Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 6 Mission of loveAnko assembled everyone again at the square. It was time to start the mini-missions. "Hello everyone. It is time for the mini-missions. These missions are intended to help you train. Of course we don't want to spoil your fun here so these missions will just take one day. The goal is to help you learn to survive in the wild without a lot of equipment. You must reach one of the cottages spread throughout the whole forest. We won't give you a map, because in real life sometimes you have to do without a map as well. You do however get a basic food package and some ninja gear. Just in case you get scared in the dark, you will go with a companion." Anko smiled. "In other words there are two-man teams. Everybody got that?" Anko questioned the crowd.
"In which team am I?" Lee shouted.
"Yes Lee… I was coming to that. The teams are as followed:
Team 1, Sasuke and Sakura."
"No!" Sakura shouted out of the blue. She blushed.
Anko looked at her surprised. "Is something wrong Sakura?"
"No… err… no, nothing is wrong. Please continue." She said embarrassed.
Anko continued announcing the list. "So once again the teams are:
Team 1, Sasuke and Sakura
Team 2, Neji and Tenten
Team 3, Naruto and Lee
Team 4, Shikamaru and Ino
Team 5, Shino and Chouji
Team 6, Hinata and Kiba.
That's it. Tomorrow at 12 all the senseis will go to the cottages to see who made it there, if someone is not there by noon, your mission will be a failure. A search team will then be assigned to find you. Any questions?" Anko looked around to see if anyone had a question. "No? Ok then, here are your goods and I'll see you all tomorrow."
Naruto was disappointed that he wasn't in the team with Hinata. But he was glad that he had a little bit more time to figure out how he was going to tell Hinata that he loves her.
Hinata sighed when she saw Kiba and Akamaru very excited. Akamaru's tail was wobbling eagerly. She walked over to them. "Come on, let's get this over with." She smiled. Akamaru barked.
Shikamaru and Ino were smooching all over. It was hard not to notice them. They were so happy that they were on the same team.
Tenten rolled her eyes while watching them. She just had to say something about it. "Ino!" Ino broke off the kiss and looked at Tenten. "A little discretion please. Take for example Neji and me. We are happy to be on the same team, but we'll do all the kissing later." She winked. Neji looked at Tenten form the corner of his eyes.
"You and Neji are a couple!" Ino asked ecstatic. Now it was Neji's turn to roll his eyes.
"Yes we are." Tenten said with a big smile. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. She gently squeezed it. He vaguely smiled back at her.
"Oh I am so happy for you!" Ino said delighted. "Did you hear that sweetie?"
Shikamaru looked at her and nodded dryly. He wasn't paying a lot of attention to them, since he was having a discussion with Naruto and Lee about whether or not Go (Japanese game similar to chess) was boring.
"Great another couple in our friend circle." Sakura thought to herself.
"Chouji lets go." Shino said to his teammate.
"Well guys, we'll see you later. Shino and I are leaving." Chouji said while eating a bag of chips.
"Oh yeah we should get going as well!" Lee interrupted the discussion.
In the background Ino heard Anko announcing to the other ninjas what the teams are. She saw that Ryu was with some ugly guy. She had an inside laugh. Shikamaru noticed the smile on her face. "Why are you laughing?"
"Oh nothing. Lets go."
They all left, leaving an irritated Sakura and a silent Sasuke behind. Sasuke watched them leave and then turned to face Sakura. "I guess we should get going as well." Without responding Sakura headed for the forest. Sasuke followed her. "Look, if you're never going to speak to me again, fine, but do it after the mission." He said a little bit annoyed.
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Fine!" Sakura walked passed him and they left.
It was dark and everybody had already reached their cottage. Sakura sighed. They arrived here a while ago and she was bored. Even though Sasuke objected about giving him the silent treatment on this mission, they hadn't spoken a word to each other. She stared out of the window at the stars. There were a lot of them and there were no clouds covering their beauty. She smiled.
