Chapter 4: Charade Medley

NE airlines.

Sasuke's eye twitched. This was going to be one very, very long flight, not just because it's from Vegas to New York City, but because Naruto was next to him. Sure, he enjoyed the blonde dobe's company from time to time (though he'd never admit it aloud) it was one of those moments where he was just loud and obnoxious, and Sasuke was suffering from a large headache. His onyx eyes scanned the private jet. There were only five passengers, two of which were sleeping; himself, Naruto, and a quiet girl named Hinata were awake. He inwardly groaned.

He hadn't even set foot for two minutes in Vegas before Orochimaru's men ushered him into the psycho's office… Within fifteen minutes he gave his report and was swiftly ushered into Kabuto's office so he could receive the mission statistics. With another ten minutes to spare, he went back to his apartment to re-pack and freshen up, by the time he to back to Orochimaru's office… Naruto was just beginning his report. A good hour and a half went by and still Sasuke was outside Orochimaru's door.

Sure, it wasn't that bad. A few waitresses came by and "accidentally" spilt alcohol on his nice jeans, and even took the liberty to clean them up. He would've been appreciative if they weren't flirting with him, or if they'd spilt it in a different area other than his crotch. They seemed to be enjoying it. After a few scowls and eventually a loud "get the fuck away from me," he went to the bathroom to get cleaned up. It was just his luck; right when he came out of the bathroom, Naruto walked by and noticed the dark stain. His laughter could be heard for miles.

And now they were here, on the flight. Naruto was now slightly drunk, and hadn't let him near a drink for a good few minutes. Every time he tried ordering one, the blonde would drink it himself and give him a nice friendly pat on the back, followed by laughter about his still slightly wet pants. That was quickly silenced by a punch to the face.

"So, Hinata-chan," Naruto said slurred. The violet haired girl's head snapped up surprisingly. Sasuke turned his head away, but was still listening. "You don't-..m-mind if I call you that do youuuu?" Naruto hiccupped. She quickly shook her head. "Great!" He gave her a thumbs up. "Why are you here a-anyway? I don't think I've seeeen you-." Another hiccup. A slight blush crept up her cheeks.

"I-I've actually been around for a while." She said meekly. "I always s-see you."

"Oh!" Naruto replied loudly and sharply, causing the other two passengers to snap awake. "Ya see… I dthunno… do you have orange hair by any chance?" He laughed.

Hinata gave a small smile. "N-no."

"Did I pay for your implants once?" he asked with a hand under his chin. Hinata raised an eyebrow; the smile was wiped off her face. Sasuke blinked. 'Dobe…' He quickly covered his comrade's mouth and gave her a tight, yet apologetic smile. Well, it was supposed to be a smile, to Hinata it looked like someone gave him a face-lift, but she didn't say anything. Perhaps it was the lighting… She was still accepting though and gave a quick nod. Sasuke let out a low growl. She turned her head to see him clutching his hand like he was just burned. Naruto burst out laughing, and slightly sputtering.

"You taste like crap and salt." He laughed some more. "Hell, that sure snapped me out of it. Next time I get drunk, I'm coming to you."

"You'd know what crap tastes like. Damn you Naruto, that's disgusting." Sasuke wiped his hand on the seat.

"It was the only way I could get you to let go. It's strategy." Naruto crossed his arms. Hinata blinked. 'What just happened?'

"Find a different strategy. Licking someone would have you killed early more than anything." Sasuke retorted. He got a curious flick and decided to sniff his poor hand. His expression turned sour. "That's sickening…"

"Let's just say its payback for that vomit." Naruto patted him on the back.

"You weren't the one that cleaned it up, and besides I made it to the toilet." Sasuke glared at him.

"Yeah but it still smelled like shit." The blonde grinned cheekily. He turned away from Sasuke for a moment and turned to meet a pair of pearl eyes. "Uhh… who might you be?" he then whispered to Sasuke. "I didn't say anything did I?"

"You asked her if you bought her implants, Dobe." Sasuke reminded him.

Naruto stiffened. "Oh," he let out a nervous laugh. "Uhh… sorry 'bout that." Hinata gave a small nod and a smile. Her gaze then turned to an eager looking Sasuke, Naruto caught on. He took another one of Sasuke's drinks away and downed it. Her eyes widened. "Something wrong miss?" Naruto asked her.

"Y-you should stop that." She replied shyly.

