Mebuki's Secret
Chapter 14: Past and Present Bullies
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, if you want the real stuff get off this site
Thoughts
Paragraphs are flashbacks
Inner Sakura
(Will come out at some point)
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Recap
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"Just some things," Sakura answered as she slowed to put on her kunai pouch. "Why?"
"Because it's heavy!" Kiba whined, Sakura snickered at him and took back her bag.
"Happy?" Sakura asked as she raced off again, Kiba not far behind her.
"Yes very!" And out the front doors the two teens went, unaware of one giggling and planning woman left behind in their wake.
"We're going to black mail him aren't we?" Hana asked her mother while fanning herself with a picture.
"But of course," Tsume grinned. I can't wait till he comes home!
"… I'll see you next time ladies." Hiashi said as he made a quick retreat. Tsume is not involving me in another of one of her damned schemes…
"L-later guys," Tenten stuttered as she started for the closest window. Good luck Kiba, you're going to need it.
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End recap
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"You genin were either on the mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha or were too busy to be a part of it, the sand village aided us in our time of need; now is our chance to aid the hidden sand village." Tsunade said as she looked at the seven genin standing before her. "You are to travel to the land of rivers and aid Temari, Kankuro and Gaara Sabaku in saving the genin kunochi named Matsuri. Is that understood?"
"Yes Lady Hokage!"
"Good. Shikamaru Nara, You're in charge of the team." Tsunade ordered, Shikamaru nodded in agreement.
"Alright, the teams will be split up into two groups, one offence and one defense." Shikamaru said as he turned to the others standing beside him. "The first team will be: Kiba Inuzuka, Naruto Uzumaki, Ino Yamanaka, and myself. The second team will be primarily back up: Shino Aburame and Sakura Haruno. You are not to interject yourselves into the fighting unless absolutely necessary."
"Understood." Sakura and Shino agreed easily.
That totally sucks, Inner whined to Sakura. What's the point of going on this mission if we don't do some damage?
Medic Nin rarely ever enter fights. Sakura recited to herself.
Only the kick ass ones like Tsunade Senju of the legendary Sanin Inner countered.
"Dismissed!" Tsunade ordered, the team of genin nodded and quickly retreated from the office.
"You think Sakura's ready for this?" Shizune asked as she watched the genin disperse in different directions in the street below her.
"I'm sure she won't get into too much trouble," Tsunade replied as she shifted through some paper work. "Hmm? Well this is interesting…"
"Huh? What is it Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked as she turned away from the window.
"Oh nothing you need to worry about." Tsunade replied as she hid the paper work from view. "Isn't there some rounds at the Hospital you need to be doing?" Shizune stared at Tsunade calculatingly
"…it's over my head isn't it?" Shizune asked with narrowed eyes, Tsunade just gave her a pleasant smile and made a shooing motion. Shizune shook her head with a roll of her eyes and a fawned smile before she walked out of the office.
"Owl-san," Tsunade said, unimpressed unsurprised as the Anbu operative flashed stepped in front of her desk. "Bring Kakashi Hatake here, as quickly as possible."
"Yes Hokage-sama." And the young man disappeared just as quickly as he appeared.
As soon as he was gone, Tsunade pulled the report back out and held the picture within it before her as if she was searching for any signs that it might be faked. The image was old and it's color was worn out leaving it in a not quite version of black-and-white. It showed a familiar looking boy with long black hair and lines on his cheeks. He was dressed in Anbu gear with his mask tilted up as he spook to a smaller girl in his arms calmly, the picture even showed the crimson glow of his Sharingan eyes almost perfectly.
Sighing in defeat Tsunade leaned back in her chair and turned to look out her window broodingly. She couldn't find even a hint that the picture was a forgery.
Sakura Haruno you have some explaining to do…
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"Sakura you'll be acting as our medic," Shikamaru ordered once the majority of the team had scattered to their designated placements. "Shino you'll inform us of any additional danger to the teams and tell Sakura who's hurt and help direct her to them. That okay?"
