Disclaimer: Okay, this is getting really old. All I got is Cate and the plot. Akira is ... Akira's.
"Cheer up, kid. I'm sure things will look up soon."
I wiped the sweat off my forehead, and breathed heavily.
"Oi, Cate... we get put on teams tomorrow..." I panted, and she nodded.
"Can we please get down to business now?" I rolled my eyes.
"Spoilsport. Okay." I looked around. "I'll race from here to Ichiraku and back, no holds barred, so to speak, if you lose," I thought for a moment. "You have to proclaim undying love to... Sasuke!" She gagged.
"Okay, but if you lose, you have to declare undying love to Asuma-sensei."
"If we tie?"
"Um... ritual disembowelment."
"What?"
"Just kidding. How about, if we tie, we both have to kiss Kakashi."
"Ew." I said. "Okay."
"On your mark."
"Retrieval ark, (1)" I said, crouching into position.
"Save Gaara ark... (2) " Cate continued.
"Shippuden! (3) " I said, and we took off running.
Since it was no-holds-barred, I actually tied her to a stool in the ramen shop and then ran back to the trees.
She was waiting when I got back.
"What the hell, Saiden?" She growled. I rolled my eyes.
"Maybe I won't untie you after all." I said off-handedly. Her eyes got really big.
"Please... don't make me go through with that bet..." She whimpered. I rolled my eyes again.
"Fine, I'll change it. Since you lost... you have to go be Uchiha's house-slave for one night." I grinned. Her face deadened.
"You got to be kidding."
"Nope."
"Cleaning? You must be. You know I break stuff."
"Yep."
"And sometimes, it's not an accident." She reminded me, and I picked her up and dragged her by holding onto the end of the rope. She kicked and yelled bad words the entire time.
We finally found Uchiha.
"Hoi, Sasuke!"
Cate shut up and just glared at the ground. "Hn."
I held up the end of the rope. "Cate here has so kindly volunteered to be your house-slave tonight."
"Bullshit. I'm only doing this because I lost a bet." She snarled at me.
"Do you want her or not?"
He thought. "I do need someone to do the dishes."
Cate fell over and repeatedly slammed her head on the ground. "Of all the effing chores that he needs done... what did I ever do that makes me so horrible?" She mumbled to herself.
"Oh, just get it done and over with. No sense in giving yourself a concussion."
"Shut up and untie me." I did just that, and she stood, flexing her wrists. She looked at me. "Saiden."
"What?"
"You suck, and I hate you dearly." She straightened, and turned to Sasuke. "Well, Uchiha, take me to your place so I can get started on your dishes." They walked off to his house together.
"Mua ha ha ha ha ha." I cackled. "My plan is coming together beautifully. Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha h-" hack, hack, cough" Oh... I see why Cate-Chan has such a respect for bad guys..." I wandered off to the flower shop.
Cate POV
I walked boredly through Konoha as Uchiha led the way to his place.
"Hey, Forehead Girl! Has he finally taken pity on you, or has he just--" I was there in a flash. Annoying or not, Sakura's actually pretty cool after the time skip. I slammed the girl against the wall.
"Let's see if this can penetrate your thick skull. Call me Forehead-Girl again, and I will KEEL JOO DED! Got it, bitch?" I snarled. She nodded, eyes wide with fright.
Afraid it might pop off,
And when it pop off,
Somebody gonna get laid the fuck out.
I snickered to myself as I dropped her and walked back to where Uchiha was standing.
Sasuke POV
I watched her confusedly. Was she this brutal with everyone? Saiden seemed used to it, but...
Besides that, she took great pride that she wasn't Sakura, so why was she defending her like that? I expected her to just laugh and make Sakura seem as lame as possible. She reached me shortly.
"Can we go now, befoh it pop off?" She asked, and I detected a hint of a smile in her voice. So, we left.
When we got to my house and I showed her my kitchen, she unwound the bandages from her arms, and got straight to work by stacking all the plates on top of one another, and then the bowls. It was peaceful, watching a nearly perfect stranger washing my dishes. It was amazing that this girl, doing the same job as my mother, could evoke entirely different emotions in me.
Doesn't hurt that she looks like she belongs in my... what am I thinking?
I shook my head, and then decided that talking would probably distract me from this disturbing line of thought.
"Now," I began, "I only showed you my house because you aren't Sakura, and--" She held up a soapy hand.
"Got it, Uchiha. You trust me not to tell anyone, or sneak in the middle of the night and steal your boxers. Of course, now you owe me a favor."
"For doing my dishes?"
"Hardly, this is because of a bet. I mean, me not telling anyone." I stiffened.
"What is it you want?"
"I want you to do one thing for me."
