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Title: Hunter and Hunted Genre: Humor&Romance&Action/AdventureRated: M because Mikomi wrote it and because mature content :)
Disclaimers: I at least own Sakura's new last name (spoiled) and her dad and mom and Tenkotsu :D but the rest are not mine v.v
Warning: There are two: 1) they swear. A little. 2) they fuck. A little? OO
Setting: aroundish episode 140 I seriously don't recall…O.o
Etc.: um..not really.
Chapter : Hidden
"Sakura-san…"
Although Tsunade's demeanor was grave and the possible upcoming subject could be the worst Sakura would ever hear for the rest of her life, she was absolutely oblivious to the situation. Her eyes flickered only slightly but the rest of her face was brightly glowing with happiness. Tsunade wondered if it was even worth telling her something like this, she seemed like she was living the perfect life, however that was not so true. Especially the recent occurrence with Sasuke. Why did it have to be her to bear the life-ending news?
-I guess it comes with the responsibility of being Hokage…-
"Hai." Sakura acknowledged respectfully and mechanically. She was asked to meet the Hokage but what for she had no clue. She guessed that it was because her progress of becoming chuunin, or lack thereof. Or maybe Tsunade wanted to tell her about her great progress in becoming a medic nin. Sakura knew that she wasn't cut out to be a bona fide shinobi. She had absolute no potential at all and yet her parents had practically begged her to do her best. Okay, so she knew a few basic ninjutsu and genjutsu but she was nothing compared to Naruto…and Sasuke for that matter. Her breath hitched at the thought of him.
"I'm aware that you have just returned from the mission issued to look over the raids on the outskirts of the country border, I expect that all fared well?" the Hokage asked, almost trying to start a normal conversation.
"Hai, everything seems in place and so far the raids have stopped."
"I hear that you were also able to meet your parents there."
"Yes, they're doing fine too," Sakura wasn't sure where this 'normal' conversation was leading to anymore. A couple days ago, she was sent with Neji and Shikamaru to skim along and see how they, her parents and other jounin, were faring, although, she had no idea why she was sent on it, Shikamaru had passed on and became an official chuunin and even though Hyuuga Neji was still a genin, they both surpassed her extremely. Why was she sent along with them?..
"I see," this was making it very hard on her to tell Sakura but sooner or later, she chose to pick the lesser of the two evils, "Sakura-san, your parents…they're…gone."
She was still deep in thought when Tsunade was speaking then she heard something about her parents and snapped from her thoughts to listen in again.
"Sumimasen, Tsunade-sama, I beg your pardon?"
Tsunade, a little shocked that she hadn't reacted the way she had expected, sighed, "Sakura, your parents are dead."
She watched the news hit her like a brick. Her eyes flickered violently, changing from her previous bright green to a much darker and ominous jade. She wanted to scream but her attempt proved to fail, like everything she tried at. Nothing resonated in her throat at all. The tears came slowly at first, they grew bigger and the flow quickened a bit until they were streaming off her face like she had stored them up for this particular reason. She hiccupped and her sobbing became louder, she couldn't even control it anymore.
Tsunade bent over to hug the small child. That was all she was and so much was expected of her. Sakura cried into her big bosoms and didn't stop.
On the other side of the door, Neji stood straight and rigid from the sounds Sakura emitted as pain. What was happening to him he didn't know… he just knew that over the course of time they had been visiting the outskirts of the country, during those three months, during the time she had spent with him, something had happened.
He heard the door open and turned around surprised when she ran right into his arms by accident. She was still crying hysterically and she just needed someone to hug. She hadn't expected to get one so soon because as she walked out the door, too consumed in her pain, she hadn't noticed that she fell right into Neji's embrace. She didn't bother to resist when he wrapped his arms around her small waist and held her tight. This was what she was looking for wasn't it? Then why didn't it feel quite right?
"We should have stayed," she managed to mutter between sobs, "But what good would I have been! I'm so pathetically weak, why was I even sent on the mission, Neji? I am so weak…"
"You're not weak, Sakura-chan," she noticed he had added an additional suffix to her name; she looked up to his pearly lavender eyes, searching for any hope in them. He took his thumb and wiped her tears away, "You are so strong."
