They have known each other for years—before the academy. She was only 6 when she met them. The two small figures hunched over a mauled body; blood covering their hands, guts piled around their feet. She wanted to scream—shout for help but what kept her frozen were the twin smiles directed towards her. Oh no. She thinks—what she next? One of them stepped towards her, his arm outstretched. From beneath the blood she could make out a golden skin tone. In the sunlight, his hair was golden, but he reeked of death. The one next to her was chewing on a chunk of skin—she could hear how his teeth gnawed on the flesh, before swallowing it whole; he had pale skin with black hair—he smirked. What is this? She thinks. It was the middle of the day—in the forest no less. A beautiful scenery with lush green grass and trees as tall as the sky. She only wanted to take a walk...to pick some wild flowers for her mother in the hospital. Only now, she changed her mind. I wanna go home...
"You're pretty." It was a voice in front of her that jumped her out of her thoughts. She couldn't move. Why? Why couldn't she turn and run away?! The boy with the blonde hair asked for her name. Name? What was her name? She couldn't remember. She looked down at her feet. Pink. Her hair was pink—that's right. Her name was—
"Sakura." she answered.
"That's a pretty name." the blonde answered again. "My name is Naruto and this is Sasuke." he pointed to the black haired boy next to him. She shifted her gaze over to him. He was bending over to pick up another piece of flesh. "What are you doing out here?" she looked back towards the blonde.
"I...I was gonna pick flowers for my mother..." she answered. Why were they having a normal conversation when the two boys stood over a dead body?
The one named Sasuke stood up with his flesh, gnawing on another part. "What's a mother?" he asked. "Is it tasty?"
She looked at him in horror as he bit into gristle. She could hear the crunch coming from his mouth—the thought that he asked if he could eat her mother rattled her. "No!" she shouted. "Mothers are the people who raise you!" She stomped her foot childishly. Why was she arguing with boys who eat other people?
She watched as Naruto scratched his head, blood coating one spot. "Oh, we don't have one of those."
"Then who raised you?" she questioned—wondering who would leave their children out in the forest. They couldn't be any older than her. She watched as the two shrugged their shoulders—hey didn't have a mother. Odd, she thought everyone had a mother.
"We've been out here for a while." The blonde announced kicking the body's skull. She winced when she heard the sickening crack of the bones connecting the neck and shoulders. "I think we got lost—but I don't remember." he shrugged once more. '
She went to reply but her stomach let out a large growl. She blushed. Was she supposed to be blushing? Shouldn't she be running—screaming for help? She rubbed her stomach shyly and looked at the pale hand extended towards her. He was holding out a chuck of flesh—ribbons of blood seeping from the part.
"Eat." He commanded.
Her stomach stopped growling for a moment only to lurch at the thought. What would her mother say about her eating a human? She tossed the thought aside when her stomach let out another grumble. Shivering slightly, she took the flesh nearly gasping at how warm it still was. Swallowing her nervousness and the brief voice in her head that screamed 'no'—she took a bite...
"Ugh, it's about time you're awake!"
She glared at the offending voice that shouted loudly in her ears and she sat up—rubbing her eyes. "Naruto, can you be a little less loud?" There were no hidden messages at the moment. Her head was pounding, she had an annoying blonde to the left of her, and on top of that she had a feeling her day was going to be hell. To put it simple—she was pissed.
"Sorry," Naruto dragged out the word while rolling up his bed roll. " but our no good of a teacher is telling us we need to leave before first sunlight." He secured the rest of his pack inside of a scroll, then walked over to her and Sasuke; assisting them. Growling, she asked (demanded) her teammates to finish packing the camp and marched outside. She saw her teacher lazing around the dying fire—the ridiculous orange book in his right hand. She wanted to kill him; but instead she smiled sickly and sweet.
Kakashi took notice after turning a page. "Ah, Sakura what can I assist you with?" The book closed with a snap.
She shifted her foot in a shy manner. "Sensei, I think my monthly has started—and I didn't bring any, um..." she let her words die, hoping he would get the hint. In truth, she was hungry and had a distant feeling that the to inside the tent had already hunted. She watched as he nearly dropped his book and waved her off into the woods after giving her a spare pair of under-shorts. She apologized running off while hearing him shout at her teammates. Knowing the two of them, they left a small trail for her to follow her next meal. Ducking under a hollowed out tree, she looked at the creature lying beneath the soft moss.
