Maybe

What a joke

Aaannd... another really short chapter

Sorry?

Kakashi was worried.

Of course, he would never admit it, but he was worried nonetheless.
One of his cute little students, Sakura to be more precise, seemed... depressed?

He felt a little guilty, remebering what he said to her during training.
He knew he had been unfair, but the girl needed to grow out of her fangirl phase and take her ninja duties seriously.
That was his only reason for denying her more training.

But now... He worried he might've been a little too harsh.
Indeed, since that fateful day, Sakura had barely been there, always running off to who knows where ...
Maybe she was training? Kakashi mused.

Although... What sort of training would make her climb into her room, in the middle of the night, smelling of blood, mud, and tears?

The jonin frowned.

"Good morning Kakashi-san."

Ah, talking of the devil, the white haired man nodded at the girl, acknowledging her greeting.

Kakashi-san, he thought amused, girl knows how to hold a grudge...

Alerted by her apathetic tone, Kakashi looked closer and noticed several things at once.

First, were her eyes, blank, devoid of emotion.
Then, her hair. They were not brushed, merely put in a messy ponytail.
That's...concerning, he thought, more practical, but concerning nonetheless.

Finally, her fingers, bruised, and her nails, broken and dirty with dirt... and blood?

Maybe it's her first... girl's thing..? Kakashi thought, blushing.

Well, I'll keep an eye on her, he decided, if things get worse... what can I do?
Konoha doesn't even have councellors! Hell, because if they did, Sasuke-chan wouldn't be the little ball of sunshine he is now!
I'll just do my best, I guess....

Uh. I'm horrible with kids why did Hokage-sama ever assign me a team?

Sakura jumped when her sensei began laughing mirthlessly, wiping his eyes, as if he had heard the worse joke of the century.
Which, he probably had, after all, he was looking at her.

:::::

Their mission was finished, and the members of team seven were all on their way back to Konoha.

This hit Sakura hard.
She had promised Kaito he could go back with them, but he couldn't. Never would.
He never would be able to taste the dango Mariko-san made, or go to the Academy, meet her parents, laugh with her friends... Friends..

Sakura missed Ino, the girl was loud, demanding, but she was a good friend.
Sakura didn't know what had possessed her to end their friendship.

Oh, right! She remebered, Sasuke!

The pink haired girl noticed she hadn't thought about the pale, brooding boy since.. since Kaito.
And, weirdly, that didn't bother her.

She, like all of the boy's fangirl, had always thought they could save him. Save him from his loneliness, from his broken heart.

But now, Sakura finally understood that maybe Sasuke didn't want someone to try and save him: he was too focused on revenge.

Revenge! Sakura scoffed, revenge will bring nothing.
It will only stain your hands with more blood.
Killing doesn't bring back the dead.

Eyes downcast, fists clenched, the young girl recalled the events of that night.

The yellow eyes, the blood, the smell of sake...

During the attack on the bridge, when Zabuza and Haku, the fake tracker-nin, had ambushed them, she had stood there, frozen, reliving what had happened, over and over again.

She could do nothing, once again, her friends were in danger, her friends were being killed before her very eyes, AND SHE COULD DO NOTHING!

She could only scream, cry, and pray.

That moment, when Sasuke had fallen down, senbon stuck all over him ; when Naruto had gone crazy, red chakra seeping out of his body...

At that moment, Sakura had sworn to herself that she would become stronger.

She was going to become strong enough to be able to protect her friends (Sasuke, Naruto...), strong enough to protect those who couldn't protect themselves (Kaito..).

She knew she had to train, she had to fight.
She was the weakest on the team. Even NARUTO was stronger than her... But still...

Why was it so hard? Why couldn't she close her eyes without seeing yellow eyes laughing at her?
Why couldn't she stand the smell of sake without wanting to throw up? Why couldn't she sleep without seeing Kaito dying in her arms OVER AND OVER AGAIN????

"Sakura-chan,are you ok?" Naruto asked her, a concerned look on his face.

Behind him, Kakashi was looking strangely at her, above his brigh torange book.  Even Sasuke had stopped walking and was now staring at her face.

"I..I'm fine" Sakura answered, cursing her voice that betrayed her.

"But... Sakura-chan, you're crying!"

Crying? Bringing a hand to her face, Sakura realised that she was indeed crying.

Smiling reassuringly at Naruto, she replied,

"Don't worry, it's only allergies, especially at this time of the year, with all the pollens and such.."

She shrugged, before adding :
"It's really annoying" hoping her excuse was realistic enough to make him drop the case.

And it did.
The blond ninja shot her one of his signature smiles before turning towards their sensei and start rambling about something else.

He was loud, kinda naive, pretty dense... but for once, Sakura was glad for it.