´thinking´
"speach"
inner-sakura
Chapter one: All alone in Konaho
Is Team seven a team doomed to forever be apart? Does Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi for all eternity fight a hopeless battle to search and miss the comrade that they lost to the darkness? Will Narutos hands reach the goals he dreams about or will he lose to the power within him? Is there a chans for Kakashi to form new bonds and to forgive himself for Obitos death and speaking of bond´s does Sai stand a chans of gaining knowledge of how you become friends? What about Sakura, will she continue to be the weak link of team seven?
Much had happened in the years that Sasuke had been absent from his old home, the Leaf village. Words of Orochimaru and his experiments reached the village early as did the rumours of his craving for the younger Uchihas body and his plan to one day take it over, making Sasukes body a walking doll. But almost nothing where heard of about the Uchiha himself. Three years after Sasukes deflection new rumours reached the leaf village, Orochimaru had been slain by the Uchihas hand and the boy had toured the snake sannins different prisons to free his experiments and destroy the hide-outs. After Narutos return it was decided that Team Kakashi would be formed, not knowingly to the newformed team, Tsunade decided to try to keep a close tabs as possible at Sasuke. She made a deal with one of her enemies; Danzou, he and Root would assist her in tracking and spying on him since they seemed to share the same goal, getting to Sasuske. Tsuande had known from the start that it was going to be difficult; Sasuke was a genius after all and taught by a sannin he was an avenger with a goal. But she had to hand it to Danzous minions, they where persistent and so she had gain somewhat information about Team Hebi and their movements during the years that had past. She knew the information would come in handy some day, she just feared the price for barging with Danzou would be too high.
Before Sasuke had killed Orochimaru Team Kakashi had tracked his lair down and actually meet with Sasuke for the first time in three years, it was one of the new founded teams first mission, with Sai and Yamamoto as new members. They failed to bring the boy back and at their return to the village seemed pathetic to the team, a felling of failure spread in the team. Tsunade deduced that that was the least of their problems, Akatsuki was on the move and Narutos situation with that was rigid, the elders of the village had also started to comment on the fact that letting him go on missions could be dangerous. The solution Tsunade arranged was to have the Kyubiholder, Kakahshi and Yamamoto to hide away in the mountains. The plan was to have the boy train with the two Jounins and to do simpler missions outside the village, undercover and in the same time try to make Naruto take charge of the Kyubi. When rumours reached them about Narutos second sensei and god fathers death while he investigated Akatsuki, they had a great setback in their training and something that was supposed to take only a year where doomed to be prolonged. Kakahsi reported twice a month to Tsunade letting her know about their slowly progresses. The three men become good friends and formed strong bonds but their characteristic dosn´t seem to change with time. According to Yamamot Naruto was still a ditz and Kakshi was stil aloof. The hard training they were making the blond boy go throu where to be sure that the day Akatsuki would find him he would be ready, a demon and a future hero wrapped in one, with a dream to achieve.
In Konaho Tsunade still ran the show as Hokage with help from Shizune and Ton Ton. Her apprentices and her new favourite strategic, Shikamaru has also become two of her most trusted servants. She would often smile behind her stacks of papers and books, staging little "competitions" between Sakura and Shikamaru or as she her self said, one need to be kept from slaking of and the other needs to be kept idle. But threw the years she had acknowledge not only the Akatsuki as one of their great enemies, she feared that within the city there where factors that she needed to keep close tabs on and with the brains of Shikamaru she hoped to be prepared for the days to come.
The ramenstand with the old man in charge is still the best place to eat with the smiling Ayame to serve you steaming ramen, it has become the meeting spot for the rests of the Rookie nine and Gais team, it is there they meet and catch up. It´s also, how unlikely it may sound, the place where Sakura and Hinata formed a deep and good friendship. If Naruto had know what stated it, a discussion about which Ramen was his favourite, he would probably have grinned big, after that day the two girls would meet up to eat together and remember the loud-mouth.
Sakura is still Tsunades star pupil even if she got competition from Shikamaru in the "brains-department", she was able to keep developing as a medic, but in the last couple of months the Hokage has been busier than usual due to the rumours of increased ron-nins and Akatsuikis suspectet movements. That has left Sakuras training up to Sakura her self without any sensei to guide her. With her team gone and the other teams often filled already she only does missions occasionally as a fill in. Her friendship with Ino-pig is still loud and filled with rivalry and competition but neither of them would like to be without the verbal assaults, fights and iron will that the both of them bring to the table. But now adays the citizen of Konaho often sees her strolling down the streets with a somewhat lost expression on her face. If they only new, how lost she really is…
`What am I supposed to do now? A shinobi without a team is a shinboi in lack of it´s leams...´
It was a lovely day, the birds where chirping and some with fluffy clouds lazily passed over the sky gracing the ground with soft shadows. Sakura stared outside her window, the world outside seemed full of life, the opposite of the house she lived in. It didn´t take her long to come to the decision that days like to these where few.
`Good weather, no training, no mission, no one to distract me´.
She decided to take a walk; she grabbed her ninja gear `just if I would like to do some light exercise. But I think I will settle for a stroll´ Walking aimless in the village she looked at the shops and the people.
