The morning sunrays finally reached Konoha. There was a slight mist surrounding the ground as Sakura exited her home to meet Tenten and the rest of the team at the training field like she had asked her.
It was around seven O'clock in the morning as Sakura reached the field. She took a quick glance around her and realised that no one had shown up.
"I could've sworn that Tenten told me to meet up at this time…" Sakura murmured to herself.
Little did Sakura know, there was a tall figure with a strange haircut lurking around near the trees.
"Hel-lo Sakura!" A mighty roar broke through the silence. Sakura jumped and span on the spot to try and face the direction the sound came from, but she couldn't see anything.
"Have you seen my friend?" The voice questioned. Sakura turned around for a second time but again…nothing.
"…Hello?" Sakura called out gingerly.
"He wears an in-date fashionable green jumpsuit, and has shimmering black hair formed into the shape of sophistication." The voice sounded huskier, in order to create an atmosphere.
Sakura sighed inwardly and looked around for a sign of a person. She finally saw a silhouette in the distance and slowly walked towards it.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sakura replied to the voice. She was a few steps away from the shadow before it promptly disappeared. "Look, I'm not here to play games." Sakura said sternly as she turned around on the spot.
Sakura stopped turning and came face to face with Tenten's Sensei.
"Guy..?" Sakura asked as Guy wore determined eyes and had one of his hands in his pockets, ready to pull something out. Sakura relaxed as she gave Guy a weird look. "What are you doing?"
"Is it me," He started as he pulled out a rose and hovered it under Sakura's nose. "Or does this rose smell like," He started.
Sakura unconsciously took a deep breath in to smell the rose before Guy could finish his sentence.
"Chloroform?" He finished with an excited tone. Sakura's eyes widened as her body immediately started to turn numb. She completely blacked out as Guy took her limp body and rushed her to the abandoned shed just at the village borders.
He left her body sitting in a chair and made the preparations for when she woke up.
A few hours passed before the effects of the chloroform died down.
Sakura started to wake up and shuffle around in her seat. She quickly looked around to find herself in an unfamiliar place.
"What the hell am I doing here?" She said out loud, panic lacing her tone.
"Finally," Guy called out from the corner of the shed. "Do you remember what happened?" He asked. Sakura turned to face him and had a slight scowl on her face.
"You got me to smell chloroform…I remember clearly now." Sakura retorted as Guy merely shook his head.
"No. My dear friend Lee saved your life." Guy emphasised. Sakura rubbed her head in confusion as she stood up.
"Wait…what?" She questioned. Guy looked out the window which gave one of his eyes a brilliant shine.
"Someone was impersonating me. They were going to kidnap you Sakura." He started before snapping his head abruptly in Sakura's direction. "But the handsome and heroic Lee fought long and hard to get you back. In fact." Guy continued while looking in the direction of the window again. "Here he is now!" He exclaimed as Lee entered the shed with sweat dripping down him.
Sakura eyed him warily and crossed her arms in disbelief.
"If you expect me to believe that-" Sakura started. But suddenly the shed they were in started to get attacked by something heavy. This made Sakura jump into a fighting stance.
She searched her body for any weapons but found nothing…She'd been robbed of her tools.
"What the hell is going on around here?!" Sakura shrieked as the shed came crumbling down, forcing everyone to dart into an area of safety.
"It must be the imposter again!" Lee shouted over the flying remains of the shed.
Sakura rubbed her head and started focusing on who was attacking. It looked like a typical rogue ninja from the village hidden in the waves.
She tightened her headband and readied herself for battle.
"Don't you worry guys and girls! Guy has this all under control!" He shouted as he rushed towards the rogue ninja and immediately got sent flying miles into the distance.
"GWWWUAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Guy cried hysterically.
Sakura's eyes widened considerably.
'Just how strong is our opponent to catch Guy so easily like that!? And what do they want with me?!' She thought to herself in a rush.
