Someone Screaming
Ayane Selznick
Another boring morning greeted Sasuke from the strong ray of sunlight coming out of his open window. It struck his eyelids, making a slightly red background when one's eyes were closed. He grunted then shielded his eyes and turned to another direction.
So I've slept...
He thought as he was slowly opening his eyes. Supposedly he was out there, training, or maybe off to somewhere else. His selfish mission will never changed but he has yet to meet him. He could feel that he's not ready to face him but upon thinking back of what he did to Orochimaru, Kabuto and the rest of the Sound Nins, the dead confidence revived in him.
When he's about to sit up, he noticed a familiar thing stumbled down his lap.
It's the forehead protector.
He remembered that that night, he was holding on to it as he was reminiscing all the things that happened back then, especially about that certain forehead protector incident. Slowly, he took the forehead protector and placed it to the table across the bed. He tossed the blanket out of his body and headed to the shower.
He removed his clothes and threw it on the laundry basket. He took the white towel from the cabinet adjacent from the basket. He encircled it on his lower torso and headed to the bathroom.
Today, he will train himself to be worthy opponent of his brother.
He will eliminate the gap he thought was gone.
...Absolutely.
After his hot shower, he took another set of clothes in his cabinet and put in on. When he's done, he took the holsters from the bed and placed it on the selected part of his body. He must bring them at all times because who knows what, where and when he will be attacked.
Sitting on the bed, he took the ninja sandals underneath it and slipped it on his feet. In a while, he saw something flashed from the corner of his eyes. He looked to his left and saw the Konoha forehead protector, flashing teasingly at him.
There's no way he would wear it again. Like he thought several times ago, he had betrayed the Leaf. And that's it... that's—
A girl's lips slowly smiled at him.
Stretching his hand to the table, he carefully took the forehead protector and hid it to one of his pockets. Without turning back, he strode his way to the door, leaving nothing but dirty clothes in his room.
It was just another normal day in Hidden Stone village. The weather is nice which made all the children go out of their houses to play under the fine sunny day. Women have their gossips ready to be told to their neighbors. Sasuke started walking down the street and passes some of them with their morning gossips.
There were three women gathered in one of the food stalls, talking about something new in their village.
"Our shinobi arrived last night carrying a seriously wounded ninja. And do you know what surprised me? It was a kunoichi!" The woman with her hair tied up started.
She was then followed by the other as if adding some details, "Oh I've heard about it from my husband. She was found lying on the ground and her body soaking in blood. Poor girl. She was pretty, too."
The third one, which was really new to this rumor, requested them for further description, "How pretty is she?"
The woman who had started the conversation beat the other for telling the descriptions, "She's slim alright, a little pale... well I guess that's because of the injuries she'd received and that... uhmm... strange long pink hair. It was really rare to find someone like her with pink hair."
"Well unless she dyed it."
"I think it was natural." She debated with a slight jealous tone in her voice.
He heard them clearly, which made him stopped in his position. There's only one girl with pink hair. And with that, an image of his ex-teammate flashed in his thoughts. He had remembered it right, she had her hair short so there's the difference from their description because they said the girl's hair was long... but...
It had been years! Of course there's a possibility that she'd grew her hair.
What the hell...
He must have been thinking too deeply having this hair topic being included in serious examination. He was trying hard to avoid their gossips and that certain girl in his head, but when he heard the next detail, he couldn't help but froze in his place.
The second woman sighed and smoothed her hair casually, "There's this strange issue going on, too. Tsuchikage might call a meeting with the Hokage because this girl had been identified as a Leaf ninja."
"What was the proof?"
"They said they found the girl's forehead protector lying on the ground just above her head. It has a Konoha insignia on it. So it's a solid proof that she came from Konoha."
"What do you think is she doing in our place?"
The woman shrugged, "Who knows? But I'm sure that there's no war going on—"
Sasuke wasn't listening anymore. He never thought that the last night's recollection was actually a premonition for her arrival. In all honesty, there are a lot of times that his thoughts would suddenly converge on his past.
His teammates, his rivals, his Genin missions, particularly his newfound family...
...And her.
He didn't have the slightest idea as to why this is happening to him.
This morning, while he was walking down the street of Hidden Stone, he just heard a very shocking rumor about a certain kunoichi with long pink hair and Konoha forehead protector.
It's her.
--Along with her bloodied body dirtied with soil, which was also been wounded seriously.
No... it's not her.
There's no way that the person these women were talking about was the person lurking in his mind. It's too hard to believe that it would be her. In a while, he recalled her character. She was not a strong ninja, but definitely a smart one. A fast-learner. But through all those years, when he was still with them, his blonde teammate and himself had put down their lives for countless times to protect her.
That's why he forced himself to believe that it wasn't her.
Because, as stated earlier, she couldn't even protect herself...
It's not her...
It's not her.
