Hey guys, I had to update quickly given the number of reviews I got, which is a good thing.
As always thanks to dianadevungding, GaurdianDevil, Infinite_Zero9, Devil's Darklight, sandwich master, grither55, cristifilip372, dimas_vaw , ROXAS, deandy and Guest (x3) for your reviews and those who have read up until this point.
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto or Fairy tail. They belong to their respective owners. I apologize in advance for any mistakes or typos.
Anyways, continuing on;
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Chapter 7: A new enemy approaches.
...
...
"Good work, all of you," Kakashi said, his eyes closing as he smiled at the group in front of him. "Especially you two, Naruto, Hinata. I am proud of you."
"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grinned as he and his team stood in front of the hokage desk.
Kakashi looked at Naruto and his team, thanking whatever god that was present that they had returned safe and managed to save all of the shinobi world yet again, this time from Otsusuki Toneri.
Looking at how close Hinata stood by Naruto, and how Naruto seemed to be happy and content, it didn't take long for Kakashi to figure out something had happened between the two teens in their recent mission. He could feel happiness wash over him for his student.
"Say Naruto, have you decided on a date yet?" The sixth hokage asked as Hinata flushed, instantly catching onto what Kakashi had meant. Naruto looked clueless so Kakashi elaborated, "About the wedding, you know?"
"Oh, yeah, there is that too, right? We will probably talk it with her father, 'ttebayo before we decide anything." Naruto said, giving his thumbs up.
Kakashi smiled at happy couple before his eyes turned to Sai. "Sai. I need you to write and submit the mission details after this meeting. I also need you send these details to the other villages as well."
"Yes, Lord Sixth."
"By the way, Kakashi sensei... On the way here, I noticed a lot of people were seemingly restless and were whispering something about Sasuke-kun. Did anything happen?" Sakura asked.
Naruto looked at his pink haired teammate upon the mention of Sasuke and wondered what this was about. He was busy gazing over Hinata on the way here.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, I will have to send an invitation to Sasuke for the wedding. Knowing him, he will probably not show up so I will have to force my hand in the matter," he said particularly to no one. He then turned to Sai, "Sai, could you send a message to Sasuke about the wedding. He will probably be pissed at first for contacting him about something so trivial, but do it anyway."
Kakashi interrupted him, "Actually Naruto, you can ask Sasuke yourself."
"Huh, what do you mean?"
Shikamaru spoke up, "He means that Sasuke is currently in the village."
Naruto blinked.
"EHHH! SASUKE IS IN THE VILLAGE?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO SOONER KAKASHI SENSEI!?" the blonde yelled as Shikamaru muttered 'troublesome.' Sakura seemed to brighten up while Sai had a neutral expression. Hinata, well she wouldn't have cared except for the fact that her would be husband just got a lot excited over some guy, so yeah she was worried.
"Wait, Naruto!" Kakashi shouted, barely able to stop the blonde from running out as he was already at the door. Seeing that he had stopped, Kakashi sighed. "He isn't just in the village. Something else also happened while you were away on the mission."
At this Sakura couldn't help but feel uneasy. Naruto wondered what might have happened where as Shikamaru carefully observed his Hokage on what he had to say. Sai left the room in the meantime as he did not have best of the relationship with Sasuke to neglect the order he received just now.
"You see... he wasn't alone when he returned from his journey," Kakashi said carefully, observing his two students.
Sakura's worst fears came true, also probably the reason she had offered to accompany Sasuke on his journey in the first place two years ago. He probably returned with some woman if the tone of Kakashi sensei was anything to suggest.
"You mean he brought a friend?" Naruto asked, tilting his head as he completely missed the context.
Hinata tugged his sleeve, "Ano, N-Naruto-kun. I don't think it's just some friend... Lord Sixth probably means that S-Sasuke-kun brought someone even closer... closer than a friend. A girl, most likely."
"And it is our job to make them feel at home or else they are gonna run away. Isn't that right, Lord Sixth?" Shikamaru filled them in as Kakashi nodded.
At this both Naruto and Sakura's expressions had changed, difficult to accept the fact that their last team mate was already married or was at least in a relationship with a woman. No words came out of their mouth for quite some time and both of them stood slack jawed.
..
"So it's just us three, huh?" Naruto said, walking in a street having his hands on the back of his head.
