Barren

Chapter Four:
Expectations

Disclaimer: Alas, Naruto, you can never be mine.

She held her back straight and erect, as if defending herself against some ghastly offense. Her hands were spread apart in wide arches on her thighs. She held her head high, as if she were proud and prepared.

Sasuke watched with mild, muffled curiosity.

Both of their mouths were pressed into tight, thin lines, and their eyes clashed in wary battle.

Katsu leaned closer in, her dark brows crinkling in provoking thought.

"You have intimacy problems, Uchiha."

There was no response. He simply shrugged the comment off and closed his eyelids briefly.

For another moment, they sat together in silence. The two bodies were settled together on a hard, damp bench near the bank of a gurgling, bubbling creek. It was a secluded enough spot for Sasuke to feel slightly uneasy, and Katsu to gain the upper hand.

She leaned against the upper backing of the bench and tucked her arms against her sides, holding her hands limply in her lap.

"Sasuke?"

He turned slowly towards her and raised an eyebrow.

She crunched herself deeper into the bench, pulling her legs up to her chest and squishing her palms against her lower abdomen.

"Why did you come to me?" Her lips were pursed thoughtfully, and her face held an inquisitive sort of softness. She seemed hesitant, her eyes shifting quizzically. "Have I been… chosen for something?"

The Uchiha held back from her warmth instinctively. His black eyes were stoic and calculating. He was poised courteously against the wet wood, his pale hands laid crumpled against his black slacks. His lips furled into his mouth and he quickly wetted them, his eyes still set on the curling, blue-eyed girl.

Something suddenly occurred to him.

"How old are you?"

Katsu's face proposed a faltering, confused smile and she quietly replied. "Seventeen, a year younger than you."

He nodded as if absorbing the information and continued. "You were born here?"

She grunted in slight shock at the irrelevance of his interrogation and ran a nervous hand through her curling, black locks. "Yes." She looked narrowly at him and opened her mouth in stifling sarcasm. "My parents were born in Konoha, as well. I attended the academy and have graduated to chunnin status." Her lips pursed pointedly. "Satisfactory?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes in slight distaste.

Katsu continued. "Now answer my question. Is there any particular reason you're lowering yourself to my company, Uchiha?"

He sighed heavily and fingered the top most button on his blouse. He jerked his head away and his body seemed to stiffen beneath his clothes. And with his eyes averted, his muscles filled with tension and his shoulders broad and hard, he whispered, "Yes."

Sakura felt herself being swallowed whole by the strange, cushiony seat. She grimaced and turned to her mentor. "You need new office furniture," she muttered grudgingly.

Tsunade shrugged and replied, "They're hammy-downs." Her slender fingers clenched a stray bottle of sake and she smiled openly. "What is it you need, Sakura?"

The pinkette seemed to collapse into herself. Her hands folded into her chest, and the backs of her legs pressed hard against the edge of the chair. Her lips rolled inwards, and she seemed to withdraw. She gasped suddenly and forced herself to breathe normally.

"I performed a test on myself…"

Tsunade pushed the sake away, her face suddenly becoming stern and serious.

"But I want… need you to check it." Sakura paused and inhaled sharply. "I need to see if the results change."

The Hokage stood, her palms flat against her desk to support herself. "What kind of test, Sakura?"

"The results – I… maybe I did the test wrong."

"Sakura!" Tsunade's voice was hoarse and sharp. She leaned further over the desk, her back hunched and tense. "What kind of test?"

Sakura looked up, her face weary and strained. "A fertility test."

The Hokage grew quiet.

"I'm barren." She winced as if the words hurt, as if even saying them aloud was some kind of permanent curse.

Tsunade felt her eyes widening, felt herself falling back into her chair. The two women sat together for a minute in shocked silence. Then the blonde stood and reached the seat of her student. She placed a soft hand around the pinkette's thin shoulder, and smiled fiercely.

"I never taught you how to perform that test properly."

There was a flash of hope in the awaiting, green eyes.

