Today was Sakura's17th birthday and she had made a party. Naruto had convinced her to do so since at first she didn't want to because her apartment was small. But in the end, she had a party anyway. The reason she lived in a small apartment was that her parents had gotten killed when the village had been under attack a couple years back. Sakura was still in pain and cried from time to time but she managed to stay happy most of the time, so nobody really noticed. And that was her Pandora's Box, it was dangerous. She was like a mirror. The death of her parents had caused her to crack a little, like if someone had given it a punch. Even so, she managed to stay in one piece. But one more blow…and she would break.
Sakura had already seen that everyone had gone home, the party was over, and still there was no sign of the person she wanted to see the most…Sasuke. And it was night already too. Sakura's childhood crush had turned into something much more than that; it had turned to real love in all the time that had passed. But Sasuke still acted the same towards her, the same cold attitude he always had.
Sakura decided to go look for him. He, too, lived on his own. But he lived in a rather big house (you could call it a mansion) by the Uchiha district. As Sakura was nearing Sasuke's house, she heard some noises coming from the patch of forest next to his house and decided to go check just in case.
'I hope this isn't considered as trespassing,' Sakura thought as she neared the forest. As she went deeper she came to a little clearing and hid behind some bushes so she wouldn't be seen. She saw Sasuke in the middle of it with a girl…and they were…kissing.
That was it…the lock on Sakura's Pandora's Box broke and all came out. The last punch was also given to Sakura's mirror…and it broke. Sakura felt herself let out a sob. But she wasn't sure because she couldn't feel anything. She was numb from all the emotions that were flowing inside her non-stop: anger, pain, betrayal, and lots more. But overall…sadness. It wasn't until Sasuke's head snapped in her direction that she knew she really had let out a sob.
Sasuke pushed the girl away, causing her to fall to the ground and giving Sakura a good view of who she was. She seemed to be a ninja too. "Who's there?!" he yelled in Sakura's direction. Sakura slowly stood. Sasuke saw that she was crying and shaking; she was also clutching her hands in front of her tightly as if trying to keep herself from breaking to tiny pieces—trying to keep herself together.
She smiled at him…a sad smile…one that wavered and trembled, "S-sorry, I didn't know…I-I'm sorry S-Sasuke-san, I didn't mean to interrupt," she apologized. After that, she turned on her heel and ran, ran as fast as she could, because she knew she couldn't last much longer and she didn't want Sasuke to see her break completely.
"Sakura!" Sasuke called. He threw the fallen girl a killer glare that gave new meaning too the phrase: 'If looks could kill,' and hissed, "You should have never done that, you stupid girl."
"Oh. But Sasuke-kun, it was worth it!" she sighed dreamily, still a little scared from the glare though.
Sasuke just turned on his heel, disgusted, and ran after Sakura.
'Damn, she's fast. It's obvious she's been working on her speed and stamina,' Sasuke thought as he searched for her.
On the other hand, Sakura was running as fast as she could go deeper and deeper into the forest. 'As long as Sasuke doesn't find me, as long as Sasuke doesn't find me,' she kept repeating in her mind. She put on a final burst of speed and then stopped and fell to the ground from the tall branch she was in. She didn't feel anything though; she was still numb due to the pain in her heart from seeing Sasuke kissing someone. So she jut lay there and cried. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that she stopped crying because she heard a voice. "Get up and stop crying!" the voice ordered.
Out of pure curiosity to see what was going to happen, she did as told. But she gasped as soon as she saw where the voice came from. That's because the voice belonged to…
A big wolf. That's what was standing in front of Sakura. She sucked in a big breath and was about to scream, but she remembered those cruel words that were once said to her: 'You're weak. No, you're more than weak, you're even worse than Naruto.' Once she remembered that, she completely and totally lost it. Sakura let out her breath slowly and faced the creature before her. "If you're planning to kill me, do it quick and painlessly, I'm in no mood for more pain right now. Oh, and don't worry about people coming after you to avenge my death, nobody will care," Sakura said.
The wolf looked stunned to say the least, but he recovered quickly. "Um, no. I came here because Gaara send me. He said his sand sensed some commotion and that he wanted me to check it out for him."
"Oh, well can you take me to him? I feel like talking to him right now," Sakura said, thinking of a plan.
The humongous wolf eyed her curiously but gave in at the end. "Okay, but we have to travel deeper into the forest to reach him. Are you okay with that? I mean, we're already pretty deep inside it right now," he warned.
"I don't care, take me to him," she retorted. Her eyes were now set I a glare and her right eye twitched once in annoyance.
"Fine," the wolf said. He grabbed her arm with his mouth, careful not to hurt her with his extremely sharp teeth, and sand immediately started to surround them. Since the wolf who was holding Sakura was a great deal taller than her, her arm was suspended above her head and it gave the appearance that Sakura was slumped down, unconscious, and that the wolf was about to carry her off to some unknown place in order to eat her in peace.
And that's exactly how Sasuke saw it. With the help of his Sharingan, Sasuke had finally managed to find Sakura…unfortunately, he thought she was about to be eaten, so he attacked.
As soon as Sakura saw him, though, she told the wolf to hurry up. And so they were gone; leaving a very confused Sasuke to wonder why she told the wolf to take her away. Finally, he concluded that the wolf was a friend of hers and that he would see her again tomorrow; so he left.
A couple seconds later, Sakura and the wolf appeared in a very shady part of the forest. Sakura looked around and soon found Gaara sitting cross-legged under a tree.
She smirked, "Hello, Gaara."
Gaara opened one eye and stared at her before sighing and opening both his eyes. "Hi," he said. Over the years, Sakura had somehow become friends with him (after she forgave him for trying to kill her) and now liked to talk to him from time to time. He motioned for her to come and sit in front of him. Gaara had also developed a certain liking to her, seeing as to how she understood him so well without him having to say much and, well, she was the only person he was willing to be friends with. Besides that, he had also become sort of protective of her, he was always sure to keep her as far away from danger as possible whenever she was with him.
Gaara noticed she looked as if she had been killed; she seemed to have no life left in her. His doubts were confirmed when she said, "Gaara, if I asked you to kill me with your Sand Coffin technique, would I feel any pain?"
Gaara was taken aback but then answered, "No, you wouldn't. But don't think I would even think of using it on you," in his monotone voice.
Sakura looked annoyed, "Why not? Wouldn't you attack, even if I attack you first?" Sakura took out a kunai and threw it lazily at him, she knew his sand would deflect it, and it did.
"Sakura, I have no intentions of killing you, got it?" he answered. "It's non of my concern if you want to die, but I refuse to do it for you. Now stop this non-sense before you get hurt or in trouble," he said calmly.
Sakura growled, "Listen, you had no problem with killing me when we were kids, so why do you hesitate now?"
"That is in the past, when we didn't know each other, it's different now," he answered. He carefully examined Sakura, she had a scowl on her face and she looked murderous and lifeless. "Sakura, what happened? I've never seen you like this, not ever since your parents died," he asked worriedly, well, you could only tell he was worried if you knew him very well, like Sakura did.
