A/N: Still slightly embarassed about the mistake that I made (and corrected, fortunately) in the last chapter but hopefully I can get over it and focus more during this chapter. Yay... So anyway, on with the...
Kisame, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto- NNOOOO!!!!
TG- What, what, what?! Oh. They just heard the news about Naruto: Shippuden. Did anyone else hear that bombshell by the by? If not, apparently, Disney, being the manipulative company that they are, successfully obtained airing rights and will begin airing Naruto: Shippuden on Disney: XD next month. I swear, when my friend told me this (I don't have internet at home so she saw this and called me), I was calming her down (she's been following Naruto since the beginning so...) but I was crying on the inside TT.
Kisame- I guess we can pretty much say goodbye to the 'Save Gaara' arc, and the 'Immortal saga' (FYI, when Kakuzu and Hidan came into the picture), and half of the dialogue in the anime...
Sasuke- Basically, if Disney edits the show like they edited the Fox and The Hound...
All- ...
WE'RE DOOMED!!!!
TG- Sorry about that.
Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto but apparently Disney now owns a share.
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Last time...
"Well... yeah, we've ruled the death of Jiraiya to be an accident. Yes, a very unfortunate accident."
---
"...Upon anything happening to him, you all would be left in her care. I'll just write it up in paper-work right now..."
---
"What kind of accident was it that killed Jiraiya?!" Genma sighed boredly, before flipping through his notes and saying,
"Oh, yes, it was something concerning... Ah, yes, the Incredibly Deadly Chief Toad." Itachi almost screamed as the twins got closer to him and Sasuke,
"That's ridiculous! The Incredibly Deadly Chief Toad is one of the kindest creatures in the Animal Kingdom! Jiraiya said so himself!" Genma and Asuma looked at Kabuto who looked up and sighed,
"I don't remember him saying that..."
TG- At this moment, brave young Naruto had a burst of inspiration after he looked and saw that the cage of the Incredibly Deadly Chief Toad had been opened.
Naruto began to walk over to the empty cage, going quite unnoticed by the others, whispering, "I'll fix this..."
"Alright then. Ms. Karia, I leave them up to you." Asuma stated waving them off as the twins dragged Itachi and Sasuke to the door, and Kabuto was doing his best to pull Kisame along. The teens were still yelling and protesting, trying to grab any last chance for freedom until...
"AAAHHH!!" A scream rang out from the back of the room. Everyone stopped in their tracks just to be amazed at the sight of Naruto being tickled into submission by the tongue of the Incredibly Deadly Chief Toad. Genma smiled and said,
"Well, would you look at that?" As the happy, young blonde was being tickled, Kabuto hissed,
"Damn... And I really liked this outfit, too!" All at once, Kisame, Itachi, and Sasuke felt the presence of their captors vanish into thin air. Everyone looked towards the door and saw various bits of clothing and accesories lining the floor. Then they all heard the tell-tale sounds of the footsteps on gravel and then the screeching of car-tires. When they were gone, Naruto tried to call out, having some trouble with his giggles,
"Are they... Ha ha ha! Are they g-gone yet... Hah hah!" Sasuke was the one who said,
"Yeah. You did good, dobe.", before kissing the blonde on the forehead. Genma groaned,
"Aw man, that means I have work to do. Oh well, come on guys...", he called to his sargeants and they all departed the house. Asuma read through his book of records,
"Well, I guess that I have to find you guys a new guardian, huh?"
We enter the story seeing the inside of Asuma's car, the radio playing that oh-so wonderful song about the cute little fox in the cute little forest. The same song that was irritating Kisame to the point that he was currently bangiing his head against the back of the seat in front of him in order to drown out the noise. Itachi was shaking his head at his lover/brother's action, and Sasuke was holding Naruto who had fallen asleep on the way over. Asuma turned around and said, with as much authority as he could muster, "Now children, don't worry, the authorities are currently tracking down Ms. Karia. From her frizzy gray hair to her tattoo-less ankles." He turned back and muttered to himself, "The sexy fiendess." Kisame, Itachi, and Sasuke looked at each other disbelievingly before Kisame groaned and began banging his head a couple times before he was stopped by Itachi.
TG- Though still in the clutches of a ruthlessly clueless banker, the Hatakes celebrated their unmasking of Kabuto as they skimmed their way
(Scene is Asuma's car on a raft that's being pedaled across the gray, dingy waters)
across the cold waters of Lake Lacrymose. However, the young and fair Itachi wasn't observing their new surroundings. He was too busy looking at Kisame's expression when he looked outside of the window.
"Kisame?" The shark didn't respond. Itachi gently tapped his shoulder, causing him to come to.
"Mm, what is it?"
"You were in a daze. Is something wrong?" Kisame rubbed his burly arms, as if an unseen chill had invaded the car.
"No. It's just that..." Kisame looked out of the window again, especially at the water. "I never thought that I would come here again."
"Meaning?" Itachi pondered. Kisame simply looked away from the window and sighed, closing his eyes.
