Part XII

Taiga smiled to himself as he watched the couple sitting across from him at the dinner table.

In between bites and conversations, Sakura would lean over and tell Byakuya something is a soft voice, probably regarding patients she had been tending to or memories she shared with her brothers. Yasahiro, when something she said caught his attention, would lean over and ask her to elaborate. Byakuya sat between the siblings and seemed to listen attentively to everything she said, even asking a question or two.

Emi sat on the other side of her older half-sister - only the third time sitting at the dining table with everyone - and would tug on Sakura's sleeve when she needed help or wanted attention. But the small girl had been very receptive of Byakuya and even once had snuck behind Sakura to crawl into his lap. Once or twice, when Sakura laughed at something, Taiga saw the way Byakuya watched her, almost entranced. Well, perhaps that was a bit much, but he knew at least the man could not seem to look away.

Taiga knew his eldest daughter and he knew the Kuchiki Head... somewhat. And when he really considered the both of them and their reactions to the arranged marriage, he had not expected them to come as far as they did in their relationship. In fact, this was far more than either him or Ginrei had been expecting. They both thought for sure the two would remain formal with one another - one of those marriages where the husband and wife lived politically appropriate with each other. They had a small sliver of hope that the two would open up to each other. And it seemed their future held something a little bit more... involved.

To Taiga, it was just nice having all of his children together again, especially Itachi, who sat next to him with Ichino. The two discussed political and familial things, which he tried to dissuade tonight at the table. But neither listened to him. While Itachi't return had been a bit... rough for him and the rest of his children, they had nonetheless welcomed him with open arms and tight hugs. It seemed his private meeting with the Uchiha matriarch had done wonders. On the other side of him sat Kaien and Miyako, whom Sakura had insisted join them for dinner. Since the Shiba Clan had fond connections with them via Mei when she'd been alive, it wasn't odd to have them there, especially since Sakura and Kaien seemed to get along so well. If Kaien hadn't married so quickly, he would have suggested the two of them marry. But he would not question the decision the fates had dealt them.

"Nee-chan, tell us how you first met Byakuya," Yasahiro insisted.

"I've already told you."

"Yeah, you told me when I was like four. You really expect me to remember?"

"Yes," she said huffing.

"I've never heard this story," Miyako said, smiling. Even Emi grinned up at Sakura and climbed into her lap, preferring to sit in her lap when she told stories, even if she didn't understand them.

Sakura grumbled and set her chopsticks down after her last bite of rice. "This is really embarrassing. Is this really a story I have to tell?"

"I also wish to hear this story," Ichino said, smirking. "I wasn't aware you knew Kuchiki-sama before the arrangement."

"You and Itachi can't listen. It's embarrassing enough with everyone else listening."

"I will tell it if you cannot," Byakuya said, crossing his arms.

"You'll make me sound childish," she said hotly.

He raised a brow.

She puffed her cheeks. "Fine. I had just been assigned to work as Yoruichi's co-fukutaichou to represent chakra-users. And when she had too much down time, she often liked to play tricks on people and pull pranks. Tou-san, you know."

Taiga chuckled. "I'm all too familiar with her antics."

"Her favorite target was Byakuya-san, which I didn't know."

"You did," he interrupted.

"Not the first time we met," she insisted. "And you're not the one telling this story. One day, Yoruichi decided to bring me along for a meeting with Ginrei-sama while Soi-Fong was training subordinates. But, I wasn't allowed to sit in on the meeting so I had to wait outside by the gardens. Meanwhile, I see this young man wearing the uniform from the Shino Academy and going through some drills with a bokken."

"And you didn't say anything to him?" Yasahiro asked.

"Huh, I had no idea that you, being younger than him, had already been ranked as a fukutaichou while he was still in the academy," Kaien goaded.

Byakuya glared at him.

"Stop interrupting me. No, I didn't say anything. So, Yoruichi and Ginrei-sama finished their meeting and they walked over to the young man. She wanted to say hello to him and introduce us."

"Did you find Kuchiki-san attractive? Devilishly handsome?" Itachi teased.

She blushed, scowling. "This is why I don't tell stories in this family. You guys always interrupt me. You all are worse than gossiping with the girls."

"You don't have an authoritative air like I do, imooto," Ichino said.

As she rolled her eyes and shook her fist at him, Taiga chuckled and leaned a cheek on his fist. "Children, enough please. Truly, I wish to hear the rest of this story without your interruptions. This includes you, Shiba-san."

