Thank you guys so much for the reviews! I really love hearing your feedback, so don't be shy if you have a comment that could make my story better; like I said, it's my first one. Well, here's the fourth chapter!
"Pig could have better handwriting," Sakura muttered ungraciously, staring at the well-worn page. The book was full of tears and blotches, and there was a burn mark stinging across the back. "Ok, so….where the hell is the beginning, pig?...Oh, here we are…"
The rogue took a deep breath, made a face at the book and then started to read.
"I shouldn't be writing this down. I mean, who's going to read it, right? But I think I just need a record of what happened, just to prove that it did, to make sure I'm not insane. It all started with Sakura leaving Konoha. No, that's not true-for me, it started with that mission. I was called into the Hokage's office…"
Taken from Yamanaka Ino's journal:
"Ino! The Hokage wants to see us."
The blond gave a gusty sigh and turned in her chair to give Shikamaru a glare. She had tried hard to maintain her normal electric personality in the past few months, but beneath the vitality in her sky-blue eyes there was a spark of tiredness.
"What for?" she snapped.
"Mission," the lazy ninja replied easily, unaffected by her death glare. Despite his slouched posture and calm expression, nothing could mask the sharpness in his soft brown eyes, the way they took in their surroundings and remained on their guard.
Ino growled, pushing back her chair with a loud scrapping noise to move beside the tactician. "Who's us?"
"Neji, you, Kiba and me," Shikamaru yawned. "And Shizune, because we need a medic and we can't have Sa-"
Shikamaru abruptly stopped talking as a spasm of pain flickered across Ino's face. They walked the rest of the way to the Hokage's office in silence.
Neji was already waiting there, chocolate brown hair tied back in a neat ponytail and silver eyes calm. He greeted both of them with a polite nod, and Shizune gave them a quick wave from behind a towering stack of paperwork the Hokage was ignoring completely. Kiba, slouched in a corner, gave them his same rough and wild grin.
"What the hell took you so long?" Tsunade roared, glaring at both of them with bloodshot eyes. The past months had been hard on her. "Never mind; I'll just give you the details of the mission and get it over with."
Tsunade rubbed her temples for a minute, taking in a deep breath. When she next spoke, her voice was flat and emotionless.
"Your mission is the capture and retrieval of one Konoha missing-nin. If capture is impossible or the circumstances deem it liable, you are to kill your target as quickly as possible and return to Konoha."
Each jounin's posture was stiff and rigid. There were only three active Konoha missing-nins, and this team was too small to go after two of the three.
"Where?" Ino asked softly.
"Sakura was sighted near Grass nearly two weeks ago."
Even expecting it, all four jounin froze. Shizune stopped moving from behind her pound of paperwork.
"You are certain?" Neji's voice was cold.
Tsunade gave a tired nod.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Ino exploded, blue eyes animated for the first time in a long time. "Why the hell hasn't anybody been sent after her already? It's been two whole weeks since she was seen!"
"Because this is an A-rank mission and I didn't have shinobi strong enough to send!" Tsunade bellowed, causing the blond to take an automatic step back. "You're not the damn Hokage, Yamanaka, so do not tell me what I should or should not do in regards to running Konoha! Do your damn job!"
"I'm only trying to-"
"This mission…" Neji interrupted, coolly ignoring Ino's glare. "Is A-rank?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?" the Hokage snapped, slamming her hand down on her desk. It wobbled, but luckily stayed in one piece.
"But its Sakura," Ino protested, face gone white as she actually considered the Hokage's words. "I mean, she may be a-a mis-a missing-she may be gone," the blond concluded, unable to actually say the word. "But she's not violent. Sakura wouldn't hurt us."
"She ripped out the chest of another missing-nin and left him soaking in his own blood in the middle of a forest. A civilian in a nearby town found him the next morning," Tsunade said the words flatly but betrayal was written clearly in her eyes. Ino uttered a faint cry, but the busty blond went on tonelessly. "The crows had been picking at his eyes. Another corpse with a kunai through his heart and multiple wounds was found next to him. From my information, there was absolutely no reason for Sakura to attack them."
"It's been seven months, Ino," Shikamaru murmured. "More then enough time for a person to change."
