~Life as a Teenaged Werewolf~
Life is what you make it out to be; the only person who can control who or what you become is yourself.
Sakura remembered hearing this from day one. Her mother was a dreamer, a fighter, one of the most successful women she knew. She always made sure to tell her dear Sakura to never give up and make the decisions that seemed wisest to her. She always told Sakura she was special.
And in hearing her beloved mother tell her this continuously, it became the way she interpreted life: it doesn't matter what you're given; all that matters is what you make of it.
But when her mother suddenly died of cancer, Sakura had no idea of what to make of what she had. Because it seemed like everything she had was gone. She didn't feel very special at all. Until she found that she had a trait that no one she'd ever met had. She had the ability to transform into a powerful creature, majestic and dangerous.
And it became her release, her way of escaping. By the time Sakura was twelve, she had figured that the trait was probably passed by her unknown father, since her mother had never shown any signs or knowledge of the ability except for telling Sakura how special she was.
She'd also found that she was not the only one. Tenten was quick to befriend her. The slightly older girl explained that she knew nothing of her parentage and lived in places for very little time. Always alone. Sakura was the one who changed that.
Now at the age of eighteen, the girls were as close as friends or even sisters could get. And in desperate need of a new and better life. That reasoning is what fueled them to move to a quiet town by the name of Konoha as soon as summer had started.
With a huff, Sakura finally sat down and rested her tired body. She and Tenten had just finished the complete moving process in two days flat. That had to be a record!
Their new apartment was completely perfect for them. It was slightly bigger than most apartments because they had taken time to save up for a suitable living space. It was equipped with a nice kitchen, a cozy living room, and two rooms with separate bathrooms, Sakura's room being lime green while Tenten's was a nice cream color.
Looking at the nearest clock, Sakura sighed at the time. "Hey Ten, we'd better shower quickly and get to bed because that new job I signed us up for starts tomorrow."
She saw the brunette perk up at this. Tenten got up from her position on the bean bag chair. "Cool, so we got the job! Where'd you say it was again?" Tenten's head was cocked to the side to emphasize her question.
Sakura smiled for a brief moment before answering. "It's about 10 minutes from here, at this restaurant called Chopsticks… I talked with the manager over the phone. She seemed pretty cool."
Tenten nodded and abruptly yawned. "Alright," she said. "G' night Sak. See you in the morning." Sakura gave her a small smile and headed to her new room with a 'goodnight' to her best friend.
Her quick shower was a steamy blur and before she knew it, the rosette was fast asleep on her comfy bed.
The next morning, Sakura got up around nine AM and woke the brown haired beauty sleeping in the other room. Tenten opened her eyes grudgingly until she remembered the importance of the day.
"ZOMG Sak, I'm so excited! Today is our first day!" Tenten squealed with energy. Sakura smiled at her friend's enthusiasm. It had been lacking yesterday because of the labor it required to move. "You're always excited, Ten." But nonetheless, Sakura laughed a bit at her friend's hyperness.
"Yeah but today I'm super excited! I mean come on, this is the first day of the rest of our lives! Now go on, get ready. I'll start breakfast."
This being said, Tenten promptly shooed Sakura into her room. "Okay, okay," Sakura laughed as she was pushed playfully. She couldn't help but ponder about how their first day was going to turn out as she stripped down and looked for an appropriate outfit.
She finally chose a pair of darkwashed skinny jeans, a plain black V-neck tee, and black vans. Her long pink locks were down and stick straight as usual (she always envied girls with curly hair).
She brushed her teeth and hair and headed for breakfast. As Sakura walked into the kitchen, she heard bun-head grumble, "Finally."
"What was that?" Sakura asked, mockingly sweet. "Oh nothing, nothing. Here, I made you some eggs!" Sakura laughed as her friend hurriedly shoved eggs and toast in her face. "Thanks Ten, it looks great. Did you eat already?" Sakura asked.
Tenten gave a random thumbs up and said, "Yep, I ate. I'm gonna go get ready."
"Okay, make sure you hurry though, we have to go in about half an hour." Sakura said, looking at the clock. "Alrighty!" was Tenten's cheery response.
Half an hour later, Tenten came out dressed in a brown and white baseball styled tee-shirt, kaki cargo pants (the skinny jean-looking ones, of course), and a pair of tan converse. Her hair was in her characteristic buns, as always. "Hey you, ready to go?" Tenten asked optimistically.
Sakura smiled, catching her friend's mood instantly. "Yep! Thanks again for breakfast, it was awesome." Sakura said politely. Tenten headed for the door and replied, "No problemo. Now come on, let's go before we're late."
"Sure, sure, but I call driving!" Sakura said with a grin. "Fine, fine." Tenten said, giggling at her friend's eagerness. As the girls walked out with high spirits, Sakura paused to lock the door then ran to their most prized possession: the sleek silver mustang that was their car.
