Hey all! So sorry for the long absence! I'm kind of writing this as it hits me, so I work on it between projects. I'm finishing my first book, and I'm trying to get some preproduction on my screenplay done for a December shoot–so Shira is going slightly insane at the moment, but not to worry…all the best stories stem from someone else's insanity. As always, I give this to you all with much love and appreciation. Thankyou for fav's and reviews, I read each and every one and they always make my day! I love you guys, you're the best. 3 Shiranami
Chapter 12 : Furukizu
Feeling a warm tickling sensation on his right arm, Shikamaru had to smile to himself.
Sakura's in a good mood…He was glad he'd given her the seal now. A few, chakra infused slashes deep enough to scar and he had a make-shift homing beacon, good enough for even Akiri-san to ignore as something useless and sentimental.
She'll probably be pissed when she finds out about it…Shikamaru couldn't help but snicker a little, earning him a curious glare from the solemn-faced ink-user standing on the branch beside him. Sai was never very good with reading people, but his unusual creativity with ninjutsu and ink rather made up for it. Shikamaru had worked with him a great deal more since Naruto had defected four years prior, splintering the remains of former Team Seven in the process.
And Sakura…Shikamaru thought with a frown. He could still remember the first time he'd noticed her change, just a few months after Naruto had gone.
It had been on a mission to Rain country, and their teams had happened to cross paths during an ambush. At first, Shikamaru had thought that Sakura's team was in retreat, and that the blood on their hands and uniforms was their own–boasting steep odds at any effective counterattack. Shikamaru was placing his team around the gorge they had taken haven in, trying to get Sakura's team to hide behind the cover of a small waterfall that sat at the farthest end.
"We're not hiding, Nara." Sakura hissed, "and don't think for a second you can force us, because it's too dark to bend shadows here and you know it."
Even back then at seventeen she had been obstinate, head strong, and stubborn–all traits that Shikamaru despised in women, and particularly in subordinates. He barely had time to recalculate before she was gone, rushing out and into the open to take the enemy head on. He had been shocked, surprised, and horrified, believing her actions to be all but suicidal under the circumstances.
But it was then, as Sakura pulled out her sai in mid-air and thrust them deep into the chest of an advancing foe–that Shikamaru realized something was very different about Haruno. It was as though something essential, or at least potentially quantifiable were gone or changed in her, a light shut off, or a door nailed shut.
That's when he learned that Haruno was no longer the same little girl he had grown up despising in training scenarios, the one wild-card factor that always put her own team at a disadvantage–whether she meant to or not. It was then, as Sakura pulled her bloodied sai from the body of the enemy shinobi, that Shikamaru realized something terrible that was likely throw off every calculation he made from now until the end of his life.
He had underestimated her.
"You seem in deep contemplation." Sai observed thoughtfully. Shikamaru put out his cigarette and chanced a roll of his eyes to his usually quiet teammate.
"Not deep, just far." Shikamaru looked back out onto the dark, snowy forest around them.
"About Akiri-san?" Sai asked bluntly. Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow, annoyed.
"Why would you say that, Sai?"
"Because the Hyuga has informed me that it would be unwise to state my usual insults for Haruno-san in your presence. I can only conclude this to be because of a close or intimate relational connection between you and she."
"Hn." Shikamaru grunted, making a mental note to put a few throwing stars under the Hyuga's sleeping mat tonight.
"May I ask a favor, Nara-san?" Sai inquired, carefully. Shikamaru looked over at the dark eyed Anbu beside him curiously, and nodded.
"Can you tell me how Haruno-san is doing? I have not seen her for some time, and know not the proper social etiquette to be used when inquiring after her well-being."
Shikamaru smiled slightly to himself. It was amusing to see this generally emotionless shinobi concerned for his former teammate, whether he knew he was concerned or not.
"You miss her," Shikamaru said.
"I believe the sensation is something akin to that, yes." Sai nodded determinedly.
"You should tell her." Shikamaru smirked to himself, wondering what Sai might actually say in attempt to bring such alien emotions across. With any luck, the end product would be something so infuriating that Sakura might actually use some of her chakra needles as payback. The whole idea would be incredibly entertaining so long as she didn't actually find out Shikamaru was behind it.
