House Calls
Chapter 21
Note: Trolls welcome. They're people too.
Sakura smiled despite herself when Naruto began to excitedly tell her about his mission to Kumogakure. He was leaving in a day and was just about ready to burst in anticipation. Sakura had some doubts. It was meant to be a 'learning' experience and while Gaara had patiently guided his friend through his daily routine as Kazekage, she really couldn't see the Raikage paying him the same attention. She doubted it would be longer than a few minutes before he punted Naruto out of his office and turned the blond's assignment in Kumo into time spent assing around with Killer Bee.
(Although, it should be know that if the Hachibi-vessel sent her teammate home rapping again, there'd be some serious consequences.)
"I'm sorry I can't go, Naruto," Sakura said, hugging her knees to her chest.
They were seated on the floor together, facing each other over a game of shogi that he had insisted on. He and Sai had arrived not too long after Kakashi and, even though neither of them had mentioned it yet, she knew why they were there.
"Aw, why not?"
"Tsunade-sama's decided I needed a break."
His shoulders slumped a little and he lowered his eyes. "Because of that kid?"
Sakura nodded slowly and let her chin drop to her knees. "Partly. She thinks that I'm taking it too hard, but she's really just looking for an excuse to force me to take a vacation. She's been bugging me about it for a while, actually."
Naruto let out a quiet huff and scowled deeply at the game board, his brows furrowing with consternation. "That ain't fair," he muttered. "She can't punish you for something like that."
She shrugged. "Most people don't see two weeks of leave as punishment," she replied as she reached out to move a piece forward. It was his turn, but he was taking forever and wouldn't notice anyway. Or care.
Naruto moved two pieces forward at once. "I know."
Sakura eyed his gold general. She felt like pointing out that they couldn't move like that, but instead she just swooped forward and took it with her rook. At an angle. While jumping over her knight.
Shikamaru, to whom shogi was almost sacred, would have resorted to the Hand of Fate at about this point out of exasperation.
Naruto leaned back on his hands to examine the board and then, frowning, he tipped his head back to look into the kitchen. "Where'd Kakashi-sensei go?"
"He slipped out a while ago," she replied. "After you and Sai got here." She paused and began to frown as well as she lifted her eyes from the board. "Wait, where is Sai?"
"No idea. I want my other silver general back."
"Why?"
"'Cause I want it."
"Only if I get my bishop back."
Naruto shrugged amiably and they exchanged the requested pieces without any further discussion.
"I'm pretty sure that that's against the rules."
The blond jumped as Sai appeared over his right shoulder, his general dropping out of his hand and clattering to the board. "Holy hell, man!" he laughed. "Wear shoes that squeak or something!"
Sai blinked at him and then tipped his head and smiled before moving to kneel down beside Sakura, who looked to him wearily. "Sakura-chan?" he began.
She raised an eyebrow at his serious expression. "Yes?"
He shifted in place, frowning to himself. "Forgive me. Even though I still have not fully grasped the subtleties of this sort of interaction I would like to say something."
"Oh, this should be good," Naruto said under his breath with an ear-to-ear grin.
Sakura shot him a warning look. "Go ahead, Sai."
The pale boy nodded and then suddenly wrapped his arms around her (the embrace stiff and unsure but sincere). "I am sorry for what has happened and as I am aware that you gauge your self-worth based on your success and usefulness as a medic, you should know that this failure does not in any way reflect on your abilities and I will still allow you to heal me."
Sakura and Naruto shared a look and a second later the blond burst into a fit of laughter as the girl smiled a little, exasperated but touched. "Thank you, Sai," she said, working an arm around neck and ruffling his hair.
The ex-ROOT agent pulled away looking rather genuinely pleased with himself.
The moment was swiftly assassinated by a loud rumble from the direction of Naruto's stomach. He grinned sheepishly. "Lunch?" he proposed, his brows lifted. "I'll cook."
Sakura knew that that meant heating up some instant ramen, but she nodded anyway. She wasn't in the mood to worry about sodium and fat content.
