Ch: 16 The Play

Those jaws were not human.

The way they stretched and stretched and continued to stretch—Sasuke and Sakura could only watch in horror as the alien funneled a full-sized scroll down his throat.

"S-Sakura…?"

He got no response. He looked to his right—

Shit.

It was no good. Fear had already taken over—she couldn't hear him right now. Her rigid body was still as a sculpture, only animated by her muddied, trembling fingers, her nails violently clawing into the earth.

They were only Genin. They had no choice but to flee. Otherwise death would be certain.

"Can't move already?" Orochimaru taunted, as if their lives were a joke.

Move. Move. Move.

Sasuke needed his weapon. It was right there. He was so close.

Even if it was just a little… move!

Sasuke's pouch was holstered on his thigh, within arm's reach, yet to extend and grab a kunai was an impossible, daunting task, as his body felt like it was being crushed solely by the air of bloodthirst around them.

"Don't worry. You won't even have time to feel pain. I'd hoped to be entertained—it's too bad that it'll be over within a second."

Sasuke couldn't let it happen. He couldn't die in the Forest of Death, during the Chunin exams, and he couldn't let Sakura be killed right in front of his eyes.

And so he took her and ran as fast as he could.

He didn't know how. His body moved on its own, out of pure instinct to survive, to protect someone close to him—all because he'd made a vow to never let a comrade die.

It was only a moment later, when they reached safety, when he realized that he'd stabbed himself in the leg to break the spell of fear that had overcome the both of them.

"Sasuke—are you okay?" Sakura asked, breathing hard.

He wasn't sure. But they had bigger problems. They were still alive, somehow, but they wouldn't be for long unless they figured out a plan.

Sasuke fell back against the tree. He winced from the pain of his wound, though he tried not to, otherwise she'd only worry. He clamped down on the inside of his lip to prevent himself from screaming as he ripped the kunai out of his body.

Sakura leaned forward on her hands and knees. Her concerned, teary eyes bore into his.

"Are you okay, Sasuke?"

He put a hand over her mouth.

"Be quiet, Sakura. We can't get discovered."

"Where's our stuff?" Sasuke demanded.

Sakura better not have lost it. He didn't entrust that sword to just anybody.

"S'okay, I put 'em away," she slurred, still clutching her stolen bucket of money. Then she hiccuped.

Sasuke ran an irritated hand through his hair as he studied her. She really took it too far. Judging from her candidness, Sakura was going to be drunk for a while.

But that wasn't why he was irritated.

He was irritated at the fact that his body suffered an involuntary twinge of panic when her chakra disappeared, sending him flying down the street like a maniac with his Sharingan blazing red. Even Naruto had to tell him to keep his cool.

Her fault. Sakura was a fucking child.

"Fine, whatever," he grumbled in response. "Let's see if there's an inn up the hill."

He had to get her somewhere else. She was too drunk and it would be too easy for them to exacerbate their mess of a cover, which by this point, could probably not be made worse if they held large, bright, self-identifying shinobi labels up in the air.

Maybe she'd make it easy for him. Maybe, just maybe, she'd follow him to an inn, where she'd fall asleep, quietly, so that he could continue the search for the scroll on his own, unimpeded. Maybe he'd be even luckier and their inn would be close to that carpet store Tsuta told him about.

It was pitiful that this would indeed be the best part of his night if it happened.

And so he began their journey in the opposite direction of where Naruto went off to, away from the bustle of the streets and towards a less-paved path covered by shrubs and trees. The road was mostly dirt with no street lights, but Sasuke could see lit buildings at the top of the hill that marked their destination.

After a couple minutes of silence, Sasuke checked behind him.

Sakura was still there.

Good.

Every few seconds or so, he had to double check to see if she was still following. It would just be annoying if she disappeared again, and he couldn't trust that she wouldn't cause even more of a ruckus if she managed to escape his watch.

Out of nowhere, Sasuke felt someone's presence.

He stopped.

Behind?

Sasuke scanned their peripherals until he felt Sakura crash into his back. It knocked her backwards, likely giving her vertigo in her inebriated state.

"Hey!"

He watched as she brought a hand to her forehead to steady her dizzying vision. He received a dirty look from her when she finished.

"Thought I felt something. It's nothing," he said.

He wasn't about to apologize. This entire thing was her fault anyway. Someone had to be cautious.

It wasn't until he heard a third and fourth pair of fast-approaching footsteps when he realized that he'd been right to suspect something all along.

