Out of everything that has happened, I was mostly shocked to hear that Itachi was still in the village. He wasn't labeled a traitor, but he was currently being questioned. Even though Itachi had the most solid alibi ever, with pictures to prove it, thanks to a certain deceased Uchiha's camera (Shisui, you beautiful bastard!), Itachi was still suspected in taking part in the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
"M-Mikoto-san and F-Fugaku-san…" Hinata frowned.
Yeah…they're gone…
"Where are we going?" That's what I want to know.
"Shh…k-keep your v-voice down…" Hinata was definitely nervous. "N-Naruto-kun and the others a-are looking for S-Sasuke-kun's room…"
"How long ago did you wake up?" I'm assuming Hinata and everyone else were also knocked out. I have a feeling Itachi had been the one to knock us out… Either him, or the ANBU who probably arrived upon receiving word from our little friend in the shadows that something was wrong. He's still following Naruto, by the way…so he most likely saw the mess at the Uchiha compound.
Oh god, the memory is still fresh in my head!
"T-Ten minutes ago," Hinata replied. "K-Kiba-kun woke me up…and then I found y-you."
"Thanks for finding me, by the way…" I appreciate it.
"Y-You're welcome!" Hinata smiled.
"And what are you two doing out of your rooms?" Hinata and I nearly shrieked upon being asked that question…nearly. When we saw that it was Sakura who was talking to us, we immediately calmed down. Sakura had her hands on her hips as she looked sternly at us. "You two are supposed to be resting in your rooms."
"S-Sorry, S-Sakura-chan…" Hinata stuttered. "W-We were j-just looking for—"
"Sasuke, right?" Sakura interrupted Hinata. Upon seeing us both nod in response, Sakura sighed and shook her head. "Follow me…I'll lead you to the others."
…Others?
Huh, looks like Hinata and I aren't the only ones who Sakura has encountered.
…
…
"Just try not to make too much noise, or the nurses will find you." That was what Sakura told us, moments after taking us to Sasuke's room. She left shortly afterwards, most likely returning to her post. I've heard she's become a medic-nin's assistant already. For an eight-year-old girl with at least two years of medic-nin training, that is quite the accomplishment. I honestly feel so proud for Sakura.
Extremely proud!
I wonder how Ino feels—oh my god, Chōko, focus! Sasuke is in the room with everyone else, still likely devastated with the loss of his clan. The least you can do is try to comfort him, instead of being proud of Haruno Sakura and her medic-nin progress!
You can do that later…
"Hinata, open the door." I'm kinda afraid to do it myself…
"U-Uh, I was h-hoping you'd do that…" Oh no, Hinata, please don't make me do it!
After two minutes of staring at each other, I sighed in defeat and opened the door. Hinata just couldn't do it and I just couldn't make her do it… I am a big pushover when it comes to Hinata—I just am.
When I had opened the door, Hinata and I were greeted to the sight of our friends circling around Sasuke as he tried to hide himself underneath the covers of his bed. Naruto was doing his best to coax Sasuke to come out, but he refused. It was easy to tell that Sasuke was crying, considering his constant sniffing and poor attempts at choking back sobs. After closing the door behind us, Hinata and I joined our friends and Naruto continued with his attempts.
"Sasuke, we're worried about you-ttebayo." Naruto furrowed his brow. "We just want to see if you're okay—"
At that moment, Sasuke pulled the covers off of himself and yelled directly at Naruto, "E-Everyone is gone! There's no one left, but me and Nii-san—what makes you think I'm okay?!"
Naruto flinched at how close Sasuke was to his face and at how loud he had been. Despite this, Naruto didn't falter. He kept his ground and looked Sasuke directly in the eye. "Th-Then stop trying to do everything yourself, dattebayo! You are not alone, dumbass! You have friends—and we're all here for you, dattebayo!"
Sasuke scowled at Naruto, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Do you have any idea how it feels to lose everything?!"
"Yes!" Naruto snapped. "I do—in fact, we all do-ttebayo!"
"Have you not realized that all the time we spent together has also strengthened our bonds with each and every one of our families?" Shino questioned Sasuke. His tone was firm and somewhat stern, catching quite a lot of us by surprise. Shino wasn't the type to speak out like this…but here he is, doing so anyways because it probably feels right to do so. "We might not be on the same wavelength as you and Itachi-san, but we still feel the pain and loss from the tragedy that had occurred last night."
