Finally I'm back :) exams are over and they went pretty good giving me even more thrill to go on writing path of life!
because of the long wait, here are two chapters!
HAVE FUN!!!
_
The trees were passing by rapidly, moving like haunting ghosts through the shadows of the night.
The dim light from the stars made it even harder to watch through the darkness and the shadows of the trees and the animals of the woods deceived every pair of eyes that tried to make anything out.
Sakura forced her eyes to shut for a brief second, since they were hurting after having them wide open for so long. She felt too alert to calm her senses. She could feel the muscles around her eyes stiff and it even hurt to blink.
Her throat felt dry, and the permanent stabbing from her wound on her lower stomach was frustrating her.
Naruto was calmly, and silent as a cat, running beside her, his eyes always observing his surroundings.
She envied him for looking so cool and calm while they were trying to run away unnoticed and unheard through the woods that surrounded Konoha.
Maybe it had to do with some sort of training jonins got. Or maybe it was just how Naruto functioned.
She could remember very few times that she had actually seen Naruto very nervous or afraid. He was this type of person who saw everything in its bright side. What helped him had to be this strange ability of his to not give up, Sakura thought.
He always kept fighting…
He always had the last word to say…
Unlike me, she thought as her eyes kept scanning widely open the forest around her.
I wish I had at least one little piece of this determination and calm of his.
Maybe then, my perspective of this world wouldn't be so black…
The more she thought of it, the more it ate her from the inside. Kuroi's continuous appearances, Madara being supposedly after her, Kakashi being stuck in the hospital, and now tricking people who always protected her; Yamato-sensei, Tsunade and Shizune…
They would think she didn't trust them anymore with this decision of hers to leave.
But still, her mind was stuck there, like there was no other option. And she knew there were always other options, but for some reason every fiber of her being felt like this was the best to take.
Yet, it was not…
And she had taken Naruto down this dirty road as well.
I was stubborn and selfish, she thought heavy-hearted.
But… this has to end…
Madara has to be defeated…
No more need to disappear or die…
No more…
"Sakura! Halt it!"
Sakura flinched and almost tripped over a tree branch, but swiftly managed to stay on her feet as she turned to see Naruto kneel on the ground behind her.
"What is it?" she asked worried that she had missed any sign of danger.
He glanced at her with a frown.
"Someone has been following us a long time now."
Sakura gasped, shame falling over her shoulders as she hadn't realised a thing.
She scanned around tightening her black cloak around her body.
"I've been trying to draw their attention, by leaving markings in different spots and even though we've been moving in circles they seem rather persistent-!"
"We've been moving in circles?" Sakura wondered.
Naruto's look frightened Sakura for it seemed like something was not matching. That something was wrong.
How come they've been moving in circles and she hadn't noticed, she thought listening to the increasing beating of her heart.
Naruto was about to speak, but they heard some cracking and they both froze in their steps.
Sakura shot her right hand to her shurinken holster tied around her right thigh and grabbed four shurinken between her fingers.
They both jumped up the trees, landing on different branches. Naruto was holding one kunai in each hand scanning the darkness.
Only cries of owls and the song of the crickets echoed in the silent forest.
It all seemed to be normal again, when that same cracking sound echoed again.
Sakura noticed that Naruto had fixed his eyes on one spot and she followed him. But her angle from that position only showed trees towards that direction. Shadows playfully danced creating strange figures. For a moment she swore she saw a black cloak dance around shadows of arms holding something.
She blinked and looked there again, but it was clear they were only shadows from the leaves.
Sakura realized she was panting and the shurinken were now slipping due to the sweat on her palms.
Wake up! She heard all of a sudden her inner voice shout and Sakura dropped one of the shurinken.
Sakura searched for Naruto but he was no longer on the opposite tree branch.
She felt her heart stop and looked around.
What happened, she thought, fear flooding her heart and numbness take over her limbs.
She jumped down grunting with the stab through her wound.