Sure enough, a few moments later, there they were—two men hiking down the middle of the street. They began to pick up their pace as they got closer to Sasuke and Sakura, almost to the point of jogging.

Sasuke tensed.

With all the recent events and local tips, Sasuke knew that under no circumstance should they confirm they were shinobi. Doing so would hinder their ability to re-obtain the scroll in the best case scenario, and possibly put multiple targets on their backs in the worst.

The men reached into their pockets.

Weapons?

Just when Sasuke braced himself for a confrontation, they simply crossed his path in a hasteful way without casting the two of them a second glance.

False alarm?

Probably up to no good, though.

Sasuke checked behind him once again.

Sakura was still there.

He was starting to feel a little obsessive with how often he had to do that.

Damn it.

"Here," he bossed, pointing forward to some empty space. "Walk in front of me."

"S'kay... yeesh.." She slapped the air where she probably thought his hands were, and stumbled to her new position. "Don't manhand...manhandle me."

Ridiculous.

Sasuke found relief in the fact that he could easily keep an eye on her if she stayed in front of him. But that relief was short-lived when he realized that for some reason it did offer relief, and then his irritation grew.

Why did he even care so much?

Sasuke's eyes kept tugging themselves away from the road in front of them and onto the back of Sakura's head, where the resentment only continued to bubble up inside of him.

"Careless," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"To—" she hiccuped. "Do wha...?" she asked, nonchalantly.

"You shouldn't have drank that much. You lost control of the situation and almost blew our cover because of it."

Sakura continued walking ahead. She didn't respond to his comment.

It would be better to just give up the effort, he decided. She probably wouldn't remember much of what he was saying anyway.

Annoying, Sasuke thought to himself for the third time that night.

As he continued to glare at her from behind, Sasuke's eyes trickled down her back, down to where she'd been groped earlier.

The memory of Sakura crushing the man's wandering hand was consoling, at least. Sasuke smirked as he replayed the earlier scene in his head.

He couldn't blame the guy for trying. After being around Karin—a self-conscious woman who preferred to keep her body thin—for so long, Sasuke learned to appreciate the beauty of a voluptuous shape.

Take what was in front of him, for example. The sway of those hips with those thigh-high boots… the way that tight skirt only accentuated her—

The fuck was he doing?

Stop, he scolded himself. He couldn't soil the memory of Team 7 with animalistic thoughts about his teammate.

He shot his arms out and grabbed Sakura's shoulders from behind.

"Ah!—wha...?"

"Actually…walk next to me." Forcefully, he scooted her to his side.

That was much better.

Just then, Sasuke could've sworn he saw something move in the corner of his eye.

Was he being paranoid?

Something moved on the other side, behind a tree in the shadows.

No. It was real this time.

"Sakura," he whispered.

"Yeah?"

Shit. She was supposed to be the sensory-type, not him.

He was going to ask if she could run. Or fight. The fact that he saw a shadow before she even sensed a presence meant that it would be stupid to ask her to do anything right now.

"Come with me." Sasuke pulled her arm and trekked in the opposite direction of the hill.

"W-whaddya mean? But the—" she hiccuped. "Top o' the hill is that way!"

"I forgot something," Sasuke said a little extra loudly. Maybe he still had a chance to keep their covers intact. It'd be best to get to the crowded streets where he'd be able to camouflage and gather info.

Eventually, after a few minutes, the familiar base of the hill neared, and Sasuke saw a few strangers milling about. Good.

Now walking at a brisk pace, they entered the bustling streets again, and Sasuke began zig-zagging through the crowds as unpredictably as possible. He crossed the road, looped around the end of the street, and then crossed the road a second time, watching the reactions of those around him.

That person—was he following their pattern?

The person in question walked by and entered the bar behind them.

No. He wasn't following them.

Sasuke looked around again. The makeup of this crowd was different each time, meaning that nobody in their immediate vicinity was tailing them.

"Hey—we're going in circles," Sakura finally said after the third loop.

He scoffed. At least she wasn't completely gone.

Courtesy of Sakura's near-meltdown at the bar, whoever was tailing them could've been anybody—a goon coming to get his stolen money back, the creep who was hitting on her earlier, a drug-trafficking criminal protecting their territory. Sasuke also couldn't eliminate the possibility of shinobi, either.

"Sasuke...?"

"We're being followed—don't look," he directed. "Stay beside me."

