The Black Cherry Blossom
Chapter One: The Time Has Come
Rain dripped down the hatched roof like tears, the moonlight sky illuminating as lightning cracked through the silver-black clouds. Haruno Sakura sat patiently in the covered windowsill of her apartment, her jade orbs searching the skies for each strike of the ice-blue light danced across her vision. Sakura felt the corners of her mouth lift, the pale rose strands of her hair danced across her face, although she'd tied them back as soon as the first rumble had reached her ears. Tonight was perfect, the rain would ensure others stayed indoors and away from the alleyways she required.
Yes... Tonight was perfect for disappearing.
Her world had always revolved around her friends, her family. But after the war things had started changing, everyone had started getting married, started having families of their own. Normally she wouldn't have minded, but then her only choice for a husband announced his engagement to a particular red-head. Everyone, everyone she'd grown up with forgot about her. It was slow, but gradually they forgot even her name. She was simply a passerby to them, for they were too wrapped up in their own lives. Tsunade was her only friend, her only lifeline. Soon, Sakura became an ANBU Captain, along with Head Medic for the hospital, replacing both Shizune and her mentor.
If she thought her accomplishments would help her friends remember her, she was sorely mistaken.
They smiled, shook her hand in congratulations, and then walked right past her to her mentor. No one spoke to her, no one visited her, or even spared her a glance anymore. And quite frankly she was tired of it, tired of the constant loneliness in the hordes of people she used to know. Three years she put up with it, three years she hoped and dreamed that someone would say hi to her, or even acknowledge her. Finally she had to face the inevitable, the unavoidable truth.
These people, were not her people.
Not anymore.
As the midnight neared, she packed what she needed and reached for her headband. Slender fingers lightly rubbed the smooth metal of her Leaf Symbol, a pained look on her face. This was her home, her beloved place. And now she was being driven out by those who once cared deeply about her, those she had loved with every piece of her heart. A calm rage took over her, and suddenly in her hand lay a Kunai. With a quick yank of her arm, the blade sliced easily through the soft metal of her headband, gleaming on the nightstand where she left it for whoever came to find her.
Content with marking herself as a Rouge Ninja.
Quietly she slipped out of the village, easily making her way over the slick roofing of the houses and across the wall, vanishing into the thick foliage and welcoming darkness. For once she felt calm, at peace. Fear held no power over her, she swore when she became an ANBU member that fear would never control her again. Sakura made her way toward Oto, knowing that they didn't have very friendly views toward her mother-country. Without any markings to determine her loyalty, the people of Oto would more than likely assume her to be just another traveler. While she would have chosen Amegakure as a place to run off to first, Ame was currently known for one thing only.
They were the last known residential area of the Akatsuki.
She reached the inner borders by daybreak, the wee hours of the morning painting the new surroundings in an angelic, pale glow. She would have stared at the world a little longer, but the approaching sound of wooden wheels quickly snapped her out of her reverie. Quickly she threw up a henge to disguise her features, and suddenly she had long blonde hair and a pale blue dress on. Seeing that it was just a merchant, she hurried toward him. It was time she changed herself up, a new identity was something she was going to need desperately soon.
"Excuse me! Sir?"
The driver slowed and looked behind him at the lithe frame of the blonde running toward him, a pack slung over her shoulder.
"Yes ma'am? What can I help you with?"
"Do you have any clothing I could purchase? And perhaps some grocery items?"
A smile broke across his face, and he quickly opened the back to show her his wares. Most of the clothing were ninja-style for both men and women, with a few children's clothes. However he had mass amounts of grocer items, along with a variety of weapons, to make up for the lack of normal clothing.
"I apologize for the lack of regular clothing, but my customers are generally all Ninjas. Sometimes mother's getting a last-minute present for their kids. Anyway what can I help you find?"
"The usual ninja garments please, along with few weapons. My sister is a ninja in Yugakure and I'm going over there next week to visit, so I thought I'd get her a new outfit and weapons."
Sakura rifled through the women's clothing before settling on a black ensemble, with it she purchased fishnets, wrappings and a new set of three-pointed Kunai with a cherry blossom stamped into the hilts. She also picked up a set of Senbon needles and Shiruken, she'd never had good accuracy with them, but she figured now would be the ideal time to perfect her aim.
"That'll be 300 ryo please."
She smiled and handed over the money, not at all worried since she'd acquired a small fortune from her ANBU missions. After murmuring a 'Thank you' to the nice man, she made her way toward the forest on the opposite side of him. One of the neighboring countries had no affiliation with the land of fire, no Kage to send out troops to capture her.