"Neji should be back by now," Shikamaru thought of the thin, feather shaped cut he'd put on the Hyuga before he left for his scouting. Had it healed over? It'd only been a day since he'd made the mark, but already he could feel the connection between him and his teammate growing faint. He began to see all possibilities pointing to the worst. If the Hyuga had been captured, there was more than just adjusting the fighting formations and tactical advance to deal with.
They know we're coming…Shikamaru gritted his teeth a little, a habit that Kurenai had told him would have him gumming ramen before he turned thirty.
If I make it that long…He could only hope.
"Your stance and breathing patturns have changed. Your respiration is forced and deliberate. You believe Hyuga-san has met with defeat?" Sai said. Shikamaru glanced in annoyance at the observance of his anbu teammate, but ignored the urge to retort with a smart remark. If he said anything but the literal translation of what he meant with Sai, then he was really just setting himself up for losing the inkling to the vast and shady depth of his own curious thoughts and ponderings, and they couldn't afford that now.
"Did you prepare the vials?" Shikamaru asked tersely. Quietly, Sai reached into his traveling cloak, his hand re-emerging with three glass vials of a strange black liquid.
"I followed Akiri-san's original recipe to every exact specification, not counting a few small additions by the Hokage." Sai said.
"Good," Shikamaru complimented gruffly, more concerned about tactical adjustments and how he would make this work with only two men, instead of three. If he could make this work. By Kami, what he wouldn't give to have Sakura here right now.
"Nara-san, I think we should move. My crows in the North of the forest tell me something is coming." Sai said softly. Shikamaru nodded.
Understatement…he thought, grimly.
Sakura felt the hair on the back of her neck rise, as a cold, icy chill trickled it's way down her spine.
What the–Sakura froze. Her senses went on high alert by instinct, and she found her chakra reaching out before she even had a chance to think about it. It was a knee-jerk reaction from her Chunin years, when Kiba and Naruto had made a game of sorts out of taking her by surprise. She'd had to learn how to survey any area she'd stepped into for first, their presence, and then for which presence belonged to which person. As it stood, Sasuke was the only one who had ever been able to catch her unawares–and he wasn't even playing. Sakura supposed that made sense though, what with his Sharingan able to see energy signatures like glow in the dark paint.
Stupid Sharingan...Sakura stood stock still, scanning the edges of the forest for anything other than the usual plants or animals. Despite all the aggravation the stupid power-hungry blood-line had caused her team, Sakura still couldn't help but wish she had special eyes too right now.
Would make searching a half-mile radius more like looking out the window than stumbling down the stairs in the dark...Sakura waited a moment, ensuring she left no stone unturned or corner unexplored.
There was nothing. Aside from a few of the Nara's deer grazing in a glen a ways off, there was nothing out there that wasn't supposed to be there.
Weird…Sakura shivered slightly. The flinch gained her Akamaru's attention. He raised his lopsided puppy-dog head into the air stiffly, suddenly alert to all that was around him as he searched for any obvious threats. But after he listened for a moment, smelling and waiting for some sign of danger, he simply shrugged back down into the field, snuggling into the warm green strands of grass and flowers. Honestly, between the lack of trepidation and at-will serenity the perpetual pup commanded, Sakura was somewhat envious at the moment.
"Wish I could relax that easy," Sakura smirked at the fluffy, white and black animal lying languidly on his stomach in the bright, warm sunlight.
Right then...Sakura hummed, returning her focus back to her target practice. It helped a little, to have something else to give all her attention to instead of worrying about Shikamaru and his team. She hadn't been able to gather all that much Intel on the mission he'd been sent on, despite her more clever efforts, and being out of the loop was rather unknown territory for her. Normally, not being in on certain information wasn't a problem for her, because normally, Sakura would be assigned to these sorts of missions.
Only this time, she wasn't the one on the mission. This time it was Shikamaru Nara, the idiot boy she'd gone and gotten attached to despite all struggling remains of her better judgment. The stupid boy who did stupid things and usually ended up escaping them by the skin of his stupid, stupid, teeth. Because, all though he was a top notch intelligence officer, Sakura had it on good authority that he hadn't been in the field in over a year.