"I won't be a part of the fight," Shino said gloomily, not really asking a question, just stating the obvious.
"Sorry man, not this time." Shikamaru grinned at the two and headed off to fallow his teammate.
"Why would they stop here in the land of rivers?" Sakura asked Shino as she sat down on the branch he was standing on. "There are other lands for them to retreat too. So why did they pick this one?"
"We will find out soon." Shino replied, giving his bugs a new order while he was at it. If anyone can come up with an answer to that question, it's either Sakura or Shikamaru.
A swarm of bugs returned to Shino just then forming the words 'trap' before dispersing and returning to their original tasks.
"I have searched the area completely, there are no traps." Shino said more to himself then the girl sitting patiently beside him.
"A trap?" Sakura repeated slowly, "Why would they…" Suddenly Sakura gasped and shot to her feet. "Gaara's Sand!" Shino turned to look at Sakura, his face hidden behind his glasses and coat.
"Gaara's ultimate defense is his sand!" Sakura nearly cried excitedly. "Sand is like putty when mixed with water! That's why they came here to the land of rivers! There are hundreds, if not thousands, of underground rivers blanketing the earth beneath our very feet! That's why this land is called 'the land of rivers'!"
"…If that's the case then you might want to go help Gaara," Shino replied pointing in the red head's direction. Turning Sakura watched as a huge water dragon took shape and splashed down on Gaara's head. He stood tall for all of three seconds after the attach, then his sand crumpled and he fell to the earth far, far below him.
"Right!" Sakura shouted as she dropped from the tree branch she was on and landed on the ground beneath her.
"Later!" Sakura called as she took off in Gaara's direction. It wasn't long before a startled shout was heard, looking down in Sakura's direction Shino sighed when he saw the reason why.
Why don't people ever stop underestimating her?
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Sakura glanced back over her shoulder just in time to watch Gaara give his opponent the finishing blow.
I sure hope he'll be okay… Sakura thought as she turned and rushed off towards her team leader's position.
I'd worry less about the guy that nearly killed us and more about the boy who saw us! Inner shrieked. Bug boy saw us defend ourselves!
And saw the chains no doubt. Sakura agreed as she summoned their current target to race out far in front of her and then yank her to its position. What are we going to do? Sakura thought as she repeated the process until she was close enough to the members of team ten and was forced to return to running.
Let's focus on queen bee for now. Inner mumbled dejectedly. We'll come up with something later. Right now the mission is more important. Sakura nodded in agreement as she landed beside her friend, one hand already glowing as she concentrated on the wound.
We'll come up with something later…
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I can't believe we didn't come up with something! Inner screeched as the leaf and Sand genin exchanged goodbyes. Sakura smiled as she caught Temari's eyes, she bowed her head and turned to watch the others. The other genin were clustered together, talking excitedly; only Shino and herself were set apart from everyone else and even they were not close together.
"Sakura-san," hearing the familiar deep voice, Sakura turned just to watch Gaara of the desert stop just a few feet shy of her, Matsuri a few feet behind him. "I wanted to thank you, give you my condolences for your late sister and apologize for—"
"There is nothing for you to apologize for Gaara-san," Sakura replied quickly. "You were only fallowing your orders; I can hardly blame you for that. As for the other matter…" Sakura smiled before she took a step back and bowed to the slightly younger boy. "…Thank you for coming to our aid."
"The mission failed," Gaara replied with a frown quickly catching on about what she was referring too. "There is no need to thank me for failing your expectations."
What in the world are they talking about? Matsuri thought as she watched the two interact. When did these two meet?
"Quite the contrary Gaara-san," Sakura giggled as she straightened. "You tried your best and that is more then I could have asked of you."
"There was no need for you to come," Gaara said after a moment of silence between the two. "You didn't need to heal me… why did you?" Sakura gave Gaara a smile that said she was somewhere far, far away.
