Omake
A busy kitten…
A few side stories. So please don't be disappointed that this isn't a real chapter!
Feathers
Sasuke crossed the street with an even greater scowl than he usually had. He looked behind him.. Yes.. 'She doesn't stop when I simply ignore her, does she?' he sighed. 'Damn this.. Why can't they just leave me alone? Or is it a national hunt-the-Uchiha-day?'
He walked into a back alley, next to the shop where he wanted to buy some fresh vegetables. "Why don't you show yourself?"
'Darn.. Is he already tired of it? Pity, I would have enjoyed to continue the hunt a bit longer,' she thought, looking down from her hiding place.
Graciously, she jumped down. She smirked when she was his look. "Don't be so mad, Sasuke-kun.."
"Quit that," he growled, not in the mood to be fooled around with any longer. "Why are you chasing me, you feline?"
"But Sasuke-kun.." she said with her most innocent voice. "How could I not chase you?"
"Quit your games!" he demanded. "Did he put you up to this?"
"Of course not, silly," she purred. "But you should have known.."
"Known what?"
"It's that time of the year," she said nonchalantly.
"Spill it, or I swear to Kami, I will kill you," he said with a threatening voice.
"Oh dear… That intent of your makes this game even more fun," she chuckled. "Have you ever seen you own hair from behind, though?"
"What do you have against my hair?"
She chuckled. The boy fell right into her trap. Just as planned… "It resembles something, if you look at it from a certain angle.. And in this time, it is simply irresistible!"
"What?!" he growled.
"Duck hunting season opened recently," Chie laughed, quickly jumping away.
Before he had the time to summon his rage, all he could see was the tip of her long tail.
"Damned cat," he mumbled. "Figures that the dobe has such an annoying pet."
Sasuke slouched as he walked back home. D-rank missions were boring. The only thing that was more boring than a D-rank mission was a D-rank mission with his team. Sakura never gave up trying to ask him for dates, which annoyed Sasuke more than just a bit. Obviously, the girl was smart. Very smart even, he admitted. And yet, she remained so very dense whenever she saw him. The blond dobe was not much better. Silent and distant as always, Naruto had hardly exerted himself during the mission. As if he tried to beat Kakashi in a duel concerning who showed the least interest in team 7..
'At least it's over now.. Just get some dinner and then I can return to my real training. Teamwork nonsense..' Sasuke thought as he walked up to the door of his apartment. 'What's that noise?' he wondered.
It seemed like there was someone inside. Multiple people, by the sounds of it. Sasuke drew a kunai, wondering who had the guts to bother him. Perhaps one of his fanclub? Or did his brother.. No, it couldn't be..
Sasuke opened the door, and was overrun.
By ducks.
Baffled, he looked around. Not believing what he just experienced, he saw his room. Every day, he left his room in a perfect state. A true genius always paid attention to every detail. And now it was a chaos.
But all Sasuke saw was a single card, standing on the table. "Welcome home, Grumpy," it said.
That cat.
That cat had done this.
"I'll kill that cat!" resounded throughout the Uchiha compound, after a few seconds of silence.
Too fluffy
"Ahhh that was fun," Chie purred, stretching out on the grass. "Now only a nice little sleep, and this day would be perfect…"
With their clan's strict laws, Hanabi had lived a life where the word 'fun' usually did not exist. Well, her mother allowed it. Encouraged it, even. But in front of her mother, Hanabi would always live in the shadow of her elder sister. It baffled her, but somehow her mother spent more time with that failure than with her. While Hanabi did everything that the clan demanded from her. Even at her young age, Hanabi knew very well she was better than her sister.
She was the perfect heir, and it would only be a matter of time before the entire clan accepted that truth. But right now, the 'perfect heir' stood before a big dilemma.
A dilemma she had not expected to face today.
Sure, she had been watching, keeping an eye on it. But she never had an opportunity like this before. Hanabi knew there was still time enough, her father would not expect her to be in the dojo for another fifteen minutes. And there was no one around either. But still.. The risk…
It would not be appropriate. Not of the 'perfect heir'.
Yet.. It was just too cute!
Half asleep, Chie felt someone scratching her belly. 'Ahhh nice…' the cat thought while she turned on her back. And purred like a little kitten.
Hanabi could not resist the black and white cat, with its unusually long and fluffy tail curled around it. Hanabi could never pull her eyes away from cute animals like this. But she would rather die than let anyone see such a weakness in her!
Hinata smiled, as she stood behind a pillar. She had not seen this side from her little sister in a long time. 'Such a sweet creature.. I wonder why Kiba even suspected Chie in the first place. How could he even think she would throw a bucket of blue paint on top of Akamaru?'
Theft
"I know we had our differences.. But we must set them aside now. You know as well as I do what is on stake here. If this job succeeds, we will be rich!" Pacing around, the speech continued. "But it will not be easy. I cannot do this alone… I can break in, and take the goods with me, but I will need a distraction, or they will catch me red-handed.."
He whined in response.
"Don't be stupid, if we involved the two-legs in this, we would only have to split the loot over more people!"
A short bark.
"Yes, we split it, fifty fifty. And the longer you distract them, the more I can snatch."
That got a happy bark as response.
