[Self] System: Are you sure you wish to withdraw from your clan? You will lose any merit, status, boons, and access to common assets as a result! Type Y to Confirm.
[Self] SakuraBlossom: Y
[World] System: While we may walk the same way for a while, all roads must part eventually. SakuraBlossom has withdrawn from the [Rolling Green Jade Seas Clan]!

Sakura didn't hesitate when she hit the "Y" button, despite the frantic messages scrolling across the screen, despite the years worth of work she'd be giving up, and despite the friends she might cut off. But when the clan chat finally disappeared, and her world became that dark abyss again, she sat back in her chair and sighed.

Maybe I'll regret that later. But Sakura knew, deep down in her heart, that she wouldn't. I'll just have to make an effort to catch up with CL and some of the others over the summer, she promised herself, after exams are over.

To avoid the incoming deluge of friend messages she knew she'd get, Sakura went back to her advance reading for class. She only looked up every once and a while to see if Meister needed anything from her, but it was radio silence from his end. In this state, time flowed by in a steady stream.

Sakura was startled out of her flow state by the loud, ringing peel of a bell which made her look up, just as her screen was turning bright. She squinted to try to make out what was going on.

There is no way! It's only been four hours. But the avatar was unmistakable. Meister had found her.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: that was so fast!
[Couple] SmirkMeister: sorry I made you wait, mdw
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: are you kidding me?! That was only four hours
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I was fully expecting to wait for at least six.
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: How did you do it?
[Couple] SmirkMeister: Tell you later.
[Couple] SmirkMeister: Let's go
[Couple] SmirkMeister: Hop on

Hop on? For a second, Sakura panned her game camera around in confusion trying to figure out exactly where she was supposed to go. But Meister had emerged from a hole in the ceiling – where the heck was she supposed to hop onto? Shannaro!

She saw her game camera jerk forward as Meister had used that grab wrist couples emote again and moved her forward a couple of steps. Before she could object, she realized that her avatar was starting to float into the air.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Flying mounts?!
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: um

Sakura pointed her game camera directly underneath her feet and found she was standing on a cloud of magpies lifting her away from the dark hole. What's a group of magpies called anyways? A murder? A morass? No, no, no, I'm getting distracted from the important question.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: How did you find me?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: You have no faith in your husband
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: No no no
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I have complete faith in you
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: but I also understand how sadistic this game is
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: hn
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Are we done? I didn't see the system announcement
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I think we have to pass a boundary
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: or

All of a sudden, Sakura's screen jerked so far to the side, she nearly got whiplash watching. A blinding rush of light blanked out her screen again, and the inhuman scream from her speakers made even Hinata turn around.

"What was that?" Hinata nearly whispered. "It almost sounded like a male voice saying... No?"

"I... I think we just beat the hardest mission in the game." Sakura furrowed her eyebrows as she continued to stare at her screen, "but I'm still not sure how. Meister is too awesome!"

As she continued to try to make out what was going on behind the blinding light, Sakura missed the teasing little smirk on Hinata's face.

[Couple] System: Congratulations! You have successfully completed this Chain couples mission. You have proved that your love crosses time and space. 50,000 intimacy points will be rewarded (base 25,000 points plus a bonus 25,000 points thanks to your couples karma). In addition, the couple's skill [Love Crossing Time and Space] has been unlocked!
[World] System: Sm1rkMeister and SakuraBlossom have completed the [Love Across Time and Space] Couples Chain Mission. As the first in the world to do so, they will be rewarded with a bonus one million intimacy points! In addition, by completing this quest, they have unlocked the world's first flying mounts!
[World] ToadinaHole: OMG flying mounts?!
[World] PBandGiant: No way there's just one
[World] Sl33pyTurtleGoat: yo if we all need to be as good as those two, we're screwed
[World] SerNorth: Cash shop when?
[World] RealScottishKiltMan: I want one too!
[World] Nuxalia: I don't want to be underneath you when you're riding a flying mount >.>
[World] RealScottishKiltMan: A real man enjoys the breeze!