"Oh? I'm just trying to help this guy," Naruto pointed at Sasuke. "You should see him. He drinks more scotch than a hobo." Sasuke whacked him over the head. "Ow, you bastard." Hinata shook her head.

"Y-if you keep going…" She meekly replied. He shrugged.

"Nah, don't worry about me. It's fine, only a couple of drinks. No big deal." Hinata shook her head. "So… why are you on this plane?" Naruto changed the subject.

"I'm your medical specialist." She said timidly. They both raised an eyebrow.

"We've never needed one before, why does that psycho decide to send us one now?" Naruto said and crossed his arms.

"Who knows, if we need a doctor this mission is probably serious." Sasuke replied dryly.

Hinata nodded. "This is my first mission so-."

Naruto picked up a laptop and scanned the files. "Nah, don't worry about it, you'll be fine. Just stick with us, and everything will run smoothly. Kabuto sent these to us right? He should have sent a profile of our next target." A few more clicks sounded. "Downloading..." A picture appeared on the screen.

"That's our threat?! She's a fucking girl!" Sasuke fumed angrily. This is our target? This is MY target?!' "She looks easy, just let me infiltrate the house, one gun shot and she's dead. I can't believe that old bastard would send me a target this easy! What the hell is he thinking?!" Sasuke suddenly thought about it. "Wait…"

"You're not serious." Naruto muttered and smacked his forehead. 'Of all things! A girl, probably a spoiled, whiney, little…-.' He studied the picture even closer. 'Pink hair? Green eyes…' He looked even closer... 'Short skirt, long legs… breasts look about a C…' He blinked and leaned back as if he'd seen a ghost. "I did not just do that." He whispered to himself.

"Do what?" Hinata asked meekly. Naruto gave a nervous laugh and shook his head quickly. "So? Who is it?" Naruto turned the laptop around so that it faced her. "Oh…" A saddened look crossed her features. Their target was a girl, probably around her age. Suddenly, she felt like backing out on the entire thing. 'The girl looks so fragile…' She felt sick.

"Excuse me." A voice interrupted. They both looked up to find a large pair of black… eyebrows….

New York City. Sakura's Apartment.

"AHH!! Where the hell is it?!" Sakura scurried across the apartment, knocking over chairs and vases.

"Sakura, calm down." Kakashi said dully from his corner.

"Kakashi-senpai! You don't know how important this is! It's Ino's gala in Vegas!" She ran a hand through her hair. "I know that darned dress is somewhere around here."

"You're a designer, make one. It's simple." The gray haired man sighed and flipped another page of his book. "What's the big deal? It's just a dress."

"It's the dress Ino made for me, I can't just-." She tossed over another chair.

"It's not under there and you know it. Maybe it's at your other apartment in L.A." He offered. She shook her head.

"Would you help me find it?! All you do is read that purvey book of yours!" Sakura poked his chest.

"What would you know about it?" He flipped another page. "Tell you what, buy a new dress and I'll take off my mask."

"Really?!" Sakura looked up at him like a child. "You're on!" she scanned her place. "Jeez it looks like a tornado just blew through here."

"That's your fault." He replied dryly. Sakura scowled.

"Why do you wear that mask of yours anyway? Trying to play ninja or what?" She began to pick up the chairs she knocked over.

He smirked under his mask. "Something like that… I guess you could say." She raised an eyebrow, expecting a more logical answer. "It's also cold outside." He put down his book and began to help her pick up the pillows and furniture that fell over.

"It's eighty degrees in here, the heaters on." She fluffed a pillow.

"So then I'm sensitive to the weather." He shrugged.

"Kakashi-senpai, I need my uncle's will, it wasn't in the briefcase the lawyer had." Sakura sat down on a chair.

"Slacking off already?" he sat down across from her.

"No, just tired. I have no choice; I'll need to buy another dress. So, can you get me the will or not?" she asked. Kakashi's eye wandered around.

"I don't know. If the lawyer doesn't have it, who does?"

Sakura shrugged. "I just thought you could get it, you were one of his close friends after all."

He nodded. "Such a shame I was out of town that day… if you don't mind, I'd like some information on his death."

"Is that why you're here?" He nodded. Sakura sighed. "He was assassinated." She replied lamely. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Is… that it? Evidence? Ransoms? Threats? Anything else?" he asked. She shook her head.

"None that I know of, I just remember being told that there was one gun-shot to the head. He died instantly. There were no threats, no valid reason to kill him and whoever the killer was got away apparently. They can't find hide or hair of that guy, let alone a fingerprint. Come to think of it… they barely have any suspects…" She pursed her lips. Kakashi thought about it for a moment.

