Chapter 7
"Blah"-dialogue
'Blah'-thoughts
Blah-Flashbacks
"Blah"-inner Sakura
Shikamaru and Sakura walked together to the gates. The silence within them remained until they arrived to their destination but they didn't care or didn't seem to notice because each of them was immersed into their own thoughts.
Neji was already there waiting for them leaning on a nearby tree with his eyes closed. He pretended not to notice the fact that Sakura was walking side by side with Nara but the truth is that he was fuming inside.
It was the strange feeling again. It burned inside him and demanded him to commit homicide against whoever that was near Sakura. It happened once when Naruto hugged her and now is happening again just by the mere fact that Shikamaru was walking by her side.
He knew perfectly well what that feeling was, he was not stupid, it was Jealousy with a capital ¨J¨ and he didn't like it.
"Hello Neji ready to go?"
"Hn"
"Ok, listen to me, we are going to travel all the way north to avoid some renegades that will interfere with our purposes and to have a shorter distance to Mist. We will travel fast during day and taking it slowly with some rest during the night. Understood?"
"Yeah"
"Hn"
"Very well"
With that said, they put on their Anbu masks and took off in direction of the forest.
The night was about to arrive as the sky displayed orange, red and yellow colors in sign that the sun was hiding. And our three Anbus were trying to reach for the Fire country borders to set a camp and take some rest.
"Ok, we will rest in here and tomorrow we can continue…There is no need to take guard tonight…we are on friendly territory after all"
Neji and Sakura nodded in agreement.
While Shikamaru and Neji were setting up the tents and traps around them; Sakura was recollecting wood to create a fire and cook some dinner. Since she left the village with nothing on her stomach but a piece of toast and a bottle of water, she was carving for food by now.
Rumble…rumble´
Sakura grabbed her growling stomach as if trying to suffocate the hunger noises but with no avail. So she let everyone know she was starving and resumed to put all the logs together in a pile.
Neji and Shikamaru raised their heads to look at Sakura who acted as if nothing was happening and sighed…well…only Shikamaru did, Neji just rolled his eyes and continued with his traps.
Sakura pretended not to notice that they were staring and made some hand seals to expel fire through her mouth. With that done she looked at them through the corner of her eye and stared.
The boys did exactly what she did…ignore her completely. Neji finished the traps and walked to the center of the camp without a glance at Sakura and started to meditate. Shikamaru was securing the last tent and, as Neji, he ignored the staring girl at the process.
Sakura shrugged and started to cook some fish Neji had brought her earlier that day while thinking in how strange this situation was.
Shikamaru finished what he was doing and also walked to the center and lied down on the ground. He looked at Sakura who was staring hungrily at the roasting fish.
The situation was turning from strange to difficult to bear while pretending not to notice that your companions were burning wholes on your face due to their staring.
First, Shikamaru stared at Sakura who ignored him until he closed his eyes or look to another thing.
Then, Sakura glared at Neji for not being aware of this event and actually for being an ass and for being his turn to feel awkward.
Third, Neji tried to concentrate, he really tried but her glare was digging a whole on his face so he had no option but to open his eyes and glare at Shikamaru because he was looking at Sakura earlier.
Finally Shikamaru turned his head to look at Neji who was glaring at him for no apparent reason and felt obliged to glare at him back. Then Neji would close his eyes again and Shikamaru turned to look at Sakura.
This continued on and on until Sakura finally broke the stares by a cheerful announcement
"Dinner is ready guys!"
"Great"
"Hn"
Sakura handed them their plates and started eating without any kind of conversation. This situation was so boring that is could put to sleep someone high on coffee so Sakura decided to break the ice even though they were kind of 'friends'.
" So, Shika-kun… are you still playing shogi?"
"Yes I am"
"Oh how great, because I would like to learn how to play"
"I could teach you after dinner if you want"
"Ok! We will let Neji wash the dishes then"
Neji glared at her.
