Scroll 07: Bodyguards

Yatsuki's teammates stopped fighting when they didn't sense the evil presence from the dogs anymore. But as soon as the dogs back to normal, they heard a loud sound of explosion and another second everything that didn't stick strongly to the ground was blown off to the opposite direction of the sound source.

Every living thing was trying to grip something but not much succeeded. The debris that was flying around didn't help. Everybody could see a tower of light with thunders and lightning emerged from the source of the explosion. The final result of the explosion was another ruined part of Konoha and more injured people.

After the explosion ended, ninjas rushed to the scene. Onmyoujis and ninja dogs followed soon. They found the house wasn't exactly a house anymore. It was turned into a newly made ruin. The ninjas were sure that no one could alive from the explosion, but Yatsuki's teammates' keen onmyouji sense found three very weak life presences. With their keen senses and ninjas powerful strength, they managed to find Kiba, Akamaru, and Yatsuki. They were protected by Yatsuki's barrier.

Tsunade, who was roughly disturbed from her sleep by the damn explosion, arrived at the scene and immediately ordered medical ninjas and doctors to stand by. She sent some investigation teams to look for the cause of the explosion. The first result of the investigation was she got some reports that stated the dogs of Inuzuka family went crazy before the explosion.

She looked at the now rubbles house. She had better find the source of the explosion quickly before the rest of Inuzuka family got back. Not that she feared them, but Inuzukas are mostly contains of hot-headed people. They'd demand answers but didn't give a chance to answer.

She noticed some medical people carried two stretchers with doctors around them. Her keen eyes noticed that Kiba was on one of the stretchers, bloody and bruised. Akamaru was on his chest with no better condition. An unrecognized girl was on the other stretcher but she soon recognized her attire as one of Reigakure's onmyoujis.

They didn't battle with each other, right? The last thing she wanted was a war. Sometimes simple things like this tend to cause a war. She mentally scolded herself. Maybe they had just fought one of the rebels, no need to worry for them fighting at each other! She had been paranoid lately, maybe because the lack of sleep. Being a Hokage reduced her bed time greatly. She knew even the greatest beast like Kyuubi would need sleep. Well, she'd make sure to finish all her paperwork tomorrow and got some sleep before it turned into a mountain.

But before she went home, she had to make sure that Kiba and his dog were alright. She walked to the nearest medical ninja. She appeared to be busy and nearly shrugged the Hokage off which was luckily for her, she noticed that it was the Hokage who greeted her.

"Hokage-sama! I didn't expect it was you!" she nearly shouted in surprise but Tsunade ignored it.

"How are Kiba and his dog?" asked Tsunade.

She appeared to be confused by Tsunade's question for a moment. She didn't know who Kiba was but at the mention of 'his dog' gave her a clue. "Oh, did you mean a boy with spiky hair and a white dog? I can't say he's fine. From a quick check, we figured that he got some fractured bones at his ribs and collarbone, some inner wounds, and some nearly toasted fleshes. He'll live, but if you ask me his chance is slim. I thought he was a half burned corpse when we found him. The dog is no better. It got no fractured bones or some inner wounds but it got worse burn wounds. It would be hard to cure it but it's nothing we couldn't handle."

Tsunade closed her eyes in relief. At least Kiba's and Akamaru's life were not in danger. But to look at the mess… maybe the early sleep was left as a dream.

.oOoOo.

It was night and Sasuke was doing his night patrol. Not that he liked taking orders from Orochimaru, but if it was capable to give him a reason to be as far away as the snake sennin, it was worth to do.

The black haired boy jumped from tree to tree. The cold and chilling breeze was blown over his body. His black cape flapped on his back as his feet made no sound from jumping to landing. Graceful as he was, graceful as he would be.

Suddenly, his sharp sight caught something. He stopped and looked to the sky. The smoke of campfire floating to the sky caught his eyes. His ears caught some noises of people chatting at each other.

Curious, he went to the source and soon, he was greeted by a scene of a large group of travelers set their camp there and having their dinner. From a brief glance he figured that those people were only mere and harmless travelers. Everybody could tell, looking at the way they set a fire carelessly and chatting easily, not realizing that they were in the land of the notorious deadly Sound Village.

