Chapter 6


Blah-story

"Blah"- dialogue

Blah-flashback

'Blah'-thoughts

'Blah'-sounds


The day had officially started. The sun was up high and the village was starting to move, the merchants started to open their stands and the ninjas were already practicing their skills.

Neji of course was not an exception; he was seated throwing kunais and shurikens to hidden targets on the trees with his eyes closed.

'Thud'

The kunai he threw hit the desired point, just in the very middle. Neji opened his eyes and got up from his sitting position. Today was the day that Sakura was leaving this house…his house.

He didn't know it he felt sad or relieved but he liked non of his options. If he felt sad, that would mean that he will miss her and that she, somehow, was special to him.

'Special to me? C'mon, she is just Haruno…she has no talent…how can SHE be special?'

He knew this answer was lame but he wanted to believe it, it was his only choice. If he chose that when she was gone he will feel relieved? Well, that could happen but it was still not an option.

He was not afraid of her and he did not feel nervous by her side. He was Hyuuga Neji after all, the tall and proud Neji.

'You are just denying the obvious'

Neji knew he was correct but he refused to believe it. The truth is that every time she was around he could feel warm and due to that, his mask and his little act of being the stuck up ass, crumbled. Sadly.

Suddenly a chuunin appeared before his eyes.

"Hyuuga-sama, the hokage wishes to see you immediately and request you to bring Haruno-san with you"

"Alright"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I must take my leave"


He walked through the long corridors until he arrived to her room door. He knocked once.

"Haruno, we've been requested by Hokage-sama into her office"

No answer.

'Knock, knock'

"Sakura"

He frowned and turned to leave but when he turned, he saw through the opened window the object of his searching in the same spot he was earlier. He grunted, and decided to walk again.


Sakura knew Neji was looking for her, she accidentally herd what the chuunin told him a few minutes ago.

Why? You ask?

Well, let's just said that she was bored and she decided to walk around being the last day that she invaded the Hyuuga compound property of the most arrogant man alive.

She was minding her business when she spotted him in a clearing training. So she walked to him, but as she got closer she found that he was not alone and she overheard.

'Finally…a mission!'

Sakura missed all the excitement and action involved but she was still afraid. She made it to jounin when she was sixteen and she made it to ANBU just a year ago and now she is the strongest kunoichi of all. (In the exception of Tsunade of course)

When Sasuke leaved Konoha, she made a promise to herself, that she won't cry anymore and that she was going to become stronger no matter what… not for the sake of Sasuke anymore, just for her sake.

And I am proud to say that she did it…she passed all the exams successfully and completed her training with the strongest woman alive, Tsunade, and became a

medic-nin at her young age of eighteen.

The turns of life marveled her, she never knew all of this could ever happen but as always, she was proved wrong.

Sakura walked in Neji's direction as she saw him approaching her in slight speed.

"Sakura, I've been looking for you"

"I know"

"What!"

Neji looked at her accusingly and then glared in his distinctive way.

"Anyways…I was looking for you because a chuunin came this morning and told me that we have a…"

"Mission"

Neji raised an eyebrow and imagined that she overheard the conversation between the chuunin and he.

"Well…now that you know what the chuunin told me, we must take our leave don't you think?"

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. That would not matter anyways because Neji was already gone. She sighed and decided to follow him through the tree branches.

"That stuck up ass…"


Tsunade was seated in her desk doing her everyday routine…get drunk and sleep. Right now she was in the ¨Getting drunk¨ stage.

"Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade turned her head in the direction of a very angry Shizune that had dropped all the paperwork on the floor.

"Yo! Wassup….Shizuneeee…" A very drunk Tsunade managed to say happily

The said woman just sighed and started to pick up the paperwork before it mixes up more than already is.

"Why…awre you soo grumpy today?" Tsunade asked

"You shouldn't have done this, and you know it. You are the hokage, what if the people get the wrong idea?"

"Thwe people of thiss village alwready know the wrong ideaa, no need to worry so

mucchh"

With that, her head fell on top of her desk and started snoring soundly. Shizune sighed again and put the paperwork on a small table.

