Chapter 1
A/N:Okay I updated this story again because it's the most popular. Hopefully you guys didn't wait too long for this chapter. -TheGnRFangirl
Every week our schedule was the same for three weeks. During the weekdays Sasuke and I would spar with each other and I'd heal our wounds after every match so we could just keep on training relentlessly. The only reason we'd ever stop was because we had to sleep and rest our tired muscles. During the weekends Sasuke and I would go to our jobs so that Itachi could take the time to just rest and relax.
For a while it was nice to have that schedule but Sasuke and I both started to notice something. We were starting to read each others movements way too easily. I could see that Sasuke had his little quirks that allowed me to predict what his next move would be.
When he was going to use a fire based attack he made a gesture with his hands. When he wanted to use his lightning attacks I noticed that he would drag his feet just a little on the ground as if he were trying to create friction. He always stood still whenever he was going to engulf his body in flames so that was an easy one to see.
Sasuke had always been able to predict my moves because of his family's long lineage. The Uchiha's eye pattern developed into something that allowed them to see what their opponents movements and at certain times copy them if it was within their ability. It also allowed them to sense what kind of medium someone was or likely to become.
The thing was that he no longer needed his family's gift to predict my movements anymore. I had developed a few quirks when I used my magic. He could tell either by stance, hand movements, or the way I attacked him to predict my movement and spell.
I know that everyone has these weird habits that they can't get rid but we tried to anyway. Sasuke explained to me how he was able to predict my movements and I told him about his weird little quirks. We tried to hide the quirks but it wasn't possible. We knew each other too well now and couldn't kick the habits that we had developed.
I didn't really have any idea how we were going to get past this problem but Sasuke had been thinking about the problem ever since it came up. He always seemed to be thinking about his next move constantly and always looked for the best choice. I just tried to let my body fall into some sort of momentum and go with the flow.
He told me his idea on how to deal with the current problem that we faced. We learned pretty quickly that Madara was paying closer attention to what we said to each other during training but he couldn't watch us forever. He trusted us to be on our own when we went to work. He started to explain his idea during our break one Saturday afternoon.
The family restaurant here was a rarity in this city. There weren't that many here that many parents felt comfortable bring their children to. Where we worked they were more than happy to hire the two teenagers who were trying to help out their "ill" guardian. We'd given them a sob story when we came here looking for work. They believed all of it.
During our breaks we usually just walked around since we didn't eat anymore. Sasuke didn't like to waste time and today was no different. As soon as we were a few blocks away from the restaurant he told me his idea.
"Let's fight other mediums." He just blurted out as we walked.
"How do we do that without getting arrested and having Madara yell at us?" I asked him.
"The place where we train used to be used as an arena back in the old days."
"So? We can't just put an ad that says 'FIGHT US IN OUR SECRET LOCATION.'"
"We don't have to invite anyone to our location. There are still some underground fights that go on underneath the city. Their at night so we can easily sneak out."
"What makes you assume that I'm going to participate in this?"
"I'm assuming that you will because I'll go with or without you. If I go alone then I can easily surpass you as a fighter."
"We won't be able to sneak off at night."
"The fights don't usually last long. We can make it back before dawn."
"Madara's been checking our rooms since my nightmare."
Sasuke stopped walking when he heard this.
"How do you know this?" he asked me.
"He woke me up on accident when he came to my room." I explained. "He's just making sure that no one is going to kill us in our sleep. The nightmare I had has him really paranoid."
"Speaking of that did you ever remember who the red haired woman was?"
"I actually forgot about her. I don't think she's really significant."
"If she's part of the nightmare then she's significant."
"Weren't we talking about sneaking out?"
"Grandpa can somewhat tell the difference between a clone and a real person so we can't use that spell. If we sneak out without the car he might think that we're nearby and won't be able to find us."
"That seems like something I'd come up with. I doubt that will work."
"Then what's your suggestion? I'd love to hear it if you have a better idea."
"Madara told us not to pull any stupid stunts remember? If we discuss it with him maybe he'll agree."
"Suppose he says no. He'll know where we'll try and run off to and will make it harder for us to try our idea. If we do this now then we can show him that it's a good idea and that we can take care of ourselves."
"Somehow I think you just want to defy Madara."
