Disclaimer: the world and all of the characters herein belong to Kishimoto, I'm just borrowing them to play with for a bit.
Other notes: This is the first in what I plan on being a three or four part series of fan fictions following our pink-haired heroine as she experiences grown-up relationships and learns to love and be loved in return for the first time in a world where violence, war, death and bloodshed is just another fact of life. Hope you enjoy my creation, and feel free to leave reviews and constructive criticism if you think that there's anything I could do to improve.
Rated M for future mature themes (violence, bad language and sex. nothing overly explicit but just in case)
"Ugh…"
Sakura Haruno groaned as she opened her eyes to the glaring sun streaming through her window. "Damn sun, bein' so bright…how rude!" She muttered to herself. She sat up slowly, holding her hand to her spinning head and waited for the nausea to pass.
"Water. I need water." She said to herself. She glanced at the window as she through the covers off of her legs, then looked at the window again, puzzlement creasing her brow. I'm sure I shut the curtains before I left last night, she thought.
"Finally awake, I see."
Sakura turned towards the voice drifting through her closed door. "Kakashi-sensei?"
"Can I come in?"
Sakura nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her. "Sure, come on in, I'm decent," She called. In fact, I think I musta barely undressed before sacking out last night, she thought, looking down and taking in the creased top that she was still wearing. She looked up as her squad leader and sometime-teacher popped his head around the door frame. There was a smile crinkling his one visible eye.
"Must have been one hell of night," he said, crossing the room and handing her that much-desired glass of water.
Sakura laughed as she gulped the fluid down. "Well, you're only twenty once, right?" She said.
"Mm," Kakashi murmured in agreement. "My, it seems so long ago that I was that age," he mused.
Sakura snorted. "Yeah, like a million years ago, right?"
"Be nice or you'll not get any breakfast," Kakashi replied dryly.
"You made breakfast?" Sakura asked in disbelief.
"Nope." Even through the mask, Sakura could see Kakashi grinning amiably. "Naruto did."
"Oh yum, Ramen first thing in the morning, there goes my diet," Sakura muttered, sipping her water and squinting her eyes against the sun's glare. "Hey that reminds, were you in here opening my curtains?"
"Yep, I thought, after last night's escapades, you could do with some nice, healthy vitamin D to wake you up." Kakashi chuckled. "The door was still unlocked and when we looked in, you were sleeping like a baby – I'm actually a little surprised at how long it took for you to finally stir."
"How long have you two actually been here?" Sakura asked, a little embarrassed that she'd been so careless to leave her door unlocked and for her team mates to have witnessed her in such a state.
"About an hour, hour and a half," Kakashi replied. "Sai was with us, but he took off about twenty minutes ago to see Ino."
Sai. He had been a member of team Kakashi for about five years now. Once Naruto came home from his two and half year training with the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya and Team Kakashi reformed, Sai had been drafted in from the ANBU division Root to replace Sasuke Uchiha. It had only been supposed to be temporary, as far as Sakura and Naruto were concerned, until they convinced Sasuke to return to them. So much had happened since then, so many lies and betrayals, and fights. So many fights. Naruto still said that he would bring Sasuke back, but Sakura knew, deep down, Naruto felt the same as her – that their former friend and comrade was long lost to them. He was still awkward and lacking in people skills, but Sakura had grown to look on Sai as a very close friend. About four months ago, he had finally got together with Sakura's best girl friend, Ino Yamanaka, who was doing more for his social skills that any book could possibly teach him. Unfortunately, he had replaced them with books on how to maintain a healthy relationship – needless to say that that relationship had more than its fair share of rocky patches.
"Grub's up!"
Sakura smiled as a familiar blonde head peeped around the doorframe, inane grin fixed in place. "Come on, get up, lazybones, you'll want it while it's still hot."
"Alright, get out both of you while I dress. And a little less of the 'lazybones' from you, idiot!" She waited until Kakashi had shut the door behind them before throwing her legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood up, cautious of room-spinnage and silently blessing Naruto for showing the rare fortitude of thought not to make any sort of dumb or lewd joke about seeing her half-naked.
