Sakura
The soft rapt at her window woke her. Blinking away sleep, Sakura rolled over and gingerly slid from her bed. Kakashi waited patiently for his student to let him in. Sakura pulled the window open and when she realized who was waiting outside her window she smiled.
"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here." She ran her fingers through her matted hair.
"I recently spoke with the Hokage." He spoke solemnly; the usual tone of his voice had disappeared. That worried Sakura more than she could say.
"Is it… Is it about Naruto?" Sakura was wide awake now. She'd longed for news about Naruto since they'd gone their separate ways. Sakura missed her team more than she thought she would.
Kakashi hung his head in shame. "Sakura, I'm sorry, Naruto has passed." She could see the pain, even under his mask. He blamed himself, she realized.
"W-what? How?" She stammered. Naruto had appeared to be fine. Kakashi had assured her he would be fine.
"He died of his injuries yesterday evening."
She bit her lip to keep from crying. "But… he was fine when we brought him into the village."
Kakashi shook his head in despair. "Some injuries aren't as apparent as others. Naruto suffered severe brain damage from such sudden exposure to that vile chakra. He was alive, but…" Kakashi struggled to continue. "He would never have been the same."
Naruto was dead. She barely knew what to say. There was so much she wanted to say to Naruto. She wanted to apologize for the way she treated him all those years. She wanted to help him. "Does Sasuke know yet?"
"Yes, I told him early this morning. He isn't taking it well." Kakashi closed his visible eye. "He's very angry."
Sasuke's reaction surprised her, but she knew that she should have expected that kind of reaction from Sasuke. He was hot headed, just like her, but even then, they were still so different.
Sakura had a temper when she was annoyed or frustrated; Sasuke always remained calm in those situations. Her teammate only got indignant when things took a turn for the worse, or during battle. She wished she had that attitude sometimes. When faced with these kinds of things, she shrunk inside herself. She was weak.
Sakura turned her head away from her sensei. She was too ashamed to look at him. "He'll feel better when we all start training together again. I know it."
Kakashi's visible eye sagged with grief. "The other reason I came here was to tell you that Team Seven has been dissolved."
"W-what?" She stuttered, this time her eyes blurred with tears.
"I'm sorry, the Lord Hokage has ordered that I return to ANBU effective immediately. But don't worry, I was able to convince the Hokage that you and Sasuke should still be on a team together." Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder. "Be strong, you're all he's got now."
Sakura swelled with joy at the thought of being the only one Sasuke had, but she quickly squashed the thought. She was ashamed she felt that way. Sasuke had no one because everyone one he knew died. She berated herself for that thought. It was selfish and inconsiderate. All she really wanted was for Team Seven to be together again.
She could only imagine that the Hokage was breaking the team up because he felt that Kakashi had done something wrong. "But sensei, it wasn't your fault." Sakura tried to reason. How could the Hokage break up the team, all they needed was one member. However, even as she tried to reason why they should still be a team, she remembered a lesson from the academy.
Genin teams that lost members very rarely worked out in the end.
"No, it was my fault. I could have prevented everything." He stepped away from her window. "In truth, I should have been stripped of my shinobi status."
But Konoha couldn't afford to lose someone like her sensei, could they? "Will I ever see you again?" Kakashi had been a good sensei. He was the one that taught her about the value of teamwork in the first place.
"Maybe here and there." He smiled beneath his mask. "In the future, we might even be teammates in ANBU."
"You think I could make it into ANBU?" She asked incredulously.
He patted her on the head. "Of course. If you didn't have potential, I would have failed you." His good-natured jest reassured her. "Sakura, as long as you have never abandon those you care about, you'll never disappoint me, no matter where you end up."
In that moment, as she looked into Kakashi's exposed eye, she realized what would drive her forward. She wanted to be strong for her teammates, Sasuke and Naruto. She wanted to be someone that others relied on. She hated being so dependent on everyone around her. She felt like she was going to cry again.
She noticed that Kakashi could see the beginning of her tears. Sakura hated herself for crying again, she'd shed enough tears this past week. She wanted to be strong. Kakashi snorted in amusement. "Sakura, there's nothing wrong with tears." She wondered if he could read her thoughts.
"You were always gentler than Naruto and Sasuke." He began. "Someone with a heart like yours may only come around once a century. You may want to destroy that part of you, Sasuke may tell you that it makes you weak, but it doesn't. It's what makes you strong. Always remember that."
She nodded brusquely as she felt the tears swell in her eyes.
"Before I leave, I have something for you." He reached behind his back and revealed his gift to her. It was a weapon, a tantō to be precise. Its sheath was old and worn from years of neglect and she could only wonder about the condition of the blade. When he handed it to her, the contents of the sheath rattled indicating that it was broken as well.
