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Warmth of a Cold Touch	By : ChocolateRedVelvet Category: Naruto > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 4563 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 9
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Chapter List
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Chapter Seventeen

The Morning of the First Day of the Chunin Exam

Homura pulled the shades down. It was so painfully bright outside and that kind of lighting wasn't right for the meeting he wanted to conduct. Plus, it hurt his eyes. He didn't get nearly enough sleep last night and he felt it.

He mind was unable to shut down. Things were coming to fruition now. Plans he made weeks, months and even years ago were bearing fruit now. He was anxious and excited. He was also very worried. Homura was a master tactician. He may not be as accomplished as his comrade Danzo, but few people were. Still, he was very good at making a plan, but no plan endured the first contact with the enemy. Every ninja knew that. Last night it occurred to him that the saying applied to more than just enemy contact.

He grabbed the tea cups and placed them on either side of the table. He followed with the kettle.

"Why have you called me here?"

"Please take a seat, Panther." Homura gestured toward one of the seats. The woman eyed it in distrust for several moments. Homura waited for her to make a decision knowing he couldn't push her. Greater man had tried and failed spectacularly. Their deaths were marked by many unmarked graves. She entered the seat gingerly, a testament to her feline grace. Panther was a tall, slim woman, standing at an even 6'4", but she moved like the tiniest dancer. That ability to move quickly, silently and deadly propelled her through the ranks of Leaf's military forces. She was deadly in hand to hand, armed, and jutsu combat. She was the best of the best and her title attested to that. Panther was the Head of the ANBU corps.

He was one of four people who actually knew her identity. The Head of the ANBU corps was always a secret to all but the Elder's and the Hokage himself. They had meet with one another a dozen times before. The familiarity should have made the meeting easier, but he didn't have a good relationship with Panther. He often questioned her decisions.

And now Homura needed a favor from her.

"Tea?"

She pursed her lips, exasperation clear on her face, but then she wiped all emotion off her face and nodded her head. A good sign she was willing to give him a chance.

They drank their tea in silence for several minutes before he finally broke the quiet that hung around the room. "I will be honest. I need a favor."

"What is the favor?"she asked in her normal dulcet tones.

He lifted the woven mat the kettle sat upon and pulled out the thin folder there. He slid it to her. She lifted one ebony eyebrow and opened it. Face devoid of all emotion she flipped through it, reading every word, taking in every piece of intelligence. She closed the file with a snap. "Why wasn't I notified?"

"You are not the only department hidden from all but the strongest eyes." Root was taking care of it.

"If that is so, then why do you need me?"

"We need someone who is intimate with the main target to watch the secondary target."

"Be frank," she bit out. "I have no time for your word games. Tell me what you want me to do and I will consider it."

"I want Anko Mitarashi to join ANBU and watch Sasuke Uchiha."

"You want me to accept the traitor's genin?"

"Anko has suffered much from the abuse and neglect of the village's leadership."

She snorted. "You're one of those leaders who wouldn't let her advance. The girl fought tooth and nail to get where she is."

"I have made mistakes and I want to correct them."

She stood. "There is no point to this discussion. The girl is happy where she is under Ibiki. She's not going to apply and even then your girl won't be able to do what you want."

Homura picked up his cup of tea and held it against his lips. "Leave that me to me, Panther. Anko is a smart girl. She will not waist this opportunity. My question is will you consider her application?"

She stared at him. "You're serious?" she asked in clear disbelief.

"I do not speak in jest."

"Then yes. Yes, I will."

"How does it look?"

The man looked over his shoulder and into the full-length mirror on the back wall. He moved his head left and right checking out the way his latest tattoo looked when he moved. He grabbed the long braid of his sunflower blond hair and draped it over his shoulder so it fell along his back, right between his shoulder blades. He turned back to the brunette and grinned brightly. "It's great, Sai. Absolute perfection."

Face emotionless, the brunet tilted his head and looked up at Yohji from his sitting position. "Why do you call me Sai?"

The blond almost sighed. It was so damned difficult working with the younger Root members. Their inability to feel and express emotions made every sentence taxing. Yohji loved his master and greatly respected the man, but Danzo definitely made a mistake in trying to un-condition all emotion from the younger generations of soldiers. This pale, black haired, brown-eyed teen who couldn't even give a proper smile was what he got in return. Definitely a bad idea. "Sai is your name, isn't it?" Yohji replied. "What else would I call you?"