"Well, you said they have barely any suspects… who would they be?"

"Some waiter named Uzu Maki. Though he was in the cellar at the time, the shooting took place right when he knocked the power cable out. They found that a little suspicious and far too perfectly timed… or something like that. The manager took blame for the power out, but the thing is Uzu was fired right after it happened. The police tried to track him down, however, the name Uzu Maki doesn't exist." Sakura sighed. "There is one other which is a man in a black trench coat…" she continued to ramble on.

Kakashi's eye narrowed. 'Could this be Orochimaru's doing?'

NE Airlines.

"What the hell is that?!" Naruto pointed. Sasuke took in a few breaths.

"May we help you?" He ground out. The pair of eyebrows stepped back and have them a large thumbs up.

"I am Rock Lee!" He introduced and posed. "And I would like to know how long this flight is going to be." Another pose. "You see, I got woken up a while ago by a loud noise coming from back here." Meaning the back of the plane Pose. Both Hinata and Sasuke gave an irritated glance at Naruto.

"About two more hours. You should get back to sleep, and would you stop posing?" Sasuke said annoyed. He couldn't have fuzzy brows here looking at the files.

"I'm not tired at all." He did a few midair kicks. Naruto and Sasuke ducked every so often to avoid them. He posed again.

The blonde looked at Sasuke. He pointed at Lee. "Does this guy look familiar?" Sasuke shrugged. The laptop buzzed. They all turned their attention toward it.

"Sakura-chan!" Lee turned starry eyed. The trio gave him a weird glance.

"You know this girl?" Naruto pointed at the picture.

"Why yes! She's the owner of Cherry Blossom Designs. I'm sure you've heard of it." Lee replied with a wink. Hinata looked down at her white sweater. It was by the same designer. She cringed and removed it. 'I can't be distracted… I have to do this…'

"Wow… small world." Naruto muttered.

"So why are you guys looking at her anyway? Stalking her or something?" Lee asked curiously. The three of them stiffened.

"We're reporters doing an article on the recent turn of events in her life. This is just research." Sasuke stated simply. Naruto and Hinata nodded.

"Wow, you guys have information all the way down to her first shot. You guys really do your research." Lee rubbed his chin.

"Why yes… we do." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What are you guys plotting?" Lee asked suddenly. They blinked in surprise. Naruto turned to Sasuke and gave him a look as if asking 'Is he on to us?'

"What… do you mean? We're just reviewing the information to see if it's valid." Sasuke said, never taking his eyes off Lee. 'If I have to…' He placed his hand on the holster of his gun cautiously.

"Oh, I see. Well, you know, since her uncle's been murdered the people around her have been very edgy, and I am a little concerned. You never know when there's a killer around..." Lee narrowed his eyes. Naruto and Hinata gave a nervous laugh as he studied them. A grin fell back onto his face. "Oh, well then I should warn you," Lee said as he walked to his part of the jet, "She's awfully hard to get in a meeting with. Good luck though." He gave another thumbs up and a flashing smile before disappearing behind the curtain.

"Well, He's a nice fellow…" Naruto crossed his arms. "Haruno Sakura huh? It's a shame we have to kill someone who looks this unhealthy. She almost looks like a doll, don't you think Sasuke?"

His onyx eyes were still on the picture. 'Haruno Sakura… why are you a threat to Orochimaru?' "Hmm… why does Orochimaru want her dead, we already killed Mr. Haruno…"

"Maybe he holds a grudge or something." Naruto suggested. "Either way, we won't know all the details until we arrive at New York, so you might as well get some sleep yourself." The blonde closed his eyes. Hinata returned to her seat to do the same. Sasuke shrugged him off. His eyes scanned the profile. 'Her birthday is in four months…that should give us enough time.' He shut down the laptop and leaned back in his seat.

'Assignment: Kill Haruno Sakura before her eighteenth birthday.' He made a quick note. A small smirk graced his features. 'That shouldn't be a problem…' He closed his eyes. A plan was already hatching in his head.

"Hey Sasuke." Naruto's lazy voice interrupted. "I was thinking…" Sasuke opened one of his eyes, glaring at him and expecting something important. "If you had a pet monkey, and it was bad… would you spank it?"

"Idiot." Sasuke smacked him over the head once again and proceeded to sleep. As soon as darkness enveloped him... 'Green eyes…' Suddenly, he found his own eyes open again.

Chapter five… soon.