Chapter 5 - Return To Konoha

She was gone several months. She walked through the woods thinking to herself. She had gotten almost no better at controlling that weird feeling during fights when everything would go blank. What Kaji had called a monster. She started planning a trip to the hidden village of stone, though maybe next year. She looked up at a pair of all too familiar gates before her: Konoha.

This was the last place she thought she'd ever end up. She walked foreword slowly. The empty street made it creepy enough, but the fact that it was Konoha made it almost nerve wrecking. As she began to calm down she passed through familiar places. Most of it hadn't changed much at all. It was the same old shops, occasional nick in a building side. As she passed the book store, the shelf extending outside still with books on it. The plastic cover was locked down to prevent theft. Pretz ran her hand along it and sighed. So many memories filled her mind. She glanced across the street. There stood the ramen stand. She made a mental note to stop there later.

As she walked for a short time, she stopped dead in her tracks. She noticed a wall that was very familiar. It was where she had met Itachi. She couldn't help but smile. Life had been better when he was around. She didn't know if people still made fun of her but she didn't care. He made her feel special, like she was the only one that mattered. As she looked at the wall she could picture the two of them sitting and laughing, sharing lunch, or just looking at the sky together. But then the image of Itachi faded, leaving the younger Pretz alone on the wall.

Pretz's smile faded and she sighed. She couldn't even remember why she decided to come back to Konoha. There were no real friends to go back to, and Itachi probably wouldn't even remember her even if she saw him. She was convinced her mother was most likely dead by now. So why did she come back?

In all her thought Pretz found herself at the Uchiha houses. The first thing that caught her eye was the lack of lighting. She gazed up at a wall illuminated by the moon. One of the Uchiha fans was severely cracked. She continued to walk through the complex. Maybe they were having a meeting? She saw a dark figure sitting atop a pole. Maybe he was hooking himself up some free cable or something. When she walked around the corner however she looked foreword in horror. There were several bodies skewed about the street with blood to accompany them. She staggered back a few steps.

Upon looking again the while street was littered with bodies. She felt slightly fait as she fell over backwards. But something broke her fall. Something cold. As she looked behind her she screamed. She had landed on a body. She was up and running within an instant. She had only been running for a few seconds when she heard a scream.

It came from the general direction of Itachi's old house. It sounded way too young to possibly be him, but something drove her towards the house, and in a hurry. Maybe it's that other little booger. Ah, crap what was his name?! Sa something. Mother!

"Sasuke!" She rounded the corner and there he was on the ground.

She almost had a heart attack. He did resemble a younger Itachi quiet a bit. She darted over to him and checked his pulse. She sighed with relief that he still had one. He seemed fine. No real stab wounds or anything. She would have moved him inside his house, but the thought of more bodies was afloat in her mind now.

Someone was coming around the corner. She quickly darted onto the roof and tumbled off the other side. She finally found a quite roof, far away from the Uchiha's. Everything that had just happened was finally sinking in. She curled her legs up to her chest and held them closely. She just cried and shook madly. Dead people were bad enough, but some of them had open eyes. Open and staring. As she began to lose breathe she slipped off the roof and hit the ground hard. She wasn't hurt; the wind was just knocked out of her. She just laid in silence.

It took her an hour to get up and dry the tears. She walked slowly, almost drunkly until she spotted the ramen place. She sighed and decided to get something to eat. As she sat at the stool there was only one other person there. A young boy with blond hair, and some sort of lines on his cheeks and a white shirt.

"What'll it be?" Asked the guy working there.

"Spicy shrimp"

The man smiled and started making the noodles. Pretz glanced over at the kid only to notice he was staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Your eyes are different colors"

"You're seeing things. Whatcha got there?"

He sighed. "Just some plain noodles in chicken broth. It's all I can afford"

"Why are you up so late anyway?"

He said nothing, so she asked a different question.

"A better question would what's your name?"

The boy grinned.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki! I'm gonna become the next hokage, believe it!"

She paused, remembering her own dream to be hokage and smiled as her food was handed to her. She ate quietly as the boy picked at his ramen. As she finished, she paid and got up to leave. No sooner had she stepped outside the door and straightened her sakkat was she face to face with a high level ninja, by the look of it. She jumped slightly, and then composed herself.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Since there's been a murder, and I'm supposed to take in all suspicious persons walking about"

"What the hell makes you think I'm so suspicious!?"

She began to get very worried when he grabbed her arm, but the man working at the ramen stand stepped outside.

"Leave her be. She's been with me all night"

As the ninja left Pretz turned to the man.

"You didn't have to do that, you know"

"Sure I did, Pretz"

She was about to reply when she was rendered speechless.

"Wait, how do you......?" She followed him back inside and sat down.

He pointed to the white hair that came down far enough down to be seen from the bottom of the sakkat.

"Only one other person has hair that color, and that's your mother" He smiled and flicked the sakkat, knocking it back off her head.

