Innocent secrets
Chapter 2: a father, a mother and death
Koomahana
Okay if I'm going to be turning this into a story then I will be needing the following:
Suggestions
Thoughts/ideas
Betas! They're always a great help!
And lots of reviews! They always remind me what I need to explain, remind, check my grammar and spelling and if I'm going too far or lost my touch
Oh here's a warning (because this person I seriously annoying me)
If you don't like the coupling and are going to do nothing but insult my story on every chapter because it's not a 'SasuSaku' then please, I beg of you, for the sake of my sanity, please don't review. I don't know who you are but I'm tiered of you going to each of my stories and posting the same review on every single one of them.
Personally I believe that Sasuke had a chance with Sakura and he blew it majorly when he tried to kill her—sorry but to find out that Sakura forgave him (I can't fault that one too much) and even married him after that, was a huge disappointment to me.
Although I will admit this, there are some hell-a good 'SasuSaku' stories out there, none of them happen to belong to me, so deal with it.
Anyways! On with the story! XD
Wish me luck!
Note: Ayame changed her name to Ayako, when you change your identity you change your hair and eye color with hair dye and contacts. Instead of having one blue eye and one green eye with bright pink hair, 'Ayako' has red hair and blue eyes
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site
Thoughts
Paragraphs are memories
…
…
She took a deep breath and stared at the small photo in her hands, it had been twelve years since she last saw her family but to be fair she didn't really have a choice in leaving. That strange man just walked in, knocked her out and walked her out of the hospital without anyone even noticing him. Now with her master dead she could return home, explain things and pray that everything was okay, She could hope that her family didn't tear itself apart, Hope that the Sandaime didn't label her as a nuke-nin even though she had been kidnapped.
I'll be home soon sweet heart, she thought smiling at the picture she had been given so many years ago, two little girls smiling up at the cameraman, green eyes bright and smiles wide. Wait for me love, I'm coming home...
…
…
Sakura tiptoed pasted her parent's and sibling's rooms to sneak down the stairs as quietly as she possibly could. She was half way down when she heard a door open, moving quickly she ducked behind the barrier for the two sides of the stairs and watched the morning sunlight hitting the upper wall of the upper staircase. Hearing a loud, tiered yawn and the familiar looking shadow of a longhaired woman pass in front of the stairs, Sakura held her breath until she heard the soft click of the bathroom door. Turning Sakura tiptoed down the rest of the stairs, a large coat over her arm, a large white bag in her other hand and dozens of hair ties on her wrist, Sakura paused at the end of the stairs. Clinging to the wall carefully, she didn't want to bump into any of the hundreds of pictures on the staircase wall, Sakura peaked around the corner to look inside the large dinning room. Seeing the eight-sided table stood empty with eight empty plates, Sakura took half a step forward and peaked further in to look at the kitchen. Humming at the stove was a tall, elegant crimson haired woman dressed in a long blue skirt and white blouse with a little white apron. Her long hair was half pulled up into a high ponytail that was braided into a graceful, endless bun; her snow-pale hands moved with expert care from cupboard to pot to cupboard again, knowing just were everything was set. Biting her lip nervously, Sakura took a deep breath and tried to tiptoe passed the large entrance to the kitchen/dinning room; she got two soft steps before a voice stopped her.
"And just where do you think you're going young lady?" Sakura groaned, her body sagging at the sound of her mother's voice.
"Mo~om how can you always do that?" Sakura whined as she set her white bag close to the front door and entered the large combined room with a pout, aiming straight for her chair at the large table.
"What did I tell you about asking silly questions love?" Ayako asked aiming a smile over her shoulder at Sakura. Over the years and as Ayako grew older, becoming healthier as time passed her left eye turned more of a blue color then the slightly darker green that Sakura knew from childhood. It was a trait inherited from her mother, Sakura's grandmother, and had skipped Sakura but not her younger brother or sister.
"I'm beginning to think you can't stop sensing," Sakura grumbled, spreading her navy blue coat over the back of her chair. "And you forgot your contacts again"
"You're avoiding my question," Ayako giggled, a soft sound that all mothers seemed to have inherited with the birth of their first-born.
"I was going to meet with my teammates for a little spare before we went over to the Academy," Sakura answered moving to a cupboard and pulling down eight glasses, "Today's the chunin examine, remember?"
"Ah I was wondering when you were going to take that examine," Ayako giggled, turning her dancing eyes onto her daughter as she pulled out a strainer and set it in the sink, "You know I didn't take my first examine until I was seventeen."
"Mom you were a genin at sixteen after two and a half months of training," Sakura reminded Ayako as she placed the cups evenly beside each plate, "you took your first chunin examine exactly one year, two months and three weeks later." Most of that time was spent in the hospital recovering from the beating she had gotten, then her wedding happened and then she trained for chunin examines.
"Ah but did I pass?" Ayako asked with a grin, lifting her pot and poring it's contents into the strainer.
