THROWBACK THURSDAY

CHAPTER 12

The Mist Demon, the Ice Prince, and the Pink Knight

Sakura awoke to the loud sound of chirping and tweeting, as if it was right in her ear. She opened her eyes, only to see that a couple of brown and white sparrows had practically made a nest out of her chest and stomach, curling and wrinkling the fabric of her top. The one that had woke her up being next to her ear. It loudly chirped again, making Sakura cringe at the loud noise. It was too early for this. She shifted her head and growled at it, but the bird merely looked into her eyes with its beady ones. Getting more irritated, she also shifted her body, trying to make the others fly away, but they continued perching comfortably on her body. A vein popped on her head before she shut her eyes and gritted her teeth with frustration.

"...OI! FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO NEST ON, YOU STUPID BIRDS!" she exploded, snapping her raged filled eyes open and flailing her arms around.

Finally, this was more than enough to startle the birds and make them fly away. Sitting upright, Sakura sighed.

Tch, stupid birds, Sakura thought, laying back down and sighing, but Sakura's eyes widened and she shot up, tense and guard up. Sakura felt another familiar chakra signal closing in on Naruto's. This was exactly why she came out last night, and took perch on a high branch not very far from Naruto. She remembered in her last life Naruto had told her about meeting someone while he was out here training and now older and wiser, she was more suspicious. Last time, it had seemed that the person he had met had not tried to hurt Naruto, so she thought it was okay to see for herself who this person was.

Of course without Naruto or Kakashi knowing.

With her perfect chakra control, she studied the familiar chakra signal. It was warm, but at the same time, cold, like frozen fire. Sakura had read once in a book of myths that somewhere in the world a frozen flame dwells, the color of sapphires. Why did it feel so familiar? For some reason, Sakura couldn't remember.

Sakura cursed, Why does my memory seem so...fuzzy? Well, it's been years, so I guess I wouldn't be able to remember most of it, but...

She shook it off before she jumped down from her branch and determinedly made her way towards the two chakra signals. When she walked into the clearing where they had trained on their first day, her jade eyes immediately met a pair of dark brown orbs.

Ahhh...now I remember.

This...she man...was the masked boy she had met earlier. This was Haku.

Haku was the first to speak up. "Oh good morning," he greeted her with a smile. It was genuine, she could tell, although, if he remembered her, would he attack her?

Still on guard, she tried to act casual and smiled back, nodding in acknowledgment. "Ah, good morning," she replied before her eyes glanced at the basket. "Are here to pick up herbs?"

Still smiling, Haku nodded and walked into the center of the clearing, kneeling next to Naruto and studying his sleeping face. Sakura's hand twitched and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Sensing her quick change of demeanor, he looked up at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I won't hurt your friend," he answered and looked back down at the blonde boy beneath him. "Although, I would like to take the herbs he's sleeping on."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh let me help you!" she said, quickly kneeling down on one knee at Naruto's side, across from Haku. "Ano, you're a girl...right?" she asked shyly, glancing up at him with a little flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. Although she knew he was a boy, she thoughts she would try to lighten the wood, try to get him to drop his guard.

As she wound an arm around Naruto's shoulder and her other under his knees, Haku chuckled,"No, I'm not a girl, I'm actually a boy. Alot of people have been calling me miss today. I'm Haku."

Sakura groaned,"Ahhh! It should be illegal for a guy like you to be so...beautiful." Then she smiled brightly. "Anyways, nice to meet ya, Haku, I'm Sakura!" Then she stood up, carrying the sleeping boy bridal style without breaking a sweat.

Haku sweat dropped. He thought, She's quite strong, despite her weak looking structure and innocent fa—no. Wait... Haku's eyes narrowed slightly, his eyes focusing on the pink haired girl.

There was no look of a child's innocence in this girl's eyes.

Her eyes were one of the most rarest eye colors, a jade green, a color of a kind innocent child, but there was no trace of the kind or innocent factor in the young girl's eyes. The light green eyes were sharper and more guarded than a normal gennin's as if she had been through an everlasting fight, her chakra suppressed to the point she would seem like any civilian if it weren't for the ninja garb that screamed shinobi. And in the way she held herself, not ignorant but confident stance.

He watched as she carried the boy in her arms to one of the trees and laid him gentlely under the shade, gazing at him lovingly. Not in love, but in the way a mother would look at her child. As he began to pick herbs, he asked, "What is that boy to you?"

She kneeled next to Naruto, brushing away the hair that fell on his face. "He is one of my precious people," she replied instantly, smiling sadly. "He is someone I want to protect." She made her way back across Haku, and began helping him pick the herbs he needed. "You also have someone precious to you too, don't you?" she asked, without looking up.

Haku didn't answered immediately, but when he did, he confirmed,"Yes, I do. That is why I am picking these herbs."

"These...are used to quicken the process of flushing out drugs. Was that person drugged?" She asked, looking up curiously. He drugged the senbon?

