Chapter THREE
Ibiki took Sakura back to Minato's house, just as the Hokage himself appeared with worried eyes.
He must have been about to go look for her.
Minato stared at Sakura in shock for a few moments, and Ibiki realized the problem.
"While in the village, you have to keep your chakra uncloaked." Ibiki told the girl.
Sakura blinked, and a frown appeared on her face."But if my chakra's uncloaked, people can find me..." She trailed off, her frown deepening, as if she had realized something wrong with her statement, but didn't know what it was.
Ibiki sighed. "This is a safe village." He told her gently as he could. "If people cannot find you in a safe village where nothing is supposed to happen, they will worry."
Sakura's face brightened and Ibiki sighed, having realized that the girl hadn't been listening to him.
"But if my chakra is uncloaked, you'll sense me the moment I try to follow you!" She pointed accusingly at Ibiki, as if he were the reason for this whole mess.
Ibiki held back his eyebrow from twitching.
The brat had just made him the villain of their situation!
Sakura huffed and crossed her arms in a way that said she was doing it only because she had been asked. Her chakra signature appeared in a flash. "There."
Not knowing what else to do, Ibiki ruffled the girl's hair.
Sakura preened at the contact.
Ibiki passed Sakura over to the Hokage, telling him about how she had followed him to the T&I department.
Minato nodded his head to show that he had heard. Ibiki bowed at the blond before he nodded at Sakura in goodbye. Sakura pouted but didn't say anything as the man walked off.
Minato led Sakura back into the house, where Naruto jumped onto her with a hug. "Sakura-chan! You just vanished! I was so worried!"
Sakura patted the boy on the back. "Sorry. I won't...do it again."
Naruto grinned and pulled the girl towards the second floor. "We're meeting Sasuke at the park again tomorrow. This time, we'll play something else..."
Once everyone was out of earshot, Minato began to chuckle.
Everyone in his family liked having Sakura living with them, but perhaps it would so the usually uptight Interrogator some good to have the girl around.
Perhaps he found the perfect accommodation for her.
Sakura was absent again, and it was becoming late.
Minato was beginning to worry when a shaking Chunin knocked on his door.
He managed to stutter out that Morino Ibiki had sent him, then relayed the message, which was that Sakura had fallen asleep while waiting for him to sort through some papers, and that he had taken her home because she wouldn't let go, and he would return her tomorrow.
Minato chuckled.
He was sure a shinobi like Ibiki could easily pry a sleeping girl from him, but decided to not say anything. He merrily sent the Chunin away.
After that, it was common for Sakura to not come home at night. Minato though it was safe to say that half of Sakura's nights were spent over at Ibiki's place.
Naruto complained and grumbled about this, but in the end, agreed to 'let this Ibiki guy off the hook' because 'Sakura-chan liked him'.
One day, Minato called Ibiki to his office, then wordlessly handed Ibiki a stack of papers.
Ibiki did a good job of acting displeased but thanked Minato before leaving with the papers.
One day, while Sakura was sitting patiently for Ibiki to buy her the ice cream he had promised yesterday, a woman with a very strange chakra signature marched into the building. She felt more than one of the chakra signature din the building flinch and she looked up curiously.
Now that she was looking directly at the woman, she could see that the source of the strange signature was coming from her neck. She flinched away when it when it lashed out, almost as if it knew she was looking at it.
Sakura drew back a little, not user of what it was.
The woman must have noticed her gaze, for in the next second, she was right in front of her.
Sakura looked up at him curiously.
"Hey there." The woman grinned. She flicked the dango stick in her mouth from one side to another. "Are you Ibiki's little princess I hear so often about?"
Sakura's eyes brightened. "Are you Ibiki's friend?"
"You could say that." The woman's grin widened. "You can call me Anko-sama."
Sakura grinned right back. "Mkay, Anko-sama."
Anko laughed. She straightened and glanced around the room, not really looking at anyone in general. "I like her! If you don't come out, Ibiki, I'm going to steal away the princess."
"What do you need?"
Sakura whipped around. "Ibiki!"
Ibiki's stiff expression melted for a second and he nodded at her, before he turned back to Anko.
"Where'd you find princess here?" Anko demanded. "I want to adopt her."
