Goodmoooooooorning, Konoha! Today's a big day! Oh ho ho, 'ay Kanabe, don't we have some huge news to tell our listeners?
"Unnngh..." A boy with a mop of dark messy hair groaned, rolling over in his bed.
We sure do Chocobe! It's really big this time, too!
He reached out his pale arm from under the covers to slap aimlessly on the small table next to his messy bed.
Well, Kanabe, let me be the one to tell them, alright? I'm dying, too! I just might burst!
"Let me sleep..." He moaned loudly, trying to get his death grip on his kitty alarm clock.
It's bad boy and company head of Uchiha Co., Itachi Uchiha, and he's returned to Konoha!
The dark haired boy gasped and immediately shot out of his bed. He ran over to the table and picked up the alarm clock. "WHAT?" He screamed at it.
It's really gonna make the girls go wild, eh, Chocobe?
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Sasuke growled to himself, flinging the talking-cat alarm clock onto the floor where it rolled underneath his bed. Sadly he could still hear it, but tried to ignore it as he threw his school uniform on. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
It's gonna make some guys out there get wild, too! With envy that is! Say, Kanabe, doesn't Itachi have a younger brother here in Hidden Leaf City?
Tch. Sasuke finally finished buckling his pants and grabbed his book bag from his desk. He gave his unmade bed that harbored his dumb alarm clock the finger before flinging his door open and leaping out the tiny apartment. He didn't even bother to lock it.
He wasn't coming back.
Oh, you mean that yummy Sasuke Uchiha? He's like a carbon copy of Itachi, except he's much more quiet. He's got that emo look on him that girls just die for! Including me!
Hey, Kanabe, you better stop that right now! He's only fifteen, you cradle robber!
"Ino, what's Uchiha Co.?" A girl with long pink hair asked incredulously, taking another sip from her soda dully. The girl with long blond hair seated in the driver's seat turned to look at her in disbelief. Her cerulean eyes seemed to be saying 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me?'
"Please tell me you're being sarcastic or something." Ino demanded, turning the volume up on the car radio and paying attention to the road.
Can you blame me? I mean, those two brothers are just Gods. They must get their genes from their sexy father, God bless his soul, Fugaku.
Oh yeah, hasn't it been a year since Fugaku, God bless his soul, was killed? Along with his wife Mikoto, God bless her soul?
Assassination, I tell you! Listeners, haven't I been telling you it's assassination? It was assasination!
The pink haired girl shook her head at the radio. "I-I don't recognize any of these names..." She confessed sheepishly. "It's a terrible thing that happened to them, though. Those poor boys."
Ino scoffed and punched the breaks when the light blinked red. "Sakura, I swear, have you been living under a rock for these past three years in Rain Country? Uchiha Co. is international! You should know about them. Everyone does."
Sakura sighed. "Oh God, can you just tell me what Uchiha Co. is, already? It's killing me." She moaned, turning to pout at her friend.
Ino rolled her eyes. "Basically, Uchiha Co. is one of the hugest Corporations in the world, and they own a ton of big companies around the world. You'd be surprised at what they own." Ino explained, her eyes concentrated on the road. "They're billionaires. Celebs. Stars. Really Sakura, it's painful for me to have to even explain all this."
Sakura raised her eyebrows in amusement. "Ino...I never expected you to be so interested in business..."
"Sakura, I'm not. Sorry to break it to you but I haven't changed a bit those three years you've been in Rain Country." Ino told her, laughing. "It's not the business that makes me so hot. It's the people running the show. That's what makes me hot."
"Y-You mean...um...that Itachi and Sasuke, guy...?" Sakura struggled to remember their names. "They're handsome or something?"
"GODLY." Ino corrected, nearly jumping up in her seat just thinking of them. "Oh my God, I can't even decide who's hotter. Oh, Sakura, I used to have a picture of them with Fugaku and Mikoto in my car but Shikamaru ripped it up when he found it." Ino shook her head sadly. "You need to see Itachi...but you'll be able to see Sasuke."