"And I think that you're scared of getting in trouble. I've thought this through for a while now. It can work and we won't get in trouble. If we do then I'll take the blame okay? I'm the older one anyway so he'll blame me anyway."
"I'm not scared of getting in trouble and I know that you've been thinking about it. You always think about everything for an eternity before you do something that can be either reckless or just plain stupid."
"Hey, nothing I do is stupid and if you're not scared of getting in trouble then why don't you want to come with me? What's bothering you?"
"I just want to be sure that you looked at all the possibilities before we jump into this. What about your brother Itachi? Shouldn't he be a factor to?"
"I don't think we should worry about him unless he's checking our beds with grandpa."
"Fine you win. When do we sneak out?"
"I want to talk strategy first."
I rolled my eyes when he said that. He was starting to over think things now. I understand that we have to prove to Madara that this was a good idea but not everything was going to happen perfectly. I thought we both learned that lesson back in the Uchiha Manor. Neither of us expected to see Madara or Itachi appear in the Manor. We didn't think that anyone was still trying to destroy the Uchiha clan. I didn't really want to argue with Sasuke anymore though. I just wanted to go back to work since our break was probably close to being over.
After work ended at six we made an alteration to the whole idea. We were just not going to go back home. We had about ten minutes before Madara would actually start to worry and come looking for us. The fights took place down in the sewer system in arenas similar to the place where we trained. The sign ups for the fights took place in the day so it was good thing that we weren't going home until later tonight.
We decided to go use the alleyways rather than the side walk to lower our chances of getting caught. We kept looking over our shoulders every once in a while though to make sure that we weren't being followed or chased. This wouldn't have bothered me much if we didn't have to walk so far to the abandoned part of the city. I don't know exactly how our destination was since Sasuke was the on who took the lead. The alleyways shortened the walk but only a little. The walk felt like an hour to me but I was only guessing. I didn't really bother to carry my phone anymore since all I ever used it for was to check the time. There was nobody for me to really call or text so I never bothered with the bill anymore.
As we neared the less populated areas of the city I started to hear the footsteps of other people around us. The alleyways in this city magnified most noises so it was easy to hear things in here. I started to walk a little closer to Sasuke out of fear. The last thing I wanted was to get jumped by street gang in alley. I know that we could easily take them on but would we use our magic or make a run for it? I wasn't curious enough to find out so I walked ahead of Sasuke.
He grabbed my arm to get my attention and I looked straight at him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Don't you hear the other foot steps?" I asked uncertain of my sanity now.
"It's just other mediums." He stated. "They won't attack out here above ground. We only need to watch our backs once we get into the sewer system."
"Thanks for the reassurance." I told him sarcastically.
He just smirked a little bit and walked ahead of me again. I know he told me not to be on the lookout just yet but I Wanted to see who was walking around us.
I still didn't see anyone behind us at all and wondered if Sasuke was only "playing" along with me. I was about to give up on my sanity when I noticed something fall from above so I looked. There was nothing there at first but I noticed that I could see a face or the top of someone's head every once in a while. Who ever was around us decided to run on the roof rather than walk on the ground. I wonder why they were doping that.
"The entrance to where we want to go is in one of these buildings." Sasuke told me. "I didn't really want to talk with any of them so we're taking the lower route for now."
"Out of curiosity; can you read my mind?" I asked only half serious.
I saw a smirk playing on his face but he kept himself composed. We only walked about five more minutes before Sasuke decided we needed to go up to the roof tops. He climbed up on one of the fire escapes that were in the alley and made his way to the roofs. I followed him quickly because I didn't want to be alone in the alley way. Sasuke waited for me at the top. I noticed that a few of the other mediums were watching us.
I got the feeling that a majority of them were veterans of the arena fights. They didn't have the eyes of killers though. No one died in the arena anymore because it would be pointless to spill blood over nothing. The wars between medium families had supposedly died down hundreds of years ago. Very few families feuded anymore. The spells that were used in the arenas could cause some very serious injuries though.
I didn't see anyone that looked like they might be new to the arena like me and Sasuke and that made me extremely nervous. I know that my spells all work so far but I was still nervous about using them in front of others. I would be the first healer who could us my family's magic for things other than healing. I had no idea how people would react at all.
