[OP: "Eat You Alive"--The Oh Hellos]

The mud slide, for lack of a better term, stopped moving once it had carried the hapless teammates into the Village itself, right through the gate--or did the gate open for them?

Ino was too disoriented to be sure.

She had no jutsu that would help her get out of the silt-like substance, but she thought Sakura would--but no such luck.

Sasuke, on the other hand, while not able to use his Sharingan to get out of it (and, really, setting it on fire wouldn't have accomplished much anyway) tried to charge up his Chidori.

It kind of worked, he was able to fry the mud enough to make the jutsus sotp--around him anyway.

But it took long enough to build up to it that he only got free once he was already inside the wall of the Village.

And right after that, the slide stopped anyway.

Jugo, who had been utterly helpless anyway, only looked up in confusion.

Ino struggled to pull herself out of the ground now.

The bandits came popping out next to them.

Sakura, the only one with strength to break out of it easily and quickly, was up before the others were.

But she wasn't the fastest fighter, and she wasn't liking her chances against so many people.

Ino didn't even have time to try to do anything before the bandits grabbed her by her arms and pinned them behind her back.

Camie was plucked up also.

Rock Lee had a better chance. He was faster than them and hit harder. The bandits quickly realized that he wasn't going to go down easy.

"That's the best Taijutsu I've ever seen," one of them commented. "Watch this guy."

"Where's everyone else?" Sakura looked back. "They just ditched us, didn't they?"

Sasuke had followed the trail of mud to see what happened to them--not that he really cared, but it might be important to know what the bandits were doing. At least that's what he told himself.

When he appeared, with everyone else, on the street, Sakura just frowned. "Where were you?"

"What?" Sasuke didn't really understand why she was mad this time.

"Miss Haruno," Jugo said, "look out."

One of the bandits had taken advantage of Sakura being distracted to try to sneak up on her with a rock attack.

Sakura turned and hit it aside easily enough.

"You know," she said, testitly. "I've really had it with this Village. I'm sorry we ever came back now."

"What kind of person are you?" the bandit said to her, sounding surprised. "Are you Stone?"

"I use Earth Style," Sakura said.

"Use is a strong word," Sasuke said meanly. "That would imply there was a technique."

"Sasuke, if you don't shut up about my--" Sakura began to say crossly.

"Wait, did you say 'Sasuke'?" said one of the bandits.

"Sakura!" Ino called. "Help!"

The bandits who had her and Camie were dragging them away now,.

"Let go of me, you freaks!" Camie was kicking wildly and squirming.

"I'll get you!" Lee cried, going after them, but the bandits rose up a wall of earth to block him.

"That's Uchiha right there." The bandits turned to each other. "This is not good."

"Or it is good, if you look at it another way," said another.

"Not for us."

"Yeah, nevermind him. Just take that wench and let's go."

"Did you just say that?" Sakura got cross. "Oh, so I'm weak enough to kidnap, is that it? You're all terrible."

"You know that your team is getting taken right now?" Sasuke pointed out.

"And you're doing something to stop it?" Sakura said.

"And what would I do? Kill them all?" Sasuke pointed out crossly. "Isn't that a little off book?"

"Well, what do I do? I can't catch them," Sakura said.

"This is why no one trusts you," Sasuke said. "Because you never do anything."

"Shut up!" Sakura said. "You want me to do something? Fine."

She hit the ground, more from anger than anything else.

But the ground did crack all the way up to where the bandits were trying to escape from them and broke open, despite their jutsus.

Sakura actually hadn't even known she could do that till just now. She'd never really attempted to use her Earth Style to do anything other than break rocks...and that was more of her temper than a fighting stance.

Seeing her surprise, Sasuke said, "Did you know you could do that?"

"I--I said shut up," Sakura sputtered. "Just...why don't you fry them or something?"

"You know, Sakura, if you paid attention to anything about fighting," Sakura began to say in a very condescending voice, "you would know that Earth Style and Lighting Style--"

"I know," Sakura cut him off. "Tsunade told me that, you idiot. But can't you...I don't know, do better or something?"

"I don't wish to interrupt," Jugo said, "but shouldn't either of you be stopping the others from getting kidnapped?"

"I just said I can't," Sasuke said. "Unless I use my Sharingan, and I'm not supposed to do that."

"When did you become such a rule-follower anyway?" Sakura complained. "Just do it."

