Last Priority
Chapter 12
Enjoy (:
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Previously on Last Priority…
Sakura cleared her throat. "Who are you?" She managed to croak out.
Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "You … you don't know?" She shook her head. "Do you know who you are?"
"Haruno Sakura, ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village."
"Is there anything else you can remember?"
Sakura thought hard and long, but could only think of one thing. "My parents are dead…" she said in a whisper.
Naruto nodded solemnly. The only other thing she could remember was one of the hardest things she could accept. However, she didn't say anything about Akatsuki or leaving Konoha, so that gave him hope.
"Sakura-chan, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. We're best friends; try to remember that while I get baa-chan, k?"
"Naruto…" Sakura looked at him, then nodded, "Thank you."
The blonde smiled at her, a bit of the bright cerulean blue returning to his eyes in hope. "Anytime." He left the room quietly in search of the Hokage.
-
"Ne, baa-chan," Naruto addressed his superior, "Something happened to Sakura-chan."
Tsunade's eyes widened in worry although the worry and panic were absent in his voice. "What is it Naruto?" She had already started making her way towards her apprentice's room.
"She can't remember anything! But…it seems like a good thing…kind of."
'That's right.' The busty blonde slowed her steps. She had wiped her memory of nearly everything, leaving them with a clean slate. It had been a hard decision and personally, she was dead set against it; tampering with her memory was too personal and she felt as if she was invading her student's privacy and betraying her trust, even if it did bring her back. She felt guilty of stealing a part of Sakura's life, who knows what happened in her time away, but in the end, she had to put her village first. Having Sakura back in Konoha would bring everything back the way it was before she left and none would be the wiser. The village was oblivious to her defect and everyone could continue thinking that way. Sakura was loved throughout the village and the hospital could definitely use the help, plus her team wasn't doing too well with their new captain. Only Shizune, Kakashi, and herself were aware of the jutsu placed on her. They could feed Sakura her memory as they wished, leaving out the parts they didn't wish for her to remember, the main thing being her defect from the village. This would rest heavy on her conscience, but she made the right choice…she hoped. The three of them agreed that this would remain a private matter and they could only hope that Sakura's memory didn't return and that the Akatsuki didn't come looking for her. It had been relatively peaceful in the village these past several months and it was a welcomed change from their usual panic and rush. Tsunade hoped to the heavens that she had made the right choice.
The Hokage raised an eyebrow and did her best to look perplexed, "Hm, it seems the concussion was worse than I originally thought," she lied. Had she said that to anyone else, they might have questioned her, for she was one of the three Sannin, she wouldn't have made a mistake as ridiculous as that, but thankfully, Naruto paid it no mind.
"Well, that's good…I guess."
"A good thing? How so, Naruto?"
"Well, you know … she doesn't remember leaving Konoha, and maybe she won't have to? Maybe she can stay here and we'll just act like it never happened."
"Hmm," Tsunade pretended to think about it, "That does sound like a good idea; we'll talk about it when Kakashi arrives." The two adults had taken the role of Sakura's surrogate parents and it was only right that he was included in the discussion, though she already knew how that would go.
"Right!" the younger blonde looked hopeful, "Are you gonna come see her baa-chan?"
"I suppose I should, I need to check up on her soon anyway."
The two blondes ninja made their way to room 301; Sakura's room.
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Uzumaki Naruto. Sakura kept running the name through her mind, hoping to jolt some of her memory back. She sat up carefully
'We're best friends,' he told her.
She wondered what kind of a person he was. He hadn't said much and she couldn't really tell much about him other than he must be one brave person to be able to wear such absurdly bright colors around the village.
"I'm going to be Hokage someday, believe it!" The sentence rang out loudly through her mind.
Where did that come from? She wondered belatedly. And who was it? Sakura though hard, trying to put a face on the voice…
Uzumaki Naruto!
Suddenly it came back to her. 'We're best friends,' Sakura heard the voice again. At that moment, the door clicked open and two people walked in quietly.
"Naruto!" she called enthusiastically. He went to stand beside her bed and she hugged him tightly, well, as tightly as she could in her current state of health, which wasn't saying much.
"Have you remembered me?" he asked as he returned her hug carefully.
Sakura nodded into his shoulder slowly, "I think so…I mean, yeah, I do." Naruto let her go reluctantly.
"Sakura, you shouldn't be up right now," the other blonde chided lightly as she urged her to lie back down. The woman was very…busty and made no move to conceal her assets. She had warm amber eyes that looked at her kindly. Sakura felt as though she should know this person, but she couldn't quite place a name. The woman had a warm, almost familiar touch but still, Sakura couldn't think of what her relationship with this person might be. She simply nodded absently as she let the other woman look over her injuries.
