(AUTHOR'S NOTE) Got caught up in a whole lot of exams… still not done, but they've lessoned up some more, and I will be trying to work harder at updating a bit more regularly. Please, understand.

:)

…

Sakura glanced away from Sasuke, and scratched her head. Huh. Her head felt a lot less heavy…

Sakura ran her hand over her hair. Ah, that's right.

She cut it all off…

"GAAAHHHH!" Sakura squeaked, and spun around to see Naruto sitting up, screaming at the top of his lungs like a lunatic. Then, surprise turned to irritation, and she put her hands on her hips. "Naruto! Stop it!" Having brought the attention to herself, Sakura watched Naruto stiffen. Briefly, she wondered if he was hurting. But when he suddenly scrambled over his feet to rush to her side, the thought of him hurting any further became much less of her worry. She groaned. "What, Naruto?" She asked. He pointed at her. "Sakura…" He said, "Your hair!" Sakura felt her face heat up instantaneously, for then Sasuke began to stare at her, too, and the gaze of both her teammates intensified. She grew self-conscious. "What?" She stammered. Sakura ran her hands over her hair again. "Ah, this? Well, I…" What should she say? Sakura thought about lying. What would be the point, though? What would she gain? Being in this team with them means they're going to be stuck together for quite a long time. Trust is essential, as well as comfort. So, the best solution would be to simply be honest.

"I…" Sakura paused, before carefully saying, "Got into a bit of a brawl while you two were out, and… things got heated, one thing led to another, and, well... " Sakura laughed awkwardly. "Some battles require sacrifice, right?" Sasuke and Naruto's intense stares didn't ease up at all. They were studying her so intensely. Sakura thought of a way to somehow alleviate the attention put upon her. "Oh, and as you can see, we got a little backup." Finally, Naruto and Sasuke turned to look towards the other familiar faces. Naruto made a face. "Wait, bushy brows?!" Sakura growled at Naruto, and pulled on his ear. "Don't you dare say anything horrible about Lee!" Sakura looked at Lee, and smiled. It was curt, but genuine. "He's been a great help. Lee," Lee glanced at Sakura in anticipation. "Thank you…"

"Because of you, I feel like if nothing else, I've become at least a little stronger." Sakura expected Lee to respond graciously, however, he moaned instead. "That's kind of you to say… but I'm afraid my efforts weren't good enough. Sasuke, you are certainly strong, unlike me, who was beaten to a pulp." Lee gave an acknowledging nod to Sasuke, who still seemed a little dazed. But then, Sakura found her and Lee looking to each other once more. "Sakura," he said. Sakura carefully listened. "The Lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice. So, when we meet again, I will be a much stronger ninja, I promise!" Sakura smiled a little wider, and nodded. Me too, she thought to herself. "Sakura!" Sakura looked over to Ino, who was waving her over. "Hey, I'll fix up your hair for you, alright?" Sakura nodded, and came over.

Kneeling down, Ino began to shape up the rest of Sakura's hair accordingly. "You sneaky little brat. You did all this on purpose, didn't you?" Ino grumbled. Sakura frowned. Ino was always a rather cynical person, but after that hot mess of a battle Sakura just went through? To be aggravated like this? "Why're you talking? What's your mouth gotta do with cutting my hair?" Sakura snapped. Ino huffed. "Yeah, whatever, billboard brow." Sakura groaned. "Whatever, Miss Piggy." A short moment of silence passed, before Ino spoke up again. "I know you're doing all this just to get his attention." She said. "His attention?" Sakura repeated. "Yeah, Sasuke's attention. In fact…" Sakura rolled her eyes, knowing that whatever Ino was going to say next was going to be rude, stupid, petty, or all of the above. "I'd say your fishing for compliments at this point." Sakura scoffed. See? Rude! "Fishing for compliments? Are you kidding me right now?" Sometimes, Sakura just couldn't believe the things that would come out of this hay-haired wench's mouth. "Yeah, I said it! And you can't argue against me anyway, because you know it's true!" Ino continued with her accusations. Sakura scoffed again. "I'm sure for someone who has put all their effort into their body and hair for all the wrong reasons, fishing for compliments isn't something new to you."She said. Quickly, Ino replied, "And you didn't either? You grew your hair out long with me, remember?" Sakura glanced back at Ino, who didn't notice this. She looked away, and stayed silent. Not too long after, Ino finished the once horridly uneven cut. She smoothed Sakura's hair down with her hands. "Well, I did the best I could… some parts were extremely short, so… well… see for yourself." Sakura bit her tongue, a sense of dread washing over her. Ino handed her kunai knife to Sakura. Hesitantly, the pink-headed kunoichi looked into the reflective knife. She was in such a state of stupor that all she could do was gape in horror. She was probably an inch from being bald…

It was a buzz cut.

"Kami!" Sakura cried. Her face heated as she was sure she'd probably cry. "What the hell?!" She whined. Ino took the knife from Sakura, frowning. "Well, this is what happens when you go and make crazy decisions like that. I did what I could do. Now, you just have to deal with the consequences of your choices." Ino spat. Sakura glared at her as she waltzed away, her long hair swishing behind her. Sometimes that girl really pissed her off. Like, really, really, really pissed her off.

