Authors note: Sorry it took me so long to update I will make a serious attempt to update all my stories now, so don't kill me just yet! XD any ways a little bit of sasusaku coming up, well you're about to read it anyway so I'll just shut up.
Chapter 2
The Dentine
Sakura was wearing a jacket.
No big deal. Except that, there was no real reason for her to wear a jacket. Sakura stood in front of the mirror looking at her own sad reflection. She had hunted the closet for an appropriate jacket to wear and finally she had found one.
She was wearing her normal attire but it was all black and the jacket she wore was less of a jacket and more of a cloak. She sighed, the reason she was wearing a jacket was, that one or two hours after Sakura's mother died Sakura had sprouted wings, yes these wings were the real deal. Fairy wings with varying shades of pink and green, Sakura thought she looked like a giant butterfly, that is, if butterflies had semi transparent wings.
Earlier that same day…
She was simply shocked beyond words for about 5 minutes, then she experimented, and she had a feeling, that if she tried, she could fly with these wings.
Then she burst into tears all over again because she felt like a freak. Her mother just died and now she was sprouting wings.
How could things possibly get worse? Her mother… had said that Sakura would become the tooth fairy but… this was too much! She did not want to be a tooth fairy or a fairy of any sort she just wanted… to be herself, Haruno Sakura a kunoichi of Konoha, but now, what would Sasuke-kun think, or Naruto, or Kakashi-sensei. How could she hope to lead a normal life this way?
She sat on the floor weeping every now and then looking at her mother's dead body and crying.
A few hours later, Sakura was still crying, the night was almost over, and dawn was on its way. Sakura bit her lip as the tears flowed down her cheeks, "I'm being… so pathetic" she thought miserably.
Then she heard footsteps by the door, "Sakura-chan!" an annoying voice called, for once Sakura was grateful from the bottom of her heart to hear that annoying voice. Her wings twitched, and her eyes widened with fear. What would happen if Naruto saw her in this condition? She looked around frantically for somewhere to hide herself. "Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei's already arrived at the meeting place; you're even later than he is! Come on! Let's go!"
He opened the door and… Sakura's wings disappeared as the first rays of dawn touched them. Naruto looked at her and saw the tears running down her face, "Sakura-chan! What's wrong?" He rushed over to her and she merely put her head in her hands and continued crying, her mother was gone, her mother… now she was all alone in this world.
She was going crazy and her mind was moving in various different directions, she hadn't slept all night, she just needed to… Naruto's eyes moved over the room and then he saw Sakura's mother, Sakura's mother who was dead. His pupils dilated, he was shaking, "Sakura-chan…" He knelt and put his arms around her, she rested her forehead on his shoulder and wept bitterly. Naruto bit his lip, "I understand your pain so much… It actually hurts." He thought as his eyes began watering.
In about 15 minutes Sakura was asleep. She had finally settled into the sleep she very much needed. Naruto reluctantly laid her down on a sofa and went to tell Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke what happened.
-Some time later…-
Sakura was excused from missions and she spent her time trying to gather her thoughts. It was a futile effort. Nothing made sense; it was completely and utterly ridiculous. Her relatives had shown up every now and then to cheer her up, to discuss funeral plans, and most often to stand there utterly uselessly gadding their heads off about so many pointless happenings. Her grandfather insisted that they burn the bed Sakura's mother had slept in.
Sakura eventually stood and calmly asked them to leave. They were out like a gunshot.
The funeral preparations didn't take long and eventually the events lead to the moment with which this chapter began. Sakura was wearing a jacket. Her wings appeared and disappeared with the rising and setting of the sun.
The funeral was not happening in the daytime, which was weird, but Sakura could care less. So this jacket had been ultimately necessary.
When she stood there among the other people who had cared enough to show up for Chisumi's funeral she felt like a great big fake.
Moreover, she felt utterly worthless. Haruno Sakura, Tsunade's prized student a genius of medical jutsu perfectly unable to save her own mother. More than that, she really must have been worthless, for her mother to just leave her that way.
Sakura understood that her Mother had no say in when and how she would go, but she certainly didn't feel any remorse in leaving Sakura behind.
After the funeral ceremony was over people stepped forward one by one to place a single white rose on her grave.
Sakura stayed back, she wanted to be the very last to do it so that she could stand there as long as she wanted to savor this last encounter with her mother. Or more accurately with her mother's corpse.
