I know I know... the suspence was horrible.... buuuutttt... HERE YOU GO!!! HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!!! Review after you read please!!!!
~~~Chap 14~~~
His eyes glanced down my body, I fought the shiver that traveled down my spine. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. What is yours, little girl?" A small smirk grew on his face. Shukaku growled in my head.
"Don't tell him your last name, girl. I have a bad feeling about this one." Shukaku growled inside my head. I mentally nodded.
"Shakana." I said and gave him a little bow. "Today's my birthday, I just turned 14." I beamed at him. I was glad that I was old enough to be somebody.
"Well, Shakana, I hope you have a wonderful birthday." Sasuke nodded to me politely and started turning. "Now if you'll excuse us, we need to be on our way." I watched them as they headed for the gate.
My mind was swirling with questions. Who were they, and why were they leaving so quickly? They couldn't have been here for more then a day! I stared at their backs until they were lost in the crowd.
"Let's get moving. I don't like this feeling." Shukaku disappeared from my mind after he said that.
I sighed and started running back through the forest. He was right, I didn't like the feeling either. I've never felt like this, and I didn't know what it ment. I felt uneasy, like something was about to happen. My heart jumped as I thought about the work site. I pumped my legs faster, I needed to get back as quickly as I could.
My sand reached out and grabbed the falling piler, inches from squishing a women. I pulled it back and put it back in place, holding it with the sand as the men fixed its binding and nailed it. Mom was helping the women get back to her feet when I ran over, my arm still stretched out towards the piler. My breathing was heavy from running so fast, I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life. I watched as moms hand started glowing with a green light, she pressed it to the womens arm that was bleeding. I was always amazed when I saw mom heal someone. She has tried teaching me how to do it before, but I could never figure it out. She said that it was something that took time, her and Hinata were the only ones that could do it, Anna was still learning, at the same stage as me.
"You'll be alright. Why don't you take a break?" Mom said as she helped the women off the ground. The women nodded and walked off. Mom took a deep breath and turned to face me as she let it out. "Where did you go? That Kara could have been killed!"
"I'm sorry mom. Really." I was about to tell her about the man, but I suddenly felt like it was something that should be talked about in privet, and with dad around. "I... I need to get back to work." I turned on my heal and started walking away, there was plenty I could do.
Most of the house was already done, it would take just a few more hours to finish it. This was the quickest house I've ever built. I went inside and used the sand to hold up the walls so that they could nail it into the wall. While I stood there I thought about that man that I met. It was like he knew who I was even before I told him my name, the way he was looking at me. And the other man, it looked like he was holding back a smile when I beamed up at them. I think he knew who I was also. I would definitely have to talk to mom and dad about them, or at least that Uchiha guy. I've never heard of him before, but it seemed like he knew me my whole life. Like he knew mom or dad. It was weird. I didn't like what I felt when I thought of him, I've never felt this way before, Shukaku wasn't to happy about this guy either. He kept putting images in my head of me cutting his throat, I didn't mind those.
"Earth to Shakana." A hand waved past my face, I jumped back in surprise, all of the sand falling to the floor. I gasped for breath and looked up at Hadden, he was smiling with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" I breathed.
"We need help moving stuff inside of the house, it wont fit through the door. Your mom said that you can teleport things?" He looked a little unsure as he ended. I smirked and held my hand out to him. He carefully took my hand.
"Of course I can!" I made the sand wrap around us and poof us out of sight. We reappeared outside of the house next to a few big things. He backed away from me, ripping his hand from mine. I just smiled ans started using the sand to get things in the house. Mary was standing next to me in a few seconds, tell me what rooms to put what in. Once the job was done, I looked back at Hadden. "I'm sorry if I scared you." I whispered and looked down.
"No... it's fine. That was kind of cool, actually." I looked up to see him grinning. "Can you do it again?"
I smiled and nodded. "Where to?" I slipped my hand in his as he thought it over.
"The cliff we were on last night."
I nodded and let the sand wrap around us once again. It was much harder to teleport something besides myself at once. This was the first time I've tried it, no one would ever let me, and dad refused to be carried around by the same sand he could control. When I opened my eyes we were standing on the cliff.
