Of Birds Who Fly Free

Chapter Seven_Carefully Laid Plans

As the sun set outside, creatures came out to greet the night. Crickets hopped about and chirped, deer wandered pensively and nibbled at the grass, and even a small garden snake made its way out of the bushes. It slithered quietly along the damp stones of a vacant hot springs in the outskirts of Konoha.

It stopped after a moment and lay there, basking in the heat of the stone, then opened its mouth. A hand much to large to have been swallowed by such a small snake suddenly shot out of the snakes mouth and grasped the edge of the bath, a head and broad shoulders following along with a second arm soon afterwards. Covered in saliva, the figure pulled himself with some difficulty from the garden snake’s mouth and ended up toppling into the hot water with a splash.

For a moment, he seemed to linger spread out on his back under the water, but then he floated up and surfaced without moving a muscle. Sasuke stared up at the sky and listened to the quiet sounds of the bugs and the water. The distant noise of soft feminine laughter drifted over the bamboo fence and some male voices spoke rowdily for a moment then died down.

Everything was quiet and still.

Sighing, Sasuke sat up and frowned, his entire body soaked and heated. As the water dripped off his bangs and down his face, he closed his eyes and smirked victoriously. That would teach Naruto a thing or two about who was the most cunning! He was extremely glad that the list of jutsus he was forbidden to use hadn’t included a few of his serpentine based techniques.

As Sasuke stood and sloshed out of the bath and onto the stone tile, a hawk flew down and landed on the bamboo fence just above him. Sasuke wringed out his pajamas and looked up at it with a slight frown. What in the world could that idiot want with him at this hour?

“Come in!” An older, muffled male voice called when a knock sounded at the apartment door.

Sasuke scowled and opened said door, walking into Iruka’s apartment and immediately spotting Kakashi sitting on the couch. A scroll rest on the coffee table and another ninja Sasuke wasn’t familiar with sat in the armchair, face masked and hair tucked under the hat like Konoha bandana.

Sasuke glanced only once more at the other ninja and assumed he was jounin accordingly. He frowned and turned his gaze on Kakashi. “You summoned me…Hokage-sama?”

Kakashi ignored the stressed pronunciation of his new title from the other’s mouth and just smiled merrily at him. “Ah yes. I have an A-ranked mission for you to carry out, Sasuke-kun.”

Sasuke frowned and tried not to sound too bitter. “I’m not allowed to perform missions beyond a C rank, Hokage-sama.”

“Oh bleh. It’s not the type of A rank that would cause trouble having you carry it out. I just need this scroll delivered to Naruto. Since you live with him, it should pose no problem,” Kakashi scoffed and gestured towards the scroll.

Sasuke’s frown deepened and he glared at the scroll.

“The contents are rather important. It’s a reinforcement of the Kyuubi seal, as Naruto’s mentioned to me that it has weakened a bit over the past few days. As extra precaution, Takeba here will travel with you back to your apartment to ensure its safe delivery,” Kakashi casually explained to him, picking the scroll up and handing it to Sasuke.

Sasuke hesitated and scowled, finally taking the scroll. Damnit, he hadn’t planned on returning home tonight. He stared a little longer at the scroll till he became aware of the jounin standing next to him. He looked over at this ‘Takeba’ and frowned. At least Naruto wouldn’t try anything if someone else was there…right? He’d even be able to grab a few things and crash on some roof for the night.

“Having any objections?” Kakashi inquired with a calm, almost knowing look up at him.

“No…Hokage-sama,” Sasuke bit out in annoyance and bowed. He really hated Kakashi’s ever knowing looks.

“Ah! That’s good!” Kakashi chirped happily and stood with a stretch, before offering Sasuke a sake bottle. “Sake?”

“Hn…I’m good,” Sasuke declined and turned to leave.

Kakashi shrugged and took a sip straight from the bottle, eyeing Sasuke up and down. “Sasuke-kun………why are you still in your pajamas?”

Sasuke paused and looked over his shoulder, shooting a death glare at a more then highly amused Kakashi. He then turned and left the apartment with a grumble, shooting another glare at his mission partner who was standing a little to close for comfort. Takeba murmured an apology behind his mask and took a step away from the irritated man’s personal space.

Content that the other had backed off and more then annoyed with Kakashi’s bad timing, Sasuke took off towards his and Naruto’s place with the scroll in hand.

So stupid…why hadn’t Naruto mentioned to him that the seal was weakening? You’d think something important like that would have come up during breakfast or dinner. Then again, Naruto could be amazingly airheaded at times. He’d probably just forgot about it. It was amazing what the blonde could remember and forget. He could remember a girl’s phone number, but goodness no, not that his seal is wearing down. The idiot…

Sasuke immediately sensed that his partner, Takeba, had again drawn awfully close to him and he shot another warning glare at the jounin. What was this guy’s problem?

Takeba once again apologized and hung back a little, throwing him a masked smile.

Sasuke simply scowled in annoyance and picked up speed, wanting to get to his place and get this stupid mission over with.

They finally arrived at his shared apartment, much to Sasuke’s newfound gratitude. Takeba had continued to get to close to him as they’d made their way across town, and he’d found himself having to threaten the jounin’s life at least once when the man had practically been breathing down his neck.

But now they were safe at his place and he’d rather face the dobe’s idiotic sex classes then be alone with this jounin any longer.

Sasuke unlocked the door and shot the jounin one last glare before entering the apartment. “Oi! Dobe, I’m home!”

Sasuke suddenly hesitanted, spotting Naruto sitting calmly on the couch. The blonde was relaxing in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, and staring very intently at him.

Naruto slowly smirked, eyes glinting in the dim light, “Bought time…I was getting impatient.”

Sasuke swallowed and took a hesitant step back, suddenly deciding maybe it would be good to run away now. However, a hard body pressed up behind him and blocked his retreat, shocking Sasuke into a stupor. He turned to look in surprise, his eyes widening as ‘Takeba’ removed his mask and smirked at him with blue eyes and whiskered cheeks.

The door was shut and locked behind him, and twin blue eyes met and exchanged impish grins.