CHAPTER EIGHT

OoO

"Everyday is in black and white,

I want them to be attached with colours" - Taiyō no Uta, Sawajiri Erika

OoO

He appeared on the doorstep as nonchalantly as he approached everything else. His hair was slightly windswept, a small damp stain beneath on his loose garb suggesting that he had been in what might have been a hurry. There was no need to knock. He simply stood in front of the door, and it only took a few moments for Naruto to answer it.

He stabbed him in the chest.

"Welcome back."

As the clone fell back and popped out of existence, two more look-alikes stepped out of the shadows, a swirling Rasengan rotating fiercely between them. They smiled grimly, and then one of them dissipated, leaving the original to face his former teammate. The whooshing of the Rasengan's vortex capabilities filled in the silence.

Naruto quietly observed the Uchiha. Sasuke had come dressed in the Sound's full uniform. The blond deduced that his skills must have increased dramatically for him to be able to slip into the village and remain under ANBU radar in such a conspicuous outfit.

The raven-haired boy did not appear to have changed much. He still had the slight smirk dangling from the corner of his lips, the undermining glint in his eyes. He was still the bastard that his friends had almost died trying to retrieve.

"If I yell, they'll be all over you like your fangirls."

"You wouldn't."

"How would you know?"

A smirk. "Because I know you, dobe. And also because I took care of this area's security."

Naruto's hand lowered slightly, the velocity of the Rasengan reducing. He dropped his head. "How many?"

"Three."

"Why are you always like this? No – why are you like this now?"

"You don't understand; it is beyond your thinking frame."

"When are you going to come home, Sasuke?" Naruto whispered.

"I don't have one. Nor do I need one."

He knew he had taken a wrong step, allowing the traitor into his household. He should have raised the alarm, should have sprinted to the Granny Tsunade when he'd noticed his presence, not dash into Sakura's room to make sure was alright. Or perhaps he should have opened the door himself, and thrust the Rasengan into Sasuke's gut.

But he hadn't, and Naruto no longer knew what to do.

The Uchiha stepped inside and brushed past him. He cast around, and then said, "Where is she?"

Naruto whipped around, his eyes glowing crimson. "If you hurt her-" he snarled.

"I won't."

"I'll kill you if you do." No way was he leaving the carcass for ANBU if anyone tried to harm a single hair on Sakura's head – not even if that person was his brother.

Wordlessly, Sasuke glanced behind him and took in the tense form of his blond teammate, his eyes raking over the clenched fists and gouged whisker marks. Then he smirked and walked to the end of the hallway. He reached for the handle of the first door on the left, but Naruto was suddenly shoving him away, warning glinting in his fierce glare.

"One more time, Uchiha," he growled forcefully. "I won't hesitate to snap that sorry spine if I think you're up to something. Understood?"

"Don't order me around, dobe."

That was as close to an agreement that the two could ever settle on.

She lay in the middle of the room, curled under the blanket settled over her shoulders. Faint creases in the futon near her head marked where Naruto had been sitting previously, cradling her close to his chest and transferring his warmth to her as the wounds she had inflicted on him in her sleep healed. Whether the other was aware of it or not, the pink-haired girl was important to both of them, and the two boys had trouble getting through the door.

They sat in silence, seated on either side of the slumbering girl, facing each other. Sasuke refused to look up, and Naruto refused to turn his glower elsewhere. He was very aware of the many things that could go wrong, and all forms of defense he could conjure from his head involved snatching Sakura away from the traitor the first moment he got.

When the silence hovered above them for a moment too long, Naruto was very much on the verge of putting his escape tactics to test.

"I didn't mean for it to turn out this way," Sasuke murmured.

Naruto's head snapped up to regard his rival. For a brief moment, the Uchiha glanced up to meet his gaze, and in the dark obsidian eyes, the blond saw the faint moments Sasuke always had. There were times when Sasuke Uchiha would falter, would release his guard for a short moment to ponder.

Those seconds of doubt were his conscience, his morality considering what was right and what was wrong – and they almost always only lasted a few seconds.

"It was either me or Orochimaru."

"You almost killed her."

"But instead I blinded her."

"She was in a coma for four months, bastard."

"Better than under the ground for eternity."

