I have no excuse. Please forgive me and enjoy the extra long chapter I wrote for you.
It was almost dinner time when the four girls finally got back to their room after they'd spent the rest of the day preparing for the treasure hunt that would be taking place the next day. The large, mahogany coffee table that was placed right in the middle of their sofas and armchairs was now filled with all sorts of stuff: piles of books, bottles of all sorts, herbs and other little stuff and things that combined into a large mess.
"Do we really need all of these books?" Sakura sceptically asked while eyeing the piles of different coloured books that somehow were all very important for them to get, according to Ino at least. Considering that their own living room already had hundreds if not thousands of books, did they really need more just for tomorrow's events?
Ino let out a loud 'hmph' as she crossed her arms over her chest, lifting her chin up proudly. "But of course we do. These are all necessary for my plan to work."
"You haven't told us your plan!" Tenten tiredly pointed out and slouched over to one of their sofas, crashing on to it. "Could you please just let us in on your little scheme so that we're all on the same page?"
"Fine, fine," Ino complied, pointing to one of the three piles of books. "The three piles are for different stuff. One for magic, one for potions and one is for creatures we might encounter. We should have enough books about different treasures and magical objects in here that we didn't have to bother carrying them all the way from the library."
Curious to see what exactly they had chosen, Sakura picked up one of the potion books and slid her fingers against its fabric-covered back.
"The basics of potions volume 1," the pinkette read out loud as she began to flip the pages of the navy blue book.
"Wit-sharpening potion…dreamless sleep potion...fire breathing potion.." she mumbled as her fingers flipped the rough pages of the book that was now even more interesting than before. "Wow this is amazing!"
Hinata smiled warmly to the pinkette, who was completely fascinated by the book in her hands. Her newly found curiosity was adorable in a way, she reminded Hinata of herself when she'd first been given a potion book.
"What potions do you want?" Hinata directed her question towards Ino as she picked up a few of the books, examining the lists of potions that were printed on the first page. "Agility enhancing for starters, I'm guessing?"
Ino firmly nodded, determination gleaming in her sapphire eyes. "Yes and night vision. Possibly even some more if we decide to go that route."
Hinata carefully listened to her friend's words and continued to examine the books. "Well night vision and agility will be easy and quick, but poisons and stuff like that will take a few hours."
The blue haired witch picked up a few herbs and containers filled with different coloured powders, closely looking at the labels. Sakura had finished flipping through the potion book and was now mesmerized by Hinata, who was closely studying the different ingredients with another potion book firmly planted on her lap. She was as concentrated on the subject as she had been earlier that day.
Sakura was in awe once they visited the laboratories. The laboratories were where the potions classes would be held, once they'd get those courses. She and Hinata had departed from their other two friends, who stayed behind in the library to grab some more books, even after Hinata had shyly suggested that they probably had enough already. On the other hand, their mission was to gather some ingredients for potions that weren't the easiest ones to get. Luckily they had been given full access to the school's potion supplies and were apparently the only ones who thought of raiding the classrooms and using the privilege that they were given.
They entered one of the few laboratories the school was equipped with. It was a large, bright room with a high ceiling. On one end of the room was the teacher's desk and chalkboard, but the students wouldn't sit like they would in the other classrooms she'd seen. This classroom had long, stone tables that had been divided into working stations. Sakura guessed that it was where the students would spend their time during class, since there most likely would be more interactive learning rather than listening to lectures.
"Wait, why are there more than one laboratory? It's not like we're all going to be in potions class at the same time," Sakura wondered, looking around the classroom. There were spots for about two dozen students, which was just about the same amount as a normal classroom had. She didn't expect Hinata to warmly laugh at her question, which once again made her feel like she should've known something she didn't.
"Well when you have students mixing up all kinds of potions, there are bound to be some casualties," she kindly explained, which made Sakura think that she would most definitely be the cause of at least one explosion.
"So at least one is always under maintenance. The reason why all of them are in use now is that the school year has just started and there hasn't been any time for anything catastrophic to happen."
"Ah," Sakura nodded in agreement, as they walked through the classroom. "That makes sense."
One whole wall was dedicated to cauldrons of all different sizes, shapes and materials with the larger ones placed on the bottom shelves and the smallest on the top. Even if Sakura had a stool to stand on, she most likely wouldn't have reached the highest row of the small cauldrons.
'Eh, that's what magic is for..' Sakura reminded herself as she continued to examine the room with newly found curiosity.
The pinkette couldn't help herself. She had to see everything, circle the classroom at least three times and ask Hinata about everything she saw.
"What's this, Hinata?" she enthusiastically asked and pointed to a wide glass container with shiny liquid inside that almost looked like someone had ground up stars. The fact that the bottles and containers near it had labels like 'unicorn hair', 'mermaid scales' and 'fairydust' just added to the fascination.
"That's moondew," the blue haired girl patiently answered as she closely compared two purple liquids in her hands that looked exactly the same to Sakura. Hinata was standing in the doorway of the ingredient storeroom. It resembled a medium-sized walk in closet, but with huge shelves reaching up almost to the high ceiling instead of just clothes. The shelves were filled with bottles and containers, dried herbs and flowers – everything you could possibly think of to brew a potion.
