He didn't know how he ended up here in the middle of the forest. How he just so happened to be up a 20 foot tree in the land hidden in the Waterfall. No, there's a perfectly good reason I'm here, he told himself, I'm on a mission. But even with that excuse in mind, he knew for a fact that he had already completed his mission in the mist two days ago. So why was he here again? Oh yes, that's right. He was just heading back to the base when he saw her.
It wasn't as if he knew her personally, he hadn't even heard of her until only recently. It had been a strange day, to say the least, when he arrived back to the base to find Deidara dragging in a large pile of Sasori's broken puppet body. He thought that Sasori was a goner for sure, being so badly injured and wounded beyond belief. But the red haired nin was some how miraculously brought back to life with the help of Zetsu. He remembered thinking that who ever had beaten Sasori must have been one heck of an opponent. A few days later the large man had laughed when he found out the identity of the person who had won against the puppet nin. Akasuna no Sasori, had been beaten into pulp by a petite little leaf kunochi. And not just any leaf nin, but a leaf nin with pink hair. Now Kisame had never been very judgemental of appearance, having one of the oddest appearances himself. His gravity defying navy blue hair, gills and menacing teeth had been the cause of elderly heart attacks in almost every village. But a ninja with pink hair? That wasn't something you saw every day, but that was exactly what Kisame happened to see.
There was a small flash of light pink. He had stopped so quickly mid jump he nearly slammed into a tree, and had it not been for his ninja instincts, he most likely would've suffered from a massive headache. Walking slowly, he went back to the little clearing he took the small bingo book from his long black cloak and he flipped a couple pages before grinning one of his infamous shark like grins. Haruno Sakura, top medic nin in the village of the leaf, apprentice to the hokage, was currently walking towards a small hot spring. This will be interesting. _
It had been a rough day for Sakura. The word rough is used lightly here, for another word to describe how Sakura's day was is crap. She had just completed a very long, tiring and not to mention boring mission. The goal had seemed simple enough; go heal a Daimio's son who was suffering from some unknown sickness. After taking several samples from the patient and long tedious hours of work in the castle's lab, she was finally able to create a fair antidote. After administering the cure to the heir, she spent the rest of the night in the son's room to record any affects that the antidote had on the son. There wasn't a sound to be heard through out the large castle and she would stiffen at any noise that came from the son. This was very tiresome task as the boy would continuously toss and turn in his sleep. There were no visible affects that had occurred during the night and the son showed no sign of the virus. After a full inspection of the boy, she made her way tired but happy towards her room to get some well needed shut eye.
What seemed like only seconds had passed before Sakura was woken again by a frantic maid. She rushed towards the son's room to find him wheezing and moaning worse than before. Sakura snapped into medic mode, examining the boy and scribbling something on a sheet of paper before barking orders at the nurses. The nurses arrived with necessary equipment, rushing to help the leaf medic. Her hands glowed green as chakra gathered in her hands. She concentrated hard, moving her skilled hands across the boy's body and inspecting the damage. She was startled to find the same sickness in his boy had increase twofold, the virus spreading almost twice as fast. Her hands glowed brighter as she continued her work, steadying his heart rate, relaxing the muscles, helping blood flow. When the boy's health seemed stable enough, she gave orders to the nurse to the Daimio that his son was feeling better. She rushed to the lab, working quickly to strengthen the antidote. A few hours later, Sakura returned to the boy's bedroom with her improved version of the cure. With the help of some nurses, she administered the antidote and continued to work on the boy.
Long hours of work and a few solider pills later, Sakura sat down and breathed a sigh of relief. The boy was going to be alright, the new antidote had worked extremely well, and no side effects had been found. The next 24 hours had been filled with tension and anxious comments from the Daimio and his wife. The nurses scurried around trying to find something useful to do while sneaking glances at Sakura, who had not left the boy's side since she had gotten there. She checked his heart rate so many times that she'd go insane. Doing another overall examination on his body, she reviewed her notes and took some down. While the young boy slept peacefully, unaware of the situation he was in, Sakura felt exhausted. Every time she thought of leaving, she would immediately push the idea out of her head, just in case the boy might suddenly start acting up again. Nothing had happened the next day. When the boy had awoken, she quickly examined him, asking him every question possible. He looked very well; his body was like any other boy's his age. Another day passed by, afterwards another, and soon it turned into a week. She had tested him so much she could probably do another examination in her sleep.
