Chapter TWO

"How was your little outing?"

Team Riki was greeted by Voldemort himself. Judging from the looks on the faces off all those present, it must he been rare for him to hover in one place for long.

"It was pleasant." Itachi replied. "There were many things that are different from where we come from."

"Who are you to talk so casually to my lord?" It was the Bellatrix woman. She was pointing her wand threateningly at them. Then, in the next second, it was plucked out from between her fingers by Sakura's chakra strings.

There was a shocked silence that followed, and it became apparent that no one could see the chakra strings. Sakura flicked her finger, and pulled the wand closer to herself. Draco was watching her with wide eyes.

"You! Return my-"

"Wandless magic?" Voldemort interrupted Bellatrix.

"My lord?"

It was obvious from the tone that it was a question. "Where we come from, all techniques are performed this way." Itachi said.

"Interesting." Voldemort had a certain look on his face, something akin to the look Orochimaru wore when a rare Dojutsu holder threw themselves at him.

"That is a praise these trash don't deserve, my Lord." Bellatrix insisted. "They are not even that impressive."

"You do not know that, Bella. I have been told that they are the best of the best."

"I don't understand why you require their help, my lord." It was another Death Eater that spoke up.

"Is it just me, or feel like they are just ignoring us?" Sakura grumbled.

"I assume that it is the latter." Itachi replied.

"That was a rhetorical question."

Several of the death eaters had tuned in on their conversation, and was eyeing them with obvious distrust.

"Narcissa has told me that you have already come in contact with Potter." It was another question-statement.

Itachi just nodded.

Sakura decided to voice something that had been bothering her for a while. "You aren't exactly what people consider to be the 'Good side', are you?"

Itachi simply did the Uchiha equivalent of a sigh.

The Bella woman decided to speak up again. "The-"

Sakura groaned. "Gods." She plucked Bellatrix's wand out of the air and tossed it back at her, adding a little chakra to it. Someone waved their wand, and the wand stopped before it nailed the frozen woman between the eyes.

"Che~" Sakura sighed dramatically.

"If you would excuse us, Voldemort." Itachi spoke up. "We would like to get used to used our...wands."

"Isn't this like revealing Konoha secrets?" Sakura asked. She glanced around at the curious eyes.

Shikamaru sighed. "This is so troublesome."

"Well, against the rules or not, I'm going to use this chance to beat you all up." Sakura pointed a finger at Itachi. "We've never actually spared four way."

Itachi had a ghost of smile on his face. "Looked at that way, this may be interesting."

"Technically, I wouldn't call this an official spar, as we will be using this to see how well a wand can channel Chakra." Neji said. He held up a wand, his Byakugan eyes scanning over it. "There is energy running through it. However, I can't really tell how much it's structure will affect our jutsu."

Sakura activated her own Byakugan. "It's even more layered than my chakra." She muttered. "It's like a mixture of many faint chakra signatured. This magic of theirs, it's definitely weaker than our chakra."

Neji nodded in agreement.

"Try not to destroy the grounds too much." Itachi said.

"This is so unfair. I'm going to be flattened." Shikamaru grumbled.

They had been offered the Malfoy's back yard as a training area. They had an audience as well.

"Well, get going with it! How dare you keep the Dark Lord waiting!" Bellatrix screeched from the side. She, along with most of the Death Eaters, didn't seem that impressed.

"Bella." Voldemort turned back to the shinobi, waiting.

The four of them spread out in a square, facing each other.

Sakura kicked a stone into the air, and all four of them watched intently as it fell. The moment it hit the ground, all four of them vanished. An uneasy murmur passed through the crowd.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" Everyone whirled around at the voice to see Itachi with his wand held out in front of him. He waved it, creating a huge fireball. Gasps were cut of when another voice spoke up.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!"

A huge water dragon rose out of the pond in the corner. It opened it's mouth, revealing sharp teeth. It swooped down, swallowing the fireball and bearing down on Itachi, who vanished in the huge wave of water that followed.

"Hakke Kusho!" Sakura whirled around, her arms crossed in front of her. A huge wave of chakra came her way, flinging her backwards. She slammed her heel into the ground, creating a huge fissure on the ground. She disappeared behind the cloud of dust and slabs of rock that popped up. Exclamations of shock were cut off as people fell, trying to find a stable spot on the ground.

