14. Dubious proposal

Steaming hot jets of water streamed out of the showerhead and filled the bathroom with a cloud of dense vapour, fogging up the mirror and escaping in narrow streams through the crack under the door. The consistent drumming of the running water drowned out all other sounds and created an atmosphere of seclusion, together with the thick steam, which managed to fill up the actually quite spacious room.

Still heavily breathing, Sayuri was trapped between the cold, white tiles and Sasuke's firm body, her feet hanging loosely in the air and her arms were slung tightly around her boyfriend's shoulders.

With pleasantly exhausted features and his breathing coming in equally shallow and uneven gasps, Sasuke rested his forehead between her neck and chest but kept holding her in his arms, until he received a light kiss on his hair and turned his face up to look into Sayuri's face. Her cheeks had taken on a pale pink colour and she had that dreamy look in her grey blue eyes, which made them look like they were glazed over with content and a bit of exhaustion.

He craned his neck and involved her in a deep kiss, before he slowly lowered his arms until her toes touched the submerged floor of the shower base again, but she still didn't let go of him.

He pulled his lips away again and leaned his forehead against Sayuri's, the tips of his dark wet hair tickling her skin. She scrunched her nose as a big drop of water landed on it, but then shot a beaming smile at the dark-haired man and squeezed her eyes shut as he leaned in to kiss her again.

These moments – or rather being together in general had come off really badly lately. They had pretty bad luck with the missions they were given. Sasuke was doing really a lot and then mostly long-lasting ones and once they were over and he was back home, she was sent on a mission instead.

This month it had been especially bad, this was about the fourth day they spent together and she had to go to the hospital later, so it wasn't even a full day.

Just all the more reason to enjoy one of these moments of being together… one of these far too rare moments… everything seemed perfect, as if nothing could ever go wrong…

It was just the two of them. His hands on her waist, his nose brushing hers, their breaths merging with each other and then all these unspoken words which lingered in the air between them. It were these moments in which she wanted to tell him how much she felt for him, in which she wanted him to tell her what he felt for her. He was showing her with actions, but never with words. Never straightforwardly. He always left it to her to guess what he meant, what he felt… and as if that wasn't enough she also had to struggle with making sense of her own feelings…

She did think she loved him, or maybe she just loved to think so. Actually she didn't know what it was like to love – how could you know when you've never loved before or been loved yourself? You can't do anything you never learned – it's like bicycling – once you can do it you'll probably never unlearn it, but still you had to know how to do it first of all…

She didn't remember anything of her past, anything of her family – it was like she was living a half-life and all the love-part had gotten lost somewhere in the depths of her mind. So she really wasn't sure, but from what she had heard, she had always imagined it would feel like this here… But maybe she was wrong. His actions were bound to make her feel good so maybe she confused love with physical desire. But it didn't feel like that. If it was only about lust then it would be a self-interested thing – desire was only about satisfying one's own needs, but she wanted him too feel good as well – maybe even more so – so that would probably speak against that. There was just so much more to it…

The feeling of cherishing someone else's life more than your own, but then learning to cherish yourself in the first place; learning not to hide yourself behind a mask… They were similar in that point only that Sasuke was hiding his emotions under a mask, whereas she had tried to conceal her entire personality. It was like she had always played a role, several roles actually – like she's had a different mask for every single person she hung out with. At least that's what it had felt like to her; as if she had always adapted her own behaviour to that of the person that was with her or had at least tried so… But lately that had changed a little. She had become a bit more consistent; as if she had finally found a mode she could live with and it was so much easier this way…

When you felt comfortable enough to be yourself, or maybe just to behave the way you think would be natural for you. At least she was sure that she was no longer in danger of getting lost in her acting – in pretending to be what other people expected her to be like. She was sure she owed that to Sasuke…

It was thanks to him that she had developed a healthy amount of self-confidence and self-respect. Actually pitiable to think that she had only gained her self-confidence through her boyfriend, but it's not because she was proud that he was with her and felt like she could show off with him. It was more because of the person he was…

He didn't really care about other people or stereotypes or fake behaviour – he seemed to be immune to all these typical social graces and just wouldn't let himself be influenced by anyone… And it was this disposition which made her think, or better had made her hope, that he would see through the masquerade she had put up in all these years in which she had been forced to invent her own person anew and maybe help her see through it as well… And by thinking that he saw through her and apparently still wanted to be with her, it had become much easier for her to lower her guard and just live – without always thinking about the consequences of her actions and without thinking about ways of how to please everybody… Just some people…

They kissed a last time before Sasuke finally let go of her and now that they had both calmed down again, they turned back to the real purpose of the shower and started getting ready for the day.

