The Sound-nin impatiently looked up from where he had been playing a game of tic-tac-toes in the dust against himself. "You're late." He didn't bother to disguise the anger and impatience in his voice. The other Sound-nin winced and shuffled his feet guiltily. "Where are the others?
"Um."
"You did find them, didn't you?"
"Um." Despite his immense bulk, he still managed to look frightened of the Sound-nin he stood before, who rose from the dust with his eyes narrowed viciously and his body quivering with rage. "Sort of."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I sort of found them."
"And what does it mean that you sort of found them?"
"Um." Again, the much-larger Sound-nin nervously shuffled his feet and refused to meet his teammate's eyes. "Well, when I say I sort of found them, it's because I did find them, just in, um, bits and parts."
Slowly, the other Sound-nin's face changed expressions, going from angry impatience to disbelief, and finally becoming deep suspicion. "What happened?"
"I can show you."
"No. We're not to lose sight of Sasuke-kun."
The larger Sound-nin shrugged. "Yes, but Orochimaru-sama also said that we were not to be spotted by anyone except Sasuke-kun, and that was only if we were to speak to him. Somehow, being mauled to pieces doesn't fit into our orders."
"Mauled? To pieces?"
"It looked as if an animal had attacked and ate half their bodies, except I didn't see any animal prints. It was at our campsite, and they must have been caught unaware because the playing cards were scattered. The ground was scuffed where they must have struggled, and there were square peg-like holes in the dirt."
"Square? Peg holes?"
"I don't know of any animal around here with square paws," the Sound-nin added, mostly to himself in the same manner as someone who turned the issue over and over in his mind.
"I see," the other Sound-nin said darkly. He pressed his lips together in thought, and then said, "Stay here. I'll investigate the bodies. No animal could possibly have beaten two ninjas with level two seals."
The trunk nestled in its bed of leaves and yawned, its lid opening wide and revealing many rows of sharp teeth.
Naruto vaguely heard a door open. Not used to visitors entering his little apartment when he was sleeping, he sat upright suddenly and felt the blood rush from his brain. He blinked groggily at the vast amount of pink in the room and wondered what happened before the events of the day before came scurrying back to his mind. His eyes focused on the door and he saw a thin little man, blinking owlishly, carefully approaching his bed. With a yelp, Naruto flung his covers back to cover Sakura (or rather, from his visitor's point of view, a half-naked Naruto in the same bed as Sakura) from view.
"H-hi," he said nervously, a hand self-consciously behind his head. "Good morning."
The man had a small fringe of thin brown hair that clung desperately to his skull, his deep green eyes were sunken in his head, and he was the same height and build as Sakura. "Good morning, sweetie," he said, still blinking owlishly. "I know we would be leaving too early in the morning to see you, but I just wanted to peek in on you." He rubbed his eyes. "Have you seen my glasses?" he asked absently as he glanced around the room, squinting desperately.
"Uh. No."
"Oh. Your mother and I will be leaving for your aunt's. The poor thing is going through another one of her nervous breakdowns."
"Oh?" It was an inquiring oh, the sort a person makes when they know what was going on but said it anyway to keep the conversation flowing. Naruto had no idea what else to say without incriminating himself for odd behavior.
"Yes. So I came in here to peek in on you. Have you seen my glasses?" he asked again.
"Uh. No." Naruto frowned. "Do you remember where you last saw them?"
"I remember placing them in the living room, but sometimes you or your mother move them. And I wanted to peek in on you because we were leaving early. Have you seen my glasses?"
Naruto jumped as he felt a hand tug on his pajamas legs. He looked down to see Sakura's hand poking out of the covers; he could see her eyes half-hidden under a fold, and she gestured him close. As Papa Haruno turned his back to Naruto and stared dumbly about, Naruto bent low to Sakura. She pulled him close so her lips brushed his ear. "Papa is absent-minded and blind as a bat," she whispered softly. "You need to direct him out of the room, and keep telling him that he has to leave." She dropped her hand and burrowed deeper under the covers.
Naruto, nervously rubbing the back of his hand, carefully approached Papa Haruno. "Neh, Papa," he said brightly, "Mother probably needs you for the packing. You do need to go."
"Eh?" The man looked at Naruto in surprise. "Go? Where?"
"To see Auntie."
"Oh. Yes. Because she's having a nervous breakdown. We'll probably be gone a week. Stay out of trouble and keep the house clean; you know how it is if you create a mess."