"I'm fallowing orders… just like then and now." Sakura whispered so softly that Gaara nearly didn't hear her; with a sigh she shook her head and gave the red head an apologetic look. "It seems like every time we meet something is amiss. I hope the next time we meet it will be under better circumstances."
Every time they meet? Matsuri questioned, her head tilted to the side slightly. Something is amiss? I'm confused! What's going on here?!
Gaara nodded his head in agreement. "My apologies for your sister—"
"Don't worry about it," Sakura grinned and waved a hand at him dismissively. "It wasn't your fault, there for there's no need for you to apologize. Although thank you for your condolences, it's nice to know that there's a boy our age that has mann—"
"Hay Sakura! Hurry up!" Kiba shouted.
"—ers," Sakura sighed shaking her head with a fond smile. "My point exactly."
"Hurry up Sakura-chan!" Naruto called as he waved his hand back and forth excitedly. "Kakashi-sensei says he'll treat us to ramen when we get back!"
"Goodbye Gaara of the desert." Sakura said softly as she turned and ran to catch up with her retreating teammates.
"Gaara-sensei," Matsuri called softly as Kankuro and Temari stopped just beside them to wave at the other retreating genin. "Who was that girl? How do you two know each other?"
"We first met in the chunin exams several months ago," Gaara answered before he turned and started to walk in the direction of their village. "I tried to kill her during the final exams."
And she forgave you for that?! Matsuri thought with wide eyes. No one in our village has forgiven you for nearly killing them, why did she?!
"Sakura Haruno is a little different than most people." Temari grinned as she ruffled Matsuri's sandy locks. "She's not so different from you."
"Huh?"
"When we first met, Sakura was the definition of weak," Kankuro explained as he fallowed after his siblings, Matsuri quickly fallowing after him. "You might be younger than her by two years, but you're the same as she was."
"If your anything like Sakura, you'll change for the better." Temari said she jumped into the trees, not bothering to see if the other two would fallow her.
I still don't understand how we're alike. Matsuri thought as she stopped on a tree branch and looked back at the steadily walking away leaf genin. I hope the next time we meet, it'll be under better circumstances… and I hope that I learn just a little bit more about you.
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"Kakashi-sensei says he'll treat us to ramen when we get back!" Naruto added as he waved his hand back and forth excitedly. "Hurry up Sakura-chan!"
"Goodbye Gaara of the desert." Sakura said softly as she turned and ran to catch up with her retreating teammates.
"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura greeted her teacher as she fell back slightly from the rest of the group, the older man glanced down at her for a moment before he nodded his head in greeting.
"Anything unexpected happen?" Kakashi asked softly, just low enough that no one else could hear him.
"I found out that some bugs have multiple eyes." Sakura replied eyeing the only other genin that was actually fairly close to them. "There was one that wouldn't stop staring at me and I found it a little creepy."
"Sakura-chan any bug that spends more than a minute staring at you; is properly thinking about eating you." Kakashi replied, his eye creasing into his signature smile, ignoring how rigid a certain Aburame was walking.
"That's not very reassuring Kakashi-sensei," Sakura grumbled after a shiver rolled over her shoulders. "Can't you ever say anything that doesn't give your little genin nightmares?" Kakashi just chuckled at her, which rewarded him with a pained groan.
"As soon as we return to the village Sakura-chan," Kakashi spook lowly, ducking slightly so he was closer to her head level. "Lady Tsunade has something important to say to you."
"It's not about what I think it is, is it?" Sakura asked just as softly, Kakashi shook his head suddenly serious.
"It's about your past." Sakura heaved a sigh and nodded at her teacher.
That can't be good.
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Sakura was greeted with Anbu the second her foot stepped into the village Sakura froze and stared at them curiously with the other genin of her team. Kakashi went over to talk with them; it wasn't long before tension so thick settled around them that the seven kids could hardly breathe. After a minute, and after nearly turning blue, Kakashi turned around so fast the genin nearly missed his order: everyone go report to Tsunade together.
