A/N: Thanks again for the reviews guys I appreciate it very much! :D
Goddess of Night Eternal Faith: Yep! There will be an OC in the mix :P
Sakura grabbed all the ingredients she needed and quickly headed to the cashier, it irritated her to no end to have to deal with these fools who purposely whispered loud insults so she could hear them. She felt a vein on her forehead start to pulse, and she willed herself to be calm, injuring another shopper could result is disastrous results not only for the person she injured but for her as well. Sakura took a deep breath as she passed a couple of middle aged women who were throwing her dirty looks and saying equally nasty things about her. Sakura counted to ten slowly just so she could keep calm.
"Do you see that self righteous hussy Mamaru-san? She's the one who insulted Naruto Namikaze-sama!"
So now she was a self righteous hussy huh?
"Oh my that's the one? You'd think she would have been a lot more gracious to Namikaze-sama for even gracing a worthless girl like her with his presence!"
The vein got larger at hearing the words the ladies spoke, yes Naruto was a Namikaze much like the one who they sucked up to Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime of the village. Sakura couldn't believe the full faced hypocrisy that these women displayed, she remembered their faces just a few months before Naruto's defeat of Pein, these same hags were insulting him and calling him a monster.
"I heard she had an abortion at 13! Can you believe it? It was going to be the Uchiha's spawn."
Now that was going too far even for her, she whipped around and marched up to the startled women and held the one who made the ridiculous claim about abortion by her dress collar. The woman whimpered as Sakura glared at her.
"ENOUGH of your BS! How dare you make such ridiculous claims about me when you know nothing? I have never slept with any one so how dare you?" she roared and the other woman ran away as quickly as possible to get help for her friend. The detained woman whimpered again and started to sob slowly
"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please don't hurt me, I'm just a villager I-" the woman was cut off by Sakura
"Enough of your excuses! You people never care about the feelings of others! This is exactly why I can't stand you damned villagers. You act all high and mighty but in truth are sniveling cowards!" she said seething.
"That's enough Sakura let her go." Sakura turned around to see who tried to talk her, rage still evident against the woman. She blinked in surprise and a smile broke out on her face.
"Yamato Taicho! How are you?" she said in genuine happiness, she released the woman and walked towards him. He smiled at her
"How have you been holding up Sakura?" he said with a smile on his face. The villager scampered up to him and pointed accusingly at the young lady
"You just saw that didn't you? She attacked me! I didn't even touch her, you should report her to the Hokage-Sama so she could be-"
"You aren't as innocent as you seem either ma'am, I heard your disgusting accusations against her. Truth be told if I was in her position I would have reacted worse than just grabbing you by the collar of your dress. You should consider yourself very lucky that Sakura is so lenient. Please remove yourself from my presence, people like you make me sick to my stomach." He said harshly and the villager flushed with embarrassment and stormed away muttering angrily against the two shinobi.
Sakura was generally surprised at her usually calm captain, seeing him this cold was unusual especially towards a female. She turned to him and smiled
"Thank you for defending me, Yamato-Taicho. I really appreciate it…." Sakura said bowing but was stopped by her former squad captain. He shook his head
"Don't Sakura, no one deserves that level of insults no matter their past sins in this life time." He said calmly before looking at his watch. He frowned at the time
"Uh oh, gotta run Sakura, I have to have lunch with my sister and her husband in about 15 minutes. Talk to you soon." He said rushing to the cashier. Sakura smiled and waved a good bye. She managed to finish shopping in peace, it would seem that what Yamato said reached the ears of the other shoppers. She walked out of the super market, humming a song she heard on the radio. She looked up at the sky in amazement; it was so bright today considering that it had been raining for the past week. Sakura's hair slightly moved in the breeze ever so slightly , she wondered.
What would it be like to fly?
Birds were always so free to travel where ever they pleased, at no cost to anybody, she smiled softly moving a strand of hair from her face. Right then she saw a white dove soaring over the sky, its wings flapping ever so slightly in the breeze. She remembered what her mother said about white doves.