The brunet shook his head. "It is my name for the purposes of interacting with Team 7 and Clan Uzumaki. Neither is here. There is no need to call me by my mission identity. I have a number," he replied stoically.

Numbers. Instead of names, Danzo gave Root members numbers. Worst idea ever. "It's not a mission name."

Sai lowered his notebook to his lap, leaned over and picked up a bottle of ink and paintbrush. "It isn't?"

His voice lacked all curiosity. Yohji would think they weren't talking about him, let alone Sai's name and identity. He mentally repeated, worst idea ever, in his head as he looked at the young brunet.

"No, not in the strictest sense of the word. You're name is Sai now. This mission will bring you out of the shadows." With this assignment, Sai would become an actual entity in Leaf. He would need to be added to the official military corps rooster. This was partially done already. Long before a "visible" assignment, Danzo made sure that mirage files were in Leaf's system. If someone was looking they would find the ninja's file but it might not be there the next week, month or year.

Sai would no longer be a ghost known only to Root. His allegiance would still be to Danzo, no matter where he went or what mission he worked that truth remained, even if the task was assigned by the Hokage, but there was no way to get close to Team 7 without being official. Too many public eyes watched the quartet.

Just then a small, jet-black mouse crawled into the room. Sai's dark gaze dropped to it. The mouse scurried up the table leg and unto a sheet of blank parchment before slowly unfurling to reveal it was an ink construct. Words were on the parchment where there once was a mouse.

Sai glanced at the sheet momentarily. "All three of the sound genin are in their rental home. Alone. Their team leader left recently. He is not expected to be back for several hours."

Yohji grinned broadly. It was early enough that they could finish their mission and he'd still be in time for his favored noodles house's lunch special. He couldn't beat the two for one special, especially since he couldn't cook worth a damn. "Come on, little one." He slipped his fingerless gloves onto his hands and strode across the room, knowing the brunet would follow him out.

Together they jumped down onto the roof of the house the team rented for their temporary staff in Leaf village. Yohji wondered if it was pride or arrogance that sent the Sound team to rent a whole house, especially when they only had one team competing, when all the other visitors were in hotels.

Even crazy ass Sand.

Though their choice would help bring about their downfall. Hotels were notoriously hard to break into, especially when a ninja didn't or couldn't leave any proof of their existence. Collateral damage was a very big issue in hotels. Someone was always walking around, even late at night. Damned attentive staff. There was no telling when some ass-hat would order room service.

The sound of low conversation drifted up to them. Yohji lifted his hands and one line of his tattoos bled off his skin. It settled in his palm. He sent it off and it slipped off his skin and moved across the terracotta rooftop and down the side of the house. He raised an eyebrow at the information he received. The windows were open. Almost all of them. Granted it was the middle of the day in late summer and this was Fire Country, but these three youngsters were visitors in a hostile nation.

Genin.

"Back up and Surveillance."

Sai nodded once and whipped out a long sheet of parchment. He sketched a quick array of small and medium sized forest animals. Moments later, with the addition of chakra, they leaped off the pages and scurried off the roof. They would enter the house and take posts, watching and waiting. Meanwhile Yohji pulled out a small, red bottle from this thigh pack and spread the liquid on his palms until a thick layer settled upon the skin. It was a paralytic that loosened a person's barriers and left them open for questioning. It wasn't a truth serum per se but it made it harder for one to lie. Add a liberal use of pain, and a ninja tended to talk rather than keep quiet. He held his hands out. His tattoos came off his skin and slipped through the liquid taking on the color. Yohji sent it off through the same window the first tattoo went through. Exactly ten seconds later he followed them into the home.

Now they could find out the real reason the Sound team was sent to join the Exams and what was Orochimaru's other goal. Danzo knew it was more than the destruction of leaf at the hands of Sound and Sand. The traitor was here for more and Danzo wanted to know what. Yohji fully planned to give his master his answers he required.

Children were a learning experience. Danzo knew this to be a fact after raising dozens of children. He never fathered any and considered that a good thing. He shouldered at the thought of his genes being passed on, let alone allowing himself to be exposed enough to a female or male, now that Genesis was around, for another person to carry his child for nine months. He was the father of each and every ninja who entered Root. Many of his children became part of his family when they were infants and grew up under his care. Contrary to popular notion, Danzo cared for his children, he'd even changed his fair share of diapers, washed skin that was soft and fragile, and burped dozens of tiny forms.