"Wh-Wha?" Sasuke was rendered speechless…as was everyone else.
What Shino had said struck a chord within everyone. Even though we cannot fathom how it must feel to be Itachi and Sasuke, we were still very much affected by the Uchiha Clan Massacre. It's hard to forget the many memories that we made over the years, after all…
"It's the same when Hinata-sama's mother died and when Shisui-san was found dead…" Neji decided to add to Shino's statement.
Chōji nodded. "It's just as Shino said."
"Y-You're not the only one who f-feels it…" Hinata remarked.
"And stop trying to hide!" Shikamaru looked sternly at Sasuke. "It's troublesome enough when Neji-san used to do it, and even more so when Chōko does it—don't start, too."
"Please…you're not alone." Kiba frowned. "You have us…right, leader?"
All attention immediately turned to me. Thanks a lot, Kiba, for putting me in the spotlight. I really appreciate it—now's not the time for sarcasm. I need to be serious for once.
"Sasuke, what happened last night is something we'll never be able to forget." I'm stating the obvious, but honestly… We'll all probably be having nightmares about it for the rest of our lives. "We all saw what you saw and—dammit, if you need to cry, then cry! Please…just don't push us away."
Not when you need us…
Not when we need you.
"Sa-ke not 'lone," Hanabi finally spoke. She had been in the room this entire time, but she was quiet. Even Hanabi, as young as she is, was able to tell something was wrong based on the current atmosphere. Her eyes might have never seen Fugaku and Mikoto's bloody corpses, but she was still there when we were all screaming and crying. She was there, caught up in the godawful atmosphere full of anguish and horror. She didn't see a goddamn thing, but she definitely felt something from it…and I doubt she'll ever forget that night. "Sa-su-ke…not alone."
Sasuke stared at Hanabi. That was the first time she had ever been able to say his entire name, usually calling him "Sa-ke", which sounded exactly like sake (Shisui used to tease Sasuke about it, whenever Hanabi said his name…). And for a two-year-old girl, Hanabi was very perceptive than she let on, as we have only just found out.
When Naruto climbed onto Sasuke's bed to give the Uchiha a hug, Sasuke didn't push him away. He didn't say anything and just stared out, his eyes soon overflowing with tears. A minute passed before Sasuke managed to utter a weak and broken, "Thank you."
And then he broke down into tears.
…
…
When Itachi finally returned from his questioning to pick Sasuke and the rest of us up from the hospital, I couldn't help but wonder what was going through his head when he laid witness to the group of children running away from a couple of nurses. I know he saw, because I yelled out, "Hi Itachi, bye Itachi!" as I passed him.
There was definitely something inappropriate for a bunch of kids to be running around the hospital. Especially if those kids are us, who are still recovering from last night's events. We weren't exactly crying anymore—in fact, we were laughing, because the nurses were just too slow.
Why were we running, you ask? Well, the nurses had tried separating us from each other when it came to their attention that we were no longer in our rooms. But then it quickly came to our attention that we wanted to stay together, so we just got the fuck out of there.
It sounds simple enough, but the nurses weren't exactly so happy with our inability to comply, so they just…started running after us. And so shenanigans ensued, because despite how organized the hospital was, there were still a lot of opening for us kids to get through…
Shikamaru was surprisingly proactive for once, making use of his clan's technique, the Kagemane no Jutsu (AKA, the Shadow Imitation Technique). It's not exactly the best technique to use as the Kagemane is very tiring on the user, but Shikamaru didn't give a damn as he used it to slow down any nearby nurses to allow us some more time to escape when it was clear that we were about to be cornered. I showed my thanks to the baby sloth by carrying him out of there when his legs gave out.
There was just something so hilarious about how easily I can hold up Shikamaru over my head. Shikamaru wasn't exactly amused, but he wasn't complaining because hey, he didn't have to run. Even so, that still didn't stop him from muttering, "How troublesome."
How troublesome, indeed…
After a couple more wacky hospital shenanigans, Itachi finally caught up to us and brought an end to our mayhem. The look of confusion on his face as we used him as a shield to distance us from the angry nurses who stood across from him was priceless. I wondered what was going on through his head, again, as the nurses bitched out at him for all the trouble we caused.
