A Mark, A Scar, A Promise

by Singe

And sometimes, Sakura couldn’t help but notice she was the only one of the four of them that had not been marked by the battles they had seen. Team 7

Author's Note: So, this is a change for me. Not the whole Team 7 fic thing, but the whole Sakura being the team member reflecting. Because in all honestly, I have never been and never will be a huge fan of Sakura, but that is not really important. As some of you know, I do write her occasionally and do my best to keep her as in character as much as possible, despite that fact, but let me know if something seems too off.

Some details may be inaccurate as it has been quite a while since I bothered to watch the anime, though I do keep up with the Japanese releases of the manga.

Disclaimer: I make no claim of ownership on any of the characters, series plot, or whatever else that belongs to the creators of the manga/anime/etc. Rawr.

Title: A Mark, A Scar, A Promise
Rating: K
Author: Singe
Summary: And sometimes, Sakura couldn't help but notice she was the only one that had not been marked by the battles she had seen.

0O0O0O0

Kakashi did his damnedest to try and hide it, to keep it covered up perpetually. It was something that was private, hidden, and a mark of a past that he sometimes wished had never happened. Kakashi hid his blood red ANBU tattoo as well as he hid the lower half of his face.

But even if he was no longer in the ANBU, he was still a soldier, still risking life and limb for Konoha. So he was still at risk of injury, still destroying uniforms and weaponry through heavy use. And that is how Sakura had learned of the mark. It had been years before—before Sasuke left, before Naruto wandered off to train with Jiraiya, before she had gone to study under the tutelage of Tsunade—that she had seen that distinctive red swirl on her sensei's arm.

It had been a simple enough mission to retrieve a scroll—they had only been a genin team, after all—and a minor scuffle had occurred as the original Team Seven had been leaving the complex the scroll had been hidden in. In one way or another, Kakashi had managed to lose a section of fabric from one of his sleeves, though the kunai had not touched his skin. The flash of red that she had seen had momentarily shocked her, as she was confused about how the low level thugs they were fighting were able to harm the infamous copynin. And then she recognized the mark for what it was.

The tattoo of the ANBU. The sign of black-ops units of Konoha. A piece of her sensei's past that she had not known existed until that moment.

Naruto did not seem to recognize the tattoo, as he pestered Kakashi about it as they traveled the rest of the way home.

Sasuke definitely had. Through her years of observing the boy, Sakura quickly recognized that the last Uchiha had not been surprised to see the distinctive brand upon their superior's arm, and that seeing the mark had only confirmed something in the raven-haired boy's mind.

Neither she nor Sasuke had commented on it at the time…but neither stepped in to stop the blond member of their squad from asking about it.

Over the years, they had all heard stories about their genin squad leader's time in the ANBU. But these tales came rarely, if ever, from Kakashi himself. Because it was something that was private, something that was incriminating, and something that would always remind him of the past he was required to deny, as well as past he himself wished to forget.

0O0O0O0

The seal on Naruto's stomach had been something she had been forced to grow used to quickly. The mark had been something she had not seen clearly until after Sasuke had left for Oto. She had been helping Tsunade-sama tend to the wounds of her blond teammate, and as she had wiped the blood away that had accumulated over his torso from the wound in his shoulder, she had noticed that as hard as she scrubbed—though she was still somewhat careful, given the patient's poor health—that not all of the stains on the tan skin would come off.

She had waited until after Tsunade and the other nurses and assistants had left the room before she had allowed herself to touch the pattern that still boldly marked her teammate's skin. She could feel the distinct burn of chakra even before her fingers— stripped of surgical gloves—touched the marking. Kyuubi had still been aiding in healing Naruto, albeit slowly, almost as if the demon was as warn out as it's container.

It wasn't until much later that Sakura had realized the truth in that thought.

After all, Naruto had been forced to attack Sasuke using the abilities he gained by weakening the seal on the demon. And then he had been injured harshly enough that the fox had been left no other choice but to heal the blond boy or face it's own death. So Kyuubi had been as tired as Naruto, but still had been able to give off enough chakra that the black seal on Naruto's stomach was visible.

But that had not been the mark that had stuck with her, the one that stood out in her mind when she thought of her boisterous friend.

No, it was the large scar that eventually formed on Naruto's chest in the place where the last of the Uchiha had blasted a hole with his own hand that seemed to define this member of her former team.

Sakura had seen the wound as Naruto had been first brought into the hospital, had seen it as Tsunade and Kyuubi had attempted to close it. And in doing so, she knew enough to know that the wound had traversed completely through the body, front to back.

