Hello everyone! I gotz the next chapter up already! Hope i didn't keep you all waiting for too long, and ooh, I have a feeling people will like this chappy a lot, but No, it does not hold any Saki-bashing, I apologize. hehe X) anyway! on to the story!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form, you all got that? X) Seriously, who would think I did?
Oh, and once more i add, if anyone feels the need for me to add a recap, just pm me or drop a review and i'll begin doing that again! :)
Chapter 7: Friend
Ino was walking, and decided to pay Saki a quick visit, just to make sure she was okay, before she went to go look for Sasuke as Shizune had indirectly asked her to do. Seriously, Shizune wouldn't even bother mentioning anything about Sasuke if she didn't need something of him, or something along those lines. Shizune wasn't particularly fond of the Uchiha, considering he always acted moody, and now he was beginning to act if no one was important again...
By now, Saki had had about 15 minutes to cool down, so it seemed she hadn't even been crying at all.
"Saki-chan!" Ino greeted, walking up to the gate.
"Ino! It's been too long" Saki greeted, putting a fake smile on her face. She just really wasn't in the mood right now, after the whole Sasuke thing. All of that made her realize she truly didn't know Sasuke at all. Well, she knew quite a lot, but not about what really mattered most... so told by him, anyway.
"I heard about the mission; just got done patching Naruto up. What happened?" Ino asked, hoping for more of a description.
"Akatsuki showed up in the middle of nowhere! Can you believe it?" Saki rolled her eyes. But really, it wasn't in the middle of nowhere, theoritcally speaking, considering they mission description said they might face up against them sooner or later. And the chances had been more than 70% too... so yeah...
"That's terrible but the good thing is everyone's home safe and sound." Ino said, trying to form a smile to try to cheer her up, if possible.
"Yeah, I know what you mean... but the mission took its toll on Sasuke-kun. He saw Itachi Uchiha... and then... I don't know... it just..." Saki couldn't even explain. Even Itachi had known Sasuke was grieving over someone... was it really that obvious? And if yes, how come Saki had never even noticed before?
"Don't even try to explain it." Ino shook her head, stopping her. "Sasuke always gets like that when it comes to Itachi. It's just the thought of knowing the person who ruined your life is standing in front of you... and... well, it must feel terrible, really. I feel bad for Sasuke. Everyone expects him to avenge Itachi... I'm not even sure he wants to anymore..." Ino said sadly.
"What do you mean? Hasn't it always been his ambition to kill Itachi ever since he was in the Academy?" Saki asked. One thing was for sure: she had her info down pretty damn well. She hadn't been snooping around with Sasuke's -'annoying' she quickly added- fan girls for months to just be clueless.
(A/N: Ha)
"Yes but... did you see the ring?" Ino seemed almost hesitant to bring it up. Of course, they were talking about the engagement ring Sasuke had bought for Sakura a little over a month ago. He still had it too... he had refused to return it. Ino found it odd, that ring must have been worth a lot.
"Did I ever, that thing was huge." Saki sighed. If only Sasuke would give her a ring like that... she might just be so happy she had to die.
"Sasuke had been ready to settle down... I think he seriously meant it when he wanted to propose to Sakura... Sakura had always been against his whole vengeance plan of his... told him directly she couldn't ever stand being with a man who could only think of killing someone as a life long dream. "What would your children think?" she always accused Sasuke." Ino sighed.
Saki leaned up a little, interested in what Ino was sharing with her. Maybe this information would prove to be useful later on in the future when trying to convince Sasuke..."What's your point in this?"
"You know his ambition right?" Ino asked. Saki nodded in response. "Well... I think he changed it... all for the sake of being with Sakura... He had been willing to let Itachi go, just so he could move on with his life and find something in it that he wanted to keep, and not push away like he had done so to everything else previous to this... he was tired of pushing Sakura and Naruto away, giving them a stupid reason for them to wait for him..."
Ino's logic made so much sense... too much sense. She must have obviously been thinking about this whole idea for a long time. In truth, she had spent all night yesterday thinking about it, after the whole 'Sakura is alive!' thing.
"Basically, you're telling me..." Saki's eyes widened in realization.
Ino nodded. "He had planned to change everything for Sakura. He didn't need Itachi as long as he had Sakura and Naruto."
Saki was quiet. But from this, she realized something. She was now able to answer one of the questions he had required from her...
"What is my true ambition"
Thw words kept ringing inside her head. "To start a family..." she let the small whisper escape her lips.