"And you know what that would look like?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't really care. Just use Susanoo or something and take them out!" Sakura said.

"Sasuke, I'm not sure you should follow her advice," Jugo said. "Consider what happened last time. Perhaps fire or lightning would be best."

"Against Earth style," Sasuke began again, "that's not really effective--"

"Can you believe this?" one of the bandits said to the other. "These jokers are arguing about what to do while we're standing right here. I almost don't have the heart to take them out now. This is just sad."

"I have the heart," said another in a harsh tone. "Don't be such a moron. They're all imbeciles, clearly."

It was too late anyway, because the bandits who had Ino and Camie had taken the chance to disappear into the ground.

Lee also got buried in earth so he couldn't kick at them--and then taken.

"Well, now it's too late," Sakura said. "And it's your fault, Sasuke."

"How is it my fault?" Sasuke said. "You could have done something there."

"Oh, sure," Sakura said. "Well, we'll just have to find them, I guess..."

Jugo suddenly disappeared into the ground aso.

"You two are something else," said the bandits. "You know, you remind me of one of our couples who're always bickering on the job, too. But at least they still do their job."

"Did you just compare us to--" Sasuke began to get offended.

"Why don't you shut it?" Sakura said to them, louder than him. "You sneak attacked us to begin with."

"Maybe you're not even worth taking in," said the bandits. "Who are you anyway? You're pretty strong for a woman."

Sakura got madder. "I'm Sakura Haruno."

"Don't tell them--" Sasuke had an idea that maybe telling them she was a medical master's protege might be a bad idea in a village that had the plague--

Which they could already have been exposed to--though there was no chance they'd get it if they didn't touch water, but could they be sure that wouldn't happen?

Too late, though.

"Haruno?" said one. "That's familiar--Ah, wait, I know who she is. Tsunade's little flunkie."

"Flunkie!" Sakura yelled. "How dare you call me that!? I should clobber all of you."

"I'd like to see you try," said the bandit, unwisely. "I've heard that you're not bad at medicine but you suck at fighting."

"Who said that?" Sakura said.

Sasuke would have found this funny if he hadn't thought it was so stupid.

Maybe he should just use his Sharingan... Shine surely would understand...and it wasn't as if any of the DJs were around for this power to clash with.

Sakura wasn't going to do anything anyway.

Sakura, naturally, was afraid to attack the bandits. She had no idea what else they could do, and she thought maybe she shouldn't try to fight them yet. Hadn't the DJs said to be careful if they got caught? Maybe if she told him she was a medic, they'd spare her.

But what about Sasuke? She didn't know...

She wouldn't have minded if he got a little roughed up, she thought, but really, there was only two ways this went: Either he killed them, or they killed him because he didn't use his full powers--but he if he did use his full powers, they didn't have a prayer of surviving.

However, she hadn't believed for a second he would do it, despite what she'd said; it had just been hot air.

That was why she was shocked as much as the bandits were when dark aura from the Susanoo began to form around Sasuke.

Sasuke, naively, thought he'd feel nothing when he used Susanoo again, that it would be like before, when he felt nothing but cold anger or apathy.

He understood how much he'd changed inwardly since the time in the war he'd used it last. Now that anger was not the only thing he'd been feeling--the sensation of the armor was very different.

It had always hurt his eyes to do it, but the pain seemed to shoot over his whole head this time, and his stomach twisted up into knots.

Also, almost at once, the anger that had been dwelling inside him for so long flared up again, as dark and hot as ever...though the aura of Susanoo was cold and hard.

Sakura could almost feel it radiating off of the armor, and she recoiled.

As usual, she'd just gotten more than she'd bargained for.

And so had the bandits.

Some of them screamed, "Madara's jutsu!" since they had been in the war and had seen it, and they ran for it right then.

The bravest of them still didn't like the looks of it.

Sasuke, who had nearly forgotten that they were even there, of course now narrowed in on them.

An irrational amount of anger at them for attacking him rose up inside his chest. Susanoo moved after them, with its long sword.

He would have killed him for sure, if Sakura--who for some reason had suddenly gotten very focused--hadn't slammed her hand into the ground again and made a large indent in the street, which, since it was solid like granite, showed how well she could use her jutsu on it.

Sakura really had no time to appreciate that she'd found something she was good at in this area--she was too busy yelling at the bandits to run for it while they could.

