A/N - Wow. Chapter four! I'm so happy this out, since I'm also starting a very long Zutara fanfic, though I haven't decided on the title. You'll see it soon enough! And work...God, that eats up my time hours at a time...
Warning: If you haven't figured it out yet, Major manga Spoilers from 398 or so, on. So, don't want Naruto spoiled? Don't read!!
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke would burn that damn ass-bow he wears.
--
A Day In The Life
--
Itachi came awake to a slim hand on his shoulder, and reacted without thinking. He grasped the slender wrist, and then tackled the offender to the ground. What he wasn't expecting was how soft his landing would be.
Literally.
He lay on top of a soft and yielding female body, one that smelled distinctly of herbs. He looked down into the startled red-black eyes of Miho.
"Well…Good morning to you too, Sempai. You smell good."
He gazed at her silently, willing his body to stop reacting to this delicious contact. Mioko's eyes had shut halfway, and the way she gazed up at him from beneath smoky lashes could be called almost seductive.
Was she wearing make up?
...
Nah.
His head lowered just the tinniest bit until his nose touched hers.
"It's not safe to wake me like that."
Miho gave him a prim, arched look.
"Have you taken a look at my chosen profession lately?"
He couldn't hide a slight smirk at her words. She really did have a point.
He moved to get off of her, but his knee slipped on the slightly slippery material of her silk yukata, and he lost his balance, landing back on top of her, with a heavy 'OOF'
(A/N - I know that this normally wouldn't happen, but silk has absolutely NO traction on wood floors. So, actually, this is plausible. Why is she wearing silk? I'll explain later!)
Their breaths hitched, and he felt the soft skin of her lips brush innocently against his. That just wasn't fair.
He reacted before he thought, for the first time in years, and slanted his mouth over her open, slightly shocked lips.
She was soft, yielding, and she tasted faintly of mint, as if she'd just recently brushed her teeth. With a surge of self-control, Itachi lifted his mouth from her, and looked down at her.
She was still, her form relaxed, and her eyes were closed, but he could detect the smallest hitch in her breath. He released her, and sat back onto his knees.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she regarded him with a steady gaze.
"I apologize. I slipped.", he said, then stood and began to walk toward the door.
(A/N - understatement of the year...)
"Perhaps you should slip more often.", she murmured as she brushed past him to exit the door first.
He blinked, momentarily floored.
-
Her lips still tingled in the aftermath of Itachi's sweet torture. Mioko may have been trained underneath Morino Ibiki himself in the art of applying and enduring torture, and that one kiss still made her want to spill every secret she'd ever had, right then and there.
She shook her head violently. That had meant nothing. He'd been asleep...he'd probably thought she was Meiyo, or someone else. She frowned, and touched two fingers to her lips as she paused just inside the front door. She was silent for a moment before she bent and slipped into a pair of high-heeled sandals, and then turned to grab the purse-slash-bag hybrid she left there the night before.
Mioko pulled a little hand mirror out of it, and checked her reflection. He'd smeared her lipstick...
With an angry curse, she pulled the light pink stick out of her bag, applied another coat, and then tossed both items ruthlessly back into the bag before stomping out of the door, and slamming it behind her.
Stupid Uchiha males and their male-yness.
(A/N- -snorts- Is that even a word??)
-
A loud knocking sounded on the solid door of a normal little house off one of Konoha's side streets.
"Coming, coming!", a woman shouted from somewhere in the house. Mioko stopped knocking and shifted her bag a little bit on her shoulder as she waited.
"Good morning, darling!", said a woman in her late thirties as she answered the door.
Mioko gave her a warm smile before stepping into the woman's open arms to give her a firm hug.
"Hello, Kyoko-kaa-chan. How are you?"
The petite woman chuckled, and tucked a tendril of dirty-blonde hair behind one ear. Her blue eyes sparkled with pleasure as she closed the door behind Mioko.
"Lovely, now that you're here. Darling, you really are too thin. Sit, sit, and I'll get you some tea and something to snack on."
Miho hid a small giggle behind her hand. This was the same routine she usually went through every time she came to visit.