So, right now, Sakura was concerned. Not worried, because ninjas' didn't know the meaning of such a silly word–but she was very, very concerned. Normally, Sakura was good at pushing fears aside and ignoring unsubstantiated fears about the people and things around her. Whatever it was that made her imagine terrible things happening at that very moment to someone she loved out there in the world–she'd long ago learned how to wrangle and subdue it. But something didn't sit right about Shikamaru's mission and it's oddly timed commencement. Mere days after her return from a job that turned up more bodies than answers.
She had the feeling that something much bigger was taking form and the only things she could see were the individual materials being used. It was more frustrating than the time she and Naruto had been trapped in a cave when they were fourteen. Their air had been quickly diminishing after a rescue mission of a local excavator ended in a disastrous cave-in. It had just been him and her, alone in the dark with no one else to cling to but each other as they began to feel light-headed from the lack of oxygen. Sitting there, in that cave, they had been able to hear people calling for them. They yelled, cried and screamed in reply–but no matter how loud they were, no one on the outside could hear them.
Sakura lined up her throwing hand with her target, half a field away. She was practicing with her Sai, a short-range weapon she'd favored long before Anbu. She supposed, in a way, it felt like regaining some piece of a childhood that had just up and wandered off somewhere she'd never been able to find. All that just by holding a weapon that she'd used back when things had still been good. Back in the days when she was still able to keep that delicate balance between the death she dealt in her profession, and the life she went back to afterwards.
Yeah, not much difference now…Sakura thought gruffly, throwing the sai in her hand with a finite accuracy, hitting one of the flower petals still remaining on the poor daisy she'd tacked to the target post several hundred yards away. Sakura smirked, chuckling a little to herself as she surveyed her efforts.
He loves me…or is it, he loves me not? Wait, which one was I on? Sakura paused a moment, finger tipped towards her lips as though she were trying to catch their attention, to pull out the answer she couldn't seem to find in her head. As if reading her mind, Akamaru barked from his post amidst the dandelions and wagged his tail furiously, happy just to be there as though nothing else were needed in his world.
"He loves me…thank you, Akamaru. I'm glad one of us was keeping track." Sakura blew a kiss to her large, fuzzy roommate, and started towards the target to collect her weapons. She hadn't thought to tie chakra strings to them for easy retrieval, but then again, she wasn't really practicing wholeheartedly at the moment.
Wonder whose fault that is? Ni teased from a distance through their chakra linking.
Ni…Sakura smiled to herself…I didn't think you'd be back so soon.
You missed me, didn't you! Ni exclaimed, giggling happily. Sakura had reached the target post by now, and she stooped as she spoke briefly with her clone over the invisible chakra channel. Reaching forwards, Sakura grabbed one of her sai, pulling it out of the post.
I didn't say that…Sakura schooled her expression, trying to hide the happiness in her thoughts. The truth was she had missed Ni, and Ichi, even if it had only been a few days apart. It was strange not to have them return for so long. Nobody else knew they were traveling outside the village on their own, and for the moment, that was how Sakura wanted to keep it. The two of them needed some yard time, and she needed more information, making it more of beneficial arrangement for them all.
Ichi says she's still getting the nosebleeds from the new Jutsu….Ni reported cheerily. Sakura had to shake her head as she yanked another of her sai from the target post. It almost sounded like Ni was enjoying her counterpart's suffering. Not that Sakura could necessarily blame her.
Tell her to keep drinking the vials…Are your muscle cramps any better? Sakura asked.
A little…still hurts like a mother when I split…you never told me how much it can hurt…Ni whined. Sakura felt bad for her, but there wasn't much to be done now. Releasing just one seal had put a toll on all of them, but Sakura had never thought that their symptoms would be different.
Just be glad you don't have Ichi's problem…and be glad you can move at all at this point…Sakura stood, heading back to her point of origin as she readied herself for another round of target practice. It was rather "sugar-coated" to say that the seal had been released, in any manor of speaking. In reality, the event had been a bit more bloody, with sobbing from Ni and absolute silence from Ichi in the aftermath. Rubbing at the slight soreness in her arm from where Shikamaru had marked her, Sakura silently thanked whatever force there was in the universe that it hadn't scabbed over before they broke the small seal on her left wrist.
Hmph…Ni said glumly…I think "tearing" or "butchering" might be a better vocab word here…
Sakura rolled her eyes. Little clones could be so irritating at times, what with their complaints about bodily pain and extended sufferings. For Kami's sake, they were acting like they'd never had pain before!
