'...' - Eliza talking to Inner Sakura.
... - Inner Sakura speaking.
Omake:
In which...
Naruto and Sasuke finally has a bonding moment.
Kakashi learns that dango is not to be messed with.
And Sakura finds herself something new to worship.
Basically, you know not to take this seriously.
Warning: a pissed-off Sakura, and multiple POV shifts.
Sakura woke up a little later than she usually did, belly growling and craving something sweet. She brushed that thought aside as she pulled her long tresses into a high pony tail, twisting it into a bun. There was simply no time for ridiculous splurges. She was a ninja now, and that meant total concentration on her goal. Sakura gave a confident smile to herself in the mirror and bounded down the stairs.
0o0o0
Naruto scratched his head, walking out the door and closing it. Whistling merrily, he ran forwards and knocked into a pole. Oops. He hoped that no one saw him. Then they'd bad mouth him even more. He hated that.
Naruto quickly scrambled upwards, nearly tripping over his feet. No time to waste, he thought determinedly. Sakura-chan is probably waiting for him already! And teme too... He wondered what prank he should do to get back at him. Naruto gave a whooping laugh as he sprinted to the meeting spot, ideas whirling around his head.
0o0o0
Achoo. Sasuke covered his sudden sneeze. He blew his nose and sent a glower at a forgotten can near the trash. Did someone just mention him?
0o0o0
Sakura arrived after Sasuke, belly hardly full. The stale, dingy food bar had done nothing to help her feel any better. Which resulted in her feeling quite crabby, despite how refreshing the morning air was. She sat down, clutching her rumbling belly and slid her forehead protector down like a sleep mask.
It was early.
It was warm.
And she was tired. Sakura felt like she deserved some sleep, so sleep she did.
0o0o0
Naruto arrived soon afterwards, finding Sakura fast asleep and Sasuke coolly leaning on a tree. Naruto secretly felt indignant inside. Who does he think he is? Leaning on a tree... thinking he looks so cool... Immediately afterwards, he scolds himself for even letting those thoughts cross his head.
The teme was definitely not cool. At all. Nope, nope, nope. Naruto walked over and plopped down beside Sakura, who was snoring softly. She giggled disturbingly, a line of drool slipping past her mouth. Naruto felt his body start to instinctively move away, but he forced himself to say where he was. Sakura was his friend. So he shouldn't be acting this way.
That's right. No matter how... creepy. Or terrifying. Or unsett-
"Naruto?" He turned and saw Sakura rubbing her eyes sluggishly, pushing herself up from her awkward positioning.
"Y-yeah?" he stuttered, cringing at his mishap.
"You look pale. Did something happen?" Her green eyes looked at him expectantly while she adjusted her forehead protector, concern shining through. He automatically felt guilty.
"Nothing, Sakura-chan! I'm fine!" He beamed at her reassuringly. She nodded and slumped back down, accepting his answer. He felt relieved. Soon afterwards, his lazy ass teacher arrived, hand waving lazily. Irritation colored his features.
"Hello my cute little students." The man's eyes gleamed with amusement. Grr. Naruto wanted to punch his annoying face in, teacher or not.
"You're late!" he yelled. What kind of teacher was he? Being late to every meeting. He was obviously not taking them seriously! Naruto would show him someday!
"Maa, a little wait can do you no harm. There was a spider in the bathroom today, so I had to wait till it was gone." Liar, he wanted to scream. Like that could stop a jonin! But he refrained himself. He was a ninja now, and he would have to control his emotions. It was something that Sakura had off-handedly mention to him one day, and he wouldn't forget it.
Next to him, the girl in question didn't seem to be listening at all, eyes trained on something he couldn't see. Sasuke, on the other hand, was looking the other way, as if laying eyes on his teacher was a painful thing to do. Naruto reluctantly dragged his eyes back to the frustration in front of him. Since Sakura-chan wasn't going to be the one paying attention, he would have to do it! Then maybe she would like him even more... Lately, she had been smiling at him a whole lot. He didn't want to lose that.
"Alright, let's go to get our mission scrolls!" Kakashi exclaimed cheerfully, as if it were the most exciting thing to do in the world. He groaned. D-ranked missions... again? Urgh! He was so sick of them! Everyday, he had tried to do them as fast as he could to the best of his ability; but he always ended up being scolded! He was only trying to help.
0o0o0
They all moved like at a sloth's pace to the Hokage's office. Everyone seemed to be devoid of energy, even the usually cheerful Naruto himself. Sakura dutifully held open the door to the Hokage's office while everyone slouched in. She muttered darkly to herself before closing the door shut.
"...cleaning Ojima-san's backyard, painting Takeda-san's kitchen, or shop keeping at the local dango store near here?" the Hokage rasped. Sakura perked up almost immediately at the mention of dango, and an audible gurgle came from her stomach in agreement. The boys didn't notice.
