Morning came upon the sleeping shinobi swiftly. Sunlight streamed in through a nearby window and Sakura lifted herself up onto an elbow with a yawn, surveying her surroundings through tired, half open eyes. Random strands of bed head floated in her face, but she ignored them as she noticed that her impromptu roommate was gone.
Himoko had apparently left earlier in the morning, and Sakura felt slightly embarrassed that she hadn't noticed her departure. Shinobi should be awoken by the slightest of noise or movement.
I must have been more tired than I realized, Sakura frowned to herself. Chakra exhaustion usually did cause insane amounts of sleep and hunger to recover from, so…
"Here it comes," Sakura mumbled as she braced her stomach. Almost immediately afterwards she doubled over, hunger clawing at the lining in her stomach, moving her to grimace in pain.
Cringing a few more times, the pink haired gennin finally felt the painful shrinking of her stomach decrease to a substantial gnawing hunger. She picked herself up.
"Thank god that chakra backlash doesn't last long," she moaned. "But I still need to eat soon…"
Stumbling over the pack she didn't really remember placing by the door, Sakura made her way into a hallway, wavering in her footsteps as she moved towards the stairs. Clutching her stomach with one hand, and the rail in her other, she examined her shaking legs.
"There's no way I'm going to make it downstairs by walking…" she realized under the smoky haze of hunger, "I'd fall before I made it halfway down."
Upon this realization, she lowered herself to sit on the top step of the stairwell, sliding off of it onto the second, and slowly moving along to the bottom of the stairs. Finally making it to the bottom, she re-gripped the banister and levered herself back up into a somewhat standing position, and waddled off once more to find some semblance of food.
Kakashi and Sasuke where seated at a simple round dining table when Sakura finally stumbled in, clutching her stomach. Kakashi waved and gave the silent girl a cheerful hello that said "Look at me, I slept well!" Sasuke raised his head, gave her a quick appraising, and then lowered it again with a painful nod of acknowledgement.
Sakura seated herself across from Sasuke, and then lowered her head too, doing her best to hold back the pains.
"Food…" she finally managed to moan.
Kakashi took pity on her and answered, "Don't worry, something should be here shortly. Himoko said the innkeeper woke up just a bit before you did, before she had to leave. The innkeeper is in the kitchen cooking for the guests right now. They usually don't eat before eight o'clock, but she said today, she would make an exception."
Almost the instant that Kakashi finished his comforting, a tall, dark haired woman walked into the dining room, a kitchen apron tied around her waist and a cigarette in her mouth. She looked to be an older woman, perhaps in her thirties, but the youth in her eyes and the delicate, although now frowning face, said differently.
Brushing her slightly frazzled short cut hair, she took a good look at the three new faces at the inn's table. Her face held a frown, but it looked to be a frown of confusion more than anger.
"Have I seen you three before?" the woman asked.
"I don't…believe so," Kakashi replied uncertainly, as he scratched his head in confusion. "We arrived late last night, and one of the other tenets kindly let us in."
"Oh, that's good. I had thought that maybe you three had been staying here for years, and I might have forgotten you."
"Forgotten us?"
"Yes," the woman replied, "I do seem to have that problem once in a while, forgetting people that I see everyday."
"That's terrible, does this happen often?"
"Not too often, and I'm just lucky my memory seems to be a bit selective. I never seem to forget anything really important."
"Really, like what?"
She smiled before answering seriously, "I never seem to forget when people owe me money."
"That's true," a man said as he walked into the room as well, "she could probably recite the names and current balances of every person who has ever borrowed anything from her." The man seemed kind, his dark black hair was hanging a little long over his face and a thick pair of glasses rested on his nose. "My name is Keigo, by the way. It is very nice to meet you."
"Oh my, I forgot to give you my name," the dark haired woman said shyly. "I am Ayoreito Kisako. It is very nice to meet you."
"My name is Kakashi," the two gennin's sensei smiled, "and these two rotting corpses are my students, Sakura and Sasuke. I'm sure they would both be happy to meet you as well, but unfortunately they are a bit…occupied with their hunger."
"OH!" Kisako exclaimed before turning and running as fast as she could into the other room.
"She probably left the stove on and burnt breakfast again," Keigo warned the three at the table. "Please don't criticize her cooking though, she does her best, but she has been so forgetful lately."
