Chapter Fifty One
"What do you me-" Sakura was cut off when she felt two rough lips press against her own. Her eyes widened and she froze, unable to push him off or respond. Itachi, at first, believed this to be a sign of rejection and mentally planned to kill her brother for telling him that she loved him, but then he felt Sakura kiss him back.
Itachi opened his mouth and let his tongue slide across her bottom lip, asking for entrance, and Sakura complied by parting her lips far enough for him to slip inside. After a few more second, they broke apart for air and Sakura just stared at him, still panting from training and now from lack of breath. Itachi saw her look and smirked.
"I told you that I couldn't find the right words." He commented as he walked away, leaving the stunned konoichi behind to trace her lips and smile gently to herself.
"Sakura?" Called a voice. The pinkette froze and turned to see…
"Kiba! What are you doing here?" Sakura asked in shock. Kiba just frowned and looked at her disappointedly.
"I can't believe that you would stoop as low as to kiss some filthy fugitive, an S-class missing-nin, or let him kiss you." Kiba stated. Sakura looked down and felt a stone weigh heavily on her chest, guilt. Then the guilt was replaced with anger towards the mutt who dared to call her 'man some filthy fugitive'.
"Itachi is not some filthy fugitive and so what if he's a missing-nin!? I love him; you don't have a right to put me down for feeling something towards someone else. If it was you I'd kissed and you were in the same status as him, would you like it if Itachi said to me what you just did, Kiba?" She retorted heatedly.
"I would never be a criminal like him, Sakura!"
"You're right, he is way to strong for you to even be compared to a fly next to him!"
"Don't say that! He doesn't really love you, it's probably just an act! He's using you Sakura! Why can't you see that?!"
"He would never use me! Itachi loves me and I love him! You just can't admit it, mutt-breath!"
"Grrrrr! I can't stand listening to you any more, traitor!"
"Call me something I don't know!" Sakura retorted to his retreating back, tears of frustration towards the flea-brain pricking at the corners of her eyes. Sakura threw a punch at the wall, just a normal one with no chakra, and pulled her fist out of the newly formed dent. She continued like this for a few minuets, tearing at everything she could find to get all of her anger out. So busy, was she, that she didn't even notice the other witness of her kiss, argument and destruction.
Hasha was walking towards the training ground, since he heard that his Sakura-senpai was over there, when he heard her yelling. He felt his heart break in two, but knew that he should have expected this to happen eventually. He was only a kid to her, a weak kid at that. Itachi was strong, brave, a good ninja and had looks. 'Maybe his looks were not as good as mine, but he still had good ones.' Hasha thought to himself.
She continued to destroy random objects and throw herself at the training dummies, ripping the head off of them as she went. Ignoring Hasha, Sakura gathered some kunai and began throwing them at the targets, hitting dead-centre each time. Hasha watched silently before deciding he should intervene.
"Sakura-senpai?" He called. Sakura looked over her shoulder at him, but Hasha saw the tears gathering in her eyes. He looked away, trying his best not to see his senpai in a state of weakness. If he saw her crying, being weak, than that would prove that she's mortal and not an immortal hero for him to admire and want to be like. Also, it would tear him apart to have to see his senpai crying.
Sakura wiped her tears and glared at Kiba, before fully turning to the blonde and offering a smirk. Relieved that she was back to normal, Hasha grinned and presented a set of shuriken, silently asking her to train with him so he could improve. Apparently, Hasha wanted to forget what he heard and believe that he still stood a change with Sakura. After all, a boy could dream.
They practiced with shuriken for a while, then moved on to kunai, than Neko-te, which Hasha claimed was a woman's weapon, and ended with a stirring round of hand-to-hand combat. Hasha was sitting down on the grass, panting, while Sakura didn't even break a sweat. This show of endurance, even if she didn't know she was showing her superior stamina, gave Hasha a pump of adrenalin and he got up from the ground.
