Review:
One thing in particular was well hidden. Finding it, she picked it up. It was a silver ring, one she usually wore, but she had taken it off before work that morning. It was a simple silver ring, it was pretty thick banded, and in the front was a big H. Branching from the H was several vines and leaves. This was the Haruno ring. One her parents had given her after she completed the Jounin exams. Symbolizing her as changing to an adult.
She stared at the ring for a bit more, before shaking her head. Slipping the ring on her right hand ring finger. Turning the lights off, she left her room then. Ready to go.
Continued on
Not getting too far before her inner decided to bother her again. Sakura sighed, and paused at the top of the stairs.
Inner Sakura: Go to your parents house, and go into your parents room. Once you go there go into your parents closet. Go to the back of the closet, and look in the corner. There is a small door. Open it, and take the box with your name.
Sakura: Why?
Inner Sakura: You will need it.
Sakura: That's not very helpful
When Sakura got downstairs she found herself looking to see what Sasuke was wearing. Sasuke was wearing a black t-shirt, with black ninja shorts, and black ninja shoes. He had his ninja gear including his silver katana.
Sasuke was also looking at her outfit, while inwardly smirking at the fact that she was looking at his as well. "Nice outfit."
Sakura rolled her eyes, hearing the tease in his voice without him having to do much. "Thanks, I always have been hoping to have you as my fashion consultant." Her tone was sarcastic, but at the same time showed her amusement. Her eyes moved then to look to the rest of team Hebi. "Anyway Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo you will be staying here. Let me warn you that anbu are stationed around this house. This will only be temporary until I or part of my team return. You will not be able to leave the house without being noticed. Sasuke and I have a mission. I know I said that Sasuke wouldn't be leaving the village, but this is an emergency." Sakura walked to the door with Sasuke trailing behind her. "Behave!" She called out to the others before the left.
Once outside Sakura was surprised to see Sai on the porch. "Sai? What are you doing here?"
Sai, with his hands in his pockets, seemed to be ready to go somewhere. "Your distress can be felt from miles away. I'm here to save the day."
The way Sai said that made Sakura realize he must have quoted that from a book somewhere. Although it did sort of fit the situation, so she could at least give him props for that. "No seriously. How did yo-"
"I saw your hawk depart from Tsunade's office," Sai interrupted. "I was-how you say-curious. I went up to Tsunade's office asked her what she needed to contact you by bird for. She explained I was about to find out anyway. But, we have a mission. I was supposed to go find the rest of our team, but I wanted to stop by here first. To see if you were okay."
Sasuke noticed Sakura staring at Sai with wide eyes after he said all that. To which it only made himself smirk. She's probably freaked out by hi- His thoughts were stopped when Sakura suddenly moved forward and hugged Sai.
"You drive me up the walls Sai, but you're always there for me," Sakura said, before stepping back. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. After you find the rest of our team, I need you to find the members of Team Gai as well." Sai nodded, and disappeared. Sakura just turned to look at Sasuke. "Okay Sasuke I guess we are going to go get everyone else. We can go find team ten."
They began to walk through the village Sakura was playing with her hair nervously.
"Sakura what did the scroll say exactly?" Sasuke asked, after watching her nervous habit for a couple minutes.
"Well it said that my parents requested back up on a mission. That's it, but that's what is worrying me. The mission they went on was an easy b rank. They should have easily gotten through that."
"Don't worry about it Sakura," said Sasuke, and without thinking he rested a hand on his shoulder. Surprising himself at the action, but he didn't regret it.
When she felt his hand on her shoulder, Sakura smiled with her head turned away from him. Purposely not to show him the smile. "We really need to hurry and find team Ten."
"Where would they be right now?" Sasuke asked, dropping his hand from his shoulder.
"Well I am guessing Shikamaru is probably somewhere cloud watching. Since Choji is his best friend he is probably with him. As for Asuma and Ino I'm not sure." Sakura and Sasuke hopped onto the roofs, and headed to the grassy fields of Konoha. Sakura was correct Shikamaru and Choji were there. And when Sasuke and Sakura stopped in front of the two, they didn't seem all that surprised to see them both there. "Hey we have a mission. You two need to find Asuma and Ino. We are not sure how long we will be gone so be prepared. Meet at the hokage's office."
