Hey people. I know I disappeared and said this chapter would be up on Thursday, but I found some time toady and so I decided to post early. I know everyone has been wanting a new chappi, but my life went a little haywire. I try to update all of my other stories as well.
Thanks for not leaving the site.
PCB
"Iruka," Phin called back, "You're part of the family now. So don't get killed."
He smiled and they all walked back to the village for some ramen. Unfortunately for Iruka, Phin could eat more ramen than Naruto. Imari helped with the bill.
"C'mon you three," they all looked at Phin. "We need to get to the academy."
They nodded and followed.
"Um.."
"What is it Iruka?" Imari asked.
"Shouldn't you two change?"
They pulled a handsign and their ANBU uniforms changed into their normal Kunoichi clothes.
"I'm going on ahead," Seraphin said and jumped onto a roof.
"You wanna see your boyfriend so soon?!" Imari called. A kunai flew back a her which she deftly blocked. "Come on Naru-chan! Let's go!"
They ran off from Iruka, leaving him chuckling.
"Good for you Naruto."
In the classroom, Phin was already sitting with Sasuke drawing. He kept trying to get peeks at her sketch, but she kept blocking, Imari sat beside Hinata, who was wearing her new and more flattering clothes, and Naruto went to sit beside Seraphin.
Then Sakura and Ino ran in, pronounced themselves the winners, and ran to Sasuke. Of course shoving Naruto to the ground. They squealed and told Phin to move but she just ignored them. Imari snickered and Phin shot her a resentful glare. Naruto got on the desk and began the glaring contest with Sasuke.
The guy in front of Naruto and knocked him forward. The crowd gasped in stunned silence.
Imari was full out laughing now. Hinata was even chuckling. Phin's hand had blocked them from kissing, and she was still drawing with an air of boredom.
"Naruto, I know it was an accident, but don't kiss my boyfriend," he pulled back and wiped his mouth.
"Sorry Phin-nee."
The fan girls started to go wild and attack Naruto. Imari had to go help him and dragged Hinata along since Phin was otherwise engaged.
Sasuke had smirked and grabbed Phin's arm, pulling her over, and planting his lips on hers. He pushed harder and finally pulled away. The fan girls didn't even notice.
"You taste way better than the dope would."
"Hn."
Her sketch book had fallen to the ground, and Sakura picked it up.
"Hey!" she shrieked, holding it to the front page where Phin had drawn Naruto holding a scroll and and kunai in a fighting stance. "This drawing is amazing!"
They flipped through each of the pages with the Rookie Nine drawings she did. Sakura and Ino oo'd and ah'd at the pictures of the others. They saw the picture of Imari that Jena had drawn of her walking on a cliff with lightning cracking around her. She was looking devious over her right shoulder.
Next was Sasuke. He had his hands in his pockets and was standing on a tree staring at a hawk. The fan girls squealed and turned the page. There was a self portrait of Phin sitting on a bare and blackened tree. One arm was rested on her knee closest to the tree trunk at her right. The other leg was hanging down with the other arm resting on her right. Her hair was in a ponytail and she was hiding half her face in her arms. Her eyes were brooding and starring off into the impenetrable black. The sun was rising behind her but she didn't look at it.
The next was of Imari and a black haired man whose face you couldn't see dancing. The light was low and you could see at their feet were flower petals. Imari's face was laughing in joy. Her white dress all the way to the floor. You could see shadows of people in the background, but otherwise it was just them.
Another page turn showed one of Hinata and Naruto at Ichiraku just having fun.
The next was the upper shoulders and head of Phin and Sasuke. Sasuke was starring up into the black where purple light was just beginning to break through, and Phin was looking solemn faced straight ahead. They were back to back.
"Give me my sketchbook before I kill you," Phin growled.
Everyone started shouting about how good she was and if she would draw something for them. She snatched back her book and sat, "I'll think about it."
Iruka walked in and made the pestering fan girls sit down.
He started reading off the teams but Phin didn't care until he got to Hinata's, "Team 6, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuuka Kiba, and since we have an uneven number of people this year, Hatake Imari."
Phin shot her a glance that told her to take care of herself and Hinata. Imari nodded.
"Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke" usual yes's and no's, "and again because the uneven number of passing students, Hatake Seraphin. Oh, and Phin-chan you have a message from your Shishou."
She walked up and grabbed the note.
'Keep them in line and don't give your father to much trouble. Also, get me some grand babies from that Uchiha boy.
Shishou'
She crumpled the note and walked back to her seat muttering about interfering old men.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted and pointed at Sasuke, "Why does a great ninja like me have to be with this loser?!"
"Because Naruto, beside Imari and Seraphin, Sasuke got the best scores, you however got the worst."
The class snickered and they were dismissed for lunch.
Imari and Seraphin went to the top of Hokage mountain. They stood together.
"We're not on the same team," Imari started.
"It's only to make sure we don't cause trouble. Plus you'll be able to protect Hina-chan, and I'll take care of Naruto."
"And Sasuke."
"Of course."
"Are you getting real feelings for him?" Imari would know the truth no matter what she said.
"No. I need to focus on saving this place, and you need to get Itachi back."
The both fell silent and stared over the village. The weight of exactly what they were trying to do was being realized. Both were wondering if they could save all these people.
"We still haven't opened the scroll from Shishou."
"We'll do it tonight."
Imari nodded and they started back to the Academy.
They walked in late, and Imari poofed to where her team was. Phin sat down to wait for Kakashi.
Naruto set the eraser up and Sakura yelled at him. Phin poofed and attached herself to the ceiling. Sasuke looked around for her but couldn't feel her chakra as Kakashi walked in and the eraser fell on his head.
"My first impression is I hate you all," the three genin got irritated. But the ANBU above Kakashi dropped on his shoulders.
"You hate me Old man?" Kakashi grabbed her knees to steady her.
"Oh. Hello Seraphin. I didn't know you were on this team as well. Okay, I hate you all but her," he pointed up. "And I'm not that old Seraphin."
"Wait! Why do you not hate her?!" Sakura yelled.
"A man can't hate his own kid."
"You'd be surprised," Phin muttered and Kakashi pinched her knee. She planted her heel in his chest.
"How are you her father? You look nothing alike," Sasuke asked. Naruto already knew. "Plus she and her sister didn't show up until this year."
"I adopted them."
"Did the papers go through?" Phin asked.
"Yeah. You're officially a Hatake."
"Cool. Is it my turn for dinner?"
"Yeah, and please make that noodle dish you did last time!" Kakashi smiled up at the girl on his shoulders. Kakashi loved her spaghetti,
"Sure. Meet us on the roof," they poofed away and the other two turned to Naruto.
"Did you know all that?" Sasuke asked.
"Of course. I didn't think it would be the same man though," Naruto rubbed the back of his head and walked out the door.
When they got to the roof they were confronted with Kakashi throwing kunai at Phin.
"Give it back you little Squirt!" she stuck out her tongue.
"Iyada!"
More kunai flying as Seraphin hopped around the roof.
"I'll tell your sister!"
"She won't do shit!"
Sasuke flashed out and grabbed Phin around the waist, pulling her face into his chest and blocking the kunai with one of his own.
"Don't touch her," he glared.
Sakura fumed as Naruto snickered.
"Well, well, well." Kakashi straightened. "It looks like Seraphin has a protector. When are you going to bring me some Grand babies Phin?"
"Old man!" she yelled. The other three blushed. "Do you want me to stop cooking for you?"
"No, no, of course not."
"Take your goddamn book and shut it!" she threw the book at him, then jumped over to the top of the door and sat.
"Now why don't you introduce yourselves."
"Like what Sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Your name, likes, dislikes, your dreams, your goals stuff like that."
"You go first Sensei! Show us how it's done!" who said that was obvious.
"Oh all right. I'm Hatake Kakashi, I don't like that much."
"He likes Icha Icha, my spaghetti and Nee-chan's Cheese Broccoli." He shot her a glare.
"I don't dislike much."
"He dislikes stupid people," another glare.
"I don't really have a goal. And my dreams I don't feel like telling you."
"His goal is to have the biggest smut collection and worship Jaraiya. His dreams are about a naked Anko," a glare and a growl. Naruto chuckled as Sasuke smirked, and even Sakura laughed.
"You, Pinky."
"I'm Haruno Sakura. I like...um," fidgets.
"Sasuke," Phin helpfully supplied.
"My dreams are...um," more fidgeting.
"Marrying Sasuke."
"My goal is...eto," lots more fidgeting.
"Having many Uchiha babies," this time Sasuke shot her a glare.
"I dislike Naruto!" a kunai flew in between her feet and this time Phin was glaring. Sakura was looking at the weapon in between her feet with a scared expression.
"Your turn Blondie."
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and training but I don't like the three minutes it take to cook it and Sasuke, My goal is to beat the Teme and become the greatest Hokage, and always protect my sisters."
They looked to Phin to see what she'd say but she shrugged and said, "Self-explanatory."
"Okay, now the Emo one."
Only Phin snickered cause she was the only one who knew what he meant.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't like much."
"Tomatoes."
"I dislike even more."
"Me at the moment and fan girls like Sakura."
"Hey!" pinky yelled but was ignored.
"And I don't have a dream but an ambition that I will make reality."
They looked to a silent Phin.
"Yeah I know what he's talking about but some things shouldn't be touched."
"Your turn Phin," Kakashi said.
"My name is Hatake Seraphin and my father can go to hell."
She poofed out of there, leaving a smiling Kakashi.
"She loves me so much," the other three sweat dropped. He told them about the mission and came home to the smell of spaghetti.
The next day Kakashi was late, but so was Phin.
"Argg! Where the hell is he?!"
Sasuke was silent and Sakura was starring at him.
Poof!
There was Kakashi.
"Yo!'
"YOU'RE LATE!!!"
"An old lady was crossing the road and needed help."
"LIAR!!!"
"Where's Seraphin?" Sasuke asked.
"I'm surprised you three didn't notice. She's been sleeping up in that tree since before you got here," he pointed to a tree just to the right of the bridge and there was Seraphin sleeping against the trunk about fifty feet up. All of the Genin wondered how they knew she had been there all morning.
"I'll wake her up!" Naruto volunteered.
"Bad idea Naruto," Kakashi said.
"What? Why?"
"Cause she's violent when she wakes up," that wasn't the only reason he wanted to let her sleep. "Only Imari can get her up."
Poof!
"Hey Otou-san!" Imari smiled.
"Hello Imari. Can you please wake your sister up?"
"Sure!' Imari walked to the underside of the tree. "Phin! Kurtis is here!"
Phin's eyes shot open and she shot up higher into the tree. She sat on the highest branch and looked around. She saw Imari laughing on the ground and hissed at her. She threw a shuriken toward Imari, but the evil manipulator rolled out of the way.
"Get out of here! Don't you have something to do?!"
"'Bout time sleepy head!"
"GET GONE!!!"
Imari poofed away. Phin joined the others on the ground.
"Who's Kur-tis?" Naruto asked drawing out the name.
"Nobody."
Sasuke shot her a suspicious look.
"Ooh! Is he an old boyfriend?" do I really have to say which peppy voice that was?
"No."
"Friend?"
"Sort of."
"Cruuuuush?"
"Will you fucking drop it!" Phin snapped and gave Sakura a glare so cold she hid behind Naruto.
"Now, now, Phin. She can't help her curiosity."
"That's right!"
"But she does need to learn when to leave well enough alone. She's not as mature as you."
"Hey!"
"Now, we need to get on with this mission." He surveyed their faces. "If you fail this test you won't be ninjas."
"You mean we'll be sent back to the academy?"
"No. If you loose, you'll be hopeless and won't ever be allowed to become ninjas," the genins gasped. Then Phin began talking.
"Out of all the graduates this year only eleven will pass. It would be nine but Imari and I are here."
"What you have to do is get these three bells from me. If you get them you won't be sent into obscurity. And you get lunch. The other will be tied to the tree."
"Hey! That's why you told us not to eat!" Naruto yelled.
"Yes."
"But wait Sensei! There's only three bells!'
"Yes."
"Then one of us will be tied to the tree!"
"Shut up Pinky. It's a test and you'll figure it out later."
"Now if you want to win you have to come at me to kill," the genin stiffened and he noticed Phin's smirk. "Except you Seraphin," she gave out a 'Tch'.
"Why not her?" Sasuke asked.
"Ah. Cause she actually will kill me."
"What?! She can't be that strong!" Sakura shouted.
"Sakura," Kakashi said shaking his head, "you have no idea how strong she and Imari are."
Sasuke turned to look at Phin. 'Just how strong are they?' he thought.
"Now, you have until noon."
Naruto charged and was pinned.
"I didn't say start, but you came at me to kill. Maybe, just maybe I'm starting to like you a little more." he held the pissed Naruto. "Start!"
The Genin disappeared. Phin just stayed where she was.
"Aren't you going to go hide?"
"I'm waiting for someone." Naruto burst out of the trees. "And there he is."
She flashed to his side and pulled him out of there. Phin reappeared on a branch three miles away. "Listen Naru-chan," he stopped whining. "This is a test of team work, and we have to work with everyone," she held up a hand when he opened his mouth, "yes even Sasuke."
"So what do we do?"
"You charge in with as many Shadow clones as you can when I give the signal. Sasuke and Sakura will be disguised as you and plant some traps around him. When he's done with your shadow clones, as you personally won't be there, you'll burst up from the ground and aim a punch for his chin. He'll dodge back and I'll take him out and get the bells."
"Good plan!"
"I'll find the others and tell them. Don't charge in until my flash bomb goes off."
"Gotcha!" she slapped a hand over his mouth.
"For the sake of the Goddess, keep your trap shut and get into position!" she hissed and flashed to Sakura. The pink haired wonder was laying on the ground. Phin snapped her out of it. "Haruno, we have a plan to get the bells. You're working with Sasuke."
She was immediately on board. Phin detailed the plan and made sure the two were in position. She then went to Sasuke who was stuck in the ground.
"Well, this is a welcome surprise."
"Just get me out."
"Listen first," she explained.
"No way."
"Suck up your Uchiha pride for one minute. You want to win, you want to get to your brother? Then shut up and do as I say."
He reluctantly nodded. She stood up and knocked her heel into the ground. He popped up like a weed.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"Control."
Phin made sure everyone was in position and threw the flash bomb. This was definitely the real Kakashi. Thousands of Naruto's plus two swarmed in. Sasuke and Sakura ran around setting traps. Kakashi was soon enough done with the clones. The real naruto jumped out and as Phin predicted, he wasn't hit but jumped back. She launched in with kunais and quickly wrapped one of her Kasuri-gama's around his leg while he was off balance. The tip lodged itself in his thigh and she pulled, lodging it deeper.
She threw the other one so the chain would wrap around his neck but wouldn't hurt him. Using her super strength that she had worked on since she got here, she slammed him into the ground. Kakashi went poof and he reappeared in the trees.
"Good try kids, but you didn't get the bells."
"Didn't we?" Phin asked. He looked at his side where the bells lay.
"I still have them."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Positive?"
"Yes."
"Absolutely positive?"
"Get to the point Seraphin."
She smirked and snapped her fingers. The bells at Kakashi's side disappeared in a poof. "I'll ask again, are you sure?" she brought the bells out of her pocket and tossed them up and down.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"When did you get those?" Sakura asked.
"I had chakra strings attached to my Kasuri-gama and moved them to the bells while simultaneously pulling them away and creating a genjutsu."
"The entire thing was a diversion," Sasuke smirked.
"Pretty much."
"Then why didn't you tell us everything Nee-chan?"
"Because Naruto, you three can't hide your thoughts well enough. Sasuke is pretty good about it, but Kakashi is Ex-ANBU."
"Is that how you got so strong?" Sasuke asked. "He trained you?"
"I've never trained her or her sister. We've sparred, but I've never trained them. They had a very special Shishou."
"Speaking of which, I have a bone to pick with him."
"Phin, would you mind?" Kakashi gestured to his cut up thigh.
"Sure," she walked over and green chakra enveloped her hand. She healed him rapidly and it was gone without a scar.
"Medical nin-jutsu!" Sakura gasped.
"You're so cool Phin-nee!"
"How did you learn it?"
"The same way you learned to walk, practice."
"Now what was the point of this test Phin?" Kakashi asked.
"Teamwork. You deliberately pitted us against each other. It took some effective maneuvering to get them to work together. You've never passed anyone before. Plus when someone was tied to the poles the others just went on eating when you told them not to feed their tied up teammate, they listened and let their friend get weaker." She finished with Kakashi's leg and turned to the others. She deliberately gazed at Sasuke, "those who break the rules are trash, but those who leave their friends are worse than trash. So try to look beneath the underneath would you?"
She turned and walked away.
"You all passed," Kakashi announced. "Lets go for ramen to celebrate."
"Phin-nee is so cool," Naruto muttered then yelled, "Hey! Wait for me!" when he saw that the others were leaving without him.
A few weeks later after a weed debacle and a mishap with dogs that Phin remedied with a simple whistle, Kakashi, Naruto Sakura and Sasuke were chasing a cat. Seraphin was sleeping in a tree.
"Point A in position."
"Point B in position."
"Point C in position Believe it!"
"Naruto try not to say believe it after every sentence. Has the target been sighted?"
"Hai!" was the unanimous response.
"Move in."
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura surrounded the cat, and when the Blond snagged the disgruntled feline, he was scratched to hell. Sasuke grabbed the cat from him as he rolled on the ground.
"Hn. Dobe." the cat sunk it's teeth into his hand. He helped the kitty fly.
"Hahaha! Teme you got pwned by a cat!" Sakura slammed Naruto in the head and glared daggers at the cat. Seraphin dropped down from her tree.
"Will you dipsticks keep it down? I'm trying to sleep," Kakashi walked into the clearing.
"Nice of you to join us Seraphin. Would you mind getting the cat?"
"Hn," she walked over to where the cat was hiding in a bush and unwrapped a small fish from a bag in her pocket. "I was going to save this fish for lunch since Nee-chan cooked it special, but you look like you need it more than me."
Tora-chan walked tentatively out and sniffed Seraphin, then the fish. The kitty got up enough courage and snacked on the treat. "There's a girl," she stroked the kittens head calmly. When the cat had finished, it licked Phin's fingers clean and rubbed against her leg. The hard-hearted ANBU gently picked the little thing up and softened a little when Tora started purring. The happy cat crawled onto her shoulders and settled down.
"How did you do that Phin-nee?!" Naruto was waving his arms around.
"Understanding your target helps," she walked over and rubbed a glowing green hand over his face.
She finished and Naruto rubbed the back of his neck chuckling. "Thanks Nee-chan." The cat happily sleeping on Phin's shoulders hissed and bit Naruto when he tried to pet it. "DEMON CAT! DEMON CAT!"
Phin bopped him on the head just enough to get the message through and healed his hand. She then walked over the Sasuke. Sakura had been surprisingly silent.
"Let me see."
"Hn."
"Now."
"Hn."
"Tora-chan?" the cat woke up and stood with it's fur raised; growling at the boy. Sasuke reluctantly held out his hand.
"Seraphin?" Sakura was holding a hand to her mouth with a thinking look in her eyes.
"Yes Pinky?"
"What happens if you don't understand the target?"
"Then hopefully you have enough information on the general surroundings to get the mission done."
"And if you don't?"
Phin turned sober eyes on the young kunoichi, "then most times you die."
"Most times?" Naruto asked.
"The other times you are either severely lucky to get away or you're tortured in the most harmful and painful ways for information. Experienced practitioners of torture arts can keep their hostages alive for days. The best don't even have to touch you, but they destroy your mind."
The clearing had gone silent.
"Well lets get this kitty back to it's owner." Kakashi said.
When Team 7 had finally settled down in the Hokages office, a flamboyant and fat woman came rushing in. She tossed the money to the Hokage and snatched Tora from Phin's shoulders. Seraphin ignored the sting of the scratches the cat had left. The irritating woman was rubbing on the cat while it let out distressed yowls and gave pleading eyes to the young ANBU.
Naruto snickered and talked about the cat getting what it deserved along with Sakura. Phin growled at them and they dutifully shut up.
"Toriyama-san," Phin started and the woman stopped in her blubbering over the cat to blubber her thanks to Phin. "You seem like a very esteemed woman. Great taste in almost everything I can see and very kind hearted."
"Why thank you my dear. You're such a lovely young woman," the rest of the Shinobi were wondering where the hell she was going with this. Tears started to leak out of Phin's eyes, and the the jaws of everyone but the rich woman fell open. "oh my dear, whats the matter?" Phin buried her eyes in her hands and sobbed.
"I-I'm sorry for being so rude," she sniffed, "but I was hoping that a fellow animal lover like yourself might be able to help me," she hiccuped in between a couple of words.
"Help you with what child?" Phin lifted her face. It was glittering with tears and she had made her eyes big and innocent. She was scaring the hell out of the other Nins.
"Up in the mountains near the Tea Village animals are being slaughtered for nothing more than sport! I would help them myself but I simply can't leave my village. And I thought if someone as gentle and kind as you could help the animals would have a chance, but I'm afraid Tora-chan would be terribly unhappy with the weather in Tea Country. I shouldn't have asked," Phin whirled her back to the woman and balled harder.
The woman laid her hands on Phin's shoulders. "Do not fear my Dear. I'll give Tora-chan to you, as no girl should be without a cat, and go help those animals," Phin turned back around and sniffled.
"Y-you will?" her voice became a little higher with hope.
The fat lady thumped her chest, "Leave it to me. I'll make everything all right."
"But if you do that I can't simply let you pay for the mission. It wouldn't be fair with you already doing so much," more tears leaked out.
"No, no, no, my dear. That is very gallant of you, but I have more than enough money to spare," she settled Tora in Phin's arms. "You can repay me by taking the best care of little Tora-chan."
Phin nodded eagerly and a bright smile lit her face; more jaws dropped. "I will, I will, Toriyama-san! Thank you so much!"
The fat lady patted Seraphin's head and sauntered out the door. Just before closing it she turned and said to the Hokage, "Don't let this beautiful girl get out of your sight Hokage-sama!"
"I won't Toriyama-san," the Hokage was smirking. Toriyama-san sashayed out the door.
Phin wiped her eyes and said in a bland voice, "Well that was easy," and stuck her tongue out with a victory sign.
Everyone fell.
"You were faking the whole time?!" Naruto yelled.
"Yep." More falls.
"Nice work Phin-chan," the Hokage chuckled.
"Thanks."
"Well Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," Kakashi started, "you just got a demonstration in misdirection, and manipulation. Both are necessary Shinobi traits."
"She just swindled that woman out of her cat and her money!" Sakura yelled. IS was raging about dirty underhanded girls.
"Not quite Sakura. There are animals being slaughtered in Tea Country, and if you had been paying attention, you would have seen Phin slip money into that womans purse," Sakura sat down and sulked at Sasuke's chastising.
"Hey Iruka," Phin called.
"Yes Phin-chan," she tossed Tora into Iruka's arms where the cat happily purred and gave him the cutest eyes it could muster.
"You just won a cat."
"Now hold on-"
"I think thats a splendid idea Seraphin. Say thank you Iruka." The Hokage left no room for argument.
"Thank you Phin-chan," he hung his head.
"Now, for your next mission," the Hokage went on but Sasuke was so intent on studying Phin that the words faded. The girl had an air about her that told of experience beyond her years. Imari had it too, but Phin's seemed to weigh heavier on her shoulders, like she couldn't get passed it. Or maybe Imari was just better at letting go or hiding it. The two only seemed at peace with the other. One thing was for sure, these two girls were not ordinary Genin.
Phin turned a look onto Sasuke and her eyes clearly read, for once, that he wasn't going to find out anything she didn't want him to. He was brought out of his mind by a slam of the door and a thick stench of Sake.
"This is Tazuna the Bridge Builder." Sarutobi announced. "You are to protect him until the bridge is finished."
"These little brats are supposed to protect me?! Especially the little one with the idiotic look on his face! You expect me to believe he's a ninja?"
"Heh heh, who's the little one with the idiotic look on his face?" Naruto asked and Sasuke with Sakura stood beside him. "I'll demolish you!"
Kakashi grabbed onto his shirt when he charged, "Naruto, we can't demolish the client."
Seraphin, who had been unnoticed, flashed in front of Naruto.
"Hoho! We have a little looker here!" Tazuna in his drunk state wobbled. "How old are you Sweetie? Ten, eleven? You're so cute," he grabbed her hand and rubbed. The men in the room fumed. Seraphin put a stop to it by pointing her Naginata at his throat.
Tazuna gulped, 'This girl isn't normal.'
"I promise that I'll protect you with my life, but don't touch me," she turned to her team. "Be at the gates by 7," she turned to Tazuna, "we leave then. No excuses." Phin calmly walked out of the room with Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura following. When the door closed a scared into sober Tazuna turned to the others.
"She's not a Genin."
"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.
"Her eyes are different."
"They all suffered at one time or another," the Hokage put in.
"Not like her. She's not a Genin."
"Maybe, maybe not. But she is my daughter," the fatherly warning was clear. Kakashi walked out with the same neutral expression on.
The next morning, Imari walked Naruto and Seraphin to the gates.
"I can't believe you two get to go out of the village without me!" she yelled. Naruto chuckled.
"Don't worry Imari-nee! You'll be able to come on a mission with us soon."
"Ne Naru-chan?" Imari started. "Can you go on ahead for a moment?"
Naruto nodded and ran ahead.
"What is it Nee-chan?"
"You stay safe," the real message passed between them. Kakashi was watching from a roof and they couldn't afford to be overheard.
"I will. Help Hina-chan work on more of her jutsu will ya?"
"Yeah. Make sure you don't forget any details. They might save your life one day."
They hugged and parted ways. The real conversation went like this.
"Keep them alive. We've changed things here so it might not go the same way."
"I know. We need to be prepared, as this mission will start everything moving. Train in solitude on your most advanced jutsu."
"I will. Don't forget what we're supposed to do. Don't get sidetracked on every little thing or we'll never succeed. Pay attention to Sasuke and make sure you don't set them off."
The hug was translated as if I don't come back I'll still be here.
Tazuna was late of course, as was Kakashi, but nothing dampened Naruto's mood about being out of the village for the first time. Seraphin was to busy watching her surroundings to pay much attention. They finally began walking along the trail, but sooner than expected, Seraphin noticed the puddle on the road. Kakashi and Seraphin were wrapped up in chains and torn apart.
Naruto's body froze at the sight of his sister being torn to shreds. His new family gone. Then the Chunins attacked. Sakura guarded Tazuna and Sasuke sprung into battle against the enemy nin. He took out one then the other ran towards the Bridge Builder. Sasuke flashed in front but the nin was stopped by Kakashi's arm and Phin holding a blunt sheathed end of her Naginata in his stomach. The Chunin passed out and they layed him by the tree. They were tied up by Phin.
"Kakashi-sensei? Seraphin?" Sakura muttered, but when they turned back to where the bodies were supposed the lay, they saw pieces of wood. "Replacement jutsu."
