Extra: The Only
(Takes place after the Land of Waves Arc and before the Chunin Exams)
"Another escort mission?" Naruto repeated excitedly, jumping up and down on his spot. Kakashi sighed, touching his head before looking at his other students. They all exchanged a "what can you do" glance before their sensei answered the obvious question. "Yes, Naruto, as I said. But this is a wealthy family...and a B-Rank mission."
Sasuke scoffed, not taking much interest in the rank of the mission. Rei looked pleased and Sakura still had a vein pulsing at her temple, defining itself more as Naruto laughed to himself about how this time, he wanted a town named after him. The squad waited at the gate until a carriage arrived with two horses and a mini platoon of guards.
"I wonder why they need us if they have their own protection," Sakura whispered, leaning into Rei's ear. The girl shrugged in response, watching as Kakashi introduced himself.
"You telling me these children is what Konoha is offering for 180 thousand ryo for?" The guard said with disgust clear in his tone. Naruto gagged when he heard the amount of money – fantasizing about how much bowls of ramen that could get him. He started giggling with excitement all over again, only furthering the guard's agitation towards the young genins. Sakura resisted the urge to hit him on the back of his head, for reputation's sake but Sasuke was on the edge of beating the boy down until he was silenced for good. As for Rei...well, she was eavesdropping.
"...fine, we should get going. The Yamaho family requests to be home by nightfall." And with that, the guard got back on the horse, and began moving as the ninjas followed closely behind, in plain sight. Their presence alone should scare off the common crook, and they were confident enough of their abilities – especially with Kakashi and Sasuke on their side – to spot any hired ninjas. Still, everything went smoothly and uneventful. Rei watched her surrounding cautiously, while Sasuke just looked casually around. When she caught his eye, she noticed that it wasn't angry or intense...I wonder what he's thinking about. He even smiled at her, just the slightest. Maybe this mission would go smoothly, well...
Enemy, wise.
Not even two miles through, the carriage abruptly stopped and they could hear shouting coming in from the inside. "It's afternoon and we haven't even reached a single town yet!" A girl was complaining loudly. Rei giggled softly and said quietly into Sasuke's ear, "probably because she's getting so tired from sitting that we need to take breaks." Sasuke smirked, but their eyes remain in the scene in front of them.
Kakashi, as the leader, was the one to smooth things over but instead a girl, perhaps a year older or the same, charged at the young genins instead, pushing the guards out of the way. "Can't you ninjas go faster? I thought you were –" Stare. "Well~ hello." The girl's anger faded quickly as soon as she came close enough to Sasuke. He stared straight at her, his dark eyes unreadable.
But Naruto was turning red. This girl was gorgeous. From the top of her blonde-haired head, to her dainty little feet. She carried the air of a girl who had the world on their knees – it probably took her a bat of her eyelashes and she would receive whatever she desired. Except for Sasuke, who Kakashi thought was probably asexual until the Avenger mission was carried through.
"Hi." He replied back professionally, but his voice was clipped and emotionally detached. Rei blinked, looking from the Uchiha to the Yamaho girl until finally she stepped between them.
"We'll arrive a lot faster if there were no interruptions," Rei commented, hoping not to sound curt with the client. The girl looked at her as if realizing Rei's presence for the first time. As she opened her mouth, a deep, tenor voice rung.
"Ayumi – back into the carriage!"
She didn't move, just smiled at Sasuke flirtatiously until Kakashi prompted her to return so that they could continue moving. Eventually, she shrugged and walked slowly, swishing her hips in the least most subtle way possible, and then they were moving again. Rei let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding, looking up through her eyelashes at Sasuke who was staring up at the sky. This time, she wondered if he was thinking about the girl – Ayumi.
It became tradition then, that every hour or so, Ayumi would create some excuse so that she could leave the carriage and then flop to Sasuke's side. Sakura noticed that with each little visit, Sasuke became increasingly more tolerable of Ayumi's clear motive – at first, it was just a musical laughter, to a lingering smile, to a subtle brush and then finally, by lunch, Ayumi was holding Sasuke by the arm. Sakura forced herself to stay dignified...this was a client, after all. And Sasuke couldn't be rude.
Rei, however, didn't seem to mind at all. She was openly friendly as always, but when Ayumi started dropping hints that her company wasn't required, Rei moved to Naruto to talk excitedly about food. When they arrived at a larger, well-known village deemed worthy enough by Ayumi's family to eat at, Rei immediately went up to a local to ask for the nearest dessert shop. She dragged Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi with her – as the Yamaha personally requested that to be with their guards alone...and Sasuke.
