Sakura's POV

'Kairi! Come on! Hurry up, we're gonna be late! Kairi!!!' I sighed in exasperation, and ceased banging on the door. 'Honestly, even YOU can't sleep this much.'

'Hey, Sakura-chan, have you got Kairi yet?' Naruto appeared behind me, his normally happy face filled with annoyance. 'No. She's worse than Kakashi-sensei, and able to sleep through a hurricane.' Naruto shrugged, his impatience getting the better of him. 'Fine. We'll leave without her. Problem solved.'

'Naruto, even Sai knows we're going to need her for this mission!'

'We don't need her! She'll probably just fall asleep in the middle of a battle!' Naruto retorted angrily. 'Besides, where is Sai, anyway?' I shrugged, brushing a lock of hair out of my face. 'Who knows. Maybe they've gone ahead to wait at the gate.'

'Doubt it.'

'Go see!'

Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, and I sighed, leaning heavily against the door. 'Those morons…'I muttered. 'Between Naruto and Kairi, I'm going to get driven insane.' Naruto reappeared, shaking his head. 'Sai's there, but Kairi isn't.'

'So where is she?'

'Let's find out.' Naruto struck forward, breaking down the door with an almighty CRASH. 'Uh….Naruto…..she's going to kill you now.' My very blonde friend shrugged. 'Bring it.' We entered and began searching the house, readying ourselves for attack from a pissed-off Kairi. But nothing came. The place was deserted. 'Hey, Sakura-chan, there's a note.'

'A note? Let's see.'

Naruto passed me a sheaf of paper, a white one with a greenish tinge, the konoha symbol on it. I opened it, expecting to find a message saying that Kairi had gone to Ichiraku or something. Unfortunately, what I read not only made me drop the paper but choke as well. 'Naruto….!'

'What? What does it say?!'

'Here, listen:

Hey, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, whatever the weird pale guy who never talks to anyone's name is,

I'm leaving Konoha. Why? I'm not all that sure. But, my cousin is still alive and in Akatsuki, so I guess that's where I'm headed.

Later! (or not)

Kai

P.S. If you see me again, I'll probably have to kill you. BTB, Naruto is welcome to the ramen in the cupboard.'

'You're kidding.'

'Sorry.'

'GAHH! FIRST SASUKE AND NOW KAIRI?! IS IT IN UCHIHA BLOOD TO BETRAY US OR SOMETHING?!'

Kakashi appeared beside me, deftly plucking the letter out of my grasp. 'Oh, that's not good.'

'Kakashi-sensei.' I turned to face my squad leader, as if he would know what was happening. 'Sorry, Sakura, I don't know any more about this than you do.'

'But isn't Sasuke her cousin?!' I asked desperately. 'He's with Orochimaru! Or does that mean he's left him?' the last part was more hopeful than plausible. Sasuke would never join Akatsuki, not while Itachi was still there.

'No, but, look, it says 'my cousin is still alive and in Akatsuki'. She might mean a different cousin,' Naruto pointed out. 'She might mean Itachi.'

'Oh, that's right.' Disappointment flooded into me like a broken dam releasing water. That probably meant Sasuke was still with Orochimaru. But why would Kairi want to find Itachi? And she already knew he was still alive, so…..

'In any case, this means that we're going to need another member in squad seven. What is this, three new members this year? Why does everything happen to our squad?' Kakashi sighed, disappearing in the usual puff of smoke. 'By the way, the mission's cancelled. Go get Sai.'

'New member, hunh? I wonder what they're going to be like?' Naruto mused as he disappeared, leaving me alone in the now-deserted house of my friend.

'Hi! My name is Hoka Akira! I'm your new squadmate, it's really nice to meet you!!!' The new member of our squad, Akira, gushed. 'Umm…..hi. My name is Haruno Sakura,' I said kindly, extending my hand, which was taken and shook by an excitable Akira. 'Uzumaki Naruto,'

Naruto didn't bother trying to be friendly, it was evident he considered Akira to be a poor replacement for Kairi, just as Sai had been for Sasuke. Nevertheless, Akira shook his hand vigorously as well, and even went as far as glomping Sai when he introduced himself.

'This is going to suck.'