Sasuke sat in the small, sparsely decorated room and stared out the window. The sun was slowly starting to go down, and his stomach gave an annoying growl. Sighing, he wondered inwardly what was taking dinner so long. At last a timid tapping came at his door and he opened it to reveal a short nervous little man in a serving uniform. "Ah...m-master Sasuke is it?" the man asked skittishly. "D-dinner is served, sir." He bowed. "If you would please follow me?"
Sasuke mearly nodded his head and followed the pathetic man to the dining area. Upon entering the room, he was hit with the smell of food. It was intoxicating to the hungry ninja, and his stomach let him know that he had waited too long for such good food. Naruto's burnt fish was not something Sasuke had enjoyed.
He rounded the corner and came upon one of the most impressive sights his eyes had ever seen. A long table was set in the middle of the room, piled high with almost every kind of food imaginable, fortunately with the exception of burnt fish.
"He made too much again, didn't he?" Seda asked with a touch of annoyance. "Really, I don't know why my mother keeps that man around..."
Sasuke stared at all the food...as hungry as he might be, he was sure that he couldn't eat all of it. "Umm..." was his reply, not really sure what to say in such a situation.
Seda sighed, "Well I guess some unfortunate people will get a good meal tonight," she said, and even though she sounded annoyed, she didn't look it.
"Well, have a seat." Seda said, indicating a chair on one end of the table. "Eat what you can and leave the rest, I'll take care of it." she smiled, then went aaaaaaall the way down to her table at the other end, and pulled a salad over to her, eating silently.
Sasuke sat down, telling himself that he was glad to be left alone. 'At least this way I don't have dead last glaring daggers at me or Sukura drooling over me.' After a few minutes of the silence, however, Sasuke realised that he was just pushing food around with his fork. 'Damn those two...now I can't seem to get comfortable without the noise!' He sighed and, picking up his plate, traveled down the long table and sat beside Seda.
Seda looked in his relative direction with mild surprise. "I thought you were the type that didn't like sitting near people?" she asked with amusement. "Never mind, " she smiled. "Here, try some of this pie for dessert, it's very good." she pushed a pie with one peice out of it towards him.
Sasuke said nothing, but he tried the pie anyway. He was surprised to find it was the best damned pie he had ever tasted. Seda smiled with amusement, 'She seems to know more of what's going on then most people...' Sauske thought as he took another bite of pie.
"Would you like to do something tonight before we retire?" Seda asked, reaching over and grabbing hold of a chicken leg. "I mean, it's a small town and everything so we don't have much but...well, actually, this town is pretty boring, come to think about it. I hear the cliff views are nice though." She bit into her chicken and waited patiently for an answer.
"B-but you're...blind..." Sasuke stated rather bluntly before realzing it. He ducked his head and stared down at his plate. 'Damn, I should have just stayed at the other end of the table!' Sasuke thought, and waited for the water-works to start. 'Damn these girls and their emotions..."
"You're right, and besides, it's late, there wouldn't be much to see anyway." Seda's response was not what Sasuke was expecting.
He looked up and blinked as Seda calmly nibbled on her chicken. "Well, now that we have that out of the way, what time would you like to wake up tommorow? I can have Jiles get you up at any time you like." She indicated the small butler man, who bowed. "By the way..." she added as an afterthought. "Do you know where it is we're going? Our...'instructor' didn't exactly offer any pearls of wisdom...as usual."
"No...unfortunately I don't know much about where we're headed." Sasuke admitted. "Our sensei has a habit of not filling us in on important facts until after a crisis arises." Sasuke was annoyed with their sensei for many reasons...but at least he did show up...eventually.
"Well, I'm done." Seda pushed her plate away and burped very unladylike. She sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, waiting.
"Uh...what are you doing?" Sasuke asked, wondering why she hadn't gotten out of her chair if she was done with dinner.
"Well what kind of a hostess would I be if I left my guest all alone?" Seda answered simply, with a smile in his direction.
Sasuke blushed a bit, and was very glad that she could not see the slight pink tones on his cheeks. "Ummm...." He said intelligently. 'Damn this girl, why is she doing this to me?'
He tackled his pie again, finishing it in two bites. "There, I'm done." he stated, thougth a full mouth.
She smiled again. "Take anything you wish to bring with you on the journey." she advised, and he grabbed a few loaves of bread and some cheese. "Shall we retire then?" she asked. He nodded, realised she couldn't see him, and opened his mouth to speak, when she nodded herself. "Fine, I'm quite tired myself." She said standing up. "Would you like me to escort you to your room, or would you prefer that Jiles do it?"
"Um, you." Sauske blurted out before he could stop himself, 'Damn it, why did I jsut say that? Now she'll think I like her or something....WHICH I do not!' Rather than let her know that he had made a mistake, however, he followed her to his room.
Reaching the door, Seda stood off to the side while he opened it, and smiled at him. "You know, I'm starting to think I might like this journey more than I thought...well goodnight then, Sasuke-kun." she waved and traveled down the hallway to her own room, leaving a confused and very red faced Sasuke standing alone in the hallway.
