Disclaimer: I own nothing- nothing! ;_;... All reproduction rights to 
the
characters presented herein belong to Kishimoto Masashi, and i don't 
wanna
bother him, so i haven't asked for permission to use them. Please 
don't
tell!

Spoiler Warning: This chapter occurs right before the third stage of 
the
Chuunin Exam; in fact...

Continuity Warning: ...this chapter occurs right after the last one.
Yaaay!

Non-Yaoi Warning: Only one male in this chapter again, so i'm pretty 
sure
there's no Yaoi here...

Naked Sakura Warning: ...^_^;. Well, when last we checked, she was 
taking
a
shower, so...

Your warnings never cease to amuse me, no matter how many times I 
ready
them. =P

That's good, though others have told me that the song and dance before 
the show starts is kinda annoying to them ^_^;...

"...Did you know that 18% of all assassination attempts happen in or
around
the target's own bathroom?"

Did you know that 72% of all percentages are made up on the spot?

I'm sure both of them are aware that Anko's just pulling that number 
outta her ass for the joke...

Discouraged for barely a heartbeat, the grin returned with 
reinforcements.
"So do you always wander around your house naked?" Anko needled
suggestively.

... especially when said banter inches lowly towards the gutter. ^_^

In the original version, Anko didn't mention Sakura's apparent 
exhibitionism; i thought i'd 'correct' this ^_^;...

Sakura grimaced, but she couldn't really deny it. Her mother grew up 
on a
farm and didn't brook a lot of 'silly' body modesty- like Sakura's
frivolous
desire for a bathrobe, for instance -but the way the examiner was 
leering
at
her made Sakura want to argue. "It's _my_ house," she pointed out 
curtly,
tying the short bath towel around her waist and crossing her arms. 
"So
were
you here for something, or did you just sneak into my bedroom to 
ambush me
with stale toilet humor?"

The little clues you keep dropping throughout the chapters about 
Sakura's
mum and dad (and later on grandparents) are a really nice touch. They 
really
enrich the fic. You do it in such small snippets though, that 
sometimes it's
really easy to forget these fun nuggets of information. I realize it's
really the reader's job to remember fun facts, but sometimes, it does 
get
difficult...

Well, most of the 'clues' aren't _really_ important, though i like to 
try and remember that there are things in a 'world' that affect how 
characters think and act without actually affecting how the story 
develops. I don't like to _really_ hammer them home unless they will 
become something that is vital to the understanding the story, but won't 
be mentioned twice...

Stopping, the older woman peered at her oddly before continuing in a
notably
more venomous tone. "Well, anyhow, you were a bit sloppy- and if you
aren't
a spy, then explain to me why you were panting like a bitch in heat 
and
moaning for 'Orochimaru-sama,' just now."

Hmm... it's kinda surprising that Anko has the self restraint to show 
up,
crack some jokes, tease Sakura a bit, before coming around to this 
point.
Gotta give that jounin more credit, I guess...

Anko probably realized that something was wrong a day or two before. She 
would have spoken to the guard on duty and learned of Sakura's reaction 
to the incident, and then pieced together that Sakura had done 
_something_ to her to make her end their little game early; all of 
Anko's memories sort of make sense, except for the parts right before 
she opens the trap door and brings them out of the cells.

She would have then observed Sakura to see if she was planning on making 
a break for it and to assess what level of threat she posed; aside 
from... whatever it was that Sakura did to escape, she would assess that 
Sakura isn't any more dangerous than her initial estimate. The fact that 
Sakura... er... passionately screamed Orochimaru's name would have been 
the impetus for her to act to bring Sakura in... but yes, Anko displays 
surprising self control here; maybe she's just curious because Sakura 
acts so strangely for an infiltrator...

Anko still looked deeply skeptical. "Prove it," she demanded, 
scrutinizing
the young genin critically. "Describe one of these 'dreams.'" 
Crossing her
knees, Anko folded her arms over her chest and glared at the shorter 
girl
expectantly.

"Weeeell..." Now was the time for delicacy,

And here I figured it was time for revenge. =P

Though not terrified of Anko in general, Sakura _does_ still possess a 
certain small amout of common sense ^_^;...

Anko's eyes flickered down for a moment, but that was all; time to go 
for
the jugular, then. "When you went to let him in, it wasn't Iruka, at 
the
door- it was Orochimaru." Sakura's breath caught at the memory, but 
she
didn't miss Anko's small, echoing gasp; almost there! "He forced his 
way
in
and pinned you to the ground, and then he started-"

"I've heard enough."

"Really? But I hadn't even gotten to the part with the love letter 
yet!"

There's no way Anko would believe her if she said something like that 
 >_<;...

Caught completely by surprise, Sakura could do nothing but freeze in 
shock
as a terrific, bestial growling sound filled the room. Dropping her 
gaze
in
slow increments, trying not to make any sudden moves, Sakura's wide
emerald
eyes finally fell upon Anko's stomach, and the stunned girl had an
epiphany.
"... Would you like something to eat?" she suggested, hopefully.

