Disclaimer: WTF! Naruto isn't mine! What the jeez is this crap! Dx
COLD FLOWER
Chapter 1: Lapse
By Mokora
Her hair was long now, to the small of her back. Still delightfully wispy and candy-pink, but now long and flowing. She was pleasantly tanned, seeing as she'd been enjoying the pond nearby lately, taking advantage of the warm summer days. Her eyes completely absorbed the sun's angelic light, making the sea-green gems sparkle like sunkissed waves, as she bounced about, all smiles.
It'd been about a year since he'd left. She'd forgotten, or so she said and tried to believe at times. He was gone, and all of their trials and all of her dreams were over. She smiled at everyone, smiled all the time. No one could bring her down, it seemed. But she was a fake. He never really left her thoughts, and she was reminded every night as she prayed for sleep.
Visions came. Flooded her mind, and played like old videos. She lingered on his smile, so afraid. She was so afraid she'd forget how he looked, how his smooth voice sounded against silent walls. She would hug her pillow tightly, almost painfully to herself, and make herself remember his voice, his trademark little smirk, his determined scowl. Though sometimes, the pictures and sounds wouldn't come. Or they'd blur, leaving her to scrape and claw at what she had, trying to make sense of the absence, of how he slipped away as time passed. Time became a hated thing. There was never enough time, and always too much. And it never changed. Time stayed and continued on and on, not slowing or quickening for anyone, and sometimes she wished she could stop the world from spinning, so that she could just keep those images within her. She didn't expect him to return. In fact, she doubted. He'd always been a wallflower, always breaking away whenever he could, needing nothing and no one. He'd always escaped or retreated every time someone turned away, and he seemed unhappy with the company of his 'friends'. He'd escaped successfully this time, without being seen, and so she doubted his return. He was free. Why would a broken-winged hawk, hungering for avengence, return to a crowded shelter after its predator was dead? No explanation. The bird would live free, on its own. For healing. For independence. For freedom, itself.
Thus, she was afraid.
Through all of her constant warring of the mind, though, she put up an excellent facade. Naruto was fooled, as well as Ino and Tenten. They hardly suspected she missed him so much sometimes, her heart hurt, or that she cried her self to sleep six out of seven nights. She was excellent at being extremely hypocritical, which only deterred her faith in anything even more. She felt so two-faced sometimes that she hated him sometimes. Hated him for doing this to her, for not caring. For not considering. For not looking back. For not saying goodbye.
She hated him, but her love for him was much more powerful.
Every since she was such a tiny child, she'd felt a strange magnetic attraction to the serious boy. There was something, she'd liked to believe as a dreamy little girl, new to feelings of love. There was just something about him that made her smile. And even now, as a sixteen-year-old girl, becoming a woman, he still made her smile. All her life, no other boy had interested her. Only him.
What was this obsession? There must've been a reason for this, somehow. Ino liked Sasuke for his looks and total cool towards every problematic situation, but she... She loved Sasuke much more, she swore. So much more, Ino didn't begin to compare at all. She loved Sasuke, with every ounce of love she could dedicate to someone, it was all given away. Given away as a child, even. This didn't happen to everyone, she knew, and so she liked to believe there was a reason behind it all.
Lee had suggested a game of Kakureganoheishi, or Soldier's Hideout. It involved as many teams as needed, each with three members, given a certain amount of time to set up a fortress. Sometimes these were elaborate, with large sand walls and wooden baracades. Sometimes, though, they were only but a large heaping pile of sticks and twigs, which was a trademark of Naruto's. Though they were older and should've outgrown games at their age, this game honed their skills, seeing as no team knows where the other forts exist. One member from each team, a scout, sets out on a trek, as stealthy as possible. If they find a fortress, they can retreat and choose to ambush. Or, if they're seen, the witnessed fort's team members can ambush them, and, if the scout is defeated, they then must join the enemy team. If the scout wins, that fort is out of the game and they report back. Sometimes, three-on-three battles occured, or more. It was rather fun, and each tried new strategies and attacks and practiced controlling chakra through this event. Thus, it was dubbed 'not childish'.
More importantly, this was a solely taijutsu, or hand-to-hand combat, game. Chakra was avoided, and they all vowed not to use any deadly moves, which brought a few nervous chuckles from the group.