Mei groaned, it was the middle of the night and Naruto was snoring like some wild animal crossed with a blender. He was sleeping on the floor while Mei was in the bed. There was no damn why they would have shared a bed...even with the cramped space. Mei sat up and looked at the blonde, then picked her alarm clock up and chucked it at him.
The clock bounced off his head, causing him to twitch, snort, rub his head sleepily, then fall asleep again, snoring even louder, if that were possible. Mei twitched. What kind of a ninja was he anyway? She sighed and grabbed hold of her blanket, tip toeing over him to try and find a quieter spot in the small house, although she doubted there was one.
Mei turned to look out the small window, 'Damn, anyplace is better then here.' she thought, then wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and slowly opened the window, climbing out. Praying that she wouldn't fall, Mei maneuvered her way onto the roof. Once there she sighed. 'Damn, I should have brought a pillow...' she thought miserably. Sighing in resignation, she pulled her blanket tighter around herself and leaned into a space on the roof that was at least protected from the wind. The moon was only half full, and she tried to lull herself to sleep by staring at it's pale face.
"Mei?" a soft voice called, and Mei was startled by the dark shadow that loomed over her. "What are you doing out here?" the shadow asked again and moved closer, coming into the moonlight. It was Naruto. Mei sighed and let her body relax, not realzing that she had become tense in the first place.
"I'm trying to sleep." she answered, slightly annoyed. "You woke me up with all your snoring."
Naruto put his arm behind his head and laughed nervously, "Really? Sorry 'bout that..." Mei could see his goofy grin in the moonlight.
She sighed, knowing that she was never going to get any sleep this night anyway. "No its okay..." she blushed a little.
Naruto knelt down and offered her his hand. "Come on, you should get back inside, it's freezing out here."
Mei stared at his hand for a moment, then stood up on her own. She wasn't sure what it was that was making her blush but she was sure that she didn't want to make it worse by touching the guy. "Ok...thanks." she said, walking past him and crawling back inside through the window. She sighed happily. It was so much warmer in here!
Naruto, who was crawling in behind he,r tripped on the windowsill, and fell forwards to land on Mei. He laughed nervously and got up off her back, then looked down at the now unconcious Mei on the ground (her eyes all swirly like). Taking a blanket and a pillow he gently tucked her in where she was.
Sasuke was lost. He'd gotten up and, thinking that finding his way around a house to procure breakfast shouldn't be too hard, had ended up wandering down the wrong hallway. He groaned as he walked around a corner and came upon what appeared to be a ballroom of sorts. Where the hell was he?! He cursed under his breath and continued down another hallway in the hopes he would find his way.
He heard footsteps behind him, and quickly tried to find a place to hide, since surely he was not allowed in this part of the house. But he had nowwere to go, and Sasuke didn't think that killing the person would be acceptable guest manners. 'What if it's her parents?...or some other person who would think I'm an intruder?'
He stood, tensely waiting for the moment of truth, ready to fight if need be...how was he to explain himself anyway? A shadow appeared from around the corner and slowly shrunk as the person came closer and closer...finally they were coming around the corner...
"Oh, there you are, Sasuke-kun." Seda's voice said from behind him.
Sasuke blinked and turned around, 'When did she get there?' the thought. "Umm..." he muttered, at a loss for words.
The figure came around the corner and revealed itself to be a tall woman, wearing an expensive dress...apparantly ready to go out somewhere. She looked at Seda, and compltely disregarded the boy she was talking to. "Ah, Seda, have you seen my purse?" she asked.
"No, mother, I haven't." Seda answered, with a touch of annoyance in her voice.
"Oh, of course you couldn't have, sorry." The woman answered, "Are you going somewhere?" She asked, eyeing Seda's plain clothing...or at least it looked plain to her eyes.
"I have a mission. I'll be gone for a while." Seda answered.
"Is that so? Well...have fun then..." Her mother then proceeded to continue through the house.
Sasuke looked sideways at Seda, she looked rather annoyed. He could understand why though, her mom looked and acted like a bit of a flake. Seda shook her head as if to rid herself of something unpleasant. "Anyway shall we have brackfast before we go?" she asked.
"Uhhh, sure." Sasuke answered, mentaly berating himself. Since when had he been so unable to speak? He fell into step behind her and was once again amazed at the fact that she didn't seem to get lost at all, whereas he, who could see, had no idea where he was.
She lead him into a little obervatory filled with plants, that had a small little table in it. "I thought this would be a better place to eat this morning...the cook will have a harder time piling this table high with unwanted food." She smiled and offered him a seat.
Sasuke sat down in the seat offered, but again the silece between them was making him nervous. 'Damn it why, am I being affected by her so much?' He thought, then said aloud: "So...umm your mom...what does she do?" 'Great now I'm making idle conversation.' he scolded himself.
Seda sighed. "My mom ...doesn't work, she inherited her her money from her late grandfather."
"Oh...what about your dad?" Sakuke asked. 'damnit, now I'm just going to make her cry or something', he thought bitterly to himself.
