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Chapter 3 for those who read my story and told me it was great. I totally appreciate the compliments. I somehow feel sheepish about it but I am very grateful about your reviews. This Chapter is longer than the last but I think there's no exciting in here but please, still read, okay? Thank you!
WARNING: Foul language and OCCness of the characters.
DISCLAIMER: I OWN nothing, except the plot and the grammar plus spelling errors.
"Talking"
'Inner Sakura'
Flashback
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Chapter III: New Jutsu
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She spent her last two days in luxury. For the first day, she went to a hot spring, did her nails and hair, and went to chat with Ino who told her that she and the lazy ass were dating for one year now. They went to the bar at night with Tenten and got drunk to their heart's content. She told her friends about her mission to Suna and they were all blabbing about her and Gaara's relationship. She glared at them to death.
The second day, she woke up with the motherfucker of all hangovers and decided to walk around the village. She stopped at the Ichiraku's for some breakfast, pushing Naruto and Sasuke thoughts to the deepest corner of her brain. At noon, she went to Tsunade and demanded someone to be with her in the mission. Tsunade was slightly taken aback at the request but gave her permission to choose. She suggested every shinobi possible but unfortunately, some of them were unavailable. In the end, she was paired with Genma.
She went to his apartment, well Kakashi and he were sharing so the apartment was technically theirs, and she met with a bone crushing hug from the said senbon-sucking Jounin. Kakashi was lying on his bed, reading his pervert book and totally ignoring the two.
She spent the rest of her day in the apartment and by the night, she bid them goodbye and strolled down the whole village to get something to eat. She didn't feel like going home.
At ten, she went to the gates to thank Kotetsu. She also brought him dango. She didn't expect Izumo there and when he saw her, he gave her another bone crushing hug. She spent the rest of the night talking and chatting with them, and beating Izumo.
And now it was her last day. It was noon and she was walking toward Ichiraku's for lunch. She didn't want to go there but her feet dragged her there for an unknown reason.
She was supposed to report to Tsunade this morning but surprisingly, the Hokage was absent and she heard from Shizune that her mentor was in the emergency room, healing some badly injured shinobi.
She wondered who the badly injured shinobi was. If that shinobi needed Tsunade, then he or she was in seriously bad condition, more like fifty-fifty condition.
She was snapped from her thought when a bark rang to her ears.
Looking up, a white flash appeared in front of her and the next thing she knew was she was pinned on the ground.
"What the –"
A tongue licked her cheek and she met Akamaru, hovering above her.
'You make someone fell in love with you who had the bushiest brow ever and now you are hooking up with a dog.'
Sakura smiled and petted the dog behind his ear. "Akamaru! Good seeing you again!" She touched its head. Akamaru continued licking her but she didn't seem to mind.
"Okay, that's enough, Akamaru," a voice was heard behind the dog. "Sakura isn't a lollipop."
Akamaru whined but remove his body from Sakura. Slowly, she pushed herself to sit and she found Kiba beside the white dog. "Kiba."
Kiba gave her a wolf grin and offered his hand to help. She took it gladly and he pulled her into her feet. "You're back."
"Yeah, how're you doing?" She dusted herself.
"Just finished a damn hard mission. So, how is your too lengthy mission?" Kiba rubbed Akamaru unconsciously.
Sakura laughed. "Oh, it's a long story."
"We have all the day, haven't we?"
Sakura considered this for a moment as she observed him with her medic eyes. If he had been with a damn hard mission, his body would need rest and –
"Hey," Kiba cut her musing, "don't stare at me with medic eyes. I'm totally fine, you know."
She put a hand on her hip and gave him a hard look. "A broken rib, sore leg muscles and nine bone fractures? Wow, that is totally fine." She said sarcastically.
Kiba's jaw almost dropped on the floor. What the… How can she… Is she… Wow.
Without waiting for his reply, Sakura dashed to the Ichiraku Ramen, ordered two steaming bowl of ramen, went back to Kiba with said bowls in hand, dragged him and dashed toward the training grounds.
XX
"Alright." Sakura punched Kiba slightly in the arm. But Kiba still yelped in pain.
"You really need to do that?"
