Sunday, December 15th, 2013.

Hey. My birthday was on the 9th.

ATTENTION REWIND READERS: The chapter that was supposed to come out last week is out, it was just late. I updated it on Tuesday. It's one of my favorite chapters so far, and I hope you guys like it, too.

I'll be going on Winter Break on the 19th, so there'll hopefully be more writing and I plan to at least start one or two of the one-shots I owe you guys.

I also plan to finish anything FMA-related, watch Code Geass, and clear up some of the manga I saved on favorites.

I just watched the Steins;Gate movie (that I had no idea was even out). I loved it, probably as much if not more than the series. There was just so much OkaRisu! (made it up because I don't actually know what the real portmanteau [in this case, synonymous to "couple name"] is for these two: Okabe x Kurisu).

So much of it! *squeal*

News/Fun Facts: Did I already tell you my bday was on the 9th?

Oh, and I got my Strong World CD! It came with a FUNi lanyard, sticker, and button as well as some little advertisements for Wolf Children (still need to see it) and A Certain Scientific Railgun. As well as a Toriko CD for episode 39-44 with "Void" written on the paper case, which is completely useless to me because I don't watch it, don't really plan to, and I can't exactly get started on the 39th episode. (I can watch it online, but still.) If I own a series, I'll want to own the whole thing, which I don't want to do with Toriko. Whatever. Maybe I'll watch it someday?

And I watched Thor: The Dark World (or whatever the whole title was) yesterday. Man, I love Loki.

Dedication: andshewasahurricane, who will be going on a brief hiatus for now. The dedication is also for you guys, because you're amazing and I love you and I wish you all a great Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah (if it isn't over), whatever-it-is-you-do-or-don't-celebrate-this-time-of-year-before-New-Years'.

Disclaimer: IDNON.

Guest Reviews:

Osiria Rose: Yeah, thanks. I think it comes hand-in-hand with being a goody-goody girl. :) It's okay. I love that movie! That's totally awesome. XD Can you get an account so we can talk more? I like talking with you. :)

Chloe: Thank you. I will, and in two weeks. :)

Leo: Those are good present ideas, thank you. :)

Warnings: None, really.

Content: Last part of the Spying Arc, as I call it.

Couples: ShikaTema, SasuSaku, GaaMatsu, and a smidgen of NaruHina, and an even tinier one of AsuKure, with an even TINIER hint of IbiAnko.

Length:

No AN: ~3.4k.

AN: ~4.7k+.

Read and enjoy!


Chapter 42: Girl's Night/Day Out (& Suspicions) Part 3


Recap:

Sakura sighed, lying on her back and covering her arms with her eyes, embarrassed. Although, from her position, the cameras couldn't see her face.

"Where should I start?"

End of Recap


Guys'/Narrator POV

"How many times, first of all?" Ino asked.

Sakura thought for a moment. "Four."

"What?!" Mikoto exclaimed. "He's kissed you four times and you're still not together? I thought I raised him better than that! Oh, wait til I get my hands on him…"

Sasuke shrunk in his chair, while some of the other boys cursed and the men gave him various, mostly proud or teasing, looks.

He's ahead of me!, the boys thought. Lucky little bastard!

"The first two times was during the Invasion, actually." Sakura announced sheepishly.

"Naughty, naughty, Sakura." Ino tsked and shook her head. "You two were making out when you were supposed to be fighting? Bad children; you two will so be getting coal this Christmas."

"In our defense, Santa, we had to take refuge in an abandoned motel because Sasuke was -… injured."

"Who kissed who first? You or him?" Hana asked, excited to hear all about the romantic escapades the boy she thought of as a little brother and the girl a little sister had with each other. She was one of their biggest shippers.

She had interrupted Ino was was about to comment about kissing someone who was injured. During the Invasion.

"… I kissed him the first time, and the second time, I fell on him." She said, quietly. "On accident!"

"And you just stayed there?" Temari asked, incredulously. "On an injured guy?"