"Naruto told me what happened, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" The older woman asked.
Sakura shook her head, "I don't mind, though I don't know if I can answer them."
Tsunade knew how to unlock certain parts of her memory and remind her of certain aspects of her life. "That's fine, just answer what you can. Can you remember you position in Konoha?"
"I'm a ninja… a medic and…I think I took the ANBU exams."
"Head medic, and yes, you took the exam, and passed; you're an ANBU captain." Tsunade beamed at her student with pride.
Sakura's eyes widened. "No way, really?" The older blonde nodded. "Wow, I never would have imagined, I must have a pretty good life then …medic hm? You were important, weren't' you?" Tusnade gave Sakura a few moments to figure who she was to the young woman. "You're," a moment of silence passed between them, "Tsunade-shishou! You're my mentor and the Hokage!"
"Very good, do you remember anything else?"
"It feels like everything is just a dream and I can't really get a firm hold on anything; everything's just a hazy mess, but I remember people, I just don't know…"
"That's fine, it will come in time. Now, do you remember who your genin team was?"
"Um, Naruto…and two others."
Naruto was inwardly pleased that she remembered him.
"Right, those two others are Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi. Do you know who they are?"
Sakura took a few moments to try and recall the two familiar sounding names. "Kaka-sensei…he has silver hair, um wasn't he always late?" Naruto nodded vigorously. "And he was always reading that awful orange book of his!"
"Icha Icha Paradise!" Naruto supplied.
"Right. Now we're getting somewhere." Tsunade was getting a bit worried that she'd remember her defect, but soon brushed it off; she was confident in this jutsu and if it was never brought it up and they instilled it into her who the enemies of Konoha were, then hopefully it would never surface.
They continued this until Kakashi made his presence known.
"Kaka-sensei! Took you long enough," Naruto lightly complained.
Kakashi's visible eye creased, indicating the smile that was present behind his mask. "Well you see, there was a little girl who was lost and she asked me to help her find her way back, but we had a bit of trouble figuring that out."
Sakura laughed lightly, "That's a lie Kakashi-sensei."
"Sakura, my favorite female student, it's good to see you awake."
Once again, Tsunade thanked the higher powers that it was Naruto who was with them and not someone like Shikamaru. Had he been anyone else, he would've wondered why Kakashi was so friendly towards someone who, as far as he knew, was still a threat to the village, since he hadn't been informed of Sakura's condition.
"I'm you're only female student," Sakura's weak voice pulled Tsunade from her thoughts.
"Ouch, that hurt Sakura-chan," Kakashi feigned hurt as he walked to her bed, making brief eye contact with Tsunade. "How are you feeling?"
She smiled weakly, "I've been better."
"Kakashi," the older blonde interrupted their conversation, "Can I speak with you outside?"
"Of course Tsunade-sama."
Not wanting to be left out, Naruto jumped up out of his chair, "Me too!"
The Hokage sighed, "Very well."
"We'll be back before you know it Sakura-chan!" Naruto reassured as he followed the other two outside.
The three left the room silently.
"Kakashi," Tsunade started, "I believe I would be best not to remind Sakura of what has been happening lately, but I thought I should consult it with you first." This was her way of saying, 'It worked.'
"Hai. That would be for the best, but what if remembers herself? Is there a possibility that that'd happen?"
Surprisingly, Naruto sat quietly through this entire exchange, listening to what the two adults had to say.
"That could happen, who knows. But the possibilities seem low, as long as we don't show or tell her anything that would set off that memory, then it shouldn't come up. Also, we should start reminding her who the Akatsuki are and what they've done in order to drill it into her that they're the enemy. That way, if that part of her memory starts to come back, she probably won't believe it and just think it was some kind of dream," Tsunade explained.
Kakashi nodded, "Hm, that sounds like it'll work."
They spent some more time devising a plan to make sure Sakura didn't remember any of her time with the Akatsuki or her defect. Deep inside, none of the three felt right about taking a part of her life from her, but this was for the best.
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"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out loudly, "How are you feeling?"
"Quiet down, Naruto, this is a hospital," Sakura lightly chided. "And I feel fine, thanks for asking."
"Ha, same old Sakura-chan," the blonde smiled sheepishly.
Over the course of two weeks, Sakura had been reminded of her past, at least, the parts they wanted her to remember, and she seemed to be the way she had been before she left. Some things were still fuzzy, but she believed them because she was told it happened. She didn't have memories of a lot of things actually happening, but she was told that it would come back in time.
"Tsunade baa-chan said you can leave the hospital today!"
"Finally, I've been wondering when I can finally get out of here. I've been feeling good enough to leave for almost a week now."
"They always say that," he grinned.