No matter how vehemently Sakura insisted that he was not old, there was no denying that Kakashi was a veteran. Hell, at nineteen Sakura was a veteran. It had nothing to do with age. Some things just didn't. Experience counted more than anything else in the ninja world and years in the field did a lot of things to ninja. For example, it had been some time since Kakashi had honed the ability to sense danger, which had served him really well over the years.
His first reaction shouldn't have been to run right to Sakura's side. She was not just a grown woman, but an experienced medic and a skilled kunoichi—she was not a stranger to death. Her specialty, being what it was inside an already bloody business, had left her hands a particularly deep shade of crimson. She didn't need him there to tell her it'd be okay when she had bounced back from so much worse on her own.
Dangerous. This was dangerous.
The boundaries of their relationship had expanded over the years; growing to encompass friendship and mutual respect, affection born of years of knowing one another, and a unique sense of understanding that he felt with no one else. He was reclusive, frustrating, and, at times, discourteous (especially to his team), but it didn't seem to bother her much. In turn, he could accept her tendencies to be violent, bull-headed, and demanding.
Their boundaries were flexible but distinct and never in his life before that night in Wind Country had he ever felt the desire to test them. Challenge them. Cross them.
His stomach churned.
"Something wrong? You're taking forever."
Kakashi looked up sharply to Sakura, who was watching him from across the shogi board. The boys had gone some time ago it seemed and in that time she had showered and changed out of one pair of sweats into another. Her hair was damp and tied back, but she looked no worse than she ever did after a rough day of training.
He had slipped out, knowing the boys would distract her, and telling himself that he had overreacted.
Kakashi moved a silver general forward. "I'm fine."
Sakura eyed him suspiciously for a moment before taking it. He got the feeling that she was waiting for retaliation in some form, but it didn't come.
He hadn't needed to come back. But he did. He attempted, at first, to dismiss it as whim, as "checking on our little lady", but he knew himself well enough to know he was lying.
"Do you want something to eat? Naruto made ramen."
Again, her voice dragged him briefly out of his dazed state and he scoffed derisively in reply. Naruto added, of all things, salt when he made ramen. "I hope to the First you didn't eat any of it."
Sakura smiled. "No."
Kakashi nodded and looked back to the board.
He'd leave soon, he told himself. He'd leave and go directly to the mission desk and take the first job that would get him out of town for a while. It wasn't well-timed—Sakura having two weeks of leave and Naruto going to Kumo—but he had to get away. It was proximity. It was stagnation. Time away would set things right.
"Soon" came quickly when Kakashi won the game, although he was quick to blame luck. Sakura usually proved to be a good opponent, but she was currently somewhere else, stuck staring blankly into space.
"Sakura?" he beckoned as he pulled on his vest.
"Hm?"
"Are you all right?"
She looked to him and then away again quickly as she nodded, pushing a stray bit of hair out of her eyes. "I'm fine," she said.
He didn't trust the sound of that 'fine'.
As usual, his instincts were right.
Sakura was angry with herself, with everything that had happened, and maybe a little with reality too (which was completely unreasonable, but damn it she didn't care right now). Had she been too cocky? She had known exactly the number of days since she had lost a patient to injuries sustained on the battlefield (nearly two hundred) and nothing made one careless like consistent triumph.
Kakashi took her rook and one gold general in quick succession.
The same questions kept racing through her mind, even as she desperately tried to fight them off. Would it have made a difference if she had detected the poison? Seconds were vital when dealing with toxins. Worse yet, had she overlooked something? What if she could have seen it but just didn't? Medics were supposed to see the big picture, especially when working triage.
It was almost worse to think that it wasn't her fault. If she had done all she could and if the hospital staff had done all they could… didn't that seem arbitrary, at best?
Sakura found herself staring blankly at the board as Kakashi trapped her in checkmate.
She hardly cared.
Twelve-years-old. Why hadn't it seemed that young when she was that age?
Kakashi got up to go and she couldn't help the wave of relief that washed over her. Shizune had once advised her, years ago after a particularly grueling night shift at the hospital, to go home after the worst was over and have a nice, long cry. Take time to mourn, she had said, exorcise all of those feelings, and then get back up. After all, there was no use in trying to stand under all of that extra weight.
