Waiting outside of Tsunde-sensei's door for Kakashi, her one eye roved the room taking in the potted plants put in two corners a desk and chair for Tsunde's secretary Shizune who was currently absent on some errand her pig with her. The sunlight filtering through the windows in golden-yellow arcs was filled with absently swirling dust motes and other particles. Birds twittered outside the glass and she gazed at them watching as they hopped easily from place to place on the space outside. 'What would it be like to be a bird and be…free…' she thought absently watching as one flew up in a swirl of feathers and flew away into the bright blue sky.
The door to her left creaked open slightly and Kakashi slipped out not looking at her as he closed the door behind him. Only after it clicked shut did her turn and look at her with his one eye, the opposite of hers. Anyone who had stumbled upon them would have wondered if a fashion trend was going on, a rather bloody and tragic fashion trend. His eyes scanned her face briefly before focusing on her one remaining eye it was open and looked back at him with startling sharpness and focus.
"Training will be at the regular field at 7:30 sharp don't be late" he did his Kakashi smile his eye winking into a crescent.
"Okay" she said softly then giving him a small smile she couldn't help but give. His usual lateness for everything was well known and when he told some one else not to be late. Well….that was like the cauldron calling the teakettle black. Turning she walked calmly her strides even and the perfect form of nonchalance. She could feel his steady gaze on her back and she resisted the urge to turn around and snap at him to stop she didn't need to be pitied or babied she was almost 21 and a strong kunoichi. Releasing her held breath once she stepped on to Konoha's main street and away from his own probing and dissecting gaze she strolled away to find something to do probably consisting of thinking or training sighing at how her whole life had changed with just one night and a few words. 'How cruel is fate' she wondered vaguely to steal away her comrade and friend, Sasuke once then return him and then take him away again this time permanently. "How cruel is fate" she said in a murmured soft voice and walked down the dirt-packed street.
Kakashi watched her back walk away retreating out of his vision her tense shoulders and just how she carried her body betrayed her anxiety and grief. Well familiar with the toil that something like this event could take on someone's spirit and will it could break someone of weaker will. Giving his own sigh he truly wanted to help her, she was a teammate a comrade and he never let them die it was a promise to himself after his disastrous past. After Obito gave him his eye it was hard, he wouldn't lie to himself and he wouldn't lie to her when she asked but it was very hard, suicide contemplation was not that far out off his mind back then and deep down that had scared him in the past even now thinking of it, old feelings were dredged up, and not the best kinds of feelings either. Depression was a definite and assured aspect of the event and it was only with continued support from his friends the few he did have that he survived, he wasn't completely free from the depression on some days it would drag him down a bit, just a bit but enough for him to know at least on those days that it was an event that would stay with him, the event that gave him an eye and at the same time robbed him of what could have been one of hismost trustedfriend at the same time.
He didn't want her to go through what he did, he knew it was inevitable that she had some negative emotions on what happened it was expected with something this traumatic, but if he could spare her a little of the doubt, depression, and absolute confusion, he would with out a doubt he would. Hopefully with the support of her many friends she'd have an easier time getting through it, at least no matter how harsh it sounded there was no surviving Uchihas to sneer at her and accuse her of killing Sasuke and taking the eye herself or stealing it, those kinds of rumors hurt the most because it was about a friend, a comrade. Rubbing the back of his head tiredly he strode out of the building and went to read his explicit reading contents of Icha Icha Paradise.
She was waiting, she got there early after wandering the town and finally taking a spot on the Hokage rock monument to look out across the sleeping village. Her sleep was nonexistent, nightmares were starting to come up and each night they became progressively worse when she was still recovering in the hospital she was drugged somewhat with medication so they were put off but now back home she was at the mercy of them. 'Maybe I should just stop sleeping' she wondered humorlessly "heh" she laughed to herself 'then I'd probably look just like Gaara with black-outlined eyes'. It was not a comforting thought but call her a coward she would rather stay awake then sleep and face what she did in her dreams.
