As The Falcon Flies By

Chapter 11 - The Show Must Go On

This one took a bit longer, but I'm in the middle of exams, so... Also, it's not even near the wait between chapters seven and eight, for example, haha...

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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Shikamaru politely nodded in deference to him when Genma left the room, resisting the urge to rub his eyes. He had been standing there for hours, while Kiba and Neji probably had gotten the nicest breakfast they'd have for another few long weeks.

As expected, the lazy jonin hadn't heard a single peep from their room, and was glad that he hadn't. He suppressed the shiver that came with the image of Sakura and their team leader, and what they could have been doing in there.

He quickly sobered up when he saw the expression on Genma's face, contorted in silent, shaking rage.

"Wha-!?" Shikamaru said in surprise, tensing up immediately.

"It's nothing. Nothing. Leave it." Almost gasping, Genma shut the door behind him.

Shikamaru frowned in worry. "Is she alright?"

The man in front of him leaned back heavily against the wooden door. With automated motions, he found a senbon in one of his pockets and stuck it in his mouth.

Now I'm almost a hundred percent sure he is or was a smoker. He thought, as he watched Genma visually calm down.

"She's fine. Stop worrying. She just needs a bit of time to rest up." In simple hand motions known by all Konoha-shinobi, he signed : A day, and then we're leaving.

Shikamaru nodded in understanding. What about the enemy?

Genma shook his head. Remain careful, Hokage will be informed but we will proceed with the mission.

Before Shikamaru could ask more questions, Genma stood up straighter. "I'm going to go inform the others. I think it's best that you stay here to guard. Try to look nonchalant." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. Slowly, he walked away with his hands in his pockets. Before he turned the corner he signed: Somebody'll come and relieve you in an hour.

Shikamaru's shoulders sagged a little in disappointment at the prospect of another hour of studying every single detail of the woodgrain and the wallpaper. He much preferred watching the clouds.


Akamaru liked it here. He quite liked it. He had been roaming the grounds for a few hours now, with his tail wagging constantly. He knew it was something the nice lady liked, and if she liked it, he was doing it. He might get some more food and cuddles, after all.

He sniffed the ground and moved on, happy to discover even the smallest of things, easily looked over by beings with a lesser smelling organ.

A few drops of red stared up at him angrily. Confused, the dog smelled the blood, curious as to whom it belonged.

He recoiled, his nose burning. That blood didn't smell good. Blood never smelled good, he had learned, but this one in particular was foul.

He shook his head and tried to clear the smell of the congealed blood from his nose.

He wondered if he should let Kiba know about it, but before he could come to a decision, he spotted a butterfly in the tall grass.

Clearing his head of blood and all that nonsense, he chased after the fluttering insect.

He too had priorities, after all.


They travelled at a slower pace, but it hadn't delayed them too much. Whenever she felt like she had to stop, she would sit on Akamaru's strong back, as the shinobi bound through the trees. She almost hadn't been able to get up after they paused, so she was happy to have the bear-like dog to depend on.

Somebody always made sure to double back and cover their tracks, but Sakura still worried. Even with Neji's byakugan and Kiba and Akamaru's sense of smell to alarm them should they be followed, she was on edge.

She hadn't slept well.

Understandably.

Nor had she gained a lot more chakra. She guessed she'd need another week to fully recover. If they were attacked in the mean time, she could only treat wounds with basic civilian aid and hope.

So fingers crossed, Sakura.

She tried to remember to unclench her jaw now and then and try to look at things without oozing unhappiness. So far, she thought she had done quite a good job, considering.

He hadn't come back yesterday. She didn't know whether she should be happy or disappointed.

She had had lots of time to think, stuck in her bed as she was. Whether it was wrong or right to miss Sasuke, she didn't know, but she did know she hadn't wanted to be abandoned like that by Genma.

She knew she manipulated people, but it was her job, and old habits die hard. It wasn't like she had chosen to be the leader of a giant shadow-assassins organisation. She hadn't wanted to be a leader, let alone of Anbu.

She could feel her face heating up, and not with embarrassment. She unclenched her hands and just buried them in Akamaru's fur.

Six years ago, she joined the elite. Not as their top, as she was now, but right at the bottom of the organisation. Even the Hokage couldn't grant her a free pass to move up. But she had been happy there. Ranks and divisions weren't important to her, as long as she could keep learning. Tsunade had had the same opinion, thinking it would be a great humbling opportunity to learn the inner workings of such a faceless squad, from the bottom up. It was challenging work, but treating the ones that would die happily for the Hokage without another thought, was extremely fulfilling.

