Kill Itachi: 37
Keep the bishi: 36
ComeComeParadise: ….As of now, the poll is officially closed. You guys can continue to vote, but I will no longer post the results. So even though it says that Itachi will die, it doesn't mean that he REALLY WILL FOR CERTAIN. The votes can change, but I wont post them anymore so that I can SURPRISE you all! XD
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"I love you, Sasuke-kun."
Sakura grabbed Sasuke in a tight hug…
"Hn."
…which Sasuke somewhat returned awkwardly.
The two of them sat there in the darkness, unaware of how late it was, and unaware of the shadow perched on the nearby telephone pole…
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The shadow chuckled silently to himself as he watched his former students from the nearby pole. In an instant, he vanished into the breeze.
Sasuke went to bed that night feeling satisfied and with a sense of responsibility. He was with his favorite girl, and they were spending the night in his house…however wrong that that seemed, he only felt "right". Itachi was still out there, and Sasuke was all too aware of that fact. Since Sakura was sleeping in the next room, it would be a lot easier for him to protect her, if by any chance his jerk of a brother decided to pay him a little visit. That, combined with his very first kiss (he is now no longer a sixteen year old kiss virgin), helped him sleep soundly that night.
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The two of them woke up the next morning at the sound of the chirping morning birds. It was time for yet another day of training with Kaka-sensei. Naruto, much to Sasuke's delight and Sakura's dismay, had plans that same morning. As the young couple made their way to the usual team 7 meeting spot, Sakura decided to voice her thoughts.
"Training isn't the same when Naruto's not around."
Sasuke heard this and nodded.
"You're right. The dobe usually slows us down with his brainless tactics. Since he won't be joining us today, we should get a lot more out of our training."
Sakura attempted to playfully punch Sasuke after he said what he said, but Sasuke, being an Uchiha, instinctively blocked her punch. She sighed.
"Geez Sasuke, give him a break. I think that Naruto makes training more fun. I mean, it's those brainless and unpredictable tactics of his that got him where he is today."
Sasuke continued walking, acting as if he didn't hear a word that Sakura had said. Sakura, seeing this, let out a sigh. When Sasuke decides to shut up in the middle of a conversation, it usually meant that either the conversation was over, or that he was thinking…but since it was Naruto that they were talking about, Sakura decided on the former rather than the latter.
The two of them arrived at the bridge, and there was no Kakashi in sight. There were no people passing by the bridge, and the entire area was pretty much empty. Sakura took notice of all this and instantly began to relive her first kiss with Sasuke from last night. They were alone then too. A blush was threatening to creep onto her face, and it was only made worse when Sakura turned around to find Sasuke staring at her. (from what she could tell anyways).
"Sakura."
Sakura jerked up from her thoughts at the sound of Sasuke's monotonous voice.
"Y-yah?"
Sasuke cocked an eyebrow.
"About last night…"
Sakura felt her cheeks flare up. Memories for Sasuke's lips, his hair, the warmth, EVERYTHING flooded back into her mind.
"It was my first time! I'm sorry if I wasn't that good at it!"
And at that, with his incredibly crappy timing, Kakashi decided to poof in.
"Wow, your first time...at what?"
Sakura jumped up and screamed, while Sasuke stood there confused as ever.
"GGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Yo."
The seething Sakura jumped up from the spot where she landed.
"You! You…you're…"
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and jumped on in.
"…late."
All three of them sighed. Ever since their first meeting after Sasuke came back, they never managed to get the first conversation at the start of training right. Team 7 was losing its touch. Kakashi let out a sigh. He had lost the will to pose his trade mark excuse, but he still felt that it was worth a shot…for old times' sake.
"You see, I was lost on the road of life."
A random passerby glanced at the silver-haired jounin.
"So was I!"
Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi turned to face the passerby with expressions now more confused than ever. Sakura, who wasn't always the one to conceal her emotions (unless it was necessary), voiced everyone's thoughts.
"DWAH?"
The passerby glanced at his map and shrugged. Humming a random song, he skipped happily along the yellow brick-less road. Anyways…
Kakashi turned to face his students after all of them had finished recovering from their initial shock from the earlier encounter. Clearing his throat, Kakashi spoke.