"Dad's a ninja." She answered. "I haven't seen him for a long time, though. I think he's working for a civilian town to the east somewhere."
"Is that why you became a Ninja?" Sasuke asked. 'You're still making idle conversation, Sasuke..." He thought angrily to himself. "Damn, just think of this as a recconisance mission.' Sasuke, with this new view on the whole thing, began to relax a bit.
"Only partly..." Seda answered. "Mostly it was because I wanted to prove to myself and my mother that being blind is not a handicap."
Sakuke's newfound view wilted like a week old flower. He thought back to what he'd first thought when he learned she was blind. That she wouldn't make a very good ninja...a pang of guilt struck him as he realised how much that would have hurt her if he had said it out loud.
Seda's blind eyes looked through him. "I know you thought that I would be trouble when you first realized that I was blind. That's why my teammates don't know..." She sighed "I wouldn't have told you, but I didn't want to lie. Its not something I'm confident in doing."
"Uh..." Sasuke stared at her a moment, then smiled despite himself, even though he knew she couldn't see it. "I understand. Your secret is safe with me."
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun." Seda sighed, relieved, then looked up as Jiles appeared with two plates of pancakes. "Ah, here comes breakfast." she pointed out. "I don't know about you but I'm starving."
"Yes, thank you..." Sasuke answered politely, then dug into his pancakes. Seda, sitting across from him smiled and began eating as well. 'For a blind girl, she has more manners then Naruto will ever possess.' He thought, then went back to his pancakes.
Mei yawned, and leaned against one of the stone pillars. Her head hurt and she really had no idea why, but she was at least awake enough to know that she wouldn't pass out along the way. Although one thing still bothered her...why had she woken up on the floor?
"Are those people ever going to get here?" Naruto complained, flopping down on the grass.
Sakura and Guido showed up next, and both looked well rested and none the worse for wear. Mei did a quick sweep of Sakura with her eyes. 'Hair in place, clothing unrumpled...no evidence of perverted hands at work here!'
Sakura came up to Naruto, looking around anxiously. "W-where's Sasuke?" she asked, consern filling her voice, "He's usually here before anyone."
"How should I know?" Naruto answered, sitting up. "Do I look like his keeper to you?"
Sakura twitched, and clenched her fist. Sensing the danger, Guido jumped in between the two. "Hey now, we don't need to start fighting already, do we?" He looked at Sakura's dangerous looking face and gulped. "Um, do we?"
Mei sighted with annoyance. "I don't know what you're so worked up about," She pointed hehind Sakura, back towards town. "There he is now, if you would just look." Sakura's eyes went all sparkly as she turned to look at where Mei was pointing, then her jaw dropped. It was Sasuke all right...but he was smiling...and talking to....that girl!
"Hey...don't go killing anyone, ok?" Guido suggested, putting a hand on her shoulder with the intent to calm her down.
"AHA! I knew it, you pervert!" Mei cried in triumph.
"Oh no..." Guido complained dejectedly, as Mei's fist flew out of nowhere to knock him senseless once more.
Sasuke and Seda came upon the scene and stopped, Sauske looked at Guido on the ground, who moaned, "Why me?"
Sasuke smirked and turned to Seda, "You're right, your teammates are prone to various injuries."
"Yes, it happens quite often, actually." Seda smiled back. Sakura, watching this, twitched angrily.
"Hey!" she called, pointing to Seda. Seda turned her staring eyes toward her.
"Are you adressing me?" Seda asked, not blinking.
"Yes! Get away from Sakuke you...you...hussy!" She cried angrily.
Seda ducked her head as if she was ashamed of what Sakura hand jsut said, but the low chuckle that escaped her lips was anything but. "Who are you to tell me where to stand?" she asked.
Sakura twitched, 'Damn this girl is strange,' she thought, then Inner Sakura took over 'She's a FREAK!'
Seda looked up and past Sakura with that creepy gaze of hers. "If Sasuke-kun doesn't mind my presence, I shall talk to him all I like." She told her simply. "Do you mind my presense, Sakuke-kun?"
Sasuke shrugged, as if he didn't care. "You can stand where you like." he said, making no move to even look at Sakura, who was by now sweating bullets.
"Umm, Sasuke-kun...?" she squeaked, but he ignored her. Inner Sakura was now ranting, 'DAMN THAT WITCH!'
"Oh, this is better than a movie!" Mei commented, sitting down to watch the scene with wide eyes.
"I just wish we had some Ramen." Naruto agreed, nodding his head. Mei's pack flew through the air to connect with his head.
"You eat popcorn at movies, not Ramen!" she complained.
Sakura tried her next best approach...to stare the girl down, but that didn't seem to have any visible effect on the strange girl.
"Well, that was fun." Seda smiled, while Sasuke tried to suppress one of his own "So, where are the instructors?" She wondered, stepping away from Sakura, who had face planted into the grass.
