Naruto 1. Default Chapter

The Adversity Of Spring

Prolouge:

_"Grandmother! Your kimono is so beauliful, you match the flowers!" Sakura, hardly six years old, grinned innocently, wearing her own red and white Festival kimono. The old woman holding her hand, smiled with bright,shineing brown eyes down at her granddaughter. The two generations walked down the soft dirt path in the cherry tree field, the blossoms dancing across the blue sky like snow in spring. Just down the road, one could hear the joy of the Cherry Blossom Festival in which all of Konoha attended to celebrate the coming of spring and the end of the harsh winter months. _

_"I hope that one day I can have a kimono just like it!" The young girl said fancifully. "And I'll wear it every year during the Cherry Blossom Festival!"_

_Her Grandmother nodded, "When you're older Sakura you may have this one. But you must make me a promise."_

_"HAI! I promise! I promise!"_

_"So readily?" laughed her grandmother. _

_"HAI!"_

_"Sakura, you can only wear this Kimono when you go to the Festival with those closest to your heart."_

_"Those closest to my heart . . . ?" Sakura asked, not fully comprehending._

_"This Kimono was given to me by your Grandfather, who had also been my partner when I was still a Ninja. I only wore it to the Cherry Blossom Festival when I go with those I love dearly, for Kimonos hold within them the feelings of the person who wears it. This Kimono holds all my happy memories with my team, my sensei and all my other dear friends and you, Sakura. One day, those feelings will pass to you, and only then will I give you this Kimono. And when you wear it, you'll endowe your positive feelings of love and make this old kimono shine like the blossoms to which you are named after. " The old woman crouched to her knees, coming to look at her young granddaughter in the eyes. "Can you keep this promise to me, my little blossom?"_

_"Yup! I promise!" Sakura cried, hugging her grandmother around the neck. "Grandma, will those I love like the Kimono too?"_

_"Never as much as they'll love you." _

Chapter I: Speaking to the Dead

Kakashi meditated silently, concentrating on his breathing, yet fully aware of the world around him. His full attention was on the achievment of inner peace today and hopefully he wouldn't be disturbed by his beloved, albeit tiring, pupils. He had a feeling today would be peaceful in every sense of the world. Poor Kakashi, he was very wrong. It was about at the point that his breathing had reached the sallowness of sleep, that Iruka made his presence known to the superior ninja by walking up the hill, whistleing and looking around for the instructor and his pupils on this day. When he noticed the comatose state of his friend, he laughed. Kakashi made the most humorous and stern face when he was meditating - he looked more like a gray-haired monkey rather than a devoted ninja.

"Sooooo..." Iruka began, plopping himself next the meditating Jounin and laying down to look at the bright, blue sky. "Where are the kids?"

"..." Exhale.

"Off training, or in Naruto's case at the Ramen stand! Haha." Iruka said, feeling kind of awkward, talking to himself more or less. "How are they coming along?"

"..." Inhale.

"Good! I knew it. They're really great students - most of the time. You know, I think Naruto would be so much farther along if he'd actually paid attention when he was at the Ninja academy, but I will certainly admit he caught up very well. Very well... indeed." His eyes shifted to look at the Jounin, who hadn't moved.

"..." Exhale.

"Anyways! When you're done, let's go find them. I think they might like to go get some food or somethin. It is a sunday after all, most Ninja's rest today." The Chounin was beginning to wonder whether or not Kakashi was even awake! "Yup, resting does the body good."

"Kind of like milk?"

"Ah! You spoke!" Iruka cried.

"I was finishing up." Kakashi said, relaxing and pulled on his vest."I sent them into the woods to train. They needed it, the more discipline, the better. They've, and I mean mostly Sakura, has been slacking."

"Sakura!" Iruka raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding me right?"

"I wish I were, but no she's been slacking; missing training sessions; technique and survival lessons. I'm not entirely sure what's wrong, but I think it has something to do with her home life." Kakashi said. "But that's just a hunch."

"So you sent her off with Sasuke and Naruto?" Iruka looked at the Jounin skeptically. "Those two will fight until the other's dead from exhaustion, and not until. You of all people should know that! "

"Actually, I gave them both instructions to attack her and only her."

"EH!"

Sakura ducked another one of Sasukes fatal kicks, feeling the after-wind blow her hair. Why were they both going up against her! She hardly had time to jump away as one of Naruto's doppleganger copies let out his foot to trip her, and she grasped a tree limb swinging herself up and over it, land safetly to the ground. But once again, with lightening fast speed, Sasuke was on her tail, throwing punches at her like a demon from hell. She felt she was lucky that he hadn't used his Sharingan on her yet - not that she'd had time to use many techniques, she was far too busy defending herself! She blocked one of his punches with her hand, twisted and kicked him away as hard as she could with her left foot, sending her partner flying into the bushes. Just the four more doppleganger copies jumped from the trees, two disappearing under the ground while the other two distracted her. She knew this technique! If she didn't move quickly enough, she'd be pulled underground by the copies - the two above ground were attacking too quickly. When had she gotten so slow?