Not that they were completely idiot though, they set their camp closely to the border of the village. But still, Sound Ninjas didn't mind for free supplies. Suddenly, his eyes caught something and he turned his head to the thing.

It was a flag. A light blue flag with two white circles those were small and big. He had seen those flags before, nearly three years ago when he and his teammates were given a mission to protect a famous actress who had the role of a princess and ironically turned out to be a real princess. It was the flag of the snow country.

But why would snow country people travel to here? Trading? No. they could've use a sailboat or more to avoid dangerous places. Lost? Maybe, but they seemed too relaxed to be lost. Well, just wondering wouldn't get the answer. It would be fun to test his stealth skill.

He jumped down and landed silently on the ground. He sent a quick glance to the crowd. Everyone was still busy with his/her own business. Good, that meant no one had noticed him.

Suddenly, he heard the bushes moved. He immediately hid himself behind a large tree and wait with a kunai in hand. He heard the rustling sound again and this time it was accompanied by a soft humming. Sasuke let an inaudible sigh. Apparently, it was one of the travelers. He was searching a private place for pee.

The black haired ninja continued his task. The first rule of collecting information is: get it straight from the leader. So he had to find the leader of the travelers and listen carefully like a good boy. People say it's easy to spot the leader's tent because of the bigger size or the prettier look, which is proved to be right.

Sasuke got nearer and nearer to the tent. The tent was much bigger and more luxurious looking, almost resemble a small house. Some people were guarding its entrance. It seemed that the leader was an important person. He didn't want to cause havoc, at least not yet. So when he was near enough, he used a genjutsu technique to the guards.

After made sure that those guards had fallen into genjutsu state, he carefully made his way to the entrance and slipped passed those unnoticing guards. Things were so easy so he kept his senses sharp, incase there was a surprise attack/trap. When he entered the tent, he immediately hid behind a pile of food supplies just before a person looked to the entrance.

He listened carefully to a conversation that held between two men and one woman. It seemed that they were arguing about something.

"—but Hime-sama, you can't carelessly travel to Konoha!" a man with raspy voice protested. It seemed that he was an old man.

"Hime-sama?" thought Sasuke. This fun thing turned to become more and more exciting.

"Just who are you to lecture me, Fukadon-sama? Don't think I don't know about your past times. You used to go travel a lot more carelessly than I!" said the woman they called 'Hime-sama' with an annoyed tone.

Sasuke suddenly figured that the woman's voice was belonged to Fujikaze Yukie or Kazahana Koyuki, the one and only princess/queen of the Ice country.

"I agree with Fukadon-sama, Hime-sama. You're the snow country's only leader and you haven't got any heritage yet! What if something bad happens to you?" asked the other man. This one was younger than Fukadon. From his voice, Sasuke guessed that he's a middle age man with big body.

"I thought it's your job to keep me away from danger, Ragou-sama," said Yukie with menace as she glared the man called Ragou.

Ragou sounded lost. "It's true, but—"

"No buts. Or do you feel incapable to protect me?" Yukie interrupted with an impatience tone.

Ragou was silent for a moment. Then he answered firmly, "No, Hime-sama."

"Hime-sama! You can't do this!" Fukadon protested. Apparently, the old man didn't give up yet.

"I think I just did it," replied Yukie with triumph.

"Hime-sama!" yelled Fukadon, almost in rage.

Yukie slammed her fist to a table. She had lost all of her patience. "Don't 'Hime-sama' me! Do you think it's wrong to visit the ones who saved my life and the Ice country?"

"No, it's not. But Hime-sama—"

"I'm going and you can't stop me, Fukadon-sama! Now, if you excuse me, I need a rest." From the way she spoke, the two men know this was final.

So, Sasuke thought, the queen was going to visit Naruto and Sakura. What's the reason, he'd definitely find out sooner or later. The idea of testing his spying ability was tempting him like a smell of prey tempting a hungry predator. Besides, it had been a long time since he saw Konoha. Who knows if he'd find Itachi there, judging from how persistent his brother in chasing the thing inside Naruto.

Sasuke got up and accidentally knocked large vase-shaped china. He instinctively grabbed the vase to prevent it from falling and creating loud noises. But still, the vase made a sound when he knocked it and it attract the other two men's attention.

