"I'm fine." Sakura gave her worried teammates a reassuring smile. "I just remembered some memorable memories from the past."
Chapter 3: "Cosmos"Sakura saw their confused face and found them very amusing, especially Sasuke's face. "Sasuke-kun looks so kawaii when he's confused!" thought Inner Sakura. Then she answered. "I just remembered that I have come here before."
"You have?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Yeah," Sakura started to explain. "When we were still at the academy, there was one time when only kunoichis were the ones allowed to go to this certain fieldtrip here. You guys, as I can still remember, had to stay in the academy to have shuriken training with Iruka-sensei. Anyway, the fieldtrip was training for female ninjas, according to our sensei. I can still remember the way she explained how important this training is to us. She said, "As female ninjas, we must not only be skilled in ninjutsu, but also possess a wide amount of knowledge and culture." Then she pressed her glasses like this," she pressed an imaginary pair of eyeglasses up to her nose, "then she continued, "If you can sneak into enemy territory and pass for a normal woman, then spying will not be impossible." Demo…" Sakura paused for a while as she made a childish pout, "I really sucked in her subject. I barely passed in her subject when we were still in the academy. I was even scolded by her once that intelligence is nothing if you don't know how to apply it…"
Surprisingly, the 3 shinobis seemed very interested in her "story" and was motioning for her to continue.
"And that's the end of it," Sakura crossed her arms. "I think we should get on our mission now."
"She's right," agreed Kakashi. He took out 3 pieces of paper and three baskets from his backpack and handed them to each of his students. "Those papers contains list different kinds of flowers, your mission is to pick those flowers and meet me back here as soon as you completed the list. Each of you have different list, so I guess you guys will have to split-up." He sat down on the smooth soothing grass as he took out something from his pouch. (You'll never guess what he took out… his Icha Icha Paradise book.) He opened his book and started to read.
"I'm going," said Sasuke shortly. And with that, he ran rapidly toward the woods and disappeared from their sight.
"I'm going too," Sakura walked slowly away from her sensei and Naruto as she waved goodbye with her backhand.
"I'm the one left…so…I guess I'm going too…" said Naruto uncertainly as he ran off somewhere.
Sakura took her list from her pocked and read it in her head.
40 Lilies
40 White Orchids
30 Pink Orchids
30 Purple Orchids
She looked around her and tried to enjoy the view and peace and quiet for a while. It really looks beautiful. The place was bloomed different kinds of flower, some she can identify, but she didn't recognize most of them. With the sun shining brightly, they look even more beautiful. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply and let the wind blow short pink locks. She opened her eyes and whispered confidently. "This mission is a piece of cake. After saying that she rushed to the nearest pond and gathered some lilies. Thanks to the lessons she took when she was still in the academy, she finished in less than an hour and went back to their meeting place where Kakashi-sensei is reading his book.
Naruto seems out of luck today. He has been searching for nearly an hour already. He took a look on the list again as he scratched his head frustratedly.
30 Sunflowers
40 Petunias
100 Fujibakama
So far, he only got 30 sunflowers, 20 Petunias and no Fujibakama at all. "Geez," he thought. "I don't even know what a Fujibakama is."
Sasuke seems to be having better luck than Naruto. He took out his list and stared at it again for a while.
30 Daffodils
20 Blue Roses
40 White Roses
50 Red Roses
At least he knew what roses look like. How can he not? His fangirls gives some to him every Valentine's Day. As for daffodils… he didn't know what it is…so… he'll leave that problem until later. He still hasn't found enough blue roses yet.
"Kakashi-sensei, I'm back!" Sakura called out as she waved her right hand.
"Back so soon?" he said without taking his eyes off his book.
"Yup." Sakura smiled brightly.
"I see."
"Anou…"
"Nani?"
"I'm going to the other side of the woods for a while. Will it be okay?"
"Sure. Leave the flowers here and you free to go."
"Okay! I'll be back soon," grinned Sakura as she skidded off to her destination.
Sakura ran beside the river, chasing the river's flow. Why she was doing that, she had no idea. She just felt like it. She stopped for a while and stared at her reflection. Her hair was kept short after it was cut on her first chuunin exam, her forehead protector on her head, serving as a hair band. She wore red sleeveless shirt, a brown mini-skirt with slits on both sides and a silver belt buckling up her skirt. Her kunai pouch is attached on her right lower thigh. For her shoes, she wore black knee high boots. Sakura sighed. She has changed a lot since the last time she came here. When she came here before, she was still being protected by Ino and was always being looked down. "Look at how time flies-TIME!" She just remembered that she has to go back to their meeting place. She did a back flip, as she landed on a branch, she started to run back.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto was crying animestyle as he saw the pink haired kunoichi. "I've been looking all over for you!"
"Gomene if Imade you guys wait…" Sakura saw her teammates waiting for her impatiently at their meeting place.
"That's alright. Anyway, I need your help." Grinned Naruto as he pleaded in front of Sakura.
"Help?"
"I still haven't finished my list yet."
"You haven't? Then what are you still doing here?"
"I don't know how this flower looks like."
"I guess you should help these two out in their problem." Kakashi scratched his head as he talked without removing his face from his perverted book.
"Sasuke-kun too?" asked Sakura.
"Hn."
"So what's missing on your list?" Sakura asked both of her teammates as they left their sensei that was busy reading his book.
"Daffodils." Answered Sasuke.
With his statement, Sakura could not help but frown. "Sasuke-kun… those were the flowers that I always used togive you when I visited you in the hospital…how could you not know what it looks like?" she thought sadly. "I guess he didn't noticed the flowers at all."