"What's moondew?" the pinkette raised a brow at the liquid glowing liquid that swirled around the container. She'd never heard of it before, but that was quite expectable and regular for her since she'd only been exposed to what she liked to call 'the magic world' for only a few short days.
Hinata had popped inside of the storeroom and left Sakura alone in the classroom, which was a disaster waiting to happen. But she had faith in the pink haired girl and expected her to not touch anything for the brief seconds she was gone.
"Moondew can only be gathered on the night of a full moon so be careful with it," Hinata's calm voice called out from the inside of the storage, which caused Sakura to quietly back away from the precious liquid.
'Better not touch that...' she cautiously thought to herself, imagining the wrath that would be leashed upon her if she broke that container.
Sakura didn't enjoy the earthy smell and the coolness of the storeroom, but Hinata didn't seem to mind. The pinkette had toured inside of the storeroom but still thought that the actual classroom was far more interesting, so she stayed out of Hinata's way while she gathered ingredients.
"What about this?" the curious pinkette asked as she pointed to a complex array of different glass tubes leading from one glass container to another.
Hinata's head popped out of the storage room. "That's used for separating ingredients from liquids, for example if you want a certain elixir to be extracted from let's say… basilisk blood."
"Ookay," Sakura responded, nodding her head. Her toes curled at the idea of monsters like basilisks actually existing, but before she could say anything else about the matter, Hinata's head was back inside.
The pinkette was overwhelmed by everything new, taking it all in. She was discovering a whole new world and wanted to know everything about it. The excitement made her feel somewhat electric, and she had to hold back on squealing whenever she saw something that intrigued her.
Then Sakura's eyes latched onto a stub sticking out of the wall. She walked over to the white, decorative circle that was placed on the wall near the enterance. Sakura wanted to touch it but hesitated, knowing well that Hinata had warned her to not touch anything that was unfamiliar to her.
'What does this do? It's probably carved out of a unicorn horn or something..' her imagination was running wild after seeing all of the things she had.
Hinata walked out of the ingredient storeroom with a basket full of bottles, containers and handfuls of dried herbs neatly tied together with ribbons. She closed the heavy door behind her and walked to the other side of the classroom, where Sakura was standing.
"What does this do?" Sakura asked, referring to the object she'd been fascinated by.
"It turns the lights on," Hinata tried her best to hold back her laughter, but couldn't help herself when Sakura awkwardly laughed and kneaded the back of her head sheepishly.
"Not everything pretty has to be magical, I suppose.." Sakura laughed at her own thoughts. Maybe she should tone down the excitement just a little bit or she'll confuse something as mundane as a water tap for a griffin claw.
After they, or Hinata to be exact, raided the ingredients storeroom, they popped out into the garden to gather a few more things they needed. Hinata had delegated Sakura the task of gathering rose petals while she went to look for a plant Sakura had never heard of called 'the sparkle blossom'.
At first Sakura had thought Hinata was joking. It honestly sounded like a fake name, but the pinkette had to bite her tongue when Hinata came back with delicate white flowers that dazzled like someone had sprinkled diamond dust on them. Sakura quickly learned not to question things that seemed odd to her, because she was actually the odd one in this world. Hinata swiftly picked up the basket and placed the sparkle blossoms in with the rose petals.
"So we have olive branches, water lilies, mint and now these," Hinata mumbled, going through a mental list she had of what they were going to need. "We have everything we need. We should probably go and meet up with Ino and Tenten," she finally suggested, looking up at the tower where their room was in. Sakura nodded in agreement as they quickly made their way back into the castle's corridors.
Hinata and Tenten had taken charge of the potion brewing, while Ino and Sakura both started going through some tactics.
"-and when we're placed on the same team, it's simple. Everyone has their strengths and we work well together," Ino stated, earning a nod from Sakura, who was diligently going through a thick spell book and trying to memorize the spells that seemed important. She had been listening to Ino's detailed plan from start to finish, but her focus was on the thick book in front of her.
Ino glanced at the pink haired girl, leaning to rest against her elbow that was propped up on the sofa's armrest. Sakura was completely out of reach and her pink brows furrowed as she concentrated on the fine text of the spell book. She had been quieter than usual, which was a new twist, but Hinata needed everyone to be quiet while she worked on the potions so it didn't bother Ino as much as it otherwise would've.
"Hinata, how much longer until we can get some dinner?" Ino called out to the blue haired girl that was carefully stirring the simmering liquid in a small cauldron.
"A few minutes, I just need to make sure there aren't any clumps of powdered nightshade," the entranced witch responded, not moving her eyes from the potion she was mixing. Tenten was focused on bottling the last potion they'd brewed into small glass bottles. Every potion had a different kind of a bottle, so they wouldn't mix them up. That would've been a recipe for a catastrophe.
Ino smirked at Hinata's response and leaned over to the pinkette to quickly snatch the book away from her.
"Hey!" she protested as she tried to reach for the book that Ino had placed on the table, out of her reach. Sakura huffed and pouted at the grinning blonde.
"Since we have a few minutes, I'm going to teach you a spell that's simple and useful since it'll probably be dark where we're going tomorrow," Ino announced and pushed herself onto her feet, taking a few steps away from the sofa. Sakura's green eyes followed her, wondering why she didn't pull her wand out. Wasn't she supposed to teach her a spell?
