Standard Disclaimer applied.

I discovered that what was happening to my body—super hearing, inhuman strength, unearthly speed, etc—was not a result of puberty. Oh, no. This is much scarier than that. But at that time, I was pretty much clueless. Who could blame anyone? I was only nine at that time. I most certainly did not expect possessing absurd physical strength as much as I expected gaining extra arms.

I was in fourth grade when our Sex Ed class was teaching us about the vagaries of adolescence. It was then and there that I thought that I already figured out why I could rip my locker door open. But when I asked my teacher how to control my immense massive strength all she said was "Don't be silly, Sakura." So, I showed her that I could punch the cement sidewalk and actually leave a huge dent—like a meteor would leave if ever it would hit the pavement of my school—on it.

Let's just say that I learned to control my 'extraordinary powers' the hard way.

And that our Sex Ed teacher's sanity is shaken and that she never looked at me the same way again.

From then on, I learned to keep my mouth shut about the excessive growth spurt that I don't share with everybody.

Until today, I keep wondering if it's because of my special abilities that I lacked in the development in the Boob and Height Department. Because, you know, I'm 16 and I'm still 5'2" and still a cup A. Le sigh.

Even though I do have super strength, I find it equally difficult to drag this three hundred-pound meat bag. Phew.

Fifteen down, five to go.

I lug the Big Man to a king sized coffin. "Sorry. Take two aspirins when you wake up to cure the impending headache." I whisper to him before I close the lid of the coffin. He stirs and his eyelids flutter and I have to punch him again. I hear my fist connecting to a nose cartilage. "Make that three." I add.

I sneak out of the Egyptian Wing and into the hall where the hostages are being held

"We have 20 minutes before the bomb detonates, Deidara." A thug informs the man that has been hitting the woman earlier.

The man named Deidara turns to the woman tied to a throne—that has been missing from the Medieval Wing, I checked.

"Look, you either tell us where the emblem is, yeah, or this place will blow up." He threatens.

"What's the point? I don't tell you and you'll kill me. I tell you and you'll still kill me." Woman's gotta point. Apparently, Deidara doesn't see that and he hits her. Hard. She spits out blood directly in his shoes. Touche.

I hear a surprised intake of breath. My head snaps to who it came from. One of the hostages is looking at me. I'm pressing myself against the far wall of the hall—obscuring the sight of me is the The Thinker and he's manly, manly figure—where the light is dimmest. I put a finger to my lips, instructing her to shut up. She slightly nods her head.

I quickly went to the crone by the entrance to the Paleozoic Wing. His back is right in front of me. Just one quick chop to the neck and it's Dreamland for you, buddy.

Just as I emerge from the shadows, poised to deliver the fatal blow that could knock him unconscious, my phone rang.

My flippin' phone rang.

I'm beautiful in my way

'Cos God makes no mistakes

I'm on the right track, baby

I was born this way

I froze. My hand hovering in the air ready to karate chop the hell out the guy but interrupted by the infamous Lady Gaga. Just my luck.

The guy turns around, grabs me by the neck and lifts me off the ground. I give him an uppercut; he lets go, stumbles backward and rubs his jaw. Before he could recover, I kick him in the gut and punch him some more. He falls unconscious and I whisper to him what I whispered to the Big Man earlier.

I answer my phone.

"Where the hell are you?" Ino says by way of greeting.

"I, uh," My phone seemed to alarm the other bad guys and two more thugs come barging in. One was bald—his head was shiny and reflective and everything. The moonlight practically bounced off his head—and the other was shockingly blond that it was almost white under the moonlight.

"You're not in the ladies room, are you?" I could almost picture Ino sneering at the phone.

The two of them make their way to me. Oh God. I grab the nearest weapon I could find—a dinosaur bone.

"Um, my period… I, uh, forgot to bring, ah," I stammer. "I went to the nearest store to buy tampons!" I say this as I smash the bald guy on his shiny head with the dinosaur bone and kick Blondie in the chest—successfully knocking the breath out of him.

