A small note from the authoress: For some of you who hasnt read the summary, I would just like to inform you that I've already put the pairings. It's SasuXSaku, ShikaXIno and NaruXHina. But the pairing shall be put into action in some latter chapters, so please be patient and bear with me. Dont worry, the climax of my story shall soon be revealed. That's all. Enjoy! Right, another thing before I forget, this fic is NOT for Sakura haters.
Some Japanese terms used in these chapter:
Ohayo gozaimasu- good morning
Domo arigatou- thank you very much
Kuso- darn it
teme- bastard
demo-but
That's about it, I guess. Just tell me if I missed some terms that you dont know
Chapter 6: "A sp-spar!"
It's a lovely Saturday morning today in Konoha. The bright sun shines brightly as the gentle breeze blows gently.
Sakura is now holding a paper in her hand while she is walking away from Shikamaru's meeting place. Why? A few minutes earlier today, Sakura went to their meeting place and found a note lying on the grass that was addressed to: Sakura. After opening it and reading it a 2 to 3 times, she put it in her pocket, sighed and left.
For the 5th time this morning, Sakura sighed again as she walked, she took out the piece of paper that was left for her. She read it in her mind:
Sakura,
Sorry, I can't play with you today. My troublesome mom just gave me some troublesome chores this morning. Unfortunately, I have to finish these by lunchtime. Again, I'm really sorry about this.
ShikamaruAfter reading it, she sighed heavily again. She didn't know what to do now. She was expecting that she would be playing some Shogi with Shikamaru today so that she would be able to keep her mind off the "mission". She really didn't want to think about it, not today. She still has 5 days to decide. So, she'll just leave it until Wednesday or so… "Now what am I gonna do today? I want to relax my mind. I can go to Suzuhara Archery Dojo. Yes, that would be simply nice." Archery? Yeah, Sakura really likes it. Shooting arrows relaxes her mind and clears her mind with certain things.
In no time at all, she arrived at the entrance of the Archery Dojo and was greeted by the owner. "Ohayo gozaimasu, Sakura dear," said the old lady with a tight bun on her hair.
"Ohayo gozaimasu!"
"So, shall I prepare the things you need?"
"Yes please."
The old lady bent walked away from her table and went to another room. She walked out carrying a big wooden bow and a container with lots of arrows. "Will this do?"
"Hai! Domo arigatou."
"Your welcome."
Sakura walked away from the old lady's table and went to a different room as she carried the bow and arrows. The room was extremely large and has no rooftops at all. Its floor is made out of wood. At the other side of the room, its wall hung lots of targets. At the edge of the room, was a young man about 2 years younger than her. His name is Suzuhara Akira. He is the grandson of the owner of this dojo. He helps his Grandma manage this dojo. He waved at her. Sakura, in return gave him a sweet smile.
She did not bother changing into the traditional Japanese outfit in archery. "That would be too troubleso- did I just say that? No way." Instead, she wore here usual training outfit as always, a red sleeveless top and a brown skirt with slits on its sides. She hung the container of the arrows on her back and took her place at the far end of the hall. She stood straight as she raised her bow; she took an arrow from her back and stretched the strings of the bow. She aimed at the target and let go of the arrow. Shoot! It hit the target; it was simply to the bull's eye. As if she was not contented, she quickly took another arrow from her back and aimed again. This time while she was aiming, she tried to relax her shoulders a little bit. Her grip on the arrow was firm as she tried to aim more accurately, she thought, "Okay, Sakura. Relax. Try to-"
But her mind was interrupted by 2 loud voices calling her, "SAKURA-CHAN/SAN!" Because of this, Sakura's finger slightly slipped through her fingers and shoot! It went straight to the target and next to the first arrow she shot a while ago.