"So Ayoreito is the innkeeper here?" Kakashi inquired.
"Yes, Kisako has been innkeeper here for a while, perhaps about ten years. That's a long time in a town that has only existed for a little over thirty."
"Oh, have you been a resident here for long?"
"I…I guess so," Keigo replied carefully. "I think it's been about seven years since I moved in."
"Really, I didn't think that people stayed for that long at an inn," Kakashi replied thoughtfully.
"Usually not, but housing around here has been so expensive lately, that it's really been cheaper to rent a room instead of buying a house."
Further conversation was halted for a bit as Kisako brought in the slightly charred breakfast to the hungry guests. The two gennin were so hungry that they tore away at their portion while Kakashi simply poked at it while hoping he had enough pocket cash to afford eating out for a while.
"So," Sakura asked suddenly, "are their any other guests here?"
"Yes, but most of them are currently asleep, although a few of us, like me, Keigo and little Himoko usually wake up pretty early," Kisako replied amiably. "Keigo goes and checks the house out for any repair needs while I clean and start cooking breakfast."
"I thought you paid rent and lived here," Kakashi whispered to Keigo.
"I do," Keigo replied, "but rent isn't cheap when you stay for so long, so I help out for a bit of a discount."
Kisako continued as if there wasn't a side conversation going on. "Little Himoko is such an angel as well. She offers to go and do my morning shopping every now and then. She always finds the best bargains…"
"So Himoko is out buying groceries?" Sakura inquired.
"At the moment, probably not," Kisako replied. "Himoko usually takes a while to shop, and she doesn't just shop for food. She does other shopping as well."
"Really?" Sakura seemed surprised. "I honestly love to shop, but Himoko seemed a bit too introverted to be a good shopper when we met her…"
"Yes, her shyness does surprise most, and her tentativeness can be a bit annoying at times," Keigo replied for Kisako, "but she does have a talent for looking cute. Most of the shopkeepers here are too soft to refuse her requests when she shops."
"Come to think of it, I haven't really been shopping in a while…" Sakura pondered loudly, her gaze straying towards Kakashi and Sasuke.
Kakashi quickly met her gaze. His answer was swift and decisive. There was no way he was going shopping during a mission, especially with a female student. His team had decided upon other things, but this is where he drew the line. There was no way in hell…
"I hate shopping," Kakashi mumbled as the three teammates wandered through the shady market district.
"Hmm, what was that Sensei? I didn't quite hear you," Sakura smiled sweetly at Kakashi, who had just dodged to the side to avoid one of the many playful children scattered in the street.
"Actually, I said that I hated…" Kakashi halted, standing frozen in the center of the street. His eyes were staring unwaveringly towards a small, well-furnished pawnshop. He continued to stare unmoving as his two students continued to walk a ways down the street.
Everything about him was frozen. He couldn't twitch a finger or draw a kunai. His chest felt heavy, he couldn't even breathe, and he didn't care. It was like time had stopped for one man. His mind just couldn't contemplate it.
"Sensei!"
Kakashi continued to stand unmoving as his two students ran back to him, Sakura in the lead and Sasuke trailing behind. When they finally retraced their steps back to him, Sakura waved a hand in front of his face.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she inquired, getting a bit worried. "Sasuke, what's wrong with him?"
With a shake of his head and a look that said just how embarrassed he was to be associated with the tall silver haired man beside him, Sasuke pointed to the store Kakashi was staring at.
"What, did he see something important through that window?" Sakura asked excitedly.
"Sakura," Sasuke started, before being interrupted by a suddenly energetic Kakashi.
"Of course I saw something in there…well not really, but my ninja senses are tingling! There must be something important in that store. Let's go have a look, okay?"
All three quickly made their way inside the building, Sasuke kept quiet by the warning glares sent by Kakashi, and Sakura oblivious to the huge sign outside the shop.
Inside the pawnshop there were strange objects everywhere. Knives, paper, walnuts, bubblegum, books, glasses, wigs, watches, televisions, shoes, and rocks all littered the shop walls, and boxes in the back promised an even more extensive collection. Perhaps the strangest thing in the collection, however, was the lone guillotine in the back, pressed up against the wall. A voice called out from the back,
"If it's a customer, hold on a second! If you're a debt collector, go away, I haven't got the money yet!"