"So you have a photo of the Sasuke guy?" Sakura asked hopefully. She was intrigued by all the hype on the two males, and she thought she might as well see what the big deal is anyways. They seemed interesting enough, and their family complex was almost heartbreaking. Like a soap opera.
Who knows? Maybe she'll fan girl, too.
"No." Ino answered, pulling up into the school parking lot. "He attends the same school as us. Awesome, right?"
Sakura spluttered. "WHAT?" She gaped, as they unbuckled their seat belts. "He's a fucking billionaire, what's he doing in a public school? Shouldn't he, like, I dunno...attend a fancy-shmancy private school or get home schooled?" Sakura demanded as they stepped out of Ino's sleek red car. "Or at least something more extravagant that...this!"
The green-eyed girl motioned towards the huge gray brick building before them in dubiety.
Ino laughed. "Your first time seeing my school and you're already judging it." Ino scoffed, linking her arm with Sakura's before walking towards the school. "Not that you're wrong or anything. For a public school, this high school really sucks ass."
Sakura noted the girls who had their plaid uniform skirts hiked up all the way to show the edge of their panties and their tops buttoned all the way down to their stomachs. The girls all gave her an either pitiful look after they saw her with Ino, or gave her a dirty look, or just ignored them completely as they continued their way into the building.
Something told the Haruno that her friend Ino wasn't very well liked.
"So, what would a billionaire be doing here?" Sakura whispered, not wanting other students to hear her. She had a feeling that Konohagakura High School was a very chatty high school, and that the gossip circulated quickly. She did not want the school labeling her as the billionaire-shit talker on just her first day at the school.
"I don't know. Truthfully, I don't think anyone does besides his friends." She told me as she led me to her locker. "His best friend attends this school, so that could that be one reason. And all his other close friends go here, too."
"TEME." A boy with blond hair screeched when he jumped into the black and red bugatti veyron. The blonde carried an orange book bag on his back and two giant duffel bags in his hands. "TEME. On the phone you promised you'd tell me what's going on! What's going on!"
The boy called Teme eyed his friend's giant duffel bags. "I told you to pack light, Dobe." The boy said, quickly turning on the engine and speeding away from the house with a loud SCREEEECH. "It's him, Naruto."
"Him?" Naruto asked questioningly, never tearing his gaze from the boy. Naruto looked confused for a moment as his friend remained silent. Suddenly a flood of emotions washed over his face when realization hit him. He looked almost broken as he gulped and stuttered. "D-Do...ya m-mean-."
"Didn't you listen to the radio this morning? Or watch the news? Or something?" The boy demanded, concentrating on the road. "Yes. He's back. In this city. Right now. And me, you, Shikamaru, and Neji need to get the fuck out of here."
"WHY SHOULD WE?" The blonde spat, beginning to spazz in his seat angrily. He looked almost as if he was about to cry as he clenched his fists. "HOW MANY TIMES SHOULD WE HAVE TO RUN AWAY? I WANT TO END THIS NOW, SASUKE-."
"SHUT UP, NARUTO." Sasuke hollered angrily, turning a violent turn on the road as they sped towards their school. "There's nothing we can do to end this besides running away. Don't be a fucking retard and lose your motherfucking life that I've been working so fucking hard to protect."
"BUT TEME, WE CAN END THIS!" Naruto continued, as he pulled out his cell phone shakily. "We'll go to the police station...or the national guard, or something, with Shikamaru and Neji as witnesses including you and me...and we'll get hi-."
"BUT ITACHI RUNS THE SHOW!" Sasuke screamed, driving past a red light. "HE RUNS EVERYTHING. NO ONE'S GONNA LOCK HIM UP. NO ONE WOULD FUCKING DO IT. THEY WON'T BELIEVE US, EVEN WITH OUR EVIDENCE."
