.:Cherry Blossom Dreams:.
Chapter 13-Departure
"Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke stirred in his sleep.
"Gimme five more minutes, you dumbass," he grunted.
Sakura was pissed now. She had been trying to get him up for the past twenty-minutes, and Sasuke has been showing no signs of getting up.
"DAMN YOU UCHIHA! YOU SAID WE WERE GOING TO GO AND SEE TSUNADE-SAMA TODAY!" she yelled, shaking Sasuke.
"O-oh a-alright! Y-you c-can s-stop n-now S-sakura!" said Sasuke, Sakura still shaking him vigorously.
"Good, now go downstairs and eat breakfast with me," said Sakura cheerfully.
She has serious mood swings, thought Sasuke.
He obeyed, not wanting to be shaken to death.
He lazily walked downstairs, earning him a bonk from Sakura and a: "If you walked any slower, I think even a turtle could beat you!"
After five minutes, Sasuke finally made it into the kitchen. Sakura happily made themselves pancakes. She gobbled them up quickly and told Sasuke to hurry up.
He did, and then Sakura commanded him to go upstairs and change and fix his hair because it looked like a chicken's ass.
He did change, but ignored the last part, which made Sakura's anger levels rise dramatically.
'Must be the time of the month for her,' thought Sasuke.
"Okay, no more lollygagging! You take too fucking long!!!" shouted Sakura, dragging him out the door.
The whole walk (Drag for poor Sasuke) was quiet, since Sakura seemed to want to have it that way.
By the time they made it to the Hokage's office, Sasuke's hair was covered in leaves, twigs, and an ice cream cone with chocolate flavored ice cream. Plus, his shirt ripped.
Tsunade stared at the two. "What happened to you?" asked Tsunade stifling a laugh.
"Nothing except I was dragged here by Sakura," said Sasuke, trying to get the stuff out of his hair.
"Shut up, Sasuke. It was your damn fault for taking so long!" shouted Sakura.
"But you know I'm not a morning person," stated Sasuke.
"See if I care. The point is that when we get home, you're taking a b-a-t-h," she said.
"Whatever," said Sasuke crossing his arms over his chest.
"Are you two done bickering like a married couple?" asked Tsunade impatiently.
"STAY OUT OF THIS TSUNADE-SAMA!" shouted Sakura, glaring at her mentor.
'I KNEW I shouldn't have taught her how to be intimidating!' thought Tsunade, trying very hard not to scream.
"I will not be talked to like that, Sakura. Keep it up, and I SWEAR I'll cut down your paycheck!" growled Tsunade.
"Wait…what? NOOOOOO! PLEASE! I'LL BE GOOD! SEE I'M ON MY KNEES!!!!I'LL BE A GOOD GIRL!!!" pleaded Sakura, crying.
"You're such a drama-queen, Sakura," said Tsunade, sweat dropping.
Sakura ignored that and regained her composure.
"Anyways, what are you here for?" asked Tsunade.
"We're here about Sakura's eyes. She claims to have had a dream about my fight with Itachi," said Sasuke, getting to the point.
"Ah, yes. I have been conducting more research on your eyes. Apparently, your parents are both from a clan in some village that we haven't heard of until now. We checked their profiles a little while ago, and like their surnames state, they're from the Haruno clan. But don't be disgusted, seeing as they are very distant clan members. Anyways, it does say that they had a kekkei genkai, but they refused to give out the name of it."
Sakura nodded, taking all this information in.
"Your parents are from a country near Tea Country. I think it's called Celestial Country if I'm not mistaken. If I'm correct, I distinctly remember hearing about a shinobi village there. I think it's called Tsukigakure," said Tsunade.
Sasuke was now trying very hard to stay awake.
"Oi! Okiru!" shouted Sakura, slapping him across the face.
"What was that for?!?" shouted Sasuke, rubbing the spot where Sakura's hand had made contact.
"To keep you from falling asleep, baka," said Sakura, smirking.
Sasuke shrugged and slumped in his chair.
Tsunade cleared her throat. "Anyways, as I was saying. If you want, I could give you permission to go to Tsukigakure for a couple of days to find out more about your family history. I'll give you a map showing you the quickest ways to arrive safe and sound there."