"Looks like that, Naruto. Hinata went home to met her parents." Sakura said. She was now really interested in meeting this Sasuke's wife, the woman who supposedly made Sasuke fall for her which she couldn't accomplish since she was of age seven, or even younger.
If she was someone who Sasuke would be happy with, she wasn't going to interfere with his happiness because that's what was meant by truly caring for someone. But if she used some under handed tactics to force the hand of Sasuke in marrying her, she wasn't going to stay quiet.
"You aren't that interested in this, are you Shikamaru? So why exactly are you coming with us?" Naruto asked rather bluntly, but that was his nature sometimes.
"I am just following you in case you both decide to do something stupid. I don't want you two to scare the shit out of his wife. He will then go rogue again and the same thing repeats over," Shikamaru responsed in a slightly mocking tone.
The Nara was no fool. With the way Kakashi had handed them the news, it was most probably that whoever Sasuke's wife was, most likely didn't belong to their village. Or, she could be a person taking refuge here. That was what he got at first glance. He knew Kakashi was the one who most likely suggested the idea. He may look like he took that decision on a whim, but he knew better about his hokage. Maybe, he was afraid Sasuke would feel uneasy at the village due to the acts he did two years ago.
It was no secret that Sasuke was hated in his own village. Many of them were understandably weary of him. Nobody was as forgiving as the blonde who even forgave his parent's killer. People would whisper and stare at him in his own village.
So, it was very likely that Kakashi had suggested the girl to act like Sasuke's wife, most likely to help him recuperate. A woman may be helpful to ease him back to Konoha. Maybe, a woman's touch was needed. He was brought out of his deductions by Naruto's reply.
"Haha...Not funny, Shikamaru. Why would I want to scare her off? I am just curious to meet this person who was able to melt that cold bastard's heart and also inquire where was she hiding the entire time? If only we knew where she was, we wouldn't had to go through a lot of trouble." Naruto huffed.
Shikamaru chuckled a bit at his answer. Looks like Naruto held a bit of dry humor in his answers as well. He was clearly upset at not being invited to his best friend's wedding.
"Yo, Naruto. Did you hear that Sasuke has been married?" Inuzuka Kiba asked, as he arrived at the scene with Akamaru, his trusted dog and Akimichi Choji. "Apparently the whole village has been talking about that since they found out."
"How did they find out?" Sakura asked.
Choji opened his chips pack and started eating as Kiba answered her question. "He apparently carried her to the Uchiha compound in his arms."
"Wasn't that abandoned like, for a long time?" Shikamaru inquired.
"Looks like it isn't anymore. Technically it all belonged to Sasuke anyway. Majority of the other buildings were razed except the Uchiha Mansion in which Sasuke lived when he was a kid," Kiba answered.
"Naruto, you interested in seeing how she looks as well?" Choji asked, walking alongside the blonde.
"Wait... you guys don't know how she looks too?" Sakura asked Choji and Kiba who shook their heads.
"I believe I heard the villagers say that her hair color was of bright scarlet." Choji said.
Naruto thought for a bit, "Scarlet, huh? You don't say." Very soon realization dawned on him. "Wait- doesn't that mean she is an Uzumaki!?"
"May be." Choji answered the hyper active blonde.
Sakura could only think of one woman with red hair, the one whom she met on the Samurai bridge. "Is her name Karin by any chance?"
"I don't think her name was Karin. Remember, she has spectacles and the one we are talking about doesn't have any," Kiba pointed out. Sakura frowned at this.
"Does that mean there were other Uzumaki's other than Karin who were still alive?"
"Um Sakura-chan... you got one right in front of you, you know?" Naruto whined, poking her arm as a purple cloud formed over his head.
Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head ignoring the blonde's comment, "There's no use if we just talk and speculate among-st ourselves. We'll have to go and find out with our very own eyes."
Naruto bumped his fists. "Yosha! Let's head to the Uchiha district then!"
..
The group of five plus a dog walked through the deserted lanes of the newly habituated Uchiha district.
"It really is a ghost town." Kiba said, looking around.
The buildings were reduced to rubble everywhere. Grass and weeds were growing out in some houses. In some places they reached up to their knees. It was like an ancient ruins covered by weed and molasses.
