Current Chapter summary: Nothing happens without a reason. Everyone has their own hidden fears and personal agendas ... Could Naruto have changed so much that Shikamaru doesn't recognize him anymore? What exactly is Sakura hiding from the rest? All it takes is a little push for everything to fall apart...
Chapter 1: Dormant Memories
Fingers worked nimbly to catch the loose strands of hair as she slowly twisted her hair into a neat bun. She was hardly aware of what she was doing. It came so naturally to her as she had been doing the same thing for a few months now. Her green eyes stared vacantly into the mirror in front of her. She was lost in thought.
"Sakura, how could you have stooped so low?"
She could remember every single detail of that day. It was her wedding day. It should have been the happiest day of her life but it was far from it. Although she dreaded them finding out about her husband-to-be, she was hurt when one of her close friends had outwardly objected to her marriage.
In her mind's eye, she could still picture how Naruto had grabbed her by her wrist. He had grabbed it so roughly that it bruised. He demanded to know if the rumours were true. When she told him that they were, they landed up having a shouting match outside the clan hall. Much to the chagrin of the heads of the clans, she thought wryly. Well not quite, she admitted to herself, as she was certain that they were probably delighted to have more to gossip about afterwards.
"Why should he care about whom I chose to marry? It was none of his business anyway," she huffed. "He didn't have to make me feel bad because of it."
She turned to look at the person still sleeping in bed. His back was turned towards her. She got up from she sat and walked over to her side of the bed. Sitting herself down gently, she leaned towards him as though she wanted to reach out and wake him. She paused. Instead she left the room, making sure that she closed the door as softly as possible.
She was seldom up earlier than her husband. On the rare occasion that she did wake up much earlier than he did, she treasured the time she had to herself. It was seven in the morning. She had around two hours before she started her shift at the hospital. She turned to left and stopped outside a door next to their bedroom. Carefully she opened the door and peeped inside.
There on the bed, tangled up in her blanket, was her five-year-old. She was still fast asleep and oblivious to the fact that her mother was checking on her. Sakura smiled and shook her head when she saw the pillows all over the floor. She wanted to go in and pick up the pillows, but she reminded herself that she had to get going. Her daughter will be up in half an hour.
As she went about preparing breakfast in the kitchen, she wondered what made her recall the memories of her wedding day. It was not as though she had an unhappy marriage. It may have been unexpected (at least to those close to her), but it definitely was not an unhappy marriage, she reflected.
She was certain not surprised when her husband proposed to her after two years. Well, he did not exactly propose. It was something both of them just agreed to do as they had become so accustomed to being around one another. She had found it increasingly harder to stay aloof despite her initial attempts to maintain a professional distance from him.
"It is hard not to get fond of someone when you see him every single day. Especially if he was the only one around that will talk to you most of the time," she reminded herself.
All of a sudden, she remembered what had triggered her memories of that unhappy day.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday she was attending to a woman who had sprained her wrist. At first the woman did not recognise her, but after sometime, the woman gasped.
"I almost didn't recognise you. I thought you didn't work at the hospital anymore, Sakura."
She smiled. "Well, I might not be a shinobi anymore, but Tsunade-shishou urged me to continue working here. She felt that it would pity to let my training go to waste."
"So that's the reason why you are still working here."
Ignoring the previous comment, she continued to examine the swollen wrist. As though she was oblivious to her non-verbal hints, the woman continued prattling.
"I thought that you would have left your husband by now."
Unconsciously she tightened her grip on the wrist, causing the woman to wince. She noticed with a grim satisfaction that the woman was embarrassed. She realised what she had just blurted out.
"Well, I mean-," the woman stuttered.
"Why would you say that?" She asked coldly. "I don't remember telling anyone that I want to divorce my husband."
The woman looked surprised. "Aren't you worried about your own safety? At least you should be worried about the safety of your children."
She blushed when she felt the woman scrutinise her bulging tummy. It did not take a genius to figure out that she was pregnant.
"I know I would, especially if I married a man who had killed his family in cold blood." The woman sneered.
She did not even bother to answer. She simply got up and walked towards the door.
"Hey, where do you think you are going?" The woman shouted.
Without a second thought, she flung the door open and yelled, "Aiko, can you come over?"
One of the young nurses at the nurses' station rushed over. "What can I do for you Sakura senpai?"