Still, Rei didn't mind at all that one man was left behind. She just wanted some dango – or maybe sticky bean cakes. Sat at the table, the squad of four now began eating their food – except Kakashi, who conveniently didn't like sweets. "Just try one!"
The only thing Rei got out of it was that she now knew that Kakashi had some sort of jutsu that allowed him to make food in front of him disappear with a blink of an eye.
"But...your mask..." she said slowly, confused, pointing at her face but then her attention was caught elsewhere when that same, now familiar, laugh chimed in through the entrance. "Oh Sasuke, you are so right but why not desert here and there?"
"Sasuke! Over here!" Sakura said, waving enthusiastically, eyes bright. His eyes slid to his squad, and Kakashi moved his hand slightly as an invitation. Rei watched the two of them enter the cafe as she slowly chewed on the cake. It wasn't until Ayumi sat down at the other corner of the table, forcing Sasuke to sit in between Sakura and her, that Rei finally noticed the picture: a lot of girls were after her teammate. Her smile dropped.
Rei was never in school long enough to catch up on the crowds and groups. Still, she knew that Sasuke was a...well, he was a loner that every girl seemed to think was their soul mate. But she never really thought twice about it. It was a fact that just was but wasn't relevant.
"I don't even like sweets." Sasuke said, continuing their previous conversation but he didn't say this coldly or haughtily. His casualness made even the genins exchange a quick look. Then, he put his hands on the table and without looking at them, he turned to leave. "I'll go find food somewhere else," he called out over his shoulder and Ayumi blinked, before shrugging and darting back to him, grabbing his arm.
When the two left, the four Konoha ninjas were still silent, staring at each other.
"Well," Rei said breaking the silence, "it seems as if we have been ditched."
0-0
Continuing with their uneventful journey, the ninjas grew more and more bored with each step. Rei was groaning, fidgety for some action – but no one crossed their path. Her and Naruto's buzz seem to rival each other, to the point where they started sparring playfully and childishly, amongst themselves. Sakura and Kakashi were both amused, watching Rei cast her wires around Naruto, tripping over himself. But this was Naruto and he just would not stay down. "Alright, get ready for it!" He gave out a battle cry, getting serious and ready to bring out his clones.
Rei was giggling non-stop as Narutos began huddling over her, jumping on top, and the sheer ridiculousness of the situation made the entire squad laugh until Rei was on the ground, unable to catch her breath and eyes teary. "Okay, okay! I give up! I give up!" She cried out defeated, taking a deep breath on the floor.
"I knew you couldn't handle my clones – believe it!"
"...Seriously?"
Instantly, Rei's eyes flew open and she shot up from the ground. A frowning Ayumi was in front of them, and immediately burst their little bubble. She looked at them disdainfully and said, "You call yourself ninjas when all you do is fool around in the back? If money weren't a problem, I would definitely consider all of you a waste of extra protection." Kakashi intervened.
"Now, we guarantee your safety for at least the next 4 miles so I wouldn't say our escort is -"
"She's right, Kakashi."
Sakura's head snapped to Rei, as the two girls shared wide eyes reactions. Did Sasuke just...say that? Naruto snorted. "Shut up, Sasuke! We know what we're doing – unlike you! Who's just -"
"Just what?"
"Just – just..." He couldn't conjure up something to say that wouldn't offend Ayumi . Twiddling his thumbs, he looked down, and mumbled incoherently until Kakashi shook his head. He really is like me, always the mission over the squad...
"Alright, then let's stop wasting more time and go on. Shall we?" Kakashi said, staring at Sasuke who was avoiding all of their gaze.
Ayumi gave them – excluding Sasuke, because he wasn't them anymore, he was the cute ninja that she picked up – a withering glance before ducking back into the carriage, with Sasuke behind her as a 'personal' body guard. As if there weren't enough in that carriage already.
Moods clearly not elated, the sun began to fall and Kakashi acted as the leader again. "Let's rotate shifts scouting the first quarter to half mile. I don't think we can get them there by nightfall, but as long as the journey is safe, I don't see much of a problem with running a bit late."
"Of course you wouldn't," Rei grinned. She didn't seem bothered by Sasuke's betrayal at all - and Sasuke had turned around just slightly enough to see her standing happily without him.
