Quiet Lapse (III)
Summary of the chapter:
Threads of anger start clouding his judgement, twisting and wiping away at any sense of rationality. That's when Naruto gets up, feeling restless and unsettled, a nasty jolt of adrenaline already rushing down his spine.
. . .
Naruto didn't get a minute of sleep throughout the whole night, fixedly staring at a small chip in his bedside table instead, until his eyes started to hurt and he had to blink away the dizziness of the dark, and of his dreary thoughts.
Lying on his stomach, with his cheek pressed to the now uncomfortable warmth of his pillow and arms slack by his side, he has not moved an inch from the position except to answer the door once, when Sai dropped by during the first lights of the morning to inform him their mission for the day had been rescheduled, leaving an empty spot in his blank day.
His world used to have a balance, Naruto thinks sometime in between the screeching of cats in the dark and the squawking of birds at dawn. And although it was a distorted kind of balance, frail maybe, twisted possibly, at times utterly warped, it was still a reliable buffer he could always fall back into when he needed it most, and now...
(...and now it's gone, it has been for a while.)
...and now Sasuke is throwing it all off.
He's not supposed to be here! A part of his brain screams, but he has long since put most of his good sense to sleep—not like he already owned plenty to begin with.
None of this is supposed to be happening at all. Another part of his brain supplies yet again as he recalls the cursed scroll. The memory of Sasuke's inked name is enough to make him scrunch his eyes closed, as if for a single moment he is in physical pain.
...He doesn't want to think about it anymore.
(He doesn't want to think about any of this. It's too much. He can't deal with it—he can't.)
"I see we've got a bit of a situation going on here."
And here he is.
Sasuke's greeting is glib at best and Naruto isn't even surprised by his presence this time around, but he doesn't bother with a response, he doesn't turn to look at him. Today he isn't feeling up to deal with...this—whatever this includes.
Words nose their way at the verge of his mind, but he drives them back down.
(You finally left last night. Why are you here again? He doesn't say this, he doesn't want to. He doesn't care. None of this matters anymore.)
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Mondays, am I right?"
But he keeps forgetting how the nonchalant approach of his 'guest' seems to always warrant a reaction out of him, troubling him enough for Naruto to glance at him out of the corner of his eye, wary.
Sasuke raises both shoulders in the defensive resemblance of a shrug. "What, everyone hates them."
And any other day Naruto would bother himself enough to roll his eyes, but today he only bothers himself with letting his head fall back into the pillow. "...Could you just, I don't know, go away?" He is even trying to be polite about it and it requires a considerable effort on his part, so shouldn't he be granted such an easy request?
"Why, you're busy?"
He can hear the amusement in Sasuke's voice and part of him is inclined to flip him off, but he feels so sluggish he could swear he's liquefied in his bones, not to mention the action would require actual energy he doesn't currently have, and doesn't feel like putting in the work for, and he really just wants to be left alone to sulk in peace.
"Yeah." He answers, somewhat bugged about it.
"Yeah." Sasuke repeats, voice taking a bit of a scorning echo behind it. "Far be it from me to get in your way when you seem to be doing a great enough job of it already."
Naruto closes his eyes on instinct, only slightly disquieted at the highlighted accusation, and pushes his face into the pillow until his next words are coming out muffled. "I'm not taking any life advice from you."
"Okay, first of all, ouch. But yes, probably good call on that."
Naruto huffs under his breath, turning his head the other way because he doesn't want to see him anymore. And also because he needs to breathe.
Part of him knows that Sasuke is aware, Sasuke is most definitely aware there is something wrong today...but he himself has no idea what is making him feel like he has to crawl out of his skin.
"...just leave me alone." The words are heavy on his tongue, bringing him down with their weight and for a moment he has the impression he will get crushed underneath them. But the moment is fleeting at best.
"Oh, we're there already?" Sasuke's question is laced with a humorous undertone. "And here I thought stage two would take its sweet time to kick in." Voice dropping, the smirk in his words turns slightly more arrogant. "But I was under the impression this was still stage zero."
Naruto ignores whatever meaning could lie in those words, trying to figure it out would only bring forth a headache and his brain is addled enough already as it is.
Now, this might just be a figment of his—proven time and again—vivid imagination, but when he is talking again Sasuke's tone gets somewhat gentler.
"Say, when was the last time you had something to eat?"
