Yeah I know, you probably were so mad when I didn't update! LOL But now that I got the story up and running we are good! And you just sit tight, you'll find out everything about the whole Naruto, Sasuke, and Amaya deal. Coming right up!
Kosuke's POV
I was walking down the street from the training yards that day, when Kakashi found me. I continued walking, and simply looked at him. He clearly got the message, because he silently handed me a folded piece of paper. This made me stop walking, and I snatched the paper out of his hands. As I read the letter that was clearly from Amaya, my eyes grew bigger and bigger.
When I had read the letter through twice, I looked up at Kakashi and spoke to him for the first time.
"I have to see the Hokage," I told him, and then started running to the Hokage building. I wasn't happy when he started following me, but I decided not to say anything.
"What is it?" he asked as we drew closer to the building.
"You'll find out soon," I told him, as I came to a stop right in front of the building.
* * *
Gaara looked paler than usual. I was afraid for a minute that he was either going to faint or lose control of his sand, as it began to stir around in the small office.
As soon as I had given the letter to Tsunade and she had read it, she had summoned some one to find Gaara. He had come quickly, and Temari and Lee came with him. So now there were seven of us crowded into that small room, which was quickly growing smaller and smaller.
When Gaara read the letter, his eyes widened to the largest size I had ever seen them, and I could have sworn his pale skin grew paler. It was the most emotion I had ever seen on Gaara, and I didn't like it at all.
Getting a grip on himself, he handed the letter to his sister, who scanned it quickly. When she got to the part about Amaya attacking Kankuro, she swore out loud. When she finished reading it, she handed it to Lee. I watched him closely as he read the letter, and wasn't surprised when his enormous eyebrows rose, nearly touching his bowl haircut. He gasped when he got to the end of the letter, and I could see moisture forming in his eyes.
"Amaya…she wouldn't…couldn't…have done this! I-it must be some kind of stupid joke! You know how she does that!" he exclaimed, trying to get all of the blame off of his sister's shoulders.
Tsunade looked at him sadly and replied, "Do you really believe that Lee? We have to face it, Amaya is no longer one of our allies."
I stared out the window, not able to look at any one in that room. I heard Lee start to cry quietly, him being the emotional guy he is.
Gaara looked at Tsunade and told her, "Lady Hokage, I am afraid my sister and I must be leaving. I have to go take care of my brother and village."
Tsunade nodded, showing him she understood completely.
"I hope this…unfortunate turn of events, has not damaged our friendship with Suna," she worded carefully, glancing at Gaara.
He shook his head.
"No, of course not. Konoha is not responsible for damage that is done by a rogue ninja," he replied quietly.
I heard Lee take in a sharp breath when he Gaara said this. Then he said, "Lady Hokage, I would like permission to go and try to find my sister, and bring her back to this village before she can do any more damage."
I turned back around, and saw Lee staring straight in Tsunade's eyes, and her staring back. I also saw Gaara, standing to the right of Lee, look down. He didn't want Lee to go, but he wasn't about to say anything.
"Lee, are you sure about this? It will be very dangerous you know that? Amaya may be your sister, but she has made it very clear to all of us that she no longer considers herself to be a member of this village. What makes you think she will listen to you?" Tsunade asked Lee, leaning forward on her desk, folding her fingers together.
Lee simply stated, "I'm her brother. She'll listen." He didn't sound very confident, though.
Before this discussion went on any farther, I interrupted.
"Lee," I asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
He nodded, and walked over to stand next to me by the window.
"Lee, you can't go after Amaya," I told him quietly, so that no one could hear me.
"What? Why?" he asked, surprised.
I looked out the window for a minute before saying, "Look Lee. You can't go after Amaya because there are other things you are needed for. Think for a minute, and you'll know I'm right. What about Gaara, huh? What about the child he's carrying. That's your child. Gaara's going to need you. Would you desert them now?"
Lee looked down, ashamed.
"And also, what will it accomplish, bringing Amaya back?" I asked, and he looked at me quizzically. "She's not going to want to come back with you. Do you really think you could beat her in a fight, because, no offense, but I don't. And even if you do manage to some how drag her back, that'll be bad too. The minute Amaya steps back in this village, even on peaceful terms, Tsunade will have to ship her over to Ibiki. She had to do that with Sasuke, remember? She'll have to do it to him again, if he comes back, since he has left us once again. And, even though I'm furious with her right now, I'd rather not have Amaya tortured for information."