"Yes, yes." Naruto slipped an arm around Papa Haruno's and carefully guided him to the door. "Right over here, Papa."
"Have you seen my glasses?" Papa Haruno asked, squinting at her. "And did I tell you we were leaving today?"
"Mother has them," Naruto said tiredly. "I'll see you when you come back," he added as he opened the door and carefully pushed Sakura's father out of it. "Have a safe trip," he added, closing the door. "There," he said with satisfaction as he walked back to the bed where Sakura poked her head upward, "parents are taken care of. Your mom popped in yesterday evening to say goodbye to me."
"Yeah. I'm glad they're leaving," Sakura said softly, "because they won't be here to suspect any odd behavior on my part."
"Oh?"
"Because they dote on me, they'd recognize if I'm not being me, although if that did happen, you could always say that you happen to be going through a phase. They usually accept that."
"But we won't be in these bodies for very long," Naruto said sternly. "Just you wait. Kakashi-sensei will know what to do." There was a long pause as they mused over that. "Or someone will," Naruto added as an afterthought.
"Yeah." Sakura stood up, pulling the cover around herself. "I need to visit the little lady's room," she muttered as she stumbled unsteadily to the bathroom. She tottered to a halt when Naruto snickered.
"I hope not, Na-ru-to-kun," he said, emphasizing every syllable in his name. She glared over her shoulder at him, and he gave her a bright smile, trying not to wince at the swollen forehead and the purple and black bruises livid against his skin. At least the cut had already healed from last night. "I have enough problems with my reputation without someone adding 'pervert' to the list."
Sakura's eyes were angry little slits. "Oh, you don't need my help for that," she muttered snidely, turning and continuing her clumsy trip to the bathroom.
"Oi! What did that mean?" Naruto waited until the bathroom door clicked shut behind Sakura before he went roaming through Sakura's room in search of a dress to wear. Something besides pink. He had absolutely no idea why Sakura had so much of it — what she clearly needed was something bright and bold, like orange. He poked through her underwear drawer. These are certainly bright, he thought to himself as he held up a pair of sunshine-yellow panties.
Naruto couldn't explain why he felt so strangely energized. The sun was barely up and only a few birds chirped in the lawn beyond the house. Naruto had never thought of himself as a morning person, or an evening person. Sleep was something he did when it needed to be done. While it was certainly earlier than he was used to, he was too wide-awake now to go back to sleep. After sifting through more of Sakura's clothes, Naruto finally emerged from the depths of her closet with a white tennis outfit that, while it was not made of the same durable material as his own jump suit or Sakura's bull's eye pink dress, was still roomy enough to jump around in. He had just finished dressing in it when Sakura entered the room. She still had the covers wrapped around her form, and she stumbled across the room to her bed, collapsing on top of it as soon as she reached it. She pulled her legs up and buried her face in the pillow.
"My head hurt's," she muttered against it. She pressed one hand against her skull directly behind her ear.
"SAKURA!" The bedroom door burst open and a flurry of purple clothes and blonde hair plowed into the room, the door slamming into the wall. Sakura winced and burrowed deeper under her covers as Ino descended upon Naruto. "This is a great, grand day!" Ino declared loudly, her smile clearly forced as she threw an arm around Naruto's shoulders. "We were assigned a special mission together and I came here bright and early!" She smiled at "Sakura," her teeth sparkling, before it faded into a frown. "Why are you up so early?" she grumbled, clearly resentful at not having disturbed Sakura's sleep.
"I felt like it," Naruto replied truthfully.
"Sakura!" Mother Haruno's voice drifted into the open room from where she called downstairs. "Your father and I are leaving. If Ino-chan hasn't had breakfast, make some for her and don't forget to do the dishes."
More faintly, Naruto could hear Papa Haruno's voice. "Dear, have you seen my glasses?"
"They're on top of your head."
"Oh? Oh, yes. How did they get there? Did we say goodbye to Sakura?"
"Yes. Now get your skinny little rear into gear; daylight's burning."
"Y-yes, dear! Off to An-chan's, we go!"
Ino shook her head and leaned close to Sakura, her hand cupped around her mouth to whisper a secret. "I still maintain how proud I am that you are still normal in comparison with your parents. You sure you aren't adopted?"
"I like them," Naruto said defensively. Despite their funny little quirks and idiosyncrasies, Sakura's parents deeply loved and cared well for their daughter, which was more than what Naruto could say he had. For just a moment, last night and this morning, he had been part of a loving family.