"What was that Saki-chan?" Ino asked confused.
Saki shook her head. "Nothing" How could she be so blind? She was completely devoted to Sasuke, and yet, she couldn't even answer any of his questions... and to think he was ready to marry Sakura...
Saki couldn't stand the thought of it. It irked her to no end to think Sasuke had liked Sakura enough to actually want to marry her... to 'reconstruct' his clan with her... Like hell would she ever let that happen. The only one who would help him reconstrcut his clan would be her. She'd be the one to make sure of that... whatever the cost.
'I can't believe I'm actually listening to your dumbass advice.' Sakura shook her head disapprovingly, making some hand signs until she turned into a perfect clone of Suzuki, except she made sure the clothes didn't look so poor looking. That would definitely be suspicious, considering Konoha wasn't much of a poor village.
Grabbing a small basket she had literally knitted for the past 15 minutes and filled with random herbs, she put on a smiley, bubbly face, like she knew Suzuki would truly have, and prayed to Kami this truly worked.
Skipping down merrily, she followed inner's advice and started humming the tune of 'Merry had a Little Lamb', no matter how dumb it sounded. She had to make sure it didn't seem fake, so when approaching the gate, she couldn't help but feel relieved Saki was there, but dread soon followed afterwards.
'Why did Ino have to be there?!' she almost felt like giving up hope now.
Both the attentions of the young ladies turned to Sakura, and their eyes immediately sparkled in interest.
"Oh my, what a cute little thing you are!" Ino squealed. Yes, in real life, Suzuki really was adorable.
Sakura giggled shyly. "T-Thank you" she grabbed her dress with her hands, and bowed like a princess would.
"What brings you here little girl? You know you're not allowed to enter the village right?" Saki chirped.
Sakura cocked her head to the side, feigning confusion. "But I live here." she stated, a small and adorable pout making its way to her face.
"Y-You do?" Saki was caught by surprise.
"Yeah" Sakura confirmed. "I left about 20 minutes ago so I can gather some herbs for Kaa-san." she explained, showing them her little basket.
"But I've been here for half an hour. I never saw you leave at all." Saki cocked her haid to the side as well.
Sakura mentally slapped her forehead, but played it cool on the outside. 'Any suggestions inner? Please make it quick, considering this is your oh-so-genius plan.' she thought sourly, mentally rolling her eyes.
'Just say this...' she trailed off.
Sakura's eyes widened a fraction, completely gone unnoticed by the girls. They were too busy fawning over the cute little girl in front of them who looked like a little angel.
'But what if-'
'Just do it!' inner cut her off.
"Ohh, you see, I was going to tell you I would be leaving for a few minutes." Sakura began.
"But...?" Saki asked.
"Well, you see..." she played with the bottom of her dress a little, making it seem like she was nervous. "I saw you talking to a guy, and I thought it was your boyfriend, and it looked really important so I didn't want to interrupt. You guys looked like such a cute couple so I didn't want to spoil it." she let a totally fake blush spread across her face. Last time Saki had been on guard duty, the time Sakura saw anyway, Sasuke had dropped her off. She figured it was a regluar, day-to-day thing for the two, or whatever.
"What bo-" Saki quickly cut herself off.
At first, Sakura thought 'Inner you dumbass you blew our cover!!!!' But then, hearing Saki's squeal, she actually noted inner might have been... right... for once.
Ino laughed. "What boy was this Saki-chan?"
Saki tried to control her enthusiasm. "If you must know, it was Sasuke-kun." she said, but squeals errupted once more seconds after.
Ino's eyes seemed to widen, and maybe sadden for a fraction of a second before she recomposed herself.
Sakura, being the stealthy ninja that she was, and being in this tight predicament at the current moment, paid close attention to everything, and she definitely didn't fail to see her eyes. 'What the...'before she could even finish her question, inner interrupted and told her to tell Saki she really couldn't keep squealing around like pigs with her. Sakura felt like snorting but sighed and acted all cute and child-like.
"I-I'm sorry, but Kaa-san i-is really expecting t-this sooo..." Sakura, or Suzuki, trailed off hesitantly.
"Oh, don't mind me, go right in!" Saki giggled. "You're such a cute little girl." she added, pinching Sakura's cheeks. Sakura blushed, though on the inside she felt like puking and biting her hand.
"Bye!" Sakura waved, hopping away down the street.