Choji stuck close to Shikamaru. "Shikamaru! I am scared."
"Stop holding my sleeve! You are not a child," Shikamaru uttered in irritation. "Remember, you fought against the ten tails in the previous war and you are scared of walking in a deserted lane."
"Shikamaru... we cannot really fight ghosts. So, what are we going to do if a ghost suddenly pops up?"
"I'll protect you when that happens, Choji!" Kiba declared grinning as Akamaru woofed.
Choji rushed towards Kiba's side. "Thank you, Kiba."
'How troublesome... this conversation is getting a whole lot weirder.' he thought as he looked over to see how Ino's best friend was dealing with this. She had a determined look on her face. 'Great... just what we wanted. Seems like she still isn't convinced that Sasuke has been married. Still, she must have resolved to give up on him by now.' He looked front to see Naruto mumbling something to himself, probably arguing with Kurama.
Inside Naruto's mindscape;
"I told you, I am not upset." Naruto grumbled, waving his arms at the giant orange colored fox which stood in its magnificent glory. It's nine tails, swinging randomly as it retorted to Naruto.
"Yes, you are not upset. If truth be told, you are jealous that your friend beat you to it in marriage."
"No... you are wrong. I am just unhappy that he did not even think it was worth specifying to us about his marriage," Naruto said, looking down for a moment.
"You are worrying about too much, kid. Though I don't like the Uchiha, he probably had his reasons. He considers you his best friend, in fact his only friend, so he wouldn't dare to do something like this unless he had his reasons." Kurama said, resting itself as it lied down. He could see Naruto was cheering up at his words so he let out an afterthought just to mess with the blonde. "Or, he probably got married while you were away on the moon to rescue your bride."
"What!? So you mean to say he was married recently...! Teme, beat me to it then, huh?" Naruto said, biting the collar of his shirt.
"Most probably. I am sleeping now, kid. So don't pester me about this for a while."
"Yeah, you take some rest." Naruto said getting out of the mindscape.
Finding Sasuke's compound was easy. It was the lone standing compound. The irony was dripping strongly here. It was easy to tell even among the destruction here which was Sasuke's compound. The last standing compound just like the last living Uchiha in the Uchiha district. Empty, dark, cold. Exactly like how Sasuke once was. It described the building perfectly.
"Man, I wonder how she lives here?" Kiba said as he got shit scared and jumped onto Choji after hearing a thump sound.
"So, this is the compound, huh?" Choji said as Naruto looked behind. He saw green moss growing in between the cracks of an Uchiha fan symbol. In his last battle with Sasuke, not only Sasuke was able to see through Naruto's memories but the opposite had happened as well.
That crack on the wall was made by a kunai thrown by Itachi twelve years ago. The older Uchiha threw it and was about to kill the clan then and there, if Sasuke hadn't shouted out to his brother. But the next night, the massacre took place anyway. Such sad memories... he wondered if Sasuke would be alright living here. He had a downcast expression as he made his way through the gate.
Naruto and Sakura knew better. They had to put up their best acting skills. A mask to be precise for their friend. The last thing their friend needed from them was looks of pity sent his way. He would most likely not receive it well, and things might end ugly.
The house was apparently remodeled in the interior, which was good news. They went inside shouting if anyone was present but got no response. After finding that the house was indeed empty, they decided to search elsewhere.
Up until now, they didn't even know whether Sasuke's wife was a kunoichi or a civilian he met on his journey. Either way, they were going to find out soon.
"I wonder where he is?" Sakura thought, as she brought her hand to her chin.
A bulb lit inside Naruto's head. "Guys, follow me. I know exactly where they are," he grinned before taking off in a direction without waiting for others. The rest just looked among themselves before following after him.
"Naruto... where are you taking us?" Sakura stopped midway when she realized the path. "Is this the path to the training grounds?"
Naruto grinned. "Exactly, Sakura-chan. I know Teme and how he thinks. There's no way he married a civilian. He probably married someone strong if my guess is correct. Since the house is empty, he must have taken her to training grounds."
"He could have taken her out for eating thoigh." Kiba protested as Naruto frowned.
"Sasuke isn't our typical guy. There is no way he would do something like that. He wouldn't have even left the house but since its empty, he must have taken her to training." Naruto said, grinning behind his shoulder.