Sasuke was faster than her, which wasn't really surprising, considering the difference in their hair length and once he opened the plexiglass door of the shower, cold air streamed in, while solid whirls of steam swirled out and made the room look like a sauna. Sayuri had to shudder briefly and turned the water to an even warmer setting before she carried on washing her hair.

Once she got out of the shower, Sasuke was already gone, so she just gripped for a towel and wrapped it around herself, before she stepped to the sink. The mirror was still entirely fogged, so she wiped it clean with her underarm and stared at her reflection. It was something she had never really enjoyed doing, but it's not like there was any way to avoid it. She couldn't leave the house without having made sure at least that she wouldn't run around with toothpaste on her chin or with hair like a scarecrow – but that was about it, just checking if she looked ready to be released into society.

But somehow it felt different to look into a mirror now… As if they had all been defect before, but had been fixed at length. She wasn't even so sure about where her aversion towards mirrors had come from and what had changed about it now…somehow it had always felt like something was missing, which wasn't even far fetched – after all she was lacking like 12 years of her past - she didn't even know for sure… or maybe it wasn't about the mirror itself – maybe she had just shifted her focus and had stopped looking for what there wasn't, but was actually seeing herself…

Since the whole showering part had taken a bit longer than expected, she hurried up with brushing her teeth and getting dressed and once she came into the kitchen, Sasuke had already made a big pot of coffee and was sitting at the table, already in the middle of his breakfast.

Attracted by the aromatic smell of freshly brewed coffee, Sayuri went right to the kitchen counter and filled a mug with the steaming black liquid, before she opened one of the kitchen cabinets and had to stand on tiptoe to reach the red, metallic cookie box, which had found it's way into Sasuke's kitchen now that she was living with him.

"You're in a hurry?" Sasuke interrupted his own meal and stared at her sparse breakfast with a raised eyebrow.

"Kind of… I have to go to the hospital and then I'll go with Neji to the mission conference." Sayuri explained and dunked her cookie into her coffee.

"Tze… your saying this like it was one thing… So you need an escort to cover the long way from the hospital to the Hokage tower?" He asked in a sarcastic tone and looked at her with a blank expression.

"Oh c'mon… don't start that again…" Sayuri sighed and rolled her eyes before she hid her face behind her big mug of coffee, hoping he'd have some mercy, considering how early it still was.

"You're always very discreet when you talk about that Hyuga – why don't you just say you're meeting him?"

"But I just did." She moaned and turned around to put the cookie-box back into the cabinet, taking quite some time for it. However when she turned around again, Sasuke was right in front of her, placing both his hands on the counter to her sides, cornering her there.

"No. You tend to leave things out whenever it's about the Hyuga…" He said with a blank face, but with a barely audible edge in his voice.

"Just the details, but only because I know how you always react…" Sayuri murmured and turned her eyes to the side, trying to avoid his piercing gaze.

"So there is more you don't tell me?"

"No. Just… well, the unimportant things…" She explained meekly, but the look on Sasuke's face told her that he wasn't in the least satisfied with her words. "Okay you want the details? I have to go to the hospital now and I'm already bound to be late and then I have a full hour between the end of my shift and the conference and you are not there, so I'll hang out with Neji in the mean time…"

"There you have the difference – you not just go with him to the conference, but you are actually meeting him…" Sasuke narrowed his eyes into slits and moved closer to the violet-haired girl, pushing her farther against the counter.

"Yes I'm meeting him and I know you don't like it and just crave to tell me so and then I'll tell you that we are just friends and you'll tell me to search for new friends then and then I don't know what to say, because it's just… stupid and then you are angry and I am angry and we both won't talk to each other anymore, but tomorrow at the latest everything will be okay again, but since you go on a mission tomorrow morning, let's just make up already and save the fighting for the next time, okay?" Sayuri flashed a disarming smile at him and looked at him through puppy dog eyes. It had also worked with getting him to say yes to Naruto's idea so maybe it would work again, even though she doubted so, this was a completely different situation, but he wouldn't let it show if she had been able to convince him or not…

"Please…" She fluttered her eyelashes before she glanced to the side and moved a finger over his forearm, which was still keeping her cornered between him and the kitchen counter.

