Let us go back, over paths, over streams and rivers, through forests, back all the way to The Leaf Village.
Let’s go over to the bridge and zoom in on three certain kids, one of which is Kokoro’s brother, the other who is striving to be Hokage, and the last….not really having anything significant about her besides being obsessed with Sasuke…
Sasuke sighed and leaned against the bridge railing. ‘Kakashi sensei was late ‘again’. If he was ever early everyone would be shocked. ‘
Sasuke glanced over at Sakura who was sitting under a tree reading a book. ‘Hmph. She had been smart enough to bring something to pass the time.’
He narrowed his eyes, straining to read the title. At that moment, Naruto popped up behind Sakura yelling at the top of his tongue, “What’re you reading Sakura!? Chakra Control and You. Boring!”
Sakura jumped and turned so fast Naruto barely had time to duck.
“Naruto!”
“Ow!”
Sasuke smirked as Naruto went flying into a tree.
Sakura settled back down and Naruto tried his best to get his head out of the hole in the tree.
Sasuke closed his eyes and leaned back again, reaching into his weapons pouch.
His hand touched something smooth, and he grasped it in his hand, feeling it in his hand.
Sorrow rose within him, but he pushed it back. He pulled his hand back out and opened his eyes.
Sakura was reading and Naruto’s head was still stuck in the tree.
Bringing his hand near his head, he opened it. In his hand was the jade pendant Kokoro had given him before-…
Carefully, Sasuke brought his hand over to open it. There was a small click, and Sasuke was able to see Kokoro’s face for a split second before disaster struck.
Naruto’s head popped over Sasuke’s shoulder and he yelled, “What’s that Sasuke?”
Sasuke, being caught of guard and in a vulnerable moment lurched forward, the necklace thrown out of his hand. It turned over and over in the air, going over the side of the railing and, just before it was about to plop into the water, Sasuke caught a small glimpse of her smiling face, and yelled, “No!” .
A hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the necklace before it fell in, and Sasuke let out a quick small sigh.
He looked up ( he was on the floor with Naruto top of him) at Kakashi-sensei. He was standing on the water, holding the necklace calmly by it‘s chain. Sasuke stood straight up ( Naruto tumbled off and hit his head- served him right) and held his hand out for the necklace. Kakashi-sensei jumped up and dropped it into his hand without a comment, some emotion Sasuke could not discern passing through his eyes.
Sakura came rushing over and punched Naruto (ow), then she asked in a sickly sweet voice, “Oh Sasuke, are you ok?” with hearts in her eyes. *sigh* ( she gets better after the Chunin Exams).
Sasuke slipped the necklace quietly into his pouch again and said, “Hn.”
Kakashi-sensei said, “Now that al the drama’s over, I’ll relay the mission detail’s to you.” Naruto sat up, a big and rather sore looking bump on his head.
“You have to take care of a sick woman’s children. They’re at this address.” He handed a slip of paper to Sakura.
“You?” asked Naruto, immediately suspicious.
“I’m not good with kids. See you in three days, here. Bye!” said Kakashi, making a quick escape.
Naruto groaned.
Sakura sighed, and looked at the paper in her hand. “It’s near my house. Let’s go.”
***
The three stopped in front of a small, old looking cottage. It was a one story house, and was crawling with children. Toys littered the front yard, and kids ran all over the place, yelling, and shouting, and generally making anyone who passed by deaf.
Sakura tried to wade through the sea of toys to the door, and promptly tripped, landing on her hands, and doing a handstand. Immediately, the little children surrounded her and she was stuck, as they started playing, “Who can make the girl fall down”.
Sakura shouted, “Help!” a few times, but as she saw that Naruto and Sasuke had no way of helping her, she flipped over the heads of the children and landed neatly on her feet on the other side of the circle.
The kids immediately forgot about her and started running about once more.
Sakura sweat dropped.
Naruto and Sasuke mad there way over to the door. On the way, a little girl crashed into Sasuke, who fell over with her on top. Sasuke closed his eyes, and tried counting to three. Toys poked uncomfortably into his back and he winced when the child sat up right on top of him.
Sasuke heard Naruto shout, “Hey, a little Sasuke!” and felt the little girl being lifted of her. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking up at Naruto who held the little girl and was making funny faces at her.
Then, his eyes caught hold of the little girl, and his heart stopped. Kokoro? He thought, but the girl looked at him and his heart started up again. She looked exactly like Kokoro, but she wasn’t. She was too young.
Disappointment flashed across his face, but then he stood up and his usual blank expression was back on.
Why was he remembering Kokoro so much? He had taught himself to ignore his sorrow, but it had just been 4 months. His pain was still fresh, even though it seemed like a long time.
Sakura knocked on the door, and the other two came over. Naruto was still holding the little girl.
Nobody opened the door, so Sakura gently tried the handle. It was unlocked. Naruto put the little girl down, and they went inside, Sakura shouting, “Hello?”
On the right of the doorway was the kitchen, and on the left a small bathroom. As they went further in, they went through a small living room, a nursery/children’s room, and another room. Sakura n=knocked on the door before going in. A skinny lady was lying in the bed, and she coughed hoarsely.
