Disclaimer: see other chapters.
This story is being co written with a friend of mine on the internet and school. Her penname is Receneck, so that is what you shall call her. We both look at all the reviews, flamers are welcome. Criticism is also welcome, and please point out if we spelt something wrong like names and other things. :P
R&R!!
Sakura's thoughts
Inner Sakura's thoughts
Normal
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"NARUTO UZUMAKI!"
Sakura leapt back, startled, as another figure jumped in front of the un-named one. He was somewhat tall, with the clearest and flashiest blue eyes that Sakura had ever seen. He has spiky yellowish hair, and was wearing a black and orange shirt with dark pants.
"Pleased to meet you!" Naruto grinned and stuck out his hand, his big eyes blinking excitedly.
Sakura felt her mouth fall open. She was so close! So close to finding out his name...she flashed a glance to the unknown figure behind Naruto before hesitantly shaking his hand.
"Uh...Nice to meet you?" 'Dammit! I didn't want to know his name! I want to know HIS name.' Inner Sakura said. Sakura just decided to ignore her inner's comment, but couldn't help to agree.
"So what's your name?!" Naruto asked her excitedly. "Do you like ramen? Do you have a boyfriend? You're really pretty. Do you wanna go out some-"? Naruto was cut off by a fist hitting him on his head. "OWWW! Dammit! What the hell was that for?!"
"You were being annoying. Have you ever tried shutting up once and a while?" Temari asked, clearly irritated.
Sakura looked confused, buy answered his questions anyway. "Um, Sakura, yes, no, thank you, and sorry but no." Sakura sweat-dropped at the look Naruto gave her. He was giving her his best puppy eyes, but they had no effect. "Can we just go in now?" Sakura asked in a small voice. She hated when others had to tend to her or if she was being a burden.
"Sure! You can meet the others!" Naruto said in an enthusiastic voice.
"Ahem, others meaning me, considering I never got to introduce myself."
Naruto frowned slightly and side-stepped so that Sakura could once again see the mysterious figure. "Oh, fine, fine." He said, crossing his arms and putting on a pouting face. "But hurry up! Let's go inside so that we can get some ramen, and then maybe-"
Temari punched him once more, her face expressionless. Sakura guessed that she did that a lot.
"Please excuse the idiot." The unknown man said, blinking his beautiful jade green eyes. There was a pause for a minute before he added, "My name is Gaara."
Gaara... Sakura thought to herself. That name is so-
SMEXI!! Her inner interrupted. Gaara, Gaara, Gaara, Gaara... Inner Sakura kept repeating.
"Nice to meet you." Sakura said, bowing her head slightly. Gaara, Gaara, Gaara, Gaara... You can shut up now. Sakura said, trying to block her inner voice out of her mind.
"Well, now that everyone here is introduced, let's go meet everyone else." Temari said, stepping next to Sakura.
"You don't have to bow." That was all Gaara said to her before walking through a door that she hadn't seen earlier. Well he's talkative. I wonder how many words I can get him to say in one sentence. Yah! Just as long as I can hear his oh so sexy voice! Shut up. Go away before I lock you up in that box again. With that threat made, Inner went back to her little corner.
They were walking through a passage way, taking many turns. There was another door at the end of the hallway. Gaara stopped in front of it, paused slightly then opened it. Sakura peered over Gaara's shoulder (the order there in front to back :Gaara, Sakura, Temari, Kankuro Naruto) and saw what looked to be a lounge. There was two sofas', a large T.V, and a chair that looked extremely comfortable. On one couch were two more girls, one had brown hair and the other had raven blue colored hair. On the other couch were two other guys, one had coffee brown hair that was waist length and tied with a lose pony tail. The other had wild and unruly brown hair that stuck out in every direction. The guy with long hair had silvery eyes, while the other had red triangles on his cheeks. The brown haired girl had her hair in two buns, and had chocolate brown eyes. The other had pearly white eyes, and looked to be the guy's sister.
They all stopped what they were doing and starred at the strange pink haired girl that had entered after their leader.
