AN/ Yes, this is the new Softer than Scarlet. I ask that you please review, fav and alert it if you enjoyed it.

Disclaimer/ (laugh) No! I don't own Naruto and I don't think I ever will. So, you can stop asking me now...It's starting to make me feel bad.


Chapter Four

IV

Sexy, Sexy

In the early morning before light could fully overtake the morning sky, a small black alarm clock in the corner of a cluttered room blinked 6:29, it's red numbers glowing eerily in the dark sleeping space.

Nothing stirred as time trickled by. In Sakura's bedroom, the only motion present was the steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathed a steady even breath. She slept on quite deeply, her sheets scattered and crumpled all around her.

After another few seconds it clicked on, playing a slow rock song that could barley be heard by one so dead asleep as Sakura.

Yuugure no kanata kara shinkirou
Aitakute aitakute
Aenakute aenakute
Anata utopia

Itsuno hi ka, kono basho de deaeru nara
I miss you I miss you
I need you I need you
Sexy sexy

In her sleep she rolled over and borough her head closer to the radio speakers. After a few seconds the music on the radio began to enter her tired, groggy senses. Thus, bringing her to the state of reality where you know not weather you are still sleeping or in the land of those awake.

A single green orb cracked open as her sight returned to her. Her eyes were heavy and hard to lift, so she gave up on opening them both and focused all her energy on one. She felt as if she was still stuck in a dream as the music continued to drift on bringing her, bringing her closer and closer to fully waking up.

Ne, heya ni konai?
Naisho no hanashi kikaseteageru
Koyoi norenai nara
Take away shite mo doushiyou mo nai ne

Furachi na yoru ni kokoro mo nureta
Toki wa modosenai
Come back come back come back

Jounetsu no kanata kara shinkirou
Yurashite yurashite
Yurashite yurashite
Kimochi ii koto paradise

Moesakaru ano basho de deaeru no nara
Yurashite yurashite
Yurashite yurashite
Sexy sexy dance

Sakura moaned still somewhat in sleep and rolled off her bed onto the floor. There was only a half an inch drop so she didn't wake up immediately.

"Screw the killer beavers, you deserve it…" she mumbled, still half asleep.

Her eyes fell back down and it seemed as if she would re enter sleep when the tune of the song increased. After a few more seconds of mumbling her heavy eyes started to flutter to life again.

Her sight was hazy at first, allowing her only colors and blurs, but after time shapes began to come into play. It wasn't long before her vision was back to normal, with only a faint trace of hazy morning. She knew this would pass once she showered.

Growling she started at her clock with her hazy morning vision trying to decipher the blurry numbers. The numbers blinked again changing to 6:01. Sakura started harder, her vision fully restored as if not believing what she saw.The music bringing her deeper into reality.

Hoshi wa aozame hana wa midareru
Yami no naka kara kirakira to (utsushiteru no)

Karamitsuku yubisaki no shinkirou
Jirashite jirashite
Jirashite jirashite
Jiri jiri ikasete

Itsumademo kono atari de koishiteru
I miss you i miss you
I need you i need you
Sexy sexy you

'It can't be…' she though, her eyes growing wider. "………..AWWW crap! I slept in!" she cried, jumping up and grabbing some random cloths she would somehow make work, before tripping only once before disappearing into her small bathroom to take a quick shower. Thanks to the length of her hair, it was a short one.

Her hair used to be longer, falling past her hips during a time she was unaware of the horrors she now knows. She took great pride in her looks back then since it was something she and her mother shared together. She had pictures of the two of them from so many years ago. Then her world went into a nose dive, throwing her out of protection's arms. The true nature of her world was reviled and she cursed the day her eyes were opened. Things were so much better when she was blind to all the evil.

Memories such as these haunted her as the apple scented shampoo fell down her back and out of her hair dampened hair. Turning the warm water off, the nimble girl hopped of the shower, throwing on a few articles of her cloths, not bothering to dry her hair that reached only her shoulder blades.

She hat cut her hair short and uneven herself, many years ago, and had kept it that way ever since. She liked to think of it as a symbol of her awareness of the world. She was once a small protected girl, living the good life. The next day the blood of her loved ones was pooling at her feet, opening her eyes up to the reality of the world.

How she wished she could go back to those times of butterflies and candy fairies. Unicorns and magical rainbows.

But she couldn't.

When her image of the world shattered, that was when she truly grew up out of her childhood. Her long hair was a symbol of her innocence so she cut it herself, short and uneven. Ever since that day she drew the scissors against the long beautiful tressed she once possessed, she never let it grow back, because there was no going back.