´Knock, knock´

"Come in"

The door opened revealing a man with long dark brown hair and silver eyes and a woman with pink hair and emerald eyes.

"Hello Shizune-san"

"Hn"

"Hi Sakura…Neji-san"

"What are you doing here?"

"They have a mission"

Shizune turned around at the sound of a new voice in the conversation and saw Tsunade seated perfectly and fresh as the day. Her mouth dropped slightly and gaped words with no sense.

"Wha-what! Tsu-nade I-you- told-few-minutes-you"

Tsunade looked at her and smirked

"Is something wrong Shizune?"

Shizune sighed and turned to leave as she realized that she was outraged and leaved the room grimly.

"Well, I called you here for a very special mission as you may know"

Neji and Sakura seated in front of her and listened carefully.

"But before I start explaining, we must wait for the last member to arrive"

"Last member?"

In that moment, the door opened softly and a few steps were heard. They turned and saw…

"Shikamaru"

"Yo…"

Sakura smiled at him and turned to Tsunade.

"Well, now that you are all in here, I'll start explaining. This is high ranked mission and is very dangerous. You have to go to Kirigakure no sato and find the exact location of the Akatsuki. That village had requested our help because Akatsuki started moving towards the village destroying it all. Why does it have to do with us? Is because Uchiha Itachi was seen in there"

Sakura stood still as if nothing had happened but inside her head, it was a mess.

'What! Itachi is alive!' She thought

She knew that the real purpose in the life of Sasuke was to kill his brother to avenge his clan but now that he is dead, she just couldn't put the pieces together.

"As you may know, Uchiha Sasuke' only purpose in life was to kill this man but sadly, he failed in his personal mission and his own life. When he came back to our village, I made an autopsy to gather as much information as I could and I found that he died from the extremely loss of blood coming from a very deep whole in his abdomen, probably of a chidori…"

The three jounin remained still even if their genius minds were analyzing carefully the situation and kind of made out what was coming next.

"…And the only people who can make that technique are Sasuke, Kakashi and…"

"Itachi…"

Tsunade looked at Shikamaru and nodded.

"So before he died, he was fighting Itachi am I right"

"Yes, you are right Shikamaru"

"This is going to be troublesome"


Sakura sighed, she was packing her things in a small bag. She was currently at her empty house. Neji had helped her to pack her belongings and to transport them to her house; he just left a few minutes ago.

As the hokage said, they were having a very long mission and not to say dangerous. So they were meeting in an hour in the front gates to leave.

Sakura couldn't believe that Itachi was still alive, she always thought that Sasuke was going to get what he wanted and to succeed in his ambitions…but like always, she was proved wrong.

She sighed.

But then again, she was always proved wrong. Never in her life she was able to predict something right before it blew on her face.

For example:

She always thought that Ino and her were going to be friends for ever, that was the most logic thing but no…it had to appear Sasuke in the view to crumble away their friendship.

She thought Naruto was just a dumb ass with no talent. It was correct, the guy acted totally immature every day… but with no talent? That is another thing, his talent surpassed her and other people, and he has the Kyuubi after all.

She thought Sasuke didn't like her a bit and hated her but with these strange events, she found out that he loved her a lot. Maybe that was the most painful thing she guessed but now she must go over it.

She thought Neji was a total stuck up ass with no warmth beneath that rigid heart of his…well maybe he is a stuck up ass but a very cute stuck up ass…she had to admit the guy had a strong appeal. But talking about his warmness, he happened to like her and vise versa and he kissed so good… well that is not the matter, the fact is that he not completely cold so she was probed wrong.

And the list will continue on and on with no tomorrow. She liked to analyze things until she was completely sure they will actually happen but when she trusted in something so strongly she didn't even thought about it and that was when it blew on her face and she got mad.

It always happened to her by now, she shouldn't be surprised each time it happened but she never quite liked to give up.

Once she did and she suffered…


Sasuke couldn't understand it. He heard it loud and clear, his brother was still alive! Even after their battle.

