"Well gang." Said Kakashi, putting down his favorite pornographic novel. "I'd say we're about done."
"About time!" Screamed Naruto, throwing down the last of the woven baskets into the rest of the pile. Today's mission entailed carrying roughly a hundred of them from one end of Konoha to the other. In other words, grunt work. "I'm starving!"
"We all are, Naruto. We had to skip lunch to do this mission." Said Sakura.
Sasuke just folded his arms and grunted. Today's mission had been taxing on everyone indeed, patience was wearing thin. All the more reason for Kakashi to send his troops home for the day.
"Go on home then, and get some food and rest. There will probably be a more...interesting mission tomorrow."
"Does that mean we'll actually get to do important stuff!?"
"...Just go home Naruto."
The blond ninja pouted and followed his teammates who were turning to leave. Like always, Team Seven was walking home together after a long day, though the silence between its members was almost deafening. It had been a grueling past few hours indeed, no one really wanted to talk.
However, Naruto dared to break the quiet reflection of his teammates. "So...What are you guys doing now?"
A chorus of growling stomachs answered him. He chuckled slightly. "I guess that means everyone's going to get food, huh? Want to head over to the ramen bar?"
"I can't." Said Sakura, patting her belly slightly.
"How come?"
"Dieting."
The concept was completely daft to her male counterparts though. "Again? What for? You look fine, Sakura!"
"That's easy for you to say, Naruto."
She was glaring at him now, so he quietly backed down. Though he didn't understand diets, Naruto knew well enough by now that arguing with Sakura over them was just not worth the effort. She'd always turn down invitations to meals and free food, even if her stomach growled like it had a tiger in it. From Naruto's perspective, Sakura looked fine. Always thin enough, athletically built, and shapely. But you wouldn't even see her so much as eat a candy bar, she was so insistent on sticking to some sort of unspoken code.
Naruto shrugged, it was that stubborn attitude that made him like Sakura so much. But still, she'd always have eyes for Sasuke. Everyone knew that, even if he ignored her.
"That's your house, right Sakura?" Asked Sasuke.
"Right. Thanks Sasuke." She replied, nearly forgetting her stop. She turned and waved, smiling as she left. "See you guys tomorrow."
Her friends said their good byes as well, then immediately got into getting on each others nerves. Without Sakura to stand between them, it was hopeless, they had started bickering.
"So, what about you Sasuke!?"
"I am NOT going to your ramen bar, Naruto."
"Aw, come on! What are you? A cheapskate?"
"What'd you say..."
Sakura continued smiling to herself, expecting to hear a trading of blows in a few moments. Even if they argued a lot Naruto and Sasuke were good friends. Loyal, trusting, they would never hide a thing from Sakura. She opened the door to her house.
They'd never hide a thing...
~
When she stepped inside, Sakura's expression did a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn. She was frowning to herself, a lingering look of disappointment.
Her house was empty and dark, her parents had gone out of town for the week so she was all alone. In a way though, she was glad. It was embarrassing for her to walk around with her true nature showing, even if they were her parents.
There was a mirror in the front hall of her home, it was the usual place where her parents left any messages for her through sticky notes. A fresh bright yellow slip of paper beckoned her over. She read it.
"Sakura, I know you're still dieting but please try to eat! There's some leftover fish from last night in the fridge. Remember, you're only going to run out of energy faster if you don't have something to fuel yourself with. Stay healthy! -Mom"
Sakura groaned and crumpled up the paper, even if her parents ordered her to she wasn't going to eat. This would be the third time in a row she'd be going to bed hungry. She felt her stomach wobble around like a bag of water, groaning in displeasure.
"Shh..." She whispered to it. The strain was probably getting to her.
It was difficult to keep the jutsu up for so long during extended periods of the day, especially on missions. And while she had gotten accustomed to it her whole life, it made the end of everyday feel like she had been running a marathon.
But before she undid the jutsu, she glared angrily at the stranger in the mirror. The thin her. The fake her. An insect in comparison to girl underneath the skin. The most pathetic person Sakura ever laid eyes on. She hated her reflection like this, it diligently obeyed the orders of society. It answered the call for the need to be perfect in every way. But it wasn't to blame, the reflection wasn't the crime.
Sakura did the appropriate hand signals. "Release!"
In an instant, the fake her dissolved in the mirror. The wool covering the eyes was pulled back, the reflection was no more. It's cheeks bulged out, as did its stomach, its breasts, its arms, its butt. Everything.
Her dress groaned slightly, readjusting itself to the new larger form it now held in place. The sound of her body, when it returned to its true shape, was similar to that of a balloon being filled up with air by a helium tank. And in a way it was invigorating. Like standing naked in the cold rain, feeling every single drop touch your body. Like showing the world who you really were.
Sakura looked somewhat pear shaped like this, her belly stuck out a good ways from her body as did her breasts. But it was her hips and butt that contained the most fat, giving her greater curves then her fake self could ever hope to have.
She looked solemnly at herself in the mirror.
Since she was born obese, Sakura had tried every single thing imaginable to lose the pounds. Her parents had taken her to doctors, specialists, even surgeons. Nothing could be safely done though to truly solve her big problem. She was destined to be this way for the rest of her life, hiding behind a jutsu that disguised her true self. After she found it in an old scroll at the bottom of a well when she was a kid, she had practiced for months perfecting the jutsu to the point where she could spend days using it. It was the first one she had ever learned, and as a result there wasn't a jutsu after it that she couldn't handle. Still, she hated using the jutsu, she hated that she had to hide what she was.
But that wasn't the crime. Tears formed in the pits of her eyes.
The crime was that it was allowed. That she was so weak and so spineless that she'd hide herself behind magic, smoke, and mirrors. That she let the words of others get to her. That she'd conform like every other coward.
The crime was that she let the fake reflection take control and be her face for the world, while the world remained unaware of the hidden flower beneath the skin. She was wearing a mask, and nothing more. And she hated herself, so much. So fucking much.
This wasn't the first time that Sakura would stare at a mirror and starting crying to herself, and it probably wouldn't be her last. As the tears feel, she knew she still had the small comfort that she was alone in her home. She had a whole night ahead of her and if what Kakashi was true, she had a busy day tomorrow. What she energy she couldn't get from eating she'd have to get from sleeping. She turned and left to go to bed.
This was her secret. One that she had never told anyone. One that she'd die if anyone discovered. This was the elephant on her back, the skeleton in her closet, the sorrow in her heart.
This was how she had spent her entire life.
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