please read and review!
and I apologize in advance for any OOC that this story may contain...Gomenasai!
with much love,
Ayu.
Chapter 8.
Hidden Intentions and Konoha's Spring
Needless to say, Sakura's life had altered greatly after the revelation to the rest of the Shinobi rookies that she considered her closest comrades. Though almost all had expressed their protests for her decision and had stormed an uproar upon who the father in question is… no one backed away from her friendship. And she in turn had been eternally grateful for their loyalty…
"Sakura's whhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaatt!"
"Settle down all of you!"
"But Tsunade-sama—"
"I SAID SETTLE DOWN! Because of this new occurrence in Sakura's life…She will be living beyond the village gates. As fellow Shinobi of this village…no… as her friends… I ask of you… to see to it that her well-being is safeguarded until and even after the birth of her child. Because the identity of the father has yet to be established…and the situation that caused this has yet been deciphered… the man in question shall here on out be labeled a threat to Sakura and to the villagers. Not until he is found, the bounty on his head shall remain…" Tsunade paused.
"I have already informed the other Jounin and Chuunin of this…however, they do not know Sakura as well as all of you present here…so I ask this not as a mission… but as a favor…"
Silence.
"Now, if there is anyone here that should object or have any disagreements…I heed you to leave now."
Silence remained in the room as all eyes settled on Sakura, who had just kept her gaze at the window before her.
"Gomenasai… I wish not to be a burden to any of you…so… I will understand if…" Sakura whispered
Surely, if she turned around…she would see backs turned against hers…leaving her in disgust…
But that was never the case…
The minutes wore on…
And still no one had left…
Sakura could only smile at her friends' loyalty…
Perhaps…
Enduring this would not be so…horrible after all…
And their actions proved to be a testament ofher worth…and that of her child…
"Sakura-san as the spring time of youth blossoms I swear that the green beast of Konoha will guard you from all harm!" Lee proclaimed doing his infamous "good-guy pose"
"That's right Lee!" Gai had replied in the same manner
"Yea, lighten up Sakura-san… you could at least give us a little bit of credit here…" stated Kiba as he inched away from Konoha's green beasts… somewhat disturbed…by their… "Display"
"Damn straight forehead girl!"
"You always were troublesome, Haruno… but… heh… I wouldn't want to have it any other way."
"YOSH! This is great huh Sakura-chan!"
"It would seem that the little one on the way already has a family right here… Sakura…" Neji, who until this point had remained silent responded.
The rest nodded in agreement.
"Good." Tsunade smiled… "Now, I expect that you all keep your guard up for any suspicious persons lurking in the village…as I will continue my research on the child's origins from this end…Understood?"
"Hai!"
"Sakura, you are not alone in this…" Iruka lovingly patting her shoulder the way he always did when they were genin.
"Arigato Iruka-sensei" she smiled back at her former teacher and at the rest of her companions.
"Arigato"
Though all of them inwardly wondered…who would abandon Sakura with such a responsibility… No one dared to cross the border and ask…perhaps it was out of reverence and respect for the Kunoichi… or perhaps it was out of fear of recapping some unwanted memories…
But some day… they all would surely know…
True to their word, the shinobi present on that day had always been at her side whenever she needed them. Tsunade had assigned a rotation schedule for each shinobi to stay with Sakura for a week each so as to not interrupt with their missions. As the months passed by it was imperative that Sakura was kept within close proximity of their care due to her condition.
And as the tides of time progressed her life seemed to regress back to her former identity. Slowly but surely Sakura was being reborn once more.
Every one of Konoha's finest Shinobi had contributed all they could to support the pink-haired maiden. Ino would come by and bring her fresh new flowers, Ten-ten and Lee kept her company on weekends, Kiba would come by with movie rentals, Hinata and Shino would help Sakura plant new vegetation in her garden, Chouji and Naruto shopped for groceries which Chouji would gladly cook for her… whereas Naruto would only stock pile her cupboards with Ramen packs. Shikamaru still came by with his Shogi to play with her every morning, and Neji would still stop by and have his afternoon tea with Konoha's Cherry Blossom.
Even Sai and his uncontrollable mouth would drop by and "lend a hand" once in a while… that or he'd just compliment on how fat she was getting.
Kakashi on the other hand was well… far from what she had expected… every waking hour of every day she could expect the jounin to drop by at her doorstep just to check up on her.
"Aaaay Kakashi-sensei… I appreciate the concern but you were just here an hour ago…" Sakura would sigh, as she would let the silver haired man wander into her home.
"I know… but a lot can happen in an hour…" he would respond creasing his visible eye into a smile…to which Sakura would sigh and kindly oblige the older man to enter.
"Come on in then… as long as you keep those perverted books away from this house… if I ever were to give birth here and now I wouldn't want my child to be tainted by such a disgusting excuse for literature… honestly, I do not know what you find so interesting in those…those… pornographic novels conjured up by that ero-sennin…and to think the man is already on the brink of being cryptic and still thinks of such…perverted fantasies… no wonder he's still single…sigh"
"If Jiraiya were to hear you say that I'm sure his frail old heart would just falter and cease to exist…" Kakashi chuckled "And for your information they are not pornographic novels but merely a collection of very detailed romantic epics…"
"Suuure they are… whatever helps you sleep better at—"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow
"Never mind…"
Much to the amusement of the older Shinobi, he found that Sakura was indeed becoming more and more… well, like Sakura each day that passed. Though it still irked him to the highest degree that she would still refer to him as "Sensei" a.) Being that it made him seem older and b.) It far than established the division between them… but he let things be as they are… and being called her "Sensei" did just the trick in restraining his emotions... for it always reminded him of his proper place in her life. In his heart, however, he knew that he would always have an open spot for her to keep forever… however in all things said and done in the Shinobi law… this…was forbidden. Sakura already had enough on her plate as it was…and he knew very well that her heart was still captivated by one ignorant shinobi known as the"avenger" ofKonoha... if he weren't the calm, cool and collected man that he was hewould have long agopummeledSasuke into a pile of dust for being so...Sasuke around Sakura... but alas, such things were beyond his norm and creed and so he let things take their natural route in life.
