Sunday, November 19th, 2013.

Hey! Really long chapter.

Just decent, though - it was hurried, because I only wrote it yesterday, and only edited it twice including the final, uploading edit.

Why? Because all this week I was caught up in freaking Durarara!. It was awesome. Loved it.

I'll tell you more in the Rec.

But anyway, for a rushed chapter, it was okay. Just by rushing standards, and my harsher opinion on my own writing.

Fun Facts/News: I've been to Kenya three times, the last time last winter, if you remember. My family's Kenyan, so...

AotW: I will always love SasuSaku, whether or not it becomes canon. I've gone over this already.

Rec.: Anime: Durarara!
It's a story about the lives of quite a few characters in a part of Tokyo called Ikebukuro. The protagonist, however, is Mikado Ryugamine, a high school student who moved from the quieter, country-side to this big and bustling city to attend high school with his best friend, who has lived here for a couple years.

But despite Mikado being the main character, most of the main cast each get their focus and their story told.

There's the easily-angered and super-humanly strong Shizuo; the douche of an info broker with a God-complex (an odd complex, and even though he's an ass, I love him) Izaya, who has a hate-hate relationship and rivalry with Shizuo; mysterious "Black Rider" Celty; the doctor she's lived with for 20 years who's obsessed with her, Shinra: Mikado's girl-crazy best friend Masaomi; Mikado's love interest Anri; the Black Russian who sells sushi Simon; and many more.

A lot of insane characters here. Like, legitimately and hilariously crazy, I think.

The first half, I think, was better than the first, because the ending was okay, but... Anyway.

I watched the dub. Why? B/c I remembered when I first watched a few eps of DRRR! like a year or two ago, that Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke) voiced one of the characters.

So, I watched the dub.

And guess what else famous VAs were there?

Johnny Yong Bosch(Ichigo), Steve Blum(Spike Spiegel), and Crispin Freeman(Itachi). With Yuri Lowenthal. *squeal*

And who else? Patrick Seitz (Germany), Liam O'Brien (Juushiro; I knew him as Nanashi; it drove me crazy hearing his voice b/c I knew it but couldn't figure out who it was) and Michelle Ruff (Rukia), damnit. (Laura Bailey (Lust & Maka) and Sam Reigel (Zaku and Shiro from Fate/Stay Night) had a few minor characters; but Sam had a LOT of minor characters. A LOT.)

What more could you want?!

Never seen so many famous VAs in one freaking anime.

Anyway, yeah. It's the first anime that shocked me as much as it did with its secrets and reveals. It will make you think, "Holy crap, I NEVER expected that!"

Loved it.

And the director's the same guy who directed Baccano! (haven't seen but know is famous).

There are even characters from Baccano! in DRRR!.

And if you've seen DRRR!, and want to be a Dollar (no, not as in US currency), there's a real Dollars site: w w w . dollars . b b s . o r g. You can Google the password if you don't already know. I'll PM you if you just can't find it.

So anyway.

Dedication: andshewasahurricane. My friend who just started on ffn. She's writing a The Fault in Our Stars fic (haven't read it yet). And AnimeLoverHaruka. My friend, too.

Disclaimer: I don't, obviously.

Warning: None.

Couples: A bit of SasuSaku, mentioned GaaMatsu, and mentioned-ish KibaTsuki. Nothing else concrete, really.

Length:

No AN: ~5.4k.

Like I said, this chapter was all written yesterday and only edited twice so it's not as good as it could be, IMO.

AN: ~6k.


Chapter 41: Day Out Part 1


Two Days since last chapter, Day of the Girl's Day Out


Sakura POV

I sat on the floor beside my bed, spacing out whilst absentmindedly petting Yoru who sat on my folded knees as I stared into space. He mewled at the feeling, but I paid little attention to him.

I was too pre-occupied with what happened yesterday… and the nightmares I awoke screaming to said morning.


FLASHBACK


I had several nightmares the night Itachi came back. But there were only three I remembered very clearly.

One was of what happened that day in Iron – the day Sasuke-kun and I both tried to kill each other.

I, foolishly and desperately out of love… he, out of rage and likely mental instability. I could only hope he wasn't totally himself that day, like what his eyes told me. But I can't help but think that during the moments where he had nearly killed me, he had more control and more awareness of the situation than I originally thought.