"Is something wrong, Sakura-chan?"
"N-no,nothing's wrong." Sakura forced a smile on her face as she shrugged her sad feelings off and walked towards a flowerbed full of daffodils. "Here, these are daffodils. How about you Naruto?"
"I need 100 Fujibakama."
"…"
"What's wrong?"
"There are Fujibakama everywhere" said Sakura in a boring tone.
"Oh, so where are they?"
"Dobe" Sasuke was done picking the daffodils and picked a small weed-like flower. "This is a Fujibakama."
"Sasuke-TEME!" yelled Naruto angrily. "Of course I know what a Fujibakama is. I was just testing you."
"Riiiiiight…" replied the other two slowly and disbelievingly. They knew Naruto too well; they knew that he was just lying to cover up his idioticness.
As they waited for Naruto to pick some Fujibakama, Sakura looked at her surroundings and saw a beautiful cosmos that was half open. "Cosmos. Brings back memories."
Flashback:
6 year old Ino and Sakura were sitting on the grass. Sakura looked down sadly and said, "If Ino-chan is a Cosmos, then I'm probably just a Fujibakama."
"What are you talking about?" Ino said, proudly. "If you ask me, you're not even a flower. You're just a bud."
"Haha… you're right" Sakura forced a laugh, but deep inside her, she felt that very sad. "Ino, if I'm just a bud, then why did you give me this ribbon." She pointed the red ribbon above her head.
"Hehe… That's because," Ino smiled at her. "I thought it would be a waste if you ended up as a bud. A flower is meaningless unless it blooms, right? And it could grow into…a flower even more beautiful than a cosmos."
For once in her life, Sakura felt happy. She was never acknowledged by anyone before. She felt so happy that she cried.
End of flashback"I'm done!" Naruto said, brightly. "Let's go now!"
"Hn."
"Okay," Sakura was about to go, but she felt the urge of picking the cosmos up. So she did it.
"What are you going to do with that?" Naruto asked as curiosity overwhelmed his face. Sasuke seemed curious as well.
"Nothing really," Sakura putted the cosmos on her medicine pouch and tried to change the subject. "Hey, after the mission, why don't we all catch some ramen at Ichiraku's?"
"Sounds nice." Naruto looked excited.
"To make things more interesting let's make a bet."
"A bet?"
"Yeah, the last one to reach Kakashi-sensei treats us all." Sakura turned her back on them. "What are you guys waiting for?" After saying that, she gathered some chakras on her feet and released it all. She was running really fast, it was evenbeyond Lee's speed without weights on his feet.
Sasuke smirked and started to run as well. As for Naruto, he was still dumbfounded. By the time he realized it, Sakura was already 20 meters away from him and Sasuke was already 10 meters away from him. "AHHHH! No fair!"
Thanks to Sakura's great chakra control, she got to Kakashi-sensei's first. She was followed by Sasuke,then Naruto came in last.
At Ichiraku's ramen house…
"It's really nice of Naruto to treat us ramen, ne?" Sakura grinned. Then, she slurped some noodles quietly.
"Hn," Sasuke smirked as he ate his ramen quietly.
"Yeah," said Kakashi who has already finished eating ramen as soon as his order came. Like usual, none of his students go to see what's beneath his mask again.
"Mou… Sakura-chan, you cheated," said Naruto, quietly as he waited for his 5th bowl of ramen.
"First of all, I did not imply any rule that says "no using of chakra"." Sakura sipped some soup and continued. "Second, it wasn't my fault that you didn't think about using Kage Bunshin to stop me and Sasuke-kun. And third, it's not called cheating, it's called out-smarting. I ninja should look underneath the underneath, ne, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi-sensei nodded in agreement while smiling underneath his mask.
"Dead last."
"Nan-!"
"SASUKE-KUN!"
Who could that be? No, it wasn't Sakura. You guessed it! It was Ino. She was accompanied by her teammates and sensei, Shikamaru, Chouji and Asuma-sensei.
"What a coincidence!" continued Ino as she hugged Sasuke tightly. She looked at Sakura, her voice changed into a teasing voice."Oh, and hello to you too Big Forehead. What's this? Finish so soon?"
"Hi Ino-pig." Sakura stood up from her stool. "And yeah, I'm finish now. I still have thingsto take care of in the hospital."
"The hospital? Don't you think that's a little troublesome."
"If it's for the moneythen I guess not." She turned to her teammates. "See you guys tomorrow." Then she turned to Ino and her teammates. "See you guys too, I guess…"
"Yeah..."
"Sure."
"Bye then." Ino smiled proudly as for she can have Sasuke all to herself today.
Sakura turned her back on them and was about to go when she suddenly remembered the Cosmos she picked up earlier. She gave it to Ino and said, "Don't ask, just keep it." Both of them gave each other a smile and Sakura left to go to the hospital give the people there some hand, and also to earn more cash…
"Hey, guys," Naruto turned to his fellow shinobis.
"What?" asked Shikamaru, lazily.
"Can someone explain things to me? I feel kinda left out here."
"You're not the only one, dobe."
"That's rivalry," Kakashi explained.
"Is that so?"
"I guess."
END OF CHAPTER 3
Thanks for reviewing V-sakura, really appreciated it!
To my dear readers (if there are any),
I just want to make a clarification that the "flower picking" is not the mission that was mentioned in the summary. The solo mission will take place later on. I would like to make my readers see first how normal things were going until Sakura gets on with the mission. Is it okay with you guys? I hope so...
Anyway, don't forget to review. Any kind of review will be useful to me as long as it made sense.