She thought it a strange gift, but remembered her courtesies anyway. Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thank you so much, sensei."
"I'm sure you'll put it to good use." He smiled and gave her a two-fingered salute. "Later." He leapt from her roof and bounded across the city. It was hard to see him go. She would miss her sensei dearly. At least she had something to remind her of him.
Though, she was unsure what to do with a broken tantō. She could only assume that he wanted her to fix it and use it. She unsheathed the weapon and marveled at the sheen it still gave off after all these years. Just by looking at it closely she could tell that this was a special weapon.
Chakra forged steel was rare and only the best shinobi possessed them. She wondered where Kakashi had gotten his and how it had been destroyed, but with Kakashi gone, she couldn't ask any of these questions. Though, she doubted that he would answer any of them. He was often vague and always insisted that his students look underneath the underneath, something she admittedly needed to improve on.
The tantō was the best gift she'd ever received and she vowed to always keep it by her side once it was fixed. She didn't know where to start beginning to fix it. She doubted that fixing such a weapon would be cheap and she didn't have any money right now, not even enough to buy lunch at a local restaurant. They had not received pay in four weeks, since the beginning of the mission and they obviously wouldn't receive pay for a failed mission.
Her heart ached at the thought of what had happened that day in Wave. It was partially her fault. If she'd been stronger, she could have done something to make sure that her teammates survived the fight. Instead, Kakashi and Sasuke collapsed broken to the ground and Naruto couldn't handle it.
Thinking back to her lessons about the Kyuubi, it all made sense. How ignorant she had been not to realize the pain Naruto was experiencing every single day of his life? It was no wonder that he finally snapped. It was the Konoha's fault. Certainly the Hokage could have stopped such hate, he knew Naruto personally. Did he not care?
She set aside the tantō and made her way down stairs, the smell of food wafting through the air made her mouth salivate. Not even that could lift her spirits, but nevertheless, she trudged down the stairs to meet her parents at the table.
"Sakura, honey, you look awful. What happened? Have you been crying?" Her mother dotted on her, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
"I'm fine, mom." Sakura spoke glumly. After hearing so much bad news, how could she put on a fake smile around her parents?
Her father set his paper on the table and leveled his gaze at his daughter. "Well, you don't look fine. Sit down, your mother and I wanted to have a talk with you."
Her father was a strict man, she didn't dare disobey him, and so she sat at the table without question. Her mother sat uncomfortably next to her father. Sakura's mother fidgeted for a moment before addressing her daughter. "Sakura, we're very worried about you." She paused to readjust in her seat. "After all that's happened this past week, we feel it's best that you give up the shinobi career and do something more befitting for someone like you."
Sakura was left speechless. Give up the shinobi career? After all the vows she'd just made to herself? After all the progress she'd made? She wanted to scream at her parents. 'No!' She would shout. They couldn't take this away from her. She needed this.
"N-no, you can't." Instead of the gusto that Sakura intended, her voice quivered and she spoke meekly.
"Young lady," Her father addressed her coolly. "Your mother and I both agree that you've pursued this long enough."
"What your father means, is that we're worried that you're going to be hurt badly, or worse, that… that you'll die." Her mother struggled with the last words.
Regaining some of her confidence, she tried to rationalize it to her parents. "The missions that the Hokage assigns us are given according to how skilled you are. None of my missions have any chance of death. D-ranks and most C-ranks are simple!"
"Sakura, the mission you just came back from resulted in deaths of over a third of the population of an entire country. Anything can happen on a mission, my brother found that out the hard way." Her father pushed his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose, something he did when he was annoyed or frustrated.
"I have a duty to the village! I have a responsibility to protect the weak and innocent, if I just quit now, what would I be!" Sakura's voice escalated into a shout. Both Sakura and her father were red with rage.
"I…" Her father stopped and looked to her mother. "I forbid you to continue this… this nonsense! As long as you live under my roof, you'll obey my rules! If you want to continue on to your death, that's fine with me, but you won't live under this roof if you do so." She could almost detect a hint of panic in his voice.
"Honey, be reasonable." Her mother pleaded.
"No!" Her father shouted. He directed his rage on Sakura. "Make your decision. Do you want to continue living here, yes or no?"
Sakura shrunk in on herself. "I… I don't know."
"I said, yes or no?" He bellowed.
"Y-yes! I want to keep living here." Her father didn't usually scream like this. Yes, he got angry, but this was different. This scared her. Sakura broke into tears. This had only been the tipping point of all the tragedy that this morning carried.
"For the love of…" Her father mumbled before stalking out of the room angrily.
