Tsuyoku: Here's the second installment. All the reviews and people adding this story to their faves and alerts was enough to encourage me to continue, though it wasn't too hard. I'm pretty excited about this one through and through.
Well, onto the show!
CopyCat Chapter 2
--
Sakura had gotten a vague amount of sleep the night before, and after her meeting with Tsunade, she wasn't sure about how well training would go the next morning with her mind so preoccupied about her choice. She had hobbled along the road towards the Hokage's office, noticing how many people were staring at the kunoichi that was usually so energetic -- but little did they know that she was struggling to even move having not gotten used to the weights yet.
Inside, the pinkette knew that somehow today's movements were slightly less miserable than the night before, but that didn't cause the elation of pride she thought it might. It was something she was sure to blame on the Hyuuga and his forced involvement in taking her home. She hadn't needed his help, a point that she made very clear although not clear enough if he still threw her over his shoulder. Thinking back on that, Sakura felt a chill roll down her spine much to her chagrin.
Every time she thought about it, the scene became more and more vivid -- focusing mainly on the points where her body had met his. Although Sakura hadn't paid enough attention to get the full experience of being the only woman to have gotten that close to Neji, she was definitely thinking about it now, and it was starting to get a little annoying. She was supposed to hate Neji, not become attracted to him; the resigned Hyuuga would only reference that sort of behavior towards him to the way she acted with Sasuke when they were Genin, and that wasn't who she was anymore.
The defiance in her system gave her an extra boost of energy, which allowed her to trot a little faster down the sandy street, although she was still dragging some of the dirt into her shoes.
"What the hell happened to you, Sakura? You look like you have an old war wound or something." A shrill, albeit familiar voice, staggered up behind her; the kunoichi turned to find Ino following closely behind. Her gaze locked with sage colored eyes before they motioned towards her feet.
"Oh… no. That's just something Lee's helping me out with." Her blonde friend raised an eyebrow at the thought, and Sakura knew that she had to explain lest some unreasonable made-up version be all over town by lunchtime. "Lee and I have started training together, and he's introduced me to these weights on my legs. Now I have to start moving more freely with them on to build up some strength. It's only my first official day with them…"
"I can tell. Listen, I'm glad I ran into you. My stomach's quite empty; how about you join me for lunch?" Sakura looked at Ino from the corner of her eye, not agreeing so easily if she remembered last time. "Haha, it really will be my treat this time. I have my wallet right here, see?"
The verdure young ladies started towards the middle of town, yet the frequent stops Ino had to make to let Sakura catch up served to make the blonde more and more amused at her friend. Sakura, however, felt like an invalid and demanded that Ino walk in pace with her for the entire trip. Walking so slow made Ino more hungry, and she began to egg her pink ally on, which made Sakura walk more fervently through the streets. It was good training, she would admit, but at the moment, such exercise was making her hungry and she wasn't in the mood to be teased.
"Well, you took so freaking long that we're even more hungry, but at least we missed the lunch rush because of you," Ino definitely knew where to poke and prod .
"Ino," Sakura sighed. "Was there something that you wanted to talk to me about?"
Her former rival looked as if she had forgotten about that subject, whatever it may have been. "Thank you for reminding me --" Her lips turned up and Sakura knew that Ino was stopping herself from commenting about their long stroll over there…
"I remember hearing something about Choji, Neji, and Naruto having to go get you from a mission the other day; what was going on with that?" Sakura sighed again; leave it to Ino to bring that up when the subject was still sore in her mind.
"Yeah, yeah. Some rogue ninja that Naruto and I were tracking caught me off guard and ended up knocking me out. When Naruto couldn't find me, he returned with some backup. The nin was 'neutralized' and here I am. Thanks for bringing it up…" Sakura hadn't gone into detail for the same reason she elaborated about her situation with Lee: Ino was a gossip through and through.
Ino's face fell, "Sakura, I hadn't meant to bring it up for that purpose… I was just…" The team 10 member blushed making Sakura's eyebrows rise almost the length of her forehead. She'd never seen Ino like this: her hands twisting, fingers poking each other -- it was quite like Hinata-type behavior, and truthfully the act was starting to scare her.
"Um, Ino… are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just… Well, did Choji say anything…"
"Say anything?"
