Naruto: Reunion - Discontinued

4) ...Sakura

There are many ways stories could be told and one such way was by looking at a house. Any one would suffice but it just had to be cherished and loved by its owners. Rather then words or pictures houses had a wonderful way of conveying their emotions and adventures.

The portraits on the walls could show accomplishment, simpler times and new arrivals. Figurines, plants and many assorted papers on shelves could also show hobbies, unrest and dedication. The same could even be said for the general tidiness of the area which could show the typical natures of the owners of the houses such as having an obsession with displaying achievement in every corner, or adding furniture to give the area a welcoming feeling, even having the wallpapers could connote the natures of the owners with them having rough or gentle patterns around their area.

Sakura's house told a story just like this. Her parents' room had hosted a shelve with papers on corny jokes for her father to annoy his family with, her mother chose to keep their bed messy to show how she was never bothered to keep things in check and the wallpaper around the room was a full white which had wrapped itself around the room. Indeed, her parents were simple people but compared to them there was a contrast between the parents and their lovely daughter.

Sakura, like many other young girls in Konoha, used to be obsessed with the image of perfection. Her hair was styled and perfected to be smooth, armed with the bounce and shine of dedication she would flaunt it around konoha with grace as the young boys at the academy marvelled at her.

When she was not going around the village admiring Sasuke she would often try to display her room with the belief that as well as personality, looks did matter as well.

However there was something that gave Sakura maturity among team 7 and that was a singular hair dryer tucked under the depths of her drawer, never to be used again. It was at her Chunin exams Sakura realised what she needed to fully mature, and with one swift cut of her once beautiful hair she separated their bonds and tried her hardest at combat.

Still practising, her room also housed some combat books in the shelves and behind her floral curtains. She trained days, weeks and months until Sasuke's leave and yet she felt useless.

The very last thing there was to tell a story in her room was a singular piece of paper. At first glance it could be described as the old saying of "finding a needle in a haystack", it was small, tiny, full of others like itself, but it was special. The paper that lay down was one that had been written and rewritten many times requesting something special. She never posted it since she feared rejection but because of this it lay there, giving the young girl nothing but regret.

Indeed, this house owned the tragic story of Sakura Haruno; the girl who wanted to mature, but who could not bring herself to do it. The topic of whether a change could spark within was past mysterious but she and many others awaited her maturing and the day it arose, she was to gladly take it on.

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Only silence could be echoed within Naruto and Sakura's visit. They both felt pain, regret and longing to go back to their simpler times.

"I think team 7 is broken."

"I know Naruto..."

"I mean...I think we won't ever be able to fix it."

"Not without glue."

"Where will we find it?"

The question stung. It felt worse then any cut ever inflicted to the two young genins. Sakura fell to the floor on her knees and lay her head on the soft white blankets of Naruto's bed.

"That's the thing Naruto; I don't even know what the glue to fix our team back together is."

Now Naruto could not reply. He lay on his pillow and both boy and girl dared not utter another word.

"Sakura...do you think you have any good news?"

He pulled her young head out of the blanket and tried to speak softly.

"I think I might."

Naruto slowly got back up from his pillow and wiped his ears to listen to Sakura more closely.

"Sasuke told me that if we could convince him to help, he would allow assistance for all of us to kill Itachi."

"Itachi, I forgot about him." He pulled his head to the window beside him, "I don't want to remember him anymore."

"I don't either, but he does, Sasuke does."

"Sakura...I think we both want to be alone for a while..."

She stood back up on the ground and brought herself to smile gently.

"I know. Thank you for breaking the ice." She walked away, "I'll see you Naruto."

She opened the door, "bye."

"Bye."

The door shut.

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She finally posted her hours worth of paper when she got home. The letter was small and minimal. The words were desperate and unforgiving. She knew also it was not perfect. She knew it was worse then her previous drafts. She knew it was not even her trying her hardest. But still, from the next day on, Sakura was going to try her absolute hardest and never give up.

Her letter of permission to be a student to Tsunade was going to be accepted no matter what. Why? Because Sakura was going to try her best!

Like her role models.

Naruto and Sasuke.

The kids that tried and never gave in...

From now on no matter what. She was going to give it her all. Her imperfect letter marked this for all of eternity.

She was going to be the glue that would fix team 7 back to what it was before.

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Characters:

1. Kakashi the copy ninja
2. Naruto the knucklehead
3. Sasuke of the uchiha clan
4. Tsunade the new hokage
5. Ibiki the expert
6. Jiraiya the gallant
7. Sakura the brains