Sakura No Akatsuki | Naruto

6

Sakura - First Person

"Sakura, I have urgent matters to discuss with you," Lady Tsunade said with that firm tone of hers that could even command time itself to stop moving.

I gulped and looked over at Shizune, whom I hd not even noticed was in the room the whole time. She was looking down towards to carpet, an almost guilty expression on her usually cheery face. Or at least, as usual as I remembered.

I turned to face Sasori and Itachi, "You guys can wait for me outside, alright?" I gave them a small smile, as if to reassure them that I would be fine. Wrong. I was trying to convince myself to be brave for whatever the Hokage was going to scream at me. Charge me with treason? Insult me more than she already indirectly has? Or was she going to publically humiliate me in front of all my former comrades?

"Hokage-sama is it alright if I stay by Sakura?" Sasori asked- almost demanded.

"No, its alright danna. You'd help me more by waiting outside," I said immediately. I would rather face this alone than let anyone from Akatsuki see how weak I really was inside. I'd never let them doubt me or hesitate to rely on me. Not when I've just gotten a new family.

Sasori huffed and marched towards the door. Itachi bowed in respect to Lady Tsunade and turned to leave, giving my shoulder a tight squeeze before heading off with Sasori.

I licked my lips and stepped a little closer to the Hokage. I kept my head down and eyes glued to the red carpeted floor.

"I see that you're close to those two," Tsunade said, as if stating a fact she read from an intriguing book.

"I have so many questions, Sakura. You cannot imagine how devastated we've been ever since you left," Tsunade's voice turned quieter, as if remembering something.

I couldn't hold back a scoff. I couldn't help myself from blurting out whatever was on my mind at the moment.

"Devastated? I find that very hard to believe my Lady. Last time I checked nobody really wanted me around and whoever did had no objections to me leaving. Its sad, really. If you're saying that they felt guilty for driving me away its barely even acceptable as a terrible excuse. My Lady, you are no different. Sending me on missions beacause its okay if I die and not anyone else? That's too cruel, yes? Lady Tsunade," I paused to take a deep breath.

"Do you know just what the Hidden Leaf had turned me into?" I looked her straight into the eye, trying so hard not to let any tears spill from the well around my lower eyelids.

Shizune sniffed from the corner of the room. Tsunade stood up and walked closer to me. What was she going to do now? Slap me? Punch me? Was she going to twist my words to make me small?

"Do you know how lonely I felt all those years, being blamed for something that I could never have possibly stopped in the first place? And how I never had anyone to turn to after my parents died during Sunagakure's attack with Orochimaru? At least Naruto never even knew his parents. He didn't have to feel the pain of seeing his parents disappear from his eyes in a matter of seconds and and..." I mumbled towards the end, eventually letting go of the suffocating feeling in my throat, crying.

Tsunade caressed my cheek tenderly and stroked the top of my head as she embraced me in a tight hug. "Shhh...its alright child. Nobody is going to hurt you anymore. Nobody is going to leave you behind or throw you away,"

I glanced up at her, almost forgetting the grudge I held against her. Ah, how pathetic. Even at the age of nineteen, I still needed a motherly figure for comfort. Truly weak.

I gasped for air every now and then. Shizune grabbed me into a bear hug, tears spilling down her cheeks too. "Even if no one else admits it, we missed you Sakura. We really never know what we have until we'd lost it," Shizune said, crying into my shoulder. Lady Tsunade was sniffing.

Well fancy that. Lady Tsunade, Shizune and me crying together while hugging. I almost feel like as if we were the main characters of a super emotional Korean drama (which shall not be named. I like to keep my hobbies between me and Konan).

After a long period of silence, we let go of each other and sat down at Tsunade's table. When she had calmed down she continued with her questions.

"So how has the year been for you Sakura?" She leaned forward eagerly.

"Well...For the first two months I disappeared, Akatsuki had actually forced me into joining them. They trained me, taught me a lot of new things really. We still do train and I usually help out the two other...um..." I paused, thinking of an appropriate word for a stingy money minded old man and a puppet freak who looks younger than he actually is.

"....medics?" I said, more of a question than an answer.

Tsunade looked at me, perplexed. I sighed.

"Honestly, the Akatsuki is a group of S Ranked criminals who in reality have no actual domestic or social skills."

I sighed again as Shizune and Lady Tsunade burst out in laughter.

"You'd think its funny but really the only way to cope with the idiocy in that household is to become one of them. I do all the cooking since all of the other guys would end up exploding the stove and eventually the whole house,"

The two of them continued their fit of laughter as I internally cringed at the thought of Deidera or Tobi (or worse- Konan!) cooking while I was gone.

"So I guess there's really no way for us to convince you to come back to come back to Konoha, huh?" Shizune smiled sadly.

"Hmmm...yeah I guess so. You can't really call me Sakura of The Hidden Leaf anymore, can you," I looked at Lady Tsunade who looked just like a mother, letting a child go free to see the outside world.

"That makes you Haruno Sakura of Akatsuki then,"she suggests. I smiled at my former master. 'Sakura no Akatsuki,' I thought to myself.

'Sounds nice,'

:::

Edited- 7/12/14