"You're not in your oiroke no jutsu form – you're female?! That means – you're the one Sasuke-kun married?"
Naruto closed her eyes tightly, feeling extremely guilty at the sound of incredulity and betrayal in Sakura's voice. She dared not lift her eyes to face her friend.
"N-naruto? Please? Tell me you're not the one Sasuke-kun m-married?" Sakura's voice cracked.
Naruto took a deep breath and looked up, and cringed at seeing the half-hope and half-dread on Sakura's face. "I… I am married to Sasuke, Sakura-chan," she said softly, then hurriedly continued, "but it's for a mission! So that Sasuke can kill Itachi! Not because of anything else-"
SLAP!
Naruto's head bounced to the side and her cheek smarted painfully.
"You married Sasuke-kun? YOU MARRIED SASUKE-KUN?" Sakura started shouting. "How could you? You know I love him! Don't give crappy excuses about missions! How could you? You pretend to be a girl then you marry the man I love?"
Naruto tried to touch Sakura's arm. "I really am female, and I really did marry Sasuke because of a mission-"
"Oh my god! All these time you asked me out on dates! You sicko!" Sakura's eyes widened in disgusted shock, and she slapped Naruto's hand away. "You were in love with Sasuke-kun all that time, weren't you? That's why you worked so hard to get him back! How could you? You knew I loved him and yet you stole him away! You make me SICK!"
Naruto was getting desperate. "I didn't steal him away, Sakura-chan! I don't love him, it's for a mission-"
"Don't lie! And don't touch me, you vile bitch!" Sakura screamed and slapped Naruto again, face red from anger. "All this while I thought you were my friend! But you go behind my back and marry –MARRY!– the man I love! You bitch!"
"Sakura-chan," Naruto pleaded with tears in her eyes. "Please listen-"
"Don't Sakura-chan me, you bitch!" Sakura shouted. "You bakemono!"
Naruto immediately stiffened and a look of intense hurt crossed her face. Sakura almost felt guilty for calling Naruto the one thing that would hurt her like nothing else to hear coming out of a friend's mouth, but then the medic nin remembered that this female had married her Sasuke-kun. She backhanded Naruto hard, and quickly ran away with tears clouding her vision.
Naruto stood trembling, looking with unseeing eyes at her zori. The street had gone unusually silent and empty, and had been so since Sakura had first started shouting. But that wasn't foremost in her mind. Sakura had called her a monster, and accused her of stealing away Sasuke. Sakura had called her a monster and accused her of going behind her back. Sakura had called her a monster.
I am a bakemono, aren't I…
Salty drops of water dripped intermittently onto her zori, and Naruto squeezed her eyes shut.
"Naruto-sensei?" came a soft, hesitant whisper. Naruto reluctantly opened her eyes to see Eriko standing beside her, and Ichiro and Nichiro beside Eriko. All three had worried looks.
"Naruto-sensei? Daijoubu ka?" Eriko asked again. Naruto took in a shuddering breath and plastered on a smile.
"I'm fine, guys," she said, faking a mildly cheerful tone. "How much did you hear?"
"Only the last part, when that woman called you a bakemono, Keimei-sensei," Ichiro answered, then quickly added as he saw Naruto flinch at the word 'bakemono', "but you're not a monster, sensei. That woman was wrong."
"Ichiro's right!" Eriko added, and Nichiro nodded. Naruto managed a smile, touched by their concern despite the hurt heavy in her heart. She exhaled loudly.
"Aarghh. This is the second time you've seen me like this; bet you're starting to think I'm an oversensitive, girly piece of crap," Naruto rubbed her eyes with her right hand, then pushed her bangs up and rested her hand on her forehead for a moment.
"No!" Eriko was vehement. "We still think you're awesome, Naruto-sensei!"
Naruto chuckled lightly. "Thanks, guys. I'll see you at the training grounds tomorrow at the usual time, okay? And I'm fine, Nichiro," she added emphatically, touched by their concern but at the same time not really liking that her students were worried about her, or even had something to be worried about concerning her, and seeing that Nichiro was about to say something. She grinned at them and gave them a two-fingered wave, then vanished without the usual smoke that accompanied a shunshin. "Ja!"