Shikamaru streaked out from the dust, a kunai in each hand. His shadow streaked towards Neji, who saw the attacked coming from the corner of his eye. He dove into the shade of a slab of rock, and the shadow pulled away. Neji stiffened. There was a puff of smoke, and a log replaced him. A second later, a handful of kunai, courtesy of Itachi, rained down on the poor piece of wood.

Shikamaru hopped to the side when Sakura childishly stomped her foot into the ground, but wasn't able to avoid the tumor that came with it. The pinkette kicked the Nara into a slab of stone.

She raised her chakra encased arms to block Neji's attack. The Hyuuga was unfazed. He spun around, pressing Sakura backwards. Sakura back flipped over a slab of rock to catch her breath. She then body flickered out from behind her defense, bearing down on Shikamaru, who had become Neji's new victim. The two Byakugan wielders teamed up without saying anything, only to back away when Itachi launched another fireball at them.

The field was wordlessly split down the middle as temporary alliances were made.

Itachi had some sort of sparkle in his eyes, and his lips were curved upward in the smallest of smiles. He glanced down at his hand, almost as if he had forgotten about the reason for this spar, which was their wand. He lifted it.

Neji's hair was as perfect as always, not a singe strand out of place. He comfortingly brushed his shoulder against Sakura's as the two dropped into the Gentle fist stance.

Sakura was breathing heavily due to adrenaline. Her eyes held a dangerous glint, and her mouth was curved into something between a smirk and a sneer.

Shikamaru was slouched over, as if he would rather be anywhere but here. However, it was obvious to those who knew him that he was having fun.

The Nara was the first to move. He gave his wand a random wave, and his shadows snaked towards Sakura and Neji. Neji jumped upwards and Sakura shattered the earth, cutting away the shadow.

Itachi moved to cover the Nara when Sakura rained down on him with senbon. His Sharingan eyes blazed as he knocked all of the needles out of the air with a kunai. Sakura started a set of hand seals, then paused, waving her wand instead. "Kirigakure no jutsu!"

Itachi drew back slightly as Sakura expelled the mist from her mouth.

The Sharingan couldn't see through the mist, as it was made using the creator's chakra, but it couldn't stop the Byakugan.

Then again, Uchiha Itachi was a prodigy, so it probably didn't really help...but...yeah.

But sometimes, that moment of surprise was enough.

Sakura and Neji flew out of the mist, palms held out, wands long forgotten in favor of the fight.

"Hakke Kuhekisho!" A powerful wave of chakra was sent towards them.

Itachi grabbed Shikamaru, body flickering them out of the way, saving them both from becoming flattened.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Itachi sent his controlled fireballs towards his temporary opponents, stopping them from attacking while they were off balance.

Sakura pulled out a handful of explosive tags and threw them towards the fireballs, the explosion causing them to scatter.

They had all drawn a weapon when Voldemort clapped, jolting them out of them battle.

Sakura glanced around the completely ruined backyard, pouted, and stored her weapon back into her pouch. With a wave of a few wands, the yard was back to normal. Sakura watched with fascination as every crack and burn mark restored itself. "Think, how much money would we have saved if we could do that."

Shikamaru chuckled.

Voldemort turned to Bella. "I believe that is enough proof that they will be of some use to us."

"Hermione!"

Sakura's voice, though a whisper, reached said girl's ears.

Hermione looked up, the Weasleys and Harry doing the same.

"Sakura." Hermione shot her friends uncertain looks, but waved at the pinkette.

"You've gotta hide me!" Sakura came to a skidding halt beside her. "Tachi's trying to make me wear those horribly heavy and uncomfortable robes, and Shika's just gone to sleep and he's ignoring me even though I'm in a pinch and Neji's off doing something." She took a deep breath. "And Tachi's really scary when he's angry or annoyed and he kept giving me this evil glare."

At this, Hermione unconsciously nodded. All three of the males let out frightening auras.

Sakura paused, scanning over the Weasleys looking curiously at her. "Hello?"

"This is Sakura, one of the transfers we were talking about." Harry said, quick to introduce her.

The Weasleys, minus Ron all introduced themselves.

Sakura did the same, using the story they had worked out.

She concluded that the Weasleys didn't like the Malfoys in general, but they didn't seem like bad people.

"Sakura." Sakura whirled around, arms spread. "Neji!"

