I'M STILL ALIVE!
Sasuke could already feel the headache forming. This was not going to look pretty on the official report; the Council was going to have a fit. They always want clean cut to the point facts, nothing to deal with Tenshi, Gods, Goddesses, or anything else down the road of supernatural. Not even when these things were clearly around them. Those bastards where closed-minded and could not accept the changes which were happening. They were all idiots if any were to ask Sasuke, but no one ever did, which did not help the Uchiha now though. How was he going to explain this?
Thank Kami-sama that it was night. Thank Kami-sama that the guards on duty did not ask about the number of people in the group. Thank Kami-sama that the roads were clear, no one to run ahead and inform the Council they were back and exactly how many people were in their group. Thank Kami-sama that no one, save the Yondaime Hokage was still inside the Hokage's Tower. He would understand. He always did.
Kazama Arashi was stilling in his office, his work from today still had yet to be done. Usually he had it all done by the afternoon if there were no meetings and even then, it only took him to three o' clock to finish. However, today was different. Today something was off. He could not understand it, but he was restless, very restless all day long. He could not concentrate and the slightest of things made him jump. Tsunade had even asked him if he was all right and had even given him a physical check up. That was against his will though, but trying to telling the strongest woman in the world no, it was not possible.
He was not the only one that was restless. The spirit foxes where just as restless, if not more so than he was. The four had gone out hunting during the early morning and had each come back with two preys each. Something that surprised Arashi when he woke up in the morning to find three snow hairs, two grey squirrels, a duck, and two doves in his kitchen. He did not even ask where the foxes had gone, knowing that the snow hairs were indigenes to Snow Country, the particular type of grey squirrel had only ever been found in the Grey Mountains located in Cloud, and the birds had migrated to Mist for the winter already. He did not want to even think about how the hell they had been all over the nation in less than two hours, the were spirit foxes, yes, but that was just plan ridicules.
Then in the afternoon, while the Yondaime was caged within his office, the foxes had gone off for an hour and came back covered in ash that made them look black instead of white. Not any ordinary type of ash, but volcanic ash and Arashi knew, he knew, that the only active volcano was on an island three hundred miles off the coast of Fire Country's Red Coast, which was another two hundred miles away. Even now, at ten-forty at night, the spirit foxes were just as restless and on the edge as he was. Reimei was pacing back and forth on top of the bookshelf, her fur coat once again clean and shown in the moonlight. Dei was grooming herself, but kept changing spots, at the moment she was sitting on the chair across for the Hokage, her tail moving constantly. Yabun was trying to sleep on the windowsill, however, his body kept twitching in various places constantly and his eye flickering gave away that he had yet to actually fall asleep. Lastly, there was Yuuyami, who was also pacing like Reimei, but unlike Reimei, he was pacing up and down the side of the wall. It seemed that this day could not get anymore out of the ordinary if it even tried.
Suddenly, Yabun gave a startled yelp causing all of the other foxes and the Hokage himself to look towards the window. Yabun was sitting on the floor now, shocked badly, looking up at the windowsill. Sasuke crouched where the fox used to lay, his ANBU uniform covered with blood and grass stains. There were no visible cuts or bruises on his being that could been seen with the naked eye, the Yondaime assumed that the blood had not come from the Uchiha. A good sign. The bad sign was the grim looked across the ANBU captain's face.
"What is it?" he Yondaime asked, his voice like stone and full of authority. The uniquely colored blue eyes were hardened and narrowed, waiting for anything his ANBU would tell him.
"We had a little problem," the monotone response came almost immediately. He then went on to tell the Hokage about what had happened on the mission. How the client never showed up and they headed back to Konoha after a while. That was when they found their client and what seemed like his bodyguard dead. He did not go into details on how they had found the swords dealer, but he did go into detail when they were under attack. He went into even more detail when the part of the Sound Four's cursed seals came up and how Juugo's seal broke. A grimace crossed the Yondaime's face at this part, but he did nothing else and continued to listen to Sasuke's explanation on how Juugo had ripped his opponent's tongue out. That was before Jirobo pulled out one of Itachi's purple tinted silver poison weapons.
"K.I.A.," the Hokage whispered quietly, but Sasuke still heard what he had to say. A small smirk formed on the Uchiha's lips as he shook his head negatively.
"Not quite, we had some…interference from…an outside party," the raven stated. Before Arashi could even ask what Sasuke meant, the spirit foxes' ears perked up and their bodies became stalk still. Occasionally their ears would twitch, but other than that, they would not move. Suddenly the four foxes sprang to life, yipping and yelping, barking and whimpering, growling and purring, all at he same time. They were going too fast for Arashi, or even Sasuke for that mater, to understand what they were saying. The foxes went wild when the door opened.
Karin, once she walked into the room, immediately got out of the way, not only because she hated the foxes jumping and yipping around her feet, but also because the other still needed to get inside of the room. However, the foxes did no care instead the checked over the next person, who just happened to be Suigetsu followed by Tenten. Arashi was grateful and slightly surprised when he saw Juugo coming in next with another male following behind him.
The unknowing male was about Sasuke's height, maybe a little bit taller than he was. He had shoulder length hair that was a white color with a grey tint to it. His bangs were held to the side with red cuff likes hair ties that matched the two red dots on his forehead and the red lining around his eyes. His snow-white skin and the red seemed to brighten the light green of the man's eyes, for indeed this person was a man. He had to be in his early to late twenties at least, his clothes did little to distinguish that fact. The man was very well built, and his face was firm and rounded a bit, giving him the look of some type of noble. He wore a pair of blue hakama with a lighter shade of blue haoiri that even furthered enhanced the image of him being from a higher status. Nonetheless, the traveling bag filled with unseen items on his back told differently. Nevertheless, bandits and rogues would still probably attack him for his rich looks and no visible sign of weapons on his person.
"Hokage-sama, meet Kaguya Kimimaro, the man that help save us," Sasuke introduced, his back now leaning up against the window, a leg drawn up to his chest and an arm hanging over it. "He used to be a member of Orochimaru's little group, but once his use ran out, so did his life. However, as you can see, he didn't die. Apparently, a group of misfits had found him in the forest where he was left for the dead and took him in, nursing him back to health. When Kaguya-san was fit, he remained with the group and has been with them ever since."