"Tze… whatever…" He murmured in a husky voice, raising a pleasantly surprised look on Sayuri's face. With a wide grin, she kissed him on his cheek, before she squeezed past him and rushed out of the kitchen, taking Naruto's advice to not give him the chance to rethink his decision…

…

…

Late in the evening, after a for the most part pleasant shift, Sayuri was again with Nao, the boy Sasuke had saved and who had made remarkable progress in the last couple of days. He wasn't even close to being fit enough to leave the hospital though, but still he seemed much better and wasn't sleeping this much anymore, either…

At the moment he was though, so Sayuri was very careful with changing the bandage around his arm. Right now she was alone here. She didn't have much to do so she had sent the nurse, who was taking care of him, away already.

Once she had removed the white gauze bandage, a layer of soft pink flesh came to light. About sixty percent of his skin was burnt, but she was confident that he wouldn't be left with scars - not with all the possibilities they had thanks to Tsunade. It had also worked with her… If it hadn't been for the present Hokage she would probably still run around with bandages all around her head. That had been a horrible time so she was really, really grateful that Tsunade had managed to fix her face and if she had been able to help her then why shouldn't it work with Nao, too?

She took out an ointment, made by the Hokage herself and applied it to the burnt skin, before letting her healing chakra run through her hands. A concentrated expression appeared on her face as she watched his arm glow with a strong green light, but then she cocked her head up as she heard a voice.

"How is it?"

As it seemed she hadn't been careful enough and had woken him up after all.

"Well… better…" She tried to smile at him in reassurement, but he had caught her off guard a little, so she didn't think she was too convincing. He hadn't seen the extent of his injuries and could just guess so from all the bandages, but then he had probably been too groggy still to take in too much, so he probably really had no idea…

"How are you feeling today?" She asked and now took her hands away from his arm again and put a new bandage on it.

"I feel… clear… I mean my head feels clear - not so woozy anymore…" He smiled crookedly, but still seemed kind of bemused, the way his eyes were still halfway closed and the way his voice sounded.

"I'm really glad to hear that." She beamed at him, but then saw how his face became more serious and he tried to prop himself up on his elbows, but didn't really succeed.

"You shouldn't strain yourself yet." Sayuri put an arm on his shoulder, motioning him to stay down, even though it's not like he had a choice but to do so, weak as he still was.

The violet-haired girl carried on with examining his wounds and spreading Tsunade's ointment on them and Nao didn't say anything anymore and Sayuri noticed the somewhat saddened look on his face.

"Is everything okay?" She asked in a worried voice, even though it was actually a stupid question, considering that he had only just lost his entire family.

"I don't know…" He whispered in a faraway voice and stared at the yellowish-white ceiling. "Why does no one come to visit me?"

"Y-you don't remember?" Sayuri stared at the young boy with widened eyes, feeling really uncomfortable right now. Being the bearer of bad news was really tough, she never really knew how to do it – especially something like this… How could she tell a thirteen year old boy that his entire family was dead?

"So it's real then…" He murmured in a dejected voice. "But is… is everyone…?"

"There is an old man, but we don't know his name. He's been conscious when they found him, but at the moment he is in a coma. He is having a hard time but he's a fighter…" She murmured quietly and glanced to the side and Nao seemed to understand what the subsequent silence meant.

"But what happened… I mean after I…" He choked out and kept his eyes firmly shut, obviously fighting to maintain his self-control.

Sayuri watched him with a commiserative expression and thought about how to take this whole thing on …

"I don't know too much… Just what the others told me…" She murmured and looked with an uneasy expression at her patient, who nodded his head lightly, before he forced himself to open his eyes and cast a pleading gaze at the medic-nin.

"Okay…" She whispered in a breathy voice and felt somehow dizzy at that moment, even her legs seemed a little shaky all of a sudden, so she sat down on one of the chairs standing right next to the bed, which were actually meant for visitors and took a deep breath, waiting for that weird feeling to fade.