"Alright guy…and girl…we have a mission today. We are to help deliver a vital scroll to our allies at Sand village. This scroll contains information about the Akatsuki that some members of the ANBU were able to uncover from their recent mission to the remains of Sound Village. They were searching the entire village for traces of Orochimaru's assistant Kabuto. After that war we had at this village, Orochimaru's right hand man vanished without a trace. Many of my fellow jonins were unable to find and locate his corpse, so it is now believed that he is still alive. The members of the ANBU failed that mission, but they also happened to stumble across some clues on their way back concerning the sudden disappearance of the Akatsuki. It is our job to deliver this copy to Sand to keep them informed and posted."
Kakashi eyed his students. Both seemed occupied in their own thoughts, and Kakashi understood why.
"You two were right to suspect that Sasuke's brother played a part on the demise of the Akatsuki…and yes, chances are that you will have to fight on this mission. However, you wont be alone."
Sakura perked up.
"Who else is coming with us, Kakashi-sensei?"
As if on cue, a familiar voice boomed in.
"Hey forehead girl. Did'ya miss me?"
Sakura turned around and found herself face to face with Ino.
"Oh my gosh, of course you pig!"
Sasuke, however didn't feel the same way. And anybody who knew Sasuke would understand why. Ino was one of his most rabid fangirls of all time…in fact, she was the one that scarred Sasuke the most…not that he'd admit that or anything. He let out a sigh. The last thing he needed on a mission this important was a girl hanging all over him.
"Hey, don't forget about us!"
Chouji appeared behind Ino munching on a bag of chips. Behind him, a very tired looking Shikamaru was dragging his feet over to the bunch.
"Mendokuse, why'd you guys have to drag me along on this mission?"
"Shikamaru, what'd I tell you about dragging your feet?"
Shikamaru groaned.
"Troublesome woman…"
"SHUT UP!"
"OOH, BARBEQUE FLAVORED CHIPS!"
Sasuke and Sakura watched as Ino whupped Shikamaru while Chouji stood off to the side eating his chips. Sakura leaned over and whispered to Kakashi.
"Kaka-sensei, are you sure about this?"
"Don't ask me. Naruto was the one that assigned them to help you guys out." Kakashi said with a shrug.
Sakura let out a sigh. "He must have done this on purpose to bug Sasuke-kun."
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and continued watching Ino beat the crap out of Shikamaru.
"Kakashi. How hard is this mission exactly? Do we really need six people to deliver a scroll?"
Kakashi turned to Sasuke with a smile.
"Sharper than ever. The thing is…..I'm not coming with you guys on this mission."
"And why not?" Sakura asked incredulously.
"Well, someone's gotta keep Naruto out of trouble."
Sakura rolled her eyes.
"I thought that that was Tsunade's job!"
"True, but as of now that job is mine. So good luck on the mission, don't get killed, and don't forget your sunscreen everyone!"
And at that, the silver haired-jounin poofed away. All four chuunins and Sasuke paused and then groaned.
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Sasuke and Sakura walked together after that. They lived on the same side of town anyways.
"Sakura about last night..."
Sakura blushed.
"Yeah Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Like I said earlier, it was my first time..."
Sasuke smirked. "I wasnt talking about our kiss. I was gonna ask you how many pictures you looked at when you were in my room last night."
Sakura stood there. Her mind was on pause, and her face now put the color of her hair to shame.
"Sorry."
"..."
"Oh right, I saw all of them...sorry."
"...why are you sorry?"
"..."
Sasuke smirked as he bent over and let his face hover an inch away from Sakura's. This caused her face to turn even red...er, if that was even possible. Smirking at Sakura's reaction, he pulled his face away from hers and turned the corner.
"Later Sakura."
Sakura just stood there...perplexed.
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They set off at noon after packing and eating lunch at a yakitori stand. Before Kakashi left, he dropped a note saying that he put Shikamaru in charge. Shikamaru groaned and began to protest.
"Why don't you be in charge Sasuke?"
"Hn."
Everyone stood there puzzled. Chouji swallowed the mouthful of chips that he had eaten.
"Translation?"
Everyone turned to face Sakura.
"Oh, that means 'why don't you do it since Kakashi put you in charge?'"
Everyone sweatdropped. Shikamaru turned to face Sasuke.
"That's because you're the only Jounin here. I'm just a Chuunin."
"Ah."
Sakura was now presented with more puzzled looks.
