Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This is simply a fan fic.
It was past twilight. The pale rays of the moon shone over Konoha making it look mysterious and familiar at the same time. The night sky was beautiful at this time of the night.
Bright emerald dephts stared into the star lit sky as though it was nothing more than a dream.
With a soft sigh, Sakura silently crept out of of her balcony, away from the place she called home.
Travelling with the speed of a shinobi, Sakura crept towards the Konoha gates, swiftly and silently to avoid being seen by the guards stationed at the gates. Tsunade had ordered a few ninjas to guard the gates after what had happened with Sasuke. Getting in or out would be challenge if you didn't have permission.
It was to prevent the incident from happening again.
Sakura could hear the guards talking to one another. She hid behind a tree and looked for an opening.
She saw one of the guards standing next to the backdoor that led out towards the forest and decided to give it a try.
With the swiftnest of a fox, she darted for the backdoor after throwing a pebble at the opposite direction to attract the guards.
They fell for it and within a few seconds she was out of Konoha.
(space)(space)(space)
The forest was cool and quiet except for the occasional hoots of owls and scattering of small animals as she passed by.
' Was it all just a dream? I have to know. I can't get him out of my head'
' The cave, I have to find it. I have to know,' said Sakura as she walked through the forest looking for anything familiar that would lead her to the cave.
' He brought me here once in my dream but my eyes were closed then. We walked out of the cave together, so I guess I would just have to look for something familiar that will lead me to the cave,'said Sakura to herself.
' What are you stupid? How are you supposed to find something in the dark and you don't even know the way,'argued her inner mind.
Sakura knew that she was taking a huge risk. It would be hard for her to find it since she didn't know the way.
Moreover, it was dark and she may not even find it in the day.
But she knew that she had to.
The dream had been bothering her for almost a week and she couldn't get it out of her mind.
She just couldn't forget him...........
(flashback)
"Sakura"
"Sakura"
And with a soft sigh, Ino yelled into Sakura's ear.
"SAKURA"
"Huh? What?!" said Sakura as she snapped out of her reverie and stumbled onto the floor.
"Sakura, you've been sitting there like a statue all day. Snap out of it, or I might have to put you in an art musuem"
said Ino sounding annoyed.
"Sorry"
"How long have I been sitting here anyway?"said Sakura trying to give Ino a playful smile.
"Long enough. You probably would have been here till the next day if I hadn't 'disturbed' you,"said Ino as she gave Sakura a hand to pull her up onto the bench.
"Sakura, what's wrong?" said Ino as she turned to face Sakura.
"I know that you're upset about Sasuke but it wasn't your fault. You tried your best,"said Ino giving Sakura an encouraging smile.
"I know,"said Sakura realising that she had almost forgotten about Sasuke.
She was too busy thinking about her dream that her mind had wandered from Sasuke.
It had been six months since Sasuke had left.
During that period of time, Sakura had begun training with Tsunade to become a kunoichi (medical ninja).
Sakura's control of her chakura had greatly increased since then and she had begun learning diffrent types of jutsu's.
During the first few months, Sakura couldn't get Sasuke off her mind but she took her training seriously and used it as a distraction to refrain from thinking of Sasuke.
She remembered the day when Naruto and the rest of the rescue team had come back from their mission.
Few were injured seriously and some had minor injuries.
They had failed to bring Sasuke back.
She remembered everything that Naruto had told her.
It was devastating news and it broke her heart to hear that Sasuke had tried to kill his team mate.
He left willingly............He left me willingly............
He didn't care.................
That night, Sakura cried her eyes out on her balcony.
As she looked up at the dark night sky, she whispered to the stars...........
' It's hard, i but I have to.
I have to let him go..........'
With that she cried herself to sleep.
(I do not own this song. It's called breakaway from kelly clarkson)
' Grew up in a small town And when the rain would fall down I just stared out my window Dreaming of what could be And if I'd end up happy I would pray
Trying not to reach out But when I'd try to speak out Felt like no one could hear me Wanted to belong here But something felt so wrong here So I pray I could breakaway
I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky I'll make a wish Take a chance Make a change And breakaway Out of the darkness and into the sun But I won't forget all the ones that I loved I'll take a risk Take a chance Make a change And breakaway
Buildings with a hundred floors Swinging around revolving doors Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but Gotta keep moving on, moving on Fly away, breakaway
I'll spread my wings And I'll learn how to fly Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye I gotta take a risk Take a chance Make a change And breakaway Out of the darkness and into the sun But I won't forget the place I come from I gotta take a risk Take a chance Make a change And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway'
' Sayounara, Sasuke-kun' whispered Sakura as she drifted off to sleep.
