Chapter XVI: Square One

Sakura awoke to find Kakashi missing. His bag was still in the room, but his blankets were nowhere in sight, so she decided to prowl about the restaurant. The rhythmic dripping she heard of water falling from a corner of a roof in to a puddle told her that the rain had stopped for this moment. Deciding that this was a good time to take advantage of the ceased rain, Sakura ventured to the top of the building.

There she found a few rays of light and Kakashi.

Tiptoeing across the concrete roof, Sakura jumped up and landed softly behind Kakashi. The sun barely peeked through a tiny sliver of space between two well-placed clouds. Sunlight was a rarity, and even a sparse ray was a welcoming sight. Sakura was glad she woke up early this morning.

"Good morning, sensei," Sakura greeted as she jumped over a puddle and squatted a safe distance away from Kakashi.

"Ah."

He was wearing his mask.

Come to think of it, Kakashi had not removed his mask since the mansion. Not that Sakura had forgotten how he looked like, but she still wanted to see his face again for curiosity's sake. She never cared to seriously observe Kakashi's unmasked face. It was a colossal waste of six years worth of hypothesizing the good, the bad, and the downright nightmarish.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Ah."

"Yeah, the rain stopped last night so I slept pretty well too."

"…Ah."

"Um, are the rest of the guys up yet?"

"They will be soon." An ominous answer.

Sakura bit her lip and rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, waiting impatiently for yellow rays to warm her face. Maybe she should wake up Sasuke-kun and Naruto. They might like to see this too.

"Sakura."

"Yeah?"

"Are you pregnant?"

There was a moment of initial shock when the words froze in the air, condensed, then dropped brutally against Sakura's thought processes.

The hell…? A good amount of time had passed before Sakura could find the right words to say.

"No!"

"… Is that so…"

The question warped time and space creating a surreal atmosphere, and Sakura could hear an audible buzzing take over her brain before she could wonder if Kakashi was joking or not. Sakura jumped to her feet in frustration. "'Is that so' my ass! How can you ask a lady something like that so bluntly!"

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Don't avoid the question!"

"Ah… Did I do anything weird when I was drunk?"

"Eh?" A moment of astonishment made Sakura's foot slip off the edge of the water tank. Kakashi grabbed her arm and pulled her back to safety. Sakura gripped Kakashi's shoulders to steady herself and gave the man a look. She hadn't expected him to ask her that.

"As in back in the mansion?"

"Ah…." Kakashi released Sakura to scratch his head. "Um, I don't remember anything after—"

"Drowning yourself in sake."

"Maa, you say things so negatively, Sakura-kun," Kakashi bantered cautiously. He could see the metaphorical wheels churning in her head which was what he feared would happen. The mischievous twitching of her lips had him concerned enough.

Strangely enough, she quickly sobered up and gave him a straight answer.

"You pretty much went to sleep after saying some nonsense, nothing important or to be concerned with." Sakura gave a toothy grin. "Does that answer your first question, too?"

"…." He never thought the two questions were related to each other in the first place.

"It was only three days ago. We're not fruit flies."

"Ah ha ha ha! Well, thanks for being honest." Kakashi returned to watching the sky. Since sunrise goes by quickly, the rays currently peeking though the tiny crevice would disappear soon. The rain would start up again too.

The sun slid under the cover of clouds. Rain dribbled harmlessly from the sky before downpour soaked the two sky-gazers. She heard that in the Cloud country, the sun was a rare sight on any given day. Though the sun was nice, Sakura preferred the rain. With the clouds and precipitation, she wouldn't have to face the heat.

"Ah, it was nice while it lasted," Sakura supposed nostalgically as she looked back to the horizon.

Kakashi turned to leave. "…Yeah."

"Hm?" Sakura felt like she and Kakashi were not talking on the same topic. He had been rather detached since last night, but that wasn't different from the past. Come to think of it, the strangest change was how he was acting since… was it before, after or during the party? Rubbing her forehead, Sakura wondered how the man could be so liberal and yet so subtle in changing his ways.

"Let's go. Everyone should be awake by now."

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"Alright," Sasuke began, thumping a scroll on the ground and pulling out a yard of paper in one swift motion. "Let's review our mission and what's been going on since we've left Konoha and set our priorities."

Naruto and Shiro sat opposite of Sasuke as he began to write numbers along to top.

"Today's the sixth day of our mission. So far, we've found no information related to out mission." Sasuke wrote 'Mission' vertically under the first number. After all, the mission has been and always was the top priority.

