Cherry Blossom's Puppet
By
Faithxlink
Chapter One
Forever isn't that long
The hot sun beat down on her head as she shaded her eyes and looked out at the horizon. It's been a long time since she last saw him. She had long waited the day she'd she his smiling face. This want kept her eavesdropping on any conversation that included the word Suna or sand village. It all paid off when she heard Tsunde, the Hokage, tell her assistant, shizune, that the kazekage was coming so the two villages could work out security and treaties and things like that. To her great surprise, the Kazekage was Gaara of the desert. When her blonde team mate found out, it encouraged him to work harder toward his dream to become the Hokage.
But she didn't care about who got what title or anything right now. Because Gaara is bringing two representatives from Suna, Temari, the great fan wielder, and Kankuro, the puppeteer. Kankuro. The name rang in her head. Echo on old memories form when she went to stay with Kankuro. She let out a sigh and leaned against the village gate.
She glanced up and saw brown hair peaking over. Then part of the face came into view and purple face paint lined it. She gasped. Kankuro wasn't wearing his normal pointy hat that resembled cat ears. She had also changed her looks so she couldn't really blame him. She felt her heart burst with joy. All her thoughts of him just flooded back.
She flung her arm up and waved to him. In return, he smiled and nodded. She could feel herself melt in his gaze. She could see Gaara appearing on the right side of him. Gaara had his kazekage robes on and looked very different. He looked more mature or older then when she last saw him. Then beside Gaara was Temari. She had changed also. She still had her four golden pony tails but she wore a kimono type dress. She also so someone she didn't know.
It was a girl. She was walking on Kankuro left side. She had spiky side bangs and two brunette pig tails along her back. She had long sleeves that stopped at a headband with the rock village sigh on it. Her blues eyes fell looked over the village gates.
The ninjas finally got to the gates and Gaara stepped forward. "Nice to see you again, Kazekage" She said politely and bowed. Gaara gave a nodded. "Sakura…" She heard her name by a voice she longed to hear. Her eyes set on Kankuro and she found them not wanting to leave. "I haven't seen you in forever" Sakura gave a small smile. "I know, Know please come this way. I'm to escort you to the Hokage office" She started walking down the dirt road. She heard the rest following her.
They arrived at the huge red building where the Hokage worked. She nodded to the guards and the opened the door for them. They went down many hallways and up a few stairs to they reached a door. It opened and a surprised Shizune gasped. "Oh you're here, please come in" She said opening the door.
They all piled into the room one by one. Sakura found her eye keep wandering over to the rock village ninja that stood by Kankuro. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Tsuande spoke. "I'm Tsuande, Village hidden in the leaves Hokage. We welcome you to our village" Tsuande gave a bow. Gaara stepped forward. "I'm Gaara the sand village Kazekage, this is my sister, Temari, My brother Kankuro, and His fiancé, Amika, and we thankful for your help" He bowed. Tsunade nodded and sat down on her desk.
Sakura felt her legs get wobbly. Fiancé? Kankuro getting married? She felt tears start to gather. All this time she was waiting for him and he's getting married. Sakura grabbed the edge of her skirt. "Sakura, You are dismissed" Tsunade said without looking up from her papers. Sakura nodded and quickly walked to the door.
After she was in the safety of the hall way she rubbed her eyes. This couldn't be happening. She had planned so many things her and Kankuro could do together. To her this was unbelievable. She couldn't understand why he'd do this. What about what they carved into the tree? Sakura and Kankuro forever. If that's true then forever was shorter then it use to be. She felt a single tear escape from the corner of her eye and slide down her cheek.
"Sakura?" Her head shot up to see Naruto. He had a look of concern on his face. She differently didn't want to explain things to him. She quickly wiped the tear streak over her cheek and regain a happy composure. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here anyway?" She asked. "Well I heard Gaara was back so I wanted to see if he wanted to play me in gamecube when he gets the time" Them and that game cube. Last time they spent two days playing that. "He's in a meeting right now" Naruto nodded. "Oh I see, well do you want to go catch some Ramen?" Sakura bit her lip and looked toward the door to the Hokage's office. There was no use waiting around here.
"Sure" Naruto put his hands on the back of his head. "Ramen is good for the soul" he said smiling. He started walking down the hall. Sakura quickly followed him. They went down the colorful street to naruto's favorite ramen stand. When team seven was still team seven, including Sasuke, they'd always eat here. It brought back memories but also created new ones.
She took a seat on one of the stools and listened to Naruto order tons of beef flavored Ramen. Then it was her turn. She just ordered one bowl of beef ramen. The girl taking the order wrote it down and turned behind the counter and started cooking. "So Sakura, How's old granny Tsunde treating you? She can be real demanding sometimes" Naruto asked. "She's been training me more in order to avoid paper work" She laughed. It was always avoiding paper word with this Hokage.
She awaiting Naruto's answer, but she didn't hear it when it came. Out side the stand almost right behind Naruto, were Kankuro and his little bride to be, Amika. Her pink head traveled to there fingers where a golden band lay. She gasped. "Sakura? Are you listening?" Sakura faced Naruto again. "Oh Um…Yes?" Naruto raised an eyebrow and turned around to look behind him. His face lit up. "Hey there's Kankuro! He's with a really pretty girl. Weren't you going out with Kankuro?" Naruto asked. Sakura bit her lip. That's what she thought too, But before she could answer Naruto started waving at Kankuro. "Hey Kankuro! And whoever the girl is! Want to eat Ramen with me and Sakura?" Sakura felt her face resemble a tomato and she started sinking in her chair.
She saw the uneasy look on Kankuro's face and that was enough to send her packing. She slipped out of her chair and took off down the street. She didn't want to look at him right now. She jumped up on a nearby tree branch. Naruto looked at the empty seat next to him.
"Hey, Where'd Sakura go?"