Beginner's Luck

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. They belong to K. Masashi. The lucky bastard...

Haruno Sakura was not the person she thought she would grow up to be. When she was younger, she believed she would become the head of the hospital after Tsunade retired.

She believed she'd spend the rest of her life in Konoha with her friends,and maybe even get into the ANBU.

But no, here she was, constantly changing locations to seek information on a certain Uchiha's whereabouts.

She didn't want to leave her beloved Konoha, but she had made a vow, a resolve to find Sasuke by herself.

Yes.

She will be the one to bring Sasuke back. Not anyone else.

She should have thought of this sooner. She should have left sooner. She should have left to with him two and a half years ago.

So that no one else would get hurt, especially our knuckle-headed ninja, Naruto.

Naruto. She thought.

I have become a person who caused you pain and suffering out of selfishness. I'm not worthy to be near such a happy person nor live a happy life because of what I've done to you. I must find Sasuke instead of you, then... hopefully you'll forgive me.

Sakura sighed, and suddenly felt intense pain on her stomach, reminding her that it was still there. "Damn sound ninja caught me off guard," she said grasping her stomach as she grit her teeth in pain. Some sound ninja had attacked her while she was asleep not too long ago. Her lack of sleep now had a hold on her whenever she did sleep. She would be out of it, and that was extremely bad. Not too mention she was roaming around in hostile territory.

"Dammit. I would've killed them in no time if I had paid more attention to my surroundings," she cursed herself once again, "That was the 3rd attack in the last 4 months."

Sakura Haruno became a missing-nin exactly 8 months ago. Determined to re-pay her debt with Naruto by delivering Sasuke back herself. It was the least she could do.

The exhausted kunoichi had to spot a place to rest her currently injured body, and hopefully get some healing done as well.

After about half an hour or so, Sakura completed her search for a place.

...

This is perfect. Not to crowded, seems peaceful, it totally fits my needs.

She thought, smiling.

The location was a small waterfall, and luckily this nearly-fresh water was suitable for baths, and washing her clothes and wounds.

Under her black t-shirt, she had wrapped her flat stomach with the cloth she ripped off her t-shirt sleeve to keep the wound from her recent fight clean.

As expected from a medical ninja who wouldn't take the risk of getting an infection.

Her usual outfit had become filthy, and was torn apart not too long ago. So she made use of her money, and bought the set of clothes she currently wore.

A black t-shirt and gray pants.

She figured that she would soon ruin her new clothes so she only bought ones that felt comfortable, and wasn't too flashy to attract unwanted attention.

Plus they were cheap and were on the for sale rack.

Sakura looked down into the running water, and saw her reflection. She didn't care about her looks, she didn't care what people think about her.

She didn't care if she looked like a boy. Actually she would look like one if she didn't have that pink hair of hers, that barely touched her shoulders.

She figured that she should dye her hair whenever she got the chance. Her odd hair color attracted unwanted attention as usual. She could careless if she didn't look good, decent or whatever.

All she cared right now was her promise, her promise to Naruto before she left.

Sakura swiftly jumped from roof to roof, making her way to the "kitsune's den." It was the middle of the night when Sakura quietly opened Naruto's window and sneaked through.

The blonde who wore his usual pair of ramen pajamas was fully sleeping and dreaming, no doubt. Snoring and snoring with the blanket on his feet, and of course he was sleeping in an odd position.

Her face hidden within the darkness, she smiled sadly and barely whispered the words.

"I swear I'll bring Sasuke back with my own hands... and Naruto... thank you... for everything."

Then she slowly held the blanket, and gently placed it over the blonde's body. He slowly shifted to a more comfortable position, then continued to snore loudly.

Sakura was ready to leave. She quickly jumped out the window making a quiet "Swoosh" sound, disappearing into the moonlit night.

A minute later she found herself at the Konoha gate, and stopped between the doors. No one occupied the doors at this time, and she knew that.

There was no one to stop her from leaving.

It was a good thing too. She would have stayed if someone had forbid her not to leave. Unlike Sasuke...