Ichiro and Nichiro narrowed their eyes identically, and Eriko stared at the spot sensei had been in a second ago.
"I hope she's alright," Eriko mused quietly, and her teammates agreed.
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"Sasuke-kun!"
Annoyance flashed across the brunet's face before it settled into cold indifference. He continued kicking, punching, dodging and blocking with Kakashi, ignoring the irritatingly shrill voice. He had totally forgotten about her existence up till now.
"Sasuke-kun!"
To his immense irritation, Kakashi straightened up then slouched into his usual position, and that abominable book appeared in his hands.
"I think Sakura wants to talk to you, Sasuke," he said from behind his book.
You think? snarled Sasuke mentally.
"Seems quite urgent," the jounin continued in an aloof tone, and poofed away, indicating that training was over for that day. Sasuke glared coldly at where the jounin had been standing.
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura's voice was desperate. He refused to turn around, and soon a thatch of pink hair, followed by the rest of the girl, came into his view.
The girl was a mess. Her hair was rumpled and looked grimy, her face was dirty and had tear-stains, her eyes were red and puffy, and it seemed like she hadn't changed in quite a while.
"Is it true, Sasuke-kun? You married Naruto?" she asked in a hoarse, quaking voice. She flinched at his icy look.
"None of your business, Sakura." His tone matched his expression.
Undeterred, she latched onto his arm with desperation in her eyes. "Please, Sasuke-kun. Did you marry Naruto? Do you l-love Naruto?"
Sasuke glared down at his ex-teammate, who was on the verge of tears. "That dobe is only a tool towards my goal. Nothing else. Get that into your brain, Haruno. And before you ask, the answer is no – I am not interested in any of you pitiful females in Konoha," he said coldly, shook off her arm rudely and stalked off.
Sakura stared after him for a while, staring at the revised Uchiha symbol on his back. She swallowed a sob and ran after him.
"Sasuke-kun –"
Something seemed to strike Sasuke, and he turned around slowly.
"You spoke to her yesterday, didn't you?" he asked in a dangerously low voice. Sakura took a step back, feeling a little fear rise at the bit of killing intent he was letting loose.
"Sasuke-kun? What do you mean?" she asked shakily.
"You. spoke. to. the. dobe. yesterday. And you hit her." It was a statement. His black eyes radiated anger, and Sakura was taken aback. Realization hit her, and she gasped painfully.
"You care for Naruto, don't you, Sasuke-kun. You actually care for her!" she half-shrieked, pointing at him. The anger in his eyes intensified, and he glared at her. "Why? I love you, Sasuke-kun! Why did you marry her instead of me? What's so good about her? What does she have that I don't?"
Sasuke rested one hand on his Kusanagi and the other on his hip, and stared at her pointedly, in disdain. "The Kyuubi."
Sakura's eyes widened. "W-what?"
"She has the Kyuubi, and you don't. Itachi is after her, not you. That's all there is to it. End of discussion." He turned to walk away, no longer in the mood to train, and ignored Sakura's pitiful "I don't understand…"
Sakura tried to wrap her tired brain around what Sasuke just said. It didn't help that she slept only an hour or so last night, having spent most of the time sobbing into her pillow.
The brunet stopped after one step, and without turning around, said, "If I ever find out you hit the dobe again, you won't like the consequences." He walked down the street without turning back.
He does care for Naruto… he didn't deny it… but at the same time he doesn't seem to care. It's like he's using her, like she's a mere tool to him… Sakura thought confusedly. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples, starting to feel guilty about her treatment of Naruto last night. Her head hurt too much to try and figure out what was going on, but one thing seemed clear – Sasuke-kun was married to Naruto. The love of her life was married to a person she thought was male all this time.
