Authors note: omg. I'm so increadibly sorry you guys! I've had a serious case of writers block because my plot bunnies deserted me -wailsobcry- xD
but here's chapter 8, and it's dedicted to Luna.The.Betrayed.Ninja because she always reviews and thus makes me motiviated XDDDDD And plus her stories are hilarious (so you should go read them), aaaaand the punishment of sasuke in this chapter was her brilliantly amazingly amazing idea xD
You used to talk to me like I was the only one around
you used to lean on me, the only other choice was falling down
you used to walk with me like we had no where we needed to go
nice and slow, to no place in particular
we used to have this figured out
we used to breathe without a doubt
the nights were clear, you were the first star that I'd see
we used to have this under control, never thought we used to know
at least there's you, and at leas there's me
can we get this back, can we get this back
to how it used to be?
I used to reach for you when I got lost along the way
I used to listen, you always had the just right thing to say
I used to follow you, never really cared where we would go
fast or slow, to anywhere at all
"It's never going to work." Hinata sweatdropped.
"it WILL!" Kaiya replied determinedly.
Hinata shrugged but continued, "I-I don't see how sacrificing tomatoes while having him watch a slideshow of Orochimaru molesting him is going to faze Sasuke-san."
"And that, my friend, is your downfall!" Kaiya cackled, "You have no imagination! Just watch my brilliant plan succeed!"
Shaking her head as her friend poofed away to rejoin civilization out of the hospital, Hinata retreated back into the hospital wondering if Kaiya had suffered a certain amount of brain damage.
"Oh honestly Sasuke!" Karin huffed, walking next to the black haired boy who caused such a commotion when he passed by a group of people. "I don't see why you insist on taking side routes around Konoha! If you're looking for something in particular, you know you can just tell me and I'll find it for you." she continued in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
"Will you shut up?" Sasuke muttered staring ahead resolutely instead of paying any kind of attention to the groups of gossipers whose loud whispers still seemed to reach his ears.
"Well fine then." Karin said before relapsing into a pouty silence. Unable to withstand the silence any longer, the red-head turned to her companion, "Where are we going anyway?"
"The compound." he answered simply.
"What compound?" she questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Sasuke flashed her a look that clearly said 'why did I pick you for my team again?' before clarifying, "The Uchiha compound."
"It's not filled with cats is it?" Karin asked, cringing at the thought of having the demon animals staring accusingly at her through the dark.
"It could be filled with anything for all I know; it's supposedly been vacant for about three years." Sasuke shrugged. He vaguely recalled Tsunade telling him something about a group of his old acquaintances avidly protesting the selling of the Uchiha property and the possibility of making the compound into a museum. He supposed he should probably thank them or something useless like that. Luckily for him it would be so against his nature for the 'Ice King' Uchiha to actually thank someone that no one expected anything of the sort from him. Except maybe Naruto. But then again, Naruto always was a moron. Finished with his musings to himself, Sasuke turned his attention to the road in front of him, expression darkening as he passed the Aogiri property.
Out of the corner of his eye, he was barely able to see the face of Minami Aogiri peering out the window with a look akin to a parent disappointed in their child, and oddly a twinge of guilt prodded at Sasuke's conscience. Scowling, he dismissed the feeling as indigestion though he had yet to eat that day.
Seeing Sasuke's frown deepen, Karin looked around to find the source of his discomfort. Eyes locking with the dark haired woman peering out the window, she mouth curved downward and she turned to address her black haired companion. "Who's she?"
"Who?" Sasuke asked vaguely.
"Don't be frustrating! The lady who was staring out the window. The reason you started frowning." she retorted.
After considering giving another question for his answer, Sasuke decided to just be blunt and save time. "A friend of my parents." The truth. Not the whole truth, but the truth nonetheless.
"Hm." Karin said, deciding not to press the matter further but not fully convinced that was the whole story.
The duo trudged along in silence until the Uchiha compound came into view. At the sight of the ever-so-familiar gate, a wave a nostalgia washed over Sasuke. He inwardly cursed Konoha for making the emotions he had sealed away for years re-awaken. After all, emotions and bonds only served to hold a person down.
Impervious to her companion's troubles, Karin was busy glancing around the streets of the compound, memorizing streets and houses. She didn't need to of course, but it was better than walking in silence with nothing to occupy herself. She sighed and briefly remembered the face of the woman in the window. She hadn't looked at Sasuke like the rest of the villagers had - with fear and anger - but with a more parental emotion. Disappointment mingled with a hope that his habits will change, she guessed.
