Babysitted by the Uchiha Avenger

Chapter the Sixth

Naruto and I flitted through the night like nocturnal shadow creatures; silent, swift, deadly.

Well, he did. I clung to his shirt for dear life and breathed in his musky scent. And it wasn't really silent. I shrieked softly every so often, and he would chuckle. Sasuke caught up to us pretty quickly.

We were heading towards the city. I could see the lights twinkling in the distance, orange and white blurs all meshed together. Naruto jerked to a stop in a field a few hundred metres from the outskirts of the city. Sasuke landed beside him. "You dumbass, you can't just grab her and run!" he scolded. Naruto wasn't listening, "Lucy, come on, I wanna show you something really cool!" He set me down gently and took a few steps back. Sasuke continued to swear softly under his breath. He took my hand.

"I'm taking her back. I'll try the sedative again or something. But she knows too much."

I tried to hold my ground, digging my feet into the soft earth of the field. I knew it was useless — Sasuke could kill me at any time he wanted, it'd be no problem for him to drag me home — but I tried anyway.

"Sedate me? Wow, what a nice story to tell my parents," I pouted. "Lighten up, Sasuke. Like I'd spill any of this" — I guiltily made a mental note NOT to tell my friends of my amazing discovery — "they'd send me to a shrink in two seconds flat. Relax, okay?"

Sasuke's jaw tightened. "Fine," his voice was strained.

He didn't take his hand from mine.

I swallowed. I guessed the only reason he let me stay was because he was so sick of this arguement; Come back! No! Please, please, come back! No!

It must sicken him.

I focussed my attention back to Naruto, who was taking an offensive stance. He widened his stance, making himself steady, and put his hands together. Then he rapidly made a handsign and said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

There were lots of poof-ing sounds and blinding smoke that quickly disappeared. I coughed once, blinking hard to clear my vision. Naruto's face was inches from mine.

"Bwah!" I exclaimed, letting go of Sasuke's hand and jumping back. I stumbled on a rock and fell back. "Cra—"

A strong arm wound itself around my waist and steadied me. I looked up to see Naruto grinning down at me. But...Naruto was also to my left. And behind me.

And there were three more Narutos in front of me. I yelped. "Your shadow dopplegangers! That's so cool!"

Naruto's grin widened. "You know about this too?" I nodded. "Yeah, all the jutsu. And the fact that you wanna be Hokage, right?" Naruto blinked. "Whoa, yeah." He swallowed and pulled back from me. I couldn't really tell in the pitch dark of night, but I could've sworn I had seen him blushing.

Pfft, yeah right, Luce.

Naruto cleared his throat. "Except that Hokage is the leader of our gang, not of the Land of Fire." He rolled his eyes, laughing. "I mean, seriously, who comes up with this stuff?"

Sasuke sighed. "Why are we even out here? You could have made your friggin' dopplegangers in the house." Naruto gave him a look. "Okay, then, now that we're out, what would you like to do?"

I had a hunch that Sasuke was going to reply with, "Go back." But he didn't. In fact, for a long moment, he didn't say anything at all. Naruto's dopplegangers disappeared, one by one, in a poof of smoke, before Sasuke finally answered. "I'd like to get some ramen. At Ichiraku's."

There was silence.

Sasuke wasn't looking at either of us. He stared determinedly to the left, his face hidden by his hair.

I heard Naruto swallow. "Well, okay then. Let's go."