***IMPORTANT! Please be aware that there are parts in the first half of this chapter that are most likely considered NSFW. I attempt to refrain from graphic descriptions, but feel free to skim if you're not comfortable.***
Chapter Twenty-Five:
Konoha was...loud.
Karin had noticed it before the thwarted invasion, but they had kept to their rooms, the negotiating rooms, and wherever their guides wished to show them. Never had they ended up in a bar, surrounded by Sakura's former classmates, most of them the same clan heirs that had often attended the negotiations.
There was an assortment of bottles of alcohol on the table, with empty shot glasses scattered in front of the various occupants. Their table was close to the noisiest in the main room, and Karin momentarily wished that she was sitting over at the table shared by Nagato and Orochimaru, Itachi having chosen to remain in their rooms, since most of the Konoha shinobi were uneasy with him nearby.
And then Kiba was forced to strip off his shirt, and Karin was too busy laughing with the rest of the Konoha shinobi at her table.
Yamanaka was crowing with laughter as she accepted the shirt the Inuzuka passed her. "I told you you shouldn't have bet against her," his sister wheezed as she clutched her sides. "She'd actually do it."
"How was I supposed to know that she'd take off her underwear without even getting up from the table?" Kiba complained, pouting as Yamanaka waved the shirt like a victory banner. "I thought girls were sensitive about that short of shit?"
"Maybe try that one on someone who isn't wearing a miniskirt," the Nara slouched in the corner said dryly. "And you should know by now that Ino has no shame."
"I t-think it's your turn, Kiba-kun?" the Hyuuga heiress said, looking as red as a tomato and trying to look anywhere but her teammate's chest, now covered only in fine fishnet mail, or in the general direction of Ino, who had waved her own lost garment at the table before tucking it into her pocket. "Who are you going to ask?"
"Sakura!" he crowed, and Karin watched her friend and partner roll her eyes. "Truth or dare?"
"Hmmm," Sakura tapped her finger slowly against the table. "Dare."
"Go dance with Shiranui," Kiba snapped after a moment of contemplation. "And not just bob your head and shit like that. I mean vertical-sex dancing."
Ino started protesting on Sakura's behalf, as Hana thumped her brother's shoulder so hard that his forehead cracked against the table, narrowly missing the empty shot glass in front of him. Akimichi looked mildly concerned, as did the Hyuuga, but anything they were trying to say was drowned out by the loud declarations of the idiot shouting about a maiden's honor while his teammate, another Hyuuga, tried to force him to sit down.
Karin simply snorted, watching Sakura wait for a long moment before reaching for her choko and taking a sip of the sake she had been drinking for most of the night. As she swallowed, the rest of the table settled into a shocked, watchful quiet as she rose to her feet and sashayed towards where the tokujo who had escorted them into Konoha upon their arrival lounged against the bar with a few others.
Sakura slid easily into the group, chatting with one shinobi, brushing her arm against the others, slowly insinuating herself until she was next to the tokujo that was her target, allowing herself to stumble into his chest as the group shifted around him. Her recovery was a little slower than necessary, her touches lingering and suggestive, and his previous grin deepened.
Slowly, tantalizingly slowly, the pair flirted their way out onto the dance floor, a tiny patch of cleared floor already occupied by a number of gyrating couples. But there was something almost indecent about the way Sakura pressed herself to the tokujo's front, hands toying with the hair that hung below the bandanna. The way the other couple's groped each other looked like adolescent pawings compared the the relatively innocent placement of Shiranui's hands on her hips, just above the swell of her ass as he pulled her against him, so snug a senbon couldn't fit between them.
Karin watched the subtle shift of Sakura's hips, saw the tokujo's hands grip a little tighter before being carefully relaxed, and then she saw Sakura's back arch as Shiranui's smirk turned smug as his hips rolled against hers before spinning her around so that her back was pressed against her front. Positioned this way, their hips moved in unison, a subtle undulation that traveled all the way from their toes to Sakura's arms as she leaned back into her partner and lifted her arms to twine them around his neck. His hands slid lightly down her front, skimming the undersides of her breasts and coming to rest again on her hips as they rolled again, and Karin was amazed that the bar didn't ignite with the amount of heat given off by the pair. She herself was feeling the effects, and it didn't seem like she was alone in that.