The three shinobi shared curious glances at each other before a small bald man emerged from the back room. His head seemed abnormally large for such a small body, but the thick glasses adorning his nose simply threw it way out of proportion.
"Oh, good it's a customer! Have you come in with something in mind, or are you just here to browse?"
Before Sakura could answer, however, Kakashi blurted, "These two," he gestured to Sakura and Sasuke, "would like to get a good look at any of the goods you may have hidden at the back of the store."
"Hidden at the back of the store?" the man asked nervously. "What do you mean by that? The only things I keep there are some of my newly bought items… the ones not yet categorized…"
"Yes," Kakashi answered flippantly, pushing the two resisting children to the back room, then shutting and baring the door. "They want a GOOD look at the things not in this room. Now, while they're back there, a coincidental glance at the store revealed a sign sitting outside. Now, about it…"
"Yes, of course, I did hope that it would draw customers inside…" the man replied a bit abashedly. "You see, I got a hold of these just a while ago, when I heard they sold well, but so far, nobody has bought any…"
"Well, if that's the case…" Kakashi stated, "then for the sake of your business, I shall buy them ALL!"
Soon a very happy Kakashi, his arms full with a large, heavy box, moved to unbar the door to the back room. Almost instantly, a wide-eyed Sakura threw the door open, yelling out to him.
"Sensei, your ninja senses were right!"
Kakashi stared at the girl for a second, "…my who were what?"
"You know, outside the store, how you mentioned you-,"
"Oh, right, right, those sneezes."
"Senses."
"Whatever."
"Oh, just come on!" Sakura begged, dragging a stumbling Kakashi balancing his newly bought…box of stuff. "See look! You were right!"
There, in the middle of the strewn tidbits, now being searched by a less than despondent Sasuke, sat a familiar object, one that had been seen by the three shinobi several times in the last few months, an object that had been recently missing along with a certain blond gennin.
"Is that…?" Kakashi asked quietly.
"Yeah," Sasuke answered, "It is."
"Naruto's disguise pack…"
"I can't believe that damn manager didn't remember who sold him Naruto's pack!" Sakura complained loudly. "At this rate, we'll never find him."
Sasuke stayed quiet at the comment, deciding to instead readjust the rather large backpack that now adorned his back. Whatever Naruto kept in there weighed enough to force the laden Sasuke to stoop, his back and legs already beginning to protest at the exercise. "Its no wonder he's so quick," Sasuke muttered to himself, "carrying this around with him, like he does, then dropping it before any real exercise should act like doping…"
"At least we know he's in the city," Kakashi finally answering Sakura's complaint. "If we just continue with the mission, things might turn out right in the end…"
The group fell quiet as they continued their walk back to the inn in which they had taken refuge. Kakashi was walking behind the two gennin, somehow balancing a large cardboard box on top of his head so he could read with his free hands. Sakura was still curious about the box, while Sasuke was pointedly ignoring Kakashi's strange actions and continuing to struggle with the over weighted bag.
Instead the dark boy reviewed the facts he had gathered of the last few days in his head.
The city they were currently staying in was the only major settlement in all of the country of Weed, and apparently where everybody lived, so housing was expensive. Building also seemed expensive, as the tall grass that flowed across the horizon as far as the eye could see was rather tenacious, forcing any roads to be built specially to keep the grass from growing back up. Roads were narrow and crowded and the marketplace was full of expensive food items.
The inn they were staying at had a total of seven tenets and a landlord. So far they had met three of these people; Kisako, the landlord who seemed to be a forgetful but kind lady, Keigo, the long time tenet and local handyman, and Himoko, the strangely tentative girl that seemed to go out of her way to make life easier for others.
Naruto still seemed to be missing, but they had narrowed it down to the fact that Naruto must be somewhere in the city, or at least nearby. The mission could be completed before they went to look for him, but first they had to meet the man whom had requested their presence. The meeting was scheduled for today at noon, so hopefully this pointless mission can be taken care of quickly so effort in finding their blond haired companion could be put in full force.
Upon arrival back at the inn, the three shinobi felt like they were being watched.
"Do you feel that, Sasuke?" Sakura whispered.