"Haruno-san, Hokage-sama requires you," an unfamiliar voice broke her train of thoughts. She opened her eyes and glared at the chuunin messenger, who merely shrugged and shunshin-ed off. Sakura but back a frustrated scream – of all the times for Tsunade-shishou to call for her! She blinked, then realized that Tsunade-shishou would definitely know what was going on. She would definitely get the story out of Tsunade-shishou.
The pink-haired medic quickly summoned her little store of chakra that had not replenished since she hadn't had a good rest, and shunshin-ed to the Hokage's office door, knocked, and went in before the Hokage could call her.
Tsunade looked up, one eyebrow raised in mild surprise. "You look like shit, Sakura."
Sakura gripped the edge of the large desk and stared hopefully at the Hokage. "Sasuke-kun isn't really married to Naruto, is he? Tell me he's not, Tsunade-sama, tell me Naruto's not a girl!"
The blonde leaned back in her chair and raised one hand to massage her temples. The other hand indicated for Sakura to sit down.
"Take a seat, Sakura. Now I see why Keimei was reluctant about telling you…"
Sakura was lowered herself into the chair slowly, feeling a little confused.
Tsunade sighed. "Naruto's real name is Namikaze Keimei, renamed Uzumaki Naruto by the Sandaime Hokage, who also cast a kage henge on her when she was still an infant, to protect her because of the Kyuubi within her. She herself never knew about this until the fight at the Valley of the End, when she was carried back here and I had to heal numerous wounds and the kage henge got dispelled for the first time in her life. Needless to say, we were all shocked, and Keimei was screaming, so I went through Sarutobi-sensei's duty log, and found one entry explaining a little concerning the kage henge, although her surname was not mentioned. Her name was then legally changed to Uzumaki Keimei Naruto. Keimei received a time-limit-sealed scroll from the Sandaime a few weeks ago, informing her of who her parents were. Whether she chooses to share the information she received is up to her, but the name Namikaze must never leave this room, Sakura. At least not until Keimei gives us her permission." Tsunade looked pointedly at her apprentice before continuing. "Keimei herself was uncomfortable as a female, so she stuck to her male appearance for a while until I convinced her to get used to her original body. She has been trying, and only recently has she fully dropped the henge."
Sakura looked dazedly at the Hokage. "But Sasuke-kun…"
Tsunade glared at her. "Is that boy all you have in your brain, Haruno? The Council came up with the plan to force Keimei to marry Sasuke because they want Sasuke to stay in Konoha. Keimei is the ideal bait for Sasuke, because of Itachi and Akatsuki's interest in the Kyuubi. As for Keimei, they threatened to reject her as Hokage and shut Sasuke up in prison if she were to refuse. She agreed out of the kindness of her heart. Whether she loves him or he loves her or whatever it is – it is between the two of them, who are legally married by Konoha law, I might add. Forget about that boy, Haruno. He never reciprocated your feelings in the first place. I honestly thought you should have realized that by now, and gotten over it."
Sakura flinched at Tsunade's rather harsh tone. She felt her heart crumble off bit by bit – it was official. Sasuke was married to Naruto, regardless of their feelings for each other. A sliver of hope shot up – maybe she could –
"I never took you for a home-wrecker, and I never want to have to think of you that way, Haruno," Tsunade cut in.
Sakura flushed and cowered back in her chair under the Hokage's intense look.
"While it's true Keimei thinks of this as a mission, and Sasuke thinks of this as a means to his end, do not come in between them. If they should split later on, let it be of their own volition."
Sakura nodded dumbly, and wiped at the tears starting to form at the corner of her eyes. Tsunade sighed again. "Go home, Sakura," she said in a softer tone. "Get some rest, clean yourself up. I'll give you today off, but I expect you back at the hospital tomorrow."
Sakura stood slowly and with a bow, left the Hokage's office. Tsunade's worried eyes followed her to the door. I hope Keimei doesn't get hurt by this…
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Sasuke walked slowly back to the apartment after having decided to spend the rest of the day meditating. Sakura's words kept replaying in his mind.
I don't care for her. I just want to make sure she's in good condition as Itachi-bait, he argued with himself.