Thank the gods that I'm not due in for a shift at the hospital today, she thought as she dressed and made her way into the kitchen. It was a rare occasion indeed that Sakura ever allowed herself to get completely drunk. In fact, before last night, she could only remember two previous occasions when she'd been drunk. The first time had been when she was eight and Ino dared her to steal a bottle of her mother's sake. They'd both ended puking til it hurt and being grounded for a month. The second time had been another birthday do, this time when Naruto turned eighteen – Sakura stemmed the rush of memories from that particular incident. Neither her nor Naruto ever spoke of it and in fact, the only other people who knew about it were Ino, who had sworn on pain of death, never to repeat it to another soul, and Shikamaru Nara, because Ino couldn't help but let it slip during their 'pillow-talk' – although she claimed that she'd only mentioned it cos she thought the lazy bum was asleep, and Shikamaru had the good sense not to repeat it outside the bedroom.
This morning's hangover was courtesy of her twentieth birthday celebrations the night before. As a treat, Lady Tsunade, the village hokage and Sakura's mentor in medical ninjutsu, had given Sakura the evening and all of today off from work and training so that she could really let her hair down and enjoy herself. As if the sake hadn't been enough, then the sugary concoctions that Ino and Kiba had kept plying her with had certainly finished her off. Sakura giggled, remembering how some of them had really rude names.
"So what type of ramen have you made?" Sakura asked as she stepped into the kitchen. Naruto looked up from placing plates on the table and grinned at her.
"Actually, I didn't make you ramen cos I knew you wouldn't want that."
"What he means is, I wouldn't let him," Kakashi butted in.
"So I made you toast and eggs instead," Naruto finished, sticking his tongue out at Kakashi. Personally, he saw nothing wrong with eating a nourishing bowl of ramen first thing in the morning to wake you up and sustain you until lunch – which inevitably was another bowl of delicious ramen. "There's coffee too, although it's only the instant stuff," he added. "Apparently it's really good for hangovers – or is that to sober you up? Kiba did say but I forget. Anyways, I remembered that working long hours at the hospital has given you a taste for the stuff."
"Mmm, it smells delicious!" Sakura sighed appreciatively as she took her seat. "This is wonderful, Naruto, thank you," she mumbled through a mouthful of toast.
"Ah, it's nothing," Naruto replied, blushing slightly.
"So why are you guys here, anyway?" Sakura asked as she ate. "As far I can remember, we don't have any missions today, and I certainly don't remember and training sessions – unless I agreed last night, in which case it doesn't count, given my incredibly inebriated condition."
"Couldn't this just be a social call?" Kakashi asked, leaning against her counter.
"Naruto, yes. You, no." Sakura said. "Besides, even Naruto doesn't call until at least midday."
"It is midday, Sakura," Naruto replied, laughing.
Sakura froze with a mouthful of eggs raised halfway to her lips. "Oh." She blushed and lowered her eyes to her lap. "I didn't realise I had slept so long."
"Well it's no wonder," Naruto exclaimed. "You didn't actually get home until the small hours of this morning – and that was only cos me and Sai carried you here."
Sakura groaned and put her head in her hands. "Gods, I hope I didn't do anything too embarrassing," she mumbled.
"We-ell…" Naruto began, "The karaoke incident was pretty funny – you really can't sing, can you? And I think Granny Tsunade might want a word with you about those 'old hag' comments." He laughed. "I can't believe you said that she only looks so young cos she uses advanced genjutsu and that her breasts are really only a big pair of water balloons! Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, I think I speak for all the guys when I say that the impromptu striptease on the bar was very impressive – I loved the rainbow panties, they were cute!"
The entire colour had drained from Sakura's face as sheer horror and embarrassment overcame her. She began to feel light-headed and a little sick as the blood suddenly rushed back to her face, leaving it a beautiful shade of crimson. "Oh gods! I can't believe I did that!" She groaned. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll just go and commit seppuku now, seeing as my life if now officially ov– wait hang on a minute. I don't have rainbow panties. NARUTO, YOU JERK!" She threw the breakfast plate at the blonde idiot's head as he began to laugh hysterically. He ducked the plate, which smashed against the wall, mere inches from Kakashi's head.
"Ah, come on Sakura, it was a joke!" Naruto exclaimed, dodging the bowl that followed the plate. "I mean, you shoulda seen the look on your face – OW!" he yelped in pain as the coffee cup hit it's mark, leaving an angry red mark in the middle of his forehead.
"That was really cruel, Naruto, you really had be going for a minute there!" Sakura exclaimed, feeling a little wobbly with relief.
"OK, ok, I'm sorry," Naruto replied, holding his hands up in front of him defensively.