"W-We'll ruin his name!" Naruto had tears and snot streaming down his face. "He'll be done for. W-W-We'll be free."
Sasuke sighed and ran a finger through his hair. "No we won't." Sasuke told him calmly, still driving like a maniac through the city streets. "Nothing will take away his money or power or henchmen or Akatsuki." Sasuke kept his eyes glued on the road. "We'll never be free."
"Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki are their names?"
"Mhmm." Ino responded, applying lip gloss as she gazed into her locker-mirror. "Shikamaru's my boyfriend that I've been telling you about." She put down her lip gloss and handing a square photograph to Sakura. "This is them."
Sakura's eyebrows shot up when she saw the glossy picture. "They all look like...models." Sakura gasped, chuckling a little as she continued to study the picture. "So...uh, who's who?"
Ino looked over her friend's shoulder and pointed to each of them with her checkered-manicured finger.
"This one is my Shika-baby." Ino cooed proudly, pointing to the guy who pulled off the sexy-lazy look with dark pineapple shaped hair.
"This one is Neji Hyuuga, he can be kind of a dick at times. Oh, wait, they all can be like that." She pointed to a handsome guy with long black hair who seemed like the kind but quiet type.
"This one is Sasuke's best friend since they were babies, Naruto Uzumaki. He's extremely loud and always hungry. For ramen." She pointed to a guy with spiky blond hair and huge blond eyes. His eyes seemed to be lit with fireworks and he had his arm swung around the last guy.
"And that, sweetie, is the infamous Sasuke Uchiha."
Sakura's attention suddenly snapped to Sasuke. She wasn't sure why she couldn't tear her eyes away. Was it because she was never so attracted to someone like this before? Was it because he was indeed 'godly'? Or was it because of his eyes.
His eyes that looked so sad.
He was, more or less, the dark, tall, and handsome guy girls cooed about in those chick flicks. Except, he seemed a little more cold and a lot more distant than any girl would prefer. He had messy black hair that looked as if it was never combed. It added up, since his expression was oozing with the 'I don't care' persona. But that's not all it portrayed.
Sakura saw a little bit of fear in his face, and especially in his eyes. His sad, dark, terrified eyes.
"Hey..." Sakura said quietly, handing the photo back. "U-Um...what classes are he in?"
She needed to see him in real life.
She needed to see those eyes.
"Who?"
"Sasuke Uchiha."
Ino froze. She turned to look at Sakura solemnly before resting her fingertips on the girl's shoulder. She stared right into her eyes and said calmly, "Sakura, let me advise you to stop now."
"S-Stop what...?" Sakura stuttered, looked at her friend with confused eyes.
"Stop loving him." Ino demanded, looking at her directly in the eyes. "It's no use. Save yourself the hurt. Almost every girl in this school, including myself, has either loved him or is still trying. He's not interested in anyone. Give up now and find someone else."
"I-I..." Sakura wanted to ask more, but decided she needed to make things clear. She pushed her friend away lightly and laughed. "Love him?" She repeated disbelievingly, swinging her own locker shut. "I don't think so, Ino. I don't even know him, like, c'mon, seriously?" Sakura laughed again before adjusting her book bag on her back. "I'm not the type of girl to fall in love with pictures."
Ino shrugged and turned back to her lip gloss.
Well, Sakura though to herself as she waited for her to finish. I wasn't that type of girl...until now.
"We brought our things." Neji announced, unlocking the trunk to Sasuke's veyron. Each of the boys took their luggage and flung them inside before locking it up again. The Hyuuga turned to look at Sasuke. "So, where're we heading?"
Sasuke shrugged, leaning against the sleek car with his hands in his pockets. "I thought you'd know where we should go."
"Somewhere far away." Shikamaru quipped, yawning loudly.
"Somewhere with lots and lots of ramen!" Naruto said cheekily, washing his face of all the tears and snot from before.
