Snow
Kakashi had been gone for three years on a mission. Naruto and Sakura had went into a short state of depression for a week or so. Two weeks after their depression Sasuke came back. He came back with a baby girl named Dia. Her mother had given birth to her during the time Sasuke went undercover. She had asked Sasuke to take care of her daughter. During those two years both Sasuke and Sakura raised Dia. Also during that time Hinata and Naruto had become closer.
Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were out on a mission in the Land of Snow. They had just finished a simple escort mission of Princess Tsukiko. Sakura had spent the majority of her free time in the woods where it was still snowing. Dancing in the snow she twirled in the air and laughed freely. Sasuke would just call her actions childish and Naruto would join her with no regrets. Kakashi's eyes would crinkle as he read his porn book. Seriously how could he read those, Sakura thought fondly and sadly.
"Stupid Kakashi." She shouted into the trees.
Sakura could feel a small chakra signature maybe fifty or so yards away. It was walking slowly towards. She unsheathed two shuriken and was ready to flee or fight. At first Sakura was confused the signature was not even ten feet away but the image in front of her kept shifting. Thinking it was genjutsu she tried to dispel it but it stayed the same. Crawling over the snow she saw it left a trail of red- blood. It was a leopard that had silver-gray fur with darker gray spots. The most interesting thing was it's eyes. One eyes was a normal black but his left eyes was red. Immediately reminding her of Sasuke's Sharingan. Inspecting the wound she saw it was deep and that 'it' was a he. Reaching over to his stomach wound the leopard laid still almost comforted by her presence.
Though she didn't do much with animals Sakura knew that felines had certain similarities with the human body. Repairing major damages she was lucky she had brought some gauze. Wrapping him she carried him like a baby to the village. Naruto and Sasuke saw the leopard immediately Sasuke use his Sharingan.
"Where did you find it Sakura?" Naruto asked with child-like wonder.
"In the forest." Looking down at the leopard he truly was bigger than he was supposed to be. She kept having to adjust his weight. The leopard stayed docile like a kitten. All four of them went to the hut and Sakura continued to look after her new patient.
"Can we keep it Sakura?" Naruto bounced up and down excitedly. And this boy was eventually supposed to become Hokage.
"I don't want to live it injured. It can come with us to Konoha but after he'll probably want to go back home.
The leopard licked her hand to which she giggled. "We need a name for you."
"Ja ne." Sasuke said.
"Where are you going?" Sakura asked confused.
"For the cat. He'll just be leaving anyways."
"That's horrible teme."
"Shut up dobe," Sasuke growled.
Sakura had ignored the two idiots and looked into the leopard's eyes. They were wise and familiar. "Akame. For his eye."
His eyes crinkled at the name and Sakura felt sadness overwhelm her. Kakashi hadn't come back to them. Even Tsunade had given up hope. The mission was supposed to take two months at most and it had been three years. The leopard licked her neck with a concern she didn't know he had.
Naruto nodded his head sagely, "Akame it fits."
"We'll be leaving in four days. Sakura heal him when you can. As long as he doesn't get in our way he should be fine." Sasuke, their team leader, grumbled before going to his bed.
"Night Sakura, Akame." Naruto grinned before following Sasuke to their side of the hut. Akame swished his tail and looked at her patiently. Giving him a stare she undressed into pants and a shirt keeping her chest binds on to preserve heat in the cold Land of Snow. Akame curled into her body his tail conforming to her waist.
Yawning she smiled, "Night Aka. . ." She drifted of to sleep leaving the leopard to stare at her.
He had finally found them after three years he had found all three of them together. Now all he had to do was become human again.
Waking up at dawn she felt something on her chest. Akame was snuggled into her bosom. His breathing had improved from the ragged short breaths he took yesterday. Try to untangle her way out from him he followed the warmth like a newborn searching for its mothers nipple.
Sakura after seven or so minutes had finally gotten up so she could practice and stretch. The boys were already awake and sparring lightly (of course that meant broken ribs and bones). She sighed sitting down on the snow in thick white furs covering her from head to toe. Within in minutes she felt a wet nose at her cheek. Looking she saw Akame was up and awake. Placing a hand on his stomach she felt the damage was minimal enough that he would have minor pains for the next few days.
He licked her cheek and she giggled. Both boys looked up surprised. They hadn't heard that in three years. He sat on the snow comfortably wrapping around Sakura. Watching the boys spar she remembered the happy days from so long ago.
Akame had his eye trained on her noticing her sadness and distant look.
Four days passed and they left to the Hidden Leaf. Home for all of them. When they reached the gates some gawked at the leopard standing up to Sakura's chest. Akame tensed when he sensed canines. Baring his teeth he snarled at Akamaru.
"Hey Kiba." Naruto called out grinning. All Kiba could do was nod his head as he was fighting his instincts. Akamaru paced back and forth in front of Kiba as he took in the large feline. Both Akamaru and Akame were about the same size. Akame had unsheathed his claws and his spotted tail hung low.
"Damn that cat is huge. Where'd you find it?"
"Snow he was pretty badly injured when I found him." Sakura explained fully aware of the scene. Two large animals who were natural enemies stood in front of each other. Akame stood next to her but she saw his muscles ripple beneath the thick fur.
"Sorry Kiba. I've go to take him home with me." Sakura jumped up onto a rooftop looking at her leopard. "Akame come on. You can fight later."
