Winning His Dark Prize
Reminders: As much as possible, I will try my best to minimize that some of our favorite characters will be OOC in this fic. Thoughts or the past will be italicized. And that's pretty much it anyway. So, hope you have a great time reading this fic!:)
Summary: He left his village, brother, and his fiancée. Now,after being welcomed back by the first two, his next mission is to retrieve back his fiancée who he hid in the darkness.
Chapter 1: On Their Way
After months had passed, the Hidden Village of the Leaf, also known as Konohagakure, was now standing strong and tall on its feet. Buildings, homes and all other infrastructures that had contributed to the magnificence of the village which had been turned into rubble were now built once again to their former glory, with the help and cooperation of everyone. Everything was in its place. It was as if nowar had ever occurred recently.
Everyone made their way back to their duties and roles within the village. Shinobi and kunoichi went back to their posts. Some took missions to help regain the revenue of their village, and some still made time to replace the time they had lost with each other, such as the small family of Team 7.
Five thorns and one rose resided at their usual training grounds. The usual shinobi who always seemed to give the excuse of 'lost on the road of life' was unmistakably seen at the site –though likely quite early, for his own good, as he made his way over and sat on his usual branch to read his favorite orange book. The blond, as usual, was boisterous as he now and then would bicker with the two stoic males of the group, who would get on his nerves with their replies of 'Yes, yes, dickless…' or 'Hn.' The wood-user seemed to become more professional with each passing day whenever he made his 'small flicker of horror face' to stop the blond from his attempts to murder either of other the two males, who seemed to make their remarks and watch the blond's reactions for their amusement. While, on the other hand, the rose of their family could never contain her small giggles at the idiocy of the blond,or how each of her brothers had a specific role in their small family, to be unusual and yet the most unique and happy one – even as their family consisted of four males who seemed to be alienated from the word 'fun.'
Talk, rant, comment, bicker, oh-the-horror, and a finale of the small giggles made by their female member had become the usual 'interaction cycle' made by their small family. Kakashi, who seemed to be content to just sit and read at his usual branch considered this cycle to be music to his ears, until their small rose broke the cycle with a single sneeze, which startled the blond, and made him barrage the bubblegum haired kunoichi with worrying remarks.
"Sakura-chan!" the blond ran towards the kunoichi, who sat on one of the log posts situated at their usual training grounds. Cerulean eyes portrayed worry and a tincy-wincy-bincy bit, small like an atom… of what they all call – mischief.
Emerald eyes looked at the cerulean eyes with furrow in her thin rose brows. "What are you thinking?" Sakura asked as her suspicion with the blond grew as soon as he gave her the grin that gave chills to anyone who seemed to witness it and who also experienced his mischievousness back when they were still kids.
The blond shrugged as he looked back at the other males who were now approaching the two, who also seemed to have worry etched on their faces, except for the two unsociable ones, but when you looked deeper in their ebony eyes, one could see the mutual feelings they emitted along with the other members of their family. "Just thinking" the blond answered soon after as his gaze went back to the kunoichi.
"Since when did Dobe learn how to think?" the Uchiha remarked to try and lighten up the mood, which it did, as chuckles broke out, and a small growl came from the blond. Sasuke smirked as he made way over and knelt down alongside the blond to check over the kunoichi in front of them. "You okay?" he asked.
Sakura nodded. There was a great deal of improvement from the Uchiha, as well as with the former ROOT member, to try and interact with people – but sadly, this only applied to their family. "Just the weather" she assured all the males.
"Hn." He stood back up and made room for other males to have a good look at the rose. The others just nodded, while the blond tried to think a better way of saying something that had been hanging by a thread in his mind.
With a click from his fingers, his cerulean eyes looked backed at their rose. "Sakura-chan, some say… 'Someone must have been thinking about you,'" Naruto teased.
Sakura soon chuckled with the little superstition that the blond friend just blurted out. It was known all over the village, all shinobi villages to be exact, that the rose of Team seven is way off limits. One should pass their deaths before attempting to have a close contact with the kunoichi, from the volcanic temper of the surrogate mother, to the deathly poison of the surrogate sister, and all male member of the her team, from the jinchūriki host, one of the last remaining Uchiha, from the famous copy-nin and two other ANBU agents known at the underground world of shinobis. One could be able to describe the person who would attempt to get close to the kunoichi is, a one courageous soul.