Together, the boys felt strangely calm. Even though they were all aware that as they speak they were being tracked down by a ton of men. Men with bulking arms and machine guns and knives. And criminal records. Criminal records that had AKATSUKI stamped on them in big fat red letters.
"Ah! We'll go to my cousin's place in Suna." Neji contributed, his eyes lighting up slightly. "My family there is...pretty hardcore, if y'know what I mean. We'll be safe there."
"Suna's pretty far away." Sasuke agreed, nodding. It looked as if relief was washing over his face, even though he knew they still were not out of the woods yet. "We'll go now. We can't take any airlines, because Itachi definitely monitors them, so we're gonna have to take the veyron."
"WOOP. ROAD TRIP!" Naruto screeched excitedly, flinging the tissue onto the ground and unlocking the car's shiny door.
"Wait."
All the boys froze and turned to look at their black haired friend. "What's up, Shika-baby?" Naruto asked teasingly.
"That's exactly it. Shika-baby." Shikamaru replied. "Ino. I need to tell her I'm leaving."
"Just call her, then." Neji retorted impatiently.
"We don't have the time for you to go see her and I cancelled all of your phone plans this morning so that he can't track us." Sasuke informed them, opening the car door without looking at him. "Furthermore, no one remaining in this city should know where we are. They'll be tortured for information and tell on us."
"Uchiha, I need to tell her I'm leaving." Shikamaru repeated defiantly. "And you-know-who's going to come after anybody who had any relations to us, I need to tell her where to keep safe. You guys get going. I promise, I'll meet you guys at the outskirts when you reach there."
"That's too way risky, man!" Naruto complained, clinging onto the boy's arm. "They'll kill you!"
"This is why we agreed not to date or make any friends anywhere we go." Neji sighed, shaking his head as he stepped into the car.
"I have to tell her." Shikamaru continued, shrugging the weeping blond off. As he ran out of the gas station, the boy hollered over his shoulder at his grieving friends, "I'll be fine! You guys go! I'll be there! I promise!"
"That's weird." Ino commented, flipping her phone shut.
"What is?" Sakura inquired, as they entered the empty girl's bathroom. Ino sighed and placed her blackberry back into her purse slowly.
"I-It's probably nothing, but,...Shikamaru seems to be absent today." Ino informed her as she distracted herself with the graffiti'd mirror. "And so are Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji. A-And...he's not picking up his phone. It says it's out of service."
Sakura sucked her lips in her mouth. "That is odd." She agreed, taking a seat on one of the sinks. "Maybe...they're sick?"
"Y-Yeah, that's probably it." Ino said shakily, taking out her lip gloss. Sakura noted the way Ino's hands shook and felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach. "T-They're always together, it's no surprise they'd end up catching each other illness or whatever. Ha ha."
"Yeah..." Sakura nodded, studying her friend's movements closely.
Sakura couldn't place what it was, but something was odd. Absences aren't that much of a big deal, and neither were phone plans.
Something else was up. Something that made Ino look as if she wanted to wet her skirt.
"H-He probably just forgot to pay his phone bill or something." Ino reasoned, letting out a forced laugh. It seemed almost painful. "H-He lives by himself, y'know...they all do."
"Ino. U-Um..." Sakura began, walking over to her friend. The blonde turned to look at her as she put a hand on her shoulder. "A-Are...y-...u-um...w-what's going on?"
Ino stared at her blankly and her eyes widened to the size of gulf balls. After what seemed like two minutes of silence, Ino opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of 'LOVE SONG' by Big Bang's instrumental.
Both pair of emerald and cerulean eyes snapped to Ino's purse. "Ch'ya! It's him!" Sakura squealed excitedly, grabbing her arm.
Ino quickly groped inside her purse for her phone. Her eyes were brimming with hope as she pulled out the black berry without bothering to check the caller ID.