"Trust Naruto on this, Kiba. He knows him more than we do." Shikamaru said.
"I pity the girl if he really took her to do some training." Kiba joked before they reached near the training camp.
CLANK - CLANK - CLANK
Sword clashing sword filled the air. As soon as they reached the open field, they saw a blur of Black and Red before the two figures separated and stood at a distance.
One was their friend, Uchiha Sasuke still wearing his same black cloak. They didn't recognize the second person, so they assumed it was the person who the Hokage told them about, the one who was supposedly Sasuke's partner.
This figure was wearing an armor and a blue skirt along with Ninja sandals. A weird combination to put it into a whole. Though, she did have a pretty attractive face.
"Quick guys!" Naruto led them behind few bushes immediately. "Looks like a fight is going on!"
"Dammit... I am jealous of that bastard now. His wife is quite the looker," Kiba whined before he was shushed by others.
"Not bad. Don't mind if I get serious," the calm tone of Sasuke filled the air.
"Please do so," the other figure responded as she summoned another sword in her left hand, fighting dual handed this time. This got Shikamaru to raise an eyebrow as he studied the red head in front of him.
Sasuke held his chokuto in a reverse grip and charged at her. She blocked his attack with her left sword as the two swords tried to dominate each other. Seizing the chance, she swung her right sword at him.
Sasuke noticing this, ducked backwards as he observed the sword slide over his face in slow motion before he flipped backwards. The instant his toes landed, he immediately rushed towards her at an astounding speed Erza couldn't follow. She was just able to bring her left sword up. Sasuke immediately disarmed her left sword with his katana as soon as he was near her and slashed his blade at her left side seeing as she was unguarded there.
Erza quickly summoned another sword in her left hand and blocked his attack. This cause Sasuke's lip to quirk up a bit as he jumped back escaping her counter attack.
"So, you are using your multiple number of blades from your dimension to make up for your lack of speed, huh?" Sasuke said, standing straight.
"Not to flatter myself, but I don't think I lack in speed. In fact, I am quite quick. You are the one who is a freak of nature, so it's only natural I would use two swords." she said, gripping her swords tightly. As soon as a leaf dropped by her, she charged at him.
Sasuke held his sword up to defend against her attack. She jumped high up into the air, throwing a sword at him which he dodged by tilting his head. She then used her two hands to grip the now single sword and launched her attack on Sasuke with full strength, the force of the attack causing the ground beneath Sasuke to shatter as he blocked her attack.
"Hn." Sasuke didn't blink as he blocked her attack single handedly, "I don't even need my other arm to block this attack." Pushing the weight of the sword with his single hand, he took his chokuto in his left hand and attacked throwing the weapon off her which landed in the bushes, narrowly missing Naruto's head.
"Sasuke Teme, you purposely thre-" Naruto's mouth was covered by Sakura as he was about to get up.
"Shhh...Did you forget we were hiding from him. He'll know we are here if you shout, idiot," she whispered, causing Naruto to nod as he sweated.
'Damn... Sakura-chan being super serious right now. I wonder what got her so riled up. Could it be because of her...?' he thought as he observed the duel.
Erza equipped two more swords mid air as she blocked the incoming attack of Sasuke.
"As always, impressed with the speed of your sword summoning," Sasuke stated. Though it sounded like he was sarcastic about it, he was actually complimenting her.
Erza got herself some distance as she took support from one of her sword. "Thanks." she muttered as she gripped the hilt of her sword. She lifted her head and blinked when he was nowhere to be seen. 'Where did he...'
"Behind you."
Her head snapped back to see Sasuke flickering into view behind her. She just raised her sword in time to deflect his attack which was aimed at her chest, pushing it aside. Narrowing her eyes, she pushed Sasuke away with a roar, releasing massive red magic aura around her.
"That Sasuke bastard! What is he trying to do? Is he trying to kill his wife?" Kiba grunted angrily.
"The same could be said about his wife though." Choji said, munching on his chips.
Shikamaru did not say anything but noticed something strange when she released her magic aura. What was the energy she just released?
As Sasuke went backwards flying through air, he gripped his sword in a reverse grip and stabbed it into the ground as he came to a halt and landed on the hilt of it. He immediately jumped sideways to dodge the multiple swords which flashed past the point where he was standing, uprooting the trees behind him.