Tsunade smiled softly. "Let's try again."

Katsu's eyes were narrowed, and she backed off the bench completely.

Sasuke grunted indistinctly and rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

She twisted her hands together and stretched her shoulders back. "Don't be an ass."

They faced each other in a sort of mild standoff, both confused and not quite sure as to how to continue. The silence poured thickly between them, muffling any attempts at a breakthrough.

Finally, Katsu snapped. "Sasuke, I'm not going to be your broodmare."

He smirked in his own personal humor and leaned back into the bench. "I'm not asking you to."

She looked skeptical, her hands pausing on her hips. "Then what are you asking?"

His black eyes flickered - open close, open close - and he sighed heavily. His head turned away, following the hazy path back to the center of town. "I don't know."

He felt the bench shift as Katsu sat down beside him, a sigh passing inaudibly through her lips. "I always figured you for one to know what he wanted."

He smiled wryly. "Usually am."

She leaned hard onto one arm and pressed her lips together thoughtfully. "Sakura," she murmured reproachfully. Sasuke's head jerked in her direction, his eyes cross and astonished. Katsu smirked and blew out a short grunt.

"What?" His voice was sharp, his eyes filled with blind ire.

She pressed forcefully closer to him, her teeth clenched together. "What will you do if I say it again?"

Suddenly he was on top of her, his hands clenched around her wrists and his teeth bared into an ugly snarl. He was straddled on top of her petite waist, bearing down on her as if he were impressing his own will on to her very being.

Katsu growled underneath her breath and struggled in vain. "Enjoying yourself?" she grumbled sarcastically.

He barked out a mocking laugh and leaned closer. "You wish."

She raised a sadistic brow. "And why is that, Sasuke? Is it because I don't have pink hair? Green eyes? Because my name doesn't spell spring and beauty and damned perfection?"

Sasuke's eyes darkened instantly, flashing red against his will. His lips were curled backwards like a feral dog, bangs shading his furious eyes. Katsu had gone still beneath him, knowing well enough not to push her luck at this point. He shuddered, his whole body racking and convulsing until he went limp and collapsed on top of her.

She could hear his labored breathing, his mind wild with the struggle.

She shifted beneath him so she could look into his eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

He barely seemed to mind her question. "It's… hard to control my… anger." His voice was strained, imprinted with an ominous strain.

Katsu frowned. She slipped her hands underneath him and managed to push them both up, keeping one arm around Sasuke to steady him. "Breathe, Uchiha," she grumbled, absently wiping the stray dirt off her pants.

She let a familiar quiet pass over them before she dared to pose anymore questions.

"Why not Sakura?"

The Uchiha stiffened, but he didn't refuse her. "It's not a possibility."

Her lips twitched at the insufficient response, but she didn't bother to push it. "Why me?"

"No one else has…" He paused to find the right word. "The right qualifications."

Katsu laughed dryly and fingered a long, crooked weed. "It sounds like I've applied for a job." Her eyes fell and she ripped the stem from the ground. A light green juice spilled. "Sakura didn't qualify, then?"

She heard the tremor in his voice. "No. She didn't qualify."

"Tomorrow afternoon, we should have the results."

Sakura watched mutely as her test was sent off to the laboratory. She ran her fingers up and down the lines of her palm. Tsunade was hunched over the counter, her nails tapping rapidly in a rhythm-less beat.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner, Sakura?"

The pinkette was quiet. She pressed her hands together and then tucked them against the starched fabric of the uniform.

She shrugged inattentively. "I was afraid to."

Sakura felt Tsunade's broad arm wrap around her shoulders. She leaned into it, finding automatic comfort in her mentor's motherly grasp.

"You shouldn't be afraid to tell me anything, Sakura. Do you understand that?" Her voice was shushed and soothing, rippling with pronounced reassurance.

"It wasn't just telling you…" Sakura breathed in sharply. "It was having to face it."

"I can't promise that the results are going to change."

