Ch. 13

Morning Meeting

Tsubaki's P.O.V.

(2 weeks later)

I woke up to a bright sun and the smell of freshly cooked bird. 'I hope she made cheesy eggs to go with it today.' I got up and dressed before heading down to the kitchen. When got there I found Neji, Naruto and Sasuke sitting at the table talking with Neko as she cooked.

"Good morning guys what are you talking about?" I asked. They looked at me and said "The Second Exam" in unison. "Oh, yeah, that's today isn't it" I said excitedly. They all nodded and Neko came over with five plates of food sitting on top of one of her vines. She set one in front of each of us and we started breakfast.

After we finished eating I gathered the plates and started to wash them. As I washed the plates we all talked about how excited we were for the exam that was taking place later in the day. There was a knock on the door "I'll get it" I told the others. I opened the door to find all our other friends and Tsunade.

"Good morning" they all said as they came in. After everyone came in I shut the door and went into the living room where they were all waiting. I went over to Gaara - who was standing against the doorframe and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. He repaid me by wrapping his arms around my waist and giving me a light kiss on the mouth.

"Is something wrong Tsunade you normally don't come over so early in the morning?" Neko said from her spot on the couch between Kiba and Hinata. "Nothing is wrong. I just figured it would be easier to tell you all at the same time about the spy that's returning to the village today" She replied. Hinata looked at her and asked "Who is it Lady Tsunade?" Tsunade's eyes shifted to Sasuke uneasy before saying "Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke looked at her as if she were insane before yelling "YOU LET THAT MURDERER BECOME A SPY AFTER HE KILLED MY FAMILY!" This scared me and I clung to Gaara who noticed and tightened his grip slightly. A yelling fight soon developed between Sasuke and Tsunade until Neko realized that I was scared. "STOP FIGHTING! YOU'RE SCARING TSUBAKI!" she yelled and everything went silent. Everyone looked from Neko to Gaara and me as they realized how scared I was.

Sasuke looked scared and ashamed of himself for starting that in front of me. Tsunade looked as if she were a mother that had just been slapped by one of her daughters. Gaara had been whispering calming words to me the whole time trying to get me to calm down.

Soon Tsunade came over and took me from Gaara in order to hug me and whisper how sorry she was. I began to cry and she started to whisper "Shh… It is okay, we didn't mean to scare you, honey…shhh."

A few minutes later I had calmed down and Neko asked "Who is Itachi Uchiha?" They all looked over at her and suddenly remembered that they had never mentioned him to us before. Sasuke was the first to speak. "That son of a bitch is my brother. He is also the person who murdered my family." As he said this he got a look that said he was ready to kill.

Tsunade looked up from me to him and said "Actually he didn't kill them. Orochimaru was the one to kill your family, Sasuke. He set it up to seem like it was Itachi that did it. Although Itachi arrived before Orochimaru had time to escape, so Itachi's memories have proven that it was actually Orochimaru."

Sasuke looked at her with a face that that let you know that he felt like a moron. "Shit and to think I said all that shit about all these years. Now to learn that I feel like an ass that should not be in his presence ever again." He said after a moment.

After a few more minutes we left to meet Itachi at the front gates. Tsunade had told us that he would be bringing some friends along with him. When I asked who he was bring Tsunade said that she had no clue. When we arrived we waited a few minutes before four figures are seen beyond the horizon.

They were dressed in black robes and had their hoods up. One of them was carrying a large sword on their back – it scared me. When they arrived at the gate they all removed their hoods and introduced themselves. The first had black hair, black eyes and didn't smile; he introduced himself as Itachi Uchiha. The second one was the one with the large sword; he looks like a shark with dark blue hair and legs – he scares me the most – his name is Kisame hoshigaki. The next one was a blonde that had mouths on the palm of his hands – it wasn't so much scary as it was weird – his name is Deidara. The last one had red hair just like Gaara's – he's the least scary so far – his name is Sasori.

I was scared but the others just smiled and shook hands with them as if they were old friends. "How was your journey Itachi?" Tsunade asked. "It was fine. We were luckily able to get here without any trouble at" he replied. I watched them nervously and soon Deidara noticed. He came over and asked excitedly "HI, what's your name?" I looked at him with slight fear in my eyes before glancing at the others who hadn't noticed.

I looked back at the blonde and quietly said "My names Tsubaki. Why do you have mouths on the palms of your hands?" He smiled at me and reached into his pocket and soon after pulled out a small clay bird. I looked at with wide eyes – I love small figurines – and before he knew what happened I was holding it. "NO! Give that back it's not safe; it's an explosive." This got every ones attention.

It startled me when he said that and I dropped the bird. Gaara and Tsunade had started to move towards me but Deidara had pushed me to the ground and covered me right as the bird blew. One of the trees had caught fire but before I saw it they had put it out. After a minute Deidara got up off of me and helped me up. "Are you okay, Tsubaki?" he asked.

I was about to lie and say I was fine, but I was so shaken up from it that it wouldn't have been believable at all. Tsunade, Gaara and Neko came over to check on me and I said "I'll be fine, just give me some time." Then I heard a 'ouch' in the background and looked to see Deidara getting hit on the head by Itachi – who looked beyond angry.

"I told you that you were not to create explosive art unless you needed to. I'm sorry for him I told him not to create those things but he apparently can't listen to rules" Itachi said while glaring at Deidara; who had hid behind Sasori. Sasori in turn sighed with a very annoyed look on his face. I went over to Itachi and set a hand on his arm. "It wasn't his fault. I asked him to show me and if I hadn't taken it this wouldn't have happened. I love small figurines and when I saw the little bird I had to hold it" I said with a look that begged him to forgive Deidara.

He sighed "I understand that but he still disobeyed a direct order" he said. I nodded and looked at Deidara with a face that said 'I'm sorry.' "Alright, alright everybody calm down and let's hurry up. The Second Exam will be starting soon and both Neko and Tsubaki are part of it. It also can't start till Gaara and I arrive" Tsunade stepped in with.

With that we headed off with Gaara, Neko and I leading and Itachi, Kisame, Sasori and Deidara bringing up the rear. We were ready; I knew that much – I wonder what will happen. I glanced at Neko and saw a determined face that I had never seen before. Seeing this made me realize that I was ready too.