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Chapter 38: Bears

One night Sakura awoke with a gasp to Youko shaking her shoulders. It was just the two of them at their 'sleepover' this time. Karura had been going to spend the night yet again, but then she found out that her brother had returned from his mission with a broken leg and a severe concussion and she had flown to see him. Because she had been on her own, Youko had actually remained half-attuned to her surroundings as she slept, which allowed her to actually hear her pink haired friend crying in her sleep. The restless hand that had hit her face as Sakura twisted and turned in her sleep might have been a factor as well.

"Kura," Youko whispered loudly as the girl's eyes fluttered open, "Are you all r—" The moment Sakura got a good look at Youko's face, she had thrown herself on the girl, crying in earnest. "Wha…?" Youko gasped, trying not to fall off the bed with Sakura's sudden attack. Only after she had steadied herself did she ask what was wrong.

"You died," Sakura whimpered into her collarbone between sobs, "It was dark…and light…and hot…and it smelled weird…and the roof fell…and you died…and your mom died…and Shin…he tried to get to you…but someone stopped him…and you died…"

Youko wrapped her arms around Sakura and began rocking back and forth as she cooed in a soothing manner, "It's alright…it was just a dream…I'm alive…it's just a dream…just a nightmare…it's not real…" After about five minutes—although it felt much longer than that to the tiered Youko—Sakura finally ceased crying. Silently the young Hoshi snuggled into Youko's embrace, grasping the older girl's nightdress in a death grip

Still sitting up and holding the girl, Youko was halfway asleep herself when she heard a mumble. Leaning down, she caught what sounded like '…can't die…be my aunt…' but that made no sense. Instead of worrying about it, Youko spent all of her remaining energy on lying down and pulling the covers over herself and Sakura. When next the grey eyed girl awoke, it was to find that she had cocooned herself in blankets as she sprawled over most of the bed. Instead of wondering about the girl's nightmare or her strange sleepy statement, Youko simply wondered where her pink haired friend had gone. The bed was empty of all but her and the blankets. A quick glance around showed that the floor held the missing pillows, that the curtains had been pulled open, and that her bedroom door was not latched closed as it had been when they went to bed. There was no Sakura.

Groggily Youko disentangled herself from her cocoon, and shuffled to her door with the plan of going to get breakfast before she had to go to the hospital. She stopped when she heard her blue eyed friend's voice distantly complaining, "…in the corner, but then she kicked me off the bed…" Youko didn't want to hear anymore, and she most certainly did not want to find out who Sakura was telling this to. She was half-afraid it might be her brother, and if it was him that Sakura was complaining to—Youko wanted to escape. For reasons that Youko couldn't understand, Shin was overprotective of the pink haired girl—almost, she thought, like a papa-bear protecting his cub—and Youko wanted nothing to do with whatever papa-bear might dole out to her as punishment for her sleeping habits. Not even bothering with the door, Youko turned back around, closed the curtains on the predawn light, and returned to her cocoon. Someone would wake her up in time to get to the hospital. Most likely there would be time for nothing else, though.

Somehow Sakura hadn't been surprised when she had stepped out of Youko's room hours before the sun would be up and found a fully dressed Cha'ri gingerly closing her own door. The brunet looked shocked to see her, and for a moment in the dim hallway light Sakura thought Cha'ri looked worried, but then a large grin lit the older girl's face and she had called out a greeting—as friendly as always. The two ended up chatting quietly for hours while sitting at the top of the stairs. Cha'ri was just finishing up with putting Sakura's hair into two pigtail-braids when they heard a door open up behind them.

Turning to look, Sakura found that the door that had opened was none other than the door from which Cha'ri had exited hours ago. In the doorway now stood a stern faced man with brown hair so dark it almost looked black, black eyes, and a bear-like build. The sound of sudden movement to her left made Sakura look at Cha'ri; the brunet had shot to her feet, her face pale under her bruise. "Riko!" the man growled, not bothering to keep his voice down for the other guests. Cha'ri started forward, looking to Sakura like Kankuro when he knew he was about to be in trouble.