"Shop keeping at the local dango store, please?" she begged, giving puppy eyes at everyone in the room. Sasuke grunted, Naruto bobbed his head, and Kakashi crinkled his eyes. It was decided. The dango shop it is.
0o0o0
"600 yen please." Sakura yawned as she counted the money. "Thank you very much." She handed the customer the stick of dango and longed for the chance to have her own piece of delicious goodness. The owner had promised that they could have as much dango as they'd like after the small store closed, so she was constantly looking at the clock and growing impatient.
"Sakura-chan? ...Sakura-chan!" She jerked back to reality.
"What is it Naruto?"
"Your shift is over." he replied, giving a closed-eyed smile.
"Aa. Is that so?" Sakura began to plod towards the kitchens sleepily, rubbing her bleary eyes and stumbling slightly. Finding a wall untouched by any flour, she moved a plastic chair next to it and sat on the smooth surface with an audible thud. Sighing contentedly, she pulled down her forehead protector over her eyes and let sleep overtake her once again.
0o0o0
Naruto tapped his feet against the wooden desk. It didn't seem like anymore customers were coming, so he made a decision and flipped the 'open' sign so it read 'closed'. He wasn't any good at math, so he would let either Sakura-chan or Sasuke calculate the money in sales once he gets back from grocery shopping.
Eh, the teme better do it. Sakura probably wasn't going to wake up anyway.
He stole a glance at the pile of dango that was left over from today's batch. It would hurt... to take just one right? He slid out the stool and curiously opened the wooden cover, plucking a ball of sweet dough from the fragrant pile. Opening his mouth, he dropped the ball in and chewed loudly.
S-so good!(it still couldn't be compared to his ramen though)The gooey dough stuck to his teeth and made him chew more than usual, but he didn't mind. All the flavors were really delicious, making him want more and more! Before he even realized what he was doing, he had reached out take another one, savoring the rich, red bean filling.
He felt guilty, but he couldn't stop. His hands just couldn't resist!
0o0o0
Sasuke shouldered the heavy grocery bag, glaring holes at the dirt ground and angry at his teacher. The least he could do was help. Reading those disgusting books of his and loitering at the 18+ store had wasted hours of their time. Originally, he had wanted to get to the dango store early, so he could have some of that tomato-filled dango, but he had ruined it.
The owner had said it was their newest non-sweet product too...
He glared harder, if that was even possible. The dobe's probably stuffing his face at this time. If they didn't get there soon, everything would be gone. He blanched and began to walk faster.
When the shop finally came into his sight, he chakra powered his arms and legs, dropping the bags with a thud in the shop.
Hn, as he suspected, the dobe was stuffing his face. He had luckily made it time before it was all gone. The tomato dango was still untouched. He felt himself relax slightly, straightening up and brushing off invisible dust.
Calmly walking over, he grabbed all of the tomato-filled ones on his washed plate, and quietly retreated to a corner. Kakashi followed suit, setting his book aside and grabbing random dango. Naruto continued stuffing his face.
No one remembered our dear Sakura.
0o0o0
Sakura slid her headband up sluggishly, standing up and stretching. Her bones popped satisfyingly as she made her way towards the counter, where all those lovely dango awaited her. A bright smile was plastered on her face and she felt as if nothing in the world could make her happier. Dango. Dango. Dango. Her stomach growled happily in response.
When she walked out of the door, she only noticed one thing. Her. Dango. Was. Missing. A low rumble started from her throat and grew into a full out growl. The three in the room froze. She slammed her fist on the table, and brushes clattered to the floor. Her bangs covered her eyes.
Then she surprised everyone by doing a complete 180. Sakura looked up, schooling her features into a pleasant smile and let her fingers loose.
"Now, who ate all the dango?" Her lips twitched slightly, and they knew that they were doomed. That, and her sickeningly sweet voice.
Naruto took a step back.
Sasuke paled.
And Kakashi hid his face behind a book.
They all pointed to the one another, but the sweet smell cloaking their bodies could lie to no one. She smiled wider, blood-lust clouding her eyes. "You better cough up some fuckin' dango, or I'll shove my hand down your throats to get that shit back. And in Kakashi's case, I think I'll give him special treatment. Your lovely books might just be ashes under my feet soon."
Kakashi prepared to body flicker away, but his attempts were fruitless. Naruto formed the hand signs to create his shadow clones, but alas, they would also prove unhelpful. And Sasuke's fire jutsu would only succeed in burning the place down at most. They really didn't stand a chance, and Sakura knew it.
Her eyes lit up further.
"You won't get aw~ay you mother fuckin' bitches." Sakura crossed the room in a split second, pulling out ninja wire and taking various chopsticks with her. Grabbing Kakashi's hands with her monstrous strength, she moved her hands in a blur, connecting the chopsticks and wire into a monstrous device. Finished, she stepped back and admired her handy work.
He would not be escaping any time soon. She chuckled.
Sakura then mechanically turned to face Naruto and Sasuke's fearful faces, with Naruto's fear being much more pronounced. Her eyes crinkled.