For a moment she almost believed him, if she hadn't remembered that her parents were dead and he was looking at her lips really hard. She pushed off his chest and ran as fast as her scrawny legs could take her. Sakura pushed open the main doors and ran into the streets of town, not caring if people saw her like a wreck or not, she was seen like it often anyway. She let her emotions control her so much that she could never really be a ninja. Her parents shouldn't have forced her, she was no good, couldn't they see that? No matter how much she made an effort to be strong, she would always end up falling even harder! A ninja wasn't supposed to cry all the time, enemies won't hesitate to kill her if she was just teary-eyed, never mind sympathize.
-And to think they called Naruto a failure! They haven't even seen me yet!-She choked on her sobs, she didn't want to remember now, all her friends, that were no where in sight now. The pain of it all together twisted her heart wrathfully. She zigzagged through the streets of town and hoped that she would make it back home without interference, without anything stopping her, without hurting more than she already was. Soon, she spotted a familiar cherry oak door with the number 64 on it and a lucky charm hanging innocently in front. She tore open the door ferociously and slammed it shut. She did everything but crawl up the stairs and hid herself under the sheets of her bed, trying to cry herself unconscious.
"Sakura!" Neji called after her. Tsunade decided to step out at that time and laid a hand on Neji's shoulder. She nodded at him dismissively, "Playuh."
Neji wasn't sure how to reply to that and just watched the Hokage walk leisurely the same direction as Sakura.
"If I had been stronger, strong enough to defeat Orochimaru, Sasuke would still be here, and there would be no war since Konoha's defenses were so weak. Because I was so weak."
"So you wanna be strong?" said a voice on her windowsill. Tsunade felt she had to take responsibility over the girl. One she was her faithful student in the arts of being a medic nin, two she was the Hokage, three, and most importantly, the girl reminded her of herself just too much.
"More than anything, I've lost everything, everyone I love just because of me. Because I am so feeble, so pathetic, so weak," she began sobbing again, "I'm always only in the way."
"Oh really?" Tsunade said, almost teasingly, "Would you like to change that?"
"Don't you have work to do, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked trying to change the subject and trying to get her to go away, wondering if someone like her really could become like someone like Tsunade-sama, "Why would someone like you help someone like me?"
"Because I was just like you." It was only too true; everyone she loved was taken away from her because she wasn't strong enough to save her love of her life and her dearest brother.
"Tsunade-sama, there's nothing you can do to make me stronger," Sakura said truthfully, "I have no potential left to get any stronger. I am nothing. You're nothing like me"
"We'll see about that."
Sakura turned to look at the Hokage, who was already looking deep into her own jade eyes, searching if she was telling the truth, "Why don't we start now then?"
"Huh…"
"Come on now," Tsunade took her hand and dragged her out of her house and to the training glade, the place where team 7 and Kaka-sensei first trained with the bells, the place where they passed and became genins. But now she was still a genin and Naruto was off training with Jiraiya and Kaka-sensei was on constant missions around the border. It's been nearly two years since then and it brought tears to her eyes again just standing there, -What kind of shinobi cries like a child?-
"First, sit down and let me explain some things."
Sakura hesitated to comply but did as she was told. She sat down like she was sitting down for dinner with her legs tucked neatly underneath her and her head bent down to glare at the grass.
"I use to be in a team with Jiraiya and…" She narrowed her eyes agitatedly, "Orochimaru."
"So I heard," Sakura replied, interested.
"And out of those two boys, I was the strongest," she smiled as memories flashed back to her.
"How is that possible?" Sakura's voice was pleading to know, she was very interested now, she knew that Tsunade-sama had inhuman powers but she was stronger than Jiraiya and Orochimaru? "Is it from birth?"
Tsunade laughed lightheartedly, "No, no, actually, I trained much harder then those two dweebs would ever train. But also, I had the least amount of chakra of the two, so it's hard to believe, ne? It's amazing that they've gotten this far in life and even…" She decided not finish that sentence, "I heard you have spectacular chakra controlling abilities. So all you need to do is train some more, and what better than to train with someone with inhuman strength!"
Sakura didn't believe, she made it sound so simple, so easy. What good would training do her now? It was far too late, she would have to go to the Academy and learn to become a shinobi again was what Tsunade was insisting, "But don't you have your respon—"
"They can do without me few a while, don't worry!" She smiled but Sakura didn't quite like the smile she gave her, "Now let's begin, hm, I want you to run from now till the end of the day, by then if you haven't completed 1000 laps then hmm, well we'll see then alright?"
