"Hold still!"
"OW! THAT HURT!"
"I said hold still! I can't bandage this around your arm if you won't stay still, stupid!" Sakura cried out indignantly, frowning at the blond boy sitting across her, on the sofa. Making a face, he stared at the disinfectant in her hands before shaking his head quickly and hiding his left arm behind his back.
"That stuff is painful!" he murmured, looking up at her with wide glistening eyes to try convincing her otherwise. "Can we please skip it?"
"No. Now hold it out."
As he hesitantly put it out, she flinched at the sight of the large wound, pursing her lips together before rubbing the alcohol over it. He was biting down on his lips, making an almost comical face as he tried to prevent himself from doing any sudden motion. It was all her fault that he got hurt and she was ashamed of herself for it.
Naruto as his name was seated in her living room, treating injuries he had sustained because of her own stupidity and reckless thinking. His tanned face held what seemed to be a grimace and a smile put together; a seemingly painful action considering there was a purple bruise was on the corner of his lips. Among his injuries were; a bruise on the side of his head where he had been hit, a black eye and another bruise on his left leg.
Her parents were not home because they were on a mission and so, she had to treat him herself, hoping that she wouldn't do anything wrong while doing so.
"OW!"
"I'm sorry!"
He pouted, looking up at her before grinning as wide as he could once more. This girl was unique; most others wouldn't even toss him a bottle of water should he come to their rescue. And here she was, tending to his injuries...after inviting him to her own home! It would be the first time he would see the interior of an actual home where a family lived and it matched the description of those stories that were read to him once ago by the Hokage-jiisan.
It was warm inside and had a homely feeling to it. It was surprisingly neat; but then she probably had her mother and father to clean up for her. She probably had a mountain of toys too. 'She's so lucky,' he thought as he spotted a large stuffed bear sitting on top of a shelf. 'It's so big and fluffy! I want that! I wonder if she'd let me touch it...should I ask her? Maybe she will! But then it looks expensive...though touching it wouldn't hurt right?'
"Naruto Kun, stop grinning like that. You are going to stretch that cut on your lip." He broke out of his thoughts at the demanding tone, laughing sheepishly at the glare she shot him. How could he not smile? He was seated inside a real home, being treated by someone his age who was actually talking to him...and calling him by his name instead of 'the fox brat' as many sneered at him. He knew that this would probably end either once she finds out that he was someone they all shunned...or when her parents walked on.
They were probably like everyone else; adults loathed him for a reason he did not quite understand and the Hokage-jiisan would not tell him anything about it. This was a novel experience for him and he wished that they would be stuck with whatever they were up to for a long time, just so that he could spend a bit more time with her. He knew that they'd kick him out the moment they laid their eyes on him and afterwards, she'd be taught to hate him too. The mere thought depressed him.
"Hey now I asked you to stop grinning! You don't have to look as if your pet goldfish just died!" Sakura scolded as she noticed how upset her new friend suddenly looked. "Does it really hurt? Let me dab some of this near your face-"
He grabbed onto her hand as it neared his face, his cerulean eyes fixed to her shocked emerald ones. He suddenly looked grown up; he was making the face where people did when they were extremely focused on something and it unnerved her. His grip was strong though it did not hurt her and she wondered whether it was a mistake to try touching his face; he was probably self conscious of it.
"Sakura-Chan..." he started softly, as if he were hesitant to use her name in a familiar manner. "Can I ask you something?" At the inclination of her head, he took a deep breath, "What...what do you think of me so far?"
She was more than surprised to hear that question coming out of his mouth. Here she was expecting him to question her stupidity that put him into this condition. With a docile smile, she scratched her cheek hesitantly, looking straight up at him. What was she supposed to say?
"You are a very cool person…" she said honestly after a minute of thinking."…who is also very kind and strong? You didn't think twice about rescuing me from those people so...you are pretty awesome."
She had nearly deafened him with a shriek the second he peered into her face and once he had collapsed (clutching his head and groaning) she had bolted off into a random direction in order to escape. Unfortunately, her cry had attracted the attentions of the very people she were trying to hide from since that morning and what was more, she fled into the very direction they were steadily approaching.