She watched her surrogate mother bustle into the kitchen, and then moved to take a seat on one of the dinning table cousins, placing her bag beside her as she did so.
A moment later, Kyoko bustled back into the room bearing a tray with a steaming pot of tea, three cups, and a plate of sweets, which she set on the table as she herself took a seat.
She poured tea into two of the three cups, and then set one before Mioko, before pushing the whole plate of sweets toward the other woman.
"Eat, Mioko. You've lost weight since I last saw you."
Mioko rolled her eyes, and then picked up a sweet bean cake. She'd swallow her tongue before she told Kyoko she'd actually gained a few pounds in the two weeks since she'd last visited. Instead, she bit into the cake, and hummed in appreciation.
Kyoko Morino, formerly Kyoko Yamanaka, was probably the best chef of sweets in all of Konoha, and Mioko liked to take full advantage of that fact from time to time. She made a mental note to take some back to Itachi and watch his reaction.
"When is Ibiki-chichiue coming home?", she asked after she'd finished the bun, glancing meaningfully at the third teacup. Kyoko smiled before taking a sip of her tea.
"In twenty minuets or so. Going to the Umahi's as well?" Her blue gaze took in Mioko's make up, silk kimono, and high-heels(at the door) silently, almost icily. Mioko sighed, and put her tea cup down.
"I know you don't like it, Kyoko-kaa-chan, but it's only to see Kaoru-sama. I see Hana-dono all the time on missions and to train, and I promised I'd visit Kaoru-sama as well. I owe her my life, as well as my way of life."
Mioko smiled, and then picked up another cake.
"However, the cakes her chef makes can't hold a candle to yours. So I think I'll eat now, and be fashionable later."
She gave Kyoko a wink as she took a bite. The other woman began to chuckle, pleased by the compliment.
Both women looked up as footsteps sounded on the wooden porch outside, and seconds later, the door opened to reveal a large, bear-like man with a scarred face and a full head Hitai-ate. One large, paw-like hand was rubbing the back of his neck, and his face carried a hint of exhaustion.
"Damn bastard still won't crack. What the hell is it that makes these Rain shinobi so damned stubborn?", he growled out.
Mioko propped on hand on her chin, and her tone became nonchalant.
"Probably the same shit that they give you and Uzumaki to make you the same way."
Ibiki Moreno glanced up, slightly startled, and then his rugged face broke out into a grin. He slipped off his shoes and stalked across the room to ruffle Mioko's hair, before seating himself down on the third cushion at the table.
"Heya, kid."
"Kid, my ass. I'm almost twenty, Ibiki-chichiue."
"So you're still a kid."
"I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, but that's not even something I wish on your own hand."
"Oh, ouch."
"Kyoko, don't help!"
The women exploded into laughter as Ibiki glared at his new cup of tea with a sour expression. Mioko leaned over and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders in a warm hug.
"I don't see why you try. You lose every time."
The man smirked, and then gave her a one armed hug around her own shoulders.
"I believe I'm 'on the same shit as Uzumaki', to paraphrase."
Mioko gave the back of his head a swat as she sat back.
"Ass.", she told him fondly.
"And you're a bitch. But I'm not complaining.", Ibiki answered blithely as he took a sip of tea. Miho rolled her eyes.
"That's because you know you'd be sleeping on the couch for a month. I'm the favorite and you know it."
Ibiki wisely chose not to respond. He simply gave his adoptive daughter his favorite, one-fingered salute.
She responded by flipping him the double bird.
And the Kyoko swatted the both of them upside the backs of their heads.
"Knock it off, you dumb-shits!", she screeched, her Yamanaka blood manifesting for a moment.
A passer-by looked up at the sound of laughter coming from the Morino house, and then scurried on his way like the devil was at his heels.
Laughter from that house was usually a bad sign for normal people.
-
"I'm here to see Matriarch Kaoru-sama. I have an appointment."
The guard at the gate to the Umahi estate grunted, then opened the large wooden gate carved with leaping horses wide enough so that Mioko could slip through. Then he slammed it shut behind her, almost closing the gate on her foot.