He looked terrified at the thought of handing his sister over to Ibiki. Being Anko's student, I've learned more than I ever wanted to about the art of torture. Lee really didn't know just how bad it would be to let Ibiki get a hold of her, and I sure wasn't about to tell him. He wouldn't be able to sleep for weeks, if I did.
Lee nodded his head slowly, though I could still see the pain in his eyes. God Amaya, I thought, do you even care that you're causing your twin so much pain? Do you?
"You're right Kosuke. Bringing Amaya back here would be bad. But what do we do if we can't do that?" he asked, trying to still find a way to get his sister back.
I shook my head. I didn't want to tell him what I really thought; that we couldn't get Amaya back. That the moment she had attacked Konoha, there was nothing that any of us could do. She could have lived in Suna, but even that idea would no longer work.
"I don't know what we can do, Lee, but I'm sure that we'll think of something, eventually," I lied through my teeth to him.
He smiled a little, and I was glad I had lied. He turned back to the others, and walked up to Tsunade's desk.
"Lady Hokage, I would like to change my request. I would like to be able to escort the Kazekage and his sister back to their village, as a gesture of kindness from our village to theirs," he said to her formally.
Tsunade blinked, surprised by this change, but quickly recovered herself. She nodded, and then said, "Very well Lee, if the Kazekage has no objections, then that sounds like a good idea."
Gaara smiled slightly and nodded. Temari smirked slightly in a knowing way, but then quickly hid it before Gaara or Lee could see it.
From over by the window, I said, "Tsunade-sama, if I may suggest something?"
She looked over at me and nodded.
"Perhaps," I started slowly, "perhaps once the three of them arrive at Suna, perhaps Lee should stay there for a little while, at least until the people in the village calm down. It must be horrible to have your village robbed while your brave leader is away, especially if it's by someone you thought you could trust. Lee can help calm them down, and show them that our villages are still united. From what I know, people in Suna respect Lee, and it will help them to see a familiar face, one they know doesn't have a treacherous bone in his body."
Tsunade thought this through for a minute, and then nodded.
"That sounds like a good idea. What do you think, Lord Kazekage?" she replied.
Gaara also nodded, and then said, "That sounds fine with me."
"All right then, Lee, you know your mission. I expect you to be ready as soon as those two are," Tsunade told Lee, who nodded.
"I plan on leaving first thing in the morning," Gaara informed us all.
"Well then, you three had better get ready for your trip," Tsunade said, and Lee and Temari bowed to her, as Gaara nodded his head, before the three of them walked out of the room.
I sighed as the door closed behind them, and the three adults in the room looked over at me.
"I don't know what you said to Lee, Kosuke, but what ever it was, it seemed to have worked," Shizune said to me, as Ton-Ton walked over to me and oinked at me to pick him up.
I bent down and scratched him behind his ears, but didn't pick him up.
"Well, I couldn't let him go off after Amaya. He wouldn't stand a chance against her, let alone the entire Akatsuki," I replied as I stood back up.
Tsunade nodded her head in agreement.
"Poor guy," she said, tapping her fingers on her desk, "he must be really missing his sister, if he thought he could take on that entire group."
"He's always been like that," Kakashi remarked from where he was leaning on the wall, "he thinks that he can solve the world's problems just with a little sweat and hard work. He'll learn, though."
I glared at him and said icily, "At least he cares about his family and friends! At least he doesn't just stand around, staring at a large stone all day, wishing he could have done something to save all of those people he let die!"
Kakashi's eyes flashed at me. It takes a lot to really make him mad, but I guess insulting him and rubbing in how he can't bring his friends back from the dead is one way.
Before he could say anything back, however, Shizune interrupted us. "I think that's enough, you two," she said, and glared at Tsunade.
"What did I do?" Tsunade asked her.
"You need to stop this before it gets out of hand, Lady Hokage," she told her, frowning.
"But it was just getting good! Oh all right! Knock it off you two, before I smack you both!" Tsunade exclaimed, and then flexed her arms just to prove her part.
"Not exactly what I meant," Shizune murmured over to the side.
I shook my head, and then turned back to Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama, if you no longer need me, may I…?" I asked her.
She nodded her head, and gestured to the door. "Go ahead, Kosuke. You are dismissed. Oh, but if you get any more letters, I want you to bring them to me immediately, understand?" she asked.
I paused at the door, and nodded my head.
Without looking at her I answered, "If I feel that the letter has important information that you should know about, then I will bring it to you right away." I did not promise to bring her every one of my letters, because they were my business, my last connection to my best friend.