Arashi turned a questioning look towards Sasuke, wanting to know who this group was, but the raven just nodded his head towards the door. Turning towards the door, the blond hair man almost felt his heart stop. At first, the image was of two genin standing on either side of the door with a third, smaller boy, kneeling on the ground petting the hyper spirit foxes. A red fox kittling of his own was perched on top of the smallest boy's head. The sight was breathtakingly beautiful. However, the illusion shattered and the three small boys and the tiny fox kittling disappeared.
The image of the redheaded genin was taken over by a tall proud man in his early twenties. His red hair was the same as always, if not a little wilder than before and the black rings around his eyes seemed to darken, bring out the color. As it also brought out the fact, he was glaring straight at Sasuke. The love seal kanji shown bright on his forehead, but Arashi could see that the seal had been altered in someway. The redhead's face was narrow, and in a way resembled a panda or raccoon. His figure was that of a seasonal fighter, lean and full of muscles. Dark brown pants and shinobi sandals were the only thing that could be seen passed the sand color cloak wrapped around his body and the gourd on his back. However, when the cloak shifted as a small tan animal came crawling out up onto the redhead's shoulder, a deep dark dull red shirt could be seen.
As for the animal itself, which had perched itself on Gaara's shoulder, the Yondaime could tell almost instantly that the raccoon size animal was a tanuki. Its fur was tan with darker patches here and there while the eyes were bright yellow with a diamond as the pupil and four circles surrounding it. The tanuki was no doubtable the Ichibi no Tanuki, Shukaku, in a smaller form.
Standing parallel to the impassive redhead, a burnet with long hair pulled up into a bun on top of his head while his bangs were pulled to the side with cuff like ice-blue clips. He stood a little less than half a head shorter than the redhead and was around the same age as the other man was. The smaller man looked more feminine, which was notice able in his eyes that were not glaring at Sasuke, but looking at the Hokage with mirth dancing around in them. His face was slim and girlish looking while his body took on the same attributes. With the sleeveless light blue kimono, a dark blue long sleeved shirt underneath that, and dark blue sandals, one could not tell if he was really a boy or a girl. Nevertheless, the hunter nin type of mask that rested on top of the man's head, tilted to the side, told many that he was a skilled shinobi, no matter if he was a boy or girl.
Lastly, Arashi's eyes traveled over to the blond kneeling on the ground petting each of the white foxes in turn. A blood red fox of his own with golden eyes and almost twice the size of a fully-grown tiger with four tails swaying behind it, sat to his side. As if the blond knew that the Yondaime was looking at him, the young teenager stood up and turned to face him. Unique blue eyes clashed with a pair of the same color of unique blue eyes. At his full height, the blond seemed short compared to his brothers and the red fox that stood taller than his waist. He would only come up to Sasuke's shoulders, maybe a little bit taller if the two were standing next to each other.
The teen's blond hair shown with the brilliance of the sun and fell in spiky locks around his slender face. Three whisker-like scars could be seen on either side of his face, the only thing marring his face. But on him, it actually seemed to enhance his blue eyes and fox like features. His skin was slightly tan while his body was slime, lithe, with no ounce of body fat on him. In fact, it rather looked like he was underweight. His arms and legs held no trace or any visible sign of muscles, making him seem weak and very frail. No one would have believed that he was a fighter or warrior of any kind, even if his clothing gave away any indication that he was.
The small teen wore a pair of black form fitting pants that left a whole lot up to the imagination -but there were some hints- black shinobi sandals, and a pure white -slightly loose- sleeveless top. An orange scarf like cloth was wrapped around his shoulders and tied in the back -near the top- with red twine, leaving the long ends to flutter around his kneecaps that made him look like he had two tails. A pair of black elbow length, fingerless gloves covered his arms and a small blue pouch hung off his hips on a black almost unnoticeable belt.
None of them wore their Konoha headbands, at least not visible.
"Hokage-sama," the three Uzumakis, plus Kimimaro, simultaneously greeted, all bowing at the same time. Even Kyuubi that was sitting next to Naruto seemed to bow his head in respect.
Blood sprayed everywhere. A cry filled with pain and shock shattered the noise in the clearing. The fighting seemed to momentarily stop as they all turned towards Juugo and Jirobo's direction. Half of them startled, half of them shocked, all of them not understanding what was going on.
"You're dead," Jirobo try to mutter without his tongue before he ended up in a coughing fit. However, even if his words had not sounded anything like they should have, they all knew what he had meant. None seemed to notice the blood coming out of his mouth and running down the cursed seal user's chin, their eyes focused elsewhere. "You're supposed to be dead," the dying man repeated somewhat clearly.
"So I am," the new comer said, looking out of the corner of his eyes towards Jirobo. The man had yet to move from his crutching position. His left arm, which was definitely not an arm but a sword seemingly attached to his should, still out stretched, puncturing through the tank's heart. "No thanks to you. But Kami-sama sent an angel to save me," the white haired man stated, shoving his left arm sword deeper into Jirobo, causing him to gasp in pain. Yet, for all his gasping, he could not pull air into his lungs. His body was failing him and there was nothing going to save his pitiful life. Finally, the tank's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stopped gasping. He was dead and the only thing keeping him up was the white haired man, who pulled his sword arm out of Jirobo and let the carcass fall to the ground while his arm reconfigured itself to parallel his right arm's image.
"Kimimaro," Juugo breathed, not believing his eyes and what he was seeing. It seemed all too surreal, like it was just a dream and he never wanted to wake up from it. The gentle giant did not even realize when his bloodthirsty personality slowly receded -as well as his cursed body- back towards his docile personality. He never notice when the fighting started up around him as his teammates once again started to fight for their lives. He slowly walked forward towards his supposedly dead friend, wanting to touch him to make sure he was alive. When he was just before the other, Juugo reached out his hand and brushed aside the locks of white hair in Kimimaro's face before settling his hand on the smooth white skin. "You're alive. How?"
"Like I said," Kimimaro replied, leaning into the touch, "Kami-sama sent an angel to save me."
"Not to be rude of anything for interrupting this touching reunion, but, may I point out that," Suigetsu stated, hanging above the other two's head from Kidomaru's spider webs, which he could not escape from. Somehow, the stupid webs were keeping him from changing into his water form, and draining his chakra at the same time. "There is a battle going on around us and I'm about to be eaten alive by this spider freea-yow!"
