Sakura was lost in thought, mindlessly walking around the village, eyes blank as she did so. Her foot steps were light, airy almost. It was one this had actually learned from Kakashi-Sensei. Her hands clenched into fists unconsciously, the thought of her old sensei sending a shock of pain down her back. Taking a deep breath, she continued on with her walk, dodging civilians without even looking at them.
Is that all I really? Just some little girl who's going to give up because the people most special to her don't believe in her? Ibiki-sama is giving me a choice to change that... But can I be strong enough to do it? Will I crumble under the pressure, just as my team mates said I would? Can there be hope...? She sighed loudly, broken from her revere when she bumped into someone.
Glancing up, Sakura wished she hadn't. There stood Kakashi-sensei in all his glory, silver hair flopping all over the place in the wind. His eye was crinkled in a fake smile, the other half of his face covered by his mask. The orange book that was normally in his hands was oddly absent. But that didn't mean anything to Sakura.
There had been times before, when this had happened and Kakashi-sensei had scolded her for not moving out of his way, or being observant enough to notice him. She gave an almost inaudible sigh, waiting for the oncoming attack to her meager skills. "Hello, Kakashi-sensei."
"Good morning Sakura. What has you out and about this morning?" His voice was pleasant, but Sakura, having been on the receiving end of many his reprimands, could detect the hint of disappointment, and scorn.
"Shopping. I need to pick up some groceries and shuriken..." She trailed off, sliding her gaze to the right to avoid his look. Sakura knew that there would be a look of something in his eyes, that HURT her. She could never detect what it was, but it was almost like... disbelieving. As if she wasn't serious about her words, or her training. And maybe that had been true at first. But watching the others grow had shown her what a huge failure she was. And she had let herself continue on like that.
"I see." His eye crinkled again in a smile, but this time a much more obviously faked one. They stood there for a moment, awkwardly standing in front of each other with nothing else to say. Sakura sighed inside her mind, knowing that in about two seconds he was going to start harping on her for not noticing him sooner. "You know, Sakura..."
And it had begun.
"You need to pay more attention. What if it was me that you ran into? Or perhaps another Jonin? They won't take kindly to that, Sakura. It would be best if you paid more attention. Just a thought, though. I'll see you later at training? Or do you have more shopping to do?" The last part was said with a hint of scorn, as if shopping was more important than training. And Sakura was going to call him out on it, tell him that, no it wasn't.
But she stopped, eyes widening in horror as she thought about what she was about to say. Before, Sakura had shown that she thought shopping was more important that training on multiple occasions, dismissing Naruto's invitations to spar with a wave of her hand and a casual 'No, I've got some shopping to do!". She glanced down, shame burning her cheeks a scarlet red.
Kakashi looked on in interest, watching the girl before him look down in what he could only call shame. It surprised Kakashi to no end, expecting a vibrant, 'Yeah, I've got some more shopping to do! I'll try to stop by after I'm done!" And instead, he had gotten a reticent Sakura, almost like she was remorseful, but trying to hide it.
Growing further uncomfortable by the second, he was about to speak up and leave when Sakura looked up, staring at him with hard, determined jade eyes. "I'll be a training Sensei. Until then, bye."
Sakura side stepped him, moving quickly on suddenly graceful feet, wanting to get away from the tense situation as quickly as possible. She mumbled to herself, clutching her bags close to her chest. "Oh man... That was horrible.. I wonder how trainings going to be.."
She sighed loudly, pushing those thoughts to the back of her head as she continued to walk rather quickly toward the stores she needed. She was determined to finish her shopping before training, not wanting to be a second late, and to prove her sensei right. Stepping up to a shop, she put on an almost grim smile before starting to bargain, pointing toward one of the cases filled with six shuriken.
~Time skip~
It was later in day, the sun sinking lowly into the sky, lighting up the clouds an almost iridescent dusky rose color. Sakura looked around, admiring the beauty that was the lighted up trees. They whispered gently in the gliding wind, the rose and green mixing to create a soft, mellow orange color.
Sakura walked into the training field, stance relaxed and calm as she did so. But as soon as her eyes landed on the sweaty, tired out bodies of her team, she knew. She knew. They had started training without her. Had probably set the time before she would come, just so they didn't have to deal with her.
She cringed inwardly, eyes blinking owlishly at them for only a moment, before she hardened her gaze, blinking once to whip away the tears that formed inside her eyelids. Grimly smiling, she walked toward her 'team mates' with a cheerful expression that didn't reach her eyes. "Hey guys!"
