Years of Promise

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Hiya, all peoples! In case you don't know, this is the sequel to Blossom of Konoha, so to understand it just a teeny but better, I recommend you read that first. Oh, and I'm a TemaShika fan, but so many InoShika fans are pestering me about it, it's overwhelming, so I decided I'll just try to avoid putting them in this story as much as possible. OOH! And I just LOVE these pictures: http://good-times. ANDDDDDDD:

http://good-times. yeah.

FOLLOW THE DARN LINKS OR READ THIS!
By da way, that's what Sakura looks like in this story
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Sakura hummed as she walked away from the hospital after another long day of work.

" I'm glad that's over with!" She sighed. She leaned against a tree and smiled sadly as she remembered Sasuke. "I wonder what he's doing now?"

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" Would you like something to drink, your highness?" Sasuke wrinkled his nose and managed a small grin.

" How many times have I told you? Please don't call me that. I just make sure that this place manages to stand. In reality, I'm just the same as you are." The man smiled and walked away, still not used to the nice treatment.

During Orochimaru's rule, Otogakure was in ruins, and many sound Nin were slaughter, often by Orochimaru himself. He has ordered them around like servants, and people eventually knew better than to get on his bad side. His thirst for power made everyone fear him, as he could turn a person with a beautiful spirit into a monster worth fearing. The way he had lured people with promises of their wants had devastated them, throwing the village into chaos.

Now, under Sasuke's rule, the village had somehow miraculously managed to get back on their feet and was now in peace, enjoying this newfound quaintness. Sasuke looked down at the kunai in his hand and realized that he had held it so tight, the now fading light pink ribbon around it had drops of blood dripping down it. He wiped it off, and smiled at the fading image of Sakura. He looked out a window and wondered how she was doing.

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Sakura brushed some dust off her white jacket and knocked on the door in front of her. A pale hand opened the door to reveal Hinata.

" Oh! S-Sakura-chan! Hi!" Sakura smiled.

" Sorry I'm late! Work was pretty harsh today." The door widened to reveal TenTen, Ino and Temari and of course, Hinata standing by the door. Sakura entered the room and cheered,

" I can't wait for this sleepover!" All the girls began to talk excitedly about what they would do during the night. Tenten tugged at her shirt.

" Sometimes I hate being an Anbu! It can be so stressful!" Temari shook her head.

" Being the sister of the Kazekage is even harder! You have to continuously run around doing errands!"

" That's not true!" Ino protested. "Just being the leader of a group of genin is hard enough! They whine and whine and whine all day! And WE don't get to complain! Right, Hinata?" Ino nudged the shy Hyuga, who just nodded and blushed. Sakura wrinkled her nose in disgust.

" Yeah, right. Being a medic takes all you chakra, and sometimes we have to open up people and perform surgeries with people's insides." All the girls shuddered in agreement. They went back to the topic they were originally talking about.

" I wonder why Naruto's so determined to become Hokage." Temari wondered aloud. Sakura shook her head.

" Trust me. You DON'T want to ask him. He'll go on and on and on and he won't stop." All the girls agreed.

" Who do you think is the creepiest Kage?" Tenten challenged.

" That's easy." Temari stated. "Gaara. But don't tell him I said that. He would kill me!"

" Nah, Tsunade's a thousand times scarier when she's drunk." Sakura smirked. Hinata shook her head.

" I think Sasuke was scarier when he was mad." Suddenly, the whole room seemed to tip over. Silence filled the air. Sakura seemed the gloomiest.
" Uh, I said the wrong thing, didn't I?" Hinata whispered. Tenten nodded. Sakura's eyes were downcast, and a single tear fell down her cheek. Embarrassed, she wiped it away and managed a fake smile.

" Well, I can't let THAT let me down! Let's have some fun!" She displayed fake cheeriness.

" Sakura," Ino frowned. "You're twenty one, and you've turned down every singly admirer that has ever come to you. You can't turn down everyone that comes to you. I mean, you can't stay single all your life." Sakura smiled bitterly.

" There's only one person out there for me." She reached into her pocket and took out Sasuke's headband, tying it around her leg. They all nodded in silence.
" Don't you think this is getting boring?" Tenten sighed. Temari smiled evilly.

