The Yamanaka clan had headed Interrogations since the founding of the village. When one Yamanaka would pass on or retire, the next most powerful would take his or her place. It wasn't some unfair, outdated practice; the Yamanaka clan was simply the undisputed best.
Shisui, Sasuke remembered, had joked about it often. "We got the police force," he'd begin. "The Senju got the office of Hokage. The Yamanaka got Interrogation. The Aburame got privileges in ANBU and the torture ops. Even the Akimichi got all they can eat buffets at most recognized restaurants. But," Shisui would stick a finger in the air pompously, his eyes bright with mirth, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "the poor, poor Hyuuga clan got nothing out of the deal. And that, boys and girls, is why they're all such bastards."
Probably not the best thing to be remembering before Inoichi tears apart my mind. Sasuke fought to suppress his discomfort. The two ANBU agents were leading him and Kakashi throughout the labyrinth of the building, presumably towards wherever Inoichi was waiting for him. Kami, this place is ridiculous. There were almost no markers to differentiate one hallway from the next, and Sasuke doubted that he would be able to escape after the "session" without help.
"We're almost there, Sasuke," Kakashi said conversationally.
Sasuke's stomach flipped, and he cursed himself for thinking badly of the long and pretentious building. The walk was disconcerting, but the fate that awaited him was far worse. The idea of having someone else actually inside his mind was disturbing enough; knowing that said person was going to search every corner of his mind, every dark thought or unruly supposition, every little secret or memory, no matter how buried, was absolutely horrifying.
Kakashi bumped Sasuke's arm, knocking the genin to the side. Sasuke regained his balance and answered the unvoiced call to focus. As the two ANBU were habitually uncommunicative and foreboding, he turned his attention to Kakashi, who was once again flipping through the pages of his little orange book. His back was slightly slouched, and his stride was loose and seemingly carefree. His casual and torpid façade was firmly in place.
Kakashi caught him staring and raised an eyebrow. He smiled underneath his mask, lightly enough not to crinkle his eyes but deeply enough for Sasuke to catch it. Easy for him. Inoichi's not going to dissect him.
The oppressive silence was beginning to affect his rapidly disintegrating calm. Why didn't we drag Sakura along with us? Her chatter would have been a nice break from the monotony, and her presence was comforting. Sasuke would almost rather have had her along than Kakashi.
The ANBU agents stopped suddenly, and one of them gestured grandiosely at the lone door in the hall.
Here goes hell. Faking confidence, Sasuke slipped between the two agents and pushed his way into the room.
The room, a monochromatic brown with no furnishings aside from one very prominent exception, was twice as large as the room hosting Ibiki. Inoichi stood in the middle, the picture of calm contemplation. His blond hair was smooth, his face not creased, and his clothes refreshingly wrinkle-free. He could be on a social call. That's probably part of his tactic. After all, relaxed, trusting minds were easier to crack than stress, fearful, and resistant ones. It probably works well on others who don't know him or his reputation. Inoichi was good at pretending to be unthreatening.
The cement floor, hard, gray, and cold even through his shoes, reminded him just how tired his legs were, but the only spot that offered refuge was not appealing in the slightest. A hospital bed had been placed in the middle of the room, and there was no doubt that it was intended for him.
"Hello, Sasuke," Inoichi said respectfully. "Are you ready to begin?"
Time to get this over with. No use postponing the inevitable. Sasuke nodded as he approached the hospital bed, tense with expectation. He sat in the middle, and Inoichi started forming the hand seals.
It was a testament to Inoichi's skill that Sasuke's mind didn't register the sudden shift from reality to unconscious illusion.
The darkness that had fallen as Sasuke had closed his eyes had gradually lifted, slowly revealing a very familiar scene.
Sasuke blinked in shock. Cautiously, he stood and examined the room. It was exactly the same; same furniture, same decorations on the wall, same old floor with the same imperfections, the scratch from one of the times he had wrestled with Shisui and the burn mark from when he had accidentally caused a glass bowl to explode from overheating.
It's…my house. He was standing in his living room, the living room he'd grown up in and lived in for years. Well, didn't see that one coming. Hesitantly, Sasuke reached a hand out towards the low sofa. He let his hand trace the edges of the arm. Damn, it feels exactly the same. The rough fibers of the couch scratched his skin, leaving a refreshingly real sensation.
"It should be exactly the same." Sasuke whirled around to face the voice. Inoichi was standing serenely behind him. "After all, your mind is creating it, not mine."
"So, it's started?" Sasuke asked, looking directly at Inoichi.
"Yes. I hope I will have your full cooperation and aid, Sasuke. It truly will make the process much easier."
Oh, of course. Why would I want to stop someone from ripping apart my mind? Sasuke thought sarcastically. "You'll have it."
Inoichi smiled the barest of smiles, causing the skin at the corners of his dark blue eyes to wrinkle. "Good. Let's begin." He motioned Sasuke over to the couch. Sasuke started to sit on the couch, keeping his eyes on Inoichi.
The moment his body touched the couch the living room vanished, shrouding both Inoichi and Sasuke in utter darkness. Sasuke jumped up instinctively, hoping that his house would return, but it was in vain.
"Relax, Sasuke. This is part of the process," Inoichi explained.
Sasuke remained standing. Why'd he even bring me there in the first place? Why didn't we just jump in immediately?
"Because I find that bringing subjects to familiar places before starting interrogation relaxes them."
Sasuke scowled darkly. He'd forgotten where they were. It was rather surreal.
As quickly as it had fallen, the darkness lifted. The Forest of Death. Well, that's predictable, at least.
Inoichi had disappeared. He's probably examining this from another angle. Sasuke stepped forward, wincing at the crunching leaves beneath his feet. He could see his team in the distance fighting against the Cloud nin.
The wind came. Sasuke was carried away, blown back just as he had been before, displaced, moving along a path that ran parallel to the other him, the memory his mind had called up.
Sasuke fell unceremoniously on the ground. This isn't real. It should hurt. The annoying part of his mind, spoiled by knowledge, insisted that it was perfectly logical to feel pain, especially in his mind. He ignored it.
