My dear readers... please don't kill me, i know i'm very lazy, and i've had this chapter done for a couple of days already, but i've been busy with- so i'll cut the crap and stop trying to make up an excuse, 'cause i'm not like Kakashi, and i'll just apologise for my lazyness, i'm a lot like Shikamaru-kun sometimes... -sigh-
anyway, please enjoy and, of course, REVIEW!!
opinions are welcome!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the credit goes to Masashi Kishimoto-san!
Please enjoy!
Previously on The Secret Behind:
Tired of playing hide and seek Sakura decides to go search for Akatsuki and her twins by herself.
In the meantime, Sasuke, the new Leader of Akatsuki, sends Kisame and Ryo to go get Suigetsu, that is somewhere in the Water Country, and he sends Hana, Tobi, Ruki and Kai to go get Jugo, that is somewhere in the northern mountains of the Fire Country.
Kaorin approaches Ryuuki and she takes him to play with her, as for Kyuuki, she approaches Jin and asks him to show her a 'trick' as she calls it. After a few seconds he accepts.
After all the bases are checked, Sakura finds herself in the Rain Country, after a long interrogation by the guards, she gets in and, after entering a bar, she meets a nice looking man, Fai D. Furoraito, or just Fay.
Chapter 10
When she looked outside, it was already night, and it was raining, but not just a light rain, it was a hard rain shower.
She sighed and rested her cheek on her palm, her elbow on the bar counter.
Looking around she saw that the bar was full, she presumed this bar was popular, she also noticed people entering the bar to protect themselves from the rain.
"Whatcha thinking about?" she snapped her head to see Fay in front of her, an amused expression on his face as he chuckled lightly.
"…" he smiled and shook his head lightly.
"You looked as if you were in deep thought." He mused.
"It's nothing." She shrugged it off, she wasn't thinking about nothing in particular anyway. She sighed again, a memory of her twins coming to mind. That's when she remembered, she would be staying in Rain for a while, but she didn't have a place to stay.
"Anou." Fay looked at her. "Do you know an Inn where I could stay?"
"Well, there aren't a lot of inns in Rain, you have hotels." He mumbled. "I wouldn't counsel you to stay in an inn, the only inns in Rain are in the bad part of town." She slumped in her seat. "And the hotels are somehow expensive, but very good." She nodded, but slumped further in her seat, she didn't have a lot of money.
"So that's why almost nobody stays in Rain if they don't know anyone…" she mused to herself.
"Is something wrong Mikoto-san?" she looked up and shook her head.
"No, it's just that I don't have a lot of money." She muttered quietly.
"Well…" she looked at Fay as he thought and prepared some drinks. "I do have a vacant room!" he said smiling, she brightened.
"Thank you!!" she exclaimed happily. "But how can I pay you?" he thought for a while.
"Can you help me?" he asked extending her a trey with drinks. She nodded.
"Just tell me where." She was thankful, she wouldn't be spending her money, and she was going to 'infiltrate' the Rain city, things were going great. Plus, Fay was a good person, she had found out during the afternoon as they talked.
Later
It was around 2:30 a.m. and she was exhausted, who would have thought that serving tables was so damn tiring? Not her. She had taken her pouches and jacket off after 2 hours of serving, the pouches only got in the way, and moving from one place to another had made her really hot (in temperature).
She thought that the man would try dirty things whenever they could, but she had been wrong, it wasn't like in any of the bars she had ever seen, where the girls were constantly harassed, in here the men only flirted, but they never tried dirty things, she had asked Fay why a few hours ago.
"Because if they try to harass someone they'll be punished." He had answered, and by punished, it meant the men would receive a beating, but it was rare, or so Fay said.
In the approximately 6 hours she had been working at the bar she had already memorized the table organization, and served she didn't knew how many treys of drinks and dango.
"Onee-san, let's have some fun!!" one of the man at the table she was currently serving purred drunkenly and his hand reached innocently for her thigh. She finished serving the drinks and retreated the silver stainless steel trey.
