Chapter Seven
It was sunny when they arrived.
Sakura was slightly disappointed that, unlike in all the movies she'd seen, the weather did not reflect her mood.
'Pathetic fallacy my ass,' she thought glumly as she sun shone right in her eyes.
"Now, Sakura, when we arrive there are some things I have to sort out with the school, so I'll be busy on the phone for a little while," Tsunade explained, her eyes trained on the road.
"And I'll be headed down to the hospital to finalise mine and Tsunade's transfer papers, and make sure everything's in order," Shizune added. "The movers will unload our things, and you can start unpacking your room –"
"Or you can explore," the blonde cut in. Sakura, unimpressed by the idea, raised an eyebrow. "Reacquaint yourself with the area; see what's changed and what's still the same, maybe meet up with some old friends, and –"
"Stay out of your way?" Sakura interrupted this time, sighing. Frowning deeply at her attitude, Tsunade slammed on the break, both passengers straining against their seatbelts when she did so.
"Listen," she began firmly, "I know you're not happy about this. Moving around is hard, but when I adopted you, I promised that I would do my best to protect you, care for you, provide for you, and keep you safe. Gakure is a place both of us has called home, a place that offers only fond memories, and therefore I thought it would be better for everyone to come back here."
"I get it," Sakura muttered sadly.
"No, I don't think you do," the blonde continued, her hands clenching the steering wheel. "I am doing nothing but thinking of you. Would you prefer a new place, somewhere different? I can do that, Sakura – it would take a little time, but it's possible. Would you rather just leave the country, because something can be arranged, I promise! What I will not do is allow you to remain in a place that has caused you pain."
"I had good memories there, too," the pinkette tried to defend.
"Not as many as the bad ones," Tsunade countered and the pinkette bit her lip.
'That isn't true!' she longed to yell, 'I got my Charas, I made new friends, I fell in love, then out of love, and in love again – I felt like a normal girl there, but I felt special, too! I need that feeling!'
Of course, Tsunade wouldn't understand it. She wouldn't know the pain rooted in Sakura's heart that sprung from leaving behind Yaya, Ikuto, and Kukai. Even Amu, Rima and Tadase were a big part of her life that she never wanted to give up. One day, she would leave – she would move, go to college, travel the world, or whatever else she wanted in the future. All her plans, however, involved taking a certain someone with her.
"Also, I got you a new phone," added the busty women, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a light blue flip-up phone. "It has a new number, and Shizune and I are programmed in."
"What about my old one?" murmured the girl as she took the new phone from Tsunade's hands, staring down at it almost forlornly – she didn't know the numbers of her friends by heart, and didn't want to lose contact just like that.
"It has been disconnected," the blonde informed her. "I didn't want your problems following you here."
"They weren't problems," Sakura cried, "They were my friends – my family!"
"I'm sorry, Sakura," Tsunade offered quietly, "but I can't stand to see you in pain over then any more. You'll understand one day."
"I'm in pain now," she whimpered, clutching the new phone tightly as tears sprung up in her eyes.
Without a word, Tsunade resumed driving to their new house.
{-}
It was two hours later that Sakura was sat in her new room. The place was painfully bare – the walls a pale yellow colour, mocking her like the sun with its optimism, and the carpet was sea-blue. So, her room looked like a beech, and not in a good way. The single bed had white sheets, and at the foot of the bed was an empty bookcase, across from a bare desk with a wheelie chair – the one good thing about this room. Beside the desk was a built-in wardrobe, which was also empty.
Three boxes sat by the door on the inside of the room, holding everything she owned – her entire life fit into three cardboard containers. They were fairly large, but still. Watching Tsunade and Shizune pack box after box of personal belongings made her long to remain even more, knowing that her life wasn't measured in the things she owned, but the people she knew, and she would miss them more than anything.
Heck, she would even miss the Kiddie King!
Her eyes moved downwards, away from the boxes as her mind went to Ikuto, Yaya and Kukai, but the teenage boy was more prominent at the front of her mind. She wondered if he missed her, if he was thinking of her right now – if he even knew she was gone. A cynical part of her mind whispered that he didn't care, he was glad she was gone, and it caused her heart to ache as she thought of him replacing her with Amu.
Sakura shook her head suddenly – thinking of Ikuto and Amu together was dangerous for her, especially after the Easter thing. Her mind instead when to a safer topic, Yaya. She mused that the orangette would be whinging and whining about her sudden disappearance. She would be trying to call, but would be unable to get through, since the number she had was now disconnected.
