Lost Paradise
Chapter 5- New Arrivals (from some foreign place)
"Really, Sakura. Five ambushes in a week." Yuki sighed before grabbing one of her shirts, folding it neatly, and tossing it in a large cardboard box, "It's practically in the schedule. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Go to school. Train. Get ambushed by idiots. Haul one home for questioning." She poked her head out of her closet, glancing at Sakura and Ino, making sure that they didn't notice that she was packing up all her clothes. She had given them the excuse that her closet was too full and so she had to keep some stuff to make room.
"It's not like it's my fault they have zero coordination skills whatsoever." Sakura said while chewing on a stick of Pocky, "But the last one was hilarious. I can't believe the nerdy looking guy with the glasses tripped on the tree root."
"So true." Ino smiled. She had been sitting in on the last few ambushes. Actually, she was watching them train and well, the ambushes always happen while they're training.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and the girls all kept silent.
"Who is it?" Yuki called out loudly.
"It's me!" Naruto's voice came from the other side, "Tsunade wants to see us."
"As I was saying, you will be accompanied by Akatsuki members everywhere you go. Deidara , Itachi and Sasori will be staying for a few months so they will be posing as students. However, Kisame and Hidan will be leaving in three days, so they will not be attending your classes with you and instead, they will guard the perimeter of the school."
"For now." Naruto added spitefully. He had experienced many injuries inflicted by the people standing before him. He was being restrained on either side by Sasuke and Neji, though both of them have also had their fair share of scars from the Akatsuki as well.
Sakura was confused and so was Ino, they both leaned towards Yuki and Sakura asked softly, "Who are they? And why's Sasuke's brother there?"
"The Akatsuki is this elite mercenary group for hire. Let's just say that we've had a few unpleasant run-ins with them before." A calm Yuki whispered back at Sakura, "Itachi's a member."
"I will hear of no mishaps or complaints from you." She said, glaring at everyone.
"You're all dismissed."
Once outside of Tsunade's office, the boys seem content with standing and glaring at the Akatsuki while the Akatsuki stood there and met their gaze impassively. Yuki sighed.
"So…" Sakura broke the silence, "Are we going to go do something or do you guys really want to stay standing here like idiots?" Everyone's eyes snapped to Sakura.
"So this is the newbie?" A tall blue man grinned, showing his sharp, pointy teeth, "Can we keep her?" Sakura struggled to remember his name…Kisame? Yeah, Kisame.
"Kisame. Do not provoke them." Itachi, Sasuke's older brother said casually.
"We would appreciate it if you guys stay the fuck away from her." Naruto growled.
"I think we should separate them before it turns serious." Ino whispered to Yuki, the only one who was seemingly unaffected by the presence of the Akatsuki.
"I think you're right." Yuki whispered back, then speaking loudly, addressed the Akatsuki, "Would you guys like a tour of this place? Or maybe I should take you to your rooms?"
"We would prefer it if you showed us to our rooms." Itachi answered.
"No problem." Yuki said as she led the Akatsuki away.
The boys continued glaring at their backs until they turned at a corner, then they all snapped their heads to look at Sakura.
"We want you to stay away from them, Sakura." Sasuke said as he held her hand.
"Yeah, they're dangerous," Naruto agreed.
"…Okay," Sakura said unsurely, they seemed fine to her. "I'm going back to my room now. Goodnight."
Sakura woke to the buzz of her mobile's alarm. She grabbed the phone roughly and jabbed the snooze button. She then read the screen. 'Akatsuki wll attnd class w/ us 2day. Wake others up erly.'
'Alright then, better start preparing.' She thought to herself.
Don't forget to bring that dagger you got last week, her inner voice added.
Sakura showered, got dressed and slipped her dagger in the hidden pocket of her skirt. It was small, but it was better than nothing. She shoved her stuff into her bag; it was black and brown— perfect for camouflage, plus a bit of red, to add some color to it.
Before rushing out of the room, she took a quick glance at the room before swiping her phone from the tabletop and ran down the hall, pounding loudly on Ino's door.
