I decided to update because, well, my previous chapters were so short. But this one is not! And most likely the format will be this long or longer from now.
Disclaimer: Love you Melissa! Go Mets! Down with the Giants! The bigger they are, the harder they fall! Oh…and I don't own?
"My slate is clean. I didn't like the fact that he died, but it didn't destroy me. All the hate, anger, and angst I'd had about him over the years was gone."
-Peter Fonda.
I wonder, do poets see into the future? Rip out our feelings and despair and write these poems so that one day, when we see them, we'd sympathize?
I hope not…if they did, I would think it cruel that they didn't tell us to stop before we started.
"This mission is of highest priority at the moment. Not only are we hoping to return with one of our own, possibly forcibly abducted, but to bring down a wanted Ninja that may hold the whereabouts of many other highly ranked offenders." When none had replied to the serious statement the blonde haired woman sighed. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Godaime-sama." With a quick nod she allowed the assembled team to scatter, two in particular staying behind. "What is it, Kakashi, Naruto?" The fierce look about them reframed her from lashing out on them, telling them she had no time to play host for their pity party as she herself was suffering from worry, as well as the overwhelming pressure building from the hospital needs and other requested missions.
"The team is not right. I shouldn't be placed on back-up…" his voice, low and almost inaudible, held such a threatening strength Tsunade had to breathe quietly before responding dominantly.
"You've no choice. Your feelings within this matter will leave you vulnerable. We need to get the job done and the most efficient way possible is to have no strings attached. Kakashi, you as well fall into this category-don't look so shocked, you are a seasoned warrior-which we all know, and for that we are all grateful." Kakashi nodded seriously before she continued. "The problem is, if you had to, would you kill your ex-students?" the noticeable 's' at the end was drawn out.
Eyes widening, Naruto's fists clenched and Kakashi let out a sigh. "I see your point." Turning to look at Naruto's anger stricken face, the silver haired nin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, departure time is a few minutes and I'm thinking about grabbing a snack before we go."
Tsunade frowned. "You better not be thinking of showing up late Kakashi." With a small smile and a wave, a solemn look on the boy beside him, Kakashi was gone in an instant, leaving Tsunade to contemplate about the events that undoubtedly lied ahead.
"Shut up Suigetsu, or I'll make sure that you'll never obtain those swords you want for I'll tear your arms off!" Staring flatly at the woman opposite of him, baring his sharp teeth momentarily, a huff of annoyance directly after, Suigestu, a member of Snake turned away from the high-tempered female.
"Karin…" Snapping her head towards the owner whom called out her name, she squinted at his form, adjusting her glasses while placing her free hand on her hip in mock attitude. Tilting her head she urged the, in her view, infuriating man to continue.
Jugo, an abnormally large male looked down upon Karin apathetically. "You are mad because she is taking the attention you want."
Karen opened her mouth before closing it in second thought. When it looked as if he was done, she growled. "Oh really? I didn't notice!" she spat, resisting the urge to slap him. Stomping away she eyed the scene across from her warily. Straightening the crazy mess on one side of her hair, she damned her split personality.
Sakura had arrived recently, and with her, an agitated Sasuke. After they had their little quarrel Sakura refused to speak or make any real acknowledgement of Sasuke's presence. When he demanded that she'd cover up what little tracks they had, Sakura stared at him, non-responsive, when he threatened to hurt her to abide by his wishes, she merely replied,
"You can't hurt me anymore than you already have." And with it, the conversation ceased to continue. Now, with a grim line marring his features, he sat across from Sakura, keeping some fish he caught back with them on the fire, awaiting the time to properly eat them.
He scowled when he sensed Karin's jealous vibe, when Sakura finally arrived at camp with him, he hardly thought about the results within their meeting.
"This is who you went back to get? She is who we waited for all this timeThis is had got to be the biggest load of-"
"She seems weak."
"Do not judge outside appearances Suigetsu, she may be quite capable…"
"SHUT UP!" When Karin had walked up to Sakura's bored form, Sasuke had made the mistake in placing his hand deftly upon the sheath of his sword. Backing up, Karin eyed him angrily, disbelief crossing her face. "oh." was all she gritted out and with a glare he turned her back to the two and made her way across the clearing.
Sakura all the while had been analyzing the scene and registering the people that are now to become her teammates.
"He's large." Sasuke grunted in response, not wanting to show that he was actually shocked/grateful that she was speaking again, even with limited words.