The "memory him" was pulled into the genjutsu, and accordingly the forest disappeared.
It was the epitome of odd. Sasuke was watching, numb, as the other him was trapped in the genjutsu. His view wasn't as clear as a normal observer's would have been; his sight was limited by his memory, and his memory was not perfect.
But, and this was possibly the most unnerving thing, he could feel it. He could feel the pain, feel the claustrophobia sinking in, feel the floor sinking below him.
Sasuke gulped. His heart accelerated insanely as he saw the struggle. He could imagine the choking presence of Orochimaru's chakra bearing down on him as he fought back. Desperately Sasuke backed up, trying to distance himself from the memory, but no matter how far he walked he was still just as close to the scene.
The other him was being swallowed and was screaming. The yells echoed, and Sasuke could hear Orochimaru's laugh again. The floor started to suck him in-
And then the crack appeared. Sasuke ran parallel with his memory, flying towards the crack to escape.
Kami, that was horrible. Sasuke leaned against the tree, not even looking at the unfolding scene. The worst was over.
Sasuke slid into a sitting position, back
They were back in the living room. Kami, could he change the scenery anymore? Sasuke declined to sit; he felt more secure standing.
Inoichi grinned at Sasuke's discomfort. "Well, that was informational, to say the least."
"Are we done yet?" Sasuke didn't really care that he was being rude and boorish and perhaps even whiny. They were in his head, after all. He had whining rights.
"Not quite. I'd like to take a deeper look."
Of course he does. "Hn," Sasuke responded, choosing to stare at the wall instead of Inoichi.
"You'll be separated from the actual…investigation this time."
That piqued Sasuke curiosity. What the hell does he mean? "I won't see it?"
Inoichi looked up briefly, eyes rolling as he considered an answer. So, either he's acting like a petulant girl with an attitude problem or he wants to spare me and needs to take his time to find a delicate way to phrase it. Sasuke was definitely going with the petulant girl theory.
Inoichi chuckled. Damn, his laugh is almost as disturbing as Orochimaru's. "I can't exactly explain. You'll see soon enough. It's almost over."
Sasuke sighed, closed his eyes, and nodded. How long is this going to take? Orochimaru's not in my mind. I'd know it if he was.
Sasuke opened his eyes to a black world. And we're back to the darkness. Great. He craned his neck, trying to see something, anything, but it was pitch black.
So, am I just going to be here while he searches? Sasuke was genuinely confused, and for once Inoichi was not answering his unspoken question.
"Yamanaka-sama?" The question echoed endlessly, the syllables stretching into infinity, producing an effect that was utterly disturbing.
There was a slight buzzing sound in Sasuke's ears, reminiscent of the ringing one experienced after hearing a loud noise. The buzzing started to get louder, transforming into a heavy, static-y white noise.
The noise grew louder, overpowering the silence. Reactively, Sasuke clamped his hands over his ears, forgetting that it would do nothing to lessen the noise.
The noise's pitch suddenly dropped. Sasuke looked up again, only to find that he was in Konoha's business district, directly in front of the Yamanaka flower shop. The street looked exactly like it did in the real world, but despite the early hour, it was completely empty. Sasuke did not see or hear anyone.
Why am I here? Sasuke stepped forward towards the store, hoping it would hold the answers.
Without warning, the street suddenly disappeared, and he was in bedroom, sitting on his bed.
Alright, so no moving. Sasuke could do that.
The scene vanished again, replaced instantly by one of the training grounds near the perimeter of the village. Sasuke barely had time to recognize his surroundings before they changed yet again, morphing into lobby of the Hokage's building.
The scenes started coming faster and faster. Sasuke could no longer separate one image form the next; they blurred, scrambling his mind and screwing his vision. He felt dizzy and nauseous, and he couldn't even formulate a single thought.
The images increased their pace, whizzing faster and faster by him. He tried to back away, to escape the mad merry-go-round, but he couldn't untangle himself from the stream. He was stuck in it.
"Sasuke-kun!"
Sakura. Screaming like she had when Orochimaru had trapped him. The wild, haphazard stream of images started slowing as he focused on her voice.
"Sasuke-kun!"
Pictures of memories of the two of them separated from the rest.
"Sasuke-kun!"
He could see her face clearly now. The flow of images had stopped; it was just her, darkness around her. She was standing in front of him, arm outstretched towards him, like she was asking him to take her hand.
Without pause he grabbed it, and she tried to pull him away. His feet stuck to the ground, as solidly trapped as they had been in Orochimaru's genjutsu.
"Sasuke-kun, come on!" Sakura called, yanking at his arm. "You have to come!"
"I can't!" What part of the freaking examination is this? Sasuke wrenched one foot free, but his other foot held fast.
"Sasuke-kun!" She was desperate, now, and he could feel his hold on her arm slipping.
"Don't!" Sasuke's hold weakened further as his foot refused to budge. Hold on!
"Sasuke!" She slipped out of his hand and started falling backwards, long pink hair floating up and around her face as she fell away from him, disappearing.
"Sasuke!"
He blinked awake.
Sakura was standing beside him, triumphant face still slightly pale from anxiety. "You're awake!" She chirped cheerfully.
Sasuke slowly pushed himself up. He was back in the room, lying on the hospital bed. Inoichi was nowhere to be found.
That must have been a dream. Sasuke rubbed at his eyes, fighting the drowsy feeling that was practically overwhelming. Sakura waited beside him patiently, smiling through her own fatigue.
No, when I saw all those memories so quickly – that must have been when he was searching for remnants of Orochimaru. But later, with her, Sasuke deduced, that was a dream. Damn, it was too realistic.
His dreams could at least leave him alone. I've got to focus. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, turning towards Sakura. "How did you get here?"
Sakura grinned. "Kakashi-sensei might have accidentally helped me accidentally find my way down here on accident. Accidentally."
Sasuke smirked. Kakashi was worth more than he'd thought. "Is Naruto-"
Sakura shook her head. "Kakashi thought at least one of us should try and pretend like he's following the rules."
"Yeah right. This is our team," Sasuke mumbled. "They're fooling themselves if they think we follow rules."