Sakura stood up as well, not sure what else to do, when the bear-of-a-man snarled, "Wha'd I tell ya?" and then the angry man's hand was sailing towards the thirteen-year-old's face. Unthinkingly Sakura's hands began to fly through the motions Kirsche had taught her—the ones to freeze people and things—but before she could finish, the man had grasped his daughter's ear and was twisting it as he dragged her closer to his face. Whatever he said to Cha'ri, Sakura didn't hear it, but she was well aware of her friend's shaking hands—one of which was grasping her father's wrist, trying to stop him from twisting her ear anymore—the other was flapping behind the brunets back, as if she were motioning for Sakura to get away.

Sakura was terrified of the big man, and now that he had a hold on Cha'ri, she knew that using her Kekkei Genkai could only make the situation worse, but at the same time, the little girl was aware that she had to do something. Clenching her hands and biting her trembling lip, Sakura stumbled forward despite her fear. Ninja didn't run away from big bullies and so neither would she. The first thing Sakura tried was to tell him (well, more like ask him fearfully) to quit hurting her friend. The man had glared at her and, without releasing his grip on Cha'ri, picked Sakura up, gave her one hard shake, and then tossed her towards the stairwell. After that, he turned back to whisper something else to Cha'ri without even looking to see if Sakura caught her footing or if she tumbled down to the floor below them.

Now Sakura was more angry than afraid—and she wanted more than anything to stomp up to the man and yell at him until he groveled apologies to both her and Cha'ri. But she didn't, because she realized that if she stomped, he would hear her coming and likely just throw her again, and if she yelled, she would wake others, and they would be angry with her. She didn't stop to think that maybe waking others wasn't such a bad idea in this situation. Instead, Sakura padded as quietly as she knew how behind the bear-man, kicked him right behind his knee, and then started scrabbling backwards, hoping that the big man wouldn't fall on her as she had once seen young Yashamaru fall on one of his teammates during practice from being kicked the same way.

The man didn't fall—but he did release Cha'ri as he swiveled around to face her. If looks could kill, she'd already be dead. Instead Sakura froze as a pressure she couldn't even begin to describe weighed down on her, making her break out in sweat as the bear-man took a step towards her. Her mind went blank. All Sakura could do was stare at the brute, her knees shaking. The next thing Sakura knew, she was seeing the back of her friend's head as Cha'ri magically appeared right between her and the man, her arms outstretched to protect Sakura better. When finally Cha'ri spoke, it was only to say one word quietly, warningly, "Father…" Although it was said softly, the brunet's voice almost sounded threatening.

The bear-man grunted—Sakura later determined it to have actually been a sigh—and then rumbled under his breath, "Don't 'Father' me, y'brat—" Stomping past the two children, the man headed for the stairs, but before he descended he glared back at his daughter and added louder, "…an' don't let me catch ya balkin' again...Riko." There was an unspoken 'or else' that even Sakura could detect at the end of that statement.

Once he vanished, Sakura's quaking knees finally gave way, and she sank to the floor. Cha'ri was at her side, helping catch some of her weight before Sakura hit the ground harder than her body would have liked. "Are you okay?" the older girl whispered.

At first Sakura nodded, then she shook her head, and finally, as Cha'ri started to help her stand again she asked quietly, "Why…why did you let him do that?" Cha'ri winced, but Sakura didn't realize that her honest question could be taken as an accusation until the brunet started apologizing and withdrawing within herself. Sakura wasn't asking why her friend had let her father hurt Sakura—because Sakura knew she hadn't. Cha'ri had protected her from the bear-man—it was Cha'ri that Cha'ri hadn't protected. Sakura shook her head and added, "No…I meant…why did you let him hurt you? You didn't let him hurt me…so why…?"

Cha'ri was shaking her head, her short brown hair swaying side to side as she stared at the ground, her hands clinched on the hem of her dress. "He's my…" the brunet began quietly, sounding almost sad, "…father." When Sakura just gave her friend a look that said 'so what', Cha'ri grimaced and turned away. "I…can't go against 'im."

