.Somebody Listening.
I pray by the grace of God that there's somebody listening.
She wondered if maybe it was a bit weird that she'd been counting the raindrops as they tapped the tin canopy outside her sliding glass door for - just an estimate - three hours?
Even if it was weird, that didn't stop her.
Four thousand six hundred ninety-seven raindrops.
At the fourteenth crash of thunder that night Sakura finally reached down near her toes. to retrieve the faded pink sheet - It was nearly white, now - she'd previously kicked to the end of the bed because of the humidity that had settled in Konoha the last few nights. However, tonight, the humidity had dropped a lot, much to Sakura's relief.
It was the fifteenth crash of thunder that led her to realize that she absolutely loathed thunderstorms, and threw the sheet over her head like the child she still was at heart.
Four thousand seven hundred fifteen.
-
"Er, long night Sakura ?" Ino blinked.
Sakura stood before Ino in a Fuchsia robe, her hair was so obviously not brushed and black bags stuck under her eyes. It was all pure evidence to Ino that Sakura had had next to no sleep the night before. She also knew that this wasn't the first - or last - late night Sakura would have to Suffer through.
Sakura brought a blue coffee mug to her lips and took a sip of the thick, caffeine filled substance.
"Tsunade-Sama needed me late last night and then I came home to storms--"
"Ah," Ino nodded before Sakura even finished the sentence. As children the two had had a sleepover whenever they could, and it was through that Ino was fully aware that Sakura couldn't stand the sound of thunder nor the sight of lightning. The blond knew Sakura could be a baby when thunder rolled.
"Sakura, are we going to just stand out here so everybody can see your hideous appearance, or are you going to invite me inside?"
Not saying a word, Sakura stepped back away from her open door, and allowed Ino to stroll inside. It was then that Sakura spotted the basket Ino had dangling from her elbow.
"What did you bring me?" The kunoichi resisted licking her lips hungrily when the aroma of delicious freshly baked biscuits flooded the room.
Ino looped her arm out from the basket once she'd laid it gently on Sakura's spotless kitchen counter. The thick, off-white napkin that Ino had placed carefully over the biscuits to almost make sure that the the contents remained a surprise to Sakura was lifted off by the blond to reveal the fresh biscuits and other rolls to be eaten.
"Shikamaru brought this to me yesterday," She grinned amiably at her friend, reaching above her into one of the cabinets to fetch a couple small plates and a knife. "Of course, you know him - he brought too much for me to finish myself..." She petered off there while she went to the refrigerator and grabbed the butter from Sakura's top shelve.
"Well, I began to think that it'd been a while since me and you talked. So I brought some over and thought that we could eat together." Her sparkling blue eyes gleamed happily at Sakura and she smiled wide. "So what do you think?"
"I think I'm right - You're my best friend for a reason."
Sakura took the plate that Ino handed to her from the other side of the counter and began to stack bread on her plate in a leaning tower.
"So," After a moment's silence Ino decided that the overdue conversation she'd come for could wait no longer. "Three more weeks until your birthday, Sakura,"
So? Sakura thought while she spread the creamy yellow butter over the soft, white piece of bread.
"You still haven't told me what you want, Forehead! I promised I'd get it for you no matter what, but for that to happen you gotta tell me what I'm shopping for!"
Sakura tried to ignore Ino's pleading eyes from across her counter. She'd failed and was caught in Ino's trap.
"Ino there's nothing you can get for me, really. I'm happy with what I have."
"Yeah right," Ino snorted derisively at her friend who had already enjoyed the first three bites of her bread. "There has to be something you want! Everyone wants something."
"Ino, Really--"
"Come on. Name it. The one thing you want more than anything else in the whole wide world."
"Sakura... Thank you."
Losing her appetite, she let the slice slip from her fingers and fall to the plate. Ino took one look at Sakura's sad eyes and instantly knew to let it go, even if she didn't –couldn't- understand.
Clearing her throat, Ino quickly and obviously changed topics in an attempt to break the awkward silence - "By the way, I ran into Naruto earlier - he told me he was looking for you."
Sakura looked up at her friend curiously.
"Did he ever stop by?" Ino asked
Sakura shrugged. "Not that I know of. I'd just woken up when I answered the door for you... But I'm sure he would have forced his way inside to wake me up if he'd come and I hadn't answered."