Sakura wondered how she was able to go all the way to the mission are to ask for this mission, she looked so weak.
The lady was young and pretty, maybe in her early thirties. She had light brown hair and dark black eyes, with dark black bags underneath them.
She sat up in he bed, and coughed. Sakura gently pushed her back down, and said, “Hi. We’re here to take care of your children. Is there anything you would like?”
The woman smiled at Sakura and said, “No thank you. Your job is to take care of the children. The docter will take care of me. He’ll be coming shortly. “
She broke into a sudden bout of coughs, and Naruto, who was unusually quiet, handed her a glass of water (from who knows where) and she gulped it down gratefully. All the while, Sasuke stayed out of the way in the shadows.
The lady continued. “I have six children. There father is at work.”
She took a deep breath before continuing.
“The triplets are three, Etsu the girl, she‘s very cute, Fujita, the most active boy, and Akiyama, the shy boy. They all look alike, brown eyes, brown hair, except Etsu, who has longer hair than the boys. Also, Fujita has a small streak of black in his hair.”
“Botan is four, he has blond hair, after his father, and golden brown eyes. He hates carrots, but loves broccoli. Ami, her name means friend and she’s the friendliest, is five, she has red hair and blue eyes.”
“And last of all is Aiko, our first child. She’s six and she has black hair and black eyes. She can be shy when you first meet her, but if she likes you, she will attach herself to you like glue.”
“Since there are three of you, I thought that maybe each of you could take two? Here.”
She handed a piece of paper to Sakura, and another to Naruto, and beckoned Sasuke forward and gave him one too.
“I wrote on these pieces of paper of two of my children, their likes and dislikes, and all you need to know to take care of them.”
She then settled back and smiled at them. “Oh and ,my name is Akino. What about you?”
Naruto (of course, he can’t stay still for long, can he?) stepped forward and said, “My name is Naruto Uzumaki, an I’m going to be the Hokage, believe it! And this is Sakura Haruno, and the jerk is Sasuke Uchiha.”
The ‘jerk’ twitched, but let it slide.
“Hmm, I’ll be glad to have my children taken care of by the future Hokage! Please take good care of them!”
“I’ll do my best!”
The three trooped out, and glanced at their papers.
Sakura said. “I have Etsu and Botan.”
Naruto said. “ Umm, I have Fujita and Ami! Cool!”
Sasuke looked up as the stared questioningly at him, Sakura leaning in more than necessary, and answered, “I get the last two, Aiko and Akiyama.”
Naruto shouted, “Let’s get them!”
Sakura clubbed him on the head and said, “Naruto, you idiot, Akino is supposed to be asleep!”
Sasuke got up without a word and set off to find his two charges.
The two followed a moment later.
The first one they ran into was a little girl with brown hair and brown eyes.
Sakura kneeled down in front of her, but as she did so a little boy hurtled into her.
“Etsu, intruders, attack!”
“Yes Botan! I’ll call the others! Fujita! Aiko! Intruders! Get the others!”
Sakura said, “No, I’m here to-! Ow! Etsu!”
The other four came trotting up and attacked Naruto and Sasuke.
Sasuke pried Ami of him, and put her gently on the ground next to the wall, saying, “You have been captured. You must stay here.”
Sakura caught on and cooed, “Oh Sasuke , you are ‘so’-ow!- smart!”
She caught hold of Etsu around her waist, and picked her up, saying, “I have captured you. You must stay still.”
Naruto had caught two of the kids by their shirt backs, and put them near the wall saying pretty much the same thing the other two had.
Soon, all of them had ‘captured’ the kids, and the three kneeled down in front of them.
Naruto said, “Hey guys, we are not your enemies. We are your - uh- bodygaurds! We’re supposed to protect you from bad guys!”
One of the triplets yelled, “Prove it!” Fujita, I believe.
Naruto thought for a moment, then turned around , pointing to a small knot on a tree.
“See that?”
“Yeah?”
Naruto turned around to grin at the kids, and then twisted around and threw a kunai knife at the knot. It hit right in the middle. Naruto turned (smugly) back to the kids, and winked at them.
Sasuke and Sakura sweat dropped as the kids jumped on him, yelling enthusiastically.
“Show more, show more!”
Sakura decided to expand on Naruto’s idea, and yelled in a panicky voice, “Everyone, sit near the wall, there’s an assassin nearby!”
That caught the kids attention, and they all ran over to the wall and immediately plopped down.
Sakura smiled. “There, you have to sit there until I tell you it’s safe to move around. Ok, Etsu, Botan, raise your hand.”
Two small hands appeared in the air.
“Okay you two, come here and sit down next to me. I’m your bodyguard.”
“Now, Akiyama and Aiko, go sit next to Sasuke.”
The black haired girl and the brown haired boy went to sit beside Sasuke. Sasuke sighed.
He was probably the only one with little sibling experience, even though Naruto and Sakura didn’t know that, but babysitting? These missions were getting duller by the day.