Sakura kept her eyes to the floor and followed in his footsteps.

There. It was subtle, but their stalker finally made a mistake. Sasuke saw the same hooded figure on both sides of the street earlier, which was too specific with the pattern they walked to be a coincidence.

"Found him. Let's hide," he told her.

But what could they use?

No weapons… no jutsu. They were trying to blend in, not attract attention; confrontation was to be avoided.

Sasuke evaluated the architecture around them. Similar to Tsunade's favorite city, Tanzaku Quarters, some of Yukkao's downtown housed civilians in the upper floors with storefronts underneath them.

Those buildings on the next street over were tall and tightly-spaced enough.

Perfect.

Sasuke continued to walk speedily, now with his arm around Sakura, guiding her along without looking like he was hurried.

It was just a matter of timing...

Wait for it.

…

…

Now!—

As a particularly loud cluster of patrons approached, Sasuke turned a sharp corner and hurled the two of them into a narrow alley between two buildings. The landing wasn't particularly graceful, but he'd managed to do it without being seen.

"What the fuck—"

He clamped a hand over her mouth for the second time that week. "Be quiet, Sakura. We can't get discovered."

When Sakura's eyes reflected an acceptable minimum level of understanding, he released his grip.

"I can fight, y'kno…" she whispered.

He glared. She'd better not do what he thought she was about to do.

She began to raise a fist. "See, look—"

Sasuke forced both of her arms down, keeping them locked by her sides with his hands on her wrists. "Stop that. Back up some more," he instructed, scooting her deeper into the shadows until he had her pinned against the wall, where no one would be able to sneak up on her while he was monitoring the street.

She gulped loudly.

"S-sasuke...are you…" Sakura stammered. "Is this the play I think it is?"

"What play?" Sasuke asked, absentmindedly.

A shadow crossed the alley and made its way back again.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Was that the same guy?

He thought maybe they'd lost their tail with the last-minute duck into the alley.

It looked like they hadn't.

In his peripheral vision, he could feel Sakura staring.

"Rule forty five of the shinobi handbook... make conce—"

"What?" Sasuke snapped his attention to her.

He knew what she was going to say, but didn't want her to say it out loud. Make concessions to avoid being made.

Leave it to miss smartypants to remember the handbook. She always got better grades than he.

Rule 45 was an espionage tactic from Konoha's handbook. If caught sneaking around in enemy territory, sacrifice dignity and disguise the activity as something relatively harmless. For a male and female pair, i.e them, it usually meant pretending to be two lovers with no self control—something most people wouldn't scrutinize. Cliches were cliches because they worked.

"No," Sasuke said, furrowing his brows. "Just be quiet."

He wasn't that desperate, was he?

Surprisingly, she followed his directions and refrained from making a snide remark, only staring at his lips with half-lidded eyes.

Just then, he became conscious of his breath. And how close they were standing. And how easy it would be to close the gap between them.

Sasuke clenched his jaw and figuratively kicked himself in the head to get his mind out of the gutter once again.

"Where'd they go?!" A man's voice suddenly boomed from afar.

More footsteps shuffled outside the alley.

It was now clear to Sasuke that they were being followed by mere civilians. A nuisance, definitely, but they'd disappear on their own if they became discouraged enough. Confrontation was pointless.

Sasuke leaned into Sakura some more, resting his hand on the wall and blocking off her view with his shoulder.

She rested her forehead against him, and to his irritation, began fidgeting with his shirt.

"Stay still and be quiet." Sasuke used his free hand to brush her fingers off him.

Her pink, flushed lips became pouty. She lifted her head and put her face real close to his ear, where he could smell the sweet alcohol on her breath. "Or you'll what?"

I have my ways, Sasuke thought to himself, resentfully.

Why was his imagination running wild? It was this damned city.

"Hmm?" challenged Sakura.

"I'll use genjutsu on you. What else?" he grumbled into her ear, more in assurance to himself that he hadn't meant something else.

To Sasuke's relief, she didn't respond to that. He was about to relax when—

"Try it."

He forgot that she was good at dispelling those. Dammit.

"Or I'll knock you out, alright?" he hissed under his breath, his patience running dangerously low.

"Let's split up. You go that way!" another voice called from afar.

A man's silhouette appeared just outside the alley. "They should be around here," the shadow said.

Sasuke stiffened.

There were multiple people searching for them now.

The man just outside the alley was getting a bit too close to them for comfort.

It was all Sakura's fault for not being cooperative.