Naruto was standing there and some strange silhouette was standing next to him.
She came closer and gasped with surprise.
"Chie-chan!"
Chie was kneeling on the ground next to an unconscious Yamato who was dressed in his ANBU uniform.
"What are you doing here?" she asked looking down at Yamato.
She could feel Naruto's stare scanning her, but she tried not to give much attention to it.
Something had happened just now that caused her to black out, and Naruto seemed to have noticed. She hadn't been herself ever since they left Konoha. She hadn't realized that they had been followed and it seemed she had agreed for Naruto and her to move in circles to confuse them, but that she couldn't remember. And what happened just now…
Was she imagining things…
Had she, perhaps, been casted under some genjutsu again…
"What did you do that for?" Naruto woke suddenly Sakura from her deep thoughts.
She glanced at him seeing him looking at Chie.
Chie was wearing a small backpack and was dressed in a traveler's outfit, a long dark cloak was hanging over her shoulders and was wearing a dress over short leggings and bandages were tied around her thighs.
"I followed him following you, and I guessed that he was one of those weird shinobi who had been following Sakura-san all this time. I had been watching them a long time now following you supposedly invisible. Well, I guess they were invisible for you!" Chie chuckled and looked at Sakura.
Sakura frowned. It still felt her mind was too blank to remember anything.
Why did everything seem to be so distant…
"You need to go back, Chie-chan!" Naruto told her in a serious tone.
"No way! I helped you out here with this guy. He had already called for reinforcements to catch you. He was really determined to not let you go. But if we run quickly and -!"
"We? Chie, you're going back as Naruto said! What we do has nothing to do with you. Please go!" Sakura shot harshly.
Chie look concerned at her.
"Why? I can help! Whatever it is you're going to do, I won't stand in your way. I just… want to help!" Chie argued.
"I said no! It's too dangerous!" Sakura said strictly.
Naruto glanced at her with a worried frown.
"Sakura-chan!"
"What? I said no! Only Naruto is coming with me! Chie, you're going back now!" Sakura growled, feeling suddenly her insides too heavy to bear.
"But-!"
"Chie, shut up and go!" Sakura said with a voice she herself couldn't recognize. It was hoarse and deep and filled with anger.
Anger about some reason she couldn't determine, anger for things she didn't know. And now the decision to leave, the plan to find out what Madara was after, the fight that awaited and the end that was closing by were like a monster ready to swallow her…
None of it was Chie's fault, or Naruto's. And now she was disappointing them both. She was disappointing them all…
"Sakura, you've changed!" Chie said silently like she couldn't believe what she was saying.
Sakura frowned shocked.
Chie was looking deep in her eyes. She moved closer, almost touching Sakura with her nose. Sakura was slightly taller than the girl, but under this intense stare of hers she felt so small.
Chie was able to see through people's souls by simply searching the emotions drawn on someone's face.
Sakura felt unable to move.
Chie tried to search Sakura's face, and her lips were pressed together while her eyes were drawn with great wonder and worry. The silence that followed made Sakura lose her breathing rate.
"Why are you always leaving, Sakura?"
Sakura gasped. Her lips parted, but the words she wanted to say faded into thin air.
"What?" is all she managed to say.
"Why are you always leaving? Why are you always giving up? Why?" Chie shouted at her.
Her dark brown eyes got watery and Sakura got lost in those sparkling diamonds.
Indeed, why?
Why was she so weak. Why did it feel that everything she did always let someone down.
"You really think all will look up to you if you just go by yourself to find that strange guy and get yourself killed? You really think they will remember you as a hero?"
Sakura couldn't feel her hands anymore. The words swirled in her head like annoying insects and the song of the crickets felt like a drill through her skull.
Just like Chie's painful stare…
"If you do think like that, then you're surely mistaken! What you're doing is wrong! You'll only hurt more people's feelings like that!"
