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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else in this story, but the plot line.
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Thank you to my faithful readers.
And to my reviewers:
monzieslilneji
Mello's Eaten Our Chocolate…
cherryblossom1917
Smileeeee
And irixyu-jon
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Day 4
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"It's time to wake up. We need to go soon."
Sakura slowly opened her heavy eyes. Seeing Sasuke kneeling beside her, she groaned. Rolling to her left side, Sakura closed her eyes.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, before he shook her shoulder. "If you don't get up and pack now, I'm going to dump water on you. Then you'll just have to deal with being wet." Sakura continued to ignore him.
The pink haired teen heard him start walking away. She grinned to herself, and started to fall back to sleep. The sound of water splashing onto something metal, right near her ear, brought her fully awake. Springing up from the bedding, Sakura hurriedly spit out, "Fine I'm up. I'm up. Geez you couldn't have given me at least five more minutes." She stared at him pointedly.
Sasuke ignored her obvious anger at having been woken up so early. "Pack up. We need to leave Itachi will not give up so early, and most likely he has people coming here to kill us as we speak. Now I don't know about you, but I would rather not be here when they come." He turned an started towards the blankets. Lifting up two of the corners, he looked at Sakura.
Taking the hint, Sakura took up the free corners. The folded up the blanket, as small as they could. They continued this process with the other two, then packing up the rest of camp. As Sakura was putting the last thing into the pile, Sasuke went to their food bag and pulled out a couple of energy bars and water bottles. He tossed Sakura one of each, receiving a small thank you for his troubles.
They quickly finished eating, packing up the garbage. No words were placed between them, as Sasuke motioned to leave. He tried to pick up one of the bags with his right arm. Sasuke instantly grabbed his upper arm. His small grunt of pain brought the attention of the girl near him.
"What's wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?" Concerned eyes focussed on the teens face, moving to his arm. Sakura motioned to bring up the sleeve on his shirt, but was stopped by his own hand.
"Nothing to worry about. I've already taken care of it. It'll heal." He turned hard eyes at her, then continued to pick up the things he needed, and he walked off, signalling the end of the conversation.
Sakura picked up her the bag he had left behind. Instantly following him, she wondered where he was leading her. The path Sasuke had taken was uncut, so it was difficult to navigate around for the teen. 'I swear that he's doing this on purpose. What a jerk. What happened to the guy that came out last night. If I didn't know any better I would say that I had dreamed up the whole thing, 'cause there isn't even a trace of how he acted last night. He's back to being the pompous asshole. Were the hell are we going anyways? Urg. Everything looks the same.' Her thought process stopped when she hit something hard and warm. Snapping out of her daze, she glanced about fifty yards ahead of her. Before her was the van she had lived in for the past four days. Her eyes widened. The reality that she could have died in the crash, sinking in. The van was basically demolished.
"Stay here." It came out a little harsher then Sasuke had meant, but it served its purpose. He jogged to the van, going to the back. Soon he had disappeared inside, only to resurface a few minutes later.
Sakura knew he was coming back fast. The distance seeming minute, as he came closer and closer every second. He reached her quickly, closing in on her. Switching coarse at the last moment. Instead of running into her, he grabbed her hand and yanked her along slightly behind him. Still running, the pace almost too fast for Sakura, Sasuke lead her through a winding path of trees.
By this time, Sakura was frightened speechless. Thoughts kept racing through he mind: Did he spot a gang member? Was there something dangerous there? Were they being chased?
An explosion erupted behind her. The noise made her jump in her run. Sakura's head instantly turned towards it. She lost her footing on her next step. Lurching forward she collided with the unforgiving ground.
Sasuke let go of her hand, as he felt the sudden tug. He slowed to a stop as fast as he could. Turning around, he spotted Sakura cringing from the sudden pain of the impact. The pain fleetingly passing as the shock of the fall passed. The offering of help up, soon brought Sakura to her feet.
