Sorry for the delay. Thank you all for waiting, now here's the 9th chapter. The title explains itself, must we say anything else?
Chapter Nine
Onii-san Comes Back
"Are you sure onee-san?" Sasuke asked. "You can sleep with me, really."
After the incident in the forest, Sadako had agreed to go back with Sasuke. Everything seemed normal again, but when the time to sleep came, Sadako refused to sleep next to Sasuke like she always did. Instead, she insisted on staying in the living room.
Of course, Sasuke could not allow her to do that. He couldn't let his sister sleep downstairs, on the hard living room floor. And the worst part of it all is that she'll be away from him. It was just a few meters away, but to him, it seemed like such a long way.
"It's ok." Sadako answered. "I'll be fine."
"But why? Are you still mad at me?" Sasuke asked concerned.
"It's not that." Sadako looked away. "It's just… I don't think we should keep sleeping together. It's weird."
"No, it isn't." He pulled at her sleeve like a little child begging for candy. "Please, sleep with me. Pleease!"
"It's kind of childish, don't you think?"
"No, it's not!" He said, sounding rather childish. "Why do you say that? We've slept together ever since we where three years old."
"That's the problem Onii-san." She said coldly. "We're no longer little children."
Sasuke tried to say something else, but Sadako's serious face told him that was enough. There was no way to change her decision, and he knew it.
He looked at her and remembered the frail little girl she used to be. The one that needed his help and could not stand on her own. The one he loved more than anyone and anything. The girl who only loved him.
But things had changed now. She was so strong, so brave, so confident. She'd done all this without him, she no longer needed him.
Why should Sadako listen to him? After all, he'd done nothing more than treat her like a worthless little kid and feel like a hero for that. And even if she also loved Gaara now, there was still place in her heart for Sasuke. A heart so big that was able to forgive him even thou he'd treated her worse than a stray dog.
He remembered the night they fought. 'I can think by myself.' Her words echoed on his head, and he knew she was right.
Sasuke had never stopped to think that maybe Sadako didn't like most of the things they ate or the games they played, but he figured it was ok because she never complained. He always took decisions for the two of them, and it never crossed his head that Sadako was now able to take her own decisions. She no longer needed him to take her hand and lead her trough the house. She no longer asked him to tell others what she wanted to say. She was her own now.
He felt ashamed for acting so foolish. It seemed like all he'd done lately was mess up everything. So to stop the argument they were having, he thought of only one thing.
"I know!" He laughed. "I was just kidding. If you want to sleep here, it's ok."
"Really?" Sadako's face brightened.
"Yeah, just make sure the doors are locked and be careful." He smiled. "Cats like to sneak inside at midnight and eat the leftovers."
"Hai, I'll be careful."
"Good night, then." He lift her face and kissed his forehead.
"Good night Onii-san." She kissed his right cheek.
……………………
Next morning, when Sadako woke up, she was still laying on the living room floor, but there was something different.
Sasuke's arm was wrapped around her shoulders, while the black haired boy slept soundly next to her.
"Onii-san!" She yelled, pushing Sasuke aside. "What are you doing here?"
Sasuke was startled awake.
"What am I doing here?" He asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "I live here!"
"I mean, what are you doing sleeping on the living room?"
"How should I know?" He looked around confused. "I can't even remember how I got here."
"So you're sleep walking now?" Sadako asked skeptically.
"Perhaps." He smiled playfully.
"Well, that's better than you sleep talking at midnight."
"What do you mean? I don't do that!"
"Yes you do." She smiled an evil smile. "You did that just three nights ago."
"Really? And what did I say?" He challenged.
"You said: Hinata, Hinata, why don't you love me Hinata? Naruto is a baka, I love you more than he does." She laughed.
"What the… did I really say that?"
Sadako smiled and nodded.
"Don't tell her onee-san" if you tell her I'll die out of shame." He turned bright red. "Please!"
"C'mon, you know I wouldn't do that." She laughed. "But you must admit, they do make a cute couple."