"That's what I thought, but I guess he wanted to keep up appearances or something." Sakura slid onto the bed so they were sitting thigh to thigh. She cocked her head to the side, causing her pink hair to slide over her shoulder in an almost alluring fashion. Her shoulder brushed his as she moved even closer and lowered her voice. "What happened?"
Those two words jolted him back to reality. He really did not want to discuss it, especially when he was barely five minutes removed from it. "Tell me what happened in the chunin exams first."
"Okay." She was content to let the subject momentarily drop. "After you left, Ino-pig," her face twisted into a sneer as she mentioned her rival, "and Misumi fought. Misumi was one of Kabuto's teammates; he had this really freaky jutsu. He could stretch his body really far, almost like-"
Sasuke glared at her, and she cut herself off before mentioning his name.
"Anyway, Ino won, somehow."
Sauske nodded, smirking at her editorial remark. "Who fought after them?"
Sakura suppressed a shiver. "Remember Lee?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. How could I forget? Much as I want to.
"Well, he fought Kiba." Sakura shook her head in amazement. "Lee might look really weird, and he might have- no, he does have, the bushiest eyebrows I have ever seen, but he's really good. I mean, really really good."
"Beating Kiba does not make you a really, really good fighter," Sasuke countered.
"Kiba fought pretty well, but it wasn't even just that. Sasuke, Lee's taijutsu…I mean, it was almost perfect."
I wish I could have seen it. The preliminaries, as annoying as they were, were an incomparable opportunity to scope out the competition. As it was, he would have to rely on Sakura and Naruto's retelling of events.
"After Kiba fought, Gaara, that red headed kid from the Sand village, fought one of the three genin from the Sound village, Dosu."
"Who won?"
"Gaara. Easily," Sakura added for emphasis. "He's really…I can't even explain it. Scary. Really scary. I heard one of the genin say that he killed a team in cold blood. The other team didn't even have the right scroll! I thought he was going to kill Dosu, but that blond girl on his team, his sister, calmed him down."
The three of us, Gaara, Lee, Sasuke listed. With the exception of Ino, it's going to be pretty challenging.
"Oh, yeah," Sakura began.
"What?"
"After Gaara left, Kabuto forfeited."
Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean?"
"He didn't even wait to hear the next match called. He just said that he didn't want to fight. I think he was too scared."
"Then why didn't he leave earlier?"
Sakura shrugged. "I really don't know. I just thought he might be, because he was watching Gaara's fight really closely, almost as closely as he was watching Naruto's, and since Gaara's fight was so scary I-"
How did I miss that? "He was watching Naruto's?"
Sakura stared at him oddly. "Didn't you notice?"
"Hn," he muttered. Time to change the subject. "Well, what happened after he left?"
"Well, the last of the Sound nin fought Gaara's sister, Temari, and Shino went up against Tenten, Lee's teammate. You know, with the weird buns? Temari won, and so did Shino." She shuddered. "I hope I don't have to face Shino. His bugs are just…" she punctuated her sentence with another drawn out shudder.
Wait, she's missing two, isn't she? There should be another match. Neji was left. "What was the last match?"
"Hinata, that girl that has a crush on Naruto, fought Neji."
So, the Hyuuga cousins battled. Maybe Sakura was right, and the process isn't entirely random.
"Neji won."
Sakura nodded, but Sakura wasn't satisfied with her description. "He was almost sadistic, Sasuke-kun. I mean, he beat her, but he just kept going. The jonin had to get involved." She looked up, biting her lip. "I just don't get it. They're related, aren't they? Why would he do something like that?"
Sasuke scoffed. "Don't you get it, Sakura? It's personal."
"Yeah, but I mean, won't their family be upset?"
He sighed. "Don't you know anything about that clan?"
Sakura crossed her arms over her chest defensively, but even in her anger she couldn't oppose him. "I guess not," she answered deferentially.
Sasuke huffed. Don't be hurt so easily. Kami. "Her father's basically disowned her because she isn't strong enough. I don't even know if she still lives with her family."
"Oh," she said softly, lowering her head. Her face darkened slightly, and she balled her hands into fists. "It still doesn't make it alright!"
"No, it doesn't." Involuntarily she jerked her head back up, meeting his eyes, shocked by his affirmation. I'm not a monster. Hinata was the only one of the Hyuuga clan who was actually tolerable and almost sweet, and Neji was the most supercilious, intolerable person he had ever met. "How did Naruto take it?"
Sakura smiled wryly. "He was really pissed. I think he might like her."
I hope not. The last thing we need is Naruto in a relationship. Sasuke jumped off the bed. "We'd better get back."
Sakura leapt down after him. "Kakashi-sensei said that we were free to go home once the fights finished and the jonin had assigned the final matches. I think Naruto's already left."
"Then we should too." Sasuke pulled open the door and stepped into the hall. Sakura joined him, and the two walked side by side down the hallway, Sakura directing them.
They strolled shoulder to shoulder, hands close enough to touch, and as they ascended the first flight of stairs, Sakura's hand brushed his.
"Sorry!" Sakura apologized immediately. "That was, I mean, it was an, uh, accident." She stopped speaking, focusing on the fascinating paint job on the walls of the stairwell.
Yeah, right, and Kakashi hates porn. Sakura had been careful to put a several inch gap between them.
Sasuke decided to remedy the problem. He wasn't sure whether it was the disturbing dream or the interrogation or the stress of the chunin exams, but he wanted human contact; specifically, human contact with the girl beside him. His hand brushed hers.
She jumped, and Sasuke chuckled. Even in the dim light of the stairway Sasuke could see her scowl. She inched a little closer to him as they kept going down the stairs, her hand brushing against his again.
He took her hand confidently, his calloused fingers intertwining with hers, palms meeting. He slid his thumb over hers, rubbing the soft skin on the top of her hand in small, soothing circles. Neither of them said anything. Neither needed to.
Sakura boldly led them through the building, easily navigating the bewildering maze. They climbed the last set of stairs and approached the final door.
Reluctantly, Sasuke released Sakura's hand. They spread a responsible distance apart, and Sasuke pushed open the door.
"Sasuke-teme! Sakura-chan! Took you two long enough!"
