"Uhm, Hatori-sama, what will happen to us?" Sakura asked, once in the car. Hatori, who was driving, didn't turn around.
"You will meet with Akito. He will decide what to do with you." He said emotionlessly. Naruto and Sakura sweatdropped. This guy was a little bit too much like Sasuke.
"Yeah, we know that, but how will you erase our memories?" Naruto pestered, wondering if they had some kind of memory jutsu.
"I will do it." Hatori sighed. Sakura was confused.
"But how?" Stopping at a red light, Hatori turned around and looked the three straight in the eye.
"I just will." He said somewhat bitterly, and turned back around. As the car jolted forward, the three shinobi mentally decided not to pester him about it anymore. The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, until finally, the car pulled through some very large gates. It stopped and everyone got out.
"Well we're here." Hatori said, slamming the car door closed. "Welcome to the Sohma family main house."
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"Akito-sama will see you now." A maid said, alerting the three ninjas. They quickly stood and were ushered into the room. Hatori began to follow them, but the maid stopped him.
"I'm sorry sir, but Akito-sama has made it very clear that no one should be anywhere near this room until the conversation is over." Hatori looked curiously up at the room, then shrugged and walked away. He would be called if he were needed.
The room the three ANBU stepped into was dark and warm. About 20 feet away from them sat a person with dark hair and dark eyes. Their fragile figure seemed to be lost among many layers of robe and fabric.
"You must be the three ninjas sent by Tsunade, ne?" The figure asked. Their voice was soft but demanding, like a ripple of water.
"And you must be Akito-sama." Sasuke said carefully. These particular shinobi knew better than anyone that a ripple of water could easily become a raging storm if provoked.
"That I am." Akito looked them over. "Hmm. What am I to do with you three? I assume you planned the discovery of our curse, "accidentally" running into Yuki or Kyo. I understand Miss Honda invited you over for dinner on your first day of school. You ninjas do work quite fast at gaining trust. Of course, that girl will trust anybody." Akito snorted.
"Well, I obviously can't erase your memories because you're protecting us, and you're not living with Shigure or anything, so it should be fine. But tell anyone of our secret and you will sincerely regret it." He hissed the last part. "What are your names?"
"Haruno Sakura."
"Uzumaki Naruto."
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"Alright, now leave my sight." The family head dismissed them. They left the room quietly and waited until they were relatively far away to talk.
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"Well, that was… strange, to say the least." Naruto pointed out. Sakura nodded, deep in thought. There was something strange about that man, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it…
"We should probably get home, it's getting late. We do have school tomorrow, you know." She sighed, giving up for the moment.
"True. But Sakura-chan, how do we get out of here?" The three shinobi looked around, realizing that they had no idea where they were.
"Can I help you three?" A voice as sweet as honey called to them from behind. Sasuke whirled around to see a small blonde boy in girlish clothing staring at them with wide eyes.
"Who're you?" Naruto blurted out. Sakura elbowed him in the gut.
"Guten Tag! I'm Sohma Momiji! I'm half German, half Japanese." He smiled brightly. It reminded Sasuke of Naruto when they were 12.
"Are you a part of the curse too?" Sakura asked cautiously. Momiji's face went from happy to afraid in seconds.
"W-what do you know about that? You have to see Akito, you have to see him right now-" The boy began to panic. Sakura rushed over to him.
"It's okay, it's okay. We're friends of Yuki, Kyo and Tohru. We've already spoken with Akito, and we know about the curse." The blonde seemed to stop panicking and looked at her in wonder.
"Really?"
"Really!" Naruto gave a cheeky grin. Momiji's face lit up again.
"Let us introduce ourselves. I'm Haruno Sakura." Sakura smiled.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
'Great. One more person to baby-sit.'
"So Akito-san is letting you keep your memories? You and Tohru will be the only outside people who know!!!!" Momiji said excitedly.
"Akito's been awfully lenient lately." A boy who had come up behind Momiji pointed out. His hair was a strange combination of white and black, and all his clothing was black, with a lot of chains hanging around his neck. "I'm Sohma Hatsuharu, cousin of Momiji, Yuki, Kyo and Shigure." He kissed Sakura's hand and smirked. "But you may call me Haru." Sasuke tensed up at the contact.
