Hey! I'm back! Whoa! 21 reviews for the prologue, first chapter, and an A/N. Sweet. :)
Hope you enjoy this!!
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Zutto Isshoni Itai
.:Chapter 2: Dreams:.
.:SAKURA:.
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What if you slept?
And what if in your sleep, you dreamed?
And what if in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you woke, you had the flower in you hand?
Ah! What then?
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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I was running. I don't know what, or where, but I was. It was dark-I couldn't see where I was going- and I could feel the humidity condensing all around me. The dense silence hung around me, clenching to my skin.
A shrilling, evil laugh comes from everywhere and nowhere. "You'll never escape me, Sakura."
"SHUT UP!!!" I yell. I know the voice from somewhere, but I can't place it. Screaming was pointless, that I know, hell it's a dream, but I still can get pissed in dreams.
"No use in running. You'll just die. Along with the rest of them. . ."
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My hands are balled up and sweaty when I wake up. "The hell was that?. . ." I mumble, as I walk out of my bed. Holding on to the wall, I make it to my bathroom.
A chilling thought reaches my mind: it's just as dark as it was in my dream. Normally, I'm not one to be scared, but. . . Déjà vu. I start to shiver as I run into the bathroom, my ragged breathing the only noise. My hand snakes up to the light switch, lighting up the whole room.
Ahh. . .
Much better.
I try to place my dream, but nothing makes sense in my mind. I force myself back to sleep, not trusting my dreams. They say dreams can see into the future. . .
I wake up (again) coiled up in my bath tub with the lights on. No wonder I had no freaky nightmares that scare me. Bath tubs are really life savers.
I slip on my ninja clothes- after all I have to see Tsunade-sama today and she always gives me a mission, (heh, I'm her favorite)- which consist of black shorts and my usual medic skirt, and a red top. My clothes don't vary that much, I'm quite boring when it comes to that.
"Welcome Sakura," Tsunades says once I step inside her office, but her look is not happy.
"Hai?" I reply stupidly.
"You remember Sasuke, right?' she asks, her voice stoic and focused. I wonder what happened to make Tsunade like this.
"Of course! Now, get to the point!" I snap, suddenly cover my mouth when I realize my outburst, "Gomen."
Tsunade shakes her hand as if that is the least thing we should be worrying about at this moment.
Yup, something happened alright. But what? That is the question.
"He's planning on attacking Konoha and. . . I want to send you as a spy to report back to us," Tsunade says, with a deep breath.
Oh. My. Kami.
"Me? Why not, like, an ANBU? I'm-" I begin to protest, not willing to see my childhood crush again after four years. How had my feelings changed? I say I hate him, especially with what Tsunade just told me, but. . . How will I act around him?
"You are the kunoichi I most trust and know you will not fail me. You never have," Tsunade explains, but I think even she has her doubts, deep down. "And besides all you have to do is spy, I am not asking you to even dare fight this man."
"H-hai," I stutter.
"So you accept?"
"H-h-hai." The word comes out high and raspy, like I'm nervous. Tsunade appears to suspect this, due from that suspicious glance she gives me. I take a mental deep breath and say in my most clearest voice, "Not that I'm scared. Go 'head and give me the damn mission. Tch."
Tsunade smiles, "I knew I could trust you Sakura!" She waves her hand so I can come over to her. "Follow me. I'll explain where no one will hear of this."
Tsunade went over everything about the shitty council and their wimpy-ness and the war we're about to start. Truth be told, that was actually shocking.
"When does the war start?" I asked, calmly.
"Once you get enough information we need to attack him," Tsunade replies matter-of-factly which makes me feel small and rather stupid.
"I-it's all up to m-me," I stammer, hardly believing the five short words that just escaped my mouth. It depends on me if a war starts or not.
Oh, Kami-sama. What did I do for this? Did I punch Naruto or Sai too hard at our last training? Bitch-slapped Ino? Zoned out on Shizune? Mess up on a patient? Ah, scratch that one. HELL NO. That did not happen. Yelled too many mean curses at Amaya, my student medic-in-training? Was too annoying to-no. Forget I ever mentioned that. I did not just think that thought.
Kami, I hate karma. I have no clue to what I did, but karma is biting me back. Just you wait.
"Of course it's all up to you! You agreed to this mission, so you must've known that!" Tsunade yells.
I really never realized that, but I don't want to sound stupid, so I just say, "I know. It's just. . . Wow.
"Alright, now I want you to look at this. It's from a recent spy the fuckin' council sent, but it has some information you may want to read about." Tsunade hands me a bunch of yellowed papers with burn marks and rips. It doesn't look recent to me.
I begin to read.. The first one begins with Day Seven. "What about Day 1?" I ask.
"I'm just giving you a few of the ones I read. The most important, you see. Besides, I never got the first one. These are some of the only ones which were salvaged," Tsunade tells me calmly and soothingly, as if this doesn't bother her a bit, probably because she already read through this.
Then I realize the words Tsunade spoke 'These are some of the only ones that were salvaged'. Key word: salvaged. As if. . .