"I'll save you Sakura!" Lee shouted while sprinting towards the enemy. Before Sakura could yell out to Lee, he had taken out the rogue ninja with a simple, but harsh looking, kick to the chest.
Sakura stood with her arms by her side and tried to fathom the situation that just happened.
"What the…" She started as Lee jumped up to the branch that Sakura was standing on.
"Quick Sakura! We have to save Guy Sensei!" He yelled in a tone Sakura wasn't sure of.
Sakura reluctantly followed Lee until they reached Guy next to the village gates.
He was surrounded by fellow ninja and random civilians.
"Lee!" He cried as Lee knelt by his side. Sakura walked up to the pair and watched the scene unfold before her.
"Guy Sensei! Are you okay?!" Lee cried back. Guy reached Lee's hand and held it close to his chest.
"Lee. Follow your dreams and don't waste another second training. You need to find someone you can start a family with!" He proclaimed as a tear fell from his eye. "Training gets you no-where. Just look at me! I'm a fool who has put training before finding true love!" He continued before erupting in a fit of coughs.
"Guy Sensei! Don't tell me you're-" Lee's eyes started to water. Sakura leaned to the side and took in the view of Guy's wounds…Although she couldn't see anything fatal. Sakura started to grow suspicious of the two Shinobi in front of her.
"Yes! I'm dying! And I have nothing to show for my training! LEE! You have to follow your dreams! You need to find true love and-" Guy had interrupted himself with another round of coughing. "-Don't waste your youth Lee! Now get out there you handsome man! Don't let your youth go to waste!" Guy roared as he turned his head to the side before giving a comical grunt of death.
"GUY SENEIIIII!" Lee shouted while looking into the sky. Sakura sighed while looking down at Lee. "Sakura-Chan!" He yelled while grabbing onto Sakura's top.
"What is it Lee!?" Sakura responded in a crazy manner as Lee looked up at her, tears streaming down his face.
"You heard what Guy Sensei said! I'm going to follow my dreams and stop wasting time right now!" He started. Sakura started to feel awkward as the eyes of the people surrounding Guy were now looking at her. "I want to protect you Sakura! I want to be by your side forever! I want to have a family with you!"
Sakura's whole body froze momentarily before she punched Lee in the face. Causing him to land just next to Guy.
"Is that what this is all about!?" Sakura's voice boomed throughout the village while she looked down at the both of them.
Guy flinched at Sakura's voice, which irritated her further. She walked up to him and yanked him to his feet with his jacket.
"You're not even dead!" She shouted hysterically. Lee stood up next to Guy and refrained from pissing Sakura off even further. "Ugh!" She scoffed while letting guy down.
"Sakura…I just wanted to tell you-" Lee started before Sakura turned her back to the village.
"Forget it. I'm going to clear my head. Don't, follow me." Sakura coldly stated while sprinting away from the village.
Lee and Guy stood still exchanging looks until they couldn't see Sakura any longer.
"I think she's playing hard to get." Guy whispered in Lee's ear encouragingly while sticking his thumb up. "Go gett'er Lee!"
It had reached late afternoon and Sakura had found a great spot to relax at.
Sakura had decided that she would rest on a flat rock in the middle of a calm flowing river. The light reflected on the water magnificently painting the soft waves with minty greens and pastel yellows.
There was nothing but tall green grass on the side opposite where Sakura had arrived.
Sakura sighed and appreciated the peace she had been given while crossing her legs and closing her eyes.
Sakura usually came here when something was deeply troubling her. Like when Sasuke left the village or whenever she messed something up. It was outside the border but it was the most secure place in the world that you could find...she believed.
A few hours passed and day slowly drifted into night. Sakura stood up and realised she'd been followed by someone.
Sakura was about to speak up until a small cough was heard.
"I apologise for my rash actions Sakura." Sakura turned around and saw that Lee was bowing in front of her.
She felt kind of awkward as Lee continued bowing.
"I am not at all good with words and I asked my trusted sensei to help me with my problems." He continued as he looked up at Sakura. Lee had the word exhausted written all over his body as sweat covered every inch of it.