"Yeah." Sasuke said heavily. "That's the worst part of it."
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Two shadows stood in the forest outside of Konoha, just a few meters away from the village's gate.
"Konoha…" One of them said in disgust. "After all this years I can't believe I'm back to this shameful place."
"Well, it is your home after all." The other one chuckled.
A soft breeze blew, rocking the wind chimes that hung from the hats they were wearing. The sound of faint music filled the air.
"Are you sure she's in here?" The second shadow asked.
The wind blew through their black cloaks. There were red clouds painted on them.
"Yeah, I've heard." He took a step forward.
"Great, time for fun!" The second shadow grabbed the handle of an oversized sword tied on his back.
"You better not kill anyone!" The first shadow warned. "No one has to know we're here. We have to be careful, a fight is the last thing we want. We just came here to see her."
"Yeah, yeah. She's all that matters, I get the point."
"Otherwise, I'll enjoy killing one or two of this worthless village's Shinobi. I would let them know Akatsuki was here."
"So, can I kill at least one of them?"
"Shut up and move!" The first one said coldly. "We don't have time to waste. You know that, Kisame."
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"So, where are we going Onii-san?" Sadako asked Sasuke.
All that Sasuke had told her when they left the Uchiha Compound, was that they were going to take a walk somewhere.
"I don't know onee-san," Sasuke smiled. "where do YOU want to go?"
Sadako thought for a moment.
"How about the forest of Konoha? I like that place."
"The forest of Konoha it is!" Sasuke agreed.
When the Uchiha twins reached the forest, they noticed there was something different about it. The air felt heavy and the singing of birds could not be heard. Even the rushing water of the river made no sound on their ears.
Sasuke stood behind Sadako and leaned his head on her shoulder so that he cold whisper on her ear without being noticed.
"Stay close to me." He whispered.
Sadako nod as the word 'Genjutsu' formed in her lips.
Both Sasuke and Sadako put their hands together to form a ninja sign.
"Release!" They said in unison.
When the Genjutsu faded, the twins found two persons standing before them. They were dressed in black cloaks with red clouds painted on them.
Sadako looked at one of them. He was a blue man with a shark-like face and sharp teeth. A giant sword wrapped on bandages hung from his back. She had no idea who he was or what he wanted, but she did recognized the other one…
After all this years, and even thou she'd only seen him a few times in the past, she could have recognized him anywhere.
At the sight of them, Sasuke immediately ran in front of Sadako to protect her.
"Itachi!" Sasuke growled wrathfully.
"Sasuke…" He said coldly.
"You bastard!" Sasuke quickly pulled out a kunai and ran towards Itachi, but he was too slow. Before he could even react, Itachi buried his fist on Sasuke's stomach, knocking the air out of him.
With a loud thud, Sasuke landed on the ground. He was shrinking in pain and gasping for breath.
"Onii-san!" Sadako took a step towards Sasuke.
"Stay… back!" He coughed out.
Sadako obeyed him.
"I don't want to fight with you. We're only here for her." He pointed his finger at Sadako.
"Don't… you… dare!" Sasuke tightened his grip on the kunai knife and tried to stand up.
"As you wish." Itachi stared directly into his eyes.
Sasuke saw his own fearful face reflected on Itachi's Mangenkyou Sharingan and knew what was coming.
72 hours that for all humanity would just be a second, watching the slaughter of his entire clan again and again.
Yes, he knew what was coming. He'd seen it before.
But that didn't happen, because with an incredible speed, someone ran between Itachi and him… it was Sadako.
Sasuke was more than surprised when Sadako's eyes turned as red as Itachi's.
"Mangenkyou…" Sasuke muttered as Sadako's stare clashed against Itachi's.
Apparently, Itachi was surprised too, because the instant Sadako's eyes transformed, he dropped his guard for just a fraction of second.
Even thou it was such a small amount of time, it was enough for her.
The air began to chill and a strong blizzard pushed him back. In less time than he could realize, everything, including him, was covered in snow.