"Coward" she said to herself disgustedly, familiar feelings of doubt and why she was chosen to go through this, coursed through her. Pulling her legs up to her chest she hugged them there with her arms and put her head down on the top of her knees.
"It's fine" she chanted to herself "I'm fine, It's fine, It's fine, It's fine" trying to calm herself from the grip of the ever threatening depression that rose quickly to her mind followed by immense grief that would leave her shattered if she let it go.
Trembling and not just from the cold of the Konoha night it was actually quite warm now, "It's fine, It's fine, It's fine" she murmured consoling herself to actually believe it. With a deep breath between her words she pushed back her emotions, and like a hungry beast the aching depression left her sinking back down into the depths of her mind. She felt it there like a living creature that threatened to swallow her if she had but a moment of mental weakness. Still trembling she waited patiently getting her emotions under control.
Letting her breath explode out of her with a gasp she quickly wiped away the moisture that had come up to her eyes from the emotional attack it left her feeling hollow, drained like all the emotion she suffered in those few seconds just tired out and canceled the rest of her remaining emotions. She had started getting these when she allowed her thoughts and emotions to drift too much on studying herself, it was like a sudden explosion of all the negative emotions possible and each time the attack happened, the threat of being dragged over the edge of insanity was all to real. Giving a bitter laugh she wondered if she was already insane 'what would you say if you saw me like this Sasuke', she thought. She didn't deserve this none of this, the Sharingan was Sasuke's and Kakashi's not hers she was a Jounin medic nin not a genius shinobi like the other holders of Sharingan's she couldn't live up to them, she couldn't, she'd fail. The hungry beast threatened to rise up again and swamp her with emotions at her thoughts, stopping her thoughts, her eyes furrowed shut she thought furiously 'I'll do it, I don't know how but when I see Sasuke again I'll tell him that I succeeded that I'm not just a regular kunoichi I'm something better, I'll tell him of my accomplishments'
Breathing a sigh of relief as nothing enveloped and threatened to drag her over the edge she opened her eyes slowly the rays of the rising sun just coloring the sky with beauty. Relaxing, she distracted herself by watching the inhabitants of the village start to rise slowly with the sun. Standing up herself with a sigh she brushed off her clothes and turned with one last look at the sky.
Darting over the rooftops she landed easily in the training fields from her days with Team 7 as a genin training. Looking around she shifted her weight and readied her self for waiting for Kakashi. Leaning against a tree, she trailed her foot in the dirt, stirring fallen dead leaves and grass. 'How long will I have to wait' she wondered vaguely, honestly she could say she was used to his lateness and if he wasn't late she'd swear hell would freeze over. Scanning the field, the memories slipped in of the first battle with Kakashi as her teacher, then again when partnered with Naruto both times getting the bells.
An hour passed in moderately good speed, she was content to lean on the tree and watch the world, with a poof Kakashi appeared in front of her, eye curved in to a crescent signaling he was smiling at her. "YOUR LATE KAKASHI-SENSEI" she yelled just for old time's sake pointing a finger at him trying to look peeved she was pretty sure she succeeded.
"Well you see I have a really good excuse their was this dog and he"
"Liar" she called interrupting him but smiled and laughed just the same with moments like these it was hard not to forget everything was different.
"Ah…not good enough" he asked also smiling, but now rubbing the back of his head
"Not your best one" Sakura shook her head smiling.
"Alright now training, I want to see how well you can control it then we'll move on from there" he looked carefully at her she kept the smile on her face though some of it did disappear
"Sure" she mentally cringed at how carefree she sounded Kakashi didn't say anything though.
"The goal of this is to dodge my moves but" he held up his right index finger calloused tip turned toward her, Sakura focused on him "You'll use your Sharingan, you can keep your other eye open, but you're to try and predict my moves before I make them"
"I can do that" she sounded determined to her own ears and felt a thrill at what would soon happen she'd seen Sharingan in action it was…very impressive to describe it lightly.