She paused, and then bent to dust off the hem of her yukata.
"Thank you.", she called, only to add under her breath, "-Fucking jack-ass."
Then she continued on her way down ornate and shiny halls that winded in and around the estate in a maze of patterns. One who didn't know where they were going could get lost as hell.
She stepped and darted around the various rooms, trying not to be seen. She didn't want to see anyone else.
But it would seem she'd pissed Karma off today, because one ornate shoji door slid open just as she started to skulk past it. She stifled a curse, and then swallowed another oath when she saw who has opened the door.
Karma wasn't just pissed, she was on the fucking war path.
-
The young woman who'd opened the door looked down at Mioko with open disdain, and her cold brown eyes were haughty and arrogant.
"Mioko. So, the guards are letting in gutter trash again?"
Mioko gave the woman a cold and poisonous look.
"Atae. Sorry, must have taken a wrong turn. I was looking for high society, not a whore house. If you'll excuse me."
She moved to go when Atae descended from the open door, and onto the path. She flicked out a fan from the volumous sleeve of her kimono. She opened it with an elegant flick of her dainty white wrist, and began to gently fan herself, the man-made breeze just barely stirring her shiny brown hair.
"Still as uncivilized as ever, I see. They were quite right to force you out before you polluted the other innocent children like myself."
Mioko vocalized a loud snort.
"You weren't innocent by the time they gave me the boot, and we both know it. Cut the crap, Atae. What do you want?"
The other woman was silent for a time before asking in a careful tone, "How is Uchiha-san faring today? I trust he is recovering well..."
Mioko raised one eyebrow skeptically.
"Shisui's just fine, Atae. Why the sudden interest?"
Atae gave her a haughty look.
"You assume I ask about Shisui-san. No. I ask about Uchiha-san, and his health. You'll be sure to tell him I asked, won't you?"
Her tone implied that she thought Mioko was a simpleton to not have known that.
Mioko resisted the urge to tell her to go get fucked, but she didn't want to wish this bitch on any man.
Well, maybe Yuu...but that was besides the point.
"He's doing just fine, Atae, thanks for asking. I was assigned to him for a reason other than my ANBU status."
"I'd merely assumed you'd bullied yourself into the position. Everyone knows you have absolutely no talent as a kunoichi. You're very near useless."
Mioko rolled her eyes, ignoring Atae's obvious poison. If she had a nickel for every time she'd heard that...
"And that makes you no kunoichi at all. Now, if you'll excuse me...I have an appointment to keep. Good day, Atae-dono."
Mioko then turned her back on Atae's slack-jawed face, and continued on her way down the path without looking back. But her thoughts were beginning to race.
She should have known the cougars would have started prowling the moment Itachi was proven innocent. She knew he would bee seen as a very desirable prize to any noble family. He had wealth, fame, power, the sharingan, and very good looks that many would want bred into their family line.
She cursed under her breath, knowing that they'd be coming to the compound in packs now. Just when she'd thought she had a chance herself.
She smirked herself. Now, why would Itachi want little, foundling her, when he could have a cultured swan of a woman that would be an almost carbon copy of Meiyo. She had no chance.
And the smile on her face as she walked into the Umahi Matriarch's private garden was bitter and twisted.
-
"It is good to see you, my dear. I've heard you've been assigned to that beastly pair of Uchiha's, and my dear, I fear for both your health and your chastity."
Mioko resisted the urge to tell Kaoru Umahi she'd do better to fear for the chastity of her own girls. But she simply bit her tongue and gave a polite response that didn't even register in her mind.
The old, almost ethereal woman placed an aged and delicate hand onto Mioko's arm, and her wrinkled face showed distress.
"I'll try to talk Tsunade out of it, My dear, never you worry. The council members are my friends, and they will see you safely away from those dangerous men."
Mioko took a slow breath.
"Kaoru-sama...", she began, "You should know that there is no threat to me in that house. Both men treat me with decency and respect. You have nothing to worry the council over."
The older woman scoffed, and waved Mioko's comment away with a wrinkled hand.