"We'll discuss what which course of action we should take after Kakashi and Sakura comes back." Naruto nodded. Shiro looked strangely at the paper.

"You're writing backwards."

"The second most pressing matter is the fact that we're missing-nins. Even though the fact stands that ninjas don't use 'ga-nu's or 'bu-re-to's to fight or kill, the strained relationship between the Lighting and Fire country will try to start some trouble by blaming the murder on us."

"That's not how you say it."

"We'll probably be hunted by both Leaf and Cloud ninjas," Sasuke continued despite the fact that his right eye was twitching in irritation.

"Depending on the information we gather during this mission we will either be allowed back or banished from Konoha forever. While the two options won't affect the mission at all, I'm guessing that everyone here wants a place to return to."

"Naw, we're gonna come back to Konoha for sure," Naruto insisted. "I still have to fill that gap between the fifth and seventh Hokage."

"Third, which has nothing to do with the mission and happens to be just a really annoying thing are Bloodline Limit hunters." Next to where he had written 'Konoha', Sasuke wrote two large hiragana characters.

"'Do'… 'be'…?" Shiro craned his neck to read the characters properly.

"So far the people who were hired to go after us were wholly incompetent, technology-reliant, strategically challenged, physically inadequate amateurs from a weird country." Naruto offered his condolences to a desolate Shiro in a form of a pat on the back.

"Because of this, all we have to do is detect an abnormal flow in chakra. Since these guys have no knowledge of chakra, their flow tends to be chaotic. An easier way to spot them is their height. They're a bit on the tall side."

"I have a question!" Shiro exclaimed. "How's my chakra?"

"You've done some training," a third voice remarked. The three men turned around to see Kakashi climbing in to the room. "You have some potential to use ninja techniques."

"Sensei's getting water everywhere," Naruto stated distastefully as he scooted away to escape any stray drops of water.

"Ah, I went for a walk." Kakashi leaned over the list Sasuke had created, dark spots appearing on the paper where the water fell from his head. "What's this?"

"Just discussing our priorities. And speaking of priorities…" Sasuke tapped 'Mission' with his pen.

"How will we be able to gather information on this if we're missing-nins? We failed to establish relevant connections to the Raikage, and anyone working inside any hidden village is now our enemy."

"We'll have to go directly to the Raikage."

"Eh!" Shiro and Naruto cried out. The door slid open once again and Sakura entered, rubbing her hair dry with a towel. She arrived in time to hear her leader's plan.

"'Directly to the Raikage'?" What kind of boorish method were these men scheming again? Sakura scoffed at the prospect of running head-on with the enemy. "So what, we're gonna ask him in person?"

Kakashi rubbed his cloth-covered chin with a thumb.

"If all goes well."

Sakura's jaw went slack. She looked around for support and instead saw, with horror, that no one was joining her opposition.

"You're all insane! How are you—" Sakura cut short. She had forgotten that Shiro was not exactly a part of their team. Giving him the details of their mission would endanger him and the team.

That also meant—

"As far as resources go," Sasuke cut in, seizing a scroll materialized from a puff of smoke. "That's why you have us."

"And as far as planning goes," Naruto said with a toothy grin, "That's why we have Sakura-chan!"

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Once Sakura had made clear that she and Kakashi had exchange nothing more than a few thorny experiences rather than rings, Sasuke was voted out of the so-called Bachelor's Pad for the following reasons:

First, everyone agreed that the Copy Ninja's interest in undignified literature would endanger Sakura. ("Thanks for the vote of confidence.")

Second, Naruto's bedside manners were terrible. ("Doesn't everyone sleep with kunai under their pillow?")

Third, nobody trusted Shiro in that situation. ("Hey!")

And thus Sakura found Sasuke sitting next to her with a large, white rice paper screen between them.

He was as solemn and deliberate as ever, immediately requesting for anything that could be used as a wall for the time being. Paranoia must have hit hard, since he went as far as securing a portion of the screen with wires and shuriken. Maybe the rumors that Sasuke had gotten himself a girlfriend was much closer to the truth than anyone had expected.

"Sakura," Sasuke called out suddenly, tossing a box over the makeshift barrier. "Catch."

"Ah!" Sakura cried out in surprise as she fumbled with the box. Taking a firm grip, she peered at the label.

"'Burgundy'," she read out loud. "You bought me hair dye?"

"No." Sasuke sensed Sakura turning to look at him through the papered panels. He stood to leave the room.