"A group of our ninja came across your village as they were on their way back here." She started and ran a hand, which was a bit shaky as well, through her long hair, while keeping her eyes fixed on the young boy, observing his reaction, so she could stop in case she should unsettle him too much.

"They heard some noise and saw smoke rise into the air, so they went for the source of it and found your village then. They were already late, but there were still some fights going on, so they decided to interfere in them… Some people fled when they came, but others decided to fight them. I don't know if you remember that but it was in one of these fights that you were injured and got nearly buried alive in a burning house… But Sasuke defeated the attackers and got you out of the house again and then they brought you and the old man to Konoha…" She finished and looked with a sympathetic expression at the profile of the injured boy and now that she had gotten this over with that feeling of dizziness faded almost as quickly as it had occurred in the first place.

He had his eyes closed again and his face looked entirely blank and yet it seemed as if he was on the verge of tears and there was something indescribably sad about seeing how he struggled to keep his emotions at bay.

She didn't really know him, so she wasn't sure if she should console him now, even though she didn't think so. Not with the way he was trying so hard to stay strong… It would probably be best to leave him alone for now, so he could give in to his feelings, without being watched while doing so. So he could figure out for himself what this loss meant for him, because as it seemed he hadn't quite realized that yet…

"I'll give you some alone time now. If there is something you need, just talk to one of the nurses, they'll call me at any hour, okay?" Sayuri told him, while rising up from her chair and now Nao finally opened his pale grey eyes and looked with an anxious expression at the dark haired girl.

"Wait please… could you… stay maybe… and carry on talking to me?" He asked hesitantly, but with an urging tone in his voice and startled Sayuri a bit, but then she nodded and slowly sat down again.

"What do you want me to talk about?" She asked softly, wanting to make sure that she wouldn't start with the wrong thing and would make things even harder for him then…

"I don't know… tell me…" He said in a thick voice, as if every single word was hard for him to utter and he started breathing heavier, almost in fits, so he took some time before carrying on. "…tell me something about Sasuke… is he strong?"

Sayuri looked up and observed the boy with a pensive face, before she nodded her head.

"Yes… he is very strong – probably one of the strongest ninja in the entire village." She started and watched how Nao closed his eyes again and now nodded his head as well, motioning her to carry on.

"You two are very similar… the things that happened to you…" She murmured a little awkwardly, afraid that she was hitting a sore spot. But they really were uncannily similar. They had both lost their family at a very young age and both because of intern fightings… And then they also looked very much alike, or maybe she was just imagining this. After all Nao had very light blonde hair, which nearly reached down to his chin and was tousled messily and his eyes were of a light grey colour in contrast to Sasuke's dark grey, at first sight nearly black eyes. But there was just something about his face that looked so very much like Sasuke's when he was young. Even though he didn't look as grim and cold… maybe it were the marks of his past, which were just impossible to overlook. Just a certain look in his eyes, something that made him seem much older than he actually was – as if these events had caused him to grow up from one day to the next.

"He's had a very hard time, but… he managed to cope…"

Sayuri carried on talking about Sasuke, while Nao listened to it with closed eyes and after a couple of minutes the first tears started rolling down his cheeks, but she acted like she wouldn't see that and carried on talking until he finally fell asleep.

After she had instructed a nurse to keep watch on him and had told her where she would be this day, so they could contact her in case anything happened, she rushed out of the hospital, knowing that she was already late for her meeting with Neji. And not just a little – they had meant to meet in front of Ichiraku's, which was pretty much in midway between the hospital, the Hyuga district and the Hokage tower, more than thirty minutes ago. So she hurried through the streets, past all these leisurely strolling people, who seemed to have all the time in the world and used it to block her path on purpose, until she reached Naruto's favourite restaurant and looked around wildly, in search for the Hyuga.

"You're late." She heard a grim voice and turned around and now saw Neji sit on a bench a couple of metres behind her and didn't miss the kind of irritated look on his face.

"I… I'm sorry…" She apologized, still a little breathless from the running, even though it hadn't even been this much, but maybe Neji would have some pity with her this way and wouldn't be too angry.

"What is it? Didn't that Uchiha let you out?" Neji got up from the bench and walked towards her, while crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring at her with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to explain her delay and of course having come up with a not really surprising assumption by himself already.