Not like this…Ni retorted.
I gave you guys a choice…Sakura offered, feeling somewhat ashamed at this point. Maybe she was wrong for asking them to do this, to help her in this insane way that not even she could entirely justify as anything other than psychotic.
Our favorite flavor…Ni joked, her voice getting softer and more distant in Sakura's thoughts as she headed on her way again.
Be careful…Sakura told her, trying not to let the worry slip into her tone, but it didn't seem to work all that well. Ni could sense it, and Sakura could feel the clone's heart go out to her. It wasn't quite a feeling of pity, or even understanding, but rather, a warm sort of touch in her mind, one that made her feel as though everything was going to be okay.
Stop that…Sakura hissed, missing her target for the first time in years. Ni laughed.
Sorry…must've slipped…my bad…Ni giggled, but her thoughts were so faint, it might as well have been a whisper. Sakura sighed, walking forward to grab her weapon, eager to brush away any evidence of her obvious success at a mis-throw. Akamaru barked from his plush little dandelion bed, eager to be on his own way again. He probably wanted to go and get some ramen, something Kiba had gotten him hooked on several years ago.
Stupid dog-boy. I bet Hinata never had to deal with this…Sakura scooped up her sai and turned to glance at Akamaru, rolling around happily in the sunlight. Honestly, she had to get him out more. If the pooch was this happy over a little dandelion romp, what would he do if he got out to the woods every day instead of sniffing around in the bars for his drunken bug-boy.
Have to talk to Ino about Shino, his liver can't take much more of this…coping…Sakura tried to file this particular worry into a less-dusty corner of her mind for later use. She would have to talk to Ino about it, and soon, if Akamaru's late night wanderings were any indication of the frequency of Shino's drinking problem. With the scars he still had from the ambush, and what he'd lost in the process, Sakura knew he wouldn't be very warm to the idea of talking about quitting, but then again, she wasn't too warm to opening up the conversation with someone who had threatened to 'swarm her with flesh-eating beetles' the next time they saw her.
Touchy…Sakura frowned. Honestly, you mention one time that somebody might have a drinking problem (though a slight push through a bar's plate glass window perhaps had something to do with lingering hostilities), and somebody goes all Sharigran on your ass. Sakura still wasn't allowed in the establishment-in-question, or even on the same street…which made her proud, for some odd reason.
As the shrink at headquarters had said last year, just before clearing her for yet another tour of duty with the invisible ranks of covert opts,
"You suffer from self-destructive tendencies with self-deprecating emotional defenses." The doctor's glasses were a little too small for his head, which gave the impression that his head was either too large, or he had picked up someone else's pair–and simply too proud to admit it. Neither option gave him any points in Sakura's book.
"And that means...?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at the little, pudgy, self-important man sitting in the over-stuffed office chair behind the big oak desk before her. The doctor smirked at her, an odd form of benevolent condescension stirring behind his eyes. Sakura could practically smell the BS wafting off of him in waves. She subtly attempted to cover her nose.
"Means you're self-sacrificing. So much so, that it's almost to the point of personal detriment. But where such behavior would be seen as unhealthy and dangerous in the average civilian, you shinobi operate under a different standard. To warriors, this need to sacrifice is noble, essential even, if one is to do their job well."
"Uh...thanks, I think..." Sakura wasn't sure whether she had just been insulted, complimented, reprimanded, or mocked. In the end she decided she didn't care enough to pursue it, and let it go. All that mattered to her was that the doc, regardless of personal opinion, was able to make an accurate medical call.
In the end...he did. Make the right call, that is. Sakura let out a breath in relief as she watched him sign the papers on his desk, setting her free to go be her sick, twisted self somewhere hopefully very far away from him.
Sakura was glad. For a second there, she was almost afraid she was going to have to pull a kunai on him...
Sakura chuckled at the memory and headed back towards Akamaru, who was nearly hopping with joy at the prospect of eating again, as per usual. Sakura supposed you took your happiness where you could find it, simple or not.
Might wanna take a lesson there, eh self? Sakura hummed, eyeing the array of weapons that she'd packed in her weapons scroll, wishing she had more time to practice with each and every one of them. She glanced over at Akamaru. He was trustworthy, as far as Ninja animals went, and though a little aloof like his former owner, he was a good dog.