To be fair he had already been expecting this question, he knew Sasuke was about to ask him yesterday, before their conversation was interrupted, and maybe it's the reason why the surge of panic bypasses him today. He can't remember the last time he felt sated after a meal, he can't even remember the last time he had a proper, substantial meal. It's been a few...days, maybe? Weeks? Before Sasuke even showed up.
"...Don't remember." Something compels him to answer, settling for the truth.
The stifled sigh Sasuke lets out reverberates in the room.
It's a little mind-blowing how Naruto is not even looking his way but can picture him so clearly looking dispirited. And sort of exasperated too, as if he was somehow expecting this kind of answer, which Naruto does find more than just a little mind-blowing, and definitely a little strange too.
"You know, I'm no medic-nin in any way, but I feel like it's sort of obvious that you need to eat? Every single day?" Sasuke voices finally, although he doesn't sound as chipper as before.
"Mmh." Naruto hums a half-hearted attempt at a reply, but ultimately ignores him.
No, he isn't going to eat today, he knows it.
The resounding silence is as trying as it is peaceful and Naruto almost revels in it for as long as it lasts.
But when he feels the mattress dip with added weight, instinct has him turning to watch as Sasuke makes his way across the bed—until he's lying beside him.
And Naruto is too tired to have a knee-jerk reaction to him this time around.
There is a bit of distance between them, what with him having tucked himself on one edge and Sasuke taking up the space between the other edge and the center of the bed.
Naruto doesn't remember if they have ever been this close before.
A slow smile takes over Sasuke's face. "Hi."
His voice is soft, carrying over in the quietude the room is enwrapped in, and Naruto watches him through a white screen at the edges of his vision, as if this is somehow nothing more than a faded memory filtered through a movie scene.
"What are you doing?" He can only think to ask, voice a rasp and faint murmur from lack of use.
"Cranky." Sasuke comments instead of answering him, the corners of his mouth quirking up. "I didn't have you pegged as the type who's cranky in the mornings, but you are, aren't ya?"
Naruto quickly turns to face the wall. "Shut up." He snaps in a mumble, not unlike a grumpy child would do.
In the next moment Sasuke's low chuckle is filling his ears.
Something warm, something that used to be familiar but isn't anymore spreads inside his chest like a first-degree burn. The mildness of it still catches him by surprise.
(But he doesn't want to let himself soak up in the comfort Sasuke's presence offers.)
Sasuke shifts, pressing one cheek against his forearm, but his eyes never stray away. His grin widens. "Don't worry, it's actually endearing when it's you."
Naruto frowns at the random remark that almost sounds flattering and, unthinking, he is shifting too, slowly doing so even if his cramped muscles still protest and strain from the position he held for hours on end. Legs curling a bit inward, hand closed in a loose fist as it comes to rest beside his torso, his whole body angles more comfortably towards Sasuke, until they are facing each other.
"You used to be cranky in the mornings." Naruto breathes out in a whisper.
Which is...not what he meant to say? At all? His frown deepens at his own random remark. It shouldn't even be something worth wasting time thinking over. He doesn't want to remember details about Sasuke from years ago, not now, not ever.
But Sasuke exhales noisily, diverted. "Come on, it was endearing of me too."
Taken a bit off guard, Naruto snorts in the back of his throat. "It really wasn't."
A beat goes by, a pause in which they simply look at each other. The moment of undisturbed silence perhaps lingers too long, because Sasuke is cutting it by abruptly pulling back.
Tucking his arms beneath his head and staring up at the ceiling, he asks out of the blue. "Do you remember that mission, the 'useless' one in the Takumi Village?"
Naruto blinks at the suddenness of it all and feels almost dizzy from the topic change. "Um...what?"
But the memories are quick to resurface to mind.
.
.
4 years back
.
"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto calls out to his teacher, who is currently running ahead of him, on the verge of being fed up. "How much time has passed now?"
"Since the last time you asked?" Kakashi asks back, unbothered whatsoever.
"Yeah?"
"Fifty-three seconds."
Naruto practically slaps his hands to his face as he groans. "I can't take this anymore!"
"Come on, Naruto. It's only been a couple of days." Sakura tries to lighten his mood, but it's clear the boredom is starting to get to her too.
Naruto keeps glaring forward. "Sensei, you should know I'm a capable shinobi."
"Of course, of course."
"Then why did you agree to this?"
"In this life," Kakashi begins, as if about to teach them one of the world's wondrous philosophic ways. "We can't always choose between having fun and having to work."