Sakura quickly clasped her hands together and quickly murmured
"Please…. Please keep everyone safe on this mission so that they can come back to the ones who love them. Naruto be safe so… so you can come back to Hinata… Me" she whispered softly looking back up to the sky, the white dove disappeared. She smiled feeling that this was going to be a great day, after all, preceded to continue humming as she skipped all the way home, it would seem to the unsuspecting eye she lost her mind, afterall no grown woman would be prancing around like a twelve year old girl.
As she was about to walk up to her apartment she was stopped by two ANBU who were waiting for her by the door. She frowned and nodded her head courteously.
"Good after noon gentlemen, what can I do for you?" she asked on guard, there was no way Sakura would have been visited by ANBU of all people unless it was extremely important. The ANBU wearing a dog's mask replied
"Miss Haruno, your presence is required by the Elders of the village. Please follow us." He said behind his mask. Sakura frowned but nodded.
"There's no need, they have already been informed." The ANBU wearing the cat's mask replied. Sakura frowned and followed them without saying anything. She had no clue why she was being troubled by the council members especially. She didn't trust them in the slightest but she would obey whatever they said since they've been around since the Sandaime. She had no clue what they had in store for her nor did she honestly want to know either.
Ino was working at her family's flower shop and was bored as hell, she stifled a yawn with her mouth as her mother glared at her in annoyance.
"Dear can't you please try to act like you're interested in this job?" her mother said placing her hands on her hips, in truth Ino looked nothing like her mother, Yuri Yamanaka had brown hair in contrast to her daughter's blonde, and unlike Ino her hair was short cutting below her shoulders. Yuri's violet eyes scolded her daughter due to her attitude. One thing that no one could deny, however, was that both mother and daughter had the same attitudes as well as temperament.
Ino rolled her eyes inwardly and sighed in slight annoyance she frowned as her mother began to go on and on about manners and what it meant to be a Yamanaka woman and blah blah blah. Ino nodded automatically eventually letting her thoughts drift elsewhere, she wondered where her team mates where and how they were handling the mission without her. She wondered about how Sai was handling his mission as well as the blond Uzumaki now turned Namikaze. Ino frowned and wondered if Naruto even knew the extent of hatred Sakura suffered in fact did he even care that Sakura was the most hated person in the village? Just like he had once been? Ino, as much as she hated to admit it, was just like the villagers for a few months after that incident, she only came to forgive her when she saw that her best friend's eyes were soulless. She guessed that her eyes scared her enough to forgive her, in a sense she worried that Sakura would have committed suicide.
"…And Ino, Ino? Ino!" her mother snapped bringing her out of her thoughts.
"Leave her be honey" Inoichi said entering the room folding his arms and leaning slightly on the door frame.
" But dear she-" her mother was interrupted by her father,
"As much as we hate it, our baby's grown up and now she's a fine young lady, a chip off the old block, wouldn't you say so Yuri?" he said smirking while both his wife and daughter blushed.
"Awww shucks Daddy thank you~!" she said in a sing song voice going up to him and hugged him tightly.
"Oh yeah before I forget can I go visit Sakura now?" she asked with her puppy dog eyes and an adorable pout on her face. Inoichi gave a hearty laugh and nodded. Ino grinned and kissed his cheek before running out the door with a goodbye. Yuri looked at her daughter's retreating back and then back at her husband in annoyance. Inoichi smiled putting his hands up in defense.
"Inoichi you spoil her too much, she needs to know the value of being a proper lady." Yuri said allowing her husband to snake his arms around her waist.
"Hmmm, if I remember correctly didn't you use to give that pout whenever you wanted to win me over with something? When we were younger you were exactly like her at her age." he said breathing in her hair's fruity scent. Yuri blushed slightly and hit him on the arm with a giggle.
"Oh really? I did that?" she said teasingly. He nodded
"Yep Ino is the exact replica of you. Feisty in all aspects of life. I sure had a hard time warding off young men's advances on my pumpkin." He said frowning at the last part. His wife grinned and placed a kiss on his lips. He blinked at her in surprise but smirked
"What was that for?" he said still smirking. Yuri smiled coyly.