Glazed eyes and dilated pupils seemed to be the shared symptom at the table, when she spared a quick glance. Yamanaka was fanning herself, using Kiba's shirt to dab discreetly at her face, and the Hyuuga heiress seemed as if she was ready to self-combust.
As the song ended, the tokujo's head dipped down to whisper something in Sakura's ear, and Karin caught the faint smirk as Sakura separated them, but blatantly placed her hand on Shiranui's ass as his snaked around her waist. The pair left the bar without saying a single word, but each and every witness to the spectacle knew exactly where the pair would be heading.
A flicker of movement caught Karin's eye, and she saw Orochimaru raising an eyebrow at her as he tipped his head at the door. Rolling her eyes, she shrugged. Both of them were familiar with Sakura's habits, and the simple motions Karin had made were enough to assure the snake sannin that Sakura was just looking for some fun, not getting herself into anything more complicated.
Wolf-whistles and applause broke out as the door slammed shut behind the pair, and Karin found herself the center of attention as she turned back to the table of Konoha chuunin.
"Holy shit," Ino breathed, eyes glued to the door. "That's the same Sakura I used to have to protect from bullies? I mean, I know Shiranui will sleep with pretty much anything on legs that shows an interest, but damn. When did Sakura get so...bold?"
"How come she picked him?" Kiba pouted, and Karin was glad to see his sister thump him again.
"She obviously didn't want a puppy, you idiot," Hana sneered. "Genma's a good lay, anyone with eyes can see that. Better than you anyway."
"She obviously picked him for a reason," the Aburame, who had thus far been sitting quietly in the corner by the Nara, commented. "Why? Because you dared her to dance with him."
"You should probably just stop while you're ahead," the Nara pointed out as Kiba opened his mouth to answer back. "Your record tonight has more losses than wins since you keep underestimating the women."
"And you should put your shirt back on," the male Hyuuga at the table said frostily, ignoring the sobbing mass of his teammate next to him. "Nobody wants to see you."
Kiba started bickering with him, with the Hyuuga heiress attempting to intervene, but Karin was distracted by Yamanaka leaning closer. "So, Sakura's got...experience?"
"I'm pretty certain everyone older than genin has experience in Uzushio," the redhead replied dryly, reaching for Sakura's abandoned choko and sipping the sake her friend had left behind. "Obviously I can't speak for the other jounin, but I know...or I'm mostly certain," she amended "that most of the chuunin and genin are no longer virgins."
"They send you all on," Ino paused, looked around to make sure most of the table was occupied watching Kiba and the frosty Hyuuga posture and snap, "seduction missions?"
Snorting, Karin savored another sip of sake, letting the flavor sit on her tongue before swallowing. They rarely had access to alcohol, but Mei had made sure that part of their lessons on being a proper kunoichi focused on alcohol; how to keep one's head, how to appreciate it...and Orochimaru had capped it off with a useful detox jutsu that was both hangover remedy and prevention of getting too sloshed to remember their purpose. Mei's stash of alcohol had been good, but it had nothing on whatever this was.
The blonde prodded Karin with her foot, and the redhead purposefully took another sip before answering: "No. We just decided to take control of our own sexualties before they could be used against us." As she saw the thoughts spinning in Ino's head, Karin sighed. "Stop right there. What would you do if you were captured on a mission and there were threats of rape? It's an easy way to break shinobi and kunoichi alike. So we just decided to make sure that we could separate the act of sex from the intimacy of it. And it's fun."
Ino still looked confused, and Karin didn't feel like trying to explain it better. She didn't want to tell this girl that she had seen Sakura wake up screaming because she had a nightmare that convinced her that she was back in Kumo and that she was going to be raped. Had seen Sakura come into the apartment, pale and shaking, because all day she had been around men and some part of her was still afraid that she would be forced into being a broodmare.
Karin had kissed Sakura, one of those nights. Had smashed their lips together to show her panicking roommate that it was just an act. That it was a moment of physical contact between people that only meant as much as you let it. Together, with fumbling hands and nervous laughter, they had touched and been touched, had learned what felt good, what made each other gasp...it hadn't changed anything for them. They weren't in love, they weren't even in lust. But Sakura's nightmares had abated, and their experimenting had opened new doors.
