IX . In which team building happens.
Sakura wakes up eager to meet her team again and ends up arriving too early. It's a lovely morning so she doesn't mind it much, even less when she recognises Shizuka in the distance, walking in her direction.
She smiles as she nears, ready to greet her.
"Good morning, Shizuka-cha-What happened to your hair?"
"Oh," says Shizuka touching the ends of her hair that now barely reach the bottom of her ears. "I thought it was a good moment for a change. It doesn't look good?"
It is different to her old hairstyle, all held back severely in a long braid. Sakura thought it had made Shizuka appear mature and elegant. And it was such a lovely hair too, Sakura saw it once lose when Shizuka rebraided it after it got messy in a spar, very black and soft looking, a bit wavy after being held in a braid to long, she had wanted to touch it and she had also wanted hair like that so Sakura let her hair grow long… But now with her hair in a short bob cut, a bit fluffy, the ends curving slightly inwards and with some bangs, Shizuka looks a lot gentler, her face softer. Sakura noted Shizuka was wearing her forehead protector like a hairband like Sakura herself was doing. She blushed.
"It looks pretty, Shizuka-chan."
"Thank you, Sakura-chan. I hope you don't mind I copied you a bit," she answers as she sits next to Sakura, smiling. "But it really looks cool like this."
Sakura just blushes more if that's even possible and brings her hands to her head to fuss a little with the forehead protector.
"Really? You think so?"
"Yeah, it looks very good and I wanted to try it too. And now we match!"
They smile at each other and end up falling in a slightly awkward silence. Or awkward on Sakura's side as she doesn't know what else to say (even if she knew what she wanted to say, many things she wanted to know but wasn't sure how to ask, even less when), Shizuka simply looked serene and pleased watching a bee drink water from a little puddle.
In the end the silence was too much.
"Shizuka-chan… I wanted to ask you something."
"Uhmm, what is it?" says Shizuka distractedly.
"Do you like Naruto?" That wasn't was she wanted to ask!
Shizuka turns to look at her quickly and concerned.
"Why everybody asks me that?!"
"Well, it's just that you are always kind to him and you try to approach him even if he says he doesn't like you and is rude to you… so I thought you liked him…"she lowers her voice, "because I know he likes me and…"
"That's how he asks towards you?" Shizuka waits for her to nod and continues: "I don't like him, or not like that. It's just… he kind of reminds me of myself…of how things could have gone for me if things had been different…"
"But you aren't like him at all!" They are like complete opposites, thinks Sakura, and begins to list all the ways Shizuka is way better.
"Well, yeah, we are different in how we act and deal with things but," Shizuka interrupts her looking flustered and embarrassed, "we are both orphans for starters, and… I was very lonely after…after. I was lonely and then I found people who cared about me and that I cared for and I was lucky for it. But Naruto… he has always been alone. He didn't have close friends, he does now, I think, I hope, but… it's an awful way to live and I was lucky."
"But he's so annoying! That's why people doesn't-"
"He wants attention." Now she sounds a bit forceful. "Did you heard what he said when we introduced ourselves? 'I want to be hokage so everybody acknowledges me!' No one pays attention to him so he tries to gain it being loud and disruptive… I used to ignore and be mean to him before, so I think that's why he can't accept so easily when I say I want to be friends, but he likes that I pay attention to him so we are rivals… or at least that's what I think. And I like him as he is, it's cute." Shizuka catches herself, "But not like that! I don't like him like him. I like him as friends! Oh gods this is like the Shoujo Manga Incident all over again…"
Sakura can't help herself and laughs. This is the first time she hears Shizuka talk so much, or so fast, or so flustered. It's very very cute!
"Ok, I believe you Shizuka-chan!" And it's a relief, too. Because if Shizuka doesn't like him maybe she does have a chance! Maybe now is a good opportunity to ask what she had intended to ask and confess! This is it! She is doing to say it!
That's when Naruto arrives.
-o-
Naruto sees her teammates sitting in the floor talking about something that has Shizuka embarrassed and Sakura laughing and decides he needs to know for future teasing.
"Hey!" He greets and startles Sakura who hadn't noticed him approach until he was next to them. "Whatcha talkin' bout?"
"Good morning, Naruto-kun. Why don't you sit with us?" Shizuka smiles up to him a moves a bit to the side so he can sit between the girls. It means he can sit next to Sakura, so he does. Sakura looks a bit pouty when he sits (and she looks so pretty like that) and he catches a brief glance she directs at Shizuka first, but she quietly greets him with a good morning, too. He grins, pleased.
"Sooo, what were you talkin' bout?"
"Uhm, we talked about my new haircut and then we talked about yo-" "GIRL STUFF! We were talking about hair and girly things!"
New hair cut? He observes Shizuka carefully.
"Wow, Witchy-zuka, with your flat chest and your hair short you look even less like a girl!" He gets one of Sakura's love-taps to the back of his head.
"Don't tell Shizuka-chan that kind of things!"
("But is a good cut, isn't it? It looks good, right?")
-o-
Sakura can't believe her teammates. Shizuka was going to tell Naruto to his face that they were talking about him behind his back! And Naruto! He bought attention to the fact that Shizuka hasn't... developed yet (she just need time!). With horror she realises that Shizuka is right and they are actually alike. They are both tactless and, thinking back about the conversation about Naruto, and to the day before when they were in the café and Naruto came back from the restroom telling them about… ack!, they both have a tendency to over-share.
Kakashi-sensei reads porn in public.
Sakura covers her face with her hands and groans. This is gonna be so embarrassing.
