--Okay, so Sasuke returned to the village, expecting some kind of reception, happy/mad out-to-kill-him friends, but nothing of the sort happens. Why? Does it have something to do with a pregnant Hinata, an agonized Naruto, and an overprotective Sakura and her huge group of bodyguards? ----Based off of Breaking Dawn---

Yay! This chapter's up! And OMG!! It's chapter 20! Hooray for me!! This is, so far, my longest fanfiction!! Yay me!! Well . . . actually, this was my first one, so . . . I guess it's not a surprise, after all. Oh, well… It's still my longest running fanfiction. Hooray for me! Oh, and this chapter is named after the Cheetah Girls song. So, yeah, enjoy!

Oh, and in this fanfiction, C.C. cannot give Geass to people. Instead, the people's Geass are like their own kind of jutsu.

Chapter Twenty

The Party's Just Begun

"Well . . . who'd I get?"

"If you're talking about the powder in the sesame oil bottle, we removed it." the green-haired witch lied. "How did you get it in there without us knowing? Or better yet, how did you get into the house without anyone noticing you?"

But Mao wouldn't answer her questions. "Oh, come now, C.C. I can read minds, you know. And I thought emergency lockdowns are for emergency use only. I know I got someone, C.C.—hopefully, my target. She might not be dead yet, but she will be soon."

"Gomen ne… But you missed this time."

"If you don't admit to who it was," the psycho man threatened, "then I can't give you the hint that might save her life."

C.C. was left speechless then, still deciding what to do.

"Okay, then. It was nice talking to you." Mao was ready to hang up, but…

"Chotto matte!"

"Yes, C.C.?"

C.C. was hesitant, but she took a deep breath and continued. "My sister… You got Sakura."

"She was cooking dinner and needed to use sesame oil." Mao guessed. "She went to get the bottle but, when she opened it, the poison had already mixed with the oil, turning it into a powdery gas-like substance."

"Y-Yes… That's exactly what happened…" C.C. sighed. "Now, will you tell me what the poison is?"

"The body knows what the head can't say…"

"'The body knows . . . what the head can't say'?" C.C. repeated the hint, unable to figure it out. She turned to Lelouch who mouthed to her, "Keep him on the line. I'll try to track him." And he ran out of the room.

"Mao," C.C. said into the phone. "I know you're smart enough to come up with a plan like this, but you're not smart enough to conjure up a poison like this nor are you smart enough to be this diabolical. Who's really behind this? Who are you working for?"

"C.C., I'm in this by myself." Mao said.

"Then how did you get the poison inside the bottle and how did you get the bottle inside the house?"

"I did it when your sister went shopping the other day."

"You're lying." C.C. said firmly. "Sakura was unable to leave the house the other day. Tell me the truth: who—are—you—working—for? And who are your co-conspirators?"

"What are you talking about, C.C.? It's just me."

"You're lying. You didn't set a foot into this house—none of the security cameras caught you on tape." Though C.C. was unsure of the second part, she was definitely sure about the first part. "Now, tell me the truth: who do you have working with you and who are you working for?"

"It's your choice whether to believe me or not."

"Then what is your goal? What purpose do you have for going after my sister?"

"My goal . . . C.C., as it's always been . . . is you." Mao chuckled, leaving the green-haired girl in shock. "And everything I'm doing is a means to an end."

"If it's just me you're after . . . then why did you go after my sister?"

"I wanted to stretch my wings. I felt the need to grow . . . as a human being."

"Is that it?"

"No. Actually, I have one more thing to say. I want you to know that everything that happens here on end is your fault. You don't run the game here, C.C. I do." And with that, the line went dead.

"Shimatta… Shimatta…" C.C. cursed under her breath. "Damn him… Damn him to Hell…"

"C.C.," a weak voice coughed. "What . . . did he want?"

The witch turned to her sister then, unable to look her in the eye. After all, it was her fault that Sakura ended up in the position she was in now. C.C. walked over to her sister and stroked her cheek.

"What he's always wanted, sweetheart." C.C. said in a chocked whisper.

The kunoichi understood then. "He's trying to get to you through me, isn't he?"

"C.C.," Lelouch said, coming back into the room. "He's using a cell phone somewhere nearby in the surrounding forest."

