Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto Uzumaki. He is the respective property of Masashi Kishimoto.
.(((OoooO))).
The awkwardness in the room was palpable and the deadpan expression that Kakashi had on his half-masked face only made the situation more awkward "Naruto? Really?" Kakashi asked, his face showing no emotions whatsoever. But on inside he was amused by the fact that his student hasn't admitted her defeat yet.
He was about to say something more stupid in respect to the situation but ceased as he heard an infamous sound of birds chirping. Knowing very well about the source of the sound, Kakashi slumped back in his seat and smiled sheepishly at Sayuri, a futile attempt to calm the madly twitching Uchiha. "Is there anything wrong with me still lovi...liking Naruto?" like precisely edged ice needles, her cold words tingled his back and send a shiver down Kakashi's spine.
Noting the aura of death around his student, Kakashi vigorously shook his head and flailed his hand in a defensive manner "No, there's no problem with it." he said.
Sayuri's narrow gaze remained on Kakashi for a while before it shifted to the window beside the Hokage table "I will be taking my leave then." she said as her feet started moving towards the entrance door of the room.
"Sayuri wait!" Kakashi called out, and the result was expected, Sayuri's feet stopped their stride and her head quickly turned around to face him.
"What?" Sayuri asked and frowned ever so slightly when she noticed her teacher's uncertain expression.
Kakashi remained silent for a while before speaking "Umm...there is a mission that requires your assistance." he murmured, not sure whether his student will like the news or not.
The amount of uncertainty that emanated from Kakashi's voice was enough for Sayuri to presume about the other aspects of the said mission "Is Naruto a part of this mission?" she asked monotonously, while a thin or an almost invisible thread of hope wrapped itself around her tone.
Kakashi like an intelligent person that he was, easily spotted the string of hope underneath the cold surface of his student's tone. "Of course, he is. And he is also the one who requested your assistance on the mission Sayuri." at the conclusion of his answer Kakashi didn't know whether to feel sad or happy as he noticed the expression of utter happiness that invaded Sayuri's pale face at the mention of Naruto.
Upon hearing Kakashi's answer, for the first time in the past few months Sayuri felt happy...very happy, and why shouldn't she? After all, her Naruto wants her assistance in a mission and to her, it indirectly means that he wants her near him.
In order to not let others know about her feelings she collected herself and glanced at her smiling teacher blankly "I see... Well, I don't have anything else to do right now, so I wouldn't mind joining him. What is the mission by the way?" she inquired with an intrigued look on her face.
Kakashi scrambled through the large pile of papers that were stacked up on his Hokage desk. After a short while, he grasped a particular sheet and winnowed it out from the mountain of papers. "Umm...he's currently staying in the Fire Country capital. In his letter, he said something about Daimyo wanting to meet him. So I guess he wants you there so that you can handle all courtesy related things in which he's still is a rookie." he murmured while amused by the fact that Naruto still haven't progressed in certain aspects of life.
Upon hearing the information about the mission, Sayuri looked a bit conflicted about the whole thing because during Kakashi's explanation she remembered something very important. "Where is Sakura? Is she with him on the mission? Because as far as I know she never leaves him alone." she spat and the venom that slither in her tone was enough to make even an ever-bored Kakashi flinch.
In order to lighten up the atmosphere a bit, Kakashi's eyes curved upward and formed his famous eye smile at Sayuri. "No, I didn't allowed her to go with him this time. Our poor patients in the hospital needed her more than she needed Naruto"
Sayuri's pursed lips abruptly formed a very wicked yet beautiful curvature. "Ohh..." she intoned, relieved by the fact that at least Sakura wouldn't be ruining everything.
Kakashi sweatdropped at his student's weird antics and coughed lightly to get her attention back "Well, Naruto had also mentioned that due to the elongation of his stay at Fire Capital, he is at the shortage of his fabled less orange clothes. So he asked me to inform you that you should pack some of his clothes with your clothing. These are the keys to his apartment." Kakashi said and handed the keys of Naruto's apartment over to Sayuri.
Sayuri grasped the keys gently between her fingers and turned around to the entrance door. " I should take my leave now, Kakashi." Looking back one more time at Kakashi, Sayuri Uchiha left the room with a noticeable bounce in her stride.
As soon as she left the room, Kakashi let out a long sigh full of relief and slight sadness. He may not show it on the outside, but it pains him very much to see his favourite student acting like a soulless human. From the very beginning of the things, Kakashi knew about the feelings that Sayuri Uchiha held for Naruto Uzumaki. The girl was madly in love with his blond student, but Naruto like a fool he was and still is never noticed them. When the war ended and Sayuri admitted her defeat, he thought finally everything would be great again, but a decision of little selfishness from Sakura's side changed everything.
'Sakura...I hope you realize your mistake soon.' Kakashi thought solemnly.