"S'if you could knock me out," Sakura said suddenly, loudly. "I'm not the same—"

Sasuke clamped his hand over her mouth. Again.

"What was that?"

"I think it was coming from over there."

Shit.

"Shh," Sasuke said, whispering directly into Sakura's ear.

She murmured something underneath his fingers, but the words were muffled and he couldn't quite hear what she was trying to say. It was probably something stupid anyway.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her immaturity and tried to ignore the tingling sensation of her moving lips.

The silhouette from just outside the alley was only a few yards away now, inching closer and closer with every passing second.

A critical moment approached—one that would reveal if confrontation was necessary.

Sasuke hoped that the man wouldn't see them hiding in the dark shadows and would simply leave without incident.

He looked to the depth of the building's shadows to calculate the probability of that happening.

A sharp line separated the lit dirt and the shadows where he and Sakura were.

If the man so much as put one toe across that line, he'd be walking into dangerous territory—Sasuke would make him unconscious before he could make out two shinobi hiding in the dark.

It wouldn't be ideal, but at least whoever was tailing them wouldn't be able to see their faces, and Sasuke could keep their covers intact.

Suddenly, something warm, wet, and slimy slicked against the inside of his palm.

His stomach leaped. Sasuke snapped his eyes to the culprit, who had hostile defiance in her jade eyes.

He was at a loss of words.

Was that Sakura's tongue?

"Hey! Who's there?!"

Shit.

Sasuke missed his chance. They were spotted.

There was only one play from here.

"Sakura, kiss me."

Unknown

They didn't know that they were still being watched, right at this moment.

He thought He'd been spotted by little Sasuke-kun. It turned out to not be the case at all, courtesy of the distraction provided by those civilian roughnecks along the road earlier. What an interesting twist of fate these past few days have been.

First, the coincidence that He'd run into his favorite Genin team from Konoha—He'd no idea that they'd been reunited. How sweet.

Next, the ambush on them the other night—who was behind it? What was the objective?

The poison used on Team 7 on the night they were ambushed was undoubtedly His own creation. He just didn't know which one of His customers deployed it.

He'd been watching from the shadows ever since then. And the longer He watched, the more it seemed He was being rewarded for it.

He had to admit, it was exciting to discover that his creation was used on none other than His favorite Genin team from Konoha. It wasn't like the last time, when His experiment accidentally ended up in the water supply of that civilian village and everyone whined more than anything else. It was a waste of some good materials.

No. This was much better.

He couldn't think of anyone more perfectly suited to be His guinea pigs. Not only that—He was lucky enough to witness the aftereffects, which carried some unexpected developments.

Based on Sasuke-kun's reaction to the hallucinogenic that night, the poison worked exactly as it was designed to do.

But little Sakura-chan revealed such fascinating intel on the current state of affairs. It seemed the kunoichi was under the false impression that her parents had been tortured and killed.

Somehow, someone had artificially planted a state of confusion or psychological torment into her mind.

And interestingly enough, it was bringing out some colors in Sasuke-kun's personality. The way he had Sakura-chan pinned against the wall right now only proved it.

Who ambushed them? And more importantly... who, oh who, was the puppet master behind little Sakura-chan's mysterious condition? The grand-master behind the whole plan? What was the final objective?

He supposed He could use a little break from His experiments to find out.

"Itachi, aren't you supposed to be some kinda fuckin' mastermind?! How could this happen?"

"It's another thing to plan for stupidity," Kisame said. "Itachi never had to do it until now."

"I wasn't talkin' to you, piece of shit. Shark fin soup sounds good tonight, ya prick!"

Itachi tried to tune out the noise. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

The Chunin's eyes had rolled to the back of his head. His mouth was open, his saliva dripping down the sides.

Itachi propped up his slouched body against a wall, behind the old shack where they originally picked him up.

"M-nggh…mnmm..." the man droned like a monk in meditation, repeating words Itachi couldn't distinguish.

Itachi released his grip and the Leaf shinobi slumped to the ground.

"This one doesn't know."

"Then how're we going to find that bitch? The path to Iwa's fuckin' huge," Hidan complained. "And I can't stand this hat!" He took off the straw hat for the eleventh time, Itachi guessed, and shook his hair like a wild dog.

"Wear it," Itachi told him. "Your identity will be protected by my genjutsu only if you wear it."

"Unfortunate," Kisame said. "I've been wanting to say hello to my old friend. Seems it will be a missed opportunity."

