Roses are Red

Clutching at Air

Recappy From the Last Chappy: They were not happy thoughts, the ones that would be running through Sakura's head. She had lost. It would have been one thing to lose to Ino, whom she at least posed a challenge with, but to Krystal, whom she was not aware had even entered the competition . . . she had let her guard down, because the other kunoichi of her team had assured she had no feelings for him when confronted. It was annoying.

Annoying.

Annoying.

Annoying.

She looked at him. "Being in love with you . . . is what's annoying."

Chapter Thirty-One: Clutching at Air

The girl scratched the back of her head, thoughtfully. "Hyuuga Krystal. I like dodgeball, especially when I get to pummel people I hate or dislike. I hate being a ninja, but I deal." She shrugged in her mint-green jacket. "My dream. . . . Well, I guess that since I'm a ninja, I may as well use my skills to protect the people I care about. My hobbies are . . . whatever kills time, I guess. Helping Naruto-kun prank people, for the most part."

"I am Haruno Sakura. My favorite thing is. . . ." This girl not-so-discreetly peeked at the boy next to her. "Well it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy . . . and that boy is. . . . Er . . . let's move onto my dream. . . ." She blushed and squealed before her expression turned dismal. "I hate . . . Naruto!" Her face turned bright again. "My hobbies are. . . ."

As she walked away from her new team, Krystal stowed away a brand new headband in her kunai pouch, eyeing it with aversion. Less than twenty-four hours earlier she had obtained the item to flaunt her achievement of genin status. At twelve she had cut her hair so that the longest lock was level with her chin and the rest varied in choppy layers.

A voice from behind called her from behind sharply, so the rookie kunoichi turned around to face her caller. She had grown out her rosette locks, reaching past her shoulder blades and used her konoha hitaiate to separate that part from her bangs, which parted over a wide forehead and glowering green eyes. Her skin was white under a short-sleeved red dress slitted on the sides to show tight blue shorts.

"Oh, hey Sakura. What do you want?" Krystal asked, but from her slightly irritated expression, one would depict that she had foreseen this confrontation.

"I won't lose!" declared the nin. "Sasuke-kun is mine. Don't get any ideas just because you're on the same team as him."

Restraining her impulse to laugh, succeeding only as far as a smile, she raised a brow. "Aren't you? That's kinda hypocritical, don'tcha think?" She smirked at her teammate as Sakura came to that realization and touched a lock of her hair, bringing attention to the length. "Relax, Sakura. I didn't grow my hair long. I'm not after Sasuke."

"Erm. . . . Oh."

.:Xx♥xX:.

Present Sakura dumped a bucket of slop over the wooden log-like fence into the also wooden trough. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as the pink hogs swarmed around to hork down their feed. "Gross," she muttered, and let the pail rest by the fence.

She sighed and picked up the bag of chicken feed nearby, holding over the front of it by the bottom. Working on a farm, Team Seven's D-rank mission for the day, was not her favorite thing to do. There was animal feces everywhere, it smelled, and at her ninja status of chuunin, it was below her.

Her eyes then caught a glimpse of Sasuke by the stables, preparing to bathe and groom them; he was still in recovery, well enough to break loose from Hospital Care, but he was not supposed to be taking missions. The persistent shinobi, however, had insisted against complete stagnancy. The Hokage could not put him on a tougher mission than this, in fear of his stitched wounds reopening, so she sent all of Team Seven on a D-rank mission. It was to her supposition that the rank of the mission could not be helped.