Then it happened, a hand grasped her foot and she was pulled under ground up to her head. All the copies disappeared in a puff of smoke and Naruto was left standing there looking rather smug about his victory. Sasuke had finally pulled himself out of a prickleberry bush, scratches all over his arms and face.

Glaring up at them she demanded, "Why were you both attacking me!" And not each other. . .

"Well,cause you're gettin' slow Sakura-chan." Naruto said, as bluntly as he'd always been.

"And Kakashi told us too." Sasuke said, not even wincing as he pulled out thorns. "You've been skipping training sessions."

"I have not!" She knew that was a lie. She knew she hadn't been as present as she should have been adn she hadn't practiced as much as she should have. But how could she practice? With all the things going on, and all the yelling and fighting and bickering - how could she concentrate on anything else? To her, everything seemed to be falling to pieces in a matter of weeks. The reason - she couldnt' even think about it without crying - and she could not let Naruto or Sasuke know about it. She just felt that, compared with them, her problems were not important. She didn't want them to worry unnecessarily about her either, it would be a wasted effort for both of them when they had their own dreams to work towards.

"Hey! Look!" Naruto called, "It's Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei! Whooohoo! Is it lunchtime?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You should pull yourself out of there." He looked down at Sakura and then greeted his teachers with a simple nod.

"Sasuke," Iruka greeted, "Looks like Sakura got you good. Smack into the busehs."

"It was a lucky hit." Sasuke defended himself. "I miscalculated."

"I pulled her underground! Haha!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, not really knowing his affect on his female partner. "You were right Kakashi-sensei... she was getting slow."

_"When am I wrong?" _Kakashi thought and then said, "Hai. Hai."

"Why did you tell them to only attack me!" Sakura demanded, not in the least happy as she managed to pull one of her arms free from the soil. Half of her mind was on the fact that varied, assorted and creepy bugs could be crawling on her at any moment. A shiver ran down her spine just thinking of that notion, giving her more incentive to free herself from the solid earth. And another arm came.

"You haven't trained as hard as you should have," Kakashi began.

"I know that." She said. "But I've-"

He interrupted her and said sternly, ignoring her input,"And your techniques are getting soft. Especially your taijutsu, I've told you many a time to practice, but you didn't listen to me."

"Well, things have been -" She was nearly out of the Naruto-dug hole. This was harder to do than she'd anticipated.

"You should be concentrating on becoming a superior and valuable ninja for Konoha. It should be your main objective, no matter what is going on in your life or otherwise. Being a Ninja is what you should strive to be, and that takes work and concentration and dedication." So Kakashi continued to lecture her.

She was out of the hole and fuming, "SHUT UP! MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO BE A NINJA ANYMORE!" She couldn't continue as she choked on her last words, shocking everyone and regretting everything realizing that from this point, there was no turning back. Naruto stiffened and gapped with his mouth open, Iruka looked like a deer in headlights, Kakashi's expression hadn't changed and Sasuke . . . Sasuke. . . was looking at her in way she couldn't identify. It was unnerving and reminded of the time she'd put down Naruto for not having a family, but there was certainly something 'off' about his eyes. They were not nearly as cold as they were that time. She couldn't take this, she couldn't bear his eyes boring into her as if he could see everything she thought, felt and knew.

Then, she began to cry.

Then, she ran.

As fast as her legs could carry her.

Far, far away from those dark, mysterious eyes.

She didn't know how long she'd been running, but she did know that her lungs felt filled with sulfer and her legs burned like hell on a bad day. Yet, the young shinobi kept moving. She'd run through the woods, into town, out of the town gates and was running along a path that led to who-knows-where, as long as she could be alone she would travel any distance at this point. When she finally did stop, it was nearly sundown and she was covered in grim and sweat, her hair was matted and stuck to her neck and forehead, her legs cramped and spasmed under her as she fell to the ground and her lungs kept heaving in oxygen painfully. It wasn't until this point in the day that she realized how immature and rash she'd reacted, earlier she had made a vow not to let her comrades and teacher know that she was troubled - she'd failed miserably. And Kakashi-sensei was probably arleady explaining to them that . . . tears welled in her eyes as she thought of it.

Her grandmother had passed away, just a week ago.

She'd always been close to her grandmother, often going shopping with her, learning how to sew and mend clothes, how to cook delicious, secret recipies and it was always her grandmother who had taken her to the Cherry blossom festval. But her gentle, kind grandmother was gone, and the festival was only a week away. Who was she to go with now? Her mother was still in mourning and refused to go until she felt ready to stop wearing black kimonos, her father was always busy with the store and she was left to go all by herself - which completely defeated the point of the festival. Sakura missed her so much, never having experianced the death of someone so close to her, this was one of the most difficult things she'd ever felt. When she thought of her grandmother, she remembered Sasuke who had lost his entire family to his own brother and Naruto who never knew what it was like to have a family at all, and she thought, "How can I face them?" "I was so insensitive." "Sasuke was right, I'm disgusting." Those thoughts tormented her, and she ever slept anymore - prefering to sit in her grandmothers room and read old books that she'd read Sakura when she was but a little girl. She hardly ate, letting her body eating away at itself. She hardly saw Naruto or Sasuke, not being able to look them in the eyes. She was so ashamed of herself.