She was somewhat surprised to see Hinata walk up to the grave followed by Ino, then Naruto, and Kakashi. With a shock she realized that all of her friends had come most of which were gazing at her with concern. None of them approached her. Clearly, they felt it was best that she shouldn't be disturbed in the midst of her grief.
They were wrong. Nothing could feel worse than this loneliness that now surrounded her. No parents, to spend the rest of her days all alone in that house with only the memories of her mother's dying moments to haunt her, it was mortifying.
One by one people left. Someone yawned. A girl complained about her sore feet.
Only then did Sakura at last step forward to place her rose on the coffin. She paused there a long moment gazing at all the flowers the people had left.
How would her mother ever know which flower she had left how would she know that Sakura had placed it there with sincerity of heart and wished more than anything for her mother back?
How would Chisumi ever be able to tell them apart, Sakura from all the others? Then, Sakura thought bitterly what difference was there really between them? Only that Sakura was alone. But Loneliness isn't something like pink hair, which you can spot from a distance and automatically know who it is. It's a deep, gaping wound that you wear openly but no one ever sees.
Now her dry eyes, released what she had been holding in this whole time and she cried. Not a sobbing outpour, she didn't moan and wail and scream, she just stood there with her hand resting gently against the wood of the coffin with her calm face and the tears flowing down her cheeks never ceased.
She didn't know how long she stood there it could have been seconds, hours, maybe days. She had no sense of time or place. She had no sense of reality, no sense of who she was only this, that she was not worth it, not worth anything. She only awakened from her reverie when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She turned out of surprise and saw the person she least expected to see. Looking back into Uchiha Sasuke's penetrating gaze she would have automatically dismissed even him were it not for one thing.
There was no sympathy in his expression.
No pity, No annoyance, no emotion absolutely nothing.
Only the stern natural look of his face that he had adapted over the years since his clan's murder.
He spoke four simple words and she will never forget them.
"You are not alone."
She bowed her head in gratitude and as silently as he came, he left.
To her, this small encounter meant more than anything anyone could have done for her. She was not alone. She had friends, She had Team 7, and she had her mentor, Tsunade-sama. You can't follow those who have left you behind. You have no choice but to face it and keep on going. It seems like the sun will not rise again, but it will, it always does.
Sakura just wished it would rise a little sooner.
She had paced back and forth it was midnight and she couldn't sleep. No, she wasn't attacked by grief and woke up sobbing and rolling around miserably, Sasuke's words were not useless she took them to heart and was ready to withstand whatever life threw at her.
No, she couldn't sleep because her system was not letting her. "Argh! What the heck am I supposed to do!" She shouted in agitation. She began pacing again.
Her wings twitched madly and without knowing it she had stepped into her mother's room and opened a drawer, it was an automatic body movement like she did it everyday.
The only problem was, she didn't.
She never went through her mother's things.
It was an unspoken agreement between them. Sakura never bothered her mother's things and her mother never bothered hers.
After viewing the contents of the drawer Sakura figured it must have been fairy intuition or something. As soon as she thought it, she regretted it.
She gritted her teeth, fairy, she thought hating the word. In the drawer was a small bag, a wand, and a magic pad. It looked just like one of those etch n' sketch things.
"Fairies must not have a very good income" she thought. Deep within her thoughts she did not realize that her body had once again moved of its own accord and had taken her outside.
She flew.
Almost without thinking. "Great" she thought bitterly.
The wings were flimsy, but they were also magical which enabled them to carry her body weight.
Flying was a joyous experience she realized. Uplifting and comforting and, simply put, she felt she could sleep n the clouds. But it was somewhat cold. She made a mental note to wear something warmer next time. Wait a minute, there wouldn't be a next time, would there?
A name was appearing on the eth n' sketch fairy thingamabob.
She squinted struggling to read it in the dim light. "konoha-maru" she pronounced at last. WHOOSH! She was in a child's bedroom she looked around in confusion wondering what had happened and what she was supposed to do.
She looked at the kid, konohamaru .
"Well, I am supposed to be the tooth fairy aren't I?" she thought to herself in an effort to evaluate the situation.
She walked over and picked up the boys pillow only to find… a tooth.
"Ewww…:" Sakura thought debating whether or not to take it.