"SHIKAMAR-." Ino froze only two seconds into the phone call. Her face slowly went from crest fallen to...petrified, again. It was almost dramatic how it changed, and it made Sakura's heart twist into knots as she witnessed it.
"What?" Sakura demanded hoarsely, pressing closely to the blonde. "What? What is it? Is it him?"
Ino ignored her as she continued to listen to whoever it was on the other end.
Sakura, wanting to respect her privacy, waited patiently for her to finish. She was beginning to feel the same amount of anxiety as her friend was feeling, though she didn't know what it was they feared. She just knew she feared it terribly.
"I-I..." Ino said into the phone, but it was evident she was interrupted. Rudely, may I add.
After a minute or two Ino began to scream into the pink phone. "YOU WANT INFO? I'LL TELL YOU INFO." She spit on her phone. "BUT IT'S UP MY ASS, JERKS."
Ino then slammed her phone onto the cold bathroom floor and stomped on it repeatedly. Sakura watched with horror as she continued to destroy her expensive phone until it was just a mass of bolts, wires, and screws rolling around on the floor. A small strip of electricity bounced around the material before it died for good.
Ino was heaving heavily once she was done, staring at it angrily. "TRACK THAT WITH GPS, BITCHES." Ino screeched, tears beginning to stream down her face and splatter onto the floor. She was sobbing hysterically, almost pitifully.
"Ino? INO." Sakura hollered, grabbing her friend's shoulders in an effort to get a hold of her. The hysterical girl turned to look at the worried Sakura with blank eyes again. "INO. WHAT'S WRONG? WHAT HAPPENED?"
Ino shook her head desperately and the salty liquid seemed to increase their race down her face and neck. "I-I...Sakura..." Ino sobbed, dramatically dropping onto the floor. Ino rested her forehead on the standing Sakura's stomach as she held her hands. She sobbed again before shaking her head. "I-I'm...Shikamaru's in trouble. My baby is in trouble. A-And..." Ino sobbed again. "We are too."
"W-What do you mean?" Sakura inquired, dropping to her knees in front of her blond friend. She cubbed her face in her hands and made her look at her. Ino saw that her friend was just as terrified and scared as she was. "Ino. Please, tell me what's going on."
"I-I'll tell you...while we're on our way to Shikamaru's place." Ino told her, sobbing as she wiped her face. She stretched out her hand. "Gimme your cell phone. We need to smash it, or they'll track us again..." Ino sniffled. "That's why it's not safe for us here. School's over for us."
Sakura put her faith in her childhood friend, and flung her simple flip phone onto the floor. Together, the two girls smashed it to it's pathetic pieces and poured water over both their materials.
Once they were satisfied that the devices suffered a well deserved death, they hurriedly exited the bathroom door and made their way to the school exits.
When they reached the school parking lot, they made a mad dash for Ino's red car. "Get in the nissan!" Ino ordered, struggling to run in her high heels. In the end, she flung them off to quicken her pace, her bare feet beating against the dirty floor.
Sakura felt the fear begin to boil in her stomach at her friend's actions. To make Ino give up such vital material objects, such as her blackberry and high heels, just proved that Ino was not kidding.
That they really were in danger.
"This is some first day." Sakura mumbled to herself, as they continued to run towards her car. She squinted at the car came to view, and almost screamed when she saw a dark figure standing next to it. She gulped. "I-Ino!"
"It's Shikamaru!" Ino announced gleefully, relief drowning her words. Sakura felt reassurance from Ino's tone, the girl really felt safe around this guy.
"Ino!" Shikamaru hollered, running to meet up with them. He looked stricken with fear, and Sakura felt herself get heavy as the reassurance quickly fled her. She looked at her blond friend and noted that she looked crest fallen at her boyfriend's terrified demeanor.
"Get out!" Shikamaru screamed, dashing towards us. In a matter of seconds he tackled the two girls onto the cement floor. The three quickly rolled backwards on the floor as they heard a loud metallic boom that made their ears split. With that, a series of smaller explosions were heard.