She didn't sit for long. Crying, she walked about a mile back to the very outskirts of town and into the Cherry Tree Orchards, the pink petals shining orange and yellow in the sunset light, giving her a feeling of being in a world not her own. The trees swayed in the gentle breeze languidly, waving at her in greeting and the petals brushing against her skin in caresses. Spring was still new, and the wind still carried with it the chill of winter, causing goosebumps to sprout on her skin as she crossed her arms to warm herself. But her moment of tranquility was disrupted by a weird groan. She thought, at first, that it was an old tree being pushed by the wind, but then it was obvious that it was human as she drew closer to the source.

She cried out when she saw the human body. It was obviously female by the shapely legs, slender arms and the dark, matted, purpleblack hair that covered her face and spread out in long waves. Her ninja clothes were torn, a more feminine version of the men's green vests of Konoha was dirty, ripped and bloodied. Sakura, being in many battles herself, knew the smell of blood instantly - and this woman ranked of it. The ironic part being, she was covered in the delicate petals of spring, like nature had placed its own protective blanket upon her to shield her till help (a.k.a. Sakura) arrived. The young girl bent over the womans body and turned her over - she was definitly a high-ranking ninja from Konoha. First, Sakura laid her head on the womans breast and heard, very faintly, a heartbeat. She acted, as honed instincts had told her too. Ripping her skirt with a kuni and tieing it around the bloodiest of wounds, Sakura worked quickly, using her own Chakura to feed energy into the dieing body.

"Please stay with me! Please!" Sakura whispered. How was she going to get help? If she left... the woman could die! If Sakura didn't, then she definitly WOULD and that unacceptable! Sakura had allowed her grandmother to waste away, she would not let this woman die! She would not! She refused to every god known to mankind - this woman would live dammnit. Then, as if ordained, she got an idea. Leaving the womans body temporarliy, Sakura quickly formed teh hand-motions and cried out, "_Kage bunshin no jutsu", _and one perfect copy of Sakura was smiling at her.

"Run to the village and get healers and transportation! HURRY!" Sakura cried, returning to feeding her chakura into the womans life-force. It was a very draining technique she'd learned in her Healer's class, taught by the one and only Tsunade no Hokage. Sakura knew that her expended and split chakura would not last long, but she hoped that her copy would make it to the village and get help.

Naruto and Sasuke sat together at the Ichiraku noodle stand, slurping their food silently both off in their own worlds. The two had taken to eating dinner together when they could manage it, neither having anyone to eat with most of the time. Naruto was contemplating Sakura and her attitude that day, he had seen her emtional, but never like that. It had certainly shocked him, but for some reason, he felt that Sasuke was little more shaken than he. Maybe it was because of the way he ate his noodles, more slowly and more delibrately than usual, instead of his nonchalant way of eating like it was a waste of his precious time.

"So..." Naruto began. "Are you worried?"

"Don't ask dumb questions."

Naruto sighed, "I am. I mean, I don't know what it's like to lose family," He laughed sardonically, "I haven't had anyone to lose, 'cept you guys."

Sasuke threw a sideways glance at his friend and rival. Never had Naruto actually opened up to him in such a manner, they'd joked before, they'd spoken to each other, but never about anything personal - it was a common, unspoken pact not too.

"She'll work through it." Sasuke said confidently.

"Are you sure?" Naruto bit his bottom lip in frustration. "I want to help dammnit! It's not fair! It's just not."

"No, but death never is." agreed the boy stoically. "But Sakura's a strong person."

Before Naruto could answer, he was hit in the head so hard he went face first into the noodles with a very loud yelp and then bubbley girgle. Fuming, he pulled his head out and glared at . .. SAKURA! What was she doing? Had she lost her mind! "SAKURA-CHAN! Why'd you do that?"

"That's not Sakura," Sasuke observed. "It's a shadow copy. "

"Nani?"

"Hurry! Get help and go to the cherry blossom field!" Copy Sakura's voice was cracking and her body began to fade as she struggled to maintin her existance. As a final plea, she cried out," Medics and transportation! Hurry!" And with a puff of pinkish smoke, the copy disappeared without a trace. Without finishing their supper or even looking at one another, the two boys jumped into action and made a straightline for the hospital, jumping buildings and and all.

Shizune stepped into Tsunade's private office, "Tsunade-sama, we've had reports of Akatsuki members being spotted on our borders. Ma'm, who would like me to send to investigate this?"

Tsunade looked up, placing a pen to her mouth, feeling anxious at hearing the Akatsuki being mentioned. They never brougth anything but trouble, and it was usually really bad when you actually heard reports of their activities. They were a covert group at this point, working solely to quietly build up their strength and gather information, to what end, the Fifth Hokage could not say.

She thought for a moment, "Send Kakashi, and tell him to do this secretly. I do not want to cause any sort of upheaval within the village until we know exactly what is going on. But put the highest ranking Jounin's on full alert - secretly. We must keep this quiet."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shizune bowed. "You don't think _he's_ behind this . . . maybe?"

