Chapter Eight
"Sakura, is that you?"
This was the last person Sakura expected to see today.
This was the last person Sakura wanted to see today.
She had met him after a few months of living in Gakure, after she'd become friends with Ino, Hinata, Naruto and Sasuke, but before Gaara, his siblings and the older gang. To say they didn't get along would have been a gross understatement. He and Sakura had hated each other, and it had ultimately built up to a fight. Not a childish playground brawl, but a real fight.
By the end of it, he'd beaten her up quite badly, but she'd landed in a few good hits, too – she attributed this to an old spark of what would one day become Mari. He'd eventually caught her by the hair and, just before she'd used a pair of sharp scissors to cut off her locks in an attempt to escape, Sasuke dove in – as if out of nowhere – and left him with two broken arms and a severely damaged pride.
He had grown, not that he wasn't always taller than her. His black, spiky hair still stood up on end, leaning slightly to the left, as a result of far too much gel and free time; though it seemed to have gotten longer around his face since the last time she had seen him. His eyes were still as dark and sharp as ever, and he still had an obsession with wearing shirts that bore the kanji 'shi' – meaning 'death', which had always managed to freak her out a little.
"Hello, Zaku," Sakura greeted coldly. Neji's eyes narrowed – he had heard of the fight; everyone had. "I haven't seen you in a while."
"Yeah, it's been ages," he replied, almost nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. Sakura's eyes flickered to his arm and her eyes narrowed.
"I see your arms healed," she bit. He jolted, freezing with one arm lowering and the other by his side, before he nodded.
"Oh, yeah," he agreed, rubbing his arm. "It took a while. I guess you're all healed up, too. I heard you broke a rib."
"I heard you broke it," Neji cut in with a sneer. Biting his lip, Zaku lowered his head as though he were ashamed. Something on his shoulder caught Sakura's attention, but she ignored it with a sharp shake of her head. Setsuko, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes and floated forwards, over his shoulder.
"Come back!" yelled Katsumi when she noticed her sister disappearing behind the boy who made her owner so angry. Curious by nature, Mari was soon to join her blue sister and Mitsu, not wanting to be left with a raving Katsumi, quickly followed her.
"Hello, there," the youngest heard the second oldest say as she floated over Zaku's shoulder. Mitsu's eyes widened and she turned, looking closely at the boy and noticing, for the first time, that his lowered head was actually hiding his gaze – he was looking right at her.
"I see you have four, huh?" Zaku spoke after a moment. Neji's eyes filled with confusion, but Sakura's widened.
"And you?" she attempted. Showing the first cheerful expression she had ever seen on his face, Zaku smiled.
"Pretty boy doesn't," he added, ignoring her question. "Maybe this should be for a different place?"
"Sure," Sakura nodded, standing. "I'll see you later, Neji."
"Are you sure this is such a good idea, Sakura?" asked the brunette, still eyeing Zaku.
"I'll call you later," she told him, dismissing his concern. If Zaku tired anything, she had four Chara Nari she could fall back on. "Bye," she bid the long-haired boy, following the older one out of the dango shop. "So?" she tried again when they were on the street, walking side-by-side.
"Just one," he told her. "His name's Kimimaro," he added and, as though this was a new way of calling someone over, an unfamiliar Chara appeared on Zaku's shoulder. Seeing that their new friend had gone, the girls appeared around Sakura, too.
Kimimaro had pale skin, vivid green eyes lined in red, two dots on his forehead over his eyebrows, and shoulder-length white hair, which he divided down the middle of his head in a 'zigzag' hair parting with two red, tube-like hair ornaments; one on either side of his head, securing two locks of his silvery-white hair. He wore a light lavender, loose-fitting, long-sleeved, zip-up shirt, black pants cut off around mid-calf, bandages wrapped around his ankles, traditional shinobi sandals, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist.
"What's he...?" she trailed off, unsure how to word the question but knowing that Zaku would understand.
"I wanted to be calmer; control my anger," he explained. "Kimimaro was born when I was in hospital after our fight, when I heard about how badly I'd hurt you. It was Sasuke who broke my arms – you didn't actually do too much damage, but I still hurt you so badly, just because I was angry."
"What were you angry at?" she asked, ignoring the sting of her wounded pride when he'd said she didn't really hurt him at all.
"I couldn't even remember!" he laughed, but there was no humour in it. "I think that was why I felt so guilty, y'know? It was something so stupid that I couldn't even remember it afterwards, and yet I started a fight with you because of it, just because you were the only person around that I didn't get on with. Then I was an idiot to taunt Sasuke, telling him that I'd beaten you up and there was 'nothing he could do about it'. It was so stupid!"
