Many quarrels later at the self checkout machine.
"Why can't I eat my Twizzlers and not the frozen meal? I don't even like rice like that."
"Because, for the last time, it's healthy for you- You know what? Never mind. Who put this in the buggy?" Gaara turned away in irritation, facing the rest of their group and holding up a pretty colored orange-ish red box. He was not going to argue over a trivial matter. He searched for the guilty member instead, taking a guess it was Naruto due to the way said teen was avoiding his gaze the most. 'Why didn't he just ask me?'
"Aaaghh, I'll get the frozen fit meal." Shikamaru groaned to himself and scanned the chilly container before bagging it. He only gave in because he bought both anyway.
Gaara rolled his eyes and chuckled, handing him the ramen box. "Mhm."
Naruto sighed in relief near a soda freezer, assuming he was out of the clear.
"Why are those guys looking at us?" Kiba questioned in a whisper, hiding Sasuke out of view from the store guards by standing in front of him. That of course was unbeknownst to the raven at that point whom thought the Kiba was just being himself and invading personal space.
"I'm not sure." Shikamaru finished securing the last items, eyes never drifting to give those men full recognition. "They're are two more of them now."
Gaara prepared to pay and asked quietly, "Do you think they know? The camera's have been following us all over the place."
"No ones blocking the exit. Let's hope they're just making sure we don't steal." He assisted his redhead by providing the correct change, ignoring the peeved and quick expression he got for butting in.
Sasuke couldn't see the people they were talking about and didn't want to risk trying to. They'd made it this far without issue. "Could Shino have told?"
"I highly doubt that." Kiba snuggled into the coat more. "He's so nice!"
Naruto grumbled. "Plus weird."
"It wasn't him." Gaara settled it, retrieving his receipt. "I think something else is wrong."
"We'll find out in a second." Nara was right, for as soon as the ginger pocketed the receipt, those armed men came over.
Their little five guy group carried on naturally like they didn't notice, each helping put everything in the respected shopping carts.
"Good evening." The lead security officer was tall and well aged. He wore a typical white shirt tacked on with badges and a mic. His hands were at his front near his hips almost, thumbs tucked into the waistband of his belted black pants. "We're sorry to bother you boys, but the manager would like to speak with you all. Since you've paid for your stuff, we'll have someone hold it for you guys till you return."
"Why does the manager want to speak with us?" Gaara communicated with the men first to draw attention away from the others.
"It is a manner that you all will discuss with her is all we were told." The officer took off his hat and held it against his chest in sincerity. "We promise that none of you are in trouble."
"Will it take long?"
"Not at all unless we delay. Which honestly, wouldn't be a bad thing." His words and genuine smile put a brisk, faded blush on the ginger out of surprise.
It didn't trigger Nara though like the others expected. No, he'd come to grips a long time ago that Gaara would warrant attention like this. That's fine. When he gives that attention back though, that's an issue...In reality he was just a soft jealous type. "We can leave after that?"
"You sure can, Sir." The officer nodded and then turned sideways with an arm out. "If you'd all follow us this way, please."
Everyone behaved and followed, leaving their stuff behind. They were escorted to the far right of the store and up rail stairs to the manager's office. Lucky for them, after entering the initially vacant area, they were left alone on a nice puffy couch.
The office was a clutter on the other hand and had an old style about it. It smelled of smoke to boot. They endured that atmosphere in silence for five seconds.
"None of this feels right no matter how nice they were. "
"What's your plan then, Shika?" Gaara crossed his legs and observed the room, concluding only one way out. "The way we came in is literally it."
"We could knock out the manager and make a run for it then." Shikamaru held onto his walking stick tight.
"Oooh! Or maybe we are really getting a prize and so we wait?" Kiba's idea was immediately shot down. "Wah? Better decide now. Here they come."
'No, no, no!' Sasuke quickly buried his face in the blond's shoulder, shutting out all input as if that would help make him invisible somehow.
The door opened with a tiny mousy screech. In quietly walked a busty, middle aged woman in a dark beige pants suit. She locked the door behind her, keeping her hands at her back, marching to her desk in soldier like manner. "Well, well, well! I must say, I'm really not sure. From what I've seen though, you are that sweet kid I remember."
The confused silence was what she'd expected. Smiling, she turned to face them from behind the desk, her long platinum blond hair around her shoulders. "I suppose we should test it first."