The red head chanced a quick glance at Sasuke to see his face as blank as ever, though his eyes scanned the perimeter in an almost paranoid fashion. He must be nervous, Karin observed. She couldn't really blame him... being thrust back into a world he ran away from years ago had to take a toll on someone's psyche.
As though he was reading her thoughts, Sasuke turned to glare at her before turning his attention forwards. He stopped in front of his old house. Steeling himself, he opened the door to be greeted with silence. Just like the night of the slaughter of his family. Pushing that thought out of his mind, Sasuke stepped through the door to be greeted with an odd sight.
Straightening at the sound of the door opening, Kaiya saluted rather sarcastically. "Uchiha."
"What the hell are you doing Aogiri?" He asked, glancing around the room to see it covered with splattered tomatoes and pinups of Orochimaru and himself doing rather...raunchy activities. "And why the hell is this mess in my house?"
Cackling inwardly, Kaiya waved her hand dismissively, "My 'kaa-san sent me over to clean up any mess that was in here, and wouldn't you know it - the house was decorated like this..."
Unimpressed with her explanation, and vaguely under the impression that this was her own doing, Sasuke decided to do what he did best; scowl. "Well then clean it up."
"I've been doing that." Kaiya explained with a mysteriously smug look, "But now you're here so my services are no longer needed." She grinned before attempting to leave. She frowned when Sasuke stepped between her and the door. "Move Uchiha."
"Not until you clean up this mess that you made of my house." He ordered, looking down at the girl.
Damn him for getting so tall. Kaiya glared up at him, "I don't owe you anything Uchiha. If it comes down to that kind of business, you owe me."
Sasuke snorted in response, "I owe you for what? Leaving the village? If that's the case then I'm sure I owe the village much more than I owe you."
"You owe me for this!" Kaiya exclaimed almost hysterically as she pulled the loose shirt she was wearing up so that the bandage over her side was showing. "You did that." she said in a calmer but still strained voice.
He glanced down at the bandage, not even flinching at her tone of voice. "Hn. Looks like it." was his only response.
"Bastard." she growled, silver eyes flashing with anger, and a glimpse of a deep sadness. "Welcome back to Konoha." Stepping around the raven haired boy, she stepped out the door, slamming it with a ferocity only a kunoichi could muster.
Blinking, Karin looked up at Sasuke, who was scowling like a thunder cloud now. There was definitely something he wasn't telling her about the girl and her family.
The next day, Kaiya opened her window, blissfully breathing in the fresh morning air. No matter where she traveled on her missions, it couldn't be denied; Konoha always had the best sunrises. She opened her eyes, her gaze greeted with the colorful hues of the early dawn; rosy pinks, lavenders, oranges, and the palest yellows. This was definitely the best way to start off a morning. She grinned before sighing and walking over to her closet and changing into her training clothes - a simple tank top and functional shorts.
The downside to waking up this early was of course, getting ready for Rei-sensei's training sessions. At least the team had had a reprieve from missions with the increase in the number of chuunin after the exam.
Grabbing a flask of water on her way out the door of her house, Kaiya jogged off to the training grounds to meet the rest of her team for their daily 6 hour practice. (1) When she reached the destination, she was greeted with a very nostalgic sight; a half-asleep Kenta and a hyperactive Natsu who was jumping up and down because of her coffee intake while Rei-sensei was slumped against a tree, sake bottle in hand. Throughout the years, Kaiya had often wondered why Rei-sensei had even scheduled the practices when she herself was half asleep at this time in the morning.
"OHAAAAAAAAAAYO KAIYA-CHAN!" Natsu greeted loudly, waving frantically at her friend. Her shout had caused Kenta, who was attempting to sleep while leaning against a tree, to jump up in surprise, and fall forward, landing in the ground with a 'plop'! Reiko on the other hand merely waved vaguely before straightening from her slumped position against another tree.
"Right. Down to business then." Reiko slurred. "Three laps around not through the village, and then target practice for about an hour. Then sparring. Chakra control. And then we can go out for ramen." After giving the orders for that day, she sat down beneath the tree with a satisfied 'hmph'.
"B-B-But Rei-sensei!" Natsu began to whine, "Do you know how big the village is? Three laps is gonna take like forever!!!!!!!" she wailed.