"That's for being you."
"Good answer sweetie."
Ino looked at her watch and tapped her foot impatiently, she had arrived by Sakura's apartment to torture the Kunoichi but she wasn't there. It had been at least an hour with no sign of her pink best friend. It was going on six, and still no Sakura. Ino was just about to get up and go home until a certain flash of pink caught her eyes.
"Bill board brow! Where have you been? I've been here since an hour ago!" she said in annoyance underlying relief. Sakura smiled cheerfully
"Sorry Ino pig I just had some work at the clinic to take care of." She said quickly. Ino raised a brow
"I thought Tsunade-sama fired you? She gave you back your job?" she said questioningly pointing a finger at her friend in accusation. Sakura laughed and nodded, Ino's eyes widened and a squeal erupted from her throat as she wrapped her arms around her best friend.
"That's great Sakura!" Sakura smiled and hugged back tightly.
"Say Ino…. How long we've been friends?" she asked suddenly, the blonde looked at her surprised at the question but none of the less answered it.
"Nine teen years now why?" she asked as the pinkette became silent. Sakura breathed out softly and released Ino slowly. She looked at Ino with serious eyes, it startled the blonde who looked back at her quizzingly.
"What? Sakura what's with that facial expression is something wrong?" she asked worriedly looking the Haruno in the eyes, Sakura sighed and went and sat down on the couch.
"Ino… can you promise me something?" she asked looking at the blonde directly in the eyes. Ino felt an unease settle in her stomach but she nodded anyways. Sakura smiled
"In future will you take care of my parents if anything should ever happen to me?" she asked looking up at the ceiling with a blank expression. Ino blinked startled to say the least
"Of course I will but what's going o-"
"Thank you Ino… you are a good friend." She said smiling and let herself doze off. Ino frowned that question bothered her but for now she wouldn't press the matter if Sakura didn't want to. She got a blanket from one of the covers and put over her friend.
"Sakura… what's going to happen to you?" not expecting an answer Ino let herself out and locked the door, she decided it would be best not to press the issue any more as Sakura obviously didn't want to speak on it. She looked up at the sky at all the stars twinkling mischievously.
'Sakura… what in the world is going on with you?' she thought
Another country away, a group of travelers had stopped to camp out for the night, the lady who they were escorting was talking, no correction, flirting with them or at least attempting to. Sai was earnestly getting annoyed as the pampered princess was trying to woo him with batting her eyelashes throughout the whole conversation he was having with her. He even felt a vein in his forehead start to pulse, which was nearly impossible as Sai had the most patience out of all his friends. He had on his fake mask of cheerfulness, which as the time progressed was getting more and more difficult to keep on. His left eye began to twitch as the woman put his right arm in between her bosom. This was beyond gross for him, and he tried to pull his arm away gently, but the stupid woman only held it tighter.
"Ah~ Sai-chan! Not there~!Kyaaa ! " she said squealing like some sort of pig, Sai gritted his teeth and attempted another time to retrieve his arms. Truth be told she was a very attractive T.E.E.N.A.G.E.R, Sai wasn't going to jail for no kid. He finally managed to pull his hand free only to have her glomp him and hug his whole body tighter. Sai let out a sigh of irritation and growled, he looked over at Kakashi who looked at him with sympathy and shrugged.
"Um, Aiko-sama ╬" Sai said beyond irritated now, she looked up at him cutely and bashed her eyelashes again. He almost gagged.
"Yes honey bunny?" she purred attempting to kiss him, Sai was NOT having it. He almost gagged at her nickname for him.
"I didn't want to say anything but… I HAVE a girlfriend back home at Konoha." He said in triumph as the heiress let him go shocked. Her eyes started to water and she sniffled
"I don't believe you! What's her name?" she said accusingly at him, he looked around and saw the Sakura blossoms a distance away and said it automatically.