'Mission: Infiltrate Konoha, SUCCESS' Sakura could barely believe it, and she immediately went off to eat. She still couldn't believe Saki had fallen for that... if she got in that easily, Konoha might have a security issue soon... not that she really cared anymore; this wasn't her home.
"Well..." Ino trailed off. "I gues I'll be going." Ino smiled, waving at Saki.
"Leaving so soon?" Saki pouted.
"Yeah... I have a few things to take care of." Ino said before she gave Saki a brief hug and disappeared.
Saki merely hummed in curiosity before shrugging it off. What was with the sudden mood swing with Ino? Maybe it was just that time of the month again...
Sasuke sighed. He still couldn't believe he had flipped out and gone totally crazy on Saki, though he truly had a good reason. That girl just drove him mad! If he honestly sent her to the hospital, commatose, he could not be blamed.
"Do you know my worst fear? My true life's ambition? My favorite thing to do? My favorite tree? Favorite game? Do you even know how I feel inside?!"
Sasuke thought about his previous words sourly. No one knew that about him as of this point. Sakura had been the only one, and well, she died... so he couldn't exactly count her at all. So, sitting at the Team 7 training grounds, Sasuke couldn't help but let his eyes linger on the all too familiar wooden posts some distance away. That had been where Naruto had been tied up, and Sasuke and Sakura had actually been kind to him; probably the first true act of kindness Naruto had recieved from people his age.
Unknowingly, he walked to the spot, and sat down where he had previously done so, all those years ago. The images in his head seemed to be real, and he could clearly see Naruto tied up again, whining about being hungry, while Sakura was laughing.
He stuck his hand out, caressing her cheek, and was half surprised he only felt air. He blinked, and the image was gone, blown away by the wind, along with a few leaves.
Sasuke frowned. His mind was toying with him again.....again. Seriously, he was getting much too depressed about this.
Sasuke got up once again, making his way inside the forest. Reaching a small opening he noticed this had been where Kakashi had tricked him, and had dragged him under ground. A small smile made it way to his features. Sakura had been so hilarious, screaming her head off until she passed out. It had just been too funny, but at the time he had just been annoyed. He was stuck, and his joints had been aching, that's why. But thinking back, it truly was such a sight to see, considering nowadays Sasuke -or anyone else- would get punched all the way to Suna if they tried a stunt like that, to fool her of course.
Turning around, he decided maybe he should go grab a bite to eat. He hadn't eaten all day, and hardly anything the day before, after all. Besides, Naruto would probably drag him to Ichiraku's after he was done with his sugery anyway.
Sitting down at her favorite ramen stand, Sakura could still not believe she had gotten away with it. Either she was a very good actress, or Saki was just very dumb.Inner was thinking they could totally use her dumb-ness to their advantage. She was seriously much worse than she or Ino had been back in their fan-girl days.
"Hello there little girl, what can I get you today?"Ayame asked cheerfully, getting down to Suzuki's level and smiling brightly.
"B-Beef ramen please." Sakura showed her a shy smile.
"Coming right up you adorable little thing." Ayame chirped, turning around.
Sakura sighed. She would seriously need to hurry. If Saki had returned, that meant Naruto and Sasuke had too. And knowing Naruto, it was always a tradition to go straight to Ichiraku's after sending the mission report and what not. Sakura could only hope they had finished a while ago. But then again, Saki had only been on duty for 30 minutes... and if they had already eaten, Naruto and Sasuke would currently be sitting along side her now. Meaning.....
Crap, they hadn't eaten yet.
And it only even worse when she felt Sasuke's chakra approaching. Sakura was thinking about just running out of there, like the scared little girl she was pretending to be. Sure, she had made sure to mask her chakra and make sure the henge was almost unnoticeable, but she was screwed if Sasuke was actually paying attention, or if he turned on his Sharingan.
Sasuke came in, and Suki looked directly at him. She and Sasuke locked gazes for what could have been 5 seconds, before he turned away and sat right next to her.
"Good morning Sasuke. Usual?" Ayame asked, her back facing him.
"Hn" Sasuke gave her a short reply.
By that time, Ayame was already turned around, handing Suki her beef ramen. "T-Thank you" Suki muttered, breaking her chopsticks.
"You welcome cutie-pie." Ayame then focused her attention on Sasuke. "Where's Naruto?" Ayame asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "Undergoing surgery"
Sakura almost choked on her noodles. She thought she told Kisame to go easy on them?! Well... maybe he was going easy.