Sasuke sighed, "If we're relying on our teacher it we could be waiting anywhere form now untill midnight." he sat down on the grass. Seda sat not to far away but close enough so that they could have a conversation...which they did to everyone's surprise and Sakura's annoyance.
After what had to be hours, the instructor had not shown up yet. Sasuke and Seda were still chatting away, and Sakura was examining a lump on Guido's head. Guido himself had just come back to conciousness. Mei and Naruto sat staring at the whole scene with perplexed expressions on their faces.
"Their acting very strange," Naruto commented to Mei, who nodded her head in agreement. Seda never talked to anyone if she didn't have to. And Guido...well she wasn't going to go there.
Seda laughed at something Sasuke said, and a sweatdrop appeared on Mei's head. "Ok, now I'm just scared...who are these people and what have they done with our teammates?" Before she could get an answer, however, a piece of paper landed on her head. Grumbling, she reached her hand up to pick it up, and found there was a hand on her head. "EEEEK!" she screamed, flinging out a hand to strike the intruder.
Kakashi easily dodged the pathetic attack from Mei and grinned at her from behind the mask.
"Your late!" Naruto complained, standing up and pointing at his sensei.
"Oh, sorry, I was waylaid by a runaway puppy and..." Kakashi started to explain.
"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura yelled, pointing at their teacher.
Kakashi ignored them and stepped in front of the group. "Well I trust you all had a good night's rest?" At this statement, Naruto grinned, Seda smiled contentedly, and Sakura glared daggers at Seda. Sasuke betrayed little emotion beyond the slight tinge of red in his cheeks, and the other two simply looked annoyed.
"How was your night, Mr. Kakashi?" Mei countered bravely.
"OH it was fabulous!" he replied with a grin. "Your teacher sure knows how to treat a man!"
Mei looked confused, "Is our teacher a woman?"
Kakashi blinked...or did he wink? "What does being a woman have to do with anything?" he asked in an innocent tone of voice.
"So...our teacher isn't a woman?" Mei asked, blinking.
"Well now I didn't say that, did I?" Kakashi answered, holding up a finger.
"So it is a woman!" Mei cried triumphantly.
"I didn't say that, either." Kakashi added with that insufferable grin on his face.
Mei was more confused then ever, "W-what's that supposed to mean?"
Kakashi held up a finger, "Does one have to be confined by gender to have a good time with someone?" he asked her.
Mei thought about this for a moment, then she turned green. "Eeeew, I don't wanna know anymore!" she complained, turning her back to him.
"Don't give up so easily." Kakashi said with amusement in his voice. "Don't you want to know what we did?"
Mei turned even paler and pressed her hands to her ears. "I'm not listening...I'm not listening..."
Meanwhile, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke all had annoyed faces, with an ominous black cloud hanging over them. 'KAKASHI IS SUCH A PERVERT!' Inner Sakura rannted.
'I...don't get it...' Naruto thought, trying to piece together what he knew of Kakashi but not getting anywhere.
'Hes enjoying Mei's confusion too much if you ask me...' Sasuke thought with a sigh.
Kakashi laughed and turned towards the load. "Never mind, shall we go?" he asked. Five of the students broke free of Mei and followed him. Mei lifted her hands off her ears and noticed her companions were all starting down the road already.
"Hey!" She cried angrily, following them. "You didn't give me a straight answer!"
"Oh, then I guess you do want to know then. Well first we..." Kakashi started. Mei squeaked and hid behind Naruto. "Naruto-kun, make him stop!" she pleaded desperately.
Naruto looked back and forth between Mei and Kakashi. His confused exspression was becoming more intense as the minutes wore on. Kakashi chuckled and continued walking down the road.
"Your Sensei is...odd." Seda commented, walking along beside Sasuke, while Sakura hung around behind them, a black cloud of anger surrounding her. Guido was wisely staying away from her for the moment, and was walking lazily at the back of the group, looking up at the sky expressionlessly.
"Yes..." Sasuke replied, not really wanting to exsplain that this was actually pretty normal for them. 'At lest Sensei hasn't pulled out his 'Icha Icha Paradise' ...yet.' He thought. The ominus 'yet' filled him with dread.
"Hasn't anyone thought to ask where it is we're going?" Guido asked quietly from the back, thankful he was far enough away from Mei's anger not to be injured for speaking up.
"We're going north, that's all you need to know." Kakashi answered nonchalantly. "You will understand when we get there."
"Aww, poo, he's no fun." Mei complained, sticking her tounge out at him.
Kakashi turned and grinned in Mei's direction, "Would you like to read my copy of Icha Icha paradise?" he asked. Mei looked confused, but Naruto and Sakura freaked! (you know, the shocked look with the round white eyes) Sasuke just smirked, 'And there it is...'
"Um...I'm guessing no." Mei answered uncertaintly.
"No, I insist." Kakashi grinned and tossed it to her. Before it hit her she phased out of existence and re-appeared a few feet away, staring at the thing in horror as it struck the ground.
'Hmm, good speed.' Kakashi thought to himself. He glanced at the other two out of the corner of his eye, wondering what their skills were.
