Author's note: I forgot to add the disclaimer on the last chapter…
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!! If I did, Sasuke and Sakura would be together by now. Oh and do not steal my ideas or plot thingy.
Later that night, Sakura sat on her bed, contemplating all that had happened that day. She woke up early, as usual, was training vigorously in her private training grounds, when she had gotten a note attached to a kunai. The note turned out to be the Hokage summoning her. She complied, and met her teacher. Only, she wasn't alone. Sasuke was sitting there, in the office. He had come back. Something she never thought could happen. He was to join her squad. She knew he was strong. His strength may even match hers, and that is definitely saying something.
But, Sakura hated him. She hated him with her heart and soul. He betrayed her beloved village, he betrayed her. He left her when she tried so hard to prevent anything like that from happening. But, she couldn't deny that she knew it was going to happen all along, someday she knew he would leave. Having the sharpest mind on team seven back in her genin days, she knew that he had a thirst for power, and would stop at nothing to get that power. She hated him for that.
She sighed, and let herself fall back on her bed. She stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought. I promised myself long ago that I would never love him again, and I will keep my promise. I will. She thought, making a silent vow.
Sakura hoisted herself up off her bed, and stretched her arms up over her head. She walked to a small closet that was next to her big one that held her vast collection of clothes. She opened it, and took out a fresh new fluffy pink towel. She slipped off her standard ninja shoes outside the door of her bathroom, and wet in and shut the door, preparing for her nightly shower.
As she was in the shower, washing her hair with that fragrant shampoo, memories poured into her mind. All of them, unfortunately, from her genin days. And all of them having to do with her former team mate, Sasuke.
Naruto snickered as he placed the heavily chalk-dusted chalk board eraser above the door. Sakura scowled, and chastised him for trying to pull such an immature prank on their extremely late sensei.
Inner Sakura praised him, and even cheered him on while outer Sakura tried to suppress her inner, wilder side.
Sasuke sat in a seat, a bit away from the two 'knuckleheads' that were to be his team-mates, not caring in the least. He had his hands folded in front of his mouth, his eyes closed as he tried to get rid of the headache forming between his eyes.
Just then, their very late sensei walked through the door, the chalk board eraser plopping right down onto his grey-gravity-defying hair. Naruto and inner Sakura were crying from laughing so hard, while Sasuke, and outer Sakura stayed calm, not caring. Sakura was only trying to impress her crush, which didn't even have an effect on the ice cube boy.
Their sensei looked calm, and much like their stoic new team mate. He opened his closed eyes half way, giving him a lazy, Shikamaru-like look. "My first impression; I don't like you guys." He stated simply while Naruto was still laughing.
Sakura smiled at the memory, now rinsing out the shampoo from her hair, rubbing her fingers against her scalp. She grabbed the conditioner bottle and squeezed some of its content onto her wet hand. As she moved on to condition her hair, another memory came into her mind.
The crystal ice mirrors shattered, pieces flying everywhere. Sakura's emerald orbs were wide, staring at the kyuubi-charged Naruto. Red strings of chakra were whirling around his orange and blue clad body, his nails grown into claws, and his eyes turned red with black slits for pupils.
Sakura had to admit, she was scared. She tried to stay calm, not to worry, and have faith in them. She couldn't even see Sasuke now, so she obviously had to resort to another method to keep her worry inside. She bit her lip in frustration. Where was her other team mate?
Right then, she saw a blue and while heap lying near the now smoke cleared Naruto. 'Sasuke…!' She screamed in her mind. No words came out of her mouth as said person came flying toward her, senbon sticking out from all over his body.
Sakura dropped down to her knees next to him, Tazuna still standing behind her. "Go ahead and let it all out." He said. Sakura obeyed, and fell onto her crush's chest, balling her eyes out. She leaned up a little to look at his face, contorted into a pained expression.
"I always answered every question on the ninja academy exams. On one of them, it asked the question, 'What is Shinobi rule #25?' I answered it right, just as I was supposed to. 'Shinobi rule #25: A ninja should never show emotion.'" Sakura broke down crying all over again, leaning back down onto her thought to be dead team mate.
She then heard the faint, strained voice, "S-Sakura…y-you're heavy."
Sakura's smile faltered then. She had really believed Sasuke was dead back then. Now, she really wished he was. But, she wouldn't go as far as to kill him during tomorrow's spar, just merely wound him…badly. Screw that. She wanted to Make. Him. Suffer. She wouldn't stop until she got her revenge on him for leaving her. She wanted to pummel him to where he bleeding horribly, to where he could die if she chose not to heal him. She wanted him to suffer big time.