"My dear, you have no knowledge of men. They are sneaky and conniving creatures who will do anything to get what they want. You cannot trust what they say."
Miho desperately repelled the urge to grind her teeth, and then scream and yell at this presumptuous old hag, but her outside features remained as cool and remote as a glacier's.
She owed this woman everything, including the time she now spent with Itachi and Shisui, because if this woman hadn't found her by the river bank on that cold and foggy morning almost fifteen years ago, she'd have never known them, or Konoha. So, she took the abuse silently, and ignored the old woman's unintentional poison.
The visit would be over soon, anyway.
-
Mioko breathed a heady sigh of relief as the Umahi gates clanged shut behind her. She'd managed to escape, making some excuse about a mission and how Tsunade needed her at the hospital, and yes, it had been a nice visit.
Of course, the whole 'I'll come and visit again soon' thing was a downright lie. The only Umahi she could actually stand for more than twenty minuets was her old sensei, and she'd never downright say she liked the older woman. She'd never hear the end of it if she did.
-
She was just walking into the front door of the Uchiha main house when she noticed that something was seriously amiss.
It was absolutely dead silent, and still.
As if she'd walked into the wrong house, one of the abandoned ones.
That was, until Shisui came speeding down the hall toward her like an excited little puppy.
"Miho's home!!", he yelled as he jumped onto her in what could only be called a glomp.
She gave a loud shriek and then a loud oath of pain as she crashed to the floor underneath Shisui's weight. Shisui didn't even seem to notice as he began to kiss her cheeks and forehead and nose.
"I missed you so much!!", he chirped in between pecks. Mioko began to struggle, slightly irritated and hoping that the bag of Kyoko's cakes that she'd brought back were uncrushed.
"For Kami's sake, Shisui! You do this every fucking time I go to visit Ibiki and the Umahis! Get off me, I'm fine!!"
Shisui was then yanked off of her, and flung toward the hall wall with a surprised look on his face. Itachi stood above them, looking nothing more than bored, but Miho felt the thrum of annoyance, and another emotion she wasn't quite sure about.
Unhappiness, or perhaps displeasure? No, that wasn't it.
She sighed as she sat up, rubbing the small of her back, and then her ass as she stood up.
She'd figure it out eventually.
"Thanks, Sempai.", she said as she bent and picked up her bag, then looked inside to see that Kyoko's gift was in a safe condition before looking up to give him a warm smile.
Embarrassment thrummed through their connection, and she only smiled at him wider, amused.
"It was nothing.", he answered quietly, then turned and began to walk away, just as Miho glanced at the calendar, and swore loudly.
"Don't go far, Sempai!", she ordered as she rushed past him down the hall toward her room, "You have an appointment with Tsunade in twenty minuets. Oh, hell, how could I forget??"
-
"You're late.", the blonde haired woman barked as Mioko dragged Itachi in through the front door of the hospital.
Mioko slid to a halt, then bent to place one hand on her knee and gasp for breath. The other hand still held onto Itachi's arm; Said Uchiha looked like he was trying to hide the physical signs that he was suffering from vertigo.
"Sorry, Tsunade-sama.", Miho managed to gasp in-between huge gulps of air, "Umahis take up a lot of time."
The brown eyed Hokage gave a loud snort, but stood from where she was seated at a nurses' station, and picked up a medium sized file and a clip board.
"Come on.", she said, beckoning at the two young adults, silently ordering them to follow her, "I don't have all day."
She led them down the crowded hall of gawkers, and into a secluded exam room.
"Strip, Uchiha.", she barked.
Itachi stared at her, not fully comprehending why he had to strip in front of the two women.
"Tsunade-sama!", Mioko hissed, her cheeks turning red in embarrassment, "He's only here for a Sharingan exam. I'm supposed to do the full physical a week before he goes back on active duty, and that's not for a year! If you want to get laid, I'm sure Jiraiya-san would be more than happy to accommodate y-"
Mioko suddenly ducked as Tsunade flung the clipboard at her, the blonde's face twisted in rage.
"Shut UP!", she snarled, before going over and slamming the file down on the table in the corner.