The air was thick for a moment, before Sakura chuckled wryly and let her head drop onto the Hokage's shoulder. "I know that, but there's hope of some kind, at least."

Tsunade laughed boisterously, her shoulders shaking with the responsive mirth. "There's always hope, Sakura."

Said kunoichi shoved the blonde lightly and let the tip of her tongue show. "Easy for you to say, Miss Hokage."

They both managed heavy sighs and then began walking in lengthened strides out of the office. There was a distinct clop clop clop as their sandals fell onto the dusty white tile. For a moment they enjoyed the comfort of their easy silence. It was nice to have company and not be forced to talk, to communicate. Sometimes the point of being close to someone was not having to talk at all.

Then Tsunade pivoted on her heel and attached her fists to her sides, rolling onto one hip. "No books tonight, Sakura. Drinks with me." She paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "What the hell! We'll take our fat asses out and get drunk in public, what do you say?"

Sakura smiled ruefully, knowing full well her mentor's potential for holding her alcohol. The outlooks were grim. But she sighed and agreed anyway. She wasn't one to turn down a little healthy drinking.

"Invite some people, too. It's no fun when just the two of us are drunk; we need to mix it up a bit." Tsunade grinned devilishly. She had already formed plans for tonight.

The pinkette was wary, but she punched the blonde lightly and held a lopsided grin. "Meet ya' at eight."

"Eight!" Tsunade cheered excitedly.

The flower shop was empty. Business had been slow all day.

Ino grimaced and pushed her chin forcefully onto her palm. What a stupid idea, this flower shop. People really only needed flowers for holidays, weddings, and funerals. Or when they had been an ass and needed to make it up to their significant other. She laughed dismally.

She puffed up her cheeks and forced herself to stand up straight. She felt the kinks in her back loosen as she stretched upwards, arching her back and thrusting her hands towards the ceiling.

Her blue eyes shifted dryly over the tiny shop. Not a hair out of place. She frowned and considered throwing something, just for the lovely effect of getting to clean it up. She sighed and resigned herself to the chair by the door, next to the rose arrangements.

The blonde wondered vaguely where any of those so called "friends" had run off to. They were perfect for moments like this, and yet, in her time of need, not a one decided to make an appearance.

Oh, the irony.

She dropped her eyes and examined her nails. They were chipped and void of paint. Being a ninja made you forget about some of those more mundane tasks. She knew she had a bottle of nail polish some where in the back, but she couldn't be bothered to go and retrieve it. Shikamaru was rubbing off more than she had realized.

The seconds seemed to tick by awfully slow. Ino pushed out a long, drawling sigh.

Then a twinkling, ding ding.

She jerked and looked incredulously towards the door. She could swear that it hadn't opened all damn day, and now by some miracle, in walked one of those so called friends she had been musing sarcastically about only minutes before.

Ah, life.

"Ino-pig, you're here to sell flowers, not take naps." Sakura smiled brightly and kneeled down next to the roses.

"Thanks for the advice Forehead, but I hear a key ingredient to selling flowers is a little something we in the business like to call 'customers.'" Ino returned the greetings just as sardonically.

The pink haired woman shrugged nonchalantly and stroked her chin in mocked thought. "Really? I've never heard of such a thing."

Ino scowled and crumpled further into her chair. "Me neither."

Sakura laughed lightly and took hold of the creaky, wooden legs. "Get out of the chair or I'll throw you out."

The blonde grinned and stood automatically. She knew her billboard brow well enough to know that she wasn't kidding. Her eyes turned involuntarily to assess where she might have landed. She figured somewhere in the daises.

"So, what's this sudden fuss about?" Ino questioned tauntingly. "I don't hear from you for days and then late one evening, you appear at my flower shop." She raised a brow in suspicion. "You don't need flowers, do you?"

Sakura shook her head and fingered a yellow rose. "Nope, no flowers for me, piggy."

"Good, I'm sick of flowers." The blonde walked forward aimlessly until she collapsed across her rickety desk. "Got any missions lately?"