"No but we did get Sora out of it," Sakura answered with a grin, placing silver where on the table. Ayako laughed her shoulder's shaking as she continued to pour the last of the contents into the strainer. Ayako, Kotetsu and Manami had all taken the examine together, Manami had left them alone for the night and they were cold, they hadn't expected for their cuddling to go so far but it did and Manami had damn near killed Kotetsu for it when she found out.
"Sounds like we're having fun in here," Kotetsu yawned as he leaned against the open door way, arms crossed and sleepy smirk in place.
"Hay daddy," Sakura giggled at him, her eyes dancing as she caught sight of his hair "I'm not sure but I think you have something in your hair."
"Ha-ha very funny," he checked his hair anyways
…
"Okay I have two questions," Sakura said as entered the living room where her family was sitting together, "One: who finished off my chocolate and strawberry ice cream? and two: Who's been in my room?"
"As if you could tell who's been in your room," Manami chuckled, eyes locked on the cards in front of her
"You finished your ice cream," Kotetsu said not even looking at her "Why would we want that nasty thing anyway? It's not like it's healthy for you..." Sakura stared at the two siblings long and hard, her eyes narrowing as Ayako tried to distract her younger children with whatever game they were playing.
"You both are so dead"
"You can't touch us," Manami snickered
"I wouldn't count on that," Sakura whispered, turning on her heal and walking calmly back up the stairs
…
"Damn it Manami!" Kotetsu shouted and rounded to hurry up the stairs quickly "Did you put something in my shampoo again?!"
Vengeance is sweet, Sakura thought with a grin, suppressing a chuckle when Ayako looked at her sharply only to lose it as a scream tore out of the up stairs bathroom. Time to go "Bye mom, see you later!"
"Sakura!" Ayako called out disapprovingly, only Sakura's laugher answered her as she burst out of the house, her long pink hair flying after her like wings. "Heavens, what am I going to do with that child?" Ayako asked herself as she turned down the stove and moved towards the stairs; only to be stopped at the sight of Kotetsu restraining a towel clothed Manami on the staircase. Both siblings stiffened at the sight of her, both of their once Onex black hair was now a bright, vibrant...red. Ayako couldn't hold it back, she collapsed with laughter leaning against the wall for support as both siblings pouted at her.
"It's not funny!" they both shouted, Manami hurrying up the stairs to dry off and change while Kotetsu helped Ayako back to her feet.
"Handsome," Ayako giggled, standing on her tiptoes to kiss her husband's cheek affectionately, "Although you're cute with black hair, I think I can get used to this new color..."
"Ayako," Kotetsu said with a bright blush staining his cheek, "If we're not careful we'll end up needing to buy a house with more rooms."
"Get the kids, please" Ayako winked at him and turned on her heal, chuckling as she went back to taking care of breakfast. Kotetsu thumped his head on the wall and turned to go back up the stairs for their two children, their son Sora (4) and their daughter Tsukiko (2), Sora looked like his mother with his father's cat-eyes (but with his mother's eye-coloring) and Tsukiko looked like her father with her mother's blue-green eyes.
…
…
He gritted his teeth around the strip of cloth and pulled the knot tight, hissing at the pain that erupted up his arm from the nasty slash he received earlier that morning. Over the passed six years his skill in evasion and Taijutsu has increased and he even gained a sixth sense over the years, knowing that a group of trees was bad or he shouldn't go in a certain direction—all based on his gut feeling. As teams of hunter Nin chased after him, most of which he avoided, he grew in the skills that he had developed living in the streets as a kid. He got better with a long blade, a really long knife, using it like some would use a sword, he went in and out of thug gangs, some with shinobi and others without but he never stayed with them long.
Panting he thumped his head against the cave's wall and glared at the three bodies laying before him, he didn't like taking out useless nobodies who're too scared to show their faces but when they tried to 'capture' him, he decided they weren't worth the effort of sparing. Kicking at the closest body, he pulled himself up slowly and dug into his back pocket like he always did after a long and hard fight. The palm sized leather pouch flipped open to show two smiling pinkette's, one older with dancing, mismatched eyes, one blue one emerald. The younger one had emerald eyes, one more blue then green, her hair was just as long as her mother's and pulled back in the matching style.
Maihime... Ayame... Shizuki thought as he stared at the picture from so long ago, nearly three years before the monster's birth. Although it had been Ayame who ended up naming the monster, he refused to acknowledge the girl's existence. Well, so long as she didn't embarrass him he ignored her existence, which was difficult when she was always embarrassing him, as if mocking him for taking his wife away from him. Shizuki flipped the little leather pouch closed and hobbled over to search the bodies carefully, although he hated the legalized serial killers, he had to admit, they carried some useful tools.
"B-boss you there?" a shaky voice of a young man called as he entered the mouth of the cave
"Where the hell have you been?" Shizuki hissed, his eyes flashing dangerously in the morning light filtering in through the opening.
"I-I've be-been inn th-the vill-village" the boy answered with a flinch, "I-I thought you'd be ha-happier i-if I-I got you a-a picture..." he hobbled forward and held out large yellow envelop to him with shaking hands, as if he expected a beating but was still hoping for the best out come.
