Song: Let you Down

By: NF

"Sightings of Orochimaru in the southern sector have emerged," a voice droned. "As a unit, you will attempt to infiltrate his recently located lab, where he is currently located in the small Hidden Valleys village. A prompt assassination of missing-nin Orochimaru is advised, however failing this a comprehensive removal of the target from the location, preferably with the lab intact for further scrutiny…"

I blanked out, my eyes instead darting to the three ANBU members to my right.

It was like all my dreams were being realised at once. Kakashi, Itachi, Yamato and Yugao all stood to attention, faces hidden behind masks but recognisable none-the-less.

On the other hand, to my left stood one Yakushi Kabuto, also firmly at attention but his mere presence had me swallowing soundly. After all, this mission was meant to be an assassination of his master, Orochimaru. Except no one knew he was allied with Orochimaru. Except maybe Danzo, but, well, that didn't help my case any.

I must admit, this whole situation was reminiscent of a cliché prelude to my death. Here I was, meeting my idols for the first time, only to be killed on the first mission I go on.

Now I just need some sad orchestral to follow me to my doom.

I tried not to sulk as I listened to the rest of the ANBU officer's briefing.

It took a while, but in the end all his big words and detailed explanations came down to this:

We would find Orochimaru, and we would try to kill him.

And if I read the signs right, both Itachi and I were, for want of a better word, bait.

Bait.

"We will travel for three days south-west towards where reports indicate Orochimaru's hidden base is located, in the Land of Rivers in the Hidden Valleys village. Usagi, you are to be carried by me as you're untrained."

I burned bright in humiliation at his words. Gah, Kakashi was going to carry me on his back? Preposterous! The awesomeness of meeting my idols was quickly fading away to be replaced by my reality.

Kakashi let me climb onto his back and then we were moving.

It was a bright day today. As I watched the trees rush past, our group of six shot through the trees at speeds my old life would have deemed impossible by human standards.

We did not speak; we were a professional squadron, despite the youth of Kabuto, Itachi and myself. But unlike them, I was no powerhouse. I was not trained for this, I was not ready.

So why?

I shook my head to clear it. There was no point thinking about it now. I closed my eyes and rested my head on Kakashi's shoulder. It would be at least five hours until we arrive at the Hidden Valley's village.

I awoke to a stinging head, the hand that had committed the crime withdrawing as I awakened.

Of course it belonged to none other than Kabuto.

"Usagi, time for a briefing," he said blankly, voice muffled behind his mask.

I sighed and looked around to find I had been placed on the ground in a small clearing, in a circle with the other five. I sat up slowly, stifling a yawn. It was evening by now, the sky painted purple and yellow as the sun retreated behind the horizon.

Kakashi began drawing in the dirt with a stick. "So, the idea is that…"

By the end of the lecture, I couldn't help but be relieved.

I was assigned lookout in a café. Apparently the lab had somehow been built directly under a section of the village. Kabuto hadn't been happy when Kakashi had decided to place me as lookout in the café of which the entrance to the lab was situated in, apparently hidden in one of the back rooms.

I knew he wasn't happy because, despite his dead tone, he had questioned Kakashi's logic given the nature of my not-so-well concealed position as bait. After all, I would be useless if I was away from the action, but Kakashi had remained firm and as leader, Kabuto had to stand down.

The others, well, they had the dangerous, shitty job of actually executing the execution.

Fine by me. They'd lived through it once (assuming it had been off-screen in the anime), and they would do so again. The fact that I was away from the action would increase the chances of their survival, after all who knew what would change if I was part of the action.

And then, we moved out.

The café was nice. It was small and quiet, I would even go so far as to say it felt homely. The problem, of course, being that this was a complete façade. The people working here were most definitely Orochimaru's lackeys, despite the fact they looked anything but. A teenager who looked extremely bored manned the counter. He had plain features and long brown hair tied up in a bun and equally dull brown eyes. Kenji, his nametag read.

'How can I help you?' he asked, perking up as Kakashi, Yugao, Kabuto, Tenzo and Itachi walked over, all in their respective henge's, as was I. I appeared to be a young man with sharp features and sleek black hair, in a flattering suit. I figured the manlier and posher I looked, the less likely anyone would be to bother me.

