QOTC
Choji: So what do we do now?
Kiba: "We move out,".
Neji: Very helpful, thank you.
*****************************************************************
The Yamanaka Château was not as standard than they'd thought. Every border of the house was made with fine timber covered with blanched wallpapers, even paintings which consisted of the ancestors Ino barely knew. One of them was the High Priest they've encountered who had predicted Naruto's death, Sakura recalled, whom she heard had recently passed away. The tips of her fingers brushed part of the frame, admiring her family's devotedness to their predecessors.
Almost everyone were gathered at Ino's place. Sakura, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Kiba, Lee and Neji. Shino couldn't come due to his plans with the wedding,TenTen was studying at the Tea Country, Sai was busy keeping tracks with his priorities with the ANBU, while Naruto and Hinata were nowhere to be found. This relieved the pinkette for quite some time, since she could not bring herself into facing the knucklehead delivering the news: buckle up, we're getting married. He was a very good man, but the thought would never cross her mind--becoming his lawfully-headed-wife, otherwise she knew they were just going to go back from where they've started; causing a damage to his heart. She'd already loaded him with her lies, including one having professed that she loved him. But what if she truly did? What if the two of them were the ones being impuded by Tsunade? Was it because she was afraid everything in this world was crumbling down she didn't want these feelings to get in the way?
Damn, she was doing it again. Dragging herself towards her best friend, in order to please Mebuki and Kizashi. They've always assumed they were more than just being a team. She always sleeps at his apartment not less than twice a week, to make fun of everything at all, and sometimes he'd even let her wear his jacket to prevent her from the cold. This was something she hasn't recieved much comments from her parents, which was unusual. And now that there's two of them left in a three-men-squad(without concluding Sai, Yamato or Kakashi), they were building up too fast their relationship had been expanded, which was now being rumored at the village since Naruto would beat the crap out of a guy who would even try to touch her, again, which she never knew. Perhaps it was because the boy was somehow paranoid he would someday lose her. So he vowed to himself that he would always protect her--save her from the hideous bastards like Sasuke, or whoever that were trying to steal his precious Cherry Blossom--and he was right.
Trying to neglect these pieces of denial, she rubbed her forehead as she sat at the cotton davenport next to Neji.
"So you and Naruto, huh?" Neji asked, standing and leaning against the edge of the couch with his arms crossed, calm and tranquil as ever.
"We've never had a fresh start."
Ino stood over the fridge wearing an apron, her hair tied in a low ponytail that coated the rest of her left shoulder--more importantly the curse. "All of us are. And may I just remind you Neji, that your dad was a dick and he's responsible for all of this crap." She didn't even know she had one, but one thing Sakura told her was she had a huge scar on the nape and she wouldn't want anyone to see it.
"He's my uncle." He just said.
"Whatever. I'm still gonna call him what I damn well please." Her gums have been aching again, and she finds it strange to smell the scent of humanblood again. She could hear it flowing too, like the blaring stream of water coming down from a cascade. "Do you guys have any cranberry juice or something?"
"There's sake at the fridge," Kiba said.
She didn't see it coming but she must've felt her feet race into a certain distance like lightning. That was fast, she thought, she even panted over little of that energy that consumed her.
"So what do we do now?" Choji asked, grinding his chips.
"We move out," Said Kiba.
"Very helpful, thank you."
Platinum Blonde sat above the counters dangling her feet. "Sadly, I agree with the mutt."
"I'm winning you over, I can feel it." Kiba smirks. The Inuzuka boy on the other hand, didn't seem to be bothered with the whole meditation. He was far too confident for everything, compared to the rest whose faces were overly tensed. Sakura vaguely remembered of how a philander he had become; the person who has a fling for one-night-stands, an unusual(sort of) characteristic of a handsome boy Kiba barely regareded.
"I'm serious!" Ino said, "we can't stay here any longer, I mean--we've already lived long enough to protect Konoha. Don't you think it's time we go on with our seperate ways? All of us?"
Shikamaru was sitting at the couch with his head resting above his arms.A memory just crossed his hundred IQ, reminiscing the time they've cruised into the Akatsuki's territorial colony. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you never break in somewhere unless you know the way out."
Sakura was beginning to feel what's inside Ino's dirty little head. "Who says anything about coming back?"
At first no one submitted to her suggestion, not until Neji had intervened, his face enlightened. "I see where this is going."
"You're not planning on running away," said Ino, "are you?"
"But my dear, Sakura, if that's what you're thinking," Stated Lee.
A light bulb immediately snapped from her big wide forehead. It was like they've draped the windows and yanked down the curtain, revealing a whole lambent amidst the darkness. "That's it!" Snapping her fingers, "we could book a train outside the Fire country and get the hell out of here!"
"Sounds great," Kiba chuckled. "What happens next? Just sittin' around picking daisies?"
