Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto or the characters P duh
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Previously:
Sakura was quiet again, her mind stringing the story together in her mind. She shook her head.
"Then what?"
Sasuke seemed to tilt his head to the side, his eyes finally looking off into the trees.
--
.
"Restore the Uchiha name and rebuild my clan."
Sakura couldn't help it when the corner of her lip twitched. Sasuke snapped his attention back to her, noticing the movement.
"What?"
"Sasuke, sasuke, sasuke…you are so set on your own plans you forget everyone else…"
Sasuke didn't respond.
"I mean, okay. Say you kill the old people. So they're gone…which sadly enough would seem to make the village a lot more peaceful, too…Tsunade-shishou would definitely be less stressed out…" Sakura trailed off, smiling a bit. She remembered the times she would walk into her shishou's office only to hear the blonde rant on about what idiots the elders were.
"But anyway…you kill them. Then you think you can just parade back into the village and they'll accept you with open arms? You left the village, joined Orochimaru…"
"I killed Orochimaru, who was a threat to Konoha, as well as Itachi. I took down two of Konoha's biggest enemies."
Sakura paused, tapping her finger on her chin.
"This is true…but you left a bad impression. You are a traitor."
It was quiet for a moment.
"I couldn't stand it." Sasuke spoke softly. Sakura studied him. The Uchiha had a deep frown on his face as he narrowed his onyx orbs at the ground.
"Each night I was haunted with nightmares. Each day I was reminded that the longer I put Itachi's death off, the more danger I was risking…I didn't know if Itachi would pull off the same stunt again if he knew I had other people who were precious to me…The sooner he was dead, the safer everyone would be…I didn't have time to continue like the rest of you. I needed power and I needed it fast. Orochimaru offered that, and I took full advantage of it. I never intended on letting him have me for his own immortality, but I did intend on using him to get me as strong as possible, fast. It worked."
Sakura couldn't say anything. She wanted to protest, she wanted to say he was wrong, but he wasn't. In all honesty, what he did made sense…if you thought about it…if he explained it in that way…He wouldn't have been able to get as strong as he was now if he didn't join Orochimaru, who taught him forbidden jutsu and had knowledge that no one else had…
"You should have explained earlier."
She gritted her teeth.
"I can't say I'm happy with what you did. But you are right…it did work…"
Sasuke nodded, a heavy feeling in his chest seemed to have risen from him…
"But you won't last a second if you think you can walk all gloriously into Konoha and just start over…it's going to take a lot…"
Sasuke's eyes seemed to spark for a moment, as his gaze zeroed in on her.
"I'm sure we can find a way."
Sakura froze. Uh-oh……oh no…not we…he did NOT just say we.
"Wait a second…"
Sasuke placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from further objecting.
"Sakura…you know the truth now. You know why I had to do what I did, it was only reasonable…"
She pouted.
"but…even if I did find a plan to help you…if you kill the elders, there is no way you can be an honorable ninja of konoha again…it isn't possible."
Sasuke scowled.
"Are three old geezers really worth throwing away the opportunity to restore your families pride?"
"I can't let them get away with it."
"Then think of a better solution. Every choice has a consequence, you should know that best…"
Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows at this. She was right…Sakura Haruno wasn't top of the class back in the academy for nothing…
Sakura slowly brought her own hand to rest on the one he still had placed on her shoulder.
"I'll think of something, Sasuke…on one condition."
The Uchiha raised a brow.
"You aren't leaving my side now that I've found you."
"…Deal."
Sakura sighed.
"In that case, I need my rest. I have a day of traveling before I can reach Suna, and I need to get there a.s.a.p."
Sakura shrugged his hand off her shoulder and walked over to the spot she had intended to rest on. Sasuke watched her kneel to the ground, placing her bag down again. She stopped, looking over her shoulder and frowned.
"Get your ass over here, Uchiha. I can't have you slowing me down, you know."
Sasuke's eyes flickered red briefly.
"Annoying." He muttered darkly before reluctantly taking a spot next to the girl. Crossing his arms under his head, he closed his eyes, trying to ignore the inevitable stare he was getting.
"Sasuke your butt bow is undone."
He opened one eye, to glare at her with as he removed the hideous purple rope/tie with one swift movement and threw it at her.
"It's not a butt bow"
Sakura cried out a little, before throwing the thing off into the woods, no doubt miles from where they lay thanks to her insane strength.
"Why'd the hell did you do that?!"
"Because you're annoying." He stated simply, before rolling onto his side, back to her and closed his eyes again.
Sakura glared daggers at his back. Then, slowly brought her foot up and then…
A strong hand snatched her ankle before she could kick his back.
"Dammit!"
"Don't you have some sleeping to do?"
"Shut up!"
Sasuke glanced behind him at the kunoichi.
"If you didn't call me annoying, then I would have been asleep by now!"
"I was stating a fact. No need to kick me for it."
"It's your own damn fault for insulting me!"
"And this is why you are annoying. You are loud and can't stop talking."
"Well if you weren't so rude, maybe I wouldn't resort to being annoying."
"Hn."
Sakura grinned. She won! Wow…she won an argument with Sasuke…
"Well if you didn't fan girl over me, maybe I could treat you like a normal human being."
So much for winning, that comment even stung a little.
"Maybe if you weren't so full of yourself, you'd realize I was just trying to be there for you…a friend…someone you can trust."
"...I do…"
Sakura wasn't expecting him to respond to that. She blinked.
"Good. And if you ever call me a fan girl again, I'll kick your ass into a pile of REAL fan girls, Sasuke."
Sakura then rolled on her side, her back now facing Sasuke as she shut her eyes. End of argument, she really needed the rest if she ever planned on being in Konoha before Akatsuki attacked.
Sasuke on the other hand, was still pondering.