~.~.~

It was the following day.

Sasuke and Naruto were off catching fish, meanwhile Sakura stayed at their camp, tossing logs together. She paused, and stood upright, staring at her work. There was actually a lot of logs that she used. Sakura kicked a couple of the logs to the side, deciding to keep those chunks of wood as extra. She looked back over her pit of wood. Looks good. Great job, Sakura! She stretched deeply, bones cracking loudly as she bent backwards. She groaned, and chuckled a little. She could definitely use a massage. She ran her hands over her head. Her smile immediately turned into a frown as she was quickly reminded of the terrible events that occured. Damn, she cut all her hair off…! Sakura sighed sadly. This was going to take some time to get used to. She stood there, constantly rubbing her hands over her prickly hair. Goodness gracious, Sakura, why'd you cut your hair instead of the foe grabbing it?!

Sakura forced herself to focus on the task at hand. The wood. The fire. She should call Sasuke…

Sakura began to go red again, and buried her face in her hands. Uggghhh, but then Sasuke will have to look at her hair cut some more! A few minutes passed, and Sakura decided to try and calm down. Breathing in and out multiple times, she tried to rationalize with herself. "He'll have to see it, anyway, if not now, later on, and if not today, tomorrow, or the next day, or the next; there's no way I can hide a cut like this now at all. So…" Sakura slapped her cheeks a little, and stood straight. "Be brave Sakura!" She took another final breath, and then called out to Sasuke.

Appearing as requested, Sasuke lit the fire as Sakura wanted. Sakura, standing very distantly to the side, easily noticed the way Sasuke kept glancing at her. But not at her, her hair. She turned away into the tent, and laid down. This was so embarrassing.

A little later, she and the team sat around the fire, eating their fish. The boys kept glancing at her hair, and then each other. Like they were having a silent conversation about it. Naruto would look to Sasuke, giving him a peculiar look, saying, her hair still looks kinda weird, doesn't it? Sasuke would return the favor, saying, yeah, it's not the cutest. Sakura sighed again, and her teammates focused their gaze on their fish even more.

"We need to get more serious," Sasuke mumbled. "We have 24 hours left to get our hands on a Heaven scroll." Sakura contemplated replying. She didn't want to draw any more attention to herself, but… "We're probably not going to pass." Sasuke and Naruto looked at Sakura. "Well, isn't that such an optimistic thought." Sasuke grumbled. Sakura shrugged. "Think about it: there are 26 teams, and only thirteen complete pairs of Heaven and Earth scrolls. This is the last day, and so what that means is that we've already used up 80% of our time. And when that snake, Orochimaru, burned that Heaven scroll, the chances of finding another Heaven scroll lessened even more." The air grew somewhat tense, and everyone drew silent. Sasuke stood, and walked away. "I'm gonna go get water." He said.

But then, Naruto tossed some blank scrolls before Sakura. "You know what I think?" He said. Sakura stared at the scrolls in confusion, waiting for Naruto to speak. "Scrolls aren't that hard to duplicate, and they can sound kind of similar, so my guess is if someone were to make a Heaven scroll…" Sakura held up a hand. "Don't even finish that sentence, Naruto!"

"Are you even thinking? Even if we did do something like that, you could only ever copy the outside. The moment they open that "Heaven" scroll, they'll know right away that it's a fluke!" Sakura fumed. Naruto held up his hands. "Hear me out, Sakura! See, I'm pretty sure it's a secret code that can only be understood when the two scrolls are put together. So…" Naruto picked at the opening of the scroll. Sakura pursed her lips, and began to mull over the proposition. She nodded, and Naruto went to open the scroll further. However…

"Don't do it." A hand gripped Naruto's, and both he and Sakura looked to the familiar voice. It was Kabuto. "It isn't worth it. Trust me." Just then, Sasuke came, and the situation was explained, and effectively thrown away. But when it came down to it, things got a little tense. "I'll fight you for it," Sasuke said. "For that Heaven scroll." Indeed, Kabuto already had both necessary scrolls. Sakura and Naruto were against this, however. Kabuto saved their life, and he was very consistent on giving them helpful advice. "Sasuke, this guy saved our lives. I don't think it'd be wise to -" Sakura was silenced by Sasuke. "Shut up." She frowned, furrowing her brows at him. "At this point, it's survival of the fittest. Nothing else matters." Kabuto hummed, and then chuckled. "You say that, but your heart's not really in it, is it?"

"If all you cared about was surviving, then why'd challenge me so openly? Why not, for example, sneak up on me when I least expect it, when my guard is at its lowest, and strike? After all, that's what a true ninja would do." Kabuto explained. The younger ninjas fell silent. That was certainly true. "Hmph. That's what I thought. However, I will help you to find a place to look to obtain a Heaven scroll, that is, other than mine." And with that, the ninjas set off through the trees to find a Heaven scroll.

In the back of her head, Sakura couldn't help but wonder just how hard they were pushing their luck...