Sasuke was sitting in a corner. Anko forgot to mention that there was no furniture, so he had to sit on the floor. Sakura glanced over to Sasuke. It looked like he was in deep thought, like always. She was wondering whether or not to say something. She hesitated for a second and then decided to break the silence after all. "What are you thinking about?" She asked him with a sweet smile.
He didn't expect that question. He couldn't tell her, he was thinking about her. "Weren't you giving me the silent treatment?" He said dryly.
"I was, but now I'm bored."
"Hn…" Was all he said.
She sighed. "Sasuke?"
He looked up.
"Why… ehm… Do you remember the day you left Konoha. You said something to me, right before you hit me." Sakura looked back at him, trying to sense if he knew what she was talking about.
"I thanked you." He responded. He gazed at the floor.
Sakura approached him and sat down next to him. "Why did you thank me? For what?" She stared back at him, patiently waiting for a reply. She finally asked him why, but she was getting nervous now that she was so close to the answer. "What if he said thank you for not being strong enough to stop him or thank you for shutting up for a moment or thank you for giving him a reason for leaving, what if he said thank you to be sarcastic." She was getting even more nervous, thinking about it.
He eventually said something. "I meant…" He paused. He looked up from the floor and stared her in the eyes. "Thank you for caring."
She stared back at him, she was relieved to hear him say that. "So you don't hate me?" She whispered.
He smiled. "No I don't hate you. It might seem that way, but I don't. It's just that… It has been a while since someone truly cared for me." He was starting to feel uncomfortable, she was sitting very close to him and he didn't like talking about his feelings.
"Sasuke…" She spoke.
"Ok, here we go. It is time to find out if your feelings are sincere. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, Sakura." Sasuke thought to himself.
Sakura assembled all her courage to say what she was about to say. "I don't only care for you, you know that… I… I still lo…" Sasuke suddenly stood up before she could finish her sentence. "Sasuke?"
"…"
"Sasuke wh…?"
"Sakura." He turned around and faced her. She was still sitting on the floor. "We are close friends right?"
"Err… right." She wondered where he was going with this.
"That's all that we are and all that's all we'll ever be. Friends, nothing more. I don't love you the way you love me."
Sakura could not believe what he was saying so unexpectedly. It couldn't be true that he was actually turning her down. After all the progress she made over the years and lately with the massage and kiss. He had to be lying. To her and to himself. Why else would he allow her to do such things?
"I'm sorry I overreacted when you kissed me, but we are just friends. Do you understand that?"
"No." She mumbled. Anger started to build up inside her. "No! I don't understand! I don't understand why you're lying to me!" She was angry and she felt like she had a right to be angry. She stood up. She was sick of him, denying and never showing his emotions. She knew in her heart that he did love her. Exactly in the way she loved him.
"I am not lying to you. I'm being honest with you." He responded calmly.
"Stop it! You can try to hide it! You can put on your emotionless and cold exterior, but I know better! I know you! I can see it in your eyes!" She paused. "I've seen it. You didn't push me away when I gave you a massage. And you certainly didn't push me away when I kissed you. And don't think I didn't notice you watching me from a distance when we were together. So don't you dare tell me that you don't love me, because that is a lie and you know it."
He sighed. "Sakura would you just face the truth. I don't…"
"Love you? Yeah you said that before." Tears started welling up in your eyes. "I am not imagining things Sasuke. I felt it. You felt it."
"Sakura. I don't want to break your heart, but…"
"Well you are! Don't you realise that! Stop hurting me and just admit to your stubborn self that you do have feelings towards me!" She shouted again. Tears were running down her cheeks.
"Sakura." He said desperately.
"No!" She ran over to him and kissed him. She was holding his head in her hands. He placed his hands on hers. He wasn't struggling at all. He was allowing her to kiss him. She broke off the kiss, her tears were still flowing freely. She looked straight into his eyes. He gazed back at her. There it was again, his emotionless face.