"Obviously. What is it?"
"That'll cash in later." She turned back to the sink. "Who was the last person to wash these things?"
"My mother." She nodded.
"I see." She stopped talking, and the kitchen lapsed into silence again. I was trying to come up with more small talk when she started singing softly.
"I
don't want to let it lay me down this time.
Drown my will to
fly.
Here in the darkness I know myself.
Can't break free until
I let it go.
Let me go.
Darling, I forgive you after
all.
Anything is better than to be alone.
And in the end I
guess I had to fall.
Always find my place among the ashes--
oh shit!" She jerked her hand out of the water. "I'm
fucking bleeding! And not even in a fun way!" She paused. "That
sounded wrong." I rolled my eyes.
"Stay there, I'll get some medicine and a band-aid."
Cate POV
He came back quickly, and held his hand out. I blinked and laid my injured hand on his palm. He smeared on some medicine, and then put the band-aid on. He looked back at me. I blushed.
"Forgetting something, mom?" I teased, trying to draw attention away from the blush on my face. He very briefly looked confused.
"Hn?" I rolled my eyes.
"Aren't moms supposed to kiss it to make it better? That's how Master Chief Fuji's wife usually does it, when she gets close enough to hold me down and treat my wounds."
"I've never heard that."
"Well then... never mind." I told him, and turned to finish the dishes.
"Oh, no you don't." He said, stepping in front of me.
"What now?"
"I'm not letting you get cut again. It... Looks bad for me if you go to Sakura's place covered in band-aids." I smirked.
"Whatever. The bet means I'm your house-slave for tonight, so I can't go back anyhow, not till midnight." I told him. He paused.
Sasuke POV
"Then you can sleep on my couch until midnight." She shrugged.
"I have to work, or else I haven't honored the bet." I sighed.
"Why did you bet on this? I really want you out of my house." She shrugged again.
"Akira and I always bet on the outcome of our contests. Since we'd be irritatingly even otherwise, all our battles more or less boil down to who can freak the other out more. It was either I be your slave, or I proclaim undying love."
"To who?"
"You." I blacked out.
When I woke up, I was staring at my living room ceiling. The clock next to the couch said midnight, and a note beside it told me that I'd passed out three and a half hours ago. I rubbed my head, and sat up.
"Ow... did I hit my head on the floor?..."
Cate POV
I quickly showered and dressed in a large tee-shirt and some boxers I'd found when I had gone through all Sakura's drawers to take inventory on what clothes she had. I fell back on her bed, and proceeded to plan tomorrow.
Ugh... I hate planning ahead...
You hate that? I love being prepared!
What the bloody fuck? Who are you?
The question is, who are you? I am Sakura Haruno.
Aw, shit. Listen... um... I'm Cate Fuji, and I... um... am taking you over until I either get my own body here, or I go back to my house. Which is, like, God only knows when...
Ok, then. The voice faded out, and I turned out the light and went to sleep.
"Sakura! Get up!"
"Is she not up yet, Ms. Haruno?"
"No, sorry, Ino."
"I'll get her up. You go ahead to work."
"Okay." Footsteps. A deep inhalation. "MASTER CHIEF ON DECK!" I jumped out of bed, hit the floor, and popped up onto my feet.
"Sir!" Laughter. I opened my eyes groggily.
"Snappy salute, even when half-asleep. I'm impressed." She told me. I kicked her in the back of the knee.
"As well you should be. Why'd you wake me?" I asked her, while reaching for a black undershirt.
"Today, we get our sensei! And teams, but whatever..."
"You're only happy because this means I get to hang around the stupid academy for an extra three hours, while you get to go train, or whatever." I said scathingly as I dropped a short-sleeved dark blue t-shirt over my head. I pulled on some dark blue jeans and pulled my hair back.
We went to the academy, and Akira-Chan had to run home to get her headband.
I didn't, because I used mine to accentuate the thinness of my/Sakura's body. Bwa-ha-ha.
Kiba POV
I looked up as the door opened again.
"Oh, it's just you two again. How exactly did you two pass?" Sakura glared at me, and smirked.
"Oh-ho-ho, that's rich, coming from the flea-bitten dog brat." She said.
"Cherry head."
"Flea-bag."
"Fangirl."
"Fang-face."
"Okay, ladies, that's quite enough." Ino said, coming between the two of us. She pushed Sakura down the aisle.
"Yeah, you better thank God she's dragging' me away, Flea-bag!" Sakura yelled, waving her arms. Ino whispered something in her ear, and she relaxed. "Meh." She sat on the edge of a desk, swinging her legs back and forth. Ino told her something. I looked at them again. They seemed... different, somehow. Naruto tapped Sakura's shoulder, and she turned backward.
