man with the orange hair tilts his head, seemingly thinking. He hums then replies.
"No, I have quite enjoyed her company." Itachi growls in disgust. I'm thoroughly confused by his meaning. As the man shifts his grip, I take this is my chance and leap forward. I place a kunai on his neck.
"Do as he says, or I will not hesitate to murder you, you disgusting bastard." The girl in his arms gasps, and I look down at her. I suddenly recognize the familiar blond hair pulled back in a small, thin braid that reaches her lower back. The man finally releases her.
"Itachi, would you care to explain who this man is?" I ask, as the young blond girl sits down on the ground a ways away facing the opposite direction. I notice that she is in a bloodied tank top, and her bare arms are covered in bruises and cuts, probably from a previous fight. Three foxes trot out of the forest and sit with her.
"It's none of your concern. Take her and leave." I decide not to argue. After walking over to the girl I picked her up, not bothering to look into her eyes, and take off running.
After running for an hour, I stop and clearing and set the girl down. Her bright red fox, who had been following this the whole time, laid down next to her sleeping form with Rukia. Sakura asked us to leave the clearing so she could do an examination. I nod, then decide to set up a perimeter while we wait.
"What did the Akatsuki want with her? Who is that?" Sai asks.
"You mean you didn't see the fox and whisker marks on her face?" He shakes his head.
"That is the jinchuriki of the kyuubi, a dear friend of mine, and our target. That was Naruto Namikaze."
AN: I'm not a fan of author's notes, so I'll keep it simple. I want you to review, to tell me what you think, and how I can fix it. PM me if you have anything in particular you want me to add, like a character.