Ch. 10 – Into Motion

"Never mistake motion for action".

Ernest Hemingway

Hinata's moony gaze fell upon his window. All she could see was his arm in the window but there was no doubt that he wasn't really asleep. He was probably just staring at the ceiling. Something that Sasuke would definitely do when he couldn't sleep. She wondered if the nightmares still plagued him, maybe not, but then what was keeping him awake at night?

She wanted to get closer but she knew that could compromise the mission. And she couldn't do that, not when she'd come this far, and how much chakra it took to get her here. It would all be for naught if she failed now.

Isami had led her here in hopes of helping but really all it did was make her sad that she couldn't talk to him. He didn't even know she was here, which was a surprise considering the incredible alertness of the Uchiha. She'd never once been able to get the drop on him before even with her own abilities.

"I'm sorry," Isami said.

Hinata just shook her head. "It's fine. I don't know what I expected. At least he's okay. The others will be glad."

She looked up again and saw the silhouette of his body moving away from the window. He was gone for the moment and Isami waved as she ran inside. Of course he probably just realized she was missing this whole time. She smiled as she faded into the shadows of the night and out of sight.

...

Sasuke awoke to a sun shining through his open window. Why it was open he didn't know and what time it was also evaded him. He reached for his cell phone but found it was missing as well.

Ever he ever believed in waking up on the wrong side of the bed this would be one of those occasions. It's not that the light was really annoying him but just the way its obnoxious rays fell into his eyes was more than he wanted to deal with in the morning.

It was Saturday so he and Isami didn't have school. Which was good because, according to the girl that came in through his window he'd have training today, and that thought was enough to pull him out of bed earlier than he'd wanted to be. Training seemed to excite him more than it should have.

Sasuke stood and closed the curtains before getting dressed and heading to the bathroom. He came back with a tooth brush in his mouth and finished before shutting off the bathroom light and heading downstairs.

Momo, he couldn't recall her last name, said that his first training exercise would be with Kisuke Urahara. Which was good because at least he knew the man, not on a personal level, but at least he wouldn't be training under someone he didn't know at all? Though he wouldn't be the only one training him, and that thought was enough for Sasuke to be a little on edge.

Sasuke stepped around the corner and saw the living room vacant of his kid sister. He walked through the living room and into kitchen to make some breakfast. He grabbed a box of cereal and the milk out of the fridge and made a bowl.

As soon as he was finished he ran toward to door after grabbing his soul candy dispenser.

"Where are you going?"

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks and turned to the soft voice of his kid sister. She wore sweat pants and pink slippers. She looked so out of place in them and almost made Sasuke crack a smile.

"I have plans with some friends today, can you handle being home alone for a little while?" Sasuke watched her as she put her hands on her hips.

"Which friends? Because I know Ichigo and the others are out of town on family trips, at the same time, which is kind of weird."

"There friends I made outside of school. You wouldn't know them," Sasuke said.

"You're not going to see a girl are you?"

He didn't know that for sure. Sasuke had no idea who he would be training with. A girl might be his trainer, he didn't know, but Urahara would be training for the day so he was sure that it wasn't a girl. So at least he wouldn't be lying to her.

"No, why would you even think that?" Sasuke raised an eye brow as he scowled at her. She hated when he did that.

"You know you never called the last girl you dated back." Isami said, "You can't just keep hurting girls like that. You should at least tell her that you don't want to see her anymore, not just ignore and avoid her."

Wait avoid who? That girl he went on a date with, but he wasn't avoiding her, he just had other things on his mind. There were many different things going on his world right now. For one, he was being hunted down by a group of powerful fighters, and two, that girl would be better off not knowing him. He was going to have a hard enough time protecting Isami if they ever came for her.

"I'm not avoiding her. I just have a lot of things on my mind right now." Like a literal voice inside his head that hates when he tries to sleep or get any kind of rest.

Isami huffed and looked down. "Y-you need to stop playing games with these girls you know?"

What girls, Sasuke thought? He'd only been on the one date and he hadn't led on any girls by accident had he? Not that he was aware of anyway. Though there seemed to be girls flocking to his side a little too much at the school, like three or four, but he had ignored them, as he always had.

