Team 7 at work
"Get this thing off me!"
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder!"
"Then help me pull it!"
While the shirtless Sasuke and blushing Sakura tried to tear the strange purple blindfold off of his face, the currently lounging Naruto focused on frankly anything but the two. The cat that had proven a little hellion for the two to catch by themselves had come to him once she had decided a fish or two had been a good enough bribe for her. He still didn't know what the big deal with catching Tora was to the others who had the task assigned to them. He continued to gently pet the calm cat's head while his two teammates had devolved to rolling around on the ground.
"GET THIS STUPID THING OFF ALREADY!" Sasuke was half pulling with Sakura as her hands landed on the blindfold and half pulling her towards him so he could properly strangle her for getting it stuck on him in the first place.
"I said I was trying!" Sakura promptly roared back at him as she planted one white and gold boot on his chest and began to pull even harder. "Now stay still!"
"OW! That hurts!" He was understating it. The blindfold was not only refusing to come loose but it felt like it was glued to his face the longer this went on.
"Stand still! I almost got it!" Sakura tugged harsher, Sasuke thrashing in her sudden iron-clad grip as he tried to free himself to no avail.
"Let me go! This isn't worth getting my face torn off! I'll just live blind!" Sasuke's new protests were ignored by Sakura, the pink haired girl managing to get a better grip on what she was after and beginning to pull that much harder.
"That's not a way to live!" Sakura somehow wrestled him down to the ground, her knees planted on either side as she kept pulling at the blindfold on his face.
"Stop already!" She, somehow, wrenched him back onto his feet with her next violent pull.
"The screaming means its working!" Sakura pulled and Sasuke confirmed her words when he began screaming.
Naruto glanced to the two and, more importantly, the silver latch around the back of his teammate's head that was keeping the strange blindfold stuck to Sasuke's face. The cat glanced to him when he glanced down to her, seemed to ask a silent question.
"Yes. They're always like this." He could swear he just earned a look of sympathy from the cat, a paw laid on his arm in comfort. He rose to his feet, offered the cat a place to perch on his shoulder as he grabbed the latch and pulled it free, ripped Sasuke's head back in the process but the blindfold he had been trapped with fell to the ground at their feet.
Sakura, coming in close as she was readying her next strong pull, promptly fell against him and the Uchiha dropped to the ground, his hands more focused on holding his currently aching face than they were with bracing his fall.
"Ow." He groaned on the ground as Sakura rolled off of him, snatched up the blindfold.
"I should figure this thing out one day." It vanished to wherever the majority of her weapons went to when they weren't in use.
Across from his team, Sai allowed himself to almost hope that this mission was really going to end this simple.
"My face…So. Much. Pain." Sasuke continued to lay on the ground, Naruto patting him on the shoulder. "Why did you even put that thing on my face?"
Sakura promptly shrugged her shoulders, at least it seemed like she did from the way her white furred cloak moved up and down.
"It felt like a good idea." She smiled at the cat on Naruto's shoulder. "Hi Tora-chan!" She scratched the cat beneath her chin, earned a pleased purr. "Who's a pretty kitty? You are! Yes you are!" She smiled at the cat, moving to rub at her head as the cat nuzzled against her hand. "Oh, you're so pretty and nice! I'm sorry my mean teammate tried to freeze you!"
"That cat is evil!" Sasuke sat up on the ground, rubbed at his pained face. Once glance at his teammates showed him he wasn't going to get anywhere on this, not when the cat already had the two wrapped around her paw. "Let's just get this over with."
He dragged himself up off the ground and sighed when he looked down. His shirt was in tatters across a few streets courtesy of Tora's absurdly sharp claws.
"Good work on retrieval." Sai applauded the three Genin as it seemed the situation was under control. "Now, we'll simply return the pet to Ms. Hikifune. She'll be happy to have her darling pet back." Sai petted the cat as he spoke, Tora clearly enjoying the surplus of attention she was receiving.
Sasuke kept a healthy distance, he remembered what his big brother had told him concerning Tora…
"Don't trust that Devil for a second Sasuke! She'll claw your eyes out!"
"Itachi…come on man. That cat attacked you because you kept trying to stab it."
"Nothing but lies! Don't trust that demon Sasuke! Shisui's been hypnotized by its fluffy tail!"
"…You really need to learn to relax more Itachi."
"See Sasuke! The cat's gotten to Shisui! Don't let that demon turn you against me too!"
"I won't let you down big brother!"
He gave the cat the evil eye as he saw it do just like Itachi had warned him of, how easily it slipped everyone else under its control. He should've thought about warning his teammates about the monster they were heading after, how great of a threat it really was.
'My poor teammates.' He shook his head, almost let despair overwhelm him. 'Don't worry. I'll get you out of this. Somehow, someway, I'll take down that demon and free you!' He felt a blizzard swirl in his soul, freeze this conviction he felt, felt his determination and loyalty pile on top of it. In moments, a, figurative, mighty frozen mountain existed in his soul. 'I'll save you all!'
Sasuke's silent vow went unnoticed by his two teammates and his Jonin sensei.
In short, it was mostly a normal day for Team 7.