I kept following Sasuke though. I'd come his far and I didn't want to just abandon Sasuke after I agreed to help him.
"So where are we supposed to go from here?" I asked.
"There's an old stairway up ahead that's always left open." Sasuke explained. "It'll lead to some underground passages."
"How did you find out about this again?"
"I overheard someone talking about it."
"Yeah right." I muttered.
Of course he wasn't lying about the stairway or the passages. We went in with everyone else. I tried to act like I wasn't nervous but my hands wouldn't stop shaking so I put them in my pockets. The stairway wasn't as narrow as the passages. It was obvious that someone created the passages down here with magic but they were so narrow that we all had to walk in a line. I was still behind Sasuke the whole time but AI didn't dare look behind me. I just kept looking forward and acted like this was no big deal. This place didn't give off any bad signals; despite its appearance; so there was nothing to really worry about.
Eventually the passage became wider and I was able to next to Sasuke again. He looked in my direction for a second and just kept moving forward. We just walked for probably five more minuted before a familiar scent drifted to my nose. It was the scent that came only from the sewers of this city. The scent wasn't overwhelming which meant that wherever we were heading it was bone dry like the place we had made our training grounds. It took some time before we were out of the make shift passage way and in the sewer.
Down here everything seemed to echo around us. I could even pick out random words that the others were muttering. A majority of them were talking about me and Sasuke. Because I could only hear the random words that they muttered too loudly every once in a while I couldn't really figure out what they were talking about.
Right now my biggest concerns at the moment were Madara and Itachi. Would they be able to find us? Would they even bother to look in the arenas that were underground or did they think that Sasuke and I had been kidnapped? I felt guilty for doing this to them but I didn't want Sasuke to come down here alone. Specially since if I look around a majority if the people here were in pairs or small groups.
"Are we almost there?" I asked Sasuke.
He only nodded yes. He didn't turn his head in my direction. He just kept looking forward. I looked in the direction he was and noticed a huge opening up ahead. It looked about the size of the door that was in front of our training grounds. I knew that was where the fights were going to be held.
"Start taking in deeper breaths when our fight is about to start." I whispered to Sasuke.
"Why?" He asked.
"It'll get more oxygen to your blood." I explained. "I do it when we train so I can keep up with you."
"Have you been trying to create a spell for that?"
"Yes and it's not done."
"Okay."
We walked right through the entrance and I was amazed by how big the room actually was. The ceiling was the same height as our training grounds. The area where the fights was a perfect circle and it was about seventy feet in diameter. The area where people could spectate the battles added about another thirty feet to forty feet to the diameter of this place.
"Are you two new to this place?" I heard a male voice ask.
I turned in the direction of the voice since I knew that we were probably the only newbies here. The guy who was talking to us The man talking to us had dark brown eyes and hair. He wore a bandana on his head and had what looked like a senbon acupuncture needle in his mouth.
"We're new to this city." Sasuke answered.
"I suggest you get to the stands now if you want to see the fights." He told us.
"We're here to fight not watch."
"Really?" he crossed his arms in disbelief. "What makes you think that I'm going to let too high school lovers fight in this arena?"
"First, we are not high school lovers. Second, are you really the on I charge of the fights here?"
"I am the referee and the announcer for this arena. I don't own the place at all but I do control who gets to fight and who doesn't. Now try to give me a reason why I should let two puppies like you fight."
I heard growl a bit in the back of his throat. I grabbed his arm in case I had to restrain him. I know that he hates being treated like a child. I guess that's what happens to you when you've been alive for so long. Sasuke only looked seventeen but I knew that he has been around much longer than that.
"We've been trained in combat already." I explained to the guy. "We both know how to use jinxes Sasuke's family is made up of mostly attackers who love to use fire based spells. I'm just a healing medium and the first in my family."
"You two seriously think you can handle the arenas?" He asked us. "There may be no more deaths in these fights but people can get seriously hurt. How well can you heal?"
"Well enough to keep us both safe." I answered.
"Fine." He said with a sigh. "You two can fight."
He pulled out a peace of paper and pen then handed it to us.
"Write both of your names on this paper." He said. "You cannot bring your books into the arena by the way. There's a chance they'll get destroyed so don't keep them with you."