A breeze blew against us, my hair blew over my face and his ruffled, gliding across his forehead. I smiled at him and let go of his hand. I looked up at the sky and sat down. Where had the day gone? The setting sun turned the sky a pinkish red color. It always reminded me of mom and dad. The way they were so perfect for each other. I wished I could find someone like that for me. I looked over at Hadden as he sat next to me. Anna already had a crush on Dagan, and I think he likes her back. The way he flirted with her and was always asking where she was. This was only their second day here, but it already seems like a life time. It was weird how that happened, you met someone one day, and then the next feel like you've known them your whole life.
Shukaku chuckled in my head, flashing a rather embarrassing picture of me and Hadden. I blushed and quickly looked away from him. The heat in my cheeks grew hotter when another picture was showed to me. I mentally cursed at the demon, he only laughed louder.
Later that night I sat on moms bed with her. We were drinking a small cup of tea, dad was in my room fixing the dresser for me. My mind was on those men from earlier, I could tell moms mind was just as far from here as mine was.
"Hey mom?" I broke the silence and looked at her. She jumped out of her thoughts and looked at me.
"Yeah? What is it?" I hesitated, but she spoke before me. "Shakana, don't ever be afraid to talk to me about stuff. I'm here to listen." She gave me a small smile and set down her tea. "Now, tell me what's on your mind."
"Well," I took a deep breath and decided to start from the beginning, or around there. "you know who I ran off earlier today? When we were building the house?" She nodded with a confused expression. "Well, I did that because I heard something. I had heard it this morning, and I wanted to know what it was. I followed the sound and it lead me to the market place... where I met two men."
"Who?"
"I... I only know ones name, the other didn't say. I've never seen them here before. Shukaku got all defensive like." I stopped when I heard dad open the door and walk in. He crossed his arms and waited for me to continue. It must be big if it concerns Shukaku. "He walked like he owned everything. Um... his name was Uchiha Sasuke." Dad's back went strait as a rod, mom gasped and moved away from me. "What? Who is he?" I glanced back and forth between them. It seemed like it was something I would need to know.
"Where is he?" Dad growled.
"I-I... he left. After I talked to him, they headed for the gate." I've never seen dad act this way, and I've never seen mom so scared. Her eyes kept darting around the room, only resting for a brief second on me and dad. "I don't know."
"What did he say to you?"
"He... um," It took me a minute to think it over. I told him it was my birthday, and my fist name. He told me his and that he hopes I have a good birthday. Then he said he was leaving. That's all that I could remember. "He wished me a happy birthday then said he needed to leave. That's it."
"What about the other man? Who was he? What was his name?" Mom started to panic, I felt bad for bringing it up now.
"I... I don't know. He didn't say anything to me, but he did whisper something to Sasuke."
"What did he look like?" Her hands grabbed my arms in a tight grip. It hurt.
"He had brown hair and eyes. His head looked like a pineapple." I tried to remove her hands from my arms, it hurt really bad. Her hands only tightened. I was starting to panic that Shukaku would hurt her if she kept this up. He didn't tolerate anyone touching me. Mom and dad was his only exception, but this was going to far. "Mom, let go!" I was trying to pry her hands off, but they wouldn't move. The sand was starting to churn, ready to attack. "Dad!" I glanced at him, he was still frozen. "Dad! Help me!" My cry made him unfreeze, he saw what was going on.
"Sakura." He pulled her away from me and across the room. I stayed on the bed, my eyes filling with tears. "Sakura, it's alright. He wont touch you." My heart skipped a beat at that. He had hurt mom? When? How? "I won't let either of you out of my sight." He glanced at me quickly. "Stay with her."
"Where are you going?!" I jumped up from the bed and ran over to him, grabbing his arm before he could teleport out of the room.
"I'm getting Temari to come watch over you two so that I can go talk to Naruto." He pushed the hair from my eyes and bent down to kiss my hair. "I'll be right back, I promise." I nodded and took a step back, watching as he vanished from the room.