Living as long as he did and seeing as many children grow as he did, he knew all too well that kids made mistakes. It was a part of their nature. They didn't know enough not to make mistakes. Which was why he and his team was walking through FO17, seeing exactly what Naruto and Haku did and if their help was required. It was. At least one worker would have survived the poisoning if his team didn't intervene.

He turned to Sai. "Did you plant the leftovers?"

The brunet nodded. "Good." Danzo was satisfied. He loved jobs like this, where he could kill two enemies with one blade. Naruto and Haku were smart to make it look like the workers had a serious case of food poisoning. It happened every once in a while in Fire Country. The region had some very poisonous native plants and animals. Most food workers learned quickly how to identity them so they didn't kill their patrons but every once and a while a new recipe was invented that interacted in a way that the cook didn't intend, or there were those times when someone simply didn't mix the ingredients properly or didn't use the freshest items. Worst were the times when a new worker simply didn't recognize a poisonous plant and picked up the wrong "herb".

Ninja rarely died from food poisoning. They had stronger immune systems from their active chakra and gained immunity from their missions, but civilians were easily susceptible to such poisons.

Danzo had Sai plant evidence in their fridge that the illness came from improper cooking and best of all, a traitor to Leaf owned the restaurant in question. Danzo hadn't brought his information to the Third as it was a long series of circumstantial evidence. Well, there was that and the taped conversation between the restaurateur and one of his ninja, but he couldn't provide that. It would incriminate him. So Danzo was handling the situation himself.

This was the first step in his punishment. Initially, he was going to destroy the man's reputation as a businessman and then as a family and community man. The man would be so destroyed he would commit "suicide".

The next morning Danzo just so happened to want to visit the children early in the morning. It wasn't an unusual thing as he tended to visit Fire's orphanages and since time was a very precious commodity for him, he went just a little after dawn, when the youngest children were still asleep and the oldest kids were just waking up. He liked to hand over his little gifts then. It made every visit feel like a birthday or the holidays.

Danzo never went anywhere by himself so when the caretakers didn't open the front doors ten minutes after he repeatedly knocked upon them, he sent his ninja into the building. He was properly dismayed by their death's and even later when the coroner's office was called to come collect the bodies, but very thankful that none of the children were awake earlier to stumble across the corpses.

He stopped the coroner just before she entered the building. Contrary to popular opinion Danzo cultivated more than ninja. He had a whole establishment of ninja under his command but it and it's missions wouldn't have stayed such a secret, or at least maintained the level of secrecy they did have, if he didn't have people all over the village working for him. The coroner was one such person. "This is one of ours. Make sure its food poisoning." She nodded her head but didn't say anything. Danzo walked away from the scene of the crime secure that the blood and paperwork would show as he wanted.

Mayumi Kojima was one of his best workers. She'd never entered the ninja academy and so was technically wasn't a ninja but she had a bloodline that captured his attention. He offered to put her through whatever schooling she desired as long as she agreed to work for him. It wasn't a hard decision for her. She wanted to be a doctor and medical school was impossible for the poor. The costs were too great. As a lower class civilian she didn't have a chance of making her dream come true. Now she was helping to make Danzo's dream of a strong Leaf a reality, just as he'd aided her to complete her schooling so she could be called Dr. Kojima. A fair trade, a very fair trade.

Now Danzo just had to make sure the blame for the deaths were firmly placed on Akira Daimaru's shoulders. He stomped his cane three times and one of the ninja in the treetops took off. One of the Leaf Daily Times reporters was going to get a very important scoop.

Sasuke woke early despite his best intentions. He wanted to sleep in, felt he deserved it after the night he had, but old habits die hard. He closed his eyes and pressed his clenched fists against them, trying and failing to stem back the memory of paper after paper filled with plans and diagrams of betrayal. He still couldn't believe what his clan planned.

The Uchiha were going to stage a coup to take over the village and kill the Hokage. Worse yet was the way they planned to use a child. Naruto Uzumaki.

He rolled over to bury his face in his pillow and groaned at the sharp pains that arched through his limbs. His back and stomach ached and his arms were beyond sore. He did too much yesterday.

