Yo!
Sorry for taking so long…I missed this….
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"Gaara?" Sakura got off of Sasuke and approached said man. A small smile lighted up her face. "Is that really you?"
Gaara smirked.
"Yours truly." She instantly hugged him.
"I miss you so much! How are Kankuro and Temari? And Suna? How is it working out as the new king?" She grabbed his hand with both of hers as she looked at him straight in his eyes with a giant smile.
She looked so angelic.
Sasuke glared. So Sakura knows this asshole too? Gaara noticed that Uchiha Sasuke was glaring and smirked.
"Uchiha." Gaara greeted.
"Hn." Sasuke muttered.
Sakura looked at both of them in astonishment.
"Oh! You know each other? That's amazing! We seem to have the same friends in everything, huh Sasuke-kun?" She smiled at Sasuke and he looked away with a blush.
"This man is not my friend, Sakura." He uttered.
"I agree with the Uchiha. He is no friend of mine." Sakura looked back and forth at them and then remembered. Sound and Suna didn't get along at all. They were actually in a war…or at least close to it.
"I see, well, um… what brings you here then Gaara?" She looked back at the red-haired man and strained to take out the cold atmosphere that had descended upon them.
"I'm here to take you home. Your grandfather has suffered an attack, Sakura. You need to be there as soon as possible." He stated looking straight into her eyes.
Her green emeralds widened and shone with worry and uneasiness.
"Then what are we still doing here? I'm leaving right now!" Sakura was about to start running towards the palace when a hand grabbed her arm. She looked back to see it was Sasuke.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye at least?" Sakura looked at him with confusion.
"You're not coming back with us to the palace?" He shook his head.
"Impossible, I have to go back to my brother as soon as possible. He'll get angry if I take too long." She looked at him with pleading eyes and then sighed.
"I guess so." She went up to him and hugged him. Gaara looked annoyed by the whole scene.
"See you tomorrow then." Sakura let go of Sasuke as she looked at him in the eyes.
"How long does that mean you're going to stay in Wind Country?" she asked.
"Not long. We'll probably leave by the end of this week." He muttered.
She smiled-a fake smile- and nodded.
"Then I'll be seeing you Sasuke-kun, tomorrow." With that she got out of his embrace and started running towards the castle with Gaara tailing right behind her.
All Sasuke could do was stare at her back and smirk. Soon, he'll have her with him every single moment of every day. With that thought in mind he started going in the opposite direction from the castle, to the place he was staying with his brother and uncle.
&
"What took you so long otouto?" Itachi uttered.
Sasuke was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace of the house they were staying in. Itachi had caught him doing one of his favorite pastimes, staring at the flames from the fire.
"Serving my country takes a lot out of you." Sasuke muttered. Itachi smirked. So that means that Sasuke was close to getting the girl for himself, huh?
"How long is it going to take? You know our uncle wants property over Wind Country soon." Sasuke looked at his brother. Itachi was standing right next to the fireplace staring straight at his brother's face.
The younger Uchiha sighed as he remembered what Orochimaru had told him. Well, it wasn't such a bad deal because Sakura was a great catch, not only for her status but she was also beautiful and intelligent. Something didn't feel right about doing this to her. He already had her eating off the palm of his hand, but she's not stupid. She will probably figure out the plan anyway. As Sasuke stared at Itachi he grimaced even more. Itachi was just like his uncle. Only thinking of the profits they could get out of everything. Sasuke had to admit that he was similar to that too, but not with Sakura, and he didn't know why she was different.
"It wont take much longer. I think she already has feelings for me by now, maybe even love." Sasuke switched his gaze back to the fire.
The older Uchiha smirked maliciously and moved towards where his brother was sitting. He knelt to look straight at Sasuke's face. Their eyes locked. Onyx stared at onyx in a silent battle that they always waged against each other.
"You seem to work fast. I heard she was feisty, but I guess if you can make her fall in love with you in a day, people were giving her too much credit." He said stoically. Sasuke gritted his teeth. His anger was boiling from this statement.
"Don't you dare call her easy." Itachi's eyes widened a fraction and then he got up from his kneeling position. He started walking away from Sasuke.
"It seems to me, the one that has fallen in love is you, my dear brother." Sasuke fisted his hands on the armrests from the couch as his sharingan activated.
"How can you say that?! I'm not stupid enough to fall in love with such a silly girl!" Sasuke barked, but when he looked back, Itachi had already disappeared, leaving Sasuke and his thoughts and feelings to ponder on what had just happened today.