Well, at least she won't be too much of a problem…but how do I deal with Madara and Team Hawk?
--
The next afternoon, a pink haired kunoichi was humming along to her own made up tune as she neared Suna. She was in an unexpectedly good mood.
She was going to accomplish yet another mission and she had finally found Sasuke, without any sort of over-the-top battle. And her hair was cooperating! Today was going to be a good day, she could tell.
She walked a couple paces ahead of the Uchiha, not caring of what he thought about her leading. It was about time he started watching her from behind anyway. She wasn't concerned about him escaping or anything either, thanks to the deal they made…
The chunin frowned at the thought.
How was she to get Sasuke back to Konoha and successfully remove his status as a traitor? If Sasuke repeated his story from yesterday, she had no doubt that the council would agree that what Sasuke did was rational…They even benefited from it, being how Sasuke shot down two of their enemies…But then again, the fact that Sasuke had put up a fight against Konoha-nin, specifically Team Kakashi when they went to retrieve him the first time, would not look so good…
Or…maybe she could talk to Tsunade…A couple words and the nice proof of both dead nukenin would definitely be able to trigger a negotiation…Tsunade could excuse Sasuke's absence from Konoha as a Top Secret Mission, one that involved the annihilation of Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru. In exchange, Sasuke would have to be on a 6 month probation and be limited to D missions for a year before he could pursue a higher rank than Genin.
Sakura smiled at her plan. With a bottle of sake in hand, she was sure that Tsunade would agree with such terms once they got back to Konoha. Sakura stole a glance at the Uchiha, who blankly looked ahead.
"Sasuke, I've got a plan!" The said Uchiha's onyx orbs looked to the rosette haired woman as one of his fine dark eyebrows raised.
"I'll tell you on the way back!" She stated. She would have said something now, but the fact that Suna was just in sight made her stop. She stood still on the sandy surface just a few miles from the village hidden in the sand.
"Alright, we're going to need you to disguise yourself…"
Sakura walked over to the Uchiha, rubbing her chin while she did and then as an idea popped into her head she snapped her fingers.
"Oiroke-no-jutsu!"
"Hell no"
She laughed a bit, her mouth formed into a sadistic smirk.
"You must! We have nothing else to disguise yourself with, and it's the only henge that uses the least amount of chakra, so it will go undetected by even the most elite of shinobi! Come on, it's only for an hour, at most."
Sasuke glared at her, his aristocratic nose tilted upward slightly, as he continued on with his defiant look. Sakura stood up straighter and matched his glare with one of her own. They stood like that for a moment until Sakura snapped.
"Just do it! We're wasting time!"
"Fine, but no one finds out about this. No one."
Sakura nodded, waiting for him to perform the jutsu already. With a hesitant pause, as well as a heavy sigh, Sasuke put his hands together in the infamous hand sign. With a murmur and a poof, Sasuke soon stood before her…as a girl.
Sakura stared…and stared…until finally, she couldn't hold in it any longer. She let out a hysterical burst of laughter, tears forming in her eyes as she tried to cover her mouth.
Sasuke stood before her with a sour expression, his eyes now a sharingan red, with his hands on his curvier hips.
"Shut up!"
Sakura ignored him as she used up another minute to calm down. Finally, she sighed and looked up at him. He was still a good head taller, but now his hair flowed down to his waist, his shoulders sloped, and feminine curves were visible. Sakura sighed.
"Of course, you make a prettier girl than I do…" She shook her head as her inner ranted jealously how unfair life was. He watched her with a curious gaze as she stepped closer to him.
"Well, first off, you need to secure this top more, cause you don't want to be flashing everyone in Suna, Sasuke…and second, we need to get rid of those pants, they're too big. This blue skirt thingy you got here will have to do..."
Sakura adjusted his outfit to look more feminie and tucked his pants into her bag for later, when he would release the technique. She looked back up at him and frowned, then took a rubber band from her skirt pocket and began to brush at his hair with her fingers. Sasuke turned his head slightly.
"What are you doing?"
"Fixing your hair! It needs to look decent…"
Sasuke sighed. He wouldn't admit it but her stroking his hair kind of felt good…soothing, almost…but he pushed those thoughts away immediately.
Once Sakura was done, she stood back to admire her work. Yes, the high ponytail definitely put a better twist on Sasuke's feminine new self. That and it would throw people off from recognizing him.
"Well, let's go, Sasuke-chan!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes to slits, but didn't comment as the two made their way closer to the village. Within two hours they were at the gate, greeting the guards as they walked by. Sasuke watched Sakura smile at the men, who seemed to recognize her and give her a pleasant smile back. Even in Suna, Sakura was well known, for she had helped the Kage's brother when he was poisoned and helped rescue Gaara and defeated the infamous Sasori.
It didn't take long to reach the kage-building. They went up the steps until they reached the office and knocked on the door. A faint 'come in' was heard and the two entered.
I hope Gaara doesn't notice…Sakura thought to herself as she stepped in.
--
Hmm will Gaara notice? Only time can tell! :D
Anywho, yay people reviewed! Can you believe it Kisame!?
Kisame: I think they deserve free Save the Whales tee shirts. -nods approvingly as he rummages through card board box-
Nooo! Don't give us away! Dummy!
Kisame: …oops.
-sigh- Uhm, ignoring that part and moving on, thank you reviewers twinzees and sakura7403! You guys are awesome, and reviewed, so you get a cookie!
Kisame: and a tee shirt!
Shush Kisame, you aren't even in this story…
Kisame: -grins and wriggles eyebrows- not yet
Sasuke: I can't believe you made me turn into a girl…
And I completely demolished your reputation for one worded sentences! Why don't you restore that standing and zip it! ANYWAY thanks for reading! Chapter Three shall be out a.s.a.p!
