Chapter TEN
"Where are we going?" Gaara asked curiously. Sakura was walking along the streets, glancing into every street and alley way.
"I am tired." She announced. "So I am looking for an appropriate place to rest."
Gaara scrunched up his face in a frown. "What kind of appropriate place are you looking for?"
Sakura shrug. "That is why we are walking around."
Gaara suddenly grinned. "I told my uncle about you yesterday." He said. "He told me that that's what you call a friend." He added, sounding worried.
Sakura smiled at him. "It is." She confirmed. Gaara smiled back.
He told her about his uncle, then about his siblings, Temari and Kankuro. Sakura nodded once in a while to show him that she was listening. She then, told him about her dead mother and her father. Gaara seemed uncertain now, and Sakura was beginning to feel sorry for the nervous boy.
"Ah!" Sakura raised her voice. She pointed at a tree. "There."
Gaara, forgetting about he previous uneasiness, followed the pinkette curiously as she made her way to the tree.
"Life isn't fun unless it is interesting." She said. "So I am going to try something different today." She climbed up the tree and hooked her knees around a branch. She then proceeded to let go of the branch with her hands, so that she was hanging just from her bent knees.
Gaara blinked, but followed her suit, and soon, the two were hanging from a branch by their legs.
"What are you trying to accomplish?" Gaara asked.
"I'm looking at life from a different perspective." Was all Sakura offered as an answer.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
That night, Sakura had gotten permission to stay out for a while. She sat on the roof of Rinto's house, her legs hanging over the side of the roof. It was her last day at Suna, and when she had told Gaara earlier that day, he had looked like he was going to cry. She had finally managed to calm him down when she promised that she wouldn't forget him, and that she would always be his friend, and that one they, he should come to Konoha to see her. Sending letters may not be a very goof idea, as Konoha and Suna weren't very friendly at the moment. Besides, what would the Kazekage think if she sent letters to his son?
She had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Her gut feeling was close to never wrong.
Her mind wandered to the Uchiha brothers, and Naruto. She sigh, and leaned back on her hands. The moon was bright tonight...
She sat up. Her head whipped form side to side, trying to find the sudden source of malice that had appeared. It was faint, so faint that she probably wouldn't have sensed it if she hadn't trained with Ringo, but it was there. She quickly got to her feet, hands going to her scroll pouch.
She sensed another wave of the chakra, and she turned to look in the direction it had come from. The Kazekage's office...
She was flying off the roof in a split second, a foreign feeling growing in her chest.
She landed on a roof, just in time to hear an ear splitting scream. Sand flew around the area, blocking her view.
She stayed where she was, eyes scanning for any signs of movement. A flash caught her eye, and Gaara stumbled out of the smoke, eyes wide with horror and fear. Sakura quickly jumped down, and landed in front of him.
Gaara looked up, but didn't seem like he was really seeing her. He looked her up and down, and his knees gave way. Sakura flashed forwards and caught him. She hugged him, and a second later, he had wrapped his arms around her too.
"He tried to kill me." Gaara gasped. "He never loved me."
It took Sakura a moment to figure out that he was telling her what had happened. Not knowing what to say, she hugged Gaara tighter. She saw something drip down Gaara's face, and raised her hand to gently wipe away his tears. She tried not to linger on the 'love' tattoo carved roughly onto his forehead.
Gaara jerked his head at the sudden movement, and Sakura let out a faint hiss as sand stabbed at her. She raised her arms instinctively, and the sand slashed through her left wrist.
Before she noticed what was going on, Gaara was onto her. Sakura was taken by surprise, and found herself pinned to the ground a second later, sand restraining her.
She recognized the look in Gaara's eyes. She knew that sudden movements could make him snap, and stayed at still as possible.
Gaara grabbed her left wrist, dripping with her blood, and raised it to his face. He ran his tongue gently along the cut, as if apologizing.
"I'm going to knock you out, okay?" Gaara whispered. "Because this is going to hurt, and I don't want you to hurt."
Sand wrapped around her nose and mouth, cutting off her air supply. Sakura gasped. The sand just tightened, and she slowly felt herself getting lightheaded. Black spots danced in her vision. She struggled for breath, and felt a few grains of sand go down her throat. She didn't have enough energy to cough, and darkness enclosed around her.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When Sakura woke up, she was lying messily on her bed. She pushed herself up, and a jolting pain shot up her arm. She raised her hand to inspect it, and noticed the bandages wrapped messily around her wrist. She turned it around, and noticed the words written onto her arm with now dry blood.
