Chapter 11: Things Are Changing
Sakura looked up at the sky as she and Ino made their way towards the arena where the Chunin exams were being held. The whole time she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened the night before. Her mind had not stopped thinking about Kiba even after she left the Inuzuka compound. She didn't even get any rest in her dreams last night; they kept repeating everything that had happened between her and Kiba late last night. She was keeping an eye out for a head of brown hair and red triangles ever since she woke up this morning.
"Sakura?" Her attention was brought back by a hand waving in front of her face. "You sure you're ok?" Ino asked looking at Sakura; she looked at the pink hair girl with worry. It wasn't like her to be this out of it.
Sakura gave Ino a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm ok. I'm just thinking about a few things that's all." She said turning her attention back at the arena. They just made it inside and took their seats; they had a perfect view of where the fighting would take place.
"Is that so?" Ino held a knowing look on her face. "Look I know being on his team probably made you think you're special, but get real billboard brow, Sasuke won't spare you a glance one he gets here. He'll be to busy looking at me." Ino said pushing some of her hair out of her eyes. She was trying to get some life out of Sakura; it really wasn't like her to be so out of it. She knew she was worried about Sasuke, Ino was worried about him herself, but that's no reason for her to be acting so weird today.
"Sasuke?" She looked at Ino and suddenly remembered about her other teammate.
'That's right. I forgot all about Sasuke and the curse mark Orochimaru put on him! I completely forgot about both of them!'Sakura wanted to kick herself for forgetting something so important. It was at the start of the second part of the Chunin exams where Orochimaru first marked Sasuke, claiming that he would later see him out for power. How could she forget? Orochimaru could reappear at any moment to try and get Sasuke!
"Sorry, Ino. Guess my mind is just so wrapped up in him, I'm just a little out of it today." Sakura said trying to cover up what she was really thinking about before. She needs to be focused now; she needs to be on the look out for Orochimaru.
Ino wasn't buying it. She's known Sakura long enough to know when she is lying and when she isn't. And she is so lying right now. "Sakura, what re you trying to hide?" Ino crossed her arms and looked directly into Sakura's eyes. She was daring her to try and lie to her.
Sakura jumped back and tried to avoid looking into Ino's eyes. If she did, she would have no choice but to tell Ino everything, and she wasn't sure if she really wanted to tell her friend or not. Ino was known as a girl, who loved to hear new gossip, but she was also known for spreading it around faster then a wild fire spreads. "What are you trying to say? I'm not hiding anything!" Sakura moved her eyes in every direction, trying to avoid Ino's look. This wasn't turning into a good day for her.
"Sakura…!" Ino gave her friend a warning. She knew she was lying and would do whatever she had to do, to get the information out of her.
Sakura knew she lost. She may as well tell her now rather then later where things could be worse. "Oh, alright." She began her story of what happened with Kiba. She told her about what happened at the academy, the Chunin exams, the hospital, and what had happened yesterday at his house.
"What? Kiba told you he loved you!" Ino screamed jumping in her seat. She hadn't expected that to come out of Sakura's mouth.
"Ssh!" Sakura clamped a hand over her friend's mouth, pulling her back down to her seat. "Be quite. I don't want the whole village to know." She told her friend looking around to see if anyone heard them. It didn't look like anyone did so for now she was safe.
"But…But…Sakura! What did you say?" Ino pressed for more information. Since she figured out about Kiba's feelings for Sakura back when they were finishing up at the academy, she's always wondered if or when Kiba would tell Sakura.
"I…well…I told him that I liked him." Sakura had a small blush on her face and was staring at her hands. "But I told him I still like Sasuke so even if I wanted too, I couldn't be with him." She mumbled the last part. She didn't realize it before but she sounded really stupid and selfish.
"Why would you tell him that? Are you crazy!" Ino looked at Sakura and was suddenly confused. "I don't get it. I thought you just said that you told Kiba you like him."
"I do." Sakura said looking at Ino. "I do, but I still like Sasuke, so it wouldn't be fair to be with Kiba if half the time I'm thinking about someone else." She said wondering what she would be like the next time she saw one of the two boys. Would she be as confused as she is now, or would she suddenly find her answer?