"Ino-pig! Time to get ready."
The door opened a crack before Ino poked her head out, "I'll just meet you downstairs. I still have to put on mascara."
"Okay." Sakura said before moving on to Yuki's room.
The door was opened slowly, revealing Yuki (the real one) dressed in the school uniform. Sakura glanced at the bed to make sure, yep, no one was there.
"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?"
"Today's a special occasion," Yuki half-grinned and half rolled her eyes before pounding on her bathroom door, "It takes half an hour for chicks to shower, not guys, get the hell out of there."
"Fuck you." Hidan's voice was muffled.
"He's been on repeat since like, an hour ago or something." Yuki sighed. "Can I offer you anything? Tea? Coffee?"
Sakura shook her head. "Why is he in your room? Why is he in your shower?"
"My dog kinda mistook him this morning for a large piece of albino steak. So I had to heal him." Yuki said.
"You have a dog?"
"Yep. His name's Yami, because he's like, big…and really, really, dark. Like a giant hellhound version of a Labrador. I summon him on occasion."
Sakura simply nodded in response and silently slipped out of the room.
She reached Sasuke's door, which, to Sakura's amusement had a hastily scrawled 'He's single!' on it done in permanent black ink on the metal nameplate. Must be Naruto's doing. She made a mental note to help him scrub it off.
"Sasuke-kun, get up." Sakura said, banging loudly on his door. She laughed as she heard a muffled "oof" and a 'thump' and a groan as Sasuke fell off his bed.
A disheveled Sasuke appeared at the door, "It's still an hour early, Sakura. Why the hell did you wake me up?"
She poked his chest, "The Akatsuki are coming with us, remember?"
Sasuke grunted, groaned, and disappeared back into his room.
Sakura moved on to Naruto's door, "Naruto! Are you ready yet?"
"Just finishing up my ramen, Sakura-chan!"
"Well, hurry up." Sakura said, rolling her eyes.
"Alright, Sakura-chan. Meet you in the lobby."
"Yeah, yeah." Sakura said, rolling her eyes. She strutted out the door and stopped outside Neji's room.
"Neji, are you done getting ready?" She asked while knocking softly.
The door creaked open before Neji stepped out, his school tie hanging loosely and his hair slightly damp.
"I'm going to Sasori and Deidara's room next, would you mind coming with me?" Sakura asked.
Neji nodded with his face twisted into a glare.
'Boys…'Sakura scoffed mentally.
After she and Neji finished getting the Akatsuki awake (and checking on Yuki once more, since you can really never be too sure about that Hidan guy), they all went to the school cafeteria and ate breakfast, before getting summoned once more to Tsunade's office.
Tsunade, upon seeing them all come in together, said, "I see you're all getting along well."
To which Yuki and Naruto both muttered under their breaths, "Not quite," earning a giggle from Ino.
"Okay, so a few more people will be arriving soon. Probably during second period or third. They're from Suna," Tsunade said, "Just thought I should warn you in case you may try to knock them senseless."
"Will they be posing as exchange students as well?" Sakura asked.
"Yes. The youngest is in your year while the other two will be a sophomore, like Neji, and a junior. They are to be treated with the highest respect, am I clear?"
"Absolutely." "Crystal." They simultaneously responded.
"Alright. Dismissed."
"I wonder why all these people are coming…" Sakura wondered out loud as they made their way to class.
"Ooh…I have a feeling something big is gonna happen!" Ino squealed.
"Yeah…something big…" Yuki grinned sheepishly before snapping her fingers, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I'm taking you guys out to karaoke tomorrow night, my treat, 'mkay?"
Sure's and yeah's were heard before they entered the classroom. Kakashi, their homeroom teacher, was already standing in front.
"He's early!" Naruto exclaimed, "It's a sign of the apocalypse!"
"I can hear you, Mister Uzumaki." Kakashi drawled in the formal, indifferent tone that he used during class, "Take your seat. All of you."
