Reflection
[Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor any of the characters… Kishimoto is the God.]
Chapter 1: Restoration
The dawn of a fresh new day breaks out again in the small village of Konoha. Tired eyes crack open expecting to be greeted with glistening rays of sunshine, but to much disappointment it just so happens to be a day of pattering downfall, blistering winds, and obnoxious flashes and crashes.
Two particular individuals find themselves waking to this background noise, in a tiny one-room apartment. The blonde one rises from the floor and lets out a great big yawn, the loudness almost equivalent to that of the raging weather. While he stretches his arms out like a giant 'Y', the pink-haired one merely shuffles slightly underneath the duvet on her comfy double-sized bed and then remains immobile.
The blonde chuckled to himself at the sight of this. "Come on, Sakura... you should know better than anyone that a little storm is no excuse to be lazy and miss work."
A sloppy groan escaped from underneath the covers, followed by some mumbling that Naruto couldn't quite make out due to the sheets drowning the sound. Instead, he decided to be himself and tease her a little bit "What's that, Sakura? You want me to jump on you? That's a great idea to get you up!" Rearing himself up to fulfill the deed, before even 5 seconds could elapse the duvet went flying off the bed, revealing an alarmed girl with a death glare in her eyes. This should have sent Naruto running, but on the contrary he rolled over and started laughing hysterically. Sakura dropped the glare and just stared confounded at him.
"What is so funny?!" She blurted, wondering what could possibly make him crack up so much all of a sudden.
"Ahahaha... Oohoohoo... Y-Your... ahaha... your hair... bwahahaha..."
The alarmed look made its appearance once again on Sakura's face as she jumped off the bed and sprinted over to her vanity mirror. Alas, Naruto's reaction turned out to be completely justifiable. Her hair did, indeed, look as if it were imitating a pink bird's nest. Quickly, she snatched her comb off of the vanity surface, and brushed a few strokes through the pink locks to at least tame it moderately. Placing the comb back down on the dresser after achieving satisfaction, she whipped back around to face the blonde boy who was still hunching over with laughter.
"Oh, give it a break. I guess that will teach me to never invite you over for another sleep-over." She threatened, the death glare resurfacing as she crossed her arms.
Slowly, Naruto's laughter died down and he rose back up to his feet, sending Sakura a hearty smile from across the room. "You know I'm just teasing. I think you look beautiful no matter how messy your hair is." And that, he meant.
As suggestive as his comment may have sounded, there were absolutely no hidden tendencies or implications behind it. Sakura was a beautiful girl, that fact remained solid. Naruto cared deeply for the girl, just as equally as she cared for him. But neither of their feelings could ever be taken to a level further than an unbreakable familial bond. There was a time in his life that Naruto did desire something more with his fellow companion, but those exact feelings were never mutual, and Naruto realized they never would be. Through her eyes, Naruto was more like a brother, and he eventually came to accept and love that kind of relationship with her. Never, for one second, does he regret it, just as he would never risk anything to jeopardize what they have.
Sakura loosened up and sent the same warming smile back at Naruto "I know, silly. Come, I'll make you some tea."
At times like these, Sakura was most grateful that her apartment had been furnished with a gas stove, over an electric one.
The power was out.
Sakura became aware of this fact the moment she went to open her freezer and noticed the ice melting in the little trays. Quickly, she poured some water into the kettle from the tap, then turned on the gas after laying the kettle on top of the burner. While the water in the kettle was slowly rising to a boil, Sakura hastily ran over to the closet near the entrance, where she pulled out a great big red generator. Hauling the large block back over into the kitchen corner, she placed it down near the fridge, and connected the two together. The machine emitted a roaring buzzing noise once she activated it, but it beat having spoiled food (and melted ice, most importantly).
By the time Sakura finished feeding life back into her refrigerator, the water in the kettle was just about to reach its boiling peak as the faint whistle ascended louder and louder by the millisecond. Sakura scampered the few steps over to the stove, and quickly removed the kettle from the burner, turning the gas knob to the 'off' state at the same time. She temporarily placed the kettle down on one of the unheated burners as she opened and reached into a cupboard to grab two mugs and two packets of cheap green tea that she just bought at the corner store. Usually she preferred to make her tea with the loose herbs and the specialized tea cup filter, but the place that sold her favorite tea herbs hadn't had them in stock for a long time.
So, she settled with cheap box tea packets.
Tearing both of the packets open like condoms, she dropped the bags respectively into each mug while the tags hung from their strings over the sides. Reaching back over to lift the kettle off of the stove, Sakura smoothly poured the hot water into each cup, leaving about one centimeter's space between the surface of the water and rim of the mug. The steam flowed elegantly from both cups, rising upwards through endless streams.