"What?!" Ayame shouted what Sakura had been yelling in her mind.
"Kisame Hoshigaki attacked Saki and in an effort to save Saki, Naruto threw himself in there." Sasuke shrugged. "Shizune said it wouldn't be that bad."
"Shizune's a liar."
They all turned around, including Suki, to see Naruto there, clutching his chest. "They didn't even numb me. Baa-chan said it was a lesson for not running when we should have." Naruto grumbled, sitting on the other side of Suki... just great. Sasuke was all the way at the edge, that's why.
Ayame gasped, and Sasuke merely shook his head.
"Beef ramen please" Naruto muttered, before he continued with his conversation. "Why didn't youget hurt this badly?" Naruto whined.
"Because unlike you, I'm not an idiot." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I didn't cause myself bodily harm when I saved Saki. I countered their jutsus."
"But that's so not heroic at all." Naruto whined. "And in my opinion, Itachi wasn't even trying to beat you."
Sasuke's knuckles went white, just as Ayame gave him his bowl of ramen.
"That wasn't Itachi." Sasuke assured him.
"The first person wasn't. I can't believe you actually thought it was him. He was much shorter, and he wouldn't reveal himself."
Sakura slurped her noddles quietly. It didn't help that they were directing their attention right to her too, considering she was in between them both.
"She" Sasuke corrected.
Suki visibly flinched. She could only hope they didn't see it.
"But seriously, who was that?!" Naruto exclaimed, his ramen bowl now being placed in front of him.
"It had to be a spy." Sasuke commented.
"Yeah, that would explain why she ran away afterwards, and why she didn't show her techniques." Naruto agreed, nodding his head up and down.
"To not give us a hint of who she might be." Sasuke said, as if connecting the pieces.
'Wow... Naruto's not so dumb after all... but that wasn't the only reason.' Sakura thought glumly. She also didn't want to hurt Sasuke if she could ever help it.
"Yeah, and then Itachi showed up... Did you understand what they were talking about at all? I couldn't catch anything because Saki had been yelling my name out." Naruto whined.
"Just before the real Itachi showed up."
Naruto scoffed. "Did you see Kisame picking 'Itachi' up? I thought they were gay!" he exclaimed, laughing.
Sasuke glared. "I don't understand why she needed help though." Sasuke seemed troubled, and he chose to not think about Naruto's previous statement, for he would get mental images, and that would disturb him for life.
"What do you mean?" Naruto mumbled, too busy trying to digest his noodles. "You could see by her previous flawless moves she was more than capable to dodge the moves. The last one... right before Itachi appeared... she seemed almost hesitant to dodge it."
"Maybe that was what Kisame was talking to her about. To actually start trying." Naruto shrugged it off.
"Thing is, it seemed she knew what I would be trying next, but she made no effort to stop it." Sasuke looked deep inside his cup of ramen, staring at his reflection.
"I still can't believe Itachi didn't put you in Tsukiyomi." Naruto started another conversation. "It seems to be a favorite move for him to try on you. What does he even show you?" Naruto asked.
"He either makes me relive the... massacre, stabs me with katanas on a cross, or makes me attack everyone I know..." Sasuke muttered.
"That must be gruesome, seeing blood everywhere, and seeing you mutilate your own friends, cutting off their heads and what not." Naruto held back a shiver.
"It is" Sasuke muttered. "Ever eaten Kakashi's own flesh before?"
Suki shivered, not because of Sasuke previous statement, but because this was just all too much. They were practically ignoring her, even when she wasn't Sakura.
"Little girl, are we scaring you?" Naruto's voice snapped her out of her thoughts as he gently poked her shoulder.
Suki harshly pulled away, looking at her ramen bowl, petrified. That had been the first contact she had had with her friends in over a month.
Naruto immediately back away. "Sorry umm... what's your name?" Naruto asked.
"Kaa-san told me never to talk to strangers." Sakura said strictly, still looking straight. Truth be told, she was just scared to talk to them all.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt you! We're good people." Naruto insisted.
Sakura felt the need to roll her eyes, and if it weren't for the fact that she had been betrayed by these people, she would've. How ironic was it he was supposed to be a good person, but not only did he previously kill countless of people, but he also killed her soul, sort of.
But Sakura knowing Naruto as good as she did, knew he would not stop until getting her name. "S-Suki" she said at last.
"That's a pretty name." Naruto smiled at her. "I'm Naruto... Naruto Uzamaki, future Hokage!"