The teens all hurriedly took their seats and hushed up.
"Now as you can see, we have new students." Kakashi continued as all eyes immediately went to Sasori and Deidara, who were sitting in the back. Whispers and swoons erupted from most of the female students as Sasori glanced at them with his aloof expression and Deidara smirked cutely.
"Okay girls, settle down. As you all may have expected, they will be staying in the west wing, which, might I add, is restricted to those who have no business there."
The Blessed teenagers all face-palmed, and most of the female half of the class cheered. Terrible choice of words...
"Now would the new students please come up here to introduce themselves to the class," Kakashi said coolly.
Girls all swooned once more as Sasori and Deidara made their way to the front.
"I am Sasori." Sasori drawled lazily with his hands in his pockets.
"I'm Deidara, un." Deidara greeted with a small wave.
"Perfect. They got the whole female population wrapped around their little fingers." Yuki whispered to Sakura, who was seated beside her, and Ino, who was seated behind Sakura.
"Most of the female population, Yuki," Ino corrected her, "Just most of it, not all."
"It's going to be a long day…" Naruto sighed.
Sasuke and Sakura couldn't help but nod.
By lunch, their table was swelling with uninvited guests all kissing up to them and begging them to invite them to their rooms in the west wing.
"Can't we go up to your room, Sasuke-kun?" A girl asked. Sasuke quietly edged away from her with a look in his eyes that read, 'I don't even know you!'
"Neji-senpai, we heard that you have an impressive collection of books, may we please go see?" A swarm of girls surrounded Neji.
"Yuki-san, can we go up to your room, please? I heard that you have some gorgeous dresses that you made yourself." Another girl from a different class begged.
"Sorry, my room is kind of off limits right now. It's passage-restrictive." Yuki laughed sheepishly in response.
And the worst part was, even the female upperclassmen were there because, true to Tsunade's warning, the Suna people arrived earlier, and one of them was in Neji's class and the other was in the year above him, but luckily for them, Temari, the eldest of the Suna siblings, was female. Unfortunately, said Suna siblings were all at the west wing, settling in and unpacking for their week long stay here. And Deidara and Sasori were also in the west wing with the other Akatsuki members.
"We have to get out of here." Ino whispered to Sakura.
"Well don't look at me, I'm no public speaker." Sakura whispered back.
Naruto suddenly shot up and ran out of the cafeteria.
"Then again, I guess we don't need one." Sakura said as she ran out of the cafeteria. Better take the chance.
Ino smiled at the girls who were at their table, "Sorry, emergency business." She ran out of the cafeteria as well.
Neji, Sasuke and Yuki all stood up to follow them.
"Can't we help, Sasuke-kun?" The girls began pleading, but Yuki intervened.
"Sorry girls, it's sort of private." Yuki smiled before grabbing both Neji and Sasuke by the wrists and running like hell.
They all met up in Neji's room, seeing as it had the most seating space out of all of their rooms.
"Okay. Well, that was fun." Sakura said sarcastically.
"How about we take the rest of the day off?" Ino suggested, "I mean, you guys do it all the time."
"Yeah, we could do that." Yuki nodded.
Naruto was practically bouncing off the walls, "We could go hunting!"
"Hunting?" Sakura and Ino asked simultaneously, "Isn't that illegal?"
"Oh, no. He meant hunting for seashells on the seashore." Yuki answered snickered wickedly.
"You guys really go hunting?" Sakura asked.
"Well, we used to." Naruto answered.
"And we didn't know what to do with the carcasses…"Yuki trailed off.
"On second thought, let's not go hunting." Naruto said.
"How about we go sparring?" Sakura suggested.
"Too tiring." Naruto said immediately shooting down the idea.
"We can ask Tsunade for a relatively simple mission?" Ino suggested.
"That might work." Naruto allowed.
"We all okay with this? Neji? Sasuke?" Yuki asked.
"Hn."
"Hn."
"Then we're all okay with this." Yuki clapped enthusiastically.
