The ramen stand was preparing for their favorite customer. Ichiraku and his daughter always looked forward to Naruto's daily visits. Not to long afterwards, did the notorious knuckleheaded ninja take his usual seat, and started to dig in. It was the usual, nothing out of the norm, until someone greeted him.
"Good morning Naruto." Hinata greeted.
Naruto abruptly stopped, his scouring of his first bowl, and noted Hinata and Sakura stood over him.
"Hey." He said acknowledging them as a few noodles hung from his mouth.
Both girls took their seat expecting Naruto to continue his indulgence in his half eaten bowl. Sakura looked to Naruto and found his skin had flushed a bit, and his hands trembled as Hinata sat next to him pretending not to notice the young man's change in demeanor.
"Naruto." Sakura said. "Are you okay?"
Naruto's cheeks flamed a bit more. "Umm Y- Yeah." He stuttered.
Hinata turned back to the bowl of food that had been placed in front of her. Sakura laughed quietly to herself. 'No wonder Hinata wanted to have ramen for breakfast.' She turned back to Naruto who sat still, and not eating.
'Poor fellow, he has never let anyone keep him from his ramen before.' Sakura thought.
Naruto placed his chopsticks down, and paid his tab, much to the amazement of Sakura, and the disappointment of Ayeme and her father. However, before he could get up, Hinata reached her small fingers over Naruto's right cheek. She let them linger a brief moment, lightly brushing her finger tips over skin, before flicking a piece of chicken off his cheek.
Naruto felt the demon within him stir at the feminine touch. He looked to Hinata who was smiling at him seductively, while her misty eyes danced with mischief. Naruto shot out of his seat tripping over his own feet. "I gotta go." He said as he retreated.
Watching Naruto run toward the Hokage Tower Sakura playfully hit Hinata and the shoulder. "You're evil." Sakura told Hinata. "You got the poor boy running for the hills."
"Yeah ain't it cool" Hinata said leaving the bowl or ramen uneaten. "I plan to do something his enemies only dream of."
Sakura was taken back by the heiresses' boldness to the subject of her male best friend. "What's that?"
"I plan to be the one who's going to dominate and bend him fully to my will."
"Once upon a time, Naruto had you bent to his will, yet he wasn't observant. Come to think of it he's never been observant, especially when it came to the obvious."
"No defiantly not one of the brightest, but the most compassionate, unselfish, and flamboyant beings we know." Hinata mused.
"Yeah he is, and that scares me." Sakura began to think about the line of Hokages. They all lost their lives protecting the village. She knew one day Naruto could very well meet the very same fate. She never wanted to lose the only person she could depend on, besides Hinata.
Kakashi had been watching Sakura since dawn. He watched in amusement as Hinata ran Naruto off. Finally the two went their separate ways, and he followed Sakura as she now stood on the meeting bridge with sadden eyes that immediately turned to anger.
Sakura stood on the familiar red bridge. What should have been be her fondest memories, were actually her most hated ones. As she turned to leave she felt a very tangible aura behind her on the other side of the bridge. The chakra was all too familiar. 'Kakashi' she thought.
Kakashi wasn't one for small talk. Sakura had been avoiding him, and he wanted to know why. "You've been avoiding me Sakura."
"Have I?" feigning ignorance, to Kakashi's statement. She had been dreading this conversation, but knew it couldn't be avoided.
"So you know you've been avoiding me. Just tell me why?" She listened to his demanding tone, that would have frightened her as a 12 year old, but his voice no longer held any authority over her.
"Why ask why? She started. "I think you already know the answer to that, after all you're the genius here."
"Enlighten me."
"Kakashi what do you want from me?" Sakura asked trying not to let her anger get the best of her.
Narrowing his eye, he disappeared, and rematerialized in front of Sakura. "The truth."
"Fine you want the truth here it is." Sakura finally met Kakashi's eye. "You'll never know what's it like, never. What's it like to live so close to the spot light and never step in it." She paused for a bit to let the word sink in for Kakashi.
"Kyuubi container, and the last wielder of the Sharingan, and me a nobody. Naruto and Sasuke had pretty impressive abilities. How was I to compete for your attention, when I was up against those kinds of odds?" She asked gravely.
Kakashi now knew that Sakura, did notice his neglect towards her so called training.