Sakura, who was now done with her ramen, pushed it in front of her. "M-May I have a-another please?" she looked at Ayame with her orbs filled with shyness and cute-ness. If anyone looked any further, they would have seen hurt and deception.
"Sure thing Suki-chan!" Ayame said, who was previously listening in to their conversation.
"For a little girl, you eat a lot you know." Naruto kept trying to start a conversation.
Sasuke scoffed from beside her. "As a little kid you ate three times more ramen than the average person would eat monthly."
"Don't listen to Sasuke-teme Suki! He's just a regular grouchy person!" Naruto dismissed.
Suki didn't reply. Instead, she focused on the new bowl of ramen in front of her.
"So do you go to the Academy?" Naruto asked.
Suki contemplated on answering, and soon, nodded her head. Naruto looked ecstatic.
"Training to be a ninja is really hard work Suki-chan!" he stressed, now thinking that her being a ninja made her all that much cooler.
Suki nodded once more. She didn't want to talk to Naruto... it was too hurtful.
"Remember, team work is always important!" Naruto reminded her.
"You don't talk much, do you?" Sasuke interrupted, looking at the child in interest. Not really interest, just a curious type of interest.
Suki shook her head, for the sake of it all.
"Reminds me of Hinata-chan!" Naruto grinned.
"H-Hinata-chan?" Suki asked curiously, as if asking who she was. In truth, she just wanted to see how she was doing, even though Hinata probably didn't care about her.
"She's his girlfriend." Sasuke scoffed.
"Hey! She's not my girlfriend!" Naruto defended. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine" Naruto grumbled. "But I have hardly seen her at all." Naruto sighed.
"Didn't you see her right before we went on the mission?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah... but she hardly talked, and she kept insisting there was something up with Saki. Crazy huh?" Naruto whined. "She doesn't go out much anymore. Says she doesn't like shopping with Saki and Ino... says she prefers Sakura."
Sakura's eyes widened... did he... did he seriously just say what she thought he said? Did Hinata actually see through Saki's fakeness??Sakura felt that maybe life wasn't so screwed up after all. Maybe Kami was looking out for her, in a way.
Sakura felt a whole bunch of tension escape, and she could only feel relief. Hinata... Sakura knew Hinata was much too kind to be mean. And being kind, Sakura guessed she could also see through Saki's lying, mean, cruel self.
"She really misses Sakura." Naruto sighed.
Sakura only felt a tiny bit of pang in her heart, noticing Naruto didn't even refer to her as 'Sakura-chan' anymore.
From the corner of her eyes, she could see Sasuke's knuckles turn white as he gripped his chopsticks. "Can we please not talk about Sakura?" he glared at his food. He had just finished forgetting her this morning, geez. "I'm tired of hearing her name." his anger was so much, his Sharingan had turned on accidently.
"Sasuke put that away! You're going to scare Suki-chan!... Suki-chan?"
Naruto looked at the stool beside him, but found it empty, money thrown on the table right next to her ramen.
"Look what you did Sasuke-teme! You scared her away! Just because you can't stand hearing about Sakura because you miss her doesn't mean you can go running off making her name taboo." Naruto glared.
Sasuke only hmppff'ed in response.
From outside the stand, Sakura was holding back her tears. Not only had she left in a hurry because Sasuke's Sharingan had turned on, but because he... he said that... And after hearing "Just because you can't stand hearing about Sakura-' she left running, trying to hold back the tears she knew would eventually sprout.
She already knew Sasuke hated her, but being reminded about it right in front of her face hurt... it really did.
Suki ran in a hurry, her eyes blurred from the tears in the way. She didn't even know where she was going, or who she bumped into until she was on the floor, her knee scraped.
The tiny sting of pain only made it easier for Sakura to let her pain out.
"Oh my! I-I'm sorry!" the woman bent over to analyze Suki's wound. Suki looked up, her eyes widening... well she'd be damned! It was Hinata!
Almost out of instinct and relief she ran straight to Hinata's arms, who only seemed mildly confused. Hinata quickly replaced confusion with caring, and kindess. "There there" Hinata tried to soothe her, picking her up gently so she was standing on her feet. "Let's see that wound of yours, shall we?" Hinata bent down, examining the wound.
She reached for her pocket, getting out something, and putting some cream on the wound. Sakura recognized it as the same one she had given to Naruto years ago in the Chunin Exams.