"Seatbelt!" Tenten yelled after her. She knew her "sister" tented to get a bit out of control with her car/baby. "Right!" She heard the pink haired girl reply.
All along the way, guys, or as they liked to call them "desperates" were either checking out the car, checking out the girls, or checking out both.
Tenten for one was getting annoyed. "Come on you damn light! I don't like being looked at like food." Sakura, nervous of Tenten's fierce temper breaking loose, uttered, "Oh Ten, calm down would ya? We're almost there."
"Fine, fine." She grumbled. Sakura shook her pink head with a smirk. "You really need to work on your people skills." Tenten rolled her doe-like, honey colored eyes at this. "Yea, well, the minute those desperates stop harassing us, I will."
"Okay, we're here!" Sakura said, changing the subject. Nobody wanted Tenten in a bad mood. Sakura parked in an employee spot and turned off the car. "Here we go." She crossed her fingers for good luck.
As soon as the girls walked in, their manager Temari (who is 19) walked up to them.
"Hey you must be Sakura… it's great that you showed up!" Temari was just as awesome as she sounded on the phone and the girls immediately felt comfortable with her. "Hey Temari, this is my best friend I was telling you about, Tenten. Tenten, meet Temari; she's our new manager." Sakura smiled as she introduced them.
"It's awesome to meet you Temari! I'm super excited to be working here." Tenten gave her one of her super huge blinding smiles. Sakura had to stifle a laugh when Temari almost shielded her eyes.
"Nice to meet you too; I've heard good things. I'm glad you're excited, so why don't we get you two up to speed?" She motioned for the girls to follow and they arrived at what seemed to be the back room where they held the kitchen, supply closet and other useful things.
"Okeedokee! Let me explain what you're gonna be doing." Temari paused, and then continued.
"Since you look like you can handle it, I'll put you guys on the counter. Your job is to take the orders and put money into the registers. After that, give the orders to one of our younger waiters or waitresses and they'll get the food to the customers. Got it?" Temari said with raised eyebrows. She hoped they were taking mental notes.
"Yes ma'am!" The girls said enthusiastically. Temari chuckled. "I can tell this'll be no problem for you girls. I'll check up on you later on. Oh, and you can get your aprons and nametags in that supply closet over there. Start as soon as you're ready."
"Yes Temari!" Tenten and Sakura saluted their new boss and followed their newest orders. And with that, the manager walked away.
After the first day of work.
"O.K. girls, you did awesome for your first day! I'm impressed at how fast you caught on. Be here tomorrow same time, please. You guys are doing great and I'm happy to have you. Your first pay check is at the end of the week!" Temari's praise brought happy smiles to the girls' faces.
"Thanks so much Temari! We'll be here tomorrow same time. Good night!" said a very exhausted Sakura. Said pink haired girl walked out the door with Tenten half asleep at her side.
It'd been one month since the girls moved into their new apartment and they had yet to explore the forest that was their backyard. Tenten for one was getting pretty bored.
"Sak, I'm going to die if we don't do something soon! We're even off tomorrow!" Tenten's expression was uncharacteristically dreary. And then, out of nowhere, "Ohmygosh! I've got it!" BOOM! Her face suddenly lost all of its dreariness.
The sudden outburst caused poor Sakura to jump and clutch where her heart rested. "Jeez Ten, you scared the bujeezus out of me!" she exclaimed.
Tenten smiled apologetically. "Sorry… anyways, why don't we change tonight? I want to explore the forest and the weather's great!"
Sakura's eyes and expression immediately lifted. It sort of reminded Tenten of a puppy who'd just heard the word 'walk'. "Tenten, you're a genius! Why didn't we think of this before?"
Tenten gave one of her random thumbs up and said, "Because we were dead tired and our brains were all mushy." The girls laughed a bit and then excitedly prepared for their exploration.
Said preparation included the girls getting up, turning off all the lights and walking out the door. As soon as Sakura locked up, the two headed off into the night. "This is gonna be wicked!" Sakura stated with a fist in the air. "Hell yea!" was Tenten's pumped up reply.
They walked to the forest in silence until the trees were directly in front of them. With a nod to each other, the girls focused on the transformation. Within a matter of seconds, there stood two beautiful, female wolves in place of the girls.
Sakura's coat was midnight black, with pink highlights scattered around it. Tenten's coat was a light brown, matching her eyes perfectly. As she looked at Sakura, Tenten met her green-eyed gaze.
Then, they silently ran, exploring all of the new sights and smells. Soon enough, they were in the heart of the forest.
"Tenten," Sakura whispered. "Do you smell that?" With a few sniffs, Tenten was suddenly aware of two males very close by.
"Do… do you think they're the same as us? Do you think they can change as well?" Tenten asked with unyielding curiosity. "I… I don't know." Sakura stammered. "Well, we're about to find out. They're coming this way."
TBC…
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- Crispy Gecko-Chan