I am so, so, so, so, so, so sorry, people. I went on a vacation. And did some RPing. And bothered my stepsister whose dad somehow shares the same last name as my dad(so maybe we're distantly related somehow?) And in the back of my mind I knew I should be getting to work on this chapter- and I wrote about half of it and never looked at it again until today.

But I finished it, so you finally get another chapter! This one is about 3300 words, and it's got some Sasuke/Suten interaction... I don't want to say bonding, but you could call it that somewhat, I think. Keep in mind- if you see them acting weird, this doesn't mean they like each other. It just means they hate each other slightly less. Yeah. That's it.

So here you go! Chapter 11 of I Hate Uchiha! A little insight about Inari, and a quest to find Naruto!

I only own Suten, for crying out loud! How many times... *goes off on a rant*

"This is really fun!" Tazuna cheered happily as we sat at the dinner table. "It's been a while since I ate with this many people!"

I paid no mind to his chipper mood, swallowing another spoonful of stew and sighing. Since there weren't enough good places at the table even with Tsunami giving up her chair, I had to sit at a corner of the table, between Sasuke and Sakura- joy. Sasuke was a particular joy to sit next to now because he seemed to be in some kind of eating contest with Naruto. I swear, everything was a contest nowadays with those two. I reached my hand out for a brown dumpling, trying to ignore them both- but Sasuke stole it, tore it in half, and promptly stuffed it into his mouth.

"You had to go after the one I wanted," I growled, eye twitching. "Didn't you." There had been…three other dumplings on that plate, and which did he go for? Mine. Typical Sasuke.

He ignored me and jumped to his feet, mouth still full(with MY dumpling) and holding his bowl as if proposing a toast. "Seconds!" he demanded. Upon hearing another voice join his, I realized Naruto was doing the exact same thing. The two noticed this and glared at each other- you could almost see the sparks flying.

Rude little boys, aren't you? Do you think Tsunami's the waitress or something?

When Sasuke quickly turned towards me, I could tell he was up to something. The nauseous look on his face clued me in to what that something was.

I tried to get out of the way in time, but I only managed to get up from my chair- before Sasuke decided to regurgitate his meal. All over my feet. On purpose.

I looked down at my feet, now covered in stomach juices and Sasuke's half-digested dinner. "You didn't," I began menacingly, clenching my fists. "Uchiha, you're so freaking nasty sometimes- you don't even know!" My voice kept getting louder and louder. "You threw up on me, you jerk! I hate you- so much right now…"

He pretended to look all innocent, wiping his mouth off with his hand- but I could see a very self-satisfied smirk poorly hidden on his face.

"Stop smirking! This isn't funny! Look, what if I threw up on you?" I stuck a finger down the back of my throat, trying to stimulate my gag reflex. I was glad to see he actually looked a little apprehensive.

"Suten, that's enough."

Kakashi's voice stopped me. "You need to calm down," he told me, still perfectly calm himself. "I can understand that you're upset, but just calm down."

I stared at him, before taking my finger out of my mouth with exaggerated reluctance and taking a deep breath to calm myself. Tsunami wordlessly directed me to wash off in the kitchen. I hopped up on the counter and stuck my vomited-on feet under the running faucet, still keeping an ear on the conversation.

Sakura looked irritated and disgusted- same as I was feeling, actually. "Jeez, if you're just going to barf it up, don't eat!" she nagged.

Sasuke wasn't smirking anymore as he straightened, still looking at Naruto. "No," he contradicted. "I'll eat."

"I have to eat even if I have to force myself," Naruto added, meeting his gaze. "I have to get strong fast."

Kakashi nodded in appreciation. "But throwing up isn't good. Which reminds me…" He looked Sasuke in the eye. "Sasuke, that was uncalled for. I assume you know what I want you to do." Wait…was he telling Sasuke to..?

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock, but immediately he ducked his head. "Tch. Not happening."

"Sasuke," Kakashi said warningly. "Remember what I said about swallowing your pride."

"You said that to her!" he protested.

"And you could take a lesson from it as well. Go on, Sasuke."

Sasuke swore rather unprofessionally under his breath, but nevertheless shoved back his chair and trudged over to me, expression shadowed by his bangs. Feet successfully de-Sasuke-ified, I sat on the edge of the counter in front of him with arms folded and head high, waiting.

Sasuke twitched, swore again, and ducked into a bow. "Gomen ne, Takashi."

