A.N: Hey guys, I'm not dead! My gosh I haven't been on here in AGES, and I apologize for that! I want everyone to know that I'm not abandoning this story. I really do hope to finish it until the end! My writing might be a big.. choppy as of now since I haven't written in awhile. Give me a few more days and I'll improve more, hopefully. I can't say I love this chapter, but I believe it's fine. I can't say when the next update will be, but it'll most likely be in a few days (I hope so at least). I feel horrible for going MIA with the story right there! So I really do apologize. I will try and bring the next chapter out as soon as I can. Please remember to review!
And now the chapter I made you all wait for (and apologize for...I mean really! I can't believe it's been so long.) I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!
Tough
Chapter Twelve
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Meizu, the youngest brother, growls underneath his mask. The small, weak girl was able to hit him with a kunai knife? How ridiculous is that thought? How could he of let his guard down?
"You sure do talk big, girly, for a Genin." He taunts, smirking slightly - even though they can't see it -, "I'd like to remind you that we took your sensei down easily, so how can you do it?" Gozu, his older brother, glances towards Meizu in annoyance. Meizu doesn't seem to understand or sense the weird charka surrounding the girl. Did Meizu fail to notice the girl's strange appearance change, too?
"Actually, I believe you don't realize the situation you brought yourself in, missing ninja," Inner says softly, twirling the kunai knife around her middle finger slowly, "I believe I'll have fun taking you both down, I haven't been able to play in such a long time..." She walks towards them slowly, a sadistic smirk forming on her lips, "There are so many ways to kill you both, some painfully, and others painless. Did I mention I enjoy watching people beg for their lives? I can't wait to listen to you beg, maybe if I enjoy it you'll be able to live, but I highly doubt it."
"When is the last time you were able to kill?" Gozu, the calmer brother, asks curiously, trying to stall some time. If he could distract her long enough, Meizu will be able to kill the bridge builder as quick as possible.
"A few nights ago, however it's boring when I'm only harming Sakura. She's so stubborn and refuses to let me out, too bad she hasn't been getting enough sleep lately. She's becoming more and more weak thanks to the two little hours she sleeps at night. By the way, you really are stupid if you think you both killed Kakashi. He's spying on us right now." Inner whispers into Gozu's ear, while twirling a piece of his hair with her finger. Gozu stiffens immediately, not liking how close she is to him. "I think I'll kill you know, you aren't any fun." Inner declares with a small frown. She really wanted a better toy to play with, but this one seems to be broken. She, then, stabs Gozu in the ear, watching him drop onto the ground dead. She turns to the other brother smiling sweetly. "It's your turn now." She informs him, stalking towards her prey. Meizu looks down at his brother's dead form, shock. His brother must of dropped his guard around her, how else would a genin be able to kill him? Inner stops right in front of him and giggles, stroking his cheek softly, wiping off his brother's blood on his cheek. She lifts her hand up, planning to pull his heart out, however, she suddenly freezes and drops to her knees, gripping onto her head, and letting out a ear-splitting scream.
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Sakura growls, punching the ground until her hand starts to bleed. She knew this was dangerous, whatever happened to her here happens to her outside body, but she was just too frustrated to consider that. She can feel Inner's evil growing more and more inside of her. The blood lust was just too strong for her to hold Inner back. She grew too weak to stop her and let her demon escape. She knew Kenji was going to be pissed, and her teammates will probably fear her now. She might even be sent to jail. What the hell are you doing? I know you can see the enemy, why are you pulling me back now!? "Shut up, Inner! You killed someone, and you were about to kill again!" Because of your stupid weakness we'll end up dying instead! Sakura suddenly smiles sadly and shrugs, glancing up at Inner, "If I have to die to rid you from this world then I shall." Inner stares at Sakura in disbelief. Was this girl, Sakura, really willing to die just for other people's safety? "I said, give me my body back!" Sakura orders, dragging Inner back into her minds and shoves her into a box.
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Sakura opens her eyes slowly, blinking a few times, trying to adjust to the sun beating down on her. She can hear her teammates hush voices a few feet away from her, and sees the bridge builder looking down at her with fear written all over his face. She mentally frowns, silently cursing to Karma. Why did her life seem so bad? Her mother abandons her, her father dies, and she finds out her mother might have brought her to someone who put a mark on her, and was forced to live with Inner Sakura as a side-effect.
"We are not turning our backs on her Kakashi-sensei, she didn't even harm us!" Naruto growls lowly.
"I agree with Dope, she needs us now more than ever." Sasuke grumbles, putting in his own thoughts, "We've seen her at her best and worst times, she's obviously fighting whatever is going on." Kakashi smiles down at his two male students with pride.
"I am glad you guys said that," He admits ruffling both of their hairs, "Now let's go over to her and be quiet, she's probably still sleeping."