"How about we spar?" Hasha suggested. Sakura looked at him with amusement in her emerald orbs and walked the usual distance away from him for a spar. Hasha got into a genjutsu fighting position, since that was the one he was most comfortable in, and readied his hand signs. He made the fools mistake and charged first, giving Sakura the chance to kick him back.
Hasha recovered fast and preformed the necessary hand signs for his favourite genjutsu ever. He had invented it and Sakura didn't know he could use it. It was called 'Karei tai zunou', beauty against brains, and was designed specifically to defeat Sakura.
The world melted around them and the two found themselves in a field of cherry blossoms and tulips. Sakura looked around and reached to draw her kunai, but her weapons pouches were gone along with every single weapon she had hidden in her clothing. She smirked at his efforts to disable her abilities to use weapons and sensed his chakra in a tree not too far from her position. However…she also felt his chakra behind her, and to her left…and right. Something was wrong with this picture.
One Hasha charged from behind her with a kunai, but Sakura easily defeated him and took the weapon. When the weapon touched her hand, it disappeared. Her eyebrows furrowed in consentration as she tried to cut off the chakra signals to her brain to cancel the genjutsu, but that didn't work either. For a moment, one fleeing second, Sakura was stumped.
Seven Hasha clones, along with the real one, charged together at a smirking Sakura and tried to hit her with their kunai. However, she didn't move and inch. Hasha stopped and his eyes went wide as he saw every one of his clones hit her with their kunai. He scowled when he noticed the weapons disappear.
"You need to work on the aspect of this, Hasha. Keep the weapons away from me, sure, but make sure you can use them against me rather than them disappearing before they make contact." Sakura informed him with a smirk.
The world went back to normal as Hasha fell to the ground from exhaustion and over-use of chakra. Admittedly, his genjutsu was amazing for someone of his age, especially since he was a taijutsu type to begin with. Sakura picked him up and carried him to his room before going to look for Kisame.
Terrane's PoV
I had been walking around the temple after my training session with Sosei-onii-chama and was quickly getting bored of meeting the same people and seeing the same hallways. At first, all of the painting and carvings on the walls and amazed me. Now I probably knew every detail of each painting and carving better than the ones who had made the art in the first place.
Many times had I passed Deidara and Sasori as they were carving in the wall and filling in some of the cracks with paint. Saso-chan had to convince Dei-Dei not to blow up the walls, just to prove his theory of fleeting art being superior to ever-lasting. What I don't get is, they both claim that Sakura-onee-chama is 'art'. How can she be both fleeing and everlasting?
Tyiko and Karene seem to understand how she can be both, but whenever I ask them they say that she's 'a fleeing life in everlasting memories'. I mean. What the hell are they saying?! I couldn't say that to them though, since Sakura would punish me for saying 'hell'. I learnt it from Hidan, so I don't know why it's so bad.
Anyway, I was walking around when I came across the infirmary again, with the same old woman bustling about, treating patients as if she had the energy of a hyperactive six-year-old. In truth, I knew she was tiring fast. As a medic, in-training, I know the tell-tale signs of exhaustion and she has them all. She dropped three plastic bottles of medicine on the floor, but didn't notice as she went to treat another patient. I looked at the bottle and then at a boy, who was really tall, whistling to himself while lying on a bed.
The bottle was containing alcohol for cleaning wounds, but this old woman had neglected to give some to the boy, whom I could see had a big, nasty cut down his left leg. He winced slightly as the woman moved his injured leg back and forth before she left, mumbling about going to find someone named 'Shurui-sensei'. I eyed the bottle, looking over to the boy every now and then, before sighing and picking up the cleanser.
My hair moved in the braid Sosei had put it in for me as I walked towards the boy, opening the bottle. He noticed my approach and turned his head to look in my direction. The bottle nearly fell to the floor as I stifled a gasp of surprise. This boy, or should I say man, had scars all over his face, arms…everywhere I could see! He grunted at me and eyes the rubbing alcohol in my hand.