"Yeah. Did he say anything about me when you guys were on this mission?"
Oh… Sakura should have known this was going to come out. For all the boy chasing Ino did on a regular basis (Shino, Shikamaru, etc.), she was acting rather strangely when it came to Choji these days.
It all started when they had gone to the Ichiraku months ago, and the usual group was crowding the back tables. Anyone that liked food or good company, namely Naruto, Lee, Hinata, Choji, Kiba, Tenten -- the social people -- were all crammed into booths and tables just laughing and playing along like there hadn't been a care in the world. And at that current point it time, no pressing matters were weighing on the shoulders of Konoha's ninjas: a relief from usual status.
Ino had had a few drinks; it was time to celebrate, her reasoning had offered, as she reminded the group for the fifth time that her extra bonus on the last mission had finally coming in and she was treating herself (and no one else) to a luxurious drink of alcohol, which had ultimately turned into two drinks, then three, and soon enough Sakura lost count from her own slightly blurred vision.
But as the pinkette began to sober up, mainly to witness the devious acts multiple ninjas were trying on each other, she turned her head in search of her blonde friend. Where had she gone? Sakura had promised herself that she'd keep an eye on Ino, since she hadn't be the best record when it came to drunken acts of violence or seduction, but alas, it seemed she had failed for the time being.
Apparently the commotion outside that Ino had probably joined was around Rock Lee and Shikamaru. As a fact that the entire village knew, when Lee had even a drop of alcohol, he instantly become intoxicated. And when he was... Lee suddenly became a master of Drunken style fighting -- the reason assumed by many: his muscle memory, his taijutsu obsession, etc. But whatever the reason was, he usually challenged anyone that was near when he was inebriated. This was no exception.
"I see you!" Lee's slurred words were amusing to the sober onlookers as he trotted around the lazy ninja. Shikamaru just looked at him, not drunk enough to be amused, but not sober enough to care about what he'd gotten himself into by accepting the taijutsu fighter's challenge.
"Lee! What are you doing?" Sakura yelled as his body moved into the beginning stance. She ran to him, putting her hand on his arm. "What the hell do you think you are doing? Ninja's aren't supposed to fight in public streets!" Her head barely dodged some of Lee's floating hearts, which swayed as if they were drunk too.
"My dear Sakura, I fight in your honor, believe me!" He lunged towards Shikamaru, Sakura still on his arm; in the yank, she was loosened and fell to the sandy streets watching as Lee and Shikamaru went at it. Whether or not one was going to defeat the other, Sakura didn't really care at the moment. She was mad at them for fighting but mad at herself as well for loosing Ino, who didn't seem to be stuck in the commotion outside after all. Her hands grounded themselves on the dirt floor and stood up. If Lee wasn't going to listen to her, then she was going to do what she came out here to do: find Ino.
The furious kunoichi followed the edge of the building to the back where voices sounded from darken alleyways in between the buildings. "Ino?" Sakura couldn't see, for the darkness had taken over but her ears picked up rustling, and soon the friend in question was standing right in front of her, slightly sober now, and was ushering her fervently towards the open streets once more.
"Hi, Sakura! Where did you wander off to?" She sounded sheepish, of that Sakura was sure. But who else had been back there, and why was Ino being so serious about concealing it?
"What do you mean 'where have I been'? Where have you been?" Sakura motioned towards the alley, "you been back there the entire time, or what? And who was back there with you?" Sakura once more tired to trek down the pitch black alley only to be pulled back by Ino. No doubt that the light haired ninja's strength had followed when her sobriety had returned.
"No! I think it's time to go home!"
And with that both the girls were soon on their way back to Sakura's place, while her friend avoided all questions about the night's events.
"C'mon, Ino! I want to know. You've never had a problem saying anything about boys before; what makes this one so special?" Ino just blushed and shook her head, easily seen by the varied street lamps lighting their way.
"No."
"Fine." Ino looked at her with a skeptical expression.
"What do you mean fine? Aren't you going to bug me some more?" Sakura shook her head.
"No, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to share... but if you don't tell me, and I find from someone else (somehow) -- you can bet that it's going to be over the entire village as soon as it passes through my ears."
Ino's face reddened even more. "Sakura! That's blackmail!"