I left the room before anyone could say anything more, and rushed down the stairs and out of the building. Once I emerged from the doorway, I looked around me. The afternoon was almost over, and the sun was beginning to set. I decided to walk around for a little while.
After about twenty minutes of walking aimlessly around, I reached one of the training grounds. I thought about practicing for a couple of minutes, until I heard a small sob coming from behind one of the wooden posts. I walked towards the post, and peered around it. There, sitting on the ground, was a sobbing Naruto.
I sat down next to him quietly, and put my hand on his shoulder. I didn't have to ask what was wrong because I all ready knew: Sasuke. I didn't say anything to him, just gently pulled him into my arms, letting him cry on my shoulder. At first he resisted, but after a minute he just leaned into me, letting his tears fall down onto my clothing.
I rubbed his back like I would when comforting a young child, and made soft "Sh-ing" noises. After about five minutes he began to calm down, though tears were still running down his cheeks.
"Why?" he croaked out, "Why did he have to leave?"
"Oh Naruto," I sighed, and then said, "I don't really know. Some times, some times people just need to leave, even when they have a great life and great friends, they just feel like they don't belong there. There's nothing we can really do to help them. We try to love them, to show them how much we care about them, but they leave anyway."
"It doesn't make any sense!" he cried, "I thought he loved me! I thought I made him happy! I thought he hated Orochimaru!"
"So did I, Naruto," I replied quietly, inwardly squirming at the name of the man I hated so much, "Sasuke had us all fooled."
We sat there for a few minutes in silence, each of us with our own thoughts. Eventually Naruto looked at me and said, "Kosuke, I'm sorry. You know, about Amaya leaving, and all. I guess you must know kinda how I feel."
I forced a small smile to my face, and then said, "I'm sorry, too. About Sasuke, and such." Especially because I have a feeling that Sasuke's leaving had something to do with Amaya's leaving, I thought, but didn't say so out loud. For some reason that kiss they had exchanged way back during the party hadn't seemed quite as forced, as it should have.
We sat and stared at the stars that were starting to emerge in the sky for a while. Finally Naruto said, "It's going to be hard, isn't it? Trying to get on with out them, I mean."
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, it will be."
"But… I think we can do it. I'm not sure how, but…"
"It'll take some time to get used to this," I replied, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with him.
We were sitting in a semi-comfortable silence, when we heard a bit of movement on nearby. We looked around, and saw Hinata walking cautiously over to us.
"N-Naruto? Kosuke?" she asked, making sure it was us, since it was now dark out.
"Hi Hinata," I said, as she walked over.
"Hey," Naruto said, not in his usual cheerful manor, but not sounding as sad as he had.
"D-do you mind if I join you?" she asked in her usual quiet way.
I smiled and said, "Of course not." and moved over so she could sit between me and Naruto.
After she sat down she looked at me and said, "I heard about Amaya. I'm so sorry, Kosuke."
I nodded my head, not really sure what to say to this. Hinata turned to her other side and said to Naruto, "And I also heard a-about Sasuke, N-Naruto. I'm so sorry."
A few new tears ran down his face, and she hesitantly patted his shoulder. He leaned his head against her shoulder, as he had done to me, and her eyes grew as wide as saucers. Even though it was dark, I was sure her face was completely red.
Smiling to myself, I stood up carefully, and told them, "I really hate to go right now, but I need to be getting home. Maybe I'll see you two tomorrow."
I waved to them and began walking away.
"B-b-but!" I heard Hinata say from behind me, obviously nervous at having Naruto sobbing on her shoulder, and me just walking away leaving it for her to deal with.
Sorry Hinata, I thought as I reached the edge of the training yard, but it's your turn to help him. Trust me, you'll both thank me later. I hope, at least.
As I got farther away, I heard a small chuckle come out of the bushes by me. I stopped walking, and silently pulled out a kunai, tensing up for a fight.
However, I didn't need to worry, because a second later Kakashi walked out of the bushes, still chuckling.
"Playing matchmaker, are we?" he asked me, as he walked up next to me.
"Jeez, what are you, a stalker? Why are you following me?" I yelled at him, as I put me kunai away.
"I'm not stalking you. Tsunade sent me to follow you around, just to make sure you don't go wandering out of the village. You must have figured out she would do this, didn't you? It just so happens that I got to be the lucky one she picked for tonight," he told me, walking next to me as I started moving once again.
I swore, and then growled at him, "So what, are you going to follow me into my house and tuck me into bed, too?"