"Just to make sure that everything's fine under there."
Kiba rolled his eyes and resume eating his lunch. Sakura grabbed her own bowl and began eating as well.
They were silent for a moment before Sakura broke it. "So, how damn hard is this mission?"
Kiba looked at her for a moment; his face had spots of soup and whatsoever from the ramen. He went back devouring his ramen, maybe contemplating for an answer.
Sakura wondered if Kiba was obsessed like Naruto when it comes to ramen. She shook her head and thought it was impossible. Kiba must be really that hungry.
"You judge," Kiba downed the last content of his ramen before putting the bowl down on the ground. He wiped his face and mouth before leaning against the tree. "Deal with five nukenin from Ame –"
"… seems not that hard."
"– and an Akatsuki member."
"What?!" Sakura snapped toward him immediately. She noticed that Kiba was frowning and glaring at the sky, as if remembering some bad memories.
"You heard me." He growled.
"Who's the Akatsuki?"
"Kisame."
She didn't know what to say. Kiba was mad. It was obvious in his face.
"I am lucky that these injuries were all I got. I want to say the same thing to Shino but Hinata…"
"What happened to her?" She asked instantly and worriedly.
Kiba sensed her worries. "Don't worry, she's fine now. Tsunade-sama dealt with it."
Sakura considered this and sighed in relief. But still, if they dealt with an Akatsuki member … No, Kiba said Tsunade had dealt with it so everything is fine now.
Kiba still sensed the worry in her expression so he decided to change the subject. "Tell me, Sakura…"
She looked at him curiously but the worry was still present. He wondered if he saw anger as well.
"How can you tell my injuries without actually examining me physically?" He asked.
She tilted her head to the side, as if having no idea about his inquiry.
"I mean, you have to touch me or something like that but what you did a while ago, you just stared at me and voila! You know the rest."
Sakura got what he meant. He was talking about her new jutsu. Well, it's not that new because she mastered it ten months ago. "Oh, you mean the Igaku no Shiryoku no Jutsu?"
"The… what?"
"It's my latest jutsu, the Medical Eyesight Technique. It helps me scan my patient's injuries when I surround my eyes with medical chakra. But, the injuries are all I can see. Nothing more." She explained with a shrug.
"That's cool, you know." Kiba gave her a grin. "How'd you master it anyway?"
"It took me one and a half months to complete and master the technique," she explained with a small smile, remembering her training. "But with complete chakra control, it'll be easy as breaking a tree in half."
"Breaking a tree in half still is hard…" Kiba mumbled. He stood up and flexed his body. "At least, I'm fully healed now. Thanks, Sakura!"
She stood up as well. "It's nothing."
Akamaru appeared behind Kiba and he rubbed his nose against his waist, as if saying something. Kiba rubbed him behind his ears as the Inuzuka gave Sakura one apologetic smile. "I remember that I needed to report to the Hokage."
"Is that so?" Sakura looked around and found a figure of man from afar. "You better go."
"Yeah, I guess." Kiba gave her last one smile. "See you around, then. Thanks for the lunch and the healing and stuff! Ha. You're actually the bestest medic here."
Sakura grinned, feeling sheepish at the praise. "Nah, I told you, it's nothing."
Then Kiba's expression turned in complete seriousness. His expression held some sort of warning or precaution. Wondering for a moment if he would eat her, Sakura winced slightly when Kiba grabbed her shoulder. "Sakura…"
"Y-Yes?" Damn, you're not supposed to stutter!
"Be ready always. If something precious does return back, I want you to accept it."
She didn't have any idea what was he talking about but she nodded anyways.
"Don't let your negative emotions bottle up. Erase them all, leave the positives. Do you understand?"
'Wow, Kiba really is talking like he's some sort of a monk or Mr. I-Give-Wisdom guy…'
She nodded again, quite afraid if she said no he would eat her there and then. Kiba grinned again; his serious facade disappeared in just blink of an eye.
He didn't give her time to respond as began running toward the Hokage Tower. "Good luck to you!"
"Yeah, send Hinata my hello, too!" Sakura shouted and waved her arm.