Sakura understood that Lee must have punished himself after making her mad. Sakura frowned and sighed noisily.
"I have loved you ever since I laid my youthful eyes on you!" Lee's voice started shaking violently.
"I know that I will never succeed in stowing your heart away under my intense protection and that is what infuriates me Sakura!" He cried.
The night's silence seemed to deafen the two ninja as they both remained silent for a couple of minutes.
"You know how it feels too Sakura!" Lee broke the silence and took a step closer. "There is someone that you love deeply that could possibly never share that same feeling with you." Lee continued, his words becoming harder to understand.
"Lee…" Sakura muttered as Lee wiped his eyes harshly.
"I understand Sakura…I also understand that you will never hold the feelings that I do for you. That's why I'm always going to protect you and support you no matter what you decide!" Lee claimed.
Sakura bowed her head down and felt a surge of guilt hit her like a ton of bricks.
"I…" Sakura started before Lee rushed to pull her towards him. Sakura's once guilty eyes filled with rage. "Lee!" She shouted angrily, expecting Lee to make a move on her…But it never came. Instead, Sakura hit the ground, Lee's ribs had been penetrated with what appeared to be grey tendrils.
Sakura rushed to her feet and looked in horror at the blood coming out of Lee's back.
"What the hell!?" She whispered to herself as the tendrils retracted into the tall grass.
As Lee fell onto his knee, Sakura risked going over and pulling him back to the short grass where it was safer to see who the attacker was.
"Isn't it past your bed time?" A chilling voice came from a grey haired man with a long Scythe as he walked onto the calm river.
"Who the hell are you!? And why did you attack us like that!" Sakura cried senselessly as the cloaked man simply walked towards them.
He didn't answer as he raised his weapon to attack. Sakura scowled at the man and infused her fist with chakra. Slowly remembering that all of her kit had been taken by Guy from earlier.
He roared chaotically as he went to strike Sakura down. She dodged effortlessly while pulling Lee into a safer place.
"You've done enough to help Lee." Sakura stated as if to answer Lee's determined face. Lee slumped his body into more of a comfortable position as he watched the crazy man attack Sakura in a brutal way.
'If any of those hits land, Sakura's surely a goner!' Lee thought as he grimaced. He tried to stand up and help her out of pure reaction although a sharp pain hit through his body and he was finding it progressively harder to breathe.
Sakura continued carefully dodging and attempting counter hits while learning the pattern of her enemy.
'He seems to be wanting to try and hit me…that much is obvious. Although he's not really being cautious about anything…his cocky expression makes me feel sick to the core.' Sakura thought as she let her guard down for a second.
Sakura let out a small gasp as her foot tripped over a wire like object that was behind her. She quickly recovered her footing but was struck by the enemy's sharp blade.
Sakura winced as the cold blade passed through her right thigh, making it an inch deep clean cut.
As Sakura reared her fist for a strong punch the cloaked man had retreated back into the grass without another sound.
Sakura paused and looked into the grass for any sign of movement and jumped slightly when the cold breeze drifted by.
She confirmed to herself that the enemy must have ran away before running over to Lee to heal his wounds.
"I'm really sorry Lee." Sakura started while closing his wound up pretty quickly. "I know exactly how you feel." She continued.
She let those words hang while Lee frowned.
"I don't want to give you false feelings…It's not a nice feeling at all, I know this. It would only end up with you being hurt!" Sakura stated. Lee flinched at her last word and stood up. Sakura followed him and stood up too.
"I understand." He responded eventually, with a small grin on his face. "I am lucky to have ever met such a wonderful and youthful gem such as you Sakura!" He continued while giving Sakura his infamous thumbs up.
"I will work towards bettering myself while protecting you always!" Lee finished, making Sakura frown.
"Lee…You don't have to protect-" She started.