Hn, guess he didn't leave us behind after all.
The trek back to the village was long, longer than Sasuke had hoped. Like every other team, they were escorted back to the village; unlike many other teams, they were escorted by the two ANBU agents who had been with Sasuke during the interrogation.
Sasuke didn't mind. He was starting to become accustomed to their presence, and they didn't seem as menacing as they had. The sinister milieu he had been in when he met them had obviously tainted his perceptions.
Naruto, as always, was clueless, either not registering or not caring about the ANBU agents. He ran his mouth constantly, detailing each and every fight and spending an inordinate amount of time on the Hyuuga fight, reasserting several times how much of a bastard Neji was and how, if he got a chance, he was going to kick his butt so badly that his dead ancestors would feel it.
Sakura, on the other hand, was visibly perturbed by the ANBU agents' presence. She intentionally lagged behind them and stayed glued to Sasuke's side. She would try valiantly to ignore the ANBU, but within a few minutes she would start staring at them again. Amused by her attitude, one of the ANBU chuckled deeply. Sakura blushed and averted her gaze, the dark red staining her cheeks clear evidence of her embarrassment.
Five minutes later, she'd recovered sufficiently and was glaring at the ANBU's backs once again. Naruto fell upon a new stream of chatter, and she finally risked speaking.
"Sasuke-kun," she whispered. "Are they going to stay with us all the way back to the village?"
The shorter ANBU laughed loudly. "Well, Sakura-chan, that would be the general idea."
Shisui? Sasuke froze at his cousin's voice. You were there the whole time? Sasuke gaped widely at his cousin's back, absolutely dumbstruck.
Sakura stopped abruptly, grabbing a low hanging tree branch to steady herself. "Sasuke-kun? What's wrong?"
Sasuke shook his head quickly. "Nothing." He picked up his pace, running until he was even with Naruto, pointedly ignoring his cousin.
Technically, ANBU's identities were supposed to be secrets. No one, not even the family members, were supposed to be aware of their relatives' roles as ANBU operatives.
In prestigious clans like the Uchiha clan, where a position as an ANBU was nearly a requirement for higher ranking members, the clan heads were always aware if and when one of the clan became a member of ANBU, and more often than not, so was the immediate family. It was kept quiet; they had enough sense of propriety to do that; but he was common knowledge. Sasuke had been young when Shisui and Itachi had achieved ANBU status, but he had been perceptive.
But beyond the fact that they had been (and still occasionally were) employed by ANBU, Sasuke knew very little about his cousin's and brother's respective roles in the organization. Sasuke hadn't known until that day what his cousin's porcelain mask looked like, and he still didn't know what designs decorated Itachi's mask.
He certainly hadn't expected to come face to mask with his cousin.
"Yes! We're finally back! I gotta go tell Iruka-sensei!" Naruto crowed, charging ahead towards the village. He stopped swiftly, sending a glance over his shoulder at his friends. "You guys don't mind, right? I mean-"
"Of course not, Naruto," Sakura replied. "I have to go home anyway."
Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Go ahead, baka." Naruto grinned and ran off, leaving a small cloud of dust behind him.
Exhausted, Sasuke slumped to the ground. His body and mind were thoroughly depleted of energy.
Sakura smiled weakly at him. The ANBU agents had both disappeared, but Sasuke knew he was about to meet at least one of them again. "Well, I've got to get back, I guess." She paused, waiting for another sign of affection or confirmation from her teammate, one to confirm what had happened earlier.
Sasuke was too confused by Shisui's unexpected presence and tired to provide one. "Hn," he said, nodding, staring off into the distance. Sakura silently left, not bothering to speak again.
Sasuke sighed and forced his body to stand. Home wasn't that far away.
He was nearly home when Shisui sprung at him. The older boy dropped in front of him, standing resolutely with his arms crossed in his self-described "being serious" pose.
"Really, Sasuke, I knew you had this inferiority complex because you can never measure up to my amazing self or your brother, but involving yourself in a suicidal fight with a Sanin?"
"You think I wanted to fight him?" Sasuke shot back, irked by Shisui's caustic comments. "Don't be stupid."
If Shisui had heard him, he certainly didn't act like he had. "And then afterwards! 'I thought he was one of the Sound jonin,'" Shisui quoted in a mocking tone. "Jonin, Sasuke? That's guy's a Sanin, the kind of ninja that makes jonin scream like little girls and makes trained ANBU run for the hills!"
I know that now, idiot. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and looked away.
Shisui continued, oblivious to his cousin's silent protest, growing angrier as his rant continued. "It's the chunin exams, for crying out loud! All you had to do was steal the scroll and get to the rendezvous point! No Sanin involved! But no, of course, you have to make everything so freaking complicated! You almost let him become you! Steal your f-ing body, although I don't know why he'd want it!"
Shisui was saying more, but Sasuke ignored him. He shoved by his cousin and stormed towards the house.
Shisui grabbed him by the shoulder. "I'm not done yet."
Sasuke found that rage could trigger a sudden increase in energy. He swung his other arm around and broke his cousin's hold.
Shisui responded in kind, throwing a soft punch towards Sasuke's head. Tired as he was, Sasuke managed to avoid it, dropping to the ground and aiming a roundhouse kick at Shisui's side.
The older boy was too fast. He caught Sasuke's leg and twisted it, sending the genin flying towards the ground. Shisui flickered to Sasuke's side and caught him before he hit the ground.
Shisui slammed Sasuke against the side of the building, pinning the younger boy against their home with his arm. Sasuke winced; Shisui wasn't holding back, and Sasuke already had plenty of bruises.
"Sorry, you're not getting away that easily."
Sasuke sighed and looked to the heavens for help.
"Don't ever do that to me again." Shisui was more serious than Sasuke had ever seen him, and he had known his cousin for years. Shisui's dark eyes focused on Sasuke's, boring into them incessantly, looking for a promise Sasuke couldn't give. He really was worried. "Don't ever do that to me again. I swear I'll kill you myself."