I thought this was perfect comedic timing. The scene was enjoyably 
light
despite being rather important (Sakura finally devulging the truth to 
Anko),
and it would have been a pity to see the kunoichi get ugly and at each
other's throats. Cue stomach!

Anko is a simple person, and is easily appeased if you know how ^_^;...

"Sakura, there's no need to shout," Sakura's mother chided gently 
from her
position in front of the stove, although the wry look she was 
shooting the
both of them belied her serene tone. "I'm cooking more, just be 
patient
for
a few minutes. Would you like some more as well, Mitarashi-san?"

With a clearly audible swallow, almost as if to spite the fuming girl 
next
to her, Anko grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Please!"

Heh. I really wonder how Sakura's mum would have treated Anko if she 
heard
the rumours... erm, or am I getting ahead of myself? Have the rumors 
begun
yet?

Noooooot so much; though there've been a few quiet ones going around, 
it's not until Kiba gets into the act that it really starts to hit the 
fan...

Glancing up, Anko watched as Sakura held her hands above her head and
reeled
off a string of words in Konoha ninja sign language. "Let. go. or. 
will.
possess. again- Gah!" Releasing Sakura's face, the taller woman 
switched
her
grip to Sakura's hands, lacing their fingers so that neither of them
couldn't perform any seals. "None of that!" she commanded, looking 
just a
tiny bit panicked.

And the whole concept of Konoha ninja sign language is greatly 
amusing
too. ^_^

Neat, though it has been pointed out to me that a sign language intended 
for combat use might not be able to convey the message with such 
specificity...

Moving around Anko to close the shutters, she glanced over her 
shoulder at
her waiting 'escort.' "Alright, just let me get some of the scrolls I 
was
studying- huh? Aaah! INO?!"

And so it begins... ^_^

Indeed; downward spiral, here we come -_-;...

"Tell you what?!" Sakura growled defensively, suddenly off balance as 
she
flinched away at the emotion in her rival's voice

"About _you_! And _her_!" Ino shifted her glare to Anko for a moment, 
then
returned to Sakura, her expression twisting in disbelief. "Sakura, I
thought
we were _friends_!"

You know, back when Inner-Sakura and Sakura first snogged, I really 
figured
Ino would be jealous instead of hurt. But at this point in time, as I 
read
this, I really believe she's just genuinely hurt that Sakura didn't 
tell her
about her sapphic leanings. Of course, several chapters later, and 
this
changes again, but, I just thought I'd let you know. =P

Well, they're just kids ^_^;... 12~13 is i would guess a hard age for 
Ino to try and wrap her head around a concept like 'my best friend is a 
lesbian' when she _really_ wants to understand what's going through 
Sakura's mind. (As opposed to Kiba, who processes it like this: 
"Lesbians=2 naked girls=Sexy! But hands off my Hinata!")

"AAAAAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Turning back to Ino, Sakura gave her 
friend
a
desperate look. "Don't believe her, please, she's making it up!"

I should feel guilty for enjoying Sakura's freak out, but it's just so 
fun!

Well, Sakura is cute, and anime and manga tell us that cute girls can be 
fun to abuse ^_^;...

"You called me 'Anko' a few seconds ago. Not Mitarashi-san, or 
Anko-sama,
or
anything- just 'Anko.'"

Anko with any suffix attached just seems so...

...so?

"...why are you doing this to me?"

"Because it's fun!"

Indeed it is, Anko-chan. Indeed it is...

I think this was got to be one of my favourite chapters in Suiren. 
It's
everything a set-up chapter should be - funny, light - and does what 
it sets
out to do - setup the big Ino/Sakura fight scenes. It was gave us the
plot-important dialogue between Sakura and Anko; explaining to the 
special
class jounin what happened in prior chapters, and it did that really 
well
too. The interaction between Sakura and Anko was a joy to behold, and 
you
really didn't disappoint. When you have as much fun and amusing
ribbing/dialogue as this chapter did, the exposition could get 
tedious, but
I found that it never did. I think it would do well if you combined 
this
chapter with the previous one - this one was tragically too short. =P

Cheers,

Jenny

Thanks for the commentary! Regarding the Anko/Sakura interaction, there 
_may_ be a bit more added to this chapter, as it has been pointed out to 
me that both Anko and Sakura missed a very important point when they 
were discussing the reasons for Sakura's behavior; there's a reason 
Sakura would have overlooked this point, but not Anko, and so they may 
be having a slightly more serious discussion near the end of the chapter 
(which will also probably reveal a few more cards regarding now Sakura's 
genjutsu functions). Hopefully, i can keep the atmosphere relatively 
light, but Sakura may realize that her issues are actually larger than 
she thought they were...

~Eimii 


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