Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Catastrophe ❯ The Beginning Of ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: This piece is created based on Naruto series, which is created and solely belonged to Kishimoto Masashi - no profit is made from this piece for it is used resolutely for fun. No copyright infringement intended.

 

Warning: Some cusses and twists. Also, there was no Orochimaru in this piece - none, and never would.

 

Author's Note: Welcome aboard, dear readers, to my first attempt of writing a piece of (crappy) Naruto fan fiction! I do hope you enjoy the cruise, the ups and downs, the make-sense and nonsense, and whatever it is that floats your boat :) Don't forget to tell me how bumpy the journey is by giving me reviews and constructive critics, as you may have lotsa experiences in... So, here it is, as it is.

 

XXX

 

CATASTROPHE

By Silbi

 

Chapter One

 

Eyes level with her palms, her forehead wearing a frown, Sakura examined the ingredients gathered in her hands closely. Cherry blossom petals, check. Spices, check. Catalyst, check. She fingered them as well as the other ingredients with her free ones, weighing them carefully and then, after she was sure they were all ready, set them on her kitchen table. The pink-haired girl pulled out a small pot from the cupboard and put it on the stove, poured down some water as she turned it on and waited for the water to boil.

 

Several minutes later, the girl deftly collected the items on the table and dumped all of them unceremoniously into the pot - so much for being 'graceful like a kunoichi', they say, humph - all except for the Catalyst that was meant to be added in the middle of the reaction cautiously, for it was in fact stolen from ANBU headquarters and to waste the liquid would have attracted many unwanted attentions on who might be stealing the stocks. Tapping her fingers impatiently on the cupboard, she watched as the elements blend.

 

She was perfectly sure that it was going to work. No jounins alive, even her teacher, could evade the potion she had carefully mixed and mastered.

 

Sakura had seen the significant effect it had on a victim kept in custody by ANBUs - she had a good look on it, on how it was created and used on, good enough to memorize it by heart and applied it herself - and kept it in mind to use it solely on special moments.

 

Like this one: The excavation of the unseen, behind-the-mask Hatake Kakashi.

 

Ooh, she couldn't wait to use it on him - she began grinning like mad and stifled a helpless giggle - and be the first to face him in person. Not in a masked, one-lazy-eye-open-and-another-hidden person.

 

The fifteen-year-old girl just wanted to see it down once. After that... well, maybe they could go on like before, a lazy and hardly punctual teacher and a bunch of energetic teenagers wanting to exceed each other.

 

Haruno Sakura sighed wearily and leaned back on the counter next to the stove, warm vapor swirled lazily around her, spreading sweet and heady smell that was supposed to materialize by the time it was almost ready to be used.

 

But maybe it wasn't that simple, she thought, and deeply at that.

 

While she matured, the kunoichi realized she had set another point of view for herself. Lee's unwavering attention with a waggle of his bushy eyebrows that used to annoy her to death now had earned care and an offer of friendship from her; Gai's endless rivalry with her teacher as well as mentor, Kakashi, had finally shown that it was some kind of healthy sparring and a best way of rivaling each other; her light ignorance on Naruto had turned into adoration, and her devotion to Sasuke had...

 

The pink-haired kunoichi flicked off some strayed spices on her top absently. She really must get that thinking out of her head!

 

Therefore, she walked lightly across the kitchen to the large cupboard filled with herbs and spices and groceries, opened it, and tip-toed to reach a thick, ancient-smelling book the size of her upper body. Practical Potions, the title in gold read, gleaming dully under the lamp over her. With much effort she heaved the book to the marbles for easier use and looked for a page which corner was neatly folded - it marked for Potions of Enchantment.

 

Good thing she loved to read and lurk in the shadows of a great library in the center of the village. No one, including the librarian, realized that the girl had collected as many books of secret potions as she could bring, studied them until dark and smuggled one back home in the end. She had looked for a recipe that was similar to the one she discovered back at the ANBU headquarters so she could calculate the time she would need, the efficiency, also search for something more likely to succeed, if there were more. Just her luck, there was one that matched perfectly - and the efficiency was a hundred percent - no wonder ANBUs used them in cases of infiltration.