"Not really; it's a promise." She turned and smiled, digging the key out of her pocket as they closed in on Sakura's apartment.
"Fine, I'll tell you."
That night, Ino had revealed that in a more or less drunken act, she'd all but seduced Choji behind the bar. To that day, Choji had interacted with his teammate about as much as he always said, but he never talked about it incident to her (or anyone else). Sakura shook her head, returning her mind to the present setting and inspecting Ino's face as she prodded her food.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" The blonde finally met her eyes.
"For things with Choji. I can see that you really like him, and since that night he hasn't really given you any reason to think he returns your feelings. Don't let it get you down."
"I'm not," Ino tried. "It's just... aw, who am I trying to kid? Karma is trying to get back at me for all the men I've used and abused in the past. Here I am, having found someone that I feel I could be with for longer than any time before... and now he doesn't really seem to be interested in me."
"It's not that, Ino. Maybe he just thinks you were drunk, and since you haven't said anything about it either, he's just assuming you're regretting it. Maybe you need to go talk to him--"
"Don't you think I have, Sakura? When I saw him out somewhere, I would instantly try to talk to him, to see what was wrong, but it's no use." She moved her dejected food bowl out of the way just enough to slam her forehead into the table. Sakura felt a little taken back by her dramatic show, but was understanding about how scorned she felt.
"Try talking to him one on one, somewhere private. Maybe he's afraid to get into it with you with other people around. I mean, has Choji ever had a girlfriend? He's slimmed down and now attracting more woman, but inside I think he's still shy. Give it some time and then try and get him alone to talk about it."
Ino worried her lip, pondering over the advice her friend had just give her. In her mind, Choji was always going to reject her, like he had blown her off the last few times. But maybe if Sakura was right, maybe if there was some truth to her speech, there could be a slight glimmer of hope. "You're right! What am I sitting here for?!" Ino jumped up and ran out of the restaurant leaving Sakura behind with a trail of now curious spectators.
"Ino! I said take some time!" Sakura yelled after her.
Pause.
Pause.
"And you forgot to pay!" Sakura slammed a money onto the counter and strode out, intent on spending the rest of her day off in the peace and quiet of her own home where she didn't have to deal with such people. "What are you all looking at?" And she was gone in a rush of red.
--
All the built up frustration in her over Neji and Ino among everything else had given Sakura a good boost of energy, which served well in making it much easier to move around in her weighty attire. This by all means didn't me she was able to run faster, or even walk normally, so she managed to ignore the stares and made her way home where she would be able to relax and not worry about the soap opera everyone's lives were turning out to be.
But as she sighed into a seat at home with a cut of strong tea in hand, something felt amiss in the air. She sensed something and looked up at the window... "Lee? What are you doing here?" All creepiness aside, Lee seemed to be casually looking into her front window, and Sakura could only raise an eyebrow before getting up to open her door.
He entered, as green as ever, and gave her legs a good look-over. He was looking at the weights, Sakura's eye twitched... just the weights.
"You seem to be a bit more agile in these than you were yesterday. I just came to see how you were doing with them on your off day, but this doesn't mean you can relax. I know you must be pretty tired from moving around, but you need to be up and about if you think you'll be able to move well enough to fight me tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Sakura hadn't noticed what he'd said for a second. At first, she'd been surprised at his serious and official tone about her weights. Clearly Guy had taken a lot of care with his weight training just as Lee was doing for her now. "You expect me to be up and moving enough to actually fight you by tomorrow?"
Lee looked at her and smile; for a moment, Sakura thought he might have been kidding her, but them he nodded. "Yeah, I'm at least expecting you to be able to move well enough." Sakura's head turned down to look at the weights, now visible as her boots were laying by the door. He grabbed her chin and forced it up to look at him, "You're going to at least have to walk well enough that people don't look at you in confusion every time you walk down the street."
Sakura blushed, "Yes, I've noticed that I attract a few weird looks." She sighed, "I'll try to be in shape by tomorrow." Lee smiled, and after a goodbye and refusal of a refreshment from Sakura, he left her till the next day.