'Sorry'
Everything came crashing back to her and she tore off the bandages. She blinked at the bloody mess on her wrist, and entered the bathroom. She had a pretty good idea on what was engraved there, but she was more curious than anything. She held her hand under the tap, and watched as the kanji slowly revealed itself.
Despite the situation, she couldn't help but smile at the irony of it.
'愛'
Nonetheless, that why Sakura ended up with both her wrists wrapped in bandages.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Temari and Kankuro, like every other person in Suna, were afraid of their younger brother. Ever since the death of their uncle, he had become more violent than ever. They knew that it wasn't really his fault, but fear usually could shove any rational thinking away.
So, they were very surprised when they found their brother hanging upside down from a tree, his arms crossed. His eyes were open, and seemed to be looking at something only he could see.
He looked almost...human.
"G-gaara?" Temari stuttered. They flinched when the red-head turned around and fixed them with his menacing glare.
"What?" He snarled.
"Uh, you're needed back at home." Temari said.
Kankuro couldn't hold it back anymore. "What are you doing?" He blurted out, then slammed his hand over his mouth. "I...I mean..."
"Hn.' Gaara turned to face the way he had been looking at before they had interrupted him. "I'm looking at life from a different perspective."
Temari and Kankuro could only stare as Gaara flipped and landed on the ground. He disappeared in a swirl of sand and only then, did they move.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sakura stopped at a inn midway to Konoha. She checked into a room, and noticed how everyone seemed afraid of something.
She shrugged this off, but decided to keep her eyes peeled.
She needed to clean the scar and re-wrap it with new bandages. She applied some cream to make sure it didn't get infected. She hoped that Gaara wouldn't be mad for leaving without telling him.
There was a sandy clearing just opposite the inn. However, when Sakura got there, she noticed that someone was already using it.
She stared at a surprisingly familiar black cloak, decorated with red clouds. Where had she seen it before?
The person was more like a huge thing. It was sort of leaned over, and was too big to be a person.
Whoever it was, was controlling a couple of puppets. Sakura admitted the way a the puppets danced around while firing dangerous attacks everywhere was a beautiful sight.
Suddenly, she heard fact shift in the wind, and flicked out a Kiri kunai in time to block a dozen senbon headed her way. As they feel away, she noticed a tint of green of each tip. They must have been poisoned.
Sakura glanced back up at the figure, and realized that he wasn't there any more.
She cursed, and swung a kunai behind her. The figure dodged it with a movement so smooth, they could have been dancing. A split second later, a kunai was at her throat.
She heard a man's voice by her ear. "What are you doing here?"
Sakura's lip twitched in amusement. She was a child, but this person treated her like how one would treat a suspicious ninja. "I'm on my way back to Konoha." Sakura said.
"Village? Where's your forehead protector?"
"Previously Kiri. Now, Konoha. I don't have one, because I an not yet a Genin."
The ninja tensed, before removing the kunai from her throat and taking a step back.
"Now, what is a yet to be Genin doing outside her village." The male asked. Sakura turned around slowly.
That was the meeting between two, both whom had been thrust into the world of bloodshed too early. One through the lie of an once trusted one, the other through the death of a loved one by the hands of an yet unknown enemy.
"Visiting family." Sakura said. "Your puppets are beautiful.", she added like a second thought.
The man let out something that sounded like a chuckle.
"I know. Art is, after all, eternal."
Sakura recognized the man's face the moment he shook of his hat. Well, more like recognized the outer shell.
"The third Kazekage." She murmured. This meant that the man within the puppet was most likely...
"I'm Sasori."
She was correct. Standing in front of her was Akasuna no Sasori. Sakura had read about the puppet master a couple of times. How he had defected from Suna around ten years ago. How he had been named 'Akasuna' because of his ability to spill his opponents blood through close to perfect control over his puppets.
"Sakura." She said.
"Don't go spreading that you saw me. If you do, I will come back and kill you. The only reason I haven't some so yet is because I like your way of thinking." Sakura nodded. She wanted to know more about Sasori's skills. It wasn't everyday you meet a S-class criminal that decides not to kill you because they liked the way you think.
