Barren

Chapter Three:
Dinner Guests

Disclaimer: If Naruto was mine, then I'd be a fairy princess with wings made out of fleece and popsicle sticks.


Naruto tensed the muscles in his face into obvious displeasure. His blue eyes were mere slits, and they shifted back and forth in mild scrutiny. His hands would periodically clasp together, and then rip apart and roll through his greasy blonde locks. Then he would murmur to himself, "I don know…" before throwing his hands up into the air and crying. "BLASPHEMY!"

He didn't even have the peace of mind to focus on his ramen. A rare, worrisome state for the blonde shinobi.

Sasuke did his best to ignore him, focusing his black eyes on the hot, steaming contents of his bowl. He would pick up his chopsticks, mix the noodles around, sigh and set them down again. His napkin was a perfect, crisp white and his tongue had not savored the taste of food. He cursed under his breath.

Finally, the blonde decided to give up his silent interrogation and return to his meal.

But both men were still rather uneasy.

Naruto slurped in a quick bite, felt his stomach grow queasy and dropped his sticks.

"Sasuke!" The Kyuubi vessel jerked to the side, his hands flat and stiff as they grabbed the Uchiha's tense shoulders. "I have to ask you a question!"

Sasuke sighed and pulled himself instinctively away from the hard grip and looked away from the penetrating stare. He settled his eye on the main drag, watching as sandals clopped hard on the dirt, kicking up dust and rocks into the hot sunshine of the day.

He inhaled inaudibly and looked back to his teammate. "Ask away."

Naruto's lips opened and closed several times, his eyes turning uncomfortably as he searched for a way to phrase his question. He bit his lip and decided to blurt it. "Who the hell is that girl!?"

For a moment, the men remained silent and resigned, their lips sealed and expressions seemingly civil. Sasuke considered the blonde for a moment – the way his eyes were bright and burning, and his nose and lips twitching in silent fury.

He shrugged and laid his hands on the countertop. "A friend."

Naruto stiffened, his lips curling in anger. "A friend?" He leaned closer and gripped the edge of the counter for support. "When the hell was the last time you saw Sakura?"

Sasuke turned, his eyes blank and bored. "Does it matter?"

Naruto's frustration was obvious. His hands furled into fists and he searched the Uchiha's face expectantly. "Why have you been skipping training?"

The response was a distasteful, "Hn" and the tapping of chopsticks.

Naruto growled, his breaths growing short and fierce. "Damn it, Sasuke!" He paused and drew in a sharp breath. He pushed their bowls down the counter and curled a tight hand around Sasuke's wrist. He hopped off the barstool and in a split-second, they were outside the ramen bar, tense and glowering.

The blonde dropped his grip on the Uchiha and lowered his voice, his eyes burning red with a strange, imposing intensity. "I thought when we dragged you back, when you put all of that shit behind you!..." He tapered off and swept a hostile glance over his best friend. "I thought you might take the time to care. I thought you might think to yourself, 'I've been such an ass to the people that care about me! Maybe I'll care about them before I'm alone without any damned person to turn to!' I thought that you might be different!" Naruto paused and let his face fall in obvious disappointment. "I thought wrong."

"What's wrong?"

They both straightened instantaneously, their faces cleared and surprised.

The pinkette's brows were furrowed, her hands stretched towards them as if she expected to break them up. Her eyes shifted fast between them, and her lips were parted slightly in agitation.

"What happened?" she questioned again, stepping closer.

Both men were bizarrely silent, their lips pressed tight and their hands tucked tightly against their sides.

Her lips shifted to one side and she rolled her eyes. "I hate men." She tilted her head in exasperation and took a wrist in each hand. "Who's place?"

They were quiet, both still uncomfortable. She threw a cursory glance at her boys and shook her head. "Naruto was last, right?" She scowled. "So it's my turn."

Sasuke tugged backwards and caused the whole troupe to stop.

"I'm not coming."

Sakura glowered. "Don't be an ass, Sasuke. It's Team 7's weekly dinner. You're not skipping out like you do on practices."

The Uchiha's face showed enormous distaste. The pinkette rolled a quick eye over him and wrinkled her brows. "You can bring someone, if that's what the objection is."

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked instantly shocked.

