Transition
Sakura is perceived from the perspectives of others as she changes during the years into something else entirely. The people near her follows her transition closely and when she starts abandoning everything she held dear - she gets closer and closer to her goal.
Chapter 10
Disowned
Through the Eyes of a Caring Father, a Prodigy and a Man With a Borrowed Eye
The Flourishing Merchant Ukeno Tajima
Tajima stood at the tree now, he had managed to get up from the ground as he supported himself on the tree bark, and stared with astonishment visible in his grey eyes at the large animals surrounding a little girl. They continued to talk but with lowered voices and the merchant couldn't really hear what they said. He didn't know if he should present himself or not. Or help the bleeding girl. Or run the other way for his dear life.
His ears perked as he heard his own name.
"Tajima-san? We have come to an agreement now. But to easier blend without being noticeable within Konoha, they have decided to take on the appearance of humans. Would you lend us some clothes? I will of course pay you." The Haruno asked, her voice a bit weak. Tajima scrambled up to the girl who swayed a bit unsteadily on the field.
"Y-yes, of course, Cherry. I'll get some bandages for you as well. Wait just a few minutes." He said and ran off to the village, sweat seeping on his forehead. He was glad she owed him a favour now. With those beasts at her side, no merchant would even think of assassinating him.
When he arrived at his weapon's shop he didn't even greet the guards inside, he hurriedly went to his own clothes chamber and gathered the most fine yukatas he could find, got a medical kit and was off again. When he was back at the field he was drenched in sweat and laid the clothes on the ground with a deep bow to each heavenly animal, then he turned to the pinkette and gave her the medical kit. With a poof, while he helped the girl with the bandages and the disinfectant, he heard the beasts talk amongst themselves.
Tajima dared to look over his shoulder and what met his gaze was astounding once again. Four men stood where four heavenly beasts had once been. It was almost too clear of which man was which King. The man with messy white and short hair and green slitted feline eyes and canine teeth sticking out slightly from his mouth was obviously Byakko, the white tiger. The man with black ruffled and spiky hair reaching his collarbone, with tanned skin which was covered with awful red scars and with deep coal black eyes was probably Genbu, the black tortoise. Genbu looked dangerous and rough, with an arrogant smirk adorning his scarred features. The man with long, straight and flowing scarlet hair, with burning amber eyes and a graceful posture was most positively Suzaku, the vermillion bird. And lastly, the one with that immense presence, was the tallest man with long and straight azure hair which reached his hips, his eyes were a ever changing colour of the sky and he had a pale complexion on his beautiful face. It was Seiryu, Tajima had no doubt. The man moved silently, inspecting the black yukata he had chosen from the pile. All of the men were very handsome, perhaps except for Genbu since he was so heavily scarred. They seemed to have no age as well, Tajima couldn't even think of a number as he stared at them. They were ageless.
Suddenly, the Haruno girl shook and fell down. She slumped on the ground, her breathing hitched and he saw sweat glistening on her pale skin as it chafed against the soil. Tajima fumbled with the bandage he had tried to attach, but he had been too preoccupied staring at the four beautiful men that he hadn't paid attention to her. He touched her forehead and it was burning. He didn't know what had happened. In a flash, the man Byakko was there and scooped her up in his arms easily.
"She's suffering from severe chakra depletion, obviously. She must have saved large amounts of chakra into her four Strength of a Hundred Seals on her neck to be able to summon us." Byakko mumbled and the other men gathered around the girl. Tajima stood motionless, not knowing what the man was talking about.
"Foolish girl." Suzaku muttered as his yellow eyes stared unabashedly at her unconscious form in the arm's of the white tiger.
"What is that katana? It's alive. And it's feeding her with dark chakra to keep her alive." Byakko asked, perplexed, as he saw the katana strapped at her side. It hummed slightly.
"It is the embodiment of Izanami of Yomotsu Hirasaka." Seiryu's voice trickled like diamonds into the atmosphere. The tall man with azure hair falling in cascades down his shoulder looked at the katana with ever changing blue eyes.
"What? That devil goddess?" Suzaku said and flinched, his stance changing.
"Interesting." Genbu rumbled with a laugh starting in his throat. "This girl is so interesting."
Byakko wrinkled his nose, similar to a tiger's roaring grimace, yet he didn't drop the girl.
"We will discuss this matter with our contractor when she wakes up. Now, we need to give her chakra to restore her resources." Byakko grumbled, taking a better hold of the girl in his arms.
"I wish to speak with Izanami. We will come to an agreement regarding our contractor. As well come to terms with what the current situation is." Seiryu said and gracefully unstrapped the katana at the unconscious girl's hip. He drew the sword from its scabbard in one swift movement and his eyes turned white as he held the katana pointed to the ground. Tajima still didn't understand what was going on, so he stood silently with bandages ready in his hands and watched as the tall man with a powerful presence seemed to talk with the demon goddess, his eyes a opalescent shimmering white. The other men watched Seiryu as well, expectantly. Genbu cracked his tanned, rough fists.
"I see." Seiryu's voice was crisp and clear and he slid the katana back into the black scabbard. His eyes were a clear ocean colour again and Tajima let out a breath he didn't know he had held back.
"She has a contract with Izanami as well. The contract states that Haruno Sakura is to take the lives of a thousand men to sate Izanami's hunger. In return, Izanami will give herself as a weapon to Haruno Sakura and will give her as well her large chakra reserves residing within. Izanami says she is to aid our contractor in her quest for fulfilling a few difficult goals."
Silence fell down on the men.
"Izanami has agreed to working together with us." Seiryu looked at the other men surrounding him. "What do you say?"
"I'm alright with it. Me and Izanami had a few quarrels in the past, but it's a long time ago now. It will be interesting having her at our side and not at the other." Genbu snorted and smirked. "Killing a thousand men is so like Izanami."
"Izanami is graceful and elegant, even though she revels in carnage. I agree." Suzaku said and flipped a crimson hair strand to his back.
"I agree. It will be interesting to see what this little girl will lead us to." Byakko said grimly.
"Then it is decided." Seiryu concluded and strapped the katana back at the girl's hip. The kunoichi was sweating profusely now and she groaned with her eyes squeezed shut. Tajima's image of the girl changed at that instant; she was human. Just like himself. She wasn't invincible, even with that cursed katana at her side. She was dying.
