Hello there again. Had to sit down and write the third chapter which popped into my brain during my exam this morning. Sheesh, talk about inconvenient timing. I guess I should add in a little warning. I love absurd situations, which may come through in my writing. The first several chapters will be mainly humorous (I hope), but will gradually get more serious as the plot develops. I hope you enjoy the story. Please let me know if you like it, and if you don’t like it, let me know how I might be able to improve. I am open to constructive criticism. To my lone reviewer (Yay, I actually have one!), thanks!

I do not own Naruto.

--

After Kabuto’s rather abrupt departure from the library, Sakura was left with nothing to do. She considered her options for a moment before floating off in the direction of the kitchen. Upon her arrival in the kitchen she once again encountered Sasuke. He was standing alone at the counter, silently salting a saucer piled high with sliced tomatoes.

“Tomatoes, of course it’s tomatoes! Why can’t it ever be carrots, or cucumbers, or even squash? And for breakfast? You should be having cereal or oatmeal or pancakes, or something like that!”

Sakura’s breakfast rant went unnoticed as Sasuke calmly ate his tomatoes. She glowered at him in frustration. She would have loved nothing more than to knock him out and carry him back to Konoha, but she was afraid to try anything until dark. This left her with an entire day of simply waiting around, and patience was something that was not always easy for her.

She followed Sasuke after he finished his breakfast and left the kitchen. Once again, he headed towards the training grounds. She followed him inside, only to hurry back out moments later, when Orochimaru joined him.

She shuddered at the thought of the snake sannin. Besides the frightening amount of power he possessed, there was something about him that was so creepy she couldn’t bring herself to willingly spy on him.

Inner Sakura agreed with her on that one, and went through a series of overly dramatic motions in which she gagged, shuddered, and pretended to claw her eyes out at the thought of seeing Orochimaru.

Feeling a bit thwarted, Sakura decided that the best thing to do would be to go find her original target. Weighing her chakra use against her boredom, she finally made a compromise with herself. She would use the easy way to find Kabuto, and then take a nap later to restore her chakra.

She concentrated on Kabuto, and willed herself to go to his location. The rushing sense of motion stopped sooner than she had expected. Apparently he hadn’t gone very far. She opened her eyes and found herself in his room for the second time that day. She watched as he tied on his forehead protector and donned the gloves he used to wear.

‘Looks like he’s getting serious about a mission. Considering who he works for, that can’t be good.’

“I love those gloves, Cha!”

After a brief mental debate with her inner self over the appropriateness of ogling the enemy, Sakura finally gave up and turned her attention back to Kabuto. He had already finished his preparations and was turning to leave the room. She silently snickered to herself when he locked the door and used a jutsu to seal it.

‘Wouldn’t he be surprised to know someone was going in his room without even using the door? I’ll have to send him a note when this is all over.’

Sakura floated after Kabuto as he left the compound. Looking around at her surroundings, she was glad none of the sound ninja they passed could see her. Most of the people she saw looked even scarier than the ones at the Chunin exams. She followed Kabuto as he wandered through the village. He stopped at a small market and bought various different kinds of food. If she hadn’t been watching Kabuto closely, she never would have seen the small slip of paper he passed to the man tending the market as he paid him.

After paying for his groceries, Kabuto nonchalantly left the market and browsed through several stores. Sakura watched him carefully, but she saw no more signs of sneaky behavior. He finally finished shopping and turned back in the direction of the compound.

“This is so boring. I can’t believe we’re spying on him getting groceries! He could at least do something interesting!”

“He did do something interesting, remember?”

“That’s still boring. We don’t even know what was on that paper!”

Sakura sighed wearily. She would already have a headache if she was still in a physical form. Her inner self could be a pain to deal with. Without the option of shutting 

her up, Sakura either had to listen to her rant or find a way to amuse her. Luckily for her, her inner self was easily amused.

She floated right up behind Kabuto and as gently as possible, flicked his ear with her finger. He shook his head to the side in annoyance. With both arms around his groceries, he could do nothing about his ear. Sakura let him walk several yards further before flicking his ear again. This time he cursed under his breath and tried to rub his ear against his shoulder to try and stop the ticklish feeling.

Suddenly Sakura remembered what had happened after she had punched Kabuto through the beehive. He had become so aggravated at the swarm of bees that he had destroyed them all. At the time she had been rather impressed at the speed and accuracy of his attacks; now they presented her with an opportunity to distract her inner self before she could try to take over or do something equally nefarious.

