Akatsuki no Sakura

Rating: R for violence, sexual implications, and strong language in later chapters.

Category: Romance/Angst/Action

Pairings: SasuSaku and ItaSaku

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! Oh and this chappie is Sakura's memories of course, in reverse order. So basically, the later in her life it happened, the sooner it appears. Get it? Goody goody gumdrops. 

Chapter Six: Realization Part II

: Normal POV:

"Ja ne! Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji-kun, Neji-kun, Kiba-kun, Hinata, TenTen, Lee-san, Jiraiya, Tsunade-sama, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi-senseeeeeeiii!" Sakura waved goodbye to her teammates and her friends as she walked into the forest. It was the beginning of her mission and she was amped, ready to go. Naruto was jumping up and down, waving his hands wildly. "Sayonara, Sakura-chaaaaaaaan! Get home soon!" Kakashi was smiling, his chest swelled with pride as he waved goodbye. "Go get him, Sakura! Make us proud!" Sasuke was just standing there, his hands shoved in his pockets, scowling as he looked in another direction entirely. Sakura frowned. "So Sasuke is still mad at me…" she whispered to herself as she walked away, amid the loud goodbyes from the others.

Sasuke looked at Sakura coldly. "And why did you not tell us about this mission sooner?" he asked, his icy gaze glaring at her defiant emerald eyes. "Because… well, I'm not allowed to let on about my missions, you should know that as well as anyone Sasuke." "But we're your teammates! You could at least tell us!" Sasuke raised his voice slightly, and Sakura backed away. "Sa-sasuke, please, I wasn't trying to do anything wrong…" Naruto stepped up and glared at Sasuke. "Sasuke, you ass, you could at least understand that she means well!" Sasuke glared back at Naruto. "Dobe, this is none of your business." Naruto lowered his voice to a growl. "It is as much my business as it is yours, Sasuke. She is my teammate too, and I know you care about her as much as I do." Sasuke snorted. "What makes you think I care about her? We were always saving her ass back when we were Genins, and I think she is still just a weak, delicate little girl who doesn't know which way is up! I just think we should be there to save her ass again!" Sakura strode forward and stood next to Naruto to look up at Sasuke. "I. Am not. A little girl. Do NOT think I need you to always be there to save me, because I am more than capable of taking care of myself." Naruto backed away from Sasuke and Sakura, letting the two argue. He simply decided to watch and see who won.

Sasuke glared down at Sakura. "And I say you are still a child who needs to be taken care of by her parents and friends. You are not capable of taking on this one. You might have proven yourself to be a powerful hunter-nin, but against this enemy, you cannot win. It is my duty and mine alone to kill him, so back out of the mission before you get killed and we have to clean up the mess." Sakura looked at him, and her eyes narrowed, "I am more than capable of taking him on, and I will complete this mission on my own, without your help." "Sakura, you will be killed! He has no heart, and he has proven that to me time and time again!" "If you think that, then I am closer to killing him than you think!" Sakura shouted, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her palms and her hands began to bleed. Sasuke's eyes flared to the red Sharingan. "You will never beat him. Not without me! And I told you I will beat him on my own!" "Not if you keep holding yourself back, Sasuke! This is my mission, I knew it was a mistake to tell you!" Sakura's blood dripped from her hands and formed little puddles around her feet. "I only want you to be happy, Sasuke, I always have! And all you ever did was ignore me and push me away! I only wanted you to notice me, and I trained to become a ninja because of that! You wanted power, and I tried to help you, but you just acted like I was holding you back. If it makes you happy, Sasuke, then I will make sure that I don't return to hold you back any longer!"

Sasuke's hand flew so fast that neither Naruto nor Sakura noticed it. Sakura was not even looking, but her eyes widened in shock when it hit her face. Sasuke's hand stayed stiffly on the other side of Sakura's face, and his Sharingan eyes glared at her from above his arm.

"Don't EVER let me hear you suggest that again. And I will not tell you again, this is a personal matter so stay the hell out of it." And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura dropped to her knees and Naruto ran to her.

"I should have known… Sasuke never cared about me, only his stupid revenge… but it's my mission to kill that one, so I must kill him. Sasuke hates me already, so what does it matter that he hates me more when I am done?"