"You could've asked me, you know, I have an extra." Ino sighed heavily. "Listen," she adds. But I never got to. Listen, I mean. Blondie kicked the phone out of my hand. I huff indignantly.

"That's it! I slaved away for that phone!" I growled. I charge at him, abruptly dropping down, sliding underneath him and temporarily severing his spine. I quickly whisper to them the usual mantra, pick up my phone and thrust my hips outward into what passed for a victory dance. I stopped for a few seconds until I felt silly. Alright, let's not do that again. And then something dawned on me.

Oh. My. God.

The bomb.

I look at my watch. Fifteen minutes before the fireworks.

I reenter the hall where the hostages are held. Two bad guys left. The mastermind and the apprentice. The apprentice is armed. Better get rid of that. The guy won't even feel pain. It'll be quick and painless. I'll just knock him out cold and get rid of the bullet cartridge. He won't even know what hit him. And that's exactly what I did. I don't tell him about the aspirin because he was carrying an extremely dangerous toy that could permanently put someone out of commission. He definitely deserves an unbearable migraine.

I run to the mastermind,—who so far didn't notice his missing protégé—Deidara, who's standing in front of the hostages. He won't see me at all. Well, maybe just a blur. I taunt him for awhile by whipping past him.

"Who's there?" Deidara frantically looks for the haze that just blew past him. The smudge that was me. "Show yourself, you freak!"

I cut the taunting crap and pause at his back. I twist his arm behind him and place an arm across his chest while he cried and squirmed for help. The wuss. I really resent those kinds of guys that act like they're all macho or something then when real physical pain hits them they recoil like they accidentally touched scorching hot water. Wussies. I mean, they could just like be themselves, you know. Tch. I wish I could take my own advice into hand. Ugh.

If I be myself in front of Sasuke he'd be totally freaked out. I mean any guy who would find out about a girl that is much stronger than them physically could wound their ego and lower their self-esteem. Really! Who would want to help a girl who can knock out a bunch of muggers on the street carry her books? Who would want to help a girl who could jump up 30 feet in the air reach for something in the high shelf that she can't get a hold of? Who would want to fetch a girl who could dart out the room and circle the whole academy under a minute a drink? See what I mean? It's just not happening.

Alright, Sakura. Leave your lack of a love life in your dorm room and keep your mind at the task at hand.

"You're nineteen henchmen are locked up in a coffin, tied to various exhibition pieces, dangling in obnoxiously high places or just plain unconscious on the floor." I say in my most intimidating voice—at least I hope it's intimidating.

"Wh-what are you?" He asks. Ha! Not so tough now, are you, blondie? Not so tough now that you saw the real definition of what 'man power' is like?

Hm, sidethought: he looks incredibly familiar with long blond hair and everything. I feel like I've met him before but I just can't put a finger to it yet.

"Your worst nightmare." I snarl in his ear. Hey, where did that come from? I didn't know I had a side like that. Tacky retort by the way, Sakura. "Where's the bomb? And don't lie. I'll know when you'll lie."

I see his Adam's apple bob rapidly before he answered, "It's at that suit case." His free hand points at a silver briefcase lay atop a glass table a few feet away. It looks exactly where a bomb should be hidden.

"You better not be trying something funny." I growl.

He nods vigorously. Before I walk toward it, I slip my hand inside his coat to remove the gun inside the coat's secret pocket and tuck it behind me and we both ambled to it, with him still in front of me. "Pick it up." I order. He picked it up. I prominently hear the tick-tock of the timer of the bomb. "Do you know how to disarm it?" I ask. I hear his heartbeat quicken its pace than the normal rate of a scared person.

Ten minutes left.

"Say the wrong answer and I'll show you how capable I can ripping your arm out." I warned.

I don't know why he believed my bluff—because I am so evidently squeamish at the sight (or sound) of blood and breaking bones—it must be something in the tone of my voice. "No. It can't be disarmed, yeah." His heart returns to the normal tempo of an average freaked out person.