"Let us aid Izanami in restoring our contractor's chakra. Be careful, however, since her chakra channels are quite thin. She is not used to having large amounts of chakra within her. Come now, what do you say about restoring her four little Strength of a Hundred Seals as well?" Genbu rumbled and went to place a hand on the girl's solar plexus. His finger tips seeped black chakra into her body.
"She made them so pretty, with a colour for each of us." Byakko smirked and looked down on her slumped form, his hands starting to glow with white chakra where he held her body.
"So that's what the rhombus tattoos were for." Suzaku chirped and walked elegantly up to Byakko, placing his hand on her forehead. Scarlet energy ran from his palm into the petite girl's skin. Seiryu was the last to gather around Byakko and the girl, letting his hand trace her pink hair gently. The startling cerulean chakra flowed like water around his slender fingers, swirling, finding its way to the girl. The celestial men poured softly dips of their chakras into the girl and it seemed like the girl renewed. The blood on her body disappeared, washed away. Her too pale skin became flushed with the flow of blood. Her skin almost... glinted? As if she had turned into a diamond, the sun light reflected on her.
"That is enough. Any more than this and she will burst." Byakko grumbled and all of the men's hands left the girl's body. Blinking wearily, the girl opened her emerald eyes. When she realised she was in the arms of a beautiful man she sniffed, her eyes wide.
"Oh." She said and looked around, as much as she could in his arms. She took in the image of three men standing around her.
"Thank you. For the chakra infusion. I feel so... light." She said lowly, her head turning away. Tajima saw a slight red tint on her ear.
Byakko slowly let her down and her feet touched the ground softly. The girl straightened her back, absentmindedly touching the katana's hilt at her hip. Her eyes widened again at the touch, as if someone had told her something in the silence. She looked up at the men.
"You will work with Izanami? I am glad. I was to bring up the matter of Izanami and my katana after I had regained my strength. But you beat me to it, it seems." She said, watching them. The men said nothing, only taking in her healthy appearance.
"You guys stand out too much." The kunoichi finally blurted, her cheeks blushing slightly.
"Impudent girl! How-" Suzaku started but was cut off short.
"What she states is true, Suzaku." Byakko said and nodded, looking down on his silky yukata.
"Maybe we should melt into the shinobi world by wearing their little shinobi clothes?" Genbu laughed and stretched the hem of his blue yukata, as if it was something annoying.
"Yes." Seiryu added. "That is a good idea, Genbu."
"We'll go to Tajima's village and buy some. Come with me, if you please." The pinkette said and gathered her backpack, then shrugged it on her shoulder. She suddenly let her hand touch the nape of her neck, dragging her hair over her shoulder. Surprise filled her eyes.
"You restored my seals?" She asked, looking up at the men. Genbu smirked and Byakko shrugged.
"See it as a gift for freeing us." Genbu chuckled.
"Then, thank you. Yet again. I owe you." She was about to bow, but it seemed she was reminded of Suzaku's reprimand before she passed out. To not bow down to anyone. She straightened up and not really knowing what to do, she stroke a pose with a thumbs up. Tajima couldn't help himself, he snorted at the sight, and so earning a slightly embarrassed glare from the pink haired banshee. He shrunk.
"What does that hand sign mean?" Byakko asked as they started making their way to the village, Tajima scrambling behind them.
"It means... a lot of things. Like, 'it's going to be okay'. Or 'all is good'. Or just plainly 'thank you'." Sakura mumbled, smiling as if she thought of something funny.
"I see. That is a useful sign." Byakko sniggered, showing her a thumbs up as well. Sakura couldn't help but giggle at his pose.
They arrived at the village and went into Tajima's shop. Inside, the guards only raised eye brows when they took in the sight of the famed Cherry and a harem of four beautiful men. Tajima took a few fast steps and found the small section where he sold shinobi clothes.
"You may choose whatever you like, weapons as well." He said, shying his eyes away from the colourful gazes of the men.
"We are grateful, merchant." Byakko said and started shuffling through the different materials together with the other Heavenly Animals. Seiryu looked at a fishnet tank top with amused cerulean eyes.
"You don't happen to have any hitai-ates available?" The kunoichi asked as she eyed the different clothes the men picked, almost saying something when Genbu held a chest binding in his scarred hands, looking at intently.
"Mayhaps. I'll check." The merchant said and scurried to another part of the shop, bringing back four blank headbands fastened on black bandanas. The pink haired banshee eyed them and deemed them fit as she took them.
"Now, what village to make you guys come from..." She mumbled as she held a kunai in his hand, pondering.
"What about Kirigakure? Not much is known about that hidden village except for their bloody inhuman exams. And not many will ask unnecessary questions." Tajima suggested and earned an approving look from the girl.
"Yes. It should be Kiri." She agreed and scratched the symbols of the village onto the four head bands.
When they were done, Byakko showed up wearing a beige hakama and a white jacket that parted casually and showed his abdominal muscles and swell of his chest. He had strapped kunai pockets for show on his right leg and adorned a battle axe at his back. Byakko gave the girl a thumbs up and she grinned.
"It fits you." She said and returned the thumbs up enthusiastically. Next was Genbu who came from around the corner, wearing a black hakama and a dark blue shirt. The tanned and scarred arms wore bandages up to his elbows, not really hiding the massive muscles underneath. Only one weapon, a sledge hammer, was strapped at his back. He smirked when he saw Byakko.
"You look like a little human shinobi." He guffawed.
"So do you." Byakko growled and sniffed. Sakura waved with her hand.
"You both will better blend in this way. I'm sorry for the inconvenience." She said humbly.
"None the matter, girlie. I kind of like these materials. And the skin of a human." Genbu said and ruffled his spiky black hair. "Though I do miss my shell."
Tajima turned around when he heard a soft rustle of feet and found Suzaku and Seiryu appear. Suzaku adorned a murky green yukata, flowing behind him as he moved, contrasting the stark red of his long hair. He wore black hakamas underneath as well and he had strapped a thin sword on his hip which perfected the image of a samurai perfectly. Seiryu wore a silky silver top and dark grey hakamas and had no weapons on his person. They both looked absolutely stunning, even in shinobi combat clothes.