She looked back with sad eyes, and said her last goodbye to her home and everyone in it. Then, with balled-up gloved fists she turned her back to the gate.

The bright light of the full moon made the tears seem like small stars that floated as she made that slow turn.

"I will bring Sasuke back..." She said, her eyes filled with stong, deep determination as she begun to walk, and slowly disappear into the darkness of the black shadowed forest.

"I swear it..."

During that time Uzumaki Naruto dreamed. He dreamed of a place surrounded by one color.

Black.

And a cold chill continued to sweep over his skin.

Here, Naruto was standing in this darkness, and opened his eyes as if he was just waking up. He instantly realized that something was terribly wrong.

Naruto frantically looked around his surroundings and saw nothing, but unending darkness. He was sweating because of one thing.

Fear.

He called out his teammates names.

"Sasuke!"

No response.

"Sakura!"

Again nothing, but silence.

The feeling of being alone approached him once again. Naruto was very familiar with this feeling. It started to overwhelm him as it had when he was a child. Covering him from head to toe. He bit his lip, and his body shivered from the cold and scared.

But then something or someone appeared behind him with white light shining down on the back of the person whom Naruto knew very well.

Time seemed to slow as Naruto hesitantly turned to look over his shoulder. His cerulean eyes clearly showed multiple emotions.

Hope. Determination. Relief. Shock. Fear.

Naruto's pupils twitched within his wide eyes. His lips began to make movement and his voice said the once forbidden name.

"Sasuke."

Naruto continued to shiver from not only the cold chill in the air, but also from the sight of his lost teammate and once... best friend.

He hesitated reached out his hand to Sasuke, but ended up doing so.

The raven-haired boy turned his head, looking directly at Naruto. Half of the curse mark was stretched across his face and these was no sight of the leaf headband. He was wearing the familiar blue high-collared shirt and white shorts with armbands.

The edge of his mouth twitched as if he was smirking in an devilish manner. Eyes showed the insane hatred in him. One eye was yellow. The other was a familiar bright emerald green.

That was all Sasuke did before he turned away to step into the unending darkness around them.

Naruto re-watched the familiar scene as the darkness began to swallow his best friend inch by inch.

Then he fell to his knees.

And cried.

Because he knew that Sakura had left as well.

The people in the small town bustled about as they normally did, unaffected by the brown-haired ninja currently walking in their streets. Her chocolate colored hair was only an inch down her neck now. Really short. She went to a local hair salon, and had her hair dyed this color. She liked it since it was different than her soft pink hair. She also bought some bottles of dye to keep her new hair color. She placed them into her small backpack, and easily slung it over her shoulder.

As she headed out of this town, she found herself being stared deeply by a few men who were looking for some trouble.

Typical.

Their greedy smiles normally wouldn't cause her to shiver, but in the condition she was in. It was a different story.

Sakura thought about her condition as she ignored them.

This isn't good. I can't do consecutive fights in this state. I'll probably pass out before I get rid off them.

She looked sideways at the men for a second before looking down the path before her.

Ok then, let's see if they can catch me.

With that she made her choice, and ran away from the town as quickly as she could. The men nodded, decided to go with their own plan and follow her.

And their ninjas? That's just great. Real great.

She groaned heavily as she ran faster.

There she was fleeing from a impossible fight against five male ninjas. Sakura cursed at her bad luck, and conducted a quick plan.

Well, I've got a head start so I'll do the simple hide, then ambush. Hope this works. They look like rookie ninjas anyway.

She went along with her plan, and remembered the huge boulder near the waterfall that she rested at just recently.

Sakura shortly reached the mentioned place, and swiftly hid. Her back against the boulder.

Her breathing needed some catching up. She breathed in and out slowly as she could so that she wouldn't make a hint of a sound.

She wouldn't dare to peek, fearing that they would see her. She didn't want to deal with anything right now so she wished they would pass by and leave her alone.

That's all she wanted right now.

All she wanted.

If she was lucky, she could be free from any interruptions tonight.

But apparently luck wasn't on her side.