Sasuke watched his cousin's eyes soften as he focused on him. "The only people who have rights to hurting you are me and Itachi. No one else can kill you. Or take over you over or whatever that bastard Orochimaru was trying to do. And if you ever make me freak out like that again, I swear I'm going to kill you."
Shisui moved his head to the left, considering the ramifications. "Which would be bad, because then Itachi would kill me, and the world wouldn't know what to do with itself without me."
Sasuke smirked at his cousin. "Doesn't seem like much of a price to pay."
Shisui released his cousin and shoved him good-naturedly. "Shut up, kid. Itachi doesn't know about your wonderful little escapade yet. Would you hate for me to color it for him?"
"You'll exaggerate it anyway."
"Nuance."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Does-"
"No, your mother doesn't know." They were walking together into the house now, Shisui at Sasuke's side, hovering over him almost protectively.
"How did you get involved anyway?" Sasuke fairly collapsed onto the couch as he asked the question.
"I have friends in high places who figured one of us would want to be involved. I'm the best one to deal with, obviously, so they called me in. I didn't know until I got in the room with Ibiki that it had anything to do with you, though. I just knew Orochimaru was involved."
Sasuke had to admit, if he had to choose someone in the Uchiha clan to be one of the ANBU in the room supervising the questioning, he would have chosen Shisui. Shisui could be impulsive and hot-headed, but he was generally the most calm when it came to clan affairs. Besides, no one wanted to tell Itachi that Orochimaru attacked me.
That reminded Sasuke of his other question. "Shisui," he said, flipping over to his stomach.
"Yeah?" Shisui was rummaging in kitchen for food.
"Does anyone know why he attacked me?"
Shisui stopped. He's knows something. Sasuke felt unbelievably triumphant. "No," Shisui answered succinctly. "They were hoping you'd know."
"No theories?" I don't believe that for a second.
"Well, they're guessing he wanted you because of your sharingan," Shisui admitted. "Which I'm not supposed to tell you, by the way."
"But why me?"
"Sasuke, our clan's not as big as it used to be. It's not like he had lots to choose from." Shisui sighed heavily. "Let's drop it for now. Snake-ass is off slinking around in the forest, and you need to prepare for the last stage of the chunin exams."
Yeah, but there are some others. Sasuke sighed. Shisui wouldn't tell him anything more, and he was too tired to muster anymore protest. He drifted off to sleep peacefully, falling into a slumber so deep he didn't even stir when Shisui covered him with a blanket.
When Sasuke awoke the next morning, his mother was sitting at the table alone, enjoying breakfast.
"Sasuke-kun," his mother greeted him. She smiled deeply. "How was your night?"
"Fine," Sasuke answered groggily. He stood and took the other seat at the table, watching his mother carefully as he picked at his rice. "So-"
"Yes, Shisui confessed." Mikoto winked at him. "And yes, I know about Orochimaru." She sighed, raising the cup of tea to her lips. "Are you okay?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I'm here, aren't I?"
Mikoto crossed her arms over her chest. "You know what I mean. Don't tell me Shisui's been rubbing off on you."
Kami forbid. "I'm fine."
"Shisui said they had Inoichi examine you."
Sasuke wanted to shiver, remembering the event. "He found nothing." He muttered under his breath, "never doing that again."
"I've never been a fan of those examinations either," Mikoto answered knowingly, smiling softly at her youngest child.
"You've had one?" That was news to Sasuke.
She nodded. "It wasn't done by Inoichi, though. One of their clan members had split off, become a renegade ninja. I was on a separate mission," she paused, taking a sip of tea and swallowing loudly, "when I was injured. During my escape, I encountered him."
She raised her eyes as she recalled the event. Her long black hair tumbled down her back. When he was a child, Sasuke had loved to play with his mother's hair, and some hidden impulse urged him to touch it again. It looked the same; a few grays were starting to appear, but they were unnoticeable, really.
She had been quiet for several minutes, and Sasuke thought she wouldn't continue, but suddenly she picked up the story again. "I was too weak to defeat him, and I knew he would kill me, so I pretended that I had been sent to recover him. He believed it."
Sasuke scoffed, and Mikoto laughed. "He had been thrown off guard by my appearance, and he wasn't thinking clearly, I suppose." She leaned closer to Sasuke, as if she was sharing a secret. "I don't think he was the brightest Yamanaka, either." She pulled back a little. "At any rate, he towed me back to the apartment he had been staying and proceeded to thoroughly exam my mind to discover exactly how much the village knew about him, his whereabouts, and his plans."
"But you knew nothing," Sasuke said slowly.
"I was able to gather enough information from what he accidentally told me while in my mind and from the apartment to continue the charade for a few days, until back up arrived. You'd be amazed at what you can learn from the questions a person asks you." Mikoto stood and poured Sasuke a cup of tea. "He also told me things he thought I knew. It was difficult, but you do what you must."
Sasuke accepted the cup gratefully. "I didn't know you were such a good liar."
"How do you think I've survived Hiro-sama all these years?" Mikoto replied, eyes twinkling. Sasuke chuckled, and she laughed with him. Hiro was a prig when it came to suffixes, and he demanded that everyone address him by it. Sasuke imagined how Hiro would react to such open mockery, and his laughter increased.
When they had both recovered, she spoke again. "Don't tell Shisui, though. Heaven knows it'll encourage him."
Shisui will use anything as an excuse. Sasuke nodded anyway. He slid off the chair and washed his dishes. "Kakashi-sensei and the rest of us are training today."
"Preparing for the third stage," Mikoto supplied.
"Yes."
"There's going to be a lot of pressure, you know," Mikoto said quietly. "You'll be our last up for the chunin exams for a while; Arai-kun won't be ready for several years yet."
Sasuke was aware. Many of the shinobi who would have had children Sasuke's age or a little younger had been killed in the Kyuubi attack. It had left a large age gap in the next generation.
As such, this chunin exams would be heavily attended. Very heavily attended.
"Who are you facing?" Mikoto asked.
"Hyuuga Neji," he answered tranquilly, as though it meant nothing.
"Oh, Kami," Mikoto responded, shaking her head. "Hiro will be giving you the clan superiority speech."
"Daily," Sasuke added.
"Oh, at least."
