"I think I liked it better when you were a moody brat." After cracking her knuckles, Sakura laced them together, and placed them behind her head, leaning into them lightly. Her eyes were closed, a fake smile tugging at the corner of her lips. To her right, Sasuke was prodding at her side, much like Naruto would have a few years ago.
"I think I liked you better when you had enough emotions to be a moody brat." Sakura sighed at his comment and completely leaned back, her body bumping against the ground lightly. Naruto looked down at her from her left side. The concern on his face was evident, and he voiced that he liked that, too.
"When's the wedding?" Sakura snorted, closing her eyes again. "Or did he forget to get you a ring? Or did Naruto propose and forget?" She cackled lightly at her own joke. No one else laughed.
From close to her left foot, though she could not see him, Sai was grinning down at her with an equally false face. His eyes held a gleam she hadn't seen in them until she had lost her own, making it seem as though he had stolen her spark and dashed away with the emotions that came with it. "I like Sakura like this." He nodded, as if agreeing with himself. The two other boys looked slightly annoyed, telling him to shut up. When he made another feeble attempt to defend her, Sasuke turned his once cold attitude onto him.
"Maybe because she's as emotionless as you, but unlike yourself, she wasn't always! She isn't herself, and maybe her teammates miss her, dobe!" Charming, they acted as though she wasn't laying next to them.
"Yeah, dobe!" Naruto chimed in, only to have Sasuke's sudden change of attitude directed at him, to which he replied, "Don't call be a dobe, you dobe!"
A year ago, Sakura would have laughed at their swift changes in mood. She scowled. If she was going to keep this up for more than a year, she had to forget what she would have been like and what she would have been doing a year ago.
Feeling eyes on her, Sakura cracked open her right eye to glare into the pair looking down on her. For some reason, Sasuke was cold towards everyone but her, and she hated it. About to bite at his ego, she was cut off by Naruto gathering her like a rag-doll in his arms. "Oi!" She pushed against the awkward position, but he held tight. "Let me go!"
The blond-headed boy ignored her, and growled, "Sasuke-dobe, were you staring at Sakura's chest? Bastard!" Sakura went limp in his grip, stifling a laugh.
"He was looking into my eyes, moron." She droned unappreciative, leaning close to his arm to try and bite it. He yanked it away, effectively thrusting her in another awkward position. What was she, a toy? "Can you free my other arm, Naruto?"
Although confused, he quickly did what was asked of him, and before he could move, she had disappeared, not only from his grip, but from the clearing as well.
He was subjected to the obscenities thrown at him by Sasuke, before, and while they went in search for their pink-haired teammate.
A short time later, she was making her way through the Hokage Tower. While walking down the corridor leading to the Hokage's office, Sakura couldn't help but feel as though if she wore a mask, dyed her hair white, and wore her hitai-ate over her left eye, it would be as though her sensei had never left. The bright orange book that rested in her grasp, far enough for her to read the words but only just, certainly would help.
She waved to Shizune as she walked passed, who immediately raced up to get the door for her old friend. Former, Sakura had often stated for many others, but no one seemed to get that she felt as though friends were future back-stabbers and she didn't care for any of them. Ah well, they'll get it sooner or later.
Sauntering into the large office, Sakura stated without looking up from her book, "Hokage-sama." She was lucky the Hokage didn't have the byakugan, otherwise she risked showing her old mentor just how quick her heart was beating. The last time she had been in this room was when the older woman expressed her disgust towards her apprentice, before promptly dismissing her, relieving her from that title.
"For a moment I thought you were Hatake, what with that book in your face." Tsunade scorned, signaling for the younger girl to sit. Taking this as her cue to lower her book, Sakura shoved it into one of her many pockets, but did not move farther from the door, instead taking the moment to fall back and lean against it.
Forgetting for a moment that she did not have the luxury of a mask, Sakura quickly slipped on a smile for the woman who had abandoned her many, many months ago. She hadn't seen this woman since her apprenticeship had been cancelled, and was not to keen on it now.
"Sakura, come here." Tsunade ordered, but it sounded more like a question than a command, so Sakura dismissed it. The frown deepened on the woman's face, "Do you know why your here?"
She wasn't about to press her luck and inform her that she had already been removed as the Hokage's apprentice, so she simply shook her head. It looked as though Tsunade was already tiring of the formalities she had once gotten rid of with the girl in front of her.
"There have been many complaints regarding to your attitude. Now, normally I wouldn't bring any of these up, but," It sounded just like it had the last time. She waited for her to say that the accusations were serious. They affected Konohagakure deeply, going against several structures that had been set up forbidding such a thing from happening. "Because of the large quantity of complaints, I feel the need to get involved."
So she wasn't worried about her former student? How odd. Sakura was sure that if she stayed beneath the Sannin's tutelage, she would be going crazy trying to figure out the cause of this new behavior. Feeling resentment rise into her throat, Sakura bit her tongue to stop herself from insulting the older woman.
