As promised, a chapter each week. It's a bit short, but only because the next chapter will be longer. Anyhow, hope you enjoy this week's update and please remember to tell me what you think. Oh, and for those of you who are following the Misty-Gray and Pink series on my LJ (yes, utterly shameless self-advertisement going on here), be on the look-out for the next addition coming up sometime this weekend and tell me what you think about that, too.
And now, on with the show . . .
Chapter Two: Coming Home
The branch barely shook under the impact of Sakura's weight as she followed the rest of her unit, the breeze blowing through her hair as she jumped from tree to tree. They had been traveling for nearly five days and were now less than an hour away from Konoha. Her heart grew heavier and heavier with each passing minute and she was unable to shake off the oppressing feeling.
Several feet away from her, she noticed Shikamaru slowing down to lift his nose to the air and take a deep breath, a contemplative expression on his face.
"Is something wrong, Shikamaru-san?" one of the other shinobi asked, clearly perplexed with his senior's behavior.
The tactician shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. I just smell Konoha."
The younger shinobi laughed. "How can you smell Konoha?"
"It's autumn," Shikamaru answered simply. "Autumn always smells differently in Konoha."
Sakura's heart clenched and she briefly closed her eyes.
The smile on his handsome face was as bright as his clothes; he was grinning so hard, his eyes were hidden. She thought it was adorable—he was adorable. She watched, amused, as he lifted his face and sniffed the air, a satisfied laugh escaping his throat.
"What are you so happy about?" she demanded as she leapt on the tree next to his.
"Can't
you smell that, Sakura-chan?" he asked happily. He practically flew
through the forest, his spiky, unruly blonde hair wind-ruffled and looking so
soft, her fingers itched to run through it.
"Yes, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings by pointing it out," she teased.
He pouted, but he didn't lose the bright glint in his warm blue eyes. "That's autumn. Autumn's here, Sakura!"
"What's so special about autumn?"
"What's not special about autumn? We always get a week's break during autumn. Mmm, I'm thinking of all the things I can do—wake up late, walking around the apartment in just my underwear, hanging out at Ichiraku's—"
"Like you don't do that on normal days," Sakura interrupted wryly.
"Yeah, but it's different in autumn!" he insisted. "The ramen's even better because of the brisk weather. And then there are the apples—they taste the best when you eat them in autumn. Apple sauce, apple pie, apple cider, apple tart—"
"Hai, hai, hai, I get it," Sakura declared with fond exasperation. If there was one other thing he was obsessed about aside from ramen, it was apples. She sighed, thinking that at least this item belonged to a healthy food group, though Kami knew he was as weirdly fascinated with the fruit as he was with ramen.
"Just imagine, Sakura," he continued. "Sitting in front of the fire, roasting apples—"
"Roasting apples?"
"—after a ramen-filled dinner," he finished, seemingly unaware that she had spoken. He sighed in contentment, his expression blissful. He glanced at her and grinned. "Know what's going to make it even more perfect?"
"Another bowl of ramen to wash down the apples?" she asked wryly.
"That sounds good, but I was thinking of something else." His blue eyes gleamed wickedly. "The scene would be absolutely perfect with my favorite medic cuddled in my arms."
She turned startled green eyes to him and caught the expression on his face as he stared back at her, the seriousness in them almost unnerving. Her heart started to pound and a thrill ran through her body. As his words settled in her mind, a deep blush appeared on her cheeks and she ducked, allowing her loosened hair to cover her heated face.
When she finally looked up again, there was a slight tilt to the corner of her lips. "Then we better get home quickly."
The joyous laughter than ran through the woods was much louder this time.
"Sakura, are you okay?"
She opened her eyes, surprised to find Shikamaru's face close to hers. He had jumped until he was next to her, his questioning gaze directed on hers. He repeated the question, concern lacing his words.
"I'm fine," she answered briskly, unaware of the pair of pale gray eyes watching her from a few paces away.
"Neji, Neji, over here!"
Neji followed the sound of the female voice and smiled when he saw an excitedly-waving Tenten standing next to Lee, who wore a broad grin on his face. He broke away from his unit and walked over to them. They met him halfway and he let out a surprised "oof" as Tenten jumped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He squeezed her for a moment before gently pulling away, purposely ignoring the disappointment that flashed through her face. He turned to Lee and said wryly, "No hugs, Lee."