"He might even take interest in my training, for once." Sasuke couldn't keep the resentment out of his voice.
Mikoto looked at him sadly. She laid her hand on his shoulder sympathetically. "Sasuke, Hiro is a flawed human being. His opinions and ideas don't mean much. You shouldn't let his interest or lack of interest tell you anything about yourself."
Sasuke half-nodded, the movement so slight it was barely visible to his mother. "I have to go."
She closed her arms around him for a quick hug and kissed his forehead. "Good luck. I'll run interference against Hiro for you."
When Sasuke arrived at the training ground, Sakura and Naruto were already waiting. Naruto wasn't bruised, so he had managed to avoid annoying Sakura, which was a promising sign. Sasuke sat next to Sakura, dropping his bag behind them.
"No sign of Kakashi-sensei yet," Sakura informed him.
"Hn, predictable," Sasuke answered, linking his arms around his knees.
"Well, Sakura-chan, you're not very observant this morning," a familiar called out from behind them.
"Kakashi-sensei! You're on time!" Sakura exclaimed, more shocked by the time than Kakashi's sudden appearance.
"Hm?" Kakashi raised his eyebrows comically. "Well, yes, I suppose I am, aren't I?" Kakashi replied. "Well, if that bothers you, I can always leave and-"
"No! It doesn't! Stay!" Sakura and Naruto yelled together.
Kakashi grinned underneath his mask, causing his eyes to squint. "Let's begin, then. First, congratulations to all of you for passing the preliminaries. Your stage three matches have been assigned. Sakura, you will face Yamanaka Ino."
Sakura's face tinged an interesting shade of pink.
"It should be a good match, don't you think?" Kakashi baited her. "Naruto, as you already know, you will face Temari no Sabaku."
"Yeah! It's not even going to be a challenge. I'm going to beat her and be a chunin! Believe it!" Naruto threw his fist into the air victoriously, grinning wildly.
"Yes, well," Kakashi continued after a slight nod of the head, "and Sasuke will fight Neji." Kakashi eyed Sasuke. "Your clan must be pleased at that choice, Sasuke."
Sasuke decline to opine, limiting his answer to a mere "yes." Kakashi was right, after all.
"From now," Kakashi said. "We will have team and individual training sessions. The individual training sessions are to prepare each of you to face your opponents. Our team training sessions will also be abbreviated to allow for more time for the individual training sessions."
"Will the individual sessions end after the chunin exams, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked politely.
"No, but we will have longer team sessions," Kakashi affirmed. "Alright, come along; we're going to the river today."
Sasuke wondered if Kakashi lived to torment him. Why does it have to be water? It was not like any of them had an elemental affinity for water; Sasuke would have understood, or would have at least tried to understand, it in that case. However, none of them did. Whatever we're going to learn, it would be so much better if we learned it on the solid ground.
Kakashi led them to the river. Sasuke stared disapprovingly at its gentle water and the serene landscape around it. He had already almost drowned in the river once; he had no intention of repeating the experience.
"Today," Kakashi announced dramatically. "We are going to walk on water."
"What? That's impossible!" Naruto declared.
Sakura looked uncertainly at the water. "How are we supposed to do that?"
"The process itself is similar to walking up trees; you concentrate the chakra in your feet. However, you will also have to use chakra to condense the water under your feet to make it strong enough to support you."
"Huh," Naruto said. "That doesn't sound so hard."
Kakashi grinned. "The trick is adjusting your chakra to match the flow of the water. If you do not adjust properly, you'll fall in."
Great. I wanted to go swimming today, Sasuke thought sarcastically as Kakashi finished his explanation.
"You can start when you're ready. I'd suggest that you practice directing the flow of your chakra first, though," Kakashi cautioned. "Otherwise you'll drown." With that last word of advice, he sat down on a rather large rock beside one of the neighboring trees, opened his little orange book, and buried his face in it.
And now he's lost to the world. Sasuke decided to ignore his pervert sensei and focus on the task at hand. Redirecting his chakra to his feet was easy now, but he would have to maintain a steady stream in his feet and in the water.
Besides him, Sakura was practicing as well. Her chakra control's excellent; that's how she can compensate for having lower levels of chakra. She had already removed her shoes in anticipation of going out on the water.
Naruto was already rushing out to the river. He paused on the edge, taking a moment to increase the chakra in his feet before he began. Sasuke glanced up out of curiosity as Naruto charged out towards the middle of the river. This is not going to end well.
For a moment, Naruto was standing on top of the water, somehow condensing the water enough to support his weight. "Look, Sakura-chan! I-"
Splash! Naruto's body dropped like a stone into the river. He came up quickly, sputtering and spitting out water.
Saw that one coming. Grimly, Sasuke approached the edge of the river. It had to be water, he griped again as he carefully edged his way in. The chakra in his feet kept him from falling outright, but he was sinking.
Hastily, he forced some of his chakra into the water, hoping to counteract the effect. In his desperation to avoid sinking he charged far too much chakra into the water. He completely lost his balance and fell headfirst into the river.
Frantically, Sasuke flailed his arms and legs, heading for the surface with the most inelegant stroke possible. He cupped his hands and dug through the water, desperate for air.
Finally, his head escaped the water. He gasped loudly, ignoring Naruto's jeers and Sakura's concerned words. Cautiously he made his way to the edge of the river.
"Great job, Sasuke-teme," Naruto laughed.
"Shut up, dobe."
"Aw, someone's sore 'cause he got wet. What are you, Sasuke, a cat?"
Sasuke growled and advanced on his teammate threateningly.
"You know, you two, if you spent more time practicing and less time fighting you'd probably be skimming the water like Sakura," Kakashi said lackadaisically, head still buried in his porn.
"Whatdya mean?" Naruto asked Kakashi. Sasuke was already moving away from his teammate and towards the shore.
Sakura was prancing on the top of the water. She wasn't even looking at her feet, which were gently skimming the surface of the water as she moved across it. She walked in careful circles, little drops of water occasionally splashing her bare feet. As the water ebbed and flowed she adjusted her chakra to match it.
She smiled at him. "It's not that hard, Sasuke-kun." She held out her hand. "Come on! Try again!"
