Cherry Blossom Moon: Dry Friendships
By Sakura-cherryblossom16
Author Notes: Yay! I got lots of reviews and hits on the first chapter and I am so sorry for the long wait. I had Internet problems and I called to find out that my Internet was not updated so I needed to install the updated version by waiting for a disk. (So annoying by the way since I am the one who had to call them)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.
CHAPTER 2: Training!
I stretched before I looked up at Deidara who was grinning at me. I quickly got up and stood straight up. "Okay yeah, ready to begin?" he said as he crossed his arms and smiled.
"Of coarse," I said as I saw him put a scroll on the floor and he motioned for me to grab it. I took it anxiously and unwrapped it, inside was a list of things I needed to do every morning. Such as laps around the deck (lots of them), 200 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, and something about learning handsigns.
"Listen up yeah, I want these done each day. If you improve than everything will be increased, but we have to see where you are at first. I also didn't include your lectures on ninja rules, lands, real-life problems, and situations that might occur in the land of sand," he said in a different voice, one that was supposed to mimic Itachi's I think, but it happened to not be like it at all.
"Okay, but what is up with your voice? And most especially how could 'you' come up with all this for me?" I questioned him as I laughed.
"He didn't, I'm the one that practically told him how to do 'everything'. You are pretty observant to know that he couldn't make any of that training schedule on his own…though I bet anyone would of known," Kisame said as he chucked afterwards.
"Shut up yeah fish face! I am trying to be a sensei here, now lets get to it Sakura…you know you could leave fish face."
"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Kisame said as he grinned and sat on a stool.
I sighed as I watched the pink haired girl train, how pathetic. I couldn't figure out why they would want to help her though, well Deidara always wanted a friend so I can understand him, but Kisame. For him to actually take the time to help her, she isn't even in the Akatsuki…I will keep an eye on her for now, she seems like trouble. Especially since she is the princess, though I could also bargain with the king though if needed. She is absolutely nothing to me. 'As long as she doesn't slow us down we will be fine…for now,' Itachi thought as he went back up to his room.
I woke up to find Hinata in the other bed sleeping, we had to share a room since that pervy sage had no more rooms that were for us. I'm just glad I didn't have to sleep on the floor. It was cold and hard, not to mention dirty. Tonight I couldn't get to sleep, just knowing that Sakura is out there in danger bugged me to death. I decided to get some fresh air to help me think clearer, as I came out I saw the sage himself looking out into the ocean. I stood next to him and he looked at me. "Can't sleep?"
"No, I have been worrying about Sakura. I have never been separated from her in all our years together, she is like a sister to me. Maybe more to me…"
"Ah…I had someone that I liked too. Although she ended up beating me up all the time..."
"I can imagine why."
"Well other women like me, especially since I am the great sage Jiraiya."
"Who are the sages?" Naruto asked as Jiraiya's mouth fell open.
"One of the most powerful ninja alive! Did you live in a cave or something?!"
"Never heard of them…" Naruto said as he took out a headband.
"Hey, you are a ninja? Oh, that's right. You are Kakashi's pupil huh?"
"Yeah, he took me every summer for training since I wanted to get stronger."
"Stronger huh? I'll tell you something kid, I can train you if you want."
"Really? Well I would like to get stronger…especially since I couldn't protect Sakura…"
"Kid, I don't think you had a chance to do anything. She got herself into this mess and she has to get herself out. Actually I am more concerned about stopping the Akatsuki than helping her."
"I...I can't believe you said that! I'm heading to bed now pervy sage, good night!" Naruto said as he slammed the door and went to bed.
"I can't believe that boy, he does look as stupid as he seems…" He looked up and the stars and smiled, 'to actually be able to train your son, though I never knew that it was going to be this difficult. He has so much to learn…'
At the same time…
I slipped outside and looked out into the ocean, it was so calm and beautiful. I ran my fingers through my hair as the wind blew steadily, 'I wonder if everyone back home is okay, Naruto, Kakashi, Ino, Hinata, and Tsunade. I sure miss them, but this is like my home now…and my family in a strange way. Sasuke…I know that you are following me. I can feel it, but Itachi is here to protect me if you come as well as everybody else…I just know that you are never going to give up though. Seeing you in your past made me see how kind you were, Itachi too. I wonder if Itachi could be different even if he doesn't remembers me, maybe that massacre took a big toll on him…or maybe he just didn't have anybody to go through it with him,' I thought as Deidara came up from behind me.
