Disclaimer: same as always... don't own Naruto
A/N: uuuuhhh… you know the drill
Katearah - lol give your mother my apologies, I'll make sure to note that hyperactive Katearah's are very bad, but immensely funny things! Give my apologies to the walls too, I bet they're asking god what they did wrong (grin) there are still a few key twistys and turnys yet in this story so don't get too dizzy yet or you might not be able to make it to the end! and I find your reviews neither long or boring, in fact I enjoy your reviews very much, since you're one of the very few that actually gives me their input other than 'update soon' please keep reviewing I'll keep giving you chapters
100 reviews (does happy dance) i'm good now... thank you to all reviewers!
'thoughts'
"speech"
Katearah this chapter is for you because your reviews make me laugh
Krista and Sexy.Black.Neko this chapter is for you because I fear bodily harm!
Remember You, Remember Me
Chapter 7: Slaps, Psychos and Stories
By: trailsofblood666 aka Wizard
One week. Sakura had been back in Konohagakure for one whole week and she had yet to leave the hotel room other than the time she chased and beat down Darkness. She was beginning to feel slightly restless and paced the room often but she was afraid to leave. What if someone she knew saw her? What would they do? Would they attack her, would they walk the other way? Would they stare at her, or would they welcome her? She would never know until she left her room, but she was afraid to leave her room.
Every time she worked up the courage to finally leave it fled as soon as her hand connected with the door knob. No one had been by to see her except for Darkness so it was safe to say they either didn't know where she was or they just steered clear of her. Speaking of Darkness, where was the man... sword... thing? He left every morning after bringing her breakfast, popped in for a few minutes at lunch time and finally returned for dinner. He never told her where he went during the days even when she asked and it was really starting to get on her nerves.
Sakura let out a frustrated breath and looked out the window; it was such a beautiful day out. It was warm but the cool breeze that drifted through the open window turned the air to the perfect temperature between hot and cold. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and she was locked up in a stuffy old bedroom. What was wrong with her? This was a day to be outside enjoying not sitting on her butt.
Grabbing a black hat that hugged her skull snuggly Sakura steeled her resolve. She was going outside today no matter what happened, no stinking ninja were going to keep her from this gorgeous day. Besides, she didn't think anyone would recognize her at first glance with her hat on and she didn't plan on standing in one place long enough for someone to get a second look. The tips of her hair were so sun-bleached that they seemed almost white in spots. Who cares if they do recognize her, what was the worst that they could do?
'Attack me, beat me, maim me, turn me into a kunai pin cushion?'
Okay those thoughts were so not helping her at all. Before she could think herself out of it she went right out the window and into the street. Several people gave her strange looks but she ignored them and continued on her marry way. Right at the moment she couldn't care less what a bunch of random people thought, she was too proud of herself for being able to finally leave.
Letting her feet carry her through the busy streets she studied her surroundings. Not much had changed from what she saw, a few businesses were gone and few more moved in but that was the extent of it. It was comforting to see some of her favorite shops lined up along the avenues; she even stopped in the weaponry and picked up a few things for the upkeep of her katana. Just because it never dulled didn't mean she should slack on maintenance, that and it gave her something to do on the days when she didn't want to leave the room.
Her next stop was the Hokage's monument in all its glory. Surprisingly that had changed since she last saw it; they had added Tsunade's big head next to that of the 4th Hokage. It was kind of funny to see her giant head floating above the village with all the others but it also gave her the creeps. Who would want a bunch of old/dead people watching their every move like that? Not her, that was for sure.
Her final stop was one that even surprised her, she wasn't planning on visiting it just because of the memories it brought. As she ran her hand softly along the aged red wood of the bridge team 7 would meet at daily a smile ghosted its way up her lips. She paused in the middle of the bridge where she would normally stand and watched the water flow under her feet. She could still hear Naruto's loudmouth comments and Sasuke's vague grunts and groans to all questions and comments directed his way. She could see the two staring each other down and her having to step in and be the mediator. She could even still envision Kakashi's late arrivals and lame excuses.
And just like that they were gone. All the lame excuses, all the childish games, they were nothing but dust.
"You're late."