The other jounin laughed. "No hugs, Neji," he agreed. He held out his hand and grinned, almost blinding Neji with his bright teeth. "Good to have you home, Neji."
Neji clasped his friend's hand, his eyes pleasant. "It's good to be home," he said. He looked around briefly before returning his attention to his friend. "The village looks better than when I left. Has there been any problem?"
"None that we can't handle," Lee answered. "The Hokage's Tower is just about done and there's going to be celebration soon after." Black eyes gazed at misty gray ones questioningly. "How was the mission? We didn't get much information about it."
"Yeah," Tenten piped up. "When you didn't reply to my letters for so long, I got worried."
"I'm sorry," Neji apologized. "I've been very busy."
"As expected," Lee said.
"The mission was successful with few casualties on our side. We've managed to secure the eastern borders and Morino Ibiki's stayed back to make sure everything runs smoothly." Neji glanced at Tenten. "How did it go at the western borders?"
"Better than I thought it would. Our mission finished faster than planned. Like Ibiki-san, Asuma-san stayed back but he's scheduled to return this week."
"That's good to hear. And you, Lee? Have you met your new students?"
"Not yet. Iruka-san's still trying to choose the groups, but I'm sure whoever he picks for me will be filled with youthful fires! Yosh!"
Something's never changed, Neji thought wryly. There had been a time when he'd found Lee's exuberant proclamations about the "fires of youths"—and Gai's, for that matter—annoying and embarrassing, but now he was simply amused, though he did a good job of covering it.
Tenten, on the other hand, didn't even pretend to cover her laughter as she turned to look at Neji, her eyes sparkling. "There's going to a party tonight to welcome back all the shinobi from the eastern borders. It'll be rude if you don't show up, Neji."
"Then I won't be rude," he said faintly.
She clapped her hands together and grinned happily. "Great. Now how about lunch? We can do some more catching up."
Discomfort flitted through his body but Neji didn't allow it to show. His lips curved apologetically as he said, "I can't, Ten. I have to hand in my report to the Hokage and then I should go home and see my uncle. It'd be disrespectful of me to do otherwise."
The young woman frowned. "I suppose," she sighed. A second later, she brightened and looked at Neji with hopeful eyes. "But we'll see you tonight, right?"
"If nothing gets in the way, then yes."
"Wonderful." She impulsively grabbed one of Neji's hands and squeezed. "Oh, Neji, I'm so glad you're home. It's been wretched, worrying about your safety all these months."
"There was nothing to worry about."
"Ah, there's that Hyuuga pride talking." Tenten chuckled and before Neji could react, brushed her lips against his cheek. "Welcome home, Neji."
He blinked and then she was gone. He turned to look at Lee; the other man had lost his bright smile and was staring back at Neji with serious black eyes.
"You should tell her," Lee said softly.
Neji considered pretending ignorance, but their years of friendship, the bond they had forged as teammates and his own makeup wouldn't allow that. He let out a heavy sigh and said, "I don't want to hurt her."
"It's better than letting her think she has a chance." Lee paused and searched his friend's face. "Does she have a chance, Neji?"
Neji thought about it and for a brief second, a pair of solemn green eyes flashed through his mind. He shook his head and focused his attention on Lee. The other jounin stared back at him, his face void of any judgment. Neji knew without a doubt that whatever his decision, Lee would understand. "
No," he answered finally. "There's no chance." And it was the truth; Tenten was his teammate, a skilled kunoichi and a good friend. He admired her, respected her, but he didn't harbor the same feelings she harbored for him. He never had and he knew he never would.
Lee's eyes grew sad as he thought of the pain his female friend would go through, but he knew better than anyone that feelings such as love could never be forced.
He clamped a hand over Neji's shoulder and said, "It's your choice, my friend. You want to know what the funny thing is?"
"What?"
"I never could see you and her together, too." A corner of Lee's mouth lifted. "She never struck me as your type. She's too . . . happy."
Neji's brows rose. "Meaning I'm only attracted to the miserable ones?" he asked wryly.
Lee laughed. "You said it, my friend, not I."
Neji snorted and gave the other jounin a friendly shove even as a part of him silently wondered if Lee's opinions were correct.