"Yes you can!" Naruto exclaims, pointing at him accusingly. "I saw the pretty sensei the other day–"
"You mean Kurenai?"
"–and she asked for a C-rank mission, and now Kiba is going to brag about it and I'm stuck here in this D-rank nonsense!"
Kakashi opens his mouth as if to counter, but then halts, and starts again. "Well, even if you happen to have a wonderful teacher, I might not be as charming as her. And the best thing you can do about it..." This time his pause is to add dramatic effect. "...is learning to deal with it."
"You just want to take it easy don't you?!"
Ignoring the finger-pointing incrimination, Kakashi asks his other, calmer student. "But I'm still charming, yes?"
Sakura answers with a little shake of the head. "No offense Kakashi-sensei, but if I had to choose, I would definitely pick Kurenai-sensei over you."
"I do take offense to that." Kakashi says, offended. Then his voice lowers in what is an apparent confession meant for his ears only. "...But I would have answered the same." Clearing his throat, he addresses the last student. "Sasuke, who would you choose between your dear teacher and Kurenai?"
Sasuke spares a glance behind him. "Neither."
"Are you aware this is a little rude of you?"
"You're saying that like I should care."
Kakashi brings a hand up to his chin, stroking his mask as if he had a beard. "During these indifferent little moments he has I swear he always reminds me of someone..."
"...you mean yourself?" Sakura whispers under her breath, unimpressed.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, Kakashi-sensei!" She denies with a cheerful smile.
"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto grumbles again.
"Yes?"
"How much time has it been now?"
"Since the last time you asked?"
"Yeah?"
The teacher pretends to ponder it over. "One...minute."
"Oh c'mon!"
A few birds rise in flight, startled by Naruto's frustration.
And now Kakashi, holding a fairly small but suspicious wooden box he hasn't let any of his students get near to or revealed the contents of, is currently deep in conversation with a man who was waiting here for them when they first arrived.
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke are instead waiting on the 'sidelines' as their teacher is busy with his 'important exchange', at least this is what Kakashi ordered them to do, and with a certain lack of anything better to spend their time with other than just standing here and waiting by, they...are standing here and waiting by.
Two out of the three students are watching intently as Kakashi and the stranger trade now two small wooden boxes among themselves, shaking hands with merry smiles. Well, at least it looks like their teacher is smiling underneath his mask.
"Ne, Sakura-chan?"
"What is it?"
"What do you think he's hiding in there?"
After a moment of contemplation, Sakura answers in mild distaste. "...Maybe one of those dirty books."
Naruto's face scrunches up a bit as he observes the two adults conversing like old friends, even if this is the first time they meet. "Maybe. That guy kinda gives off Kakashi-sensei's same vibe."
"They won't even assign us another teacher." Sakura mutters, before giving a resigned sigh. "...I already asked."
Naruto is in much the same state as he plays with a loose thread from his jumper. "...Me too."
He remembers that particular instance up in the Hokage's office, when he even went as far as bowing on the floor and begging the Third for a teacher who would teach him all the ninjas' greatest techniques and how to get stronger immediately, promising to buy the Hokage one hundred bowls of ramen in exchange. The Third had received such a request with a solemn nod, sparking hope in Naruto...before crushing it as soon as he let out a hearty laugh, only to pat him on the head and tell him to be patient and that great achievements require time, assuring him that Kakashi is nothing short of a perfectly capable teacher and they would most definitely bond over time.
Naruto lets out a resigned sigh too.
The two defeated pre-teens look to their right, at their fellow teammate, who shrugs and looks away, not revealing if he too had asked for another teacher.
Naruto's face scrunches up in further frustration as he rakes his hands over his hair, messing it up even more. "Maaaan, to think this is another waste of time!"
But Sasuke, who had been silent up until then, is soon pointing out in not so much of a question. "And you think we wasted days traveling in a so called mission just for just a stupid book."
Sakura and Naruto stare at him with matching dead-fish eyes, before simultaneously stating in a monotone. "This is Kakashi-sensei we're talking about."
Sasuke, in turn, stares at his teacher in the near distance.
"Thank you very much~"
"Pleasure doing business with you~"
The two adults are seemingly trying to set a record for longest handshake as they keep exchanging pleasantries.
Sasuke deadpans. "Never mind."
Naruto and Sakura let out yet another long, suffering sigh.
