Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Pleasant Hour ❯ Chapter 1

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: Felix02

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is my first Kakashi/Sakura fic, so please be kind for this first chapter, at least. Oh yes, if anyone is confused about the shadow which I constantly refer to just ask me. In due time ya'll will come to see what the shadow really is, if not in this chapter.

Her deception had not failed her yet, not even Kakashi, her ex-sensei, could see through her perfect picture of happiness. KakaSaku.

The Pleasant Hour
Prologue
Felix02

From her earliest memories Sakura never thought herself as truly happy; a shadow always seemed to loom over her, depressing her, holding her, mocking her, taking her few precious moments and casting them back in her face with a momentous, sinister force. Only a few times had she pondered the thought that maybe something was wrong with her - there was a chemical imbalance in her brain, that maybe this was how all people felt, that life was never suppose to be fully joyous or pleasant.

And as she grew so did the shadow. As she grew, Sakura learned the art of deception; she controlled her ruse to the point where she could trick everyone who knew her best, and she even tricked herself at times. In those pleasant hours, fake as they were, she could view the world in colors instead of a mute gray. Trickery of self became like a drug to her, but drugs, as she soon learned, did not last forever usually fading out within the hour. It was because of her early lessons, with her pretending her thoughts were like drugs, that she stayed away from the true substances - drinking and other narcotics.

You see, she could do better; could trick her mind better, and for a while escape that dark shadow.

Sakura laughed to herself, at the shadow behind her green eyes, and was stunned silent as a cool breeze slapped across her cheeks. The leaves of the tree she lounged in clapped around her ears and face tickling her whole body. There was a peaceful scent in the air, a spark in the wind signaling the end to summer and the advent of fall.

She always loved fall, the way every thing seemed to die in beautiful splashes of color; she could think of no better death. Yet most people thought her favorite season spring because spring brought beautiful colors, pink colors; pink like the shade of her infamous hair. Sakura smiled; spring was nice, fall was magical.

With a single sigh she leaned back against the tree branch so she could face the sky; splattered by the forms of dying, red leaves, the sky seemed ethereal; a vibrant blue against crimson reds. Magical. She loved red the most. People thought she loved pink. They were wrong. Red was the color of her mother's lips; red looked best on her, as vain as it was; red symbolized both death and rebirth, living and dying, love and hate. Though, Sakura liked to think of red as romance the best.

Yes, even as a grown ninja she still dreamed of that one man who would sweep her off her feet. As a young girl, Sakura wished on every star that shone into her bedroom window that a fair-headed, strong, handsome and mysterious man would come and save her from rogue shinobi. Sakura laughed to herself knowing that her childhood image had changed with time. It became something more along the lines of novel romance - her as the heroine with an independent streak and fighting with her lover for dominance which she would win, of course. But even as she dreamed, the shadow loomed casting darker thoughts to plague her. Events in her imagines would never happen to a woman like her; she was too coarse, too plain even with pink hair, too gloomy and ultimately weak compared to everyone else.

Sakura held no special talents or abilities. Her family was not a clan of shinobi that had their own special skills, she was just plain Sakura. Sakura, a label she had come to be content with; Sakura, a woman who helped people as best she could; Sakura, a human being who was just herself, dark shadow and all. The shadow, Sakura promised herself years before, would not bear it full mark on her. Weak though she was, it would not hold her back, and maybe one day the shadow would go back its origin, from whence it came.

Until then her deception would have to suffice.

Her deception had not failed her yet, not even Copy-Nin Kakashi, her ex-sensei, could see through her perfect picture of happiness.

A cloud passed over her vision, plump and white and at ease it floated, and she allowed her eyes to close. Her thoughts roamed to a silent, handsome boy and she smiled in the name of remembrance.

Sasuke was not the man of her fantasy, but he proved worth wild; he became her deception. She flirted, shamelessly to her mortification, announced to anyone and everyone that she loved Sasuke and even fought with her best friend, Ino, over him when in truth she had never loved him in the romantic sense. In truth, she loved the protection he afforded her. Without him she could have never tricked everyone into thinking that she was perfectly fine. Sakura could have easily chosen anyone else, but for the purposes of not involving herself in a relationship, she had chosen Sasuke. As plain as she may be, there were still boys and men out there who would jump at the chance for a date, and so she chose Sasuke because he was the silent one, the one who did not want to have any relationship with anyone. He was the boy who scorned romantic feelings, the boy who focused on his unknown goal back then, and he became for her the perfect candidate.

