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Chapter Two: The Talk With Inner Sakura -- Memories Arisen |
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She had swallowed the pill from earlier, with much difficulty. 'Darn.. I get myself in this.. position..?' Sakura's breathing slowed, and it was somehow loud.. 'Too many voices.' Yes, she was like a paralyzed patient lying limp on a hospital bed surrounded by medical Nins, helping her, at least, to make her recovery faster. She wanted to lift up her eyelids to see where she was now. Even though she kind of felt that her instincts were right. In a moment of being stubborn, she felt her head throbbed in pain. She couldn't move her hand to touch her head or at least stop this throbbing pain. The least thing she could do was to furrow her brows. Maybe... Just maybe... somebody could tell that she's conscious and her head's aching so badly. But to her attempts, no one had seen her brows furrowed. It had become quiet too. 'So... they had left me.'
She wondered why she was here. Smoothly, she recalled what just happened before she passed out. She defeated the assassins who had stalked her while she was on her way to Konoha. During the battle, however, she had received serious wounds and used up all her Chakra to defeat them. She disclosed the fact that she has Chakra shortage, that even if she had trained herself and claimed the Hunter Nin title, she was always having this dilemma. Even if she was perfect in Chakra control, there's no way that she couldn't experience Chakra shortage. She was absolutely sure that it wasn't her physical fitness or energy. Which means, she's lacking energy within. 'What can I do?' Sakura gripped the white sheets on the bed angrily. It has always been the question in her head and until this time, she couldn't figure it out. She had read lots of books back in Konoha and it kind of help her to add another level of energy from her past levels. Yet she could feel that she's lacking something in which she couldn't pinpoint what it was. What exactly was the reason why she was having Chakra shortage? Was it because something within her always cut her energy? Or was it because she's forever weak? Weak...weak... 'How could you say that you're weak if you had attained what you are now?' Her inner self debated her current state, making her realize the optimist side of herself.
'Then why am I always ending up like this?' She wants nothing but to live in reality. Her inner self had always brought her to the land of her fantasies. She knew her very well. She's her and vice versa. That inner self of hers was always there to cheer her up, explode when the real Sakura is angry and a big help when she's always in trouble. 'It's your limits girl. Everyone in this world has their own limits.' The inner self explained in her matured strange tone. 'Even so... ' Sakura didn't continue her statements as more flashbacks flooded her thoughts. But she had managed to praise her other self. When she had drastically matured, she noticed that her other self hardly ever appeared or even talked to her at the back of her mind. Sakura assumed that her other self had understood what she wanted in her life. There was no objection from either of the two.
Other than having Ino as her best friend, this other self of hers is a big help when someone was trying to mess up with her thoughts. Take Ino's technique for example. Sakura was the only person who could talk casually with her other self. Long time ago she was searching for books to answer her question like why she was having another spirit in her body or why was her conscience talking to her as if they were just chatting face to face? But there was no answer. And Sakura had accepted it the way it was. She even thought that maybe she's the only person who had another spirit dwelling in one body. Therefore, she's special. Indeed, she was. 'Oi, stop honoring me. My forehead will grow larger if you continue that.' The Inner self was talking again.
'Is it bad to praise you that much? I was just glad that you're there.' Sakura let a low sigh escape her lips. 'You're so fragile. Damn it. And it looks like I'm the ultimate opposite of you.' The real Sakura smiled with her eyes still closed and her regular breathings still continued. 'That's why you're with me.' For a moment, she swept away her conversation with her other self, pulling the events that happened during the night. All right, so she had arrived in Konoha. But how.. did she get here..? Her voice softened. "Sasuke-kun.." So where was he? Where was her precious Uchiha Sasuke-kun? Sakura coughed, and sighed again. Five years. Everyday, a new mission, and she would always try and find him while on her missions.. but to no avail. Until now. Sakura's smile faded as she began to remember things from the past. Sweet memories..
It was two days after the Sound and Sand villages attacked Konoha during the Chuunin exams. It has been days since Sasuke brought her home unconscious. And she recalled it very clearly. Every single words that Sasuke said when he and Naruto have to face Gaara to release her from the grip of the sand. "I already lost everything before..." He said while looking intently at the enemy across him, "I don't want to see those dear to me, die before my eyes. Never..." She was sitting on a large smooth rock, outside the border of Konoha village. The village itself has to be renovated that most adults had been gone outside with some ninjas helping them repairing what has been lost. She has nothing to do right now, so she went out of the house and find a decent place where she knew she could have a peaceful mind.
Until he came... He was wearing that new black outfit with bunch of bandages in his arms. She liked him best when he wears his blue shirt and white shorts. He looks bright on those clothes, not in that black ones. But even so, he's still Sasuke-kun. Her Sasuke-kun. "What are you doing here?" He asked while standing meters away from her, watching her back facing him. She was stunned. She never expected him to see her there. Or maybe, she thought, he was on his way to his regular training and happened to pass by. Slowly, she turned around and greeted him.
"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun..." She started and then looked away shyly, "I have to clear my thoughts so, I have to stay away with people for a while..." Sasuke had understood, though, a little surprised that she was not clinging on to him, nor squeal a little louder when she utter his name. Indeed, she was a little strange. He was now turning his back on her and almost walk away but stopped when he heard her whispers. "I was scared..." She said with a hint of tremor in her voice. This made Sasuke stiffened and stopped his trails. He doesn't have any ideas why she was scared or why she was saying that she was scared. Maybe, she does have a problem. "I thought I was going to die... but that's not the reason why I was scared." Sakura looked away, resuming her previous position and looking up on the sky. "I was scared because I couldn't protect the ones I love... You guys were always protecting me during our missions. But..."
Sasuke looked back at her and noticed how sad she was. "But... I couldn't protect either the two of you when you guys were in trouble. I barely even protect myself." He saw her hands that were resting on her lap, begun clutching so hard as her flesh changes color. "Those experiences I had with you guys... it made me realize how weak I really am... it made me realize that I'm just a dead-weight in this team. Sasuke was a little strange, too, for some reason he has to say something. It was like he was transported back to the time when he and Naruto had been waiting for Sakura for the first part of the Chuunin Exams. He noticed the odd air that she carried when she came. Somehow, he felt that he had to cheer her up, bring out her usual vibrant spirit. "You should stop judging yourself as a weak person because you only relied on what you see outside."
Surprised, she loosened her grasp in her hands. She was sure that he was also shocked at himself because he was never the person who would give comfort when someone was at the downside of life. She felt her heart uplifted when she heard him said that, but, Sasuke had stopped saying things and silence finally surrounded them. He must have been thinking that Sakura need not to have an explanation to what he had said. After all, she's his smartest teammate. He was still there, watching how the wind carried her short hair in the air, and not really paying attention at the time that had been passing by and how long they'd stayed silent together. "Sasuke-kun... do you still have a weak point?" It was stupid of her to ask about weak points, but she has to make sure that she's not the only person in the team that does have the most obvious weak point. "Of course I do. Even the strongest person living in this world has his own weak point... because no one is perfect."
She needed not to say that she had understood what Sasuke said to her. But for him to know that she was thankful that he was there, she looked up to him and smiled at him brightly. "Thank you so much, Sasuke-kun..."
Miss Haruno Sakura · Mon Sep 26, 2005 @ 03:22am · 2 Comments |
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