A quiet knock sounded from the door.
"Sakura, may I enter?" a smooth voice called from the other side of the door.
"Yeah, come in," she called back. The door slid open and ANBU captain, Hyuuga Neji walked in, closing the door silently behind him.
"Sakura, Naruto," he greeted them with a nod.
"Hey Neji! What took you so long? She's been here forever!" Naruto motioned for him to sit in the empty chair on the other side of Sakura's bed.
"I apologize, I just returned from a mission this morning. I came here as soon as my duties allowed me." He took the offered seat beside the patient.
"Neji…we were…close. Weren't we?" Sakura fiddled with her fingers, refusing to look at Neji. She felt guilty about not remembering someone she felt may have been like a brother to her.
Naruto got up from his chair. "I'm kinda hungry. You guys catch up; I'm going to have some ramen!" He sensed that they should be alone to figure things out and let himself out.
"Hai, thanks for coming, Naruto," Sakura called as he left. Neji simply nodded his regards.
Neji had been told that she didn't remember much, but it still slightly shocked him when she asked her previous question.
"I get this feeling that we were something like family," the rosette kunoichi still refused to meet his gaze.
-Flashback-
A few days after her parents' death and it still rained. Sakura tried to be strong, but it finally became too much for her. Today was especially painful because it was the day of their funeral. After everyone left for the reception, Sakura broke down and ran outside. She simply ran. She didn't think of where she was going or how long she'd been running, but by the time she was able to think clearly, she realized she'd been running very far. Sakura noticed three things: one, she was still in her mourning robes and she was soaked to the bone from the rain; two, she was in some kind of forest; and three, she was completely lost. She crouched down by a tree and hugged her knees to her chest and continued to cry, her sobs racking her entire body. Sakura had no idea how long she had been sitting there, but eventually her sobs died down and she just sat there, unfeeling.
"Haruno-san," a familiar voice called out, "What are you doing here?"
Sakura's eyes widened, "Neji!" She got up quickly and rubbed her eyes, hoping to clear any evidence of her breakdown. "I—um…I was just out for a walk and I, uh, I just got kind of lost." She laughed awkwardly.
Neji's eyes narrowed slightly, not believing her story, but he didn't pry. "You are in the Hyuuga private training grounds," he informed her as he began to unbutton his coat. Sakura cocked her head to the side in confusion. "If you require assistance in returning to your home, I will lead you out of the training grounds and take you home."
Neji was aware of the death of her parents and he and his family had gone to the funeral a few hours earlier to pay their respects. He knew why Sakura was really here and what she had been doing. Even if he didn't know what happened, the look on her face and the red, puffy, shadowed eyes were enough. He took his coat off and placed it on her shoulders as he offered his umbrella to her.
"Being a medic, one would think you'd take better care of your health, Haruno-san."
Sakura stared speechless for a while, completely shocked at Neji's blatantly kind actions. She simply stared at him. She finally found her voice and said, "You um…don't have to give me this, you can keep it. You'll get sick."
He smirked but chose not to answer. He led her to the Hyuuga compound to dry her off and was content with the silence. Sakura however, wasn't so comfortable; she was feeling slightly awkward, wearing the Hyuuga genius' jacket, but wisely chose to stay quiet. Once inside, she dried off and he walked her home, asking her if she needed anything before he left. Sakura declined politely and thanked him for his kindness.
-End Flashback-
Now that she thought about it, she still had that jacket hanging in her closet. They had grown steadily closer since then and become nearly inseparable over time. Neji wasn't openly nice but she knew that he cared, even though he insisted on staying a human ice block and didn't show it. She vaguely recalled having a small crush on him at one point, but she was fairly certain that it had gone away. Plus, she had the feeling that she was already attached to someone else, but she couldn't quite think of who.
"Indeed, we were good friends," he said, breaking her from her train of thoughts.
"Hm, sorry I can't seem to remember everything. I think I remember certain parts of our friendship, Tsunade-shishou said it'll come back in time."
Neji nodded, "Take your time, there is no rush."
"Thanks," she finally looked up, into his silver eyes. "Do you want to go for lunch or something? We can catch up; shishou says I'm getting out today."
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
She took this as a rejection and was quick to retract her earlier offer, "But if you don't want to then it's fine, I'm sure you're busy and—"
"Lunch sounds good,"
Sakura smiled, "Thanks."
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Itachi walked into a hotel, his teammates Tobi, Deidara, Kakuzu, and Hidan following after. They were staying at a small hotel on the border of Fire Country
This would be their last comfortable stop until they completed this mission to retrieve Sakura. After they enter Fire, they'd need to be on high alert and infiltrating Konoha would be no easy task. The group valued this last rest and planed to make the best of it.
