Painting with Greed

Don't own it. Sorry folks. :] No Pairings Yet. Other than KakaSaku.

I don't own this.

I don't own that.

Thoughts are not framed by '…' they are unnecessary. They are simply italicized.

Time is also italicized for obvious reasons.

"Speech" Bijuu Thoughts

Muse: Great. Hope it stays that way. Derp!

Listening to: Painting Flowers by All Time Low

The Dream Isn't Done

I couldn't have believed it, even if Kakashi had just uttered those words from his mouth. My hands twitched and uncurled from their once tight fists, and I looked from him to the girl in front of us. She did appear to be our age, but I wouldn't believe that she was supposed to be Sasuke. It was incomprehensible. It made my throat run dry, and all I could let out was a questioning noise, glancing at the rest of the group. Naruto had fallen onto the ground in surprise, his hands between his legs, elbows rested close to his knees. He picked at the dead grass in front of him, frowning in confusion, his eyes flicking up to the green-haired woman in front of us as she was comforted by my fiancé.

I couldn't have it. I balled my fist and stormed over, anger was sure to be rolling off of me in waves, and I reached over, grabbing her by her collar and hauling her up. She merely squeaked and looked at me with glazed eyes, somehow, I could tell she was scared of getting hit, her hair falling into her face a bit as she trembled, too afraid to look away. I sneered, pushing my pink hair away from my face with my free hand and then gave her a light punch to the side, "why did you leave, if you were supposed to be our partner?"

I glared as an emphasis to my question, and she opened her mouth, wheezing lightly, and I realized I had tightened my grip so much she couldn't answer. Kakashi, my husband-to-be, stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to pry my fingers away from her shirt, "It wasn't her choice, Sakura, she had an ability that was the last of her clan, just like Sasuke."

I bit my lip and spat in her face lightly, storming over to Naruto's side and sat down, glaring at Kakashi. I wanted to let him know that I was mad. Infuriated that he was sticking up for a nuke-nin. I had learned her lesson…slightly with Sasuke's betrayal, but I still believed that he was influenced and that he could have changed if I just showed him how much I loved him.

I sighed and glared once more, pondering on why I couldn't remember her if she was in class with Sasuke, Naruto, and myself. My brows knitted together and I stared at her, watching her wheeze as Kakashi had Shikamaru come over and start patting at her stomach with the cloth, which it's knitting was absorbing quite a bit of blood.

Something clicked in my brain at that very moment.

I knew her.

But I didn't want to admit it. I clenched my fists and then glared at Naruto, pushing him lightly and barked at him to snap out of it to release my anger, and he looked at me, before standing up and wandering over to Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Neji, who were busy tending to the girl that was injured. She was hogging all of the attention, it seemed that she was already attracting disaster, and I had no clue why. If…if only I could remember clearly. Fragments of my memory began to piece together as I stared at her, watching her sniffle and her body shake as she dealt with an unknown source of pain. I felt slight sympathy, but I wasn't giving her my heart.

Six years ago, August Fifteenth, The Academy

I could remember that the weather had been warm, tickling breezes of autumn finding us slowly, but staying a warm, Indian summer. I sat beneath a tree with Ino, my argumentable friend who thought that she could actually get Sasuke before me. We were chatting idly about how he could possibly get his hair into that peculiar style, and even when it became wet, how it would dry the same way. We giggled as he passed, and he simply made us squeal as he sent a glare our way. He acknowledged us. And that made both of us quite happy, until we started arguing about who exactly he was glaring at.

Naruto had piped up that he wouldn't stare at either of our ugly faces, though he added on that my face was pretty, which made me forget. Ino was still pissed off, glaring at Naruto and stood up, both of us soon seething as he said that Sasuke's hair was all thanks to that his family was related to ducks. In the back of my mind, I giggled, but in the front, I was livid. How dare he insult my Sasuke-kun! I stood up and both Ino and I started chasing Naruto, sneering.

Somehow, my memory switched into the hallways, Naruto screaming for someone to help and that we were going to kill him. He obviously didn't mind the fact that there was a dead end soon, as he appeared intent on bursting through the door to the one teacher that would save him.