See, she really didn't like them, but one thing she never wanted to see ever again was Sasuke go mad and kill a bunch of people--well, she hadn't seen it once, actually, but she'd seen him almost do it and knew he had done it before, and she didn't think she could stand it.

The bandits seemed like a small problem in comparison.

And they seemed surprised that she told them to run, but they obeyed her.

Sasuke began to chase after them.

Sakura could hear people who were outside right now screaming when they saw it.

This was no good! People would know they were here now.

She had no idea how to stop him, but if she didn't stop him now, she'd be caught for sure, and he'd probably kill them all.

She could just hear what Shine would have to say about that, but worse (because she didn't really care that much for Shine's opinion), she could imagine what Tsunade would say if she heard that Sakura had made this suggestion so carelessly and hadn't thought Sasuke would do it.

"Sasuke!" she yelled frantically, running after Susanoo but along one of the roofs. "Wait! Stop! They'll all see you."

Sasuke barely remembered that Sakura was even there, but he glanced at her, and he looked as cold as ever.

Sakura swallowed.

She'd almost gotten used to his constant annoyance with her, and it was a little easier to deal with than his indifference had been--though she hadn't known it till this point. But at least that was...as if she had some weight in this. Not now.

She hated doing it, but she tried something else: "Shine won't like this!" she called. "What will she say! She'll see you doing it--don't you think she will?"

Sasuke, somewhere inside his mind, vaguely remembered that was true.

Suddenly, he blinked.

Sakura was right... Shine was going to see him do this... He could just see himself getting kicked out after going back on his word.

That thought was enough to startle him out of his kill rage.

Not a second too soon. He'd caught up to some of the hapless bandits--and someone who had not even been fighting them but had been caught selling some wares in the marketplace.

Sakura saw him stop and was relieved...but then another problem presented itself.

Sasuke found it wasn't so easy to turn it off now... The armor almost had a life of its own, just like his last attempt to use the Sharingan had....

"Stop..." he said, straining.

But the armor was almost itching to just break loose and kill... Had he gone weaker at controlling it? Or was it stronger?

Which was it?

Sakura wished she knew how Shine and Wally always stopped this stuff.

Right, they would just tell it to stop... That wouldn't work for her, she was sure of it.

Unless Sasuke could--

Then she got a stupid idea, but...

"Sasuke," she called, "try just...frying it or something."

Sasuke, finally acknowledging her, turned to give her a look of scorn. "You think that will work?"

"And you have a better idea?" Sakura called back sharply. "I can't do anything to stop it."

Sasuke frowned at her, but, as he didn't have any better idea, he held out his hand with chidori in it again and shot it into the side of the armor.

Surprisingly, that worked. The armor flickered and then finally started to dissipate.

Sasuke dropped to the street, feeling tired from the effort of doing that.

Sakura hopped down next to him, attempting to get out of sight of the Village.

"Well," she said, "there you go...."

Sasuke turned pale. His stomach felt worse than before now.

Sakura didn't like that look; she was too used to seeing it.

She backed away, and she was wise to do so, because Sasuke suddenly lost whatever breakfast he'd eaten that day.

"Ew," Sakura said...but then she shrugged. "Well, that's what you get. What were you thinking?"

Sasuke spat to get the taste out of his mouth and glared at her. "Who said to do it?"

"I never thought you'd listen to me. You never have before!" Sakura said. "What if you'd kill those people? Do you know how scary that was to see?"

Sasuke went from angry to kind of spooked really fast. "Yes, I do."

Silence.

Sakura felt almost guilty...as if she'd just kicked him when he was down--but why? When had it ever bothered him before?

"Well..." she said slowly, "I guess the only thing now is just to get out of here before they recover... You can walk, right?"

Sasuke almost felt like he was going to collapse.

But he wasn't going to tell her that.

"Yeah..." he said.

Sakura swallowed. "Well, looks like we're stuck together for now... I'm sure you're real happy about it, but if we can get back to the others, we can tell them what happened... Actually, I'd really like to know what just happened. Why did they take the others?"

"To use as hostages," Sasuke said in a flat tone that said he still felt sick but she was still grating on him with being dense.

"I think I could guess that!" Sakura was terse. "I meant why. Why do they need us as hostages? I get Ino maybe, but not the airhead and the bird-watching guy--and Lee."

