Disclaimer: Honey, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.
Penname: LiveLoveLaugh
FanFiction Story: Such Sweet Sorrow
Summary: Sequel of Backstabbing Love In the Wheel of Fortune, Sakura tries her luck on men.
AN: Okay, I finished my homework (phew!) let me write down this chapter for you all.
I give all my love to the reviewers and readers, thank you for the encouragement!
Jinx Shinobi: 8:12 am
Two dark figures stood at foot of the East Gate, each with little belongings in their knapsacks filled with that of precious memories their past had provided for them in this homely village. The younger stiff man looked passively at his old mentor, who just arrived with grief in his eye. He shook his head disbelievingly, feeling his long raven bangs brush lightly against his closed eyes.
"What did she say?"
"Not much, I didn't say much either."
"…I still can't believe you're coming with me…"
"Well, I still can't believe I agreed to…" a mysterious hidden smile was seen in the soft light that cascaded through the thick leafy branches of the shadowing tree groves.
"Why? You have everything here…" the first speaker muttered, "…she still wants her old teacher around…"
"I know," a click of his tongue was heard, his eye crinkled slightly, "…but you still want me around too…"
"I prefer to be alone when I'm traveling," he whispered, blinking his eyes of tiredness. He watched the other man turn on his heel and walk further away from the Hidden Leaf.
The older shinobi smirked and opened up his orange book, taking out his book marker, "The feeling is mutual."
"And…" the mentor cocked his head towards his pupil, with a crinkled eye grin.
"…I like being alone with someone else, too."
Sasuke nodded, and walked at Kakashi's right, "I feel the same way."
In a blink of an eye, they were gone.
Don't worry.
They'll be back.
Intermission
Sakura slumped in the plastic stool with an exasperated groan, already feeling the sore muscles in her body.
For a full thirty minutes after Kakashi had left, she had broke down in her state and curled up into a frightened shaking ball at the corner of the dingy alley, ignoring the stares that everyone who passed by had given to her. She didn't care about the pity or disgust in their eyes, or the biting words they spoke to one and other. She didn't care what would spread to her mother or be spread straight to her friends.
Sakura slapped her money on the counter, ignoring the grieving glance the Ichiraku shopkeeper gave her.
She just didn't care anymore at that moment.
She didn't even care that her clothes were shabby from the dust and grim, that the back of her Jounin vest was smeared from the chalk drawings from that alley. She slump her shoulders, heaving deep breaths and tightened the hold of her fist. The pain of her nails against her palm had increased enough to draw blood.
Every day of her unfulfilled life, she had been worried over silly things such as pecks of dirt on her clean sandals or the annoying tangles in her glossy pink hair. Bad luck or fool's fortune had been pouring over her, but she looked at the most meager things like who likes who or what would happen to that girl of that boy or if Sasuke-kun would like me in this dress or that. She never really gave enough thought of what really would be happening after all those damn things had passed by.
The smell of cooking ramen raved her senses.
Would be she waiting for more?
Would she be waiting for meaningless empty things to happen?
And never knowing what really could happen?
If she were to pick one emotion to have forever, what would it be? Happiness? Joy? Love?
Sakura scoffed, tossing back her long rosy pink hair. The young waitress Ayame smiled politely at her and placed a pair of wooden chopsticks and a bowl of pork ramen in front of her. The young woman whispered a soft thank you.
Happiness is empty without sadness. Joy is nothing without sorrow. Love is…
Love…
Is…
Fucking…
She snapped her chopsticks apart and washed the splinters off with the fierce rubbing of her clapped hands.
Love is so fucking beautiful.