"Iruka-sensei! Help me," he exclaimed, clutching his chest as he tried to bring air back into his lungs, even the fastest student got breathless at times. Ino and I had grabbed him by the arms, giving him hits to the head and paused as we noticed Iruka picking someone up and placing them on his back. A girl, smaller than us by a foot was sniffling and sobbing, blood covering her body in patches, her dark green hair held in two long braids, she hung from his back weakly, arms over his shoulders, but not clutching.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, I have to take … to the hospital," the Jounin apologized, bowing out and then broke into a run, heading out of the academy, leaving whispering teachers and children. I peeked out after the girl and crouched down, patting the blood that the female had left on the floor and brought it to my nose, sniffing lightly and then my tongue darted out. I shrieked lightly and fell back, my hands twitching uncontrollably and I slapped my hands over my mouth, beginning to cough and shiver. That taste was something I had wanted to forget, but even now…I could feel the pain, the unknown now known of what the girl was going through.

Sympathy.

Presently…

Sakura stood without a word, brushing off her skirt and wandered over to the girl, frowning and shaking a tiny bit in fear of touching her blood, after all these years of training under the best medic around, she had not been able to tolerate the taste of it. Even her own blood had her quaking, pale. Breathless. The rosette shoved her hair into a hair tie and she moved the others away, "sorry."

She simply hated apologizing, it was the end of that. Naruto watched as she began trying to heal the wounds, feeling her chakra sapped from her like a leech summon was within the girl. She doubted it though, and continued her work, seeing the wounds close at an alarming rate, but the holes weren't closing. Her green eyes narrowed and she put more force into her chakra, trying to regenerate the muscles and flesh that were supposed to be there, and Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder, "it won't work."

"Well why not," Naruto barked angrily, glaring at his former sensei. The silver haired man simply glanced down at the girl as she sat up, pulling her jumpsuit's top back up and zipped it slightly so that it wouldn't expose her breasts in a trashy manner, even though the slit was deep, and her fishnet covered the majority of it in finely crossed threads.

"That's her Kekkei Genkai, she's from the Maboroshi clan, they specialize in illusions and genjutsu…but they were wiped out when the fox attacked. It was the first thing it's paws landed on. Her parents were dead, so she lived in the orphanage…an infant at the time I'm guessing. Unless her age is an illusion too," Kakashi muttered and made quick to do 'Kai', but the image did not dispel, leaving the girl who was still shaking there, looking up at him with saddened, serpentine eyes of an electrical variety, "so she isn't an enemy…we should take her back to the village."

Tou's eyes widened and she sneered, rolling out of the way with a light cough and withdrew yet another kunai, perhaps it was the one from earlier, but they would not disregard that she was posing a threat now, "I feel no need to return. I have lived out here for six years, I plan on continuing my life this way unless you could give me a good reason."

Kakashi sighed and rose up, as did Shikamaru, the rest followed soon after and adjusted their outfits, pulling gloves tight, hitae-ite against their foreheads, and retrieving their own weapons. Shikamaru stepped forward first, analyzing her lightly, which made her blush as he remained on a few spots too long. Perhaps he was thinking of something that could be beneficial to the village? She narrowed her eyes and snorted, seeing Sakura notice as well and she rose a fist, "you could be smart and restore your clan. Not with me, of course, women are troublesome…and I already have Temari at home."

The green girl pondered for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest and began thinking, tapping her foot. Silence was brought upon the group as she calculated the option, a concentrated look on the ground, her eyes tracing the patterns of their feet and ankles, "possibly. One reason. Two to go."

Naruto was the next one to pipe up, "you could become a legal ninja again, you never really had a chance…" He looked down at his feet, he himself did not have a chance until he defeated his sensei after a failed attempt of stealing a scroll, but he did learn a valuable lesson from it…so he had gotten the rule of favor and was given the status of Genin, a story we all know well. Tou glared at him lightly and moved her hands to rest on her hips, cocking them to the side, "do you think that matters to me anymore?"

The ex-kunoichi was lying, as Shikamaru saw her foot twitch as she said the words. She couldn't hide that she was itching to reclaim her title as a kunoichi, though she did not look forward to being a female ninja of the village that had failed to ensure her safety. He sighed and furrowed his brows, pressing his index finger and his thumb to the bridge of his nose. This girl was very, very troublesome. He didn't necessarily like her attitude either, she was kind of like Sasuke with how defensive she was about her decisions… Prideful. He thought, snorting.

"Any of you guys got any good reasons," Naruto questioned, and the group almost fell over. He had looked so concentrated earlier, they swore he would have said something, well. Smart. Sakura bit her lip, pondering a moment, then wondered if she used to be a fan girl of Sasuke, her eyes sparkling curiously for a moment before she stepped forward, "you'd see your crush again!" She blurted, making the girl with bright green eyes stare at her oddly.

