Soo...how's your summer going? :)

DISCLAIMER: KISHIMOTO-SENSEI OWNS NARUTO! I only own the plot thus far. The song Gentle Lie is composed by the GazettE solely, and they are an awesome band to listen to; the lyrics at the end of every chapter is from the song Gentle Lie! If you call them a boyband, I will bite your head off like I do to gummy bears :O


Chapter 2 - Gentle Lie


Pushing back his long, white sleeve to his elbow, Sasuke observed the scar from the cut he had made on himself earlier. He narrowed his eyes at the marred flesh and let go of his hand holding back the sleeve; it fell back into place. Walking away from the tip of the cliff that overlooked Konoha, Sasuke sprinted away from the sunrise and Konoha, and into the shady forest.

As he got closer to the meeting point for where his group was supposed to wait for him, Sasuke heard the continuation of a pointless conversation regarding him.

"Suigetsu, when do you think Sasuke-kun is going to be back?"

"Would you just shut up? It's not like you're going to die from just not seeing him for half a day."

"It's a little over half a day! It's been exactly 13 hours, 21 minutes and 11 seconds! 15 seconds now! No, 22 seconds! Maybe something happened to Sasuke-kun… What should we do!"

"Juugo, shut Karin up for me. Her whining isn't going to bring her Sasuke-kun back any faster. On the contrary, I'm willing to bet my sword that he's going to run away just in order to escape her shrieky whines."

Slowing down from his sprint, Sasuke walked out into the small clearing without a sound, right into the middle of the irritating source of noise. His gaze fell on a poorly-dressed woman with firey-coloured hair and black-rimmed glasses. Sitting next to her on a rock was the target of her screeching: a white-haired man with a sword strapped to his back. The orange-haired man whom was leaning against a tree noticed Sasuke's entrance and immediately stood up, lifting himself off from the tree. This caused the source of commotion to stop immediately, and three pairs of eyes swivelled to Sasuke, waiting for their next mission.

"We set off now. To the concealed cave next to the small river on the Northern border of Fire Country."

No questions asked, Team Hebi set off with its cold and young leader to the proposed destination.

~-.-~

Eyes opening lazily, Kakashi revealed the newly evolved three-tomoe Sharingan his best friend had given him the day he had turned Jounin. Adjacent to his Sharingan, the droopy-looking charcoal black eye looked down at the splash of vibrant pink hair spread out over one of his pillows. Releasing his grip on Sakura gently, Kakashi left to go to the bathroom to take a shower, not before leaving a gentle and sweet kiss on her head. He quietly shut the door and strolled down the hallway and into the bathroom with a change of clothes in one hand while the other scratched the mess of grey hair on his head.

Sensing his chakra signature fading, Sakura threw off the covers and immediately started to follow the plan she had thought of during the several hours of peace last night. The message that Sasuke left for her shone brightly in her mind, 'Finish your tasks before you go.'

'I only have three days… I thought I would have more time to spend in Konoha. Sasuke said I wouldn't be allowed back for a year...maybe even years. And I highly doubt he would let me come and go as I wish too. I guess I have no choice but to do this…'

Suppressing the presence of her chakra with each step she took towards the bathroom, Sakura opened and closed the bathroom door without a sound. The steam from the shower washed over her, making her shiver. Sliding her black shorts down, Sakura left both her panties and shorts in a pile in the corner of the dark, unlit bathroom. Slowly making her way across the small interior, Sakura made sure not to fall or trip on anything along the way while she tried not to make any sounds as well.

Drawing the curtains aside, Sakura could see the dark and faint outline of Kakashi slightly bending over with both his palms on the tiles outlining the walls of the bathtub. She almost slipped as she lifted one of her legs to go over the rim of the tub. Inwardly cursing herself for her blunder, Sakura made a small splish as she firmly landed in the bathtub on her feet. Kakashi tilted his head up a little at the small noise and said her name in a content tone.

"Sakura."

The pink-haired woman simply wrapped her arms around Kakashi's well-toned stomach and dipped her head between his slippery shoulder blades, sighing as she did so. The two of them stayed in that position for a few minutes, before Kakashi slowly turned around and enveloped Sakura in a wet but warm hug, putting his chin atop Sakura's head.

"Sooooo… to what do I owe the surprise, my little blossom?" Sakura could almost literally see him smiling his crooked smile in the dark that she had grown accustomed to, his image so thoroughly imprinted into her mind. It broke her, knowing the seconds that ticked away on the clock brought her closer to an unhappy departure.

Tip-toeing, Sakura leaned towards Kakashi's left ear and spoke a few words to him that immediately left him shocked and extremely aroused.

"Let's see if we'll need a new bed like last time." Sakura said huskily, while trying hard to blink back her tears. For the tears that had escaped, she hoped Kakashi wouldn't notice and would merely think of them as droplets of water that fell from his hair.