Itachi's teammates were being too boisterous for his liking.

"Our only goal is to obtain information about the Jinchuriki's whereabouts. We're not fit for confrontation or more advanced genjutsu right now. And, frankly Kisame, I'm not sure Guy would remember you."

Hidan howled with laughter.

Itachi would apologize to Kisame later. Truth be told, he himself was in quite a sorry state, and his health was continuing to decline as he maintained the jutsu on Sakura. They needed to find her and capture the Jinchuriki, quickly.

Like Hidan said, this shouldn't have happened. Itachi hadn't anticipated that the communication scroll would've been tampered with. He also hadn't anticipated that Team 7 wouldn't be in the village.

"This is the farthest we'll get into Konoha without being caught," said Itachi.

It was far enough. At least they were able to confirm two things—that Team 7 was on its way to Iwa, and Kakashi, Yamato, and all the usual guardians of the Jinchuriki were still in Konoha.

This alone was enough for Akatsuki to make its move.

It was unlikely, but it could prove inconvenient if a third party somehow found out about his jutsu. He had little control over Sakura's movements and interactions now. This was an issue of containment.

And for that, he could send a clone.

Sakura made her way up the hill next to Sasuke, now long past the bustling streets of downtown, and regrettably, long past when the bliss of alcohol had left her body.

God had no mercy.

She'd said stupid things. Done stupid things. Thought stupid things. Things she could not take back. Things that she would remember. Things that he would remember.

And she really needed to get her hands on some damn mouthwash. Pronto.

It wasn't really a kiss. She'd failed at the last second, and ended up smashing her nose on Sasuke's face. When she tried again, she missed his lips. Really, not a convincing sight—especially not to the drunk men who'd found them.

In the end, Sasuke lost his patience and knocked them out. It would undoubtedly cause future headaches when the man woke up and told all his friends what happened.

Don't say anything. Don't make eye contact. Just—

"…We're here."

Huh?

She almost walked right past their destination—a quaint, traditional Japanese inn, built of wood and elevated slightly off the ground with a thatched roof.

She supposed she would have appreciated it.

If she wasn't so busy dying of humiliation.

But with this inn, the promise of solitude neared, and so Sakura eagerly slid the door open to where she'd soon be given her own room. Where she could get her shit together. In peace.

The action jingled a bell, announcing her arrival. Sasuke came in behind her and slid it shut again, sounding off the bell for a second time.

"Welcome," said a plump woman as she approached the front desk. "A room for the lovely couple? We have a king-sized bed available."

Gross.

Sakura wrinkled her nose. "Actually—"

"Yes, thank you," Sasuke interrupted as he rested a hand on the small of her back. "For one night."

What?

"N-no wait—"

The woman already left to prepare a key, leaving Sakura with her finger up in the air.

"Sasuke. What was that."

"Let people think what they think—we don't want to draw attention to ourselves," he replied, as smooth as ever. "When Naruto gets here, you can switch with him."

Of course it was characteristic of Sasuke to think three steps ahead. Sakura didn't get a chance to retort before the woman came back into the room, handing her two towels and a key.

The towels were shaped into hearts.

Sakura felt herself die a little on the inside.

"Just up the stairs and down the hall, the last room on your right."

Fuck it all.

"Fine. Let's go," Sakura mumbled to Sasuke. Before I punch a crater into this damn place.

They headed up the squeaky stairs as instructed, and sure enough, came to the door in which the faded number on her key matched what was written on the wood in front of her face.

This was it.

Sakura tucked the towels under her arm to free up her hands to unlock it.

On second thought...

With one hand on the doorknob, she faced Sasuke. "When Naruto gets here, you can room with him," she said in a mocking tone, mirroring his earlier statement. "I'm taking this one."

"It's not like I've never seen you in your underwea—"

Sakura hurled a towel at his face, cutting him off. She wanted it to startle him, but to her dismay, he caught it before it even unraveled out of its heart shape, which was even more maddening.

She knew he was referring to the night he first came back to Konoha, when she healed his injury wearing only a baggy t-shirt.

"You throw like you kiss."

Sakura's cheeks erupted with heat.

He did not just—

The way one side of Sasuke's mouth twitched upwards told her that yes, he did just.

"That was—I was—I don't kiss like—"

What was she even trying to say?

Forget it.

He was only trying to get a rise out of her. He'd been doing that ever since he came back, even though she couldn't recall him ever giving her so much as a simple hello when they were kids.