I nodded, remembering how it had felt when I had to thank him and grudgingly deciding to let him off the hook this time- before realizing Kakashi would expect me to forgive him now. Was he trying to make us comfortable with each other and kill our rivalry? "Apology accepted," I said finally, trying to get out of it.

Kakashi wouldn't have it. "And..?"

I ducked my head in embarrassment, wincing. "And…and I forgive you. Okay?" Feeling the embarrassment color my face, I added quickly, "But you're still a prick."

"And you're still annoying," Sasuke retorted, straightening- but I could see he was as uncomfortable as I was. "So… that makes us even again. Right?"

I nodded, and he stepped back so I could hop down from the counter. And we went back to our seats. Not together, or anything. He just went back to his seat at the same time I went back to mine. He copied me. Stupid Uchiha.

-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-

The rest of dinner went by without much event, and Tsunami eventually came to clear the table and bring us tea(that poor woman). Sakura decided to be nosy and go poke around, and I sat next to Uchiha and drank my tea. Mmm, jasmine.

"Um, why are you hanging a torn picture?" Sakura's voice echoed from the hall, and I twisted to see her standing in front of what was clearly a family picture hanging on the wall- but one of the members' faces was indeed torn out. "Inari-kun was watching this during dinner the entire time," she continued, looking back with a questioning look on her face. "This torn part looks like someone intentionally tore away the person who was there."

The faces of our benefactors immediately grew dark, and I realized Sakura had stumbled onto what promised to be a fairly morbid story. Part of me wanted her to say she was sorry for asking and shut up like a good little bubblehead. But now I was curious- who was the person? A black sheep, perhaps?

"It's my husband," Tsunami said finally. When she said nothing more, Tazuna continued. "He was the man known as the hero of this town." Before he could continue further, Inari suddenly got down from his chair and retreated to his room, ignoring his mother's cries of "Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami left the dishes and followed him, but not before giving Tazuna a frustrated look. "Tou-san, I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari." Then she, too, was gone.

I frowned. Was it possible that whatever had happened to this man, had caused Inari's negative outlook on heroes? Now I really wanted to hear this story.

"What's wrong with Inari-kun?" Sakura asked, obviously not comprehending that she had touched on a sore subject.

"It seems there's a reason behind this," Tazuna said finally. He looked and sounded unusually grave. "Inari had a father that wasn't related to him. They were very close, like father and son. Inari used to laugh a lot back then. But…" His fists clenched, and his voice choked. "But…" The tough old man was actually crying. Tears were running down his face and dripping onto the wooden table. "Inari changed. After the incident that happened to his father. The word 'courage' was forever taken away from the people of this island, and Inari…after that day, and that incident…"

"That incident?" Kakashi pressed gently. "What happened to Inari?"

"To explain the incident, I will need to talk about the man who was known as a hero on this island." He removed his round spectacles and wiped his eyes.

"A hero?" Naruto questioned. I shot a glare at Naruto, warning him to stop interrupting. He got the message.

He replaced his glasses, looking slightly calmer. "It was about three years ago when the man and Inari met each other. A group of boys from the village had decided to steal Pochi, Inari's dog and at that time, only friend. When Inari protested against it, Pochi was thrown into the water. Seeing his friend drowning, Inari wanted to help, but fear and an inability to swim made him remain on the docks. Even knowing this fact, the boys pushed him into the water. This isn't very important, but Pochi learned how to dog paddle then. When he made it to the shore, the boys chased after him, and completely alone, Inari sank beneath the waves. When he came to, he was lying under a blanket and a man was cooking fish over the fire. His name was Kaiza. He was a fisherman who came to this island seeking his dream. Ever since that accident, Inari started becoming attached to Kaiza. He probably became attached since he lost his father before he could remember anything. He followed him around all the time like a goldfish's feces…"

Interesting analogy there. Interesting, yet strangely accurate.

"And they became just like father and son. It didn't take long for Kaiza to become part of our family. Kaiza was also a guy that we needed in this town. One night, the dam broke in the middle of a storm. Someone had to tie a rope to the other end of the dam so it could be fixed and a part of the village wouldn't flood- but the current was so swift that any man who tried would be swept away. Yet Kaiza volunteered…not only that, but he succeeded. After that, the people here started calling Kaiza a hero, and he became a father that Inari could be proud of. Gato turned his eye on this town at around that time."