At the sound of her voice, the two boys looked up in surprise, eyes widening comically at the sight of their pink haired team mate. Naruto scrambled to his feet, sputtering out excuse after excuse. "H-hey Sakura-chan! It's uh, it's not, uh, what it seems like?" His words sent a jolt through her, that Naruto, the idiot, of the team knew that they had done something wrong. And the fact that he was trying to defend the situation... only made it worse for her. It meant that he was in on IT. And that about killed her.
She grimaced for a moment, before forcing that fake cheerful smile on her lips. "It's alright Naruto. Seems like I was late for training again, huh?" She spoke softly, lips curled in a smile that infuriated her, but she knew better than to change it. Because if she did, it wouldn't just be a frown, there would be tears. And she had shed enough of them in front of her 'team mates'.
He scratched the back of his head, clear blue eyes looking at her with worry and guilt. Sakura only grinned harder, trying to keep her real emotions locked behind a solid wall of I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care..
Sasuke, who hadn't moved a muscle since her arrival, finally shifted to his feet, too dignified to scrap off the dirt that clung to his outfit. Walking toward them, he gave a rather hard glare at his pink haired team mate, knowing that if she stayed much longer, Kakashi would end the session, and they wouldn't be able to spar anymore.
"Oh, hey Sasuke. Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura spoke calmly, her gaze directed away from them in a poor attempt to 'find' Kakashi, even though she could sense him directly above her. Her smile was still plastered to her face, growing weaker and weaker by the second.
With a poof,and a light drift of smoke, Kakashi appeared next to Naruto and Sasuke, his orange book held loosely in his right hand. "Sakura, glad you could make it. Though it seems like you got the time wrong.." He spoke in a fake-ly sad tone, staring at his only female student with a dull gaze.
"Yeah, guess I did..." She trailed off, smoothly directing her gaze away from the three of them, unable to look them in the eye. Hardening her resolve, she turned to face them with a slightly grim smile, eyes nowhere near reaching any sort of happiness. "Well, since you guys are tired, guess that's the end of training huh? I'll head on home. See you guys later!"
Sakura twirled quickly on her feet, not even waiting for them to reply before she was gone, tears welling in her eyes as she leaped from roof top, to roof top. Her hands were clenched tightly in fists, eyes stinging with the force of tears.
The thought crossed her mind to head home, to cry and be that weak, little girl she was. But yesterday's conversation threw her off, forcing resolve into her veins, as with a snort of indignation, she turned toward the Hokage tower.
"How would you like to be my apprentice, Haruno Sakura?" Ibiki's words rang through her head, filling her with the strength to go on, to continue with what she knew to be the right answer.
Arriving at the tower, Sakura nodded briskly to the guards posted outside the door, slipping past the door with the ease of familiarity between her and the guards. Sakura was a constant visitor at the Hokage tower, and the guards no longer bothered to stop the Godaime's apprentice.
Slinking up the stairs like a punished pet, Sakura reached the Hokage's room, placing a quick three second knock on the metal door. It took a moment, before her question was answered, but that always happened. "Come in Sakura!"
Tsunadae's voice was slightly slurred, but her apprentice knew her well enough to know that that meant nothing. The Hokage was still as sharp drunk as she is sober. Slipping into the room, Sakura was only able to catch a small glimpse of an ANBU uniform melting out the window, and into the dark.
"Is there something you need, Sakura?" Tsunadae's voice was filled with curiosity, having dealt with her apprentice long enough to know that it was odd for her to be here so late, without a shift at the hospital, or a mission to report on.
"Hai, Shishou. I want to be taken off of Team Seven." Sakura's words were precise, delivered calmly, and with conviction.
Tsunadae, who had been taking a drink of sake at that precise moment, spit her drink everywhere, eyes wide as they stared at her apprentice in shock.
"W-what?"
Wooow. Been a long time. And I'm super duper sorry for that. I really am. I have excuses, but excuses are excuses. Thank you, for those of you who will read this. And those of you who don't, I understand. It's been a long, long time coming. It is short. I was hoping to make it much longer, but I kinda wanted to end on a cliff hanger. And I know my writing style from before was much, much different. Please tell me if you liked the old better, or the new better. This isn't the only story I'm planning on updating. I'm hoping to spit out a few chapters for Little By Little by tonight. Or at least get them written up. Does this seem Mary Sue to any of you? If so, please tell me. One of my goals is to create a non-Mary Sue Sakura.
Details. I know. I suck at them. But I'm trying. The next chapter will have much more. Things like what the training field looked like, discriptions of people's clothing, etc. I'm not very good at them, but I know they're needed to create a good story. Also, I'm willing to take little prompt things to keep my attention going with this story. So, if anyone wants to see something happen in here... Please, do share. It'll give me inspiration, and the motivation needed to continue the story.
Thanks guys. I know I don't deserve your support, but anything you say, I'm very appreciative of.
Adios. -Darksinfulwolf.