"Tch," that was all Sakura managed to say with her frustration. " Kuso...Who the heck was that?" she thought. Sakura slowly turned her head around to see who it was. "Naruto and Lee-san?" who were rushing towards her. And behind them, who was looking rather enthusiastic is "Gai-sensei?" He was closely followed by 4 bored looking "Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-kun, Tenten-san and Neji-san too! What are all of YOU doing here?"
"What does it look like to you?" said Kakashi in a rather sarcastic tone. Sakura raised a brow. He sighed and pointed on his outfit. He was wearing his forehead protector and mask as usual… he wore white smooth robes; which slightly revealed his chest. He also wore a white pants to match with a black strip of cloth wrapped around his waist. He was wearing an archery outfit. She glanced at the others to see that Gai is also wearing the same thing. But Naruto and the others were just wearing their usual training outfit. But Lee-san is holding 2 bows and container of arrows.
Sakura raised her brow higher(if that was possible). "Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei are here to practice their aiming?" she said in an uncertain tone.
"Not really," said Gai in his usual enthusiastic tone. "You see, I, the great Green Beast of Konoha, challenged my eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi, in an archery match." He did his infamous "nice guys pose" and said, "With now 70 wins and 70 loses, I shall settle this once and for all of whom is the strongest between us! Yoshi, Kakashi! I will surely beat you today!" He glanced at Kakashi who was now reading his Icha Icha book.
Kakashi looked up from his book and said, "Sorry, I wasn't listening. Were you saying something?"
Gai fell on the floor anime style.
Sakura sweatdropped. "Ah…" She walked slowly and quietly to her teammates and Gai's team as well. "What are all of you doing here?"
"We were FORCED to come," said Tenten in a passive tone as if it always happens.
"Forced?"
"Yeah. By Thick-brow's sensei!" said Naruto as he clenched his teeth. "Well, early this morning, I was treating Sasuke some ramen because I have a very kind and pure-hearted soul-"
Sasuke forced a snort and glared at Naruto.
"O-okay!" yelled Naruto in frustration. "I was treating Sasuke because a lost to a bet with him. Anyway, while we were eating, these people (pointing at Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kakashi and Gai) bursted in at Ichiraku's. Then Thick-brow's sensei says that we have to go along with them so that we can be the witnesses of Kakashi-sensei's defeat…"
"I see…"
"You should be thankful. It is a great honor match to be able to witness a fight between our dear sensei and Kakashi." Said Lee.
"Uh-huh…"
"Can we PLEASE get on with this, Gai?" asked Kakashi. "I have certain things to do."
"Nonsense." Answered Gai. "You are just going to read your low rated book again."
"Whatever." Sasuke said impatiently. "Why don't you just get on with it?"
"Yeah," Neji agreed. "You're just wasting our time."
"Tsk! Tsk!" Gai smiled at the two heartthrobs. "Where are your spirits of youth?"
Sakura's instincts told her to go now before she too would be forced to stay and watch them. And anyway, how will she be able to concentrate in her aiming with all these noise. "Err… I think I'll be going now." Sakura said shortly as she tried to walk off.
"Why don't you join us?" Gai said.
"Uhmm… no thanks…"
"Don't you think it's a great honor to be able to watch our match?"
"O-of course I do…" Sakura lied. The only ones who believed her words were Lee and Gai-sensei. Sakura didn't want to hurt their feelings.
"Then come and watch us."
"But…. but" Sakura quickly thought of a lie, "demo… it's too great of an honor for me to watch. I don't think I have the right to watch your match.
Tenten let off a loud cough. Obviously, she didn't believe a word Sakura said and neither did Sasuke, Naruto, Neji and Kakashi. Again, only Lee and Gai seemed to believe her.
"Don't worry," Gai patted her shoulder, " I think you are worthy enough to watch our match. I know that you want to prove to me that you are worthy, but let's save that after my match."
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked quickly.
"So that you can prove it to me, Lee shall spar with you later on after we finish this."
