Hey...
Have you ever seen a computer without Microsoft Word?
I did.
It was horrible experience to download it all over again, my previous one erased because this stupid computer didn't have Microsoft Word and was unable to process the bloody thing.
Don't you think it's a decent excuse?
Far from it.
"Can you fight me when you are in good condition?"
Sakura Haruno whistled her way home.
She supposed that her new school was interesting enough. There's Itachi who's decent spar partner, not to mention Gai who interested her the most with his martial arts, which was fluid and graceful but powerful at the same time. She knew that Sasuke, while not as good as his brother, was pretty good at fighting and was not a bad sparring partner.
You might be wondering if that was all Sakura was thinking about: sparring.
Well, yeah, DUH.
She walked up to an alley, suspicious and dark, where most people would stay away because it looked like favorite place for gangs, thugs, drug dealers, alcholic to hang out.
Sakura, however, not being a normal person and fight obsessed girl as she is, walked straight into the alley. She spotted at least ten people surrounding a guy, who just stood there and did nothing.
Bingo.
"Oi," a guy that's holding a bat, the leader she assumed, turned to look at her as did the rest of the people. She calmly walked up to them, smirking. She could feel adrenaline pumping and excitement flowing through her vein.
"It's not fair for ten people to surround one person, you know."
"Oh?" The leader looked at Sakura, drooling at her body and pretty little delicate face that fooled everyone. He looked behind at his followers.
"It looks like a little girl is looking for some attention. Should we give her some?"
The followers howled and whistled, wolf-calls everywhere. Sakura, still smirking, stood between the leader and the victim. She looked at the man's ugly face, who returned her gaze, and punched him straight.
He fell to the ground, some of his teeth knocked out, his jaw already swollen from the blow.
He was unconcious before he hit the ground.
"You bitch!" His followers' screamed and all started attacking Sakura, the man they originally targeted forgotten. Said man was looking at the pink haired girl, interested.
"Such foul language in front of a girl," she tsked and held out a finger, shaking it in mocking gesture. She smirked again and using the same hand that she punched before, slammed her fist to the man charging at her.
Two down, eight to go.
Another grabbed her from behind, but was thrown to the ground before he even fully grasped her. She slammed her knee into ugly fat man who was charging at her with his hands raised, sneering. Another threw themself in front of her, attacking from her right and left side. Shaking her head in the sheer ridiculousness of their brain, she merely ducked at the last minute and let them bang their head against each other.
When she looked up, she found no one and realized that the rest had run off long time ago.
She cursed, kicking the fat dude again who was trying to get up, and let out a string of curse at her bad luck.
Why did they run like a fucking coward?
"That was some interesting show you performed there."
She turned around to see the man that she had, unintentionally, rescued. She narrowed her eyes at him. He had crimson hair, fairly tall, his jade eyes staring into her own emerald eyes. His posture, although fairly relaxed, was tense and she could see his arm muscles, rippling at simple gesture like taking his hand out of his pocket.
She could immediately tell that he didn't need her help, after all. Not that she cared.
"Are you available for a spar?" she said, not caring if this is just a random guy she just met.
The man blinked. It was clear that, whatever he expected, it wasn't a request for spar.
"No, I'm afraid my condition isn't the best right now."
"Damn." Sakura frowned, and turned to walk away. Then, suddenly remembering, she rushed towards the crimson haired man. Her emerald eyes looked at the man, hope painfully evident.
"Can you fight me when you are in good condition?"
The man blinked again. Sakura, however, not noticing his blink or not caring, just stared at him with that emerald eyes of hers.
"Uh...sure."
"Really? Sweet!" She squealed, her face lightening up like Christmas had come early.
"I go to nearby highschool...forgot the name though. But it's the only one in the area. I'm sure you know where it is...don't you?"
"Uh, yeah. I go to that school"
"Seriously? Hell fucking yes! Then whenever you get better, look for me, okay? Pink hair and green eyes. It's really hard to miss me. You'll find me, right?"
"S..sure.."
"Hell yes! So please, PLEASE look for me when you recover, okay? Or I'll look for you myself, and trust me, you don't want that. Okay?"
"O..Okay.."