"But Kakashi-sensei, why didn't you help us from the get go? You two Phin-nee?"
"We needed to see if this was a shinobi on shinobi attack as many hot headed morons are prone to do. Or if it was an attack on our charge here. You have some explaining to do Tazuna-san."
Tazuna explained about the wave village and it's troubles when Kakashi warned Naruto about the poison.
"You're not hurt are you?" Sasuke sneered when Kakashi went to get bandages, "Scardy cat."
Kakashi sighed and said, "We need to go back to the village. Naruto's hand could become a problem."
Naruto made his speech about never freezing again and slammed a kunai into his hand.
"That's great and all Naruto, but if you loose much more blood, you'll die," Naruto froze. Kakashi came over and looked over the wound; bandaged it and walked on. Phin lagged behind with Naruto.
"Phin-nee?" he asked in a somber low voice. Phin turned her head to him to show she was listening and fought to keep the concern out of her eyes. "Back there, when I thought you had been killed," he squeezed his eyes shut, and felt Seraphin's warm hand on his arm.
"I didn't die though Naruto. A simple Chunin couldn't take me out," she smirked to soften him, "even if I had, you wouldn't have lost your family. No matter where I am or where Imari is, we're right beside you."
Naruto smiled and they caught up to the rest of Team 7, unknowing Tazuna had heard every word.
'No normal Genin at all.'
They finally reached the boat. Kakashi sat beside Tazuna and had Seraphin to his left, Sasuke to her left, with Sakura in between Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke noticed Phin digging her nails into the side of the boat.
"Are you afraid of water?" he whispered.
"No, I just don't like this mist."
Sasuke dismissed it and they continued in silence.
They finally reached the bank and traveled on foot again. A mist rolled in and Kakashi pushed them all onto the ground. Phin had leapt into the trees. She was far enough away from the battle to watch, but not hear. She reached her snapping point when Kakashi was trapped in a bubble. Phin rocketed out of the trees and tackled a dodging Zabuza. He slammed into the surface of the water and struggled as Seraphin tried to drown him. He kicked her off and she skidded in the dirt to Kakashi's side.
"You okay Old man?"
"Better than you."
They pulled back and watched as Zabuza came out and stood by a tree, gaging them. Needles flew out of the air and landed in his neck. Zabuza face planted and another nin landed in the trees.
"Thank you for helping me out. I've been looking for him for quite awhile."
"Who the hell are you?!" good old Naruto.
"He's a hunter nin," Kakashi informed. The rest of his speech was cut off when Phin attacked the man on the branch. They fought viciously matching blow for blow, getting faster and faster. Finally, the Hunter Nin snatched Zabuza and poofed away. Phin didn't follow.
"Why'd ya do that?" Sakura screeched. "He was on our side."
"Look underneath the underneath Pinky. He used Senbon needle, which are not a usual killing weapon. Plus he would have taken care of the body right away and not taken Zabuza away like he did."
"He took him away when you attacked him," Sasuke said.
"No he didn't," Kakashi said. "That nin was moving to pick him up when she attacked."
"How can you tell?" Sakura asked.
"By the way his body moved." That wasn't true, but Kakashi knew that Phin had information the rest of the Shinobi world couldn't even dream of. He turned to his daughter and noticed sweat sopping her brow, "Seraphin, whats wrong?"
"Nothing," she started panting. Kakashi couldn't find a mark on her so she wasn't poisoned.
"Seraphin, tell me," she was beginning to tremble. Sasuke and Naruto rushed to her side. The Uchiha wrapped an arm around her waist and held her arm when her knees buckled and she grabbed her head. Seraphin gritted her teeth against the pain and was brought out of her body.
When she opened her eyes, she was looking in a mirror. Imari was standing back to back with her, also looking in a mirror.
"You have the Sharingan," Imari stated.
"And you as well," she didn't know how she knew, just that she did. Seraphin figured it was the same for Imari. "Higher powers are at work here."
Imari nodded, but otherwise neither girl moved. "We were brought here to do what we're doing. Do you remember the scroll?"
"One born in love, one born in hate. Together they will decide this worlds fate."
"Twined together the souls of the two, fighting for a world anew."
"One sister betrayed by love. Forsaken souls on wings of doves."
"While the oldest is left to hurt and grieve. The return of the youngest she will believe."
"One sister lost and a power gained. The loss will cause great malice and pain."
"Celestial heavens will guide the two. Until their journey is finished and through."
"The oldest then, will seek him out. Bring him back to the village to cast the darkness out."
"With clasped hands the sisters believe. A bright new future they will see."
"One half-dead and the other conceived. They are the rocks that weather the sea."
"One sister lost and a power gained. Only time and choices will tell what remains."
"We have to go back now Jena."
"I don't know if I want to Britt."
"But we have to."
"I'll see you there."
She felt something hook at the base of her skull and pull her back into her body. When she opened her eyes, it was to Tazuna, and her teammates standing around her.
"The Hell?" she muttered when they gasped.
"You have the Sharingan," Kakashi stated. Sasuke was hard faced.
"Guess I have some latent Uchiha blood. How much you wanna bet that Imari has it to?" her team gave a sigh of relief and helped her up. Unfortunately, Kakashi collapsed. "Ah, hell."
"Phin-nee? Who's going to carry him?" the rest of the team stepped back.
"I'll do it. I'm the only one strong enough," hey, if you were going to be a jackass and make her do the work she'd attack your pride. She ran chakra through her limbs and hefted Kakashi onto her back. "Someone is going to have to carry my bag."
Sasuke grabbed it before Naruto could and the blond muttered about show offs. They left to Tazuna's house where Phin plopped Kakashi on a bed and went outside to crash in a tree. It was full dark when Sasuke joined her and woke her up.
"What do you want Uchiha?"
"I want to know how you have the Sharingan."
"It was a gift from whatever sent me and my sister here." The Uchiha scowled.
"How is that an answer?"
"It the only one I can give you. Everything else will be revealed when Imari and I find out."
"Do you think I can accept that?! All this time I'm thinking that I'm that last one with the Sharingan besides my brother and then you and our Sensei have it! How can you expect me to just go on my way like nothing happened?!" he punched the tree beside her head, but she didn't flinch. Phin rubbed his cheek when he clenched his teeth and eyes shut.
"Thats the difference between me and most people. I don't."
He looked up and bored his eyes into hers. Phin still hadn't turned off the Sharingan, frankly because she didn't know how.
"After everything that's happened, I find out that there's another Uchiha in the world. Two, if you're right about Imari."
"I am. One thing that you forgot when Itachi did what he did, was that even if they aren't blood family, you aren't alone. I won't say I know how you feel about the Massacre, cause everyone feels things different, but I will say that I'll be here to feel it with you." Her eyes had softened in shared pain of the past.
Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut again. He could only hear the soft breathing of the girl in front of him and the birds. Phin had chosen a perch about a mile out of town. The others were at Tazuna's house taking care of Kakashi thanks to Sasuke. Overwhelmed, a few pent up tears fell from his eyes. Sasuke buried his head in Phin's shoulder at her soft urging and let them out. When his shoulders ceased quaking, and he got his breath back, he just lay there humiliated.
"Don't go all sulky on me. It takes much more courage to deal with your emotions than shove them away," she pulled his face up. Their bodies were lit with the light of the full moon and nothing else.
"Seraphin, you're a strange girl," she quietly chuckled. It sounded like bells to his ears; the first time he'd heard her laugh.
"And you have no sense of romance, just had to ruin it didn't you?" there was a tiny curve of her lips to soften the sting of her words.
"Romance is it?"
"Ah-huh. No sense for it at all," she saw her teasing had goaded him into deciding something. She could see it in his eyes and it scared the hell out of her. "Now don't you go doing what you're thinking." Sasuke smirked.
"And what am I thinking?" he cupped the back off her neck and leaned over her.
"Your...thinking...that..."
Her words trailed off as his lips covered hers. His mouth rubbed over hers lightly and with a tenderness that encompassed then erased all of her thoughts. She was used to flash and fire, that she could handle. But this emotional meeting that proclaimed much more than she was willing to give shattered every wall she had built. The last thought before sinking into oblivion was that if she was going to be hurt again, might even be killed, she'll take every happy memory she could to pull out when the happiness was gone. She lied to herself and told her mind that this was purely selfish and didn't mean anything else.
He hadn't known she could be like this; that she would be pliant and oh so giving. He had thought she would push him away or something else along those lines as no one was here to see the show and continue with the agreement they had. He knew that this kiss was a real one and not the acting. The emotions were real, the murmurs in her throat were real. This was real and so was she. Seraphin was someone he could hold onto no matter what, and he wasn't letting go now that he had found out she was the most perfect girl he could ask for.
He pulled away and was pleased to find that her gaze was clouded and unfocused. Her lips trembling from his ministrations. He grabbed her arms and shot them higher into the tree so fast that her head whirled. The next thing she knew was that she was being held tight to his chest at the top of the tree. Her head was tucked under his chin but they said nothing about what had just happened. No searching of feelings would happen that night. Maybe neither were ready for it.
"I'm not letting you go. You always stand beside other people and you have Imari to stand by you, but I want to stand by you as well."
"As what?" her voice was low as if anything louder would shatter everything.
"As someone who belongs beside you, and you beside me."
"Why do you want such a broken thing like me?"
"Because what you've put back together is worth saving. I want to protect you." Sasuke chuckled. "And I'll have to torture, maim, and kill any man who bothers you. Uchiha's stick together."
"They wouldn't."
"Then you're blind. Even Imari says so."
"You've been talking to my sister?"
"She to me is more like. She threatened to make me useless to any woman if I ever let you down," he chuckled again. "It seems you two are scary alike."
"It normally me doing the threatening. She always knows," Phin murmured but Sasuke didn't ask what she meant by that.
"No going to sleep yet," he set her back and reached into his pocket. Sasuke pulled out a silver chain with an Uchiha fan emblem at the end. The white of the fan was quartz and the red made of garnet. It wasn't terribly expensive, but breath taking beautiful to Phin. "It was my mother's, and I always kept it with me," he saw the refusal on her lips and silenced her with another kiss. "Take it. She would have wanted to see it on your neck. A woman with Uchiha blood should wear it."
Seraphin nodded, turned, and held up her hair. Sasuke slipped it on her neck and pulled her back to his chest. His arms wrapped around her and she leaned back on him. They didn't really know if they were friends, they didn't know if they were closer; just that they had a bond.
They fell asleep in the cradling arms of the tree.
The next day they were up at dawn and sneaked into the room they were sharing with the others. Kakashi was still asleep but she knew he would wake up soon. Naruto was sprawled out everywhere and Sakura slept on her side. They fell in their own sleeping bags which they assumed were put out by Sakura and pretended to sleep. They didn't move until the others did and then were the last to rise.
They had breakfast and were taken out to the forest.
"Alright, Zabuza is coming back. So I need to train you guys. Don't worry Naruto, I don't have to be able for this training," he waved down Naruto's comment. "I'm going to teach you to climb trees without your hands." Kakashi walked over to a tree and walked up without using his hands as he said.
Sakura and Naruto gaped while it had caught Sasuke's interest.
"You use chakra to attach you to the tree. I suggest you get a running start."
"Um Kakashi-sensei? What's chakra?" Sakura launched into a rant that Seraphin ignored as she starred off into space. Kakashi laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Nice necklace."
"Yep."
"You're terrified."
"Yeah," she sighed. "I've always been on my own. I know Imari was there for me and always will be but...it's different when it's a guy. Or maybe it's just different when it's Sasuke."
"You love him?"
"No. I can't say that. I don't know what love is, but I do care for him."
"Enough to stay by his side I see."
"Yeah." Seraphin was getting fidgety with all this emotion and was saved by the others.
"Now, take these kunai and mark your progress."
The three genin ran up. Sasuke broke the tree and pushed off. Naruto fell on his head, and Sakura disappeared.
"Well, it seems like the Kunoichi has the best chakra control. Right now she's the closest to becoming Hokage," Kakashi looked over to where Seraphin was sitting under a tree ignoring them all. "Seraphin you have to do it to."
"Why?"
"Because I want you too; even if you had special training."
"Fine," she levered herself up and walked up a tree lazily to the same spot Sakura stopped.
"Well, well, well, it appears that the women are superior to the men on this team."
The next day Sakura and Seraphin were walking with Tazuna at the market. They had to guard him since the boys stayed behind to train. They were hit by the dirt and poverty of the Wave Village. Tazuna explained about Gato and Sakura combated a man trying to steal her purse, surprising Tazuna.
She freaked out again, then turned to realize it was a little kid. Phin's chest throbbed with memories of her own and gave over some candy with Sakura. They continued down the road when a whimpering came to her ears. She looked down an ally to see a man on top of a woman, with him stripping her clothes. A cold fire burned in her blood; turning her eyes red.
"Leave it," Tazuna laid a hand on her arm. "there's nothing you can do."
"The hell I can't," her scarlet orbs drilled a hole into his. "You're helping by building the bridge. I'm going to do what I was trained to do."
"And what were you trained to do?" he spoke with trepidation as Sakura ran to get the boys.
"Kill."
She shook his arm off, walked into the ally and unsheathed the blades of her Naginata. She slammed her boot into the side of the man, breaking several ribs, and vaulted him into a wall. The woman covered herself and ran out of the ally, sputtering 'thank you's the whole way.
"Stupid bitch!" the man shot out and pulled a knife. He was stopped and paled when he saw her Naginata at his throat. The shifty man struggled not to gulp and cut himself on it. "Hey, hey, take it easy! Give me a chance!"
"Did you give that woman a chance? Did you give others a chance?! Or did you just try to take what you wanted?" her voice had a tender of frozen malice.
"Please!" he shrieked. Seraphin shot her heel through his left leg and felt a trill of pleasure when it cracked and he screamed. She put the other foot through his right thigh. He screamed again. The boys ran into the ally just as she stabbed his stomach and a splash of blood hit her face.
"Stop it Nee-chan!" Naruto yelled.
"Raph!" Sasuke ran forward but was stopped when her Naginata went through the rapist's throat, killing the man, and making her hair drip an even deeper red. When she turned and walked out they were all stilled by her narrowed and glaring eyes. Her Sharingan spun and she disappeared.
"She's a monster," Sakura stuttered.
"No."Tazuna said before the boys could turn on Sakura. "I think she's been raped, and when she saw what was happening, saw the face of the one who did it to her."
Sasuke's eyes widened and Naruto started crying. Sakura shook and let out tears of her own.
"How could anyone do that to Phin-nee?" Naruto whispered. "What about Imari-nee? What kind of pain are those two hiding?!" he clenched his fists.
"Probably more than anyone could comprehend," Sasuke said and followed Seraphin's chakra, leaving Naruto to get the others home.
He found her at the river cleaning her Naginata. She was still drenched in iron red.
"Raph," she didn't turn, but spoke.
"Are you disgusted with me now? I'm sure Sakura is."
"I'm not. You've been raped before haven't you?"
"Four times. Then I started fighting back."
Sasuke's breath hitched. Talking about it even just admitting what happened what seemed like so long ago was like reliving it. "Now that you know my dirty little secret, you can go away."
Instead he walked over, dipped a cloth into the river, and wiped her face clean. He scrubbed her cheeks and neck, then washed out her hair. He took her Naginata and finished that as well. "I told that you I would be beside you. You had better get used to it Raph."
Seraphin sighed and shook her head. "Asshole," she fell back onto the grass.
Sasuke pulled her back up. "C'mon. We need to go sooth your brother before he terrorizes everyone." Phin nodded and followed. When she reached the house with Sasuke still holding her right hand, she was almost barreled over by a sobbing Naruto. Sakura came over and held her left hand.
"I-hiccup-was-sob-so-sniffle-worried!" and he began to ball.
"It's okay Naruto. I'm told you I'm not leaving."
Tazuna's family stayed respectfully back as the younger kids bonded that much more. When it was all calmed down, Naruto and Sasuke went back out to train and the girls went about doing chores with Tsunami.
The next day Naruto was still sleeping in his bed, as were the others in theirs, when Phin got up and went out. It was different this time though, she had her ANBU Captain Cat mask. Phin staked herself on the top of one of the bridge's support pillars. Haku joined her there.
"You saw through my disguise that day."
"Yes, but I also know that you talked to my brother in the field."
"I didn't sense your chakra watching us."
"That's because I wasn't there."
Haku turned a speculative look towards her. He was in his hunter nin outfit and looked over her ANBU Uniform. "You are a seer then."
"No. I'm from a different world," she hadn't expected a gasp or any open surprise or doubt from Haku. She didn't get any.
"Then how is it you know about this world?"
"I think the gods sent an image of a story to a book writer in my world. The books became popular and even reached us half a world away. Those books were an escape from my reality." She gave a small sigh and looked up at the misty sky. "I read them over and over almost religiously and learned everything about the main problems and the little ones here. I watched as a hero came out of the ashes and save this place at great expense to him. He saves this place and reaches his dream all the while not loosing sight of his own belief and conscience. He overcomes all his obstacles and never gives up."
Haku nodded. "Your brother."
"Believe it," they shared a chuckle.
"So," he gave a pause.
"Yes. I know everything in this world. I know your past, and Zabuza's and it makes me hurt that I can't change it. You're going to die today Haku, saving Zabuza. I wish I could change that as well and I probably could, but it's time for your last battle and then for you to stop fighting."
"If Naruto was supposed to save all of this world then why are you here?"
"It's actually me and my sister. Well, sister in every way but blood."
"Like Naruto."
"Yeah, and a couple others. We're making a family out of misfits and outsiders, but it works."
"You didn't answer my question."
She'd been avoiding it, "Actually, I don't know. I think it's because some things happened in the book that my sister and I had a real problem with. We wanted to change it and maybe thats why it was written the way it was and the way it would have happened here without our intervention. I think we were brought here cause we really didn't belong in ours. Something needs to change here and apparently we were the ones chosen to change it."
"You talk a lot."
"Not really."
"Then why open up to me?"
"Dunno."
"Is it because I'm going to die today?"
"Possibly."
"I believe the workers will be coming soon. I need to vacate before that time comes. It was nice talking to you." They turned their backs to the other; allowed that courtesy. Phin had one thing to give him.
"Haku, I want to tell you something," he gave no indication but she knew he was listening. "Even though we fight on opposite sides, I consider you a friend, and look forward to a good fight today. We'll shake this bridge down to the rebar," he chuckled. "Also, my name is Jena."
"Your birth name I take it?"
"Yes."
"I'd tell you mine, but I don't remember it."
"Then I'll just remember you as Friend."
They gave the other one final glance back and shot into different directions. Phin felt a great heaviness settle on her chest as she hopped further and further across tree branches. It was a familiar weight; one that got heavier and heavier every time she lost a friend. That weight seemed to lighten after time, but weighed more than the last time when she lost another.
At this rate, eventually it would crush her.
"Where's Seraphin?" Sakura was the first to ask at the breakfast table. "Speaking of which, where's Naruto?"
"Hmm," Kakashi's noncommittal answer. He of course, had noticed that Phin took her mask. Now he just wanted to screw with his little Genin's minds. "Maybe Sasuke knows?" his one eye trained on the young Uchiha.
The Uchiha just kept eating while Sakura fumed.
She finally sputtered, "Your her father! Shouldn't you know where she is?!" Tazuna's family just enjoyed the show.
"Sakura, you probably have one of the most advanced minds in the entire Genin core. Do you honestly think that if they didn't want me to I wouldn't even see either of those girls? Let alone keep track of them?"
"They're only Genin! Further more Imari seems a little flighty and weak," she crossed her arms and pouted. Kakashi smirked.
"Oh, you're in trouble now," was his remark. Sasuke smirked.
"Huh? What do you mean Sensei?" she didn't notice the shadow right behind her.
"What did you call my sister?" came the hiss behind her. Sakura blanked and shakily looked behind her. Phin stood there with an unamused look on her face.
"Oh. H-hi Seraphin! W-where were you t-this m-morning?"
"I was out, now what did you say about my sister?" a red eyebrow raised.
"Oh! N-nothing."
"A little piece of advice Sakura. Don't insult the family of someone who has no problem killing you. Nee-chan wouldn't do it. In fact she'd probably laugh it off, but I wouldn't." She walked around the table and took her seat beside Sasuke, though didn't eat.
"Not having anything Phin-chan?"
"Hn." Phin kept her arms crossed and her eyes closed. Then opened them when Sasuke stuck a rice filled chopstick under her nose. "Hn," and ate it.
Sakura fainted but no one paid her any mind as Sasuke split his breakfast with Phin and kept feeding her.
"That's strange," she said as she shakily got back up. "I thought my Sasuke-kun was feeding that scary girl," Sakura fainted over and over again.
"You know," Kakashi started while sweat dropping as Sakura fainted for the eighteenth time. "I don't think it's good for her to keep doing that."
"And you have no objection as a dad," said Inari. His family chuckled. Kakashi sweat dropped.
"Am I that transparent?" everyone nodded. Sasuke gave her another mouthful.
"Would you like some more food you two?" Tsunami asked. They nodded and Sasuke kept feeding her.
"You're not helping Tsunami-san," she chuckled. "Would you two quit it?" Kakashi asked. They shook their heads and Sasuke kept feeding her.
Tsunami came back with seconds for them and they continued as they were. Soon enough though, they finished and just to annoy Kakashi, Sasuke gave her a peck on the cheek. Seraphin smirked at her Dad's teeth grinding as she and Uchiha walked out hand in hand. As a father, he followed.
"Phin-chan?" Kakashi said sickly sweet. "Why don't you go check on the bridge?"
Seraphin shrugged. "Hn," and pulled Sasuke in for a quick kiss. This time Kakashi growled and gave them an unamused look, then fainted. Phin smirked. "You should wake him up. I have a bridge to check on."
"I really think that order was to stop us."
"It was, but he also wants me to check on the bridge and the way there before you four leave."
"Hn," Sasuke felt a little thrill as his mother's necklace fell out of her regular nin clothes before she lept into the trees. "Hope you're proud Ka-chan," he said to no one. But shook his head as he remembered that neither knew what the other was.
When Phin arrived she already smelled the scent of blood. Zabuza was starting early so this was bad. She was a great fighter but she couldn't do this by herself. There was no way she would stand by while people were slaughtered. Phin calmed herself and pulled some hand signs. Her sister's soul in a clone of Phin appeared beside her.
"Need help?"
"Take my Kasuri-gama and fight Haku. I'll take Zabuza."
They jumped into the middle of the fray. Zabuza was slashing right and left and Haku flitting in between running workers. Imari sped up and blocked some of Haku's needles intended for another worker. Everyone stopped and eyed the sisters.
"So, they sent the brat out to get me first." Zabuza sneered. Haku said nothing.
"Actually, they sent me to check on the bridge. I just saw a little opportunity for some fun," her eyes met Haku's. He understood.
"Well, I still say if you're not in my book then you're not worth it."
"But I am." Zabuza grunted. "Look under The Hollow Sisters. Don't worry, I won't attack you while you look."
Zabuza lifted his book and flipped to the page she was talking about. There, was a picture of her and Imari. They were in there with real pictures through a stroke of bad luck and carelessness on their first S-Rank solo missions.
"So you are. Then tell me Cursed Cat, where is your sister and why are you with those brats."
"Classified, and Nee-chan is right here," Imari pulled a henge and transformed into herself.
"Heya! One of the Seven Swordsmen eh?"
"That's right. I assume you're the Feral Dragon. This should be fun."
All parties lept at the other instantaneously. Phin pulled out her Naginata and shifted the blades out to block Zabuza's swing. Imari knocked away Haku's needles and matched him speed for speed. Phin parried Zabuza's next swing and sliced at his stomach. He jumped back and pulled a water dragon jutsu. Haku and Imari were matching their opponent's blows on top of the bridge's support pillar; walking closer and closer to the edge. Zabuza's water dragon hit Phin, but she disappeared in a poof. He tensed and looked around him; trying to feel her chakra. He felt a searing pain slice down his back as Phin drew first blood. Haku was distracted by Zabuza's cry and was hit by Imari across the chest. He flitted away. Imari's keen ears stayed open for any sign of where Haku was. She and her sister hadn't trained blind for a month for no reason.
"Well, you two have done well to draw first. You've lived up to your names. But how long will you hold out?" he signed more jutsus and a fog covered the ground. It didn't work on Phin and Imari though. They closed their eyes and fluttered out microscopic chakra strands that were beyond sensitive towards other people's chakra system. The world they saw was gray and outlined by even darked grays for sky, shadows, edges, and the other undeveloped chakras. Haku and Zabuza were large glowing balls of chakra but had different feels to them. One of the more developed energies had great concern for the other and felt like ice. The other was filled with excitement and anticipation.
Zabuza moved toward Imari with Haku. Phin jumped in and blocked Zabuza with her Naginata but his sword was heavy and he was physically stronger than her when she didn't use her chakra enhanced strength. While she was using her chakra to see she couldn't increase her strength; it would wear her out too quickly, and this would be a long battle. She gripped her Naginata with both hands to stave him off and listened to Imari fight with Haku. The coward brought out another Kunai and jabbed it into Phin's back.
Imari felt the jump in her little sister's chakra network and shifted for a fraction of a second. It was enough for Haku to get one needle in and dispatch Imari's clone body.
Imari reopened her eyes to see her team standing around her again.
"Ri-chan, are you alright? That's the second time," Hina-chan worried. Akamaru whimpered.
"Ima-hime, are you eating enough?" Kiba asked.
"It seems that you're hurt," Shino said. The others looked down to see the bleeding puncture wound in Imari's leg. One bad thing about soul transfer was that the injury sustained that sent you back came as well.
"I'm alright, just haven't been sleeping well without my sister, brother, and father here."
"Oh! You can stay at my house Ri-chan," Hinata offered. "I'm sure my father would love to have you."
"Arigatou Hina-chan."
But her mind was on her little sister.
Phin was panting slightly from having to face both opponents at the same time but was seriously pissed that anyone laid a hand on her sister even if Imari could take great care of herself. Imari was the big sister, but Phin wouldn't risk loosing Imari even for the apocalypse. She had the Kunai stuck in her back, a large gash across her middle along with her left arm looking like a pin cushion but she had been able to pick up her dropped Kasuri-gama and used both weapons now. She fumed a bit over the fact that she needed a new arm guard and pulled out the needles roughly; gritting her teeth against the pain. She lept forward and cursed at herself for distracting Imari even for that one second.
Slicing forward she dropped her chakra strands and used her nose. They had her and Imari's blood on them and thus would be easier to track. She went after Haku first and both fought their hardest. To normal people they would only be blurs. Phin struck out with her Kasuri-gama and sliced at every opportunity. Right, left, above, below, she slashed his left shoulder and swiped her feet under him. She quickly switched weapons to block more needles coming and blocked the downward sword swing at her back. She drove both kasuri-gama blades into the right side of Haku's chest while using chakra strength to hold Zabuza back.
