Secret
Summary: AU. Sakura knew Sasuke, but exactly how much does she really know about him? He's hiding a secret that he doesn't want her to know. When deaths intervene, which paths will they choose to follow? Based on Secret. SasuSaku.
Follow the symbol leading one's passage
First sight symbols one's fate
Once the journey is over
Return with swift hands
Chapter One: The Deserted Building
Time is one of the most reliable technologies in humankind. But when we began to abuse that power, it becomes our most dangerous enemy. What will you do when you are given such power?
"Sakura! Hurry up, would you?" Ino said irritably. "My mom is going to kill me if we're, no––– you're later on your first job at my family's flower shop!"
"Okay, okay. Let me just get these sandals on," Sakura quickly strapped her blue sandals and hurried out to greet Ino who was clearly frustrated. "'Kay, lets go."
The two kunoichis talked as they walked down to the Yamanaka's Flower Shop, once there, Sakura turned the sign so that the word said 'Open' was displayed for people to see.
"Ino, where's your mother?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know, she should be here by now, she left earlier than me and told me to pick you up," Ino shrugged. "Hey, Sakura, help me carry these flowers outside, okay?"
"Sure."
After they were done, Sakura went back inside the shop. This week is going to be a busy week for the workers of Yamanaka's Flower Shop because White's Day is just a few days ahead. It wouldn't be long before customers will be filling in all the spaces and many Ka-chings would be heard. At least, that's what Sakura heard from Ino. That's why Yamanaka-san asked her to help with the shop for the week with payment as well since Yamanaka-san would be away for the same week for some business. The door had ringed to indicate someone has just opened the door.
"Yamanaka-san," Sakura rush over to help her with the heavy boxes and some receipts. Ino helped her mom as well and pull them in the storage room.
"Thank you, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan." Yamanaka-san looked at her watch, "Okay, I need to get going now, if you need anything, call your Dad."
"Yes, I know. Bye, Mom."
"Bye, Yamanaka-san. Be careful."
With a wave, Yamanaka-san left the flower shop to the hands of two kunoichis.
Surprisingly, Naruto came rushing through the door, "Sakura-chan! I didn't know you work here."
"Just started today Naruto, what are you doing here? Are you actually buying flowers instead of ramen?" Sakura said jokingly. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Naruto's head was just too dense to realize that he'd just been insulted by his teammate and friend.
"Yeah," Naruto's hand began to ruffled his sun-blonde hair, "You see, it's almost White's Day and it's the first one Hinata and I get to celebrate it together, and during Valentine's Day, she made me some really good chocolate and cooked me ramen, so this time, I want to give her some yeah..."
"So you want to make it special for her huh?" Sakura giggled. "I would pick lilies, simple yet beautiful. Maybe add a few roses"
"Aww, gee thanks a bunch Sakura, I own you." Naruto chuckled, "And to think that I'd to stay up all night just to decide what kind of flower to get her. You already know it less than five minutes."
Sakura smiled, "No problem, I'll wrap it; Ino, just this one."
Although both girls are experts at flower arrangement, Ino is still better at wrapping and decorating while Sakura beat her in choosing the perfect flower arrangements. In another words, there are no flower shop in Fire Country, who can beat the two kunoichis when they are working together.
Sakura took some caspia, along with other filler flowers to make the Rose and Lilly Bouquet. She gave the bouquet one final touch by trim off the ribbons to the desired length; she set it down on the counter top. "That will be 13 500 yen please."
The once delighted Naruto frown at the expensive price he had to pay, "Ne, Sakura-chan, you think you could give me a discount? I am your teammate after all." Naruto asked hopefully.
"Sorry Naruto, but it's already been discounted, didn't you see the sign at the front door?"
"Yeah but I'm your teammate," Naruto pleaded. "Please, I can't pay all this."
"Please, I know you Naruto," Sakura scoffed, "I've seen you pay the same price as this but instead of a bouquet, it's ramen."
Naruto sulked and hesitatingly took out the money from his frog-shape wallet and placed them on the counter, "Aww, cheer up Naruto, I bet that Hinata-chan probably faint at the sight of this beautiful bouquet," Sakura handed him the wrapped flowers.
"Okay, see ya later," Naruto said dully.
Sakura smiled faintly before turning her attention to Ino, who was currently helping with another customer. "I'm sure your wife would love it," Ino smiled to the male customer, "Come back soon."