Ragou, who was a battle expert with trained senses, immediately put his hand on the handle of his sword and yelled, "Who's there?" while Fukadon formed a protective gesture in front of their queen.

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. He unconsciously held his breath as he cursed to himself mentally for his carelessness. Not that he feared the Ragou guy, but if he was planning on spying, he better went unnoticed.

Another noise was heard, but this time it wasn't caused by Sasuke. A tiny white thing went passed his and Ragou's eyes. After a moment of silence, Sasuke heard a sigh of relief and Ragou's voice.

"It's only a mouse," he said more to himself.

"See? You're being too paranoid, Ragou-sama," said Yukie with narrow eyes although she didn't deny that she felt some fear and a feeling of being watched back then.

"I think you're right Hime-sama, but this paranoid has saved my life more than once," said Ragou as he kept his eyes to the pile of supplies. His warrior instinct kept telling him that the one that caused the noise wasn't a mouse.

For the first time ever in his life, Sasuke wanted to grab a mouse and kiss it. He used to chase it around the house when he was little then used his kunai to stick it to the wall when he had become a legal shinobi student. But he knew that he couldn't remain here forever. That Ragou guy definitely was going to check his place by the time he got out of the tent. So he quickly thought about it and his brilliant mind found it as quickly as he thought.

His cape is black, so is the large cloth that covered the supplies and luckily with the same strong material. He'd use his cape to cover his whole body and if he mastered the art of "Pretending to be A Thing" enough, he'd seem as still as a stone. Hopefully the Ragou guy was an average warrior that couldn't sense the slightest presence of chakra.

His simple plan turned out to be a success. He did feel the man's eyes on his back for a while, but the warrior didn't stop to check his place more thoroughly. When he was sure that the other man was out of the tent, he silently uncovered his cape and let go the breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

Now he had to think about his next step. He had to find a person, that was close enough for him to watch the queen but far enough to not become suspicious. His mind quickly worked out the solution. The guards. Those stupid guards that was weak enough to fall easily into a genjutsu state. They had to stay close to the queen, but not close enough to catch the queen's attention.

He immediately got out of the tent when the queen turned her back from the entrance. When he got far enough from the tent, he released the genjutsu he had on the guards. He couldn't immediately attack them, it was too risky because the chance that one of the travelers would see one of the guards fall without reason was big. He had to wait for the shift so he would attack the returning guard.

He didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, another two guards came and replaced the old ones position. Sasuke's eyes immediately set to one of the returning guards, the one who had almost the same size of his body. If he was going to wear those samurai fashioned armor, he'd better suit himself.

The lady of the luck was with him. His target was approaching his place, not knowing what awaits him. Sasuke immediately hides himself and wait until the target got as deep as possible in the forest. He listened carefully to the guard's humming so he could imitate his voice.

When the guard stopped, Sasuke acted. He lunged towards the guard, covered the target's mouth, and at the next second he broke the guard's neck. All done without the slightest sound, except the sound of bone breaking. The body went limp and Sasuke let go his hold. The sound of something heavy met the ground went unnoticed by the noisy travelers.

Sasuke quickly stripped all needed garments from the dead body and wore it. He stretched his body to test the flexibility of his movements. Hmm, it was not as bad as he thought. The armor was hard but thin and light. And either because the previous owner was a clean freak or he never engaged himself in battle, the armor was still as good as new.

He looked down and realized once again that there were two problems left: his face and how to hide the corpse. He never thought that he'd use the nastiest disguise technique Orochimaru had ever taught him. Rip the target's face and somehow put it on your face. Just imagine it had damaged his sense of humanity. Actually, it could have been much simpler if he just uses a genjutsu technique to cover his unfamiliar face. But he didn't want to risk being caught by Ragou.

He immediately did his task and went to the soldiers' camp with ironically innocent face. His eyes surveyed the camp to find someone he could ask without risking being caught suspicious. He was too deep in his thought until he didn't notice someone crept behind him and tapped his back.

Sasuke turned around and instinctively pointed the stolen sword to the culprit's face. The person was surprised but managed to grin. He thought Sasuke was joking.