The mission they took part in this time happens to be in the Takumi Village, situated in the Land of Rivers. Naruto thought at least something cool would have happened on the way, but as it turned out the trek to the village was almost as boring as having to wait for their teacher to do...whatever it is he is doing right now. If he waits a little longer he's sure he might just turn into dust and get blown away by the wind...at least his imagination still seems to be working fine.
Thankfully for him and his never ending supply of energy and adventurous spirit alike, the boredom lifts as something ends up smacking into him, knocking him right over.
"Naruto!" Sakura crouches down beside him, helping her teammate sit as he spits out half-bitten words and holds his head. "Are you oka..." But she trails off when she catches sight of what, or rather who provoked the little accident.
A little boy is clutching his head just like Naruto is, slowly blinking up at them.
Sakura, answering to her innate mother/big sister instincts, is soon helping the boy, carefully pulling him to his feet and patting the dirt off of his clothes. "You're not hurt, are you?" She asks gently. The little boy looks at her with big round eyes before shaking his head, his mop of messy dark hair shaking with him. He doesn't look to be older than eight.
"Sakura-chan, you could help me too." Naruto pouts at her back, mostly wanting her gentle care all for himself.
Sakura turns toward him with a little smirk. "Oh, sorry, I thought this was nothing for a 'capable shinobi' like yourself." She repeats back the words he is usually boasting about, but still offers her hand and pulls the both of them on their feet.
"Yeah, yeah, that's true..." Naruto bites the inside of his cheek as his face warms up, feeling appeased now that he has her attention (and he even got to hold her hand for two seconds! He can't wait to tell Konohamaru about this...though he could stand to change up the story a little, frame it more interestingly, maybe add in a surprise attack from some powerful enemy instead of a collision with a little boy).
"What are you making that weird face for?" Sasuke asks him, cutting through his daydreaming session rather abruptly.
"...eh?" Naruto blinks back into reality, staring at Sasuke with a slightly dumbfounded expression, before taking a sudden step back and squishing up his cheeks, offended. "What are you talking about!? My face isn't 'weird!'"
In all answer Sasuke lets out scoff, as if replying is not even worth his time, which annoys Naruto to the point he is dragging Sasuke closer by the collar and yelling in his face as the other boy remains mostly impassive. Before Sakura can think to intervene though, the kid is sneaking his way in between the two.
"Stop!" He demands in a shrill voice.
For one crazy moment Naruto thinks the boy is going to break out in a speech about how 'friends shouldn't fight' or something of the like, but he is quickly proven wrong when the kid kneels by their feet, retrieving something. Puffing up his cheeks, he pats the object off just like Sakura did with him mere seconds before, looking up at them with what could almost be considered a glare.
"You almost broke it!"
Now that Naruto is looking closer, the boy seems to be holding a small wooden box between his hands, just like the one Kakashi and his apparent newfound friend are in possession of.
"Uh...sorry?" Naruto apologizes, feeling slightly bad and letting go of Sasuke now that his focus has been taken up, bending down to peer at the mysterious box. "Hey, what's that?" He is actually getting rather curious now, because if this is the same box Kakashi has, and if this boy has it too, then it means that whatever is inside is most definitely not a simple, boring book.
The kid, seemingly only now noticing the spotlight is on him, gasps and attempts to hide the small object behind his back. "It's a secret!"
Naruto's eyes are practically sparkling as his curiosity grows. "Don't worry, you can tell me. I promise I'm great at keeping secrets!"
"Since when?" Sasuke jeers beside him.
"Shut up Sasuke!" Naruto snaps, huffy, before making himself as unthreatening as possible and smiling big at the boy. "Don't listen to him, he's just a jerk. So, what are you hiding in there?"
"M'not telling you." The boy mutters distrustfully.
"C'mon, I–"
But Naruto's insistence gets interrupted when a kunai is lodged into the ground a few inches from them. The kid flails from the shock and almost drops his oh so cherished belonging while Naruto stares wide-eyed, caught completely unaware. "Uh, what the–"
"Look out, usuratonkachi." Sasuke warns with a bit of a hard edge to his voice and Naruto looks behind him to find out the rest of his team is already taking action.
Oh, apparently they are fighting off some mysterious enemies who just cropped up out of nowhere. Cool, cool—
"Wait what?!"
But despite the shock Naruto doesn't let that deter him from also being part of the action, immediately taking a defensive stance in front of the kid. "Stay close to me." He tells him, and after a moment of trepidation the younger boy quickly nods.