I was so glad that we didn't bring our books with us at the moment. I saw Sasuke write down his name fast and beautifully. There was an elegant flourish to his writing that I envied a bit. My handwriting wasn't messy but it was as beautiful as Sasuke's. Sasuke handed me both paper and pen.
"Write down the name that's on your book." Sasuke instructed.
"I already told you though; my last name is Senju not Haruno." I told him.
"I know that's what you told me but the names that's printed on the book is your actual birth name." Sasuke told me. "On my book it has all the names of the Uchiha who've used it before me including grandpa and Itachi's names. Besides, grandpa said that the Senju were another medium family from the old days like the Uchiha."
"My mother never told me I was adopted though!" I yelled at him.
"Keep your voice down unless you want every one to stare at us." He said quietly. "Your mother may not have told you anything so you could be happy. I don't know if this is hard on you or not but you need to write down Sakura Haruno. Please, I'm not asking a lot from you right now."
The thing was; it wasn't hard on me at all. I easily wrote down my "real" name on the paper that the man gave us. I know I probably should have been arguing about my with Sasuke . The guy who owns this about this but it didn't seem to matter to me at all. Sasuke handed it back to the man.
"Thank you for your cooperation." He told us. "For future meetings, my name is Genma okay. The opponents are chosen at random so don't expect to ever be evenly matched with your opponent."
"Would mind not mentioning our last names?" Sasuke asked.
"We never say the last names here. It's for safety reasons. We just need your full names on this in case of death."
He put his hand in his pocket and brought out two black bracelets.
"Wear these every time you come here." Genma instructed. "They'll glow when your names are called. Any questions?"
"How many deaths occur in the arena?"
"About one every year. We have fights everyday of the year."
"Good to know. Where can we wait?"
"Out here until the matches start. Go and make friends or something." With those final words Genma walked off.
Genma didn't just walk into the crowd. It looked more like he became a part of the crowd and disappeared. I kept staring in wonder in the direction that he left in. I felt someone's hand touch my shoulder. I turned to look at Sasuke.
"Let's find a quiet area in here."Sasuke said to me. "I want to see if I can locate Grandpa and Itachi."
"Want me to help?" I asked.
"Yeah, try to locate Itachi. I'll focus on grandpa."
There was a small area where people were just listening to iPods and MP3's. No one would notice us too much in this group.
Sasuke crossed his arms and closed his eyes; I mimicked his pose. It was a spell from the Uchiha books. It was a some what tricky spell because it required you to concentrate on what the person looked like and the spell itself. It was originally meant to be used to find out where one's enemy was hiding but it gave the user a really bad migraine after use. I had a spell to cure migraines so it held little consequence for me or Sasuke. Mediums can learn any kind of magic but if it was different from their family's magic it would be harder to learn. Sasuke had the advantage because he had learned jinxes before he even opened his family's book so he could use either magic with ease. Sasuke implanted his knowledge of jinxes in my head before I used my family's magic so those spells were easy to learn. Sasuke's family magic was harder to learn because the energy I felt when I used it always felt wrong. I had to concentrate to use this spell.
"Quaero reperire adjuvet." We said in unison.
In my head I pictured Itachi sitting on the couch in the morning right before he went off to work every week day. It was an easy enough image to hold onto as concentrated on the spell. I had to focus on finding him as I kept the image of his face in my mind.
I could see a familiar alley way that he was running through. He was wearing a pair of navy blue jeans and a black shirt. I tried to focus on the alley that he was in. I'd seen it somewhere recently but I couldn't put my finger on it until I saw him climb up a fire escape. My eyes snapped open; I couldn't hold on to the spell any longer.
I looked at Sasuke and saw that he was still concentrating on the spell. I decided that I would snap him out of it so I stepped on his foot. His eyes opened slowly as if he were expecting to be pulled out of the spell like that.
"Madara is looking around the more crowded side of the city so we're safe from him." Sasuke stated. "Where's Itachi?"
"Climbing the same fire escape that we did to get here." I answered. "If what you say is true then we're not in too much trouble."
"I don't think they would have gone this far from each other if Itachi couldn't contact grandpa."
"Then let's make sure he doesn't see us until we fight."
"How much longer until the sun sets?"
"It won't set until eight." I told him. "It's starting to get dark out there so hopefully the fights will start soon."
