Chapter 7 comin' up: The Consequence

Ack! This might be a good one! Here ya go:

It was the next night. And Sakura was resting, tired from today's training with Itachi and Kisame. She had totally forgotten about the consequence from their first battle because of all the training she's had. And now, she was cooking dinner.

"Hey… I've got a creepy thing to tell you." Kisame said. "You know the lake at the back of the house, right?"

"Yeah…" Sakura said, "What about it?"

"Well, I know it's all just rumors but it's really creeping me out." Kisame said, and then his tone turned into a scary one. "They say that there is a lost ghost there of a white lady. She doesn't harm anyone. But even anyone who sees her would go away because of her scary features."

"Who's 'they'?" Sakura asked, "And whose ghost is it?"

"Hidan and Kakuzu, two more of Akatsuki which I know you know of, were here about years ago. And they had this girl for a prisoner… like you. But she was way too different from you. She was like… how should I put it… she was a loner and she hated men and kids." Kisame said, "She also had powerful and unique, but weird, abilities and she had something like a clone of the 2-tailed beast. And I'm pretty sure that you didn't know that the two-tailed beast was a girl who looked just like her. Except for the hair color and skin color, but their eyes were exactly the same."

There was a pause, Sakura waited for Kisame to continue. He said, "So anyway, I heard Hidan tell Diedara that he saw a glowing entity floating just above that lake one cold night… in the middle of the lake even. And then, he wanted to get a clearer view so he came out of the house and close to the lake."

"Then what?" Sakura said, starting to get anxious. Kisame answered, "Hidan saw a girl with blood all over her white dress and he saw that this girl was dead. Hidan has always been an immortal. And he knows the looks of the dead and living, no matter how good a make-up artist is. And this girl is no faker, he says. She had sunken eyes and very pale skin… almost white. Then her hair would be covering half of her face…"

Sakura got goose bumps all over her then Itachi opened the bathroom door. "Are you finally finished with your story, Kisame?" He asked, he looked bored.

Kisame grinned and he ate after Sakura had cooked dinner. While she, on the other hand, was thinking about the ghost of the poor girl and lost her appetite. 'I wonder what could help her or get her to crossover…'

Itachi noticed this and said, "Speaking of the lake… Sakura, you haven't forgotten your consequence yet, have you?"

Sakura was only half-listening. But when she heard of the word 'consequence', she couldn't help but shiver a bit… not only because of Kisame's story, also because it was a bit cold that night. "Uh… Itachi-kun… can we, like, skip it tonight?" Sakura asked nervously.

'So it's Itachi-kun now?' Itachi and Kisame thought together.

"No." Itachi answered flatly. "You promised to do it, so do it."

Sakura sighed. "B-but… it's… cold outside! The lake's gonna have to be ice-cold, too. And I could freeze to death."

"Well… that's not my problem." Itachi said. Then he stood up and went in his room. Sakura put the almost-burned eggs on the table and Kisame started eating. Then Itachi came back with white cloth in his hand.

He tossed it to Sakura. She spread it out and she was holding a nagajuban (the kind of clothes that Hell Girl uses when she takes a bath). "Are you serious!!? I'm not doing that! Not tonight!" Sakura said. Then she went to her room with the nagajuban.

Itachi knew she would love to try it out. He knew Sakura was really into fashion and all so she would try it. And when she asks for it…

"Hey," Sakura said when Itachi went into her room. "Can I keep this?"

"You'll have to go there first." Itachi said. "And then you can keep it. You know, I had a hunch you'd say that…."

"Whatever. Fine, I'll change… then I'll go to a 'dip'. Now, get out of here for a while, I need to change."

Itachi went outside after a really quick meal. He waited at the tree in front of the house. 'She surely takes her time…' he thought. Then he felt her presence at the door. He looked back and saw her with a towel. And the nagajuban had fit her perfectly. And he can see that through the suit, she was wearing white bathing suit. And all this made her look really perfect.