She didn't have time to think and turn back once they saw her however; one of the bunch threw a large rock at her forehead -leaving a nasty bruise that was now bandaged up- and that was all it took for her to cower down into a ball and to start crying. The assaults and sneers came on almost immediately and she soon found herself being dragged off to god knew where; probably be forced to play the blind fold game, where she was always the one to be 'it'. Obviously they found amusement by pushing her down and making her run into posts.
Then, he arrived with a large branch in his hand, a furious scowl on his face. Sakura honestly had no idea how he managed to recover from what she had done to him a while ago but then, he had somehow done it and at that moment, she had thought that he was one of them. It shocked her thoroughly to hear him demand them to release her.
Instead, one reached out and slapped her straight across the face with a sneer. The next minute, he was lying on the ground, groaning and writhing around as blood began trickling down his nose with Naruto standing there, holding the branch with a large blood smear over it and a triumphant grin on his face. All hell broke loose then and she was shoved to a corner while the group of large boys began rounding up on her savior, picking up more pebbles and branches. But Naruto was seemingly not intimidated by the least. With a war cry he shot forward, throwing punches and kicks, occasionally clamping his teeth down on someone's arm.
Whereas they are taller and more well built than he was due to being properly fed and coddled by their parents, he was smaller, more study, agile and certainly knew more about fighting than they did. He grew up trying to defend himself against bullies and adults who loathed him and so, knew dirty tricks to carry out in order to easily win a fight. Needless to say, he had taken them down all by himself within a mere ten minutes and sent them running off with sprained wrists, broken noses/teeth and black eyes.
He himself suffered an equal number of damage of course; but instead of yelling at her for being stupid and cowardly, he approached her and asked her whether she was alright...and smiled despite being in obvious, great pain. She had wrung her arms around his neck the moment he did so and started bawling into his dirty shirt, uncaring whether she would be soiling it further with her tears.
Naruto did not complain the slightest and instead, opted to sit and pat her head awkwardly as she let out tears of frustration and relief, occasionally asking her when she was going to stop, obviously having no idea as to how to handle a situation as this. Eventually she did, around twenty minutes later and seeing his injuries once more, dragged him to her home in order to treat him.
"I truly think that you are a very cool boy," she grinned, arriving at her verdict. "Of course, you are a bit stupid for putting yourself into danger like that but the way you fought them off was cool!"
His shoulders slumped at that and released her hand, a relieved look coming over his face. "That's...good to know." He laughed. "I thought you'd be scared of me or hate me or something like that..."
"Why would I hate you?" She spluttered, completely taken aback by his words. Who did he take her for anyway? "You saved me! I am grateful for that! No one has ever stuck up for me like that!"
"You don't think that..." he looked around nervously, listening for any other signs of movement."...I am the 'fox brat' as they all called me? They hate me you know..." Whenever he mentioned the word fox, the people who glare at him a whole lot harder than they usually did, with such hate that it would frighten him into running away in fear…pain…
"I don't care." she snorted, waving her hands around. "You are a really cool and kind person. I don't know why they hate you...did you do something bad before?"
"No!" he shook his head quickly, holding up his own hands in front of him in defense. "I would never! I don't like hurting people at all! I swear! I like helping people but they won't let me!"
She slid off from the sofa, gathering the first aid kit in her tiny hands and shot him a wide grin. "Well then, there is nothing to worry about. Make yourself at home! I'll bring you some tea and all! I made onigiri a while ago; would you like some?"A large rumble escaped from his stomach on cue and she started laughing at his reddened face. "Wait here, I'll be back soon."
He watched her disappear off and sighed, reaching up to pat his cheek where she had attached a band-aid. Make yourself at home she said. He would be more than glad to do so of course, but now he was faced with another problem. Sakura-neechan was going to come back from her mission any day now and he would have to try explaining this. She had told him specifically, that if she spots any injury on him, hell would break loose.
'I should tell her that I stepped in to save someone,' he nodded to himself. 'That way I'd be safe. But then...she'd ask a lot of questions in the beginning too...'
Somewhere in the back of his head, a tiny voice told him that he was forgetting something important. Why was he chasing her in the first place anyway? It was probably because she looked really pretty; like Sakura-neechan. They looked a bit alike though...
"Sorry for keeping you waiting!" he snapped out of his deep concentration as his new friend arrived, holding up a tray of tea and a plate with onigiri in it. His stomach rumbled loudly and he gulped, all thoughts slipping off his mind. He was starving and all he wanted to do was to be stuffed up with the delicious looking homemade rice balls.