As soon as he left, the rosette was busy at work trying to build more muscle. She knew that there was no way she'd be able to build up enough muscle mass to make her walk flawlessly by tomorrow, but she was at least going to try, if even for her own motor skills. She wasn't far into some leg lifts and some 'running' in place exercises in her living room when there was another knock at the door. Checking the window to make sure Lee hadn't forgotten anything, Sakura didn't see anyone.
She wandered over, slowly but surely to the door, and wiped some of the sweat off her brow before turning the lock.
There stood Neji Hyuuga. What the hell was he doing here; was he there to comment on her lack of basic walking skills? Sakura wasn't sure, but he seemed to already know what question she was going to ask him and answered it even as he stood on her stoop.
"I had a meeting with Tsunade."
Sakura frowned. This was about her accepting the mission with him; she knew this was going to come back and haunt her. "Are you going to ask me in?"
Sakura frowned; she wanted to ask him if he was going to be civil, but refrained. She walked towards the kitchen, leaving the door open. He could come in, but if he thought she was going to ask him, then he had another thing coming.
Standing in the kitchen, holding an empty glass, Sakura contemplated Neji's attitude. It wasn't that he was uncivil towards people, quite the contrary, but his demeanor in general was of a condescending nature. And with that in mind Sakura wondered if she should take the high road and offer him something to drink... Just because he wasn't a very courteous person most days didn't mean Sakura was allowed to be a bad hostess.
"No, but thank you." He was at least appreciative that she'd offered something, Sakura noticed. But that didn't negate the fact that he was probably here to berate her for taking the job.
"Why are you going on this mission?" His voiced once more turned cold, not that it had much warmth in it to begin with.
"Tsunade asked me to be a medic nin for coming missions; I agreed."
"I don't need your help."
She looked at him in defiance and walked up to him as fast as she could with her weights. Her eyes would stare into his chest had she been looking forward, but they were trained solemnly on his face as she replied, "I don't care. I was offered a mission; I took it. You can't blame me for that." His stoic face was his only response at first, but he looked tot he side, as if avoiding her eyes.
He couldn't say anything to that, Neji knew, but it bothered him to look forward to enduring a lasting mission alone with her.
As if she hadn't plagued his thoughts enough with the image of her stretched out on the floor.
"You're weak; you'll hold me back." Sakura blinked as his vision held hers once more. Sakura raised onto her tip toes and tried to get as level as him as she could.
"We'll just see about that."
Neji could have sucked in a tight breath for how close Sakura Haruno was getting to him now. This was a man who never let anyone within three feet of him, and now her chest was all but flush up against his in her small, bright kitchen. His reason for coming over had been to question her about taking on that mission with him, yes, but it was been more along the lines of trying to convince her to not go... if only for his sanity.
He wasn't in love with her; he didn't even like her. But the physical attraction that his body felt towards her was overpowering when she was this close. He breathed in slowly, inhaling her scent, but Neji tried to hide the fact that he was enjoying her proximity -- even in the slightest way.
The Hyuuga genius screamed at himself to push her away, to show her that he was above such id-like behavior. He had spent his entire life trying to prove that he was stronger than everyone thought, that he was smarter than anyone had assumed because of his association with the branch family. And he wasn't going to let this woman, and the feelings in his loins direct such thoughts.
His hands touched her lightly, as little as possible, on her sides and pushed her back; he wasn't as forceful about it as Neji thought he might be, but she was finally at a good distance where his comfort could return. Sakura mentally shook her head. What had she been doing standing there pressed against him just staring at his eyes? She'd proven her point, or at least tried to, but inside there was nothing more important than the feeling on his heart beating through his chest... she still felt the pounding from her position pressed against him.
"Tell Tsunade you'd like another mission." And he turned and left before Sakura could say anything back. She scoffed; once again, if Neji thought she was going to roll over and obey him like everyone else he had another thing coming. She turned quickly to go back to exercising, but Sakura had forgotten about the weights and fell right onto the kitchen tile.
With a groan, she raised her head.
This just wasn't her day.
--
By the time her alarm sounded quite early the next morning, Sakura rolled over and threw the damn thing into her wall. She wasn't in the mood for this. Alas, however, duty called, and Sakura didn't want all of her work the previous night to go to waste. She had made sure before she went to bed that walking was no longer an issue for her. For the most part, her strides were fluid, but far from walking as if nothing was wrong.
As her legs swung from the edge, the rosy warrior sustained a groan: her whole body hurt...