"S-Shakana?" I looked down at mom, she was shaking. Her arms reached out to me.
"I'm here mom." I whispered and sat down next to her on the floor. She quickly pulled me into her arms and hugged me tightly. "What's going on? Who is he?"
"Sasuke is a very bad man." She whispered. "He is the ruler of a large city, Konoha. When I was pregnant with you, well, before any of us knew, he took me away. I lost my memory so I thought what he told me was true, I thought you were his child. He tricked me and hurt your father. A long time ago, when I was your age, I lived in that city. There was this rule that the last child born, if there was more then two kids already in the family, they were to be taking away from their family. I was one of those kids. They put me in the military. I was only fifteen then. When I turned seventeen Sasuke noticed me. I asked him about it once, he said that my hair made me stand out, so he watched me more. He liked the way I moved, the way I talked, everything about me. The whole time I was pregnant with you, I was with him. I was starting to remember things by then, but they were in my dreams, so I didn't think they were real. I met your father again one night, thanks to Naruto. I helped them escape from the jail, even though I didn't know who they were." She stopped talking for a few seconds and took a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry for hurting you." She finally whispered. "I was just scared that he hurt you, I was afraid that he would take you away like he did me." I felt one of her tears fall on my cheek.
"Who was the other man?" I whispered after a few minutes of silence.
"That was Nara Shikamaru, his general." She gave a small sad chuckle. "I'd know that head anywhere. He was one of my two friends when I lived at the palace. The other one was a girl, Yamanaka Ino. She was my friend ever sense I joined the military. That's where we met. She's like a sister to me, or was. I haven't seen her sense that day I left with Naruto and Gaara." Mom took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Your father will be back soon, let's get ready."
"For what?" I stood with her and watched as she started walking from the room.
"The meeting. The elders will have to know about this. It's big. To have him slip through or security like that, someone must be helping him."
"You think someone from in our village is helping him? Why would they do that?" I followed her into the living room and sat down on the couch, she walked over to stare out the window.
"Because they are against your father."
I nodded even though she couldn't see me. I laid back on the couch and started to think. Shukaku had been rather quiet for the last few minutes, he was deep in thought like me. But his direction of thinking was much different then mine. He was thinking of people who wouldn't be loyal to daddy, I was thinking about what it ment that Sasuke had some here. A few peoples faces flashed around in my head, but I tried to ignore his train of thought and tried to think about why he would come here. I came up with three reasons. 1. To kill daddy. 2. To hurt mom or take her away again. 3. To check out our defensive structure to see where our weaknesses were. He could be planing to attack... by when and why?
'What do you think, Shukaku?' It was rare I asked him on what he thought about a situation, but now seemed like a good idea.
"I don't like it, that's for sure. Be careful when you are walking around from now on. You can't trust anyone anymore." A picture of mom and dads scared faces when I said Sasuke's name flashed before my eyes. "We need more information. There is something else going on. You need to sneak away from you parents for me to find out. We have to leave and follow the path."
'What path?'
"I don't know yet. But I feel like I know that way somewhere. Somewhere important." He sighed in my mind. "I wish I didn't loose my memory when I switched to your mind. You don't know how this makes me feel not knowing what I used to." His voice faded as he finished speaking. I let him go, I could feel it, too.
Dad reappeared in the room, seconds later Temari and Kankuro came bursting through the door. I sat up and watched what happened.
"Stay here with them." Dad ordered as he vanished again.
Aunt Temari sighed and hugged mom, she was whispering softly to her. Temari's hazel eyes flickered to me and away. Uncle Kankuro was quiet for once. I didn't get why. Was it really this big? What didn't I know that Shukaku was trying to remember? Could they tell me? That's not the right question, would they tell me, is better. And I don't think they would. It didn't seem like something everyone was so willing to tell. Mom had been hesitant when she told me about him in the bedroom. I needed to get away.
"I'm going to go get Anna." I said quickly and ran from the room. My feet were fast, they didn't even have time to look up before I was out the door. As I ran I heard mom's voice yelling for me, followed my Temari and Kankuro. Kankuro's feet started trailing after me, but he was no where as fast as I was.
