I Need You Tonight
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Chapter IV
I don't own Naruto.
Listening to: All I want by Staind.
Knock....knock
A loud muffled grumble echoed throughout the apartment. Clearly, indicating an unpleasant mood. Another knocking was heard and was followed by a man's voice. "Open up, Haruno!"
The man's voice made the pink-haired woman utter curses under her breath as she buried her head deeper into the pillow, she was tired and she needed sleep and nothing in the world would deprive her from enjoying her peaceful slumber.
The knocking turned into banging which made her crack an eye open. She worried that the door would shatter under the constant and rather persistent banging. She sighed heavily and swung her feet out of her bed, not caring about how she looked or what she was wearing, she trudged towards the door with a clear thought in mind to kill whoever dared to disturb her peaceful time.
Taking a deep slow breath to calm her nerves a little, she didn't want to look like a raging beast after all, she swung the door open and yelled at the person before her, not paying attention to who the person was. Honestly, she didn't give a damn about the person's identity.
"What!" She shouted at whoever was standing in front of her. Her eyes were half way closed and her hair was ruffled, each lock of pink hair had its own mind. Her clothes were messy and black bags under her eyes marred her beautiful face.
"Nice clothes." Followed by a whistle. She was wearing a pair of pink shorts with a baggy white t-shirt on top.
When Sakura had finally registered what the person before her said, she couldn't help but groan. "Argh, Genma. What do you want?" She asked him impatiently. Don't take her wrong. She didn't have anything against the man but he proved to be a pain in the ass sometimes.
"No 'good morning' or 'come in'? You really have hurt me, Sakura-chan." Genma smiled at her as he faked being hurt by putting his hand on top of his chest.
Sakura sighed and closed her eyes for a minute before opening the door fully and inviting him in. He immediately accepted her invitation and entered her apartment, treating himself like he's at home. Taking a look at her apartment, he couldn't help but notice how messy it was but he kept silent so as not to bother her any further.
"Give me a minute while I change," she mumbled before heading towards her bedroom.
"'Want some help?" The lecherous man smirked, knowing well enough her answer before she opened her mouth. Sakura glared at him before leaving him in the living room alone.
"Nice apartment." He walked discreetly towards her kitchen as he marveled how a young attractive woman could be that terrible in keeping order of her things. Of course that worked in his favor, because if luck was on his side, he would catch a glimpse of maybe her underwear? She might be a little careless and have left them somewhere in that room.
After having swept the room with his keen almond eyes, he started making his way towards her kitchen. "Want some coffee?" He raised his voice just enough for her to hear him.
"Yeah, that would be great," she answered from her room. After a few minutes, she emerged from her bedroom, wearing her usual outfit; a red top with a beige skirt, underneath it were her black shorts. Her ninja pouch was securly tugged in its place and the kunai hostler on her right thigh. Without even sparing him a glance, she headed towards the cup of the black liquid he had presented her.
"Had a rough night?" He asked her as he sipped his own coffee.
Sakura sipped her hot coffee thoroughly, enjoying the warm feeling it gave her as it coursed through her to finally settle in her stomach. "Not exactly," she finally answered him, her hands holding the cup, relieving in its warmth.
"Then why the tired face?" He pointed at her with his index finger while giving her a small smile.
Sakura couldn't restrain herself from smiling back at him. Now she remembered why she liked hanging out with him. He always made her laugh even when she's down. Especially after that fateful day, nobody made her smile genuinely like he did, sure Naruto helped too. But she felt safe around him, he reminded her so much of Kakashi.
Maybe because Genma and Kakashi were most of the time teamed up together and they were always at the bar with all the other jounin? She didn't know and it didn't exactly matter, because they both gave her the same feeling of familiarity and security.
The pink-haired medic sighed before talking. "Yesterday, I discovered that the nerves in Kakashi's hands were damaged quite a bit so I spent most of the night trying to heal them and I only came back a few hours ago." She sipped her coffee carefully.