"I tried getting up!" She defended, sitting upright again. "He just pushed me back down is all!" Once she realized what she said, she covered her mouth.

"Though my son couldn't even make the first move… he at least made the second." Mikoto sighed.

"Next? Where?" Hinata asked.

"… My apartment, the day he was discharged for the hospital."

"… Do you have a bandage fetish or something? Why are you always kissing him when he's hurt?!" Anko asked.

"No! Anko-san! Why would you ask that?" Sakura was horrified.

"It's a legitimate question."

"That Anko…" Ibiki sighed, shaking his head, from the guys' side.

"By the way, it was in her bed in the middle of the night. The kissing, I mean." Karin said, smirking. "I could feel their chakra."

"Karin!"

"Ooh!" Ino said.

Before Ino could start (once again) teasing her best friend, Tenten interrupted. "Alright, and the final one?"

Sakura looked down. "After… He came back. Sasuke-kun was pretty… angry."

A moment of silence on both ends; the girls, and the guys.

"Alright, I think we're okay to have a short break n-" Chouza started, but was interrupted by Ino.

"Alright, Matsuri's turn. You've kissed Gaara by now, right? You two are together, right?"

Wanting to hear the answer, the guys subconsciously leaned toward the screen.

Matsuri nodded sheepishly. "Yeah…"

"Well?" Kurenai prompted. "Tell us."

"Tell you what?"

"The first time you kissed Gaara would be great." Ino said.

"… Don't tell him I told you, but it was a little over a year ago. He asked me because he wanted to know how it felt. It was the first for both of us."

"… That sounds like Gaara." Temari said. "Figures it'd happen like that… he's surprisingly curious, for a stoic kinda guy."

But then, it looked like she remembered something.

"Wait a second... was it at night?"

"Yeah."

"Like after midnight?"

"Mm-hm. Gaara didn't sleep, remember? Actually, he's not sleeping a whole lot even now. I mean, he gets like 2-3 hours a night now, at most, but still..."

"And Kankuro and I were supposed to be out that night, right? Drinking, I think?"

"Drinking?!" The adults shrieked, on both side. Sans Anko, that is, who only rose a suspicious eyebrow before shrugging it off.

"I haven't for a while, but yes, 'drinking'." Temari said, exasperated. "Well, Matsuri?"

"Yeah; I remember you guys were gone that night." Matsuri nodded slowly. "What are you getting at, Temari?"

"Around late spring or early summer, right? Now that I think about it, it was around you birthday, huh?"(1)

"Yes, Temari. What is it, already!"

"You forgot to close door, that's what it is!"

"What do you/is she-… oh." Matsuri and Kankuro said in unison, their eyes widening in realization.

"Kankuro and I came home and went upstairs to find his light on, but yours off, so that meant you were in his room, likely awake, with him." Temari explained. "Even if he doesn't sleep, he keeps the light off in his his is on, and yours isn't, you must be in there with him. If yours is on and his is off, you two are talking or something in your room. If both are off, you're asleep, and he may or not be watching you. But anyway, I knew you were in there so I came to check on you two.

"Mind you, I was pretty tipsy, but coherent enough to more or less understand what I see around me. But I couldn't quite comprehend the two of you kissing, on his bed. Kankuro and I stared for God-knows-how-long, but you didn't even notice!(2) We thought we were seeing alcohol-induced hallucinations, went to sleep, and never spoke of it again, agreeing to lessen the times we drank, even more so at the same time and with each other. It wasn't brought up since then until now." Temari brought a hand to her face, completely shocked. "Wow."

"Th-that…" Kankuro stuttered. "Was real?!"

Gaara gave his brother a look. "Yes, yes it was."

"It pisses me off how calm you've been this whole time."

"Girly conversations don't fascinate me like they do the rest of you."

"Have you even been paying any attention to clues, then? Huh?"

"Yes. Unlike you."

