"I don't care what your feelings are for me," he hissed, his hold on her arm tighter now. "I don't love you…I can't love you, so get that through your skull. When we are done, we will go back to our lives and forget all of this."
Sakura felt the tears well up in her eyes, but forced herself to not let them fall. She refused to make herself look weak in front of him
"I know that," she snapped. She pulled herself free from his grasp and glared at him. "I wasn't even talking about my feelings anyways, you jackass."
Sasuke said nothing; he merely narrowed his eyes at her. Sakura turned around and went to her backpack that she placed by a tree before this whole argument started. She went through it and pulled out the blueprints of the location they were going to infiltrate.
"That felt good. I needed to go so bad," Naruto sighed happily. He came out of a bush with his arms folded behind his head and his eyes closed. "Hey, Sakura, when are we going to eat?"
"Soon, Naruto," Sakura sniffed. A few tears fell onto the blueprint as she mentally recited the blueprints of the map. She roughly wiped her face with the back of her hand.
Naruto grinned at her words, but frowned when he heard the sniff. He opened his eyes and saw her crouched down figure. "Sakura?"
"Give me a second, okay, Naruto?" She still wouldn't turn around and look at him. Naruto took a step forward, but paused when he heard Sasuke say, "Leave her alone, Dobe. She'll make your stupid ramen when she's ready."
Naruto chewed his lip as he saw Sakura tense up when Sasuke said that before relaxing again. He turned and found Sasuke leaning against another tree, far away from them two, with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He narrowed his eyes at Sasuke for a while and opened his mouth before he thought better and closed it again. "'Kay, I'll wait," he mumbled. He went towards the fire and sat down, crossing his legs. He turned his head up towards the star filled sky and stared in thought.
Sakura muttered underneath her breath, making herself memorize the blueprints. Her fingers were shaking as she followed the lines. His words hurt, it shouldn't have, but it did. She hated him for making her feel that way, but she hated herself even more for letting herself become so affected.
He doesn't mean anything. His words don't mean anything. He is nothing, Sakura, nothing. Sakura took a deep breath and repeated them in her head over and over again
She wished that she wasn't part of this mission with them. With Naruto she could stand, she loved him and he was the best person to be around with, especially on a mission. But with Sasuke…that's a whole other story. Lately, he was vicious towards her; snapping at the most innocent remarks from her and blowing them out of proportion. Today was no exception.
She didn't even know what the hell happened. All she did was say that they needed to slow down and not overdue it. He did just come from another mission and he was still recovering from his wounds. And when he said 'why do you care?' all she answered was that she was worried he would overextend himself. She meant it as a concerned friend and teammate, but he took it to a whole other level. Maybe she should stop trying to be his friend. It's been two years since he returned after fulfilling his revenge and they were still nowhere near from having the friendship he and Naruto shared.
Sometimes, when she was alone in her small apartment and lying down in bed, after a long stressful day of dealing with Sasuke's cruelness, she wished that he never did come back; that he stayed gone and never stepped foot in Konoha again. But then she would remember Naruto's eyes finally becoming bright again like when they were young, when they all used to be so innocent, and she would feel guilty for even thinking about that. He worked so hard to bring him back. Imagine how he would be if Sasuke never returned; but it didn't stop the feelings from returning.
I don't care what your feelings are for me. I don't love you…I can't love you, so get that through your skull.
Sakura shut her eyes tight. She clenched her fist, her knuckles turning white. She didn't need this. She should have said something during the briefing. What the hell was Tsunade thinking sending these two with her? Usually she did these kinds of missions alone.
"This mission you are going on has been labeled A-rank. It is extremely dangerous and is the utmost importance that you succeed," Tsunade stared at the three.
Sakura was confused as Tsunade debriefed them about the mission. She already knew about this, but why was she telling Sasuke and Naruto about it? She was supposed to do this alone, right?
"Finally we get to go on a mission as Team 7," Naruto grinned, pumping his fist into the air. "Too bad Kakashi-sensei had to miss it."
"That's cause he's doing a mission of his own, remember? Or has your stupidity finally affected your memory?" Sasuke smirked as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"What was that, Teme?!" Naruto growled.
Sakura looked at them two bicker, not even bothering to stop it. This happened way too much for her to count and no matter what they weren't going to listen. It almost made her feel jealous of the special bond they both shared. Strange, but special, even an outsider could see that.
She turned to face Tsunade with an apology on her lips, but hesitated when saw her expression. It was a mixture of a grimace and guilt and Sakura felt dread fill in her. Sakura prayed that the Hokage wasn't going to make her fears come true.
"Hokage?" Sakura muttered; her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Listen up," Tsunade said, catching the attention of the other two. "Originally Sakura was supposed to do this alone, but we've gotten reports that the target is becoming more dangerous as we speak. Therefore, Naruto and Sasuke will have to go as well."
"What do you mean alone?" Sasuke furrowed his brow as he glanced at Sakura quickly.
Sakura closed her eyes as her nightmare came alive. This was the last thing she ever wanted to happen.