As he bit into one, he realized that it tasted somewhat familiar. Where had he tasted it before...? Ah no matter, there were plenty more on the plate and he was hungry. Besides, they tasted amazing.
"My orange fluff ball of energy is in trouble."
Kakashi wearily turned to regard his current companion who was seated upon the rooftop beside him, fiddling with a kunai as her eyes were cast to the horizon, brows furrowing together in worry. He had to try suppress an exasperated sigh; honestly now, getting paranoid randomly and sprouting spontaneous nonsense, she had been sitting there for a while now.
It was a good thing since she was at least sticking to her post this time and she seemed serious for once. According to Itachi, she was quite a fun person to hang around with but he could not see as to how that could be correct. In terms of eliminating boredom, perhaps she may have entertained him but to be completely blunt, keeping up with her train of thought was hard and often made him doubt his common sense.
…he wondered whether the Uchiha himself was sane to start with.
"Sakura...you can't just randomly blurt out that he is in trouble. Konoha is miles away; you can't just claim that he is in danger every few minutes..." he raised an eyebrow in question. "Also, when did he become yours?"
She didn't answer him. Instead, she just stared ahead blankly. Kakashi had a light guess that she was just sulking over the mission. He didn't blame her; even he was starting to tire of looking after this guy.
Eyes lazily drifting down to the palace grounds, he watched Shisui scream something incoherent out while flinging his hands around and Itachi restrain him in place as the prince instigated him on continuously. By now it was clear that it was really, impossible for them to work together.
They were just too different.
"Hey, Kakashi, who do you think would've tried to kidnap the prince?"
The copy Nin turned to regard the girl beside him, somewhat taken aback by her sudden question. "We don't know yet. We are waiting for the King's advisor to arrive aren't we?" He asked, raising a mental eyebrow at her.
"Maybe it's the King's advisor doing this crap."
"…Sakura…that's highly unlikely." Kakashi said, deadpanned. "The advisor is his uncle."
"That's even more the reason for treachery!" She announced crawling over to him and peering at him in the face, making him widen his visible eye and lean back. "It happens all the time! Like what if he's jealous of his brother and his nephew and wants to take over the kingdom? It happens all the time!"
"And here's a plot twist; the enemy is actually the king himself who bought us here in order to kidnap us and to demand a ransom from Konoha. Also, since three of us have the sharingan, he wants to steal them and implant them into his own kids so that he can wage war on the land of fire. Also, the advisor is a good guy who wants nothing more than to save his beloved nephew from the clutches of his evil brother." he said sarcastically.
"…That's possible! You're a genius!"
Kakashi felt his left eye break out into a series of twitches and he pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling an irritated scowl make its way up to his face. "How…just…how…were you the one chosen to come back here to change everything?! I was joking goddamit; don't tell me you took that seriously!"
"I didn't choose. My sensei kicked me out here…quite literally. I would've been happy back in my own time sitting in the middle of my garden and sipping green tea while watching my student tied to a nearby tree and trying to escape my chakra binds." Sakura sniffed, crossing her hands over her chest. "Also, your scenario is possible! The king looks suspicious!"
"Oh gods…" Groaning loudly, the copy Nin lay on his back, turning away from her. "I highly doubt I kept any of my sanity by the time I was done teaching you in your time…"
"I was quite innocent and sweet…" she ran a hand through her hair, pulling her headband out and bringing it up to her face, gazed at it blankly. "…until the war that took you, Naruto and Sasuke away from me."
Shifting slightly, he turned his head to regard her briefly. Lips pressing into a thin line, he slowly sat up. "How did I die again…?"
"You got torn in half." She murmured, her eyes clouding as memories rushed back to her. He watched her face grow pale and blank imperceptibly, lips parting as she gazed up at the sky. "While you fought that strange masked man, Madara appeared and … he cut you in half. The masked man then drove a kunai through your chest and murmured something that made you shed a tear…and then they tossed you aside. It seemed as if…you both knew each other."
Kakashi shuddered at the explicit description, closing his visible eye as he tried to force the mental images out. "You saw it all? Each of our individual deaths…you witnessed them all?"