That Lee was the only one she didn't nickname made Sasuke wonder if she'd stopped seeing him as a weirdo. He'd never really paid attention to Lee after he'd...lost to him that one time.

"Well, everyone ran away." Sakura peered around, putting her hand over her eyes. "So let's go now while we can."

They started to move as fast they could without running over the rooftops.

Sakura half thought the bandits would come looking for them, but they didn't, and she complained about it.

Sasuke, who still found her grating, said that they wouldn't risk conflict in the Village--and showed they were smarter than her.

Sakura bristled.

"You know, I'm not the one who just blew our entire position to the whole Village," she shot back.

Sasuke had no retort for that.

But Sakura's temper was usually short-lived as much as it was short-fused, and she began to get more curious. "But why is that so difficult for you to do now? What happened? I thought you weren't one of them, exactly. Is it that their powers conflict with yours?"

"When did you hear that?" Sasuke finally looked up.

"After you got sick they told me," Sakura said. "And I'm not stupid--I can see that it's changed. Since when did you get tired or sick after using Sharingan? But if you do have their power, why is it bothering you?"

Sasuke still felt pretty sick, but talking might be better than focusing on it, he thought.

"Shine's theory right now is that the longer I go without using it to hurt other people, the more it will hurt me because it will do what it's designed to do," he said. "There's some weight to that theory. Itachi went for years without using his much at all, and he got sick and died because of his own power. Madara, on the other hand, didn't do that, and he was healthy and strong enough when he got injured by Hashirama."

"So...that power is making you sick because you're not using it?" Sakura said. "That sounds like an addiction to me...withdrawal..."

Sasuke frowned. "Maybe it is like that."

Silence.

"And you're trying to kick it because...?" Sakura said. "Why would you give up what makes you different than anyone else?"

"I haven't given it up...yet," Sasuke said. "And I don't know that I will... None of this is for me, after all."

"So, to be like them...with the divine gifts, you'd have to give up your Sharingan?" Sakura said. "What? Would you pluck out your eyeballs?"

"No, but I couldn't exactly play both sides," Sasuke said. "It's not possible. And they said it themselves...God is not mocked. I can't pretend to be one of them and still use powers that conflict with them--and even with the other ninjas' who are less dark."

Sakura bit her lip. "Without those powers you'd be a sitting duck for anyone who had a grudge against you."

"You think I don't know that?"

"I didn't think that! I'm just thinking out loud," Sakura snapped. "Why do you always assume I'm just stupid?"

"Most of the time you are."

"I like that," Sakura grumbled. "Which of us has made the better choices in life?"

Sullen silence again.

Sakura mused over it. "Not that my opinion will matter to you, but, if it were me, I would give it up only if I could get something just as good in exchange. I mean, I couldn't give up my own powers and be totally helpless. On the other hand, if it's going to kill you, it's not smart to have it. But now you can't even use it without backlash."

"Correction," Sasuke said, tersely, "it was stopping it that had the backlash...and if I had waited any longer, I'm not sure what would have happened if I'd stopped...or if I would have stopped. As soon as it started up, I felt the same as before...angry."

"But you weren't angry before that?" Sakura was surprised. "I thought you always were angry."

Silence again, then..."I've been less angry recently."

Even that he said that showed he was less angry now, or he'd never have told her, of all people, that.

"I guess it has seemed that way," Sakura said. "I can't believe it, but they also have been a good influence...but it seems like their help hurts you as much as it does anything. I guess it always has." She rubbed her arm. "I hate those powers too."

Sasuke hadn't thought she'd say that, just like that...and he got the idea Sakura hadn't planned to stay it either.

But once she had, she went on, almost as if she was compelled to. "Well, I always hated them. But couldn't stop them--no one could... That thing with the Sharingan, it's pretty much...guaranteed to work as long as there's enough pain and anger and hatred to go around, and you can't destroy pain or anger or hatred, not with force. I guess Naruto doesn't know that, but...we don't know what actually destroys it anyway. Maybe that's why you Uchiha are so hard to stop."

Wow...for her that was brutal.

Sasuke, again, was almost ashamed...not for what he'd done--though that was part of it--but for what he was...yet again.

Even Sakura, the least likely to acknowledge it, was saying it... What did that say about everyone else?

Sakura bit her lip. "I shouldn't have told you to use it."