"Nonsense!" He interjected. "I will protect you no matter what! Until you find that person who can protect you better than me! Then I'll get better than them and you'll have to find someone new! And if you no longer need protecting then I will forever assist you when you need help!" Lee spoke confidently.
Sakura was starting to tear up before a sudden jolt of coldness struck her body. She found that she couldn't move a muscle…not even her mouth was moving as her hand forced itself towards her neck.
"And if you don't need help then I'll be your friend! Someone to talk to about your worries. I swear!" Lee finished while turning in the direction of the leaf village.
Sakura's hands slowly started to tighten around her neck, making every breath harder to take. She wanted to scream out to Lee. Tears travelled down her face as she was coming to realisation.
"Anyway. I'll leave you to think over things a little longer Sakura. Thank you for being so nice while I speak. I'm going to tell the Hokage about the man who tried to attack you earlier…" He continued while he started walking.
Sakura's eyes widened as her body slowly knelt down and picked up a hand-sized sharp rock. Sakura quietly gasped for air and her body reluctantly forced itself in Lee's direction.
"No!" Sakura screamed while trying her hardest to hold her body back. But it was too late. Her wrist was forced into the back of Lee's head with brutal force.
Lee stood still for a few deadly moments before collapsing to the ground without a sound.
Sakura looked horrified as she struggled against something. She quickly flared her chakra to see that the tendrils that penetrated Lee's body earlier was what was stopping her from moving.
She started to get really agitated as she struggled wildly against the binds.
"I'll kill you bastard!" Sakura shrieked while using a substitution jutsu to switch with a log of one of the surrounding trees.
Sakura darted into the grass without thinking straight and used her chakra to pinpoint the enemy. She sprinted in the direction she felt the enemy was and came across a clearing with the guy she was fighting earlier.
"There you are!" She shouted while jumping above him. She used up a lot of chakra to infuse her fist for the attack while she dropped towards the enemy.
Although to Sakura's amazement he wasn't moving. She dismissed his strange actions and her fist collided harshly against the enemies' chest.
"Gah!" Sakura choked and fell to her knees in front of the guy. It felt to her as if she just punched herself square in the chest.
Sakura hovered her hands over her chest and started to examine her state.
"Hey! That hurt!" The guy in front of her yelled while holding his chest.
Sakura looked up and could vaguely see a man covered in strange markings. She tried to think straight but the pain in her chest prevented herself from doing so.
"It doesn't feel great, does it? Being cursed!" The guy stated manically. Sakura flinched and jumped away from the man before healing her wounds. She figured that she just missed a vital area.
"What are you talking about!?" Sakura said in a confident tone. Thoughts were zooming around her head like no-ones business in attempts to figure out just what this guy was doing.
"Of course an underling like you wouldn't understand!" The grey haired man laughed, insanity dripping in his tone.
Sakura started to worry as the man stabbed himself in the gut. Sakura felt a sharp pain emit from her stomach and she involuntarily scoffed on her blood.
"Do you understand now!?" He continued laughing.
'He must be some form of human voodoo doll!' Sakura thought to herself, wincing at the growing pain, although Sakura could keep the pain from spreading any further with her medical jutsu.
"What do you want!?" Sakura shouted carelessly while standing up straight to face the enemy.
"Huh…Why aren't you dead already?!" He responded. Sakura started to panic so she used a bit of chakra to enhance her vision.
She could see that the man was standing inside a circular diagram made of, what she thought, red paint.
'Maybe he can't affect me outside the circle…my life is on the line here so I have to try something!' Sakura hysterically took action and darted in the enemies' direction to yank him out of the circle.
The grey haired man grunted in shock at the bold move and got flung out of the diagram and back into the tall grass.
Sakura didn't waste a second to follow him and strike him with a strong punch to his jaw. She could hear a few bones breaking under the pressure of her hit and she was sure that it hit a vital point.
She sighed in relief as she couldn't hear any shuffles in the grass…
"I was right about the diagram...He's certainly dead now…But I'll need to find out who he is…" Sakura muttered to herself as she found a village headband. She rushed to pick it up and tie it to her arm to secure it.