"Baka." She said and hit the man's head with the trey, she smiled in victory when the hand in her thigh disappeared and the man sulked into his chair.
"I apologise for his behaviour, he gets like this when he drinks." One of the other man in the table apologised, she simply nodded and walked back to the bar to go get the next round of drinks to serve.
She had to say, the man in Rain, or at least those in this bar, were all respectful.
"Nice move Mikoto-san!" Fay told her while chuckling from how she had handled the situation. "You're the first waitress that does that!" he laughed lightly and filled her trey.
"I don't like perverts, it's enough that I have to deal with one since I got paired with him when I became a genin." She muttered. "And then dealing with his shishou, that hentai old man." Her eyes became dark as she remembered Naruto's Sexy no jutsu and Jiraya's Icha Icha Paradise books.
"And then my pervert sensei." She muttered remembering that Kakashi's always reading Jirayas's books.
"Cool down, that is as far as the men in here go, they know their limits." Fay reassured, she shook her head and smiled, remembering everyone could wait for later, now she had to serve tables.
"What tables?"
"Table 4, 7 and 10." She nodded and went her way.
Even later
It was around 4 a.m. and Sakura was helping Fay clean the bar, but she just wanted to let herself fall and let sleep consume her. She finished moping the floor and sighed, she had finally finished. When she had entered the bar she hadn't noticed just how large it was, and it became even bigger when it wasn't packed with people.
"I'm done." She announced in a tired voice, she had, after all, been travelling all day and had worked like crazy all night long, and without dinner at that.
"I'm just finishing the counter." Fay said as she walked to the counter to join him, and just like he said, he had most of the wooden counter cleaned.
"Thank you, with your help it only took half of the time to get everything clean!" she smiled lightly and nodded.
"Follow me." She nodded and followed him, after everything, she just wanted to sleep. They entered the back of the bar and walked past the kitchen to then go up a set of stairs. At the top of the stairs was a door, that Fay opened and closed only when she had entered the, she presumed, apartment.
"Do you want some dinner?" he asked, she pondered on that, and decided that she was starving.
"Hai, I'm starving." He nodded and took his shoes off. Not bothering to put some slippers, he just walked down the hallway. She took her shoes off and, as she walked down the hallway, looked around.
She walked by the living room, a rather spacious room with white couches surrounding a low glass table with a plasma screen on the wall in one side, in the other were some white and beige poufs surrounding another low glass table, this one had an artistic candle on top. On the couches area there was a beige fluffy looking carpet under the table, and then on the other side there was another one, under the glass table and poufs. She also noticed some shelves with books and other things.
There were closed doors and then she reached the kitchen, the floor there wasn't wooden, it was made of black bluish marble, the cabinets and cupboards had acrylic doors, the acrylic was of a dark blue and was dim, the counter tops were made of black purplish granite. There was a large silver fridge, the oven and microwave were built-in and had acrylic door like the rest of the cabinets and cupboards. There was a table, it was wooden with black purplish granite top, and there were 4 chairs around it.
All in all, the house was stylish and cosy.
"You have a great house." Sakura commented, as she walked closer to Fay, who was preparing something on the counter near the fridge.
"Thank you." He said. "Do you like sushi?" he asked and looked at her, she nodded.
"I do, why?" he showed her a plate filled with sushi rolls and motioned her to sit down. He put the plate on the table and went to take something out of a drawer.
"How long do you think you'll stay in Rain?" he asked her as he sat down in front of her and handed her a chopsticks set. She shrugged.
"I don't know exactly, I came so I could talk to… an old friend of mine, he has something that… belongs to me." Fay nodded and thanked for the food.
"Then I wish you luck!" he said and took a piece of sushi to his mouth.
"Thanks." She mumbled and thanked for the food.
They ate silently, and once they had finished she helped him clean up.
