Hello again!
If you've read this far and still kept interest I must be doing a good job!
Now I have thanks to give out to someone. Coincidental once again, she is my best friend and -like- the mother of fan fictions in my group; writing almost two a day!! On this site she goes by the name of "Kronoshevan", and again, there is a funny reason to that name too, but I'll get to that later. I wanna thank her for introducing me and my twin sister to the wonderful world of Anime and Manga (plus the all exciting world of fan fict!); if it weren't for you, I might have been stuck in the real world like a regular person... Sinful! (Heh, just joking!).
Anyway, about her name; like my sister and me, she was given an anime nickname from a favorite anime or manga. Her nicknames are; Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist (because she's short!), Sesshomaru from Inuyasha, Itachi Uchiha from Naruto and Chrono from Chrono Crusade. Her site name comes from her nickname Chrono, but is spelt differently because we've mixed her first name into it (Kaitlyn). 3
Oh, and just as a little something to help you; this entire story is before squad 7 met Zabuza. So they haven't met Zabuza or Haku yet (you'll understand when you read this chapter…!). And as a little helper on names, 3 characters pop into our story (O.C's); Suzume-gin (pronounced; Sue-zoo-me-jin), Ryoko-sha (Rio-ko-sha) and Yakima-su (Ya-ki-ma-sue).
Well, trying not to waste anymore of your precious story reading time (or my writing space!!) I give you; True Confessions- chapter 3; Valediction and renounce!!
- True confessions –
Chapter 3: Valediction and Renounce
"Bye mummy!"
Midore knelt down and hugged her boy, tears of both joy and sorrow staining her cheeks.
"I'll always love you my son." she said into his ear. "Never forget that. I'll wait for your safe return in years to come... when you've become a man. Make me proud"
She let him go and stood back as he join squad 7 at Sakura's side.
"Well, let's head off shall we?" Kakashi asked, giving every one the go to start the journey home.
"Bye mum!" Kanashii called, waving ecstatically until his mother was out of sight. "Bye!"
The forest thickened around the party as they left the dead lands of the Waste villa behind.
Kanashii suddenly slowed down to a stroll, a worried look on his face as he studied the ground.
"What is it Kanashii?" Sakura asked, slowing to his pace.
"This is as far as mummy said I could normally go..."
He looked frantically about the tree tops, almost expecting some one to jump out and slice off the first toe that stepped over the boundary.
Sakura placed a comforting hand on the boys shoulder. "We're here to protect you. No ones going to hurt you while we're here."
She gave him a little wink and took a big step forward, showing him it was ok.
He smiled and took a big step forward too, happy with his achievement.
"Sakura, Kanashii; keep up the pace." Kakashi called from the front, not looking back.
Kanashii grabbed a hold of Sakura's hand and ran forward with her till they were just behind Naruto, who looked back and frowned at the position Kanashii's hand was in ('How come he can get away with it?').
Kanashii smiled innocently up at Naruto, who pulled a sour face at him. "Are you Sakura's boyfriend?" Kanashii asked, coking his head to one side.
Naruto's cheeks went pink, his gaze going from the questioning face of the little boy, to the hard glare of Sakura. "Uh, no. Just friends." He said, rubbing the back of his neck, laughing.
"Oh." Kanashii said, looking to the ground for a moment, then let go of Sakura's hand and ran up to Sasuke, tugging the hem of his shirt. "Are you Sakura's boyfriend?"
Sakura's heart froze, her cheeks going fluorescent red.
Sasuke looked at the boy briefly, then brushed him off and walked further to the front.
Kanashii blinked at the boy, turned back to Sakura and asked; "Why is he so grumpy?"
Sakura giggled, taking the boys hand again. "He's always like that, don't take it too personally."
"My mum told me about people who are always grumpy." Kanashii said to her, scratching his head to remember. "She said they were called… emo's"
Sasuke's eyes turned to daggers that were shot at Kanashii's direction, though he didn't notice them as for he was watching Naruto who was laughing hysterically.
"Owned!" he yelled, pointing to Sasuke whose fists pulsed with a desire for fox blood.
Naruto suddenly stopped laughing and grabbed his left cheek. "Ow!"
He removed his hand to reveal a deep cut that had already started to bleed. "What the..?" He looked to the ground and saw a kunai stained with his blood… a paper tag attached to the handle…
"Bomb Kunai!" He yelled, pushing Sakura and Kanashii back as the bomb exploded. Naruto jumped up, rounding on Sasuke. "Hey! That was a little overboard, don't cha think?!" he yelled.
"That wasn't me, you idiot." Sasuke growled, pulling out a kunai. "The boundary guards… they've found us."