"Well, I have just the mission for you guys. Plus, it lasts only for this afternoon." Tsunade said, smiling deviously. "Iruka's taking the afternoon off, but there's no one to look after the kindergarten kids, so he's requesting for a few people to watch them for a bit. There'll be around thirty kids, and two classes, there are 15 in each. Think you guys can handle this?"
"Oooh. Totally." Ino immediately answered.
"Thirty kids?" Sakura looked unsure. "I don't know…"
"I guess. It's just for the afternoon. We can handle it." Yuki said determinedly.
The males remained silent with looks of horror on their faces.
"We'll take it." Ino said with sparkles in her eyes.
"And so how old are these kids?" Naruto glanced at the toddlers.
"Well, the kids in the Oak Class are three and the ones in Pine Class are five." Iruka replied. Naruto watched with horror as one kid started gnawing on his own wrist.
"And you handle both of them now, Iruka-sensei? At the same time?" Yuki gaped.
"Yep. It's a big change from teaching third-graders, but nothing too hard."
"How do you watch both classes at the same time?" Sakura raised a brow.
"Well, my Blessing is body duplication, so I can actually be in two places at once." Iruka replied sheepishly, "So anyway thank you for agreeing to watch the kids for me, they already know about you guys coming." Iruka gestured at the two doors.
"Bye." He waved and then he was gone.
Everyone was silent.
"So…who wants to watch the three year olds?" Ino asked.
"Are they toilet-trained?" Naruto asked.
"I don't think they are...I mean some of them might be…" Yuki replied unsurely.
"Well then, I'm not watching them."
"Alright, how about we split into two groups?" Sakura suggested.
"I'll take Neji, and Ino, then Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto. How's that?" Yuki said.
"But I don't know how to change diapers." Ino said, "Otherwise I'm perfectly fine with watching the kids."
"I know how," Yuki volunteers, "I'll just teach you. And I think the package comes with instructions…I hope."
"Hn." Neji grunted.
"Okay…" Naruto said unsurely.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted as well.
"Then it's settled. Let's go, guys!" Sakura said cheerily and she seized both Naruto and Sasuke by the wrists and proceeds to drag them over to the Pine Room.
"Hi everyone! I'm Sakura-nee-chan and this is Sasuke-nii-chan and Naruto-nii-chan. We're gonna be your teachers for now because Iruka-sensei had something important to do, okay?" Sakura said kindly to the kids.
"Okay!" The kids all reply in chorus.
"Now if you want to know anything, just ask." Sakura said with a large smile.
The kids suddenly shot all sorts of questions at them.
"One at a time, kids." Naruto said.
"Sakura-nee-chan! I like your hair!" An adorable blonde girl said.
"Aw…Thank you. Aren't you just the sweetest little thing…" She gushed in response.
"Does Sasuke-nii-chan talk?" A boy with glasses asked.
"Dude, they think you're mute." Naruto snickered at Sasuke.
"Yes, I can talk."
"Can we do finger painting?" A cute brunette asked shyly.
"Of course we can, honey. But we don't have any paints."
"Yes we do!" Some random kid shouted. "Iruka-sensei keeps it in the grown-up cubby!" he pointed to one of the shelves that were way too high for any of the kids to reach.
"Alright. Those of you kids who want to go finger painting go sit at the tables while I get the stuff ready." Naruto said as he strolled over to the 'grown-up cubby' and grabbed a few plastic dishes and poured a bit of paint in every dish.
Sasuke just sat glumly in the corner, being his usual antisocial emo self. To his surprise, a little girl approached him and asked the strangest questions.
"Can I touch your hair?"
"Hn."
"Does that mean yes?"
"…Yes?"
"Okay. Ooh, it's so pointy! Why don't you talk much?"
"Because."
"Why?"
"Just because."
"Can you do a magic trick? My dad can do magic tricks! He's a mawican!"
"A magician?"
"Yeah." The little girl nodded proudly. "He can make stuff appear by magic!"
"Well, I can make stuff disappear by magic." Sasuke offered. "Here, watch."