Sasuke made the move to turn, no doubt to start running again, but the tightened grip on his arm kept him in place.
"What happened back there?" The voice came through clenched teeth emphasizing her frustration.
Sasuke briefly sighed, "I blew up the van because we need to cover our escape. By the time they put the fire out, we will be long gone from here. The longer it takes for the gang to figure out we are alive, the longer it will take for them to find us. We can possibly avoid anymore violence if it takes long enough. We should go. If we want to make it to the city by night, we'll have to hurry." He started walking away, this time Sakura hadn't stopped him. Instead she followed, matching his fast pace, right beside him.
"How do you expect to get back to California? It took us four days to get this far, and we were driving almost non stop."
"We still have some money, so we'll have to see how far that will take us. But I don't expect it to. Once we get through tonight, I don't think we'll have any more then will be enough to get us to the next state. After that, we'll have to hitch hike, walk, and do what ever we need to get back in time."
"In time for what?"
"For the rebellion." He hadn't planned on answering her anymore then that, but he could feel her eyes drilling holes into his head. So, he continued. "For years now, there has been people from the gang forming a rebellion group. They have been waiting for the right moment to over throw Itachi. This is the right time. Once I get word to them we'll set the day for when we were supposed to get back. Meaning we'll have to get back to California before ten days are up."
"Ten days!? We'll never make it back in time, especially if we have to walk most of the way."
"Well we'll just have to find some other way won't we."
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Itachi's Office
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"Enter."
Three men entered the dark office. Itachi was seated at his desk, in the middle of the room. He closed the file he had in front of him.
"Congratulations on your last mission. Your next mission is a cover up." Itachi paused looking up and down the three. He threw down a file on the table in front of him. The man in the middle picked it up and opened the file for all three to see. " I expect the targets have been dealt with. The expertise on the mission was one of the highest, but knowing Sasuke , a cover up mission will be necessary. All bases will have to be covered. All files are to be swept clean of any existing evidence that Sasuke Uchiha had lived. As for Sakura Haruno, damage control is in order. When she was taken, two friends were with her at the time. One was Ino Yamanaka and the other Tenten-"
Beep. Karin is on line one Ssir.
"The rest of your mission is in the folder. Leave the folder with Orochimaru before you leave. Now you are dismissed." Itachi watched the three men leave, making sure they were all the way out, before he pressed Line one and Speaker on the phone.
"Hello."
"What did you do to my Sasuke? I'm watching the news right now, and one of our vehicles exploded. It's was Sasuke's van. If you did anything to him, I swear that you will not live to regret it."
Itachi frowned. He had told the people to keep it as low profile as possible. Getting a story on the news does not count as low profile. Itachi was already planning the punishment they would receive.
"Itachi, are you listening to me? What did you do to my Sasuke?"
"Sasuke failed his mission. You know the consequence of doing such."
"What!? You have to be kidding me. Sasuke would never fail a mission. It was because of that whore wasn't it. I knew she was nothing but trouble. Well, I guess it couldn't have been helped. At least that slut won't be any more trouble. So, did you want me to pick him up? What hospital is he in this time?"
"Karin, Sasuke was on an A rank mission."
"Yeah so? Wait. What? Since when is kidnapping a common girl, an A rank mission?… Wait a minute… Failing an A rank mission means… Sasuke's dead. Itachi you heartless bastard. How could you ? You killed my Sasuke… No, I refuse to believe it. He had to have gotten away. You couldn't have killed him. He's too good. He's way better then any of the goons you could have sent after him. He's not dead. Mark my words Itachi. When I'm done my mission, I'm going to go find him no matter what you have to say about it." In her furry she slammed the phone, hanging up instantly. Itachi shook his head. He pushed the speaker phone off, and hung up the phone.
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With the Three Men
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The three men exited the office. Closing the door behind the last one. A dog waiting at the side, promptly lifted up his head. The dog rose from its laying position and quickly followed behind its owner. All four of them made their way down the hall on the left. After five doors, they opened the sixth and went inside.