"Ino," Sakura said to get her attention, "I'm going to unpack the boxes your mom brought us."
"Sure, bring some more of those wrapping papers while you are at it, 'Kay?" Her hand gestured the back wall, "And some ribbons too."
"No problem, call me if you need any help!" Sakura said cheerfully.
-x-
"That Ino enjoyed pushing people around just a bit too much," Sakura sighed grumpy, "I bet Ino have no problem regretting what she just did."
Sakura's house isn't very far away from the flower shop; a 15 minute walk at the least. Her house was right next to an abandoned building of the Uchiha Clan, or at least that's what all her sensei told her. There was a rumor that the building was going to be demolished for new housing due to the largely unused space.
Her legs stopped moving when her brain registered a strange yet pretty glow from the deserted Uchiha building. Curiosity consumes her mind, 'What was that?' In the meantime, her Inner self screams in an opposite manner, "Stay away, stay away, stay away!"
Sakura looked left and right, making sure that she was all alone in the street, she walked in the ancient building; towards the source of light.
The front door creaked loudly when Sakura opened it. She held her breath, waiting for some sort of alarm that she might have triggered. Only after a moment, did she realize that there are no alarms or traps and standing currently half way at the door made her acting like an idiot. She preceded the building with the stealth of a kunoichi.
First door.
Third door.
Sixth door.
'How many doors do these Uchiha have?!' Inner Sakura cried out as Sakura opened the 8th door. Cobwebs were everywhere and the floor was covered in thick layers of dust. "Hey, lookie here," Sakura said as she opened another door. Unlike all the other rooms, this one was filled with furniture. The two couches indicate that she was currently in the living room. The living room was connected to the kitchen, the dining table and four chairs were covered in white sheets.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps echoing the room, telling her that she was not alone in the building. This also reminded her why she was here in the first place. "What are you doing here?" The voice made hair on her back stick out. Sakura held her breath.
"Were you the one making that strange glow? You should know that you are not allowed to enter here..." Sakura's voice couldn't utter a sound anymore, the boy–– no man–– in front of her; he was probably one of the most gorgeous men walking on this earth.
"Why am I not allowed in here?" The handsome man continued to ask, his voice was oddly cold. Sakura arched an eyebrow at the bizarre question.
"Huh? I'm sure you saw the sign on the entrance door. It said, 'Caution, do not enter,' in red."
The man arched one of his eyebrows.
"Oh... ya, I saw that. I just wanted some place isolated from people's eyes and dark in a room so I can practice my new jutsu," the man said. Sakura could've sworn that she saw his eyes twitched a bit and his voice was a lot less cold, there was even a hint of confusion in his voice but she shrugged it off thinking it was her own imagination.
"Okay," Sakura turned around, "Come on, we should leave before other unwanted people finds us in here. Oh, by the way, my name is Haruno Sakura. Yours?"
There was an uncomfortable pause, Sakura's arm twitch a little, "Uh, it's Sasuke."
"So Sasuke," his name rolled off easily off her lips, "Are you new? 'Cause I've never seen you before."
"Yes, I just came here from the Sound Village with my family."
'Sound?'
"Speaking of village, you said you were learning a new jutsu. Can you teach me please! You owe me since I'm the one who caught you. It looks really cool when I saw it," Sakura pleaded, "And where's your headband?"
"It's a secret, maybe I will show it to you later. And I didn't want any villagers to know that I'm from Sound."
"Promise?" Sakura held out her pinky. When Sasuke didn't hold out his, Sakura answered his unsaid question, "You wrap your pinky around mine, see?" She took hold of his hand and wrapped his pinky around hers. Even with the small contact, her heart went doki doki. After that, she began the chant, "Pinky promise, if you lie, I will make you swallow a thousand needles. Promise made!"
"Meow."
"Huh?" Sakura gasped, "Aww, are you alright kitty?" Sakura bent down and carefully took hold of the injured kitten. When the kitten tried to struggle out of Sakura's grasp, Sakura said softly to the kitten, "It's okay, you're safe with me." The kitten seems to understand what the kunoichi say and lick her face. Sakura turned her attention back to Sasuke, "Come on, we better get going."
Sakura had hoped that she wouldn't get caught by anyone, especially not––
"Tsunade-sama!"
