A/N You know, I could put something real witty here about not owning Naruto, but I'm not up to it so too bad.

Sakura, carry the two cats, was still able to avoid the thugs that chased her. Dammit, I'll be late if this keeps up!

She ran through a market, trying to avoid people, and ended up in a small woods full of thick pines and other trees not yet dead. It'll do.

Running up and behind a particularly large pine, she shoved the cats under it's large boughs and ordered them put.

Making haste, she left them, running for a tree a whiles away. Oh, I haven't done this in ages.

As Sakura climbed up a sturdy tree, she grabbed a few pine cones. Already she had some stones from the market place, even a rotted apple in her mouth. All she needed was some luck and good aim. Getting a little ways up into the tree, she waited.

The three of them rushed into the wood, knives brandished.

"I have to say, I'm impressed." One of them, the mummy man, said. "Not many can live this long after they've pissed us off."

Another, perhaps not so intelligent, yelled, "Show yourself XD"

Any other girl might have been insulted by his remark, but Sakura was more than that….

CHA! Lemme at 'em!

Schooling herself to patience, she stealed herself and threw the pebble she had picked up. It was more of a small rock but it worked, whatever it was. Tossing it, the rock/pebble hit another, larger rock, creating a diversion. All their attention turned to where the rock had hit, and the two of them lunged. Sakura dropped from the tree as soon as she tossed the rock and raced across the clearing. Getting behind the girl, the only one who hadn't attacked the innocent rock, Sakura knocked her lights out before flirting back into the shadows.

When the two guys turned around, they noticed their other member was down for the count. Sakura smirked slightly as she climbed another good looking tree. Stupid.

Taking the pinecones she still was holding, she had dropped a few, she threw them in a graceful arc, over the thugs heads and into some bushes and a pine tree. The mummy man wandered over, slower, while the stupid-ish guy stood waiting. Sakura jumped down from the tree and threw a pinecone at him. He glanced over at her but saw only a bit of pink running away. Without a word he followed.

Dangit, this is taking to long. I can't keep this up for long…. It was true, her muscles screamed for a break. After all that peddling, and then running, more running just wasn't going to happen so easily.

Stopping, Sakura spun around, pivoting on her heel and lashing out with her other foot at the same time. Her heel just grazed him on the cheek, leaving a long scratch and light bruise which would darken later. Aw, I missed. Damn. She cursed as her leg protested at such use. Suppressing as much pain as she could, Sakura didn't hesitate but followed up with a 'soccer' kick in the stomach. As she ran away, he was bent over wrenching his stomach's contents up.

The mummy man surprised her, leaping from the shadows and almost on top of her. At the very last second Sakura had been able to change direction, weaving inbetween the trees now. Not for long though.

Ino and the boys had only just been able to catch up to Sakura. They stood in front of the clearing, looking at the sleeping gangster.

"Where's Sakura?" Ino inquired, worried.

"Geez, how should I know?" Shikamaru replied.

"You're the smart one, Shikamaru." Ino informed him.

"Shh, I think I see something, over there." Chouji said, pointing. The three of them raced off to try to find the pink haired girl.

"Dammit," Ino cursed when she fell, "Who puts a rock…." She gasped.

"Ino…That's no rock." Chouji said quietly.

In fact it was the stupid guy who Sakura had left to puke out his stomach's worth.

All three ran away when they saw a shadow in a shadow, racing somewhere else. Following the shadow, they soon came upon the mummy man who, too, was unconscious with an apple in his face. Did Sakura do all of this? All three wondered.

Ino couldn't take it anymore. "S-A-K-U-R-A! Oi, Sakura! Where are you?" She called, cupping her hands around her mouth. In truth, Sakura had raced back to Kei-chan and Mero-chan as soon as she felt it was safe. All other noises were pushed aside as she made her way to her cats.

With a whistle, she called the extra spotted cats to her. As soon as the three of them were together and Sakura knew they were fine and safe…..she passed out.

"D-daa-m-it…I'm go'in ta ….b-be….." With a sigh she gratefully gave herself over to exhaustion.

When she awoke, Sakura sat up rapidly, blinking. The first thing she heard was someone's voice.

"Sakura-san, are you alright?" Turning her head, she saw Chouji sitting by her, munching on some kind of deep fried chips.

"C-chouji?"

"Yep. Shikamaru and Ino are here too." He said between bites.

"Where are they?"

"Ino went to get your bike and Shikamaru is going around collecting all the knives off the thugs."

Sakura crossed her legs, "I see."

"SAKURA!!"

"Hunh? I-ino?!" Sakura said, quiet loudly, as the crazy blonde rushed towards her on her bike. Stopping in front of the dazed girl, she hopped off.

"It's not to badly damaged, 'cept for a few scratches on one side." Looking a little more grave, she leaned in close. "Sakura, are you okay?"

"I-I think so…" Rubbing the back of her head, Sakura ran her fingers through her hair. She stopped short. That's right, I cut my hair….

"If I only had a pair of scissors I could fix your messy hair, Sakura…" Ino lamented.

"Oi, Ino, here." Shikamaru tossed a knife to them, a closed pocketknife. The blonde girl smiled at him and took the knife out.

"Hold still, Sakura." Sawing off the uneven ends, Ino made her hair as nice as she possibly could. "There." She said when she had finished.

Sakura turned around and gave Ino a hug. "Thanks…"

"Don't mention it." She said with a grin.

Sakura stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm a bit late for an appointment…If you guys keep this a secret? I-I don't want people to be afraid of me or avoid me because of a folly like this…."

Shikamaru grunted, "What a…."

"Don't worry about it, Sakura, we'll keep your secret!" Ino interrupted.

With a look of gratitude, Sakura put the cats in the basket, put her bag on and sped away on her bike.

"Hey, Ino, what are we going to do now?" Chouji inquired., then gulped. Ino's eyes sparkled maliciously.

"SHOPPING!"

"Ugh…" The two boys chorused.

A/N Author Note Here…..

By the way, that's my note…