It was kinda gross to think about taking a tooth that has been in some kids slimy mouth for who knows how many years. She closed her eyes and picked up the tooth trying not to think about it. And then there was a dollar in her other hand.
"Weird.." she thought but she understood its purpose. She left it on the bed put the pillow over it popped the tooth into her bag and was out of that room faster than you could say "enchilada!"
The minute she was out of there another name appeared on the etch n sketch fairy thingamabob.
She sighed.
It was a long night.
Surprisingly, Sakura was actually able to take care of every kid before the night was over. Which would confuse many people. Which is why I am going to explain to the reader something Sakura doesn't know.
There used to be many, many tooth fairies one for every country or something like that. Grown men would knock all the teeth out of their mouth just for the money. 32 teeth 32$.
But somehow, nobody really knows exactly how, People stopped believing, so only about 11 of the world's children actually put their teeth under their pillows, the rest just throw them away.
Eventually the names stopped popping up, and Sakura felt she could sleep. So, relieved and exhausted she flew home and fell into her bed. Before closing her eyes for the night she happened to glance at her alarm clock. 6:00 AM. She groaned. If she didn't start now she would undoubtedly be late. So with a sigh she stood up again.
Sasuke jumped forward, knocking Sakura to the ground as a shuriken embedded itself in a tree where just moments ago Sakura's head had been.
She blinked, "Gomen… Arigato Gozai-mas."
He stood and gave her a look of disbelief, he pulled out a kunai and knocked away some kunai and shuriken that their enemy had thrown at them.
Ignoring Sakura for the moment, He used the body flicker technique to pop up behind the enemy and send him flying. He crashed into a tree, and was knocked unconscious. Sasuke didn't even glance at Sakura while walking over to the man to tie him up.
Sakura sat there miserably with no sleep in her system she was completely useless, worse she knew, much worse than Naruto.
Sasuke lifted the unconscious man and began walking towards the meeting place.
Sakura stood up and joined him quickly.
"Moshi wake arimasen." she murmured apologetically Sasuke merely nodded.
Within minutes they were there and Kakashi and Naruto were waiting for them. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, they had completed the mission first, if only he hadn't been stuck with a useless teammate. He glanced at her and saw her looking perfectly miserable, had she still not recovered from her mother's death?
"Well" said Kakashi as they neared the two shinobi. "It looks like the mission was a success" He took the unconscious man from Sasuke and with a raised eyebrow asked "Mission Report?"
Up until this point Sakura had been looking at her feet now she looked at Sasuke in anticipation of what he was about to say. "Sakura's performance was miserable." Said Sasuke simply.
Sakura blushed as everyone's eyes fell on her. Wondering, she was sure, just how miserable.
"Well" Kakashi began but Naruto cut him off
"Sakura chan is going through a difficult time! Maybe we should give her more time off"
Sakura wanted to kick him. What did he think she was? A two year old? She understood her mother was dead, she wasn't mourning anymore. She wanted to fight to carry out the missions successfully but… given the chance she would fall on the ground right here and sleep.
Sasuke was the first to speak, "There's no point in her going on as a ninja at this rate." He said simply and was gone.
Kakashi and Naruto were as silent as the dead. She said nothing and left as well. She couldn't bear all their pity anymore. Why did they think they were helping her they didn't even understand! She wasn't weeping half the night she was out gathering the teeth of some miserable pathetic CHILDREN!
The end of a long walk found her at the Ichiraku ramen bar. Her stomach told her she was hungry and she obeyed it. She miserably asked for a ramen, any kind, she didn't care and found herself on her 3rd bowl when she heard a familiar voice say "Come on Teme!"
She turned her head with a blush on her cheeks and her heart in her throat as she watched Naruto drag Sasuke to the ramen bar.
She considered running away, but how stupid would that look? She frowned in determination and decided now was the time, she had to explain, it wasn't what they thought. Sasuke looked at her, their eyes met, she bit her lip and prepared herself.
A/N: Muahahahaha! Ok ok ok! Actually I got the name Chisumi from an author here whose name is Chisumi and Im thinking of a name for sakura's mom cuz Im getting tired of writing "sakura's mother" all the time and figured that it suited her, so my apologies to Chisumi if you feel offended and my thanks if you don't! well alls well that ends well don't forget to review and tell me what you think and what you want to happen I WILL take your requests seriously and input your opinion if I can. Thank You all and have a nice day!
(that's 3 and a ½ pages!)