Sakura was only half-happy she was able to experience such kindness from her now favorite Hyuga in the world, possibly her only best friend besides the S-Class criminal, Kisame Hoshigaki. "A-Arigatou" her tears got even heavier. She was now mostly crying from happiness, instead of sadness. She really didn't care about Sasuke right now... she had a friend. Maybe Hinata knew what it felt like to be shunned, somewhat, and that was why she and the heiress had become such close friends...
"W-What's wrong?" Hinata asked nervously.
Suki shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it.
"How about I treat you to some ice cream?" Hinata smiled.
Suki nodded. "I-I'd like that"
Hinata took her hand gently, and they both made their way to the ice cream parlor, Hinata holding her hand. "My name's Hinata by the way. Hinata Hyuga."
Suki wiped her tears, trying to smile. "Suki" Sakura refused to say her last name, just because she didn't actually know it.
"What can I get you ladies?" the man said while smiling, once they had entered the small shop.
"One Strawberry and Chocolate and..." Hinata pondered, staring down at Suki.
"Butter Pecan and Rocky Road." Suki instructed, her tears now dried up, and a bright smile replacing them.
"Alrighty then" the man turned around to get their orders ready.
"Butter Pecan and Rocky Road?" Hinata questioned.
Suki nodded. "Why?" she asked curiously.
Hinata shook her head gingerly. "The odd combination reminds me of a dear friend, is all. She used to love those flavors."
Sakura's spirits grew even more... not only had Hinata remembered, but she had called her a dear friend... Sakura felt like crying again but held back the tears... she was happy, she should savor this moment before she had to leave again.
"Here you are." the man snapped them out of her conversation as he handed them their ice cream.
Suki reached for her pockets, to get some money, but Hinata stopped her. "It's okay Suki-chan, I got it." Hinata assured her with a hearty smile, before she turned back to the man, gave Suki her ice cream, and then paid for both of them.
Afterwards, Suki and Hinata found themselves in a small park bench, enjoying their ice cream and listening to other little kids play in a small sand box, now, snow box. "Thank you for the ice cream, Hinata." Suki broke the silence.
"Don't mention it" Hinata assured. "But... why were you crying?" Hinata seemed worried.
Suki contemplated on the answer. "I-.....I'm just in need of a friend, is all." Suki said, turning her ice cream around and licking the part that was melting. Both were now well in to their second scoop of ice cream, the other, quickly consumed.
Hinata seemed slightly shocked, but she soon recovered. "I'll be your friend." Hinata assured, smiling.
Sakura smiled... it was a true smile, one she hadn't shown in a very long time. "Ahh! Hinata, you're dripping!" she over exaggerated, pointing to the strawberry, which was slowly dripping down the ice cream cone.
Hinata gasped, making a horrid expression, before quickly inclining and licking it hurriedly. "Disaster avoided" she said in relief, her face seemed tired.
Suki giggled. "Not just yet." Suki reached towards Hinata, and wiped off some strawberry that had brushed against her nose while on her 'Stop Drippage' Mission.
Hinata blushed from embarrassment but they soon both started laughing together.
"I haven't laughed like this in a while." Hinata commented, trying to regain her breathing pattern.
"Me neither" Suki agreed. There seemed to be a tense silent... as if Hinata wanted to get something off her chest. "You want to tell me?" Suki asked, as if reading her mind.
Hinata looked surprised, turning to her. "How did you..." Hinata couldn't even finish her words.
"You look as troubled as I am." Suki replied, smiling.
There was more silence, for about 2 minutes, until Hinata's lips parted. "It happened a little over a month ago..." her words were slow, almost hesitant. Sakura immediately knew she was talking about her supposed 'death'. "A very close friend of mine... one of my best friends actually... she... she passed away." Hinata was staring at her ice cream, almost as if recalling memories.
"You miss her?" Suki asked.
"Very much so" Hinata confirmed. "I just..." Hinata couldn't even finish her sentence. Tears started falling down her cheeks. She felt one land on her hand, and she looked at them incredulously. "Look, I'm the one crying now." she tried to laugh, but it sounded like a bitter one.
Suki quickly pounced on her, hugging her for comfort. "I just wish this was all a cruel nightmare." Hinata cried, dropping her ice cream on the snow and hugging Suki, who had by now already gobbled up her ice cream. Only the cone had been left, and she had quickly disposed of it. Hinata was much more important to her than an iddly ice cream.