"That's a definite thumbs up." Tajima heard the girl say under her breath.
"We need to get going. We'll go to Konohagakure village, where I live and work, and I will appoint a meeting with Tsuna- the Hokage, I mean. I think she'll be able to get you four passports to Konoha. I don't know where you'll be able to live yet, but for the time being you can sleep at my place." She said and the men nodded.
"We do not sleep, girlie. But to have a base somewhere sounds good." Genbu said as they made their way out of the shop, but the pink haired banshee lingered. When Tajima went up to her she gave him a large bundle of money. He took it eagerly in his hands.
"Thank you. For the help. And remember; not a word about this day. Not to anyone." She said as she locked his eyes with her own.
"Yes, I promise, Cherry." He said and nodded, gulping. The she disappeared out the door in a flurry of petal hued hair. Tajima sighed and went to his chambers, falling on his bed heavily. Not a day went past when he didn't wonder what would have happened if he hadn't requested a team from Konoha, that day when he was to deliver Izanami to the Daimyo. He would probably have been dead, he guessed, but he wouldn't have had to live through so many small heart attacks as he did now.
The Caring Father Haruno Kizashi
He knocked on the door to her apartment and within seconds, she stood there opening the handle. She was fresh out of the shower, with a white bathrobe and a towel on her shoulders, and with blinking apple green eyes she took in the appearance of her father.
"Oh. You're home! Sakura, dear. You must come home and eat dinner with us tonight." Kizashi declared and smiled, hugging the girl tightly. His daughter looked baffled for a moment, then she grinned slightly and patted his back in return.
"Sure, dad. Sounds lovely. What time?"
"Seven o' clock. Me and your mother misses you very much, you know." He mumbled, almost pouting. She cocked her head and smiled sadly.
"I miss you guys too. I'll be there."
"Good. See you tonight, dear!" He cheered and waved at her as he started walking back home. He smiled almost all the way home, already planning the ingredients for the dinner that night. Mebuki would be so happy to have their daughter home, and he had finally caught her. She had been away so much and she hadn't been at home when he had visited. When he got home he told his wife of the news and she squealed happily. They planned the dinner throughout the evening and cooked it together. When the clock hit seven they heard a sharp knock on their front door. Kizashi rushed to it and opened it, finding Sakura standing at their door step.
"Honey!" Mebuki squealed and hugged the girl after Kizashi was done smothering her with his embrace.
"Oh my Sakura! You've grown a tad bit taller haven't you? Hm, hm. Maybe 7 millimetres? I can't believe you're still growing!" Mebuki cheered happily. The girl flushed and nodded as she recuperated from their intense hugs, rubbing her arms.
"Perceptive as ever, mom." Their daughter smiled faintly.
"Oh come on now. We're eating!" Kizashi said and ushered them inside the dining room. Sakura sat down opposite to her father and took in the starters.
"Sakura baby, you're taking the salad right?" Mebuki asked as she went to the kitchen, to get the saucepans with food.
"I'm not on a diet, mom." Sakura said lowly, her eyes looking almost tired when she scooped up the starters on her plate. Mebuki eyes their daughter's plate with surprise.
"But there's just.. So much food on your plate. Think about your figure! What if you get fat?" Mebuki reprimanded the girl with concerned eyes.
"This is not fast food. I eat enough protein to keep me healthy." Sakura snapped and waved with her hands.
"Well, if you say so, honey..." His wife trailed off, though still eyeing the girl. As if she was afraid her daughter would turn into an Akimichi any moment.
They talked about commonplace things at first during their dinner, his wife commenting on the new strange neighbours that had moved in recently beside their house, Kizashi himself commenting on the latest talk about a newspaper article he had found interesting. Their daughter complied with the atmosphere and chatted calmly with them. Kizashi then realised it really had been a long time since he saw her last. She seemed to know more about the political situation in Tea Country than him, which he had read about in the news article. As if she had been there when the rebellion had risen and fallen due to the assassination of the rebellion's leader. He bit his lip as he cut through the meat on his plate. He didn't want to think about it like that.
Mebuki cleared her throat, dabbed a napkin on her mouth and then she folded her hands together, taking in a serious pose. Kizashi knew what she would bring up.
"Sakura dear, we have been thinking. We understand that you want independence, so you moved out. But your father and I have been considering a lot of things and we came to the conclusion that we believe you should follow your old friend Ino's example. Why not aspire to become a Medic instead of these dangerous missions you do?" Mebuki asked.
"We believe it will be more safe that way. And Ino thinks it's really fun, she said when I last met her at the grocery shop. Imagine how many people you can save!" Kizashi added cheerily, patting his daughter on her back. The girl only looked at them, with worn sapphire eyes.
"I'm sorry mom, dad. I can't heal with my right hand because of this scar", she said and showed her palm, where a hideous pink scar was slashed across it. "It's a burn mark that ended my healing chakra tenketsu in the palm nerves. It's a scar that ended my Medic career as well. If I can't heal with both of my hands it would hinder my work as a Medic. As a Medic one often holds the lives of ones patients in the hands, and if the other hand doesn't work; where does that leave me? I'm sorry, but my career as a medic is over." Their daughter said as she absentmindedly made circles in her food with the chopsticks.
"I-it can't be that bad. One hand to work with should be alright..." Kizashi said hesitantly.
"Where did you get that scar?" Mebuki asked sharply instead, looking at her daughter harshly.
"In a fire. It was accidental."
"I can't believe it! Dear, don't you see how dangerous this line of work is? No, no more. We have let you do this for too long now. It's time to end this charade." Kizashi exclaimed, creasing his eyes brows. He had to do this. It was for her own good.
"Meaning?"
"We will disown you if you don't quit being a shinobi." Mebuki said calmly, pronouncing each word carefully yet with steely certainty. The girl only watched them then, taking in their words with glinting emerald eyes.
"That's too bad." She said, closed her eyes and sighed.
"So you'll quit?" Kizashi asked. Hopefully she would finally find some sense, he thought.
"No. I can't and I don't want to. I am sorry you'd have to go as far to disown me for my choice of profession." She said and stared defiantly at them, with those burning eyes.
"Wait, Sakura dear. You can't be serious!" Kizashi snapped, not quite believing the girl was so foolish.