The white flakes piled around him faster than he could push them back. He tried to run, but his feet were frozen in place. The snow was already up0 to his neck and his entire body was numb. He knew what Sadako was planning. She was going to burry him under a mountain of snow.
Itachi gathered all the strength he had left and began forming hand signs with his numb fingers. The genjutsu disappeared and he found Sadako standing before him. Still trying to protect Sasuke. Still staring at him with her own Mangenkyou.
He didn't want to hurt her, but it was obvious that she was not going to stop fighting, not as long as she was doing it for Sasuke.
Sasuke tried once again to stand up, but his limbs failed him and the pain on his stomach just sent him back on his knees.
There was nothing he could do but to observe as his siblings fought with the strongest weapon they had… their eyes.
Both Sadako and Itachi began to slide on the floor without them wanting to. It wasn't that they were moving, they were being pushed back by the sole power of their eyes.
Sasuke stared at Kisame, he was just standing behind Itachi with a pissed look on his face. But then he disappeared and reappeared behind Sadako.
With a single blow, his sister fell unconscious.
"Kisame, you idiot!" Itachi shout. "Why did you do that?"
"This was never going to end!" Kisame complained as he swung Sadako over his shoulder.
"Don't carry her like a sack of potatoes!" Itachi demanded.
"Sorry your majesty." He took her in his arm and carried her bride style. "Is that better?"
Itachi nodded.
A kunai went flying towards Kisame, who had barely enough time to avoid it. He dodged it, but it made a scratch on his left cheek. Blood dripped out of the wound.
They both turned to look at Sasuke, who was still laying on his knees whit an angry look on his face.
"Let her go!" He shout, staring at the limp form of his sister.
"So, what do we do with him?" Kisame frowned.
"Don't worry." Itachi suddenly disappeared.
Sasuke felt a hard hit on the back of his neck and everything became complete darkness to him.
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Sadako woke up half and hour later. Her feet were tied together as well as her hands. She looked around and realized she was no longer in Konoha.
But how was this possible? How could she loose like this? How could Sasuke be defeated so easily?
Sadako tried to use her ninja skills to untie the ropes, but soon realized there was chakra on them. The more she pulled, the tighter they got.
"Stop squirming." The shark-faced man appeared out of nowhere and smiled at her with his hideous saw-like teeth. "Itachi will be back any minute to untie you."
"Let me go you fish-faced bastard!" She'd learned that word from Sasuke, although she had no idea what it meant.
The blue man frowned.
"Didn't I just say Itachi will untie you when he comes back?!" He shout angrily. "And where the heck did you learn to speak like that? Your brother will be mad if he hears you."
"What do you mean? It was my brother Sasuke who taught me that word!"
"I meant Itachi!"
"He's not my brother!" She shrieked.
"C'mon, you look every bit like him." He kneeled down and lift her face to get a better look. "If I had known all Uchiha girls were this pretty, I would have asked Itachi not to kill them all."
She wanted to punch and kick him, but she was tied up. She wanted to bite him, but he was too far away. So she did the only thing that was possible.
She stared at the shark man and spit on his hideous face.
"Agh!" He jumped back, whipping spit from his face. "That's so disgusting!"
"Don't you ever touch me again you stupid fish!" She knew it was nasty so spit on him, but it was the only thing she could think of.
"You little brat!" He lift his sword and was about to hit her with it, when…
"Kisame!" Itachi called from the top branch of a nearby tree. "Put that down!"
"But…" Itachi looked at him with this feared Sharingan. "Fine…"
"Hmp, coward." Sadako muttered.
Kisame fixed her with a death glare.
Itachi jumped to the floor and kneeled before her so they were facing each other.
"Careful, she might spit on you." Kisame warned.
Sadako tried to activate her Mangenkyou.
"What the…" She was surprised when her eyes would not obey.
"I blocked your chakra flow." Itachi explained. "Don't look so surprised, did you really think I would let you use those eyes again?"