"Anyway, you never answered my question," Sakura said, sitting back down. She began to feel a little worried when Naruto and Kakashi shot each other guilty looks. "What?"
"Well, the main reason why we're here is because Lady Tsunade would like to see you in her office as soon as possible. She's got a mission for you, apparently, and she wants to debrief you on the particularities before you're due to leave tomorrow." Kakashi explained.
"Wait, you're telling me that you came into my house and sat around for over an hour waiting for me to wake up, just to tell me that Tsunade wants to see me?" Sakura asked incredulously. "It can't be that urgent, or you wouldn't have waited for me to wake up of my own accord so why couldn't it wait until you saw me later? I mean, you know that I'll be stopping by the hospital this evening anyway, right?"
"Well you see, the thing is, we'll be gone by this evening," Naruto said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
"A couple of new missions came in this morning," Kakashi explained. "One of them is in the Land of Earth. Our team is due to report to the Tsuchikage in Iwa by Wednesday where we will be briefed on the full details of our duty there and it's a three day journey to get there, so we're due to leave this afternoon to give us plenty of time to reach our destination."
"So why does Lady Tsunade want to see me for if we won't know the full details until we reach Iwa?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi sighed. "Sakura, you're not coming on this mission," he said gently, wincing at the onslaught his ears received from Sakura's protestation.
"WHAAAT! Why ever not?" Sakura cried, jumping up, and instantly regretting it as the room began to spin. She made her way over to her medicine cupboard and found the hangover cure pills that she'd made the last time Neji and Tenten had turned up with an intoxicated Rock Lee for her to fix. Swallowing a pill with some water, she turned on her team mates again. "Am I being punished for being drunk last night? Is that why you're not letting me come on this mission, Kakashi? Cos, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the only kunoichi to enjoy a drink – in fact, it's incredibly rare that I even drink alcohol at all, let alone get drunk! This isn't fair, Kakash-" she was cut off by Kakashi suddenly moving from where he'd been leaning against the wall to standing eye to eye with her faster than she had been able to follow and placing his hand across her mouth.
"Sakura, it was not my decision to remove you from team seven for the purpose of this mission. I told you that there were two missions, right?" When he felt Sakura nod against his hand, Kakashi continued. "The reason that you are not coming with us is because Lady Tsunade thinks that you are the only one who can do it. You should think yourself lucky, you're about to be promoted to the rank of tokubetsu for your skills as a medical ninja, from what little the hokage told me."
Sakura's eyes widened and she sagged against the counter behind her. "Oh," she said quietly.
"Yes, 'oh,'" Kakashi said, sarcasm, creeping into his voice. "I have to confess, I'm a little disappointed that you seem to think so little of me that you honestly think that I would punish you just for, for once, getting to act like any normal girl your age. I'm not your father, Sakura, it's not my place to punish you, especially on matters that don't concern your duties as a ninja, and I'm perfectly aware that you are a young woman perfectly capable of making her own choices and that what you do in your free time is entirely up to you. OK?"
Sakura nodded, feeling very foolish about blowing up at him like that. She looked away as she felt her eyes begin to tear up.
"Sorry."
"Ah, it's ok," Kakashi said cheerfully, "I've been training you for eight years after all, I'm used to your outbursts by now – although I have to say, I'm glad that this was only a minor one, compared to what poor Naruto's been subjected to over the years."
Sakura laughed, blinking away those tears. Mentally shaking herself, she clapped her hands loudly and pushed away from the counter. "OK, you two, out now, please, I need to get a shower and change before I go anywhere, and if you think I'm gonna do that with two of Konoha's biggest perverts loitering in the next room, you've got another thing coming!" She began herding the two men towards the door, laughing at their – well, Naruto's protestations. Kakashi knew that he was a perv and made no excuses about the fact.
"Hey, we don't leave for another couple of hours, so why don't you meet us at Ichiraku's before we leave?" Naruto suggested as Sakura was closing the door.
"That sounds great, but it's your treat," Sakura replied with a smile.
"Huh? How come?"
"Cos it'll be to celebrate my promotion, of course! See you later!" Sakura cheekily stuck her tongue out at her friend, and then quickly shut the door before he had a chance to argue.
As the two men were leaving their team mate's apartment building, Naruto looked questioningly at Kakashi.
"You didn't tell her how long we'll be gone for," he said accusingly.
"No I didn't," Kakashi replied. "I didn't think it was the right time, considering how upset she was at not being included on the mission in first place. Besides, I've got feeling that we'll be back home way before her, anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember Temari from the sand village?"
