the Ravens secret

sensei and the black cat

   Sasuko had entered her home without much thought. It wasn’t until she was safely behind locked doors and in the comfort of her own room that she realized she still had her henge down. If Sakura had fallowed her more than halfway home the pinkette would have reminded her. Sasuko shrugged the thought away halfheartedly as she couldn’t recall anyone following her or nearby as she entered he home.
 
   She let out a long sigh of content as she dropped her bags before falling face first onto her bed. The action caused her pillow to fall on top of her head and she close her eyes and slowly started to drift to sleep. She had a long and tiring day, she wasn’t sure how other girls did it. But she now understood the meaning of ‘shop till you drop'.
 
   Just as she was about to slip into unconsciousness she heard a loud and obnoxious nocking on the front door of her home. She sat up quickly and squeaked in surprise before lifting her hands to her chest and raising the henge again.
 
She quickly shimmied into her Sasuke outfit before quietly making her way to the door of her home. As soon as she opened the door she regretted the action.
 
Standing on her front steps was none other than Kiba. The boy gave a wolfish grin as Sasuko raised an eyebrow at him. Now, even his nose couldn’t pick up Sasuko's natural scent through the henge.  But he looked like the cat who caught the canary.
 
“Hey Sasuke. I seen that pretty Sarah girl come in here. Is she your girlfriend or something?” Kiba teased, but was obviously just being nosey.
 
   Sasuko feigned disgust before choosing her answer carefully.
 
“Dude, that’s my cousin.” Sasuko deadpanned.
 
“Oh awesome! Do you mind if I ask her out sometime then?” Kiba wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
 
“Dude, no. Just… just don’t.” Sasuko was rolling her eyes internally at the dog boy.
 
“Oh come on man! She’s so beautiful! Not to mention she smells amazing!” Kiba was practically begging.
 
“Look man. Now’s not a good time. She got back from shopping and fell asleep as soon as she got to her room.” Sasuko shrugged it off. “To be quite honest, I don’t think you are her type. But in the end it would be up to her. She isn’t around much but I guess you can ask her if you ever manage to see her. Now go away dude. I have things to do.”
 
   Before Kiba could even respond Sasuko shut the door in his face and locked it before going back to her room.

~*~*~
 
   The next morning Sasuko sat at the team seven training field waiting for the rest of her team to show up. Her henge as sasuke was active as she leaned against the side of a tree, her  arms crossed as she stared off into nowhere. Her thoughts in a million places as she simply waited. It had been a long time since she had any nightmares,  but she knew it would happen again soon. The anniversary of her families death was coming up and with it would come the nightmares.
 
   Maybe this year she would be able to deal with it better than she had in previous years.  At least this year she had something she had never had before.  Her team mates knew the real her, which meant they could comfort her when her emotions got the better of her and she couldn’t keep up the henge.
 
   As she had lost herself in her thoughts she didn’t sense her team mates approach, her lack of awareness lead to Naruto practically knocking her down with the full weight of his body as he threw himself onto her back and wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a big and very warm hug.
 
“Holy hell!” Sasuko shouted as she was startled.  Her fist gripping her shirt right over her heart as Naruto’s warm chuckle danced into her ear at close proximity.  Sasuko’s cheeks quickly heated up past her ability to hide the blush as she realized what had happened. 
 
   In an effort to keep up her Sasuke act she threw him from her shoulders with a half-hearted shove that landed him on his rear-end looking up at her.
 
   She looked down at him and gave a small giggle at the sight of him looking so disgruntled. His disgruntled face changed into a real smile as she giggled and he rubbed his head with a chuckle.
 
“good morning Sasuke!” Sakura came up beside Sasuko and gave a small giggle at the shenanigans she had just witnessed between the two. “you seem quite lively today!”
 
   The three team member spent close to four hours simply talking about the previous evening as they waited for their team leader.
 
“Do you think we misunderstood Kakashi sensei? Maybe we heard the time wrong.” Naruto offered.
 
“Nope. It seems we got the sensei who likes to be late.” Sakura shrugged it off.
 