Sasuke turned to the person Sakura was addressing to.
"Sakura..." Tsunade was clearly trying to suppress her anger, "What, in the world are you doing in a place like this? Didn't you see the sign on the front entrance?" Sakura nodded slightly. She saw Tsunade's head turned to look directly at Sasuke. "This place is going to be demolished soon, what if I decided that the building is going to be destroyed today? You would have been killed!"
"Yes I understand but we were just––" Sakura could say anything after that; she didn't want to trouble Sasuke even though it was clearly his fault that he was in there the first place. She was just being lured in there! She was innocent!
"Sakura, I know that you decided to become a medic-nin because you chose to protect people," Tsunade sighed, "I'll let you of this time, now you better take care of that cat now. I think she'd injured her hind paw."
"Uh, thank you so much Tsunade-sama!" Sakura bowed before walking to her house, with Sasuke walking beside her. "Well that was weird," Sakura begin when they reached to her house, "Tsunade-sama didn't say anything about you. Do you know why?"
Sasuke shrugged.
"Anyway, I'm going to cook us some dinner after I heal Kitty here," Sakura offered, when she saw Sasuke about to protest, she turned around to face him, "And I insist you stay."
Defeated, Sasuke shrink back on the couch and watched as Sakura using a healing jutsu to heal the injured cat.
-x-
How did such a bright, warm, sunny day, turned out to be something as disastrous as this. That's right people; Konoha is currently facing the dreadful attack of rain. Our Konoha's own Cherry Blossom can no longer disperse the cheerfulness that she always held. She can only––
"It's raining like cats and dogs."
Sakura turned suddenly to the owner of the voice, "Hi Sasuke."
"Hey."
The two didn't spoke when they were standing under the shelter, protecting them from getting wet from the rain. They stood there, quietly enjoying each other's company, waiting for the rain to stop. It wasn't until the rain had change into a drizzle manner, did they begin to walk. "I'll take you back home first."
"Thank you Sasuke, but you really don't have to. I'm fine as long as it doesn't start raining again."
"Ah, but I insisted," Sasuke mocked back at her from the previous night.
"Fine, fine, suit yourself."
There was silence again, but unlike the one during the rainfall, this was a bit uncomfortable. Wanting to break the silence, Sakura begin to talk, "What rank are you in? Chuunin? Genin? Jounin?"
There was a pause, "Genin."
Sakura smiled, "Me too! But my teammates are currently taking the Chuunin Exam right now; it's going to be my second time. I could only past the first two rounds on my first try."
"I see."
"Have you taken any Chuunin Exams yet?"
"Once," Sasuke replied.
"How many rounds did make through?"
"First three rounds," he said shortly.
"Wow, three! So close."
Sasuke nodded, "Here we are."
Sakura suddenly realized that she was already in front of her house, "Oh..." Sakura's voice was filled with disappointment. "Well, I'll see you around."
"See you later," he said shortly.
Sakura waved back at Sasuke before closing the front door and ran upstairs to her bedroom window, watching Sasuke leave. She watched until she couldn't see him anymore. Sakura sighed before preparing a dinner for both herself and her new pet.
"Come on, Yori. Let's get you something to eat," Sakura said when she found her cat laying idly on her floor in the living room.
"Meow."
-x-
Author's Note: Is there anyone out there that is willing to proof-read this story? I am in need of a beta-reader. I will PM you when this story gets an update. But be warn; I do not update my stories frequently so you might have to wait for many months before this story will be updated again. This story will not go over 10 chapters. I do not plan on writing any stories that will exceed 15 chapters. If you are interested in this, please PM me and I will answer your questions if you have any.
Preview: Chuunin Exam
"Don't worry Sakura-chan; I'm sure you'll do fine!"
"Thanks, Naruto."
Naruto gave her one of his famous grin and pointed his finger at the audience, "I'll be watching you from there."
Sakura nodded her head before Naruto 'poof' away. She turned her head to Sai; he gave her a nod before following him out to the stadium. The crowd cheered as contestants lined up side by side. She could easily spotted Naruto since he sticks out of all, with his orange jumpsuit and all. But her eyes searched up and down, left to right, looking everywhere for the familiar charcoal, black eyes and blueish, black hair. To her disappointment, he wasn't here to watch her.
Owari