"Wow wow, Oriya. You don't have to point your weapon to everybody who surprises you…" said the person as he tapped the sword tip and lowered it from his face.

He was a nineteen years old male with orange hair and gold eyes. Some of his bangs were long enough to reach his chest. Sasuke had seen him before. He was the other guard who had fallen into his technique beside his dead victim called Oriya.

"Who are you?" asked Sasuke, trying to sound confused than rude.

The orange haired teen made a face that screamed: 'WHAT!' before grabbed Sasuke's shoulder and shook him almost violently.

"Oriya! What's the matter with you? Did you have hit yourself to something?" asked the male worriedly.

As Sasuke tried his best to not stare, the youngest Uchiha replied, "Yeah, kind of. I've slipped and hit the back or my head to a tree when I was dozing off. I think I lost some of my memories…"

The male stared at Sasuke with disbelief. Who wouldn't with the lame and dumb excuse that should not be heard from a soldier?

"Oh, well. Accidents happened. We had been stay still in one place for nearly six hours…" said the male, shrugging off the matter.

"Oh God, he was a lot dumber than my excuse…" thought Sasuke as he fought the urge to sweat-dropped. But he was thankful and decided to brush the matter. "You haven't answered my question…" said Sasuke, reminding the male to tell his name.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Fusume Kuuhei. Nice to meet you again, Oriya…" said Kuuhei with mocking tone.

Sasuke fought the urge to let his jaw dropped. "FUSUME? Wait, don't tell me he's—" "Do you have a sibling or cousin?" asked Sasuke.

Kuuhei lifted his eyebrows. "Why do you ask?"

"I lost my memories so I want to retrieve it…" answered Sasuke matter-of-factly.

"Well, I have one younger sister, her name is Ai," said Kuuhei as he rubbed his chin.

"I know it." Sasuke mumbled so softly until Kuuhei didn't catch what he had said. But the older teen didn't bother to ask.

"Out of the frying pan, into the oven…" thought Sasuke bitterly. It seemed that the Lady of the Fate was against him right now.

"Hey, do you know when our next shifts?" asked Kuuhei, decided to change the topic.

Sasuke shook his head negatively. Kuuhei sighed as if he had expected this kind of answer.

"Well, listen carefully. Our next shift is at this time until dawn tomorrow, so you better get some sleep. Until then, we're to do our usual duty as soldier, such as collecting water, information, or watch the surrounding area. Do you get what I said?" asked Kuuhei.

Sasuke fought the urge to stare. Did this man think that his brain was slow? Wait until he knows what happened to his sister. After confirming where he would stay, he immediately went there to avoid noisy crowds that seemed had endless stamina for party. He was sure that this'll continue until very late night. Well, it wouldn't be his fault if they wouldn't have the energy to continue the journey tomorrow.

He entered the middle sized camp that was enough to hold five people in it. Luckily, there was no one there right now. He'd like to have some privacy to catch up with the current event. He scanned the camp to look for useful things, if those scum that called themselves soldier have that kind of thing.

His eyes fell on a traditional duffle bag that made from strong animal skin. The thing that caught his eyes was the name tag on the duffle bag. The name on it was in kanji words and read as Mitsozuchi Oriya. Without doubt, the bag must be Oriya's.

He walked towards it and opened the bag. Sure the original Oriya wouldn't mind if his privacy was disturbed since he was already dead. He let out some clean clothes (he learned that the original Oriya was a clean freak), a set of sword/knife/armor polisher (that's why all his battling attires were as glistening as Gai's teeth), snacks (for emergency?), soap, shampoo for girls (explains why his hair was very soft and clean), toothbrush & toothpaste, woman's underwear plus bra — hidden within the towel (Oh My God), and finally something worth, a diary.

He opened and scanned it. From what he had found, he guess that Oriya was a clean freak (I had said that once), the run-of-the-mill type (do what your boss said and you're free from trouble), rather girly (shampoo!), a little bit idiot (many parts of diary entries was the days of "torture" from other people or soldier), careless in fight (the diary said that he had failed four times in soldier admittance test because he always swing his attack to the wrong way), idiot and innocent looking but a high level pervert inside (Sasuke had discovered some porn images cut from magazine inside the diary and a complete icha-icha series along with Jiraiya's autograph within the deepest part of the bag) and Sasuke didn't want to imitate him that far.