Not that he could be blamed. When he found the damning documents in the rubble of his family home, he went a little crazy. He burned down, tossed aside and generally went Mist-genin crazy on a good portion of the rubble homes. He was determined to find something, anything that cleared his family's name. Instead, he found more proof. Papers that spoke of his father's plan, naming him as the instigator and documents that talked about how and why they were carrying out their plans.

It seemed that the Uchiha believed they would be the victors and wanted to write their own history rather than leave it to the hands of someone who didn't know them personally. Sasuke almost threw up when he read his Uncle Satoshi's words.

Did they have no heart? Their actions would have damned a whole village and killed hundreds, if not thousands of people. He knew because one of the clan's strategist laid out the odds of successfully throwing the coup and the number of deaths it might require.

As though each and every death was just an additional number.

Maybe Sasuke was smarter or just less enamored with Uchiha power, but he didn't think very highly of the man's intelligence since he actually anticipated the coup working. His clan was strong. Sasuke was willing to admit that, but it wasn't strong enough to take on the whole village. They couldn't even take on Itachi, one person.

Itachi.

Sasuke was stuck on how his brother figured into the whole thing. Was the clan's killing something more. Did Itachi do it because he found out about the coup?

He ran his hands over his face. Before the murders, Itachi always seemed so honorable to him. He always did what was best, not what was easiest, especially if he was the only one who might be inconvenienced.

Sasuke remembered talking to his brother once about why Itachi didn't play with him. His brother replied, "The village's needs must always come before mine." Sasuke hadn't understood what his brother meant. He was just hurt that his favorite person couldn't make time to play with him. Sasuke hadn't thought of the incident in years. He purposely buried every memory he had of his brother in the deepest mental pit he could dig. Now, he wondered. Now, he understood. Itachi would have loved to spend his days with Sasuke, but he was a ninja and one of Leaf's strongest. He needed to be in the field, performing the missions others couldn't.

He groaned. He needed to speak to someone, verbally work through the thoughts that were plaguing him. And wasn't that a change. Before, he never would have considered talking to someone outside the family about a clan issue. His father drilled that into his head long before he could speak. Uchiha only spoke to Uchiha about family and clan issues. They never talked to outsiders. Granted there weren't any living Uchiha he could speak to, but the very fact that he was considering talking to someone, anyone about the files he found was telling.

The only person he would ever consider speaking about this wasn't available. The Chunin Exam happened today. Shikamaru wasn't able to convince either his mother or crazy blond teammate to allow him to wait. So the pony haired boy was probably getting ready for the exams at that moment.

Sasuke threw the blankets off him and stood. There was no point in lying in bed. He wasn't about to fall asleep any time soon. His mind was moving too fast for that and his body too energized, despite the horrid sleep he got.

Seemed treason wasn't a good nightcap. Sasuke laughed unsteadily at the thought.

He stretched, trying to ease the aches and kinks in his muscles. He thought about training but decided against it. He wasn't in the calmest frame of mind. Normally, he would work out his aggression but for some reason, one he wasn't going to look too deeply into, he didn't feel that the would be the best.

Sasuke didn't have a bad experience at school or during a team practice or mission. He just found out most of his clan were treasonous to the very village they helped start.

He didn't think any number of kicks, jabs, and punches would release the kind of tension that knowledge spurned. He sighed and headed to his shower. He figured he'd just walk around and see what happened.

An hour and a half later Sasuke wasn't all that surprised to see his feet took him to Naruto's apartment building. For some time now he heard a nagging little voice that demanded he go speak to Naruto about his change in status. He tried to do that the day Naruto punched his nose in reflex.

He grimaced at the memory. He didn't blame the blond. Sasuke came at him in the wrong way on so many different levels. His tone, his words, and his actions were all wrong.

Sasuke needed to make good, or at least just talk to his teammate, like he was, well, his teammate. He knocked on the door.

He didn't have to wait long before someone opened it. Haku stood on the threshold. Surprise flashed across his face before it settled into a warm smile. "Sasuke-kun, you grace us with your presence. Welcome to the humble abode of clan Uzumaki. How can the Uzumaki help you?"

Sasuke swallowed thickly.

There was something about the other boy that made him uncomfortable and the feeling didn't stem from the ass kicking Haku delivered to him in Wave.

He was as dangerous as he was beautiful, and Haku was smoking hot for a boy. Sasuke didn't think he swung that way. He was starting to realize he didn't know much about himself. He was so focused on growing strong enough to kill Itachi he didn't pay attention to anything else. The one thing he knew was that Sakura was a big, fat no No NO! "Uh, I just wanted to talk to Naruto."