The last part of Suigetsu's sentence was cut short by the indestructible webs breaking and his body falling to the ground. For a shinobi, the swordsman had not landed so gently either, and ended up hitting the ground pretty hard on his backside. A groan of pain came from the teen, yet he did not move. Kidomaru was not so lucky when he fell, he could not even catch himself since he was frozen inside a block of ice. One that would not be melting anytime soon. Not far away from the ice Kidomaru, Sakon and Ukon were withering in pain. Karin, a sadist at heart, had used some of her medical knowledge and her own poison concoction, reduced them to a puddle of liquid. Literally.
Sasuke easily took care of Tayuya, once he disabled her of her flute and the Doki she was easily taken out. He never gave it a second thought as he killed the girl, she worked for Orochimaru, who worked for his brother and he could not let her live. He could not let any of them to live. Thankfully, Jirobo was dead, thanks to Kimimaro's sudden appearance, Sakon and Ukon were killed by Karin, he took out Tayuya, but that left Kidomaru. Someone took the man out, and it was not one of his teammates or Kimimaro. Who was it?
He did not have time to think about that though, they still had to get rid of the rogues and bandits that Tenten was slowly losing ground with. There seemed to be a never-ending supply of the stupid little bugs, but that was going to end now. Activating his Sakashima Sharingan, the Uchiha called forth his chakra and putting it into his katana. He was planning to use his Takama-ga-hara no Ryu, but he never got the chance. Out of the corner of his eyes, Sasuke saw blades of chakra whirling around the area, coming towards them. The blades swerved around the trees and foliage, never disturbing anything, he would never have even noticed they were there if he had not had his Sakashima Sharringan activated. The bad part? They were coming right at him and his teammates.
It was too late for the Uchiha to warn the others, he need not have to, for the chakra blades split and separate. All of the blades missed the Konoha nin and Kimimaro with inches to spare, but the rest were not so lucky. The rogues and bandits were sliced to pieces, blood splattering everywhere. Nothing was left of them; the chakra blades not only chopped them up, but also totally annihilated every piece of them. The clearing became very quiet, everyone's eyes darting around to where the powerful attack came from. If one attack took out all the bandits and the person was not friendly, they were going to be in big trouble. Hell, Sasuke could not even track where that attack originated.
"Karin," Sasuke barked, eyes darting around the clearing.
"There's two very powerful human chakras, but there's something off about both of them. They don't feel like a normal human's chakra would, and…" Karin trailed off, feeling another chakra signature, but it was definitely not human and she could not pinpoint it exactly. The thing seemed to be moving, and fast. She had to close her eyes and focus harder on the thing, it took her some time, but she found it and the location of it was not good. Whirling around towards, Karin shouted out her warning. "SASUKE!! WATCH OUT!!"
Her warning came too late, though. The Uchiha only had enough time to see a flash of red before he was hit, the force knocked him to the ground and a heavy weight rested on top of him. The others -save Kimimaro- watched in horror as a giant fox, almost twice the size of a large cat, pounced on their captain. Its paws extended out, pushing the raven back onto the ground and its face right next to his face. Then the fox started to growl and move his muzzle closer, their captain seemed like a goner.
"Sasuke!"
The voice was deeper, more mature than he remembered, but Sasuke knew it without a doubt. Opening his eyes, he had closed them on impacted automatically, the ANBU captain locked eyes with golden eyes with slits for pupil. The movement of four tails behind the giant fox caught his attention, yet he could not focus there for long. The fox had started to lick him to death. The other just watched, wide eyed and still with shock as the fox happily waged its tails and licked the raven. It came more of a surprise when Sasuke started to laugh. Not one of those chuckles he would give every now and then, but a good heartfelt laugh.
"Kyuubi, get off already," the Uchiha scolded in good nature, pushing the fox off of him and sitting up. The fox did what he said but did not go far from the man's side; instead, he sat down right next to him, with a foxy smile on his face. Looking at the kitsune, to make sure that it was truly the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Sasuke shook his head and looked upwards towards the tree that still stood. Instantly he spotted them, a hunter nin look-alike sitting on a branch above Kidomaru's frozen body, a senbon being twirled in his hands, and a redhead hanging upside down on the same branch, his cloak fall around him and a small tanuki huddled on his shoulder having no problems with gravity. "Haku-san, Gaara-san, long time to see," Sasuke addressed the two brothers formally, not giving any indication to his teammates, who seemed to be very confused at the moment, or Tenten, who became rigid at the mention of their names.
The two brothers disappeared from their original spots up in the tree only to appear before Sasuke. Gaara in a whirl of sand and Haku through one of his ice mirror. His teammates watch them like a hawk, ready to attack if the newcomers tried anything. But by the way, their captain was treating them- with respect- they were sure the two would not. It was a little disconcerting though, the one wearing the mask seemed to be a hunter nin. Still they relaxed, knowing they could trust Sasuke.
"It has, Sasuke-kun," Haku said, holding out a hand to the younger man. Taking it, the Uchiha was lifted up with a surprising amount of ease. The other's body did not look strong, but he was. Once the raven was up, the burnet let go of his hand and pulled his hunter's mask up. His eyes shining with happiness to see a familiar face after all these years, but they also had an underlying threat to them. One that spoke of a lot of harm if the Uchiha tried anything with his little brother. Haku was protective as ever, and judging by the glare coming his way from Gaara, so was he. The only thing was wrong, was Naruto was nowhere in sight.
Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but he never got the chance. The sound of the wind began to whirl around the clearing making noises. The problem with that being that there was no wind to make a sound. It did not help the noise was coming from all over, echoing, and there was no other chakra signature outside their little group. Soon the noise became louder and turned in to words, not just the whispering in the wind. It was actually a voice.
"Damn snake. Damn summoning. Damn summoners. Damn. It. All!" a soft mutter was heard as the foliage to their right began to move. Suddenly, a blond boy bushed his way through the trees and stopped in his tracks when he saw the group surrounding him. He blinked cutely a couple of times in his confused state. "Sasuke, Tenten-san, what are you doing here?"
