Clavi
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Sakura wonders if she has become emotionally calloused over time when she feels little about the death of the Kazekage. The first thing she had thought of was what Naruto's reaction might be, because she was certain it would not be pleasant, or altogether safe for anyone involved or nearby. And after that split second, logic had taken over. Whether Gaara next to her was a sand replica or the real thing, any course of action would be to move, and move quickly.
She had, and hours later she has been waiting at the rendezvous point far longer than appropriate. She has not been joined by a little sand cat or Gaara himself, and has spent the time reviewing various battlefield conditions that affect emotional stability or expression. She knows that she very well could be suffering from something; and the injuries she has attended to as medic-nin are not so horrendous to her anymore, but it is not the same to heal those wounds as it is to turn and see a friend's occipital bone impaled by a half-meter long senbon.
She waits half a day, and leaves when the sun is just starting to rise in the sky. There is still no reaction to the death, but there is a nagging feeling in her chest, a worry. There was so little time, so much progress and so few times to just enjoy it; and Naruto depended on Gaara's existence, as Gaara had once depended on the death of others to prove his own.
Sakura wonders if Naruto can find his own proof of existence without Gaara when even protecting those close to him was only a responsibility he felt intrinsic to his sanity, and not anything more fulfilling.
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Author: jagter se maan
AIM: TS chatterfox
Status: Complete
Series: 3 Steps (Part I)