"But you went against him to save me." Sakura reminded Cha'ri.

The brunet continued to shake her head, not turning to look at Sakura, "I's not like that…i's…difficult…and I'm stuck with 'im, so—" Cha'ri sighed heavily, then mumbled something that sound like 'protect my family'. Before Sakura could be sure she heard correctly, Cha'ri had turned back around and was wearing a large smile. If not for the sadness in her eyes, the smile might even have looked genuine. When Cha'ri spoke, she sounded as if she was no longer concerned, "…and to 'im I am just a brat, so nothin' I do will change much…not for me." And then Cha'ri was hugging her as she whispered into Sakura's ear, "But I protect those I care about…and Kura…you're just like my little sister."

With that, Cha'ri broke away and started down the stairs, saying as she went how she hated being called Riko nearly as much as she hated being called a brat. With a sad smile, Sakura raced to catch up with her 'big sister'. Going along with the change of subject—which was a very weak change, if Sakura did say so herself—Sakura began by saying how mean bear-man was (Cha'ri laughed at the nickname) and how people shouldn't call other people names just to be mean. When Cha'ri asked how someone could call someone else a name without trying to be mean, Sakura had to stop and think for a bit. Finally she answered, "Well…it's sort of like how Aniki calls me brat all of the time, but I know he's not trying to be mean. It's almost…well…like a nickname."

Sakura didn't realize that Cha'ri had quit moving until she ran into the girl. Rubbing her sore nose, Sakura looked up at the older girl questioningly. Cha'ri was staring at her. Finally the brunet asked, "I thought t'was a name before…but ya 'ave…a big brother?"

Although Sakura couldn't understand why Cha'ri was making such a big deal over it, Sakura shook her head and answered plainly, "No…just Kirsche…" and then, under her breath, she added, "…at least, that I've met…" when she realized that Kirsche had never told her if she had any older siblings…only that her mother was dead. Shaking her head—this time to chase away those thoughts for later—Sakura added, "Aniki is my friend here. He won't tell me his real name, and…now that I think about it…I don't think I've told him mine…but ever since I met him he's been calling me brat. At first I think he meant it in a mean way…but not anymore. Now he just likes to act like he's mean when really he's just a big softie!"

Sakura paused, rubbed her head when her memory of the Baker's death flashed before her eyes, and then added, "Well…at least with me, he's a softie…a prickly softie…who likes to pretend his face is made of stone…" Sakura couldn't help but giggle as she remembered the face Aniki had made when she'd hugged him yesterday—it had been worth getting lectured by Shin all the way home about finding safer friends (that was a lecture she had tuned out after only a minute of listening). Still giggling, Sakura continued, "…He likes to act mean…like he doesn't care, but…I guess he's a lot like you, because he's always there to help me when I'm in trouble."

Once again, for reasons Sakura couldn't begin to understand, Cha'ri looked stunned. Sakura was just about to ask why she was looking at her that way when she heard Megumi call out from the kitchen, asking if that was Sakura she heard. Sakura turned towards the kitchen, calling out her reply, only to cut herself off when two arms wrapped around her shoulders. Although she couldn't turn around, Sakura knew it was Cha'ri, and from the way the older girl's arms were quivering, she had to wonder if the brunet was crying. Knowing Cha'ri, Sakura decided it was better to pretend like she didn't notice anything was wrong. After all, if she did, she just knew the brunet would smile, say no, and then rapidly change the subject.

After Cha'ri was called by her mother to help with something, Sakura decided to go looking around the village for a glimpse of the strawberry-blond from the other day. More specifically she wanted to find him, watch him, and determine if he really was her father. She might have gone right up to speak to him if not for two things, the first being that Aniki had warned her against it, and the second was that Kirsche had also warned her against it, and both of them mentioned bodily harm and probable death as an outcome—although neither explained very well why those were likely outcomes, Sakura believed them…if only because Aniki usually seemed to be right and Kirsche could see the future.