I'm curious… Inner mumbled looking slightly pensive as the seven genin stepped into the Hokage's building.
But at the same time... Sakura shook her head and quickened her passé, not wanting to get left behind. I'm kind of scared about what Tsunade-Saishio wants to talk about.
Sakura waited patiently as one by one each of the genin reported what had happened, what they had seen and as soon as they were done, they were dismissed. Sakura listened as Shino went, completely surprised that he left out the small attach on her, and then left. She listened patiently to Shikamaru's version; Tsunade eyed her about coming so quickly but otherwise didn't question him, and was then given permission to leave.
"Anything you'd like to add?" Tsunade asked as she gestured for Sakura to take a seat in front of her. Sakura complied without question.
"No Lady Hokage," Sakura answered calmly as she settled in the large chair, her hands folding into her lap. "Kakashi-sensei said you had questions for me?"
"You could say that." Tsunade nodded in agreement, she waved her hand and each of her protective Anbu agents left, letting in a familiar gray haired man while they were at it.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked staring at her teacher before frowning at the two adults in front of her. "What's going on?" Sakura asked, watching as Tsunade formed a hand sign and the room flashed with a bright light, temperately blinding Sakura. The pinkette blinked and rubbed at her eyes repeatedly until the black dots faded from her vision and she was able to watch Tsunade reached into a low draw for a file and then let said file drop heavily on her desk.
"What's your relation to Itachi Uchiha?" Tsunade asked her face blank and her eyes guarded.
"I'm sorry, who?" Sakura asked, her face pinching into confusion.
"Itachi Uchiha," Tsunade repeated, holding up the last picture taken of the young Anbu operative.
"Itachi Uchiha…?" Sakura whispered staring at the picture; she shook her head and locked eyes with her village leader. "I'm sorry Tsunade-sama. The only Uchiha I know of is Sasuke Uchiha, my teammate." Both older shinobi noticed how she said 'my teammate' instead of 'my old teammate'. "I don't know anyone by the name of Itachi, much less any other Uchiha's."
"Then please explain this." Tsunade said as she pulled out another picture and handed to Sakura. Sakura blinked several times at the image before tilting her head at it curiously. "That is an image of you and Itachi together just after the massacre." Sakura snorted and instantly slapped a hand over her mouth looking horrified by the action she just displayed in front of her superiors.
"I'm sorry Tsunade-sama," Sakura said hurriedly through her hand.
"Care to explain what's so funny?" Tsunade asked lowly, Sakura twitched slightly at the tone of voice used.
"Um this isn't me," Sakura said after she cleared her throat. "This is Hanako, my twin little sister."
"…Hanako…." Tsunade repeated slowly. "Since when did you have a sister? Much less a twin?"
"Since the day I was born," Sakura chuckled as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a small wallet. Not bothering to notice, or perhaps too scared to, how the two shinobi tensed then relaxed upon the sight of such a small wallet.
"The first photo was of us before the accident." Sakura said as she unwound its strings and quickly pulled out two small photos, handing them both over to Tsunade.
The first photo was of two little girls, about six or so, smiling cheerfully at the camera, each with a red Popsicle grins wherein bathing-suits and standing in a loose one armed hug in front of the beach. One little girl was wearing a deep dark blue bathing-suit that covered everything between her neck, shoulders and hips and a good portion of her thighs with an attached skirt. The other was wearing a similar bathing suit in red and white, but hers was a two piece. The girl in blue had shoulder length bright, cherry blossom pink hair. Her bangs brushed over her forehead and half heartedly covering her eyes. The girl in red had faintly pink hair that reached just below her ribs and was pulled back into a high ponytail, her bangs were long and were braided off to the sides and weaved into her ponytail. The girl in blue had bright jade green eyes and the girl in red had bright blue-green hazel eyes.