"… You always repudiated the Uchiha clan, so now we will disappear from your memories just like you always wanted. When I kill everyone in Konoha! By severing the bond, we will be purified! That will be the true revival of the Uchiha clan!" He had said to us, his former team.

Within that nightmare, I not only relived losing the trust of not only Naruto and Kakashi, but Kiba, Lee, and Sai that day.

I relived breaking Naruto's heart further with my fake confession and trying to kill his best friend.

Relived seeing what Sasuke had become; his waning grip on his sanity.

Relived us trying to kill the other. Both failing. Both instances all for completely different reasons; our motives for killing the other, the reason we failed… none were the same.

Then, my next dream was of more recent moments in the war, when Sasuke came.

How my future self (though it was only some hours from when Itachi sent us to the past) did not fully trust Sasuke's motives for helping, knowing that his wish to change things by becoming Hokage and defeating Obito and Madara weren't all that he was here for. But I was unable to figure out what, exactly, it was that he wanted. I never was able to figure out what he was thinking…

And finally, I dreamt of him leaving me.

"I know the four of us have worked together. And for a while, I thought I could choose that path instead… but in the end… I've decided on revenge. That's always been my purpose of living," he had said to me.

After that, I woke up screaming and crying at the same time, causing Karin to rush into my bedroom through the door that connects it to hers in a panic and soon comforting me when she realized I wasn't in mortal danger. Though I was a mess, I was somehow able to tell her about everything I had dreamt.

A few moments later after Karin began trying to comfort me, Shira and Yoru trying to do the same, Tsubasa and Kagari (she finally moved in a few days ago and we know Tsubasa's going to propose to her soon, latest by New Year's Day; or so that's the plan) knocked on my door.

They must have heard me. We were pretty loud…

Karin left me momentarily to let them in, and they found me still sobbing, comforting me. Tsubasa quickly went back to his apartment to retrieve his ukulele, and played it when he returned while singing a silly song to try and make me feel better.

After a few moments of more comfort and ridiculous singing, I had calmed down.

Though Kagari and Tsubasa asked few questions, and only received that I woke up from a nightmare, they somehow knew who the nightmares were connected to.

"It has to do with… Sasuke-san, doesn't it?" I looked up at Tsubasa in surprise.

"You love him right?" Kagari asked. "Though we don't know why, Tsubasa always had a feeling that your love for Sasuke and pain we know you feel were strongly connected."

I couldn't say anything. How'd they know? This was the first time I even cried in front of them, and I hadn't told them how I felt about Sasuke yet!

"As much as I hate watching you hurt like this Sakura, I wouldn't-, couldn't dare to ask you to give up on him. Even if I could, what good would it do? It would change nothing." Tsubasa said, running his hands through his hair and sighing.

He and Kagari wrapped me in another hug, pulling Karin in.

"We can only ask that you try to make yourself happy too, okay? Not just him. We know how wanting the one you love to feel happy even at the expense of your own happiness feels like. But please, for your friends' sake, our sake, and your own, try to be happy, too." Kagari begged.

I started crying again. I didn't know they cared about me that much.

After pulling away after a moment, Tsubasa spoke again. "You don't have to tell us what's going on if you don't want to, but if you need a shoulder or help or anything, don't forget your Nii-chan(1) and Nee-chan(2) next door, okay? You too, Karin."

"Yeah, your nerdy nii-chan and your awesome-nee-san," Kagari teased Tsubasa.

He chuckled, rolling his eyes behind his glasses and ruffling both of our heads. He moved on. "My father left and my mother died before they could have any other children than me. Then, I was taken in by my aunt and her husband, but they were infertile. It was a bit lonely. And maybe because of all that, I had always wanted siblings. Younger sisters, to be precise. I prayed to God every night for years for little sisters, before I finally admitted to myself that it just couldn't happen. I promised myself and God -as a sort of incentive, and show I was worthy- that if I ever somehow got any, I would be the best big brother I could be, and always be there for them."

I looked at Karin from the corner of my eye and saw a tear fall down her cheek. It was the second time I ever saw her cry.(3) Whereas I've always been the crybaby.

Tsubasa continued, and kissed both of our foreheads. "And now that I've finally found my little sisters, I'm not gonna let them go."

Karin broke into sobs and Tsubasa took her into his arms and rocked her, Shira purring in her lap.