Ino nodded –used to such antics from Sakura's teammate- and reached for a slice of bread to munch on.
"So...How are things with Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, adding what she could to fuel the conversation.
The blond looked as though she'd been caught off guard but, after a moment, she cracked a smile and a light shade of red danced up along her flawless cheeks.
"That bastard?" Ino laughed, "Things are... Well, to be honest, they're great."
"How long now?" Sakura asked curiously, brushing brown crumbs into a neat pile with her fingers.
Ino tapped her chin with a freshly manicured nail. "It'll be six months next Friday."
Sakura blinked in surprise. "Wow." She didn't think it'd been that long since a beaten and bloodied Shikamaru had forced his way through the hospital doors with a broken Ino cradled in his arms.
She could still remember the look on Shikamaru's face as she'd taken Ino from him and wheeled her away on the stretcher. The chuunin had stood nearby until the last second when he was barred by the healers from going any further with his teammate.
With Ino stabilized, Sakura had forcibly pulled Shikamaru by the wrist away from the doors to the ICU and led him to another examination room where she could more easily heal him. Though normally Shikamaru whined when he was being taken care of for such injuries, he'd been so worried about Ino at the time that he didn't so much as flinch when Sakura shoved needles in his arms and legs to stitch him up.
The next morning Ino woke for long enough to sip some juice from one of the plastic sippy cups before falling back against the hard, white bed and into a deeply medicated sleep. A day later she mustered a weak smile and the energy for short visits. Shikamaru had been so pleased he'd nearly cried. He might have too, had Sakura not been standing behind him to check Ino's condition during every free minute she had.
When Ino was released from the hospital a few days later the Nara was there and consented with a muffled grunt and eye roll to being used as her own personal crutch. Sakura watched her friends leave the hospital, Ino braced against her friend's side, the two of them hobbling through the doors.
Outside the hospital Konoha's sun warmed the earth and flooded their faces with light. His brow wrinkled, as though he did it against his better judgment, Shikamaru slowly and clumsily turned to kiss Ino on the cheek as delicately as if he thought she might break.
They'd been inseparable ever since then.
"Half a year," Ino's words jerked Sakura back to her senses. "It goes by so fast." And Sakura could see that Ino had been thinking about that day too.
"It does." Sakura nodded with a slight smile, "I'm happy for you."
Ino replied with a smile of her own and finished the last of the bread she'd placed on her plate.
-
The pink haired Kunoichi let the warm water run down over her hand as she held the dish under the faucet of her kitchen sink. In the other hand she held a damp dish towel which she used to wipe the plates she'd rinsed. The sun was going down now; the day had slipped by without the kunoichi even realizing it.
Ino had left to find Shikamaru hours ago but not before leaving Sakura with a few things to think on.
"You seem so down lately, Sakura. What's it going to take to see the cherry blossom smile again?"
Sakura had responded with a shrug. The answer hadn't been what Ino had wanted but she'd grudgingly accepted it as the best she would get and left, informing the other girl that she'd probably end up coming back later that night.
Sakura dried another plate and laid it on the stack beside her. It was exactly seven plates high.
Seven.
She couldn't help but peek over her shoulder at the framed picture sitting on the end table near the couch in the next room.
Her sensei stood above her, grinning impishly beneath his mask. Her teammates gazed out on either side of a pink-haired girl that had once been her.
In a haze of reminiscence Sakura put the dish towel on the counter and moved towards photograph. Her hand reached out to grab it but she stopped herself with a quick mental chastisement. Hadn't she cried enough over her losses? She rotated the picture towards the wall and forced a smile. This was today and nothing would change the past. She walked back to finish emptying the sink.
Outside her window the sun set on another day in Konoha as Haruno Sakura finished her nightly routine and made her way to bed.
It'd been seven years since the people in that picture had all stood together like a family.
Seven.
-
Finding the door unlocked, Uzumaki Naruto pushed it open and stepped into the apartment. A quick visual sweep of the room turned up no Sakura.
"Sakura-chan?" He called. Even though she'd told him to respect it when she closed a door, he didn't feel as bad as maybe he should have for being in her apartment just then. He'd been knocking forever. Usually she came to the door on the fifth knock if only to tell him to go away. This time there'd been no response to his persistence at all.
Inside Sakura's organized home the lights were off and her kitchen sick was empty and yet her sandals still rested by the door. She could be in bed but it was only seven o' clock, if her living room clock was to be trusted.