"You a medic?" He asked gruffly. I nodded, not trusting my voice right at this very moment.
"It's rude to stare, dear." Stated a voice from behind me softly. A woman took the rubbing alcohol from me hand, without snatching it, and applied the correct amount onto the wound on the man's leg. She then healed it, leaving only a faint scar where the wound once was. I, despite the gentle reminder, continued to stare. The man got up and left, muttering thanks on his way out.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"It's rude to ask a name of someone without providing one yourself." The kind old woman said back.
"I'm Haruno Terrane." I told her.
"Ah, my youngest grandchild. I'm Haruno Shurui, your grandmother. You can just call me obaa-chan." Shurui told me. I nodded and was about to leave, but she spoke again. "Can you use medical jutsu, Terrane-chan?"
"A-A little, Sakura-onee-chama is teaching me." I confessed.
"This is good. You have potential in that field, but not as much as you have in weaponry." My grandmother told me.
"How do you know I like weapons, obaa-chan?" I asked.
"Your wrists have strong joints with flexible mucels, perfect for weaponry and throwing projectiles. So I just assumed…" She trailed off, but I knew what she meant. "With this blasted war coming up, I hope you never have to use your skills with blades by force and choose whether or not to fight."
"Sakura-onee-chama promised that, if I didn't want to fight, I could heal for her, or just stay with someone she trusted to look after me."
"Yes, my granddaughter is a very caring person. Well you should be going now Terrane-chan." Shurui smiled and waved me out of the infirmary. I just stared at the door for a while, but she called though the door to me.
"It's late, little one. Get some rest." She ordered nicely. I walked towards the room I was given, which was mine and mine alone, and changed for bed after brushing my teeth and combing my hair out of the wavy curls it had from the braid. A yawn escaped my mouth as I snuggled into the large, soft bed I had claimed and fell asleep.
Dream
I walked though a battlefield again, just as I had all those weeks before now at the Akatsuki base. Blood was everywhere, and I was able to acknowledge it this time. To the right of the field stood the Akatsuki; opposite them, on the left, were the Konoha ninja, now with the ninja Suna, lightening and Stone with them, and behind me stood the shinobi and konoichi from the country of sound, with mist, water and grass as their allies. The rebels Sai was with made no appearance, which confused me slightly since he always boasted about winning the war. Once more, the only group with clear faces were my siblings and I.
Standing in front of me was my brothers, including Sosei, Hasha and adoptive-sister. I saw myself shaking in fear and holding Sakura's leg, closing my eyes to try and make the sight disappear. My older sister told something to my dream relatives, and Hasha, and they moved back, away from the scene of fighting. A light enveloped the pink-haired woman, I now noticed that this light was a mix of purple and pink, and when it dimmed, my dream replica gasped. I had, of course, already seen this part and so I wasn't shocked by it.
Sakura was standing, once again, with two other people that looked a bit like her. One of them ran to the Akatsuki, one to Konoha and the other to sound. She seemed to be siding with all of them again. I did not become confused this time when I didn't see her, or her accomplices, face the opposition.
I, instead, watched carefully as they began to back into the centre of the field, one walking though my astral self on the way. She looked at me, right into my eyes, and I saw the Zoneingan again, the bloodline of the woman who had saved my small family. She stopped and seemed to, while remaining motionless, reach out to take me to safety, but her mind's will withdrew soon enough. I was half tempted to take the safety offering this time, just to see if things would turn out differently.
It all happened in a blur. The tree sides all rushed at each other and before I could even try to scream out, Sakura was on the floor, cold and almost dead, with the enemies looking at her with something different on each of their faces. She began to speak in a raspy voice.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. One man from Akatsuki walked out from the crowd and dropped to his knees in front of the dying Haruno. He took her hand and lifted her. I couldn't hear, but the man appeared to be yelling something at her. She just smiled, shook her head and became limp in his arms.
The man cried.