"Alright, be there in thirty," Shikamaru said, clearly not getting up anytime soon.
Sakura only leaned her head so it blocked the view of the sky from him. "Be there in ten or I'll start breaking your toes off one by one."
"Okay, okay." Shikamaru said, standing up. Grumbling about troublesome woman.
"Team Eight will be at the training fields right now." Sakura and Sasuke jumped away heading for the training fields. Once they got there Shino and Kiba were sparring, Hinata was watching with Kurenai, healing a few of her own bruises, hinting she had already had her sparring time.
When they walked closer Kurenai and Hinata came closer to them. "What brings you here Sakura? Sasuke?" The way Kurenai said Sasuke's name hinted slight discomfort, but obvious attempt at trying to act normal around seeing him here again. That's how most people had been acting lately.
"Kurenai, could you get Shino and Kiba to come over here." Sasuke told her, having noticed the odd tone Kurenai used, but had gotten used to hearing it from most people. So it didn't bother him.
Meanwhile, Sakura had pulled Hinata over to the side, and had began to whisper to her.
Kurenai had nodded to Sasuke, and called her two male students over.
Once they were over, Hinata had began running off, already knowing what to do. Sakura came back over. "I already told Hinata about it," she said to the rest of Team Eight. "We have a mission. We are unsure of how long we will be gone so pack carefully. When your done report to the Hokage's office."
Team Eight nodded, and they disappeared. Sakura and Sasuke began to run to the Hokage's office then. "What did you talk to Hinata about?" Sasuke asked, having to push off the ground hard to jump to the rooftops after Sakura had just all of a sudden jumped up there without giving him warning.
She didn't say anything for a moment, before sighing. "What are you talking about? I told her about the mission. I said that earlier," she said, just as the reached the last building that was nearest to the Hokage's office. She took the jump easily to get off the building. Landing in a crouched position to keep from jolting her knee's. As she stood up, Sasuke jumped down beside her.
"Sakura, I am not stupid. If you were going to tell her about the mission, you would have waited for the rest of the team to come over," he said, frowning at her. "You're hiding something." They began to walk up the stairs to the office.
"I asked her to get some stuff from my parents house for me," Sakura admitted quickly before they entered the Hokage's building, then entered her office only a few seconds later. Surprised to see that the rest of Team seven was already there and ready. Including Naruto.
"Hey, I thought you guys would be the last people here." Sakura told them as she and Sasuke came closer.
"Why is that Sakura?" Yamato asked, humor in his voice.
Sakura smirked, her expression made it seem like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Kakashi is always late, Naruto takes forever to get ready, Sai usually starts a fight with Naruto, and you usually have to break it up. That usually takes up a while. I thought I'd probably have to go find you guys."
"Sakura, why don't you believe in me?" Naruto asked, his childish side poking out with a pout on his lips.
Sakura waved him off, and rolled her eyes. Settling on leaning against the wall in-between Yamato and Sasuke. "So where is Tsunade?"
"Tsunade should be coming in here in a few minutes." A voice said from the door. Team Seven looked to the door to see Team Gai coming in. The speaker was Neji.
"We passed by her on the way here. She had to run to the hospital real quick." Tenten explained, more to Sakura than to the others.
A few minutes of silence passed by, before Team ten walked in. Ino's eyes found Sakura almost immediately.
"Saki do you know why Tsunade summoned all of us?" Ino asked, having felt slightly annoyed at the idea of another mission. Her team literally just came back from a mission late last night.
Sakura shook her head, seeing the annoyance on Ino's face, but chose to ignore questioning it. "The only thing she told me was that we are back up for a b-rank mission," she replied to Ino, before moving away from her team then. She crossed her arms, and moved towards the windows that covered the wall behind Tsunade's desk. Almost immediately she frowned, and got a worried look.