"Others could stay," muttered Ino, "others could come with us. And I'm taking both of you with me." She gestured at both of her teammates, as Choji shrunk in the couch, but it was surely not because of his weight. "Well Choji? Are you planning on staying?" She knew it would be difficult to persuade Choji because he was a very collective man, in other words, innocent. So when she looked into Shikamaru he made a disapproving look and said, "I didn't say I was coming."
Ino parted her lips at him. "Well, don't you want to be with Temari?" But the pinapple-headed slacker had already made his decision, and knowing the look in his eyes it only made her feel worse. His silence was delivering her a memorandum only she could develop this telephatic conversation with him--that only cowards are the ones who desert their village for their own reasons... And while he was a man of intelligence, being afraid of anything that wouldn't destroy him is not going to do any damage of his loyalty towards Konoha.
"We're taking Neji with us," Said Sakura. "TenTen would do the same thing."
"But, my darling Sakura," Lee started, "It doesn't go that way."
"But we're a family! And family sticks together, isn't that what our senseis had taught us?"
"You do realize it's not gonna be that easy." Shikamaru spat those words with venom, as if the Pinkette was the most fatuous person on earth.
"I have nothing to lose," Said Ino. "As long as I get to be with Sai I'm ready to buckle up and sweep in any moment."
Sakura stood up, as she paced back and forth tapping her chin. She bit her lip to control her trembling, now bruised and red from her biting. "I know someone who could help us escape without being followed."
Ino looked up with her eyes widened. You don't mean--
"Sasuke," her smile had reached the heavens. "He'll get us out of here in no time!"
What is she, insane?
Just like that, the world went still. No one hasn't heard of that word until she brought it all at once. Everyone went agape. It's as if they were doused with cold water upon hearing the name. Ino even spitted the cold bottle of Sake and wiped the mess of her mouth and checked to see if the alchohol was making this up.
Shikamaru straightened up from his usual position. "S-sasuke..."
Kiba dropped the drink off her hand and eyed at her. "The world is hunting him down. The ANBUs are willing to track him down to hell if they have to and you two have been playing Romeo & Juliet?"
"I didn't ask for this," she protested, "we had a deal. If I get to spy and work for him, he promised me he wouldn't hurt any of you nor Konoha."
"And look what it's done to you." Neji said, gritting his teeth. "That Uchiha only wanted to extract his revenge to the village and he'll be damned if he lets anyone get something that he can't have!"
"B-but things have changed! I swear, he saved my life many times than I could count,"
Shikamaru stared at her like she was so foolish. "I've seen how he kills anyone who gets in his way."
"Oh come on, what can I do so you guys could trust him?"
Ino glared at her commiseratively. "A trust is earned, Sakura. We can't just magically hand it over with him."
"But he loves me, I can prove it!" She was desperate now, and she was declaring this to them as if on a case she didn't have any witnesses or evidence to file for.
Shikamaru laughed, and it hurt Sakura more ways than she could have ever felt. "Last time I checked you almost ended up being electrocuted in the back."
The rest weren't even sure. Earlier when they've kissed their mother goodbyes and they had recently found out what they were up to all the time, they didn't know who to trust anymore. They didn't know what choice to they have. They didn't know what their purpose was. Whenever you think of the future, there is irony everywhere.Surely it would be nice to spend a little vacation outdoors, but to set off without conveying a message? They're seventeen, some of them are most even sixteen. They've barely had the chance to experience life beyond the fences, of what the nations could present. They didn't have any clue of how big the whole Shinobi World could get, and how real life outside could be so littered. What a hollow life it was, Sakura wondered, to even think of leaving the place you grew up in--and head towards whichever direction you could call home?
"I'm taking Naruto with me. Even if I have to drag him half-dead just to make sure he'll get his ass off this village."
"Somebody's starting to sound like Sasuke," Shikamaru said. Sasuke. He was practically the reason why she started the wholesome idea, and why she was starting to sound so selfish.
"We'll just be taking Hinata with us then," she grinned widely, "after all, Neji could watch over her, right? You want that, right?"
Everyone was silent for a while, including Ino. Heck, she was half joking when she opened up the idea of running away, but she never thought Sakura would be this desperate. "Sakura... We can't take him with us."
"Why not?" Her eyes squiggled, and she was looking intently on them waiting for an answer.
"Konoha needs him more than any of us does." Said Shikamaru.
It was like shards of broken glass were shattering simultaneously into her ear. Hokage, Hokage. She had grown fond of Naruto over the years. It was made clear between them that they do love each other to no more than brothers and sisters, and Sakura was glad he found his affection towards Hinata, or else nothing would keep him in order. They respected each other, and they knew too well the comforts and pain with each other. She became more comfortable with him when he's around, someone to carry out her punches and the only shoulder to cry on, besides Ino. Ino was different. She was someone you could keep your secrets with and give you a pat in the back, but with Naruto--he kept her going. There isn't a ton of Naruto that you wouldn't miss. His teasing laugh, baby blue eyes... And he's certainly included in the list of the people she couldn't survive without, or maybe there wasn't even any.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the genius Hyuga. Among the others, he seemed quite determined with this. "What happens when we leave?"
