↷┆𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗸𝗶┆Sakura Haruno

IX.

Terrified; that's what they were were feeling, watching the tree and things around it light up with a fierce fire, mockingly. Some of them could hear shouts of pain and panic coming from within the fire.

The fact that this was the work of a innocent little girl, who had a small smile on her face, made them shudder. Kakashi was still confused about the Shunshin situation, but now, he watched the girl kill 5 people at once with such a merciless trap. He had thought her behavior after the land of waves mission was because she had witnessed so many people die right in front of her, her own teammate becoming a human pincushion for Haku and his senbons. The masked ninja worried what would happen to her when she has her first kill, but it seemed quite the opposite.

The Girl didn't seem too shaken, apart from the small grimace on her face from the noises coming from the fire. She had that satisfied look that hit too close to home.

Meanwhile the others where in too much of a shock to process most of the stuff that had happened; First, the girl apparently was able to fight off five bandits on her own, then, she was able to tell small things and acted upon it, god knows how Kakashi picked up on her, and now she just killed a few more with just a trap.

The fire soon died out and all that was left were a few burnt trees and bodies.

Sakura could sense her fatigue that was pushed aside for the sole purpose of not dying, so she excused herself, "ano.. Kakashi-sensei, I'll be resting now, I haven't completely recovered yet, so I'll be in the chariot if anything happens"

She waved her hand and walked towards the chariot, Kakashi nodded and turned towards the other genin, "anyone else who needs to rest?"

Shikamaru's hand shot up, "me too, I used my Kage Mane jutsu alot, if I'll have to fight, I need to be in good condition" It was true, he was half way through his Chakra, but besides that he really wanted a nap. Asuma could tell so he snorted but let him go, "of course, Shikamaru, go take your nap"

Shikamaru scoffed, a small embarrassed blush on his face, turned around and went towards the chariot.

Entering the chariot, he almost snorted. To the left of the small room was the Fujiwara family all snuggled up together, asleep; the boy was in between his two parents and the girl was beside her mom, everyone clinging on as if it were their lives on the line. Well maybe that was the case.

"You came too? Wanted a nap?" Shikamaru grumbled, how can everyone tell? But nodded. Sakura chuckled. She was sitting on the wooden floor, her back to the large stack of boxes. Shikamaru walked over and climbed atop one of the boxes, laying down.

They eventually fell asleep, the silence enveloping the small space, quiet snores from family huddled up in the corner was the only thing heard.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

"Shikamaru, Sakura" the duo opened there eyes to see Choji standing in front of them, Sakura yawned and rubbed her eyes gently with the back of her hands. Shikamaru just sat up, looking at his bestfriend expectantly.

The said bestfriend only smiled, taking a seat. Sakura raised her eyebrow, "something happened?" The boy shook his head, confusing both the genin, why was he here then?

"The others went towards the bandit's leader, we're here to protect the Fujiwara family incase they get attacked again, guess we can call us three the 'Fujiwara protection team', nom nom"

Sakura felt her heart drop to her stomach, they left? She knew it was, in all likelihood, because she was asleep and resting; not because she wasn't strong enough.