"What is it?" Shizuki asked as he snatched the envelop from him and sat back to open it curiously
"You-you're always looking at those o-old pi-pictures," the boy stuttered, Shizuki listened as he opened the yellow envelop and stared dumbly at the handful of pictures inside "S-so I thought, maybe you'd like... some... some n-newer... ones?" Shizuki flipped through the pictures quickly, his eyes filling with furiously and his teeth grinding as he found nothing but smiling faces staring up at him in mockery.
"NO! Damn her!" Shizuki threw the pictures at the wall in front of him, the boy flinching back with a face of confusion. "Monster! Damn that monster to the even hells!" he grabbed one of the nearby kunai knifes and started stabbing at the closest body widely, ignoring the horror on the boy's face as he watched him. "Monster! Damn that monster! How dare she! She was supposed to be miserable! It's her fault! Everything's her fault! Monster! Monster! Damn that monster! Damn her to the seven hells!"
It would be an hour before his fury had ebbed enough for his body to sag into sleep beside the three corpses, the boy counted to fifty slowly before he decided to move forward slowly. Reaching over he gently pried the bloodied blade from his master's hand before he dared to move his master, pulling the bigger and older man further back into the resting area of the cave. He had known that the picture of the two women were pressure to his master, he thought that he was groupie because he couldn't go home to see them. So he had hired a man to search out and take some updated pictures of the pinkette he found in the hidden leaf village, it took time to find her, time to take the pictures without getting caught, arrested or misunderstood, and then it took him several more months to find them again to hand over the photos and get paid.
Why is he so mad? The boy thought returning to the main part of the cave with the corpses and photos. I thought he'd be happy... he sighed as he grouched and started to collect the photos carefully, he didn't want them to get bloodied or ruined, his master might want them later. Lifting one up he stared curiously at the girl smiling up at him, her emerald eyes dancing in the morning sunlight, her skin lightly tanned and her long pink tresses pulled back into a long braid, leaving her bangs to brush at her brows with longer pieces to frame the sides of her face elegantly. Sighing he pushed the dozens of photos into the envelop and set it aside, now turning to examine the three corpses his master had killed just before he returned.
Huh? He stared dumbly at the two black clothed bodies beside him, hay... "Wait a... wasn't there a third body?"
…
…
They were told what to expect when they were sent after him, his past, his crimes, that's why it was optional for them, they didn't have to go but now her teammates were dead, the one most certainly was dead, forcing her to hobble through the woods and pray the boy wouldn't have noticed her absence until it was too late. They're target has gotten better, faster, stronger, since the 'dead or alive' warrant went out for him six years ago and now he has a picture of his daughter the person he hates most in this world. That was why she had to hurry, she had to hurry back to her village, she had to tell her Hokage; warn him about the danger coming for them.
She leaned against a tree and coughed harshly, ignoring the blood dripping down her chin she trudge forward, to the closest village, her hand gripping tightly around the small photo she had taken with her. It was small and easily over looked but her people wouldn't over look it, they'd examine it, clean it and protect the child in it. That was the point of putting her in protective custody, so that monster she called father couldn't get his hands on her so easily.
Almost there, she thought, smirking at the sight of the village buildings peaking through the trees, Almost there... she tripped and whimpered as her shoulder slammed hard against a tree, nearly knocking the breath right out of her. No, not yet... not yet! She hobbled forward, if she could get to the village they could help her, they could tend to her wounds and then send her on her way. She moved forward, out of the trees and into the bright sunlight, she ignored the buzzing in her ears, she had to get to her village, she had to get home, she had to warn them.
No! She thought as she blinked and found herself face down in the dirt, get up! You have to get up! She tried, her arms trembling with the effort to move, get up damn it! Her arms gave out and she fell face first again, her mask tumbling free and rolling away, Get up! Still she tried to move foreword, she'd drag herself back to Konoha if she had to.
I can't, she thought, her sight blurring with tears, I can't go any further... she looked down at the crunched up picture in her fist, she had to warn them, she had to protect the girl, she was her only hope now. Fine then... she reached forward with one bloodied hand and started writing in the dirt, hopefully the villagers weren't complete idiots and knew to preserve the scene, or at least knew to take pictures and notes.
"Hay lady! Are you okay?!" her body was jerked to the side and she found herself staring up into warm honey, a face she remembered seeing once as a child forever engraved in her mind.
"Shhh"
"Shhh, you'll be fine now," a different woman said, pressing green glowing palms against her body, "it'll be okay, I can—"
"Sa-av-ve" she coughed hoarsely, holding her trembling hand out to the familiar woman standing nearby, "he-e-er-r..." her eyes rolled, her hand fell and her life ended. The black haired woman sighed, her shoulders fell and her chakra stopped flowing to her hands, no one can revive the dead. She looked over to the note the woman was writing 'he knows, save' was that her dyeing message? Her last request? Who the hell was 'he' anyways and did she want to know?
"Shizune what is in her hand?" she jumped at the sound of her name
"Oh right!" Shizune moved forward and quickly pried the woman's hand open and took the small piece of paper clenched in side, "it's a photo." Shizune stated, staring dumbly at the blood-smeared photo, "I can't tell but it looks like someone's smiling under all that blood..."