Kagari took me into her own arms.

This is the first time Karin's ever had a family, I thought. Though she is part of the Uzumaki clan, there are only two other living members, both of which are unaware and she's only known this information for less than a year. The rookies and I are her first friends, aside from her temporary friendship with Taka, and Tsubasa and Kagari are her first family. Then, Itachi come back, with Juugo and Suigetsu… all of this must be overwhelming her…

When Karin finally calmed, Tsubasa and Kagari stood.

"We're gonna cook breakfast, so you two get showered and stuff," Kagari said.

Karin and I nodded, and they left my bedroom.

I turned to her.

Karin spoke for the first time since Tsubasa and Kagari came. "I won't tell them anything, but you sure you want to train today?"

I had training with my team that day. I nodded. "You have interrogations today, too, right?"

She nodded as well.

She turned to the door that connected our apartments, but I stopped her before she could leave.

"Karin."

She silently turned back to me. I walked to her and hugged her. "Thanks. For everything, really. You're a great friend... And sister."

Though I was very close to the other girls, Ino and Karin were the only ones I felt like a real sister to. Or how I think being a real sister to someone would feel like, being an only child.

The rest of the girls were under the "closest" friends label. Ino and Naruto were "Best Friends", Naruto and Sai were the little brothers, Kakashi the slight father figure, Tsunade the mother figure, and Yamato the kind uncle. I had places for the other rookies, too. Shikamaru, for instance, was like the brother who I could rely on to help me watch after the younger ones; my intellectual equal (equal, my ass, I'm just too stubborn; why'd that lazy bum have to be so damn smart?!). In the future, we spoke often.

Maybe he's my twin? I thought, giggling internally.

Karin rested her forehead against my shoulder a second and I could feel that she was holding back tears.

"L-likewise… Sis…" I smiled. She may not be good at expressing herself, but she's getting better.

We pulled away. "We better take our showers already. I could already smell the pancakes." I said.

She smiled. "Yeah. I don't wanna miss Tsubasa-… -nii's food. And I hear Kagari-n-nee's is good, too."

She went into her apartment and we each got ready for the day.


END OF FLASHBACK


But despite the comfort I got that morning, my behavior around Sasuke later that day was as if I had never gotten it.

I avoided being too close to him or touching him, I couldn't help but be nervous, and my heart was perpetually clenched around him.

It wasn't that I was afraid of him killing me.

I was afraid of him leaving me.

That nightmare reminded me of why we're here. To stop him.

The anniversary of his leave actually passed a few weeks ago, but the fact that he was still here didn't reassure me in the least. Just because he hasn't left yet doesn't mean he won't.

I was so concerned about what he was going to do next, and if he would become the dark and pained Sasuke that is was in the future, especialllythe way he was in Iron, that my paranoia was obvious to the rest of the team.

I wouldn't tell them what was wrong when they asked. I told them I was okay. Not like anyone bought it.

I knew my behavior hurt everyone, Sasuke especially, and that also made me even more confused and nervous.

The way he acted towards me, all the times we've kissed… I had suspicions that he liked me. I wasn't in complete denial. You're pretty close, though.

Part of me was ecstatic, but most of me refused to believe it. It can't be… he can't like me.

Too afraid of him leaving, I couldn't let myself accept that dream come true, nor act normal again for the rest of that day.

I went home that night melancholic.

Today, I had completely calmed. I awoke refreshed, if not slightly somber.

If I had training today, I would've acted normal to everyone. Yesterday, I was jumpy with nerves, and with what I already explained. I regret my behavior yesterday, but there was nothing I could do at the time nor is there anything I could do about it today. I was a nervous wreck yesterday.

"… kura…." I heared. "Forehead!"

I looked up to find Ino right in my face. I shrieked in surprise and fell backwards.

"Geez, Sakura," she said as I regained my composure, picked up Yoru, and stood. "Listen to people when they talk to you."

"Sorry, Pig." I shook my head. "What were you saying?"

She groaned. "I was saying that we should get going. What were you thinking about?"

"Get going?" I questioned. "Where?"

"Did you think we were going to just spend the whole day in you apartment, Sakura? We have things planned today!"

"Oh." I said dumbly. "Where are we going?"