"Thank you," Sakura said while Miyako giggled at Kaien's offense. "So, Yoruichi introduced us. But I thought she greeted him rather unusually as she teased and poked him, which seemed to just anger him. Then, just to top it all off, she took his hair tie."

"His... hair tie?" Yasahiro asked confused.

"Look how long his hair is, baka. And look how long your hair is," Kaien said, pointing at Yasahiro's long salt and pepper hair that reached his lower back. "You don't want to be training out in that awful summer heat with your hair clinging to your back."

Sakura nodded. "Well, this just made him mad and she knew it. So, she and I ran off with it but then she shoved it in my hand and sent him after me. All the while, she's yelling at me to not give in to his scary looks. So, I ran too."

"How did the guards not catch you?" Miyako asked, eyes wide. "I've heard rumors that the Kuchiki Guards are so quick, that not even the Onmitsukido can successfully sneak onto the Estate without being caught."

"The rumors are true."

"The rumors are false," Sakura said. "First of all, Yachiru-chan got me in trouble by making me help her infiltrate the Estate for her Women's Association meetings. Second, even when those guards found us out, they never caught me as we tried to escape."

"Using clones does not count."

"It does too."

"Finish the story, imooto," Ichino said.

"Oh, right. I ran away with what little knowledge I had in Shunpo at the time and I had to couple that with my teleportation jutsu. But he was still catching up with me. So, I did the only thing I knew I could successfully get away with: I used my shadow clones. He never caught me but I ran all the way back to the barracks where Yoruichi was waiting patiently and asked me what took so long. When I demanded to know why she set me up like that, she said that it was training. And the fact that I managed to escape an irate Byakuya was something to be applauded."

"Hardly," Byakuya said.

She shushed him. "But I still had to return the hair tie or he would hunt me down to the ends of the earth. And I knew that he was a Kuchiki, so I thought it might have been true. I hardly got any sleep that night. Meanwhile, I'm sure he was probably plotting my downfall in his dreams." The couple looked at each other with narrowed eyes before she continued. "The next day, after breakfast, I snuck back onto the Kuchiki Estate, intent on either giving the thing to Ginrei-sama or putting it in Byakuya-san's room. But the place is so huge, any room could have been his."

"A boy's room is a boy's room," Toga said.

"It's not like I was going to actually look into every single room. It was a stealth mission. Well, a failed one. I wasn't on the Estate even five minutes when some of the guards surrounded me. I tried to escape, but they caught me too quickly. And where they pinned me down in the grass was where Byakuya-san had been training. He gave me the evilest look and said that the moment I chose him as my opponent was the moment I chose to lose to him." Her cheeks reddened. "I was so absolutely scared of his wrath and what he would do to me that I started crying."

Everyone was silent.

"You started… crying?" Itachi asked.

Emi looked up, concerned. "Nee-tan crying?"

She covered her face. "I told you it was embarrassing."

"But crying? You've faced worse than his anger."

"Have you seen him mad? Even his subordinates run scared when he's just irritated."

"An exaggeration at most," Byakuya said, sipping his tea.

"An exaggeration at the least. Well, apparently, my tears were enough to have him call off his guards. I yelled at him that all I wanted to do was give back his hair tie and threw it at him before leaving."

"And what did you do, Byakuya-san?" Yasahiro asked him.

He only hummed.

"Oh, come on."

"I do not tell stories."

That seemed to silence everyone, except Sakura. "Oh, you don't badger him to tell a story but you tease and make fun of me if I don't want to."

"I told you it was the authority," Ichino said.

She looked at her fiancé and he nodded in agreement. Huffing, she pouted into the top of Emi's head, "It's not fair being the only girl in this family old enough to get picked on."

Later, as Sakura showed Byakuya out to the front gate, she clasped her hands behind her back. "Thank you for joining us tonight for dinner. I know Tou-san really appreciates your presence."

"It is of no consequence. I appreciate your story-telling skills, though you are prone to exaggerations."

She huffed and cocked her fists on her hips. "It was pretty clear you either wouldn't tell the story or tell it wrong."

At this, he offered a small smirk and took her left hand from her hip. Her eyes widened at the gesture. "It is clear who the story teller is in your family. I would not rob you of that role."

She stared down at their hands, her whole face coloring. "You're... you're holding my hand."

"Indeed."

