I do not own Naruto.
A/N-Thanks for the super reviews in chapter 13!
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Finders Keepers Chapter Break 14-Whoa Mama
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Konoha
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Sasuke watched her in the pre-dawn light as she slept. The girl was an enigma to him. Gone was the fangirl who had followed him when they were children. She didn't fear him, or the monster he had nearly become. Hell, some people still believed he was a monster. The cherry tressed kunochi left him awash in contradictions. She didn't want his money, name, or power. She fought him, yet trusted him to watch over her as she slept. He felt fiercely protective of her, even when he wanted to push her away. He knew she was strong, but in his arms, she felt fragile. He wanted to hold her close, keep her safe, and lock her far away from himself and his only family.
He couldn't keep her with him. He couldn't possibly let her go now.
More than ever, he was torn.
As the Uchiha heir, it was a plain fact that he'd had many chances to be with many stunning women, since he was as young as twelve, but this girl, this woman didn't just want his body or power or money.
This beautiful, independent soul only wanted him to be happy, be her friend, to just be there, and to heal. That would never happen, he was tainted.
He brushed an errant lock of hair behind her ear, thinking of the chaste kiss he'd placed on her lips last night. How he'd felt the warmth of her trust and love flowing to him through the seal. How many years since he had felt close to another human? He had the most irresistible urge to wake her, to repeat their first real kiss.
A shadow appeared at her window. In an instant, he was gone.
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In the silence, Sakura opened her eyes, and waited for them to focus on the glowing red of the alarm.
Glowing red!
'Sasuke!' She turned her head, half expecting to see him still in her bed.
Had she really begged Sasuke to stay? 'How humiliating,' she buried her head under the blanket. He must really think she was weak now.
The onyx eyed man had left, but she could still feel the warmth from his body. There was the indent on the pillow where his head laid, next to her all night, arms around her, making her feel safe. Last night he had helped her break through the sharingan genjutsu. An impossible task, most would say. Sasuke had forced her to do it, and as terrifying as it had been, she was grateful.
The kunochi was also smart enough not to read too much into his actions. Sure, he stayed the night, but only to help a team mate, one he was supposed to be teaching. The kunochi would be deluding herself to think it was ever more than that. She wasn't that stupid fangirl anymore.
Sasuke may be overprotective around other men, but it was no different than Naruto or Kakashi's outrageous, and unwanted, cock blocking for her. He was only helping her to escape Tsunade's punishment for leaving him the village. The youngest Uchiha had a one track mind, and if she didn't have long black hair and red eyes she was virtually invisible to him. It would be foolish, not to mention heartbreaking, to think otherwise.
'Yeah,' he inner muttered, 'keep telling yourself that.'
Sakura rose from the warm bed, found some comfortable slippers, and slipped them on to keep the morning chill of the floor from her feet. She walked lazily into the kitchen to make some coffee and wake up the rest of her brain.
She opened the can to find it empty.
'What the heck?'
Not quite empty, there was a note inside.
'False stimulants are addictive, and will make you less aware of the world around you. Do not depend on them to wake up. If you have to have some caffeine, drink tea for now.'
Sakura looked in her refuse bin. There it was, her heavenly wake up drink, chucked out. She stuck the empty coffee can up to her nose and breathed deeply.
"That bastard!" the unhappy young woman seethed.
'p.s. Training at the Uchiha complex at 9:00am sharp. The Hokage sent a messenger over, be in her office at 8:00am. Before you leave set some better genjutsu traps around your house, or else. That is an order.
"Why that little…If he thinks he can boss me around I'll pound him," she grumbled.
'Also good work last night, but don't think I'll go easy on you now. We've just begun.'
It was signed…
Uchiha Sasuke
"That arrogant asshole, and here I thought he was being sweet," she crushed the note in her hand, "I was right to keep my guard up against him. Why do I always get stuck with the difficult ones?" She tossed the empty coffee can in the recycle bin under her sink and looked at the clock.
7:40
"Oh shit!" Sakura forgot about breakfast and dashed to grab some clean clothes. Those traps were going to have to wait. Even if there was no coffee, she definitely wanted a shower.
There would be hell to pay if she kept Tsunade waiting. Sakura was already on the shit list. To add tardiness to it might just get an additional for six months suspension, with mood Shishou had been in lately. On the bright side, if she got there early, there was a caffeine fix with her name on it in the break room.