Reaching into the money scroll she kept strapped in the side of her boot, Sakura tossed a small roll of bills to Akamaru, who caught it with a wag of his tail before speeding off in what Sakura recognized as the direction of Ichikiru. He was nothing but a blur of fur and excitement as Sakura watched him go with a smile.
Think it's safe to say he knows where he's going…Sakura was glad Akamaru was independent, and didn't nag her for attention as much as Ino did. He was a rather ideal roommate in that respect. Of course, there was the added benefit of him not being able to talk…at least in any way Sakura or anybody else could clearly translate. No, Sakura was able to get feelings and senses from the dog, but little else, as it probably should be.
"Wonder what you would say if you could," Sakura slipped her sai into the hostlers strapped to her thigh and pulled a long, dark wood Bo staff from of the weapon's scroll.
Sakura recalled, on several occasions, walking to the practice fields with Hinata to fetch Kiba for a mission, and finding him and Akamaru sitting down, caught up in some sort of bizarre communication. Kiba would be talking, and Akamaru would be responding with growls, barks, and wags of his tail. It was as if they each spoke the other's own odd, unique, backwards language. When Kiba finally proposed to Hinata, Sakura couldn't help but overhear how much of the proposal's suddenness was to blame on Akamaru. The dog, Kiba claimed, had made it clear Hinata was a prime choice for a human mate, and had been reminding Kiba day and night how much they both loved her…Kiba in particular.
"It got annoying, and what was worse was that he was right…" Kiba had complained to her and Tenten afterwards. Hinata couldn't seem to stop smiling, no matter what the back story was, and for the first time in a long time–Sakura believed that maybe even she might be able to be happy, just like Hinata.
No, leave the dark thoughts where you found them. Move on...Sakura frowned, twirling the staff beside her with one hand for a moment before switching over to warm up the other.
Sakura had tried many times to find the people responsible for Hinata and Kiba's deaths, almost defecting from the village simply out of sheer obsession while she followed up on clues, rumors and personal suspicions…all of them leading seemingly nowhere. Kakashi, Genma and Kurenai had to ask specific permission from the Hokage to leave and bring her back. It took them three weeks and several rounds of tranquilizers to bring her back, but Sakura still didn't count it as an actual capture since she'd been sleeping when they found her. Unconsciousness, despite whatever Kakashi said, was not a valid form of defensive positioning, and therefore you could not actually fight someone who was no "in their right mind".
Too bad I wasn't as good as Sasuke and Naruto in evading that one…Sakura spun the staff behind her back, reaching into the weapons pouch fastened to her waist to grab a handful of throwing stars. A few hand signs had the stars up and about in the air, whisking off into the bright rays of sunlight to hide before they would circle back to try and attack her. Sakura loved to practice this way, without safety nets, so-to-speak. Real, harsh, and hard…enough to pound all the feelings out of her, all the memories, and nightmares. She just had to make it until Shikamaru got back. That was it. Anko had said the mission would take a week or two, tops. Sakura could hold on until then…at least, she hoped she could.
God, help me. Just a few more days, help me last at least that long…With Shikamaru things, and life, seemed less of a hell and more of a manageable burden. True, there were many things she still hated with a vengeance, but if Shikamaru was there, she felt like she could deal with it…somehow.
A throwing star went whizzing past her cheek, nearly missing her eyelashes as it rounded a tree behind her to swing back. Sakura crouched as the throwing stars came wailing back through the atmosphere and bore down on her in the middle of the field. Sakura twirling the staff before her and above her head to deflect the first wave of weapons. She twirled it once more to deflect the second, and she flipped backwards to avoid the third. That was it, it was done. The jutsu, sadly, only included three waves. Sakura sighed, starting to pick up the throwing stars with a frown.
Pathetic…was the word that came to mind. God, what she wouldn't give to have someone to practice with her again. To have anyone who wasn't afraid to practice with her, period. Maybe she could convince some of the newer baby Anbu? Teach them a thing or two about overestimating themselves?
Wouldn't that be nice…Sakura smirked a little. It was then, just as Sakura was lazily plucking the stars from the ends of her staff that the ground beneath her feet gave way, and imploded.