"W-what! A sp-spar!" Sakura started to panic. "But I- well you see-I-I really-"
"Don't worry," Lee said in his good guy pose. "I know that you are worried that I will go easy on you. But fear not. For I, Rock Lee of the Hidden Leaf Village, shall vow to go all out on you later in our spar."
"Ahehehe," Sakura laughed nervously. She glanced at her sensei, her upperclassman (Neji, he's a jounin, right?) and her fellow chuunins (except for Lee) with a please-help-me look on her face. They all shrugged and looked away from her.
After Kakashi has defeated Gai, who was unable to accept his defeat until Lee mentioned the spar, they exited the dojo and walked to a nearby training ground. On their way there…
Gai and Lee both looked so enthusiastic as they walked in front leading the way to the training ground. The rest of them were farther away at the back.
"So Sakura-san," Tenten inquired. "What are you going to do?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, how are you going to defeat Lee?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Honestly speaking, I have no intension of sparring with Lee." Sakura said in an as a matter of fact one.
"Then what are you going to do about it?" Kakashi asked Sakura in a daring tone.
"Well, I've already formulated a plan." Sakura smiled.
"What are you planning then?" the Hyuuga prodigy shot as soon as he heard the word "plan".
"Plan A is…. as soon as we get to the training grounds I am going to say that my head suddenly aches and that I don't think I can fight."
All of them sweatdropped. She calls that a plan?
"And do you have a Plan B?" Sasuke asked, hoping that she has a better plan.
"As a matter of fact I do," Sakura said cheerfully. "In case it doesn't work, my Plan B shall take place when we start the spar." She explained, "I am going to make an opening for myself and get Lee to hit me, then when he hits me I'm going to fake an injury and say that I can't fight anymore."
Another lame plan… For god sake, she's a medical ninja! When she injures herself, she can simply heal herself, can she not?
"Yes, I know that all of you think that my plans are totally lame, but what do you suggest me to do?"
"Suit yourself." Tenten shrugged.
They all kept quiet until they got there.
"Isn't it nice here?" Gai said, again doing his nice guy pose.
"Yoshi! Time for me to set Plan A into pace." "Ahhh…." Sakura said weakly, holding her head.
Kakashi, Tenten, Naruto, Sasuke and Neji simply observed Sakura in one side. "Not bad," they all thought.
"Is something wrong, Sakura-san?" Lee asked in a worried voice.
"I…" Sakura closed her eyes, "I think my head's swirling…"
"Is that so?" Lee said. "Gai-sensei, I don't we should continue our spar."
"What spar?" a new voice asked.
Sakura opened her eyes to see her rival, Ino, walking towards them.
"Oh, Ino-san," called Lee. "We were suppose to have a spar today, but since Sakura's not feeling well…"
"We should cancel the spar." Gai finished the sentence.
"Hmph!" Ino smirked. "You should really cancel the spar. I'm sure Thick Brows can easily defeat Big Forehead."
"HELL NO!" Inner Sakura took over her. Did Ino just call her weak? Even Sakura herself is a little anxious at this. "I can still have a spar! Let's get this on with it, Lee-san!" she said firmly.
"Yatta!" Lee cheered. "Okay, let's start."
"Foolish girl," Neji said in a small voice. "Letting her ego take over…"
"Hey, don't call MY Sakura foolish," snobbed Naruto.
"Foolish," Neji repeated. Then he suddenly smirked, "But I like her guts."
END OF THE CHAPTER
AN: Again I would like to thank all my faithful readers. Im in a hurry so I wont put them here anymore. I hope that's okay. And sorry if there are lots of typos and gramatical errors. I was in a hurry in typing this coz my parents doesnt know anything about me posting fanfics and I have to hide the it from them. Anyway, as long as my readers are happy, I think that all this hardwork is paying off. I'll try to update ASAP! Read and Review!
P.S. : Any Filipinos out there? If there is, would you kindly tell me what "pitik" is in English? Thank you !