The Uchiha backed away until his back hit the wall, eyes flickering back to her and his hand signs. She smirked, any shred of pleasantness gone. Crack. C-crickick, crik. Crack. Sounds of cracking knuckles filled the room like a death mantra.
Naruto wailed and his clones wailed along with him, running to the door and trying to escape. But Sakura's carefully placed clone suddenly appeared out of the shadows, with the same smirk curling up her lips. "Not so fast boys. You still owe me that fucking dango." A lock materialized out of her hands and she clicked it shut. "You will never escape~!"
Sakura's clone tilted it's head creepily and waved goodbye before popping out of existence.
Never escape. Never escape. Never escape. The words echoed throughout the room, the lights dimming and flickering eerily. Sakura herself raked her nails on the table, clawing impatiently at the wood. "Since you can't seem to produce any dango, then I guess it's time for a little game of tag! With me being it, and you guys being my targets!"
That said, she pulled out several startlingly sharp kunai and began to take aim. "We don't have all day~!" They all shuddered, and Kakashi began flaring his chakra continously. Thunk. The kunai landed next to Sasuke's ear, cutting a lock of his raven-colored hair. "Run." Sakura whispered.
And they ran. Desperately.
0o0o0
The Hokage had sensed Kakashi's chakra flare. Did something happen? Did they get ambushed by rogue ninja? Thousands of situations ran throughout his mind. The team did have the Nine Tails and the last Uchiha after all. He pondered it to himself before calling a few anbu into his office, intending to send them there for extra protection.
"Hokage-sama." the anbu addressed politely and bowed. He nodded.
"Go to the Suzuki Dango Shop... Enemies may be near."
"Understood." they continued on monotonously.
"You are dismissed." The Hokage went back to his paperwork, hearing his anbu leave swiftly. He sighed, everything was so stressful these days.
Why did he take this job again?
0o0o0
"Sakura-chan! Please, no! No!"
"Sakura, I'm warning you. Another-" She ignored them all, blissfully throwing one kunai after another, purposely missing so she could see their panicked faces. Another fire jutsu was sent her way, but she bent into a bridge and dodged it. Sakura threw a pot of tea at the growing fire, successfully distinguishing it, and threw a few senbon so it grazed their cheeks.
"Ahahahaa!" she laughed hysterically, slapping her thighs.
The door rattled, and Sakura stopped laughing. She raised a fine pink eyebrow at the door, a smirk curling up her lips. Heh... The door was soon busted open and anbu spilled out. One had to bite back a laugh at the scene, but with one look from another anbu, shut them up. They had expected an easy win, seeing that she was only a genin.
They were soon proven wrong. It took all of their man power to actually subdue her and knock her out. Sasuke and Naruto slumped to the ground, sweat dripping down their foreheads. Kakashi had his ridiculous contraption taken off and all looked seemingly well. The anbu started to leave.
But then, Sakura's fingers started to twitch. Her eyes moved from under her eyelids and like that, they opened. She stood up, breaking easily the rope binding her hands. Sasuke and Naruto quickly scrambled up with what little weaponry they had left, ready to defend against the monstrous girl.
She muttered darkly, "You fuckers, I still don't have my dango!" A wave of killing intent spread across the room until-
"W-what exactly h-happened here?" A petite old lady stammered at the scene. Inner Sakura recognized her as the dango shop owner and promptly burst into tears.
"They ate it aaaallll!"
The old lady widened her eyes and immediately understood, since her brothers had also continuously ate all her dango. She suddenly sympathized with this strange, pink-haired young girl. Boys, always making a girl cry. "There, there." She bravely pushed passed the anbu and patted the crying girl's cheeks. With a flourish, she pulled out her leftover packet of dango and gave it to the sweet little girl who she had so much in common with. Dango was a right any human should have.
And no one should be able to take that away.
Sakura's demeanor shifted, and back was the cute little girl they had known. Her eyes brightened, her fists unclenched, and the demon within her retreated. "T-thank you so much, obaa-san!" She hugged the old lady with happy tears in her eyes, and proceeded to munch happily on her dango. Sweet flavors exploded in her mouth and she sighed in absolute bliss. Sakura guessed that she could forgive the boys after all.
0o0o0
And with that incident, they all learned an important lesson. Women were fucking scary.
...Sakura never did remember what had happened.
THE END.
0o0o0
Haha, I wanted to do an omake to show them doing an actual mission. Then some things happened and it turned into complete crack. Please note that Sakura's powers are greatly exaggerated and that the characters are OOC on purpose. The power boost was courtesy of Inner Sakura. I'll show more of that in later chapters.
This chapter was late I admit, but hey, it was longer!(kinda, still working on that) Later on, I might try the longer chapters and longer wait route. But if I can, I'll try to update as soon as possible. School is such a stress maker... Btw, do you guys like the new cover? I'm quite proud of it!(though I didn't create the picture, just edited it)
Reviews would really make my day! Thank you all you wonderful reviewers! :D