She smirked, and stepped out of the shower, grabbing the fluffy pink towel, and wrapping it around her frail body. If you looked at her reflection in the mirror that was across from her, it would be impossible not to catch the evil gleam in her eye.
After throwing on a pair of pink short shorts and a black tank top, she climbed into her bed, letting her pink sheets settle over her tired body. Wow…she had a lot of pink in her bedroom.
Sakura awoke to the music of her alarm clock. She lazily opened her eyes, and rolled them toward her right, where her alarm clock was sitting on her desk. 4:00am was what it read. Now some people would think the pink haired girl was insane, getting up at 4am. But hey, she was a ninja, and she had training in an hour, not to mention a special sparring match.
She heaved a sigh, and pushed down the warm covers, sliding out of bed, and sliding her feet into her fuzzy pink bunny slippers (again with the pink!). She grabbed her light pink (…) robe from her desk chair, and slipped onto her slender form, tying the knot by her flat stomach.
She trudged over to the closed door, and opened it, walking into the hallway. She walked down the hallway to her spotless kitchen, and filled her tea kettle with water, setting it on to stove burner. Yeah, she liked hot tea…so what? She yawned, covering her wide open mouth with her hand, before sliding a chair out from the dining table, and sitting down, waiting for her kettle to boil.
She rested her head on her arms while waiting. Wow, she must have really worked her body to the limit yesterday. Otherwise, she wouldn't be this tired in the mornings. Usually, she was a morning person, more awake than during any other time of day. It was odd to see her tired in the mornings.
She was brought out of her revere when she heard the growing whistle of the kettle. She stood up from the table, and walked over to turn the burner off. She got a large mug that said 'being a ninja has its perks…you get free stuff' on the front of it. She got a table spoon out of the drawer, and poured two spoons of sugar into the mug, and one spoon of tea. She poured water into it, and stirred. She watched the clumps of tea swirl around at the surface of the hot water, slowly dissolving. There was a single circle of small bubbles that had joined together, and three clumps of tea in three separate places on the bubble circle. It looked familiar.
An image flashed through her mind at the moment. It was an eye, with a black ring and three comma shaped marks circling the black ring around the pupil. The background of the eyeball was red. She recognized that eye…the Sharingan. Crap.
The spoon dropped into the hot tea, splashing some hot water onto her hand. A small gasp emitted from her full lips as the hot water droplets slid down her hand, leaving a hot feeling on its trail. She cursed under her breath and grabbed a kitchen towel, whipping her hand off. It was only hot water, nothing major like a fire burn. That was a relief…
Sakura set down the towel, and picked up her steaming mug. She sat back down at the table, still a little shaken from the image that had just flashed through her mind. She sipped the refreshing beverage, letting the warm liquid slide down her parched throat. It woke her tired body up slowly.
By the time she was done with the hot tea, it was 4:15am. She wanted to be ready by 4:30 or 4:45 do she could get some individual training in. She put her now empty mug into the dishwasher, and walked back to her bedroom.
She walked over to her closet to get her outfit for the day. She chose to wear her ANBU uniform today. Usually, she wore an outfit of her choice, and wears her uniform on missions. She picked up her cat mask from her desk, and slipped it on. She tied her long hair up into a high pony tail, as not to get in the way during training…and sparing. She tied her headband on her head just like she had worn it in her genin days, and she still does wear it like that.
She slipped her black gloves onto her small, feminine hands, and put her ninja shoes on. Lastly Sakura put her weapons pouch around her hip, along with her Kunai holster on her thigh. She looked herself over in the mirror in the bathroom before smirking in satisfaction. Hey, a girl has to look presentable…right? But that didn't take much effort for the rose haired kunoichi.
She walked to her front door, and opened it, stepping out into the apartment complex hallway. She walked down the hallway after shutting and locking her door, and walked outside into the cool morning air that was slowly warming up.
It was probably about 4:30am now, and most of her other comrades were probably just waking up. Well…maybe not Ino. She probably woke up earlier than Sakura did, just to straighten her long blonde locks (she was naturally curly haired) to impress her new crush, Shika.