"I thought you were tired from that training today yeah or did you just say that to stop training?" he asked as he yawned and stretched his arms.
"I can tell that you are inexperienced, you are still a student yourself not a sensei. Though you are strong, but you also have no experience in helping others. But that is not why I am awake, I have a lot of things in my mind…"
"What kind of things?"
"About Itachi in the past, my friends, and unbelievably Sasuke…"
"The past…what happened yeah? With Itachi to be exact."
"He was kind, I was with him before he killed his clan. Though he was so unhappy and I couldn't do anything about it, he was okay on the outside. But I knew he suffered from the inside, he didn't hide it good enough."
"You know I hate Itachi's guts so I can't help think this. Do you think your appearance would make a difference in the way that he feels and acts with the Akatsuki right now or you? I mean if you think he is mean and all maybe he is just…I don't know maybe never going to change. You know what I mean right?"
"Yes, I do…Our connection is not there anymore, if I tried to be friends with him there would only be negative results. I know that you are trying to say that I should just move on and forget about what happened in the past because I can never bring him back…but I still think I can reach him some way and some how."
"Sakura…this is just going to be harder on yourself, what if he tricked you?"
"Of coarse not! He helped me get back home, if he didn't care he wouldn't have risked his life for me."
"…he did didn't he? Well the Itachi you speak off seems nothing like the Itachi I know."
"That is because he isn't."
"Are you sure though yeah about him being able to change?"
"…" I said nothing as I put my head down and looked at the floor.
"Just consider my words…maybe its just the way Itachi is and what he is meant to be like for always," Deidara said as he walked away.
'Deidara just hates Itachi, that is why he said that…but what if Deidara is right…?' I thought as I closed my eyes.
"Okay we are here!" Kisame shouted as I stopped training and looked behind me to see land…well sand to be exact. We have been traveling on the seas for 6 days and it feels nice to see land, I was really getting tired of running on the deck so many times...
"Kisame how are all of us going to cross the desert?" I asked as he lowered the anchor.
"Correction, you and I are crossing the desert. The other two are flying, we are traveling with a group of people. I hate this weather here so if I flew I would burn up in a fever," Kisame said as Deidara and Itachi started to take off. Deidara turned around to smile at me while Itachi just ignored me and turned his back toward us.
"Don't worry Sakura all of us will meet in the sand kingdom before we head out for the shrine yeah!" Deidara shouted as they took off. I watched them take of as Kisame tapped his fingers on the railing.
"Its best if we get going right away, the best part is that we get shade and won't get as hot in the weather the whole way there. It is slower, but the good part is that we are safer. They have to avoid the enemies of the land of sand throwing bombs and whatever they can at them because they are easily spotted in the air," he said as we walked over to see a group of people waiting for us. Kisame had a brown and ripped cloak so he wouldn't get caught, but since his face was easy to recognize he also wore a rice picker's hat. I sat down with Kisame and we headed on our way and this way was not slow. Two giant desert snakes were dragging our hauling cart with a cloth roof for shade that Kisame and I were in. There were other carts too, but we had our own so it was very spacious.
"I thought you said that we were getting there slowly?"
"This is slow, compared to flying."
"Anyways this is so cool!" I said as I stuck my head out to see them slither across the sand.
"Cool huh? Well it will still take us two days to get there."
"So the other two will get there in one day?" I said as I stopped to look in my backpack to see if my supplies were all there.
"No, probably in 12 hours or something. This is a big land you know, a lot bigger than the land of fire. Though since they are flying it won't take long."
"So they will be waiting for us the whole time?"
"No, once they get to the kingdom they will think of a plan to get the key."
"Key?"
"So many questions…yes a key. Its for the shrine, unlike your shrine this one has a key. That proves how stupid your land is compared to all the others."
"Okay…will we all go together to get the crystal?"
"I thought I was hinting at no more questions?"
"Well that would be boring, unless you like looking at sand all day we should learn to get to know each other or find out what we are going to do. It saves me asking more questions in the future."