But, another part of her, the part that actually enjoys Naruto's pranks when they are directed to the right target, thinks that means I don't have to be prim and proper all the time.
She doesn't notice when she begins to crackle and neither she notices the confused, concerned looks her teammates exchange.
-o-
"When is Kakashi-sensei gonna show? This is the right place, isn't it?"
"He arrived late the two last days, is he planning do that every day?"
"We should use time and stretch like we did yesterday."
"Did you bring breakfast today too, Witchy-zuka?"
"Uhm, no. But I packed enough lunch to share… I have some snacks too, if you want."
"Cookies?"
"Dried fruit."
"Will do. Want some, Sakura-chan?"
"Yeah, thanks."
…
"We should prank him."
"Yeah! What do you have in mind, Sakura-chan?"
"I… dunno, I was hoping you'll think of something."
"I have an idea."
"You do, Witchy-zuka? Let's hear it!"
"Well, when he arrives we…."
-o-
Kakashi arrives three hours late, already savouring his students' outrage… and he finds them stretching. He confusedly watches them act like responsible people for a moment, but quickly recovers. He stealthy approaches them, lounges on a nice three, brings out his book and pretends having been there for a while until one of them spots him. He smirks under his mask and waits for the screaming…
"Good morning Kakashi-sensei!"
"You are just in time! We just finished warming up."
"What should we do next?"
What kind of people are these?!
-o-
Next morning, he cites them an hour earlier and arrives four hours late. Under the three is a thermos with hot coffee with a note that says is for him and his team is actually running laps. They still greet him cheerfully.
-o-
Unnerved he arrives on time the next morning, they aren't surprised, he gets treated to breakfast from the three of them (even from Naruto, even if they are somewhat sloppily done sandwiches) and he decides to actually assign them an appropriate exercise regimen to do while they wait for him because they are apparently actual responsible people. Go figure.
-o-
"It was good while it lasted."
"His face when he saw the coffee was priceless."
"Do we have to keep doing the exercise?"
"It's good for us."
…
"It won't take that much time, thought. We can't stop arriving so early."
"Nah, it's cool. We can keep bringing breakfast, it's nice… But make the croquettes more often."
"Those are for lunch, Naruto-kun."
"Just make them more often Witchy-zuka!"
"Shizuka-chan isn't obligated to cook for you! (…can you bring cookies tomorrow, Shizuka-chan?)"
-o-
The kick sends her flying and without strength to catch her fall, she lands on her back on the grass. Shizuka looks up at the sky, it's very big, very blue and some Narutos fly overhead. She hears Sakura eep and then go ouch, and thinks why I wasn't reborn in the Pokémon World?
Kakashi-sensei calls again, and she and her team pick themselves up to get thrown away once more. Or in the Shire, she continues on that thought, hobbits know what life is about. I wouldn't mind being a hobbit. Sparring taijutsu only with Kakashi-sensei is the worst.
-o-
Naruto finds himself happy with his lot on life. Sakura is nicer to him and more willing to spend time with him, even if it have to be with wierdo Shizuka too, but he's finding that she is actually fun to be around for longer than lunch. And Kakashi-sensei isn't bad, too. Sure he beats the shit out of them every time they spar and is constantly adding more laps and repetitions to their sets of exercises and drags them to do all those stupid D-ranks…. But he always patches them up after the spars (even if Naruto doesn't need it like the girls, he has noticed he heals way faster than them), and then he actually corrects their form and gives them pointers.
It's good.
-o-
One morning Kakashi arrives two hours late to meet his genin (It is still arriving late even if he's supposed to) and finds a fluffy cat sitting by their packs watching them do crunches. The cat looks at him and he feels inexplicably judged, then it turns back to the genin and ignores Kakashi until they finish their routine.
"Old Man Gyu! What are you doing here?" That's Shizuka's Dessert Voice.
"Is that your cat, Shizuka-chan? It is so cute!" The cat preens at the praise and walks to its owner to be picked up. He hangs from his student arms like a ragdoll (an unimpressed, judgemental, ragdoll).
"He is. He is also a lazy bum that never leaves home. Did you come all the way to see me, Gyu?" The cat twist in her grip so he can climb to his genin shoulders and cutely rub cheeks with her.
Shizuka introduces her cat to the team and he lets himself be pet by Sakura and after a cautious sniff by Naruto (who is by experience hated by most animals), but keeps glaring at Kakashi. Is the dog smell?
"Didn't you have an orange cat, Shizuka-chan?"
"Uhmm yeah, Yeollie. How did you know, sensei?"
"Eh, cat fur on your clothes." The cat glare feels even more judgemental.
"Oh, yeah. It gets everywhere."
The cat remains with them all day, following the team in their errands around the village. Which his student says is a Big Deal because he is just a lazy housecat who never goes out. The cat is mostly unobtrusive and goes for ear-rubs from his genins at the breaks, but mostly ignores Kakashi. Kakashi ignores him back.
When Kakashi dismisses his students in the evening Shizuka carries her cat home and implacable feline eyes watch Kakashi over Shizuka shoulder until they turn a corner.
He shudders. He doesn't want to deal with a cat again. He won't ever let the team get the Tora Mission.
Notes
-I updated because Lee Howon, better known as Hoya, got an award for his role in the movie "Hiya". I didn't update the ao3 version because I'm not ready for anyone to read that part, it needs so much editing, so. much. editing.
-It's a bit choppy and there are some weird time skips, but I needed to get it out of the way or we'll just get stuck here forever. Sorry, at least is longer than usual.
-Old Man Gyu is back! :D