"The-the little spark of hope that kept me alive vanished," she whispered. "Not even ashes are left, but that's my fault. My fault for believing in false hopes. My fault for believing that one day Sasuke would learn to love a little weakling like me," she whispered, she had her head bowed and her bangs obscured her face.
"Sakura…" he started, but he didn't get to finish.
"NO!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs, "I don't want your pity, I've received enough from everyone else to make me sick, don't you, of all people, dare add to that!" Sakura got up and took out kunai and shuriken. "Fine, if you won't kill me willingly, I'll make you kill me," and she charged.
Gaara's eyebrows furrowed, "Sakura, stop this drivel now," he said, well, more like: commanded in a very firm and superior voice. He was standing now, and very peacefully, while his sand blocked everything, which annoyed the heck out of Sakura even more.
"NO," Sakura screamed.
Gaara, now annoyed, made a signal with his hands and sand flew out at Sakura and covered her arms and legs completely, therefore, immobilizing her. She growled in frustration. "Sakura, give it up. I. Will. Not. Kill you. Now, stop trying to kill yourself just because you made a mistake in your past. You won't be blamed for that, and you shouldn't end your life just because Uchiha is not in it. Just live with what you have," Gaara said, and released her.
She fell to her knees and Gaara watched her. He was less than an inch away from her, and in an instant, she had jumped up and embraced him. He was wide eyed and still as a rock as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. "Thank you," she whispered. Gaara felt…well, to say he felt awkward would have been a huge understatement. So he just stood there, still as a rock, for a couple of minutes until he gathered enough security to slowly and reassuringly raise his arms and wrap them around her torso.
"Just forget about him," he said. "You're not weak, you don't need him. And if you ever need protection, I'll be there, you just have to call me." He withdrew his arms and reached inside a fold in his shirt. He took out a little necklace with a tiny bottle hanging from it, and slipped it around her neck once she had pulled away. "The main reason I came here was to give you this for your birthday. Inside there is some sand that is bonded with the one that protects me, so every time you're in danger, just call me in your mind and I'll come."
"Really?" Sakura asked seriously.
"Yes."
"Well, just so you know, I'll change from now on. I won't depend on others as much and I'll train harder to become stronger. That way, I will never have to call you to protect me," she said determinedly, "I'll become a totally different person."
"Good, now we must leave, it's getting dark already," he said, with a monotone. Sakura stood next to him and in seconds, his sand had carried them back to Konoha.
The next day, Sakura woke up early so that she could fix some clothes that fit her new personality better. What she had said was true; she was, and looked, like a completely different person.
Sakura had looked through her closet disgustedly, all of her clothes were pink, or had pink on them. The only black thing she owned were the shorts she usually wore under her pink dress. Sakura decided to go shopping for more appropriate clothes, but she would have to wear her normal clothing meanwhile.
She walked around the small stores and bought a whole new set of clothes. It was still early, so there weren't a lot of people out yet. But the people that did know her, looked at her as if she were a stranger. All her bags were filed with dark clothing because she had refused to buy anything that wasn't black, crimson, dark purple or dark green unless they were mesh leggings, wrist warmers, mesh fingerless gloves, or some other type of 'strange' clothing, as the villagers called them. But Sakura ignored them all and went home to drop off her stuff and change into something of her new wardrobe.
When Sakura headed to the bridge were they always met, Sakura was really annoyed. Most of the male population was looking at her and practically undressing her with their eyes. She was wearing a tight, black, sleeveless shirt with tears in it to reveal a dark crimson fabric that covered the space were the shirt as torn. She was also wearing a ruffled, red mini, miniskirt with black shorts underneath, and black leggings with crimson-colored slashes and her black ninja sandals. To top it off, she had a black leather, studded belt, a lot of black eyeliner, black eye shadow, black mascara, and red lipstick.
In other words, she looked like a total man-magnet. 'For tomorrow,' thought Sakura, 'I'll use my new jutsu to change my eye color and I'll cut my hair.'
Sakura finally arrived at the bridge, and she saw that Sasuke was there. She felt something inside her drop, but she ignored it, remembering her promise to Gaara. So she just calmly walked past him and ignored him completely as she jumped into the farthest tree she could find.
'Why is she ignoring me?' wondered Sasuke. He walked to the tree were she was sitting and jumped up next to her, but as soon as he touched the branch, Sakura had jumped off o it. That pissed him off. "Sakura," he called. She ignored him. He called her again, and again, he was ignored. "Damn it, Sakura! Answer me. I need to talk to you.
Sakura's eyes suddenly went wide and he wondered if he had hurt her. But then she turned around and smiled, a fake smile, at him. "You know what? I forgot to tell you something too," she squealed falsely, imitating her former self. "I forgot to tell you that I'm so sorry for interrupting your make-out lesson last night and that I hope you leave me alone. I refuse to even talk to you unless it is absolutely necessary." Then came the hard part, she mentally prepared herself for this. She had never insulted Sasuke before, but she believed that there was a first time for everything. She took a deep breath and, "So you can just go crawl under a rock and die for all I care you bastard!"
He was stunned, but angry. She started walking away and he charged at her, willing to talk to her either willingly or by force. He tackled her and turned her to face him mid-air, so when they fell, he landed on top of her. "Sakura, if you're mad about last night, it wasn't what it looked like."
'Classic line," Sakura thought. "Just shut up! Next time, get a room. And I couldn't care less of what your personal life is like!" Sakura screamed.
Annoyed to no end, Sasuke decided to take drastic measures. He took out a kunai and pressed it lightly against Sakura's cheek, earning just a few droplets of blood and a small gasp from Sakura. "Listen, Sakura…" he said sternly.
"NO!" she screamed. 'I don't want to listen to him! I need help!' Then Sakura's eyes widened as she realized what she had said. She shut her eyes again and though frantically, 'No! I didn't mean that! It was a mistake, I don't need help, Gaara!'
But it was too late. Gaara's sand had already stated to swirl somewhere near the training area. Sakura's eyes filled with tears as Gaara appeared and looked at Sasuke with shock and flaring anger. "Get the fuck off her, you bastard!" Gaara growled as he threw a kunai at him. Sasuke immediately grabbed Sakura's waist and pulled her out of the way with him.
"Gaara!" she screamed. "You were wrong! I am a weakling! Nobody would even care if I died! It would be better if I had just never been born! Or you know what? It would be better if I just killed myself. That way nobody has to soil their hands with my disgusting blood!" she sobbed loudly enough for Gaara to hear. Sakura kicked Sasuke hard and he let her go. She turned to Gaara and apologized before turning on her heel and running away.
"You're wrong, Sakura!" Gaara and Sasuke yelled as they ran after her.