"I was standing right beneath the cliff you were on, trying to ward of the tailed beast clones to give Naruto time for his sealing jutsu, already drenched with Sasuke Kun's blood. You fell beside me, staring at me with those empty glassy eyes, unmoving and not breathing. Naruto never saw you or Sasuke before he died… he died a long distance away after sealing Madara away. Sasuke's last wish was to have his body disintegrated along with his eyes for obvious reasons…so I requested the Mizukage to burn him as we set to return to Konoha."
"…Are you going to tell Itachi…about Sasuke?"
Sakura looked down at the grounds; just in time to witness the younger Uchiha deliver a vicious blow to his older counterparts head before forcing him to bow to the prince. She watched blankly as he sighed in exasperation before looking up at the sky, as if in a silent prayer before glancing her way, surprising her with a bright smile.
"…He seems to be attached to you." Kakashi commented as Itachi waved at her, making her wave back, almost shyly.
"So bright, gentle and kind…he's truly different from what I expected of him when I first met up with him." Sakura said softly, feeling a timid smile make its way to her face. "He is…a fragile person…Uchiha Itachi is. He didn't deserve to be treated the way he was back in my time…" Her hand falling onto her lap, she looked down, biting down on her lip. "I won't tell him."
"…What if he asks?" Kakashi asked, taking her headband from her.
"I'll lie." Sakura sighed. "It's easy as that. I'll tell him that Sasuke just left Konoha and I didn't get into contact with him before I came here. It's half truth. I can't break him. He's too fragile and kind."
"So you are going to keep lying to him in order to protect him. You will be just like him then; someone who lied to protect his brother and then died alone and hated. Are you trying to follow in his footsteps?"
"I'm not trying to follow in Itachi Kun's footsteps. I'm not trying to follow anyone." She mumbled, closing her eyes as a welcoming, gentle, cool breeze caressed her face. "However…I'm trying to figure out what it means to be a Shinobi. Trying to find out what it means to exist. I'm trying to walk on my own."
"You'll stumble." He murmured, speaking of his own experience, trailing his fingers over the leaf sign engraved on the metal plate. "You'll fall. I'd know. I lost four people who matters the most to me; my father, Minato sensei…Rin…" Swallowing hard, he turned the headband over. "…Obito."
"The life of a Shinobi is like that after all…"she tilted her head to one side, her eyes growing half lidded as she remembered Naruto's smiling face. "Watching our comrades die. Often…big idiot makes us see the light before they decide to leave abruptly."
"Without a warning too…" Kakashi murmured, letting out a dry chuckle. "In a way, you and I are very alike aren't we? We both failed to protect the people who mattered to us."
"…That's why I will protect you with my life sensei. You, Naruto, Sasuke…everyone in Konoha…I will protect them with these fists of mine." She declared at him, snatching her headband away from him. Grinning at his taken aback expression, she playfully punched his arm. "It's a promise."
"…Well then…I'll help you. You have Itachi and Shisui on your side for sure." The copy Nin chuckled, reaching up to place his hand on her head, amused as she promptly turned red at the contact. "Don't go trying to be a hero and die on us. I'll stick by you."
"…Even if I destroy your sanity?"
"Even if you destroy my sanity…" He reassured her, smiling at her as he gently patted the top of her hand, running his fingers through them. "Just…try not to get into trouble all the time alright?"
"Hey Kakashi…?"
"Yes?"
"…Can I call you ojii-chan from now on? Or should I call you 'tousan' instead? Your hair is grey anyway so you shouldn't really mind it."
His visibly eye breaking into a twitch, Kakashi opened his mouth to reply to her disturbing question when he was abruptly cut off as the building violently shook. Sakura immediately jumped into position, a tanto firmly grasped in her right hand and all signs of weariness immediately wiped off.
"SHISUI! GET THE PRINCE BACK TO HIS QUARTERS!" She ordered as a bomb blew off close to where the boy stood and then, turned to Kakashi. "Let's go!"
As Shisui carried the royal pain off into the building, the gates blew open and the two Shinobi landed beside the younger Uchiha genius who stood in a relaxed pose, eyes focused towards the doors as the smoke began to clear. "I'd say there is about…slightly above a hundred." He murmured, closing his eyes, opening them as they bled into crimson. "They have us surrounded."