" Let's prank the boys!"

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Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sai and Lee were also having a sleepover. (What a coincidence! Now I'm rolling my eyes!) This was probably quite boring. All Naruto was talking about was Ramen, Shikamaru was sleeping, Chouji was eating, Lee was just blabbering on and on about youth. And Neji… and Sai? They were probably glaring at each other till at least one of them fell down dead. Of course, that wouldn't happen if Sasuke were there! He would've killed them all! (Joking…)

" When do we get to eat? I WANT RAMEN!" Everyone remained silent, except for Chouji's munching. Naruto's outburst awoke Shikamaru.

" Who cares?" He yawned. Naruto grinned foxily.

" Hey, Neji!" Neji paid no heed to Naruto. Naruto sighed.

" I think Hinata-chan is pretty cute!" In less than a second, Neji was on top of him.

" What did you say?" He growled, activating his Byakugan. Naruto shivered.

" Eh… Nothing?" He squeaked.

" Good." Suddenly, the door rang.

" Hey, Chouji! It's your house! Go get it!" Naruto gave Chouji a shove. Chouji grunted and opened the door.

SPLOOSH!

Chouji came in, glaring at Naruto and shivering wet.

" YOU KNEW THAT WOULOD HAPPEN!" Naruto shook his head nervously.

" Of course I didn't!"

" I dunno, Naruto… I can never tell if you're lying or not…" Shikamaru stretched, accidentally bumping into Sai, who fell on top of Neji, whose hands flailed and hit Naruto, who accidentally hit Chouji, Who began roaring.

" SEE! I BET YOU KNEW THAT ALL ALONG! ROAR!" (O.o) Naruto began running around like a crazed maniac, with Chouji chasing after him. Shikamaru sighed.

" What a pain."

Neji looked up from his glaring contest and sighed.

" For once, I agree with you."

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All the girls burst into laughter.

" Did you see the look on his face!?" Ino laughed. Tenten smiled viciously.

" That was just Chouji-baka. Wait until we get Neji-kun… I mean Neji." She flinched, embarrassed.

" Hey, if you're going to play a prank on your boyfriend, you shouldn't get too attached before the prank- we don't want you to change your mind!" Sakura smiled. Tenten nodded, blushing.

" Hai!" Ino grinned.

" So what's our next prank?" Sakura spread out a piece of paper.

" Neji will never see what's coming!"

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Neji opened one eye, then the other. He sat up. Something wasn't right. He opened the window.

" Good. It's morning." Then what's wrong? Neji whirled around, and realized he didn't feel a certain familiar presence behind him. Then he noticed a certain thing… laying right… in Naruto's hand…

" OHMIGOD! MY HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!"

So ends the story of Neji's hair.

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The girls listened intently at Neji's yelling, and Naruto's insistent voice.

" I didn't do it!" They heard.

" Oh, Yeah? Then why did I find not only my hair, but scissors in your hand as well?"

" That was so funny!" Temari cackled. The five girls walked in.

" Hey, Neji!" Tenten smiled, cheerfully. Then, she saw his head, and gasped. "Wow…" She gaped. " Um… I need to talk to my friends real quick…" The five huddled in a corner.

" You did such a good job, Sakura! You're great at cutting hair! How did you do it? He looks so handsome!" Tenten whispered. Sakura smirked.

" Well, I guess I all comes from the Chunin exams. Stupid sound nin…" (I'm guessing you know who I'm talking about…) Tenten shrugged.

" Whatever. He's just so cute!" She smiled. Ino licked her lips.

" I wonder what would happen when we shave off most of Lee's eyebrows…" She twirled her blonde hair on a finger.

"So…" Tenten turned around. "Want to hang out, Neji?" Neji shrugged.

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Sakura, while no one was looking, had snuck out.

" Sasuke-kun…" She crouched down and flicked a rock, satisfied at the noise it made while it crumbled. "Wait… isn't today…Saturday? Tsunade-sama said I could take two days off…" She smiled. She knew exactly what to do.

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Oops! This first chappie was short…