Chapter 4: Such Great New Help…NOT!
Sasuke woke up the next morning and put on his white shirt. He walked into the bathroom and washed his face. He died his face and looked into the mirror, his face was expressionless. He stared at his reflection. He regretted not taking Sakura's offer in the past. She said that she would help him with his revenge, she had told him that she would make everyday fun. She had poured out all her heart him. What did he do, all he did was throw all those words back in her face, "you're still annoying," he had said. He regretted it, all of it. If only he had stayed in the village. Itachi was still alive, and he can't ever be with Sakura. He had only benefitted one thing from this whole thing, his children, the future of the Uchiha clan. He walked to the guest room down the at the end of the hall of his house and opened the screen door, not even bothering to knock. "Akemi wake up," Sasuke said as he shook his cousin. She mumbled something about chocolate before turning to her other side. Sasuke had an irritated look on his face, how would he wake her up? AHA! He gave her a nice hit on her arm and she snapped awake, "Ouch! What was that for Sasuke-sama?"
"Make breakfast for Sora and Emi," he commanded her.
"H-hai! Right away Sasuke-sama!" Akemi said as she jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen.
Sasuke headed towards Sora's room. He entered and looked at his son. He smiled, he knew Sakura would have loved to see this. Sora had an arm above his on the pillow, another one place on his stomach, his legs going straight down. Sora's stomach was visible and the blanket was right under his feet and drooping over the side of his bed. "Sora, get up," Sasuke said his warm breath tickling Sora's ear. Sora just slapped his dad on the face and turned on his side, obviously still asleep. Sasuke stared at the ceiling and sighed, if only waking his children up was as easy as waking Akemi up. He started tickling Sora's tummy causing Sora to toss and turn backward and forewords laughing. He started to kick and finally he woke up trying to catch his breath. "Ohayo Sora," Sasuke greeted his son ruffling his hair.
Sasuke went to the room right across Sora's room and walked over to Emi, "Emi, Auntie made her special double fudge brownies."
"BROWNIES!" Emi said jumping out of bed. She was almost out of her room when she noticed that the aroma of her favorite brownies was not in the air, she turned to find her father smiling at her.
"Tou-saaaaan!" She wined.
Sasuke left her room and went down stairs. Akemi was mid way through preparing breakfast. He sat down and she gave him a cup of tea. "So do you have any important news other than what you said yesterday?" Sasuke asked.
Akemi shook her head.
"Hn."
"Ohayo!" Sora's voice rang.
"Ohayo Sora-kun!" Akemi said. "Now please take a seat."
Sora went and sat down by his father. "Ohayo!" Came the energetic voice of Uchiha,Emi.
The Uchihas were all served their breakfast meanwhile Akemi made lunch for the twins. Sasuke worked as, nothing really, he would occasionally fight off and kill sound ninja that came looking for him. That had only happened twice, with four ninjas. Sasuke basically protected the town from all trouble and danger. He would deliver scrolls and messages from flame to other villages and towns occasionally. He didn't get paid much, but he didn't know what he could do in this town. It was basically a retirement town. Most of the money to pay rent came from Akemi. Sasuke hated having to rely on her, but right now there weren't any other options. Akemi was a jounin, so she always chose dangerous and difficult S-Rank and A-Rank missions just so that she could make enough money to support herself and the Uchihas.
~X~X~X~X~X~
Sakura woke up, she stared at the bare ceiling above her. She had a lot on her mind. She got out of bed, showered, brushed her short hair, and got dressed. Today she wore the same headband, except that she wore a red tee, with a white outline of a guitar in the middle. She wore white kapris, and her black sandals. Sakura made a small breakfast and ate it. Just when she was about to leave her dorm, she heard the voices of the two twins.
"Bye auntie!" The two cheered waving.
"Bye Sora-kun, Emi-chan!" Akemi waved back at them.
An evil smirk appeared on Sakura's face, because little did that little traitor Akemi know Naruto was ready to ambush her, in 3, 2, 1.