"Three rooms," Itachi said softly, the underlying authority apparent in soft voice.
"Right away," the busty and slightly underdressed clerk said from behind the counter. She handed Itachi the keys, lightly brushing against his hand as she did so, before winking suggestively at him.
Without so much as a word or second glance at her, Itachi distributed the keys and walked away.
Tobi looked over at the clerk and shrugged before thanking her and walking to his room with his partner.
-Later that evening-
Itachi, who sat on his bed, leaning against his headboard, looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching. He waited silently for the person on the other side of the door to knock and make their presence known. When they didn't, Itachi walked to the door and opened it expectantly.
"Can I help you?" He asked politely.
"I just came to check if you were comfortable." It was the clerk form earlier. She let herself in as Itachi just stared at her. He definitely did not need this now. Her intentions were no secret, but he just wanted to be alone right now.
Sure, she was attractive and had a great figure, but all he could think of was how Sakura was much more attractive than this cheap girl standing in his room.
When did he become so hopelessly devoted to Sakura? When did he start comparing all girls to Sakura and immediately dismissed them? The thought put him lightly on edge and decided to lock that thought away for further examination some other time. Itachi was no man whore, but every criminal is entitled to a one night stand every now and then.
"Phew, it's not in here," the clerk slowly unbuttoned her already too revealing shirt as Itachi closed the door. She walked over to him, stopping inches away from him and tilted her head up. He simply stared at her unfeelingly as he absently compared her olive green eyes to Sakura's emerald ones. He like Sakura's more, he decided. They always calmed him down when he looked into them, but set him on alert at the same time. She could be so unpredictable at times and her moods were fairly volatile. One moment she'd be happy, then annoyed at him for one reason or another, but that never lasted long. Soon after, she'd be back to her seemingly carefree self.
While Itachi was slightly distracted by his thoughts, which was highly uncharacteristic of him, the clerk who still had yet to mention her name took the opportunity to press her lips onto his own.
Itachi's eyes shot down to her face as he brought his hand to grip her shoulders. She moved her lips experimentally against his but he only gripped her shoulders tighter and pulled her away from him roughly.
"I am not interested," he said coldly.
"O-oh…" she backed away awkwardly, "I understand. I'll just-um… get out of your way then. I'm sorry for the inconvenience." When Itachi didn't reply, she excused herself from his room and left him alone once again.
He sighed.
Itachi's eyes drifted to the slowly darkening sky outside as his mind drifted to a familiar strawberry-haired kunoichi. He recalled the last time he and Sakura had stayed in a hotel that had a banister much like his current room had.
-Flashback-
Sakura lay in her shared bed with Itachi silently, staring up at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. Itachi was probably aware that she was still awake but said nothing to acknowledge that he did. He simply lay on his side facing her, his arms wrapped around her loosely with his eyes closed off to the world. Sakura turned her head too look at him for a while before deciding to get up. She disentangled herself from him noiselessly and walked over to the quaint little balcony.
Itachi's eyes followed her as she walked out but he didn't move from his spot on the bed. He tried to go back to sleep but found that he couldn't. It just didn't feel the same; the bed felt somehow empty without Sakura's warmth beside him.
Itachi got up and followed Sakura outside to the balcony to stare out at the sky. She felt a pair of strong arms encircle her waist and a warm breath by her ear. She looked up to see Itachi staring down at her.
"Did I wake you? I'm sorry." Sakura returned her attention to the vast night sky before them.
"There is no need to apologize. Are you having problems falling asleep?" Itachi leaned down to rest his chin on her shoulder and mimicked her previous action, staring out at the stars.
She brought her arms up and covered his arms with her own and sighed in content. "Yeah, a bit," she replied.
"You are troubled," he stated more than asked.
Sakura didn't confirm or deny it. "The stars are beautiful aren't they?"
He didn't answer right away. He simply stared out at nothing in particular. Finally, he said, "Indeed."
-End Flashback-
Itachi lay down in his bed and tried, in vain, to go to sleep. This would, after all, be the last time he'd sleep in a bed for a long time. Maybe the next time he slept in a bed, Sakura would be there beside him. He closed his eyes and tried to push out the image of Sakura's smiling face from his mind.
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A/N:
I'm really sorry for the late update. School and my extra-curricular activities have been keeping me extremely busy. My posts will definitely be farther apart than they've been during the summer. I hope that's alright! Thank you to my loyal readers who keep reading. It means a lot to me.
Not much happened in this chapter, I'm sorry.
If anyone finds Konoha too evil for erasing Sakura's memory, just let me know? Constructive criticism is greatly welcomed and appreciated, that way I can improve my writing! Thanks again for reading.
Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are greatly appreciated :D
-Ja
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