Sakura had finished her daily practice with Tsunade.
Sakura sat down on the closest bench, trying to catch her breath after that two hour long practice.
Tsunade waved her goodbye and left.
Sakura had been up all night trying to figure out a way to prove if the dream was real.
She had tried going to ask Iruka since she had seen him in the dream but Iruka wasn't around.
He had left on an A-rank mission due to the lack of shinobis since Orochimaru attacked the village.
Many chuunins were forced to take up these missions since the jounins were busy with the S-rank missions.
Naruto, Shikamaru and Neji had been given A-rank missions as well even though the only chuunin in the group was Shijkamaru.
She supposed it was because they had beaten a few strong opponents during their rescue mission.
Not like Naruto was complaining though, he was always complaining on how they had to go on D-rank micssions when they were still a team.
Sakura missed those days. She would have done anything to get her old team mates back together again.
Kakashi was rarely seen around the village nowadays.
He was given S-rank missions that were far too dangerous for the other shinobis.
Now it seemed that Sakura was the only one left out and she wanted improve her techniques so that she would be included as well.
She wasn't the only one left out though, Ino and Hinata had been left out as well.
Their team mates were all on missions and they were only given C-rank missions to do.
Sakura had been on a team with them for two months and they seem to get along pretty well.
Ino and her were best friends again although sometimes they got into small pretend fights just to prove their rivalry to the other Sasuke-fangirls.
Why do they still do it you ask?
Well sometimes it was for fun so that they could pretend that Sasuke was still around.
The rescue mission had been kept a secret and not many knew what happened during the mission.
Sakura had told Ino and they both decided that it was best to keep it secret for now.
If they had told the other fan girls, it would just cause what hope they had left to wither and not to mention glum and crying faces where ever they went.
So it was best not to mention even though they guessed that the other girls had guessed quite a bit of it and they were just acting like Sakura and Ino were. It was to keep their hope alive.
Or what hope they had left.
Sakura looked up into the sky thinking of Sasuke.
She remembered that in her dream, she had tried to fool Itachi with the fake story of her liking Sasuke.
But in truth she liked Sasuke just because he looked a lot like his brother.
She sighed at the thought.
'If only that were true, then it wouldn't hurt as much'
'I do like Sasuke. Even though I can't recall much of my childhood, all I know is that i might have thought of Sasuke as his brother but I fell in love with him. Not because he looked like the boy in my dream, they may look alike but their attitudes are totally different. I love him....,'thought sakura to herself as she stared at the sky.
' I love you Sasuke, but since you left you have been wavering from my heart. I guess I must tell you........... goodbye Sasuke. But remember me, for I have loved you once,' she whispered as the wind blew her cherry blossom hair that had grown to her shoulders.
Sakura then turned her head towards the direction the wind was blowing from.
She gasped as she realised she was staring at the same cherry blossom tree she had seen in her dream.
Her thoughts then went back to Itachi and now her curiosity was taking over.
She had to find out if it was true.
Now, she just needed another proof.
The cave.......'I have to find it',she thought to herself when Ino screamed into her ear.
(space)(space)(space)
"Sakura, did you hear?They have an opening for a B-rank mission,"cried Ino excitedly as they made their way towards Tsunade's office.
"I heard it from Shizune-san. She says that we might be able to take it since they don't have enough ninjas around"
said Ino as they walked through town.
"Okay. But why are we going to Tsunade's office?I just finished training,"said Sakura as she waved at Hinata who was supposed to meet them outside the office.
Hinata joined them and they continued walking through town.
"Sorry I'm early, I saw you walking to town so I decided to follow you,"she said in a soft voice.
"It's okay. Besides early we were going to ask you to come along anyway,"said Ino to Hinata who blushed a little.
Sakura always found Hinata to be a nice and caring person.
So when she was put into Sakura's and Ino's team, Sakura didn't mind the least after all it was nice to have an extra girl in their group to talk to.
"Why are we going to the Hokage-sama's office again?"asked Sakura who was devastated at the idea of having to see the hokage again after the long training she had.