"Oh c'mon – don't you start that, too." Sayuri sighed and placed a hand on her chest still waiting for her breathing to calm down again.

"So it's true then? I can't believe you let him boss you around like that. You aren't his property – you do have the right to do whatever you want." Neji lectured her and same as always tried to make Sasuke look bad.

"How was he supposed to do so? You know that I've been working before. You think he came to the hospital and locked me in a broom closet, or something?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest as well and shot a reproachful look at the brown-haired man.

"I wouldn't put it past him…" Neji snorted and looked to the side sullenly, not wanting to admit that he had totally forgotten that she had been working before, even though that was the reason why they were meeting here of all places.

"Tze… you wouldn't believe how very alike you are… If it wasn't for your names you'd probably be best friends." Sayuri sighed and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to block out the irritated look on Neji's face.

"I'm not even a bit like him – I am not a cold-blooded murderer and arrogant traitor." Neji groused in a low voice, obviously offended.

"Right – that is all there is to his character – every single one of his actions tells you that he is an arrogant traitor – you should just see the cold-bloodedness with which he opens a bottle of water. Like really creepy…" Sayuri rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair in distress. "Not to speak of the murderous intent with which he silences his alarm clock." – Okay, that was not even thaat much of an exaggeration, but he didn't have to know that…

"Tze it's not me who is like him, but you seem to become more like him the more time you spend together – you've not always been this touchy and sulky…" The Hyuga countered, but as he saw the offended expression on Sayuri's face he felt sorry for it.

"You're right…" She murmured in a low voice and stared to the ground at Neji's feet. "I'm sorry… but I'm just tired of always having to mediate between you… You are both very important to me and I don't even expect you to like each other, but you could at least try to get along… Just so that I wouldn't have to be afraid every time that you'll start fighting any second…" She looked up again and stared into Neji's pensive face waiting for him to respond in any kind, but he took quite some time for it.

"It's not only me… It's hard to stay calm when he talks pejoratively about my family…" Neji defended his behaviour, but only caused the girl in front of him to roll her eyes again.

"Don't you think that goes for him as well? You two are the same when it comes to that, so maybe if you'd stop insulting him, he'd do so, too…" Sayuri proposed, even though it wasn't so much about the things they said, since they hardly ever talked directly to each other, but mainly about that staring-thing they always did and considering that they were both bearer of a powerful Doujutsu made the whole thing seem far more dangerous than it would do with other people.

"I'll try my best…" Neji murmured and switched his eyes to the side sulkily as he saw the contented smile on Sayuri's face.

"Thank you…" She closed her eyes and nodded at him before she groped for his arm and started pulling him down the street.

"So what do we do now?" She asked sounding like she was in high-spirits suddenly and her fickle behaviour caused a startled expression to appear on Neji's face, before he recollected himself and said. "We don't really have any more time to do anything, so we should go to the Hokage right away."

"Okay…" She beamed at him, so they carried on walking through the main street towards the huge red building where they would get all the information about the mission they were supposed to carry out in two days.

…

…

Early the next day, almost night still, Sasuke was on his way to the main gate of Konoha-Gakure. It was still dark outside, but in the east there was this narrow, bright red streak, looking like a deep cut in the sky, which slowly started to bleed out and soak through the rest of the still mainly grey firmament.

A chilly breeze wafted strands of his dark hair into his face, but he didn't bother to brush them away and carried on walking unwaveringly, his feet leaving faint traces on the frost covered ground. Even though it was nearly spring, the nights were still freezing cold, well and the days weren't that much better either, but after having just gotten out of bed the temperature seemed far worse than it already was anyway.

Up to now it hadn't exactly been a pleasant day. First of all it was still far too early, only about five o'clock, which really wasn't his time of day – even though no one who'd look at him would probably notice so… then he had woken up without a blanket, while the obvious thief hadn't even bothered to get up and maybe make breakfast for him, but had even teased him, since he had to go out into the cold, whereas she could remain in bed for a few hours longer… And then there was also this mission… It was a simple surveillance mission, which meant a whole week of nothing but watching some other ninja and making sure they weren't up to something.