"That means 'I lost my rank when I came back to this village. I'm not leading. You lead.'"
Everyone let out a sigh. Shikamaru glanced up at the sun. It was right overhead.
"Mendokuse…we need to get going soon. Alright, fine. I'll be the leader even though it's extremely troublesome. Does everyone have enough weapons and supplies?"
Each person pulled his or her pouch for everyone else to see and examine. After seeing that everyone was properly equipped, Shikamaru gave a nod of satisfaction.
"Okay, good. Since Sunagakure isn't too far away from our village, we shouldn't take more than three days to get there."
Shikamaru pulled out two identical scrolls from within his chuunin vest.
"This is a B-ranked mission, and it isn't to be taken lightly. As we travel, there is always a chance that a powerful enemy will come and try to steal the scroll."
Shikamaru handed one of the scrolls to Sasuke.
"This is a copy of the scroll that we'll be delivering. It'll be used as a decoy, and you are to protect it as if it's the real scroll. You are the strongest one here, and the enemies will be able to sense that. That way, they'll naturally think that you're the one holding the scroll and want to go after you. I'll hold onto the real scroll in the meantime. As the leader of this mission, I need you guys to trust me."
A warm breeze blew by, carrying several leaves with it. Chouji smiled. This wasn't his first time working with Shikamaru like this. He remembered the time when he, Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, and Kiba were sent to retrieve Sasuke…but this time, Sasuke was there with them, and this time, Chouji is working with people that he never worked with before. (Sasuke and Sakura) He began to eat more and more. Sakura, seeing Chouji stuff his face at a rate much faster than usual became concerned.
"Choiji—"
"—Don't worry forehead girl, he always gets like that when he's excited before a mission." Ino said with a smile.
Shikamaru saw this and nodded. He agreed with Ino…he just felt that it was too troublesome to open his mouth and actually say that. The Nara cleared his throat and spoke.
"If there aren't any questions, then we're off."
Everyone nodded, and the ninja took off towards Sunagakure.
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ComeComeParadise Corner:
Yo! If any of you are wondering about Itachi's "fate", then go up to the top and read the note I left by the pole. Those results are NOT, I repeat, NOT final. Anyways…I want to thank all of you who reviewed for reviewing. And for those of you who didn't get the last chapter at all, I'm really sorry. It turns out that the website had some issues the night I uploaded chapter 33…which also happens to be the chapter with the sasusaku kiss. My bad. Many sorries. XD
So…the Itachi fight isn't coming soon, as you now probably can tell, but it is COMING. Please remember that I just totally suck at fight scenes and they take me twice as long to write as a regular chapter. (okay, so I'm exaggerating a little…) I just missed Shikamaru since he's my favorite character…I mean, he's so bad-arse, is he not? XD Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Read on folks, read on!
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The fivesome traveled in silence in order to conserve their energy. The afternoon sun was high above their heads and the heat was getting more and more unbearable with each step/leap/skip/hop that they took. There was less and less vegetation as they traveled. The ground was also getting drier as the traveled. By nightfall everyone stopped.
"Alright, this seems like a good place to stop. We should also refill our water bottles while we can. There will be less water as we travel, so get as much as you need and as much as you can carry. Let's set up camp."
Everyone obeyed Shikamaru without complaint. Team Konoha set up camp that night and pitched their tents.
"Ino, you'll keep guard from now till midnight with Sasuke since you're the loudest one."
The moment he said this, the Nara instantly regretted it. A moment later, there was a giant imprint of a hand on Shika's cheek. He rubbed his cheek painfully.
"Mendokuse…"
Sakura chuckled nervously.
"Who'll keep watch after Ino and Sasuke, Shikamaru?"
"Chouji will keep watch next since it's about time for his midnight snack. While he's eating, he surprisingly never lets his guard down during missions."
"Sakura. You'll have to work a double shift tonight. You'll be keeping guard with Chouji and for a couple of hours with me. Afterwards, I'll keep watch on my own while you get some rest. We'll all take turns working double shifts."
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ComeComeParadise Corner:
Okay, so I haven't updated in a while. Many, many sorries. I've got school, ya know? XD Anyways, there isn't much of a cliffie here, so I'm not THAT evil. Right? XD So don't forget to REVIEW and also, don't forget that there are NO FLAMES ALLOWED!
ComeComeParadise