"Ready" she said pushing her hitae-ate up from her right eye and fastening it to her forehead securely her pinwheel eye looked out and scanned her surroundings. Immediately Sakura felt the chakra from her highway travel to it, flowing through her pathways in the right eye and into her Sharingan, activating it for attack. Kakashi gave her a nod and immediately sent kunai at her it was a direct approach normally he wouldn't employ that kind of tactic but he wanted to test out her ability with her Sharingan. Keeping her other eye at least partly open she didn't completely trust herself with just her Sharingan open.
Focusing on the attack it was like the kunai were coming at her in slow motion, she could easily follow their trajectory paths with her eye. 'Is this the power of the Sharingan' she asked herself wonderingly, very much impressed at the power. Effortlessly moving out of the way, she readied herself for the next attack, training her eye on Kakashi, his face was unreadable thanks to the mask and his own carefully guarded expression he was a hard person to read. Pausing Sakura balanced on the balls of her feet carefully keeping her weight evenly distributed on each foot so she could move quickly for the next attack. Blinking once, she found Kakashi gone and automatically concluded he was in the trees and observing her. Also leaping in the trees for cover and the chance to sneak up on him so she could take him by surprise her face set in grim determination she watched her surroundings carefully. The Sharingan scanning everything quickly and efficiently there was no sign so she stopped and concealed herself in a large maple's leaves and peered out. Listening carefully she quieted her own breathing automatically when she went into hiding. 'I can't sense him I can't see or hear him he's very well hidden so I need to draw him out somehow, he said to predict his moves but I still need to take precautions.' Quickly setting up some brutal traps that would be difficult for any genin or lower ranked shinobi she moved on. Setting up other ones randomly, sure that she was being quiet and stealthy it came as quite a shock when a trap she didn't set up went off and more then just a few kunai flew at her. The Sharingan quickly took care of the problem, seeing the weapons move as if in slow motion she avoided them effectively by predicting where they would strike. Landing on a wide tree limb, she paused but had to move again as her Sharingan swung to the right and alerted her to the quickly coming figure it was Kakashi, 'taijutsu fight' she wondered about this avoiding his movements there seemed to be something wrong with him dodging a kick that would have knocked the wind out of her if she had let it strike her she pulled out a kunai and waiting for the chance to strike moving fluidly around his attacks. Spotting an opening she took it plunging the kunai into the side of his neck, the bushin disappeared with a poof leaving behind faintly swirling smoke that dissipated quickly away.
Stumbling across another trap this time with exploding tags on the kunai she pulled away quickly the Sharingan showing its use with avoiding and predicting the weaponary. Becoming accustomed to the flow of chakra to her eye and the spinning of the Sharingan it only required small thought to effectively use it now, for this exercise at least. Seeing the punch before it struck, with her eye she moved to the side avoiding an elbow, this was the real Kakashi. Leaping up with the help of chakra on the soles of her feet and pushing off a tree trunk to aim at him she held shurikan between the knuckles of her left hand and swung her arm letting them fly towards him. She expected him to dodge and moved with him this time engaging him in the fight. "Your doing quite well" he said eye curved into a crescent with his smile allowing her own smile to stretch slightly over her face "Thanks, but I need to do well" he said nothing but Sakura bet he smiled even wider at her words. It was a clean battle their moves quick and purposeful no extended movements or overuse of chakra or energy. Following Kakashi's words she only dodged his moves, her Sharingan seeing them before they came so she knew where to be and not to be as his strikes came. He was quick though Sakura had shorter and shorterreaction times to move around his attacks, panting slightly as they separated to different tree limbs. Studying him 'at least he isn't reading his hentai novels' she thought now that was an improvement. His Sharingan was covered up and his one onyx black eye watched her, this time she launched the attack they moved through the trees sending kunai, shurikan and senbon at each other. Striking at each other with taijutsu when they got the chance, her previously set up traps were triggered and quite a few times they had to separate to avoid being stabbed to death. 'Maybe a little to brutal' she thought not humored in the least.
"Sakura you really like to go all out don't you?" Kakashi commented during one of their many small taijutsu fights.