Sakura nodded. "Will it be just me by myself, or somebody will come with me?" she asked.
Tsunade folded her hands in front of her. "Well, since Uchiha is here, I guess he can go with you, too. As long as he doesn't do anything troublesome, it's fine by me."
Tsunade closed her eyes for a bit and opened them. "Oh, and Sakura. During your stay, I want you to learn some jutsu from your clan. They might help you with that technique you're trying to develop. Unless you think that your chakra reserves have grown, then never mind."
Sakura nodded.
"You're both dismissed," said Tsunade, handing Sakura a small note.
Sakura took it in her small fragile hands and bowed to Tsunade. She got a hold of Sasuke's arm and teleported them back to the house.
"Oh Sakura…if only you knew how much you have grown. I don't really see the point of you trying to learn such a dangerous technique. But then again, I guess Naruto has already rubbed off on you," said Tsunade.
She smiled inwardly to herself. "I hope those eyes will be of some use to you."
With Sasuke and Sakura…
"Let go of me, woman! I'm not a CHILD!"
"Not really a boy, not quite a man. Therefore, you are still a child. Besides, there is no such thing as a child. Just a really immature adult who is learning how to stand on their own," said Sakura matter-of-factly.
"Does that apply to you?" said Sasuke sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact, YES!" said Sakura jumping up and down.
Sasuke eyed Sakura. "You are SOOOOOO annoying!"
"And your hair looks like a chicken's ass, but I'm not complaining," said Sakura.
"Phft. Whatever," said Sasuke, looking away from Sakura.
Sakura's back was now facing Sakura.
She opened up the note that Tsunade had given her.
Dear Sakura,
I forgot to mention that Tsukigakure is only visible during the night. That means you will have to travel by night in order to get a sense of whether you're going the right way or not. By the way, make sure you watch out for missing-nin. There are a lot of savage shinobi and kunoichi on the way to Celestial Country, so be careful. Also, when you think you need help on something, just talk to this paper and it will give you my thoughts on your situation, that way, we can keep in touch. Although, it wouldn't hurt to say hi. Be sure to take the gaki, meaning Naruto. He will actually be of assistance on this mission.
Take Care,
Tsunade
Sakura folded up the note and set it on the coffee table.
"Sasuke-kun, if you need me, I'll be out by the lake with Ino-chan and the others, I need to talk to them about something, and train if we have time," said Sakura.
"All right, just don't take too long. I want you here before dinner or else I'm gonna have to eat instant ramen," said Sasuke in an I-really-don't-care-just-come-home-and-cook-for-me kind of tone.
Sakura smiled. "I won't take long."
She made her way towards the door and jerked it open. She once again ripped it off.
"KUSO!" she shouted angrily.
"You know, you should really stop doing that," said Sasuke teasingly.
"Shut up," said Sakura, sending him a death glare.
She angrily hurled the door at Sasuke, who barely dodged it.
"If you need me, PLEASE, hesitate to ask," huffed Sakura before storming off to the lake.
10 minutes later…
After having called the girls over to the lake, Sakura waited for them to arrive.
The first one to arrive was Ino, which made Sakura happy.
Ino and Sakura talked until Tenten came running, pulling Hinata behind her.
Tenten tackled Ino and Sakura into a huge bear hug while innocent little Hinata stood there panting.
She smiled at the sight of her friends. Hinata made her way towards the others and waved.
They all smiled at each other and went to the lake's shores and played in the water for a bit.
When they all had there fun, they all decided to lie under the sun, which was up in the sky, its radiating heat not showing any mercy.
They closed their eyes and stayed quiet for a long time.
Sakura was the first to break that silence.
"You guys…Sasuke-kun and I are leaving for a couple of weeks," said Sakura calmly.
Everybody sat up alarmed, except for Sakura.
"NANI?!?" shouted Ino.
"You can't leave! The annual Konoha Festival is in a couple of days!" exclaimed Tenten.
Sakura folded her arms behind her head and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, but this could be much more important than a festival."
She closed her eyes and let the sun beat down on her.
"Demo, Sakura-chan. Wouldn't it be easier on all of us if we all came with you?" asked Hinata, twirling a hair strand with her finger.