“Do you think we should have ate breakfast?” Naruto asked.
 
“Here, have this.” Sasuko handed them each a large rice ball.  “your both useless when hungry and we are going to have to work together as a team.”
 
   They both thanked her before eating the rice balls.  The small talk resuming again as they waited for their sensei.
 
   The three of them didn’t have to much longer to wait after finishing the rice balls.  Looking far to leisurely after the sudden appearance then disappearance of a white cloud of smoke.
 
“yo!” he gave them all a lazy wave, his other hand in his pocket and his posture so relaxed it almost seemed lazy. Not at all the posture of a man who was 4 hours late to the training field when he was the one who set the meeting time.

“Your late!” Naruto and Sakura both angrily exclaimed while shaking their fists at him. Sasuko simply shook her head and brought her hands to her chest, running her hands through the proper signs and releasing her henge.
 
 
“Well a black cat crossed my path and I had to go the long way.”  His students didn’t believe him in the slightest as they all stared at him with looks of frustration.
 
    Kakashi stepped to the side as he wound up what looked to be an old alarm clock placing it on a nearby stump.
 
“This clock is set for noon. You have until then to get one of these from me.” Kakashi held up two bells as he went on to explain that failure meant getting sent back to the academy. 
 
   Sakuras face fell as she noted the two bells.
 
“But, there is only two bells and three of us.” She exclaimed trying not to sound whiny.
 
“That’s right.” Kakashi said almost completely uncaring. “That means at least one of you will be tied to the post while everyone else eats."
 
“That’s why you didn’t want us to eat breakfast!” Naruto was his usual loud self as he angrily pointed an accusatory finger at his sensei.
 
   Sasuko only took a moment to catch on to what was happening. Not having to focus part of her mind on the henge and her acting, made it easier for her to see through the sensei like glass. Of course it also helped that she didn’t listen to his no eating rule.  She placed her hand on Naruto’s shoulder and shook her head when he looked in her direction.  Ignoring the look of shock on his face when he had finally looked her way She turned her attention towards her sensei.
 
“This is a test, am I correct?” The slight tilt of her head as she spoke to her sensei brought the word “cute" straight into Narutos mind before he realized it, causing his cheeks to turn red.
 
“That is correct.” Was all Kakashi said.
 
   Sasuko nodded her head before motioning for her two teammates to fallow her as she walked towards the wooded area.
 
    Naruto walked a good four feet behind Sasuko as he took in her appearance.  Her new outfit really did suit her. It was stylish without being over the top and looked to be highly functional.  He hadn’t seen Sasuko in actual girl clothes for many years and the sight had made his brain slow down for a short while as he nimbly fallowed her and Sakura away from their sensei.
 
“What’s up?” Sakura asked as they came to a stop, well away from their sensei.
 
“This is a test.” Sasuko tried to hint. “It's our first test… as a TEAM.” The extra emphasis she put on the word team seemed to do the trick as Sakura’s face changed to a look of understanding.
 
“What’s going on?” Naruto's attention span got the better of him again as he couldn’t quite fallow their train of thought fast enough.

“He is testing us to see if we turn on each other or work together.” Sasuko said bluntly as she raised an eyebrow at her friend.
 
“Ooooohh!” Naruto had a look of understanding as he lightly hit his open palm with his fist.
 
   Both females facepalmed and shook their heads with exasperation.
 
"Oh brother…” Sakura mumbled.
 
    Sasuko rolled her eyes playfully before sitting down and gesturing for them to join her. “just saying that we will work together wouldn’t be enough though.  We need to make a plan, and given that he is a junin, it needs to be a good one.”

    Her teammates both made agreeing noises as they joined her on the forest floor.
 
 
 
~*~*~*~
 
A/N: hey guys!
 
I know I promised a longer chapter and even a fight scene, but some things have come up and I have to get to bed so I can help my older sister (who is a single mother of five) set up for a birthday party tomorrow. 
 
Fight will be in next chapter. It’s already almost 2 M.
 
Love yall. Please enjoy.
Gnite!!!!