Sasuke's mouth went dry. What were they doing there? They were on a goddamn mission. What the hell were they doing here? That was his question. He had spent years looking for the blond and now, he was right before him and Sasuke did not know how to react. Like Naruto said. Damn. It. All. "Naruto," Sasuke mouthed, not sure if he was actually saying his name or not. Apparently, he had, for Naruto looked at him questioningly before give the Uchiha one of his best smiles that made the raven's heart flutter and turning back to the others. The blond surveyed the clearing making sure everything was all right and clear. "No one was hurt, right?" the youngest Uzumaki asked, concerned about everyone's well being, even those he did not know. He trusted them, because Sasuke trusted them, he could feel it in their bond they shared, and Kimimaro seemed to trust the tall one too, so they could not be evil. "Everyone is fine Naru-chan," the monotone voice of Gaara stated, the Ichibi on his shoulder nodding his head in agreement. "What took you so long?" Haku asked, in mild curiously, but more so because of his overprotective nature towards the blond. Grinning sheepishly, Naruto pointed at his familiar. "The traitor abandoned me and I had to take care of him all by myself." The last part was said as the blond motioned behind him to the carcass of the one he had to get rid of on his own. Peering through the foliage, the members of Team Hebi were dumbfounded to see the body of the Snake Boss summoning, Manda, the frail looking blond had been dragging along behind him with no trouble. "A wingless Tenshi, Naruto, that is who saved me," Kimimaro whispered out, but his words were ignored.
"And that is what happened," Sasuke finished his oral report, wondering what the hell he was going to write in the written report. That was the copy that the council would be seeing and he did not know what to put down paper. The swords dealer was murdered before they had even got to him and the Nidamie's sword was nowhere to be found, maybe? That would not go over well. One of his teammates had almost died but was saved by an ex-Oto nin? The old bastards would be disappointed Juugo had not been killed and they were probably getting another ex-Oto nin as a shinobi. Or he could put his favorite part; the most unpredictable shinobi in the history of the world had killed Manda and was back. Like hell, Sasuke would never tell those bastards Naruto was back, they would want to get their grubby hands on his Soul Mate. Not going to happen.
Hell, he had yet to even get any time to speak to his blond. Yes, Uchiha Sasuke was a very possessive person when it came to certain things, and one of those just happened to be Naruto. However, he wanted to get the Uzumaki brothers and the Kaguya, back to Konoha -and away from his brother- as fast as he could. So there had been no time to talk, they had just cleaned up the area, erasing all evidence of their existence -which was not a lot seeing as Naruto's group left none behind- and left. The trip back was made in completely silence, all of the shinobi knowing that this was neither the time nor the place to talk. Enemies had their eyes and ears everywhere and they needed to be careful.
"I see," Arashi said calmly, but his betrayed him as they keep on darting towards the blond. To everyone else, it went unnoticed, but to his former raven haired student, it was as clear as day. "As of now, the mission has been raised to an S-rank. Any and all details containing this mission shall be disposed of as a precaution. Furthermore, all of you are to act as if this mission never happened. Only a select few will be informed and even then, they will be told to never speak of this mission. Is that clear?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama," a chorused response met his answer.
"Good," the Yondaime stated, his eyes seemed to lighten up. "Now on to housing arrangements for Kaguya-san and the Uzumakis, seeing as their house was burned away," the blond haired man went on, not missing the winces from Haku and Naruto when they heard their house was gone. He felt a pang of guilt traveling through his being at causing his son pain. "For tonight, you can all stay the night here in some of the guestrooms reserved for nobility during their stay and figure out further arrangements later, if there are no objections."
"No, Sir, that is fine with us," Kimimaro answered for all of them.
"Good, then I want all of you to go get your after mission physical as per usual standards and head on out," Arashi stated watching them all give a visible sign of acknowledgment. All of them headed out the door, but as Naruto -for he was the last to leave- was about to exit, the blond man called him back. The younger blond closed the door behind him and turned back around to face the Yondaime, but he was not the Hokage anymore. He was Kazama Arashi, finally getting to speak to his son -knowing that the boy was indeed his son- for the first time.
He had imagined this moment in his head millions of times after finding out who Naruto truly was. He waited for this day to come for five years, he dreamed of this day. Everything was to be perfect and he knew exactly what to say after all those time he thought it over in his head. However, sitting at his desk now, looking at the frail young teen, everything just seemed to slip away. Everything he had rehearsed, dreaded of what would happen, just slipped away from him. Time seemed to stand still. He could not find any of the words he wanted to use, to say, there was so much. Too much. Yet he could never express all his feels through words alone.
He did not have to. His heart took control of his body and the next thing he knew, the small blond was held tightly in his arms, hugging him, as his voice cooed inaudible mutterings. He never even realize the tears silently rolling down his face, he just knew his son was finally home. Finally in his arms, save and sound. Everything would be all right; everything had to be all right.
"I missed you too, Otou-sama. I missed you too."
"Hyuuga-sama, we have a group of shinobi coming for their post mission physical and not enough on duty medics since Karu-kun and Yume-chan called in sick," a nurse explained to Hinata. "Could you…?"
"I'll do it, Kisei-san," the Hyuuga Heiress sighed, pulling back on her white doctor's coat she only just taken off. She was tired, very tired; her day had been a long one, having double duty, but also because it was very busy as well. Normally, she could take up such things, yet, lately, everything had been taking a toll on her. She had no way of releasing any of her pent up anxiety, not when she was always worrying about her missing Soul Mate. It just gave her more anxiety, so she would work herself to exhaustion, so she did not have time to think. She could not afford to think or she would go insane.
Sighing once again, Hinata picked up the clipboard outside of the door and looked it over as she headed inside. "Alright, it says here that you've been gone for a while on a long term mission. In that time having you gotten any serious, life threatening, injures?"
"Yes." The answer was quick and to the point, just like most well train ninja's answers should have been. However, this one was different. This answer caused Hinata's body to freeze up on its own accord and her limbs to become weak. She did not ever register the clipboard had slid out of her hands and fell to the ground with a clink. All the medic-nin realized when her head had snapped in the direction of her patient was that she was staring into eyes, beautiful eyes, filled with love. One word on her lips. "Gaara-kun."
"Yeah, it's me, Hinata-hime," Gaara said, showing one of his rare moments of emotions, as the redhead pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on while he waited. When his Soul Mate made no move to come towards him, the woman being too stunned to move, the oldest Uzumaki sibling made his way over to her. Intending to draw her into his arms and kiss his love. Nothing goes as planned, for the moment Gaara was within her reach, Hinata did her own welcoming back.
