Hi everyone so I just wanted to thank everyone who happens to come across my story and let everyone know this is my first story ever. I came up with the idea for this story in a dream and it kept nagging at me until I eventually wrote it down. So please like and Review!
Beta props go to- Darksorcerer888
(Thank you for taking this story and making it even better)
Disclamer - I dont own Naruto. Just like to play with them;)
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It was in sweltering hot, that's all there was to it, thought Sakura as she wiped sweat-drenched locks of light-pink hair from in front of her eyes, letting them fall back with the rest of her hair trailing down her back. And this is why I used to keep my hair short, thought Sakura dryly. It wasn't as though kunoichi, much less Jōnin kunouchi like Sakura, weren't trained to handle such extreme temperatures. It was that very few of them actually liked working in such conditions. Sakura wasn't one of those few. On days like these in the middle of the summer heat, especially on missions to the deserts of Suna, of all places, any kunoichi, no, any shinobi with a brain found some excuse to give to the Hokage to get out of working. In Suna, there wasn't even the luxury of the dense of the woods to shade them from the harsh, blinding glare of the sun. As Sakura and her companions grew closer to their destination, the trees started to become fewer and farther in between. Even at their break neck pace, there was no wind to be had.
How is that even possible? Sakura half whined and half wondered in the back of her head. Science dictated that their movement thru the air should cause wind resistance, even if there wasn't any movement in the air itself.
Despite all of her internal complaints, tho, she was happy to be out on a mission. It had been a long time since she had been out, especially with Tsunade training her at the hospital and Naruto always out training with Jiraiya. Sakura knew that Naruto's training to become Hokage, was hard work, and she was extremely proud of him, but a huge part of her had missed the everyday life of a shinobi. She'd longed to feel the wind in her hair and smell the rusty aroma of her kunais as she twirled them between her fingers. As much as she loved being a medical ninja and saving lives, her heart longed for the freedom that came with being a shinobi. My new team wasn't all that bad, either, she thought idly. They weren't Team Seven, no one could replace Team Seven, but they worked pretty damn good together. Indeed, Sakura's new team ran like an well-oiled machine: orders were carried out and were done in a timely manner with no distractions. Definitely not like Team Seven was with Naruto involved. She couldn't blame Naruto not being as well disciplined as the shinobi in her new team, it was his nature to be the knuckle-head that everyone loved. She, for one, loved Naruto like a family, being well accustomed to said knuckle-headed behavior. To her, it was one of his many charms. Even tho she missed Naruto, Sakura was happy with her new temporary team, with only one minor exception…
"You know… you look pretty damn hot when you're all sweaty like that, princess," Kiba commented, eying her up and down. Ah, there it is, she thought dryly. "I wonder if you would look that pretty working up a sweat doing something else?" Kiba winked at her while making his snide innuendo. Shino, who was generally the one who kept Kiba's perverse attitude in check, was down at the river, collecting drinking water for the team. Obviously, the water wouldn't be fit for a civilian to drink without severe filtration, but the wonders of the shinobi immune system was something that constantly baffled civilian medical professionals.
Sakura couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had been evading Kiba's advances and crude pick-up lines for the past couple of weeks, ever since she had joined the team. She had taken Hinata's place, as the navy-haired kunoichi had to take a leave of absence in order to study for her birthright: taking over the headship of the most politically powerful, if massively inbred, clan in Konoha, the Hyūga clan. It had been a shock to the medical kunoichi, when she had asked, even begged, Tsunade to let her go out on a few missions, that she was placed on this team. She would have never guessed that this would be her team, even less the fact that Kiba would become so persistent with his advances since her joining. Granted, Kiba had always made it known that he was attracted to her, but only once in a great while, with a sly comment every month or so in passing, or when he had had one too many drinks at the bar. Sakura had eventually come to accept that it was merely his way of being friendly, and decided with consistency to shrug it off with a snide reply, or simply laugh it off. This might have been surprising to people who knew the rosette kunoichi, even more so those that had known Tsunade, her Sensei and mentor. Both women were known for making men that had the audacity to make such comments live to regret it (or not).
It was becoming ridiculous, tho. Ever since she and Kiba had been on the same team it had become a daily thing, if not more frequent! It was like a broken record. Kiba would make a snide comment, or began to crowd her personal space, causing Sakura to almost throw up in her mouth, or clench her fist as she tried not to punch the Shinobi Casanova for all he was worth with a filled a chakra infused fist.