"We come up with a story," Said Ino.
"We lie?" Choji asked. Sakura was still dumbfounded she couldn't let a word out.
Shikamaru had enough of this. "Secrets always seem to keep us from the people we really care about."
"And sometimes secrets protect the people we love." Sakura begrudgingly admitted, facing Ino.
"There are safer people you could count on," a voice taunted somewhere.
They swifted their heads to the door. "K-kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, surprised.
"How long have you been standing in there?" Kiba asked.
"Long enough to catch up with the whole conversation," He was holding the same blue book in one hand and the other stuffed into his pocket and he was crouched against the wall. "I figure you might want to use my help."
"Why would you help us?" It was Ino who asked.
"Because," he closed the book he was handling and inserted it in his pocket. "I didn't want the rest of you to grow up the way I did."
*
"N-naruto?"
"Hm?"
"W-what's your mother like?"
Naruto smiled thoughtfully. The grass they soft on their feet as he hugged her from behind, his arms wrapping her like a dark cocoon while their hands merged in her crouched knees. He had changed this much, she thought. He laughs, but not the Naruto who would think there isn't anything in this world that doesn't have the word "funny" in it. He talks, but not the old knucklehead who would actually brag anything he sees in front of him at all, hence he was starting to see the world as the future Hokage. A sad adjustment Hinata wondered who or what might ever did this to him; Hiashi, Tsunade, or time.
When they've started dating, he always brought her to places that never failed to mesmerize her. Watching the sun fall from its peak, or dusk rise to dawn. Then they would go back from time and make sport of the foolish things they've done, and laugh afterwards like there was no tomorrow, no curfew, no ninja life. Then she'd asked him about his parents, if he ever thought of them sometimes, but he hadn't really answered her. He'd shrugged it off, and started asking if Hiashi keeps on punishing her, if she wanted him to punch the old man in the guts. Then she cursed herself for being so stupid. If he didn't want to talk about it, she wasn't going to make him.
"I don't know," he said. "I've never met her, but I bet she's beautiful." He had kissed her cheeks. "Come on, there's something I want to give you." He said. "Turn around."
Hinata closed her eyes and rotated clockwise. She always loved surprises. The last one she had was her birthday, when he brought the whole gang to celebrate at Gin's. He was placing something cold in her neck--probably a necklace or an ornamental jewelry. Only it was a bit heavier.
"Open up."
When she squeaked her eyes, she almost cried at the thought of it. Her pearl eyes glimmered at the gem that sparked from within, when she fiddled it with her fingers.
It was the First Hokage's property, formerly Tsunade's--the swaying necklace.
And he kissed her forehead. There were so much more she wanted to tell him, how her life had been spinning like a Royal, so many troubles she had in life she almost want to think all of this was a dream. War is about to get triggered. Her eyes are full of stew that her mouth never got to say. "I-I just want to be free of all this."
"Shhhh," she had buried her face to into his chest, like there couldn't be any pleace she would want to be right now. "We'll think of something. I promise."
Kushina, who had been watching them for some time, gave naruto a kiss in the forehead. There was difference between being touched by Uchiha Madara with his jutsu, and a ghost who has passed by a long time from now. So when the touch of breeze alarmed him, he stared back, but there wasn't anyone other than the two of them.
*
"Look what you've done." Said Black Zetsu, "you just reunited a father and daughter. Maybe one day they'll even invite you to dinner."
Obito gazed at the stars above. They were all so bright and intense, and it only reminded him of his team when they usually carry out missions.
Darn. He had lost again; lost to a little girl whom he'd offered a better future, a life outside she could have whatever she wished for... If only she had let him in, and if only she'd given him a chance. You're overthinking too much. But it was true. And then there was Sakura, who volunteered to take Rin's place so no piece of infliction would come to Kakashi's daughter. And for a moment there he might have actually said yes, maybe... If that love she would have given him was more of a child's compassion to their father.
"Happy Birthday!"
Behind him, a girl in high pigtails was carrying an orange goggles with her, followed by Sakura and Sasuke. "Here you go, mister."
He stared blankly at the object like he had come from a different dimension. "What's this?"
"A gift. Kakashi-sensei was visiting your grave earlier." Said Sakura.
He stared at the ten-year-old girl who batted her lashes in benevolence. "Get that thing off me before I kill it."
Sakura gasped. "That's not now you talk to children!"
*
"So your plan didn't work." Sasuke whispered, as they stood at the doorframe and watch the little angel shift and snuggle deep into her sheets.
