Zephyr.
chapter.one:.:exodus

Disclaimer; We own naught, we swear. 'Cept the story plot.

Be warned; NejiSaku ShikaIno Mild KakaIru SasuNaru
Haru and Kaori: Have fun reading, cause we (at least Kaori did) had fun writing!

Rain pounded down mercilessly on the shadowy figure of a certain shinobi which swiftly tree-hopped, never seeming to mind the rain which dripped from the hood he was wearing, even though it drenched him through and would have any ordinary person down with a high fever. But then again, this was no ordinary shinobi.

Soon, Sasuke was in the shelter of the village gates. Again, if he were anybody else, even some other shinobi, he would have been crawling from exhaustion, but in all his Uchiha pride he pulled himself straight and managed to stagger back home, where he had a brief struggle with the door knob. Grunting in annoyance, he finally got it open and managed to drag his corpse of a body up the stairs and into his bed, where he collapsed without a care for the world in his bed.

Reaching into the pocket of the forest green chuunin vest, he fingered the two scrolls inside. Due to the heavy downpour of rain and his current lack of energy, he decided, in a rather Shikamaru-like manner, that he was indeed exhausted and should get some rest, and return said retrieved scrolls the next day. Tsunade could wait.

Satisfied with his successful mission, himself, and the world in general, Sasuke sunk into the soft sheets with Uchiha-fan prints, not bothering himself with the fact that he was still grimy with mud. It wasn't long before the sandman heaved his sack of sand over Sasuke, who obligingly gave in. The digital clock next to him beeped 2:00 AM.

At 5 AM he woke up rather grumpily. Three hours of sleep wasn't good for anyone, not even the Green Beautiful Beast of Konoha, and definitely not enough for our angsty sixteen year old. It continued pouring outside. After his usual morning rituals, Sasuke then slid into an old yukata, sat down at his dining table, sipped tea and read 'The Daily Ninja Times', which was pretty much useless gossip which he often scorned, yet read anyway, just so that if Ino came pouncing upon him screaming about useless gossip just like the annoying screechy version of The Daily Ninja Times she was, he could honestly grump at her, "I know."

Itachi, poised perfectly on a tree branch and sharingan eyes activated as was his custom, watched his foolish younger brother alertly. Perhaps…yes, perhaps now would be the time to present such an opportunity to his brother. His foolish younger brother would surely appreciate such an offer. Itachi leaned forward and scanned the windows around him, tactfully calculating his chances of sliding in through a window easily without being noticed. After all, even the best shinobi wouldn't have an easy time getting in through a creaky, not lubricated window noiselessly.

"CREEEAAAAKKK!!!"

Sasuke whipped his head around sharply, and stared at the soaked Itachi. That man… he thought in pure anger and hatred, wishing he had a kunai or something near him.

Caught in the act of not being very smart, Itachi decided to act like he was now an amazingly sweet older brother whom Sasuke couldn't wait to meet every year. "Shit, Otouto, how was I, the almighty great Uchiha Itachi, supposed to know that was the creaky window from 9 years ago?" he asked, scratching his head in embarrassment. Sasuke had no choice but to momentarily have a truce with his brother…that man who had killed his entire bloody clan.

Soon, Itachi was sitting down leisurely, sipping tea with his little brother, whose head hurt with looking at that man without attempting attack on him. So much hatred…he had to bottle it up.

"Foolish younger brother, I have a deal for you."

Sasuke looked up from his minute tea cup which was covered in the fan-prints of the oh so prideful Uchiha clan, "What deal?" he drawled, glaring sharply at Itachi.

"You know about the Kyuubi," Sasuke listened and nodded, "and here's something that, even for all the things you may hate me for, I can tell you truthfully-" he scrutinized his brother's blank expression before continuing-"you are able to extract demons."

Sasuke blinked. If he were, say, Sakura, he would have screamed. Inside, he felt like crying and yet dancing around. So many things, one could do with such a power--! So many things! His head swam with thoughts that came in swiftly, depositing what their whimsical notions that could yet so easily come true with what Itachi had just told him, and as quickly as they had come, disappeared into nothing.

"For centuries, the Uchiha clan has a 'chosen one' who is able to extract demons-"

Sasuke sighed in pure annoyance. "Itachi? If this is one of your attempts to kill me again, then it's not going to work. Even if you said you weren't lying, this is seriously starting to sound stupid, and it's taking all of my will to not kill you. What you're saying is so pathetic that it makes you sound like a pathetic, low-down lousy story," he snarled.

Itachi twitched with annoyance as well. This wasn't going properly. His brother was supposed to listen to him. He thought of when his brother realised he'd killed his friend, even though right now to his brother he'd figure said friend was just another obstacle in his path of killing him, and how much more his brother would be upset. He smirked inwardly; outside, he put on a cold, blank, business-like façade.