"Are you all right?
She snapped to attention, but only for a second before quickly lowering her gaze to her lap, her eyes burning now from some combination of his concern and the fact that she had been putting it off all day. Damn it. "I'm fine."
Liar, she thought.
And that was the last straw. She clenched her fists as the tears started. Mortified, she began to quietly berate herself. These weren't those dainty tears she had cried at the festival after hearing about Obito and Rin. They were tears born out of defeat and they came out in shaking sobs that had her shoving the knuckles of one fist into her mouth in an attempt to stop them. They were the tears that just came out all the harder as she grew more and more frustrated.
Damn it! Two more seconds and Kakashi wouldn't have had to see this. She clenched her jaw and silently prayed that he would just go because one indignity on her plate was enough, thank you.
But he didn't leave and she wanted to swear at him when she felt him kneel down beside her. She wanted to hit him when he laid a strong, firm hand on her back and made her cry even harder. She wanted to hit herself when she leaned into him, dampening the shoulder of his vest with tears (and, let's be honest, snot).
"Ninja are supposed to be good liars," he said quietly with mock exasperation.
Sakura laughed, but it came out as an ugly croak. "You're such a jerk."
Wallowing was allowed just one day and with it out of her system Sakura was determined to keep herself busy for the rest of her leave. However, with Kakashi suddenly off to Kiri on a mission he couldn't elaborate on and Naruto off to Kumo (with Team Ebisu, which was exactly what diplomatic relations needed, she thought sourly), she found herself at a loss for what to do.
She tried relaxing as Tsunade had advised, but to no avail. After all, the point was somewhat defeated when one had to put forth effort at that kind of thing. Sai had gone with Naruto, so he wasn't around for company. Given, he was never one for talking, but he was at least another body around and that counted for something. She couldn't even go in to do paperwork. Tsunade had made it fairly clear that she didn't want to see her anywhere near the tower or the hospital.
It was decided. She'd never get on Kakashi's case about taking leave again.
Sakura sighed as she lay sprawled out in bed, freshly showered, wearing only her underwear and a camisole as she made another go at that 'relaxing' thing. She had woken at six, as she did most mornings, and lay in bed for a half-hour before deciding to shower (mostly out of boredom). Maybe it'd let her relax her. Maybe she'd sleep in until noon for the first time in… ever, really.
At seven o'clock exactly, Sakura was ready to throw her alarm clock at a wall just because the cheeky bastard was there.
Day three. The boys hadn't even been gone for a full twenty-four hours and she was bored out of her mind.
A soft pop and puff of smoke sent Sakura tumbling heels over head into a crouch, a kunai pulled from beneath her mattress clutched in her fist. Okay, so she wasn't the picture of intimidating while crouched on her sunflower-covered quilt and wearing rose-printed undies, but she was so ready to—
"Oh, hey Pakkun."
The Pug looked vaguely amused as he hopped lightly onto the bed and sat down. "At ease," he said.
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, but fell gracelessly backwards onto the quilt and crossed her legs in front of her. "What can I do for you?"
His head was cocked to the side as he dug at his ear with one hind foot. "Kakashi doesn't want your training to suffer with him and the other two gone and you on leave," he said. He paused to shake his head vigorously and then lowered his foot again. "Get dressed."
She blinked at him.
Pakkun blinked back at her.
"You're serious?" she asked.
He tipped his head to the side as he shrugged one shoulder. "Well, I don't particularly care if you come in just that, but I've heard it's the kind of thing that can get you sectioned. C'mon, hop to it. The boys are waiting for us and we're burning daylight here."
Sakura eyed him a little harder. She considered picking his furry little butt up and locking him out of her room, but… oh, what the hell. She rolled off of bed and went for her dresser. "How exactly are you going to help me train?" she wondered as she began piling clothes in her arms.
"Hey, there's eight of us and one of you," he replied. "I think we'll manage."
She rolled her eyes. Yeah, she'd just worry about Bull. He had the biggest teeth.