'Che... If this goes on, we might end up destroying the whole area. Who thought she could be so competitive,' Sasuke thought as he took out his sword which was stabbed into the ground. 'Still, I must commend her. She is able to keep up with me without my Sharingan.'
Erza blinked once more for what seemed like the hundredth time. He vanished from his place where he was standing. 'Such terrifying speed! If this was a life death battle, he would have sneaked up on me right at the start of the match and finish me off before I could even draw my sword. I mustn't get discouraged!' She thought as she instinctively turned around swinging her sword which was met with a clank noise.
Sasuke attacked her with his sword in his left hand in a fluid motion before it was blocked by her right and pushed back. She then immediately charged at him grabbing the opportunity using her other sword, pointing it straight at him.
'Not good, my attack is drawn back by the previous block. I cannot use my katana to block this attack in time...' he thought as he stepped backwards, just out of her sword range to buy himself enough time until his left hand holding the katana came down. Erza immediately switched her sword with a spear as it pierced through Sasuke's cloak.
"Got you," she smirked as her hair bang fell covering her right eye. As soon as she moved her spear sideways to inflict some form of attack on him to conclude the match, he disappeared into a puff of smoke.
A log was now present which her spear pierced into it. 'Substitution? Where did he-'
"It's over, Erza." a cool voice spoke as the cold metal of the katana was pressed against her neck.
Erza straightened up sighing as she sent back her weapons to her space dimension. She could have dragged out the battle even from that point but she didn't feel like it. She was actually very competitive and would never concede defeat until she could no longer move her arms given a spar or a battle. But for some reason, she didn't feel like fighting Sasuke any longer. "I didn't think I would be forced to surrender with you taking my back. Fine, you win."
Sasuke drew back his katana and sheathed it. A smirk played across his lips. "So, you are going to do the cooking while I do the dishes according to our deal," he said as the gang which was sneaking on them had their jaws dropped onto the floor.
"They did the spar to decide who would cook and who would do the dishes?" Naruto shuddered as he wondered more on what kind of battles they would have in the future to decide the house chores. He was now silently praying to the god thanking him, thinking how lucky he was getting to marry the timid Hyuga
"Oh... you wanted to do the dishes? I thought you wanted to cook. So, this whole spar was kind of pointless then," Erza said rubbing her head and smiled at him. This caused everyone over there to face vault.
"It seems that way." Sasuke said, shrugging his shoulders.
"YOU THINK!" the rest of the gang shouted mentally.
"Come on. Let's go," Erza said as she started walking away.
Sasuke looked around before he narrowed his eyes. "You get going. I'll follow you in a couple of minutes."
She turned around and nodded. "Okay."
Sasuke raised his hand to examine his cloak which was torn in the centre. 'Her skill as a swordsman is really impressive. I ended up using substitution to win, huh?' he thought as he bent his head down a little. 'Anyway...'
"You guys can come out now."
His voice filled the air. After a few seconds, a sheepishly smiling Naruto came out followed by the rest of the gang.
"So you knew we were hiding, huh?" Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.
Sasuke closed his eyes. "I hardly had to try. You guys were loud throughout the spar. Choji was busy munching on his chips while he was hiding. You and Sakura got into an argument and the rest of you sat in a bigger group which was easily detectable."
"I don't need to hear that from you, bastard. Just tell us how did you manage to marry a girl? Nonetheless a total hot chick who Jiraya sensei would do anything to lay his hands on!" Naruto retorted. "I always thought you were asexual or something."
This caused a tick mark on Sasuke's head despite being known to be stoic. "Just because I didn't show any interest in the opposite sex when we were younger means that I am asexual, unlike you who tried to peek into some random woman's bath every chance he got," he said as Naruto found no come back but head butted him nonetheless.
Seriously, the first thing they did when they saw each other after years was get into an argument. Naruto should have known that bastard never wanted to have an emotional moment.
But this eased others up as they were too skeptical on how to approach Sasuke. Since he had gone rogue, the only people who met him were Naruto and Sakura. They did not meet him until mid way through the forth Ninja war where he had already given up on revenge if you put the whole revolution thing aside. Even after the war was over, he was locked up making it impossible for others to meet him. When he was released, he immediately headed out on a journey not even waiting for Naruto, who he did meet of course.