But she was already gone. Gaara turned to Sasuke and glared at him while they both ran after her. "If anything happens to her, I'll tie you up with wet leather and leave you in the scorching desert sun so that the shrinking binds cut off your limbs slowly and torturously until you die either from pain or blood loss," Gaara hissed.
Sasuke glared back and was about to say something equally or more disturbing, but a scream made him and Gaara turn and run faster. They were running so fast that they were all but invisible with speed. They had to hurry, because they knew were that scream had come from. It was Sakura's voice that they had heard. And it made them wonder if they were already too late…
Sakura at top speed trough the forest, constantly running into trees because of her blurry vision. The tears in her eyes were making it impossible for her to see where she was going, so by the time that she thought that she was a safe distance away from the training grounds, she was about one hit away from fainting.
"I can't faint!" Sakura sobbed, then laughed darkly, "It's kind of hard to kill yourself if you're unconscious." Sakura felt exhausted and decided that the small clearing in front of her would be a good place to finish things off. She sat near a tree, her back resting against it, and took out a kunai. She swung the weapon recklessly and close to her throat, earning occasional small scratches.
She finally got bored and just decided it was time. She grabbed the kunai with both hands and aimed it at her heart. She concentrated charka into it so that death would take her quickly, but when she started pushing the weapon towards her, it yanked out of her hand as if someone had pulled it.
Sakura looked around, startled, afraid that she was too late and Gaara had found her. But as she looked around, she only saw a black cat with red streaks in its fur. It was glaring at Sakura as if it resented her. Sakura smiled awkwardly and reached for the cat. "Hello kitty, what are you doing here? You look like a house cat, are you lost?"
Sakura tried to pet the cat, but when her hand neared it's head, the glare it was giving her intensified and she decided not to touch it. Sakura leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples in frustration and groaning from confusion.
"What were you trying to do?" a tinkling voice asked harshly. Sakura's eyes shot open and she looked around frantically. "Committing suicide is not allowed if I'm still in the forest. Especially if the one doing it is such a promising ninja as yourself," the cat purred.
Sakura stared at the cat and jumped up, "Whoa! I think I'm loosing it…" Sakura stepped away from the cat, but it just followed her.
"Are you frightened of me, human?" the cat asked. "Maybe you would feel more comfortable if it was not a feline talking to you…" the cat pondered. It closed its eyes and it started shining. Sakura watched incredulously as the shining form slowly grew bigger and took on the form of a beautiful woman in a black kimono with crimson stars on it and she had hair that resembled the cat's fur.
Sakura was really freaking out at this point. "Ahhh, go away! If I want to die I'll die and you can't stop me!" She made a run for her kunai, but as she dived for it, it turned to dust.
"Stop this nonsense child! I will not let you die. I can tell you're only doing it because you've been hurt. You think of yourself as not worthy of living and you thing you're weak. If it's power you seek, I will grant it, but in exchange, you must promise not to try this ever again," she said in a melodic yet harsh and commanding voice.
"Death would be a better option in my case," Sakura whispered, her head bowed and her bangs shadowing her face. She solemnly whipped out another kunai and aimed at her throat, but this time it didn't fly out of her hand. Instead, the woman that was again in cat form tackled her; only this time, the cat was bigger and it pinned her to the ground with its paws and it sat down on her stomach.
"I am Miyako, the guardian of this forest and weather you like it or not, I am not letting you die. If I must, I will give you free power so that you can be content with yourself…even if I really don't have any way to know that you really won't try this again, so this will have some side effects. If you don't like your new appearance, I am truly sorry," the cat stared at her solemnly, and then opened her mouth as really long and sharp fangs protruded from her mouth.
It leaned down and bit into Sakura's neck, injecting a liquid into her and taking a little blood in exchange. Sakura was in great pain; the liquid injected into her burned like fire through her veins. She couldn't help it, but she screamed loudly and struggled weakly. She could feel unconsciousness wrapping around her like a tight, black blanket and she gave way to it, deciding that the pain she was feeling was better to be let go of as soon as possible.
Before she truly passed out, the cat whispered, "They're here for you." Then it left in a shimmer of what looked like glitter-dust. Then all was dark and Sakura was unconscious.
A few seconds later, Sasuke and Gaara burst through the trees and were shocked at what they saw…
Sasuke and Gaara stood motionless from shock. They couldn't believe their eyes. Sakura was lying unconscious and she was completely different. But as soon as they saw the blood on her skin, they snapped out of their shocked state and ran over to her.
Sakura's hair was splayed out under her and there were two big bumps on the top of her head. Curios, Gaara reached out and moved her hair slightly to the side. He nearly fell backwards when he saw two black cat ears on her head. Just then did he notice that her hair was different too. It was still pink, but black and red streaks were tinting her hair as he watched. It almost looked as if the new colors were bleeding out of her scalp and mixing with her hair.
Sasuke had been watching this change in Sakura too when he noticed something twitching near his foot, which was near Sakura's leg. He looked down and found…a black cat's tail.
"What is this? Did Sakura fall over a cat?" Sasuke asked monotonously as he pointed to the twitching tail. It suddenly started swaying then wrapped around Sasuke's leg. "Hn," Sasuke said, reaching dawn to grab it. He took it and unwound it from around his leg, then pulled on it, but it wouldn't budge. Then he realized that the tail had a red streak running through it: it matched the ears on top of her head. "Gaara, we have to take her back to Tsunade. She's been bitten by something and she's bleeding too much," Sasuke said.
"Don't order me around, Uchiha. I am perfectly well aware of the situation," Gaara growled. He picked up Sakura and made a small motion with his hand. In an instant, they were being surrounded by sand, and next thing Sasuke knew, it was completely dark. When the sand opened back up a few seconds later, they were in Konoha, right outside of Tsunade's office, to be precise. Gaara walked in swiftly and glared at Tsunade, who was just about to take a drink out of a sake bottle. But when she saw Sakura in Gaara's arms, she threw the sake out the window and ran over to them.
"What happened?" she commanded loudly. She motioned for Gaara to place her on a small, padded table and he obeyed. But Tsunade saw him stop in front of it and just stand there instead of placing Sakura on it. "Subako no Gaara, put her down now!" Tsunade screamed at him.
"I can't," he replied calmly. Both Tsunade and Sasuke walked over to him and stood on the other side of the table, watching as Sakura purred happily and clung on to Gaara's shirt.
"Fine then, just sit down and lay her down on your lap or something!" Tsunade commanded. Sasuke's hand twitched for some reason and he felt like punching Gaara as he sat down and gently placed Sakura on his lap. Sasuke realized that he was extremely annoyed for some reason.
Tsunade cleaned Sakura's wounds and examined any new traits that might have appeared. She discovered a lot of new things: Sakura had ears, a tail, fangs, red cat-like eyes, and claws. She would have to wait for Sakura to regain consciousness to find out if Sakura's behavior had been affected.