"Sorry to trouble you, but I am not feeling that well," she said as she turned her head slightly to glare at the woman still sitting in the room. "Can you please take over for me?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever since she married her husband, she knew that people have been gossiping about her behind her back. Yet there was always a first time for everything. She could feel her blood boil again. Till then no one dared to say such a thing to her face. She thought that she would be used to it by now but she had to admit that it still hurts when someone had the cheek to criticize her husband in front of her. She sighed.
She did not have any illusions about her marriage at all. She accepted the fact that she will be treated like an outcast. After all, not many people had been able to forgive her for marrying the supposedly psychotic older brother of her ex teammate.
It had been tolerable at first, but things changed after Megumi was born. She became so depressed that she locked herself up in the nursery for hours. She could not stop crying. She realized that her daughter will never be able to live a normal life. The other people in the village will probably ostracize her the way she had been ostracized.
At least things had improved slightly since then. She could still remember how relieved she felt when they were informed that they will no longer be kept under constant surveillance. At least, her daughter will not grow up feeling like a prisoner in her own home. With the anbu no longer physically present, she had hoped that they will be able to live a normal family life. Yet she was realistic. She knew that their life will never be that normal. Though she had not seen the anbu around, there were moments when she would look over her shoulder hoping to catch a glimpse of the people who were spying on her.
She felt the baby give her a gentle kick.
"Good morning, little one," she said as her right hand rubbed her swollen belly.
"You are up early today. Thanks for being with mummy. Mummy is feeling a little under the weather today."
"Mummy shouldn't be going to work if she isn't feeling that well," said a voice coming from her left.
With a start, she let go of the empty plate she had been holding in her left hand. She tried to catch it but she was not fast enough. She expected to hear it shatter in the sink a few seconds later. It did not. Looking to her left, she noticed that at least he managed to catch it in time.
"Itachi, please don't do that again," she said weakly.
"You can't blame me. You were distracted. Again."
Sakura felt her cheeks grow warm. She had been brooding a lot lately. Even Ino was concerned. She tried to reassure them over and over again that it was probably pre-natal depression. They would usually stop questioning her after that but somehow she had a sneaking feeling that neither of them believed her.
Noticing her flushed cheeks, he placed a hand on her forehead. "At least you are not feverish."
"I'm ok. I can take care of myself, you know," she retorted with mock indignation.
He did not reply immediately. Sakura tried to reassure herself that he looked relieved but as usual she could not pick up any nuance of expression from his impassive face.
"Anyway, good morning love," he said noncommittally.
With that, he bent over and kissed her. They were too engrossed to notice the crow in the tree near the window. It leapt from its perch and flew off towards the village square. Its caws were drowned by the early morning hustle and bustle.
Kiba stood at the mouth of one of the many side roads that criss-crossed throughout the village. He was leaning against the drying wall. His hands were tucked in his pockets. He tried to look detach but the way he kept reaching up to smooth his messy brown hair gave him away. Once again, he glanced nervously down the road as though he expected to see someone.
"What's taking them so long?" He asked irritably.
A large white dog beside him rolled his eyes as he stifled a yawn. Kiba gave Akamaru a dirty look but Akamaru just went back to sleep, not caring that the road was still damp.
"Keep your comments to yourself, ok? Humans have different mating rituals. I can't rush things, you know," Kiba growled.
He could not understand why they have not passed by. He was sure that this was the fastest route to the training ground. His heart sank. It had been ten minutes since they left the academy. He hoped fervently that they had not gone by another route.
He was about to leave when he noticed Akamaru's ears perk up. He felt his heart leap as he saw the group walking towards him in the distance. It did not take him long to spot the pretty chunin sensei shepherding the rowdy bunch. He grinned.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he returned to original position. He was disappointed that the chunin was too preoccupied trying to stop the children from jumping into the puddles to notice that he was there. He let the group pass by before following them, leaving Akamaru to trail along behind.
A few girls began to giggle when they saw him overtake them but he held a finger to his lips and gave them a roguish wink. Immediately, they stifled their giggles. They were, of course, familiar with this routine by now. Kiba pretended that he did not notice the way the girls kept glancing at him and whispering to each other. He continued to pick up his pace until he was finally in step with the only adult in the group.
"Morning, Hinata!"
"Good morning, K-Kiba,"she replied, catching herself in time before she started stammering. "What are you doing here? You know that I end at three today."
Kiba gave a sheepish grin as he ruffled the hair at the back of his head.