"I'm not asking you to smile more or anything like that, but try to at least be friendlier? And for Kami's sake, you look like an emotionless puppet." Tsunade seemed to have finished, as she looked expectantly at Sakura, as though her words would suddenly crack the mask she had so carefully fitted around her face and allow her emotions to have free reign over her face.
If that was what she was expecting, Tsunade was extremely disappointed. Bumping against the door, Sakura rose to a standing position and bowed lightly, her face remaining as emotionlessly passive as usual, "I'm afraid I cannot do that, Hokage-sama." She didn't have to look up from the ground to know her former Shishou was confused, and possibly building up an aggravated response at being denied. Sakura couldn't find the words to continue, and so she didn't open her mouth again.
"Is this about Kakashi, Sakura?"
Biting even harder on her tongue, Sakura had to draw blood to stop herself from correcting the Hokage. Shaking her head, she stated, "It has nothing to do with Kakashi-sensei's death, Hokage-sama."
It was clear to her that Tsunade was not satisfied with that answer when she barked, "That's not what I asked!" She could hear it on the tip of the Hokage's tongue. She was shamed, she felt as though she played a part in creating the emotionless thing that was Sakura.
"No, Hokage-sama, it has nothing to do with Kakashi-sensei." It was a partial truth. The way people had acted when they incorrectly thought she was involved with her sensei was what had done this, her sensei had done nothing. "Am I dismissed, Hokage-sama?"
Frustration laced the tone Tsunade used when she answered, "I will tell you when you are dismissed! Dismissed." The irony was not lost on her, and made her chuckle lightly. Her Hokage could only watch as she pulled out the book she had been reading prior to this meeting, flip to the correct page, and calmly walk out of the office, her attitude no more fixed than when she had come in.
It was not her intention to see the Hokage that day, but when you're suddenly flanked by four ANBU officers, you don't exactly have a choice. She waved to Shizune on her way out. Although she didn't consider them friends by any means of the word, Sakura visited Shizune frequently. Mainly because the dark-haired woman was who briefed her on missions, and not the Hokage.
Pausing, she looked over her shoulder. Shizune was trying to make it less obvious that she was gawking at Sakura's choice of reading material. She hardly glanced down at the book in her hands before addressing the woman, "Do you know if there are any solo-missions left? Preferably longer ones?"
Shizune shook her head, flustered at being given anything more than a wave of acknowledgement from the distant girl. "I don't handle missions, I only brief yours."
Sakura nodded, and headed down to where they did give out the mission assignments. Working for the Hokage, she had obviously known who handled incoming missions and who didn't, but she figured it was best to at least warn the woman that she would be seeing Sakura again.
Once there, she ignored the man behind the counter, and leaned over the edge, scanning for anything of interest. He expressed his discomfort by warning her he would get the Hokage if she didn't just ask for a mission, but she ignored him. Realizing this, he shut up. "I can't see anything, so maybe you could help?" She looked into his reddish-brown eyes, identifying what she was looking for. "I'm looking for solo-missions."
He quickly started searching in his archives for something to match what she desired. He inquired what class of mission, and when she answered that it didn't matter, he asked, "Anything specific, then? Length, importance..?"
She tapped her chin as if in thought, before nodding, her pink locks swaying in front of her face and tickling the back of her neck, "I'd like a longer one, if possible. One that lasts maybe more than a month, if not much longer."
Several minutes ticked by, and much to her despair, Naruto and Sasuke poked their heads into the room. Eyes landing on her, they quickly rushed up to her. Leaning over the counter, she pointed to the duo and loudly said, "Don't you think those two should be married? They're inseparable." For her words, she earned an intense glare from the Uchiha, and a shrug from Naruto.
"You're going on a mission?" Naruto yelled, despite her being less than a foot away. From the corner of her eye, she saw the man behind the counter flinch, and so she hushed him.
"We're inside, you moron! And maybe I am." Looking back at the man, she gave him a questionable glance, to which he shook his head. Sighing, she added, "And maybe I'm not."
"I apologize, Haruno-chan. The lengthiest mission we have is a duo mission for five years, and I doubt you want that long. The longest solo-mission we have is two weeks."
Exhaling, determined to not show she was agitated, Sakura thanked him. Shouldering passed the two boys, her mood continued to sink and sour beyond what was usual when she heard the two boys following her. She was almost ready to let her anger slip onto her face, but that would make her seem like more than a faceless, emotionless entity, so she fought the urge. "Go. Away."
Sasuke stopped elbowing Naruto, striding up to to be by her side. "You vanished without a word, earlier."
"I asked for my arm. I think that's a sentence." Sakura snorted, her statement bugging herself more than anyone. "And before you come up to me and repeat that to me later, goodbye."
With that, she disappeared, leaving the three to watch as the smoke she left behind traveled until it seeped into the air vents. Moments later, they all darted from the scene when they heard the Hokage shout from her office, "Is someone smoking?!"