Tsunade frowned, "Maybe. While I won't assume, I won't make the mistake of ruling Orochimaru out either. Though, I think he'd use their recent public activities to lure us into a trap of sorts, that's more his style. But like I said, keep this covert and under-wraps, it's for the best at this point. "

"Hai. I'll go and send Kakashi his orders immediately."

"Go yourself, and don't be seen."

"HAI!" Shizune was gone before the last syllable was uttered, and it was merely an echo within Tsunade's ears.

_"Please do not let this be Orochimaru. . . please." _She prayed silently to herself.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief when dark green eyes opened up to look at her, slowly and one could only open halfway from the swelling bruise. The woman was steadily breathing now and despite her mangled body and cut up face, Sakura easily assume that she was beautiful. "My name is Haruno Sakura." She announced in a calm voice. "You're going to be alright! I promise. My friends should be here any moment with help and healers to take care of you. Can you speak?"

Her lips moved in a struggle to make sound, but she eventually managed to say her name, "Toshiya Shurei."

"Oh! Please don't fall asleep again!" Sakura cried when the woman's eyes began to droop and flutter uncontrollably. "Wake up! I'm begging you!" She nearly screaming when seh heard the roar of an engine and feet hitting the ground. Looking behind her she saw Sasuke and then Naruto dropping beside him and quickly turned her eyes to the woman whose head rested in her lap.

"What happened?" Naruto exlaimed. "Did you two get in a fight with someone! Tell us!"

Sakura bit her lip, feeling blood drip into her mouth, for she could not answer her partners.

"Don't worry about it now, Naruto." Sasuke said, "The healers and ambulance are here. I'm sure she, whoever she is, will give us plenty of answers when she awakens. "

"Toshiya Shurei." Sakura said. "That's her name. She woke up but a minute ago, then . . . she passed out again! I was useless! I couldn't do anything at all!" Sakura cried out, tears welling in her eyes.

A big hand, larger than either Sasuke's or Narutos placed itself on her shoulder. "Don't worry girl, we'll take care of her from now on. The hospital healers are waiting at the hospital to heal her. Don't worry." He said again, and he and his partner lifted the injured woman onto a stretcher, strapped her downa nd carried her gently into the ambulance where they began to administer chakura from a female healer and liquid from an I.V. drip. The large man came back and told them to get into the front seat of the ambulance because the one who did this might still be around.

First Naruto entered into ambulance, hopping in excitedly as he dared to be, never having ridden in one before. Then Sasuke climbed in, but he looked back at Sakura, who hadn't moved an inch, she was simply staring at her bloodied hands.

"Go get her, we don't have time to waste." The man said, shutting the door n the drivers side. "She'll need to see a counselor when we get back."

"Hai." Sasuke said, following the order without hesitation, for he had been thinking the exact same thing. Sakura was pale, and her eyes wide as she stared at the blood that covered and surrounded her. She didnt even look at him as he approached and stopped in front of her, her vision focused on her hands.

"I - I couldnt' do anything for her Sasuke-kun." She said, trembling. "She . . . she wouldn't stop bleeding and the skin was so cold. So cold. . . . like my grandmothers had been. I- I"m so sorry!" She buried her face in her hands.

"Sakura, " He said sternly, grabbing her hands away from her face and kneeling to look her in the eye. "You did well. Let's go home."

Sakura had always been emotional. She'd always hugged Sasuke when it came to anything but her own problems, she'd always wanted him to know she was there for him and that he could depend on her no matter what. But this time, when she threw arms around his neck, it was for her own support and she prayed that he wouldn't push her away or curse her. He didn't have to do anything, just letting her stay like that for a moment would be good enough. But Sasuke surprised her with a soft hand on the back of her head, he was conceding. It was a very small gesture, and out of character for her aloof partner, so she promised to make it up to him first chance she could - both he and Naruto.

Sasuke felt . . . weird and very awkward showing any kind of affection. But what else could he do? This hadn't occured under any sort of normal circumstance and he knew how Sakura felt in every way. He empathized and realized that he wished he'd had a should to cry on when he was child, though he would never tell her or anyone for that matter, his feelings on that subject. She'd been keeping her pain and sorrow to herself, pushing him and Naruto away and keeping them at a stern distance so as not to worry them. In doing so, she'd brought herself to the brink of a nervous break-down, and this incident was the trigger. Someone had to put a halt to it, someone had to give Sakura a little strength to depend on. He was her partner and . . . her friend. He would lend that necessary strength so that she would become the girl he knew so well. He had found he missed Sakura over the past weeks that she had avoided him. Her incessant talking had become a welcome familiarity that he had taken for granted until it was no longer there. So, with those thoughts, he felt a little less awkward about letting her cry so openly. . . on his shoulder . . . in front of quite a few people . . .

She pulled away, knowing this wasn't easy for him. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun." She quickly wiped her eyes dry and gave him a forced smile.

"Let's go."

"Hai."