"I am."
"Then it is decided. We will disown you. Come back when you have grown up and changed your mind." Mebuki stated and looked with hard eyes on their daughter.
"This is for your own good, dear." Kizashi added, not wanting her baby girl to leave them really, but she had to see that what she was doing was wrong and not safe. She had to see.
"I understand. Farewell then. Thank you for the dinner." She said shortly, rose from her chair, bowed ever so slightly yet politely to them, and then she was gone out the door within a second. The door clicked shut heavily. When their daughter was gone, Mebuki looked at her husband. There were tears in her eyes and Kizashi felt something run down his cheek as well.
"When did our baby girl change so much? She's so rebellious. When did she stop listening?" She asked more to herself than to him, her hand wiping away her tears as she sniffed vulnerably.
"I don't know. Maybe when her nightmares started." Kizashi said as he moved over to her and hugged his wife comfortingly. He cried silently.
"Those were so horrible. She screamed every night as if she was literally dying. It was so... terrible. And now she does it all alone. In that damned empty apartment." Mebuki hiccuped an snivelled angrily.
"Damnit. She must have been traumatised on that mission she went on with the Nara boy and that Hyuuga prodigy some year ago. Or she's just... changed." Kizashi growled into his wife's hair as he hugged her tightly, rocking back and forth. She sobbed quietly in his arms.
The Cloud Watching Boy Nara Shikamaru
"It's not that they disowned me, it's that they disrespect me. They disrespect the honourable life of a shinobi and I can't forgive them for it. I have devoted myself to this work unconditionally, to this way of life. I have poured my everything to it. And they... they don't see it." She drunkenly declared, swinging her beer in front of Shikamaru's face. He avoided the beverage with an inch, then he lapsed into silence.
"They will see it, some day. They're just too worried about you at the moment." He tried.
"I will prove it to them! I'll show them I can do it. I won't die so easily." She slurred, yet her eyes were burning fiercely.
Shikamaru bit his lip as he tried to steady her as she continued her rant. She had come to him a few hours ago, demanding his company for a visit to Ichiraku's. He hadn't expected her to go into a drunken rage because of her parents though. He agreed with the Haruno, it was harsh of them to disown her, yet he saw their point of view as well. He had never met mister and missus Haruno, but he understood that they cared deeply for their daughter. They didn't want her to get hurt, to die. However, Shikamaru scolded them in silence, it was her choice. She had gone to the Academy, she been the top kunoichi of her class, she had become a Chunin and she had become the Hokage's apprentice. She was successful and had decided to continue her path of a shinobi. Her parents needed to respect that decision, and so it was a bit childish to disown her. As if that would contribute to anything else but quarrels between parents and daughter. And maybe a severed bond.
"Shikamaru. Thank you." She whispered and he nodded, understanding. She probably didn't want to be alone at the moment. As if she didn't have enough on her shoulders already, now her parents came with another boulder to put on her mind.
"No problemo, Cherry. Let's get you home."
"Uhn. Please stay over?" She grunted and he folded her arm over his shoulder, steadying her on the walk home to her apartment.
"This again? Sure. Your couch is nice." He answered wearily and focused his eyes on his own steps. He had drank a few beers of his own and he felt the world rumble at his feet, spinning, yet he bit it back. He looked at the girl besides him and he knew she would be too hungover tomorrow to make food herself. He huffed.
"I'll make you pancakes tomorrow." Shikamaru said as he lead her up to her doorstep, opening the door with one hand as he steadied the girl with the other.
"I like you, Shikamaru. You're my Pineapple Head Pancake Hero." She slurred and smiled dizzily as she stumbled inside, him following after her, scratching his head.
"I know."
The Prodigy Hyuuga Neji
When none was watching, Haruno Sakura was dancing.
He found her at the bonfire in the middle of the festival, music pounding from the drums and the fierce guitars, her petal hued hair was swirling around her head in a dance of its own. She moved as if none was watching, there was a sheen of light sweat on her creamy and scarred skin, her hips moving, her torso moving, her hands moving all in tempo with the music. Her hair fell in front of her eyes, over her shoulders, swirling together with her movements. Her eyes were closed and she only listened and danced, not caring about anything or nothing. Sweat whirled off her in jewelled droplets. Her shirt clung tightly to her skin, sweat making it slightly wet. He couldn't stop looking at her. In a moment of a heart beat, the music stopped and she opened her eyes. White pearly eyes took in his form and she stopped moving. He couldn't do anything when she slowly made her way up to him, and he didn't notice the darkness seeping around him. The music of the festival disappeared, the murmurs, the laughter, the lights, everything. There was only Sakura.
The pink haired woman in front of him only stared when she got up in front of him. In a quick movement she pulled the nape of his neck down to her for a soft lingering kiss that sent a hundred shimmering diamonds to gleam in his eyes. She kissed him senseless. He didn't actually comprehend what exactly was happening.
Neji swallowed. But he revelled in the smoothness of her skin when he lightly touched her arm. He was so acutely aware of her, the heat that came off her skin, the sweet perfume that emitted from her body. A fine tremor slipped down his spine.
Neji took a few seconds to rearrange his thoughts and let go of her to breath. Then, his hormone's were getting the better of him and he snapped. He tilted his head over hers and found those enticing lips with his own again and inwardly growled at the sweet yet metallic taste of her pouty lips. He bit her lower lip and pulled it agonisingly slow, as he transitioned to gnaw lightly at her lower lip and she whimpered.
Sakura almost yelped in irritation as she threaded her fingers into his long hair and pulled him closer, so much closer. She sensually opened her mouth and he was swift to slip his tongue in and they danced. She had a dark, sweet and dangerous taste and he was plainly addicted to her. His mind was blank of all other thoughts except for Sakura.
There was only Sakura.
"The time is up." She lowly murmured into against his lips, drawing back from the embrace.
"I have murdered nine hundred and ninety-nine men to this day. The three years time limit has ended."
He was alone with her, the world around them didn't exist. He knew what she would do. What she had to do. She then looked at him with those white eyes, as if she was blind yet she saw everything, through his soul, into his heart. He prepared himself.
"I am ready." He said, his opalescent eyes never leaving hers. "I'm alright with it." He steeled himself. He could do this. For her sake, and none else's. He would give this to her. This life, his own life. For her freedom.