Kiba waved back then he disappeared along Akamaru. Sakura walked toward the man she found. She called him. "Hey, Neji!"
Said man in question turned around, Byakugan activated, and immediately recognized the kunoichi with pink hair. "Haruno Sakura."
She rolled her eyes as she stopped in front of him. "You don't have to say my complete name, you know."
He gave her a hard look. "You are back."
"And that should be obvious right now."
He glared at her.
She raised her hands in a defending manner. "Chill, Neji. Aren't you happy that I'm back?"
Sakura used to tease Neji even before she left. He was so fun to tease and Neji seemed to be mad at her when she wasn't intimidated by his glares and hard looks. She thought at first that he was cold and smirking freak like some certain chicken-ass bastard but when they were assigned in a same mission, she discovered that Neji was not that so bad. He was cool and she enjoyed teasing him.
Neji scoffed and crossed his arms.
"Seems not happy to see me, huh?" Sakura said. "Ha. You're no fun. Please at least pretend that you are happy."
The Hyuuga didn't answer.
Sakura rolled her eyes.
'A silent Neji was a no fun Neji.'
"So, where's Tenten?" She asked, looking around to search the woman in question.
"She is at the academy," was his short answer.
"Oh, right. She is teaching genin, I forgot." She shifted her weight to the other side. Maybe, Neji could help her. "Do you have something to do this very moment?"
Neji considered thinking about it. Last time he heard that from her, she pulled a prank on him and he was very tempted to murder her that moment. "If you do wish to prolong your merciful life, Haruno Sakura, do not tempt my temper and do not include me to your childish and nonsense doings again." He hissed through gritted teeth.
Alarmed, Sakura stepped back, smiling nervously. "Chill, Neji, I will do nothing of the sort." He seemed unconvinced as he walked closer to her. Not good, she thought.
'Make a run now, then.'
Sakura gasped when her back hit the tree, Neji was still advancing toward her. Think, Sakura, think!
'Or do not think any at all.'
"What is it that you desire to do with me?" Neji asked, his voice dangerously low.
'Just tell him the truth.'
"Err," she started, looking very sheepish. "I am thinking if you can come with me to shop for weapons."
Neji stopped abruptly. He was a meter or two away from her.
Sakura began panicking inside. He stopped advancing to her and he was silent. Maybe he was contemplating how to kill me. Damn.
'Say something to save your ass now.'
And so she did. "You know, Tenten is fitted at the task because of weapons and stuff but we know that, unfortunately, she was not here… And so I thought that you can come with me instead because you, uh, knew Tenten more and we both know that you knew weaponry better than I do. So… yeah, I think you got it. So, what do you say, friend?" She smiled sweetly, well as sweet as a nervous ninja can do.
Neji blinked before absorbing what she had said. He would have laughed at her while clutching his stomach and rolling in the floor at the sight of her panicking but because he was a Hyuuga, a decent, cool Hyuuga, he just smirked at her and turned around. At least, she still feared him at some point.
Oh, what an amusement…
He motioned her to follow and she did. She wondered what he was smirking about. Oh, well, at least she made him to come with her.
XX
"Thanks, Neji."
"Hn."
"So, you wanna come inside and have some tea?"
"My thanks but I will not impose." Neji declined politely. "I need to go back patrolling."
"Is that so? Well, good luck then."
"I say the same to you." Neji paused, uncertain. "Do you mind if I inquire something?"
Sakura looked at him curiously. "What is it?"
"For what reason do you always have to mask your chakra?"
Sakura was taken aback the slightest bit. So he noticed…
'Of course he did. He's Neji, hello, the one who belong to the Hyuuga, the one with the Byakugan, the eyes that can detect and see chakra, if this information escaped your notice, why thank you.'
"I am used to mask my chakra always, that is. It's like a defensive mechanism." She said as if it was the most natural thing to say,
"Someone has been troubling you, hasn't it?"
"Huh? No, no. There's no one troubling me." She was a little surprise at the accusation.
He didn't answer and seemed unconvinced.
"Really, there's no one. I am telling the truth."
He crossed his arms.
"You've got to believe me!" Sakura convinced him.
"Fine, if that is what you want."