She walked down the street, not going to fast or to slow, but at a steady pace. She made it to the outskirts of Konoha, where the vast forest was. She walked to her usual training grounds, which was where all the trees were either knocked down, or half buried in the soil…courtesy of Sakura and her 'inhuman strength'.
She gazed around at her favorite training sight. It was pretty big, probably as big as the Uchiha and Hyuuga grounds combined. Now that was big. There were targets painted onto trees in one area of the training field, and a circle shaped indention in the soil that became permanent from Neji's Kaiten (sp?). There were also a lot of dents in the ground from where weapons had obviously tortured the poor soft soil. Does that say anything to you? It practically screamed 'Tenten the weapons mistress has been here. Fear her'. Sakura smirked behind her mask, and walked over to her favorite part of the training grounds, the sparring area.
There she practiced her genjutsu, and ninjutsu. And a little bit of taijutsu that she had learned from Lee, who was on a mission with Shino and Gai at the moment. She decided not to use her 'inhuman strength' at the moment and destroy the whole area; she would wait until Sasuke and her sparred.
Soon enough, all of the others had arrived, except for Chouji and Kiba who had gone to assist on the mission the others were on. So it was only Neji, Naruto, Hinata, Tenten, Ino, and Shikamaru who showed up. But, Sakura noticed, no Sasuke. Had he ditched? Damn. She was looking forward to sparring with him. Now she was angry…she let him join her squad, even offered to spar with him, and he's late, maybe even ditching. She let out a frustrated sigh.
"So where is Uchiha?" Neji asked, raising an eyebrow at the seething Sakura. She glared at him, her eyes saying 'Can't you see that? He's not here you idiot!' Seriously, only Sakura and Tenten could say that to him and not get the famous byakugan glare. Well…technically she wasn't saying it, but you get the point.
"He's not here idiot. And I thought you were a genius…" Tenten spoke up from her position next to him. See what I mean? He only glanced at her, a hint of embarrassment in his eyes. Now only Tenten could make him feel embarrassed.
Just then, they heard a sound that resembled one of a stampede of elephants. All of then took a stance, ready to fight if necessary. But, it turned out that wouldn't be needed, for it was Sasuke who had come running toward their training grounds, and it was Sasuke who was being chased by a horde of fan girls, and it was Sasuke who ran strait into a completely bewildered Sakura, landing on top of her in a very awkward position, knocking her ANBU cat mask off in the process.
The stampede of fan girls halted when they witnessed what had just happened. Many had looks of shock on their face, some even had angry expressions. Neji, Tenten, Naruto, Hinata, Shika, and Ino all looked at the blushing duo, with their faces so close that their noses were almost touching. Sakura's eyes were wide with shock, not yet to the anger stage, and Sasuke just lay there, surprisingly not wanted to get up. Mainly because being in this position with his former team mate had stopped his fan girls from glomping him.
Then Naruto burst out laughing, tears streaming down his face, and clutching his abdominal. It was now when pure anger flashed through the blushing kunoichi that lay underneath Sasuke. She furrowed her brow, and narrowed her eyes. Thrusting her gloved hands against his rock hard chest, that she just noticed, she shoved him off of her. He flopped ungracefully next to her on his back from the force.
His fan girls all started to shout, their rage being expressed toward Sakura. She tried to suppress the urge to just kill them all right then and there as she heard them calling her rude names such as 'slut!' and 'whore!' and 'dirtbag!' That had been the last straw. With speed that no human eye could follow, she reached into her kunai holster, pulled one out, and aimed it directly above their heads to a tree that was behind them.
As the kunai whizzed by their heads, it ruffled their hair and their eyes widened. They all stared in shock at the pink haired girl, no one daring to speak a word. But, Sakura did. Only two words came out of her pursed lips. "Get. Lost." She said through gritted teeth. Now there was another stampede, but this one heading away from them all.
Sakura stood and glared at the raven haired boy who now stood in front of her. "Great. Now they all know where my private training grounds are! Thanks a lot Mr. I-think-I'm-so-cool-that-I'll-totally-ram-into-my-former-team-mate-and-make-her-fall-to-the-ground-without-even-caring!" they all stared at her in amusement, some even trying to hide their giggles. They all shut up when they got Sakura's fury glare.
She sighed and looked at everyone's chosen training attire. Hey, she had to make sure they were able to train properly right? No one can train in a flimsy skirt and a to-tight-tank top. Most of them wore their ANBU uniforms, except for Ino and Hinata who wore what she had seen them in the day before. Her eyes landed on Sasuke. He actually didn't look half bad in the ANBU uniform. Sasuke caught her looking him over and smirked.