"I'm not." She whispered as her eyes turned completely white, the black pupil vanishing. It was like she had turned blind.
"I'm sorry." She said and raised the bloodied, cursed katana in one swift movement and slit her own throat.
Neji started and woke up from the dream, sweating and breathing harshly. He felt ice settle in his chest, squeezing him tightly as he clenched his bed sheet hard. What the hell? He thought when he went to get water. He gulped the glass of water quickly, the cold water trickling down his dry throat. What had that dream meant? Why had she kissed him? Why had she slit her own throat? Why-
He didn't want to think about it, yet it was there in the back of his mind, screaming at him that something would turn out very bad. He couldn't sleep the rest of that night. The moon was full and he went out into his private garden, practicing the Byakugan and the Gentle fist in the dim light of the stars. He focused on his movements, on the sound of the night, to drain out the sad dirge of his heart which beat harshly against his ribcage with premonition.
The Powerful Drunk Senju Tsunade
The Four Celestial Beasts, this time around. Almost nothing surprised Tsunade anymore about that girl. She had come to the Hokage's Office, all shiny and happy, together with a harem of four drool-worthy men. Tsunade had sputtered her coffee out of her nose when they came inside. When Sakura had showed her the scrolls, she believed her. The Four Celestial beasts had taken on the form of humans to better blend in. Their disguise were civilians from Kiri who were on a trip to Konoha, and they had the the headbands of Kiri nin for protection. Tsunade got the passports for them while she gaped, looking at them. They were so beautiful she couldn't grasp the concept. Godly creatures. They stayed with the girl for the time being, but it seemed like they wanted to stay. The Godaime sighed deeply into her tea mug. She wished Shizune hadn't found that saké bottle yesterday in the secret box inside the roof. Then she shrugged and put on her white Kage coat, preparing for a meeting with a few hidden village leaders who had appointed it to discuss something about Sunagakure. She cracked her neck and was out the door.
The Man With a Borrowed Eye Hatake Kakashi
He had tired of the Genin teams. They didn't contribute to anything, and most failed his initial bell tests. None understood the concept of team work, none was interesting, none was strong. He decided one day when a Genin boy of his team couldn't even throw a kunai straight, he didn't need this anymore. He had appointed a meeting with the Hokage and asked her to be submitted back into ANBU. She had agreed with a frown on her face, but she would have been foolish not to let him back. He was an asset and he was famous for his skills, so she let him back in. Kakashi was pleased and thought life would maybe turn to be a bit more interesting before the fox boy came back to patch up Team Seven.
A day when clouds were looming in the sky, ominously telling of soon to come rain, he was requested to the Hokage's office. The blond, busty woman sat at her desk, looking at a few files when he made his appearance known. He wore his old mask and his ANBU outfit, which still fit him. Tsunade didn't look up at him when she addressed the Copy Nin.
"You are to go on a mission to Sunagakure. I need this scroll delivered to the Kazekage with highest priority. Your teammate will be a new recruit, so look after her the best you can. She has been on a few high ranked missions before, I believe it's been seventeen A-ranks so far, but this is her first S-rank mission. Guide her. You're to go straight away." She produced a scroll from the stacks of paper on her desk and gave it to him.
"Yes, Godaime-sama." He drawled and accepted the scroll, to safely tuck it into his backpack.
"She's waiting for you at the gates. I expect you to arrive in Suna within four days. The Kazekage knows of your mission and will accept you into the village accordingly."
"Yes."
"You're dismissed. Go, go." She ushered with her finger and started signing the paper in front of her with a frown on her face. Kakashi shrugged and poofed away.
When he arrived at the point of the entrance to the village, he at first didn't find her. But then a flicker of chakra to his right made him turn around. She had tried to mask her chakra? How cute, he thought. He'd have to teach the new recruit a bit about masking chakra, it seemed. When he turned around, he saw through the slits of his mask the kunoichi appear. She had the usual ANBU clothing, as well as a blank mask which covered her hair.
"Yo. What's your given name?" Kakashi greeted with a sleazy salute. The kunoichi stood silently at the gate, with her backpack slung casually over her shoulder.
"Utsuro Sen." She answered, her voice muffled by the mask.
"I have heard about you. You're that Blank Face that's been climbing the ranks." He said as he remembered hearing it from Genma. A kunoichi that had a small frame and an unusual blank mask, yet she succeeded with her missions gallantly and so earned higher ranked missions from the Godaime.
"Guess so." She answered simply. Kakashi noted a familiar tone to her voice, but he couldn't place it in his head.
"Your voice sounds very familiar." He stated, looking at her more closely through his mask. Something was off about the way she moved, as if she strained herself to move differently than from what she was used to.
"Oh? Yours too." She answered and produced a map, to see which route to Sunagakure would be the fastest.
"Ah, well. We shouldn't probe any further on each other's identities." Kakashi concluded and looked over her shoulder to the map.
"Agreed."
"Now, we are to deliver a certain scroll for the Godaime to the Kazekage in Sunagakure, which you should already have been informed of. I have the scroll in my backpack. It's top priority, so we'll need to move fast. I am to act as the leader of this mission, since it's your first S-rank. I think this route," he said and trailed his finger on the map,"would be the fastest way."
"I agree... Taichou, then. But this turn here, the missing nin territory around the Sekai Forest, I think we should go through it." She pointed at the forest area of the map and Kakashi wrinkled his nose.
"Hm, no. Since it would be troublesome if we happened upon some of those."
"It would be faster if we went that way. And still, if we just so happened upon a few missing nin, what would it matter?"
"A delay, perhaps."
"Not if we move fast. I recognise your silver hair, it's quite obvious who you are. If what-"
"Is that so? I would suggest not to mouth my identity loudly, whatever your presumption."
"Oh. I will not. But if what I presume is true, who you are, then you will certainly be able to handle a few missing nin. And in a fast way, without causing a delay."
"That depends on you. If you are prepared to get hurt and bear the consequences, I will agree. However, I will not carry you to Suna. I will leave you and finish the mission if needed be."
"It's a deal, then." She said with an amused tone as she packed the map down into her backpack.
