So here's chapter 7 of HWA!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…
EDITED
XXX
Sasuke and Itachi sat in silent amazement as Sakura continued to throw trees around. Eventually though, she only threw one tree at a time because she wasn't able to throw further than the farthest tree she threw, so she had to keep running laps.
Sakura was tired. She was certainly dead tired of running around the training field…She lost count of how many times she'd been around the stupid area. Too many, she thought. Looking up at the sun, she could tell that it was almost noon. She glared up at it, trying to will time to go faster.
Ugh, what else is she going to have me do? Sakura let out an exasperated breath and picked up yet another tree. She threw it with all her might, but it still didn't cut it distance wise. She felt her heart drop when the tree landed on top of the farthest tree and rolled off of it in her direction.
Damn it all.
Tsunade looked at her apprentice and then up at the sky. It was close enough to noon.
"That's enough, Sakura. You can rest for a little bit."
Sakura didn't need to be told twice. She immediately fell to the ground and breathed heavily for a few minutes. She then rolled over and looked at the two Uchihas. Sasuke was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest, and Itachi was sitting about five feet away on the grass. She could see that both of their eyes were slightly wider.
"Ha! I told you…that you would see…what I meant by…hard training!" she had to speak between gasps of breath.
Itachi scoffed and shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Sakura gaped at him in disbelief. "Then what the heck were you…watching over there? The grass grow!?"
Sasuke smirked at her reply. Sakura had come up with some witty comebacks since he'd been away. He liked this new addition; it was very amusing.
Itachi stood up and walked over to Sakura. She remained in her position on the ground when he came up right next to her. He sat down and looked at the trees she had uprooted and thrown. He had to admit that it was a very impressive display, but he wanted to play with her a bit. It was fun getting her all riled up.
"The grass is more interesting," he said and gave a sly smile. He picked up a blade of grass and twirled it in his fingers.
Sakura sat up and glared at him. "Then I want to see you throw a tree - A TREE - and see how far it goes!"
Itachi kept the smirk on his face as he said, "I would, but anyone can throw a tree." Yeah, right. "Did you know it takes true talent to throw a single blade of grass?"
Sakura stared at him dumbly. Was he serious? "You're comparing a tree to a piece of grass?" she asked him slowly.
He nodded his head and looked at the blade of grass in his hand.
Suddenly, Sakura grabbed the blade of grass from his palm and threw it.
Itachi wanted to laugh when Sakura threw the grass and the blade went backwards.
There was silence as Sakura looked at the grass on the ground. She couldn't believe it!
Itachi grabbed another piece of grass and twirled it once more. "Like I said, true talent." He was practically laughing his head off on the inside. Sakura's cheeks were now a deep shade of pink.
"Must've been the wind," she tried to reason.
A smirk remained on Itachi's face. "Yeah, must've been."
"You know what?" Sakura yelled out and took fistfuls of grass and threw it at Itachi in continuous waves. He managed to dodge every single one, which made Sakura cry out in frustration.
"This isn't your strong suit," he sighed and smirked when she just kept throwing grass piles at him.
Tsunade watched her apprentice and shook her head. The whole thing really was funny. Even she knew Itachi had been trying to yank Sakura's chain in order to get a reaction out of her. Sakura's stubbornness was really starting to become her biggest weakness.
"Enough! Back to training!"
Sakura groaned and stood up. She walked over to where Tsunade was and stood attentively to hear the rest of her training. A blush was still present on her face, though.
Tsunade pointed at the uprooted trees. "I want you to put them back."
Sakura looked at the trees and then gave her shishou a look of confusion.
Tsunade sighed. "I don't want a bunch of holes in one of my training fields, so I want you to put the trees back where they came from," she stated calmly.
Sakura wanted to groan, but instead simply said, "Yes." It was one thing to take a tree out of the ground, but to put it back? She would have to stand it straight up and pound the earth around it back in. Easier said than done.
Once Sakura found her rhythm, she was putting full grown trees back into the ground pretty quickly. It was still a struggle, but she did her best. It took four hours to put all the trees back and make everything look almost as it used to.
When the last tree was done, she sat back on the ground. Her arms ached and she didn't want to move a single muscle.
This time it was Sasuke who came over. He smirked down at her.
She mentally groaned. Oh great! What now? Is he going to tell me that breathing is harder than moving trees?
"Good job."
Wait…what?
Sakura stared up at Sasuke in surprise. Had he just…complimented her?
Sakura pinched her arm to see if this was a dream. Ouch. Nope, not a dream.
She looked back at Sasuke. His arm was outstretched towards her. He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to take his hand.
Sakura took it slowly and when she did a spark ran up his arm. He still didn't understand why that happened every time they touched. It felt good, but then again he wanted it to stop because he's never felt anything like it before.
He pulled her up and instantly let go of her hand. Sakura frowned at that. Was she so repulsive to him? But then why did he offer to help her up in the first place?
"Thanks," she said still a little dazed.
"Hn."
Tsunade made her way over to them. "That's enough for now, Sakura. Go get some rest, you worked hard today."
Sakura nodded and watched as Tsunade began walking towards the Hokage's Tower.
"Let's go," she said to the Uchihas. "I don't think my legs are going to last much longer."
XXX
They were walking down the street (A bit slower than normal due to a certain exhausted pink-haired medic) when Naruto ran up to them.