"Didn't think I noticed did you?" Sakura asked as a cruel smirk graced her features. "Of course behind those sparkling eyes, and cheery attitude, how could you."
Sakura put her finger to the side of her head, and started tapping. "Ninjas must see through deception." She saw Kakashi didn't even flinch, at her declaration.
'Damn I hate Kakashi's passiveness.' She thought.
"What was it Kakashi, that I lacked? Perhaps an unhappy childhood? No Parents? An appendage between my legs?" She asked.
Taken back by the crude comment Kakashi tried to explain himself.
"Sakura it wasn't that, it-" Sakura interrupted Kakashi.
"You know I do take some responsibility, with my interest in Sasuke, other than that the blame rest on your shoulders."
"I know." He said folding his arms listening to Sakura bottled up feelings.
"You do." She said mocking the man. "Too bad you figured it out too late, or you already knew and just didn't give a damn."
"I would have been always there to protect you, if that's what you're getting at." Kakashi said defensively. He couldn't believe Sakura, could think that he'd want some misfortune to fall upon her.
"No Kakashi I believed you wanted to protect me, it's the one thing I never doubted. It was an unspoken rule between you guys, but did you ever think what if I was on my own? What if I was alone, with no one to protect me? Did you even bother to stop and think about that? She hissed. "No of course you didn't, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Sakura turned away from Kakashi, giving him a chance to counter her argument, but she knew he couldn't refute the truth. Sakura felt the weight of Kakashi's hands on her shoulders before she shrugged them off. His concern now was useless, to her.
Kakashi noticed Sakura's mood swings one moment she'd be angry another moment she'd look like she was on the verge of tears. Here he was demanding answers as to why she had been avoiding him, when he had avoided her for years.
"If you want to know how insignificant I was to the people around me, all you had to do was look around. Jiraiya, wanted to train Naruto. You and Orochimaru wanted to train Sasuke, even though Orochimaru had his own motives, he still wanted to train him. Then there's me, the one nobody wanted. You had no interest in training me, so unlike the guys I had to lay my pride aside and beg to be trained."
Kakashi continued to stand unmoving and passively as Sakura vented. Although it may seem that he didn't care what she was saying, but he was actually taking in every word, emotion and movement. He had never thought of some of the things she said until now. She was right, he abandoned her. The very first rule he taught them, was the one she was accusing him of breaking.
"You know what made me angry Kakashi?" Of course he didn't answer and only listened.
"Hinata's, Tenten's, and even Ino's team respect them, along with their sensei. Sure I didn't make to the third round of the exam, and Konoha was trying to recover from the Sand/Sound attack, but they kept up with their students. When I say their students, I mean all their students and not just the two who were the strongest."
Glaring hatefully at Kakashi she saw the shame in his eye. His detached attitude continued to diminish with the truth she lashed upon him.
"Its funny you know the student you admired most, who you poured all your efforts into was the one who stabbed you in the back." Sakura smirked at Kakashi. "Karmas a bitch isn't it."
'Who is this woman standing in front of me?' Kakashi asked himself. 'Surely this wasn't his Sakura. Who is she?' He asked again. 'Ibiki was right, this isn't the same girl. My naïve sweet Sakura was lost to the shuffling of the world, and never to be heard from again.'
Sakura was quiet for a moment, but when she glanced back at Kakashi her eyes expressed sadness, rather than anger now.
"How did you miss it Kakashi? How could you, and everyone else miss it? Huh."
Kakashi had lost his tongue, a while back. Yet, he didn't know exactly what she was talking about, but he knew it was important for Sakura to express herself, so he kept mum.
"After all the faith and unconditional support I gave you guys, all I ever wanted was the same love and unconditional support given back.
Jumping to a fake mood of happiness, she smiled. "But hey good news, Naruto and Sasuke are going to be okay. They are what's important to you right."
Kakashi swallowed the growing lump that had settled in his throat. "Sakura I admit I've made a lot of mistakes concerning all of you in the past, and I can't change that. All I can do is learn from it, and go from here. I want to help you. Tell me I haven't lost your faith and trust." He said finally finding his pleading voice. "I really want to help, you in training Sakura. Give me this chance to make this right between us."
"What is this Kakashi? Naruto trained check, Sasuke trained check, check. Now let's go back to see if we can do something with the one that fell behind."