And then there were… CRACKS.
Emerald and cerulean eyes looked at the source as they saw the copy-nin, the former ROOT member, the wood-user, and also the Uchiha, yes the one named Uchiha Sasuke, crack their knuckles, ready to leap onto the mystery person and punch him into a pulp. One might say that this would be an unusual sight to see, but no one could be blamed, right? Everyone and everything could change… fast, especially for them. And one of those changes was becoming closely attached to the bubblegum haired kunoichi of their group, and over-protectiveness loomed in their very cores. It was sad for the kunoichi, since even if she felt flattered by the concern given to her, she knew the truth behind Sai's actions. She had learned that it was a trend in their family, that he would copy what the others did. In Sasuke's case, it was quite different, since—
"Haruno-san" someone called, gaining everyone's attention. One should feel pity for the ANBU who happened to arrived at the wrong time, especially when all the other males were riled up to punch the daylights out of some mystery man, and yes, the ANBU also happened to be categorized in the 'man' section, and he was an ANBU with a mask, which also happened to categorize him in the 'mystery' section as well.
Easing the tension looming between the two sides, Sakura stood up from her place and walked over to the ANBU, who seemed to be shaken by the deathly glares given to him by one of the few males considered to be 'heroes' of their village. Sakura took notice of that fact and gave her warm smile to the masked man in front of her. "How can I help you?" she asked.
"Your presence has been asked for by the Godaime" he stated, and he vanished with a sudden poof.
"That was rude" the blond remarked. He then stood up from his position and walked back to the other males, who all seemed to calm down after confirming that the ANBU encountered was not the mystery man.
Sakura faced them, and smiled as she followed suit with a poof after saying 'See you later.'
The long stairs heading towards her mentor's office was something she always anticipated. Everything that she wished to think about seemed to be answered soon after her feet landed on the straightened floor. Even if she hid her emerald orbs from looking at her path, her feet knew when they should turn, or at what place she would be after walking for some time. This place had become her second home, the home of who she also saw as her surrogate mother's home and office.
She stopped at the familiar door that was owned by her mentor. Being as polite as she was, she knocked on the door and asked for recognition of her presence. As soon as she heard the usual, yet drunken voice of her mentor's say 'Enter,' she let herself in. She stopped in front of her mentor's desk, feeling startled and troubled at the scene before her.
Shizune, who she considered to be her poison mentor, as well as her surrogate sister, was strict with their mentor, the Godaime, about the issue concerning their surrogate mother's love of drinking sake. Right now, her widened emerald eyes looked at Shizune, who was now dead drunk beside the blonde kage, with nearly 20 sake bottles scattered on the Hokage's desk.
As for the blonde kage, where should Sakura even start? Those honey-colored, puppy-looking eyes…Oh, Kami! What the hell happened here? She shook the thoughts away for the time mattered most was coming to know WHO or WHAT had caused all of this, that even Shizune was affected and let the Godaime herself be drowned with her exquisite sake.
As she nearly stumbled after taking the two to their respective rooms to sober up, she went to her mentor's office to clean up all of the mess. But she did conclude one thing about the surprising events, and that was that it was a WHO, after hearing the mumbles of curses from the two important females in her life, with the statements 'How dare he…' before they passed out and welcomed the darkness.
Sakura sighed after finishing everything up, making things sparkly clean again, one of the traits she picked up from being a medic-nin. As she retired for the day and went out and locked the Hokage's office, she collided with a strong build after turning around. Shocked by the force, she was about to fall down butt-first. Closing her emerald orbs, she anticipated her fall. It was her mistake in lowering her guard, so she welcomed the arriving pain, but it didn't. She peeked through her rose colored tresses, and saw the same onyx eyes that she had fallen for before.
"…Itachi…" she whispered.
TBC
A/N: Did I say that, in this chapter, everyone would be able to grasp how this story will go? Well, I did, and I didn't. Just anticipate the next chapter, and hopefully I will be able to give you hints about where this story is going:) I just wanted to at least let you know some background about our heroine:)
And lastly, just wanted to say thanks everyone for the reviews, alerts, and favorites:) Never did I expect that I would have lots of feedbacks through those applications:)
See you at the next chap! And do tell what you think about this chap!
Ja!