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ino hated to admit it, but what Sakura was saying made some sense to her. If she was in the same situation as Sakura, she would probably make the very same decisions. "So what are you gonna do for now? I mean it's not like you can avoid the two guys. You're on the same team as Sasuke, and sooner or later, you'll find yourself alone with Kiba." She told her looking down at the arena where the fighters started to gather around.
"That's the thing. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do." Sakura decided she might as well tell Ino everything if she was going to help her. "I thought when it comes down to love you're just supposed to know which guy is the one for you. But it's just the opposite for me." She looked up at the sky watching as the birds flew freely around her. "For the longest time, I've always believed that I love Sasuke and he was my dream. But when it comes to Kiba…" She paused choosing her words carefully.
"Well…?" Ino pushed her to continue. "What about Kiba?"
Sakura looked away from the sky and glanced at Ino. "Nothing. It's just Kiba. It's like I juts know who he is, what he likes, I just know him and I like feeling that way." She said simply watching as the contestants started to gather. Everyone was there but Naruto and Sasuke. That made her worry even more what could happen during the fighting today.
'Sasuke…Naruto…please tell me you didn't meet up with that snake!'She thought desperately picturing Orochimaru wearing the same look he had on the day he told Sakura that Sasuke would go to him for power. That thought made her worry more and clenched her fist in her lap, trying not to show just how nervous she really was.
'Would Sasuke really leave? No he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't. I know we aren't exactly close but we're still teammates and we're a lot closer now then we were in the beginning. He wouldn't leave us…right?'She didn't know how to answer that. She wasn't sure if she even really wanted too. Sakura knew everything about Sasuke, almost every girl in their class did, but one thing Sakura knew for sure was that Sasuke wanted to get stronger. He wants to get stronger so he could beat his brother. 'Would Sasuke really go to Orochimaru if he thought it could help him with killing his brother? I'm not sure anymore. He…Sasuke…I don't know what I'm supposed to think about him anymore. Things are changing. Fast.'She thought to herself praying that nothing would happen today.
"Sakura?" Ino saw the look in Sakura's eyes. A look of pure worry and fright rested in her green orbs. She didn't know what Sakura was so afraid of, maybe it was because Naruto was fighting against Neji? "You gonna be alright?"
Finally hearing that Ino was talking to her, Sakura nodded her head and forced out a smile. "Yeah, I'll be ok." She hated herself for sounding so stupid. She wouldn't be alright until this whole this with Sasuke and Orochimaru were over.
"That's good. Now you can focus on the fight now that you figured out your Sasuke/Kiba problem." Ino said in a very happy tone.
"Huh?" Sakura gave her a confused look. "When did I say I solved my Sasuke/Kiba problem? I told you, I don't know which one I like the most." She reminded her blonde friend wondering if she was even listening to her at all.
"And you did." Ino told her with a smile. "You said that when it comes to love, that you just know. Well you do know!"
"I do?" Sakura had no idea what Ino was trying to tell her.
"Yes! You said that when you think about Kiba that you just know who he is. That you just know, Kiba." Ino said repeating some of what Sakura told her.
Sakura just nodded her head, wondering where Ino was going with this. The whole thing was making her more and more confused. And it didn't help that her dream kept popping up in her head, making it harder for her to concentrate on what Ino was talking about.
"Well that's it!" Ino shouted like she just solved the end to world hunger. "You just know Kiba. Just like you said that that's what love is. You just know."
'I just know…' She thought it over and somehow it made so much sense to her.
Somehow it just all started to fit inside her head and her heart. Sakura was beginning to understand exactly what her heart wanted.
"I understand now." She said with a bright smile. "I finally understand what my heart has been telling me for so long now. I finally know now that the one I really love is…!" Sakura stopped speaking when she felt something on her feet. She looked down at the ground and saw a brown snake circling her feet. "AHH!" She cried and kicked the snake away.
"Sakura!" Ino screamed next jumping in her seat when she saw the snake herself. "You ok?" She asked trying not to shiver. Snakes freaked her out!
Sakura didn't answer her. She was still looking at her feet, where the snake once was, taking in deep breathes. 'That snake…'Her mind began to remember what was going on around her. 'It looked exactly like the snake that attacked us in the Forest of Death. Only smaller!' Sakura's mind started flashing images of what took place during the exam. The snake that had attacked them, the three sound-nin, and Orochimaru marking Sasuke with his curse mark.