He closed his eyes for a moment to clear his thoughts. He repeated to himself the very same sentences that he had said to his mind. Finally, he breathed in and out. It was also impossible for her to know that he's here. Or even if it was just an accident, it was really impossible for her to be here.
It's impossible for us to see each other at this time... in this place...
He opened his eyes, embedding into his brain that after eating his breakfast at a certain food stall, he would go out of the village and train himself.
Absolutely.
He will train himself for him to be a worthy opponent of his brother. He will remove the gap that he had felt the first time they had met in five years, after Itachi murdered their clan.
He will make himself strong enough to pursue his goal as an avenger...
And none can stop him now.
Not even her.
Not even her presence...
Not even her...
There were loud thuds and thumps around her. She could hear them but not as clear as she could. Her condition was still unsteady. She couldn't even move her head from left to right, neither her fingers to wiggle a little. The least thing she could do was to breathe and listen.
Yes, she was like a paralyzed patient lying limp on a hospital bed surrounded by medical Nins, helping her, at least, to make her recovery faster. She wanted to lift up her eyelids to see where she was now. Even though she kind of felt that her instincts were right. In a moment of being stubborn, she felt her head throbbed in pain. She couldn't move her hand to touch her head or at least stop this throbbing pain.
The least thing she could do was to furrow her brows. Maybe...
Just maybe... somebody could tell that she's conscious and her head's aching so badly.
But to her attempts, no one had seen her brows furrowed, neither can she heard the thuds and thumps around her.
So... they had left me.
She wondered why she was here. Smoothly, she recalled what just happened before she passed out. She defeated the assassins who had stalked her while she was on her way to the Hidden Stone. During the battle, however, she had received serious wounds and used up all her Chakra to defeat them.
She disclosed the fact that she has Chakra shortage, that even if she had trained herself and claimed the Hunter Nin title, she was always having this dilemma. Even if she was perfect in Chakra control, there's no way that she couldn't experience Chakra shortage. She was absolutely sure that it wasn't her physical fitness or energy. Which means, she's lacking energy within.
What can I do?
It has always been the question in her head and until this time, she couldn't figure it out. She had read lots of books back in Konoha and it kind of help her to add another level of energy from her past levels. Yet she could feel that she's lacking something in which she couldn't pinpoint what it was.
What exactly was the reason why she was having Chakra shortage?
Was it because something within her always cut her energy?
Or was it because she's forever weak?
Weak...weak...
"How could you say that you're weak if you had attained what you are now?" Her inner self debated her current state, making her realize the optimist side of herself.
Then why am I always ending up like this?
She wants nothing but to live in reality. Her inner self had always brought her to the land of her fantasies. She knew her very well. She's her and vice versa. That inner self of hers was always there to cheer her up, explode when the real Sakura is angry and a big help when she's always in trouble.
"It's your limits girl. Everyone in this world has their own limits." The inner self explained in her matured strange tone.
Even so...
Sakura didn't continue her statements as more flashbacks flooded her thoughts. But she had managed to praise her other self. When she had drastically matured, she noticed that her other self hardly ever appeared or even talked to her at the back of her mind. Sakura assumed that her other self had understood what she wanted in her life.
There was no objection from either of the two.
Other than having Ino as her best friend, this other self of hers is a big help when someone was trying to mess up with her thoughts. Take Ino's technique for example. Sakura was the only person who could talk casually with her other self. Long time ago she was searching for books to answer her question like why she was having another spirit in her body or why was her conscience talking to her as if they were just chatting face to face?
But there was no answer.
And Sakura had accepted it the way it was.
She even thought that maybe she's the only person who had another spirit dwelling in one body. Therefore, she's special.
Indeed, she was.
"Oi, stop honoring me. My forehead will grow larger if you continue that."
Is it bad to praise you that much? I was just glad that you're there.
"You're so fragile. Damn it. And it looks like I'm the ultimate opposite of you."
The real Sakura smiled with her eyes still closed and her regular breathings still continued.
That's why you're with me.
For a moment, she swept away her conversation with her other self, pulling the events that happened during the night. All right, so she had arrived in Hidden Stone village. She knows that after her recovery, she will be called to explain herself in front of the Tsuchikage. The only thing that can help her is the scroll that she kept in her pocket.
Oh. She almost forgot. The ANBU investigation team of this village might have taken it and showed it to their Tsuchikage. So the only thing left was to explain herself why she was on that very ground, lying limp and exhausted after the heat of the battle.
And...
If she could talk to someone in this village, she might as well ask if they saw him.
If they saw her precious Uchiha Sasuke...
(Begin Flashback)
It was two days after the Sound and Sand villages attacked Konoha during the Chuunin exams. It has been days since Sasuke brought her home unconscious. And she recalled it very clearly. Every single words that Sasuke said when he and Naruto have to face Gaara to release her from the grip of the sand.