At least her accommodations were good. The castle had been very gracious to their guest. Her room was filled with grand furniture and a large bed; polished wood shelves and closets lined up against one wall while traditional tatami mats covered the floor. Her walls were a light cream colour and had beautiful detailed birds flying across them. She giggled when she thought of how Sai would've loved sleeping in a room like this. The food had been delicious, with meals she hadn't eaten since she last visited the Waterfall. Succulent carp had been steamed to perfection as it lay before her drizzled with soy sauce and green herbs. Pearl white rice sat in a beautiful ceramic bowl with blue and white stripes. A colourful array of fresh vegetables waited for her to devour. The castle chef was famous for his amazing gyoza, which was supposedly the best in the country. The dumplings were fried to a nice golden brown; the outside was crispy but inside held juicy tender meat which made her mouth water at the thought of it. Dessert was always her favourite green tea dango, which she had every night.
Sadly, while the succulent food satisfied her stomach, there was nothing to satisfy her eyes. The country side scenery and panoramic waterfall views, while being a spectacular sight, grew boring after a week. All the attendants kept their eyes down, not allowing Sakura to see any cute faces. The people of Konaha would probably be shocked to see their innocent cherry blossom searching for eye candy, but they didn't know what an influence Ino's weekly club hopping had done to poor Sakura. Being dragged from club to club had caused the devious side to grow within Sakura; it wasn't out of control like when Ino saw some man meat, but just a curious side that was a little bit reckless.
After the month had passed and no other problems arose with the boy, she decided to bid Waterfall goodbye and return home. She would miss the food and the small conversations she would have with the boy, who turned out to have a great sense of humour despite his strict upbringing. The trip back from Waterfall would be at least 3 days on foot. She had avoided the main roads which would've offered her a comfy bed instead of the cold ground, but she might've run into rouge nins, which she wasn't in the mood for. She had traveled far in the past two days and decided that she had enough of waking up with twigs in her hair. So when she spotted the quaint little hot spring in front of her a smile stretched across her face and she felt her legs move faster.
She walked up to the small establishment and let out a happy sigh, perhaps now she could have a little R & R. No loud mouth Naruto or gossipy Ino to bug her this time. As much as she loved the two, sometimes the blond duo was just a bit too much for the medic nin. She was greeted at the front desk by a polite, soft spoken woman with light brown hair who immediately reminded her of Hinata. I gotta remember to bring her here next time, thought Sakura, she would love a nice place like this. After being shown to her room, she quickly changed out of her rumpled clothes and slipped on a towel. Humming a happy tune, she decided to go to the open hot spring which was larger than the other ones which were gender divided. She dipped a toe into the water to check the temperature and was delighted to know that the water wasn't too hot. She slipped into the hot spring and let out a deep breath. She sat on a large grey rock that was half submerged into the water so that everything below her shoulders were immersed by the water. She felt the water work wonders on her muscles, which were relaxing by the minuet. There was no one else in the bath and felt lucky that she would be able to have a little Sakura time.
No one here but me, she thought happily. The warm steam made her brain slip into nap mode and she closed her eyes right before another nin slipped into the water without so much as a ripple, almost like he were aquatic himself.
Now as relaxing the hot spring was, Sakura was one of the top ninjas in Konoha and she prided herself on the ninja instincts she had acquired through her training with Tsunade. These were the very same ninja senses that were tingling in her that made her open her eyes and check on her surroundings. There wasn't anyone in the springs but she knew better than to only look with her eyes. The steam was thick and even a genin would know to use the steam as a cover. She closed her eyes as if to go back asleep but was really focusing her chakra on sensing another being. There! She had found her guest at the far edge of the springs. She didn't sense any chakra from the person but that could've easily been masked. Focusing, she sensed that the person was quite large in size, ruling out any females. (Unless her intruder was a female sumo wrestler, it was most definitely a male.) She cocked her head as if to rest it on the rock and slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes drifted over to where her mysterious visitor was. The steam cleared for a split second but that was all she needed. After all, there can only be so many blue skinned ninjas in the world. The Akatsuki huh? Why is it that every time I want to relax something always ends up happening? She mentally cursed Kami-sama, who was probably having a great laugh at her expense. What on earth could Hoshigaki Kisame want with me? Well at least he hasn't done anything yet, let's just hope he allows me to enjoy myself and leave. She mentally giggled at the thought of her and the S rank missing nin having a calm and cordial conversation then parting ways. As if thinking about him automatically made him notice her gaze, she felt a pair of eyes stare at her through the steam. Well, if he wants a watch, I'll give him a show he'll never forget.
／l、
ﾞ(ﾟ､ ｡ ７
l、ﾞ ~ヽ
じしf_, )ノ Silly