. . . Um, when I said, 10 reviews, I was expecting, I dunno, 2? So I don't have any plans that can be put into motion before chapter 10 or so. So, um, updates will be a bit slow. Ideas welcome.
And no, Orochimaru is not in any way attempting to play match maker. He wants the Kyuubi, therefore, Naruto. He knows that the only way Naruto would come to Sound is if Sasuke gets him. He also is a sadistic bastard and would find it endlessly amusing to have Naruto have his heart broken.
I don't own Naruto, by the way
- - - Recap - - -
Sasuke gets a mission to make Naruto fall in love with him and bring him to Sound. Naruto is an Anbu
- - - End Recap - - -
"Naruto?" he gasped, trying desperately to regain his composure and failing miserably. The cool blue eyes met his again, completely devoid of the life and brightness that had been their trade mark. They were totally emotionless. Sasuke looked away first.
Naruto turned away, bowing to the Hokage, his voice, when he spoke, as cold and hard as his eyes had been.
"Hokage-sama. I have brought Uchiha-sama." Tsunade turned to Naruto, her eyebrow raised.
"Why? I just-"
"Sasuke, Hokage." he e. She stopped abruptly and her eyes flickered to the dark haired boy, no, man now, who had remained unseen. Sakura gasped and she to looked towards the shadows, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Sasuke. . .?" her voice emerged as a whisper. He stepped out from the door way, into the bright light. Tsunade regarded him coolly before turning back to Naruto and giving him an inquiring look. Naruto nodded, almost unseen, before saying.
"I found him wandering the border, Hokage-sama." she nodded at him, before winking at him ever so slightly. Sasuke got the distinct impression that he was missing something very important and that both of them wanted him to be missing it. He wondered if it had anything to do with the hidden message that had overlaid every words that Naruto had spoken with the red haired man.
Naruto seemed to be engaged in an unspoken argument with the Hokage and soon exited the room, bowing to Tsunade again and taking Sakura with him. And Sasuke was starting to wish that he hadn't, as he was now left with the rather frightening Hokage, who was currently fixing him with a rather terrifying glare that gave him a very strong inkling that she was displeased with him. So he said the first thing that came to mind.
"What happened to him?" Shit. Not a good way to start off. Her glare deepened and her eyes gained an overshadow of grief. She sighed.
"Why are you here, Uchiha." she demanded.
"I wish to be accepted back to Konoha." Maybe that would work, not over doing it, just the simple truth.
"Why?" Or maybe not. What could he say? Somehow 'To seduce and convert your favourite person' didn't seem like the sorta thing that would exactly go over very well. But maybe if he dragged Naruto into it, it may work.
"I missed him." A blonde eyebrow arched delicately.
"Oh?"
"Yes. I missed everyone. I want to be with them again." Play to her soft, feminine side. Because Hokage, or not, she was still a kunoichi. And behind every kunoichi was a girl who was still waiting for the happy ending. She looked him over and appeared to give it some consideration.
"You have a month." she said it in such a way that he was led to believe that this had been her decision since the beginning. "You will be guarded for the next month, to asses if you have truly become more than the power obsessed bastard who would throw away everything just to kill. If you haven't changed, than you will leave here and will never be permitted to enter this village again. At least not alive."
"Yes Hokage." his voice held only the smallest hint of relief "Thank you."
"Do not make the mistake of thinking I'm doing any of this for you. I would have killed you on sight. Report to Kakashi-sensei."
"Hai."
"And Uchiha."
"Hai?"
"I do not trust for a second that being under the care of him has made you any kinder, but I hope for Naruto's sake that you prove me wrong."
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Kakashi was not as surprised as Sasuke would have expected to see his ex-student at his door. But then, few things had ever surprised Kakashi. The silver haired man had simply looked at him, before opening the door a bit wider. Sasuke had walked in.
"What happened?" he asked the second he had sat down. Kakashi gave him another all encompassing look.
"You mean Naruto?" he asked. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"No, I mean your couch. Of course I meant Naruto. What happened to him while I was gone. How did he become an Anbu? Such a powerful one? What happened?"
Kakashi looked at him for a long while, debating whether Sasuke deserved to hear it. Finally, his mouth opened, although you could hardly tell. "You did. Or rather, you didn't."
'Well' Sasuke thought sarcastically. 'Glad he cleared that up.' He tried to get Kakashi to elaborate, with no success. There was a moment of silence. Sasuke glanced around the room, taking in the furniture and other such things around the room. His eyes alighted with interest on a very surprising picture.