'What am I thinking? This is no time to be thinking about things like that! Not while that monster is still around, and after Sasuke.'She could hear Orochimaru's voice clearly in her head. Him telling her how Sasuke would leave them all and go to him for power. 'Get a hold of yourself, Sakura! There's no time for that sort of thing. I have to make sure that Sasuke won't leave before I can even think about that.'She told herself shaking away all didn't involve keeping Sasuke in the village.
Ino was watching her friend and was as confused as ever. Sakura was acting very strange to her and she wanted to know what was happening. "Hey? Are you sure…?"
"Where are those too?" Sakura suddenly perked up and looked a little annoyed. "They're going to miss their fights if they don't get over here soon." She said with a little sigh watching everyone get into place down in the arena.
Ino blinked a few times in confusion to the sudden change in Sakura's mood but let it go. "You know Naruto, he's probably sleeping still." Ino just rolled her eyes thinking about Naruto and how he was probably just waking up now and would be running to the final competition in his pajamas. "It may be like Naruto to be late, but it's not at all like Sasuke. I wonder where he is." She looked all around for a pair of black hair but saw none that belonged to Sasuke. She let out a deep sigh. "He's probably going to make a dramatic entrance!" She said with a small blush thinking of how cool Sasuke will look when he shows up.
Sakura looked back down at her lap again and once again looked worried. The image she got of Sasuke's grand entrance was of him fighting with Orochimaru. 'Please don't let it be that!'She silently prayed that he was for once just running late like Naruto.
Ino looked around again as everyone was lined up behind the Procter. "What's going on? Where is everyone? This is about to get started." She said, thinking how weird it was that so many contestants were missing.
'Yeah, what's going on? Sasuke, and even Naruto are no where to be seen.'Sakura didn't like this. She was starting to get a very bad feeling about all of this. Looking around her, she searched for any signs of Kiba. Somehow just knowing that he was there would make her feel better; if not safer knowing that there were people she could rely on. Her search was in vain though. She saw some Inuzukas, but none were Kiba.
'But where is he? His teammate is fighting in this, so Kiba should be here.'She thought, once again looking fro him and Akamaru.
Her thoughts, however, stopped thinking of Kiba when she started to hear something. It sounded like something big was coming and there was screaming.
"Hey Ino?" She called for her attention.
"Yeah? What's up?" Ino asked looking at Shikamaru, silently screaming at him to stop looking around like an idiot and concentrate.
"Do you hear something?" She asked the noise was getting louder and louder.
Ino listened for a moment but shook her head. "No. I don't hear anything."
Was she hearing things? "Oh. But…!"
She was interrupted when Naruto came flying into the arena and crashing down where the fighters were all lined up. He lied there for a moment, looking very dizzy and very tired.
"Naruto!" Sakura didn't know when she was ever so happy to see the blonde knuckle-head before, but she was really glad that he finally arrived.
"Yeah, but he's totally late. Of course." Ino added not feeling the same happy feeling that Sakura had for the ninja.
"Well who cares." Sakura didn't, she was just glad that he was there. "At least he made it."
"Yeah, but what's he talking about down there?" Ino asked listening to him yell at them about something. A thing of stampeding bulls? "Dumb fool." She muttered rolling her eyes.
Sakura only gave a weak chuckle as the proctor scolded Naruto and Shikamaru. She didn't know when she started to care about Naruto so much, but she did now. It might have been during their time in the Forest of Death. Naruto had shown her and Sasuke a whole new side of himself. A side that showed them both just how powerful and reliable he really was.
Her eyes, now bright with happiness, searched the arena one more for her other teammate but were darken when she saw no sign of him. She had hoped that he would arrived with Naruto, but that wasn't the case. Sasuke was still nowhere to be found.
'Where is Sasuke? And why did he sneak out of his hospital room?'Her mind flashed back to the empty room in the hospital that Sasuke was supposed to be resting in.
"But maybe he didn't leave? Maybe somebody took him?" She muttered to herself, the feeling of dread washing over her body. She didn't know what she was supposed to do anymore. Sasuke made her promise to tell no one about the curse mark, but she was starting to think that she should now.
"Hey Sakura?' Ino turned to face her friend. "I know that you're worried about Sasuke, but come on. Don't be such a lump, aren't you at least going to cheer Naruto on?"
Sakura thought over what Ino was saying and forced out a big smile. "You're right." Naruto was her teammate too and she should at least cheer him on.