Yoru mewled for attention then, and I, remembering I was holding him, apologized to the kitten and gave him a kiss on his forehead, petting him. He purred, forgiving me for neglecting him so.

"Some massage place." Karin said, appearing from behind Ino. "We're gonna meet the others there."

"Do I need to bring anything?" I asked as we heading to the living room and to the front door.

Ino shook her head. "Nah. Let's go! We'll be late! And you can bring Shira and Yoru, too. Hikaru is with Mikoto-san!"

I followed Ino and Karin out of the apartment, curious about what the rest of the day will bring.


A bit later on


Sasuke POV

I spaced out for a bit longer, thinking about Sakura's strange behavior yesterday.

What happened?

Of course once we realize we're in love with her, and decide to try and do something about it, like making moves toward her and stuff, she acts weird and avoids us. Of course that happens.

Your sarcasm is not appreciated right now. Or ever, really.

I don't know what happened to her, but it hurt. She avoided me, she looked at me as if she were scared… she wouldn't even look me in the eyes.

I shook my head lightly, to avoid attention and clear my mind. Enough of this. I need to pay attention to what's going on. I can think about this later.

"… so what do you think?" Shikamaru asked his father as he finished whatever it was that he was saying.

All of us male rookies, including the Sabaku brothers, Konohamaru and Udon, all of the male sensei including Ebisu and Jiraiya, Sai, Shisui, Inoichi, Chouza and Shikaku all sat in the living room of the main Nara household.

"This is a lot to take in…" Shikaku replied. Inoichi and Chouza, who were also new to all of this information, nodded.

Today, while the girls were all together with their mothers, all of us guys decided to take this opportunity to express our suspicions about what the girls were hiding. The 15th Generation of InoShikaChou were here to give advice, and because we felt they deserved to know. We need all the help we could get.

However, they were the only parents in the room.

We the rest of us, however, those of us who had suspicions, just went around in a circle and expressed our concerns, theories, and observations, chiming in to another's turn when they relayed the same dream or had the same ideas. (Though Sai hasn't said a word.)

"Do you two think Hanabi and Moegi have been acting a bit strange?" Chouza asked.

Konohamaru's face scrunched up in thought.

Udon spoke first. "A-actually… Moegi's medical ninjutsu seems more advanced than we thought she would be after only l-like, t-two months of training with Sakura. And suddenly, she suddenly acts a lot more mature than she usually does, th-then switches back like nothing ever happened! I'm w-worried…" It's obvious he liked her.

"And with Hanabi…" Konohamaru started. "She almost seems bipolar sometimes. One minute, she cold and obstinate; then she's- um… sensitive and more child-like. Then she goes back to being tsundere like she always is before switching to be mature and cautious. It's odd..."

"Really?" Neji questioned. I was kinda confused about his feelings for Hanabi and Hinata. He never clarified if he still hates them or not. He seems to tolerate Hinata, but we can't tell if he still dislikes her, or wants to be family again.

"Yeah. And when she talks about her sis… well, when she used to talk about her, she was colder and harsh. But we (as in Moegi, Udon, and me) could tell she cared about her. It was just the way her jerk-face of a dad tried to get her to feel about Hinata. But sometimes, she used to talk of her lovingly. Now, she talks about her nicely and all that, which is great, but the weird thing is that she seems afraid of something. Afraid of something happening to her sister."

"We don't think she is involved with what the other girls are hiding, but she knows a bit more than she lets on." Udon finished.

"Hm…" Shikaku hummed. "How'd the girls react to… you-know-who's arrival?"

"Like we told you." Naruto said. "But now that I think about it, Sakura looked at him like she hated him."

We gave him a look. Really, Naruto? I wonder why!

"Shouldn't we expect something like that?" Neji commented.

"Well, yeah! But-"

"It could also be because of her feelings for Sasuke and what Itachi's done to him." Shikamaru said. "What's there to question about her hating him?"

"It's how much hate was in her eyes. The only time I've seen that much hate in her eyes was with Orochimaru. Just less hate this time, but still a lot." Naruto explained. "It was almost, like, Sasuke-level hatred. And even weirder? Not only did the hate disappear soon, it was replaced with something like… respect and pity."

"Respect?! Now you're just spouting bullshit, Naruto!" I was pissed. How dare him even suggest something like that!