"Oh you are very good. If your clone of your sister hadn't of been dispatched I would have loved to seen what she could do." He kicked at her legs and Phin had to poof to a safe distance or get killed. Unfortunately Haku was waiting for her and stuck his hand through her shoulder. Phin growled and kicked him ten feet across the bridge to indent himself into the concrete. She back flipped and pulled a series of complicated hand signs. She called out one of her most powerful jutsu. The one she was named for.
"Cursed Cat Jutsu!!!" Her body was engulfed in flame as a fire cat appeared beside her. It's shoulders came above Zabuza's head. She mounted up and the cat launched forward with a deafening roar. It swiped and clawed and shot fire at Zabuza even as Jena felled attacks from Haku. She could feel her skin heating up and dispelled the jutsu. Phin flipped back to a safe distance and called out Chidori and Resengan. One swirled in either hand. She tensed and shot across the bridge to slam into both Haku and Zabuza. They flew off the edge of the bridge, but much to her dismay she heard a poof. Signaling clones.
Seraphin turned and fought hand to hand with both. Block right, side kick left, leg sweep. Block, attack, kick right. another leg sweep. She moved back to a safe distance slightly panting. Phin cut a chakra string and several hundred kunai flew toward her enemy. She breathed deep to control herself and was back handed across the back of her head by a Haku clone that Seraphin quickly squashed with super strength.
Zabuza used what was quickly becoming, to her mind at least, his signature jutsu, but as she tried to jump out of the way, Haku stuck needles through her feet into the concrete from his perch on the support. If Phin reached down and pulled them out she would be killed by Haku from his high vantage point. She was in trouble. Seraphin couldn't move and was hit full force by Zabuza's water dragon. In the corner of her eye she saw the rest of her team arrive.
'Oh now they show up' she thought as she was thrown over the edge of the bridge and into the freezing water below. Her system was shocked but she could feel Sasuke's and Kakashi's chakra rage. They must have seen her go over the edge.
She was right. As soon as they had arrived at the bridge they watched her go over.
'No. NO! I just found her. I can't loose her now!' Sasuke's mind screamed.
'My daughter, this Bastard just knocked my daughter over the edge. And knowing Phin she wouldn't take on these two without her sister. She must have used THAT jutsu but I don't see Imari anywhere. They hurt my kids.'
Sasuke was raging while Kakashi bubbled in cold fury.
"Sakura," Kakashi was cold.
"Uh. Yes!"
"Protect Tazuna," he looked over the Uchiha quivering in rage. "You up for this Sasuke?"
"Oh yeah."
"You bring more brats to fight for you Kakashi! Even when I've already sent one to a watery grave and this one is trembling in fear."
"I'm shaking from rage," Sasuke growled, then smirked, "and excitement."
Zabuza laughed, "Haku. Take care of the brat."
They fought on as Sakura and Tazuna watched. "This is a horrible battle."
A shock to their system came when Sasuke was trapped in ice mirrors and Zabuza started his rant on his tool. Then loud popping fireworks came in.
"The hell is that?" Zabuza muttered.
"That is Konoha's Number One Hyper Active Knuckle-head Ninja. Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto pulled his entrance and then like an idiot sneaked into the Ice Cage.
"Teme, I came in here to save you," he whispered, proud of himself.
"You Dobe!" Sasuke growled.
"Teme, where's Phin-nee?" Naruto was surprisingly sober.
"She got here first, had been here maybe three hours before we showed up. She was fighting both of them and was knocked over the edge by a water jutsu just as we arrived. I watched her get hit over, and she hasn't been seen since."
"Why didn't she move?! Phin-nee and Imari-nee can always move like lightning no matter what! Why didn't she move Teme?!" Naruto shook him.
"I can answer that," Haku said.
"You stay out of this!" Naruto growled.
"She couldn't move because I stuck needles through her feet and into the cement. I pinned her down," the boys became even more incensed and the fight carried on. By the time Phin was able to come up, it was already finished. Zabuza and Haku were dead. Sakura was crying over Sasuke.
"He's not dead," was her curt comment to her. Sakura shot up and starred at her. "I'm not either." Sasuke sputtered and opened his eyes. Sakura started sobbing even more as he wheezed. "You're suffocating him Pinky," Sakura pulled back again, but still cried. Phin leaned down and swiped his hair out of his face. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Thought you were dead though."
"I'm too stubborn to die," she began pulling out the needles and healing. Tazuna and Sakura sat quietly as she worked. Sasuke was surprised though. Normally when healing and taking out a projectile would at least sting, but with Phin he only felt the pain lifting away. Pretty soon she had all the needles out and the wounds closed. Sasuke stood up feeling as fine as when the day started.
"Nice work," she shrugged and walked to her brother.
"P-Phin-nee?"
"Yeah. Don't worry I'm okay. Now let's get your wounds fixed," she ran her hands over his injuries but felt her chakra flickering inside her. Phin pushed harder. Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna joined them along with Kakashi and the town's people. Inari stood right by her side as she finished with Naruto and turned to Kakashi. She was just getting done with fixing scar tissue around Kakashi's gash when Inari looked down to this dripping sound he heard. Phin had completed fixing Kakashi's gash when Inari gasped.
"Seraphin! You're bleeding badly!" The others stopped their revelry and looked to the pool of blood under her feet. She looked down in a glazed state.
"Oh. So I am," she collapsed from blood loss and chakra exhaustion but as she hit the ground and everything else became blurred, she saw Haku's body and said goodbye.
When Seraphin opened her eyes next, she was laying in a futon at their room in Tazuna's house. The gash from her left hip to her shoulder was bandaged all the way up, her left arm wrapped and her back padded. Her feet were dressed as well. As much as she could guess, they had called a med-nin to deal with the hole in her shoulder but it had been an inexperienced one. Phin could feel the irregularities in the healing. Obviously the med-nin had little chakra reserves. She moved, but gnashed her teeth together as pain shot all the way up her body. She was only in her extra capries but the bandages acted like a shirt with her entire torso and shoulders covered in them. She flexed and clenched her fist when she fought her way to her feet.
Phin used the wall to support her down the hall. Her chakra still hadn't recovered. Calling her sister and using Chakra Sight plus using super strength to fight and drag her sorry self out of the twenty foot deep abyss had depleted it. Then she had healed her team. Too many high level jutsu and then the blood loss can do that to you. She kept her mouth clenched to keep even a whimper from escaping as her injured feet screamed and her other wounds throbbed. Phin reached the stairs and grimaced.
"Oh bugger," she muttered. Then, like the moron Imari always accused her of being no matter how smart she was, Phin started down. Taking it one step at a time was slow and agonizing but she made it down safely. Unfortunately, her wounds reopened and spewed blood down her front. Thus she scared the hell out of her Team and the resident family when she walked through the door. Sasuke and Naruto were instantly by her side while Sakura and Tsunami shot out of their seats.
"What are you doing out of bed young lady?! You're still in horrible condition!" Tsunami chastised.
"She's reopened her wounds," Sasuke muttered.
"Phin-nee, you should have called for one of us."
"You shouldn't be moving!" Sakura cried. Kakashi, Tazuna, and Inari stayed intelligently quiet.
"Shut it," Seraphin snapped. "Tsunami-san, who bandaged me?"
"Sakura and I. You really should be resting."
"How long have I been out?"
"Not even twenty-four hours," Sakura answered this time. "Seraphin, I know I'm not at experienced as you when it comes to medicine, but I know what different wounds look like and the kind of scars that come after. When Tsunami-san and I were dressing your wounds, we saw many, many scars and most of them looked like glass punctures and kitchen knife cuts. They had a serrated edge around the heal skin."
"Get to the point!" Seraphin snapped.
"Those weren't ordinary marks Seraphin. Where did they come from?" Sakura was really only concerned, but Phin wasn't in the mood. She was in pain and irritated.
"How about I tell you to piss off and keep your nose on your face; not in my business," she growled.
"Seraphin!" Kakashi snapped. She shook off Sasuke and Naruto and stalked outside, ignoring the pain. "I apologize Sakura, Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san, Inari-kun."
"It's alright Kakashi-san. I expect you know her past but won't tell us as it should come from her," Tazuna said. "I have a feeling she and her sister we've heard so much about have endured a great deal of pain and suffering."
Kakashi pulled out the little snapshot that had been taken of the girls and him when they completed their training with the Hokage and were promoted to ANBU. He was leaning on a rock in the forest with Imari standing on top and her arms around his neck. She leaned over his shoulder giving a huge smile and a peace sign. Phin was wrapped up in his arms with one around her neck that had both of her hands clutching. His other arm was mussing up her hair. She had a glare going up at him, but there was a softness in her eyes that you had to see the picture to believe. Kakashi was beaming 'Proud Father' as they had already become a family by then.
He showed the picture to Tazuna and his family. "The one over my shoulder is Imari-chan."
"They don't look like sisters," Inari commented.
"That's because they aren't by blood. They found themselves at the worst of times and adopted each other. They needed someone to share the weight and recognized that the other was bleeding. Together and without parents they patched the other up. They healed there and here they've healed a little more. But I think that those two have been only with the other to rely on so long that they have a hard time doing anything else. I only found out about Phin's past by accident, and Imari decided since I knew Phin's I deserved to know hers as well. I believe her words were, 'You need to know what kind of psychosis you're getting into'." Kakashi chuckled.
"They look happy," Tsunami said.
"There they are, but for some reason the hurt on those two goes so deep that there's always a sadness around them. I'm not a fool and I know they haven't told me everything, but I can't do more for them without more information. I won't push though. Phin said one time that talking about a hurtful past, even admitting to one, is like reliving it and bringing it back to the surface."
Sasuke's eyes closed to block out the truth of those words.
"That's very sad," Tsunami remarked as she went about clearing dishes. When she walked around Kakashi she slipped and the dishes flew. Inari, Naruto, and Sasuke caught the kitchen ware as Kakashi and Tazuna stabled Tsunami. "I'm sorry, There must have been water on the floor."
"That's not water. Naruto, Sasuke, go find Phin!" The boys didn't even waste time nodding and sprinted out.
"What's wrong Sensei?" Sakura walked around and looked at the floor, her face paled. Tsunami had slid in Seraphin's blood.
"Can you keep a hold of her blood trail with your Sharingan Teme?!" Naruto yelled.
"Hn. Sharingan!" her blood trail stood out starkly. "Lets go!" They sped up and covered maybe a mile before they saw her. She was sitting right beside the bridge, just starring over to the spot where the two enemy nin had laid.
"Phin-nee!"
"Raph!"
They dropped to her side and started asking rapid fire questions on how she was feeling with a few 'You're stupid for coming out here in your condition's and 'What were you thinking's thrown in here and there. She didn't listen.
"Twenty four," she murmured.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"I lost twenty four."
"Lost twenty four what Phin-nee?" Naruto coaxed.
She wasn't able to answer as at that moment she passed out. It started raining, covering the one tear that slid out.
"Come on Dobe. Let's get her back," for once Naruto didn't retaliate and helped Sasuke get Phin on his back. Naruto ran behind the Sharingan user just in case Phin slipped off or started thrashing. They made it back relatively quickly and after setting Phin down on her futon and grabbing dry clothes for themselves, vacated the room so Tsunami and Sakura could redress her wounds and change her wet cloths.
She slept for three days.
The team was finally heading back to their village after saying their goodbyes to the waterfall village and it's inhabitants. A disgruntled Seraphin was settled onto the back of Kakashi while their supplies had been split among the rest of the team. Kakashi heard another low growl in Seraphin's throat and chuckled.
"Now, now Seraphin. We'll be back at the village in no time."
Naruto looked over at the two. "Phin-nee? What's wrong?"
Kakashi turned his one eyes onto him as Seraphin muttered into his neck with some surprising language. "She's just irritated that she has to be carried home." He began to chuckle again and got a swift kick in the gut. The air left his esophagus with a whoosh as he heel dug into his flesh. Kakashi wheezed until he dropped to the ground and Seraphin raised to her own two feet. Her dark eyes leered at her father.
"I will not be coddled," she growled.
"Sasuke!" she heard Sakura yell and turned to find the Uchiha collapsed on the ground. He was panting and covered in sweat.
"Move!" Seraphin ordered and flashed over to Sasuke's side. Kakashi raised a brow at her quick recovery from her injuries. She checked Sasuke's vital signs and listened to his heartbeat then pricked his finger to check his blood cell count. The Sharingan was a handy little thing. Her eyes hardened.
"What's wrong with him Seraphin?" Sakura wavered out. Naruto's equally concerned eyes turned to his morose sister.
"Malaria," both genin gasped.
"Malaria? But how would he catch that?" Naruto asked frantically. Seraphin's composer was beginning to scare him.
"Most likely a mosquito bit him when we crossed the water the first time. It took time to filter around his body and the fighting increased the speed of which it spread."
"But wouldn't you have found it and healed it when you took care of him on the bridge?" Sakura sputtered.
Kakashi shook his head. "Seraphin was healing his physical wounds and concentrating on any internal damage that might have occurred. She wouldn't have been checking him out at the cellular level. Plus she was almost completely depleted of chakra from her fight with Haku and Zabuza."
"W-what can we do Phin-nee?" Naruto asked his sister desperately with worried eyes on his friend.
"I don't have the necessary medicine on me to take care of this properly. The closest village is about three hours away and we'd be in unfamiliar territory so there would be a chance of attack. That's too long for him to go without some kind of medical treatment anyway. The Leaf village is about twenty-four hour's walk from here. We could reach it by noon tomorrow if we traveled through the night but that would be risky. Either way though, I'm going to have to suppress the virus now."
"How are you going to do that Phin-nee?" Cerulean eyes watched gray ones carefully.
Seraphin sighed. "I'm going to feed my chakra into his system and suppress the ailment myself. Sasuke will be linked to me completely."
Sakura's chest tightened. "But if you do that you could loose half of your chakra and you already have so little!"
"Do you want him to die?! By the time we got him to help be it the Leaf village or somewhere else he would be to far gone for even the Slug Princess to save!" Phin yelled at the Genin with all the air in her lungs. "Make a choice," her voice went stone cold.
Sakura was near tears and Kakashi soothed her. Naruto was the one who spoke. "Of course we don't want him to die Phin-nee, but we don't want you to die either."
Seraphin relaxed slightly and held her gaze steady on her brother's. "I won't die. You have to trust me Naruto." The blond nodded and punched his fist into his other palm.
"What do you need us to do?"
"Is the rigging secure?" Seraphin asked as she looked down on the cart that the team had made from items in the forest. Receiving an affirmative answer she nodded to Kakashi and he called to his nin-dogs. Three of the larger of his companions appeared and were slid into their harnesses. A smaller but sturdy tree had been cut down to make the wheels and chassy along with the axles and yoke that the dogs were attached to. Rope from the team's supply had been made into the harnesses and the cross weave of the cart's bed. Large leaves covered moss to make the bed more comfortable with a couple sleeping bags thrown on top.
All in all the cart seemed to be sturdy enough to make the trip home. Seraphin turned to where Sasuke had been made as comfortable as possible while they made travel arrangements.
"You all know what to do?" she asked as she lifted Sasuke onto the bed. He was shivering and muttering in a feverish and delirious state.
"Don't stop no matter what. Naruto and I will be running along the cart to provide ground guards while Kakashi will survey from up in the trees slightly ahead," Sakura replied. Naruto nodded to show his position.
"And even if it seems like Sasuke and I are in trouble don't touch us or move us. I'll know when we reach home."
Kakashi was the next to speak. "If we're attacked though I'm to wake you up immediately," he said gravely. Seraphin nodded and hopped onto the cart. She laid down beside Sasuke and covered them with another sleeping bag. "Each of us have soldier pills, but we aren't to use them unless absolutely necessary," he said to Naruto and Sakura. "This is gonna be rough. Seraphin will take care of herself and Sasuke, but we need to watch over their bodies."
The order was given and the team moved out. Seraphin's sad eyes watched Sasuke's trembles as she reached for his hand and dived into his mind. Her eyes closed and she was dead to the world.
She found herself in a dark corridor. There was absolutely nothing to relieve the sodden blackness as she went the only way she could:Forward. With a blink she found herself in the Uchiha Estate.
"Well, this is the most unoriginal place I could think of for his mind to be," she muttered and walked along the path. Seraphin found herself becoming more and more apart of the pseudo-world as she took more of the sickness into her own body and suppressed it's effects. Her non-corporeal form shifted in solidity as she turned the corner and smelled food cooking. She must have been close to the restaurant section of the Uchiha Compound. She transformed herself into a blond hair blue eyed woman and looked around.
"Aniki! Aniki!" she heard the cry behind her and turned quickly to find a little Sasuke and older Itachi walking down the market place. Sasu-chan was on top of Itachi's shoulders and for once they both looked happy. Her heart softened to see that there was some good inside of his memories, and that the massacre was not the place he automatically went when he was sequestered inside of his mind. A bleak shadow fell over everyone. Seraphin had thought too soon.
The smell of salt and rust filled the air as day turned to night and all the happy comings and goings of the exclusive part of the area turned desolate and lonely. But she blinked and it turned back to the sun and clouds of a balmy summer day. "What the hell?" she murmured.
The pair seemed to have spotted her and they both walked over.
"Excuse me," Itachi said while Sasu-chan looked down at her with anxious and eager eyes. "Who are you? I've never seen you here before."
This was a little strange. Memories and dreams were not supposed to be able to interact with a visiting mind.
"No. I suppose you haven't." Her voice was even and gave nothing away. Itachi raised a brow at her as he set Sasu-chan on the ground.
"You didn't answer my question. You aren't an Uchiha, yet I hadn't heard about any other visiting nin." He was suspicious of her.
"Oh? And how do you know I'm not an Uchiha?" her voice was just a little sly. Sasu-chan tugged on her clothes and she looked down into the little face that made her heart melt. She'd always had a thing for kids, especially the little ones.
"Uchiha's have black hair and eyes, but your hair's like a sun beam and eyes the color of the sky," he was positively adorable and Phin couldn't help but crouch down and look into his little face. Her eyes changed from slate blue to blood red in a second, and little Sasu-chan stared in shock. Itachi had a similar look on his face.
"People come in all shapes and sizes, even Uchihas. They just don't want you to know about the ones who look like me," she winked and ruffled his hair. He blushed and Seraphin couldn't help but to take it one step farther and kissed his cheek. His face turned into his favorite fruit at that moment and even Itachi chuckled. "Thank you for what you said about my hair and eyes," she let her guard down and smiled wide and true for him.
"What's your name Ojou-san?" Itachi asked.
"It's polite to introduce yourself first before asking someone else's name," she quipped.
He seemed non-plussed except for the little tick at his temple. "Forgive me. I am Uchiha Itachi, and this is my little brother Sasuke." Sasu-chan waved with a little blush still on his face.
"I'm Sera." She almost hesitated. "It's a pleasure to meet you Uchiha Itachi, Sasu-chan," she smiled and the little boy blushed more. "Well, I'll see you around." She deactivated her Sharingan and began to walk away, but Sasu-chan ran up and grabbed onto her clothes again.
"Wait, you're a Shinobi right?"
"How could you tell?"
"You have a kunai holster even though your hair covers up your haitai-ate," he seemed pleased with his deduction.
"Observant little one. Yes, I am a Shinobi."
"Aniki and I were just heading out to do some training. Want to come?" his little eyes held such hope that she would. Seraphin looked over to Itachi and he nodded, giving his assent. She looked back down to Sasu-chan and nodded. He gave a cheer and grabbed onto her hand to drag her back over to Itachi. He latched onto his Aniki's hand and all three walked out of the compound to the training fields.
The trees were calm as they swayed in the afternoon breeze and sent leaves flying over their heads. A leaf got stuck in Seraphin's bangs and Sasu-chan giggled as she tried to blow it out of her hair. Even Itachi let his guard down a little. They walked into a clearing where several targets were set up and Sasu-chan walked over to the one in the far corner. He launched a kunai straight for the target and missed by a few inches. He blew out his cheeks in frustration. Seraphin walked over to him and grabbed his hand.
"Here, you're trying to force it. Let the kunai glide from your hand," she showed him the motion and stepped back. Sasu-chan tried it again using the motion Seraphin had showed him. The kunai sailed from his hand and hit just shy of the target's bulls-eye.
"Yeah! Did you see it Aniki?!" Sasu-chan's jubilation was infectious and Seraphin found herself smiling as well.
"Very good Otouto." Itachi walked over and placed a hand on Sasu-chan's shoulder. "You're going to be a great Shinobi someday." Sasu-chan beamed under Itachi's praise. They worked for several hours on Sasu's Kunai aim and shuriken throwing. Before they knew it high noon had descended over them. "We should probably head back now. Okaa-san will have lunch ready."
Sasu-chan started to pout. "Can Sera-chi come with us Aniki? I'm sure Kaa-chan wouldn't mind." Itachi looked down at his little brother's desperate face.
"I wouldn't like to impose on your mother Sasu-chan. Maybe another day," Seraphin supplied Itachi a way out. He looked over at her then down at the puppy-dog-eyed Sasu-chan. Itachi she would be the one uncomfortable around their mother.
"There won't be any imposition. I'm sure Okaa-san would love to have you," he smirked when she glared at him. Sasu-chan cheered and ran over to clutch Seraphin's hand and drag her home with him. She felt like a kitten being dragged home and the little boy was going to scream 'Can I keep her? Can I keep her?'. They made their way to the Main House and she felt a tightening in her stomach as the threat of meeting someone new weighed heavier on her shoulders. Especially the mother of the little boy she might have feelings for in the future.
"C'mon Sera-chi! Kaa-chan is in the kitchen!" He drug her through the house without giving her barely enough time to slip off her boots. The walls were done in a traditional Japanese style with wood floors and paper doors that slid. Pictures of the family sat on top of a little night stand like thing in the hall. Sasu-chan opened up another sliding door and drug her through. A woman who with every inch practically screamed mother walked up to little Sasu-chan and his captive. "Kaa-chan, this is Sera-chi! She's a Shinobi!" The excitement poured off of him and made her expect him to say 'Can I keep her?!' once again.
"I see that, but tell me why she looks like a bedraggled kitten being drug in here for you to beg me to let you keep?" Itachi snickered and quickly hid it when Phin glared at him, even though she was keeping a giggle back herself.
Sasu-chan blushed and seemed a little flustered. "Can she stay for lunch Kaa-chan? She's been helping me train and I've gotten really good!" he gave an adorable smile and puppy-dog-eyes again.
"Kids a little operator," Seraphin muttered.
"You have no idea," Itachi muttered back.
"I don't see any reason why not. Welcome to our home Sera-san," Mikoto smiled widely at Raph. She knew exactly what her little boy was doing. Seraphin bowed to her.
"Thank you Uchiha-sama," Mikoto laughed.
"There's no need for such formality Sera-san. You may call me Mikoto, dear."
"Then please call me Sera." Seraphin was feeling the tension ease from her shoulders bit by bit. Mikoto just had that effect.
"All right Sera-chan. Sasu-chan, lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes, so why don't you show your guest around?" Sasu-chan cheered again and drug Seraphin off by the hand again. Itachi and Mikoto stayed behind.
"It's strange," Itachi said.
"What's strange Itachi?" Mikoto asked.
"She's an Uchiha, yet I've never seen her before. Plus Sasuke seems to have taken to her right away and usually he's shy around new people.."
"Mmm," Mikoto agreed. "She seems very sad though."
Itachi looked over at his mother. "How so?"
"No reason," she shrugged. "There's something about her eyes though." Mikoto walked back to her cooking and left Itachi to his thoughts. He walked outside to see Sasuke looking around for Seraphin: Obviously a game of hide and seek. He jumped up into the tree and looked for her from there but Itachi saw that his footing was off and began to run and catch him. Seraphin showed up right under him though and caught the descending boy. He seemed a little shaken but cheered right up when he saw who had caught him. Sasu-chan laughed and Itachi watched as a small smile crossed Seraphin's face. His mother right. There was something sad about the girl. She seemed a little shocked when Sasu-chan reached up and wrapped her in a hug. Her widened eyes quickly fell to half-mast as she wrapped her arms around the little boy.
They sat there and held onto each other. Itachi had a feeling that they were going to be very close in time.
"C'mon you two! Lunch is ready!" Itachi called and both walked into the house with Sasu-chan's arms still around her neck and her supporting him in her arms. They all sat down around the table as Mikoto walked in with steaming bowls. Seraphin helped Mikoto with the food and together they dug in to the most delicious meal she had had for a long time. The conversation was light.
"Your father should be home early tonight boys." Sasu-chan lit up at that, but Itachi gave a non-committal grunt. Seraphin had to agree.
"Will you stay to meet my Otou-san Sera-chi?" Sasu-chan's eyes weren't going to work this time. There was no way in hell that she was going to meet the bastard that had started all this pain and suffering. Damn the eyes though. She needed to find a way out of this fast before she broke down. Thankfully Mikoto stepped in.
"Sasu-chan, she can't spend every hour of the day with us. She probably has things to do." Sasu-chan pouted but nodded none the less.
"I'll tell you what," Seraphin said. "You go to the Shinobi Academy don't you?" He nodded.
"Yeah. Aniki even comes to pick me up everyday."
"Then I'll come by tomorrow with your brother and spend some time with you then. We'll even go training." Sasu-chan cheered and hugged her. Seraphin laid her hand on his back and rubbed. She caught the approving look on Itachi's face and the soft look on Mikoto's.
Excusing herself quickly Seraphin walked back out into the calm air of balmy summer. She took a deep breath and stopped the shaking of her traitorous heart. This was so messed up she couldn't comprehend the situation she had landed herself in. She could feel the fever overtake her body and the swelling sickness surge through her body as she suppressed Sasuke's sickness and took some of the strain onto her own body.
Seraphin started down the busy street of Uchiha central and walked away from the strings and surges of living happy families. This wasn't right. There should be no way that she could interact with the memories playing in Sasuke's head, almost like she was a part of them. That was impossible though. She and Imari may have been sent back into a feudal Japanese influenced version of the past that just so happened to be a popular show in her world, but she shouldn't be able to interact with memories.
Seraphin stopped just short of the entrance to the Uchiha Estate and put her knuckle to her mouth while she bit her lip. Brit would have recognized the look as Seraphin thinking hard on something she just couldn't quite grasp and would have known that the light that dawned in Seraphin's face was a show that she had figured her query out.
To Seraphin's mind there was only two options. This was either a hallucination that Sasuke had made to play in while his body was ravaged by fever and sickness and she had become apart of it due to her mingling her chakra with his, or she would somehow be sent to the past in the future. Phin chuckled a little bit at the thought of Imari's reaction to her saying that out loud. The little imp would probably have scratched her head, told Phin she was confusing and go on to tell her she needed something else to occupy her younger sister besides her own mind; no matter how entertaining to Imari Seraphin's mind was. Imari probably have suggested a boyfriend and suggested a guy she knew while Seraphin gave her skeptical looks and said no repeatedly.