"At least you got Kimimaro out of it," Sakura smiled, her eyes not leaving the strange, beautiful Chara. Zaku nodded absent-mindedly, his eyes darting between the four Charas floating around the pinkette. She noticed his shifting gaze and sighed. "Yeah, four – it's not all that common, huh?"
"I know someone with two, but never more than that," he muttered. "What're their names?"
"Girls?" allowed Sakura, looking between them.
"I'm Katsumi; the oldest and bringer of love and charisma," the red Chara winked.
"My name is Setsuko," the feminine Chara continued, "and I represent Saku-chan's want for femininity and maturity."
"Yo!" the green Chara grinned, "I'm Mari, and I'm the part of Saku-chan that likes to be strong and protect others!"
There was a long silence and everyone turned to Mitsu, whose eyes were locked on to Kimimaro. He was staring straight back with a blank look and the golden Chara raised an eyebrow. Their staring contest persisted, neither backing down and both looking almost regal as they almost glared in a most elegant way at each other. It was Katsumi that broke up the look with an almost typical assumption of hers.
"Ooo, does little Mitsu have a crush on Kimi-kun?" she cooed, pinching her youngest sister's cheek.
"Hardly," Mitsu denied, turning a little pink as she frowned at her sister. "He's just harder to enslave than most."
"Enslave?" echoed Zaku, looking a little confused. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Don't ask," she warned. "Mitsu, are you going to introduce yourself or what?"
"Fine; my name's Mitsu and I represent Saku-chan longing to be loving and warm to everyone around her," she said in a huff.
"Oh, yeah," Zaku said sarcastically, "you can feel the love and warmth you radiate."
"Please," Mitsu snorted, turning her nose up at both Zaku and Kimimaro.
"Was it something I said?" asked the white-haired Chara, speaking for the first time. At the sound of his voice, the older three female Charas grew hearts in their eyes as they whirled around and swooned over him. Sakura raised an eyebrow, amusement playing at her lips, and Zaku sighed.
"He's also a bit of an accidental charmer," he excused, seeing the girls fanning themselves as though they were hot. Mitsu observed her sisters and growled.
"How dare he even think to enslave my sisters," she grumbled, folding her arms as she decided that this Kimimaro would be her new rival. Kimimaro, for his part, was completely unaware of his effect on any of the girls.
"This could be interesting," hummed Sakura, her eyes moving to Zaku when he sighed, rubbing his head. "What's wrong?"
"This very situation," he stated bluntly. "I always imagined how it would go if I ever saw you again. I pictured myself begging forgiveness or ignoring you completely, but I never saw us having a normal conversation and imagining that the past never happened."
"I'm not imagining anything," Sakura scowled, "but physical wounds heal, and you didn't really leave any psychological damage. I never really thought about what happened until I saw you again. Besides, getting a Shugo Chara out of your want to be less violent is the most honest way of proving you want to change."
"So what does that say about you?" he laughed, nodding his head at Mari, who was still fawning over Kimimaro while Mitsu was trying her best to drag her sisters away from him.
"Many things," she grumbled. Her phone beeped and she frowned. "Hang on a second," she said, looking at her new text.
Got a late shift at the hospital, won't be home until midnight. Make some dinner for yourself and bed by 10 – Tsunade
"Who's it from?" asked Zaku curiously.
"Doesn't matter," Sakura replied, putting her phone away. "Anyway; I never forgave you, but I guess I just forgot. I can't even remember how I felt about you back then, just that I didn't like you very much."
"Can we change that?" he asked hopefully. "I know we'll never be 'the best of friends', or whatever, but can we at least try to be civil?"
"What do you think we're doing now?" Sakura smiled up at him. "Look, I have to go, but..." she trailed off, pulling out her phone, "What's your number?"
After exchanging numbers and promising to meet up again sometime soon, Sakura left the second-year middle school student in order to go home, quickly before anyone else found her. Neji and Zaku made two too many people who now knew she was back, and they would probably tell their friends – or, at least, Neji would. So, it came as no surprise to her later, when she received a call from a certain brown-hair high-school student.
"Hello?" she answered the phone cautiously. Sakura was sat on her bed, her Charas snoozing in their eggs.
"Sakura?" replied Hana,"Oh, wow; I thought Kiba was kidding around when he said you were back. Then again...I guess knows better than to lie to me by now, huh?"
"I'm sorry for not talking to you sooner, Hana-nee," she apologised, sounding very ashamed. Out of everyone she had ever known Hana was the closest to being everything she had dreamed an older sister would be – she listened to her problems, gave advice, shared her deepest thoughts, encouraged her, beat up bullies for her, and even giggled over boys. She even had the negative traits of being a big sister, like stealing her dessert, and arguing over pointless things as though they mattered. The only flaw was; Hana wasn't her older sister; she was Kiba's.
