Chapter One
Thicker than Water
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"Seriously?"
Really, she shouldn't be surprised anymore, the novelty was beginning to wear off when it came to patching her teammates back together. She should start some kind of tally system on her wall.
"Naruto merely can't dodge." A cool voice came from behind her. She had passed Sai sitting on her couch on the way in and had raised a slim pink eyebrow at him in question, but the boy had just tilted his chin in the direction of the kitchen.
Sakura gave a half-hearted sigh as a small smile tugged at her lips, taking in the slumped form in her kitchen. Naruto quickly smiled sheepishly at her in response before scowling in the direction of her couch. "Hey, that's not fair, you cheated!"
The pink haired girl rolled her eyes as she moved further in to the kitchen and placed her grocery bag on the counter smoothly. Turning, Sakura approached Naruto and inspected the wound on his side before narrowing her eyes at the artist who had begun to poke through her grocery bag. "Did you sic one of your taloned birds at Naruto again?"
The ninja in question didn't have time to respond before the blonde in front of her yelled an indignant "Yes!" before flinching and holding his side. Sakura mulled on the idea of tossing a kunai at Sai for pulling one of her apples out of the bag and beginning to munch on it but decided against it, turning her attention to Naruto instead. She scowled as she gently took away the hand that was gripping his side, "Do I really need to go referee your training sessions?"
Naruto grumbled under his breath and Sai smiled around a mouthful of fruit, wisely knowing when not to answer. Sakura gently pushed the blonde's jacket off his shoulders, letting it drop to her now—stained tile before pulling out a kunai and slashing his already torn shirt down the front to get better access to the wound.
Green chakra flickered to life in Sakura's hand as she moved between Naruto's legs to press her hand against his side. It seemed there was not only torn muscle and skin, but broken ribs that had to be painful with every breath be took. She focused, pressing her free hand around his back to ease the ribs back into place and feeling as the muscles reconnected with her other hand. Sakura loved being a medic; loved saving and healing the people around her, especially her team. But that didn't mean she had to like it when they came to her this way.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as she finished, long pink hair swinging around her face as Sakura moved to the sink. "The next time you two decide to throw each other around like rag dolls, at least have the decency to not bleed all over my floor, please. Why didn't you take him to the hospital, Sai?" She demanded as she pulled out a clean towel from one of her drawers and began wetting it in the sink.
The ex ROOT operative gave her a slight shrug, his kunai gracefully slicing the almost finished apple into bite-sized portions. Green eyes zeroed in on him once again as she rung out the towel a bit too tightly. "Naruto insisted that it was not life-threatening and your house was closer than the hospital."
"Yeah, plus the hospital reeks!" The blonde whined, scrunching his nose at the thought. Sakura smiled even as she rolled her eyes and began dabbing at the almost dried blood in his golden locks.
"It doesn't reek Naruto, that's the smell of disinfectant," she paused as she took a closer look at his head, "Did the bird cut you on your head too?"
He looked at her in apology as she groaned, tossing the bloody towel into the trash can. "I give up, just take a shower and I'll dig around for a change of clothes for you." She shooed him along in the direction of the bathroom with both of her hands and the blonde laughed as he complied.
The pinkette made her way back over to her grocery bag, sweeping her hair into a messy bun in the process. "Sakura, why are there bags under your eyes?"
Her body tensed but she forced herself to relax. She had to remind herself that Sai was relatively tactless when it came to the simplest of conversations, something she and Naruto tirelessly worked on with him. The blonde usually got so much glee out of laughing at the ex ROOT operative however that she suspected that he got a bit too much entertainment out of it.
Taking a deep breath, Sakura closed the refrigerator door and faced him after taking her time in placing her yogurt and milk inside. "I've been very busy at the hospital Sai, you know that."
"Is that why your training has suffered?"
Sakura ground her teeth together, barely succeeding in stopping herself from stomping back over to the counter beside him where her paper bag sat. She stuck her hand in the bag with a little more gusto than needed, crumpling the poor thing in her frustration. "My training hasn't suffered." she replied shortly.
She brushed by him as she tossed her (now four) remaining apples into a basket on the island, cutting him an evil look because of it that he took no notice of. Sakura then swept the blonde boy's destroyed shirt off the ground and tossed it in the trash before grabbing his jacket and dumping it in her washing machine. She returned to the kitchen after setting the machine to clean the abused piece of clothing and remained silent, allowing Sai to mull over this piece of information.