"Manji formation! Protect the kid!" Kakashi yelled, scanning the forest.
Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura all stood around Kanashii, kunai in hand and eyes on the lookout.
"What's happening?" Kanashii asked anxiously from inside the circle, tugging at the back of Sakura's red Kimono.
"We just have a little setback, but don't you worry; just stay behind us and we'll protect you." She winked, trying to comfort the boy. He nodded, still quite frightened, but stayed ever so close to Sakura.
"What I wanna know is; why they allowed us to enter the village."Sasuke said, griping the kunai in his hand. "If no one was allowed to leave… why would anyone be allowed access in?"
"Simple really." Sounded a deep, petrifying voice.
A male figure jumped out of the canopy of a nearby tree and crouched on a branch, swinging a kunai around his finger.
"Orders were to kill villagers that left… there was nothing about outsiders." He smirked, his tongue tracing the sharp object, his eyes seeking his next victim. "Suzume-gin" he introduced, standing tall then bowing, his short silver hair flowing over his shoulders. "You're day of reckoning..." His silver eyes shot up, drilling into that of Kanashii's. "…in the flesh."
Two more males jumped from the trees and landed at the base of the tree that Suzume-gin stood upon, both with unfriendly figures. One was bulk and immense, the other slim with a slash over his left eye.
"Ryoko-sha, Yakima-su! Let's have some fun." Suzume-gin smirked, jumping down and joining his team on the ground.
Kakashi stood in front of his pupils and faced the enemy, arms folded and his visible eye closed. "You're in the way."
"Why don't cha do something about it then?" Ryoko-sha mocked, smirking.
Suzume-gin held his hand up delicately, silencing his companion. "I'll handle this one, the rest; is yours."
The two associates smirked, accepting the proposal offered. "Anyone in particular?" Ryoko-sha addressed Yakima-su, his good eye inspecting the ring of teens.
"The emo kid," he said, flexing his bulky arm muscles. "For his idiotic question earlier."
Sasuke growled, not only because that word was used once again against his name. "Bring it on, baka" he remarked darkly, lowering into his fighting stance, kunai gleaming in the sunlight above.
Naruto chuckled quietly as he could feel Sasuke's chakra boiling. "Owned!"
Suzume-gin brought his hands together, swiftly displaying hand signs while muttering the names of. "Earth style; Lightning glove jujitsu!"
Suzume-gin ran forward at Kakashi, his right fist blazing in a mass of lightning bolts. He reached Kakashi and swung at him, Kakashi dodging it barely. Suzume-gin brought his hands together again and trusted them in Kakashi's direction, bolts of lightning grabbing his ankles and pulling him to the ground with a thud.
Yakima-su and Ryoko-sha ran around the fight and in the direction of Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. Yakima-su threw shuriken, which Sasuke deflected, then collided his kunai against the dark haired teens, pushing hard. "Come on kid, show me what you got!"
Ryoko-sha took aim at Sakura, though Naruto deflected and blocked his path. "You gotta go through me first!" he snarled, jabbing his chest with his thumb proudly. "Sakura," he added on a lower note, the back of his head facing the kunoichi. "Stay here and protect the kid." And with that he dashed forward and collided kunai with Ryoko-sha.
Deep down inside Sakura longed to tell him she wanted to help fight; that she could defend for herself, but then Kanashii would be unprotected and in danger.
Kanashii gripped the hip of Sakura's dress tightly, hiding his face from behind her; Sakura could feel from the way his hands were shaking that he was utterly terrified.
"Really, I though highly of you, Hatake Kakashi." Suzume-gin mocked as he looked down at Kakashi. "But clearly the bar has been set too high."
"Don't get too cocky." came Kakashi's voice from behind.
The Kakashi that Suzume-gin had grabbed with his 'lightning glove' jujitsu disappeared in a cloud of white smoke before Suzume-gins very eyes. "The Shadow clone jujitsu?!"
"So, you're not as dumb as you look." Kakashi mocked from behind, holding a kunai to his opponent's neck.
Yakima-su smirked as Sasuke continued to push back on his kunai.
"You're gonna pay for that 'emo' remark." Sasuke spat, pushing forward.
Yakima-su sneered. "You have the words… let's see if you can back them up."
He removed one hand from his kunai, still keeping the struggle in his favor, and used his free hand to make hand sings.
"What?!" Sasuke gasped, as Yakima-su continued.
"Earth style! Iron paw jujitsu!"
Sasuke's force on Yakima-su's kunai weakened as Yakima-su's fist placed Sasuke's neck in an iron-vice grip.