"eh heh heh" she laughed nervously at his words, but kept her self strictly at attention and the Sharingan on him even as she laughed "yeah about that….whoops" she only said giving a slight smile. He only smiled back as he blocked her knee with a hand and struck his own foot out which she saw coming about 5 seconds before it connected what came as a shock was when she got hit by it, 'what the…' she asked astounded 'I saw it, I saw the attack why was I hit?' she demanded of herself. A punch, elbow strike, other hand punch combo was blocked and Kakashi's moves became clear to her mind thanks again to her Sharingan moving underneath and to the side she seemed to understand his movements so she could start to see the pattern and even pick up some of the moves 'another advantage of the Sharingan' she asked herself wryly. Again she was struck this time in the back on the left shoulder blade. Stumbling a small half-step forward she jumped away with chakra narrowly avoiding the low sweeping kick that came at her. Breathing a sigh of relief at the dodge that could have ended the battle for her, she worked out how even though she assured herself that she dodged his taijutsu she was hit. An epiphany shot up like a light-bulb, 'like Lee-san's and Sasuke-kun's fight,' remembering the fight when they were headed for the Chunnin exams and Lee-san had challenged Sasuke to a fight. At the timeshe was head-over-heels for him and thought for sure that Sasuke would defeat him, only incredibly for Lee to effectively beat Sasuke into almost a pulp. 'Is that it, because I can see it but he has more speed and experience then me, so he can still hit me' that must be it, but how to move around it, she wanted to show Kakashi that she could handle the Sharingan and beat him but if he had more speed, then she had to either slow him down or speed herself up either one whichever choice looked difficult. The difference in their battle experience couldn't be helped so she had to work with the speed somehow.
There was no time for pauses now it was constant fighting block, punch, strike, block, any and allcombinations she could still see his movements but hits from him still got in. 'Damn; my speed I need to increase it' she thought frustrated growling slightly ather disadvantage she pushed herself, opening herSharingan wide. Withdrawing two kunai and flinging one she came at him she'd win even if she died.
Hours had passed and the sun where once the sky was tinged with soft pastels of color signaling dawn,was now high in the sky and blazing with all its glory. Sakura was panting heavily, sweat was running down her face and back making her clothing stick to her she managed to keep herself ahead of his techniques and even managed to copy a few if accidentally she didn't want to try purposefully because it'd take timeand she didn't exactly know how, she was stillinexperianced with the Sharingan thus thiswouldleave her open and she was determined to win this fight. Bruises and a few slashes marked her body nothing too serious, Kakashi hadn't completely gotten away scot-free either she'd successfully given him a foot long line from her kunai on his left leg ripping his pants while doing it. As they day had grown longer her aches and pains as well as exhaustion started to disappear and with the absence of the strain on her body she'd thrown herself into fighting him and beating him. Unfortunately Kakashi didn't look even hot maybe he was panting a bit from exertion and she did give him some wounds. Her Sharingan was also starting to ache, unlike her other aches and pains disappearing as she had continued in her fighting this didn't leave only seemed to stay not grow worse but stay she'd ask later, but when the fighting was finished she cringed to think what it would be like as well as the rest of her body. Using one of Kakashi's moves, she thought she saw his eye widen with recognition and shock before he blocked, she'd hope he'd be at least a little shocked then use his shock as a distraction. Following through with her plan she hit him in the back, her speed had increased somehow and she used it to her advantage, coming up behind him and kicking his feet from under him, he fell on his back to the grass, leaving her pointing a kunai at his neck, grinning tiredly but victoriously she was a bit dismayed to feel the prick of his kunai at the side of her throat. At a stand off they looked at each other, then with a groan Sakura fell on to her back and laydown on the grass closing her eyes to the blue sky and bright sun. Taking in deep breaths she felt the sweat running down her body and slowly drying making her body sticky.
"Good job, you've did much better then I thought" Kakashi's eye curved into a familiar crescent shape as he smiled down at her from where he stood over her.