The green-haired girl nodded her head and turned to her sister. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have come…" C.C. stood up from her seat and abruptly turned away, ready to leave.

"ANIO!!!" Sakura screamed, clutching tightly to C.C.'s arm. "Anyo… Anyo… Jebal anyo… Don't leave me, Eonni… Jebal, Eonni… Jebal… Please… Don't leave me, C.C."

"It's for your own safety, Sakura… Please…"

Sakura shook her head. "Anyo… I won't hand you over to him, not over my dead body. So please don't go… Don't--" And then Sakura fell forward into Sasuke's arms.

"Sakura!"

"Oy, Sakura!" Sasuke shook her a bit, her breath unsteady. "Naruto, get Lady Tsunade! Oy, Sakura!"

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Sakura was back on the hospital bed, conscious but breathing through a tube; her condition stabilized but, for how long, nobody knew. Team 7, C.C., Lelouch, Ino, Shizune, and Tsunade sat in the room; all were just beyond worried now.

At that point, the door to the hospital room opened, and two figures stepped in.

"Kakashi-sensei, did Shikamaru figure out what the poison is?" Naruto asked.

But the silver-haired jonin shook his head, much to everyone's disappointment.

"Gomennasai, minna." Jiraiya said. "But the poison wasn't in any of the ninja nations' databases. It's a completely new substance."

"Completely new?" Tsunade asked. "Then . . . you're saying there's no antidote?"

"Well . . ." Jiraiya scratched his head. "We're not exactly sure if the substance is completely new, just new to the current ninja nations."

"Meaning..?" Sai asked.

"Well, we're certain that Orochimaru had experimented with many things in his lifetime," Kakashi said. "Perhaps--"

"You think that Orochimaru might have something to do with this?" Ino asked.

"But he's dead." Sasuke said. "I'm made sure of that myself."

"Yes," Jiraiya said. "But you didn't finish off his right-hand man. Kabuto had and still has access to all of Orochimaru's hideouts and to all of Orochimaru's resources. It would be very easy for him to get a poison that we don't know about and get a hit-man to administer it to the target—or in this case, Sakura."

"Lelouch, what the old man says is a possibility." C.C. said to her boyfriend. "Mao is definitely not capable of pulling off something this big. There has to be someone else pulling the strings, and it's probably this Kabuto person."

"I take it that you know the hit-man." Jiraiya said to the Code Geass couple.

"He's our enemy." Lelouch explained. "Though I don't know him personally, C.C. knows him better than anyone else."

"You do?" Naruto asked.

"You do?" Ino asked.

"You do?" Sai asked.

"Regretfully, yes." C.C. answered, stroking her sister's hand.

Sakura fought off an urge to roll her eyes. C.C. was feeling guilty again. She needs to stop that. But nevertheless, the pink-haired kunoichi held her sister's hand, comforting her.

"Can you tell us more about this Mao person?" Ino asked. "It might help us . . . somehow."

C.C. thought about it for a minute and then said, "Mao is an idiot psycho-man. That's all you need to know."

And everyone sweatdropped. They had actually thought that C.C. would tell the whole story, but nope! She just gave her opinion.

"Hey, Lulu." Naruto whispered to Lelouch. "If I were you, I'd be on my toes. Usually, when someone calls another someone an idiot, they're usually very close to each other. I suggest you watch your back."

"My back?" Lelouch asked.

"Yeah… Who knows?" Naruto continued. "They might be doing it." But all that earned him was a dump on the head.

"Baka!" Lelouch yelled. "C.C. isn't that kind of person!"

"What kind of person?" asked the green-haired witch.

"Nobody."

"Oh, okay." C.C. shrugged.

"C.C.," Sakura said; her voice very soft because of the oxygen tube. "You should tell them . . . about Mao. You and Lelouch shouldn't handle him alone . . . especially not when you're in an unfamiliar place."

"Sakura, Lelouch and I are completely capable of handling him."

"I don't care." Sakura coughed a bit. "You're getting help, whether you like it or not. If Mao is working for Kabuto . . . then you and Lelouch won't stand a chance against them!"

C.C. was about to protest, but Sakura used the ultimate weapon: her undefeated, her unmatched . . . puppy-dog eyes. It was the ultimate weapon. C.C. couldn't refuse them.

"Fine…" the witch groaned in defeat.