Sasuke grunted painfully as Yakima-su pushed harder on his kunai. He quickly glanced at Sasuke's headband, laughing as he spotted the leaf symbol. "Ha! A Konoha genin? And here I was hoping you'd make it interesting for me!" He teased, laughing out loud. Sasuke's eyebrows lowered dangerously, a frown upon his features.
"Looks can be deceiving cant they?!" Yakima-su laughed cruelly, shaking Sasuke lightly by the neck.
Placing his right leg in a firm position on the ground, Sasuke brought his left knee into Yakima-su's stomach with full force, making him drop his hand that held the kunai to hold his stomach. Sasuke then slashed at Yakima-su's arm that immediately let go of his neck.
"Couldn't agree more." Sasuke smirked, placing his feet in a firm position as Yakima-su looked up at him. "Why you little..!"
Ryoko-sha moved back as Naruto slashed wildly in attempt to hit him.
"Are you even trying?" Ryoko-sha asked critically as he dodged Naruto, cutting him on the shoulder as he landed behind him.
"I think I'd get a better game if I fought the girl." He sighed, looking unimpressed.
Naruto turned slowly, fire in his eyes. "You'll pay for that one, on both my, and Sakura's view." He spoke darkly, fully facing him now.
"Take your best shot." Ryoko-sha spoke, grinning evilly.
Naruto's hands slapped together, almost too fast to see. "Shadow clone jujitsu!"
Ryoko-sha didn't even flinch as 5 Naruto's ran at him, each with fire in their eyes. He used but one arm to deflect the Naruto's, only when he took a shot at the real Naruto did he put effort into it.
"I stand by what I said." He remarked flatly, watching as Naruto held the bleeding cut on his stomach.
Naruto smirked. "Is that so?"
Ryoko-sha's calm expression became confusion as he followed Naruto's gaze, seeing a circle of bomb kunai placed around his feet. "What?!"
He jumped just in time to avoid the blast, but jumped in range of Naruto's second attack from above. Ryoko-sha brought his arm in front of his chest to stop the kunai from piercing his heart, though it did quite some damage to his arm.
Ryoko-sha landed on the ground, ripping out the kunai in anger.
Naruto landed firmly on two feet and took a step back as Ryoko-sha threw the blade at his feet. Naruto knocked into some-one behind him and was about to turn and attack the enemy when they spoke; "Watch it looser!"
Naruto sighed in relief, it was just Sasuke. They both moved into their fighting stance as their opponents bunched their fists, ready to fight.
Sakura flinched slightly as shuriken landed not too far from her position, thrown by Ryoko-sha and deflected by Naruto.
Sakura winced as she watched the fight ahead, Naruto receiving a punch to the face, Sasuke just ducking a kick from Yakima-su.
"Is it over yet?" Kanashii asked from behind, his face hidden out of fear.
"Not yet." Sakura said, not as calmly as before though.
"Give up. You've lost." Kakashi advised, his kunai resting threateningly upon Suzume-gin's neck.
Suzume-gin chuckled darkly. "Not quite yet."
Kakashi only had enough time to take a quick glance at Suzume-gin's hands to see that he had formed a hand sign. "No!"
"Ninja art! White light Jujitsu!" Suzume-gin yelled, raising his palms so Kakashi could catch the full blast of the blinding white light illuminated therein.
Kakashi dropped the kunai and reached for his visible eye that had been temporally blinded.
Suzume-gin took this chance to escape Kakashi's reach, heading in the direction of Sakura and Kanashii.
Sakura watched in slow motion as he sped her way, his hand reaching inside his weapon pouch…
"Sakura!!" Sasuke yelled, dashing to the pink haired kunoichi.
Suzume-gin jumped back as Sasuke stood in front of Sakura, a kunai shown clearly.
"Sakura, are you OK?" Sasuke asked with his back to her.
"Yeah," she replied, holding her arm that held proof that the enemy had struck. "It's just a scratch."
"And Kanashii?" he asked, frowning darkly at Suzume-gin as he smirked from his place ahead.
Sakura looked back and saw the little boy on the ground, shaking, but unharmed nonetheless.
"He's ok." She reassured, turning back to Sasuke.
"Quite done?" Suzume-gin asked, his silvery hair swaying about in the breeze.
"You're gonna wish that blade never touched her." Sasuke said darkly, his eyes going hard.
Suzume-gin licked the blood covered kunai, tasting Sakura's blood. "And you're the one who's gonna make me?" he mocked.
Sasuke ran at Suzume-gin, throwing shuriken which the enemy dodged easily. Sasuke then smashed his hands together; "Horse! Tiger! Fire style; FIRE BALL JUITSU!"