Author's Note: Well . . . the beginning is always rough and this was no exception. First Naruto fan-fic, and it'll be mostly about Sakura, how she deals with life and how she decides to become the strongest Ninja possible for more than just Sasuke. And I'm going to play with Kakashi quite a bit too, hahaha. Sorry, I love torturing him. And sorry people, no YAOI in this. I can't write YAOI very well. . . . it usually ends up . . . well just really crappy. Anywho, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Wish it could have been at tad longer - but this is good. I may do a revamp later or somethin. . . Ciao.

P.S. I'm assuming Rin is dead . . . correct me if I'm wrong. And REVIEW! THANKS!

Definitions:

Healer: Docter, but I figured the term would be wrong because they don,t just use medicine and technological means to heal, they use Chakura as well.


	2. Chapter 2

The Adversity of Spring

Spasmically Asinine

Chapter 2: The Curse of Recognition

**_  
I still remember the world  
From the eyes of a child  
Slowly those feelings  
Were clouded by what I know now _**

Where has my heart gone  
An uneven trade for the real world  
I want to go back to  
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

I still remember the sun  
Always warm on my back  
Somehow it seems colder now - Evanescence: Feilds of Innocence

**_  
_**_"I prefer the Winter months, Spring is like a lie to us all - that we'll forever be happy and in love. Winter is blunt, it gives us the reality in a cold wind." A young girl with long black hair sat looking at the wide-open sky, a field of daisies and daffodiles spread before her like bubbles in a green sea. Next to her sat a boy, no older than twelve with a very serious look in his young eyes. It was the first day of spring, and the blossoms of the cherry trees were sprouting. _

_"You say the weirdest things," Kakashi sighed. "There are times I don't know when to laugh or when to take you seriously."_

_"So . . . " She laughed, it was music to his ears. "I confuse you that much, Kashi-chan?"_

_"Don't call me that." He snapped, laying back into the soft grass too look at the fluffy clouds above. He was attempting to ignore his childhood friend, but he knew it to be a futile effort. _

_"Why? I have since we were children." She looked over him, her eyes shining in jest. _

_"So? I'm older now." _

_"Not as old as I am!" She proclaimed delicately picking a daisy and picking at its white and purple petals._

_"Only by a month." _

_"But I'm still older," She touched his covered nose with the daisy. "And you can't argue the truth of the matter, just like you can't sweep away snow without leaving something worse behind - like ice."_

_"There you go again, with your weird ways of saying things." He said, taking the maimed flower from her small, white hand. _

_"I'm off," She stood suddenly, "Sensei will be angry with me if I'm late. You should go too, I'm sure your sensei will scold you."_

_"Ah." But, Kakashi didn't stand, but instead kept his eyes fixed on the field of daisies and tall grass that extended to the horizen. _

_She began to walk away, but stopped and turned around, "Kakashi. . . when we see each other again, I have something I want to tell you. Do you promise to listen to me?"_

_"Why wouldn't I?"_

_"Because, you might not like to hear it." His eyes grew concerned at the frown on his friends face as he turned to look at her._

_"Tell me now."_

_"I can't. But soon. Before Spring takes away it's fanciful promises and Winters' wind comes to disimate our hopes, I will tell you." She chuckled at the sardonic face he was giving her and she ran up, dropped to her knees and hugged him from behind playfully, "Don't look at me like that, Kashi-chan! Your eyes can be so mean."_

_"No they can't. They're eyes, they can't be anything but eyesl."_

_She ignored his comment and released him, "See you later!"_

_"Ah." _

_"Bye! Bye! Kakashi!"_

_. . . Kakashi . . . _

"Kakashi-san!"

His eyes snapped open and before Shizune could react, he had a kuni at her throat and the sheets of his bed up to his face, covering the lower half, his eyes gazing angrily at her. But when he realized who she was and that she was not the sort of woman to simply come into a mans room without reason, he slowly released his guard, but not the sheet over his face. She was only about to shake him awake, he'd been speaking in his sleep, and she was surprised that he hadn't awoken when she'd slipped through his window. His room was a small, one room apartment with a kitchen on the left wall, a bookshelf to the right and two doors - one led to the outside, the other led to the bathroom and the closet. Other than books strewn about, his collection of shinobi weaponry kept neatly in a chest next to the bookshelf and the clothes he'd cast aside that night, there nothing in this room to make it a home - unless you counted the futon in which he slept. Especially in the early moonlight, this room seemed to be the epitomy of 'lonely bachelor' . . . or if you read the book titles 'lonely bachelor who didn't get any'.

She bowed as she sat on her knees, "Forgive the intrusion. Tsunade-no-Hokage-sama sent me. You have been assigned a very important mission."

"Ah." He said, his voice muffled by the blanket. "But may I get dressed before you begin to explain the specifics?"

Shizune blushed, realizing that the Jounin did not have any clothes on except a pair of plain black boxers. She nodded looking away and covering her eyes modestly, "Please do so. I won't look."

"Thanks." He muttered.