After cleaning some disgusting and unusable things, the bag was much lighter now. Who would think that icha-icha series are so heavy because of sin? How could it managed to get its way to many bookstores in the world? It was a mystery Sasuke didn't bother to seek the answer.

Something glistening caught his eyes when he got up. He immediately found that it was a round pocket mirror. It was placed near the bag's previous position. He took the mirror and examined his new features.

Hmm, it's not as bad as he had expected. Soft, glossy, and long enough to reach shoulder black hair combined with narrow grey eyes and a little dark skin. The face was a strange combination between childish and punk. He hadn't examined the face carefully because of the forest's darkness back then.

Maybe, Sasuke thought, it wouldn't turn out to be a bad thing after all…

.oOoOo.

Kiba tried to open his eyes but found it was so heavy to lift. His body felt numb but he recognized that it was the painkiller's work. If it wears of, he'd be in great pain. He heard people talked but it sounded so distant and he couldn't catch what they said. But as time went on, the voices became clear.

"Don't worry, he's not in a grave danger anymore…" it was a familiar voice. Hokage-sama?

He heard another voices, it belonged to a woman too, and she sighed before talked, "Thank God. I don't know what we should do if you were not here, Tsunade-sama. He looks so bad already…"

"Don't worry. Didn't I say that he's not as bad as he looks? You should see him when we found him; I thought he was toasted alive…" replied Tsunade.

There was a pause —Kiba thought it was a wince— then the other woman continued, "I don't want to imagine that…"

"I'm sure you don't," said Tsunade.

"When will he awake?"

"Looking at his injuries, maybe a week or two…"

"A week or two? Do they underestimate me? I'm already awake!" Kiba shouted mentally in rage. He knew that he was badly injured but don't try to backtalk him. He forced his eyes to open and pushed his body so he could sit up. But with the damaged ribs of his, he couldn't sit without a groan escape from his lips.

The woman turned and smiled in happiness. "Kiba, you're awake!"

For the first time in his conscious state, he recognized that the woman was his older sister. She was —if not more— as worried as when he came back from his and the others' mission retrieving Sasuke.

"Off course… huff… I'm… awake," Kiba panted. It was so hard to just breathe. His chest felt heavy and he knew he shouldn't wake up. But pride won his decision.

His sister sighed in relief. "Well, if you could sound angry, you're okay I guess…" she said as she pushed her brother back to the bed after his hard attempt to sit up.

Kiba wanted to reply with a doggy growl of protest but he didn't have the chance because someone knocked the door. That's when he completely realized that he was in the hospital.

"Come in!" said Tsunade.

The door cracked open to reveal two people. They're his teammates. Shino and Hinata. The former looked as cool as ever but the later was horrible. It was as if she was Gaara's twin sister with those swollen eyes of her. And her face didn't shine like she used to.

"Umm… sorry to disturb…" Hinata said with an unusually tired voice. It was horrible enough to have a soft voice and now she combined it with the tired one.

Seeing that he had to do something before the girl was tired enough to even breathe, Shino told them their purpose to come here. "We want to know how our teammate is doing over here."

"If you're asking that he would life normally, he will," answered Tsunade with such a simple tone that no such professional doctor would use.

Shino caught what she meant and nodded. Hinata needed a time to digest the Hokage's words before she understand and mumbled a soft 'thank you'.

Tsunade stretched her body. "Well, I think I should save the questions for the next two weeks. Miss Inuzuka, make sure that your little brother won't get out of his bed without a good reason. And Miss Hyuuga…" she turned to Hinata who immediately looked up at the mention of her name. "…get some sleep. Just let Sakura and Shizune take care of Naruto."

Hinata did a weak nod and left with Tsunade's hand on her shoulders. Maybe the Hokage wanted to make sure that there'd be no more patient for her tired body. Shino, after left some medicine made from bugs' poison (eeww..! He won't eat it even if he had to throw his life away!) on the table beside the bed, left the room without another word.

"So, how are you feeling?" asked his sister to fill the silence.

Kiba, with the "NO MUCH TALK" condition, managed to summarize his feelings in one word: "Horrible."