Sakura's jaw dropped, -A thousand? I'll never do it…but if it's the only way to become stronger than I'll do whatever it takes!- She had never completed that many laps in her entire life, mainly because she never bothered to train so hard. She nodded and got up to run to the edge of town to begin her laps, sometimes Tsunade would run along her side and they would have casual conversation about Tsunade's childhood. Most of the time when Sakura was slowing down, Tsunade would edge her on with hurtful words.
"Move it, Sakura! Is that how you're expecting to save Sasuke? Is that how you're going to avenge your parents?" And it seemed that Tsunade knew exactly the right buttons to push. All day without rest Sakura ran with the beat of her heart until the sun began to set. She was sweltering in the days' heat as she rounded her 904th lap, extremely exhausted but not quite ready to give up, she had too much to lose to stop now. Her pace was more like a stroll now and she was running on raw energy, all the energy her fat was, was now completely wasted. He green eyes were half-lidded and dull and her pale skin was rosy with training. But she never stopped.
-I've…Never…Done…So…Many…Laps…- she even paused after every word to breathe while she thought. Her parents would have been so proud…if they were alive. Her pace kicked up a notch…or two. Tsunade watched from afar and smirked when she saw Sakura sprint the rest of the way. She had more potential than she ever dreamed she could have. But she had a great incentive. It was almost midnight when Sakura collapsed on the ground. Her breathing was haggard and her appearance was disheveled.
Tsunade poofed beside her and picked her up, "Oi, Sakura, you aren't done yet!"
Sakura could hardly hear the Hokage talking. Something about 40 more laps to complete. Sakura struggled to sit up but her elbows gave out and let her face hit dirt. She groaned into the warm ground but shivered or rather fidgeted from fisting her hand too hard. Her punctured wounds went unnoticed; she was too lost in the feeling of being a failure to be aware, "I can't do it…"
"Hm?" Tsunade frowned sadly. She had hoped that Sakura would be the one determined enough to be her student.
"I can't do it!" She shouted with her last shred of energy.
"I must say, Sakura," Tsunade began, "You had me when you started, I thought you really were going to show potential you kept hidden away."
"I told you, I have no potential…" Sakura reminded her bitterly.
"However, your potential was shining brightly inside of you when you ran your heart out there," Tsunade said with a faint smile, "But now it's faded but it's still there. I'm disappointed in you. You came so far and in the end, you decide to stop?"
"I didn't decide, Hokage-sama!" Sakura protested loudly, "I had no choice but to fall to the ground, I have absolutely no energy left to run…"
"And you have enough to backtalk me, young kunoichi. And you have enough energy to think up of things to say as well; you have enough energy to breathe, to blink, and to move, and to run. Now, if you didn't focus on thinking and speaking, think of how much energy you would have! Harness it and manipulate that power to its greatest ability, that is how you will achieve strength like this…"
Tsunade turned to one side and dropkicked into the ground, splitting it open and shaking the earth. As she lifted her foot, the ground shrunk back to it original self, "Whoops, maybe I shouldn't have done that right here, right now…"
Sakura watched her new sensei giggle nervously at the destruction she had just made, luckily outside of the village. With new determination, she managed to stand up and start running again. She didn't say anything anymore, and her mind was completely clear. She completed her remaining laps within the hour and had enough energy to jump of and yell, "Yatta!" in the middle of the night.
"Excellent, Sakura," Tsunade rewarded with a warm smile. Sakura felt so relieved to have stopped finally, but something told her it wasn't quite over yet…
"Alright, Sakura, it's time for bed. Wake up early tomorrow—err today, we're going to go get a haircut," Sakura blinked and nodded in agreement. Her bubblegum hair had grown back to its original length and if she was going train like this, she would definitely need a haircut.
"And maybe shopping too," Tsunade winked at her mischievously. After all, once a girl will always be a girl.
"By the way, Sakura…" She had almost nearly forgot, "Prepare to face the consequences tomorrow for not completing the laps on time."
-Ohh…that's right- Sakura groaned but nevertheless nodded and mustered up her best smile in the situation.
That morning…
"AHH!" Sakura shrieked at the contact with water. She was soaking wet in freezing water and her sheets were too.
"I told you to get up early," Tsunade said sternly, either that or matter-of-factly. She was standing above her with a tin bucket of water that she suspected wasn't quite finished yet. Sakura sat up before Tsunade had another chance to pelt her with the rest of the water.