"That's Gaara's big sister, right?"
"Yeah. Well, I saw her coming out of Lady Tsunade's office, and apparently the Kazekage is in desperate need of trained medical ninjas, because it turns out that while the sand ninjas are good warriors, they are sorely lacking in medical-nins. And what with all their recent skirmishes with the ninjas from the rain country, they have too many wounded and not enough healers to patch them all up."
"So you think that's where Sakura's being sent?" Naruto asked.
"Pretty sure," his teacher answered. "I'm also pretty sure that it won' be a fly-by visit, either. From the sounds of it, things are pretty bad there at the moment. On top of the wounded, there are all sorts of virus' and infections that they need antidotes and immunisations for."
"Oh. Hey, do you think it's safe for Sakura to be sent somewhere like that without us? I mean, what with the trouble with the rain village and all. That's where the Akatsuki's headquarters are, right? What if Sasuke finds out where Sakura is and tries to hurt her or something?"
"Naruto, I doubt that Sasuke is arrogant enough to attempt to kidnap or kill Sakura while she's surrounded by sand-nins – never mind that Sakura herself is a pretty formidable opponent. Besides, we don't even know for sure that Akatsuki is even still in Amegakure." Kakashi told the younger man gently.
"Well yeah, but still…" Naruto grumbled. "Why does granny Tsunade have to send Sakura? I mean, surely there are plenty of other medical-nins that she could send and put Sakura back on our team." The words where she'll be safe hung unspoken between them. Ever since an incident a couple of years ago when Konoha kunoichi started going missing, some being found murdered and mutilated horribly while the ones who were found alive had been violated in some of the worst possible ways, quite a few of the men in the village had become fiercely protective of their female relatives and team mates.
Naruto, Kakashi and Sai were no exceptions, especially when there was quite a bit of evidence pointing the finger at Team Hawk. As much as Naruto wanted to defend Sasuke, it was no secret that he wanted to revive his clan – well, only one way to do that right? Not to mention that creep Suigetsu that was with him. Gods only knew was far he'd fallen and what sort of deviancies he'd picked up being exposed to Orochimaru and the Akatsuki for so long. So far, no one had been caught, and it had been over two years since there had been an attack in Konoha.
Kakashi sighed. He could see the blonde fool was just a couple of thoughts away from racing to the hokage tower and doing something monumentally stupid, like demanding that Suna make do with the younger, less-experienced medical-nins or that he refused his mission and would go to Suna with Sakura whether Tsunade liked it or not.
"I've already made sure that Sakura will have a good team of shinobi with her on her journey as back up in case they are attacked. As well as Temari's entourage, and the medical-nins being sent with Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji and Yamato are going, too. Does that make you feel a bit better about Sakura's mission now?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto thought it over for a minute. The Sand-nins were pretty fearsome foes - he himself could vouch for that, having been on the other side before when he was a kid, Chouji was pretty strong and good in a tight spot if he wasn't eating, and Shikamaru and Yamato were some of the smartest shinobi he knew. He admitted to himself that with her superior charka control and super-strength, Sakura was more than able to protect herself as well.
"Yeah, I guess it does," he smiled.
Kakashi glanced over at his blonde companion. "Oh, by the way...Naruto, just how inebriated were you last night, exactly?"
"Huh?"
"rainbow panties? They were clearly white."
A couple of hours later, Sakura left the hokage's office, her feelings a jumble of excitement, sadness and disappointment. Away from home for eight whole months, she thought, and that's all supposing that there are no complications! Kakashi had been right about her promotion – Sakura was now officially a tokubetsu kunoichi, specialising in medicine and medical jutsus. The reason for her promotion was because, as one of the best medical-nins in Konoha, she had been chosen to head a team of seven medic-nins in assisting the medical-nins of Suna during their current crisis, and helping to train up more medic-nins to boost up Suna's medical force. The ninjas chosen for the task were some of the best medic-nins Konoha had to spare.
Among the team Lady Tsunade had put together, three of them Sakura vaguely remembered from her days at the academy; Mitsukai Komohira, Kodai Akahashi and Ibamoui Suzuwa. Mitsukai was a quiet girl that Sakura remembered used to sit with Hinata. Kodai used to be a skilled ninja who specialised in taijutsu until an injury to his knee and hip put a stop to it. Ibamoui was following the well-worn path of his parents by specialising in medical-jutsu. The other three, Ryouken and Sumiko Tamagawa, and Akahi Shinsou, she knew very little about, outside of the fact that Ryouken and Sumiko were cousins. She'd seen them all around the hospital but she had never really spoken to any of them in the past. Now she was supposed to be leading them…the idea made Sakura's stomach perform little somersaults from sheer nervous terror.
