Hmm...okay. Not as many reviews. But oh well. Less trying to make up different ways of saying thank you for me n.n;;
Annachan- Hm, you don't like Sasuke? o.O Wow. You're really incredibly special :D It's not as funny in this chapter, because I need the rising action and so I scrapped the randomly barging-in people ideas. Well, I can promise you I'll try on the epilogue... n.n;;
Ilay- Yeah, it's true that after awhile reading Nar/Sasu gets kinda boring, ne? I like being glomped :D It makes me feel not alone XD
li- Yay~~~Wait...why are you grinning evilly? O.O;; Sanosuke IS awesome! Gotta love the rooster head XD
Also, THIS IS NOT A YAOI FANFICTION, MEANING NARUTO AND SASUKE WON'T KISS EACH OTHER OR DECLARE LOVE!
I forgot to mention that. I remember being shaky on that, but now they're just going to be closer friends, nothing MORE. DEFINITELY nothing more.
Since it got kinda confusing, I'll put it like this:
The Colored - Targets
Hyuto + Kumi - Kenshin, Sanosuke
Mizu(male) + Akayo(f) - Sakura, Kakashi
Sasamu + Sumi - Aoshi
Sato + Hina - Misao, Sasuke
Also, I'm sorry it took so long...my school cranks everything up on third trimester X.x;; And I learned HTML :D!
I also didn't edit this one either, so if they're out of character...just don't kill me.
-Earlier-
"RUUUUUN~~~!!" A wail set off into the sky.
Hatake Kakashi slept on. This was unlike him, his subconscious mind said.
Kakashi felt himself get pounced on. Unusually sleepy, he mumbled,
"O...oi...mon ami, je-" His little speech was cut off.
"HOW CAN YOU BE PRACTICING FRENCH DURING A TIME LIKE THIS, KAKASHI~~~?!" A familiar voice wailed, and Kakashi felt his shirt being grabbed and shaken vigorously.
"Eyheyhey, Iruka, lay off a second, yes?" The jounin pushed Iruka away, and felt a wave of drowsiness sweep over himself. He promptly fell asleep.
Iruka slapped him awake.
And man, could Iruka bitchslap.
"Did you take a sleeping drug or something, Kakashi-san?!" He growled, his hand waving in the air menacingly as if it was about to pounce again. Kakashi thought about this for a moment. Come to think of it, Kaoru's tea had this little whiff of something...that didn't smell like garlic and cloves stewed together.
"Hmm...damn, probably," Kakashi agreed, to Iruka's surprise. Kakashi caught Iruka's surprised, disbelieving stare. "Hey, Kaoru's food ALWAYS looks funny..."
"Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei! We don't have the time for this! The Colored are attacking right now!" A boy with Hyugan eyes pointed out angrily. Kakashi's face immediately tensed.
'Damn, today? So that's why there was a sleeping drug in the tea...' Kakashi grumbled to himself as he ran to Kenshin's and Sasuke's room, as Iruka and Neike headed in the other direction. 'I knew I should've stuck to Aoshi's, but Kaoru's too scary to deny, even for me...'
-Present time-
Hyuto touched Battousai's face as Kumi launched her attack on the blond boy. It had always been Hyuto's dream to become a doctor, but...that dream had been cut short. A long time ago. '....'
The pores on Battousai's face began to sweat underneath Hyuto's pressing fingers. He shook himself out of his daze. Kumi would kill him if she ever found out he had lost himself in his own little world. 'Good...he's still fast asleep. He will wake in...about an hour. That is more than enough time to do our job.'
He watched dully in the background, knowing just how much this didn't agree with a doctor's code---
~*~
Sumi looked up, shaking all over. Had they underestimated this man? Aoshi...he was definitely higher than A! Only Hyuto and Kumi could take care of this man...
She shook these thoughts from her head. Her partner wanted revenge against the Oniwabanshuu, she wanted revenge against them!
"Y...o...u..." Sputtering out this word, Sumi stared at the man that held her neck. She coughed, spitting out blood. "Why...didn't you kill me?"
"..." Shinomori glanced away. "There definitely...would be someone who is waiting for you..." He looked like he was recalling something...
It was as if...this man was noble...
~*~
-
Wake up.
Wake up...
Kenshin's mind willed him to wake up, but his body didn't respond. He could FEEL something was going on...that people needed him.
W a k e u p . . .
'Gomen..! I...can't...' Kenshin wheezed.
What kind of answer is that, Kenshin?! How could you be so fu-
Shut up roosterhead.
What?! You can't just-
Kenshin was aware of a thud in his head.
Goddamn you-
Kenshin felt another thud
Battousai, you've been drugged.
...I noticed...
Battousai! Get up!
I'm trying to my limit! But...
Are you going to fail again?
Will you fail everyone in the dojo like you did Tomoe?!
-
A deep, piercing voice echoed in the man's head. His eyes shot open. Kenshin watched as a boy, no older than nineteen, jumped back from surprise.
Stopping the final blow from her weapon in the blond boy's face, Kumi let out a curse in surprise. She shot a look at Hyuto.
"Hyuto! What's the meaning of this?!" She hissed, throwing the interference to the ground.