"Gomen, Tsunade-sama, I wasn't aware that you meant 5 o'clock," Sakura replied sleepily.
"Hurry up and get ready, we have a lot of things to do," Tsunade said but it sounded more like a warning. Sakura slowly nodded and pulled all her sheets off her bed and threw them in the laundry machine. Her muscles were aching from the running yesterday. Every bone felt like it was sore to the marrow when Sakura limped her way to the washroom. She tried her best to strip of her clothes and climb into the shower stall, she pulled the switch and let the hot water pellets soak into her skin delightfully, almost forgetting that her parents were no longer of the same realm as herself. Then she wondered if it was the same about Sasuke, nonetheless, she couldn't let this bother her, no matter how much it irked. A real shinobi has to learn to control his or in this case her emotions. But it still hurt so much.
The hot shower managed to ease the ache, for the most part. She dressed and brushed her teeth and shortly after, left the bathroom with new energy that, hopefully, would last the day. Tsunade sat impatiently on her bare bed and stood immediately once she returned, "Come, come, we better hurry or we'll waste the whole day!"
Tsunade took her hand and poofed in front of a salon only Sakura could guess where Tsunade got her trims. They stepped into the salon as a burst of cool air washed through them freshly. Instantly, the hairdresser squealed at the sight of Tsunade-sama and all but pushed the poor woman into the vinyl, pink seat, "Would you like the usual? Or do you feel dangerous today, Hokage-sama?"
Tsunade chuckled nervously and got up from the seat and held a hand out to Sakura, "Tenkotsu, please, meet my new apprentice, Haruno Sakura."
"Ah, Sakura-chan, please, please, sit down," his face was plastered with a cheesy smile as he too pushed her into the pink vinyl seat. Sakura felt like this chair needed to have some seatbelts because suddenly she felt like an accident was just waiting to happen. She saw Tsunade pull the hairdresser away and whispered something while he nodded passionately. He returned to Sakura and twisted her chair around cleverly so she wouldn't be able to see just what kind of abomination that would become her hair. After a few torturous moments and a couple of snips her and there and the sizeable clumps of hair on the ground, he turned the chair around expertly and revealed to her…a masterpiece?
Her hair was ridiculously short, well maybe not that ridiculous but rather short all the same. She had baby bangs and hair the length that didn't even reach the nape of her neck, however, it was very liberating, "Wow."
"Come on, we have some shopping to do!" Tsunade dragged her out of the little salon hastily, before Tenkotsu pressed charges on them.
"I can't believe that so many places open so early," Sakura looked around in awe, all the good stuff was still in stock at this time of day. Tsunade had instructed her to pick some clothes fit for mobility and agility and comfort as well. By the end of the time limit, Sakura came out with a whole new wardrobe. A fishnet mesh tee on the inside with a white, turtleneck, sleeveless, top and black khakis, one size up for her completed the outfit and some other accessories for herself. Her forehead protector was newly placed around her neck, concealed by the turtleneck. Tsunade approved of her garb and dropped the bags off at Sakura's home. They made their way to the glade again with uncomfortable silence that ate away at Sakura's soul.
"Now for your punishment, Sakura-chan," Tsunade smiled almost maniacally, "But first, I have good news!"
Sakura was almost relieved.
"Sakura, I've noticed that you have impeccable compatibility with the element wind and water," Tsunade commented placidly.
"I do?"
"Hai, it's quite uncommon, Sakura to have two elements so agreeable with you, that I have to ask, what kind of lineage do you have?" Tsunade was as curious as ever. She wasn't quite sure how to judge Sakura quite yet, although she had just started training her to become a medic nin as of a while ago, she had never taken the opportunity to get to know the girl a little bit better. This side of her hadn't shown until she had been put through extreme physical circumstances of last night.
"Nothing really, my father wasn't born here," Sakura averted her eyes but she did not let the tears that began welling up beneath her eyes to fall, "That's why my eyes are green like nobody else's."
"Exactly, my dear," Tsunade concurred.
"My father, well, I don't speak to him personally often, but I know he was a genius and that's what he gave me," Sakura said proudly, "And my mother, she was from here, but I don't know much about her fighting style. Her name is Ryuuko."
"As a matter of fact, I think I know your mother individually," Tsunade blushed, "I wasn't sure if she was your mother or not though, but I do recall a girl named Hikaru Ryuuko."