Out of bloody nowhere the woman clasps her hands together then slowly drew them apart to reveal, dun dada dun, a ramen cup! She placed it on her desk without a suspicious air to it. "Anyone hungry?"
"Me!" Naruto flung up a hand, loving the magic trick. Amazed blueberry eyes looked around to see if he wasn't alone. His friends that he could see, gave him straight forward dispassionate expressions. "It was cool though!"
"There's no shame in having an inkling for the supernatural, Mr, um," she said with a chuckle, playing it off by moving her hand in a circle like motion to the blond teen for a name.
"It's Naruto," he responded as he tried to get up, "Let go!"
"No!"
"OH….MY...GOD! Is that Sasuke as well?!"
'...Her?!' Sasuke was so caught up in not being seen that he didn't recognize her at tone at first. Any other day he would have been happy to hear that voice. Today was not that day. He slowly turned his head, locking eyes with the woman that wasn't supposed to be working in a store. "Tsunade?! W-Why are you here?!"
"Tsunade?" Gaara mumbled aloud confused.
"I don't know who the hell the rest of you kids are, but those two are my best friend's babies! Naruto is supposed to be ...MY GOD! Little Naruto is alive and you found him somehow Sasuke!" The busty woman called, Tsunade, made her way back around from her desk fast. She pulled the blond away and hugged him like she'd only dreamed she could. "I can't believe-! Wait till I find your parents! Or better yet, Sasuke's parents to help find your pants and just...praise the heavens!"
"Um Tsunade, we can't-"
"You can't what?!" She paused for a second, breaking the hug and zoning in on the blond's face, starting back up her ecstatic rambling, "why haven't you gone home yet?! What happened to your face?! Are the-"
WHACK!
Out went the poor woman, caught by a shocked Naruto. "What the hell, Shika?!"
Shika shrugged, lowering his weapon to help him stand again. "She's clearly going to call the cops! You and Sasuke can stay if you want, but we're leaving!"
Sasuke was going wherever Naruto was going.
Naruto wanted payback. "Okay! But you didn't have to hit grandma that hard!"
"Grandma?"
The raven shook his head. "She's not his grandma, Gaara. She's more like a-"
"Godmother," Naruto said before his buddy, involuntarily like a natural instinct, "I just call her grandma to piss her off…. Holey shit, I remember!"
"That's great, but we gotta go! So dump grandma on the couch and let's grab our crap!" Shikamaru checked outside the door to see no one guarding it, counting that as a blessing. "The cost is clear."
"Damn." Naruto sighed, using Sasuke's help to get her situated on the couch. It really was nice seeing her and being hugged like that anyway. He found himself smiling and staying by her side while his friends conjured a plan. "She's so cool..."
"Huh?" Nara blinked at a lost to that unhelpful information. "Naruto, focus! Besides, look at this place!"
"I don't think this is her place... It would look so much more awesome than this."
Sasuke shrugged when the others looked at him for answers. "Naruto believed she was magical when he was a kid! She used to own a circus and everything!"
"A circus?" Kiba got down on a knee near the blond to sniff the lady's hand, expecting cotton candy and all the other scents associated with the fun place. "Smells normal to me!"
"Don't make him start too." Shika was way too late.
"How about this? We'll pretend she talked with us and let us go! That'll give us enough time to run while they come check on her. " Gaara pulled Kiba and Naruto back from hovering around the woman.
"How do you know they won't stop us?"
"Because they're really nice."
Shikamaru stared at the ginger. "Real nice to you!"
"Well do you plan to hit them all with a stick?"
"I could give it a shot..." He'd thought about one guard in particular.
"I like Gaara's idea!" Sasuke chimed in, chuckling at how his whiskered friend got free and went back to idolizing the woman.
"Why can't we take her with us?!" Naruto wanted to recall more about this woman.
Shikamaru gave up, outvoted and annoyed with a certain blond already. "We'll take our chances with the lover boy. Come on."
As much as Naruto didn't want to go, he had too. Frowning, he hugged his godmother and felt a weird burning sensation against his chest that made him back up. Closer inspection lead him to see it was the gem glowing and then fading. He freaked out a little and backed away, choosing to follow his comrades out. There was a aged feeling eating at him that he couldn't quite place. It was a mix of remorse, regret, and even anger. Anger threw him off the most. Regret left him sad. Remorse was….deep. Deeper than he could have ever imagined.