Naruto's eyes slowly faded into their regular shade of tranquil cerulean. He didn't understand. Sasuke had been feeding them a self-portrayed image of immorality for months now, and yet his conscience was still evidently present, appearing in the slightest forms. It was too complicated for the blond to comprehend. Even when they had been Genin, Sasuke had been particularly hard to read. Rarely any emotion touched his features, and even if they did, they rarely come out expressively. Naruto hated not knowing what those around him were thinking.

He sat back and closed his eyes briefly, exhaling a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. Team Seven were reunited – under undesirable circumstances but still together once more. He tried to find comfort in the moment – and failed miserably. He couldn't, not when Sakura was blind and the man who had inflicted such damage on her was now a twisted avenger, one who knew not where his loyalties should lie.

When he opened his eyes again, Naruto had the strong urge to close them again.

Sasuke had laid a hand on Sakura's forehead, and under his touch, the frown that Naruto had tried to soothe all evening morphed into a soft smile. The girl shifted slightly, and there was no a single line of discomfort in her features.

It's always Sasuke, the blond thought, trying not to sound bitter. Indeed, it seemed that the Uchiha was always a step ahead, always more prepared and suited for anything. He was the more advanced of the duo, and only through infinite training and determination could Naruto begin to inch ahead. But Sasuke never needed to pitch in the amount of effort required of Naruto. And even when, on the rare occasions, Naruto came out the victor, it was always the Uchiha that absorbed the most attention.

It hurt to realise that he would always be second-best.

It hurt more, arcing through his nerves and searing his interior beyond recognition, to see that Sakura responded to Sasuke, and Sasuke only.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"What?"

"She almost got raped this morning. You weren't there to play heroics."

He tried to ignore the constant stabbing of needles attacking his heart. "No. But you were."

"She called me."

Naruto could well imagine Sakura, alone in the dark with an imperious shadow hovering perilously above her, screaming for Sasuke. Yes, that seemed about right. She'd been doing that since they had been Genin. Oh, she'd call for good old Naruto, of course, but only when her usual saviour was unavailable. Now that Sasuke was constantly beyond her reach, she had fallen into Naruto's guard, and as much as the blond resented being second-choice, he knew he would be there to catch her when she fell, no matter how many times she tripped.

Because he had promised and, while Sasuke Uchiha gave no one his word with the knowledge that he would one day have to take it back, Naruto swore vows by basketfuls, and he always stuck to them.

He'd broken a promise to Sakura once, just once. He'd sworn to bring Sasuke back that time three years ago, but he'd failed. In its place, he had covered it with another promise; that he would bring back the damn Uchiha and made sure he never left her again, even if he had to chain the other boy to himself to accomplish it.

So, no matter how many times Sakura would cry out for someone other than him, Naruto would be there to console her in that person's place, and regardless of his own inner demons, he would fulfil whatever task she set upon his shoulders.

"She misses you."

"She's got you. She'd doesn't need me. I don't need her."

"I'm not you, Sasuke. I'm not a damn bastard. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and she's probably got more of me than she wants. She went after you all those months ago just to bring you back."

"I would have thought she'd have had the common sense not to give chase alone. And you, you shouldn't have let her follow in the first place." Sasuke looked into his teammate's eyes, neither of them relenting. "You said you would protect her. But you didn't."

It was a stab into his conscience. "I know," Naruto whispered.

At that moment, Sakura let out a choked cry and started to thrash around. Horrified, Naruto tore his gaze away from Sasuke and reached for her, wincing when sharp nails raked along his arms. He grabbed the flailing girl and held down her limbs with gentle force. He enveloped her in his embrace, holding her close. Her muffled screams shifted to be replaced by low moans, and, still lost in nightmarish slumber, she pressed her face against his chest and sobbed into his shirt.

By the time Naruto had soothed his friend's distress, whispered frantic pleas and assurances into her ear, and looked up, Sasuke was gone.

The blond stared at the spot his former teammate had occupied just moments before while he gently rocked Sakura. Sasuke hadn't left a trace as a reminder of his presence. For all Naruto knew, he might have been a hallucination, a dream as deadly as the one Sakura had just escaped from.

A tiny flicker of satisfaction glimmered within him, and he contemplated on its cause. Sakura had calmed at his touch, had found assurance in him. A person did not lie when they were unconscious of their own motions. Sakura had just told him that she needed him as much as she did Sasuke, and although he had not bettered the latter by much, it was enough for Naruto to be blissfully content.