Sai pondered this for a moment longer, his eyes never leaving her form as she bustled around the small kitchen, "You have not trained with me or Naruto in nearly two weeks. I can only assume that this means that your most important duty as a ninja is suffering, quite possibly altering the efficiency of our team—"
He was cut off as the pink headed woman appeared in front of him, gripping his cheeks between one of her hands as green eyes stared into his, "Sai, I will not fail to protect you, Kakashi or Naruto in any mission we are sent in to. I know you're just concerned about my health but I know what I'm doing. We will start training more often next week, okay?"
He nodded into her hand and she relaxed her grip, her hand falling to her side as she flicked some loose hair from her face. She knew that she needed to start taking care of herself more, but there was just so much to do. The hospital was swamped with everything from minor coughs and colds due to the weather to major issues that depleted her chakra and left her exhausted at the end of the day.
Guilt gnawed at her heart that even Sai had noticed that she had been neglecting her team. They could be sent out at any second and though it was her duty to make sure she healed them if they got hurt, if she had any say in it, they wouldn't get hurt in the first place. She had trained to get stronger both physically and mentally for them, she couldn't afford to slack off now. She chewed her lip in worry as she took the last item out of her destroyed bag, Sai apparently placated by her answer for now.
When was the last time she went out with one of her girlfriends? She couldn't remember. Crap. Ino was probably pissed.
Sakura stretched on her toes to put the tea in a higher cupboard when she felt a warm presence behind her. The tea leaves were plucked easily from her hands and slid into the cabinet above her.
She whirled around, almost breaking her nose on Naruto's chest as she did so. Sakura scowled lightly in annoyance. It wasn't fair. She knew he was taller; he didn't have to throw it in her face like that by making her feel even tinier.
"Naruto I don't appreciate-is that my shirt?"
Her eyes locked on to the poor white t shirt that was stretched out across his pectorals, the article of clothing practically screaming in protest.
She hit him.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, rubbing his stomach where she had throttled him earlier.
The pink haired woman paid him no mind as she continued to rummage around in her drawers for something to clothe him in. Sakura sent him a glare over her shoulder as he flopped on his back gracelessly onto her bed, one hand over his belly as he continued to moan and groan. He was currently only clad in large grey sweatpants, the only thing of his that she could find at the moment. She maneuvered around him and the bed as she moved to open her closet.
"Why did my shirt have to suffer for your inability to call for help?" Came her muffled reply. She knew she kept some of his t shirts in here somewhere...
"You said you would!" He cried, his blue eyes narrowed in a weak attempt to blame her.
Sakura scoffed, "What, did you think my innocent eyes couldn't handle the sight of your bare chest?" Her eyes finally settled on the stack of his t shirts on a shelf in her closet. With a triumphant cry, the pinkette emerged from the closet, her hair having fallen from the bun she had twisted it into, leaving her to blow stray pieces out of her face as she grinned down at him.
Naruto swallowed and fought the blush that he was sure was making it's way to his cheeks. She looked so beautiful. Her hair was back to being long and after being twisted into a bun, the pink strands held a slight wave that framed her smiling face. Naruto barely took into account what she was wearing, other than the fact that it was adorably oversized on her, probably her response to the cold weather outside. He grimaced internally at the thought of her knowing that he saw her as adorable. Blows would be thrown.
He couldn't believe that after all this time, all these years, his heart still belonged to her. He told himself that he was happy with the close friendship they had now, and in a way he was. But there was still a part of him that wanted her near him, wanted her to return the devotion and love he gave her.
Green eyes flooded with concern as her smile began to falter, "Naruto, are you alright?"
He chuckled nervously, his stomach doing flips as she came closer to peer at him, her concern overriding any annoyance from before.
He cleared his throat and choked out, "Yeah, I'm fine."
Sakura's eyes narrowed as the boy tried to grab the shirt and sit up. She jerked the shirt out of reach and used a fraction of her chakra-induced strength to shove him back against the bed. One hand fisted in the shirt by his head and the other went back to the skin of his stomach. Green glowed from her hand once again, the warm sensation trickling through his system.
"I didn't even hit you that hard," she grumbled.
Naruto lay perfectly still, not telling her that her hair was tickling his face or that the fact that she had quite literally manhandled him did nothing but make him admire her more. He averted his eyes and held his breath. He couldn't afford to lose so much ground that he'd gained over the years by acting on impulse.
His suffering was cut short by a voice in the doorway, "Is he dying?"
Sakura let out a huff as she finished healing the barely bruised nerves in Naruto's muscles. Thin pink eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. The blonde's behavior had nothing to do with his physical condition, she was sure.
"No I'm not dying Sai!" Naruti shouted, practically leaping off her bed as if it had suddenly caught fire.
Her pensive gaze dropped as she threw the shirt at Naruto's face. He seamlessly caught it and easily slipped it on, his eyes settling everywhere but her face.