Sakura had to keep her cool, tho. This was the only team in need of a medic. If this didn't work out, it was back to the hospital for her and long nights on that dreadful night shift. Her freedom, the wind in her air, the rusty smell of well-worn kunais that filled the air; she would lose it all. Don't get her wrong she was attracted to Kiba.. very attracted. In fact, whenever he took off his shirt to cool off in the river, she had trouble keeping focus on herself, let alone avoid staring with copious drool pooling in her mouth. No, being attracted to Kiba wasn't the issue, only an annoying symptom. The true problem was that all the things that Kiba said to her were patently insincere. There was no substance to his comments. They were all just empty lines to get into his bed.
It was a well known fact, that Kiba was attracted to anything with two legs of the female gender. That might be giving him too much credit, thought Sakura dryly. I mean, there isn't exactly an abundance of females of one or three legs on the planet. Plus, the rumors of members of the Inuzuka clan taking their obsession with dogs to the x-rated level are the stuff of legend. Either way, Kiba had a reputation for himself, he was in love with the female body and had no problem showing it. It definitely wasn't a secret that Kiba had gotten around. Now granted, all the women that had graced his bed over the years were all very, how should it be put?… generous with their telling of his performance in certain areas, which had been enough to make Sakura curious. Sakura could have easily been one of those girls if she had wanted to be. With age, Sakura had become one of the refined beauties of Kahona. Her face had evened out finally with her kami awful forehead, she had let her hair grow out with her lack of action as a shinobi. Her locks looked like pure ribbons of pink bubblegum silk, contrasting stunningly with her mint-green eyes. She had also filled out in all the right places over the years. Along with her exercise regimen, which included copious squats, had continued to pay off over the years, it all came together, giving her a toned hourglass figure. She could have easily had Kiba, or any other man in Konoha, eating out of the palm of her hand had she wished. There was just one problem that came with being one of the girls that shared Kiba's bed… that was all that they ever did. Sakura flat out refused to be one of those sleazy girls flaunting around what she did in the privacy of her own bedroom, or just be one of Kiba's many conquests. To make matters even more intolerable, Sakura was what one would call a hopeless romantic. After Sasuke, she had refused to become romantically involved with another man, not unless she knew he returned her feelings wholeheartedly. The rosette knew that if she spent the night with Kiba, her heart would go right along with the act, but for a guy like Kiba, any more than a one-night stand or a casual, open relationship was out of the cards. No, Sakura would resist her attraction to Kiba, if only to save herself from future heartbreak.
Finally, Shino returned, pulling Sakura away from her introspection. She took a deep breath and excused herself to bathe in the river.
Sakura dunked her head in the cool, refreshing water, flipping her flowing pink locks down her bare back. The cool water was like ecstasy after the long travel in the sweltering heat. She proceeded to scrub her face and arms, trying to get the layers of dirt off, not caring about her clothes, which were now soaked to the bone. On a day like this one, they would dry in a matter of an hour anyways.
Okay one more dunk and I'll be done, thought Sakura. She would also feel a little bit more human. Coming up from the water, tho, Sakura paused, that chakra signature… it was unfamiliar, the strength of which meant that 1, it was close, and 2, it was powerful. Very quickly she leaped from the water onto dry land, turning to face the source of the chakra, as best as she could figure, and pulled out one of her kunais in one fluid motion while drwing all of her chakra into her legs and hands, to provide either a speedy getaway or an explosive offense. She needed to make the critical decision soon, was this fight or flight. If only I could see him! She thought frantically. She could still feel their chakra, so she knew that they were near, but to her other five senses, she was completely alone. Okay, keep calm, Sakura, she thought and waited patiently, as making the first move in a situation like this could be a drastic miscalculation. She had to keep calm. Years of training had taught her that much. Sakura then blinked quickly as something caught her eye. Was that a glimmer in the water? Or was that the flash of someone running? Sakura gripped her kunai tighter, preparing for a split-second decision. It seemed that that decision was already being made for her though, when something suddenly appeared 20 feet in front of her. When Sakura had been a genin, she would have been frozen with shock by the abruptness of the appearance, but the rosette kunoichi had seen a lot of things in her time, and had learned that showing fear did nothing but give her enemy the advantage. Even if she had felt the terror that she had felt when facing Sasori of the red sand and having no one but an old puppet mistress to back her up, she still would not have shown it. The mysterious man in front of her appeared as tho his body was shifting in and out of existence, like he was but a glimmer, or a mirage of himself.