Sakura wanted to weep just thinking of that kind of beautiful bliss she felt for Sasuke, for Kakashi, for Naruto, for Ino and Hinata, for her mentor Tsunade, for her parents, for her family, for her friends, for the village, for her strength, for her skills, for all the men she had kissed and hugged after every night she came back from her dates, for all her dreams, for all the blushing moments, for all the good and bad moments, for all the things she loved and didn't love, for those who didn't know her, for the successful missions, for every children, for every woman, for every man, for all her patients she healed, for every death and birth, for every life given and taken, for every gift she received, for the love she had, for the wisdom she gained, for the advice she given, for the smiles she earned, for every stroke of her hair, for every blink of her eye, for every beat of her heart, for all the blood running in her body, for all her worth she possessed…
Because she loved being in love.
She stuffed the soggy noodles into her mouth, tasting the sweet and sour taste on her dry tongue.
And just throwing away the first man she had ever truly loved with all her being and soul, she felt so exposed and naked in front of everyone's eyes. When Sakura first woke up with a broken heart, she felt like a child who knew of nothing until she had laid eyes on Sasuke-kun. What could happen to her? Could she really be able to fall in love again?
With another man? Impossible…
She sighed, Sasuke meant everything to her. Every breath he took, she loved him. Every time he looked at her with his bottomless eyes, she melted. Every time he spoke her name, she felt happy. Whenever he was sad, she was sad. Whenever he smirked or chuckled deep in his chest, she smiled her biggest and she laughed like none other.
She wiped the droplets from her mouth with a napkin, and slowly finished up her ramen.
And she threw it away.
With so many thoughts in her mind, she was very unaware of a brunette standing across the busy street.
Tenten carefully fixed her makeup, looking intently at the small rectangular mirror of her cosmetic compact from her green velvet purse. She cursed when she put too much blush on, of course, she had never put on makeup. Tenten accidentally landed one foot on the ground at the wrong moment when she got off her seat on the fence. She never wore heels that high.
She quickly straightened out her freshly ironed pleated skirt and blouse.
She never wore skirts either. That short, anyway.
The brunette carefully clipped small black pins to hold up her twin hair buns, looking as cute as she had always had. Tenten smiled a practiced sexy smile, ready as ever to flirt with young men in the markets. Failing just last night was not part of plan to hook up with a guy, no, no, failure is her enemy.
And it has a habit of taunting her every night.
She walked carefully (beware of six-inched heels) through the street, passing by Ichiraku Ramen to a variety shop which gave off a thick smell of cheap plastic and fake leather. She leaned her head down to look at the inexpensive prices of miniature paper dolls and colorful clothed flowers. Tenten winced at the awful stench the toys gave off, moving her narrowed brown eyes to a plastic plaything mirror on her left, hanging with a bunch of battery-activated lanterns and wind-up spinning tops. With a careful eye, and tons of experience from weaponry throwing, she had targeted her victim.
A giddy toothy smile spread across her tan face. Just her luck!
A tall dark handsome man walked out of a small coffee shop, clad in a long vest and his hair tied into a short ponytail, he was reading a book and sipping his coffee. He took a seat on one of those patio tables. He appeared to be intelligent and single, she noted, and was sitting alone!
In a table with another empty seat!
Wee! She almost ran over there, not even caring who she had shoved aside!
Or who had run into her—
"TENTEN-SAN! GOOD TO SEE YOU ON THIS LOVELY MORNING!"
"AHHHHH!" she screamed, falling on her behind.
She could have bet a zillion dollars that her hair pins had popped out, letting go strands of her twin buns to create a disastrous chaos, and her clothes were dirtied and wrinkled instantly when she scrambled to get up and fold down her itty bitty witty skirt. She shut her eyes tightly and prayed it would not be who she thinks it is! Not him…not him…anyone but him…
"TENTEN-SAN! IT'S ME ROCK LEE!"
Fuck.
"Lee, hey…" Tenten blocked out his spandex-clad image, turned her head to his far side to see if that cute guy was still there.
He was, she was relieved, and still alone. Good.
Tenten patted a hand on his shoulder with a frightening smile twitching on her mouth, "Lee, I'm kind of busy, can we talk later?"
Please.
Lee looked at her with curious bug eyes, scratching his bowl-cut, "What's wrong? You seem unlike yourself today!"