"Thanks" was all she could manage to get out in between breathes, he also took a seat next to her but didn't lay down, as her breath returned to her she slit her eyes open to look at the sky. It was quite for the few minutes that they rested, not saying anything she sat up, but let her legs sprawl out in front of her. Kakashi said nothing to her and just sat next to her,
"What are we going to work on?" she asked curiously, glancing at him out of the corner of her right eye.
"Ah…well...you have a firm grasp of the basics of the Sharingan and this probably allowed you to predict my moves so well" he paused thinking of something but it was difficult to tell with his mask. Waiting patiently "no doubt you did so well having been exposed so much to the Sharingan a lot more then is normal for shinobi, but….you still did well" seeming to break out of his thoughts "alright training same place tomorrow we'll be discussing on how to do the genjutsu's of Sharingan." Clearly done for the day they still didn't move from their spot rather continued to sit there and enjoy the peace, a rare thing for a shinobi to have really. Musing on his words, was he shocked she did so well, did he expect her to fail or something 'uhh' she groaned mentally all this thinking sometimes she wished she could just shut her over thinking brain off! Sighing she stood up facing the sun and it's warmth she stretched her muscles she really shouldn't have sat down after all the training she did, ah well she'd get over it. Turning to Kakashi he seemed to mulling over something hopefully not perverted holding out a hand for him to take and help him stand he was quick to notice it and accept it, pulling him to his feet. She gave him a smile
"I'll see you tomorrow Kakashi-sensei" then waving she turned around and walked away feeling much better then she had in a long time since that….night. Humming cheerfully to herself as she walked down the street, 'a bath, that's what I definitely need a bath' making up her mind she walked calmly to her apartment taking her time and enjoying the sunshine in a rare content mood.
"Hey Sakura-chan" a voice called that sounded completely familiar to her, turning to look she felt her smile grow wider it was good to see Naruto he was busy but never took time away from spending it with friends.
"Naruto-kun what's up, you're in quite a rush" she called back waving slightly. The same grin he always wore was on his face
"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his head furthering messing his bright blonde hair "I needed to find you and Obaa-sama said you'd be around here." Sakura had tried and completely failed to make Naruto respect her sensei by calling her Hokage-sama even if it was true that Tsunde-sama was a lot older then she seemed, you'd think he'd learn after the first couple hundred punches.
"What do you need?" she asked curiously, passing over his disrespect for her Shishou used to it by now
"Sakura" Naruto said his voice serious and cautious quite a drastic change for him, Sakura looked at him curiously he was oddly serious now what ever it was it must be something important, was he out of ramen again that had happened before and he had come running to her in the past for some, she gladly gave him some, it was sort of her own secret on how much she loved the instant noodles she'd never tell anyone least of all Naruto but there you go even she had her dirty little food secrets. Waiting for him to continue, her face taking on a questioning look silently asking him what was wrong.
"His funeral…Sasuke's funeral is tomorrow"
Next Chapter: "Sakura are you alright are you having any nightmares?" he sounded generally concerned about her.She only looked at him 'yes, of course I am how couldn't I?'she said in my mind and though the temptation was great to tell him all about her many sleepless nights there just wasn't enough force behind her thoughts. 'I won't be weak, Sasuke wasn't weak, Naruto most definitely isn't weak and so I will NOT be weak' with the strengthing of her mental resolve she only gave him a bright smile. "Nope, I've been sleeping fine no nightmares at all, don't worry so much or you really will have grey hair" she teased to lighten the mood and to try and distract him from what he was asking. She thought she put up a pretty good front, she was sure she did, but...he was very perceptive too perceptive sometimes and being around perceptive people was not high on her top ten good things at the moment. 'Drop it please, just don't ask me about them leave me to work out my mental stability, please' she silently begged all the while keeping a smile on her face.
The saying The cauldron calling the kettle black my mom says that sometimes and I always wonder where did she get those sayings? ah well my next chapter will hopefully be up much faster but with school an impending thing after winter break as well as finals It'll be a little difficult but just a little so ja ne for now and please reveiw I practically begging you now for comments, questions, or concerns just click the little blue button down at the lower left hand of the page.