Haku's smile widened and Sasuke felt something tighten inside him. Okay, maybe he did swing that way. Or maybe he was just confused as hell by Haku's beauty. He remembered how Naruto came back from his first meeting with Haku and admitted that he meet the prettiest person ever and it was a boy, and how messed up was that?

Now he's with the boy, a little voice supplied.

Naruto hadn't said a word about his relationship with Haku, but Sasuke was very observant and took notice of the way the two acted. He was willing to bet his empty clan lands that the two were together. If they weren't, Naruto was a bigger dobe than he'd ever believed.

"Come in, Sasuke. The place is a mess but I'm sure you and Naruto won't be inside for long." Haku stepped back and held out his arm, gesturing for Sasuke to enter their humble abode.

"Doing some renovating?" he asked the moment he stepped into the building. He almost bit his tongue in frustration. What was it about things lately that he couldn't think before he spoke.

Haku laughed lightly. "Yes. We're trying to make this place home. It's very large but we don't want to get lost in the building."

Sasuke looked around the first floor. He could understand what Haku meant. He remembered his own house entirely too well. To a child, everything even remotely adult sized seemed large. He didn't realize just how large it was until he started tearing it down wall by wall. Most of the rooms he saw he'd never entered even as a little boy. He didn't even know half of them existed.

His family home was large for absolutely no reason and every room suffocated him with its sterility. The walls were bone-white except for where they were decorated with their prestigious uchiwa symbol.

The Uzumaki clan house was nothing like his family home. The darkly stained, once cream, walls were gone, painted a warm, pale yellow. He looked closer and could see that tiny scrolls were etched around the edges of the walls in rich green so each wall appeared like a giant picture frame. It was nice, soft, and soothing. It was perfect. He could easily see the two ninja returning to this after a mission.

"We've started on some of the other rooms, but this is the only one complete. We haven't managed to finish any thing else."

Sasuke looked around him again, trying to find the differences from the building he visited once when Naruto overslept and the whole team dragged him down to practice and the building he saw now.

The floor. It was different. Before it was linoleum but now it appeared to be made of white, blue flecked stones smoothed down and pieced together into a pattern. In the middle of the floor was the swirl Naruto worn on all his clothing. It was made from rich blue stones.

"It's the symbol for the original clan Uzumaki from Uzushiogakure. After some research we found Leaf is not the first to have an Uzumaki clan. Naruto decided it would be best to put the symbol in the entrance, as there will never be a doubt that the home belongs to Naruto and to honor his heritage. He may not know the father that gave him the last name, but he respects him and the family that came before him.

"It is very nice. That and the colors made it clear it's Naruto's home."

"Thank you. Come. I'll take you to your teammate."

They walked in silence down the hall for a few moments before Sasuke broke it. He was determined to be a better person. He didn't want to be so isolated and sullen. The new information about his clan just made him that much more determined to change his ways. "Haku, forgive me for not asking sooner, but how are you finding Leaf?"

The boy turned to Sasuke startled. Sasuke struggled to prevent his face from flushing and somehow managed to accomplish the feat. He couldn't help wondering if Haku was surprised by his politeness or because he simply spoke. Probably both. Sasuke knew his reputation and once basked in the knowledge that everyone knew he was a silent, sullen boy. It meant they left him alone.

Now he hated the reputation because it meant he was alone without anyone to rely on, to talk to, and who understood him.

"I have settled well in Leaf. It is very different than what I am used to in Mist and the travels I went on with Master Zabuza. Master Uzumaki is a very good man and leader."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "Is he?" He couldn't keep the sneer out of his voice. He never imagined Naruto as being a leader. The blond was brash and mouthy, but he didn't seem like the kind to inspire anyone and leaders inspired.

Haku bristled and then chuckled. "Naruto-kun is a different kind of leader. He doesn't look like it but he can change the very way you see yourself. He did for me."

Sasuke stopped walking and looked at the other brunet. Really looked. Haku did look different. He seemed fuller of life, brighter, and happier. There was a level of comfort there that spoke of a bone deep acceptance. "I see."

Haku flashed him a smile so wide he swore he could see his molars. "Great. Come on." He continued down the hall and knocked on a door. There was a painted two on the door. An apartment. Haku knocked on the door. "Naruto, we've got a guest," he called and opened the door.

