Drowned by Ice

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, ok?

I changed my penname from Summer's Spicey Melody to – Rusti Cherries. It was a spur of the moment thing.

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Truthfully… he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Kakashi nodded along to every word she said and occasionally sneaked a peak at his perverted little book. Sasuke was getting more irritated by the second. Sakura was hovering around their sensei, whining and complaining about every little thing that had gone wrong on the mission. "The bastard tried to-" The cherry blossom stopped and glanced over at Sasuke. She lowered her gaze to the ground, her rage suddenly subsiding. "He…" She seemed to lose her voice. The ice cube was outraged. Is THAT what she thought he was trying to do? Outrageous! It wasn't exactly… that.

Kakashi reeled his eyes up from his book and raised his only visible eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked steadily, his head tilted to the side slightly. Sakura nodded. "Hmmm," he murmured, sending a disapproving 'fatherly' look at Sasuke. "Well…" His voice trailed off, as if the sensei was deep in thought. "Transfers aren't really my area of expertise." He paused again, his head bobbled, and he looked back down at his book. "How about I talk to Mr. Uchiha, and you go ask Tsunade about this." Sakura nodded and squinted. She leaned closer to Kakashi.

"You know you're a great teacher Kakashi…" She paused and slapped her hand over the text in his book, forcing him to pay attention. "I'm just tired of being the weak link." Kakashi sighed heavily and ruffled her hair.

"I know." He slipped his book into his pocket and walked away, headed toward the Uchiha. Sakura hesitated a moment more, catching a glimpse of Kakashi's pretend punishment scolding. She doubted that once she left the sensei would continue on with such a parental conversation. She bit her lip, and squeezed her eyes shut. The cherry blossom forced herself to take a step, and then another, and another… and then she was gone.

Sasuke watched as she sashayed away. He growled and turned to Kakashi. "Are you really just going to let her leave like that? You're losing part of your team, you're-" He was cut off by the silver haired ninja clearing his throat obnoxiously.

"Well… what do you care?" he asked casually. The sensei rolled onto one hip, his head cocked and his hand in his pocket, surely fingering his dirty book. A tiny moan slipped through his lips and he leaned his head back. His eyes glazed over and he sighed deeply. "As far as she's concerned, you don't want her here Sasuke."

The ice cube let his eyes roll in annoyance. He snorted and turned away from his sensei. "God damn it Kakashi..." A bitter smile graced his lips. "You of all people should know that shit isn't true." Sasuke glanced over his shoulder. He eyed the sensei. To anyone who didn't know him, he would appear to be deep in thought, but Sasuke knew better.

"Well…" Another pause. "I don't think I should be the one to tell her that, now should I?" He pulled his book out of his pocket and went back to reading, chuckling sourly under his breath.

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"Sakura please-"

"No Tsunade! I'm fucking tired of it!" Sakura was outraged. She quickly swabbed another tear off her cheek and stared at the woman in front of her. She grunted and fell down in the chair. "Well, what do you want me to do woman?"

Tsunade stared at the cherry blossom. Her gaze softened. She wanted to sympathize with the girl, but she couldn't follow out such a big request without figuring out what was going on. "Sakura," she whispered, sitting down next to her. Tsunade gently laid her hand on the girl's arm, staring intensely at her tear stained cheek. "How about we talk things over with your other team members first, ok?" Tsunade couldn't help her desperate expression as she waited for an answer.

She heard Sakura sigh heavily. With a grunt, the young kunoichi reeled her head around to look at Tsunade. "Alright." She paused and glanced at her mentor's desk. "But it's really only…" Her face strained, she didn't know how to say this to Tsunade. "Only Sasuke," she concluded. "It's his fault and no one else's."

The older woman was slightly surprised by this, but nodded and pushed herself up from the chair none the less. She had thought maybe it was Kakashi who had caused this. The man could be slightly… perverted, in politest terms. "Well then, I'll send for Sasuke and we'll talk things over." Sakura nodded, but remained in her chair. She could pout if she wanted to. Tsunade was slightly perplexed. She shook it off and walked off to go send word for the shinobi.

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Sakura barely noticed when Tsunade re-entered the room with Sasuke at her side. She didn't know why she had agreed to this. Of all people, he was the last one he wanted to see.

Tsunade motioned for him to sit down and he sat down quietly beside Sakura. She still paid no attention. The older woman retreated to sitting behind her desk and eyed the two teenagers warily. She sighed and decided to start asking questions. "So, what happened?" The cherry blossom took the liberty of grunted and shrugging her shoulders. She didn't want to talk about it. Tsunade turned to the ice cube. "Sasuke?"

He growled and rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't know what crawled up her ass," he motioned to Sakura. "But whatever it is certainly isn't enough to leave the team." This caught her attention. Sakura whirled around and stared intensely at her ice cube of a teammate.

"Oh right, sorry, I was really getting molested. I just thought I was." Sasuke's eyes widened at her comment.

"What the hell? I was not trying to feel you up; can't you get that through your thick skull? What is your problem Sakura?" he yelled. He stood up and turned to stare at Tsunade. "You don't believe this nimrod, do you?"

She wasn't quite sure what to say. "Um… uh…well-" She wasn't able to finish her stuttering.

"I've loved this idiot for years and I still don't know why!" Sakura screeched. This caused Sasuke to fall down in his chair. "I've tried…" She paused and suppressed a sob. "The bastard thinks I'll wait forever and I won't!" She slammed her fist down on the table.

Sasuke sat unfazed in his chair. What was he supposed to say to that?

"I'm just tired of waiting Tsunade. And I know that – this – can get in the way of being a ninja. So…" She sighed and resolved to what seemed to be her only solution. She reached up and untied her forehead protector. She dropped it on the desk. "So I quit."

Sasuke sat in the chair and watched her walk out of the office.

He didn't say a word.

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I'm trying to do longer chapters, but since this one is sucky enough anyway, I decided not to torture you any more than I already had. Oh man, this chapter SUCKS, doesn't it? Come on, tell me the truth! Arrgh! I hate writer's block…

Anyways, if you think this even deserves a review, please lift my spirits.

Who else?

RC