Down the hall and stairs they went, leaving him to those emotions. His sights wondered to that gem around his neck again that kept pretending it was normal.
"I see she's dismissed you boys already. Hopefully nothing bad came of it." The one guard was all that stood by their things. He was just as pleasant as he was when they first met.
"Nothing that she saw worth keeping us at least," Shika answered this time, walking by with a pat to the man's shoulder, "She did want to see you guys though."
"Well thank you."
"No problem."
The moment the guards left, there was a casual haste to gather the supplies and get the hell out of dodge.
\:: A Plan ::/
"Our kids are on their way back to the compound with the key that Kakashi left there like an idiot. That is a good thing how?" Jiraiya asked, doubtfully from his driver position, yawning a second later.
"Because we know what they want. We also know the stones are on our turf which is good for us." Obito pulled the handle on his cane like a sheath and out came a literally bloody sword. "You keeping up?"
"I'm listening, bastard."
"They fooled us once. It won't happen again. "
Jiraiya looked back and forth from the road and to the man cleaning his tainted weapon. "But we aren't even sure if their plan was to make us think they were attacking us directly. So were we really fooled or did we fool ourselves?"
"That's some deep thin- Never mind just listen! I'm going to fuck with those kids minds so trivially that they'll think they're ahead...that they're capable of escaping. At the height of their happiness, joy, and triumphs, I will wake them up from that illusion with nothing but pain, suffering, and finally, death." He finished cleaning off his sword with the hem of his jacket, not noticing the annoyed look stuck on Jiraiya.
"...How?!"
"Watch me."
"Could you at least tell me why you sent Orochimaru off with Kakashi back to the compound?" Jiraiya felt that wasn't the brightest idea in the world to do. "Shouldn't we all go?"
Obito chuckled lowly and shook his head. "No, brother. For my trap to work, I need certain pieces in different places."
"The men you guys hired on are...?"
"They've been given their jobs and locations."
"You're not going to tell me what that is, are you?" The driver scoffed.
"Nope."
"Gee, thanks."
Obito laughed and re-sheathed his cleaned sword. "You'll see along the way, so don't worry. That's why you're here. I find you annoying, but you don't get all sentimental over every little thing I say or do. You understand the goal here."
"I understand that you're going overboard with their punishments again! Which is a lot more than usual, but I trust you." Jiraiya leaned back against the seat and turned on the radio, wincing at what came out. "Son of a- The guy you ended listened to the same music as you!"
Classical notes filled the air and soothed the savage beast. "Mmm, this is the only thing I liked about that life my mother chose."
"You sound like you just came on yourself."
"You sound like you'd clean it up if I did." Obito shed a good gut-full laugh at how the driver gagged repeatedly.
"You and Orochimaru need to stop with that queer shit!"
"We're not even related!"
"SO?! That doesn't make it right! You want me? Too bad. Use your hand because I'm not your man."
Obito shook his head, laughter dying down to a chuckle. "Funny, you come up with that on your own?"
"Sure did! Want another one? I know you need to cum, but you need to find another bum. Wait that didn't sound right!"
"Don't care. I'm going to sleep!" Obito grinned, tipping his hat down over his half bandaged face. "Wake me when we arrive at his place. We gotta stay ahead."
\:: Now You Know ::/
Some people are lucky. To be lucky can also be misunderstood as unpreparedness or fate. These boys were simply dealing with a mix of the two. They did make it out of that waldy-mart without chase. The alarm was activated on exit and thankfully came to be the burden of someone else. That didn't make sense to some of them at the time. With all that said, they weren't scott free. Since the woman didn't suffer from a concussion or end up with amnesia of any kind, they now had to hide from the world all together. How could they be sure of this?
Their assumptions weren't confirmed by the radio from the car or some random passerby.
TV was their confirmation. Specifically, the news.
That's right, the five guys had finally made it to a hotel room, having bribed the owner of course who'd catered to them before anyway. Due to the issue at hand, cost to stay went up drastically.
"What the hell are we going to do now, Nara?!" Gaara asked over the blow dryer from his indian style position at the foot of one of the two beds in their room. He was drying out Kiba's hair for him and watching the news on the TV display most of their faces from different angles at the store. "None of us can go out now!"
"I've got a few ideas!" Shikamaru was sitting on the other snowy sheet bed with Sasuke, helping him log on and navigate the laptop. He pointed to a bookmarked icon when a window was opened.