He laid a piece of candy in the center of his palm and closed it.
"Now count to three." He told her.
"One, two, three! It's gone!"
True enough, his palm was as empty as Naruto's ramen bowl after he's done with it.
"Wow! Look everyone! Sasuke-nii-san is a magician!"
Every kid who wasn't focused on Sakura's pink hair or staring at Naruto's pathetic attempt at a finger-painting of a bowl of ramen immediately charged at Sasuke.
"Hey!" Naruto grinned at him and pointed a paint-covered finger, "Look who's getting along with the kids. You should probably stop frowning, though, might scare them off."
"Shu-"
"Sasuke, language! There are," Sakura paused and glanced at the kids and decided to voicelessly mouth 'five-year-olds'.
Sasuke got it…well at least she thought he did. And so they spent an hour like that, with Sasuke doing really crappy magic tricks that only children (and the occasional woman on a sappy date) do enjoy, Sakura trying to convince the kids that 'No I did not dump strawberry milkshakes on my head and why do you ask.' and 'It's nice that you like it but please stop yanking my hair', and Naruto doing finger-paintings that could probably pass as abstract pictures in some fancy art auction.
Okay, so maybe babysitting three year old kids isn't the best plan...
Yuki was keeping some of the little brats busy by letting them fly around the room like some oversized Tinkerbell (On the condition that's 'it's a secret no telling mommy and daddy, alright?'
Ino was reading others a picture book, and when she finished, she went to stand by Neji and watch Yuki 'entertain' the kids.
"You know that she can't let them fly around forever." Ino reminded him.
"Hn."
Ino assumed that the grunt meant something all the lines of 'We are dead meat.'
"Neji-nii-chan...I wanna to go potty." A small boy tugged at Neji's shirt.
She mentally groaned, 'Yeah we are so dead.'
At some point Sakura must have glanced at her watch and it must have occurred to her that it was time for snacks. And she must have dragged Sasuke to the kitchen with her, because that's where they were now, in the kitchen, making fifteen PB&J sandwiches.
Oh, and he insists on adding tomatoes.
"No, Sasuke, you can't, and I repeat, can't, put tomatoes on the sandwiches." Sakura sighed in exasperation. Crushing on him is one thing, letting him poison some poor kid's sandwich with vegetables is another.
"It's healthy." Sasuke said in response.
"It's disgusting, Sasuke. I mean, who adds tomatoes to peanut butter and grape jelly?"
"I do."
"Other than you."
"Hn."
"That's what I thought."
After two hours, both teams were tired though they must admit they had expected worse.
"Well, I am never doing that again." Naruto whined as he glanced at his arm sorrowfully. It was covered in paint after the kids ran out of paper and decided that Naruto-nii-san's arm was a good substitute.
Everyone else, too tired too argue, either groaned or grunted in response.
And so, once Sakura dragged herself to her bed, she immediately closed her eyes and dreamed.
In her dreams she heard voices, and saw flashes of people.
"They can't possibly make her do this!" Ino murmured, horrified.
"There's nothing wrong with her. I don't know what I can do." Tsunade's voice sounded distant.
"I can't find him. You can't do anything either. His soul isn't anywhere I can sense. It's like he doesn't exist." Yuki squeezed her hand.
"I don't know who you are. I'm sorry." Sasuke stared at her.
"I was dead. Surely, if that were true, then this must be false." A familiar black-haired man said disbelievingly.
You have seen too much of what is yet to be, child. I cannot let you learn more, for you may lose sight of what it is that lies before you.
Hey guys! New chapter is up! I'd like to point out that I'm considering holding the next chapter hostage for more reviews. :3
But don't worry, I won't do that to you guys as long as you keep the reviews coming.
The sad little one-shot I'm working on will be up in two weeks. :D
The plot is cliche though, so I'm not expecting good feedback. But then I always keep my expectations low so I won't get let down. :(
Anyway, please, REVIEW!
xoxo, Daemonic Maid