A faint tickling prickled his skin as the cuts scattered across his arms and face started to knit together and close. Naruto smiled softly and reached for the discarded blanket, settling it over Sakura's torso. It appeared that she had calmed down. Only the wet patch on Naruto's shirt gave a hint as to what she had unconsciously done.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." He didn't realise he had said it out loud until she shifted in his arms and nestled into a more comfortable position. His grip on her cinched tighter. "You shouldn't have to go through this. I'm sorry." He shouldn't have let Kiba drag him away, shouldn't have remembered about her handicap until after he'd been torn from her frightened grasp and she'd been swept away by the crowd.

He should have been there when Sasuke had.

"Naruto?" He looked down to see Sakura's eyes open, and gently squeezed her hand.

"Hey."

"I-I thought I heard something… was someone here?"

Naruto turned his head to look once again at where Sasuke had sat. If he were still there, the three of them would be closely gathered. But he wasn't there, and no matter how much he mourned the loss of another opportunity to recover his brother, Naruto could not truly convince himself that he'd been there; he was like a phantom, a shadow that flitted in and out on its own will.

"No."

OoO

"Hey, Billboard Brow."

Sakura jumped slightly when a cool hand dropped onto her arm. Unwilling to give her rival any satisfaction, she attempted to disguise her surprise by getting up from the bench. "You're late, Ino-pig."

"Come on, what's a few minutes?" Ino sighed. She flicked her ponytail back over her shoulder and leaned in close to Sakura. "He's watching just around the corner, you know."

The pink-haired girl scowled. "I thought so."

"He's just worried about you. Pretty nice guy, if I must say so myself."

"He's just being a mother hen."

"Father hen."

"Shut up."

It had been two weeks since The Incident. The two of them had come to individual conclusions; Sakura refused to confide in Naruto about her fears, and he in turn refused to let her out of his sight unless she darted into the toilet. After he'd given her the 'sit here and keep me company while I get this mission done; won't be long, there's not a lot of garbage in the stream' excuse for the fourth time, Sakura had confronted him about his ridiculous protectiveness.

She'd noticed that he'd been quieter since The Incident, but he'd begun watching her like a hawk, and even though she was blind, Sakura could well feel his gaze drilling into her flesh.

"Naruto," she'd sighed. "You're worrying too much. I won't fall off the balcony if you leave me home alone."

"No," he'd agreed, and had placed her fingers on his lips so that she knew he was grinning, as he had taken to doing whenever he expressed joyous emotions. "You'll just fall into the bathtub."

"I will not."

"You'll trip on your futon."

"Quit it."

"Mistake ping pong balls for dango."

"We don't have ping pong balls!"

"Oh. Okay then… sit on the stove."

"Why would I be sitting on the stove?"

She'd heard him chuckle, and with as much accuracy as she could, threw a punch at him. Her knuckles brushed his ear. "You pervert! I can find my way to the bathroom, thank you very much!" And she'd stomped away, fuming – to stub her toe on the edge of the couch and do a faceplant.

"Sakura!" In typical Naruto fashion, the blond had frantically circled the fallen girl several times before dropping down beside her and helping her up and checking and double checking and triple checking her for injuries. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? I didn't mean to curse you or anything, I swear! Here, let me-"

"Naruto," she interrupted firmly, huffing in exasperation. "I'm fine. Don't forget, I'm a kunoichi – I don't cry over stuff like that."

For some reason, he'd fell silent for a moment. "Kunoichi?" he questioned softly, and she immediately realised her slip. "Are you…"

She pursed her lip. "I don't know. I… look at me; how am I supposed to chase missing-nin if I trip on furniture?"

"But… you want to, don't you?"

"Don't ask me, Naruto, please. I really don't know."

His arm slipped around her shoulders, a reassuring weight. "Okay, okay. So where were we?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Something about stoves?" she asked sweetly.

She couldn't see, but Naruto had paled deadly fast.

"I wonder what Tsunade-sensei would say if I-"

"No! Please no! I'll do whatever you want, anything – just don't tell her!"

So here she was, finally free of Naruto's hawk watch.

"I think he's gone now," Ino observed. She grinned. "So what'd you do to get him to let you out of the cage?"

Sakura scowled. "Don't even remind me." She decided then and there that she would not tell her companion the five minutes of anxiety she'd endured. When she had convinced Naruto to let her out by herself, he'd reluctantly agreed. That hadn't prevented him from marching her to the meeting spot with a grip on her elbow so tight that thrusting it in his ribs would have been impossible.

