His eyes scanned the dark forest, the colors inverted, everything clearly visible as it always was through his Sharingan.
Seeing, nor sensing any sign of a threat, he advanced quickly, skimming through the trees, his Sharingan trained ahead. This mission was just the simple, infiltrate and retrieve, with the possible assassination added on if he got the chance.
His name was Shokuda, Matsurata, and it was to his estate that Sasuke was headed. He was a Hidden Sand nobleman, and he possessed scrolls that Orochimaru wanted, the same old mission. Anymore, it seemed like he was doing nothing more then filling the man's grocery list then engaging in actual missions.
These recent missions were nothing like the ones he used to give him, where going behind enemy lines was a lot more dangerous considering his more trying motives. Kidnapping, murder, and thievery was basically all he did, with the occasional sabotage, and those were always a bit more enjoyable.
Even though he didn't enjoy these child missions, he knew why Orochimaru gave them to him. The more enduring missions usually took him between four and six weeks to complete because of all the planning, preparation and strategy that was involved, and now that he had a student he couldn't be gone for longer periods of time.
To be frank, everything about the girl, and the situation fiercely irritated him. He didn't need anything that was going to slow him down, or prevent him altogether from getting what he came here for, and the fact that Orochimaru had left her with him, was doing just that. Not to mention she had an attitude, she complained all the time and she didn't follow orders. After the first week he figured out what it was about her that annoyed him so much…She reminded him of Naruto, vaguely. She always had some smart remark, some reason or excuse as to why she couldn't something, and the way she talked to him with almost no respect was the thing that got him the most.
But, he had to admit, she had the most strange eyes he had ever seen. They were the color of metallic, liquid gold, and whenever he caught her staring, it was like he could see all the different shades of gold that slowly sifted in her pupils. This was ridiculous of course, but it was intriguing.
Though there were many qualities about her that he didn't like, the one that had been nagging at the back of his mind since he met her, was the one that bit the hardest.
His Sharingan had no effect on her.
Why in the world was this? How in the world could this be? This had never, ever been seen before…but then, neither had her strange ability. To actually sense one's life was something ninja had only whispered about, at least as far as he knew. He had heard of, and fought chakra sensors, but their ability was so much lesser then hers, almost miniscule and seeming unimportant next to her own.
He was so intrigued by it, that he had begun to consider her in his plans for the future, once he got rid of Orochimaru and set off on his true goal. He had told himself once or twice that there would be no way he would include her in his journeys, but the more he though about it, the more of a good idea it started to sound like.
Having a sensor of her….well potential ability, could turn out to be very useful. He might not have to pursue Karin after all, if Dante could get enough control on it in time, seeing as he wasn't planning on staying in Sound for very much longer.
For the most part, he was taking the training slow with her, he didn't want to overwork her, or give her body more then it was physically able, and she had been whining in his ear the whole time. And if that wasn't enough she gotten Kaeda nagging at him as well, and that was certainly something he didn't need.
For some reason, it had really irritated him to find that Dante and Kaeda had become friends, and from the looks of things, close friends. He wasn't sure he wanted Dante around the kind of influence Kaeda inflicted, it might become a problem in her training and behavior. Her normal antics were enough, he didn't need any influences from personal mistresses.
He couldn't help but wonder if Dante was actually sticking to the routine as he had told her, and if she was doing okay with it, but he knew that she probably wouldn't do what he told her as it always was when he was absent. She was a very rebellious soul, and he'd have to fix that. He couldn't have someone on his team who couldn't follow orders to the letter. Of course, things could change when the success of a mission, or someone's life depended on it.
There was something else about her, the day they had fought-and he had to admit that he was very surprised at her level of fighting skill, even if it wasn't much-when she came at him with that kunai, and he had easily disarmed her, when they were but inches apart. The strangest look passed over her eyes, as though a wall had dissolved away. What he had seen in her eyes reminded him of what he saw in his own every time he looked in the mirror.
She had been traumatized at some point in the past, but she held back all the hate she carried for whoever inflicted it upon her, keeping it suppressed and hidden away, like she didn't want to have it, didn't want see it. He had seen pain, and longing, loneliness and regret. He saw anger and rage, but only faint traces. He saw suffering and sadness, tears and slow reform. She was a very strong person on the outside for what she had going on, on the inside.
There was also a lightness about her, he didn't see any kind of malice or acid in her expression or heard any in her voice when she spoke. He had wondered if she had possibly forgiven her perpetrator for his crimes, but the very thought seemed absurd. If she had forgiven him, why would she still carry the hate?
As he pushed off from the last branch he had landed on, he made the decision to question her about it when he got back.
The serpentine sound of hissing took him from his thoughts and caused him to stop and glance to his left, where a large cobra sat coiled around a branch.
"Ahh, sssSasuke, you finally ssstopped. I have newss for you. Your little protégé had dissappeard, along with that Kaeda. It iss ssusspected that they have gone to Cresscent Moon Island. Orochimaru-ssan tellss me it iss your choice whether to go after her, or continue with the mission." The large snake told him, his eyes bright yellow, and fangs glinting in the moonlight.
He clenched his jaw. So she hadn't followed the routine. Of course, why was he so surprised?
"Thank you Akota, I'll pay you as soon as I get back." Sasuke told him, his eyes dead ahead.
With one final hiss, the snake dropped from branch to branch until he reached the forest floor and slithered out of sight.