Sasuke and Gaara had seen all of Sakura's new traits as Tsunade discovered them and they were just as surprised as she was. "Sasuke, Sakura has always held a liking to you. Maybe you should be the one to take care of her. You will have to let her live with you and look after her until we reach a final conclusion about her…condition," Tsunade said, taking a blood sample from Sakura's arm; which was quite hard considering that she wouldn't let go of Gaara, so Gaara had to hold on to her arm and extend it to give Tsunade access. "So it's decided. Sasuke, Sakura will live with you from now on," Tsunade declared.
"No," Sasuke and Gaara said at the same time. They glared at each other in annoyance.
Just then, Sakura's eyes shot open. "I will not, I repeat, NOT going to stay with that teme! He can't even take care of himself! I bet that moron would just lock me up somewhere and leave to die for all he cares about me!" she shouted.
Sasuke's right eye twitched, "It wasn't what it–" Sasuke began to shout, but Sakura clamped her hands over her head childishly and refused to listen (A/N: cat ears, remember?).
"Classic line, but I don't want to hear whatever crap has to out of your mouth!" Sakura and Sasuke glared at each other and then Sasuke just spun around and went to sit on a chair on a corner far away from Sakura. "Bottom line is: I can take care of myself, Tsunade," Sakura fumed. Just then did she realize that she was on Gaara's lap, and he was staring at her. "Ah! Sorry Gaara, I didn't know were I was," Sakura was blushing furiously as she got off his lap.
Gaara decided to tease her a bit and said monotonously, "I don't mind, and judging from your purring earlier, neither did you." That comment made Sakura blush even more.
On the other hand, Tsunade had seen how events unfolded and had come up with a new solution. "That's it! Sakura, you'll be staying with Gaara," Tsunade held up a hand to silence Sakura's coming protests. She swiftly walked over to Sakura and latched a collar on her neck. Sakura instinctively hissed and tried to scratch her, but Gaara's sand held her back. Then Tsunade put a matching bracelet on Gaara's wrist. "This will help you control her. As long as you have that on, and she's wearing the collar, she'll obey you. But only you can take them off. It is now your duty to keep her in check," Tsunade said.
Gaara examined the collar on Sakura's neck and then the bracelet on his wrist. The collar was black, had red linings, and bite-like marks all over it. It also had a tiny bell in front that would chime every time Sakura moved. His bracelet was the same as hers, except without the bell and it had metal studs on it.
They all turned towards Sakura and sweat-dropped, well only Tsunade did, but the other too did it mentally. She was playing happily with the moving sand and giggling happily. "Yeah, I think we'll be fine by the looks of things," Tsunade said. "Okay, you are dismissed. Remember, you have to help watching her too if Gaara needs it, Sasuke."
The three ninjas walked out of the Hokage tower and parted ways near the Konoha gates.
Sakura and Gaara were wondering around Konoha, trying to decide what to do. Gaara didn't have a place to stay and Sakura's apartment was off limits thanks to the nosy neighbor that would probably spread a rumor as soon as they were past the door. So Sakura had convinced Gaara to disguise himself as Ino, so she could go home and pack her clothes. So now Sakura was walking around with a heavy suitcase packed with clothes and other necessary things. Gaara also had some luggage, but his only consisted of a big backpack that he could carry on his back easily.
"Urgh! I can't take it anymore! I need a shower. If we don't find a place to sleep in soon, I'll just go sleep in the forest!" Sakura groaned angrily.
"Hn," Gaara answered. To anyone else, it would make no sense, but to Sakura, that meant: 'Don't worry, we'll think of something.'
"Okay," Sakura calmed down and tried to focus on the back of Gaara's head and following it. Suddenly, Sakura got this great urge to play with it. It looked so fun as it moved in time with the breeze and Gaara's movements. She bounded up behind him and lifted a hand slowly. She eyes it like it would leap out of Gaara's head (A/N: LOL!) if she rushed her hunting so she waited until they had walked to a relatively empty part of Konoha. With a quick look, she saw that they were near the training areas.
Sakura calculated her speed, and then pounced on Gaara, who stumbled forward but had his sand to catch him. He had turned to face Sakura when he was falling, so now he had Sakura sitting on his stomach. She was purring and playing with his hair, pulling on it softly and ruffling it playfully. She kept swishing it like it was a toy; it reminded him of a cat playing with a ball of yarn for some reason.
"What are you doing?" he decided to speak up after a while. As if just realizing where she was, Sakura looked him in the eyes and blushed. A perfect opportunity for Gaara to tease. "Do you enjoy tackling people and sitting on their stomachs Sakura?" Gaara smirked. That had made Sakura blush even more.
"I-I'm sorry. I…I guess I don't just have a cat's appearance, but their instincts too," Sakura stuttered. She quickly jumped off Gaara and helped him stand up too. Suddenly, Sakura felt something in her screaming at her to move. But before she could react, Gaara had grabbed her by the waist tightly and hauled her out of the way. About a second after they had jumped, a kunai landed on the spot where they had been only milliseconds before.
Sakura noticed that there was a note attached to the kunai's handle and tried to reach for it, but she noticed that Gaara's arm was still on her waist and she blushed. "U-um, Gaara?" When she had his attention, she motioned to him hand and he immediately let go. She bounced up to the kunai and read the letter:
Dear Sakura and Gaara,
I have been informed that you don't have a place to stay.
And since I consider this as part of my fault, for making you two stay together,
I rented an apartment for you to stay in temporarily. So please, don't hate me.
Tsunade
P.S. I will go into hiding, o don't even try to take it out on me, Sakura. It's best for you this way.
'Oh, no…' Sakura though gloomily. She just knew that the last part had to be something bad. She handed the note to Gaara and he frowned. She knew they were both thinking the same thing: 'This cannot be good.'
Sakura noticed for the first time that there was a key and a small map also attached to the kunai. She grabbed them and started walking towards the apartment that was pointed out in the map.
Reaching their destination, Sakura surveyed the place. It was a rich-looking apartment. It had a pool and everything. Sakura stared at the water dreamily. She heard Gaara sigh in frustration and she proceeded to open the door to their temporary home. She gasped as she saw the decorations inside. She quickly put down her suitcase in the living room and explored the house. She discovered that there was a Jacuzzi, an awesome kitchen packed with food, and (much to her dread) one bedroom.
Sakura screamed and Gaara immediately appeared by her side. His expression said, 'What's wrong?' and Sakura pointed at the bedroom as she sunk to the ground. Gaara also looked abashed; this was, after all, horrible for both of them.
After a lot of experimenting, Gaara had finally found a way that he could sleep without having Shukaku tear up the place. So now he could, or had to, sleep like a regular person, otherwise, he would get cranky, like anybody else. The only difference: Gaara was dangerous when he was cranky.
Gaara regarded Sakura with a cool expression. She was currently squishing Tssunade's note in her hand so strongly that her hand was shaking and she was staring daggers at the single bed in the whole apartment.