"We'll clean the picture later," Tsunade sighed, bending to lift the mask into her hands, "We better get her body back to where it belongs..."
"We're going back to Konoha?" Shizune asked surprised
"...it was her last request," Tsunade answered glancing at the bloody but still somehow beautiful black haired woman, "...besides I'm not crossing those gates, you are."
"Yes my lady"
It's the least I can do for you, Tsunade thought, watching Shizune pull out a scroll and seal the woman's body inside, we'll deliver your dyeing message, you can count on that
…
…
Sakura laughed loudly as she ran down the streets, jumping over the crates from several food stalls and weaving through the market place as if she was wind. It wasn't long before a boy with short Onex hair was racing beside her, a smirk on his pale face as they ran through the crowds as if they were an obstacle curse that they couldn't touch.
"What took you so long Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked mockingly, her emerald eyes dancing in the morning sunlight. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of the familiar horde of teenage girls who still chased after him after he graduated from the academy.
"We agreed that you'd never call me that if I was a little nicer to you," Sasuke hissed as he jumped over a wheel barrel and continued after Sakura.
"I'm in a pranking mood," Sakura grinned at him, Sasuke glanced at her before he ducked under a large pane of glass and continued beside her as they both burst out of the market and took a sharp turn towards the academy.
"What'd you do?" Sasuke asked with a resigned expression, as if he finally gave into his curiosity
"You'll see when you meet dad and sis," Sakura answered just as they skidded into the academy grounds, "Ha! I beat you!"
"Did not," Sasuke rolled his eyes, "it was a tie, like always"
"That's the only possibility your brain can handle," Sakura grinned at him, eyes dancing in the sunlight streaming through the branches overhead.
…
…
"Are-are you ready sir?" he called at the mouth of the cave, eyes lowering as the tall black haired man stepped out beside him, dark emerald eyes scanning azure sky carefully as if searching for a familiar face only he could see.
"Let's go," he murmured, "I have a monster to kill"
"Y-Yes sir..."
It'd take a few hours but they could make it the village hidden in the leaves before anyone knew where to look for them next
…
…
Tsunade shifted in the hot spring she was taking great pleasure in resting in, the instant she reopened her eyes she locked in on a something long and white off in the distance. Blinking dumbly, she stretched forward bending her head down to look through her hair at the white thing so far away, the tree branch it was attached to shifted and jerked. Narrowing her eyes in thought, Tsunade couldn't help the smirk that spread over her face; slowly she sank back down into the water and moved to the other side where her towel was resting on a large out crop of rocks.
That better not be who I think it is, Tsunade thought, turning her back to the white thing, she stretched against the large rock and propped her head to examine the group of males on the other side of the clearing in their own pool. Secretly Tsunade grabbed the towel, setting it in her lap carefully so that the white thing wouldn't see it and performed one hand sign. Landing in the bushes at the edge of the forest Tsunade quickly wrapped herself up and suppressed her chakra, turning to run towards the white thing so far away.
He is so dead when I catch up to him, Tsunade's eyes glinted in the semi-misted area of the hot-spring filled land, there was so many that it was easier to find a random pool in the woods then stay in the town to pay for time in one.
…
…
He panted as he ran, eager to catch up to his teammates, his friends that he grew up with. If he could get to the market fast enough he could join in on their old race they used to have before they graduated. He stopped to a halt as a flash of crimson flew past him, weaving through the thick mass of early morning market people like the wind tree branches. Grin widening he jumped into the thick mass and tried to follow the crimson blur only to bump into a familiar looking black haired woman as he passed her two others.
"Oh sorry about that Mikoto-chan!" he called as he hurried forward, smiling and waving over his shoulder
"Be more careful Naruto-kun!" the woman chuckled with a wave, her husband and eldest son both at her side, "Make sure to work as a team!"
"Yes ma'am!" Naruto shouted returning to his run full speed ahead.
…
He was out later then normal one day, playing in the light snow that had fallen that day, taking delight with his imaginary friends. He spent hours in the park, throwing snow balls with the other kids then at a few adults to get them to join in, after a while they all left and he was left tagging those few unlucky few who got to close to his playgrounds. But as the 'day' turned into 'night' (really it only got darker by a small, unnoticeable amount) the park fell empty, leaving him to play with shadows of trees and bushes. Slipping on the bridge as he ran over the icy trap, he banged his head and rolled off the edge, hitting the hard ground beneath and rolling towards the frozen surface of the river nearby.
"ow~" he hissed and pushed himself up, rubbing at his head and looking around himself curiously, the first thing he noticed were two small bodies huddled up together under the bridge, one sniffling as if she'd been crying uncontrollably for some time.
The girl was even smaller then him, her faintly pink hair was a tangled mess of a sloppy bun on top of her head, her red rimmed eyes were as green as spring grass, her skin as pale as the snow that covered her. The boy was just as pale as her but his hair was dark Onex with a blue tint and his eyes were as black as coals. She was dirty and dressed in a dirty white dress that was three sizes too big for her and a little pink blanket that was more of a shawl then a blanket on her. The boy was dressed in a thick Onex coat that was shiny and new looking, his black gloved hands were holding her trembling ones, his black and blue knit hat sat snuggly on his head.
