If anyone can quess at the first song on the top of their heads i'll dedicate the next chapter to them! And if you can find that song as a ringtone... i'll love you so much that i'll continue writing non-stop!
Chapter 14-
Painful Memories
The day was nearly beginning and Sakura found herself at their place, their special place. This place was where they met for meetings, their old bridge that overlooked the river. Sakura had walked around most of yesterday; or the day that she returned from her mission of switching places with the Princess. Sakura had been standing there for not a long time, but to her it felt like forever.
Earlier she had gone to the fist place they had trained together; there she walked around and stopped in the places she had once stood. She had also gone to her old school only to find obviously closed. After that she headed toward the ramen stand, much to her surprise Naruto wasn't there. Sakura had laughed when she remembered the three trying to see Kakashi's face; only to be interrupted by Ino's group. Then after that she continued going to other places that held memories.
Finally, she found herself at the place that they spent most of their time together; mostly waiting for Kakashi to finally come many hours later. Sakura was leaning against the railing with her arms folded resting across the surface of the ledge; her head resting on top of her arms. She stared out into the slowly moving, calm river. It reflected the sky above and herself. She'd changed a bit over the years, but, it's true that they all went on their own paths.
In Sakura's mind, many memories and thoughts flashed through her head.
I can remember that time when Naruto tried to trick me into thinking that he was Sasuke. I can still chuckle at the thought of seeing 'Sasuke-kun' kiss me; I can't believe I almost did. Also, that time when we were attacked by the Demon brothers…and Sasuke-kun came to save her, telling her to "Stay back". There was that other time when Kakashi taught us to climb trees with our chakra, Naruto and Sasuke stayed out so late that day trying to be as good as me.
I sighed as I thought about how we defeated Zabuza and Haku only to find that Sasuke-kun was barely living. I can still remember seeing his limp body covered in senbon needles, and then I cried over him and he woke up telling me that I was heavy.
I smiled when I remembered how kind Sasuke-kun was to me when we had gone to Koro's kingdom. I hope I never see that perverted obsessonizer again! I frowned as I recalled our encounter with Lee-san. How Sasuke-kun lost to him and I was able to catch him when he fell. I'll always be there for him when he falls; too bad he never realized that. There were those times in the Forest of Death where we had our moments; especially when we had to find out if Naruto was the real one or not.
I shivered at the next thought. And when Orochimaru appeared and branded Sasuke-kun with the curse seal. I can remember taking care of both of them carefully and forcing myself to stay conscious. Then Lee-san came to save me along with the others; but they all fell. But then Sasuke-kun awoke and returned what they did to me. I stopped him and he returned back to normal. The curse seal scared me back then, and it still kinda does to this day. It scares me to think that it could put him in so much pain that he could die; at least I know now that he hasn't died yet.
Then I can remember how Sasuke won his Chuunin fights and how he ran after Gaara. I was so happy when I woke up to find that Sasuke-kun had saved me; but then only to find out that Naruto saved me. But they both did. Naruto took care of Gaara while Sasuke-kun remained by me, as if to make sure I was saved. They were both always there to save me. I can remember how Sasuke-kun challenged Naruto to a fight, almost killing each other…and me. I can remember diving after Sasuke-kun's body after Aoi beat him. Good thing Idate had Naruto still with him, as Sasuke-kun and I were useless until we got back up to the bridge.
And then… I remember the night Sasuke-kun left. I had cried a lot that night. He should've taken me with him! But then… what use could I have been back then? I didn't know what I do now. Now I have super strength, superior medical skills, fast speed, and my intelligence has increased. Now I am not as emotion as I was back then, but I always have a moment or two…like now.
I lifted my head from it's place and rested my gaze upon the sky. "Why?"
Why do I continue to be worthless? Why do I stay here? Why do I not go after Sasuke-kun after my recent mission? Why do I wither away here? Why do I continue to feel so alone? Why? Why? WHY?
I slip down to the ground like a doll. My legs on both sides of me and my head drooping as if I were actually a rag doll. Where is my puppeteer? Do I have a puppeteer?
"Why… why…?" I couldn't believe after all this time I'm actually breaking down again.
I can't do this. I won't break again until I'm fixed. I stand up brushing away my tears. I won't stop until I find him and drag him back, even if it kills me. I don't want anyone else to leave me, not now, not ever again. It's always so painful to loose them. I can still remember when I technically moved to Konoha, I was alone.
I turned around and saw the familiar face of a friend.