"Okay, so, I'll teach you lux," Ino explained to Sakura, urging her to stand up from the comfortable armchair. "It's simple and easy, you can do it."
Sakura raised a brow at the blonde girl, still slightly irritated after Ino had snatched her book away. "What does it do?"
"When you're in a place where there is barely any light and you for some reason can't find your wand – not that you'd have any problem with that," Ino referred to Sakura's out of the ordinary wand-summoning-thing, "but if you ever find yourself needing a quick light lux is perfect."
Ino breathed out and opened her palm, holding it in front of her body. Sakura could feel her aura change and her breathing grew deeper as she channelled her powers through her body rather than a wand.
"Lux," her eyes were closed and her voice was calm as she recited the spell. Suddenly a bright ball of light appeared in front of the blonde, illuminating her front completely. Sakura was surprised by how bright the light was, since it was hard to look at even from where she was sitting. The light hovered over Ino's open palm and moved when she moved her palm. Sakura watched the blonde in awe as she comfortably moved her hand around and the bright light followed it, playing with it in a way.
'I wish I was that comfortable with spells..' Sakura thought while watching the blonde playfully dance with the bright light.
Something about Ino being so comfortable and how easily she moved around put Sakura off. How would she ever be able to do the same as her? Sakura had been told that simple spells could be performed without a wand, but she didn't expect to learn them so soon. She'd imagined herself needing way more skills and knowledge than what she currently possessed.
"Now it's your turn!" Ino ambitiously announced and closed her palm, the bright light disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Ino took a hold of Sakura's hand and pulled her to her feet, to the pink haired girl's discomfort as she'd really grown to liking her spot on the armchair.
"So hold your hand out like this," Ino instructed, holding her palm in front of her chest. Sakura repeated the blonde's actions and opened her hand, holding her open palm in front of her.
"Now breathe in and out, calm your mind. Remember what Hinata told you about reciting a spell," Ino calmly instructed and closed her own eyes. Sakura listened to her friend, breathing in and out and clearing her mind of everything else.
"Now repeat after me, lux."
"Lux."
Sakura was surprised to see the bright ball of light appear in front of her. It was the first time she'd actually succeeded in a spell after trying it for the first time. The light wasn't as bright as Ino's, but she didn't care. Joy spread to Sakura's face as she smiled victoriously.
"I did it!" the triumphant remark escaped the pinkette's lips.
Ino smiled at her cheerful friend, congratulating her for a job well done. "That's great Sakura, I knew you could do it."
Sakura closed her palm, just like Ino did before and the bright light was gone. She opened her palm again just to make sure and was relieved to find out that the light shooting out from her hand wasn't permanently stuck to her. That would've been interesting. Sakura the walking reading light.
"Congrats, Sakura," Tenten grinned. She'd finished bottling the potions and was now wiping her hands with a clean towel. "You did better than I did on my first try."
Her words made the feeling of accomplishment feel even better.
"Alright," Hinata set the wooden spoon she'd used to stir the potion aside and stood up, interrupting the previous conversation as she hadn't been focusing on anything else but the potion. "This needs to simmer for an hour or so, which means that we can go and eat dinner!"
Tenten cheerfully threw her arms in the air. Her stomach had been making noises for half an hour, so she was extremely happy to get some food inside of her. They had made a conscious yet ill-advised decision of skipping lunch so that they had more time to spend gathering all the things they needed, which meant that none of them had eaten anything after breakfast that morning.
"To dinner!" Sakura cheered with Tenten, decisively pointing her finger at the doors that lead out of their room. Then they all marched out of the room, all hungry and desperate for some dinner.
"Mmm, pasta," Tenten murmured in delight and scooped some of the creamy deliciousness on her plate. They were apparently having a pasta themed dinner, since the long table they were getting their food from was filled with different kinds of pasta dishes ranging from pasta salads to mac & cheese to pasta carbonara that Tenten was currently filling her plate with. The freshly baked bread and the smell of basil filled the pinkette's nostrils as she grabbed herself a plate.
Now came the hard part. What would she choose when she wanted to taste everything?
Hinata had opted for a tomato-mozzarella salad and ravioli, both of which seemed absolutely delicious. Sakura looked at the salad hungrily but still found herself not being able to choose anything. Ino noticed her friends trouble, rolling her sapphire eyes at the pink haired girl. Sometimes she was just like a small child that needed some guiding.
"Sakura," she called out, gaining the attention of the pink haired witch. "Follow my lead."
Ino was obviously the smartest one of all of them that night as grabbed a little bit of everything onto her plate. She was just as indecisive as Sakura, so she had to face the same difficulties as her. The pinkette happily smiled as she copied the blonde's actions, filling her plate with different sorts of pasta dishes, her mouth watering at the sight of those beautiful carbs.
"Here you go, Sakura," Hinata kindly handed Sakura a piece of the freshly made, warm bread, which the pinkette gladly took. Now her plate was full of food, but she needed something else to complete her tray.
"Thank you!" she chimed and moved along the table to get something to drink. In the morning there had been heaps of different sized mugs next to the magical drink machine, but now there were different kinds of glasses next to the mugs. This time Sakura opted for a glass and not a cup, knowing far too well that consuming caffeine in the evening was the worst thing she could have done to her sleeping schedule.