Sakura couldn't hear anything with the two students on top of her, but from under their arms she saw red splashes. They were painting the air. They were blazing.
It was fire.
Ino's car was on fire.
A huge clump of the engine came flying through the air and nearly missed them as it crashed down next to them. Hot oil began to stream onto the cement as the trio quickly edged away from it. It looked as if it could melt flesh.
In fear, the three fleetly jumped up and stepped many feet away from the throbbing engine. They turned to look at the tower of fire and smoke that was once a beautiful sleek red nissan.
"M-My car..." Ino whispered disbelievingly, staring at the blaze.
Sakura felt tears stream down her face, because in the fire, she swore...she saw a face. An evil face.
"That could have been us..." Sakura gasped, sobbing hysterically. She still had no idea what the fuck was going on, but all she knew was that things were accelerating at a pace that was going to take them down a path she didn't know of and didn't want to ever find out. "I-Ino...I can't..."
"It's too late." Shikamaru interjected, taking his girlfriend's hand bravely yet his hands were shaking terribly. "You're just as involved as us now. They wanted to get everyone who may know about the incident."
"Shikamaru." Ino began shakily, her voice cracking as she gripped his hand. "Y-You...have to tell me now. I'm already involved now, you can't protect me from that anymore. You need to tell me."
Sakura blinked.
Ino didn't know what was going on either.
"I will." Shikamaru replied after awhile, breathing in heavily as the fire began to die down a little. His breathing was just as shaken as theirs. "After we get to somewhere sa-."
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH.
They snapped their necks around quickly to see a giant red and black car speed in through the parking lot's entrance at full throttle. And it was coming their way. They shrieked in a loud hysteric as the car honked repeatedly, as if to signal them to move out of the way as it zeroed in on them.
"MOVE." A voice hollered from the car, and the trio quickly jumped from their positions and rolled on the floor away from the car. It slowed down right in front of them. After a moment of silence, and after realizing they had miraculously survived (again), Sakura looked up slowly. Staring at her right in the face was a tough car tire that was labeled BUGATTI VEYRON.
The car doors quickly swung open and three teenagers dissolved in front of them, each with huge menacing guns wrapped around their finger tips.
"SHIKAMARU. INO!" Naruto shrieked, running over to the three kids on the floor. He looked over at Sakura. "PINKY! YOU'RE ALL BLEEDING!"
"Where are they?" Sasuke demanded, inspecting the area. He never tore his eyes from the fire. "And who's she? What happened?"
"I-I told you guys I'd meet you at the Outskirts." Shikamaru coughed angrily, helping Ino up as Naruto helped Sakura up. "At least that way you'd guys have a chance to escap-."
"We decided, that we're in this together." Neji told him, handing him a huge gleaming gun. "Our escape missions wouldn't be a success unless we all escaped, got it? Don't try to go solo on us again."
"We were about to go back, and then we the explosion from miles away and came back at full throttle." Naruto informed them. He turned to look at the girl with pink hair and green eyes. "Hi. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Who are you?"
"She's Sakura Haruno, Ino's friend from way back. She moved back here a day ago." Shikamaru explained, leading Ino into the car. "I'm sorry, but she's involved in this now, too."
Sasuke tore his eyes from the fire and grabbed the pink haired girl's arm. "Ino, use the radio to contact your parents. Tell them to throw out your papers." He then turned to look at the girl. Sakura finally saw the destined sad eyes before her, and they were staring right into her mind. "Do you have any family?"
Sakura shook her head. "No. I don't."
The boy looked at her interestingly for a moment, before shoving her towards Naruto. "Get her into the car. We all need to get the fuck out of here pronto." Sasuke ordered, climbing into the driver's seat. "They'll be here any minute."
"Who?" Sakura asked, bucking her seat belt. She felt a strange sense of relief and safeness as the car doors shut close.
"The Akatsuki."