~X~X~X~X~X~
The sound of a punch became audible as Akemi's skinny form hit the ground. Naruto picked her up and retreated into the shadows. He looked down at her, he was so ashamed of her. He tied up her hands and feet before hauling her onto his back. 'How could she hide all of that from Sakura-chan and me?' Naruto thought, a grim expression on his whiskered face. He tied her up against the trunk of a tree near camp. She wouldn't be able to stand up from the way he had tied her up. He placed a piece of cloth to make sure she wouldn't be able to scream when she woke up.
~X~X~X~X~X~X~
Sakura entered her class room. She plopped herself down on her beanbag and called Naruto.
"I captured Akemi-chan," Naruto reported.
"When I get back, I wanna interrogate her," Sakura said.
"Okay, see you Sakura-chan."
"Bye, Naruto."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~
"KONEICHIWA HIROKO-SENSEI!" The kids exclaimed as they burst into the room. Sakura carried out the class with more singing, and then she handed out the candies as the class ended, tossing Sora a mint.
"Arigato," he thanked her.
She smiled warmly at him, "So what did your dad say?"
"He said he would think about it, or something like that," Emi replied.
"Oh okay, tell me when you get an answer," Sakura said sweetly.
"Hai!" The twins chirped. "Ja ne Hiroko-sensei!"
They dashed out of the class room door and headed to exit the school. "Tou-san?" Emi questioned.
"Yes, Emi?" He replied calmly.
"Where's Auntie? Wasn't she supposed to come and pick us up?" Sora asked, a confused expression on his face.
"I haven't seen your Auntie since she dropped you off at school," Sasuke replied coolly. "Come on let's go home."
"Hai!"
Sakura giggled, he had heard the whole conversation. She had to admit he had two really cute kids. She headed out to the woods and got to the camp she and Naruto had set up. There she saw Naruto and Akemi with grim expressions.
"Hello Akemi," Sakura said coldly standing in a way that made her look superior to Akemi.
Akemi just looked away. "How could you betray Konoha? Tsunade-sama? Us?" Sakura asked adding extra emphasis to the 'us'.
"Sasuke-sama asked me to," She replied looking guiltily at the ground.
"I thought we showed you that you were not inferior Sasuke-kun," Sakura looked at Akemi with distaste.
"Who's their mother?" Sakura asked.
"How should I know?"
"What Sasuke made you swear or else he'd kill you?" Naruto asked her.
"H-hai."
"Akemi-chan, why? Why didn't you tell us?" Naruto asked her.
"Because I couldn't," Akemi said looking at Naruto, streams of tears escaping the corners of her eyes, "Sasuke-sama convinced me to help him."
"You know, since Sasuke-kun doesn't suspect you," Sakura started a devious smirk tugging her lips, "maybe you can help us, you could work on our team."
Akemi turned and looked up at Sakura, her gold eyes wide in shock, "you would give me that honor? The honor of joining Team 7?"
Sakura nodded, her smirk turning into a sweet smile, "you're a friend after all."
"Arigato guzaimashta Sakura!" Akemi said breaking down into tears of joy.
"Now get back there, and get as much information as possible," Sakura ordered as Naruto untied Akemi.
"Gomen- Gomenasai, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan," Akemi apologized bowing to the two, "You are much too kind to a pitiful person like me."
"We will forgive you, only if you stop calling Sasuke, Sasuke-sama in front of us," Naruto said smirking deviously.
"Yes, sure thing Naruto-kun," she said smiling at him, "you will discover the reason why I continued to betray the village, I still feel ashamed of myself."
"Well, you can make it up to us by helping us right now," Naruto said.
"Oh yeah, my name is Hiyashi, Hiroko, so if you meet me, just call me Hiroko," Sakura told her casually.
"Hai," Akemi answered calmly.
'Good Akemi is acting more her age,' Sakura thought feeling relieved.
"I'll be going now, before Sasuke-s-I mean Sasuke-kun gets suspicious," Akemi said calmly, before departing.
"I have to get back to my dorm, sorry Naruto." Sakura apologized.
"No big deal Sakura-chan," Naruto said looking down at the ground, a sad expression on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"It's just those twins remind me of Makoto and Sarutobi back home," Naruto sighed, "if teme came back they might all get along."