~-.-~

Waking up, Sakura looked at the clock and noticed how it was the crack of dawn of the next day. Realization dawned on her as she remembered it would take at least a day to reach the northern border of Fire Country. Struggling off the bed, Sakura tried not to make any sounds as she got prepared for her soon to be long and arduous journey. After she made sure Kakashi did not awaken to her seemingly loud actions, she walked to the other side of the bed to where he was sleeping and winced as a sensitive spot throbbed from the previous day's wild acts. Green-coloured chakra pulsed lightly on the index and middle fingers of her right hand; she gently placed it on her lover's head. The green chakra left her two fingers and sank into his head; Sakura sighed in both relief and sadness as she made sure Kakashi wasn't awake to catch her leave. Satisfactorily, Sakura grabbed her toiletries and limped as fast as she could to the bathroom as tears leaked from her eyes. 'Damn. I pick my period over this any day…'

An hour later, a showered and fully equipped Sakura kneeled beside Kakashi's beside once again.

"I'll miss you, you know that? I wish I could tell you what I'm going to be doing… but I think it's safer if I don't. Even I don't know what I'll be doing once I leave. Please take care of yourself, since I won't be here to do so anymore… I really liked it when you cooked for me; it was so damn sweet of you. And your cooking is amazing. Not what I expected from a bachelor busy with the way of the shinobi."

Sakura's chime-like laugh pierced the quiet atmosphere of Kakashi's room. In moments, the laugh had faded away, and Sakura's face was covered in tears.

"I love you, so much."

She placed a kiss on his forehead and left, closing the door tightly behind her. She put on a happy façade the moment she exited the apartment and teleported to their old training ground. The training ground where all the disbanded members of Team Seven met and fought their ex-sensei for the first time. Sakura knew Naruto would come to train later in the day to train, he always did; she walked up to the middle log, where Naruto was tied to 8 years ago. Taking out a kunai, Sakura wrote Naruto a message. She finished it with a swipe of her kunai across her wrist, blood spattering underneath the message.

She placed her bloody hand onto the ground and summoned Pak-kun; the pact between them was made shortly after Kakashi and Sakura got together. Telling Pak-kun the situation, she healed herself while doing so. Sakura left him with an unhappy expression even more so than normal as she took her leave.

Sakura teleported out of Konoha to get past the main gate's guards and began her day-trip towards the northern border of Fire Country. And the results of her trip would shatter her cherished bonds no matter how much she wanted to keep them.

~-.-~

Naruto sneezed the moment he woke up from his drooling slumber. Rather, the sneeze woke him up. Looking out the window of his small apartment cubicle that he had since he was much younger, he anticipated the new day, knowing it would bring him one day's worth of training closer to Sasuke's level and his bringing his best friend back to Konoha. Throwing off the covers, Naruto decided to head to Ichiraku Ramen, as always, for breakfast and maybe see Sakura-chan along the way and go training again at the ole grounds. He grinned at the prospect of meeting his sister-like friend, but immediately grimaced after he thought about Sakura-chan's temper early in the morning.

Setting off in his ninja gear with his well-cherished Konoha headband resting on his forehead, Naruto excitedly exited the door. He rounded the corner of his apartment complex before he saw someone he knew down the street.

"Oi! Hinata!"

Stuttering girl replied with a faint "N-Naruto-kun!" as a blush crept up to her pale ivory cheeks.

"Wanna have some ramen with me? I was just planning to have breakfast at Ichiraku's!"

"S-S-Sure." As always.

~-.-~

Tsunade was displeased with what Pak-kun had arrived early in the morning to tell her. The enormous and current hangover worsened her mood even further. Her best apprentice had decided to walk blindly into a lion's den, or… that's what she could temporarily conclude.

"Pak-kun. Tell me what she said to you again."

"Tsunade-sama, Sakura said she is going to join Uchiha Sasuke in his mission. His mission in what, she did not tell me. It seemed as if she didn't know why he needs her either. She didn't tell me where she was going, but she said she would be gone for a lengthy amount of time. She said– no, begged, that under no circumstances are you to tell Kakashi where she has gone. She also wanted me to tell you that she wants you to tell Kakashi that she has gone on a long mission, and it will be at least a year before she returns. Furthermore, she tells me that you should not send anyone to look for her or anything of the sort. In order to gain Sasuke's trust and successfully try to return him to Konoha, Sakura will be forced to either injure or kill her fellow teammates. She does not want to resort to that. As for Naruto, she says she has it covered. I saw the note she left for him, it's on the middle pole of Team Seven's old training grounds. It seems to be an oath of some sort. This is all of what I have seen and been told."

Frustrated and unsure what to do, Tsunade inwardly cursed her young apprentice. Most of the time, Sakura would consult her on what to do. This time, Sakura consulted her only after she had already left. Oh wait, there were no consultations on her behalf, Sakura had just decided to follow her instincts. Tsunade hoped Sakura's instincts were correct and hopefully wouldn't bring her pupil's death or something of the sort. Sighing, she looked at Pak-kun once more with worried and determined eyes.

"Bring Naruto to me now."

'Let's see in the cold bed... Please give me a gentle kiss... The two of us, melting into the silk'


I'm sorry about the almost-lemon in the middle of the story; it's to move the plot along.

- Kanryu out