"You baka!" the woman all but shouted -they still were in the hospital after all and the sick did need their sleep- throwing her hands up in the air overdramatically. "You were gone for five years -five years!- and not one -one- letter. Not one message on how you were doing! Or how things were fairing for you! Nothing at all! I was worried sick! I didn't know what happened! I didn't know if you were dead or alive! I didn't know if the Destroyer had gotten to you or not! And what of my poor little Naru-chan?! What of him and Haku-niichan?! They could have been killed too and I wouldn't even know and it would have been all your fault!"
All throughout Hinata's ranting and raving, she had slowly been advancing towards the redhead, fearless vessel of Ichibi no Tanuki and the demon himself -that was clinging on his host shoulder- were slowly backing away. That is, they were slowly backing away until they ran out of space and hit the wall with the raging woman still come towards them. There was no way out, the Hyuuga Heiress was blocking the only door and there were no windows, Shukaku knew this. He knew there was no escape for the both of them, so he did the only thing he could, he went back side his host body and away from the demon woman.
Gaara, feeling the weight on his shoulder disappear and the chakra Shukaku used to form a body of his own return, cursed the terrified demon for leaving him alone with his Soul Mate and not taking him with the tanuki. He was really going to get it now; the redhead could just feel the waves of killer intent rolling off Hinata. With no further warning, she attacked. He was doomed.
A pair of warm, luscious lips. Her hands had snaked their way around his neck, pulling the taller one closer, deepening the kiss as Gaara wrapped his arms protectively around her waist.
Uzumaki Sabaku Gaara was glade to be home.
Outside the room, Haku leaned up against the hospital door with a smile on his face. Sure, he was going to have to wait a while for his own physical examination, but his brother needed to get laid even more. Nevertheless, hearing his brother make out with his Soul Mate, the Hyoton user felt his heart drop. The thought made his eyes, unknowingly, shine with a hint of sadness and longing. He wanted someone of his own, someone to protect him, someone for him to protect, to love and hold onto forevermore. Sure, he had his brothers and his family, but he needed more. He needed a lover of his own.
Gaara had Hinata, they were Soul Mates and they would never leave each other, not for someone else. There was no way those two could be separated ever again. Haku knew that and he suspected Naruto knew that too, since he was the one that thought it was time to return, even though the blond still had more to learn over his powers. He needed more time to become stronger, but Naruto was never content on seeing others suffer, physically or emotionally. Yet no one argued with his choice, not even Kimimaro, who had no ties with Konohagakure, did not argue and they all headed back.
Haku did not argue, even though he had no one back here either. Sure, he had his family, but no one to love him like Gaara did. And Kimimaro too, judging by the way the white haired man never left the giant man's side, Juugo. It would seem even he had someone to love. Hell, even Naruto had someone, no matter how much he hated to admit it; Haku knew that Sasuke was his little brother's Soul Mate. They would be together, even if Gaara and him did not think the Uchiha worthy enough for their pure little brother. No one would ever be good enough for him.
Sighing sadly, Haku leaned his head back up against the door, his thought process getting him nowhere.
"What is one as pretty as yourself doing looking so sad?" a male voice asked flirtatiously, causing Haku's eyes to snap open. The burnet blushed lightly as he looked at the person who was invading his person space, leaning his arm up against the door over the Hyoton user's head to support the man's body weight.
At first, Haku had to blink a few time, to make sure he was not seeing anything and to clearing his vision, but the image never wavered. The man before him, oddly enough, looked a lot like Sasuke. However, this guy's hair was shorter and plastered to his face; it was also not as black as the Uchiha's own locks. His eyes seemed more of a dark brown than black and his skin looked an unhealthy pale color, almost as if he had never seen the light of day before. Being so closed to the unknown man, Haku could see there were concealed black rings around his eyes and the weariness that accompanied it. He could also tell that the man's whole appearance was a façade and he immediately did not trust him, even if he donned the Konoha headband. There was also the fact that his guy had no sense of style, wearing a black shirt that showed off his belly and tight pants to match. Was he insane or just plan crazy?
"You know, I haven't seen you around before," the man continued when Haku gave no sign of answering his question. He even completely ignored the fact the other was glaring at him and did not seem to like his presence at all, the raven haired man just keep on smiling that fake smile of his. "And that makes me wonder. Why someone so cute has escaped my notice?"
Unconsciously, Haku started to cool the air around them, dropping the temperature greatly as he stealthily making a senbon out of ice, hidden by his sleeves. To distract his movements, Haku answered the man. "It's not my fault that you're so blind that you haven't notice me nor is it my fault you can't tell that I'm not a girl. For your information, I'm fully male, just like you. Given your condition of being blind, I guess I really shouldn't take offense to that."
The man reeled back a little bit from the comment, but he did nothing else. His creepy, fake smile never disappeared. In all reality, it actually seemed to grow even bigger than before. Something that did not bond well with Haku when the man leaned closer to him and his face was only a breath away from his face.
"That just makes it all the more interesting now then, doesn't it?" the man asked seductively, leaning forward as if he was going to kiss him. Haku, narrowed his eyes even more, and made a move to stab the man with his needle, but, unfortunately, he did not get the chance. Someone interrupted them.
"Sai," a hard, almost angry sounding, voice stopped the man's -Sai's- movements. "This is a place for the sick and injured and as far as I can see, you're neither of which. But if you're not gone soon, you will be." The threat was there; Haku could feel the other person's power and knew he could back up that threat. However, Sai's face did not change; in fact, his smile grew even bigger from before as the raven haired pushed himself off of the wall and turned towards the intruder of his little fun. It also gave the Uzumaki his chance catch a glimpse of him as well.
The man was tall, with free trestles of dark brown hair that was even longer than Haku's own when loose. He too was pale, but unlike Sai's pale, his looked healthy and suited him. His body structure was lean, but muscular and he looked like a nice charming young man. If one where to ignore the fact he wore the clothing of a hunter shinobi of Konoha, his mask tilt on top of his head like Haku's was, and the chain with bladed edge that hung on his left side. One would also have to ignore the fact that the Byakugan was glaring daggers at Sai.
Hyuuga Neji had indeed grown into a fine young man.
"Ah, Hyuuga-san, it is a pleasure seeing you once again," Sai mocked the hunter.