And she needed the sleep for tomorrow.
Sakura placed the tall glass inside of the machine and started to scroll though her options. She didn't want anything hot and she wasn't in the mood to drink something like soda. She wanted something fresh to balance out the creamy deliciousness that awaited her.
The pinkette then decided on a mango ice tea that magically appeared in the glass seconds later after she'd picked it. The glass felt cool against her touch and the ice cubes tinkled against the glass as she brought the glass back onto her tray. Then she caught the fresh scent of mangoes and mentally patted herself on the back for her excellent drink choice.
Sakura lifted her tray up and scanned the large hall for her friends, not bothering with the levitation spell this time. She'd been the last one to get a plate in her hands, which wasn't her fault, since her friends throwing themselves in front of her just to be able to get food faster wasn't in any way controllable. At least not by her. Nobody should stand between a hungry girl and delicious carbs. Those two things were magnetic.
Finally she caught a glimpse of Hinata's blue hair and walked to her friends, who were already laying their trays down on a table. Her friends, Ino most likely, had picked out a table next to a window that had a gorgeous view to the garden. Sakura sat down next to the window, Tenten next to her Ino and Hinata on the opposite side of the table.
"Where are the guys?" Tenten mumbled as she stuffed food inside of her mouth.
"They're not here?" Sakura wondered, looking around the large dining hall. Why wouldn't they be there?
"They were probably the first ones here," Hinata chuckled and took a sip of her drink. "Knowing Naruto's appetite."
This caused the girls to burst out into light-hearted laughter. They weren't laughing at Naruto directly, but the idea of him bursting into the dining hall and dragging all of his friends with him was hilarious.
"Rise and shine, my dear witches!" Ino exclaimed, running around in their suite, making last minute preparations. Sakura winced when the blonde pulled away the drapes that exposed the whole bedroom to excruciatingly bright morning sunlight.
"Five more minutes," Sakura mumbled as she buried her head under her pillow, trying to hide from the light that burned her eyes, only to have it snatched away by Ino.
"Nope, we have to get ready!" Her energetic movements were making Sakura sick as she ran out of their bedroom. Who the hell had that much energy in the morning?
Sluggishly the pinkette got up from her bed and slouched to the living room where she saw the other two tired girls laying on the sofas, who'd experienced the same wake up call as her. She followed their lead and crashed into an armchair, curling up with the same pillow that had been snatched away from her moments before.
Ino was almost annoyed by the lack of energy in the room. "C'mon guys, you can't sleep all day. We have a treasure hunt to win!"
Slowly the three girls woke up, the realization creeping up to them that today really was the day of the treasure hunt. Tenten started stretching her limbs and Hinata rubbed her sleepy, lavender eyes. Sakura tried to brush her fingers through her tangled hair, with no luck.
"That's better," Ino was very content with the three girls finally waking up and getting up on their feet.
"Why are we up so early? Breakfast isn't until eight," Tenten yawned and pointed to the large clock, which showed that they had 40 minutes until they had to be anywhere. That was 20 minutes of completely necessary sleep taken away.
But Ino waved her hand in the air like it was nothing. "We still have things to do!"
Hinata eyed the four small pouches placed neatly on the mantle of their fireplace. There was one for each girl. They had already filled the pouches with potion bottles and necessary things like compasses and such the night before. All the books had been read through and everyone knew the plan, at least vaguely.
So what did they have to do that wasn't already done?
"Like what?" Sakura asked, raising a brow after coming to the same conclusion as Hinata.
Ino huffed and pointed to the three neat piles of clothing she'd placed onto the table. "Our outfits of course. Or did you think I'd let you run around in floral skirts?"
Sakura hadn't even noticed the neatly folded clothes, but again, she wasn't a morning person or the sharpest tool in the box right after waking up. They had been right in front of her and she hadn't even seen them. This was legitimate proof that early mornings were a bad idea for everyone and that nobody should be even awake before nine.
"With these, the treasure hunt should be a piece of cake," Ino proudly declared, pointing to the outfit she was wearing. All of the outfits consisted of a top and leggings or shorts. The girls obviously couldn't have exactly the same outfits – Ino made sure that they were co-ordinated but still had a little flare of their own.
She was wearing purple sneakers, with a matching cropped hoodie and light grey leggings that reached her calves with white ribbons neatly tied to the leg. Her silky blonde hair was swept back onto her usual, high ponytail and she'd kept her face natural. Only someone who didn't care about their skin would wear makeup while exposed to the chance of exercising. But even without makeup, Ino still looked as gorgeous as ever.
'Why does she have to be so perfect..' Sakura thought to herself, obviously jealous of her friend.
"Now get those cute little butts of yours into the as cute outfits I picked for you!" Ino cheered, throwing the piles of clothes to her friends maybe a little too enthusiastically as she managed to throw a pair of shorts right at Hinata's face.
"Eh, sorry," the blonde sheepishly apologized, while Hinata peeled the article of clothing from her face.