"Tsunade-sama, can you please send in the spy, Sasaki-san?"
"Oh, right. I didn't tell you. Sasuke found out and murdered her."
A chill runs down my spine. I could face the same fate as this young woman. This is serious. Not just because there's a war on front, but you mess up, you slip up, he notices you, you die.
No sweat Sakura.
I pick up the paper again. I have to read this, after all.
Day 7 of Mission - Sasaki Chi
Okay, well I now know for sure that Uchiha Sasuke is planning on destroying Konoha, possibly wanting to take it for his own to control.
Day 16 of Mission- Sasaki Chi
Sasuke is NOT going to destroy Konoha, he's going to rebuild it! Into his own little world, where everything goes the way he plans, after killing every single innocent person the Leaf village.
Team Taka seems pretty eager to help him.
Suigetsu- He just really wants to get to kill a bunch of innocent lives.
Karin- She's just too much in love with Sasuke to make her own opinions.
Juugo- This guy's a tough one. He's served Orochimaru (just like Karin) and is pretty peaceful, unless you anger him. My inferences are that the only reason he serves Sasuke is because he admires him and is willing to help him, even in destroying Konoha.
Sasuke- He's a cruel person, who really only cares about himself. The only person he basically talks to is Juugo, so I can't squeeze much information out of him. He seems pretty prideful of his plans and over-confident of his actions.
I see Sasuke didn't change much, besides becoming the mega-jerk of the world.
Day 23 of Mission - Sasaki Chi
I know their intentions.
Sasuke is planning on launching an invasion on Konoha. Then, he wants to bring chaos to the government launching it into a civil war, getting it to destroy itself. This most likely will rid Konoha of its government system and may even get the Council and possibly even Hokage, out of the question. Without all this, no one will stop this civil war. After this, people will be fighting for their lives to even notice anything out of the ordinary.
Then Sasuke will have the perfect opportunity to strike.
Of course, Sasuke's not stupid either. He knows of Konoha's alliance with Sunagakure, so he is planning on wreaking havoc to the Sand Village as well. That way, Konoha won't be able to receive much help from its closest ally who will also be in civil war, though I doubt that he'll feel the need to remove the Kazekage. Then again this is Sasuke I am talking about…
I put the papers down. "Wow," I breathe.
"Tell me about it," Tsunade nods in agreement.
"She died, because she was caught. . ." I vent out. I'm only seventeen, I do not have a death wish, thank you very much.
"But you won't," Tsunade says so confidently, as if she truly believes I can manage to complete this mission with no failures alive. She has more confidence in me than my own self.
Wow.
But how can I spy without being noticed?
I think Tsunade can read minds (or at least just mine) or something because she answers my question, "You'll spy on his Team Taka and you won't get caught 'cause you'll be invisible."
I laugh half-heartedly. "Nice one Tsunade, but no one can hold an invisibility jutsu forever, especially when they sleep, which is when I'll most need it," I reply skeptically, stating obvious facts. And even if it was possible, it would take me forever to learn it. If…
"Oh, I am very well aware of that. It was something Jiraiya and I used to work on…" Tsunade spaces out after saying Jiraiya's name. Everyone knows she liked the old pervert, and it broke her heart when he died during our last invasion, courtesy to Pain. "Anyway, I'll just need this." Tsunades beckons me over and I slowly saunter over to her. The Hokage grabs a needle and pokes out some of my O- blood and drops it into a tiny vial. Then, slowly and carefully, she empties every ounce of the crimson liquid into a potion-kind of thing.
She mixes it up for five or six minutes then hands it over to me. "Eww," is all I can say.
"Drink up," Tsunade orders and I reluctantly obey. As I am drinking, Tsunade lifts up my shirt up to my slim belly. Once I'm done, she smiles.
"It worked!" Tsunade exclaims.
"Huh? What the hell was that for?" I look at stomach and a grey oval resides over my belly button. "What is that?" I demand.
"A ninjutsu. All you have to do is turn invisible, and it'll keep you that way-without wasting any of your chakra- until you release it."
"No way!" I cry. "You created this?"
"Jiraiya thought of it. I just added the medical part," Tsunade admits. "It does have restrictions, though. Emotions. You'll be even more sensitive from now on until forever. And you can only use it by limited restrictions."
"Which are?"
"You will know. Your jutsu will start to malfunctiona dn you'll begin feeling drowsy. Become visible immediately and rest until you feel like you can use it again. Got it?" Tsunade asks.
I nod. Complicated jutsu, I think. But I have to admit, very useful.
Let's just hope it works.
And so the plot unfolds! (a bit)
PLEASE REVIEW!!! LETS GET TO THIRTY, NE?
Love ya all,
~Jessi-chan
EDIT: 4/6/10: THE HELL?!?!I was just re-reading this chapter and I saw KUNZITE instead of KUNOICHI. I just fixed that mistake, but I know that's NOT a mistake I would make. DAMN YOU TECHNOLOGY!!!! I hope my crappy netbook won't make any more RETARDED mistakes in the future.