Almost entranced, Sasuke walked towards Sakura. At the edge of the river he paused to remove his shoes and once again concentrate the chakra in his feet before he slowly stepped on the river again.
He put one foot on the surface first, gently injecting chakra into the water. He felt the tension, felt a little inkling of support under him, and that encouraged him enough to bring his other foot to the water.
It started sinking again. "Don't worry," Sakura said. She grabbed his hand. "Just increase the chakra in the water near that foot."
Don't panic. Tentatively, Sasuke started increasing the flow of chakra. His foot rose out of the water, coming to rest on the top.
"See?" Sakura asked cheerfully.
"Hn," he answered. She smiled. Timidly, Sasuke stepped forward, wincing in expectation of the water.
It held. He opened his eyes and slowly took another step. Then another. And another.
He was moving across the water now, taking long, confident strides. Sakura was at Naruto's side, trying to help him get situated like she had helped Sasuke.
Sasuke saw too late that Naruto was going to sink. "Sakura!" He called out.
Sakura jerked her head up in response to his yell just as Naruto lost his balance. "Whooaa!" He plunged forward, dragging Sakura with him. She screamed as she fell into to the water.
Sasuke bit his cheek to keep from laughing. Sakura's head popped out of the water, her hair plastered to her cheeks and her face bright red. She splashed angrily at Naruto, sending waves of water into her teammate's face.
"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto apologized, bringing his hands to protect his face. "I didn't mean to!"
"You pulled me in, idiot!" Sakura screamed. "I'm soaked!"
"So is Sasuke!"
"I don't care!" Sakura lunged for Naruto, who quickly dove into the water. Sakura froze, hesitant to plunge underneath once again, even if it was to catch Naruto.
Sasuke stepped beside her and held out a hand. She raised her dripping wet face. "I want to get him," she scowled.
"Fine," Sasuke said, turning away
"Wait!" Sasuke turned back. Sakura lifted her hand and grasped his. "I don't want to get back at him that much."
Sasuke steadied Sakura as she started to lift herself out of the water. "Don't let go," she pleaded as she wobbled precariously.
"Hn, don't worry. I'm not him.
Sakura risked a grin his way before continuing. She distributed her chakra to her left foot first and placed it on the surface of the water. Once she had a solid grip she lifted her right foot out. Sasuke held her hand firmly as she regained her balance.
She was a sight. Her white shirt and dark blue shorts cleaved to her body like spandex, and Sasuke could see her toned thighs, trim waist, and small breasts easily through the fabric.
She was miraculously oblivious to her current condition. "Thanks, Sasuke-kun."
"Hn," he said, less because he was feeling taciturn and more because the sight of her figure so clearly laid out was distracting. Very distracting, he amended.
Naruto had paddled a safe distance away from the two of them and had somehow hoisted himself on the top of the water. He stood, quivering and not secure, but he stood.
"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" He yelled again.
"Ugh, whatever, Naruto," she said. "Kakashi-sensei, look!"
"I see, Sakura." Kakashi was standing at the edge of the river. His book was still in his hands, but he at least the courtesy to look at them as he spoke. "I see."
Sasuke's fist connected with Sakura's stomach. She doubled over, choking as the air rushed out of her body.
"You okay?" Sasuke felt guilty. The two of them had been training together outside his home, and Sakura had been urging him to hit harder. She was facing Ino in the third stage, and the upcoming match with her rival had been spurring her. She was more energetic and ready to train than Sasuke had ever seen her, and he had responded in kind.
He didn't want to hurt her, of course. He knew she wasn't truly injured, but a good hit to the diaphragm could be fairly disconcerting, especially to someone who wasn't used to being hit there.
"I'm fine," she gasped out, rising carefully. He gave her a hand, and she pulled herself up. "I'm going to remember that trick."
"You have to be careful when you use it," he cautioned.
"Why?"
"If you don't hit the target hard enough, you won't wind him. You'll have a pissed opponent, and you'll be open to a hit."
"Oh," Sakura answered, just as her hair band gave way and her hair fell entirely out of its bun. "Stupid hair," she muttered as she retrieved elastic and started to rewind her hair into a bun. Sasuke liked it better down, but there was no way in hell he was telling her that.
While Sakura wrestled with her hair, Sasuke took a water break. The two sprawled below one of the many trees in Sasuke's backyard as they worked at their respective tasks.
Three weeks. Sometimes, the time seemed to drag; each day felt like a week, and the countdown to the third stage was more discouraging than encouraging, as each time it showed him how much time he had to go before the fights. He wanted to finish them; this lag was more than annoying. Because of Orochimaru, the clan was even more paranoid, and all his training sessions with Kakashi were limited to inside the village. Itachi still hadn't returned from the two week long mission the village had sent him on, but although Sasuke was looking forward to his brother's return, he was not anticipating the reaction that would accompany it.
Other times, though, the time just didn't seem like quite enough. They were working on several new jutsu; Kakashi had even mentioned a "last-resort" jutsu he was planning on teaching Sasuke soon; but their opponents were working on new jutsu as well. At times, Sasuke wanted more than a month.
Sakura finally secured her hair. "Sorry about that," she apologized, blushing a little as she smiled.
And then there was that.
They hadn't talked about it. Any of it, actually: the almost kiss, his grabbing her hand before he left, them holding hands in the dark, the fact that he was undeniably attracted to her (although he wasn't sure exactly how aware she was of that).
Sasuke didn't do long, angst-y talks. He rarely actively explored romantic thoughts in his head, much less with another person. If that was what she wanted, she needed to look somewhere else.
But as he stood and walked over with her and they simultaneously dropped into ready stances, he knew that was not what she wanted.
Sakura charged. Sasuke let her, ducking and dodging to avoid her attack sequence, two punches with a front kick and a roundhouse. Sasuke caught her leg before it could hit him and tried to thrust his foot into her stomach. At the last second she twisted free and jumped back. He charged now, employing mainly his fists as he tried to overpower her defenses.