"Ne, Sakura-chan, what was it you wanted to give me?" Hinata lay on her stomach on the floor, her head resting in her hands with her elbows on the ground. Ino sat on the bed, glancing up from her teen magazine to look interestedly at Hinata and Sakura, who sat up and started digging in her dresser. "Ah, here it is!" Sakura pulled out a tiny pendant, a sakura blossom carved out of pink crystal, hanging from a scarlet ribbon. Ino gasped. "Sakura, isn't that..?" Sakura looked at Ino. "No, Ino-chan, it's a different ribbon. The one you gave me is tied around my Ino plushie, remember?" Ino giggled. "It doesn't look a thing like me!" she exclaimed, and threw a pillow at Sakura. Sakura giggled and threw it back at her friend. "It does too, Ino pig-chan!" "Does not!" Ino threw the pillow, trying to hit Sakura, but it hit Hinata instead. Hinata grinned evilly, and started battering both of them with her own pillow. Sakura stood up with a pillow in her hands.

"PILLOWFIIIIGHT!"

As the three girls giggled and laughed, their pillows burst and feathers flew everywhere. Laughing, they danced around and let the feathers cover them.

When the fighting subsided, the three lay, panting, on the floor. Hinata looked over at Sakura, curiously. "So, what was it?" Sakura scanned the floor for the pendant. "Here it is!" She held it up for Hinata to see. "Read the back." Hinata took the pendant from Sakura and turned it over. "'To H.H., my new friend, from H.S." She read the inscription aloud, then looked up at Sakura, beaming. "Oh, Sakura, I love it!" She grabbed her friend up in a tight hug, and Sakura hugged her back. "I'm glad you like it, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata yawned then. "I think we should be getting to sleep now, what about you?" Ino shook her head, then glanced at Sakura, who was struggling with the snake someone had put in her bed, trying to keep it from going down her shirt. She whispered something to Hinata, who whispered something back to her. Ino sighed, and stood up. "Sakura… do you…." she broke her sentence off as Sakura shrieked, and the snake went down her pants. "Do you want a little help with that?" Ino made a leap and yanked down Sakura's pants, and grabbed the snake that lay in there. Sakura grabbed the snake from Ino and flung it out the open window.

Sakura stood there panting, her face bright red, as the other two girls stared at her. Suddenly they heard a loud hissing and a man's shriek coming from the womens' bath. The three girls burst out laughing, as they realized who the snake had landed on. "Baka Naruto!" Sakura managed to get out, before they heard yet another scream, and renewed their laughter. "S-sounds like Naruto and Jiraiya were at it again…!" Ino said through her fit of giggles.

: Back to reality:

Sakura lay on the ground, curled up with her hands clenching her head. Naruto shook her vigorously, trying to revive her still form. "Sakura-chan! What's wrong? Wake up, please! Sakura-chaaaaan!" Sakura slowly loosened her grip on her head and opened her eyes. "Na.. Naru…to?" She looked up at him, her sight slowly coming into focus. His face showed that he was concerned, and scared. She looked on the ground and saw Hinata laying there, completely still and covered in blood. "Hi…nata..? No.. I'm dreaming! I didn't kill Hinata… did I?" She leaned over, her head nearly touching Hinata's forehead, and she began to cry. "I didn't… no… Hinata…. not this… anything but this…" She stroked Hinata's black hair and brushed it from her forehead. Her calm, serene face gave off a sort of peaceful feeling that soothed Sakura and allowed her to control her sobs. "Hinata…" she moaned in despair. "Forgive me…"

Naruto kneeled down beside Sakura placed his hand on hers. "She already has, Sakura-chan. She told me that she didn't want me to be angry with you, either, so I suppose she only wanted the others to do the same." He gave her a feeble grin to cheer her up. "Come on. We need to take care of the others, we can get maybe two at a time and take them to the hospital." He reached over and brushed off one of her tears from her face, and she looked at him in surprise. "Naruto…" She smiled a little and closed her eyes.

Sakura took hold of Hinata's arm and pulled her over her shoulder. "I'll take her first, then I'll come back. She needs to be taken to the hospital anyways so Neji-kun knows what happened." With that she disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto let out a sigh.

"Hinata, you know what? I don't think she's really changed a bit."