Lee, taking it upon himself to pick his team first, seeing as he had suggested the girl, surveyed the possible options. Ino, Shikamaru, Sakura, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Neji, Naruto, Tenten, Shino, Temari, Kankurou. Gaara never wanted to participate, so he usually watched, upside-down, hanging beneath a shady tree.
Le cleared his throat dramatically. "I choose..." He gave a theatrical turn, squinting at the choices. "Sakura!"
"As always." Ino chortled.
Sakura bounced up besides Lee, smiling.
"And... Neji!" He snapped his fingers and Neji rose slowly, sauntering over with arms crossed. Tenten huffed. She wanted a team with Neji.
"My turn!" Ino decided, rising. "Ne! Shouldn't I get a turn at team captain now, Ino?" Shikamaru protested. She gave him a sneer and waved her hand. "Whatever. You'd probably try to defend our fort, sitting down!"
"What!"
"The answer's no. Now, who do I--"
"Ino!"
"Shut up! I'm thinking!"
"But--!"
Choji nudged the disgruntled Shikamaru a bit, gesturing for his silence. He was about to protest, but Ino pointed in his direction. "C'mon, Shikamaru. You didn't think I'd leave you off my team, didju?" She gave him a sneaky little smile, followed with a light-hearted chuckle. He rose, rather flustered, as he scratched at the back of his neck. "Choji! Get on up here!" She coaxed, with a determined gameface. He joined her, smiling smugly, and she retreated as the next team captain would take the stage.
"Hinata, why don't you be team captain this time?" Kiba asked her, smiling at the raven-haired girl with glassy pale-fuschia eyes who hung her head, so as not to be noticed. She looked up gingerly and smiled weakly, shaking her head. "Kiba... I couldn't..." She said rather quietly.
"C'mon, Hinata. You've never done it before. It's not hard, and I'll help you out if you need. I'll even letchu hold Akamaru." He gave her a big grin and she couldn't help but smile. "Hey, yeah! Hinata should be captain this time!" Naruto declared, waving a fist. She had a hard time refusing things already, but she had no choice when Naruto spoke. "A-Alright..." She sighed, and Kiba nodded.
She stood and bounded to the center daintily, giggling a bit. She was clearly embarrassed, as all eyes were on her. She wanted to choose Naruto, but that shyness that dwelled within her prevented her from doing so, so she called upon Kiba. Still one more space, she confided internally, and she hesitated. If she chose Naruto, would people laugh at her and make assumptions? She wanted him on her team though, but what would they say.
She was fidgetting now, and everyone watched without a word. She was very relieved though, when Naruto began to wave his arms frantically and point to himself, mouthing the words, 'Pick me!'
"...N-Naruto." She breathed, trying to fight the hue that crept into her cheeks.
"SWEET! You are ALL going down!" He announced obnoxiously, charging over to stand beside Kiba and Hinata.
"Yeah, yeah." Ino said, waving a dismissive hand in Naruto's direction. "Who's next?"
Temari rose, raising an arm. "I'll be captain!"
"Alright." A few assorted voices said in unison.
"Lessee... Kankurou and Shino." She gave a confident smirk as her new teammates joined her.
Tenten sighed unhappily. Always the last to be picked. But there was a clearly uneven number of players, considering Sasuke was gone, maybe forever, and Gaara refused to take part.
"Tenten..." Ino muttered, trying to calculate a solution for the unbalance. "Is it alright if one team starts off with 4, this time?" She asked, looking around at each cluster of teammates questioningly. "Hai. It's fine." Kiba decided. "Let's just play!" Naruto snapped, kicking at the dirt before him impatiently. Hinata giggled beneath a hand, her loving eyes cast on the impatient boy's messy sunlight-gold hair and his tan face, three distinguishing marks on each cheek. She felt happiness swell within her, as her daydreams began once again.
"Alright, who'll take 'er?" Ino asked forcefully, hands on hips, pushing Lee from his lead position. He didn't notice this though, as he looked about the golden forest, thin and gnarled trunks of trees protruding from the packed sand and dirt every foot or so. He was determining the best place for a fort.
Neji stepped forward a bit. "She'll be on our team." He said, no expression visible upon his pale, stony face. She squealed internally, giving him a genuine and loving smile as he directed his gaze to her. He just huffed, with that same sneer he wore so often.