Instead of standing there and allowing him to see that he was succeeding, Sakura kicked the door open, stormed inside, and slammed it shut behind her.

She could feel him smirking even through the wall. She'd kill him one day for sure. She'd just have to tell Itachi that Sasuke fell onto his own sword.

While she was busy daydreaming about what that might be like, the sound of retreating footsteps signaled that perhaps Sasuke had gone off to bother someone else.

Finally. With him gone, she could get the peace and quiet she deserved.

Now, with nothing distracting her, the wave of exhaustion finally caught up. Mentally, physically, emotionally—it was all too much. Even standing there behind the door felt like the last stretch of a marathon that she'd never signed up for, and she almost didn't know what to do with herself.

Sakura looked at the bed. Then she looked down to her outfit.

Laying down now would only be uncomfortable. Her clothes were filthy and she needed to catch up on some personal hygiene, otherwise she likely wouldn't get good sleep even if she tried.

Mustering the last of her energy, she headed to the shower.

...And that's when it came flooding in. Thoughts. Images. Emotions.

Up until this point, they'd been so busy that she didn't even have time to process all that happened.

Outside, her missions, her irritating teammates, and all their material problems only got worse with time, as if each obstacle continued to grow thorny, out-of-control tentacles, unraveling a new setback at every corner they turned. And in here, within the closed-off bathroom and caving walls, anxiety and stress followed her like ghosts.

What was she going to do?

She couldn't go to Iwa empty-handed. And if she returned to Konoha as a failure, Tsunade might be pressured to disband Team 7. And if that happened, who knew when her next chance to lure the Jinchuriki outside would be? Then she'd never get what she truly wanted, which was to help Leader end the suffering of all shinobi.

Compared to Itachi and the others, she was quite possibly the most useless member of Akatsuki.

Sakura breathed in some of the steam to calm her mind, picturing that the warm, humid air was cleansing her airway and nostrils.

She had to turn this shit-show around. Whatever it took.

She could admit that her actions earlier in the night were a mistake. Getting drunk on the job was wrong and ill-fitting for an elite kunoichi, even if it originally stemmed from needing to get close to a lead.

When the mission first started, she made it a goal for her to simply keep the Jinchuriki and Sasuke from dying, which was the absolute bare minimum she could get away with. She'd kept them at arm's length this entire time, ignored Sasuke's warnings repeatedly, their teamwork suffered, and everything was a disaster.

That clearly wasn't going to cut it.

Right now, she was the weakest link on Team 7. She needed to be closer to them. So that they could be a team rather than three individuals where it was every man for himself.

She'd start with Sasuke—they were always at odds.

Fifteen or so minutes later, with her revised objectives in place, Sakura hung her towel and dressed herself in the silk slip she received from Hinata. It was all that was left of her clean clothes. She began soaping her laundry in the bathroom sink, grateful to have the room to herself so nobody else would see her in basically nothing.

But around two minutes in, she thought she heard something—or did she?

Quickly, she turned off the faucet and listened carefully.

Knock.

Someone was there.

"One minute!"

When she hung her clothes, she dashed across the room to open the door.

She was surprised to see the Jinchuriki holding a bag. "Hey."

"Sakura, look! I found your favorite—BBQ pork over rice. You can save it for tomorrow if you're not hungry."

"Oh, uhm...thanks," she said, taking the bento. She was hungry.

What was that expression in his face? It was almost sheepish.

Behind him, Sasuke leaned against the wall.

Both of their backpacks were on the floor of the hallway.

She sent the Jichuriki an encouraging nod of appreciation, or at least her best attempt at doing so, to get this whole bonding thing started.

He didn't say anything else, so it was probably all he needed, right?

Just as she was about to close the door, the Jinchuriki got that look on his face. Like he needed to say something.

Sakura stopped. Spit it out, she thought to herself.

"Oh and… there's one small thing. You see… heh, Sasuke already explained it to me that you want your own room and everything…"

She narrowed her eyes at Sasuke, who was watching her with some glint in his eye which she could only interpret as stupid amusement. This couldn't be good.

"Yeah, and…?"

"The lady at the front said there aren't any more rooms available."

And that was her problem, how, exactly?

"Are there no other inns nearby?" she asked. Forget nearby—Sakura didn't care if those two had to trek to a whole different village. There was no way in hell she'd be rooming with anyone tonight.