For a second, just a second she almost swore the leopard grinned. However he jumped lithely onto the roof following her. They reached her large apartment. He made himself at home with her bed. Smirking she said, "Don't make yourself too comfortable on my bed."
Akame gave a feline snort only to curl himself up and take a nap. "Damn feline." She remarked.
Heading to Tsunade's office she wondered how she was going to explain why she had brought a giant snow leopard with her. The old woman amazingly looked only to be in her thirties, a small purple diamond adorned her pale skin. Honey brown eyes looked at Team 7 warily.
"Sakura," And she saw her pupil wince. "What the hell possessed you in your mind to bring a leopard with you to this village where we have over a thousand inu-nin."
"Well his eye, one of his eyes are red and the other is black. He was badly injured by what seemed to be a- well I'm not exactly sure. It was to wide to be a windmill shuriken and to deep to be a kunai. It actually looked like a katana. But it's still to wide. It didn't looked like he was slashed across because I saw to the wound myself. I'm pretty sure he's been around humans before because he was comfortable with me. He's pretty tame and I don't plan to keep him. Around spring I plan to take him back to Snow."
Sakura stood there with a stubborn set to her mouth. Tsunade knew Sakura would keep the cat whether she should or not. "Fine you can keep it till spring. But, I want to see this cat in a few days."
She kept the smile to her self, bowing to her teacher she made her way back to her apartment. Stopping by the market she bought some meat for him and vegetables and rice for herself. Unlocking the door to her apartment the cat lay sprawled over her grey-beige couch.
Akame had sensed her approach about two blocks down. Her jasmine scent smelled of meat. Taking his time he walked over to her and put his nose up to the meat, steak. Yum.
"Not yet. I have to make something for me and then you'll eat." Sakura headed to the kitchen her freezer and refrigerator were mostly empty so she figured she'd stock up tomorrow. Chopping the greens she took an egg she bought and cracked it in a bowl. Shredding the meat with her knife she added meat and greens to the egg and began to stir. The rice she bought cooked within ten minutes. Slightly heating the vegetable/meat mix in a wok she mixed the rice in and put it aside in a bowl. Broiling a steak for herself she cooked the lettuce in the wok, making the plate for herself she put it on the table.
He watched with interest at his healer. She was making something delicious. The smell of steak wafted to him, with every trained muscle in his body he sat still. Tense, but still. A bowl was put down for him. Prowling his way over to it he saw meat and rice with a little bit of lettuce. Satisfied with it's appearance he began to dig. Sakura had put in a dash of lemon pepper and that made it even more so delicious as the leopard began to purr as he ate.
Chuckling to her self Sakura finished and stood up to clean the dishes. The several dishes she had dirtied were cleaned easily. Waiting until Akame was satisfied she took the bowl and washed it. He was laying there content with the meal.
"Oh we have to go see Shishou in a few days. I have no doubt that you'll be fine but we have to be careful of dogs. Sakura gave his wound a once-over before turning off all the lights and climbing into bed. Akame deciding that he had his rights to the bed as well jumped up and made himself at home.
"Akame," She whined as the big leopard took up all the space it could.
Ignoring his disgruntled mistress he curled his tail around her, within in minutes he was asleep snuggled into her chest. Sakura smiled drifting into sleep she thought of Kakashi. Her dream was slowly turning into a nightmare. Kakashi was on a stake of sorts and was repeatedly being stabbing over and over again. A figure stood in front of him laughing but no sound was coming out. She watched as her sensei made no noise.
No, she shouted though no sound came out the word exploded in her head. No, no, no. Each word was like a bomb going off. Kakashi did nothing his eyes were closed and she thought he was dead. Sakura felt tears slide down her cheeks. The figure had apparently made a comment because her teacher snapped his lowered head up and glared at him with a ferocity the young kunoichi didn't know existed. The figure was laughing again, laughing at his pain, his reaction, at him.
"Kakashi," She mumbled. "Kakashi. No, no no!"
Opening her eyes she sat up in bed terrified by her dream. Akame woke up with a whine. He was surprised to smell her fear along with sweat. Her chest was heaving as she tried to calm her erratic heart beat. Akame not knowing what to do with the hysterical kunoichi rubbed his head against her arm.
Sakura calmed down at the soothing movement looking at Akame she smiled, "Thanks boy. I thought the nightmares would have stopped by now but I guess I was wrong."
Though he couldn't say nothing and she was no longer looking at him he had an inquiring look on his face. Doing the kitty stretch(if you don't know what that is your stupid, go on YouTube if you don't) leaping down from the bed he went to the kitchen waiting for his mistress.
Sakura smiled but as usual for the past three years it rarely reached her eyes and this time it didn't. Akame was worried why would his Sakura-yes his- be sad. Trying to distract her he walked behind her and pushed her to the frigde. Chuckling at the felines obvious attempt to et some food she opened it to a blob of tuna that had magically appeared in her fridge. Setting out a bowl for him she dumped the half pound of tuna. Scarfing down the tuna in an elgant manner he hopped on her couch.
"You know what?" She paused to look at the handsome feline. His eyebrows(if you could call them that) had raised in the manner that just screamed in that cool sophitacated way, What?
"I'm beginning to regret saving you already."
Akame just laid his head down flashing his white canines before taking a long catnap.
Disclaimer: Do NOT own Naruto.
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