She wanted to spit at him so badly.
"What do you want from me?" She asked.
"Nothing." He said softly, running his hand down her black hair. "I just wanted to see you…"
She must have been crazy, because behind his expressionless voice, Itachi seemed to have a glint of nostalgia.
Itachi laid his forehead on top of her head.
"I've missed my little sister so much."
His voice was still cold, but just a little bit sad.
"You're not my brother." She said in disgust. "You killed our clan, you hurt my brother. I hat you! I could never forgive what you did!"
Itachi stared at her blankly.
"But, Sad-chan…"
"Don't call me that!" She spat.
That's how Itachi used to call her, because she always looked sad.
"The only reason we came is because I wanted to see you." He said softly. "I thought you were death, and then suddenly, they tell me you are back in Konoha. What was I supposed to do?"
"Well, kidnapping me wasn't the best thing to do!" She said annoyed.
"She's right dude." Kisame agreed.
Both Uchiha stared angrily at him.
"I'll just… kind of… shut up now." He said.
"Perfect." Sadako sneered.
"Listen, I don't know what Sasuke told you, but the reason I killed all members of our clan was because of you."
"Me? And what do I have to do with it?"
"Those bastards, acting so mean to a poor little girl." He said angrily. "Always mistreating you. Always looking at you over their shoulder, as if they were superior. The deserved everything that happened to them, everything. If they wouldn't help a member of their own clan, then I decided there should be no clan at all."
"But, Sasuke… what about him?" She asked.
"He's alive isn't he? It was never my intention to hurt him, I thought he had the same idea as I did, but now I know I was wrong. The only reason I hit him today was because he wouldn't step aside. I warned him I didn't want to fight."
Sadako's heart was being crushed into tiny pieces. She knew Itachi was evil, but still, the moment he'd appeared before them on the woods, she couldn't help but to feel a glint of happiness. So many years without seeing him, and suddenly, he was there.
She hated him for hurting Sasuke, and even if the Uchiha clan meant nothing to her, it did hurt Sasuke too. But she couldn't hate him, not completely.
She remembered the times when he played with her and took care of her. Because mother hated Sadako, Itachi had even combed her hair a couple of times (not that he'll ever admit it).
She loved him because… because he was her brother. And there was no way to deny it.
But killing the whole clan was sick. She could no longer trust him as she did before, she could read it in his eyes.
Sadako looked around. Where was Sasuke? Why hadn't he come to rescue her yet?
Sadako really hopped they hadn't hurt him, or worse.
"Please… get away… stay away from me." She said on a small voice, trying to hold back the tears she swore to never shed.
Itachi did as she told him. With a hurt look on his face, he stood up and walked away.
"Kisame, untie her." He ordered.
"But…" Kisame objected.
"Now!"
"Fine." Kisame sighed.
"Do you really do all he says?" Sadako asked him as he untied the ropes.
"Sometimes." Sadako stared at him. "Ok, so most of the time. It's not that I can't take decisions for myself, I just don't want my brain turned to mush with his genjutsu."
"Sounds fair."
As soon as she was free, Sadako looked around to see if Itachi was near.
He wasn't. So she tried to run, but Kisame was ridiculously fast and caught her right arm even before she could move and inch.
"And just where do you think you're going!" He grinned in triumph while shaking her violently.
"Let me go!"
"Hey, what's going on?" Itachi appeared from behind a tree.
She could have kicked Kisame and tried to run, but there was no way she could really escape from them. Being as tricky as she could, she did the only thing that crossed her head at that moment.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't running away, I just wanted to talk to Itachi" She sobbed. "Please let go of my arm, you're hurting me!"
"Release her." Itachi ordered a look of concern on his face.
Kisame had that 'I know what you're trying' look on his face, but he still did as he was told. Well, actually, he tossed her aside like a used up rag doll.
Itachi took a step forward, but remembering Sadako's words, he stayed where he was.
"Are you ok?" He asked concerned.
