14AN- Okay, this is my first fic I've ever uploaded on ffnet. I've written a bunch and planned a million stories in my head, but this is the first to ever be published. This is a Sasususaku, for those of you who didnt know. I will upload other fics for Naruto (Tenten/Neji, Kankuro/OC, etc) and maaaybe some for Harry Potter. I don't know yet. There won't be any mention of our beloved Sassy-cakes in the first few chapters-the first few take places weeks and months after he left- but i promise he will be in the later chapters.
A slight warning to those of you who are expecting a cutesy fic. THIS IS NOT A FLUFFY STORY! I will upload cutesy stories, but this story is full of one or more of the following -cursing, sex, attempted suicide, attempted murder, angst, pain, and any other horrible things people can do to other people. SPOILER ALERT: there is a happy ending, tho!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the song quote from Taylor Swift's song Tied Together with a Smile, or any other content that you may recognize. The only thing I will take credit for is coming up with a cool jutsu! There, Disclaimed. ENJOY!
Title: Suicidal Tendencies
Author: SasuSakuCrazy
Chapter 1- Tied Together with a Smile
Hold on baby, you're losing it. The water's high, you're jumping into it and lettin' go and no one knows, that you cry but you don't tell anyone, that you might not be the golden one. You're tied together with a smile, but you're comin' undone –Taylor Swift, Tied Together with a Smile.
Sakura stood in the shower, letting the steamy water roll down her back. 'Two weeks,' she muttered. 'Two damn weeks!'
Her fist came up subconsciously and struck the cool tile. 'Fuck!' she hissed, cradling her throbbing hand.
A few minutes after healing the bruise that was beginning to form, Sakura climbed out of the shower. The heat from the shower didn't do much to raise the temperature outside of it. 'Shit, it's cold,' Sakura muttered, putting on her newest outfit she bought the day before. The red tank top contrasted with her hair and the pale pink of her skirt, ripped for easier movement on the battlefield. When she was finished, she stared at herself in the mirror. 'Sakura-chan,' she whispered to herself, 'what the hell happened to you?'
Sakura left for the Academy, Sasuke in the back of her mind. She wished he'd come back. The worst part was that he refused to tell her why he was leaving. Pushing almost all her thoughts of Sasuke into the deep recesses of her mind, Sakura focused on training with Naruto. She, Naruto, Neji, Tenten, Kiba, and Rock Lee were having a sparring tournament today. She would be partnered against one of the other five, and the other four would be paired together and would spar. The three that won would advance and fight the other two. Whoever won two matches would be declared the winner. Sakura was determined to win. She didn't want anyone to see the truth-ever since Sasuke left, she was barely hanging on. A voice called her name, breaking her thoughts.
'Sakura!' came Naruto's voice a few feet away.
'Naruto!' Sakura called back, smiling what she hoped was a genuine smile, and walked over to the other five ninja already waiting.
'Good to see you all, what's up?' came Might Gai's unusually chipper voice.
'Gai-Sensei! I am up for the challenge! Who shall my partner be?' Sakura looked up to see Rock Lee sucking up to his taijutsu teacher of four years.
Neji groaned beside Tenten. 'Shut the hell up, Lee. It's four o'clock in the fuckin' morning and I could've slept another three hours. Damn, I need coffee,' he muttered just loud enough for Tenten to hear.
'Me, too,' she whispered back to him, surprising him with her answer.
'What?' he whispered back, his voice matching pitch with hers.
A small smile played on Tenten's lips. 'Later,' came her reply.
'Alright, students. Kakashi will split you up into pairs, and we shall begin this training exercise.'
'Ahem. Sakura versus Kiba, Tenten against Rock Lee; Neji, you're with Naruto.'
'Cool! I'm gonna beat you, Neji. Believe it!' Naruto's overenthusiastic voice floated among the ninjas.
'Shut it, Naruto!' Sakura sighed, not wanting to deal with him lately. He'd become an even bigger pain in the ass since Sasuke left.
'Whatever, Sakura!' she heard, rolling her eyes at Naruto's pathetic comeback.