"And the other one…has a lot of swords, what do you need from them?" Staring into the blaze he stood up abruptly, pulling out one stick of a well roasted fish on the way. Handing it to her stoically he merely let out an 'eat.' before turning away.
Staring at the food in front of her she glanced up at his retreating form. When he made way to stand by that Karin girl, she frowned. The female visibly huffed and moved away from him, his form stilled before he walked away nonchalant, Sakura watched as the female looked back at him longingly.
Probably in the same fashion as she was now.
"You knew Sasuke from before, didn't you?"
Letting out a small 'eep' of surprise, Sakura watched the large man sit down awkwardly before her. "Yes, I knew a Sasuke; I'm not too sure about this one…" Sighing she caught sight of his movement, in a reflex she held up her fists for protection, when she saw that all he merely had done was pick up some fish she laughed nervously, he didn't seem to notice.
"It's been awhile…since I've been able to eat freely." Looking upon him in consternation she waited for him to continue. "I was confined for a long time. I have…uncontrollable rages. Kimimaro's spirit continues to live on in Sasuke…so; he can stop me from killing again." Head rocking back from shock, Sakura held her hand to her chest steadily.
The man was soft spoken, yet his demeanor, his outward appearance suggested otherwise. "I see, I'm-I'm sorry for…well," he looked up at her, and even though no smile highlighted his face, some warmth seemed to make way to his somewhat dull eyes.
Sakura smiled. Maybe she would be able to have a friend in this group after all.
"Here, let's eat then, Jugo right? I haven't had anything to eat since early yesterday, my roommate…and best friend," Jugo noticed her voice became softer. "Naruto, he, hah, he's probably worried right now…angry too. First Sasuke, now…" She stopped short and smiled. "He always forgets to do groceries! I swear! He's a knucklehead really! There's no food in the house and then he'll just say we should go to his favorite Ramen Stand…do you like Ramen? Have you ever-"
Trying to sense who it was that was behind her, Sakura turned slowly, meeting the person who had captured Jugo's gaze during her rant. "So you do have a boy waiting back home for you? Good. Wouldn't want Sasuke to think he had his options open…" Arching her eyebrow up, hand on hip, Karin looked down upon Sakura sanctimoniously.
"I'm sorry; did you think I was talking to you?" Lifting her hand up, Sakura pointed to Jugo lazily. "Because I am pretty sure it was just a conversation between Jugo and me." Karin mock laughed, covering her small lips with her hand.
"And you don't deny it too, how interesting. So tell me, what makes you so special that Sasuke-kun just had to have you?" Wincing at the added honorifics, courtesy of Karin, Sakura glared.
"I mean, I can sense that you really are quite fragile, I wouldn't want you to go dying on the field of battle." Sakura's confused expression made Karin laugh ominously. "Oh don't worry, I don't care about your death really, but what if your lifeless body gets in the way of Sasuke, imagine, him getting hurt because of someone as pathetic as you."
"…You know what?" Standing up Sakura placed her gloves on quickly. "Let's see who the pathetic one really is." Grinning Karen stepped back, her hands up.
"But I thought teammates aren't supposed to fight each other, don't you go by the rules cherry blossom?" The way Karin said the nickname made Sakura want to crush her right then and there.
"Then, let's consider it sparing." The smile on Sakura's face was too innocent. Bawling her fist she ran after Karin, not reacting quick enough Sakura's foot collided with Karin's side. "Hah!" As Karin's form was thrown across the field, crashing into a tree Sakura chased after her, jumping sky high and bringing her fist down, a consecutive attack meant to keep the opponent down. She soon stopped however when she grudgingly found that her fists connected with smoke instead.
"…too slow." She berated herself.
It was a clone. Turning around, watching the landscape hastily, she found Karin sitting on a rock, bored. Standing upright she watched her curiously.
Within that moment she froze as hands came about her neck and shoulders. "What the-" As one hand covered her mouth completely she tried to bite down on it hard but failed. Dark locks mixed with vibrant pink and soon Sasuke's chakra was all too evident.
"Don't struggle." This only served to make her squirm all the more. When he pressed down on her neck harder she gasped into his hand and ceased her movements. "I will not have you two fighting over something so stupid." Spinning her around in his hold, releasing her neck and now applying pleasure to her forearms he stared directly into her shimmering emerald orbs.