"Hey-"

Just then the feed went blank again.

Shikaku sighed and took a look at the notebook he'd been writing in. "Well. Perfect time to analyze the information."

The mood almost immediately changed into a more serious tone, and the proof of the theory that the "stoics get more action" ("proven" by the romantic exploits of Gaara, Sasuke, Neji, and if you count him as stoic, Shikamaru) will be pushed aside for now.

"Karin's story," Neji started. "It's just like the memories Sasuke has, more or less."

"The fact that she never says his name, not even to Naruto or Sasuke when they were talking together privately,(3) may be a clue as well." Sai said.

"That would mean it's someone we'd recognize, right?" Kiba said.

Shino nodded. "Saying that person's name would bring a conflict or confusion, so she never said. Yet, she didn't hesitate to explain her connection with the Hozuki once she got over her embarrassment."

"Saying his name wouldn't nearly be as suspicion-inducing as saying Sasuke's." Iruka deducted. "Her connection with Suigetsu makes sense, but if she says that her 'Leader' was Sasuke, that would make no sense, as he's lived in Konoha all his life."

"Every time she's told the story, it's always been the same; consistent. She didn't appear to lie, and when I was brought in to watch part of the interrogation, there were no lies detected." Kakashi commented.

"That's right. It was only around the part of when she went back to Grass that was weird – all the documents, and even residents of Grass say she came back from Orochimaru when she says she did. So the only possibility of variation in the story, the part she lied about, is how and why she came back. The when, and apparently where from, are no question." Inoichi explained.

"So if she's telling the truth, how does this all tie together?" Shikamaru said.

"Time travel!" The males all groaned at Lee's voice.

"Lee-" Neji started, but Chouji interrupted.

"Nah, let him talk. It's not like we have any better theories. Might as well hear how he explains this one. Maybe we can get ideas from it?" The young Akimichi sighed.

"Thank you, Chouji-kun." Lee thanked, though Chouji really only spoke out of exasperation, not actually quite believing Lee's theories. "As I was saying, that could have been what we could call World Line One(3) turned out, with everyone older. Sasuke-kun defected, joined Orochimaru, left him when he felt he didn't need him anymore, and went off to kill You-Know-Who with Karin-san, Suigetsu-san, and Juugo-san's help.

"But you got separated in that snowy country after His death, found the man who was 'responsible' for 'Him doing what he did', apparently, and tried to kill him. We all know what happens next." Lee continued to speak while making quotation marks at certain places.

"After that, the war happens, and here we are. I already explained what happened at the war – the time traveling occured."

"… Again, this stupidly makes sense." Kiba said.

"The things people come up with…" Shikamaru groaned, wiping a hand down his face.

The audio started up again.

"…-think he'll leave. That's why I'm not 'trying' anything, Ino." came Sakura's voice.

At the word leave, the boys' attention was captured.

"What? Do you have that little faith in him?" Anko asked her, confused.

Sakura sighed, hugging a pillow tightly to her chest. "It's not that I don't have faith, it's just that I know Sasuke-kun well enough to know that his priority is revenge. And that he was planning on leaving Konoha to get it."

The boys (and girls, of course) all gasped.

"She knew… this whole time?" Naruto asked, saddened that one of his best friends, who he knew had strong feelings for his other best friend, knew the whole time that he was going to leave her, while he had basically lead her on, –though that was not at all his intention– knowing the same. Oh, Sakura-chan…

"Now that Itachi's here, he might not, but there's always a possibility," she continued, her tone melancholy. "He knows he's not strong enough to kill him. He'll need to get stronger as soon as possible to do that. That's why there's still a chance, a big one, he'll leave to Orochimaru to get stronger." She turned to Mikoto. "I'm sorry you had to hear this."

The Uchiha matriarch was looking down at the floor, and though the boys couldn't see it, -but guessed- she was blinking back tears.