Tossing such thoughts aside she picked up her books and shoved them into her bag, not really caring if she didn't have time to do the homework. The towel around her shoulders slipped when she reached under a chair to pick up her history text book. The kitchen clock stood blinking in the dimness of her house. It's numbers reminding her how far behind she was.

"I can't believe I slept in I set my alarm for 5:30 so that I would be done with all of this by now and hopefully have some of my schoolwork done. Kuso that evil radio station, how dare they play soft rock in the morning when people need to wake up. Kuso, Kuso, Kuso!" she cried toweling her hair as she continued to run around the house collecting her things.

School started at seven, and was only a fifteen minuet ride away, so she would not be late if she hurried. However, this required her to give up on her big breakfast she was looking forward to devouring in the morning. Being a dedicated fighter, she had to work out a lot and burned a lot of calories. Thus, she needed to eat a lot more than the average woman. Not to mention her inhumanly high metabolism didn't help things at all.

Sakura was very slim and slightly petite compared to the other girls her age so you would never think of her as a hearty eater but the truth was instead of a normal stomach like everyone else she had a bottomless pit that begged for food ever minuet of the day. It might have been from her severe work out sessions with her trainer who told Sakura that 'she could eat all of France and not get fat.'So it might not seem like a lot, but skipping breakfast was a lot for her to give up. Sadly, she needed to get to the school early and work on some of her home work in the study hall.

She didn't really notice the music from her radio continuing to play around her. But, somehow in the back of her mind she knew it was still going and matched her steeps to the beat, her drying hair still dripping behind her steeps. Her body moved gracefully around the house as the final stretch of her song came in.

Oh baby my baby
Oh baby oh baby
Anata utopia

Jounetsu no kanata ni wa shinkirou
Yurashite yurashite
Yurashite yurashite
Nandomo

Yurashite yurashite
Yurashite yurashite

Kirakira to
Sexy sexy

Ding Ding Knock Knock

Sakura raised her eyes to the door when she hear the noised coming from outside it. Who would be at her door this early in the morning? On top of that, who knew she was here, living in this apartment. Only a handful of people knew of her wear abouts. Rule number one in survival of the underground: keep a low profile. This was a rule Sakura knew well, since she knew what would happen if she didn't obey this rule.\

Coming to the door, she cursed the lack of an eye hole. What a stupid idiot she was to buy a room with this kind of door! Keeping the chain on, Sakura unlocked her door an opened it a crack, to see who it was that had bothered to come see her so early in the morning. "Josh you take long enough. Are you ready yet?"

"Kisame? What are you doing here? Wait. Give me a second," Sakura exclaimed closing the door and undoing the chain.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? Didn't you get my message? I left one for you on you answering machine last night. I though you would have been ready by now," Kisame stated, entering her room.

"Ready for what?"

Kisame blinked, giving her a blank stare. "You didn't get my message, did you?"

Sakura turned to look over her shoulder and spotted the answering machine Kisame had spoken about earlier. Excusing herself for a moment she ran over to it a pressed the flashing red button.

'I have one new message

' Beep'

"Sakura, it's Kisame. Haku told me you were working at out place now and mentioned you going to the same school as me. I have you address from your work resume so I'll just come by in the morning and pick you up. I'll be out and around by 6:15, see you then.

' Beep '

End of new message'

"You crashed as soon as you got home, didn't you?" Kisame asked coming up from behind Sakura, leaning over her shoulder so he could see the answering machine she had forgotten to answer.

Sakura chuckled nervously and blushed a bit in embarrassment. "I was really, really tired when I got back and it was so late that I just crashed without thinking. I'm sorry I didn't know you were coming to pick me up," Sakura replied rubbing the back of her head in a nervous way when a thought made her stop. "Wait a minuet, what are you doing going to my school? You're like...so much older than me and you live in Mist. Besides, I didn't see you there yesterday."

This time it was Kisame's turn to be embarrassed. "Yeah, I go to your school to keep an eye on everything that happens here in Leaf. I got held back a few times so I'm still attending classes. I don't usably bother to come to school unless I really need to, but when I found out you were going, I decided to start showing up again."

Sakura paused before speaking again. "So...you came to pick me up for school...that we both go to?" She asked, the sentence coming out slowly.

"Ah, very smart."

Sakura frowned darkly with a glare in her eyes. "Are you mocking me?"

Kisame stiffened in mid chuckle to see Sakura glaring up at him like he was about to become her next victim. He didn't put it past her. When she wanted to be, she could become a screeching little demon that no one had a hope of defeating. And on top of that, Kisame still had somewhat of an unofficial debt he had to pay to her, despite the fact that she told him they were even over and over again. "Uh, no."

