The woods were quiet and peaceful when the group slowly walked, on their way home. No one talked, as they walked in an almost unbearable silence. A big, white dog in the group suddenly barked. The boy who was riding on the dog sighed, relieved. He had brown hair and red arrows underneath his eyes
"Akamaru says we're almost back in Konoha!" A pink haired girl in the group looked at the boy and tried to smile. Her green eyes were full of sadness and the unshed tears glittered in the dim sunlight.
"That's good Kiba." Kiba smiled back at her, feeling strangely melancholy, after all this was the way she had been when he left. He sighed and turned his attention forward.
"Sakura, it's too quiet! Hinata, Shino, Sai, Yamato-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, even Naruto is silent!" Kiba was really anxious over the fact that the entire group was extremely quiet and gloomy. The pink haired girl looked over at the blond boy walking ahead of her. He had blue eyes and whisker tattoos in his cheeks. He was walking with his hands in his orange pockets and he was looking into the ground.
"Is he really okay?" She sounded really worried and Kiba looked at her and smiled, even though the smile was faked.
"I'm sure he's alright! He might be sad right now, but he'll be normal in no time!" Sakura looked at him at smiled sadly. He could see she was on the verge of tears, worrying about the teammate who stayed, and the one who left.
"I hope so…" Akamaru barked again and she looked forward. They were right at the gates of Konoha. The giant, green wall looked so familiar, but somehow she wished the situation was different. Not like this. She looked Naruto with a worried look. She could see he was falling apart inside, and she didn't like it. She walked towards him.
"Hey, Naruto! Do you want to go and eat some ramen?" Naruto looked up at her and tried to smile, but failed greatly. The raw pain shone out from his blue eyes and his face was twisted in a grimace that only made him look even sadder.
"I'm sorry Sakura-chan, but I'm not in the mood." She winced at the emotions in his voice that he was trying to conceal. She nodded slowly and went a little ahead of him through the gates and into Konoha, trying to swallow the big lump in her throat and holding back the tears that were trying to flood over from her eyes.
--
The Hokage greeted them with a serious look on her face. Her desk was a complete mess and she didn't even conceal the sake bottle. Sakura looked at Naruto, but saw him looking down on the ground. She sighed and pushed away all the emotions she was feeling and became the hokage's disciple, not a teenage girl who was torn inside. She turned towards Tsunade and put a little smile on her face. She knew her fake smile would work and tried to think of happy things to make it even more real. After all, ninjas weren't supposed to cry or feel sadness.
"We're back shishou!" Her voice was stable and she pushed back the little crack that was close to be heard. Tsunade looked at her with an emotionless look. She didn't have a clue how Sakura felt right now, since she had become a pro in hiding her emotions. She cleared her throat and spoke:
"Sakura, we need you at the hospital as fast as possible!" She regretted the words as soon as they had left her mouth. She knew that Sakura would be emotionally upset, but the hospital was short on staff and she couldn't afford to have Sakura depressed right now. Sakura looked at her with an empty look. The emotions were tightly sealed now and all that remained was a vacuum that couldn't be filled.
"…I understand. I'll go there right now…" Her voice was indifferent, as if she weren't really living in the first place. Tsunade winced inwardly at her tone, but had to compose herself. She was the hokage for god's sake. If anyone had to be calm and collected, it had to be her. She nodded towards Sakura and turned towards the rest of the group.
"Everyone except Kakashi and Yamato are dismissed!" Everyone nodded and disappeared from the room. Tsunade looked Kakashi in the eye. She could see he was worried about Sakura as well. Maybe it was time for them to discuss hers and Naruto's mental conditions.
"Tell me about the mission…"
--
Sakura pushed the key into the lock and opened the plain, white door to her apartment. She was met by a cold and empty hall. She hadn't had the chance to get some furniture or ornaments since she moved here. She had been to busy working herself out in the hospital, to forget him. She walked through the hall, straight into her bedroom and changed into a fresh pair of clothes. They looked exactly as the ones she had before, a sleeveless red top, a skirt with slits, and a pair of black leggings. She wrapped some bandages around her leg and put on her long, black boots.
She walked out slowly from the room, but stopped when she saw the only decoration she had in her entire apartment. It was a photograph. The two boys were glaring at each other in a competitive manner, while the girl in the middle smiled, just happy to be there. She could feel the seal around her emotions loosen up, and quickly looked away from the picture. She put her hand on the wooden frame and closed her eyes. Her hand moved very slowly as it pushed the front of the photograph towards the white table it stood on. She opened her eyes and looked at it with empty eyes. Then she turned around and walked out through the door, carefully closing it behind her.
The hospital was bustling, full of noises. But she didn't really care anymore; she was used to all the noises. In the beginning she had been scared of working at there, but now she was a veteran and nothing really mattered to her anymore. One of the nurses walked towards her and looked her in the eye.
"Haruno senpai, you are needed in the emergency room. There are a couple of ninjas that has been poisoned, and we need you to remove it." Sakura met her gaze, and the younger nurse felt herself shrink under the cold and emotionless look from one of the strongest medic nins in the village.
"Which number?" The young nurse swallowed and cleared her throat.
"N…N… Number 1." She stammered and looked almost terrified. Sakura merely turned around and walking towards the emergency rooms, she didn't even spare a glance to the terrified young nurse. Once she had been happy and smiled towards anyone who talked to her. But that time was way past now. She saw him in every person she talked to and it hurt so much. It felt as if someone were digging a hole in her chest, piercing her heart.
--
The rain was pouring down when she was done at the hospital. She hadn't brought an umbrella and just couldn't be bothered being wet, so she took a step out from the protective roof and felt it pierce down at her. She started walking slowly savouring every minute of the numb feeling that was spreading in her body. Her feet started steering her away from her apartment, and past the training grounds, ninja academy and finally the gates. She let the memories flood into her and tried to remember his face but she couldn't. It was still to painful to remember.
The gates were still open and the two ninjas in the boot looked at her with curious gazes, wondering what she was doing there. She didn't spare them a glance, but walked out through the gates, looking dead. The guards were used to her going out of the village for other things than missions. After all she liked taking walks in the woods; it was a way of forgetting the coldness that had her heart in a tight grip.
The rain was still falling but a little less than before. She was wet into the core, but she didn't shiver or even think about going home and getting warm. She liked it this way, being alone and feeling something other than sadness. Suddenly a shuriken flew out of nowhere and scratched her arm. She looked at the wound, and saw the small rivulet of blood running down her arm, feeling the dull pain. Suddenly a group of persons appeared in front of her and her eyes lit up in recognition. Now, all she could hear was her heart, pounding in her ears. Her face looked human and alive as she stared at the one person in the world that could make her whole.
She saw him.
This is my first story so please be nice to me I would love constructive critics', but no flames please. I hope you enjoyed it
For some reason the first line is repeating… I hope that you can ignore it for now, I don't know what to do…I'm not exactly a technical genius xD