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Sasuke arrived at the flower shop just as they were opening. Ino had no sooner turned the sign, when the annoying little bell over the door tinkled.
"Welcome to…oh. What do you want, Sasuke?"
He handed her a small mission scroll, "Listen up, this is a secret mission, so keep your mouth shut."
"What do you mean, keep MY mouth shut? You arrogant jerk!"
"Well, I seem to remember you getting drunk and getting yourself and Sakura thrown into jail, less than 24 hours ago, because you had to gossip private information."
"Since when do you deliver mission scrolls anyhow?"
"The less people who know about this, the safer it will be for Sakura," he told her evenly, "just make sure you're at the Hokage's office by 10am for the briefing."
"You've been with Sakura?"
"Aa," he took a certain satisfaction in the widening of her cornflower blue eyes, "I just left her place."
"Right," she spoke disbelievingly.
"She asked me to stay the night."
"Masaka! Are we talking about the same girl? Haruno Sakura, purest girl in the village?" she scoffed.
"If I hear you've spread more rumors about Sakura, you'll end up right back in that cell," he warned.
"Who made you Sakura's keeper?"
He selected a flower from a basket by the door and turned to leave, "I did," the bell tinkled.
Ino ran around the counter, "Sasuke wait!"
He stopped, already knowing what the blonde would ask.
"Did you kiss her?"
He dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement.
"What time would you say it was when you two kissed?"
"Time?"
"Humor me," the feisty kunochi put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot.
"Roughly, 10:30."
"Dammit," she griped, digging in her pocket as he exited the building. He got ten feet before the door flew open.
"Uchiha! You cheat! Naruto told you about the bet, didn't he?"
"Hn. Why would I help the dobe win anything?" he turned away once more, smirking when he heard her frustrated screech.
Now the dobe had no excuse to sleep at Sakura's. She, in turn, had no excuse not to properly defend her residence. Not that those were the reason's he kissed her, but they were the reason he reported the deed to the town's biggest gossip.
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Sakura arrived at the Hokage tower with five minutes to spare, snagged a cup of coffee and went up to Tsunade's office.
Shizune met her at the outer door and plucked the prize from her hand, "Gomen na, Sakura-chan."
"But…"
"Uchiha-san has asked me to remind you that too much caffeine is not good for your training."
'Too much?' How about none at all?' Her face grew dark, "That micro-managing son of a b-"
"Please go in, Tsunade is waiting for you already," her eyes were sympathetic, "She is not in a good mood."
"Join the party," Sakura groused under her breath, going to the door and knocking once before entering.
"Sakura, that pompous brat informed me that you are finally progressing against the sharingan."
"Finally? What the hell is that supp-?"
Tsunade waved her to silence, "We have a problem."
Sakura closed her mouth with a snap, a concerned look taking over.
"The plague has started to spread near waterfall, close to Fire's border, and because his village is so close to the border, the Daiyamo is demanding we go there to prevent it from crossing."
"So? We just send someone there."
"It's worse than that. His children have contracted to an especially viral strain."
"That's not possible, I vaccinated them myself."
"I know, but the Daiyamo's physicians are at their limit, three of the four children have it and it's getting worse. The first word we received were pleas of help, now the Daiyamo is demanding I send the best medical personal in the village, a.k.a. you, or he will remove all support he has set up for the hidden village."
"He can't do that!"
"He can and will. The man believes his children are dying, and he is frantic. I have no choice. Tonight you and Shizune will be going to waterfall, escorted by Sasuke Uchiha and an ANBU unit."
"Tonight?" In spite of the bad news, she couldn't help but feel excited to get out from her restrictions.
"You will be traveling under cover of dark, in full ANBU gear. I do not want it known that you have left the village. I am arranging for another woman to henge herself to look like you and be seen in the village."
"May I ask who?"
"Ino Yamanaka."
"Ino? No way! She'll flirt with everything in pants and they will all think it's me."
"Too bad. You two are lucky I don't lock you both up for treason. You have two days to work once you get there, get those kids on the path to health, then I want you back here. Travel at night, disguised, chakra hidden, remain unseen. If you run into trouble you will run away. That is my order. There and back in six days, seven at the most. Do you think you are ready?"