Ino shook her head emphatically. "No. Not this one. Not Sakura."
"You can't forget what she did," Neji said, even softer. "You cannot forget why we are looking for her, Ino-san."
Ino slumped where she stood. "I know."
She glanced back at the Hokage. "Why aren't you sending Naruto and Kakashi with us? Don't you think they have a right to come?"
"Kakashi and Naruto are on a separate mission, or they would be going with you," Tsunade explained, making an effort to control her temper. "I can't wait for their return if Sakura is to be captured before she moves on." The blond gazed at the younger ninja steadily. "I want her back as badly as you, Yamanaka. But we have to accept that even if Sakura does return to Konoha of her own free will…she still must atone for her crimes."
Ino took a breath and met the Hokage's gaze with subdued blue eyes. "When do we leave?"
"Wait," Suke broke in suddenly, fracturing the story.
Kai glared at her teammate, displaying an incredible likeness to her mother. "What? You're interrupting right at the good part!"
"Seriously," Haruna groused, propping her pack under her head and flopping down on the cave floor. "Is it even possible for you to keep your mouth closed longer then two seconds?"
Even Sakura couldn't help but snort at that.
"Hey! It is too possible!" Suke complained, bright blue eyes flashing. "I just had a question, that's all!"
"About what?" Kai demanded incredulously.
"I wanted to know what Sakura-chan was doing!"
"Oh." His two teammates blinked at him, and then two pairs of brown eyes switched to Sakura. "That is a good question."
Suke shook his head, muttering under his breath. "Girls."
"You wanna know what I was doing when Ino was getting briefed?" Sakura confirmed. No one noticed the tremor in her voice or the way her hands shook as she held the book, or the sudden wet sheen to her emerald eyes.
The three nodded.
Sakura gave a shrug. "Alright. I did promise you a story, right? When did she say this was, two weeks after when I met Kichi? Let me see, I was…"
Sakura spat blood out of her mouth and fumbled for her canteen before standing unsteadily. She glanced down at the three freshly made corpses only once before turning her gaze to herself.
"Damn fucking hunters," she cursed vehemently, bending down to check their pockets. Most of her wounds weren't serious, but she couldn't even heal the ones that were because that damn Yasunari had drained all her chakra.
"Mercenaries from Sand. Why am I not surprised?" she growled, throwing the telltale coins in her pouch. "How the fuck do they keep finding me?"
Maybe it's the forehead protector, Inner Sakura said suddenly. The two had been speculating about this ever since the battle with Yasunari.
Sakura froze. Excuse me?
Well, think about it. None of the other rogues in that clearing were wearing forehead protectors. And remember that thing Kichi said, about how a rogue's past can be found out and then used to kill them? Inner Sakura continued without an answer. It'd be easy enough for someone who knows our past, about our strength and our skills as a medic-nin, to find us, especially after the battle with Yasunari when we used our strength. And here, wearing a forehead protector with a symbol of the village you come from is like-
Wearing a symbol of your past! Sakura finished, elated with the epiphany. That's why no one in the clearing was wearing them!
Exactly, Inner Sakura confirmed. Then her Inner swept her gaze over the corpses of the three hunters. Come on; we have time for more practice. Those guys nearly had us cornered for a minute there. And if we're going to survive on only taijutsu and weapons, we're going to have to get faster then this.
Sakura sighed and obeyed. But not before ripping off her scratched Konoha forehead protector. Her heart gave an unsteady thump as she threw it into the trees, but she couldn't risk someone finding it among her possessions.
Naruto, Kakashi, Ino…I miss you guys, but I had to do it.
She drew back her fist and threw the first punch.
Two hours later, she was walking in a nearby town when she saw an old, feeble man sitting at a booth. There were pots of ink and needles laid out on the counter before him.
Sakura stopped in front of his booth, an idea blossoming in her mind. "Hey. How much for a tattoo?"
The old man grinned at her. His mouth was toothless. "What'd ye have in mind?"
We're getting a tattoo? Inner Sakura demanded.
Two, actually.
Why?