"Chie, you have no idea why I'm doing this!" Sakura said finding her normal voice again and was about to step away.
It felt like a thousand kunais were forced through her body being under this stare of hers. But Chie grabbed her forearms tight.
"Then tell me, Sakura! This is no simple mission you're going, is it? You're going to give yourself up, right?" Chie insisted.
"You're wrong, Chie-chan!" Naruto said suddenly.
"Did he tell you this?" Sakura asked glancing at the unconscious Yamato.
"No, I guessed it myself knowing you!"
"Then you don't know me at all!" Sakura shot and forced herself free from Chie's grip.
"Sakura, this is the problem! I've been watching you, and it seems you're acting this way with everybody! Nobody knows who you are!"
Sakura froze and turned around to look at Chie. She noticed Naruto looking at his feet with the corner of her eyes.
"What are you talking about?"
"Sakura, you know how much I look up to you! When I first met you, you… you were a mess. But still you gave me all the attention I was looking for! No one saw me like a real kunoichi before, because of my lack in proper shinobi education. But… you did and ever since, I promised to myself to become as strong as you! I watch how you fight, I try to find out what you're thinking during battle and I try to become like you! But… " Chie looked away for the first time from Sakura's eyes to dry her tears. "… ever since we came to Konoha together, and you were always in secret meetings with this Hokage, or Naruto, I noticed that… you've changed."
Chie sighed.
"You became too focused in things I didn't know. I was shut out from you. But not only me! I noticed how you were acting weird with my mum, with Kakashi-sama, with everyone who came to visit you in the hospital! It was like you suddenly turned back to that mess you were when we first met. Like you can't see beyond your own pain, like being with people who care about you is too much to handle! I… I feared you'd do something stupid, but Naruto assured me you were fine, so I tried to calm down." Chie said and paused looking down at her palms.
"But I had this feeling that something was not right and that's when I followed you this afternoon to some old house. You were in so much pain, and I knew that this pain I had once seen rotting your heart had returned." Chie looked up at Sakura.
Sakura inhaled with difficulty, feeling like being awakened from a bad dream.
Hearing her friend say these words, it was like she herself was unable to determine all that made her heart so heavy, but Chie knew.
Knowing though, didn't soothe this heaviness.
That monster that was threatening to eat her alive was always there. Haunting her even when she was awake, lurking in the corners of her mind.
The pain that was rotting my heart, she thought.
Was it really changing her. Was it the real reason she felt so ashamed with everything she did. Was it this that she wanted to abandon everyone so badly and leave everything behind, hoping that when she returned it all would change to the better…
Was she so wrong…
Her head felt too heavy and she let it fall touching her collarbone with her chin.
It's not everybody else that has changed… it's me! The inner voice said.
"Sakura! Please, don't shut us out! It's better you don't fight this on your own." Chie said, like she had regretted for being so honest before. She approached Sakura and hesitated to touch her hand.
"Chie! Please go!" Sakura repeated, unable to make this one step forward she so deeply desired to do. She wanted to tell, she wanted to scream out loud how much afraid she was, how much angry she was and how much it hurt to let everybody out.
Once she was not hesitant to show her affection to Sasuke or her happiness when he called her with her name or when she made her parents and teachers proud. Now she barely smiled and the tears had become her forever companion. She couldn't express her true feelings to anyone. Like a cage filled with chakra had imprisoned her, suppressing her need to get free and be free.
"Sakura-!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Sakura shouted.
The world turned upside down when a burning slap hit her cheek. Sakura leaned on her knees as an intense dizziness took over her head.
"Why are you so… so self-destructive, huh?" Chie shouted, causing the owls and crickets to become silent.
Sakura felt the strong slap of Chie burn her skin.
"You're not as alone as you think!"
Sakura looked up at Chie and straightened her body, her own hand touching gently the print of Chie's frustration on her face.
"You won't save anyone if you go and fight like this! I can see how ashamed you are of yourself. You know that what you're doing is wrong, but you still keep going, aren't you? Why? Do you even know why?"
