Will-O-Wisp

Chapter 1: Where the Past Comes Back to Life

"What's wrong now?" Ino questions as she crossed her hands over her chest, she pouted at her best friend and broke her chain of thoughts. It was a slow, near dead day at the flower shop with no costumers.

Sakura sighed in response, she felt bad about ignoring Ino she kept on talking and talking which was nothing new when it came to her but Sakura's head was elsewhere. "I'm sorry, Ino." She apologizes with a frown but Ino just raises an eyebrow in return expecting her to answer the previous question. "I'm mad, okay?!" She snapped, hating to admit it, but there was no denying it.

"Then tell them, I'm sure they'll understand." Ino reasoned to which Sakura scoffed.

"Don't you think I've tried that already?" Sakura shakes her head as she places a basket of flowers on the ground. "They never listen to me!" She throws her hands in the air in anger. "It's like talking to a damn wall, seriously. Lady Tsunade doesn't help either, she just tells me that if they agree to me tagging along I can go, knowing they won't. I'm stuck in the village just because the hospital needs me and 'cause my teammates won't let me. It's frustrating, Ino."

"I think you're making a big deal out of it Sakura." Ino replies as she takes a withering rose from a basket and throws it away. "I haven't had missions in a while and you don't see me complaining." She finished yet again disposing of a withering flower.

"I haven't been on a mission since the war ended Ino…that was almost a year ago." Sakura muttered as she glances at her best friend who shrugs in response.

"It's been that long?" She asked casually as she eyed the outside of the shop looking for possible customers before not sighting any. "Sakura, unlike you I'm not in a rush to go back to missions, for me it's like the war just ended last week." She rested her elbow on the counter of the shop before continuing. "I've never faced so much death, my dad died, Shika almost died, Neji died, and so many others…"

"I'm sorry, Ino." Sakura apologized suddenly remembering that Ino's lost was a little close to home. Ino shook her head before smiling sadly.

"There's no urgent need to go on missions right now, we're in a relative peace for now. I revel in the chance to enjoy a quiet life for now, but I do get your need to go back on missions. There's no way for you to enjoy the little peace we have now, not until you get him back, am I right?" Ino eyed Sakura and saw her visibly tense up at her words.

"You're right, and I don't want to sit here and wait for them to bring him back, I want to help. They're going on a search mission for him and they didn't tell me anything, the only reason I found out is because Naruto is too much of a loud mouth and it accidently slipped out in a conversation." Sakura recognized the bitterness in her voice but she was sick and tired of being left behind.

"When's the mission?" Ino asked.

"Today." Sakura sighed before continuing. "I'm torn between letting them leave peacefully or go and give them a piece of my mind." She shook her head as she finished her sentence.

"Then why are you still here?" Ino asked shaking her arms around making Sakura's eyebrow raise in question. "Go and give them an earful, tell them what you're telling me!" Ino exclaims and Sakura can't help but smile because once in a while Ino has some very good ideas.

Naruto slid his hand out of her grasp as he took a moment to look at her, as his gaze fell on her she blushed, the darkest red he'd ever seen. He couldn't help but notice the way her eyes slightly widened before quickly turning to any other direction and the way she bit her lip. It's moments like this when he can't help but wonder why it took him so long to figure it out; it should have been obvious from the start.

A large smile took ahold of his face; it lit up his features as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. Slowly she reciprocated the hug but before long she pulled back and looked up at him once again biting her lip.

"Good luck…Naruto-kun." There was a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Thanks Hinata-chan, I have a good feeling about this time." He grins, because even though he said that the last time and the time before that he'll probably keep saying the same thing until he accomplishes his goal.

Every chance he has he went on these type of missions, a mission to look for their missing team mate, a team mate that after the war left them behind before once again leaving on his own. From the distance he spots Kakashi as he made his way to the gates with book in hand and an easy pace, as if they weren't about to go on a mission, but that was just how the copy-nin was.

Naruto sighed in relief; Kakashi was just twenty minutes late this time. "Well, well he's early! Or at least early for him." Naruto says out loud as Kakashi reaches him.

Kakashi only spared him a look before saying hello to Hinata who shyly replied back. "What's the special occasion?" Naruto asked his former teacher knowing there must be a reason for his early arrival.

"Let's just say I want to save myself from your slip-up." Kakashi answered as he marked the page in his book before closing it and putting it away in his pouch.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Naruto said in a dismissal manner before turning to hug Hinata. "I'll be back soon." He told her, she didn't reply and instead hugged him back before letting him go and walking away.

"Let's get going Naruto." Kakashi hurried as he turned to walk away and Naruto sighed in annoyance before doing the same, they only took a few steps toward the gate before a voice they knew all too well stopped them in their tracks.

"Where do you two think you're going?" Sakura spoke and although reluctant both Naruto and Kakashi turned to face her. She stood a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest and her mouth set on a thin line, letting them know that she wasn't all too happy.

"We're on a mission, and we're a bit late." Kakashi was the one to speak as he scratched his head.

"Well this is a new one, Kakashi worrying about schedules." She raised an eyebrow as she started to tap her foot, annoyance obvious.

"What are you so mad about?" Naruto asked as Sakura turned to him.

"Are you really asking me that?" She glared at the blonde haired ninja. "You're going on a mission, and you're leaving me out."

"It's too dangerous!" Naruto quickly responded which only seemed to make it worse. "We're going to find Sasuke, I'll bring him back." Naruto told her then, a promise in his voice.

"I don't want you to bring him back, I want us to bring him back…as a team. Remember, Team Seven?" Naruto didn't understand what she was so mad about, why she was making such a big deal about not going with them.

