Recap:
"It's for you." Itachi smiled and took the message, as he read over the short message he watched Sasuke from the corner of his eye. She softly stroked the bird's feathers before placing it back on the window still and holding up her hand. Surprisingly the bird didn't move as the young raven turned and dug though the cabinet. Smiling she pulled out a bag of salted meat strips and gave the young hawk a few.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Writing
Flashbacks
Announcements
One in a million
Chapter 9
"Minato-san wants to talk to me." Sasuke just nodded and watched the bird finish its meat.
"I knew he would… I'll wait here and when you get back you promised me some training." Itachi smiled and watched as she rubbed the bird's head before he wrapped her in a hug.
"Try and get some rest alright?" Sasuke sighed but nodded with a smile and squeezed him back before letting go.
"Thank you." Itachi smiled back and finally let her go before walking out the door. Sasuke turned back to the bird and softly rubbed its head one last time.
"Go on, Hokage-sama is waiting for you." The bird visibly saddened but bowed its head before taking off out the window. Sasuke sighed as she watched the bird disappear before turning and going back into her room.
X-Hokage's office-X
Minato waited patiently and sure enough a few seconds after the messenger hawk landed on his window still there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." as expected Itachi walked into the small office and closed the door. The blond gestured for him to take a seat. The teen hesitated before slowly sitting in one of the chairs.
"Now… I want to know who is responsible for Sasuke's attack." Itachi sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor.
"Sasuke said she only saw and recognized one person but there were eight." Minato frowned but nodded.
"Anything she says will help." Itachi finally looked up at the blond.
"I must warn you…you will not like what I'm about to say." Minato raised an eyebrow but took a deep breath and nodded for him to continue. "Naruto." Minato's shocked expression didn't surprise him when it appeared.
"Naruto? As in my son? Is she sure?" Itachi slowly nodded a frown starting to form.
"She wouldn't tell me who until I promised I wouldn't do anything myself." Minato fell back into his chair. He rubbed the bridge of his nose before calling out to his guards. A couple seconds later the door opened and two Anbu guards stepped in.
"I need one of you to go and get my son." The two bowed and disappeared as silently as they had arrived. Itachi quickly made to stand.
"Hokage-sama I cannot stay here if he will be coming here… I will not break my promise." Minato sighed but gave the teen a completely serious look.
"I'm sorry Itachi but you need to stay… I trust that you're able to control yourself." Itachi took a deep calming breath before slowly taking his seat again.
"Then I will apologize in advance for if I slip and hurt him." Minato frowned.
"If all of this is true and Naruto did take part in this I will have no choice but to stop you. I know you mean well but you are not part of the council and as such cannot hand out punishments." They fell silent as a few seconds later Naruto's loud, happy voice could be heard down the hall. Itachi quietly balled his fists and closed his eyes just as Naruto walked in without knocking.
"Oh sorry, I thought you needed to see me?" Before he could disappear back out the door Minato spoke.
"I do need to speak with you… come in, shut the door, and sit down." His voice was sharp and left no room for argument so Naruto did as told before plopping down in the empty chair next to Itachi, his smile starting to fad.
"What is it dad?" Minato kept his face carefully blank and watched Naruto.
"I have received some startling information about your teammate Sasuke." Naruto plastered on a fake smile.
"So finally found out who did it?" Itachi's eyes snapped open and rapidly flashed between red and black. Before Minato could ask Naruto what he meant the teen cut him off.
"What do you mean 'the guys who did it'?" Naruto smile lessened as he played his part.
"You know when she got beat up by that group of guys." Minato sighed and rubbed his temples.
"How did you find out about it?" Naruto shrugged.
"It's all over the village." Itachi's fist tightened to the point of drawling blood as he glared at the younger blond.
"That's weird, seeing as the only people who knew she was attacked were your father, Lady Tsunade, Shizune-san, Kakashi-san, myself and a two member Anbu team." Naruto's smile completely fell and he frowned over at the other teen but didn't say anything. Minato inwardly saddened as the truth became obvious.
"Naruto, did you intentionally hurt Sasuke?" Naruto sighed and looked to the floor.
"No." Minato looked closely at the smaller blond and frowned.
"But you know who did?" Naruto sighed and shook his head.
"I didn't know about half of them." Itachi's was burning holes in Naruto head with his glare but quickly stood and bowed toward Minato.
"I am sorry sir but I cannot stay here anymore." The blond Hokage nodded and watched as the Anbu teen disappeared out the door before turning back to his son.
X-Two days later (mission day) -X
Itachi smiled down at Sasuke as they sat in the dining room of their apartment.
"You look a lot better, do you feel better?" Sasuke sighed and quickly finished her small breakfast.
"I'm feeling almost 100% again." Itachi seemed pleased and finished up his own breakfast.
"Well then come on we don't want you to be late for you first real mission." Sasuke nodded and grabbed her small travel pack before racing out the door after Itachi. As they walked down the street Sasuke fiddled with a spare pair of shinny chopsticks for her hair.