Her mother wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Sakura, honey, I'm so sorry."
"I don't…" She hiccupped through her sobs. "…want to quit." She curled in on herself.
"It won't be so bad, honey. You're a smart girl, things will work out for the better, you'll see. In a month or two, you'll have forgotten all about this and we can live knowing that you'll be safe. Do you know why your father is so angry?"
"Why?" She spoke softly through the sobs
"It's because he cares about you. He's not a very emotional man, but before we go to bed sometimes, he tells me that he cares a great deal about you. That's hard for him to admit."
Some how that made Sakura feel even worse. Why couldn't her father be like Ino's dad? Ino's father always said 'I love you' when he tucked Ino in, and he always hugged his daughter. Why couldn't her dad do that? "Why can't he say those things to me?"
Her mother rubbed her back in a circular motion like she used to when Sakura was just a girl. The action soothed her. "You've got to understand that your father grew up without a good parental figure to teach him these things. He relied upon himself, always. It was hard for even me to make him open up. But know that everything your father and I do is for you. We want you to live a full and happy life. Do you understand?"
Sakura hiccupped in the after math of her violent sobs. "Yeah," She wiped her tears away. "I think I do." She knew her parents wanted what was best for her, but there was no way that she was going to stop training. She knew that genin under fourteen years of age could be pulled from the program at anytime during peace. Even if they pulled her out, she'd find a way to prove that she should be back in the shinobi forces, no matter what it took.
"I love you, mom." Her parents truly did care for her.
"I love you too, honey." Her mom gave her a reassuring smile. "Go get ready, honey, you've got a big week ahead of you."
Sakura sauntered up the stairs. She showered and prepared for the day ahead. It was Sunday and she knew that civilians got this day off. School would undoubtedly start tomorrow and with it the parade of petty girls she'd thought she left behind. Though, admittedly she had been no less petty when they were in the shinobi academy with her. Things changed though.
She would use today to see if she could get Kakashi's tantō fixed. That was the most important thing right now. She couldn't train with it if it was still broken, could she? Sakura vowed that all her spare time would go to practicing. She would get faster, stronger, and more agile. She would surpass her peers and catch up to Sasuke. Maybe then he would accept her as an equal and not his inferior.
The thought made her smile. She would prove everyone wrong. She was done crying, she was done acting the fool. That was the old Sakura. It was the Sakura that had never seen death or anguish. It was the one that looked at Sasuke and only say a handsome face. That Sakura was a little girl.
For all she had seen, she was a woman now, despite how young she was. She wanted to believe that she understood a little bit more about people now than she had before. Girls were naïve, foolish, and petty. They trusted anyone who approached them. Sakura may have been those things before, but now? Since the mission to Wave, she had changed so much she scarcely recognized who she was anymore.
She would wield Kakashi's blade with so much skill that people far and wide would know of her. That was what she wanted now. She wanted the ability to protect herself and others.
Rounding the corner, she found the store she was looking for. The small weapons store was locally owned. She doubted they would be able to fix Kakashi's tantō, but they would be able to recommend someone who could.
The bells above the door rang as she entered the store. Weapons of all shapes and sizes lined the walls. She didn't know how to use any of them. All that she could use was a shuriken or a kunai and suddenly she doubted that she would ever be able to use Kakashi's tantō properly. There was an overwhelming sense of guilt as she held it. Her sensei could put this to better use. Why had he given it to her?
"Can I help you?" A middle-aged man spoke to her.
She whipped her head around to see a jovial man wiping his hands on a dirtied cloth.
"I was wondering if you fixed weapons here?" She asked. Her voice betrayed her inexperience. She supposed her age did as well.
"Well, let me see what you got." The man smiled warmly. "I'm sure whatever it is, I'll be able to make it look like it was brand new."
Sakura held out the tantō to the man. He grasped it and unsheathed the weapon carefully.
"The rest of the pieces are inside the sheath." She added.
The once jovial man became stunningly serious as he examined the blade. He turned it over in his hands, even going so far as to press his thumb to the sharp of the blade. It bled on contact.
"Where did you find this, girl?" He finally asked suspiciously.
"Wha- oh, my sensei gave it to me as a gift." She knew he doubted her answer. She could see it on his red, blotchy face. She wanted to shout at him. 'Yes, it's mine, you stupid old man!' But she held her tongue.
"Let me take a closer look at this, but I doubt that I could fix a weapon of this caliber. Give me a few minutes, will you?"
She nodded and he turned to the back room of his shop.
He was only gone a minute or two when a girl, about a year older than Sakura was trudged down the stairs. "Dad," she called. "I'm going to train!"
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she looked around the store. "Dad?" She called.