"Let's finish this mission quickly so that we can get back home to those little tykes," Sakura smiled compassionately.
"Yeah," Naruto sighed, a sad smile forming on his face.
That was the end of their conversation before Sakura left. "AUNTIE! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
'Damn those kids are loud! Are they really teme's children?' Naruto thought his right eye twitching; he decided it would be best if he got closer to hear the conversation.
"Where were you?" Sasuke asked eyeing Akemi suspiciously.
"Umm, me? No where really," Akemi said innocently.
"If you were no where, then you should be able to answer my question," Sasuke continued still eying Akemi suspiciously, he looked at her as though she was inferior to him. 'Akemi sucks at lying, she wont even try to lie to me,' Sasuke mentally smirked at his success.
'Oh hot fudge! How the hell am I gonna get myself outta this situation?' Akemi thought mentally panicking.
"Fine since you really wanna know I'll tell you," Akemi sighed closing her eyes and looking to her right with a slightly annoyed expression on her face.
'How could Akemi betray us so fast? She is definitely related to the Uchihas, that little snake!' Naruto thought angrily.
"I was practicing my other blood line limits, you know using my Murasugan," Akemi started. She could feel her nerves attempting to pull her lips to form a smile, she quickly thought of a depressing memory that made her keep her face straight. "And I used it too much, so I passed out."
Sasuke still stared at her suspiciously, but then he sighed and his expression relaxed as he exhaled loudly, "You are a horrible liar, so I guess you must be telling the truth."
"Oh come on Sasuke-sama, how can you question my loyalty?" Akemi asked putting on an angry face. "I've been betraying Konoha for your sake and I came when you needed me most!"
"True, but people change over time, you should have noticed that," Sasuke said in a cool voice.
"Like no-duh I noticed it Baka-sama!" Akemi said sheepishly. "Look at how much you've changed!"
"I told you not to call me that in front of my kids," he said in an irritated tone.
"What?" Akemi taunted, "Baka-sama?"
Emi inhaled sharply, "Auntie said the b-word!"
"You called me the b-word, yesterday," Sora pouted.
Sasuke punched Akemi on the head as punishment. ". Akemi, you should watch your language, using the b-word," Sasuke said shaking his head in disapproval, "No chocolate for you tomorrow."
"Awww man!" Akemi wined, completely ignoring the pain in her head.
~X~X~X~X~X~X~
It was finally time for music class, Sora and Emi rushed happily down the hallway. All of the little tykes seemed to be excited, they loved Hiroko-sensei's class, but the thing that made Sora and Emi especially excited was that, that day they would have their first lesson learning how to play their favorite instruments. They had finally gotten their father's permission five days after the offer, due to their aunt's encouragements that "he should be able to trust them to be able to handle themselves on their own".
"KONEICHIWA HIROKO-SENSEI!"
And so the class went on as the previous classes had. But in this class they finally finished learning their song, Sakura. They all got candies, and Sora got a mint. Sakura notice that she would have to buy more sweets. "Ne, Hiroko-sensei," Emi began, "Tou-san said, we could learn how to play the instruments." Emi sounded as Sakura had when Sakura was her age.
"He did?" Sakura said raising her eyebrows with a smile.
"Hai!" Sora replied energetically.
"Okay then come here, first you need to learn how to read the notes," Sakura said walking over the chalkboard in the front of the classroom and drawing a line through the center.
Emi and Sora grabbed bean bag chairs and dragged them to sit in front of the chalk board. The listened intently as Sakura explained everything, they would occasionally ask a question. She noticed that they were both really fast learners. 'As expected of the successors of the Uchiha clan,' Sakura thought. By the time she was done explaining Akemi had arrived to pick up Sora and Emi for Sasuke. "Koneichiwa, umm," Akemi started, she had already forgotten what Sakura had told her about being a teacher.
"Hiroko-sensei," Sora continued for her.
"Ah, Hiroko-san? Watashiwa Kizuma, Akemi desu, yoroshku," Akemi introduced herself, bowing respectively, and extending her arm out not to seem suspicious.