Naruto looked up as they entered. "Who? Sasuke? What…Hi."

"Uh, hello. Just came to stop by. Didn't really feel like training and, well, with the chunin exams going on…" He trailed off. He didn't know how why he was there. He just didn't want to be alone after last night's revelation.

"Thanks for coming to visit me, Sasuke. I'm so happy you came by." He pulled up a chair.

It was old and a little rusty. Also, the plastic seat was torn. The chair was oddly, incredibly inviting. He accepted the seat. "What are you doing?" he asked after glancing at the table. There were papers strewn everywhere. Most of them were filled with Naruto's distinctive scrawl.

"I want to start a scholarship for academy orphans. I'm trying to figure out what to offer them to make things easier for them."

"Don't they receive a stipend from the village?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but it's never enough. Wasn't for me."

Sasuke's throat tightened. He and the blond were both orphans. However they lived very different lives. With the demise of the clan, Sasuke received all of their assets as their remaining relative. He never had to worry about money.

His great-great grandchildren didn't have to worry about money.

Naruto was an orphan in the strictest sense of the word. He didn't know who his parents were or what they did. It didn't take much to realize they didn't leave the boy anything and the blond was totally dependent upon the village for everything.

Handouts rarely provided for all necessities.

Words failed him. Here was Naruto, an orphan, who just until a few weeks ago had nothing to call his own, going out of his way to help those who were in the same situation. Sasuke had money all his life and never once considered how he could help those who were more disadvantaged than him. He only saw the loss he suffered, the parents, family, and clan torn from him. He constantly looked to the past and what he lost while Naruto looked to the future and what could be gained.

Naruto was a better man than him.

Wasn't that a kick in the balls?

Kakashi-sensei opened his eyes about the village around him and just how much he did and didn't have when he brought Sasuke on his orphanage breakfast run, but he was still seeing things where he was blind before. He thought about Yoko, the older redhead teen he met at the orphanage. He wondered why she was still there. He knew Naruto was able to leave that same orphanage and get a place while he was still in the academy. He wondered why Yoko stayed. If he gained enough courage, he would ask her when he went back to visit.

He would be returning for a visit.

The orphanage made him uncomfortable, but he would go back to see and play with the kids. Sasuke walked out of their breakfast meeting feeling like he was flayed alive. A strong part of him felt like he was missing the layers of protection he placed around himself. He realized now he was just opening up to the realization that his life didn't suck as badly as he thought and he wasn't as alone as he believed. Then and there as he sat with Naruto he made a decision to visit the kids every Saturday and bring lunch and games. He stayed longer than Kakashi, as the man oddly had a mission, and was able to see what the place did and didn't have. There was little of the former and a lot of the latter.

"I know this is your idea and you might not want any help, but if you allow me, I would be willing to provide some funds to help out other orphans."

Naruto's gaze snapped to his. Eyes wide and red, he stared at Sasuke. His teammate momentarily wondered if Naruto was crying earlier. There was no other reason for the redness of his gaze. The silence drew on. The brunet's stomach did dances and flips as he waited for his words. He felt like he was waiting for some kind of judgment but that was ridiculous. Right?

"That would be awesome." He lowered his head and stared down at his clasped hands. "We got to stick together, you know. Others don't understand. Most people think it's about things, but it's more than that. I want them to know someone cares. Don't want them to feel like I did."

Sasuke sucked in a deep, silent breath. He understood all too well what Naruto was talking about. He often felt very alone. Every one knew his name and why he was alone but no one ever came to check up on him. No village member, academy teacher, no village leader, not even the Hokage. They all left him alone. He did his own food shopping, cooked his own meals, and did everything alone.

It was part of the reason he didn't speak much. Except for the academy, he didn't get much chance to converse with anyone else. Unless they went out of their way to meet with him and those people always wanted something.

His influence.

His money.

Even his last name.

He thought things would be different when he got a team. Though he tried not to, he couldn't forget his brother's words and one of the few things Itachi spoke about before it happened was the camaraderie that defined Leaf's forces. They stuck together in the darkest of times and became a family.

He lived and breathed, waiting for the moment when he could belong to another family unit. Even if they didn't share bloodlines, they would share blood, pain, and joy.

Instead he was placed on a team with a jounin commander who had more problems then he did, an orphan who only saw his silence and not the reason behind it, and a fan girl who wanted his name, fame, and money. Never him.

