Chapter 2

She was running as fast as she could, her leg muscles groaning with the exorbitant amount of chakra being suddenly forced into them, the earth cracking where her boots left. Her bloody hand was stretched out, glove ripped off long ago. She had always been reaching out. Why wouldn't he listen? Twelve-year-old Naruto's eyes were downcast when he said, "Don't stop us, Sakura." He couldn't look at her. He wouldn't look at her…

…Look at me…

They were so far away. She wasn't screaming for them to stop this time. Even if she was, she knew her voice couldn't be heard through the chirping of birds and the low-frequency hum of whirling, wind-enhanced chakra. She knew he couldn't see her through the crackling and blinding blue energy surrounding them, consuming them. Or was he too distracted by murderous red eyes?

…Don't stop us…

…Why'd you teach him that jutsu, Kakashi? Why would you ever teach him that?

Were they were moving farther away? She needed more air in her lungs, more chakra, more time, more—

…No.

"Sakura-chan! See? The color of the kanji matches your eyes! I had to argue with the stupid tailor over which color to use because he didn't know who you were and…"

It can't…

"Are you going to try to stop me?" Her eyes never left his cold, cold, face, as she said, "No. Not this time." His Sharingan deactivated and he turned away from her. Dismissing her. Again. She wasn't finished: "Instead, I'm going to trust that you'll know when to stop yourself." She knew he had paused to look back at her, even if it was just out of the corner of his eye. But by then, she'd already moved away from him. She'd make sure that he only saw her pink braid whipping behind her receding back, her white coat tails moving with the wind, and not her lie—her big, fat lie.

Yes, Sasuke. I'm going to stop you.

Not this time…

Her breath was taken away the moment the unnoticed clone thrust his kusanagi through Naruto's back, through his heart...through his heart… She didn't notice Naruto's rasenrengan failing nor his hands falling to his sides. She didn't see the sweat, dirt and blood marring his face, she didn't see the flow of blood trickling down the side of his mouth, nor did she see the look of shock that choked his dimming yellow sage eyes. She was waiting for Naruto to dispel—to disappear into a puff of smoke. Underneath the underneath… Why wasn't she getting any closer?

"Baka-Naruto!"
"But, but, Sakura-chan…!"
"Get back here, Naruto!"
"But you'll kill me!"
"And your point is?"
He evaded her incoming fist to sneakily plant a quick kiss on her cheek before zooming off far away from her rage. They both knew that he only kissed her because she let him. The grins on both of their faces gave it away…

She heard someone screaming when Naruto fell to his knees, the blade being slowly, tauntingly, removed from his back, dripping with his blood. She wanted the screaming to stop, so she could hear him, hear him breathe, make sure that he didn't take any last agonizing breath…not like this…never like this…

Wait. She was the one screaming. It stopped. She needed her breath to keep running to them. Running to him. Keep running.

She feigned ignorance as she walked out of the hospital doors into a crisp evening, and merely adjusted a bag stuffed with paperwork and two medical scrolls she was developing to lay lighter on her shoulder. It was a twenty-minute walk to her apartment, the one she bought that was directly next to his. They were going to install a door between their rooms next week, so that they wouldn't have to make the tedious trip through their front doors to reach each other. ('Why can't we just tear the whole wall down?' 'It'd be too messy. Anyway, we're both too busy to be throwing out rubble from our rooms. And your room is messy enough as it is.' 'But Sakura-chan!' 'No buts, baka. And don't you realize that there's plumbing in the walls? How are you going to fix that?' 'Oh…') While her clone kept walking down the street, she climbed the tree where he was perched and bemusedly watched a 6'3" and infamously talented ninja gleefully giggling like a 10-year-old girl, ecstatic that the subject of his self-assigned reconnaissance mission hadn't noticed him. It was only until she booted him out of the tree that he finally realized where she really was. Sprawled on the ground, he held out his arms and grinned up at her expectantly. Was the idiot asking for her knee to come crashing down into his vulnerable stomach? The hospital grounds could use another crater and Konoha could do without this dunce for a Hokage... It was against her better judgment, she knew, but she found herself hugging him tightly anyway.