"Oh, you do?" Sakura was surprised to hear this because her mother had never mentioned Tsunade to her before.
"Yes, believe it or not, I use to be a sensei too, for one team, and your mother was my student," Tsunade vaguely remembered.
"She was just like you and just like me, strong and fiery," Tsunade chuckled at the fond memories, "Right after she became a jounin, I left to travel around the country, drinking, gambling, you know me."
And she thought Jiraiya was bad.
"She had deep violet eyes and your flowery pink hair, but like you are now, she had short hair and the boys on our team would make fun of her for looking like a boy," again Tsunade chuckled feeling nostalgia wash over her. It was nice to talk to Tsunade-sama about her parents, someone who knew about her mother as much as she did.
"Who was on your team?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.
"You want to know?" Sakura nodded, "Well, actually, do you know my to guard dogs? Genma and Hayate?"
"Your henchmen?" Tsunade laughed loudly at her view of her personal delivery boys.
"Those two were the two immature boys that still work under me," she said as though she had never really noticed, "And it makes me really miss Ryuuko after all these years," Tsunade gave a long, loud sniffle, "She was like a daughter to me."
Sakura was speechless, Tsunade probably knew her mother better than herself! She smiled knowing she wasn't the only one with this feeling.
"I'm still wondering though, what your father might have been before," Tsunade returned to subject. Sakura never wondered why her father had such piercing green eyes before, it never occurred to her that maybe she was some part of another race.
"I don't think your father is who we perceive him to be," Tsunade examined, "My educated guess is that your father and now you are part of a bloodline limit, unknown to Konoha."
"Then why am I so weak?" Sakura asked, even pitying herself.
"My guess is that since I only discovered this side of you that it only shows when you are in intense physical stimulation," Tsunade replied logically, "Your aura seems to emit very powerful readings Sakura, it seems like your power is likely to be extinct."
"You mean like the Uchiha clan?" Sakura asked eagerly.
"Yes, I suppose just like that," Tsunade would have to study into this further. On the other hand, Sakura had no idea how much she and Sasuke had in common now. Maybe unlike her father told her once that he wasn't brought here but he ran away to take refuge here when he was young, maybe her clan was obliterated too and he was the soul survivor like Sasuke. Now that her father was dead, she was it. If people knew though, whoever tried to genocide her clan would be after her too. She had to be cautious and protect herself, and to do that she was purposely here to train with Tsunade-sama and not idle chit chat.
"So, Tsunade-sama, what is my punishment?" Sakura asked bravely.
She watched as her newly found sensei beamed, "I'm so glad you brought that up, Sakura!"
-I'm not…-
"Your punishment for today will also help you train your balance," Tsunade almost sneered. Almost.
"It has to do with this book."
"A book?" To say Sakura was slightly confused was maybe an understatement?
"Yes, you see for the whole day, whatever you do, you'll have this book on your head. But! If you drop it, another book will be added to the one already on your head. Understood?"
"Hai." It seemed easy enough to her, just as long as she can keep one book on her head, it will be easy sailing all the way. Little did she know…
"Your first task today is 500 pushups, then 500 sit-ups, if you finish those before lunch, I'll treat you to lunch at the new fancy restaurant, ne?" Tsunade bribed. The training seemed similar to Lee's method; only Tsunade-sama gave time limits, unbelievable time limits. But then again, she was talking about THE Taste no Tenshi Restaurant, she and Ino had been doing everything but sneak into that restaurant ever since it opened. She nodded vehemently and got to work. She placed the book on her head carefully, not really expecting it to weigh 20 pounds! How she was going to keep the book from falling off while she did sit-ups, she had no idea. She had made it passed the pushups by quarter till 11. So she stopped a little to scrutinize her situation. She wondered if there were any ways to make it easier for her not to drop the book. She remembered everything Tsunade had instructed her and she reran the scene over and over in her head, then she took notice of the book. It was just a normal book. Then she began to wonder what it was about but it was a little late to be wondering since it was on her head and it couldn't come off until she finished training. She recalled looking at the cover of the book and the title of it and what it was obviously about, 'Chakra Control.'
-That's it!- Chakra control, something she could even expertise in, she remembered the time team 7 were controlling their chakra by running up the trees and she had succeeded well in that even though she could do it for only so long. She had to circulate her chakra correctly until there was enough chakra for the book to practically stick to her head.
