7: The Beginning Starts Here
"Naruto, you heard me, I want to go back to Konoha and save my fiancé!' Naruto looked at me with a puzzled look. That was right, I hadn't told them about what happened back in Konoha. Kakashi by the door came in and I explained to both of them about what I had to do. Kakashi left after and Naruto just sat there with his jaw wide open.
"Sakura-chan, but-"
"Naruto I know what you're going to say. But don't go, you just got back; take some time to figure this out. Naruto-kun, I did, and I'm willing to do it for my family."
"Sakura-chan," Naruto sighed and pulled me into a hug. "That wasn't what I was going to say, I was going to say 'but, if this is your choice go with it. However, if you're going to be travelling by yourself, I'm coming with you." I looked at him; he held a serious determined look, one I've seen before. It meant nothing I could do or say would change his mind. He was coming with me no matter what.
"Pft. If you think you guys are just going to leave, you gotta think twice," Kakashi threw bags in our direction, they were really heavy and to our surprise they were filled with month's worth of travelling items.
"Kakashi, you're coming with us?"
"Of course! Who else is going to take care of you guys when you guys start to fight?"
"Hey! That was one time!" Realizing we had exclaimed this at the same time we started to laugh and Kakashi had joined us. "You know, Shika and Temari have been bugging me about you?"
"Shika? Are you serious?! That guy is soo lazy he wouldn't even speak if it meant some kind of movement."
"That may be true, but he's my Shika-kun," we all looked at door, there standing by Shikamaru was Temari. Oh man, I had some explaining to do.
"Look Sakura-chan, where ever you and Naruto are going, you're going to have to take us with you." Surprised that Shikamaru would some travel to somewhere he didn't know was really surprising.
"Shikamaru, do you even know where were going?" Naruto asked.
"No, but it's better than wondering what the hell our friends are doing over the winter," Temari nodded in agreement. With this Kakashi then threw two other bags at them.
"I guess you're officially coming now, we leave tomorrow morning;" Naruto looked at the clock beside us, and it read eleven o'clock in the morning. They decided to stay as we discussed travelling options and what route was best to take. Shikamaru being the genius he is took care of all things so even when he didn't know what Konoha was, he knew exactly how to get there without wasting time and energy.
As night came early, we all decided to sleep as we had a big day ahead of us. My friends were doing all this for me, as selfish my request was for my family and the people I soon would rule; it was the least I could do knowing what would come after this. I'd be taking my crown and leaving my home; leaving Temari, Shika-san, Kakashi and Naru-kun; the people I cared about who made my life as normal as possible.
"Sakura-chan?" Oh my gosh, did I wake Naru-kun? "Sakura-chan, what's on your mind this time?"
I looked at Naruto as the cold wind was beginning to take its toll on me from the balcony. "You do realize what happens when all this is fixed right?"
"Of course I do Sakura-chan; I mean, I know you'll be leaving and probably never coming back to LA again."
"Naru-kun, the thing is, my future is set for me. I'll be getting married to Sasuke-kun after; I'll be ruling a village that I haven't been in for twelve years. What if I'm not good enough?"
"Sakura-chan," he took my hand and held it to his heart. "No beautiful girl as smart as you has time to fuss over something like that. Every moment I have with you is another treasure I will hold inside my heart."
I blushed but laughed it off as sleepiness soon came over me, "Naru-kun, when did you get soo sweet?" Unfortunately I fell asleep before I could hear his answer. The last thing I saw was his goofy grin as he looked towards the door and opened his mouth as he was about to tell me.
"When I realized I didn't have much time to have you by my side."
Once the sun had risen we were getting ready for the hard day ahead. Travelling by foot in LA to Konoha during winter wasn't exactly easy. At first it was okay as a cool breeze helped with the heat our body was creating, but once noon came around we were tired and hot under the winter sun.
