O Koishii O
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Love is anterior to life,
Posterior to death,
Initial of creation, and
The exponent of breath.
- Emily Dickinson
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O Chapter Four O
"Not good enough," he let out lightly against her skin, the warm breathe hit the nape of her neck and rolled down her back.
She glowered and elbowed him in the middle of his chest, causing him to let out a hollow gasp as he reflexively moved backwards, freeing one of her legs. With a surge of energy she kneed his stomach and pushed him off, relishing the feeling of finally being freed.
"Haruno, Hyuga, are you done?" came Sasuke's voice from across the field.
"Hai, Taichou," she replied bitingly from her prostate position on the ground.
She could practically feel his scowl even from that distance, but she was honestly too exhausted to care.
Beside her the partially defeated Neji let out a loud sigh and picked himself up from the ground. His hair was tousled from their grappling, and his usually perfect clothes were stained with dirt and grass.
He held a bandaged hand out to her, which Sakura gladly took.
"Not bad, Hyuga it must have been hard not poking me," she teased, alluding the clan's traditional style of damaging chakra points.
He did his own equivalent of rolling his eyes, "It must have been hard not completely destroying the training field for once."
Sakura blushed slightly, looking up to make eye contact with a frowning Sasuke.
True to their word, Team 7 had met up at their new designated training grounds to show off their skills to their Taichou, but within only thirty minutes of Sakura sparing with Naruto, the two had completely destroyed the training ground.
Sakura, quite literally, ripped out chunks of the earth and flung them at the million replicas of Naruto that were dotted around the field. Sasuke was equally impressed as he was horrified, and had to jump in to stop the two before they completely altered the geography of Konoha.
Thus they were forced to train on Team 4's training ground, while being supervised by Neji, and Sakura was banned from using her chakra enhanced strength.
She scoffed and pushed back her sweaty pink bangs from her forehead, briefly making her seal visible before it was soon partially obscured by the curtain of hair. Sakura squinted around the training field looking for her teammates.
She found the blonde dozing by the tree, his head bent in a position that would leave him with a strained muscle when he woke up. He looked roughed up after training with Sasuke, the two were equally matched but from the looks of it the Uchiha got the upper-hand this time.
Sai, on the other hand, was sitting slightly isolated from the rest, working on something quite mysteriously. Sakura's curiosity spiked, remembering what Tsunade had said about watching him for suspicious behavior, she made her way to the pale boy and sat down with a huff.
Green eyes looked curiously at what he was doing; her jaw dropped when she finally realized what it was.
"Sai! Kami! This is amazing," she said leaning over the boys arm to look at his work.
He was quickly sketching out the match between Sasuke and Naruto, their bodies were fluid and looked as though they would come right off the page.
"Thank you, Ugly," he replied with his unnerving smile that caused Sakura some unease.
She looked at him and refrained from punching his head off, "You know, Sai, you shouldn't call people names like that," she said, through partially clenched teeth.
He turned towards her with blank, black eyes, almost as if asking for an explanation. Sakura's brow furrowed slightly as she examined him.
She had noticed that during their brief encounters, Sai seemed to lack any social inhibitions; he had no idea how to interact with other people and never had any opinions of his own. Her expression darkened slightly as her gaze shifted away from him and looked up to see Sasuke watching them.
The captain himself had been curious about what his teammate was doing so secretively. Glancing at the Hyuga beside him, it appeared as if he wasn't the only one concerned with the addition of this new, random member of anbu.
Sakura obviously knew something about the matter; the Hokage had most likely placed her on his team to watch this strange character, since it was unusual to have a four man team like theirs.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, relishing the feeling of a slight breeze that cooled his sweaty skin. He would have to clean his katana once he got home, and probably take a long shower. Speaking of home, he thought, looking at his team.
"Hyuga," he turned towards the brown haired man beside him, "Thank you for letting us use your training grounds, I believe we are done for today," he said with a nod.
Neji, with his every-sharp mind, must have realized that Sasuke wanted to speak with his team alone because with a nod, he poofed away.
With the Hyuga gone, Sasuke made his way to swiftly kick Naruto, causing the boy to call out, "Hey!"
Sleepy blue eyes cleared to look at his childhood friend and now captain with agitation, before groggily standing up and doing a mock salute. Naruto's outcry caught the attention of the other duo, because both Sakura and Sai made their way over to Sasuke.
The dark haired Uchiha glanced around at his team and refrained from letting out an annoyed groan.
"My mother has invited you over to dinner, at seven" he said, looking at their blank expressions.
Sakura was the first to speak, much to his irritation, "Oh!" she smiled, clapping her hands together, "When? Tonight?"
He nodded solemnly already dreading the dinner.
"Dattebayo" Naruto exclaimed, pumping an excited fist in the air, "I love your mother's cooking Sasuke, it's the best!"
"Thank you for the offer," Sai suddenly spoke up, causing all of them to fall silent and look at him curiously, "But, I won't be able to attend tonight."