Tsunade ignored his comment and continued with the briefing as she opened her desk drawer and pulled out three manila folders. She placed them on her desk and then ran a hand over her bangs.
"Sakura's objective is to seduce the target and do whatever is necessary to accomplish the mission," Tsunade said. "She will be in charge and you two are expected to obey."
"You can't be serious! She doesn't have the capability to do this!" Naruto and Tsunade looked at Sasuke as he interrupted Tsunade. Naruto's gaze kept flickering between Sasuke and Tsunade. He wisely kept his mouth shut.
Tsunade gave a wry smirk towards Sasuke and it grew when she saw him narrow his eyes at her actions. This idiot had no idea what Sakura was capable of. "That is where you are wrong, Sasuke. Sakura is extremely qualified for this mission."
Sakura's expression stayed neutral as Tsunade and Sasuke argued over her. But even though to the outside world she looked unaffected, inside she was furious. She felt hot all over as she heard Sasuke insult her over and over again. She clenched her fingers and felt her nails dig into her palms. She half expected them to start bleeding from the amount of pressure she was applying. She wanted to yell and punch Sasuke in the face, but she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that his words affected her.
"Enough, Uchiha!" Tsunade growled. Sasuke clenched his teeth at the sound of his last name. "I have made up my mind and whether you like it or not, Sakura is in charge and she is doing this mission."
Tsunade stared at Sasuke, challenging him to say anything else. When he stayed silent, she nodded. Her eyes moved to Naruto, who stayed silent throughout the whole argument. She saw Naruto look towards an equally quiet Sakura and then back to Tsunade before giving her a nod of his own. She tried to give him a smile, but it came out more of a grimace.
"You guys will pretend to be her bodyguards," Tsunade continued. "Sakura will act as a call girl in the Gazon's Mansion." She picked up the three folders from her desk and gave each one to them. "Rumor has it that girls have been disappearing left and right. You guys need to find out what is going on. Daizo is your target. He's the big chief there. He's been plotting something for Konoha for a while now. Your job to find out what it is and what is the connection with the girls. Are there any questions?"
All three shook their heads. "Good. You guys leave tomorrow morning at 0800 hours."
Sakura slowly opened her eyes. She took another deep breath and folded the blueprint away. It was already branded into her memory; there was nothing more she could do.
Standing up, she put her arms in the air and stretched. She turned and found a sleeping Naruto, arms and legs all over the place. Cups of ramen were scattered around him. How long did she spend daydreaming? She smiled at the scene and went to her own sleeping bag. Pulling it open she climbed in. She noticed that Sasuke was missing; she slightly frowned at this and then shrugged.
"It's not like he needs to be babysat," she muttered and pulled the blanket closer to her chin. She stared at the sky and had a nostalgic moment when Team 7 was younger and would spend the night under the stars after a long D-rank mission. She was such a fool back then, but she was happy. Now, she didn't know what she felt. A loud snore came from next to her and she smiled as she heard Naruto mumble something about ramen before turning on her side and closing her eyes.
From a high tree branch, Sasuke turned his head towards his teammates as he felt Sakura's chakra settle and then become undetected in her sleep. It was a hard skill to master, but it was something that most ninjas in Konoha learned in the academy.
He rolled his eyes when Naruto led out another loud snore. It still amazed him how the idiot was still alive when he was so careless. His eyes strayed onto Sakura's sleeping form again and he couldn't help but narrow them when he thought about the talk him and Naruto had when they left the Hokage's building.
"That was really uncalled for, you know," Naruto said as he walked next to Sasuke on their way home. He had his eyes closed and his arms folded behind his head. Sakura left a while ago, stating stiffly that she had some paperwork to finish at the hospital and would see them tomorrow.
"For what?" Sasuke said gruffly.
Naruto sighed and looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "You've been here for two years and you haven't even tried to be decent towards her. Do you even talk to her?" Sasuke stayed silent. They walked for another 5 minutes without saying anything before Naruto decided to try another approach. "Did you know she is going to apply for ANBU in the spring?"
This time Naruto got an answer. Sasuke muttered, "yeah," before shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground as they walked. Naruto peered at him and Sasuke tried to ignore him and the uneasy feeling he was beginning to develop in the pit of his stomach.
"Just… try not to give her such a hard time. She deserves respect after everything she's been through."
Sasuke stared off into the distance as he thought about Naruto's request. Been through? What has she been through that he hasn't? He scoffed. Naruto was just being dramatic as always.
At least Sakura was finally taking her role as a ninja seriously. They had a mission to accomplish and Sakura would do what she needed to make that happen. There was nothing in the briefing about him being nicer to her. She was an adult. She'll get over it. He had better things to spend his time and energy on than worrying about her feelings.
Right now, all that mattered was the mission.
I wrote this story a long time ago, under the name of queenofdarkness212, but I didn't like where it was going, so I have decided to rewrite the whole thing. Just wanted to let you guys know, so you wouldn't think that I was plagiarizing.