Seraphin started walking again and shielded her eyes with her bangs. She missed Imari like a lost limb. Whenever things got really hard for her with her family or school or just life, Imari could bring her out of it by just being Imari. Seraphin knew with the conviction of fact, that she would have ended herself if Imari hadn't come along and saved her. Phin couldn't remember exactly how they had first met, but that seemed to be the way it happened with all of Phin's close friends over the years even if a few of them had turned out nasty and others had died. If she couldn't remember exactly how they met then they were going to be very important to Seraphin. It made it seem like they had been friends forever and Phin hoped that it stayed that way. Britt had been the only real constant in her life since they had met.
She could remember that Brittney had always had a smile on her face if the little scrapper hadn't been biting into someone who had been rude or disrespectful. She remembered thinking that the girl was way too happy and annoying. Not to mention that Britt's friend Shelby had irritated the shit out of her. Jena just resigned herself to knowing that Brittney was like a magnet to her and was sucked into the Mt. Dew and sour stuff enhanced high. Later she had found out that the happy face Britt had always portrayed was a mask just like her cold one. When the girl had first invited her to stay over Jena was already softening to her and had wanted very badly to get away from her own shitty home and run to a world where it was just her and Britterz. A place where they could have fun and just be themselves without their masks. The world that Brittney lived in was surprisingly similar to her own.
Jerk-off parents who would look but not see the suffering in their own child's eyes. Loss of people who had been the only sanity in your life. Pain, mistreatment, neglect and the hiding of the bad emotions so maybe they wouldn't hurt so much or feel so real. Brittney had lost her brother to his own despair. Jena's sister hated her guts and made sure she knew it. Brittney's mom wasn't paying enough attention to see Brittney's pain and her step-dad didn't give a shit. Jena's mom was causing her pain and her dad was too tired or stressed to pay attention. Whenever they brought the other over to their respective houses, it seemed like their parents were better at being parents to other people's kids.
Brittney had another brother who had problems of his own and ended up taking advantage of Brittney's heart. Jena had no one else to turn too after her sister threw her down the stairs. They both realized that were pretty much alone in the world and that it wasn't just going to magically change. There was no magic in the world except what they made for themselves and they'd damn well make their own way even if it meant dying. Death was a better alternative to where they were.
Somehow they had gotten thrown into each other's way and it seemed to have saved them. Jena knew now that she had been more than lonely in those days and as a result she had acted annoying and hyper at Brittney's house the first time. She was too loud and had been scolded several times by Britt for it. They'd sneaked cigarettes in her room. Her parents never checked anyway. That had struck Jena as invariably sad when she realized that it really was the truth. Brittney's parents wouldn't check or care. It made for a strange kind of camaraderie with Britt that Jena had never felt before. When they became closer it was like 'Ah, so this is what it feels like to have a real friend'. As Jena began to go there more often she kept stealing cigarettes from her father in order for them to have some when they were together. Britt did the same whenever she could. When Britt had brought her around other people, Jena had acted cold again and went out of her way to be a bitch. She wanted to reach out, to have more friends and people she could talk with, but she was terrified of them. She never really hated people for them being people, but more envied them for their lives that they seemed to live in a world she couldn't touch.
Brittney had a lot of friends. She had seemed to need them to escape her own reality and find any way out of the darkness she could find. Jena had closed her ears and her eyes to pretend to darkness didn't exist. She kept telling herself that she didn't need anyone. She was fine on her own. She suffered her mother's beatings in silence. Brittney had been the one to change that for her. When Jena had gone over with cuts all over her body she had told Britt that she had gotten into a fight or something like that, but she had a feeling that Brittney knew something bigger was wrong; that the cuts were either self-inflicted or something bigger was happening. She would have been right on both counts. Some of the wounds had been caused by Jena herself just to prove that she could control the pain; how much she felt and how much she didn't.
Jena had eventually stopped that by finding an outlet through Brittney. If she felt close to doing something like hurting herself, she'd call Britt and instantly everything would be better. Her parents had divorced before Jena met Britt and that had been a cause for some major upheaval in Jena's life. She had thought the abuse was normal, the pain was normal, even if she knew that what had happened was abuse and that it was wrong it was her family. Her family was normal and since the abuse was given out by her mother then it was normal too. The dysfunction was normal. So was the beatings, the emotional wars, the fights, the rapes. It was her family and they were still together so it was normal.
When her parents had finally divorced for good and it was final, she'd realized that all of that pain was definitely not normal. It wasn't okay and it wasn't right. That had almost completely destroyed Jena. The realization that what she had seen as her perfect foundation was cracked and sinking and turning to dust. On top of her mother getting with COPD and her beloved father getting Diabetes her world was almost destroyed. No matter what she had been feeling though she had played the role of the perfect, reasonably happy, severely intelligent and curious child who played hard and occasionally got in trouble. What Jena had been was an infallible actor. She didn't lie to her father per say. She'd just avoided or gave half-truths. Her mother though, that was completely different.
She could have written an entire book encompassing the lies she told that woman to escape beatings or make her mother think that everything was going her way, all the while Jena ran around under her nose and did what she wanted. In fourth grade Jena had gotten adept at forging her mother's signature and skipping school to go have a little freedom to herself or have time to treat her wounds. She had even gotten the school to change the number they called when Jena didn't show, telling them they'd switched services. The number they had was a number of an older woman Jena knew and had blackmailed into keeping silent. Well, older woman at that time had meant a teenager but still. Cellphones were wonderful.
All in all Jena had ended up getting a truancy and her freedom was cut short with her beatings extended. At that time Jena had still loved her mother and when a girl at school said it was Jena's fault her mother was sick during recess Jena cracked. She'd yelled back then walked away but the next part she wasn't proud of. The girl was known for sneaking out of school functions and going off on her own. The next field trip they'd had Jena had hit her on the head from behind, disorienting her enough for Jena to beat the shit out of her. The girl had been found eventually and everything was fine. She didn't know who had attacked her and was able to get back to a happy normal life. But Jena still saw the feral emotion behind that girl's eyes and knew that she was the one who had put that weariness of the world there.
Jena was disgusted with herself and that day deliberately disobeyed her mother to get beaten hard and punished. Afterwards Jena had still felt like scum.
Needless to say the girl had never strayed from the class again, and Jena's love for her mother started to dry. The abuse hadn't turned her malleable and small like it did to most people, but it made her inexplicably hard until Britt had come.
Brittney had dealt with her parents not caring for such a long time that it actually was the norm for her. She knew it wasn't right and really wanted a loving family but that didn't change the acceptance of the mistreatment. She never showed her real emotions to her parents and dutifully bowed her head and obeyed their orders. If she didn't then there was no chance for her to get out and breath. Jena didn't know if her parents had ever hit Brittney, but she knew what Britt said would happen. If her step-father had ever hit her mother Britt swore that she would put a stop to it but if he hit her she wouldn't do much but disappear. Jena had admired her for that conviction to get out. Britt did most of the time too, but the smudge of pain still followed Britt where ever she went and Jena felt like the only one who really saw it even when she was smiling. Britt always seemed to have a huge crack down the center of her where her late brother seemed to reside. If she held onto the pain and the hurt then her brother wasn't really gone.
Her other brother had his own way of dealing. He drank and did heavy drugs to cope with his own life. Britt tried so hard to help it very nearly killed her in the efforts not to loose someone else. Money, lying, pretending she hadn't seen anything, cleaning up after the fact all just incorporated itself into her life and felt like it had always been there. Being the child on the sidelines and being the maid afterward was just routine for Brittney. If anyone had looked at the two girl's lives they probably would have said Jena's life was much worse but they wouldn't have been right. Yeah, Jena's life sucked but she was able to accept all of it, put her shitkickers' on and fight her way to some space for herself. She still had nightmares from the rapes, but that much she knew really was normal. Jena's skin was rock hard and didn't allow for any maybes, or if onlys. Her life was her life and she was used to fighting. Brittney on the other hand had kept up whatever hope she could and that made every blow she took more painful than the last.
That bit of light and maybes and if onlys kept Britt going but caused so much damage she would have preferred it if someone would just hit her. At least then she knew the pain would eventually go away, but the emotional pain seemed to be constant and un-ending from the repeated smashes against her heart. Each individual ache collapsed together inside her to form one massive, throbbing wound. Still she kept hope that things would get better.
Her mom was doing a bit better now, and so was Jena's dad, but neither really trusted the parents that were making at least some effort to better their situation. As far as Britt's step-father and Jena's mother though? Fuck 'em, was the unanimous response.
Walking in the darkness that loneliness had caused seemed never ending. The landscape didn't change, there was no sun shining, all that surrounded the two girls as they walked endlessly was the abyss. They eventually knocked their skulls together in that dark place. They'd ran smack dab into something they couldn't see and the blindness and deafness had been knocked from the girls when they collided. Suddenly it seemed like 'Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you. It's alright now,' and it was.
They still had problems and it was a slightly rocky friendship for them at first, but now they were a part of the other and the smoothness in which they communicated made it seem like they had been doing it forever. Brittney meant being safe and happy to Jena.
The girl had pushed Jena into being more social and giving people a chance. She was better for it and still had a long way to go, but Britt had no problem pushing her along if for no other reason than her own entertainment. Thanks to Brittney though Jena was able to survive on her own without imitating a block of silent ice; even if Jena did get lonely again without Britt and sometimes felt the childish impulse to go running back to Britterz, crying about the scary people. And Britt knew that if she needed Jena all she had to do was reach out and Jena would move Heaven and Earth to get to her.
Jena wanted to be home already and be with the person who made home for her. Brittney was more than her best friend and more than her sister. No, Seraphin wasn't a lesbian and didn't have a crush or anything like that on her little imp of a friend. Seraphin chuckled thinking Britt would probably just laugh and make a joke about them getting married. No, Seraphin did love Brittney but the thought of them married made her be a little uncomfortable. She had no problem with people being gay or bi or whatever as long as they didn't hit on Seraphin. Britt had made jokes about it and ran her hands up Jena's thighs then laughed at the cat with it's claws in the ceiling expression on Jena's face.
Britt was the one person Jena could honestly say had the power to destroy her will to live. Life wasn't worth it without someone to call her 'Bunny' every five seconds.
Seraphin chuckled again and pulled herself back into the present of her current world, only to run smack dab into someone. She acted on instinct and flipped backward to draw out a kunai. Her fighting focus toned down into a blank mask when she realized that the person she had run into was Uchiha Fugaku. She put her kunai away and bowed just enough to be polite with a murmured apology.
"Who are you?" he asked rudely. Seraphin couldn't help what came out of her mouth next.
"With all do respect it's polite to give your own name before asking someone else's." She walked around him and fully intended on ignoring him but he grasped her arm. She turned back with a cool stare.
"I am Uchiha Fugaku, Head of the Uchiha Clan. Now who might you be? I know you aren't an Uchiha from your coloring and every Uchiha knows who I am."
Seraphin raised a brow. Arrogant much? she thought.
"I'm Uchiha Sera."
Fugaku huffed. "You are not an Uchiha. Now what is your real name?"
Seraphin flashed her Sharingan at him and he dropped her arm quickly. "I do not lie Uchiha-sama. If I say I am an Uchiha than that's what I am."
Fugaku sobered and gave her a hard stare. "Where are your parents?"
"Dead. An old couple near the waterfall village raised me and I only recently found out about my heritage. To answer your questions quickly I am now a member of the Shinobi here and no I have no idea why I have such strange coloring."
Fugaku seemed mildly impressed with her straight forward attitude. "What is your rank child?"
She needed to stay close to Sasu-chan and Itachi so apparently she needed 'Daddy's' approval. "I was forced to start as a Genin though I know that my strength is higher. I would be happy to give you a demonstration against anyone Uchiha-sama."
He raised a brow at her. "Why are you so eager to show your skills?"
Seraphin held back a mental sigh. "I was told that the Uchiha fan is a symbol of strength and honor. A sign that represents fanning the flames of justice, hence the Uchiha police. Plus you are the head of the clan and in order to be a true Uchiha I need to have your approval since I have such strange coloring. I came across a stone nin on my way here. He was carrying some sensitive information about the Uchiha clan."
Fugaku sneered at her. "What makes you think I'm interested about what a Stone Nin carried?"
"Magenkyo. Black flames," was all she said and got a dropped mouth out of him. "If someone was able to obtain that kind of info, you need every loyal, strong, and capable nin you can get. Especially one trained in stealth like me."
Fugaku seemed to consider this and nodded. "All right. I will test your skills. I will put you against Uchiha Shisui-"
"No. Put me against Itachi."
"How do you know of my son?"
"He's a legend. Also I ran into him today looking for you. He was suspicious of me just like you were, Uchiha-sama." Seraphin sighed at just that right point. "There was also something else that the Stone Nin carried. It was about your plans for the village." Phin hid her eyes under her bangs and watched him. Sweat trickled down his cheek.
"I could have you killed."
She looked up with her Sharingan blazing and sent the murderous look into him. The same one she used on her assassination missions; the one that earned her the name Cursed Cat besides her jutsu. "But you wouldn't. Itachi won't be able to beat me, and you know the advantage of having someone like me on your side. I want to be on your side Uchiha-sama." She dropped her Sharingan and sent a pleading look into his face. He seemed to soften and was ready to agree. This was way too easy. Fugaku nodded.
"I will give you a chance against my son. If you can beat him, I will allow you to become a part of our ranks." Seraphin schooled her face into a blank expression and bowed low while gritting her teeth.
"Thank you Uchiha-sama."
He nodded at her subservience. "Follow me to my home."
She did as she was told and walked two paces behind him. She hid a cocky smirk behind a small cough that was actually meant to help contain giggles. Seraphin was studying Fugaku all the way to his house. He had a balanced walk and an air of authority, but he'd gotten soft from all his delegating. All of the other Uchiha's gave curious looks to the girl that walked with their revered leader. Seraphin ignored them.
When they reached the manor she took off her shoes and the walked into the dining room she had been in not thirty minutes ago.
"Dear, I didn't think you would be home for a while yet," Mikoto rushed out. Sasu-chan and Itachi both bowed their heads with a murmured 'Father' and kept their silence otherwise.
"I ran into someone interesting on my way to other business. Itachi you are going to spar with her to test her strength." Fugaku said expecting his orders to be followed without question.
"Her?" Itachi said and Fugaku stepped back to reveal Seraphin. She mouthed a 'Sorry' to him and he rolled his eyes as if to say it always happened like this.
"Sera-chi?" Sasu-chan said.
"You're acquainted?" Fugaku raised his brow at her.
"As I said, Itachi-sama and Sasuke-sama ran into me on the street and wanted to keep an eye on me as Itachi-sama was suspicious. They invited me here for lunch and I accepted in order for them to understand that I am not a threat. Forgive me for not telling you this sooner Uchiha-sama. I did not see the relevance since I could hardly cause trouble with so many Uchiha's around and Itachi-sama watching me. I will disclose all information in the future," she bowed and Fugaku hmmp'd. She looked back at the other Uchihas and saw the smirk on Itachi's face. She could see he was impressed with her maneuvering of his father.
"Just don't do it again." Fugaku muttered and turned back to his son. "Come Itachi. You will spar with Sera." Itachi nodded and all three got up and followed Fugaku and Phin out. Itachi hung back with Phin.
"Nicely done," he said low enough for only her to hear.
"I thought so," she whispered back. She looked down as Sasu-chan grabbed onto her hand and smiled. She gave a smile back and his little hand a small squeeze. Everyone walked out into the training area of the Uchiha Compound and while Sasu-chan, Mikoto, and Fugaku stood on the sidelines, Itachi and Seraphin took their places in the field. They faced one another and waited for the signal from Fugaku. "I'll tell you now Itachi. If you want to give me a fair fight, I suggest you come at me to kill." Her eyes and voice chilled dramatically.
"Begin!' Fugaku called and both shot at the other, their kunai meeting in the air. They pushed off one another and shot back to their original positions. Each waited for the other to move. Itachi did first and called out his fireball jutsu. He sent it sailing at her and Seraphin dropped her guard.
Sasu-chan looked at his mother and said, "Isn't she going to move Kaa-chan?!" Everyone looked on in horror as Phin made no move to dodge. She drew a huge gulp of air into her lungs and let out a shattering scream that split to fireball into two and went around her. "Wow," Sasu-chan squeaked out.
Itachi made several clone and all of them circled her. One shot a kunai forward but she didn't move and it sliced her shoulder. She closed her eyes and disappeared only for those on the sidelines to see all the clones evaporate and the next second to see Phin kick Itachi into a tree.
Itachi's Sharingan turned on and his stance changed.
"He's serious now," Fugaku said. Sasu-chan looked up at his father then back to the fight. Phin put her kunai away and drew out her Naginata.
"Are you ready now?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Then show me what you got."
Both vanished and all anyone could hear was clashing metal, only seeing bit and pieces of dirt and trees being demolished. The two showed up again in a dead-lock between Itachi's Katana and Phin's Naginata. Phin jumped back and sent some kunai at him which gave her some distance between them.
Her foot landed and vines shot out of the ground to wrap around her body and constrict her.
"Stop playing around," Itachi said and Phin smirked.
"Very well," her form was no longer there and Itachi looked left and right, trying to find her. He couldn't sense her at all. Fugaku was stumped as well. Phin shot out of the trees and threw a punch at him, only for him to turn into a log. She looked around and felt nothing. He was good. She gave a smirk and cocked back her fist.
"What's she doing?" Sasu-chan asked, but no one was able to answer as Phin slammed her fist into the ground and everything split apart. Itachi was just barely able to get out of the rubble before being crushed.
Smoke and dirt rose up into the air and the people on the sidelines covered their faces to keep grit out of their eyes. When the dust cleared they saw Phin standing their with her Naginata pressed to Itachi's throat.
"I win."
Seraphin withdrew her weapon and put it away in a flash. She reached a hand down and helped the mud logged Itachi to his feet.
"She didn't even use her Sharingan," Sasu-chan heard his father say and looked at the girl in wonder.
"Nest time we spar it'll be away from the village, and neither of us will hold back" Phin smirked and received one back.
"Deal," they clasped hands to elbows and smiled then broke apart when Sasu-chan ran up and latched onto their legs.
"You two were awesome! I hope I get to be as strong as you guys some day!' The little boy seemed over joyed that his now two favorite people had God like strength. It didn't even seem to matter that Itachi had lost to a girl.
"Well done Sera-chan," Mikoto said going over to them. "Itachi needs someone as strong as you to spar with. Not to mention take his ego down a few pegs," Itachi shot his mother an annoyed look while Phin gave a cheeky grin and Sasu-chan laughed.
"You've proven your strength Sera," Fugaku said and everyone instantly sobered. "You will be Itachi's sparring partner from now on and I will make arrangements for you to be on his team." With that said he turned and walked away. Mikoto gave Phin a large smile and followed her husband. Sasu-chan, Itachi, and Phin stayed where they were.
"Did I just get an approval from your old man or what?" Itachi put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair in a brotherly manner. "Oi!"
"Congrats, you just entered the Uchiha Clan," he smirked and rubbed her head harder.
"Oi! Knock it off ya Neanderthal!" she snapped.. Itachi wrapped her in a head-lock and gave her a knuckle sandwich. Sasu-chan fell to the floor laughing, holding his sides and kicking out his feet. "Sasu-chan!" she whined. "Help me!"
The young Uchiha pulled himself off the ground and tackled both of them. They fell into a heap laughing. "Evil little twip!" Phin cheered and started tickling the dickens out of Sasu-chan. The little boy ended up kicking Itachi in the side and both collapsed in mocking laughter as Itachi pretended to howl in pain.
He got an evil look on his face and started for the two on the ground. "Uh oh!" they said at the same time and Phin hauled Sasu-chan's arms around her neck and took off. Itachi followed close behind and eventually tackled them all to the ground again. He tickled them mercilessly until they both gave up. They couldn't breath. "Get 'em!!!" Sasu-chan shouted and he tackled Itachi. He tickled his brother all around while Phin held him down.
They all fell into the grass and looked up into the clouds, just talking. Night descended before they knew it and Phin help Itachi get a sleepy Sasuke onto his back to get home. They walked back and the stars were out before they reached the Manor. Sasuke was sound asleep so Itachi and her exchanged quiet good-byes and went their separate ways.
Seraphin found a tree just outside the compound and fell asleep quickly. She was so confused about how this place could seem so real, but for now she'd just go with it.
Sasuke was impatiently waiting for school to end. He wanted to see his Sera-chi. Sasu-chan smiled and blushed a bit. In his mind she really was his Sera-chi. He'd grow big and strong and protect her always and they'd never be apart. Him, and Sera-chi and Aniki always.
He barely noticed the bell had rung until he heard the ridiculous squealing of his fan-girls. They were all so stupid, not anything at all like his Sera-chi. He ran out quickly to avoid them and was almost to the door when he was tackled by them. He was squished in a mass of screaming girls. 'Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!' rang in his head until he couldn't discern anything else.
"Oi!" he heard a voice bark and all of a sudden he could breath. He looked up to see all of the girls had backed into a corner and were shivering. Sasu-chan looked the other way to see his Sera-chi glaring a hole into them. She didn't seem amused at all. Sasu-chan scrambled up and ran to her side to grab her hand. She gave it a reassuring squeeze and looked over the girls with a frosty glare. "I suggest you don't do that again or I'll be force to speak with all of your parents."
"W-who are you?" one of the little girls squeaked out.
Sasu-chan was the one who spoke. "She's my Sera-chi!" he said proudly and gave a smile that made the little girls' hearts melt. Phin picked him up and poked his nose to make him laugh. He reached behind her head and undid her bun, letting her knee length hair fall out. "You shouldn't put your hair up. I like your long hair down."
Well, now Jena knew the basis of that rumor. Still, it warmed something in her chest when Sasu-chan called her his Sera-chi.
"Ready to go rescue your Aniki?" Sasu-chan nodded and they walked out to see Itachi in crowd much the same way Sasuke was. "This is ridiculous," she muttered and smacked her forehead. If only Britt could see this, she thought. She barked at them the same way she had at the little girls and froze them all with a murderous glare. "I am sick and tired of you twits messing with these two."
"Oh yeah? And who are you to tell me what we can and can't do?!" one snobbed out. They weren't terrified like the little girls, but they were uneasy. Seraphin used her Sharingan and stared them all down.
"I'm an Uchiha," her voice was demonic. All of the girls backed off and Itachi got through them to walk over and subtly hide behind Phin. They began walking out and Phin couldn't help but look for her brother. He wasn't anywhere to be seen, so Phin shrugged it off. When they were almost to the compound Seraphin shot Itachi a smirk. "Imagine that. Big bad Itachi has to hide behind little ol' me to survive his fan-girls." He cuffed her over the head and crossed his arms. Sasu-chan and Phin gave his cheeky grins. "Since I saved you, both of you," she said looking down at Sasu-chan while he blushed from embarrassment, "you should treat me."
"What do you want?" Itachi muttered.
"Ice cream."
"Ice cream?" Sasu-chan perked up.
"Yup. Ice cream. What'd ya say Itachi?" The older Uchiha sighed and nodded. Sasu-chan bounced up and down in Phin's arms as they all headed to one of the stands. Many people waved or stared as they passed and Phin couldn't help but get annoyed.
It was surprising to her that she felt so calm with these two after so short a time. Meh. She blamed it on the cuteness of the chibi in her arms.
"I can walk you know. I don't need to be carried Sera-chi," he was trying to be more grown up and Phin found it adorable. She didn't want to set him down in the market place during rush hour though.
"But I like carrying you. It keeps you close," she nuzzled his cheek and he giggled.
"All right. I guess it's okay if it makes you happy," Sasu-chan blushed.
"Thank you so much Sasu-chan," she hugged him tight and kissed his cheek. He blushed harder and nodded, staying in a half-dreamy state.
"Now who's the operator," Itachi whispered and Phin cheerfully elbowed him in the ribs with her happy smile never wavering.
"Careful Itachi. You're paying," she sent him a bright smile.
His eyebrow twitched and he said in a mock scathing tone, "you must have been a wolf in another life."
She gave her best impression of a wolfish smile and henge'd red ears and a tail onto herself much to Sasu-chan's delight and Itachi's amusement. They all chuckled and Phin left her extra attachments on because Sasu-chan asked her to.
The ice cream was really good. Phin got her ultimate weakness of chocolate, while Itachi got mint chocolate chip and Sasu-chan got a double scoop of vanilla. He was sitting on her lap and happily dripping ice cream on her legs.
"Sasu-chan you know that's gonna make my legs sticky." She looked over at Itachi's blush and snicker. "Pervert," she muttered and made him snicker louder.
Sasu-chan got down and licked a drip off her leg. "There! Now you won't be sticky and I didn't waste any!" he smiled winningly and didn't notice the little shiver that had gone up Phin's spine. Itachi did though and almost collapsed in laughter. Her henge ears and tail were twitching.
"C'mon you two. We probably need to go back to the compound," she said looking up at the approaching storm clouds. The boy's nodded and Itachi loaded up his little brother onto his back. They raced across the roofs and landed in front of the manor home just in time to avoid the rain. They said their good-byes and Phin went to find a hollow tree to hide in.
She searched for some time but couldn't find a place to hide. Seraphin was getting soaked and cold and just decided 'Screw it!' to go hide in one of the higher branches. She settled down and felt shivers rack her body. Sasuke's fever was completely taken in by her chakra and she fell into a delirious state. Everything went black.
'I'm really getting tired of passing out,' was her last thought.
Intrusive sunlight hit her face early in the morning. Cursing the impatient Amaterasu she attempted to roll onto her side, but then Phin remembered that she was supposedly resting in a tree and stopped. It was strange though. The forest usually didn't smell like vanilla. She felt something cool touch her forehead and something else settle against her side.
Thinking automatically in battle terms, she grabbed the cool thing on her head and flipped it over too the left and tossed a kunai at it then grabbed the thing beside her and held a kunai to it's throat. Seraphin opened her eyes to see little Sasu-chan freaking out under her kunai and Itachi crashed into the wall with a kunai by his head.
"Oh. Oops," she withdrew her kunai from Sasu-chan's throat and settled back onto her butt. "What are you guys doing in my...tree?" she finished slowly as Phin finally looked around. "What am I doing here?"
"Do you wake up like that every morning?" Itachi said with a barely hidden quaver in his voice.
"Yup," Phin dead-panned and both boys fell back to the ground. "If you'd just called my name instead of touching me while I was asleep this wouldn't have happened." She turned her back on them and crossed her arms. It wasn't too much longer before Sasu-chan crawled in her lap.
"Are you mad at me?" he whimpered. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him.
"Naw. I'm not mad at you Sasu-chan. You're brother on the other hand," she said pinning Itachi with a no nonsense look, "he should have known better."
"My bad, my bad," he muttered with his hands raised in surrender.
"Why am I here any way?" she asked.
"Otou-san brought you home with him when he was coming from work. You wouldn't wake up no matter what I did and you were really hot." Sasu-chan said to her.
"You had a severe fever and were soaked to the bone," Itachi said. He gave Seraphin the no nonsense look this time. "What were you doing in a tree in that weather? Why didn't you just go home?"