Ino, happy that Sakura listened to her, turned her attention back to the arena. "That's more like it. Not that the runt has a hope in hell against Neji." She said thinking of how quickly the match would end. Naruto may have beaten Kiba, but Neji was a genius.
"He's not that bad." Sakura said back, not liking how Ino was talking bad about Naruto. She didn't understand just how far he has really gotten from his days back in the academy.
"Are you kidding?" Ino had to stop the laugh that anted to escape. "Not that bad, is that the best you can do?"
Sakura just sighed and looked down at Naruto. She didn't want to say it, but she was worried for him. She knew just how strong Neji was from all the rumors, but Naruto was strong too. She just had to believe that he could win this, that he wasn't what everyone kept saying he was.
'Naruto…win this!' She silently cheered waiting for the match to start. She didn't know it but things are changing for all of them now. This match was only the starting point of that change that would happen with everyone in the leaf village.
Kiba Inuzuka let out a deep sigh once he was away from his house and heading towards the meeting place of where Hinata was probably waiting for him. He felt bad for making her wait, but he couldn't help it. It was out of pure instincts that he went to Sakura's house first, to see if maybe she was running late and didn't leave yet. Too bad that wasn't the case.
"Man, this stinks." He sighed to Akamaru, who was resting in his hood. "And here I hoped this exam would be the perfect opportunity to get loser to Sakura!" He cried taking another whiff of his jacket. The one that Sakura had worn the night before at his house. He couldn't get enough of her scent, it had never been so close to him before and he was inhaling as much as he could.
'I wonder if it would be like this if Sakura and I started to live together?'He let his imagination start to flow, thinking of how his life would be like if he and Sakura lived together like a real couple.
He would wake up in the morning, Sakura sleeping right beside him in their bed, bodies tangled together from sleep. He would breathe in her wonderful scent and wake her up with a god morning kiss. Then they would move downstairs where she would cook him and Akamaru breakfast, humming a happy tune the whole time. They would eat together, laughing and talking about their dreams and what they would be doing that morning. Then Kiba would get ready for work, while Sakura stayed home to take care of their kids. He would say goodbye to all five of their kids before leaving, but not before he got a goodbye kiss from his wife.
Kiba blushed at the fantasy, wishing that it was real. He knew that he was only thirteen and way too young for marriage, but he couldn't really help it. He found the woman he wanted to mate with, so fantasies like that were bound to pop up in his head. He just really wished that they would come true!
"One day…" Kiba looked up into the sky. "I'll make sure everyone of these damn fantasies comes true! Sakura will forget all about Sasuke and give all her love and attention to me!" He vowed as he entered the training ground. He could see Hinata in the distance and remembered that he kept her waiting longer then he would have liked.
"Hey Hinata! Sorry I'm so late." He called when he saw his teammate leaning against one of the wooden posts that were there. "Oh well. Shino's match isn't until later anyways." He had one hand in his pocket, waiting for Hinata to respond so they could get going. He wanted to move and see Sakura again before some other person, another guy, tried sitting next to her.
Hinata remained silent, not saying a word to Kiba. "Huh?" He knew she was shy but she usually talked to him. "Hey, what's with you?" He walked closer to her still form; she seemed to be staring in one certain direction. He looked back and forth between Hinata and what she was looking at. "Hmm? What? What is it?" He looked to but he didn't see anything there.
'Ok, this is weird. Even for Hinata.'He thought waving a hand in front of her face.
"Huh?" Hinata finally snapped out of it.
"It's 'bout time you came too." He replied with a small smile. "Let's go." He pushed her along, not wanting to waste anymore time. They were late enough for the exams and he didn't want to miss seeing Shino's match, or seeing Sakura.
"K-Kiba?" Hinata tired to get him to stop pushing her. "I-I can w-walk." She muttered looking at her hands.
"Wha…?" Kiba suddenly realized what he was doing and stopped pushing Hinata. "Sorry. I just want to get there." He said rubbing the back of his head
Hinata nodded and walked along side Kiba as they made their way to the arena. There weren't that many people that were still coming in and they saw that a lot of the seats were filled up. They looked around but only saw filled rows. When they came across the row that Sakura was in, Kiba gave a small whimper when he saw that there were no open seats. There goes his plan of getting close to her during the fights.
'I'll just have to catch her after the fights.'He thought continuing his searches for two seats. It took them a while but he finally found them, right in the front row too.