At first Sakura searched blindly, walking around aimlessly searching for a flash of strawberry blond, but after an hour of this getting her nowhere but lost, she stopped to think in the shadow of a building. This was how she came to overhear two old ladies gossiping. The reason she listened in in the first place was because one of the women mentioned a 'Kurako', which caught Sakura's attention because, for a moment, she thought her nickname was being called.

One old woman was saying, "…and Kurako said her grandson refused to say who gave him the black eye."

The other woman jumped right in, sounding almost excited, "I know, Hito was the same way. When I asked how he could possibly have gotten a foreign drug in his veins, he swore he didn't know…and that boy can't lie to save his life, so I know he was telling the truth, but then when I asked him about the bruises he and his friends had…"

That old woman trailed off and was replaced by the first old woman, "Like Kurako said, they're hiding something…and I just hope it doesn't have to do with those Konoha vermin." With this statement, Sakura's wavering attention was snapped entirely to the old woman. If she had known what 'vermin' meant, she would have felt insulted, but she didn't, so instead she just listened as hard as she could, hoping to find out something more about her maybe-father.

The other woman interrupted her friend, "Oh, it couldn't be them, dearie. Don't you remember? They were in and out of the hospital before those four even arrived here."

"So?" snapped the first woman, "They're ninja…they sneak everywhere. The boys probably caught them spying and—"

"Oh, lizard-gizzards!" interrupted the second woman in a huff, "If that were the case, they'd be dead, not bruised and sidling like they're embarrassed every time someone questioned them. It'd be one thing if Ryu had been with them—you know, that bear of a boy...Mebuki's youngest—but he was off with his Genin team. If he'd been there, and still was beat up like that, it might have been ninja…but no, those boys probably picked on someone who could pick on them right back…a civilian, just like them…and—"

This time the first woman sighed, then interrupted her friend, "I suppose, but really…I don't like them being here. They're strutting around like they own the place. I mean, just twenty minutes ago I saw three of them settling down at the park with a picnic basket!" Somehow the woman's voice made it seem like the gravest of sins, but the only thing Sakura could find strange about the act was that it was weird to have a picnic for breakfast.

The second woman laughed, and started to say something about it being cooler in the morning, only to be interrupted by two little girls running towards the two old women with cries of 'Granny'. As the two women strode off, Sakura left the shadows in search of a park, conveniently forgetting that she was still lost. In the end she had to ask a glaring police officer where the nearest park was. The bad news was that the park turned out to be full of children celebrating the fact that they had no school today—and there were no ninja in sight. The good news was that she recognized this park, and could find her way to the next nearest park without issue. It wasn't until she had visited the third playground without success that Sakura thought to wonder if the old woman had meant a different kind of park—the kind that children didn't tend to visit unless they liked nature more than having fun.

With the help of another, more friendly…or at least less unfriendly...policeman (this one she recognized from the Baker incident as having been standing near Keiko), she successfully found the nature park. Compared to the nature park she had once seen in Konha, this place wasn't very pretty. The only flowers she could see were on the cacti and a couple of bushes, and most of the rest of the vegetation was scrawny desert plants that looked like they could use a good rain. The only thing that seemed to flourish in this place, aside from the cacti, were the thorn-bushes and silence. After wandering around for what felt like forever, Sakura was about to give up on this place when she stumbled over a rock and brushed up against a long thorn from one of the bushes.

If not for one of thorns hitting the remains of her ankle injury, Sakura might have remained upright. Instead she went crashing down. Somehow she managed to keep most of herself out of the bush, but the sharp pain in her already injured ankle told her she hadn't completely escaped the bush's clutches. Moving to a sitting position, Sakura found that one of her legs was buried in the bush up to her knee. Seeing this, Sakura was so glad she decided to wear pants today. Although she could feel thorns pricking at her in a lot of places, only her ankle felt any real pain from the bush. Slowly Sakura drew back her leg, trying to scoot away from the bush. When she felt a sharp sting break the scab on her ankle, she halted.