"Well… across town there might be, maybe..." the Jinchuriki's voice trailed.

You have to get close to them, a voice echoed.

Someone needed to grab her a damn hammer so she could knock the crazy out of herself, even if it meant pummeling her brain into mush. And she'd better do it soon, otherwise her Strength of 100 Seal jutsu would be ready and prevent the act from having any lasting effect.

"Sakura?"

For fuck's sake. Settling somewhere between soul-crushing disappointment and lunacy, she opened the door.

"Thanks, Sakura!" The Jinchuriki ruffled her hair when he and Sasuke passed.

She couldn't believe what she was doing.

"Whoa, what are you wearing?" His curious blue eyes completed nothing short of an expedition up and down her body. "Is that new?"

Crap.

She was so warm and comfortable that she forgot that she was wearing her slip. Suddenly, she felt bare, naked, exposed.

To her mortification, he didn't stop there.

"Sasuke, do you see what she's wearing?"

Their raven-haired teammate was in the midst of cleaning up his backpack and didn't even look up. "Shut up dobe. You're embarrassing her."

Somehow that just made it worse.

"Aw come on, Sasuke! She looks great!"

Sakura looked to her chair and wished that she hadn't just completely drenched her only set of clothes. She would've preferred dirty and dry over clean and wet.

Maybe Sasuke could—

Nope. She thought Sasuke could use his fire technique to dry them faster, but at this moment she couldn't even bring herself to look him in the eye. And he was, for sure, enjoying every bit of her mortification.

Thankfully, the attention didn't last—dinner seemed the more pressing task. The Jinchuriki diverted his eyes to his bento, snapping his chopsticks apart as he sat on the far edge of the bed, next to the balcony.

"Itadakimasu!"

They were so inconsiderate, completely unaware of just how badly their intrusion had ruined her night. And her view of the balcony. She wanted to be alone and there was no way she'd be comfortable enough to relax now.

As he ate blissfully, Sakura's displeasure grew. It'd only been a couple minutes of confinement, but already she felt like she was being suffocated. The more he chewed, the more irked she became until she couldn't take it anymore.

She draped her cloak over her shoulders. "I'm going out."

"Huh? Where are you going, Sakura?"

Naruto blinked in confusion. Wasn't she hungry at all?

The tail end of her cloak disappeared into the hallway, and then she was gone. Just like that.

Did he say something to upset her?

Tsking the fact that she'd left the delicious-looking bento behind, Naruto dug into his own food.

And it was delicious.

He was committed to paying the Yasumichi restaurant another visit—they were probably the only hole-in-the-wall in this tourist-stricken place, and Mrs. Yasumichi was nice enough to give him complementary tea-bag eggs to his order.

It was too bad about her son, though. Life was just unfair—someone could live a quiet, modest life, with perfect health for thirty years, only to suddenly disappear. Now, with him gone, Mrs. Yasumishi had to rely on her home cooking to get by.

Sasuke's shuffling brought Naruto back to their current dilemma. Anyway—there was something he should do, quickly and easily, to find their stolen scroll. Maybe Sakura wouldn't be in such a poor mood then.

An idea popped into his head.

"Sasuke, maybe we can track our scroll using scent."

His teammate didn't acknowledge him, and instead laid back on the bed to rest his eyes.

"Sasuke?"

Nothing.

Jerk.

Naruto sent a glare and then uncrossed his legs, reaching into his backpack for a kunai. He broke a tiny bit of the skin on his thumb.

Kuchiyose no jutsu.

When the air cleared, a palm-sized orange toad saluted him from the bed. "Heya boss!"

"Gamabufo," greeted Naruto. "This is just a small favor, so I didn't want to disturb Gamakichi."

"Oh, pops? He ain't like grandpa."

Naruto chuckled. "Well, that may be true… but still." He turned on the lamp and picked up his bento, bringing it back to the bed with him.

"Anyways, what can I do for ya, boss?"

"Sasuke was supposed to keep a scroll for us, but he lost—er—got it stolen instead. We're hoping to track it."

Now where was Sasuke's backpack?

When Naruto finally found it, he took out one of Sasuke's shirts, noticing how nice and silky it felt. Wasn't the Uchiha inheritance still tied up? How could he afford such expensive taste?

Nevermind.

Naruto laid it flat on the bed. "Here you go."

Gamabufo hopped up to it and began conducting some form of a toad's examination. It seemed like instinct negated the need for any explanation, so Naruto chewed his food happily and waited patiently for the little guy to do his thing.

