Senbon

[Sakura Haruno 0]

Senbon

He smirks and chuckles, "No… Those moves, with those… Uh…" Alex looks around, what I interpret as him looking where I disposed of my kunai. I shrug, pulling back my short pink tousled hair into a bun with one hand while reaching into my weapons pouch with the other. Two senbon needles, out of many, make their way into my hand. Slipping them into my bun, I recall something I had put behind me long ago, but somehow it made its way back into my conscience.

 

 

"I didn't mean it that way, Sakura-san," he called after me. Yusuke's golden hair fell into his face as he tried to keep up. He was the intelligence and Ninjutsu (the ninja art of offensive attacks using chakra) specialist on my team, though intelligence is what he seemed to be lacking most of the time. Flanking him, Aki, our spy and Genjutsu (the ninja art of manipulating chakra to create an illusion) specialist, and Mikoto, our Medical Ninja (healing others with the use of chakra). I took the lead, choosing to ignore Yusuke and pick up our pace.

 

Rain was coming down all around us, drenching our clothes, making our hair stick to our faces. We were headed for an inn, somewhere we could stay the night so we could carry out our mission the next day. The four-man squad I had been so accustomed to suddenly felt like a burden, like something I had to protect because they were mine to protect. I had chosen my team, hadn't I? The day I became an ANBU Black OPS Captain was the best day of my life, an honor; to have that title meant respect, which I had wanted for so long. But I was granted no time for celebration, I had to immediately pick an adequate team and set off on our first mission. This, running through the pouring rain, jumping from tree to tree, was only a few months after my promotion.

 

We reached the inn in due time and I let Yusuke handle our check-in. With key in hand, Mikoto and I took the stairs two at a time and went straight into our room; the guys had the room opposite ours. I locked the door behind us as Mikoto headed straight into the shower, leaving me to sit and deliberate our next action. I looked up, sensing someone outside the door; gripping a kunai, I slinked next to the door, slowly unlocked it, and opened it, ready to strike the intruder. Aki stood before me, as calm and calculated as ever, before walking past me and entering the room.

 

He said nothing, only stared at me with his kekkei genkai (a technique passed down through the bloodline; also known as the Bloodline Limit) which he possessed in his eyes. His blue eyes specked with silver, the silver enabling him to cause others to see what he wants them to see; he never told me what his Bloodline Limit was called, nor did I ask, it wasn't my business.

 

Finally Aki broke the silence, "He's upset." No emotion flawed his voice or face. He was the perfect ninja, the perfect Shinobi; something I could never be. "Ume," he called me by the name my mother called me. "Yusuke means well, he's only trying to help. He didn't know bringing up your old teammates would strike a nerve. He didn't mean to speak as if they were dead, and you know that."

 

I sighed, "Aki, I know; and you know I know. Let's just let it go and get this mission over with, okay?" I did know that Yusuke meant no harm. What I didn't know was if my old teammates were actually alive.

 

Suddenly I was thrust into the center of Konohagakure, surrounded by friends and loved ones. I looked around as everyone cheered and yelled, looking ahead of them; that's when I saw them, my old teammates. They were walking towards us, walking toward me. The ones that I had grown up with, fought with, had been wounded with, were walking my way with smiles on their faces. I could see their wounds, their weariness, the defeat in their eyes. I wondered why they looked so sad while I ran to them. Hadn't they succeeded in their mission? Then, I noticed someone was missing–

 

I was looking at Aki, once again, the tears streaming down my face. The tears must have scared him, because he stopped the vision from finishing in my head. He had never seen me cry before. I had no relationship with these teammates other than what we had on missions; they had never seen me as a weakness, I wondered if Aki would think differently now.

 

"I shouldn't have—"

 

"How do you know about them?" I interrupted him, tears still streaming down my face. Yusuke had only spoken of my old teammates as if they didn't exist or just people I had passed by earlier in my life. He knew nothing about them really.

 

He paused, weighing his words, "When you asked me to join your ANBU squad, I looked into your personal file. It said that you were an emotional mess." He chuckled and gently shook his head. Taking a step towards me and wiping the tears off of my cheeks with both hands, "It also said that you were not one to be underestimated, that the horrors you have seen have made you one of the strongest kunoichi (a female ninja) in all of Warwick, after the Hokage. It explained all of your past, your present, and your possible future. It went into detail about your old teammates and the bond that you shared with them." I felt the sudden change in subject. Aki's hands rested on my shoulders, "The others don't know you, the real you—"

 

We both felt the change in atmosphere immediately. Someone was here with the intention to kill. I knew Mikoto felt it, too, because the shower water turned off and she was changed and out of the bathroom in an instant; her long brunette hair dripped on the hardwood floor. She disregarded the fact that Aki was in the room, and headed straight to our supplies. Aki looked me in the eyes, sending me a picture of how he saw me—calm, cool, and calculating—to get me to focus on the current task at hand; it always worked.

 

Mikoto tossed me my leather gloves and my katana, both of which I had disposed of when we got into the room. I strapped the heavy sword to my back and quickly slipped on my gloves. Flexing, I went to the window and slid it open. Aki jumped out and Mikoto followed. I pulled my still damp hair into a tight bun with one hand while pulling out several senbon needles out of my weapons pouch with the other. Slipping two senbon into my bun, I jumped out of the window, throwing the rest of the senbon into the trees nearby. Several grunts and groans were heard before enemy bodies littered the ground behind my team. I landed with them, Yusuke giving me an apologetic look, while Aki gave him one that the shadows blocked from my view. I focused… sensing thirty of them, surrounding us, challenging us.

 

I grinned maniacally, thinking of what we would do, and how we would do it—

I shake my head and cringe, remembering in full detail what had happened that night, and finish pushing the senbon through my bun. I suppress the memory once again, and turn my thoughts to my real mission. My mission to protect and serve as a security officer aboard the U.S.S. Commanche Creek, along side of Midshipman Alex Macen.

 

Edited November 29, 2009 by Sakura Haruno