And Kakashi finds this the perfect moment to let his students know his thoughts. "I'm starting to think you three bring me bad luck."
"We could say the same about you!" Naruto and Sakura shriek in unison.
There are four ninjas dressed in inconspicuous clothes, even their faces are masked and there is no hint of forehead protectors or any giveaway to a possible identification.
"What's even happening here?" Naruto asks out loud to himself, soon passing over to the offensive as he grabs hold of a shuriken from his pouch and runs toward the enemy up front, slashing at him. But the silhouette ends up dissolving into thin air. 'Dammit, just a copy.' He thinks irritated.
But he is stopped before he can throw himself into a proper fight. Kakashi calls his team's attention and signals for them to make their leave, and with a confused nod they all follow, disappearing from sight.
"Why are we even hiding?" Sasuke is the first to break the silence, slight annoyance shining in his face and crystal clear in his voice.
"Until we figure out our next course of action, it's better if we lay low." Kakashi says, watching his students. "And since we'll be stuck here for a while..." He is silent for a moment, as if carefully thinking about what this might entail, before..."Anyone's got jokes?"
Naruto raises his hand high up in the air.
Kakashi nods. "Alright Sasuke, we'll start with you."
"Awh!"
Sasuke's slight annoyance extends to a glare. "You're a bad teacher."
"Nice one."
"It wasn't a joke."
Kakashi ignores him. "Who wants to go next? Sakura?"
"When's my turn!"
Naruto's complaints go ignored this round too.
"Well, I don't really think this is the time for jokes..." Sakura notes as she adjusts her hair, which got a little messed up in the chaos. Then she perks up. "But I've got one anyway. Okay, what do you call a pony with a cough?...A little horse!" She doesn't even finish that she's already giggling to herself.
"Is it my turn yet?" Naruto asks eagerly since he has been waving his arms like a madman for the past...well, for less than a minute actually.
Kakashi's sigh is deeper and somehow a bit more suffering this time around as he nods towards him. "...Go ahead."
Naruto sports a thousand watt grin, immediately rising to his feet and looking at each person in turn. "What is red and smells like blue paint?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Red paint!" He exclaims, slapping a hand on his knee as he bursts out in a loud laugh. Once he has collected himself enough he whispers more subdued. "Hilarious."
His audience's response is in the form of a collective groan.
"You've told this same one twenty times already." Sakura laments under her breath.
Naruto pulls a face at that. "Yeah, 'cause it's funny. Why would I go and change it with another joke that's not funny? That doesn't make any sense."
Sakura looks three seconds away from a face-palm, Sasuke instead looks done with everything and Kakashi...well, Kakashi looks his usual.
"Ehm..." The little boy, who has actually been huddled between them for the whole time, finally finds the courage to speak out. "...did you just kidnap me?"
Sasuke narrows his eyes in a way that states he is fairly unamused. "You really think these three would engage in a lame attempt at stand-up comedy if we had kidnapped you?"
"Hey! Your joke was the lame one here!" Naruto counters back all defensive.
Sasuke frowns at him and his expression seems to scream: 'are you serious right now?'
"Should we do another round?" Kakashi puts forward, unbothered still.
But Naruto has already stopped listening. Any other time he would keep contributing, but there is another matter holding his attention hostage, and since he has yet to know what could be so special that needs to be so secretly hidden, he sneakily makes his way to one of the innocuous boxes laying on the ground while the rest of his team is busy chatting (bickering). With quick reflex he tries to snatch it...but ends up being the one literally snatched when Kakashi has him a foot lifted off the ground by his collar.
Naruto scowls (pouts) at first, before plastering on a saccharine sweet smile (the same one he has seen Sakura do whenever she wants something) and tries to make himself sound as innocent as he can. "Ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei, what's in there anyway?"
Kakashi doesn't lower him to the ground, but he lowers his voice to a conspicuous whisper. "...It's a secret."
"You know I'm good with secrets, I can keep a secret." He presses on, his curiosity back tenfold.
"You screamed your friend's secret at the top of your lungs for all the village to hear." Kakashi helpfully reminds him, referring to the 'friendly but cold war' he and Kiba always seem to have going on between them, in which Naruto gained the upper hand by accidentally stumbling upon a stuffed animal that looked just like Akamaru, and discovered Kiba kept it hidden beneath his pillow.
Naruto waves a hand in the air, dismissing such claims. "What, pfff, that was ages ago."