She took the risk of breathing and breathed carefully. Small packages of air traveled through her lungs. They ached no more.

Sakura twitched, and turned her head to listen. Then, she smiled an all-knowing smile.

She heard it.

She heard them.

A nearly slient crack from a twig that ringed through her eardrums. The small sound lasted for only a second yet Sakura already knew where they are.

Only a few yards off was where the sound arrived from. The sun had fallen before the chase, and night had long since fell upon the earth. Darkness reigned upon them.

Unfortunately, it prevented her from seeing her surroundings, but she was glad she had her hearing to back her up.

They must be hidden within the trees. Hehe those lessons with Tsunade worked after all.

She smirked, unaware that she was being naive.

Minutes passed by. No one made a move.

I hope...

I hope they don't find me and walk away. That nothing would happen. So I could go back to my journey, my promise with Naruto.

She continued to hope and at last sounds of the men jumping from limb to limb in the opposite direction.

Bright emerald eyes grew wide in relief. A quiet sigh of relief left her lips, closing her eyes and opening them.

Only to see a kunai with a lit paper bomb thrown at her. Green eyes grew wide in surprise as the space between the sharp tip of the blade and her face grew shorter within a second.

The image of bright, yellow-orange sparks of the lit paper bomb reflected in Sakura's terrified eyes.

BBBBOOOOOOOMMMMM! :D

Bits of rubble and rock flew everywhere from the explosion. A cloud of smoke arose, and someone jumped out of the smoke.

She held her body low to the ground like a cat and held her head up to scan her surroundings with one look. A pleasant smirk on her lips.

Then, Sakura watched each of the five men whom had chased her down swoop from various tree limbs. The smirk was still present as Sakura stood.

The moon then revealed itself amongst the clouds. It was full and the light casted six shadows. Five surrounded Sakura and hers.

"Well well well look what we have here." One of the ninja said as he grinned and stepped closer to her.

"We finally stand face to face. Why don't you hang with us, babe?" Another asked with a devious smile.

The rest laughed and stepped forward too.

Sakura sighed and reached for her back pocket of her pants. She pulled the same red ribbon that Ino gave her a long time ago when they were kids.

Using the ribbon, she tied her short brown hair into a insanely small ponytail. This has always been a habit of hers ever since she left. Her hair proved to be of nuisance when she fought.

She also looked more manly with her hair up too. Not that she cared. She had grown more mature now, and realized that being a ninja was her 1st priority.

Her looks were at the bottom of the long list. The facial expression she had now was serious and determined. You could mistake her for a boy because she had her hair tied.

It was like she transformed into a boy in just seconds. Her clothes she wore didn't help her look feminine either. The black t-shirt and gray pants she wore replaced her old clothing.

She didn't want to attract attention to herself yet unfortunately she still did. Even with the new hair color.

Sakura stood in fighting position with the same expression on her face. She said nothing to the ninjas.

One of them smirked, "Tch so our little flower doesn't want to go without a fight."

Another one said, "Fine then we'll make this quick, hehe."

Them bastards! They'll regret underestimating me! I'll show 'em!

Time passed both of them as they waited for the first move. Then she grew impatient. She hated to wait. Not when she had other important things to do.

Ugh I don't have time for this! Fine, if they don't make the first move, then I will! CHAAAAAAAAA!

Sakura circulated her chakra into her fist and with a swift movement she gave a massive punch unto the poor ground.

The impact had created a small crater under her and huge pieces of rock flew into the air around Sakura.

The ninjas had jumped back and hid themselves among the trees before coming back with new clothing.

The sound village outfit and headband was noticeable to Sakura.

So they were disguised huh.

"Tch," she bit her lip in frustration, when the ninjas all jumped at once, heading straight toward the girl with balled up fists.

Five against one isn't fair. But oh well, I guess.

Then the frenzy between Sakura and five sound ninjas began.

youtube .com/watch?v=IbNyne84IfA

I have made a video version of the 1st chapter of Sakura At Dawn which is I Search For You. Please check it out! :D

Its on youtube and its the unedited version, but has music to set the mood.