"I guess we'll just have to cope," Sakura sighed. Gaara walked away into the kitchen, looking for something to eat. He found a small, pink box in one of the cupboards and took it out, curious. He shook the box before opening it and heard a tinkling noise from inside. He tore open the top and shook out the box's contents into his palm. It was a…stuffed mouse. I smelled strangely, though. He looked at the label, but it only said: Your cat's most strong motivation to play…A LOT! (Effects last from one to two days [results may vary
He put down the box down and examined the weird smelling mouse in his hands while he walked towards the living room. He started swinging the mouse in circles and the tail came off, causing the whole thing to come apart and pour its powdery contents on Gaara. He coughed a little, thinking that this was what smelled so weird, when suddenly a blissful-looking Sakura came running at him from the stairs and tackled him onto the couch.
She was blushing madly and her eyes were glazed over. She was purring loudly as she bounced happily on Gaara's stomach. He leaned down and nuzzled the nape of his neck. He blinked twice, his version of being completely astounded. No, astounded beyond belief. Then, as Sakura started kissing his neck, he realized just what that substance was.
It was catnip. Concentrated catnip. Long-lasting catnip; oh, he was going to murder Tsunade. What was she thinking? Oh right, she wasn't!
Sakura was purring loudly as she kissed Gaara's neck, nipping it ever now and then. She was blushing madly and her eyes were glazed over as her tail swished from side to side happily. Gaara was thinking of various ways to murder Tsunade so that she would suffer before dying.
"Hey, Gaara? Do you want to go skinny-dipping with me?" Sakura giggled. Gaara's eyes widened, that was his version of completely and utterly astonished; no, he was past that. He was now ready to tear his own hair out from astonishment. Before he could answer, she grabbed his hand and lead them to the pool. Sakura meowed in excitement and reached for the bottom of Gaara shirt. She started pulling it up, but he grabbed her wrists and stopped her. She growled at him and tackled him.
After a while, she had succeeded in wrestling him out of his shirt, gourd, weapons pouch, and everything else except for his pants and whatever lay beneath them. Sakura gazed at his flat and toned stomach. He was perfect in every way. She meowed happily and started taking her own clothes off.
She was just about to take off her shirt when Gaara's voice interrupted her. "Stop," he said. Her collar started glowing red and she stopped, obeying him completely. She felt like she had no control over her body, he controlled her completely. She turned to look at him when the collar had stopped glowing. She hissed and threw herself at him, successfully dragging him with her into the pool when she felt like she was loosing balance.
Both their heads pooped out from the surface of the pool. Sakura was clutching onto Gaara tightly. She had her arms tightly around his neck and she was shivering. He started swimming over to the edge and dragged Sakura along with him. When they both got out, Sakura was still clutching on to him, but her shivering was more perceptible now.
"Ga-Gaara…" she whispered. Her face was beet-red and there seemed to be a purr in her voice when she said his name. Gaara slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, knowing what was coming. And sure enough, after just a couple of seconds, she slumped against him. He sighed and picked her up carefully. He was feeling a little drained after using the magic of the stupid collar. But he was sure it had taken more out of her. After all, he was pretty sure that the collar worked by draining the wearer's energy so that they couldn't attack.
He walked into the one-bed bedroom and turned on the lights. It was already getting dark outside and they were both soaking wet. There was a problem. He could take care of himself, but there was no way he was going to change Sakura's clothes. Weather they were the best of friends or not, she was still a girl and as the gentleman he was, he refused to touch her in that way…mainly because she was unconscious.
'I should ask one of her friends for help,' he thought. He made up his mind and remembered the blond, annoying friend of her's. What was her name? Oh, yeah. Yamanaka Ino. He wrote a quick note asking for help and ordered his sand to take the note to her and bring her here…weather it be willingly or by force.
Meanwhile, he was planning on placing Sakura on the bed. It wasn't because he was getting tired of carrying her, no. In fact, the saying "light as a feather" seemed to have been made because of her. He briefly wandered if she ate at all.
He made his sand gather some towels and spread them over the bed. He walked over to it and tried placing her on them. The only problem was, she was holding onto him like her life depended on it; and every time he tried to pry her hands off his shirt, she would come dangerously close to stabbing him with her inhuman claws. He sighed in frustration and just plopped himself on the bed with her still clutching to him like glue. As he was sitting on the edge of the bed, Sakura started purring, it was softly at first, but then it became loud. She was acting like a cat more and more with each passing minute.
He wondered why it was that she was purring. If he was correct, cats only purred when they were either exaggeratedly happy or in extreme pleasure [A/N: I actually did some research on this! -;
Then he noticed, he had been unconsciously scratching her head. His hand had somehow gotten to the space behind her ear and he was rubbing that spot softly. He decided it was okay and just kept doing it. It felt soothing to him, feeling her soft hair sift through his fingers. He was starting to nod off…
BOOM!!!!! His eyes snapped open at the sound. There, in front of the door, was an extremely exasperated-looking Ino. She was panting loudly and there was a kunai in her hand. "What the hell?!" she yelled. "I was in the middle of something, you--!" Just then did he notice that she was only wearing a pair of very short shorts that looked like a second pair of undergarments and her chest bindings with a mesh shirt on top. And the pineapple-headed ninja was trailing behind her with a scowl on his face. He was only wearing a pair of boxers.
By the way the door seemed to be glued to the wall, it was obvious that it had been kicked open by the kunoichi. She stomped into the room and gasped when she saw Sakura purring in Gaara's arms. "What the hell?!" she screamed. Shikamaru came over and an arm around Ino's shoulder to calm her down. It seemed to take effect, but Ino was still fuming. "I got your message, now get out! I have work to do," she yelled.
"Do not raise your voice, woman. You must both know that you ore to tell no one of Sakura's current situation or appearance. And there is also one other problem," Gaara said emotionlessly. The other two looked at him with questioning eyes and he motioned at Sakura's claws with his hand. Ino's eye twitched in annoyance as she saw her claws dug deeply into Gaara's clothes and that she was purring loudly.
"I can fix that…"Ino murmured dangerously, her vein was pulsing and her first was shaking. Gaara's hands tightened slightly around Sakura in case he had to jump out of the way. Just in case she planned on using violence. "Forehead Girl! Wake up! Sasuke-kun's coming!" Ino yelled in Sakura's ear. Gaara was annoyed for some reason when she responded to that. But his mood changed quickly when he saw what kind of reaction Uchiha's name had caused.
Sakura's cat ears twitched and her eyes snapped open. A loud, low growl was building up in her chest and she opened her mouth to expose her fangs and hiss loudly. Ino backed away in shock and Shikamaru had to catch her as she fell backwards at Sakura's words. "Where's that bastard? Let me go Gaara-kun. Don't worry, I won't hurt him…enough to kill him," Sakura murmured darkly, her bangs making a dark shadow over her crimson, glowing eyes as she flexed her claws dangerously.
"Hn," everyone turned to the door to see Sasuke standing by the door. He was wearing his ANBU outfit and he was holding his mask in one hand. He stood emotionlessly as he stared at Sakura. But as soon as she saw him, she tried to attack. If it hadn't been for Gaara, who was holding onto her waist tightly, she would've attempted to rip him to shreds in an instant.