Sakura looked at herself in the large mirror of their closet, twirling and turning in front of it. She'd been sceptical of the outfit Ino had chosen for her as she wasn't the most comfortable with her own body. The black leggings had diagonal mesh cut-outs that complimented Sakura's physique as they created the illusion of longer legs. She'd been worried most about the top half, but somehow she managed to look great. Ino had handed her a burgundy sports bra with similar mesh cut-outs to match the leggings and a zip-up black hoodie for more cover.
"Ino definitely has her way with clothes," Sakura laughed as she traced her fingers along her stomach. She wasn't nearly as fit as Tenten or as tall as Ino, but she looked good. She had the bottom of the hoodie zipped, but left the top open, showing a little skin under the sports bra. Her figure looked slim and she felt fit. It was more important for Sakura to feel great rather than look perfect, but she did look good.
"Well I do when I have beautiful girls like you to dress up," Ino pointed out, watching Sakura pose in front of the mirror. The pinkette turned around in surprise as she hadn't expected the blonde to hear her, a faint blush rushing to her face as Ino's compliment registered in her mind.
Before Sakura could even consider saying anything differing from Ino's opinion, the blonde already held her palm up, shutting her up. "And don't you dare tell me otherwise."
In a way Sakura felt blessed to have met such amazing girls, and to have them as her friends was even better. They held her up and made her feel better about herself even when she was sceptical. She shyly smiled at the blonde, who smirked in return.
"Try these," Ino threw a pair of black sneakers to Sakura, who caught them with ease.
"These look brand-new!" Sakura breathed out as she examined the pair of shoes. She wouldn't have been surprised if she'd found a tag still hanging from them.
Ino flipped her hair over her shoulder and eyed the shoes in Sakura's hands. "I know, I bought them online but they didn't fit me. And since your feet are smaller than mine, you could probably squeeze into them."
Sakura sat down on the fluffy carpet and slid one of the sneakers on, feeling how it fit by wiggling her toes inside.
"They're perfect," she declared, tying the black laces of both sneakers into neat little bows.
"Wearing new shoes is always a risk but what wouldn't a girl do for fashion," Ino answered and looked behind her shoulder to see Hinata and Tenten anxiously waiting for them to leave to breakfast.
"Can we go already?" Tenten whined as she held her hand on her stomach, showing that she was hungry.
"Yes," the blonde girl answered, laughing at Tenten's gesture. "Let's get some breakfast."
After they were finished with breakfast, they ventured to the castle's courtyard, next to the tower that encased the bright sorcerer's stone. They followed the mass of other students that were heading to the exactly same place, the place where the treasure hunt would start from.
In the middle of the neatly kept grass field was now a stage that everyone seemed to gather in front of. All of the teachers were either on or somewhere next to the stage. From far away Sakura could spot the familiar long, blonde hair of her mentor, who was talking with professor Kurenai at the back of the stage.
The pinkette looked around the crowd, trying to get a glimpse of how everyone else had prepared. She could tell that she and her friends were among the best dressed for the occasion – which was a treasure hunt. There were people wearing skirts and high heels, which were probably the worst shoe choice Sakura could've imagined.
"Say goodbye to your ankles," Ino muttered as they passed a group of girls who for some reason thought that it was completely fine to wear heels and dresses during a treasure hunt that they were warned would challenge their abilities in every way possible.
Some girls were still intensely staring at books for a last minute check, some were excited and some were so terrified that they'd curled up into a ball. Sakura gulped, not exactly knowing which of those moods fit her the best.
Ino steered their group slightly to the side from everyone else, and they settled on standing near to the stage but slightly to the side so that they had little more space and air to breathe. Sakura didn't mind the distance from everyone else. Now they could talk in peace and gather their thoughts without everyone, but Sakura's eyes were still circling in the crowd.
She and her friends had spent the whole day studying and preparing, so she didn't feel like she needed any more studying. All of the information she could've possibly shoved into her scull in the short amount of time they had had was there. But the idea was to survive with the skills you already had so that they could be fairly evaluated, so she didn't regret not studying all night. Subconsciously Sakura touched the black pouch hanging from the side of her leggings just to make sure it was still there. She sighed in relief as she felt the velvety fabric in her hand.
"Hinata!"
None of the girls could even react to the loud yell until a flash of blonde, spiky hair caught Hinata in a bone crushing embrace. Naruto happily hugged the blushing witch, who apart from the pinkness of her face looked like she was definitely going to pass out.
"Naruto, you idiot. She can't breathe!" Tenten angrily smacked the back of Naruto's head, which caused him to quickly glance at the girl who looked even more pale than usual.
With a silent 'eep', he instantly softened his grip on her and gently held her in his arms, staring into her lavender eyes.
"I'm so sorry Hinata! I didn't mean to!" he quickly apologized to the girl who was way too hazy to even understand what was going on. She was way too happy just being held by him and didn't think apologizing was even necessary.
"Eh, she'll be fine," Ino concluded, uninterested by the situation after having seen it so many times before. Her head turned to the direction where Naruto had run from and the pinkette could deduce from the face she was making that she was looking for something.
Or someone.
"Why are you here, Naruto?" Sakura was confused, again. They were just about to start the treasure hunt and be divided into teams, so why was he there? Was he there to cheer for them or something? Or maybe he was there because of Hinata..
The blonde blinked his blue eyes for a second. "Oh me?"
