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“Ugh.” It’s been a whole week , one whole fucking week, before she made it back to her town. All she wanted to do during her break was go to the hot springs that her mother had told her about, but no. She just had to get stuck miles away from home no where NEAR the hot springs.
If she ever decided to take a break again, she will just take Ino with her.
Sakura groaned and collapsed onto her soft bed. It’s been days of non-stop walking (besides the times that she had to take a break to sleep or use the bathroom), and her feet were killing her. What in the world was she thinking? Going alone to the middle of nowhere for the hot springs. She couldn’t even call any of her friends to pick her up since her phone had died.
“Never again” was her muffled grumble as she nuzzled her pillow. Sakura should probably take a shower...She hasn’t had a full one since she had arrived (the lakes don’t count. They were not exactly bathing material with all the fish and frogs and leeches in there. Ew ).
Sakura really should take a shower. Kami knows she needs it, but it was so far...and her feet are still throbbing.
But the need of a shower beats her exhausted logic, so she gets up anyway.
She forced herself up sluggishly, dragging her feet to her dresser. Her entire plan for the day was to take a shower, get dressed into clean clothes and go to sleep. That’s it. She can worry about contacting her friends tomorrow (Sakura snorted at their possible reactions once they knew what really happened. Naruto will never let her hear the end of it).
Walking with more of a jump to her step, Sakura stripped down from her disgusting clothes (she ran out of clean clothes weeks ago. She was definitely throwing this pay away with how many holes it has) and hopped into a nice hot shower. She did not take at least 2 hours just standing under the hot water even when she was done scrubbing down all the dirt in her skin. She didn’t.
Sakura hummed happily as she combed through her hair. She was a lot more awake now that she was clean; not that that would stop her from continuing her way to bed.
And if she had decided to sleep the rest of tomorrow as well...it wasn’t her fault. The bed was just too good to resist.
Sakura sighed as she finally decided to get up and get her day started. She had charged her phone the day prior, but she didn’t bother to turn it on. It was now or never.
Her eyes nearly bulged from her head at the amount of messages she received. 125 unread messages.
“Shit” she muttered.
She scrolled through her messages until she reached the oldest ones. The first one was from Naruto.
Narubaka: Hey Sakura-chan! Do u want 2 go 2 the Ichiraku’s during break? Teme is going 2
Narubaka: Sakura-chan?
Narubaka: Are u ok? It’s been 2 days
Narubaka: I went 2 ur house today but you weren’t there. Teme is getting worried 2 even though he won’t admit it.
Ino-Pig: Forehead, Naruto is telling everyone that you went missing. This better be some kind of joke
Ino-Pig: I swear, Sakura. Everyone is getting worried. This is going too far. Where the hell are you?
Sasuke-kun: It’s getting annoying to listen to Naruto panic over nothing. Can you cut this out.
Sasuke-kun: I’m getting my family involved to find you.
Ino-Pig: Please don’t be dead, Sakura.
Sakura continued to read the rest of the text, surprised at how many of her friends had tried to contact her. It made her happy that they cared so much, but it made her feel guilty too.
This was her fault.
Taking a deep breath, she called the first one on her contact list. Naruto.
That was probably a bad idea.
“SAKURA-CHAN WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Sakura had to pull her phone away from her ear before Naruto could make her go deaf. “It’s...a long story.” She coughed into her fist, clearing her throat. “I just made it back to my apartment-” Naruto already hung up. If she guessed right, it meant that he was already on his way.
She had no idea why that made her so nervous.
Sakura didn’t have much time to think about what Naruto could possibly tell her because her front door was already being slammed open. A blur of orange was the first thing she saw before she was being tackled into a tight hug that nearly made her see stars.
“Naruto?” She smiled nervously. He was trembling and it made her wonder if he was sick. “Are you okay?” Sakura wrapped her arms around him, bringing his trembling form closer. “Am I okay? Am I okay?! Are you really asking that when you’ve been missing for a whole week!? I should be asking you that!”
She flinched at his tone. She’s never heard him sound so mad before. “Naruto. Give her a break, she’s probably exhausted” came a bored drawl from Sakura’s right. It nearly made her jump. Sakura turned as much as she could with Naruto still holding her to see Sasuke looking straight at her with a blank face. She knew him too well to believe that he wasn’t as worried as Naruto. With the way his eyes trailed over her form for any injuries, she knew he was just as scared.
They were all childhood friends after all.
“What happened?” It came from Sasuke. Naruto loosened his grip so they could all sit down in her couch (he still held her arm though; he was probably scared she’d disappear again). Naruto and Sasuke were staring her down while they waited for her answer. It made Sakura huff. Boys.
She told them everything. Starting with the ad her mother had sent her about the hot springs (an ad that she figured out was fake and had lead to the middle of nowhere), and she told them how she decided to go when her car had broke down in the middle of her journey. There was no one around to help and she had no signal to contact anyone to pick her up. Her phone had died about half way through her walk back, and she had to sleep on the ground at night (which was awful because there were so many bugs and animals out there. She had to run away so many times when a bear was near; she was terrified). Sakura had even told them of the lakes and the leeches that stuck to her (Naruto grimaced at the thought) and how she had to pull the off without any fire, which hurt like a bitch.
Sakura took a deep breath when she was done, waiting for their replies. She played with the hem of her shirt as the silence continued, but Naruto broke it by giving her another hug. “We thought you were kidnapped and killed.” Sakura blinked. Killed?
“Killed? That’s insane!”
Sasuke sighed. “You do realize the whole town has been looking for you for a week, right?” Sakura stared at him with wide eyes, “the whole town?” Sasuke nodded. “We filed a missing person report and there was a statement on television.”
“Well shit.”
And if her friends had stuck to her like glue for the rest of the next three weeks, she couldn’t blame them.
She didn’t exactly mind it either. They were her family.