The two stood on the sandy grounds, until Sasori finally shifted. "I saw the wires. I believe that there are better means to replace them." His puppets flew back to him, the chakra string attached to them glowing a beautiful blue. "Hope that over the years, your thoughts on art don't change."
Sakura blinked, and he was gone.
Sakura spent the rest of her journey to Konoha in silence, mulling over her thoughts. She only realized that she had reached her destination when a guard yelled at her to stop. She showed them her papers, and asked to see the Hokage.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Hokage seemed happy to see her. She told him a brief story of her journey, and the Hokage told her to go home and rest. For some reason, he seemed pretty restless, but she decided not to ask.
"You start Academy tomorrow." He told her. "Your stuff will have been already delivered to your house."
Sakura dipped her head, and turned to leave.
She first visited Nagisa's family, who nearly had an heart attack when she suddenly turned up at the door. They invited her in, them called over Akito, who still didn't have a girl friend.
She passed her cousins some souvenirs, and gave the adults some food from the places she had gone to. She then told them about the Academy.
That was when Nagisa had told the story of the Uchiha massacre to her.
"Shisui-san...killed the clan?" Sakura asked.
The cheerful atmosphere died.
Nagisa slowly nodded. "Itachi and Sasuke were out on a mission, and Itachi found him when they came back. Those two are the only survivors."
Itachi and Sasuke were alive. Sakura faintly remembered the letter in which Sasuke had been allowed to tag along on a mission.
She quietly bid them good night.
When she reached her house, it was already dark. She found that someone must have kept the house clean, and guessed that it was Nagisa. She went straight to her room and took a quick shower, before changing.
In Kiri, she had bought some new clothes, and she was glad that she did. The clothes in her closet were way too small.
The books and stuff the Hokage had talked about was on her desk, and she tore open the pack to read through it. She frowned. The stuff in the books seemed way too easy. Sakura was going to have to look forward to the practical training. Hopefully, there was someone interesting.
She realized that she was going to see Naruto and Sasuke tomorrow, for the first time in two years.
A warm feeling bubbled inside her chest and smiling, she deciding to go to sleep.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
She woke up early the next morning. She checked that it was still five. She had gotten used to waking up early, and she cursed herself, wondering what she should do for the next few hours. She decided to take a long shower to relax.
She then ran over the text books one more time. She tossed aside the weapons provided, and noticed that it was perfect time to leave.
She changed into a red, short kimono with cherry blossom petal littered over it. She carefully wrapped her bandaged around her neck. She inserted several of her special kunai, as well as a few of the Kiri ones into several hidden compartments on her clothing. She then stored the scroll containing Kiba and the Soul Spirit scroll into her sleeves. She slipped on her shoes, which she had gotten specially made for her, then locked her house before heading out.
Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Shut up, dobe." He snarled.
Naruto, who had been perched on the desk next to him scowled. "But Iruka-sensei is late." He complained.
Ino stormed up to them. "Naruto! Stay away from Sasuke-kun!"
Suddenly, the door was opened, and Iruka stepped in. "Have any of you seen the new student?" He asked.
The class turned quiet at that.
"We're getting a new student?" Naruto yelled.
Iruka nodded. "However, she said that she wanted to pop into the library, disappeared before anyone could say anything, and now she's nowhere to be seen."
"A girl?" Ino asked. She shot Sasuke a glance, who cringed at the thought of another annoying fan-girl.
Naruto yelled something, and Sasuke whipped around to face him.
Suddenly, the door was thrown open again, and a pink haired girl glanced around curiously. "Am I early, am I late..." She mumbled. She glanced around the classroom. "I guess I'm late."
Neither Sasuke nor Naruto noticed, as they were too busy glaring at each other.
Iruka sighed. "Anyways, this is Sakura Haruno, your new classmate."
Darque: I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!
Raven: Finally!
We'll start updating again. Might be a bit slow, as we need to write them, but we will update.
Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddddd...there's Sasori!
Again, we're sorry if this seems a bit rushed.
Raven: I'm sorry about the Gaara-Sakura-tattoo thing. Darque has this thing for it.
Darque: I'm sorry. Who wouldn't want a hot red-head marking you permanently? By the way, did you know that I ship Sasori x Gaara?
Raven: ...
Ideas for Summons are still welcome.
Read and Review~