"How come that never works for me?" Lelouch asked.

"Because," C.C. said, "It's not cute when you do it."

"Ooh, burn…" Naruto said, which earned him a big stomp on the foot. "Itai!"

But everyone ignored him as C.C. started telling the story. "When I met him, Mao was only a six year-old orphan. He didn't know how to read or write, he didn't know of a parent's love, and he didn't even know of good and evil. But Mao had a weird gift: he could read minds. That alone isolated him. Because his power can't work on me, I became his friend, his lover, and a perfect stranger. I was the only one Mao saw as human, and he saw me as his whole world."

"So, Mao is a psychotic little man who can read minds and is obsessed with you?" Sai asked.

"Yes. In his case, Mao can read the mind of anyone within five-hundred meters of him if he concentrates hard enough. And if he wants, he can even penetrate the unconscious mind. He's the ultimate enemy for someone who fights using their brain." C.C. said. "You all don't have to worry. Though he may be an enemy, he won't go after or try to kill any of you. He's only after me. I'm the whole reason why Sakura's been poisoned."

"He's trying to get to you by using your sister," Kakashi stated the obvious. "That's normal for criminal minds."

"Yes, but I definitely don't like it." C.C. said, her fists shaking.

"Eonni…" Sakura sighed. Again, her sister was blaming herself. That was something Sakura didn't like.

"Does he have any weaknesses?" Sasuke asked of C.C.

"Well . . . the only thing close to a weakness I know of is that he can't deactivate his mind-reading jutsu. He constantly hears the chatters of the minds that surround him, whether he wants to or not."

"So . . . we just have to make sure that C.C.'s surrounded by a whole lot of people." Ino said. "I mean, after all, Mao--"

"It won't be necessary…" C.C. said, interrupting the blonde.

"Eonni…"

"Daijōbu, Sakura." C.C. giggled. "I'm not as helpless as you think I am."

But Sakura knew her sister much better than that. "Is that how you deal with the fear? Making up lies?"

"Well… Actually . . . don't mad, okay?"

Sakura was skeptical—she knew her sister would come up with the worst possible solution—but she nodded her head.

C.C. walked over to the sofa, grabbed her purse, walked back to the side of the hospital bed, said "I have this," and pulled out a Baby Eagle/Jericho 941—in other words, a huge handgun—leaving everyone in the room shocked.

"Oh, wow…" Sakura managed to laugh without coughing this time. "That thing is huge! It's, like, movie-huge."

"I know!" C.C. said. "Cool, isn't it?"

"Did you--"

"I thought we left all of our guns at my house." Lelouch said, crossing his arms. "Where the Hell did you get that?"

"The mall."

"The mall?"

"Fine… If you must know…" C.C. groaned in defeat. "I got it out of Sakura's closet."

"Na-na-na-nani?" Lelouch asked. He thought he didn't hear her correctly. "Out of your younger sister's closet?"

"Yeah, it's pretty big, right? Bigger than the one you have."

"Excuse me?" Lelouch asked, unable to believe his ears. "It's not the size that matters, okay? It's how you use it."

"Well, I think size is pretty important." Naruto said.

"Yeah," Ino seconded that. "If you do have one, bigger is always better."

"You two aren't helping." Lelouch snapped.

"Right… It did seem like a private conversation." Kakashi said.

"Private? What's so private about me yelling at C.C. for having a gun in the first place?"

"Well, for one, she was comparing her gun to your gun." Naruto answered even though Lelouch didn't want an answer. "Maybe that blew off a fuse in your head."

"Okay, you stay out of this!"

"Kakashi's right, dobe."

"Yeah," Tsunade said, "Let the couple fight amongst themselves."

And Sakura just giggled at the stupid fight her friends were having. She wanted to enjoy that moment because who knew? Maybe it was going to be the last time she saw her friends smiling and laughing ever again.

Anio = no (Korean)

Anyo = no (Korean)

Chotto matte = wait; just a moment; just a minute

Eonni = older sister (Korean)

Jebal = please

Jebal anyo = please no

Minna = everyone

Shimatta = damn it

Yay! I finished this! Yippee! Oh, and those of you who are wondering, I'm going to have Hinata wake up in the next chapter, and that's probably when I'll name the children. So, yeah, don't miss the next chapter! And please read my other fanfictions! Thank you!