"ROOT's lapdogs have no place here," Neji growled, his left hand going to his chain-blade weapon. "Leave now."
"As you wish, Hyuuga-san, just remember there is only you and SEED to blame when Konoha falls for letting spies like him into our gates," the ROOT member jabbed, pointing his figure towards the Hyoton user, not noticing the way the temperature was slowly becoming to feel like a winter's storm. Haku did not take well to being called a spy, especially by someone from ROOT, and before Sai knew what was happening or Neji could stop him -not that he wanted to- the enraged burnet threw his senbon with deadly accuracy. The needled embedded itself into the ROOT ANBU's neck in just the right pressure point to cause the man to fall into a coma. It would only last a week, at least.
The nurses around the room, seeing the ANBU fall, ran to his side, checking him over. None of them ever noticing the puncture wound in his neck. Haku was smart enough to throw an ice senbon that melted almost instantly after it had done its job. Not finding anything physically wrong with the raven, the nurses figured that it was from fatigue and put him in one of the rooms to sleep his exhaustion away.
The Uzumaki had come to watch the women work standing beside Neji and once they were gone and out of hearing range, the fake hunter nin turned towards the hunter nin. "Long time to see, Neji-san."
"Ah, it has Haku-san," Neji replied, just as politely, looking at Haku in away that made his heart beat quicken. He did not understand what was happening with his body, but the ice user could feel a blush spread across his cheeks and quickly looked else where, something that did not go unnoticed by the Hyuuga. A small affectionate smile spread across his face as he watched the other man fidget under his gaze.
In the years that had passed by, Neji had dated on and off a few times. Tenten once or twice, but he never felt anything. Not with any of them. He felt so alone and after an especially bad date gone horrible wrong, the Hyuuga had called it quits on love. He had thrown himself into his work and did the best he could. He trained himself to death it seemed. However, after coming back from a mission and walking passed Hinata's room, the man had heard the heiress crying, pleading to the Gods and Goddesses to bring Gaara back to her. A pang of sorrow for his cousin ran through him and he thought about how she had acted so happy and lively during the Chunnin Exams all those years ago. When she was with the oldest Uzumaki.
During his musings, his mind drifted off its initial path and started thinking about the Uzumakis and not just Gaara. Yet he was thinking more about one in particular. His mind, no matter what it did after that night, always seemed to drift towards Haku. He kept thinking of the other burnet and could not help but worry about him. His heart fluttered every time he saw ice attacks being used and he always found himself looking towards the users, but when he did not recognize them. When they were not Haku, his heart would fall and he would feel sick. It was not until a few months later that he realized what was going on. He was in love with Uzumaki Haku.
"So what are you doing here?" Haku asked, trying to mask the blush on his face. The Hyoton user did not know why, but he felt like he had little ice senbon prickling his skin and his insides felt like a snowstorm was raging on.
"I came to pick Hinata-hime up, we were going to have a late dinner together, but she seems busy at the moment," the Hyuuga said, looking towards the door as a particular loud thump came from the inside. "Very busy."
"Ahhh, yes, Gaara and her will be a little while and after that, I need to get a physical as well. I would think it wise if you were to reschedule with her for another time," the burnet stated, feeling a little embarrassed that he was talking to the girl's cousin who his brother was more than likely having sex with at the moment and was blushing like mad. "If you want, I could tell her you stopped by, that way you don't have to wait."
Neji cocked one of his eyebrows, but smiled. The man in front of him was so cute when he was blushing and he was always considerate. "That would be lovely, but if you don't mind, how about I wait with you? That way you're not so lonely?"
"Su-re," the Uzumaki stuttered slightly, his blush deepening while his heart pounded.
'Maybe,' Haku thought to himself, sneaking a peek of the Hyuuga out of the corner of his eyes as they waited together, 'maybe I'm not as alone as I thought. Maybe, I have found my Soul Mate as well.'
And Uzumaki Momochi Haku was glade to be home.
After finishing with his physical, there was nothing more that Sasuke wanted to do right then than to run back to the Hokage's Tower, just to see if Naruto was there and everything had not been some twisted genjutsu. Yet he refrained from doing so, the raven knew the blond haired teenager was not a genjutsu used on him by some cruel Oto shinobi, the giant red fox following him proved that. He would be able to tell if it was anyways, just like the other times some hotshot ninja thought they could take him down using a genjutsu; he could always tell the differences. But the Uchiha still wanted to see the blond, it was just, he would not.
Naruto needed time with his father. Alone. Just the two of them, to sort things out and to talk and Sasuke respected that. He would give them all the time they needed. But it still, did not stop him from wanting to be with the blond.
It did not help Sasuke had somehow become the unofficial caretaker of four fully-grown white spirit foxes and the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The five foxes would not leave his side and the people around the hospital were starting to stare. Sure, they all knew about the four white foxes the Hokage had taken in after his near death experience five years ago, but they were not with the Yondaime, they were with Uchiha Sasuke. Something that made a real big difference. That and the fact there was a fifth fox that was bigger than the Inuzukas' dogs and had four tails. With all the staring, the Uchiha had sought out refugee outside the hospital.
He sat on top of the roof while looking up at the stars and the moon, seeking out the comfort of Tsukiyomi. Even if she was not looking down at him at this second, he always found comfort in the rays of her silvery light. Just like he found comfort in the gold rays of Amaterasu's light and Susanoo's raging storms. The five foxes all surrounding him as they too looked up at the moon's domain.
Finally, after an hour or so, Sasuke saw the two Uzumaki brothers plus the Hyuuga cousins exit the building followed by Kimimaro and Juugo. The rest of his team, the raven could sense, were still inside the hospital, more than likely getting his or her own examinations over with. It did not matter to him at the moment; instead, the Uchiha simply pushed off the edge of the building and landed on the ground with effortlessly. The four spirit foxes simple just disappearing from the rooftop and reappearing on the ground next to the raven as spirit would do. Kyuubi, seeing Hinata, bounced off the rooftop and without a sound landed before bounding off towards her side. Unlike Sasuke, he did not tackle her to the ground, but nudged her with his nose and whined for acknowledgement, which she gave him along with a petting.
