NEW STORY INFO DOWN BELOW~

Chapter THIRTY EIGHT

Since she had fainted, Sakura showed no others signs of anything being wrong with her. However, Shikamaru did not doubt for a second that the girl couldn't hide it if anything was wrong, because he had seen the way she reacted to pain. She was used to it, and maybe, to an extent, enjoyed it.

Who was he kidding? She stabbed herself for pocket money; pain was definitely something that didn't give her much of a problem. It was even to an extent where he would say she used pain as a way to ground herself to reality.

He sighed and glanced down at the form in his hands. He had been made aware of the Chunin exams by his father, who had mentioned it in passing a few days ago. He had thought nothing of it, seeing as both him and Sakura were first-year Genin, freshly out of the Academy, and he hadn't thought either of them would be entering. However, apparently Kakashi had nominated his team, and the two Jounin instructors of Team Ten and Team Eight, also teaching recent graduates, had nominated their own teams as to not be outdone.

Shikamaru signed again. To an extent, he could see where Kakashi was coming from. His team consisted of an Uchiha and the son of the current Hokage, as well as Sakura, who was on a different league altogether; they could probably compete against other competitors. The InoShikaCho clans were not as tightly leashed with their members at the Hyuga, nor were they obsessed with their own heritage as the Uchiha, and the heirs of the current generation were nowhere near as encouraged, nor did he think they were ready, to attempt becoming Chunin.

He sighed a third time. Ino had been ecstatic when they received the news, though, and he was sure she would rip him apart if he did not sign up. Not to mention Sakura was definitely going, and he would have to go with her, to keep an eye on her.

He took a deep breath and sighed once more.

Sakura could tell her teammates were keeping an eye on her, despite her reassurance that she was fine and their equally insistent belief that she was. They were quick to forget though when they headed off to hand in their forms for the exams, and if she had to admit it, she had forgotten about it too.

On their way back towards the training grounds, Sakura felt a surge of killing intent. However, it was not the sheer strength of it that made her falter, but the obvious way whoever it belonged to was not even attempting to exert pressure using it. It was simply there.

Naruto and Sasuke noticed her pause and stopped their own argument to glance back at her. Sakura gestured vaguely towards the direction it was coming from and when she headed off without a word, they followed just as quietly. She turned the corner of the street just in time to see a boy slightly older than them lift a much smaller kid off the ground.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto shouted in the same instant, and Sakura saw both the foreign boy and the girl beside him look up towards them. She frowned; she was sure the killer intent was coming from somewhere around them, but it was definitely not these two.

"Put him down," Sasuke said quietly, dangerously.

The foreign boy smirked and mockingly shook Konohamaru in his grasp. The kid struggled harder, limbs flailing as he tried to get out of his grasp.

Sakura felt her nose itch like she needed to sneeze but it was just out of reach. She was sure that there was atleast one more. Where were they?

Maybe if she attacked the two in front of her, the third would come out?

Yes, maybe they would.

At least, it would be worth a try.

Sakura reached behind her and noticed a second later that she had sealed her scythe in its scroll because it was market hour for civilians and her teammates fretted she might hurt someone. She let out a groan of annoyance that caught everyone's attention but that did not matter. She went for a kunai instead and shivered at the way the cold metal sat in her palm.

The foreign pair stiffened, just a little. "Suna and Konoha have an alliance," the girl called. "Are you sure you want to be seen threatening us?"

Sakura blinked, eyes trailing up towards the strange mark she had not noticed adorning the hitai-ate of the two before her. "You're from Suna?" She asked. Something was funny. She didn't know what it was, but something was definitely funny. Of course it was, that was why laughter was bubbling from her lips. She gave up trying to hold it back and almost choked on her breath and she cackled.

What was funny again?

The foreign shinobi were outright staring at her now, and Sakura could see the way they both reached slowly towards whatever weapons they had on them. Even Konohamaru had stopped struggling.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto called out softly.

Sakura ignored him. She pointed her weapon at the Suna pair. "You are attacking the honorable grandson of the Third Hokage," she said. She knew that her tone was flooding with amusement and the title of the boy in the Suna-nin's grasp had rolled off her tongue as mocking as it could be, but she no longer cared.

Konohamaru was instantly dropped from the Suna boy's grasp, and the kid wasted no time in running back towards his friends who she finally noticed were hovering around in fear. "I am going to kill the two of you," she said decidedly. "But you can stop me. Just show yourself, yeah? Just come out and-"

The ground in front of them exploded and sand rose into the air. Sakura saw her two teammates cover their faces with their arms but she simply stood there, squinting just a little to try and see through the dust.

A red haired boy appeared before her, arms crossed and eyes dark. It was him. She could literally see the killing intent coming off of him in waves. She grinned. "It's you," she told him. "I could smell you from streets away."

The boy narrowed his eyes and Sakura decided from the way the sand swirled around him that whoever this kid was, his ability had something to do with sand manipulation. She thought that was a reasonable conclusion and was sure that Shikamaru would approve of her thinking things through. That thought brought another bout of laughter.

Why was everything so funny all of a sudden?

Her hand twitched and she remembered that she was still holding the kunai. She glanced down at the glinting weapon, just begging her to use it. She spun it and saw the way the redhead took a deep breath, as though expecting her to try and use it on him.

"Who are you?" She asked. "I've never seen you before."

The redhead further narrowed his eyes. "Gaara," he finally said, and Sakura had a feeling he did not share often. She grinned.

"I'm Sakura," she told him. "I love the way you smell. I think my God does too! I think-"

"Sakura."

Sakura paused and found that suddenly her ears were ringing. She slowly turned around to see Shikamaru standing next to Naruto and Sasuke, expression unreadable.

"Shika!" She called. "What are you doing here?" She raised her hand to wave, and noticed the kunai again. Where to put it?

Shikamaru slowly stepped towards her. "Sakura," he said again. "What are you doing?"

Sakura blinked. What was she doing? She was greeting a foreign shinobi from Suna who smelled just the way she liked! She bit back another laughing fit.

"Shika," she said instead. "Come meet Gaara."

Shikamaru's expression did not shift and Sakura frowned a little. What was wrong with him? The boy slowly approached her, though, and she did not question it when he slowly took her kunai from her. He then took her hand and turned it so that he had her wrist in his grasp and her palm was facing up.

"Shake it off," he told her, almost like an order. "Wake up."

Sakura blinked.

Shikamaru grimaced, and Sakura watched as he raised the kunai and brought it down straight through her palm.

NEW STORY INFO:

The Deity of Spring

Multi x Sakura

Swearing revenge upon the world for the sins committed against her thousands of years ago Kaguya rose from the ashes, bringing with her an army of Zetsus, and began a slow but sure march towards the Elemental Nations. Faced with a threat like never before the people, in a desperate effort to make a stand, turn towards another legend, the Deity of Spring, for help. AU/SakuMulti.

...

The Pain We Share

Sasori x Sakura (Some Gaara x Sakura((Maybe)))

Ever since Sasori could remember, there were cuts and bruises on his body. In a world where Soulmates exist and any injury or pain was shared between the two, he had grown up curious, then fearful, of what exactly his Soulmate was experiencing. Then one day he meets a broken pink haired girl when the Akatsuki takes down one of Orochimaru's bases and he slowly finds out. SoulmatesAU

Posted on Tumblr as well (check it out) ((shameless self-advertisement))

Update, my friends~

Darque: This kind of ran away from me.

Raven: Mhm.

Darque: But it was fun to write. I know where this is going, I just need to put it down.

Raven: That's what you always say.

Darque: But it's true D:

Raven: Mhm.

Read and Review~