"That shouldn't be a problem." She snickered, tossing the knife in her hands to Itachi. "We'll take up three corners and will take out as many we can while Shisui hides the royal ass and besides, they are just bandits. Don't cry when I get more than you, losers."
"The only one crying is you, when you lose." Kakashi snorted, taking up a kunai.
"Sakura…please try not to kill anyone." Itachi muttered, glancing at Sakura who waved him off before disappearing. Kakashi let out an amused snort before he ran off into the opposite direction, leaving the Uchiha alone. He stared emotionlessly at the group of bandits who stood in front of him, blank faced.
"Your comrades have left ya. What are you gonna do now kid?" One stepped forward as he pulled out a sword, shooting him a lop-sided grin. "I'm feeling merciful today so you can run off home and we won't kill you. Get going."
Itachi didn't budge from the spot and continued staring at them blankly, making a feeling of unease wash over the troop. The man who spoke to him earlier scowled, pointing the weapon towards him. "Oi kid! You wanna die that badly?"
Itachi heard a loud scream not too far from where she was and it was followed by the sound of an explosion and the earth trembling lightly beneath his feet. "So it has started." He smirked, pulling out the tanto and holding it in front of his face.
The little action served to instigate the hot-blooded hoard of men to run towards him in blind anger, ready to cut him into little pieces to show him a bit of what fear would taste like. Unfortunately, Uchiha Itachi was someone who was feared, not someone to fear others and perhaps, if they knew who he was in the first place, wouldn't have dared to attack.
They watched in shock as the boy disappeared from right in front of their eyes, only to reappear in the midst of the crowd. Five men close to him promptly fell to the ground, letting out pained choking and gasps and he held up the bloodied tanto. "Five and counting." He simply said.
"TWELVE!" Sakura yelled as she punched someone's face, sending him flying into a tree which uprooted around him. She snickered and turning around, she took in the fearful faces of the hooligans surrounding her, feeling her blood boil with excitement. "I haven't had this much fun in years." She grinned at them, tightening her hands into fits. "Take this!"
Startled screams and cries rose up as she punched the ground, forming a large crater that swallowed in several of the crooks in. "That's five more…I'm not killing any of you because a certain pacifist Uchiha told me not to. You're just lucky." She smiled sweetly, cracking her knuckles as she slowly approached them. "Normally I'd tell you to run before I start to get too excited but then I don't want to lose a bet see…"
"What are you?" One of the men near her stuttered, making her stop briefly to turn towards him quizzically. "Are you a demon?"
"No, I'm Haruno Sakura, a kid who likes punching people's eyes into their brain." She chirped merrily before punching him away and turning to the rest. "Want some?"
"That's a bit sadistic don't you think!?" Kakashi called from the top of the roof and he threw down a couple of outlaws, making her roll her eyes. Why did he have to have problems with everything she did? She should really start calling him 'Ojii-san' or something along those lines.
Muttering incoherently under her breath, she drew chakra into her fists again before slamming one down on the ground, letting out a yell in process.
"LET ME DOWN YOU INSOLENT DOG!"
"Shut up."
"I SHALL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS!"
"SHUT UP. I'M CARRYING YOU TO SAFETY AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, I CAN TOSS YOU OUT OF THIS WINDOW RIGHT NOW AND BLAME YOUR DEATH ON ACCIDENTAL SUICIDE AND NO ONE WILL BAT AN EYELASH BECAUSE THEY HATE YOUR ARROGANT ASS."
Shisui scowled as the boy on his back finally closed his trap, his eye breaking out into a series of annoyed twitches. As much as he wanted to toss this guy out of the window, Kakashi would give him an earful once he got back and the last thing he wanted. Besides, the elders of his clan wouldn't take this well at all and he hated those old bats more than anything in the universe.
Running through the hallways, he glanced out of a passing window to see Sakura punch a crater in the ground with a furious shriek, making him skid to a halt. "Wah…" he blinked as he watched her in fascination, feeling a smile creep up to his face. "How cute~"
"She's beating those guys to death. You Shinobi really have a weird taste in women." The prince muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, shut your trap you brat. Sakura Chan is one of the coolest kunoichi out there and you better give her some damn respect because she's one hell of a girl." Shisui sniffed as he took off running once more, pulling his lips back into a scowl. As he turned into a corner, the floor beneath him gave way and he only had seconds to use his specialty to leap to safety to the nearest window sill. "Gosh, that was close…"
"CLOSE?! YOU NEARLY KILLED ME YOU TWAT!" The prince screamed in his ear, nearly throwing the Chuunin off balance and making him fall off the window. Half deafened, Shisui scowled at the prince, now thoroughly pissed off. This boy was hazardous to his health dammit and he had to do something about this.