"Relax, Neji, I was only joking"
"You could play if you want"
"Hn"
Sakura smiled at him and turned to her half devoured fish with hunger on her eyes.
After dinner, Shikamaru had explained to her the basic to know about shogi and waited for her to absorb this new information and start playing.
Then, something strange happened. Shikamaru, the self proclaimed master of masters in the strategy game known as Shogi, was defeated by the rookie known as Haruno Sakura.
Shikamaru didn't know what hit him in first place. He decided that he would play easy on her because she was just starting but then she won their first match. Then, he thought that the reason of her win was because he was easy on her but at the games were developing, he found out that she was actually good at it.
"I won again, Shika-sensei"
"It looks like it" Shikamaru answered resigned to loose his title
Neji on the other side, was surprised to see Sakura play perfectly even though she was just starting to learn. So he decided to get involved and try his skills with her.
"Shikamaru, if you don't mind I would like to play with her"
"No problem, this was starting to get a bit too troublesome anyways"
"Thanks"
Sakura stared wide-eyed at Neji who appeared before her with a sinister smirk on his face. By now, she understood that he was being confident in winning and she was determined to peel that smirk off his face.
"Well, well, well, look what we have in here…hope you don't mind if I win"
"Just sit and see, Haruno, who will be the victor at the end"
"We will see that"
The game started with Neji taking advantage then Sakura took control of the game in a matter of seconds. Shikamaru was impressed by the hidden talent of the girl and decided that if Sakura wins this match, then he will have to be her student.
He secretly hoped not. He had some pride also, how would you feel if someone took your place in being the best at something?
At the end, it turned to be a tie. Shikamaru thanked everything for being so kind to him and return to him the hope to still beat Sakura.
"It seems that is a tie Neji"
"I have noticed that pinky"
"Why, you little…!"
Neji smirked at her while she was trying to murder him. Trying because Shikamaru held her in place before she launched herself at Neji.
The night advanced slowly as our three ninjas were still playing shogi. Shikamaru had won over Sakura at the end and returned to his place as the best master of all masters in Shogi.
At first Sakura was winning but then Shikamaru remembered that this game was because he wanted his title back so he came back at her as strong as ever and won the match and the next five matches with Neji and Sakura.
"You are a strong opponent, Shikamaru"
"Thanks, Neji, I could say the same thing about you"
"God! I am so tired, I think I will go to sleep, night guys"
Sakura saluted them and went to her tent. She changed into her nightclothes and dug herself on her silky sleeping bag.
Neji and Shikamaru were still up doing nothing but meditate or look at the sky. The silence was getting dense but no one made an effort to speak.
Shikamaru glanced at Neji only to see him in the same spot he last saw him with his eyes closed and resumed to watch the stars.
The sky was pitch black with a gigantic white moon shining ever so brightly. The stars adorning the moon so gracefully it looked impossible to be real. That was what Shikamaru liked about the sky; its beauty was never predictable. He also liked the clouds and the shapes they formed.
But tonight, he seemed hypnotized by the moon; he couldn't take his eyes off her. A cloud covered his view of the moon passing slowly in front of her. Shikamaru knit his eyebrows together in confusion. He didn't know why, exactly but he felt like something was going to happen.
The cloud dissipated revealing a red moon instead of the white circle he had seen earlier. Shikamaru looked at the moon strangely as all of his intelligence drained away leaving him in utter shock.
"Uhm…Neji, can the moon change it's color in ten seconds?"
Neji opened his eyes and looked at Shikamaru who was looking at the sky.
"What the hell Shikamaru…"
"No really, the moon was white ten seconds ago"
"Shikamaru…are you on drugs?"
Shikamaru turned to glare at him.
"How troublesome…look at the moon if you don't believe me"
Neji raised his head and looked at the moon that was indeed red.
"How would you know if it was not red before?"
"Because I was looking at it earlier"
Neji looked at him and raised his eyebrow not believing him but something inside him wanted to believe.