He clenched and unclenched his fists uneasily; he was sure Sakura would have told if she had had a mission. Almost...
Maybe Ino and her went somewhere together...?
"Are you here, Sakura-chan?" He asked again, waiting patiently for a sign that his teammate was home. His call was greeted by dead silence just like before. Naruto frowned and leaned forward to get a better view in the shadows of her home. None of the rooms looked particularly occupied. Maybe she had just popped out for a minute he thought, sitting in the armchair she'd gotten just for him.
"Naruto,"
Naruto muffled a yelp when Sakura's voice called for him from her bedroom. She stood in the entrance to the hallway, finger-combing her pink hair. She was still wearing her usual attire and she looked a great deal livelier than during her visit with Ino earlier in the day. Of course, Ino had caught her first almost first thing in the morning. Anyone would look better than she had then. Well, almost anyone.
"Sorry, I was washing up." She apologized, flipping the light switch as Naruto got up.
"It's alright, Sakura-chan, I just needed to tell you something." She could feel him watching her as she pressed the door closed. Turning, she fixed him with a curious glare. "So? What is it?"
"Tsunade said we have to go on a mission tomorrow morning. She said we're going to the outskirts of Fire Country."
Sakura raised a brow, "I see. What else did she say?"
He shrugged. "Nothing really; it's basically a healing mission. I volunteered to go to as a helper in case you ran into some trouble since I'm supposed to be on vacation and they won't assign me any missions." He pouted momentarily and then brightened as his thoughts traveled to the upside of his news. "Isn't this great? We'll be working together again, Team Kakashi! I mean, when was the last time we had a mission together?"
Sakura smiled blithely but ignored the rest of his happy ranting.
He'd been right - it had been a long time since she and Naruto had been paired on a mission together. It was mainly because these days Naruto was taking a lot of one-man missions while Sakura was often assigned as the healer for difficult missions and the added fourth member of a three-man cell.
But when she had the chance to choose her missions, she had developed a certain routine or pattern. She was looking for something.
-
"He looks like he's getting worse."
The red head placed her fists on her hips and glared down at the boy with bright orange hair lying on the grass beneath her, his face contorted in pain. Her glasses skidded slightly down the slope of her nose and she hastily moved to push them back up. Red locks of hair flew when she whipped around to face one of the other members of her team.
"Where'd Sasuke-kun go?" She asked.
The boy shrugged, his muscled shoulders brushing the tips of his turquoise hair. He replied, "Said he would see if he can confirm where we're at." His blasé tone belied nothing of his opinion of the Uchiha's plan.
"Of course," She said tersely. "But shouldn't he know this area. We are right outside of Fire Country. That's where he said he came from, right?"
She received a nod.
"Oh! I hope Sasuke-kun isn't hurt..." Her fingers folded and she held her hands against her chest. "I should go--"
"Shut the hell up, Karin." Suigetsu poured down to sit beside Juugo, his legs folded comfortably and his hands thrust out behind him support him while he leaned back. "Sasuke has enough to think about. He shouldn't have to worry about your bitching."
She glared down at him fiercely. "I'm glad Sasuke-kun isn't here this time; it'll give me a chance to kill you!"
"Heh, bitch, go for it." He dared mockingly, his conceited expression announcing that she wouldn't be able to touch him if she tried.
"Karin, Suigetsu..." They both turned to see the Uchiha walking out from the forest and into the small clearing where they waited. "Knock it off." He murmured.
The tomoes whirled in Sasuke's red eyes. The two Hebi members stilled, chancing only a last glare at each other. It seemed to both of them that their team leader had something serious on his mind.
Sasuke moved closer and knelt down beside Juugo, opposite Suigetsu.
"His condition has become worse." Sasuke noticed, seeing that the damp rag he'd laid on Juugo's forehead was hot and dry.
"I think he's picked up a disease, Sasuke-kun. When we were in town, I overheard a few people talking about how a virus has been spreading around here." Karin spoke, as if Sasuke had addressed her with a question. She crossed her arms over her chest, "They spoke as if the victims had all died."
"...Kimimaru."
Juugo clutched the Uchiha's robes - his eyes, bloodshot and dry, refused to focus as he pleaded. "I don't want to die, Kimimaru."
