They had been on the road for two weeks, three days, six hours, and twenty-four minutes, and to be quite honest, she was starting to get very, very, very annoyed.
"And then, I say to him, 'are you talking to me?' and he's like 'who the fu-"
"Naruto, if you tell that story one more time, I'm going to kill you. We all saw it; we were there, in the restaurant, when you knocked over that little boy's ice-cream cone because he called you ugly. NOW STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!" She knew she was breathing heavily, and probably looked a little crazy… well, from the look Sasuke was giving her, she probably looked like a demoness or something… but c'mon. This was ridiculous. They'd been on the road for that long and had not once gotten a single break from one another. There had been no action. There had been no akatsuki sightings or even rumors. It was just them. And her. And talking.
"Ooookay, Sakuara-chan." Naruto backed away with his arms up in a 'I am peaceful, please don't eat me' fashion.
"How about we break for lunch, kids?" Kakashi, without even trying, had managed to insult all of them. Bastard.
"Sure, as long as the hag doesn't try to beat us all within an inch of our lives." That did it. She launched herself towards her idiot teammate's placid face with the intent to maul, claw, bite, and scratch him within a centimeter of his life. This, however, did not happen. All of a sudden she was tied to a tree. She glared up at her boyfriend in irritation. \Make that former boyfriend.\
"Sakura, it's for your own good." … She was going to kill them all. "You need to calm down. I'll get you a plate." He nodded at her once, and then started to walk towards the pit that Kakashi had set up for the fire.
"SASUKE! Come back and untie me!! This is ridiculous!!"
"Ah ah ah, Sakura-chan, you know that's not how he works." Her blond teammate, the one who supposedly really cared about her, and supposedly believed she was one of his precious people, sat directly in front of her and shook his head. They were all so bloody irritating.
"Naruto, if you untie me, I promise to not hurt you." She said in this in the sweetest possible voice, and threw in a beautiful smile for good measure.
"No way, Sakura-chan, even if you didn't, teme would probably fry my brains for getting in between your lover's quarrel. But, no worries. I'll make sure he gives you good ramen!" And then with a frog hop up, he was gone.
Another fifteen minutes went by before Sasuke deigned to return to her… admittedly, he had been cooking, but whatever.
"About time." She couldn't help mutter as he moved to untie the ropes.
"I hope you've calmed down, now. I know that they," he sent a head nod in the direction of the other two, "can be annoying… incredibly annoying… but, you can't beat them to death every time you're frustrated. What if we happened to run into someone we'd need to fight while you were killing them?" She sighed. When had he gotten so bloody logical?
"I suppose that would look less than professional." She grimaced, stretching and popping the joints in her back. He settled down next to her and handed her the bowl.
"Exactly." There they were, back to short answers.
"I think the amount of testosterone in our group might be stifling me." As the words were coming out of her mouth, she knew that she probably shouldn't have said it.
"Excuse me?" He was already glaring at her.
"I didn't mean that I regret coming on this mission, Sasuke. I was just saying that it's a little frustrating sometimes. Which I think is a perfectly valid sentiment, by the way." He had turned away from her, now.
"Hn." And then without another word, he got up and walked back to the other three. Jeez louise. Maybe there was a little bit of estrogen around after all.
"Fine, I'll eat my food by myself. So there."
Twenty minutes and a full tummy later, she walked over to the rest of her group with her empty bowl. She silently held the food out to Sasuke, who in turn took it without a word. Fine, if that's how he wanted to be, then so be it. She could snub just as well as he could. Turning on her heel, she flipped her hair back at him, and went to sit next to Sai.
Because she knew, knew, he still hated the idea of a replacement.
"What do you want, ugly." … Maybe this hadn't been such a great idea after all. No, no, no, be civil, Sakura! Civil.
"Nothing, just wanted to see what you were sketching, jerk-face." If anything, art was a safe subject with Sai. She leaned over his shoulder to glance at the pad, "… Is that supposed to be…"
"Hinata-san, yes." Naruto's ears visibly perked up.
"WHY ARE YOU DRAWING HINATA-CHAN?!" Sai looked back him calmly,
"Because I think she is very beautiful. She has a softness to her face that most kunoichi lack." Sakura could feel a vein in her forehead start throbbing as a response to the implied insult, "And now that you've cancelled the wedding –"
"POSTPONED!!!!!!!! WE POSTPONED THE WEDDING!" … Maybe she'd let Naruto have this one.
"I feel as though I may have a chance. So I'm going to mail her this as a token." And then Naruto was tied to a tree.
Funny how things work out.
"We actually can't keep him there, Sasuke. We have to get going." Kakashi had already packed up their cookware and was walking away.
"Hn. Naruto, don't kill him." Once he was satisfied the grunts he got in response were affirmative, he untied the knots. Sigh. Naruto had only been tied up for three minutes. Life was so unfair. As they joined their former sensei, she purposefully walked ahead next to him so as to not have to suffer through Sasuke's big fat crybaby silent treatment.
"Oh good, Sakura. I'm glad you're walking up here with me. I wanted to tell you –"
"I know, I know, I need to give it a break and not try to kill my teammates." She sighed dejectedly. He looked at her in surprise.
"What? No. I just wanted to say that I think this is going really well." … Was he mocking her? Because if he was mocking her…she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Kakashi-Senpai, if you're making fun of me…" He hurriedly brought up his hands and crinkled his eye,
"No, no, no. I'm serious. I've seen missions like this break up teams. The stress affects everyone differently, and as violent as you tend to be…" She coughed into her hand, "I know all of you would never abandon each other." Well, great. Now she felt bad about how she was treating Sasuke. This was probably the hardest for him.
"Thanks, sensei."
"And don't worry about, Sasuke. He'll get over it." And laying a palm on her head, he ruffled her hair like old times. It felt nice to be back there.
"Thank you, Kakai-sensei." She grinned up at him and dropped back to walk with Sasuke, who was, of course, bringing up the rear alone. He didn't acknowledge her as she walked next to him, \because he's a pigheaded prat\. Ignoring her self for a moment, she reached down and took his hand.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun." And then, he visibly relaxed. She saw the tension leave his neck and shoulders, and the stiffness in his eyes was gone. "I didn't mean anything by it."
"Aa." But he kept her hand in his… until,
"So, Sasuke, you know that until you buy Sakura-chan a ring, she's still on the market, right?"
Oh, bother.
A/N: YAY! SEQUEL! … I make no promises about this though, I have only a vague inclination of where it is going.
I tried not to stray too far away from our characters, and they're all a liiiiittle more touchy due to the fact that they're seeking out… well… Itachi. Again, anything within the \...\ is Inner Sakura. And yeah, I guess that's about it. Oh wait, also, I have no beta, as usual, so if there are glaring errors, please let me know, and I shall fix (them).
Let me know if you guys dig it, and I shall continue. I want only to please the readers.
♥Love♥,
The skiz-meister.
Btdubz, I'm like, so obsessed with reviews. You should totally feed the addiction.
Check you later bebés.