Kakashi is now looking back at him with a heavy-lidded, unimpressed eye. "...It happened the day before yesterday."
"Exactly. Completely in the past." Naruto continues, thinking he is making a valid point across.
Kakashi is utterly unconvinced. "Hmm, I don't know really."
"C'mon, c'mon, tell me, I promise I'll never tell anyone else!" Naruto even pretends to zip his mouth shut.
The two keep the bit up for a while, eventually getting cut off by a fellow teammate.
"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura purses her lips in an expression that resembles a pout, eyeing him suspiciously. "You're not hiding anything illegal in there, are you?"
Kakashi's eye widens in a way that suggests he is raising a shocked eyebrow as he places a hand over his chest. "I swear it on my humble heart, I would never."
"The heart's on the other side." Sasuke drawls.
Kakashi looks down at his chest, then back up at the kids again, and quickly shifts his hand to the left side of his chest. "As I was saying, I swear on my humble heart that I would never."
While Naruto is still trying to peek inside the box—Kakashi is just too fast and always has the object of his curiosity out of his reach!—Sasuke and Sakura answer with an eyeroll, then with verbal responses.
"Could we focus on the problem at hand?"
"Yes, we don't even know why they attacked us in the first place."
The little kid looks at all of them in turn, as if he is somehow getting dumber solely by being in their presence. "Isn't it obvious that they're after these?" He now takes hold of his own box and raises it for emphasis.
Kakashi nods. "That's true."
At that, three pairs of bewildered eyes raise to him.
"You knew already?" Sasuke sounds more irritated than before.
Kakashi shrugs. "Well, it was obvious."
"Then why are we hiding here." Sasuke asks again in another one of his not-questions.
"To strategize."
"And when were you planning to strategize exactly?"
"After breaking the ice with a round laughter." Their teacher utters in a way that makes it sound as if the notion should be blatant.
Right then and there, Sasuke looks about ready to envelop everything in fire, but he takes a deep breath in and faces the other way, pressing with one hand against the rock wall as if trying his best to reel the frustration in. Sakura pats his back comfortingly.
"By the way, you never told us your name." Naruto decides to completely ignore the other three and instead focus on the little kid.
Unfortunately for him the boy doesn't seem to be in too much of a sharing mood. "I don't trust you bunch of weirdos so I'm not telling you!"
"What. After we went and saved you out there!? How dare you–!"
"Naruto, calm down." Kakashi swiftly grabs a hold of him and pulls him back, patting his head to placate him. "This is a lot to take in for someone who isn't used to such a scene." He reasons. "The boy is most probably confused and scared."
The kid crosses his arms and sneers at them (Sakura excluded). "Nah, I just don't trust you. You three look like freaks."
Despite his smiling facade, Kakashi's eye twitches.
"Kakashi-sensei, I vote we leave him behind." Naruto says out loud, not even trying to keep his voice down.
"Tempting, I may second that."
"...I can hear you, you know." The little boy lets them know, less than impressed by his apparent 'kidnappers'.
"We can't just leave him here!" Sakura immediately rejects the idea. But she halts right away, for the first time taking in their surroundings. "...Speaking of, where is 'here' exactly?"
"We're not lost." Sasuke suddenly speaks out, pointedly staring at their teacher. "Are we?"
Kakashi, who was the one to bring them in this secluded, far away spot, waves a dismissive hand in the air, much like Naruto had done minutes prior. "I can find the way back." In a more hushed voice, he utters next. "...Probably."
Sasuke narrows his eyes. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
Sakura clears her throat. "Well, what should we do now?"
At the momentous question, Kakashi's expression morphs with intensity. "We lure them out, of course."
The strategy to lure the mysterious ninjas out, as it turns out, is not as intense as Kakashi made it sound. Not at all, since they are currently hiding in the bushes and patiently waiting for their 'enemies' to show their faces.
Sasuke, of course, is not one to keep his skepticism to himself. "And you really think that leaving what they have apparently been looking for out in the open and unguarded like this will make them stumble into the trap without question? We all know only Naruto would fall for–"
"Hey!"
"–something so simple."
But as soon as Sasuke is done speaking, the four strangers that attacked them happen to stumble upon their 'trap'.
"Guys, look, it's the box and it's out in the open with no one guarding it!" One of them calls out and they all rush towards it without any hesitation whatsoever.
Underneath the covered and slightly smug smile of his teacher, Sasuke turns the other way and tsk's under his breath. "..Never mind."