"You'll stay here." He said as he opened a door to reveal a room with a king sized bed covered in baby blue, 2 bed tables, one in each side, there was a desk and a chair, then 2 shelves with books in one side of the room, on the other there were sliding doors of a closet in the wall, and behind the bed was a small area with a couch and a low wooden table facing a balcony.
"Thank you!" she thanked again, for the nteenth time that day and he smiled, and then walked to his own room, 2 doors after the one he gave her.
She closed the door behind her and looked at the bed, she was dying to try it and sleep in it. She put her pouches and jacket on the desk and then frowned, she had remembered to get a change of clothes to come, but she had forgotten to bring any other clothes.
"I'm such a baka." She muttered and then let herself fall on the bed. "Hmmmmm, so comfy." She mumbled pleasurably and snuggled on the bed.
She decided her clothes were annoying and got up, just as she was about to take them off a knock was heard. She opened the door.
"I thought this would be useful!" he smiled and handed her some clothes, his clothes she presumed, and she also presumed for her to sleep in.
"How did yo-" he cut her off.
"I noticed you only had your clothes and 2 pouches with you." She blushed in embarrassment and he chuckled.
"T-thank you." He smiled again and walked down the hallway.
She closed the door and put the clothes Fay gave her on the bed and undressed. Thankful that she had now clothes to sleep in, she decided that tomorrow she should buy some other clothes, and dressed the blue baggy (for her) T-shirt and the black (also large for her) shorts.
She pulled the covers and then lay down, deciding that the night wasn't cold, she just pulled the baby blue sheet over her body and let sleep consume her, the sound of the rain outside lulling her.
The next day
She woke up to the sound of rain. Emerald green eyes fluttered open and the owner of said eye sat up in the bed. A smile appeared in her face.
"I haven't slept so well in a while." She mumbled contently and got up, her arms stretched above her head.
Taking her clothes she walked out of her room, the apartment was quiet, meaning she was the only one awake.
She discovered the bathroom quickly, and, after undressing herself, she entered the shower. As she let the warm water run down her body, she couldn't help but think about everything that happened.
Tears made their way to her eyes as she thought of her twins and Sasuke.
She shook her head before breaking down, and thought about Gaara and Sai, who had done their best to help her, and Itachi, who had offered his help, and also Fay, a new found friend, who was helping her. And thinking about where exactly she was, she realised, that for the moment, she was as close to her twins as she could get, and she was getting closer as time went by.
After washing herself, she dressed the clothes from the previous day and got out of the bathroom. Fay seemed to still be asleep, so, after seeing in a clock in the living room that it was 13:43, she decided to prepare some lunch.
Blue eyes fluttered open and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, before he got up and stretched, yawning in the process. He made his way to the bathroom, still half asleep, and decided to take a shower, yesterday had been tiring.
After a quick, relaxing shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and proceeded to brush his teeth, as he did he stared at his reflection in the mirror, blue eyes stared back at him, and he mentally laughed at his childish attitude, but it was a habit since he was a kid, and as they say, old habits die hard.
After his teeth were taken care of, he proceeded to get dressed, black boxers, navy blue jeans and a baby blue shirt.
Before leaving the bathroom he towelled his hair so it wouldn't be soaked, leaving his damp blond locks, somehow messy.
As he left the bathroom he closed his eyes in sweet delight, smelling the sweet aroma of cooking.
Remembering the pink haired woman was there, he made his way to the kitchen, curious about what she had prepared that smelled so pleasantly good.
As he walked past the living room he saw the clock in one of is shelved pointing 14:36.
He poked his head in the kitchen and noticed the pink haired girl in front of the oven, wearing the clothes she had the day before, her hair set in a messy bun that was held together with a pair of silver senbon.
"What'cha preparing Mikoto-san?" he knew it wasn't her name, and it certainly didn't suit her, but oh well! If she gave a fake name it must have been for something.
She turned her head to the door to see Fay entering the kitchen, and a smile graced her features.