Making his way towards the group, Hinata looked up to see the approaching man and smiled happily, her cheeks glowing with life and happiness. The woman nodded her head, and mouthed a silent thanks before they all headed off to the Hokage's Tower. None of them spoke, none feeling the need too. All were content in their own right. Gaara had Hinata wrapped up in his cloak, Shukaku held in her hands as the woman cooed over the cute demon -which highly ironic- while he was walking right next to her protectively. Neji had his arm over Haku's should, something that cause a seemingly permitted blush on his face and a cocky smirk on the Hyuuga. Juugo and Kimimaro walked not too far behind the two couples, their hands intertwined, no questions being asked about how they had ended up there and other such things. And bringing up the back, Sasuke walked with Kyuubi to his right and the other four foxes prancing around his feet.
When they reached the tower, the group headed up into Hokage's office, but they did not dare go inside. Most of them knew what was going on inside, and none of them wanted to intrude. They did not have to thankfully, for the Arashi sensed their chakra signatures as soon as they came in and called for them to enter. A sigh of relief passed through the lips of those that knew what was happening before they entered. What they found, was the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure sitting on the floor with his back leaned up against his desk and a sleeping blond resting in his lap.
Never looking away from the innocence radiating off his son's face as the teen slept while running his hand through the gold locks of the sleeping angel, Arashi gave them an explanation, even though he did not have too. "He was more tired than I thought. He just fell asleep in my arms and I didn't have the heart to move him. He looked so peaceful, I just couldn't."
"I'm surprised he actual fell asleep," Haku said, detangling himself from Neji -much to the man's displeasure- and walking over to kneel next to his little brother and the boy's father. "Naruto rarely sleeps at all and when he does, he wakes up at the slightest of noises." Seeing as their time spent on the move, Naruto and Haku had both become healers of sorts to heal themselves and others they came across. Nevertheless, even with being a healer and having their grandmother's knowledge of medicine in their heads, the Hyoton user could never get his brother to sleep without waking up at the slightest of sounds. It was a miracle he had yet to wake up as it was.
"Well then, we better not wake him," Arashi stated, gathering the small teen up in his arms and pulling himself to his feet. The older man wavered at first, his legs having fallen asleep, but he never fell and once he gained his bearings, he led the group to the rooms that they would be using for the night. Even if the night was already half over.
There were five rooms in total, so if they were all going to stay, they had to share. There were no questions asked when Gaara and Hinata headed in the same room, all the shinobi could tell by body language alone what had transpired during Gaara's physical. However, Sasuke did not miss the way Gaara glared at him one last time before being pulled into the room by Hinata and the door closing. Haku took a room for himself, Neji having to head back to the Hyuuga clan to inform them their heiress would not be back for a little while. Kimimaro also took a room for his own and head off to bed after Juugo wished him a good night sleep. Arashi took the second to last room, laying Naruto down in the soft bed and tucking the small blond in and giving him a small fatherly kiss on the forehead. However, the man did not leave the room; instead, he laid down on one of the couches and went to sleep there. He did not want to be separated from his son, not so soon after getting him back. Yabun and Reimei made themselves comfortable lying next to the Hokage while Kyuubi, Yuuyami, and Dei slept with Naruto. The last room was left empty.
Juugo and Sasuke making there way back to the Hokage's office where they felt their two fellow teammates were waiting for them.
"Sasuke-kun, just who are those people? Tenten and the Hokage both were startled when they first saw them and they acted very particular," Karin assaulted Sasuke with the questions as soon as they both walked through the door. "And why, no how is Kimimaro still alive? With his illness, he should be long dead by now. No offense Juugo, but even Orochimaru could not find away to cure him, but he's still alive. He has none of his illness's symptoms and he's in perfect health, that's not possible."
"Well, it must be possible, since Kimimaro is still alive and as he said himself, the others helped him. They were the ones that probably found a cure for his illness," Juugo said kindly, not taking any offense Karin calming the Kaguya should have been dead. It was true after all and for the passed few years, he had actually thought of his friend as dead. "Just because Orochimaru couldn't cure him, doesn't mean there wasn't away. The man didn't even try to find a cure, if he did, he would have probably come across a cure a long time ago."
"But that doesn't tell us who these people are. They all wore no headbands or anything to identify where they are from. How do we know if they can be trusted?" Karin argued back. She never liked not knowing things, and not knowing who the Uzumakis were and being left in the dark irritated her to no end.
"Kimimaro trust them, that's good enough for me," the gentle giant stated.
"The Kaguya also trusted Orochimaru and look what happened."
"We also trusted Orochimaru," Suigetsu pointed out. "And they help us during the fight."
"It could just be just a ploy, to get us to trust them," the redhead pointed out, referring to what she knew of the unknown group. "And then there is that fox. It's twice the size of a tiger, a tiger, and has four tails. There is something definitely not right whit that."
"But Tenten and the Hokage were both shocked to see them, meaning they that they know each other. Also, the Hokage raised the rank of the mission and made sure we would not talk about what happened on the mission. A clear sign that he wants to protect them from either the Council or some outside force," the swordsman contradicted the uptight medic. "Let's not forget the fact our fearless leader also was very polite to the older two, even when they were hostile with him and that fox seemed very happy to see Sasuke as well."
All eyes turned towards the Uchiha, who had, up until now, went unnoticed by the group standing in a small circle in the middle of the room. The raven had stayed quiet all throughout their little arguing over the Uzumaki brothers and if they could be trusted or not. It would seem that they had never heard of them in all their time in Konoha. He would not blame them though, usually they were out on missions and he himself never talked of the Uzumakis when on a mission. As far as he knew, most the people who had bond with any of the three brothers had not talked about them all that much, all for their own reasons.
Uncrossing his arms, Sasuke stood up straight and headed out of the room, ignoring the curious looks of the rest of the Gods of the Night. "If you want to know more about them, coming to my house early tomorrow morning. You'll get your answers then." With that said, the Uchiha went back to the guest rooms in the tower, taking the last one, which happened to be the one right next to the two blonds.
The others just stared at the back of their leader, but none did everything to stop them. Seeing no use in staying, and trusting Sasuke and Kimimaro, Juugo left to go to his apartment. Suigetsu, even though he was curious about the three newcomers, more so the blond seeing as the other two were taken, left as well. He'd get his answers in the morning. Karin was the last to leave, but she was not happy about it. She wanted answers, but she was not getting them. With a huff, the young woman left the room, heading home and setting her alarm clock to go off early in the morning so she could finally get the answers she wanted.