Everyone seemed confused by her answer. All of them? For back up on a b-rank? "Her parents had requested back up on a b-rank mission. Sakura is worried about them." Sasuke explained to the others, his eyes still on Sakura.
Sakura heard what Sasuke said, but she chose to pretend she didn't. Instead she focused her gaze to see Tsunade approaching the stairs. "Tsunade is coming," she announced plainly.
A minute later Tsunade walked in. "Sorry I had to get something from the hospital." Tsunade walked over to her desk, easily maneuvering her way around Sakura who stood by the window still, and sat down at her desk. Dropping the bag she had been carrying on top of it. "So we are waiting on Team Eight?"
Team Eight came in at that moment. "Sorry, we're here," Kurenai apologized.
"My fault," Hinata said, her eyes on Sakura.
"Alright so I will explain the mission," Tsunade said, intertwining her hands together, and resting them on her desk. "Sakura's parents had requested back up. It was a simple b-rank. Someone had been following them the whole time they were doing the mission. They think that the ninja's will attack on their way back to the Leaf. So you will be going to meet up with them." Tsunade picked up the bag on her desk, and threw it to Sakura. Who hadn't been looking when she had thrown it, but caught it easily anyways. "Sakura you know what it's for."
"Thank you Shishou," Sakura said, taking off her bag, to put the small medical bag into her own bag. The medicine will help if the team gets poisoned or sick.
Tsunade reached in her desk, and pulled out a scroll. "At the moment I am appointing Sakura as team leader. It is her parents after all. Shikamaru and Neji I want you to help Sakura out," she paused when she saw Sakura's angry look. "Sakura, don't look at me like that. I trust you yes, but I want to have them help with decisions." Sakura scowled, and Tsunade frowned. "Don't make me say it Sakura." Sakura ignored her, and continued looking angry. Tsunade sighed. "Sakura, you get controlled by your emotions to easily when it comes to people you know. Why do you think I never let you be one hundred percent in charge when treating someone you know in the hospital? Since it is your parents I want Neji and Shikamaru to help you understand from other point of views."
"I understand lady Tsunade," Sakura said through gritted teeth. Forcing herself to agree to Tsunade, because she knew it wouldn't get them anywhere if she kept arguing. She held her hand out.
Tsunade handed Sakura the scroll, despite clearly seeing Sakura was still angry. Sakura was going to open it, but Tsunade stopped her. "The scroll is the one your parents sent. You will read it first on your own time. Then do as you please with it." Tsunade told her. Sakura put the scroll in her bag, before Tsunade would continue. "You will be heading towards the Land of Lighting. A day or two after today you should start to be able to pick up their chakra signals as soon as you get that far." Tsunade signaled them to leave, and with that they left.
Once outside they began to walk to the gates. Sakura was in front thinking, separating herself from the others on purpose. It wasn't till they were passing Ichiraku's before Kakashi came up beside her.
At first Kakashi said nothing, he just kept up with her stride. His book out in front of him, his eye seeming to be focused on it's pages. But, if Sakura had happened to look over at him, she would have known the book was only a distraction, his visible eye was on her. Curiosity towards his female students recent angry attitude got the best of him. "How are you doing?"
Sakura looked at him finally, seeing his eye was focused down at his book. She could of swore he had been looking at her a few seconds ago. "I am doing okay. I just hope everything will be alright."
"There is no use in worrying." Kakashi told her, having known her long enough to know that it was her special ability to worry about everyone over herself.
Closing her eyes, Sakura sighed heavily. "I know," she said, rubbing her forehead where her headache had slowly began to disappear up until she was back in Tsunade's office. Now it was back full force. "I can't help myself. They are my parents after all." She opened her eyes again, and looked to him. "There is something I need to talk with you and Yamato about. Sooner rather than later. It is important."
"Alright we can stop at the gate of the village," Kakashi said, his eyes going back to his book. Actually paying attention to it then.