The white eyed boy raised an eyebrow, and nodded at the Golden Trio. He bowed respectfully to the Weasleys, then turned back to Sakura. "Yes?"

"You have to help me! Big bad Tachi's trying to make me wear the robe thingy."

Neji sighed. "It's a requirement, Sakura." He paused. "But I do agree that they aren't very comfortable." He added.

Sakura sighed. "Fine. But you're going to head back first and make sure Tachi isn't too angry. "

"He wasn't." Neji said. "I went to him before I came to get you. He is just annoyed."

Sakura's shoulders slumped.

"Don't worry." Neji said, a faint but gentle smile on his face.

Sakura sighed, her shoulders slumping. She grabbed Neji's sleeve and turned to Hermione. "I'll be heading off to my funeral. I hope I see you at school."

Neji dragged the girl away into the crowd, where they were swallowed up by the sea of robes.

Draco dragged the four of them towards one of the compartments. Apparently, he and his friends had already found an compartment, and he had come to look for them. The moment he opened the door, some girl was instantly clinging onto Draco's arm.

Sakura coughed. "Is it just me, or is that Ino clinging onto Sasuke?"

Itachi smirked. He could feel the looks several girls were shooting into his back.

Draco ran through the names of the people there.

"Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini." She glanced at the people in their immediate vicinity. Sakura opened her mouth, and Itachi yanked her back before she could continue.

"We must get along with them, Sakura. Don't scare them away yet." Itachi said, unconcealed amusement in his eyes.

Draco shook his head, already slightly used to their dynamics.

"Guys, this is Sakura, Itachi, Neji and Shikamaru. They're the guests of...my parents, and they come from Japan." Sakura didn't miss the pointed look Draco shot a few individuals. Neither did her teammates.

"Oh?" The girl clinging onto Draco frowned at them. "What's your blood status?"

Sakura could tell that the answer to that question would be something important to these people.

"We're all pure bloods." Sakura said.

Pansy snorted, unimpressed.

Sakura's hand twitched towards the handful of explosive tags stuffed into her sleeve.

"Not on the train." Neji warned. "And not in front of other people."

Sakura sighed. "I know that."

"There might not be space for all of you." Pansy said with a sneer.

Sakura glanced around. "Maybe."

"An we just find a seat before the train starts moving? I want to sleep before we arrive."

Sakura nodded, stretching. "I spent the whole of last night in the library." She agreed.

"I actually wouldn't mind the floor."

"I would, actually, but I don't mind sticking myself onto the wall."

"Actually, I believe both the Uchiha here and I will mind." Neji grabbed both of his team mates by the back of their cloaks. "We should go find another compartment."

They left, finding a compartment not too far away. Sakura and Shikamaru were sleeping the moment they sat down. Neji and Itachi began making a few vague plans on keeping their cover. The train began to move not too soon after that.

Sakura eyed the horse-with-wings thing that also looked slightly like a skeleton.

"What's...that?" She asked Shikamaru, who shrugged.

"Who knows?"

"I will now begin the sorting." A woman, Professor Minerva Mcgonagall, announced.

The shinobi, having been taught what the sorting was by Draco before they had left, huddled at the back, unsure of what they were exactly supposed to do. A list of names followed, and one by one, first year students sat on a stool at the front, where they were sorted into one of the four groups.

"Harry Potter is missing." Sakura informed them.

Shikamaru blinked.

"He has been missing for a while." Neji said, sighing when the Nara just yawned.

"Dragon seems to have something against the boy. He and Harry Potter were messing around on the train, before Dragon left an unconscious Harry Potter behind."

"And you didn't see the need to report this?" Itachi asked.

Sakura frowned. "Dragon's relationship with Harry Potter is more of an enemy-nemesis thing rather than something that was bred by our client." Sakura said. "I didn't think it would matter too much. Besides, he was rescued by someone, and is heading here this moment."

"How much are you straining your Byakugan to see that far?" Neji asked, his own Byakugan hidden under the shadow cast over his face.

Sakura deactivated her Byakugan, then undid the simple genjutsu over her eyes. "Not much."

The last of the first years were sorted, leaving the shinobi to stand in the now obviously empty area. Everyone's eyes were on them.

"This year, we have a few guests from Mahoutokoro, the magic school in Japan."

A murmur passed through the crowd. "They will be joining us in the sixth year."

The Shinobi nodded their head respectfully at the woman.