Seraphin sighed and lifted Sasu-chan off her lap and raise to her feet. "Technically that was home. So, thanks for taking care of me. I feel much better. Buh-bye!" she said in a rush and bolted out the door.
"Hey!" the Uchiha brothers yelled and gave chase. "Get back here Sera!" Itachi yelled.
"Not on your life!" she yelled back. They chased her all around the house as she was looking for the front door. The game ended abruptly in the kitchen as Mikoto snagged Phin's ear. "Ow! Lemme go! Lemme go!"
"You should be resting young lady," she glared at Phin and made her gulp. "Why were you in that tree during a storm?"
Phin stayed silent but Sasu-chan spoke up. "She said that's her home."
"Traitor," Phin muttered. Mikoto gasped and wrenched Phin's ear. "OW OW OW!!!"
"Why didn't you tell us you had no place to stay?!" Mikoto blasted into Phin's face. "We would have let you stay here until you found some place!"
Phin wrenched her ear away and yelled back. "I'm used to being alone! I don't have any family to take care of me!"
"Then why didn't you tell us?!"
"I don't take charity! I do things on my own and never rely on other people! That's the fast track to getting yourself hurt! If you have no one but yourself you can't afford to do otherwise! You deal with your own sickness and fight for everything you have!"
Mikoto gave her a very sad look. "You don't have to fight anymore."
"It's something you can't change," Phin muttered. Sasu-chan ran up to her and pulled her head close to his. "Wha-'
He smacked her. Hard.
Phin turned shocked eyes to the little boy with tears in his eyes. "We want to take care of you. We'll be your family Sera-chi!" he started full out balling and ran out of the house. Phin sighed and rubbed her head.
"I screwed up this time didn't I?" her voice was subdued.
Mikoto nodded. "Yes you did. But you know how to fix it don't you?"
"Yeah. I guess I do."
Just then Fugaku came in. "I heard everything."
Phin was immediately proper and polite. "Sir, I can ex-
He cut her off with a look. "Oh? You can explain why I had a young and very sick girl fall into my arms on my way home?" he raised a brow.
"I apologize for that sir. I-"
"No. There is no excuse for not taking proper care of yourself. You will stay here until I say otherwise, and as payment taking care of Sasuke and being his tutor in the Shinobi arts should be sufficient. You may not slack on your missions or sparring with Itachi either."
Phin smiled and bowed. "Yes sir. I will not fail you."
Fugaku nodded. "Now go find my youngest son."
"Yes sir," Phin nodded and ran out. Mikoto walked over to her husband and kissed his cheek then walked out as well.
Fugaku and Itachi let out twin sighs of relief.
"The women of this family scare me," Itachi muttered and his father nodded in agreement.
Outside, the air smelled fresh and clean. There was nothing better than a good storm to Seraphin. She walked around to the lake and found Sasuke sitting on the dock. He looked miserable and Phin kicked herself for putting that look on his face. She walked over to him and stopped just beside him. He looked back at her briefly then turned away.
"Hey. Can I sit here?" she asked quietly. Sasuke shrugged and Phin sat beside him. "I'm sorry Sasu-chan. I really am. I didn't mean-"
"Why do you have to be alone?!" he burst out, shocking her for the second time that day.
"I just always have been Sasuke."
He stood up and grabbed her shirt by her neck, shaking her. "But you aren't now! You have me and Aniki and Kaa-chan!" He leaned his head down and Phin saw tears drip onto the dock. "You aren't alone now," he whispered and dropped his hands.
"Oh Sasuke," she raised up and brought him over to curl in her lap. "It's hard to change how you've been for so long." She rocked back and forth. "You know how you've always had your mother and brother there for you no matter what?" Sasuke nodded. "You know that you have people to rely on and be with no matter what cause they've always been with you. I never had that. No one picked me up when I fell or rocked me when I cried. If I had a nightmare no one was there to tell me that there was no such thing as monsters in the closet or that a storm was just nature's way of making music. No one was there for me," until Imari, she silently added.
He sniffled. "But it's different now. You have us."
"I know I do. I know that now," she corrected and sighed. "It's going to be difficult for me to change. Will you help me?" He nodded.
"I'm sorry I hit you," he said into her chest.
"It's okay. I needed a wake up call anyway. I'll tell you what," she pulled him back just enough to look into his face. "You can hit me whenever you think I'm getting stuck in my old ways and I'll help you with whatever training you want. Promise?"
"Promise."
Phin smiled and rubbed his tears away. "Are you going to smile for me?" He gave her a watery one and latched on around her neck. Seraphin stood up and rubbed his back. Phin finally gave in and buried her face in his little neck. He smelled fresh and clean and she knew that scent would stay with her always. It was a smell that she would take out when she really was alone again. Seraphin had no illusions. She knew that Imari couldn't always be there, that Kakashi had his own life, Naruto would go training with Jaraiya, Sakura would train with Tsunade, and if she couldn't help it, Sasuke would leave to Orochimaru. Somewhere in her heart she knew that there was no way Sasuke would be stopped. Even if she took away his curse mark or broke every bone in his body, he would leave her too.
"We should probably go back in now," Sasuke said and leaned back. "Kaa-chan will be worried."
"You go on. I'm going to stay here for a bit," Phin set Sasuke on his feet and nudged him along.
"You won't go away?" he asked suspiciously.
"No, I won't go away. I just want a little time to breath before your mom smothers me in care," she smiled. He nodded and as soon as he was out of sight, her fake smile dropped. She turned back to the lake and dove in. She felt her eyes sting and dove deeper with every stroke.
Looking around her under water prison she found some peace. Curious fish swam towards her and darted away just as suddenly. Phin swam to the bottom and laid there, creating a chakra bubble around her mouth to breath.
For a long time she just watched the sun play across the water and let the currents drift over her. Life seemed to stop and it was just what she needed. Her eyes still stung, but she hadn't cried in so long she knew it was just the water getting to her eyes.
Phin let the water take her wherever it wanted her to go. Eventually, she fell asleep.
A ripple came over her and she was instantly awake. Itachi and Sasuke swam down beside her and hooked her arms to bring her up. She let herself be towed and helped support Sasuke when they reached the surface.
"What're you doing?!" Itachi yelled as soon as he could. "You may have had a hard time but killing yourself isn't the answer!"
"Dumb ass. I was training."
"How is that training?" Sasuke asked.
"If you let a bubble of chakra cover your mouth and filter it the right way, you can breath under water. How long ago did you go inside Sasu-chan?"
"About three hours," he said as he clung to her neck.
"I've been down there ever since."
"Wow," he said. Itachi sighed and started swimming back to shore. Phin just climbed up on the surface and carried Sasuke back. "This is so cool!" he cheered. Itachi looked back just in time for Phin to step on his head and dunk him under. She and Sasuke ran back to shore laughing while Itachi fumed.
Yeah, Phin would savor this for as long as she could.
Sasu-chan walked into his house the next day and found Phin sitting by a tree in the courtyard. He giggled and tip toed toward the sleeping girl. Sasuke decided not to scare her and just laid his head on her lap. He was sleepy anyway and he didn't think Phin would mind being an impromptu pillow for him. She was really warm and he curled in closer. Sasuke fell asleep with the scent of snow and vanilla filling his nose.
Phin opened her eyes to look down at the little boy on her lap. Rubbing her forehead she forced back any doubts she had. God help her for sounding like a pedophile but seeing this smaller version of Sasuke made her balk at the thought of leaving the older one. She picked him up off the grass and leaned him against her chest and wrapped her arm around him for support.
Back when her mom had really loved her, she had stroked Phin's hair back when she just wanted to be close. Phin's heart ached as she thought of a time when her blood sister had snuggled down with their mom. Phin had wanted to lay with them too, and feel like their family was whole. She'd tried but they had pushed her away. Jena stroked Sasuke's hair back and held him closer to her body.
Was being family too much to ask for? she thought. Was loving us equally too hard or did you and Dad need to switch off Mom? Why did you hate me so much? She curled her knees up in an unconscious act to protect Sasuke as these thoughts ran through her head. A lump expanded in her throat and she swallowed hard to keep the obstruction from causing more pain. Sasuke was like a balm for her soul. Having someone just love her for who she was, not because of what she could bring them or what she had done for them, mattered more than Phin had thought. Imari danced into her thoughts. Yeah, Imari had done the same thing for her, but Jena felt so lonely when she wasn't with Britt. When Brittney had moved farther away or spent time with one of her boyfriends and didn't really have a lot of time she could give Jena the younger girl ended up feeling like her only real family was being taken away. Jena knew that it wasn't realistic for her to spend all of her time with Brittney, and she knew that Britt wouldn't be happy doing nothing but catering to Jena's emotional needs. Only, Jena couldn't help but feel like that. It was childish and selfish for Jena to think like that and admonished herself for feeling it every time. She just couldn't help it.
Phin deliberately focused on something else to banish the thoughts steeped in sadness. It would stay in her heart, but if she could cover them up with others then it was all right. Jena was very good at disappearing, and even better at hiding, transforming into her alter ego; Seraphin.
She just wanted to be normal and have a happy life with her family. A life where there was no fighting and no sickness and no hate is what she wanted.
But that would never happen.
There was hate and there was sickness. Masks and shields and selfishness tore her family apart and Phin knew that she had a part in it. Oh, her parent's marriage falling apart was in no way her fault, but during the divorce she let herself be pushed around by both parents, never thinking on what she wanted for herself.
Phin sighed and watched the clouds pass overhead. It didn't matter anymore. She was where she needed to be and she'd be damned if she let this opportunity pass her by. She gently shook Sasuke awake and smiled when his sleepy eyes focused on her.
"Hey, you wanna do some training?" she asked. His eyes lit up and he back flipped off her and cheered.
"Can we go right now?!" he eagerly asked.
"Yeah. First thing to do in work or your endurance. Try to keep up!" she yelled and jumped onto the roof. Sasuke followed her and together they ran all around the village with Phin gradually increasing her speed. She made him go for three hours and finally dropped into a training field. He plopped down on his back beside her. "On your feet Sasuke. Now," she ordered. The little Uchiha dragged himself onto his feet and panted at her. "Hand to hand training is one of the most important things for a Shinobi. When they have no weapons and their chakra is low, what is the one thing they can rely on Sasuke?"
"Their hand to hand training," he wheezed.
"Good. Show me the basics you know." He ran through basic katas with Phin correcting his stance here and there and adding small tips to help him out. His form improved greatly in a short time. "Very good Sasuke. Spar with me a little," he nodded.
They squared off and went slow for the first part. He had no strategy or sense of placement whatsoever. "Sasuke, when I come at you from the front what do you do?" she yelled at him while they spared.
"I try to counter with a round-house."
"Wrong! Straight front-kick to increase distance. Round-houses after you have an advantage. What do you do when someone throws a punch at your face and you can't block?"
"I duck."
"Wrong!" He threw a punch at her. "You slide around, secure and disable their arm, then back hand them!" Seraphin's point was made as she showed him exactly what to do, using him as a training dummy. He was smacked a ways away. "Now Sasuke," she said walking up to him, "what do you do when it seems like the enemy has you beaten, you're on the ground beaten and bloody, and you have barely any strength left?"
"I don't know."
"You get back up and fight harder!" Phin screamed and tossed Sasuke into a stream. He came up sputtering and charged her. She caught his punch and blocked his kick then spun him around and kicked his back. "Good."
He continued to attack her with everything he had and the sparring went for several more hours. Sasuke finally dropped to the ground in a heap of battered flesh, panting. Phin healed his bruises and hurts, restoring some of his chakra, but left his aching muscles alone. He'd need the pain resistance and determination to get up in the morning as more training. She lifted him onto her back and Sasuke groaned.
"Are we done?"
"Yes. For today," he whimpered and she chuckled. "We're going to be training like this as much as possible Sasuke. You want to be strong and I want to see that you are. At this rate you'll be the best genin in the academy." He smiled and rested his head on her neck as they walked down the street toward his house.
"Do you really think that?"
"I don't have to think it. That's what is going to happen." Her smile was genuine. "You're going to have some food and go straight to bed after a bath. Are we clear?"
"Yeah. I think bed is the only one I'm up for though."
"Trust me buddy. As soon as you smell that food you're going to be up for so much more."
She was right. When they walked in to smell his Mother's cooking, his stomach rumbled out it's appreciation.
"Fooood," he moaned when Phin walked into the dining room. Itachi and Mikoto chuckled as Fugaku raised a brow.
"What happened to you Otouto?" Itachi snickered. Seraphin set Sasuke into his place and took hers beside him. Sasuke dug into the plate before him.
"Training," he mumbled out past his food and was immediately chastised by his mother and Phin.
"I don't remember the Academy wearing me out when I was there," Itachi said and snickered. "Is it getting too hard for you Otouto?" Sasuke shot him a 'You gotta be kidding me' look.
"The Academy is cake compared to what I just went through. Sera-chi is merciless!" he cried.
"And you're doing it again tomorrow," Phin said serenely around her milk glass. Sasuke winced but didn't protest.
Itachi chuckled. "So the girl is giving the almighty Sasuke a run for his money?"
Phin raised a brow and gave Itachi the most blood thirsty eyes she had. "Careful Itachi. You're next." Mikoto chuckled as Itachi paled.
"You can't be serious."
"Oh but I am," she smirked. "And you're older. I can pummel you into the ground way deeper than I did Sasuke." Sasuke snickered into his food this time. Phin shot him a look. "Although I can change my mind." Sasuke whipped into his food with gusto. Fugaku shook his head in amusement.
"This is sad. You two are so easily cowed by her."
"Oh? Would you like to go a round with her Dear?" Mikoto cheerfully asked. She and Phin giggled with Fugaku cleared his throat and looked away.
"There is something I would like to ask you Sera," Fugaku said.
"Yes Sir?" She turned all of her attention to him.
"What exactly are you teaching them?"
"We're starting with basics. Hand to hand only with endurance and stamina training thrown in."
"Wouldn't it be better to show them some higher moves?"
"No Sir. If you don't have the basics down then any higher moves are unstable and possibly dangerous to the person trying to execute the move. For example," she stood up and moved just outside the open doors of the dining room; they overlooked the courtyard. "If you tried something like this," she back flipped in the air and let loose three shuriken at a tree, "first you would need to know how to jump in order to get enough air to flip. Otherwise you'd just belly flop. And if you didn't know how to toss a shuriken you could severely cut your hand or hit a comrade."
Fugaku nodded as she took her seat. "I see, treat them well."
"I will Sir."
Days passed quickly after that. Phin was sitting on a roof when she saw Itachi almost loose it on his family over the death of Uchiha Shisui. He was only stopped when Sasuke ran out. She knew that the Massacre was coming soon.
Itachi walked off to stand on a hill in solitude. Phin appeared in a tree just above him.
"I know what's going on Itachi. You're going to kill the Clan soon."
"Yes. I'm not surprised you know."
"You can't do it alone."
"No. Not and survive myself."
"I'll disguise myself as you, and help. I love the village and Sasuke too Itachi."
"Yeah. I'm the one who's going to be blamed."
"Yes."
"Promise me something?"
"Anything."
"Take care of Sasuke."
"Always."
"We strike tonight."
They both disintegrated into smoke and that night Phin prepared herself to drown in blood. She called Imari to her side and together all three took off to slaughter an entire clan. Phin took care of the West. Imari took out the East. Itachi killed everyone else. Imari left with tears running down her face, but Phin reminded her that this wasn't real. Imari agreed but they both knew this experience would stay on their shoulders forever. Seraphin heard Sasuke scream and dropped her henge. She took off to where she heard the screaming and found Sasuke jumping over the Uchiha Compound's main gate after Itachi.
He let some kunai fly but Itachi dodged. Phin shot forward and wrapped Sasuke in her arms airborne. He fell limp into her chest and succumbed to unconsciousness. He was still crying holes into her shirt.
"I'll take care of the rest Itachi. It's time for you to run." They faced each other and both saw the regret and pain of the others.
"I wish I could have at least spared my mother."
"I know. I do too."
Itachi turned away and prepared to ghost into the night. "Goodbye Sera."
"No Itachi. Not goodbye."
He disappeared and Phin turned to go back in the compound. She slashed across her own chest diagonally, putting a knick on her cheek as well. Itachi had beaten her up earlier to make her story more convincing. She hid herself and Sasuke in a small hiding place under the floorboards of a shed. They stayed there for the rest of the night, before Phin heard voices and shouts outside. The calvary had arrived a little too late.
Phin waited it out, knowing they'd have some trackers with them and they would be found before too long. She curled around Sasuke and protected him from the cold with her body. The hole they were in was barely big enough for them to fit in. It was getting uncomfortable. The boards lifted up and Phin shot a shuriken out at them as she switched her weapon for a kunai. She held it in a defense position and waited for them to come.
"Wait! We're here to rescue you!" a manly voice called and Kakashi leaned over the opening. Phin forced tears to run down her face and whimpered. She felt Sasuke stir and looked down at him. He opened his eyes briefly to look up at her.
"Sera-chi," his voice was so lost. Phin held him tighter and rocked.
"We're safe now Sasu-chan. We're safe," he nodded and slipped back under. She allowed Kakashi to help her out, but she wouldn't release Sasuke. Kakashi picked her and Sasuke up to bring them to the hospital.
"Are you hurt?"
"Not seriously."
"What about him?"
"He's fine. I took care of the couple of hurts he had myself." Kakashi nodded, even though she couldn't see.
"What's your name?"
"Uchiha Sera."
"All right Sera-chan. Who did this?"
Phin pretended to start slipping into sleep. "Uchiha...Itachi. I couldn't save the...others."
"You did good, child. You did good. I'm just glad you were able to get away." She fell entirely into her fake sleep. Kakashi got her to a hospital, but when they tried to take Sasuke away from her she didn't let go. They worked around the boy to heal her as much as they could and laid them on a bed, then covered them with warm blankets. Sasuke snuggled in and Phin settled him on her chest with her back against the back board. He curled in tight and Phin held on; ignoring the sting of her wounds. A doctor came in and looked her over and she allowed him to put bandages around her chest and on her face. She didn't let her charge go though.
The doctor tried to get her to release Sasuke and move to a different bed, but Phin pulled a kunai on him.
"If you try anything I'll kill you," she growled.
"Now, now, you don't want to do that." Kakashi walked in.
"If he tries to take Sasu-chan from me one more time I will."
The Jounin nodded and pushed the doctor out. She heard him tell the man that he had better do as she said. Kakashi had no doubt she would kill the doctor. He came back in and sat on the chair beside the bed. His gray eye crossed over the boy on her lap and the protective hands she kept on him. "I need you to tell me what happened."
Phin sighed. "I came home late. I was training out in a field and something didn't seem right so I went into the Compound carefully. I saw all the bodies around and I'm not ashamed to say I was sick. I heard screaming and ran toward it. Sasu-chan was running from Itachi and I intervened. He passed out and I fought Itachi after I got Sasu-chan out of the way. It was obvious I was loosing and so I created mass amounts of clones with equal chakra to send around the compound. I grabbed Sasu-chan and ran. I needed to hide and remembered about that little hole at the main house shed. It was the last place Itachi would expect us to be and I hid. Then you found us."
Kakashi nodded. "There was nothing else you noticed that was off?"
"His eyes. He had a higher level of the Sharingan, and it was like nothing I'd ever seen before."
"All right. I'll need to talk to Sasuke when he wakes up."
"No! I will not allow you to do that!" Phin yelled at him with real vehemence.
"We need-"
"I don't give a damn about what you need! If Sasu-chan wants to do it then fine, but I will not tolerate you forcing something like that on him!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Kakashi put up his hands for peace.
"Okay. I promise that nothing will be forced."
"Legally you can't take him away from me," Phin growled. "My name was set as his trainer and by Shinobi law in a case where the child's family is gone the trainer is soul-guardian of the child. The document I signed is airtight and not even the Hokage can break it unless an obvious and proof evident case is presented where the child is either being neglected or abused. Neither will happen," she wouldn't let them take Sasuke from her.
"You know quite a bit don't you?" Kakashi raised a brow. "Can you really take care of him though?" he asked.
"Better than anyone else. He and I are the only Uchihas left I think."
Kakashi had taken his leave and a nurse brought in some food for them. She tried to be really cheerful but her curiosity about them waved off her in droves. Phin snapped at her and she scurried out with kunai flying at her back. More doctors and Shinobi tried to come in as well but they were all quickly dispatched by her. She heard them talking in the halls.
"Those poor kids. I can't believe that this would happen. I wonder if they need some comfort," one nurse said.
"No way!" The other cried. "You couldn't pay me to go into that room. That girl will run you out of there trying to cut you up!" she screeched. A couple others agreed.
"Well, I don't believe you for a second. It's natural for them to be on edge."
"Not the way she is. That girl is just scary!"
"Nonsense. I'm gonna go in."
"No don't!"
Phin heard a soft knock on the door and the nurse calmly stuck her head in. "Hi. Would you mind if I came in?" Seraphin didn't move from the spot she was in and the nurse seemed a little disconcerted. "How's your body feeling?"
"Fine. It's surprising you didn't ask how I was."
The nurse saddened. "Well, I can't really expect you to feel fine after what happened." Phin nodded.
"Did they find anymore survivors?" Phin murmured. She knew the answer already, but needed to play the victim right now.
"I'm afraid not. But we're still searching," the nurse said with hope.
"Then they're all dead." Phin muttered, brought Sasuke closer, and rolled on her side to fall asleep.
The nurse sighed and said a quiet good night, then left. Phin heard the others grilling her for information.
This isn't supposed to happen, Phin thought. I shouldn't be able to interact with people this way. I'm only supposed to be a spectator in his mind and nothing else.
She fell into a deep sleep where the screams of all the Uchihas she had slain chased her. When she woke up with a scream trapped in her throat, Sasuke wasn't there. Phin hopped out of bed and ran out into the rain barefooted with only bandages covering her torso.
The only thing she could think about was getting to Sasuke and the feeling overrides all logic or sense of self. Cold water splashed down her body and sent chills to her bones. Phin could have been laying on a beach in Maui for all she noticed. Rocks dug deep into her feet and cut her soles to ribbons but she pressed faster and jumped onto the roofs for more speed. Her body was thrown way beyond it's limit but Phin pressed on. She dropped off the roofs and just stood in front of the main gate.
Air ripped out of her lungs with each breath as she fell to her knees to wait for Sasuke. She didn't know how long she waited in the rain, but finally footsteps were heard a ways off. Phin levered herself to her feet and stood silent for him to come to her. His head was down against the falling water as he stopped right in front of her.
His stony face was an exact replica of hers, and in solidarity they reached a decision. They'd train until they dropped, and would only count on the other. Sasuke closed the distance between them and laid his forehead on her bandaged chest. Phin wrapped her arms around him. His body shook with sobs and she picked him up to hold him closer. She carried him all the way back to the hospital. The entire establishment seemed in an uproar and Phin could hear them calling for her and Sasuke twenty feet from the place.
Phin stopped when she heard someone land beside them. It was Kakashi.
"You know, everyone's been looking for you two." His heart hurt when both Phin and Sasuke turned eyes hard as stone toward him. Without saying a word, Phin walked on with Sasuke still in her arms. She jumped up to the window of their room and slid them inside to bed. They were dripping and Phin went into the bathroom while Sasuke changed. She brought a towel out after changing her pants and wiped his hair dry. Sasuke took the towel down and pulled her to his level. Her eyes stung when he proceeded to do the same thing for her.
They got into bed and laid down together when the doctor rushed in. Sasuke only moved his head from Phin's chest while Phin didn't react.
"Oh thank god! There you two are. You've been really troublesome to have us all running around looking for you. And you're soaking no less," the young doctor leered at Phin's wet top. "I'll need to change your bandages young lady." The doctor moved to put his hand on Phin's shoulder but Sasuke smacked it away. The Doctor was uncomfortable with the glare the little boy was giving him. Little brat, he thought. "Now, now, I'll take good care of her." He reached out but Sasuke smacked his hand away again. "Listen here-" he started but was held off by Sasuke holding a kunai to his face.
"No. You listen," Sasuke growled. "I don't want you touching her."
"I need to redo her bandages and look at her cut," the doctor sputtered.
"I'll take care of her."
"Look young man. I am a Doctor and as such I will remove you from this room," the lecher threatened. He was being intimidated by a child! Ridiculous.
"You can try you old pervert."
"Little Brat!" the man went to hit Sasuke but his hand was stopped mid-throw by a whip of chakra. His hand shattered and the man wailed. He looked back to see two of Phin's fingers glowing. Her face was boring into his as she kept Sasuke in a protective hold against her breast and the little Uchiha still held the kunai aloft.
"Leave," Sasuke ordered. The man could not get out of there fast enough. Kakashi walked in afterwards.
"What's up with the Doctor?" he asked with a thumb thrown over his shoulder. Kakashi sweat dropped when Sasuke growled at him. "Chill kid."
"I won't let you touch her," he growled but was stopped when Phin put a hand on his. She lowered the kunai and Sasuke gave her a curious look. Phin subtly shook her head and Sasuke settled down.
"Don't worry. I have no intention of touching her. She'd probably rip my head off if you didn't." Kakashi chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "You know Uchiha-san, she does need to get her bandage changed. Would it be all right if a nurse did it?"
"No! That last Doctor was a lecher! Bring me the bandages. I'll do it myself." Kakashi saw Phin nod behind Sasuke's head and went to get the bandages from a nurse. He gave the little Uchiha the wraps. "Now get out. I'll take care of Sera." Kakashi left and leaned against the door. A nurse came up to him.
"What happened? The doctor just ran out screaming."
Kakashi's eyes turned imperceptibly hard. "He made a pass at the girl and the boy apparently kept him back. I think he went to make a move against Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Sera attacked him." The nurse turned cold.
"I'll take care of him," she growled and walked off.
Inside the room Sasuke had Phin turn her back to him and put her hair over her shoulder. He undid the bandages and threw them on the floor. "Can you cover your breasts so I can take a look?" Phin nodded and made herself decent with her hands. Sasuke turned her around and looked at the hard gash down her front. He sucked in a breath and kept his eyes from tearing. Sasuke laid a kiss at the top of the gash and heard Phin suck in a breath. The little Uchiha gently wrapped her up.
"Sasuke." He looked up at Phin and noticed her eyes were damp. "You have a choice to make. For where you want to go I mean. You can stay with me, or you can go live with someone else." Her voice cracked at the end.
"Idiot!" he yelled and Phin was taken aback. "I'm staying with you no matter what! I'm gonna take care of you now, and that's that." He crossed his arms and turned his back to her. "I know you're a few years older than me and I may not seem like I can take care of you. I know you're stronger, but I'll protect you Sera!" he yelled at her and turned back to grab her face. "I love you Sera!" Sasuke smashed his lips against hers. Phin's eyes widened at the inexperienced mash of lips. She softened and slanted her mouth against his. The kiss was sweet and comforting as she held onto his shirt. He pulled back and Phin realized that even if in this place he was four years younger, his soul was so much older. "You're mine Raph." Before her eyes the hospital melted away and left them in a black void. She looked away for only a second and looked back to see Sasu-chan had transformed into Sasuke while her body turned back into it's regular coloring.