The only girls he talked to on a regular basis were Tatsuki, Orihime, and Rukia, not counting his sister. And those conversations weren't even anything special, just normal stuff, though it did seem Rukia seemed so shy around him. Same with Tatsuki, which was strange considering all the stories he'd heard about how her personality was, and how she acted around him, maybe it was a coincidence.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke said and opened the door. "I really need to go. We have plenty of food in the fridge, if you get bored you can have one friend over, not two, or three, but one. Also, you can't leave the house, unless it's an emergency, got it?"

Isami sighed and nodded. She walked over to her brother and gave him a hug. He patted her head in return and closed the door behind him. He looked up to the sky as he walked towards the shop.

...

Four members sat around a long table centered between them. Mason, the leader of the group, sat at the head of the table, folded his arms over his chest as he prepared to speak.

"We have located Sasuke Uchiha, and we now know where he resides." He said, "Phase one of the plan is now complete."

The other three members in the room turned to him with the slightest hint of enthusiasm on their faces. He took it as a sign to continue.

"We were sent here to retrieve the Uchiha, as he is now we can still over power him as long as we use our unleashed abilities. But remember he isn't the only power around here that will pose a problem."

The man with the dark brown hair looked up from his previous bored state. "But I did fight with him, and he's still pretty strong even without his shikai, Mason. If he ever mastered bankai-"

"Then we cannot allow him to get that far." Mason turned to the only female member of their group and said, "Olivia, can I expect you to trail him this time without engaging?"

The purple haired woman nodded. "Of course, but how do you want me to go about it?"

"You know exactly what I want. As for Lance and Ivan I need you two to prepare for his capture and fight off anyone who tries to interfere. We need him alive, so don't make anything that may kill him during our travels but anyone else you may kill as long as you don't make too big of a scene." Mason said, and crossed his arms over his chest again.

Ivan huffed and leaned back. "Man, I just want to crush this kid, why can't we?"

"Because that will compromise the mission, and you know the penalty for that, don't you, Ivan?" Mason looked at him with a serious scowl. "Now that the plan has been set, let's go."

They disappeared from that dingy room and went off to complete the mission.

...

The walk to the Urahara shop wasn't a long one. Of course it helped that he was stuck in thought and didn't pay attention to the time passing by. It could have taken him an hour but he was so lost in thought that it seemed far shorter.

He'd been arguing with the voice in his head about the girls he'd supposedly led on. The voice just loved to taunt him to insanity. If he could just find a way to ignore it he would gladly, but unlucky for him, that wasn't possible. The voice was starting to taunt him in different ways now.

It loved to pop up at the worst moments too. Almost every conversation he had with a girl he could hear the voice wanting to scream at him. If it got worse he'd have to get some pills for it but that was only if he couldn't handle it.

The sign in front of Urahara's shop said closed but he knew better and knocked on the door. A few moments later the little girl opened the door and gave him a wide eyed expression. He stared at her blankly before she moved out of the way and invited him inside.

"The boss is down in the training room." She said, and pointed to where Sasuke should go.

Sasuke saw the familiar ladder and climbed it down to the gigantic open room. He was still amazed such a room could exist under ground. Soon he was greeted by Urahara himself and the woman standing next to him. He recognized her as Yoruichi, the girl that saved him from the crazy soul reaper before.

"Sasuke, glad you could make it." Urahara said, "And you look like you haven't been sleeping well?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said. "Can we just get to the training?"

Urahara shook his head. "Sheesh, yeah we'll start soon. Be patient, it's a virtue."

Yeah, that's easy to say when you're not the one being targeted by a group bent on killing you. Though that may not be true as well, he didn't know if Urahara had any enemies, assuming he acted this way with everyone, then he assumed he had many.

"We'll start your training with speed training." Kisuke raised his fan and threw it passed Sasuke's face. He tilted his head and dodged the sharpened fan as it stuck into the wall behind him.

Sasuke placed his hand on his sword and readied to fight Urahara.

"What are you doing, Sasuke? I'm not the one training you."

Sasuke turned from him mid swing. "Then who-"

Yoruichi landed a kick inches from where Sasuke had been standing a few seconds before leaving a crater where her fit had hit.

"That would be me," She said. "And your first lesson starts now."

...

A/N: I have still have the pull up on my page and it will be up till the end of next month or when the first one of the choices reaches ten votes with a three vote lead over the next top vote. So please go and vote on that poll please to help the story proceed and check out my other stories if you haven't already.