REFLECTION?
8 MONTHS BEFORE
The report clattered office of shisou was the same as always, thought the pink haired kunoichi as she awaited her first mission in months. An actionless life was starting to get to her, she missed the thrills and challenges of missions and how she longed for her innocent days with Team 7 or as they had been dubbed Team Kakashi. I t wouldn't be the same ofcourse with Sasuke gone and Naruto in ANBU none the less, a mission. Inner Sakura did a few cha punches in the air just to drive the point home.
"Sakura," the blonde Godaime called knowing her apprentice had slipped into her own world now.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
" I have purposely been keeping you away from missions for over five months now so that you could grow on your own but clearly you aren't," giving her an almost cynical stare.
" Huh? I have been growing," she said though inner Sakura inserted a joke of her own, " Cha! Do these look like mosquito bites to you, old woman?"
"The reflection months seemed to have been a complete waste. Now you will have to grow with work on your tail, maybe then you'll reflect better," she continued behind the shield of her red nail polished fingers.
" May I ask what I'm reflecting on?"
Her eyebrows twitched and the sound of an erupting volcano could be heard before she retorted in controlled angry yet scary tone," Kami help me, I am tempted to break your larynx in half right now. All these years and you still act like the little girl that came to me to train her. Anyway your next mission is in the country of the sun, a source tells us that a hive of bandits near the border is on the verge of attaking to take control of the capital. At the moment we aren't equipped to send a platoon instead we'll halt their activities before they attack. You and Shizune will be the medic nins in a team of four each. "
Knowing that her earlier question has set off a menopausal fuse, she decided to choose her next words carefully, "I understand, who are my teammates?"
A knock on the door left the conversation unfinished as the Godaime beckoned the knocker in to reveal the famous copy –nin and Sakura's former sensei. He had done well not to come in reading his porn or her shisou might have blown up like an explosive tag.
She had gotten used to that slouch and somewhat non-interested look in his lone eye over the years and deep down, a fond respect for the man before her warmed her heart.
" Eiii?! Respect isn't supposed to be warm, is it?"
"Snap out of it, Sakura. Sheesh, who ever thought I would be telling you that?" Inner Sakura mused with arms crossed over her chest.
That seemed to douse her out of her little imaginative trip back to the present as she smiled at the copy- nin and turned back to Tsunade waiting for an explanation.
As expected, she had been teamed up with Lee,Tenten,Genma with Kakashi as their team leader.Shizune similarly had been given a team of four comprising of two Jounins and two chuunins. After Tsunade laid the basics of the mission, word was sent to the designated parties to meet at the South Gate in an hour.
Back pack with all her essentials and medic equipment, she set out to the south gate passing by the memorial monument where she spotted a familiar white haired jounin paying his respects. She dared not interrupt, loss had not passed her by and she knew that all you wanted to do was be alone with that person dwelling on memories or the present sometimes hoping for an answer knowing that it wouldn't come but hoping all the same. She hadn't heard much about Obito since no one talked about him but she did know that he was an honourable shinobi from the Uchiha clan who thought of his friends first. He sounded a lot like Naruto when you thought about it.
She was the first there and as she waited she watched the wind rustle the branches of leaves, some children ran past her laughing and kicking a hand crafted ball, at a nearby stall a pregnant lady bought some fish perhaps for dinner with her husband and her unborn child. The peace that Konoha had generated over five generations was evident as she turned to the Hokage monument.
"The Hokages must be proud when they look down at us," she said to herself.
" It would be a shame if they weren't," a familiar voice retorted.
" Ah! Lee-san, long time."
"You're looking well, Sakura. I could feel the burst of youth in your veins miles away," fists clenched with tears on the brink of spilling.
Oh no, here come the water works, where is an umbrella when you need one, Inner Sakura lamented but as usual those thoughts stayed where they should.
" Is that so? You look quite energetic yourself. Did you stick to the diet I gave you?"
"Yes, Ma'am. The bliss of youth pulsed through my body with every bite."
Sakura may have been bad at lying but Lee stunk worse than a skunk at it instead she let it slide and put on her brightest fake smile which got better ever since she started training with her shisou .
Soon the two teams were assembled at the gate and after some final orders, swiftly left the village. Five months was along time to go mission- less but she quickly picked up her pace and moved efficiently with her team.It would take two days to get to the country of the Sun but Sakura couldn't help but anticipate over what lay ahead.For long, she had been protected and was weak,she couldn't stop Sasuke and Naruto had abandoned her for ANBU more or less. So she resolved to get stronger to protect even if it meant killing herself in the process and at 19, she felt stronger though she lingered on Tsunade's words of reflection. What was she supposed to reflect on? Why was she doing it? Was it going to aid her in anyway?
After several hours of travelling they decided to set up camp, since they had already covered half of their journey. Shizune and Sakura went over the treatment scrolls and assigned them in order of urgency should things get out of hand as the other shinobi retired for the night. Kakashi was alert as always, nose buried behind his porn.He hadn't changed one bit.As though sensing her gaze on him, he looked up and gave her a wave.Her heart pounded faster in a somewhat new reaction which she didn't understand herself but she managed to steel herself from doing something very un-Sakura and smiled back.
Why was her heart beating uncontrollably? She felt a little hot too…no more like flushed as she touched her forehead to assess her temperature.The action didn't go unnoticed by Shizune.
"Are you alright?" she inquired worriedly.
"I think so, yeah."
Un-convinced she reached up and touched her forehead and indeed she felt a faster throb on the vein at her temple and a slight increase in body temperature. She reached in her kit and put a cooling pad on her forehead.
"This should take care of it. You must be reacting to the weather, its been a while since your last mission.
"Thank you, Shizune. You're probably right," she managed to reply even though a nagging feeling mainly composing of inner Sakura let off warning signals that the weather was hardly the problem with her flush. It most likely had to do with a smut -loving jounin sitting by the fire that night.
It can't be…..it can't be possible were her last thoughts on the matter as she drifted off to sleep. Unbeknownst to her, a jounin was sharing the same thoughts that night and he blamed his Icha-Icha hero for it.
A/N: Gomen Mina-san.I know this chapter is a bit slow, believe me I almost slept while typing it but not to worry, it gets interesting. Thanks for your reviews. It warms my heart.Oh, I might change the rating to M.Not sure yet but I would like to add a lil steamy something for all you imaginative minds out there, Arigato gozaimus.