"Hey, Sakura-Chan!" He said, and she smirked.
"What up, Uzumaki? Uchiha here yet?"
"Nope."
"Hn." He said as he walked in.
"Uchiha? Late?" Sakura gasped.
"Unpresidented!" Ino said. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"You mean 'unprecedented'."
"I was close." Ino sat down between Shikamaru and Choji, and Sakura stood on the seat of the next row down. She started talking to Ino, and suddenly shivered violently. She blinked as if he had no idea where she was, and sat down. She looked at Sasuke and squealed.
"Sasuke!" She jumped on him, and began rubbing her face on his arm.
"Uh, Forehead Girl?" Ino began. Sakura blinked, and looked up at Sasuke's face.
"Uh... Uchiha? Why am I hugging you?" She asked him, and he shrugged.
"God only knows." He replied. She sat up and dusted herself off.
"Anyway." She remembered something and wrote something on a piece of paper, and handed it to Ino. Ino read it and laughed, rolling her eyes. She wrote something and handed it back. They continued like that for a while, before Iruka walked in. Sakura whispered something in Ino's ear. Iruka cleared his throat.
Cate POV
"Miss Haruno, Miss Yamanaka, would you like to share whatever it is with the class?" We turned to faced Iruka, who was talking.
"Not really." Akira said. I whacked her shoulder.
"Sure we would, sensei. Right, Ino-Chan?" She grinned.
"Fine." We walked to the front of the class, and Akira took a deep breath, before performing a transformation into Sasuke.
"I am really special, cuz there's only one of me!" I then transformed into Sasuke.
"That's not it, stupid." She stared, then gasped.
"Oh, yeah." She turned back into herself, and proceeded to dance around randomly.
"F is for friends who break stuff together,
U is for you and me, blowing stuff up,
N is for no more lighters
All cuz your mom happened to see. Now you try it, Piggy-Chan!" She spun around and stopped beside me.
"F is for fire that burnt down the whole school,
U's for unlimited, cherry bombs,
N is for no more homework, when you're--"
"Ino!" I whacked her on the head. "That's not how it goes!" She grinned sheepishly.
"Shall we sing it together?"
"Yes." We linked arms and she sang first.
"F is for friends who break stuff together,"
"U is for you and me,
Blowing stuff up,"
"N is for no more lighters,
All cuz my mom happened to see!"
"Thank you, ladies. Now, please sit down so that I can tell you what teams you're on."
"Team seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno,"
"Sakura-Chan! We're on the same team!"
"So we are, Uzumaki." I replied boredly, since I knew we would be.
"And Sasuke Uchiha."
"What?!" Naruto jumped up onto the table.
"Something wrong, Naruto?" Iruka asked calmly.
"Why've I got to be stuck with him?" He asked.
"Uzumaki, drop it." I mumbled.
"We needed to pair the smartest student and the, shall we say, lowest test scores together."
"Uh... Sensei?" He sighed.
"Yes?"
"How exactly does Uchiha have the highest scores? It seems more likely that Shikamaru would have the highest score, seeing as he's a genius and all."
"He--"
"However, there's the chance that he slept through it. In which case, he'd have the lowest score, in which case Uzumaki and Uchiha still wouldn't be on the same team." I finished.
"Miss Haruno, do you have FUN disproving my logic?" Iruka asked. I grinned.
"Yes." He sighed.
"Team eight will be..."
I was sitting on a bench, staring at a tree on the other side of the path. I yawned widely.
"I am so dead tired, Akira-Chan..." I muttered to the girl next to me. She glanced down at me, where I had fallen on her shoulder. She rubbed my back.
"Me too, Catie." I shifted my head, bit her shoulder sleepily, and she jumped up violently. I barely kept my head from slamming into the concrete bench. "What the hell?!"
"My name isn't Catie. It's just Cate." I murmured as I laid my head down. She stormed away.
Naruto POV
I saw her sit up and rub her eyes. She stretched. She froze, and pulled her hair over her shoulder. I walked over.
"Hey!" I said, leaving out the name, in case something weird had happened. She looked up at me.
"Naruto... why is my hair black?"
1,2&3-Ready, steady, go! Can I help it if I'm an Otaku?
Me: Ha! A cliffhanger!... okay, it sucks...
Matt: No, it doesn't.
Me: Le Gasp! Matt from Death Note!
Matt: Well, it doesn't.
Cate: Holy Hell! Matt! *takes him aside and whispers* Thanks for lying to her. She gets weird when she feels her writing is screwed up.
Me: Well, if no one reviews, I'm taking away your Game Boy.
Matt: T.T Have mercy! PLEASE REVIEW! I want my Game Boy...