"But, Lee is the cap--" Ino began.
"He doesn't mind."
She looked unsure at first, but figured they were all real teammates anyway, so it would be perfectly fine. "Alright then. Teams are set! Go build forts!" She made a wide gesture with her right arm, motioning for the teams to head out, which they did, and rather quickly too. If you were to come upon the perfect place for a fort, but another team had a fort just meters away, with more building progress than that of your team's, you were forced to find another location. First come, first serve.
Lee called his team over, seeing as he'd charged ahead for first dibs; and, with his speed, this seemed to always work out well. "Here'll be good." He said, motioning to a dark juncture, cut into the side of a thick dirt ledge that rose above their ground-level about six feet. It looked as if it'd crumble at any moment, but dark places were the best places, and this would be uniquely hidden from scouts, therefore, the fort would be safe. The teammates quickly packed dirt up, piling dark stones and scratchy branches. After finishing this task, Lee whistled loudly, signalling his fort was completed. Moments later, another whistle came, followed by another. Then the last whistle, signifying that all teams were ready.
"Neji, do you want to be scout?" Lee asked with a lowered voice, taking heed that scouts might've already been sent out. The boy with pearl-like lavender eyes gave a nod and crept out silently. Almost instantly, he'd left his teammates sight. Lee sighed and slumped down against the fort's sturdy dirt and stone wall. Sakura peeked over the edge, prepared to ambush approaching scouts.
Tenten popped her fingers' joints absently, waiting for someone to come upon their fort. Sakura perked up a bit, hearing very slight crackling leaves nearby. She ducked her head a little more, squinting her eyes. Between the distant mass of tree trunks, shooting up and overlapping one another, she saw a faint flash of navy blue and grey-white.
'Who...?' She thought for a moment. Then she stopped, as if time had stopped, her eyes wide. It couldn't be.
No! She wouldn't get her hopes up like that! She'd given up on that a long time ago, and she was supposed to be focusing on other things then. She scolded herself for being so jumpy and gullible, seeing as the former colors had faded into the mixed tan and gold of the trees it had been before.
She gave a little sigh, her heart still racing. Just watch for a scout, she said. Forget.
But then, her eyes were instantly pulled towards those very colors to the left of her, still deep within the forest. She tensed. Who was that? Then, a fleck of black passed by. She dug her nails into the fort's dirt wall. No, it couldn't be. The colors returned, and left. It was moving fast, out of the forest, seeing as they built their fort at the edge. She had to find out.
She abruptly leaped and flung her body over the fort wall, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Lee and Tenten jumped, startled by the sudden movement. "Saku--!" Lee began, but she had already taken off into the distance. He was about to follow, but Tenten stopped him.
"I think he's back." She said, with a little smile.
"What!"
"I saw the colors that she must've seen. I think he's come back."
"What're you--? You mean--?"
"She'll come back if it's a false alarm. Just let her find out for herself."
Lee gave a deep sigh of reluctance. What if it was a trick? What would they do then?
Sakura threw herself deeper and deeper into the thick mass of tangled trees, hitting her limbs on more than one occassion, thorn vines that hid among the forest floor scraping at her legs viciously. She sped forward, leaves thrashing her in the face, stones tripping her amidst her path. Onwards.
She stopped when she'd reached the forest edge, the village visible through the trunks' crevices. Where? She looked about and searched left to right. Nowhere. Her eyes darted about, willing to accept any color besides that of the bland trees.
Then, she saw it. That trace of navy and white, with ebony, deeper into the forest's edge. She immediately followed it, treasuring this beacon as she grew closer and closer, her heart pounding madly beneath her breast. She felt the blood pulse in her ears with anticipation. Closer...
The figure came into view now. She stopped, at a complete loss for words. No words would come. There he was, back again.
"Oi. Sakura." He said, not turning to meet her dumfounded gaze as she gazed at the back of his navy open-collared shirt. She felt her arms fall to her sides, limp. He'd grown taller, his hair longer.
He turned, with a sneer, looking at her with empty eyes. She couldn't move. She was just too stunned, immobile and wide-eyed. He stretched and yawned.
"Y-You..." She mumbled. She'd never felt so many conflicting emotions at once before.
"Hn?"
"Where...?"
