Disclaimer: No profit besides improving my writing skills.

Thirsty

"How'd it go?"

"It's nice to see you too, Naruto. Jeez." Sakura sank into a seat at Ichimaru, thankful for the slice of normalcy.

"I ordered your usual since you were a bit late." The blonde scooted a lukewarm bowl of noodles toward his friend.

"Thanks, and sorry. I was - " Interrupted by her team mate tossing a pair of chopsticks at her, Sakura smiled as Naruto called her early on her bullshit excuse for being late. It was an odd way to deal with the loss of their sensei, but it worked and that was what mattered. "Anyways, I'm glad I was able to make it before you two left. If you don't mind, I'm going to stuff my face now."

"Can you at least tell me that it's going well?" Naruto wheedled.

Hinata calmly touched his shoulder.

"Okay, okay... I get it."

Sakura ignored her team mate's antics. She hadn't been able to catch a chance to eat yet, so the noodles tasted divine. Since they had cooled down she didn't have to wait before digging in. The flavor, although nothing special, was somehow perfect.

Hunger truly is the best spice, she concluded.

The quiet conversation between Hinata and Naruto lulled to a stop once the pink-haired young woman sat her chop sticks down and thanked Ayame and her father for the meal. With a content sigh and a soft pat to her pleased stomach, Sakura focused on her companions.

"When it comes to the paperwork, Tsunade-shishou wasn't exactly excited, but she's on board with the idea." Sakura had to rely on a vague substitution since they were in public.

The blonde's face lit up, "I'm glad to hear that. Did you need any help with your workload? That old lady can be harsh sometimes."

"No thanks, and," she punched his shoulder hard, "you know she hates it when you call her that."

"Gah!" Naruto massaged his abused joint. "You're just jealous that you're not her favorite anymore."

Hinata could only shake her head and grin as the two continued to bicker. She remembered when Sakura had intimidated her, back before she had the courage to speak her mind. Then she'd been so reckless as to jump in front of Pein's assault, but that sure did grab the attention she had wanted. In the aftermath of her choice, as Sakura healed her, she came to finally understand why others could be so outspoken. It felt good.

Even though she remembered feeling her blood dripping off of her, and the achy fogginess that accompanies massive physical trauma, the electric taste of freedom was worth it all. The addictive quality of opening her mouth to such a degree was new and thrilling. Needless to say, the Hyuga clan council had not approved of her sudden behaviour change in the least. Since Naruto had fully noticed her, and liked her, she refused to change for the comfort of her elitist clan elders.

After the main reconstruction of the village was completed, she had her first date with Naruto. It had been an unorganized mess, yet Hinata could honestly admit that she had more fun during that date than she ever had before. Unfortunately, with her new found happiness also came repercussions.

Her father, the head of the Hyuga clan, had denounced her rights as an heiress, placing all the burden upon the young shoulders of Hanabi. Her little sister had shrugged it off, but Hinata quietly seethed at the thought of the council smothering her young sister with their political schemes. However, there was little Hinata could do. Her heart condition was made even worse by Pein nearly killing her, so she couldn't strive for any prestigious shinobi title to regain the council's approval.

Lost, the black-haired beauty had gone to Naruto for help. He promised her that he'd fix it if she gave him a week. She waited on edge for three days before she learned that her father, along with the clan elders, had been summoned by the Hokage. Evidently, there was a new apprentice opening under Tsunade, and she wanted the Hyuga heiress.

Of course, the clan head assumed the Fifth was referring to Hanabi and wasn't pleased to be corrected in front of the clan council. Using Hiashi's traditional nature against him, Tsunade demanded that it was either his eldest child or the apprenticeship would go to another clan. Not deeming it worthy to question the Hokage's motives, the clan council placed much pressure upon Hiashi to give his assent. The prestige of the clan was more important than the pride of the head of the clan.

Hinata could still vividly recall the depth of hatred in her father's pale eyes as he rescinded his choice to remove her role as heiress.

Blinking away the memories, Hinata smiled and greeted the young man who just arrived.

Sai nodded his head in return.

There was a bustle of activity (and insult throwing) before Sai and Naruto bid their farewells and then headed off to spar. Once the newly informed team mates were almost out of sight, Hinata noticed Sakura's expression change. Something was bothering her that she clearly didn't want the boys to know, which in turn troubled the Hyuga heiress.

"I must get back to the compound, would you be so kind as to accompany me?"

"Huh? Oh! Of course," Sakura laughed sheepishly. "Up we go. Is everything all right, Hinata?"

"Yes, thank you. I don't know why my legs are continuously surprised by the extra weight."