"You're late." I chuckle as he walks over to me.
"Indeed so." He chuckled, "You see, I was lost on the road of life."
He was standing next to me, "Liar." I smiled at him as he joined me leaning against the railing. "So what brings you our here Sensei?"
Kakashi sighs, "The same thing that you're out here for."
I look down and sigh. "I see."
We stood there in the silence until he broke it, "So what was it that happened on your last mission? No one seems to know, but no one even knows that something happened on your last mission."
I take a deep breath. I can tell that he's staring at me closely, he definitely wants to know.
"I... ran into Sasuke-kun."
He let out an exhausted sigh as he looked down. "At least he isn't dead yet. But what is Orochimaru planning now?"
I forced a smile as I look up at my Sensei. He seems to be worried about what Orochimaru might have Sasuke do next. I look back down at the wooden planks.
"Sakura…"
I look back up at him. "Hn?"
"If you saw him once, you'll see him again. Don't worry. Keep trying." And as soon as he said that he pushed against the railing and walked away.
My eyes just watched the retreating figure and I smiled. He's right. We'll meet again, our paths may lead in different directions, but they always run into each other eventually. Perhaps, I'll go home and take a nap; I have to check in with Tsunade at eight. It's probably already around four.
I push my self away from the bridge edge and trudge my way 'home', to my apartment. Technically it isn't mine, but if I do go home I can drown away in the smell that still exists there, his smell. A few moments later I find myself in front of the familiar dark door and I take out my keys and open it. The door swings open and reveals the lonesome dark room. It's almost as if it begged me home because it was lonely. I stepped in and closed the door, thus sitting down on the bed and flopping over on the side. This bed will always be comfy and smell like him, but it will always call to me. Somehow I am able to resist it's call and I sleep on the couch. Not once have I disturbed the bed where he once slept, but there are the occasional times that I could help but soak up his scent or sit on the edge like I am doing now.
I stand from the bed and stride to my bed, the couch and sit down on the dark cushions. I am tired, but I can't sleep. My mind is too restless now. I'm surrounded by his things, his scent, his memories. I haven't lived here long, but I've come to see this place as sanctuary, probably the same way he found it as well.
I turn to the glass windows and see that the sun was slowly arising from the horizon, but only to be covered by the dark muggy clouds and the rain that had just started pouring. It's almost like the sky is connected with my feelings, but I do not wish to cry. I'll continue to hold in most of my feelings until the time comes, Kakashi especially knows this.
I take a deep breath and lay down on the couch, picking up the remote at the same time. What was the last thing I watched? It was awhile ago, I cannot remember. I flipped on the small TV and pressed play to see what was in. I was greeted by one of my favorite things in the world (A/n: I LOVE IT!).
Benkyuou dame demo. Kakekk, biri demo, kokutte furaretemo.
Mainichi mainichi, shukudai wasurete gakkou de sensei ni shikararetatt.
Iijan. Iijan.
Iijan! Iijan!
Ryouri ga heto demo, souji ga heta demo, kuruma wo butsu ketemo.
Mainichi mainichi, gorogoro daradara ohirune bakkari shiteitatte.
Iijan, Iijam.
Iijan! Iijan!
Muda na doryoku mo dossari shita kedo.
Kagami no naka mitsuketayo kotae wo.
Keserasera to mahout no jumon wo tonaete mireba.
Fishigi subete ga kirakira kagayaitekuru.
Itsumo to onaji nannimo kawaranai jibun de itemo.
Sore ga ii no sa sekai de ichiban boku ga suki.
Sekai de ichiban minna suki!
HEY!
Or translated to:
Studying is useless, always last in races, you're even easily ditched too.
Every single day I forgot to do homework and get scolded by the teacher at school.
It's Ok! It's Ok!
It's Ok! It's Ok!
Lousy at cooking, lousy in cleaning, you even crash the car.
Every single day you are idle and sluggish, and you nap all day long.
It's Ok! It's Ok!
It's Ok! It's Ok!
Although you put in a lot of effort, it's futile.
You've found the answer in a mirror.
Que sera sera! You try and chant the magic spell.
Miraculously everything shines prettily.
But as usual nothing changes by itself.
But that is fine, I'm the most loved in the world!
We are loved the most in the world!
HEY!
I chuckled. I absolutely love this show, even though it was the shortest series in the world. Lasting about ten minutes long and in 26 episodes. The show itself was hilarious and cute; it always brought me some happiness. But in this case I still hurt but I was entranced by the show. After the ten minutes was up I decided that that was all for tonight. And after that I slipped under the three blankets at the foot of the couch and fell to sleep.