Deer.
She hated the animal—well not the animal per-say, but the meat. It wasn't something she enjoyed; she loved the soft meat of a hunted human—the fat was nice enough to keep warm in winter and bones always made the best of household items. Animals however, she hated how tough the meat is when she bites into flesh. Fur was always everywhere and always left a trail—the bones were something she often left to the wild...never to be thought about again. Glaring at the mutilated animal, she grabbed a thigh and bit into it.
Getting what she wanted never posed a problem. Getting this 'team bonding' over with was something on a wish list that would never happen. She was currently sitting with Team 10 over a hot grill of pork belly and vegetables. She glanced at her teacher who was in deep conversation with the other and she signed heavily. Her team took notice quickly—she could feel the gaze of Kakashi as well—she took a bite of rice.
I want this to be over.
Naruto coughed on his drink catching the scolds of the female form the other team. Why was he one to be scolded if she made the comment?
You?! My ear is gonna fall off!
She took a sip of tea commenting on the food. She hated the food.
Fake sickness.
Naruto rolled his eyes.
As if. Who would buy that?
Sasuke placed his chopsticks down and patted his mouth with a napkin.
If you make it decent enough, could be possible.
She went to move again but several claps from her teacher drew the attention of both teams. "That's enough you three." he stated. She could feel the questions from the team across from them and inwardly cursed. Kakashi was getting better at decoding their hidden messages. Beside her, Naruto huffed and crossed his arms while Sasuke picked up his fork. Kakashi glared at the two of them as they childishly made a face; she smiled and tapped the table—Kakashi rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to Team 10's teacher. It helped to know small communications with their teacher—but not all.
Never all.
"Excuse me." She sighed again looking at the blonde female across from her. "What the hell was that?" A commonly asked question for their team.
She made a confused look on her face. Was it working? She hoped it was. "I thought all teams had secret messages?"
Ino huffed and crossed her arms. "We all do, but it's universal—y'know the taps on the hand type thing? Whatever you guys just did, looked like normal actions." Sasuke elbowed and blinked at Naruto—Naruto leaned forward—she and the next team caught the action. "See?! What the hell does that mean?!" Ino pointed. She knew she had to be careful of the words they choose—across from them, sat a teacher they didn't know and a genius with a high IQ.
"Sasuke asked Naruto to pass some of the grilled vegetables." Kakashi answered as Naruto picked up the tongs. She knew he only guessed the action, but it wasn't far from the truth. Naruto just went along with it.
"That doesn't make sense. It just looked like..." Chouji trailed off while Shikamaru picked up his finished sentence.
"...something normal."
She could see the gears turning inside of Team 10's heads. Deciding to not reply, she placed her napkin onto her plate; her teammates did the same. She and her teammates went to stand up, but Kakashi picked up his glass and they quickly sat down. They knew that signal—make a move to leave and training will be hell for the next month.
She looked as the teacher for team 10, Asuma, laughed. "Whatever you taught them, it's great! Even I can't decode it!" She knew there was more—he just wasn't saying. "I saw they were going to leave, but I have no idea what you said!"
"I said I would make their training hell if they leave." Kakashi sat his glass down, reaching for a slice of pork belly.
"You're like the laziest person I know—next to me..." Shikamaru commented. " how could you make their training intense?" Even she knew the image didn't match.
"He threw us into an abyss once to learn chakra control." She heard Naruto say. She looked at the, now, pale faces at the team across from her. It really wasn't all that bad...they only left with a few broken bones!
"Oh, remember when that giant snake ate you?" she decided to join in—can't get any worse than this so why not make the best of it? "you smelled like guts for weeks!"
"Hey! It's not as bad as Sasuke getting thrown in with a cage of hungry tigers!"
She laughed and softly heard the questioned methods of their teacher. This was how it's supposed to be—laughs of comrades...a free meal—sadly grilled meat wasn't what she wanted to eat for dinner.
Thanks for reading!
O.I.N.O