"Don't we all?" Suki whispered mostly to herself sympathetically. "Sometimes life may seem cruel, but what happens is usually for the better." Sakura insisted. She didn't really care if she sounded much to wise for a little girl. Hinata needed the comfort only a grown up could give her right now.
"B-By taking S-Sakura?" Hinata let out a whimper, confused at the sudden cruelness of the world around her.
Suki let go, shaking her head. "Sakura is not gone." she tried to smile, reaching up and wiping Hinata's tears from her. Hinata gave her a questioning look. "Sakura is alive" and right at the moment, Suki seriously felt like telling Hinata it was her. To dispel her henge, and tell her the whole truth of what had happened, and what Saki had done. But she couldn't... or she wouldn't, more specifically.
What satisfaction would that give her to torture Saki and go back to Team 7? They all hated her anyway. She'd only be snooping to Saki's level, trying to make them all like her when they really didn't.
Hinata wiped her tears away. "What do you mean?" Hinata asked, snapping Sakura away from her thoughts.
"Sakura will always be alive... in here." Sakura diverted answering truthfully, by pointing to her chest, or more directly, the heart.... "As long as you keep showing you love Sakura as a friend, she'll never leave." Suki smiled.
Hinata smiled. "You're really smart." Hinata complimented.
Suki giggled. "Thanks! I have to be if I want to be a successful ninja! I want to be just like you when I grow up!" Suki exclaimed.
'Or maybe another life, considering I'm actually already old.' Sakura felt like sweat dropping.
'Hinata is officially in the 'Friends' list right above Kisame.' Inner said. She had gotten this crazy idea about making a list of all the new friends she managed to get.
'Right.... how many people are in there?'
'Three, including Itachi. He saved your life, and he's too sexy to not be considered a friend.'
Suki fell of the bench.
Hinata gasped. "A-Are you okay Suki?" Hinata quickly got up, making her way to Suki hurriedly. Too bad she forgot it was slippery... she fell as well.
"Are you okay Hinata?" Suki replied, trying to get up as well. She did, but as soon as she took a step she fell once again.
"I'm all ri-Whoa!!" she fell once again.
After about 5 more times of falling, they grabbed on to each other like leeches and then slowly got up, laughing all the while.
Hinata and Suki must have spent hours and hours on end together for when Suki asked for the time, it was already 3:00 in the afternoon! Sakura had noted her chakra reserves were now around half way empty.
By then, Sakura realized she would have to go soon... she needed that chakra to make it to Sound, and in case she met some... difficulties in her journey, you could say.
Sakura was reluctant to leave, and she felt really bad about telling Hinata a lie.
"Kaa-san will get very worried if I'm not there for dinner." Suki sighed.
Hinata looked sad as well. "W-Will I see you t-tomorrow?" Hinata asked.
Sakura so desperately wanted to say yes, but reluctantly, she shook her head. "Kaa-san and Tou-san are going to Fire Country to visit Jii-chan tomorrow." she made up an excuse. "W-We're spending Christmas there."
Hinata's face fell. "O-Oh... I see." but it was gone almost as soon as it came. "B-But I w-will see you a-again, right?"
"Definitely!" Sakura didn't even wait to bat an eye lash. She didn't care if she had to sneak back in to Konoha once a week to see Hinata. She would see Hinata.She didn't care if she had to break in to Konoha, and say a thousand lies to that dumb-ass Saki if she had to.
After they both said their good byes, instead of going to the gate, Sakura went back to her apartment. Making sure no one was looking, she sneaked in there. Sakura decided if she was going to actually permanently settle into Sound, she couldn't settle with 10 days worth of clothing. So, initially, Sakura took everything. Everything she truly wanted, anyway.
She left behind some clothes she never used anymore, and packed up all her ninja weapons, clothes, scrolls, and what not. Going to the kitchen, she quickly packed some fruit in a bag, telling herself she wouldn't take their food tonight, and then looked around, seeing if there was anything else she wanted.
Besides clothes and food, Sakura packed up necessities from the bathroom, such as tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, and other things like that, and her photo album, though she told herself she would take out most of them once she had time to settle in.
It was around 4:00 when Sakura decided she was done, and she used a teleportation jutsu to appear outside of the gates, in the forest. She had dropped her henge once arriving the house, and she didn't really need to waste any more chakra making another one.
So once Sakura hit the road, she knew she was prepared, no matter what was thrown her way. Sakura ran speedily, never stopping until she reached the border of Leaf and Sound, and afterwards, she decreased her pace.