Sakura looked around as her unit broke into smaller groups. Sounds of laughter and cheers drifted over to her as her unit members were greeted by their friends and families, who had been waiting for them by the entrance of the village. Her green eyes fell briefly on Shikamaru, who was currently being crushed by both Ino and Chouji. Sakura smiled at the sight—Shikamaru was trying to push away the brightly-colored clips in Ino's hair from his eyes—before she quietly disappeared into the shadows.
Minutes later, she was standing in front of her house, the familiar blue door slightly chipped. She made a mental note to re-paint it tomorrow morning before she used her key and slipped inside.
She found her mother standing in the kitchen in front of the sink, washing plates. A pot was bubbling on the stove and Sakura recognized the smell of her mother's famous beef stew, mingling with the scents of the homemade bread baking in the oven.
She smiled and stepped further inside. "Mama," she called out softly, not wanting to startle her mother.
Mrs. Haruno was nonetheless surprised; the plate slipped from her soapy fingers, but she deftly caught it before it fell. Setting it aside, she turned around, a joyful smile on her face. "Sakura!" she exclaimed. "Oh, Sakura!"
Sakura laughed as she embraced her mother; neither woman cared that Sakura was dusty and filthy from her journey. Mrs. Haruno hugged her so daughter so tightly she almost cracked a couple of ribs.
Both were smiling when they pulled away. Mrs. Haruno brushed back the bangs from her daughter's pretty face, her own green eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "I was so worried," the older woman said. "You were supposed to be back by yesterday and when you didn't . . ."
"There was a landslide and the team had to find another detour," Sakura informed.
"I wasn't sure when you were going to arrive today," her mother murmured, her eyes still misty. "I wanted to prepare a meal for you—Kami-sama knows what you've been eating over there. That's why I wasn't at the gates when you arrived. Oh, Sakura, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, Mama," Sakura reassured. "We only managed to send word about an hour ago anyway."
"Oh, I'm so glad you're home!" Mrs. Haruno declared happily. Her hands trembled as she cupped her daughter's face. "You haven't written or sent word back to me for so long and if it weren't for the Hokage's reassurance, I would've . . ."
Sakura felt a sharp pang of guilt. With her father having passed away several years ago from a heart attack, her mother was more often than not virtually by herself, considering Sakura's occupation. She knew her mother constantly worried about her and since the War, that worry had increased tenfold. She understood her mother's distress; Mrs. Haruno wasn't a shinobi and thus shared the general opinion that shinobi were continuously facing great danger. Sakura flinched as she imagined her mother living alone in this house, fretting over a daughter who was so selfish she couldn't even take the time to write a short letter.
"I'm sorry, Mama," she apologized honestly. "I'm so sorry for making you worry. I really didn't mean to do that. It's just that I've been so busy and the mission . . ."
"Na, it doesn't matter anymore," Mrs. Haruno interrupted gently. She brushed her fingers through her daughter's pink locks and grinned brightly. "All that matters is that you're home, safe and sound." She tilted her head to toward the stove. "I made stew. Why don't we sit down and eat? You must be hungry."
Sakura smiled. "I haven't been home for five minutes and already you're trying to fatten me up," she teased.
"Well, I have to do something. Look at you—you're all skin and bones. Honestly, dear, what have you been eating?"
"Believe me, Mama, you don't want to know." Sakura glanced down at herself and grimaced. "I'm filthy. I think I'm going to take a quick shower first, all right?"
"Of course, dear. The bread is still baking so take your time."
Sakura was smiling as she went up to her bedroom, breathing in the familiar vanilla scent of the cleaning detergent her mother liked to use. Her bare toes curled into the carpet beneath her and she had to resist the urge to bounce on her clean bed. After months of sleeping in the dirt, with the coldness of the ground seeping through her bedroll and the smell of mud in her hair, her bedroom seemed like heaven. Her body practically tingled with anticipation of a hot shower; while she was no stranger to cold creek water, she was also a comfort creature and right now, hot water was a luxury she would be stupid to say 'no' to.
She placed her weapons on her bureau and unbuckled her belt. Just as she was about to take off her tank top, she noticed several boxes stacked neatly at one corner of the room, partly hidden by her closet. She frowned and walked over to them. "Mama?" she called out. "What are these boxes?"