Sakura nodded once, although she knew he was no longer paying attention. The group walked in silence till they got to the gate. Sakura stopped, and turned to face the large group. "Alright we are going to stop at the gate for a moment. If there is anything you forgot at home. Go get it. If not just wait here." She looked to Hinata, looking her dead in the eyes. "Make sure no one follows us," she whispered to Hinata so the others wouldn't hear. Then she walked into the forest to the left of the outside wall. Kakashi and Yamato followed her.
"Why is Kakashi sensei and Yamato sensei following her?" Naruto asked, noticing almost as soon as they started walking away.
"Maybe she needs to ask them about the mission privately Naruto," Ino tried, although her constant need to be nosy was stronger than Naruto's. She wanted to know what they were doing just as much as he did.
"Why would she do that? Wouldn't she ask Neji and Shikamaru?" Kiba asked aloud, he had been throwing a stick for Akamaru to go retrieve. He was already bored, and the mission hadn't even started.
"It is probably something unrelated to the mission," Hinata said, interrupting Naruto who looked like he was going to say something again. She noticed Sai was going to say something too. "Instead of questioning it? Just wait until she tells you about it. If she chooses too."
That quieted pretty much everyone up. Sighing, Hinata walked over to Ino and Tenten then. Going to talk.
The rest of the guys just lounged around. The sensei's just stood by.
To Sakura, Yamato, and Kakashi
"I think this is far enough," Sakura stated, stopping nearly seventy-five feet away from the gate.
"What did you need to share with us Sakura?" Kakashi asked, his book put away. He had informed Yamato that Sakura had wanted to talk to them before they had got to the gate.
"I need to show you something," Sakura said, before she turned away from them, and dropped her bag to the ground. Pulling off her vest next, she moved hair so it was over her left shoulder. With her just having a tube top on, the mark was revealed. She heard both of them come a little closer, to try and see it better. "I have no idea what it means. I found it there around three days ago."
"It's a symbol, but I am not sure." Yamato said, having seen many symbols in his life. But, this one was strange.
"I believe I have seen it before," Kakashi said, already seeing Sakura's shoulders tense up with hearing that. "When I was a young teenager my grandfather used to tell me stories. One's about previous missions he's been on. He told me one about a mission my great grandfather had been on. My grandfather had drawn the same symbol on an old scroll, as he had been telling the story."
"What happened on the mission?" Sakura asked, turning to look at Kakashi.
"I will tell you as we travel. We don't have enough time now," Kakashi said, his eyes going back in the direction they had come, before looking back at Sakura.
"We should seal it," Yamato said. "Just incase. We don't know if it'll do anything."
Sakura nodded, and turned back away from them. She knelt on the ground. Knowing they'd do the sealing.
Kakashi nodded to Yamato before stepping towards his students. Already doing hand signs.
Over to the group
They were lounging around and they were waiting for Sakura, Kakashi, and Yamato still. They had only been waiting for five minutes when Sakura's yell could be heard clearly. Almost immediately everyone jumped up.
"Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed, feeling something wrong in the pit of his stomach.
"We should go see if she's alright," Kiba said, seeing Akamaru was alert as well. His eyes could see that the others had agreed to going to see what was up. However no one could go very far until they were interrupted.
"That's not a good idea," Hinata said, suddenly standing in front of both Kiba and Naruto. Arms crossed, trying to keep her strong self standing. Times where it came to confrontation she still felt her timid side lurking around, waiting to come out. But, she didn't want to be that timid girl anymore, she had to remain strong.
"Hinata are you crazy? What if they got attacked?" Ino asked, looking at Hinata like she were alien.
Hinata just shook here head, her eyes still on her teammate and Naruto. "It doesn't matter just stay here."
"No way in hell!" Naruto yelled, not really at Hinata, just out loud in general. "She's my teammate I can't just stay here."
"Well if you follow her, I can't promise she won't punch you into the ground. She doesn't want to be followed." Hinata told Naruto, her arms still crossed, she frowned at him.
Naruto backed up, and nodded. The image of Sakura pounding him in the ground didn't settle well. "Okay."