He shook his head.
"No, I'm supposed to follow you up to the door, and then I'm off duty," he replied.
"Well there's one good thing, I guess," I muttered, and then walked on in silence. I couldn't wait to get home so that I could be rid of him, and so I could punch something that wouldn't yell, like my bed or pillow, or wall even. It had been a really long day.
Amaya's POV
I tried to get some sleep I really did. But all that came to my head was the fucking bastard. Who did he think he was? I mean really? Kissing me?! He has to be out of his fucking mind.
After about an hour of restless sleep I decided to find out for myself.
I jumped out the small, single window I had in my "room" and landed safely on the ground. After about ten minutes of walking I picked up the pace and tried to race Kosuke home. I knew she was never home this early in the evening. It just depends on if I can make it there before she does.
I jumped the gate and landed in a tree in a remote part of the village. I looked around, the training ground being to my left. I honed my wolf senses and found, Naruto, Hinata, Kosuke, and Kakashi. Also the smell of broken tears, tears recently shed. Naruto. Kosuke would never allow herself to cry in front of others. She learned well.
I smirked, not home yet.
I sailed across making sure I was unseen in the night and began jumping/counting the roofs to where hers lay. I passed mine which meat I needed to pass six more houses and I will land on hers. When I did I landed on the front door step.
I knocked on the door, looking around to make sure no patrolling ANBU caught me. The door opened and Kosuke's father stood there. He looked at me, he couldn't see well in the dark, I took a step inside and he saw me.
"Hey! You-" I did a high kick and got him in the back of the neck. I caught him before his unconscious body hit the floor. No need to make a mess and give early evidence. I stuffed him in the closet.
I took his look with the transformation jutsu and waited until Kosuke got back.
It didn't take ten minutes. I heard noises at the door. I opened it and looked down at Kosuke. Then at the man behind her; Kakashi. I inwardly growled. What the hell?
"Kosuke, who is this?" I asked, faking a smile. Kakashi looked at me skeptically.
"Dad, this is Kakashi, Amaya's father. He was sent by Tsunade to escort me home. To 'protect' me." Just then I was sent flying along the room. Kakashi stood in front of Kosuke. "Protecting" her.
"WHAT!? You just attacked my father?!" Kosuke screeched at him.
"That's not your father. The person had way to much chakra to be your father." Kakashi answered her.
I laughed menacingly, clapping my hands as I got up and walked towards them.
"Very nice. Clever, clever." then the commonly heard poof and back to me. I snarled, "But I would have expected a better hit from my father." Both of them looked a bit taken aback.
Until Kakashi rushed after me. I stood straight and easily sent the push off in the other direction with a flick of the wrist. As Kakashi stumbled with his balance I jumped into the air and brought my leg up, twirling so my shin was once again lodged into the back of someone's neck.
Kakashi hit the ground with a thump. I smiled and looked at Kosuke who was staring at me wide eyed. Then she came after me.
"Come on Kosuke. I'm not going to use 20% of my power like when we trained together." I crouched in an animalistic way and smirked, "No, this time, I don't care if you are pregnant. I'm going all out."
At first I didn't really, I allowed her to block some of my hits, dodge them. But when I got tired of playing cat and mouse, she was no longer dodging or blocking but just forcefully getting hit. After a minute I had not realized she led me to the door. I only did when she slipped through it and started running away.
"Fuck." I muttered chasing after her.
I finally caught her in the training grounds. I pinned her against the tree and snarled. Struggling with the feelings I still had hidden about this village and Kosuke, and struggling with the demon that wanted to just destroy everything. I smashed her shoulders into the tree telling her to pay attention to me.
"Now listen to me, and listen closely." I growled out. Kosuke merely nodded, unable to do anything at this point. "I need information. Why did Sasuke leave? And why the hell did he kiss me?!" I practically yelled.
I heard a whimper to my left and my head snapped that way. I saw Naruto standing there, Hinata cowering behind a training log. Shit. I should have known Naruto would have still been here. I looked at Kosuke, then Naruto again.
"You must know. After all you were the closest one to him." I slid one of the kunai that the Akatsuki members kept on their shoulders down the sleeve of the coat and into my hand. I pressed it against Kosuke's throat.
"Tell me all you guys know, or there will be another ninja missing from this village." I licked my lips, "And with Kosuke out of the way I can totally destroy this!" Maybe I was turning into the psychotic rouge ninja......oh well. It kinda works for me.