"No," she said. "I should have expected this much. That's the way Sasuke-kun is… I just didn't think he'd be so into it, and I kept telling myself, though I knew better, that he was the same little boy he used to be and that he wouldn't let himself get so caught up in revenge.

"And then you came a long and that part of me that knew that my little boy had changed hoped that maybe, just maybe, Sasuke-kun will have some more light in his life, you know? 'Maybe he'll be okay.' I know can't help him the way you or Naruto-kun can, so..." Mikoto buried her face in her arms. "I'm sorry for being so insistent, Sakura. I'm sorry for trying to push you so much."

Sakura smiled and wrapped her arms around the woman that was trying so hard not to cry.

"It's okay."

"So… you didn't pursue him, because you knew he'd leave anyway?" Mitsuki asked sadly.

Tsunade shook her head. "Knowing Sakura, it's less of that and more being satisfied that they were friends."

Sakura nodded. "Being his friend is something I only dreamed of before, and asking for more than this would be stupidly selfish. And besides – what if our friendship breaks? It would be all my fault and we'd never be able to be the friends we were again. But if Sasuke wants more, he'll do something about it. He's the type to do what he wants and gets what he wants, when he wants to and how he wants to. He won't just sit around and do nothing."

Except now, Sasuke thought, I'm too afraid to do anything.

"Sounds just like Hinata."(4) Tenten groaned and buried her head in her hands as well, falling onto her back. "Ugh. No wonder Tsunade wants to punch his face in. It may be a bit much, but now it makes sense for her not to like him so. Even I want to hit him right now, dammit."

"Did you know this would happen?" Mura questioned the Hokage.

"This? I had suspicions, but I had no real idea." She shook her head. "But I did know he'd hurt her one way or another – that's why I don't like him."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly.

"What are you gonna do if or when he leaves?" Matsuri asked sadly.

"Not nothing, I assure you." Sakura said. "I'm gonna stop him, somehow. I'm going to do something about it this time. I'm not going to let him leave to Orochimaru." If any of the girls found her wording strange, they said nothing.

Although, Karin, Ino, Hinata, Tenten, Temari, Matsuri, Tsunade, and Hana all nodded with Sakura's statements, all sharing an odd look with each other and her. Anko had this odd look in her eye, but did not nod.

"Not again…" Kiba whispered.

The boys turned to him.

"What?" He asked. "I think Sakura whispered that. She mouthed it lightly, at least."

"Sakura…" Ino said sadly, warpping her arms around her best friend. "Sorry."

Sakura laughed. "It's okay, Ino. There's nothing to apologize for."

Suddenly, the TV turned off. The boys turned to Sai, who had the TV remote, and Shisui, who had the other remote that controlled his "Spy Gear".

"I think that's enough for now," they both said, softly and in unison.

Sai looked oddly expressive, his eyes sad.

The other guys nodded, the mood somber.

"That'll do," Gai said, quiet.

"We've got enough for now, anyway," Shikamaru said. "We can go over the rest some other time, if necessary."

"Something is confirmed," Inoichi said. "Whether or not the girls are time travelers, they want to stop whatever it is that we're seeing in our dreams from happening. And the way to begin would be stopping Sasuke from leaving. You saw the way the girls, the suspect-… the ones we're suspicious about nodded when Sakura said they were going to stop him, right? We also know, that if it wasn't obvious enough already, their intentions aren't harmful to us; they don't intend on hurting us. They aren't threats to anyone's safety." Suspects sounds like too harsh a word, he thought. Calling them threats hurt, too.

The guys nodded.

"So they know the full story," Shikaku said. "And, for now, fully intend on keeping it a secret from whoever's not involved. Although, it seems that Hana and Anko may be in on it, too – something we didn't expect."

"And as much as I hate to say this," Shikamaru sighed. "The time traveling thing is the only theory that is making sense, as well as the only real one we have."

Lee cheered, hugging his sensei in excitement.

"What can you tell us?" Neji asked, giving Jiraiya, Sai, and finally Shisui a long look.

