A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

He turns around the corner, and smacks right into something.

"Ow!" Well, into someone.

Lloyd rubs his nose. "Oh, sorry, Sakura. Guess I wasn't looking where I was going."

Sakura smiles. "It's okay, Lloyd. I wasn't either."

"So, who are those for?" He was referring to the be bouquet of flowers in her arms.

"I'm going to see Lee at the hospital and I decided to get these for him." She looks down and strokes one of the delicate red petals between her fingers.

"Do you know how he's doing?"

She glances back up at him. "No, this is going to be my first time visiting him. Would you like to come with me?"

Lloyd shakes his head. "I'll have to decline this time. I've had enough of the of the hospital for awhile. But tell him I said to not give up, okay?"

Sakura grins. "Of course." Her demeanor then changes, and it wasn't hard for Lloyd to not notice.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" He stares at her concerned expression. "You know, you could never keep your emotions off your face."

Sakura's eyes widen at his comment, but she composes herself to ask, "How are you doing, Lloyd?"

Lloyd's eyebrows raise. "What do you mean?"

She averts her gaze. "I mean, after your fight with Sasuke..." She trails off.

"I really don't wanna talk about that, Sakura."

She nods slowly. "I understand."

"But I am doing fine, as you can see." He forces a smile on for good measure.

Sakura gazes at him for a long moment. "I'm glad. I was really worried about you."

"Thanks, but you don't have to worry about me." He scratches the back of his head.

A smile forms on Sakura's lips once again. "Well, I should get going to the hospital before visiting hours are over." She walks past him. "See you."

"Hey, Sakura?" Lloyd calls out to her.

She stops and turns around. "Yeah?"

"I like the new hair look."

Sakura is taken aback and absentmindedly touches her now short strands.

"See you later." Lloyd turns and walks away.

~~*~~

Naria thinks all of this over. "This is very unnerving news. But you are not to trust him or his words."

"Yes, I already know that, sensei. After what I witnessed, I couldn't possibly..." I shudder, thinking about when he put his mark on Sasuke. "He knows about this healing curse, and he wants me also. He wants to help me."

"Orochimaru never wants to help anyone, only himself. It is very worrisome of what happened to Sasuke, but I know Kakashi is going to help him." She eyes me. "Listen to me, Kimina. You cannot trust him. He is an enemy of the Leaf. He only wants your healing power for his own evil needs, remember that."

I look down at my hands. "I didn't even want any of this." I feel the green chakra stir within me of its own accord."

Naria sensei comes closer to me. "I know. But I am here to help you. In whatever happens."

Her words, sadly, didn't reassure me. Because I felt in whatever was to come against me, no one would be able to help me. But to my surprise, it didn't frighten me as much as I thought it would.

"We are also going to work more on your healing power, obviously," Naria continues. "You need to learn to repress it. when you are not in battle."

That reminds me of something. "You said you talked with my mom more about this curse. What else did she tell you?"

She eyes me. "She told me that this woman, Yuuna Zakuro, spirit lives on through this curse. So, that means since the curse is coursing through you, technically, so is her spirit."

"So, these stirrings I have and these bursts of contempt is literally from her."

Naria sensei nods her head.

As I digest this, I decide not to divulge the dream, or better yet the message I got from Yuuna. Not yet, anyway.

"Well, like I said, we'll start on your training tomorrow and go from there." She crosses her arms over her chest. "Okay?"

I nod. "Right."