Sakura Blooms! [COMPLETED]

Chapter 35: Trouble With the Sand

Sakura pov

"Hey, Sasuke-kun?" I asked. "Do you wanna stay and hang with Naruto and I?" My tone was hopeful.

"Hn. I can't, I have to check something out."

"Eh? Then Naruto and I can go with you and then–"

"Sakura. I need to do it alone."

The smile on my face faded. "Oh! Um, yeah! That's fine." I quickly tried to regain that confidence I had had a minute ago. Fail. He left.

Then, I began to cough. It had been a while since the last episode, so I hadn't been carrying around my medicine. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto quickly rushed to my side. I cursed myself for being so stupid to forget my medicine.

He stood by me as I leaned on him, still wheezing and attempting to catch my long lost breath. "Sakura-chan..." He whispered to me. "Have you told Teme?" I froze when I heard another voice what wasn't Naruto's.

"Hey, Boss! Long time no see! I brought along two of my friends, Udon and Moegi!" He stopped next to us. "Ohhh, Boss! Is that your...girlfriend? She's a hot one, too!"

Naruto blushed and exclaimed loudly, "Yeah!" I forgot about my coughing and slammed my fist into both boys' heads.

"I'm going to KILL YOU TWO!" I roared and ran after them.

"S-she's a feisty one, Boss!" Konohamaru yelled while running away looking back. SLAM! He suddenly stopped after running into a kid that looked a bit older, along with a girl around the same age with a giant fan on her back.

"Ow, that hurt you brat! You're gonna pay..." He raised his fist towards Konohamaru.

"Wait!" I called, running up quickly. "It was my fault, I was chasing him!"

"Huh? Well, I don't care! A snotty brat like this kid should've said sorry after bumping into me, so he's going to learn a new lesson."

"Kankuro, wait! We don't want to cause anymore trouble than necessary. Just put the kid down."

"Temari, why should I? Besides, Gaara may take a while, and I've got nothing to do."

Temari sighed. "Fine, fine...just make it quick."

My eyes narrowed as Kankuro raised his fist again and swung. It stopped suddenly, and I could see a long shadow crossing the street. There's only one clan that possesses that power, and that's... "Shikamaru." I greeted as he stepped out and walked closer to us.

"Sakura." He greeted back before saying, "Man, what a drag. I was just in my way to the dango shop only to see you two troublesome Sand ninja bothering a kid that's, what, 3 years younger than you? Man, that's so lame. At least pick on someone your own size. Now when I say to let go of the kid after I release you, you let go of the kid, you got that?" He release his jutsu and Konohamaru dropped to the ground and scrambled away to a safer distance.

"This is why I hate kids like you," Kankuro started. "You're snotty, bratty, and not to mention, think you're better than everyone! Now I've got to give you all a lesson for disrespecting me, starting with Pinky!" He grabbed my hair and I struggled against him. Then he let go and started kicking and punching me.

"Why you!" Naruto made clones and they started running, but somehow, they all 'poofed' away. If I hadn't had good eyes, I wouldn't have been able to notice extremely thin chakra strings that were hitting the clones.

"Naruto! He's using chakra strings!" I yelled before getting kicked again. Then came the dreaded coughing. This time I coughed up blood and Kankuro laughed.

"How are you coughing up blood? I'm just getting started."

"Sakura, don't be troublesome! Just fight back!" Shikamaru yelled. "I don't care whether you're holding back so they don't see your real power, you're getting your ass whooped!"

I sighed and muttered before rolling away. "Shut up, you lazy ass." Kankuro tried punching again, but I grabbed his fist and held it again his back, pinning him to the ground with my brute strength.

Kankuro pov

How is this puny girl containing so much strength?!

Sakura pov

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth after letting him go. "Sakura-chan! Are you okay?" Naruto asked worriedly.

I swatted his arm that tried supporting me and said, "I'm fine." Then I turned to the Sand ninja. "Oi," I called. Kankuro and Temari flinched. "I hope you learned your lesson, don't judge someone on their looks. Now apologize to us for your inconvenience."

Kankuro's eye twitched and he walked towards me with his arm reaching for his back saying, "I've got more up my sleeve, you little–"

"Watch it. You don't want to get kicked out, do you? Now, scram." Sasuke was standing on a thick tree branch.

"Kankuro," Came a creepy, raspy voice that made the two Sand flinch. "Stop making trouble. And Temari, you should've stopped him."

"G-Gaara! We were just having a little fun–"

"If you don't shut it, I'll kill you." The boy immediately stopped making excuses and both boys in the tree jumped down.

Sasuke was standing there with a strange glint in his eye. "Sakura...what was that?"