…
…
Thwack!
"Ow!"
"Jiraya! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Tsu-Tsunade-Hime~"
After beating Jiraya to an inch of his life, Tsunade dragged the wounded man to her hotel room where Shizune was waiting for her. After getting dressed and fixing most of Jiraya's wounds, Tsunade sat down on the edge of the bed where she laid Jiraya out.
"Alright you old buffoon, I'll forgive your stunt on one condition," Tsunade said, giving her white haired teammate a glare and crossing her arms.
"Eh~ is it possible that you've finally fallen for my charm~?" Jiraya asked with a lecherous grin
Thwack
"Please proceed" Jiraya whimpered, rubbing at his cheek were a perfect handprint throbbed against his tanned cheek.
"I need you to take a scroll and message to Sarutobi-sensei," Tsunade said rising to pull her suitcase a little closer and opened it to retrieve the scroll. "A kunochi died trying to send him a message, this contains her body."
"And her message?" Jiraya asked, looking at the scroll that now contained the young woman's body, sad that another beauty had died in the surface of her village
"'He knows, save her'," Tsunade repeated, as if she had it inscribed on her heart. "This was in her hand," Tsunade pulled out a small paper and passed it over to him
"Huh? Tsunade-Hime isn't this your pregnant apprentice?" Jiraya asked staring at the two smiling faces in the photo
"Maihime wasn't my apprentice," Tsunade scolded with a frown, "I may have been teaching her a thing or two but she wasn't my apprentice. Anyways no that's not Maihime, that older one looks an awful lot like her eldest daughter Ayame."
"And the younger girl?" Jiraya asked, frowning at the picture in his hand
"I'm guessing that's the girl Maihime died giving birth too," Tsunade shrugged, "I remember Maihime jabbering off a long list of possible names but I don't remember the one she settled on."
"Let me get this straight, you want me to take this woman's body, her message and this photo back to Sarutobi-sensei?" Jiraya asked, Tsunade nodded in agreement, "Why can't you do it? What were you going to do? Walk around until you came across a leaf Nin and pawn her off to them?"
"Don't be stupid," Tsunade snapped at Jiraya, "I was going to return to the village, have Shizune walk into the village and hand the scroll and picture over to Sensei and leave."
"You weren't actually going to enter the village?" Jiraya asked curiously, earning a snort of amusement from Tsunade, "Alright then," he sighed, rubbing at his temple, "I'll cut my meeting short and head back to the village..." A large grin spread over his face, his eyes bright and sparkling as he stared at a suspicious looking blonde "On the condition that you heal me~"
"...I'll get Shizune to do it," Tsunade rolled her eyes and stood from the bed, "Don't forget the message."
"Right, right, 'He knows, save her'," Jiraya recited grin still in place as Tsunade walked out of his room, leaving him to frown down at the picture in his hands. "Little Hime, what did you get yourself into?"
…
…
His smile brightened when he reached the end of the market and took a sharp left to hurry into the academy, eyes widening as he saw two blurs barrel into the academy grounds. He took down the clear road just as fast as they did and followed them into the academy grounds laughing as he slammed into his teammates and tackled them to the ground.
"Naruto!" Sakura laughed as Sasuke shouted at him, "Get off!" Naruto laughed as he was forcefully pushed off his teammates, grinning up at them as they sat up and mock-glared at him. While Sasuke and Naruto remained one-upping each other in the academy, trying desperately to become Rooky of the year and retaining the title, it was Sakura who helped Naruto with his studying and paper tests. No matter what Sasuke did, he could never match her intelligence scores, even if he was barely beating her in their physical requirements when they were still students, it was what kept them together in the academy and what made them a team when they graduated.
…
"Hay are you guys okay?" he asked hurrying to huddle with them under the bridge, "Shouldn't you both be home by now?"
"Shouldn't you?" the boy shot back with a frown and glare, "Wouldn't your parents get worried about you staying out so late?"
"I don't have any," he shot back, unfazed by the question and not showing the stab of pain he felt in his chest.
"I-I ki-killed m-my mommy," the girl sniffed, trying to smile encouragingly up at him but only managed to wince and shiver instead.
"Eh? That's not how you introduce yourself to someone!" he chuckled at her taking a seat at her other side, "You're supposed to say your name first!" she just blinked dumbly at him, apparently she didn't understand him. "Like this, follow me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm five!"
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm five," she mimicked, her eyes staring dully up at him,
"No! No! Don't mimic me!" Naruto shouted annoyed, "Tell me your name and age!" her head tilting the side curiously, earning a long-suffering sigh from the boy on her other side.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha and I'm five years old," he said, nodding his head at her for her to try, understanding dawning on her with his introduction.
"Umm I-I think I ha-have two-two names..." she stuttered out, shivering in the cold
"Well do you have a dad?" Naruto asked carefully
"Uh-huh," She nodded and seemed to look a little worried around herself, as if she was expecting someone to jump out and scare her.