Sakura chuckled and a comfortable silence fell upon the two as they made their way toward Hinata's home.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Sakura asked, at a loss.

"It can't be easy for you."

"It's a job." A sigh. "Sorry, it's just - yeah. It is hard sometimes. Especially with... you know."

"Do you plan on forgiving him?"

Sakura flinched. It was an honest enough question, but it made her feel horribly guilty. Sasuke's reckless actions had put many in danger, and yet she had blushed like a damn idiot because he complimented her. He had done evil things. She knew this on a factual basis, so why did she desire his compliments still?

"That was personal, forget I asked." Hinata said quickly, mistaking the grim silence as her answer.

"It's not that," The pink-haired woman offered quietly.

After a moment of contemplation, "there's nothing wrong with forgiving him, Sakura."

"Not everyone would feel the same."

"Not everyone matters," the raven-haired kunoichi remarked firmly.

Sakura smiled. "You're right. Thanks."

Coming to a stop outside her clan's residence, Hinata faced her friend and smiled in return. Whatever it was that had troubled Sakura was gone, for now at least.

They said their goodbyes and then Sakura began her walk home.

She was asleep in bed within the hour.


He ached in spots he'd never even felt before. His stomach quivered at the thought of food. His chapped lips and dry throat begged for anything to quench his unanswered thirst. It was frustrating as hell to have to yell about biological needs for an hour before a masked ANBU entered his room and, in short, humiliated him. It was enough to make him want a drain in the floor so he could just piss himself.

He hated this place. He hated the vulnerability. He hated the loss of time. Most of all, he hated being overwhelmed with constant internal judgment.

For as long as he could remember, he'd always been working toward something. There was never time to sit down, relax, think. Now time was taking him on a joy ride and his brain wouldn't shut the hell up.

He puzzled over the "friends" he had left behind due to their supposed weaknesses that held him back, and how they didn't seem so weak at all. He had been wrong about Itachi - his family - so many things. Perhaps his definition of weakness was also something he had been misled about.

Movement caught his eye and he fought down a sigh of relief when he saw Sakura. It seemed for the time being, he was safe from further contemplation. Well, personal contemplation. The paper bag Sakura was holding felt worthy of the missing-nin's thoughts.

"You look a bit parched, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Woah, even your monosyllabic response sounds a bit dry." Sitting on the edge of the table, like she did every time she entered his room, the pink-haired woman took a bottle of water out of the bag and placed it next to her on the table. "I can help you with that."

Sasuke's mouth ironically went dry at the sight of the water bottle.

"What do you want?" He rasped.

"Only a little bit of cooperation." The dark-haired man watched the kunoichi before him closely for any indication of falsehood. "For every bit of unknown information you give me, I'll give you a mouth full of water. And just to get it out of the way..." Opening the large bottle, Sakura tilted her head back and drank from the water bottle. "Nothing in the way of poison, or any other drug, to be worried about."

Damn she was cunning. Even if he offered information on something that was already known, he'd receive nothing in return. Sakura had to know everything in regards to him before interrogating him, or else they'd be risking loosing information due to ignorance. However, hidden villages were known for risking more for less. Either way, she had invoked his curiosity.

"How do I know you won't lie about what information you possess?"

"Because we were both taught how to look underneath the underneath. Have your skills become rusty, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura teased.

"I don't consider anything that perpetually late pervert taught to be considered a 'skill'." Sasuke replied flatly.

"He focused on you." Her voice sounded strained, but the missing-nin misjudged it as jealousy.

"Which goes to show, as a sensei, that man is worthless."

Pain engulfed the dark-haired man's face as his head swung back violently. Blood ran from his nose and dripped off his chin while his eyes watered in response to the sudden assault. Sakura, fists clenched and eyes livid, stood directly before him.

"Do not ever speak of Kakashi again." Her quiet words instilled enough fear to overcome the immature urge to push her further over the edge. Sasuke had never witnessed the pink-haired kunoichi express anger so plainly, nor so quickly. "He was a great sensei."

She left before Sasuke had a chance to regain his voice.

He didn't know what to think. The knowledge of his first sensei's death was new. Of course he'd known that if the damages were as massive as the rumors had said, then many had lost their lives... but Kakashi had always managed to live through tough situations. He had learned about the way the Copy-nin received his sharingan, about how his father had died - it all suddenly seemed surreal to the chained man.