The smile faded from her lips and Sakura tensed but she didn't turn around. "I got lost somewhere along the way."
"We make maps for that."
This time Sakura did turn around and met the eyes, or eye, of Hatake Kakashi. His face held none of the humor she remembered, it was replaced by a distant seriousness that permeated the air and threatened to choke her. She shook her head and began to walk away. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Is running away all you know how to do or do you just enjoy it that much? I thought I taught you better than that."
Sakura slowed her retreat but she kept her back to the masked ninja. What did he know about her? What did he know about anything? While she had been out in the wilderness spending her days and nights running from people like him in fear of her life he had been here in this secure little village safe in his cozy bed. How many times had he run in fear of his friends? Had he spent every day for four years straight hoping beyond hope that this wasn't his last day on earth? She didn't think so.
"Do you enjoy being hurt Hatake-san? Where ever I go someone always ends up hurt one way or another. I'm going to walk away now, because yes, that is all I know how to do but not for the reasons you think."
"Spar me."
Ok that got Sakura to freeze in her tracks and turn around. Did she hear him right? "Come again?"
"Spar me, right here, right now."
Without waiting for her reply Kakashi advanced on the stunned kunoichi, kunai in hand poised and ready to strike. Sakura moved backwards slightly as the blade slashed at her face, just narrowly missing her nose in the process. He was actually attacking her to kill her, none of that 'this-is-just-practice-so-no-serious-wounds' crap this was an all out 'lets-see-what-color-you-bleed' attack. So absorbed in her thoughts Sakura barely had enough time to move out of the way of the kunai flying at her and still ended up knicking her ear.
The warm blood trickling down her neck finally brought her to her senses and she pulled her katana from its resting place. Even without Darkness inside it was still a deadly piece of metal, it just didn't look as cool without the green and white flames. Taking this as her way of agreeing to the match Kakashi jumped away to the old training field of team 7 so they didn't get in trouble with Sakura hot on his heels.
Kakashi watched as the girl landed a few yards away from him, sword still in hand and held low to the side. What did he know about the girl? He knew she was good at dodging because that's all she seemed to do when ever he encountered her, beyond that he had no idea what her combat skills were like. He would treat this sparring match like he would any battle against an unknown ninja, for that's what she was to him. Precautions would be taken to ensure that he didn't walk away from this with a missing arm.
Keeping an eye on her form the Copy Nin watched for any muscle contractions to indicate an oncoming attack, he would let her make the first move to gauge her attack speed and go from there. The attack that came was without warning, one moment she was standing completely still the next she was a few feet away from him and swinging her sword in an upwards arch towards his midsection. Without thinking Kakashi flipped backwards to avoid being impaled, he saw what had happened when Naruto just touched the sword on it's hilt and he wasn't too keen on finding out what would happen when it was embedded in him.
Landing on one hand Kakashi used his free one to whip a few kunai at the charging girl. Sakura didn't even try to dodge the projectiles except the one aimed at her neck and continued her advance with kunai protruding from above her elbow and hip. The pain didn't seem to slow her at all and Kakashi was forced backwards again. Rethinking his attack plan Kakashi threw down a smoke bomb to confuse her for a few and took that moment to perform one of his trademark jutsu's: Doton Tsuiga no Jutsu.
The smoke began to clear and Kakashi watched as the disfigured form of Sakura began to appear. When things settled down enough to see clearly the Copy Nin smirked. There, no more than ten feet away, was his opponent pinned in place by the numerous ninja dogs he had summoned. Her sword was still out and looking dangerous but a pair of large German Shepard's held her arms immobile while various others held the rest of her body in place. She looked pissed beyond words but the most she could do in that situation was shout obscenities at him.
Sakura looked down at her sword and smiled a sickly sweet grin which instantly put Kakashi back on guard. Relaxing her grip on the katanas' hilt she allowed the weight of the sword to drop a few inches before re-gripping it again upside down and bringing the blade around and into the Shepard on her left which disappeared into a puff of smoke. They had a grip on her arms but that still gave her full movement of her wrists. Lightening fast she swung the weapon to the other side and disposed of the second hindrance to her movement. Never before had Kakashi seen someone break out of his Tracking Fang and make it look so easy.