"I don't want you guys to risk your lives just because I'm going away for a bit. I promise It won't be long. Besides, if anything happened to you guys, I would never forgive myself," said Sakura, her voice rising a little bit.
Ino sighed. "It's okay then, Saku-chan. Anyways, I think you should pack and leave today. But remember, SPILL OUT ALL THE DETAILS WHEN YOU GET BACK, YOU HEARD FOREHEAD GIRL!"
"Loud and clear," said Sakura, standing up.
She stretched a bit and waved. She ran all the way to her house to find Sasuke sleeping on the couch.
"Awwwwwww…this is just so Kawaii," squealed Sakura sarcastically.
"WAKE UP SASUKE! WE'RE PACKING NOW AND LEAVING AT NIGHTFALL!!!"
This sudden outburst made the poor Uchiha wake up startled…and unfortunately for him, he fell of the couch.
He looked up at Sakura, who was smiling with triumph.
"Pack weapons and lots of clothes," said Sakura, making her way to her bedroom.
She got out her regular clothes, a plain red T-shirt that reached her all the way to mid thigh, some fishnet armbands and legwarmers, shorts, tan skirts, and her black sandals(Which reached a little below her knee).
She went into the living room and pushed aside her bookcase. A small safe was on the wall. She quickly input the combo and opened it. She snatched a couple of kunai, explosive tags, shuriken, two larger shuriken(one for her, one for Sasuke) and wire. At the back of the safe, she noticed something shiny. She squinted her eyes to get a better look.
It looked very familiar, but from where, she didn't know. She shrugged and placed all her weapons into her weapon pouch. She folded up one of the large shuriken and then placed it inside her backpack, along with her clothes and food.
The other shuriken was handed to Sasuke, who was already done packing.
Sakura looked at Sasuke. "Let's go tell Naruto to get a nice rest before coming. Plus, we need to inform him on the mission as well."
Sasuke didn't say anything, so Sakura took it as an OK.
After sunset…
Sakura lazily opened her eyes and looked over at her alarm clock.
9:25PM
She yawned and placed her hands in front of her. She turned onto her side and brushed aside some of Sasuke's hair.
"Sasuke-kun," she said softly.
Sasuke's eyes fluttered open. "That time already?" he asked lazily.
She nodded.
"Oh well, we might as well get up and tell the dobe," said Sasuke, ruffling Sakura's hair a bit.
"No need, teme."
Sasuke and Sakura looked over at the door. Naruto was leaning at the door, his arms folded across his chest.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
Sakura got out from the covers, revealing herself in a red tank top and a short-skirt combo. She quickly got out of bed and put on her black sandals.
Sasuke got out as well. He had on a black high-collar shirt and a pair of black shorts. He slipped on his sandals and was ready to go…almost.
Sakura tied on her hitai-ate as usual and winked at Naruto. Naruto caught the signal. He took out a small package from behind of him.
He handed it to Sasuke, who took it in his hands.
"Sakura-chan and I were meaning to give it to you on your birthday, but we decided that on our first mission together would also be nice," said Naruto, smiling.
Sasuke opened it, and inside, he found a three hitai-ate. One looked old and worn out, with a scratch across the Konoha symbol. The one next to it was black, and looked new. The last one was a deep blue, which also looked new.
Sasuke looked down at the headbands and smirked.
Sakura and Naruto smiled. "Aren't you gonna try one on?" asked Naruto eagerly.
Sasuke shrugged and took the blue one in his hands. He tied it around his forehead and pushed his bangs out of the way.
It felt weird having to wear a headband when he hadn't worn one in a long time, but he was okay with it.
"We're leaving now," said Sakura, stepping outside.
Naruto and Sasuke followed, and thus, began their first journey together in a loooooooooooong time.
A/N- OMG!!!!YAH! ONLY A COUPLE OF MORE DAYS UNTIL SCHOOL'S OUT!WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY!
Anyways, I think if you noticed, i changed the rating to T because honestly, I don't think I'll be able to do the lemony parts...it's to weird for somebody like me to be writing stuff like that.
oh yeah, I also need help on a few things for my next chapter. If you have an idea, feel free to message me or review, either way goes, I don't really care. so yeah...i guess that's it.
remember kids, don't drink too much strawberry milk. if you do, you'll turn stupid and hyper like me.