"Close your mouth, you foolish entity. I didn't kill you because this is the whole point of the deal. I am not lying either; this ability is just a further extension of our bloodline limit." He leaned in closer, eyes glinting. "My dear little brother, if you will extract the Kyuubi from Uzumaki Naruto, then-" he leaned back, waiting for his brother's upcoming reaction "-I will let you fight me fairly as and when you like," he finished.

Sasuke considered this; he'd finally be able to kill that-that beast who wasn't allowed to live, that miserable excuse of a human being, one which he hated so much with his soul, and yet had to turn to a pathetic snake-man by the name of Orochimaru for help. Not only that, but he'd finally get rid of Naruto. Not bad at all, not bad. Not bad of a deal for a hateful monkey like Itachi to think of. When he was done with these two deaths he would be able to get rid of Orochimaru with all his bottled-up hate; it had taken him so much, and caused him so much pain to turn away. All the wounds that Orochimaru had inflicted burned furiously, telling him to go back to the evil snake lord. Oh, but he would not. He might kill his brother, but never-never again would he turn to evil. He'd let down too many people.

Nodding curtly, Sasuke loosely shook Itachi's hand, indicating he agreed. Itachi nodded, and vanished.

The deal was made.

Sakura pursed her lips in a grim, straight line as she examined her opponent in front of her. Yamanaka Ino. Former best friend, then Arch Rival, then now, best friend again. Both girls had admitted a total loss of interest in Uchiha Sasuke. They'd began to realise he really wasn't that much, and while girls all swooned over his annoyed, biting attitude, they'd grown to be annoyed instead of swooning with them.

Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru leaned against trees, one eying the battle in mild curiosity and examining the way the girls fought, and the other half asleep, watching the clouds as they drifted listlessly, aimlessly, to a better place.

Ino jumped. Sakura easily dodged, caught Ino by the ankle, and, as gently as possible, threw Ino into a nearby tree. Ino noticed the way Sakura held back, and smiled to herself. Couldn't bear to hurt her best friend in training, huh? Didn't matter, because Ino was like that, too. Crashing straight into a tree but only feeling some numbness and no pain, she silently thanked Sakura. Her inhuman strength was creepy, after all. Ino wasn't the only one who noticed this. The two males watching noted that even in battle, Sakura acted much like the medic nin and good friend she was, refraining from actually doing any very serious harm. Sakura herself just smirked smugly, flipping backwards and landing crouched. Wasting no time, the girls went at each other again.

Off white-silver eyes followed the two girls' every movement with ease, surprised at Sakura's speed and Ino's tact. They were pretty well matched, in all truth, if one didn't count the major factor of Sakura's inhuman strength. The rule of the training: first one who pins the other down for more than five seconds wins. Five seconds was, after all, plenty time to kill your opponent.

Sakura seemed to be getting mildly impatient. Drawing two kunai, she leaned forward and ran, feet barely touching the ground. Ino did similarly, and cold metals met. However, Sakura, making use of this connection, levered herself using the touch of the kunai and flipped herself over Ino's head, turning around swiftly, and then sitting on said platinum blonde's back.

"Oi- What the hell? SAKURA-BILLBOARD-BROW, GET YOUR FAT ASS OFF ME!" screamed Ino, attempting to push Sakura off. Sakura, though mildly annoyed at the comment about her weight, just smirked and pushed down harder. Being Tsunade's student had loads of perks. For example, the inhuman strength. Other examples included being able to hold her sake really well, et cetera. Neji, eyes barely showing the smallest tint of amusement, called in his cool voice, "Sakura wins."

Grinning in triumph, Sakura, ever the showy rosette-haired one she was, flipped backwards and did a graceful dance which also helped in calming the body after a battle. Shikamaru clapped lazily, then slurred, "Can we go now? Tch, how troublesome." Ino just grinned widely at him and dragged him off, leaving Sakura alone with the Hyuuga prodigy. Sakura smiled at him, then said, cheerily, "I'm going home now, bye-bye Neji-san!" before turning around to bounce off.

What she really, really didn't expect was for addressed Hyuuga to slowly turn around and walk after her, quickly catching up to her pace. "I'll walk you home," he offered, looking straight ahead. Sakura could definitely feel a blush spreading up her pale milky complexion. It wasn't long before they reached her house. Staring up at the tall, muscular (ooh, thought Inner) Hyuuga, she beamed yet again. "Thank you for walking me home!" she exclaimed, radiating happiness. Neji, turned partly sideways, looked down at her, and for a moment their gazes met and locked, turning Sakura's light blush into an almost-scarlet shade. "Hn," he noted, nodding just slightly, before walking off.

She stared after him a bit, feeling just jubilant. She didn't quite know why, and couldn't quite place the feeling. Unbeknownst to her, it was the feeling that she had gotten back when she was just twelve, four years ago, whenever Sasuke said anything to her.

Oh, yes, the girl was falling. And she didn't even know.

end chapter
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If you are looking for yaoi, then this is not the place. We do not write very explicit things. We may write boylove, but not actual yaoi (yaoi is, technically, heavy boylove, inclusive of smut). Sorry if this comes as disappointing news.

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