Bright smile of the loved

I touch the bottom of my now so short hair. It's been a while since I last had hair this short. It was a long time ago. It was a while before... hmm. Maybe it was right before my dad left us. I was only 7, if I remember correctly. My mom and dad always fought with one another- I never figured out what it was about but it was enough to make my dad leave us.

"Hey, Sakura? Is that you?" I hear Sasuke's voice.

"Of course it is," Itachi says bluntly, "who else in the world has pink hair like that?"

Sasuke snorts. "Who the hell knows?" I turn to look at the Uchiha brothers and smile. "Besides, Sakura, the change- looks good. Any particular reason why?"

I purse my lips and look into Sasuke's eyes then Itachi's. "I guess I needed a change. How does it look?"

"Good," Sasuke and Itachi both say at once. They both look at each other then back to me. I giggle and walk over to the identical brothers.

"I hate it when you two do the same thing at the same time, you know that." I pat their arms. Both smirk, identically. A pang of annoyance runs through me. "Yeah, ok, whatever."

A pang of worry washes over me. My thoughts of last night run through my head, before I could even think really about what had run through my head, the bus pulls up and we all step in. I immediately go and sit with Hinata, like I had the first day.

"I-I love y-y-your hair, Sa-Sakura." Hinata studders touching the bottom of my hair. I beam at her.

"You do? Oh that's great! I was hoping it would get a good reaction." I blab, grinning at my shy friend.

Ino leans over the seat in front of Hinata and I, she inspects my hair with a critical eye. After a moment of inspection she turns away and for a moment, rustles around in her backpack only to turn back with scissors. She reaches out and cuts a piece of hair. TenTen who was sitting next to her scrunches her face, analyzing for a second before nodding approvingly in my direction.

"Better." TenTen says cooly, grinning.

Ino puts the scissors away and smirks at me. "Totally. It's new and definitely works with your round face."

I smack my hands against my cheeks. "My face isn't round!"

Hinata giggles. "Only a tad bit, S-Sakura-chan. It's barely noticeable, really!" she says in that soft voice of hers.

"What are we talking about?" Kankuro asks, looking over at us. Gaara looking to, his face thoughtful.

"Sakura's round face," Ino says like we were talking about the weather and not about the roundness of my face. Kankuro nods.

"Understandable. It's a good toppic to get into."

I bury my face into my hands and shrink in my seat, trying to hide the amount of red on my face. "I am so embarrass." I mutter, only succeeding in making my friends laugh at me.

"Everything is healing up fine, Ms. Haruno. Although, I would like to see Sakura again at the end of the week to check out that shoulder again to make sure that it is healing properly." The doctor says in a soft voice, looking at me a look of admiration and... pity?

Who would of guessed that when I fell into the river that I hit my shoulder on a large rock and dislocated it. It was strange that it didn't feel like it was out of place, but the doctor said it was just twisted awkwardly and he had to twist it back. Which hurt. A lot. That goes without saying in the least.

My mother nods gratefully, dressed in her police uniform. "Thank you, doctor. Is there any pain relievers we should use to help Sakura in case her side and shoulder start hurting again?" she asks.

The doctor nods, looking at my chart one more time before suggesting Ibuprofen or Relieve. "Now, I would like to see you both on Friday at 5 oclock if that is alright?" he looks to my mother for confirmation.

She nods. "5 oclock will be fine."

The week flew by and when my second doctors appointment was finished we headed home so my mom could change before we head over to the Uchiha's house.

"How about this?" mom asks, holding a nice deep red blouse up to her torso. I scrutinize it.

"It looks good, but why are you trying to look nice?"

Mom gives me a 'duh!' look. "Sakura, Fugaku Uchiha is my boss firstly and secondly, they are classy people. You still want to give off a good impression." she says, throwing the shirt away and grabbing a black one instead and looking at herself in the mirror.

I grin. "A good impression like taking a bullet for one of their sons. Yeah, I'm sure we could go there dressed like hoes and they would not think less of us, mom." I said lazily, leaning back on her bed and look over at her as she makes a face at me in the reflection of the mirror.

"Language, Sakura."

I wave her off. "Yeah, yeah, sorry mom. But seriously, you look fine with the black. Besides it's slimming."

Mom purses her lips. "Well, thanks!" she says sarcastically. She looks back at herself and smiles. "Yeah, ok. Black it is."

I sit up. "Fantastic! Let's go!"

We grab our coats and head out the door, locking it behind us. As we headed to the car I thought I spotted something moving in the shadows. A pang of fear, familiar to the one from this morning, hits my heart and makes my chest constrict.

I watch the darkness for a moment, nothing moving or making any noise to indicate that something was there. My heart speeds up and my hip aches slightly like a sixths sense started kicking in.

Someone really is watching my mother and I...

But who could it be?

A/N: I am so sorry for the slow update! My school year started and I have been swamped with homework. I am sorry. Please show that you haven't forgotten me. Rate review and have a good day!