Sakura took hold of both mugs, and carefully transported them over to the other side of the room where there situated the single window stretching across that one entire wall, overlooking a part of the central village. It was hypothetically an excellent view, were the view itself replaced with an ocean or beautiful mountains rather than a grungy village, but Sakura didn't mind. She just loved that she was so centrally located. Besides, the window was accompanied with a sliding door in the middle of it that lead to a nice terrace where should would often sit out and relax quite enjoyably. That was more of a bonus in itself than she could ever ask for.
Sakura placed both mugs down on coasters on the short round coffee table sitting centrally about 3 feet away from the sliding doors. On either side of the coffee table were two comfy lounge chairs. One of them was already occupied by the blonde, so Sakura went ahead and sat herself down on the one opposite him.
"Thanks, Sakura." Naruto smiled as he lifted his mug from the coaster on his side of the little table, and savored a long sip of his tea.
Sakura mimicked his actions, and a long moment of silence elapsed as they both sat there enjoying their tea while at the same time not enjoying the rotten weather transpiring outside that very window.
"I like this. We should do this more often." Naruto suddenly admitted, breaking the silence.
Sakura was a bit surprised at his comment, considering the turn of events wasn't exactly for the better. But she supposed she couldn't deny that she, too, actually quite enjoyed it. It was his company alone that she really enjoyed. She didn't get to spend much quality time with the boy, after all. At least not like this. They would always be together on missions and during training exercises and what not, but none of those things were quite the same as having him come stay the night to simply converse and just appreciate one another's company.
"I agree. Just, hopefully we'll be a bit more blessed next time when it comes to Mother Nature." Sakura responded a tad bitterly as she took another sip of her tea.
Naruto laughed.
Naruto and Sakura decided they would wait for the storm to ease up a bit first, before they set off on their daily routine. In the meantime, as they waited, they figured it was a perfect chance for them to do a little house-cleaning as a productive means of passing the time. Sakura's apartment was small, so there wasn't a whole lot to be done, but it was enough for the storm to calm down to an accessible condition.
They had already taken their turns at showering and primping, so as soon as the storm had cleared up enough to their satisfaction, they were both ready to head out.
"So, Naruto, I forgot to ask what your plans are for today. That's if they even still apply, due to the storm..." Sakura started as both leaned against the narrow walls in her tiny doorway, donning their raincoats and boots.
"I've got a kick-ass mission! It's a pretty big deal, too. And not just because it's my fiftieth mission since I've been in ANBU corps... which, I don't know if you know, but in ANBU tradition when you've reached fifty missions... that's, like... an officially big deal. Like... 'should-treat-Naruto-to-ramen-when-he-gets-back' kinda big deal." His eyes shifted conspicuously around the room as he let out an innocent cough.
Sakura raised one eyebrow, lifting her head for a moment just to stare at Naruto in disbelief. "Oh, is that so? How do I know this isn't just one of your silly ploys just to try and make me buy you ramen?" She asked the blatant question.
"It's not! Go ask Sai!!!" He exclaimed, giving her the most serious look he could. He must have been desperate, because it was actually darn good.
Sakura giggled quietly as she finished buckling up her boots. "Alright, well, we'll see. Complete the damn mission first."
"Oh, you can bet on it!"
Once again, Naruto's enthusiasm was never a disappointment.
Both finished up and were fully prepared to face the weather and, hell, just the day itself. Being a ninja, essentially every day was like a storm. A lot of the times, much, much worse. Weather conditions were petty to them compared to the things they had to endure throughout every day life. That much was a fact. But that's the kind of world they grew up in. To them, it was normal. To them, they either loved it or they hated it. But the truth of that fact came with tests, and it was only through those tests that really determined which side their heart was truly on.
"Thanks for walking with me, Naruto. And thanks for coming over last night, I honestly enjoyed it, too." Sakura had turned to tell the boy once they reached the gated entrance to the Konoha Hospital.
"Totally! We'll have to hang out again when I get back from my mission! Speaking of which, I'll make sure to come visit you here as soon as I return." The boy flashed her his trademark grin and stuck his thumb up like he used to do.
Sakura smirked. "You better. Otherwise, no ramen." With that, her smile softened and she leaned forward to give the ramen-obsessed boy a big warming goodbye hug. "I hope you have a great mission, Naruto. I know you'll do amazing."
"Thanks, Sakura. I'll see you again soon." The boy gave into her hug and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. They stood there for approximately 10 more seconds before breaking apart. With a final wave, Naruto turned to head off in his own lone direction. Sakura blew him a kiss once he was a good 10 meters away and had taken one last glance back at her. Once he was completely out of site, Sakura turned around and entered the hospital, her face still glowing brightly with a smile.
The instant Sakura stepped in through the double hospital doors, she automatically sensed something was off. She wasn't sure what, quite yet; perhaps the reason was because Tsunade didn't come stomping out of nowhere, barking orders? Well, there was a simple possible explanation to that: She could have very realistically been occupied with a patient or some other important thing. But, no, there was something else... something that Sakura just couldn't quite put her finger on.