"Sa-sasuke," she whispered out. Their bodies were floating in the void.
"You're mine Raph. Mine," he growled and smashed his mouth back to hers. This kiss was infinitely more experienced and made her toes curl. His tongue invaded her mouth and played with hers. She shuddered and clung to him. The cracks in her heart eased and some healed. They pulled back but stayed as close as possible.
"Sasuke."
The world fell away and Phin descended back into her body.
Her eyes opened and looked around white walls with depressing little flowers on the wall paper. Damn, she was in the hospital. Sasuke was in the bed beside hers and Imari was sleeping in a chair beside Phin, her head laying on the side of the bed. Seraphin brushed her hands through Imari's hair and the shorter girl woke up.
"Bunny!" Imari tackled her in a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright."
"I'm fine Nee-chan. C'mon. Let's get out of here and I'll tell you what happened." Phin levered herself out of bed and felt a twinge on her chest. She pulled up her shirt to see bandages on her torso. Damn. She sighed and they walked out of the room and up to the roof.
"What happened Jena?"
She turned her head to the sky and filled her older sister in on what happened.
"Apparently if I got hurt in there I get hurt out here as well."
"That's not all Jen. You broke a doctors hand out here. The exact same way you say you did in the dream. You're chest was uncovered when he ran out screaming."
Phin's brow furrowed. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know. But something about what happened is not right." They sighed in unison.
"Whatever. We'll figure it out later. I'm gonna go training. Wanna come?"
"Sure," Imari knew that Phin really didn't need to be in the hospital anymore, so didn't press her to get back in bed. They shot off the roof and Phin sped ahead infinitely faster than Imari. The older sister increased her speed to her full capacity like Phin had. They weren't playing at being genin right now. They were going to go all out. Both ran neck and neck to the training field and without warning Phin attacked Imari.
Back at the hospital Sasuke woke up and found Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura in the room. His teammates let out a collective sigh of relief and asked him how he was feeling.
"Fine. What happened?" Sakura was the one who took over and explained. "Then where is Seraphin now?" he asked at the end. A giant explosion sounded a long way off and the team pointed out the window.
"Seraphin went AMA, disappeared from the hospital, and she and her sister are training all out." Kakashi said.
"Why isn't she resting? That had to have taken a lot out of her."
"Phin hates hospitals."
"So that gives her an excuse to act foolish?" Sasuke accused.
"Naw. Phin-nee can take care of herself and Imari-nee would make sure of it. If she didn't think Phin-nee could handle it then she'd be strapped to this bed." Naruto chuckled. "You just need to recover your strength a bit Sasuke-teme, then you can get out of here and spar." Another, larger, explosion rocked the ground. Naruto was a little shaky and stuttered out, "if those two don't destroy the village first."
"I'll go tell them to pull it back." Kakashi poofed out to the training field and looked over the complete destruction. Phin and Imari were going full out with their strongest jutsu. A fiery Phin rode her cat and jumped in the air to collide with an electric Imari on the head of her dragon. They crashed together with another explosion and both girls were sent sprawling on the ground when their jutsu gave out. Both panted and charged the other. Their fists landed on the other's face at the same time and the girls collapsed onto the ground. "Are you two done?" Kakashi asked. "You've been disturbing the entire village."
The exhausted girls put their thumbs up and let their hands flop onto the ground.
"Good. I'm going back to the hospital."
"You're...turn..to make...dinner...Kakashi," Imari muttered.
"We'll...kill your...Icha Icha...if you....don't," Phin ended.
"All right all right. Just get yourselves home girls." Kakashi left and they sat up to talk to each other.
"So." Imari swallowed to get the dryness out of her throat. "He really said he loves you?"
"Yeah," Phin coughed. "He really did. Right before he kissed my head off."
"Really?!" Britt seemed delighted. "What was he on the scale Jena?"
"No-scale."
"What do you mean no scale? There's always a scale."
"Nah-uh. He just invented the no-scale. There was no rating high enough for that kiss." Britt looked closely at her sister's face and her mouth dropped.
"Oh my god! You really did have a no-scale! This is monumental! So what are you going to do about it?"
Phin sighed and leaned back. "Nothing."
"Nothing?!" Imari shrieked. "What do you mean nothing?! You just got ruined for all other kisses ever and you tell me you're going to do nothing?! How are you my sister?" Imari dramatically sighed.
"Hey," Phin chided. "He might not even remember what happened and plus he kissed me in his mind. Technically it wasn't a real kiss and I didn't look like myself."
"Oh bullshit. It was way more intimate because you were connected by far more than just the physical and you know it." Phin nodded.
"Yeah, I do. But he might not Brittney. For all he could know is that he had a strange dream and nothing else. Sasuke doesn't know." Phin sighed. "And I'm okay with that."
"I will never understand you when it comes to things like this Jena. The only thing I can tell you is to not let go. You'll hate yourself if you let this slip by," Brittney said. "C'mon. Let's go get a shower and some real food." They walked off standing just a little closer than normal to give comfort.
"Love ya Britt. It was weird not having you in there constantly."
"Love you two, Jena. And I know what you mean."
Neither spoke of the Massacre.
Imari and Phin walked together and talked of the mission were heading toward. Kurenai and Kakashi's team would be paired together so the Hollow Sister's would fight together without having to use a jutsu. It certainly made the girls happy, even if Naruto and Kiba couldn't stop bickering. They needed to escort a family out of Wave country, but they were civilians. Phin figured that not only was Sarutobi-shishou doing them a favor, but had a lack of missions. They were only getting half the pay they normally did. It was simple enough to find the family. Kakashi and Kurenai spoke to them and the family asked for some time to pack. Kakashi gave them three days.
The two squads were out going around the town for anything fun to do. They all stopped when Jena suddenly called out. "Brit!" she squeaked, slipping on the name, "They have a dance club! Lets go!"
"But we gotta be twenty-one," Britt argued even though she really wanted to go.
"That's why we're ninjas!" Seraphin pulled off a henge. Her hair had turned blond with black streaks. It was wavy and looked like she just got out of bed. Her clothes were all black with a spaghetti strapped top and a torn up fishnet black skirt that had an equally ripped white slip underneath. The belt had little white hearts on it and she wore small patterned fish-net stockings and high heeled boots.
"Gotta love henge," Britt performed hers and came out with shoulder length chocolate brown hair that looked like it was out of a magazine. Her shirt was an off the shoulder red piece that covered to her stomach. Hot and lacy. Her skirt reached her ankles but had one side slit up to her middle thigh. She wore strapped steletoes instead of boots. They both looked twenty-one and hot. They ran to the club opening. The bouncer stuttered over asking the girls for their contact info while staring at them like a piece of meat.
"Are you going to let them do that Kakashi?" Kurenai asked.
"They can take care of themselves. But we should go in as well to make sure they don't cause trouble." The two squads changed their appearance and followed in. Hinata was extremely nervous and clung to Naruto's side. Inside it was crowded with bodies rubbing everywhere. The music was loud with a Latin flare. The group went up to the balcony that over looked the entire club. Kakashi's eyes searched for the girls but didn't find them until his one optic landed on the stage. He pointed and everybody looked. The sisters were talking to two guys and stood apart just before another song came on.
The men grabbed the girls and began the tango. Their bodies moved slowly and sensually. Then the beat picked up. The pairs feet moved like a mirror of each other. The the music blasted out. The pair moved in unison around the stage. The drums blasted and they moved apart. The girls moved their arms back and forth while shimmying. Their hips moved side to side when the boys came back and grabbed them. They moved their bodies left and right when the guys flipped the girls around to face them. The girls swung their left hand to the right with the right holding the guys neck and then switched sides. The men dipped them and brought their bodies around to an almost kiss. They grabbed hands and spun the girls at a very fast rate. Then bringing them back to them clutched their right knees and brought them forward until their feet that had been brought up touched the ground. They were practically laying on the men. They were thrown back up and the girls spun out. They all stood in a line and stomped their feet before the girl dropped down and brought their knees out then in and stood up while the guys tapped their feet to the beat. They clasped hands and spun the girls again before their knees were brought to the mens waist and were dipped backward. The girls leaned their heads back and starred into the others eyes. They winked and came back up. Everyone in the club that had been watching-which was the whole thing-clapped. The pairs bowed and left the stage. Then they were lost in the crowd once again.
Another song started up and all the bodies were moving again. It took awhile before they were found again, but Naruto pulled his attention away which caused him to loose the girls.
"Sasuke-teme's gone."
"Oh no," Kakashi slapped his forehead.
Down on the dance floor Jena and Britt were dancing with the same guys before someone cut in on Jena.
"Do you mind?" asked the black haired male. One look and Jena knew it was Sasuke.
"Yeah I do."
"To bad," Sasuke caught Jena's wrist and spun her away into the crowd. Britt smirked before she two was cut in on. Fortunately it wasn't a fight this time. She looked into her new partners eyes and they widened.
It was Itachi.
"Care to dance?" he held out his hand.
"Sure," she placed hers in his and he brought her to his chest. They danced smoothly; never looking away from each others eyes.
"You know who I am yet you don't hesitate to look into my eyes. Why is that?"
"It's because I know the real reason for the Massacre," he stiffened, "and I don't blame you for it." He spun her out and brought her back in. "I also know that with that Sharingan of yours you know what I really look like." He nodded.
"Yet you don't alert your team. Thats foolish."
"Yes, but whats even more foolish is that I trust you. My sister and I are working to save the village and-" he dipped her, "reinstate you into the village."
"Why would you do that?"
"To save the world and for her I believe it's to heal your brothers heart." they spun. "I think she loves him but won't admit it cause he's so much like her."
"Interesting, but what if I don't want to go back?"
"You do. You love your brother and your village so you wouldn't choose one life over the other and protected them both." she spun away. He came up and grabbed her hips. "You never caused more damage than was necessary to keep suspicion away from yourself and keep Madara off track."
"You think you're smart don't you?"
"It's not that, it's that I won't stand for anyone causing harm to others like was caused to you. Since I couldn't stop the massacre I'm fixing what I can. That order from the elders will eventually cause the destruction to the entire village."
"I see, but there is something else. I know there is; so tell me, what is it?" he spun her out and brought her back to his chest. Her hand splayed on his broad muscular chest while she once again looked into his eyes. Fiery hazel clashed with burning red. They captured each other in a way that they wouldn't ever figure out.
"It's for you."
"Why would you save someone who had caused so much pain?"
"Because I see more than a killer when I look at you." Itachi brought his head down to where their lips barely touched. She kept her eyes at half mast while her body felt like it was under a spell.
"Thank you for that," he brought his lips down on hers in a sweet kiss. Her eyes closed as his did. Suddenly he was gone. She looked ahead of her where he had been.
"I'll be seeing you soon," Britt didn't know if she heard the words or not, but that kiss had definitely said it. She breathed deeply and walked out of the club. Britt ignored the desperate bouncer and walked to the river. She sighed deeply and looked to the moon. "See you soon," she whispered to no one but the wind.
Inside the club, Sasuke had whirled Phin into a fast paced dance.
"What the hell were you doing?" he growled when he brought her close.
"Me? What the hell were you doing?"
"That guy was pawing you," he growled and dipped her.
"He was not, and what business is it of yours if some guy paws me?"
"So you admit it! He was pawing you," his voice was smug. He spun her and pulled her close. Her arm hooked around his neck as he grabbed the knee she brought up to his hip.
"So what! It's my choice if I want someone pawing me or not," she growled and turned her back into his chest. Her left arm wrapped around his neck as he leaned his face into her shoulder and ran his hand up her arm. Phin's other hand laid on the one he placed on her waist. He sputtered and she spun away. He pulled her back and glared.
"No," he growled. She turned her right side to his left and leaned on his left arm, while her arm held onto his shoulders.
"No what?" she snarled when she switched sides.
"No, it's not your choice."
"Asshole!" she sputtered in indignation and pulled a smooth pirouette. When her turn ended he grabbed her hips and hoisted her into his arms. He banded her thighs with his limbs and held her there, then let her slide down. "You have no right to tell me what to do," she warned and disappeared into the throng of people when her feet touched the ground. Sasuke sneered and went to follow her, but several females blocked his way. He watched her saunter out the door and blow a kiss to the bouncer before stalking off. His head about boiled off. Fortunately Shino rescued him and all the Shinobi got out of the club. Most felt like they could breath easier outside, but they had no sign of the girls. Imari had returned to the hotel before them, but Phin didn't show up until most everyone was asleep.
Hinata and Imari had been waiting for her and the girls had some time to talk before they all hit the hay. Phin and Imari passed notes back and forth, talking about what had happened between Imari and Itachi. Phin stifled a snort and called Imari a hopeful romantic on the paper. Her older sister stuck out her tongue at Phin and both went to sleep.
The escort went off without a hitch and when the gates of Konoha Gakure were in sight, the Hollow Sisters and Hinata bounded off laughing.
Kakashi, Kurenai, Sakura, Kiba, and Naruto sweat dropped while Sasuke fumed.
He'd been ignored the entire mission.
They'd ran all the way to Konoha proper when Hina-chan and Imari realized that Phin was following. They stopped on the roofs to look back at the stock still girl.
"Phinnie? What's wrong?" Hina-chan asked quietly. Imari jumped to her sister's side and looked at her face.
"Seraphin?" Imari's voice was cautious. Phin looked down at her; a serious look on her face. Imari sucked in a breath. "Hina-chan, you go on ahead." Hearing the severe tone in her friend's voice, Hina nodded and took off without a word. "What's going on Jena?"
"Something is off. You remember the feeling we got when a door in the other realm wasn't closed?" Jena asked.
"Yeah. It was like a ripple on the air."
"Do you feel that?"
Brittney closed her eyes and let her senses quiet. She gasped when she felt what Jena was talking about. "Something came through." Just as quickly as the feeling came, both girls felt it disappear. A weight lifted off their chest and shoulders and both shot a look to the other.
"It's gone for now, but I'll bet ya it's going to come back." Jena looked up to the sky. "It's starting Brittney."
"Let's talk to Shishou. Now," she whispered and both checked for the chakra of nin around them. None was close enough to see them and they changed into their ANBU Uniforms. Their hair was put behind the extra cloth of their Haitai-ates so there was no identifying features. They settled their masks and shot off to the Hokage's Office. They shot past Hina and ended up ruffling her hair with the wind they created in their haste. They burst into the office to see Team Gai being briefed on a mission.
"Gomenasai Hokage-sama. Head Captain Neko reporting on an urgent matter."
"Head Captain Ryu reporting as well."
Sarutobi's eyes turned grave and he dismissed Team Gai and Iruka. The Chunin laid a hand on the girl's shoulders and walked out with the team; shutting the door behind them.
"Gai-sensei," Tenten asked out in the hall. "Who were they?"
Gai's face was serious for once and his entire team paid close attention. "Those two are the Leaders of our ANBU Black Ops."
The team gasped. "But Gai-sensei, those two looked female and younger than us," Lee said.
"Never underestimate women Lee, and I'm afraid I can't give any information about them specifically, but trust me when I say that I'd rather have them on our side than against us." Gai's eyes were battle hard. "Those girls are probably the only Shinobi I've ever been afraid of."
The Team was left to ruminate on this while Gai walked away with Iruka.
"Should you have told them that much?" Iruka whispered when they were a little farther ahead.
"They'll find out soon enough," Gai muttered.
"Shishou," Imari started. "There's been a disturbance."
He laid down his pipe and signaled for them to drop their masks. Two sets of hard gems met his face. "What has happened? Is there an attack?"
Phin shook her head. "Not that kind of disturbance. One of the realms was opened near here. We couldn't pin-point it, but it felt like something came through."
Imari sighed. "Then it felt like it went back through. It's possible something has figured out how to come through without outside assistance. I always thought that only a Wiccan with a certain amount of strength could do this. We were only able to get through because we combined our will at first. It awhile for Seraphin and I to mature to that level and even then it was dangerous for us to go alone."
"It didn't feel malevolent, but ti didn't feel nice either. It's possible that what came through was a deity; a mass of energy contained in an animal form." Seraphin's eyes were grave. "What do you want to do Shishou?"
Sarutobi sighed and steepled his fingers on his desk. "For now I want you to keep your eyes open. If you feel any more disturbances, do what you do best and investigate."
"Sir!" they said in unison with a salute. Imari had her tongue stuck out and Phin had her eyes crossed.
Sarutobi chuckled at the goofy faces they made whenever they gave a salute. "Anything happen on the mission that you don't want your Teammates to know?" Seraphin looked at a sheepish Imari.
"Actually, I met Uchiha Itachi there?"
Sarutobi's eyes widened. "Were you hurt?"
"No, Shishou," Imari seemed a little reluctant to go ahead and Phin was way to happy to help.
"They danced at a club we went to in our free time. It was just a little harmless fun, but it seemed like Uchiha Itachi was intrigued by Imari. He may speak with her again and possibly listen to her as far as the village goes." Phin's face didn't even flicker when Imari slammed her foot on Seraphin's.
"Is this true Imari?" Sarutobi hadn't missed the silent signals that passed between the two.
"Hai, Shishou." Imari was sober again.
"For now I believe it would be best to watch and wait, on both counts." He gave them a look that said not to disobey. "I give you two more leeway than I should give any Shinobi."
Phin's eyes flared. "But Shishou, you know that in order to save the village-"
He held up a hand to hold her off. "I'm not criticizing you. Both of you have more experience than many, but you are still young. I'd like you to just go with me on this one."
Phin sighed. "Okay." Imari nodded in agreement.
"Thank you. I suggest you two go get some rest now. Your teams will be arriving soon."
"Ja Ne Shishou," they chorused and teleported out of the office. Sarutobi looked out the window and took a puff on his pipe. He gave a grunt of consent when there was a knock on his door and turned when Team Seven and Team Eleven walked in. "Report," Sarutobi's voice was gruff. The Jounin immediately launched into their recounts on the mission. The Third Hokage smirked a bit as he felt the girl's chakra fading farther away. They were interesting girls to say the least.
Imari and Seraphin dropped their henge in the concealment of some trees at a random training ground they stopped at. They heard several grunts, some tell tail whistles of weapons and a crack of a tree. Imari blocked a Kunai headed for Phin's eyes with her Sais.
"Who's there?" a feminine voice called and they dropped to the ground. Tenten held a bow staff aloft at them. She dropped her guard when she saw the girl's headbands. "Oh, I apologize. I didn't realize there was anyone else here."
"No problem. Good aim though. You almost hit my sister in the head." Imari sent a smile toward the brunette. "I'm Imari," she handed Tenten back the Kunai, "this is my sister Seraphin." Phin sent a nod her way.
"I'm Tenten. Sorry again."
"No big. Were you training?" Imari asked.
"Yup. I have great aim, like you said, but I don't seem to be getting any better on my own."
"You're on a team with Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee correct?" Seraphin spoke for the first time.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" She got a sour look on her face. "You aren't some of Neji-kun's fan-girls are you?"
Imari choked. "No way in hell! We're friends with his cousin, Hinata. Plus Seraphin has a boyfriend," she knew Phin rolled her eyes behind Imari's back.
"Oh, sorry again, it's just I got so much crap for being on his team I get a little paranoid. The curse of being with a prodigy," she shrugged good naturdly.
"Try being the girlfriend of one and being on his team," Phin muttered.
Tenten blinked. "Yeah, that has got to suck."
Imari chuckled. "Hey, since you have no one to train with, how about my sister and I help?"
Tenten considered. "I don't know. Aren't you guys fresh out of the Academy?" Phin disappeared and reappeared behind Tenten to hold her Naginata at the older girl's throat.
"Don't think that we're weak Tenten-san. You want to beat Hyuuga? We'll help." She pulled back her weapon and walked back to Imari's side.
"Wow. I guess you two are good. All right!" Tenten was pumped up. "Let's do it!" she cried and the girls got to work.
It was sundown before they stopped and Tenten was laying on the ground panting. "You two...are...amazing..ugh," she flopped. Phin was leaning against a tree with Imari sitting on the branch above her. All three had cuts and bruises all over their bodies, but Phin and Imari weren't even breathing hard. Tenten caught her breath and sat up. "I'm supposed to meet my team at the Beef Pot place soon, and I can't even stand up."
Phin levered up from the tree and walked to Tenten's side. She set about healing the brunette. "Our Shishou taught us some medical nin-jutsu. You should be fine as soon as I finish, but you need to get some major rest tonight."
"Thanks. Do you two want to make this a regular thing?" Tenten blushed a little bit. "I know we just met and we all have missions but I'd like to hang out more if you want?" she said sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just I'm a bit starved for female companionship that isn't obsessed with boys or looks and stuff. I don't really make friends well," she saddened a little. "I'm not really friends with my team either so I feel alone some times." Phin finished healing and Imari conked Tenten over the head. "Ow! What was that for?" she pouted. Phin quickly healed the knot that was forming.
"Don't get down on yourself. If we didn't like you we wouldn't have trained with you." Imari chastised and put her hands on her hips to lean over the Weapons Mistress.
Phin leaned back on her haunches. "We can't guarantee that you won't get pulled on random shopping sprees since my sister is a shopaholic," she ignored Imari's protest, "but you don't have to ask to be friends. You already are."
Tenten's eyes lit up and she tackled the girls. "Thanks you two! You're the best."
Imari and Phin chuckled and hugged her back. "You have a mission tomorrow?" Imari asked when they all pulled back.
"Naw, not for a week." Tenten replied.
"Us either," Phin took over.
"Want to meet here again tomorrow?' Imari finished.
"Hell yeah!" Tenten grinned. They all said their good byes and left. Tenten took off over the roofs, but Imari and Phin walked.
"This turned into home huh?"
"Yup. I miss my Dad though." Phin breathed deep and watched the sky. It was becoming a habit of hers. "Is it my turn to cook or yours?" Imari shot her a look but let the comment slide.
"Dunno. Let's order in tonight, as long as it isn't ramen," she quickly added.
Phin stuck out her tongue. "Spoil sport."
"Oh, hush. You're as bad as Naru-chan."
"No way. I don't eat only ramen."
"And what was the last vegetable you ate?" Imari raised a skeptical brow.
"Uh..."
"Exactly." They snickered and turned into the overhang by their apartment. The door was quickly unlocked and the girls walked in to an explosion of Icha Icha.
"Kakashi!" they yelled. They saw his gray head pop up over a random stack of porn. "What the hell?!" they yelled in unison.
"Oh, girls. I'd planned to have this cleaned up before you got home." He rubbed his neck while he smiled at them. His mask was off as it usually was when they were all home.
Imari-"What."
Seraphin-"Did."
Imari-"You."
Together-"Do!"
"Ah, they had a mass sale at the book store of volumes they been saving up. They hadn't put any of these volumes on the shelves so I had to buy them," he whimpered. The girls sighed, gave each other a look, and just helped him clean up. All were drained of energy by the time it was over and could barely stand to dial the number of the take-out place they favored. All of the Hatake family got their second wind when the sent of food hit them. Of course the girls made Kakashi pay for it. He grumbled but acquiesced. Combined from all of their missions, ANBU and regular for the girls, and Kakashi's teaching fee on top of the fact that the girls could be really cheap, they were pretty well off so it wasn't a big deal. Kakashi tended to splurge some times on crap like porn and whenever they did, the girls went shopping with his money since they ended up being the ones to clean up after him. It was an unspoken agreement between them. They all pigged out on Take-out and settled on the couch for a movie. Kakashi was always stuck in between the girls, who claimed the ends every time. An Icha Icha movie came on and the girls let Kakashi watch it. The writing was usually pretty good and the smut scenes tasteful; they'd even read some of the books. The only problem Imari and Seraphin had with the little buggers was the fact that Kakashi couldn't keep them cleaned up and the chore always seemed to fall to the kids.
They'd toyed with the idea of hiring some other Nin to clean the place, but couldn't bring themselves to corrupt little minds. Technically the girls were seventeen and sixteen, soon to be older, and considered everyone else to have little minds. A hawk landed on the window sill and tapped the glass. Both girls let their heads fall back at the signal of another ANBU mission. Kakashi chuckled and wished them well before they took the scroll and poofed away.
All in all, it was a good day.
Imari was bubbling with excitement the next day. She ran all the way to Team Seven's training grounds where both teams had decided to work together. She skidded to a stop beside the other nins where they were all watching Hina-chan and Sasuke go at it. Hinata was holding her own, but Sasuke wasn't serious. Imari looked at Phin to see the pissed off look on her little sister's face.
"Step it up Hina-chan!" Phin barked. "Stop playing around Uchiha!" Sasuke got distracted for a minute and Hinata landed a solid hit on him. She stepped it up and Sasuke got serious. Imari shook her head and rolled her eyes to high heaven.
"What's up Ima-hime?" Kiba asked. "You look excited."
"I've got a new jutsu I wanted to try out." The sparring stopped and the two Doujutsu users walked over.
"New jutsu Ri-chan?" Hinata asked while Phin healed her and Sasuke.
"What does it do Imari-nee?" Naruto was slightly peeved he hadn't been able to fight Sasuke yet.
"It's a type of controlling jutsu, almost like hypnoses but it also manifests in the physical. I wanted to try it out on someone." The other Nin pushed Seraphin forward.
"Traitors," she muttered and avoided looking at her devious older sister. "Fine, let's do it."
"Stand back everyone," Imari ordered. She centered herself and pulled a rapid succession of hand signs. "Pyon Jutsu!" she yelled and held her hands toward Seraphin.
"Wha-" POOF!!! The smoke cleared and there was Phin, two and a half feet tall, perky rabbit ears and a fluffy tail. "What did you do Nee-chan?!" she yelled louder than any of the nin had heard.
Imari looked a little shaky. "That wasn't supposed to happen," she scratched her cheek with a finger sheepishly and shook a little bit with the effort to hold in her giggles.
"Kai!" Phin yelled and nothing happened. "Dammit! Pyon is the sound rabbits make as you very well know!" despite her size she was still intimidating. "You did this on purpose!" Phin put a hand on her hip and pointed a finger in her sister's face.
"I swear I didn't," Imari covered her mouth but let out the laughter and fell to the ground when the others did. "Oh my god!" she wheezed.
"She looks like an irate little kid!" Kiba pounded the ground. Hinata and Naruto were slumped together trying to breath. Sasuke leaned back on a tree in an effort to not fall but his entire body shook with the force of his laughs. Sakura was collapsed with a snickering Akamaru on her stomach. Even Shino was laughing.
"It's not funny!" Phin squeaked and grabbed her throat. "Why is my voice getting higher?!" she now sounded like a little first year Academy student. Everyone busted out with another round of giggles. "Shut up!" now Seraphin just looked ridiculous. "Change me back Imari!" Her older sister pulled herself up and struggled to breath.
