Title: In Life and Afterwards
Series: Bleach with some Naruto references
Parings: Not one in the romantic sense, though people can take what they will from the various interactions.
Disclaimer: Kubo owns Bleach, Kishimoto owns Naruto, or rather Sakura.
Summary: Whatever Sakura once thought of the after life was certainly blown out of the water upon experiencing it.
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In Life And Afterwards
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Sakura Haruno had no idea how her afterlife had become so damn complicated.
Wasn't it supposed to be nothing but relaxing with the ones who left you behind in the living world? Or the ones you left behind? Wasn't it supposed to be peaceful? Fun? Calming? Nice?
Okay, so maybe "nice" could be used to describe her current situation and on the occasion "fun" was thrown in there somewhere, but her after life certainly wasn't anything near "calming" or "relaxing" or even "peaceful"! Not in any sense of the word Sakura knew of, anyways.
The moment she had died she found herself pulled forward and the next thing she knew she was face to face with the ugliest skeleton-like demon she had ever had the displeasure of meeting. Even in passing - which is exactly about how long her meeting, with what she now knew to be a Hollow, was.
A quick tap, a well placed kick and one shattered mask later she found herself face to face with the most irate looking individual she had ever seen in her life. Sauske and Itachi at a family reunion wouldn't even compare!
The fact that said individual was a Shinigami hadn't of even phased her nearly as much as when the white haired kid - who she now knew to be quite the deal older than her and referred to him as such, which, for once, only succeeded in annoying Hitsugaya further - called her a "reckless amateur with no talent".
To be fair, the "reckless amateur with no talent" did heal him after their little conversation. Mostly. Some things your body just needed to deal with naturally, like black eyes and bruised egos.
Taking the entire "I'm dead now" ordeal much better than she felt she should have, Sakura found herself quickly best friends with Rangiku, the Vice Captian of the 10th, who deeply reminded her as a cross between Tsunade-shishou and Ino, her best friend in the living world.
When ever she got a night off, Sakura made time to go out drinking with Rangiku and whoever else the Vice Captian could drag along. After all, half the fun in having a night off was not paying for your drinks!
As the years passed, though she would have seriously doubted it at the time, Sakura found another good friend in Toshiro who dished out as much as he received from her. The white haired Captain reminded her in many aspects of nearly all her male comrades and found his company quite pleasing.
It took her a great deal of will power to not bust out laughing when the two went out for ramen one night. Naruto Uzumaki he was not, though the ludicrous idea could not and would not leave her mind.
Shortly after meeting both, Sakura found herself once again thrust forward into a new situation, one that was entirely different from most anything she had ever experienced while alive. Sakura Haruno, medic-nin extrodinare, kunoichi of unquestionable talents, was given the opportunity to become a Soul Reaper.
Take care of their body in life, take care of their souls in death, kill a bunch of baddies in between tasks. The irony of it all was far from lost on her.
Between her rapidly escalating marks in the academy and her friendship with Rangiku, Sakura found herself meeting many others in the Soul Society. Even those who often prompted the question, "Do I want to know them?"
Such characters included nearly the entire Twelfth Division and parts of the Eleventh. She threw in several from the Second, just for good measure and her quickly fraying nerves.
While Mayuri Kurotsuchi was definitely one individual Sakura would of loved to thoroughly trounce simply for his crimes against everything sane in the world, she had a great deal of trouble disconcerting whether or not she wanted to dissolve all contact with the entire division for it's main man's discrepancies.
His daughter, for one, Nemu was actually a delight to be around when you got to know her. Soft toned and not one for much casual conversation, Sakura could think of no other to work with on a complex problem from the Twelfth. Not only did Nemu not put down her medical expertise but after a long days work, it was also found that Nemu had a great deal of dry wit to last a life time, an enjoyable trait that her friendship with Sakura seemed to bring out more and more as time went on.
Her time at the academy allowed her to make a casual acquaintance with Rin who frequented with small assignments. The two enjoyed quite the deal of pleasant conversation during such assignments while her nights off gave her the opportunity to discover what the wild Akon did away from his natural habitat and just what brand of smokes he preferred. It was his bad luck that Sakura just happened to find that brand passable and anytime the two were in a bar, by the end of the night more than the average number would mysteriously disappear from his pack.
She couldn't place if the Captain of the Second Division was any worse or better than those she had met in the Twelfeth. Captian Soifon seemed to take an eerie amount of childish pleasure from consistently, if not rarely subtly, putting down Sakura's claims to be a ninja of expert medical skill. The irate and unsufferable woman wouldn't even let Sakura heal her anytime she came into the hospital! Try as she might, Sakura couldn't help but want to thrash the woman proper.