"He," Haku hesitated, glancing away. "Yes, he was."

The two civilians had just woken up before the two coolest members of Team 7. The four sat for breakfast the next morning, Naruto and Sakura notably absent.

"Guess the kid decided to stay out all night huh? From the look on his face when he walked out last night, I'd bet he was training."

Tsunami turned to her father. "You shouldn't say that so nonchalantly," she reprimanded. "He could be lying out there dead somewhere. A child shouldn't be left in the woods by himself late at night."

"Naruto is a full-fledged ninja," chimed Kakashi. "He'll be okay, Tsunami-san. Please don't worry."

The blue-haired woman appeared dissatisfied by the jounin's response but said nothing, busying herself over the dirty dishes of the morning.

Sasuke lifted himself from his chair and sauntered to the front door. "I'm going for a walk," he said casually.

"More like checking up on Naruto and Sakura," Kakashi muttered to no one in particular, aware that his really independent female student stayed out that night to watch over Naruto.

"Ano, Haku-san?"

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Haku smiled curiously, turning to her. They had just finished picking herbs moments ago and were relaxing under the shade of the trees next to Naruto, and making small talk. They had been gazing up peacefully at the sky until Sakura had broken the comfortable silence.

"I...want your opinion on something." She frowned and looked at the ground, unsure if she should ask him. She asked hesitantly, "Figuratively speaking, w-what if someone you had cared about deeply...decided they wanted to leave you to get stronger. For a really long time...What would you do?" Sakura glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.

For a moment, Haku's smile disappeared, only to be replaced with surprise, but that too also disappeared, only to also be replaced with seriousness. He looked back up at the sky thoughtfully. "I would have supported them," he answered after a moment of thinking.

"But isn't that unfair?" she blurted out, leaning towards him slightly.

He raised an eyebrow in question. "Who said anything was fair to begin with?"

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, and she slouched in spot, her eyes downcast with sorrow.

Haku studied her, now knowing that this was not just a hypothetical question anymore. This was a true, personal question from her heart. She needed advice...and something else. Something that could fill the hole in her heart.

He gave her a sad smile. "Life isn't fair," he continued, knowing that she needed more than just his opinion. "But if you really love someone, you'd do everything you could for them. Even if it means making bad choices and sacrificing yourself."

Sakura's head snapped up to look at him. "But what if—"

"Of course, that's just my opinion," he added. "There's different ways you could approach the situation. I'm just saying that if you truly loved someone, I would do everything within my power to support them."

The sorrow that seemed to press down on her lightened, and was replaced with a doubtful look.

"Yeah, okay," she replied. She looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks for giving me your opinion, Haku-san. You're really wise beyond your years, ya know?"

He chuckled, "So, I've been told."

"Haku-san?" Just say it.

"Yes?"

She sighed, closing her eyes, exasperated. Let's get this over with.

"I know you're working with Zabuza."

She felt tension from Haku and when she opened her eyes…

All went black.

Well, shit.

TBC.

OMAKE. OMAKE. OMAKE.

"Oi, Sakura," a calm, sort of silky voice called to her from below, making her jump in surprise. Sakura looked down from her high perch in her tree to see Sasuke gazing up at her, frowning. She didn't even sense him. How was it that he was always able to get behind her defenses? "What are you doing up there?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she flushed with embarrassment. Did he see me yell like a banshee!? OMG! That's so embarrassing! she thought before she sweat dropped to herself irritatedly. Wait, why would I care of what that bastard thinks of me?

"Nothing," she lied. He frowned at her, unconvinced. She jumped down and landed near Sasuke, but still keeping her distance. She asked curiously, "So, what are you doing out here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Sasuke scoffed, raising a perfect eyebrow. "You didn't come back after you took a walk last night like you had said."

"I fell asleep," she said. Technically she wasn't lying…

Sasuke's eyebrow raised higher. "While walking?"

"No! I decided took a break and I fell asleep."

"You decided to take a break and precariously sleep on a branch high up?"

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. Trying to look for a better excuse, she stammered, "Yeeaaah…"

Sasuke shook his head, sighing. "You may have gotten stronger, Sakura, but seriously," he commented, looking into her green eyes with his dark ones. There was a teasing glint. "you've gotten bad at lying. It's okay to say you were worried about the Dobe."

Her jaw dropped for a second before she closed it and turned away, huffing. "Whatever." Feeling the unknown yet familiar chakra signal begin to head towards them, she too began walking in the path the chakra signal was talking, with Sasuke following next to her.

"Anyways," Sakura continued, casually with her tone neutral. She side glanced him suspiciously. "Why are you out here?"

"Because Kakashi had asked me to bring you two back for breakfast," he fibbed back, closing his eyes as he walked with his hands in his pockets. How does he manage to do that without tripping?

She smirked and sneered, "You were worried about uuuuuuuus!"

"Shut up!"

"You were woooooorrriiiiiied!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"Wooorrriiiiieeed!"

"SHUT UP!"