With his hands in his pockets and his dark eyes fixed on the ground, the raven-haired man strolled towards the gate, knowing that he was still a bit early, however once he reached it, he already found two people standing there, those two Chunin who were usually sitting in the booth right next to the gate. That's all he knew about them, he had sometimes seen them in passing and yet, once they caught sight of him, they started greeting him enthusiastically, almost the way Naruto always did, only that Naruto had been a member of his team ever since, so it was a bit different…

Still a good distance away from them, he came to a halt and nodded at them briefly – as much greeting as he would condescend to and apparently his reputation had gotten around because they didn't even try to involve him in any conversations but carried on talking to each other again, even though loud enough that he couldn't possibly miss something.

A couple of minutes later the next person of their team came up, a girl with brown-hair and two weird buns at either side of her head. He was sure that he knew her somehow, maybe from the academy still, but she hadn't left any lasting impressions so she was probably weak.

So now everyone was there, right on time and only their team-leader was missing. Kind of reminding of Kakashi, but in case they hadn't changed anything about their constellation it shouldn't be the notorious latecomer.

"You're really all here already…" They heard a sceptical female voice and all turned to the source of it, which was the wall right next to the gate.

A quarter of an hour too late their team-leader finally made her entrance and instead of doing it quietly and bashfully, considering her delay, she still put up a show. With a lofty leap she jumped off the high wall and landed right in the middle of her assigned team.

"You're like really tough guys, eh?" The dark-haired woman grinned cheekily and cast a scrutinizing glance from one of them to the next.

"I'm pretty confident we'll do fine as a team, don't you think, Izumo-kun?" She walked to the brown-haired Chunin and patted him on his cheek with a sly sneer on her face, causing the young man to tense up slightly and nod his head repeatedly.

Now he remembered her name: Anko – the one who had led the second chunin-exam, the one in the forest of death and she didn't really seem to have changed in her behaviour. She was very loud and somewhat tomboyish and definitely up to catching attention, but not with positive actions or anything but simply with her presence.

"I take it you all know why we're here, but for those who slept during the mission conference, or didn't even bother to show up there-" Here her eyes switched to Sasuke. "-I'll explain it again." She winked at the people in front of her and put her hands into the pockets of her light-brown coat.

"A week ago a group of Kiri-nins has put up two camps near our borders. We neither know what they want here – so far away from their village, nor do we know anything about their disposition, which is why there is a group of our ninja with them who keep a watch on them ever since they came here. But if they'd stay any longer they'd probably smell them from a distance and being spotted is not an option. So now we are here to relieve that group and to ensure that our relationship to Kiri-Gakure won't suffer we must avoid being seen at all costs." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and nodded to herself before she turned her head up and looked at the four people surrounding her.

"So then: Kamizuki Izumo, Hagane Kotetsu, Uchiha Sasuke, and… well… Tenten-" She had no idea what her last name was, so she shrugged sheepishly an then carried on as if nothing had happened.

"Are you ready?" She turned from one of them to the next receiving some assenting nods in return, which raised a crooked smile on her face.

"I bet we'll get along just fine… Okay then, this means we are two women and three men and this'll be a week of only very little action and therefore all the more boredom so keep your urges under control, got it guys?"

"Hey! W-what's that supposed to mean?" Tenten looked up with an uneasy expression and drew the Jounins attention to herself.

"How come you feel addressed when I say guys?" She raised an eyebrow and caused the brown-haired girl to giggle nervously and shrug.

"So guys? The real ones now."

"H-huh?" Izumo stuttered with a light blush on his cheeks, while his partner only nudged him in his ribs and grinned at least as widely as Anko did.

"We'll do what we can…" Kotetsu smirked and patted the Kamizuki on his back, who nearly choked on his own breath then, but tried hard not to start coughing, even though his face had taken on an unhealthy red colour.

"I bet you will… Phew… a sly one, a shy one, a mute one and then one with gender identity disorder… maybe it won't get thaaaat boring after all…" Anko chuckled and turned around quickly, as she noticed the first signs of protest within her team.

"And off we go!" She exclaimed enthusiastically and walked with hasty steps out of Konoha's main gate, a short time later followed by her slightly disgruntled team.

…

…

He hadn't had high expectations about this mission, but reality had exceeded that by far…

It was the fifth day now that they were here in the woods, not even a day's march away from the Hidden Leaf Village and just as predicted they were facing a lot of boredom.