"So now it's my turn." Itachi looked down at her with a raised eyebrow causing her to giggle. "This is my first long term mission… I'll be gone about a month." Itachi sighed as he inwardly saddened.
"Yes it is…even though it's a C-rank mission I want you to be careful. You never know when something can change and it turns into an A-ranked mission." Sasuke smiled and grabbed his hand.
"Then I'll be extra careful, but if I come back injured you better not go all mother hen on me." Itachi chuckled and swiftly wrapped his arms around the startled girl's waist and picked her up.
"I promise." Sasuke giggled as her feet touched the ground again.
"Good, oh and while I'm gone can you go around and help some of the villagers? There's a list of who I help and when I help them on the refrigerator." Itachi tilted his head in curiosity as he started to walk again with her hand in his.
"May I ask why you are helping everyone?" Sasuke smiled again and started to swing their joined hands.
"I may be a shinobi of this village but that doesn't mean I like fighting…If it was up to me I'd stop all this fighting and actually live a peaceful life… but that will never happen so I decided to help anyone who would accept it." Itachi smiled proudly as he squeezed her hand.
"Anyone can change something if they stand by it, so don't give up on that dream." Sasuke smiled back as they reached the bridge where she was supposed to meet her team. No one was there yet so they leaned against the railing and when they felt Sakura's chakra a little later Itachi leaned down and gave Sasuke a small kiss on the cheek.
"Be safe ok?" Sasuke smiled and nodded before Itachi disappeared. Sasuke blushed as she held her kissed cheek and waited the few minutes for Sakura to appear.
X-1 month later-X
Itachi glanced up at the village gate for the 10th time. It was around noon when he finally saw something down the road. As he watched he saw Kakashi and the three genin come into clear view. He almost smiled but stopped when he saw the white bandages on Sasuke's cheeks and neck.
In a second he was in front of the group causing Sakura to squeak in surprise and Naruto to drop his gaze. Neither Sasuke nor Kakashi were startled by the older teen's sudden appearance. Itachi's dark gaze suddenly landed on Kakashi.
"Sasuke you can go, we will have a brief meeting tomorrow at 8 don't be late." Sasuke rolled her eyes and grabbed Itachi's hand, before he could even open his mouth to question her she was pulling him back into the village and towards their apartment. Itachi finally calmed down enough to walk with her instead of being dragged and they soon arrived home. The moment the door closed Itachi started launching questions.
"What the hell happened?" Sasuke gave him a small smile and walked into the kitchen as she answered.
"You were right, the man we were protecting lied and it turned into an A-ranked mission. I got hurt because one of our enemies was an S-rank missing ninja and the other was maybe A-rank. I ended up fighting the A-rank and I was doing alright until Naruto tried to be the hero and 'save me' but he was quickly knocked out and… I remembered you saying that your teammates were more important than the mission." Itachi looked surprised as she took a deep breath.
"Since he was unconscious he couldn't protect himself so I changed from attacking to defending… I was able to hold him off until something happened with Kakashi-sensei's fight so the one I was fighting said he had to 'end things now,' he tried to kill Naruto so I stepped in front of him." Itachi's eyes widened as he realized what she did.
"When his attack hit me I was able to place an exploding tag on him before his disappeared and I passed out… I wasn't sure if I made it in time for Naruto but when I came too Kakashi-sensei said if I hadn't put the tag on him we would have lost and the mission would have failed… plus no one died." Itachi suddenly pulled Sasuke into his chest and hugged her tightly.
"Sasuke, I'm so proud of you… and I'm glad you're safe now." Sasuke sighed into the embrace her eyes falling shut for a few minutes.
"Itachi can we have soup tonight?" Itachi chuckled and released the smaller raven before starting to cook. Sasuke sat at the table and smiled as she watched Itachi run around making a pot of fresh hot tomato soup. Before she knew it a piping hot bowl of soup was placed in front of her along with a glass of cold water.
Itachi soon joined her with his own bowl and they ate in a happy silence. Sasuke finished quickly and her eyes started to droop. Itachi smiled and took away her empty bowl before gently picking her up and carrying her into her room.
"I think you might want to shower before taking a nap." Sasuke woke herself up a little more and saw that she was indeed very dirty.
"Alright I'll do that now." Itachi smirked and pulled out the chopsticks still in her hair.
"Good, I want you in bed straight after." Sasuke nodded, even though it was only 1 in the afternoon, and the older teen quietly left her room so she could shower and change. Roughly 15 minutes later Sasuke poked her head into the kitchen where Itachi was reading a scroll. When she saw him she walked silently up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you." Itachi smiled.
"You're welcome, now go take a nap I'll wake you up in a couple hours alright?" Sasuke nodded and softly squeezed her arms so she wouldn't choke Itachi and gave him a hug before returning to her room.
TBC
So sweet.
I know it's weird that Naruto didn't seem to get in trouble for hurting Sasuke but he did. But he was needed for the mission and to make it better now he is upset about her saving his life.
Talk about confusing.
Anyway reviews!