"Sakura-chan, there's a small path over here," Shika said pointing at the newly found path while holding the map. "The map says it leads straight to where we are going anyways, it's close to the same body of water shown on the map. Besides its baking under the sun and if we head in this direction, it saves us time." Looking at everyone else, it was easy to make the decision, so into the strange path we did.
"Guys be careful; we don't know what lies ahead so be on guard. I'll lead, Shika-san you follow close behind me. Temari in the middle Sakura and then Naruto." We all thought Kakashi's plan was ok, strategically it was right to have Shikamaru and Kakashi lead, both were smart and Kakashi knew where Konoha was including me. Temari in front so she could keep a close of eye of things from the middle of the group, and she was a talker, so any signs of mischief would go unheard of. Naruto behind me just in case something would happen as two out of the three guys were at the front.
"Listen up," frozen in place we began to listen. We could all hear something sliding and hissing around the forest. "I think there are snakes on this path," once Kakashi had said this, I could feel Naruto's eyes land on my back.
"Sakura-chan," placing his hand on my shoulder, he tried to comfort me without anyone noticing. "I know you're scared of snakes, so just be cool."
I sighed, "Naru-kun, I'm not a little girl anymore. So please, try to understand." His hand slowly left my shoulder as we continued to walk on. I knew Temari had heard what I had said to our blond friend, but nobody knew what I was trying to do. Nobody could relate to how badly I wanted to save them, my family, Sasuke-kun and my village.
Walking for a few hours down the path had become very crowded on the ground. Everywhere in sight was a snake. Close encounters with the snakes were unbelievable for me. I remember eaves dropping on some classmates back in school; some girl had taken a snake as a pet, and for some reason the snake was starving itself. Worried about her pet she took her yellow scaled friend to the vet, the doctor then told her to get rid of it, but she was too attached to do so. One night she had slept with her pet snake, all laid out beside her straight like a line, however in the morning she found it curled up. Worried again, she took her pet to the vet. The doctor then screamed and yelled at the young girl for not getting rid of it; she asked why and got her answer. That same day she got rid of her pet, because the snake was starving itself to see if it could eat the girl, but in order to eat a high school girl, the snake had to be able to fit her inside. That girl was traumatized and didn't come to school for a week.
"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" Naruto asked as I saw his face in front of me.
"Come on Naru-kun, I'm alright. How many times do I have to tell you that," I know I was being a bit harsh on him, but snakes, come on they were just snakes. However my fears took a hold of me as I saw a long yellow scaled snake. With a stick I started to whack it for no apparent reason, I soon saw its head grow bigger and next thing I saw was its big scary fangs were closing up on me.
"Hang in there Sakura-chan." Hearing Naruto's voice calmly say my name, I came to. We were now running out of the path, but at the same time my ankle started to throb soo much. As my vision got better I saw Temari being carried by Shika-san and Kakashi leading the way.
"Guys follow me, looks like there's a small town up ahead. They might have something to help Sakura-hime, Shikamaru is Temari recovering?"
"Slowly but surely; she was just traumatized seeing the snake bite Sakura-san," oh okay, so that's what happened. I'm soo sorry Temari, everyone's been doing something out of the way for me. This didn't feel right.
Almost arriving to the small village close at sea Temari came through as well as my vision. Everyone that could walk tried to find a doctor that could treat snake bites at the same time bought more food and water for the rest of the trip. Naruto continued to carry me until the others had found a doctor, but he never left my side as the doctor was examining my ankle and going through antidotes.
"Sakura-chan, why'd you whack the poor snake anyway?" I gave him a death stare, and he took back the question. Although, I knew he was just making light conversation, he should have known the answer to it anyways. On a lighter note, the doctor had given me the medicine and had told me it would take a week to get better, but I knew the antidote wouldn't work, nothing would; but thanking him, we reunited Kakashi and the other two teens near a boat.
Seeing our confused faces Shikamaru explained, "well, Konoha is just a bit more north through the sea, so as long as we have the boat we borrowed from some kind man here, it'll be quicker if he head north west by boat." The genius has spoken, we take the boat.