Sakura was growling and hissing, trying in vain to get out of Gaara's grasp. Ino was blushing madly and trying to hide behind Shikamaru as she realized what she was wearing. Shikamaru looked peeved. And Gaara was glaring at Sasuke, who was glaring right back.
Finally, Sakura managed to somehow spring from Gaara's grip and she ran at Sasuke at full speed. But he activated his Sharingan and she stopped dead in her tracks. He took slow, long steps towards her and was soon standing in front of her. "So you hate me that much, huh?" He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head so she was looking at him. She had a broken, sad look in her eyes. "Why?" he asked.
"Because…because you discarded me like I was nothing but trash. You broke all hope I had of ever recovering from my depression. Instead, you plunged me deeper into it," Sakura whispered. Sasuke was taken aback. He hadn't really realized he was being that cold to her. She continued, "If it wasn't for Gaara-kun," Sasuke couldn't help but twitch at the suffix, "I would've killed myself by now, Uchiha-san. That's why I hate you so much."
"It's an honor to be hated by fools," he said bluntly. Sakura gasped at his harsh words. Truth was, he didn't really mean to say that, but the words just seemed to come out of his mouth after she called him 'Uchiha-san.' She felt like slapping him, but her body was still immobilized. "But back to the reason that I came here. I need to take Sakura away for protection. It seems that Orochimaru and the Akatsuki (A/N: Is this right?) are after her. They somehow found out about her current…situation," Sasuke announced monotonously, still keeping eye contact with Sakura.
"They will not go near her if she is with me," Gaara said coldly. "I will not let you take her against her will."
Sasuke's head snapped in Gaara's direction, but he grabbed on to both Sakura's wrists to prevent anything. Gaara was standing now, with his arms crossed and an annoyed look in his eyes. "It was an order. I will take her with me weather it be willingly or by force," Sasuke announced as he handed Sakura a scroll. She opened it and read it. Everyone watched as she gasped and started crying uncontrollably. Ino tried to run over to her, but Sakura was glowing now. Every time someone approached her, she would try to claw them.
"Stop," Sasuke's command echoed through her head painfully as the collar glowed again and her energy was drained. Everyone looked over at him and noticed that he, too, had a bracelet just like Gaara's. Sakura started falling, but Sasuke reached out and caught her. Gaara's sand lashed out at him, but it was too late. He was already gone, and he had taken her with him.
"Dammit!" Gaara hissed. His sand immediately transported him to Tsunade's office. He glared at her and she glared back. She already knew why he was here.
"Gaara-san, you are not allowed to go after them. She is in danger right now and I will not allow her to get hurt. I am well aware of her sudden situation with Sasuke, but he was the best candidate for this mission. I ask that you do not interfere," Tsunade said gravely.
Gaara's fist collided with Tsunade's desk in an angry punch, successfully breaking it in half. She gave him a look that said "You're paying for that" before he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.
He wasn't going to follow them. It wasn't that he didn't want to. It was because he wanted her to be safe. And besides, he'd always know where she was, because she was wearing the necklace he gave her. And if she ever needed help, he would be there in seconds.
Sakura woke up to the feeling of gentle swaying. Her eyes fluttered open and she gasped when she saw what was going on around her. Sasuke was carrying her in his arms like a ride while he jumped from tree to tree and gently as he could to avoid waking her up.
Sasuke looked down at the girl in his arms when he heard the gasp. His Sharingan was activated, when he looked down, so Sakura was careful not to look him straight in the eyes. Seeing this, he deactivated his special blood trait and gently nudged her, but she still refused to look at him.
"Sakura," he called. She turned and glared at him.
"You practically kidnapped me," Sakura stated, her red eyes glowing hatefully. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as if saying "So?" Sakura growled at him and started to squirm. Sasuke gripped her tighter, refusing to let go. "Put me down," she hissed.
Sasuke smirked and gripped her even tighter. "Get yourself down," he said amusedly. It was getting dark already and they would have to set up camp very soon, so Sasuke started looking for a good spot to stay. While Sakura hissed, growled, squirmed, kicked, and did a series of other things, Sasuke found a perfect spot in a small clearing and jumped down from the tree they were in.
"You won't run away," Sasuke stated matter-of-factly. Sakura was about to protest, but her collar glowed again, only, the color was different. When Gaara commanded her, the collar would glow red. With Sasuke, it glowed a black/blue color. Sasuke gently put her down in one swift movement and she wobbled a little, her legs not used to walking after not being used for a while.
"You moron," Sakura said. Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance as he spun around to face her. He put down the huge backpack he was carrying and advanced towards her.
"Excuse me?" Sasuke asked.
"Hard of hearing, I see," Sakura was pushing his buttons on purpose, as payback. It seemed to be working, since Sasuke was now frowning. "I called you a moron. And that is because you kidnapped me without even thinking of bringing clothes, or anything, for me.
Sasuke smirked, "Was that all? Well, Sakura, I thought you knew me better than that."
"I just wish I didn't know you at all," Sakura interrupted rudely.
Sasuke sighed, "I'm not stupid Sakura—"
"Really? You could've fooled me," Sakura mumbled.
Sasuke's patience was wearing thin. He growled and before anyone knew what was going on, he had her pinned against a tree. He had her arms pressed on either side of her head, one of his knees was resting lightly against the bark of the tree in between her legs, and his face was merely centimeters away from hers.
"Sakura," he breathed seductively. She blushed involuntarily, making Sasuke smirk, but she kept a cool and collected face despite her blushing. "My patience is very easily worn out, as you might know. And I did pack some things for you in addition to a package Tsunade sent you. She said it was in case we had to be on the run for longer than expected. But anyway, you would do good in remembering that I have as much control over you as you do," Sasuke said, leaning in closer so that their noses touched. He lifted his knee slightly and it rubbed slightly and seductively against her crotch, making her squirm and blush even more while holding in a moan.
Sasuke took notice of this and decided that was enough torture…for now. He let go of her and started setting up the tent. Sakura had slumped against the tree and was breathing hard, but she took notice of something that brought her back to all her senses. "Why the hell is there only one tent?" Sakura screamed.
"Because you didn't pack anything. So we're sleeping in the same tent," Sasuke stated as it were the most obvious thing in the world. Sakura stare at him completely aghast. "Well, while you regain the ability to speak, I'll go look for some food. Stay here, make a fire and here," Sasuke threw her a package, "look over what Tsunade sent you." With that, he disappeared. Sakura decided to leave the package for later, so she decided to make the fire first.
She walked around the small clearing, looking for wood and rocks she could use in the fire, when she heard a rustling in a bush near her. Sakura jumped and instinctively took out a kunai. The rustling continued, and suddenly a mewl was heard. Sakura jumped back, unsure of what to do as the same cat from before came out of the bush. The same cat that had turned her into a mythical-like creature.