Tenten bit her lip, knowing she wasn't get out of this one. She glanced. Good, he's still there.
"Lee, I really need to go," she growled out, her smile was becoming scarier by every millisecond she standing there with her teammate. The Azure Beast blinked and turned his head which blocked out her sight of Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome.
"Lee!" she squealed, forcing his head back into place and shoved her way through.
But her Hooking Up Plan was squashed when Lee held on to her arm with a worried look on his cartoon face.
"Tenten! You look really pale!" He pulled her away from Hot Guy at 9 o'clock, "You need to go to the doctor's! You must have ate something bad!"
"LEE!" She yelped, frightened and wretched her arm out of his grasp, "I'M FINE!"
"No you're not! Look at you! You're getting pinker by the second!"
"LET GO! I'M FINE DAMMIT!"
"But Tenten-san! You're sick!"
"I'M NOT SICK! I'M FINE! NOW LET GO LEE!"
"But Tenten-san!"
"LEE! LET GO OF MY ARM!"
At this tug-a-war battle went on, with the girl tugging and the boy pulling, Tenten snapped her head back with her hair in a disarray and wished for ALL the hopes in the world the Cute Coffee Shop Guy was still there.
And hopefully he had not seen this childish play.
Tenten shook off Lee's arm.
Yes, he would be reading his book and drinking coffee as always, and she would walk over that with all her mighty cuteness and snatch him away with flashy eyes and sexy smiles.
Wait…WHERE THE HELL IS HE!
Tenten ran over to the table with madness.
Her dilated brown eyes roved all around the shop and over the patio table, seeing only an empty cup of coffee dregs. He was not there reading his book or drinking coffee. His seat was empty and still warm from his body heat, and the table was empty, and the entire place was empty and barren of Future Mister Tenten!
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
She snapped her head towards Lee, scaring the living hell out of the Genius of Hard Work when she glared at him with a terrifying Tenten-style glare and snarling frothing mouth. Horns had sprouted out and blazing fires surrounded the once cute brunette. Rock Lee looked at her with worried eyes when she gave off an image of rapid dog.
"Tenten, something's wrong with your eyes!"
"You have five seconds to run away…"
"Tenten-san—"
"One."
"What—"
"Two."
"Are—"
"Three."
"You—"
"Four."
"Talking—"
"Five."
"About—AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Soushouryu no Jutsu! Rising Twin Dragons!"
Intermission
"Man, that Tenten can kick ass…" Naruto chuckled, hugging the waist of his stunned girlfriend.
"Uh, N-Naruto-kun, m-maybe we s-s-should h-help L-Lee-san…" Hinata stuttered, gripping the front of the blonde's shirt.
"Wait, wait, give it another two minutes…"
Intermission
Sakura blinked when she turned her head around at the sound of manly screaming and sharp clashing sounds of metal. She didn't really catch what was happening in the commotion. The young woman scooped up the last of the noodles from her porcelain bowl and slurped up the last dregs of the brown miso soup. Her tongue swept across her pale pink lips and she placed her chopsticks across the circular rims. She got up from her seat, patting and brushing down on her black and red skirt free of the dust she had captured from the alley.
Sakura slide swiftly from her stool and waved good-bye to the ramen cook and his daughter, accidentally and embarrassingly hooking her foot on one of the plastic chairs in the restaurant. She would have fallen ungracefully, but a firm grip on her biceps held her securely.
She winced at the tightened pain and pushed herself up. She had unconsciously moved closer to the warmth that had 'saved' her from this disaster. Sakura felt a strong unyielding aura enclosed in front of her body.
The eighteen-year old woman looked up hastily and was met up with a set of black glasses.
Her breathing hitched and she stood on her won two feet quickly, with flushed cheeks.
Shino
He still wore a long thick green coat that went down to his thighs with the high collar flap covering half of his pale face. He was wearing black trousers strapped on with his holster and pack, and strapped blue sandals. His wild dark hair was combed and tightly bound by his shiny blue hitae-ate. His statue was tall and towering as he looked down on her with his sunglasses, all this had given off an intimidating and lean look.