He had come back to an empty apartment last night – not that he cared whether or not the dobe was home. He had cooked himself dinner, ate it, then went to bed. He hated admitting it, but the house was colder, emptier without the blonde idiot around. He spent a rather restless night in his room, and couldn't find a reason for his restlessness. In the morning, just as he was leaving the bathroom, the dobe had come in, walking limply towards her room. Her eyes were red and tired, and most of all, lifeless. Sasuke found himself hating that lifeless look in her eyes. There were no tear stains on her face, but there was a large, faded red splotch on her face that would have corresponded to being slapped in the face a few times. All these observations Sasuke made out of the corner of his eye.
The dobe, on noticing him rather belatedly, had looked up with a smile and a cheerful "Ohayou Sasuke" before going into her room. Sasuke left the house and didn't think more of it until Sakura had come running to him during training earlier, and he realized that Sakura was probably the one who had hit the dobe once she found out they were married.
An unexpected and unwanted feeling of protectiveness and anger rose in him, and he had warned her off the dobe. And he did realize that he never denied having feelings for the dobe.
It's such a stupid idea – me having feelings for the dobe. It's so ridiculous it's not worth denying.
Another stream of thought popped up in his head. Then why are you so uptight about the issue?
Sasuke glared into space at that thought, and resolutely pushed aside further thought on the matter. That was, until he passed by a group of three vaguely familiar children walking in the same direction.
"… she looked rather out of it today," a cultured, rather arrogant-sounding voice floated up.
"Yeah. Yesterday must have affected Naruto-sensei more than she wants to admit. I mean, anyone would be hurt, being called a bakemono, but seeing as Naruto-sensei's the jin…" a girl's voice, and it got cut off by another voice that sounded identical to the first.
"Not in public, Eriko. Remember Keimei-sensei's instructions."
The girl piped up again. "Oh yeah. Well. Naruto-sensei's stubborn – it took us so long to get her to cancel today's training and convince her to rest. I mean, she was smiling and all, but you could see in her eyes that she was upset."
"Naruto-sensei has beautiful eyes, doesn't she?"
A pause occurred, during which Sasuke found himself agreeing with the boy. He recognized the group as Naruto's genin.
"You've got a crush on Naruto-sensei, haven't you, Nichiro?" the girl crowed, grinning at one of the Hyuuga twins. The boy in question scowled delicately at the girl, although Sasuke could see he had the faintest of pink on his cheeks. The boy's twin raised an eyebrow, and the girl cackled.
"Nichiro's got a crush on Naruto-sensei! Nichiro's got a crush on Naruto-sensei!" she sing-songed, grinning wickedly at the boy.
Sasuke felt a surge of annoyance and assertiveness rise, directed at the boy. The nerve of that boy, having a crush on someone else's wife! And a woman six years older than himself, too.
Why do I care?
Sasuke growled to himself and quickly walked away from the group of genin. He jumped up to the rooftops and made his way towards the apartment, and let himself in. He could smell instant ramen – the dobe was obviously having lunch in the kitchen. He made his way there unhurriedly, and headed to the fridge to get himself a glass of cold water.
The blonde was seated at the table, facing away from the entrance and the fridge. She jumped slightly when she heard the fridge door open, and turned around. Sasuke caught a glimpse of her tired face and lifeless eyes before she smiled widely at him.
"Okaeri, Sasuke!"
"Hn." It was more than Sasuke had ever acknowledged before this, and Naruto blinked in surprise, obviously expecting silence. Sasuke pulled out some of his leftovers and went to heat them up. Once the microwave dinged, he removed his food and sat across from her and started eating quietly, watching her from under his eyelashes.
Naruto was eating her fifth cup of ramen, and the four empty ones were scattered around her on the table. Her eyes were rather unfocused, and the smile had fallen off her face. Overall, she looked rather sad – an expression Sasuke found himself disliking on Naruto's face. He put down his chopsticks to pick up his glass of water.
The movement caught Naruto's eyes, and instantly a more neutral, cheerful look appeared on her face. Sasuke then understood what her students had been talking about – you wouldn't have known that Naruto was hurt if you didn't look carefully past the smile on her face into her eyes.