A few moments later, Gamabufo looked up at Naruto.

"What am I supposed to do with it?"

Eh?!

"What were you doing with it?! I thought you were sniffing it!"

"I mean, I was just admiring it—Sasuke's got some good taste. Where'd he get it?"

Naruto almost fell over—maybe he should've summoned the juvenile's father instead. "Can't you pick up a scent on it? It should lead us to the scroll," he cried.

…

…

...

"I mean, I can smell things, but no. I'm a toad."

Naruto's face fell. "Really? You can't do anything about it?"

"Well can you 'pick up a scent' and track things with your nose?"

"B-but… Kakashi's… Pakkun..."

"Look boss, here's what I can do. If you want something gone, I can swallow it and it'll disappear. That's about my only party trick unless you want me to fight something."

Naruto started chuckling nervously.

Sasuke might've been sleeping, but Naruto could just imagine his rival commenting on how little Naruto had to show for the past few years of training with his summons. And now he was being scolded by a juvenile toad. "Well... it was worth a shot anyway… I guess…"

"Since I'm here, I guess I should remind you—pops and gramps are waiting for you to master sage mode so you can start using frog kumite."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "I've been meditating every night. I swear I'm getting close."

The toad dipped his head. "Keep up the good work then. Until next time," said Gamabufo as he saluted and puffed out of the room.

Well that was a bust. Naruto dropped his head in defeat.

A voice startled him. "We'll continue our search tomorrow. You should get some rest now."

"Cripes!" Naruto jumped. "Weren't you supposed to be sleeping?" The real question was, had Sasuke witnessed that whole thing?

"It's hard for me to sleep through all the noise."

Naruto glared.

Again, it didn't have its intended effect. It was like he was Guy and Sasuke was Kakashi, leagues away in coolness.

What was he doing again? Oh—that's right. He was eating.

"Anosa… Sasuke. I have a question for you," Naruto said between eager bites of food. "You could've cast genjutsu on Tsuta to get your answers. Why did you go through the trouble of seducing her?"

Sasuke closed his eyes again, this time intertwining his hands behind his head as a pillow. "I wanted to see what you would do," he replied, casually.

Naruto almost choked. What I would do?

"I didn't think you'd be a scaredy cat," his teammate jabbed.

Naruto pointed an accusing finger. "You made us go through all that trouble and you were just fooling around the whole time!"

Bastard. Naruto picked up his waterskin to chug some water, as if to wash away the taste of that experience.

"I don't use genjutsu," Sasuke said, a little more quiet this time.

"What do you mean? Isn't Sharingan...?"

"I mean it's not what I'm good at."

Aha. The real reason why he didn't use genjutsu. So it seemed like Sasuke-kun wasn't such a perfect Uchiha after all. I wonder if Sakura knows that, Naruto thought to himself mischievously.

Another question popped into his head. "Wait a second. How'd you recognize Sakura so quickly at the bar? She henged into a blonde."

A few long seconds passed, and he received no response.

"Sasuke?"

Again, no response.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. There was no way Sasuke had just fallen asleep.

After another few long seconds, his teammate's unmoving body suggested that maybe he really did.

Nevermind, then.

Finishing up the last bit of his food, Naruto tossed his trash and unraveled his sleeping bag. He placed it over his side of the bed, making sure to leave Sakura ample space next to him when she returned. Afterwards, he flopped on top, resting his back against a pillow as he rubbed his full tummy.

He decided to wait for the food to settle down and maybe go meditate afterwards. He picked up the remote and began flipping through the channels in the meantime.

Twenty or so minutes later, Sasuke still hadn't moved from his position. Probably too exhausted from all that partying with Tsuta, Naruto thought bitterly.

Now that he thought about it, he was glad Sakura's chakra disappeared when it did. He'd had his fair share of one night stands, but they were always with women he'd gotten to know first. He always felt like those activities would be best enjoyed with someone special.

He just couldn't believe how embarrassing he was in front of Sasuke. It wasn't fair—even though the back of his head truly looked like a duck's butt, girls always liked Sasuke better. It was no wonder he was okay with doing that stuff.

Naruto began to play with the spikes at the top of his own head, then sighed. Should he try to grow out his hair too? Get bangs maybe?

Suddenly, Sasuke's voice startled him. And what he said bothered the hell out of him.

"I recognized Sakura because… I know what the back of her body looks like."

To be continued…