Occasionally, she'd heal for Ibiki. They'd come knocking at her door in the middle of the night and she'd go and heal a prisoner - often so badly shredded and burnt, she didn't have chakra the next few days. The first few times she did that, she'd be sick for days afterwards, and just remembering the bloody prisoner and the stench of burnt skin would make her heave. But she kept coming, because she believed she was doing good, for the village, and Ibiki had slowly become more than an acquaintance.

Her thoughts drifted off of the subjects of her worries as memories resurfaced.

Ibiki…, had been a challenge to comprehend, to say the least. She had seen him as a complex puzzle, ready to be solved by anybody who dared step up to him and try.

The problem was, not many dared step up to the giant, scarred interrogator. Let alone try to befriend him.

She had tried, and eventually, succeeded. To some extent, at least.

The first non-forced smile of the day appeared on her face.

It had required a ton of patience, perseverance and surprisingly, home-made peanut butter cookies to make the towering man warm up to her. It was the only recipe she could make without messing it up somehow, and she would bring him a batch every now and then.

Nobody knew, of course. It was their little secret. She was pretty sure he'd be mortified if anybody found out.

She liked to think she gained his respect with her medical skills, but sometimes she wondered if her cooking hadn't played a big role too.

She grinned, finally loosening up her tight and tense muscles and rolling her shoulders.

Traveling as a sick person wasn't so bad, she thought, as she scratched Akamaru behind his ear. She usually didn't enjoy being stationary for hours at end, but this was fine with her, as she could still move through the trees at the same speed as the others.

She tried to stay focused, but her mind kept drifting away. It was as if ever since her mind had been invaded and explored, memories played like an endless movie reel in front of her eyes, plaguing and confusing her.

Another memory appeared, making the forest around her seem to fade to the familiar office at the top of the Hokage's office.

Shisou was sitting behind her desk, looking just about ready to murder somebody. She had been in a meeting with the councilors. This meeting in particular hadn't gone well. The old, faceless Anbu commander had died, leaving nothing behind except blank papers in the records and a worried frown on Tsunade's face. It was up to her now to make the final decision, but Sakura already knew what the outcome would be. From the worry lines on Tsunade's face she could tell the councilors had driven a hard bargain, probably in favour of Sakura bacoming the new leader. She could also tell that her Shisou had, in the end, been swayed.

Ultimately, she could have stopped it, had she tried a little harder, but she let it play out, without saying a word. It was one of the things she didn't really want, but privately desired: power. She supposed, in that way, she was just like Itachi Uchiha.

So yes, secretly, she had enjoyed it. Being trusted by people with such big decisions that could end or save their life was a great honour.

It was a challenge for her to try to heal these people that had been used as tools and weapons for years on end. Most wounds had turned to scars, though. She did think she was doing some good, trying to connect with her subordinates on a more familiar level and not just as boss and employee.

As seen by our spectacular rendez-vous with Genma Shiranui.

She sighed and stared at the man leaping from tree to tree at the front of their formation, leading the way through the forest.

She noticed his hair was cut more crookedly than he usually kept it.

He must have done it himself.

The fact that he had done it himself, in his usual stubborn way, instead of letting her do it was in itself quite a blow for her.

He had trusted her doing that for years. Ever since their first awkward mission together, where she had had to chop off some badly burned hair. Since then, he hadn't bothered cutting it unless she would do it. He'd sometimes stubbornly go months without cutting it, until it was way past his shoulders, just because she had been on a medical research-mission to Suna.

And now he'd gone and broken that tradition. She wondered if it was a sign from him to her. A childish, petty signal.

The illusion of happy feelings she had created for herself fell, as she realised most of those memories included Genma, either as a friend, lover or teammate.

Fuck.

The corners of her mouth, once again pulled down.

What have I done?

She pressed her nails into her skin. The pressure wasn't enough to break it, but it was enough to distract herself with the stinging sensation. She did not feel tears welling up. Nope. Blink. Blink.

We kiss, we make love. I hurt you, you hurt me. We make up and start all over again. That was the deal, right Genma?


Neji thought of himself as an intellectual. He might not be street-smart, like Naruto, but he wasn't a strictly by-the-book learner either. And occasionally, yes, he was as bad as Sai with judging people's emotions, but right now he was exactly 97-percent sure that Sakura was sniveling next to him. Either that or she had an allergy to pollen, though he doubted the kunoichi couldn't find a cure for that in her extensive plant library.

