The Path A Ninja Walks...
Chapter Four
I Just Want To Get To Know You...
A/N: WARNING-The character known as Sage Amesawa uses a lot of profanity and colorful language as part of his "colorful" personality. Be prepared if you are sensitive to that. Please note it is not because I condone such manner of speech, and also the character does not mean to use it as a way to be harmful, it is just his personality.
So...it begins tomorrow, does it?
Saseme thought to herself as she walked alone down all of the familiar roads. The instant she had returned from her training in the Desert she was immediately ordered to meet with her team that had to be with held 3 days so as to give her the time it took to return. So because of this, she didn't really get the chance to look around where she once lived...
I can't believe I was away from this place for about 4 years now...
"Heeeey~ Sasemeee~!" Sage called out to her from behind and she called to await for him to catch up.
"Sage?" she ackowledged him before shifting her gaze elsewhere as she noticed Hana was following as well,"Something I can do for you two?"
"Well, you know." he chuckled with a shrug,"Since we're on the same team and all that, I thought maybe we could all have lunch together. you know? get to know each other!"
"Get to know each other?" Saseme blinked. It wasn't often that anyone really wished to 'get to know' her. She was Uchiha. That's all anyone knew. All they needed to know. All she was...
Besides...she wasn't here to make friends anyway...
"I-I'm sorry Sage, But I am afraid I can't today."
"What?" Sage blinked,"Why not?"
Sage blinked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Saseme-chaaaaan~!" a hurried voice called out to her, approaching her at unmatched speed causing Sage to jump back a few feet as Rock Lee met with the girl before him.
"Lee-kun?" Saseme blinked.
"Sorry I am late!" Lee grinned.
"It's fine but...I thought you were on a mission already?"
"We finished early." he smiled to which the girl blinked in surprise and gave a chuckle.
"Ooooh I get it!" said Sage, disrupting the conversation,"You have a boyfriend! That's cute~!" Saseme and Lee both jumped a bit, thugh the taller male looked more confused than anything...Saseme just looked rather cringed by the thought. She had been gone for 4 years...how on earth, and when even could she have porrible had a boyfriend? This boy and his assumptions...
Sage beamed and shifted glances between the two,"Though...Saseme You could do so much better than this guy..." he mumbled glancing at Lee,"What a weirdo."
This time Saseme and Lee both twitched.
"Really? I think they suit each other~!" Hana giggled.
"And just what is that supposed to mean!?" Lee huffed,"I am not her boyfriend, anyway!"
"Sage..." Saseme sighed,"This is Rock Lee. From my previous class? We used to train together..."
"Oh...I get it! That's neat" Sage grinned and chuckled a bit,"I keep forgetting that you trained in the upper class before you left for the Desert or whatever."
Lee sighed and leaned in close to Saseme to whispered.
"I came to ask you how meeting your team went but..." he stopped and blinked a bit, "...This new friend of yours seems to be yolk short of an egg..."
Saseme snorted softly and chuckled whispering back.
"He is Sage Amesawa." she said softly, "And you're right... a member of my team it would seem."
"Ah, so I see." Lee sighed,"It is too bad we could not be on the same team..."
"I don't mind it." Saseme chuckled,"We can really be like rivals this way."
"Neji is my rival." Lee laughed,"But I am sure I can make room for you too!" he grinned. Tough it seemed Sage wasn't one to take being left out of conversations too well...
"Mind if I join~!"
"Ah I-" Saseme blinked and glanced desperately over at Lee.
"Ah...Uhm...I do not know..."
"I...suppose it's all right I guess." she said softly, "After all it's not like we were doing anything particularly important right now... so..." She muttered softly,"And if it does go bad...I'll know who to blame."
"Damn you're one cold bitch, huh?" Sage laughed.
"She is a what!?" Lee choked on his own words unsure of how to even react to that-
"...Wow. That's quite an interesting team mate you have there, Sashimi." Neji stated as he approached the small pow-wow and crossed his arms. This new arrival seemed to catch Hana's attention.
"Now he's hot!"
She giggled giving the Hyuga boy glances which he noticed and twitched awkwardly.
"I suppose...he is eccentric?" Saseme muttered.