"That's not what I mean." He could feel Sakura slipping away from him, like sand slipping through his fingers. He had lived with many regrets, he didn't desire for this to be another black mark on his heart.
"It doesn't matter now. Like you said it's in the past, and the point is I…" She paused a bit knowing this would hurt Kakashi.
"I don't need you anymore. You can't teach me what I've already learnt. I learned the hard way, you see. I learned by experiencing the world outside of your protection, with no one that would protect me, or whisper comforting words. Hinata was the only source of comfort I had, and even then I couldn't rely too heavily on her because she was a child herself."
Kakashi dropped his head no longer wanting to look in Sakura's eyes that were singing a painful song. He now understood what Ibiki meant. He could only wonder how many scars lay beneath her cloths. How many men she had to let touch her? How many times did she scream for him to help her, but never came? How did she handle the first time she had to take a life. He was only seeing a glimpse of how the world beat her down, and it was his own fault.
"Don't feel bad Kakashi, you did teach me one thing." He looked back to Sakura, wondering what in the world he could have possibly taught her. "Remember you taught me teamwork. I just wished I was part of the team."
Sakura stepped back from the broken man, and teleported leaving behind a batch of leaves. She knew she wounded Kakashi. She knew mentally Kakashi was a bit unstable, as are all ninja who have felt the loss of a comrade, when they knew they could have saved them.
Kakashi continued to stand on the bridge. He was holding the railing so tight that the wood buckled under his grip, splintering it.
"Don't give up on her yet." A voice from the trees said. Kakashi spun around, as he heard Jiraya's voice. He cursed himself for letting someone sneak up on him, even if it was a sannin.
Jiraiya who had watched the exchange, was perched up in a tree. He saw this all familiar pattern, in Tsunade. 'Mini Tsunade' he thought as he looked at Sakura. Those two were cut from the same cloth, and never seemed to handle tragedy well. He was surprised at the bit he did hear, and understood why the 'pink beauty' as he dubbed her was upset. When Sakura teleported, Jiraiya saw how broken Kakashi really was. However, unlike Kakashi he knew Sakura still cared for the man, but she was lost in her own pain. Losing yourself to pain is dangerous, for a shinobi. They start looking for ways to cope with it, and end up hurting themselves even more. Calling out to Kakashi, he reassured him it wasn't too late.
As Kakashi turned to find him, Jiraiya masked himself so that even Kakashi couldn't find him. He watched Kakashi merely nod, as he put his hands in his pockets, slouch, and walk away.
Before he could leave the training ground, he heard an object being hurled at him. He lazily stretched out his hand and caught Jiraya's latest volume of Icha Icha Paradise, and flipped it open as he kept walking.
A/N: BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING. I STARTED A NEW FIC CALLED "SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING" I'M TRYING MY HAND AT NEJI/SAKURA. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT AND GIVE FEED BACK.
Later that evening, as the sun started it's decent, Hinata stood at Sai's pad waiting for Sakura. She had spent almost three hours looking for her. It was never good when Sakura disappeared for any length of time by herself. Sakura had finally made an appearance a few minutes later and Hinata could instantly tell she had done something she had feared she would do.
"Where have you been?" Hinata asked. Observing Sakura's clothes which were slightly wrinkled, and instantly knew Sakura spent company in the presence of a man. The slight smell of alcohol lingered on her as well mixed with a spicy smell of a man.
"I had it out with Kakashi." Sakura answered.
"Really?" Hinata's stern voice scolded. Sakura sighed she didn't want to do this again. Stepping into her new apartment she now shared with Sai, she tried to shut Hinata out.
"Who was it this time, Sakura? I would have thought being back here, where everyone knows you would have stopped." She hissed
"Stopped what? A baritone voice dawned upon the two girls. The two looked behind them, to find the heir of the Uchiha clan.
Sasuke stood with his arms folded, glaring as he saw Sakura standing in Sai's door way.
"Sasuke." Hinata greeted. "I was just commenting on Sakura drinking before sundown." Hinata lied for this wasn't his problem to deal with. It was a secret between friends and she would never betray Sakura in that way.
"I only had two." Sakura said adding to the lie.
'Women.' Sasuke thought. 'Always arguing over trivial things. What are two drinks going to hurt?' However he was curious as to why Sakura was at Sai's apartment.
"House sitting Sakura?"