"I'm sure that it's nothing our Kakashi can't handle!" He proclaimed while waving his hand like the matter didn't deserve that much attention.
"I wish I could say that." She hung her head low, her eyes firmly trained on the coffee in the cup. As a matter of a fact, Sakura was more than worried, she couldn't shake the bad feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach.
Genma noticed the sudden mood swing and decided that it would be safer to tell her why he's there then leave. "Ah! That reminds me, Hokage-sama wants you to go to the hospital as soon as possible." He put his cup on the table before walking casually towards the door.
"And you tell me now!" She exclaimed with a worried look as she hastily put her own cup in the sink before heading towards the door where her sandals laid waiting for her. She quickly put them on and grabbed her small red bag, the senbon-wielding man was already waiting for her with the door wide open.
He gave her a wink before she slipped past him towards the hospital, counting on him to close the door. He sighed loudly and shook his head. "She really needs to take things easy," he muttered under his breath. Stuffing his hands inside his pockets, he wandered into the village.
Sakura raced through the village, careful not to bump into anyone on her way. She muttered a series of curses under her breath when the image of the lecherous man came into her mind. If Tsunade scolded her for her tardiness, she would make sure to beat the living daylight out of him.
When she finally reached the hospital, she noticed the nurses rushing towards a specific room. She immediately recognized it as Kakashi's, her heart pounded in her chest as fear took hold of her senses. She quickly gave her bag to a nearby nurse to put it in her office before hurrying to her former sensei's room.
The pink-haired medic opened the door non-too-gently and caught glimpse of the blonde Hokage. Tsunade was so focused on fixing the problem that had suddenly appeared without a warning, that she didn't notice Sakura's presence until she heard her gasp slightly.
"About time you've arrived Sakura," the blonde Sannin complained without taking her eyes off her patient.
"I'm sorry for being late Tsunade-sama," Sakura apologized before averting her sight towards the silver-haired man on the bed. "What's wrong?" she asked, trying to make her way towards the occupied bed.
The nurses immediately moved aside when they saw the Hokage's apprentice heading towards the bed. They knew that possibly only her and the Hokage herself could save that patient's life.
"What's the situation?" Sakura asked in a professional manner, keeping her eyes trained on the patient, in attempt of figuring out the problem.
"Noriko!" Tsunade shouted, indicating that the brown-haired nurse should explain everything to her.
"His chakra pressure is high, it seems that there is something stopping the chakra from flowing. We don't know where but it's causing a deterioration in his state and it's possible that he may lose his life," the nurse briefed Sakura quickly before hurrying to assist the other nurses in carrying out Tsunade's orders.
"We can't save him here; we'll have to take him to the OR!" Sakura's voice held clear concern for the silver-haired man's life. Why was that happening? Sakura didn't know, she was tired and only one question crossed her mind at that moment.
When will everything be back to normal?
"We're moving him to the OR number one! Hurry up!" Tsunade ordered. She bit her lower lip out of frustration.
After finally reaching their desired destination, Tsunade called for the best medic to help in the surgery. The surgery was not easy even for the legendary Sennin, she needed help in performing it and Sakura was the perfect assistant in that delicate surgery.
"It's all my fault. If I had been skilled enough, this wouldn't have happened." After sometime, Sakura admitted softly. Her hands glowing green and trying to solve the cause of the problem.
"It's not your fault," Tsunade assured her. Her eyes never leaving the spot she's healing. "You did your best. It was not an easy task," she stated.
"But--"
"No buts Sakura! Now concentrate on your work," the blonde Hokage told her.
The surgery was simple in theory but when it came down to its performance, it was considered an A rank mission or even a higher rank. Finding the place of the problem was surely an easy thing to do, because of Sakura's discovery last night. But trying to heal it proved to be a challenge even for the blonde Hokage.
Healing nerves was never an easy task and in his case, his nerves were not the only ones affected but also the chakra stream in his hands. Tsunade could honestly say that she's worried about his ability of using his hands if they were able to solve the problem.