"What is this, invade-Sakura's-personal-space day? Get out of my room." She demanded, grabbing both Sai and Naruto by their collars and tossing them into the living room before making her way back into the kitchen. The boys could hear her rummaging around in her cabinets before her voice carried out to them once again, "I'm going to make some lunch if you two would like to stick around."
"Alright!"
"Yes, I'm hungry."
Sakura smiled lightly to herself as she pulled a cutting board out and slid it onto the counter, her mouth turning into a frown as she realized that something was rolling her board over the counter. Lifting it and peering beneath, green eyes narrowed before an evil smile spread across her lips.
She grabbed the offending object and turned towards the living room, "Oh Sai?" She called sweetly, and before he could move, an apple core bounced off the side of his head. Naruto guffawed before doubling over in a fit of laughter at the shock and confusion on the pale boy's face.
"I'm not your maid, clean up after yourself."
The flower shop was always a welcomed sight in Sakura's world. It meant calming scents, beautiful flowers, and most importantly, one of her closest friends. When they were younger, they would pick the flowers and get infinite glee out of helping Ino's dad make bouquets for various occasions. Now, Ino worked there to help out her parents when she could spare the time between the hospital, friends and her team.
Sakura adjusted the sweater she had on over her dress, silently thanking the gods for the warmer weather as spring slowly approached Konoha. She smoothed her hand over her head as she made sure that her hair was descent in the reflection of the shop window before pulling on the glass door to let herself in to the shop. A soft bell chimed above her, and she noted with no small amount of humor that the blonde girl behind the counter didn't even raise her head to acknowledge the presence.
"Well well well," Ino sang as she flipped another page in the magazine her nose was stuck in before raising her eyes to meet a guilty looking pinkette, "If it isn't the biggest forehead in the land. I was beginning to think that you had become permanently infused to the hospital wall."
Sakura scoffed and tossed a box onto the counter, "Good to see you too Ino-Pig, and to think, I even brought you a present."
The blonde grinned before grabbing the box, making a noise of delight before hugging it to her chest, "Sweets! You sure know the way to my heart, Sakura." She paused, "Well that, or you spoke to Chouji."
The pink haired girl laughed before rounding the counter and lightly hopping up to sit, swinging her legs idly as Ino tore into the package. Mouth now full of candy, narrowed blue eyes looked up to meet her friend's, "But seriously, where have you been lately? You look terrible."
"I've been busy." Sakura groaned, rubbing her face with her hands. Gods, how awful did she look?
Ino grunted, licking her lips as she finished off the square of chocolate she had been eating, "Busy is an understatement. You look like someone punched you in both eyes," that answered that question, "And none of the Konoha Eleven have seen you—no, scratch that, I haven't seen you in weeks. We're going to have a girl's night. Tonight." She declared, eyes glimmering at the thought.
She held up a hand when Sakura began to protest, "Ah, I don't want to hear it Forehead. I'll be there at seven."
"Hm maybe there is something to say for these things." Sakura sighed, leaning back against her couch, her legs stretched out in front of her.
Multiple facial products, food and nail polish surrounded the two girls sitting on the floor, their backs against the foot of the couch as they allowed the cream on their faces to set in. Ino had swept in to Sakura's small home like a tornado, pulling pillows from everywhere she could find them and scattering them on the floor while dumping all of her beauty products on the table in the living room.
The blonde then proceeded to shove all the rest of the furniture against the walls and pull the pocky and other sweets she brought out of her bag to munch on. Sakura had merely laughed and joined her friend on the pillows, stuffing herself on candy and chocolates until she collapsed into her current position.
The pink haired girl pulled down the hem of her smock and adjusted the towel both girls wrapped their hair in to keep the strands from dripping water everywhere.
"I told you. Plus, this will help with all of the stress lines you've probably been acquiring from working too much." Ino responded, with a bit too much cheeriness in her voice.
Sakura opened an eye to cut her a weak glare before sliding her eye shut once again. She lifted her hand to gently blow on the fresh coat of dark green polish now adorning her nails, courtesy of Ino, before replying, "Someone has to do it."
"Oh yes like the other dozens of nurses or med-nin couldn't take some of it on themselves."
She knew she was being a petulant child about the whole thing. The truth was, she simply didn't like not feeling useful. Maybe it was a scar from her past or maybe she just liked staying active in something she knew she was good at, but that didn't give her an excuse to neglect the people around her.
Ino could live off the company of her family and team; the same could be said of Hinata and Tenten. Sakura knew that she didn't really have to worry about them much until they decided to raid her house for a lack of anything else better to do and proceed to nag her about coming out more often.