Mei stared at the book in horror, before she noticed something. The book on the ground had vegetables on the cover, and with shaking hands she picked it up and opened it. "What the-?" she stared at it, then looked back at Kakashi, "This is a cook book..."
TBC
Sasuke mearly nodded his head and followed the pathetic man to the dining area. Upon entering the room, he was hit with the smell of food. It was intoxicating to the hungry ninja, and his stomach let him know that he had waited too long for such good food. Naruto's burnt fish was not something Sasuke had enjoyed.
He rounded the corner and came upon one of the most impressive sights his eyes had ever seen. A long table was set in the middle of the room, piled high with almost every kind of food imaginable, fortunately with the exception of burnt fish.
"He made too much again, didn't he?" Seda asked with a touch of annoyance. "Really, I don't know why my mother keeps that man around..."
Sasuke stared at all the food...as hungry as he might be, he was sure that he couldn't eat all of it. "Umm..." was his reply, not really sure what to say in such a situation.
Seda sighed, "Well I guess some unfortunate people will get a good meal tonight," she said, and even though she sounded annoyed, she didn't look it.
"Well, have a seat." Seda said, indicating a chair on one end of the table. "Eat what you can and leave the rest, I'll take care of it." she smiled, then went aaaaaaall the way down to her table at the other end, and pulled a salad over to her, eating silently.
Sasuke sat down, telling himself that he was glad to be left alone. 'At least this way I don't have dead last glaring daggers at me or Sukura drooling over me.' After a few minutes of the silence, however, Sasuke realised that he was just pushing food around with his fork. 'Damn those two...now I can't seem to get comfortable without the noise!' He sighed and, picking up his plate, traveled down the long table and sat beside Seda.
Seda looked in his relative direction with mild surprise. "I thought you were the type that didn't like sitting near people?" she asked with amusement. "Never mind, " she smiled. "Here, try some of this pie for dessert, it's very good." she pushed a pie with one peice out of it towards him.
Sasuke said nothing, but he tried the pie anyway. He was surprised to find it was the best damned pie he had ever tasted. Seda smiled with amusement, 'She seems to know more of what's going on then most people...' Sauske thought as he took another bite of pie.
"Would you like to do something tonight before we retire?" Seda asked, reaching over and grabbing hold of a chicken leg. "I mean, it's a small town and everything so we don't have much but...well, actually, this town is pretty boring, come to think about it. I hear the cliff views are nice though." She bit into her chicken and waited patiently for an answer.
"B-but you're...blind..." Sasuke stated rather bluntly before realzing it. He ducked his head and stared down at his plate. 'Damn, I should have just stayed at the other end of the table!' Sasuke thought, and waited for the water-works to start. 'Damn these girls and their emotions..."
"You're right, and besides, it's late, there wouldn't be much to see anyway." Seda's response was not what Sasuke was expecting.
He looked up and blinked as Seda calmly nibbled on her chicken. "Well, now that we have that out of the way, what time would you like to wake up tommorow? I can have Jiles get you up at any time you like." She indicated the small butler man, who bowed. "By the way..." she added as an afterthought. "Do you know where it is we're going? Our...'instructor' didn't exactly offer any pearls of wisdom...as usual."
"No...unfortunately I don't know much about where we're headed." Sasuke admitted. "Our sensei has a habit of not filling us in on important facts until after a crisis arises." Sasuke was annoyed with their sensei for many reasons...but at least he did show up...eventually.
"Well, I'm done." Seda pushed her plate away and burped very unladylike. She sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, waiting.
"Uh...what are you doing?" Sasuke asked, wondering why she hadn't gotten out of her chair if she was done with dinner.
"Well what kind of a hostess would I be if I left my guest all alone?" Seda answered simply, with a smile in his direction.
Sasuke blushed a bit, and was very glad that she could not see the slight pink tones on his cheeks. "Ummm...." He said intelligently. 'Damn this girl, why is she doing this to me?'
He tackled his pie again, finishing it in two bites. "There, I'm done." he stated, thougth a full mouth.
She smiled again. "Take anything you wish to bring with you on the journey." she advised, and he grabbed a few loaves of bread and some cheese. "Shall we retire then?" she asked. He nodded, realised she couldn't see him, and opened his mouth to speak, when she nodded herself. "Fine, I'm quite tired myself." She said standing up. "Would you like me to escort you to your room, or would you prefer that Jiles do it?"
"Um, you." Sauske blurted out before he could stop himself, 'Damn it, why did I jsut say that? Now she'll think I like her or something....WHICH I do not!' Rather than let her know that he had made a mistake, however, he followed her to his room.
Reaching the door, Seda stood off to the side while he opened it, and smiled at him. "You know, I'm starting to think I might like this journey more than I thought...well goodnight then, Sasuke-kun." she waved and traveled down the hallway to her own room, leaving a confused and very red faced Sasuke standing alone in the hallway.
Mei groaned, it was the middle of the night and Naruto was snoring like some wild animal crossed with a blender. He was sleeping on the floor while Mei was in the bed. There was no damn why they would have shared a bed...even with the cramped space. Mei sat up and looked at the blonde, then picked her alarm clock up and chucked it at him.