Sasuke replied with only a noncommittal 'hn', but the girl knew he had.
"Something isn't right here…" Sakura noted as they moved to walk up the pavement to the inn.
A pair of eyes seemed to be staring at them from somewhere, but upon looking around, there was nobody to be seen. The weight of the gaze seemed to increase as they approached the front door, but upon reaching for the handle, it was gone. While the two gennin looked about curiously, Kakashi looked straight up at one of the second story windows.
A pair of ominous yellow human eyes peered back at him.
There was no longer a feeling of weight, but instead one of dread, and not by Kakashi. The eyes were wide, fearful as they locked contact with the jounin's single eye. After a few moments of terrified staring, the yellow eyes vanished, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared.
While his two students continued on into the house obliviously, Kakashi stood balancing his box for a moment, thinking things through for himself.
After a few moments, his eye widened slightly and he smirked beneath his mask. Slowly and without undue haste, he opened the inn door and stepped inside, sliding the door shut once more with a single foot.
While struggling up the stairs to their rented room, Sasuke was finally able to get a glimpse of a few of the other tenets. When he passed by the kitchen, for example, he noticed a couple sitting at the dining table sharing their late breakfast. With only a quick glance, Sasuke was able to determine that the man seemed large and out of shape, while the woman's hair was an unnaturally light blond.
Before he had the chance to examine more, however, a young dark skinned girl pushed him lightly forward. Again, he wasn't able to see too much of her, as she quickly disappeared through into the kitchen, but he did notice that her hair was so pale, it seemed white, and the clothes she was dressed in gave him a very bland feeling.
What stood out most about her, however, was not her appearance, but the way that she walked. Her footsteps were uneven, and her movements made as if she was walking underwater. She moved quickly, but her mind seemed to be a bit behind.
He decided to go ahead and move on, plodding up the steps and wishing that Kakashi had been the one made to bring Naruto's pack up to their room. However, he hadn't even had much time to argue his point, as Kakashi quickly beat him to the stairs and simply called back at him to 'do his best'.
"If Naruto can do this everyday," Sasuke resolved himself, "so can I. I am an Uchiha, I must be the best." With that he steeled himself and marched up and around the corner leading to his shared room. He was so concentrated upon walking around with the great weight on his back that he almost missed greeting Keigo as he passed him on the way down the stairs.
Greeting the tenet handyman with a brief nod of the head, Sasuke paid little more attention the man. It was only when he finally arrived at his room that he allowed himself to relax his concentration, resulting in an immediate overbalancing and landing on his ass. The dark haired boy didn't notice the pain however, as he was busy telling Kakashi exactly what he could do to himself with this perverted novel between labored breaths.
Kakashi only smiled, deciding to instead poke fun at the huffing gennin. "You know, since Naruto carries that around all day, he must get as tired as that as well…"
"Yes, sensei, I know. So when he drops it, the feeling of release from the pressure must give him a sense of lightness, allowing a faster speed of movement."
"…Yes, like I was going to say. In a way, it's like Naruto dopes up after dropping such a heavy weight after wearing it for so long."
"Hn," Sasuke replied more easily. He had already thought of this.
"So that means, relatively speaking of course, that Naruto is better than you at both stealth and speed."
That thought brought Sasuke down cold. He had known that Naruto was good at what he did, and that the boy was probably stronger in some aspects than himself, but to have it so bluntly said to him by his sensei had shocked him.
"From the looks of things, you probably won't be able to catch him anytime soon in terms of weight carrying…"
"I'll carry double what that pack weighs, starting now," Sasuke interrupted stubbornly.
Kakashi's mask hid the satisfied smirk. "Are you sure you can do that, it is a lot of weight."
"Triple," Sasuke replied even more stubbornly. He knew he would regret it, but having anybody patronize him only pissed the boy off. He would show his gray-haired teacher.
"Good, good!" Kakashi clapped insanely. "I have just the thing for you." Reaching into his own pack, he pulled out a cloth filled with what seemed to be clinking weights. "I just found these in some store a while ago," Kakashi smiled happily. "There are four of these, and you tie one cloth around each of your wrists and ankles. Their combined weight should equal three times what Naruto's pack weighs."
Sasuke blinked. Has Kakashi just suckered me into something?