Or, she'd worry about all of them. Sakura realized that her years of acquaintance with the hounds had her underestimating them. The same dogs that regularly begged for belly rubs and begged for treats were taking their assignment rather seriously at the moment. The fight was quickly devolving into a mess of teeth coming from every direction and she found herself struggling to just keep up.
The hell of the thing was that she felt bad when she retaliated. That wasn't fair!
She lunged to avoid Uhei and Guruko as they came at her from either side and leapt to a branch of an adjacent tree. Without hesitation, she launched herself forward to the next branch and just kept going. The ground wasn't an option with the others still hot on her heels. Bull was down there. Somewhere. He wasn't nearly agile enough to maneuver the treetops like the others could, but he was certainly fast enough to catch her if she gave him the chance. She couldn't afford to face him and the others at the same time.
"Having fun?"
Pakkun was suddenly just overhead, keeping pace with her on a higher tier of branches and looking rather smug. "I'm contemplating adding some fur to my wardrobe," she snapped back irritably. "Oh, and I'm going to kill Kakashi. I hope you don't mind too terribly."
"Quit whining and get your head in the game, Girlie," he replied gruffly, stopping just ahead of her. "You're gonna hurt the boys' feelings if you don't take them serious."
Sakura stopped as well and spared him a narrow look. Fine, she thought as she drew a kunai with an attached tag from her hip pouch. He asked for it.
The Pug grinned at her and then lept away when she threw the blade at him. The tag exploded on impact with the branch, forming a dense, white cloud that swallowed the surrounding treetops.
The medic, with one hand over her mouth, quickly dropped out of branches to the ground and glanced back only when she heard whining and sneezing overhead. She felt bad. Vaguely. But at least she knew now that the pepper tags worked. Now to leg it and hope she could win Bull over with a pretty smile.
Nope. No such luck.
Sakura stared straight up, focused on the tiny bit of blue sky visible from between the canopy of tree branches overhead. She was flat on her back in the undergrowth, her clothes and hair damp with sweat, and her right boot steadily becoming soaked with drool. Bull had her whole calf in his mouth and though he was careful not to bite down hard enough to hurt her, his grip was firm. There would be no kicking free without some serious damage done to them both.
And damn it all, she was having fun anyway.
She smiled a little to herself. They had been out there for hours. Her limbs felt weak and shaky, her skinned knees and elbows were already in the process of healing, and she'd need another shower when she got home… but she finally, finally was relaxed. Even with a massive dog's jaws clutching one leg.
"We won, we won, we won!"
Sakura turned her head toward Shiba and Guruko as they pranced into the clearing with the others not too far behind.
"All right, let her up, Bull," Pakkun said as he sat down beside the girl.
The big dog opened his mouth and Sakura tentatively pulled her leg free, making a face as drool dripped from her boot. Yeah, that'd need to be hosed off. She sat up and wearily met their expectant stares. "Oh, fine," she huffed, reaching into a different hip pouch. "You each get one treat. That's it. That's all I brought with me."
She tossed them each their respective snacks and then stood, her weight settling in her right boot with a wet and cringe-inducing spluch. She stretched her arms upwards tiredly and then took a deep breath as she opened her eyes.
It was such a pretty day. The sky was an incredible blue overhead, the air was warm but the breeze was cool, and the exercise had her blood humming through her veins as her heart raced inside her chest. Her muscles were sore with fatigue, but she felt renewed. Full of energy.
Sakura took a breath.
"We're not done, are we?" Shiba sounded disappointed as he leaned his weight into her legs.
"Well…" The medic scanned the area and then shrugged. "I think there's a lake just a little north of here. I'll race you guys there."
The words were barely out of her mouth before both she and the dogs vanished.
"So…"
Sakura glanced down at Pakkun as she performed a few stretches in the shade of a tree. Bull was sleeping to her right as the others dogs were busy chasing each other in and out of the water while fighting over a stick they had found in the woods. The Pug was sitting just a few feet away, watching her with his head cocked to the side.
"So what?" she prompted.
"What was up with you and Kakashi? You know, at that inn."
Sakura frowned to herself. She often admired the dogs' straight forward tendencies, but right now not so much. She shifted her hands a little to redistribute her weight. "I don't know what you mean."