"Well what dose he call you?" Naruto asked, not noticing the look
"Monster" she answered softly,
"What's your other name?" Sasuke asked with a frown
"m-my sissy c-calls me-e S-Sakura"
"Then your name is Sakura," Sasuke said, staring into 'Sakura's' eyes seriously, "the word 'monster' isn't a name, it's an insult. So that means your name is 'Sakura', use that from now on, okay?" she nodded in understanding, "now do you know how old you are?" she shook her head with a slight frown "What dose your sister say about your age? Do you know when you were born?"
"Sissy says I-I was b-born f-five year-years ago o-on M-May 28th," Sakura answered with a slight up turn of her lips, not a smirk and not a smile but just enough to be noticed.
"That means your five years old!" Naruto said loudly, "you're the same age as us!"
…
After that day in the cold and snow Naruto and Sasuke had walked her to the Uchiha compound, where Itachi, Mikoto and Shisui greeted them warmly. Mikoto had become suspicious when she returned Sakura to her home, asking Sasuke and Naruto a lot of questions about the girl they had brought to her. They had answered carefully and to the best of their ability, Naruto repeating her first words to him had seemed to strike a cord in the older woman, her face paled and her eyes winded. Fugaku and Itachi had been listening and when Mikoto had lost words to say he spook up and told her that an 'investigation' would be set in place. Two years later Naruto understood that the 'investigation' was actually them trying to prove that Sakura's father was abusing her and her older sister; only to prove it too late when said older sister ended up dead.
"Ne~ Sakura-chan, are you ready for the first portion?" Naruto asked sitting up to examine her outfit, it seemed like she wore a new one for every special occasion.
"Of course I'm ready," Sakura pouted at him, lifting a hand to brush back a long lock of pink hair. Of course, she was still wearing her red sleeveless dress, this one looked like it was made out of heavy leather and lined with silk, Naruto betted that she had managed to put in a protective layer of cloth between them to keep her dress from being torn or burnt. Like most of her dresses, it circled around her throat snugly and hugged her body down to her hips where it flared out into a whimsical skirt that brushed at her knees even with the two wide slits running up both sides of her black clothed thighs. Her black belt held two packs on each side of her hips and her white shin guards sat snugly over her black sandals and black knee high socks. Her black, red-rimmed gloves had a single white circle on the back of her palms; her navy blue coat was short and seemed to be too big to fit her.
"I can't say the same about you two," Sakura chuckled, looking both boys up and down with a grin, "Good thing I grabbed these before I left," Sakura threw her blue coat at Sasuke, "There are a pair of pants and a shirt wrapped in that, yes they don't have your clan mark because we'll be needing every bit of a help as we can get in there."
"Sakura-chan you're wearing your clan mark!" Naruto whined, flinching when Sakura through a white bag in his face
"It's not a clan mark," Sakura said rolling her eyes as she rose to her feet and dusted herself off, "it's my family mark. My sister, mother and grandmother all wore them." Naruto fell silent at the mention of Sakura's elder sister; everyone knew that the two had been close and that it had nearly broken her when her father had killed her.
"Come on you two, you have to change before we get to our assigned classroom," Sakura grinned and offered both boys her hands, smiling sadly Naruto took her offered hand and Sasuke stood on his own, simply brushing his hand against her's as he passed to enter the academy.
"Sasuke-Teme!" Naruto shouted as he hurried after the boy with Sakura at his side, still smiling at them even as the two boys started to argue loudly.
…
…
Jiraya sighed as he walked through the gates of his home village, he liked returning with good news or for a short vacation; not packing a body, a strange message and feeling like the two dark haired males following behind him were silently planning his murder.
I better get to Sarutobi sensei ASAP, Jiraya thought, jumping to a nearby roof. He barely even glanced at the two darkly dressed figures who hesitated a moment before moving further into the civilian sector of the village.
…
…
Sakura all but skipped her way up the steps of the academy, for once in their lives her teammates actually looked like ninja. Both boys were dressed in the khakis that most Jonin and chunin wear, along with the black long sleeved turtlenecks. The only thing either one had that was their favorite color was their vest jackets, Sasuke's was black edged in blue with a hood and a few pockets lined in blue stripes and buttons. Naruto was basically in the same thing but in orange and black and with long wide sleeves that ended about wrist level. Both boys accepted Sakura's extra shin and arm guards that were dressed in purest white with a hidden kunai contraption that held twenty kunai. The boy's headbands still sat soundly on their foreheads while Sakura let hers hold back the majority of her hair, keeping the shorter strands that didn't want to stay in her braid back from getting in her vision. As team seven reached the staircase to the third floor, the boys paused and headed towards a nearby hall that was filled with other genin.
"Oi what are you two doing?" Sakura asked as she caught up with them, her hands on her hips, "the third floor is above us."
"Relax Sakura I'm just curious," Sasuke said continuing forward and ignoring the whispers of a few nearby genin, "Come on let's check it out, okay?"