The walls and floor were all white. The black conference table was situated in the exact center of the room, with black swivel chairs all around. They took seats at the head of the table. The one throwing the folder on top of the table, then he opened it. All of them read the opening page silently.
'Case File: 52535
Mission Rank: A
Mission Type: Cover Up, Assassination, and Information Gathering
Agents Assigned: Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuuga, and Shikamaru Nara.
Prior Information: This past Sunday, Sasuke Uchiha was given a mission to bring the hostage, Sakura Haruno, to Egypt. In the failing of the mission, Sasuke was assassinated, along with Miss. Haruno.
Though together on this mission, each person has separate and equally important roles. In the case of even one failure, all will reap the consequences.'
They all took their respective folders. Reading them separately at first and then reading each others.
'Shikamaru Nara
Target: Ino Yamanaka
Ino had been a witness to the kidnapping of Sakura Haruno. She needs to be terminated. Her assassination must look like an accident. Her picture and personal information is located below.
Additionally, Sasuke Uchiha must be cleared from all existence. All records deleted, even in the gang system.'
'Neji Hyuuga
Target: Tenten Mashio
Tenten had been a witness to the kidnapping of Sakura Haruno. She needs to be terminated. Her assassination must look like an accident. Her picture and personal information is located below.'
'Kiba Inuzuka
Watch over Sakura Haruno's parents until their date of extermination. All strange activity is to be reported immediately. A complete house search is to be done. Find all information that could be of any use to the gang.'
Once they had completed the briefing on all their parts of the mission, they silently put all the papers back into the folder. Picking up the folder, Neji led the way out of the small room. The group found their way through the maze of the halls, until they got to the entrance. Not saying a word to Orochimaru, who was sitting at the front desk. Neji practically threw the folder on the desk and they all quickly left.
They were all hit with an immediate but brief blindness from the mid day sun. When that had passed, they went to their stall. The red convertible sitting there, waiting for the passengers. Hopping inside, Neji was in the driver's seat with Kiba and Akamaru beside him, and Shikamaru was in the back. As soon as Everyone was in, Neji started up the vehicle and drove them out of the garage. They had been on the road for five minutes, before even a word had been said.
"Shikamaru, do it."
"Already started." Shikamaru had open his briefcase. Working with multiple gadgets, he scanned the vehicle and everything inside. Next the genius opened his laptop. Connecting to a satellite, Shikamaru pulled up a program depicting the location of all the agents in the vicinity. "Were clear."
Once Kiba was free to talk, he blurted out, "Man, I know you two don't show much emotion, but damn, they want you to kill your girlfriends. If they had told me that I had to kill my girlfriend. I would have freaked."
"And you would have blown our whole cover." Kiba glared at the Hyuuga. Though it quickly faded, when he figured that he probably would have blown their whole secret.
"At least we know why our girls have been so weird these past few days." Shikamaru was in the process of packing up all of the gadgets and his laptop.
"And why Sakura had gone on that trip so suddenly. Ah shit. I can't believe Sakura got messed up in all of this. What exactly is it that her parents did, that Itachi would kill her as well. And getting rid of Sasuke, something tells me that he didn't just fail the mission. This had all to be a set up, but why would Itachi want to, no need to kill Sasuke?"
"The real question is, why would Itachi need the Harunos and Sasuke dead? Since Sakura was with Sasuke and he wants all the Harunos dead, there has to be a connection there."
"Kiba you're going to have to find out what you can when your at the Haruno's house."
"Right"
They had reached their destination. The shopping mall. They all got out of the convertible. Walking without words they entered and found the closest washroom there. Entering the washroom, they took separate stalls. All three closed but didn't lock the stall doors. Simultaneously they knocked on the wall five times. The wall opened up. A red light going up and down the four of them. They all flushed the toilet in their stall, covering up the sound of the wall opening up. They flushed once more, when they had to climb through the opening that held enough room to crawl through. They all entered into one chamber. This chamber was white and empty except it held a microphone in the middle.