"Yes, well, it is amazing." Ino walked over to the bed. "Now that they're gone and since Asuma-sensei told me to be here at five in the morning so he could discuss mission details, I'm going to sleep here 'cause I don't believe he's going to show up until seven." With a toss of her head and a daring smile sent to Naruto, she collapsed on the bed.
"OFF!"
Ino was immediately booted off the bed with one vicious kick from Sakura.
"What?" Ino stared in shock as "Naruto" popped out of Sakura's bed and glared viciously at her. The covers fell down around Sakura's waist, revealing her current state of undress.
"I've got a headache," Sakura muttered, rolling over and pulling the covers over herself again. "Don't need fat asses to contribute to it."
"Y-you're Naruto!"
"No," Sakura drawled sarcastically. "I'm actually Sasuke using a clever Henge just in case Sakura's parents catch me."
"WHAT?" Ino jumped to her feet and stared at "Sakura." "You're thirteen years old! That's too young to be doing anything!"
Naruto gazed at Ino, puzzled, as Sakura turned away from the others, stiffening and blushing a deep red. "Doing what?"
Ino slapped her forehead, and then swiftly turned to Sakura, who was trying to hide her red face by covering it with her arms. "Wait... You're kidding, right?" She laughed nervously. "I mean, you really aren't Sasuke or Naruto, are you?"
That much is right, Sakura thought dryly through the pounding pain in her temples. The pain relievers she had taken in the bathroom hadn't begun working yet. "I'm Naruto," she said in resignation. In body only.
Ino wrinkled her nose. "I hope you used protection," she said finally, clearly in disgust.
Sakura sat straight up, ignoring the burning red that crossed her face again. "WHAT?" She tumbled out of bed in her wild attempt to launch herself across the room for Ino's throat. "How dare you, Ino-pig!" She tripped over the covers and smacked her forehead against the floor. Pain exploded through her head and she cried out, curling into a tight ball. "Owie owie owie." Amidst the pain was the irritation and anger she felt towards Ino, ingrained from the bitter rivalry she had with Ino over Sasuke.
"Sasuke is mine!" Ino crowed triumphantly as she posed dramatically and pointed a finger at Naruto, who watched in confusion. "Because there's no way he would want a tainted girl like your!"
Kill her! Rage and hatred slammed into Sakura, her thoughts reeling in confusion and repulsion, overtaking and blending into her own hatred. A vision of a clawed hand gutting Ino flew through Sakura's mind and Sakura found herself sick to enjoy such a vision. Inner Sakura rose upward and slammed into the nine-tailed fox's presence. The two went down in a confused myriad of rage, terror, and sadistic laughter.
"If anyone is going to kill her, it's going to be me, you hear that, you flea-infested mongrel!" Inner Sakura countered the vivid images of death with a scene closely resembling a child's comical chalk drawings of Sakura hitting Ino over the head with a frying pan.
WHAT did you call me?
Snarling and clawing viciously at one another, Inner Sakura and the nine-tailed fox pushed themselves backwards into the recesses of Sakura's mind where she felt a sense of detachment. After a moment of blissful silence, she finally looked up at Ino, who still stood poised before Naruto with her hand in the air. Her hand was shaking and there was tension around Ino's eyes.
Naruto crossed his arms before himself and closed his eyes as he usually did, nodding knowingly to himself. "You can drop the act, Ino," he said. "I didn't do anything."
Ino sighed and dropped her hand. It flopped against her side and she seemed to wilt a bit.
"Sa — Naruto got hurt last night when he came over to ask me some questions about the mission sh — he and I had yesterday. I made him stay here because I didn't want him roaming through the dark and knocking his head again."
Ino stared at Naruto in silence, clearly mulling over his words. Her brow was furrowed in thought, and Sakura shook her head and silently cursed at Naruto's behavior, her own insult from earlier, and the pain caused from shaking her head. While not as smart as Sakura, Ino was an intelligent girl and knew Sakura's behavior enough to recognize when something was off. "I see," she said finally. She turned and walked over to where Sakura was curled on the floor. Ino crouched down and, with her lips pursed tightly together, studied the bruising and healing cut on Sakura's forehead. She pried Sakura's eyes open and looked at them critically.
"Did you know your pupils are different sizes?" Ino asked Sakura helpfully. "And they aren't focusing? There's one eye looking directly at me and the other eye is staring off to the left."