Shizune bit her lip, wishing she could yell at Tsunade-sama for putting her in such a melodramatic and certainly uncomfortable situation with a man she hardly knew, let alone wished to see in his boxers. He'd nearly killed her, his reaction time sprung from instincts rather than knowledge of what was actually happening in the room! Then again, what else was she supposed to expect from a Jounin with superior battle experiance and probably a past full of despair and traumatic events - but such was the life of a shinobi. She too, had her own scars and bleeding heart to mend to now and again - all shinobi did. So, she spent a good percentage of the time he was dressing berating herself and her immature assumptions that he wouldn't react in a violent way to her stealing into his room and waking him. She knew the first thing she would want to reach for if she were disturbed by some unknonwn, unsuspecting stranger shaking her awake would be her shuriken or kuni.

Kakashi sat in front of her, folding his legs and crossing his arms, "Let's get down to business then."

"First, she wants you to leave tonight - undercover."

"Without proper preparation?" He raised a gray eyebrow.

"Well -"

"Never mind," He chuckled. "Anyway, go on. Would you like some . . . err water? I don't think I have anything else. Well... maybe an old bottle of ramune tucked away somewhere... or coco puffs if you're hungry? Wait...no milk so I suppose Coco puffs are out of the question - unless you LIKE them dry."

"No thank you." Shizune declined with a curt shake of her head.

"I can already tell this is going to be a long night, "He sighed wishing he could open up his new volume of Come, Come Paradise.

But such was the life of a shinobi. . .

------

Sakura sat in the office of some counselor she had yet to meet, and she felt like she had literally been ran over by a train. Her clothes were filthy and torn, her hair was matted and greasy and her face wasn't the usual cheerful smile she normally wore. The only thing that had changed was that she had finally had the chance to wash the red blood off her small, white hands. She clasped and un-clasped those hands nervously, her feet shuffled against the plush green carpet and she looked around at the paintings and pictures on the wall, she read the labels of the books and scrolls in the bookcase, she shuffled the carpet fibers some more, she straightned out a pillow and tried to read a magazine from the table in front of her, she tried many things to calm her growing anxiety - nothing seemed to work. She was doing anything to get the images of Toshiya Shurei's mangled, deformed body out of her mind, for every time she imagined the scene her stomach would twist and churn with sickness and her throat would upheave bile. She was fighting down the urge to throw-up what little food she had in her stomach when the wooden door opened and a young man with dark brown hair and glasses walked in wearing a suit. It was often that she saw suits, she knew that high-class business men wore them, and docters of course - but she hadn't expect a psychiatrist to do so.

He carried with him a clip board, looking down at it he said, "Haruno Sakura-san?"

"Yes." She said, clenching her hands tightly together.

"How are you?" He asked in a familiar tone as he went over and sat down at his dark oak desk.

"I'm okay, " She stated shakily.

"That's good." He smield at her - he had a very nice smile. "My name is Docter Wong, I'll be examining you."

"Examining me?"

"Yes." He leaned back in the chair, "This experiance has the potential to be very traumatizing, and in a future shinobi, that isn't a chance we're willing to take. Don't worry!" He laughed at the look on her face. "I don't think you're crazy or anything and you won't be institutionalized, I can assure that much!"

"Oh." She said, forcing a smile. "That's good!"

"Alright. So let's begin, shall we?" She nodded in response and he continued, "I want you, in your own words to describe what happened tonight."

She began by telling him about why she ran away from Naruto and Sasuke that afternoon to the events that had just transpired an hour ago. By the end, she was tired, tearing-up and really hungry. When she looked at the clock, she realized she had been speaking for over forty minutes, and he had done nothing but listen, nod and smile at her in encouragement. Sakura did the only thing that she could do - she yawned.

"You must be tired, "He stated. "But I think this was a very good session and feel free to come back anytime you feel you need to talk about something or if something's bothering you." He smiled more at the board in his lap as he quickly wrote notes and, in Sakura's imagination, drew little doodles.

"So I can leave then?" She asked tentatively.

"Yes, and please get some rest. Do you need me to call your parents and have them pick you up?" Dr. Wong asked.

"No thank you. I can manage. "She stood and with a bow exited the weird office and left the smiling docter to his paperwork and doodles. She sighed gratefully, walking down the hall to be away from him. He had been nice enough, it was just that she didn't see how reliving that night was going to help her. It had only made her feel more inadequit about the whole thing, and certainly more embarrased about crying in front of Sasuke. She worried abotu what he thought of her now, he wouldnt' say anything, but she would be able to tell. He probably thought that she was weak and pathetic - not worthy to be his partner. Sadly, Sakura was beginning to see his initial point.

-----

Tsunade had wished she'd turned off her phone. Honestly, to be called to the hospital so late for a healing, because apparently the healers there were incapable and unprepared for such drastic injuries on an emergancy patient. Tsunade was not a happy Hokage - in fact she planned on yelling at every Healer present until her throat was parched and raw after healing that stupid ninja who just decided to get hurt. Now, Tsunade wasn't a cold-hearted person, and she was truely concerned about the shinobi's dire situation, but she would be damned before she ceased to grumble about the horrid timing and that was her perogative as a woman. She marched through the cold,sterile halls of the hospital, her heels clicking one, two, one, two and her arms crossed under her ample breasts. She was glad she'd worn her over-coat for despite the humid spring air that night, the hospitals air-conditioning was frigid. She'd have to complain about that too.