A minute of silence later, Kakashi and Yamato appeared. Yamato holding Sakura's bag, while Kakashi held Sakura in his arms. Sakura had a pained expression on her face.
Ino was over there faster than anyone else. "Oh my god! Sakura what happened?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes at Kakashi and Yamato. "Nothing happened," Yamato answered for her. Kakashi just set her down, and she had reached for her bag from Yamato.
Feeling her shoulder ache, Sakura only knelt down, setting her bag by her feet. She began to open her bag to get something when she felt someone come up behind her. She heard movement and turned her head just in time to see a hand reaching towards her shoulder. Instantly without thinking she grabbed the person's hand, flipped them through the air, and had them on their back with that hand being held behind them. It was Naruto.
"Sakura, what are you doing?" Naruto asked, panicked expression all over his face.
Having not realized it was Naruto, Sakura tried her best to play it off. "Naruto, I swear, if you don't stop hovering over me, I will break you," she threatened, releasing him then.
Only to have Naruto practically scramble up, and hide behind Kakashi sensei. "Sensei, Sakura's being unfair!"
"You were hovering Naruto," Kakashi said, although his eyes were now down at the book he had taken out. So he didn't noticed the expression Naruto held at the fact that he noticed too.
After taking a few deep breaths Sakura began to talk, moving back to her bag as she did. "Alright this how it's going to go," she said as she got out a scroll, and began to draw a plan. "Think of it as a kickball field. On first base will be Team Eight. Second would be Team Ten. Third would be Team Gai. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sai will be where the pitchers mound is. Myself, Kakashi, and Yamato will be home plate in the front."
"Alright when did you have time to plan that?" Sai asked.
"It just came to me now," Sakura replied as she stood up, and turned to Hinata. Without saying a word to anyone, Sakura took her bag, and walked over to the Hyuga girl.
Hinata already had turned so they could walk a little bit away. Reaching into her own bag, she pulled out a smaller bag. "I think this it. It was marked S H so I assumed that was you were looking for."
Sakura reached in the bag, and pulled out a wooden box. It was dark mahogany wood, and had a seal on it so you would have to know the reverse to open it. "Yeah I think this is it," she said, putting the box back in the bag, then slung the bag onto her back next to her pack. I'll put it away into a scroll later when we take a break. "Thanks," she whispered softly to Hinata, before turning towards the group. "Alright lets go."
She began walking, along with most of the group, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned, and saw Sasuke. "What is it?"
"Are you sure your okay?" He asked, his onyx eyes were looking straight into her own.
"Never better," Sakura replied with fake cheeriness, knowing it was believable sounding. She could tell his eyes were on her to judge to see if she was lying. Just like the morning at her parents house, when he cornered her in the kitchen.
They hopped up in the trees, and began to head towards the Land of Lighting. Sakura hadn't been focused on things outside of her head, as her inner was her first priority to talk to.
Sakura: Hinata got the box for me. Why do I need it?
Saku inner: You won't need it yet. You will know when to use it.
Sakura: What are you? A fortune teller?
Saku inner: I thought we had this conversation when you first found out you had an inner. I can tell the future.
Sakura: Whatever. I don't care if you can tell the future it's annoying.
Half hour later
Sakura hopped to a different branch as she turned her head to Kakashi. "Can you tell me now?"
"Sure," Kakashi and Yamato jumped up to where Sakura was so they were closer to her.
"My great grandfather Hatori was sent on an A-rank mission to go, and give a document to the lords of a small village located between the land of fire, village hidden in the grass, and the village hidden in the waterfall. The village name was unknown at the time. On his way there he saw these bandits had kidnapped a priestess from the village. He fought and saved her. Once Hatori killed the bandits he was going to escort the priestess back to the village," Kakashi paused. Jumping out of the way from a broken branch.
Which by the time Naruto came up to it he didn't notice it was broken and fell. Causing laughter to be heard from the other teams.
"Good job idiot," Sasuke told him. Naruto just jumped back up, and he and Sasuke started arguing.
Sakura, Kakashi, and Yamato jumped back up to where they were supposed to be. To give space in-between them and the rest of their team.