"Alright. If you try to escape once I let go of you, I will immobilize your ability to participate in reproducing the human race. Do you understand me?" I threaten. Before he could recover from the traumatizing image that flooded his brain, I let go of him and yell at my loudest voice, "Everyone! Out of the building now!" I slash the ropes that bound the woman that Deidara hit earlier. "Lady, your son's outside with the police waiting for you. He's fine."

"Oh my God. Thank you." She said with overwhelming relief that she hugged me the moment her hands came free.

"It's alright."

The hostages flood to the front entrance. I look for a certain blond head in the crowd but he wasn't there. From a distance, I could hear an exit door leading to a side alley slamming shut. The little coward. I grab the suitcase and sprinted after him. Before he could join the evening crowd on the sidewalk, I drag him to the cat piss-smelling narrow alley between the museum and an old brick building. The alley was strewn with garbage bags, the walls tagged with graffiti and marked with stains that are unidentifiable under the moonlight. Small miracles. "It's time for me to demonstrate about what I bragged before." I glare at him.

Deidara cursed colorfully. "Don't do it." He pleads. "Please. Don't do it, yeah. I have to find the emblem."

I ignore his pleas. Instead, I ask another question that's been bugging me since I got involved with this whole ordeal. So much for not interfering. "What's an emblem?" I scale the walls till I reach the rooftop of the museum. I held a hand to Deidara.

"What? You crazy? I am not going with you, yeah."

"I will do what I said. I am not kidding." There must be something in my tone of my voice or an expression in my face that made him scamper to the nearest dumpster to reach my hand. I pull him up effortlessly.

Eight minutes left.

"What's an emblem?" I ask again.

"I don't know what you're talking about." His heartbeat sped up.

"You just mentioned it." I say. The next building to the museum—which is only two floors—is a ten floor building. "Stop lying and hang tight." I give him the suitcase to hold, grab the back of his coat and toss him upwards. He screams like a girl.

And then I remember why he looks so familiar—he kinda looks like Ino.

I leap up after him. Before he could fall and grab for handholds, I was beside him, grabbing his arm and pulling him along with me to the ten storey building. "Shut up!" I demand.

I land on the rooftop in a crouched position. Deidara plopped beside me, frozen in fear and laying flat on his back with the suitcase clutched tightly to his chest. Guy's really shaken. Just like my Sex Ed teacher.

"Let us not do that again, yeah?" He said as he struggles to get up on shaky knees. I sorta pity him. I guess it's the resemblance with Ino that a part of me tolerates him. A feeling he definitely does not deserve after what he did to that woman and her son.

"We haven't got much time. Keep your hands on that bomb."

And then I sprang upwards—Deidara's wrist still in my grasp and he, still screaming—towards the 20 storey building across the street. The moment we landed on its crown, we were running from roof to roof. Well, I ran to the full extent of my speed—which has a slight difference from a Ferrari—and him hovering beside me, barely able to contain his shrieks. You'd think a highly trained criminal could stand a few feet from the ground but no, he screams as soon as his feet leaves the floor. Once again, wuss. Beneath us are the unsuspecting citizens of Konoha and the enticing city lights.

We finally reached the top of the bridge's rafters connecting Konoha and Suna.

Below us is the Kosaku Channel.

Dangling above it is a screeching Deidara.

"What is an emblem?" I demanded. "Why are you asking that woman where it is?" Deidara is upside down, his right leg in my hand—the only thing that's keeping him from plunging into the depths of the deadly sea.

"Jesus! What are you? Ohmigod! Put me down!" He's struggling. Startled. His heartbeat is pounding rapidly in my ears.

"Answer me!" I shake him a little. His wallet, eyeglasses and some coins fell to the sea.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" He yells over his shrieks. "Please! Put me down, yeah." He begs. I pull him up. He sinks down to his knees.

Two minutes left.

"You have two minutes before I toss you into the ocean with the bomb."

He stumbles over his words while he tries to hastily explain the answer to my question. All I heard were garbled sentences.

One minute left.

