2 : Sakura
By: Kokoro Kakera HP ^^
Disclaimer: Naruto, (Manga, anime, products, etc.), belongs to Kishimoto Masashi
Author's Notes:
...I had LONG authors notes in chapter one...Sorry. Forgive me if I write any of the characters OOC, but it can't be helped... What I know about all of the characters can be written on one of those post-it notes you stick in random places to remember things. (I tried it!) But if written correctly, an OOC fic is fun, right? ...This chapter is kinda longer than Naruto's for some reason... Will make up for that later...
Shurikens - Type of weapon used by ninjas. Pretty much the shape of a star, (usually with four blades), and hand thrown.
Jutsus - type of attack or spell
Chakra - energy used to perform a jutsu
"Naruto, you're such an idiot sometimes." Sakura sighed as she deposited him to his front door.
"It's all Sasuke's fault." He grumbled as she untied him.
"It's your fault for not being there! What happened anyway!?" She demanded.
It was more from concern than anger that Sakura ever scolded, yelled or screamed at Naruto about important things like missions and fights. This was no exception. She really had been worried when Naruto didn't show up for the mission. It was Naruto and nothing short of something disasterous kept him from a mission. That or maybe he forgot. There hadn't been enough to go look for him though. The minute they had been given their instructions, it had to be done. So Sakura, along with the object of her affections - Sasuke - had gone looking for some lost dog in a vast expanse of forest. Something an ordinary person couldn't do very quickly, but a ninja could within a few hours at least, apparently.
Sakura sighed, taking small peeks at the boy running beside her. Running with him was one thing, but what she really wanted to be doing with him... well it was just a silly innocent's dream. From their first meeting up to now, Sasuke still hadn't shown any active interest in her, and there didn't seem to be any hope of him doing so ever. The only person he seemed to be interested in- 'HELL NO!!!' ...right? At this moment, she couldn't be sure. Sasuke wouldn't show it, but she could tell that he was slightly preoccupied by the fact that Naruto wasn't there. It had shown briefly on his face moment after the news had reached them.
And from his slightly furrowed brow, Sakura could tell that he was still thinking about Naruto. In what terms, she couldn't be sure, but it wouldn't have surprised her if the words, 'idiot' and 'stupid' had found their ways into his train of thought.
"Aah!" Sakura barely caught herself as she tripped. Sasuke shot a concerned look at her, slowing down, but she waved him off and sped up again to catch up to him.
'Catching up.'
She forced herself not to falter. That was also another impossible thing for her to do. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she wanted to- ...she was still just the girl behind Naruto and Sasuke. Even when she had cut her hair, vowing to be stronger and to try harder, it didn't change anything except her improvement rate and will to fight.But wanting to be strong was different from becoming so. Now her goal was, 'become strong enough to protect myself so Naruto and Sasuke don't have to waste their time.'
She ran a bit faster for Sasuke's benefit, but knew that he was still slowing down for her.
One day, she would run fast enough to keep up with Naruto and Sasuke and strong enough to protect herself.
Just protect herself.
'To be as strong as they would become' was a stupid thing to pursue.
'Just become strong enough to protect yourself. Not any stronger because it's impossible.'
It was an attainable goal, but it made her want to cry when she thought about it.
A dog barked, catching the two genin's attentions.
"Sakura!" Sakura pivoted on her foot and jumped to the side just as a rain of shurikens completely annihilated the patch of ground and the trees around it she had just been standing on.
"DIE!"
Rogue ninjas. Great. Just a healthy dose of what it was like to be surprised on a mission.
Sakura watched as Naruto's face went through a large range of expressions, none of them looking promising.
"Forget it, forget it..." She mummered. "Just don't miss another one unless you have a good reason to." Naruto stared at her. Then grinned. "What?" She returned his stare skeptically.
"You were worried, Sakura-chan!" He sang.
"Don't get too sure of yourself!" She planted her fist into his head, causing the boy to fall over.
"Sakura-chan, what happened to your arm???" Naruto cried from the ground. The change of angle had allowed him to see the slight cut running from her triceps to her palm. She brushed him off, saying it was nothing.
It wasn't important actually. It was just another one of the ever appearing signs of her incompetence as a strong ninja.
Sakura!" The pink haired ninja jumped again, barely avoiding another onslaught of shuriken. 'They're targetting me!' She realized with a start when she rolled out of the way of a vicious kick.
"Humph. Pretty good for a weak tag-a-long. We were going to just pick you off so we could get your friend, but maybe it won't be such a terrible idea to steal some of your jutsus after we've killed you." 'Who are they!?' She pushed a bolt of chakra into her feet to aid her speed. 'Invaders from another village!? And what's their business here!?'
"What are you looking at!?" One of the enemies taunted loudly from the side. Thankful for the idiotic ego of the man, Sakura threw herself to the side and winced as a shuriken grazed the underside of her arm at bullet speed. Any slower and that same shuriken would have gone through her chest. She landed heavily against the tree and dizzily tried to regain her bearings.
"SAKURA!" Sasuke grabbed her. Two seconds after which they were both impaled through their chests to the tree by a sword.
"Got them!" The ninja blinked.
Two logs were pinned to the trunk of the large pine.
When they came back later with Kakashi, all that had been left was a few scratched up trees and patches of land. A few meters away a dog lay dead, having been stabbed to death.
A failed mission and a ruthless band of rogue ninjas. Wonderful.
"You sure you okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked again for the umpteenth time.
"I'm fine!" She growled annoyedly. "Stop asking when I've already told you the answer!" She huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Well, you're not sick or gonna die in the meantime, right?" Naruto nodded and Sakura turned. "Then I'm going home. ...Coming, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked hopefully, pausing in mid-step. Their houses weren't that near each other, but the first part of the walk from Naruto's house let them go the same way for a little while. Not that they'd ever walked to their homes together ever for even a little bit. Sasuke shook his head.
"You go on ahead, Sakura. I'm gonna make sure this guy doesn't do anymore stupid things."
"HEY!" Naruto protested at the insult and glared holes into Sasuke. Not that he noticed or cared. Sakura nodded, sighing wistfully. Walking home with Sasuke... it really was just a far off dream that didn't have any hope of gaining substance. Sasuke's love was something that she couldn't even approach, even in dreams. She picked up her feet and moved them in the direction of her house. Then stopped. It wasn't a bad night to take a walk... She turned again and went left instead of right.
As she turned, Sakura glanced back once more to where Naruto and Sasuke were. 'He pays more attention to Naruto in a day than he does in a week for me!' She turned away looking forlorn. With the way Sasuke acted, it wasn't too hard to make a girl wonder...