"Forgive me for this you three…" he muttered as he picked the prince off his by the collar and holding him up, he stared at him distastefully before swinging his arm over the back of his neck, effectively knocking the annoying kid out. Properly silenced as he was, Shisui swung him back over his shoulder and sighing, looked out of the window. "They're going to kill me for doing this goddamit… "
"Hand the kid over or die!"
Left eye breaking out into a series of twitches, Shisui slowly turned around to see a group of three bandits standing beside him, holding out blunt knives and twisted faces. Twisted as in literally twisted –it looked like someone had punched holes in their faces and all over their body. Besides, why were they still using that old school phrase? Why can't they say something like 'hand the kid over or I'll dip you in acid and toss you over a mountain!'? So boring…
"Tama, I don't think this is a good idea." One of them made an attempt to whisper to the man who just spoke, looking somewhat scared. "He has that same symbol on his back as that kid from back in the grounds."
"How did you get past Itachi?" Shisui asked incredulously, scrunching his nose up in surprise. It would be impossible to get past him of all of people and Sakura and Kakashi were down there too; what kind of socery would have allowed them to slip by without alerting their presence. "What did you guys do?"
"J-Just hand over the kid!" he hissed.
"No." Shisui said bluntly, blank faced. "As much as I'd love to be rid of this pathetic excuse of a member of the royal family, if I turn him over I'll receive an earful from that bastard Hatake who calls himself a leader and will probably twist my neck for failing this mission and then the cute pink haired little monster will probably pull my hair out and Itachi won't help me through it all just because he doesn't want to transfer her wrath onto himself, the cheap excuse of a friend he is…"
The three bandits slowly turned to each other, exchanging confused glances. "Any idea what he just said…?"
"Actually I might be thinking this too much. Kakashi is a good person and a great leader; he's just a bit too uptight that's all. And I doubt Sakura Chan will pull my hair out because she can be extremely forgiving sometimes and Itachi is a loyal friend to me, he just doesn't know how to show it…aw Shisui what were you thinking doubting your friends like that?" Tilting his head back, Shisui laughed loudly while the three stared on, largely confused. "Oh and…you guys might wanna take a few steps back."
"Don't listen to him! He's trying to run!" The man identified as Tama snapped, "Boy, you think you can fool us? We're smarter than that!"
"Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you." He smiled and waving at them, took three careful steps back. "Enjoy afterlife."
"Eh?" They blinked.
Hearing a loud war cry, they turned towards the window paling immediately as they saw the pink haired monster from the grounds there, flying towards them, fist outstretched and a crazy grin on her face. "SHANNORO~" She screamed and then the next thing they knew, they were being pummeled into the wall on their side, bricks falling on their heads and faces.
Jumping back and delicately landing, she smiled at the mess she had caused. "It felt so damn good to scream that out again." She murmured then paused, a thoughtful look coming over her face as she turned to him. "Are you okay? You just stood there without doing anything, what are you up to?"
"I think so…" he muttered, staring at her blankly. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see you squishing that guy's eyeball into his brain…so I can keep my lunch down. Also, I have my hands full with this brat so I couldn't do anything…" he added, distastefully staring at the sleeping boy.
"Tsk…you should never be a babysitter you know that? You'd roast a child alive." Shaking her head, she took the unconscious boy off to take a good look at him. "You knocked him out?"
"He was pissing me off!" The chuunin protested, waving his arms around in chagrin. "You have no idea how annoying this brat can get! Why are we even on this stupid mission in the first place!? This is the lamest mission I have been given in a long time dammit and I don't see how this is building up our teamwork!"
"Well that's just because we are reluctant to work with each other." She said softly, propping the boy up against the wall, feeling a small smile make its way to her face. It was such a wonderful coincidence on how much Shisui was like Naruto; she was remembering happy times back in her genin days again. Though Shisui was technically smarter and more elite at this age than Naruto was, there were but a few differences in their personality.