Sasuke gently pulled Juugo's fingers from his hem. If Juugo died it would be easy for their team to find another fourth man to fill the cell – simply… not one with Juugo's unique ability. He quickly calculated the risks involved in finding a healer; they were relatively large in an area this close to his home village. He'd be surprised if every person in the whole of fire country didn't know his face by now.
He glanced down again at Juugo whose breathing rattled ominously in his lungs.
They wouldn't be able to move Juugo –that much was obvious. The man wouldn't live very long if they tried any kind of journey. A reminder that sounded suspiciously like Kabuto whispered from the back of his mind - that kind of close contact would only put the rest of the team in danger of getting sick.
"No one ever wants to die," Suigetsu grinned wide while talking to Juugo. "But hey, shit happens!"
Karin rolled her eyes and moved to stand behind Sasuke. "Any plans, Sasuke-kun?" She asked flirtatiously. Juugo groaned and coughed, his brittle lips cracking under the strain. In a rare moment of seriousness she frowned worriedly. "Without one he'll probably die."
"Hn."
Suigetsu laughed, "That Juugo's a lucky bastard, eh?" He murmured darkly although it was clear he knew that Juugo's death meant they could die as well. A mist ninja learned early on the ways diseases spread and how quickly they moved.
"You two," Sasuke's eyes went from Karin to Suigetsu. "You go on ahead and see if you can find any information on Uchiha Itachi."
"Yeah, sure thing, but where will you be?" Suigetsu stood up, wiping blades of grass from his butt.
This exact clearing had been one of the places Team 7 had rested after a handful of long missions. For a moment a part of Sasuke saw Naruto and Sakura standing there, smiling at him. He blinked and his teammates were Suigetsu and Karin again.
"I know this area, there's a village not far from here with decent medics." He answered, looking down at Juugo. "Suigetsu, can you hide Juugo in that lake we passed until we return?"
Suigetsu nodded. "I can keep him from drowning too." He replied with a toothy grin.
Sasuke ignored it. "Do it then."
"When will you be back?" Karin asked before Sasuke darted into the trees.
"As soon as I can," A breeze brushed Sasuke's hair away from his eyes. He saw the forest now in the painful clarity of the sharingan most of the time; everything and nothing had changed. "I'll find you."
-
"Well if that doesn't completely destroy my self-confidence as a medic, I really don't know what will." Ino scrunched her face angrily while taking another long gulp from the glass of sake the bartender had put before her. Even though Shikamaru had made Ino promise she'd stop drinking after three the next cup would make Ino's unrepentant fifth.
Sakura had explained to Ino the mission she and Naruto were to leave in the morning for and the blond had taken it as a personal insult that she hadn't been invited to come along with them. She insisted that she would be more help than Naruto since she obviously knew more about healing than Sakura's longtime teammate and friend.
"No, Ino," Sakura tried to reassure her friend. "It has nothing to do with your medical abilities. Tsunade-sama said it would be best to send only one medic at first to make sure that it's even safe down there. She's probably sending me because we just finished studying air born diseases and, whatever this disease is, it's spreading too quickly to be moving through the water, the food, or direct contact."
Ino pouted but the affect was sorely impacted by the fact that she was suddenly more than a little glad that she wasn't going.
"What a drag." Shikamaru complained. The two girls turned their heads to look at him for an explanation for his comment. "With you gone, Sakura, this woman is going to drive me insane."
Sakura giggled while Ino gave her boyfriend a death glare. Shikamaru simply swirled his drink around the bottom of the cup. "There are only so many ways to tell you that you don't look fat and that I can't tell the difference between any of your shoes."
Ino flicked his ear and ignored him his mumbled curses. "Still, Sakura," the other girl persisted, "I think I should go as backup. What if it's too much for you to handle?"
"The man who paid for our help only asked for one medic. You know Tsunade-sama can't afford to send more shinobi than we're getting paid for. What if another mission pops up where they need you? You'll be gone."
Practically dumping her final drink down her throat, Ino finally gave in. Shikamaru and Sakura both breathed a silent sigh of relief, thankful that she'd finally come to that decision.
"Be safe down there then, Forehead." Ino smiled, poking Sakura's forehead with a sharp index finger. "It'd be awfully hard to break-in another best friend."
"Jeez, Ino. If you keep on poking me I'll have a permanent red mark there!" Sakura groused as she rubbed her forehead; nonetheless, she was touched by her friend's worry.