'State your name.'
"Neji Hyuuga"
"Kiba Inuzuka"
"Shikamaru Nara"
'Voice recognition accepted. You may enter.'
The wall in front of the three swiftly opened to a room full of computers, people, and huge televisions. No one even so much as batted an eyelash at their entrance. The four walked in between all of the action, straight towards a highly decorated door.
The door automatically opened as they approached and did the opposite after they had gone through.
"Welcome back. Now what have you got to tell us about Itachi's latest plans."
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Terre Haute
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When Sakura had finally stepped into the city, she had taken a big sign of relief. It was as if the city was her ticket to finally getting her life back to normal. She could get some actual human socializing as well. For the past four days she had been with a man who didn't seem to enjoy conversing with her, or anyone. Sasuke seemed to know exactly where to go. He went straight to, what she presumed to be, the closest discount store.
It hadn't looked as bad as Sakura thought it would. Being from a rich family, Sakura had never been inside a discount store. It hadn't even crossed her mind before. Not to say that she always buys the most popular brand name clothing, but she's just never had to go to a discount store to buy anything because she's always had the money to spend.
They stopped about ten meters away from the entrance. Sasuke took out an envelope and pulled out one hundred dollars from inside. He gave the money to Sakura.
"Thirty dollars for food that we can take on the road with us. Whatever it is, make sure that we don't have to cook it or anything. You also have sixty dollars for anything that you need. Don't buy any clothes right now, although you should buy a set of pyjamas. When your finished go buy everything and if I'm not done, then sit over buy those benches." He pointed to a set of benches that sat right by the exiting doors. After he did so, he disappeared within an isle, leaving Sakura there alone.
She started walking, trying to figure out what she should get. Sakura found it surprisingly easy to do. Limiting herself to staying with in budget. Something she has never has to do before. 'Okay not something that I would have ever thought I would say, but maybe being kidnapped has been a good thing for me… Well if you take away the whole Karin thing, and being shot at, and almost dieing in a car crash, and having people after us to kill us. But hey at least now I can say I've been out of California, have shopped in a discount store, and have even had to budget myself to only a hundred dollars. Something that just five days ago I wouldn't have thought possible.' She had gotten all the food she could for thirty dollars, and most of the personal items. All she needed was a set of pyjamas, and she would be finished.
She made her way to the men's section in the clothes rack. Picking out a pair of shorts and a plain t-shirt. Deeming herself done she went to the front of the store, to the cash. She found the one with the shortest line up, only one person in front of her. She put down everything she could on the counter. Holding anything else that didn't fit. Soon she was up to go through. They did the basic, Hello, how are you?, I'm good, How are you?, Good, bit that basically every cashier and customer starts. The total bill came to 94.67. When she was finished she walked to the front doors, looking to see if she could spot Sasuke anywhere. She found him sitting at the benches.
Once he spotted her though, he stood. Waiting for her to come close enough, Sasuke motioned for them to leave. He didn't say one word to her, not until they had arrived at a small motel.
"We have to make sure that we don't leave a lasting impression on anyone there. Don't say more then you have to. We don't want anyone to remember us enough that if someone from the gang asked, they couldn't tell them that they knew we were there or not. Were going to give the name under Sam Franse. You will be Jamie Franse. Were from Canada. Make sure you don't forget that or it could mean trouble later on."
They were inside now. The interior looked more like the entry way of a bed and breakfast then a motel. Nothing too fancy, but enough so, that you could guaranty that you wouldn't fine any bugs in your bed. The girl at the front desk was young and obviously did not care too much about actually working for her money. She was listening to music, and reading a magazine. She stopped only when the two had approached the desk.