"...Rude, is more like it." Neji huffed and shifted a glance to the female, twirling her hair and wiggling her hips, "...And this one is derranged." he stated.
Hana didn't take that too well...
"Then you and Sage should probably get along swimingly, Neji Puke-a!"
Neji twitched and shot glares at his old classmate.
"...Perhaps your team is well suited to each other after all...Sashimi!"
The glares between them became like sparks of lightning leaving Lee in the middle once again as he sighed.
And he hates her too!? Maybe we're soulmates!
Hana giggled, this however only seemed to creep Neji out more and he took a step back.
"P-Perhaps maybe Saseme's team mates are actually nice!" said Lee, trying to settle the rising tension,"And we are just misjudging them?"
"Hmph."
"A-Ah, anyway, Neji, Saseme and I were just...catching up." he said softly, "Where is TenTen?"
Neji held his cloudy eyes on Lee, getting the sense that he was trying to change the subject, and so- he obliged.
"She said she wished to have her tools polished as a reward for a job well done on our last mission." He said.
Sage blinked and leaned in close to Saseme.
"You were friends with some real big wigs in the upper class, huh?" he whispered,"Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga?"
"We are not friends." Neji scoffed turning away from them.
"Of course they're not friends~" Hana giggled leaning against the fence,"He's way too good for her~ Too far above." she giggled more," She should have never been placed in a class that was too good for her that she had to be taken out~"
"You know, Hana..." Sage mumbled,"There's being a cold bitch...and then there's just...being a bitch."
"What did you say!" She raged on him only to be interrupted by Neji-
"...I said we were not friends..." he said firmly with an icy glare, "Not that she was beneath me." he huffed,"It would seem you have a long way to go as a ninja."
"Ah...wh-what!?" Hana was shook by this reaction.
But the way they were talking to each other...don't they dislike each other?
"Neji...can come off a bit colder than he actually is..." Lee muttered awkwardly,"It is not as though he hates Saseme...in fact if anything...I feel like maybe he understands her...better than anyone else." he said, "See Neji and Saseme have actually known each other for a long time." he stated, "I believe Neji was 4...and Saseme was 3." he said softly trying to ponder through what he could remember, "See, Saseme-chan's best friend, is actually Neji's cousin, so..." Lee stared at Neji's back for a while before letting out a mushroom huff of a sigh,"But then again...I could just be reading too much into it." He shook his head and grinned at Saseme,"So, shall we go then?"
"Go?" Saseme blinked.
"Well sure, why not?" asked Lee, "You have been gone for 4 years now, Saseme...it would be nice to catch up, wouldn't you think?" he asked softly and smiled, "Unless, you would not like to?"
"Oh, I..." she paused a while. After all it wasn't like she was doing anything terribly important...she was just going to wander through her old home...though a trembling hand gripped at her chest. As cool as her expression remained, she couldn't help but wonder her psyche was truly ready to do that just yet...
"Yeah... why not?" she stated.
"Yes, I suppose I will tag along too." said Neji.
"Oh, I see how it is!" Sage huffed, "When I ask it's all like no way- but when they ask it's all like- totally cool!" he grumbled and folded his arms, "Well there's no way you're going without me, so-" Sage beamed and called back to Hana,"Hey Hana if you're ready to pull your head out of your ass, we're all going to go have lunch together~!"
"...Well I suppose with that Neji guy being there, will make it some what worth it~" Hana muttered stubbornly.
Jerk or not...he's still really hot~
She giggled.
"Gah-That is not-"
Saseme sighed patting Lee's shoulder as she lowered her head in utter defeat.
"I'm sorry..." she said to him,"I have no control."
"Ah...well..." Lee sighed and chuckled light heartedly, "Let us be off then~!"
The day ahead of them was peaceful. Filled with basic conversation and simple asked questions as they sat together. It filled Saseme with an odd peace and old comfort she had forgotten about a long time ago...
She almost felt content as she bit into her bean bun.
"If you betray me, Saseme...I will Kill you."
That raspy hiss of a declaration weighed into her mind.
That's right...
She thought to herself.
We have to get this plan in motion...
I don't have time, for peace...
To Be Continued...