"Nice to meet you Akemi-san, you are?" Sakura asked taking Akemi's hand and shaking it, pretending not to know who Akemi was.
"She's our auntie!" Emi cheered going to hug Akemi.
"Oh it's a pleasure to meet you, Sora-kun and Emi-chan are little angels," Sakura explained.
"It's nice meeting you too, I know, they are very well behaved," Akemi nodded letting go of Sakura's hand. "Now we have to get going or your father will be suspicious."
"Hai!"
"Ne, Auntie can we have ice cream on the way back home?" Emi asked as they walked down the hallway away from the music room.
"Sure!" Akemi replied.
"YAY!" Emi cheered, as Sora groaned.
"It's okay Sora, I'll get you a tomato instead," Akemi winked.
"YAY!" Sora cheered.
Sakura stared at them, they were really good kids. She liked them already. With that happy thought Sakura decided to go to buy more sweets for the kids. She walked down the roads humming a happy tune until she heard the silky smooth voice of Uchiha, Sasuke.
"Akemi what did we say about spoiling their appetites?" He asked in a cold tone, his right eye twitching with irritation.
"Oh come on, they deserve it! And besides I made their lunch today!" Akemi wined.
"That's beside the point Akemi!" Sasuke growled.
"Oh shush, I'm leaving tomorrow anyway!" Akemi snapped back.
'Oh crap! I forgot Akemi had a limited time in Flame! I have got to change that!' Sakura mentally swore.
"Daddy, we promise we will have a good lunch," Emi assured her dad in a guilty and hushed tone. When she looked up at him, he looked down and into the eyes he loved so much, even though they didn't have the same affect on him as her mother's eyes did. Sasuke's face relaxed and he said, "Okay then."
Sakura saw the whole thing. 'How could that woman leave him? Is she crazy?' Sakura thought. Well, Sakura had no idea, but she was technically calling her self crazy. When Sasuke turned around she walked into the candy shop. She bought the same sweets as before. She headed to some of the other stands, she noticed Sasuke had stopped at the cherry stand, which was right next to the stand with all the ramen. She instantly went behind the nearest building and did a transformation jitsu, and turned into a long haired brunette with pale blue eyes. She walked out from behind the building and walked up to the ramen counter confidently, ignoring Sasuke as though he wasn't there. She bought a bunch of ramen, and noticed that Sasuke had bought a lot of cherries. Like a whole box. 'Wow he sure loves cherries, but not as mucha as tomatoes, ' Sakura thought eying the two boxes of tomatoes.
The reason he liked cherries was because they reminded him of his little cherry blossom, he liked anything that reminded him of her. Sakura walked towards the dorms and placed the sweets down on the floor before changing back into her ninja clothes and grabbing the bag full of ramen. She walked around in the shadows of the trees that surrounded the little town of flame. When she finally reached camp she noticed Akemi was there and she had brought Naruto some lunch, obviously not ramen, but still something good. He ate it as she was giving them a hell load of information, "-so do you get it?" Akemi asked.
"Mmmm," Naruto said nodding his head. "Teme made a mistake by going to some bar because he was finally depressed enough to, and then this happened."
"Sasuke-kun drinks?" Sakura asked astonished.
"Well, no not really, that was the only time he ever tried alcohol, and he swore that he would never visit another bar unless, I forgot, but anyway, there was only one reason why he would ever visit a bar ever again," Akemi answered.
"Oh, ok, so anyone want ramen?" Sakura sighed out, holding out the ramen bag.
"Yes please Sakura-chan!" Naruto said happily.
"Now, I'm sorry, but Tsunade-sama will not like it if I am late, so I must get going, sorry I couldn't be of much help," Akemi apologized putting her white cloak and traveling hat on.
"It's ok, at least we have some information," Sakura said sweetly. 'Even though it won't do me any good.' Sakura thought angrily.
"I'll try to come back to Flame, I promise!" Akemi said jumping on the branch of a nearby tree and leaving.
"So anything new?" Sakura asked Naruto.
"Nope," he answered his mouth full of ramen noodles.
"Oh well."