"Yeah Sakura-chan what could it hurt?" Naruto asked with a big grin
"If we miss the dead line I have full rights to run the next training day," Sakura warned as she rolled her eyes and followed the boys to the center of the commotion. Both boys glanced at each other worriedly but trudged forward regardless.
Thwack!
"Oh that had to have hurt," Sakura winced peeking over both boy's shoulders to look at the scene in front of her, she stared dumbly at the two boys standing in front of the doorway with smirks on their faces.
"Ch, little girls should go home and play with their dolls," the brunet one commented, "the chunin examines aren't to be taken lightly ya' know."
That sexist a**! Sakura thought turning to glare at the boy, her room just so happened to be filled with 'dolls'
"Yeah, some contestants end up giving up their careers after an examine," the black haired boy grinned at the group, "Some end up dead—"
"Nii-san, Oto-san what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, blinking at the two boys who suddenly stiffened and looked at her with slightly wide eyes.
"Eh~ Sakura-chan did you have to blow our cover?" the brunet asked with a pout at her, neither boy released their transformations
"Don't look like your younger selves and your covers won't get blown," Sakura answered, rolling her eyes, "So this is a test to take out the weaker contestants for the examine right?"
"Right," Isomu grinned, his dark eyes smiling at her, "I take it we gave it away for you?"
"No the horde of idiots did," Sakura answered pointing with her thump at the mass surrounding her, "I can get the foreign kids getting caught for that petty genjutsu Oto-san but seriously, our own genin should know better then to have fallen for it."
"This is our old academy" Sasuke said with a smirk at the two boys, putting his hands in his pockets "for them not to have noticed something wrong is a little embarrassing."
"Oh geez you guys," Naruto laughed, eyes dancing as he stared at his teammates, "you guys aren't shy about making enemies!"
"Says the boy who dyed the entire school orange," Sakura chuckled snapping around and gesturing for the boys to move back the way they came.
"And put ink in the teacher's water cooler," Sasuke added, shaking his head in amusement
"Oh come on guys that happened once!" Naruto whined following Sakura and Sasuke further down the hall, back towards the stairs they were originally going for
"You hospitalized three teachers," Sakura replied, "none of them dared to go near the water coolers since!"
"Not my fault they're scaredy cats," Naruto mumbled throwing his hands behind his head, "I never pull the same prank twice..."
"Yet you have every chunin carrying around a mirror and double checking their hair whenever they see you," Sasuke snickered
"How many times do I have to say that I didn't do that one?!" Naruto whined, neither boy saw the proud looking grin on Sakura's face
"Face it Dube, Orange is you signature," Sasuke smirked at him
"Ahh! When I find out who did that I'm gonna pummel them!" Naruto shouted raking his fingers through his hair
A secret to my grave, Sakura thought, her grin widening. After realizing that Naruto was the fourth's son, Sakura had put some special hair dye in the men's bathhouse, what made the dye special was that it was attracted to hair and not skin. Unfortunately, she hadn't taken into account that most of the men who happened to use that bathhouse next were a bunch of chunin. So instead of prancing a bunch of civilians (mostly the meaner ones) with mood changing hair dye, a bunch of legalized chunin got hit with the prank; the next day the waters were changed, the shampoos and conditioners were changed and the towels were burned and replaced.
No one figured out that she had done it and she was determined to keep it that way
…
…
"Ah Jiraya-kun, what's brought you back to the village?" Hiruzen asked with a fond smile at his white haired student
"A message from Tsunade-Hime," Jiraya answered seriously "She found one of your Anbu kunochi's in a village nearby, she's died on what ever mission you sent her on." Jiraya reached into his robe and pulled out a small crimson scroll and a mask, "Shizune sealed her body in this, her dyeing message was 'he knows, save her'."
"'He knows, save her'?" Hiruzen repeated dumbly, reaching forward and taking hold of the mask set on his desk, "oh, this is Kaname-chan's mask," his eyes widened in realization, "Jiraya did Tsunade find only Kaname-chan or did she find her teammates as well?"
"Just Ms Anbu" Jiraya answered with a frown of his own, his hands patting over his large crimson jacket repeatedly, "I know I put it somewhere... now where is it?"
"What are you looking for now?" Hiruzen chuckled, trying to remember what mission he had sent Kaname's team on, wasn't it something to do with their so-called Kageoni? No that couldn't have gotten them killed, it was a recon mission...
"Ah ha!" Jiraya shouted in triumph, pulling out a small slip of paper from his pants pocket and handed it over to Hiruzen, "Ms. Anbu had this in her hand; Tsunade cleaned it up out of curiosity."
"I see," Hiruzen smiled and shook his head, taking the paper in hand he stared at the slip of paper curiously. It didn't take him long to recognize the faces smiling up at him, Kaname's message rang coldly in his mind, making him snap to his feet with an urgent call to his nearest guard.
"Get to the Hagane house hold and put them into hiding!" Hiruzen all but yelled at the young man who appeared kneeling before his desk, "that includes Sakura-chan! Make sure she's hidden as well!"