"I kinda raided your kitchen, I hope you don't mind." He gave her an amused smile.
"You didn't break anything did ya?" he inquired teasingly, to which she laughed softly and shook her head.
"No, I didn't!" he smiled at her and walked closer.
"So, what'cha doing?" he asked again, now leaning against the granite counter.
"Tempura, Onigiri, Omelet and Gyoza!" she answered while focussing on her cooking.
"Seriously?" she nodded. "Cool!!" he exclaimed. "I'm not a very good cook." He chuckled. "The only things I can do are Sushi, onigiri and instant ramen, everything else's just alien!" she giggled.
"You just sounded like my sensei." "And Yamato-taichou too." She finished in her mind. "He can only make easy stuff too!" Fay smiled, she seemed… not happier, but in a brighter mood today.
After a quiet lunch getting to know each other better, the 2 walked out of the apartment, it was still raining, but it was a light rain.
"I have a few errands, so I'll just show you where the stores are, ok?" Sakura smiled.
"Fine by me, I just need a few new clothes, and then I'll take a look around, to get to know the city better!" Fay nodded, a smile gracing his features.
"If I'm not home when you get there, there's a key next to the door." She nodded.
"Thank you!" She received a nod, and then Fay motioned her to look at a street.
"This street's where all the stores are, don't loose yourself!" he joked, to which she shook her head.
"Ok, thanks!" he nodded again and then went his way.
She entered the busy street and started by looking at the stores from outside.
This street had to be the biggest of the village, it seemed like an avenue, or better, a huge mall spread in a huge street.
She had been in a few stores and bough a few clothes and shoes, she had also bough a few medical things and another set of weapons, surprisingly, she had found stores with reasonable prices.
Having too many bags, she had also bough a bag to put everything in, and since the rain seemed to be permanent, she had bough an umbrella too.
She was now walking around the city, making a more detailed mental map, it would be useful in the future.
She had to admit that the city of Rain was a great city, it was modern, and especially, it was more peaceful than Konoha or Suna.
She sighed, it wasn't the time to remember everyone, that she knew were probably trying to find her, well, Rain was the last place they would search right? Or maybe not.
With a sigh, she walked back to Fay's apartment. She had been really lucky to find someone like him, and integrating Rain was an extra she hadn't thought of.
As she reached the bar, she entered by the back, and the door was opened, Fay was there.
She entered, put the umbrella away, took her shoes off, and walked to her provisory room.
She had the feeling she would be spending more time than she wanted to in Rain, but it could be a stupid feeling, only time would tell.
After another tiring night working at the bar and a good night of sleep, Fay woke up.
Blue eyes fluttered open, and a yawn escaped his lips. He got up and stretched, then making his way to the bathroom to wake up completely. He noticed Sakura was already awake and was cooking, the smell of cooking was something to drool.
After a quick shower, he got dressed, navy blue boxers and navy blue jeans, and a baby blue shirt with a navy blue T-shirt over the shirt.
He walked out of the bathroom and went to the kitchen, the pink haired female was waiting for him, delicious looking food was already displayed on the table.
"I think I'm gonna kidnap you and make you my permanent cook!!" he joked, and she laughed lightly, raising her fist in the air.
"You'd have to defeat me first!" she grinned mischievously. He chuckled and sat down.
"I have the feeling you'd be hard to defeat." He mused, she merely smiled.
They ate dinner quietly at the sound of light rain.
After they ate, they washed the dishes, it was around 3p.m., and what he said slipped from his lips unintentionally.
"Mikoto isn't a name that suits you." He instantly froze as he heard his words. The woman next to him stopped washing the plate.
"I suppose not." She spoke in a strangely calm tone. "If you had to guess, what'd you say my name his?" she turned her head to face him, and to his surprise, she only showed curiosity.
"Well…" he thought for a moment. "Maybe Hikari or Tsuki." He answered truthfully. She tilted her head and resumed her washing.