Sasuke glanced at her. "So that's what this is about? It's not like I would have if I didn't want to stop them already."

"I guess not." Sakura accepted that way too easily, and it pissed him off. "That's true. I'm being ridiculous to think it was my fault."

"Well, you still shouldn't have said it if you don't mean it," Sasuke shot back.

"Well, make up your mind then. Did it matter or didn't it?" Sakura said.

"Why would you want it to? Clearly you're afraid of it," Sasuke spat.

"Shouldn't I be?" Sakura said. "That power makes you crazy. Before you had all that, you used to be a different kind of person, and ever since you got it you went to the dark side. I always knew that. I guess the DJs had that part right all along. I wish I'd known that's why they were trying so hard to stop it. Even with Itachi they never--" She broke off.

Sasuke almost stopped walking--but recalled that they still had to hurry.

Still, no one was chasing them away, and that meant they were too scared to.

They were nearly out of the Village now anyway, but then they saw the gate was closed off--with actual rocks.

They'd have to climb above it.

Not liking to do this in plain sight, they moved off towards the north side to find a less visible part of the Village to go from.

Sasuke finally got an idea of what Sakura had been about to say.

"What did that mean?" he asked crossly. "What about Itachi?"

"Nothing," Sakura said, tightly. "Just remember when we told them about the Massacre for the first time. They hated him. I suppose I never understood why they didn't try harder back then. And I wonder if they could have stopped him as easily as Orochimaru, too...but it was too late anyway, wasn't it? And they have their stupid rules. Would have saved us all a lot of trouble, though, if they just appeared before that massacre happened. Then no one would be so confused."

Sasuke had thought the same thing but hadn't thought she'd think that far back.

"They hate Itachi," he said. His cold tone gave no indication of how it made him feel, still, to think about it.

Sakura had no idea that he felt so stirred up over it, or she likely wouldn't have said this:

"Well, of course they hate him." She shrugged. "Miss Likstar especially hates him, I bet."

Sasuke nearly did stop again. "Why her?"

His tone still didn't give away his real feelings, and Sakura naively assumed he was just confused.

"Speaking from experience," she said. "Not that I think we're alike, of course...but I guess Shine is a passionate kind of person, in her own irritating way. And I guess she's pretty protective of people she's taken under her wing. That's all. I'm sure she resents what he did because of how much it affected you. Though if it was to help Hidden Leaf...well..."

"Wait." Sasuke suddenly grabbed her arm with a wrench. "Are you about to say that it was okay because of that?"

"Let go of me!" Sakura yanked free quickly. "Don't take this out on me! I never said that. I never thought that either. The Massacre was horrible. I mean, it makes no sense, that is. I don't want to speak against the 3rd Hokage. I still don't understand it, actually. He seemed like a nice man, and yet...with Danzo? I mean, Sai would tell you how bad the Foundation was, and none of it makes any sense."

She brushed herself off like Sasuke had gotten her dirty just by touching her--or maybe it was the subject matter itself that made her feel dirty.

"I just mean that I don't get Itachi's logic," she said. "If you could call it logic. I'm...maybe I am too simple. I don't understand why people would make an organization like that, and if Obito was telling the truth--I mean, he could have lied, but if he was telling the truth, then it seems it turned on your whole clan. But I don't know anything about that kind of thing. I'm not qualified to talk about Village policies on that level, so I won't. I just don't get it, personally, that's all... Maybe there's a reason."

Sasuke had the thought that Sakura was both smarter than she'd let on all this time and yet still much, much more naive.

Which was why what he said next was in both a tone of pity and gravitas as much as it was scorn:

"And what if there is no reason for the cruel things people do?"

Sakura had the idea that Sasuke might really be asking her that for real...

And she didn't know.

She was not a deep thinker in that way. She understood people's feelings enough when she tried, but beyond that, she understood very little of that kind of philosophy. She was a pragmatic person at her work, and a small dreamer when it came to making changes, and that was just how she was.

And it really wasn't wrong to be that way, if Sasuke could have seen it like that, because not everyone can always be too focused on the bigger picture to remember that the foundation we build on is the smaller things...

But they had never understood each other because of those differences, and it sounded like their conversation wouldn't fix that.

Sakura rubbed her shoulder nervously. "I don't know..." She could see that the problem here was partially their differences... She thought the others had alluded to it anyway.