Ino laughed, "As if you need more attention attracted to your forehead." Her smile wavered for a fraction of a second but in the shallow lighting of the bar it could have passed for a trick of the shadows. "Come on, Shika – take me home before it gets any later. See ya when you get back, Sakura." She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.
Shikamaru groaned as he slid off of the barstool. "I better go before she leaves me." He said, placing a few bills on the counter to cover the drinks. "Take care of yourself, Sakura." The strategist fixed her with a somber look. "There's been some bad talk about what's going on. Don't take any chances."
"When am I not?" Sakura took a sip of ginger ale. She could never drink the night before a mission in good conscience. And if the situation on the outskirts were as bad as people were implying, she'd need to be at her best when the morning rolled around.
Shikamaru grumbled something under his breath before he followed Ino outside, leaving Sakura momentarily alone.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto bounded in through the door past the strategist. He took the recently vacated seat at her side. "Hey, did you know Shikamura and Ino were here?"
Sakura was a little surprised at his sudden appearance, but since Ichiraku's was just around the corner it made sense. "Are you ready for the mission tomorrow?" Excitement burned from him as obviously as smoke from a fire.
Sakura shrugged, "Excited isn't exactly the word, but... Yeah, I guess I'm ready for it."
"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" He bent around to peer curiously into her face.
"This mission is… let's face it; it's a containment mission." Her voice fell to a whisper as she continued. "From what I've read about epidemics, we're going to see a lot of sick and dying people. If the local government doesn't stay on top of thing we're going to be seeing a lot of mass hysteria too. This isn't really my idea of a good time..."
"Oh," Naruto glanced away, his mouth turned down in a determined frown. "I think this would be the time for a drink."
The bartender served Naruto a small drink which he tossed back in a single go. Sakura opened her mouth to lecture him on how irresponsible it was to drink before a mission but he gestured for a refill and smiled at her. "Don't worry; s'not alcohol."
After a few beats of silence Sakura added, "But who knows?" She drank what remained of her ginger ale. With one hand she began fishing in her pockets to grab the last few dollars she had to pay her tab. "The reports could be overstating things; it might not be that bad. People do that all the time."
"Maybe…" Naruto began hesitantly. "It just doesn't seem likely." He threw a bill of his own next to Sakura's. "But then, you never know what you'll find in places like that."
The last time they were there was one of the times they'd seen Uchiha Sasuke.
"Yeah." She said, grinning blithely, turning quickly away from her friend. Outside the bar the streetlights were shining bright spotlights on the pavement down the sidewalk, shining a blotchy path to her apartment. "See you bright and early, Naruto."
-
"Sasuke-teme, quit hogging everything!" Naruto yelled while the Uchiha extended his arm to grab another bit of tempura from the basket Sakura had prepared for lunch.
"I've eaten three pieces; you have six on your plate." Sasuke replied and grabbed it anyway. "I'll eat what I want."
"Sakura brought enough food for everyone. No one here's going to starve." Kakashi pointed out while pushing his food around with his chopsticks.
"Still..." Naruto growled, crossing his arms. "I'm not going hungry because Sasuke's a greedy bastard!"
"Just eat your own food and shut up." Sasuke took another bite.
"You shut up!"
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, "Just eat the food so we can get home!"
"If you guys keep yelling someone is going to find us." Kakashi observed quietly.
"I made the food - Sasuke-kun can eat as much as he wants! Now stop arguing. We're going to eat this and we're going to like it!" Sakura yelled and bonked Naruto soundly on the head.
"You know, one day you might regret hitting him all the time. Like, say, if he gets seriously injured." Kakashi said. "And after all; you all have a long time to look forward to together. You should try to get along."
-
It hadn't been long after that Naruto and Sasuke had had their fight on the hospital roof. She wondered how Kakashi felt about his words when he grabbed their wrists and threw them in opposite directions.
Throwing herself on her big, comfy bed –thinking of their faces- Sakura dozed off dreaming of better times.
Her alarm clock would go off at Seven the next morning for her mission to the outskirts of Fire Country.
Chapter one is done.
Major props to the most wonderful Beta ever, Sunpies.
READ HER TEAM 7 STORIES. THEIR AMAZING. FOR REAL.
The title was a surprise for everyone, including myself. xD It's a lyric in the song, "Afterlife" by Avenged Sevenfold.
It screams Sasuke, so give a listen if you're a fan of him.