Yo! New chapter of Sounding in the Dark for you guys. It has been a long time between updates, huh? Sorry about that. I have such a short attention span that I start projects and then put them down then come back to them…I've really got to stop that, lol. Oh, I can't remember how Tsunami's personality was so I wrote her like Kasumi in Ranma1/2. Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…darn, I can't think of anything witty to add…

Chapter 7: Devils and Demons


"Ok, what dumb ass thought it was such a great idea to vacation here? This place is dirt poor!" a familiar redhead moaned as she and a white-haired boy walked down the main street inside of Wave Country.

"Tayuya-chan, it was Otokage-sama that decided we should come here. Do you really want him to know you think he's a dumb ass?" the boy said in a tone that said he was joking. The girl shot him a withering glare that quickly shut him up.

"There's got to be something to do here! We should have played around with those dumb pricks back there, but nooooo…you just had to go get a freaking conscience! Why the hell did you do that?" she asked. The boy decided to answer her question so as to avoid physical harm.

"Uh, well…it's complicated. Back in Konoha I liked very much for some reason. Really, my only good memories from there were from my first year at the academy. I can't really blame them for how I was treated by the adults. The time I've spent with Otokage-sama, Kabuto-kun, Kidoumaru, Jiroubou, Sakon, Ukon, and even Kimimaro-sensei…it's been the most fun I've had in my life." Naruto said as he smiled. Tayuya looked at him and poked his side.

"What about me!-?" she yelled. She was reaching for her flute when the boy looked over at her with a smirk.

"Well, you've been bad-mouthing me since day one; always hitting me with that damn flute, taking the spotlight off me, and making my life a living hell." the boy said as he grinned. Growing thoughtful for a moment, he shifted his gaze to his feet before continuing. "…but, you've been the best friend I've ever had and…I don't want to imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn't have met you." The redhead stopped in the middle of the street. Naruto blinked at Tayuya's actions as she looked down at the ground. After a few moments, he waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. "Hello? Tayuya-chan, are you ok?" She seemed to snap out of her thoughts and quickly turned away from him.

"Y-y-you idiot, don't say those kinds of things out in public, people might get the wrong idea! What the hell was with all that anyway? You've been nothing but a pain in my ass for five years, you know that!" she said, still not looking at him.

"Heh, it's so much fun to get on your nerves though; it makes life interesting." he replied with his trademark fox grin. He mulled over an idea for a moment before deciding to speak again. "Hey! Why don't we go see about getting dinner and a place to stay? I'm sure we can find some sort of decent hotel around here somewhere." Naruto suggested as he started to walk off. Tayuya nodded and turned around to follow; all the while hoping that the boy didn't notice her faint blush as she walked after him down the street.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A trio of kids followed two adults down the bare streets of Wave County. The adults chatted with each other and two of the children talked happily but one lingered behind the group. The young boy had his hands in the pockets of his shorts with a deep scowl on his face. One of the adults noticed him and slowed his pace so he would end up beside the youth. The other two children noticed this and started to hand back as well.

"Well…you seem to be more detached than usual, Sasuke." the masked man replied in an off-handed way that he hoped wouldn't sound like he was prying.

"Hn." was the only reply he got as the boy's scowl deepened.

"Hmm…well, if I didn't know better I'd say you were upset about that fight back there." When the boy tensed up, the Jounin knew he hit the mark. "Don't let it bother you too much. If Zabuza really got going he would give even me a hard time."

"It wasn't Zabuza that's the problem and you know it!" the boy shouted. The two girls seemed to be taken back by his outburst. "Who were they? You seemed to know them." Kakashi sighed and put away his perverted book; he knew this was going to come up. The inquisitive looks from his other two students didn't help either.

"Well…I ran into the boy during a mission to Lightning Country back when I was still in ANBU a few years ago." His students remained silent so he took this as a sign he had their attention. "I was on a mission for the Raikage to eliminate a spy. Since he didn't know how far the spy network when, he had to ask another village to send in a ninja to deal with the traitor. I was about to carry out the kill when that boy showed up with the same intention. He was a bit clumsy and hot-headed and demanded to know who I was. I, like you guys, thought he was an ANBU member at first because of his mask. When started acting suspicious I asked him some direct questions and he took off after blasting me with that air attack so I chased him down. When I caught up to him I captured him and got a tiny bit of information from him but his teammates, one of which was that girl with him, attacked me; I retreated and haven't seen him since." The others seemed to absorb this before Sakura had a question.

"Well, how strong are those two?" she asked. Kakashi thought for a moment. That girl used a high-level Genjutsu; it was one even I've never even seen before. Where did she get that much power from? The Jounin shook out of his daze long enough to answer his student.

"Um…about mid-Chuunin level if they really got going…I think. They did say they were elite guards after all." he responded. Guards of a Kage-level ninja should have more power than that…they were probably only showing the barest minimum of what they were capable of.

