It was disapointing how easliy she slipped under the surveilence of the Anbu trailing her. She wanted someone to fight her. She wanted to see the faces of the people she once held dear to her stained with tears of frustration and anger. It was irrational, but Sakura wanted to see her friends in the pain she was feeling everyday. She wanted to see some kind of emotion other than sadness and pity on their faces. Anything but the pitying eyes that followed her everywhere.
"They should've seen this coming...the fools." Unlike in her genin days, her inner thoughts were less of a empowering state of mind and more of a friend who reassured her. She was less energetic and more sullen but she was someone the shinobi knew would not let her down. She was a manestation of Sakura's thoughts and worries and had adapted to the kunoichi's personality. As a medic Sakura knew this could not be healthy but as a girl who lost everything, Inner Sakura was all she had on her journey.
Lost in her thoughts as she carelessly jumed over the towering gates of Konoha, Sakura stopped in time to stare at the faces of the Hokage Mountain.
"You sure this is what you want?" a voice from the shadows greeted her.
Peering under her bangs, Sakura smiled sadly at her best friend's team mate. The Nara was staring into the clouds overhead with a bored expresson, but looked over intently at Sakura.
"Don't stop me from going Shikamaru. You know there's nothing left here for me. Just let me go. Please."
"Ino's going to kill me for this, but...there's nothing I can do. You sure you want this? You'll never be able to come back. You'll be a missing nin forever. Even Lady Tsunade wouldn't be able to stop the hunter nins to take you out if it comes down to it." Shikamaru slowly drawled out with a lidded eyes. At her silent nod, the man sighed and looked sadly up at the girl from his seat under the trees.
"Troublesome..." He picked himself up and left for the gates without looking back.
"Thanks for everything Shikamaru. Say bye to Ino-Pig for me will ya?"
The Nara simply let out a large sigh and continued to walk away. During the months after Naruto died, Sakura had secluded into herself. The only thing close to being a highlight of those gray days were the shogi games Shikamaru would entice her into playing. They didn't speak but the clacks of wood spoke loudly enough. The lazy ninja who was now one of the smartest people in the village had previously lost his sensei in one of the battles with Akatsuki. Although the Ninja Wars were now over, the lost of close ones still hit the surviving shinobi hard.
Pumping Chakra in her feet, Sakura ran toward Sunagakure. The Kazekage was devastated when he found out that his close friend had died at the hands of the last Uchiha. Sabaku no Gaara was rumored to have gone into a frenzy when the messanger had delivered his news and nearly died from his injuries. Although he had his demon extracted, the Kazekage was still very much a powerful man. It was risky, but Sakura knew the man would provide help to her if it meant avenging the blond.
Naruto was said to have chased Sasuke down after the final battle with Madara ad confront him. Although Sasuke had helped with the war, he refused to return to the village who had ordered his clan's demise. In a battle that was rivaled the intensiy of the Legendary Sannin, Naruto perished. The Uchiha had the decency to lay the broken body of his former teammate at the joined forces' camps, but left immediatly afterwards. The death of the hero stunned many before scouts were sent to arrest Sasuke.
As she tree hopped, Sakura could feel the scar on her arm throb with a familiar pain as she thought of the day. She wanted to let loose the pending tears, but her body refused to cry. It was as if crying for days had exhausted her tear glands. In fact it was hard to show any true emotion lately, only facades even the most inexperienced of genin would see through.
"Naruto...Sasuke..."
XxXxXxX
"Hmph." It was barely a word, but it was enough. The scantly clad women backed off his person immediatly as his eyes flashed red. It was truly disgusting how they would throw themselves at every person who appeared to have the right body parts walk down the street. Even henged he couldn't stop girls from trailing him. He couldn't even walk down a street in a civilian town without being stared at. If he was any lesser being, he would have cried out in frustration. But he was a Uchiha and Uchihas don't shame themselves like that.
But he did shame him self. He did destroy the remains of his family's honor. Did he not leave his village, his home? Did he not kill his brother? Did he not kill all the reamaining Uchihas in the world? Did he not kill his best friend when he tried to save him from himself? He barely has he right to call himself one of the proud Uchihas.
His dark eyes clouding with memories, he walked into the cool waiting room of the hotel he was currently staying at. It was a small buiding furninshed with the bare necessities.
"Unitaka-san! Back from your stroll already? You just missed the messenger! He gave me a package titled to you. I have it here behind the counter. He was quite handsome. Do you think he has a lover? Maybe he's taken already! Or ma- " The petite woman behind the cashier was practically hopping from her stool in excitement. The woman was one of the loudest, most talkative and energetic person the world had ever seen. He stiffened, no, not the loudest, or the most talkative, or the most energetic. Mentally shaking himself from his thoughts, Sasuke accepted the discreet brown package from ...what's her name again? Kanae? Kagara? Kanan? Something along those lines...
He walked toward his room at the farside of the building, leaving Kanae (that was her name right?) still rambling about husbands and wives. Walking past the windows, he glanced at his reflection and mentally shook the discomfort at seeing the brown haired, brown eyed young man with tired eyes. It was disturbing and discomforting, but it was necessary to avoid detection. Even with a henge, he couldn't disguise the tired and sullen red eyes. It reminded him too much of Itachi and what he did that day. Instead of being angry, he only felt empty sorrow. It was much worse since there was nothing he could do to ease the throbbing behind his eyes.
As he carefully aligned his custom nin sandles with the wall, Sasuke stared at the small brown package. It was addressed to one Unitaka Sasumo in a familiar messy scrawl. No one knew he was here, muchless his "name". Opening the package and disabling a complex jutsu, he took out a simple letter.
"She's coming for you. You better take care of her, you little brat or I'm going to rip that stick out of your ass and castrate you with a dull, rusty knife. ~Love Tsunade"
Despite himself, Sasuke shuddered at the Hokage's threats to his person. He pulled out a picture frame and a leaf forehead-protector with a red wrappings. The four people in the picture made his heart clench painfully. A frowning blond and a dark haired Uchiha glared at each other while a young girl grinned happily in front of them with a older, silver-haired man. "Team 7". The forehead protector didn't mean anything to him until he caught a wiff of it. "Cherry Blossoms?"
Tsunade's words echoed in his mind as he mulled over what to do in this situation.
"She's coming for you."