I had a bad feeling Gato would come into this story eventually.

"And one night, they captured Kaiza. He had the man tortured brutally throughout the night, and in the morning hung him up for the village, and Inari, to see. Gato warned he villagers that this was the price of interfering with his corporation…and executed Kaiza. Inari changed ever since that time. Tsunami and the people of this town as well."

I stared down at my lap numbly. That explained a lot…why Inari believed that there was no such thing as heroes…why he thought no one could win against Gato… No one deserved to go through that. Especially not someone as young as Inari had been. At this rate, he would grow to become another Sasuke- everyone in Konoha knew the story of the Uchiha massacre.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud thud, and I looked over to see Naruto had fallen out of his chair and was now stretched out on the floor. "What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura questioned, her tone of voice indicating she didn't think it was the time for his usual idiocy.

"If you're trying to train," Kakashi commented, catching on to his plan, "don't. You've molded too much chakra. If you move any more, you're going to die."

Naruto struggled to get up. "I'm going to prove to him," he ground out, finally rising to his feet, "that there are heroes in this world." Even though he looked like he could barely stand, he had that determined look on his face again.

"I'm going to prove it to him!"

-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-

"Morning," I muttered, coming into the kitchen and taking my place at the table. Immediately I put my head down with a yawn, too tired to care if it was disrespectful. I was not and would never be a morning person.

"Naruto didn't come back last night, either?" I heard Tazuna question, and against my best interest I listened in.

"He's stupid," Sakura answered in a tone that indicated she was just as tired as I was, "so he's been climbing trees by himself every night."

It was just too easy. I lifted my head up. "Ne, Sakura, you never know…he could be dead from excessive chakra use, like I said before."

"Stop saying that!" She mustered up enough energy to glare at me.

"What? It's not like it's your 'precious Sasuke-kun'," I pointed out. "You couldn't care less about Naruto, you've made that pretty clear."

Tsunami came with a cup of tea for me, and I forced myself to sit up and accept it. "But still," she said in a worried tone, "is Naruto-kun all right? A child staying out all night by himself…"

"There's no need to worry." Kakashi looked up from adjusting the metal on his gloves. "He is a decent ninja, even if he doesn't look like one."

"Or act like one," I mumbled, drinking my tea. "Or smell like one, or eat like one, or…"

"Suten."

"Gomen, sensei."

"I don't know about that, sensei," Sasuke cut in, continuing my line of thought- how dare he. "Maybe that usuratonkachi really is dead…" He paused a minute more, then got up from his seat and headed for the door. "I'm going for a walk."

I knew where he was really going. I took another long drink of tea, then stood. "I'm coming with you," I decided, even though I wasn't completely sure why.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at me, apparently trying to figure me out, then nodded. "Hn. Let's go." He allowed me to catch up to him, and we continued out the door.

Sakura did not seem to take this very well, and jumped up from her chair almost desperately, because I was a female and as far as she was concerned she was the only female allowed alone with Sasuke. "I'm coming, too!"

The poor fangirl was shut down with a double blast of the word "No" as we continued on without even looking at her. I didn't know this, but Sakura stood staring at the door a while after we left, shock on her face quickly turning to anger.

Without even meaning to(or without there being any valid reason), I had just made myself her competition.

-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-

It took approximately twenty seconds after our feet left the porch of Tazuna's house for Sasuke to ask the burning question. No, not that question, the other, more expected question.

"Why did you come with me?"

I didn't bat an eyelash. "Because I know you're not just going for a walk. You're going to find Naruto. You can't drag him back by yourself; therefore, I came with you." I had another, follow-up question I really wanted to ask, but he spoke before I could.

"What makes you think I'm looking for Naruto?" He looked a little peeved that I had figured him out, but was trying not to let it show.

"Because you left right after agreeing with me that he could be dead. Which reminds me." Without any further warning I shoved him, making him stagger slightly. "No agreeing with me. We've talked about this."

He glowered. "Hn. Then quit saying things I agree with."

"Oh, really?" I tapped my chin, pretending to think. "Hmm, well, what if I said it'd be good if Naruto was dead? Do you agree with that, too?"

He was silent for a moment. "That…actually wouldn't be all bad," he mused finally.

I found myself shrugging. "True…the number of people on our team would be normal then," I pointed out.

