Blue Eyes Yellow Flash
Chapter Seven
Preparations
Oh man you guys, you have no idea how tempting it was to use Never Gonna Give You Up instead of Diary of Jane at the end of the last chapter. But my beta reader scares me and he knows where I live....
In Soviet Russia, I own Naruto. Over here, Naruto owns me.
Flashback
Sasuke rose up, black marks covering the left hand side of his face, purple chakra coiling around him. Looking around, he saw Sakura, beaten and battered fromm trying to hold off the three sound genin. "Sakura. Who did this to you? Who hurt you?"
/End Flashback
Sasuke looked at Sakura, a look of deep hurt in his eyes. "Even then I cared for you. Even when I first woke up after having the curse seal put on me I wanted to kill them, just for hurting you. If you hadn't asked me to stop they would have died."
As the music died away Sakura could do nothing but stand outside the club deep in thought as she watched Sasuke walk away from her yet again. 'No' she thought. 'This is not happening again. I refuse to let him walk away from me again!' Running after him, she called out. "Sasuke!"
He halted, but didn't turn to face her. "What do you want Sakura?"
"I want to know why you're only telling me this now. Why?! You knew how I felt about you. We could have been together years ago! I could have helped you with what you had to do! You didn't need to keep me out of your life like that!"
He turned to her, the barest hint of irritation showing in his eyes. "You couldn't have helped. Killing Itachi was something I had to do on my own. I had to get my revenge myself."
"And reviving your clan? Can you do that by yourself? You want me to help you with that, why couldn't I help you with Itachi? Do you want to be alone forever Sasuke?"
He turned around again and spoke in an emotionless voice. "I'm sorry I hurt you Sakura. I won't bother you again." As he started to walk off he said in the same cold voice "I'll see you back at the hotel."
Flashback
Sakura sat with Naruto at Ichiraku's giggling at the sheer cuteness of Naruto and Hinata arguing over who got the last mouthful from their shared bowl of ramen. Looking at the wide smile on Naruto's face, she sighed. Distracted, Naruto looked over at her with a concerned expression on his face "What's up Sakura?"
She sighed. "What's your secret Naruto?"
Predictably, he looked at her in confusion before giving his usual foxy grin. "My secret to what? Putting away so much ramen? Being the best Hokage candidate ever? Or just being so dashingly handsome?"
Sakura sighed again. "No, how do you be so carefree? You always seem so happy, even when bad things are happening to you. How do you do it?"
Naruto put his chopsticks down and thought for a bit, not even noticing when Hinata took advantage of the distraction to stuff the last helping of noodles into his mouth. Absentmindedly chewing and swallowing, he thought for a while before responding. "There was a really old man I knew when I was a kid. He must have known what I was but he didn't care. He used to talk to me in the park when I ran away from the orphanage, he even brought me sweets sometimes." Naruto sighed, looking saddened by the memory. "He passed away when I was six. But he was always smiling, even on the day when he told me he was going to hospital and wouldn't be able to see me for a while. I asked him once why he was always so happy, and he told me that it was because he lived for every moment, and never regretted a decision once it was made. He told me that if I spent my life regretting past decisions, I might miss the chance to make a choice that might make my life better. It had a big effect on me, so I always try and live by it. It was part of what helped me make my nindo, my ninja way. After all, if you go back on your own decisions, how can you be expected to keep the promises you make to others?" Picking up his chopsticks to continue his food war with Hinata, he looked down at the bowl in confusion. "Hey, where'd it go?"
Sakura and Hinata couldn't hold the calm looks on their faces, they dissolved into helpless laughter at the confused look on his face.
/End Flashback
As Sakura stood there, watching Sasuke walk away from her for the second time that night, she came to a decision. She had lost this once, if she had any control over it she wasn't going to let him walk away again. To hell with wondering how she really felt about him, it was time to just act and deal with it later if he just saw her as an easy path to rebuilding the Uchiha clan. Running to him, she threw her arms around his waist, burying her face in the back of his shirt. "Sasuke! Don't go!"
He stiffened at first, but then relaxed when he realized who had grabbed him. "Sakura, what..."
"I don't care!" she sobbed. "This might not work out Sasuke, I'm telling you that now, but I'll be f#$%ed if I'll let something like this go without even giving it a shot!"
He turned around and for the first time since he was a child, he actually embraced another person. "Sakura...thank you" he whispered.
She gasped. This had happened before, her running and hugging him from behind, and him thanking her. But this was different. He was here, in her arms. She didn't know if it would work out or not, but for now it was perfect. "I'm sorry" she sobbed. "I'm sorry for saying those hurtful things to you."
Sasuke gently stroked his hand through her hair. He'd always loved her hair. "Shhh. You don't have anything to apologise for, I deserved it." Stroking her cheek, he continued. "Should we go back to the hotel?"