"Yes, Naruto. You. We're starting the treasure hunt soon," Sakura, who was getting slightly more irritated by the blonde, explained her thoughts further to him who in return grinned at her.
"Because we're going to be competing too," he explained, throwing his head towards the group of Appleton students that were surrounded by heaps of girls. "With you guys."
"Wait. You, Shikamaru, Neji and everyone else will be divided into teams with us?" Tenten abruptly questioned, placing her hands on her hips. Naruto slowly nodded, afraid that the bun-haired girl would hit him again.
"Oh we definitely want Shikamaru on our team," Ino announced to them, searching for the pineapple haired boy with her eyes.
Sakura cocked a brow at the blonde. "Why?"
Ino rolled her eyes at the clueless pinkette. "Because he is smart as hell and the best strategist I know. So don't and I repeat don't play chess, poker or any game of that sort against him."
Ino sounded like she had some experience with the subject, but the pinkette wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to know more about it. Sakura tilted her head awkwardly at the blonde whose brows were now scrunched up together. She understood the logic behind Ino's claims and was sure to avoid playing any games with Shikamaru after getting such a reaction out of her.
"I won't," Sakura laughed, brushing her fingers through her just brushed locks.
"There they are!" Tenten suddenly yelled, pointing to the three familiar guys trying to make their way through the sea of girls trying to get their attention. Sakura had to agree, it was them. Not only were they tall and easily to spot in the group of girls, but Sasuke and Shikamaru had hairstyles that were hard to miss even from as far away as they were.
Ino lifted her arms up, trying to signal where they were. "We're over here!"
"They won't hear you." Tenten rolled her eyes, doubtful of Ino, who in return stuck her tongue out at the brunette. But Sakura had to agree with Tenten, they were pretty far away from them and Ino's voice probably couldn't be heard over the screams and loud voices of the girls.
But to everyone's surprise, Shikamaru's head instantly shot up, which meant that he'd probably heard Ino's voice. He then shot a glance at the general direction where they were standing and tapped Sasuke on the shoulder, talking to him. The guys then slowly started to make their way to the direction of Ino's yell, until they spotted the familiar, cheerful blonde.
"Or they did," Tenten as dumbfounded as she was had to admit.
"So, Naruto here told me you're competing too," Ino teasingly told Shikamaru the minute he, Neji and Sasuke arrived to the spot they were standing in. For some reason Ino and Shikamaru had their own way of communicating, which usually ended up in the two bickering over some small thing, but Sakura found it cute in a way.
But would she get in the middle of it? Absolutely not.
"Yup, as troublesome as it is," Shikamaru tiredly sighed at the blonde, who was now offended by the fact that he didn't think competing with them wasn't interesting enough for his lazy brain.
Neji went straight past Sakura and pulled Naruto off of his cousin, who was still dazed from the firm hug the blonde had given her. His pale eyes shot daggers at the now scared Naruto, who tried to convince that it was purely an accident and that he hadn't meant to hurt Hinata at all.
"I-It's okay, Neji," Hinata finally stuttered out, a shy smile curving her pink lips. "It was nothing."
Sakura's eyes were drawn to a certain brooding raven haired boy, who tried his best to ignore all of the girls who tried to gain his attention. He was standing farther away from them, which was probably why the girls were still bothering and circling around him.
The minute Naruto, Shikamaru and Neji had joined their group, they were relieved of the unneeded attention they were given. Of course now Sakura and her friends got angry glares, but everyone apart from the pinkette was used to them, and she didn't care one bit.
Most likely they were jealous that they were going to 'steal' the guys away, which Sakura found absolutely hilarious. They were friends, what did the fangirls not understand about it?
But Sasuke for some reason didn't join their group and was left standing by himself. Well, not by himself since he already had a dozen friends hanging out with him. Sakura wondered if she should've helped him, but was she able to even if she wanted? She didn't even properly know the guy, apart from the fact that her palm made contact with his face after he called her stupid. In a way it was comedic to watch him try and keep calm when he was desperately annoyed by them, Sakura almost enjoyed it. He tried to be polite, but Sakura could see his frustration.
"Serves him right." Sakura mischievously grinned to herself as her eyes brushed over his. His face showed no emotion, as usual, but Sakura saw the pleading look his eyes were giving her. She didn't want to help, not one bit.
But then a certain red haired girl caught her attention.
'Karin..' Sakura felt like she was going to throw up the minute she saw her put her hands on his body.
Ino had noticed the same thing and walked next to Sakura to watch the situation unravel.
"You know, could really get her good right now," Ino's words piqued her attention. "If you wanted to, I mean."
Sakura raised one of her perfectly shaped brows at her friend, who now had a mischievous smirk on her face. Her eyes went straight to Sasuke, who was basically being molested by Karin and her friends. Sakura understood what she meant. She herself had no real interest in helping Sasuke, but Karin really needed to be put in her place and what pissed off Karin made Sakura happy.
'We'll see just who his attention will be on now..' Sakura smirked to herself, referring to remark the red haired girl had made the day before in Kurenai's class.
Sakura gently ruffled her hair and opened the hoodie she had on all the way down, displaying her flat stomach and slender figure.
"I'm on it." The pinkette winked at her blonde friend, who lightly smacked her ass.