"Light or Moon." She repeated more to herself than anything. "Why those?" he shrugged.
"I dunno. Light maybe 'cause you seem to standout in the shadows, and Moon 'cause… I dunno, I just thinks it fits you." She nodded and then grinned.
"Then what about I change my name?" he raised a brow. "Light of the Moon? Hikari no Tsuki." She said. He nodded.
"Yeah, it suits you better than Haruno Mikoto. Definitively." He said nodding, she smiled, although Haruno was her real name, it didn't fit either with Hikari nor Tsuki, and having a completely different from her name alias was a good thing.
After they finished cleaning the kitchen they moved to the living room, and as she went to the balcony door to look outside, she noticed the Rain was stopping and the clouds were disappearing. A smile appeared on her face.
"The Rain's stopping!" Fay walked to stand next to her.
"You're right, that means someone of the 10's coming." He mumbled to himself. She looked at him in confusion.
"One of the 10?" he nodded and looked at her.
"They're the higher-ups. Like any other Hidden Village, we have shinobi, students, genin, chunin, jounin, ANBU and all of that." She nodded. "But instead of having a Kage, like the Kazekage or Raikage, we have the 10." She tilted her head. "They're like the Kage, but they're 10…" he paused, trying to find appropriate words. "They're… hmm… our special guard in some sort of way."
"Got it." she answered and waited for him to continue.
"Well, the 10, amongst them there's our Leader, like a Kage, but not quite." She nodded, so far she understood. "So, 1 of the 10 is the Leader, and the rest are the strongest amongst the strongest. Our Leader is like a Kage and the other 9 are like the council!" She nodded, she was just wondering if the people in Rain knew that they're higher ups were criminals. Fay looked outside, the sun was high in the sky, shinning and giving a peaceful glow to the city.
"Even if they are S-rand criminals, they do a great job protecting the village, and not only in the fighting department, our economy is very good too since the Akatsuki took over." She gaped, so they knew.
"Don't you care that they're criminals?" she asked in disbelief, Fay smiled at her.
"Would you rather have a man that only cares about spending his money in futile things and let his people starve to death as a leader, or a S-rank criminal that takes care of everyone equally, that protects everyone, that makes the land wealthy and that kills other criminals?" she opened her mouth to speak, and Fay raised a brow at her, and she shut her mouth, he had point. If what he said was true, and by now she knew it was, then having Akatsuki rule Rain was the best that happened, at least to the citizens of Rain, for the rest of the world, that was another story.
"Fine." She mumbled. "Akatsuki does a good job." She wanted to just beat herself into a pulp, why did she have to end up with this inner conflict?
Deciding to return to the main topic, she spoke.
"So, someone's coming." She stated, Fay nodded, and a grin appeared on his face.
"I haven't seen my best friend in a while!" she raised a brow.
"Your best friend?" she inquired.
"Yeah, you gotta know him." He stated. "He's Akatsuki after all." It seemed as if he didn't mind about Akatsuki.
"Oh, wait, he doesn't cares, he actually praises them." The Inner Sakura that had long since appeared spoke sarcastically.
"Who is he?" she asked reluctantly. Fay grinned.
"A crazy bastard." Was all Fay said before walking away from the window and into the hallway.
Sakura narrowed her eyes in inner conflict, why did she have to run into someone that had friends in Akatsuki? And why did it have to be a good person??
So? how was it?? not much action in this one, but it's coming...
oh, you guys are gonna love Fay's best friend... -grins-
but you'll only find out in the next chapter or so!!
once again, i deeply apologise for upddating so late, and i'll try to update quickly, but i won't promise anything, firstly 'cause i need to work on chapter 15 of The Longest Year Ever, and secondly 'cause i've been having this immense rge to start another fic, that and the images and ideas just won't get out of my mind, but i'm not someone who let's things unfinished, so i'll do my best to satisfy my dear fans!!
Love you all, Kaori-chan!!