"Spirited," Hyuto began, flinching from surprise. "Battousai's spirit woke him up."
"What? 'Spirited'?! What kind of crap are you spewing?!" Kumi shouted.
"Heh...heh..." A laugh came from the beaten up kid. "Don't you know not to show your back to the enemy?!" Kumi whirled around in surprise just as the punch connected with her face.
~*~
Akayo blinked, surprised. Their katana was stopped by...
...a bamboo sword?
Yes, there was a woman with long hair in a ponytail, who had thrust out her sword to intercept them. It took a bit of skill to do that... There was also a child, about thirteen? He held another bamboo sword...did they truly think those toys would work against the Colored?
"Who the hell are you?" The kid demanded. There was a silence. A vein popped audibly, with a 'poing'. The woman spoke up.
"Well, I don't care who you two are, but you won't kill Sakura-chan!"
'...Kamiya Kaoru, head of the dojo,' thought Akayo.
'I thought we drugged her?' Mizu shot a glance at Akayo, to tell her what he was thinking.
'...No, we drugged her tea.' Akayo's face turned tense. 'I feel Sumi's group has failed also. This development will cause problems...'
~*~
"Girl..." A deep voice shook her shoulder. Hina peeked one eye through her fingers. She was met with Shinomori Aoshi.
Most girls would want to be woken up by a guy like him, but just not Hina. She shrieked.
"Heyhey, what the hell's you doing to Hina?!" An angry child's voice rung from behind. Aoshi looked back to see a kunai being thrown at him. He dodged, and stared down at the child while the weapon pierced through the wall. Hina's face broke a smile. Sato's strength was easily twenty times the strength of a normal kid his age. The girl screwed her thinking hat on(I mean, when did thoughts ever need to be shaded? A thinking cap is so useless) and thought about their situation. Sumi and her partner were the seventh strongest duo in the Colored. Hina and Sato were....twenty-third on the last count. Sumi and her partner were defeated and lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.
....Crap.
Much to her calculated distress, Aoshi grabbed his neck and Sato started up another one of his useless tantrums.
"PUT ME DOWN YOU JERK!! NOW OTHERWISE I'LL KILL YOU!!" Sato did his little paddlewheel effect again. Hina groaned again. This was embarrassing. Everything was embarrassing.
'Good grief just kill me now...' Hina thought. Aoshi twitched an eyebrow and spoke.
"How-"
"I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU-"
"-old-"
"You won't get ANY information from me-"
"-are you?"
"DAMMI-huh?" Sato seemed confused at the question. "Err..." He counted his fingers. "...five, six?" He turned to Hina. Hina sweatdropped. She held up five fingers. "Five! Yeah...five." Aoshi thought about this for a moment. All of the assassin group were children-the remaining adults had been easy to find with the immense amount of uncontrollable power that they emitted. None of them would've had children...
"Then you don't come from Sasrana?"
"No..."
"Then why did you join the Colored?"
"..." He stopped waving around and thought about this. Aoshi waited patiently.
"...Because Hyuto is our friend." The girl behind Aoshi spoke. Aoshi turned around. The girl, no longer crouched by the wall, continued. "He...saved us with his medicinal skills. He taught us. He adopted us. We owe him everything..." She pointed a kunai at Aoshi. "With such skill, you may have well been 'S', but..." Aoshi's eyes widened as the girl disappeared with a pop. Jutsu...? He turned back to the boy he held at the neck. Gone---
He was almost hit by the blow from above him! If he wasn't Aoshi, he would've cursed at his unattentiveness while recuperating. He, instead, stepped aside and watched as the boy crashed and made a hole in the ground. If he wasn't Aoshi, he'd have sweatdropped. A quick blur came near his neck, and Aoshi moved to the side, and a shallow cut was made in his neck. He touched it. No blood...but if his reflexes would've been slower...
"Let's go! We should catch up to our real target, Sato!" The girl, landing with a 'patpat' of clothes, used the same jutsu again. Sato yelled for her to wait for him, and disappeared also.
"Is it alright? T' just let a guy like that run around?" Sato asked. Hina shook her head. "What? Hina, ya dummy, then why are we going?"
"Wait, no!" Hina grabbed onto Sato's oversized shirt desperately. Sato paddlewheeled.
"Let me go Hina! I'm going to ram the bastard-"
"Kami-sama this is so embarrassing..."
"What? HEY!"
"Listen, Sato, we aren't any good to Hyuto-niisan dead," Hina stated quietly. Sato stopped, mid-paddle. "Knowing him, he'll bury us first and Aoshi or somebody else will kill him. We better go with what we can and make sure everyone else is alright." Sato put down his arms, more so his sleeves.
"...Yeah, we promised him...we wouldn't die here huh..."
"Thank you Sato."
"Just..."
"Yes?"
"These damn promises-"
"Sato!!"
"I know, already, alright Hina?!" They ran ahead, not even knowing their target's real name.
~*~
They ran away. Ran for their job.
If Aoshi wasn't Aoshi, he would've growled. Of course they wouldn't underestimate him by that large of a degree, their target had been, must have been...Misao! If Aoshi wasn't Aoshi, he'd have cursed and thrown a tantrum.
Aoshi, instead, ran to chase.