"Anyway Hatori figured out the priestess mainly spoke a different language. When he told her that he didn't understand her, she began speaking in his language. The priestess told him that she could speak all kinds of languages. As they began to travel the priestess told Hatori that her name was Kimiko meaning beautiful history child. Hatori and Kimiko conversed with each over the village she lived in. Kimiko said it was the Village of Espiritus Santos meaning village of holy spirits. Which was true, the village was god like. When they were about to go separate ways inside the village, Hatori saw a mark on her shoulder it looked exactly like the one on Sakura's shoulder. A star with the marks of the five elements at each point," Kakashi finished looking at Sakura.
Yamato was the one to say something first. "Why would the mark be on Sakura? It sounds like the mark would be something they were born with."
Shrugging his shoulders, Kakashi looked forward again. "I'm not sure, all I know is the story."
"So what do you think this could mean? Did the priestess explain? What did she look like?" Sakura asked, curious to know more.
"The priestess said she couldn't explain. It was forbidden to talk about to those outside the village. As for what she looked like. My grandfather didn't remember. His dad had told him the story so long ago." Kakashi explained, already seeing the irritated look cross his student's face.
"Great! So now I am going to be wondering about why I have a forbidden mark on my back," Sakura snapped at no one in particular, really her anger was directed at the world at this point.
"Don't worry about it Sakura, I'm sure it's not that bad," Kakashi said, trying to make her feel a little better before he and Yamato jumped back to where they were before. (Halfway between home base, and the pitchers mound.)
Sakura sighed, and talked to her inner.
Sakura: Did you know about this?
Saku Inner: … Sort of...
Saku: Gee, thanks for telling me! Glad to know that I can trust you to tell me stuff!
Sakura just jumped onto another thick branch, and it broke when she jumped off. Slapping a hand to her forehead, Sakura groaned annoyed. Why must I be so destructive when I'm mad. She looked up at the sky. We left the village at four, and looking at the sky it should be about five to six-ish. Okay so we will travel for about another hour before we stop to camp.
Hour later
"We are stopping here," Sakura raised her voice a bit to make sure everyone could here. She jumped down to inspect the area she decided they should camp at. It was a small field with tree's surrounding it. She heard a river not too far away. So that took care of water and dinner. The rest of the team jumped down behind her.
"We will stay here for the night," Sakura told them, already anticipating who would complain.
"But it's only around seven thirty," Naruto complained almost immediately, as he approached Sakura.
"I know, but we are going to be traveling all day tomorrow. So we will restore energy now. As for sleeping arrangements. You can choose to sleep in a tent, sleeping bag, or whatever else. Team Gai you will be responsible for searching the area around here, and making sure no one is around. Team Eight you will be in charge of starting the fire, and gathering fire wood. Team Ten will be split between each group. Shikamaru and Asuma will be going to help search. Choji and Ino will be helping gather fire wood. Team Seven will be in charge of catching dinner." Sakura finished, and the rest of the teams disappeared leaving her team in the clearing. "Let's go," she said, before leading them towards the river.
"Sakura what's up you seem different." Sai asked, taking a few bigger strides so he was walking beside Sakura.
"Nothing I just am stressed about the mission," Sakura replied, before they stopped at the river. She made three shadow clones. "It will be easier so none of us have to get wet." The shadow clones walked on the water waiting for orders. "Alright get your kunai ready. When my clones punch the water target the fish." They did just that, and repeated it two times. Ending up with twenty something fish.
After dinner
The girls gathered together, and went to go bathe in the river. Once in the river they relaxed.
"So Saki, what's with the weird tattoo thingy on your back?" Ino had asked, almost as soon as they got into the river.
Sakura only stared wide eyed at Ino. I thought I hid that well when I got into the water. Of course only Ino could see anything like that. Shaking her head a bit, Sakura told them how the mark had appeared.
"Well maybe it's not a weird mark," Ino suggested. "You could have been really drunk, and got a tattoo."