"Mid-Chuunin?-! But that girl couldn't have been much older than we are how can they be that strong?" Ino asked. Noting the feral look on Sasuke's face, she hovered close to Sakura.

"Well, there are some kids in this world who are younger than you guys but stronger than me; remember that before you pick a fight with someone who looks harmless." the man said as he glanced at Sasuke. Said Uchiha only grunted and walked past the trio. Kakashi turned to the two girls and shrugged while they looked at each other in hurt and resignation.

"Hey! Don't be so down, we're almost to my house. My daughter, Tsunami, will cook you all something nice for dinner." the old bridge builder exclaimed to try and lighten the mood. Sasuke only grunted again while the rest nodded and headed to Tazuna's house and the food therein.

As the trio entered the home, Tazuna called out to the inhabitants. A little boy poked his head from the kitchen and muttered a greeting while a beautiful woman walked out to formally greet the ninja with a genuine smile.

"Hello, you must be the ninja my father hired from Konoha." the woman stated. Tazuna nodded and she led the group into the dinning room where she had tea set out. She quickly darted back into the kitchen and produced five more cups for her father and the ninja. "I was expecting you to be back sooner, dad. I hope nothing happened?"

"Ah, we ran into some trouble but these fine ninja took care of it! You should have seen them; they are defiantly worth the price!" the elderly bridge builder exclaimed. Ino had a proud look on her face while Sakura blushed at the compliments; Sasuke only scowled at his glass of tea as if it was a mortal enemy taunting his very existence.

"Oh dear; did anyone get hurt?" Tsunami asked with a bit of worry as she looked from one person to the next trying to notice any injuries. While Kakashi and Tazuna were being fussed over by a worried Tsunami, Ino and Sakura were watching the moody Uchiha.

"Why is he so mad at his tea?" the pink-haired konoichi asked her blonde teammate. Ino scratched her neck as she looked the brooding boy over. He seemed totally oblivious to the world around him and content to scowl at a tea-cup.

"I have no idea. It's still cute though…right?" she asked as she watched the boy tense up and curl a fist at the cup. Sakura's eye twitched at this and unconsiously scooted over closer to Ino.

"Uh…it's more scary than cute right now. He was really mad earlier though. I guess he was embarrassed about getting beat by that girl…kinda sexist when you think about it…" Ino said as she tilted her head in thought while Sakura nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, I guess you guys are hungry, right? I'll go start dinner with Inari." the kind woman said once she was confident no one was hurt. She picked up the empty tea cups, with the exception of the one Sasuke was glaring at, and headed off to the kitchen.

"So, what did you guys think of your first real ninja battle?" Kakashi asked. "You all did well; I doubt we would have made it out of there without Ino's well-timed jutsu. Sakura and you came up with a very good strategy, Ino." The two konoichi smiled gratefully and smiled at each other. Sasuke grunted and finally took a drink of his tea having lost the glaring match with the inanimate object.

"…well, anyway, we still need to train before we go against Zabuza again. He's still around, you know." Kakashi added, making sure to stay away from Sasuke's loss. The Uchiha shifted his narrow eyes up at his instructor.

"Just Zabuza, that's it? What happened to those other two ninja?" the boy asked. Ino and Sakura were mildly interested about the pair as well and all three students looked to the Jounin. Kakashi squirmed a bit not wanting to tell them about their old classmate.

"Er…I worked something out with them once you three were gone. I managed to convince them to leave Tazuna alone and not help Zabuza." he stated simply. He rolled his eye when Sasuke smirked; even his two fan girls couldn't help sighing.

"They ran away, you mean." the raven-haired boy said with a bit of pride. Of course they ran away; he was a mighty Uchiha avenger.

"Actually, they didn't. Like I said, I had to convince them to drop the job. That's a good thing though; if they were helping Zabuza we couldn't protect Tazuna without taking at least some casualties." Kakashi said flatly. Sasuke may be a genius but his ego is as large as the Hokage monument. Was I like that back when I was his age? The Jounin shivered at the thought.

"Hn." was the only response the boy gave, obviously not believing his teacher.

"Uh, you said we would get to do some training? What did you have in mind, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. She and Ino subconsciously agreed to end the embarrassing conversation that was going on in front of them. Kakashi was grateful for this and turned to his other two students with a smile.

"Well, I was thinking tree climbing followed by some water walking; if you're good enough. After all, I doubt Zabuza will move anytime soon since he doesn't have the allies he thought he had." the Jounin said. He was amused with the skeptical looks the two girls were giving him.

"Tree climbing? How's that supposed to help us defend Tazuna-san?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, and water walking? How the heck do you expect us to do that? " the blonde girl asked from beside Sakura. Sasuke gritted his teeth and decided to join the conversation at that point.