Just because we are no longer a Konoha ninja doesn't mean we can't have an identity as a ninja, Sakura told her Inner, offering her bared skin to the old man. He picked up a needle and unscrewed the top of a vial of ink. And I intend to have an identity different from the one that I had in the past. She showed Inner Sakura her idea.
Oh. Inner Sakura considered it. That'll work.
"Happy?" Sakura asked wryly.
"Can we see the tattoos?" Haruna asked eagerly, pushing herself up from her position.
Sakura shrugged and threw off the black cloak that had hid her body. Underneath she was wearing a loose black top and nondescript black pants. There was a small silver sword embroidered over the breast of her shirt, and a katana sheathed in simple black leather was strapped to her back. The top was sleeveless, showing the two designs that were etched on each of her shoulders.
On her right, there was a curling sakura blossom unfurled on her shoulder, a soft pink edged in dark red. A deep green stem and leaves coiled around her upper arm to her elbow.
On her left, the same flower bloomed over her shoulder, but this one was deep purple edged in black, with a midnight blue stem and leaves curling around her arm. The two flowers were night and day, exact opposites, and yet so similar they seemed connected in some way-how was a mystery. Where the stem of the flower ended, a scar shaped like an X slashed over the fleshy part of her skin.
"Yasunari?" Suke guessed, earning a nod from the pink-haired rogue.
"They're beautiful, but…" Kai looked puzzled. "I'm still confused with why you got them. What did you mean when you said you wanted a different identity?"
"This flower…" Sakura touched the one on her right. "Is me in Konoha. Delicate, decorative, and gorgeous maybe, but not much use. And this flower…" she touched the one on her left. "Is me as a rogue. Still gorgeous, but definitely not delicate, and with a serious poisonous edge." The rogue leaned her head back against the wall and studied the genin with emerald eyes. "I wanted to be something that was different then what I was in Konoha, different from weakness." She flashed a smile. "A night flower instead of a cherry blossom."
"I see. The tattoos are to show how you changed," Haruna said thoughtfully. Sakura nodded, and the girl's brown eyes wandered over the designs. Her gaze stopped at Sakura's left forearm. "What about that one?"
Sakura looked down at the swirling purple design that covered her left forearm. "This one you'll hear about soon. If we ever get back to the story, that is."
"Oh, right." Kai perked up. "Keep reading, Sakura-chan. We're just getting to the part I told you about."
The rogue sighed and picked up Ino's journal once more, flipping to the right page.
"Wait," Suke interrupted, before Sakura could even open her mouth. Kai lunged for him and Sakura stuck out a foot to barricade the genin from tearing the boy's throat out. "What about that sword you said you kept seeing? Does it have anything to do with that tattoo?"
Sakura titled her head. "Why would you ask that?"
"The kanji for 'sword' is right in the middle," Suke pointed out.
Sakura looked at him, lips twitching.
"You know," she said thoughtfully. "Maybe there's more of Hinata in you then I thought."
"That's not an answer!" Suke pointed out, irritated.
"No, it's not." Sakura gave him an appraising glance. "But to be a ninja, you've gotta learn to look underneath the underneath."
She shifted to glance at the brown book once more. "Back to the journal." She read over the words, and her eyes narrowed. "You know something, Kai-chan…I think I know the part you're talking about now." She sighed. "Might as well let Ino tell you."
Taken from Yamanka Ino's journal:
Ino grumbled as she jumped from branch to branch, blue eyes narrowed in irritation.
"Damn forehead girl," she complained, pulling a twig out of her long blond hair. "She can't just stay in one place?"
From in front, Kiba twisted around and stuck out his tongue at the loud blonde. "You don't have to shout, blondie. We're right here, you know."
"Why, you-"
"Troublesome," Shikamaru agreed, from in front of her. "We should have been back at Konoha already. I guess it's lucky for us that Sakura left such a clear trail."
Ahead of Shikamaru, Shizune winced. The "trail" he was referring to was mostly rumors, supported by lots of blood and lots of dead bodies.
"That is true," Neji agreed, from the front of the line. Akamaru and Kiba were beside him, searching with him. His Byakugan was activated and he was sweeping the surroundings. "But the trail will not matter if we cannot trace it to Sakura. The Hokage will have to order us back before long."
"Yeah, I know." Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his forehead. "So troublesome."