Mioko and Itachi exchanged silent looks of apprehension, more so from Miho that Itachi, as he was loath to show emotion in front of anyone he didn't trust, the Hokage included. Mioko fought the urge to then roll her eyes; He took his job far too seriously some times.
Tsunade frowned at them, then jerked her head at the examining table.
"Sit your ass down, Uchiha. I'm low on patience, so I suggest you don't argue."
Itachi said not a word, not like Mioko thought he would, and sat down with a crinkle on the roll of paper on top of the examining table, his shoulders set.
Miho lifted a hand to hide her sympathizing smile. Tsunade gave her a sour look, then stood, and made her way over to Itachi, who was looking at Miho like he wanted nothing more that to strangle her.
Tsunade made a few seals, and then healed up a hand that glowed a bright blue. She placed this hand over Itachi's right eye, and then delved into his body via her chakra.
"Hmm...", she hummed softly, as Itachi fought back a grimace. Mioko felt a stab of pain in her own right eye, and frowned.
"Too rough, Tsunade-sama. Lighten the flow."
The chakra flow of the Hokage halted a moment, and T both Itachi and Tsunade turned to give Mioko an asking glance. she colored slightly, then said,
"I remember how it was done with Shisui, is all, and he had the same problem..."
The Hokage 'ha-rump'ed, but when she restarted her chakra flow, it was softer, and Itachi did not have to fight to conceal pain. Mioko gave a soft sigh of relief; Keeping the bond a secret was harder than she'd thought.
-
After twenty minuets of examining first one eye, and then the other, Tsunade gave her verdict.
"It's the same thing that happened with your cousin, and with the four Hyuugas that Mioko's brought back. What ever the case, her technique, since I'm not sure how to classify it, somehow suppresses Kekkei Genkai. With both the Hyugga's Byakugan, and Tenzou's Moukutan."
Itachi wore a prefect mask as he thought.
"Will I get the Sharingan back, or not?"
"Yes.", Tsunade answered instantly, then stopped to explain, "Every single person with a suppressed Genkai eventually reactivated their respective abilities. However, the amount of time until they got them back varied from person to person. Tenzou got his back within three days of training. However, your cousin, and two of the three Hyuugas..."
Tsunade flipped open the file, and moved a few papers side by side, then bent forward to examine them. She then stood up with a grim expression.
"All three of them took over six months of hard training to fully reactivate their former abilities. I'm not sure how long it will take you, but the previous cases, and the odds they set, don't look so good. With how far gone you were, there's definitely going to be a longer gap in between your time of activation."
She flipped through a few more pages of the file.
"Also, with Shisui Uchiha, the tomoe of the Sharingan had to be activated and cultivated one at a time. It's like activating your Sharingan all over again. And as for your eyesight..."
She sighed, then rubbed the bridge of her nose roughly.
"You're going to need at least three months of weekly treatment to get them back into semi-serviceable shape again. Right now, you're nearly blind."
"Thank you for telling me something I already know.", Itachi remarked dryly.
Tsunade gave him a dark look.
"As I was saying, three months of weekly treatment, and since Mioko is trained in battlefield medicine, and not optometry, we're going to need a new medic-"
The door to the exam room burst open, and four or five(or maybe ten) female medics all fell in, on top of the other, before jumping up and beginning to jostle for position.
"Me, Tsunade-sama! I'll do it!!"
She was elbowed in the face by a second woman who waved her hands.
"No, no! I'll do it, Hokage-sama!"
This one was pushed to the floor by a third.
"No! I'm the best in the field!"
A fourth woman yanked the third's hair with an angry shriek.
"You are not!! I am!!"
Four more women jumped in, all voicing their opinions.
"No! I am!!"
"Hell no, bitches! I'm the best!"
"No, I'm the fucking best!"
"You can barely prescribe a sight prescription! I can do delicate surgery!"
"So can I! And I do muscle massages like you wouldn't believe!"
"Slut! Back off!!"
Their shrieks, yells, and yowls told the whole hospital that they were on the verge of an all out cat-fight slash massacre when Tsunade gave Mioko a certain look.