"We're going to see if tsunade-sama will let us go for the B-rank mission,"Ino said as they walked up to Tsunade's office.
Her office was a large oval room that had a desk and three chairs.
It was hardly decorated but then who would want to decorate the Hokage's office while she was doing her work.
Everyone in the village knew that she got irritated rather easily when she was doing paperwork.
And when she got irritated, she gets into a fit that could probably make a grown man faint.
They knocked on the door and entered to find that the Hokage was sleeping on her desk.
Sakura and Ino walked over to her and started calling her name.
"Tsunade-sama"
"Tsunade-sama, wake up"
"Huh?What?!"she said as her eyes began focusing on on the three gennins that stood before her.
"Oh, it's you three. So, what can I do to help you?" she said as she gave a big yawn.
"Ehm......we were wondering if you would aloow us to go on a B-rank mission?"Hinata said softly.
Both Sakura and Ino were suprised that she had spoken first since she was always the shy one.
But they had guessed that her father must be putting a lot of pressure on her since she was going to be the next heir to the Hyuuga clan and that Neji had been going on A-rank missions while she had hardly made it to a B-rank mission.
They both pitied her but there was nothing they could do and they liked this shy and caring person anyway.
"Are you sure that all of you are ready? You will be going without any of your teachers and if something goes wrong there won't be anyone there to save you,"she said to them kindly.
"Yes we are. Don't worry about us, I'm sure we can handle this mission since we've been training so hard and besides, we have a kunoichi here with us,"said Ino as she took hold of Sakura's and Hinata's hand.
It was true that Sakura had made good progression within these few months, but she still had some things to learn.
After looking at their faces one by one, Tsunade finally decided to let them go.
' After all, I'm sure that Sakura can handle this mision. I haven't seen such progression in anyone since Shizune,'thought Tsunade to herself.
'This will come as an experience to all of them,'she thought again.
"Okay you get the mission. You will be protecting Shirika-hime. The mission isn't long, you'll have to protect her until she gets to her father's palace. She has her own body guards but they are not trained ninjas.
You'll have to protect her from assasins. Is that clear?"she asked them making sure they understood.
"Crystal,"said Ino as she took a map from Tsunade.
"Good, you'll be leaving in two days,"Tsunade said again.
(end of flashback)
'I have to find that cave before I leave. I can't seem to consentrate on anything. I have to get it off my miond'
Sakura said as she continued looking for the cave.
Sakura continued looking but still she couldn't find it. Not even a familiar sight.
' Maybe it was just a dream,'she said to herself as she leaned back against a tree to rest after searching for two hours.
As she closed her eyes, she heard his voice replay in her head.
'Close your eyes Sakura'
'We're almost there'
She could even feel the warmth of his hand as he took hers in his.
' Okay, you can open your eyes now'
Sakura opened her eyes. But this time he was not there with her.
She was alone. In an empty forest full of memories.
Tears flooded her eyes.
Unknown tears that have been kept locked inside her heart for too long.
Sakura didn't know why but she wanted him near her again.
She wanted to hold him. She wanted to hear his voice.
She wanted to see him.
But most of all she wanted to love him again.
'Itachi, I don't want you to be a dream. I want you to be by my side' she whispered knowing that it was was stupid to cry and it could just be a dream.
Her heart broke at that thought.
Then suddenly, something caught her eye.
It was a firefly flying throught the trees.
She stopped crying and followed the firefly.
She soon saw what seemed to a cave.
She followed the firefly deeper into the tunnels of the cave.
(space)(space)(space)
Tears of joy and at the same time sadness rolled down her cheeks.
The cave was just as she remembered.
It was cool and damp.
But most importantly, the fireflies that she loved were there.
They were beautiful, just as she remembered.
'Itachi, i wish that you could see this with me,'she whispered, tears still flooding her eyes.
'I don't know what happaned betweeen us, or why you left but I'll find out.One day I'll find out,'she thought to herself.
Sakura then leaned her head oh the cool stone wall of the cave and fell asleep.
' I'll find you...........I'll find you.........,'she whispered before her world dissapeared around her.
(space)(space)(space)
Deep red eyes stared at her as she fell asleep.
He had been watching her for some time since she left the village.
"I'm sorry Sakura,"he whispered into her ear before turning to leave.
A/N I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I guess it's a bit too long but I can't stop my fingers from typing
Hmm.......next chap.
The mission begins............