Sakura

Better, Faster, Stronger :: Daft Punk

Sakura grit her teeth as blood began seeping from the scrapes on her knuckles. She briefly stopped to check the damage before continuing to brutally pummel the wooden practice dummy. Front kick, right straight, crescent* and the dummy was in splinters.

Soon after, Sakura collapsed in a sweaty, panting heap on the dirt, convulsing violently from cramps and sores.

"D-damn it," she panted, shakily propping herself up on her elbows.

Curling into the fetal position with her head shoved between her knees, she cursed again, sending a wave of pain through her stomach. She struggled over to a nearby bush and threw up her breakfast, her lunch, and everything else in between.

She couldn't do this.

She couldn't.

Sakura lay on the ground, waiting for the tears to come.

A few months after Naruto had departed for training with Jiraiya, Sakura had resolved to train harder than ever- harder than it seemed possible, at first. She trained literally all day, sometimes collapsing right in the training area and slept there. And even then, rarely did she sleep peacefully, waking in the night to vomit back up whatever she had eaten (usually ramen, being the only fast and cheap source and a sort of comfort food), or sometimes even to heal herself to keep the intense pain at bay. She kept her hair short (once considering cutting all of it off), kept to herself, and again, trained until she dropped.

And now it was taking its toll.

Sakura screamed as an excruciating pain ripped through her once again. Oh God, how she wanted to heal herself- but she'd tried that earlier, and all she could manage was a weak green spark. She was too fatigued to do anything at this point.

She sat up and forced herself to do five sit-ups, grimacing against the pain. Then came five push-ups- one, two, three-

Her arms gave out underneath her, and she collapsed face-down on the dirt.

She lay there, just letting the stitches ripple up and down her body, feeling moisture finally prickle at the corners of her eyes.

I can't do this. She thought. It's too much. It doesn't matter how hard I try- I'll never be as strong as Sasuke or Naruto.

Eventually, the salty tears spilled over, soundlessly streaming down her haggard face. So distracted by her own failures, she didn't notice the wind pick up and swirl around one point, taking on the form of a teenaged boy. Sakura's neck muscles strained as she looked up at the boy that she had once nursed a large schoolgirl crush on- Sasuke Uchiha.

"I won't be held back by liabilities like you." He sneered, looking down at her.

"Bastard!" she snarled, her voice thick from crying. "I am not useless!"

He leaned down, momentarily caressing her cheek with his calloused thumb, wiping away the tears.

"We'll see." He whispered, vanishing into a miniature typhoon of dust and leaves.

I will get stronger. Sakura thought, trying to make use of her limp arms. Just you wait.

But every time she tried to lift herself off the ground, she would simply collapse again, her pink hair mixing with the dirt. At this rate, she would have to be hospitalized-

No.

A sudden rush of strength shot through her, and her arms jolted upwards in a push-up. She smiled, doing another. And another. And another.

In a nearby tree, Ino crouched, her hands forming the possession technique. She didn't know how long this would last before her chakra was sapped, jumping in and out of Sakura's body to provide bursts of strength, but at least she could help for now.

*crescent- the tae kwon do term for roundhouse kick.

The first one shot featuring our leading lady, Sakura. Hoorah!

I'll be doing one shots for Temari, Ino, Ten Ten, Hinata, Matsuri, and other minor characters or OC's at the reviewer's request. Keep that in mind as you skim through this fanfiction, alright?

Just watched a Bad Lip Reading video so I'm overly happy :D