Sakura knew that today's practice was going to be nothing should she not take action to heal her pained muscles before she arrived. Her hands glowed green and slid along her thighs and up her body until relief swan through her appendages. She sighed.
Time to get going.
Sakura vowed to take her shower after training, or maybe she would skip to a long luxurious bath to relieve the aches that today's workout would eventually give her. Shaking her head, the girl padded into her kitchen, turning on the bright lights in the still dim, barely there light of the rising day.
Rock Lee was once again stretching and full of energy when she came into the clearing... Boy, was it going to be a long day.
And it was. By the time that Lee let her go, she felt beaten and bruised, thought Sakura knew her opponent had taken it quite easy on her; Lee wouldn't willingly intend to hurt Sakura even if he was ordered to. Now, however, Sakura felt more hungry than ready to take a long bath. She strode towards the Ichiraku, surprised even at herself at how much easily she was able to walk after just two days. She supposed that the chakra training Tsunade had been putting her through had helped a bit in that department.
But as she walked through Konoha's busy streets, Sakura Haruno couldn't help but feel more than accomplished. She'd been enhancing her chakra use, training with Lee, and she felt better because of it. Maybe by the time Neji and she went on that mission, she'd been in good condition to give him a piece of her mind. At the thought of the Hyuuga genius, she paused in her march to flash back again from the previous night.
She'd gotten so close to him... pressed so close to him. What had he been thinking? He probably thought that she was coming on to him or something along those lines. It infuriated her to think that his image of her was of a weak kunoichi that attached herself to strong men...
She sighed. There was no beating it -- the only way Sakura knew to change Neji Hyuuga's opinion of her was to show him that no matter what she was anything but insubstantial.
Approaching the ramen bar, Sakura heard a commotion towards the entrance. Looking up from her preoccupation she spotted Naruto of all people dancing around with flowers in his hair, jacket, and any other place he could have stuck them. It was a... colorful sight, for lack of a better word, and when Sakura noticed the ring of flowers upon his head, she nearly burst out laughing as the rest of the spectators were.
"Naruto," she said, amused, from a few feet away. "Did you lose a bet or something?" He just kept dancing, and sand something off tune along the lines of... 'No, Sakura-chan, I just feel very pretty today.'
Sakura sighed, and was about to walk into the bar, the entrance of which said orange blob was blocking, when suddenly he bent over coughing and looked as if he didn't know where he was.
Singling out Sakura of all people, he ran up to her when he saw his atrocious attire.
"Sakura!" Confused tears filled his eyes. "What's going on, why do I have flowers all over me!!!" She shrugged, but not soon enough for suddenly there was a burst of guilty (but amused) laughter from inside Ichiraku.
Ino was the first to emerge -- then Tenten, Choji, Kiba, and Hinata (who was looking a little angry at Ino for some reason.) But it took Sakura only moments to figure out.
Mind Transfer.
She thought Ino never did it unless she was fighting, but for practical jokes a technique like that was, well... practical.
Sakura looked in awe. She'd never seen Ino perform it so perfectly before, and it did nothing if not install a better opinion of her friend into her heart. Said girl looked over and noticed Sakura standing there watching the others as they grasped their stomachs in attempts to subdue the tenderness of their abdomens.
Ino crossed to Sakura, silently inviting her to take joy in the joke as the rest of them were, but when she became closer and closer to the pink combatant a serious look replaced it.
"Sakura?"
The young girl shot her head towards Ino; she shook her head, "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"Um, I have a favor... it's a little weird." Ino shrugged, anything for a friend that had stuck with her as long as Sakura. "Will you teach me the Mind Transfer?"
Her blonde friend's eyebrow raised in wonder. "Sure," she mentioned, but her words were still unsure of Sakura's real intentions. There couldn't, however, be anything wrong with sharing.
--
Tsuyoku: Hi everybody! Got this one done. Unless I suddenly get inspiration on one or the other, I think I'm going to be swip swapping and taking turns with Sound Sleep and CopyCat. Hope you're starting to get an idea where the name's coming from -- it'll get elaborated on (and better!) in later chapters. Hope you enjoy, and as always, pressing that little 'review' button at the bottom always helps me update faster. ^.~ R&R