Sakura smiled then a thought sprouted in her mind. "Eh, Neji is actually concerned about little Miss Haruno?"
Neji glared at her and gave her the start-teasing-me-again-and-you-will-be-a-dead-kunoichi-with-pink-hair look.
Sakura accepted the challenge as she mocked knocking at an invisible door in front of him. "Hello," she said in a mockery tone, "is Neji there? I wanna speak to him, please?"
"Sakura." He warned.
She laughed softly. "Just kidding, you know." She peeked over his shoulder and saw the setting sun. "I think you should go. I don't want you blaming me when you arrive late at work, you know." She smiled.
He glared at him but nodded in understanding.
"See you around, I guess."
"Hn." Neji turned around, his back facing her. "Always give importance to the present, not the past." And just like that, he vanished, using that super fast ninja speed. She rolled her eyes, totally ignoring his last statement because Neji wouldn't say things like that or so she thought, and muttered something like 'not even say goodbye' and stuff like that.
Sakura shut the door behind her when Neji disappeared. Besides helping her choose for several weapons like kunai, shuriken, senbon, explosive tags, and the helpful smoke bombs, Neji tagged along when she purchased several medical supplies.
Much to her surprise, Neji insisted to walk her home. He said something about cool, decent Hyuuga should be a gentleman and something along those lines.
They spent few hours together and she would admit that she had fun with him. They talked about several things although she did most of the talking. He would either reply with a 'hn' or something that won't exceed ten words. But even though he was like that, she was more than used to it. Neji is Neji. In fact, she couldn't imagine a loud and talkative Neji in the first place. If she did, she would die laughing.
She grabbed the bag full of deadly weapon and the other bag full of life-saving medical tools and medicine. She wondered how ironic her skills were. One moment she could kill someone with her deadly strength and the second moment she could heal and save a life with her medical skills.
'Yeah, very ironic. But opposite really do attract, right?'
She placed the bags on the floor of her living room then stormed past her kitchen toward her bed room. She decided to take a bath.
After approximately twenty minutes, a fresh and fully cleaned Sakura emerged from the bathroom, holding a white towel. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and found several scars on her skin. She touched the biggest white scar on her stomach.
The scar was the result of her battle to death with Sasori. It was a bad memory. Because of her weakness, Chiyo-baasama had died. But still, she refused to heal the scar. The scar was the sign of her being brave, the sign that she was strong.
Smiling slightly to herself, she wrapped the towel around her body and proceeded to the living room to retrieve her medical supplies.
Nobody could enter her apartment so she felt free roaming around with nothing but a towel.
She saw the bags lying neatly on the floor and she went to grab it but the moment she touched the bag was the moment she saw two figures sitting on the couch.
Of course she shrieked.
After the shriek died down, Sai uncovered his ears and looked at her blankly. "You might wake up the whole neighborhood."
"What the hell are you doing here?!" She pointed toward the pale guy then to the other guy who had a senbon in his mouth. "And we're supposed to meet later at ten! So what the hell?"
Genma, as a humble and polite person, whistled at her.
Sai however, being the blunt he was, answered her verbally. "I think you will not prefer it screaming like that in that piece of cloth."
Sakura looked down at her body then she blushed furiously. She stormed toward her bedroom, yelling. "I'll kill you later, bastards! Just wait for me till I have my clothes on!"
Sai smiled in amusement and of course that was fake, not the amusement thingy while Genma laughed.
XX
Fully dressed with black shorts and white shirt, Sakura walked towards the living room and fixated the trespassers her deadliest glare.
Genma was lazily sitting on the couch and looked up at her with a halfhearted smile on his face. Sai however was sitting on the opposite corner and regarded her with a blank look.
She crossed her arm and leaned on the doorframe of the living room and the kitchen. "I don't know that five thirty in the afternoon is the new ten o'clock in the evening!"
"Geez, Sakura, chill down. It's not like we're going to steal something from here or, more like, going to rape you. We're going to do nothing of those likes." Genma defended.
Sakura rolled her eyes and took the seat in the space between the two shinobi.
"Besides," Sakura turned to Sai, "I honestly do not rape ugly women…" And he smiled.
