Yes, I suck. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, it's another new thing and not The Wrong One.

I have had this story stuck in my head for a good few months, so I figure, get this out of my head, and there will be more room for ideas for TWO. I know, I'm a genius.

This isn't gonna have many chapters, it's just a little short story that's been on my mind. I've also actually planned most of how this is gonna go, which is a first, so it might even been done quicker.

Anyhoo … enjoy!

P.S: This is set in a few years time, when they are ANBU age. Just to avoid confusion

Disclaimer: I may have disappeared off the face of the Earth, but I think the fact that I'm back proves that I own nothing.

Summary: Because a day only ever gets worse the moment you think it can't. Still, this might be more fun than I thought …

Inconspicuous

Chapter One

Sakura P.O.V

Damn that hurt.

I opened my eyes slowly, squinting as the sun shined through the leaves of the trees towering above me.

Wait … trees?

I tilted my head to the side, to realise that I was lying on hard, dirty, leafy ground. 'I'm outside?' I furrowed my eyebrows and tried to think back to how I came to be sleeping … in the forest … without a tent … right.

It was only as I went to stand up and flinched that I remembered. I was in a fight. Okay. That makes sense. I continued to get up, ignoring the pain – I'll heal it later – and scanned the area. There was no one else in sight. 'Which means I lost …' I scowled at myself, brushing excess leaves and dirt from my uniform and hair. I hate losing.

As I healed myself, certain flashes came to me, and the fight itself became a hell of a lot clearer. I sighed and glanced up, sensing the direction of Konoha easily. When you're in the forest, you really understand the term 'hidden leaf village'.

I continued to be angry with myself as I walked. The sun beat down hard. Barely two hours had passed since the fight began. The fact that it was over quickly was what annoyed me the most. That, and the fact that I barely had enough chakra to heal myself. Stupid inanimate object.

-Flashback-

I was panting heavily as I leapt from branch to branch, determined to catch the man who decided he'd try to invade Konoha. It was made clear from the minute he walked into the village single handed that he wasn't very smart, but what he lacked in brains he sure made up in speed.

I was slowly advancing on him, this nobody that Tsunade didn't even know the name of. I knew that if I waited for the rest of the ANBU squad before we started the chase, we would never have got him. I knew I wasn't the fastest in the team, but I was the most persistent, and I was not going to let the little bugger escape.

Suddenly, Mr Anonymous stopped running and landed in a clearing. In the midst of all my thoughts, I nearly ran past him, but used my ninja abilities to swing from the next branch into the clearing. Style it out, Sakura, style it out.

He stood in front of me, also panting from the chase. I wasted no time in getting several senbon from my pouch and throwing them at my victim. He dodged most, but I saw one pierce his arm. He yelped in pain and tore it out, evidently unaware of the numbing feeling he would soon encounter.

He, in return, attempted to throw a couple of kunai in my direction, but since I cut his usual throwing arm, his aim was a little off. I didn't even have to try to dodge them as they scattered on the ground a few inches away.

I watched as the numbing sensation intensified, and his face twisted into a strange image as he clutched him arm tightly. Ahh, I love the kind of fights where I can just sit back and enjoy the show …

Just as I was getting comfortable (seriously, I was even sitting on the ground.) the guy used his functioning arm to reach into a pocket of his cloak and pulled out a device that I have never seen before.

This couldn't be good.

I stood up, and got into my fighting stance. Through his distorted face, he seemed to smile maliciously at me, before throwing (again, pretty clumsily) in my direction. I jumped back a little, though not far, as the aim was still quite wonky. I wanted to investigate, but since I had never seen anything like it, my ANBU instincts told me to stay back. The man was obviously leaving this for the end of the fight, probably assuming that he would wound me first. It also meant that he had predicted a fight in the first place, as it was unlikely that this small object would be used to cause the destruction of Konoha.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't as stupid as I first thought.

A loud whirring noise came from the object, and I immediately snapped into focus. The man continued to smile as he clutched his agonizing arm.

All of a sudden, a white light emitted from the thing, getting larger and larger. I squinted and shielded my eyes as the light grew so bright I couldn't even see the grass beneath my feet. Soon after, there was a loud BANG, and the last thing I remembered was being thrown back into the forest, before darkness engulfed me.

-End flashback-

After having some very long time to think, I realised I was back at Konoha's gates. Walking in, I waved to Izumo and Kotetsu, who both completely ignored me. Lovely. Continuing towards the Hokage tower, I noticed a can on the ground and started kicking it. People gave me weird looks as I walked, but I wasn't surprised. It's not often I lose a battle because a bright white whirring tiny thing that just happened to blast me ten feet back. So yeah, I was in a sour mood.

The Hokage tower was, as per usual, silent, as I walked through the empty corridors, the can that amused me so much on my journey long since forgotten and abandoned outside the doors. I sighed as I reached the double doors I knew so well, and knocked three times, awaiting an answer.

…

Any answer at all.

…

"COME IIIIIIIN!"

Great, she's drunk. I should've realised sooner.

I opened the door slowly and shut it behind me, before turning to face Tsunade, who had a rather puzzled look on her face.

"Hello?"

I inwardly rolled my eyes and took a few slow steps towards her desk. "Tsunade-sama? It's me, Sakura. How much have you had to drink?"

Instead of sobering the woman up, I somehow managed to make her more confused, as she jumped back in her seat, before standing up and walking (wobbling) around her desk.