This verbal spat between Naruto and Sasuke relieved others reminding them of the good old days during the chuunin exams time. They were much more confident now as they could talk to Sasuke like old times, though they didn't talk much during then as well. At least they won't be trying to kill each other off.
"I am still upset you didn't invite me to your marriage," Naruto said huffing and turning around while Sasuke sweat dropped as he realized why the blonde was upset.
"The marriage kind of just happened. Let me treat you to ramen to make it up to you, okay?" Sasuke asked as Naruto's face beamed.
"What about me?" Choji asked as he pushed Kiba aside.
Sasuke sighed. "Even you too, Choji."
Sakura, who stayed surprisingly quiet spoke up. Well, it wasn't that surprising. He knew that she had a thing for him just like Karin but he wasn't sure how he felt about those two. He was sure she would be upset to find out he was married- in reality he wasn't -but still wanted to see how everyone would fare against that idea, especially her and Naruto.
"Where did you guys meet?" she asked ridding herself of the sad look. "She doesn't seem from around here, does she?" she concluded.
'She must have sensed Erza's magic pressure... you really got me on this one, eh Sakura?' Sasuke didn't show it on his face but he was a little nervous thinking on how he was going to cover it up. Thankfully the Nara who stayed quiet and processed things came to his rescue,
"Now, now Sakura. We wouldn't really want Sasuke's wife to be kept waiting. I am sure we all have a lot of questions, so Sasuke..." he turned towards him before Sakura could protest. "Why don't we come to your home for dinner tonight, huh? You can tell us your story then as we all party."
"The idea sounds good. Right Naruto?" Kiba asked as Akamaru barked in agreement.
"Yeah, it's better than Ramen as we get a lot to eat..." Choji drooled a little.
Naruto folded his arms, "Guess you all want this more than ramen, huh?" he mumbled to himself as he got an idea. "Alright! Why don't Sasuke and I co-host today's night then? Hinata will come over to help Sasuke's wife... what was her name again?"
"Erza."
"Erza-chan. Yes, It would be kind of a treat from my side as well as I am about to be married. What do you say, Sasuke?"
"The idea doesn't seem bad, loser. We'll go with it," Sasuke said as others agreed, well except Sakura who still had a suspicious look on her face.
"Okay, tonight it is then. We'll do it at your place, Sasuke. Your compound's kind of huge enough to accommodate our entire group." Naruto said. He planned to liven the dull atmosphere there.
"Group?"
"You are forgetting about Ino, Sai, Tenten and Rock Lee," Shikamaru reminded the Uchiha.
"Don't forget Shino, Shikamaru. If he knows that you forgot to mention him, he will brood forever," Kiba said recalling the Sasuke retrieval mission.
"Okay, then. I'll have to get going. I still have to inform my wife about this sudden party..." Sasuke trailed as he looked away. 'She isn't going to be too happy about this.'
He nodded to Shikamaru once more before he flickered away leaving the others.
..
Sasuke turned his gaze towards an Uchiha fan symbol in front of his house as he reached the gates of his home. The one with the crack and green mosses on which Itachi threw the kunai. Sasuke thought it symbolized the current Uchiha position perfectly. Though the cracks could be filled through time, the mark itself can't be completely erased. The crack in this sense was the mark left by the Uchiha's in the previous war and what he was doing now was the act of covering it. The prestigious Uchiha clan turning to dust, crumbling away as the time progressed save for one. Two if he considered his 'wife' an Uchiha.
He shook his head before he got to the door of his house. 'Guess there's no going back now, huh?'
He slowly turned the door knob and entered the house. It kind of felt nostalgic to him when he entered the house alone unlike the last time he entered with Erza. The last time he left the house alone was after he had a talk with his mother about shuriken training before she gave him his lunch, which was also the last time he had talked with her. He mentally prepared himself as he stood at the entrance.
Silence reigned over. He dreaded the next few seconds as his heart beat increased dramatically. Sweat started forming on his pale skin as the empty home stared back, reminding him of the horrible tragedy that had occurred here. The fear was almost unbearable. He tried to lift his left leg but he couldn't move it. It wasn't that he couldn't move it, but he couldn't stop the flood of memories from pouring in his mind.