"I'm not, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura interrupts, slowly sitting up and glancing down at her body to examine it for any injuries. She notices her hands wrapped in bandages, most likely due to her episode in her mind, and a few cuts all over her face. "Mind me asking what happened when I... erm... disappeared?" She asks softly, watching her teammates tense up.
"Sakura, do you mind telling us what happened?" Kakashi demands, sitting down in front of her and placing his hand on top of her head gently, letting her know he won't hurt her, "And does anybody know about it?"
"Kenji-chan knows," Sakura answers immediately, pulling her legs up to her chest and glancing around, noticing they are camping in the woods. She then, glances towards the sleeping client, "I would rather talk later at night, though." She mumbles before laying back down and curling up into a ball, trying to get comfortable but not enough to sleep.
"The... other you mentioned something about you not getting enough sleep, is that true?" Kakashi asks, watching as Naruto and Sasuke slowly approach the girl.
"When I sleep, I enter her world, or as she told me last time, her prison-like home." Sakura mumbles, closing her eyes, "She can injure me in my sleep, and it works." She glances towards Sasuke and Naruto, but doesn't look into their eyes, "You know how I changed my appearance? It's so I could hide all of the scratches and wounds all over my body." She looks down at the ground to avoid their eyes, "I... I'm scared to go in there, whatever happens to me there happens in real life."
"Sakura-chan, please look at me," Naruto whispers softly, grabbing onto her hand gently, squeezes it, silently urging her to at least glance. Slowly, Sakura turns her head and faces him, frowning. "We don't hate you Sakura, and we will help you in any way."
"We'll finish this mission up quickly and then return home." Sasuke adds in, placing his hand on her head and ruffling her hair, smiling gently down at her. "Whatever you're going through we'll get through it together, okay?" Sakura nods, a few tears escaping her eyes. Finally, after all these years of lying, they know about her secret. Her Inner demon might have escaped, but her friends are strong enough to help her pull through. If she has Naruto and Sasuke by her side she can do anything.
"I would like to ask you not to fight though, Sakura, I hope you understand." Kakashi declares, staring down at his student with a grim smile. Sakura hasn't been able to sleeping for days, and yet she's standing as strong as she can.
"I...I apologize for everything that happened... S-She usually only hurts me. Kenji-chan is at home right now, searching for more answers." She looks up at Kakashi and smiles sweetly, "Don't smile at me like that, Kakashi-sensei. I can make it, don't worry." She promises him, giving him a thumbs up.
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Tazuna walks through the forest with his head down, sighing. After he woke up, Kakashi forced him to tell the truth. This isn't a C-rank mission and genin ninja shouldn't be able to handle it, truthfully speaking. His mission is actually a B-rank mission that can easily turn into a A-rank.
"Don't worry about it, old man." Naruto tells Tazuna, sending him a bright, cheerful smile. "We aren't gonna abandon you halfway through." Tazuna nods and glances over at Sasuke, raising his eyebrow curiously. "He won't abandon you either. Same with Sakura. They are both really caring, you know?"
"Why is the female still sleeping? Is she weaker than you and need more sleep?" Tazuna asks suddenly, watching Naruto frown in disappointment.
"Weaker you say?" Naruto asks slowly, glancing up at the sky, "She's not weak, at all. She's been having problems sleeping and is finally able to sleep peacefully." His gaze switches over to Tazuna, giving him a small glare, "Don't you dare make fun of her." Suddenly, Naruto turns to a random direction and pulls out his kunai knife, throwing it into the bushes. A small, white rabbit hops out fearfully before running away.
"A white rabbit..?" Kakashi mumbles to himself before his eye widens in surprise, "EVERYONE, GET DOWN NOW!" Kakashi dives towards Tazuna and pulls him down while his students quickly drop to the ground. Sakura's eyes snap open once Sasuke hit the floor and stares towards the sword, watching a man appear on the sword.
"Aa, Kakashi Hatake, now I see why the Demon Brother's had problems." The male says, smirking, "Hand over the bridge builder, or else everyone's blood will be splashed on the forest's ground." He declares, jumping down to the ground and pulling his sword out of the tree easily, landing on his feet.
"Zabuza Momochi." Kakashi mumbles, placing his hand over his headband and lifting it up, "If we are against you, I'll be needing this." He opens his eye, his sharingan spinning rapidly and focusing on the missing ninja.
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And there you have it! Man, I feel so weird actually updating the story again, and let me tell you all, it feels great! I can't tell if my writing is still... good so anyone mind leaving reviews? Thanks! I have to say, I missed all of this, so I hope it all works out for us. I really do hope I finish this story this year. Summer is here again, so I have a long time to actually work on the story. Normally, I'd put a list of names here that gave me a review, but I'm gonna stop that now. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it - honestly, reading your reviews usually bring a smile to my face! - but I have a long list of names to do it with so... Yeah. I'm proud to say that my story has it over 12,000+ hits and over 100 reviews! Thanks for all the support guys, it really does feel awesome knowing people enjoy your writing!
Kimi-the-writer