In the space of a few seconds Sakura was free to move again and went back to her original target: Hatake Kakashi. As she rushed at him Kakashi remained in place and let her come which struck the girl as odd. Was he too stunned at her display or did he have something up his sleeve? Knowing Kakashi he wasn't stunned so the only explanation was the latter, but what was he planning? Bringing her katana around she swung sideways at the mans midriff, even as the blade descended on him he didn't move or take his eyes from hers. Eyes widening, Sakura tried to pull out of the swing but all she succeeded in doing was slowing it a bit and the blade connected with Kakashi's side.
For a moment the entire world stood still.
Blood trailed down the blade that embedded itself six inches into her former sensei's side and pooled at her hands. Releasing the hilt, Sakura let the katana slide from the wound and fall to the ground. Kakashi didn't break eye contact but he swayed a slightly when the sword fell. Taking a shaky step backwards, she shook her head from side to side slowly as the tears began to fall. When the Copy Nin fell forward to the ground Sakura followed the suit and did the only thing she could think of. She closed her eyes, brought both hands up to cover her ears, and screamed.
Kakashi watched from his safe perch in a tree as the scene took place. Sakura was caught in the same genjutsu he had used on their very first day of training; to him it looked like she was fighting only air but he knew that it was him she thought she was attacking. He watched as the sword fell from her grip and she backed up slowly and he couldn't help but wonder what she saw. When the kunoichi started screaming he knew it was time to end the jutsu before someone came along and mistook their sparing for something bad.
Honestly he was a little disappointed that the sparring match had ended so quickly but Kakashi dispelled the jutsu and jumped from the tree. Sakura still had her eyes closed and was still screaming when he stopped in front of her. At any other time he would admire how well her lungs worked but right now he needed her to be quiet. Laying his hands over her own and gently tugged her hands down and spoke softly into her ear. "Sakura, open your eyes."
Sakura obeyed and snapped her eyes open wide. Her breath was still coming in short ragged gasps while fresh tears pooled when she finally realized what was happening. In the blink of an eye Sakura had her arms around the Copy Nin and just as fast she landed a smack dead on the side of his face. The bastard had made her think she actually killed him, he deserved every ounce of pain and more that she could give him. How dare he!
Kakashi looked on in humored curiosity as the girl composed herself; Sakura was a strange, strange girl. First with the anger, then the killing followed by a nice bout a screaming and ending all with a hug and a slap and now, now she was smiling. Sheesh was it that time of the month for her or something? Kakashi stood and looked down at the pink haired kunoichi, from this view she looked vulnerable, almost like the little girl he had taught. Offering his hand, which Sakura accepted without hesitation, Kakashi pulled the girl to her feet and she turned that smile on him.
For this moment in time she wasn't Sakura-the-Nukenin, the girl who betrayed her village, no, for just this moment she was Haruno Sakura again.
"You know we're all curious right?"
Sakura nodded and turned her head to avoid the Copy Cat Ninja's gaze, she knew what she had to do, it was just finding the courage to do it. She felt she had already used all her stores of that particular emotion for the day and now somehow she had to produce more. It was now or never while she had all her anger out of her system do to the fight. It had to be now.
Taking hold of Kakashi's hand the pink kunoichi pulled her former sensei along behind her. "Come on, come on, and stop resisting." Feeling his curious stare on her back Sakura elaborated. "If I'm going to give you answers I would rather not have to do it a thousand times so come on. I at least want the rest of team 7 to be present."
"Are we there yet?"
Silence
"Are we there yet?"
More silence.
"Are we there yet?"
"Kisame if you don't shut your mouth I'm going to permanently remove it from your face!"
Silence... "How about now?"
Itachi stopped to let out a frustrated sigh and bang his head repeatedly against a tree. Why, good lord why, did he have to be stuck with Kisame? He would give anything in the world to make the shark man keep his mouth silent for just five minutes, five minutes, that's all he was asking for. Was it that hard of a wish to grant? They had been walking for three days and in that span of time the mans mouth only stopped working when he was asleep.
It wasn't so bad when Sakura was traveling with them because she would actually carry out a conversation with Kisame; Itachi had no want or real motivation to do so, so he had always remained silent. They had traveled with the girl so long he had forgotten how much his partner loved to talk, he was painfully reminded now.