“Hey, let’s see if we can get him to do a repeat of the Kabuto bee dance.”

Her inner self cackled with glee and cheered her on as she drifted up to the other side of Kabuto. She made a soft buzzing sound next to his ear and swiftly brushed her fingers across the side of his head. He quickly ducked his head away from her and 

whirled around, shifting the groceries in his arms until he had one arm free. He glared at the area behind him, searching for the offending insect.

The petulant look on his face was priceless. His eyebrows were drawn together, and those dark eyes were full of indignation. Sakura laughed in delight at his expression. This was the only time she had ever been able to get him so riled up.

Unable to find the object of his ire, Kabuto turned around and continued back to Orochimaru’s compound. She let him be for a little while, before going back to his other side. This time while she made buzzing noises in his ear, she grazed the back of his neck with the fingertips of one hand before quickly pinching the skin between her fingernails.

Kabuto let out a startled yelp and nearly dropped his armful of groceries. He jumped and started swatting the back of his neck with his free hand. When he finally decided there were no bees in his shirt he continued on his way.

Sakura tormented him the rest of the way back to the compound, finally leaving him alone when he entered the stairway leading to the underground base. By this point in time, Kabuto was in a foul mood. He scowled and muttered darkly to himself. As he stormed through the compound and into the kitchen, Sakura decided to let him be.

By now inner Sakura was somewhat appeased, and was being quieter. Remembering her goal, Sakura checked her chakra levels. They weren’t low, but she wanted them at full strength at nighttime. She checked on Sasuke; he was back in his room again, reading a scroll. She briefly considered just sleeping in his room until she remembered who occupied the room next door.

While she knew that she was supposed to be undetectable, she had the irrational fear of being found sleeping. She wandered the halls for a little while before finally coming back to Kabuto’s room. She drifted inside, and was relieved to find the room empty.

Sakura looked around the room. There were no furnishings except for the bed and the desk.

“I don’t care if I don’t really have a body right now. I’m not sleeping on the floor or the desk.”

With her mind made up, she settled down on the side of the bed closest to the wall. Moments later, she was asleep.

--

Sakura awoke to the sound of a small scraping noise. Opening her eyes, she saw Kabuto pulling back the chair in front of his desk. He set a cup of tea on the desk before sitting down and studying a scroll.

She smiled as she remembered the night before. Figuring the tea was a nightly ritual, Sakura floated up through the ceiling until she was once again barely above ground level. It had finally grown dark. She returned to Kabuto’s room and watched him for a 

few moments. As she looked at him, a strange feeling of unease wouldn’t leave her alone. Shaking it off, she gave him one last look before leaving his room and going to find Sasuke. He was sitting on his bed, silently staring into space.

For a moment Sakura felt choked with emotion. She was finally going to bring him home. She landed in front of him and prepared herself. She gathered Chakra to her fist, and remembering not to use too much strength, struck him across the jaw. She flinched at the sickening crack that seemed to echo in the small room.

Sasuke slumped against the wall, and didn’t move. For a moment she was terrified she had hit him too hard, until she saw the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Sakura carefully picked him up and laid him over her shoulder. Turning back around, she swiftly headed out. She passed through the wall silently, and heard a small thud behind her. Her eyes widened in alarm when she realized what she had done, and that Sasuke was no longer on her shoulder.

‘Oh, guess I’ll have to get used to doors again.’

After a moment of feeling spectacularly stupid, Sakura opened the door to Sasuke’s room and once again picked him up. This time she exited the room in a more normal fashion, and took off for the exit. It took longer to go through the halls in the proper 

order, and she was feeling slightly strained by the time she reached the stairway. She almost flew straight up the stairs before remembering the guards. After setting Sasuke down for a moment, she quickly knocked out the guards and then retrieved him. She concentrated on Konoha, and felt the rushing movement begin to start, before it suddenly stopped. She felt dizzy, and nearly dropped Sasuke. Opening her eyes, she saw that they had barely made it to the edge of Sound.

“My chakra, it’s all gone.”

She swayed in the air before the dizziness finally forced her to land. Suddenly, her vision seemed to blur and go dark. The last thing she heard before the darkness finally claimed her was the soft thud of Sasuke’s body hitting the ground.