"This place... It holds a lot of memories. Too many of them aren't too pleasant, Itachi, and I implore of you not to ask anymore on the topic." Itachi frowned. That was... awfully curt and cold for the usual calm and happy shark. Nonetheless, he ignored it and turned to his younger brother, who seemed to be deep in thought.
"Oh great, you too?" Sasuke turned,
"Hm?" Itachi shook his head,
"Never mind. But a penny for your thoughts." Sasuke sighed,
"It's just... What did Orochimaru gain from having Kabuto kill Jiraiya? Why go through so much trouble?" Itachi nodded but didn't say anything. The same questions had been swimming in his own mind. The only thing that he could think of, was a scenario too horrible to even go back and rethink. So, sitting back in his seat, Itachi rubbed his fingers of one hand through Kisame's hair before using the other hand to do the same to Sasuke.
"Let's just see if this place is a longer stay than the other."
TG- Despite his elder brother's seemingly kind words and caressing touches, Sasuke knew that there was something deep and sinister going on behind the scenes of all this. Although the only clues he had was an awful fire, a golden spyglass, and two words...
"Aunt Tsuande?" Itachi asked Kisame as the four orphans were left on the dock. Kisame thought for second before responding,
"Only saw her once, and I still don't remember what she was like." The orphans all looked forward at the dismal town of Lacrymose. Naruto was busy rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, but he asked,
"Is this really our new home, or am I stuck in some sort of weird dream?" Sasuke interrupted the blonde as he came out of his own thoughts and asked his brothers,
"Doesn't it strike you guys as odd that none of these 'relatives' of ours are related to us?" They all sighed. Kisame groaned,
"Let's try not to think about that much, huh Sasuke?"
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The four orphans climbed the trecherous path uphill towards their guardian's house, more than a little bit peeved that Asuma had left them withouth transportation.
"Guys, my feet hurt..!!"
"Shut it, dobe!"
"Kisame... How much further until we... we... Ooh, I have to sit down." When Itachi sat on the damp ground, surely ruining his fine clothes, Kisame checked the directions that the banker had given him and said,
"Not much further, Itachi, it should be the house on the side of the cliff." Naruto was panting but the small blonde managed to hold his head up long enough to look up and say,
"Oi! I think that I see it!" The elder three looked towards where the blonde was looking and saw it. It was an aging mansion, the tiles of the roof were falling off, the whole building was being supported by a complex array of beams extending from the jagged edge of the cliff that they were all currently standing on. A frigid gale of wind passed, causing the dismally gray building to let out the most horrible, pitiful creaks and groans. It was almost as if the building was begging to be put out if its misery. Kisame looked at it and let out a long whistle.
"It's like it's in pain or something..." Sasuke observed. The four orphans, carrying their luggage the best that they could, made their way up the hill. When they finally made it, Kisame rang the doorbell that was decorated with slug and toad carvings. There wasn't a response. Kisame and Itachi looked at each other before Kisame called,
"Aunt Tsuande! It's us!" He was about to knock on the door when it creaked open, ever so slowly. From behind it, shivering and shaking like the last leaf on a dying tree, appeared a woman with blonde hair in pig-tails that were behind her back. She was wearing a black dress that had large cuffs and a v-neck in the front which showed off plenty of her... well... endowment. All the guys were stunned but it was Kisame who stated, "Whoa.", which earned him an honest smack in the back of the head. The woman whispered,
"Hatakes... Hatakes, is that you?" They all nodded. She smiledweakly and continued, "Oh, thank goodness! I'm your Aunt Tsunade. Come on, come on! Get your asses in here already!" The guys followed her command but when Kisame tried to close the door after them, Tsunade exclaimed, "Stop!!" Kisame stopped in his tracks.
"What is it?!" Tsunade walked over and pushed the eldest teen away from the door, stating, "Now, children, I must ask you never to use any of the door-knobs in the house, or to slam the doors in any case." She tapped at the door, it making it's way, ever-so slowly, back to its threshold. Itachi tilted an eyebrow but asked poilitely,
"Um, may I ask why?" Tsunade turned and replied, her eyes looking from right to left.
"I'm petrified that the door-knob will shatter into a million teeny-tiny pieces and fly into someone's eye and stab it out." Kisame, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto all raised an eyebrow towards the woman. Naruto even went so far as to even say,
"Someone's been to crazy-town..." Tsunade heard this and shook her head, saying,
"I'm sorry? Japanese? We're in Europe now, little foxy..." She pinched Naruto's cheek, the blonde boy growling as he was let go, rubbing his now-sore cheek. "It's alright though." Tsunade began as she walked towards a large stack of books, "After the divorce, studying the English language became one of my best hobbies." She held up a giant textbook as proof. Sasuke gasped,
"Divorce? So, would that mean that you're..." Tsunade sniffled once. In a quiet voice, she answered,
"Yep. Me and Jiraiya. We had the best thing going. Iruka always commented our marriage's success. At least, until..." The orphans all leaned in expectantly, just to be confronted with a crying blonde woman. In her hysterics, she grabbed Sasuke and was crushing him against her giant chest.