"As ready as I can be," Sakura assured her accepting the mission scroll.
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Sakura's Inner had bugged her all the way to the Hokage's office. Now it nagged at the back of her mind as she walked towards the Uchiha compound. This was the most she'd heard from this inner voice since her genin years.
She didn't like it very much.
'You need to be honest with him,' her inner self urged.
'No, I don't.'
'You love him.'
'He left me, he left us all.'
'He had a reason.'
'Naruto wanted strength too. He stayed, and look how strong he is now. He and Sasuke are practically the same level.'
'Naruto left too,' her inner reminded her, 'he just had permission.'
'He came back willingly, more powerful.'
'It wasn't power alone Sasuke needed.'
'Than what was it?'
'He needed to learn how to shut out his emotions.'
'Tch,' Sakura scoffed, 'he was pretty fucking good at that when he was still here.'
'Wrong, it was hard for him to keep up that façade,' her inner explained. 'He wanted to be close to his team, he showed up every day.'
'We all did, except Kakashi, he was always late.'
'Yeah but did Sasuke leave? No, he was always there early, and even after he knew Kakashi would be tardy, he sat around listening to you and Naruto arguing. He tried to act like he was ignoring you, but there was nothing holding him there. Nothing but the desire to be near people who cared about him.'
"Damn it!" Sakura hated it when her inner self fought her over issues, hated it even more when her reasoning…when it was true. Sasuke wasn't forced to spend time with his team, back then Kakashi probably wouldn't have cared.
'Sasuke protected you then, and now he trusts you enough to help you break through his greatest weapon and-'
'Enough, I give in, Sasuke cares about me, a little,' Sakura admitted.
'Ha!' her inner crowed in victory.
"Shut up now will you?"
"Why are you always telling me to shut up before I've said a word?" a deep voice answered.
Sakura jumped and looked up, "Sasuke-kun, I wasn't speaking to you."
The tall dark male looked left and right at the deserted street, then back at the pink cheeked girl.
"Hn, come," he turned, walking away, expecting her to follow.
"Has Tsunade told you-"
"Let's not discuss this outside," he kept walking until they reached his home and led her inside.
"I know everything, we will meet Shizune tonight, at the back of the compound and leave over the back wall. Our doubles will stay in your house till we're back. We will train till lunch, after we will go to your house and lab, to pack what you need. After that we will sleep till later. Is that acceptable?"
He actually was asking her opinion? She nodded, speechless. He looked satisfied.
"We will practice breaking the sharingan now. You remember how you did it, so I don't have to repeat the same process as before?" he could already feel her fear spiking through the seal placed on her back.
She nodded nervously, her mouth dry, she didn't want to repeat that either.
"Tell you what, you beat me and I'll buy you ice cream," he jested straight-faced, trying to take her mind off her fear. Sasuke knew he wasn't any good at making people feel comfortable.
"Huh?"
"Just relax, I won't hurt you," he promised, "You can trust me."
"I know," she sat cross legged on a dark floor cushion, "Naruto and Kakashi will skin you if you hurt me."
"Hn," he sat across from her activating his sharingan. Her eyes widened and instantly dropped to the floor.
"Sasuke-kun…I'm sc-"
He lifted her chin, before she could protest, she was already under his genjutsu.
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There were no beds, no barely dressed s-class nins, just Sasuke and Sakura sitting on a beach, watching the sun set. The sea glowed deep blue and green. White caps frothed the tops of the waves while large winged birds wheeled and cried overhead. Sakura smelled the salt in the air and the soft sweet scent of tropical flowers. The sky glowed golden orange to pink to purple to deep blue. Sand, yellow and black, fine and coarse came up over her toes. She wiggled them, feeling the coolness, amazed by the genuineness of the jutsu. She looked up at her stoic teammate with a shy smile.
"What is this place?"
He shrugged, "somewhere I went when I was small with my uncles' family on vacation."
"It's beautiful Sasuke-kun, I feel like we are really at the ocean."
"Are you ready to break the genjutsu?"
"Yes, I'll try," she sighed, wanting perhaps, to stay in paradise a bit longer. Sasuke stood, offering a hand. She took it and stood next to him opening up her mind to her inner self, inviting her to split their mind and become of two minds long enough to break the sharingan's hold. Unsure of success, it took her a few minutes going over the steps used before both her and her inner self started working together.