"Why are you looking at me?" The Uchiha asked.

"I have a strong feeling you know more about all this than you let on," Neji explained. "Not to mention, you were not only Itachi's best friend, especially around the time of the Massacre, but you were also his first victim. And yet, you never showed any desire for revenge. If anyone is to know anything, it's you."

Shisui smiled ruefully and sadly. "I act the way I act because I know what vengeance does to people. And I want no part of it."

Neji snorted. "That won't shake my intuition. Be warned that I'll keep an eye on you."

Shikamaru started writing down on a sheet of paper, speaking as he went.

"Suspects: Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Shisui …" he continued until he finished. "…Mitarashi Anko and Sarutobi Asuma."

"What?" Asuma asked.

Shikamaru gave him a sad look. "I have this feeling; and you've been acting strangely, Sensei. I'm sorry." I can't believe I have to do this to him…

"But-… I-…! I hardly know any of what's going on!" Asuma protested, sad that his own protégé, the student who was most like a child to him, didn't trust him. Couldn't trust him.

But part of him acknowledged that it was justified. I've been having all these dreams… and a scroll like Ino's even showed up at my bedside last week… and my "Heart Scares"(5)... I need to talk to someone about this. Someone like the girls. And I have to tell Kurenai.

"I'm sorry, Sensei." Shikamaru, though saddened, continued to write in his notebook. "Points of Evidence or Suspicion: Karin's backstory, Sakura knowing Sasuke wanted to leave (though that may be because she knows him very well), Hinata's 'Heart Scares'…"

He continued further. "Suspicious Items: the scrolls."

He looked up. "Does anyone else have any items they find weird? That belong to the suspe-… the girls?"

"Actually," Gaara spoke up for the second time since the first audio feed was brought by Jiraiya. "I found a CD of Temari's in her room. It was music."

"What's weird about it?" Shikamaru asked.

"The year said 2015, so I listened to it. And I found that the voices…"

"The voices…?" Naruto prompted.

"They were Shikamaru's and Temari's. But older-sounding."

Shikamaru's eyes furrowed. "Why would Temari and I sing? Much less on a published CD?"

"The CD said 'Mission' on it, so it obviously must have been some weird assignment of yours. Though why you were working together is beyond me." Gaara said. "Temari has no idea I know about it, though. I've seen her stare at it and blush, as well as listen to it several times before hiding it whenever she heard or sensed someone nearby. I used my sand eye, a miniature version, to spy on her. She was pretty paranoid."

"If Gaara can find it, I can burn a copy of it on my laptop –which only I touch, so no worries about Temari in that respect– and show it to you guys." Kankuro offered. "Gaara doesn't have his own computer because he doesn't really need one, though, so we'd have to use mine. He would just use Matsuri's or something if he wanted, but we can't let her find it."

Shikamaru and his father sat and thought for a few moments. Soon, they both sighed, coming to a decision.

"If it's not too risky for you guys," Shikaku said. "Do so immediately. But I think we can adjourn this meeting and listen to it another day. Alright?"

"What Dad said," Shikamaru agreed, nodding.

"Got it," Kankuro said, as he and his brother nodded.

Shikamaru turned to Sai. "Tell Ino or Sakura or whoever what you wish."

Then, he turned to Shisui and Jiraiya. "That goes for the rest of you, as well."

Jiraiya rose a brow. "You sure?"

The young genius nodded. "I want to see what'll happen next. Like I said before, whether or not what happens is considered 'good', it'll bring us closer to finding answers. And that's what matters; it's all we really want, anyway."

The guys all stood and stretched, gathering any of their belongings that they may have had with them.

"Thank you for letting us meet here and for the tea and coffee, Shikaku-san," Shino politely said to Shikaku.

The others thanked him as well.

"You're welcome," the clan head replied.

The guys left filing out the door, one by one until slowly, only the Yamanaka, Naras, and Akimichis were left.