Downstairs, Mrs. Haruno's fingers tensed around the glass she'd been about to place on the table. Her face grew pale and she silently reproached herself for her carelessness.
"Mama?" Sakura's voice cracked as she partly opened the top box.
Mrs. Haruno calmly set the glass down and walked to stand at the bottom of the stairs. Her fingers curved around the post as if to steady herself as she quietly answered her daughter's question.
"Those boxes came two weeks ago, Sakura. They're . . . they're belongings."
"Whose? Whose belongings?" the pink-haired young woman demanded even as she caught sight of a familiar orange jacket.
Mrs. Haruno chewed on her bottom lip. She wished she could spare her daughter the pain, but she knew she couldn't. "Kakashi-san's . . . and Naruto-kun's." The older woman wrung her hands fretfully. "Those are the things from their apartments. Hokage-sama thought you should have them. When the boxes came, I just told the men to put them in your room because I couldn't find any space. I was going to move them out, but I forgot. Oh, dear, I'm so sorry . . ."
When there was no reply, Mrs. Haruno started to climb the stairs. "Sakura, dear, are you . . .?"
In her room, Sakura swallowed past the lump in her throat and took a deep, shuddering breath, releasing it slowly through her nose. "I'm—I'm fine, Mama. D-don't come up, okay?"
"The boxes . . ."
"Just—just leave them here. It's fine—I'm fine." The pink-haired girl covered her face with shaking hands, her breathing growing slightly erratic. Spots danced in front of her eyes and for a second, she felt as if the ground was giving away underneath her feet. But the moment passed and she was back in her room, her body trembling as she stood in front of boxes containing her friends'—her family's—possessions.
"Sakura?"
"It's okay, Mama. Don't come up. Please." Sakura's hands fisted as she prayed her mother would understand. She just couldn't take the sympathy that she knew was on her mother's face—not now, not when she'd made so much progress.
There was a long pause before her mother finally said, "Okay, Sakura, okay."
"Thank you." Sakura dropped her hands from her face and she pushed back the bangs from her face. "I'm going to take a shower now and then I'll come down and eat. We'll talk, okay, Mama? You can catch me up on all the local gossip." And we'll just forget this happened because I don't think I can handle a breakdown right now.
"Of course, dear."
Mrs. Haruno waited for the soft thud of the bathroom door before slowly making her way back down to the kitchen. Her heart wrenched for her daughter and not for the first time, she yearned for a way to make the hurt disappear.
As it was, Sakura never had the chance to eat her mother's beef stew. Just as she stepped out of the bathroom, a blur of blonde and gray all but tackled her to the floor.
"Forehead-girl, how dare you just disappear like that without at least saying hello? And after all these months I spent worrying for you?"
Sakura was still buttoning her blouse when Ino pushed her down the stairs and past her mother, who smiled and cheerfully waved as her daughter was dragged out of the house.
"It's been a long time since we had a girl-to-girl talk, Sakura. Don't you make that face at me! We're going to sit down at a nice little café and have a nice conversation even if I have to tie you down to the chair and mind control you for it! I haven't seen you for ages, Miss ANBU-medic-nin-hotshot."
True to her word, Ino did find a nice little café near her parents' flower shop and the two young woman did have a girl-to-girl talk—or rather, Ino talked and Sakura listened, managing to slip her opinions between the blonde's endless flow of words.
She should have felt irritated; she'd just returned home. She was tired and sleepy and hungry and she should be having a nice quiet meal with her mother. Instead here she was, paying for her food—granted, it was good food—while Ino attempted to break the record for the most words spoken under a minute.
But Sakura wasn't annoyed; it had been a while since she saw Ino and she had missed the bubbling blonde. They had long ago shed the rivalry of their younger days and were now good friends. Although their interests usually diverged from one another, in Ino Sakura had found her most trusted female companion. She had been there during Sakura's darkest hour all those months ago and her support then was something the medic-nin would never forget.
So Sakura pushed aside her exhaustion and sat there, paying rapt attention to her friend's incessant babbling, smiling every now and then even as the images of another time, of a group gathered in a ramen bar, talking and laughing, invaded her thoughts. She tossed aside those images and forced herself to think of the here and now and that just maybe being back in Konoha wasn't so bad after all.
To be continued . . .