Her boys, on the other hand, were a completely different story.
Kakashi, though protective of his team (and deep, deep down, she suspected he really loved and cared about them), was more than likely to stay in his apartment like a hermit rather than seek out comradeship with anyone.
Sai—well, he was Sai. He had the social skills of a small child yes, but even so Sakura enjoyed his company in small doses. However, the fact of the matter was that he was often as busy as she was. Sakura knew that no one really quits ANBU, and he had been gone when she stopped by on more than one occasion. She was quite sure that he wouldn't note her absence if someone hadn't complained or pointed it out to him.
That left Naruto. She let out a small sigh, bringing her other hand up to attempt to get those nails to dry faster as well. It made sense that the blonde haired boy would immediately notice her absence, and probably wasn't quiet about it either. That explained why Sai had questioned her about it the other day, but why hadn't Naruto asked her about it himself?
She and the blonde haired ninja had grown closer over the years and she was more fond of him now than she ever remembered being in the past. Just thinking about the way she used to treat him made her want to cringe and hug him just to reassure herself that she didn't ruin his sunny personality with her horrendous behavior.
Fingers snapping in front of her face brought her back to the present. She scowled at an irritated Ino, "What?" she snapped.
"Glad to see you're back to the land of the living," she pointed a manicured hand to the pink girl's face, "You're starting to flake."
Sakura grinned despite herself, causing more flakes to fall off and her friend burst into laughter before pushing the pink haired girl into the bathroom.
Naruto shifted his weight uncomfortably under the scrutinizing glare of the Hokage. He rubbed the back of his neck as the stare seemed to carry enough heat to burn the flesh directly from his bones. Uneasy blue eyes glanced at the clock hanging on the wall once again.
Finally, the blonde woman broke the silence, leaning back into her chair and clasping her hands under her chin, "I understand your concern Naruto, but I cannot bar her from the hospital."
"I'm not asking for that! Just…I don't know, limit her time there?" He finished uneasily, his statement lilting into a question as a slim blonde eyebrow rose to the woman's hair line in front of him.
Tsunade pursed her lips as her golden eyes narrowed at the boy—well, man she supposed—standing in front of her. She constantly had to remind herself that Naruto had grown into a powerful ninja in his travels with Jiraya and was in fact an adult. She was grateful that her apprentice had someone like him by her side almost constantly.
Allowing herself a small smile at the deep concern in his blue eyes, Tsunade took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I will consider what you suggest. I worry about her as well, trust me, and I know that she takes too much on her shoulders." She paused, her eyes cutting to the clock once again, "It's odd, Sakura's never late and she's now twenty minutes past her time on her meeting with me."
Naruto frowned. It was very unlike Sakura to miss these types of things and even less likely to forget about them. His stomach clenched in worry. Even though he knew she was out of the majority of danger in the village, that did not exclude someone from sneaking in and trying to take out the Hokage's apprentice.
"Perhaps you should go look for her and tell her to meet me as soon as possible."
Not needing to be told twice, the blonde left the office with only a gust of wind behind him.
Sakura was jerked awake and the first thing she saw was blue. She smiled sleepily as she reached out to touch the deep blue color and mumbled, "So nice."
Someone grabbed her hand from where it reached out, "Sakura-chan?"
Green eyes snapped to attention at Naruto's voice, quickly sitting up from where she had collapsed on the floor by the couch. A crinkling noise brought her attention to a piece of paper taped to her front. Sakura's mind briefly flashed to hearing her friend leaving a few hours ago, now regretting her decision to close her eyes for what she thought was a few minutes.
Naruto's hand was a comforting presence on the small of her back to her foggy mind as she skimmed the letter, a scowl beginning to form on her lips. She groaned, "I knew I shouldn't have let her talk me into that sake. She just left me on the floor too! The nerve!"
The pinkette huffed as she let her head fall against Naruto's chest, "What're you doing here so early, Naruto?"
Her head was jostled as the blonde chuckled uneasily, "Um…you had a meeting with Tsunade-sama this morning Sakura-chan. She sent me to—"
"Gods!"
She flew from Naruto's hold, springing to her feet as she darted to her room, obstinately ignoring the dizziness that caused the world to tilt in front of her. Her bedroom door slammed and she quickly grabbed the first outfit she laid her hands on, yanking on the black tights and oversized sweater after discarding her smock on the ground near her hamper.
Sakura opened her door, almost running right into Naruto, his hand frozen in the air raised as if to knock. She quickly patted his chest, gently shoving him out of the way and went to pull on her boots. "I can't believe I overslept. She's going to kill me. I'm dead." The clips on her boots clicked into place under her efficient hands.