"In honor of their traditions, they will be sorted in order of their surnames, following the Japanese alphabet. "

Professor Mcgonagall looked at the paper in front of her. "Yuchiha Aitachi." Itachi shot his teammates subtle looks. They didn't know the full extent of how this hat worked, but if it proved to be dangerous, Itachi could cast a Genjutsu on it.

Still...

"Uchiha Itachi, mam." Itachi corrected quietly.

"Oh, my apologies. Uchiha Itachi." Itachi stepped forward, and instantly, whispers began. Sakura could feel the heart shaped eyes of the girls in the room.

Itachi sat on the chair and the hat was placed on his head.

"Hey, you think that hat'll fit over your hair?" Sakura giggled, and Shikamaru whacked her halfheartedly over the head.

"You aren't exactly who you claim to be."

Itachi's face showed surprise for a split second, before he masked it.

'Interesting, Interesting.'

Itachi prepared to cast a genjutsu on the hat, only for it to chuckle.

'I won't go sharing secrets, boy.' The hat said. Itachi forced himself to relax, ready to cast an illusion on the had the moment it made any moves to say something.

'I won't say anything.' The hat insisted. 'Now, to the sorting.'

"A man of few words, I see. Very smart. A genius, I'd say. Ravenclaw would fit you. You're loyal too. And brave. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor will fit as well. However, you have a certain darkness within you. It's well suppressed, but I've seen someone like you before."

The hat shifted. "SLYTHERIN!"

Groans of disappointment filled the hall while the Slytherins cheered. Itachi wandered over to the table pointed out to him. As he passed his team, he made a series of Konoha code signs so fast that none-shinobi eyes wouldn't be able to catch them, telling them everything he could about the hat within the two seconds it took him to walk past them.

Itachi just sat on the edge of the bench of the Slytherin table, ignoring all the people trying to start a conversation with him.

"Nara Shikamaru."

The Nara slowly got to his feet. He sauntered up to the front and sat down like he hadn't rested in days. The hat was placed on his head.

He slouched even lower when the hat began to speak. "How troublesome." He muttered. He wondered if this was what Sakura felt like talking to her Inner.

'You're smart as well, I see. Perhaps more than your over friend, strategically.' The hat said. 'You are unlike what you appear. You are hiding something under your laziness.' The hat straightened.

"If properly motivated, you'll do well in any of the houses, but I'll say..." A pause. "GRYFFINDOR!"

This time, a cheer went up in the Gryffindor section. Shikamaru slouched even lower.

"Out of all the houses, I had to be sorted into the house of bravery. How troublesome."

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura skipped up to the front, receiving more than a few curious looks. She planted herself on the stool, and the hat was placed on her head.

'You have a second spirit in your head.'

Sakura hummed.

'Interesting. Your group is full of interesting people.'

"An interesting view on life. Like the other two, you are very brave, and very loyal. Perhaps it has something to do with your previous location?"

Sakura could see the double meaning behind those words.

"However, I think it's safe to say that the only thing holding you back from being completely corrupted by the darkness within you is...I think you know what it is."

Sakura's gaze darkened.

"Let's place you in...SLYTHERIN!"

Slytherin cheered again. Sakura slid off the chair. She passed the hat back, and made her way over to sit next to Itachi, who scooted a little to make space for her.

"Hyuuga Neji."

The Hyuuga made his way to the front and planted himself into the stool with every ounce of grace he had been taught as a child.

'I guess it does have to do with your career.' The hat murmured. 'All brave, smart and loyal. However I think you'll be more easier to sort than the others. You have an impressive amount of loyalty within you, but ever more, you are brave."

"You'll do well in Hufflepuff, for you are very loyal. However, this aspect of you overrules that. I'd say...GRYFFINDOR!"

Shikamaru sighed, moving aside to let his teammate sit. Neji sat down to the cheering of his housemates.

"The target is back." Sakura murmured, careful not to say his name. Draco was sitting close to them, and he would most likely notice if his name was brought up, even if it was in a Japanese accent.

It was a good thing that the four of them had been split with both sides having a Byakugan.

Itachi nodded. He glanced over at Shikamaru and Neji, and received a nod. They had noticed too.

The boy's entrance caused the whole hall to erupt into chattering. People shot him curious looks as he marched towards his seat. Sakura turned to look at the man that had accompanied him in. She noted the way he walked with a straight, tense back, and how he looked like he was keeping his eyes on everything and everyone at once.