The mission was, in all actuality, turning into more trouble then it was worth, and all four ninja were getting both annoyed and discouraged that they would ever even find Sakura, let alone bring her to Konoha.
It had been four weeks since they had received their mission, and they had set out the day after. The four had arrived at Grass in a week's time only to discover Sakura was no longer there, and then proceeded to track her from Grass, to Stone, and finally Lightning, in the three weeks that followed. It seemed their friend was always just one step ahead of them in the chase.
"Anything, Neji?" Shikamaru called, resigned, not expecting a positive answer.
"Nothing." The Hyuuga's reply was quiet, but it carried throughout the line.
"Kiba?"
"Nope. Akamaru's following the scent, but it's still old."
"How old is old?" the team leader asked, already calculating.
Kiba sniffed, nostrils flaring. "At least a day or two, but not like it was before. We're catching up."
"It's just taking a while," Ino muttered, casting a look of intense dislike towards the boy and his dog.
The five jumped from branch to branch in silence for a few minutes, each one trapped in their own thoughts.
Sakura…Ino thought, blue eyes worried and sad as they stared through the trees. I don't understand, forehead. I thought you loved Konoha…and then you run off and betray your village and me and your friends and teachers…, no, I don't understand.
Suddenly, Akamaru started barking. The shrill sound shattered Ino's thoughts and left her in a worse mood then before. But Kiba's next words made her breathless.
"He's found something!" the wild ninja said excitedly.
Ino's heart squeezed in her chest. Sakura!
He listened to his dog's barking for a minute, and then tipped his head back and sniffed the air. "Yeah, you're right, Akamaru! She is close!" He glanced back at Shikamaru, his eyes hot and excited. "She's about half an hour away. We had the scent wrong before; remember the stream we passed? She threw us off track with it and it dulled the scent, but she's close now. We should be able to catch her."
"Everyone, mask your chakra," Shikamaru ordered, instantly becoming serious. "Remember, everyone, Sakura's prime attacks are with chakra and medical techniques, so don't let her hands get anywhere close to you until Neji seals her chakra points. After that, we should have an easy time catching her. Neji, can you see her?"
A moment of silence passed. "Yes. But she is masking her chakra and her outline is foggy. She is not alone in the clearing."
"Akamaru smelled the blood," Kiba murmured. From there the conversation ended.
They approached the clearing at record speed, chakra masked and weapons drawn. Shizune moved to the back of the line and Ino crept forward to Shikamaru's side, a kunai held protectively in front of her.
The line crept forward and stepped into an empty clearing.
Well, not completely empty. The clearing was filled with corpses.
Taken from Sakura's memories:
Within the trees, Sakura cursed and cursed and cursed.
How in the name of all the gods had they managed to get this far? She hadn't sensed them until an hour ago. She hadn't even known they were in the area and it was obvious from the way they'd sprinted towards her location that the team of Konoha ninjas had been looking for her.
Even that timeframe would have been fine, if her target hadn't proved so ridiculously elusive and his guards hadn't been so impossibly annoying. But it had taken her longer then she'd expected to finish up the job, and now Ino, Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru and Shizune had burst into the clearing she'd just left and she had no way to run from them, not with Kiba and Akamaru so close to such a fresh trail.
For the first since she had become a rogue, she was going to have to fight her friends.
Sakura watched as her friends fanned out, watched as Neji swept the area with his Byakugan. It wouldn't take them long to find her.
Idly, Sakura wondered why Naruto and Kakashi weren't with them. Did they not want her back in Konoha?
Sakura gave herself a mental punch. It didn't hurt as much as the truth. Of course they didn't want her back, not after what she did. Not as a Konoha shinobi, anyway. So…
Were they here to capture her?
Kill her?
It doesn't matter, Inner Sakura warned her. If we don't step out in about three seconds Neji's gonna find us anyway.
Sakura sighed, took a deep breath, and stepped out into the clearing.
Ino gasped. "Sakura?!"
Taken from Yamanaka Ino's journal:
Ino gaped at her once best friend. "Sakura, is that you?"
The girl offered her the ghost of a smile, leaning against the tree she had materialized next to. "Hey, Ino-pig."
Ino just stared at her.