 

"Boil water, put in the herbs as listed below, and follow the directions closely unless you want the potion chaotically backfire." She read carefully, forefinger tracing the lines and the illustrations on its yellowing pages, and reread the lines printed in red with a little anxiety. "For this potion is easily altered, you may need extra care such as guidance from a superior, if you are a minor."

 

Duh. It was her superior she was trying to get on to!

 

Thick, popping bubbles that came from the pot behind her quickly gathered back her straying attention. Almost tripping on the heavy book in haste, she got up to her feet, head made contact with the sticking ladle in process and almost knocked it out, hands flailing wildly to keep them all in place. She felt a sting on her scalp when she accidentally took a handful of her shoulder-length hair as she took hold of the pot, barely noticing a thing such as a strand of rosy pink hair from her head floating softly before making a soft, hissing land on the greenish substance.

 

Sakura rubbed her throbbing scalp, eyes momentarily closed as she bit back the pain, without noticing the potion in the pot had exuded a light smoke and changed color.

 

Feeling better, the pink-haired girl proceeded to fetch the mixture, and lightly stirred it for maximum effect just as suggested by the yellowing book. Seeing a weird hue of color before her eyes, they narrowed as if unbelieving, and a confused expression found an escape past her lips.

 

"Isn't it supposed to be green?"

 

The potion that was left to chill inside the pot didn't answer in all of its clear-pink glory.

 

XXX

 

Golden sunrays spread across Konoha village, filtering through the shades and woke up people - mostly irritated ones, though of course there were morning people there, too, who wouldn't mind waking up on time and start jogging, and as we could see here, eccentric-haired teacher-and-pupil (who sported eccentric, identical attires as well, and pairs of symmetrical and matching eyebrows which had attracted many more than weirded-out looks) - and without exception, Haruno Sakura.

 

In another house, a certain blonde hugging a bolster tightly and watering it with his... natural substances... oozing past his open-wide mouth like Niagara Falls.

 

And in another, a guy whose spiky hair had attracted more ladies than bursting balloons got up with his deadliest glare cast to the wall, as if cursing it for not crumbling around him and saving him from the irksome sunshine that prodded at his tired eyelids. If his fans knew - but of course, they knew everything about him - that he was not at all a morning person, they might have avoided waiting in front of his apartment bringing breakfast as an excuse but deep down considering the chances of bursting in and catching him taking a morning shower or dressing after bath. Sure, he wouldn't be up until seven but then, who was he to drive away the unrelenting girls willing to wait since five a.m. with hands full of free meal?

 

If only he could say he would prefer hot coffee, with "please" at the end to make it convincing. Easier thought than said, he pointed out to himself.

 

Some blocks away, Sakura had finished taking her bath and changing, and now was in the middle of brushing her a-bit-past-shoulder-length hair. She caressed the healthy pink strands and untangled them slowly with her comb, wincing every now and then when it caught at petty tangles. She was just about to be finished when the corners of her eyes found a glinting pink on her make-up table, soon registering it as the potion she had kept the night before in a small bottle. Her fingers went down and grasped the bottle lightly between them, playing with its pink reflections for some moments, before then she stuffed it carefully into her pants pocket.

 

Soon, she admonished herself. Be patient.

 

XXX

 

Team Seven was just walking out of Ichiraku Ramen - all were full after each satisfied themselves with a reasonable amount of extra-sized food, reasoning that it was because after an exceptionally tiring practice why they need meals that much, to their paying teacher's chagrin - when Naruto, so full of ramen he almost couldn't bring himself up to walk home, glanced upwards and saw the massive gray clouds - an almost obvious sign of an impending downpour or and storm.

 

"Man," the blonde groused, "How am I supposed to get home in time before it rains?"

 

Sasuke, as cold-fish as ever, commented dryly as he glanced to the graying sky. "Use your brain, fool, run fast - Though with your current state I bet you'll be dripping wet when you get there."

 

"What?! Fine, you're on, Uchiha! Race you back!" he replied with a renewed stamina.

 

"Dobe, my house's on the opposite lane."