"As if Hokage-sama will let a woman like you take care of a child." Ibiki said, then, as if he couldn't hold it back, added- "It's finders keepers."
Anko glared, and Ibiki glared right back.
Anko huffed. "Whatever." She turned towards the entrance. "I'll come back later. See ya, princess!"
Sakura waved. "Bye, Anko-sama!"
Ibiki groaned.
Time passed rather quickly. Sakura spent her time running around with Sasuke and Naruto, and visiting Ibiki whenever she could in between. The members of the T&I department was now used to Ibiki's occasional shadow, and they were very friendly with her.
Sakura had the general layout of Konoha hammered into her mind, and could make her way around the village without bumping into anything or getting lost, something Ibiki had actually smiled at.
Two months later, the Academy applications started for the children who wanted to start next term.
Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke had all announced that they were going to enter the Academy and after graduation, become a team.
Minato had hesitated at this.
Though Sakura's chakra vision gave her many advantages on field, it made other, mundane tasks more difficult compared to other people.
Still, she was as determined as the two boys to enter the Academy and Ibiki, as her legal guardian, had agreed to this, to no one's surprise.
In many ways, it would be much harder for Sakura, but Minato respected the girl's wishes.
And so, he decided that it would be better if her two closest friends were aware. He asked for Ibiki's permission, and the man gave it easily, mumbling something about how he had been thinking along the same lines, but didn't want to talk to any children.
Minato had just smiled.
A week after that, Minato sat Naruto and Sasuke on the living room couch, and after confirming that Sakura was out with Ibiki, told them was gently as he could about Sakura's situation, about her clan and her vision.
The two boys took very well to it.
Apart from the fact that they now treated Sakura like some sort of princess, nothing really changed.
They now demanded that they do almost everything for her.
They pushed her on swings at the park and read out everything there was on the menu at a restaurant.
They still had a hard time describing a piece of clothing, but they were getting better. Minato wondered how Sakura had convinced herself to buy ninja sandals with straps that 'looked like mashed strings of black ramen' and soles that 'felt like broken tips of shuriken were stuck together'.
Sakura just smiled and compelled to their wishes.
One day, Minato and his family were invited for dinner at the Uchiha household.
Mikoto also invited Sakura, eager to meet this girl both her best friend and her younger son talked often about.
Ibiki had agreed to let her go, as long as she was dropped off at his house by an adult. Minato had easily agreed to this.
Naruto led Sakura to the Uchiha compound by her hand. She didn't complain, even if she could make her way there by herself. She had done so several times to meet up with Sasuke, but the thought seemed to have vanished from Naruto's mind.
Sasuke greeted them at the entrance gates. He then gestured for Naruto and Sakura to follow him, then eagerly led them into the compound. Naruto had been here once or twice, but it was amazing no matter how many times he saw it, simply because it was huge. Sakura had never been inside, and concentrated on taking everything in.
She was surprisingly quiet as Sasuke led them towards his house.
"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked after a while.
Sasuke slowed his steps.
Sakura shook her head, still looking around. "Reminds me of my village." She then quickly shook her head when she felt something she had come to recognize as 'sadness' began to leak into the chakra signature of the two boys. "But I'm fine." She quickened her pace. "Come on! I'm hungry."
The mentioning of food seemed to knock Naruto out of his state and he quickened his pace. "Yeah! I bet aunt Mikoto has ramen!"
Sasuke sighed, and they quickened their pace to catch up with the blond.
"Oka-sama!" Sasuke burst through the door, having ran past Naruto at some point.
A beautiful woman with distinctive Uchiha traits appeared at the door, beaming. "Sasuke-chan!"
Sasuke huffed, a faint blush on his face.
Naruto snickered. "Hey, aunt Mikoto."
"Hello, Naruto." Mikoto smiled at the blond. "And you must be Sakura-chan." She smiled at the pinkette standing by the door.
Naruto dragged Sakura towards the woman by her wrist. "Yup!"
"Hello." Sakura smiled back.
Mikoto straightened. "Now, why don't you all come in and go to the living room? Itachi and Shisui are there, and you can introduce Sakura-chan to them, okay?"
Sasuke brightened at the mentioning of his brother and he nodded.
Sakura recognized this 'Itachi' person's chakra. He had been on the team with Ibiki.