Sakura ignored the kerfuffle on world, though, as she finally got her bearings. She finally realized where they were, riding a ribbon of stars through velvety darkness with a little, blue dot getting bigger and bigger on the horizon. The sight was both poignant and a little terrifying in its vastness. Only in games will you see something like this.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: the moon?
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: That's where I was?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: hn
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I didn't even know that was a location!
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: So spill
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: How'd you do it?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: You were right about the willow wife
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: An NPC appeared beside her and challenged me to get you back
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: At first I followed his instructions
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: which were long, annoying, and unnecessary
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: when I realized certain things started looking familiar from our old missions
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: So that's why you kept asking me about them
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: hn
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: so I started thinking about why you were the one who was locked up
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Thought that might have something to do with our old missions
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: It could've just been because I am the female partner in this relationship
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Maybe
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: but that seemed too simple
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: The games not that naïve
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Then you told me that you couldn't hear any music
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: so?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Way is famous for its music on the planet
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: It's built into the canon
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: that music is the vibration of chakra
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: So the only place I could think of with no natural chakra and thus no music was the moon
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: then I realize we only managed to turn in mission separately twice
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Once for you and once for me

Sakura tilted her head in confusion as she ran through all of their past missions in her head. Her eyes lit up when she remembered the feather robe quest and the weird cowherding one where she hadn't been able to pick up the prod, but then she became confused again. How do those two relate?

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: hagoromo and cowherd?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Mm
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: I still don't understand how this ties together
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Do you know the story behind Tanabata?
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Yes
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Ohhhhh.
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: the weaver and the cowherd were lovers, but because they neglected their duties, the jade emperor separated them with the milky way.
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Once a year, only if the skies are clear, they can meet on Tanabata using a bridge of magpies
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: So I became the hostage because I turned in the hagoromo quest?!
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Too unfair :<
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: We might not have solved it if you hadn't

Sakura actually gasped out loud, a bit offended by his implication. Is Meister saying I wouldn't be able to solve the final challenge?

[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Because of your notes
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: There's a longer and much more difficult puzzle on the moon. It involves dodging Tsukiyomi through a maze while fighting your kidnapper
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: If she sees you, she hits you with one of her laser beams and sends you back to earth
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: it takes twenty minutes in-game to get back up
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: But I had a hunch
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Since everything else was related
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Luckily you wrote down the coordinates from the hagoromo quest
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I wouldn't have written that kind of thing down

Mollified, Sakura smiled a bit at the chatbox. That was more explanation than Meister would have normally given. At least he tries.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: this game is sadistic
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: But I'm impressed ^^
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: gj!
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Hn
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Now we're ready for the Couples tournament
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Yeah! It's in two weeks
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Games are scheduled during the evenings at 8pm Konohagakure time
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: If both players aren't in the arena by 8:03pm, the couple forfeits the game
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Schedule comes out a week in advance
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: We can forfeit a few games during the round-robin, but not too many
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: We absolutely can't miss the server finals or the all-server finals!
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Just tell me when
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I'll just meet you at 7:30
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Okay ^^

With the important stuff out of the way, Sakura sat back to enjoy the game spacescape. She was used to these pockets of comfortable silence with Meister. That why she was more than a little surprised when he messaged her again.

[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Do you have names?
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: ??
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Of your clanmates
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: The ***es you were kicking
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Oh!

Sakura remembered her last messages to him and blushed, right before she got into it with Ebisu and the rest of the UWU family.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Noone important enough that I need to give their name to the server best
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Besides, I already quit the clan
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Your stuff is always important
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Want to tell me what happened?
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: You've been with your clan for a long time

Rather than explain the tedious story again, Sakura simply extracted her recent chat logs and sent the whole thing to him in an in-game message. She was too lazy to give them any more attention than she already had. Meister was oddly quiet while he read it through, but Sakura wasn't sure if that was out of pity or not knowing what to say. Let me put him out of his misery.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: It's okay
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: We'll be a pair of wild and carefree lovebirds roaming the way of the Ninja
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: Free from the constraints of society
[Couple] SakuraBlossom: We can do whatever we want!
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Hnnnnnnnn
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: There's at least one constraint that applies
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: I distinctly remember getting married

"Pfft!" Sakura burst out laughing. Meister has a very strange sense of humour. Her laughter immediately cut off, though, when she saw him adopt a title. Normally Meister didn't use titles, even though she knew he must have a "Server Best" Title, since she herself was waiting to get that title before she used one herself. But this one...

The title Meister was using was SakuraBlossom's Husband.

[Couple] SakuraBlossom: omg why are you using that title?!
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Just in case

In case what?! Sakura screamed in her heart silently. I'm not likely to forget, Shannaro! She buried her head in her arms and totally missed their landing on the ground, only moving her mouse to exit the game as fast as she could.

(￢‿￢ ) ... (*ﾉωﾉ)

Sasuke smirked as he saw Sakura's avatar just disappear as soon as they landed. Since he no longer had a reason to remain in-game, he ignored the crowds of people gathering around their landing point and logged off as well.