The clock bounced off his head, causing him to twitch, snort, rub his head sleepily, then fall asleep again, snoring even louder, if that were possible. Mei twitched. What kind of a ninja was he anyway? She sighed and grabbed hold of her blanket, tip toeing over him to try and find a quieter spot in the small house, although she doubted there was one.
Mei turned to look out the small window, 'Damn, anyplace is better then here.' she thought, then wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and slowly opened the window, climbing out. Praying that she wouldn't fall, Mei maneuvered her way onto the roof. Once there she sighed. 'Damn, I should have brought a pillow...' she thought miserably. Sighing in resignation, she pulled her blanket tighter around herself and leaned into a space on the roof that was at least protected from the wind. The moon was only half full, and she tried to lull herself to sleep by staring at it's pale face.
"Mei?" a soft voice called, and Mei was startled by the dark shadow that loomed over her. "What are you doing out here?" the shadow asked again and moved closer, coming into the moonlight. It was Naruto. Mei sighed and let her body relax, not realzing that she had become tense in the first place.
"I'm trying to sleep." she answered, slightly annoyed. "You woke me up with all your snoring."
Naruto put his arm behind his head and laughed nervously, "Really? Sorry 'bout that..." Mei could see his goofy grin in the moonlight.
She sighed, knowing that she was never going to get any sleep this night anyway. "No its okay..." she blushed a little.
Naruto knelt down and offered her his hand. "Come on, you should get back inside, it's freezing out here."
Mei stared at his hand for a moment, then stood up on her own. She wasn't sure what it was that was making her blush but she was sure that she didn't want to make it worse by touching the guy. "Ok...thanks." she said, walking past him and crawling back inside through the window. She sighed happily. It was so much warmer in here!
Naruto, who was crawling in behind he,r tripped on the windowsill, and fell forwards to land on Mei. He laughed nervously and got up off her back, then looked down at the now unconcious Mei on the ground (her eyes all swirly like). Taking a blanket and a pillow he gently tucked her in where she was.
Sasuke was lost. He'd gotten up and, thinking that finding his way around a house to procure breakfast shouldn't be too hard, had ended up wandering down the wrong hallway. He groaned as he walked around a corner and came upon what appeared to be a ballroom of sorts. Where the hell was he?! He cursed under his breath and continued down another hallway in the hopes he would find his way.
He heard footsteps behind him, and quickly tried to find a place to hide, since surely he was not allowed in this part of the house. But he had nowwere to go, and Sasuke didn't think that killing the person would be acceptable guest manners. 'What if it's her parents?...or some other person who would think I'm an intruder?'
He stood, tensely waiting for the moment of truth, ready to fight if need be...how was he to explain himself anyway? A shadow appeared from around the corner and slowly shrunk as the person came closer and closer...finally they were coming around the corner...
"Oh, there you are, Sasuke-kun." Seda's voice said from behind him.
Sasuke blinked and turned around, 'When did she get there?' the thought. "Umm..." he muttered, at a loss for words.
The figure came around the corner and revealed itself to be a tall woman, wearing an expensive dress...apparantly ready to go out somewhere. She looked at Seda, and compltely disregarded the boy she was talking to. "Ah, Seda, have you seen my purse?" she asked.
"No, mother, I haven't." Seda answered, with a touch of annoyance in her voice.
"Oh, of course you couldn't have, sorry." The woman answered, "Are you going somewhere?" She asked, eyeing Seda's plain clothing...or at least it looked plain to her eyes.
"I have a mission. I'll be gone for a while." Seda answered.
"Is that so? Well...have fun then..." Her mother then proceeded to continue through the house.
Sasuke looked sideways at Seda, she looked rather annoyed. He could understand why though, her mom looked and acted like a bit of a flake. Seda shook her head as if to rid herself of something unpleasant. "Anyway shall we have brackfast before we go?" she asked.
"Uhhh, sure." Sasuke answered, mentaly berating himself. Since when had he been so unable to speak? He fell into step behind her and was once again amazed at the fact that she didn't seem to get lost at all, whereas he, who could see, had no idea where he was.
She lead him into a little obervatory filled with plants, that had a small little table in it. "I thought this would be a better place to eat this morning...the cook will have a harder time piling this table high with unwanted food." She smiled and offered him a seat.
Sasuke sat down in the seat offered, but again the silece between them was making him nervous. 'Damn it why, am I being affected by her so much?' He thought, then said aloud: "So...umm your mom...what does she do?" 'Great now I'm making idle conversation.' he scolded himself.
Seda sighed. "My mom ...doesn't work, she inherited her her money from her late grandfather."
"Oh...what about your dad?" Sakuke asked. 'damnit, now I'm just going to make her cry or something', he thought bitterly to himself.
"Dad's a ninja." She answered. "I haven't seen him for a long time, though. I think he's working for a civilian town to the east somewhere."