"You thinking covert?!" Naruto shouted as he exited the bathroom, towel around his waist. While drying out his hair with another towel, he winked at the raven he caught staring at him. He then went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready for bed, leaving the door open a smidge to hear everyone.
"Something along those lines, Naruto!" Shikamaru said back as he clicked to open a tab and pull up another site.
Sasuke had diverted his eyes back to the computer, blushing less this time and thinking, 'Naruto is such a...cute idiot.'
Gaara turned off the dryer finally and went to placing the hair pins back in Kiba's hair. "Well, what do you have in mind?"
"Give me a minute." Shikamaru eased off the bed, setting the rules, "Sasuke, you are only allowed to read those sites only. Anything else and you lose your privileges, got it?"
"Roger," Sasuke responded with a little salute, wearing a big red shirt with a sleeping panda on it. It hung off him a tad to the left. It was a generously donated nightwear and came with confirmation that the owner really did love all kinds of bears. He so snuggled into the bed above the covers for the time being, laying back with the laptop over his lap.
"Good." Nara turned his attention to one of the grocery bags by the door. He limped over and grabbed a peculiar box out of one before coming back and having a seat next to a lovely ginger. "I was thinking about this."
"What is that?" Gaara asked, patting Kiba's shoulders, letting him know he was done.
"Thank you!" Kiba hopped up excitedly, wearing his charcoal boxers, green tank top, and Shino's coat. His final destination ended with a jump on the bed next to the raven, curling up next to him.
"It's hair dye, Gaara."
"For who?!"
Shikamaru grinned at how quickly the oldest had snapped. "Relax, Gaara. It's for Naruto. The rest of us are going to do some minor changes like baseball caps and hair cuts. Kiba can wipe off the triangles as a bonus, but other than that, our faces aren't easy to pick out like his."
"Like me?" Naruto came back out of the bathroom in his gray sweatpants. He had a shirt in his hands that he was shaking the wrinkles out of before putting it on.
"Look at the TV." Shika pointed with the hair dye box to the screen.
Up in the corner by the news reporter's head were two screenshots. One of the blond as a child and another of the blond at the store helping someone. The reporter went on rambling about the possibility that this was the long thought lost heir of the famous Uzumaki family lineage. They explained the car accident and the disappearance of his parents. Soon, the manager of the store was on display at the front of the store to give her story.
Live Broadcast:
Reporter: You are, Tsunade Senju? Temporary manager of Sannin's section three Waldy-mart?"
Tsunade: "Correct."
Reporter: "You were a very popular head figure in entertainment. What made you switch from the circus?"
Tsunade: "This is not about me!"
Reporter: "True! Given your background and age though, isn't this a bit of a gamble making such a bold statement?"
Tsunade: "...I think you better get to your point."
Reporter: "Do you truly believe this is your godson?"
Tsunade: "OF COURSE IT IS! Look at his face! Look at those pretty blue eyes! His hair is just like his annoying father's too! Not to mention Sasuke is with him! Those two never went anywhere without each other!"
Reporter: "You sound like you're a hundred percent positive this is that child. Are you sure that the Uchiha heir was with him though? Wouldn't he have called home or alerted someone by now if he truly was in no danger to be walking around a store?"
Tsunade: "I'm sure it is him! Though I didn't see him clearly enough becaus-"
Reporter: "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"
Tsunade: "W-Well two of them were wearing hoodies! Specifically he was the only one that had his hood on!"
Reporter: "Now you sound sort of doubtful. Are you prepared to tell Sasuke's parents that of which you are unsure? Word is they are on their way down here to determine if they should dig up the child's grave."
Tsunade: "...I know what I saw and what I heard. I've also no doubt in my mind that Fugaku and Mikoto will believe me. Hopefully we can also figure out why they're not coming home together."
Reporter: "If that is them! Are you basing this on looks alone? A lot of people are blond with blue eyes, myself included! What do you have to say about the scars on his face?"
Tsunade: "Are you fucking retarded?"
Reporter: "No ma'am I'm just making a true statement and asking a ques-"
Tsunade: "Well you also answered your own damn question. Since scars come from wounds that are healed over time, who put them on his face? You know what, give me that damn mic."