She laughed a little wearily and released Sasuke's wrist. "Go get her and bring her to my place. I invited Kankuro, anyway." She paused long enough to look thoughtful. "Its Team 7's public dinner, I guess." She turned to Naruto and smiled pleasantly. "Anyone you want to bring?"

The blonde smiled sheepishly.

Sakura laughed, a little brighter this time, and let go of her last captive. "Make sure Hinata doesn't faint on the way, okay?"

Naruto bounded off excitedly, leaving Sasuke to stare anxiously at Sakura.

She raised her brow expectantly and pursed her lips. He grimaced.

"I'm not bringing her to the dinner, Sakura."

She sighed reproachfully and rolled her eyes. "Either you bring her, or you come by yourself, but you're not skipping."

He lapsed into himself, obviously considering every possible option. His black eyes glanced up and swept over his female teammate. He felt words pushing at his lips. Words that sounded like – are you alright? But instead he managed to morph them into, "You don't mind?"

The pink haired woman was silent for a moment, any trace of good humor gone off her face. Then she produced a small smile and shook her head. "I would like to meet her. See you at seven, Sasuke."

The Uchiha wasn't quite sure how to respond.


The amount of discomfort in the air was enough to last them for years.

Kakashi sat happily at the head of the table, his trusty book kept close by his side and his mask wrinkling with an almost sick personal humor. His eye swept over the full table, keeping tabs on the awkward glances and noisy shifting.

He laughed breezily and turned to the hostess. "What is for dinner this evening, Sakura?"

The pinkette shot a displeased glance at her former sensei and sighed huffily. "Well, we've got tomato casserole, ramen noodles, some deformed chicken kabobs and whatever is left in my fridge for dessert." She glanced quickly around the table. "Alright. Eat."

She sat down heavily in her chair and turned to Kankuro. "Hand me the meat."

The sand shinobi's lips twisted in amusement and he nodded, reaching for the chicken. "Rough day?" he added quietly.

She pulled three kabobs off the plate and handed it back to him, shrugging lightly. "You could say that."

He pulled a few kabobs off for himself and passed it to Naruto. "SO," he started loudly, drowning out the chinking of the plates and the rustling of the paper napkins. All eyes turned to him. He grinned cheekily. "Just how is Konoha these days? Sakura here tells me it is wonderful."

The pinkette rolled her eyes.

The rest of them were slow to respond, each glancing at another to find their answer.

Finally, Hinata stuttered out, "K-Konoha is doing w-well Kank-kuro."

He turned to the quiet kunoichi and smiled his thanks. "Anyone else have an opinion on the subject?"

Sakura watched the rest of the party murmur nonsense before she butted in. "Well, Kankuro, the chunnin exams are coming up, the training grounds haven't been tended to in months, the hospital is understaffed, and the Hokage has a drinking problem." She raised her brows and passed the sand ninja a knowing, humored smile. "How's life in the sand?"

"Ah, pretty much the same. I tell you, I can't drag Gaara away from that sake." He beamed the sarcasm away and tended to his dinner.

Naruto swallowed loudly, looking up fast at the mention of his friend. "How is Gaara? For real, I mean."

Kankuro smiled genuinely and pursed his lips in thought. "He's doing well. He's busy as the Kazekage, of course, but… he seems happy."

Naruto smiled brightly. "That's good. I want him to be happy."

Silence fell over the dinner table once more, and the ninjas managed to enjoy their meals in partial comfort for a few short moments.

Then a quiet, "You work at the hospital?"

Sakura looked up and focused her eyes on this new girl. Sasuke's guest. The Uchiha watched warily as the pinkette prepared her response.

"Yes, I do," she smiled pleasantly and continued. "I trained under Tsunade and am now the head medic there." She saw the slight surprise in Sasuke's eyes. She turned back to the girl. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Oh!" She passed Sakura a small smile and replied, "Etsuko Katsu." She offered her hand across the table.

Sakura grasped it firmly and answered, "Haruno Sakura."

They shook hands over the white dinner cloth, the two young men of Team 7 watching in anxiousness.

"Ah, yes!" Katsu seemed suddenly astonished. "You saved my sister."

Sakura's brows furrowed until realization dawned on her. "You're Chikako's sister!"