By the end of the afternoon, as we followed Itachi out of the hospital, the older Uchiha looked exhausted. I felt bad for him, but at the same time, I couldn't help but find the situation funny (the whole hospital scenario with the nurses, I mean). And when I started laughing, everyone started laughing as well. Itachi just sighed, but if you looked closely, you could tell that he was smirking. Deep down, despite all the hell the nurses gave him, he found our antics quite amusing.
I know we shouldn't be laughing after what happened last night, but we really needed this moment. Because as we made our way through town, people were whispering as we passed. We couldn't go three minutes without hearing mentions of, "the last Uchiha" and the "Uchiha Clan Massacre". People were mourning, sympathizing, and gossiping about the massacre. And while they had good intentions (or not—you honestly never know with this fucking village), last night's events were the last thing we wanted on our mind.
…
When Itachi tried to drop Chōji and me off at the Akimichi compound, we all hesitated to say goodbye. Like, there was a pause when we tried to say the word. And when Chōji and I tried leaving, Sasuke grabbed us by the arms and told us not to leave.
"Please…don't leave me…" We…weren't in any state to leave each other.
Our families were quite understanding of us when we told them that we would be staying at Naruto's place until further notice. Hiashi was against it at first…but when he tried taking Hanabi away from Sasuke, she started crying. At the sight of how close we were to Itachi and Sasuke, Hiashi sighed and made an exception.
And so, for the next three weeks, we were all living at Naruto's apartment. If we went out, we went out together. We just couldn't bear to be apart from each other. Itachi tried to hide it, but I could tell he didn't want any of us out of his sight. Often, he did a headcount as if to reassure himself that yes, we were all there with him.
Hinata and I did the cooking…because like hell we were trusting any of the guys, aside from Itachi (who is a surprisingly good cook), with the portable stove. By the by, the most Naruto can even do was heat up water using the electric kettle he owned. While on the topic of Naruto, Hinata and I took turns trying to sneak vegetables into his food. We found out that Naruto is the type of person to not pay any attention to what he is eating when thoroughly distracted… Which is good, because I don't like force-feeding Naruto vegetables, as amusing as it was, because seeing Naruto practically hiss at a carrot is entertaining as hell.
And on the fifth day, Hinata and I nearly had a heart attack when we saw Itachi, clad in nothing but a towel, walking into the women's side of the bathhouse to personally drag Naruto back to the men's side. Because Naruto thought it would be funny to sneak into the women's side and I'm just going to say it now…the Oiroke no Jutsu is in the making. I saw the pigtails and Naruto passing as a convincing little blonde girl.
When the hell did he find the time for that?!
Shisui would be proud of Naruto for getting Itachi to do something so bold…and I'm pretty sure all the ladies (mostly girls in their early to late teens) appreciated the view that was Uchiha Itachi clad in nothing but a towel. Yes, he's only thirteen, but Itachi was tall for his age and was riding through puberty on a golden chariot (that lucky asshole!). Also, niiice stomach…and legs (that I wish I had, but I'm only eight, so it'll be a long time before that development even happens—should it happen)…okay, so I appreciated the view as well, so what?!
I can't help it if Itachi is aesthetically attractive… Well, that sounded fucking creepy. It's a good thing I don't have a crush on the guy, or else that would've been even more awkward. In all my nineteen years in my past life, I have managed to develop one crush and one crush only on an actual person (before then, it was on fictional character N Harmonia from Pokémon Black and White—I'm still not over his pretty hair, by the way) and that was during my senior year of high school. It was on a friend of mine who was not looking into getting in a relationship anytime soon with anyone. It was honestly a relief when nothing much changed after I confessed to her. Though, I could've done without the mixed signals I felt afterwards. Really, it was just my luck that I developed a crush on a flirty bisexual jokester who no one could tell when she was being serious or not.
I wonder how everyone else is doing now…
I should probably abandon that train of thought before I start thinking about the friends I've left behind. Dwelling on the past is the last thing I should do, especially now, when I'm still recovering from the trauma I got when I saw Fugaku and Mikoto's bloody corpses. Let me tell you about nightmares—THEY ARE HORRIBLE WHEN THEY ARE ABOUT THINGS YOU'VE ACTUALLY WITNESSED.
