A strange sense of urgency filled her veins, pushing her to run harder and faster; her mind screeched at her to keep running or she'd lose her. And for some strange reason she hadn't even begun to comprehend, she was terrified at the thought of losing her. She wondered who this 'her' was, the only female in her life who meant so much to her was her mother, best friend Haruno Sakura and sweet girlfriend Hyuuga Hinata.
All in all, life with the three of them and her senseis and friends were awesome. Or, so she fooled everyone into believing and how everyone fooled her into living this joke of a life. She knew something was wrong, knew that it had all started—this strange, gaping abyss in her chest that had kept stretching and would never patch itself up, and it wasn't because of physical injuries either—three years ago when she woke up in the hospital with the three most important person in her life hovering above her, tears in their eyes.
When she'd first woken up, she could only recall her name, her face, childhood and family and this pale girl who's features were so blurry but she knew she had to find her, hold her close or she'd be forever lost.
She lost her, and now, she was still lost in this aching and gaping loneliness. Hinata-chan always tried to be there, always reassured her and would tell her everything was okay; would hug and kiss her. Try being the keyword because she always moves out of range, her heart aching.
The Hyuuga was not the person she wanted to hold close to her heart. There was someone else, someone called Satsuki, she knew, just knew but she didn't dare ask. At least she knew her name, at least, what she thought was her name. She only knew her name because she'd screamed her name when she woke up from the coma she was put into three years ago; it was just a nightmare but it felt terribly real like a long, forgotten memory, and she was walking away .
What terrified her more, though, was the fact that the memory of the girl and her face were fading. No, the memories were never present in the first place, it was blurred but she thought she could remember when she was holding her close, fighting her and this one time when their lips met. The memory of their kiss was the most exhilarating memory and the one filled with emotions: passionate, fiery and aroused. Unlike how she'd thought it was wrong, disgusting and cheating when she kissed Hinata.
Her family and friends always told her that this suspicious 'Satsuki' character was just a figment of her imagination and always told her to forget it. Ever since she first made the mistake of mentioning her, she'd been getting appointments from Yamanaka Inoichi, mind-expert. And every time, after the appointment, the memory of the pale girl got dimmer that it was barely in her grasp. So she lied and pretended that she'd forgotten as she'd predicted, the appointments stopped completely—what followed was her departure from Konoha (she had a feeling that the girl of her dreams had left the village as well, but in a more aggressive manner than this) to train with Ero-sennin. The appointments and the dulling of her memory of her, made her believe that everyone wanted her to forget the girl of her dreams.
Yeah, right; trying to make her forget her was like trying to make her forget her dream of being Hokage, her life goal. She's also your life goal, you have to find her, her subconscious said and she did not disagree.
Her agreement with her mind was what made her disobey her mother (who was the Hokage as well), argue with her girlfriend (soon to be ex-girlfriend, hopefully), and force her way into this mission with Yamato-sensei and Sakura-chan, though her so-called best friend who had been lying to her all this while looked guilty and panicked.
Usually, she would've inquired about her with concern but right now, the girl of her dreams takes precedence.
She kicked another door down, panting and inhaling; the familiar scent of smoke and strawberry milk invaded her nose, one she faintly recalled having gotten a whiff of scent when she'd been very close to Satsuki who was not a figment of her imagination. And no Yamanaka in the world would make her forget her.
She grinned, following the scent and the familiar electrifying and fiery and dark chakra; she was close and the thought sent an exhilarating shiver down her spine.
"Naruko!" Her pink-haired teammate—could she still be considered her best friend after the lie she'd told her, let her live a life for three whole fucking years and letting Satsuki down how long had she waited?—called from behind her. "Wait for us! You can't see her—!"
She found her arm wrenched back but she didn't stop struggling forward, towards where the underground cavern exit was and where sunlight filtered in and where she was perched, waiting—she was so, so damn sorry she took so fucking long.
Three years? She could imagine her voice, cold and disappointed though her face was as hard and dark as stone. What have you been doing?
Sorry, she could only think to respond. But at least, she was coming now.