"He had his mask down."
She shifted her hands again, finding it hard to balance. "I was healing a cut on his cheek."
"You weren't looking."
"I told him I wouldn't."
"You've been after that for years."
Sakura sighed and let her legs fall back down. She landed with a graceless oomph in the grass and then eyed the little dog. "I was respecting his wishes. He wasn't comfortable showing me so I didn't push it. And hey, why am I being interrogated? Kakashi was there too, you know, and you live with him."
Pakkun shrugged. "He's real good at dodging answers. You know that," he said, pausing to shake himself vigorously as he got to his feet. "I was just wondering."
Sakura eyed him as he to it upon him to settle down in her lap. With a glance at the tree behind her, she scooted so her back rested against the trunk before reaching out to scratch the little dog's ears. "Why?" she asked.
"Well… you know Kakashi. He doesn't really let anyone close and you two looked…"
"Close?"
"Yeah. Get my other ear. It's been bugging me all day."
"Hm, you should have Hana look at that. And I was just healing him. Sometimes things get… close." She frowned. That sounded like a euphemism for something now. "I didn't picture you the nosy type, Pak."
He let out a quiet huff that made his jowls billow. "I ain't nosy. I'm just looking out for him. You know, the boys and I were really glad when you started coming around so much." His words were beginning to slur as she began rubbing deep circles into the back of his neck. "We used to worry about him. I mean, I don't like the vet but I know when to swallow my pride, you know?"
Sakura smiled wryly and nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"I think you're good for him anyway," the dog went on. His eyes fell shut slowly and she could feel him melting in her lap. A part of Sakura unashamedly squealed in girlish, animal-loving delight because, sure, he could be a snarky little thing but he was adorable. "He's been happier."
"Happier?" she repeated skeptically.
"Yeah. I guess it probably ain't easy to tell."
She frowned a little deeper. "No, not really."
"Well, he wouldn't ever admit to it." Pakkun lifted his head to shake and then lowered it back down to rest on her leg again. "But he is. Besides, it's good for him to have someone now. He's always lived with both feet in the past."
Sakura hummed softly and rubbed a little harder, earning a deep sigh from the Pug. "With Rin and Obito, you mean."
If Pakkun was surprised by her speaking those names, he didn't show it. "Them and Minato-sama and his dad." He sighed again. "Thanks, Sakura."
She couldn't tell if he was thanking her for the massage or something else, but she nodded anyway. "No problem."
"They're yours now or something?"
Sakura rolled her eyes as she dropped a bowl of fresh-cut vegetables into a pan of bowling water. "Don't ask me. They just came home with me and took over the living room. It doesn't matter, though. I figure with the guys bleeding all over the kitchen floor, this house has no hope of ever really being clean anyway."
Ino laughed. She stood in the kitchen doorway, eying the eight hounds sleeping in the living room, their headbands and vests lying near the front door. "I think they're adorable. Although… does that one look a little like Shika to you?"
The medic glanced back at her friend as she stirred the pan of still-frying rice on the stove. "Look a little closer at Bisuke and Guruko. There are some seriously familiar faces in that crowd."
The blonde grinned viciously. "I've always thought it was adorable that Pakkun wears his headband the same way you do."
"Pig, aren't you supposed to be helping me with dinner? That's why you came over, you know."
"No, I came over because you're on leave for once and I was bored. Besides, I think you've got it covered, Forehead." Ino flapped a hand dismissively as she settled down on a three-legged stool sitting at the end of the line of cupboard. She paused for a moment, eyeing her friend critically before looking down to inspect her nails. "I feel like I need to say something."
"You always feel like you need to say something."
The other girl smiled a little, but continued to nervously pick at her fingers. "Are you okay?"
Sakura smiled as she turned around to look at her friend. "I'm fine. How's, um… how's your cousin and his team?"
Ino shrugged. "It was a pretty painful funeral," she murmured. "But they'll bounce back." She twiddled her thumbs for a moment and then hopped off the stool. "Okay, time for a topic change. I'm getting depressed."
"All right. Any new men in your life?"