Nodding her head, Tsunade handed the photo over to Kakashi while she looked back at the other picture in her hand, immanently Tsunade's eyes widened.
"The second picture is of graduation day." Sakura said looking back down at her lap; her nails left tiny crescents in her right palm as she clenched one hand over the other.
True to her word, the picture was of the twins brightly smiling together before the academy. Sakura with her loose, slightly longer then her shoulders, bright pink hair and liquid jade eyes and Hanako with her near knee length faintly pink hair pulled into a large braded fish tail that she had pulled over one shoulder so that it spilled into her lap like a tiny faintly pink pool. Sakura was standing behind her twin with a smile that must have hurt her cheeks, her own eyes bright with pride and triumph, as if she had climbed the tallest mountain to its very top and returned unscathed.
What was surprising about the picture was that Hanako was sitting in a wheel chair and offering the head band out to the camera as if it were an offering of peace, her bright nearly neon blue eyes shining like luminescent gems.
"You mentioned an accident," Kakashi said softly from his place beside Tsunade. "What did you mean by that?" Sakura didn't look at either adult; she was content to glare hatefully at her lap as if her trembling hands were to blame for the incident.
"Sakura," Kakashi said, a hint of warning in his voice, Sakura's flinch didn't go unnoticed by either one of the older shinobi. "What happened?"
"I was returning home from the library," Sakura said slowly, her eyes still glaring at her lap. "I was going through the park and had met up with Hanako quickly after. On the way home a group of bullies found us and started to fallow after us, I noticed first." Sakura paused as if that explained everything.
"Sakura Haruno you will finish this story and you won't leave anything out." Tsunade said a hint of warning in her voice. "Do I make myself clear?"
Crystal, Inner grumbled somewhat sarcastically, Sakura ignored her as she nodded.
"I told Hanako to run home and that I'd deal with them." Sakura continued. "It was late afternoon and I didn't expect them to be so stubborn. I threw a rock at the leader, making sure she would focus on me and not Hanako. She was a spoiled brat named Ai," Sakura added lowly with a sneer at the thought of the other girl.
"She and her friends took off after me. I didn't duck into the forest until I was sure that Hanako wasn't being fallowed. I ran and ran, making sure that the other girls were just close enough to stay determined and just far enough behind not to catch me…"
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"Don't think you'll get away that easily!" Ai cried as she picked up a rock and threw it at the small pinkette's head as she ran. As soon as the rock hit the smaller girl collapsed onto the ground, immanently the three other girls jumped her and didn't let the much smaller girl get up to defend herself as they began to beat her.
"Did you think you could escape us?"
"What a worthless little girl!"
When it was over Sakura wasn't moving, if she did they'd only continue the beating until she stopped moving entirely. For now she just had to hold her breath and hope that they'd just go away and pray that Hanako made it home safely.
"Next time you better not get in our way!" Ai snapped as she grabbed each of her friend's arms, a subtitle sign for them to stop. "If we want something we'll take it, you good for nothing W***!"
"L-leave HER a-alone!" Sakura's eyes snapped open at the familiar voice, she heard the other girls as they out right laughed at Hanako. Who stood several feet away, standing with a small book clenched to her chest, her knees shaking as she stood close to a tree on the edge of the path.
"And what are you going to do if we don't?" Ai asked and as if to make a point she prompt a foot on Sakura's lower back, making the downed girl give a pained grunt at the extra weight. "You're not even in the academy like we are. What do you think you can do against us, shinobi in training? Huh?" Hanako said nothing as she sniffed, her eyes watering as she stood shakily before the group.
"I-I s-said l-leave h-her a-a-alone," Hanako stuttered out, trying to stop her tears from falling as she tried to give her best impression of her mother's warning glare. Ai and her friends just laughed at Hanako.
"What do you think you can take us on?" Ai asked with a sneer
"Not in your dreams," the tall brunet snickered. Hanako twitched at the tone of voice before she tried to steal her spin and nodded her head at the girls.