His sister chuckled at his pouting face and he immediately changed it into "that's not funny" expression. Suddenly a thought ran across his brain.

"Sis, where's Akamaru?" asked Kiba with worried voice. It was so much easier to talk when he lay down. He didn't find or smell Akamaru's presence. Being far away from his dog in a long time at the first time made him felt like that there was something missing.

"Don't worry. He's nearly as bad as you, but he's going to be okay. Once he's healthy enough to be moved, the doctors and nurses would move him to here," explained his sister kindly with her rather harsh tone. Almost all of Inuzukas had that harsh voice trait so it didn't hurt him like other people. Make friends with dogs made them a little wild and harsh.

Kiba kept silent for a while. Then he asked another question, "Sis, how's our house?" he knew, with the explosion, the house wouldn't stand. But still, he wanted to know what happened to the other dogs especially the puppies.

He waited but he got no answer. "Sis?" he asked. No answer. He called again but still no answer. He tried to sit up but failed. He fell back to his pillow but he managed to catch a glimpse of his sister sleep on the chair with slumped head. That's strange. His sister or anybody wouldn't sleep in the middle of conversation, unless…

He went alert and let his eyes darted around to spot enemies. And he immediately found someone that he recognized as enemy.

"You!" he wanted to scream, shout, yell, or making loud noises but with this kind of body, he could only hiss.

In front of him, floated the thunder wolf he had fought and win. Did this creature want to take revenge? If yes, he'd surely die. He got weak body and soft voice —wonderful — just the right combination to be called vulnerable.

:Don't worry.: said the wolf, as if its booming voice could assure the boy.

"Don't worry —ouch— about what? About me that won't be able to scream? What have you done to my sister?" asked Kiba sarcastically then threateningly. Surprisingly, the wolf shook its head.

:Your sister is all right I just made her sleep. I just want to apologize.:

"What?" did his ear just fool himself?

:I know that you won't believe me, but I can't just go away before saying my apologize and do something to repay my wrongness.: said the wolf with a sad tone and eyes.

Kiba unconsciously titled his head to the side to visualize his confuse. The wolf caught this and started to explain.

:When I possessed the dogs and attacked you and your village, I… wasn't being myself.:

"What do you mean?" asked Kiba, now even more confused.

:The crystal you pull out from my forehead, it had corrupted me with its great power.: said the wolf.

Kiba frowned and silent for a moment before answered, "Are you trying to say that it wasn't your fault?"

:No, I don't. I should be strong enough to suppress the crystal's power. But I'm not going to admit that it was completely my fault.: said the wolf.

"And do you expect that a half hearted apologize deserves to be forgiven, especially by me, the unluckiest victim?" asked Kiba with an annoyed tone.

The wolf shook his head in disagree. :I don't think so. That's why, I offer you my service.:

Kiba's confused expression turned into horror. Was it he that becoming crazier and crazier or the wolf who becoming more and more insane at the moment?

The wolf forced himself to not sweat-dropped by Kiba's dull brain. :For the simpler meaning, I become your servant.:

Kiba stared the wolf to buy a time to register what it said. "But… why?" asked Kiba.

:I was taught to be responsible for my acts, whether it's done before my will or not. If you reject, I can't forgive myself…: explained the wolf with closed eyes. It thought a moment before added:I'll swear I'll be loyal to you forever.:

"W-wait! You don't have to do that!" gasped Kiba. His fury reduced to a pity. He absolutely sure that the wolf was as guilty as charged, but if it decided to pay its fault by doing that, Kiba honestly hadn't had an iron fist type heart.

"Please, I've hurt your loved ones and nearly killed you. And because of my act I've destroyed your house. If I can't pay for my wrongness, I don't think I can live with the shame I have to bear…: pleaded the wolf.

Kiba sighed. "All right, I'll accept you to be my servant in two conditions."

:May I know what are those: asked the wolf.

"First rule first: don't call me with master, sama, or any other names that indicate high status. For your information, my name is Inuzuka Kiba. You can call me Kiba," explained Kiba with a teacher like tone.

:I think I can live with that.: replied the wolf.

"Second: no secrets between us, that means we should believe in each other," said Kiba with a friendly grin.