"Go get it, tiger." Ino smirked as she watched Sakura walk over to the group of girls.
For a second Sakura hesitated whether she should've done this or not. Even if he was tall and handsome and everything that a girl wanted, Sakura just couldn't look at his unemotional face. Naruto had referred to him as an ass when they were first introduced and he had been quite correct with his description.
"Oh Sasuke!" Sakura faked a smile as she yelled his name, grabbing his attention with a mischievous glint in her eyes. He was more than surprised to see the pinkette call out his name, but even more surprised by the face she was making.
"Oh come on, I've looked everywhere for you," Sakura seductively purred and with a slight swing to her hips as walked over to him, to all of the other girls' surprise and dislike. Sasuke on the other hand was baffled by the pinkette, since their relationship wasn't the friendliest.
Not that her expression had anything exactly friendly about it.
Karin pulled her hands away from Sasuke's chest as if she was offended by Sakura walking over to them. When she got close enough, she wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck and placed her lips on his ear, as if she was hugging him.
"Just play along," she whispered to him, devilishly pushing her body against his. Instantly she felt his strong arms snake around her waist, pulling her to him even more. Her emerald eyes caught a glimpse of Karin's absolutely horrified face, and she couldn't help but admit that it definitely made all of the effort worth it.
She winked at Karin, who was currently glaring at her with her fists balled up. She looked like she was about to explode, her face as red as her hair out of pure anger.
"Hi, Sakura," his deep, raspy voice called out to her as their eyes clashed, emerald staring into black. His sinful eyes lowered down and the pinkette could feel his gaze on her body. Sakura knew he was just playing along with her, but she couldn't help but feel her heart pound just a bit harder when he breathed out her name. The last time they talked has been the day before at breakfast and this was way different from those few words they'd exchanged. The pinkette tried her best to keep it cool and pulled away from the boy, his hands staying on her hips.
"Come on, we've been looking all over for you!" she sneaked away from his arms, grabbing his hand and pulled him to the direction of their other friends, walking away from the group of fangirls. Sakura could only imagine the looks on their faces and only dream of what Karin looked like, her face all red and eyes soon to pop out of her skull.
Slowly she led the raven haired boy out of the mass of female students, who were bothered by the fact that she was taking him away. When Sakura finally managed to get all the way back to her friends, she quickly let go of his hand. She turned to him and wasn't surprised that his face had gone back to its normal impassive self.
But for the slight moment he'd been something else other than his brooding self, Sakura had actually been interested. Maybe there was more to the dark Uchiha than she'd been let believe.
"You're welcome." She smugly smiled, keeping her cool like before and slowly walked over to Ino, who was ecstatic to see her friend return. Sasuke on the other hand was left watching the pinkette walk away from him. Even if he didn't look like it, he was more than surprised. The only girl ever he'd met that wasn't infatuated with him, who had slapped him across the face and who obviously did not care for him one tiny bit, was now purring in his ear and hugging him? Just right there in front of everyone, showcasing that slender tiny body to anyone who happened to be watching. If this was a move to get him out of the swarm of fangirls, it was a very different one he'd expected from her.
Either he really did not understand women or that specific pink haired witch was something very special.
"Sakura that was amazing!" She squealed, holding onto her pink haired friend's shoulders and shaking her slightly. "Thank god for sending us a sex bomb like you! I have never seen her so furious, I had to take a picture to relish the moment!"
"Wow, I didn't know you held something like that in you." Tenten smirked, Ino's excitement was almost contagious.
But Sakura, as self-conscious as she normally was, actually enjoyed releasing that little sexy side of her's for once. She waved her hand in the air as if it had been nothing and slightly bowed, taking in all of their praises. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week."
"Oh look, it's starting!" Hinata exclaimed as she pointed to the headmistress, who was now standing alone at the front of the stage in all of her glory. She had her wand in her hand and pointed it up at the sky, bright green sparks flying up and attracting the attention of everyone whose eyes hadn't already been on the prestigious witch.
"She's got style," Ino stated as she watched the headmaster pull back her wand now that she'd finally got everyone's attention. Her poised appearance was a sight to be seen in itself and the way she spoke got shivers running down her spine.
"Welcome, everyone," she greeted, her powerful voice carrying across the courtyard. "Today you will face challenges like never before. Your teachers and I have prepared a small contest for you, a treasure hunt of a sort that will test your knowledge, skills and power."
"The goal of this treasure hunt is to go deep under the castle and uncover hidden treasures that lure there. The deeper you go, the more precious the treasures will be. Your team's ranking will be based on the score your team gets. The most valuable treasure score the most points, but remember your skill set and don't put yourself in unnecessary danger."
Sakura felt excitement run through her veins as she listened to her mentor speak. She was already getting pumped up for the treasure hunt, which was mostly because she was highly competitive and wouldn't accept anything less than the first place.
"Like your professors have explained to you before, use all of your skills. Nothing is banned from this contest," Tsunade explained. "But there are rules. You mustn't harm your fellow competitors at any point or you will be disqualified. If a team comes out of the maze without a treasure, they will be disqualified. If someone needs help, you are required to help even at your own expense. We will be watching you work from here and hold the power for any decision-making later on."
Hinata's brows furrowed. "What does she mean by that?"