It was a picture of Kakashi and Iruka, both wearing festival Yukata's, Kakashi with his arm around Iruka, holding up a peace sign, Iruka wearing a strong blush. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Kakashi, who saw what he was looking at and merely curved his eye in a smile.
"Naruto's taken up a temporary interest in photography." he grinned. Sasuke snorted. There was more silence, than the door to the house flew open and a whirlwind of pink burst into the room.
"Oh! Sasuke-kun! Hokage-sama just told me what happened! I'm so glad!" she flung her arms around him in a glomp. She almost immediately released him, looked at him for a moment, then hit him full across the face. Sasuke, who had not expected this at all, blinked. And stared. Kakashi hid a grin.
"You bastard! How dare you come back! And why the hell did it take you so long!" she hugged him again, then pulled away and slapped him again. Kakashi was grinning outright. Sasuke was just staring at her as though she was crazy. Kakashi took pity on his old student.
"Sakura, why don't you take Sasuke out for ramen or something and fill him in on whats been happening." he voice was filled with laughter. Sakura agreed this was a good idea and dragged Sasuke from the room. As this was a welcome change from being hit and hugged at the same time, Sasuke didn't protest. Kakashi shook his head. Some things never changed. Good to know. To many things had changed.
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"Sakura, where are you taking me?" he asked, watching the faces blur past him. She slowed down for a moment to talk to him.
"We're going for ramen. We need to talk."
Sasuke felt a jolt of fear go through him. Not for any reason other than the natural reaction to the words 'need to talk'. It was common knowledge that nothing good ever followed those three words. It was well known that those words, when strung together, were the worst in any language. Except maybe in Chinese, where he had heard that there was an actual word that encompassed all three of the words into one to make the most lethal word ever spoken. He said the only thing that could be said.
"Oh?" he would have said more, had it not been for the stranger who had walked up to him with a broad grin and clapped him on the back.
"Akki-san!" the man said "You got a hair cut!"
Sasuke gave the man a look. Sakura gave the man a look.
"Excuse me Chijin-san, we, um, have to be going. Bye!" and she had proceeded to drag him away and only answered his questions with the explanation that clearly the man was crazy. As Sasuke was not inclined to like many of the Konoha populates, he had not argued with this.
Sakura had refused to say any thing else until they got to the ramen stand, which Sasuke still remembered, all these years later. That's how often he had been forced to bring Naruto there. Then why wasn't Sakura as tired of it as he had been? Surely Naruto had made her his new ramen buddy. He asked as much and Sakura's happy grin froze.
"Sasuke. Naruto doesn't like ramen." she had said.
"Since when!" he exclaimed. She sighed.
"Sasuke. I think you need to know the truth-"
"Yes, I do. Tell me! Like hell Naruto doesn't like ramen? Who was the one forced to treat him to it seven days a week?"
"Sasuke, Naruto only got ramen because it was the only thing he could afford. And when he couldn't afford that anymore, he had to get others to buy it for him, so he chose the think least likely to bother them. Ramen, since it was cheap. He hasn't eaten ramen for three years Sasuke."
Sasuke was getting that sinking feeling again. He was starting to feel as if his world was about to crash down again. Sakura was using that sort of tone. That I-don't-really-want-to-tell-you-this-but-someone-has-to-and-it-might-as-well-be-me tone.
"Sakura. What happened while I was gone? What happened to Naruto?" he asked. He told himself he didn't care. He would have to know. For his mission. He didn't care at all.
Sakura's face was sad. "If you don't know him, all that's happened is that he got stronger. Literally overnight. But for those of us who know him, he's hurting. The only time he ever seems as happy as he used to be is when he's around Kyuu and Akki."
"Kyuu? Akki?" his voice was questioning.
"Oh right. I'll start at the beginning. After you left, Naruto started changing. Then one day, he was sparring with Gaara. He beat him. Not easily, but it definitely wasn't hard. The strange thing was, Gaara didn't seem surprised. He seemed almost pleased. Naruto said that he was tired of hiding, tired of pretending. He said the it hadn't kept you here and it was doing him any good.
"The next day, he applied for Anbu. He was only a gennin, and they said there was no way. But Gaara said they had to give him and chance and the Kazekage's orders hold some weight. So they told Naruto that if he wanted to be an Anbu, he had to beat the current Anbu captain. Which every one knew was unfair, Haburi-san had been unbeatable for years. Naruto beat him in less than a minute.
"So they had no choice. Naruto was made Anbu and only a few months later he was made captain. Then, not long after that, these two people showed up. The strange thing is, no one remembers them actually coming to the village, they just appeared one day and they both seemed to know Naruto really well. The next thing any of us know, they're Anbu. The whole village loves them." She paused, as if trying to decide what else to say.
