Haunted By The Past

Chapter Seventeen: Anonymous

  A late update. My apologies.
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Mistakes are mine.
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Enjoy!
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                When Team Seven went out of Tsunade's office, Kakashi quickly took Sakura's attention, and with that, he also got Sasuke and Naruto's eyes. Kakashi blinked and sighed.

               "I'm sorry, Sakura." He said straightly, while Naruto and Sasuke had big question marks above their head with confusement.

              Upon hearing that, Sakura wanted to cry, remembering how cruel the world can be. But instead, she put up a false eye-smile, a very sweet and honest smile. "Don't worry about that, sensei. Past is past. We just have to look up in the future." without looking back with her team, she walked away and went back to her apartment to fix her things.

             She cried on her bed. She's nobody.

             When she finished packing, a letter dropped from her table. She picked it up and was surprised to see the date today. 

  To Sakura,

      I'm going to start sending you letters from now on. Well, maybe this way, I can express my feelings through writing and not with words. It's hard, you know.

         Oh and by the way, you should come later at fancy new tea house here at Konoha. See you there. But I'm not alone so you can't identify who's who. 

            Hope you see you. 

                                                                 - Anonymous

             "Now how did this reach my apartment?" she asks herself and she was confused because the fancy tea house that the 'Anonymous' guy was talking about was the tea house where all the teams enjoyed themselves earlier. Wow, so she got an invitation? Mind blown.

               When she went out of her apartment, she saw her teammates, teacher and Team Gai waiting for her. "We need to hurry, dattebayo! Gaara needs us!" Naruto exclaims as he gestures to his friends to move fast.

                "Shut up you idiot. We know what's happening with Gaara and we're trying our best to be quick, Sakura's the one who has been packing for 45 years at her apartment." Sasuke said with a mix of sarcasm in his voice. Sakura just ignored his comment and they went on. 

                 The awkward thing is, Sakura was the only one who didn't attend their somewhat 'reunion' in the tea house, and she heard Tenten say things about her, and she.... okay, let's describe this in Mathematics.

                 Mission + Not attending the reunion + Sasuke sarcastically blaming Sakura + Hearing Tenten's comments at the tea house + Her eyes being swollen due to crying = Awkward situation

                 

                But then, someone decided to break the ice. "Why is your eyes red and swollen, my beautiful cherry blossom?!" Lee asked Sakura with a mix of concern in his tone. Everyone looked at her questioningly and she just shrugged it off. 

                      "Overtime at the hospital." she said plainly. Everyone saw the dark bags under her eyes, and how swollen her eyes were. 

                      "I understand the eyebags, but what's up with your eyes? They're swollen. Did you cry?" Neji says and Sakura gulps silently.

                    "No," she answers. "Why would I?"

                    Silence. Well, it's better than to be filled with questions, right?

             After a few moments of silence, someone decided to break the awkwardness again. "Anyway, why didn't you come along the Tea House? We had a reunion since Sasuke's back." Now, Naruto was the one who asked.

                     "Been busy."

                     "With what?" Sasuke interrogates.

                    "Work."

                    "Overtime again?" Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

                   "Yeah, and I've been training with Tsunade-shishou."

                   "Correction, you always trained. Day and night since Sasuke left." Tenten exclaimed. Oh this girl. 

                 Then questions (or demands) filled the air again.

                 "Why didn't you take a leave on your work? Tsunade-sama would understand." -Lee

                 "Seriously, why didn't you take half day at least so your eyes can take it's rest?" -Neji

                "Sakura-chan, sleep early, okay? It's bad for your health to stay late!" -Naruto

                "Why don't you ask the Hokage for a rest day? You're always on overtime." -Sasuke

                "Sakura, was Shizune with you on your overtime shift?" -Kakashi

                "Ne Sakura, next time, try to attend the reunion!" -Tenten

                 "OH SAKURA, YOUR PINK LOCKS ARE SO UNIQUE!~" -Gai (Nevermind this)

             "Would you all . . . SHUT THE HELL UP?! I LACK SLEEP AND I'M VERY TIRED SO PLEASE, STAY QUIET ON OUR JOURNEY AND SAVE YOUR ENERGY FOR THE AKATSUKI!" she yelled which made everyone stop. 

             During their journey to save Gaara, the only thing on her mind was the letter. The letter that came from someone that she doesn't even know.