A white hand veined with tattoos of convulsing black snakes reached towards the back of Naruto's head. (No more!) It paused at his neck and grasped at something before ripping it savagely away. Naruto choked at the sudden violence and gasped for breath, but found only blood. The hand returned to its side, a glint of blue dangling from its pale fingers.

…I'm an avenger…

An elegantly sandaled foot rose to lean on Naruto's shoulder. (Don't touch him!) It proceeded to push gently, mockingly, against his gasping body. Dull blue eyes widened as his body began to tumble over the cliff edge. Time slowed, stopped, and she saw his body turn as he fell. His eyes found her.

"Sak…ra…ch…"

No. Don't use your last breath on me…Wait, please wait for me…I'm going to save you…

Her hand barely missed his coat. (He'd been so proud of it.) She felt the cloth brush against her fingers, like a sad, sweet farewell. She pushed more chakra into her legs to steady herself on the rock precipice when she'd jump after him. She never got the chance. As a sword came slicing down on her head, her body acted on primitive instinct and evaded the blade, but she realized, at the cost of the body now crumpled against the rocks in the gorge below.

She screamed.

And woke with a start. Sunlight was streaming through half-shut blinds and Sakura blinked to clear her head of the unwelcome light and the remnants of those unwelcome memories. Sitting up, she realized she had fallen asleep, once again, on her couch instead of her bed. She rubbed her eyes and paused for a few moments to consolidate enough willpower to get up from the comfort of her cushions. Fear of another dream was enough. She hadn't had such a vivid one in a while…

Passing her first test of the day was rewarded with a good look at her face in the bathroom mirror: sallow skin, dry lips, gaunt cheeks—Ino had commented on her death-like appearance more often than she would've liked to hear, but none of Ino's insults could compare to reflective glass and brutally honest fluorescent lighting. The only bright aspect of her face were the three green diamond-shaped chakra reserves in the middle of her forehead: the larger center reserve framed on either side with smaller sized, but equally potent, concentrations of chakra. She glared at them for a moment before reverting her attention to making herself look presentable and clean even if she couldn't do anything about looking healthy.

Sakura was toweling her long hair dry when she returned to her small living room. Pulling up the blinds and opening the windows seemed like a good way to start the day. And who could say no to a steaming cup of peppermint tea? "RAMEN, Sakura-chan. RAMEN is a true shinobi's way of starting the day." She slammed the teapot lid shut more violently than usual and turned away from the stove and from her subconscious. It didn't work, because she was now facing the door. Their door.

What day was today? Sakura moved to the calendar hanging from her kitchen wall. Saturday—her day off. She sighed and moved towards the partition between her bedroom and his. Should get it over with anyway. She needed to clean his room and water his plants weekly, and usually found time to do those tasks on Saturdays. She'd made sure that his room stayed exactly as he'd left it, just with less empty ramen cups, cartons of spoiled milk and scattered disposable chopsticks. It certainly smelled better after her faithful attentions for the past three years.

After a thorough session of dusting, mopping, and airing out closeted spaces, Sakura slumped onto Naruto's bed and took a moment to breathe in what remained of his smell: cut grass, cedar and warmth. Somewhere within the nostalgic haze of feeling strong arms holding her again, she reasoned that she should get going with her day. But Sakura wasn't sure she could find a peace like the one she was currently in anywhere else, ever again…

But people needed her. Green eyes opened and she reluctantly stood, smoothing out the wrinkles she'd created on his bedspread. As she left the room, right before she shut the door, her gaze stopped at the framed pictures on his bedstead: their genin days, Naruto's parents, Jiraiya and Tsunade as jounin (Orochimaru was noticeably cut from the picture)… The newest addition to the collection was enclosed in the most expensive mahogany frame Naruto could find. It was a candid snapshot of her and him laughing together, both slightly grimy from having just returned from a mission, but both evidently completely happy in each other's company. Sakura found out later that Ino had taken the photograph and given it to Naruto on his seventeenth birthday with a wink.