She made a mental note to ask Kakashi to move his hands and to execute a number of difficult jutsus in front of her just to be on the safe side and to make sure that his chakra system wasn't damaged.
As Tsunade worked on his left hand, Sakura worked on his right one. "There's something that you want to say, spit it out already!" The almond-eyed woman demanded, irritation clear in her voice. "I don't need you spacing out at a time like this."
The pink-haired woman was surprised at first to the point that she lost her focus for a fraction of a second which resulted in disturbing her chakra control. But then she quickly regained her composure and looked at her Shishou questioningly, how did she know that something was bothering her? That was beyond her.
"I wonder how Kakashi was able to wake up yesterday when his chakra pressure was this high?" The cherry blossom voiced out her question and waited for her mentor to answer her.
It took Tsunade some time to answer Sakura's question because she herself was wondering about that. After giving up on finding an answer, she sighed heavily. "I guess he had a pretty good reason to wake up." She winked at the pink-haired woman whom blushed a deep color of red in return.
"Shishou!" Sakura complained.
The Hokage only shrugged and continued on healing Kakashi's hand. "How far are you?" She asked, seriousness painting her voice.
"Almost done." A drop of sweat trailed down Sakura's forehead.
"It's time for the jutsu, Sakura. Are you sure that you can do it?" Tsunade looked at her apprentice whom she considered like her daughter, searching for any signs of hesitation or nervousness, but she found none.
"I can do it," the pink-haired woman replied back, confidence radiating from her very being. Her eyes showed no signs of worry or fear instead, they glowed with determination. The blonde woman allowed a small smile to grace her lips before concentrating back on performing the jutsu.
"You know that it's a forbidden jutsu, don't you?" Tsunade asked her casually, wanting to give the determined woman another chance to rethink about her decision.
"Yes I do," Sakura replied furiously, making her mentor proud of her.
"Alright then! Let's get started." The almond-eyed Sennin declared the beginning of the forbidden jutsu. She made a series of complicated seals and Sakura followed her closely. Sakura's hands glowed a strange color of crimson and she stared at them in amazement before looking back at her mentor.
A look of satisfaction graced Tsunade's features when she noticed that Sakura was able to clear the first step of the forbidden jutsu. To be honest, she didn't think that Sakura had the ability to endure calling out her inner chakra, especially that, that was her first time ever. She hadn't even practiced the technique before. "This, as you may be wondering, is the color of your inner chakra; your inner strength. The one that doesn't come out only in dire situations," she explained.
"As I see, yours is crimson. It fits your personality well; stubborn and short tempered." The blonde Hokage smirked when she saw a light shade of pink coloring Sakura's cheeks.
"You can see my chakra? But why can't I see yours?" Sakura asked curiously, clearly amazed by the fact that her chakra could be seen not only by her but also by her Shishou.
"This is your surgery now. Besides, the jutsu can be performed on the same person only by one person." She studied Sakura's reaction at hearing that and waited till that piece of information sank in before continuing.
"Now let's start step two, shall we?" Tsunade looked at her apprentice before ordering her. "Place your hands on his and let the chakra you called for seep into it slowly. Be careful or you might do more harm than good," she warned her and watched her as she let the crimson chakra course through his hand.
The chakra had kept glowing crimson even in his hand before the glowing finally dimmed. Kakashi's hand had twitched a little before a moan escaped his lips, causing Sakura to look at her Shishou with worry.
"Don't worry. It's a forbidden jutsu so it's bound to cause him some pain." She tried to reassure her but that only made her apprentice more hesitant.
"There's no going back now Sakura. That's why I asked you twice if you were ready to do this or not. The moment your inner chakra entered his system, you were bound to be the one to heal him every time he became injured. His body now cannot accept any other chakra but yours," Tsunade stated grimly.
Sakura's eyes had widened for a moment before they returned back to normal. They held nothing but confidence and determination. She was going to do that no matter what and there's no going back in that.