"Okay, okay." She formed the hand signs with little trembles from trying not to laugh at the glaring gray eyes in a hilarious body. "Pyon Jutsu-HAHAHAHA!!!" she burst out at the end and struggled to hold her feet. They all regained composure as the smoke cleared. Imari was the first to speak. "Uh oh. She is not going to be happy."
Phin was sitting on the ground playing in the dirt. She looked up and hit the others with a bright childish smile and wide sparkly eyes. The ears and tail were still there.
"Um...Phin-nee?" Naruto asked shakily. The little girl looked back at him and smiled but didn't speak. "What's wrong with her?"
Imari looked her over, much to little Phin's curiosity. "Seraphin? Do you understand me?" the little girl just smiled. Imari sweat dropped. "I guess not. Oh, she is going to kill me!" Imari grabbed the sides of her head.
POOF!
"Yo!" Kakashi waved. He looked at the little girl on the ground. "Thats funny. I could almost swear that girl is a younger version of-" he broke off and turned a curious face to Imari. "What did you do to your sister?"
"I didn't mean too," Imari whined. "And I can't turn her back!"
Kakashi sweat dropped. "You should probably go to your Shishou. He can help you look for a cure," Imari nodded rapidly and took off. Kakashi looked back to the curious little Rabbit-girl on the ground. "As for you, I think your team should take care of you since they know better than to let Imari experiment on you after the blue episode," he gave them all a stern look and both teams sweat dropped. Imari had turned Seraphin blue for a week the last time and Seraphin had gotten so pissed she set most of Kakashi's Icha Icha on fire. "Kiba, Shino, Hinata, I suggest you leave. Phin is going to remember this and when she turns back she is going to go after someone. It's okay if it's my team, but Kurenai would kill me if you three got hurt."
"Thanks Kakashi," Team Seven muttered and look at the innocent Seraphin. Team Eleven left with the Jounin.
"Take good care of her!" he called back.
"What do we do now?" Sakura asked.
"I know! Let's take her to the park!" Naruto cheered and went to pick up little Phin. "C'mon little Phin-nee!" he stuck out his arms but Mini-Phin flipped over him. "Uh...what just happened?" He asked and whirled around to see little Phin playing in the dirt again. Sakura went to get her but got the same reaction. Before anyone knew it, three trained Genin were chasing a Bunny girl around a training field. "How is this happening?!" Naruto yelled.
"The jutsu changes thought patterns and physical appearance; not the abilities someone has!" Sasuke yelled and almost snatched Mini-Phin. He heard her laugh like it was a game and stopped. The others ran after little Phin but she continued to elude them. Sasuke ran off toward the village but his Team didn't notice as Mini-Phin hopped on their heads to change directions. The Bunny girl laughed and hopped to a high branch of a tree. Apparently little Phin was tired of the game cause every time Naruto and Sakura tried to come up the tree, Mini-Phin threw Mini-kunai at them. Sasuke ran back to sigh at his teammate's stupidity.
"What is wrong with her?!" Naruto panted.
"I don't know! Maybe she got tired of getting chased!" Sakura coughed.
"Hn. Let me try," Sasuke said and walked to the base of the tree. Innocent gray eyes glared at him impetuously while Mini-Phin pouted and clung to the trunk. Her ears were plastered back against her skull.
"Careful Teme. She's just as bad tempered as the bigger version!" Naruto got a Mini-Kunai in the forehead for that one. He ran around screaming until Sakura grabbed him and pulled it out then slapped a bandage on it.
"Hn. Dobe." He looked up to see the eyes were teary now. "Don't cry Phin-chi," he said in a coaxing voice that surprised the hell out of Naruto and Sakura. "If you come down I'll take you to the park and give you this," he held up a dark chocolate sucker. Mini-Phin's eyes brightened and ears perked up. She flipped upside down to reach for the sucker while her knees hooked her to the tree, but Sasuke pulled the treat back when she made a grab. "Ah, ah. You have to come all the way down." Mini-Phin flipped back into the tree.
"Haha Teme! You didn't actually think that Phin-nee would be bribed like that!" he laughed but stopped when he heard a rustle and a thunk. Sasuke turned around to have Mini-Phin in his arms, happily eating her sucker. "Wha?!"
"Hn." Sasuke walked away. Sakura followed, leaving Naruto to run and catch up. Mini-Phin sucked on the treat all the way down to the stick then settled in Sasuke's arms. Sakura smiled.
"Here. I'll take her for a little while," Sasuke tried to hand Mini-Phin over, but the Bunny Girl whimpered and started crying as soon as Sakura had her. "What did I do?!" Sakura panicked as passers by looked at them strangely. Sasuke snatched Mini-Phin back and the girl quieted.
"Well, how do you like that?" Naruto murmured. "She only likes the Teme."
Sakura put a finger to her chin. "It does make sense. Sasuke-kun gave her candy so she associates him with something good."
Naruto slanted her a look. "Is Phin-nee really that shallow?"
Sakura sighed. "No, you block head, but her mind is severely simplistic right now. Her thoughts probably have the attention span of a gnat. Much like yours," Sakura muttered. Sasuke hadn't paid much attention to them since he was busy letting Mini-Phin reach for a butterfly, then sat her down to look at flowers. Older women who passed awed at the cute display. Sasuke twitched. Sakura looked at him then back at Naruto. "It seems like she only likes Sasuke-kun right now. I suggest we book it," she whispered.
"But I thought you'd want to spend the time with Teme since Phin-nee would be alone with him," Naruto whispered back.
"I'm horrible with kids and you're not much better. Sasuke-kun will be fine with her since she's so little."
Sasuke turned back to see their heads together and raised a suspicious brow. "What are you talking about?"
Sakura and Naruto whirled back with guilty looks on their faces. "Um..I gotta go help my mom. See ya!" she yelled and took off.
"I gotta..um...go help Iruka-sensei wash his car!" he yelled and took off.
Sasuke sweat dropped and growled. "We haven't invented cars," he growled louder. He looked down to see Mini-Phin tug on his clothes with a curious look on her face. He sighed and grabbed her hand. "Let's go," he muttered and walked down the street to the park. Mini-Phin went to play with the other kids while he slumped on a bench with his head back and eyes closed. He only looked up when Imari popped by his side maybe thirty minutes later. "Please tell me you found a way to reverse this."
"Uh...not exactly. As far as I can tell the jutsu should just wear off." She ruffled her hair. "There's something else. I looked over the trials from before and when they turned a subject into a little kid the child bonded with one person and can't leave them."
"So you mean that I'm stuck with her until this wears off?" Sasuke glared.
Imari gave him a scarier look. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, and Hokage-sama made this a mission." She handed him a scroll. "You'd better take good care of my sister."
"I can handle a little kid," he said.
"Oh yeah. You're off to a great start," she said in a scathing tone then pointed to where Mini-Phin was getting her ears pulled on and bullied by the other kids. Mini-Phin was crying but didn't make a sound even as they pushed her down and tugged harder. He hadn't noticed since she made no sound.
"Shit!" Sasuke yelled and ran to them. Imari poofed away. "What do you kids think you're doing?!" he yelled and snatched little Phin from them. He shoved her behind his legs. The little tyrants backed up fearfully. Sasuke felt chakra build up behind him and turned to see Mini-Phin about to hit the ground with her hands wreathed in green chakra. "No, don't!" he cried but she slapped the ground and the entire playground was up rooted. Sasuke snagged Mini-Phin and ran off; leaving swirly eyed kids in rubble behind him. He ran as fast as he could and hid in an ally. His obsidian eyes looked over the scraps and bruises on the little girl in his arms as he panted. She was still crying. "Hush, Phin-chi," he cradled her to his chest. "I won't let the mean little kids hurt you again." She sniffled and tucked her head under his chin, her ears were pinned back. Sasuke sighed and began walking toward his apartment; rubbing her back to help Mini-Phin calm down.
Her sniffles stopped just before he reached home, and Sasuke was able to set her down for a minute and open his door. He settled her in front of the T.V. with the remote to go scour his kitchen for lunch. He was only able to come up with a couple tomatoes.
"Great. Now I have to go shopping," he muttered. Sasuke didn't like going to the market. Women of all ages, from five to fifty, always flirted with him, and now he'd have to cart around a tiny girl. He chopped up a tomato and set it on a plate for Mini-Phin and walked back into his living room.
Two people were making out on the screen of his T.V. and Sasuke dropped his tomato before a commercial came on pronouncing the Icha Icha Paradise Marathon. Mini-Phin was happily watching but gave him a curious look when he snagged the remote and changed the channel in a hurry. He looked down at the content little girl. "Kakashi corrupted you," he muttered and sighed when she only gave him a bright smile. He washed off his own tomato after giving Mini-Phin her plate and when he came back she had finished the entire thing. "Hmm," was all he said as he swallowed his last bit. Mini-Phin went to explore the house while Sasuke wrote a grocery list. "Phin-chi!" he yelled and the Bunny girl was immediately by his side. "If you promise to be good for me in the store I'll give you this sucker," he held up another dark chocolate snack. Mini-Phin's eyes glowed and she nodded vigorously. Sasuke's face softened a bit and he handed her the sucker before hoisting her into his arms and heading for the dreaded market.
Sasuke felt some amusement at the wide eyed discoveries Mini-Phin was making. He passed by Yamanaka Flower shop where Sakura was bickering with Ino. The blond cut herself off and looked out the window.
"There's Sasuke-kun!" she brightened but Sakura only spared him a passing glance. "Wait. Who's that in his arms?" she narrowed her eyes trying to see. "It looks like a little girl with bunny ears?" Ino muttered.
Sakura kept back her snickers. "Sasuke-kun got a mission to watch a little kid for a couple of days," half-truth.
"What's with the ears?" Ino asked.
"Oh. It's a jutsu gone wrong. Her family was trying a new jutsu and she got caught in the cross fire," Sakura was enjoying this.
"My poor Sasuke-kun! All alone as a single parent," Ino got a fantasy in her head. Sakura tried to hold back her giggles. "I'll go help him and we'll be just like a real family! He'll see that I'm the one he should marry!" Ino squealed and ran out. Sakura burst out laughing when she was out of hearing range. Mrs. Yamanaka walked in to see her daughter's childhood friend on the floor laughing.
"Sakura-chan? Where's Ino?" she asked eying the empty counter.
"She's out making a fool of herself over Sasuke-kun!" Sakura burst out and clutched her sides.
Mrs. Yamanaka sighed and manned the counter. "That girl, I swear. Doesn't Uchiha-kun have a girlfriend?"
"Yup!"
Mrs. Yamanaka found Sakura's laughter infectious and both laughed out their hearts.
Ino watched Sasuke and Mini-Phin from the rooftops as they entered the market. She sighed as her fantasy filled her head once more and slipped into the market. Sasuke set Mini-Phin down as he surveyed the produce but kept her hand so she wouldn't run off. He selected some tomatoes and other fruits before walking off with Mini-Phin in tow. She eyed the candy counter but resigned herself when Sasuke walked off. He picked some makings for a quick dinner and other items to stock his kitchen and ended up walking out with a full cart. He slipped some more suckers into his cart and went to the check out counter.
"Aw, what a cute little girl!" the counter woman gushed over a confused Mini-Phin. Sasuke looked at the little girl to see a 'What the hell is wrong with you?' look on her face. The counter woman turned back to Uchiha and flirted. "You're such a responsible young man," she gushed and pushed her sizable chest up. "How old is she?"
Sasuke sighed. "Three," he didn't really know but that seemed as good an answer as any. The clerk gave him a suggestive glance.
"You'll be such a good parent," she giggled. Sasuke looked disgusted. Pedophile much? he thought. Mini-Phin apparently didn't like the woman flirting with him cause she demanded to be picked up. Sasuke obliged and she clung to him while glaring at the clerk. Her ears were pinned back again. "Aw," the woman squealed and went to pinch Phin's cheek. Sasuke watched in trepidation as Mini-Phin hissed and smacked her hand away. The woman looked shocked.
"Sorry," Sasuke smirked. "She's a little possessive."
The clerk quickly recovered but still looked a bit pissed. "Ah ha, no worries. She's such a little darling," Mini-Phin hissed again. She rung up his purchases and took his money. She handed back the change but held on to his hand when he reached for it. "If you ever need any help call me," she sent another flirtatious glance and Mini-Phin leaned over and bit her hand. She snatched her abused appendage back and glared.
"She doesn't really like anyone but me," Sasuke smirked again and walked out. He heard the clerk mutter 'Little brat' as he walked out. Mini-Phin looked over his shoulder and gave a Sharingan glare to the woman. A tremble raced up her spine. Sasuke looked down and patted Mini-Phin's head. "Good girl," he praised and set her down to walk by his side. He let go for only a second to adjust his bags but when he looked down again, Mini-Phin was gone. "Phin-chi? Phin-chi!" he spotted Hinata on the other side walk. "Hyuuga-san!" he ran over. "Have you seen little Phin?"
"Gomen Sasuke-san. I haven't seen her since this morning." Sasuke sucked in a breath and looked around.
"Can you take these groceries back to my place? I need to go find her."
"Sure. I'll take them for you."
"Thanks," Sasuke sighed, handed her the key and gave her his address. "Just leave the key under the door mat when you're done. I owe you one," Sasuke said and ran off. Hinata sighed and walked off.
"Men," she muttered.
Ino held a confused Mini-Phin in her arms while she ran across the roofs. She had the perfect plan. She keep the kid for a bit and when Sasuke was totally frantic, she'd come to the rescue. She drooled a bit at her day dream of what his thank you would be. Mini-Phin didn't like this girl and made her thoughts known by biting the arm that held her. Ino dropped her to the rooftop and looked over the bite.
"You evil little kid!" Ino growled but back up a step when Mini-Phin hissed. "C'mere!" the blond shouted and tried to snag Mini-Phin, but the Bunny Girl hopped out of the way and slid down the roof. She held on to the gutter for a second before dropping to the ground. Ino panicked and ran for her, but when she looked over the edge Mini-Phin was no where to be found. "Oh, I can't believe I lost her!' Ino whined. "At least Sasuke-kun won't know what I did."
"I won't know what?" she heard a voice growl behind her. Ino slowly turned to see a very pissed Sasuke glaring at her.
"Uh...She went that way! I saw the little girl you lost run that way!" Ino tried to salvage the situation.
Sasuke glared harder. "How did you know I was looking for her?"
"Um..uh."
"I don't have time for someone like you," Sasuke sneered and jumped off the roof, heading for where he felt Mini-Phin's chakra. She was heading back toward his apartment. "Smart girl," he said under his breath and sped up. He reached his home and walked in to see a content Mini-Phin playing with one of his Shuriken. She looked up and dropped the weapon to grin at him and run for a hug. Sasuke wrapped her tight to his chest and sighed. He could not believe that he'd been so worried about her. When he pulled back she gave him a confused look and pushed his cheeks into a smile. She gave one of her own and a giggle at his face. Sasuke chuckled and walked upstairs. Mini-Phin took care of her own bath and came down for dinner when he called.
She was wearing the little girl pajamas he bought her. It was a two set piece with cartoon bunnies on the long pants and long sleeved top. She'd a ripped a hole for her tail. They ate the simple dinner Sasuke had made, and he settled her on the couch for bed. She seemed to conk off immediately and Sasuke went to his room to flop on his sheets. He changed and slipped under for some dearly needed rest.
A scream woke Sasuke late at night and he ran downstairs to see Mini-Phin thrashing on the couch. He scooped her up and rocked her until she woke up and settled. "Nightmare?" she nodded. "It was just a dream. It can't hurt you," she nodded again. Sasuke went to settle her back on the couch but she clung to him. Sasuke sighed. "You want to sleep with me?" another nod. "All right." He carted her upstairs and laid her beside him. She snuggled in and was almost immediately asleep. Sasuke's face softened a bit and he let his body rest more comfortably with a little girl using his shoulder as a pillow. Sleep found him quickly but it seemed like morning came too quickly for him. Mini-Phin obviously thought along the same lines, as she wouldn't get up for anything.
Sasuke looked over the sleeping kid and sighed. "You know, it's kind of weird having my girlfriend like this."
"You're telling me." Sasuke whirled around to see Imari in all her glory in his bedroom doorway. "Aren't you going to get dressed?" she raised a brow and went over to snatch Mini-Phin and take her out of the room. Sasuke resigned himself and put on his usual clothes. He walked out to find Imari cooking and Mini-Phin looking dead in her seat.
"How'd you get her too wake up?" Sasuke asked.
"She's not awake." Imari didn't bother to turn from her skillet.
"What do you mean? Her eyes are open."
"The thing about my sister Sasuke, is that she can look awake, act awake, even hold a conversation like she's awake, but still be asleep. I jumped on her one time to wake her up and she gave me the most pissed off glare I have ever seen on her face. Since it's me, it was hilarious but anyone else but me or her Dad would run for cover."
Sasuke raised a brow and waved his hand in front of Mini-Phin's face. She reacted, but he could see the truth in Imari's words. "And she forgave you?"
"Of course she did. I'm her sister. Took her awhile though," Imari giggled and set a cup of coffee in front of Mini-Phin.
"Should you be giving her that?"
"If you want her firing on all cylinders in an hour then yes. I think it's a genetic thing with her. Her blood Dad wasn't human until he had at least two cups of coffee and a cigarette in the morning."
"He smoked?" Sasuke sat at his table while Imari served them, but surprisingly didn't put a plate in front of Mini-Phin.
"She doesn't usually eat in the mornings," Imari answered his unasked question. "Unless I was spending the night at her house that is. She always has this compulsion to cook for me. And yes her father smoked. All of our parents did in fact."
"I'm surprised you two didn't pick up the habit." Sasuke muttered into is food.
"We did."
And he choked. "But I haven't seen you two do it since I met you."
"We haven't needed too since we started training. Besides, it was a waste of money most of the time."
"Most times?"
She nodded. "There were some days where a decent cigarette really hit the spot. Of course you wouldn't understand that since you've never smoked."
Sasuke nodded but didn't really get it. Cigarettes always smelled horrible to him. "Tell me more about her family," he watched as Imari filled her sister's cup again. Life was starting to show in the little girl's eyes.
"Well, she had a half-sister, a mom, and a dad," was her vague answer.
"Details please?"
"Hmm, fine. I don't know a whole lot about her before we met, but I can tell you some. Where do you want me to start?"
"Where did she grow up?"
"I can't explain that one."
"Okay~," he said, drawing out the syllables. "What was her Mother like?" He watched in curiosity as Imari's eyes froze.
"That woman," she said woman like a curse,"always seemed nice enough, but she was manipulative and always guilt tripped her kids into waiting on her like maids. They cooked and cleaned and took care of her medications but were always hiding behind their smiles. Her older sister Casey was the most outspoken and raged a lot at their Mother and took a lot out on Phin. Those two weren't able to be in the same room as each other without fighting in some way, shape, or form. Those two grew up on the worst side of the tracks, but Phin was different. She was quiet in her own way and observant. She had an eye problem from birth and it cause her to look goofy sometimes. Kids teased her mercilessly for that, and she began to use her intelligence to get around them."
"You seem to know a lot."
Imari shook her head and looked at her still comatose sister. "I only know about that since she did the same thing after we met. She made me feel stupid sometimes because she honestly didn't know how else to behave. Put me down in subtle ways, but I know she really didn't mean to hurt me. I called her on it and the look in her eyes was pure torture; almost like she was apologizing for who she was. Anyway, she's been anti-social for a long time. When they did a year book showing at the end of the year at her school, it's a display of all the student's pictures, when they got to hers all of the kids made disgusted sounds. You've never seen her look small and weak before have you?"
"No. She's always seemed totally confident."
"She's hiding it. Inside she's really insecure and sad. She shrunk into herself that day and put on the cold mask she has for the first time. Phin won't let anyone close to her."
"You are."
"I'm closer than most, but there's still that secret self inside that Phin protects ruthlessly. That day, after she told her Dad what had happened, they were in an accident and Phin's father was badly hurt. She basically got her entire left side shaved off and couldn't move her arm for awhile, but her father got his ankle ripped apart. Phin told me that the image of her Father bleeding almost destroyed her. She was sent to live with her mother and sister to stay while her Dad was in the hospital. Her parents divorced and Phin's dad got custody of the kids after Phin's mom ran her over with a cart." That was the best explanation for a car she could give.
Sasuke gave a soft look to the girl still drinking coffee. "Then what happened?"
"Phin found a way to go stay at her Dad's house alone and stayed there until he got back. She was alone maybe three or four days, and at that age most people would been appalled but she took excellent care of herself. Then she took care of herself and her Dad while he healed. It took years for him to get back to moving around semi-normally. She didn't complain ever that I heard. She'd say how hard it was for her sometimes, but only to me and I almost never saw her cry. When Phin turned old enough to work, she did and brought in the only income for their family. Phin ended up taking on more problems than her share, especially after Ally died."
"Who's Ally?" Sasuke asked in a muted voice.
"She was Seraphin's only support before she met me. You have to understand that the accident and the divorce and so much shit happened before I met her and then it took longer for her to open up and trust me with more than the surface. Ally was basically Seraphin's twin. From what I heard she and Phin even looked alike. They met each other very young and hated each other almost immediately. They got into a major fight one day and afterwards they were inseparable. It must have been quite a shock to the other kids when all of a sudden two enemies were acting like the opposite." Imari chuckled and stared out his window at the birds. "Ally's mother was a whore and had five other kids, all with different fathers. She was into drugs and beat Ally, like Phin's mother did to her. Phin's mom was never pregnant after her but had many other bed partners besides Phin's dad. They were in the same boat and saved one another from dying. From what Phin told me, she was around for every birth of Ally's sisters and they became the parents. They stepped up while the Mom got high. Never refer to those women as moms though, Phin will give you the fiercest look and adamantly tell you they weren't real mothers. I tend to agree with them."
"What happened to Ally?" he almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. These two were remarkable women.
"She was killed by a drunk just before her fifth sister was born." Britt's voice was low and sad. "Phin was with me and some other friends when she got the call. She hid it and we didn't notice until Phin broke down a few days later. I was the only one around. Things started to hit rock bottom after that. Phin worked her butt off to protect those girls, and ended up turning into a delinquent to do it. She sneaked out of the house and broke curfews. She skipped school and did under the counter jobs to take care of them. Her grades dropped rapidly but to be honest I think she cared more for those girls than herself. Phin finally snapped when she came over one day to find Ally's mom passed out on the couch with drugs on her face and the table while the baby was crying in the room just beyond. Phin went and took care of the child to get her to settle down for a nap and fed the next youngest who was only a year older. They both settled down and Phin got a camera."
"She went after the mother didn't she." It was more a statement of fact than a question.
"You got it. Phin compiled enough evidence to put that woman away for life with those pics. She left the youngest ones there and picked up the others from daycare and school and took pictures of the bruises they had. Phin took any beating for them when she was there, but she was still taking care of her Dad at the same time and ran herself ragged to do everything she could. She couldn't always be there though and I know it really hurt her to think of what those kids were going through when she couldn't help them. Her father thought that since she read a lot and didn't seem to do much she wasn't doing anything, but Phin was sending messages through her books to other people for help and when her father was asleep she got to work with a friend of hers to get the kids out of there. Phin took care of them at the house for awhile under the pretense of spending the night with me. I didn't know mind you, but Phin took care of those girls until their blood family could show up and take care of them. The mother's brother took the girls and since he and his wife were loaded, the girls are now living their lives to the best advantage." Imari sighed and looked back at Sasuke. "It only got harder for Phin though. After Ally, she ended up loosing more and more people. Many were friends she had helped and Phin had a tight bond with. She lost twenty three people in about two or three years. And you know what? I only saw her cry twice."
Sasuke's eyes widened as realization hit. "That's what she meant!"
"What do you mean Sasuke?" Imari's brow creased.
"After the mission in Wave, she was hurt and ran out of the house to the bridge. She just sat there and didn't listen to us when we tried to get her to respond. She said she lost twenty four and passed out."
Imari's face hardened as she stared into her mug. "Ah, Haku. She would consider him a friend. She's lost twenty four people to suicides, murder, military, and accidents. I don't know how she keeps standing." Imari sighed and looked over to where her Mini-sister was finally awake. "If you want to know more you'll need to ask her. Did you have any problems last night?"
"She had a nightmare."
"Ah, you'll need to get used to that." She handed him a bottle of pills. "Give her two of those before she goes to sleep and the nightmares won't come."
"Does she always take these?"
"Yeah. You never see her do it, but unless she's totally exhausted or sleeping beside me she has a nightmare." Imari sat up and stretched. "I'm going to go look for a faster solution to this jutsu. Take care of her Uchiha," and she left. Sasuke looked over to Mini-Phin who was happily drinking the last of her coffee. Sasuke gave her a considering look and told her to go get dressed when she finished. He was just finished with putting on his weapons holsters when Mini-Phin ran up to him. She opened her arms to be picked up and Sasuke happily obliged. Together they went to the training grounds, and while Sasuke trained with the others, he couldn't help but make sure Mini-Phin was safe.
"That's enough you guys," Kakashi called out and the three Genin stopped there Kunai practice.
"What are we going to do now Kakashi-sensei?!" Naruto cheered.
"Naruto, you and Sakura are going to come with me on a mission."
"But what about Sasuke-kun?' Sakura asked with a look toward the confused boy.
"He has to stay her to take care of Seraphin."
"But we're a team!" Naruto cried. "We can't go without Teme!"
"I know but Phi-Wait. Where is she?!" Kakashi looked around but couldn't find Mini-Phin.
"She was just here a second ago!" Sasuke looked around frantically. "Damn that Ino!"
"What? Why Ino Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was torn between her crush and her childhood friend.
"She took Phin-chi yesterday, but she got away from Ino and came home."
Sakura smacked her forehead. "That girl. I swear. Well, let's go check." They all took to the roofs to Yamanaka Flower Shop. Sasuke burst in first and got an ecstatic glomp from Ino. "Ino-Pig! Get off Sasuke-kun!"
"You can't tell me what to do Forehead!" Ino cried but got shoved off by Sasuke.
"Where's Phin-nee Ino!" Naruto yelled. The white blond gave him a confused look.
"I haven't seen her since yesterday. Why?"
"Phin's gone missing. Again." Kakashi answered.
"I'd help you find her but my mom won't let me leave the shop. She got mad at me for yesterday." Ino grumbled to herself.
"Serves you right Ino-Pig. You shouldn't have tried to exploit Seraphin like that." Sakura crossed her arms and scoffed at the girl.
"Oh like you didn't think about doing the same thing!" Ino yelled back.
"Seraphin's my teammate whether I like her as a friend or not! I wouldn't do something so low just to get a boy who already has a girlfriend!"
"Um guys?" Naruto gently broke in between the bickering females. "Maybe we should go find said girlfriend?"
Sakura sighed and stomped out of the shop with the rest of the team following and ignoring a sputtering Ino. "She couldn't have gotten too far," Sakura murmured.
"Sakura-chan, this is Phin-nee we're talking about."