Only half an hour left until she reached the village.
Ino didn't know why she was so intent on crying the moment she heard the little girl say Saki and Sasuke looked like a couple. At least, she kept telling herself she didn't.
Either way, she couldn't help but feel Saki's attempts to seduce Sasuke and make him hers was rather useless. Sasuke didn't like fan girls, she understood now, and he had only fallen for Sakura because he saw something deeper inside of her. Saki would never end up with Sasuke. Of course, she would never be the one to tell Saki that. She'd only throw a fit, like she had already done so with so many people.
Though she enjoyed Saki's company every once in a while, especially when shopping, she couldn't help but feel something was missing. Initially, Ino was to go and search for Sasuke to make sure he was okay, but now, she found herself in her room, hugging her pillow tightly. She was thinking...
It seemed she was doing a lot of that lately. With Sakura's death, and then her probable 'not death', and then the Saki and Sasuke 'couple' thing. The problems only seemed to be stacking up in her opinion. It seemed Sakura's death affected a lot more than anyone would have imagined.
A pang of hurt went through Ino's body, sending shivers down her spine. She still couldn't get used to saying Sakura was dead. Everytime she did, she would space out, recalling memories of when she and Sakura had gotten in a fight... she wished she could take those back, and tell Sakura how much she truly cared for her. If only Ino would have known Sakura would have died at the early age of twenty... She would have done so many things differently.
She would have given up on Sasuke at age 13.
She would have stopped teasing Sakura about her forehead.
She would have accepted Sakura as a good rival.
She would have spent every possible day with Sakura.
She would have reminded Sakura that she would always be her best friend for life.
'Best friend till death huh?' Ino frowned, remembering the time she had given Sakura the red ribbon for her hair. She wished she could relive those days... or at least one of those days... to take in and remember what it was like having Sakura alongside her once again.
'Time flies fast.' she thought bitterly. It seemed like just yesterday she, Hinata, Sakura, and TenTen were having sleep overs here every other week, complaining about how Chouji would never stop eating, Kakashi was always late, Gai and Lee were weird, and Shino was scary. Those, were truly the days.
But now... what happened?
It seemed Hinata was avoiding her. Last night she had noticed it wasn't her she was avoiding, but Saki. She still couldn't understand why though.
After the whole meeting at her apartment, Sai hadn't come out from his own apartment either... Sasuke was probably even more withdrawn then in their Genin days, and Saki would never stop talking about how she and Sasuke would get married and have cute little Uchiha babies...
It really did seems the problems never stopped stacking up... Why was it she was barely noticing all these problems around her?
Sakura looked around, remembering this place all too well....
'Field of sun flowers huh?' she inhaled deeply, remembering this had been where she nearly died. To this day she still couldn't believe she was alive. This wouldn't be short from being called a miracle.
So once Sakura knew she was nearing the village, she took off the Akatsuki cloak, and sealed it in a scroll. She didn't need to have the villagers running away from her at the mere sight of a simple cloud.
It was chilly, Sakura had to admit, without the cloak. Only a long-sleeve and a fish-net wouldn't do much, now that she was outside, in the snow. Though the sun had melted some away, it wasn't nearly enough. Sakura's feet were freezing, to say the least. Next time she sneaked into Konoha, she would have to buy ninja boots that were good for the snow. She couldn't take much of that. But then again, it wasn't like she was a ninja anymore. Ex-ninja was more like it.
Walking a little further down the field of now dead sun flowers, Sakura heard giggling. She could already remember who's laugh that was all too well. After all, she ahd been impersonating her about 2 hours ago. So when Sakura approached them, she couldn't even hide her excitement.
"Mind if I join?"
Suki and Suzuki literally froze in place. They had been making snow angels on a flat area.
They got up, rubbing the snow off of each other, and when they realized who it was, they couldn't hide their excitement either.
"SAKURA-NEECHAN!" they had literally pounced on her, and unlike last time, Sakura was able to hold her ground against her two adorable munchkins.
"Yup, it's me all right." Sakura smiled, ruffling their hair lovingly.
"There's so much we have to catch up on." Suki said, giggling tremendously.
"Ahh, yes, I agree. But how about we get out of the snow and you girls take me to your mom? We should get cozy first." Sakura suggested.
The girls quickly got off of Sakura, grabbed either one of her hands, and literally pulled her forward.
Sakura smiled. Yes, she was home alright.
End of Chapter