"This is ridiculous... Always the new recruits, eager to prove themselves." Kakashi muttered under his breath as he fastened the clips of his backpack tighter. If the kunoichi heard his annoyed declaration, she acted as if nothing had been said. They nodded at each other and set off into the trees, jumping and hopping on the branches in a blur.
The pace was fast. They were somewhat synced in their movements and in stamina, even though he could see she strained herself to keep up with him. At one point, a few hours later into the day, she had almost stumbled. But she had been fast to cover up her slight mistake, and ran up beside him, as if nothing had happened. He didn't comment on it, and he didn't drop the pace. The kunoichi needed to realise the urgency of the mission, and her physical strength needed to be on par with the priority of it.
When they had been running in silence for most of the day and it was well into the afternoon, they took a water break in a clearing of the forest. Dehydration was always to be avoided, and it would be foolish if a shinobi fell because of it. When the kunoichi turned to shuffle through her backpack to find her water bottle, she bent down and he saw her pale neck show. Her bandana held her hair up as well as it hid it and the mask covered her face, but her neck was clear. He saw a few clearly differently coloured rhombus figures displayed at her spine, at the nape of her neck. They shimmered in the late afternoon light, as if they were engraved diamonds inserted into her skin. He broke the silence then.
"What are those? The rhombus tattoos on your neck." Kakashi asked the kunoichi and she reached unconsciously to touch them gently as she rose, holding the water bottle with the other hand. Her blank mask looked up at him, giving nothing away.
"Well, I have modulated my animal summonings to the seals on my neck. If I touch one of them with my blood and cite an unique incantation, I can summon them without the scroll." She explained as she opened the cap of the bottle and slightly pushed her mask up, so he could see her mouth for a second before she put the bottle to her lips, drinking hungrily.
"Sounds handy. But difficult. How did you learn to do it?" He asked, his interest peaking a tiny bit as he produced a straw from his backpack, to drink inconspicuously from his own water bottle. She gave him a shrug.
"Hard work, a lot of research on medical literature and theories on chakra infusion research, and I also acquired it because of the guidance of my animal summonings. It's easier since my summonings shared their chakras with me once, so we have some kind of connection. Similar to a bond, but physical." She said and drank a bit more water, tilting the bottle slightly to her mouth. He saw that her skin was pale and creamy underneath the mask, but not much else.
"What is your animal summoning? Sounds interesting." Kakashi asked as slurped from his straw.
"That's a secret." She answered, with a lilt in her tone. Deciding it was enough, she put the water bottle back into her backpack. He eyed her silently, then he sniffed.
"Boring." He drawled and let the subject drop, sipping on his straw.
They went up into the tree tops again a few minutes later, continuing with their former pace with renewed strength in their tree hopping. When the night fell, they started a camp to sleep for a few hours. Kakashi took the first watch and let the airy silence of the night seep into his stirring soul. The next day they continued, running hard through the subsiding forestation. It took a slight toll on him and he cursed his lack of stamina which was a side effect of playing a teacher for little Genin teams for a year or so. He focused on his breathing and couldn't care less of the sweat dripping down his skin.
When they arrived in Sunagakure four days later, they were exhausted. Yet they went straight to the Kazekage's office and delivered the scroll without trouble. They slept for six hours in a hostel, a luxury they had taken on themselves, and were up and running once again the next early day.
When a day had passed of running and skipping over tree branches and trying to shake off the sand in their boots, Kakashi stopped running. They were on the path leading to the Sekai forest and he had been expecting a few missing nin. But not the missing nin he recognised from the Bingo Books. The three infamous missing nin were walking towards them on the same path and Kakashi heard them shout to each other when they saw the kunoichi besides him.
"It's One Sword Cherry! I swear I recognise that katana." One of them pointed to her direction, blatantly obvious.
"Isn't that the new one, with that large bounty on her head, the Cherry?" The other agreed and snorted, preparing kunais in his hand.
"Are you sure it's her?" The missing nin with a straw hat smirked with murderous eyes, drawing his axe from the holster.
"Yeah, I heard she's got a blank mask on sometimes. I'm sure!"
"Alright, let's take her in." The third man grinned and prepared himself for a sprint.
When Kakashi was about to flip around and finish them off before they could move, there was already blood splatter on the ground. Red liquid ran in coils on the ground. He blinked. She was just too fast, having slit the first man's throat in a moment, cut off the other man's head and the third man still had the katana stuck in his chest, gurgling blood in confusion as she pressed it into his heart. They hadn't stood a chance. She slit out the katana from his chest and he took his last breath as he fell to the ground in a lifeless heap of flesh, the straw hat laying abandoned besides his body. Three corpses were on the ground and the ANBU stood in the middle of it, as if in all her glory. Kakashi flash stepped up to her just in time to hear her say something under her breath.
"Two hundred and six." The blank faced kunoichi mumbled and bowed to the corpses on the soil as she slid the bloodied humming katana back into the scabbard on her back. Kakashi frowned. She turned around to him then and that blank mask blared at him with so much nothingness. Kakashi glanced grimly at the dead bodies on the ground, understanding what she meant by the number. But why did she count her kills? And had she really killed that many?
"Don't you do it, too?" She broke the silence and he snapped his head up. Through the slits of her mask, he could almost see her eyes. They looked at him sadly.
"What?" He asked and eyed her casual stance, seemingly standing so arrogantly over the corpses.
"Don't you count your kills? How many you have taken the lives of?" She asked again. Kakashi was perplexed by her question, yet he found himself answering the girl.
"I... I did before. Then it just became what it was - a habit. To kill. Now, for me, to kill simply means to slice a bundle of flesh. To stop a heartbeat. And I have long forgotten the number of my kills."
"It's just not that simple though, is it?" She asked, her head cocked to one side.
"No. I still remember my first kill. I didn't know the kunoichi, she was simply there, an enemy nin. And I reacted to my training, to the hard drills, when she was about to hit my teammate with chakra laden scalpels, and I just threw my kunai into her chest. It hit the heart accordingly and she looked at me. As if she was surprised. As if she had never expected to even die... And I don't even remember her face." He confessed, splaying his hands in the air. He said nothing more. Wanted to say nothing more.
"I see." The ANBU kunoichi only stated and then she produced the map of their route.