She looked at the limp body and her eyes made out an interesting shape on the robes that he was wearing. She memorised it quickly before heading back to where Lee was.
Sakura immediately examined the back of his head and sighed in relief that he was still alive.
Before she could heal him, a tendril shot past her shoulder with extreme speed and gave her a nasty burn. Sakura flinched as she hesitantly lifted Lee's body off the ground and over her shoulder.
'He might have a team mate with him…it's better that I retreat for now.' Sakura thought while sprinting back to the hidden leaf.
Sakura concentrated hard to keep her footing steady so that she could escape them faster.
As expected, the enemy tried to stalk Sakura as his tendrils sped up to catch her ankle.
Sakura foresaw this and decided to head up to the trees and dart to the village from there.
The enemy seemed soon to lose interest as Sakura ran a few miles ahead.
She cursed herself over and over for letting herself think she had no control over her body while she attacked Lee.
"Sakura?!" A voice to her left called out. Sakura slowly came to a stop as she looked to her left and saw Tenten and Neji together, exiting the training field.
Sakura refrained from accusing them of the set up from earlier as she headed towards the two.
"We've been attacked." Sakura stated obviously as Tenten rushed to take a better look at Lee.
"What the hell?!" Tenten exclaimed as she looked back up at Sakura. "Why haven't you healed him yet?" She continued, shooting Sakura a horrible glare.
"I've just managed to escape them without them following me," Sakura retorted. "I even took one of their headbands to analyse things further." She finished as Neji took a step forwards.
"Don't be so brash Tenten, we need to head back to the village before it's too late." Neji said.
He walked over to Sakura and took Lee from her.
"We'll take it from here. You should go to the Hokage and report this." Neji said while walking towards the gate.
Sakura nodded to herself before looking over to Tenten.
"It would've been different if it was Naruto." Tenten spat harshly.
Sakura furrowed her eyebrows and clicked her fingers out of habit.
"Excuse me?" She questioned. Tenten decided she'd ignore Sakura and started to turn her body. "I don't know what your problem is Tenten. But this wouldn't have happened if you'd have just left me to it. You decided to set me up with him and it didn't go according to plan as you can see." Sakura explained bluntly.
Tenten stood still while turning her head back to face Sakura.
"That's not the point, Sakura." She started. "I'm saying that if Naruto were injured that badly, you'd heal him in a heartbeat."
"Are you serious?" Sakura scoffed before resting one of her hands on her hip and leaning to the side. "I healed Lee despite the enemy still being around. It would have been the same if Naruto was there. Just because Naruto is my team mate doesn't-"
"Whatever. I'm done talking to you." Tenten interrupted sourly before running to the gates to catch up with Neji.
"Tch, what's her problem…" Sakura muttered while she looked around.
Sakura sighed deeply before walking to the training field.
The wind drifted by softly against Sakura's skin. She started to grow a fondness to the hidden leaf's calming breezes more recently.
She walked up to the biggest tree and sat on the opposite side. Sakura sighed once again in relief as she leaned back on the tree.
She quietly unzipped her shirt to see the damage that had been done. There was one nasty looking bruise on her upper half of her body and a big blood blister showing just under her stomach.
"Ew," She said to herself as she moved her hand over the blister to heal it.
Sakura appreciated Tsunade's training at this moment more than ever, seeing as she didn't need to go to the hospital to treat minor injuries like this. The nurses would have given her a patronising smile while not even doing their job properly, expecting everyone to be severely uneducated in medical jutsu's.
Sakura finished healing up her chest wounds and pulled her shirt to the side slightly to reveal a rope burn.
"What was that thing," She muttered to herself as she effortlessly healed the wound up.
Little did Sakura know that someone was lurking in the shadows, watching her every move very closely.
Please excuse any spelling or grammatical mistakes! D: I'll hopefully be fixing them soon :) Thank you for the reviews! :D xXx