She took off her shoes and placed them neatly on the floor before she allowed Sasuke to drag her into the house.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke burst through the door at the end.
Itachi looked up from the scroll he was reading, and Sakura watched the bubbles of happiness and something much more warmer seep into Itachi's chakra signature.
"Hello, otouto."
"No greeting for me?" The other teen in the room, who Sakura assumed was Shisui, asked.
Sasuke huffed. "Hi, Shisui." He muttered.
"Hi, Itachi-teme, Shisui." Naruto plopped himself on the couch.
Shisui collapsed next to Naruto with a dramatic sigh. "At least Naruto here appreciates me." He then turned in her direction. "And who might you be, pretty lady?"
Sakura blinked. She heard that word often, being used to describe flowers and clothes and stuff.
No idea what it meant, though.
"I'm Haruno Sakura." She said.
"Ah! Sasuke-chan's new friend!" Shisui vanished in a burst of chakra, appearing in front of her.
Sakura recognized this particular flare, as well as the chakra trail, and noted that he had body flickered.
"Yeah."
Shisui seemed a little disappointed that he hadn't manage to surprise her.
As long as one had chakra, it was close to impossible to surprise her.
Not that she was going to spoil that to anyone.
Instead, she huffed. Sasuke took this chance to snatch her out of Shisui's immediate vicinity. "Come on." He shot a pouting Shisui a suspicious look before he led her to the couch. "That's Itachi." He sounded by proud, the emotion leaking into his chakra signature. "He's the best."
"Best in what way?" Sakura asked curiously as she sat down next to Naruto. A second later, Sasuke sat to her left, sandwiching her between them.
Sasuke frowned. "The best...in the best way." His frown deepened. "He's very strong and smart and fast and..."
She turned back to stare at Itachi.
He had really little chakra, compared to other Shinobi she had seen. Then again, he was probably younger...She turned her green gaze to Naruto. His chakra, on the other hand, was unlimited. It was also very...red, and almost felt angry. It was hot too. She turned back to Itachi again.
She slowly trailed her gave up, meeting Itachi's onyx eyes.
"But Ibiki is better." Sakura interrupted. Sasuke opened his mouth to no doubt argue, but Sakura beat him to it. She flicked his nose and he jerked back in surprise. "He is."
"Naruto has more chakra than him." She said.
"But Naruto's an idiot." Sasuke replied automatically.
"What'dya say, bastard?" Naruto flew at Sasuke, knocking them both off the couch. Sakura tucked herself neatly into the couch to avoid the flailing limbs, and when the rolled away, stretched out on the couch.
Shisui sat on the armrest, a look of curiosity in his eyes. "You can sense chakra already?" He asked.
"I can see it." She told him.
Shisui turned to Itachi, who shrugged. "She's a Haruno."
Shisui's eyes brightened. "Oh! You're the girl Tachi here brought back!" He chuckled. "And Ibiki's follower." He leaned forward. "I've heard about you, pretty lady." He grinned.
Sakura crossed her arms. "Ibiki told me that if anyone tries something weird, I should kick them between the legs."
Shisui blinked.
"And Anko-sama said that the Uchiha were all about their Sharingan, and so if one was being mean to me, I should gauge their eyes out."
Shisui chuckled nervously. "Uh, Sakura-chan-"
"Ibiki also said that if someone tired to tell me otherwise, I should kill them and that he'll hide the bodies in one of the the unmarked cells deep underneath the Torture and Interrogation department that not one knows exists."
The corner of Itachi's mouth curled upward in a faint smile.
He decided that the girl was interesting to be around.
So, new chapter~
We have a plan for another fanfic, and we'll probably post it once we have time to type it down...might be a while.
Darque: So, I'm in History right now. I'm supposed to be researching about the Cultural Revolution in China.
Raven: You're always in History.
Darque: :) That's because we use our laptops often, and my teacher's lazy so he just sits down and doesn't check on us.
Raven: Lucky. I had a surprise test today, and I just barely passed with 96%.
Darque: Dude...pass mark is 60...As long as you get above 80, you're perfectly safe.
Raven: Well, barely passed my standards. 95 is normal for me.
Darque:...I'm gone. (POOF)
Raven: Dar-Wai-...uh...what?
Read and Review!