I'm sooooooooooo ver ver ver sorry this came out so late. But better late than never right? I was going to update this yesterday but things came up and by the time I got back it was too late to do anyting.
I do not, will not, could not, ever own Naruto...happy?
Tattoos
Tiny grains of sand held in place suspended in the air by an unseen force floating gently in front of a pair of unblinking jade orbs that glowed with a certain silent rage.
"Gaara…?" Sakura weakly coughed struggling to keep her half lidded eyes from completely closing. A difficult task indeed considering her current condition. The beginning always was the hardest part.
The said red haired sandman looked back at the trembling tattooed Sakura and blinked calmly as if the amount of crimson blood now staining the earth around them was completely natural.
The girl that was about to kill Sakura lay in seven different pieces, her head rolling away to cover the horror stricken expression that would never be removed from the detached body piece.
Gaara turned towards Naruto who was standing up while brushing off the pieces of disembodied parts that just happened to fall onto him when the were killed by the sand. "Naruto…what happened here?" He asked coolly eyeing the last dead male who was also in pieces.
"That's what I would like to know." Naruto replied towards the shaking tattooed Sakura. "Sakura chan what's… happening to you?"
Sakura groaned and fell forward onto the damp earth, too tired to reply or even utter a singe word in response to her worried cerulean eyed teammate.
"Sakura chan!" Naruto cried rushing to her side. And gently dragging her up onto his lap. "Sakura chan can you hear me?"
"She's out cold." Gaara calmly stated kneeling down to her side with a worried expression. If the circumstances were better he would have had a hard time fighting back his blush due to her clothing but her current state only brought him worry.
"What did they do to her, this must be some sort of jutsu they used to weaken her before they attacked." Naruto growled the last part out letting her eyes flash crimson for a brief moment before fading back to their normal brilliant sapphire blue.
Gaara ran a single finger along the shivering black design that crawled across her pale skin and gently stroked her cheek before speaking. "No, it's not a jutsu…"
"What? Than what is it?" Naruto asked thankfully not noticing Gaara's little act a few seconds earlier.
"Can't you see it? This is not a paralyzing jutsu it's a curse." The jade eyes sandman replied darkly letting his scarlet red locks fall over his eyes shadowing them from view.
"A curse?" Naruto cried out in surprise. Sakura chan cursed? That just didn't sound right, there had to be some sort of mistake he through before he suddenly remembered her words from earlier that day.
-
"Hey Hey Sakura chan…what's so important that we need to reach to tower tonight?" Naruto asked in a low whisper so that Sasuke couldn't hear them.
Sakura looked away coldly speeding off treading deeper into the forest. "You'll find out soon enough Naruto." She replied her voice growing dark to mimic her eyes.
-
"These designs on her body are sucking up her Chakra. It doesn't look like they'll stop anytime soon either. When did they first appear Naruto?" Gaara asked looking up at the blond.
"Um around sun set…actually right after sunset, when the moon came up." Both boys looked up at the bright lavender full moon that spilled it's silver light upon the three.
"It's a full moon, that must be what triggered the tattoos to come out. These black designs are acting like a parasite draining not only her chakra but her physical energy. That must be why she collapsed." Gaara murmured frowning slightly at the full silver blue orb suspended high in the night sky.
'Strange how a full moon seemed to bring out the worst in the middle of the night.' He though remembering all the ties his demon slipped out with the power of the full moon. The moon always seemed to give the one tailed an extra boost of strength. He knew it had a bit of an effect on Naruto as well since his friend share his nightmares with the red haired sandman often.
"You mean like the one Sasuke teme got from that snake bastard the last time we took this exam? He's still suffering a bit from it."
"Hn, yeah kind of like that. Where is your teammate anyway? Shouldn't he be here with you?"
"Oh Sasuke went to find some water and food over by that stream to our left. He shouldn't be too long.
Gaara's eyes narrowed darkly and he turned towards Naruto. "There isn't a stream around here for almost a mile."
X
X
X
Sasuke growled to himself heading back to camp. He was thinking up an excuse to cover his lack of food since he didn't really head over to the steam that was merely nothing more than a simple Genjutsu he and Kabuto used as a signal.
"Damn that stupid bastard and his meaningless questions. He can't do anything useful." He growled softly while kicking harshly against a tree branch nearly snapping it in half. '
Anyone could tell he was not happy.