The entire day just replayed itself in his mind. He could barely control his breathing. One horrible evening was all it had taken at the time to completely disrupt his view and outlook on life.
He even forgot that he had made peace with his past and Itachi as the surrounding darkness seemed to drag him into the earth, suffocating him. He felt like he was about to collapse, a troubled expression on his face as he brought his hand to his forehead, brushing aside his damp hair.
"Took you a while. Welcome back, Sasuke."
Suddenly it happened. All at once, the room was engulfed by what seemed like orange light, disrupting the shadows surrounding him as a familiar voice filled the air, dragging him back from the depths of his memories.
Sasuke blinked as he stared at the red head in front of him who was in a cooking apron wearing mittens and setting a dish onto the dining table. He felt his eyes growing hot. He was briefly reminded of a scene from his childhood of his mother as he quickly bent his head down, his bangs covered his eyes. He blinked once more trying to get hold of his himself as he didn't want the red head to see him in such a pathetic state. She would not let him live down on that.
Rubbing his cheek roughly with his hand, he left his sandals behind him and entered the house. A small smile formed on his face as his feet took a small step inside,
"I am home."
..
The last Uchiha had violently repressed his sudden urge to walk to her and hug her the moment he heard her voice. It wasn't out of attraction or anything; it was as if he could ensure she was real and alive by doing so.
Instead he hung his coat by a hanger and chose to retire on the new couch which was arranged in his home as he went back and retreated to watching her work from behind. She was chopping the vegetables while humming to herself. She looked so peaceful that way. Her quiet hums were more than welcome as the house looked better this way instead of the quiet dread he was used to. Maybe taking a break wasn't such a bad idea. He had been unwilling to return to the leaf, but suddenly it wasn't looking as bad as he had imagined.
He was home.
Was he feeling this way because of her? Sasuke didn't know. His curious gaze rolled back to note her features. She had her hair tied up in a pony with a blue ribbon and was wearing a yellow apron. When his eyes trailed below, he immediately sputtered.
"...Erza."
"Hm?"
"What happened to your clothes? Why don't you have any underneath your apron?"
Erza looked down at herself and if Sasuke could comment anything on the matter, she wasn't even the least bit surprised.
"What are saying? I am wearing something inside the apron," she protested turning around.
She was just wearing a black bra and a blue short underneath the apron. Where did she find those, he could never understand. Or wait... he had offered her his mother's clothes, albeit old but they were still in good condition. So, does that mean the current dress she wore was also used by his mother... Actually, never mind. He didn't want to think any further and decided to let go of the matter.
"And besides it's not like any one's going to barge in and see me in this state."
Sasuke's eye twitched as he sat up, "What about the person you are talking to now? I am sitting right in front of you incase you forgot."
Erza looked at him as she raised her eyebrows, surprise visible on her face. "You never even spared a glance at that one woman we met in the Mist village. You know the one that tried to seduce you, and practically threw herself at you? I naturally thought you didn't care about that sort of stuff," she said, blinking innocently at him.
"That and this are different!"
Erza thought about it for one more second before she had a mischievous grin as if she realized something. "Oh my~", she covered her mouth with her hand as she walked towards him and sat beside him. She started poking the cheeks of the annoyed Uchiha with her finger. "Could it be that you are actually distracted by my appearance? I never thought that the great Uchiha Sasuke could be distracted by something like this," she teased him further as Sasuke looked away with a 'tch'. He was now not even looking her in the eye. Erza, for some reason found it cute and couldn't help but tease him more.
"Erza... leave my face alone," he asked, sounding slightly annoyed as she now completely had him at her mercy.
"Why, it's fun to see you in a state like this," she said with a coy smile as Sasuke merely grunted in annoyance.
"I am serious, Erza. Stop it now. Or else..." he tried to speak in a stern voice but her fingers poking his cheeks was distracting.
"Or else what Sasu-"
Erza let out a kya~ scream as her hands were suddenly grabbed by the former avenger and she was pinned to the floor beside the couch. Her two hands were gripped by his normal and bandaged one as her back was against the rug now.
"Hn. I'll admit you can sound girly when you want to," Sasuke smirked.
He found it amusing as the redhead looked embarrassed and averted her eyes from his face, a small scowl present on her face. His face was only few inches away from hers, her strawberry scent invading his nostrils. Perhaps she had already taken a bath since they were sparring only an hour ago.