“So, the two remaining are Fujita and Ami. Your bodyguard is Naruto.”
“Yippee!” the two yelled and jumped on Naruto. “Teach us to throw knifes!’
Naruto looked at Sakura pleadingly, and she sighed, and said, “Okay, let’s make cardboard shurikan. Aiko,” she turned to Sasuke’s charge, “can you go get some cardboard?”
The little girl, who Sasuke had noticed was the meekest of the group, nodded quietly and went off to get some. In a little while she came back, her arms laden with cardboard.
Sasuke helped by taking her load, and removed a kunai knife.
Naruto and Sakura did too, and soon there were 30 shurikan, five for each.
Naruto and Sakura taught their charges how to hold and throw their shurikan.
Sasuke stood awkwardly to the side with Aiko and Akiyama.
Then he knelt down in front of the two and picked up a shurikan.
He gave one to Akiyama and said, “Here. Try throwing this. You too Aiko.”
Soon it was lunch time, and, while the kids where throwing their kunai at a tree, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke met up.
Sakura looked flirtatiously at Sasuke and said, “Sasuke, you were sooo awesome, teaching those kids so well.”
Sasuke ignored her, and consulted his paper. “It seems that each of them have different tastes. Aiko likes to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Akiyame prefers peanut butter and nutella.”
“Etsu and Botan both like strawberry jam sandwiches, but Botan likes -eew- broccilli in his, and Fujita likes-” here Sakura snatched Naruto’s paper from his hand and checked. “- nutella sandwiches and Ami likes nutella too, but she likes hers in small squares with toothpicks through the middle. I guess that means sandwiches for everybody. Sasuke, let’s go prepare them together, Naruto, you stay here and watch the kids.”
Naruto yelled, “what?’
Sasuke said , “I’ll watch the kids.”
Naruto cheered, and Sakura looked disappointed.
They went into the kitchen, and Sasuke studied the kids.
Aiko was the one who caught his eye the most. She looked so much like Kokoro it was astonishing, and it made his heart ache. It made him long to hold Kokoro again.
He had never shied away from hugging or kissing (on the forehead, and even that was very rare, only when he thought she needed comforting)Kokoro.
Sasuke and Kokoro had had the same kind of relationship a two siblings who were 4-6 years apart might have. Kokoro seemed so much littler it seemed natural to act like that. Maybe it was because Kokoro always acted so young while Sasuke had always prided himself on acting much more mature.
Sasuke started out of his thoughts as a small body hurtled into him.
Aiko grinned up at Sasuke and said sweetly, “Sorry Sasuke Onii-chan.”
Sasuke showed to Aiko a side he had only ever revealed to Kokoro. He smiled a genuine smile at her, and picked her up, gently brushing her off.
“It’s alright Aiko.”
After she went off to play with her brothers and sisters again, Sasuke sighed. Why was he remembering Kokoro so much? She was dead. That was the cold hard truth.
The next couple of days passed quickly. Sasuke was reminded of Kokoro every time he was around Aiko, and his heart ached every night as he went to bed. He knew Naruto and Sakura never knew of his heart-ache, because he tried extra hard to conceal it and had overheard Naruto mutter to Sakura, “Why is Sasuke so cranky all the time?”
On the afternoon of the last day, they said their goodbyes to the children and set of for the place where they received their missions to meet Kakashi-sensei (the traitor).
Sasuke took one last look behind him at the small house and knew he would never go back. Aiko reminded him too much of Kokoro. His eyes narrowed as his thoughts were filled with revenge. He would kill Itachi! Murder him! Pound him to dust! Make him feel pain and agony!
Naruto looked at Sasuke, about to make a smart remark, but stepped back at the fury in Sasuke’s eyes and gulped. He did ‘not’ want to mess with him when he was in this kind of mood.
Soon, they were inside the mission-taking-place, and had collected their money. Then, they waited for Kakashi sensei for an hour by the door.
When he finally came, he said, “I got lost on the way here.”
Sweatdrops all around even the ninja giving out the missions.
Kakashi sensei strolled over to the ninja giving out missions and took a piece of paper from them. He read out to the three their future missions.
“Next weeks missions: Moving a whole blokcs’ lawns, picking fruit, getting groceries, etc,etc,etc, and at the end of the list, finding a ladies poor lost kitty! That’s in three weeks. Doesn’t that all sound invigorating?”
Naruto twitched. Sakura twitched. Then they started chewing Kakashi out.
“Kakashi sensei!!!!!”
[Reviews - 125]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +
Chapter notes: Okay, sorry I took so long to update, but (here come the lame excuses) I had a headache, my stomache hurt like hell, etc,etc, i lost my compuer....
Wow, I'm as bad as Kakashi! Is that something to be proud of?
Anyway, I thought you would like to see how Sasuke was faring! There will be more of these in the future, and I'll try to update on Sunday. This Sunday.
Hope you enjoy!
Please review!
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it wouldn't be cool at all! In away I'm glad I don't!
P.S. I've given up on the picture. If you'd like, I could e-mail it to you.....