vi.
The Forest of Death. Someone hugging him from behind. A carpet of pink hair.
"Please stop," someone whimpered as their arms wrap around his torso tightly. Their tears soaked his back.
'How weak,' he would think.
But the marks think otherwise as they recede to a dull throb on his neck. Sasuke fell.
vii.
Today, Sasuke decided, wasn't a full-out nightmare. He smoothed down his dark hair and got out of bed. Naruto was out on a mission for the next two weeks, so the man took his time showering and eating breakfast.
Popping a cherry tomato into his mouth, the Uchiha opted to explore the mansion to stave off boredom. The mansion had been renovated after Pein's attack in the village, and most of the objects from his childhood were either broken or incinerated to the point of it being unrecognizable. The ones that actually made past the destruction were shoved in a box and forgotten somewhere inside the house.
Ironically, the man stumbled across the same box.
Upon opening the flaps, Sasuke found a shattered frame of an old Team 7 photo tucked into the sides. His eyes zeroed onto the hole burnt in the middle of the photo. Was there always a girl on our team?
What was left of the hole was long, pink hair sticking out from an invisible face. The hole had burnt out the mysterious girl's body.
'Sasuke-kun.'
The frame clattered to the ground as Sasuke fled the room.
viii.
Kakashi wasn't one to let anything get to him. But the incident at 12:19 left him curious of the 'pink haired, green eyed' Sakura they insisted on invading the privacy of. So he browsed through every Sakura files Konoha stored.
An hour and a cup of coffee later, Kakashi came across a file with the face blacked out and its content blank sitting at the back of the S section of the residential files. Feeling a little suspicious, the Rokudaime decided to send it out for cross checking and further inspection. He was sure printing mistakes had been fixed since before the 4th.
Kakashi left the vault in a hurry. He was one hour late to his meeting.
ix.
"You seem distracted today," pale fingers edged with long, sharp nails treaded through pink hair, "What happened?"
She hummed, "Nothing."
x.
The rain hadn't let up since yesterday, Naruto mused. His team had been stuck with a storm in the middle of the forest of Fire Country, and it has only been five days into their patrol.
"At this rate, the patrol is going to last one more week," Shikamaru drawled as he entered the cave the team took refuge in. Naruto groaned and laid out his sleeping bag.
He hoped to see Sakura again. The blonde smiled and drifted to sleep.
tbc.
note1: I'm sorry it's short. I'm still experimenting with the writing style.
note2: For one of the reviewers, thank you so much for leaving a review. Apparently if I tell you what's going on, it'll spoil the whole story. Sorry. You know who you are.
note3: This fic isn't going to focus much on romance, but pairings are from the canon story. Yes.