Their return to the village was extremely quiet. It was disappointing. A team of four, all elite Jounins, among the strongest of ninjas, failed their mission. Luckily for them, there were no further attacks. The three tigers seem to catch on with their dull emotions as they purred and rubbed their cheeks onto theirs, trying their best to comfort the prodigies.

Kakashi was aware of their disappointments, but something like this was possible considering how unrealistic the mission was. He never expected the mission to work out in the first place.

They are still young. He silently thought.

They are prodigies, rained with various knowledge of the society, powers and histories. Rationality and maturity was something they have developed from a very young age, but it doesn't stop them from thinking like youngsters sometimes. Experience was what they lacked. They were barely two decades old. No matter how much they learn, it wasn't enough to cover up the experiences they did not have.

"There's no need to be so sullen." He uttered while looking over Sakura's head, at rows of trees which doesn't seem to end. It was just daybreak, it has been many hours since they left the Land of Keys.

The trio stared at their mentor at his sudden speech.

They were sat in a small circle, finally taking a rest after hours of fleeing. Each of them munched on a rice ball and the tigers cheerfully shared a chunk of meat.

Kakashi continued, "This mission was far too vague with too many possibilities to fail. It was none of our fault and we cannot be blamed for the failure." He slowly made eye contact with each of his students. "And it seems the client expected it."

Neji closed his eyes and heaved a breath. "That's true." He crossed his arms, signifying that he was thinking. "Now that I think about it, it didn't seem like the client was sure she would appear."

"What's weird is we were warned to leave immediately. And let's not forget the fact that assassinating the woman before or after the date would be pointless." Sasuke expressed.

The pinkette remained quiet. She was conflicted. Could Itachi's appearance be connected with this? She wondered. Furthermore, she was afraid about her father's reaction to her failure, regardless of the minimal content and peculiarity of the mission. However, she was also bothered about the Haruno woman and if her father was involved in the situation. She didn't know what to think or what to make of the informations she had.

Suddenly, a hand gently grabbed her shoulder which broke her out of her trance. She shot her head up in alarm, but found a pair of onyx eyes.

"Sasuke?"

He gazed down gently at her as he kneeled on a knee. A heartwarming smile graced his pale lips. "Happy birthday, Sakura."

Her eyes widened a little. She had forgotten it was her birthday. Emerald eyes softened as it stared into Sasuke's. Her heart warmed and she felt butterflies lightly fluttering their wings in her belly which brought a light blush onto her cheeks.

"Thank you, Sasuke."

A bright yellow carnation appeared between the two. The pinkette's attention immediately torn from the Uchiha and traced her gaze from the beautiful flower, along the outstretched hand, to a pair of white eyes.

He returned the flower in front of her eyes. "Happy birthday."

She gratefully took the flower and admired it's beauty. It wasn't something that was seen in the Leaf Village.

"Where did you get this?" She asked in a gasp, still staring wide eyed at the large flower.

"Don't you know you leave a trail of beautiful flowers behind you?" He smirked proudly.

Sakura rolled her eyes at his cheesy pick up line, but the blush was still evident on her cheeks. This was how she celebrated her birthday, no matter how simple it was. She was grateful, and she loved it. The celebration at home was grand, but it was stressful more than anything else. Birthday parties are never fun, especially as a heiress or a child prodigy.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. She acts coldly, but more than she noticed, she opens up in many little ways. There was hope for her to live a happy life.

However, that life was short lived. Returning to Konoha meant facing their family; Sakura, facing her father. They dragged their feet on the ground as they headed for their home, dreadful of what their father or clan would think or say about their failed mission.

When Sakura returned home, her father was already waiting at the doorstep. She pursed her lips as she guided her gaze to the ground.

"Father."

"How was your mission?" Was the first thing he said since her return.

She couldn't help but hesitate a little. "I failed the mission." She bowed. "I'm sorry for being a disgrace to the family!"

She held that position, waiting for his lecture. It never came. He stepped into his sandals and left the house without a word. Until the door closed, she stood up straight with a frown on her face.

It was weird of him to not lash out at her failure. Perhaps he was too disappointed in her, she sighed. She slipped off her sandals and headed to the living room.

"I'm home!"

"Welcome back, Sakura!" Her mother greeted, exiting the kitchen. "How was your mission?"

She wore an apron and wiped her hands on it. "I have great news for you!"

"It.. didn't go so well.." She muttered softly.

A slightly wrinkled hand pat her head and brought her head up. "It's fine, Sakura. It happens sometimes."

She gave her mother a small smile, her only solace in this hellhole.

Her mother grinned and ruffled her soft pink hair. "Here's a great news to cheer you up!" She looked down at her belly and rubbed it in circles with her other hand. "You're getting a younger sibling!"