Three…
Two…
One…
'Kill that dick now. Kill him. NOW.'
Sakura lifted her fist, without chakra or else some pale guy shinobi would be dead, and using that super fast ninja speed, punched the smiling Sai straight to his jaw.
Sai slammed himself to the nearest wall.
'Shannaro! Take that, dickhead!'
Genma whistled in amusement and smirked. Oh, damn, that will leave a big purple bruise afterward.
Sakura gave Sai one last glare before going to the kitchen. "Want some tea, guys?"
"Jasmine." Genma said, ignoring the ruckus.
Sai approached the couch again while rubbing his aching jaw. "Green tea."
Sakura vanished in the living room right after.
Genma eyed the bags on the floor. He picked one and took a thing inside. It was a kunai. "Pretty nice weapons you got here, Sakura."
Sai, in curiosity, picked the other bag and found that it was filled with several medical tools, pills and medicine. "Medical stuff…"
"Yeah, I shopped earlier. How'd you find them?" Sakura asked from the kitchen.
Genma scraped his finger slightly along the pointed part of the kunai and smirked when it began bleeding. "Think you have Tenten when you shopped. These weapons are good."
"I'm planning to bring Tenten with me, but she's out so I took the Hyuuga instead." Sakura appeared in the living room with a tray.
Genma raised an eyebrow. "Neji, huh? Guess not it's a wonder."
Sakura poured Genma his jasmine tea and Sai his green tea. Sakura wanted to laugh at the big bruise mark on the artist's face but couldn't stop herself from feeling a little guilty.
She occupied the space between Sai and Genma then turned towards the ANBU. Wordlessly, she charged healing chakra to her fingertips and drew her palm towards Sai's bruised face. After several seconds, the bruise was gone and Sai casted her a blank and yet confused look.
"I don't want to heal that," Sakura waved her hand in dismissing manner. "But I think I should, you know." She smiled afterward.
Sakura picked the bags and stood up. "How did you get in? I didn't forget to lock the door…"
Genma casually held his cup and sipped his tea. "Well, there's this old lady with a key…"
"Fuck off, Genma!" She glared at him. "You are worse than Kakashi!"
Genma laughed and rubbed his face with his finger. "Guess that Hatake is influencing me with his lazy excuses. I don't even know if those are contagious."
Sakura rolled her eyes and noticed the blood stains on Genma's face. "What the hell? Why do you have blood on the face?"
Genma states at her confusingly before getting what he meant. "Oh, it's nothing," he waved a hand then wiped his face with his sleeve. "I used this to measure how good your new weapons are." He lifted his bleeding finger to prove his point.
Sakura scowled, put the bags down and walked over Genma. Using the Igaku no Shiryoku Jutsu, she immediately saw the wound. It wasn't fatal, nor was it deep. It was less than a tiny scratch.
And using the same jutsu, she stared at the wound for a second and it began to heal. In just a blink of an eye, said scratch disappeared. Sakura smirked, satisfied at her work.
Without waiting for their amazed comment or response, Sakura picked her bags again and walked towards her bedroom, muttering something about 'going to sleep' and 'wake me up if I overslept' and something along those lines.
Then they heard a door being shut.
"What was that about?"
Genma stared at his newly healed finger as if it had grown a face. "Did she just heal-stare at my finger?"
Sai shrugged and sipped his tea. "I believe so."
XX
Sakura gathered all her ninja and medical tools on her bed. After sealing said tools in a scroll, she went to pack the necessary pills such as soldier pills, blood replenishing pills, food pills and other medical tablets.
After all these preparations, the bed seemed so appealing to her. Flopping down on the bed, she mental noted herself to wake up before ten in the evening to double check her things.
What would she do upon meeting the former love of her life in Suna?
And Chapter 3 is done! I know, I know. It's lame. I have to tell you the new jutsu of Sakura. I made it myself. Igaku no means Medical and Shiryoku is Eyesight so yeah, you got the idea. This jutsu will come in handy in the next chapters.
So this jutsu can detect injuries by just looking at it and it can heal by just looking at it. Let me know your confusions and questions and what you think about the story.
Thank you!
Read and Review, 'kay?