Reiko turned her head to glare imperiously at the young chuunin. "Be thankful I'm not Gai and making you run 100."
"Oh god." Kenta's eye twitched. "Shut up Natsu before she raises the number!!!" he hissed, clamping his hand over the brunette's mouth. A few seconds later, he pulled his hand away in disgust, "Did you just lick my hand?" he questioned, eyebrow twitching as he wiped his hand on his pants.
Natsu nodded in affirmation, "And it hurt me a lot more than it hurt you. Don't you ever wash your hands?" She made a face to show her disgust.
A defensive look crossed Kenta's face, "Of course!" he exclaimed.
"Liaaaaar." Kaiya sang with a smug expression on her face.
"Why I outta---" Kenta exclaimed, cracking his knuckles before rounding on his teammate.
"Less talking, more running!" Reiko ordered.
"How can you act so sober when you're that drunk?" Natsu questioned, suddenly hovering next to her sensei's shoulder, poking her.
"It's a talent you'll learn when you're my age... Now run!" Raiko barked again, cackling as the members of her team took off running in fear. "Life is good when you're a jounin." she said matter-of-factly before taking another swig from her sake bottle.
"ok, ok, ok. Here's the plan guys." Kenta panted in as much of a conspiratorial tone as he could muster after half a lap around the village, "We hop the village wall and cut through the center of town, run out the front gates, camp out by a tree, run back through the front gates after awhile, sprint back to the training grounds so we're panting heavily like we ran the whole time, and Rei-sensei will be none the wiser!" he said triumphantly.
"Don't shout it so loudly!!" Natsu and Kaiya hissed simultaneously, looking around the perimeter in a paranoid fashion. "Rei-sensei hears everything, remember?"
Kenta sweatdropped, "Ok, anyway. Let's just hop the wall here."
"Wait a minute!" Kaiya wailed, "Remember what happened when we did this last time?" she reminded in a matter-of-fact tone between pants.
Natsu cringed at the memory. "Yeah! Kaiya's wanna-be-ephebophile-lover almost skewered us with kunai and shuriken. And then we got dragged to the Hokage's office because he wouldn't believe that we weren't spies from another village using the henge no jutsu. And then Rei-sensei practically killed us with practice because since we were being interrogated, we didn't get back to the training grounds until late afternoon. Plus she found out about what we did."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Kaiya protested, "You make it sound like it was all Kotetsu-san's fault that he's so dutifully protective of the village."
Kenta twitched, "You know he's like 12 years older than you, right?"
"AGE DOES NOT MATTER IN LOVE!" Kaiya shouted determinedly.
"...You can tell that to the ANBU when he gets arrested for pedophilism." Natsu said matter-of-factly.
As Kaiya was about to open her mouth to protest her friend's comment, Kenta interrupted, "ANYWAY. Onward with the plan!"
"...Did you not just hear a word of our flashback to last time?" Natsu sweatdropped.
"But if we're careful this time... Then we won't have a problem!" Kenta said determinedly.
"Here's a better idea!" Kaiya announced as she stopped running to catch her breath, "Why don't we just walk the rest of this lap really slowly, and then sprint to the training grounds?"
"SEEE, this is why she's the strategist on the team, and you're not!" Natsu said grinning cheekily as she poked Kenta in the chest.
"hmph." Kenta said, crossing his arms indignantly. "I suppose it is less life-threatening..." he admitted grudgingly.
"Yosh! let's do it then!" Natsu exclaimed cheerfully.
Back at the Uchiha compound, Sasuke had gotten up early and patrolled his tomato-stained house with a sullen aura radiating from him. Damn her for being so vindictive. He sighed, muttering something vaguely along the lines of "wasted tomatoes and gay porn." Deciding it was better to clean up the mess than leave the aforementioned 'problems' desecrating his house, the Uchiha scrounged through a few closets, finally finding the cleaning tools he needed and began to thoroughly clean the mess that adorned his walls.
Observing from down the hall, Karin decided that it was time she did a little investigating of her own.
Authors note: sorry again guys, but this might take a little longer to update because I'm working on my drabbles for Ulquiorra/Orihime from bleach (which you should totally check out and review : D) and since there's only 30 challenge themes I want to get that finished as soon as possible... xD
Plus, once again I have no idea where to go with this story (so if you guys have any good plot ideas, please feel free to share them : D) thanks for all your support!