"I already lost everything before..." He said while looking intently at the enemy across him, "I don't want to see those dear to me, die before my eyes. Never..."
She was sitting on a large smooth rock, outside the border of Konoha village. The village itself has to be renovated that most adults had been gone outside with some ninjas helping them repairing what has been lost. She has nothing to do right now, so she went out of the house and find a decent place where she knew she could have a peaceful mind.
Until he came...
He was wearing that new black outfit with bunch of bandages in his arms. She liked him best when he wears his blue shirt and white shorts. He looks bright on those clothes, not in that black ones. But even so, he's still Sasuke-kun. Her Sasuke-kun.
"What are you doing here?" He asked while standing meters away from her, watching her back facing him.
She was stunned. She never expected him to see her there. Or maybe, she thought, he was on his way to his regular training and happened to pass by. Slowly, she turned around and greeted him.
"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun..." She started and then looked away shyly, "I have to clear my thoughts so, I have to stay away with people for a while..."
Sasuke had understood, though, a little surprised that she was not clinging on to him, nor squeal a little louder when she utter his name. Indeed, she was a little strange. He was now turning his back on her and almost walk away but stopped when he heard her whispers.
"I was scared..." She said with a hint of tremor in her voice.
This made Sasuke stiffened and stopped his trails. He doesn't have any ideas why she was scared or why she was saying that she was scared. Maybe, she does have a problem.
"I thought I was going to die... but that's not the reason why I was scared." Sakura looked away, resuming her previous position and looking up on the sky. "I was scared because I couldn't protect the ones I love... You guys were always protecting me during our missions. But..."
Sasuke looked back at her and noticed how sad she was.
"But... I couldn't protect either the two of you when you guys were in trouble. I barely even protect myself."
He saw her hands that were resting on her lap, begun clutching so hard as her flesh changes color.
"Those experiences I had with you guys... it made me realize how weak I really am... it made me realize that I'm just a dead-weight in this team. And—"
Sasuke was a little strange, too, for some reason he has to say something. It was like he was transported back to the time when he and Naruto had been waiting for Sakura for the first part of the Chuunin Exams. He noticed the odd air that she carried when she came. Somehow, he felt that he had to cheer her up, bring out her usual vibrant spirit.
"You should stop judging yourself as a weak person because you only relied on what you see outside."
Surprised, she loosened her grasp in her hands. She was sure that he was also shocked at himself because he was never the person who would give comfort when someone was at the downside of life. She felt her heart uplifted when she heard him said that, but, Sasuke had stopped saying things and silence finally surrounded them. He must have been thinking that Sakura need not to have an explanation to what he had said. After all, she's his smartest teammate. He was still there, watching how the wind carried her short hair in the air, and not really paying attention at the time that had been passing by and how long they'd stayed silent together.
"Sasuke-kun... do you still have a weak point?" It was stupid of her to ask about weak points, but she has to make sure that she's not the only person in the team that does have the most obvious weak point.
"Of course I do. Even the strongest person living in this world has his own weak point... because no one is perfect."
She needed not to say that she had understood what Sasuke said to her. But for him to know that she was thankful that he was there, she looked up to him and smiled at him brightly.
"Thank you so much, Sasuke-kun..."
(End Flashback)
After the reminiscing minute, she finally drifted off to sleep.
To be continued
Author's Note: I know this one is kind of short, well that's because I'm still thinking of what will happen next. It's kind of jumping from one scene to another, like I said, this one is short. By the way, it's not just Sakura-oriented ok? Wait until the next chapter. I won't spill the details yet (where's the thrill/suspense when I give you the clue right?). Oh before I forgot, you must have noticed the contrary of thoughts (Sasuke and Sakura's flashbacks). Sasuke wasn't sure if she grew strong or had stayed the same, that's why he had assumed that the girl wasn't her.
Yo guys and gals, thanks for supporting me and giving me your thoughts about this fic. I really really REALLY appreciate it. Izumi-17 had been my most frequent reviewer so I thank you so much (I wanna hug you so tight).
Mint - Thanks for pointing something. I'll put on the details later as to why she was wearing her casual clothes and the other parts that makes you kind of confused and curious. I thank you so much.
Fuurin-hime - thank you so much, and I know you got the answer from that mystery reinforcement. My fingers are itching to tell you something about the story, but I can control myself not spilling the details yet.
broken down wolf - that's sweet of you . Thank you
Sakura Li 2 - don't worry I'm not going to stop until I finished this fic. And yes... I'm eebil! :P peace!
kiki tameishi - thank you my friend for encouraging me
izumi-17 - hehe, yeah I do love sasusaku stories. I think I'm relating myself to their relationship :P no just kidding!
inu-chan613 - uhm I kind of mentioned that she's weak too, but don't worry, I'll prove to them that she's not a total loser . I thank you so much
Lady Light - thank you for your comments. I really appreciate it (so much)