"Hey, guys! Wanna get some ramen with me?" Naruto didn't wait for an answer. Instead he grabbed Sakura by the arm and started to drag her in the direction of Ichiraku's.
Sasuke watched the girl look back at them with desperation in her eyes. He sighed and said, "Come on" to Itachi.
Itachi was confused by what happened. Why was Naruto dragging Sakura to get something as simple as ramen? He would understand if he had just asked, but no, he was dragging her. He followed his brother as they walked in the wake of Naruto and a very sad looking Sakura.
They made it to the ramen stand and Naruto put Sakura on one of the stools. Sasuke sat next to Sakura, making the seat on other side of Naruto the only one that Itachi could sit on.
Naruto happily ordered his ramen, Sakura reluctantly ordered hers, and Sasuke and Itachi both didn't order anything.
As time passed Itachi stared in horror at Naruto's rising tower of bowls. Never in his life had he seen someone devour anything the way Naruto devoured ramen. He was almost like a vacuum cleaner the way he emptied bowl after bowl.
Sakura and Sasuke just watched, wondering when they could leave. They've both seen this before and knew that it wasn't even close to being over.
Sakura then saw their chance when Naruto started on his 14th bowl. He had just put the ramen into his mouth.
She said, "Well, Naruto, we need to get going so I'll see you tomorrow! Okay, bye!" She quickly got up, grabbed Itachi, because he wouldn't have known to leave in a rush, and booked it out of there. Sasuke was slightly ahead of them as they briskly walked away.
Itachi looked back at the ramen stand in disbelief. "How is that possible?" He didn't know what else to say.
Sakura let go of his upper arm and said, "If you want to keep the money in your pockets, never let him leave before you do."
Sasuke could only nod his head in agreement. It was some of the best advice he's ever heard. He knew from experience.
XXX
The Uchiha compound was deadly quiet. No crickets chirped and the wind didn't blow at all. Sakura felt a shiver run up her spine and goose bumps trailed her arms. It wasn't that she was cold, it was that she felt a little creeped out.
She looked around at the buildings as they passed them. She had the eerie feeling that someone would be waiting around a corner to jump out at them.
It was all very unnerving.
Sasuke noticed that Sakura's shoulders had stiffened and her eyes were searching the area very carefully.
He wanted to tell her to not worry, but he felt strange saying that around his brother. He figured that Sakura was thinking about the Uchiha massacre, after all that's what he'd been thinking about. Itachi must've been thinking about it, too. It was kind of hard not to.
Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets and decided not to say anything. He didn't know how much of a comfort he would be anyway.
Itachi kept his gaze straight. He feared that if his eyes strayed from the path, more awful memories would be flooding his mind than there was already. This night felt so similar to the night he killed his clan.
It scared him.
He hated what he'd done, but he didn't regret it. He knew that if given the choice again, the outcome would be the same. That's what he hated the most: How he had been backed into a wall and forced to choose between his family and the village.
He hated it.
XXX
Sakura tossed and turned in her bed again that night. Geez, am I ever going to get a good night's sleep in this place?
She sat up and looked out the window. The breeze was back and the trees outside swayed gently. She sat there, slightly mesmerized by the trees' motions.
A sudden sound brought her out of her stupor. It was a loud thud that sounded like it came from the room next to hers.
Sasuke.
Sakura quickly got out of her bed and made her way to Sasuke's door. She hesitated once she was there, her hand barely touching the boundary between her and Sasuke.
What if he doesn't want me barging into his room? Will he get mad at me?
She heard the thudding sound once again and finally decided to open his door. What if he's hurt?
When Sakura opened the door, she hadn't expected Sasuke to be sitting up in bed and throwing kunais at his wall. He didn't look at her as she entered his room.
She slowly shut the door and made her way over to him.
He stopped throwing the kunai and instead just stared at it. Sakura wasn't sure what to do. He'd never really acted this way before. Was the Uchiha compound messing with his mind this much? If it was that unhealthy for him, then he should have said something to her about it. She would listen.
She would always listen.
"Sasuke? What's wrong?" She was still inching her way towards him. Even though she trusted Sasuke, the kunai in his hand made her a little uneasy.
Sasuke's eyes slid over her figure as he put the kunai down on the table next to his bed. He turned his attention back to her, sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.
The two waited in silence, almost long enough for Sakura to get used to it. She was startled when his voice cut through the air.
"I hate this place."
Sakura's eyes widened. "Why didn't you object to living here then?"
Sasuke turned his face away from her and slightly glared at the wall.
When he didn't say anything for a minute Sakura sighed and sat down on the end of his bed. "You and your stubborn Uchiha blood. It wouldn't kill you to say what's on your mind every once in a while."
Sasuke stared down at his clenched hands. He didn't know how to respond. He had been used to being quiet after all these years; It was just who he was. But something about Sakura made him want to talk more. He didn't understand why he felt this way. When they were younger, he never felt obligated to tell her anything.
"…I don't like this place. I want to leave it." His voice was a harsh whisper.
Sakura smiled at Sasuke. He was slowly starting to open up to her. It was a small step, but she knew that there would be more to come. Somehow she just knew.
Her eyes grew soft as she placed her hand on top of his clenched ones. "Then we can go. I promise."
Sasuke stared into her soft, jade eyes. He knew that she was telling the truth.
She would get him out of there.
So there was chapter 7 of HWA!
RxR! :)