"See something you like?" he said cockily. Sakura glared and looked away from him. But Ino and Hinata were over where she had redirected her gaze, and they saw her pink tinted cheeks. They exchanged a glance, and smirked at one another.
"You wish." Sakura stated bluntly. The others chuckled at the Uchiha's reaction. Sakura then looked back up at them once she regained control over the blush that had taken her face over. She looked at them all before giving them orders. "We will pair off in two's. I am sparring with Sasuke in the first sparring section, so do not interfere unless you wish to be wounded badly. You may pair off with whomever you wish, but stay as far away as possible from my spar. Go." With that one last word, they each paired off.
Neji went with Tenten to the second sparring area. Shika went with Ino to the target practice area, and Naruto and Hinata went over to the third sparring area. Sakura picked up her cat mask, replaced it, and walked over to the first sparring area, Sasuke following close behind. It was the area that hadn't been touched since she got permission from the hokage to use this area as her private training grounds, so it was fresh and the soil was ready to soak in blood.
Sakura stopped in the center of the large circular area, and turned to face her challenger. Maybe by the end of this spar, he might become her permanent sparring partner. But that all depended on how talented she thought he was. Sakura smirked, and folded her arms casually, as if waiting for him to do something.
Sasuke didn't like this too much. She was mocking him! He had acted just like that back in his genin days. He couldn't believe it; she was mocking him, trying to make him feel stupid. And the worst part of it was - it was working. It enraged him, really. He was a male; he was supposed to be dominant! Not females. No, never. He would never let a girl beat him.
They both simultaneously thought one thing. Let the spar begin!
Seeing as the pink haired ANBU was just standing there, Sasuke took the opportunity to test her. He reached into his Kunai holster, pulled one out, and threw it, aiming for the pressure point right by her shoulder. He thought that she wouldn't be able to catch it, or dodge it. He still thought she was weak. Sakura knew this.
She definitely surprised him when she simply reached up her left hand, and caught the Kunai between her forefinger and middle finger. He raised his eyebrows, not out of shock, but out of interest. He was now interested in her growing strength, even though he still thought she was weak. But she could never catch a Kunai in her genin days.
Sakura threw back the Kunai, as if saying 'C'mon! You have got to be kidding me. Give something better than that!' while she took on a fighting position. Sasuke caught the Kunai, and took the chance of running at her. Ooh…bad mistake Sasuke. Sakura smirked behind her mask. Sasuke hadn't got his mask yet, and may never get one. The ANBU mask was like a passing trophy, you could only get one when you sparred with the ANBU captain, and they approved. Sakura didn't plan on him earning his mask today.
Sasuke ran at her, and jumped up right before he reached her, landing behind her intending to thrust the metal weapon into her spine. Only, when he thrust the Kunai forward, there was nothing there to thrust it into. She was gone. He felt the wind knocked out of him suddenly, and realized he had been kicked from behind at a pressure point. He fell to the ground, sliding in the dirt. He turned his head and saw his former team mate standing there, not a scratch on her beautiful body.
Wait. Scratch that. He said WHAT? Beautiful body? Since when had she had a BEAUTIFUL BODY!!!!!! Back on track Sasuke, your hormones shouldn't be getting in the way right now…….
He hopped up and turned to face her. He smirked at her, and could almost feel her harsh glare through that feline mask. She bent her knees, and jumped up using chakra powered legs. She was hiding in the trees now, concealing her chakra so he wouldn't find her. But she knew he was better than that.
Sasuke was trying to conserve chakra by not using his Sharingan. But now he had no choice. He couldn't sense her chakra anywhere, and couldn't see her all the way up in those dense trees. Sakura looked down to see the very eye that had flashed through her mind this morning while making her hot tea…the Sharingan.
He spotted her, and thought he would deceive her by acting like he still couldn't see her, and move in the opposite direction, and circle around to be behind her. So he did just that. But he didn't know that his former pink haired team mate knew him so well. She knew his tricks, his moves, and his fighting style. That was his fighting style. He liked to test you first, and then go head on, and then try to deceive you. It wouldn't work on Sakura.