"Ugh, that's even more depressing." Ino leaned over the cupboard next to the stove, her chin resting on her upturned palm. "Let's talk about your love life. That's more like a tragic comedy."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Between training, missions, working the odd shift at the hospital, taking care of guys here, and managing my three idiots, when do you think I have time for a love life?"
"Who says you can't mix business and pleasure?"
"Tell me you didn't just use that cliché."
Ino snorted. "C'mon, Forehead. There's got to be someone you're interested in. I mean, you've get just about every shinobi in the village traipsing in and out of here at some point or another. Isn't anyone catching your eye?"
"Even if there was I probably wouldn't get a lot of takers." Sakura moved to the sink to fill a measuring cup full of water and then turned back to the stove. "Look at my teammates."
"Oh, they wouldn't interfere just because you were dating a guy."
The water hissed as it hit the hot frying pan and covered the rice. "It's not the dating that'd be the problem. It'd be the breaking up." Sakura covered the pan and reached over to stir the vegetables.
The blonde frowned, but then gave this a moment's thought and whistled. "Ooh yeah, I see your point."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I'd break them in half if they tried anything and they know that, but any guy I'd try to date wouldn't. All they know is that I work with the Copy-nin and the Kyuubi boy. Plus, you know, rare is the guy that likes a girl stronger than him."
"True. Big men, frail egos." Ino looked thoughtfully upwards, her fingers tapping against her chin. "Huh. Well, you're just… well, not screwed, I guess."
Honestly, Sakura should have known better than to think that just because it didn't come up over dinner the subject was by any means dropped. This was Ino she was dealing with after all.
"All right. Say you had to settle down. Who would it be with?"
Sakura frowned as she eyed her hand of cards. Shiba was watching curiously over her shoulder as she reclined into Bull's bulk, using him backrest as Urushi laid with his head on her thigh. "Nothing says I have to settle down," she argued, picking three cards from her hand and lying them down on the floor. "Give me three."
Pakkun flicked three cards her way from the top of the deck and then looked to Ino expectantly. "How many?"
"I'm thinking," the other girl protested with a pout. Bisuke was lounging sleepily in her lap as Akino watch over her shoulder from where he lay on the couch just behind the blonde girl. She rearranged her cards and looked to Sakura. "I'm just saying. If you really, really wanted to settle down and you wanted, presumably, to settle down with someone, who would it be?"
"I'm supposed to just pick someone?"
"No, you're supposed to be really difficult and overanalyze a hypothetical situation," Ino deadpanned in reply. She rolled her eyes. "It's just that whoever you pick sort of speaks to your type. It doesn't mean you want to shack up with that particular person. Give me two, Fido."
Pakkun flicked two cards the blonde's way. "Dealer stands pat," he said, earning a weary look from both girls.
Sakura gave her cards another once over and then reached for her pile of chips and and sweets. She shrugged. "Fine. I'd settle down with Ibiki. I raise you two sticks of strawberry pocky."
"Oh, you would not! I call you."
"Ebisu-senpai, then."
"C'mon, Sakura!"
The medic shared a look with Pakkun who bared his teeth in amusement. "I honestly don't know, Ino," she insisted. "How would you answer that?"
"Easy. It'd either be Shikamaru or Chouji."
Sakura blinked and laid her cards down. She scowled at Pakkun when he flipped his cards over with a flick of his paw and revealed a flush. Well that blew hers and Ino's lowly pairs away. She pushed the pile of snacks over to the Pug. "Why?"
Ino shrugged. "I know them best and they're really, really good guys. Anyone would be lucky to have them."
"Hey, I'm sold. I'll take whoever you don't pick."
The blonde scowled. "I'm not talking to you anymore."
Sakura rolled her eyes again and shifted around a little to get more comfortable as she swept the cards together and began to stack them. "I'm sorry, Ino. I just really don't think about that kind of thing."
"What about your boys? You put up with them in every other respect."
It was cute how all of the dogs tried to pretend that their ears hadn't picked up at that. What gossips! "It's kind of a tough call. You know what I have to work with," she said as she finished shuffling the cards and began dealing them.