With another jump from one of the tree branches the said object broke off harshly in an array of splinters crashing down to the ground.
Nope, not happy at all.
"Now what am I suppose to tell the dope and Sakura when they sees I have no food?" He asked silently within the dark recesses of his ever twisted revenge bent mind.
Pushing away a low branch he stepped into the clearing where he had last left his two teammates and froze. It looked like a war zone complete with three mauled bodies. (or at leasr three, he didn't see any other heads) Blood was everywhere in dark black and red puddles that stained the earth beyond recognition. If that wasn't enough to shock him the sight of Naruto and Gaara leaning over a passed out Sakura who was covered in some strange tattoos was.
"What the hell is going on here?" The dark eyed Uchiha hissed more than a bit angered to see the red haired sandman anywhere near he or his teammates, Sakura more so than Naruto.
"Sasuke teme! Where have you been? Gaara said there wasn't any stream around here." Naruto asked standing up to great his teammate.
"That doesn't matter right now. Tell me what happened here?" Sasuke asked kicking one of the unattached heads with the toe of his shoe. "It looks like hell."
"No kidding we were attacked duh."
"I could tell that much dobe! What happened to Sakura and why is he here?" Sasuke snarled pointing towards Gaara with a glare. Gaara returned the glare with equal venom.
"Gaara came to help us and Sakura is sick with some kind of curse." Naruto replied.
"Curse?"
"Yes Sasuke san a curse somewhat like yours. Only Sakura's curse mark is a tattoo that seems to be draining her chakra and physical energy." Gaara replied without standing up. He preferred to stay by Sakura while she slept.
"When will she wake up?" Sasuke asked noticing how Gaara chose to stay next to Sakura instead of standing like Naruto had.
"I don't know."
The two exchanged glares.
"Hey, hey I think we should get her out of here than." Naruto exclaimed waving his hands above his head trying to break the tension between the two. Even someone as oblivious as him knew it was there.
"Hn. The dobeis right, he and I will take Sakura somewhere suitable for the night. You can go rejoin your team." Sasuke stated crossing his arms over his chest while addressing Gaara.
"That is not necessary. My team has already reached the tower and registered. I have nothing else to do until the next part starts." Gaara replied with a smirk knowing he had outwitted the Uchiha.
"Isn't that going againts the rules Gaara? "Naruto asked.
"Since when have I ever followed the rules Naruto?"
Sasuke was about to say something more when Naruto stepped in and held him back. "Hey it's okay Sasuke. It'll be better if we have someone with us to watch Sakura chan. You have to remembered both you and I are tired as well and it would be better if we had someone watching us in case we slipped up due to exhaustion.
"Who are you and what have you done with Naruto?" Sasuke hissed turning towards Naruto. no way the dobe he knew could sound so smart.
"Sasuke put your pride aside and do this for both me and Sakura chan. I trust Gaara, he's a good friend of mine."
Sasuke looked over at Gaara and then down at Sakura who was breathing heavily while the Tattoos on her body snaked around her body. His hand unconsciously reached up and rubbed the sealed curse mark on the back of his neck as he remembered how much it first hurt.
"Fine." He grunted in defeat.
"Okay. First thing first, we need to get Sakura chan out of here and then get some food."
X
'Oh, my eyes feel like they're on fire. My body feels so heavy and I can't feel any of my chakra. My curse must be activated. That must be why I feel this way. I wonder what Naruto and the others think about this? The other…oh that's right Gaara! I saw Gaara right before I passed out and Sasuke must be back by now from whatever he was doing. I think I can hear their voices. Maybe I can wake up now….'
Sakura's long lashes began to struggle upward in an attempt to open her eyes. Her hazy emerald eyes opened half way and took in the scene around her.
"A fire?" She mumbled softly seeing the bright red and orange flames dance away the darkness.
"Ah Sakura chan your awake!" Naruto cried happily materializing by her side with some sort of biscuit in his mouth.
"Naruto…Where am I? I can't remembered what happened all that well."
"Ah Gaara came in and saved up by ripping those guys apart. Then Sasuke teme came and we all decided to drag you here for the night and then Gaara gave us some of his food and then Sasuke got up and said he would get his own and he did and now we have food from both Gaara and Sasuke and then Sasuke left and then Gaara said he needed to-"
"Okay Naruto I get the picture. For some reason I think if I didn't stop you I would be here all nigh listening to you." Sakura chuckled interrupting the blond.