Sakura felt shocked with this determination of Chie's.
But the truth in her words was too much to bear…
"Because some things just have to end. One way or another!" Sakura said hardly.
"They will only end for you, because you'll have been self-destructed long before you reach the finish line!" Chie shouted, new tears flowing on her red cheeks.
"Think logically! If you continue like this, you'll end up all alone in the end facing no one else but yourself. Will you be able to fight this fight then? Fight your own self? Sakura, if you reach that, there's no turning back! So, please, don't!"
Sakura wanted to scream. She wanted to release this anger inside of her. Anger towards her own self.
Of course she knew this all was wrong, but Madara was after her. Why did it have to be somebody else.
She alone had to make it through and bring this chaos to an end.
Bring it all to an end… so that Naruto could live and become Hokage, so that Chie could become a strong kunoichi, so that Kakashi could live happy and healthy with Rin, so that Sasuke hadn't died in vain, so that her parents could think proudly of her…
Wasn't this motive enough to keep her sane until the end…
Sakura collapsed on her knees, feeling the moist of the night on the grass.
The eyes were burning, the heart was beating fast and the world seemed to have seized spinning. Time had frozen and the nightmares of her lifetime grabbed her and dragged her deep into the cold, black abyss.
No…
This motive was not enough…
It's not enough until you find out who you are, and trust your own self.
Chie was right, Sakura thought. If I go on like this, I'll end up all alone. And I've never been alone, I was just the one who shut them all out of my life. Just like three years ago…
Sasuke had died, and it felt like the whole world had fallen in ruins around her. But she couldn't see all the faces that watched over her all this time. They were there… they were always there…
And all I did was to disappoint them and ignore their love and care about me…
And now, I'm doing it all over again, she thought and released her tearful face from her palms gasping as she saw Chie and Naruto kneeling in front of her with concerned looks. Chie was crying as well.
"Sakura! We won't stand in your way, but please don't shut us down! Don't bottle it all up inside of you! P-please!"
"Chie!" Sakura said after a sob.
"We're here for you!"
Chie hugged Sakura and hid her face in her pink hair.
"I love you, Sakura! I don't want to lose you!" Chie said and tightened her arms around Sakura more.
"I love you too, Chie!" Sakura said and curled in her friend's embrace. Feeling the warmth of another being soothing her own coldness felt so relieving. Like the warm water on cold hands, like the first sunrays after a cold night.
For a long moment, Sakura calmed herself listening to the steady heartbeat of Chie and the warm exhaling on the side of her face. She leaned then her chin on Chie's shoulder and opened her eyes to see Naruto looking deep in her eyes with a smile.
Sakura could see behind her tears, that Naruto looked happy again. Even relieved, and his eyes were sparkling like the morning sky. Beautiful, soothing the heaviness on her heart by simply looking into them.
She kept her eyes fixed on his longer than she intended, which she noticed when Naruto's smile faded and gave place to an anticipating and blushing expression. Suddenly, she heard her heart beat twice in a second and she broke her hug with Chie.
"I'm sorry for worrying you!" Sakura told Chie.
The girl smiled happily and held Sakura's hands.
"I-I was wrong. From the beginning! But… I can't go back now. Naruto and I… we have a plan and I can't risk it having more people in it. I'm already worried to death having Naruto with me, I don't think I'll be able to watch over you as well without dying of worry! This mission is like any other neither of us has attended." Sakura told her.
Naruto stood up and placed his hands on his hips. He was hiding his face by looking over his shoulder.
"You don't have to worry about her! I'll watch over her!" he said with this unmistaken determined tone that always made Sakura feel somehow more optimistic.
He turned around to look at her, and she felt like flying when she saw his broad grin.
She couldn't help but chuckle and the sound made every shadow of misery in her heart disappear.
"Thank you! Thank you both!" Sakura looked at Chie who was trying desperately to stop crying.