Their experimenting had spread to most of the other genin as well, as each of them tested their newly discovered sexuality. Sakura spent several evenings teaching the other kunoichi the simple jutsu that would prevent pregnancy until it was undone, to make sure no accidents happened, and all of them had been checked when the hospital had opened for any diseases they might have contracted. It wasn't the orgy that Ino and everyone else would think of, but it was quiet experimenting, figuring out how to disconnect themselves from the emotion of the acts, making them better shinobi in Karin's opinion, better able to withstand torture through sexual assault and to keep things professional on seduction missions.
If Sakura hadn't walked out with Genma, Karin might have tried her hand. The gossip in Konoha was that the man was considerate, with no expectations. Most likely different than her fellow genin and chuunin, and the few Mist shinobi that she had seduced, mostly on dares or assignments from Mei and Orochimaru, both of whom having been delighted that their prodigies were taking control of their sexual experience and being safe about it.
Unfortunately, given the way most of her tablemates were acting, she was going to have to try harder if she was interested in picking up any new experience outside of Uzushio. Even Ino, for all her boldness, was still astonishingly naive.
Genma was sitting up and leaning against the wall when Sakura walked back into the room, toweling her hair dry. Draping the towel over the back of the chair in the corner, Sakura moved to sit on the bed, shuffling so their knees touched as they sat cross-legged on the bed.
Reaching out, he trailed a finger softly down the seals tattooed on her arm. "Tell me about the citadel?" he asked softly, looking up into her face. His finger came back up, following the lines inked into her arm. It was almost ticklish, but his touch was just a hair too solid to make her flinch.
"It's all stone right now," Sakura replied, tracing light patterns on his thighs, half thought of seals that she was working on with Karin. "We're still rebuilding, so that's where most of the effort is being made. But the ones who survived, they say that we had gardens and fountains, and roofs that were gold and red instead of flat grey state. The walls that protect us are white, like most of our buildings, but they're not stuccoed that color like the buildings are. It's built in four levels, with only one main gate."
"My mother's clan was from Uzushio," Genma replies, eyes distant as he looks out the window, looks out over Konoha's rooftops to the east and south, where Sakura unerringly knows Uzushio lies. "I always had these dreams, and when I asked her about them she told me that they would never come true. So I made my home in Konoha, and I won't leave it." His hand moved to her shoulder, pulling her closer so he could reach the tattooed spiral on the back of her left shoulder. Gently, he swept her still-damp hair out of the way, letting it fall over her right shoulder. She leaned forward, allowing him access to the only tattoo that didn't function as a seal, enjoying the soft caresses.
Saskura wondered how many people were out there that had dreamed but stayed. Dreamed and heard the call, but held duty and their oaths to their villages in higher regard than the citadel that sang in their dreams. "Someday you should visit us."
He laughed, leaning back and raking a hand through his hair. "My duty is to Konoha. I'm...if I see Uzushio, see the citadel the way it called to me that night, I'm not completely confident that I could walk away. The lure of a home like that...it's powerful. When I was younger, there were probably times where I would have killed for that. But my life is here, my work is here."
She could hear it in his voice, how much he needed to explain himself, how much he wanted someone to understand how it felt to live your life torn between two homes. "I chose Uzushio because when she called, I had few ties to bind me to Konoha. Only three genin and one inactive kunoichi came from Konoha to Uzushio, and I think that's because Konoha...it was almost Uzushio, in some ways. Enough to make it worth staying for most."
With a nod, he tipped forward slightly, and Sakura pulled him down, letting his head rest on her shoulder. They sat there quietly for a moment, and then she felt Genma grin against her neck, and there was no further warning before he blew a raspberry there.
Squirming away from his fingers as they sought out her ticklish spots, Sakura found herself in his lap, breath hitching as they tumbled together, skin against skin. As he reached to tickle her sides again, they overbalanced, and she toppled back onto the sheets, still in disarray from their activities earlier. Genma readily went with her, impossible not to entwined as they were, and he hovered above her, backlit by the moonlight. She reached up to run a hand through his hair, marvelling once more in how soft it was, despite being tied back under his bandanna most of the time.
"My partner Raidou was there when you confronted Uchiha the younger," he said thoughtfully, sitting back on his heels. "He said the way you came through the steam, it was like seeing a goddess approach. Seeing you like this, I can't help but agree."