She was so thin, emaciated. Sakura had always been slender, but now Ino could see the bones in her wrists and legs, the tendons in her neck, the sharp points of her elbows and knees. The black sleeveless top and shorts she wore were so loose they were on the verge of falling off her body altogether. And she was tattooed, a curling floral design etched on each of her shoulders. Sakura hadn't even pierced her ears back in Konoha.
And her hair! Her hair was gone! Sakura had kept it short throughout the years since Sasuke had left, but now it was so short it was sticking up in wild, uneven pixie spikes around her face. It looked like it had been cut hurriedly.
It also looked like she hadn't bathed in a while. There was blood on her, everywhere, both dry and fresh. Her legs and clothes were spotted with it, her arms were red nearly to the elbows, and there was a shallow cut slicing across one sallow cheekbone. A recent scar shaped like an X slashed through the skin of her left forearm, and there were small, even more recent scars sliding over her arms and legs. The loose fabric of her top hid her back and stomach completely, and blood dripped down her black gloves and over the tips of her fingers to the ground.
The two girls looked at each other in silence.
"How have you been?" Sakura said softly. Her jade eyes, once so full of life, were expressionless. She held herself loosely, casually; arms crossed over her chest, but through the thin skein of her skin Ino could see the tense set of her muscles. She was wary of them.
Ino just choked on the words in her mouth, because even with the blood and the clothes and the tattoos, it was still so, so good to see her.
"Sakura." Shizune stepped closer, eyes filled with shock. "What have you done?"
The girl's eyes shifted to the medic. The corner of her mouth turned up slightly, into a harsh, mocking smile. "Survived. But that's not what you wanted to know, is it, Shizune?" Her eyes went to Neji next, who stared back at her with an unfathomable expression. Ino knew the two had trained together often. "Do not already know what I have done?"
"We are here because of what you did," Neji's voice was clear as always as he confirmed the reason they had come, and he kept his eyes on the pink-haired girl.
Sakura's lips finished curving into that hard smile. "So I was right. You are here to capture me."
"Yes." Shikamaru's voice was quiet, but his eyes were dark as he stared at the medic turned missing-nin. "Come with us quietly and we won't have to hurt you."
Sakura didn't move, but her body tightened a fraction of an inch. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Shika-kun. I like living."
"Sakura." Shizune's voice was broken, pleading.
"Shizune." Sakura's voice was quiet also, but it was ice. "No."
Neji got into a fighting stance. "Then you leave us no choice."
Sakura's smile turned frozen, and her hand moved towards the weapons holster on her thigh.
Neji rushed forward and Sakura disappeared.
"Where?" Shikamaru barked, whipping out a kunai. "Everyone into line, now! Don't let her hands touch you! Neji, where?"
"I cant-"
"AAAH!"
Ino whirled just in time to see Sakura's punch connect with Kiba's arm, raised just in time to take the blow. Before anyone could move she disappeared and reappeared behind the dog user, her foot smashing into his ribs, and then she scissored a foot between his legs while he was still gasping with the pain and sent him flying into a tree headfirst. He slid down to the ground and slumped there, unmoving. She threw a handful of powder at Akamaru and disappeared again.
Ino spun out a handful of shruiken towards here, and flipped back into the center of the clearing to avoid them with unbelievable speed.
Shikamaru's hands came together. "Shadow Possession no Jutsu!"
He didn't even finish the seals before Sakura was gone again, and this time Ino whirled to see Shizune yelp, twisting too late to avoid a blow from Sakura's foot. Then Neji was there and she faced off against him in a crouch, spinning and flipping in the air to avoid his attacks.
"Impossible! No one can move that fast!" Ino gasped, looking from Kiba to Shizune. It had taken Sakura less then a minute to hit them both, even with everything that had happened between.
"Sakura can't," Shikamaru muttered, watching the battle between Sakura and Neji closely. His hands were still frozen one the last seal of his signature jutsu, and he cursed as Sakura's flips took her back into the shadows. Neji had already three of her chakra points. "Gotta be genjutsu…but then a strong genjutsu would be dispelled by…. Neji…she's using…!" Shikamaru's head whipped around. "Ino, distract her now!"
