Part 5...
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"Naruto! It's too early in the morning! Why are you trying to start a fight?!"
Naruto flinched, recognizing the angered tone of "his" Sakura. He then began to laugh nervously and rubbed the back of his head. He did not mean to make her angry; it is just that he had to protect his interests. Could she not understand that?
"Did you learn anything last night?" Sasuke interrupted.
Sakura looked at him, completely surprised by his question. Were Sasuke and Naruto actually working together on something?
'More like can Naruto keep it going without screwing up?' her inner-Sakura asked, annoyed.
"Yeah, she actually used to live here. She grew up with a lot of the senseis but she couldn't really stay. Her parents always moved a lot and stuff. But they kept comin' back here so she was able to catch up with everybody. Hikari-sensei also said that she used to be Kakashi-sensei's girlfriend." Naruto explained, somewhat more quietly than usual.
The only girl in the group listened and took in everything in silence. Of course, it should have not come as a surprise to her. Sakura wanted to know about their new teacher just as much as the boys did. However, she did not expect to learn information like this...
"Anou, where are her parents now?" she spoke up.
The blonde tried to make a smile, but it only turned out half-hearted. "I don't know. I think Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei know, though. But she looked kinda' sad when she got to that part."
Sasuke crossed his arms across his chest and looked deep in thought. Little by little, they were figuring out things of not only their teacher's past but also their new mentor's. Unfortunately, the story seemed to be too incomplete. There were too many gaps and missing parts to the whole picture. And it was their job to find out.
In Kakashi's apartment, Hikari was left on the bed to continue sleeping. Not able to sleep any longer, Kakashi himself slowly rose from the bed and made his way into the kitchen. He glanced back at his sleeping angel's form, glad that she was back with him. He was even happier when the Hokage agreed to let her stay...
==FLASHBACK==
"Did you wish to see me about something, Kakashi?" the aging man asked.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. It's about Niji Hikari. She's come back..." the Joûnin spoke.
"Niji...Hikari? She is here?"
"Yes. She was attacked but luckily my students and I made it to her before she was seriously injured. She has no supplies and needs a place to stay."
The Hokage looked at Kakashi standing before him. His expression became thoughtful as he sat slowly back on his chair, taking a puff of smoke on his pipe. He nodded before taking out a small pouch.
"It is imperative that you take care of her. There is no telling what could happen if she did not have someone to give her guidance..." the older man spoke.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. And thank you..." the silver-haired Joûnin took the bag from him.
==END OF FLASHBACK==
'If I hadn't gone on that mission...it wouldn't have happened... Why didn't you tell me about it sooner? I cared about you...I still do...Why?' Kakashi thought to himself.
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"Anou-saa... Hikari-sensei did mention that her dad was jealous about the Uchiha clan..." Naruto spoke up.
Sasuke's eyes grew wide for a split second before he turned to face the boy. Sakura was also shocked to hear such a statement. Sure the Uchiha clan was a very strong and prominent bloodline, but why should anyone drive themselves mad to try to get something they knew that was impossible to have...unless of course you were born into the family...
"Did she say anything after that?" Sakura inquired.
"Not really... But the way she sounded...it was like there was something else that made her so sad. Like she wasn't saying everything..." Naruto shifted nervously.
"Like she had another secret..." the dark-haired boy looked at his two teammates.
"What should we do? I'm really curious now and I feel bad for Hikari- sensei. She's really sweet..." said Sakura.
Naruto, adjusting the Konoha headband on his forehead, he smirked at the two. "What any ninja would do...we'll find out."
"And just how do you think we should do that, genius?" the other boy spoke, crossing his arms over his chest.
Seeing eye to eye with Naruto, Sakura nodded at his suggestion. However she seemed to be consistent with Sasuke even more. If two heads were better than one, would three suffice? She hoped so...
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Breaking out of his daze, Kakashi went back into the room where Hikari had been sleeping. Instead of finding her still sleeping in the bed, he found her sitting upright and...
"Hikari-chan! You took my book again! How could you do that?!"
Making a large grin, Hikari looked up at him. Kakashi then walked over to where she sat and tried to take the book from her. Making a teasing giggle, she pulled it back, refusing to let it go. However, as she pulled, she brought him down on top of her.
Neither of them let go of the book as they continued to pull at it. It was then that Kakashi decided to play dirty and tickled her stomach. She immediately released the book and tried to hold his nimble hands in place. He stopped to look into her teasing eyes...but...they looked different...
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"We'll play detective!" Naruto proclaimed loudly.
"Nani?" Sasuke and Sakura asked simultaneously.
The two only looked at their teammate in confusion before looking at each other. The blonde child made a smirk, rubbing his nose. He sounded and looked serious about his plan.
"What are you saying?" Sakura inquired.
"Hey, we can do this two ways. We can look for records about her family or we can ask around. But if we look for the records, we're gonna' have to be real detectives and be sneaky about it." Naruto explained.
"That is the most retarded thing I've ever heard, Naruto!" the girl yelled at him.
The blonde-haired boy pouted as he looked from one teammate to the next. He really thought he had a great idea. Why was it that no one else ever thought it was just as good? Sure, but if Sasuke made up the idea everyone would say that it was the greatest thing in the universe! That Sasuke...
Narrowing his dark eyes, Sasuke noticed Naruto staring down at him. It was not his fault that Sakura did not appreciate anything he did. Why must it always be a contest to win her affection whenever the dark-haired boy was involved?
And before any of them knew it, the two were in a stare down contest. Who would win? Who was more of a man of the two?
'Sasuke-kun! That's for sure!' the pink-haired shinobi thought to herself.
"So anyway, if we want to do this, we better start. And to make it interesting, I say we look at the records. But we'll have to do this the right way..."
"What?!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed at once.
They looked at the usually reserved Sasuke that stood before them. He was...smirking. And he had a most devious smirk at that. Apparently, the boy had a weakness for challenges. During the time he had been in a locked stare with his partner, a message must have been relayed mentally. Naruto then nodded, making a smirk of his own. He knew exactly what was going on.
Sakura could only look at the two, unable to comprehend the relationship that males had. Either they were telepathic or boys had some kind of code because she did not hear nor see the secret agreement that led to the change in Sasuke. Whatever the cause was, she was still against the decision.
"What are you guys talking about?! Who knows what kind of trouble we could get into!" she protested.
"Not if we don't get caught. Trust us, Sakura-chan. Everything is going to be alright. Stick close to me and you won't have to worry about a thing." Naruto proudly proclaimed.
"I don't know about this guys..." the girl spoke, worry evident in her voice.
"Heh...it sounds like fun actually. Come on, I got a plan..." Sasuke spoke.
Naruto winked at Sakura before moving closer to the other boy. She only rolled her bright green eyes and did the same. Boys had such weird mannerisms and she had no idea what to do about it. Guess there is nothing that can be done...
To be continued...
Miko: Well, that's it for now. I'm sooooooooo sorry about the long awaited update. I keep getting these weird writer's block spells and plus I had finals like crazy so I couldn't write anything for a while... --; So I'm just letting everyone know now that updates will vary and I would like to ask everyone to be patient with me. But don't worry; I will keep going with this story. I'm not giving up! Anyhoo, hope everyone likes this chapter! Please don't forget to review! Thanks! Ja ne!