`No Ino-pig, team ten is out on a mission that also means no Shik to give me a shogi match.´ She passed the training ground for taijutsu, no green beast in sight and Hinata had off lately been very busy in her training with Hitachi and her cousin. Sakura let her thoughts drift over Neji.
`He has changed so much since he got to know Naruto. He has really come to se the world in other colours…´ she let her thoughts travel to the rest of Hinatas team.
`I guess that leaves Kiba and Shino to associate with.´ Inwardly groined and pulled a face as if she had bitten in to a sour lemon.
`Are we really that desperate that we are considering hanging out whit Dog-breath and Bug-boy?´
Desperate? They are nice you now and very good friends with Naruto´.
`Yeah, but bug-boy creeps us out. And dog-boy and Naruto is so similar in that perverted way. We don´t want to hear sex-jokes to day, thank you very much.´
`You know they have names….´ Sakura was totally lost in her conversation with her inner-self and didn't pay attention to her surroundings. If she had she would have avoided the artist-nin she bumped straight in to. And had he been any other else he would have stepped out of her way to avoid the crash that their collision meant. Crash and crash? It was Sakura that walked straight in to his chest.
"Uggh?" she starred right in to dark cloth. She toke a step back and looked at the black wall that stood in her path, was it supposed to be there?
"Hello ugly" Sai said with his ever emotionless voice, he had starlet her out of her conversation with her inner.
"Moron." Sakura greeted while she kept her head down and her feet's in a steady pace. Not stooping or looking at the boy. If she had she would have noticed that he where in his ninja attire, something he only wore on missions or if he was going to train.
"So why are you out scaring children with your hideous appearance?" apparently Sai had decided to join her aimless stroll and walked beside her with one of his fake smiles.
"ugghh.. Hmm" Sakura still kept her head down and her arms crossed in front of her. She was still lost in her thoughts of how to spend the rest of her day, heck how to spend the rest of her time until team Kakashi once again was reassembled.
"I don't talk ugly-language" He looked annoyed at her.
"It's not nice to treat your friends like air, or so I have read." He continued, smug smile because he knew he was right.
"I've got nothing to do. Tsunade doesn't train me so much any more, and there are no missions to do..." she finally looked up and turned her head towards him.
"…" The both of them kept walking through the village under silence and ended up at "their" bridge. Sakura looked around at the bridge and frowned. She felt like she didn't have a purpose any more. Her, Naruto and Sasukes name carvings seemed to mock her, another time she thought... "Another time... When we where all together and where I still held a purpose. Where there were things I had to do…The good old days, It seams like another world." She wore a frown on her face.
"How about training with me today. I could use some one to bet the crap out. And you couldn't look worse than you do?" sad Sai without showing any emotions on his pretty face just his stiff and never leaving smile.
Sakura stared at him; she even glared, but started walking to their usual training ground, prepared to ground him to the floor.
Ground three looked liked it always had, green luminous grass, forest, and a open field. `Some things just never change no matter how much time that passes´ she looked around, letting the memories flood her for a moment. With out a word they soon fell into fighting stance opposite each other.
"I need to train my taijutsu, and since you suck at taijutsu, I'm guessing this wont take so long." Sai mocked her and smirked at her, Sakura just glared back at him. This was just the way to let a perfect day go down the toilet.
"Who does this piece of shit think he is?" Inner Sakura yelled, she got very upset at the dark haired boy. "But he is right. My taijutsu is not so good you know inner." "Like that matters, we will kick his scrawny little as back to root." inner Sakura huffed and pumped a fist in to the air.
Sakura smirked evilly… and tucked her pink hair behind her ears, she pulled out her black gloves, stretched her muscles and eyed her enemy taking her favourite stances once again.
"So how about a bet… If you lose you haft to pay for my lunch at the ramenstand." Sai said with another of his fake smiles while staring right at her.
"Bring it on you shit." Sakura hissed evilly while pulling out glows, black ones that reached higher up on her arms almost connecting with her pink elbow guards. Tsunade had murmured something about the importances of keeping her skin from marring.
Sai didn´t take his eyes of from her during her preparations.
"Ready bitch?" His eyes glowing like a cat on a hunt for prey.
"For ass holes like yourself? Always." Angry ton in her voice.
The leapt at each other. Sai lifted his nee but Sakura deflected the attack with one of her own knees. He pulled one hand back, ready to strike but she deflected that to. The both of them fought for a good while, because of Sakuras defensive training with Tsunade she was very good at avoiding Sais attacks but at the same time, her offensives wheren´t the best. In the late afternoon Sakura lay on the ground panting hard with bruises all over her teenage body.
"And I didn't even get serious." Sai smirked. "Common loser let's go eat, I'm hungry." He loosely kickt at her feet's and started walking back in to the town. Sakura studied him, he was was almost unharmed. She shut her eyes close, exhaled and tried to lose some of the frustration she felt. She rose and soon she had cached up to him, she was still pissed at him for betting her but she concluded that it was her own fault for being so bad at offensive taijustu… Like the med-nin she was she had always focused on healing her team and dodging attacks. They sat down at the ramenstand and ordered, eating under silence.
´Is this what it has come to? I´m willingly eating with Sai, alone?´