Chapter Sixteen: When The Day Met The Night,

otherwise known as;

Chapter 16: Confession Attempt Number One, Day Two in The Forest

The Mr and Mrs Fish thing... yeah, my Mum told me that when mine and my sister's two Goldfish, Rizzle and Kick, died. Even though we're 15. Our Mum's weird X3

- - -

I sat up slowly and yawned, realising that I was A: still sat on the stump, and B: recieving a death glare supreme from Sakura.

I glared back at her, "Whachu lookin' at, forehead-" then, when I tried to stand, I noticed the arm wrapped around my waist, and the Sasuke attached to the arm, and Sakura's glare made sense. My cheeks pinkened, "Ohhhh..."

I rubbed my cheeks with both hands, trying to figure out a way out of this mess. It seemed like I got into these sort of situations way too often.

My stomach suddenly growled. I groaned, deciding to forsake my dignity in lieu of getting food faster. I bent down close to the sleeping boy's ear, and pulled in a deep breath.

"SASUKE WAKE UP I'M HUNGRY!!" I screamed, and then quickly dodged as he shot up into the air. I brushed my hands together and stood as he landed on his ass, seemingly braindead from the volume of my shout, if the drool that rolled down from his mouth told me anything. I glanced over and saw that apparently my yell had killed Naruto and Sakura too. Oops... hehe.

I was continually poking Naruto in the forehead when Sasuke came around, sitting up from where I had dragged him (since he didn't want to let go of me, apparently). He looked confused.

"Sachi, what are you doing?" he asked, and I drew an invisible frowny face on Naruto's forehead.

"I miss my sketchpad..." I whined, ignoring his question completely, then sighing and slamming my fist down on Naruto's head. "WAKE UP DUMMY!! I'M HUNGRY SO YOU AND SASUKE HAVE TO CATCH BREAKFAST NOW!"

"Wait, what? Why do we have to do it?!" Sasuke asked, and I paused, before turning to face him, dramatically slowly.

"Because you don't want to see me when I'm reeeaally hungry..." I whispered in a creepy voice, and he just stared at me, disbelieving, so I grabbed his arm and slung him in the river that was conveniently located nearby. I then dumped Naruto in there too, off of the small cliff-like hillock that protruded from the riverbank.

"While you two catch fish, I'm going downstream to wash up. No. Peeping." I glared at both of them, my stomach growling the whole while, then stalked off. No one paid any mind to the still unconscious Sakura back at camp. Heh.

I followed the river into the guard of some trees, no doubt the most privacy I would get for this whole exam. Yay. I then stripped down to my underwear, stepping into the pristine water before squealing and leaping out. It was freezing!

Ignoring the urge to bash my head repeatedly against the tree, I stepped back into the water, gritting my teeth and shivering. My mind couldn't help but wander back in the direction of this morning, when I had been plenty warm enough, sharing someone else's body heat...

Okay, ew, stop it Sachi. My cheeks started to flush red, and I scowled.

"Dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies..." I chanted to myself, and that forced down the fuzzy feeling and the blush. Poor little puppies! They didn't ask to die! My lips trembled, now unable to get the vision of dead puppies out of my head. Quickly, I bent down and dunked my head under the freezing water, then leapt back up again, "Eyaah!!! Fuck that's cold!!!"

But it worked. Focusing my mind on the plant life around me, I quickly laid down in the water and used it to rinse any dirt from my hair, pulling it out of it's braid. Once that was done, I hurried out of the water, and shook myself down. I was just going to have to deal with wet hair for a while.

I dressed, then rung my hair out as best I could. I then started to leave, but paused, and turned back, stomping on a dandelion and squishing it into the ground.

Sachi: 2 Dandelion: 1. I'm winning!!

When I got back to camp, everyone was sat around a fire, Naruto and Sasuke arguing over the biggest fish. I cocked my head to one side, then grinned and used my ninja skills to leap over the fire, grabbing the stick of the fish in the process. I bit into the fish, before spitting it out and wrinkling my nose.

"Ewwwwwwww!!!" I threw the fish back into the fire. Naruto watched, waterfall tears pouring down his face. Sasuke frowned at me.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked, seeming irritated. I stood up and went over to a bush, rooting around for some berries or something.

"Yeah, don't waste food when Sasuke-kun spent so long getting it!!" Sakura yelled. I sneered at her.

"Shaddap!" I replied, then continued my search, finding some blackberries. I did a little happy dance. "Yay!"

"Sachi-chan, you'd rather eat fruit?" Naruto asked, confused, and seemingly over the fish-waste. I nodded, going to the river and washing the berries before popping one in my mouth. They were fat and sweet and made me want to poop rainbows.

"Yup! I forgot that I'm vegetarian!" I told them, sitting down in the circle.

Sakura scoffed, "How can you forget that you're vegetarian?"

I scowled at her, blushing, "It happens!! You can't scorn me for anything, you meat-eater!!"

She snickered, "That's hardly an insult!!"

"It is too!" I exclaimed,"That poor fish you're eating, it could have a wife and parents, and brothers and sisters, and kids! Now all the baby fish will be asking Mrs Fish, 'When's daddy coming home?' and she'll be crying because she'll have to tell them that Daddy's not coming home, because you're eating him!!" Sakura shrugged and took another bite of fish. I exclaimed, "You monster!!"