Kakashi smiled and left the room laughing as the boy struggled to even tie the weights around his limbs. "Oh, and you owe me fifty bucks for that set!" With that parting, Kakashi vanished in a plume of smoke.
Definitely suckered.
Sakura was walking back to her room, thinking to herself exactly what the mission they were on might entail. "Naruto is somewhere nearby," she whispered to herself, "but for how long? We need to get this mission over with so we can find him."
Walking down the corridor, she noticed she was passing by Sasuke's room. Never one to dismiss a chance to get a glimpse inside her crushes head, she pressed her ear to the door.
What she heard was rather embarrassing. He was currently losing his cool over his inability to move freely with the weights Kakashi had given him, and blaming it all on the conniving jounin. "That stupid sensei. Trying to trick me, the great Uchiha, into admitting I'm anything less than the best, I'll show him. I am the best, I will do all I can to surpass everyone. I will become stronger, stronger…
I will…
I will…"
All sound that she had been eavesdropping on suddenly stopped. Curious, but not wanting to alert the boy to the fact she had been there, she moved as quickly as possible away form the offending door.
Piecing together what she had just heard, Sakura came to a quick conclusion as she walked down the hallway to her rented room.
"Sasuke's training even harder than ever…"
Lost in thought, Sakura found herself slightly surprised when, instead of finding herself in front of her room, she had started back down the stairs to the lower floor. Racking her brain, the only conclusion she found was that she must have forgotten where she was going.
So why was she at the stairs?
"Sakura."
Jumping at the voice sounding right behind her, the pink haired kunoichi spun on the balls of her feet to find a bent over Kakashi staring her straight in the face.
"Ka-Kakashi sensei…"
"We have about two hours before noon," Kakashi said slowly. "After this time, we have to make our way to the residence district to meet with our client."
"O-kay" Sakura replied, thinking over what he had said.
"Spend your time wisely!" Kakashi smiled as he quickly rounded the corner back in the direction of his room.
"Wisely…" Sakura rolled the word over her tongue as she thought over what her easy-going sensei might have meant. Continuing down the stairs, she failed to meet anybody as she made her way outside the inn, stopping at the front doorway.
Her hand wavered over the doorknob.
"I guess, I can…" Sakura voiced to herself. "I guess I can work on that Chakra technique Kakashi showed us on our way here…"
More than a little unsure, but confident in what her teacher had meant for her to do, Sakura made her way quickly outside the village, and into the towering weeds once more.
Kakashi smiled to himself as he watched Sakura leave to the village outskirts from the inn roof. Propping himself with his hands and feet on the uneven slope, he continued to balance the cardboard box on his knee as he waited for something.
Presently a crash was heard, and the silver haired jounin slid off the roof and through the window he had been sitting over. Happy that Sasuke had finally left the room to begin training, albeit a bit concerned that the boy had probably just fallen down the stairs, Kakashi quickly deposited the box on the bed in the corner of the room and moved to lock the door.
Moving eagerly back to the brown cardboard box, Kakashi unfolded the top and reached inside, finally removing a simple light blue colored novel. Opening the crisp pages, he giggled to himself, covering his mouth at whatever was shown on the first few pages.
"I love shopping."
From the Desk of Tyr'll
Okay, first things first, I am so totally pissed off at my beta. That's right Sithex…
I'M SO PISSED I COULD SCREAM BLOODY MURDER! I SENT YOU MY ROUGH DRAFT A WEEK AGO, I WOULD AT LEAST LIKE TO SEE SOME KIND OF REPLY TO KNOW YOU GOT IT!
On the other side of that, I apologize in advance for any mistakes or story inconsistencies, as I did write this chapter in two parts, and I wrote the second one rather quickly. I would have liked to wait for my beta's reply, but as of now I have no time. I will be gone over the weekend, and figured you all would like this chapter now instead of later.
I hope that it is currently up to standards, but really, like last week, with exception to the discovery of Naruto's pack, it's just another filler. Next chapter, a few plot twists, and OC introductions.
BTW, So far, I know I have left several unfinished arcs in this and past chapters. They will be essential to the furthering of my story.
Do any of you think you can pick them out? A few of you have already mentioned at least one.
Just remember, I do not just mention things then leave them without purpose. These things will come back.