She wondered what the outcome would be if she left the two alone for a while; they did say that two alike people tended to create havoc.
…all the more reason why she should do exactly that…
"I don't see how we can work together on a stupid mission like this…" he pouted, resting his hands behind his head. "Plus, Kakashi is too whiny and bossy and doesn't allow us to compromise, all Itachi does is to blankly follow his instructions without fail-"
He paused as Sakura grinned at the last line and he blanched. "What…did you do to Itachi…?" he asked quietly and the pinkette hummed, turning around and skipping towards the fallen victims, an innocent look on her face. Shisui blanched as she grinned wider.
"Ask him yourself."
"…No thank you." He murmured, walking towards her as she bent down in front of the men, ready to start with the interrogation process.
"Now, will you start talking or should I make you?" she asked sweetly, picking up the closest man by closing her small fist down on his hair and lifting his face to meet hers. "I have plenty of torture methods I am dying to use on someone."
"I can't tell you who hired us because we don't know." He started talking immediately, his voice trembling, much to her internal amusement. "Only our boss knows because he's the one who did the talking with our employer."
"Well then, where's your boss?" Shisui raised an eyebrow in question. "Anywhere we know of?"
"He didn't come with us as per as I know. He just told us to attack the castle…" he choked out some blood, wheezing loudly as his eyes rolled back into his head. "I do know however, our employer is from inside the castle and he holds a top position here…"
"…I guess Kakashi was wrong after all." Sakura muttered, feeling a smile creep to her face. "I knew it was some someone inside the castle. That's how the plot almost always goes."
"What if it's someone unexpected?" Shisui asked with a grin. "I'll bet on you it's that brat lying down over there."
"Very funny…." They turned as he spoke, sounding severely annoyed. He glared at them, sitting up straight and rubbing the back of his neck in disdain, his lips twisted into a scowl. "Why'd you hit me you dog?!"
"Shut up. You were being annoying and if you keep talking Imma giving you another ass whoopin'." Shisui sniffed, crossing his arms over his chest. As soon as he finished, the sound of loud bells clanging together started, making both of the Shinobi to stiffen up.
"What is that?" he demanded, turning to the prince who looked alarmed. "What's going on?!"
"You have to get your friends out of the grounds immediately!" the boy stood up, looking over one of the windows. "They are going to release gas to paralyze everyone on the field!"
Sakura jumped out before Shisui could process that piece of information, just as a thick, purple coloured smoke began to escape out into the fields from vents on the bottom of the buildings –too quickly.
"SAKURA!" Shisui screamed as she became engulfed in the gas, along with his other two teammates and the rest of the enemy group. He couldn't move from his position; he needed to protect this boy here. "Dammit…" he growled, hands tightening on the sill. "How long do the effects last!? Why weren't we warned about this?!"
"Effects may last longer than six hours depending on how much to breathe in…and they release the gas for at least ten minutes to make sure they get everyone…" Maitake responded quietly, his brows furrowing together. "Why would father tell them to release the gas right now…? This is for emergency purposes only…and you guys were handling them pretty well weren't you?"
Shisui answered by flicking his sharingan on to detect their chakra presences. "You guys…you guys better be okay…" he muttered as he silently watched the now, deathly silent grounds for any sign of movement. "Goddamit Sakura…why'd you have to jump…?"
"What is this…?" Kakashi looked around him curiously, observing the pale green barrier around him. His eyes flickered towards Itachi who stood beside him, an identical barrier around him which he studied carefully with his sharingan.
He could barely see the younger boy with this thick smoke around them, and he was just standing a few meters away. Whatever this way, it was dangerous.
"Don't move." Sakura's voice came from right in front of them. "If you move too much, the barrier will lose its potency. Unless you want to paralyzed, I think you should not so much as move your head around, Itachi San. It's hard enough for me to keep this on."
"I suppose we can talk though." Itachi murmured, his brows furrowing together. "You inhaled in some of the smoke didn't you, Sakura San?"
"…a bit." She answered carefully. "…but not enough for my arms to get paralyzed. My legs are quite useless now though so I'm pretty much at a risk right now. This isn't the strongest I could muster up because of it too, but at least it will hold out on its own for at least half an hour without my support. The poison is pretty complicated…I have never come across this before."