'Whatever, Sakura!' she mimicked under her breath as she went to join Kiba in the clearing.
'Hey, Kiba.' She greeted the dog-ninja with a wave and a nod.
'What's up, Sakura?'
'Nothin'. You ready to spar?'
'Hell yeah! Bring it on!' came the enthusiastic reply.
The fight began with Kiba throwing a kunai, which just barely grazed her right cheek. Sakura hissed a breath, feeling the sting that the knife left behind. She pushed off the ground, making herself fly weightlessly through the air. Copycatting his move in her own way, Sakura threw a few Chakra-infused shuriken in Kiba's direction. Three of them hit the mark, giving Sakura an unexpected feeling of elation; the feeling fell when she noticed the real Kiba coming from behind. 'Shit! Just can't get a fuckin' break today, can I?' she muttered sarcastically to herself as she ricocheted herself off the nearest tree to avoid Kiba's jutsu.
'Ready to give up, Neji?' came Naruto's annoying voice from somewhere nearby. Suddenly overcome with anger, Sakura traced Naruto's voice to be a few meters west of her fight. She quickly created shadow clones, but only enough to keep her real self hidden from Kiba as she went to kick Naruto's ass.
Sakura had studied Neji's battle technique when she'd watched many a fight between Sasuke and Neji. Neji liked to hide and then, at the opportune moment, he'd spring a key and damaging hit to his opponent. Sakura couldn't possibly fathom why Neji hadn't sprung a jutsu on Naruto yet. Hence, the reason she was flying through the trees. She was going to take down Naruto and then finish Kiba off.
Making a noiseless landing, Sakura stealthily slid from tree to tree. She spotted Neji up in the tallest tree, looking down at Naruto. He did nothing but smirk at the orange-clad ninja flailing around in the lush grass below. 'Time to make my move,' Sakura muttered to herself as she raced out from the tree right behind Naruto.
She laced chakra through her right hand-her strongest of the two fists-and through an almost-invisible punch to Naruto's side. Naruto doubled over, clutching his solar plexus. His reaction gave her just enough time to drain all the chakra from his body, leaving him bruised and unable to fight. She knocked him out with a punch to the temple and took off into the air in search of her actual opponent. From up in the tree, she caught a glimpse of Neji. He smirked and gave her a thumbs-up. She smiled in return, thinking of ways to get Neji and Tenten together. Now, if only someone would get Sasuke back so he could be with her…
Sakura sighed and looked around. She didn't sense any other chakra presence, except for her own. Before she realized it, Kiba pinned both of her arms behind her back. She struggled, but the only response she got was his low chuckle. 'Dammit, Kiba! Fuck you!' Sakura cursed, writhing under his strong grip.
'Nice of you to join me again, Sakura. I didn't think you'd show back up.'
'Naruto was easy prey and since Neji wasn't doing anything about it, I figured I would. Damn motherfucker, making me lose my concentration,' she muttered, hating herself for falling so easily into this trap.
'Got sidetracked, huh, Sakura? Didn't think I was a worthy opponent?' Sakura sensed the hurt behind his words. Kiba had always been struggling for acception from all the other ninjas, especially those who weren't his teammates.
'I do, but Naruto has been pissing me off since this morning.'
'Not a good answer, my dear Sakura,' he murmured, tightening his grip on her arms and forcing her shoulder blades up into muscle.
'Ouch! Dammit, Kiba!'
'You ready to fight? For real, this time.'
'Bring it on, dog-boy,' she muttered, quoting Sasuke.
'Hell yeah.'
Their fight was a series of punches, kicks, jutsus, seals, and cursing. Almost as quickly as it had begun, their fight was over. Sakura had manipulated Kiba's weakness to smell-known only because of an overheard conversation between Sasuke and Naruto-by barraging him with a series of smells ranging from incredibly sweet to the sick smell of death. Sakura now stood over her barely-conscious opponent and smirked. After years of practicing Sasuke's I-just-kicked-your-ass-and-I'm-a-beast smirk in the mirror, it was finally paying off. Somehow, she had managed to copy almost everything about Sasuke, or found something that reminded him of her in everyone she met.