 

Sakura giggled along with Kakashi's low chuckle, both enjoying the very show they would never get bored of - which was the downright silly scene the never-will-be pair always created. Sasuke turned and trotted back to his house before the demented blonde could create any more complications, and thus the three left walked back home together in comfortable silence.

 

Half an hour later had passed by when they arrived at Naruto's apartment - Naruto bid them an energetic goodbye as he walked into his room, and with the slamming shut of the door the teacher and pupil continued their short journey.

 

Since the kunoichi's house was next in their route, Kakashi always dropped her off there himself before proceeding to his house, acting just like a responsible teacher worrying over her welfare. To see his house (any random part of it, she'd be glad if she could merely catch a glimpse of his garden. That, if he had one), Sakura would gladly kill - but then what for if she could eke out the truth from himself right away, the powerful potion in hand?

 

A small, sly smile slipped into her rather calm face, though it went indistinguishable by the silver-haired jounin from her rather composed feature.

 

An infernal span of silence started to go noticed, and the pink-haired girl huffed irritably. If Kakashi hadn't started a simple chitchat that was usually initiated by a "Nice weather, isn't it?" by now, he must have started indulging in his infamous copy of Icha-Icha Paradise. As if he would recover from that addiction, she thought. Whatever inside must be very entertaining to get her respectable teacher that into the book. Must credit Ero-Sennin for that.

 

She stole a quick glance to her side - yep, add a hundred score to my current total, he was reading the blasted thing next to a fifteen-year-old girl and in the middle of a blasted road. From the thickness of the book and the serious facade he was sporting, he must have been getting to a very good part... Is the book encrypted into alien codes or written in ancient unknown language of some sort? Even a grown-up man with as much control as he had must have a littlest bit of worry, being caught reading a book that would put Kama Sutra to shame, if perchance a passerby see it; she began questioning herself how the infamous copy-nin put all his worries into a closet and had his eyes glued to the book.

 

Talking about distinctive reactions from a grown-up man next to her...

 

What about her plan on gaining them?

 

The grande plan, eh - the grand plan that no jounins can escape from... which is...

 

Truth be told, she hadn't really thought about it. She was so good at ending plans that she sucked greatly at commencing them. It's not that the potion will expire any minute, right? Also, she heard that Kakashi was on break after completing a long set of tasks, which means she had all the time in the world to think of something. In her head had begun a heated tête-à-tête, despite the term which all of the psychologists proudly called 'a peaceful state of mind'.

 

Okay. Firstly, look for an opening that is easy to penetrate. Uhm. Such as? Well, many, but unfortunately over than a half were related to the (underscored: unpredictable) weather, including a rainy day and an offer to get a shelter, a sunny day and an offer to serve a refreshment, etc etc. But all had to lead to the second part: camouflage it as a casualty.

 

Since she's no good at weaving lies, it had to be the best way. Next... after the camouflaging, is... well, somehow, she should feed him the potion.

 

Hey, at least she had known how she would end it - "the only thing that matters is the ending", someone said [1] - after she had her ways with him, he would remember nothing. Just nothing, like a dreamless sleep. She would say that he got tired of waiting and slumped onto the table like a sack of potato, and by the time she finally had the tea done he was dead to the world blah blah and all that crap.

 

When her feet stepped upon familiar pebbles that lined an also familiar path, Sakura was literally startled out of her reverie. Mind strayed, she glanced around in confusion. Right in front of her was her little house. The street across them was empty, since it seemed people were too lazy to take a step out of their shaded houses and go under the stinging sun though it was already evening. There were just the two of them, and her brain registered it as 'a perfect opening at the perfect moment of a perfect plan'.

 

Should I, or should I not do it right now?

 

Sakura fought the urge to start biting her nails, a habit she found most hard to be rid of since it actually helped her cope with things other than hand-to-hand combat and shuriken and kunai fights, but when her hands almost had its way creeping upwards, fingers to her bared teeth, the object of her plan cleared his throat.

 

Huh?

 

"Uhm, what, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, tried to find the dislocated pieces of her brain and put them back in order.

 

"You're home, Sakura."