"Yes!" She did a little victory dance, not ignoring that the stranger who she just requested a spar with was staring at her, wondering if this girl was a bit weird in the head.
"You have no fucking idea how happy I am! Thank you so fucking much! I'll look forward to meet you again, Mr. Crimson!" She ran off, waving her hand and grinning at him.
"At least tell me your name so I can find you easier!"
"Haruno Sakura!"
When she was completely out of sight, he stared at the spot in front of him, frozen.
"Haruno Sakura?"
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"I found Haruno Sakura."
Pein stared at Sasori who came in with heavy breathing. Pein looked at the door that had fallen down on the ground because of Sasori, and twitched. How many times did he need to repair his office's door? There was a word called 'knock' or 'gentle'.
Than he realized what Sasori had said and looked at him, disbelief written all over his face.
"How did you find her?"
"She asked me to spar with her."
Pein blinked. Haruno Sakura, their new target from Ino Yamanaka, had asked Sasori for a spar.
The same Sasori who was known for his unique fighting skills and was feared by many other people in the school, not city.
Pein blinked.
Was this girl stupid or what?
"And...I think...it won't be easy, this mission."
"Oh?" Pein strolled closer to Sasori who was gulping at sudden closeness. "What makes you say that?"
Oh, the danger.
Pein had this....look in his eyes right now.
Amused.
Most people think person's most dangerous when they are angry or mad. Not for Pein. He was the most dangerous as he can ever be when he's amused and interested. Not a good sign, if you ask me.
Sasori decided that pink haired girl named Sakura will get a spar she want...except for the fact she'll probably stay forever in the hospital as a consequence.
"Because...she defeated member of Orochimaru's dogs, ten of them who were a bit decent at fighting, in blink of an eye, without scratch?"
Pein hummed. He strolled back to his desk gracefully, leaving Sasori to sigh inwardly in relief. Pein's eyes were enough to give anyone a scare...
Maybe except for one fight obsessed pink haired girl.
She probably won't even notice his eyes before she throws a punch at him, Sasori mused.
"Hmm." Pein's scary eyes flashed, and Sasori decided that he didn't like that flash.
"What about...we test this girl's strength?" Pein smirked and looked at Sasori.
He decided that he was right, once again.
And hated himself for it.
"Are you nervous, Sakura-chan?"
"I'll make you take back that sentence."
"W-what can I do for you, Sasori-sempai?"
"Can I talk to Haruno Sakura please?"
"Oh...Okay."
The girl turned her back and went to get Sakura, muttering something under her breath about pink-haired bitch. Sasori sighed.
Why was he doing this again? He can just forget about the spar she was talking about. After all, it's not like she knew her name, so why the fuck bother with this?
Oh, right. To test out her strength.
Joy.
"Who-HEY!!!!"
Sasori turned around to see Sakura waving her arms in the air frantically, her eyes lit up like a kid in Christmas.
She didn't seem to notice all the glaring girls behind her, all looming of killing intent that he was sure was caused by him.
Something told him that she wasn't liked by her grade, and he really didn't do anything to help the situation better. Yeah, great deduction, Sherlock Holmes.
She stopped in front of him, her emerald eyes sparkling with excitement and mischevious grin adoring her almond shaped face.
All this because he came to see her.
To spar.
This girl is obsessed.
"The offer still stands, right?"
"Of course it does! It'll stand forever." His similiar green eyes met hers when she finished observing him for any sign of injury.
"You are okay now?" She looked at him suspiciously.
Why would this girl care about his health?
Sasori thought for a second, and decided that he didn't want to know if it went along the lines of not being able to spar with his full strength or something.
"Yeah. So, um, how about today? I'll pick you up after school. I know a place where no one will interrupt us."
She tilted her head to left, "Why? We can go right now."
"You still have class. We still have class."
"So?"
Sasori sighed. "You may not be fan of class, but it is my obligation as student to stay in class and receive education-"
"Blah, blah, blah. Okay. Got it. No need to give me a whole speech about it."
"So after school?"
"Yeah, sure... meet at gym?"
"Sure, why not."
Sakura was about to say something else just when the bell rang, signaling for the start of the class.