Naruto, however, was crying. "I'm sorry Mr Fish, 'ttebayo! I'm sorry!!"

I leaned over and patted his head, "Don't worry, Naruto-kun. Mr Fish is in a better place now, in the great goldfish bowl of the Above..." I grabbed the cooked fish and flung it into the river, "Be free!!"

Once breakfast was done, we all started to make plans for what we were going to do about getting another scroll. I didn't get why we needed another. We already had a scroll, so taking another is just plain greedy.

I shuddered slightly as I felt someone's gaze on my back, and looked around, the hair on the back of my neck prickling. No one was there. Hm.. strange...

"So we find a team and follow them, then ambush them." Sasuke affirmed, glancing around the group. I yawned, and he glared at me. "Pay attention, Sachi!"

"Maa, you sound like Iruka-sensei, Shady Uchiha." I said, and Naruto cocked his head to one side.

"Yeah, yeah, he does!! Stop being so bossy, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke just slowly facepalmed, then switched his glare to Naruto.

"Unless we work together, we don't have a chance of passing this exam! Do you want to get the scroll or not?!" Sasuke demanded, causing an argument to break out between the two of them. I sighed, then grabbed their heads and smacked them together.

"Ow!" they both complained, and I stood up.

"Naruto, you use your shadow clones to surround the enemy. Sasuke, you use Sharingan to see through any illusions that the enemy may cast. Sakura, you... do whatever it is you usually do." Sakura scowled at me.

"What are you going to do then, huh?" Sakura asked in a tone that suggested she had a bad smell under her nose.

"I," I stated proudly, "Am going to find someone."

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed, "What kind of bogus job is that?!"

I glared at her, "Well I'll be doing more than you'll be doing!!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

I took a deep breath, and shook my head. "Look. Just do as I said. Meet back here once you've got a scroll."

I pulled my still damp hair up into a ponytail, and started off in a direction different to the one that the rest of my team was going in.

"Wait, Sachi." a hand caught me by the wrist, and since I recognised the voice, my heart kicked into gear. I turned to look at Sasuke, also noticing that Sakura was watching us with the beady eyes of a hawk, though was far enough that she wouldn't hear what we were saying. "Are you sure that no one should go with you? It's dangerous out there."

Sasuke's eyes were full of concern, and I shook my head.

"No. Your side of the plan will need all of you. Especially you and Naruto." I said, though I desperately wanted him to come with me. I had a bad feeling, and it scared me.

"Take Sakura, then." I just rose an eyebrow at his suggestion, and he gave me a look that told me that he knew that that one was a bad idea before he even said it. He frowned, seeming to be struggling with his words. "I just... don't want you out there alone..."

His cheeks started to pinken, and mine did too. It was as if my body knew what he was saying, and was responding accordingly, though my mind had no clue. Excitement twisted my stomach as his eyes met mine again, this time threaded with an emotion that was somehow familiar, yet completely unrecognisable.

"Sachi, I wanted to tell you something, in case one of us doesn't come back-"

Panic gripped me, and I quickly blurted, "Don't be stupid, of course we'll all return!!"

"Let me finish." he said calmly, a slight frown on his features, though his eyes were soft and his cheeks were growing redder by the second, "I want to say t-that I sort of, m-maybe, l-like-"

"Sasuke-kun, hurry up!!" Sakura shouted, looking peeved, and Sasuke jumped, as though he had been caught doing something unthinkable.

"Shut the hell up Sakura!" I yelled back, thenlooked back to Sasuke, "You were saying?"

He scratched the back of his head and gave a nervous laugh. "Pickles! Just wanted to tell you that I like pickles!! Well, bye!" he then turned and hurried away, muttering to himself in an infuriated fashion, "Baka, Sasuke, baka!!"

I just blinked after him, and heard a snorted laugh in the back of my mind.

'Seems the Uchiha is harbouring something of a crush for you.' Izanami stated with a snicker as I turned and started into the trees. I laughed.

"Yeah, right." I said aloud, "Why would someone like him ever like me?"

'I dunno. Personally, I find you extremely irritating.'

"Gee, thanks. I feel so loved." I started to run, tripping every now and again over brambles and things. The prickly feeling rose in the back of my neck again, and I stopped and called "All right, you can come out now."

A figure stepped out of the bushes, "So you noticed, Izanami no Mikoto..."

- - -

Thish be my failed attempt at a cliffy. Lulwut.

Eeeeeeeeeeee Sasuke tried to confess!!! His love for pickles LOL. I know it's really OOC, but it just popped into my head and I HAD to write it down. Plus, this chapter was majorly lacking in the humour department. Cute and fluffly and lots of SasuSachi, but not enough funny stuff.

Yeah, the failed confession thing... I sense it's going to become a pattern here. Sachi can be rather... dense, when it comes to her feelings and other people's feelings for her. If you haven't already noticed.

So who is the mystery person that's been stalking Sachi? Will the Shady Uchiha ever manage to confess? Will Sachi accept? AND...Would Sasuke like pickles?

So many questions, so little time. Stick around to find out the answers! And comment!! Commentcommentcommentcommentcomment!! :D

P.s. This is the last chapter for a whole week. I'm going to France with my family and won't have any internet connection ^^