Sadako stood up. Now what? There had to be a way to fool Itachi at least long enough for Sasuke to come save her.
She rubbed her right arm, although it had been almost a year since she last felt anything on that place. Tears ran down her face. Fake tears, but she hopped Itachi wouldn't notice.
"What's wrong, imooto?" Itachi stared at her confused. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to talk to you that way." She sobbed. "I just… I've… missed you so much."
She walked slowly to Itachi, making sure that he wouldn't hit her or anything. When she was just three steps away from him, Itachi stepped forward and hugged her tightly.
Sadako buried her face on his black cloak and sobbed inconsolably, trying desperately to sound as real as possible. If Itachi noticed she was faking, she would be in real trouble.
But he didn't notice, he just held her close, feeling happy for the first time in so many years. He ran his hand down her hair the way he used to when she was a helpless little girl. He was so glad to see her again, so glad he could finally hear her voice, so glad she was so strong, so glad she was his sister.
"It's ok, Sad-chan. Onii-san is here." He soothed. "I would never let anyone hurt you, never."
Sadako's heart hurt even more now. It hurt to lie to him, but what else could she do.
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Naruto was on his favorite spot in all Konoha: Ichiraku Ramen. Ayame-chan, the waitress, set a bowl of steaming hot ramen on front of him.
"Itadakimasu!" Naruto cheered. He lift his chopsticks and was about to take the first taste of his food, when he heard Sasuke's voice calling him.
"Naruto!" Sasuke was running towards him like a maniac. His eyes were frantic and he was almost out of breath when he reached the ramen stand.
"What is it?" Naruto asked through a mouthful of ramen.
"Come with me!" Sasuke tugged at his arm, almost making him fall from the chair he was sitting on. "I need your help!"
"Hey, calm down!" Naruto said angrily, sitting straight again. "What the hell do you want?"
"Itachi!" He gasped. "Itachi's back and he took Sadako with him. That bastard has my sister!"
"Say what?!" Naruto's eyes went wide. "We have to go rescue her, what are you still doing in here?"
"I'm trying to get your help baka!"
"Well if you're so great, then what do you need my help for?"
"Forget it, I'll do it myself!" Sasuke yelled desperately.
"Wait, you know I never say no to a mission!" Naruto grinned.
Sasuke just wanted to beat his stupid grin off.
Naruto lift the ramen bowl over his head and gulped the whole thing into his mouth. In less than two seconds, he had drained the bowl. He set the plate down and turned to Sasuke.
"Let's go!" He jumped off the chair and ran down the street.
"Finally!" Sasuke ran behind him.
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Kisame jumped furiously from branch to branch. How was it possible that he, the great Kisame, one of the sword masters had been reduced to this?
He carried a cup of vanilla ice cream on his hands. That stupid brat had been crying the whole day and would not allow them to move from the place they were at. Then, Itachi had to ask: 'Is there anything I can do to make you feel better imooto?' And then that stupid brat had to ask for vanilla ice cream.
The nearest village was about five miles ago, but Itachi could not go get it himself. NO, he had so many things to talk about with his stupid sister. So it was Kisame who had to run all the way there to get the goddamned ice cream and back again just so that nasty sister of his would stop crying. God, how he wished she would choke on it! He was just a step away from pouring poison into it.
When he came back with the fu ice cream, he found Itachi sitting on the grass, leaning against a tree with his crybaby of a sister curled next to him like a scared puppy on a rainy day.
The brat was STILL crying!
"Please let me go." She sobbed. "I have to go back to Konoha."
At this time, Sadako had given up all hopes that Sasuke would come to save her. If she wanted to get out of this, she'll have to do it herself.
"But why?" Itachi asked, standing up dramatically. "I thought you missed me to!"
"I do!" Sadako's eyes went wide, if Itachi got angry, it would be the end of it. "But… Sasuke is in there, I need to go back to him."
"Hell with Sasuke! Do you really think he can protect you? He couldn't even lay a hand on me!"
"I know, but…"
Itachi grabbed her wrists and pulled her up.
