JOURNEY. || haruno sakura

07

****

"Hey."

The pinkette stirred, parting her eyelids before her eyes met the raven's. She blinked a couple times before quickly sitting up to face him.

"Sasuke-kun!?" She gripped her fists and anxiously leaned away, her eyes now shot wide. He didn't react as he stared at her, now just making her even more suspicious.

Sakura's hands reached out to Sasuke, causing him to flinch as they landed on his cheeks. She stretched Sasuke's cheeks with a straight face, before he gripped her wrists tight. "Hey.. Just what do you think you're doing?"

Sakura released his cheeks immediately, and smiled nervously. "Just wanted to make sure you were real." Sasuke released his grip on Sakura's wrists and stood up before walking in front.

"There's not much time left until lunch. I'm going to go find Kakashi," He asserted. Sakura twirled the ends of her pink locks with her finger, lost in thought for a brief moment. "You're still going after a bell, huh?" It took everything for her to defeat the dirty trick and Sakura was drained.

"I already touched it... next time, I'll get one." He recited what happened earlier, stunning Sakura. "You touched one!? That's amazing, Sasuke-kun..." She clasped her hands together, but her expression didn't change.

"Sasuke-kun, doesn't this seem pointless to you? At this rate, there's no chance for any of us to win against Kakashi-sensei." Sakura implored right before Sasuke stared daggers at her that pierced right through her soul.

Her heart sunk as his eyes dimmed, growing just as cold as they were during their introductions. The boy soon broke the eye contact, Sakura following after by lowering her gaze. The tension was remarkable between them.

"There's a man that only I can kill," Sasuke declared, not batting an eye to her. "That night... I.. was crying," He resumed after pausing for mere seconds, puzzling the girl. That night... the massacre? A man only he could kill? This time, Sakura's chest felt heavier listening to his words and she almost couldn't piece the right words to reply.

"Who... Who are you talking about? What do you mean?"

"My...."

Sasuke was about to answer her questions, but decided to ignore them instead. "I'm an avenger. I can't just stay here and do nothing." He stepped away, but was quickly stopped by the loud alarm's ringing. Time was up.

"Damn. Wasted too much time." He muttered, while his partner was much too lost in thought. Back then, he said the same things too. "To kill a certain man," Who is this man to him? Does this have to do with the massacre? She placed a hand on her stomach, and exhaled a sigh. She was way too hungry to piece the puzzle from the extremely vague context clues, and decided she was going to find out later.

****

Naruto was tied up to the middle wooden post, while his two teammates sat on the ground nearby to him with two lunch boxes, belonging to not Naruto.

So it seems that Naruto is the failing student? Sakura shot a glance to the slumped boy, and back to Kakashi who was observing the three closely, his arms folded. "You guys look really hungry. Oh, and, by the way... something about the training," The silver haired man noted his unneeded observations.