--Dream--
"Father! Mother! Oniisan! Where are you?" A girl was sobbing in an enclosed office.
A person from behind the girl patted her shoulder as the other person in front of the girl tried to calm down the young child.
"Shhh. Shhh… It's ok." Came the soothing voice of the Sandamine.
The girl looked up at the man sniffling, "B-but…Where is father?"
The 3rd sighed and hugged the girl.
"He's…out on a mission…" Replied the silver hair shinobi that was comforting her from behind.
"W-where is Oniisan?"
Both the men looked at each other. "He's off with your father." Replied Kakashi.
"Then where is mama?" The girl looked up questioningly.
Again the two looked at each other. "She's…uh… out curing people." Kakashi said again.
"LIAR!" Screamed the girl.
--Dream end--
I woke with a start. The first thing that came to mind was 'What the hell?' That was not my dream, it was someone else's. I could tell that whoever's dream it was hadn't dreamt of it in a while. I sat up from my bed in my pitch black room. I had the shutters closed making it so that no light could come through, but oddly there was the sound of rain outside. 'Rain? Again? It seemed to him that it rained on days that I thought of Sakura. I saw her recently, making it rain. When I left, the day after it rained. When I sat at the window and saw a cheery blossom sweep by, it was raining. Why did it always rain when I thought about that stupid worthless girl? He did not know. Perhaps it is a sign telling him that he shouldn't have left? Who knows. All he knew that the person that he seems to be connected to is really starting to piss him off.
First the uncontrollable emotions, now the strange dreams. What next? A personality change? He sure hopes not. Just yesterday after I returned with my first failed mission and Orochimaru was disappointed in me, it was late, real late and I started having these weird flashbacks. Most of them were team 7 ones. I wasn't even thinking about them when they came to me. But what got to me more was that it wasn't from my point of view, it was from someone else's, I got to see all these things that happened in the past. For example the time when we beat Zabuza and Haku and I couldn't really move, I thought I was dead but I awoke to see her; but the only problem was that it was like I was looking through her eyes or even Tazuna's.
Whatever is going on, I want it to stop, and that's final. It's like I'm going on male PMS or something. The emotions hit me in a wave and I can't control them, awhile ago Kabuto could've sworn a tear escaped my eyes. Why the hell would I cry! Nothing was even going on Damnit!
A light tapping came from his door and an annoying voice came with it, "Sasuke-san, are you awake?"
Fuck. What a great way to wake up. First a disturbing dream, now Kabuto. I mumble as I stand up and open the door.
"What?" I glare at him.
"Now now, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Kabuto said in his annoying voice.
"Shut up." I growl.
"Well, Orochimaru wants to see you later today…Sasuke-san where are you going?" Kabuto asked as I passed by him and left.
"Hn." Was the only reply Kabuto got.
I decided that I need to walk around to clear my mind. I hate his. When I meet that person I'm going to kill them for putting me through this shit. Because of that one tear incident Kabuto is always making fun of me now. I'll get rid of Kabuto as well. I turned a few corner and found myself at the entrance of their hiding place, I walked away from the camp and into the wide forest.
I won't ever return to Konoha. NEVER. Once I take revenge on my brother there is only one thing left to do. But Konoha won't forgive me, so I won't find it there; I'll find it somewhere else. Konoha has no importance to me. Unfortunately, my thoughts were disrupted by the sense of a group of three near by. Better go check it out.
I jumped away and spotted the three, they were Konoha shinobi; probably coming back from a mission. I sat in my perch watching them to make sure they didn't go towards camp. And they didn't look like they were going to, but one of them caught my eye. How could one miss the black bowel cut hair, thick eyebrows and green spandex? Some people never change. I bored into his back. I'd love to get rid of him, but that would mean us having to move camp again. Instead, I noticed him drop something without noticing. After a few moments they were long gone and I walked over to what Lee dropped.
What a loser. He dropped his wallet. It was thing and was dark brown, how ugly. I picked it up and walked back to my room. When I entered I threw it onto my desk and something fell out. A tape? What the hell. He's a moron. I looked inside his wallet and raised an eyebrow. Inside was tons of cash but… also there were tons of pictures of a person I hated with a passion.