"Well, I er- noticed you leaving the academy with this noisy bunch. I thought you might need another chaperon, you know... since the other teachers are busy helping with the repairs around the village."
One of the boys detached himself from the group. He turned around, crossed his arms and glared at Kiba.
"Hinata sensei doesn't need another chaperon as long as she has me. Don't you have other things to do?"
Hinata blushed. Kiba was irritated. He never liked children at all. They were annoying little snots that he could live without. It was little wonder that he kept putting off the idea of finally settling down despite his mother's constant nagging, which, he might add, has become increasingly frequent lately especially after she realized that most of his peers were already married.
"Hiroki, please keep up with the rest of your classmates. Don't worry about Kiba, ok?" Hinata sighed.
Looking at his disappointed face, she added quickly. "Hiroki, can you do me a favour?"
Hiroki's face brightened up. "Anything you want, Hinata sensei."
"Great! Can you lead the way to the training ground? I know that you know the way very well." She said with a smile.
"Okay!" Hiroki replied running towards the front of the group.
"It's hard to believe that he was so shy that he wouldn't even speak up in class at the beginning of the school year," Hinata commented. "But, he is right. Shouldn't you be somewhere else?"
"I'm sure the guys will cover for me," Kiba replied furtively.
"Oh Kiba..."
Hinata simply shook her head and turned to follow her class. Kiba tagged along meekly. They continued walking in companionable silence. It will be another moment that they would treasure. They knew that in the not too distant future, their parents will probably arrange for them to marry someone else as they have not shown any interest in anyone their parents consider suitable. Still the occasional evening walks and early dinners were fun. The tricky part was keeping their relationship a secret from their parents. Luckily, their friends had been more than willing to help out.
While watching Hinata instructing her students on how to throw a shuriken properly, Kiba wondered why he had fallen for her. She was not as pretty as some of the other girls he had met. However he can still remember when he had fallen for her. He smiled to himself. It was definitely after she had grown a backbone. Enough of a backbone to put her foot down and tell her father that she was determined to sign up for the teaching post at the academy whether he approved of her decision or not.
When she was done, she walked over and stood by his side as she watched her students practice. Pretending to yawn, Kiba innocently stretched his arm slowly and reached over to rest it around Hinata's shoulders.
"Oh come on, that has got to be the oldest trick in the book! I always see my brother do that when he is around his girlfriend."
Kiba quickly unwound his arm. Hinata turned beet-red this time. Both of them of looked up and saw Hiroki standing in front of them.
"Keep your dirty hands off Hinata sensei. She's mine," Hiroki yelled, giving Kiba a hard kick in the shin.
"Why you little..." Kiba cursed before letting off a whole string of profanities that attracted the attention of the rest of the class as he limped towards Hiroki.
"Kiba! He is just a kid," Hinata exclaimed in a horrified tone.
While the whole group was distracted by Hiroki's antics, Akamaru's nose began to twitch. The scent was vaguely familiar. It was coming from somewhere further down. He leapt to his feet and bounded off towards the source. Kiba heard a rustle. He looked up in time to see a white tail disappearing behind the bushes.
"Oi, Akamaru! Come back here," he yelled as he dashed off after his dog.
Kiba was panting by the time he found Akamaru. He noticed that he was digging near one of the trees that have fallen down during the recent typhoon.
"What are you looking for, boy? Don't tell me you've found another bone."
Suddenly Akamaru stopped digging. He sat down and looked at Kiba. Kiba stiffened. He knew that stance very well after all that was what both of them had been trained to do. Steeling himself, he walked over to inspect the body.
"Shit," he murmured.
"Stay here Akamaru! I have to report this straight away."
He dashed back to the clearing and rushed over to Hinata. Ignoring Hiroki's wary look, he bend over and whispered something into her ear. Hinata's eyes widened as she covered her mouth in shock.
"Are you sure?" She whispered back.
Kiba nodded slightly. Hinata noticed the children staring at them.
"Why don't we take a short break? We'll start again in fifteen minutes." Hinata willed herself to smile and sound cheerful.
After the children left, Hinata whispered, "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on things here."
She suppressed a shudder as she looked at the happy faces of her young charges. Kiba just told her that he had found a skeleton buried not too far from here. It was wrapped up in a thinning, yellow shroud. By the looks of it, the body was probably that of a child.
To be continued...