"What about Hinata-chan?! She'd be so heartbroken!" Naruko glanced back at Sakura, stopping her struggle for a moment; her eyes were hard and determined but her gaze was still warm and kind, just a detached sort, found on a woman who was only concentrated with one goal in mind.
She offered her an empty smile. "I'll deal with Hinata-chan once I find Satsuki, okay? She's more important." And with not-so-surprising strength, ripped herself out of her grip and lunged forward.
"You'll just be disappointed!" Sakura screamed at her back as she ran after her, leaving behind two men who were both equally baffled and confused, Yamato and Sai though the latter didn't seem to care much at all.
What sort of history does Team Seven have? was undoubtedly going through Yamato's mind as he rushed after his wayward subordinates. The temporary team captain of Team Seven was momentarily blinded, he raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, squinting to see what had Naruko's attention, what had made the usually goofy, cheerful, and serene Senju so aggressive, what made her snap back at Sakura and place Hinata second. He thought those two were precious to her and she would never ever raise her voice at them!
A pale raven-haired teenage girl stood on one of the many boulders surrounding them, her onyx hair gaining a blue undertone under the sunlight. Her eyes were as dark as obsidian, cold and hard and sharp; beautiful aristocratic features only found on Uchihas were splashed by sunlight giving her an ethereal air around her. The white kimono she wore which ended at her back was extremely low-cut, revealing only her rather generous cleavage which was bandaged and she wore some sort of blue skirt with black tights and sandals. To cut a long story short, she was beautiful, definitely someone who would attract anybody's attention.
But the attention Naruko was paying her was different. It was one of recognition, longing and confused love. This wasn't the gaze of someone lustful or crushing, but someone who was seriously in love.
"Uchiha… Satsuki."
Sakura watched with mounting dread and guilt as Naruko murmured the Uchiha's name, knowing that she was lost along with the other girl in their own little world which would accept no one else. Dammit, all their work—and how would Naruko react once she found out what they did?
But the thought of Naruko being furious at them was driven away when a blinding grin blossomed on her face. "Satsuki!" She yelled with joy. "I finally found you!"
"Naruko!" hissed Sakura, panicked, sweat beaded down her forehead as she caught Naruko's arm and tried to pull her back with her super-strength. But the Senju refused to budge, channeling chakra to her feet and standing still.
Touching Naruko, Sakura realized, was the wrong thing to do in front of Satsuki who was now glaring at her. A chill of fear shot down her back as the fully developed Sharingan spun to life and glared at her; the only who she didn't glare at was Naruko but she shot her a brief curious look before she concentrated her killing intent on them all.
"Impressive display of power, Uchiha," remarked Sai, his empty smile carved perfectly on his face. "My name is Sai and I am meant to be your replacement in this former team of yours." Satsuki's gaze hardened and honed in on him but if the male shinobi noticed, he did not back down or show any signs he'd caught her attention. "Why don't you give Naruko-kun a hug like, reunited lovers do in the books I read?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Do you perhaps not love her anymore? She loves you still, you know, though that Hyuuga has been latching on to her ever since she'd returned to the village. But I think Naruko-kun is more than ready to ditch that Hyuuga for you, right—"
Sakura felt like punching her new teammate for speaking out of line; great, judging from how Satsuki's Sharingan was spinning agitatedly, she did not appreciate the info of Hinata at all.
But unexpectedly, she ignored him and focused on Naruko, and she smiled: the smile was almost like Sai's empty one, but this was cold and a twisted sense of longing. Then in the next blink of an eye, the Uchiha was gone. Sakura gasped sharply, turning around to see that the Uchiha had an arm slung around the Senju's shoulders.
The raven pressed the blond's head to the crook of her neck. "I've missed you, you know?" she drawled, chuckling but her laughter terrified Sakura; it was dark and filled with malicious intent. "But you didn't come after me. What kept you so long?" Her other hand went to her chokuto. "I thought you'd find me here and take me back like you promised me too."
"I'm sorry, I—"
"—don't want to hear excuses, idiot," snarled Satsuki, pulling back from the perverse act of a hug and drawing her weapon, infused with her chakra. "I'm done playing, Senju, let's do it like old times!"
When the battle started, Sakura was left wondering how the situation came to this. It must've started three years ago, when she first made Genin and was assigned to her team…