"What a joke," Ai sneered, taking a step towards the trembling girl. "Fine, you wanna get beaten like this trash" Ai nodded towards the still as a stone Sakura "then its fine by me." Hanako jerked at the threat and took a step back, her eyes wide with fear.
"Get her!" Ai ordered, Hanako gave a startled shout as she turned and started to run. She didn't get far before she tripped and landed on her wrist awkwardly, making her give out a loud pained cry.
"And you thought you could beat us? What a joke!" Ai snickered out, not noticing that her previous target was struggling to get up.
"You can't even run far!" the blonde in the group grinned as she smashed a foot against Hanako's legs while her brunet counterpart snatched up a fist full of Hanako's faintly pink locks. With a jerk Hanako let out another cry and this time Ai wasn't able to join in with her friends, she was busy giving out her own startled shout.
"Ai!" the girls shouted together, turning to stare wide eyed at their previous target. Sakura had snatched up Ai's arm and pulled it back behind the girl, pulling it up so that Ai was standing on her tip toes.
"Don't touch my sister," Sakura snarled in Ai's ear before she spun and let go of Ai, letting the purple haired girl stumble and crash face first into the nearest tree.
"You B***!" Ai cried as she held her bloody nose with one hand. "You'll pay for that!" Ai snarled as she took a threatening step towards Sakura, whose answer was to pick up a small thin stick from the ground by her feet and held it up before her like it was a sword.
"Shin! Kin! Surround her!" Ai ordered, the blonde and brunet girls seemed to hesitate before they did as they were told.
"Hanako I told you to go home," Sakura said as she took a few steps so that all three bullies were standing between her and her sister, each picked up their own stick and held the wide small branches before them threateningly.
"But—!"
"No buts!" Sakura shouted as Ai charged her. Sakura blocked the violet haired girl's attach with one hand while she jabbed the stick into Ai's shoulder, making the other girl give out a cry as she quickly retreated. "I ordered you to go home!"
Shin and Kin then jumped in together, considering they were both from shinobi clans they were able to work together to beat Sakura away from Ai. But they weren't the only ones with a bit of Shinobi training.
Sakura gritted her teeth until she felt more then heard the grinding of bones mashing together. Her mother's style of fighting was still too advanced for her, but she could use at least some of the moves taught to her. Sakura dodged and ducked around the large sticks, her eyes sharp as she countered the three nearly brawling girls.
Not noticing her back now faced her sister, Sakura took a step back, her foot creating a soft crescent in the dirt as she lowered herself and let her much smaller stick come up and jab Ai on the inside of her arm while she moved her other foot into a harsh side kick that connected with Shin's side. Kin jumped down her then from behind her two friends, forcing Sakura to block with her stick while she spun out of the way, letting the brown haired girl's momentum carry her to the ground.
The problem with the pinkette's plan was that while Kin was falling uncontrollably, so was Sakura.
With a scream, Sakura thrust one hand out to her three bullies, as if in one final effort to grab something to stabilize her. The three other girls were still recovering from their failed attach and couldn't move towards her, but there was someone else who saw what was happening, someone who could stop Sakura from falling fifteen feet straight down.
Hanako snatched onto Sakura's outstretched hand with so much force that the other pinkette's momentum pushed her in a new direction.
With a cry Hanako and Sakura switched places…
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So what'd ya think?
If you have questions don't be afraid to ask
If you have suggestions, don't be afraid to say something!
Suggestions are helpful
Opinions are loved
Flames are welcome!
Just don't cripple me! (And NO CURSING!)
VOTES: (Yes I did forget about it... sorry)
Not incest, crib robbing or just plain eww 3
Undecided (Sakura-centric) 1
Sai (totally forgot about him…)
Choji
Kankuro
Kiba
Shino
Lee
Haku 3
Sasuke 3
Kakashi 4 ( father figure)
Shikamaru 4
Neji 10
Gaara 17
Itachi 26
Naruto -1, shock event, 29+
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