.(((OoooO))).
Naruto's apartment was as clean as ever. Uncountable ramen cups were littered all over the hall and his dirty torn clothes were covering most of his couch and bed. The pungent smell that deluged the whole room only added additional syrup to the pancake.
'Hmpphh... Idiot never cleans his apartment.' Sayuri thought as she made her way to his dresser, while gracefully avoiding the debris scattered on the floor. Once she was in front of the dresser, she quickly opened it and hauled as many pairs of clothes as she can in her sealing scroll. Finishing up the work she was about to close the dresser but abruptly ceased as she saw a rectangular wooden frame laying under the pile of horrendous orange clothes.
Grabbing the edge of the frame Sayuri gently plucked it out from the clothes. She then brought the frame near her face and saw that it was some kind of a picture, but was unable to see it clearly due to the dirt that had accumulated on the surface of the glass over the years. Bringing her hand above the glass, Sayuri wiped off the dirt from the surface and again looked at the picture.
What she saw shocked her to no end. It was a photo of Sayuri and Naruto dressed up in some formal black and orange kimonos, while they were enjoying the Rinne Festival. The smiles that they both had on their faces in the picture were beautiful and enchanted Sayuri for a moment. To someone else, this may have looked like an ordinary picture, but to Sayuri, it meant everything because this picture was captured at the exact same day when she truly fell for Naruto.
Bringing her thumb over Naruto's face in the picture, Sayuri caressed his whisker marks fondly while her lips curved upward as a bright smile invaded her pale face. "You are... cute, Naruto Uzumaki" Sayuri whispered, her eyes shining with inconceivable happiness.
For a few more minutes, Sayuri just stared at the picture before she sealed it in the sealing tag incised on her left wrist.
Satisfied with her work, she closed the dresser and paced towards the main hall. After arriving in the centre of the house, Sayuri analyzed the hall for a moment before frowning slightly. The reason for her frown was none other than the greatest hidden village, Konoha. As she observed the battered senescent wall of the compartment Sayuri couldn't help but feel a tinge of hatred towards the village. Even after being a hero of the war, Naruto was still living in an abhorrent place like this and the villagers were doing little or nothing to pay him his favours back. "Typical Konoha people" Sayuri mumbled to herself and flicked her ponytail back in annoyance.
She was about to leave the house but a vile whisper stopped her from doing so "Sayuri!"
Recognizing the voice, Sayuri fumed inwardly and tried her best to remain calm on the outside, an attempt in which she failed miserably. "Sakura Haruno..." the words escaped her mouth like a raging snowstorm and inundated the whole apartment.
Sakura flinched at the coldness in her teammate's tone, nevertheless smiled at her "Umm...I heard that you are going to Fire Capitol in order to assist Naruto-kun in his mission." she said timidly, fidgeting her fingers in order to calm herself.
"Yes" Sayuri replied incoherently.
Knowing very well about whom she was dealing with, Sakura bit her lower lip in nervousness "Then can you please give him this" she cautiously held out a red coloured decorated box to Sayuri.
Sayuri slowly took the box from Sakura's hand before her eyes narrowed dangerously at her pink haired teammate "What is in the box?" she inquired harshly.
Sakura's hands twitched slightly at her friend's harsh tone but she kept herself from doing anything that she knew will surely bite her back in the ass "It's a surprise for Naruto-k" before she could finish, Sayuri interjected. "Whatever Haruno, and don't worry I will give this useless box to Na-ru-to-kun" Sayuri said each syllable as seductively as she can and let out a slurring moan at the conclusion.
That did it for Sakura, her chakra laced right hand in an instant rocketed towards Sayuri's left cheek, but before it could even touch anything, Sayuri's left hand grabbed her wrist hard and hauled her to the hard ground.
Sakura groaned in pain and tried to stand up but a light kick to her face was enough to make her kiss the cold ground again. "aaahh" Sakura cried out in pain.
Suddenly, a spark of fear tingled down her spine as she felt Sayuri's lips brush her ear "Don't mess up with me, Haruno or else I will not hesitate to kill you this time" with that said Sayuri started moving towards the door of the apartment.
"What have I ever done to you?" Sakura asked, now sitting calmly on the ground.
Sayuri stopped abruptly and looked over her right shoulder to show Sakura the infamous red hue of blazing sharingan "You took my most precious thing away from me" she answered in a dark tone, her caliginous strands shadowing half of her face.
"Precious thing? I never took anything precious from you!" Sakura snapped, her eyes blazing anger for the very presence of Sayuri.
"Naruto" was all Sayuri said before she vanished in the swirl of purple flames.
.(((OoooO))).
A.N - First of all, I want to thank all of you guys so much for liking this story. I never thought that this story will get so much love from you guys. Please carry on loving this story.
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Alvida/Sayonara.