"If you please.", she said.
Mioko got a devious smile, and then reached into her kunai pouch and withdrew a strange tag that resembled an exploding tag. With a few hand seals, she tossed down the tag, and with a poof of smoke, there stood an exact replica of Itachi Uchiha, only nix clothing. The original could only blink and stare at how accurate it was, and ground his teeth over the fact that Mioko was using his memories of himself in such a raunchy way.
The clone turned and then darted past the group of women, to stop and lean on the door in a stance that practically oozed sex appeal.
"I need some help with another ache, if any of you ladies are interested..."
Ten different heads shot up, and three had nosebleeds and fainted dead away. The rest were drooling, and looking south.
"Well, going to help?", the clone asked in a dark voice that made a shiver spiral up every feminine spine in the room. And then the clone darted out of the room, followed by salivating fan girls that wanted nothing more than to ravish it. Very soon their screams faded away down the hall.
And Mioko and Tsunade burst into loud peals of laughter and the Uchiha genius slowly burned with embarrassment.
-
"Ahahahahaha! Are you serious? No clothes? Oh, Kami, we're going to have hordes of those creatures at our doors for days!!"
Shisui's head, still shaking with laughter at his cousin's predicament, shifted to the side to avoid the steaming cup of tea that seemed to appear out of thin air, when it had been in his cousin's hand only a moment before.
Itachi gave him an evil glare that promised a lot of pain.
"Shisui?"
"Yes, oh sexy one?", his cousin cooed in a bad impression of a female voice as he batted his eyelashes.
"If you don't shut up, I'm going to drown you again."
Shisui rolled his eyes.
"So?"
"In the sink."
There was a moment of silence as Shisui searched his cousin's face for some trace of humor, but all he could find was deadly promise.
"I-'m going to shut up now.", Shisui said,in an almost sing-song voice while rubbing the back of his neck. Itachi gave him an evil smirk.
"Brightest idea you've ever had."
"I'll say.", Mioko's voice chimed in, "Only Sempai, don't drown him in the sink. I use it to wash the dishes, and who knows what kind of pollutants he'd leave behind. You can use the koi pond, though."
Shisui began to cry. He just couldn't win.
-
"Hey, Sempai. Come train with me!"
Itachi looked up from his book and focused on Mioko, who was dressed in loose black slacks and midriff baring shirt in a flattering shade of red. He bit his tongue sharply to keep the thoughts away. He noticed she carried a whicker basket and a large cloth under her arm.
"Training?", he asked. She nodded, her smile almost blinding. He shrugged, then stood up and followed her down the hall as she skipped before him.
"Yay!", she sang, and he had to fight a soft smile.
-
"You're late.", said a sharp female voice as they arrived at training field four.
"Your watch is fast. We're right on time.", Mioko snapped as she set down the picnic basket she'd brought, along with a ground cloth.
A middle aged woman stepped out the shadows of the trees, and then into the sun. Her hair was light red-brown, and her eyes were a strange mix of brown and gray. A liberal of dusting of freckles dusted her lightly tinted bronze cheeks, cut off by two scars criss-crossing near the edge of her face, and up toward her left ear. There was minute laugh lines around her eyes, and her mouth, which was twitched to the side, in what could be almost be called amusement. She had ruby studs in the bottom of her ears, and one hoop up on the cartilage of her right ear, obviously good silver.
The woman wore a short sleeved, slightly baggy green shirt that displayed an long 'X' scar on her right arm, trailing from her shoulder to her elbow. On the other arm was a thick white bandage. Around her neck glinted what looked like a blue diamond.
Mioko made a noise of distress and crossed the field.
"That's not wrapped properly. I got fifty bucks says it's infected."
"I got sixty says you don't fix it, they'll need to amputate it.", the woman replied. Mioko gave the bandage a hard tug.
"Oh, you better hope not. If so, I'll rip it off myself."
Itachi wandered over with a raised eyebrow, wondering at the banter. Mioko looked up as he approached, and smiled, her hands glowing a soft greenish blue.