She was so lost in thought that the hand landing on her shoulder made her leap about a foot in the air and let out a little yip of fright. Turning around, she found herself eye to eye with an amused Shikamaru.
"Good to see you looking so alert," he remarked sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up!" Sakura snapped, blushing slightly. "You snuck up on me!"
"Sakura, I called your name three times," Shikamaru informed her. "What had you so deep in thought that it had you so inattentive?"
"Just thinking about the mission that Lady Tsunade just gave me," Sakura said, sighing heavily. "I know I should be pleased that she's entrusting me with the other medic-nins, and I should be over the moon about my promotion, and I guess I am, but…" she trailed off, not sure how to voice what she was feeling.
"But…?" Shikamaru pushed.
"Eight moths away from home, away from my family, my friends…it seems like a hell of a long time," Sakura said.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Eight months? Really?" He shook his head in amazement. "That is a long time. Geez, that really sucks, Sakura."
Sakura nodded in agreement. The pair of them walked along together in silence, Sakura brooding over her imminent exile to the sand village, Shikamaru apparently still marvelling at the length of time the pink-haired Kunoichi would be gone for.
"Eight months," he repeated incredulously.
"You know, you're really not helping."
"Sorry."
Sakura sighed. "I suppose it won't be so bad. I mean, it'll give me an opportunity to make some new friends, right? I've worked with the medics that are going with me, but I've never really bothered making many friends outside of the hospital cos I spend so much time with Naruto and everyone else. And I suppose there'll be Temari and Kankuro as well, you know?"
Shikamaru glanced across at her. "Who are you trying to convince, me or you?" He asked, then instantly regretted his words when he saw Sakura's downcast expression. "Look, you know you'll have me, Chouji and Yamato during the first week, at least, and I'm sure Ino and Naruto will come and visit if they can – they're probably both long overdue vacations anyway, and I remember the last time I saw Temari, she told me that Naruto's been meaning to visit Gaara for over a year now. Besides, I'll bet you'll be so busy that the mission will be over before you know it."
Sakura smiled. She was thankful that she had run into Shikamaru now. For all his faults, the lazy ninja just seemed to always know the right thing to say. He and Naruto were very similar in that sense – of course, that's where the similarities ended. She startled Shikamaru when she suddenly threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug.
"Thank you," she said, giving him a squeeze. Hmm, he's gotten taller since the last time I was this close to him, she thought. Of course, that had been when they were both seventeen.
Shikamaru laughed nervously and patted Sakura's shoulder gingerly. It didn't help that she had chosen the exact moment to hug him when a group of academy age girls were walking past, earning them a cacophony of catcalls and "aww"s.
"OK, you're welcome. You can let go now," he said, wincing slightly. "Seriously, let go. You're crushing my ribs!"
Sakura giggled and released him. "Sorry. Guess I forgot my own strength!"
"Troublesome," Shikamaru murmured, rubbing his side, then warding off the punch Sakura aimed at his arm.
"Hey, I'm meeting Naruto and Kakashi at Ichiraku's, why don't you join us?" Sakura asked as they resumed walked.
Shikamaru stopped in his tracks. "Ah I can't, sorry," he said, "I've got other plans."
"Oh?" Sakura asked, smiling mischieviously. "What that happen to be a Temari-shaped plan, by any chance?"
"NO!" Shikamaru snapped defensively, heat creeping up his neck. "I mean… well, ok, yes I have plans with her – but it's not anything like what you're imagining, we're just friends, that's all. I'm just treating her to lunch because, uh, she ran out of money and, well, she'll obviously need to eat before we set out tomorrow," he stammered guiltily.
Sakura gave him a hard stare. "Pitiful." She announced. "Especially coming from a genius like you, Shikamaru."
"It's the truth!"
"Um-hmm, whatever you say," Sakura replied disbelievingly. "Well, I'll see you both tomorrow, anyway. Give Temari my love, ok?"
Shikamaru shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck as he watched Sakura tear off in the direction of Ichiraku's. "Troublesome, very troublesome," he murmered to himself.