She smiled up at him. "Yeah, we probably should, after the show we put on inside I doubt either of us would be able to get much more information out of the people in there."
As they headed back to the hotel, Sasuke asked her a question that his whole world rested on the answer of. "Hey Sakura... when we get back to the village you want to go out to dinner with me some time?"
She smiled as they walked off. "Yeah....I'd like that."
As they walked off down the street Naruto dropped down from the roof gracefully, with a smile on his face. He'd watched as his friends and team mates had argued and made up in the deserted alleyway by the side of the club. Strolling back into the club, he couldn't restrain his smile. Now if only the women in there would pay attention to facts other than whether or not he could dance, he might be able to get some decent information. He shook his head. Why did it matter if he could or couldn't dance anyway? Women made no sense.
Sakura sighed and shook her head as she sat on the couch in her hotel room and read the daily newspaper. Seriously, how could he screw up so bad? Even Lee would have been better than this, even if his fashion choices would have made him stand out a mile away. Shaking her head again, she went out into the corridor and knocked on the door to Naruto's room. Getting no response, she then tried Sasuke's room. She could tell he had slept badly when he opened the door, with his wet dark hair even messier than normal, and prominent bags under his eyes. Behind him she could see the remains of his breakfast; he'd apparently ordered room service. "Hey Sasuke-kun" she said, feeling the re-addition of the affectionate honourific appropriate. "Have you seen Naruto this morning?"
He squinted at her, slowly processing her question. "Why?"
Wordlessly, she handed him the newspaper she had been reading. While he slowly read the article she pointed out to him, she silently appreciated the fact that he was apparently so tired he was yet to notice that he was only wearing a towel. As he finished reading the article, she spoke up. "To me that's got Naruto written all over it."
Sasuke looked up at her blearily. "Probably. If he's not in his room try the gym down on the second floor, he was talking about it yesterday."
Sakura thanked him, but interupted when he looked to be going back into his room. "Why are you so tired? We got back at the same time last night and I'm fine."
Amusement flickered across his face despite how exhausted he seemed. "My room is next to Kiba's. He brought a girl back last night. She was loud."
"Oh. Well, I'm going to go find Naruto to talk to him about this. You want to come?"
Sasuke nodded tiredly. "May as well, I need to get some more coffee anyway." Walking out of his room, he made to head off down the hallway, only to stop at the sound of Sakura giggling. "What?"
Gasping it out around what was rapidly becoming full blown laughter, Sakura said "You might want to put some clothes on."
Sasuke looked down at the towel with irritation on his face. "Oh. I thought I had." Fortunately, he had also forgotten to lock the door to his room, so after a short length of time they were off. It was in silence that they rode down the elevator, and soon they were at the gym. Sure enough, Naruto was in the gym wearing nothing but his pants, with his shirt throw haphazardly over a nearby treadmill. Naruto himself was benchpressing a rather large weight, while being predictably oblivious to the appraising looks the female gym attendant was giving him.
"Morning Naruto!" Sakura sang out as they approached. Annoyed at the looks the attendant was now shooting at Sasuke, she subtly sent chakra to her arms and easily grabbed the large barbell Naruto had been lifting out of his hands and put it into the slots above the bench, enjoying the way the attendant's eyes boggled.
Naruto sat up and toweled himself down as he gave them his trademarked foxy grin. "Morning Sakura, Sasuke. What's up?"
"We were hoping you could tell us that Naruto." Sakura said. Opening the paper with a flourish, she started to read. "A woman is lucky to be alive and uninjured today after an attempted mugging last night. The woman, who requested that her identity be kept a secret was accosted by a man as she walked through the Nagi district last night on her way home after a night out. The man, who is yet to be named, held a knife to her throat and demanded money, threatening to kill her if she didn't comply with his demands. At this point, a second man described by the victim as having " blonde hair,blue eyes and these weird lines on his cheeks" interfered, breaking the assailant's arm and giving him a severe concussion. The man has been detained for assault, attempted mugging and possesion of an illicit substance, but is yet to respond to questioning. Police are requesting that the man who assisted the woman come forward to give a statement." Lowering the paper, she glared at Naruto. "Sound familiar?"
He grinned at her, clearly proud of his actions. "Yeah, I did great."
Sasuke sighed. "Dobe, what was the man arrested for?"
Naruto frowned at him. "Attacking that woman, obviously."
Sakura resisted the urge to bop Naruto on the head with great difficulty. "Were you even listening to me Naruto? He was also charged with possesion of an illegal substance, and was incidentally in the process of committing a violent crime."
You could practically see the gears turning in Naruto's head as he put two and two together, and eventually came up with four. "OH! You think he might have had some of the drug we're looking for on him?"