'Talk about timing,' thought Sasori.
"I better get back," said Sasori, smiling at Sakura unconsciously, who was now mumbling something about 'stupid bells' and 'destroy'. "I'll see you after school, okay?"
"Okay! See ya, Mr. Crimson!"
He walked back to his class, somehow in a good mood. Maybe Sakura's hyperness and eagerness about sparring rubbed on him.
Then, it occured to Sasori that he still didn't tell her his name and that she was still calling him Mr. Crimson.
Oh well.
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"Um...where the hell are we?"
Sakura looked around the place, observing it. She looked for anything that she deemed would be helpful in spar, which could turn into fighting very quickly, but the room was bare.
No window, no chair, no nothing.
It really didn't matter since Sakura was more of bare fist fighter in the first place, but it did made her a bit tenser than usual.
"It's a place where no one will interrupt us. Are you nervous, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura growled. She had no idea when she had given him permission to call her 'Sakura-chan', but she sure as hell didn't like it.
And, Sakura, nervous? Ha! That would be a day when she stopped enjoying fighting, and that would never happen!
"I'll make you take back that sentence." Sakura began cracking her knuckles and slipped into her favorite stance.
"I can't wait." Sasori grinned and took out his strings. Sakura raised an eyebrow, but said nothing about it.
"Than let's get this party started."
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"Goddamn it, where did she go?"
"Chill out, Sasuke. She probably went home."
Sasuke looked at his phone, glaring it as if it would help.
Sakura wasn't picking up his phone. Why the hell wasn't she picking it up?
"There's no way she went home."
"Why not?" asked Naruto, seemingly careless about his best friend's tense mood.
Sasuke was always like that, after all.
"Because..."
Because she wouldn't want to go home with no one to greet her or welcome her.
"...Shut up. I just know she won't go home this early."
Naruto shrugged.
"Well, she'll be fine. From what you told me, she's strong, right? I'm sure she can handle herself. Hell, I bet from what you told me, she's beating the shit out of someone right now so she could have some good fight."
Sasuke didn't say anything and just walked away, leaving his blond haired friend to follow.
"That's what I'm most scared of," Sasuke mumbled.
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Sakura Haruno was currently very excited.
So freaking hecking excited.
He wasn't that good in terms of close hand-to-hand combat. However, that string of his was to watch for. After all, it was because of that hard-too-see-almost-transparent-string that she had millions of small cuts through out her body.
He wasn't as strong as Itachi with his...what was it? Sharingan. That's the word.
Although it has been awhile since she last saw that eyes... she wondered if Itachi was willing to fight her with that eyes again.
"You are not concentrating, Sakura-chan."
Sakura barely dodged strings of wires that came her way. She absolutely had no idea how he was able to manipulate those deadly wires, and thus, she was even more excited.
Sasori was slightly panting, which didn't go unnoticed by Sakura.
She didn't just get hit, of course.
She was certain that Mr. Crimson, now dubbed by Sakura as The Puppet Master, had one fractured arm and the bow she delivered to his gut was quite painful too.
He also had various of bruises and broken lips, and Sakura was a bit annoyed that his so-called fangirls weren't here to see this. 'They would so destroy her', she thought, 'once they realize how much damage was put to their prince.'
She bit her lower lip, a plan quickly forming in her head. Contrary to popular belief, she calculate every move and formulate a plan before throwing a punch or a kick. Nothing was wasteful; every move, ever punch, every kick, every twitch counted in manipulating and slowly killing her opponent.
She calculated the damage she took and how much damage was inflicted in her opponent. In normal spar, this would've ended long time ago. However, it looked like Mr. Puppet Master had more in his mind when he accepted the request, Sakura thought.
She sighed and bit her lips."I guess..." Sakura took her gloves out which just appeared out of nowhere in Sasori's point of view, "I'm going to have to get serious."
Sasori narrowed his eyes. So she wasn't serious before?
Sakura smirked, reading his body language.
"I admit, I wasn't going full out. But don't worry; I'm going all out now."
She put on her leather gloves, finger flexing inside the familiar but worn out leather. She took a fighting stance that was different from before, now more focused on offence than defence.
"Now, we fight."