Suzume-gin jumped here and there, dodging the flame attack that came from the boy's mouth. He threw bomb kunai, and dashed past as they exploded in a cloud of grey smoke. Suzume-gin rushed for Sakura and Kanashii, but Sasuke, who had dodged the explosion, cut him off and sent him flying back with a forceful kick to the stomach.
"This could be harder than I thought…" Suzume-gin mumbled to himself as he stood up from the ground, wiping the trickle of blood from his mouth.
Yakima-su and Ryoko-sha both turned on Naruto, who was about to go and help his two teammates.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Naruto yelled, as he dodged an attack from Ryoko-sha only to jump into Yakima-su's trap.
He grunted as he landed on the ground, pulling the kunai from the arm that he had thrown up in defense. "Hey, the more the merrier!" Naruto growled, smirking as 7 shadow clones appeared at his side and rushed at the adversary.
Ryoko-sha knocked back three clones with kunai and ran at Naruto, ramming a fist into his jaw.
Naruto crouched on the ground and sprung into Ryoko-sha's stomach, winding him slightly and pushing him back. Naruto crouched down again, regaining his breath as Ryoko-sha and Yakima-su defeated the last of the clones and stood before him. He was running out of Chakra… and energy; he didn't know how much longer he would last.
'Come on!' he told himself, standing up. 'Sakura and Sasuke are counting on you! Don't give up now!'
Naruto growled fiercely, clenching his fists to motivate himself. "I won't give up! BELIEVE IT!" He yelled, his motivation hitting its highest point; this could be his last burst of energy, he had to use it well!
He ran at Yakima-su, who threw an effortless kunai at the boy who changed into a log. Yakima-su gasped, looking frantically until he heard the obnoxious voice from behind. He and Ryoko-sha turned just in time to see Naruto's displayed hand sign; " TRANSFORM!"
The two associates gapped then fell back with a stream of blood seeping from the nose as a beautiful female Naruto, wearing almost nothing, stood before them.
Naruto winked, blowing the boys a kiss. "You know you want me…!"
Ryoko-sha and Yakima-su jumped up, steam of rage whistling out their ears, "Why you little…!"
Suzume-gin Jumped back as Sasuke's fire ball jujitsu flew his way again.
"You're not concentrating." Sasuke called through the last of the flames, looking around for the foe. He looked back to check that he was a fair distance from Sakura and Kanashii; so they wouldn't get involved into the fight.
"You're one to talk" Suzume-gin said sarcastically. Sasuke's head whipped forward to see Suzume-gin right in front of him. "Now a move like that… could get you killed." he teased, jumping back as Sasuke went to swipe at him with the kunai his hand griped firmly.
"I've become quite tired of you." Suzume-gin said, slipping his hand into his pocket.
Sasuke growled, strengthening his stance.
Suzume-gin rushed forward, throwing a kunai at Sasuke who dodged easily. As Sasuke dodged Suzume-gin threw something that whizzed past Sasuke's ear, missing him only just.
Sasuke smirked. "You missed."
"Who said I did?" Suzume gin grinned evilly, looking beyond Sasuke's eyes that were open wide in fear as his assumption was answered…
There was a scream
Sasuke spun around to see Sakura with her side to him… two senbon needles sticking out of her bleeding neck.
Kanashii lay sprawled out and unconscious near a rock on Sakura's other side, clearly been pushed out of the way.
Sakura's head turned slowly to face Sasuke; Sasuke could see sun soaked tears escaping her eyes.
Sakura's mouth moved, a soft wavering voice full of fear and renounce following; "Sasuke… I'm… sorry…"
"NO!" Sasuke ran to Sakura as her body fell limp and collapsed, the words 'I was too late' ringing in his mind.
Naruto's head looked in the direction of Sasuke, his eyes resting uncomfortably on the unfolding scene. "SAKURA…!"
Sasuke reached the kunoichi, skidding to his knees… extracting the needles delicately from her neck. His hands searched frantically for a pulse among the blood on her neck… though none could be found. "No…"
Kakashi looked up, his era of blindness now up. Nothing could describe his feeling the moment his eye fell upon Sakura's cold body; he had failed as a teacher… and lost a precious joy of life.
Naruto fought back tears of anguish and heartbreak; how did it come to this?
Suzume-gin smirked from his place ahead of Sasuke, who still held the lifeless shell in his arms. "I seem to have struck a nerve."
Three pairs of eyes, all full of rage and hatred shot to the rival who killed the young kunoichi, one single word shared among their thoughts; Revenge
Chap 3Fin