It feels like I'm stating the obvious, but really, it's just so bad. I feel like throwing up each time I wake up with my stomach still twisting and turning so unpleasantly. My body trembles so violently and my breaths come out hitched. My head feels lightheaded and the tears—they just won't stop. It's really only a matter of seconds before I wake everyone else up with my loud sobs.
I almost welcome sleep paralysis at this point…then I had the luck of experiencing just that, and it was worse. It was so much worse… None of us got any sleep that night, because I just couldn't stop crying.
I'm not the only who wakes up crying in the middle of the night. It has happened to everyone else at least once, with the exception of Itachi, who makes the excuse of getting a glass of water when he's really going to the bathroom to recover from his nightmare. It's a viable excuse that would have worked on me…had he not used it so consistently over the week.
"Chōko-san, what are you doing?" Can't you see, Itachi? I am hugging you.
"You had a nightmare…" This is the seventh time this week this has happened. I thought we made it clear that we wouldn't be hiding anything from each other concerning the incident. That we would be supporting of each other as we tried to cope with the trauma. It's why we're sleeping together in the same bed, after all… "Accept the hug or I'll wake everyone else."
"Hn…" was all Itachi said, because I doubt he wants to wake any of us up, considering we're sleeping rather soundly today…well, I was, until weasel accidentally woke me up when he left the bed.
Th-Thump th-thump! Th-Thump, th-thump!
It's amazing how fast the human heart could beat. It's almost scary, because it sounds like Itachi's heart could burst at any second. It takes a while for his heartbeat to slow down, but eventually, Itachi manages to calm down. He breathes out and then places a hand on top of my head.
"Thank you," he tells me, before poking me in the forehead. "Now go back to sleep."
I think the nightmares began to lessen near the end of our second week together. During said week, Sasuke and Naruto bought Hinata and me a make-up kit that we could use for practice…and we did use it…and so did Kiba, Naruto, Sasuke, Chōji, and Shikamaru. I swear, we were having so much fun with that make-up kit—it's ridiculous. And Hanabi liked eating the lipstick…Shino said it was a phase. Neji hoped it was.
And after the whole "Nejiko" incident (in which make-up, Neji, and Shisui's camera were involved), Neji stayed particularly quiet when Itachi started commenting on the sudden attention boys have been giving him. Apparently, Itachi hadn't realized that Hinata and I had applied make-up onto his face while he was sleeping. And it was only until a fourteen-year-old boy tried asking Itachi out on a date that he found out about the make-up on his face.
Needless to say, Hinata and I had our foreheads poked hard…but we all had a good laugh out of it. And for the first time in three years, Neji was the one smirking at Itachi.
On the third and final week, Itachi and Sasuke were given access to the Uchiha compound. Everything had been cleaned up since the day of the massacre, but trying to take one step into the place was extremely difficult. Why were we even trying to get into the Uchiha compound when it's the last thing any of us should do, what with the psychological trauma we have? Shisui's ashes…with no one else around to tell us we couldn't, we were going to use his ashes to grow the tree we had picked out for him. That is, if we could actually get to his ashes.
Day one consisted of Naruto having a panic attack after Sasuke opened the door to his house. Right after that, Sasuke took a few steps back and then threw up on the ground. Itachi tried going into the house by himself, but we stopped him upon noticing how much his body was shaking as he neared the entrance. Itachi might have been an ANBU captain, but he still is only thirteen. Shinobi life or not, human is human and like hell we were going to let Itachi force himself to enter a place we now associate with a traumatic event…not by himself at least.
Of course, I doubt any of us were ready on day one to enter, so we left the Uchiha compound and ate ramen at Ichiraku Ramen.
Day two consisted of us taking a few steps into the house before Hanabi started crying and whatever nerve we had was lost in the moment as we left the house to try and calm her down. We are not giving up, by the way. Shisui, we're coming for you!
Today is just not that day…
…
On day three, we spent an afternoon just sitting around the entrance of Itachi and Sasuke's home. We managed to make it in and we were at least capable of staying longer than ten minutes. And come the next day, we were able to walk around the area. Though, when we neared the location where Fugaku and Mikoto's bloody corpses once laid…we immediately left.