This made Tenten roll her eyes. "Yeah, Sakura got completely drunk in the middle of her hospital shift, and got a tattoo while she was at work. That makes sense," she said sarcastically to Ino.
It was quiet as Ino glared at Tenten before sighing. "Fine then, what else could have been then? Why would the mark just show up?"
"I don't know," Sakura said, standing up to get out. Having had enough of the questioning, she knew it would just get worse if they kept at it. She heard the rest of the girls get out after her.
"Well don't worry about it Sakura. No use in worrying," Tenten said, as the girls dressed back into their ninja clothes.
"I know that. Anyway we should go back. It's getting late," Sakura said, only to have Hinata grab her arm to keep her back. Making Tenten and Ino stop.
Hinata only looked to the other two girls. "We'll catch up," she said to them, a smile on her face.
After Ino and Tenten left, Hinata frowned at Sakura. "The mark looks like there is a seal on it. The five claw mark," she paused, raising an eyebrow. "Out of all of us ninja's here there is only one of us who can do that."
Sakura sighed, glad her mark was full covered now, as she had changed into a t-shirt. "Yeah that's why I yelled earlier at the gate. Kakashi sealed it just incase. Until I figure it out I want to make sure it's not serious." She then told Hinata the story that Kakashi had told her while they were traveling.
"Well at least you know it's not just you who has it or has had it," Hinata said, not knowing if there was anyone else alive that had the mark, but she didn't exactly want to say that to Sakura. Knowing Sakura would probably freak out. "Let's go back, they're probably wondering."
The girls headed back to the clearing. The group had decided not to put up tents because it was hot. The sensei's were sleeping farther away. All the teams were sort of separated, but close enough to talk to one another. Sakura separated from Hinata, and walked to her team. Naruto and Sai were surprisingly talking, and not fighting. Sasuke was sitting a few feet back. Sakura's stuff was beside him. She went over beside him, and sat down. She reached in her bag, and got out her comb. After shifting her hair to one side she began to comb it to get out any tangles.
This was the first time Sasuke saw her hair without it being in a pony tail or over her shoulder. Her hair was long. "You want to go for a walk?" She had asked him all of a sudden.
Sasuke nodded, and they stood up. They began to walk into the forest heading towards the river. Once they crossed the river they just walked around.
"You have been acting different ever since we stopped to set up camp. Not even that. Since we left the village. Care to explain?" Sasuke asked while watching her. "You maybe able to lie to everyone else, but I've known Sakura."
"I will tell you as long as you promise not to tell anybody else," was Sakura's only reply. She knew Sasuke out of everyone had been onto her since they left the village.
Sasuke nodded, then Sakura told him about her mark, and what Kakashi said. "I am not exactly sure why I have it. My parents never said anything about it before. I know that they wouldn't have kept this from me."
"Well your family history doesn't really say anything about it either." Sasuke crossed his arms over his muscular chest.
"Yeah well I was going to ask my parents about it. I just want them to be alive when we get there though," Sakura lowered her voice to a whisper at the last part.
Sasuke stopped her from walking by resting a hand on her arm. "Sakura we will get there so don't worry about. You worry too much."
Sakura turned her head away to hide her face. When she spoke it was evident that she was upset. "Everyone's telling me not to worry. Which only makes me worry more. I don't know what I would do if we got there too late." Sakura choked up on the last part. Tears overcame her, and she began to cry softly. The next thing she knew Sasuke's arms were around her.
At first Sasuke's mind was split in two. One half asking what in the hell was he doing? Hugging Sakura? The other half was telling that half to shut up. He felt right doing what he was doing. After relaxing his questioning side, he made himself more comfortable, by resting his chin on the top of her head. "Sakura you don't need to cry."
Things have changed with Sasuke. When we ran into him at Orochimaru's base before. He was so cold, but now he is softer. I fell like he's completely different. Is this a good thing? I think so. Sakura just kept her head resting on his chest, instead of moving away like she had been about to do. Raising a hand she wiped some of her tears away. "Thank you, Sasuke."
A/N: Enjoy loves! :)
Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for new stories :)