"Oh Chie!" Sakura said and this time she was the first to hug her.
She heard Naruto's deep chuckle and time suddenly started to tick again, the world was spinning again and the nightmares that had awakened were suppressed and destroyed by her inner self.
After a long emotional moment, Chie and Sakura broke the hug and stood up facing the unconscious Yamato.
"Really, what did you do to him?" Naruto wondered smirking.
"Don't worry! He's just sleeping. I used a herb that makes the nerves go numb until the brain shuts down into a deep sleep. My mum gave me them. But it's actually the first time I use it." Chie said, looking worried.
Sakura kneeled and placed her palms above the metallic shield that was protecting Yamato's torso and forced chakra into them to read his vital signs. His heart was beating normally.
"Yes, he's just sleeping. But what shall we do with him?" Sakura wondered.
"Well, we can't take him with us, that's for sure!" Naruto said folding his arms behind his head.
"Yeah, but we have to leave as well before his comrades find his trails."
"I have an idea!" Naruto said suddenly and bounced looking really satisfied with himself.
Sakura smiled at him, feeling happy seeing her friend in his good old self again. Seeing Naruto worried broke her heart…
So, Chie created a shadow clone in Yamato-sensei's form, while Sakura created a water clone as Naruto and they created fake footprints that led towards the east. Naruto was following them, carrying Yamato on his back, from another path so that his footprints didn't mess with the others.
They hid Yamato in a small cave, leaving some supplies as they all felt guilty for leaving him here in the wilderness and causing him so much trouble.
As dawn was closing by, Naruto, Chie and Sakura together made their way to the north, to the Land of Snow.
________________
Tsunade almost fell over her chair when Tenzo himself announced that Sakura along with Naruto and Rin-san's daughter had fled from the village to find Uchiha Madara.
"How on earth did this happen without us realizing a single thing?" Tsunade growled standing up her feet hitting her fists on her desk.
"I followed them, but it seemed that Chie-chan was assigned to follow after anyone who'd follow them. I… was tricked and there are no excuses. Forgive me, Hokage-sama!"
"Tenzo, did you know anything about this?" Tsunade asked him approaching him.
Tenzo flinched.
"All day, Naruto and Sakura had been talking secretly. They hid on the mountain. They talked about Uchiha Madara and his abilities. How to get past them and how to look for him. They mostly talked about how to fight the ability of Uchiha to read minds. Nothing more!" Tenzo said fighting to not look away from Tsunade's drilling stare.
"Don't you think this is enough to understand that Sakura was planning something?" Tsunade hissed.
Tenzo swallowed hardly, his palms getting sweaty.
"I talked to her, and…!"
"And what? What did she tell you?" Tsunade insisted, her eyes shining with maddening anger as she grabbed his forearm stopping the blood from running through it.
Tenzo wished the Hokage could be more self-controlled. She would still get her message through even without using force.
"Well?"
"Well, she said something that bothered me."
"Like what?"
Tsunade let go of his forearm, and Tenzo felt really relieved that his arm wouldn't be ripped off, but still being under Tsunade's angry stare was enough trouble.
Tenzo remembered Sakura's honest and thoughtful expression as she told him those words that had confused him so much.
"She told me that she knew they were being watched and that's why they always tried to keep out of hearing distance. That's when I reminded her that I can read lips, like every professional shinobi can. And she… she said simply that she knew!"
"So?" Tsunade wondered with a frown.
"Well, it was the way she said it; like she had it planned it me reading their lips. And it all made me think that maybe all I've been watching to all day long was nothing but an act. That they wanted in purpose for me to think that she would go after Uchiha."
Tsunade made a step back, giving Tenzo some air. She suddenly looked worried.
"But she is going after him, isn't she?" Tsunade said in a lower tone.
"Yes. But, if you want my opinion, I think we should trust her."
Tsunade shot him the angriest look he had ever received from the Hokage and it felt as though everything was his own fault.