Sakura scoffed lightly. "Smooth. You've already got me in your bed; there's no need for further flattery. Was Raidou one of the shinobi who had attempted to stop Sasuke? Because all of them were suffering some pretty nasty burns. I'm not surprised he was seeing illusions."
With a smirk, Genma bent down over her once again, lips brushing the side of her neck as he murmured: "You're like a goddess, come up from the sea." Unconsciously, unable to help herself, Sakura arched into his kiss, and he chuckled as he stroked her leg from foot to hip. "Beautiful and dangerous, something that men long for but will swallow them whole if they aren't wary."
His lips were like fire against her skin, stirring up the embers of their earlier lust. Sucking in air, Sakura managed to ask: "If I'm a goddess of the sea, what are you?"
"A humble worshipper," Genma breathed, looking up at her from where he had positioned himself between her legs. "One who knows that he has one night to worship the goddess who allowed him into her bed, and who intends to make the most of it." His eyes were like molten bronze as he pressed a kiss to the inside of her thigh, making her gasp at the sensation. "A worshipper who is wholly willing to be completely submerged in the sea."
She couldn't help but laugh, and to her relief he laughed with her. "That was terrible," she informed him with a grin.
"Oh?" he replied mildly, and then she was too distracted by what his fingers were doing to pick on him for his terrible allusion. She would have to shower again in the morning, but at this point, she was beyond caring about anything but the brunette doing wonderful things to her.
His apprentice was wound tighter than he had ever seen her, even in the early days of her return from Kumo, and he had half a mind to send her back to Shiranui, since she had come home in a state of relaxation that he had been thoroughly impressed by after disappearing with him two days ago. As they walked through the streets, heading for the weapons shop that Orochimaru knew was the best place for them to replace the weapons used in Uchiha Obito's final attempt at stirring up trouble in between the five great villages, she was obviously on edge, eyes tracking every chakra signature, assessing, and dismissing warily. As they approached a familiar chakra signature, Orochimaru sighed slightly and folded his hands inside the sleeves of his robes. "Come out Anko."
The sannin was grateful that his former apprentice only stirred up a cloud of dust when she landed. She had always been one for dramatics, and at one point her entry accent of choice had been explosive tags. Despite her roiling chakra, and the scowl on her face, she was acting relatively tame.
Civilians and shinobi alike had scattered the moment Anko had touched down; apparently her reputation was just as formidable as the rumors made it. Seeing her at the chuunin exams had been both a pleasure and a pain. She had become so much since he had left her behind, had developed a bloodthirstiness that was absolutely admirable in the same way that it was unnerving. But she had still been reckless and careless with her own life, willing to blow them both up if it meant defeating him.
Now she stood in the middle of the street, arms crossed over her chest as her trenchcoat flared around her, scowl fully affixed on her face.
Sakura's hand was up her sleeve, and he knew that she would go with the same senbon that she had used against the ROOT agents. Subtly, he tapped her elbow, obscuring the movement in the shifting of his sleeves. With only a moment of hesitation, she backed down, folding her own hands in her sleeves as she watched Anko warily.
"Say your piece," he said after Anok stood and stared at them for a long moment. "We have errands to run."
"You took another apprentice," she hissed.
"She came to me," he agreed. "I thought it would prove...interesting."
She was his first apprentice who had come to him, had sought him out and asked for him to teach her. Kabuto, he had groomed, and Anko had been foisted on him by Sarutobi, along with two other genin that had failed out during the chuunin exams, in an attempt to better his appearance within the village.
"But you didn't allow her to sign the snake summoning contract?
"You had already signed it." Orochimaru hadn't wanted to shape Sakura into his own image, the way he had shaped Anko. She wasn't suited for his uncaring practicality, despite her own ruthless streak. No, she didn't, couldn't see the world in terms of benefit and expense, weighing each life based on a slim criteria. Sakura could be as deadly and ruthless as him, but only when protecting, only when defending, and only when there was no other option. "I did not wish to interfere with your summons."
Anko had an odd look on her face, a strange mixture of surprised pleasure and irritation. But she masked it quickly, slipping into smug aloofness that Orochimaru recognized as her public mask. "I heard you managed to hold your own against a bunch of ROOT brats." Anko addressed Sakura, who bristled at first, and then lapsed back into wary watchfulness. "Aren't you that pinky who Hatake taught?"
