Chapter III
Note: I'll be editing the chapters' content before posting them since I was a more inexperienced writer when this was originally written. I want to read over each chapter and make sure I'm satisfied with how I have it laid out before I post it. I'm sincerely sorry for the delay and just want to say the plotline should not change much if at all. Just a few tweaks in grammar and sentence structure and the show will go on. Thank you!
-Amber-
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Sakura awoke to a blissful morning. The sun shone bright in the aquamarine sky without a sign of any unwanted presence near home. She inhaled a great sigh of relief.
The notes Sasori left she had not destroyed, but instead put in the back of a drawer for safe keeping and future viewing. Not that the cherry blossom had a particular reason to keep them, but one could never be so sure as to when something so menial could find a purpose in today.
The sun kissed her face as she stepped outside, a feeling in her gut leading her to believe today would bring happiness despite the night before. In an ever-rare occurance, Sakura was even looking forward to seeing her idiotic teammates Naruto and Sai.
Upon arriving at the training grounds, Sakura discovered Naruto and Captain Yamato absent still - an unusual occurance. Either way, she was left alone with the emotionless bastard, Sai.
"You look tired wench. I would ask what you were doing as of last night, but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to venture there," Sai told her with a blank face, pale and stiff as a china bowl.
Sakura sneered and muttered a foul-mouthed reply under her breath. Good days would forever be short-lived when she was stuck on a team with the King of Pricks. Who's foolish idea had it been to put the mystery boy on her team anyway? Naruto and she functioned just fine as a pair. A third member was not necessary, as Sasuke's absence proved.
Sai snickered under his breath, egging Sakura on wordlessly. Feeling too mature to take the bait, she turned away and crossed her arms, eyeing the horizon for the rest of her scrappy team.
As reluctant as she was to admit it, obvious or not, she really did miss Sasuke. He had been no better to her than Sai, but at least he prefered keeping his mouth shut. Silence was beautiful when it wasn't strung with sarcasm and rude remarks.
Draping one arm over the edge of the bridge, Sakura peered into her reflection in the crystalline water. The ripples distorted her face, but she could still see her tired emerald eyes and the borederline frown embedded into her lips.
"Your image is much prettier in the water's reflection. The distortion helps," Sai told her, breaking façade by the wise-ass smirk pulling at the corners of his thin lips.
"You little bastard..."
"Good morning!" Yamato's voice greeted gleefully from behind her. Craning her neck, she could see her team leader and Naruto marching towards them, both gleaming like the sunlight. It was nauseating. "I know this is a bit last-minute," Yamato continued, "but we are assigned to be leaving for a mission in about fourteen hours' time. I want you all to be packed and prepared to leave by midnight, though we will be heading out around eight or nine this evening."
Sakura tried to pierce Yamato's chest with a glare sharp as daggers, and exhaled a deep disappointment when he failed to bleed, fall over or lose consciousness. The man was more irresponsible than Kakashi, which was just damn insulting. Swallowing the bitter taste of bile as it rose in her throat, Sakura began to stalk away from the training grounds in anger.
"Where are you going, Sakura?" Naruto called after her obliviously. How long had they been working together? It was shockingly disappointing and depressing that the blonde still found her unpredictable.
"I'm going home," she yelled back, more for the captain's benefit than Naruto's. "I need to pack."
"What about training?" Naruto yelled in reply. Pivoting, Sakura stared at him with a fury in her eyes.
"I don't need to train, I'm well-equipped for any mission if I'm being sent to it upon such short notice," she emphasized the last three words while looking over at the less-than-responsible Yamato, who blankly stared. Satisfied with the glorious silence she recieved in response, Sakura once more turned around and marched off towards home.
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Home was quiet, her family's absence weighing like a terrential downpour upon the roof. The stairs creaked in response as she climbed them, pushing the door open to her daylight-bathed room.
Sakura blindly grabbed at items she knew she would need for the mission, each's placement familiar by years of routine and calculation of a precisely organized abode. As she reached for her brush off her nightstand, a small sheet of paper, folded intricately thrice, caught her eye.
Pulling open its flaps, she scanned it over. This note was written by Sasori as well, but it was different...when had he found time to place this in her room - in a house in the center of Konohagakure - without being seen and identified?
"Sakura,
Just because you'll be absent from your village to complete a mission does not mean I won't be near. Keep this in mind."
Sakura re-read the note before stuffing it towards the bottom of her satchel. Perhaps she would burn it once they were out on the mission. Two notes already snuggled safely beneath her folded garments - two excuses she didn't need to remember the man who drove her to insanity and furiosity. He was someone - something - she could do without remembering or knowing.
A loud thud sounded to a presence outside her open window. Oh, God...she prayed it wasn't him.
"Sakura!" A boisterous voice flew in past the curtains as a blonde head popped into her room. "I've gotten details on the mission. I thought you would like to know."
"Naruto. Have you not learned the concept of doors not to mention knocking?" Sakura hissed at her teammate as he stared at her, confused, through wide sapphire eyes.
"It's overrated." He shrugged as he swung his legs into her room and sat upon the windowsill. "The worst that happens is you punch me in the face and I'm bruised and or bloody...if I don't evade the attack. My reaction time has gotten quicker since my training with Jiraiya-sensei."
"I'm glad," Sakura replied absentmindedly, tittering around the room and grabbing more necessities. Her frustration with the obnoxious blonde faded away as he lightened the mood with a simple joke and a reminder of how long it had been since they'd had the chance to truly spend time with each other. "You better have gotten something out of training with Jiraiya. Not everyone is taken under the Sannin's wings."
"Easy for you to say," Naruto retorted, silently noting the fact that Sakura had trained with Tsunade.
The rosette shrugged and dropped her bag to the floor, lifting her hands above her head and arching her back to stretch. "So what are the details?"
"We're going to Suna," Naruto said boredly, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Something to do with terrorist appearances and Gaara."
"Gaara was a terrorist..." Sakura mumbled, but forced a smile when Naruto looked at her with an arched eyebrow. Forget she had said anything. "That's it?"
"Prettymuch. Granny Tsunade didn't tell me much else when I demanded an explanation, since Yamato wasn't speaking either."
"Joy."
Quiet engulfed them, its talons grasping them wholly before Naruto wiggled out of its awkward grasp. "I'm going to head over to Ichiraku for lunch, want to join me?"
Sakura gave this actual thought before shaking her head politely to decline. "I think I'm going to do some things around the house and village before we leave. I want to tie up some loose ends."
"Suit yourself." Naruto bid her adieu and leapt from her balcony, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop, off to his favorite ramen shop.
Tugging open her dresser drawer, she fished around beneath layers of clothing before her fingers reached paper. Before they left, she wanted to evaluate her situation once more.
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First chapter I took the time to edit. The first and second aren't yet, nor have I gotten to mess with the other...nineteen (?) or so yet. Let me know what you think!