Sakura couldn't help a small smile. He could always make her smile.

The door closed.

OOO

If Shikamaru found anything troublesome, it was the situation he was in right now. Homura and Koharu had chosen today of all available days (which for them, was none) to pester him with their militancy and unabashed desire for stability above morality. What was especially troublesome was the fact that he agreed with some of what they were saying.

"…We are at war with three hidden villages!" Homura cried. "Not one, not two, three! Staying in a defensive mode is not only an utterly stupid and irresponsible decision for a Hokage to make—it's suicide!"

Shikamura rubbed his forehead in exasperation. He desperately needed a cigarette. "My decision is final and will stay as such."

"We understand that your policies are being heavily influenced by the previous Hokage and Haruno Sakura," said Koharu scathingly, "But this war with Otogakure and Iwagakure has been an indecisive and prolonged game of cat and mouse! Our war with them should have ended two years ago! And Kumogakure has also decided to declare war on us, most likely to claim the right to any Konohagakure soil if we are defeated. Do we have enough manpower, resources, and public support to go on for much longer?"

Shikamaru regarded her with ill-disguised annoyance. "The war wouldn't have gone on for this long if we didn't. I'm surprised you two haven't yet realized that nothing either of you can possibly think of hasn't already crossed my mind. I—"

"Become shamefully arrogant when cranky?" interrupted Sakura. She shut the door behind her and gave a half-hearted grin. "We all know that," she quipped dryly. Shikamaru reminded himself to thank her profusely in the near future, and more so if she somehow got rid of these old bags.

"I just dropped by to let you look at a new jutsu I've been developing for border security," Sakura said, placing a scroll on his desk. From their silence, the elders were evidently waiting for a greeting, but Sakura ignored them, and instead chose to walk towards the photographs of past Hokages hanging from the wall. Peering closely at the photo of the Yondaime, she noted the similarities between him and his son, and wondered whether their personalities were as similar as their appearances. When she finally turned, she feigned surprise, "You two are still here?"

"Haruno! Your status in this village doesn't excuse you from giving basic respect to your elders," scolded an indignant Koharu.

Sakura smiled and said quietly, "I'm afraid you're quite right. I'm not excused. In fact, the respect I have is the only thing preventing me from ripping you both to shreds."

The resulting silence was broken only by Shikamaru's cough.

Sakura stood stoic and unmoving as the disgruntled elders stood and made their way past her.

"We're not finished with this discussion, Nanadaime. It will be continued at a later time," Homura addressed Shikamaru as he left the room.

When the door finally shut, Shikamaru immediately reached for his cigarette pack, only to have it ripped from his hand by a shuriken and embedded into the wall behind the Hokage's desk, where it joined other shuriken marks not yet repaired and filled with tiny tobacco shreds.

"I need those, you know," Shikamaru grumbled at Sakura's still turned back.

"But I don't need to be extracting two buckets of tar from your lungs in a couple of years," returned an unsympathetic Sakura. She gave him a reproachful squint before turning to a cabinet under the window and withdrew maps of the hidden villages and their respective countries, asking, "Did they even question why Kumogakure declared war on us?" while Shikamaru opened the scroll she had given him. "Of course not," he replied nonchalantly. "They assumed it was to get a hold of any Konohagakure goodies once we're all dead and buried."

Spreading open a general map of all surrounding countries on his desk, Sakura secured each corner with a senbon and got down to business. "Ever since we expanded the security system to cover the entire border of Fire Country, staff have, of course, been complaining," began Sakura. "I was thinking that we should increase the amount of visible, reactive border guard seals—"

"And where would you get the chakra resources for this?" asked Shikamaru.

"…You didn't read the scroll, did you?"

"Why should I when you were so obviously going to explain it to me later?"