What shocked her upon arriving in front of the surgery door was the presence of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto sitting next to one another . . . without fighting. First question: What were they doing there? Second question: why were they so morose?

But, despite planned questioning, she was interrupted by one of the Healers, a male, rushing from the double doors to greet her. "Hokage-sama, please hurry! We're losing the patient!"

"Idiot!" She yelled, moving past him ignoring the fact that she'd practically pushed the poor man into the wall, and into surgery.

"...Baa-chan?" Naruto asked, a bit confused.

"I didn't even know she was there, "Sasuke muttered under his breath, realizing just how tired he was.

Inside the room, after her hand being scrubbed clean, she gasped at the woman who lay before her. Stitches ran up and down her torso, arms and legs, bandages wrapped around her left eye and her forehead leaving most of her face covered, but it wasn't any of these wounds causing the patient to slip into the unknown sleep of death - it was the black infected seal on her left arm which throbbed angrily, feasting on the last available chakura in her body. Three female, lower-class healers were feeding Chakura into the key points on her body - the head, the chest and the lower torso - which was the only measure being taken to keep the young woman alive. A heart moniter to the side never beeped in a regular pattern, and her blood pressure wasn't stabilizing to a healthy point. Tsunade looked at the main healer, who was the man who'd rushed out to meet her, and demanded, "What happened here?"

"We don't know." He admitted. "We've never seen this kind of seal before, Hokage-sama, otherwise we wouldn't have called you. I apologize for the inconvience."

"It's no inconvience," She sighed, eyeing that horrible, pounding mark. "I need all of you to leave immediatly." The three novice healers looke dup and the the main one was stunned.

"But -"

"No buts. Get out. IF any of you are even affected by that mark on her arm, one will appear on you and you'll die from chakura depletion. You're heart will burst and your lungs will collapse, following the slow degeneration of all your organs and the splitting of your skin. Now, if you want that to happen, then I beg of you to stay, otherwise get yourselves out." With that ominous prediction and her hard glare, the four healers left their posts and scrambled to leave without even so much as a look of regret. They weren't trained to deal with this kind of situation - though after this incident, Tsunade would force them to be.

She sat next to the young woman on the side of the infected arm, placed her hands above the mark being extremely careful not to touch it. She didn't want to thiink of the consequences if she did so. Releasing her chakura slowly, she concentrated it upon the mark and with her other hand began to sealing symbols - this curse would never heal but it could be contained, unfortunately for the patient, the infection would continue to spread throughout her body. It would eat away at her skin and her organs would fail one by one, and within perhaps a years time, she would die a painfilled death in quaranteen. Still, Tsunade would do her best to save her life, and continue working to find a cure for the infection, just as she had Lee when it was thought he would never be able to walk again without a cain. This was the reason she had become a Healer, and it was that very reason that drove her to seal that mark. It was first step - a baby step - and she would push foreward until the topfloor was reached!

But sealing it was tricky in that it fed off chakura, and if she released too much at once, she would begin to become infected herself. She mumbled the words under her breath as she created the symbols with her hand. Gently, she removed the hand feeding the chakura and placed the four seasonal symbols about the throbbing black curse. At first, it fought against the containment, nearly killing the patient, but the seal activated and within the hour, tsunade had it contained. She began to bandage the arm, adn the the places of the body wehre there were stiches and she healed the bruises which cleared the sickly yellow and blue color from the girls face.

Then, and only then, did she actually look at the woman's face. Then, and only then, did Tsunade recognize her patient and she gasped, her band coming up to her mouth in shock.

------

Sakura smiled, truely, for the first time when she saw Sasuke and Naruto waiting for her near the surgery doors. They were conversing with the Healers, which probably meant that the woman was fine! But she stopped short of coming up to them, biting her lip in shame at her actions beforehand. She had shut them out, but what else was she supposed to have done? She had lied to them, yelled at them, abandoned their friendship for her own self-pity and grief. Sakura didn't have much time to dwell on her own depressive thoughts as Tsunade burst through the double doors that led into surgery.

"You there!' Tsunade cried, pointing at the Healer speaking to Naruto and Sasuke. "Go contact the proper criminal authorities, and i want you to call together a council of elite Jounin here at once on my order. AND WHERE IS SHIZUNE!"

"Tsunade-baa-chan..."Naruto gaped at her. "What are ya' yellin' about?"

"Yeah,"A rasped voice from behind her said, "What are you yelling about, Tsunade-sensei?"

Tsunade spun around, backing up. "How're you awake already? The anesthisa should have kept you under for at least another hour!"

The woman leaned against the door way, hunched over, half of her face hidden by bandages. She grinned maliciously, "I hear you're the new Hokage, Tsunade-sensei. How does it feel to be graced with a position someone of your weakness doesn't deserve! How does it feel to betray your old comrades? And then heal one of the most degenerate and disgusting human beings on the face of the planet without even realizing who she is! You're nothing but a goddamned fool -" SLAP! Sakura winced at the sound which traveled down the hall and echoed at it's end.