She maneuvered her chakra flow to the crown of her head and began her sit-ups, doing them as fast as she could to withhold the book. Her stamina was ever so limited. It was difficult to keep her stamina up, having the book nearly slip sometimes, lunch was really closing in and she had to finish before her stamina gave up. Around her 478th sit-up she could feel the book slipping when she dipped her head back down, -NO!- her inner self screamed as she tried to conjure up as much chakra left in her as possible, it was still slipping. I can't give in now, if this one book fell during sit-ups, imagine 22 more falling. She traveled deep within herself to pull out some power, if any at all. She wouldn't give up, Sasuke was counting on her, Otou-san and Okaa-san were counting on her to pull through! With her newfound willpower, a new surge of chakra ignited in her chakra circulation and Tsunade didn't miss a beat when it happened. Sakura finished, letting everything go, including the book and with less than 5 minutes to spare.
"Good job, Sakura!" Tsunade remarked, "But… you dropped your book, so I hope you're a heavy headed eater." She laughed aloud, something Naruto would have done but Sakura laughed along and it was so nice to feel this way after the recent year.
-I think I'll enjoy training with Tsunade-sama-
"Come on now, get that book back on your head and lets go get something to eat, I'm famished!" The hokage said dramatically and led the young kunoichi to the promised restaurant for a tricky meal of two books.
The food there was just as good as the reputation as they scarved down the food and waited to negotiate the price after.
That night, after she put all her new clothes away and threw out all the old ones, after she put out new sheets on her bed and drew a warm bath of ruddy red spring water, she slipped in comfortable and relaxed her aching muscles of that day's events. She had ended up with eight books after another thousand laps, which was relatively easier for her today. Did that mean she was already getting stronger? She hoped so. And she was glad she found someone like Tsunade, she reminded her of herself and it made life easier nowadays too. The whole day she had books on her newly cut head and forgotten all about it, she took her dainty hand and rubbed the crown of her sore head, it still felt liberating even after hours. She immersed her head into the water and washed off all the day's grime and dirt. Tomorrow it would be all the same again but maybe it might be different, she never knew when it came to Tsunade and it was thrilling living like the next day would be entirely different. Unlike her daily routine she had before. Now she was a full time student of the Hokage. She had found someone just like her just like Naruto found Jiraiya and Sasuke found Orochimaru.
She wondered back to her father and what Tsunade had said that morning. Maybe she was wrong, her father was just a normal foreigner and her talents were just a combination of her mother and her father's. But curiosity said otherwise. After draining her bath, she slipped into a short and pale green yukata. She tiptoed to her parent's room like they were still in the house and pulled the screen open silently. She walked cautiously in the room like it was booby-trapped and went to her father's side of the bed. Universally, it's known that all men, young or old, hid their secret belongings under their mattresses. Sakura lifted the mattress gently and like she predicted, there was a book and a small box. She removed the things and gave a little prayer to her father, begging for forgiveness for taking his things.
She brought the possessions into her room and turned on her desk lamp to briefly look over the book and box. She flipped the book open to the first page and began to read:
I've decided to begin keeping a diary; I have so many thoughts since I first escaped.
Escaped? So she must be on the right track with her initial presumptions. She read on:
Our clan has been wiped out but it seemed so sudden, they fought dirty! We never had a chance to prepare ourselves and now I have nothing left. I am content that I have found a suitable place to inhabit but how long until they find me? I know that they will come after me; I'm the last of the clan. But I'll never let them take me, never…
Koizu Mikate-Koizu.-
She heard a light rap on the door downstairs and turned to look at the hanging clock on her wall. It was almost nine-thirty, who would come here at this time? She closed the book and shut the door to her room.
On the other side of the door, Neji stood with his head bent down to look at the doorstep intensely. He wondered if she was home now, he had come a little late on purpose because last time he came at 8 o'clock and she still wasn't home yet. Then that night, he could have sworn he saw her come home at a quarter past 1 in the morning. He wondered where she could be at a time like that. He waited a little while more and then unexpectedly, the doorknob turned and Sakura stood clad in a supremely short pale green yukata that brought out the colour of her eyes and a more humanly skin tone instead of her usual godly pale skin. She was shocked to see him at first but her expression soon melted into a smile, "Konban'wa, Neji-kun."
"Konban'wa," he replied warmly. She invited him in and led him to the dining room and went to fetch some tea. He had never been in her house before, but it felt a lot more like home than he could ever feel in his own house. She returned shortly with a steaming kettle of tea and two cups. She placed the tea tray down and sat across from him.
