Chapter 15

The next morning was pretty damn hectic.

I had slept in for the first time in ages, and I had to be the one who woke Shikamaru from his temporary hibernation and made breakfast. So pretty much, what ended up happening was that I was throwing on my costume, periodically forgetting things here and there, and I hadn't eaten any breakfast, and I still had to do my makeup, and everything was going on at once. Obi Wan just sat back and did nothing, waiting for something to happen.

Then Shikamaru yelled at me to "Stop running around like a frightened jackrabbit, dammit", and I finally calmed down enough so he could think straight. He ended up being the one to get Master Obi Wan and I out the door in time; we made it to the arena with just seconds to spare.

It turned out that everyone was going to be fighting two matches that day to leave a full day for the championship. I was going to be fighting against one of the other girls, Mintry, but my second to-be-victim was TBD.

My match was first again, and Mintry turned out to be just another non-challenging opponent. I basically kicked her legs out from under her and shoved my blade in her face. Howthehelldidthisgirlevengetpastthefirstround? I thought skeptically.

"Mintry's first opponent dropped out before the match took place for those of you wondering how she ever got to the second round," the announcer murmured into his mic, right on cue.

Well,thatexplainsalot. I shrugged and listened to the crowd's at least slightly enthusiastic applause. I could tell they were starting to like me.

My next match was against a guy named The Pounder. He was such a geek; he had a mask and everything down to the cheesy catchphrase and neon orange tights. The crowd roared with approval, and it was completely obvious that he was the main favorite among the spectators. He probably would give a good show.

I took my normal pose across the ground from him, and the fight commenced. I figured out a little late why he was called "The Pounder"; and boy, did he ever pound. But then again, I had some pretty good fists of my own, not to mention Lady Tsunade's training and medical ninjutsu, so I won that one too.

And just like that, I was in the finals.

When the day of fighting was over, I ran into Shikamaru's arms and started nearly crying. "What if he really isn't here? What if he's actually on the other side of the—"

Shikamaru cut me off by putting his hand over my mouth. "Shut up. Just shut up, Sakura. Can you even hear yourself?"

I sniffled with a teeny shrug, and my voice was muffled by his hand. "But I—"

"No. You clearly have a concussion from The Pounder hitting you in the head, because the regular Sakura would never worry that much about Naruto. Now where is the real Sakura?

I steeled myself and stepped away from him. I placed my right fist directly over my heart, but then I straightened my fingers to my brow.

"Here. Present and reporting for duty."

He grinned at my salute. "At ease."

I got home with Obi Wan-sensei and Shikamaru later, at around 2 o'clock. But I was so incredibly tired that I went straight upstairs and took a super long nap. It was 3 AM—I had slept for a full thirteen hours.

I stumbled out of bed, incredibly groggy. I slouched downstairs and saw that the lights in the kitchen were already on. I walked in, and saw Shikamaru sitting at the table, a cup of tea that smelled like Japanese green, and a picture of him, Temari, Naruto and I when we went on our first of many double-dates. He looked up tentatively at me. "Couldn't sleep?"

I shook my head thoughtfully. "Can I have some? Tea, I mean."

"Yeah, sure. Sugar?" He stood to get it for me. He poured it slowly and brought it back.

"You know how I like it—enough to destroy an entire military division—infantry, cavalry, artillery and all. Here, dump a bunch a this in." I held out the canister in question.

"Sure. But wait," Shikamaru was making his "what a drag" expression. "Isn't sugar something a little too, ah…sweet…to kill all those people?"

I glared at him. "You know I'm not good with metaphors and similes and stuff like that at this time of night…er, morning."

"Ha ha," He smirked at me softly. I sat down next to him and looked at our happy faces in the glossy picture on the counter. I turned to him. "Wouldn't Temari be about ready to come to the Leaf Village around this time for the Chunin Exams?"

He shrugged. "Time might pass differently in this dimension, but if it would pass like it does back home, then, yeah, I guess that would be around this time."

I pulled my feet up onto the chair so I could hug my knees. "I wonder what she'll do without you…"

"I've wondered that pretty much every day. About everyone else too. How Ino and Choji are doing on their missions without our 'Ino-Shika-Cho' battle formations, especially. But occasionally other people pop onto my train of thought, like Shino and Kakashi, and those people."

I nodded. "That's how it is for me too. I normally think a lot about all the people back home and how different it would be without us there."

"And, with a slight change in subject, about the tournament," Shikamaru scratched the spot beneath his ear. "I hear that people have taken to calling you 'Arukas of the Pink Blade' or something like that."

I rubbed my face. "Oh, I kind of wish I could tell them my real name—'Sakura of the Pink Blade' sounds like a title much better suited to me. Heck, it would probably be a good book title too."

He chuckled once, and we continued on for almost an hour, laughing about stuff, consoling each other, and just relaxing. Then, eventually, Shikamaru smiled at me and stood up. "Well, it'd best to get to bed. You've got a championship match to fight tomorrow, and I've got nothing to do except watch you. So good night."

"Yeah, alright. 'Night."

I waved and went back to my room. I felt better about things now. I fell over my bed that was only barely warm from the last time I had gotten into it, almost an hour ago. I closed my eyes and smirked up at the ceiling. Then it hit me that I was actually going to see Naruto tomorrow, if all went as planned.

I rolled over and thought, Ithadbetter…

And then I slept.