Biting her lip, Sakura carefully reached into the bush, planning on moving the thorn away from where it was hooked in her skin, but her sleeve got caught. It took a number of minutes for Sakura to free her sleeve, and by that time she had a number of scratches on her hands and arms as well as a rip in her sleeve. On the verge of tears, the little child tried once more to move her ankle—this time away from the thorn she could feel in her flesh—but she had to stop when she felt another thorn start pricking the other side of her ankle. Only one tear had a chance to streak down her face before Sakura's ears caught the sound of people speaking in the distance. Curious and hopeful, Sakura bent to look around the edge of the thorn bush, careful not to move her leg.

When a young man with what looked like strawberry-blond hair appeared in the distance, standing beside two other young men, Sakura froze. The fact that the three were standing right in front of the early morning sun, making them almost seem to glow, made it hard to see any details. Despite this, Sakura completely forgot her situation, as she settled in to watch and listen as the two other men spoke just loud enough for her to hear their strained tone of voice, but not their words. Every once in a while the strawberry-blond would say something pleasant-sounding and the other two would respond in a positive manner before eventually falling back into their strained conversation. Sakura wished they would come closer, or at least step away from the sun, so that she could see her maybe-father better, but they weren't turning in her direction. In fact, they were turning the opposite way. In vain, Sakura mentally pleaded for her maybe-father to turn around and look at her—she still had yet to get a good look at his face and that might be all it would take to determine his identity—but he didn't.

Sakura was so absorbed and desperate that she didn't notice she wasn't alone anymore until someone whispered calmly—so near they were practically in her head—"Who do you think you are looking at?"

"My fath—" Sakura didn't even realize that she was speaking to someone until she was already beginning to answer…and when she did, her head spun around as a shadow as large as a bear fell over her. She had to bite back a squeak, first of surprise at the shadowy-person before her and then because of the pain in her scalp when one of her braided-pigtails got caught in the bush. Someone else's hand helped her untangle it, and by the time she could catch a glimpse of the person's face, she realized that the nature park had gone silent, as if the other three had simply vanished.

Sakura stared with wide eyes at the blond man before her. The familiar man's blue eyes stared back under his Konoha headband. It wasn't her maybe-father, but it was one of the men he had come with. Trying to look around the bush again, Sakura found that the three she had been watching really had vanished. Returning to look at the blond man she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Where did they go?"

The blond chuckled sheepishly, "Sorry about that, I thought you were…someone else." When Sakura asked him grumpily (she didn't like her question being ignored and her ankle was really starting to hurt) who he had thought she was and what that had to do with where the others went, he chuckled again and then put away the kunai she hadn't even realized he'd been holding. He then proceeded to help free her leg deftly as he answered kindly, "I felt your chakra signature a while ago, and though now I can see that the reason for that is that you're a Hoshi, from a distance you felt more like one of those Genin who have been trying—unsuccessfully—to chase me and my colleges away." When Sakura's glare informed the man that his reasoning wasn't connecting the dots for her, he added, "That was a Genjutsu—an illusion. Once again, sorry about that."

Sakura knew what a Genjutsu was, but she couldn't believe what the man had told her. "So you're saying I didn't find my father?" The question was out before Sakura remembered Aniki's warning about keeping her parentage secret. It wasn't until the blond laughed and asked who she could possibly mean that Sakura realized that it was probably all right to tell this man. After all, it was the people from Suna she had been warned would hurt her, not someone from Konoha—and Kirsche hadn't said anything about not talking to the people traveling with her maybe-father even if she had warned her not to meet with the man himself. Blushing—because the blond was still laughing—Sakura mumbled, "…the other blond…"

As the Konoha ninja slowly drew her leg out from under the bush, he stopped laughing and explained kindly, as if afraid to break her little heart, "Ah, him…you do realize that he's too—"

Sakura interrupted with a shrug and a hint of annoyance, "Too young? Yes. Aniki told me the same thing yesterday—but he looks like the photo, so I don't care."