"No problem, kid," the Inuzuka assured.
"How did you get my number?" she asked, not unkindly but purely out of curiosity. Hana seemed to understand this, and she laughed.
"Well, your friend Neji was giving it out like it was the answer to the question of life, and I got it from Kiba a little while ago," she told her truthfully. Sakura scowled, mentally preparing herself for not only the onslaught of calls and texts she was bound to receive, but also the up-coming slaughter of one Hyuuga Neji.
'No, officer, I have no idea how strands of my hair got on the crime scene,' she rehearsed mentally. 'Yes, I knew him, but we weren't overly close. He seems like the type to give out personal information on a whim, and I'm not overly fond of people like that.'
"Yo, you still there?" she heard Hana ask and realised that she had zoned out for a bit.
"Oh, yeah, I'm here," the pinkette said quickly.
"Well, listen," she began, "My mom wants to know if you want to come over for dinner tonight? It's been ages since we've seen you, and the only reason I'm asking instead of Kiba is because I got to the phone first."
"Well..." she trailed off, frowning when she recalled her text from Tsunade about her late shift. "Sure, that sounds good. What time do you want me over?"
"No time like the present!" Hana laughed, "Just come over when you want. Mom's gonna start cooking in about an hour, but it'd be fine if you wanted to come over early and hang out with me and Kiba."
"I'd love to, but I still have unpacking to do," Sakura excused, looking around her room at the boxes. "Is it okay if I come over in about forty five minutes?"
"No problem, kid. See you soon!" Hana bid, hanging up.
"Bye," Sakura muttered, putting her phone down. She sighed heavily.
Deciding to do as she had said she would, Sakura moved to the boxes in her room and began unpacking. She started with her clothes, managing to fit them all into her wardrobe and chest of drawers with only a little re-arranging – realising at this point that she had more clothes than she thoughts. After the clothing, she moved on to unpack the box of random trinkets and photographs that she cherished.
The first photo frame she picked up was filled with pictures of her first New Year with the Guardians. It held five photos, all in a line, beginning with the one of her and Yaya and ending with the group-shot of all six guardians. The next frame she pulled out was of just her and Kukai, him in his middle school uniform and her in the girl's school uniform, both of them looking a little uncomfortable standing as close as his parents made them, but extremely happy.
Reaching into the box again, Sakura's hand hit something soft and she withdrew it, her eyes widening.
"You missed me enough to buy that thing?" he mused, "What a creepy little stalker you are."
She looked into the dark button eyes of the cat plushie and frowned, her thoughts not once straying from Ikuto. Bringing the plushie closer to her, she held it tightly, tears springing to her eyes. She missed him; more than she was willing to admit, even in her own mind. Stroking the head of the plushie, she imagined his hair, the same colour but softer and longer than the fake fur on the cat plushie.
"You miss him," Setsuko's soothing voice broke her trance. She blinked, looking up and away from the plushie sharply. The blue Chara looked sad as she stared at the cat doll. "I miss Yoru," she whispered, also petting the plushie slowly, thoughtfully. "Why can we not go back?" she asked innocently, a glistening of tears filling her eyes.
"I don't know," Sakura admitting, carrying the plushie to her bed and setting it down softly before getting ready to go to the Inuzuka's home for dinner.
{-}
Dressed in a simple, plain red t-shirt and blue jeans, Sakura knocked on the house of Tsume, Hana and Kiba Inuzuka. It felt strange to be back after so long and still know her way around as though she had never left. She wondered if Kiba had missed her, or if their conversation would be awkward now. While Kiba was never her best friend, and their friendship had always been completely platonic, he was always the one she had the easiest conversations with – mainly because neither of them cared if the other one thought what they said was weird.
She knocked quietly, at first, but her knocking went unanswered – probably due to how lightly she had done it. Swallowing her nerves and taking a deep breath, Sakura tried again, this time harder. Instantly, there was a lot of barking – five dogs, but the sounds of it, but Sakura already knew that. The pup she was looking forward to seeing most was, of course, little Akamaru, Kiba's puppy, though Hana's three dogs came in at a close second.
"I'll get it!" yelled a familiar voice and the door flung open, causing Sakura to come face-to-face with none other than Inuzuka Kiba. "Sakura!" he grinned, gathering her quickly in a hug.
"It's good to see you, Kiba," she breathed, hugging him back.
{-}
After a lovely dinner and a session of catching up with Kiba, Sakura came home, finding Tsunade holding three envelopes and making her way upstairs. This was odd, considering one of Tsunade's main rules of living was to open letters as soon as you got them – right there in the hall, always. So, to see her taking letters upstairs was an odd occurrence. Shrugging it off, Sakura took off her jacket and hung it on the pegs in the hall before making her way to her room to get ready for bed.