That would explain why I'm seeing two of you, Sakura thought absently.
"How hard did you hit your head?" Ino drew back from Sakura, one hand pressed against her chin in thought. "Considering how thick your skull is, that'd have taken one mighty blow. Tripped, eh?" she asked suddenly, her voice nearly a shout and her expression filled with suspicion and anger. "So what really happened? You may have been able to fool Forehead-girl with that, but it won't work on me." She somehow managed to slip in a sneer amongst her facial expression.
Sakura said nothing as she pressed a hand over her head and curled back into a ball again. "I am someone in a lot of pain," she said in a near-whisper, "so could you keep it down a bit? My head really, really hurts."
Confusion wiped the anger from Ino's face, and she looked dumbly at Sakura before looking toward Naruto for guidance. Naruto leaned against Sakura's bedroom wall, watching the interaction between the two (sort of) female ninjas. He shrugged and tried to look nonchalant.
"Naruto is clumsy," he said quickly. "You haven't seen him much, but he's a real klutz."
The confusion became anger once more. "Just how stupid do you take me to be? Your forehead should be wide enough for you to realize that I've seen Naruto fight and he's not a klutz!"
Naruto gazed at Ino in surprised silence, unsure of he could take that as a compliment. "Well, it was dark," he said, "and—"
"Oh, never mind." Ino irritably waved Naruto's words away. "I know something's going on, but neither of you are going to tell me the truth. So what? You and I have a mission, and I know I heard someone say you had to feed me breakfast. Since I'm no longer tired, I demand waffles!"
Sakura stirred and asked darkly, "What makes you think you're going to get them?"
Ino didn't even look at Sakura. "Because I'm the guest, and it's my prerogative to make demands on the hostess."
The three ninjas stared at one another, glancing from face to face. Naruto's expression was one of confusion (Waffles? He had no idea how to make waffles. Now, if Ino had demanded ramen, he could do that), and Sakura's was pain-filled. Ino placed her hands on her hips and threw her head back again. An uncertain smile curved her lips but did not hide the worry in her eyes. Sakura recognized Ino's body language: Ino was willing to let bygones be bygones and move beyond this unpleasant experience with a happy distraction.
Because Ino was looking at Naruto, who was looking at Sakura, Sakura nodded her head and then jerked it toward Ino. Naruto looked confused a moment more before understanding bloomed on his face.
"All right!" he said. Sakura smiled, glad that she and Naruto were able to communicate without words and minimal body language. He turned about on his heel and marched for the open bedroom door. Ino followed closely behind, casting a mere inquiring glance to Sakura's direction. "Since I don't know what sort of waffles you like, I'll just make you ramen."
Ino froze in mid-step. "You've got to be kidding me! Ooooh. I know what's going on here, now!" She jabbed an accusing finger at Naruto. "This is Henge, isn't it? So Naruto decided to become Sakura and Sakura decided to become Naruto! Hey, not a bad impression. You've got Sakura's forehead down to a T." She gave Naruto a thumb's up of approval.
Naruto gulped nervously. Henge? Again? "Well, no, I'm not Naruto." At least, not in the flesh.
"Oh?" Ino crossed her arms before herself and looked over her shoulder at Sakura. "Somehow, I don't believe that."
Sakura decided to curl up in a ball again and moan, not at all faking, in pain. Doubt flashed across Ino's face for a moment.
"Um, look." What was it that Sakura had said would keep her parents from asking questions? Naruto grabbed Ino's upper arm and pulled her out into the hallway. "Look. I'm going through, um, a phase." He spoke solemnly and with a dark vocal tone in the same manner that persons exchanged secrets with that served the purpose of barely providing even the barest hint of an explanation, but generally led to a subject change.
"A phase?" Ino must have understood something, because she instantly looked sympathetic. "I see. Ah, that explains it. Yes, you do usually act strange." She nodded her head knowingly, and Naruto fought not to look as confused as he felt. "I see. Yes. Yes. And you and Naruto couldn't have possibly have done it under those conditions. Yes." She patted Naruto's shoulder, instantly caring, as if someone had riled some maternal instinct in her. "Don't worry, we both know these 'phases' just last a few days."
Ino turned her back to Naruto then and walked toward the kitchen. "Tell you what, I'll make breakfast — yeah, and I'll even make some for Naruto — and explain the mission to you."