"It'll be okay, Sakura-chan. It's only thirty minutes past eight—"
"Thirty minutes? Oh my gods." If possible, the girl seemed to move faster as she swept her coat off the rack by the door, her head snapping to the amused blue eyes that watched her, "Is that all you wore in this weather? Naruto, it's cold outside!"
Pink hair flew behind her as she bustled back into her room, emerging quickly with a deep blue scarf that she proceeded to wrap around the blonde's neck, muttering quietly about how he should be taking better care of himself. She fluffed it up around him once more before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door.
"Naruto, wait outside." Tsunade barked, causing the blonde to come to a screeching halt in the doorway as he reluctantly let go of Sakura's hand. She looked over her shoulder to throw him quick smile before closing the door behind her.
He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and pressed his back against the wall across from the Hokage's door.
When he had opened the door to Sakura's home that morning, the last thing he thought he'd find was the girl curled on the floor of her living room surrounded by what looked like wrappers and sake bottles. A blush rose to his cheeks as his attention was quickly stolen by the sight of long lean legs left bare by the short smock she was clad in. Shaking his head free of such thoughts, Naruto had assessed her condition to make sure she was alright.
The tightness in his chest at her curled form sleeping soundly in front of him was hard to breathe around as he knelt beside her. Her hair was stretched everywhere, the locks seeming to have been wet when she fell asleep, causing them to frizz in the night from her tossing and turning. He gently brushed aside some hair from her forehead before shaking her shoulder to wake her up. He was loathe to begrudge her on sleep, but he knew Tsunade wouldn't be happy if he totally disregarded her orders.
She had opened her eyes and reached out to him, apparently in an attempt to cup his cheek as she mumbled something incoherent under her breath. Naruto instantly had half a mind to completely scrap the whole thing; just pick her up and take her to bed and deal with the consequences of the Hokage himself. The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that Sakura would be pissed if she found out that he did that.
He tried to keep the affection from showing on his face as she bustled here and there in an attempt to get ready, but his control wavered intensely when she questioned his attire. The blonde really hadn't given much thought to dressing for the weather that morning—or any morning for that matter—and had just thrown on a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt. However, the fact that Sakura had gone out of her way to make sure he was warm did something to his heart.
Naruto had to ruthlessly beat down the butterflies that entered his stomach as she wrapped her scarf around him and looked up at him with deep care in her eyes. He chose to ignore whatever she was mumbling to herself (probably something along the lines of him not listening to her) and had instead focused on making sure that his hands remained in his pockets and didn't move to pull her closer to him.
It made him happier than words could say when she didn't drop his hand as they plowed through the village. Granted, it was probably more of a method to keeping them together, but he would take what he could get.
He tugged at the scarf that smelled faintly of her and couldn't help the goofy grin that stretched across his features before the sound of raised voices interrupted his musings. Naruto barely had time to register that they were coming from the office in front of him when the door was torn open and a very angry Sakura marched through.
The pink haired girl stomped by him and he peered in to catch the eye of a mischievous looking Tsunade who gave him a thumbs up and a wink. Naruto quickly rushed to catch up with the steaming girl, catching her right before she exited the building.
"Sakura-chan, what—"
"We're going to the training grounds. Now."
If there was one thing Naruto had learned during the length of time they had been teammates and friends, it was when to shut up and follow her.
1. First of all, I missed fanfiction and I missed you guys. That is my excuse for publishing a story when I have so much else going on in my life.
2. The title for this chapter and story is actually a proverb that is misused a lot of the time, and it originally meant that men in war had closer bonds because their lives were in each other's hands. Water is referring to the water of the womb. So, essentially, this proverb is telling you that your bond to battlefield companions (blood) is closer to you than family (water). Neat, right?
3. You're welcome.
4. ANYWAY, this story will most likely be light all the way through (unless my mood changes, which it does more often than I would like it to) since we're dealing with a romance between Naruto and Sakura. Also, before anyone sets my story on fire for altering canon, wait a second. I've always been a big NaruSaku shipper (they're just closer and more complex, even though Sakura was a major bitch to him—but I'll get to all that later). Nothing against Hinata, she's a badass in her own right; but I think Kishimoto let us down with all the prominent women in Naruto at the end, honestly. Just kind of narrowed them down into neat little squares, fixed them up nicely with a man, and went on his merry way. That's not going to happen here. Rant over!
5. Also, yes, Sasuke will be addressed eventually.
6. SO this story will focus on characterization, bonds, and the emotional roller coaster that is life. There's no hardcore plotline yet, but I will let you know if that changes.
Please review and tell me what you think!