Not only was there a few customers and the Ichiraku owners that had witness this golden moment, but also the Hokage herself standing behind this spectacled figure grinning with a sumptuous smile. NOTHING HAPPENED YOU SLUG SANNIN! She screamed in her mind.
Sakura shook herself from this awful reverie, wanting to run through a wall.
"Good day, Tsunade-sensei! Shino-san…" she murmured, a squeak etched itself into her tiny voice. The Godaime's grin widened.
The young medic-nin cursed herself of this day damnation.
"Hello, Sakura-san," Aburame Shino replied in acknowledgement, not even reacting in any way of the incident.
"Ohayo Sakura-chan…" Tsunade drawn out, Sakura desperately wanted to claw off that grin.
"Good morning, Hokage-sama!" The Ichiraku owner waved respectfully from behind the counter, "Care for any of Fire Country's best ramen!"
"Thank you, but no thank you," the blond woman glanced lightly at Sakura, "Actually I came here to introduce you to your team, Sakura…"
"Really!" Sakura cried excitedly, jumping up and down like a little girl being introduced to ice cream and sweets.
"Yeah, Shino here is one of the team members…I think you two were already acquainted…" Tsunade stifled a laugh, covering her peach lips with her hand. Sakura's entire face was crimson as she shook Shino's still hand.
"She's know about me…" Shino whispered, nodding when their hands parted.
"Oh! Good, then," Tsunade smiled lightly at the Aburame, her hazel eyes looked at Sakura with amusement. Her pupil was absolutely mortified, trying her best to look away. She was more concerned with herself and the stuttering of her squeaky voice to notice who walked up from behind her.
"I hope I wasn't late…"
She turned her head around to be face to face with another tall figure. But he was only taller than her by a few inches. This figure had the most extraordinary eyes of silvery-white orbs that glimmering a wave of violet in the sunlight. His long coffee-brown hair had combed and neatly tied into a low ponytail that reached to under his hips. His face was pale and strong, with a long straight nose and sculpted pale lips. He wore long white robes with a black tied obi around his waist, his forehead protector tied over his bandaged forehead. Inner Sakura, being only a counterpart and a figment of her imagination, gawked slack-jawed at the young man and the Hot Guy Alert was ringing instantly in the mind. Sakura wasn't very pleased, rolled her eyes, and just ignored her inner self.
The young woman narrowed her emerald spheres in blossoming realization.
Hinata's cousin, she thought to herself, oh right, Hyuuga Neji, I remember him…Is he my captain?
"Only by a few seconds, good day to you Neji," Tsunade smiled, running her hand over his collarbone in mirth when she watched her student looking skeptically at the Hyuuga prodigy.
Hyuuga Neji nodded to Aburame Shino, having been on a few missions with him in his Chuunin years. Neji frowned upsettingly when he laid his eyes on her. And he was not impressed.
This woman had dull pink hair and childish green eyes that moved all around him. She gave off a strong smell of pork ramen and badly scented lotion. She was overly dressed and her Jounin vest was unzipped to show off a useless white circle symbol contrasting with dark red fabric. Her clothes were wrinkled, dusty, and chalked—is that a twig in her hair? What the hell had she been doing? Mopping herself on the floor? Hell, her hitae-ate was almost slipping off her forehead. He had seen numerous nameless beauties in his life, and this girl was definitely not one of them. He remembered all her qualifications like the back of his hand, and it didn't seem to match her image.
This plain weak girl is the unlucky creature who the Uchiha bastard fell for?
And his new comrade?
He groaned, and grunted at the girl's staring, "See something you like?" he muttered, unimpressed.
Sakura broke out of her trance, and shook her head indifferently, "Unfortunately no…"
Before Neji could attack her with the Sixty-Four Hands of Hakke for his deflated ego, Tsunade reached out a hand and placed a firm grasp on Sakura's head and noogied her pink head like a child. Sakura growled and grimaced unpleasantly when her back was pushed against the famous giant over-enlarged breasts of the Slug Sannin. She hunched her shoulders with a shudder.
