Disclaimer:
I don't own Naruto, but I own all my own stories. I would never stoop
as low as to copy someone else's work (unless it's fan-ing… Lol!).
Naruto is just slightly changed! XD'Inner
Sakura thinking/talking to Sakura'
"Speaking
normally"
'Thinking
normally'
A
Visit From Tobi
I
got out of bed knowing – just knowing
– that today would be a weird day. Of course, I didn't know what
kind of weird – good or bad?
Nevertheless, I was cautious.
I made my breakfast in two minutes flat, and threw on my usual ninja attire, before pausing suddenly on my way out the door. 'Oh, yeah... I have the day off today.'
'Then it must be a good day!' My inner cheered.
I shrugged, but couldn't help myself from nodding in slight agreement. It had been months since I last had a day off, being ANBU now, and even reaching close to the position of the third ANBU team's captain, but not quite, as Naruto was holding that place for now.
'Speaking of whom...' I quickly rushed to the kitchen, checking the time as fast as I could. 'Ugh. I slept in 'till three?!'
Well, it kind of made sense, as I hadn't gotten back from a particularly tiring S-classed mission until around four in the morning. Oh, wait... Three...? I sighed, already running back to the front door of my small house. Peaking out the window at the top of the wooden door, I saw a huge cloud of dust. 'Good. I'm on time today. Steady....'
The cloud of dust grew closer.
'Steady ... and .... GO!'
Thrusting open the door as fast as I could, the cloud of dust (and now a bundle of orange was visible from inside it) flew into my front hallway, slid across the hardwood floors, crashing into a suspiciously handy plant about five feet in.
"S-Sakura-chaaaaan!" The person whined, groaning as he tried to stand up from the mess that he had just created.
"Yes, Naruto?" I asked as sweetly as possible, but in my head, Inner Sakura was just laughing so hard. It took every amount of self control and ninja training I had to not do the same.
"You did that on purpose!" he exclaimed, finally managing to stand as his body swayed slightly. "That's not fair!"
"What are you talking about?"
He scowled. "I always come at this time and that plant-" Naruto pointed at the shattered remains of what used to be a very pleasant cactus. "-was never there!" He paused. "... Tha- That's a c-c-c-cactus, Sa-Sakura-chan."
I nodded slowly, eyes widening as I just realized it myself. 'Whoops... I grabbed the wrong plant last night to place there...'
The blond turned to me with a pained and troubled look. "Ow...?"
I sighed, crouching down to the floor, as I knew he'd be there soon enough any way. "You alright?"
He fell down right after I'd said that, just as I had predicted. "N-nope."
'I was right, after all. It is going to be an odd day. Starting off with good, then heading to bad. What next...?'
Inner Sakura, however, thought differently. She was, by now, on the floor of Sakura's mind rolling around, as she held her stomach, laughing. 'Shh! You're gonna make me laugh!' Sakura hissed to Inner Sakura.
'Priceless!'
'And people wonder why I seem to have a short temper...' I muttered inwardly.'Hey! Don't go blaming me for your short fuses!' My inner snapped, her last few chuckles subsiding.'But it's true!'
(End
POV) --
At
the Hokage's Tower, there was a slight dispute rising up between two
well-known ninjas.
Tsunade glared at her eldest apprentice, and gave out a warning growl. "Shizune..."
"Sorry, Tsunade-sama," Shizune sighed. "But I can't let you have any more sake."
"Where. Is. My. SAKE?!?!"
Shizune winced. "Uh, I, well, you see... It's-"
Thankfully, she was interrupted when the door to the Hokage's office flew open, revealing the younger apprentice of the Godaime; Naruto slung over her shoulder with many... What looked like needles sticking out of his whole backside.
"Uh, Sakura...?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the said kunoichi.
"Yeah... I put the cactus in front of my door instead..." Sakura explained, shifting hers and Naruto's weight back and forth on her feet.
"... Ouch." Shizune muttered.
The two already knew Sakura's daily ritual with Naruto bursting into her door, and how Sakura would do just about anything to get him to stop - hence putting a plant in his way. The cactus, however, was not part of this plan.
Tsunade sighed. "Let's see, then."
Sakura nodded heaving the moaning blond onto her shishou's desk. "He must have turned around in an attempt to stop half way through; therefore landing him on his backside."
Tsunade nodded, already getting out some tweezers and hydrogen peroxide.
"AGH!!" Naruto shrieked, trying in vain to crawl away from the three women. "Not that stuff! It burns..." he whined, then turned his 'chibi eyes' to Shizune and Sakura in a desperate attempt to get them to pity him.
His teammate, however, wasn't affected in the least. "Sorry, Naruto. It's for your own good."
Naruto sighed in defeat, before his eyes lit up, his hopes up one last time. "Couldn't you do this with chakra, Sakura-chan?"
She shook her head. "Nope - we can't cure everything with chakra!"
"Alright; stop you're whining, I'm pulling them out now."
The injured blond gulped.
--
Some few miles from the Hokage Tower, Tobi bounded through the tree-tops happily. "Gotta find something, gotta find something!" He chanted, every now and then adding, "Deidara senpai and Sasori senpai will definitely agree with this!"
Just as he was nearing the Konoha gate, however, he heard a loud and painful shriek reverberating from a large tower near a huge mountain. Tobi's eyes widened from behind his swirly mask. "They torture people in their Hokage Towers?! ... Tobi had better hurry, then..."