"Yes yes, I promise I will never throw paint at you again.. I am sorry, I was just a little bored.. Really, those white-eyed-two-legs are too darn boring. One would get crazy in there."
Some barking, which sounded rather questioning.
"Just visit you there? Are you out of your mind? With those three lunatics around? They would kill me! No, it against my principles to work with dogs, but this is a special case. This two-leg dared to insult Ako-sama! He sold her bad meat, and had the audacity to compensate for it when she found out! Accusing her it was her fault instead! As if Ako-sama would even let food go bad.." Chie growled. "No one insults Ako-sama and gets away with it. Not while she provides me food!"
Akamaru remained silent, looking a bit confused by the sudden passionate outburst from the feline. He reconsidered: she was not just cynical, but also very loyal. Despite being a cat, she was not all that bad. He would almost forgive her the prank with the blue paint. If it had not taken Kiba days to get it all off..
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, when Ako stopped. As always, he helped her doing the groceries and stuff. She could not carry everything, while he had no idea about food. Except if it was ramen. But Ako's puzzled look confused him a bit.
"Look it this.. Isn't that Chie?" she frowned.
"It.. That tail.. Seems like it is her.. Why would they put up a painting of her in here?" Naruto wondered, reading the text below. "A reward? They are searching her for theft?! What?"
"It seems like I have to get a long talk with that naughty kitten," Ako said on the icy tone which Naruto recognized immediately. Chie was screwed. Ako was gentle and quiet, but once people crossed a certain line..
They were all doomed.
Doomed!
Gifts
"Welcome home sweetie!" her mother shouted, as Sakura closed the door.
"I'll be right there mom!" she shouted back to the kitchen. "Change clothes first! Sweaty!"
Quickly getting back downstairs, she helped her mother preparing dinner. Father would be home soon, after a long day working at the shop. Sakura often felt the disadvantages of hailing from a minor clan in Konoha, but at least she had her family intact. Merchants and shop owners usually lived longer than shinobi who served at the front lines. And Sakura loved her family, annoying as they might be at times, far too much to ever want to lose them.
'Strange, I work hard to become a shinobi while I am glad that my parent do not have to risk their lives..' Sakura realized.
"'evening, Mebuki," Haruno Kizashi hugged his wife. "Had a good day?"
"Sure," she smiled, before she kissed him. "Get cleaned up, dinner is ready in five minutes."
"Right, on my way honey," the man laughed, knowing very well that he should not ignore such an order. Besides, it smelled far too good to be late.
"Sakura, I'd nearly forget, but there was a package delivered today, but it was addressed to your teammate."
"Eh?" Sakura was focussed on cutting a few fresh chives for over the salad. "Package? To whom?"
"The Uchiha boy," Mebuki smiled, knowing that this would get the undivided attention of her daughter. "Perhaps you should bring it to him? After dinner, of course."
Whatever had been in the package, it was quite heavy. Sakura was very curious, and her inner voice urged her to open it. But the package was sealed, and opening it would only make the wrong impression on Sasuke-kun.
No, this was much better. Now Sasuke-kun would see how dependable Sakura was!
"Sakura?" Sasuke opened the door of his apartment, after Sakura had knocked.
"Sasuke-kun? What happened to you?" Sakura frowned. The boy was dirty, covered with feathers, and carried a bag which he now threw in the garbage can outside.
"Goddamned cat," Sasuke grumbled. "Keep finding feathers.. They're everywhere. Why are you here, Sakura?"
"Ehm.. A package.. It was delivered at my home."
"A package?" Sasuke frowned.
"It was for you. The mailman must've made a mistake somehow."
"I did not order anything.."
"There's a note attached to it," Sakura pointed at the envelope that was stuck on the package.
"A token of my sincere apologies," Sasuke read. "Apologies?" he frowned. He ripped open the package and saw a single, very large and broad, book inside it.
"Ninjutsu for dummies…" he read, looking at Sakura. "You.. Wanted me to give me this book?"
"I.. Eh… What?" Sakura did not know how to react.
"Why would you…" Sasuke started, not believing that Sakura wanted to insult him like this..
And then he saw a single feather sticking out of the book.
The kind of feather he had come to know so well in these last few days.
A duck feather.
Sasuke felt a vein pop on his forehead.
"I.. I WILL KILL THAT CAT!"
A/N: I know, these little side stories don't really fit in, but let's just say they happened between the mission where Naruto found Chie, and the boulder-breaking mission. The idea's on pranking Sasuke were a bit older, and I was still wondering how I could fit in Hanabi into the story. Even though the girl has only a minor role in part 1, I thought it would be interesting to show her dilemma between being herself and being the one her clan wants her to be.. And I wanted to give some more background to Sasuke and Sakura, while also letting Chie having her way with 'grumpy-two-leg'. Besides, I wanted to make fun of the ridiculous nickname Sasuke got on many forums!
For the record: Chie cannot write, but Ako did not know she were involved in her schemes initially. The second time, she believed that Chie wanted to apologize for real. Luckily, she did not find out what really happened, or Chie would still have to sleep without her soft little blanket… One does not simply trick Hyuga Ako and gets away with it without punishment!
-Z-
Edit: corrected a few things. 14/01/15