It had been a torturing wait. Every minute seemed to be an hour in disguise. Sakura's hands had gone slippering with sweat in a matter of seconds. She sat on the stone bench, and as villagers passed by, all she had been able to hear was their footsteps and chatter. She'd strained to hear Ino's familiar words of greeting. After two minutes, she even found herself regretting her insistence to be alone. She would rather Naruto have stayed with her until Ino arrived. At least then she wouldn't feel alone in a dimension of darkness.

"Come on," Ino said. "I booked us a table at Fusame's." And she did something she had not done for many years.

She held Sakura's hand.

Sakura tilted her head down to confirm the gesture, remembering that it was beyond her abilities a second later. As children, the two of them had constantly skipped across the meadows, hand in hand, shouting out the letter game. Even after they had made up after the Chunin Exams, they only – rarely – linked arms when they walked. Sakura knew why Ino was doing this, though. She was doing it for the same reason Naruto was practically breathing down her neck.

Because she was blind.

"Sakura, come on," Ino scoffed, tugging gently on her arm. "We're gonna lose the table."

"Right, right."

And Ino ran. Sakura couldn't even utter a word of protest as she was dragged after her friend, and her legs automatically raced to keep up with the speed at which they ran. She was terrified that she would collide with something or even trip on a stone. But she didn't. She ran almost directly behind Ino, and the latter cleared a path for both of them. Turning the corners were more difficult, as Sakura commonly went fishtailing around the edge, but Ino easily tugged her back into line.

Two minutes later, Ino was checked in their reservation with a suspiciously cheery voice.

Sakura couldn't stop laughing even as they slid into their seats.

Ino raised an eyebrow at her companion, kicking her under the table when Sakura obviously failed to notice. "People are staring," she said casually, which translated into: "Spit it out; what's so funny?"

Sakura gasped softly for air and slumped forward on the table, her body heaving with remnants of giggles. "I haven't had this much fun since… since I don't know when!"

"Fun?"

"Naruto won't even trust me to flush the toilet without falling into it."

"Ah… I see." Ino smiled. She'd deduced as much. When Naruto had asked her to take Sakura out for a day, she'd spent the night staring at the ceiling and planning ahead. Naruto had already told her about the harvest festival, and had warned her not to mention it. He had also requested that she pretend that she was willingly seeking Sakura's company and had not been asked to, especially by him.

Ino had her doubts. Judging from the way Sakura was describing his actions, Naruto was being too cautious, as if she would break if he turned away. Ino supposed that she had been like that before, at the hospital. Giving her the 'special treatment' was a subtly obvious way of constantly reminding Sakura of her loss, and if it continued, it would be ages before the girl learned to deal with it.

So Ino had treated her as if she were not blind – and Sakura seemed to be having the time of her life already.

She placed an order for yakitori, dango and rice, and then crossed her arms to regard Sakura with an amused look. "So how did that feel?"

The other girl thought for a short moment. "Refreshing," Sakura said, laughing, and to Ino, she seemed to be eight years old again, grinning widely at the presents her only friend gave her.

Ino didn't know, but she had given Sakura a gift greater than any physical accessory.

"So what are we going to do today?" Sakura asked, finally letting go of the carefree enjoyment she had grasped.

"Okay," Ino grinned. She had already thought about this. "First, we'll eat, and then we'll go check out some clothes. We'll go to my house after that and I'll fix up your hair – it's a disgraceful mess. Then we can do whatever you want for two hours before I give you back to Naruto." It was a plain schedule, but by the end of the spoken itinerary, Sakura had a grin twice as wide as Ino's.

"Thanks, Ino."

"For what?"

"For… for all this. It's really helping." Sakura surprised herself with her words. She sounded like she was a patient and Ino was the counsellor. She cringed inwardly, and then recognised that the light sensation in her chest was relief. Maybe I've been clogging myself up too much… still! I sound like a nutcase!

When the food arrived, Ino snapped open her chopsticks and murmured her thanks, but then noticed that Sakura had not moved. It was painful just watching the other girl's indecision and doubt.

Sighing, the blonde picked up a piece of yakitori. "Open."

Sakura lifted her head and blinked in confusion. "Sorry?"

"Open your mouth." Sakura did as she was told, and Ino leaned across the table to drop the yakitori in her mouth. Sakura's eyes widened and she almost choked.