As soon as she saw him take a step back, she hopped down from her hiding place, landing gracefully on her feet. Hey, it was a feline thing. He didn't expect her to do that, and definitely didn't expect her to do what she did next,
Sakura gathered the maximum amount of chakra in her fist, and punched the rocky ground without much effort, creating an earthquake-like effect. Sasuke stumbled, rocking back and forth on his unstable feet. The other people all stopped when they felt the earth shaking, and all looked towards Sakura. Naruto suggested they watch the match, and so they did just that.
Sakura almost laughed at the Uchiha's startled expression, but kept her mind on the battle. This was her turf, she knew every rock, pebble, and tree in this sparring area, and would use it to her advantage. She jumped back up into the trees before he could regain his balance. He noticed this though with his Sharingan.
Crap. Sakura thought when she saw the raven haired boy jump up into the trees after her. He began to chase after her, analyzing her every move with his eyes. He knew her way as well. Well…at least he thought he did. He was quite surprised at her strength now; as opposed to how weak she was back in the day. But he still thought she was weak.
They both landed on the ground near where the others were watching there little spar. They stared at each other for a moment when Sasuke smirked. "Che…weak. Still weaker than ever." He said. Ooh….now Sakura was angry. The people watching raised there eyebrows. They all knew never, NEVER call Sakura weak.
Sakura had had it with him. She couldn't take it. She couldn't hold it all in anymore, she had to let her anger free on something didn't she? So she chose one lonesome traitor that stood before her. Oh, was he in for it.
"Do NOT call me weak!!!" She yelled with rage outlining her voice in a way that she had never done before. She charged at him, fist raised. He ducked at the last moment, and her fist hit the tree behind him. Too bad it was a chakra powered punch, and it made the whole line of trees behind the one she punched fall down along with it. Sasuke's eyes widened for a split second, the split second that Naruto and Neji didn't miss. They knew he thought she wasn't weak, but the complete opposite.
But that split second ended and his face was contorted back into mockery. He laughed, actually laughed at her, and said, "Yeah right. You are weak. Get over it. I am stronger than you. You have no idea what I have been through!" He said with bitterness. He only angered the kunoichi more.
"You aren't stronger than me! You aren't! And you think I don't know what you have been through Sasuke? You have no idea how similar we really are!" She shocked him by saying that, and he halted. Unfortunately, his mistake of stopping had landed him a punch from a very angry Sakura. His brows furrowed in anger now, as he retorted with a similar comment.
"You and I similar? Not possible! You have parents! You have a family! I don't!" He yelled with rage spilling over his words. Naruto and the others knew the mistake he just made might just cost him his life, but hoped she would spare him.
Sakura almost laughed at his stupidity, but restrained herself. She launched at him, continuing their battle, throwing punches and kicks, some landing their target and some landing on her. "You think I don't know what you have been through?" She repeated. "I have no parents! I have no family! I watched them all die just as you did! I watched my mom, my dad, and my little sister get slaughtered by that snake of a teacher of yours right before my very own eyes! Do not tell me that I don't know what you have been through!" She was panting now. Sasuke was actually a pretty tough opponent.
Sasuke was shocked. Orichimaru killed her family? But, this time…no one lived. No one but her. "He…he killed your family?" he asked softly, almost unheard by the pink cherry blossom. They both stopped; Sakura's fist in mid-punch, Sasuke standing, getting ready to block her attack.
"Oh, like you didn't know? You were his student after all! You probably told him to spare me, so that you could watch me suffer! So that you could watch me suffer the same pain you had to go through! I lost the ones I love, Sasuke! And I'll never see them again!!" With that last line, she punched him square in the face, and he didn't even try to block it.
He fell back on his behind hardly, and looked up at her. "I didn't even know. I had no clue." He said dimly. "Why did he spare you?" he asked, really wanting to know now. Why had he spared her? Did he really want her to suffer? Or had he just felt like killing someone, so he chose his former team mate's family? Did he want revenge against Tsunade, so he targeted her pupil? He just didn't understand!
Sakura was tired, Sasuke had really worked her. She saw him as an equal in strength, and she knew he saw a big change in her. Even if she hadn't even gotten to show a tenth of her power…bummer. Oh well, might as well get some rest to refuel my chakra. With that, the last thing she saw was her team mates rushing up to her as her eyes met darkness, and she felt her body hit the hard, rocky ground before completely losing herself in the unconscious world of her mind.
Author's note: I really enjoyed writing this chapter, even though I thought the fight and the ending totally sucked. I might rewrite it some other time. Let me know what you guys think, because I am not too satisfied with it. R & R!!