 

She stared at him in pure disbelief. Yeah, I know, something less obvious than that? "...and?" the kunoichi trailed.

 

"Eh, can I have some tea please?"

 

The pink-haired kunoichi's eyes dilated - she did all her might willing herself not to - at the request. She was in the brink of jumping in delight, making an effort of keeping the current plan in her mind set out while trying hard to keep her heels planted on the ground.

 

Oh goodie! No sweat, first step taken, a voice chirped in her skull in delight.

 

"Oh, sure, Kakashi-sensei. Come in."

 

Did I sound too enthusiastic?

 

No, you didn't, the inner her commented, now get the hell going before he changes his mind!

 

She unlocked and opened the front door before getting in first, almost rushing to the kitchen to finally get her things and done. "Wait here while I prepare the tea," she motioned for him to wait in her small dining room next to her open kitchen. He sat down calmly and flipped through his orange-colored book. Is there anything else he could do in those moments in waiting? She wondered while fetching a jar of tea leaves in a cabinet over the sink.

 

Heh. Try to be so cool ten minutes later and we'll see, Kakashi-sensei. She cackled evilly in her mind, for once along with her inner Sakura.

 

The girl put a water-filled kettle on the stove and waited exactly five minutes just before it boiled, turned off the stove and opened the tea jar. She took an amount of the fresh-smelling dry leaves and put it into a flask slowly, and just as gradual she poured down the near-boiling water into the ceramic flask. After waiting for some more minutes to get the best taste out, as she calmed her uneven heartbeat, she fished out the pink potion from her pocket.

 

The time has come.

 

The lid became a rather minute obstacle as she wanted to unscrew it, and almost as surprisingly, she realized that her fingers were shaking in mixed anticipation and trepidation.

 

What if it fails? What if it backfires?

 

The thought assaulted her mind mercilessly, but when the cork was finally off with a light 'pop', the ideas ceased themselves and sat back to the corners of her mind.

 

Tipping the small bottle carefully over a cup, Sakura let out two drops of the substance and quickly drown them with her carefully brewed tea. She poured some for herself in another cup and eyed both cups in front of her judgingly, making sure that they both look alike. Convinced that the drugged tea on her left-hand side looked inconspicuous, the kunoichi set the tea set on a tray and brought them to the dining room.

 

"Tea, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, and seconds later scolded herself for sounding somewhat too damned cunning... hopefully he didn't catch the slightly keen edge in her tone earlier.

 

The silver-haired teacher looked up from his book, and somehow she thought she'd caught an amused glint in his visible eye - not much she could tell by seeing only one eye when two beholds much more of him. Sakura never had the chance to see them, though, other than in those emergency situations when she could never look him in the eye as she was busied by the sight of his back blocking the danger from her. Nevertheless, she was sure he was at least tickled by something. His voice was a bit teasing to her paranoid ears, too. "Sure, considering the time you've contributed on making a single pot, I think it's worth a sip. I'm parched."

 

He chuckled as the embarrassed girl, red from cheek to neck, placed the tray and set the tea set on the table before serving him a steaming cup. Kakashi bent down and caught a whiff. "Smells really good, too."

 

Sakura stood in pathetic distress, hugging the tray close to her breast, hoping that it would calm the erratic beat somehow.

 

Will it work?

 

That potion surely get a head first on giving me a heart attack, she grouched.

 

Somewhere in between her fixation on the cup of tea-and-toxic and Kakashi's hand with a book perched comfortably on it, she managed to peek leftwards and took the time. Five minutes past fourteen hundred hours. Meaning: still got plenty of time. Finally her eyes had found another fixation that, at least to her desperate need of distraction, moved.

 

One thing for sure, she didn't hope to glimpse his mysterious feature from the start. She just knew that he would, in one way or another, partake his tea without giving her an inch-view of the skin under that mask. She only hoped that he would down his tea without realizing a thing - such as his trusted, innocent student actually attempted to drug his tea - and be a good victim. If she ever had the chance to discover his face, to see it long enough to memorize it even, it would just come out as a bonus. A very big one.

 

Anyway.