On day five, we managed to make more progress than usual and actually made it past the spot that was giving us trouble… Then Shikamaru tripped and fell on his face and when Kiba smelled the blood coming from Shikamaru's nose, he bolted from the house and emptied the contents of his stomach into a couple of nearby bushes. I wouldn't blame Kiba for reacting that way, considering that he now associated the scent of fresh blood with that incident…we'll eventually help him get over that or at least help him cope.
For now, the quest to procure Shisui's ashes was still on!
…
On day six, our little friend in the shadows decided to help us out. For the first time since we have met him, he finally spoke to us and it was to help us get through our trauma, step by step, as we made our way to Uchiha graveyard. He stayed with us the entire time until we left the house, with Shisui's ashes in our possession.
We stayed still for a moment, not knowing what to do with the urn of ashes we had finally succeeded in securing. Once it set in that we actually succeeded in getting Shisui, without any poor bird imitations from the baby sloth to ruin everything, we started celebrating. We left the Uchiha compound and made it to the nearest Akimichi dango shop around to eat a couple of skewers of dango each. Afterwards, we went to Yamanaka Flowers and handed Shisui's ashes over to Ino's father, Inoichi. Ino had already managed to get the magnolia she had picked out for us to start sprouting.
And by the end of the afternoon, we had everything we needed to for Shisui's tree…except a place to plant it.
"Where are we going to plant it?" Naruto asked out loud.
At that moment, our little friend in the shadows dropped by to hand Itachi a set of keys and a map with directions. We spent a couple of minutes just staring at Itachi as he looked at the keys and map he was given.
"I think we should follow the directions on the map," Chōji decided to break the silence between all of us.
"That is a good idea," Itachi remarked.
…
The directions on the map led us to a house near the forest. At least, it looked like a house—like one of those traditional Japanese houses. As we neared the house, we noticed the door and then looked at Itachi, who still had the keys in his hand. It took a couple a minutes, but we soon found the right key that opened the door to the house.
It was a two-story house…and it was a little dusty, but otherwise, clean. As we looked around the house, Shikamaru found that there was a message behind the map Itachi was given. It was from the Sandaime, explaining that this place was now Naruto's new home. Naruto was ecstatic, even more so when he saw the backyard. It was pretty green, for a house that was uninhabited…almost as though someone had been caring for the greenery in their spare time.
We eventually found a spot to plant Shisui's tree. Kiba was quick to dig a hole in a manner similar to a dog digging a hole to bury their bone. Right after, we planted the tree and Naruto watered it.
"Shi-nii happy!" Hanabi exclaimed as she clapped her hands.
We all looked at Shisui's tree and then at Hanabi as she gently patted the little sprout. She was right…Shisui probably was happy.
…
…
We helped Naruto moved his belongings to his new home. Our little friend in the shadows also helped out as well. It was late in the evening when we had finally finished moving everything over from the apartment into the new house…everything except the stove and refrigerator. Naruto's house came with both. It had running water, working bathrooms (two of them) and even a room with a huge bathtub, so no more trips to the bathhouse for Naruto!
Of course, Naruto did say he would still go to the bathhouse from time to time…I swear, if I see him sneaking into the women's side one more time, I will smack him upside the head. If he wants to work on improving his Oiroke no Jutsu, let him do it in his spare time, when Hinata and I are not taking a bath!
Our little friend in the shadows gave Naruto an orange baby blanket and a stuffed dog toy. When he tried asking about it, the ANBU just left without saying a word. Naruto blinked and looked at the baby blanket and stuffed animal. It took him a few seconds to put two and two together before he grinned widely and hugged the stuffed dog toy.
"This is mine, isn't it?!" Naruto looked at all of us. "It has to be!"
I found myself looking at Itachi, who had his head turned away from the scene. Methinks he knows the truth of the blanket and stuffed animal…but he's staying quiet. I'm guessing they were keepsakes from Kushina and Minato…if they are, then I'm glad Naruto has them.
…
The next day, we woke up in Naruto's new house. It was oddly refreshing to wake up in a new place… And there was just something about looking at Shisui's tree, thriving in the sunlight. Naruto was definitely happy, and so were we.
And for the first time in three weeks, I felt as if we were going to be okay. We were able to go our separate ways and return home. Itachi and Sasuke stayed with Naruto, as Naruto had offered them a place to stay with him. I think that was honestly the first time I have ever seen Itachi smile like that.