Sakura sighed in relief and brushed past Kisame to gather the rest of her books. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt, looking for all of them. It didn't take long until she was finally ready for departure. With Kisame leading the way, Sakura skipped past her bike and followed her blue haired friend towards his car.

"You know Kisame, I know this is a bit stupid to say, but I have to tell you, I never though I'd see you in a school uniform...ever." Sakura stated with a hidden smile beneath her voice as she reached for her water bottle.

Kisame tisked the comment off and kept his eyes on the road. "Laugh it up while you can. You'll have to wear one as well, eventually. And when you do, it will have to be a skirt. I know you'll just love that."

Anyone that knew Sakura, knew that she hated dresses and skirts. She said they restricted too much movement and were not proper to fight in. You would have more luck in getting some random guy off the street to wear a skirt than you would with Sakura. It was for this reason, Sakura planned on buying a guy's uniform, complete with pants.

"And just to let you know, wearing a guys uniform won't work."

Sakura choked on her water and nearly ended up spitting it out in surprise. How did he manage to read her mind like that? "What the hell do you mean I can't wear a pair of pants. I didn't see any rule against it!"

"Then you obviously didn't check the rules. It's there if you look. Girls wear girl skirts, guys wear pants. I think the rule's just there to help the teachers," Kisame replied, running a stop light with a calm look in his eyes. Sakura knew he was used to driving like a maniac since it was pretty famous for his drag racing.

"I don't want to even ask what the teachers need help with," Sakura sighed as she twisted the cap back onto her water bottle. "What class do you have first, Kisame?"

"The only class we have together is Arithmetic. Bloody useless stuff for people like us. I really wish they would cut me a break and let me graduate. It's such a bother to go through all this crap," Kisame complained as he skid his car into the school's parking lot, not even batting an eye as he narrowly missed running over a few students and crashing into a few cars.

"For me, Arithmetic is an advanced class so it would make sense that I would take it with you. This is your last year, isn't it?" Sakura asked, un-clipping her seat belt and climbing out of the car.

"Ha, I wish. I bet I missed enough classes to hold me back another year. But with any luck, I'll be able to graduate this year. I asked a friend to help out with a few tests and homework so I still have a bit of hope in escaping this hellhole," the blue haired youth answered slamming his car door shut and locking it with a key.

"I have social studies in a half hour. That should be enough time for me to finish up on all the homework I should be reading. We have ancient Egypt for history so I can really skip all of than and work on my other stuff. Social studies is pretty much sleep and doodle class."

"They all are, there's no point in someone like me having to go through all of this. It's not like it's going to help me where I'm headed," Kisame grumbled as he walked Sakura to the fount of the building.

Sakura couldn't help but frown at the logic behind Kisame's words. It was true, that in the underground world school smarts would get you nowhere. In fact, if you did well in school and were bad on the floor, you were more than likely picked on and targeted for whatever damage they could inflict upon you.

Sabotage was not something entirely unknown to Sakura when she first started her days in the ring. She was a bright girl in school, a straight A student to be exact. And when she stated out she wasn't the strongest kid on the block. She was picked on because people believed she though of herself as someone better than the rest, just because she did well in school.

At one time Kisame was that type of person.

"It's okay, Kisame. You just got to go with it, you know. I think it's really brave of you to keep doing something you hate," Sakura murmured in a half unconscious state with her eyes half lidded.

Kisame faltered in his steppes a bit but regained composure in no time at all. "You think it's brave of me to keep coming to school?"

Sakura merely nodded, not bothering to look at him or utter a word.

"So I see," he whispered to himself turning his eyes downward as his face grew hot. For some reason, Sakura always had a way of turning bad situations around. Her voice got through to people when no one else could.

Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out a black and white checkered hair band she used to pull her hair back into a short pony tale. A few loose bangs feel in front of her face, still mildly damp from the shower she rushed through that morning.

Combing a few behind the ear she looked up at Kisame and addressed him. "I'm going to go to Study Hall now, you're welcome to come join me if you like. I wouldn't mind."

Kisame blinked, his mouth slightly a gap.

"...But if you don't want to, I'll just head out there on my own."

"W-wait, I have some people I have to talk to this morning so I can't, but if you are willing tomorrow..."

Sakura blinked but smiled none the less. "Sure, Kisame. I'll be here early tomorrow as well if you want to study with me. Till then, I'll see you around!"