She nodded to indicate that she understood what her mentor told her. The pink-haired medic placed all her chakra control and concentration into healing her sensei. She tried as much as she could to block the winces and the groans that escaped Kakashi's mouth but the task proved to be quite hard and she was starting to get frustrated.
She clapped her eyes shut and poured the crimson-colored chakra into the specified spot with care.
"Now, try to transform your inner chakra into the usual healing type chakra. You'll have to do it carefully so as not to hurt your chakra circulation system," Tsunade added as she watched her apprentice intently.
Sakura gulped nervously, and steadily decreased her inner chakra's flow. A green color mixed with crimson started to glow around her hands, Sakura smiled slightly at her success from her first try and concentrated into finishing the transformation.
After what seemed to be like eternity but was only mere minutes, Tsunade was able to breathe normally. She couldn't help but feel anxious for the pink-haired Kunoichi's well-being even if she was one of the best medics in Konoha.
Sakura was still young to learn such forbidden jutsus but in the world of Shinobi, there's nothing called young. However, when she saw the young woman before her, she felt pride swell in her chest and a small smile ghosted over her lips.
"Good job. Now start working on the second hand. Follow the steps carefully and don't be rash," the blonde Godaime ordered her and moved a little to the side to give her apprentice some space.
Sakura nodded affirmatively, feeling happiness for being able to do something good for once, something that would be remembered and not be brushed off like it's nothing. Her emerald orbs glowed with intensity and they even had a glimmer of crimson in them as she started charging her inner chakra.
She followed the steps exactly as her Shishou had told her. That time, feeling neither anxious nor concerned when hearing the pained voices the silver-haired man produced.
She remembered all the times when her sensei used to save her when they were team seven. When she would always get kidnapped or attacked and the whole team would try to save her. Kakashi was the one who always saved her and brought her back to safety, because the two boys were always either beating the living daylight out of the enemies or bickering as usual.
The memories were still fresh in her mind as she thought about the old days when Kakashi comforted her and tried to assure her that he would always protect her. 'Don't worry, I'll protect you with my life' his voice rang all too clearly in her head. And he never broke his promise, he did protect her with his life and he did fulfill his promise to her.
Sakura's hands trembled a little, disturbing her steady flow of chakra for a second which earned her a worried and somewhat disapproving look from the legendary Sennin. The bubble-gum-haired woman winced a little as she felt the palms of her hands burning from the chakra's intensity. Tsunade warned her not to lose her concentration but she didn't expect to be burned because of losing it for a second.
I guess that's why it's called a forbidden jutsu.
"Are you okay, Sakura?" Tsunade questioned the pink haired woman.
"Yes. I'm fine, Tsunade-sama," Sakura assured her. Just got burned from my own chakra....
When she finally reached the stage where she would start changing the crimson chakra into the healing type, she felt that she could relax a little. After all, healing with the usual green glow was her specialty and she could do it with both of her eyes closed.
A bead of sweat trailed down her cheek, her hands were enveloped in the usual green glow, she took a deep breath as she put the final touches on the injured spot. Gingerly, the green light ceased to appear and faded the minute Sakura stopped channeling her chakra.
She stepped back a little from where her former sensei was lying and breathed out a large sigh of relief. Wiping the drops of sweat that tainted her pretty face, she turned to the Godaime with a smile plastered on her face.
"I did it." The feelings of happiness and content filled Sakura's chest. She glanced at the sleeping man and couldn't help but smile at him.
"Good work, Sakura," Tsunade congratulated the pink-haired woman and patted her on the back. She ordered the nurses to clean everything up and return the copy ninja back to his room.
The world around Sakura felt like it was spinning, she placed her hand on her forehead in a poor attempt of trying to stop the dizziness that overwhelmed her. She stumbled on her feet before blackness took over her vision.
Tsunade quickly grabbed Sakura by the hand to stop her from falling before calling out for a nurse to come and take her to one of the rooms in the hospital. She noticed how badly burned her palms were and shook her head, feeling slightly irritated at the pink-haired woman for not telling her that she had hurt herself but also feeling proud nonetheless.