0-0
The skies were a dark shade of indigo by the time Rei sped ahead, jumping along trees. She loved the way it felt as her foot tapped against the branches silently, pushing herself forward, wind blowing on her cheeks and back through her hair. She closed her eyes briefly – just for a split second – to enjoy the moment but she heard it. A clear evasive crack.
Someone else was there. She stopped immediately. Hands at the side of her leg, she lowered herself and listened for the presence – there. She threw the kunai the opposite way, distracting them, before disappearing to where she heard the sound and flicked her wrist, releasing the wire. She grabbed the other end and wrapped it around the ninja in one fluid motion. In the next, she had a knee down on his stomach.
"Who do you work for?" She demanded, but her attention was caught elsewhere when chaos was heard not too far away from her. The man didn't speak, so she tied him against a tree quickly before going back to her squad.
Kakashi had several lying by his foot, and Sakura and Naruto had a few surrounding them in a circle. It didn't look like these bandits were in much trouble – except the one directly behind Rei. She was looking at Sasuke, who left the carriage and immediately caught her eyes – then he abandoned them. Easily disregarding the clients despite the ambush, he ran towards Rei and attacked the man behind her...
The little raid was over in less than two minutes, with the bandits – common, band of thieves - defeated. But that wasn't what was scary, it was the Yamahas that were the threat now. The merchant, a large man named Dotu Yamaha, stormed to the Uchiha.
Sasuke was standing in front of Rei protectively, glaring up at the man.
"You fool! What the hell was that stunt? Who am I paying you to protect here, boy? Wait until your Hokage hear this – that this stupid brat can't even -"
"I think your message is clear without the insults," Kakashi cut him off, as he rounded up the thieves.
"I think that -"
"Sasuke!" Rei said loudly. He turned to her slowly, eyebrows pulled together and grimaced slightly. She was still looking at him, shocked. "Mr. Yamaha is completely right, you don't leave the client," she said, eyes wide as if this was so obvious – which it was. He had spent the entire journey allowing Ayumi follow him like a puppy, and when it came down to it...he couldn't just leave her. She wasn't like Sakura, who at least sympathized with the fact that Sasuke cared for Rei. She was just astonished that Sasuke would do something that careless. And that was exactly what she told him.
Rei was definitely a character when it came to lectures, to the point where Sasuke was silenced and even Dotu thought that the point was proven clear. He turned to his guards. "Let's hurry up! We wasted enough time as it is."
"Er," the guards looked at each other, "the horses..."
"..."
"...those bastards."
Although everyone was unharmed, the horses seemed to be a factor that the Konoha ninja's didn't consider. They were decapitated for the time being, and required at least a couple hours to be able to carry the load again. "There's no way around it," Kakashi said, "we're camping here."
Naruto blinked. "But how about Rei? Can't she -"
The un-professed medic-nin shook her head thoughtfully. "Animals have a different system...I don't think I can offer much help."
Seeing that there was no alternative, Dotu was forced to stake out a night.
With that incident over, Kakashi turned to his squad of five again. With the event fresh in his mind, he started making orders again. "Let's just keep it safe and do around the clock shift. This time, in partners. Rei, Naruto," it had to be those two together, the last thing Kakashi wanted was Dotu muttering about how the Uchiha would abandon them again to protect his teammate, "you'll take the first shift. Sasuke, Sakura, you rest for now and relieve them afterwards. I'll pick it up in the morning and from then on. Got it?"
"Got it."
0-0
The moon was directly over their heads now, as Naruto and Rei patrolled the area, circling by a large lake. They were unusually quiet, until Rei sighed. "If everything had gone smoothly, we'd be on our way back to Konoha right now."
"I don't mind the excitement," Naruto grinned optimistically. Rei shrugged. He toned it down a bit when he noticed that the usually happy Rei – the only one who even had a chance of rivalling against his energy – seemed a bit down. "You know, you didn't have to be that scary to Sasuke."
"Scary?" She repeated, confused.
"Yeah," Naruto said, innocently light, "he was just looking out for you." Then his mood changed. "Don't get why since he seemed to be fine with Ayumi all day but oh well, he's a weird guy."
"Looking out for me?" Now she was the idiot, repeating others. She didn't see it that way...that Sasuke was looking out for her. She only saw the situation as Sasuke foolishly abandoning his priorities.
"What else would he be doing?" Naruto blinked, confused at how much Rei was confused. "That was what was doing...right?"
"I guess."