After all, Uchiha Sasuke was glade that Uzumaki-Kazama Naruto was home.
The next morning was a strange one. Those that spent the night at the Hokage Tower were gone by the time the ANBU had done their shift change. All of them plus Neji and Juugo were at the Uchiha compound, but all of them keep their chakra suppressed and being as quiet as possible since there were other shinobi that were still fast asleep in the house. All of them that needed, took turns using the bathrooms to be cleaned up and wash off all the grim and gunk that had collected on their bodies. Afterwards they had changed in a fresh pair of clothing.
At the moment, it was five-thirty and Arashi was just finishing his shower, being the last one to go. And when he was finished, the Yondaime walked back downstairs, being careful not to wake Tsunade and Zabuza; those two were not morning people. Reaching the kitchen, the blond man look around the room to see the rest of them were all scattered throughout the room. Kimimaro and Juugo were sitting at one end of the table wearing what looked to be the same exact clothing as before, but cleaner. Gaara was sitting at the other end of the table, wearing tan color pants and a long sleeve dark red shirt, his gourd nowhere in sight. Next to him sat Neji, wearing a white long sleeve shirt and black pant. On the other side of the kitchen, sitting at the breakfast counter, Sasuke resided wearing only a pair of black drawstring pants and a green nightshirt.
All three of the boys' eyes were lingering on the trio working in the kitchen, making breakfast. Hinata, wearing her regular black pants and her cream-colored coat with Shukaku resting on her shoulder, was pulling plates and dishes out of their respected cabinets while setting the table. Every once in awhile, she would go over to one of the burners and sample some of the food. Haku was busy slicing up some fruits for breakfast and chopping up some vegetables that his little brother needed. As for said little brother, Naruto was busy running back and forth, looking through the cabinets and refrigerator for anything he could find to make a descent meal while cooking what he already had. The blond looked cute running about in his knee length white shorts and orange shirt as he was busy cooking and boy did it smell good. The five foxes that were sitting or laying down at the edge of the kitchen seemed to agree, each of the whimpering and whining for free handouts, which they were given from one of the three cooks.
Sitting himself down at the breakfast bar with Sasuke, Arashi watched as his son moved around the kitchen. Checking things over and tasting them and if they were right, he would nod his head with a smile on his face. If something seemed to taste wrong to him, he would frown and go about adding more stuff -the Yondaime did not know what he was adding half the time- into it until he seemed satisfied with the taste. He watched in amusement and awe when the three of them moved around the kitchen all at once, all caring things and never once did they run into each other. It was as if they had done this everyday of their lives and before he knew it, the Hokage was standing in front of a neatly decorated table with a lot of food spread across its surface.
Half the food he had no idea what it was, but he knew it sure smelt good. He did recognize some of the dishes, having had them when he visited other countries and eaten with them, and if he remembered them correctly, there was at least one or two dishes from each one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations and some from lesser nations as well. His mouth just watered looking at them and he would bet his position as Hokage that the rest of the group was having the same reaction. He was just about to sit down and eat when Suigetsu and Karin arrived, Sasuke having let them in when he sensed their presence coming.
"Aw, you're just in time for breakfast," the blond hair teen happy greeted the two, even though he never formally meet them. "Would you care to join us? We just have to wake the others up first before we can begin." Suigetsu, who had been salivating at the sight of such wonderfully looking food, happily agreed. Karin had as well, even if she still did not trust any of the three brothers yet. "Good, we have more than enough food to go around," Naruto chirped happily, before calling out over his shoulder with a gleam in his eyes, "Haku-niichan, could you wake the rest of the household up? Just this once?"
Sighing, Haku shook his head, but complied anyways. "Water or ice?"
The rest of the group looked on in mild curiosity, wondering what was about to happen. For those that already knew, they braced themselves for the impact.
"How about both? Icy-water?" Nodding his head in agreement, Haku made the necessary hand seals and with a poof, a few Mizu bunshins of himself appeared before heading upstairs.
"What was that all about?" Karin asked, genuinely interested. Nonetheless, when she saw his sly smirk and evil glint in his eyes, she was not quite sure if she wanted to know, but he told them all anyways. It was for a prank.
"Are you crazy?" Suigetsu all but screamed. "Do you even know who is up there? The Demon of the Mist and the Legionary Slug Sannin! They'll kill you for sure! They'll kill all of us! Call them off! I want to live!" No sooner had those words left his mouth than four screams echoes throughout the Uchiha Manor. It seemed like they were all awake. And judging by the pounding feet, they were not happy at their wake up call. "We're all doomed," the swordsman stated, shrinking into his seat. Some of his body had even started to turn to water, ready to flee at a moments notice.
Tsunade, wearing her light green sleeping robe, drenched to the bone, was the first to come crashing downstairs, every curse word she had ever learn on the tip of her lips, ready to be used. Her mouth was running, but no words were coming out of her mouth when she saw three particular faces in crowded kitchen. Followed right behind her in a soaked purple robe, was Tsunade's assistant and daughter like figure and following her mentor, Shizune became paralyzed. And right after the medic-nins, the famous ex-Demon of the Mist came down, dripping wet in only a pair of cow-print pants. He too was stunned to stillness.
Juugo, Karin, and Suigetsu could not believe that just at the sight of them, the rampaging shinobi seemed to freeze up in shock. Is this what Sasuke had meant when he said they would find out tomorrow? Cause as it was, they were even more confused and had a lot more questions.
"Good morning, Obaa-chan. Good morning Auntie Shizune. Good morning Zabuza-ojisan," the three Uzumaki siblings said in unison, just as they had done as children when they were little.
It was just at this time that Uchiha Obito, who was also dripping wet but seemed to be still half-asleep, came down the stairs, only to be blocked by the group of paralyzed shinobi. Looking around them, the Uchiha immediately woke up fully and smiled brightly, totally missing the rest of the shellshock looks coming from Sasuke's teammates.
"Hey, look, the rest of the Uzumaki clan is back."
I wanted to thank everyone for being pateint and those that reviewed. And, to make up for not posting last month, I'm going to try -and I will suceeded, I just have to believe in myself- to get another chapter up next week! Thank you have a wonderful day/night.
Shi no Tenshi 902