"Uchiha Itachi, meet my former sensei and mentor, Umahi Hanaka. Umahi Hanaka, Uchiha Itachi."
Hanaka gave him a nod of greeting, which he returned in a bored fashion.
A few moments later, Mioko leaned back with a pleased sigh.
"There we go. All done."
Her mentor 'hn'ed. Mioko 'tsk'ed, and Itachi made no sound at all.
"You mentioned training.", he rumbled after a time. Mioko rose from her knees as easily and gracefully as a noblewoman, and bent to brush away the dirt. The she stood straight, and grinned up at him.
"Get ready for one hell of a work out, Sempai!", she cooed, and then swung out at him with a fist. He leaned back in time avoid it, then stepped to the side before her other hand made contact with his ribs.
He jumped back, and slid a pair of kunai from his pouch, then slid into a stance that was vaguely familiar. Mioko paused a moment.
"You and Shi-kun use the same taijutsu style?"
He grunted in acknowledgement, and then became wary of the smirk that appeared on her face as she darted foreword again.
"Then this shouldn't take more than five minuets."
-
It was over half an hour later that Itachi sent her sprawling on her ass by flipping her over his back.
"Ack!", she cried as the wind was knocked out of her, a second before the icy sensation of metal against flesh rippled through her rapidly returning senses.
"Aww, fuck.", she breathed as she stared up at the cloudless blue sky, and the top half of Itachi's face. She looked father upward, and then groaned when she saw the devious smirk on his face.
"Please don't tell Shisui. I'll never hear the end of it.", she begged softly, and she saw his smirk grow as he slowly removed his kunai from her jugular.
She climbed to her feet without him offering a hand, which she appreciated, then hobbled sorely over to the basket only to find Hanaka gone, and in her place a note.
-
Girl,
I'm not interested in watching your foreplay. Besides, I promised the lady bitch that I'd 'protect' her from those 'nasty' Inuzuka's. Man, I think she's finally gone bonkers.
Anyway, I'll see you the same time next week. I'm on stand by for a little while, and neither of us should get stale.
Try not to get dented too badly. I can see already that he's better than you. But that's to be expected. He's a genius.
You aren't.
Anyway, when you're done, there should be a scroll in your basket. An ANBU came to deliver it to you, but I told him you were busy.
Read it before you eat, in case it's actually important.
Later
-Hanaka
-
Miho shook her head at her flaky former sensei, then reached into the basket to retrieve the scroll. She flopped onto the grass and performed the jutsu that would release the scroll's seal. The seal glowed a brief green, then vanished in a puff of smoke. Mioko pulled it open and began to read as Itachi came over at a slow and relaxed walk.
As she read, she cursed. There were only six words.
News on Akatsuki.
Hokage Tower.
NOW!!
She rolled it up swiftly, and then glanced despairingly at the basket.
"Lunch is going to have to wait, Sempai. We're needed at the Hokage tower.", she said with a sigh, and then stood.
And then the pair disappeared in simultaneous puffs of smoke.
-
They burst though the door five minuets later, and Mioko led the way up the steps to the Hokage's office, and then knocked.
"About time.", Tsunade called, and they took that as their cue to enter.
"Sit, both of you.", she ordered, and Itachi realized that Shisui was already there, sitting in one of the three chairs placed in front of the Hokage's desk. He sat on the one as far left as he could go, and Miho sat between them.
The room was palpably silent for a lone moment before Tsunade sighed and lay her face in her hands.
"I have bad news for all of you.", she began, and then went silent again.
Finally, she looked up and met Itachi's gaze with a sad, honey-colored look.
"Sasuke has joined the Akatsuki."
--
E/N - Okay, I have finally finished chapter four.
Sorry about how long it took...:hides in shame:
So, we had a kiss, and we meet more characters. And Miho got her ass kicked. And yes, Atae. :frowns: You lot aren't going to like her in a chapter or so.
Anyway, next chapter will involve more of the Akatsuki and Sasuke than Konoha, but that's only because our favorite trio won't be in Konoha!!
:cackles evilly:
Well, feel free to give me pointers! Review are also appreciated!
Thanks for reading!!