"Now why didn't it get your mouth?" Kakashi asked, rolling his eyes and he heard her snort softly. "Anyway, why did they release this gas from inside the castle? Why didn't the King warn us about what was coming on?"
"Ask him that." she sounded bitter, "He was probably paranoid because some kids couldn't handle it. Shisui and the prince are safe…for now. I managed to interrogate one of the bandits; apparently they were hired from someone inside the castle. The King is going to get a fit when he hears this."
"Inside the castle…" Kakashi repeated, narrowing his eyes. "Did they say who?"
"No, they couldn't tell me that. Apparently their boss and the mystery employer had the meeting in secret and the guys were just instructed to attack the castle…probably as a distraction while he got to his goal which I suspect is the prince." Sakura pressed her lips into thin lines as her eyes flickered down to her legs spread out in front of her.
They were immovable; she couldn't even feel anything in them. She really should've thought twice before jumping in but then again, considering that her two teammates were now safe and unharmed, she decided that the minor setback was worth it. It was better for one to have to sit back rather than two; besides, she had the use of her arms should they get injured.
"Shisui is doing a good job of taking care of the prince. I know he'll interrogate the guy further and do whatever he can to stick to his post." She added with a smile, "Even if he does hate the prince."
"What makes you so sure?" Kakashi asked blandly and her smile widened.
"I'm not." She answered, closing her eyes. "I just trust him to do it. Without trust, there can be no companionship and without companionship there can be no team. We need to trust each other to watch our backs to function as a team. Without teamwork, we cannot succeed in this mission. Don't we Kakashi?"
There was silence on the other end as he contemplated what she said. "Well, I trust Sakura San to watch my back no matter what happens." Itachi spoke up quietly, to her surprise. "And I trust Shisui to take care of things by himself –I know he'll do a job well if it's given to him."
"…Fine," Kakashi breathed, sounding defeated. "I'll trust that kid to take care of the prince. But mind you two, if something happens to our client, I'm going to twist that guy's ear around so badly he'll have to rely on a hearing aid for the rest of his life."
"He won't need a hearing aid as long has he has Sakura with him." She responded with a grin. "What are medic nins for?"
"What if he doesn't?" Her eyes snapped open as she heard a foreign voice behind her and she whipped around immediately, forgetting the fact that she had to stay still. The careless act made the barrier to dissipate effective immediately and she held her breath as she stared up at the man, pulling out her tanto immediately.
But it proved to be useless; dizziness overwhelmed her and she dropped the weapon, falling to the ground along with it. Apparently you didn't need to breathe for the gas to take effect on her but not to this man standing in front of her.
"Damn you…" she whispered as she drifted off into unconsciousness. She just hoped the boys had the common sense to stay where they were.
"SAKURA!?" Kakashi yelled, hearing her loud gasp following the unrecognizable voice, Itachi searching the thick smoke, alarmed.
"Her chakra barrier is gone." He announced and Kakashi's eyes widened. "Dammit, we can't move in this condition…Kakashi San, what do we do?"
"I-I don't know…" his hands twitched towards his kunai pouch but decided against it upon recalling her instructions. There were virtually stranded here and they couldn't do anything to save their teammate in trouble. All they could do was to wait until the smoke settled down.
Fifteen minutes later, the hissing sound stopped and five minutes later, the grounds started to clear up. And as it did, their worst fears were proved right and the two Shinobi stood still in shock as they recognized the flashing blade of her tanto lying on the ground not too far from where they were.
Shisui was standing near the window with the prince next to him, eyes wide with horror as he stared at the empty grounds below with no sign of any bandit-shinobi around. They were gone…
…and so was she.
Q&A section/ authors notes
I know…I know…I'm late…yet again…for months. However, things haven't been the best for me in these few months and so… I'm sorry. T_T
Who else is feeling depressed because they feel the Naruto manga is coming to an end? D:
Bad…bad Kishimoto sensei making us all upset…(inset sniffle). On the bright side…we have the episodes lasting longer because of the fillers. ._.
I don't think you guys might have any questions about this chapter and so…if you have any, feel free to ask me through reviews or messages! ^^
Reviews motivate me to keep writing and so, please continue reviewing me and pointing out any mistake I may have done in this story, (grammatical, spelling or otherwise).
Owari!