His fists were clenched at his sides. Crescent Moon Island? What in the world was she thinking? Going off to a place like with no one to look after her besides that wretched Kaeda. Once he got her and took her back to the complex, he would make sure she would be kept away from the wench.
He cursed silently before turning east, and putting up a hand sign, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
He arrived on the docks of the bay just a few minutes later, trying to get his breath back from the pressure that had just been exerted on his body on account of the teleportation. He took a deep breath and followed a fisherman's path that he knew led to the city that lay just over the hills, resting in the valley of the island.
It took him no more then a few minutes to reach it, and he could hear it and smell it before he saw it.
The sound of hundreds of bustling, celebrating people filled his ears, and the smell of street food, sugar and countless people's perfumes and colognes wafted through the air. Just by these things alone, he knew some kind of festival was going on, some kind of very large, city-wide festival.
When he reached the village through an alley way, he walked onto the main road, right into the thick throng of people strolling through the street.
Lights hung across the way and vendors and various booths, as well the usual shops all lit up, lined the road on each side, people coming and going from each stand, and walking in out of the shops that sold everything from kitchenware to hand made kimonos.
His jaw clenched again as he realized just how large the festival really was, and he wondered how long it would take him to find her. As the anger and irritation made its course through his body, he walked down the road, eyes searching for her.
He felt the eyes of girls and women on his back as he walked, but he barely paid it any attention, and he could hear them whispering and giggling as he passed, but again, paid no heed.
"Oh get out here Dante, you look great!" Kaeda's voice sounded above the noise, and he looked to his right, down a street that wasn't so busy, to see Kaeda, her hair tumbling across her shoulder and wearing a very revealing kimono standing in front of a dress shop, looking in with an expectant, excited look on her face.
"Kaeda no, this just isn't me. I can't believe I let you talk me into this." He heard Dante's voice say from the shop, and before he reached them, he saw the dark-haired woman reach in , and grab something, finally yanking Dante out into the streets.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
Kaeda had dressed her in a short, but not too short, strapless silk dress that hugged her body in all the right places. Her glossy black hair was piled on top of her head, a diamond piece fitted nicely in, shimmering in the lighted streets. Black strapped heels were on her feet instead of the usual boots and they accentuated her long legs very well.
Her eyes had a bit of liner around them, with pale sliver eye shadow added, and red lipstick glossed onto her perfectly shaped lips to finish it off.
The look was simple, yet very elegant, and it fit her perfectly, the neutral colors making her golden eyes even more piercing, but her face was like a thundercloud.
"Kaeda, I look absolutely ridiculous. I'm taking it off. Besides what did you do with my ninja clothes?" She asked, her voice sharp and annoyed.
Dante's companion only smiled before responding, "D, you look beautiful, trust me! Look at all these people, they can't take their eyes off you! And as for your clothes, well I'm not going to tell you until the end of the night. After we've had our fun."
Dante glared at her and then turned in his direction, folding her arms across her chest, eyes narrowed…until they landed on him, and then they grew wide with surprise.
"Uh, Kaeda, I really don't think we're going to have time for that fun." She said, and he put the slight glare back on his face before advancing through crowd, toward them.
"She's right Kaeda, you both are coming back with me right now. You deliberately disobeyed me Dante, and there will be consequences for that." He told the two, reaching them within seconds.
"Oh come off it Sasuke, what's wrong with a little fun? And just so you know, I got Orochimaru's permission for this, and he overrules you. We are staying." Kaeda replied, her hands on her hips.
Sasuke's glare only deepened at her remark. "No, you are not." He said.
Kaeda waved a hand at him, as if sending him away. "Oh, go back to sound if you want, but Dante's staying with me, and don't even think about using the 'she won't be safe with you' card because you and I both know I'm very capable of taking care of both of us. Just because I like to have fun doesn't mean I'm not responsible."
"She is my student, not yours. Orochimaru may have given you permission, but Dante received none from me." He retorted, his tone final, but Kaeda ignored it,
"You're her teacher, not her commanding officer, not her master and not her father, you can't tell her what she can and can't do all the time!" Kaeda yelled at him, and spinning to face Dante, who stood there, eyes going back and forth from him to her as they argued.
"Dante, will you please tell him?" She asked, gesturing to the unmovable Uchiha.
She sighed and shook her head. "What makes you think he's going to listen to me?" She asked. "Our relationship isn't a democracy, it's a dictatorship, and in case you haven't already figured it out, he's the dictator. I can't even go the bathroom without his okay. See? This is why I didn't want to come." She finished, still shaking her head. "I knew this was going to happen."
Kaeda was silent as her green eyes searched Dante's gold ones.
"You can stay and have that fun. I'm going back before his majesty has a fit." She said, glancing over at Sasuke, whom she could feel fuming.
She walked past him and then stopped, "Well, lets go."
Sasuke's eyes scanned the ground. Was this really that bad? So she wanted to get out of the musty, stuffy tunnels of Oto, did he really blame her? And she really did look….
What was he thinking? He shook his and turned his gaze to the angry woman in front of him. "Fine. You can both stay. But don't leave my sight."
Kaeda's face was engulfed by a smile as she ran past him and grabbed Dante by the wrist again and pulling her along toward the main street.
"Come on! I heard there's a dance hall just down the road!" She exclaimed, and Dante just stumbled along after her.
"Oh, Kaeda jeez, can you slow down? I can't run in these dumb heels!"
Sasuke sighed in irritancy, unable to believe at what he had just done.
He set his face with his usual blank glare and walked after them, cursing at himself all the while.