Occasionally, now, they practiced their jutsu on each other, but in fights they limited themselves to taijutsu. Sasuke's arsenal of jutsu was far more highly developed than Sakura's, and since he had seen her learn all of her jutsu, he knew their weak points, their disadvantages, and how to combat them. Sakura had started to enhance her hits with chakra, but she had to limit herself.
The back and forth motion of the fight continued. Sakura had improved, and Sasuke felt a little bit of teacher's pride as he watched her defend herself, eyes steeled, her green irises even darker than usual.
Gradually, Sasuke managed to start to push her back. Sakura resisted strongly, fighting against even the smallest movement, but steadily she began to back up against his stronger assault.
Sasuke kicked at her side, hoping to disarm her quickly and relatively painlessly. Sakura, seeing an opportunity, shifted to the side and slammed her chakra-charged fist into his diaphragm. Sufficiently winded, Sasuke fell backwards as helplessly as Sakura had earlier. Okay, so she can wind someone.
She forgot one important little detail: changing to the direction of her momentum to regain her balance. The chakra added an extra force that increased her momentum far more than she had figured. Too late she realized that she was falling just as steadily as Sasuke was.
Thud! Sakura slammed loudly into the ground, hair flying up around her, eyes widening in a sudden expression of shock as she hit the dirt besides him.
Sasuke pushed himself up onto his elbows. He wasn't entirely sure what it was; exhaustion, perhaps, or maybe he hadn't enough to drink or eat; but she just looked so damned funny with her dazed expression and her hair once again all over the place and dirt literately clouding around her body.
Sasuke chuckled. "Annoying. Can't even keep your balance now," he taunted blithely.
Sakura had been embarrassed by her fall, and seeing Sasuke laugh at her was the final straw. Grabbing a fistful of dirt and grass, she threw them at Sasuke's face.
Sakura gasped at her own actions as Sasuke sputtered. She hadn't quite recovered from the horror of what she'd done when Sasuke rolled over and pinned her down, but she had recovered enough to fight. She shoved him to the side and started to run.
Sasuke lunged forward and grabbed her leg, jerking her down beside him. She slapped at him uselessly as he struggled to hold her down. Finally, her knee connected with his groin.
Damn! Sasuke winced and immediately let go. She dashed to the side, stopping beside a tree, bent over.
"I'm," she might have been about to say "sorry"; Sasuke didn't know, and he didn't honestly care, because before she could say anything she lost the battle to contain her amusement and started laughing hysterically.
Sasuke rose leisurely, taking pains to look as defeated as he could. Sakura smashed her face into the tree trunk, trying to force the laughter back.
Sasuke flickered to her side. She turned swiftly, ready to knock him away, but he was prepared. He pinned her arms above her head and pressed one of his thighs against hers so she couldn't employ any unfair means to get away.
He smirked triumphantly. "Caught you."
"Uh-huh," Sakura answered, looking around desperately for an escape. She wriggled, but Sasuke held her tightly.
"You're not getting out of this one."
"Don't hurt me!" She squealed, closing her eyes, although they both knew he wouldn't dream of it. Even now she was biting her lip to keep from laughing.
"Don't be so stupid, annoying."
She peeked at him. "What are you going to do?"
It was almost a challenge, although Sasuke was sure that Sakura did not intend for it to be. She straightened beneath him and stared at him curiously, green eyes breaking their intense gaze only to blink. Her hair was half up and half down, and the loose strands, caught in the occasional wind, tickled the sides of his face. Her lips were red and a little parted, and her cheeks were red from the exertion and laughter.
She looked gorgeous. How hadn't he seen that before?
He wasn't sure who moved first, who initiated it, who had the balls to be first and the audacity to try something new. But it didn't really matter, because suddenly they were moving in sync towards each other, her head tilting up just enough and his head drooping down just enough at the exact same pace.
And then their lips met in the middle.
Once upon a time Sasuke had had a list of reasons to avoid girls and physical relationships with girls. In his mind, his reasons had been very well thought out and very logical, and anytime he was tempted to stray he returned to his list.
That list of reasons disappeared abruptly.
Sakura's lips were soft, supple, and even though both of them had never kissed anyone before their bodies instinctively knew exactly what had to be done. Sakura's head slanted to the side as Sasuke deepened the kiss, an overwhelming ecstasy washing over him at this little bit of long-denied contact. He let her hands fall, and they looped around his neck, pulling him closer. One of his hands moved to caress her cheek, and the other fell to her waist.
Sakura stopped first, dropping her head enough to break the contact. Sasuke followed her lead.
"Sasuke-kun-"
"Sh," he silenced her. Don't ruin the moment. Sasuke didn't feel like calculating the possible repercussions of the kiss at that particular moment.
Sakura either understood or decided not to care. She rested her head on his chest, panting a little. Neither of them had bothered to breath during the kiss, and as they clung together they slowly regained the air they'd lost. Sasuke nuzzled his nose in her hair; even though they had been exercising, it still smelled good; it had a light, flowery scent that was entirely addicting.
They stayed that way, tangled in each other, for several moments before he started shifting. We should stop. There was no way in hell he wanted his mother or, Kami forbid, Shisui to find them.
Sakura read his mood. She glanced up at him, smiling gently, and pecked him quickly on the lips, too quickly for him to react in any way. "Should we get back to training?"
He smirked at her bold action. "Yes." He walked beside her, their shoulders and hands touching. "We need to work on your new kata, by the way. You can't even finish it without losing your balance."
"Okay, sensei," she mumbled, pretending to be angry at being castigated.
"Annoying," he threw back. The word had become somewhat of an endearment to them, in a way only they could understand.
She wove her hand into his, and he suddenly decided that Shisui was right: girls could be worth the trouble that they brought, and, sometimes, when that girl was a very special one, they were worth far more than that.
A/N: First off, for some reason FF is not letting me send PM's :( I'm not sure why; it's either my profile, my computer, or the site, but every time I try to respond to a review it stops me, which is why I haven't responded. I tried sending a message directly, and it won't let me do that either. I say all this to say: I really REALLY appreciate each and every review! Thanks so much for them! I'm still able to reply to messages people send me, so if you want to send me a message directly I'll be able to reply :)
So, read, review, you know the drill :) Longest chapter to date! *Squeals