Sasuke was man enough to admit that his shoulder bore some of the brunt of his team's dysfunction. He too was a part of the problem. Right here, right now he had a chance to fix things and make those ties that he was so desperate for. "Great, tell me a little more about your idea. Maybe we could expand, give them more."

Naruto flashed him a blinding smile and then pulled out one of the larger sheets of parchment. Out of the corner of his eyes, Sasuke saw Haku take a seat.

This felt right.

Kimimaro closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He knelt, pressed his knees into the soft ground, and bowed low until his forehead touched the churned up dirt before him. Eyes still closed he prayed to the gods above and below for grace and understanding. He asked for mercy and that his enemies would not make him a victim, but rather that he would be victorious in battle. A gentle breeze moved over his bent back, cooling his flushed skin. He took it as s sign from the gods that his words were heard, if not answered.

It was more than he deserved.

He sat up and then stood. He dusted the dirt of his dark clothing and glanced around him. Tension rode his body. He flexed his fingers repeatedly and rolled his neck trying to ease the tension he felt. He always responded this way right before a mission. Assignments were not routine to him. He made them seem that way to others, but he always feared that this particular mission would be the one he didn't come back from or worse that he would survive but fail his goal.

He cracked his knuckles, lifted his hair into a high tail, and went into his rented home. Half an hour later he was freshly showered and dressed in all black. His hair was covered by a long opaque yard of black silk. Over his face he wore an animal mask. Raven. In his hand he held a thin, white blade made from his bone.

He leaped unto the roof and dashed into the day.

That was a stark change. A day mission.

Kimimaro had a few but as his expertise was in assassination must of his missions were conducted during the darkest hours of the day. It was unusual to be on the clock, so to speak, during the brightest hours. He jumped down lightly on the roof of his target house and mentally ran through the schematics he was given. Size of the entryway, location of the living room, and placement of the kitchen, dining and family areas all flashed through his mind. More importantly he thought about the windows. He had a plan, but no plan survived the first meeting with the enemy.

Short blade in his hand, Kimimaro slipped into the window and lightly landed on his feet. He didn't make a single sound but he felt the other man's attention shift to where he stood. A genjustu hid his figure. It wasn't a strong one. Kimimaro wasn't particularly talented in that ninja art, but it did the job. The chunin's gaze slipped over him.

But only for a moment.

His eyes snapped back to the area Kimimaro was standing and he released a sharp burst of chakra. Kimimaro was already moving, hadn't really stopped once he entered the room. Just as the genjutsu shattered, he lowered his weapon.

The blade sunk deep into his chest, right through his heart. The chunin barely got a chance to release a sound of surprise before he was dead. Kimimaro grabbed him and lowered the young man to the ground before his dying body could drop and make a noise. He took a moment, nothing too long, to say a prayer for the recently departed.

The rush of air was the only warning he received. It was enough. Kimimaro ducked low, bowing his back to evade the sharp blade from the second ninja. He gritted his teeth in irritation. The schematics spoke of only one guard, the chunin. He hated bad information. Countless good ninja died from it. Kimimaro prayed he didn't join the legions that morning.

His attacker was a jounin, maybe even an elite. He could tell she was steps above the young man he'd just killed by the precision of her movements and the size of her chakra. The mission had just gotten several degrees harder.

Face set, Kimimaro jabbed shortly at the ninja's midsection. She, he definitely noticed the high mounds that spoke of breasts, leapt back. He straightened and followed. He took three steps forward, pivoted toward her, and then kicked high. She was momentarily startled by the swiftest of his movement and the change in direction. His feint succeeded. His booted foot hit the middle of the long blade in her hand, sending it flying through the air. Kimimaro followed the momentum of his kick, spinning until he was facing her again. The short blade in his hand was held high, right in front of his face, ready to attack.

The jounin was ready for him and on the defensive. She used every inch of her body to battle him back toward to the window. Legs, knees, forearm, elbows and fists smashed against his. The blade was still held in his hand. He hadn't dared to release it to fall to the floor and used the bunt length of the weapon like an extra limb, jabbing and punching at her. He didn't give up anything. He was a damned good blade-master, but he was almost as proficient in hand-to-hand. The heavy sound of limbs smacking against one another filled the room. Neither of them gave up anything. They danced around one another. Every time he moved an inch, he'd gain it in the next blow and vice versa. They moved in a circle, trying and failing to find an opening. Then the gods above shined down on Kimimaro. She left her right side open. It was only a second, maybe two, but it was more than enough. He thrust out swiftly and caught her by surprise. His blade sliced through her Government Issue garment to pierce skin, muscle and organ.