Naruto blinked in confusion and followed after, pausing only to glance in on Sakura, who waved him away from the pile of covers on the floor that she curled herself up in. As he followed Ino, who probably knew more of where the cooking ingredients for waffles were than he did, he couldn't help but hope someone out there was having as bad a morning as he.
And when Ino had said, "And you and Naruto couldn't have possible have done it under those conditions," what did she mean by it and those conditions?
Becoming a girl certainly hadn't made it any easier in understanding what they thought.
Behind him, Sakura was glad that Ino always found it easier to blame misbehavior on PMS. If it made Ino excuse "Sakura's" behavior as being uncharacteristic, more power to her.
As for those people having just as bad a morning as Naruto and Sakura...
"Umm. What's this?" Asuma cautiously poked at the thing that sat in the very middle of his plate. It didn't look too edible, being mostly pink flesh and about the same size as his thumb. His head was ducked low under the cloud of smoke that hung heavily beneath the ceiling, skimming his hair and lurking about like an ominous warning. Beside the trash can in the far corner was what was left of the fire alarm after it had been ripped from the wall and stomped on multiple times.
"It's sausage." Gai didn't looked up from where he stood partially bent over the cooking stove. He and Asuma ignored Kurenai, who methodically pounded her forehead against the top of the kitchen table at which she and Asuma were seated.
"Is it supposed to be this undercooked?" Asuma wondered as he speared the lump with his fork and studied it intensely. He nibbled the end of his cigarette in trepidation.
Gai finally looked up from where he was watching the frying pan and the eggs burning within it. "Why? Is it still moving?"
Kurenai froze in mid-pound as Asuma carefully placed the lump back on his plate and stood up, his upper body disappearing into the smoke. "I just remembered a mission I have to set up for Sakura and Ino," he said, ignoring any effect of smoke on his lungs. He smiled at Kurenai through the smoke, who turned a murderous gaze upon Gai, and hoped he still had a place to sleep on her couch when he got back. He was going to have to make another inquiry at the realtor's office today, but dreaded the idea. Since Orochimaru's attack on Konoha, the number of homeless people had risen dramatically and available, still-in-one-piece realty was in high demand.
But until Asuma could find (or even afford) another place to stay, Kurenai shouldn't grouch at him. It wasn't as if he were to blame for a certain legendary Sennin stopping Orochimaru's snakes by summoning a frog on top of his apartment complex.
In the back of his mind, as he scurried along rooftops, toward the end of the village that had been unscathed from the fierce battle, to a house that sat beside the great wall amidst a sea of green trees and green lawns, Asuma vaguely hoped that Sakura would have some decent breakfast food. Behind him, the clouds of smoke billowed out of Kurenai's windows.
Sakura lifted herself from the floor, braced an elbow against her bed, and pushed to stand upright. She swayed unsteadily on her feet, the floor beneath her rocking slightly. At least her headache was beginning to ease.
Henge. It had taken Sakura some time to get used to being inside a body completely disproportionate to her own. Naruto hadn't been able to access and use her chakra. Of course he also didn't have the control that she had, the control that Kakashi had said was more advanced than both Naruto's and Sasuke's. But as much as Sakura wanted to think Henge was possible, as much as she wanted to believe that she had the ability to access Naruto's chakra, there was a bitter taste in her mouth as her mind swiftly ran through the instances she had seen Naruto use it. Aside from the fact he had far more than her, there remained the uncomfortable notion that she didn't have sufficient knowledge to do what Naruto did. Unlike Sakura, Naruto knew how to work with and use two different sources of chakra at a single time. She didn't. What if she accidentally accessed and used the nine-tailed fox's chakra? What if she accidentally used both and couldn't control either?
Except... What if the reason Naruto couldn't use her chakra was because he had been trying to draw it from two different sources? If that were the case, it would explain why he couldn't use Henge. By trying to draw it from two different sources at once, he could get neither because of how different were the lines and depths between Sakura's chakra and his chakra. She had better control than he, so if she just tried to tap Naruto's personal source of chakra without dipping into the nine-tailed fox's supplies, then she wouldn't have the same problem as Naruto.
Plagued with doubts, Sakura was too scared to venture forth and try anything. At least, not inside her house. Sakura loathed the idea of explaining to her parents why it blew up if she decided to use Henge and it came to that. When her concussion was cured, she would have to make her way outside the fort and practice in the solitude of the woods. For now, she had to leave her house and go back to Naruto's house for (she glanced down at herself) some clothes. No wonder Ino had taken it all the wrong way.