"Sakura? -hic- Where are you?"

Sighing, I played along, only because I did not want to add 'pissed Tsunade off' on my 'terrible things that happened today' list.

"I'm right here, Sensei. Directly in front of you. I know sometimes you drink so much you can't see straight, but to not see at all, that's a new one."

Tsunade frowned, and lifted one finger, aiming it towards me. I raised an eyebrow as she continued, before she jabbed me really hard in the shoulder. Her eyes widened and she stepped back, as I rubbed my arm.

Out of nowhere, my Sensei, the woman who taught me everything I know, the woman I admire the greatest …

Burst into a fit of giggles.

She was laughing so much that she actually had to place a hand on the corner of her desk as she doubled over, shoulders shaking crazily. I placed a hand on my hip and waited for her to finish. If it was Naruto, I'd have punched him several times by now, but no. I must remember my list. No angry Tsunade.

Around five to ten minutes later, the laughter subsided, and she straightened up, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What's so funny?"

The blonde before me came close to laughing again, but stifled it, as she moved back around her desk and sat down, placing TonTon on her lap.

"Sakura … I thought you were out with the rest of the ANBU squad."

Shit. "I was, Tsunade-sama, but I chose to pursue the assailant alone, otherwise we wouldn't have caught him."

"Did you catch him?"

"Well … no. But, the fight was really weird, I attacked him, and I thought I had him, but then he pulled out an object from his cloak … I was wondering if you'd know anything about it."

Intrigued, Tsunade leant forward as TonTon squeaked, jumping off of her master's lap in fear she would be squished. Tsunade crossed her hands in front of her face, and signalled for me to continue. I was always amazed at how fast she could sober up. Amazed and a little jealous.

"It's hard to describe really … it was about the size of TonTon, maybe a little bit smaller … he threw it at me and I dodged it so I never got a close look, but it made this loud whirring noise, and then …"

"Then what, Sakura?"

"A bright white light came from it, and it blasted me backwards into the forest. I was knocked unconscious for about half an hour. I woke up and the object and the man were gone."

Tsunade got some papers (that probably needed to be completed months ago) and shuffled them, as if she were a newsreader. Sighing, she placed them down neatly and turned to face the window. "Do you know what happened after that light hit you, Sakura?"

Now that I thought about it, I really didn't. "I assumed it just drained my chakra, I pretty much used up my last bit to heal myself. But I don't know …"

"That would explain why I couldn't sense you …"

"Sense me? Tsunade-sama, with all due respect, you couldn't see me!"

Tsunade turned back to face me then, all the seriousness gone from here face and instead replaced with a large grin, "Would you like me to tell you what happened, Sakura?"

My eyebrow returned to it's raised position and I folded my arms, "You know what the object was?"

Tsunade shook her head, and gestured towards the mirror hanging on the wall. I walked over to it tentatively, not sure what to expect. Did the bomb-thing do something to my face? Did it give me a pig snout as a nose or something? That would explain the weird looks … oh Kami, I have a pig nose.

I reached the mirror, bracing myself for the snout on my face, only when I looked into it, I didn't see anything wrong. I didn't see anything wrong, because I didn't see me at all. As I looked into the mirror, all I saw was Tsunade's desk behind me, and Tsunade herself getting up to stand by it, facing me.

"I think the impact turned you invisible, Sakura."

Right! First chapter done! I know it's not very long, but to be honest, this is the first thing I've been proud of since I wrote The Talk.

So … Sakura's invisible?

Yes, she is. The last sentence should clear that up for you.

But if she's invisible, how can she see herself?

I'm gonna be straight with you, I have never been in a position where I turned invisible, so I don't know what it's like. If any of you have, please feel free to tell me. But in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Buffy turns invisible, and she doesn't know. I figure, if she didn't know, she could obviously see herself, because her eyes still act as though everything's normal, but no one else can see her. Or something like that.

So that's why Izumo, Kotetsu and the villagers were weird?

Yuppers. I tried to show how she was drained of chakra, so then Izumo and Kotetsu wouldn't sense her, and coz they can't see her, just ignoring her. Also, the villagers would've been a bit creeped out at the sight of a can moving by itself on a day with no breeze.

Pig snout?

Yes. Why not? It would match her hair, at least.

Who is this Mr Anonymous?

No idea. I wasn't trying to focus on the man himself in this chapter, I just wanted the object to be thrown and the invisibility to begin. Depending on how many chapters I do, I might go into more detail on him later on. If I don't, just use your imagination. -shrug-

Why have you been gone for so long?

Yeah, I really am sorry about that. A lot of stuff happened in 2011. I'm no longer in college, I'm no longer in my old house (which I loved dearly and came up with a lot of ideas for fics there), I'm no longer in a relationship, I'm no longer unemployed (I got a job, yaaaay), and I'm no longer 17, as I'm now 18. So, I had to deal with a lot of stuff last year, and just couldn't be motivated to do anything. The next chapter of TWO has been started, but at the moment I want to get this one out of the way, then more focus will be on The Wrong One. Hopefully, it will start getting a lot better too.

Well, I shall see you soon! With more of this! If you have an questions that I didn't clear up there, just ask, and they shall be answered!

Reviews make me happy, and the more reviews I get, the less invisible I become. So pleaaaaaaaaaaase review :)

Over and out :)

-x-Emma-x-