After the Orochimaru incident, she stopped. Her deception became something else, something she truly loved - helping others. When Tsunade took her under her wing Sakura thought that she might just die, and for a small period of time she felt a swelling of pride and self-esteem. The Hokage chose her to be her student, and for once she felt special, but then again, the unknown shadow never let her feel completely happy with anything given to her, though she wanted to so much.

She wished so much to feel complete and utter joy.

Years had flown by since that day, so furiously that Sakura could hardly believe that only a few months ago she turned twenty-one, or as Ino had lightly, well not so lightly put 'legal'. Many a time in the last few months Ino had been at her side, knocking at her door, bothering her at the hospital, and plain popping out of nowhere asking her to join her clubbing fiascos and nightly bar wanderings and each time Sakura refused.

It was a well known fact around Konoha that most Jounins enjoyed galvanizing their free time in the presence booze and friends at local bars, the most noteworthy one being Gijou, and it was to this bar that Ino lured Sakura into going with her tonight. Pushing down her thoughts of the future, Sakura looked up once more at the sky.

She still could not figure out how Ino had managed to pull her into saying yes to a night of bar hopping. She shuddered in remembrance of her friend's yipity voice.

"Forehead-girl, you're defiantly not going to regret coming out with me tonight! I'll find someone for you tonight for sure, and then you won't have to be alone anymore and we can double date."

Sakura was already dreading the oncoming night, already thought herself an idiot to be suckered into such an activity and made her discomfort known. "Double date with you and Shikamaru, yeah right, like I ever would."

"Whatever, Forehead, you're only jealous!"

Sakura stifled her snort. Just the mere thought of jealousy made her eyes roll on their own accord. She was happy enough without a man at her side, and it was not as if she needed one. Or, Sakura added darkly, needed something to be thrown back at her. Yes, love was best kept out of the picture.

Jumping down from the fading oak, Sakura thought of her ex-sensei, Hataka Kakashi, the infamous copy-nin, a man who she had not seen in a little over two years, and along with him her two favorite boys: Naruto and Sasuke. They all had been gone, as well as a few other ANBU who she did not know as well, for so long on one mission. Naruto, in secret, had told her that the mission was going to be a long one, but even then the loud-mouth ninja would not reveal to her exactly how long. Nevertheless, she was grateful that at least one of her old team mates had pitied her and told her something about the mission even if it was the minutest of points.

She held no bitterness, never. Both of her teammates, as she knew long before, would surpass her own rank of Chuunin and go on to bigger and better things - both had so much potential, so much strength in them that it was no surprise to Sakura that both Naruto and Sasuke, at seventeen, passed the Jounin exam and ANBU exam following a few months later.

Sakura told herself it was natural to feel depressed about being left behind, but also that she was the only one at fault for not pushing herself harder to join them in their ranks. Sasuke once, in his most caring voice, told her that she would be better off at the rank of a Chuunin, as a medic-nin and teacher to prospective shinobi at the academy.

Sakura remembered the day almost perfectly, it was a sunny day, blinding almost, and she smelled like stale ramen as Naruto had stated - and was injured quite badly for his comment - because they just finished training when Sasuke pulled her aside and told her those words.

Hurt. Betrayal. Fury. Hate. Fear. Saddness. All those feelings ran through her body, pounding in her ears and crushing her every cell until she felt subdued and weak. Her blood ran faster through her veins, and for a moment her eyes clouded over with the same hateful shadow. The darkness tugged on her training outfit, tore at her skin, but her art of beautiful perfection saved her. Not a single emotion other than confusion she allowed to appear on her face, no tear was shed, no bitterness.

Sakura had merely asked him why, to which he answered that her stamina and chakra capacity were not stable enough, maybe could never be stable enough. Then he left back over to where Naruto was calling both there names, but she stayed back for a few minutes and left in the opposite direction. After that day, she felt as something died within her. She had been training with them to become stronger, but in the end it seemed as if she were only holding her friends back. The dark shadow pointed her towards another direction, a good direction, but to where her true happiness could never truly lie. All hope diminished in the form of torn ribbons that flew out of her heart and soul, and for days Sakura felt lost. Her perfect deception kept her safe, though. No one noticed a change, not Sasuke or Kakashi.

Only her personal mirror could remember the haunted, hopeless light in her eyes. Sakura was safe; the mirror would never tell her secret. And her deception would never fail her.

If only she knew how wrong she was.

A/N: Whoa! Writing that was quite a bit of fun I have to say, even if my grammar sucked it up big time! And as a side note: Kakashi and the others will be making an appearance in the next chapter.

Please review if you have the time,
Felix02