"Sakura." He said calmly, but he realized his mistake and swore in his mind. Kakashi looked at him surprised at the name use but smirked.
"Noooooo! I don't want you to have a girl friend! I want you for myself! No no no!" she said throwing up her arms in anger, Sai rolled his eyes at her tantrum
"How old are you 3? Grow up." He said harshly, but quickly realized what he did as her eyes widened. Kakashi shot him a look as in " Screw this up and you're a dead man." He felt a sweat drop roll down his head and he attempted to apologize
"T-that, that's-!" she said her whole body shaking and her hand was clenched into a fist. He panicked and was about to apologize. She looked at him her eyes a flame, he braced himself for a punch
"That's so hardcore!" she screeched her nostrils flaring, both Kakashi and Sai face faulted at this outburst. They looked at the young girl in disbelief at her proclamation.
"Now I KNOW I have to have you Sai darling! I'll buy you from that woman so we can get married, in fact let's get married as soon as we reach the Wave!" she said her eyes sparkling with love. Sai pulled out his hair and yelled in frustration.
"Woman what's WRONG with you?" he yelled and ran away screaming in fear, with Aiko hot on his heels calling for her darling.
Kakashi snickered and watched the young man try to flee for his life only for the princess to jump on his back and say "Giddy Up! Darlingggg~" he was extremely grateful that Sai was the one she like and not him, he couldn't see himself being troubled by little girls, the thought alone caused him to shudder.
A crunch alerted him that someone was coming back, he knew who it was and didn't get alarmed but only half smiled and looked at the person from the corner of his eye.
"What's going on? Where's Sai and the brat?" the man's rich voice resounded as he sat next to the copy cat ninja. Kakashi shrugged
"I don't know, anyways you finally came back Naruto?" he said crossing his arms, looking forward. Naruto shrugged and took out a bag of chips and begun munching on one. Silence was in their company for a while before Naruto asked Kakashi a question
"Um, why is Sai's nails painted red?" he said taking a sip of soda, Kakashi smirked knowingly but said nothing. Sai eventually came back with the heiress on his back smiling like a Cheshire cat. Naruto raised his eye brow at the display before bursting out laughing. Sai's left eye began twitching as the fox carrier held his stomach and pointed while laughing. Aiko didn't mind in the least as she began to giggle with him.
A while after everything was settled down, they all sat around the fire eating in silence when Aiko attempted to start a conversation.
"Soooo… Sai-kun why are your nails painted red?" she asked turning to him. He looked genuinely surprised at the random question and hesitated. Should he really mention the fact that he slept over at Sakura's house last night? He looked over at Naruto who looked back at him raising a brow. He answered calmly as he could
"I… slept over at a girl's house last night."
"WHAT?" everyone jumped as they turned to Naruto who was grinning from ear to ear in glee. Sai felt a sense of unease settle in his stomach as Naruto scampered over quickly to hear as much of the juicy story as he could.
"So you had a sleep over or…" Aiko said frowning at him, he quickly put to rest any over assumptions
"It was only a sleep over, nothing else." Aiko seemed please with the answer but Naruto was disappointed.
"Ah! Sai you're so boring!" he whined upset that there was no juicy story to be heard. Aiko pondered before speaking again.
"Ah~! Was it by your girlfriend's house?" his eyes went to the size of saucers and Kakashi grinned underneath his mask. How was Sai going to get out of this one? Naruto's eyes widened in shock and his jaw dropped.
"WHAT? Sai you've had a girlfriend and never told me? Spill it!" he said grinning like a mad man. Sai felt beads of sweat pour down his temple. He looked at Kakashi for help but the Hatake avoided his eyes. Sai glared daggers at the man before looking back at the man. Unfortunately for him Aiko got to speak first.
"Shouldn't you know her? Her name's Sakura!" Aiko said lunging out her tongue at him. Naruto's eyes went wide again and Sai inwardly groaned
Where was a shot gun when you needed one?
A/N: TADA! Another chapter for you to enjoy! Guys I appreciate the support a lot thanks for everything!