"What?" Ino demanded, looking from the battle to Shikamaru. Shizune had climbed to her feet, but Kiba was still slumped under the tree, Akamaru comatose beside him.
"Just do it!" Shika snapped, body tense as he watched the fighting between Neji and Sakura escalate. Sakura was trying to get to Shizune, but Neji was blocking her advance.
"Fine. SAKURA!" Ino called out, pleadingly. "Sakura, don't do this! We just want you home!"
"Home?" Ino shrieked and whirled to find Sakura behind her, face cold. "You mean my execution chamber?"
Ino threw a handful of shruiken at her and rushed forward when Sakura deflected them with her kunai. Sakura blocked it with one of her own, and the clang of metal on metal rang in the clearing.
"It wouldn't be like that!" she insisted desperately. "We'd find a way; strike a deal. Tsunade would-"
"Tsunade?" Sakura laughed, and the next thing Ino knew she was flat on her back, blood dribbling from a cut in her side. She climbed to her feet and attacked Sakura again. "What could Tsunade do? The Elders are baying for blood, the little pricks. I'd be dead as soon as I set foot in the gates."
The self-pitying tone flared Ino's temper to the breaking point, and she attacked with new fervor. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Neji and Shikamaru conversed in heavy whispers. Neji's expression was disbelieving.
"You killed ten innocent people, Sakura," Ino spat, voice venomous. "What did you expect them to do when they found out, throw you a party? How could you, Sakura? What did those people ever do to you?'
Pain flared in Sakura's emerald eyes for the briefest moment, and then Ino was tumbling towards the ground from the air, upside down. Sakura appeared by her side, kicked her upward again, and then disappeared again. When Ino hit the ground, she heard twin agonizing snaps and she screamed from the pain of it.
Shizune rushed forward, and Sakura threw out five kunai. The blunt edges slammed against Shizune's head in quick succession and one sliced the medic's shoulder, making blood spray over Sakura in an arc as Shizune fell, and as she spun closer to Ino to get out of the sun.
"I never killed ten innocent people," Sakura's voice was so full of venomous fury Ino would have shrank back, except when she tried to move white-hot pain washed over her mind. "I've killed, yes, but every ninja has and every ninja will, and there's no way to avoid it. I've learned it's better to focus on surviving them focusing on semantics."
"Semantics like these?" Ino gestured to the bloodstained corpses littered around the clearing. She had to raise her voice as Sakura flipped away to avoid Neji's attacks and soon she was screaming. "Semantics like the ones in Grass? We saw what you did to that ninja, Sakura! We saw what you did to them all! Who ARE you now, Uchiha Itachi? No, Sakura-actually, you're worse then he EVER was! At least he wanted something, was working towards something! What are you doing out here, Sakura? You're killing and killing and killing because you LIKE TO KILL! I don't know who you are anymore, but it's not who you were before! Before you weren't a monster!"
Sakura was frozen in front of her, face pale as milk and emerald eyes wide. They sparkled like jewels, and the pain that was in them echoed Ino's own. Ino stood shakily, pulling herself to her feet using the branch of a tree.
Sakura screamed and toppled forward, and suddenly Ino was holding her, arms wrapped around the pink-haired missing-nin. It took her a second to figure out the lumps in Sakura's back were kunai and shruiken, a moment more to figure out the wet, sticky substance trickling over her fingers was blood.
"Ino," the girl sobbed.
And then she was gone.
"Where is she, Neji?" Shikamaru's voice was very, very soft.
"Gone," the Hyuuga replied softly. "She is moving too fast to track."
Shikamaru nodded and knelt in front of Ino, easing her back down to the ground. He gave a low hiss when he saw her legs. Neji was checking Kiba's pulse.
"We have to get them to a hospital," Shikamaru said quickly. "Neji, can you carry Kiba?"
The silver-eyed boy nodded, and Shikamaru turned back to the blond. "Ino-"
Ino took one look at him and started sobbing so hard the tree she was leaning against her shook.
Shikamaru turned to Neji. "Shizune too? Good." He eyed the hysterical Ino. "We'll catch up in a minute."
As soon as Neji was out of sight, Ino threw her arms around Shikamaru and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.