"Hey Itachi, I don't think you should be doing that. I mean they say you lose brain cells that way and the last thing I need is a dumb partner."
Giving his head one last bang for good measure, Itachi turned towards his obnoxious partner, Sharingan spinning dangerously in his eyes causing Kisame to take a step backwards and put up his hands in defense. Itachi was a scary, scary individual when he wanted to be.
"Alright, alright I'll shut up, just one last question. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Of course not, but we don't have much of a choice do we? In order for our plans to proceed accordingly Sakura needs to have the trust of Konoha, what better way than to have her believe that we actually betrayed her?"
"And if she doesn't believe us when the time comes, what then? What if she decides that she wants to stay in Konohagakure once she gains the trust of the people again? What if she doesn't want to travel with us anymore?"
Itachi looked at Kisame skeptically; the shark-man had hit his concerns right on the nose, not that he would ever admit it of course. It was a very real possibility that Sakura may realize how much she missed her old life and want to keep it that way, ultimately foiling any plans they had for the girl. Even if she did believe that the whole thing was set up from the beginning Itachi knew that she would be hurting bad in the end anyways, she was emotional like that. They just had to pray that everything went the way it was designed to.
Putting an arm around Kisame's shoulders Itachi offered his tall blue companion a terrifying smirk. "Then, my shark-like friend, we are screwed."
Kisame shivered and shrugged out of Itachi's hold, obviously the man had lost a few brain cells in his encounter with the tree because he was touching him in a very uncomfortable manner. Deciding this was as good a place as any to just sit and relax and make some lunch shark-man dropped his pack and made the preparations. It wasn't too long before they had a fire going and a few tasty little fish roasting over it. Itachi seemed to be in another universe cause all he was doing was staring blankly into the fire as if mesmerized by it.
Kisame shook his head and threw a stick at the Sharingan man. "You really love her don't you?"
Itachi skillfully evaded to flying stick without taking his eyes from the fire. "More than she'll ever know."
Kisame smiled, it was both a confession and a warning not to say anything. That was Uchiha Itachi for you.
Sakura fidgeted nervously under the gazes of the people crammed into her small hotel room. They had managed to round up most of the Rookie Nine and Team Gai minus those who were away on missions so that left Hinata, Ino, Kakashi, Lee, Naruto, Neji, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Tsunade and Darkness. When the human-sword popped up she had no idea but there he was standing silently in a darkened corner completely unnoticed. Adding her there was seven people too many for the legal limit but she refused to be somewhere she didn't feel comfortable, and so far this was the only place she felt safe. Of course after this was done she would have to change where she was staying so they wouldn't be able to find her.
No one in the room said anything, hell they barely breathed and it was putting her on edge; hence the nervous fidgeting she was currently working at. She had, had Kakashi round everyone up he could find and bring them here and since the arrival of the first few people no one had said a word to her, they all just stared at her with calculating eyes like this was some type of trap. She couldn't exactly blame them but did they really think she was going to try something with so many people around, or better yet, blow up the damn building with her in it? Yeah, right, she loved her own life way too much.
So here they all were, gathered around to hear the sad story of her life and ask a million questions regarding it. Actually they were just going to ask questions, she wasn't going to let them in on any information that they didn't ask about. Only tell the mere basics, that's what she was taught and that's the way she operated, courtesy of one: Uchiha Itachi. Sakura shook her head of that thought, she didn't want to think about the missing-nin right now, and she had bigger fish to fry.
With a sigh she turned her attention to the gathering. "So…?"
Tsunade was the one who took the initiative in starting the conversation. "Start from the beginning Sakura, the night you nearly killed Kiba."
Sakura scrunched her eyebrows together and looked at the ground; this was going to be a very long afternoon. "Well, I suppose it started just like every other day…"
Ending Notes: ok the end… I realized something this week… I'm completely useless without my laptop… I wrote up to the end of Sakura and Kakashi's fight on my laptop before my 120lb wolf hybrid hurt my baby (cries)I spent the next 2 days rewriting the same paragraph before I decided to just chill and wait for my baby to be fixed…
Well until next time…
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