Both of the women smiled knowingly and fell into an easy conversation. The table around them was silent. Only Kankuro and Hinata continued to eat their dinner, blissfully unaware of the miracle at work.

Sasuke watched, his ears blocking out their chatter, his black eyes dancing back and forth between the two girls. He managed to catch bits and pieces of their conversation, meaningless pieces like:

"The internal bleeding was what would have killed her."

"But you got the blood out?"

"It's a special technique. It takes a lot of concentration…"

Naruto had let his ramen grow cold. His eyes were fixed on the girls, his muscles gone tense and his face wary.

Katsu twirled a fork into her noodles and glanced at the stiff man beside her. She grimaced and turned to Sakura, suddenly brimming with curiosity. "How long have you known Sasuke?"

The pinkette fell silent for a moment, before she twisted her lips into a grin and picked up the conversation again. "A long while… I'm not sure, we met when we were kids… Let's see, if we're eighteen now…"

"Thirteen years."

Both of the women looked up at Sasuke in surprise.

His face remained blank, but his eyes were fixed on Sakura. "Since we were five."

Sakura swallowed hard, her eyes caught in Sasuke's. She blinked furiously at him several times before jerking away and swallowing a lump of casserole.

Katsu eyed them suspiciously. "Have you been friends since you were five?"

The pink haired woman barked out a harsh laugh. "No!" She pointed her fork daintily at the Uchiha. "Please, the man has probably hated me for at least ten of those thirteen years."

Sasuke seemed slightly taken aback. He dropped his eyes, and slipped his fork into a ripe tomato. Sakura had given him a few that she hadn't needed for the casserole, and he had sliced them into perfect, pleasurable portions to devour them.

Katsu smirked. "You must have thought yourself lucky."

Sakura tilted her head quizzically, her eyes narrowed slightly. "How so?"

The girl shook her head to clear her face of her long, black locks. "To get on a genin squad with the Uchiha." She jerked her thumb at him. "Most girls are starry-eyed for him." She raised her brows. "Weren't you?"

Sakura withdrew slightly, leaning further back in her chair and scraping her fork across her plate to scoop up some noodles. She laughed quietly and nodded. "Yes. I liked him, that's for sure."

Katsu smiled in satisfaction. Then she grinned and pressed her elbows hard on the table. "I hope you weren't one of those girls that went around proclaiming your love for the guy." She gave Sasuke a once over. "I think that would annoy him."

Sakura's smile had faded and she followed Katsu's gaze. "I think it would too."

A soft tension and awkwardness had bloomed in the atmosphere of which Katsu wasn't quite aware.

Kankuro watched Sakura as her green eyes dropped and fell to her stomach. He watched as she drew an invisible line across her belly button and clenched her fingers into a fist. She picked up her fork and moved the food around on her plate, her appetite diminished.

The sand ninja's eyes watched her softly and hardened as they fell on Katsu. He cut into her nonsensical chatter with a loud, "Well! That was a delicious meal, Sakura." He rubbed his stomach as if he was overfull, but Sakura caught his gaze. She saw the question he was asking and she bit her lip.

"Thank you Kankuro," she murmured. She looked around the table. "How about some dessert?"

Her cheerful tone was slightly stressed, and when she flew out of her seat, the chair fell over. The pinkette smiled wearily and turned to the sand shinobi. "Care to help me in the kitchen?"

"Of course!"

The two collected plates in a hurry and stumbled away from the table.

Kakashi laughed loudly and set his eye on the remaining dinner guests. "If those two were in an installment of an Icha Icha book, they'd be stumbling off to the kitchen to have sex!"

Hinata fainted, turning Naruto's immediate attention into blind concern. Katsu raised an eyebrow and failed to laugh, and Sasuke scowled immensely.

And so the air in the dining room held thick like an oppressive cloud and subdued all except for the effervescent Kakashi.

Sakura slammed the dishes into the sink and jerked the faucet on. It squeaked and cracked dangerously. Kankuro pulled her away from the sink and gently placed her arms by her sides.

"Calm down," he whispered soothingly, pushing on the small of her back and facing her towards the refrigerator. "Find some ice cream and I'll get the scoop."