( Brief intermission with sounds of struggle)
(Cut back in to a ruffled old woman)
Tsunade: "IF ANYONE KNOWS OF THE WHEREABOUTS OF MY GRANDSON AND UCHIHA SASUKE, PLEASE CONTACT ME! I'VE ALREADY OFFERED MONEY FOR THE RETURN OF SASUKE! NOW I'M OFFERING TRIPLE THAT- GET OFF ME! AH- NARUTO! SASUKE! YOU BOYS COME HOME IF YOU CAN! THERE'S NO REASON TO BE RUNNING UNLESS SOMEONE IS AFTER YOU! I CAN PROMISE I'LL HANDLE IT! SO PLEASE, PLEASE COME HOME! WHOEVER IS HOLDING YOU BOYS, LET THEM GO OR I SWEAR YOU'LL WISH FOR MY PERMISSION TO DIE YOU SON OF A-!'
( Broadcast Ended Due To Technical Problems )
Naruto was smiling big throughout the whole thing at his emotional godmother. He also found his vision blurred for a second. Touching his face, his fingertips met a wet streak going down one side of his whiskered cheek. His emotions were starting to act more and more out of control, or were they?
"Naruto," Shikamaru said, adding a level of understanding in his voice, "if you two want to go home, that's perfectly fine."
Gaara nodded. "We won't force you to do anything you don't want to do."
"Oh shut up," Naruto laughed it off, wiping his face, "Like I'd let you guys have all the fun."
"Boss wants to have fun so I'm with him." Sasuke raised a thumbs up, half paying attention to them and half reading the backstory of the legend.
"Okay, then I'm going to need you to dye your hair in the morning." Shikamaru tossed the blond the box.
He caught it and looked it over quizzically. "Black?"
"I grabbed it real quick. Should you not like it, you can wear contacts. "
Naruto shook his head, cringing some. "Nah, this is good."
"When did you buy that hair dye? I don't remember that being in the cart." The redhead eyed his partner suspiciously.
Shikamaru smirked, lifting his shoulders once as if obvious. "That's because it wasn't."
"...You stole it?! When?"
"During our escape I might of picked up a few discounted things." At least he was being honest. He was also being resilient and holding Gaara back from trying to quote on quote give him a punishment hit. "Why are you trying to hit me? I didn't do anything!"
"We don't steal!"
"Then how do you think we acquired that key, love?" He pinned the flustered redhead down, smirking at how defiantly they looked back at him blushing. "You're becoming quite the hypocrite there."
"Keeping appearances has been difficult lately." Gaara squirmed, attempts futile.
"You two can't keep your hands off each other lately either." Naruto teased as he walked by, pushing Shikamaru off Gaara when close enough. He sidestepped out of Shika's reach when he tried to grab him. "To slow, man."
"Thank you, Naruto!"
"No probs, Gaara." The blond stuck his tongue out at a peeved Shikamaru before turning back and pulling on Kiba's coat. "Move, Kibbles! I'm sleeping with Sasuke."
"S-Says who?" Kiba mumbled tiredly, already falling asleep against the raven teen.
"Says me. Now move!"
"Actually, Naruto, you're sleeping with Shikamaru and Kiba. Me and Sasuke are sharing a bed." Gaara sat up stretching and loving the pout filled looks he got from the three forced to share.
"Why am I sharing with them?!" Shikamaru was the most offended.
"Because Sasuke needs to be able to read without being hugged to death. Also, I need to talk to him."
It was a fair point.
Naruto sighed and turned back to the other bed, dropping down dramatically on his back. "I'm going to miss you, Sasuke!"
"Heh, you'll live." Sasuke smiled and glanced at his sad friend. This would be a good break from being cuddled.
The dog boy next to the Uchiha didn't like the situation, but he got up and lazily paced to the other bed. There he dropped down on top of the blond, startling him. "Jesus Christ, Kibbles!"
"Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy."
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto patted Kiba's head lightly, yawning. He had all the time to be mad later, forgetting about his nightmare.
"Are we turning in then?" Shika couldn't go to sleep just yet.
"Anyone who wants to can, I guess. Everyone's had their dinner." Gaara walked over to his respected bed, slipping under the covers. "I'll be up a while."
"So be it. You idiots move over after you straighten the fuck out."
"Why?" the sleepy boys asked in unison.
"Why? Because who the hell sleeps like that?"
The complaining began. Sasuke easily tuned them out. He'd gotten to a part in the story that finally revealed an image and name of the so called knight he'd only recently read details about
Menma.