"Ah! Sasuke!" Itachi cried at his brother's predicament. After about ten more minutes of sobbing, Tsunade finally let go. Sasuke collapsed to the floor as he desperately sucked in much-needed oxygen. Naruto ran over and yelled,
"Teme! Are you alright?!" Sasuke panted some more and replied,
"That experience... Just made me gayer than I already was." Kisame shook his head at the younger's predicament. He asked,
"So, It was your daughter. If I may ask, what happened. Was she sick, or..." Tsunade wiped her face with her sleeve.
"Oh, no no." Then calmly stated, "She was eaten by leeches." Kisame froze. Sasuke asked,
"Leeches?"
Tsunade led them to a back room and opened a large window. It over-looked the despairing lake and she pointed towards what looked like a small opening in the wall of rock that was adjacent to them.
"Lacrymose leeches..." Kisame began, his voice very calm and deep, almost as cold as the air around the mansion, "Have no eyes but a long, hyper-sensitive nose that can sense the faintest smell of food from fifty miles away." Tsunade nodded.
"It was over there. B... By Curdled Cave. My dear, sweet Shizune. She wanted so much to go for a swim, but I told her that she had to wait an hour after eating before going into the water. But..." She sniffled. "She only waited... Fifty-One Minutes..!!" She wailed, grabbing onto Itachi's clothes and sobbing into them. Itachi grimaced but patted Tsunade's head reassuringly. Kisame simply looked out the window at the lake, quiet as the dead. Sasuke had left Naruto with Itachi to console the distressed woman and was looking around. He wandered into a section of the room that was covered in pictures. Some of them had Tsunade and Jiraiya capturing wild animals and others had the two adults with a woman who had short black hair. "Must be Shizune..." One of the pictures, however, made him gasp. As he looked at it, his eyes grew wide. It was large group of people, which included Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune, standing in front of what looked like the former Hatake Mansion. Everyone in the photo was smiling, they all had spyglasses like the ones he had found in the remains of their old home. And in the middle of the crowd, smiling, were Kakashi and Iruka.
"Tsunade! When was this picture taken?" Tsunade looked up from her tears and exclaimed,
"Agh! I hate that picture, get away from there!" Sasuke held up his hands defensively and walked back to where the others were.
"But, in that picture everyone had a spyglass. Could you tell me what they were fo..?" Tsunade jumped up and exclaimed,
"You boys must be hungry! I'll make us lunch, come on!" As everyone moved into the kitchen, Sasuke huffed and thought to himself,
'Something's up here..."
"Kids..?" They all looked up at the sudden calmness in the woman's voice. "There's something that... You must understand. In this world, there are good people and extremely bad people. Those who start the fires and those who put them out." The room was silent.
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Tsunade poured bowls of pale green liquid into the bowls that were on the table. Kisame, Sasuke, and Naruto grimaced but Itachi feigned a smile and stated, "Just what we all need, nice, hot soup!" Tsunade cleared her throat and responded,
"Well, actually, it's chilled cucumber-soup." Kisame choked audibly as the frigid liquid hit his tongue. A look of severe discomfort on his face, he slowly took his bowl and walked away from the table. "Well, I was wondering, since it seems that little Naruto can't speak English yet..." She tossled the boys hair. "I'll be happy to teach him and-- KISAME, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" The eldest Hatake was currently at the stove, a pot in one hand, a spoon in the other.
"I'm just trying to warm up my damn soup..." Tsunade grabbed him and pulled him away from the stove, yelling,
"No, no, no! You can never use the stove! It'll blow up into a mass of flames and make the refrigerator fall and crush you flat!!" Kisame growled,
"What is your deal, woman?!" Tsunade sighed and explained,
"Ever since the divorce, I... I don't know, I've gotten so paranoid, I haven't the foggiest clue why..." Naruto shook his head,
"She's the mayor of crazy town..." Itachi shared the feeling, silently of course, but he asked,
"Aunt Tsunade... If this place holds so many bad memories, why don't you just sell it and move?" Tsunade, shook her head frantically,
"No, no, no, no!" Calming down she stated, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, "I'm terrified of realtors." The teens all frowned.
"OK..."
TG- As you walk that long, winding path known as life, you will find that there are rational fears and irrational fears.
(Flashback
Tsunade hears her door-bell ringing and walks to the door. Shakily, and hidding behind it, she looked outside to see a pink-haired girl in a red dress-suit. She held out a card and asked, a bright smile on her face, "Is this a bad time?"
TG- Being afraid of realtors... is an irrational fear.
Tsunade's screams echoed throught out the town of Lacrymose for weeks.)
Kisame leaned over to Itachi and whispered urgently, "We have to get her out of the house...", gesturing with his shoulder to the woman who was rocking back and forth to the memory.
TG- Chapter complete! This is a quick update, I know. And my other two stories probably won't be updated until tomorrow (I just got out of my Shakespeare class and I'm feeling sleepy… -.-) However, since I'm stuck here until the next bus comes, I'm going to see if I can type up and post chapters for my other two stories while I'm at my college's computer lab. Wish me luck, Read and Review if you please!
-Tyranno's girl
