A/N: I wrote this while listening to music, so there are lyrics scattered about. Music inspires me, so I put lyrics to signify feelings or thoughts or just parts of the plot. The songs are listed in order of appearance at the end! (The lyrics are italicized, with their own little section, and with ellipses. … So hopefully you won't get confused or something…)
Two things you should probably know:
1. This chapter is broken up into two different point of views. But never fear! It's not very confusing!
2.This is my very first Naruto fic. If you find anything wrong with my information--such as names and titles, please correct me! I'll appreciate it!
Also, I don't have a beta, so if you find any mistakes, I'm sorry.
Happy Now: Part One
…you can't run away from yourself…
"I knew you could be strong," the dying man rasped. "All you needed was a purpose."
With that, the man drew his last breath. A younger man was standing over him.
"Nii-san," he whispered, using the title for the first time in many years. "I hated you. I loathed you. I despised you. After what you did, how could I look up to you anymore?"
There was a pause as the young man looked at his blood-covered hands.
"And now…I'm just like you."
Somewhere far away, Sakura Haruno was focusing on painting her fingernails. She was new at it and not very good. To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. She carefully painted each one, trying not to get the polish on her skin. She nearly dropped the small brush when a large mass of orange and black flew by her. Glaring at the boy who had tripped over a chair and was now laying on her floor, she set the brush and bottle down.
The blonde-haired boy stood up and grinned. "Hello, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura punched Naruto on the top of his head. "Baka! I'm right here! You don't have to yell!"
"Sorry, Sakura-chan! Guess what!" Naruto yelled excitedly.
Sakura rubbed her temples. Her head was already pounding from the loud voice of her friend. "What?"
"We have a new mission! Tsunade-sama has requested Team Kakashi report to her office immediately." There was a pause as Sakura looked at her nails. "That means now…"
"Hmpf. Fine. But I'm taking my nail polish with me."
The young man was walking in the direction of what he hoped was Konoha Village. He was running low on chakra and dangerously close to collapsing. He hoped he would get to a suitable resting area before he blacked out.
After a few minutes of stumbling over rocks and tree roots, he came across a clearing. He dropped his sack of provisions next to a tree and sat down slowly against the trunk.
'Perfect,' he thought before everything went black.
"Your mission is C-rank." Naruto scowled but surprisingly kept quiet. "You are to find and bring back a scroll containing techniques from the Sand. The scroll fell out of a chuunin's bag during another mission, but the scroll with the most importance was kept safe with the jounin leading the team. You three will need to find the scroll before anyone else can. The Kazekage is not pleased, so try to find it as soon as possible. You are dismissed."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura said, bowing. The Hokage merely nodded. Her eyes flashed to Sakura's hands.
"Is that nail polish?"
Sakura blushed.
Naruto, growing restless, said, "Let's go already! Gaara is counting on us!"
He grabbed Sakura's collar, trying to drag her to the door, but that was a mistake.
"Naruto!"
He tried to but didn't have enough time to dodge the incredibly strong blow aimed at his stomach. Kakashi looked up from his book. Tsunade watched the teammates with her chin rested on her folded hands.
"Sakura, let Naruto go," Kakashi said reluctantly. "This mission could be over with in no time, but you need to save all your chakra incase you need it. You can fight later."
Tsunade frowned slightly. She had been eager to see her student fight Jiraiya's.
Sakura loosened her hold on Naruto's neck and blushed again. "Gomen, Kakashi-sensei. That won't happen again."
Kakashi smiled and whispered in Sakura's ear. "Actually, watching a battle between you and Naruto would be very fun. So if it happens again, make sure you have all the time you need."
Sakura grinned back. "I only need five minutes."
"Come on, already!" Naruto said, apparently already recovered from the blow to his stomach. He ran out the door singing a song about goats and chickens.
In the dream, he was running. There were buildings everywhere, decorated with the emblem of his clan and splattered with blood. As he was running, the sky grew from dark grey to completely black. His eyes took only a few seconds to adjust to the darkness. He stumbled over something too large and soft to be a rock. He gulped and looked down.
His eyes went wide and he dropped to his knees.
He had stumbled over his own dead body.
"What were the coordinates again?" Naruto asked Sakura as the jumped from tree to tree.
"Why do I have to tell you? Kakashi-sensei is leading us, so we just have to follow him," Sakura said, only slightly breathlessly as she jumped a little farther away from Naruto each time.
Naruto frowned and tried to catch up.
"But, Sakura-chan, I really need to get this mission over with."
Sakura looked back at him, worried. He wasn't acting like himself.
"Naruto-kun." She added the –kun because she knew it would make him happy. "What's wrong?"
He looked down and slightly blushed. "I'll…uh…I'll tell you when we get back to the village."
Sakura smiled. Blushing—even slightly—for Naruto meant one thing.
Girls.
He touched the corpse's face. Yes, it was definitely his. The open, unseeing eyes were his too, but he tried as hard as he could not to look at them.
Suddenly, the stench of blood entered his senses and he nearly gagged. He clutched his stomach and lay down on his side.
Why was this happening to him?
They were closing in on a battle scene, Sakura thought. All three of them could smell blood. She could also feel a small amount of chakra, meaning that a person was still alive and probably needed medical attention. It was a good thing Tsunade-sama had assigned them this mission if the person was an ally.
Sakura hoped they got there before it was too late.
…and when the last one falls…
…and when it's all said and done…
He awoke from the nightmare with a start. He groaned when he scraped his already injured back on the base of the tree. Rubbing his arm, he looked around at his surroundings. Frowning, he sensed at least three people's chakras about twenty meters away, and they were closing the distance quickly. He winced as he rose slowly and concealed his remaining chakra. Limping, the young man walked slowly over to the bushes half way out of the clearing and hid. There was no need to be caught now. If he was right, he was only a couple of hours away from the village.
Quickly, the people entered the clearing. From where he was, he could only see their feet. Strangely, they weren't talking. They seemed to be looking at where he had been sitting.
With a mental curse, he realized he left his pack of provisions next to the tree, and that he had probably bled all over the place. Blacking out was not a good thing to do when trying to hide.
His eyes opened wide when he heard a girl speak.
"This blood is recent. When the person concealed their chakra, it must have taken a lot of strength. If we find them, I could heal some of the wounds. They will probably die within two days if we don't find them and take them to Tsunade-sama. She may be the only one to heal this."
No. It couldn't be. Not her. Not now, when he was so close to the village. And now she was going to ruin his plan.
"Right," another familiar voice said. "I'm guessing they went in the direction of the trail of blood over there."
The man chuckled. "Sakura, you may be book smart, but your observation skills might be a little slacking right now."
Sasuke glared at the feet of the one that spoke next. "It may be the nail paint she was using earlier."
"Nail polish," corrected the girl.
Nothing's changed, he thought, smirking. He caught himself and glared at the feet again. With a wince, he felt pain shoot up his right leg. Looking down, he saw that it was scraped and cut with a few deep bruises. It must have happened towards the end of the battle with his brother, when he had almost fallen off the edge of a ravine.
He clutched the leg, grimacing. With a small gasp of pain, everything went black again.
"We need to find them before—"
All three heads turned in the same direction.
"Did you hear that?" Naruto said loudly.
"Shush!" Sakura said, stepping in front of him. She examined the area where the noise had come from. Small pools of blood were surrounding a large bush.
Kakashi stepped forward and said, "This could be dangerous. If this person concealed their chakra with so little left, it means they do not want to be caught."
He reached for the closest branch and moved it out of the way. "Either way, we'll find out soon enough."
Songs used:
"Happy Now"---Michelle Branch
"Here Without You"---3 Doors Down