"One last kiss to say goodbye... I don't love you." He walked away.
"Hmmm… I have the strangest feeling that something is wrong." Naruto said worried.
"What do you mean?"
"Like one of my friends is hurt." He considered checking on everyone. "Maybe I should go and make sure everyone is ok."
"Would you leave them alone fox boy. I'm sure they're fine." Lee assured him.
"Fox boy! Lee if you want to fight just say so!" Naruto said, forgetting all about what he was worried about.
"You are so short-tempered. If I had to fight you every time you called me fuzzy eyebrows." Lee rolled his eyes.
"Then you'd be dead." Naruto smirked.
"No. I'd be exhausted." Lee grinned.
"Whatever." Naruto placed his hands behind his head. "Anyways, Lee, you were giving me advice on how to swipe Hinata of her feet.
"Oh, that's right! Well I suggest that you dye your hair black, cut it like my hairstyle, whiten your teeth and wear a green outfit. If you do that, then things can't go wrong, no matter what you do. But to make it extra special. Bake a pie, throw it in her face and say this: 'My darling Hinata, even without the pie you are sweet, that is why I love you so much.'" Lee was talking with a corny, romantic voice. "She'll fall in your arms and you'll live happily ever after." Lee gave him two thumbs up.
"He can't be serious." - "Thanks Lee… that was very helpful."
"Any time buddy." He smiled.
Shino and Chouji were sitting on the floor, doing nothing. Well Shino was doing nothing, Chouji was eating chips.
"Hey Chouji. Can I have some chips?"
"No."
Shino sighed and mumbled. "Whatever."
Shikamaru and Ino were snuggling in a corner of the room. Waiting for time to pass by.
"Shikamaru? Don't you find it cute that Neji and Tenten are a couple? I hope Naruto and Hinata also end up together. They are perfect for each other." Ino smiled
"How about Sakura and Sasuke?" He caressed her head.
"Sasuke doesn't deserve Sakura. That poor girl has been in love with him for so long and still he doesn't show any affection whatsoever."
"What if he tells her he loves her and she loves him back?"
Ino thought for a second. "Then I wish them the best of luck." She smiled at her boyfriend. She swiftly kissed him on the lips and stood up to prepare something to eat. "I sure hope Chouji is sharing his chips with Shino."
"Not even a few chips?" Shino tried again, asking nicely.
"No!" Chouji persisted.
Neji and Tenten were sitting across each other. Neji was meditating and Tenten was looking around the room. Her eyes fell on Neji. "Ah man, he's still meditating." She sighed. "I'm bored."
Neji sensed her looking at him. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. She smiled back at him. "She's bored." He went out of his meditating position and invited Tenten to come sit next to him.
She stood up and walked over to him. He placed his arm around her shoulders and she cuddled next to him. They looked at each other. He kissed her on her forehead. "Neji? Thank you." Tenten said all of a sudden. He was surprised to hear her say that. As if Tenten read his mind she added. "Thank you for being there when I need you."
Neji wasn't really getting why she thanked him out of the blue. He smiled. "I should be thanking you."
"For what?"
"For allowing me to love you." He whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.
"You're welcome." She whispered back. They kissed.
"How about now?"
"No is no! You are not getting any chips of mine!" Chouji opened another bag of chips.
Shino frowned. "Stingy."
Kiba and Hinata were having a lot of fun. Kiba and Akamaru were doing tricks to cheer Hinata up, so she wouldn't think of Naruto. "Wow, good job you two! I never knew Akamaru could do that." Hinata laughed and applauded. "You should join the circus."
"No thanks. The life of a ninja suits us fine." Kiba replied with a smile.
"Are you guys hungry? I'll prepare something from the food package they gave us.
"That is very kind of you Hinata, yeah I guess we are a bit hungry. Right Akamaru?" Akamaru barked. "Oh and Hinata?" She turned around. "I'm sure Naruto will tell you he loves you. I mean, he'd be a fool not to." He blushed.
