After reporting to Tsunade, Sakura walked home with no feeling in her mind. Or heart, for that matter.
She was supposed to dress in her full shinobi regalia, since this was a serious occasion. So she slipped on her shirt, zipping up her green vest over it. Next came her pants. She tied her kunai pouch to the side like always. It was a comforting weight.
Then she bent down and tied her sandals with slow, deliberate steps. She recited the shinobi code to herself to keep the nervousness from entering her mind.
I do not feel.
She tugged on a black glove over her right hand. She stretched her fingers, limbering them under the tight fabric.
I do not regret.
The cold feel of the metal insignia placed upon the back of the glove seeped down to her skin. It was a nice reminder to her that in this world, things were cold and unfeeling. That was life.
I do not love.
She pulled on her second glove and the light from her window glinted off the steal, illuminating the Konoha symbol etched upon its surface.
I am a tool of destruction.
She placed a few medical scrolls into the holster on her vest out of habit. She was going into battle today, but not just the physical kind. She would be testing her mind and pushing it to its breaking point.
I am a dancer of death.
She grabbed the last remaining item from the bed, the most important one. She slipped on her headband, tying it deftly around her forehead. This was what she lived for now. Konoha. She was a shinobi of Konohagakure but she wouldn't die a shinobi of Konohagakure.
I am an artist of battle.
She shut off all of her emotions one by one. It was frightening how easy that was these days. She heard a knock at her door and then the loud voice of Naruto and Kakashi's lazy drawl.
I am a thief of lives.
She was now once again Sakura Haruno: emotionless Jônin and interrogation shinobi of Konoha, medic-nin, apprentice to the Gondaime Hokage Tsunade. No one could make her show her emotion again. Not even Sasuke Uchiha.
She walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. She entered the living room and they both looked up at her. They were dressed the same as she, in their Konoha vests and their headband placed upon their foreheads.
None of them spoke as they saw the hard jade glint of her eyes. She stepped up beside them as they stood.
I am a shinobi.
::
They had traced Sasuke to an area near the Village Hidden in the Grass, they had been following his scent, with Pakkun, for near 4 hours. Naruto, in the front of the group, was in the middle of complaining when she saw something inbarked in the branch he was about to land on.
An explosive tag.
She was going too yell. Scream for him to watch out. No. She was going to push him out of the way. But she wasn't fast enough. She was never enough.
And it went off. She was launched back with Kakashi, thankfully he was behind her and caught her. But Naruto, oh Naruto.
She desperately stood, looking searching for him. There was blood painting the trees, the ground.... Herself.
"NAARRUTOOO!!!" She screamed, 'He can't be gone. NO!' She started to search for his chakra, his strongest point. But his chakra was everywhere. 'The kyuubi' She also searched for that chakra, but there wasn't a single trace. None. Gone.