In addition to that,if his adoration for her should be exposed to the ears of those around them… then her life would be in more shame and shambles…so he promised…that his love for her should and would not extend beyond what was there in existence…
But he would still stand by her side…
And protect her the best way he knew how…
And he would see to it… that if someday… someone would come along and steal her heart away…
That it would be someone… who would be greater than him…
Silently he vowed this sacrifice…
Silently he let go…
Silently he let the tears cascade down the contours of his face as he watched the young maiden in her slumber far in the distance of night.
Silently…
He prayed that one day someone would find worth in her… more than what he had already discovered many years ago…
Silently he did all this with a smile…
Even with all the help that was given to her… deep down Sakura wished for the attention of one dark-haired genius that had kept his distance far from her reach.
She would often see the Uchiha walking towards her house together with team seven when they would visit, however when they would be close to her doorstep he would suddenly make an excuse to leave. Whether it was to "train" or that he had an errand to run or that he was going off on another solo mission… he'd use every possible means to avoid any contact with Sakura.
He would sever his affections for her…
'I cannot afford to be weak because of you… and your love' he would reason to himself as he extracted himself from her life and distanced himself farther from team seven… taking on every possible mission available… using every waking hour in between to train… anything and everything to erase Sakura from his heart…
'Itachi I will not loose!'
And so that was how everything functioned around the kunoichi. And true to the prediction of the Godaime, rumors slowly formed around Sakura and her disposition. When the kunoichi would stroll down the streets of Konoha with the bulk that she was already carrying, she'd often encounter glares and whispers and questions as to who the father was…when and where the wedding was held…such and such… questions that she had no possible answer to…
And so the gossips formed…
Gossips about how she was a shame to the Godaime's name, being that she was her apprentice and all.
Gossips about how she was too weak to fend off a predator, being that she was a Shinobi…
Gossips about how she was morally and ethically scarred… being that she was one of the respected medic-nin in the village next to the Hokage…
But even so… Naruto, Kakashi and the rest would always be at her guard whenever anyone talked ill towards her. However, since they were restricted from releasing any information all they could do was retaliate with an equal amount of verbal abuse… or… of force in Naruto, Sai and surprisingly Neji's case.
"My, my my...time flies by so fast..." Sakura whispered as she placed a loving hand over her already swollen abdomen. "I wonder what it will be…" she smiled
"Hasn't Tsunade-sama informed you yet?"
"Well, she offered to… I mean, she already performed the tests… but… I want to find out the natural way…"
"Aah" he would never completely understand women and their sentiments to such things… this bit of information was unfortunately never integrated into his genius… perhaps it never will. "Have you thought of names for the child yet?"
"Hmmm… no… I suppose it's like my mother always said… the name comes naturally during birth... that was what happened when I was born she told me"
"hmm" again he remained clueless.'Sakura...hmm.. perhaps it was because of the color ofyour hair...'he inwardly chuckled at her naivety
"Has the Godaime made any developments about the father?"
Sakura remained silent for a while, she knew more than any one else that he was the most prone to prod into the mystery.
"No…" she sighed "But… I really don't want to think of such things right now…" she smiled lightly "All I want right now is for my child to enter the world in safety…"
As though he were reading her mind he replied "Some day, the truth of what happened will be revealed Sakura… and not even you will hold the ability to hide it any longer…" he paused as he observed Sakura's still form… "what are you hiding? Sakura-san?"
Silence was exchanged between the two Shinobi as the wind whirled past them in ease.
"A truth that should only revealed by my words when my heart is ready…" she sighed
Silence.
"It really is such a beautiful day don't you agree?" Sakura stated as she began to pour the afternoon tea. The sunlight could be seen dancing in between the gaps in the trees and the sky was a luminous blue as ever. Today was the first of spring and the flowers were at their best blossoms…Yes, indeed… today was… in a word… beautiful.
"Mhhm" nodded her companion. To which she smiled as she continued to pour his tea. He had just returned from another strenuous mission and methodically went directly to the young Cherry Blossoms house for the usual treatments and tea. Replacing his jounin outfit with a simple black yukata, the byakugan genius sat in contentment watching the wind gently glide through the tree's leaves leaving them in delicate disarray. Hyuuga Neji was never one for much chitchat when in came to sentimental conversation. He did enjoy the occasional debates and such that he considered as an important stimulus to the mind. Today however, there were no friendly debates between him and his constant 'sparring' partner… today there was just the peaceful aura that engulfed the scenery in which they were currently present.
And he had to admit… as he looked over to where the budding blossom, Sakura painted images in the sky with her hand.
Today truly was… beautiful…
x
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x
x
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after moments of tranquility Sakura let out a sharp gasp of pain that snapped the Hyuuga out of his reverie
"N-n-neji…" she sputtered as she unconsciously fell into his arms.
"SAKURA-SAN!"
yay one more chapter down!
i wonder who sakura's gonna end up with lol
who knows
i dont
do you?
and whattabout the kid?
till then
with lots of love,
ayu--