'Okay, Shukaku, lead me.' I thought and closed my eyes.
"Very well." there was no danger in his voice. I was comfortable with him taking over my legs, I could stop him that much if needed.
My feet carried me onward. I didn't look as we ran, I was consecrating on listening for someone following me. I could hear no one. Everything was quiet behind me, so I risked looking up, I wish I hadn't. Dad was standing up the road from me, his arms crossed. I retook controle of my legs and skidded to a stop, if I hadn't looked, Shukaku would never have stopped.
"What are you doing?" He growled at me. I huffed as I stood in front of him. We were at the edge of the village, near the gates. "Shakana..." His voice had threatening tone to it.
"I-I-I..." My mind was stuck. I didn't know what to say. 'Oh I'm just letting Shukaku take over and lead me to a place where I have no clue about.' That didn't seem right. I don't think he would let me leave his sight even to go the bathroom after that.
"Home. Now." He pointed back down the road I just came from.
"No." I straightened my back and stood tall in front of him. "I need to do something. It's important."
"What is it?" He said slowly, I could hear his grinding teeth from here.
"I..."
"Well?"
"I don't really know." I said in a low voice. My eyes darted to the ground, refusing to meet his gaze. "But I know I have to."
He didn't talk. When I looked up he was looking at the gates with a blank face. I stared at him, hoping he would understand. My heart thudded as he turned to face me again. His face was still blank, but his eyes were torn. He felt it, too. I silently thanked Shukaku. Shukaku is still part of daddy, he must now feel what I felt because of him. I shifted on my feet uncomfortably. Was he letting me go? Or was he thinking about going himself, alone?
"Go home." I was right. Dad started walking towards the gates alone.
"I'm going with you." I started walking after him, a sand wall blocked my way. With sweep of my hand, it vanished. "You can't stop me. And you know it."
"Are you going against your village leader?" He asked in the alfa tone that he sometimes got when someone disobeyed him.
"Yes." I said like it was nothing, I didn't stop walking. I stopped in front of him and looked him strait in the eye. "I am going to find out what this is. I will go against your will if I have to."
"But you wont have to, Shakana." I turned around sharply to see mom and my aunt and uncle. "We are coming too." Mom winked at me and stared at dad. "I have as much rule as you do, Gaara." She said in a low voice. "I say she goes, as long as we are with her."
Dad sighed and turned away from us. Mom walked up to my side and put her hand on my shoulder, smiling down at me. I smiled back, and we both turned to see what dad said. Aunt Temari came up on my other side, Uncle Kankuro stood behind us.
"Let's go before anyone sees." Dad finally growled and started walking away with a quick pace.
I smiled up at mom and ran to catch up with him. I walked by dad's side, letting Shukaku take over my legs again. I could feel dads eyes on my as he felt what I did. I smiled at him and broke into a run, they followed. We ran for about a half hour. Then I caught the sent of smoke in the air, my legs stopped. Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me against a tree, him blocking me.
"There's someone down there." I whispered to him, he nodded, he smelt it, too. Shukaku gave us super powers. Or something like that anyway. I liked to think of it that way, like I had super powers. Kind of like the people in the stories mom used to tell me when I was little.
Dad motioned to mom and the others, they were to stay hidden. "Stay." He whispered and vanished. I sighed and started walking out of my hiding spot. They weren't close enough to see me anyway.
I crouched close to the ground and walked like that, my head just below the bushes. My leg stretched far apart with every step, I got to where dad was in a few seconds. He glanced down at me when I stood taller to see what he was glaring at. His head didn't move, any thing could alert the... thousands... of... people... below... My mouth dropped when I saw all of the tents set up in the huge field. The tents covered the whole field, maybe twenty feet in on each side from the trees. People were walking from all over the place, there were a lot of them. I've never seen so many humans in one spot, there were more people in this one field then there was in our whole village.