I hurried off as they gave the secret words to be given access to the back room (provided by who, I wouldn't know, but somehow the Hokage had found out), appearing to be separate from them simply as a precaution.

I went to sit at the seat beside the window. It was a small two-seater table, so I wouldn't feel guilty about taking up too much room in the restaurant. Not that I should be guilty, but it was just habit.

Despite the fact I wasn't the one in danger, I still felt nervous as I watched all of them disappear into the back room.

I shook my head, whispers in the back of my mind urging me to follow and make sure everything would be ok.

I shook my head in annoyance. Gah! No, nope I would not put myself in danger like that.

Minutes ticked by. I stared out the window, watching the people passing by on the street outside, my mind wandering. How long would they take? Would they really be ok, especially with Kabuto in their midst? Should I go after?

I swallowed.

I watched blandly as a couple made out in front of a clothing store.

Ugh. Love.

'What would you like today, sir?'

I was startled out of my reverie as I turned to the young waitress before me, she could only be seventeen. She smiled and twirled her pen in her hair as she waited for me.

Oops, I hadn't even thought to look in the menu.

'Uh- ahem, a… green tea, please,' I uttered in a deep manly voice, quickly recovering.

'Will that be all?'

I nodded as she scribbled down my order, and was about to go back to people watching when she spoke again.

'Are you waiting for someone?' she asked huskily, leaning on the table to talk.

Well, that wasn't weird at all.

'Yes,' I decided on saying. I mean, technically it wasn't a lie, I was waiting for anyone suspicious to pass by, or the others to return back.

She looked disappointed. I ignored her, turning back to the window as she walked off.

Barely a minute passed when I noticed something outside.

A man tripped over, causing the woman walking in front to subsequently be shoved to the ground as well. I laughed at the scene, watching the man apologise profusely and the woman to yell angrily at him. Neither seemed hurt.

'Well, isn't that a sight,' a smooth voice suddenly sounded behind me, catching me mid-giggle, and I startled once more as a beautiful woman slid into the chair across from me. She had dark brown eyes and wavy, silky black hair that reached her hips. She placed her handbag delicately on the floor before turning her full attention to me with a smile, large red lips stretched wide.

Suspicious, certainly. Or was it a coincidence, and this lady just wanted company? No, I would have to treat this as a hostile ninja.

A thought suddenly hit me.

I didn't have any money, how was I meant to pay for my tea?

I had to get out of here.

'Oh shit,' I suddenly announced, momentarily forgetting the woman. Should I walk out right now, before the tea arrives? No, then I would be abandoning my post.

I needed another way…

You could get the woman to pay.

No, but I was the man, the men are traditionally meant to pay for drinks on the first date! Wait, was this even a date? What if I actually had a date coming that she didn't know about, and yet she just took the hypothetical date's seat? Was that socially right, or normal? WHAT WAS HAPPENING! I didn't know social conduct for this kind of thing!

'Is something the matter?' the woman asked innocently, and I realised I'd been staring vacantly at her for a minute now as I pondered my conundrum.

'What? Oh, no, nothing… anyway, are we like, on a date right now?' I questioned, staring at her. This could be good. She could be a cover for me! Yes! Then I would somehow manage to make her pay for my tea.

She brought up a perfectly manicured hand to cover her mouth as she smiled. 'I suppose so,' she said airily, eyes dancing with amusement.

I grinned wide. Perfect. Now I just had to charm her.

'Cool! This is great, because you're so pretty and oh my gosh what salon do you go to?'

Wait that sounded distinctly girly didn't it? Oops, I was mixing up my training now. Great.

'Nice to meet you too,' she chuckled, and I shrank a little at the mocking undertones, flushing red. 'My name is Hazuki, and you are…?'

My brain shut down for a second as I tried to generate a random name.

'Kaneki!' I suddenly blurted, and Hazuki's eyes widened at my strange outburst

Luckily, before she could question my loud exclamation, the waitress returned. She eyed Hazuki icily as she placed the teapot on the table, placing two porcelain teacups in front of us.

'Anything more, sir?' the waitress asked, her eyelids fluttering.

'Are you ok? Do you have something in your eyes?' I asked.

There was a tense pause, the waitress going beetroot red, before she stormed off.

I watched in confusion, but my attention returned to Hazuki as she laughed, throwing her head back. I stared at her until her fits of laughter faded.

