OHMYGOODNESSLOOKHOWFASTIUPDATED!! -shock!-
Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Glad Sasuke's pain brings you pleasure! (Bunch of sadists, lol. Dammit, I love you guys!)
Erm...I totally didn't mean to offend anybody last chapter. I wasn't telling anyone to "fuck off," so I'm sorry if I came off that way. My point was that even though I gotta write what feels good to me, it's the stuff that entertains you guys and makes you laugh, that feels good to me. After all, if I just wanted to entertain myself, I'd keep it all in my head! I like to make people happy, but since it's impossible to make everybody happy – I'd be a fool to even try it – I have to set my own course and follow it, you see? Though I don't exactly have that course set in stone yet, haha. It'd be much easier to decide on something if you people would start bribing me with fanart.
-shiftyeyes- Whaaaaat?
(Just kidding, just kidding)
Warning: Abuse of Ellipses and the Italics Font. :rolls eyes: Sorry, I like them! (For those of you not English-compositionally-inclined, ellipses are the "..." thingers)
Read and Review no Jutsu!
Who Says Konoha is Peaceful?
Chapter Nine: You Aren't Helping Out One Bit!
Sasuke was furious. He stalked through Konoha, snarling at anyone who dared to double-take or snort in laughter. He was painfully aware of the fact that not too long ago, Naruto in all his painted glory had ran down this same road – which meant that everyone who saw Naruto (and he was hard to miss) could put two and two together and easily reach the conclusion of how Sasuke had received that handprint on his backside. However, this particular street was also the fastest way to Naruto's apartment, and Sasuke needed to beat the shit out of that kid as soon as possible.
"Ah, hello Sasuke!"
Sasuke froze at the easily-recognizable casual voice. He whirled around to find...nobody. Sasuke blinked, scowled, turned to continue his bad temper...and ran smack into Kakashi.
"What do you want?" Sasuke growled at his sensei, stepping back to put acceptable distance between them.
"Keeping yourself entertained?" Kakashi's question was deceptively harmless. Sasuke didn't miss how the man's eye flicked down and back up, suggesting that Kakashi's words were not quite as innocent as they sounded.
Sasuke scowled at him, not particularly willing to grace him with an answer. The Jounin had to be up to something; he probably wanted to pry into the Uchiha's life and obtain what could be "juicy secrets" about him and Naruto. That pervert!
"What do you want?" Sasuke repeated, a bit of an edge to his words.
Kakashi smiled pleasantly. "Ah, actually I'm looking for Naruto. He isn't at his post. Is there something going on?"
Sasuke huffed and averted his eyes. "No."
The pleasant smile molded into something dangerously gleeful. "Really? Are you sure?"
"Yes," came the snarl. "Is that all?" Sasuke didn't wait for an answer, but shoved past his sensei – easily only because Kakashi let him – and began to walk quickly down the street.
"Well, actually, there is one thing we need discuss," Kakashi piped up after letting Sasuke get a few steps between them.
SHIT.
Sasuke ground his teeth together and prayed the Jounin hadn't seen his wince. No doubt he's heard the latest rumor (who hasn't?) and oh shit, he knows it's torture, that sadist!
"Now then," Kakashi had taken on his Father-Figure tone. "Sasuke, you have to keep your personal life separate from your duties as a shinobi. Complete your assigned mission first, and then you can go do whatever you'd like, okay?"
Sasuke blinked. He was so sure that Kakashi was going to make some crack about him and Naruto... But Kakashi was just being Kakashi-sensei and reminding him about his responsibilities! Maybe the one-eyed man wasn't so bad after all! Sasuke wasn't happy that he had to postpone his revenge on Naruto, but he supposed things could've been worse—
"...Even though I'm happy you've matured emotionally – and I'm sure it's overwhelming for you, how new and exciting love can be – it's not acceptable to abandon a mission just to indulge in—"
Sasuke's jaw dropped in absolute horror. He tried and failed several times to produce speech, and settled for grabbing Kakashi by the elbow and dragging him into the nearest alley and away from the ENTIRE BLOCK that had just heard his words.
"Wha...What are you—Why... What do you think...Why did you say that?!" Sasuke finally manage to splutter.
"Maa, nothing to be ashamed of, Sasuke," Kakashi placated. "I think I'm even proud of you!"
The Uchiha placed his hand on his forehead as his mind reeled and tried to collect itself. "We are not...together!" Sasuke managed, after choking on that final word.
Kakashi's visible eyebrow practically shot off his face in genuine surprise. "Really?"
"Yes," Sasuke insisted, crossing his arms.
Kakashi tilted his head. "Why not?"
Sasuke stared at him in bewilderment. "W-what?"