"I think you mean aren't you that genin that Hatake neglected," Sakura corrected, polite and unassuming, a perfect lady, just as he and Mei had taught her. With a flick of her wrist, her fan was in her hand, open, and shielding part of her face. From his position behind her, he couldn't see exactly what was visible, but, having seen her use this move on a handful of Mist chuunin, he had a feeling that only her eyes were visible. "You proctored the second stage of the last chuunin exams held in Konoha."
Laughing, Anko shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat. "You've got spunk kid," she agreed with a chuckle. "Want to give me a try?"
"I'm afraid we have errands to finish," Orochimaru interceded smoothly. "Our headwoman is supposed to arrive this afternoon and we aren't sure of how much longer we'll be in Konoha."
"You can always ask for me at T&I," Anko informed them smugly. "They'll know where to find me if you're interested in a spar."
With another rush of dust, she was gone, flickered away in a shunshin, and shinobi slid easily back into the street, civilians just a beat behind them. But Sakura was still just as wound as she had been when Anko had been observing them, and the snake sannin had half a mind to dump her in a training ground and send a summons for Anko.
She didn't relax during their shopping, and Uzumaki sent him an accusing look when they returned to their hotel rooms, as if he had been responsible for his apprentice's highly wound state. Taking a deep breath, he laid out their supplies on the table and retreated to his room to change before meeting the Uzushio delegation come to officially sign the treaty. Today had already been more emotional than he felt like dealing with, and the explosion of sentiment that was sure to occur when the Uzushio shinobi arrived was likely to be even more taxing. Uzumaki could care for his apprentice; he had his own intrusive memories brought on by extended exposure to Konoha.
It seemed as if half of Konoha had found errands to run by the gate.
Sakura scowled as another pair of gossiping chuunin made a flimsily veiled pass through the area, obviously lurking for a chance to see the delegation sent for the formal signing of the treaty with Uzushio. It was a good faith show on Uzushio's part, sending their headwoman to Konoha, one that was needed after the dubiously legal actions Sakura and the rest of her squad had participated in while Konoha was under attack.
Karin leaned her shoulder into Sakura's in a subtle shift of weight, and Sakura closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, centering herself. She needed to be water, smooth and flexible, reflecting only serenity. There was no place for her troubled emotions in the events of the day.
Her shishou was...mildly concerned, but too busy dealing with his own emotional stability. Konoha stirred bad memories, and the borderline hostile glances that he was treated to, now that his identity was unmasked, didn't help. She wasn't certain, but Sakura suspected that his run in with his first apprentice had jarred him.
On her other side, Itachi's face was completely blank, giving no indication that he noticed the way Konoha shinobi crossed the fucking street to get away from him. About the only way he could get less threatening was if he tied his limbs together and wore a blindfold, but Sakura suspected that wouldn't be enough. She was worried about him; he had been to see Sasuke daily since he had arrived and the Hokage had granted her permission. At first it was just short, five minute visits through one-way glass, but they had started letting them talk with cell bars between them. Sasuke's sharingan was still disabled, and he was being pumped full of chakra suppressants, bound with chakra inhibiting cuffs...the whole nine yards. Ino had let slip one of the nights they had been dragged out to a bar that it was highly likely that the Hokage took restoring the Uchiha clan into her own hands, negating the need for Sasuke's willing cooperation.
Sakura suspected that Itachi, in his final act as acting head of the Uchiha clan before he had officially abdicated in favor of whomever the Hokage placed as regent, had given his permission. There had been surprisingly little fuss about the only currently sane Uchiha spending the rest of his days in Uzushio, potentially causing the sharingan to be lost, but an agreement like that would have satisfied Konoha's desire for the doujutsu.
About the only person not currently in the midst of emotional turmoil was Kyo, who seemed to have taken it upon himself to be head of morale, making sure that they ate, trained, and slept in a regular schedule. Karin was still pissed at the village as a whole, although several visits to Ichiraku had softened that anger slightly, but on the flipside, it only took a glimpse of silvery-white hair to bring the anger back, and it didn't even have to be Kakashi or Jiraiya that she spotted. And Nagato was attempting to avoid Jiraiya, lest the sannin attempt to trap him in another apology about how things turned out for the trio of Ame orphans.
