Memories of the Blossom Heart

Chapter 15: Blossomness

The waves were washing up over the rocks and flowing across the current, the rest of the flower petals had already fallen as she gazed at the very last one. She plucked it out and smiled eagerly.

"Sasuke loves me..." She held it dearly to her chest, then paused for a moment to relax.

Then, a strange growling noise was resonating throughout her surroundings, which startled her at an alarming rate.

"Who's there?" She asked, examining the view of the trees and bushes that slowly revealed the two pairs of malevolent red eyes.

A black, fuzzy-like creature's glare was piercing towards her and clenching its sharp teeth, much to her bewilderment.

"A wolf?!" She gasped when it began to charge forward.

It was a couple of meters away from her and she decided to run off. She almost tripped, but she kept moving further until she knew she had to confront it.

As soon as the wolf is getting closer, Sakura then pulls out a kunai knife and the memory suddenly starts to enter her mind.

FLASHBACK:

The young pink-haired kunoichi was making a few hand signs, closing her eyes to concentrate on her chakra. Then, she exclaimed out loud by saying. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Abruptly in about two seconds, the substitute that she summoned had appeared right in front of her. This was the first time her grin became wide and she jumped a little with excitement.

"Yes! I finally made my accomplishment! Next, I will be practicing on how to duplicate multiple ones," she said in her mind giddily.

Her posture has straightened and shrugged her shoulders to wipe the sweat off of her forehead after a long day.

END OF FLASHBACK

She zoomed back into the present moment and blinked to see the wolf creature about to pounce on her. She quickly ducked and dodged the attack, then glanced to see it run closer to her at a fast pace.

Her fist clenched until chakra strings were growing bigger and transforming it into a cherry blossom petal shield. Thus, the wolf got struck back down.

Sakura panicked as she quickly pulled an extra kunai knife from her sleeve, aiming towards the creature's direction. However, she missed it, which made her eyes widen in a slight fear when the wolf stood up on its feet. Teeth were gnashing with saliva drooling between the corners of its mouth and began to tackle her with its claws.

She closed her eyes to remain calm when she immediately performed a few hand signs, crying out boldly. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The substitution appeared beside her and they both pummeled the wolf. All at once, Sakura spins herself to raise her kick on the creature up in the air.

The wolf growled and scratched the three markings on her leg.

"Gah!" She yelped in pain with a grimaced expression. She held onto her thigh and panted breathlessly.

"Grrr..." The wolf glared at her, but she was standing firm.

"Here it comes!" Sakura and her substitute dispersed in a flash, puzzling the creature.

They both smashed the ground, cracking it in half and knocking it out unconsciously.

The wolf shook its head and whimpered before it scrammed away speedily.

"CHA!!!" She shouted actively in a ninja pose.

The pink-haired kunoichi exhaled as soon as her substitute puffed out of smoke. She dropped on her knees in relief and thought to herself that the creature would devour her flesh.

Luckily, she was able to counterattack it, using the most common simple technique, but her memory is still quite hazy for her to recall.

"Sakura!" A voice called out, alerting her to look back to see her friends running towards her. Though for Gaara and Sasuke, the two teleported ahead of them.

"Ino," she said surprisingly.

"What happened here?" The blonde-haired ponytail kunoichi fretted.

"Yeah, all the fuss is echoing all the way to the camping tent," Kiba yawned, ruffling his hair.

"Half of the squad members are in deep sleep," Lee said.

"They've been really beaten up from all the activities they've been put up with," Kiba sighed and gawked at the bottom. "Woah! What the hell?! Was there a first stage of an earthquake that took place here?"

"Are you hurt?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"No... I was-" Sakura didn't get to finish her sentence when she got interrupted.

"Your leg is bleeding," Sasuke intervened and held her arm to examine her condition.

"Huh? It's just a scratch," the pink-haired kunoichi shrugged carelessly.

"For something as big as that scratch, I don't see that as normal," Ino pointed out, whereas Hinata nodded in agreement.

"A wolf attacked me out of nowhere," Sakura claimed.

"Wolf?!" They repeated in disbelief.

"How? There's no such thing here, is it?" Lee wondered.

"I'm pretty sure there is. Heck, this island is full of mysteries and other stuff that I don't even want to dive into," Kiba remarked with a scornful expression.

Ino approached and squatted down to use her healing chakra on the wound where Sakura's skin slowly regenerated back. "See? All good now."

"Don't make us worry like that," Sasuke smirked casually.

"Sorry. Was I too strong to cause an aftershock?" Sakura laughed bizarrely.

"A lot," Sasuke chuckled in amusement.

Sakura rolled her eyes at him and smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"Duh, missy," Kiba huffed and placed his hips.

"Anyway, let's go back. We don't want to waste time," Tenten said.

Sasuke looked at the pink-haired kunoichi and urged on, saying. "Let's go."

"Hmm," she nodded and followed them from behind.

Then, she felt a hand grabbing her wrist as she got startled at the red-haired Kazekage. He walked up and held the small tiny bottle to Sakura in which she became perplexed. Her fingers touched his knuckles and she drew back shyly.

"In case if it comes back, try using this ointment. This is no ordinary because I've been searching this island and I discovered the particular plants have some sort of medicinal herbs in them," he explained and turned around to walk away.

"Wait!" She said clearly.

The red-haired Kazekage glances at her. "Hm?"

"Thank you... Gaara..." Sakura muttered gently.

"Your welcome," he nodded curtly and headed back to their place.

Sakura bit her bottom lip and tried to hide the blush on her cheeks.

Sasuke noticed the two of them from behind and decided not to pay attention to them. Even though the animosity was steering him inside, he was strolling beside her and their other friends.