"I think we must go to sleep"
Shikamaru sighed and with a last glance at the red moon he closed his tent and went to sleep.'How troublesome'
The forest was quiet, not even the wind disturbed the calmness, not even a single leaf dared to touch the ground. Then a cool breeze danced with the water of the river making a small whirlpool at one of its edges.
The wind started to blow harder and so did the whirlpool. As the wind returned to be just a gentle breeze, and the whirlpool dissipated, a man appeared out of nowhere.
He raised his body slowly and looked up the sky with Sharingan eyes.
"It seems that I am free again"
His monotonous voice echoed in the forest as he started to walk towards the camp. Oh yes, he was no other than Uhciha Sasuke.
Every night when the moon tainted herself with the color of blood, Sasuke was freed into the world of the living. He was sentenced to…well…live´ like that until certain things happen.
That's how he paid for all those persons he killed, for all the suffering he caused, for all the tears shed for him, for all his sins.
Sasuke arrived at the camp and entered Sakura's tent. He looked at her sleeping form and his red eyes softened. He no longer held his Sharingan and let his eyes swim back to their original form.
Black eyes…the color of his soul.
He stared at her for some minutes now. His mind was remembering the night he left the village. How Sakura tried to stop him with desperate threats he still heard.
(Flashback)
"No, Sasuke-kun…If you go I'll scream!"…
…"Wait, I love you!"…
(End of Flashback)
Sasuke smiled a bit at this memories with sadness knowing that he will never be there again for her.
"I love you so much…Sakura, I never knew I held this affections for you until you screamed you loved me and I experienced life without you. Day after day I was thinking about you…surviving for the sake of seeing you again"
"I guess I run out of time…"
Sasuke smiled bitterly at his own attempt of sour humor.
Sakura turned in her sleep and mumbled something that made Sasuke's lifeless eyes show a glint and made his mouth form a sincere smile.
"Sasuke-kun…I will never forget you"
Sakura woke up suddenly from her sleep. She yawned and turned to look around her and noticed that she was still on her tent and was still dark outside.
She woke up in the first place because she heard a voice talking to her. At first she didn't recognize it but as he continued to speak again, she was sure of the owner of the voice.
She was asleep so her brain was numb that's why she didn't woke up but managed to mumble her thoughts out for him to hear. Then realization hit her so she shot up but found no Sasuke on her tent.
'Did I just imagined things?'
'No you didn't…I am sure as Hell exists that Sasuke-kun was here or at least we heard his voice'
'Yeah…maybe he paid a visit to us!'
'Maybe that was it…I am so happy he did'
'If that was the case, then I let him know that we didn't forget him'
'Hell yeah! I still remember the dream where he told you that he feels forgotten'
'Yeah me too, but I feel like he is not happy or feels any peace'
'His voice sounded rather sad now that you mention it'
Sakura smiled sadly in remembrance of her lost friend. She wanted to help him now that she knew he was sad but couldn't find the way. Where he was now, she couldn't go so she didn't know what to do.
Sakura leaved her tent in time for the sun to replace the moon. She stretched and decided to wake up the boys by the smell of cooking food.
Neji was sleeping peacefully when a rather nice smell filled his nose. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up while smirking. He grabbed a bouquet with water that was on the corner and washed his face.
Then he leaved the tent.
"Good morning Neji!"
"Good morning Haruno"
Sakura resumed to her task at hand and scrambled the eggs while checking on a pot next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Breakfast"
Sakura said while smiling.
"You seem more cheerful than usual Haruno…What had gotten into you?"
"Nothing, I just woke up like this"
"Aa"
Neji sat on a log next to her and watched her cook. He hated to sit and do nothing while others were making something for him. He had a heart after all.
"May I help you?"
"Of Course, why don't you check on the rice it is boiling in that pot over there"
"Ok"
Sakura had three small fires going and cooking her meals. She attended the one in the middle because it was cooking the eggs and that needed a pan so obviously it can't hang on branch as her pots did.