"Not like respect-respect, I mean-! Ugh!" He dragged a hand down his face in frustration. "You know when you look at someone you don't like, but you know you have to tolerate them for now because you maybe have to do a project with them or something, so you give them this I-hate-you-but-I'll-tolerate-you look? You're willing to put it aside for your grade, right? And then after the project's over, you realize that they're not as bad as you originally thought but you still dislike them? Though you're more tolerant and stuff? And maybe in some instances, you become friends like in manga and stuff?"

"Yeah, and…?" Kiba trailed off.

"Why would she be looking at Itachi like that? Like she's seen him in a different light after something like the working-together scenario I just explained, but she still dislikes him for whatever reason. That look in her eyes… I mean, I was pretty preoccupied with wanting to attack him, too, but I did see that. And why would she pity him? When I looked back at her a couple moments later, any sign of those earlier feelings were gone. But I was still confused."

"I could see why. For her to look at him like that would imply that they are familiar with each other." Shikamaru said. "And despite everything our dreams have been showing us, only one of them had Itachi making any contact with any of the girls recently. The one time he did was a long time ago, and as far as we know, he never put her in a genjutsu. Did he, Naruto, Yamato-taichou?"

He was referring to the mission that they had to retrieve Gaara.

Naruto and Yamato shook their heads.

"No. He only made an effort to get to me, since I am a Jinchuuriki." Naruto said. "I don't even think he spoke to her. He hardly acknowledged her."

"Alright." Shikaku sighed after a moment. "I've got it."

"What?" Kakashi asked. "What do you have?"

Inoichi answered this time. "We pieced together all the information we got and made it one big story. Figured it'd make for easier analysis."

"Ahem," Chouza coughed. "Itachi originally killed all of his family aside from Sasuke. After Sasuke was bitten, he became withdrawn and more power-hungry, as well as more bitter. He soon left the village for Orochimaru, Sakura being the last to see him, and then there was a retrieval mission." I winced.

"After it failed, Naruto left the village with Jiraiya for training, leaving Sakura and Kakashi here. Sakura trained under Tsunade, and after Naruto came back, Gaara was captured. During that mission, Itachi made Naruto swallow a crow, which later was revealed to have one of Shisui's eyes. Gaara had died, but was brought back to life by Lady Chiyo."

Chouza continued the story, where Sai became part of the team, they all confronted me, continued to strive to bring me back, etc, all the way to the recent events of the dreams, where Obito was more or less defeated.

"There you have it." Chouza said as he finished.

"So how does it all connect to what's going on now?" Asuma asked.

Ebisu nodded. "Yes, how?"

All of us started talking at the same time, giving each other theories of how and why this is happening.

"GUYS!" Shikaku yelled, silencing everything.

When we were silent, he continued. "Now, about the girls… I think it would be safe to say that they know everything of the… 'Alternate Future', as we'll call it. Instead of getting fragments like you all are, they know all of it, but pretend they do not. But the question is how, and why."

More chatter started up again.

"Everyone…" I turned to where the mutter came from. It was Lee. Does he have an idea?

"Everyone…" No one else heard him.

"EVERYONE!" The room was silenced.

"I have a theory. It's going to sound ridiculous, but…" he took a deep breath. "I think the girls are time-travelers." … That's insane.

". . ." Silence was his initial response.

Then laughter erupted.

"That's ridiculous, Lee!" Kiba laughed.

"Are you drunk again?" Neji asked.

"That's the stupidest thing I have heard. Why? Because it's preposterous," replied Shino.

"Guys, please!" Lee begged.

Gai sighed, exasperated with all the noise and lack of "youthful interaction" in the room. "As… improbable as it sounds, we should at least hear him out."

Kakashi calmed everyone else down, and we were soon staring at Lee, all of us with an incredulous look on our faces.

"Continue, Lee," Gai prompted.

"Right." Lee coughed. "So yes, time travel. I think someone strong found a forbidden jutsu enabling time travel, got the girls and Sai, as well as Tsunade-sama, and sent them all back here to prevent that horrible future from happening. And it seems to be working – we have seen no sign of that 'Tobi' character yet, no Akatsuki attacks, and Sasuke-kun is still here.

"They were supposed to stay undercover, and trained really hard so they could be as strong as they are in the future as soon as possible, which explains their advancement in medical ninjutsu. The books you found in Sakura's apartment would be a result of her researching how to save your eyesight, Sasuke-kun, because she knows you will get the Mangekyo from Itachi sooner or later.