"Zabuza did it when he caught you in that water jutsu, Kakashi." the boy added looking up from the table. "Teach us." he then demanded. Kakashi sighed; this boy was quickly becoming a liability.

"Did you not hear me from the start? I said I would teach you all how to do this stuff. Today we start the tree climbing, tomorrow the water walking." the Jounin said as he stood up from the table. They had some time before dinner would be ready and his students needed all the time they could get to prepare. Well, at least two of his students would be appreciative of his efforts. He smiled at this and motioned for the group to follow him outside and off towards the near-by forest.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"How about that place?" a white-haired boy asked as he pointed to a run-down building off to the side of the road.

"Are you sick in the head? Look at that dump! There is no way I'm staying in a dump like that." the boys' companion said as she looked to where he was pointing. "Why don't we stay there?" the girl said as she pointed to a nicer building a few blocks down.

"But the other one is right beside the ramen stand…" Naruto moaned. Tayuya stared at him for a few moments making the boy shift uncomfortably.

"You mean to tell me…that you were asking me to stay in a place where the roaches were probably the size of a cow just so you won't have to walk farther to get ramen!" she said through her teeth. Naruto flinched at the glare he was receiving.

"Er, no…of course not, Tayuya-chan! I just…don't judge a place by first impressions, that's all! But now that you mention it, your place does look nicer." the boy said. This seemed to be enough for the girl as she stomped off towards the nicer hotel. "Ugh, that was close. She's been so moody since this afternoon." he muttered under his breath.

"What was that!" the girl yelled from further down the street. Naruto gulped and tried to smile in an innocent way.

"N-Nothing, Tayuya-chan! I hope there are some free rooms left." The girl grumbled and walked into the buildings lobby while Naruto prayed to every god in the heavens that there were some vacancies; he did not want Tayuya to get even more annoyed. The pair walked up to the counter where an old woman was hunched over the wooden desk going though various papers. The hotel was one of the nicer buildings in economically-bankrupt country. Tayuya coughed to get the man's attention and he raised his head from his pile of papers.

"Yes? How can I help you?" the woman said politely.

"We want to stay here." Tayuya said as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Naruto. The clerk looked between the two for a moment before smiling brightly.

"You two are such a good-looking couple! I guess you're on your honeymoon? We have the suite still available…" the woman said as she rummaged through the desk door, looking for the key. Tayuya sputtered for a moment while Naruto laughed behind her. She slammed her hands down on the table making the woman quickly turn her attention over to flushed girl in front of her.

"We are NOT a couple! Do we look old enough to be married! Just give us two single rooms!" she said between growls. Naruto was still laughing from behind her and she shot him a glare…which would have looked much more intimidating had she not have been blushing as red as she was. Tayuya grinded her nails into the table as the white-haired boy started to wheeze from laughing too much. The scared clerk handed over two keys to the girl who only glared at her one more time before stomping off to the stairs. Naruto was left in the lobby shifting on one foot to the other as he tried to decide what to do. If I follow her up she'll just yell at me…if I stay down here too long she'll yell at me…wow, such a great vacation, stupid clerk…

"Are you coming?-!" Tayuya yelled from the second story. Naruto shook his head as he started up the stairs; he knew he was going to receive the bad end of a verbal rant from his partner but oddly he found himself looking forward to it. She is cute when she blushes…

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Zabuza-san, what is our plan of action going to be?" Haku asked. The pair had retreated to their woodland base after their tactical retreat. The Demon Brothers were due back within the hour and Zabuza was getting restless. Kakashi had escaped him and he had been tricked by a little girl…a girl! He pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off a growing headache. If the other swordsmen of the mist ever found out about this I'd never be able to live it down…I can just imagine the things Kisame would say!

"We're going to wait for the Demon Brothers to get back and then we'll watch Kakashi's group for awhile. We have a good amount of time before the bridge is going to be finished so we can get the old man whenever we feel like it." the missing-nin said. Haku nodded his head.

"I suppose we can…but what about those two sound-nin? Do you think they will help us when the time comes?" the boy asked. Zabuza considered this for a moment and shrugged.

"I have no idea what kinda game those two are playing. They seem to have fought Kakashi before, though…maybe they wanted to finish him off themselves for some grudge or something? It doesn't matter though, if they get in our way we'll deal with them. For now I want them watched; go keep an eye on them, Haku." Zabuza ordered as he lifted his massive sword off his back. The blade gleamed in the sparse light as he ran a soft cloth over the metal, cleaning it. Haku smirked under his mask and bowed; this was going to be an interesting investigation…

Bah, such a short chapter. I hate tiny chapters like this; the only reason I'm posting one so short is to give a kinda calm before the storm that will happen in the next few chapters. Sorry if you action guys were expecting more. On a lighter note, this is my first bit of fluff! Well, it's not really fluff, I guess…I still enjoyed writing it, though! See you after exams/week after next.