His arms closed around her, very gently. "Ino-"
"I want her back, Shika," she sobbed, crying so hard she was shaking both the tree and him. She couldn't even see. "I want her back so much. I want the Sakura with the smile, the one who loves pink and cares for everyone but herself, not some bloodthirsty bastard missing-nin covered in blood and scars and tattoos. I want the old Sakura back."
"We'll get her back, Ino." Shikamaru's voice was soft. "I promise."
Taken from Sakura's memories:
Deep in the woods, hours away, Sakura curled into a lonely ball and cried and cried and cried, while she let her blood soak into the soil around her.
After a long time, when she couldn't cry anymore, she opened her eyes and saw the sword on the ground, silver and pure.
Sakura didn't care anymore. If this sword was going to kill her, then let it kill her. Her heart was in too many pieces to give a damn about dying. She reached out and grasped the sword by the blade.
Pain racked through her bones in purple and yellow waves, scrambling her vision and setting her nerves on fire with the feeling. At some point she realized she was screaming and stopped, because it hurt too much to scream.
When she opened her eyes, the sword was still in her left hand and there was a brilliant purple design etched into the skin of her left forearm, the kanji for "sword" right in the center edged in black.
Sakura looked back at the sword in her hand. Now it was sheathed in plain black leather, and she gently slide it out of its casing.
It was slim, silver and beautiful, and as she watched, delicate words began to flow across the blade, settling into the metal until it looked like they had always been etched there. Sakura read them slowly.
Right above the grip, it read: By will, and by wind.
And below it, a name:
Haruno Sakura.
"Alright." Sakura closed the book. "That's enough for today."
"What! You can't leave the story like that!" Kai protested, outraged. "You have to tell us what happens next!"
"I've kept you up for a full night and day," Sakura pointed out, eyeing them meaningfully. "You're swaying on your feet. If I tell you the next part of the story it won't even matter, because you'll crash about five minutes in."
"We will not!" Suke said indignantly. "We'll stay awake, honest! Right, Haruna?"
"Hmm?' Haruna looked up from the bright orange book she was resting on her knees.
The genin blinked and the book was gone. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!"
"Do not read this!" Sakura hissed, appalled. "I can't believe your father sent you out on a mission with a copy of this thing!"
"He said I needed some entertainment!" Haruna protested. "Give it back!"
"I don't get what the big deal is," Suke supplied helpfully. "Jiraiya lets me read them all the time when my dad leaves me with him."
Sakura exploded to her feet. "Naruto has Jiraiya watch you?!?!"
"Who else? He's really busy all day, Sakura-chan."
Sakura paced back and forth in the cave, not appearing to have heard. "Twelve-year olds are reading Icha Icha, Kakashi and Anko are reproducing, Jiraiya is a babysitter…" she rubbed her forehead. "Why don't they just move the Ninja Academy to a porn shop while they're at it?" She sighed. "Oh, that's it. It is so time for bed." She collapsed on the ground and then gave the team of genins a once-over. "I really think your jounin sensei should have found you by now."
"Genma-sensei will find us eventually," Kai grumbled, giving Sakura an evil look as she made her way to bed. "Do we have to sleep?"
"Genma is your sensei?" At the three's nod, Sakura dropped her head in her hands. "This is worse then I thought. I leave for a few years and the whole village goes to hell."
"About that…the whole 'leaving Konoha' thing…" Kai said slyly. "We were just up to the part with the sword-"
Sakura lifted her head and glared at her. "Bed. Now."
The genin scrambled to obey.
Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples.
"I didn't think it was possible," she muttered. "Their children give me worse headaches then they ever did."
Hunkered down in another cave, Genma glared at the crackling storm.
How the hell had this happened? All he'd decided to do was take a little detour through the Hidden Sword to get home. And, naturally, the sky had decided to pour buckets of rain and lightning and throw out tree-ripping winds.
The gods really hated him, didn't they?
He really needed to find a way to get out of this alive. Unfortunately, he had to wait until the storm decided to clear up.
Even more unfortunately, Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi and Anko were going to kill him when he told them that he had gotten their children lost-alone-in the Hidden Sword.
Yes. Yes, the gods wanted him to die.
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