"He's looking at my tantō in the back." Sakura stated to the stupid man's daughter. The girl's hair was drawn into two buns.
"You use a tantō?" The girl asked suspiciously. This girl doubted her as well. She could tell by the tone the girl used. Did that run in this family, Sakura wondered.
"Well, I admittedly don't know how to use it yet. I only just got it from my sensei today." She was loath to admit that she didn't know how just yet. She could see the superior glint in the girl's eyes.
"You're one of the new genin, aren't you?" The girl with buns in her hair asked. "I'm Tenten. I graduated the year before you."
"Yeah, I only graduated a month ago. I'm Sakura." Sakura greeted Tenten politely.
Tenten gave Sakura a rueful smile. "I remember those months. All D-ranks, am I right? It'll probably be a few months before you get anything significant. Even then, it's just simple escort missions."
She wanted to tell the girl that she'd already been on a C-rank, which had turned into an A-rank, which in turn had turned into an S-rank, but Sakura held her tongue. If she did that, she would be accepting unnecessary grief and trouble. Tenten would surely have questions about the mission. Questions she'd rather not answer.
She would have to tell the girl how weak she was and how much of a loser she'd been on that mission. Sakura would have to reveal what that had cost them. "Yeah, I hate D-ranks. They're so boring." She settled for a simple, expected answer.
"My team just got back from an important C-rank mission. We escorted an important Lord back to the Land of Fire's capital city. You haven't lived until you've been there." The girl boasted and Sakura inwardly scowled at the girl. 'You haven't lived until you know how much it means to die', she thought bitterly, but she smiled all the same.
"I'm sure it was beautiful." Sakura said. "Did you meet any princesses?" Her tone was somewhat insulting Sakura realized. Tenten could sense the slight mocking tone in her voice and Sakura immediately felt ashamed. When had she become so… so bitter and acidic? Even when in a rage, she never belittled anyone.
Instead of making a comeback, like Sakura had expected, the girl shrugged the comment off. There was almost an approving look in Tenten's eyes. "No, they're protected by the Royal Guard, an elite group of shinobi from all around the Land of Fire."
Sakura remembered learning about them. They pledged their lives to the royal family, leaving their own behind.
"You know, we got to meet one of them. He was one of Gai-sensei's old teammates." The girl was full of boasts, Sakura realized.
Before Sakura could remark on Tenten's newest achievement, her father waddled back into the room. His belly spilled far over his belt.
"Girl," He started. "Do you know what you've got here?" He asked.
She didn't know anything about the blade, other than it was Kakashi-sensei's blade. "It's a tantō." She shrugged.
"This particular blade is known as the White Light Chakra Sabre. This is the tantō that made Hatake Sakumo famous. Where did you get it?" 'I didn't steal it', Sakura thought.
Tenten gaped at her.
"I told you, my sensei, Hatake Kakashi, gave it to me."
There was a twinkle of amusement in the man's coal eyes. "Fair enough. If that's the case, you should know that I can't fix a blade of this quality."
"Where can I get it fixed then?" Sakura wondered.
"The only smith in the Land of Fire that has the capability to fix such a blade would be Sato Shuuzen of the capital city." The man offered back the legendary tantō.
"How am I going to get there?" Sakura asked no one in particular.
"I can't help you get there, but I do have another solution." Tenten's father offered.
"What is it?" Anything to get the blade repaired.
"I can have the blade sent in a caravan to the capital. It's sent every month. Potentially, you could have the blade back in two to three months' time, but more realistically, it would be four to six. Shuuzen is a busy man." He offered.
Six months was a long time. Additionally, there was the possibility that it would be stolen alone the way. She couldn't trust that even a Konoha shinobi would be able to resist taking it for themselves. She could never put Kakashi's blade in so much peril. He'd entrusted it to her. She would some how have to get the blade there herself. "I can't take that risk, there's too much danger on the open roads of the Land of Fire." Sakura told Tenten's father.
"I would never have allowed you to do it in the first place." The man laughed. Realization dawned on Sakura. It was a test. "Treat that blade with respect. Make it an extension of your body and people will come to know you well."
Sakura nodded. She suddenly wasn't so angry with this stupid man.
"Every blade you possess should be treated with respect, like you would your own mother or father." Tenten added. "That being said, I couldn't in my right mind let you wield that tantō without training. I'll teach you how to use it, but for a price."
"What's the price?" What could she want that Sakura had to offer?
"Let me swing the blade in one fight when it's completed." When she grinned, the girl's teeth seemed to gleam as much as the blades she carried.
"Deal." Sakura smiled. She'd just moved a step closer to achieving her goals.
o0o0o0o
Soolal
Preview: Sasuke has strange dreams, indeed.