Sakura and Itachi ate very little, not used to the food littering the table around them. They could see many of the students stuffing themselves, but they knew the dangers of being too full. They drank some soup, a few cups of water, and ate some bread, unwilling to touch anything else.

Dumbledore stood up at the front, and all the happy chattering going on immediately stopped.

"The very best of evenings to you!" Dumbledore spread his arms, smiling.

There were gasps of shock and surprise as people caught sight of his hand.

Dumbledore casually covered it with the sleeve of his robe. "Don't worry." He smiled. "Now, to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you!'

Itachi gently nudged Sakura to catch her attention. Sakura turned to Itachi, and followed his gaze. Sakura realized that the man that had accompanied Harry into the room was looking at them.

Sakura kicked out, hitting Draco in the shin. The bond lurched forward and turned to glare at Sakura. Draco's friends turned to him in worry, not sure what had happened.

Sakura ignored his look. "Dragon, could you tell me who he is?" She nodded towards the man, who had now shifted his gaze towards the Gryffindors.

"That's professor Snape, our head of house." Draco hissed, face scrunched up in pain. He was clutching his leg under the table, glowering.

Sakura nodded, then turned back to Itachi.

"He can see them." She said, indicating towards their lockets. "Is his the spy?"

Itachi nodded, face blank. "That is the most likely explanation."

"...Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise."

Sakura turned back to Dumbledore.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn."

A bald man stood up.

"He is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

Everyone began talking at once.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"No!" Sakura and Itachi turned to look curiously at the Gryffindor table. Harry had been the one to exclaim so, loud enough that everyone heard him.

The Slytherin table cheered again. Snape raised a hand in acknowledgement, but apart from that, didn't really react.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, then waited a few seconds for everyone to quieten down.

"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength."

Sakura causally glanced around, looking at the reactions of the people in the room. Draco was balancing his fork over his plate, and Harry was shooting the blond a look.

"I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is. We must call take care to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer and we are protected in new and more powerful ways. However we must still guard against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff."

Sakura folded her hand sin front of her.

'Yes, and he doesn't seem to know that there are a few spies within his 'safe walls'.'

'We don't know if he really doesn't know. We're certain that he didn't pick up anything from Itachi and I when we went to see him, but it's close to impossible to read him.'

'I agree. You must be careful, Kura-chan.'

"I urge you to abide by any security restrictions that you teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them. Especially the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. Should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, you must report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety."

Dumbledore smiled.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night."

Sakura and Itachi squeezed through the crowd, reaching Neji and Shikamaru's side before they had really stood up.

"Guys." Sakura ignored the looks they were receiving and gestured towards them.

"We shall come over the moment we are finished unpacking." Itachi said, remembering what the prefects had said. "Then, we shall discuss out actions in the near future."

"It's a good thing we were split this way." Neji said. "We have eyes and ears on both sides."

"But the two houses don't seem to be too fond of each other." Sakura said.

"We'll discuss this later." Itachi decided.

His team nodded in agreement and they parted ways.

"These are the Slytherin dorm rooms." A prefect was saying.

Sakura tuned him out in favor of looking around.

Itachi would be listening anyways.

"The boys are on the left and the girls are on the right."

Sakura pouted, and Itachi just ruffled her hair.

After the two of them listened to the prefect introduction with the first years, they made their way towards where their grade members were hanging around.

Draco instantly stormed up to them. "I'll introduce you to other people worth hanging out with." He said.

Sakura glanced at Itachi, and nodded. The two of them followed the blond over to one of the couches. The people there were making a ruckus, but they all looked up when Draco approached them.

Sakura recognized a few of them as the people in the train.

"That's Theodore Nott." Draco said, pointing at a guy sitting by himself in the corner. "And that's Daphne Greengrass." He paused. "They both come from pretty respectable Pureblood families."

Sakura hummed, not really listening.

She really wanted to go explore...

"We have a meeting. Go unpack, okay?" Itachi said.

Sakura blinked, then shrugged. "I'm going to go dump my stuff in the room thing." She waved her tattooed arm in Itachi's face, who nodded. He picked up his bag and turned to walk away. Sakura, bagless, turned the other way.