Silence hung between them as she squeezed his hand, liking the warmth that radiated from him. She looked up and smirked at him. "For someone who chooses to give off an indifferent and cool disposition towards others, I half expected your hands to be cold."

He closed his eyes. "I believe I have warned you before, Sakura-san, that it is dangerous to assume things. It gives me the upper hand."

At this, she laughed softly before sobering. "You'll have to let me know when you have returned from your mission so I can bring lunch."

"You no longer need to make it a surprise when you want to bring lunch; I believe we are well past the point of worrying that I will turn you away."

She laughed. "I guess you're right. But still, it's fun not knowing exactly when I'm going to bring lunch."

"You are more than welcome to have lunch with my grandfather while I am away. He would appreciate the company away from the advisors."

"I hope he appreciates my bentos."

"If I enjoy your cooking, then I am sure he will take no issue."

She smirked. "You enjoy my cooking?"

He gave her a look and she laughed again before reaching up and pressing her lips against the corner of his mouth, her delicate hand cupping the opposite cheek. He suppressed a shiver down his back at her closeness. "Be safe on your mission. Good night... Byakuya."

"Good night... Sakura."

This wasn't good.

Not only was Sasuke carrying an unconscious Hinata on his back, but he was also chasing down an out of control Jinchuuriki. Sasuke knew without a doubt that they would be setting off alerts soon and Soi-Fong would send a team to arrest them. Every OMWD shinobi knew that if alerts were set off, arrests would be made immediately, no exceptions. And this was the last thing he needed considering all that had gone wrong on the mission already, starting with Naruto killing their target. If he could just get in front of Naruto before he hit any small villages, then they would be fine. Pushing more chakra into his feet, he moved as fast as he could with the added weight, closing in quickly.

The blonde was surrounded by a bubbly orange chakra barrier that resembled a fox, one tail already formed. If he could at least keep him still in one spot, he could activate the trap bomb Yamato had given him. It would keep him immobilized while Sasuke slapped the seal on his forehead.

This wasn't ideal to begin with considering Naruto had long since gained control of the Nine-Tailed Fox spirit within him decades ago. But a couple weeks ago, he admitted he'd been losing control during one of their training sessions - slowly but it was showing. He said Kurama had become more agitated and less communicative with him.

"You can't tell Sakura-chan," he said, grabbing Sasuke by his upper arms. "She has enough to deal with as it is working with the reiatsu-users every day. We can't worry her with stuff about me and Kurama. I'll figure it out with Baa-chan."

Naruto's dependance on Tsunade was always irritating; she didn't know everything and couldn't do everything to protect them. Sasuke surely didn't always trust her actions since she always had to play nice with Soi-Fong and Central 46. Likewise, after he tried to defect, she had always regarded him with skepticism too.

But, she wasn't wrong this time to sneak the seal into Sasuke's pack before Yamato gave him the trap bomb. They both must have worried that something would go wrong this time around.

Finally, Sasuke was able to pull ahead and get in front of Naruto. He turned and slid to a stop. In his mindless state, he regarded Sasuke for only a second before roaring into the air. As he did, Sasuke threw the trap at the ground and activated it with his chakra. It exploded and thick bands of wood wrapped around Naruto before embedding themselves in the ground. Sasuke quickly deposited Hinata against a tree and carefully pulled out the seal. He only had one shot.

With a quick push of chakra, he slapped the seal on his bare forehead before flipping away. However, he cursed as he sailed back through the air. He had felt them almost as soon as they entered the Material World.

The alarms had been set off.

Soi-Fong had dispatched her men.

Black-clad reiatsu-using shinobi surrounded them, some landing on his back and pinning him firmly to the ground. Before he could even attempt to struggle, he felt them place limiters on his chakra, weakening him. Naruto had already returned to normal and they pinned him down too.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, you are both under arrest."

"For what?" he grunted.

But they didn't explain.

"Hebi, what's going on?" Naruto yelled, clearly confused as they handcuffed his arms behind his back and lifted him off the ground by his elbows. When he looked behind him and saw the destroyed landscape, his eyes widened. "Did I... Did I do that?"

Sasuke looked away from his questioning gaze. And then they were moving through the Senkaimon.

Hi everyone! I'm working hard on the next chapter. I will hopefully post it soon but the editing is taking a bit.

Just a quick note: if you are out on the streets protesting, please stay safe and please be careful. And please don't destroy restaurants and stores as many are owned by other families of color and people of color. Much love to all of you 3