"She's just tired because of using a massive amount of chakra. Take her to a room and bandage her hands," the Hokage said while leaving Sakura to one of the nurses.
"You really are something, Haruno," Tsunade supplied with a smile on her face before leaving to attend to her paperwork in her office much to her dismay.
The palms of her hands felt like they were on fire. They ached terribly and that what awoke her from her unconscious state. She winced inwardly as she attempted to sit, looking around her with mild interest; she found that she was accommodating one of the hospital's rooms.
She swung her legs out of the bed to make her way out of the room, when a wave of dizziness assaulted her poor mind. She shut her eyes tightly and held a bandaged hand to her forehead to ease the tiredness a little.
When she felt that it was safe for her to open her eyes and resume her quest towards the exist, she noticed the bandages that covered her hands. She wondered briefly about the reason behind them when a memory of what happened before she passed out, flashed in front of her eyes.
Her heart beat started racing with worry but then it returned to its usual rhythm, the moment she remembered the success she'd harvested from completing the forbidden jutsu. She sighed in relief before turning the cold doorknob and skidding down to find her Shishou.
She had some questions that wouldn't leave her alone. Her curiosity overwhelmed her weariness, so many things wandered through her mind, waiting to be irrigated from the well of knowledge, her mentor reflected.
Upon spotting the familiar blonde head of the Godaime, Sakura raced to get to her and satisfy her demanding self. "Shishou," Sakura greeted with a polite nod of her head.
"Ah, I see that you're awake," Tsunade responded before returning back to reading the medical chart of some other patient.
"Shishou, I want to ask you some questions," the pink-haired medic inquired with interest sparkling in her emerald orbs.
"I knew that you would want to ask me some questions. Well... feel free to shoot," Tsunade encouraged her while reviewing the chart at hand.
"Why did you choose me to do that forbidden jutsu? Why not Shizune-senpai? Isn't she the second best medic in the village?" Sakura's nervousness was expected, but it stretched to accommodate feelings of fear and dread from hearing her superior's answer, though she tried as much as she could not to let it show on her face.
She waited patiently for the inevitable, waiting for her Shishou's answer as she worried her lower lip.
Tsunade sighed and put the chart she was reviewing aside and stared at her apprentice straight in the eyes. "You're taking yourself too lightly, Sakura. You two now are on equal footing when it comes down to skill but not in experience. Though that doesn't deny you from the right to execute difficult jutsus or even forbidden ones."
Sakura could only stare as her mentor continued on with what she was saying. "Besides, that was your sensei over there and I knew that you wanted to help him so badly so I couldn't deny you the chance." Tsunade smiled sheepishly at her.
"Thank you for having so much faith in me, Tsunade-sama." Sakura's world brightened considerably, her superior's words gave her so much hope and lifted her spirits to a whole new level. She felt more confident and more capable of handling anything that would come her way.
Her eyes shone with happiness and joy, a lot of good things were happening to her lately that she could honestly say that she feared something awful would come after them. It felt so strange, that feeling of happiness, so foreign that she could almost recognize it and cope with. She had forgotten how to deal with such emotions since they weren't frequent events in those past few years.
Sakura awoke from her momentum of happiness and remembered that she wanted to ask Tsunade another thing. "Shishou, does each person has his own unique inner chakra? I mean in terms of color and ability?" Sakura wondered with obvious earnest.
"Yes. As was demonstrated, your chakra is crimson and it specializes in healing and that was one of the reasons why I chose you to execute the jutsu. Shizune's is dark purple but she doesn't like it much because it's poisonous," Tsunade mused over the last sentence.
Sakura absorbed every little piece of information her mentor threw at her like a sponge, her interest never seemed to be reaching its satisfaction limit. Suddenly, another question popped into her train of thoughts and she found herself appealed to know the answer to it.
"What about Kakashi?"