"Hehe, sorry Sakura chan. But you mind telling me something?"
"What that Naruto?"
"That tattoo…Gaara said it was a curse. How did you get it?
Sakura's face fell a bit and her eye turned downward almost as if shame. Her fingers reached up and stroked the marks that covered her arms "You mean the Hiru no juin? I have had it ever since I can remember."
'Something to bring the scale into balance.'
"Hiru no juin? Doesn't that mean leech?" Naruto asked.
Sakura nodded fighting for a stile still concealed behind her mask. "Yes Hiru means leech. That's what this curse dose to me, it sucks away my charka and energy till I have nothing left one night out of every month."
"Yeah Gaara said something about it sucking away your chakra. But don't you die if all your chakra is taken?"
Sakura laughed a bit, the effort exhausting. "Yes that's true."
Naruto's eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open. "Sakura chan you're going to die!" He exclaimed grabbing her into a bone crushing hug.
Sakura laughed again while excusing herself from the embrace. Yes that's true BUT… This tattoo is still a part of me so all it's doing is taking my chakra to another part of my body. It hurts like hell but I get it all back after a full day."
"Do you know how you got it?"
Sakura nodded but did not reply.
"Do you want to tell me?" Naruto asked hoping she would say yes.
Sakura shook her head from side to side without replying once again.
Naruto sighed in defeat.
"I don't want to tell you but as your teammate I need you to trust me and that can be a pretty hard thing to do if you don't know anything about me. So I'll tell you even though I don't want to, okay.
"You don't have to Sakura chan I can understand if-"
"No, it's better if I do thi Naruto. I don't mind it so much as long as it is you. When I was born…my mother died killing that last remaining bits of sanity my father still possessed. My mother…my….mother died giving birth to me and so my father grew to resent me. As if I were the reason she died. The other issue he had against me was that I wasn't a boy. He wished to have a son he could train to become a ninja everyone would respect. He did not believe I as a female could do that. I tried to prove him wrong by perusing a path as a Kunoichi anyway."
"Sakura chan you don't have to-"
"There were some…defects from my birth and one day my father placed this curse upon me to awaken one of the birth defects. He told me it was 'something to bring the scale into balance' not that I knew what he meant. Most likely one of his loopy moments. One day after I got older some of the villagers saw these tattoos and chased me out of the village. I ran and hid for the rest of y life. I don't know what became of my father and I don't really care. I have no wish to find him again, to kill him or to live with him as his daughter once again."
"But don't you hate your dad?"
"No, he hated me that is true but…" Sakura looked away as her memory reminded her of that day she dreamed about the man that embraced her with such loving arms. She couldn't see his face but she knew it was her father. "But... there is still some goodness in him. There is goodness in everyone if you look hard enough."
"You still care for him, even after everything he did to you?" Naruto asked a bit in disbelief.
"Yeah, isn't that what love is? Caring for someone so much it doesn't matter what they do?" Sakura asked.
"I have to admit I don't really know. I've never cared about anyone like that. But I tink I can, thank you Sakura chan for being such a good example!"
Outside the line of light from the campsite on opposite sides two pairs of eyes watched the two and two pairs of ears listened in on the conversation.
I have no wish to find him again, to kill him or to live with him as his daughter once again."
"But don't you hate your dad?"
"No, I hated me that true but… But there is still some goodness in him. There is goodness in everyone if you look hard enough."
"No desire to kill even after all he did to her?"
"When I was born…my mother died killing that last remaining bits of sanity my father still possessed. My mother…my….mother died giving birth to me and so my father grew to resent me. As if I were the reason she died.
"Your mother died and your father hated you for it…just like mine in a way."
-
There I'm done. Done. I like the little part at the end with Gaara and Sasuke spying in on the two. I' so happy I dragged Gaara back into this. evil smile There is no hope for him now.Also I want to ask you all who review, should Sasuke like Sakura or should he just think of her as a teammate? Please tell me in a review.
This is the last chapter with them in the forest of death. Wow… I though I'd never get them out of there. But since that is over I can move onto these ideas that have been bugging me about this story. Her history is reviled minus the Okami part of course.
I was going to post this yesterday but I had babysitting and by the time I got back it was too late. Sorry for that. I really am sorry! Gomen, Gomen-nasai!
Please review! I'm begging you…well not begging I have at least a little pride to maintain you know. But yes I would love your reviews. I have not received a single review that I did not like. Flames are welcome!