Inoichi and Chouza put a hand on Chouji and Shikamaru's shoulders.

"Good luck, alright?" Chouza said.

"I'll look into things and see what I can find. I'll let you know when I hit something," promised Inoichi.

Chouji gave Shikaku and his son a hug, lingering a bit on his best friend.

"We can do this, okay, Shikamaru?" He smiled at his best friend as he pulled away. "We're in this together, I promise! Not just with this, but with girls, too, okay? Anything either of us needs, we're there for each other."

Shikamaru nodded, giving Chouji a smile.

"Yeah. Bye, 'Chou."

"Bye, 'Maru!"

Then, it was just two men (Shikamaru could be considered one) and a house.

Shikaku collapsed on the couch as his son yawned.

"Long day, huh?" Shikaku said.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah. If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go pass out for the next 72 hours. That was exhausting."

"Sure. I'm gonna take this couch for myself until I get enough motivation to go up to bed. Or until your mother comes home and kicks me out of here"

As Shikamaru walked up the stairs, his father called out to him. "Shikamaru!"

"Yeah, Dad?" He called back.

"You love her, right?"

Shikamaru froze on the stairs, knowing exactly who he was talking about. "What about it?"

He heard his father sigh. "Despite what's going on, do what your heart says. It's okay to love her."

"But-"

"Have you ever heard that 'love has its own logic'?" Shikamaru fell silent. "I know you're used to the mind ruling everything for you with facts and logic, Shikamaru, but believe me, in love, the mind scarcely has a real say. Sometimes, they won't agree, but the heart always wins one way or another. Give her a chance, okay? And give yourself a chance to love her. You deserve to be happy, too."

There was a moment of silence where none of the men moved, nor spoke.

Afterwards, Shikamaru nodded and continued up the stairs, knowing his Dad knew he got the message. Thanks, Dad.

After collapsing onto his bed under the blankets after locking the door, stripping down to his boxers, and taking his hair tie out, he groaned louder and more frustrated than he had all day.

My head says not to trust her, while my heart says to love her... Dad was right. They don't agree. It's so confusing...

He gripped his heart. But I still want her… so much.

He shook his head and sighed, curling on his side.

He drifted to sleep, one final thought in his mind: I'm so screwed... Love. Fucking. Sucks.


(1): I don't remember what chapter I decided it in, but I remember you asking you guys in ANs when you wanted Matsuri's birthday to be (because she doesn't have on in the series) and we decided mid-May. The 12th, I think. The kiss just happened to occur around then. It wasn't on the same day, though.
(2):
In chapter 27, the chapter with the flashback of their kiss, I had this line with an asterisk near it: "All things said, Temari and Kankuro could've opened the door and peeked in and I wouldn't have noticed." Now you know why there's an asterisk. Because that's exactly what happened.
(3): If you've seen Steins;Gate, you know what that version of a world line is. This is basically the same thing, but there's only more than one world line because of the time traveling. No others but that one and this exist, and the other disappeared. For non-watchers: another term for the "other timeline" because I got sick of using it.
(4):
She's referring to Hinata's reservation about "making the moves on Naruto" because she just "wants to be by his side". Essentially the same thing Sakura wants. They're a lot more alike than on may initially realize.
(5):
The heart-attack-like things she's been getting. For the record, Jiraiya and Neji have had a few (though I only mentioned Neji having them). Gaara and Asuma have had one or two as well.

So. That's the end of the Spying Arc. I have no idea what comes next, exactly, though. Good thing I'll be going on break soon...

The 19th will be my first day...

QotW: #1: X-MAS PRESENT IDEAS. I NEED THOSE. Remember: between couples.
#2: Christmas plans? Hanukkah plans? (is it over?) Kwanzaa plans? Whatever-you-celebrate-between-now-and-New-Years'-Plans?

I kinda liked this chapter. I hope you guys did, too.

Love,

Cherry.

PS: Don't forget to read and review! 3