"Not good enough." I take the suitcase in my hand and I clutch Deidara's back. First, I flung the briefcase far away in the middle of the ocean—an action that would've done a baseball pitcher proud. Far enough that the neighboring cities won't even notice the underwater explosion. Thank God for those Frisbee competitions.

BOOM! It created a small splash.

I let go of Deidara and he staggers back to his feet. "Now that that's taken care of." I look at Deidara. I empower my look with a message: Hold-your-word-or-I-will-bite-your-ear-off. Oh, how I long for the phrase 'If looks could kill.' He looks like he just peed in his pants. His chest is heaving. I gave him quite a scare, didn't I?

"What's an emblem?" I ask. "Tell me properly, please." I ask for the third and hopefully last time. I'm surprised. I'm a girl that has a dynamite temper yet I still haven't lost my patience for him.

"I-it's an insignia." He began. "An insignia that we have to collect. There are 12 of them, yeah, scattered and protected all over Konoha. They're called the Emblem Order, yeah. So far we've collected 9." He takes a deep breath.

"What do you want with them?" I ask.

"Once we have all the emblems, he, our boss, inserts them in this puzzle box of his, yeah, where the shapes of the emblems fit." He creates a shape of a gift box with his hand. "Legend has it that it'll lead to the Promised Land, you know, the Garden of Eden, yeah. O-or it could unleash all kinds of chaos. Like Pandora's Box. We really don't know. But the boss is determined to find out." He pauses. He seems to be waiting for a reaction.

"So, that woman—whom you were hitting—has an emblem?" I randomly ask.

"Yeah. She's a Shield." He replies as if he were stating a fact.

"A what?"

"She's a Shield." He repeated. "An Emblem's Shield, yeah. Like a protector, a keeper. She can't do anything to jeopardize the safety of the emblem, no matter what. She's the tenth. We can't get to the eleventh and twelfth unless the tenth Emblem's Shield disappears, yeah."

"Disappear? You mean like wipe her out of the face of the Earth? Like kill her?" I choke out.

He nods. Like it was the simplest question ever asked.

This is disgusting. These men have no morals at all. They'd do anything just to get what they want. The woman earlier has a son—another living being that she was responsible for—and they didn't care at all. They even used him to their advantage to pressure the woman to tell them where a freaking badge is. And she can't save her own son because she was bound to that thing she's sworn to protect with her life.

I grab the collar of Deidara's coat and readied myself to drop him to the profundity of the deep blue where he belongs.

"W-wait! What are you doing?" He panics, tries to wrench himself away from my iron grip and failing. Miserably.

"You guys are cruel!" I shriek.

And away he goes.

I called in an anonymous tip to the lifeguards that there's a man possibly drowning in Kosaku Channel under the Himiko Bridge. It's just because so I won't be saddled with guilt for the rest of my life that I threw my best friend's look-a-like to sea and left him there for the fishies to eat.

That'd just cramp my style.

I rush back to the café. Oh, God. What am I gonna say? I've left the café with the excuse that I am using the ladies room and ran to the nearest department store to buy a personal necessity when in reality I was saving Konoha Historical Musuem from a bunch of stark raving badge hunters that wants to open a portal to the realm of Eden or Darkness or whatever ludicrous void there is.

I dug my heels on the sidewalk before I turn and reach the corner to Grounded. I thought I heard my name being mentioned. Are they talking about me?

"—is Saku-chan?" That is undeniably Naruto's voice.

"She had an errand to run." Ino says calmly.

"Yeah, but I didn't see her use the front entrance."

"She used the—"

"And didn't she say she was going to the restrooms?"

"Well, no duh—"

Then I walk in. My entrance perfectly timed. I helped Ino to stop covering for me and temporarily cleared up Naruto's curiosity and suspicions. I find them right where I left them. Thank God, Sasuke's not with them. But, where is he?

"Saku-chan!" Naruto spots me heading towards them, smiles broadly and waves enthusiastically. As soon as I reached the table, Ino drags me to the comfort room.