But of course Naruto has no intention to actually wait for another signal from their teacher, and is soon launching himself into a 'surprise attack'.
And the little kid is making a run for it instead, trying to put as much distance between himself and them as he can, distracting Naruto for a second.
"Hey–where are you going?"
"Getting away from you weirdos!" The little boy yells in answer. "All you do is fight and tell terrible jokes!"
"Now, now, Sasuke's joke was really the only lame one." Kakashi calls out, to which Naruto nods in agreement.
Sasuke sends them the same look yet again, 'are you serious right now?'
But, once again, Naruto stops paying attention to everyone and everything else, except for the quartet in front of him, pulling back one of his fists as he strikes forward, ready to attack...only to lose his balance and fall on his face. "Ow–what the–"
"Please have mercy!"
He turns to find out what he happened to trip over. And discovers one of the ninjas on the ground, apparently begging for mercy.
Naruto scratches at his head. "...Huh?"
The four ninjas are all bowing now, cowering in fear as if Naruto somehow managed to scare them.
"Don't attack us!"
"We don't mean any harm!"
"We're not even real ninjas!"
"Yeah, only one of us is actually in training. We are only simple artisans!"
The rest of his team comes out from their 'hiding spot', wearing the blond's same confused expression.
Once the sentences get processed up in his befuddled brain Naruto is quick to get back on his feet, pointing at the strangers in indignation. "You attacked us first!"
"That wasn't really our intention..."
"Yeah, we just wanted to scare you off..."
"...So we could get the prize."
"The 'prize?'" Sakura repeats, before her eyes fall on what their teacher has been holding to during all this time.
"Is that so." Kakashi utters in a non-question, walking up to the four, appearing unfazed. "Hmm...what should we do with them?" He asks his students.
"Let's torture all their deepest and darkest secrets out of them!" Naruto declares in a fit of enthusiastic delirium, much to the growing fear of the 'ninjas'.
"Naruto, no." Sakura scolds him like a mother would her child, to the subsequent relief of the 'ninjas'.
Naruto rubs the back of his neck in an abashed gesture and gasps out, as if possessed by a greater force for a moment. "Uh, sorry, the victory, the power...heheh, got carried away a little. Oops?"
"Happens to the best of us." Kakashi mumbles to himself, to which Sakura and Sasuke respond with varying degrees of weirded out looks. Then, he too rubs the back of his neck, only in a way that shows he feels somehow troubled by the effort. Sighing, he speaks a little louder this time. "Well, they are no real threat so...we can let them go."
Naruto suddenly plants himself in front of the 'captured' ninjas. "But before that, you're going to finally tell us what you're hiding in there, right?"
Sakura nods just as eagerly. "Come on Kakashi-sensei, you know you can trust us."
Kakashi takes a moment to seemingly make up his mind. But he puts his hands in his pockets and nods once at them. "Very well, since we've come this far, I think I can share this with you."
Naruto and Sakura are instantly crowding him as the man crouches down, box held in his hands, and even Sasuke has walked up to them.
Finally getting to open the mysterious wooden box, Naruto could swear there is a flash of light coming from inside it, all their efforts and curiosity will get answered, and two out of the three pre-teens can't help but gasp in anticipation at the anticipated reveal.
"What's this?" Naruto asks in wonder, watching as his teacher oh so carefully lifts the contents for all to see.
"This is..." Kakashi whispers in what sounds like an emotional voice. "...a recipe."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Naruto is the first to take the word after a sudden silence has befallen the group. "...What."
"It's a secret recipe, to be more specific." Kakashi elaborates further as he takes out of his vest one of his colorful books, showing it among the astonished expressions of his students. "And it comes directly from the last page of this wonderful book called–"
"You mean we risked our lives for a stupid piece of paper?!"
Naruto and Sakura's fury has them not only interrupting their teacher, but shaking him back and forth and from side to side, with Sasuke looking this close to taking part in such an activity.
"How dare you call it 'stupid'?! That is not any common piece of paper, mind you!" One of the captured men tells them, strangely passionate.
"There are only three of them in the whole world!" Another one of his companions exclaims, just as passionately.
Kakashi nods at their words rather solemnly, if not passionately too. "If they accidentally fall in the hands of the wrong people..."
"What, what would happen." Sakura snaps through gritted teeth, this time being the one who utters a non-question. "Worst case scenario, they might somehow mess up the recipe."
