A Little More Than This (Discontinued)

Chapter 32

Mei clung to the tall Uchiha as the group of three traveled through the forests surrounding them.

"So~ Zetsu-Nii where are we heading first?" She asked, smiling brightly at the plant-man. "We're going to the outskirts of the sand village, there is an abandoned base a few miles from the village. We'll be there for a while" White Zetsu replied, his heart clenching when Mei called him 'Nii'. "Cool! Hey, what if we run into leaf nin? They are friends of the sand nin now" Mei asked, directing the question to Itachi.

"Then we'll eat them. Black Zetsu! What she ain't no kid no more" the two sides of Zetsu argued. Mei giggled lightly and stuck her tongue out at them. "Nii-San I've known that you eat people since I was 3" she giggled, starting up a conversation with the Raven-haired male she was clinging to.

"Smart kid" Itachi mused, the tiniest glimmer of proudness in his eyes. The group continued its journey until they came to the outskirts of the desert surrounding the sand village. They had arrived in the early hours of the morning, having been running most of their journey and not resting the night.

"We'll see you later Itachi" Zetsu called, grabbing Mei and sinking in the ground, leaving the younger male to track through the desert on his own as the girl and plant-man traveled underground, arriving within minutes of sinking underground.

"You're gonna make me sleep outside for stamina ain't cha?" Mei asked, as she noticed only a single room besides a closed-off kitchen. "Didn't we mention that?" Black Zetsu asked, tilting his head and smiling slyly. "UHHH~ kill me now!!" Mei groaned, punching her Nii-San's shoulder.

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Shikamaru was in shock; he had pictured Kakashi's team to be the stable one, not the one to lose two members within the timespan of two days. He sighed loudly as he accepted the mission to go retrieve Sasuke.

He left the office as he went looking for his potential teammates. The first one being Naruto, only because Tsunade had demanded he was to be taken and that he knew that Naruto was the person that would come anywhere near Mei's power. He walked through the village, finding the blond idiot at the ramen shop.

"Naruto, you heard about Sasuke right?" Shikamaru asked, grabbing the seat next to him. "Ha? What about duckbutt?" Naruto asked, finishing his bowl. "He's left the village. He's gone rouge" Shikamaru replied, causing the blond boy to look at him in surprise.

"WHAT?!?! WHY?" Naruto demanded, jumping off his seat and dragging Shikamaru down the streets. "We don't know. And where the hell are we going?" Shikamaru demanded, sighing in exertion. "We'll find out. And we're going to Mei's. She'll help us" Naruto replied, a grumpy tone to his voice. "No she won't. She can't right now" Shikamaru replied, shaking his arm out of Naruto's grip.

"Why the hell not?!?" The blond demanded. "She's taken a leave of absence and left the village. She's out training" Shikamaru replied, deadpanning as Naruto looked ready to explode. "AND SHE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING FOR WHAT REASON!?!?!" Naruto screeched, causing everyone to whip around in their direction. "She knew you'd do this?" Shikamaru asked, pinching the blond's ear, dragging him off to Chōji's house to 'collect' him.

~

Kakashi was slumped against the K.I.A stone, he clutched the scrolls in his tired hands. He had woken up in the early hours of the morning, headed out to his current seat and made himself as uncomfortable as possible. He was tired, silent and hadn't spoken a word since the day had broken over the village.

Kakashi looked up at the stormy sky and sighed, flipping open Mei's scroll for the thousandth time that day and rereading it again for the millionth time. He gently placed the scroll, once finished, beside him and lent his head against the flat surface of the K.I.A stone, becoming infuriated with his curiosity and stubbornness.

"Obito. I think I'm stupid. I should have been to control my curiosity. But I let it run wild and now I know I've done something stupid. What should I do?" Kakashi asked, his tone pleading and filled with sorrow, as though he expecting his past teammate to come back to life just to answer his question. "Sometimes the stupidest mistakes bring the brightest truths" a voice replied, startling Kakashi. He sat up to look at the person and felt confusion consume him.

"Iruka? What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked. "Looking for you. Hokage-Sama has requested your presence and told me not to bother with your home. I guessed you were here" Iruka replied, tapping a bundle of flowers on his shoulder. "Ok. Who are those for?" Kakashi demanded, stretching out his stiff and sore limps. "My parents. Here I'll help you up" Iruka replied with a light sigh, placing the flowers at the base of the stone and extending a hand to the sliver haired nin.

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Mei sighed, feeling her skin start to burn as she balanced on a piece of vertical wood just outside of the huts shadow, her shirt discarded and only tightly wound bandages left to cover her. Itachi made her start to mature and control her chakra as soon as he arrived at the hut, his hair stiff with sand.

She had spent the first half-hour muttering curses and death-threats to the Uchiha. But as she balanced she saw three figures slowly appear on the horizon, steadily becoming larger and larger. She quickly called out to the two residing in the hut, and watched the figures slow to a stop just in front of her.

Mei smiled brightly and waved to Gaara and his siblings, watching their puzzled expressions become joyous. "Mei! What are you doing out here?!?" Temari asked, beaming at the tangerine headed girl. "Maturin' my chakra. Sensei is being mean" Mei replied, beaming down at the three.

"Down." Gaara suddenly demanded, pointing to the ground. Mei jumped down, grabbing the long shaft of wood and leaning heavily against it. "What~?" Mei asked, playfully poking her tongue out at him. "Sasuke has gone rouge... if you have too I'll be sure to-" Gaara started but trailed off when he noticed she had her headband on her.

"I'm not rouge. I'm just on leave, I have a couple of old farts teaching me" Mei giggled, poking the redhead's nose lightly. Gaara stared at the tangerine before signalling for his siblings to follow him. "Heya~ Gaara! Keep an eye on Naruto-Baka and Shika-Kun yeah?" Mei cried after them before turning back to her pole and starting to balance again.