J A D E

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Sasuke, Naruto." Kakashi calls out two of them as soon as he comes down from a tree. "You two are going to train on this." He states and starts walking. "Sakura, follow me." I nod and start walking side-by-side to him.

We don't talk. I don't know what to tell him. I am out of words. I found myself usually lost in my thoughts, out of this place more often as the time goes by. The pang of missing them hitting me once every while.

"You should not have performed that Jutsu." Kakashi starts talking, his head still in his book. I look up at him with raised eyebrows. "I know that you are not allowed to perform certain leveled Jutsus, until you become of age." He continues talking in slow, calm manner. "So, what made you perform Earth Dragon?"

"I..." I look down in shame. "I got scared." I admit and gulp. "Not for me. I got scared for you and boys. I thought... I thought that you were going to die." I admit and look at my feet again, while we walk.

"Sakura..." Kakashi mumbles my name. "I am happy that you are going on certain length for your teammates." He admits and pats my head. "But you should also care about yourself." I nod at him. As if promising not to do it again. But him and I both know that I will continue acting so again and again. "Now, I am going to teach you something." We stand next to water.

"This is called Water Beast." He explains as he starts making hand-seals slowly. I watch as beastly cat appears out of water. "It can fight and attack much like water dragon. Though, it is not as dangerous as it is." I nod.

"Can you show me the hand-seals again?" I ask politely and beam as he nods.

Dog. Horse. Monkey. Ram.

I nod.

"I am going to leave you to practice it, okay?" I nod as Kakashi disappears, probably checking on boys and their success.

***

"I miss the blue sky." I whisper as soon as Sai stands next to me. He looks at me with his usual emotionless expression and nods. Despite not being in team seven from the beginning, Sai is the only member, who truly saw what I was capable of. And who stayed besides me till the end.

"Do you miss old days, Ugly?" He asks me out of blue, surprising me a little bit.

"Yeah, it was more peaceful." I chuckle and look at him. "What about you, Sai? What do you miss the most?"

"I miss colors." Sai whispers as he looks up at red sky. "I miss more, peaceful times..." He whispers and gives me one of his creepy smiles. "I miss how we would bicker at missions and you would punch me." He states, remembering about our ANBU missions. I chuckle at him, shaking my head lightly. "And I miss Beautiful." He whispers. "She used to be happier." He states with sadness lacing his words.

I wake up with a shriek. Sweat is running down my forehead, tears streaming down my face. Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto rush in my room, kneeling besides me. Naruto is hugging me tightly, while Sasuke is occasionally patting my head or shoulder. I sob and they wait until I manage to calm myself down.

I miss Sai. I miss his creepy smiles, emotionless faces. I miss is stupid nicknames and they way he would scare people away. I miss how he cared about us. After all, Sai was my real adopted brother. He was next to me all the time. He was there during Team Yamato, during my ANBU time, during my medic duties. He made sure that I would not overwork myself, would not over-exhaust myself. He made sure that I stayed alive.

"What happened to her?" Kakashi whispers to Sasuke.

"She has nightmares." Sasuke explains softly, his eyes on me. "They are not as often as they used to be, when we were little, though." He adds and sighs. "She will be good in the morning. As if nothing happened." He explains and sits next to me, ignoring Kakashi sensei altogether.