Sakura pulled out the things she wouldn't need all the time, such as spare clothes, and books she had brought for her own entertainment dumped it on her bed. She wasn't going to use it anyways. It had been an unspoken decision to spend the nights in the common room. On missions, especially ones like this, there there were a lot of unknown variables, it felt safer to sleep close.

She kept things like lesson books and any shinobi tools in her seal. Satisfied, she turned around and went back out to the common room. She walked past Pansy and the girl named Daphne, ignored their curious looks, and darted off.

Itachi sorted through his things with the precision, the swiftness, and the accuracy he was known for. He ignored his roommates, Draco, and two guys that were a part of Draco's posse, Crabbe and Goyle, who were watching him with badly hidden curiosity.

"Tachi!" Itachi whirled, round and snatched his pink haired teammate out of the air. Had she kept going, she would have landed on his bed, where he had just finished sorting everything out.

"You're so organized." Sakura swept herself around the Uchiha, expertly slipped out of his grip and wrapped her arms around his neck. She hung off his neck and the Uchiha grabbed her under her knees so that he wouldn't choke.

"How do you sort it so neat?" Sakura repeated.

He would never tell her he had used his Sharingan to get sort everything.

Instead, he shifted Sakura weight. "Why are you here?" He asked, not rudely.

"Was bored." Sakura grumbled. "School starts tomorrow. Can we find Neji and Shika now?" Itachi sighed. He exited the room with Sakura clinging onto him like a koala; He was done anyways. He had a scroll with his books tucked into his robes, and another with all his weapons in his sleeve.

The Uchiha sat down on one of the sofas, squishing Sakura between his back and the seat. She squeaked and Itachi smirked as Sakura punched his shoulder half heatedly, as in with no chakra.

He grunted, the blow actually feeling nice on his tense shoulders. Sakura caught this. "I'll give you a tenketsu chakra massage later." She promised.

Itachi nodded. He grabbed Sakura and threw her over his shoulder. "Let's go see Neji and Shikamaru."

Itachi and Sakura stopped in front of the Gryffindor portrait, unsure of what they were supposed to do. The woman on the portrait looked distrustfully at them, but they ignored her and she didn't say anything.

"Shall I knock the wall down?" Sakura asked. Itachi just looked at her and she sighed. "I was joking. Anyways, I have an idea."

"NEJI! SHIKA!" Neji had always thought that the worst way to draw attention oneself was to embarrass himself. He wasn't so sure now, as Sakura's voice cut through the walls and reached the ears of everyone there.

Shikamaru sighed and muttered a "Troublesome", but there was a hint of fondness in his tone.

Both of them had finished unpacking and they had been hanging around the other Gryffindors in their Common room.

"Her majesty has called." Shikamaru said. "We have to go now." Girls let out groans of disappointment and Shikamaru sighed. He now understood why Itachi and Neji found fan girls annoying. What part of his lazy demeanor they found attractive, he didn't know. He was having as much trouble as Neji, who was having problems of his own.

The moment they had been dismissed by the prefects, the whole room had instantly swarmed him to ask about his eyes, which he had brushed off as a 'family secret'. With the blood status system here, they knew how families were secretive about things, and they dropped it.

Neji and Shikamaru nodded at everyone, then excused themselves, sighing when a majority of them followed.

"I guess that was your good idea?" Itachi asked.

Sakura smiled sweetly and nodded.

"Hey." Sakura turned around, grinning. "Were you guys done?"

Shikamaru nodded, stretching his neck and humming in satisfaction when it cracked. "Yeah."

"Class starts tomorrow." Neji said. "We've listed the classes we share with Slytherin."

"During the feast, did you see the guy that was staring at us?" Sakura asked. She received nods. "He could see our marks. I think he's the spy."

"I think he's our Defense Against the Darks Arts teacher." Neji said. "We share that class."

"Do we contact him?" Sakura asked. "He knows who we are, probably."

"Our client hasn't said anything about contacting his other spy. I say we stick to his orders, word for word." Shikamaru said.

"Classes start tomorrow." Itachi reminded them. "Be prepared."

So, here's chapter two!

Ideas and suggestions are welcome.

Darque: All this research is kind of fun. I love it when I have to search and ask around and stuff.

Raven: Yes...fun...

Darque: Also when I have to change things around so that it makes sense, but also fits.

Raven: Yes...fun...

Darque: Wazzyer problem?

Raven: Twoz called SCHOOL

(Tell us if the characters are OOC, kay?)

Read and Review!