The wolf nodded. :Yes, Kiba-san. I understand. Your wish is my order.: it said with a genie-like tone.

"Third," the wolf gaped. There was more? It thought Kiba said he had only two conditions to fulfill? "How do you help me?"

Silence accompanied them for a moment. Then both of them burst out laughing. And the laugh stopped when Kiba groaned in pain and clutched his chest.

:Kiba-san! Are you okay: asked the wolf worriedly.

"Don't worry. I should have known that I can't laugh with broken ribs. By the way what's your name?" asked Kiba.

:I don't have a name, only a high level spirit beast that has a name. A low level spirit beast like me only deserved to be named by my master.: explained the wolf.

"I begin to dislike this master and servant thing. But I can't do anything about it. Okay! Your name is Aoshiki then!" said Kiba cheerfully.

Aoshiki blinked. :Huh:

"Because your color is blue, that's why your name is Aoshiki!" (note: Aoi blue)

The wolf couldn't hold his urge to sweat-dropped now. :Kiba-san…:

Kiba laughed continuously and loudly (this time there was no pain) until he and Aoshiki didn't notice that a pair of blue eyes were watching them…

.oOoOo.

Ai walked across the dim hallway. She had nothing to do now so she decided to look around the place. Suddenly, a man appeared in front of her.

"Kabuto-san, you surprised me…" Ai sighed as she placed her hands on her chest.

Kabuto smiled as he replied, "I'm sorry to surprise you, but have you seen Sasuke?"

Ai shook her head. She saw a flash of disappointment at the silver haired ninja's face before it turned back to his usual cheerful mask.

"Thank you for your answer. Please excuse me, I have to go," after said that, Kabuto vanished with a puff of smoke.

Ai looked at the remaining smoke with blank eyes. When she was back to her room, she saw a black figure was waiting for her at the corner of the room. She smiled warmly as she immediately recognized who was that. The figure's face was covered with his black hood but that didn't prevent her to know who that was.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she sat down on the bed.

"Horrible," the figure replied with a teenage boy voice. "That Uchiha sure is as rough as his reputation," he said as he rubbed his neck unconsciously.

Ai lifted her eyebrows. "Did he break your neck?" she asked.

"Oh yes he did. I nearly truly died back then. And not only that, he skinned my face when I'm alive!" he grumbled angrily. "If he wasn't an important person, I'd skin and fray him alive!" he continued.

Ai waited patiently to the figure to finish his chain of curse. After he finished, she went to praise him. "But you've acted well. Isn't it satisfying enough to be able to fool him?"

"Oh yes, he fell into our trap easily like a child follow a bad man because of candy bar. That was not satisfying. Moreover, he easily dumped my Icha-Icha collection I worked so hard to get! If Kuuhei hadn't been there, I'd be so dead!" he sobbed.

"Why did he help you? I thought he'd be happy to see you miserable?" asked Ai.

"Well, he was talking to the garbage man, so he unconsciously gave me the time to retrieve my beloved books…" he trailed off.

Ai chuckled. "Just don't let him know that he helped you unconsciously. He'd be so angry and disappointed to himself."

He grinned dreamily. "I bet he will."

"Oriya…" said Ai threateningly.

"Oh, do you have another job for me?" Oriya decided to change the topic.

Ai silenced. She struggled with her own mind before continued. "Go and spy the rebels."

"Why? Did you smell something fishy?" Oriya asked playfully but his gesture was serious. Ai's serious look answered his question.

"Fine. I'll look for it," after that, he vanished like Kabuto did.

Ai laid down to her bed and stared to the ceiling as a long breath escaped her lips. Apparently, her plan wasn't going to be as smooth as she wants.

.oOoOo.

Scroll seven is finished! (dancing around like a mad man) YAY! Thanks for the one(s) who reviews! I love you all!♥ (especially you, Dragon Man 180! My great reviewer, you saved my life! I worshipped you as the greatest reviewer ever exist in FFnet!) Please don't expect me to update regularly, because Senior High school isn't assweet as people say.

Next: In the midst of disaster, Hyuuga Neji was sent to a mysterious island to investigate the death of many shinobi. But what he found was beyond his imagination. Can he escape the island to tell the tale?

Scroll 08: The Island of the Iron