"Why on earth is this your opinion?" she hissed not believing her ears.
Tenzo noticed the night slowly enlighten with the warm red and orange colours of the morning sun from the huge window that looked over Konoha.
"Sakura-chan is different from the little chuunin she was. She's not the little girl I knew anymore. It was the first time I heard her talk about such personal things which I… didn't know. She had to go through such terrible experiences in a young age, and now she must feel like this all is her fault! Uchiha being after her and all. I mean, I would feel guilty to the bones if I were in her shoes!" Tenzo said looking at the clouds burning and the stars fade away in the intense sunlight.
Then he turned to look into Tsunade's honey brown eyes staring at him with dry, parted lips.
"I don't think she'd just go and give herself up like that. If Naruto and Chie-chan are with her, who are her best friends, that means she didn't leave just to surrender to Uchiha hoping this would end this war. If this was her plan, she'd go alone. She left with a plan; and it's obvious what that plan is!" Tenzo said feeling suddenly very proud of those kids.
He remembered back to the time when he was in their age and he had first become ANBU shinobi. This continuous excitement to get himself entangled in another adventure and the will and power in his soul that was enough for him to believe he could become the strongest shinobi in the five great shinobi lands.
And his dearest sister would look over him with a proud smile.
The same power and desire moved Sakura, Naruto and Chie. They were young, filled with hopes and dreams. Naruto and Sakura had seen their comrade die…
Of course they wanted to make this world a better place, and knowing that that's what made Sakura take this decision, he would support them all the way.
He didn't blame them for taking him down, he would have done the same exact thing.
"I think this is really dumb from Sakura's part! How on earth do they actually think they can make it?" Tsunade argued irritated with everything and everyone and walked up and down the Hokage office as she always did when her head became too crowded with problems.
"Maybe they can, maybe not!"
"Now really, Tenzo?" Tsunade wondered with a smirk.
"What I mean is that we could help them. Let them do their thing!"
"Tenzo, if you continue talking such crap I'm going to have you fired from the-!"
"Before you fire me, listen to me, Tsunade-sama!" Tenzo seldom used Tsunade's name, and she seemed to have noticed as she halted and looked seriously in his eyes.
"Shoot!" she muttered crossing her arms on her chest.
"They faked tracks of theirs towards the east, but as long as I was following them they were heading to the north, until they started moving in circles. That's when Chie caught up with me. Considering they know that Uchiha Madara has a past in the Land of Snow, this is where they're heading."
"Jiraya is there. He's running an investigation about Uchiha's past there."
"Maybe they're going to search for Jiraya. Or maybe Chie-chan knows someone who might know."
"Why would that girl know someone from the Land of Snow? She's from the Village of the Golden Path, right?"
Tenzo shook his head.
"Her father comes from the Land of Snow. I have no idea who he is, but it seems he has died a long time ago according to Rin-san."
Tsunade looked thoughtful for a moment.
"What are you suggesting?" she looked at him.
"Sakura said she has a plan, and if we assume Uchiha is really after her, then I believe we should give her the chance to find him. She's able to, I know it and you know it as well. All of the previous missions to find Uchiha or Kuroi failed, and it seems that the on-going missions are not going well also. So… let's give them a chance!"
Tsunade brushed her palm over her face with a grunt.
"I can't just leave it like that, Tenzo!"
"We won't! Uchiha reads minds, right? We can be there for them, only when the time is right. Naruto and Sakura won't need to know, so Uchiha and his accomplices, who will be too focused on them, will never know that we have their back!" Tenzo smiled liking his idea.
Tsunade lifted an eyebrow and stayed silent for a long moment.
"Have their back, huh?"
"Mhmm!" Tenzo nodded. "Let's trust them on this!"
Tsunade seemed hesitant. She even pulled her hair as she walked to the window and gazed at the sunrise.