She wears a mask, he realized. She covers up any hurt with an idiotic smile, and people don't bother to look past the smile.He wondered how many of the smiles he had seen on her face were cover-ups for hurting feelings. With a jolt to his heart, he wondered how many times he had been the cause of those fake smiles. Not that I care, he argued vehemently with himself. I severed those bonds; I don't care.
"Didja know Sakura-chan's back from her mission?" Naruto suddenly said in a cheerful voice. Sasuke put down his glass and took up his chopsticks again, and pretended not to pay attention to her. "We should meet up sometime soon, and call Kakashi-sensei along too, ne? Team Seven after six years." The blonde smiled.
"I saw Sakura-chan yesterday. You were the first thing she asked about," she went on, and Sasuke could detect slight bitterness in her tone, but only because he was looking for it. "Has she gone looking for you? She still likes you, you know."
Sasuke picked at a vegetable with his chopsticks. "I don't like her. And I told her so earlier."
Naruto's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "You talk!" Sasuke shot her a glare. Although Naruto's surprise was understandable – he had never replied to her when she tried to chat at home. The blonde set down her now-empty cup of ramen, and narrowed an eye at the brunet opposite her.
"I hope you were nice to her, Sasuke – she's liked you all these years. I hope you didn't hurt her feelings."
"Why are you being so nice to her? She obviously hurt yours," Sasuke retorted.
Naruto looked startled and a little apprehensive for an instant before she blustered, "Sakura-chan's our teammate and she's my friend, so you'd better be nice to her!"
Sasuke's features rearranged themselves into indifference. "She's not my friend."
Naruto scowled at him. "That's because you won't let anyone be your friend! We want to be your friends, Sasuke! I want to be your friend again! But you won't let us!"
"These kinds of bonds only hold us back. I've told you that before – friendships are useless to me, and you are a mere tool."
"We care about you, Sasuke," Naruto said softly. "Sakura-chan and Kaka-sensei and I. What will you come home to after you've killed Itachi?"
Sasuke flared up a little. "Don't mention that man's name in my house."
Naruto stuck out her tongue childishly. "It's my house too!"
Sasuke stood, his appetite lost. "I am the man of the house; you will do as I say."
Naruto stood as well. "Suddenly you're my husband and you can order me around? Harh! Maybe if you started treating me like a wife I'd think of you as the man of the house! But even then, nobody orders Uzumaki Naruto around." She turned on her heel and marched out of the kitchen, only to pop back with a red face. "Forget about me asking you to treat me like a wife, okay? I'm no weak girl that needs a husband to protect her!"
She retreated quickly, leaving Sasuke to stare after her. His eyes fell on her ramen cups, and he frowned in annoyance at her messy habits. He irritably deposited her trash into the garbage bin and washed up his dishes. He wiped his hands on the dishcloth, and walked out of the kitchen, intending to head to his room, but in the living room, he noticed Naruto sprawled out inelegantly on her stomach on the couch facing the kitchen entrance.
Unconsciously, he stopped in his tracks, then slowly walked a little closer to be able to observe her better. Her face looked tired, like she hadn't slept the whole night. Now that she was sleeping, the fatigue that she was hiding earlier was showing through. Her shoulder-length spiky-ish blonde hair curled over her neck and partly covered her face, especially her eyes, since she was resting on one cheek. The red mark on her face he had seen in the morning had faded, and he could now see only hints of it, and that was probably because he knew where to look. A slight bit of drool was escaping her partially open mouth, and Sasuke twitched in annoyance at the thought of drool on the couch. One hand was squeezed between the back of the couch and her body, and the other was dangling towards the floor, together with its corresponding leg. She looked a little uncomfortable with her Konoha vest still on – she must have been too tired to take it off before she dozed off.
Sasuke crouched down, and a hand tentatively made its way to her face. Just as he was about to smooth back her hair, she scrunched up her face, rearranging her features into an expression of hurt. The hurt look vanished a second later, and Sasuke guessed that she must have been dreaming about whatever Sakura had said to her.