"What brings you here so late, Neji-kun?" Sakura inquired curiously but kept her expressions under control.
"I was worried," he replied shyly with the obvious pink tint painted athwart his cheeks, "I saw you coming home last night really late."
"Oh! Don't be worried," Sakura said reassuringly. From the last time he saw her, she had completely recovered from distress. It was like her parents had never died.
"What were you doing so late anyway?" he asked seriously.
"I was training, of course," she answered earnestly and took the kettle to pour him another cup of tea.
"For the chuunin selection exam? But Sakura-chan…" Neji didn't know how to continue. He had never been in a relationship yet and he hadn't quite uncovered what this irksome feeling was.
"You're too worrisome, Neji-kun!" She flashed him one of her teasing smiles. He liked those smiles even though they made him blush deeply. Hyuuga Neji had always been a steadfast person, since when did he feel such petty emotions? He was strong and silent, he was always reserved and composed, the kind of person you would never catch picking their noses or farting. He was talented with one of Konoha's strongest clans, and almost died trying to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. Why did this pink-headed girl make his knees buckle and his heart skip a beat?
"Oh, I noticed you cut your hair," Neji pointed out.
-Oh…I was wonder when this was gonna come…-
"Hehe, does it make me look like a boy?" Maybe he was the wrong person to ask, considering his hair was longer than hers to begin with.
"No, you look…" he paused to blush again, "beautiful."
"Arigato, Neji-kun, you're so sweet," Sakura purposely made his heart flutter and she could see it by the expression he was giving her. Who woulda thunk? Hyuuga Neji getting all dopey with her.
"How are you feeling anyway?" he asked before she could kick him out.
"Much better, thank you, um," Sakura stammered a reply, "I'm sorry for rushing into you like that after my discussion with Hokage-sama…"
"It's okay," Neji's face turned somber again, "But I never want to see you like that again."
She appreciated that he was so kind and sweet to her, like Lee, but she knew that she would just break his heart too, she always thought her luck with love, especially with Sasuke, was horrible and just look, she already had a waiting list. Naruto, Lee, and Neji too now…-Sasuke, are you still worth it?-
That question went unanswered. For now at least.
"It's getting late, Neji, and I've had a long day training today," otherwise known as, 'Get the hell out of my house now, see you tomorrow… maybe.'
"I understand." He smiled, totally oblivious. She walked him to the door, absolutely aware that he wanted to kiss or at least hug her good night. She gave him a hug and bade him fare night.
That morning, she congregated with Tsunade with the newly found possessions of her father. She had read further but it gave her no other clue as to whom he was or who she was for that matter. She looked through the box with scarce objects, just pictures of him and her mother, a picture of her and a necklace with the clan insignia. She had always wondered why there was a ring on her uniform. It reminded her to stitch one on before leaving to meet with Tsunade. She now had a black ring above her chest to which she left empty to reveal her modest cleavage and one bigger one on her back.
She showed her the book and the belongings and asked if they could do a run through any clan names called Koizu, "Now that you say it, I think I do recall a legend of the Koizu clan on one of my trips."
"What legend?" Sakura asked.
"Well, it went like this. The clan of Koizu actually came from the Wind Country, probably where you inherited your double ability. They weren't a prominent clan but they did have a powerful bloodline limit called Shinganbyuu, mind's eye view, it's a mind reading and controlling attack. In the case, it also predicts the future and multiplies the amount of chakra in the user's body by 100 folds when set in motion, surely giving the Sharingan a run for its money, ne?" Tsunade joked. Sakura giggled, imagining with wonderment the result of a combat battle with Sasuke or even Kakashi with her bloodline limit activated.
"That means you have it, Sakura-chan! And there you were blubbering about weakness! I heard it was the strongest clan in the Wind Country! You know what this means don't you?" Tsunade almost squealed.
"Iie…"
"We'll have to train extra hard to actually stimulate your bloodline limit! This is amazing, with the type of training I can provide," Tsunade wondered, "You'll be the strongest ninja ever heard of!"
Sakura couldn't believe it. She? The strongest ninja ever heard of? It had never even crossed her mind; she had never possessed any talent to lead her to believe anything like this could happen. But why would her father hide this from her. Was it because he was afraid that if anyone knew they would try to kill her, if it was like what Tsunade-sama said, if she would actually become as such then surely, people from all over the world would try to stop that from happening. If they knew that then she would be taken down. So she understood why her father had done that.