It was only at the behest of her own Captain, Retsu Uohana, that stopped her.
Captain Uohana was truly something to behold and the only other woman Sakura felt worthy enough to call shishou. She had taken Sakura's former skills and worked with her to mesh them with the current use of Kido to create new and amazing healing techniques! She always knew when Sakura seemed to be suffering from such a new overload and never once hesitated to help the pink haired Shinigami with an issue. She truly was nothing short of a goddess in Sakura's eyes.
Like Captain Uohana, the others of her new team-- no, division were wonderful people that made all the complications of the afterlife well worth it!
Vice Captain Isane immediately became like a sister to Sakura upon her entering the Fourth, showing her the ways around and giving her extra tutelage along with their Captain.
Hanatarou often kept her company on her long nights of extra work and the two became fast friends. He taught her the best short-cuts in all of Seireitei and she taught him how to throw a halfway decent punch - even if he never found himself using that new found knowledge. As time went on, Sakura found herself quite protective over him and soon many learned not to mess with the timid Shinigami for fear of the not-so-timid one that could punch through walls. And Hollow masks.
Despite his unnerving resemblance to Ebsiu in both looks and personality, Sakura couldn't help but find Third Seat Iemura a great companion during any and all ikebana related activities. Sure, he annoyed the hell out of her during working hours, but she had to admit he was good at what he knew and he knew an awful lot.
As a part of the sole Division in charge of medical needs, Sakura Haruno found herself almost constantly near one member of the Eleventh Division for one reason or another. Not only were most of them drinking buddies with Rangiku, and her by association, but they had a whole wing of the hospital cornered off for "Fight Night", otherwise known as "Friday" to all others outside of both Divisions.
Of course, when she wasn't treating or drinking with the members of the infamous Zaraki Squad, she was explaining to ever present Vice Captain Yachriu new methods of infiltration and why the sky is blue, that she is "pretty enough shannaro!" to Yumichika - even Sai was never that relentless-, that not in any way or form will she ever be interested in learning Ikkaku's "luck luck" dance - which never seems to lend him any luck when sparring with the pink haired medic - and that she is much too busy please put that down we can't fight in here do I have to knock you out dammit that's it! to pretty much every other melee-loving member of the Eleventh, Captain included.
It wasn't just the Eleventh that wanted to spar with the fiery medic, but there were others in the Seireitei that found her skills impressive even though the Second Division Captian did not - something she childishly pointed out ever occasion she could get when her own Captain was not near or at least within the line of sight.
Renji Abarai was one of those such people. As if it wasn't infuriating enough to deal with the stick-up-his-arse Captain of his, Renji made a point to request Sakura every time he was in need of healing. If she had to hazard a guess, Sakura would say that the relationship between her and Renji is more of a battle of wills than anything. The two seem to find themselves competing in almost everything they do upon seeing the other. She isn't sure how it started, not to mention why, but she isn't sure if she wants it to change either.
At least the former member of the Eleventh Division, Vice Captain Tetsuzaemon of the Seventh didn't challenge her to fights. Even if it was only because they couldn't be considered "manly" and therefore would be unfair. The Shinigami Women's Association begged her to take up the fight on principle, but an influx of Hollow attacks put that on hold. Sakura was biding her time to take up the issued challenge one day when she was just too angry to unwind by means of alcohol induced stupor or other such vice.
And it wasn't just the constant barrage of challenges in the form of sparring and pressuring personality quirks that served to complicate her life in the Soul Society, but the consistent restraint she had to show when dealing with the "dating requests".
Sure, Sakura realized that they had all died and were not technically alive, but did that have to count towards manners too?
When she received a particularly horrible one from a particularly young member of the Thirteenth Division she nearly flipped. If it wasn't for the respect she had towards Captain Ukitake, and their shared love of Ume Ochazuke, she might of ended the creep right then and there. As it was, the young man was able to escape with most of his limbs intact and functioning.
Or at least that was the extent of it until the Shinigami Women's Association got ahold of him. Yachiru with anything was scary enough, but when that anything happened to have a blade on it, well...
No, the afterlife was anything but "calming". Or "relaxing". Or "peaceful". But it was "nice" and more often than not pleasantly challenging and a great deal "fun".
"Haruno-san! Incoming wounded from the 11th Division!", fellow Fourth Division Shinigami OgidÅ Harunobu called to her.
Nice. Pleasantly challening. Fun. Right.
Gritting her teeth in the frustration that her favourite division was going to be paying a visit, she pulled on her trademarked black gloves, pulled back her hair and set out to work.
Healing was, after all, what she was born to do in life, despite however complicated it made things in the afterlife.
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In Life And Afterwards
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