She blinked at the sudden increase of light. Because she had a hat on she hadn't bothered to fix her headband over her eye.

"Are you aware how creepy you sound, old man? That can't possibly be the only thing that gave it away though"

"Well... No one's ordered Spicy Shrimp in years for one thing. Itachi came in a few times after you left, but that was it"

The name froze her mind, and made her sad at the same time. The old man must have noticed because he smiled.

"He's fine. He's an ANBU nowadays. He was never really the same after you left though. Much more internalized. Scary change. Why did you leave?"

Pretz said nothing. What could she really say to that?

"You should have seen your mother, you know" He continued. Pretz said nothing "No one could convince her you were dead. She's an ANBU now as well. Everything was fine until a few years ago. She came back from a mission one night like she'd seen a ghost. Said she'd seen you. Well, everyone thought she was crazy. She actually had to attend therapy, and take a break from her ANBU staff duties"

"I see"

He sighed and tilted his head back.

"You're not going to stay are you?"

Pretz shook her head. "No. I can't. It really seems like I only cause problems for the people here. If I came back it'd just-"

"Prove your mother right..."

"Just.... give her my regards I guess. Tell her I was here, ya know?" Pretz stood to leave.

"Here at least take this" He handed her some money "I don't want you starving to death"

Pretz smiled in thanks. She paused however and looked back toward the young boy. The old ramen man had already walked around the counter. She faced him and spoke quietly.

"That's the fox boy... isn't it?" When the old man nodded she sighed. "Then he's in for the same crap I was or maybe worse"

She put the wad of bills next to the boy, who looked confused. Pretz smiled and turned to the girl behind the counter.

"Pork miso ramen with an egg. He keeps the change"

Naruto still looked a bit lost. Pretz grinned and ruffled his hair.

"Don't ever lose that dream of yours, kid"

And with that she was off again. This time with a full belly and empty wallet. When she reached the city outskirts she looked behind her at the gates. This was it, she was leaving again. She almost thought she saw a younger Itachi sitting on the gate. She sat leaning against the city wall and sighed. She was exhausted, there was no disputing that. She tried to fight it, but she slowly slipped off to sleep.

She had only rested for a few moments when a shadowy figure immerged from the bushes. He wore armor that looked blood spattered, including one distinct handprint that looked smeared. He had sharp lines under his eyes, which glowed crimson. His long black hair was a dead giveaway. It was Itachi. It took him a moment, but he recognized her as he crouched beside her and sighed.

"Of all the nights to come back..."

She certainly couldn't stay here. It probably wasn't going to be safe for her by morning. He picked her up and began to walk away from Konoha, but very soon someone was coming. He quickly tossed her into a bush and turned his armor inside out. He gave a quick nod to the silver haired ANBU as she ran by, probably having just received orders to investigate the Uchihas. He fixed the armor and fished Pretz out of the bushes.

With a chuckled he continued to walk along with the sleeping Pretz in his arms. He would have to walk all night to get far enough away from Konoha, and he did. By the time he reached the outskirts of the hidden village of rain he had to stop. Not only was killing people hard work, carrying dead weight was no easy task either. He propped her against a tree trunk, thinking what might keep her asleep a little while longer. He opened one of her eyes and trapped her in some sort of light genjutsu. It would only last a few hours then dispel on its own, but until then she would be in a state of relative peace.

He sat against a tree a few feet away. 'What the hell do I do now?' He thought. He certainly couldn't just leave her there, could he? He definitely didn't know any places he could take her. He glanced at the horizon. He could now see the small town. This would probably work fine. He tilted his head back and sighed. Before he knew it the sun was starting to rise. As he stood up to leave he remembered the last thing Pretz had said to him. Run, Run! Hold on to life! He couldn't help but laugh that he'd just told Sasuke the same phrase, yet it was so different. He would have to leave immediately. People were bound to start trickling outside soon enough. He quickly leaned down beside her and kissed her goodbye.

Before long Himine had wandered into the woods and spotted her. She prodded Pretz until she awoke, but even then it was only for a few seconds. So Himine carried Pretz over her shoulder. In one more blur of consciousness Pretz thought she saw Itachi in the clearing, but what were the odds of that?

By the time Pretz woke up again it was almost dark again. She and Himine caught up. Himine had become a chunin, Saruko had advanced as a medical ninja, and Kaji was still an @$$. They went out for bubble tea that night. Pretz and Himine sat on the roof and Pretz couldn't resist poking fun at Himine.

"Soooo... Got any love interests while I was away?"

Himine paused. "I think so... I met them at the chunin exams... Only a year older then me and a jonin in Konoha..."

"That doesn't tell me much-"

"The point I'm making here, Pretz, would be that... well I think....... I think I'm gay........"

And with that Pretz spit the bubble tea and a barrage of the pearls that were in it all over some innocent bystander "WHAT?"

Himine explained the whole scenario. Pretz didn't have a problem with it at all; it just came as a bit of a shock. But things would become more bizarre that night.

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