"You again," Sakura said as she place the kunai back into her pouch and went back to her task.
The cat seemed to be wobbling a bit as it followed her around, picking up a small piece of wood with her mouth and handing it to Sakura every now and then. After a while, Sakura and Miyako were both sitting near the fire. Sakura looked over at the cat as it neared her.
"Sakura, I'm sorry if you're mad at me. But I had to come and discuss this with you. I won't be in this world for much longer, and I wanted to fix things with you. You see, I have fallen to illness and I came to ask you weather you wanted to stay the way you are or if you would rather be turned back into a human," Miyako's soothing voice calmed Sakura after she heard that the cat would be dying.
"Well…I really don't know. It would be fine either way, but I have to admit that I've taken a liking to my current form," Sakura said with downcast eyes. "If I was being honest, I think I would rather stay like this," Sakura motioned at herself absentmindedly.
"I thought you would," Miyako said kindly. "And let me tell you, that you have yet to discover the full extent of your powers. You can do much more than what you can imagine, but to discover those powers, you must just follow your feline instinct. But I'll tell you this much: Whomever you decide to be your mate, you can turn them into a neko as well," Miyako said with a wink, making Sakura blush and look away. "I know you are still young, but by turning you into a neko, you are no longer bound to a human's time and you will need to turn your mate into a neko as well if you do not wish for him to die centuries before you do," the cat said sadly.
"Thank you for all your help," Sakura said, giving the cat a hug as it approached her.
"I must leave now, child. I have a place I must be before the gods take me," and with that, she disappeared like before, leaving the glow of a glitter-dust type of substance behind. Sakura felt sad, and she also couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be some changes occurring in her.
She nearly tackled Sasuke's overly-huge backpack as she searched for a mirror. She didn't find one and called herself stupid for thinking that a guy, especially someone like Sasuke, would carry around such a feministic item. So instead, she took out a kunai and looked at her reflection. True enough, she saw that her hair no longer held any trace of pink, except for a little pink streak on her right bangs; it was all black and crimson now. Also, she seemed to become more beautiful right before her eyes as she kept looking. Her features became angelic and almost impossible to believe they were real. Her ears also seemed to shine with a glossy coat of black fur and the only race of red was at the very tip of her ears.
She didn't have any human ears anymore and she now resembled an angel. The only detail she didn't notice was that her tail was all black now, but she would find out soon enough.
Sakura dropped the kunai as she felt an intense and horrible sadness overtake her. She started trembling and crying as she sank to the ground with sobs coming out of her mouth repeatedly. Something was wrong…and she knew what that something was.
Miyako was dead…and she knew it somehow. But a soft tinkling voice in her head said, "Don't worry, my child, I will be in a better place now." And then she was gone. Forever.
Sakura's sobs shook her until someone called her name and warmth encircled her. "Sakura," Sasuke called as he returned. He dropped the fish he was holding and ran over to her. As soon as he was next to her, she threw herself into his arms and he was left with no option but to encircle her with his strong, warm arms and let her cry into the fabric that covered his chest.
Meanwhile, Gaara was practically being held down by Tsunade in order to keep him from going over to where Sakura was crying. He was furious, all because Tsunade was making him break his promise to Sakura of always being there for her.
"This is for her own good," Tsunade kept telling him as she fought to keep him calm and in place. "If you go out there, she will be killed." Gaara stopped as soon as he heard those words and Tsunade mentally smirked. It had worked. And now Gaara growled and stomped out of the room.
Sasuke sighed as he woke up. His hand instinctively looked for the warmth of Sakura's body. When he didn't find it, he jumped to his feet, looking around urgently. The fish he had brought were gone, and so was Sakura. He cursed under his breath and concentrated on finding Sakura's signature chakra. He couldn't sense her, but there was very powerful and strange chakra that resembled that of Sakura's coming from somewhere near the lake nearby; where he had gotten the fish the night before.
Sasuke jumped into a tree and made a run after the strange chakra. He didn't know if it was Sakura or not, but he instinctively followed it. When he broke through the trees and into the clearing where the lake was, he saw her. She looked like a familiar stranger. She was like an angel…a cat-resembling angel, but an angel nonetheless. The Sakura he was used to was unusually perfect and attractive, but now she looked…well, he couldn't think of any words that would do her justice. It just took his breath away. She seemed to have changed over the course of the night.
She was in a crouch near the edge of the water with her black tail swinging in the air gracefully. He watched her curiously as she glared at the water in concentration. Suddenly, she sprung a claw-like hand into the water and swung the wriggling object over her shoulder. It was a very large fish, and he also noticed that it landed on a very big pile of overly-large fish. She got up and smiled sadly at him.
"I'm sorry, Uchiha-san. I ate all the fish you brought, so I had to come get more," she said monotonously. He inwardly flinched at the way she addressed him.
"Call me Sasuke," he growled as he eyed the pile of fish. He counted about ten fish in total. "How are we supposed o eat all that? It's way too much. We're only staying here for a couple more hours and we can't carry that with us, it'll weigh us down." He commented casually. Sakura smiled and blushed as she looked down to try and hide behind her bangs.
"Well, a-actually, I can eat more than eight of those fish by myself in one sitting. Part of the reason I came was also because I was still hungry after I ate the four fish you had caught. I'm sorry, Uch—I mean, Sasuke-san." Sakura was flustered with embarrassment. There was no reply from Sasuke, so she looked up curiously. He was kneeling down by her pile of fish and tying them all by the tail so they could carry them back. "Oh, no. You don't have to do that! I'll do it! I'm the one who's causing all the trouble anyway. Let me do it." Sakura was flushed from embarrassment as she sauntered over to Sasuke with an inhuman grace.
"Don't worry about it, I got it. Do you think you can catch another fish for me? I'm feeling really hungry too for some reason." Sasuke looked away, embarrassed, but she just smiled and nodded. After a night of crying, she had realized that Miyako really was in a better place now, so she didn't have to worry. And also, along with that realization, her anger towards Sasuke seemed to have evaporated. Sakura caught tow more fish for Sasuke, sensing his hunger, and together they ran back to their camp.
Sakura grabbed nine fish and placed them on a very broad leaf from the tree they were currently under. Then she tore another leaf down and placed Sasuke's three fish on it. She handed him his leaf and he started cooking them on the fire they had built. He was about to ask Sakura to give him her fish so he could cook them too, but she was already tearing into the raw meat. He looked at her strangely before shrugging it off and waited for his meal to be done. When it was finally okay for him to dig in, Sakura had already finished seven of her fish. He looked at her in hidden astonishment as she grabbed yet another fish from her leaf and started to munch on it happily. He couldn't help but glance down at her stomach, expecting to see a bulging tummy, but he was met with her perfectly slim hourglass figure. He looked away after a second, repressing a blush.