"And we'd be rid of one of the useless people on this team," he added. "The other, of course, being…"

"Sakura," I finished. "Right. Maybe we should get rid of her, too. I think she and Naruto really just frustrate everyone."

"We could do that, but then the number of team members would be abnormal again," he reminded me. "So we'd have to find someone more capable, or somehow cope with only two genin and one Jonin." He paused, then his face went blank. "We…just had yet another civil moment."

My face was blank as well. "Oh…we did. And about killing off our teammates, no less."

In the days since Naruto had started working overtime, Sasuke and I had been spending more time alone- to get away from Sakura, of course. Don't think it was for any other reason. And for some reason, almost every time we ended up alone, we had these stupid 'civil moments', where we talked together as if we actually didn't hate each other. It was irritating. Well, it was only irritating when we realized we had been having a civil moment. The talks were kind of nice sometimes…er, that is, considering I was talking to Uchiha Sasuke. And I hated him. They were nice. Compared to the conversations we should be having. We had no problems being hateful when other people were around, believe me.

"These need to stop happening," Sasuke said finally.

"Agreed." Then I quickly caught myself. "Well, not agreed as in I'm agreeing with you, but…"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

Incredibly awkward silence reigned for a few moments as we- as in, he and I, completely separate- continued in our quest to find the errant idiot of our team. It was then that I realized, as we were walking along, that I had forgotten to ask my burning follow-up question. "Uchiha." I really didn't like having to initiate conversation with him, but I wanted to know.

"Hn." It seemed he wasn't too keen on talking to me anymore. But at least he acknowledged I had said something.

"I wanted to ask you this a few minutes ago, but we sort of went off on a tangent."

"…what is it?" he asked finally, still sounding a little uncomfortable.

"You asked why I came with you, so…" I fidgeted a little, before reminding myself that I disliked him and there was no need to act…like this. I stopped, and he stopped with me. "Why did you let me come?"

Sasuke tensed visibly. "W-well, because…" He ducked his head. "Tch. I don't have to explain myself to you."

I frowned a little. "I explained myself to you."

"You didn't have to."

"But I wanted to." I blew my bangs off my forehead, trying to blow my uneasiness away with it. It didn't help. "Look, you're making us uneven, just tell me."

"Fine." He shot me a quick glower beneath his bangs. "Hn. Because…because, I didn't want the only other intelligent genin on this squad, going insane from overexposure to Sakura. Happy?"

A little voice told me that wasn't it, but I let it slide. Pfft, it wasn't as if he had actually sort of wanted to spend time with me. Don't make me laugh. "How would I go insane from overexposure to Sakura and her annoying self?" I asked curiously.

"The same way you said you were going to, when it was you and her on the bridge," he reminded me. "Don't tell me you could handle her whining about whether I'm dead or not for however long it'd take me to get back."

I shuddered. "I won't. So it was basically for your personal gain, so you'd have someone to talk to?" I clarified.

He turned away, but this time I saw a small hint of red on his face. "Hn. If that's how you want to see it… We're wasting time, let's go."

I stared after him as he continued up the path without another word. So I wasn't the only one who sort of- kind of- not really- almost- tolerated- liked our little chats. That was a relief- now he was as guilty as I was. Our carefully constructed rivalry was unraveling…and into what, I couldn't say for sure. But what unnerved me a little was that if it was unraveling, I wasn't really doing much to put it back together. And as far as I could tell, neither was he.

"That may be true," I finally muttered in response, hurrying to catch up. "But if Naruto's dead already, there isn't much of a point, is there?"

I know what you're thinking! Believe me, I do! But trust me, this does not mean they like each other or anything! They're just used to hating each other...and that's why they're feeling so awkward around each other now...and yeah...

So they will still dislike each other! Make no mistake, that's not going to change! It'll take more than 11 chapters to get them past that. I intend on making this realistic. Which reminds me...

*camera cuts to Sasuke and Suten tied to chairs*

You guys are supposed to hate each other! Hate each other, for crying out loud! Stop getting together! Make with the hostility!

Suten: Then maybe Author-sama shouldn't have us alone so much.

Sasuke: Hn.

...I think you're forgetting something. Sasuke, Kishimoto-sama let me borrow you, and Suten, I created you! So that means you are both my pawns! And do you know what happens to little pawns who don't obey me?

Sasuke and Suten: *gulp*

It's not like it will do anything to save them, but...Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!