The pinkette glowered as she tugged open the freezer door and delved deep into its cold confines. Kankuro winced as she banged around, shoving frozen beans and fruity popsicles onto the hardwood floor. He set the bowls down gingerly on the counter and dropped the spoons beside them.

He sighed and rested briefly against the counter before interrupting Sakura on her rampage. He slipped his hands around her waist and pushed her gently to the side, where she placed herself against the counter reluctantly. He gave her a warning glance and pulled the ice cream easily out of the freezer.

She frowned. "I cleared it out for you."

He raised an eyebrow. "It was in the shelf on the door."

She twisted her lips and didn't respond. The pinkette held her hand out and clasped the gallon bucket in her fingers. Kankuro watched as she whirled around and dropped it on the counter, peeling off the lid in the process.

He was next to her in one stride. He reached around for the ice cream scoop and selected a bowl. "Hold this," he commanded softly, taking two big scoops and dropping the gooey globs onto the worn porcelain.

It turned into a routine. He would scoop and she would hold the bowl and then place it in a neat line on the countertop. Seven bowls laid serenely on the black marble.

Kankuro dropped the scoop into the sink and tugged the ice cream out of Sakura's hand. He paused in his clean up and shot her a cursory glance. He shoved the ice cream into the freezer and closed the door, leaning against the fridge.

He hesitated a moment, and then pointed to his belly, his brows raised.

Sakura breathed in sharply. She curled her lips in and bit down hard on them. Her eyes met his for a split-second, glassy and trembling, and then fell.

Kankuro was beside her in a second, his hands cupped against her cheeks and his eyes searching hers. He pressed a hand to her stomach and tucked her head in the nape of his neck.

"Will you tell me?"

She pulled away, her lips pressed tight together. "Later." She gave a small smile, and it held the slightest hint of humor. "The ice cream is melting."

Kankuro laughed boisterously and collected the bowls into his arms. "Open the door, will you?"

She nodded and took a deep breath, brightening her face. She swung open the door and took in the surprised glances she received. "Ice cream!" she announced proudly. Naruto and Kakashi welcomed it openly, everyone else simply nodding their appreciation.

"That took a while," Kakashi joked suggestively.

Sakura took up a wry grin and lightly punched her former sensei. "Of course! We were, after all, making out furiously in the freezer."

The gray haired ninja shot her a cheeky grin. "I know."

Katsu bit tentatively into her cool cream and glanced up at Sakura. She smirked and gave the pinkette a hard stare. "Have you been crying?"

Sakura smiled pleasantly and licked her spoon clean. "Yes."

Sasuke's head jerked in her direction, his ice cream untouched.

Katsu tapped the rim of her bowl and kept her eyes steady with older medic's. "Why?"

"Well," Sakura began, her voice warm and inviting. She hesitated and laughed sourly. "I don't think it's any of your business."

The new girl watched her for a moment before nodded and grinning. "You're right, it isn't."

A silence fell over them that wasn't really comfortable, but it was bearable enough, and they all ate their ice cream without speaking. Naruto would slurp half the contents of his bowl into his mouth, pause, scream, "BRAINFREEZE!" and ask for more. Hinata ate hers quietly and unobtrusively. Kakashi slipped his through some invisible compartment in his mask and managed to hide any sign of an actual face. Kankuro ate his like a regular gentlemen and Katsu didn't attract anymore attention to herself.

Sasuke pretended to eat it. He would stab the helpless cream, glance up at Sakura and Katsu and then stab it again.

Sakura didn't touch hers.

But while not eating her ice cream, she decided against allowing guests to the Team 7 dinners from now until the day she died.


A/N: I'm so proud of myself! Nine whole pages devoted to Naruto! Usually any stories I write are about a page and a half long and I finish them up with a nice cheesy sentence. Ah well, here is another chapter. It's probably the longest anything I've ever written for fanfiction, so la la! Anyways, I hope it was... satisfactory. I actually liked writing this one, but I thinks it a little nonsensical - kind of here and there, and it's mostly filler, not a lot of plot development. So, anyways, that's all folks.

Sorry for any and all grammer mistakes (I tend to make those and not catch them later) and constructive critiscm is always appreciated.

So now kiddies,

REVIEW!! (Purdy please with sugar on top.)

Thank you,
eb.