Kakashi blinked as though just remembering something. "Oh, save that thought. It's about time for me get going to a meeting at the Academy and get some things together. Get back to work, Sasuke!" With a parting "Ja!" Kakashi flickered and vanished, leaving behind a very disturbed and slightly panicky Sasuke.
"Why not?" What could he possible have meant by that?! Was it just Kakashi being Kakashi, or did he actually mean it? Sasuke could only wonder. That does it, his name is OFF my list of allies!
Kakashi sauntered into the Ninja Academy, nonchalant as always. "Yo, Iruka! What's up?"
Iruka, who had been grading exams, looked up at Kakashi in surprise. "Um...Hello. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, wasn't there a meeting this morning?"
Iruka blinked at him. "The only meeting we had scheduled for today was the one a few hours ago, to pass out materials to decorate for the upcoming festival."
Kakashi reclined unceremoniously on a desk. "Yeah, that one."
A pause.
"...YOU'RE LATE!" Iruka yelled in his Classroom-Alpha voice. "THAT'S BEEN OVER FOR HOURS!"
"...Oh, is that so? Well, guess I'll get going then," Kakashi then sauntered out of the Ninja Academy, whistling offhandedly. Iruka slapped his forehead and sighed in exasperation.
Kakashi was in a considerably good mood. His talk with Sasuke had gone considerably well. He had pretty much expected Sasuke to go into a hissing, spitting, emotionally-unstable frenzy. (Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but the point remains.) Surprisingly, Kakashi's meeting with Sasuke had gone smoother than his previous meeting with Sakura. He had visited her home earlier that morning to inform her about the decoration, but seeing as she was still upset from the day before, that had turned into a very stressful experience. (Really, who wanted to deal with a depressed, confused, hormonal teenage girl with superhuman strength??) It was how the Jounin had learned about the entire Naruto-Sasuke mess...
-Flashback-
It was 7:00am. Kakashi sat outside Sakura's window, coincidentally on the same branch his other two students had used earlier. (He was supposed to have gotten there around six, but...well, who's surprised?) He hopped to the kunoichi's windowsill and rapped lightly at the glass. Half a minute later, Sakura had opened the window and allowed her sensei inside.
"You could've just used the door," Sakura grumbled, yawning and combing back her hair with her fingers.
"Didn't want to wake the whole household, now," Kakashi replied easily. "...Sakura?"
Sakura had dozed off on him, and started abruptly. "Huh?"
"Still sleepy, eh?" Kakashi said with a grin. Inwardly, however, he was a bit troubled; a diligent student such as Sakura never fell asleep on him unless there was something wrong that had kept her up all night.
Sakura chuckled nervously. "Heheh, sorry, I didn't really get any sleep last night."
"Maa, sorry to hear that—"
Kakashi was interrupted when Sakura suddenly burst forth and buried her head in the crook of his shoulder. "Oh Kakashi-sensei, it's so horrible!" the rosette cried out, squeezing him tightly.
"Uh..." Kakashi looked blankly down at her, totally not used to such physical contact with his students. In the back of his mind, he was praying that her parents did not hear her outburst and come running, as this situation would be rather difficult to explain.
Sakura suddenly seemed to realize that Kakashi was not exactly comfortable being hugged by young female students. She quickly disentangled herself from him. "Er...S-sorry..."
"Don't, um, worry about it," Kakashi replied awkwardly. "Anyways, I came to tell you—"
"Aren't you gonna ask me what's wrong?"
"Beg pardon?"
Sakura gave him The Look. Any male who has ever had a girlfriend – or even just a girl friend – knows about The Look: it is given when the male has shown insensitivity and foretells great suffering (regardless of age, status, or strength) if such insensitivity is not corrected, and quickly. The closer the female is to her monthly cycle, the less time the male has to amend his words (or lack thereof). The Look is truly a terrifying thing to receive.
"Oh..." Kakashi blinked. "Ah, what's...wrong?"
"Well, for one thing my teammates are...involved," Sakura sniffled. Upon receiving a raised eyebrow from Kakashi, she gritted her teeth and elaborated, "...Romantically."
"Oh!" Kakashi seemed surprised, but not particularly convinced. "And might I inquire as to how you arrived at this conclusion?"
"I saw it," Sakura said miserably. "And Ino caught them reading Karma Sutra."
"Is that so?" Kakashi tapped the side of his jaw thoughtfully. He leaned forward, obviously eager to hear more gossip. "Did you see them making out??"
"Sensei!!" Sakura shrieked, shoving him. "This hurts! It's really devastating for me!"
"Oh, oh, I understand," Kakashi amended. He patted her on the head. "There, there."
She stared at him. "There, there?! You call THAT comforting?! What are you, somebody's grandmother?!"
Kakashi shrugged helplessly.