"I've never had a crush," her tone was questioning, almost as if she was confused.

She had everything that they could call for, other than the little mysterious holes all over her body, "your fortune you were taken away from is still instated, along with your portion of the village. You could reclaim that and give pieces out to both your future generations, and for people of the village to rent out. It would make you rich, and a powerful part of your clan," Neji spoke, wishing that it was secretly himself, that was in her position. The chance to raise a clan on your own would be amazing, let alone an honor to do such in Konohagakure. He seemed to have struck a good point, making her eye glimmer happily for a moment. She likes money…

"One more," she muttered, moving her hand up to hide her thin lipped smile, she shifted her weight onto her other leg, cocking her hip out just a tad. Naruto was now encouraged to come up with an answer, trying to think of the girl's values, and what she had reacted to so far. She tends to smile when we mention some material things, like money, and when we mentioned repopulating the clan…she couldn't help but agree almost immediately. Maybe that's why Sasuke was paired with us, her qualities are almost exact to his. I've got it!

He stepped forward, making the group jolt in surprise, "you could exact your revenge on someone."

The air was now stale, nostrils barely flaring on any of them, their hands shook lightly, wondering if she was going to agree. The majority of the group gave a mental groan of sorts, thinking of having a new Sasuke in Konoha, not including the one that was kept ball and chain within the Uchiha compound with no chakra to his name. A few smirked in satisfaction at the minor thought, mainly Sakura and Naruto, but they also grimaced at the girl, nervous at the glint of concentration in her eye, "there is no need for that, but you've shown enough concern that I will come back willingly."

Concern? She wanted concern? That's it? That's her third, oh so amazing reason? Naruto thought, huffing in irritation, only to hear her let out a light giggle at his reaction. He looked up shyly and grinned, feeling a little humiliated that he had just acted like a child. He wiggled his toes within his standard issue shoes and popped his lips, pondering for a moment, "so…we…still need to get to the village."

The rest of the group jolted out of their stupor surrounding the girl and nodded, grinning sheepishly, shuffling feet, and nodding, "let's go guys."

With Naruto's word, the group took off again, seeing the girl hesitate, look back and shunshin quickly, then appear with a bag of belongings and…was that a kitten? A small feline was cupped in her hands, a dim grey-blue in color, striped with a deeper grey-blue, and held bright cyan eyes. It mewed pitifully and the young girl caught up to them, bringing out a tiny bottle and rubbed the 'nipple' of the bottle against the kitten's mouth, it snatching it greedily and sucking the contents from it's prison.

Shikamaru groaned about 'compassionate women' and 'their troublesome urges', rolling his hazel eyes in her direction momentarily before he directed his way forward, continuing to the village with haste, ignoring the fact that Neji was looking for bombs along the way. The girl named Tou slid over to Neji and muttered that she eliminated all the bombs she feared would blow up her kitten, as the kit had been wandering before she re-located it, and she rubbed under it's chin to wipe up the milk that dribbled down. Neji nodded, but did not relinquish his Byakugan, keeping his senses alert, as the rest of the group did.

To Tou, she didn't see half of the issues that they did, if she eliminated the bombs, they should have been able to relax, especially since she killed a few idiots along the way. Slowly, she reached into her back pocket and drew out a small white book, opening it and looked through the pages, thinking back on the faces and jutsus that the individuals used.

"Is that…a bounty book," Sakura questioned, growing a bit nervous. What if this girl that had agreed to come back was planning on killing them for profit? She was sure that she was within it's context, being the pupil of Tsunade, and a destroyer of an Akatsuki member. The rosette bit her lip hard, glaring at the girl with uneasy emerald eyes.

"Yes. I killed a few people along the way," the forest hued girl replied smoothly, making some of them cringe. Kakashi understood, having been with Ibiki during a few interrogations of a few ex-nin that had become bounty hunters due to the need to survive. It was instinct -even if they had wanted to die- to find food, shelter, and a comfortable life style, even if it was killing others for their own benefit. He sent glances to the rest of the group, a flat look that said that they shouldn't change their opinion, and begrudgingly, they did.

"None of them are within this piece of shit anyways, I'm a year or two behind in collecting a new book," she muttered and tossed it to Shikamaru, who blinked and caught it on reflex. Her glance said 'burn it', but his own asked if he could view it. She snorted and looked to the side, and once more, the group grew anxious. Her personality kept switching from friendly, to scared, to happy…but not at the normal rate. It was almost as if she was… Bipolar.