Sakura just shook her head. "Anyway, we should increase the amount of conspicuous guard seals but use a genjutsu I created to make these checkpoints appear as if they are heavily entrenched with chakra. These ersatz guard points should only cover our sea border, to make it appear as though we are ever vigilant. I'm positive Kumogakure will be looking for an offensive sea route immediately. Scouts have reported that their own war with Otogakure is, for now, at a stalemate. So for them, a sea route is the only way to attack us while avoiding Oto forces. For now we'll limit our actual border guard points on our southern border to two hidden seals, one at Port City and the other in this inlet on the other side of Wave Country. I doubt Kumogakure is going to expend the energy needed to cross this peninsula to attack us from Tea Country—."

"No, they will when they see the name of the bridge that connects Wave Country to us," said Shikamaru quietly.

For a millisecond, Sakura froze—she was unprepared for the reminder. Lately, she seemed to strangely be unprepared for any reminders of him. If her dream was of any proof, this Domyouji Jin incident had definitely shaken her more than she'd like to admit. She regained her control with a quick shake of her head, "Then we'll just establish another checkpoint at this sea port next to River Country. The chakra resource of any other guard seal we have on the sea border will be replaced by my genjutsu. Kumo will eventually believe that they cannot attack Konoha surreptitiously from another border and stick with the front we've already established with them. That being said, we should also reduce the guard seals on our border with River Country and Wind Country and transfer their chakra resources plus the ones from the sea border to the ones located on our northern border. These modifications will allow the net amount of chakra now being expended between every real seal to decrease by at least 34%, but at the same time enhance our defenses against Iwagakure and Otogakure. In light of this decrease in defense on our western border, we can just depend on Gaara to notify us of any attempted intrusion—."

"He's offered troops again," interrupted Shikamaru.

"No," was Sakura's curt response. "We are not bringing another country into this war. There should not be and will not be any more deaths and turmoil than necessary. We've already assured Gaara that his fight will be limited to any aggression against his country, not ours, and it will stay that way."

Shikamaru sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Sakura, do you really want to win this war or not?" At this point, he was dying for a cigarette.

"Would I be here discussing all this with you if I didn't?"

"You can't win war through defensive means only. Offensive strategies, which you have been naively equalizing with sacrifices, have to be made. And none of the countries fighting us have responded positively, if at all, to our calls for negotiations."

"We can do without offensive methods or peace talks. It's a matter of endurance, careful planning and observation, quick counterattacks and enhanced intelligence operations. It's also not about winning the war, Shikamaru, but ending it. We have nothing to gain from "winning" but everything to lose if we don't finish this conflict as ethically as it can be done." Sakura stared hard at the map, not seeing it, but seeing someone. "That means," she continued, "A constant presentation of strength and chivalry, honestly fought battles and absolute prevention of civilian causalities on all sides. We have to wait for Iwa, Oto, and now Kumo, to cease aggression, whether it is caused by anything from wasting their resources to civil discontent. We've been doing well so far without any offensive means. Since we've evacuated our border villages, all of our battles have only taken place in areas devoid of civilian populations. All of Otogakure and Iwagakure's other and more concealed attacks on our borders have been successfully caught by our security system and have been dealt with decisively because of your strategies and only our shinobi—."

"Sakura, even Takigakure and Amegakure have offered assistance. What are alliances for if not for situations like this one? Within only two days I was able to plan a strategy using Taki, Ame, and Suna forces that could win us this war," said Shikamaru exasperatedly.

Sakura turned to him abruptly, silent, but questioning with her eyes.

Shikamaru looked at her and said, "He's a genius during his own battles, Sakura. But so far," he gestured to the map with a lazy wave of one hand, "Planning a fight ahead of time and for others doesn't seem to be his forte."

Sakura's expression suddenly became pensive and withdrawn. Shikamaru let her.

Sakura sighed and resumed her train of thought, saying firmly, "We don't need Taki or Ame's assistance. The only reason we'd accept the sacrifices of their shinobi now would be to end the war quickly, not ethically, but quickly. Only if Kumogakure, Iwagakure and Otogakure declared war on Suna, Taki and Ame would I agree to a mutual support of forces, but they have only declared war on us. Konoha. And therefore the war should stay with us. You, of all people, should understand by now that this is, for me, not a topic open to debate," said Sakura. She glanced quickly at a familiar face—the one that haunts her dreams—hanging on the wall next to that of her mentor. She couldn't help it. His bright blue eyes twinkled with a mischievousness that was only enhanced by the whiskers lining his cheeks. But she quickly caught herself and stared back at the map.