'What?' I demanded. She was laughing at me, I was sure of it.

She waved me off, even as I continued to stare at her, bewildered.

'Oh nothing, nothing at all…'

She probably wasn't suspicious. She hadn't tried anything yet nor had she gone into the back room. On top of that, I had no idea how to tell if she was a threat otherwise simply from observing, so I tried the only thing that I knew that could possibly give me an indication.

I leaned forwards over the table and squinted at her, studying her face.

'Are you… a spy?' I asked in a hushed whisper. There was nothing, not even a flicker of emotion aside from plain curiosity.

'My, whatever would give you that impression?' she asked, not at all appearing worried as I moved my face mere inches from hers, staring into those dark brown eyes. In fact, she looked nothing if not amused.

I huffed and sat back, contemplating for a moment.

This was too weird. I had to relocate somewhere nearby, and leave the bill to her. It's not like I'd drunk any tea anyway.

'Well, it was a nice first date,' I said solemnly as I rose to my feet. 'But I am an important person who has… business to attend.'

I began to walk towards the exit, but her next words stopped me in my tracks.

'You know… it's not very nice to leave a lady with a bill.'

Shit.

I laughed nervously, turning back to face her.

There was only one way to handle this.

'You're ugly. I lied. I don't like you, our first date was really lame and you remind me of a horse.'

They were all lies I pulled out of my arse, but it was the best way to ensure she wouldn't rope me into paying.

I turned before I could see her expression and hurried for the exit only to once again find myself stopped in my tracks.

'You should be careful about your next move, you just don't know who you might offend,' she said quietly, but loud enough for me to hear.

I dashed for the exit, throwing the door open and lunging around the corner of the café, into a thin alley. Hopefully she would get the message.

Except she didn't. When I turned around it was to find myself shoved against the brick wall of the building.

Well, I guess if I had been her, I would be pretty pissed too. It's probably normal to be shoved against the wall in this context, right?

'You know, it's not very polite to run out on your first date. Maybe I should teach you some manners.'

I gulped.

'I didn't mean it!' I defended. 'I just… had no money for the tea and…' I trailed off at the incredulous expression on her face, and became acutely aware of how close we were standing.

'So… you forgot to bring money to pay for your… tea,' she drawled, the mocking tone sharp in her words.

I glanced away guiltily.

'Yea…' I mumbled, realising how stupid that sounded.

She shook her head, and yet her eyes gleamed with mischief.

'Well, onto another topic… if you drop yours, I'll drop mine.'

Wait, what?

My mouth dropped open. Was it just me, or was this moving really quickly? Especially considering she was supposedly mad at me.

'Wait, I- I'm not ready!' I cried. 'I- my pants are really fine material, if I take them off they'll get dirty!'

Silence stretched between us.

'You know, so far, for a ninja you haven't shown much intellect…'

And suddenly it hit me.

Immediately my face turned cold, my mouth hardened into a thin line. The henges.

'Say that again, you stupid plastic skank!' I snarled. 'Which reminds me, I have a mission to get back to, so unless you plan on stopping me, you can just crawl back to your… hole or whatever.'

'I do not live in a hole, I live in an underground lair,' she corrected.

Oh, so she did work for Orochimaru after all. She didn't seem too dangerous, considering she hadn't attacked me yet or anything.

'Fine,' I growled. Hah, I could take this bitch. 'We drop our henges in three, two-'

'They always choose my alley to fight,' a man suddenly growled, a man who I hadn't even noticed until now had been sitting against the left wall of the alley only metres from us. He stood and shuffled past us, grumbling obscenities under his breath as he vacated the alley to make space for our oncoming fight. 'Fucking ninja.'

I sneered at him, before turning my attention back to Hazuki. She smiled coldly.

'You were saying…?'

'Oh yes, three, two… one.'

The air poofed, and I found myself once more at a much shorter height. I hadn't really thought this through, had I?

I stared at a black, shimmering kimono which enveloped a distinctly not feminine body.

I looked up slowly, only to find myself staring into yellow eyes, wide with unabashed shock, reflecting my own.

'Well, that certainly explains a lot,' a deep, velvety voice mused.

My breath left me in a whoosh.

Song: Let you Down

By: NF

Question:

Is Sasayaki plain stupid or just immature?