 

The sooner he touch that goddamned teacup the better!

 

"Sakura?"

 

What else? Her inner self asked sweetly, Is there a fly in your teacup?

 

"Uh... Something's wrong?"

 

Please don't tell me he has an ability of making out a difference between a lightly contaminated tea and a pure, innocent one...

 

Was it the smell? No, it was written clearly that one couldn't tell by the smell for it had none, the taste was indistinguishable for it was extremely light, and there were no side-effects, unlike sleeping pills that were likely to give the patient nausea or light headache post-usage.

 

In panic, she began listing sensible answers for questions such as when asked why his tea was slightly pinker she would answer that it was either because of the trick of light or maybe he was too thirsty that he hallucinated or...

 

The list went on and on, while the copy-nin looked surprised, as though the reason why he didn't taste the tea he had asked half an hour earlier was truly, plainly clear as polished crystal. "I was just wondering why you didn't have a seat and drink with me."

 

"Oh. Okay."

 

Sakura idly wondered if she had sounded simple-minded with no variations in responding, all either mono- or di-syllabic.

 

Gee, stop being paranoid at once! He didn't have a lead! No matter what he is planning to do, once he drink that stuff he'll sure as hell be clueless!

 

Carefully placing the tray on the seat next to her, she brought the teacup to her slightly parted lips, and took a nervous sip under the watchful gaze of her teacher.

 

"Ahh, nice tea. Think I should get some sweets," she pushed herself from the table without glancing at Kakashi, and quickly strolled to the kitchen, acting as if she was really going to take out a packet of tartlets from her cupboard while the corners of her eyes followed his every move - the raised left elbow, the fingers mechanically hooked just over the mask, the black material slid lower and lower...

 

Sakura rapidly turned away and took out a plate to put the tartlets she'd managed to take earlier on. She had a deathly grip on the plate, not wanting to let it fall and cause a ruckus while messing up a beautifully crafted plan (if she could call it one). Fingers trembling to the bone, she tore open the plastic wrapper and tipped the packet, the tartlets slid and made contact with the platter silently.

 

The time the agitated kunoichi looked over her shoulders, she saw Hatake Kakashi, leaning back to the chair and shoulders hunching, head down facing his lap. He was holding the cup in his right hand, forefinger curling around the cup's holder like a statue and was perfectly still. His face was obscured by his own shadow, thus she couldn't tell what he was experiencing from his facial expression. Not much she could see without them anyway.

 

"...Kakashi-sensei?"

 

A minute passed without a reaction.

 

Did it work?

 

Heart thumping faster, she was reminded of a prominent line off the potion-making book: 'A momentary paralysis is expected during the first phase of the potion taking effect,' her mind recited to her all too happily.

 

It... It did!

 

She remembered to take the tartlets with her. Might be on a sugar high later.

 

Sakura almost bounced into the dining room like a rubber ball, feeling overjoyed, and as she prepared herself to begin her interrogation she couldn't help but feeling smug - she really would like to know how Naruto and Sasuke's reaction would be when they knew she had seen and caused the downfall of their enigmatic teacher, not to mention taking direct answers to all of the unanswered.

 

She slowly leaned down, placing her left hand on the table on her left slowly, and spoke calmly to the silent Kakashi - head still down - almost commandingly.

 

"I demand you to answer the questions I'm about to ask," she said, acting the line she memorized the most from the book: 'Speak in clear, demanding tone, to make sure the victim gets the right idea and answer right away.'

 

But she didn't expect him to look up and smile.

 

And to answer in such a soft, chilling tone.

 

"Tsk tsk... Such assertive language coming from those beautiful lips."

 

XXX

 

TBC (Of course!)

 

[1] Morton Rainey -- Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King... which has been adapted into a movie titled Secret Window. And guess what, the main actor's Johnny Depp, whom I love :)

 

Author's Note: One ruckus to another, many to come. By the way, thanks for reading, honey, and thanks very much if you expect more... Don't forget to tell me all that jazz in a review :) Oh yeah, I might be updating weekly or bi-weekly, depends to the breaks on my schedule and the consent from my smiling muse up there :D