Sakura sweat dropped. "Oh, right."
"Plus she doesn't have the restraint older Seraphin normally has," Kakashi murmured. Naruto looked over his very worried raven haired teammate.
"We'll find her Sasuke-teme," Naruto clapped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder in reassurance. Sasuke nodded but stayed silent.
"You three should split up and look. I'll go inform the Hokage and get Imari to help so meet me back at the training field in two hours. We'll have to leave for the mission by then and leave this to other nin." His team nodded and shot off in different directions. Kakashi jumped off toward the Hokage's office.
Naruto was the last to arrive back at the field. "Any sign of her?!" he asked his two teammates dead away. They both shook their heads 'no'. "Where could she be?" he murmured and everyone settled in to wait for Kakashi. He showed up with the Hokage and Imari about fifteen minutes later.
"No luck?" he asked his team but already knew the answer. "We'll just have to-WHOA!!!" he cried out in alarm as a small form shot out of the trees and slammed it's fist down right beside where he was standing. Everyone jumped back and watched and Mini-Phin, ears pinned back, went after Kakashi in serious battle mode. He was forced to fight back or get hurt. The fight abruptly ended when he was tossed through a tree and Mini-Phin stood in the center of the demolished field with her arms crossed. She turned back and gave the stunned Hokage a look.
Imari fell to the ground laughing. "I think she wants to go on the mission," she barked out between laughs. The Hokage sighed but held his tongue as Sasuke ran up to the little girl and scooped her up.
"What did I tell you about running off?" he yelled at her and they all watched as Uchiha turned into a parent of his girlfriend. "I'd thought some evil fan-girl took you." Mini-Phin pointed to the left and everyone turned to see a pile of beaten girls. "They actually did?" Sasuke deadpanned and Mini-Phin gave an affirmative. The Uchiha sighed and collapsed on the ground. Mini-Phin tilted her head and crouched down to lift his bangs from his face. The Hokage laughed and walked over to them. Kakashi pulled himself out from a crater and leaned against the broken tree trunk.
"These girls will be the death of me," he muttered.
"Seraphin," the little one turned to Sarutobi. "Do you want to go on the mission?"
"Hwai," was her childish response.
"Wait! You can talk?!" Naruto and Sakura burst at the same time.
"Hwai." Sasuke rubbed her head and she leaned back to look at him. He was almost smiling.
Sarutobi chuckled, puffing on his pipe. "Well, I think she'd be alright on the mission. It's only a C-Rank anyway and she obviously won't be safe here from the fan-girls. Imari, come with me and we'll work on that cure some more. This Team needs to get going." He laughed again and left with his student.
"Sasukwe mad?" Mini-Phin asked.
He picked her up and tucked her under his chin. "I'm not mad Phin-chi."
"We weave?"
"Yeah we're leaving."
Kakashi sighed and drug himself over to them. "Go get your things and meet me at the gates in thirty minutes," he ordered and limped off toward the hospital just imagining what the nurses were going to say. Sakura and Naruto walked Sasuke and Mini-Phin to his house to help with any errant fan-girls. Kakashi was going to get Mini-Phin's stuff since all her stuff was there. Sakura and naruto hurried and met Sasuke just as he was leaving his house to help out.
"Let me take some of your stuff Sasuke-kun."
"Hn. Why?"
"You might have to carry Seraphin and we all need to be pretty balanced. Kakashi and Naruto will carry Seraphin's stuff so I'll help with some of yours."
"Hn," but he agreed and they put some of his stuff in her pack. Mini-Phin was distracted by Naruto's funny faces and clapped every time he made a weird sound. She ran back to Sasuke when he called her though.
"She listens to you pretty well Teme. I wonder if that'll continue when she turns back." Naruto mused.
Sakura put a finger to her cheek and tilted her head. "It's possible. Almost like a habit that carries on from childhood like when Naruto walks with his hands behind his head." He immediately dropped his hands. She glanced over at Mini-Phin who was walking in between her and Sasuke. The girl seemed so innocent but Sakura wasn't about to challenge her. Team Seven walked in silence through the village that had been their home forever.
Seasons seemed to pass by their eyes as each held memories from every street corner. Not all of them were bad and the team took separate walks down memory lane. Their walk seemed to pass shortly because they were coming up on the gates before they knew it. Kakashi was late like normal but waiting for him had become routine. Mini-Phin contented herself with playing with her Kunai under Sasuke's watchful eye. He'd made sure to pack her pajamas with him as no other garment would really work.
Sakura and Naruto talked about the advantages of the seasons and other things equally inane until Kakashi showed up. No one even bothered telling him he was late, but he received a look from his entire team that spoke volumes. He didn't even bother trying one of his excuses since the Genin just walked out of the gates with no words at all. Kakashi gave them the mission scroll to read since no one felt like talking and each one passed the scroll back and forth. Their mission was to take a package to the a Daimyo's sister in a Village just on the other side of Tea country. Simple enough, but they were ninjas so they had no idea what was going to happen.
Mini-Phin handed the scroll to Kakashi and he took off into the trees. Sasuke went to pick up Mini-Phin but she loped through the branches easily. Naruto gave him a shrug and followed. Sakura was already running beside Mini-Phin when Sasuke caught up and the trip passed in silence.
Team Seven reached a small outpost town and got a couple joined rooms for the night. Kakashi wasn't about to let his for now toddler daughter sleep outside. Sakura and Mini-Phin settled in to sleep in their room after Sasuke helped get the little one to bed, but the guys argued for a while about their room. Three guys and two beds wasn't the best thing in the world but in the end Kakashi claimed one bed for himself and Naruto and Sasuke shared. They grumbled some, but it fell on Kakashi's deaf ears.
Mini-Phin woke up at about one in the morning and went into the adjoining room where the boys were. She looked over Kakashi and the situation he had put the one she was most attached to in. She knew Kakashi was easy to manipulate when he was asleep, and really let himself sleep thanks to the pranks Imari and she had pulled. Mini-Phin gently pulled Kakashi up out of bed and had him follow her into the room she'd shared with Sakura. She put Kakashi in her bed, then lifted Sakura with her chakra strength into Kakashi's bed and tucked the pinkette in. Mini-Phin drug Naruto into the other room and settled him in Sakura's bed. Then Mini-Phin climbed in with Sasuke and snuggled in for the night.
Sakura was the first to wake and looked around curiously. She spied Sasuke but wasn't awake enough to think anything about it. She went into the other room and gathered her things to head into the bathroom and wash. When she came back out, Kakashi and Naruto were up but Sasuke was still zonked out.
"I had the strangest dream last night," Sakura murmured in a hush voice as to not wake Sasuke.
Naruto crossed his arms. "Me too. I dreamed a fluffy animal drug me out of that bed and into another. Then I wake up this morning and I'm in your room Sakura-chan. The pillow even smelled like your strawberry shampoo."
"Same here, but I dreamed I was carried." Sakura confirmed. "Wait. How do you know what shampoo I use?"
"We all went shopping before the last mission remember?" Naruto seemed smart for once.
"Oh, right. What about you Kakashi-sensei?"
The gray haired man gave a thinking noise and leaned back in his chair. "I didn't dream anything, but I woke up in Phin's bed. Speaking of which, where is she?"
They all looked over to where a couple of ears were sticking out of Sasuke's comforter.
"Do you think she-?" Naruto pointed.
"Naw," they all decided in unison, but they couldn't see the smirk on Mini-Phin's face under the covers. The team headed out to pick up some breakfast and bring it back to the hotel. As soon as the door clicked shut, obsidian eyes looked into laughing slate ones.
"Good girl," Sasuke whispered and rubbed her ears. Mini-Phin smiled and laved up the attention. When Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura walked back in they saw the two Sharingan users were finally up.
"Ready for some breakfast?" Sakura asked and set out the food. Mini-Phin didn't want to eat but Sasuke made her get down at least a rice ball. He ended up caving after they'd all eaten and gave her a dark chocolate sucker. She was set for the rest of the day.
They all headed out around nine and were back in the tree tops by eleven. For a small outpost town, they'd cleared a lot of forest. Sakura made a comment about it and Uchiha noticed the sad/peeved look on Mini-Phin's face. Sasuke guessed that it might be because she was part rabbit at the moment, but squeezed her hand a bit in comfort. They reached the next outpost town well before sundown but Kakashi decided to stop since they wouldn't have been able to reach the next before nightfall.
Mini-Phin drug Sasuke out of the hotel they were going to stay at to go look around the village while the other's settled in. Sasuke found some amusement at her childish antics of running from stall to stall, but frowned when people whispered and gave her strange looks. Sasuke recaptured her hand and let her buy some sweets from a street vendor who gave her a sweet smile. The old man commented about how cute she was and gave her ears a rub. Mini-Phin gave a million watt smile and prance off with Sasuke in tow. The good day wouldn't last though, as some local goons cornered them.
"Hey Kid, how's about a donation?" one particularly large man held out a hand.
"Hn. Buzz off," Sasuke growled and settled Mini-Phin behind him.
"Little punk!" the goon yelled and threw a punch at Sasuke, who lazily caught it. Another guy threw a sucker punch though and slammed Sasuke in the side of the head. All four goons laughed when the Uchiha hit the ground. Mini-Phin walked over to the guy that had punched Sasuke and tugged on his clothes.
"Looky here boys, a cute little girl!" he chortled but then got a look at her ears. "She's a little freak. Look at her ears!" He tugged lightly on one and glanced at her eyes. "She's really creepy. Check out her eyes!' The men gathered around her while Sasuke pulled himself up from the dirt. Mini-Phin narrowed her Sharingan at them.
"She's an adorable little monster, I'll give her that much," a greasy goon said and tugged hard on Mini-Phin's ears. The little bunny girl hissed and used her height to her advantage as it put her in direct hitting range of the men's most private parts. She slammed her fist into the guy who'd hit Sasuke. He sang opera for her and fell to the ground holding in between his legs. Mini-Phin huffed and gave the other goons a 'You wanna go?' look. She didn't get a chance though, as Sasuke took them out quickly. He sighed and picked her up to hold her high at arms length.
"What have I told you about cheap shots?" Sasuke scolded and watched as her ears pinned back and she curled into herself like a cat grabbed by the scruff of it's neck. Several villagers walked out to them, including the sweet vendor.
"You've got quite the little scrapper there don't ya?" he smiled a gap tooth grin at the Shinobi. Many of the people thanked them and aww'ed over Mini-Phin. "I have to say she landed a nice shot."
Sasuke sighed and smirked at the little one in his arm who was still giving him a guilty look. She brightened up when he did. "If you think that was good, you should have seen what she did to the bullies at home."
The sweet vendor gave a robust laugh and several villagers joined. He handed little Phin another couple suckers and patted her head. "She is a little cutie."
Sasuke chuckled lightly. "But behind that angel face she's the worst kind of demon," he quipped and the people joined in. After many congratulations and some more sweets for Mini-Phin, they got back to the hotel. Sasuke collapsed on a bed with Mini-Phin sitting on his stomach, a sucker in her mouth.
"What happened to you Teme?" Naruto and Sakura had looked up from their game of cards. Sasuke didn't know where Kakashi was.
"Street Gangs, Phin-chi getting in trouble. You know, the usual."
The other two snickered and resumed their card game. Mini-Phin came over a bit later and turned it into a game of Bullshit, Tsunade Style. Mini-Phin cleared them both out and had finished her conquest just as Kakashi walked in.
"Control your daughter!" they yelled at him and pointed to where Mini-Phin was counting her winnings.
"Did you play BS with her?" Naruto and Sakura reluctantly nodded. "Then you're S.O.L. I'm afraid."
Mini-Phin put her cash away and went to help Sakura cook. This Inn came with a fully stocked kitchen. Unfortunately, they only had one room available so the Shinobi had no idea what they were going to do about sleeping positions. There was only three beds. After dinner, the entire Team, sans Mini-Phin who was doing dishes, stood staring at the beds.
"What do we do?" Sakura asked, looking at her male teammates. Mini-Phin gave them a condescending look and pushed them all to the positions she thought were best. Sasuke with her, Naruto with Kakashi, and Sakura got her own bed.
"Now Phin, I don't think-" He was shut up by a Sharingan glare. "Okay. You win." Mini-Phin gave a haughty scoff and crawled into her bed. Sakura claimed hers and Sasuke jumped into his spot as quickly as Naruto, so there wouldn't be any more arguments from Kakashi. He sighed and slipped under the covers beside Naruto, book in hand. He read for maybe twenty minutes when he heard his team's breathing even out and Mini-Phin sneaked out. He didn't bother doing anything.
She ran across the rooftops to the outskirts of town. Imari met her there.
"Nee-chwan, pwease 'ave cwur," Mini-Phin pleaded. Imari settled down beside Mini-Phin and took off her mask.
"I can't grunter anything, but this should help get you back to your normal size at least." Imari gave her a giant blue pill that Mini-Phin promptly swallowed. "It's might take some time to work."
"O`tay. Any disturbances?"
Imari shook her head. "None. It looks like your mind is returning to normal though. You should probably go back and sleep. It may help the medicine work faster."
"Awight. Aishteru Nee-chwan."
"Love you too Bunny."
"No call," Mini-Phin growled and hopped back to her team. Imari chuckled and headed home. Mini-Phin checked her surroundings before slipping back in through the window. Lighting up the bottom end of the covers, she crawled up to lay beside Sasuke. She sighed in contented pleasure when the Uchiha boy rolled over and snuggled with her. Her ears laid back to not squish them when she tucked herself under his chin. Sleep found her quickly.
The entire team was up the next morning before Mini-Phin. Naruto was the one elected to wake her while the other went out for food. A scream brought them back in.
"What's wrong?!" Sakura yelled in concern. Naruto was in a heap on the floor pointing to the bed where a slightly bigger Mini-Phin and sitting. She'd punched Naruto, but that wasn't why he'd screamed. Her pajamas had ripped during the night with her rapid growth. She'd grown about a foot, making her three and a half feet tall. Her top was barely covering her already noticeable breast, turning into a tube top when the sleeves had given up and settled about her wrists. The long pants had turned into short short shorts, but that wasn't the worst part.
Her white bunny ears and tail had changed into black fox ears and tail. She grumbled and walked into the bathroom to change. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi were stupefied.
"I give up," Sakura muttered and sunk to the floor. Phin walked back out in her normal kunoichi outfit, even thought it was majorly baggy on her. She'd modified it to fit her better by stripping the shirt into a makeshift belt and tying the end of the tatter top. Her sleeves hung way passed her hands, but Team Seven would bet anything she had some hidden weapons up them. Her ears twitched while her tail swished behind her.
"The hell are you looking at?" larger but still Mini-Phin growled. Her voice was still childishly high and Sasuke twitched when she stuck a sucker in her mouth and sashayed over to grab her things. "Hurry up morons."
Team Seven ignored the insult and gathered their gear. Fox-Phin headed the team when they walked out.
"Oh no," Sasuke mumbled when the same goons as the day before showed up.
"Hey you pun-" he didn't even get to finish his insult before Fox-Phin took him and the others out.
"Tch," she sneered and continued walking. The sweet vendor ran up to them.
"Hello there! I just wanted to give that little girl some more treats before you left!" He looked down at Fox-Phin and blinked for a second, then recognized the smile. "My, my, decided not to be a bunny this time?"
"I like changing sometimes. It makes life more fun, ya know!" She grinned at him when he gave another hearty laugh.
"That's a bright girl." He patted her head and Fox-Phin's tail wagged in happiness. "Here you go little one." He handed her the bag.
"Wow! Thanks Mister!" she hugged him.
"No thanks necessary. Now go on, little one. The others are waiting for you," she gave another grin and ran off waving. Team Seven was out of town when her smile dropped into a sly smirk.
"Sucker," and her team hit the floor.
"You conned him?!" Sakura and Naruto wailed.
"Yes. I seem to take on characteristics of the animals that are a part of me. I was meek and innocent when I was a rabbit but was willing to fight if my family was in trouble or defend myself if I couldn't run. Now it seems I'm a bit sly," she smirked wider and a fang popped out. "C'mon morons. Daylight is wasting," she tittered and took off into the trees on all fours.
"Not to mention rude," Kakashi muttered and ran after her. They were able to reach their destination by sundown and Kakashi elected to take the package to the Daimyo. Fox-Phin had been annoying him all morning. Normally she didn't show what a smart ass she really was, and Kakashi hated it when she countered every off hand comment he made about her condition.
The Genin and Fox girl went to a local restaurant for food. Naruto whined when they didn't have ramen, but was quickly shut up by Fox-Phin smacking him in the mouth with her tail. Naruto settled for Miso and squid. Sasuke noticed Fox-Phin ate very little and had to coax her to eat more. The Fox child grudgingly obeyed.
The walk was scenic back to the hotel and Fox-Phin ran way ahead.
"Phin-chi! Get back here!" Sasuke barked and the girl stopped in her tracks and walked back with her tail tucked and ears down. "What have I told you about running off?" he gave her a stern look.
"Gomen," she pouted and Sasuke sighed.
"Just don't do it again," he scolded gently and patted her head. Her ears popped up and her tail wagged. Naruto and Sakura had to hold back their giggles. They reached the hotel with no problems and took up the positions Fox-Phin set. Her with Sasuke, Sakura with her own bed, and Kakashi would have to share with Naruto again. Kakashi returned late and grumbled at the sleeping arrangements.
Daylight slanted across Fox-Phin's face and she looked down to see no new changes to her body. She sighed and got dressed.
"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked when she opened the door.
"Just for a walk," Fox-Phin calmly said.
"Give me a minute, I'll go with."
She sighed and gave him a look a girl who looked as young as shouldn't have been able to give. "Sasuke, I can take care of myself." Fox-Phin left without another word. Her steps brought her through the sleepy village with her ears and tail down. She took a deep breath of sea air and let the sadness she always held back wash over her. Fox-Phin was so lost in though, she didn't notice the men behind her until it was too late.
Pain exploded in her head and she fell to the black. The last thing she heard was malevolent laughter.
Sasuke was beginning to worry by noon. The rest of the team tried to reassure him Fox-Phin was fine, but the feeling of dread wouldn't leave. It took another hour, but he finally got everyone to go look for her. He was paired with Naruto while they searched the water front, calling her name.
"You! Boys!" an old woman called them over. "Are you looking for someone?"
"Yeah!" Naruto piped up excitedly. "She has red hair and Fox ears. A tail too! Have you seen her?!" he yelled.
The old woman's face turned grave. "I'm sorry to say I have."
"Wha? What do you mean you're sorry to say you have ya crazy old woman?! Where our-" Sasuke slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Please, continue," Sasuke gave her an apologetic look.
"She was taken."
"Taken?!" This time Sasuke joined Naruto in yelling.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. A local gang of poachers took her this morning. I'm a fisherman's wife so I was up early to make my husband breakfast. They knocked her over the head and drug her off."
"Did you see where they went?" Sasuke was anxious.
"They took her to the West. Their hide out is by the Narumi Mountain base, just five or six miles from here."
"Thanks old Lady!" Naruto yelled and the boys took off to find their team. Kakashi and Sakura were on the other side of town by the time Sasuke and Naruto caught them and explained.
"This is bad. We may need to wait for back up," Kakashi murmured in thought.
"I'm not waiting for someone else to come save Phin-nee when she's in trouble!" Naruto yelled. "And I'm damn sure Teme-Teme? Where'd he go?" Naruto wondered as they all looked around.
"He's probably gone after Seraphin," Sakura concluded.
Kakashi rubbed his head. "Well, we'd better go after them. No telling what they'll get into." Half of Team Seven took to the top of the village to go after their estranged friends. This mission was no longer a simple C-Rank.
Sasuke was waiting for them just outside the compound where Fox-Phin was being held. He'd had to watch as they beat her down and drug her into the place. His blood was still boiling when Kakashi pulled him back into deeper cover.
"With this many people we need to wait for cover of darkness Sasuke." The Uchiha seethed but had to agree with him. They settled down to wait. For Sasuke, night couldn't come soon enough.
Fox-Phin glared at the men who threw her into a cage. She growled and raged and acted like the animal inside of her. She almost broke out too, but they shocked her with some frayed wires. Her body collapsed to the ground, and dazed, she stayed there for hours.
Fox-Phin only stirred when she heard the guards change. She looked over herself for damage and found not only a couple of severe burns from the electric shock, but her extra appendages had changed into a gray wolf's attributes. Seraphin's face hardened when she realized she was also back to normal size.
Petfect, she thought. Now I can take them all out. An explosion rocked the place and Seraphin felt the chakra signatures of her team come in. She bent the bars and slipped out, but wasn't fast enough to avoid a blow to the back when her shirt got caught. It tore and she was smacked into the wall. The beefy, body-builder guards ran over and stomped on her ribs and head. They smacked her to the other side of the room and only stopped whens she hit a wall.
She stood and wiped the blood from her mouth.
"You know what?" she sneered. "You just pissed me off." Seraphin pulled several hand signs and her Kasuri-gamas appeared in her hands.
She came at her enemy in a blur. Instantly she materialized behind him and slammed her fist into his neck. Before he fully keeled forward she came in front of him and sent a solid kick to his chin. Jena's fist clenched and landed on the top of his head, fully breaking his neck and leaving him to die slowly. She turned her enraged eyes to his comrades. Jena sped to the closest and stuck her hand through his heart. She pulled out the still pumping organ and crushed it as his body slid to the ground. Her demonic orbs locked onto the three still stunned victims in front of her. They tried to run as she shifted her weight towards them and gave out an eardrum shattering howl. Her steps weren't heard as she slashed their neck. Blood sprayed all over her body as she landed back on the ground from her lunge.
Covered in blood, standing in the middle of a massacre, with life flow still dripping from her scythes was how the rest of Team Seven found her seconds later.
"Seraphin, are you injured?" Kakashi cautiously asked.
"I'm fine." was her devoid answer. "Time to leave."
Seraphin walked passed the three genin. Their shocked faces followed her as she left. Her footsteps left a red trail back to the carnage while her swishing tail left splatters on the walls.
She cut down any man that got in the way of her leaving that wretched place of blood and slaughter. She could smell the dead animals and hear the pained cries of other being killed. She ran to the left just before the exit to where the smell of blood was the strongest.
"Seraphin the exit's this way!" Sakura called only to be ignored.
"C'mon!" Naruto yelled and led the way. They skidded to a stop at a stock still Seraphin's back. "Phin-nee?" Naruto looked over her shoulder and looked at the wasted bodies of skinned animals and many more abused ones in cages. Men were bashing their heads to kill them for the taxidermist. He looked at Jena's expression to see tears running down her devastated face.
"I suggest you leave if you can't handle slaughter," her voice was malicious as Naruto watched her face scrunch in fury. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists while her brother watched her teeth grit against themselves. Elongated canines pricked her lip. Her eyes shot open and a howl so loud ripped from her throat the compound shook. Naruto saw the men below cover their ears in pain and look up to her with stunned expressions. Her howl stopped and she sent death into the spines of all the men with her red eyes.
Seraphin hopped over the railing and snarled like a wolf as she chased down and killed every man there. She cornered the taxidermist, and watched in disgust as the man wet his pants.
"Did you get some enjoyment out of killing these animals?" her voice was deceptively calm. The man just whimpered for mercy. Seraphin sneered and cut off his head. She gave no acknowledgment to her team watching her on the ledge. She set all of the animals free and ran out of the collapsing hideout with animals of all kinds running behind her. She scooped up a couple cubs and the others helped with the young ones when she ran past them.
All escaped the mouth of the slaughter house just before it ceased to be. Seraphin looked around at all the animals and set the cubs and pups with the correct families. All of them rubbed on her and ran out into the forest.
"I told you animals were being slaughtered for nothing more than sport," Seraphin muttered and walked back to the water front. People gave her shocked looks as she passed, but they might as well have been air for all the attention she paid them. She felt disgusted with the coagulating blood on her skin, it was getting itchy, and dove into the water. She scrubbed at herself furiously and came back up when she was satisfied. She looked like a wet dog when her team looked at her.
"Are you hurt Seraphin?" Sakura asked.
"Not badly, just a scratch," she answered and they all went back to the hotel. Kakashi decided to let them stay another night to rest. The team acted normal around Seraphin, and for that she was thankful, but she still felt the distance between them and her. No matter how she tried, she couldn't get the scent of salt, and rusty iron out of her nose or off her hands. Her team slept soundly while she starred out the window at the stars. Her ears flicked against her pillow when Sasuke turned her over.
"Let me see your wounds," he ordered.
"They're fine," she answered. They spoke in hushed voices so they wouldn't wake the others. He pressed his hand down on one of her burns and no pain showed on her face, but Sasuke felt the infinitesimal stiffening of her muscles.
"Liar," he pushed her up and took care of her wounds. There was nothing he could do about most of the bruising but he wrapped her abused ribs and burns. Sasuke shoved her back on the bed and caged her with his body on top of hers. "I'm glad you're not a child anymore."
"Why?"
"Cause now I can do this," he lightly pressed his lips to hers and pulled back to look at her sorrowful face. "Hey, don't let it get to you."
"Those animals were innocent," her eyes stung with tears. She'd never ever been able to handle animal cruelty.
"You saved a lot of them. You'll need to be content with that," Sasuke stroked her hair back and distracted her with his mouth. His tongue lightly played with hers and he stole a mewl from her throat. He pulled back when her lips were swollen with his kisses and rolled to her side. She curled into him and let herself relax into his warmth. Sasuke stroked her hair until she fell asleep. She was morose the whole way back to the village, but Sasuke stayed with her and Kakashi noticed it seemed to help.
Seraphin slept by him every night back, but otherwise acted normally, if a bit quieter. Which was practically silent since she was a woman of few words anyway. The night before the return home, Seraphin was back to normal. Imari met them at the gate.
"Nee-chan," Seraphin said in a sickly sweet voice that sent everyone on guard. "You are so dead!" Seraphin yelled and took off after her sister. They ran all over the village. Sakura looked at Kakashi when he snickered.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"I got pictures," he chuckled and showed his team the pics of each phase Phin went through. A lot of them were very cute and embarrassing.
"How did you get these?!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke twitched when he saw several were of him and the Bunny, then Fox, then Wolf girl snuggled up in sleep.
"That my dear little Genin, is a Jounin secret," he laughed manically and poofed away.
"Phin-nee will be so pissed when she finds those pictures," Naruto muttered and smacked his forehead.
"I'm not gonna tell her," Sakura concluded.
"Me either," Sasuke agreed.
"Don't look at me," Naruto concurred and the team walked to their respective homes, hearing the shouts and chaos of the Hollow Sister's fight all the way.
Seraphin chased Imari for three days with the only change being that Sasuke joined in from time to time to taunt Imari and her malicious little sister.
He became more playful with his 'Girlfriend', much to the fan-girl population's dismay. Naruto broke up laughing when Sasuke managed to make Phin go on a date with him.
Her little brother got a Kunai in the ass for that.
Jena never did find out about the pictures.