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"Where is he?!" screamed an infuriated Sakura.
Jiraya and Tsunade both looked quickly towards where the screaming was originating from.
"Ah, Lady Haruno, so nice to see yo-" Jiraya was cut off as Sakura barged into her grandfather's room and ran towards him to clasp his hand in her own.
"Grandpa, how are you? Who did this? What happened?" she said, as she looked frantically up and down at him.
Raidon opened his eyes and smiled at his granddaughter.
"What took you so long?" he grumbled.
She smiled a teary smile as she hugged him.
"Im sorry! I'll never run away again. I promise! I'll stay in the castle, just don't get more sick please!" She started crying and Raidon patted her on the head and smiled.
"You have to find a suitor Sakura." She looked up at him as more tears started leaking out of her emerald orbs.
"Not now, please don't start now, let's just have one of those cliché moment of grandfather and granddaughter time, please?" Sakura looked at him smiling a grim smile.
He chuckled and nodded.
"All right, go to sleep, we'll talk about it tomorrow. You know better than anyone that this cant wait any longer." He stated.
She nodded her head and left the room. She looked up as she was cleaning off her tears with her sleeve to see Jiraya and Tsunade.
"I apologize for my behavior, Jiraya-sama and Lady Tsunade. I was just very worried and didn't think straight."
Jiraya and Tsunade smiled at each other as Tsunade walked up to Sakura and hugged her.
"Don't worry, we understand, and besides, you're like family to us so you can behave however you want in front of us." Sakura looked up and smiled.
"Thank you." She hugged Tsunade and smiled at Jiraya. He grinned and started walking towards her.
"So Sakura, want to be in my new Icha Icha Paradise book? I need a heroine for it and youre perfect for the job!" Tsunade and Sakura punched Jiraya at the same time and sent him flying.
"I think I'm going to bed. Thank you for everything Lady Tsunade. Please take care of my grandfather for me." Tsunade smiled as Sakura started walking away towards her room. Gaara stopped her on her tracks though.
"What about my thanks? I've been waiting out here for you to finish with your grandfather. I think I at least deserve some reward." He glared at Sakura. Sakura laughed and kissed Gaara on the cheek.
"Thanks for everything, Gaara!" Sakura started running towards her room and Gaara glared even more at her.
"That's not the kind of reward I wanted! Get back here Sakura!" Gaara sighed and gave up. That girl is so frustrating that he cant do anything about it now. He looked at Tsunade and nodded towards her as he disappeared.
"Hm. Must've gone home." Tsunade said to herself and shrugged.
&
Next morning…
Sakura woke up to see the sun shining upon her face. Ugh, she hates mornings like this.
She got up, took a shower, and got dressed. Sakura decided to follow on her promise with her grandfather. She wasn't going to run away from her duties anymore, although she wished that she could see Sasuke so bad. She didn't understand why but Sakura really felt like she needed to see him really badly.
She sighed. First she was going to see her grandfather. As she knocked on his door, she grew worried when she didn't hear anything from the other side so she decided to open the door and see if he was there.
When she opened the door, her grandfather was lying on the floor. She ran towards him and went to check his pulse. She didn't feel anything.
"HELP! Please someone! King Raidon needs help!" She started screaming as she started to cry and started shaking his body.
In a few seconds the whole room was filled with people trying to revive Raidon.
Tsunade came in and grabbed Sakura, guiding her outside of the room.
"Please stay here, I'll do whatever I can for your grandfather. Have faith in me." Tsunade said as she looked at her straight in the eyes.
Sakura nodded mutely and Tsunade went back inside.
She stood there in shock the whole time. No one dared get near her. Sakura looked so breakable, everyone was afraid to touch and her fall into pieces.
Half an hour later Tsunade came out with a grim face and looked at Sakura shaking her head.
"Your grandfather was poisoned. The poison was too advanced when you found him. I'm sorry."
Sakura seemed to have woken up from her trance and looked at Tsunade straight in the eyes. It shocked Tsunade to see so much determination in her eyes.
"Who was it? Who poisoned him?" she asked. Tsunade's eyes widened. Could she tell Sakura something like this? It would probably destroy her.
"I-" Tsunade started.
"Tell me now." Sakura started to glare at Tsunade.
"It was a rare poison. It's a special poison that kills the person slowly and painfully. No one in any kingdom uses it because of how gruesome it is, except one kingdom." Tsunade looked away from Sakura.
"What kingdom?" Sakura muttered.
"Sound."
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And that's a wrap.