I risked a glance at dads face, he was looking somewhere in the crowd of people. I looked where he was looking, it was Sasuke. He was standing just outside of the biggest tent talking with a blond women who wore a purple fighting outfit. She was tying her long blond hair in a high ponytail, nodding to what ever he was telling her. The man with the pineapple head, Shikamaru mom had said, came up with a large man with bright red hair, almost as bright as mine. He had swirls on his cheeks and was eating something. Thanks to Shukaku I could see all of this, if it wasn't for him, I would only see the mass of people and that would be it. I took a deep breath and slowly crawled back to where mom was.
I grabbed her hand and gently pulled her away from the place, I didn't want her to freak out again. I took her a little bit away, so we could talk without risking being heard, aunt Temari followed us.
"What is it?" She whispered.
I looked at her for a few seconds, I didn't want to tell her, but she needed to know. And dad wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I could still see his figure by the bushes. "Sasuke." I whispered after a few seconds, she froze. "You said he was the ruler of that town, Konoha, right?" She nodded stiffly. "Well it looks like he brought his whole guard with him. Mom, we need you to look, you're the only one that would know who is there, and if it really is the whole guard. Please mom, for the village." I waited for her answer. I glanced at Aunt Temari, she was looking at where dad was.
"Send Kankuro back with the message, tell them to get ready for battle." She whispered looking at Temari. "Make sure all of the women and children get out, we will be back shortly. I want both of you to go, send me Naruto and Kiba, no one else." Temari nodded and slipped away towards Kankuro. As soon as aunt Temari started moving, mom was walking towards Dad, going into the same crouch I had done.
I followed mom and stood next to her. She was scanning the ground for what ever. Her eyes rested on where Sasuke stood talking with the red haired man and Shikamaru, a shiver ran down her as she saw Sasuke. I grabbed her hand, as did dad. I looked around again and my eyes stopped on that blond women. She was laughing at something one of the men in silver was saying. She was really pretty, beautiful even. She was about as tall as mom, if not a little taller. Her hair was longer then mine, and mine reached down to my waist. Hers reached that far when she had it up.
"Ino..." A whisper came from mom, I turned to look at her. She was staring at the blond women, a tear fell from her eye. That was Ino? I looked back at the blond women and tried to match her to moms explanation of her. Blond hair, bright blue eyes, slim, perfect skin, and flirts with every man in sight, yup, that was her. I smiled and looked back up at mom, she was crying silently. My smile turned into a frown as I looked back at the women.
This wasn't good. Not at all. If we had to fight them, Ino would have to die. I swallowed the lump in my throat. So would her old friend, Shikamaru. They would all have to die.
Ino was talking with some guy again, smiling and laughing. I watched and turned my head to the side. She could get all the guys she wanted... because she isn't a monster, I thought bitterly. I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them again, the womens eyes darted up to the bushes and started looking around them, Dad grabbed my arm and slowly pulled me down, it would be easy to see my bright red hair. I followed mom away in a low crouch.
We raced away to a safe spot, where they wouldn't find us no matter how hard they tried. Mom and dad knew this place like the back of their hand. They knew where we could hide without being seen. Dad grabbed me and lifted me up into a tree, mom jumped up beside me. We both started climbing to the top, dad right behind us.
"I saw something over here." A voice came from a little bit away. Moms arm pulled me close to her side and she rested her head on my shoulder, it was Ino's voice.
A few people came into view, the one with long red hair, Shikamaru, and Ino. She was looking around her hair flung around her face with a hard wind that blew.
"You're so troublesome, Ino. There's nothing out here." Shikamaru sighed. I felt mom shake with laughter at this. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, she was covering her mouth, she found something to be funny about this.
"What was that?" Ino whispered. They all froze, so did mom. Her arms tightened around me and she hid her face in my shoulder. Dad's arms wrapped around us both, pulling us back a little.
"I heard something, too." The man with red hair rumbled. His voice was deep and he was just shorter then Shikamaru.
"Stop over reacting, Choji. There's nothing there." Shikamaru's voice sounded like he was about to doze off at any second, I leaned into mom when she took a deep breath. It was quiet, but the people below us froze. "Sh." Shikamaru snapped at them. His eyes searched around the area, his body fully on alert. "Spread out." His hand pointed in two different directions. Ino and the man, Choji, nodded and started slipping off, pulling out small knifes.