They had split up into two groups: a two men – or rather women group for the day, while the male beings of their team had to take care of the night-shift.

Same as the last days, Sasuke was sitting in a tree from where he had a good view of the two tents the Kiri-nin had put up and also the small brook, where they were always getting their water. The other camp, which was situated about two kilometres away from this one, was being surveilled by another group of Konoha-nin – as if that had been necessary.

It was already morning, just two more hours until the day-shift would take over and just like during the rest of the night, there was not even a trace of movement in the small camp they were assigned to keep watch on.

He doubted that they were up to something, but then he didn't really know what else they could be doing here, especially since they hardly seemed to do anything… It really did seem by now that they were only taking a vacation here, but still it seemed weird that someone, well actually a not exactly small group of people, from as far away as the Land of Water would come here for a simple camping trip.

This really was no mission for him… just sitting around all day, watching some people and hoping for anything to happen just so that he would have a reason to get up, but nothing. At least during most of the night they didn't do anything but sleeping apparently.

He had once taken the risk to sneak up on one of their tents to eavesdrop on them, but all he's heard were various variants of snoring, but he wouldn't have had to approach the tents to hear that.

He was really glad that he had gotten most of this over with already. Two more days and he could finally go back home.

Home… it has been a long time since he had last referred to a place as such and had really meant that… Not since his family had died, even though he had carried on living in the same house after that, but it had just been a house then and not his home any longer. He hadn't spent much time there, anyway, if at all then in his room; he had rarely ever entered one of the other rooms, not even the kitchen, even though he had tried hard to tell himself that it was just a house, just inanimate objects, and that there was actually no need to shun it. Still it had never felt like home to him then and he was sure by now that 'home' wasn't about being surrounded by four walls and material possessions, but was apparently about people… He didn't so much look forward to going to that house but rather to the person who now lived with him in it…

Just two more days… but then there was still this 'evening among friends' Naruto was planning and which loomed like a threatening cloud over the immediate future. He didn't know when; he didn't know where, but it would definitely happen…

He really didn't know why he had agreed to that. He was spending more than enough time with the Uzumaki on missions and they were even training together at times, but then he was at least bearable, since he could silence him whenever necessary. Anywhere beyond the training field that wouldn't be possible, or at least not appropriate.

It was Sayuri's fault… if she hadn't looked at him with her big blue eyes and then that smile… it was hard to say 'no' when she gave him that look… He couldn't believe how easily led he had become, but it's not like he had even tried to turn her down.

He still didn't like these things and he was pretty sure that would never change. He wasn't a philanthropist; he didn't place much value on company – especially not on the company of people who he didn't even want to have anything to do with anyway. The old rookies and whoever else wanted… great… That were really a lot of people, so it should be really hard to find a day when everyone had time and maybe he'd be so lucky to be somewhere else then, but if not it wouldn't matter anyway, he'd somehow get this over with…

First off all he'd have some free days anyway and that was in dire need… after all he hadn't even spent a week at home this month, so he really deserved some holidays and with Sayuri it hadn't been too different either, maybe even worse – when she wasn't on missions she was working in the hospital, but she was trying to get her holidays now too, so they'd have some time together, a bit more than just a couple of hours a day.

But first he'd have to sit through 48 further hours of boredom – even though he could spend nearly half of them with sleeping, so it'd be okay… And his place here on the tree wasn't so very bad either. He had found a big branch which was surrounded by a dense green leaf canopy, so he was impossible to be seen and yet had a good view of everything, but since nothing happened anyway, he could use the time to meditate.

Then he heard a sound; not coming from the camp though, but from behind him. It was very quiet, just a faint rustling, so it might have been an animal and yet he was on full alert at once, probably because he really did hope that something happened at long last.

He got up and rested a hand on the thick, coarse trunk next to him, while he peered through the solid wall of leaves into the direction the sound had come from, waiting for it to recur, but nothing happened.