Sakura nodded. "Hai. Either that or he might have known where to get some. However, this gives me an idea. If this mugger had drugs on him, others may too. So all we have to do is get our hands on some muggers and hopefully one of them will have the drug we're looking for. All we need is bait. It'd be better if it was a girl, most muggers will go after people who are physically weaker than them. The rest of us will be ready to step in of course, but it'll have to be a lone girl as bait."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Ne, Sakura, are you sure you're willing to do this? I mean it could be dangerous if you get outnumbered or caught by surprise."
Sakura looked at him with an evil grin on her face. "I never said anything about me. It wasn't ME that messed up last night. And I'm the team leader, I shouldn't put myself at unnessecary risk. I suppose your Oiroke no Jutsu will finally be put to good use after all."
Naruto backed away, shaking his head with a horrified look on his face. "Oh no. No way, no how. Not gonna happen."
"I'm sorry, who's the jounin here?" Sakura asked sweetly.
"But Sakura, Kiba's a jounin too and you know I could be as well if I hadn't been waiting for Sasuke!"
"Kiba's our designated tracker, and Tsunade made me team leader. Your skill is not in question, this is about rank, and I outrank you so sexy up!"
"I'm not doing it Sakura."
"Yes you are Naruto."
"No."
"Yes!"
Naruto sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time that night as he fingered the silky material of his dress. Although he couldn't deny the dress was comfortable, it still felt strange for him to be wearing clothes at all while he was female. Walking down a dark and gloomy alleyway, the people walking down the streets winced and hurried along when they saw a rough looking group of men follow the attractive young girl. They felt bad about what was to happen, but they weren't going to risk getting hurt for someone they didn't know. Of course, had they stayed they might have heard something interesting, namely crashes, banging and terrified screams of a distinctly un-feminine nature. The girl that was Uzumaki Naruto walked out of the other end of the alley happily, this was the twelth time she'd been mugged and she had finally found a man who was carrying pills of some sort. Signalling to her teammates on the rooftops across the street, Naruto walked back into the alleyway and dropped the sexy jutsu with a sigh of relief. Being female for an extended length of time was weird. That said, being a dress-wearing male skulking in an alleyway wasn't much better. As Sasuke dropped down beside him and picked up the man he pointed out as having been carrying the drugs, Naruto leapt for the rooftops and the bag carried by Kiba that held his normal clothes. He hoped it was the right drug, as he couldn't wait until this part of the mission was over.
As Waro Hijomi woke up, it occurred to him that today was not his day. First, he had had that black cat cross his path, which he was sure was the root of his current troubles. His day had just gone downhill from then. He had been crossing the street and had nearly been run over by a cart. Jumping back from that, he slipped and knocked one of his teeth out on the pavement when he somehow managed to land face first. He'd gone and bought some ice for his face, and to discover half an hour later that he had been short changed. It was only the fact that he and some of his buddies had seen an easy mark walking unguarded into an alleyway that stopped him from going back and beating the snot out of the clerk at the store. But to his great surprise, the beautiful girl about half his weight had taken down all four of his friends in very painful ways before heading towards him. And to top it all off, he was now waking up to find that he was tied to a chair in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. Having put people in the position he was currently in several times over the years, he knew this wasn't a good sign. Looking around, he could see for about five metres around him before the light from the lamp next to his chair died out. The floor was littered with debris, mainly rocks, chunks of cement and old pieces of machinery. Deciding he he had nothing to lose he called out. "Hello?"
To his shock, a pink haired girl who was also around half his size walked into the light. "Oh good, you're awake. I have some questions I want answered."
Staring at her, Hijomi couldn't help but laugh. He had been expecting someone from a rival gang, maybe a bruiser hired by someone he owed money to. "Are you kidding me? You're just a little girl!"
Sakura smiled at what she heard. She was going to enjoy this. "You had some pills on you when my friend took you down. I want to know what they are and what they do."
Hijomi laughed again. "Go to hell girlie." He looked on nervously as the girl picked up a rock in her right hand and approached his chair. He wouldn't tell her anything, but that didn't mean he wanted to be hit in the head with rocks. He'd had that happen to him before, that had hurt.
To his shock, rather than hit him with the rock as he'd been expecting, the girl grabbed the ropes he was tied down with in her free hand and lifted him bodily into the air seemingly effortlessly. Bringing the rock in front of his face, she crushed it into gravel with her bare hands. "Listen you bastard, I don't have time for this. Either you tell me what I want to know or your 'rocks' will get the same treatment, got it?"
Sakura couldn't hold back her smile as the bruiser she was holding broke down and told her everything he knew.
Sakura grinned as she walked out of the warehouse and flashed a victory sign to the men waiting for her. "It's the one we're looking for guys. Kiba, you know your job."
The feral Inuzuka gave her a particularly wolfish grin. "I'm on it."
Yay, seven chapters. Please leave reviews, they make me happy and cheerful and joyous!