"The weird scrolls probably are a way for the time travelers to communicate with each other in secret and even when another is not in the same village. Their strange behavior is from them trying to keep the secret. Hinata's heart scares(4) are a result of her dying in the future, which is also why Neji has begun to get them, too. And Gaara-san.

"Doesn't it all tie together now? Doesn't that explain everything? The reason we've been getting the dreams is because that is what was supposed to have happened – the original flow of the world. We get the dreams the way a manga character would have of their past life. I don't think Meogi and Hanabi traveled, too, but their behavior is a result of their getting dreams too, and their personalities and abilities in the future somehow merging with their present selves. Just like how we all know jutsu we haven't been able to perform before."

"That theory sounds like it comes straight from a manga." Shikamaru snapped. Someone's snippy, huh?

He groaned. "It's ridiculous! And just who would that 'strong person' be?"

"Itachi of course!" Lee replied. "Who else? He's one of the strongest known, and it explains why Sakura was looking at Itachi the way he was; he told her the 'Truth' about the… Massacre. I bet he sent them before he d-… faded away. And if he really was a 'good guy', then his motives are clear. He brought Suigetsu and Juugo because they time-traveled too or something and they would assist him if the Akatsuki attacked later."

"I hate to say it…" Kakashi started. "But it's so... absurd it just might be right. It makes sense in a crazy way. Somewhat."

"I'm… speechless." Jiraiya said. That's a first.

"I have a question." Sai asked. We all turned to him, surprised at his abrupt change in topic.

"Why am I here, listening to you all discuss theories if you think I'm in on it?" Sai asked. We did believe Sai was part of it, and didn't bother hiding it from him when he got here. We suspected Jiraiya as well.

"So you can give us answers." Naruto said.

"Observe you and stuff for the truth," Chouza said. "We may or may not interrogate you later. We just haven't yet because you're a friend."

"So? Am I right?" Lee asked.

"I think it's stupid." Kankuro commented.

"As do I, but I have no better ideas. Does anyone else?" Shino sighed.

"I'm with the time-traveling theory." Konomaru said.

"Of course you'd be." Said Udon, shaking his head, exasperated at his best friend.

"What do you think Teme?" Naruto asked. "I don't know what to think."

"I don't know either." I said, speaking for the first time since my testimony. "This is a lot to take in."

"Are you gonna tell us if we're right or not?" Shisui asked Sai.

Sai shook his head. "Because there is no point denying it, I am part of what's going on, but I will not prove or disprove any of these theories. Nor will I tell you anything. You should find your own answers."

"Hm…" Shisui pouted. "Find our own answers, huh…"

Suddenly he perked up.

"What?" I had a sinking feeling. He's going to do something stupid.

"Sai! The girls were going to a massage place and then a hot spring, right?"

A brow raised, the pale boy nodded slowly.

"Do you think they're at the hot spring by now?"

Another cautious nod.

Shisui turned excitedly to Jiraiya. "You have cameras set up at most of the hot springs of Konoha, right?!"

"That's what you're planning!?" I shouted in horror, simultaneously with Shikamaru.

"Yeah! I say we spy on them!" That dumbass! Shisui!

Naruto shook his head violently, making an "X" in front of him. I wonder if he gets whiplash from shaking his head like that.

"No way! The last time I tried peeking on Sakura in the hot spring, she nearly killed me! I'm not planning on dying without kissing a girl first! Nuh-uh!"

"What?" Kiba said. "You haven't kissed anybody yet? Ha!"

Naruto covered his mouth as if he just realized what he just said. "Shut up, Dog Breath!"

"Oh, he's kissed somebody before." Sai commented. I realized what he was getting at and glared at him.

"Sai, don't you dare-" Naruto started.

"Yeah, I have cameras set up." Jiraiya interrupted. I breathed a sigh of relief, as did Naruto. Though I'd think he of all people would love to hear this, and embarrass Naruto. Not that I'm complaining.

"We can talk about this later, but I just need to get some stuff from my apartment so we can watch the feed from the TV. Do you mind, Shikaku?"

Shikaku sighed. "Yorino will kill me for this, but… just how well can you see with them? I plan on making my death as painless as possible."