The pinkette glared at the powder blue phone sat innocently atop the boxes, two numbers programmed in and not one of them belonging to her friends. She would miss hearing Yaya's voice as the carrot-top complained, begging for attention as a baby would, with Pepe sat on her shoulder, the baby Chara acting more mature than her owner.
Glancing up at her Charas as they floated around the room, imagining ways to make it more personal to them and their owner, Sakura began to wonder how they were taking the transition. She then felt incredibly selfish. Sure, Sakura would greatly miss her old home, but that place was all her girls knew – they had no history in Gakure, and everyone they had even known was either back in her old town or moved elsewhere, like Kairi. They had no connection to Gakure past it being Sakura's old home.
Determined to stop moping, if only for their sake, Sakura put on a smile and cleared her throat, gaining their attention.
"I thought that we'd go out and explore," she suggested, seeing their faces brighten up.
"Sounds great!" cheered Mari.
"This would be acceptable," Setsuko nodded.
"Yay, new people!" yelled Katsumi, turning to Mitsu, who hummed.
"Will there be slaves?" she enquired, her eyes widening a second later as she stumbled to correct herself, "Boys – I meant boys."
Deciding to take advantage of the sunny day, Sakura took Tsunade's advice and planned to go out and re-familiarise herself with Gakure. It was a school day – and only late morning, so even those who left campus for lunch wouldn't come across her – so she didn't expect that she would run into any old friends. This was exactly her plan; to get used to the place again before meeting up with the people she knew and getting to know anyone new.
She also took this time to show her Charas around, knowing that even though they were born of her, they were new here themselves. Her thoughts then turned to Katsumi and she smiled, wondering how the cat-loving Chara would react to her friend Kiba and his family, who ran a kennel for stray or abandoned dogs, while raising up and breeding dogs such as Shiba Inu. She then wondered on Mari's reaction to the same thing, being the dog-lover she is.
"Saku-chan, this place is so green!" she heard Mari gasp, looking around the streets in awe.
"I know," smiled the pinkette. "It's just as beautiful as I remember."
{-}
Neji had taken the day off. He had told his teacher that he was 'conducting research' for one of his classes – he hadn't even bothered to say which one, yet she still believed him. He thought it was a true credit to how much his teachers trusted him, even in a blatant lie such as this, that they would let him go with no further questioning. He was, after all, the top of his class and the most promising student his middle school had seen in years.
So, he decided to wander that day, having nothing better to do and not really wanting to return to school. His friends from elementary school, Tenten and Rock Lee, were both in a different class anyway, so he was stuck with a room full of fangirls and other students he didn't know or wish to talk to. It was an annoyance to have to put up with the squealing and giggling out of school, on his walks to and from his home, but to deal with it in class was a bore.
Turning a corner into the park, the young Hyuuga pondered his future. It wasn't overly uncommon for Neji to entertain such thoughts, being the level-headed and goal oriented person he was. He wondered if he would stay and help run his uncle's company after he left school, if he would go to college, and if he did, would it be in Gakure – somewhere like ANBU Academy – or would he leave and go elsewhere.
When Neji first saw the shock of pink hair, he'd thought his mind was playing tricks on him. So, he ignored it and went on his way, turning his thoughts from the future to the past. The pink hair reminded him of his old friend, Haruno Sakura. He'd met her through his cousin, Hinata, and had slowly but surely grown attached to her – it was no wonder, considering how she and Ino had followed him around, the pinkette blushing like one of his fangirls when he caught them out.
He smirked slightly. Sakura's crush on him had been obvious from day one, but he'd never told her that he may have felt a similar way. He knew of Sakura's past – moving around and never settling down for too long – and was afraid of losing her if she became more than a friend to him. It hurt enough to let go of the pinkette the day she left, and he didn't wish to know how much greater the pain would have been if she and he had expressed their feelings.
Frowning, Neji spotted it again – that same flash of pink hair – and this time his curiosity was snagged. He moved quickly in the direction of the light colour, hoping to catch it and satisfy the feeling in his gut that this very shade of pink was so familiar. It remained just out of reach, the candyfloss strands darting around a corner as he came closer, or moving down some stairs when he reached the top. He quickly became frustrated.
Looking all over, his eyes moving widely to catch the pink haired person, Neji set off in a sprint when he stopped them moving towards a more wooded area of the park. The last thing he wanted was to lose them in the trees. He breathed steadily as he ran, catching up quickly but not fast enough, and he knew that they would be in the forest before he reached them. Stopping for a moment, Neji cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Hey, wait!" he yelled, getting their attention on the first try.