Ino shrugged as she watched the professors conjure up a familiar looking large glass orb with pieces of paper flying around inside of it.
"We will now randomly assign you to teams," Kurenai announced as she watched Tsunade pull out names from the glass orb and hand them to Kurenai for announcement.
Half a dozen teams were already assigned and none of them were called out. Sakura was happy about it, because their chances of making it into the same team grew bigger and bigger every time someone other than them was assigned to a team.
Ino was confident that they would all make it to the same team, so she didn't want to bother herself with being nervous. Like she had previously stated, worrying causes wrinkles. Hinata on the other hand was a nervous wreck, so she and Sakura were tightly holding hands as they listened carefully when their names would be called up.
"Next up, team number eleven," Kurenai called out and waited for Tsunade to give her the names that would be assigned to that team.
"Ino Yamanaka," Kurenai called out her first, which just made Ino contentedly smile.
"Naruto Uzumaki."
"Hinata Hyuga." Her name being called out made the blue haired girl jump out of happiness, but a certain blonde was even happier.
"Shikamaru Nara." A slight smirk rose to the boy's lips as he heard his name called out.
Sakura tapped Ino on the shoulder. "Your plan might actually work."
"Tenten-" Kurenai stopped to inspect the piece of paper closer until she rolled her eyes at the paper. "Just Tenten."
"And finally, Neji Hyuga."
Firstly everyone was happy that they were placed on the same team.
Except for Sakura.
"Wait, no. Nononono this can't be right!" Ino called out as they realized that no more names would be called out and that Kurenai would be moving onto the next team. "You can't be in a different team! NO, you're a key element in my plan!"
Sakura felt her heartbeat slow down as she finally realized that she wouldn't be on the same team as her friends. They'd spent all of their time preparing to compete as a team and now she was excluded from that team.
"Oh Sakura," Hinata rushed to gently hug the girl, who just felt plainly let down.
"You know," Ino teasingly tried to get Sakura's attention in the hopes of possibly cheering the girl up. "Sasuke wasn't placed in our team either."
Sakura didn't like what Ino was suggesting at.
"Oh shut it, pig. You're just afraid that I'm going to win." Sakura stuck out her tongue, to which the blonde responded with her own tongue.
"Oh we'll see about that."
"Oh yeah?" Sakura smirked, confidently crossing her arms over her chest. "Well maybe we should bet on it."
Ino and Sakura's eyes shared the same devious glint that neither Hinata nor Tenten liked. "It's a deal pinky. The loser will have to do anything the other person suggests."
But Sakura didn't think the stakes were high enough, if they were going to play ball they should actually be serious about it.
"For a day."
Now everyone else was listening in on the two girls, curious to see what they would end up in. Hinata and Tenten were both slightly scared of the two, who were both as thick-headed as to challenge each other. They would end up in a war if they were pulled in as a part of their little 'bet'.
With a smug grin, Ino nodded and agreed to Sakura's terms. It was settled, this was now a battle to the finish line and the pink haired witch was not going to lose.
Kurenai already held the next pieces of paper in her hands, which were for the next team.
"Next up, team twelve," Kurenai called out as she started going through the names on the list. Sakura didn't recognize the first two names, one being a student from Luna Nova and the other was from Appleton academy. Sakura nervously fiddled the zipper of her hoodie with her fingers, not knowing whether or not her name would be called out.
"Sasuke Uchiha." The name of the dark haired boy being called resulted in a variety of screams. One very loud one was most likely from the girl that was lucky enough to get on his team and the other ones were more along the lines of protesting and disappointment.
"Unfair!"
"I didn't know he'd compete?! I wanted him on my team!"
"Shush I could still get to be in his team!"
Sakura grinned at the thought of what Sasuke's team would look like. In the worst case scenario the rest of the members would be female and all hungry for the dark haired boy's attention. They wouldn't be able to accomplish anything with the girls in his group just swooning when he glanced at them. Sakura would pay money to see that.
"Sakura Haruno."
Her emerald eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. She did not just hear her name. The pinkette glanced around her and felt everyone's eyes on her, again. It was like the damn ball all over again. But slowly the realization that she would be a member of Sasuke's team dawned up on her. She was right in the middle of the mess that would be caused by the damned Uchiha and there was nothing she could do about it.
Sakura honestly wanted to bury herself. She'd thought that she could just avoid him for a few days and have him forget all about the scene she just pulled in front of him. Of course it hadn't been because of him, but it did get intimate, and they weren't in a place where she could just shrug it off as friendship. And now she had to be in a team with him? Hell no, she did not want to be in that situation.
But after a few seconds, Sakura grabbed herself by the neck. She would pull herself out of that mess. She wouldn't let it bother her, she would still win the whole damn thing, doing it all by herself if necessary.
Then her thoughts were interrupted by Kurenai calling out another name, a student from Appleton whose name that she didn't recognize either.
Great, now she had three guys and two girls in her team. That was enough, the other girl could distract Sasuke while she and the two guys would work. Yeah, she could still win this.
But then something happened that ruined everything.
Absolutely everything.
The last name that Kurenai announced made Sakura's eyes narrow. What had she done to deserve such a punishment?
Karin.
She was going to be in the same team as Karin.
❧ Goddess of Glam