"We're helping Takemori and his family while we're here. Your hair color is too conspicuous if you plan to help out. And along with the dye, Kakashi told me to give this back to you." Sensei? Kakashi-sensei bought the dye?

Sasuke waved a long black senbon in front of Sakura's face. She picked the needle delicately from the Uchiha's fingers as he slipped out of the room. Looking blankly at the strange color of the familiar object, Sakura's curiosity piqued.

After successfully rendering his case immobile, Kakashi wrapped his arms around Sakura's waist and pulled her into a tight embrace. Removing the senbon supporting her damp hair, he weaved his fingers into her hair and gently tilted her head to murmur into her ear.

"We'll have to move out tonight. Our cover's been blown and it's apparent that someone's trying to hunt us down."

That time… it wasn't as bad as she pretended it had been.

BAM! Sakura rammed her head into the wall.

Wasn't as bad my ass, she thought. It was horrible. It was worse than Naruto succeeding the name of Hokage via The Ultimate Perverted Jutsu™.

"Absolutely horrible! The worst!" Sakura ranted, not sure if she was talking about Naruto or Kakashi. It didn't matter anyways. Her opinion of whatever imaginary situation she had set them in was still the same.

From outside, Sasuke had heard the loud bang and exclamation on his way downstairs. The sound was acknowledged only with a hesitant step before he continued to walk down the stairwell. Sakura had become remarkably energetic lately.

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In return for their hospitality, the team catered to Takemori-san's restaurant. It turned out that Yuko-san had a total of four brothers; Takemori was the youngest and the only brother below Yuko-san. When Naruto was informed of this fact, his eyes glossed over. Five siblings. It was like having your own personal sports team.

Sasuke had traveled with Tsunade to visit the Raikage on one occasion to prepare for this mission, even though he had no clue why the Hokage would tell him to memorize every nook and cranny of the Hidden Cloud's headquarters.

"Hyuu" Shiro draped himself over the backrest of a red wooden chair, completely exhausted from fighting against a flood of customer demands. Sasuke walked over and set a can of juice on the man's back.

"Yo, Shiro."

"Hm?" The gunman reached toward the strangely-place beverage and straightened up when he had the beverage was in his grasp. Sasuke slumped down in a chair nearby and crossed his arms.

"Is your father from where that Thompson-person is from?"

"Because of my last name 'Bradford'? Naw, I made that up for financial purposes."

"Financial purposes?"

"I came from a country where people like us are a minority. Though I'd like to think of the job market as an unprejudiced institution, it's just an illusion. I actually went by 'Shawn Bradford'. 'Shiro's my given name."

"Then your last name is…"

"I'll tell you mine after I know yours."

Ah. Come to think of it they were never introduced properly.

"Uchiha. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yamimura Shiro."

"Paradoxical."

"My parents were from the Hidden Cloud Village, if it helps you to understand. Neither of my parents were ninjas, though."

"Shiro…" Sasuke leaned forward as if he was asking something of personal nature. "Are your parents dead?"

"No."

"Did they abuse you?"

"Not in a malicious sense, never."

"Do you suffer from terminal angst?"

"…What kind of interrogation is this?"

"Ah, it's just…" Sasuke coughed. It was an embarrassing thing to talk about, even though he had nothing to do with them. Probably. Hopefully.

"Sometimes a self-declared ninja with a strange name or hairstyle comes by every one in a while. It seems to be mandatory that these schizophrenics claim to be related to me or Kakashi. Thankfully, they disappear after some time." Taking a sip from his can, Sasuke slumped back into this chair.

"I wonder what part of 'only survivor of the Uchiha massacre' they don't understand," Sasuke mused to no one in particular. He himself had no idea who 'they' were, but he wished 'they' would stop reviving the most exasperating members of his deceased clan.

Shiro contemplated for a moment. Mysterious. Psychotic. Fashionably challenged. Abruptly ephemeral existence. There was an explanation for all this.

"They must've fallen into a plot hole."

Sasuke shrugged. As long as it made sense.

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Yamimura: Dark/Black village, according to my limited Fangrrl Nihongo.

Shiro: White

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Author's Notes
decided to pack this fic with defunct plot devices, because many—if not all—plot devices do not work for this pairing.

The party arc has the most obvious ones. There are more floating out there I've added inadvertently. Either way, they don't work.

Yes, I'm still planning on comtinuing this. I have a week of break in March. I'll spend some time writing then. Right now, I have a comic to submit for my college

"Fanartist"