"I can't believe the bastard is still alive! I am sure that I killed him"

He was sure, he leaved the scene after reassuring that Itachi was not breathing and he was quite dead, he even waited hidden in the shadows to see if he dared to return from the dark grasp of dead.

But seeing that it was futile, he leaved with the last of his efforts and his determined heart willing to return to his home.

'Home…'

Yes, even if he leaved for more than five years, he missed all of it. He tried to block all memories from Konoha, his friends, his sensei, his small apartment, his cat, Sakura…

But he just couldn't it was like if they were embedded on his soul.

"I can't let her go alone, it is too dangerous. What if she gets killed?"

He knew perfectly that she was not going alone. The Hyuuga and Nara were going too but still it made him doubt.

"I will go with her and make sure Itachi comes with me to the place known as hell."


Shikamaru sighed for the fifth time in a record of fifty seconds. He was gazing up to the sky with his mind wondering in his current mission. He knew that if Akatsuki was involved, that would mean danger and some troubles.

He sighed

Since his first mission as leader group, he trained, studied hard. He didn't want to fail like he did because he was afraid. He had to admit he was afraid as hell and didn't know what to do.

That mission carried many 'firsts' within, like his first time as captain of a squad, the first time he was too scared, the first time he leaved his friends behind, the first time he cried.

But not today, today he will prove to Tsunade that he can be an excellent ANBU captain with no fears and that he can manage the lives of his friends until the end.

'What an irony, I always wanted to be an average ninja, to marry an average girl and have two kids…but with this, I think it won't be possible'

He smiled a lazy smile and got up. As he turned to leave, he saw Sakura walking in the direction of the gates talking to herself.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow and walked to her slowly trying to hear what she was saying. Not that he cared, is just that how often you see a pink haired girl talking out loud to herself and making gesticulations as walking.

Never.

That's why he walked to her as carefully as a cat and placed himself behind her so he could hear her inner conversation.

" What are we going to do now?"

"We can't afford to look weak in front of our teammates we must do as better as we can"

"I know but are we really capable of doing so? I mean, sure be improved our skills and all but still I have a feeling that something will turn out wrong"

"You are just paranoid, this mission will be flawless don't worry or you will worry Neji and Shikamaru"

"You are right, I am just paranoid"

"See, it wasn't so bad is it? Now think what will the Hyuuga will think about us? We must peel off that smirk of his face!"

"Ha-ha, You are right, I am dying to see his surprised face"

"That would be so fun. And we must help Shika-kun too"

"Yeah, Shika-kun too"

Shikamaru had his eyes as big as plates and stopped abruptly at hearing his name being called. But what surprised him was not the fact that he thought he was caught; it was the fact that she called him ¨Shika-kun¨

'Shika-kun? She had never called me that way, as far as I know, she only called the Uchiha like that.'

'Man, this girl is mental'

Sakura noticed Shikamaru as she had already turned the corner. She stopped abruptly and walked back only to see a very stunned Shikamaru looking her way.

"I think he heard us"

Sakura walked to him and waved her hand in front of his face.

"Shika-kun…are you alright?"

Shikamaru gaped his mouth trying to articulate some words but only some air came out of his mouth so he opted to nod instead.

"Ok, then. What are you doing here?"

"Did you just call me S-Shika-kun?"

"What?"

"I said, did you just call me Shika-kun?"

"Uhm, yeah…is that ok with you?"

Sakura raised her eyebrow at first. But then realization hit her.

"I mean, is correct that I only called Sasuke like that but I wanted to call you like that because you are a very good friend of mine"

"Ok"

"Is it ok if I call you like that?"

"I think so"

Sakura smiled sweetly at him and hugged him but it seemed that he had something else in his mind because he didn't hug back. Sakura looked in his concerned eyes and knew what was all about.

"Everything will be alright"

"I hope so Sakura…I really hope so"


A/N: Well, another chapter up! I hope you liked it and don't forget to review is really important or other wise I won't update. Oh and sorry for the late update, I had homework.

Sincerely,

Mars7