"I heard that they start as soon as the sun sets."
"I'd guess that it's going to start in a few minutes."
We both looked towards the entrance. Sooner or later Itachi was going to come through that opening that was now smaller than it was earlier. Maybe Itachi wouldn't even make it let alone Madara.
Sadly Itachi did and his eyes immediately met mine. How could we have noticed each other through the many people between us? It didn't matter I had to tell Sasuke.
"He's here and he saw me." I told Sasuke.
"It doesn't matter." Sasuke responded. "The entrance closed already."
I looked at the door and sure enough the door really was closed and at least there was no sign of Madara. I noticed that Sasuke was concentrating on the searching spell again. I watched as Itachi started walking right towards us. Since I knew that we weren't in any trouble yet I smiled and waved at him. Of course that pissed him off and he started walking faster.
"I think grandfather is going back to the apartment angry." Sasuke told me. "I think they're communicating with a spell since grandpa can use his magic."
"Well Itachi looks happy to see us." I said sarcastically.
He looked towards Itachi who was still heading in our direction. I doubt he would yell at us at all since he tended to be very calm and quiet most of the time but I knew that he was really mad by the look in his eyes. His face didn't really give away how mad he was exactly but from the fire in his eyes I think Sasuke and I might have crossed a line.
Itachi stopped right in front of us and looked a both of us. I think he was trying to figure out if either me or Sasuke were injured.
"What the hell are you two trying to accomplish here?" He asked us.
"Why are you even here?" Sasuke countered.
"I'm here because you two didn't come back to the apartment and your books were still in your rooms."
"What does our books being left at home have anything to do with anything right now?"
"I know you don't have every single spell memorized. If someone had kidnapped you then how would you escape."
"By using the spells I already know."
"What if that wasn't enough? Remember that you can't go around using every single spell that you know."
"I know that. I also know that grandpa wants us to learn how to fight. Sakura and I already know each others quirks because we practice every day with each other. We need more opponents and this is the place to find some."
"You could have at least told me. I know grandpa is looking out for you two but I also know that he can be overly protective. Please, I want you two to trust me. If I had known about this plan of yours then I would have lead grandpa on a wild goose chase or something."
"Yeah right; I bet you already told him where we are."
"No he thinks that I found you two entering a bar."
I wanted to slap Itachi right there. What the fuck was he thinking? Instead of slapping him like I wanted to I just kicked his shin. I saw him wince a little bit and then he stared right at me.
"And what exactly is your excuse?" He asked. "You see me coming over hear angry and your reaction is to wave as if nothing is wrong? I don't remember you ever being this much of a trouble maker."
"I wasn't letting Sasuke come here on his own." I said defensively. "Besides, we're practically trapped with you and Madara all the time that it gets annoying. Like right now it feels nice to be away from him and just feel free."
"If that's how you felt then why didn't you talk to anyone about this?"
"There was a high chance that Madara would have said no and then he'd be keeping a closer eye on us. I think Madara's become a bit paranoid since I had my nightmare."
Itachi grabbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. He probably didn't really enjoy having to deal with us right now.
"Madara is going to realize I lied to him soon because I did cut off the connection spell when I came down this alley." Itachi stated. "I'll try and talk to him when we ge back to the apartment just make a promise both of you."
"Depends." Sasuke said. "What is the promise?"
" Promise me that you two will win and and lat least inform me so I don't have a heart attack."
Itachi's wasn't asking for much and it's the first time he's ever asked anything of us. I held out my pinky to him.
"I promise." I told him.
He looked at me with a smile playing his face before he wrapped his pinky around mine. I looked over at Sasuke. He had his arms crossed and didn't seem like he wanted budge at all. In the end he and Itachi shook hands on it.
"All Noncombatants make your way to the spectators area now." We heard an amplified voice say. "Anyone waiting for a fight please line up on the circumference of the arena."
A majority of the crowd had already started moving when Genma had started talking.
"I'll be right behind you two okay." Itachi told us. "Just remember to win."
As Itachi started to walk away I remember having the sudden urge to cry. I think it was because this was something that never would have happened in my old life in Konoha with my friends.
A/N: So what'd you think? Please tell me in a review. -TheGnRFangirl