Still it felt like something about the atmosphere had changed, it was much quieter now and there was just something in the air. Up to now his instincts had never failed him, so after casting a last glance at the still sleepy camp, he leaped out of his hideout and moved to where he assumed the sound to have come from. However he couldn't find anything – neither animal nor person, so he closed his eyes and concentrated on his surroundings. It hadn't been anyone of his team; that much was certain and he was sure that it hadn't been his imagination either…

Then he heard it again. Farther away now, so he rushed toward the source of the sound, as quickly and simultaneously noiselessly as he could. He hurried past numerous trees and bushes, most of which were speckled with tiny buds, but none of them had blossomed yet. There was still a faint trace of morning mist in the air, managing to make the region look drab and dreary in spite of the sun.

Again he reached the approximate spot where the rustling must have come from, without finding anyone or anything and yet he was sure that someone must have been there. He didn't encounter any traces and couldn't sense someone else's presence and yet there was something in the air that stroke him as odd, maybe the complete lack of animal sounds. In all the time he had been here, he had gotten used to the twittering of the birds or the scurrying of some foxes, so after some time he hadn't really heard them any more, which is why the total absence of these sounds, caught his attention in particular…

With deliberate steps, watchful eyes and attentive ears the raven-haired man carried on walking, distancing himself more and more from his assigned post, but not really wasting any thoughts on that.

His limbs literally ached for some movement, while his brain craved for something to fight the boredom, so he had no problem with doing something against his orders, it's not like he really cared about something like that anyway – he wasn't exactly the most dutiful person, but he was an ex-nuke-nin so no one ever said anything about that. They really let him get away with a lot – far more than others would do… But he didn't know if that was because of his past or because they knew that all their lectures fell on deaf ears anyway, so they just gave up from the start…

After a couple of minutes he came across a small creek and crossed it by stepping over a huge tree which had fallen across it. Then came a slight ascent in the terrain which led into a more vegetated part of the wood.

He had walked for about half an hour when he came to a stop in front of a huge sea and still nothing. He hadn't found a single trace which would imply that anyone had been here in the last couple of days. He hadn't heard another suspicious sound and it just didn't feel like there was anyone close by any longer. Still he couldn't believe that his instincts had failed him. He wasn't one to hunt after phantoms, so he couldn't really make sense of the whole situation.

He kept standing in front of the sea and roamed his coal black eyes across his surroundings, without moving his head while doing so.

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, just a greyish blue sphere, stretching as far as the eye could see. The water sparkled in the light of the soft morning sun and a chilly breeze rippled the water surface, but so subtly that it was barely visible. The dense fog didn't seem to reach out to this open area, but kept lingering on the ground around the trunks of the numerous shadowy pine trees behind him, whose dark green colour posed a great contrast to the bright green one of the meadow under his feet.

All he could hear was the whistling of the wind, the rustling of some leaves and the gentle lapping of the waves, but nothing that implied that there was another person with him. He must have erred after all, even though he still didn't believe that… He didn't do mistakes. There has definitely been something. He must have overlooked it. He didn't want to believe that he had come all the way here simply because his overly bored mind had made that up. Maybe being together with Sayuri had rubbed off on him. He knew that he had changed a lot since he was with her, but he hadn't really thought it would actually affect his skills… Or maybe not…

"Show yourself." He ordered in a calm but decisive voice and glanced over his shoulder at the dark wall of trees behind him. He was sure now. He clearly sensed that someone else was there. No failure on his part after all – he knew he didn't make mistakes…

"Uchiha Sasuke. So we do meet again…"

He perceived an unfamiliar voice and a couple of seconds later he saw a dark figure step forth from behind a tree. Once he had left the shadowy forest behind, the bright rays of the sun illuminated his black cloak with the red clouds on it. He peered at his opposite through a single hole in the right side of his swirled orange mask and was just about to raise his voice, when a kunai shot through his chest.

With an amused sound, he took a step closer to Sasuke and stretched his arms away from his entirely unharmed body in what was probably supposed to be a soothing gesture, even though it actually had the opposite effect on the young Uchiha.

"The last time we've met it was as enemies, but now I only wish to talk to you." The nuke-nin stared bluntly into Sasuke's face, but then looked down as he heard a metallic click and saw that his opposite had put a hand around the grip of his katana and had used his thumb to push it out of its sheath a little, chiefly as a symbolic gesture.

"Not convinced, yet… That's unfortunate, because I have a feeling you will really want to listen to what I have to say…" The Akatsuki murmured with a self-assured tone in his voice and as Sasuke looked up, he could see a manic glimmer in his opposite's blood red eye…

…

…