"A lot of places."
"But..." Her bottom lip quivered as she struggled helplessly for words. She just needed words, that made sense. Words that would bring answers. Why was it so difficult to speak?
"I've avenged my clan." He said finally, his obsidian eyes boring into her as she stuttered a bit.
"You--!"
"I've been successful in destroying the waste that destroyed my bloodline. So, I've returned."
She could say nothing. He'd actually killed him. He defeated the man that he couldn't touch only years before. At that moment, she felt a twinge of unworthiness, standing before this powerful Uchiha.
"Tell me..." He said nonchalantly, reaching into his bag, pulling out, and examing a kunai knife covered in dried blood. "Is Naruto still obnoxious?"
Sakura clenched her fists. She stepped forward as her mind went completely blank. She tore the knife from his hands. She saw now, that he'd become a murderer. He enjoyed the hunt and kill, and it showed clearly with his fascination as he studied the blood stains his brother had left unwillingly.
She threw it down, enveloped with rage. "You've... You've worked so hard!" She shouted. He looked at her with no expression, his dusty eyes reflecting hers.
"You worked so hard, but you're weak! You're weaker than anyone here! You gave yourself away to your inner demons, and now what can you do! Kill! Some valiant return!"
She turned her back to him, feeling a lump form deep within her throat, the need to release her tears building second upon second.
"You... You never even think... You never think! It's always you!" She sobbed shakily, refusing to face him.
"I thought I'd be overjoyed, if you ever came back. I thought my depression would vanish in the instant I saw you, and I'd be pulled from the ground. But I'm not. I... I can't stand you!" She spat, confusion making her head whirl with pain. Every emotion clashed like lightning.
She ran, away from him, and she didn't look back. She couldn't believe what she'd said, overwhelmed with shame. She flung herself beneath a larger tree, sobbing into her knees vigorously. She hated this. She hated always being the only one who cared. She hated being the only one who couldn't sleep at night, wondering if her beloved was still alive, or dying somewhere, left to rot.
Why? Why did he change? Why did he look so distant?
She continued to sob loudly, muffled only by her embracing arms and knees, now damp with tears. She wished she didn't love him. She wished she never had. She was so tired of this whirlwind she dwelled in, she being the only one ever wounded.
The trees swayed in the moderately-warm breeze, making soft whistling sounds. Violet and indigo splashed across the deep peach sky as twilight began to befall the village.
"Sakura." Came the familiar voice, like melted chocolate.
She turned away, wanting nothing more than to disappear. Maybe if she didn't exist, he could never hurt her. Maybe if she was never really there, everyone would be better off.
"Get up, Sakura."
"Leave!"
"Get up."
"Just leave... please..." She pleaded, feeling like such a fool. Here she was, in tears because of him again. He probably thought she was such a stupid girl, such an emotional wreck, a crybaby. He just looked at her, with those empty stone eyes.
And he left, retreating into the village.
Alright, so, REALLY LONG EFFIN' CHAPTER. 0.0 Sorry. Didn't mean for it to be that long. x.x;;
And, yeah. They're in Konoha, all staying in one building for the time being. Just to clear that up.
I tried to portray Sakura being stronger and more outspoken as an effect of her getting older and maturing a bit. She can talk back now, when Sasuke wrongs her. I think that's how Sakura would become anyway, over the years.
And sorry Itachi's death was portrayed so minorly. o.o I totally didn't mean for Sasuke to just come back and be like 'He's dead, man. I freakin' killed him.' But I really didn't have much of a choice here. u.u; So sorry about that.
And, since I feel obliged to release a few more little hints, yes, Gaara will have a bigger role in this fanfic, and he also has a pairing of his own. Concerning Lee, well, I don't know. He might have someone. xD
Now for reviews!
Xoni Newcomer - Thanks so much! xD I wanted to start off with Lee's serious side, solely because this is a mostly serious story. If I had made him so pleasantly goofy, (xD,) the chapter wouldn't have the right mood that I was trying to create. So yeah, he'll be funnier in chapters to come. x3 And yes, all relationships will start out very slight. There are indeed hints in this chapter between SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, AND NaruHina. xD Got 'em all in there. They'll gradually grow as the story unfolds, so, I look foreward to writing all of it. o.o Thanks for reading and reviewing!