"Understood?" Nodding slightly, she wanted to fight back, she really did. Say that it was just a spar, just warming up, making friends, anything, and everything that can come to mind. But that was just it; nothing came to mind at that particular moment. Not when his breath was so close to her lips, tantalizing, tangling with her own gasping one. Not when his eyes were boring into her so intensely she felt that she could, despite herself, go weak in the knees and just fall into them.
It seemed like an eternity before he finally let her loose. He called out to Karin, something incomprehensible to Sakura at the moment as she stared at the scenery before her. She could hear the rough tone in Karin's reply, anger obviously, Sasuke always had a way with woman, and she chuckled. It was an unusually melancholic chuckle.
"Hey! Girlie-Get over here, it's time for a mission!" Closing her eyes briefly, an intake of breath, Sakura answered to Suigetsu's call by walking over to the group, opting to stand by the only one that seemed capable of friendship, Jugo.
"We should rest up."
"-what?! We haven't even traveled that far! We should keep going! We haven't made any progress and they are probably-"
"Naruto."
"…hmph." The blonde ninja turned his back on his group. Shikamaru muttered a 'troublesome' before walking beside Ino, now a medic nin in training placed upon the team mainly for that reason amongst her other attributes. At first the Hokage protested, saying they were up against the strongest of the strong, and to have less and within that the most qualified ninja within the group, the better.
In the end, Ino's sob story about having to protect Sakura, being as least competent in the medical field, and her skills in mind transfer gave way, and here she was, on a rock beside Shikamaru, fuming at the thought that Sakura would have been so stupid enough to go with Sasuke.
"I'm going to kill her when I see her! I never knew Sakura could be so stupid. I swear when that girl falls in love, nothing can save her soul." Glancing at the rampant green eyed blonde Shikamaru sighed before staring up at the clouds, hoping Sakura was indeed alright.
"Neji, scan the area and see if you can pick up any signs of where they could have gone from this camp. From the looks of the ashen ground, it looks like Sakura was wise enough to leave some tracks, but they seem to have disappeared beyond this point."
The opal eyed boy nodded, quickly taking on the task that was handed to him by the leader of their group. "Lee. Look for more wood, also, cut around the clearing more; knock down a few trees, if we want to rest properly its best not to give any attackers the advantage of easily accessible hiding places near us."
"Right sir!" Arching an eyebrow, Kakashi shook his head in dismay before turning back to Naruto. "You."
"Yeah?" Biting back a retort to tell him to stop with the attitude, Kakashi smiled. "Rest. You're going to need it."
"Hmph. I don't need it." Hesitant, Naruto looked back at the sky, its colors rapidly fading as it turned to night. "I'll take first watch." Watching him silently, Kakashi nodded after a time before making his way over to the soon to be fire. "Well, let's start making food, shall we?"
Trudging over, Naruto was soon joined by a tired Shikamaru and a yapping Ino. "Hey, Naruto!" He didn't respond but that didn't keep Ino from talking. "You were there, did Sakura really go willingly? Because if she did I swear I'll-"
"…just shut up."
"-wha-what?! Hey don't talk to me-" A hand on her shoulder. "-Shikamaru?" Shaking his head softly, a clear sign that she should pursue conversation no further, when his hand left her shoulder; she as well stopped any movements and merely watched the forlorn boy before her.
When Rock Lee came back, with his never ending exuberance his emotion faded quickly when he saw the solemn group. Placing the logs he gathered down, he silently started a fire. Neji joined, soon after, his quiet demeanor not a change, but even now his guard was more let down as he sat with his teammates, helping to add whatever food was available upon the burning logs.
"Sakura…she, she looked so sad." Ino's head sprung up while the other four continued to look upon the conflagration. "It was as if, when she was looking at me…it was as if she was never going to see me again. Like she was trying to, I don't know…keep an image of me to last forever, you know?"
No response.
Taking a stick, Naruto started to poke the fire.The team before them, the main team, consisting of Might Guy, Kurenai, Hinata, Kiba, Sai and Yamato were miles ahead of them. They were the ones to encounter Sasuke's team first; they were the more qualified apparently, at least on the emotional level.
As his stomach grumbled he groaned. Oh how he wanted ramen…or even more so, to be sitting next to Sakura while he buys her some. Her smile concealing her annoyance on how that was basically all they ate, he missed it. He missed her.