"Sasuke-san" he flinched, "are you feeling okay? You look kind of red." Sakura walked over to him and pressed her forehead against his. He felt even more blood rush to his cheeks, but he just looked into her eyes impassively, almost glaring. "Well, it seems like you have a bit of a fever. Maybe we should stay and rest one more night?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, just a small flush. Finish eating so we can go," he said, pulling away from her gently and casually. She gave him one last worried look before walking over to her food. She ate it all and saw that he had already packed all their stuff into his oversized backpack. She walked next to him and they both took off.
As Sakura was jumping from tree to tree along Sasuke, she noticed that her legs were aching with the effort of restraint. It was as if they were telling her to jump with all she could, but without using chakra. She decided to try out what would happen if she did. "Sasuke-san!" she called. "I'll be right back!" Before he could even answer, she had jumped a couple of trees ahead lithely. When she decided it was far enough from Sasuke, she released the muscles in her legs that were aching and she gasped when she jumped about ten trees ahead. She landed gracefully on a thin tree branch and waited for Sasuke to catch up.
"You shouldn't be wasting your chakra, Sakura," Sasuke scolded when he caught up.
"But I didn't use any chakra, Sasuke-san! I did it naturally, somehow!" Sakura said.
Sasuke was just as astonished as Sakura was, but he, of course, didn't show it. He watched with mild curiosity as Sakura went deep in thought. He only got alert when her crimson eyes suddenly lost their shine and they turned a dull red. Sakura got a faraway look as she stared off into space. It was as if she were staring at a movie right in front of her eyes that only she could see. Sakura's body suddenly went limp and Sasuke jumped from the tree branch he was in just in time to catch her in mid-air and land on a much thicker branch so he could lay her down on it.
Sakura's eyes were still open, as if the near-fall hadn't fazed her at all. Her eyes flickered and he shine came back into them. "We have to get out of here," she whispered urgently. She grabbed on to his wrist with no more explanation than that and started jumping. As she held on to his wrist, Sasuke discovered that he, too, could jump about a mile forward each time he sprung forward, just like she could. Sakura looked pale and distressed.
A painfully-loud howl and a growl were heard throughout the forest and Sakura seemed to be more urgent than before, her eyes wide with horror and fear. She sped up about twice as they had before and sprung forward so fast each time they landed, it almost seemed like their feet didn't even touch the tree before they were airborne again. "Sakura, what—" she gave him a sharp look, making him shut up instantly. Then that look was replaced by a look of greater horror than before. There was a growl not too far behind them and Sakura seemed to speed up even more, if it was even possible.
Then something sped past them in a blur and made them stop dead in their tracks. It growled and lunged at them in a blind rage
The beast was too fast, even for Sasuke's superior eyesight, but Sakura seemed to have no trouble keeping up with it. Before Sasuke even knew what was going on, he had been knocked out off his feet. When he looked up, he saw Sakura fighting with the animal in a big colorful blur. And what he saw next nearly made him have a heart attack.
There was a sudden explosion of crimson in the air and for a moment, Sasuke thought that Sakura had been hurt. But not a heartbeat later, there was an inhuman howl of pain and Sasuke almost sighed in relief. Then everything seemed to slow down again as Sakura landed a couple of yards in front of him with a huge, black cat over her shoulder.
"Sasuke-sama," Sasuke repressed the urge to growl at the suffix, "see if we have any healing ointments in the supply pack. Sasuke didn't move, but just stared at her as if she was crazy. "Hurry! He'll bleed to death!" Sakura screamed.
"Why are you helping him? You're the one that hurt him in the first place, so why help him now, after he tried to kill us?" Sasuke said impassively, but he sounded a little angry though.
An angry flush spread over Sakura's face. You obviously don't get it! I had to stop him before he got hurt. And this was the only way." Sakura placed the cat on the ground and stomped over to Sasuke. She reached out for the pack, but he caught her wrist. She growled at him and pulled away, slapping him hard across the face when she was free.
Sasuke's head was snapped to the side from the force. His eyes were wide with astonishment and he placed a hand over his cheek, where an angry-red, hand-shaped mark was beginning to appear. In that second Sakura took the backpack away from him and rushed over to the cat.
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Later that day, the cat completely healed and apologized for trying to kill the traveling pair. It seemed he was under the impression that Sakura had killed his mate, Miyako. Sakura forgave him and they parted ways. There was still a red mark on Sasuke's cheek, and Sakura and Sasuke weren't speaking to each other.
It seemed Sakura was especially resentful, for every time Sasuke even gathered air, as f to talk, Sakura's ears (cat) would press flat against her head.
When they finally stopped to rest for the night, Sakura seemed to be seething and Sasuke's evaporated. As soon as thy landed in a clearing, Sakura set up the tent, made a fire, and chopped down enough wood to keep the fire going for the night. This was all done before Sasuke had even had time to take ten steps towards anything.
"Uchiha, you can sleep in the tent. I'll look for another place," Sakura hissed. Then she muttered under her breath, "even though I could never be far enough away from you. Not even if I went to the other side of the world." To any normal human, it would have all sounded like a whispery sigh, but Sasuke had trained ears, and he heard every word.
"Sakura," he growled. She turned around in surprise. Sasuke smirked evilly. "You're sleeping in that tent. We can't afford for you to catch a cold."
"Excuse me?" Sakura asked indignantly.
"Now who's hard of hearing?" Sasuke taunted. It was working, because she was advancing towards him with murder in mind as he strategically backed up towards the tent. "Tell me. Is the little kitty sleepy? Would you like to sleep in a cardboard box now, Kitty?" Sakura launched, Sasuke simply stepped aside at the last possible second, and Sakura flew head-first into the tent. Sasuke immediately followed in after her and quickly sealed the tent before she could get out.
"Uchiha let me out!" Sakura growled. She tried to get to the entrance, but Sasuke was sitting in front of it, and she didn't want to get near him. "Move!"
"Make me," Sasuke smirked. Sakura tried to take hold of his neck, but he caught her wrists and pushed her onto the floor, straddling her hips by placing some of his weight on her by putting one leg on either side of her and half-sitting. She squirmed and blushed madly, involuntarily rubbing against him. There was also a light blush wanting to creep up Sasuke's cheeks after this, but he was good at suppressing those things, so he didn't blush.
After a while of staying like that, Sakura finally stopped squirming, but her noticeable blush was still in place, making Sasuke smirk. He leaned down really close to her face and stared at her in the eyes. "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it, Kitty. Or you could end up getting hurt, Sa-ku-ra." He was now so close that when he talked, their lips brushed lightly, making Sakura blush even more.
"Bite me," Sakura whispered, trying to make the least possible amount of movement with her lips, so they wouldn't brush against Sasuke's. But at her words, Sasuke's smirk just grew wider, and he leaned down to fully press his lips against Sakura's. Her eyes widened, but she was frozen in place. After a while, she closed her eyes and fell into the kiss.
She could feel Sasuke smiling into the kiss as she did so. After they broke the kiss, Sasuke embraced her in warm arms and they fell asleep like that.