"You know, I've been waiting to get you alone for days now," the man said with a sickly-sweet, sinewy voice. "No matter, this will be over quickly for us both.
Sakura had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling. It seemed that her decision had been made for her by the reality of the situation, she couldn't take this man alone. As she calculated the distance between her camp and the river, she figured that it would take about a one-minute dash for her to reach the boys. With maturity came knowing your own limits and being able to trust your own instincts. Right now, her instincts were telling her that this man (or thing) was way beyond her limits to handle alone. Just as Sakura was about to make a leap into the nearest tree, facing the right direction, but it was to late. In a split-second, the man had disappeared before her eyes and relocated directly behind her. Before she even had a chance to blink, she felt the knife digging into her back and heard his sickly sweet voice whisper: "Sweet dreams." After that, everything faded to black.
Sakura slowly blinked her eyes open, only to instantly shut them, in fear from being blinded by the bright light from above that instantly invaded her senses upon her opening them. Recovering from her unconsciousness, she could hear the sound of machinery beeping and smell the sterilization of the room. She was instantly relieved, realizing that she was in the hospital. Oh but the lecture I'll get from Tsunade once she learns I'm awake, she thought in terror. I likely won't see the outside of Konoha for at least six months, and that's if I'm lucky! Sakura groaned. At least I'm alive. When that man stabbed me in the back, I thought I was a goner! That she was alive, despite her close shave with death, was truly something to thank Kami for. She settled in and waited for her fate with Tsunade. Thirty minutes later, after considering how many sake bottles it would take to bribe Tsunade into letting her have another chance in the field, and forgetting this little incident, a nurse walked in, one she had never seen before, which was surprising to Sakura, as she knew pretty much everyone on the staff at Konaha's local hospital. What if my condition was so dire that they had to relocate me to one of the bigger hospitals in the land of fire? Sakura asked herself, horrified at the thought. If that's the case then…
"Oh good, you're awake!" exclaimed the nurse, startling Sakura from her thoughts as she checked the rosette's vitals. "Don't worry your nice and safe in Kanoha's hospital. You had a little bit of a fall but your vitals seem fine, so you seem to be good to go. You just need to have one more look over from the head nurse, then your husband should come to take you home."
Sakura's eyes went wide. "M-My, my husband?" Sakura was completely at a loss for words, looking around, wondering whether this woman had mistaken her chart for someone else's.
"Why yes, Mrs. Inuzuka. Truly, you didn't hit your head that hard that you forgot about your husband, Kiba Inuzuka, the next heir in line to the Inuzuka clan. If you don't mind me saying, you are one lucky lady. You must be so proud to marry into such a prominent clan, and to a clan heir none-the-less!" the nurse said, sighing dreamily. All the while, Sakura looked as if she had just had an aneurysm. The nurse looked at her, concerned. "I'm so sorry, ma'am, if I had over spoken. I do that sometimes, getting carried away with myself. It gets me into trouble quite often." During the woman's babbling, Sakura somehow managed to find her voice.
"I-I'm sorry, I think you might have gotten my chart mistaken with someone else's, or someone might be playing a trick on you, for that matter. As far as I know, Kiba Inuzuka is not married, and I know without a doubt that I am not."
The nurse then looked at her, chuckling. "Very funny, ma'am." At Sakura's serious face, though, the nurse's face went from amused to worried. "Oh dear, you're not kidding, are you? You are Sakura Inuzuka correct? Once Sakura Haruno?"
"I am Sakura Haruno, yes," replied Sakura, getting more confused by the moment.
"Oh dear," said the nurse, before quickly going over her vitals and charts once more before jotting down some notes. "Well, this isn't really my place to say this… the head nurse will go over more with you when she arrives, but I believe you are suffering from some slight memory loss."
"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Sakura in a voice barely above a whisper, afraid to hear the answer. The nurse sighed.
"Ma'am, I don't say this to frighten you, but you and Mr. Inuzuka have been married for a little over a year now."