Sasuke shrugged as a reply, but a part of his mind nagged him to ask why. What could the boy possibly have planned, after all he had no friends or family, and probably no social life at all. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he let it go to move on to the next topic.
"We also have a mission next week," he said, tugging his pouch to pull out the mission summary. He passed it around to his teammates, watching as each of them quickly memorized the details and absorbed the information.
"Border patrol?" Sakura questioned, "I thought they had more than enough people stationed there, especially with the current peace between the nations..." she droned off.
The Uchiha looked at her and nodded, it was a slightly strange mission in his opinion as well, "There's a small problem with bandits."
"I guess this mission is more to test our teamwork," she said tilting her head towards the scroll as Naruto read it.
"Aw man!" the blonde pouted, snapping the summary shut, "This looks so boring!"
Sasuke nodded, "It's just a warm up, but we should still be careful," he cleared his throat and accepted the scroll back, which he quickly tucked into his pouch.
"You're all dismissed," he said with a wave.
His teammates quickly transported away, all except for one.
"Haruno?" Sasuke questioned, with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.
From the way she had her hands clasped behind her back, he knew that she wanted to say something. It was probably about the incident that happened yesterday, after all they hadn't had a chance to talk about it.
She inhaled deeply and met his eyes, "Taichou, since we're going to be on the same team, I think it would be best if we started over," Sakura explained with a nonchalant shrug.
"Start over?" Sasuke asked curiously.
"As in forget the rough start we had," she paused, eyes narrowing a bit, "However, in order to do so, I still want that physical for the hospital. It will only take a couple of minutes, it doesn't even have to be me. I can have some other nurse do it."
He pinched the bridge of his nose half in frustration and contemplation. It was probably a good idea that they made-up, after all if he ever wanted his team to be assigned harder missions, they would need to get along.
She was being irritating about the physical, though, he inwardly sighed. But if it got her to shut up he would concede.
Sasuke replied with a sharp nod, "But I want you to do it."
He had had some bad experiences with a couple of nurses at the hospital. Since Sakura didn't seem outwardly attracted to him, he supposed she wouldn't pull a fast one on him. Plus, she seemed professional enough, he was certain the Hokage wouldn't have chosen a perverted apprentice.
Then again there was Naruto and Jiraya...
"Thank you!" Sakura exclaimed with a bow, a bright grin filling her face, "I guess I'll see you tonight then Sasuke!" she quickly fixed her slip, "I mean Taichou!"
With a swirl of cherry blossoms she was gone, leaving Sasuke to deal with the petals that slowly floated down into his hair. He rolled his eyes, how annoying.
Sakura pushed the green store door open, relishing the feel of the crisp air present inside the Yamanaka store. She had never been to the famous flower store in Konoha, but had decided to go today just because it would be rude to show up empty handed at the Uchiha's house.
The store was simple in terms of decorations, but the variety of flowers and the aromas quickly made up for it. Her sensitive nose, which was used to picking up poisons, felt dizzy as it tried to absorb the myriad of smells, but she quickly adjusted.
Sakura skimmed the variety of choices, her hands gently touching a bunch of tulips which were probably imported from Iwagakure, since tulip season was over in Konoha.
She gasped suddenly, "No way!"
Crouching down she came to eye-level with a small, glass box that contained rare herbs that could only be harvested during a special type of season. She had seen it once during her travels, and had been quite mesmerized by its beauty. It contained three leaves, with a heart shaped flower hanging from a dainty stem.
"It's a love herb," a voice said from her right, "Dry it, grind it, and mix it into your crush's drink, it will guarantee a hook up."
Sakura hummed in disagreement, "A hoax, it causes a type of intoxication that only lasts temporarily. So, maybe a peck or two, nothing more."
At finishing her sentence, the pink haired girl looked up to meet who seemed to be the store owner. She had long platinum hair that covered one eye, and was wearing a purple outfit that revealed her toned mid-riff.
"I'm impressed," she nodded with a smirk, eyeing Sakura who was now standing, "I thought you were another love-sick teen, but from your outfit I can tell you're a shinobi."
The pinkette let out a laugh, "My name is Haruno Sakura."
"Oh! So you're Sakura!" she replied, eyes widening, "My name is Ino, Shika told me about you," the blonde said with a smile, "Welcome to Konoha, I guess now I'm not surprised that you knew about the herb."
Sakura grinned, "It's the fools-gold of plants, but I'm curious as to how you have it. As far as I know, these herbs only grow in cold climates."
"The box fakes a micro-environment, it's new technology from Orochimaru's lab, you probably know who he is though, right?" Ino inquired.
"Hai," Sakura replied.
Orochimaru was one of shishou's old friends. He was currently running a few laboratories around the shinobi nations, along with his side-kick Kabuto. She had briefly worked with Kabuto on engineering a drug for an epidemic that broke out in a small village near Oto, so she knew a bit of the sanin's research.
"Anyway, you obviously came here to buy something. How can I help you?" Ino asked, brushing her ponytail to the side.