"Not a one," Sakura remarked, seemingly disappointed.

"Me either. We need some good ol' fashioned ninja fun!" Ino spread her arms and legs out beside her and let them hang off the desk. It wasn't the prettiest pose, or the most polite one either (she figured if someone stared at her from either end they would get a nice flashing), but it felt good.

"Well, here's a thought." Sakura turned abruptly and leaned over the blonde, her green eyes boring into blue. "Let's go get drunk."

Ino's eyes narrowed. "You've been planning this from the beginning."

Pink, round lips chuckled heartily to form her response.

The blonde smirked, her excitement to get out of the stuffy shop heightening. "Alright, it's better then sitting around in this dump."

She jolted up unexpectedly, narrowly missing Sakura's forehead in the process (which is hard to do, considering its size) and hopped ungracefully off the desk. "To the bar!"

"We've got to pick up a few others first," Sakura interjected, waiting for Ino to lock the door behind them.

"Aw, you mean other people are going to see us drunk?" Ino pursed her lips and crossed her arms. She could get a little rowdy when she was drunk. Presumably, of course, as she never really remembered, but Sakura had told her and she trusted the information well enough. It made her wonder what kinds of trouble she had gotten herself into in the past. "Who else?"

"Kankuro-"

"Sand freak."

"Naruto-"

"Ramen freak."

"Hinata-"

"You know she's not going to touch a drink."

"Kakashi-"

"Pervert."

"And Shikamaru, if you want."

Ino considered this option, and the possibility of getting the genius drunk enough to loosen up.

"Yes, I want him."

Sakura rolled her eyes at Ino's suggestive grin.

"What about Team Gai?"

"They're on a mission," Sakura replied easily.

"Damn their lucky asses," Ino grumped, hugging her jacket for comfort. She paused long enough for Sakura to assume that the conversation was over. Then the blonde piped up, "No Sasuke?"

She watched as her friend's face tightened, her cheeks tensing and her lips puckering sourly. Obviously she was missing something.

"He's got… other plans," Sakura mumbled, barely coherent.

Ino scoffed instinctively. "Other plans? What other plans could the man possibly have? He can't even form real sentences."

The pink hair woman folded her arms across her stomach, crushing them into her belly as if to cure an ache. "He's got plans with his… girlfriend."

Ino stopped abruptly, her legs shying and her eyes wild like a spooked horse. "Hold the phone! A girlfriend?" Her lips curled into a snarl, but her eyes were still shifting, as if she wasn't quite sure that she should believe it. "Since when does that ass have the ability to like anyone?" She wanted to add, 'other than you', but she felt that would be pushing it.

A shadow passed over Sakura's face and she clenched her fingers not-too-lightly around Ino's tiny arm. "Just lay off it, Ino. Don't spoil my mood." She almost smirked. "I like to be a happy drunk."

The blonde complied, but she was still wary, still confused. "Whatever you say, Forehead."

And so the two women set off to retrieve their drinking partners, and get terribly, horribly, unbelievably, unethically wasted.

A/N: Ohoho, chapter four! Sorry for the long wait! I, being one of those Twilight freaks got all caught up in reading the incredible Breaking Dawn and failed to think about much else. (For those of you who haven't been swept up in the Twilight epidemic, you have no idea what you're missing out on.) Anyways, besides that, what did you think? It's a relatively long chapter (so hopefully you'll forgive me for the late update) and I sincerely hope it has all the "right qualifications", as Sasuke would say. The dope. But I am terribly excited about the upcoming chapter, for I will get to portray all my favorite ninja's as floundering, drunken idiots. Oh, it will be fun. Unfortunately, though, it will involve three drunk blondes, so I can't say things like, "the blonde blah blah blah" because it would all get too confusing and everyone would be like, "which freaking blonde!?". So, I'm gonna have to think long and hard about my adjectives. Poop.

Oh, so, sorry for any grammer mistakes, and constructive critisicm is always appreciated!

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