"Done already?" Naruto asked, eating at the kitchen counter with Kiba. They'd already cracked open the housewarming presents they'd ostensibly brought him.

"Hnnnn," Sasuke moved past Naruto to grab some ramen and put the kettle on. He never figured out why they spent a whole day gaming at his new apartment when they knew he'd be busy with the couples' mission it was a sign of true friendship that he hadn't slammed the door in their faces when they turned up this morning, but then again he didn't have any food in the house and Naruto had brought ramen.

"Teme! Don't eat the Tonkatsu ones, those are my favourites!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow. "Is this my housewarming present or what?"

"Yes, for us to eat at your apartment," Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's obliviousness.

"You guys aren't visiting regularly."

"What?! Why not? You're the closest to the office and the rest of us are going to end up finding apartments on the other side of town."

"I could have a girlfriend."

"Yeah right," Naruto scoffed. " I still ate all your Valentine's chocolates this year!"

Not Next Year. Sasuke didn't reply and deliberately cracked open the cup of tonkatsu ramen. Naruto angrily shook his finger at Sasuke, but before he could explode, the door opened and Chouji entered.

"I'm back!" Chouji couldn't even take his shoes off before Naruto and Kiba rushed him.

"What'd they say? What'd they offer?" Both of them demanded simultaneously.

"Woah, wait a minute," Chouji protested, "Give me a chance to eat something."

"You just came from dinner! Why do you still need to eat?"

"Their offer made me nauseous so I didn't eat much. Let me take my shoes off!"

Naruto and Kiba trailed him into the living room across from the kitchen as Sasuke walked over, two ramen cups in hand. He wordlessly placed a shrimp consomme cup and chopsticks in front of Chouji, then joined Naruto and Kiba staring at Chouji to get him to talk.

Chouji scowled, "Oh fine, since I've got to wait for the noodles anyways. They offered me twice the standard starting salary for programmers, full benefits starting immediately, and a 6-month signing bonus on the condition that I brought the source code for Ramen Delivery Dash. Their goal would then be to launch it ahead of any announcements and sue you for copyright infringement if you partnered with anyone else and published it anyways."

"Those assholes!"

"What the actual hell!?"

"Would that even work?" Naruto frowned.

Chouji shrugged, "No, we'd have records. But by the time we proved it in court, the damage would already be done - they could get us ousted from the mobile platforms first, or even just steal the majority of potential players and turn public opinion against us. Even if we were proved to be innocent, it'd cost us time and money we don't have since it's our first game.

"Those actual assholes!" Kiba snarled. "That's why they offered you so much? Those fuckers must be counting us to be too timid to countersue or whatever. I can't believe that shit!"

"Are you going to take it?" All three of them swivelled to look at Sasuke, who had yet to say anything, with utter disbelief. Even Chouji stopped watching his ramen.

"Hey Sasuke!" Kiba instantly shot up to Chouji's defence.

"No. They give off bad vibes and I don't trust them," Chouji said as he gave Kiba a reassuring look. Sasuke just nodded and checked his watch for the time on the ramen.

"Oi, teme. Say something, will you? Aren't you angry?" Naruto demanded.

"No," Sasuke slanted him a look, "I was fully expecting it. They've done this kind of thing before."

"Really?! Aren't they a big, publicly-traded business?" Naruto stared. "How'd they get away with it?"

"The fine or lawsuit is the cost of doing business. They have an excellent Legal team," Sasuke replied, "It's all public record if you search for it."

"And you searched for it?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Of course," Sasuke gave him an 'are you stupid?' look, "They're about to become one of our main competitors after all."

"For what?" Kiba demanded, "Weren't we just looking to partner with them for Dash?"

"Bloom is about to announce that they're accepting demos for partnerships to develop Way of the Ninja 2. Apparently, the original development team has moved on to other projects, and they only have a maintenance team currently working on it. When I go to Sunagakure next month to sign the deal for Delivery Dash with them, I plan on submitting our application to be one of the demos. I'm certain that Root will be doing the same."

"Wait..." Realization dawned on Naruto's face, "You've been plotting this from the beginning, haven't you, Sasuke?! That's why we went to and toured the Root offices and you let them blather on about the acquihire. That's why you haven't set up any meeting for anyone besides Bloom and Root. That's why you let them mess around with our financing and try to recruit our people when you could have used your connections to shut them down. You've been trying to