"Everyone, say hi to Pinky." Kankuro broke the awkward silence.
All of the people looked at her even funnier.
Naruto cleared his throat. "Actually," He said, rather loudly as usual, "Her name is Sakura."
"Hello." The girl with the twin buns walked up to her with a grinning face. "My name is Tenten."
Sakura actually managed a smile for the girl. She looked friendly enough.
"And that there," Tenten continued, pointing to the girl with the black-purple hair, "Is Hinata."
"Hi." Was all that Hinata said, tapping her fingers nervously against one another. She was wearing a very soft looking, dark purple sweater with some loose pants.
"She's kinda shy." Tenten whispered to her. "And that is Neji." She motioned to the boy that looked a lot like Hinata's brother. "They're cousins." She added quietly.
Sakura nodded.
"And Kiba is sitting next to Neji."
Sakura looked at the boy with the messy mop of brown hair. Right next to the couch he was sitting on was a bit white dog with brown hairs around its nose, ears, and tail. It looked taller than Sakura herself was. She wondered what was with the giant dog.
Bowing slightly to all of them, Sakura nervously looked down. She wasn't use to this many people being around her. As she lifted her head back up, she couldn't help but to stare at the enormous dog. Catching her stare, everyone smirked/smiled.
"You must be wondering why Akamaru is so big huh?" Temari asked. Sakura just nodded her head, still staring at the dog.
"He's my familiar." Seeing Sakura's confused face Kiba continued. "Everyone has a familiar. And judging from the look on your face, you haven't found yours, or it hasn't found you. Am I correct?" Sakura nodded her head and Kiba continued. "Your familiar is your partner. He/She helps you when you're in trouble and vice versa. It's strange though because you don't have yours already...Everyone here already has one." Sakura looked down once more, feeling embarrassed. Once again she was the odd person out. Temari sensing her discomfort promptly shut the brown haired boy up.
"Baka! Now look what you did! Come on Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, let's go." Sakura slowly followed, still feeling down about what Kiba had told her. Temari reached a door, and pushed it open. Inside was a bedroom that had a bed desk closet and nightstand. Temari sat on the bed and the others followed her.
Sakura cleared her throat, breaking the silence. "So..." She started. "What are you guys'...familiars?" She asked.
Temari smiled. "His name is Wistu. He's not here right now, though. All of our familiars-except Akamaru, of course-are on patrol right now."
"Oh." Sakura lowered her eyes. Why didn't she have a familiar yet? Was something wrong with her?
"Don't be sad." Hinata said in her quiet voice. "I got my familiar not too long ago. They show up in the strangest of moments."
Tenten nodded. "Indeed. Mine found me when I was practicing with my shuriken. I almost hit him, actually." She giggled. "He just showed up out of nowhere and looked at me with such a strange expression on his face. I knew immediately that he had to be my familiar."
"What kind of animal is he?" Sakura asked.
"A leopard." Tenten grinned.
"That's really cool!" Sakura exclaimed. "What about Gaara? And the rest of you guys?" She added the last part quickly so that they wouldn't become suspicious. Luckily for her, no one thought much of it.
"Well," Temari began, "Hinata has a horse, mines an eagle, my idiot of a brother has a Komodo Dragon, Naruto has a fox, kinda ironic, Neji has a Hawk, and Gaara, well I don't ever really see his familiar. I'm not even sure if he has one. But I'm pretty sure that it's a Tiger. I've only seen him once which was a while ago. It might not have even been Gaara's familiar." Temari had a thoughtful look on her face, trying to solve everything.
"Why don't you just ask him?" Sakura suggested. All of the girls fidgeted avoiding her gaze.
"Well you see, my baby brother is kinda... out there sometimes. If you know what I mean." Sakura understood clearly. That's why he probably wasn't talking much. Something bad must have happened in his past to make him this way. Sakura then decided to make a vow and become Gaara's friend, and to get him to open up more to people. Maybe his past was like hers. Pull of pain, frustration, and no hope.
But now, maybe she had a better future.