"So what animals are you guys?" Naruto asked impatiently.
"Chill Naruto." Sakura rolled her eyes, and Momiji laughed.
"No, it's okay. I'm the rabbit of the zodiac, and Haru's the cow!!!" He said, bouncing around. Sasuke internally sweat dropped.
'No surprises there…'
Sakura couldn't help marvel at how beautiful all the Sohma men were.
'It's like they won the genetic freaking lottery!!!!'
'But it's probably not easy to be that gorgeous and not be able to hug girls.'
'Hmm… I wonder if any of them are gay?'
'Inner!!! That's very rude to assume!!! And anyway, it's none of your business.'
'I wasn't assuming anything, I was just wondering. And wouldn't being gay solve the love problem?'
'…I suppose so…'
'Good girl. Hooray for YAOI!!!!'
'…'
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After bidding the Sohma's a polite goodbye (and getting directions from Momiji) the three leaf ninjas headed home. They spent the walk in silence, all thinking about the mission. When they finally arrived at their apartment, Sakura walked straight to her room. Naruto, claiming he wasn't tired, flipped on the TV and began watching some late night talk show.
Sasuke, still being hungry opened the fridge. It was filled with ramen, ramen, and more ramen. He spotted a small container of strawberry yogurt in the corner.
'Must be Sakura's…' He thought as he continued to look around. Finding nothing, Sasuke closed the fridge. It was then that he saw a note attached to the cabinet.
Sasuke,
If you're still hungry after we get back from Tohru's, there's some microwavable tomato soup in the cabinet. Enjoy!
Sakura
While Sasuke heated up the tomato soup, he couldn't help but wonder when Sakura had put this note up and how she would've known he'd still be hungry.
'Some nice traits to look for in a wife…'
'WHAT?!'
'Oh come on. She's beautiful, smart, kind, caring…'
'Who the hell ARE you?'
'I'm You.'
'That can't be possible. I would never think about things like that.'
'Teenage hormones are a bitch. Deal with it.'
Shutting out the annoying voice in his head, Sasuke drank his soup and walked to the room that he and Naruto shared. He found a feminine red t-shirt sitting on the floor. Figuring it to be Sakura's (but completely confused to how it ended up in his room,) The blue-haired teen walked to Sakura's room. Forgetting to knock, he opened the door.
There stood Sakura in her underwear, bra on the floor. She looked up to see a shocked Sasuke. The normally pale boy had turned completely red at the sight of the more than half naked girl.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed, grabbing the comforter off her bed and covering her body with it. "GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!!!!" She grabbed the lamp on the bedside table and chucked it at him. Normally Sasuke would've been able to dodge this, but he was so shocked at seeing his teammate like this, that his senses were mixed up. The lamp ended up hitting him square in the forehead.
'Damn she has good aim.' He mentally swore as he snapped out of his reverie and ran from the room, the door slamming behind him. The red shirt lay forgotten on the floor in front of the door.
From his place on the couch, Naruto grinned. His plan had worked perfectly. His two best friends were much too dense to realize that they liked each other, and the situation had practically begged for a little of the blonde's help.
And in this small apartment, the scheming fox, embarrassed cherry blossom and slowly melting ice cube all had one thought.
'Oh, tomorrow's gonna be fun.'
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Yay, THEY SURVIVED AKITO!!!!!!!!! Just goes to show how kick ass ninja are.
. Anyway, I won't be able to update for a while after this because I have to finish writing chapter 10. (Yes, chapters 1-9 are already prewritten, I just don't update much because I'm lazy.) The Akatsuki might not be in there till a bit later, so don't get your hopes up for them anytime soon. I'll try to fit something into chapter 10 for all you Akatsuki lovers though.
One last thing. I keep getting all these emails saying "Fave Alert". Seriously guys, I'm flattered, but I NEED REVIEWS!!!!! I think it's a pretty good story, don't you? Besides, reviews are what make me feel guilty enough to update sooner!!!!!
DISLAIMER(That I've forgotten to put in pretty much all the other chapters): Naruto is not mine. If it was, then Orochimaru would be Konoha's greatest gay fashion designer EVER!!!!!!!
Ja till next time, amigos.
