A/N: Why, hello there. I bet you all, hoped I was gone forever. Well, no such luck! XD I'm back, big as life and twice as ugly
First, I'd like to thank sasukez, for being so awesome! She's the one that made me WANT to get into anime again. Alas, I haven't. But I am into Sasuke ... and Naruto. But I'll be faithful to Yuuko and will end her story before I finish the yaoi story I have started. So I hope, you guys are willing to reread this story. Unless you remember the plot. Which I doubt, since I haven't updated in like.. half a year oo. Next time, I'll warn you, if a hiatus is coming ;D
IMPORTANT: From now on, I'll be improvising. Manga will be ignored, because I haven't been keeping up at all XD So, I guess this is sort of AU/offcanon now.
STILL IMPORTANT: This is short for a reason. I just wanted to let you know, that I'm back in the game ;D I'll probably update weekly, now that school is ending and let's hope I can bring the chapters to my former length, which was 2,000-3,000+. I'd like that very much
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Chapter 16
It wasn't exactly pleasant. Taking a trip down "memory lane". She had followed Sasuke and his gang, the whole time being silent and polite, going out of her way to not annoy anyone and this is how the bastard repays her? By visiting her former home?
"Tell me again, why are we here?" Yuuko asked, hoping that someone would answer as they entered one of the numerous abandoned secret hideouts that once belonged to his father. Unfortunately, the pest decided to try being witty.
"No one asked you to come!" Karin glared at her, and Yuuko sighed mockingly.
"I have perfectly good reasons..." Suigetsu and Karin looked at her expectantly, while the other two (she decided to name them 'the stoic pair') ignored her, eyes ahead as they walked in the maze of hallways. "...and they are for Sasuke's ears, only." Said ninja was leading the whole group and Yuuko couldn't help but wonder, if he truly knew where he was going. She was quite sure, they were walking in circles. But of course, her sense of direction had always been, well... off, so she could be utterly wrong.
The way, Sasuke's gazed at her from the corner of his eyes, satisfied her, because now she knew that he was interested. And that she wouldn't be left behind. She hoped.
Yuuko ran ahead of the group again, turning around so she was walking backwards, facing Sasuke. "So... can I help? I did live here, after all."
Suigetsu had a confused look on his face, "So you are the girl, I heard about. The one, who was supposed to be Kabuto's and Orochimaru's greatest achievement?"
She shrugged sheepishly, "That's me." She sensed a wall coming behind her so she stopped in her tracks and was glad when Sasuke stopped next to her. She stared at his profile. "Seriously though, can I help?"
He was silent for a few seconds and just when she was about to sigh and try a conversation with the other half of the stoic pair, he opened his mouth and spoke. "I'm looking for the scrolls."
Yuuko frowned, forgetting to shout in glee that she had once again managed to make the Uchiha speak, concentrating on her memories of the conversations she had overheard and of the information she had later gained, "You're talking about the highly secret jutsuscrolls, stolen by Orochimaru's lackeys?" She received a nod and she hummed in thought before choosing a direction and starting to head over to a room, she had once broken into. At least, Yuuko hoped she was heading there... as said before, her sense of direction was off. She needed to be right, though. To impress Sasuke, at least a little bit, so the brat... err, the young man wouldn't mind taking lessons from her.
She felt the group's eyes on her and bit her lip, nervous when she reached a familiar door. Which wasn't helpful, because every door there looked the same. Yuuko closed her eyes and prayed before opening the door. Afraid to look what was in there, she felt the others pass her and enter the room. When she heard no complaints, one of her eyes opened a bit as she squinted at the three figures, who were shuffling around a room... she definitely recognised. Yuuko turned her back to them and looked up, mouthing a 'thank you' to whomever that had helped her.
She followed them into the small archive, where, if Yuuko remembered correctly, Orochimaru kept his "stash". Illegal jutsus, unsafe jutsus... anything, you'd imagine Orochimaru doing, it was written on one of those scrolls. And Yuuko knew perfectly well, that one of those scrolls held the secret Sasuke needed to defeat Itachi. The Uchiha, however, wouldn't see it for himself. Not until Yuuko would get a chance to speak to him in private. Which seemed unlikely to happen anytime soon, thanks to the clingy Karin, who was really getting on her nerves.