They were old pictures, how'd he get the group picture of Team 7? That was the first picture that was there, the blonde idiot, the pink haired moron, and me with Kakashi resting his hands on us. This picture…I hate it. I flipped three of the pages and saw some more old pictures of her; when she had long hair and when she had short hair. I flipped to the next page and saw something different. It was a more mature faced Sakura with short hair still. Instead of her bright smile, it was replaced with a…forced smile? I flipped the next pages and saw the same thing. The last picture I came to was a festival one with all of them; Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, Ten-ten, Lee, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Gaara, Canker, and Temari. Naruto stood next to Hinata with his arm around her. Gaara, Kankuro, and Shino all stood together as they stared at the camera. Ten-ten had her arm locked with Neji's and Kiba nudging him with his elbow. Ino had her arms crossed on Shikamaru's head as he kneeled. And Sakura stood there in her black with pink cherry blossoms kimono warding off Lee with her fist. Lee looking like he was trying to get close to her.
I threw the wallet across the room. Morons. They're so weak and stupid; all of them…except maybe Neji. They were all pointless. They weren't friends; friends are only fairy tales. I looked down and saw the tape. What the hell? I popped it into a stereo and played it.
This
is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole
world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely
love her
When she smiles
How many days in a year
She
woke up with hope but she only found tears?
I can be so insincere
Making the promises never for real
As long as she stands
there waiting
Wearing the holes in the souls of her shoes
How
many days disappear?
You look in the mirror so how do you choose?
And the clothes that you wear
Look swell the next day
Your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to
run out of things to say
This is the story of a girl
And
while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When
she smiles
How many lovers would stay?
Just to put up
with this shit day after day
How did we wind up this way?
Watching our mouths for the words that we say
As long as we
stand here waiting
Wearing the clothes on the souls of our shoes
How do we get there today?
When we're walking too far for the
price of her shoes
And the clothes that you wear
Look
swell the next day
Your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say
This is the
story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love
her
When she smiles
And the clothes that you wear
Look
swell the next day
Your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say
This is the
story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love
her
This is the story of a girl
Her pretty face she hid
from the world
And while she looks so sad and lonely there
I
absolutely love her
This is the story of a girl
Who cried
a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in
photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles
When
she smiles!
I was twitching during the entire song. I was almost as if Lee dropped the stupid wallet on purpose. WAIT! Oh shit. I think he did. He must have known I was watching them. Just great. What the fuck kid of message was he trying to send? That she's the best when she smiles? Who the fuck cares? I sure don't! "Love" Is pointless and it makes you weak. It's just something your mind makes up, it's not real. Stupid morons! I throw the chair across the room and it breaks into splints. GREAT! JUST GREAT! Now I need to get another fucking chair!
Sakura was walking towards Tsunade's office when Naruto came up to her.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" He said cheerfully.
Sakura turns to him, "WHAT THE FUCK TO DO YOU WANT?"
Naruto jumps back with his eyes popped out.
Sakura blinks and realizes what she said, "Oh! Naruto! I'm so sorry! I haven't been myself since I came back from the mission. It's like a powerful force takes over me and it's currently really pissed off."
Naruto nodded, "I know what you mean. Ino's been chasing Shikamaru around all day! The poor guy hasn't had any rest lately."
"Really? Wh-" Sakura was cut off by a running fast Shikamaru coming up to them.
"Oh shit! Hide me hide me!" Shikamaru yelled.
"SHIKAMARU!" Came the yell of Ino even though she hasn't appeared yet.
"Be a tree!" Said Naruto and Shikamaru stood near the trees and used a Jutsu to look like a tree.
Ino came running up to the two. "Have you seen Shikamaru!"
The two shook their heads, "No."
"Damnit!" Ino was about to leave but Sakura whispered something in her ear and Ino calmed down.
Ino patted her on the back and Naruto and Sakura left Ino standing by the 'tree'. Ino sighed and walked over to the tree to sit against it. Once she did she let out an even more exhausted sigh and she layed down and wiggled at the bottom of the tree making her shirt unbutton.
'Oh… my…god.' Shikamaru thought as Ino took a quick nap.
"Shika…" She moaned.
'Oh my god.'
After many moments Ino opened her eyes and whispered, "I'll go wait on the grassy hill that's perfect for watching clouds as it seems the rain has subsided for the rest of the day. Hopefully Shika will meet me there…"
Ino stood up and walked in the direction, leaving a nose bleeding tree…?
Well, i was in a hurry and i had to come up with something fast...heh heh...hope you liked it, the next chapter picks up where Ino and Shika left off.