"If I didn't forget to buy groceries…maybe this wouldn't have happened." Ino stared at him wide eyed, she wanted to laugh, or scream, she didn't know. How could this fool think that one event as trivial as going shopping can cause such a catastrophe as this?
"…Naruto…Sakura-" Cut short Ino shot her head back when Naruto looked at her so fiercely she was frozen.
"It's my fault, and everyone knows it." Looking around at the others as they sat quietly, Naruto jumped up. "Why don't you all admit it?! You all think it's my fault! And it is! I know it is! I should have been there! I should have done more! Now, not only have I let Sasuke escape, but Sakura too! She believed in me...She believed…" Choking back on his sobs he continued, "She believed that I would bring him back! But I didn't! And now…now she's gone too! Who knows what will happen, what if that teme doesn't protect her! Too caught up in his revenge that she'll be-she'll be…"
"Naruto…" As tears weld up within his eyes, he shakily made out Shikamaru's form as the young man spoke quietly, insipidly. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is, but whether or not we do something to fix the mess that was created. I highly doubt you showing up to rescue Sakura, a blubbering mess, is going to help anything." Eyes widening, it had seemed Shikamaru's words were penetrating Naruto's thick skull.
"Sakura-chan is very forgiving! She is a sweet cherry blossom that believes she can help everyone! Now it is our time to help her, we must be strong Naruto!" Grinning like a fool, Rock Lee stood up, trying to rally his team members. "Come on guys! Let Naruto know that everything will be alright!"
"YEAH! Sakura is a fool alright, but that doesn't mean she is weak! You know that girl is strong Naruto! She'll be alright when we get there, for we will, and when that happens you will definitely be able to bring her back home safe and sound!"
"Sakura-san is quite capable indeed. She will be alright until we are able to retrieve her."
The group stared at Neji momentarily, his lack of enthusiasm making everyone realize once more, he was not one for a pep rally.
"…riiiight, well now that I believe we cheered up Naruto, can we start eating?" With a small cheer between Rock Lee and Ino, a sigh from Shikamaru and a grunt from Neji, Naruto soon smiled slightly before cheering himself.
"Yeah! Let's eat! I bet Guy's team doesn't have as well a layout as we do!"
"So, you're taking first shift?"
"Yes, I am." Sakura smiled softly before sitting next to Jugo, her hands placed securely in her lap. Karin had run off down to a nearby stream to gather water, Suigetsu with her. Sasuke, after giving the brief of their first move, the time to start being early tomorrow, decided to perch himself upon a tree, shutting his eyes for rest but not succumbing to sleep fully.
"I like to watch the stars." Tilting his head to watch her silently, Sakura continued. It did not go unseen by Jugo as she glanced in Sasuke's direction. "…back then, when everyone was asleep…I use to stay awake, lie on a bed of grass, and just watch the stars."
"hm…"
She giggled slightly. "There was this one time…Naruto was snoring so loud, Sasuke kicked him, but it didn't affect him one bit! In fact-" She paused, covering her mouth with her hand, trying to suppress her laughter. "In fact, it made Naruto snore louder! Haha, Sasuke-kun was so irritated he got up and decided to sleep further away from the group; Kakashi spoke then, saying we should stay together." She sighed happily. "I guess I wasn't the only one who was awake those nights… Kakashi always watched over us, always protected us."
"Sasuke-kun?" Blinking, Sakura watched Jugo at a lost. "That was how you said his name when mentioning him in your story…"
"Oh? Must've slipped…" Eyes dimming down from their once brightness during the story, Sakura turned to look at Sasuke's resting place once more. "There use to be a time when I would refer to him as such with every chance I got."
Standing up, patting the backside of her outfit, relinquishing all dust she could, she peered down at Jugo, which was more of being in eye level with him before smiling. "That time is no more, huh?" Walking away with a small wave Jugo frowned as he watched Sakura's retreating form.
As Sakura passed by the tree Sasuke rested in, she sighed before continuing on. Looking about the stars as she made her resting place, she wondered what Naruto was doing at this moment. His blue eyes filled with mirth reflected back at her from the twinkling stars above, and as she closed her eyes, a breathless "Naruto…" was the last words spoken for the night.
When Jugo caught sight of Sasuke's opening eyes, his glare evidently produced at the sound of the girl's call for her Naruto friend, Jugo turned back to the scenery before him.
There seemed to be more within the situation than he first speculated.
Better length?
Please review hehe.