"Tsunade-sama, I wish that you won't tell anyone, I see why my father has never told me," Sakura pleaded quietly.
"Of course, the consequences of such power would be fatal," she agreed with a smile of assurance. "I'll look into this a bit later, but what I'm wondering about is, how come signs of your powers haven't developed noticeably yet? I mean at this age, you should be already wielding it like Sasuke and the Sharingan. I'm curious, maybe your father might have performed a seal on you?"
"I don't know, I've never seen anything on me that strikes as odd before," Sakura admitted bewilderedly.
"Maybe because it's somewhere you can't see," Tsunade proposed. Sakura nodded in accord. She watched the Fifth close her eyes and concentrated a lot of chakra around her eyes; she snapped open her eyes and looked at Sakura pensively. Her eyes widened as though catching something and turned Sakura around. Sakura felt Tsunade perform a seal behind her neck and poked her stiffly there with her two pointed index fingers from her clasped hands. A shocking blue light electrified from the seal on Sakura's neck and went ablaze into a searing blue fire. It was painless to Sakura but to Tsunade, it seemed quite painful.
"Are you all right?" Sakura asked disconcertingly.
"I'm fine." The seal appeared and it was broken, the blue spark on her neck was the unleashing of her power, "Do you feel any different?"
Without answering, Sakura began to shiver violently. Tsunade whipped her around to see her head bent down. Suddenly, she snapped her head up, her eyes were glowing and so was the inside of her mouth, the glow grew harsher, into a blinding green light. Sakura's chakra veins were pulsing with a rush of new power, she could feel it flowing within her body and blazing her insides with ecstasy and excitement.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Tsunade-sama, are you okay?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Tsunade remarked, "Looks like that seal was holding back quite a lot, but your power won't go unnoticed Sakura."
Sakura nodded. She knew and she could already feel the magnetism of trouble in her.
"From now on, your training will be thrice as hard," the Hokage shortly added with a satisfied smirk when she saw Sakura's face go pale. "For now, I think there's a taijutsu expert we need to visit to borrow some weights."
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"Did you feel that?" the pale man asked his two henchmen.
The loyal-er of the two replied with a, "Hai." And the second one didn't care to reply at all. The pale man, evidently their master, chuckled lightly at the surge of power that faintly swept through. It was barely there, like a ripple of water when a feather fell into a pond. But it was there, and all though not many could feel it, he felt it and his subordinates felt it, that was proof enough that it actually existed. Maybe he would seek this new power out, the thought of how far the transmission of power traveled made him shudder, slightly, and it didn't go unnoticed by the curt entity other than the twisted man himself and the lapdog he carried around with him. Something that frightened him was something all right…
A cloaked man along with his cloaked colleagues snapped their necks to the direction of the sudden surge, "Did you feel that?"
No reply. Obviously, it was felt.
"Oi, did you feel that brat?" the perverted senile man asked his younger counterpart. They had stopped cold in their tracks of training to concentrate on what just passed them. A mediocre ninja would just think it was a strong wind, but he was no mediocre ninja.
"No…It's just the wind, Ero-sennin," the blonde rookie responded lightly. -Ah, you baka…-
The jounin turned around in mild surprise. He was holding his copy of Icha Icha Paradise and was trying to block out the other jounin present with him inanely glorifying himself with his stupid haircut and his straight and unbearably and blinding, white teeth. Not to mention the unusual amount of hair, which he called his eyebrows when he felt that ridiculous quantity of power filter through the land. –What the hell was that?-
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Mikomi: I'm finally done! I've never written so much in my life like Sakura has never run so much in her life! OMJC! Well aside form my mental illness during the whole time writing it, I enjoyed it very much and I hope you do too and my funny muscle is kinda flabby lately so I'll work on it "peeps" (is that how you yahooligans spell it?)I drew some picture of Sakura-chan I guess you guys can go see it when it's up on my far out new site, which, let me remind you, is NEW so some of the stuff is not working quite yet P I'll get my guestbook up and you guys can vandalize that if you want just no flames, please, cause you'll be fighting fire with water :o …RAR MWAHS you fervent, keen, avid, ardent, eager, enthusiastic, passionate, zealous and fanatical readers. That's why we're here right? We're fans… :S