Jiraiya pouted. "Not very good, and there's a bunch of fog obscuring the camera anyway. Almost useless. The audio's good, though."

"Fine. Then you can use the TV."

"You're agreeing with this, Dad?!" Shikamaru exclaimed in surprise.

"It's the best way to get information. Unfortunately."

"But not all of the girls there will know. Like we said, Moegi, Hanabi, and mom for instance, are not a part of this. They're unlikely to talk about what we want to hear."

"It's still better than whatever we could come up with."

Shikamaru sighed.

"Temari's gonna kill us if she finds out." Gaara said.

"I know," Kankuro said, his voice dejected.

"Matsuri will be upset."

"I know. Of course you'll be worried about your girlfriend."

"Yes I would." … Wait! They're official? Gaara has a girlfriend before someone like Kiba? Before any of the rest of us?

There's hope yet, my friend! If Sai, Neji, and Gaara were the first ones to get a girlfriend, surely we can soon, too!

"I know." Kankuro's eyes widened, realizing what his little brother just agreed to. "Wait! You're actually together with Matsuri?!"

"Yes. I think so. Why?"

Kankuro blinked. "Oh. Uh… no reason."

I turned to Naruto to find him muttering angrily to himself. "Gaara… girlfriend… than me… Kiba… kissed a girl… behind everyone…" So he's frustrated that he's the last for romantic development out of most of us! Ha! Hilarious!

"I feel bad about this, but you're right. This is the best we've got." Chouji sighed.

"It's okay, man." Shikamaru said. "Soon everything will become clear."

Jiraiya stood and headed to the front door. "I'll be getting my cables and stuff. Chances are, they'll be at Konoha's most popular, so I'll just get the stuff for the cameras over there. But one more thing before I go."

He turned to me. "Sasuke."

"Hn?" What does he want?

"Have you been planning on leaving? Like, for real, lately?"

Everyone's eyes were turned to me.

"I've been wondering, too." Shikamaru said. "Even though Itachi's here, you still need to become stronger to kill him. Are you planning to go to Orochimaru? Were you planning on it before Itachi came?"

Naruto's lips were pursed into a tight line; but his eyes were questioning me as well: "Were you planning on leaving us? Me? Team 7?"

I sighed, deciding to tell the truth. "I was seriously considering it, originally planning on actually going."

"But…?" Naruto prompted.

"But there are some things holding me back. I need answers before I plan what I'm going to do next." Kakashi's eyes were hard and pained, but he said nothing.

I remembered the talk his other self gave my other self in the dreams. And the similar one he gave me just this morning, privately.

I didn't want to say what exactly was holding me back, except for wanting answers.(5) They don't need to know that much. This is enough.

But Naruto and Kakashi deserve to know. So does Sai.

Be quiet, Inner.

"Alright, then." Jiraiya replied cryptically, his face portraying nothing he was really feeling, before leaving the apartment. "I'll be back." And the door closed behind him. He's acting strangely serious today...

"Shikamaru." Neji said.

"yeah?"

"Why'd you invite Jiraiya? You're suspicious of him aren't you?" I was wondering the same thing.

"Same reason we kept Sai. And I want to know what they'll do knowing we're onto them now." He stretched like a cat. "No matter what he does, it'll result in us knowing everything one way or another eventually; probably sooner that we would have otherwise. This is just getting another way of getting answers and sooner. We'll just have to wait for him to get back. Then, it'll all begin."

I was anxious for what we may find once he returns.


(1): "Nii'= older brother. "-chan"= affectionate suffix normally used by girls or children or to girls or children.
(2): "Nee"= older sister. Look above for "-chan".
(3): I forgot, too, at first and had to go back to look it up. Check out the end of Chapter 13.
(4): When her heart stops in her sleep. It's a side affect I made up for characters that died in the future. Hinata gets it most b/c she's a time-traveler and stuff, and Kiba had mentioned it earlier in the story if I remember right. Scares the eff out of her teammates. She still breathes, though, which confused them the most. Think of it as an anime thing - it doesn't have to make medical sense. It just happens.
(5): Check out the last chapter if you forgot.

Long chappy. Hurried, though. XP

PLEASE STILL GIVE ME X-MAS PRESENT IDEAS!

QotW: Thanksgiving plans? If you celebrate it?

Love,

Epic Otaku Cherry.