Hinata giggled. "Lets hope so."
"Yeah… Lets hope so." He whispered. "You deserve to be happy Hinata. You've brought us so much happiness, now it's your turn to be happy, my friend."
Shino gave up asking Chouji for some chips. He stood up and walked over to a big box that was standing in a corner. He was curious to find out what was inside. He opened it and smiled. He looked at Chouji.
"What? Why are you smiling at me like that?"
"Finders keepers." Shino said. He tilted the box a bit so that Chouji could see what was in it. His eyes widened. It was a box filled with bags of chips.
"Shino! You have to give me some!"
"No."
"Come on Shino! Don't be such a lame ass. Just a few bags!" Chouji begged.
"No."
"Shino!"
"No."
Chouji frowned. "I should have given him a few chips."
Sakura didn't move from the spot where she gave Sasuke 'one last kiss.' She was in some kind of shock. Sasuke decided to leave her like that, he thought it was her way of dealing with things. He was staring out of the window. Sakura's tears had dried up, but she still had red eyes from crying. She was literally speechless. Not only was her heart broken, but also it felt like somebody had ripped it out of her chest. All of a sudden she spoke. "Sasuke..." Sasuke turned his head and glanced at her. She still wasn't moving. She didn't look back at him. "Sasuke how will I ever manage without you?" Sakura felt her tears returning.
"Even though I don't love you, we can still be friends, can't we?" He replied.
She turned around and faced him. "I don't think we can." She whispered. A tear fell on the ground, soon followed by others. "I can't pretend to be your friend, when you are not mine. "You're not my friend... You are the one I love, truly..., madly... and deeply." Sasuke remained silent, carefully listening to every word she said. "I feel like dying right now. How the hell do you expect me to survive living my life as just your friend!"
"Sakura."
She ignored him and continued talking. "I have decided... that when we get back to Konoha village, I'll move to another village of the Fire country." She said dryly.
"What?" Sasuke wasn't expecting this. "Wait! You can't do that! What about your family!"
"I'll visit them regularly and when I do... I'll do my best to avoid you."
"Sakura you can't leave!" Sasuke said desperately.
"Why not? You did it before." She glared at him.
That felt like a shot below the belt. Yes he did leave, even though she begged him to stay. "You can't leave, because... then you'll be lonely."
"I told you... the day you left..." She stopped for a second. Without you... I am alone." With that said Sakura head for the door.
Sasuke ran over to her and grabbed her from behind. She stopped. She didn't fight him off. She just stood there. She turned her head to the left, so she could look him in the eye. He gazed back into her eyes. Sakura's tears were falling silently on his arms. "If I leave, I know I will always think of you, I'll always remember you, I'll always love you. But if I'd stay, I would always see you, I'd always be with you, I'd always be remembered that you don't love me too. And that... I can not handle." She said softly.
Sasuke didn't let her go. Instead he closed his eyes and said. "Thank you." He smiled. "You convinced me, I know now that you were telling the truth." He thought to himself.
Sakura wasn't sure she heard him correctly. "What did you say?"
"Thank you Sakura. I am sorry. You were right." Sakura was confused. She stopped crying. "I knew that you cared for me, but I had to find out if you truly loved me. I wanted to know if you just had a silly crush on me or not, just like the other girls. But now I know… I'm so sorry for putting you through this and causing you this pain. Please, forgive me." He released his grip on her.
Sakura turned around and they stared at each other for a moment. Silence surrounded them. Without any warning Sakura slapped him in the face. And just as sudden she embraced him. She wasn't fighting back her tears anymore. She cried and cried on his shoulder. She understood why he had to test her, she would probably do the same if half of the boys her age told her that they truly loved her. She was just glad that the test was over and that she passed. She couldn't help but wonder, what was her price?
"Sakura, I love you too." Sasuke whispered in her ear.
That was her price, the ultimate gift, the only thing she needed in this world. Sasuke's love. "Thank you."