Sakura's eyes widened like never before and gaped at the news. "WHAT?!?" Her emerald eyes sparkled and she dove for her mother's occupied stomach. Her composure dropped instantly at the news of a new life.

Sumire hopped off her shoulder as she hugged the figure and glued her ears on the belly.

Her mother laughed at her antics. "Oh, silly you! It's way too early to be hearing anything!"

Ignoring her, Sakura closed her eyes in joy. I'll never let father lead you into darkness, I promise.

==

After settling their bags in their homes and changed into a set of clean clothing, they gathered in the Hokage's office to report their mission and their incident in the beginning of their journey.

Tsunade agreed that the mission was suspicious, but nothing particularly happened. They did not have any evidence that the attack had something to do with the mission. Although it was necessary to report about every detail, Sakura managed to convince them into keeping the existence of the Haruno lady a secret. It was something to be settled within their family.

About the attack, Tsunade had sent out ninjas to survey around the area while Kirikage checked the waters. They returned with interesting news, but the ninjas returned to their respective countries with critical injuries; all in the mercy of their attackers.

"There are many hideouts around the area, each fairly small. However, each group was attacked by different ninjas." The busty blonde said with a deep frown. "We suspect they are allies. A group of powerful rogue ninjas."

"What is their purpose in attacking us? Specifically, me?" The pinkette pondered aloud.

"I don't know, but they mentioned something about attacking the village to our spies."

The Hyuga's eyebrow raised, "Why would they reveal an information like that?"

The Hokage shook her head. "Possibly trying to lure our strongest shinobis to massacre them." She stared at Sakura, "Their target is probably your team or just Sakura."

She leaned back on her chair and folded her arms under her breasts. "Based on Kakashi's report, you were the only one who had a direct attack. So you should stay low at the moment. This village can't risk losing you."

The heiress' lips stretched into a thin line. She didn't want to be locked in this village. She didn't want to lose her freedom.

"But Lord Hokage, doesn't staying here gives them more reasons to attack the village?"

Tsunade stared at her with a glare. "Then what do you suggest?"

She casted her gaze onto her feet, clutching her fists. "I don't want to hide."

"Sakura." Kakashi called sternly. He could guess what she was about to offer.

The pinkette ignored him as she locked eyes with Tsunade. "I want to know why I'm their target. I volunteer to surrender myself to learn about their objectives."

"NO!" Sasuke and Neji yelled simultaneously, both equally worried for their teammate. The stared at the heiress as though she was out of her mind.

She was.

"You do know of the risks you will face if you do that." Tsunade said in which Sakura nodded to. "I can't let you do that."

"Why not??" She frowned.

"It's too dangerous and we know nothing about them. If we act recklessly, we might just be falling for their trap." She explained.

"Lord Hokage—"

"No, Sakura. You will not. End of discussion."

The pinkette pursed her lips and furrowed her eyebrows. She believed that the attack has something to do with her, her clan. It couldn't be a coincidence that they targeted her. If they wanted her for her kekkei genkai, it wouldn't make sense because it is something that could never be inherited by anyone else with the Haruno blood.

"Sakura, you are dismissed." The Hokage ordered.

She left the room with a dark cloud looming over her head. She wasn't happy. On her way outside, she passed by Shikamaru and he entered the office after giving her a nod of acknowledgement. Not a single greeting, from neither of them which was quite odd considering how close they were. Although they did drift apart one way or another ever since they were assigned to different groups.

==

This was their mission for the third time without enough rest. The Hokage had given them a secret mission to spy on the rogue ninjas, but Shikamaru was chosen to join the group in Sakura's stead. Judging from how she acted in the meeting, Tsunade was sure she would do something foolish. She had her suspicions behind the pinkette's behaviour, but spoke no word about it.

When they travelled on the trees, Aka and Raimu purred worriedly, sensing something behind them. But the boys could not understand tiger language. They only heightened their senses, being more aware of their surroundings.

"We are here." Kakashi whispered. They reached the nearest hideout to the village.

It was a denser part of the forest. According to their informants, there should be some sort of entrance hidden by bushes. Neji and Sasuke activated their kekkei genkai and scanned the area.

Their tigers dropped onto the ground and transformed with a loud roar.

"Oh, what do we have here?"

==

Dedicated to MasterShippess for your fun comments and votes! I enjoyed reading your comments :')

Glad I managed to squeeze in two updates this week. :') But that's because I procrastinated during the week. Aha.

Has anyone figured out about what's going to happen and what's behind the Haruno clan?

~Joelle

Published: December 2014
Rewritten: 26 May 2018