"Let's leave it at that. Next," she said and pointed to the map, "is the center of the Sekai forest. I think we'll be able to go through it smoothly from now on, as we did on our way to Suna."
"Yes." He said and nodded, trying to leave the bad taste caused by the memory of his first kill in, to let it stay behind in the path of the forest floor when they jumped up into the trees, as she stuffed the map back into her pocket.
A few hours later they started a camp for the night. Utsuro Sen started a fire and looked into her backpack for rice. Kakashi looked at her huddled form, remembering the dead missing nin. Something they had said perked his interest.
"Why did they call you Cherry? Are you in the Bingo Books?" He broke their silence and she snapped her head up.
"Yes. I destroyed the Snow Daimyo's castle and assassinated him. Apparently it was enough to earn a place there." She murmured as she looked down on the boiling rice, stirring it with a sleeve.
"Ah. That was... Unexpected. But why Cherry?" He asked, walking up to her.
"You'll just have to find out why." Her tone was amused and he sat down besides her, to roll out the dried sea weed.
"You're a tricky one, aren't you? Sen." He smirked.
"Maybe, Taichou." She answered and cocked her head.
"You're making me want to rip off that blank mask, you know. I am certain I recognise your voice. You're a new recruit in ANBU. You're in the Bingo Books. How come I haven't heard of you?" He poked, disregarding the fact that their identities were meant to remain unknown.
"It seems you're forgetting something, Taichou." She rose from her sitting position, cracking her neck. "A shinobi must be left unseen. Unknown. To truly succeed." The kunoichi with the given name Utsuro Sen said went to get some more water from the nearby stream, leaving Kakashi with a faint smirk left on his masked lips.
On the last day before they arrived home again, they had taken a break from the constant running. It was a cool day, with a feather light breeze blowing through the trees. He perched on the branch of a tree above their camp fire and the kunoichi had went to fish in the little stream near their base. Kakashi read sleazily in his favourite Icha Icha book as he was suddenly hit with inspiration, an urge, as a leaf swirled past his peripheral vision.
He muttered, produced a pen from his pocket, then scribbled the urge of words down inside his Icha Icha, on the last blank page.
"And bending down beside the glowing embers,
murmur, a little sadly, how freedom and death fled,
and paced upon the mountains overhead,
and hid her face amid a crowd of stars"
A voice, clear as day, pronounced his written words. The kunoichi had appeared behind him on the tree branch, she had read the lines he had scribbled down over his shoulder. He hadn't noticed her presence. Damnit, Kakashi thought as he stuffed his Icha Icha back into his pocket, how come she learnt from his little tips on masking chakra so fast? He growled, yet he felt his ears turn hot. Poetry was a simple extra hobby and he didn't write much anymore, yet he sometimes found himself scribbling down a few lines in his books. It was not known, and he wanted to keep it that way.
"That was quite beautiful." She remarked, then she jumped off the branch and walked away to their camp with dead fish in her hands, leaving him in the green foliage of the tree.
The Man of Shadows Shimura Danzō
She arrived back into the village from Sunagakure, on a mission directly ordered from the Hokage. He asked her the mission details, but it seemed even she didn't know the contents of the scroll. He let her rest a few hours before they started training in the Root quarters. When she arrived, she had showered and seemed to be clean with her skin shining, yet he heard the slight crackle of sand inside her shoes when she walked. They trained well into the night, him giving her directions of the katas she was performing. When he left the quarters to go to sleep, he left her unconscious in the training area.
A day went by, and he sent her together with the Root member Sai to an undercover mission in Storm Country for a few days. It went perfectly well. Sai had proved to be a good pawn to his intentions and he thought that the Root member had been forged into a perfectly emotionless weapon. Danzō then left a few hints to the Hokage about Sai being admitted into ANBU, but it was denied.
A week went by and Haruno Sakura had a regular spot in T&I since she was the only one that could handle her poisons and she was later let in to the physical torture department. The interrogators started to greet her with respect after having seen her with the katana she wielded and used. Danzō was almost proud of the girl, but he didn't recognise the feeling so he left it at that.
A month went by and he trained the girl until she fell unconscious because of over-exhaustion each night. She was almost broken, he thought, but as the saying goes 'What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.' He was determined to make her stronger, more capable. Or she wouldn't be successful with her mission that was nearing in time.
Two months went by like a simple breath and he found himself discussing Konohagakure's ancient politics with her late at nights after their training sessions. She actually proved a few points about some of the ancient laws he had missed, and it didn't anger him that she did. He found it interesting.
Three months passed by and he saw how he had changed her, coal turning to diamond. He let her have no free time whatsoever, no time for family or friends. Making her into the perfect weapon was almost like a recurring goal for him now, so there was no time to waste. He saw how she became more and more emotionless at heart and it pleased him. Yet she always bore those unnerving burning eyes, as if she had her own purpose for this.
Four months passed in the blink of an eye and he suddenly let her handle the Root reports flowing in, filing and inspecting them. And then she suddenly had the authority to give a few orders, for Root members underneath her. She had somehow become his right hand, and he didn't trust her, but damn she was effective. He didn't give her the classified files, but he was near to giving in to the impulse.
Four and a half months passed by and he let her see his arm. When she had seen the eyes, all activated Sharingan, she had smirked. She had told him it was perfect. He had been puzzled, he had thought her reaction would be more... Disgusted, disapproving, questioning. But no, she had asked to be trained with them activated on her instead, to fell her with the Genjutsu. To inspect them in a medical sense as well, to see how they worked and functioned. And he had somehow let her, because of her mission The Assassination of the Last Fan which was nearing in time. To be able to fight the Uchiha, of course she had to understand the concept of Sharingan.
She researched his arm, he allowed her to take samples with his supervision, and she developed a drug within a few weeks that made the chakras from the implanted Sharingan eyes incorporate better with his own life force. He had been suspicious at first, but then he remembered her ceremonial trial. When she had swallowed both the pills he had given her, with her own life on the line. And so when he accepted the drug, he could see better. The world cleared, shone brighter. He felt the chakras bundle gently together and the constant ache in his arm disappeared. That was when he let her see the classified files. She was officially his right hand.