…
…
Our summer vacation soon came to an end and classes at the Academy resumed. One thing we had to deal with upon returning to the Academy was the attention that the other students gave us because we were there on the night the Uchiha clan was massacred. It was rather stressful, especially when some of the girls tried separating Sasuke from us. Even Ino, despite having a crush on Sasuke, knew better than to do that to the poor kid. Which is why she decided to scare off every girl that tried to approach our group.
Sakura seemed oddly proud of Ino when she dropped by to pick up her friend. And what of Sasuke? He was busy looking at the forsythia flower that had been left at his seat in class, every day for the past week. The reason why he found the flower so peculiar is because it was the same flower that had been left for him in his hospital room.
A forsythia, or a rengyou, was a yellow flower that meant, "Hope" in hanakotoba. Whoever was leaving Sasuke the flower meant well, so there was no harm in receiving the flower… Sasuke seemed oddly content when he learned the flower's meaning. Though, now he, and the rest of us, could only wonder…who was it that was leaving him the flower?
A month passed, and Sasuke continued receiving the flower. The identity of the giver was still unknown, but Sasuke wasn't concerned. He was just intrigued and when he tried asking Ino about it, she just laughed it off and said it was a secret. At this point, Sakura just stopped pulling Ino away and stayed with us.
In a way, Ino and Sakura became part of our circle of friends…but only during lunchtime, because Ino and Sakura were busy girls after classes. Ino had to help her family run their flower shop and Sakura had her medic-nin training. Still, it was nice seeing Ino completing the Ino-Shika-Chō trio…and Sakura completing Team Kakashi. Haha, I befriended the entire Rookie 9.
It was so unreal…but there they were—together…and where did I belong?
I find myself thinking about that quite often. I had a place as their friend, and leader—I won't deny it anymore. But when I started thinking about the future, I worried about Sakura. Would she still be part of Team Kakashi? Or will she be placed on someone else's team?
It's a reasonable concern, and I'm still hoping there's still a chance Sakura will be with Sasuke and Naruto, especially with how well they're getting along. Their relationship is quite different than it would have been, four years ago, had I not replaced Sakura in class.
Ino and Sakura are still friends and I'm honestly happy about it. They knew their boundaries whenever they came across a topic we weren't that willing to share with them just yet. They have a lot to learn about us, but this is a good start as any.
When Naruto turned eight, he received a gift from Iruka-sensei that consisted of his iconic green goggles. Sakura and Ino joined us that day when the Sandaime took us out for ramen at Ichiraku Ramen. Sarutobi looked strained as he paid Teuchi and Ayame, but otherwise content with how we were doing.
A few days later, it was Shisui's sixteenth birthday… Well, it would have been, had he still been alive. Even so, we weren't going to spend the day as any other day, as we had on Shikamaru's eighth birthday. No…we were going to spend it as Shisui would have done.
Starting by sneaking out of class!
Ino and Sakura stayed behind, since they didn't want to intrude on something that seemed so personal to us. Ino said she would cover for us so Iruka-sensei wouldn't notice we were gone, which would help a lot. Even though Neji wasn't part of his class, Iruka-sensei still treated him as though he was.
The first thing we did after sneaking out of class was head to an Akimichi dango shop. Afterwards, we all made our way to Naruto's house to pay Shisui's tree a visit. Upon nearing Naruto's house, we got sidetracked by a little white snake that crossed our path. Normally, we'd just ignore it, but it was a white snake and I thought it looked cute…leave me alone, I think a lot of things are cute!
Especially birds…god, I love birds…
"Do you think it's poisonous?" Naruto said as he poked at the snake with a stick.
"Venomous, Naruto-kun…you mean to ask if it is venomous," Shino corrected.
Naruto made a face. "What's the difference?"
"Venomous and poisonous differ on how the toxin is delivered," Shikamaru explained.
Yeah, I heard this explanation before. "In the case of a snake, it would be through a bite—Naruto, stop poking the poor snake."
"But we don't know if it's venomous!" Naruto whined. "I don't want it biting any of us…"
"We should leave it alone, then," Neji remarked.
"Can we just look at it a little longer?" It's been a while since I've seen a snake and I really do find snakes adorable…I'm weird. I think I've already established that. Besides, I'm having some memories of this shouji manga I once read, called Kamisama Hajimemashita. Something about white snakes being familiars of Kami…
"Just d-don't let it bite you…" Hinata warned.