"Now you're making me confused!" Naruto groaned, grabbing his head. A smile perked up on her mouth again and she hit his back. She felt lighter – until a slight pain rolled over her. Wincing, she decided to ignore it. Still, the ache lingered throughout her patrol and by the time it was over at one in the morning, she was too weary to even bother being silent.
Sakura and SHE shared a tent, so Rei shook the girl awake before collapsing herself on the lump sheets. She took a deep breath, but the tenderness was still there, bothering her. She groaned, giving up trying to out sleep the annoyance. She groggily got up and scrambled noisily for some sort of medicine, water, something to distract her from the recurring pain.
But she was really noisy.
Ayumi, in her tent several feet away, threw over her sheets and stepped off the mattress. She stomped to the kunoichi's tent and threw open the flap. "Can you be a bit louder? I don't think the Daimyo can hear you yet." She said bitterly, understandably in a bad mood. Rei looked up and smiled apologetically. The girl's lovely eyes narrowed at her. "You really aren't such a good ninja, are you? I wonder why Sasuke is even placed in your squad...he's so much better than all of you."
Rei blinked. She never really thought about that. It was wrong, what she said, obviously, but Rei wasn't the type to start a fight so early in the morning...if at all. "I suppose you're right," Rei said, not wanting to argue with the client. She had to remind herself in a couple hours, they would split ways and she would never see Ayumi again. So she smiled and Ayumi seemed taken aback by Rei's maturity. Having left no other options, Ayumi retreated back into her own tent and Rei just deflated, taking a deep breath before leaving her tent.
The ache would just not go away and Rei walked far enough so that her groans would not be heard from the camp site Unable to do anything else, she fell on the ground and rolled up into a ball, clutching her head in her hands. It wasn't a shattering pain that she had gotten in the past, but it was a numbing one that was just constantly annoying her.
Somehow, in the midst of her awkward position, Rei managed to fall asleep.
Few hours later, Kakashi took up his shift. He decided to do a thorough check of the area before relieving Sasuke and Sakura from their patrol...only to find his little student passed out on the ground nearby the lake. He sighed. "What am I going to do with you?" His knee dipped the ground, and he carried the girl in his arms back to his tent. At least if anything were to happen, Naruto would be there...though then again, he wasn't exactly sure what help the blonde headed knuckle head could do. Still, it was still better than being left alone.
0-0
The definition of "relieved" was redefined when Kakashi told Sasuke he could go back to base. It was an agonizing three hours, wandering around with the pink-haired girl. She looked like she was always on the verge of saying something, but when she does, Sasuke would just give her short responses. It wasn't that he didn't like Sakura, he would just rather not waste his time on this stupid mission with its ridiculous side job.
Hands in his pockets and eyes down, he drifted back to the tent. He did not look forward to being so close to a sleeping Naruto...so when he saw that another person was there too, surprise was a bit of an understatement. It wasn't a hard choice – sleep in between them and get kicked at by Naruto, or right next to Rei.
Rei it was.
Careful not to wake up the brown haired girl, he hovered over her, slowly, unable to help himself to look at her a bit before leaning on his side, his eyes never leaving her face...the tousled brown hair, dark eyelashes against her cheeks, the slender curve of her nose, and her open, relaxed mouth. She looked...peaceful. The sound of her soft – and thankfully regular – breathing lulled him to sleep.
0-0
Bright and early in the morning, Ayumi yawned and stretched. She always started her day with a long run, a habit dug into her brain from an old hope of being a ninja. That was right - Ayumi Yamaha wanted to be a ninja. But it was impossible for her, and she despised all of those people born with the opportunity of becoming a ninja. She sighed, I don't want to think about that now. She looked up and brightened immediately when she saw a dark haired boy leaving a tent.
She opened her mouth to call Sasuke over but the way he moved - as if he had somewhere to go, something to do - made her pause. She hid behind one of the tents, watching him with a frown as the boy took a bowl, some water and several towel to his tent. What could he be doing?
Moving to a different angle, his tent was wide open. She peeked inside and to her utter shock, Sasuke was leaning over something carefully...it was that girl. The weird positive one. He was looking down at her with a certain gentleness in his eyes that surprised even Ayumi. For the short period that she's known him, Sasuke was clearly the cold, cool and collected type. But this was a different Sasuke entirely. Protective, caring...kind...
Is this how he acts when no one is watching?
Or is it only towards this one girl?
I actually really enjoyed writing this Arc! If you enjoyed this and it gets a lot of feedback, maybe I'll write another! It's good to break away from my usual tragic story lines. :)