So she decided to ask the receptionist.
"Hey, Kiki. Do you happen to know where Tsunade is?" Sakura politely asked the lady behind the desk.
Kiki looked up from what seemed some work involving filing, and stared at Sakura through her large-rimmed round dork glasses "Ehmm... Last I heard, she had to rush out to an emergency calling at the west base, I think. Ehm, I don't really know all the exact details... You should ask Shizune... Ehmm, she should be in the lounge. I think..." The girl returned to her fumbling mid-way through her speech. She was naturally a very jittery girl.
"Alright, thanks Kiki. I'll go look for her now." Sakura told the girl appreciatively, turning to make her way down one of the many hallways that she'd learned to know so well over the years.
Eventually Sakura did manage to reach the nurse's personal lounge, where she did in fact find Shizune. The only thing odd was that Shizune didn't seem to be quite herself. No, in fact, the poor girl was freaking out. Sakura slowly peeked her way through the door at first, but the instant she realized that Shizune wasn't doing so well, she busted through and rushed over to the woman's side.
"Shizune, are you okay?! What's going on?" Sakura blurted, suddenly hungry for answers.
"Oh! Sakura! Oh, goodness... It's Tsunade... She, she left me with all this work and responsibility and...--" Sakura supposed she was referring mainly to the thousands of sheets of paper currently hoarding the space on the table in front of her. "--And complications and problems and argh... I can't do it... I'm just not used to being forced into all this stress all by myself... There's a reason she's the Hokage and not me... What do I do? I can't even run this hospital properly! Oh, this is such a disaster..." Shizune looked like crap, and that's something Sakura would never dare to admit out loud. The poor girl's face was flushed, her eyes bloodshot, her veins popping, her hair worse than Sakura's that morning... Sakura felt so bad for her, and she didn't even understand what the deal was behind everything.
"W-Wait, hold on a minute... what exactly is going on, where is Tsunade?" Sakura asked frantically, attempting to fish out at least something, but not knowing if Shizune even fully acknowledged her presence under her condition.
"Huh!? Oh, uh... there was... an emergency calling from the west ANBU base camp, that demanded she head towards them at once because some ninja were seriously poisoned or... something... I don't even know. I just... ugh, I don't understand how it could be serious enough for her to have to go out there in person! That's rarely ever the case... and it was just such short notice that it was so hard for me to take everything all in and... ugh..." Shizune slammed her head down on top of the piles of papers that saved her from severely self-inflicting a lot of pain had it been the table itself. She looked worn and like she was about to pass out. Sakura thought maybe she was over-reacting a little and that she was just afraid of being in command since it was something she was never used to. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride; as they would say.
Releasing a sigh, Sakura placed a comforting hand on Shizune's shoulder. "Don't worry, everything will be alright. I'm sure whatever Tsunade is tending to will turn out to be a success, while you, on the other hand, are not alone. You have me here to help you now, so whatever you need... just ask." She tried to reassure the woman, something she wasn't very good at, but the one thing that remained true was that she was available to help and she would make damn sure to try her best to help out the girl in whatever ways possible.
With her face still pressed to the sheets, Shizune's sniffles eased up. "T-Thank you so much, Sakura..." Finally, she looked back up at the pink-haired girl, face still puffy and red. "Uh, um... well, I think I can probably handle this paperwork. If you could just make rounds throughout the hospital and maintain order within the building, that would be a great help. Those are the two main things..." From having just declared that alone, Shizune already appeared to be feeling a little better. Not just from the one fact that Sakura would be helping out a great deal, but also from the realization that after putting everything out on the table (not literally), it really wasn't something that would be too difficult to accomplish.
Sakura noticed this right away. She smiled. "I'd be more than honored. I'll report back to you in about an hour or two, just to give you any updates and to check up on how you're coping." She formally announced as she headed back out the door.
Shizune forced a smile back. "That would be great. Thank you, again, Sakura. You're a lifesaver, you don't know how much I appreciate it." Her smile turned sincere.
"Sir! Squads 3 and 5 have been ordered to evacuate out to Sector C for reinforcement upon forecasts of possible night assaults."
No response.
The silver-haired ninja who was being addressed sat idly on a bed of grass with crossed legs. His hands beared a long black Konoha emblem-encrusted katana which he sat sharpening with a oscillating motion. All the while, his eyes remained glued to the open book weighed down by his two feet.
"Oh, really? That's nice."
"Uh… Sir, we are members of Squad 5."
"Yes, I'm aware of that, Yamato." The sitting ninja sighed as he placed his katana down on the patch of grass next to him and lifted himself up off the ground. As he rose, he brushed the specs of metal and dirt off of his pants with his hands, taking his dear time.