"Whoa what'd I'd just stumble on?" Jiraya asked with wide eyes as
…
…
"Excuse me miss!" Sakura felt someone jerk back on her arm to spin her around and she answered with a fist to the person's face. Sakura blinked in startled bewilderment as the person who jerked back on her arm had also caught her fist before it made impact, narrowing her eyes she threw a kick at her capture and retreated to her teammate's sides when he released her. Naruto and Sasuke instantly fell to either side of her with kunais drawn and stances low, the mission to wave taught them to stand close and to be on guard, they were determined not to be caught off guard twice.
"Ah I apologize Miss I didn't mean to startle you," the boy said, his hands raised in a placating manner and a smile on his face. "No need to get violent I only want to speak to you," the boy had a bowl hair cut, big perfectly round eyes, tanned skin and hands wrapped in enough bandages to hide the skin beneath them. Sakura could see the muscles beneath the green suite, and the strange tilt to his fingers told her that his knuckles were heavily damaged and most likely were broken several times with little to no healing time between breaks.
He wasn't someone she wanted to get into a Taijutsu fight with
"So speak," Sasuke ordered to her right, lifting one kunai just a little higher as his eyes flashed back and forth between black and red, like he was fighting to activate his Sharingan.
"My name is Rock Lee!" the boy proclaimed loudly, kneeling between both boys to clasp Sakura's hand, "oh beautiful flower of Konoha, please be my girlfriend! I will always protect you!"
"Hell no!" Naruto shouted rising to his feet and putting his blade away; Sasuke and Sakura remained dumb struck, neither moving from their low stances as they continued to stare dumbly at the boy in front of them.
"I didn't ask you," Lee said turning to look at Naruto curiously, "Why do you speak for the pink flower? Can she not speak for herself?"
"She's a little too horrified at the moment!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Lee with a shaking finger, "You aren't good enough for Sakura-cha—"
"Naruto," Sakura called with a soft sigh, said blond snapped around to watch her straighten and return her blades to the pouch on her leg. "Be nice we'll end up facing him in the rounds to come, the last thing we need is a Taijutsu master gunning after us."
"Huh? Taijutsu master?" Naruto questioned
"Ah you truly are a flower of Konoha!" Lee gushed, "Please be my girlfriend!"
"Excuse me," Lee turned around at the voice and stared up at the two grown men standing threatening just behind him. Team seven instantly stepped close to the wall, hiding smirks and giggles (Sakura) as Lee stared with a pale face up a the towering men.
"What in the seven hells do you think you're doing to my daughter?" Kotetsu asked with a twitching eyebrow and a low, threatening voice.
"I-I was asking he-her to be-be my girlfriend," Lee stuttered out, sweating slightly as both men's aura's darkened and their glaring intensified.
"D-Daddy" Sakura sniffed from her place on the wall, raising a hand to whip at her eye were a tear was stationed, "I-I don't kn-know where he-he came from... but he-he grabbed my arm a-and—"
"Boy do you have a death wish?" Isomu asked threatening, reaching over his shoulder for the large shiriken still stationed there, "We can kick you out of the examine right now—"
"Sorry for the misunderstanding!" a brunet girl shouted as she dived forward and wrapped her arm around Lee's neck, hulling him off down the hall as her pale eyed teammate followed closely with a glare at Sasuke and a 'so sorry' to the guards.
"You guys rock," Sakura grinned stepping away from the wall and holding out her arm for her father and brother to examine closely.
"Man that's your dominate hand," Isomu grumbled lowly
"Doesn't look like he left a mark," Kotetsu sighed, sweeping a lightly glowing palm over her arm, "no damage done."
"Eh~ Oto-san did you get new hair dye before you came over?" Sakura asked with a grin
"Yes, your mother went out and got it for us before we headed over," Kotetsu said with an irated look at Sakura
"'U-us'?" Sakura repeated softly with a paler then normal face
"Yes, your sister is looking for blood," Kotetsu smirked
"Latter dad, have a nice day!" Sakura yelled down the hall dragging both of her teammates after her as she ran.
"You're evil," Isomu chuckled bumping fists with his child hood friend
"I don't see how," Kotetsu smirked, "I merely told the truth."
…
…
"What's going on?" Ayako asked, lifting her daughter into her arms and clasping Sora's hand as the Anbu member pushed them urgently from her house
"It's for your safety Ms," The man said lifting her son into his arms, Ayako following him closely as he jumped to the roof of her house, "Do you know where your elder daughter, Sakura, is?"
"She's in the—"
"Ayame"
Her body frozen on her rooftop; turning wide, terrified miss-matched eyes down to the crowded street before her house. Ayako knew just where to look to find the dark eyes of the man who terrified her the most in this world, her body was frozen as he stared up at her from his place a block down from her house.
"Damn it!" the Anbu team who arrived at her house surrounded her, one pulling Tsukiko from her numb arms and another lifting her onto his back.
They ran to the Hokage tower like the hounds of hell were on their heals
…
…
Thoughts are helpful
Opinions are wonderful
Flames are lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?
Please no cursing!
And don't forget to review!
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