"Is that why you became a Ninja?" Sasuke asked. 'You're still making idle conversation, Sasuke..." He thought angrily to himself. "Damn, just think of this as a recconisance mission.' Sasuke, with this new view on the whole thing, began to relax a bit.
"Only partly..." Seda answered. "Mostly it was because I wanted to prove to myself and my mother that being blind is not a handicap."
Sakuke's newfound view wilted like a week old flower. He thought back to what he'd first thought when he learned she was blind. That she wouldn't make a very good ninja...a pang of guilt struck him as he realised how much that would have hurt her if he had said it out loud.
Seda's blind eyes looked through him. "I know you thought that I would be trouble when you first realized that I was blind. That's why my teammates don't know..." She sighed "I wouldn't have told you, but I didn't want to lie. Its not something I'm confident in doing."
"Uh..." Sasuke stared at her a moment, then smiled despite himself, even though he knew she couldn't see it. "I understand. Your secret is safe with me."
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun." Seda sighed, relieved, then looked up as Jiles appeared with two plates of pancakes. "Ah, here comes breakfast." she pointed out. "I don't know about you but I'm starving."
"Yes, thank you..." Sasuke answered politely, then dug into his pancakes. Seda, sitting across from him smiled and began eating as well. 'For a blind girl, she has more manners then Naruto will ever possess.' He thought, then went back to his pancakes.
Mei yawned, and leaned against one of the stone pillars. Her head hurt and she really had no idea why, but she was at least awake enough to know that she wouldn't pass out along the way. Although one thing still bothered her...why had she woken up on the floor?
"Are those people ever going to get here?" Naruto complained, flopping down on the grass.
Sakura and Guido showed up next, and both looked well rested and none the worse for wear. Mei did a quick sweep of Sakura with her eyes. 'Hair in place, clothing unrumpled...no evidence of perverted hands at work here!'
Sakura came up to Naruto, looking around anxiously. "W-where's Sasuke?" she asked, consern filling her voice, "He's usually here before anyone."
"How should I know?" Naruto answered, sitting up. "Do I look like his keeper to you?"
Sakura twitched, and clenched her fist. Sensing the danger, Guido jumped in between the two. "Hey now, we don't need to start fighting already, do we?" He looked at Sakura's dangerous looking face and gulped. "Um, do we?"
Mei sighted with annoyance. "I don't know what you're so worked up about," She pointed hehind Sakura, back towards town. "There he is now, if you would just look." Sakura's eyes went all sparkly as she turned to look at where Mei was pointing, then her jaw dropped. It was Sasuke all right...but he was smiling...and talking to....that girl!
"Hey...don't go killing anyone, ok?" Guido suggested, putting a hand on her shoulder with the intent to calm her down.
"AHA! I knew it, you pervert!" Mei cried in triumph.
"Oh no..." Guido complained dejectedly, as Mei's fist flew out of nowhere to knock him senseless once more.
Sasuke and Seda came upon the scene and stopped, Sauske looked at Guido on the ground, who moaned, "Why me?"
Sasuke smirked and turned to Seda, "You're right, your teammates are prone to various injuries."
"Yes, it happens quite often, actually." Seda smiled back. Sakura, watching this, twitched angrily.
"Hey!" she called, pointing to Seda. Seda turned her staring eyes toward her.
"Are you adressing me?" Seda asked, not blinking.
"Yes! Get away from Sakuke you...you...hussy!" She cried angrily.
Seda ducked her head as if she was ashamed of what Sakura hand jsut said, but the low chuckle that escaped her lips was anything but. "Who are you to tell me where to stand?" she asked.
Sakura twitched, 'Damn this girl is strange,' she thought, then Inner Sakura took over 'She's a FREAK!'
Seda looked up and past Sakura with that creepy gaze of hers. "If Sasuke-kun doesn't mind my presence, I shall talk to him all I like." She told her simply. "Do you mind my presense, Sakuke-kun?"
Sasuke shrugged, as if he didn't care. "You can stand where you like." he said, making no move to even look at Sakura, who was by now sweating bullets.
"Umm, Sasuke-kun...?" she squeaked, but he ignored her. Inner Sakura was now ranting, 'DAMN THAT WITCH!'
"Oh, this is better than a movie!" Mei commented, sitting down to watch the scene with wide eyes.
"I just wish we had some Ramen." Naruto agreed, nodding his head. Mei's pack flew through the air to connect with his head.
"You eat popcorn at movies, not Ramen!" she complained.
Sakura tried her next best approach...to stare the girl down, but that didn't seem to have any visible effect on the strange girl.
"Well, that was fun." Seda smiled, while Sasuke tried to suppress one of his own "So, where are the instructors?" She wondered, stepping away from Sakura, who had face planted into the grass.
Sasuke sighed, "If we're relying on our teacher it we could be waiting anywhere form now untill midnight." he sat down on the grass. Seda sat not to far away but close enough so that they could have a conversation...which they did to everyone's surprise and Sakura's annoyance.