Itachi stood up and lead her to the lake. Sakura could feel a faint breeze and her feet were wet from the dew on the grass. It had been a hot day earlier and that would mean the night would be cold but it wasn't. The night had been a bit warmer than last night and warmer than the other night. Sakura wondered if the lake was warm as well.

"Um…" She started, "Do I have to really dip till my whole body is inside? Or… can I just get lower body wash?"

"You'll see." Itachi said. When they were at the shore, Itachi told Sakura that they should go to a high rock or something. Sakura bet that Itachi was going to push her in. "But you'll just have to stay here." Sakura commanded.

"Fine." Itachi said.

Then Sakura went up a rock and looked down at the waters. Never had she seen a really clear view of beautifully glowing starfish. "Wow…" she muttered. She leaned a bit and saw that there was also a school of glowing fishes going around the waters here and there.

"Have you seen them?" Itachi shouted from below. Sakura looked back and said, "Yeah. They're really wonderful!"

"Good." Itachi said from behind Sakura. Sakura didn't have the time to say anything before falling down into the water. When she floated up again, she looked up at Itachi and screamed, "That's so unfair! You're such a jerk, you know that!"

Itachi grinned at her. "Whatever. A consequence is a consequence."

Sakura went up the rock again and said, "I'm done here." Then she took the towel she left there and pushed Itachi suddenly. He didn't fall into the water but he fell on the water.

'Grr… I wonder why I didn't use my chakra…' Sakura wondered. 'I was too dumbfounded over the glowing creatures back there that I—"

"Sakura, wait!" Itachi said, catching up to her. "What's with you? You're suddenly so… edgy."

"Well… it's a good thing that you noticed…" Sakura shot at him. 'What's his problem?—Playing with me like a doll!'

When Sakura was in the house, she immediately went to her room and dressed. "I think you were a little too harsh on him…" Inner Sakura said.

'Shut up. You don't know what's with him. Men are so…'

"Insensitive?"

'Exactly' Sakura thought. Then she sighed, turned off the lights in her room and went to bed.

MEANWHILE… Naruto and Sasuke were both awake. Kakashi and Sai were both asleep. It was another week of failure. Both volunteered to stay up and keep guard. Sasuke was looking at where the horizon was supposed to be. And Naruto was staring at the sky.

A week ago, they were looking for Sakura for the second day. Six days ago, Naruto and Sasuke had an argument about who Sakura was closest to. Five days ago, both had apologized to each other and four days ago, everyone came across a lost old man who was heading to the Stone country. Three days ago, Naruto and Sai, who helped the old hermit, caught up with Kakashi and Sasuke who had already covered up lots of tracks. Just the other day, Sai had to send back ink mice which would go back to Konoha and give their progress. Naruto screwed up again and lost the team. But then, 22 hours ago, he found their tracks and followed them till he got up to them. And for the rest of the day, they picked up some tracks but it wasn't what they were looking for.

And Konoha needs teams for other missions. So Tsunade took off Team 10 and Team 8 so it's only Team Kakashi that's working on Sakura's loss. And lately, Tsunade has been a bit edgy with Ino, Tenten and Rock Lee bugging her about letting their teams work on Sakura's as well. But thankfully, they've stopped that now and Tsunade's been a bit better now—or so says Pakun, who comes and goes to Konoha every now and then, and Jiraiya, who contacts Kakashi about his own leads.

MEANWHILE… Sakura woke up two hours later feeling hungry. It was still 1:42 at her table clock. Sakura really felt hungry so she sneaked out and went to the dining room. She got milk and some bread from the refrigerator and closed its door. Then at the window at her right which showed the back of the house, she saw something shiny at the corner of her eye. She looked at its direction and screamed when she saw…a glowing entity floating right above the lake.

Alright… that's creepy. I know. But it's good right? And long too. Well… I'm really sorry for not updating for sooo long. Our Net Connection was cut off for a really long time. And it took long before we got connection from the new one.

Hope you enjoyed the story anyway. Hmm… I'm thinking of giving a surprise at the last chapter, too. You better watch out and be ready. Hehe. ^.^ Good day to all.