Five months had passed by and he saw himself in the kunoichi. It was soon time for the Assassination of the Last Fan mission and the Uzumaki idiot would come back from training with Jiraya within a month, if his Root sources were correct. She was as ready as she could be, he had made sure of it. He had let her search through his secret files on the Uchiha Clan. She had come to understand their dynamics, their traditions and most of all; their blood line limit. She had learnt how to break through one of his easier Genjutsus that he had used on her with two of the implanted eyes on his arm. However, he knew that a real Uchiha's eyes were stronger than his implanted ones. She perhaps had to cover her own eyes while fighting him, or she'd risk falling prey for the Sharingan's illusional powers.
But she had to be successful. A lot depended on the completion of her mission.
The Powerful Drunk Senju Tsunade
Tsunade sighed angrily and swatted absentmindedly at a fly buzzing near her ear. She had just arrived back into the Hokage's Office from a meeting with the Council and she allowed herself a little pause. Irritation flooded her mind. The recent political discussions had gone to her head. The bastards from Kirigakure was way out of their minds. What were they thinking? Accusing Sunagakure for stealing their trade consciously? Tsunade clenched her teeth hard as she eyed the buzzing fly. Did they want to start a war? The Kazekage did not take such insults lightly, Sunagakure was a proud village. They wouldn't let it go, and Kirigakure knew that. Kirigakure had three other villages backing them up on it already and Tsunade suspected that they wanted to stir things up, but for what purpose exactly, she didn't know. The latest report on Kirigakure's activities lay in front of her on the desk, blaring at her. She knit her brows together and gallantly started folding the paper with slender, long fingers. She let the paper fold and fold, and she turned it around and folded it again, bending the paper report to her will. When she was finished folding it, it had turned into a dishevelled form of a leaf. The buzzing fly reminded itself of its existence when it whirled past her ear. In a moment she closed her eyes, breathing deeply.
She flicked the dishevelled leaf paper fast with her finger and thumb, and a second later it was stuck on the other side of the room, pinning a dead fly to the wood of the wall.
The Man With a Borrowed Eye Hatake Kakashi
When he came back to Konohagakure with the blank face Utsuro Sen from their latest mission, he let himself smell the fresh yet musty scents of his home. The S-ranked mission to Storm Country had gone well and the kunoichi was even more experienced now, having accepted and completed the whole of seven S-ranked missions since the first day they met. Since that day five months ago that she had seen his poem in his Icha Icha. However, Kakashi still couldn't place her identity and it bothered him a whole lot, but all the same he had fallen in sync with her rhythm - whoever she was.
She was easy to cope with and didn't talk unnecessarily, yet she was pleasant to converse with when he felt like it. Her intellect was astounding and she knew very much about almost anything. He knew she must have devoured Konoha's library wholly. Utsuro Sen was a mystery and a pleasant teammate. He didn't need to know more than that, he knew, yet he just couldn't stop pondering the different possibilities on her real identity. He knew she knew that he was Hatake Kakashi, she had been clear on that on their first S-ranked mission together. So she did have the upper hand. Kakashi sighed deeply then, he had to stop thinking about it. It would just eat him up.
They strolled on the streets of Konoha from the gates, and Kakashi felt a slight smile fall on his masked lips as he enjoyed the view of the scurrying villagers, the children playing in the street, the light shuffle of feet on the roof tops of hurrying shinobi. It was a nice little village he lived in, he decided. Utsuro Sen wandered besides him, seemingly in a similar mode to his. He saw in her movements that she was comfortable and knew her way in the confusing streets without much trouble.
In a moment, a man ran and accidentally bumped into the kunoichi. She almost fell to the ground but regained her stance with a cat like move, drawing back from the tumbling man. Kakashi stared at the young man who had bumped into her, not quite believing it was him. The kunoichi coughed and gasped, her hands shaking slightly as she saw the stranger's hair colour shine more brightly than the sun. In one swift movement without visible regret, she ripped off her blank mask and threw it on the ground and Kakashi's heart stopped. Pink hair flooded down her shoulders in cascades and apple green eyes glinted in the late sun light. She stared at the man on the ground who rubbed the back of his blond hair with a pout on his face, not quite looking up at the young ANBU standing in front of him. A group of children ran past them, Konohamaru at the front, not seeing the stranger on the ground. They had probably been chasing him.
"Naruto?"
Author's Note
Hi peeps! Sorry for the late update. You know, life hit me pretty hard last week. Telling me that no, society and grown-up expectations doesn't only crave your humongous coffee consumption, they want more from you. Like school work, part time job, knowing what to do with your life since you plan on changing the course of the college program. LIFE. Ugh.
Either way, I have gotten such lovely feedback on my last chapter. So, right on to the poll!
No, Sakura doesn't need to fall in love - 3 votes
Sakura should fall in love with:
:::Neji::: 3 votes
:::Shika::: 2 votes
:::Sasuke::: 2 votes
:::Kakashi::: 2 votes
:::Sai::: 1 vote
:::Ino::: 1 vote
This tells me that the majority of you guys thinks she should not fall in love and the rest thinks she should fall in love with Neji. A lot of mixed emotions about this, and a lot of you people said you needed to wait a bit before you could state your opinion since Naruto and Sasuke and Itachi hasn't made their appearances in front of Sakura yet. I will take this into consideration when writing further. I have a plan devised, you know. And I might might might throw in something fun, according to your wishes. However, the poll continues until I find one of your explanations perfect and fitting!
What do you guys think of the Four Celestial Beasts? Are they good enough? Powerful enough? Or too powerful? But I mean, since Naruto's got a gigantic powerful toad and Sasuke a gigantic badass snake in Canon, why the fuck did Sakura get a gigantic slimy snail? I mean, just no. No. So I might have exaggerated her animal summons a teeny weeny bit, but eh. Meh.
Is it believable that Kakashi went back to ANBU? Is his character too out of place? I have a hard time understanding him. It's too shallow, just thinking he's always late, that he loves Icha Icha and that he's got a badass Sharingan. I want something more from him than that.
So, I'm currently in a lonely desert of lost good fanfiction stories. Please help.
What is the best Sakura-centric fic you've ever read? Halp plz
sidenote:
And I gotcha all there, didn't I? In Neji's dream. Meheh. And you might have noticed I love cliffhangers.
Love you guys as much as cheesy cliffhangers!
xx fascalia