"Come with us." He said, his face shining. "Join Akatsuki and come with us. I'm sure our leader will accept you if he knows you posses the Mangenkyou Sharingan."
"I don't want to." She had stopped crying now. Fear grew inside her.
"Why not? You're really strong, you cold help us." He tightened his grip on her wrists.
"Let me go!" She tugged at her hands, trying to break free. "Don't you…"
"Katon Goukakyuu no jutsu!" A giant ball of fire went flying towards Itachi.
He grabbed Sadako and jumped away from it.
"You heard the lady!" Naruto grinned mockingly, striking his best hero pose.
"Let her go!" Sasuke demanded.
Itachi pushed Sadako behind him.
"You're not taking her again." He threatened.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" About then Naruto clones appeared on the scene. "You save your sister, I'll take care of the fish face."
"Go on, I dare you." Kisame smiled, shoving a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and tossing the cup aside.
Naruto ran to Kisame, but he dodged all his attacks easily and in less time than he could realize it, almost half of his clones had been defeated.
"Katon Housenka!" A rain of fire balls went flying to Itachi, who dodged most of them and deflected the others with his bare hands.
"Kuso, they're too strong!" Naruto said after taking a direct hit from Kisame's sword. HE wiped blood from his mouth.
Sasuke's Sharingan was activated, even so, he couldn't follow all of Itachi's moves. Aside from being too strong, they were also too fast for just the two of them.
Kisame began making hand signs to use a jutsu.
"Suiton Suikoudan no jutsu!" An incredible amount of water in the shape of a shark broke through the floor and charged directly at them.
There was no time to react, no time to think. All they could do was cover their heads and wait for the water shark to devour them. It was really close now, they could feel it's jaws closing on them…
They heard the sound of water splashing against the floor, but for some reason, they were safe.
Both Sasuke and Naruto looked up, they were crouching behind a wall of sand.
"What the…" Sasuke looked up astounded.
Blood red hair and emerald green eyes. There, standing before them, was Sabaku no Gaara. Arms crossed over his chest, no expression on his pale face.
"Gaara!" Naruto cried out. "What are you doing here?"
Gaara pulled the sand back into the gourd tied on his back.
"I'm here to save Sadako…"
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Vianey: And that's it for chapter nine. We're truthfully sorry it took us so long to update, it's jut I really had a lot of school work. (Sometimes, I wish writhing fanfic was my only job.)
Glacia: But thank you for waiting. I really don't think this one's so good but, hey, we are trying our best here.
Ten: Yeah, this chapter sounded better on my head. Whenever we write anything, the fic plays like a movie inside our heads, it's just very complicated to try to describe it.
Vianey: Just a quick note, I'm really, REALLY sorry if my characters are so different from the original. I've got some people saying that Sasuke seems a little ooc.
Ten: We have no idea what ooc mean, so the only thing we came up with is Out Of Character.
Glacia: If that's it's meaning, once again we are sorry for it. But please, you must realize, Sasuke only acts nice around his sister. He's still mean to Sakura and a jerk to everyone else. Besides, this is a fanfic, it's just our word, not reality.
Vianey: But thanks to that commentary, we're now trying our best to make the characters more like they usually do. Although our best isn't really good and the story would end up looking like… this chapter.
Glacia: Can we just thank the readers already?
Vianey: Ah, yes. Ok, here goes. Thanks a lot TsukiNoHime, sailorskyeblue, Hinata11235, Lloyd Neruameshi, Hana-Tenshi, Freezing Embers Friend and cocogirl198.
Glacia/Ten: Thank you (once again, all three of us kneel before you).
Vianey: And our special thanks to sailorskyeblue and Hana-Tenshi, Who have read and reviewed most of our chapters.
Glacia: We have no words to express how thankful we are.
Ten: What would we do without you? TTTT
Vianey: Just remember, if there's anything you want us to write about, just tell us and we'll be happy to do it.
YukiTenVianey Team out…