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"Sand and Mist are both allies with Leaf, so it only makes sense there should be members of both inside the core," a velvety smooth voice drawled out in a soft tone. Itachi sat back in his seat on the roof, looking at Hidan who was currently scowling at his earlier words. "Don't you think so too?"

Kisame and Sasori exchanged looks but said nothing, preferring to nod their heads in agreement rather than argue with nothing more than pride as their objection. Still, neither party seemed too thrilled with having to work with the other. Many were aware of how different the climate and the culture were in both cities.

Neither mix easy.

"I am glad that you both arrived early, like I asked. There are a few matters I would like to discuss before the first classes begin. The first being the new memberships. Leaf, Sand, Mist, Lightning and Earth are the five most powerful cities that sponsor underground activity."

He paused to clear his throat. "As you know, Lightning and Earth are bound by trade and employment. There are rumors that they are planning to buy out and overthrow the companies of Leaf, Sand, and Mist. I think you all know that the most useful and intelligent thing to do would be to devolve an alliance and stand strong against the two cities."

"Itachi san, I don't want to speak out of line but I see no evidence to support this theory outside of raw rumors. I know you are not the kind of man to act without proof or solid reason. What do you have to grantee this?" AS tall darkly clad man asked, his vivid green eyes staring calmly at the confident Uchiha before him.

"Kakuzu..." Hidan hissed,sitting next to the stitched up youth who was currently having a silent glaring contest with the Uchiha.

"I have a lot invested in this. I would like to be able to stand on more than just a belief or a rumor, thank you very much," Kakuzu continued.

Itachi smirked lightly, leaning further back in his seat that was nothing more than a few cement blocks stacked up against the wall. "I will gladly give you the proof you need once he gets here. As for now you will have to rely on my words as well as those of Leader sama's. I am sure you can wait a few more hours until then, no?"

Kisame looked around the roof and saw a good number of people.

Hidan and Kakuzu seemed to know each other well and sat off to one side of the the roof on a pile of wooden crates.

Sasori stood next to him, as cold and calm as ever. Kisame didn't like the guy because he was from the desert, but Sakura had lived there and she came out fine so he really couldn't hold that against him.

Then there was this Tobi guy that sat next to Kisame. He seemed harmless enough to the blue haired male, but he was not certain of anything.

Then there was lastly Zetsu, the man who had tattooed his body black and white. It was sort of his theme for fights in the underground. His nickname was the canabil, for his tradmark move where he would bite his opponent with his sharpened teath and tear the skin apart in a bloody, painful mess. Not many people liked to go up againts him.

"Is there something wrong, Kisame?" Itachi asked, noticing how the blue haired youth kept looking around him, taking in everyone.

"Nothing, just wondering...aren't we missing a few people?"

"Leader sama and Konan were not able to come and our last official member is late. I asked him to be here but it appears he was unable to make it. He told me there could be complication in arriving so early, so I won't hold it against him. However, there is one spot still open, you are right about that."

"Are you meaning to say that this organization is incomplete?" Sasori asked in a monotone voice, one eyebrow slightly raised in question. Nothing really surprised him anymore.

Itachi smirked lightly yet again. It was the light smirk of an evil mastermind as he watched his plans fall into place perfectly. "Actually, that is the second member I wished to discuss. Konan brought this up a few weeks ago and did some scouting for another guy in our group."

"They why ain't he here?" Hidan asked.

"Well I have not been able to extend an invitation. But rest assured, this is only a matter of time before the empty slot is filled. I have to warn you, it may seem strange at first. But you'll soon see why."

"Not too seem too intruding, Itachi san. But do you, by any chance, mind extending the name of out future member?" Kisame asked, mustering up as much politeness in his voice as he was able. It was certainly, a difficult task for someone like him who was used to using in-proper grammar all the time.

A few other members nodded their heads in agreement and asked for Itachi to give them a name.

"I doubt many of you know of whom I speak of. But she is a young girl from the Suna grounds that now resides in Leaf, her mother home. Her name is Harouno Sakura and she is the champion of the female devision at only sixteen years of age."

But the strangest thing was that most did know this girl.

Not just Sasori and Kisame.

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Did the title for this chapter scare you? I seriously am too in love with Japanese music for my own good. I suggest you go listen to the song by the band Cascade. It's super catchy, and who wouldn't want to listen to a song that pronounces sexy shexy.

I think this is the story that will be updated the most from now on. I just finished a two week vacation of a sorts and now I have plenty of time to write and such. Don't worry, I know it's been a while, but I'll start updating a lot more now.

Please review!

REVIEW I SAY!

Ja ne