The checking in went fast and easy. They had gotten a two single bed room for fifty dollars. The room had been easy enough to find as well. Only being a two story tall motel, the rooms had been simply organized. They got inside the room and unpacked what they needed too. Sakura was in heaven. Finally being able to take a shower, and get all the dirt and grim off of her. She felt like a million dollars when she got out. She had even been able to put on something clean to wear.
Walking out of the bathroom, with a towel covering her head, she told Sasuke he could have his shower now. In which he quickly got passed her and closed the door before she had even a chance to see him.
Sakura sat down on her bed for the night. Combing through all the tangles in her hair that had gathered from the past four days. Even with conditioner it had taken a while. Enough time had passed that by the time she had finished, she heard the shower turn off. She started to read a newspaper that was provided in the room.
"What do you think blonde or brunet?"
"What?" Sakura looked up from the paper. "Whoa! What did you do? Why did you dye your hair?"
"We need a disguise, so that we won't be so easy to recognize. So what do you want to be a blonde or a brunet?" Sakura just gave him a scrunched look. Like she was confused with the whole concept. "Brunet it is." A now dark blonde Sasuke tossed her a small bag.
Sakura opened the small bag finding a wig. "Isn't this a bit short?"
"No."
"Yeah, it is."
"Not if your being a guy for the next little while."
That had been the last thing Sakura had expected. "What? Why do I have to be a guy?"
"It will be easier to recognize us if we are looking like a guy and a girl, but if we look like two guys, it will be harder. No one will be expecting it."
"But-"
"Do you want to be caught?" He waited for her to shake her head. "This is the best way for you not to be caught."
Sakura couldn't argue with him. Dressing like a guy was definitely the last thing she would have expected him to come up with. She watched him go to a couple of bags, and he tossed some at her.
"Some clothes for you. They should fit you. If not, you'll just have a baggier look to you."
Sakura laid down in her bed. It was a lot of information to process. Now to top everything off, she has to be a guy until she gets back home. She has about nine more days to go through. This was only the end of the fourth day, what else could happen?
She looked over to the man pulling back the covers in the bed next to her. Again he had gone silent. Sakura laid her head back on the pillow. "Sasuke?"
"Hn."
'So he's back to grunting, typical.' Sakura turned over, laying her head on her hand. "Was anything you told me true? You know. The things you told me that first day."
Sasuke didn't answer. He just leaned over to the light, shutting it off. Sakura Took this as his ending of the conversation. She just rolled her eyes, and laid back down. Sakura closed her eyes, trying to drift off to sleep.
"Yes."
Her eyes opened to pitch black. A smile drifting onto her face. "So, you still planning on going back?"
Sasuke caught her attempt at a joke. "No. At least not for the same reasons."
"What are you going to do when you get back?"
"I'll have to disappear. The whole gang will be sent after me, after you. But at least we can get the rebellion to protect you. The rebellion can only protect one person sufficiently, and that person will be you."
"Can't something be done so that you don't have to leave?"
Sasuke's eyes were slowly drifting shut. His voice was growing more and more weary by the minute. "No, not unless the rebellion suddenly gets four times the amount of people there is now."
"How do you know so much about the rebellion?"
"I'm part of the rebellion. Before you say it, people in the rebellion either fake their deaths, or continue to be part of the gang, but as double agents."
Sakura paused. She was unsure of whether she should ask this next question or not. So far Sasuke had been compliant, and he was saying more to her then he had in a while. She wasn't sure if he would go back to saying practically nothing to her, or not. Taking a deep breath, she decided she should go for it. "Sasuke, you know the offer stands for my dad to help you find out who killed your parents." She waited for any type of a response. After a few moments, she didn't even hear a sound from him. "Sasuke? Sorry I shouldn't have said anything." She still didn't hear anything. "Are you awake?" Nothing.
Sakura shook her head. Rolling her eyes, Sakura relaxed. Closing her eyes, she slowly drifted off into dreamland.
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