After what had to be hours, the instructor had not shown up yet. Sasuke and Seda were still chatting away, and Sakura was examining a lump on Guido's head. Guido himself had just come back to conciousness. Mei and Naruto sat staring at the whole scene with perplexed expressions on their faces.
"Their acting very strange," Naruto commented to Mei, who nodded her head in agreement. Seda never talked to anyone if she didn't have to. And Guido...well she wasn't going to go there.
Seda laughed at something Sasuke said, and a sweatdrop appeared on Mei's head. "Ok, now I'm just scared...who are these people and what have they done with our teammates?" Before she could get an answer, however, a piece of paper landed on her head. Grumbling, she reached her hand up to pick it up, and found there was a hand on her head. "EEEEK!" she screamed, flinging out a hand to strike the intruder.
Kakashi easily dodged the pathetic attack from Mei and grinned at her from behind the mask.
"Your late!" Naruto complained, standing up and pointing at his sensei.
"Oh, sorry, I was waylaid by a runaway puppy and..." Kakashi started to explain.
"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura yelled, pointing at their teacher.
Kakashi ignored them and stepped in front of the group. "Well I trust you all had a good night's rest?" At this statement, Naruto grinned, Seda smiled contentedly, and Sakura glared daggers at Seda. Sasuke betrayed little emotion beyond the slight tinge of red in his cheeks, and the other two simply looked annoyed.
"How was your night, Mr. Kakashi?" Mei countered bravely.
"OH it was fabulous!" he replied with a grin. "Your teacher sure knows how to treat a man!"
Mei looked confused, "Is our teacher a woman?"
Kakashi blinked...or did he wink? "What does being a woman have to do with anything?" he asked in an innocent tone of voice.
"So...our teacher isn't a woman?" Mei asked, blinking.
"Well now I didn't say that, did I?" Kakashi answered, holding up a finger.
"So it is a woman!" Mei cried triumphantly.
"I didn't say that, either." Kakashi added with that insufferable grin on his face.
Mei was more confused then ever, "W-what's that supposed to mean?"
Kakashi held up a finger, "Does one have to be confined by gender to have a good time with someone?" he asked her.
Mei thought about this for a moment, then she turned green. "Eeeew, I don't wanna know anymore!" she complained, turning her back to him.
"Don't give up so easily." Kakashi said with amusement in his voice. "Don't you want to know what we did?"
Mei turned even paler and pressed her hands to her ears. "I'm not listening...I'm not listening..."
Meanwhile, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke all had annoyed faces, with an ominous black cloud hanging over them. 'KAKASHI IS SUCH A PERVERT!' Inner Sakura rannted.
'I...don't get it...' Naruto thought, trying to piece together what he knew of Kakashi but not getting anywhere.
'Hes enjoying Mei's confusion too much if you ask me...' Sasuke thought with a sigh.
Kakashi laughed and turned towards the load. "Never mind, shall we go?" he asked. Five of the students broke free of Mei and followed him. Mei lifted her hands off her ears and noticed her companions were all starting down the road already.
"Hey!" She cried angrily, following them. "You didn't give me a straight answer!"
"Oh, then I guess you do want to know then. Well first we..." Kakashi started. Mei squeaked and hid behind Naruto. "Naruto-kun, make him stop!" she pleaded desperately.
Naruto looked back and forth between Mei and Kakashi. His confused exspression was becoming more intense as the minutes wore on. Kakashi chuckled and continued walking down the road.
"Your Sensei is...odd." Seda commented, walking along beside Sasuke, while Sakura hung around behind them, a black cloud of anger surrounding her. Guido was wisely staying away from her for the moment, and was walking lazily at the back of the group, looking up at the sky expressionlessly.
"Yes..." Sasuke replied, not really wanting to exsplain that this was actually pretty normal for them. 'At lest Sensei hasn't pulled out his 'Icha Icha Paradise' ...yet.' He thought. The ominus 'yet' filled him with dread.
"Hasn't anyone thought to ask where it is we're going?" Guido asked quietly from the back, thankful he was far enough away from Mei's anger not to be injured for speaking up.
"We're going north, that's all you need to know." Kakashi answered nonchalantly. "You will understand when we get there."
"Aww, poo, he's no fun." Mei complained, sticking her tounge out at him.
Kakashi turned and grinned in Mei's direction, "Would you like to read my copy of Icha Icha paradise?" he asked. Mei looked confused, but Naruto and Sakura freaked! (you know, the shocked look with the round white eyes) Sasuke just smirked, 'And there it is...'
"Um...I'm guessing no." Mei answered uncertaintly.
"No, I insist." Kakashi grinned and tossed it to her. Before it hit her she phased out of existence and re-appeared a few feet away, staring at the thing in horror as it struck the ground.
'Hmm, good speed.' Kakashi thought to himself. He glanced at the other two out of the corner of his eye, wondering what their skills were.
Mei stared at the book in horror, before she noticed something. The book on the ground had vegetables on the cover, and with shaking hands she picked it up and opened it. "What the-?" she stared at it, then looked back at Kakashi, "This is a cook book..."
TBC