"No actually I live here now." Sakura said smugly.
Sasuke almost lost his cold demeanor. 'She lived there, with Sai.' He thought. 'Bastard works fast.' Biting back his anger at Sai's desperate attempt to best him. He knew Sai saw this as a game. He also knew Sai had no romantic interest in Sakura. He just wanted to one up on him. Running his hand through his raven locks. "Well I was actually looking for you. Naruto thought it would be a good idea to take you out for dinner, to welcome you home."
Sakura smiled at the thought of Naruto's gesture, "Sure can I invite Hinata?" She said thinking she could get part two of this mornings escapade.
Sasuke mentally grimaced at the turn of events. He hadn't actually invited Naruto. He was looking for a one on one with Sakura. Naruto was just a ploy to get her to agree. He nodded at her request.
"We're not eating at the ramen stand, semi-formal dress and we'll be here at 8." He said before stalking off. 'Now I have to find Naruto, and make him dress in something other than that gaudy orange suit of his. Perhaps he could get Naruto to keep Hinata company while he worked Sakura.'
Once Sasuke was out of range, Hinata turned to Sakura. "We'll talk about this later." She assured her friend.
Sakura watched as Hinata stalked off, before closing the door, to the empty apartment. It was just her now with no false pretenses, or facades. She went up stairs and turned the shower on. Stripping down she stepped under the spray, as she remembered her afternoon.
Flashback
The confrontation with Kakashi really got to her. She felt herself giving into her pain, and wanted to expel it from her mind, and body. Yet she was in Konoha, and she couldn't do some of the things she did back west. Everyone knew her, Kakashi, and her mistress Tsunade. Surely the males tell tales of their conquest with women, and if word ever got back to them she knew she'd have to explain. She walked into the local tavern scoping out the place, for all the men who were in weren't her type. All of them were civilians, except two, and they were perfect. Sand shinobi, one she recognized as Baki.
Baki was a nonsense kind of guy, and he lived in Suna so there wouldn't be any strings attached. Sitting down next to the Sand shinobi, he instantly recognized her form the exam by her unusual hair. She turned on the charm to Baki and his companion. Either of them would due, but Baki looked like more of the ruffian she wanted right now. The other guy looked too clean cut, for her taste.
After teasing, a few drinks, and coaxing on her part she found herself in Baki's room at the Inn. Walking in she swayed her hips for him and propped her self on the wooden table, and laid down, looking like strawberry desert dish as she watch Baki stalk towards her.
Talking off his forehead protector and wrappings, she saw his whole face. Part of it was scared similar to Ibiki's, but he had a burnt patch of skin. Yet she found scars a bit sexy on men.
As Baki stood at the end of the table, she gave him a smoldering sensual seductive look with her green orbs. The hard look in his eyes told her this wasn't going to gentle. He reached for her ankle and with one swift motion he pulled her until her mound met with his engorged groin. Letting him grind against her for a minute, Sakura felt her pain slipping away.
Pulling her up into sitting position while still between her legs, Baki attacked her sweet lips with lustful intentions. Their tongues battled back and forth until, he found her neck more desirable. Standing her up, the clothes were off in record time, and now her pain was gone, lost in the throes of the hazy lust.
Baki didn't waist time with foreplay to get what he desired, he laid them down on the bed, and buried himself into her to the hilt. Briefly pulling out, he violently rammed back in, not caring for his partner's comfort. She met each of his vicious strokes, with vigor all the time losing another part of herself.
Noticing Baki was near his limit, she began to rub her hidden jewel, as her rhythmic contraction squeezed his member triggering his own release. With a mighty grunt Baki unloaded inside her. Turning them over, he promptly closed his eyes to rest, while Sakura destroyed his sperm inside her. After calming down a bit she untangled and detached herself from Baki, dressed, and left.
End Flashback
Now here she was sitting with her legs folded to her chest, under the shower spray gazing into nothingness. Letting the water run over her she knew it wouldn't wash away the filth that lingered on her, or what she had become no matter how long she sat. She sighed turning off the shower, as another part of herself went down the drain.
Well that's the chapter. I hope it was to all of your liking. Sorry for the Baki/Sakura moment but I did it to make a point. THe line where Sakura says "You'll never know what its like to live so close to the spot light." came from Buffy the vampire Slayer. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!