"Let's go." Dad whispered slowly and quietly. Mom and I nodded, a small nodded, barely noticeable, but he knew that we were doing.
Once they were enough away, we all jumped down and started running a way that they wouldn't see us. Mom and Dad ran ahead, I followed a few feet behind. My mind was racing. Mom had laughed, she laughed at the lazy sound in that mans voice. Dad had hugged us when they heard it. Did that mean they were dangerous? Was those moms old friends that she talked about in her sleep?
"Stop! Who are you?!" My feet automatically stopped and I spun around.
I stared at the figure through the fog. They were panting heavily, I was a little. My body was crouched low to the ground from stopping so fast, it was a mistake to stop. I slowly stood as the fog cleared, Ino was standing there, the wind gently tossing her blond hair around. She was staring at me with big eyes.
"Sakura?" She whispered, taking an unconscious step towards me. I tucked my red hair behind my ear as I stared at her. "No... Who are you?" She was staring into my eyes, the same eyes as my mothers.
I didn't utter a word. My heart was pounding, what had I done? I shouldn't have stopped. I should have kept running. I was putting my village in danger of being found by standing here. But I couldn't move. My legs were frozen in place.
"Ino?" Shikamaru walked up next to her, my heart started pounding louder, I was out numbered. "Ino, what's wrong?" He looked at her face frozen in shock. He sighed and followed what she she was looking at, his eyes met mine. He seemed to freeze, his eyes wide. The other man, Choji, I think, walked up munching on some food, he saw me and continued to eat. "Who...." Shikamaru's voice trailed off. He stared at me as he took a few steps closer to me. I still couldn't move. "Who are you?"
The wind blew my hair, making it cross my face. I blinked and slowly opened my eyes and stared back. I knew he remembered me from the village, but he seemed to look at me closer now. He was analyzing my strength. Seeing how easy it would be for him to take me down. I stared back. If I was fighting him alone, just us, I had a good chance of winning, or getting away. But none of the plans that were forming in my head would work with the other two still here. Shikamaru's hand reached out to touch me, I took a small step back. He was like three four feet from me, but I didn't want him getting any closer, where he was, it was already pushing the line.
"Please..." Ino took a step forward so that she was standing next to Shikamaru. "tell us. We promise not to hurt you." She whispered. "You remind me of an old friend, I thought you were her at first. You have the same eyes. What's your name, little girl?"
I scowled at her. She gasped and took a step back. I had learned to glare from the best. Mine was almost as bad as daddies can get. "I'm not little." I hissed.
"Of course not." Shikamaru said quickly. "That's not what she ment. You are still young compared to us, though. I'm sorry that she upset you, Shakana." He said my name with a sort of tone that I didn't like. "I saw you in that village. Did you have a good birthday?" He smirked at me. I didn't like where this was going. Maybe I underestimated this guy, he remembered really well. I stared back in shock. "Being 15 is a big job. Are you sure you can handle it?"
My glare intensified as I stared him down. Now he was making fun of me. I started to raise my fisted hand, but a hand rested on my shoulder, Shikamaru straitened and backed up. I glanced up at daddy, he was glaring at the three. I looked back at them with a blank face. They had no idea what they were in for now. A smirk slowly spread on my face. I couldn't wait to see what daddy was going to do to them.
"G-Gaara." Shikamaru stuttered, his eyes big.
"Don't ever... try touching my daughter again." Gaara hissed in a low voice. Their eyes widened as they stared from him to me and back. I took a step closer to dad and rested my head on him. I was glad that he was here.
"S-S-S-Sakura?" Ino gasped. I stared at her confused. She knew that I wasn't mom. I didn't even really look like her, well, I did have her eyes, and maybe her figure, but still-
"Ino."
.... whoa... haha!! Review so that I know how you like it!! Good or bad, what ever will help me as a writer!!! I'm turning 15 in a few days, so I'm not like the best writer in the world, it would help to get a few reviews that help me learn. Thanks guys!!!