"Uchiha is no normal shinobi, Tenzo. How am I supposed to wait for the right time when they are facing such a powerful shinobi? When he came to me… I've never been so scared before against another shinobi I didn't know about. It was like I was face to face with the devil himself. So, I can't just agree with your idea… . I-I do trust Sakura, but still I fear for her life. For Naruto's and Rin's daughter's lives as well. I'm the Hokage, dammit! Of course I'm worried!"
Tenzo glanced at the fists of hers hanging on her sides.
"Let me think about it! For the meantime you rest, you've been up non-stop for a long time now."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama!"
"Thank you, Tenzo!"
Tenzo smiled with Tsunade's brief moment of expressing her feelings to him and left the Hokage building, wondering whether Kakashi should know of what had happened if he had woken up already…
______________
The sun had risen and the light filtered through the dense blanket of leaves that extended up to the borders of the Fire Country.
Sparrows and squirrels fought their way over the branches trying to survive another day, while huge eagles soared high in the sky scanning the ground and the trees with their sharp eyes.
Sakura lifted her head to let her eyes blur with freckles of light as the sunrays infiltrated through the leaves and she shut them to enjoy for a moment the beauty of this new day. A day which felt so much lighter upon her shoulders.
Chie was running beside her, her cloak packed in her backpack and Naruto was on the front keeping an eye on their surroundings.
Sakura inhaled deeply feeling the fresh air renew her insides and give her even more happiness.
After last night, heading towards the snakepit didn't seem so dreadful of scary anymore. Since her two best friends were with her and had her back all the way, and she had theirs, everything seemed possible. Even the idea of the end didn't frighten her or drown her heart with sorrow anymore. Now there was this little glimpse of hope lingering that maybe, maybe, they could make it out alive…
And she smiled with that thought.
Things never go according to the plan. This she had learned a long time ago. But still, they all three were powerful enough and had a great teamwork.
I just hope Yamato-sensei didn't become stupid all of a sudden! Her inner voice added to her thoughts with a worried expression.
Sakura grinned remembering that scared look on his face last night when she revealed to him her plan.
I'm sure he got my message, what I fear most though is whether Tsunade will agree, she thought.
She trusted Yamato-sensei and all those words, although they had not carefully been slipped from her mouth, she thought they were enough to give him the message that this mission was no desperate act of some chuunin for glory, but a carefully planned one which even held hope of success.
What happened happened! Let's focus on the present! Her inner self told her.
Exactly, she thought and glanced at Chie next to her.
She was looking rather pleased with herself. One specific jonin must be flowering her thoughts like this, she thought.
Chie realized Sakura's cunning smile and she swung her fist at her.
"Don't act like you know what I'm thinking about!" the girl warned her.
Sakura grinned.
"You're the one who always acts like a know-it-all!" Sakura teased her.
It was great to have the chance to act so freely with someone. When she said such insulting but fun things with Chie, she forgot for a moment the reality in which they lived in.
"Ha! It's because you're an easy person to read!" Chie said and looked ahead.
"Oh really?" Sakura lifted an eyebrow.
Chie looked at her with a smirk and then glanced at Naruto and then back at her, like she was showing her Naruto with her eyes.
Sakura frowned not really understanding what Chie implied.
Chie chuckled.
"Hey Naruto-kun, how long until we reach the borders?" Chie asked the blonde jonin. His black cloak was floating over his shoulders like the wings of a bat.
He looked at her over his shoulders.
"Hmm! Three days or something if you can keep up with me!" he said with a wide smile and he disappeared in the woods.
Sakura grunted annoyed.
What was he doing.
"Hey! Naruto!" Sakura shouted at him, but he was far away.
Chie nodded happily and she increased her speed to catch up with Naruto.
Really. We are after Uchiha Madara and they act like we're on holiday, she thought and ran faster.
The sunrays were so intense now that they created strange shadows between the hundreds of trees and the bushes on the ground.