He had come back to Konoha to kill the ones responsible for ruining his life and ended up beaten by the dead last of his class. Then, once chained and left in a room for hours, the annoying girl who had no issue offering him everything as a child turned out to be his interrogator. He'd even grown some sense of morbid respect for her skill. To top it all off, the man who did his utmost in attempting to give Sasuke some semblance of understanding, years prior, was killed without his knowledge.

The acute pain of a broken nose was a satisfying distraction from the hollow ache in his chest.


She would eventually have to return to that room. With that piece of shit chained inside.

"Damn him!" Sakura yelled to no one in particular.

Anger burned brightly within the pink-haired woman, so she escaped to the one place that offered a tangible way to cope. Her feet reached the training grounds speedier than she'd ever thought she could.

"That remorseless ass!" She vindictively hoped he noticed that she'd left the bottle of water on the table.

Trunk after solid trunk exploded gratifyingly. Sweat beaded her brow, so she stopped a moment to catch her breath.


"Are you sure this is the area we're supposed to train at, sensei?"

"Of course, why would you ask something... like... that?"

Suki, a first-time sensei, looked around at the maimed landscape.

"Does Suki-sensei have an enemy?" Asked one of her snot-nosed genin.

"Of course not." At least, she certainly hoped she didn't.


Shoulders bent with the invisible force of her frustration and sadness, Sakura watched her feet swing back and forth.

She loved how the water flowed steadily below her. Nothing could block it.

Back and forth.

She loved the brightness of the red bridge she sat on. It was fierce and refused to be forgotten.

Back and forth.

Kakashi would place a hand on one of her stooped shoulders and remind her that she's smart enough to overcome anything she initially botched. Then he'd lean down to make better eye contact and say, in his quiet but stern voice, that she had responsibilities to fulfill.

Back and forth.

Use that brain and get your ass in gear, is what Tsunade-shishou would tell her.

Back and forth.

It really didn't matter that Sasuke cared for no one, but it hurt all the same.

Back and forth.

White hot epiphany spread through the kunoichi, straightening previously bowed shoulders. Of course! He had no idea. His wide eyes and slacked jaw could have been due to the surprise attack on his person, but she doubted it now. He had said that Kakashi is worthless. She could fix this. It might might cost her some progress, but she could remedy this. Already on her feet, Sakura began putting together new tactics as her arms and legs pumped back and forth.


The chained man lowered his head to avoid the bottle of water in front of him. Sakura hadn't been kidding when she had explained why she was there. Even when accidentally provoked, she twisted the situation in a way to physiologically agonize the missing-nin. Once again he had misunderstood his ex-team mate; jealousy had never been the driving force behind her change in mood. Even if he'd deserved the blow to the face, he remained surprised that Sakura could deliver such precise force so effortlessly. He didn't even know she'd moved until after she'd struck. Despite all the torture he'd endured at the end of the pink-haired woman's hands, it seemed she'd been holding back. Questioning the reason behind her hesitation brought forth that pretentious emotion from before.

Could she... after all this time?

No.

No one could be that foolish. Sasuke found one of his brother's favorite words to be applicable to the situation running in his head. He just wasn't one hundred percent sure who he was considering as the fool. Sakura, for holding a torch for him after all he had done, or himself for that deeply embedded hope that she did.

Lifting his head, the dark-haired man refocused on the large bottle full of, possibly cool and soothing, liquid on the table. Biological needs were safe to want, so when a known presence reentered the room, Sasuke steadfastly ignored it.

When the presence stubbornly remained, the Uchiha just as stubbornly continued to stare at the bottle in front of him. Even as she - it, as it - disrespected his personal bubble, ink black eyes stayed firmly upon the uncapped bottle of wondrous, life-giving water barely out of reach.

His eyes narrowed dangerously at the poor, innocent water bottle after the presence made no move to leave his space.

Then something soft and wet gently rubbed his cheek. The man's natural response was hindered by the chains binding his arms to the chair, but he stopped struggling once he turned to face the presence assaulting him.

Impossibly deep green eyes regarded him while the woman behind those eyes waited for something. It was disquieting to have her full attention at such a close proximity. Looking away from her eyes to the gloved hand nearest to his face, he noted the washcloth she held. His brow furrowed in confusion. Was she trying to apologize?

Meeting her gaze again, he raised an eyebrow in question.

Her silent response was another gentle stroke down his cheek.

When he didn't struggle, Sakura continued to clean the blood off of his face.


A/N: Forgive me, but I'm a full-time college student now and my attention has shifted back into the academic area of my life. I'd say the best option as a reader is to put this on Story Alert if you really enjoy it, therefore it can be a happy surprise when I next update. Like now. Surprise! Much love to everyone, especially those that give me some feedback. :)