"When are we leaving?" He questioned as he bent over to pick up his orange-colored book.
"… Right now, Sir."
The masked ninja let out a small grunt before tucking his book away in his back pant pocket and strapping his katana to his back, still not bothering to hurry up the process.
"How long?"
"Two nights if the sector remains clear, but unspecified if an attack commences." Yamato replied.
"I see." He picked up an empty knapsack and began packing it with the mere essentials he would need. Nothing more.
Once he was finished, he slung the bag over his shoulder and headed towards the only flap on the tent that worked as both an entrance and exit, "Well, don't want to be late, now do we?"
"Mmmm, please, baby... kiss me all better."
Sakura glared disgustingly at the bandaged up patient lying on the medical bed who had been pleading desperately for some form of sexual interaction with Sakura. His hands were making grabby gestures in attempt to somehow leer her over to him. Only to result in failure, of course.
Sakura could understand if he had gotten amnesia or something, as he had taken quite a large blow to his head… but his desires under his circumstances were just plain sick.
"Um… I'm going to go refill your medication." Sakura excused herself, as she fled the room as quickly as she possibly could.
She was lying, of course. He was obviously well enough (physically) to be able to wave his arms around and groan for sex. She figured he just needed a little time to settle down and fall back to sleep. Only then would it be safe to re-enter that room.
On the other hand, she had no way of finding out if Tsunade had returned yet, and had been working like crazy for two hours straight. She had already tended to most of the patients, so she decided it was about time she took a break and reported back to Shizune.
But, just as Sakura was nearing the entrance of the building again, an approaching figure at the corner of her eye caught her immediate attention. She looked up. It was Sai.
Now, this didn't come as too much of a surprise to Sakura, as Sai had been offering his services to the hospital a lot more than other things for the past while. While all the ex-rookies were being offered ANBU corps positions, Sai was resigning his. He'd had his life's fulfillment in ANBU, most of which was involuntary. Once he'd come to his senses, he discovered it wasn't what he truly wanted out of life. Over some time he learned that he preferred helping others over fighting, so he took up his reading, continued his painting hobby, and started assisting everyone within the hospital. Because of this, Sai and Sakura had actually become fairly close, since she actually saw more of him each day opposed to her other teammates, Naruto and Sasuke.
So, the instant Sakura spotted Sai, she rushed forward and gave him a very quick greeting hug.
"Hey, Sai. I didn't see you around earlier, did you just get here?" She asked, smiling at the boy she was so glad to see.
"Ah, hello, Sakura. Yes, I just arrived. How was your night with Naruto?" Since Sakura saw Sai around often, she tended to inform him of her plans.
"It was great! Weather made a turn for the worst, but other than that we really had a good time together." Sakura's smile beamed even more.
"That's... nice." For the first time since their meeting, Sai's glance shifted sideways to the floor.
"Mm. Oh, by the way, Tsunade isn't in right now. She had an emergency calling, so Shizune's in charge. She's got a ton on her plate right now though, and isn't really taking it so well, so I would advise you steer clear of the lounge for now." Sakura informed him, before she had the chance to forget.
Sai's glance shot back up at her, concern etched in his eyes. "Oh, I hope it is nothing too serious." There was a moment's pause, and then he finally popped the question, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Well, Sakura had already made her rounds and was actually going to go back into the lounge to check up on Shizune, but she supposed that in a hospital as busy as that one, with as many injured ninja fresh off the battlefield... the assistance one can provide is essentially endless.
And then she suddenly remembered the horny patient.
"Oh! Yes! There is something... Well, I was just wondering if you could tend to the patient in room 31B. He gave me a bit of, um... a hard time. But that's just because I'm a woman, so you should be totally fine." Well that was certainly one solution to her problem.
Sai was a bit curious and wanted to pester her for what, exactly, she meant by that, but respected her discretion. "Sure, I can do that." He told her, giving her his customary smile.
"Thanks a lot, Sai! Hey, I'll catch you around. I have to go check up on a few more things." Sakura said, giving him a curt wave as she shuffled past him to make her way down the opposite hallway.
Sai's smile remained, and he returned the wave, turning to watch as she head past him. "Okay, see ya." He waited a little longer than necessary before he curved back around to continue on his way.
As unimportant as it was at their moment in time, Sakura really need to work on her perception skills.
A/N: So... I, like, completely re-wrote this whole chapter. xD; I hope to maybe get back into continuing this fic, but I really could not muster up the motivation to do so with such SHITTY first chapters (yes, that includes the next few chapters, which I also plan to re-write/edit). So, for those of you who are following this story or have already read the first original chapters... I would advise you read them again. Because I made A LOT of changes, some crucial to the entire storyline. So, if you don't re-read them... you may be like in a total 'WTF' moment later on. Just a warning!
Anyway, please review! It's one of the many things that keeps me going.
Thank you.