She smelled kind of nice, he thought and her face was as red as his favourite staple, tomatoes. He caught himself just in time as he found himself leaning closer and moved away from her face. He closed his eyes, a frown appearing on his face.
What the hell was he thinking just now? What was wrong with him?
"...As much as I want to see you like this, this is no time for that. I am going to let go of you now. Now go and get dressed."
He said after a moment, as the thought of a blonde idiot and a white haired pervert crossed his mind. They could barge in at any moment because of the party he agreed to host. He shuddered at the mere thought. Sasuke let go of her hands but the instant he released his hold on her, he was thrown onto his back as she threw herself at him and it was now his turn at being the oppressed. He got caught off-guard.
"The game could be played by two, you know," Erza smiled, a smug expression visible on her face as she straddled him by his waist.
Sasuke glared at her for a moment before snapping his head towards the entrance leading to the living room as he picked up distant footsteps. Could it be...? "Quick, Erza! Let go before the wrong person enters," he forgot about the blonde that was supposed to come in early and the position in which he was with Erza was way too suggestive.
"Who is gonna come in at this time?" the redhead asked, tilting her head as she thought Sasuke was making excuses.
But before Sasuke could answer her question though, his worst fear came true in the form of his best friend.
"Yo Sasuke! I am back- !"
THUD. Naruto dropped the dish he was carrying as his jaw dropped to the floor. His mind froze at finding Sasuke and the new girl with whom he fought earlier on the floor, in a very lewd position. Plus she was wearing nothing underneath her apron. Was it one of Sasuke's kinks? Wait, why was he thinking of the bastard's kinks!?
Sasuke strained his neck as he looked up towards the door and sighed when he caught the sight of blonde hair. The damage had already been done. Erza had a frozen expression, her eyes were white saucers as cheeks were stained red, same as her hair color. She was trembling, her jaw slightly hung down.
"N-Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" Hinata asked making her way to the entrance of the living room before she gasped at them. She covered her mouth immediately, her face reddening. And, she fainted after a mere second.
"HINATA!" Naruto shouted as he rushed to the kitchen sink and brought and sprinkled some water on her. Hinata got up slowly as Sasuke who was still laid down on his back decided to introduce those two. How could the situation possibly get any worse?
"Erza, this is Uzumaki Naruto and Naruto, meet my wife, Uchiha Erza."
..
Unknown Location;
A grumpy old voice was heard as a group made its way towards a forest.
"It's rare even for one of us to be sent on a mission lest the two of us together," a relatively tall, fair-skinned old man spoke. This was an old man with blackish eyes and roughly shoulder-length, wavy, silvery white hair. Majority of his bangs were swept towards left much like Sasuke.
The figure to whom he spoke had two other forms accompanying her, one of them carrying an unconscious Yamato on their back.
"Four of us," the figure carrying Yamato corrected the old man. "And we had to roam for days and when we did finally find a clue, this bum refused to spit out any information." This figure was a female having slim figure and sharp eyes and dark colored bangs that slightly hung over her face.
"It doesn't matter as we found out the location we were supposed to find. But it sure was funny as how a guy mistook our mother saying she was an Uzumaki," the other figure giggled. This person was a youthful girl having short pig tails and straight-cut bangs hanging slightly over her face. She had a childlike figure. "And why was he so obsessed with this scroll?" she asked tossing a scroll in her hand.
"Show some respect to your superiors, Heine and Juliet and stop reminding me of that. I need not say what the circumstances would be if you refuse to do so," the last figure spoke as both Heine and Juliet gulped and muttered a weak 'Aye'.
"So this is where the snake is hiding, huh?" the old man spoke stopping in front of a tunnel.
The figure who had given a warning to 'Heine' and 'Juliet' had stopped as well. This person was a seemingly tall voluptuous woman with large amounts of scarlet hair located in front and back of her body. Also the woman had two U shaped earrings and her over all attire was a scanty version of a typical witch's garb.
"Yes. And this snake will lead us to the Uchiha," the figure spoke, looking up from her hat.
And cut.
I am guessing you would have guessed who that figure is. I have a quick question- who do you think would win between the snake and the witch? The next chapter depends on that.
Keep reviewing and following.
Until then, Later!