"I-Ino! You – why-"

"You're blind," Ino pointed out, and she fell silent. When Sakura said nothing for longer than expected, only chewing slowly, the blonde wondered if she had mistakenly interpreted the direct approach a little too quickly and bluntly.

Then, "Can I have some more?"

Ino obliged, and the custom was set in stone. Sakura smiled a lot more than necessary, and the grins usually reached her sightless eyes. Complaints and the occasional insults were exchanged, but neither girl was willing to break away.

The food disappeared between the two of them. With the last stick of dango, Ino had removed the dumplings from the stick and placed them on the plate and told Sakura to practice eating them. She didn't realise how hard it was to find your mouth with your eyes closed until now, and even though she laughed at Sakura's failed attempts and chuckled at her one success, Ino could not ease the pity that welled up within her.

"You're wearing your forehead protector," she said, surprised, noticing at last that her companion's hair did not fall over her sightless eyes as it had in their previous meeting.

Sakura turned away and laid down her chopsticks. "Yeah," she said quietly.

Ino frowned at her friend. "There's nothing wrong with that. Don't give me that face."

"I shouldn't be wearing this, Ino. I… I don't even know if I still want to be a kunoichi."

The blond girl flinched. "You're kidding."

"I'm not." Sakura bit her lip and threaded a hand through her hair, closing her eyes and resting her elbow on the table. "I think I should just back down…"

Had Ino not still valued her reputation, she would have slammed both hands on the table's surface, did her best to crack and splinter it, and leaned over to yell some sense into the girl. Instead, she hissed, "Stop right there, Sakura. I don't want to hear it."

Sakura's eyes snapped open and her mouth hung slightly open at Ino's venomous words. Great – just when I thought we'd made up…

"We're nine years old," Ino continued in a bitter tone, speaking as if she were attempting hypnotism. "It's exactly a year and three days before we're ten and we break up our friendship over a boy." She was too infuriated to notice Sakura's complexion darken. "We're sitting behind the counter in my family's shop, bored out of our little minds, and I ask you why you're so scared all the time. Do you remember?"

"Yes."

"Jeez, Sakura, why do you jump like a rabbit in class and become a talkative brat out of school?"

"Do you remember what you said to me?"

"I might."

"Billboard Brow."

"Ino-pig."

"What did you say that day? I know you remember."

Sakura sighed softly and allowed her mind to recall the various events that it catalogued.

"You'll laugh."

"I won't."

"Everyone else will."

"But I won't. Come on, Sakura, don't you trust me?"

"I do… but you promise you'll still be my friend if I tell you?"

"Promise."

She did not realise that tears were sliding down her cheeks until she felts Ino's cool touch against her cheek, flicking away the moisture.

"Quit crying all the time. Just because your eyes can't do anything else."

"Shut up." She wiped furiously at her eyes.

Ino watched her carefully. She had not meant to push her so hard as to reduce her to tears – but really! Giving up had always been Sakura's forte, but like everything else Forehead Girl did, she'd never particularly excelled at it. "You said-" she began, but Sakura cut through her.

"I know what I said," she said dully. She looked up, and if Ino didn't know better, she'd think that she had regained her sight. "I told you that I was nervous, always scared that I'd do something wrong."

"And why?" Ino prompted in a gentle voice.

"Because I'm the first ninja in my family line and I'm worried that I'll do a bad job of it and bring shame to the family."

"Did you?"

Sakura opened her mouth, closed it again and fell silent.

"Do you know why I asked Lady Tsunade to train me as a medic-nin?"

A nod.

"That's right. Because of you. Because you were getting too strong for me. Because you had become a damn fine kunoichi."

Keeping silent was one thing Sakura Haruno happened to be highly skilled at, and she put her talents to use.

Ino reached out, carefully scraping her arm against the table so that the blind girl would know to expect contact, and gently took Sakura's hands in her own. "I thought you could knock down the Hokage Stone with these hands of yours." She sighed. "Lady Tsunade misses you. She doesn't say anything, but I can tell. She's just sitting in her office, staring out the window, ignoring paperwork and Shizune when she tries to get her out. Paperwork and Shizune aren't all that new, but she's stopped going down to the gambling halls, Sakura, and you and I both know that she can't last ten minutes without thinking of three sevens."