She gasped sharply and lifted her head sharply. He'd gutted her.

The battle was half over, but the percentage wasn't nearly enough. If possible Kimimaro focused even more of his attention on the jounin. A great many ninja had died at the hands of their bested foes. Cockiness killed.

So he wasn't quite surprised when the woman responded to her impending death with ferocity normally attributed to lions, or better yet, lionesses. Fitting really considering her mask. She pulled a kunai from her breast pocket and then advanced. She was swift and deadly limbs, never giving him a moment to press his advantage. Kimimaro barely managed to keep his stance. Once, twice and then a third time he was too late to block a blow, taking a hit to the stomach, ribs and face. Thankfully, the cuts were shallow.

She was just as unlucky, but Kimimaro made sure to connect all his blows with her stomach. By the second hit she was breathing shallowly. The third sent her staggering and there was no fourth. Kimimaro lunged forward and ran his blade along her neck, just below where a man's Adam apple would lie.

Even from behind her mask, he could see her eyes widen with fear and anger. Death was a constant in their field, but every ninja prayed it would not touch them too closely. At least not today, maybe tomorrow.

She had no more tomorrows.

Kimimaro ran around her, catching her falling body and laying it upon the floor.

He walked away to finish the rest of his mission. He would pray for her when he returned to his temporary abode. He'd already spent too much time there. He needed to get the child and leave as swiftly and silently as possible. He strode down the halls and into the third of the four bedrooms.

The target was standing up, hands clasped against the frame of his crib. And looking right at Kimimaro. Odd. He was supposed to still be sleeping. Once again the schematics failed him.

Kimimaro stared down at the little child. He was a toddler. The boy was a handsome thing, even from afar, Kimimaro took notice, but it still hadn't prepared him for the sight of the boy's bright blue hair, soft but fine features including startling turquoise eyes. He looked like both his parents.

Toru tilted his head to the side and looked up at Kimimaro in confusion. There wasn't any fear in his infantile gaze. It unsettled Kimimaro. A child should fear the unfamiliar and Kimimaro was very unfamiliar. The boy smiled and lifted his hands up. Kimimaro blinked down at him in surprise. He truly thought he was going to have to drug the child to get him out of the room, let alone house, without him scream bloody murder.

He picked Toru and held against his chest with one arm under his bottom. In his other hand he carried a pinch of pale pink powder. Toru reached up and placed his hands against Kimimaro's mask. He jerked hard in surprise and almost dropped his precious powder. Laughter drew his attention. Toru was giggling and smacking his hand against the mask. Interesting. It seemed the mask was familiar to the child. That explained some things.

The brunet stepped deeper into the shadows that lined the sole street proceeding to Naruto's apartment building. Two other teens stood behind him. Between the two of them they held five bound persons. People who tried to kidnap and force Sasuke Uchiha to enter the chunin exams as he walked through Leaf on his way to Naruto Uzumaki's apartment building. He whipped out a scroll and inked out a short message. The words swirled and came together before taking the image of a raven and rising from the parchment. The bird swept through the air and then dipped low to meet the team on top of Naruto's apartment.

Did they have a greater or lesser number of captives? Which team member was Leaf really interested in seeing in the exam. At first glance it seemed to be a sure thing for Sasuke but he knew quite a few people wanted to see Naruto enter the exams, some for good reasons, others not.

He knew the exact moment his message was received. He felt his chakra being dispersed.

He sighed and wondered just how many more men and women they would capture this morning. He figured he was in for a long spell, at least until the event actually started. After all, the exams did not allow late entrants.

Hopefully, the fools who were betting on Uchiha's success and Uzumaki's defeat knew that.

AN1: I'm sorry. I suck apparently at keeping promises. I'm going to try to be better at updating. I posted this because I was tired of waiting on my favorite stories to be updated and then thought, 'Wow! This is karma.'

AN2: As always tell me what you think. I'm really nervous about where this is going (though it's mostly written) because I feel like I might actually be traveling in uncharted territory with this story. Ack!
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Warmth of a Cold Touch