The land was mainly inhabited by simple farmers and rustic lands, no ninja were usually seen there since no one needed them. If one of the children shows signs of abilities, they were often taken to either Otogakure or Takigakure, since the land was nestled between the two. They were poor and carried no actual money, instead opting to trade and barter. They were only known as the Lost Lands, since many ninja cities thought of them as insane.
Alright, its a day and a half trek to the Lost Lands, once we're there, find a place to start building our house. Make sure we can leave at a moments notice, just in case we get any unwanted visitors. Don't forget that your a Rogue now Pinky...
Sakura growled softly as she heard her Demon speak, while she was helpful to Sakura most of the time, her attitude often made her host irritated. Her clan had always bonded the female children with various Demons that often roamed their Origin-lands, unluckily for her, Sakura had been bonded with the Demon Hannya, a being of Jealousy. She was given the White Hannya Mask; indicating that she'd received the aristocratic version of her, while she was no less possessive over Sakura, she was in many ways wiser and more cunning.
Be quiet, before you ruin my concentration. If I go too far to the right I'll likely hit a town, and since I'm an unaccompanied female I'm likely to get stopped for... unsavory reasons.
Then I suggest you hurry the hell up, and quit whining Pinky.
Sakura grit her teeth and quickened her pace slightly, dashing silently through the treetops. The last thing she needed was to be caught by Oto Ninja unguarded, she wouldn't survive their... Interest. As she neared the border, she picked up on two things.
Footfalls, and chakra.
Go up, hide before you're seen.
She growled and quickly grabbed an upper branch of the tree she'd landed in, smoothly arching her body up and into the thick foliage above her. She hid for a almost two minutes before two Oto-Nin passed below her, she glared at their bulky forms as they stupidly looked about for her. Palming her new kunai, she stayed low in the tree and listened in on their incessant bickering.
"She was here! I heard her! I fucking smelled the bitch!"
"Well obviously your goddamn nose was wrong, again. You know what, you can tell the boss why a 'sure thing' ended in a dead fucking end. The pink-haired Kunoichi is gone, and now we have to go back to that freak and his creepy doctor-friend and tell them why his new toy just up and fucking vanished! Are you trying to get us killed asshole!?"
You know EXACTLY who their talking about, WHY are you just waiting for them to realize you're in the goddamn tree? To what level are you trying to attempt this suicide?
Shut up, the more they bitch the more information I get. Otogakure ninja are incredibly stupid, the chances of them actually noticing me is slim to none. And please, if I wanted to die, I would never have left Konoha...
Sakura noticed that their chatter had stopped, that smaller of them was sniffing the air like Kiba did. So either he was a Hound like Kiba, or his jutsu amplified his sense of smell. Fabulous. She suddenly dropped down and landed easily on the largest of the two, surprising them and giving her ample time to slit his jugular vein. With a grunt and a choked gasp he crumpled beneath her, and with a quick little hop she appeared in front of the second one, her now blood-stained kunai at his beefy neck.
"Looking for me? Good. I think I'll let you live... Long enough to send a message to your employer. I am to be left alone, nobody comes searching for me, no matter how high the bounty is. Otherwise, your little friend their will get some friends on the other side. Have I made myself clear?"
The man in front of her nodded quickly, his eyes widened in absolute terror. It was more than obvious that this was his first S-Class bounty mission, and after his failure, more than likely his last. She felt him shiver as the weight of her promise hits him, she felt herself smirk. Stupid little boy had no idea what it took to be an ANBU, you couldn't have any kind of emotion.
Not even friends.
She quickly knocked him out and let him drop to the ground, following him down she easily stripped him of his upper clothing, exposing his chest. She had a brief thought of regret for what she was about to do, but the calm indifference swept over her and once again, she no longer minded. Into his chest she carved one word, and one word only.
'Pain'
Hi guys!
Sorry I've been inactive for so long, things have been absolutely... chaotic here. But I promise I'm going to try and update as much as possible, hopefully once a week.
So a small note about this story, Sakura is supposed to act differently than in the anime/manga. I've always hated how whiny she's been so I decided to make her into who she should have been in the first place, a badass.
Please review to your hearts content, let me know what you would like to see and maybe give me some Ideas.
This will be a family-type story, but it will have lemons in it. This is probably gonna come off as harem-ish, to a degree it is, but it isn't. I'm going to be extremely picky about who she sleeps with and who is just family to her.
As Always,
BlackRose999
Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO/NARUTO SHIPPUDEN or any of its characters.