"Dont you ever speak to me in that tone, you traitor." Tsunade hadn't even put her chakura into the slap, but the woman was on the floor writhing in agony as she gripped the side of her face covered in bandages, blood seeping through.

"Tsu-Tsunade-baa-chan, why are you hitting her?" Naruto cried, not grasping the severity of the situation. "She's hurt!"

"Naruto, don't be such a dumbshit." Sasuke said coldly, fully grasping the severity of the situation. And if it wasn't obvious tot he other two, he had recognized a very familier look in that girls face and in her eyes. She was dangerous, a calamity waiting to happen. The only thing keeping her down were the injuries and the fact that the anesthisia had worn off, leaving her far too drowsy and delirious to really know what was going on.

"You bitch," Shurei cursed, "He should have killed you when he had the chance. I hate you."

Tsunade sighed, "Stop being such a child, you're caught now and cursing me is not going to save you. I don't crumble at a few choice words."

Shurei laughed, "So what... if I'm ... caught." Her words were fading as she lay on the floor and breathing became slow and unstable. "As i feel...I'll die ...soon."

"I think fortune is on yoru side more than you know." Tsunade said quietly. "Sakura."

"Hai!" Sakura jumped out of the trance she'd been in for the past few minutes.

"She's passed out now. I want you, Naruto and Sasuke to move her into room two-twenty-three, just down the hall and to the right. Sasuke, Naruto, I want you two to stand guard outside her room, and Sakura I want to you to stay with her to moniter her breathing, pulse and make sure she isn't going to go into shock of any sort - we cannot have her die. Is that understood, team 7?"

"Hai!" They said unison.

--------

"I don't see why we have to do this," Naruto complained. "Haven't we done enough? I mean, if she's so dangerous then why don't they have elites watchin' her? I don't get it at all actually. She seemed to really hate Tsunade-baa-chan too." He sat on the floor of the hospital outside of room 223, his legs and arms crossed in frustration.

"Ah." Sasuke said as he shifted one foot over the other as he leaned against the wall, his eyes closed and arms crossed indignantly.

"And poor Sakura-chan, hasn't she been through enough tonight?" Naruto grumbled on. "And where's Kakashi-sensei, ne! Or Ero-Sennin? Shouldn't they be helpin us or somethin'. I mean, Tsunade-baa-chan had the ANBU called and the council at this late hour. Do you think it has to do with him?"

"Maybe." Sasuke sighed and shifted his feet again. "Probably."

"Eh! Probably? Whadda mean! You know somethin', Sasuke?" Naruto looked up at his comrade, his eyes curious.

"No. " Sasuke answered, "But if you noticed her clearly, she did have the same look in her eyes. Hatred, cold and burning. I can never forget those eyes." He cut himself off there, not wantting to go any further for it delved far to deep into his won introspection.

"I see." Naruto said, pretending that he had, but in actuallity he'd been too busy watching Tsunade-baa-chan to really notice the girls face. He wasn't one for detail, and with half of the face covered, he wouldn't have noticed any recognition anyway. "Why did she want sakura to stay in there? Sakura-chan needs to rest, and i hate to say it but I think that lady could kill her."

"Stop asking dumb questions."

"STOP TELLING ME THAT! BASTARD!"

"Then shut up, dobe."

'ARGH!" Naruto stood, his fists clenched ready to fight, but he was laso ready for Sakura-chan to burst through and tell them to stop fighting at any moment. Any moment now. . . . She would, he knew it. But she didn't. "Eh? Where's Sakura-chan?"

"What are you rambling about now, Dobe?"

"She usually stops us from fighting."

Inside the room, Sakura had heard the fight, and she had wanted to get up from her chair by the window to yell at Naruto, but her legs where aching and she felt more exhuasted than she had her whole life. So, getting up wastn' an option at that point and it seemed as through they had stopped already. She smiled, leaning her bead back on the chair, looking out the window at the stars twinkling in the moonless sky. The heart and pulse moniters beeped regularly, lulling Sakura into a trance of sorts. She felt more calm now than she had all week, as if she had no more emotions or energy to emit them. Everything, while not settled, seemed to have disappeared for awhile. But, perhaps that was because she was so tired she could hardly feel her own toes in her sandals. Her eyes shifted to the patient, and to the I.V. drip, wondering what drugs they had given her to KEEP her asleep, and she was looking very pale. The young shinobi took note of the woman's long lashes, her sharp face and her slanted eyes. They had had a different look to them in the hospital than when she'd seen them in the orchard. In the orchard, they'd been desperate, scared and human, but in the waiting room they had been cold, murderous - more like a monsters.

"Toshiya Shurei. . . " Sakura mumbled before her eyes drifted shut and she fell into darkness.

A/N Second Chapter. Whew. That took FOREVER...and it's not that good. Not at all. . . . but it WILL get better. PROMISE! Please review! (yes it's implied sasu/saku)

S. A. forever!


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Naruto, Adventure, Romance