Shikamaru noticed what had drawn her attention but said nothing. Instead, he took out Asuma's lighter and began flicking it on and off. He took a moment to stare at the flame before saying, "The daimyo labeled you as a chronic idealist. By now, you'd think that I would've agreed."

Sakura let out a small breath, coupled with a half-smile—a ghost of her old laugh. "No, I'm not. Not really… But he was," she said with a sentimental smile.

Shikamaru frowned and said softly, "And look where that got him." Sakura didn't respond.

"I'll handle these changes today, Sakura," Shikamaru said, breaking the silence. "But, the daimyo and the elders are just afraid that this war's being drawn out longer than necessary."

"Well, it's not as though their luxurious routines are being affected by it. Our trade lines and resources have hardly been touched with fighting. They just want assurance that their worlds will stay as they've always been, which, for that matter, doesn't include any kind of progress," Sakura said with transparent contempt.

Turning to Shikamaru, she suddenly noticed his frown, as he studied the map before him pensively. His thin eyebrows were narrowed in worry and the lines around his eyes told her of sleepless nights and the weight of responsibility. Her gaze softened. He'd always looked so awkward in his Hokage robes…

She continued in a more comforting and gentle tone, "It's possible this war can end cleanly. If we keep up at this pace, a conclusion will be reached, and Fire Country's transition back to peacetime will be easier. The repercussions of war will be less acute, at least for our country. We might even have enough resources to help Iwa, Kumo and…maybe…maybe Oto." Her eyes fixed upon the map, away from Shikamaru's surprised glance. Sakura traced the borders of Oto with her eyes. How could something so small cause so much damage?

Shikamaru studied her face closely before reexamining the map. After a moment, he looked back at Sakura and asked lightly, "Why didn't you take the Hokage position, and save me from all this trouble? After Kakashi refused, you were more highly considered than I was. And you can handle paperwork faster than I can." His eyes flicked momentarily to the photograph of Naruto on the wall behind her before refocusing on her face. He didn't have to ask to already know why. But for formality's sake…

Sakura shook her head and walked towards the door, saying lightly, "Because I do a better job as an advisor and a medic-nin. And could you imagine how big Ino's hissy fit would've been?" Opening the door, she paused and said, "Sign the proposal approval document and I'll have 20 genjutsu seals for you tomorrow morning so genin teams can be assigned this mission as soon as possible. They all look like they need some fresh air, away from Konoha…" A wistful look haunted her face. ('No! No thanks to all of those! I want to do a more exciting mission!') "This mission should be C-rank? That'll appease the more particular ones. Chouji's been complaining of one in his team."

Shikamaru groaned, "Don't remind me. He makes a racket with every D-rank I dish out…" He looked at Sakura curiously. "Iruka was just saying yesterday that he reminded him of—."

"They just need to perform a few hand seals to activate the genjutsu seal," interrupted Sakura. "I'll include which ones they need to know with a map of where exactly I think the seals should be placed. Feel free to change the locations as you see fit." Shikamaru regarded her with a look of quiet understanding. She avoided his gaze and raised a hand in farewell.

"Sakura," he called. Sakura reluctantly paused at the doorway.

"Get some sleep, will you? Days off are meant for relaxing," he said lightly.

The apprehension on Sakura's face dissipated. She shook her head and said with smile, "There's too much I need to do." With that said, she was gone, the scent of lavender and rain still lingering after she'd left. Shikamaru reached behind him to salvage a cigarette from the box Sakura's shuriken had demolished. Lighting it in one swift motion, he all but swallowed the smoke in gratitude and slowly blew grey clouds towards the ceiling.

…"I have a favor to ask you, Shikamaru. If anything happens to me, take care of her. Make sure she's okay…"

Shikamaru turned to stare at Naruto's photograph.

"Yep," he said quietly, before turning back to endless piles of paperwork, cigarette dangling from his lips.