A/N: Sorry for the super late and super short update. I did say I will post sporadically . I know I know, it's still no excuse! Well, thank you everyone who reviewed, your comments really encourage me to keep writing, no matter how minimal I do end up writing. =) Welcome new readers! Remember to read Love Charades first!
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Chapter 2
At exactly fourteen hundred hour, Neji arrived at the door of Konoha's residence obnoxious blond as ordered by his ANBU captain. Honestly, when he saw the note, delivered by his captain's falcon summoning, the Hyuuga prodigy had to reread the note 3 times to make sure that his eyesight hadn't failed him…or something.
'Report to Uzumaki Naruto's home at exactly 1400hr tomorrow. Do not be late.' Said the note. Uzumaki Naruto…Uzumaki…Naruto?
Everything sounded very customary except for the location of the meeting. But since he was never prone to disobeying orders, Neji pushed his weariness of the meeting place to the back of his mind and bravely knocked on his cousin's boyfriend's door. There was some scrambling and Naruto's distinctive voice saying 'Get the door teme!' followed by what could only be an Uchiha's trademark silence before the door actually opened.
"Neji, glad you could make it, come in," Team Seven's captain greeted him with an eye-crinkled smile. By now Neji's weariness was crawling back up to the surface; Team Seven + His ANBU team = Headache, the teen concluded. Inside Naruto's small (and getting smaller) apartment held everyone he expected to be there except for Sakura. How odd… and a bit suspicious. His captain was staring out the window, looking for all the world like he was contemplating the meeting of life, and everyone else was scattered among the blond's dirty floor.
"Am I late?" Neji asked, seeing as everyone was already there, even the Copy Ninja, and that's saying something.
"Nope, just on time! Alright! Let's get this mission started!" bellowed Naruto from his seat on his dirty bed. Neji entered the room and took a seat on the floor next to a bored looking Shikamaru. "Mission?" He questioned uncertainly to the shadow user but only received a lazy shrug in response.
"Our mission," Itachi suddenly announced from his place next to the window, "is not sanctioned by the Hokage, but is top secret, and shall remain that way until it is over. Any failure to do so will be dealt with swiftly." He finished grandly with a pointed death glare to everyone in the room. The others, besides Naruto and Sasuke, stiffened at the implications of what will happen to them if they somehow leaked information out. Top secret…unsanctioned…death by punishment if leaked…could Itachi be planning to..!
"Itachi…! Are y-you…planning a Coup d'état?!" Shisui yelled while jumping up from his seat next to Kakashi. His trademark Uchiha eyes were widened in horror. An eerie silence followed his outburst.
It was Sasuke who felt that it was necessary to break the tension in the room. Really, leave it to Itachi to make a task so mundane sound like a S-rank mission to overthrow the Hokage. Well maybe to his aniki it was as difficult as a S-rank mission. But still, no need to give everyone a scare.
"As always Shisui, your deduction is forever off the mark," he stated drily with a stab at Shisui's ridiculous conclusions of Sakura's lover that dreadful night at the inn. "What Itachi really mean is that-"
"He SUCKS at giving Sakura birthday presents so he is begging us to help him." The glare Itachi sent at the room's solo blond-head is nothing short of a promise of death but Naruto was too excited to notice his imminent demise. Itachi had to reason with himself that it would not be a good idea to kill his future Hokage and girlfriend's best friend. So Naruto lived another day to say other dumb things.
"A birthday present…for Sakura? That's our top secret mission?" The million of wheels inside of Shikamaru's head started to spin rapidly until everything stopped a millisecond later and he came up with 4 conclusions. Troublesome. Troublesome. Troublesome. Shouldn't have come.
"Awww, little Itachi is growing up and buying gifts for girls," Shisui wiped away non-existent tears. "I'm so proud. I still remember the days when I thought you were gay." Cue kunai thrown at Shisui's head. Good thing he is Shisui of the Body Flicker or else he would be walking around with a kunai sticking out of his forehead.
"I really don't see how this has anything to do with us Taicho," Neji spoke up. Why was he always getting dragged into his captain's love life? It's just not normal team dynamics.
"Doesn't it?" Itachi replied cryptically while giving Neji an intense red-eyed stare. Suddenly, the three members of his ANBU team shivered simultaneously, caught in an illusion of Itachi's imagination of the future.
Sakura opening a gift box.
Finds a new doorknob.
Itachi telling her that her door's handle needed replacing, hence the birthday gift.
It's the latest model, he says.
Sakura bursts out crying and chucks the doorknob at Itachi's head.
Itachi arrives at the practice field with a huge lump on his forehead, girlfriend-less.
Shikamaru, Shisui, and Neji 'training' for 3 days straight.
Them walking home with limps and battle scars. Three bodies in tatters.
Repeat scene three times.
Illusion over, Itachi questioned innocently, "Shall we get started?"
The trio gulped. "….yes taicho."
The men of Team Seven hadn't seen the illusion but they could only image what horrors the ANBU team had seen. One thing was certain though; this might just be the hardest S-rank mission of their lives.
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"I can't believe we are here, just kill me now…" the youngest Uchiha mumbled as he tried his best not to cower away from the suggestive stares that he was getting from the middle aged women at the end of the aisle. To his right, the Hyuuga genius was keeping a lookout towards the other end of the aisle. He too was also trying to put up a stoic front and was failing miserably. Unconsciously, the two shifted closer to each other.
"If any of them approach us, I'll kill you if you kill me at the same time," Neji bargained when he saw a woman wave at him flirtatiously. Sasuke nodded solemly, "Deal." Then, they turned so that they were back-to-back, solidifying the first Hyu-Uchi alliance. In this unfamiliar territory, they only had each other. They had to remain strong; a united front is better than a single one.
But how does one maintain their masculinity and virtue when surrounded by erotic reading materials and the touchy hands of the people who read them? They can't.
Welcome to Lustful Literature, the second home of Hatake Kakashi.
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My preemptive attempt to answer all your brewing questions:
1. What's going to happen?! Um...a lot of wacky stuff! Haha, the boys are in a Romance book store, so...use your imagination! Or better yet, wait for the next update heheh. Why a bookstore? Reread Love Charades! Just kidding. But I did mention that Sakura loves her romance stories =P.
2. When is the next update?! No clue, whenever I finish writing it!
3. Is Sakura going to be appearing soon? Yes, next chapter she will make her "The Hopeless One" debut, please await her!
4. Itachi doesn't talk much does he? No, he doesn't. His eyes speaks for him =)
Thank you again for your reviews!
Love,
Rainxdrops