He also knew that showing such a weakness was very unusual for the kunoichi, and he wondered what could be the cause of her distress.

Sakura wasn't one to cry in public, and hadn't been one for quite a few years.

The last time he had seen her cry was when the Suna elder Chiyo passed a way, after they had defeated Sasori together. That must have been quite a emotional roller coaster for the kunoichi. The death of a friend so soon after victory…

And that had been it. She never cried anymore, either because she didn't feel like it or she was as stubborn as ever.

When they took a break he sat down, unlike the other men, who went to have a drink from a nearby stream. Sakura slipped down onto the ground just as easily, leaning against Akamaru.

At that moment, the dog decided to go drink after all, and she was left sprawled out, staring up angrily at the sky.

He stretched his legs and got up, to sit back down next to her.

"You okay?"

She made a noncommittal sound, making no move to sit up.

He retrieved a bottle of water from his bag holding it above her, making her avert her eyes.

"You've got to drink."

"I guess." she ran a hand through her hair, letting a few strands fall in front of her eyes.

"Thanks." She mumbled, sitting up a little to take a sip, before giving the bottle back.

He settled down more comfortably, opening his bottle again.

"You know, it's alright to cry every now and then."

He took his time drinking from the bottle, to give her time to answer. She was looking at him with wide eyes.

"Didn't think I'd hear that from you."

"Contrary to popular belief, I do have emotions. And contrary to what you believe, you have them too."

"I know I have emotions, Neji, believe me."

"Then cry."

"What...?"

"Cry, for once, Sakura. You don't have to always be strong!" His eyes sparkled angrily, something so foreign to her, she looked away.

"Now is hardly the time."

"When is it the time then?"

"I don't cry less, Neji. I've just become better at hiding it." Her voice hitched at the end, and she cringed as she wiped away the drops spilling onto her cheeks.

"Except for now of course." She laughed at herself, as she always did when somebody saw her cry. As if to say to the other person: "See? It's nothing, I can laugh about it."

She sighed, looking for a tissue. "Now look what you've done."

She didn't know whether Neji understood or not, because his face was back to as placid as ever, but her eyes widened again as she felt a hand on her back. A very clumsy, awkward hand.

"I'm sure that whatever or whoever it is that has brought this on is not worth it." His face softened, breaking out into a small smile.

She smiled too, thanking him with her eyes. She changed the subject when she felt the four other chakra dots start to turn back.

"How's Tenten?"

He blinked once, and nodding in understanding, removed his hand from her back.

"She's good, I think."

Already feeling better, she raised her eyebrow without a pause. "What do you mean 'good'? And you think? You're married!"

He laughed, a sight so rare, she was awed. "She's good… Sakura. She asked about you a few days ago. She said that if you don't drop in soon to meet the new baby, she'll drag you to our house."

"Wait, what? I already 'met' the new baby. I was the midwife, remember?"

"Of course, but Ten is a bit stressed, I think. Hormonal imbalance and all that."

Sakura grinned, shaking her head. "Oh, no, that should all be done by now. Tenten's just being Tenten, I'd say."

He laughed again, seemingly completely relaxed. He needlessly adjusted the straps of a pouch, as he said: "I appealed to the elders of the clan about what we discussed. They are taking it into consideration."

"Which means…?"

"Which means, if it goes through and should Hinata and Naruto wish so, they could have a relationship, and even marry."

"Wow, that's quite a step forward. How'd you do that?"

"I have my ways, though I guess Ten and me kind of paved the way."

"Hmm… A secret romance, hiding it away from the clan, shirking your clan duties and then, boom, telling them you intend to marry a non-Hyuuga! It does take ba- courage to do that."

She coughed, swallowing her words. She didn't want to scare him away too soon, now that he was opening up to her more, but he hadn't even noticed. He was just smiling to himself and looked happy.

Akamaru bound from between the trees, announcing the return of the others, and Neji pulled her up just as they all arrived.

"We'll arrive in a few hours, should everything go well." Genma said, before turning towards Sakura. A bit softer, he added, "Tsunade's has given the go-ahead, so I think we should just stick to the original mission-plan."

She was surprised he even talked to her, but his tone remained strictly professional.

"Sure." She said, wishing she had thought of using a jutsu to cover up red, puffy eyes.


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I hope you liked this multiple POV chapter... If you have ant comments, suggestions, feedback, etc... I'd love to hear it!