'Hey, Kiba. It had to be done, I'm sorry. Maybe next time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a competition to win.' Sakura found herself giggling out of control as she made her way back to Kakashi-sensei and the others.
Sakura looked around. Neji and Rock Lee would be her other two opponents. The two boys had grown exceptionally well since she'd last fought them. Rock Lee had improved on many of his jutsus, especially those having to do with taijutsu. Neji had made it a habit not to lose to anyone, Uchiha Sasuke being the only exception.
'Congratulations, students on making it this far. See, Kakashi. I told you that my students were much better than before,' Might Gai retorted, rubbing his students' success in his rival's face.
'Well, as you can see, Gai, Sakura-chan is still standing. And, last time I checked, she was my student…' Kakashi trailed off, and Sakura swore she saw him smirk under his mask.
Naruto, Tenten, and Kiba made their way back to the original meeting place. Neji's worried glance Tenten's way didn't go unnoticed by Sakura. His eyes flashed with worry until they met Tenten's. She nodded her head slightly, signaling she was fine, and then Neji's eyes changed from worried to slightly relieved.
'Okay. Sakura, Neji, and Lee, you three will engage in a battle. The one who defeats the other two will be victorious. Good luck, Lee,' Might Gai said, giving his 'Little Prodigy' a thumbs-up and a glaringly white smile.
'That's enough favoritism, Gai. Neji needs some love, too. Tenten, would you like to love Neji?' Kakashi's lewd comment made Sakura laugh. She discovered that laughing didn't have to be a pain anymore.
All eyes turned to Tenten, who had begun to blush redder than Sakura's old outfit. 'Um, Kakashi-sensei? No comment,' Tenten retorted, trying to save what was left of her dignity.
'Suuuure, Tenten,' Kakashi teased, glancing in Neji's direction, trying to gauge his reaction.
'Ahem. Kakashi-sensei? Can we get on with the competition? I'm getting bored here.' Sakura spoke up, surprised that her voice sounded like Sasuke if he was a girl.
'Uh, sure Sakura. Sorry to keep you waiting.'
'Whatever. I just wanna fight.'
At this comment, Sakura received strange looks from the other seven people around her. She shrugged and uttered a curse word that sounded like, 'Fuck you, Sasuke-kun,' under her breath. Neji and Tenten exchanged looks, but quickly looked away, not wanting the attention again.
'All right, Sakura. You want a fight; I shall give you a good fight. If I lose, I will do one thousand crunches.' Rock Lee spoke up, taking his usual taijutsu fighting stance.
'That's my boy, Lee. Show 'em what you got!' Guy-Sensei cheered, completely leaving out Neji.
'You got this, Neji. You'll be fine,' Neji heard Tenten mutter.
'Of course I do,' he smirked as he walked into the ring that had appeared in the clearing. Tenten had no idea how much of an impact her words had on her teammate. The two had always been friends, but Neji now noticed just how much attention Tenten gave him-much more than she ever gave anyone-and it made him want to show her just how much he liked her, and it wasn't in the just-friends kind of way. It was the real deal. Neji cleared his mind and focused on the two ninja in front of him, Sakura towards his left, Lee to his right. 'You may begin when you're ready,' Kakashi-Sensei instructed, his face already buried in the latest Icha Icha Paradise book by Naruto's newest instructor, Jiraiya.
Sakura didn't waste any time. For a while now, she had been perfecting a new jutsu she had read about during her medical training. The jutsu was fierce, and was bound to obliterate all enemies within a three-kilometer radius. Too determined to win, Sakura forgot the first and most important rule of sparring- "sparring is used to simulate real-life battle, but opponents are not to be killed or severely injured".
'Demonic Explosion of Time!' came Sakura's voice, seemingly out of nowhere. The other two ninja had no time to react; Sakura had essentially destroyed time until her attack hit. Kakashi and Gai couldn't react. The last time that either of them had heard those four words uttered was in the last Great War. Time resumed just moments before the attack hit, but not everyone escaped the blast.