True. At first her plan was to free her from Kabuto by finding a way to get rid of the curse(the way Shikamaru had done it to Temari), but then--she figured impures have a different way of remaining alive; as long as there is blood there is more to feed on... Kabuto said again, and for some reason Sakura thought it wasn't just an instinct that brought Wakana into the village... Perhaps, she was meant to meet a lot of good people there.
Sakura forced a smile. "Course it did." She faced him. "She met his father. Everyone would want that."
Wakana couldn't sleep. She keeps on fluffing her pillow and even the soft linen couldn't reach her position. There wasn't a minute she couldn't stop thinking of Konoha. Kakashi, Iruka, Gai, Konoha 11, her journey back into the village, the liberal vendors.. She hadn't felt any happier than living in a dingy hideout where you couldn't meet anyone new, and people there tend to give you bad influence such as Obito's killing game(not that she hadn't enjoyed it). And Kabuto, who was supposed to be responsible for everything she does--wouldn't give a damn of her. Basically her food, hygiene, health, although he would always lecture her of how impures aren't born to be guarded, otherwise he wouldn't even think of experimenting over them. Well guess what?? She is NOT a kindergarthen, and maybe, just maybe, impures have feelings too. She just didn't know if that woman named Chiruka had one too, because she was far too beautiful for Rin to look at, and a little bitchy to be friends with.
She just sighed and tried the best she can to fall asleep. It was difficult to become a captive and a non-living human at the same time, since people will look down to you as a heartless blood-sucking demon, the kind of person she never wished to be one.
"I shouldn't have brought her there." Said Sakura, swallowing her guilt. How many hours will it take for the girl to fall asleep? Even so, would it be enough to forget everything she knew of Konoha? Now that she knew someone special was waiting for her?
Because nomatter how many times she'll think of it, more memories will hunt her down. She was still Kabuto's prisoner, and it's Sakura's obligation to keep her safe from everything that wanted to put an end to her kind; her species.
"C-could you do it? Like you did to Kakashi-sensei and Ino?"
Sasuke glanced at the sleeping beauty. "I could erase her memories and make her forget if that's what you want."
Her eyes glittered at the thought. "This time I don't want her to remember any of it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah," she shed a tear. "Just make it quick."
"I'll do it," Obito said looming out of nowhere. His tone of amusement was back, as if there was always a way for him to shut in and off his humanity--keeping him from all the pain. "I know how to manipulate this jutsu more than any of you does."
"Why would you do that?"
"It's a small price to pay after all his father had done." He said smugly, trying to ignore Sasuke's look of inquision.
Why would I trust you? Her inner wanted to ask, but Sakura found no reason to suspect the man who recently asked a child to pretend to be his daughter. "Suite yourself." And she remembered what was it like of having triggered your forgotten memories, bad things happen.
Careful not to scare her, Sakura creaked slowly to the little girl until she raised her brows and sat at the edge of her bed. "Didn't mean to wake you up, little Kakashi."
She giggled. She was wearing her cotton PJ's, and she was so cute wearing her cat ears. "When are we going to visit Konoha again?"
She forced a smile at her. She was so--innocent. "Rin," she whispered tucking her hair at the back of her ear, "There's something I want you to do, but first I just want to say sorry."
"For what?"
"For what I did to you. For bringing you to Konoha. It was a mistake."
Wakana just blinked her eyes in confusion.
Sakura smiled at her. You wouldn't understand. "Tonight, I want you to listen to your uncle Obito. He could teach you many things your father hadn't taught you--and you just have to trust me, okay?"
"Okay," she said politely.
"Good." She inhaled apprehensively. "One more thing--whatever happens, daddy loves you." Holding her tears, "Promise me you won't forget him."
Sakura was at ease when the girl suddenly got curious, like she somehow developed from an astronaut to a professional lawyer. "Why would I swear on something I don't understand?"
"Just do it, please.." Sakura tried to defy her annoyance, and realized she was just a girl.
Sasuke just stared sympathetically at the two and glared at Obito. "Whatever your plan is, it's not gonna work." But Obito just let off a smirk, clearly up to something.
Sakura nodded to Obito and gave him the signal. The Uchiha slowly sat to her bed, and Wakana stared at her both eyes. Since he only possessed one Sharingan, it's enough to wipe the entire remembrance Kakashi had left in it. "It's alright, Rin. I don't mean you any harm. Though I do think it's time we had a talk." As he flashed his Mangekyō Sharingan at her, he said: "This morning, I want you to forget a village named Konoha. Your mother died giving birth to you and that she named her after you, and that you have a father who's standing right here. As for you, tonight, you will sleep, and you will dream of a world far better than this one. A world where there is no evil, no demons, and all people desire only to be good."
***********************************************************
11.17.13
Edited 4.8.14, Tues 8:09 P.M