"You also spend almost every waking minute with them," Ino replied. "C'mon, it's just me."
Sakura coughed and cast a meaningful look around the circle at the eight other faces watching intently. Well, seven. Bull probably couldn't care less. Noting this, the dogs averted their eyes immediately, trying to look innocent.
"Oh, who are they going to tell?"
The medic sighed as she laid the remaining cards down in front of her. "Well…" she began, trailing off.
Sai was out. Right off the bat, he was out. It wasn't that he wasn't sweet, because he could be terribly so without trying, but he still had other moments that weren't quite so endearing and there was just… something about it that seemed wrong. Maybe she had just spent too much time leading him around by the hand to appreciate him as a man.
Naruto was… well, he was out too even though she hated to think it. Ino had no problem making a fuss over how handsome he had gotten over the years, but for Sakura's part there was no seeing him as anything other than her best friend. He was the guy she still occasionally chased out of the women's onsen and tossed through the air when she got angry with him. Besides, whether he was Konoha's Golden Boy or not, that spark of attraction just wasn't there and, as far as she could tell, it probably never would be.
And Kakashi just wasn't really an option, was he?
"Well?" Ino prompted impatiently.
Kakashi was… she snorted at the thought of him being her teacher. Yeah, she called him sensei out of respect and she supposed that she was still learning from him in some regards but if she were really honest the man was her teacher in the same way that oranges were rocks. Sure, they were sort of shaped the same, but they were hardly the same thing.
"I'm thinking. I told you already; I don't have a lot to work with."
Though, maybe they had a connection she didn't have with Naruto. She understood his dry sense of humor and the man was incredibly tolerant of her on her worst days. Not to mention, they worked rather seamlessly together. Team Seven, as a whole, was a well-oiled machine, but she and Kakashi never had to make an effort to understand each other. It was instinctive.
But that spark wasn't…
Sakura's heart slammed into her ribcage in alarm as her thoughts took a sudden, disturbing turn. Because there was a spark. It was there that night in Suna when he had blocked that kick and then ran his thumb over the jut of her ankle bone, shooting her whole body into warm confusion and chaos without even meaning to. It was there that night in that village when she touched his lips and then shivered at how warm his breath was against her fingertips.
"Naruto," she said evenly, shrugging one shoulder. "I've known him longest."
Ino's shoulders slumped a little. "Well, that was anti-climatic."
1. (Violin chords, smoke, sparkles, spontaneous rainbows) I'M BACK! AND I STILL LOVE YOU!
2. After a whole two weeks. Sorry about that. I don't really have a good excuse for the lag except that things caught up with me. Keep in mind, guys, that if I ever lag behind with updates, not to worry. If, for any reason, I ever stop updating, I will leave a message after the beep. Unless, of course, I die in a fiery car crash or something.
3. Oh, but good news. My absence has led to an excess of rant! Or maybe that isn't good news.
4. ABLRHGHEIGHELAOFFGHELDLFO! (Yeah, underline it with your squiggly, red mark. I DON'T CARE!) (...) I seriously just forgot what I wanted to-OH! I remember now! Okay, just a quick preface: I'm not calling anyone out with this. It's something that I've discussed before with Exodia-girl and I felt the need to address it. With a good bit of humor. And melodrama. Stay with me.
This story is not serious. You all may have determined that by now what with twenty-one chapters having gone by and nothing happening, but I didn't start this intending it to be serious. I didn't even start this intending it to be what it is and the response to it has totally floored me. When I decided to roll with it and see where it took me, I decided after a few chapters that in lieu of some drama-heavy plot, I wanted to write a real romance. Something steeped in feeling rather than sexual tension. So, to make up for lost "realism" I give you a condensed version of what this story COULD have been! (More violins, more sparkles-no! I mean screaming electric guitars and a rain of black blood! Yeah!)
The battle had left her so drained, she could only sit there and wait with them as the life slowly drained from their bodies. They were dying. Together. She felt sick thinking about it even years down the road. She was the only remaining member of Team Seven. Or, she felt like it, at least. Kakashi, so caught up in his own grief, had taken up the ANBU mantle again and seemed bent to die in battle and far away from Konoha.