"I think Tobio is late…" Tsunade whispered, with a tone she had never used.
When the three Jounins looked up to see the face of the Hokage, her look in her eyes and the peach grin had enhanced into devilish and menacing. She hugged Sakura closer to her chest, nearly suffocating the girl. Neji and Shino looked at the older woman with raised brows.
"Danno Tobio had been a Jounin for the last seven weeks, and unluckily has not found a team that would accept him," Tsunade's grin could have made the Devil scream like a little girl, "He has some…unusual factors to him. I had had a lot of trouble getting him somewhere. He has been in your class, Sakura, Shino…I don't think you might have thought much about him…but I'm quite sure you three would be get along fine with the…uh, newly assigned Jounin member—"
"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!"
Tsunade's grin intensified, "Speak of the devil."
A tall skinny young man ran towards them in the middle of the street, with a huge blue knapsack and a heavy duffel bag strapped over his right shoulder. The boy was the same age as both Sakura and Shino, with russet hair that was tied into mid-ponytail, light brown skin, and he was dressed into his green Jounin vest and navy trousers with black sandals. A huge smile was literally stapled on his boyish face. Nothing was wrong with him, what could have made him unusual? Besides the fact that he was overly happy—
"Okay, watch closely and you'll know…" Tsunade whispered, still grinning as she huddled the three shinobis together.
Tobio was still walking towards them.
Sakura blinked and tilted her head.
Shino adjusted his sunglasses.
Neji raised a brow, letting out an impatient growl.
"Hokage-sama, I don't know what you're pulling but nothing's wrong with—"
Not a lot of people would have cared that his giant duffel bag was zipped up to the edge only enclosing around a long white handle of some mystery weaponry. Tobio walked carefully, and overly happy to finally find a secure team of respectful Jounins to really be concerned about a red rubber ball rolling by his feet—right?
But he did see the ball, so he moved to the side for a little boy with freckles on his nose to pick it up. Though Tobio backed up a little too far, the white handle in his duffel bag had accidentally swung and hit a piece of orange fruit (an orange), which caused the other fruits to be pushed and rolled off the stand and onto the cement floor, the many oranges were still rolling, the first person to come out of the shop blindly was a man carrying boxes high enough to cover his eyes, he slipped on one orange and with a cry, the items from inside of the top box flew out and ricocheted off on a tall ladder where a young worker in an apron had fallen off and grabbed on a sign she was hanging up, and swung to the other side of the shop, falling off and knocking the pyramid of cans which almost hit an old man and his grandson, whose elderly elbow thrust against a middle-aged woman who cried in surprise and pushed a man who was repainting his shop, kicking hard on the stool that held the bucket of assorted paints to spill and a brush to fly across to land on several Genin shinobi who flopped down and somehow their weaponry of kunai and shuriken to shoot out at civilians and hit glass windows and breaking objects, frightening the pigeons on the rooftops when sharp edges almost cut right through them, flapping their wings quickly not even caring if their sharp claws scratched the faces and bare flesh of other unaffected people who screamed and exclaimed in pain, knocking into more things and a kunai that hit a fire hydrant that had released, sprouting powerful blasts of water at people and alerting ninja dogs to run amok and bumping into the villager's legs, and ripped open the spilled cable wires and kunais slipped from inside the duffel bag so Tobio bent down to pick them up.
Haruno Sakura was staring at him with wide eyes.
Aburame Shino's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Tsunade grinned wider and wider.
Danno Tobio was fidgeting and turned his head around, and instantly was biting his nails.
"I-Is i-it my f-fault?"
Hyuuga Neji glared intensely at the Hokage with raging white eyes, "I WILL NOT HAVE A JINX ON MY TEAM!"
And all was history.
To Be Continued
Haha, a little madness here and there. Please wait patiently for the next chapter.
Danno Tobio is not an OC, next chapter you'll find out where you'd seen him.