"Hey Hinata. Look, these seats are free." He pointed out standing next to the only two open spots.
Hinata walked down a few steps and smiled. "Oh, thanks." They took their seats and watched as Naruto and Neji stood waiting for their match to begin.
"I think is going to be an interesting match." Kiba said hoping the fight would start soon. He wanted to see just what Naruto would do against Neji. He didn't think the kid had it in him to go so far, but he proved Kiba wrong. Naruto really did get a lot stronger then he ever thought he would.
'I guess that's one reason why, Sakura kept cheering him on.'Kiba thought stealing a glance in Sakura's direction. He may not have been as close to her as he would have liked, but he was glad that she was still in his line of vision. As long as he could still see her, he would be able to relax. For now. One they started going out; he would need to be by her side almost all the time. He couldn't have some stupid male fool, namely Sasuke, trying to seduce her.
"Who would have believed that little squirt would have survived this long." A Chunin know as, Kotetsu Hagane, said with a smirk.
"Yeah. He's been one lucky kid so far, but his lucks about to run out." His partner known as, Izumo Kamizuki, replied wearing the same smirk.
The two were watching Naruto and Neji, waiting for the fight between the two Genin to start too.
"He'll never survive this one." Izumo added.
"Yeah, it's gonna be painful." Kotetsu replied. "Going up against one of the Hyūga clan. He doesn't have a chance."
Kiba listened in on them; Hinata was as well and glaring at them for saying that stuff about Naruto. Kiba only smirked at their ignorance. 'Yeah, I thought that too. At first. And look what happened. He's out there and I'm sitting up here on my butt.'He thought thinking how Naruto was gonna prove them wrong.
Akamaru's whimpers brought his mind away from the two Chunin, and onto what his dog was telling him. "Huh? Yeah, Akamaru, what is it?" He asked him as his companion told him of what was bothering him.
"What the…? Are you sure?" Kiba gasped at what Akamaru told him.
He looked all around him, moving his eyes from one spot to the next. 'Where…?'He searched on. He finally spotted what he was searching for. Moving his head to the side, to get a better look at what he was searching for. 'Up there!'A man in a white and red mask was standing up at the top of the rows, watching down on the match as well. 'What the hell are the Anbu Black Ops doing here? Something's going on!'He didn't know what it was, but he knew it had something to do with the Chunin exams. Ever since the preliminary rounds, he's had a bad feeling. Instantly he moved his gaze to Sakura, watching her look down at Naruto. His instincts were screaming at him to get closer to her, so he could protect her, but he knew he couldn't. It would cause too much of a scene and he didn't need for that to happen.
It was against him and what his instincts where screaming at him to do Kiba stayed put in his seat. He would sit and pretend that everything was normal, but would keep an eye out for anything that could cause them any harm. He kept a watchful eye on Sakura. One wrong move anywhere near her and he would be out of his seat in an instant. No way was he going to let something happen to her. Now that his feelings were finally out, Kiba would do everything he could do that would show Sakura that he was the right one for her.
"I w-wonder…" Hinata's voice caught Kiba's attention.
"Yeah? What is it?" He asked, thinking it was probably about Naruto. He knew about the crush she had on the blonde knuckle-head. He was able to smell it on her the day they were assigned to be on the same team. It was hard to hide stuff from an Inuzuka.
"S-Sasuke. He…h-he's not there." She said looking up where the rest of their fighters were. "O-Or th-the sound n-ninja." She added.
Kiba's eyes widen with shock for a moment before he looked where Hinata was looking. Sure enough, he didn't see Sasuke or the sound-nin. He didn't care about the sound-nin, he was no concern of Kiba, but Sasuke definitely was. If Sasuke wasn't here then what does that mean? Wasn't he supposed to be fighting in the next match?
He moved his gaze back to Sakura and it hardened when he smelt the dread coming off her. Even with their distance, he could smell it so strongly on her. 'Something is really wrong. Sakura is worried about something and it's not Naruto. It has something to do with Sasuke.'He remembered back to the preliminary rounds, Sakura had the same smell on her there too. He didn't know what, but something happened to Sakura, and Sasuke, during their challenge in the Forest of Death.
'Sakura…just what's happening to you and your team?'Kiba questioned not knowing the horror that Sakura and her team faced during the second part of the Chunin exams.