"Sasuke-kun, I found one that might interest you!"
Yuuko observed as the pathetic kunoichi tried to get the attention of her crush. She was unsuccesful, of course, Sasuke only glancing at the scrolls and giving his infamous 'hn' as an answer. She got tired of seeing them bustling around and because she was anxious to get our of there, she decided to speak up.
"I know all of the jutsus in these scrolls, and trust me... you want to take everything."
Suigetsu stared at her for a second, why, Yuuko had no idea. Whatever he was looking for, he appeared to find it as he shrugged and grabbed one of the empty bags in the corner and started shoving scrolls in it. Jugo followed his lead, while Karin just glared at her for stealing her 'spotlight'. Or maybe for getting Sasuke's attention.
"You know all of them?"
The monotony of his voice, didn't hide the curiosity that was clear in the look he gave her. She grinned sheepishly and nodded.
"Hn."
And her hopes of having a conversation crashed as Sasuke turned away again. She sighed wearily and just waited for them to finish. Soon enough Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo had bags full of scrolls on their shoulders, while Yuuko and Sasuke walked free of any baggage. She found herself walking ahead with the Uchiha, and decided this was another opportunity to try and get Sasuke to talk to her.
"So, whacha been doing... besides training and killing Orochimaru?"
"Nothing."
Yuuko frowned at the short response and squinted her eyes, when they once more entered daylight. "Where are we going now?"
"An inn."
She sighed, giving up.
They traveled quickly and silently, just like before. They finally reached a town just before nightfall. A town, Yuuko had never been to, and they entered a local inn, Karin going up to the innkeeper's wife to ask for some rooms. The answer left Yuuko weary of what was to come.
"We only have two rooms available, a double-sized bed in each. I see there's five of you... one of the rooms has a couch as well. Is that acceptable?"
Karin nodded reluctantly and paid for them, accepting the keys and leading the group upstairs. They entered the first room and saw that this one had the small couch... which looked very uncomfortable with it's dangerous-looking lumps. Yuuko was sure she saw some sprains sticking out of the cushions. She was not going to sleep there... no way in hell. She'd rather go back to Akatsuki and tell Itachi, she had failed her mission.
"Sasuke-kun, we need to form pairs that will share beds." This badly covered flirt was accompanied by rapid blinking and fidgeting. Yuuko imitated puking behind the younger girl and she noticed Suigetsu laughing silently at her antics. She smirked when Sasuke pointedly ignored the hint.
"Suigetsu will sleep next to me. Yuuko and Ka-"
"No way in hell am I sleeping with that thing!"
The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at her, and Yuuko had the decendy to look sorry for interrupting him. Karin, however was now twitching with supressed rage at being called 'a thing'.
"Fine, you'll take the couch then?" Karin forced a smile at Yuuko, who smirked when she replied.
"Naw, I think I'll share a bed with Jugo."
A short silence lasted as Karin gaped at her and Suigetsu grinned, knowing where this was going. Jugo was staring at Yuuko, with a confused expression on his face and she just winked at him, hoping he would play along.
"J-Jugo, you'd rather share with me, right!?"
The young man blinked at Karin before shaking his head as an answer and taking the other key out of her limp hand and exiting the room. Yuuko snickered victoriously at the other girl and waved mockingly, before following Jugo, her good night message shouted over her shoulder.
"Sweet dreams Sasu, Suigetsu! And Karin... I do hope you won't be too sore in the morning."
Next chapter: (which will be longer.)
Jugo turns out to be a good listener, Sasuke reveales his simplistic plan and Yuuko's attempts at getting the Uchiha alone with her fail once more, thanks to the plotting of Karin. She gets desperate and tells Karin the truth about why she is in such a hurry. Things move forward and information is finally shared.
That could turn out to be the next TWO chapters. Depending on how long the conversations will be.
Once again. Sorry for the extreme shortness. I wrote this in about... an hour. XDD I just wanted to update, before you'd forget about me TT
Let me know, if you're still following the story after all this time