Sasuke stood silently watching her struggle, giving her time to work out what she had to. As he watched an idea came to him. If Sakura could break through his genjutsu she could help him develop stronger ones, ones that were impossible to break. A genjutsu that would make the mangeko used by his brother, look like child's play. Kakashi was right, if he was patient with her, this could help them both in the end.
Abruptly they were back in the Uchiha living room. Sakura brushed the sweat from her forehead, panting lightly, she leaned forward on the pillow where she sat.
"That took too long," Sasuke told her, "the next one will be a battle," he warned.
She nodded and he immediately brought her under sharingan genjutsu again.
They tried again and again, different places, situations. Sakura discovered it was easier to break from a battle or unusual situation, than a place like the first beach scene that was so normal and tranquil. They both discovered new things and Sakura was thoroughly worn out by noon when Sasuke called a halt to training.
They went out for a quiet lunch. On the way back to Sakura's house she stopped next to a roadside stand. Sasuke paused to see what she wanted.
"You said you would buy me ice cream," she teased, pointing at the sign behind them.
"Hn," he grunted.
She ordered two cones, he paid the vendor, and they went to sit on a bench in the shade.
"If you win today, I'll buy you ice cream," she mimicked his low voice.
"Hn, I was trying to take your mind off your fears," he scoffed.
"I'm not five Sasuke!"
"Sometimes you act like it," he assured her. "You have ice cream on your face."
Her cheeks harmonized with her hair as she looked cross-eyed down her nose.
Sasuke leaned in close.
Sakura's moss green eyes grew large as he took her chin in his hand. He slowly ran his thumb along her lips, wiping off the creamy treat. She held her breath when he stuck his thumb in his mouth deliberately licking it off.
'Indirect kiss, whoa mama!' Her inner melted into a puddle of goo.
The Uchiha reveled in the girl's blushing cheeks as he continued to eat his cone as if he'd done nothing untoward. 'She is so innocent,' he thought.
"Sasuke-kun," the embarrassed young woman finally got up the courage to speak, "You have ice cream on your face too."
He noted the devilish glint in her eye.
"Oh yeah?" He smirked at her transparency, taking another bite of his cone, "Where?"
She grinned at him, using her finger of the hand she held her cone in, to point, "Right…there!" She smashed her cone into his face, got up laughing, and ran like a bat out of hell.
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Southern Fire Country
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"Zetsu-san, we've been waiting for word from you," Itachi addressed the dual toned ninja coming up from the forest floor.
"The Daiyamo has delivered his ultimatum to Konoha. The girl will be there in two days. If we watch them arrive, we can strategize the best way to separate the kunochi from any guards," Zetsu said calmly, before his other half took over, "You can snatch your little project when she's on her way home."
"I take it we are abandoning this mission then?" Kisame asked.
"Not entirely, you each need to leave a clone here to keep the Konoha ninja from returning to soon. No doubt the kyuubi and the fucking copy nin will make haste to join the rest of their team if they think the assignation attempt has been aborted."
"So we gonna kill this guy or what?"
"Have your clones make a failed attempt in two days. And one more the day after that, by then no matter how fast they run, they will be too late. I will come back later, when they have left, and take care of the merchant myself. You concentrate on securing the girl."
"Should be easy," the shark nin bragged, "Will the kunochi be alone?"
"No doubt she will have the young Uchiha with her, as well as other skilled guards. She's too precious to the Hokage to go anywhere alone right now. Don't be stupid enough to think she is weak. You forget what happened to Sasori."
"We'll take care of them," Kisame lifted Samehada, "Strong or not, no little pink haired girl is gonna beat me.
"Just take her alive. I'll take care of my foolish little brother," red eyes revolved with malicious intent.
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Things you probably already know:
Gomen na-sorry.
Masaka-No way. It cannot be.
A/N-Who could resist the urge to smash a cone in that cocky bastard's puss? Bet you thought he was gonna get a little lip action! Fooled you!
Ahaha. Yeah, ok, I'm being silly.
I have put up a link for pics for my Cat o Nine Tail's fic on my profile page if you're interested.
K&K