But she had seen Naruto train shirtless enough times since then to know that there had been only one scar left behind after it had closed, a mark remained on his chest but not on his back. It was the only scar on his body, besides the distinctive marks on his face. And she couldn't help but think that this was exactly what the boy had wanted. It had taken her a while to reconcile that thought with what she knew of Naruto's healing abilities. It wasn't until a few weeks after she had first seen the scar that she realized he must have demanded that the demon not heal him entirely.

It had taken longer for her to reconcile the fact she did not entirely want to know why the blond had decided to leave such a blatant reminder of their missing teammate. Of course she had pondered it, had spent hours internally debating if she was thinking too much of it and it was just a coincidence that the wound had scarred while others had not.

But Sakura had long ago ceased believing in coincidences. It was an instinct that developed quickly with her being both a ninja and a medic.

And she couldn't help but think that the scar was definitely there as a reminder. A reminder of a promise Naruto had made her, and a promise to himself to return his best friend back to where he should be.

And she couldn't help but wonder if that scar would ever entirely disappear. Even if Sasuke came back, even if Naruto was the one to bring him back, would the boy find some way to erase the reminder? Would he even want to?

0O0O0O0

When she had realized that both of the remaining male members of the original Team 7 were marked by their history in some way, Sakura understandably began to wonder if she herself carried some scar. And time and time again she could think of nothing that was significant enough to consider a brand of the past. Time and time again she realized that the only scar she still bore from her time on Team 7 was the emotional wound they had all endured at Sasuke's leaving. She was certain, however, that there must have been some physical manifestation of her past that could be seen on her body by those who knew what to look for, and it was because of this certainty that she came to the conclusion that perhaps another person had to first notice the scars of the past before the person who had those scars truly knew they were there.

Because Kakashi had taken even more care to hide his ANBU tattoo after his students had seen it, going as far as to cover the mark up with some kind of makeup.

Because Naruto had stopped training shirtless unless he was certain he was alone.

Thinking of these things, Sakura's mind invariably led her to the final member of Team 7, the boy so many had loved but so few had really known. The boy that had left them all behind to avenge his family, to attempt to rectify the past, to find some sort of closure that he had not been able to find by simply living.

So perhaps the greatest scar of Sasuke's past was the very symbol he willingly had chosen to display on his body. It was not the curse seal place by Orochimaru, nor was it the genetic gift of the Sharingan that told the unwitting world of Sasuke's past. It was, in fact the mark of his clan that the boy made certain was always displayed somewhere on his body. The red and white fan could be found on the last of the Uchiha's clothes, weapons, and even some of his more mundane possessions, as Sakura had been shocked to learn when she and Naruto had performed the difficult task of packing up all things that Sasuke had left behind in Konoha.

Sasuke had literally worn his greatest wound on his sleeve, displayed it for the world to see. He was different from Naruto and Kakashi in that respect, Sakura supposed, because he wanted, needed to remember his past. Because Sasuke had promised his clan vengeance and by wearing the Uchiha crest, by having it mark his personal possessions, he had forced himself to think of nothing but the past that he wanted to forget. And in these constant reminders, Uchiha Sasuke's promise to his family was reaffirmed.

Sakura couldn't help but wonder what it meant that when she had last seen Sasuke, there had been only one small Uchiha fan visible upon his person.

0O0O0O0

So what did she, Sakura, have that physically manifested her past? She had no tattoo to reminder of the missions she wanted to forget, no deliberately placed scar to serve as a constant, heartbreaking reminder of betrayal, and nor did she constantly keep with her a cruel, mocking symbol to reminder her just what she was fighting for.

It bothered her. Bothered her more than it logically should, as she was well aware. If asked about it, she could not explain why the fact she possessed no symbolic representation of any of the key events in her life bothered her. But in a way, it made her envious of her former teammates in a way she had not been since her days as a foolhardy genin attempting to become a chuunin in the Forest of Death. But also, it made her feel guilty. Because there were things she had seen on missions as a team medic that she never wanted to think about again, but the bloody wounds and human remains had not been caused by her own hands. Because of all the wounds she herself had suffered on the battlefield, none of her scars could be traced back to the hands of a friend. But most of all, she felt guilty because at the end of a day at the hospital, or at the training grounds, or when she returned from a mission…she did not return to an empty, silent home.

And even then, even then when she thought of the solitude the three males of Team 7 had endured for so long, she couldn't help but feel saddened that in some ways, their loneliness was just one more thing that separated her from them.

0O0O0O0

Ending Note: Woo, I posted something. Personally, I think it's a little odd even for me…and I think it's kinda obvious that near the end I just wanted it done and posted, but meh, I can always revise it when I'm running on more than 3 hours of sleep and caffeine.

Haven't read over this whole thing in a while, so if there are any notable spelling or grammar mistakes that you notice, feel free to let me know. But even if you don't notice any, please review!