For her part, Sakura couldn't even bring herself to speak most days and it just got harder after Tsunade's death. She prayed everyday at the memorial stone that her shishou was somewhere warm and beautiful, reunited with her most precious people.
The war had left its fingerprints all over the Konoha Eleven. Team Asuma was officially defunct. Ino had joined her father on the interrogation squad and Chouji had taken to missions with his family when Shikamaru was removed from active duty. Wheezing, coughing, pain. Sakura feared the coming results of the latest test.
Hinata had officially been removed from her family, cast out. Neji hadn't followed her. The rift was visible, even between the polite smiles and promises of protection. Her teammates did all they could to stand beside her, but they too were facing pressure from their clans. With age came new responsibilities. It was only a matter of time...
Sakura mulled these dark things over as she stood outside Gai's hospital room, shaking. How did you tell a man like that that he couldn't be a shinobi anymore? That last fight, the heroics that had pulled his beloved protege from the line of fire, had shattered his legs. At his age, no medical jutsu could force what nature just wouldn't allow.
Gods, when would it stop?
5. Are we all sufficiently depressed now? Yeah? Well, I have Zoloft and razor blades. Who wants which?
6. Darkest sketch, darkest sketch! (Quote form Spoony Experiment)
7. MORE RANT! This one is... well, it ain't happier but it IS shorter. I like the Naruto/Hinata pairing. I really do. It has a Moe cuteness about it that's actually very appealing. I just hate how Kishimoto has handled it. Actually, I really kind of hate how fans handle it too, although that certainly doesn't surprise me considering I hate most of what fans tend to do (which includes everything from turning Genma into a piggish, boozing man-whore to how they dry hump and tongue-bath Sasuke every chance they get). People seem to be under this misconception that what Hinata feels for Naruto is true love.
It isn't. WAIT! Don't throw those rotten vegetables and sharpened spoons quite yet! I just mean that Hinata has spent, more or less, the whole series loving Naruto from afar. This is never properly addressed! After all, it's totally different to love someone up close. There's more to lose that way, more to forgive, and the view isn't always quite as nice when everything in right in yo' face. I get that she admires him and maybe I've missed a lot of their interactions (I don't keep up with the anime or the manga), but admiration is really only a sub-basement to love. It's a starting point, like a blueprint. It certainly isn't TRUE love by any stretch-at least not yet. But, again, I blame Kishi for most of this problem. I blame him for most everything, actually...
8. Okay, I promise I'm done.
9. Uh, updates might continue to be kind of slow. I have a lot of stuff on my plate and my mother and I are contemplating starting a web comic together. My sister is due with her baby in the spring and until then a lot of family stuff has me pulled in every direction. Not to mention school. Oh I hate it.
10. Blithe Spirits should be updated... eventually. I'd say the near future, but I can't make any promises. If it shows up in a few days, know that I probably went on a caffeine bender.
11. I think number four unquestionably qualifies as my longest note. Ever. (I'm poking as much fun at myself as anyone else with it, guys. I'm PAINFULLY aware of how lacking this story is in any weight. But I like it that way. It's very Three-Musketeers-y.)
12. As for this chapter: DOGS! Playing poker! I seriously couldn't resist guys. I also couldn't resist the idea of Naruto not knowing how to play Shogi for real and making up his own rules as he went (I used the English translations for the game pieces to avoid confusion). As for some of the other bits: Sakura's breakdown is kind of how me and most of my family handles things. We can keep a straight face for a long time, but the minute someone asks one of us if we're okay we start bawling. Then, for me, because I'm frustrated that I'm crying, I'll cry even harder. So embarrassing.
Kakashi will be MIA for the next chapter or so after this. But he'll be back. Maybe a little late, though. We all know how he is. Oh and I meant to bring this up a long time ago: I mention Sakura cooking a lot. I'm sorry, that's one of my past times. I'm actually very Iron Chef in the kitchen (to my family's delight as you can imagine). It's just a quirk I passed on.
13. All right, for serious now. I'm done. Leave me reviews my lovelies!