Kakashi stares at her for the longest time. "...Why are you saying it in a way that suggests that would be no big deal at all?"
"Because it's no big deal!" Naruto and Sakura scream in unison at the top of their lungs and resume their shaking while Sasuke leans on a nearby tree and brings his unoccupied hand up to his forehead in what could almost be considered a face-palm.
Hearing a loud noise, they stop whatever they are doing and all face in the same direction. Only to find out the kid, who had apparently been hiding behind a nearby tree, has smacked his own box to the ground.
"...It seems he also didn't take the news that well." Sakura comments as they watch the grumbling little boy leave.
"Maybe he thought he was gonna find some sort of secret map leading to a super secret and cool hidden treasure." Naruto mumbles in disappointment, now sitting in a corner and drawing figures in the dusty ground. "...I did."
"Tch. Of course you would think that."
"Shut up Sasuke!"
"This was useless." Naruto reiterates what he had been thinking all along, only he had not known how utterly useless this mission would turn out to be. (This is not even worth mentioning to Konohamaru, all the interesting twists he had imagined to include completely vanished from his mind!) "We wasted all these days for nothing!"
Kakashi opens his mouth, pointer finger raised to counter—but is soon closing his mouth again and letting his hand fall back down, along with any intention to speak since he is being directly subjected to the threatening glare coming from his students.
"When we get back let's all go eat ramen!" Naruto exclaims, swiftly making his mind up about it. After all there's nothing that ramen can't fix. "Of course Kakashi-sensei is paying!"
"I never agreed to that."
"You owe us for wasting our time." Sasuke, to Naruto's utter surprise, sides with him for this one.
"And I bet Kurenai-sensei would take us to dinner after every mission, if she was our teacher." Sakura, of course, adds next.
"Are you trying to trick me into this?"
She gasps, doing an impression of him as she places a hand over her heart, pretending to be shocked. "Of course not Kakashi-sensei, I would never."
"Sure you wouldn't." Kakashi eyes her warily, then all three of them. But at last he too ends up letting out a suffering sigh, an exaggerated one at that. "...But I guess this time we could–"
"Yes!" Naruto doesn't even let him finish that he's already jumping up in excitement and hanging from his teacher's neck, almost suffocating him in the process. "I'm ordering five bowls of ramen to start!"
"Oi, oi, don't even think about it–" But Kakashi's not so monotonous protests are mostly drowned out by Sakura and Naruto's incessant chatter about how much they are going to eat (spend), much to the Jonin's increasing panic.
From his teacher's back, Naruto coincidentally happens to catch Sasuke's eye. But, contrary to almost every other time, today he doesn't feel like scowling (or even making weird faces at him, he does that sometimes). Instead he shows all his teeth and his eyes drop closed from how wide he's grinning at him, feeling happy.
Sasuke blinks, taken off guard for a second.
Then, with a quiet scoff, he looks the other way. But he is not putting up a front either and seems almost content, which the blond has come to find is almost rare.
And Naruto thinks that maybe this mission might not have been as useless as he had first thought it to be, if it ends with them all sitting at Ichiraku's and eating scalding but delicious bowls of ramen (multiple in his case and much to Kakashi's dismay), not useless at all if the closing of this mission ends up being a memory Naruto becomes fond of.
.
.
present day
.
"...Yeah." Naruto whispers, mellowed out by the reminiscing. "I remember."
Sasuke glances at him from the corner of his eye, his smile is a little more quelled now but somehow it seems more real, as if the memories are affecting him in the same way they are affecting Naruto.
"Why did you..." Naruto swallows, his mouth has gone dry. "...why did you bring this up?"
"No real reason." Sasuke barely shrugs, cutting off the eye contact, as if in the blank expanse of the ceiling he seems to be looking at things only he can see, as if he gets too caught up in his own mind in the same way Naruto sometimes does. "Just wanted you to focus on something else for a while."
In a way, Naruto thinks, it's almost as if he had already figured out what would happen next.
Threads of anger start clouding his judgement, twisting and wiping away at any sense of rationality. That's when Naruto gets up, feeling restless and unsettled, a nasty jolt of adrenaline already rushing down his spine.
. . .
a/n:
Umm… how is it that people keep favoriting and following this story? Not to mention your wonderful comments? Why are you people so nice with me when I feel like I'm wasting your time with the trash I write? But thank you so much?!
also, expect another chapter around the next 24-48 hours