There was no need to get Sakura further involved, not after everything that's happened. Especially not after all she's suffered for Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi could bring him back and spare her any more pain. He didn't understand why Sakura couldn't just see things from their point of view, they were just trying to spare her the trouble.

"Sakura, we don't need you in order to bring him back. You do more good here, in the village, out there-" Naruto was cut off by Sakura herself before he could finish the sentence.

"Out there I'll just get in the way? Was that what you were going to say? That I'm dead weight?" She demanded glaring fiercely at Naruto who just shook his head in response.

"Don't put words in his mouth Sakura and stop being over dramatic. If we needed you out there we would have asked, but we don't. It's not a matter of getting in the way, it's a matter of numbers and with you around we would be one too many." Kakashi's words were harsh and Sakura turned to him with wide eyes and her mouth parted.

Naruto knew Kakashi had gone a little too far with his words, being harsher than needed. Yet Naruto knew that if he didn't speak to her that way, she wouldn't listen.

"Is that so…" Sakura murmured as her gaze turned to the ground, Naruto was glad that he couldn't see her eyes that were probably brimming with tears.

She turned to walk away without another glance at them and Naruto frowned. "Sorry." He muttered, but didn't know whether she heard it or not because she just kept walking away.

"So how did it go?" Ino asked as soon as Sakura entered the flower shop, she was cutting the thorn off some roses as she eyed the pinkette.

"I'm still here, so take a guess." She answered her voice sounding hurt; she couldn't deny that Kakashi's words had wounded her more than she'd like to admit. Then to top it off she recognized the pity in Naruto's voice as he apologized, it offended her.

"Gosh, your teammates can be so stupid!" Ino rolled her eyes as her hands moved cutting the thorns in the roses as if it was second nature which was her case after so many years of doing it. Sakura had tried doing it more than a few times but it always resulted in her getting cut, Ino had refused to let her try again claiming that she was going to kill herself doing it someday. "So what did they say?" Ino asked snapping Sakura out of her trail of thoughts.

"I'd prefer not to talk about it…" Sakura responded not wanting to repeat the words Kakashi spoke to her just minutes ago. He had been unnecessarily harsh; she didn't remember him speaking to her like that before.

"That bad, huh?" Ino murmured and Sakura just nodded. It had been that bad, he made her feel little, weak, something she's been fighting long and hard not to feel like. "Shit!" Ino exclaimed as Sakura's eyes quickly turned to her thinking she had cut herself, but no. Ino left what she was doing and quickly ran behind the counter looking for something. She turned to Sakura holding a file in her hands.

"What's this?" Asked Sakura as she reached out to take it.

"Shikamaru came by while you were out to bring me this, he said to give it directly to you and made me promise not to open it, seems pretty serious." Ino told her while shrugging.

"And you didn't open it?" Sakura asked while raising an eyebrow.

"He made me promise! And as juicy as the gossip might be, it could as well be things I don't want to know. They say ignorance is bliss." Ino told her once again going to her previous work with the roses.

Sakura opened the folder to find a note inside; it was Tsunade's handwriting, one she recognized well enough.

Once you read this hurry to my office, there's something important I need to discuss with you. I didn't send anyone to go and get you personally because I didn't want to alarm anyone so try not to make a fuss.

Also, the only thing important at the moment was this note, the papers in this file are just some things I need you to work on during the week.

If the matter didn't sound so serious she would have rolled her eyes, but a frown crept unto her features as she wondered what could have happened. The note had an urgency she could almost hear, as if Tsunade herself were speaking to her. It wasn't a note of ransom, in where she would be holding Naruto hostage until she freed her of some of the work, nor was it a plea of help where she begged to be saved of the clutches of Shizune.

What if something had happened to Naruto? Or Kakashi?

She quickly discarded the idea, knowing that wasn't the case, Naruto hadn't even left the village by the time Shikamaru had handed Ino the folder. Sakura was probably being paranoid, but there was an unease tugging at her chest as she continued to stare at the note.

"I gotta go Ino." Sakura told Ino as she quickly closed the file and left the flower shop, she heard Ino calling out to her but pretended not to hear as she quickened her pace.

She had hurried over to the Hokage tower, the unease growing with every step she took. A million things ran through her head, a million possibilities of what Tsunade wanted to discuss. The options ranged from deaths, missions, to needing more sake and wanting to scold her for her long shifts at the hospital.

She quickly walked up the stairs as she convinced herself that nothing was wrong, that she was just making a big deal out of everything, that she was being over dramatic as Kakashi would say. Once she was up the stairs she came face to face with Shizune standing just outside Tsunade's office.

"Lady Tsunade's waiting for you inside." Shizune told her and Sakura couldn't help but notice as she avoided her gaze.

Sakura didn't even bother knocking the door as she opened it and there was Tsunade as she sat in her chair, facing her desk with a worried expression clouding her features. Sakura didn't have any time to wonder what was it that caused her such worry because a voice broke all trail of thoughts she could have had.

"Sakura." The voice called out with the pronunciation so peculiar, so familiar and the voice unmistakable. Her eyes widened and she felt both the urge to cry and to run, but she remained there frozen in place.

His name escaped her lips as a relflex, on its own and without thinking. "Sasuke."

a/n: You might be thinking what is she doing putting up another story when she has so many in progress. Well this was born of just useless writing and I didn't think it would grow into more or that I would put it here but yeah...

I'm not sure how many chapters this will have, maybe 20 maybe less. I have a few chapters already written and I'll post depending on the feedback.

Slow start and I know it doesn't say much about the plot, but let me know what you think. :)