"Look," she said after a split second pause, "maybe it was the wrong reason. You know I don't really focus on things like that. Leaf Village is my home. Maybe it's not perfect, but, it's home. And nowhere else is any better. I think every Village has their tragedies. And ours affects you personally, but should the rest of us all abandon our families and friends just because of that?"

Sasuke had no answer for her because it did seem a bit ridiculous to assume they would. He never would have in their place...

Which made him wonder if he would even have felt sorry for them if they were in his position. How many times had he pitied Naruto for being alone? Wasn't it only because he was alone too? And he'd never once reached out to him because of it.

And had he pitied Karin for being the same as him? No, he'd never even thought about it till this team had forced him to, and then he still had felt nothing for her.

Or Jugo...

Or Gaara...

What if Sakura was just no different than that? If it didn't affect her, she didn't care.

He had always despised her for that, but who was he to think he was any better? He'd never been better.

That must be what Shine had meant when she'd said they were both selfish.

That was what prompted his next remark, which was said in such a distant tone that Sakura half thought he wasn't even talking to her.

"Don't you ever get tired of only thinking of the world in terms of how it affects you personally?"

Sakura frowned.

What did that mean?

"I don't understand. Isn't that how everyone thinks?" she said.

"No." Sasuke was barely listening to her now. "Some people think of others more than themselves."

"You mean them, huh?"  Sakura said, a little bitterly. "Yeah, well, if they're so much better, why didn't you do anything to help them back there?"

Sasuke stiffened. "I'm not better than them, that's why."

"Nice excuse," Sakura said. "Even I wouldn't use that excuse, you know." She shrugged in a huffy way. "Typical."

"You did use that excuse," Sasuke said. "You just stood there because you think you're too weak to help."

"At least that's better than not helping on purpose."

"Isn't it on purpose? If you cared about them, you'd help them even when you'd lose. Naruto always does."

"I can't be like Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "Unlike you two, I don't have a family jutsu to rely on, and I don't have massive amounts of chakra that can make up for me overdoing it. I have a limit, and I know what it is. Weren't we told not to fight them if we got captured? I was just doing as we were told. I think you could have done something, maybe, but I can't."

"Sakura, if you spent half as much time trying to learn how to use your powers as you do claiming you can't use them, you probably wouldn't have any problems." Sasuke only said that because he was pissed off, not to compliment her.

But Sakura was still shocked to hear it more than she was insulted.

But Sasuke wasn't really thinking of that. He was wondering now if the others would actually be okay.

He wasn't that worried about them...but...well...it seemed stupid to lose teammates over the bandits' pathetic little tricks when they'd survived Rain Village already... It was embarrassing almost.

Maybe the storm had passed for now. His head was back on the problem at hand.

If Sakura had helped him there, he didn't know, and he'd rather not think about it. That idea was too weird.

Sakura could tell he'd stopped listening to their conversation, and she was almost glad, because it was getting way too uncomfortable for her to talk about it.

But before they could leave the Village and find the others, the bandits changed their minds about letting them go.

Sasuke heard them coming first and hid.

Sakura hid because he did, but it took her a bit longer to realize they were discovered.

"I know they went this way." One of the bandits came forward more than the others. "Watch out though--Uchiha is deadly... Just get the girl."

"Won't he be a little upset at us if we get the girl?" said another.

"Nah, I heard about him from the Village ninja, he doesn't care about anyone," said the first. "He'll just run... Quiet, though--they could hear us."

"He might not run, though. He might kill us. Didn't you see that armor?"

"It must be tapped out now if it's gone."

"Idiots," Sasuke muttered. "They think that was as long as I could go?"

"You just threw up because of the effects of using that," Sakura said. "You wanna bet they're wrong? Anyway you can't do it again. Next thing you could have a seizure. And I can't possibly handle them and that at the same time... But I can't handle them, period. We need backup."

"And how are we getting backup?" Sasuke said.

"If you'd shut up about it for a minute I could--oh, right, the letters." Sakura had forgotten about that. "I'll ask them... Watch them, all right? Tell me if they're coming this way."

She pulled out one of her medical notebooks and a pencil.

Sasuke wished that Sakura's idea wasn't actually good so he could have said something else snide, but they had no resort other than calling in backup.

He watched the street.

[Ever feel like they'd be a good team if they ever stopped focusing on their petty differences so much?

I mean...it's possible...right?]