Except now that the cover of darkness was gone, she couldn't run through the streets half-naked. And she wasn't going to wear any of her clothes. Despite the fact that this was Naruto's body, she was the one occupying it, and she could never be able to live down the embarrassment of anyone seeing her, as Naruto, wearing a dress. That meant she have to raid her father's clothes, and that meant (because he was so meticulous concerning his wardrobe and would instantly know if someone had been roaming through it) she would have to sift through the seasonal clothes stored in the attic.
"Papa?" Sakura jumped as a fuzzy, fluff-filled creature landed on her shoulder. M-chan wound her tail around Sakura's neck and clung to the short, blond hair. "Papa?"
"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked.
The stuffed monkey looked at her, and then glanced away. "Followed," she said, one stuffed paw rubbing her head. Sakura laughed and shrugged.
"Ah. You're a good little monkey." She patted M-chan's head and made her way out of her bedroom. The stairs to the attic were in the far corner of the upstairs. The sound of soft arguing drifted over to where she stood, leaning slightly against the doorframe and waiting for the sense of dizziness to pass. M-chan looked at Sakura with human-like worry.
"No! No! You added too much salt!"
"The recipe called for a dish!"
"It said dash, you stupid forehead girl! Arg! Are you sure you aren't Naruto in disguise? How can you be so smart at the academy and yet so stupid in the kitchen?"
"You have no idea what I'm going through, so back off!"
Sakura turned away from the voices in worry. Naruto didn't have her intelligence and memory. This was never going to work, she pretending to be him and he pretending to be her. Not for two days, it wouldn't. She found herself making her way back to the bathroom. She stood before the mirror, not quite able to focus upon her features because her vision was still blurry. She folded her hands before herself and concentrated, closing her eyes to better visualize herself as Sakura.
"Henge!" she cried, releasing the chakra. It washed and flowed through her, an overwhelming sensation of too much power at her own beck and call. It was slightly tainted with the malevolence of something darker, more immense, and infinitely stronger than herself. Instantly, she could feel the nine-tailed fox's presence rising to the surface, bloodlust washing through her and Inner Sakura fruitlessly hurrying behind the nine-tailed fox to push it back down. She felt her body surge and shift, the ends of her fingers grow longer and her eyes bulge — all of which had never before happened when she used Henge.
Sakura abruptly stopped the flow of chakra. Its loss felt like a physical blow to the gut, and she gasped for breath as she gripped the edge of the bathroom's sink and trembled in fear. Both the nine-tailed fox and Inner Sakura were quiet, and hovered on the edge of her consciousness. But at least her head didn't ache anymore.
Sakura's eyes flew open, and they were focused upon her image in the mirror above the bathroom sink and directly before her. Well, it was sort of her. Despite the pink hair, wide forehead, and red dress, Sakura still had Naruto's blue eyes and those annoying whisker-like markings on her face. There was no way anyone could think she wasn't Naruto poorly masquerading as herself. With a sigh, she released the layer of chakra that maintained the illusion and became Naruto once more. Naruto, who wore white boxers and no longer had ugly bruising on his forehead...?!
Sakura leaned forward in awe and prodded her forehead. The bruising, pain, and concussion were all gone. All that remained as the light scar, and she had a feeling that that too would rapidly fade.
Relieved at the absence of pain and her vision functioning correctly, Sakura left the bathroom for the attic. Unlike the one she had to clean with Naruto yesterday, her parents' attic was spic and span as the rest of the house. Papa made sure to sweep and dust it at least twice a month as Mother looked on, supervising as she usually did. Among the neatly stacked boxes (all of which were neatly labeled and had detailed lists of what was within the box pasted on the sides of the boxes where they could be read), Sakura found a box that said, "Papa's vacation clothes." It gave a brief listing of shorts, shirts, sunhats, ties, socks, and a few other things that Sakura glanced over but didn't mentally register. She tugged the box free of its stack and placed it on the floor, then carefully pried the lid off and looked inside.
No. No no no no no. This was just...
She sighed. Well, it beat cross-dressing by a slight fraction. Besides, it was still early, so it was unlikely anyone she or Naruto knew would see her. From the box, she reluctantly removed the shirt, the shorts, and the gigantic straw hat. She gently pushed the box to the side so she knew which one she got the clothes from (they would have to be put back before her parents came home because, typical of them, they would immediately go on a cleaning spree which meant everything would also be checked and rearranged). She pulled the shirt and shorts on and dawned the straw hat. There. She was ready.