"What about Kakashi?" Tsunade echoed as a delicate blond eyebrow was arched. Her apprentice's curiosity and drop of honorifics never ceased to amaze her. How Sakura's relationship with her sensei changed to start dropping the honorifics truly had her interested. But when that started was the real question.
"I mean his inner chakra, what would it be like?" Sakura seemed to be oblivious to the smirk that ghosted over Tsunade's lips. Why she suddenly felt the need to know more about her former sensei was beyond her control.
"Hm...I think that it would be of a white color and that it would specialize in assassination......it would be kind of like his bloodline," Tsunade whispered the last part, careful not to let anyone hear her saying anything about the Hatake bloodline.
Sakura understood the blonde Hokage's meaning and nodded her head softly. As a matter of a fact, she knew exactly what she was talking about. After all, she had witnessed its destructive power with her own two eyes and to say that it was frightening would be an understatement.
"Oh, thanks a lot Tsunade-Shishou," Sakura thanked her and turned to leave when the Hokage called her. "Sakura, I forgot to tell you: do not use that jutsu under any circumstances, you understand?"
"Yes, of course." Sakura nodded affirmatively before walking away. She felt like she needed a bath and some company too. Konoha's hot springs would serve as a good place and maybe she could tell Ino to tag along with her.
"Nothing beats a hot bath."
Ino walked towards the steaming water and noticed that the place was almost deserted. "Also, with no one to bother us," she chirped happily and turned to tug Sakura towards the refreshing water. She dipped her foot into the hot liquid, relieving in the warmth it offered before releasing the white towel that covered her lean frame. Dropping the towel on the ground next to her, she dipped herself into the water and relished in the comfort it offered to her muscles.
"Come on, Forehead. Get in!" She ordered her friend whom was measuring the temperature of the water with the tip of her toes.
"Alright, just calm down, Pig." Sakura blew a hair out of her face before stripping away from the towel surrounding her feminine figure. Revealing her breasts to the eyes of her best friend unintentionally.
"You're still as flat as ever, forehead," Ino remarked rather loudly and smirked at the flushed face of Sakura.
"Shut up, Ino-pig!" Sakura huffed angrily and soaked herself in the hot water, suppressing a sudden shiver that ran down her spine. She pulled her towel with her and placed it on top of her forehead and leaned against the edge of the hot spring, feeling content as the hot water worked its magic and released the stiffiness in her sore muscles.
Finally feeling able to relax and forget about everything, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm water massaging her body with the occasional waves that were contributed from the moving forms in the water.
"There's something on your mind, Forehead, isn't there?" Ino stated with confidence. Her eyes shining with unhidden interest as she studied her friend's facial expression.
"What makes you say that?" Sakura dug her mouth into the water which caused bubbles to form whenever she spoke.
"Because you only come here when there's something on your mind." Ino rolled her pale blue eyes in annoyance.
Sakura's eyes dropped a little, feeling a little put off that she was found out like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. She couldn't deny that she wanted some company but that didn't mean that she desired to talk about what was going through her mind.
But knowing Ino, she wouldn't drop the subject until she had all of your cards put on the table for her to see. Maybe she made a mistake when she sought Ino out of all people to give her some company and spend some leisure time with her?
Sakura sighed heavily which resulted in creating more bubbles. She peered at her friend and felt that she was bound to spill all the beans with nothing to keep for herself. "Do you know that Kakashi-sensei is back?" Sakura asked.
"He is?! I thought that he was dead! He was dead, right?" Ino narrowed her eyes skeptically at Sakura.
"Yeah, he was, kind of. We all thought that he was dead but then yesterday morning, he was found in front of the gate and was brought to the hospital," Sakura explained.
"So what's bothering you? Shouldn't you be happy and all?" Ino neared her pink-haired friend to stand beside her.
"I am but there's this thing inside of me that keeps telling me that something terrible is about to happen and I don't know what it is."
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To be continued....
Sorry for the delay.
~KWF~