"I think Naruto should stop poking it, then," Chōji said.
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, it might get mad and bite if you keep doing that."
"And venomous or not, that would still hurt…" Aww, Kiba, did you have a bad experience with snakes?
"It is not venomous, if that is what you are concerned about." Who said that? Better question…how do they know?
"How do you know—" I trailed off after turning around to see who it was that had spoken to us. I felt my heart beginning to pound as I found myself staring at red clouds on black cloth. As my eyes slowly trailed up, I soon found myself staring into a pair of golden eyes with slits for pupils that belonged to an extremely pale-skinned man with long, black hair.
There was only one person I knew who fit that description…and that was Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin of Konohagakure…who had defected from said village and, based on his current attire, joined the Akatsuki and was currently an active member.
We were looking at an S-ranked missing-nin…of course, only I knew that and that was a fucking problem. I can really think three words and three words only…
OH GOD WHY?!
…
…
…
3-13-18 EDITS STILL ON THE WAY, THERE IS A NEW SHIPPING POLL UP!
A/N BAM! CLIFFHANGER! Yeah, I'm a horrible person, but give me a break. I already feel bad enough for the entire trauma I've given these characters. I mean, look at poor Kiba and his negative reaction to blood—like really.
Also, if anyone is wondering who could have killed off the entire Uchiha clan, since it wasn't Itachi…who else could have done it? Recall that Itachi didn't singlehandedly kill off his own clan and you'll get your answer.
That aside, the mention of crushes and stuff came up in this chapter…and this is probably the best time to discuss the question of whether or not Chōko will eventually fall in love, because I have gotten questions about it. And she will…however, it's complicated and the reason it's complicated because Chōko is asexual. And for people wondering what that means, basically, Chōko doesn't experience sexual attraction.
What she does experience, is romantic attraction, which is a feeling that causes people to desire a romantic relationship with a specific other person. Someone who does not experience romantic attraction would be aromantic. Just thought I'd add that in. And just because Chōko is asexual doesn't mean she can't find people aesthetically attractive. She's been doing that a lot, if you haven't noticed…Himawari is a major example.
Also, as far as I have seen, Neji/Chōko and Shikamaru/Chōko have gotten some support. Pairings aren't that set in stone yet, unless otherwise, but I am intrigued with what everyone thinks of whom Chōko should end up with (so far, Neji is in the lead). And I'm just gonna say it right now…I ship based on chemistry. I could care less about gender, as I'm pretty open-minded, if you guys haven't noticed. Hope nobody minds.
Moving on, Ino and Sakura have joined the circle of friends…but they're rather busy, so they're only school friends, for the most part. And Sasuke seems to have a secret supporter, who is giving him hope. Rest assured, it isn't Nagito Komaeda from Super Dangan Ronpa 2 giving him the forsythia flowers. This ain't no crossover fic.
And Naruto's moved out of his apartment and into a new home, where our favorite dog-masked ANBU gave him a stuffed dog and an orange baby blanket as a welcoming present. That should be enough hints as to explain the previous owners of Naruto's new house. I could be direct, but meh, I like being ambiguous.
Itachi and Sasuke are now living with Naruto, so that's something. Also, no one likes to visit the Uchiha compound for reasons involving trauma (they're still coping with that, by the way)…they only managed to make it as far as they did because of Shisui. And there are reasons why Itachi would have been suspected as the killer…but I won't say it now.
Anyways, I'd like to give credit to my friend, UnstableFable, for giving me the idea of Naruto not being aware of what he is eating when thoroughly distracted.
Shout out to Mikki18 for being reviewer #70 and just wow…I'm almost at 80 reviews. I feel quite accomplished! So thank you very much, you guys, for taking the time to review! I also appreciate the support I got from you guys in regards to the rude anon review I got. So, once again…thank you! ^^ Oh, and an honorable mention goes to pinkus-pyon and, by the way, I picked Torchic for Omega Ruby and I'll be doing the same for Alpha Sapphire…I just like Torchic—it's a bird that eventually evolves into a kickboxing chicken.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please excuse the mood whiplash in this chapter! So, until next time, everyone! KD out! XD