Yes, I am still alive! HAHAHA. I won't stop writing these stories. Been busy with new stories lately. Sorry. :(
But I have managed to write a decent Chapter 12 considering it's midnight and I feel totally sick. Hahaha. Please enjoy. So so so sorry for the extremely late update!
Standard disclaimers apply.
"Sasuke." A familiar voice was heard over a static telecom.
''Sasuke." It called again after it heard no response.
"SASUKE!" The voice rose a little higher and a certain blue-haired boy woke up startled.
"Y-yeah. I'm here." He says as least groggily as he can as he rubs his eyes, droopy from his slumber.
"Good. I thought for a minute there you had abandoned your mission." The voice returned to its calm state.
"Of course not." Sasuke's tone becomes steadier and his face hardens.
"Good. Now tell me," The voice stops for a second,
"What are you doing playing around with your little childhood girlfriend?" It says emotionless over the mike.
Sasuke's eyes widen in frustration. Sakura. That little stunt he played last night did nothing to satisfy the need of his mission.
"It was a distraction," He dodges the subject as best as he can,
"It won't happen again." He dismisses the topic.
He feels as if a grin has crept up the face of the person he's conversing with.
"All right. I trust you." The voice says,
"Now, you have three more days to get the trust of two people; Tsunade and Kakashi." The voice stops as his words let themselves linger in the air for a while.
"Y-yeah. I'll get to it." Sasuke says. He's about to tune out the communicator when the voice suddenly speaks out.
"What's the matter?" It asks.
"Hmph," Sasuke snickers mockingly and looks down at the floor with contemplating eyes,
"Do you really care?" He retorts.
The voice on the other line laughs quietly.
"It's just that... you seem shaky. And doubt is an unaffordable luxury in this mission." The voice says as if waiting for an answer to an unspoken question.
"I'm fine Madara." He says in finality as a beeping sound is heard.
Later...
Knock knock knock.
The obsidian-haired boy sitting on his bed hears three soft knocks from outside. He looks at the brown wooden door and does nothing.
Nothing.
He just sits there, half-heartedly waiting for another set of knocks.
Knock knock knock.
He hears three soft knocks again. Still, he does nothing.
His mind's been pre-occupied with things.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
The soft knocks have been replaced with impatient, annoyed bangs. Finally, he takes pity on his visitor and makes an effort to stand up and walk towards the door. He turns the knob only to be greeted by a half-flushed, emotionless face of a girl far too familiar.
"Hey, Sakura." He manages to coax a decent greeting out of his mouth.
"Lady Tsunade wants you in her office immediately. Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are all ready waiting." The kunoichi says so flatly that it almost hurts.
"Right. Gimme a sec." Sasuke disappears into the bathroom and comes out after five minutes in a black shirt, black pants and black ninja shoes.
"Come on." Sakura seems unimpressed as she runs off to the Hokage Mansion, expecting Sasuke to follow.
Sasuke gives Sakura a two-minute lead as he smiles to himself.
"You can re-heat the soup when it gets cold right?" He whispers to himself as he runs off.
"So, what does she want?" Sasuke asks the pink-haired girl, after he catches up, in an attempt to make conversation.
"I don't know." Sakura says.
"Oh." Is the only thing Sasuke has to say. The rest of the trip to the Hokage Mansion was quiet, quick and painful. For Sasuke at least.
"Lady Tsunade." Sakura greets her master as she opens the door and walks over to Naruto's side.
"Lady Tsunade." Sasuke repeats Sakura's words as he bows his head in respect, Madara's words from earlier repeating in his head.
"Sakura, Sasuke." The Hokage addresses them without enthusiasm.
She finishes stacking a bunch of papers on the right side of her desk as Sasuke sits down on the same chair he was asked to sit on yesterday.
"So, you've all been called here, along with two ninjas from the ANBU Black Ops," two ninjas wearing the typical ANBU uniform, one wearing a bird mask, the other a cat mask, bow down,
"Because we collected some intel this morning." Tsunade sits back on her chair and lets out a sigh.
Sigh of what? Disappointment? Dissatisfaction? Sakura couldn't figure it out but it sounded like either of those two.
"Sasuke," Tsunade addresses the boy as he looks at her,
"It seems that you still haven't changed." The Hokage's words hang in the air for a few more minutes before general shock is eliminated and Sasuke realizes that all eyes in the room, except for those of the ANBU Black Ops who seemed the least surprised by this news, are on him.
"What?" Naruto's voice echoed in the small room. Not because the room was spacious, which it wasn't really. Not because the room was new, it wasn't new either. But because the emotion that flavored his words, anger, pain, curiousness, anxiety, you name it, was reflected on every nook and cranny of the small room.
"Sasuke, you surely are smart enough to know that we won't ever let our guard down, that the ANBU are still watching your every move, correct?" Tsunade makes a smart guess.
"Of course." Sasuke says as beads of sweat start forming on his palms.
This morning. Madara. That's what she was talking about. And he knew it.
"Then why did you let such a..." Tsunade pauses as she looks for a proper word,
"Slip-up occur?" She concludes.
"I-" Sasuke's just about to explain when the voice of a hyper-active blonde boy interrupts him.
"Hey wait a second! I don't get what's happening here. What exactly is going on?" He says as he scratches his head in confusion.
Tsunade shoots Sasuke a look as if to tell him to go tell them himself. He nods in compliance.
"I'm here on a mission." He says flatly, bravely looking into Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi's eyes.
"For who?" Kakashi suddenly speaks.
"For me." Sasuke stops,
"No. Actually, for you." He says.
The three get more confused but no confusion registers in Kakashi's eyes and Sakura's trying her best to remind herself that she doesn't care, but she's obviously failing.
"See, Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo and I agreed on something a long time ago. Even before we joined Akatsuki." He says.
"And what's that?" Sakura laughs as if Sasuke's joking but he ignores this.
"To find a way to save Konoha once we get inside." He says.
This puts disbelief and confusion into the eyes of those listening, even Tsunade and the ANBU.
"Yeah right." Sasuke hears Sakura say under her breath, he ignores this once again.
"So, right now you're a double agent of sorts is that right?" Tsunade asks to confirm her thoughts.
"Yeah... I guess you could say that." Sasuke stops as he realizes this fact himself for the first time since he agreed to accept the mission.
"Madara has told me at least half of his plans and our (Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo and Sasuke's) plan is to get to the top, to get on good terms with the ANBU and you of course," He says to Tsunade,
"So that when the time comes you'll have enough trust in us to listen and actually believe our words." Sasuke says. It's obvious that he's only halfway through with his speech but he decides to stop.
"I believe you." Tsunade manages to say.
Sasuke lets out a sigh of relief.
"Dismissed." Tsunade shoos the ANBU as they bow down and disappear through the window.
"I'll go with what Lady Hokage has to say." Kakashi sighs.
"You know I'm here Sasuke." Naruto says with a serious smile and a forever-genuine thumbs up.
Sasuke smiles to himself with relief.
Then he looks at Sakura, awaiting her approval as well.
"You know that I'll never believe a word you say right?" She says with an eyebrow raised as she disappears like the ANBU did.
Sasuke sighs again, this time out of grief. After all he's done, no wonder she won't believe him.
"She'll come around." Naruto smiles at his friend. Something he hasn't been able to do in a long time.
The obsidian-haired boy smiles back as if believing the blonde boy's words.
But they both know it's a lie.