She called her a monster, according to her genin. Sasuke knew that must have hurt a lot.
He suddenly realized he had a hand near her face, and wondered when had the appendage moved there. His hand hovered over her face for a while before he made up his mind, and gently brushed back the hair from her eyes, only to have it fall back when he removed his hand. He pulled his hand back, feeling oddly warm when he saw her lips curl up in a faint smile when he had smoothed back her hair.
Sasuke stood up, gave her a last look and left for his room.
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He was having trouble meditating. He had been trying to do so for the past few hours, but his thoughts kept flying back to the dobe.
Why did he start feeling protective of her, assertive over her, when Sakura and that little Hyuuga snot had been talking about her? He didn't care; he didn't need friends, much less a wife. But why did he start feeling warm when the dobe responded to his touch with a smile?
Idiot. She probably didn't even know it was you, so what makes you think she responded to you? he berated himself.
These bonds would only slow him down.
But the dobe managed to gain strength because of those bonds, a traitorous subconscious voice spoke up.
Sasuke scowled to himself. The dobe had indeed gotten stronger – almost to his level, if the spar two weeks ago was anything to go by. He knew she wasn't going all out with him yet, just as he hadn't gone all out with her, but he could tell she wasn't as weak as she had been six years ago. It was galling.
He found himself wondering if he could have risen to this level if he had stayed in Konoha instead of going to Orochimaru. No, he decided. He had made the right choice – he was decidedly stronger, and no one in Konoha could have measured up to Orochimaru when the snake-man was at his peak.
A thought stuck him – was he the reason why Naruto was so strong? After all, the dobe kept going on about how one gets strong if they fight to protect their precious person. His eyes widened a fraction before he scowled darkly. Her strength probably came from the Kyuubi. She would be weak without it.
Even as he thought that, he knew it wasn't true, because he couldn't detect the Kyuubi's chakra at all when they sparred. His features darkened again, and he narrowed his eyes. Just how did the dobe get so strong? Bonds and all that precious people philosophy was pure crap. He needed to get stronger; he must be more powerful than that man. That way that man wouldn't stand a chance when they met ag-
He was having trouble meditating. He had been trying to do so for the past few hours, but his thoughts kept flying back to the dobe.
Why did he start feeling protective of her, assertive over her, when Sakura and that little Hyuuga snot had been talking about her? He didn't care; he didn't need friends, much less a wife. But why did he start feeling warm when the dobe responded to his touch with a smile?
Idiot. She probably didn't even know it was you, so what makes you think she responded to you? he berated himself.
These bonds would only slow him down.
But the dobe managed to gain strength because of those bonds, a traitorous subconscious voice spoke up.
Sasuke scowled to himself. The dobe had indeed gotten stronger – almost to his level, if the spar two weeks ago was anything to go by. He knew she wasn't going all out with him yet, just as he hadn't gone all out with her, but he could tell she wasn't as weak as she had been six years ago. It was galling.
He found himself wondering if he could have risen to this level if he had stayed in Konoha instead of going to Orochimaru. No, he decided. He had made the right choice – he was decidedly stronger, and no one in Konoha could have measured up to Orochimaru when the snake-man was at his peak.
A thought stuck him – was he the reason why Naruto was so strong? After all, the dobe kept going on about how one gets strong if they fight to protect their precious person. His eyes widened a fraction before he scowled darkly. Her strength probably came from the Kyuubi. She would be weak without it.
Even as he thought that, he knew it wasn't true, because he couldn't detect the Kyuubi's chakra at all when they sparred. His features darkened again, and he narrowed his eyes. Just how did the dobe get so strong? Bonds and all that precious people philosophy was pure crap. He needed to get stronger; he must be more powerful than that man. That way that man wouldn't stand a chance when they met ag-
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Glossary-of-sorts
- bakemono: monster
-daijoubu: okay, alright, safe. So, daijoubu ka means 'are you alright'
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TO BE CONTINUED