With A Broken Soul
"Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect." ― Margaret Mitchell
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"Now you lisssten little girl, I will let you know that I will not allow you to even touch me. Sssince you know who I am, you ssshould know that you will not be able to defeat me."
Not allowing him to continue speaking, I attack. Attempting to land a chakra infused punch, he tries to catch my hand, thinking that me being a scrawny little girl would be weak. With the punch you could hear bones being shattered in his wrists as he flew into a tree, causing it to crack and fall. I frown at the lack of strength in the punch, since in the future; he would have crashed through a multitude of trees before stopping. I let out a small sigh before I continue to his body. Before I can continue, he voices the thoughts of himself and my two teammates. "Who are you?"
Who are you…? What should I say? I don't even… Who am I? I know who I'm supposed to be, I know who I used to be… But what am I now? Who am I now?
My mouth hangs open slightly, signaling I want to say something, but can't find the words. A slight wind picks up, but as soon as it appeared it was gone. My mind is scattered. Then finally I say what I want to say, in the strongest voice I could muster.
"I am Sakura Haruno, and I am your downfall." Fire burns in my eyes, covering the bitter ice of my heart. I can't comprehend what I am feeling, the excitement and pain in this statement. I'm not supposed to be doing this. This wasn't my fate. I don't belong here. My eyes close, lingering in that state for a few moments, giving me a breather from the world, from him, from this. Though, when they open again, courage fills my eyes.
"And you think I'm sssupposssed to believe you? Only one other perssson I know hasss that power, and I do not believe that you are her apprentice, I don't even believe you could have met her. Ssso, let me repeat myssself, who are you?" Not bothering to answer or even acknowledge his statement, I rush to his body, placing my chakra infused foot on his abdomen. This caused him to cringe in pain, trying not to show his very present discomfort. Trying not to let the blood rush through me, I make sure I don't step down hard enough to go through his stomach. I kneel on one knee, trying to keep my emotions flow out as I look at one of the bastards who destroyed everything I knew, everything I loved.
"Now now Orochimaruuu, I may not be Tsunade, but trust me, I'm a hell lot worse." With that, I render him useless, breaking his wrist and shoulder. I slowly get up and turn around, heading back towards my team. Once I had made a large enough gap between the slithering snake and me, I slightly turn my head, allowing my eyes to trail his figure. I notice he is glaring at me, but now standing in a crippled and pained manner. My eyes didn't have much to look at for long as he disappeared quickly, newly injured, severely. I turn my head back towards my team, as the place I had been looking at is now empty, vacant. I do not scan their expressions as I do not want to know what they are feeling, what they are thinking. I will be the monster if I must, because neither of them deserve to.
Sweat and blood mixed throughout the newly destroyed field. So close but so far. Trees were destroyed and covered in blood, bodies scrawled across the area. Only two stood, the blonde and the petite. The petite one had a look of panic on her face, looking at the blonde in disbelief. The blonde wore a look of exhaustion and anger on her almost flawless skin. Their destination was only hours away, to the petites disbelief. The busty woman had gotten them through a 3 day's travel in a matter of hours. The blonde looked up, towards the path she was going to take, grabbing the petite she dashed off, not wanting to waste time.
I had picked up the scroll we needed from Orochimaru, avoiding any more conflicts. We had started heading towards the tower about 20 minutes ago, without running. We weren't far from it by now, and I had avoided the route we took last time, knowing what could happen. It wasn't very long before we reached the building, meeting our sensei at the door; he entered the building with us. Not needing to read the wall I took the scrolls, my teammates trying to stop me. I then open the scrolls, allowing Iruka to appear in front of us.
"Well well, you guys did it! Quite early at that! Well you guys get to stay here for another day, and then tomorrow once its noon, we will meet here. Go upstairs and Kurenai will show you to a room." I did not bother staying to hear Narutos rants to Iruka and Kakashi, and Sasuke's smug comments. I make my way upstairs, making it so that my team doesn't notice me leaving. Once I reach the top, I am greeted by Kurenai, who congratulates me then escorts me to a room. I slightly bow, showing respect, and then I enter my room, lying down on my bed. My muscles hurt, my bones hurt, and my body hurts. The stress did not promote good health. I allow my mind to wander as I start to go to sleep, keeping it off of my pained body. Dosing off, my chakra goes through my body, healing what it could. Tomorrow was going to be a stressful day as well.
Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP!
I jolt up, sweat rolling down my forehead. My eyes scan the room before they land on the person I never expected to be seeing, at least any time soon.
"Tsunade-shishou!" I shout, jumping out of my bed and into her very welcoming arms. I thought she was dead. I thought she was gone. I thought I was alone.
"I'm proud of you Sakura" My head jolts up, starring my busty blonde teacher in the eyes, her honey colored eyes. Surprise plays across my face, along with a glint of happiness. She is proud of me. Somebody is proud of me. I'm not a monster. I'm a hero.
"Shishou…" My eyes are starting to water, a small part of the ice covering my heart breaks, allowing a small bit of sunlight through, "… thank you." I allow a real, genuine smile to cross my face. Something I haven't felt in years, happiness, pure happiness. How could I forget how it felt to actually smile? My body didn't ache anymore, and my heart was just a little more healed.
"I will continue with compliments and discussion later though, we need to get your newly healed body down to the arena. I brought you a clean pair of clothes, so get dressed and meet me at the top of the stairs." I nod as she exits, now almost completely professional. I jump into the bathroom, a small smile still remaining on my face. I change into the more comfortable ninja clothes my teacher brought for me. Pulling my hair up into a high messy bun, I check myself over quickly, allowing my eyes to evaluate every piece of clothing before exiting. I was now in black spandex shorts and my signature brown skirt. My ninja pouch was attached to my left leg. My brown ninja sandals were still attached to my feet. I now wore a tight belly cut shirt with bindings wrapping my arms, allowing me to move easily.
I exit the room, meeting my sensei at the top of the stairs. We nod at each other, before she gives me a reassuring smile and we walk down the stairs towards the arena where I will be fighting my best friend Ino. I allow a sigh to escape my lips as we enter the arena and I walk towards my team, standing in position. Naruto glances back at me, giving me a toothy grin before looking forward again. I let a small smile cross my smile before it is erased by the holes being bore into the back of my head. I try to avoid the awkwardness and pretend to listen to what is being said to us.
"So, is anyone forfeiting?" I suppress a laugh, allowing my eyes to wander to Kabutos team. A grin grows on my face as he raises his hand, knowing it's not because of his plan this time around. After he leaves I allow my mind to wander as I stare blankly up at the Hokage and the proctors. It wasn't long until we started shuffling up the stairs to watch the battles. Sasuke is first. As I thought that, the board flashed the names of the contesters, which were Sasuke and that sound ninja that I never bothered to remember the name of. This time around though, Sasuke didn't have a problem with his curse mark.
I watched the fights, evaluating to see if there are any discrepancies, which I did not catch any. It may be a tedious thing, but it's not at all boring. It wasn't very long until my battle came, which had been leaving a knot it my stomach which was not very pleasant. Jumping down to the arena I take my position, waiting for the proctor to signal for us to start. I look up, my eyes meeting my rivals' icy blue eyes. My eyes flash a look of remorse before icing over, covering any and all emotions as possible. I watch as if it's in slow motion, the proctors arm go down, signaling for us to start.
My body stiffens, my mind empties, my eyes ice over. Do not feel. You need to be a monster to be a hero Sakura. You need to save them. You are doing this to save her.
I apologize that this chapter is slightly shorter than the others (by 400 words :c) But I felt like that was a good place to end for this chapter. I was writing this in a 4 hour car ride to upstate New York, and I will probably be beginning the next chapter as well, but it most likely won't be up until tomorrow or Sunday. I also apologize for such a long wait (Umm, 4 or 3 days?), I have regents coming up and review review review. So, I hope you enjoyed and please leave any criticism or complements in the reviews or messaging c: Thank you and see you soon~