After only a couple of minutes, the wound on her stomach was stabbing her guts so hard she collapsed on her knees over a tree branch panting.
She grunted in pain, her head spinning, and lifted her black dress to reveal the bloody bandages around her stomach.
"Shit!"
She looked around her hoping someone would have noticed she stayed behind, but the forest was too quiet.
She leaned her back on the main branch and placed her palm over her belly sending chakra through her destroyed tissues of the wound.
If it continued bleeding over and over again, she'd have greater issues than Uchiha later.
She had to heal it for good, but she doubted she had enough chakra to do such a procedure on her own on her own body. It's always easier to heal others. That's also one reason why medic-nins stay out of battle.
She could feel the chakra flow increase as it healed each cell of the wound, from the inside out. The stabbings didn't seize and she couldn't help but moan in pain.
She felt like she would faint, as the energy was being drained from her body.
Her turquoise eyes turned upwards to look at the blue sky and the feathery clouds floating so calmly. A breeze caressed her face and she made the mistake to close her eyes falling asleep in the beautiful song the sounds of the forest made. The rustling of the leaves, the birdsongs, the grass dancing to the rhythm of the breeze and voices from the past.
Sasuke's and Naruto's chuckle the night they had spend together the day Sasuke had returned, the song in the bar and her own laughter when they talked about funny memories of their days as genins.
The happiness drawn on the faces of the two people she loved the most. Her first love and the boy who was always in love with her. Two comrades who always watch over you and love you in their own unique ways.
Sasuke and Naruto…
Naruto and Sasuke…
"Sakura-chan! Hey sleeping beauty!"
Sakura hardly opened her eyes to see the morning sky staring at her.
Naruto grinned and shoved away some strands from her face. The gentle touch of his fingertips on her cheeks made her heart flatter.
"What-what happened?" she asked and hid a deep yawn.
"You must have fainted from bleeding. I'm sorry not being good in medic-stuff. I… I did my best!" Naruto said with a disappointed look.
Sakura lifted her dress and saw new bandages wrapped over the old ones and the stabbings had stopped.
She smiled at him.
"Thank you! It doesn't hurt anymore!" she said stroking her stomach. She could still fell her heartbeat there, but at least it didn't hurt. But still she had to be more careful from now on.
"We should take it easy, until you can run properly without opening it up." Chie suggested. She was eating her lunch and offered some warm tea to Sakura.
"Thanks!" she replied and took a sip from the warm liquid.
She looked at her bloody palms.
"I'm sorry for delaying the mission." She said in an undertone.
Chie and Naruto exchanged glances.
"Don't worry about it. Besides we all had rough nights. I don't think it hurts to rest a little. There'll be little time later to rest also!" Naruto said and leaned next to Sakura, his shoulder touching hers.
Chie smiled happily and stuffed another ball of rice before packing her things back in her bag.
"I'll stay awake. You rest, Chie-chan!" Naruto said folding his arms behind his head.
Chie lifted her eyebrows.
"Really? If you want to sleep I don't mind!"
"No! It's ok! You guys sleep!"
"Guys?"
Sakura chuckled and Chie stick her tongue out at Naruto.
Naruto laughed hard and glanced at Sakura with the corner of his eyes.
"If anything happens, give a shout!" Chie said and lied on her cloak over the big tree branch.
Sakura observed how Chie tried desperately to make herself comfortable on the hard wood. It was much easier to find a soft spot on the ground, but up here they were out of any stranger's path. Besides Sakura didn't feel ready to move yet.
"You sleep as well. You need to rest the most of us!" Naruto whispered to her calmly.
Sakura smiled with his concerned look and felt a blush over her face as she leaned her head over his chest and curled under his arm.
Naruto flinched and she could feel how stiff his body had become.
She waited until he was back to normal and loosened up. His arm shifted in order to keep her closer to his chest and she closed her eyes falling quickly asleep listening to Naruto's heartbeat and imagining the blush on his face.