"Saku-chan, Teme was so worried about you!" I hear Naruto utter as my shell is lugged to the torture chamber. I mean, the ladies room—in which where I should've been honestly using if I was a normal human being in the first place. Now, I'm about to experience Ino Yamanaka's insufferable wrath.

"Speak." Ino commanded. She has a commanding personality like that.

"I bought tampons." I say sheepishly and raise the plastic containing the tampon box I bought on the way to the café. Well, at least that's the story I'm sticking with.

"You were out for an hour, Forehead!" She crosses her arms on her chest. "Don't tell me this is your way of avoiding Sasuke."

Oh, thank God that's what she suspects. "Is that what you think?" I accidentally let it slip out with a hint of relief.

"Why? What am I supposed to think?" She cocked her head to the side questioningly. An action that make her seem like a bird.

"Nothing." I give her a—in which I hope—reassuring smile.

"You really have to face him, Sakura!" She pulls out her lip gloss and applies it to her lips then mines. After she finishes applying, she looks smug. Cocky even. "Don't be such a wuss." Oh, great. Now my best friend calls me what I internally called the sick scoundrel I tossed in the ocean earlier. "You smell like…"

"What?" I panic. "I smell like what?" I smell my windpreaker then my hair then my armpits. I can't go out to Sasuke smelling like a freakin' cat piss infested alley.

"You smell like… I don't know. The ocean or something. I can't quite put my finger at it." She looks a bit distracted then she rights herself again. "Anyway, about Sasuke—"

"He has Karin, Piggy." I point out and fought the urge to roll my eyes. Before Ino could say anything else I exit the comfort room and head back to our table. I see Sasuke alone at the table and I immediately turn back to the comfort room—the cold tiled walls seemed soothing right now—only to bump into Ino again who pushes me towards the broody tool.

I take a deep breath and,

I trot over to Sasuke.

I hear Naruto arguing with Barista Boy since he's ordering something that isn't in the menu—ramen, maybe—and Ino marched over to her blonde duplicate. To stall him so I could be alone with Sasuke for awhile with no distractions most likely.

I listen to Sasuke's heartbeat. Slow and relaxed. Like it's saying that 'I could take my time beating. No rush at all.' It's even comforting and calming. Unlike mines—that seems to be in danger of hammering its way out of my ribcage and into the marble floor of the café. Very good for my Zen. That's my favorite beat in the world.

I take my seat across him. And he takes a glances at me.

His heartbeat misses a beat. What? What does that mean? I never heard anyone's heartbeat skip a beat when they catch a glimpse of me. Is he happy to see me? Or awkward to face me? Argh! Sasuke already messed up my concentration and he didn't even do ANYTHING. Unfair emo boy. Must remember to Google it later. Alright, worry about it later, Sakura. Now what? Oh God. Awkward silence!

"Hi." I greet.

"Hn." He replies.

Tip No. Eighty Seven: "Pick up his heart with a classic pick-up line."

"Are you wearing space pants?" I blurt out.

"What?"

"Because your butt looks fine." Another foot-in-mouth moment. If I had a penny for every moment like this, I'd be incredibly rich.

He raises a brow at me. "I think it's supposed to go 'because your butt is out of this world'." Then he laughs. Well, not with his mouth and voice or anything. He laughed with his eyes. Those black pools—in which I imagine a swirling galaxy lays—held a hint of laughter, amusement and something else I couldn't quite explain. Then seconds later, he chuckled—a deep rumble that I heard earlier when he arrived with Naruto.

And I can't help but crack a smile and chuckle with him.

Author's Note: Yay for updating quickly!

I'd just like to thank the following for being the first people to review my story: f-zelda, Ur worst nightmare 452, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA, hgj, man-chan, and Narutofan3271. You guys are so awesome for taking the time to review. Same goes for those who Story Alerted, Favorite Story and Author Alerted. I really got motivated.

Now, I might upload another new story tomorrow or update this. I don't know, depends on the mood. Anyway, go review this story so I could fuel up my fingers for typing. Come on, do a poor me a favor and review this story. Don'tchu want to see it progress? Nevertheless, I love you, readers!