Sasuke's Mission

Hideout

Oh, man. I'm so tired of running. So tired. The fox took over not more than an hour ago—he wears me out. I don't remember it. Yamato says the fox(me) scared off Orochimaru (yay!) but hurt Sakura (not yay). Now we're tearing through this maze of halls. Everything looks the same. Pant, pant, trip, get up. Endless running, endless tunnels.

Wait, what was that explosion?

Huh, it was just Sai. He's gonna be in a lot of pain when Sakura gets done with him! Glad I'm not that guy!

"Sakura."

That cold, calm voice. Wtf! It's him! Sai found him!! I fall over again in my rush to get there.

Get your shit together, Naruto. It would be so uncool to seem too excited. What is he doing just standing there? Looking down on us with his hand on his hip, all superior and shit as usual. Ahh, I hate that guy sometimes!

Suddenly, the whole world has stopped moving except him jumping down from his ledge, and he's standing right in front of me, leaning on my shoulder. Whispering in my ear.
"Don't move, dobe. I won't hurt you. Just follow along."

Hahaha. Move? There's not a chance in hell I'm going anywhere; I'm practically paralyzed. Why won't my legs work? It's like his voice turned my bones into water. And my brain to pudding. I'm not always the brightest person- a lot of what I do is emotional and not very rational, which makes a lot of people think I'm stupid--but I can't think around him. Never could.

Mmh, he smells really good..... Oh yeah, crap, follow along... I decide to try and refocus myself.

". . .be Hokage one day?"

"No way can a guy who can't even save one friend can become the Hokage. Right, Sasuke?"

As Sasuke draws his sword, I see Sai rushing in from the side. "New guy. Good defense, but this is not your problem!" Then the fighting starts. He used his Chidori to fling Sai and me to the side and knocked me out. I'm still weak, still tired. Why did we have to find him when I'm so wiped out from the fox? It's really a good thing this isn't a "real" fight.

When I woke up, I was with the fox, in his den in my head. Same discussion we always seem to have. I don't want to kill anybody; I don't want your power. I'LL DO IT MYSELF! Butt out of my life! Still, he won't ever leave me alone always trying to break free.

Then Sasuke is here, with me and the fox. How did he do that? That should be impossible! And he's talking with him – that's MY fox, dammit! Well, at least they don't seem to be getting along.

While I'm standing here still speechless, Sasuke has popped the demon's chakra like a big, orange balloon. That shouldn't be possible, either. He turns to me and starts talking.

"Usuratonkachi. What are you doing here? You're going to ruin the plan."

Um. Not what I expected! "What plan, what are you talking about? I'm just trying to save you! Neji said I need to bring you back from the depths of darkness. . . bring you home."

Aaaaand now he's laughing at me, great. But it's not his crazy laugh, the laugh from the Final Valley. This one is amused and relaxed, like I'm actually funny or something. Like my Sasuke would, not this stranger.

"Ah, dobe. There's not much time. Orochimaru will be watching the little scene outside. I'm not in the darkness, I'm on a mission." He posed, stuck out his thumb, and grinned, just like Lee. Really kind of gross, actually; I don't think I want to ever see that impersonation ever again. "Listen fast, Naruto. Three years ago, the Third Hokage told me if anything was to happen to him, my mission would be to pretend to be Orochimaru's new apprentice and learn as much as I can. When the body that he's currently in weakens, it will be my job to kill him. It shouldn't be long now before I can make my move. Kabuto is constantly giving him medicine lately, and he's mostly confined to bed."

"No, Sasuke! You can't take on Orochimaru! He's too strong. Let me stay and help you." Knowing he isn't the crazy, power-drunk monster I saw last time we fought is a relief, but the danger here is too much. I'm scared all over, scared I'll never see him again. "The village is so lonely without you, Sasuke. Don't make me go back alone. You're. The. Worst. Friend. Ever."

I must have taken a few steps toward him because all of a sudden we were really close and I was shaking my fist in his face. He smirked, then reached out with two fingers and bonked me on the forehead, a little too hard, I thought.

"I have to do this alone, you know that. You know I'll never be able to take down Itachi if I can't even defeat Orochimaru. He's just another step on my path to vengeance. And how would I explain a new pet to Kabuto? Nobody does alone better than us, Naru. But I will come home, I swear. I miss you, too. My best, my only friend." He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him, really fast, and I felt his lips graze mine. Then he was gone.

"Friends don't do that, you know! Pervy bastard!!!" I yelled after him into the empty air. "And what do you mean NEW pet?!" What an asshole!

What other pet does he have? I'm so confused. Why is it okay with me that he basically called me a pet? And the OLD pet, at that. Well, no time for that now, time to wake up. The job isn't done yet.

If playing along means I still get to scream at him, I can play. All the pain and confusion in my heart will make it really believable.

LATER

The forehead bonk must've been some kind of Uchiha curse, or something. Day and night now, he's in my head. His smile, his smell, his stupid face with his stupid duck-butt hair. I don't understand why I can't do anything except think about him. All I can do is pace, fret, and train. For weeks!

Working out with Lee is the only thing that helps me stop the thoughts circling in my head and helps me sleep at night instead of tossing. Lee is relentless! I thought I knew what sweating was like, but training with Lee is on a whole different level. All I can think about is the next breath and where it's going to come from. Which right now is just what I need. And my body hurts which makes the ache in my heart a little duller.

I was training with his whole team the other day and Sakura stopped by to say hi to Tenten. Lee was getting intense about something so I followed his gaze. I turned around just in time to see Sakura staring at my abs. Wow. Couldn't get out of there fast enough. I mean, what the fuck? Before Sasuke kissed me, a look like that from her would've had me high for days! Now it's just uncomfortable and embarrassing. My whole face was really hot and probably beet red, too. I might never take my shirt off again. And I don't want Lee to be mad at me. Of course, Tenten and Neji thought it was hilarious. Yay, so happy I can keep everyone amused!

But who knew Neji could laugh? Hahaha!

A FEW WEEKS LATER

The village was attacked a few days ago by some old geezer trying to get his decrepit old city restored. He seemed like a sweet old healer until he let his psycho show. What is it with these powerful ninja? Are we all destined to become psychos in the end? Lol

That's not the important part, though. Sasuke showed up! Orochimaru (psycho) wanted something from this other old dude (psycho) and sent Sasuke (psycho-in-training) as his little errand boy.

Twice in a couple months! Not quite like old times, but better than nothing.

But you know the Bratsuke. (I call him that a lot -- I love Shikamaru's nickname for him!) On a mission, Mr. Serious, and focus focus focus. No smiles, no "how are you?" There wasn't really time to sit around and chat, anyhow. He got the scroll-thingie for Orochimaru, and then together we took out the geezer, rescued the villagers, and destroyed the city. Just like being back on Team 7! Totally in sync with each other's moves. It felt so good, falling back in to our old attack style. We kicked psycho butt!

That was it, though. Like I said, no time for convo. But something weird. I purposefully broke off the chunk of platform he was standing on, to save him because I was gonna destroy that old hunk of junk. He looked over and said, "Baby, no!" As usual, I hollered back, "I'm NOT A BABY!"

He just smirked back. I was looking straight at him, and I swear he mouthed the words, "No, but you're MY baby."