He cringed at another piercing scream. 'I don't like it here...'
Tobi hurriedly put on a previously bought disguise (as jutsus could easily be seen right through), then walked solemnly through the Konoha gates and along the path, nodding with a regal air at the guards...
'Wow! Tobi's good at being a high-class civilian!'
... Of course, just because he was composed outwardly, didn't mean that he wasn't still childish inwardly.
--
Sakura grimaced a bit as she gave Naruto a few comforting parts on his back as he sat on the edge of a hospital bed – most of the prickles were gone, and the last few weren't in a too ... personal area, so he was safe enough to walk around and sit down again. His back, however...
Oh wait, she had just touched his back.
'Whoops!'
Sakura sweat dropped as she noticed his glare in between each pat, and quickly removed her hand. "Sorry!"
The blond grumbled a bit, but was otherwise quite forgiving.
Of course, the offer of free ramen for the moment he felt he could stand again, didn't have anything to do with it...
She sighed. "Uh, well, get better soon, Naruto. That way we can go eat ramen together, ne?"
He sent a grateful smile up at her. "Sure, Sakura-chan!"
After talking and joking around – carefully, of course – for a couple hours (he needed entertainment, apparently), Hinata came in unexpectedly and Sakura took her leave then, grinning to herself the whole way out of the hospital.
After all, it was obvious they wanted some alone time...
--
Tobi was surprised. Which wasn't all that odd, but seriously? Pink hair?! Now that was most definitely something you did not see everyday... He watched as the pink-haired young woman walked out of the front doors of the hospital, just wandering in the general direction of the Konoha gates.
Could she be a foreigner, too? No – she was from around here; her hitae-ate was proof enough for that, along with the way she could greet almost every single person she saw down the street by their right name, both citizen and ninja alike.
She was rather ... pretty... Ah ha! Maybe she would do...? After all, he needed an art both Deidara-senpai and Sasori-senpai would agree on, and he was pretty sure a woman would do anyway. Tobi always thought they were so pretty! He wanted one for himself, but had never been allowed... Oh well.
Well, now was his chance. To get one for his senpais, of course. Not himself, no. Definitely not.
'BUT TOBI WANTS HER!!' He thought, childishly pouting to himself – inwardly, though. 'Yeah, Tobi's going to take her. She'll do!' He grinned happily underneath his black mask (AN: I made him have a mask in his disguise, too, as I don't want to describe his face ... yet. XP Maybe in one of the sequels...?).
Completely satisfied with his decision, Tobi followed the kunoichi through the market place, along the village's roads, and finally to the final stretch of the path out of the village; chakra masked the whole way. She was just a couple meters from the front gates, when she suddenly stopped and turned to a stone bench on one side of the path.
She looked like she was going to keep going, ignoring it, but, as if on impulse, walked over and sat on it.
'Maybe Pinkie-chan wanted to ... rest? But she's a ninja and an ANBU, at that! Why would she need – er, want, to re-'
But Tobi was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard her start to speak to herself.
"Every time – every single, freaking time!! I just can't go past this bench without stopping. Why? I don't even..."
She babbled off, but he wasn't listening (his senpai had explained to him very seriously that it wasn't good to listen in to conversations, especially if they were personal. Maybe he shouldn't have leaned against the door and listened in on that one about- No. Tobi didn't like those memories.).
Instead, he watched her. Watched the emotions across her face and took in the details of her features and clothing; something he couldn't do earlier.
"I don't care anymore!"
Well, that brought him back.
"I've got a mission to do."
'Oh... That's why she's out here.'
"Just a simple delivery mission."
'She shouldn't talk to herself so much...'
"Which is pathetic, considering- ... I've got to stop talking to myself." She mumbled.
He almost giggled, but instead decided that he didn't have much time left, so he had to get this done. 'Well, let's go, Pinkie-chan! Maybe you'll actually end up liking me instead of this baka boy who knocked you out and left you on that bench!'
Okay, so he was still listening in, but that was besides the point! It was now time to complete his mission...
--
Sakura sighed. It was about time to get going. She didn't feel like being out of the village any longer than she had to. She could do with a nice bowl of comforting ramen with Naruto, or maybe some dango and pocky with Ino...?
Definitely time to get going.
Just as she was standing up off the bench and heading towards the Konoha gates, however, her sharp, trained ears heard a soft rustle.
Sakura spun around immediately, her hands at her kunai holder and lifting it, instinctively, but she was too late. After all, every second wasted is just another second to be used by the enemy.
Whack!
She was out cold in seconds, only seeing a black cloak with red clouds and a swirly orange mask before fainting.
"Sorry!"
And
Sakura landed with a soft 'plop' in awaiting arms. Well,
hope that everything makes sense now, and
------
AN:
ALRIGHT! This one shot here goes on during Tobi's Akatsuki Life.
Basically a prequel or a... Hm. I wonder what they're actually
called... Tee hee! Anyway, the point of updating this today,
specifically (and yes, there is a point besides total guilt... XD)
is: MY BIRTHDAY!! Mwuhahahaaa! I can rule over my life for a day and
it feels good...
Lol
Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.
Thanks to beta: Lady V-chan
You're awesome for getting this back to me on time!!- Cady:D
Ps. The part at the very beginning was inspired by this rather funny quote; 'You know it's going to be a bad day when you fall out of bed and miss the floor...'