The person turned.
{-}
Sakura had been blissfully unaware of the Hyuuga trying to catch her as she wandered aimlessly around the park. At first she was just walking over the fields and through the play area, but she and her Charas became bored of this quickly and so they sought out other means of entertainment. This entailed wandering around the scattered buildings, up and down stairs on the steep incline that led up to a beautiful picnic area, and finally towards the tree line that signalled the beginning of the 'Forest of Death' – as it was often called by teenagers attempting to scare their younger siblings.
Throughout her walk, Sakura had this strange feeling that she was being followed, but she daren't look for the fear of it being someone she didn't want to see, or just her own mind making her suspicious. The pinkette had hoped that she had left her paranoia back with Easter and the Guardians, but she still felt as though someone would jump out and attack her at any moment.
That was when she heard his voice.
"Hey, wait!"
Sakura turned, her eyes widening.
{-}
When Neji saw her, this breath caught in this throat. It had been so long since he's last laid eyes on this pink-haired girl that, at first, he wasn't even sure it was her, but no one could dream of mistaking those big green eyes, so full of recognition that, were this not who he thought it was, there must be someone else in the world who looked as eerily similar to him as there was her, which would – let's face it – be pretty strange. As though to test the waters a little, Neji took a cautious step towards the oh-so-painfully familiar girl while she did the same and began to slowly move towards him. Their steps got faster the closer they got, further recognition filling their eyes as the 'maybe' became a 'how can it not be'. Neji knew it was her, and she knew it was him' neither dared think of how heartbreaking it would be, were they proven wrong.
It was like a scene in one of those cheesy old movies, where the couple see each other again after oh so long. Their eyes meet, they double-take, unsure if it's really them, before running towards one another in slow-motion, meeting in the middle for a long-awaited kiss as the audience pulls out their tissues and begin sniffling.
Except, there is no slow-motion, and there is no kiss.
There is only the ghost of what Sakura once felt for him and a longing in her heart for the person she truly want to share that movie scene with.
"Sakura?" whispered Neji, as though she would disappear if he was too loud.
"It's been a while, Neji," smiled the pinkette. Relief flooded through the Hyuuga and the boy darted forwards, enveloping her in a hug. Sakura returned the embrace happily, having genuinely missed the brunette. "How are you? Is school okay? I can't believe you're in middle school now! Are the classes hard?"
"Slow down," smiled the Hyuuga, holding her at arm's length as his eyes drank in her appearance. She looked different, older, more tired, yet her eyes held a deeper joy that he had never seen in her before. It was almost as if she had found something, or someone, to keep her spirits high even in the most difficult of times.
"Sorry, I've just missed you," the girl admitted, blushing slightly when he smirked and held her close again.
"I've missed you, too."
{-}
We find the pair two hours later, eating dango and catching up on their lives since they last saw each other. Neji is doing great in middle school – "I'll bet you're the top student, right, nerd?" – while Sakura's grade had begun slipping recently – "At least I can keep up my concentration for more than two minutes at a time" – and both had tiptoed around the topic of anything emotional or deep. The last time they had seen each other, they almost had a 'thing', but now neither wanted to ruin the moment by bringing it up.
"So then, Akamaru jumped on Kakashi-sensei's head and –"
"Wait, what time is it?" asked Sakura suddenly, spotting school uniforms out of the cafe window. Neji raised an eyebrow at her interruption and looked at his phone.
"Half four, why?" he replied curiously. The pinkette bit her up and stood.
"I have to get home," she told him, "I didn't want to run into anyone today," the girl added, glancing at her Charas to make sure they were with her. Neji stood too and grabbed her hand before she could flee.
"You already ran into me," he stated slowly. "What's the harm in seeing everyone else?"
"That would make this too real," Sakura admitted, looking down. "I missed everyone so much, but I'm just not ready to throw myself back into Gakure again. I need to take...baby steps," she said. Neji nodded and cleared his throat.
"I totally understand, but..." he trailed off, his eyes going towards the door meaningfully. Slightly confused, Sakura followed his eye-line and gasped.
"Is that you, Sakura?"
{-}
Back at the house, Tsunade was unpacking the living room when an envelope fell through the door. Curious – since she now had mail not even a day after moving into her new home – the blonde walked over and picked up the post, frowning when she saw that it was forwarded from the old apartment and addressed to Sakura. Something about the handwriting made her open the envelope and what she saw inside did not please her at all.
Making a final decision, Tsunade placed the letter back into the envelope and stored it in a locked drawer in her room.