"This is serious!" Sakura cried, burying her head in her hands. "Now I'm gonna get left even further behind! Our teamwork is gonna fall apart! Sensei, why am I so invisible to them?"
"Maa, I'm sure it's not like that, Sakura," Kakashi tried. He received a tearful glare in return. Well, hell if he knew how to comfort distraught women. In Icha Icha Paradise, distraught women were comforted through techniques that were not exactly appropriate in this situation.
But Sakura was still glaring at him, so he decided to try again. "Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were both lonely, wounded souls, and their friendship is a precious bond for each of them. But you've been with them through thick and thin as well, so I don't believe that it's possible for you to be forgotten by those who have been starved for companionship."
Sakura looked up at her teacher in awe. I didn't know Kakashi-sensei could speak such eloquent words!
Kakashi gave himself a mental pat on the back. Hey, that sounded pretty cool for something I just pulled out of my ass!
-End Flashback-
Alright, two down, one to go, Kakashi nodded to himself. Now, time to track down that hyperactive blond whirlwind...
Naruto had actually not gone back to his apartment as Sasuke had expected. No, he wasn't that stupid; Naruto knew the Uchiha wanted his blood and would be looking for him there. Instead, Naruto shucked off his messed-up jacket and dunked his head in a fountain to rinse off the worst of the paint. Then he snagged some new paint from Shikamaru (who had dozed off and didn't notice) and doubled back around to resume working.
Hahah! That should throw the bastard off my tracks for a bit! Naruto cackled triumphantly, now painting in just a mesh top and his orange pants.
Sakura was nailing a poster to the side of a building when she caught a shimmer from the corner of her eye. She turned to see that it was coming from Naruto's necklace. She didn't know too much about his necklace; Tsunade gave it to him, but it usually stayed unseen beneath his jacket. However, now that the jacket was off, she could see that he kept it carefully polished; the turquoise-blue stone gleamed in the sun and looked as precious as it probably was.
"Nice necklace, Naruto," she said.
"Eh, this?" Naruto touched it fondly with his forefinger. He was pleasantly surprised to receive a compliment from his long-time love crush, especially after the recent turn of events. It had been pretty awkward between them earlier. "Thanks! I won a bet with the old Hag, and she gave it to me!"
Sakura giggled. "Yup, losing bets, that sounds like Tsunade-sama! But you always wear it in under your clothes – you should keep it on the outside so people can see it!"
Naruto frowned and scratched his head. "I tried that at first. Ero-Sennin said it looked ridiculous to wear a necklace on the outside of my jacket, so I stopped."
"Naruto, it's the middle of summer! You don't need a jacket! Are you a polar bear? Don't you get hot?" Sakura laughed and shook her head. The jacket – though Naruto's trademark – was okay, but impractical. And anyways, she liked the mesh shirt better. It was much more pleasing to the eyes than that bright orange "I'M HERE HIT ME!" sign.
Naruto grinned and shrugged. "Not really!" He loved his orange jacket. It felt weird to be without for a long period of time. Suddenly, a memory flickered into Naruto's head...
"I mean, even NARUTO has a better 6-pack..."
That's right! Sakura wrote in her diary that she likes six-packs! Hey, Ihave a six-pack! And Jiraya told me that mesh is a great way to play up your muscles, and I'm wearing a mesh shirt now, sooo...VICTORY! Naruto mentally cheered and made a vow to walk around without the orange jacket for the next few days or so while the weather was nice.
Meanwhile, Sasuke (who had not gone back to work as Kakashi ordered after all) was stomping around Naruto's apartment, royally pissed off at the blond for not being there. Sasuke's own apartment was halfway across Konoha, and he did not fancy any more running around the village with his wardrobe in its current state. Sasuke contemplated swiping some of Naruto's clothing, but then decided that wearing the blond's handprint was less of a social suicide than wearing his pants.
Besides, when he went through all of Naruto's drawers, Sasuke could only find clothes in orange or some insane psychedelic pattern. Sasuke cursed and angrily kicked a basket of clean but unfolded laundry.
Wait.
Laundry.
If there were clean clothes, then there must be a place to clean the clothes in! All Sasuke had to do was find that place, and wash his shorts! Problem solved! Naruto's apartment was too small to personally have one, but there was probably a laundry room in the hall or something. Sasuke smirked at his own genius and set off to find a washing machine.
(If Sasuke does find a laundry machine, what will he do while his shorts are being washed?? XDD)
Hrm... Are my sentences too long? I mean, not like run-ons, but just with too many words?? I'unno, sometimes it feels like they are, and it bothers me but I keep doing it! –shakes fist at keyboard–
Oh well. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed!
(Oh, and who's keeping up with the recent manga chapters?! Holy effing batman, Tobi!?)