To Sakura's surprise, rather than getting angry as most adults she knew would have, the man simply patted her on the head with a smile. He looked as if he were trying to hold back more laughter as he said, "Well, you've got a will of fire, little girl, and I hope you never let it go out." Standing up, he helped her to her feet. Only after he was sure she would be able to walk without help did he straighten, his face becoming much more serious, "But I'm afraid to inform you, your brother is right. Haruno cannot be your father." And that one sentence, meant to assure her she was wrong, solidified her knowledge that the strawberry-blond was indeed her father.

The ninja appeared to mistake Sakura's flush of happiness for a blush as he looked around, sighed, then rubbed his head as if he were embarrassed or apologetic. Finally he spoke gently, "Haruno might not be your father…but don't give up hope—" Suddenly the man cut himself off, a thoughtful look coming over his face as he looked her over. After a minute of this scrutiny, the man shrugged, then said carefully, as if he were choosing his words, "I suppose…there might be more hope then I first thought. Although it's not much, you do bear a slight resemblance to Haruno. I have heard that the man who—fathered him—hasn't been cau—uh, found yet. Perhaps you share a father." Then the man shook his head, as if to chase such thoughts away, smiled, and added, "But enough about that. Do you need help getting home, little Hoshi? I take it you are staying at one of the inns."

After testing her ankle and finding that, aside from a dull ache and some fresh blood, it was no worse than it had been before, she responded that she could get herself back to the inn. It wasn't until she was halfway home that she understood why his face had looked so familiar—and not just because she had seen him briefly yesterday. Now that she thought about it, Sakura realized that the blond man's face looked almost identical to one of the faces she had seen carved into the mountain back when she lived in Konoha. For a moment Sakura stopped in her tracks to look back over her shoulder, but the blond, the Hokage—or rather, future Hokage—was nowhere in sight.

Sakura shrugged and continued on her way. It's not like it was a big deal or anything.

And that's a wrap on this chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and Sakura's lack of care about politics. If anyone was wondering about the chapter title, it came about because as I was writing this, I kept using the word 'bear'...even though no actual bear makes an appearance...and it seemed to me to be the connecting factor in all parts of this chapter.

I've got a part of the next chapter written, and hopefully I'll have it finished and ready to post by June 27th

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome to Minato's autograph, flamers on the other hand, can stay caught in his Genjutsu for all I care. Now, let's move on to the pretty list!

Thanks to: BriEva (Indeed, Sasori has not been able to completely get rid of his emotions yet, though you can see how he might want to. As to Sakura and being a ninja...at this point in time people believe she has a weak constitution and therefore is unfit to be a ninja, not to mention that people see her personality as being 'soft', also not a good ninja trait. You might have noticed that Sasori never said anything about her being incapable of becoming a ninja...he just gave reasons not to so that she'd stop bothering him about teaching her how to do Chakra strings. He's never seen her act truly weak nor been given a reason to think her weaker than any other kid her age. He might think she's clumsy, unlucky and incredibly annoying, but not that she's incapable. As to the appearance of Jutsu...well, I plan for some dream walking next chapter, but it probably won't be until the chapter after that that Sakura will actively use her Jutsu), Emilise284 (yes...irony indeed, and although it's not set in stone yet, it is highly likely that Sasori will be appearing again when she gets back), RtheAwesome (It's always fun to try out new POVs), SnowWolfSpirit (to your past reviews: yes, Sasuke and Naruto will come in, just not until later. No, she can't stay unhurt...I'm afraid it isn't in her stars. No, it wasn't a random reference, so I'm glad you noticed it. Now, to last chapter's review: yes, she does need to work on that bad habit of blurting things out, yes, Cha'ri has secrets, and yes...don't meet his eyes, or else he might figure something out and we couldn't have that happen, now could we?), moodymel (I'm glad you like the intricacies of an overly-serious preteen's heart), & Geniusly-Unique (well, I hope this chapter helped explain Sasori's parting comment. If you're still confused, tell me and I'll send you a PM) for reviewing!