Kisame grunted, "anyways the answer to your question is that we will not. Only they will go, we head back to the ship when they are headed to get the crystal with the key in their possession. We can't waste anytime, plus they have to go by foot when traveling to the shrine because of defensive reasons."
"That seems boring, us coming here is completely pointless!"
"Well we are the backup just in case something goes wrong, now I'm going to take a nap so shut up."
'Now, what do I do? I guess just stay quiet…I wonder if Deidara will still train me at the kingdom. I have been doing really well, I mastered the shadow clone jutsu easily. My shuriken training too, though I practiced with Naruto so many times before at the kingdom. The studying was a piece of cake and really interesting. I can sense chakra very well now and my taijutsu is the only thing that needs work right now. Then Deidara said I get something special if I excel in my taijutsu…I wonder what it is,' I thought as I started reading a book Deidara gave me.
Meanwhile…
I gritted my teeth as I tried to burst this stupid water balloon with my chakra, "pervy sage this is not working! Pervy sage!"
"I'm sorry, but you have to do this on your own. I'll show you once more and that is it, the rest is all up to you," he said as the water balloon exploded with his chakra.
"…pervy sage that isn't helping! Tell me what I need to do!" Naruto complained as Jiraiya ignored him and started writing his novel.
'Don't give up Naruto, I know that you succeed in anything you put your mind too,' Hinata thought as she stood to the side and watched Naruto train.
Tonight everybody stopped and got a bit to eat, it seems that everybody was enjoying theirselves, including Kisame. Who was sleeping due to the excessive amount of sake he just drank, I just sat at the fire all by myself and started reading the book that Deidara gave me to study on. It was a book about the land of sand that included everything from the landscape to legends, everyone right now had tents up and started going to sleep. I guess I should of went to sleep, but I just stayed up with the fire going until someone put it out.
"Sorry miss, here take this lantern and that should help," a young man said as he went to a tent. I sensed someone coming, but that person had a decent amount of chakra. I stood up to see who it was, it ended up being a young woman that was I believe the same age as me, she happened to sit right next to me and smiled.
"Hi, my name is Midori. What is yours?" she asked as I noticed her soft green eyes.
"My name is…er…Saki, from the land of fire. Do you live around here?"
"No, I come from the land of water so it is quite difficult coming here. I'm here because I have to treat the ill for a while, I'll head back after I'm done."
"Really? That is interesting, I specialize in healing too. Why are you treating people over here though? Aren't there healers here?"
"Not much, I get paid a good amount of money. Plus it is required because the land of sand made a treaty with the land of water saying that they can use us for our healing skills."
"Wow, you must be really good."
"Not really, just enough to treat the minor things. In the land of water's kingdom only the chosen can learn special and more advanced healing, but the land of water is known for its healing abilities. Why are you here Saki?"
"Well…for training and helping out also. I'm here with someone else, but he seems busy right now…"
"Okay, I came here with a bunch of other healers. My parents are dead though so I live alone."
"I'm so sorry, you must miss them. I miss my mom…but I really don't care what happens to my dad."
"Oh you must be having a tough time with him."
"…you can say that, but it must be hard living without them."
"Oh no! I live with other girls that work with me, it's an elegant inn with a bathhouse and you also get pampered. We heal also so I guess its like a hospital also."
"How interesting, I could sure use some pampering. I haven't had a bath in such a long time since I have been on a ship for a while."
"Maybe you could visit sometime, I would make sure that you enjoy your stay…and be safe."
"Thanks, I'm getting tired so I really should get some sleep," I said as I yawned.
"Sure, I hope you have a good night then. Oh and since I know that you are a medic take this book, its for healing. I hope it is useless for your journey," she said as she left.
'What a nice girl, the land of water…yes we do have to go there. I might end up seeing you again after all, but was that being safe thing all about?'
The shadows danced on the walls as many candles were lit. The room was quiet and dark as piercing eyes stared at figure in the front of the room. The figure in the front of the room smirked, "everything is going just the way you wanted, are you sure that everything will go as you planned though?"
"But of coarse, now we just keep an eye on the dreaded Akatsuki. We can't let them out of our sight," a voice full of evil said as the moon shown on the kingdom of the land of fire.
Okay, I hoped you liked it!