Sakura found no comfort in discovering that she was causing her mentor pain. Her parents were now among the buried prone, and no matter how much she mourned their absence, she would never have them back again, not unless she was willing to perform kinjutsu, which she didn't. Tsunade had come to be her surrogate parent, one that ruled their child with an iron fist and a soft heart. The Hokage would never admit it, but Sakura would, and she could say without hesitation that she loved the sake-addicted, unlucky Legendary Sucker and was proud to be Mini Sucker.

"Tell shishou to stop worrying. Naruto hasn't tried to sell me to a brothel just yet."

"It's not the best time to joke, Forehead Girl. I shouldn't be saying this because she ordered me not to, but since you can't see, I promised you I'd be your eyes for a day… Lady Tsunade's losing it. Her jutsu, the one that keeps her looking young – it's fading a little. I saw a few wrinkles and the last time she performed handsigns for me to watch, her hands were not smooth."

Sakura wished she were deaf and not blind. If she were deaf, she would not have to hear Ino, and if she still had her sight, she would have been able to find her way out of the restaurant and be long gone before she could be overwhelmed with guilt.

"Go back to her, Sakura. Come back to us." Sakura refused to speak, and Ino scowled; she'd tried being nice and gentle, but it obviously was not having much effect. "Look – no, listen; I know you're still trying to get over everything. I'm pretty frustrated just looking at you, and I know you probably feel a hundred times worse. I won't pretend that I know what you're going through – I just know that you'd better get over it soon.

"We're all worried about you. Shikamaru, Choji, Lee, Hinata – even Neji – they want to see you, see if you're okay. But they hold back because they're scared they'll do or say something that will hurt you. Guess what – I'm not them. I don't give damn anymore. I tried handling you like glass, but you're breaking and shattering and cutting me. Stop falling apart! Pull yourself together and stop making us worry about you, alright? Naruto has practically locked himself in his apartment to look after you and glue himself to the door when you shower. He only ever comes out to get missions so that he can feed the two of you. Do you want him to be like that forever? If you care about him, you will bloody hell grow up and learn that you're not the only one who has problems in this world; you'll stop holding him back from what he's supposed to do."

Ino was breathless, and she still had many more things to say. She was aware that the few staff and customers in the restaurant were staring at them, whispering behind their hands. She snapped around to glower at them, and then immediately scattered. Then she heaved in a huge breath and prepared to dive back into battle.

"Do you… really think I can be a ninja… even if I can't see?" Sakura murmured.

She hesitated, but only to finalise her answer. "Yes. You can't give up something you haven't even attempted. You'll adapt and you'll deal – everyone does. Naruto has-" She caught herself, glanced around, and rephrased her words. "He's got the furry thing inside him. You think it's doing him any good? We used to hate him, remember, because everyone else hated him. Think about that, and then think about what you're crying over. What's being blind compared to being hated your whole life?"

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"I get it. But-"

"No buts," Ino said firmly. She held a steely gaze with her friend's sightless eyes. "Yes or no?"

The forehead protector suddenly felt very heavy atop her head. She was tempted to rip it off and cast it away and run away from it. She had done so much to earn it, to prove herself a worthy bearer of Konoha's pride. And yet, it had only resulted in taking away her sight.

But she had known that the life of a shinobi would always be filled with continuous prospects of danger, consisting of more downs than ups – and some people didn't come out after the downs. And those that did just gathered their strength to plunge again.

"I don't know if I will get it right. I won't even be able to see where I'm throwing shuriken."

"That's a yes, isn't it?"

Come on, Sakura – it's not too late to say no.

"Yes."

You suck.

"Great. We'll find a way. There are thousands of jutsus and techniques – there must be a couple that you can use." Ino tapped her chin thoughtfully, quietly relieved – and then grinned.

"But before we come to that, I think Lady Tsunade might want to work on your dodging."

Sakura paled. But even as Ino cackled, the pink-haired girl could only slump her shoulders. There was no avoiding Tsunade's wrath, so she tried not to think about it at all until she stared punishment in the face – That'll be never, she thought wryly. Instead, she turned her thoughts to a certain blond who had been by her side the entire time, waiting at her elbow to catch her in case she fell, never straying far in fear that she would need him. She had told him that she would not accept his hospitality without doing something in return, but she all the little things she attempted for him could not stand against his sacrifices.

I'm sorry, Naruto. I'll be strong now. Like you. For you.