Neji watched the rice and noticed it was ready to prepare so he took it out of the fire and started to put on some ingredients.
In a matter of minutes, Shikamaru was up and seeing his two friends making breakfast he decided to help too. His task was to make tea.
"Wow Neji, I never knew you knew how to cook"
"Hn"
"You could be a perfect housewife"
Neji twitched in annoyance and responded anyway
"Well, thank you Shikamaru, you could be a great housewife too, you are a master in the art of serving tea"
The two glared at each other and Sakura was in the middle looking from one to another.
"Calm down ladies, you two are good housewives already"
"How troublesome, the great husband appeared"
"Well, the husband thinks that eating each other so early in the morning is not healthy to his housewives not to mention that is annoying"
The three now glared to each other and after some minutes, they resumed to eat their breakfast.
As soon as they finished, they lifted the camp and the traps to continue with their mission. When they started to set off, the differences within them disappeared and took things seriously if they wanted to make this mission a successful one.
By the end of the day, they were already on the forest of Mist. That particular day the mist was really dense and if they didn't carried Neji along with them, they wouldn't probably see at all.
" Neji, in which direction is the village?"
"It's a few miles away, if we travel during night we might be able to rest in an inn"
"Ok"
The team did as Neji told them and arrived to the village in three hours. They looked around town and discovered that it was not as they imagined it to be.
The village was covered in snow; which ever you looked it was covered with a dim blue light making it look even colder that it was already. The houses were old and some appeared destroyed. No people were on the streets and no light was seen on the broken windows.
Only the light from the sky covered the destroyed village.
Sakura stared in awe at the poor village. She walked forward and looked down to her feet discovering stains of dried blood on the floor tainting the whiteness.
"What happened in here?"
"Probably Akatsuki did it"
"We must look for survivors and ask them"
"Hai"
Sakura walked through the lonely streets gawking at every thing that could muster movements and human shadows. Sincerely, she doubted that the village had any survivors and if so, why didn't they run away?
If Akatsuki did it, then why stay in a dangerous place like this? No ninja could stop it from destroying it all.
She sighed and entered an ally and leaned on a wall. Suddenly the sound of running steps made her open her eyes and turn to look.
A boy of around ten years passed as fast as he could in front of the ally she was in. Sakura raised and eyebrow and then ran out to find the boy.
"Hey! Wait, why are you running?"
The boy looked at her over his shoulder and his eyes widened as he yelled
"No! Stop! Please don't hurt me!"
"But I am not going to hurt you!"
The boy looked terrified. He ran as fast as he could away from her and turned to his left but he slipped and fell down with a grunt. He tried to stand up but he winced and fell again. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Sakura approach him.
"Please don't kill me!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You and your friends destroyed this village and killed everyone! I still remember the dark cloaks!"
Sakura now knew who had destroyed this village and killed its people.
"I am not one of them, I came here to help you"
She took off her cat mask and smiled at the boy.
"See?"
The boy seemed hesitant for a moment but smiled a small smile after some time.
"I am Sakura, What is your name?"
"I am Kai"
"Ok Kai let me see your ankle I am sure it hurts"
Kai raised his leg and let her do her business. He stared in shock as he saw a green light emitting from her palm and started to feel the pain giving away.
"Thanks"
"No problem"
Sakura smiled at him for a second time and put on her mask again.
"Oh! How touching"
Sakura turned around and saw the last person she wanted to see at the moment. She positioned herself in front of Kai and adopted a fighting stance.
"I didn't know a brat was still alive! I just came here to go to Akatsuki and look what I find…Anbus!"
The man was extremely tall and had a bluish skin; he dressed the Akatsuki cloak and had a gigantic sword over his shoulder.
"I think Samehada will have fun tonight"
A/N: Yay! Seventh chapter up finally! Don't forget to leave your review.
Sincerely
Mars7