Shikamaru began flipping through the book as the girl nursed the cat, his look deepening with each page, and each color coded note on the side of the ones she did kill- and the ones she did not. Twenty-one, twenty-two, killed by a former accomplice, twenty-three, twenty-four- found beheaded and castrated.

He shuddered violently and looked at her, pointing to the page in the book with a disgusted look and she simply gave him an innocent eyed shrug, shaking her head from side to side lightly. It wasn't her fault, obviously. She simply found him. He came to the Konohagakure section and snorted in amusement, seeing the tiny little drawings she put next to the people, including Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and himself. They were of tiny little people with pitch forks, and weird birds with kitten faces, nibbling on the corners of the pages, and sometimes on the other's face. Somehow, Sakura had been so irritated in this picture, that she had glanced to the side, and one of the creatures drawn was nibbling on her cheek, the exact spot she had been staring at.

Needless to say, the deer herding nin found it amusing. He let out a little chuckle and moved over to Naruto, who in turn broke out into a quiet fit of laughter, it shaking his shoulders, making Sakura come over -though she instantly regretted it- and began laughing at the picture of Kakashi. There were a few legs sticking out from underneath his headband, and from his mask, making it look like he was sprouting people.

They flipped the page and paled, questioning eyes laying on the little girl in the picture. Naruto's jaw dropped, and Neji's brow rose in a quizzical manner. She's in the book?

Tou simply licked her lips, staring down at the kitten who had now fallen asleep with a tender glance. Feeling the eyes on her, she looked up and jumped forward, pushing up on Kakashi's shoulder she could peek at the picture, and frowned, narrowing her eyes and grabbed it, "'return if found, reward granted if alive, no reward granted if dead'." She echoed, blinking down at the closed book in her hand.

"I lied. I haven't updated my book since I was eleven," she blandly stated, fidgeting nervously. The others understood the urge to restore a bit of pride in herself, as she had been missing, the search was given up a long, long time ago. When she was thirteen to be exact. Naruto frowned and saw the red scrawl on the cover of the book, and then reached out towards it, only to have her stuff it into her pocket again.

"We're approaching," Tou pointed out, inclining her head to the gates which were closer than ever. However, Shikamaru had not been paying attention, focusing on the book as he thought, and whacked his head against the tree above him, falling down with a loud groan as he clutched his head. How he hated people. He hated everything like that. And he most definitely hated when he did something stupid, because, for one; he wasn't stupid. And two; it made everyone laugh at him, which hurt his own pride.

A rotund woman skittered out from the large wooden gate, held together by dried wood and molded sand ages old, there were still dents within it from the last attack on the village, showing that even though it looked weak, it was quite strong. She smiled and smoothed out her apron, adjusting her pepper and salt flecked hair, and showed off her amazingly white teeth, "welcome! Welcome! Please do come in Shinobi of Konohagakure! We are glad to have you here! We have your accommodations set and…Tou! Why are you back? I thought…"

Tou gave her a look to shut her up and then shrugged at the others, biting out a small, "later." Eye ticking in irritation, Naruto moved forward and bowed, the others following suit.

"Oh-ho-ho! Please don't bow! Please! It's an honor to have you here," the woman exclaimed, moving a strand of hair that fell into her face, "my name is Ren, it's very nice to meet you all! I'm the wife of the Kage here, and I greet everyone that comes here!"

She rolled up her sleeve to reveal a heavily bandaged arm, frowning, the wrinkles of her face deepening lightly, "I'm lucky I survived the attack… I was out in the open.."

Tou wandered forward and yanked her sleeve down, huffing and rolled her eyes, leaning down near the woman and the shinobi had to strain their already sensitive ears to hear what the taller of the two women muttered.

"If I wasn't staying here, you wouldn't have a problem with the bandits."

End Chapter Two

So! What did you think? I know that there are some stupid moments in here, but sometimes an intense moment needs to be ruined. Slowly, we're finding out more and more…and I wanted to involve a cat…because I really do like cats. And the only times you ever see cats is when Sasuke comes home in the rain after the Massacre, and with the mission of the retrieval for the cat. And finally, when Hidan and Kakuzu (I…I love them. XD) fight the Nibi, which is technically a cat.

Reviews? Ideas? Pairings you have in mind? Leave a review!