"Oh, I just needed flowers. I'm having dinner at my Taichou's place tonight," Sakura said, looking around the store.
"Sasuke right? Hm, what do the Uchiha's like..." Ino thought, tapping the bottom of her lip.
The pink haired girl looked up suddenly, a bit surprised that the blonde knew about her team. Ino seemed to catch onto Sakura's curious gaze because she let out a laugh.
"Oh, I know everything that happens in Konoha," she said with a wave of a hand, asking Sakura to follow her, "I get whispers of this and that. You're quite lucky to have Sasuke on your team, he's so hot. Here we go!" she exclaimed, handing Sakura a bunch of daffodils.
"Unrequited love!?" Sakura questioned with scrunched eyebrows at the flower'ss meaning.
Ino sighed, "Silly, it can also mean new beginnings."
Sakura shrugged and allowed Ino to pull her to the front desk. She watched as the blonde quickly wrapped up the flowers with deft fingers, creating an elegant wrapping out of them.
Sakura was about to reach into her pocket to pay, when Ino's voice stopped her.
"It's on me!" she smiled, gently placing the flowers in Sakura's hands, "Take me out for a drink sometime, how about that?"
Her reply died in her throat, and Sakura just nodded instead, "Alright."
After saying goodbye to Ino, she made her way to the Uchiha compound. The first time she had gone to yell at Sasuke for his physical, it had been a rainy and dreary day, but despite that Sakura could still see the magnificence of the compound.
Unlike other clans, the Uchiha compound was like a mini-village within Konoha. They were a very numerous and well preserved clan, almost like the Hyuga's but to an even greater extent.
However, even within the Uchiha clan there were clan members who had not activated the sharingan and were more or less civilian. The main shinobi branches within the Uchiha clan were the real, powerful shinobi the clan was well known for. They were Sasuke, Itachi, Shisui and a few others who were praised for not only for their superior control of their eyes, but their talents as ninja as well.
Sakura adjusted the flowers in her hand and entered the Uchiha compound. There was a small buzz of activity as people went about, returning home from work, going out with friends; a few who she knew as patients greeted her with nods and waves, before going about with their business.
Sakura smiled in return, making her way to Sasuke's house. She flared her chakra and was about to knock on the door, when a light hand tapped her from behind.
"Karuhi!" Sakura let out with a jump and a gasp, her bandaged hand placed on her racing heart.
Maybe she was more nervous about this dinner than she had originally thought.
"Gosh, your acting like I was a fucking murderer, I didn't even suppress my chakra," Karuhi said with a raised eyebrow.
Sakura shook her head, "I know, I know, I guess I wasn't paying attention," she replied with a shrug, "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
Karuhi let out a loud sigh, "I have to meet Miki's parents today."
The pink haired girl nodded. Uchiha Miki had been Karuhi's girlfriend for a while now; the two had been quite the players before they had met each other. Miki's parents probably wanted to know who had caught their daughter's attention for so long.
"They're quite liberal though, for Uchihas," Karuhi said shrugging, "Complete opposite of..." she didn't finish and instead nodded at the house.
Sakura bit her lip and couldn't help but agree, Fugaku was definitely the most conservative Uchiha in the clan.
"So, what are you doing outside the Uchiha head family's house?" Karuhi inquired, a smirk coming onto her lips, "Yelling at Sasuke again?"
Sakura grinned, "Nah, team dinner."
Her friend rolled her eyes, "Right, well have fun, it seems like your Taichou is here."
Sakura immediately searched for his chakra which, sure enough, was quickly approaching the door. Karuhi shot her knowing look at her ignorance, before giving the girl a tight squeeze.
"Good luck," she whispered into Sakura's ear, just as the door swung open.
Sorry! I haven't updated for a while, I was actually finishing up my ED application. Personally, I don't think I will get in because I found out yesterday that this sport's person had also applied ed, and since the school prefers sports people over the artsy type I don't have much of a chance.
Anyway, this chapter was supposed to be huge, but last minute I split it into two so I should have an update for you guys next week during Thanksgiving but no promises.
No real plot yet, I'm just setting up my universe. But I think, next, next chapter during the mission the real story will start.
Quick notes- you guys can decide what each character looks like. I won't go into detail about their clothes and appearances, because I feel like when you guys imagine this fic in your head it should be how you see Sakura, Sasuke, Itachi and others.
I see Sakura (just in case u wanna know) as the one from the end of the Naruto manga (the scene where Sasuke catches her and stuff) and her clothing style is a bit more darker and mature. Maybe crop top, fishnet, pants, arm bandages, Idk it depends. Once again, this is my interpretation and I want to keep that open to you guys.
Anyway, as always THANK YOU! I really love your support. If you have any questions let me know!
QUICK QUESTION
Who should Sakura's flirt buddy be? I'm leaning towards Neji, or do you guys want more of a subtle multisaku and strong sasusaku. Not much narusaku though, just the classic naruto's "sakura-chan" but nothing beyond that because I do plan on introducing naruhina eventually.