Sasuke sat there, stunned. He didn't even notice as the steaming ramen was placed in front of him. So Naruto really was the Kitsune Anbu. The new Anbu captain. He had heard the other Sound nins mention his name, and it was never good. Not for them anyway. They spat out curses, swearing. All the ones who had faced him lost, and he was the one that all the confident ones bragged that they were going to be the ones to beat him.
Sakura watched him, before shrugging and returning to her ramen. He would get over it. They all had. Hopefully he could get over the next piece of news.
"Um, Sasuke, there's something else you should know." she said hesitantly "Um, about the person who will be, ur, watching you. The guard duty always goes to the highest ranking person after the Hokage. . . The Anbu captain."
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So he had been dragged, again through Konoha by an insane whirlwind. He had ended up in front of a large house, and Sakura had pounded on the door. Silence. She had pounded again harder. Then she had rung the door bell. Rapidly.
"Would you hold on! We're coming!" and the door had been thrown open by the same red haired he had seen on the street. His hair was slightly mussed and he was a bit flushed. Standing behind him was a man with long black hair and bright silver eyes. He looked slightly familiar, but not enough to place. He also looked slightly rumpled. Sakura gave them a once over and giggled.
"Kyuu, what would Naruto say if he knew what you were doing." she laughed. Kyuu winked at her.
"Join us, of course."
"I heard that you pervert!" Came a voice, which was followed by slight thump and Naruto landed at the bottom of the stairs. "Who's at the door."
"Sakura and" he looked around her. "Um. Sasuke." he said, his voice colder. The black haired man froze, as did Naruto. Neither of them had seen him. The black haired man started to edge back, trying not to be seen. Kyuu shook his head and grabbed the man before he could edge out of view.
"Naruto. Want to introduce us?" it wasn't a question. Naruto straightened, his icy eyes not looking at him.
"Kyuu, Akki, this is Uchiha Sasuke." he said, completely monotone. Sakura winced visibly. So, surprisingly, did Akki. Sakura, clearly, was wincing at the tone, but Akki seemed to be wincing at the name.
"Um, Naruto, Hokage-sama says that Sasuke will have to stay with you." Sakura broke the semi silence. This time Naruto was the one who flinched, and Akki and Kyuu gave him a pitying look. Sasuke could swear that Akki paled a bit.
Kyuu flung his arms over both Akki and Sasuke's shoulders. "Well, this is going to be fun! You guys'll be playing like brothers in no time!" Sasuke didn't notice Akki kick Kyuu hard in the shins.
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Sasuke was givin a guest bed room that was pretty far away from the others. When he asked why, Naruto had turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
"Do you want a room next to those two?" he jerked his head at Kyuu, who was licking chocolate off of Akki's hands. Sasuke grimaced and shook his head. He had been there for a few hours already and Naruto had loosened up somewhat, though nothing compared to his old self.
The next morning, he was woken up by the energetic Kyuu bouncing onto his bed and demanding that he woke up and eat the nice breakfast that Naruto had made them since Naruto never made breakfast for them and if Sasuke didn't eat it and like it dammit than they might never get to have pancakes for breakfast again!
Sasuke's response, after much grumblings and murder attempts, was to ask why didn't he just or Akki make breakfast. Kyuu had stared at him, before laughing and saying that if he wanted to eat what Akki cooked than it was his funeral. Sasuke didn't ask again.
Then Sasuke had tried to train when he was, again, interrupted. "Hey! Sasuke-kun! Want to train with us?" he had asked. Sasuke had almost scoffed, he had trained with Orochimaru, no way could these losers keep up with him! But decided that such a thing might not help him with this damn mission. So had said that sure, he would train with them.
Kyuu had immediately partnered him up with Naruto. Sasuke wondered why until he saw the way that Akki and Kyuu were 'training'. It was more like an all out grope fest. So, it was time to see how he matched up to the Great Kitsune. To see if he really lived up to the name 'Konoha's Fire.' he doubted it.
To his shock, Naruto, after 5 minutes of hard sparring, had one, with a surprising move where he had actually jumped, no, flipped, backwards and knocked Sasuke over. He stared down at him, the expression in his eyes clear.
'Three years? For this?'
Sasuke could tell himself that he had lost on purpose. For the mission. But that would be a lie. In the last three years, he had gotten good at that.
- - - To Be Continued - - -
So, how was it? I think it sucks, but it will get better. The beginning is slow. And hopefully I'll be able to update sooner now that I've finished Neko No Jutsu. Oh, and who here can figure out Akki's secret?