M-chan jumped and landed on the brim of her straw hat. "Papa?"
"You can contribute to the disguise," Sakura told her. "Now, come along. We've got to get back to Naruto's place before I'm spotted in this clown getup." She hurried out of the attic and to the outlanding's railing where she could see the corner of the kitchen. "Sakura, Ino," she called, "I'm going back to my place."
Naruto looked around the kitchen's corner, his hair and white tennis outfit covered with white flour. His eyes widened at Sakura's state of dress, and she glared at him, daring him to say anything. "I've got a mission with Ino," Naruto said after a moment, "so I can't help you finish the attic." His face was filled with concern and worry. I can't help you look for a solution, his eyes seemed to say. And what happens if something else happens from all that weird stuff?
"Don't worry," Sakura said quickly. "I'll finish it." I'll be careful, she tried to answer with her own eyes.
"What about your headache?"
"It's fine for now," Sakura said truthfully. "And besides, I heal quickly." You freak, no wonder why your wounds never bother you!
Naruto grinned and nodded his head firmly once to show he understood. Yeah, ain't it great?
"Bah!" Ino's voice carried well, despite not being very loud. "He's just leaving so he doesn't have to eat your cooking, you worthless troll."
Naruto disappeared back into the kitchen. "I don't blame him," he replied honestly. Sakura didn't hear Ino's reply, as she had hurried back into her room and leapt out of the window with M-chan clinging to the brim of Papa Haruno's straw hat.
Sasuke sat up in bed, blinking tiredly and stared at, without seeing, the foot of his bed. The sunshine that poured through his open window tried to beckon him forth into wakefulness.
Come, Sasuke-chan, the sunshine seemed to sing, chorused by the birds that twittered outside his open window. Awaken! Come dance and play in the great waltz of life!
"Fuck you," Sasuke muttered, rolling over and pulling the pillow over his head.
Wakey wakey! It's a new day! You have your whole life waiting ahead of you!
He stubbornly curled into a ball. "Forget life. I need my sleep."
But just think of all that you can get done today! The sun's powers continued to grow, reaching the edge of his bed and creeping upward like a certain pervert sneaking through a woman's bathhouse.
Sasuke finally sat upright. He hated mornings. If he were God, he would do away with mornings so only afternoons and evenings existed.
Either that, or buy some window blinds.
Sasuke ground the heel of his palm into his eyes to wipe the sleep away, stood up, stretched, yawned, and continued with his daily ritual of forcing his body to wake up. First, there was the eight cups of tea, to which extra caffeine had been added. And sugar — lots of sugar. (One of these days, he would face the fact that he was hopelessly addicted to it. But now was not the time.) Next, there was the hour long, painfully cold shower. With that all done, the temperature in his little apartment had already begun to rise sharply. By noon, it would be unbearably warm. The stark contrast between this and his shower was the final shock that woke him completely.
Yawning, he walked over to his window. He slid the glass up and lifted a single leg over the windowsill. He paused, sitting sideways on the sill as he looked over Konoha from his viewpoint. He felt nothing as he looked at the buildings, except the sense of not being alone. He had felt as if he was being watched and had been since that fight with Naruto. He gritted his teeth. He had to continue helping with the school children for now until Kakashi came back from the mission. But as soon as the academy was out, he could sneak out of the fort to do some training. Hah. Naruto wasn't going to one-up him.
Sasuke pushed the bitterness away as he swung the other leg over the sill. He slid down the roof's outcropping until he reached the edge, and then glanced around on the street below. It wouldn't do to land on someone who was hurrying along. Like that eyesore that was barraging down the street, approaching at a rapid speed. Good god, what a fashion disaster. Sasuke eyed the oversized shirt, its print blinding with its brightly colored fluorescent pink flamingoes and green tropical plants. The shorts were only slightly better, with their plaid print of yellow, white, and peach. And that straw hat! What was the point of having a stuffed monkey pinned to its brim?
He waited until the person passed beneath his perch before he jumped off. As he landed on the street with a clatter of his shoes against the pavement, the person's head swiveled about. With a very familiar yelp of dismay, the person twisted about and his speed increased drastically. Sasuke blinked in surprise.
Naruto?!