She wanted to go home, to run on the waves the way she hadn't been able to since the day they left. To hear the gulls cry and the waves crash, and the familiar refrain of construction that would go on probably for the rest of her life as Uzushio was remade in the image of a brighter future. Sakura even wanted to hear Naruto and Suigetsu squabble, she wanted to spar with Tenten, she wanted to see her grandmother…
Yesterday she had gone to see her parents, the last people she had needed to apologize to.
They hadn't let her in the door.
"We have no daughter," her mother had snapped through the wooden barrier. "And I have no mother. If they existed, they wouldn't have abandoned us without a word for a long-dead village.
Her father's chakra had been on the other side of the door, next to her mother's, and Sakura couldn't feel anything but hostility in either of their chakra systems. Admittedly, her sensor skills were fairly rudimentary, but the hostility was blatant, impossible to mistake.
Karin's shoulder bumped against hers once more, and Sakura focused on her breathing, reeling in her chakra and forcing it back into calm circulation and not the agitated waves that she had been giving off. It wasn't something most shinobi were aware of, not until they were experienced enough to be considered true veterans, but Sakura had learned it early on in her acquaintance with Karin. The Uzumaki was such a talented sensor that they had all learned to modulate their chakra, flaring it only when necessary. Even Naruto had learned the control, enabling his cousin to focus less on the people in the citadel and more on the island as a whole. For the first few months, until the returning survivors of Uzushio were able to tweak the seals that protected the island and raise them anew, Karin had been their sole warning system, outside of the civilians who lived in the fishing villages.
At least Kakashi wasn't here so she didn't have to look at his stupid masked face. Jiraiya was, but she wasn't particularly pissed with him, so seeing him standing at the Hokage's shoulder was less of a personal insult and more of an annoyance, because she knew how he had abandoned Naruto, had abandoned his team. Karin and Orochimaru had much more right to be angry with him, although she could be annoyed with him on their behalf.
A commotion stirred around the gates as arms started being waved in ways that were definitely supposed to be subtle signals but failed at it. The crowd tripled as shunshins brought the circling shinobi closer, and Sakura was just waiting to see signs welcoming the headwoman of Uzushio appear out of nowhere.
Orochimaru tipped his head slightly, and glided off towards the gates. Sakura hurried to take her place behind his right shoulder, Karin falling in next to her, as Itachi and Kyo brought up the rear and Nagato walked proudly at the snake sannin's left. The Hokage and her coterie moved forward as well, but allowed the Uzushio diplomatic delegation to reach the gate first.
It was a fairly small group; Sakura could easily spot Hoshigaki towering over the group, despite the nondescript travel cloaks. There was no disguising his bulk. The other three escorts were hard to identify until they drew close enough for Sakura to feel familiar chakra.
She wondered what they were playing at, rubbing in the fact that Uzushio now held the loyalty of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's jinchuuriki, but when she felt Tenten's familiar chakra, she realized that they had been brought so that they could make their peace with any whom they had left behind. The third escort was another of Uzushio's returned shinobi, a probable candidate for the council when one of the elders retired. Sakura hadn't spent too much time with him, but he had an incredible mind for tactics.
The entire group drew to a halt in front of the gates, and Sakura bowed politely at the figure standing half hidden behind Hoshigaki. Konoha's greeting committee seemed to think that Hoshigaki, who was clearly the most imposing of the group, might be the headman, but the joke was on them. At a sign from Hoshigaki, the quartet dropped their hoods, and beside Sakura, Karin was snickering at the shocked muttering that rose from the eavesdropping shinobi behind them.
"Uzukage-sama," Orochimaru said politely, stepping forward as Hoshigaki and the others split to reveal the headwoman in their shadows. "May I present to you Hokage Senju Tsunade? Hokage-sama, Uzukage-sama Konan."
With a sly grin, Konan dropped her hood, revealing the familiar kage hat underneath it. "I know we're not quite a major country yet," she said smoothly, ignoring how Jiraiya was gaping at her and elbowing the Nara head next to him. "But I feel that it's about time the smaller villages received equal standing. After all, we have many of the same concerns."
Sakura took great pleasure in listening to the stunned silence around them.