Naru was having the time of her life. Naru, Gai and Lee were on a small training trip focusing exclusively on speed. Each day was a little bit different from the last which kept it fun and exciting. She had no doubt that prolonged exposure to the two would lead to the complete and utter breakdown of what was left of her sanity, but in short bursts it could be invigorating. It was a novel experience to go toe-to-toe with someone who could keep up with both her stamina and her enthusiasm. It was also fun getting to know Lee and Gai more in depth. Gai had a surprisingly wicked sense of humor and was more than happy to tell her everything he knew about Kakashi's embarrassing moments.
Lee was a lot calmer around the two of them. Since neither of them were considered geniuses and both believed in the power of hard work Lee didn't feel threatened or like he needed to prove himself. Without that pressure he was free to enjoy the challenge and thrill of competing against someone who was more or less equal in skill. Lee and Gai were both impressed with Naru's speed and they were discussing the merits of weight seals versus actual weights and she won them over to her side fairly easily. She hadn't gone too much into detail about seals, that would come later, instead choosing to keep focus on the current training. With their speed they'd be able to draw seals quickly and efficiently, and a lack of chakra would not be an issue.
Naru deliberately put seals out of her mind. Right now, they were training their bodies and she relished the burn of her muscles. She loved jutsu, but there was a deep satisfaction inherent in physical work. They were on the last day of their trip and were currently racing to see who would get there first. For Lee and Naru it was one of their first chances to really go all out without any of their weights. It was a challenge to adjust to moving at such high speeds. It was hard to temper reaction time and adjust to covering ground in much shorter amounts of time. Unsurprisingly, Gai was winning. Naru and Lee had both run headfirst into several different trees. It was a little embarrassing, but Gai explained to them how hard it could be to adjust to moving at such high speed. Naru had already decided to start spending at least one day a week without her weights so that she could get used to working at her body's actual strength and speed.
Naru glanced at the sky. She could tell that they were getting close. This was really exciting for her because they had been (by anyone else's pace) three days away when they started. Lee let out a cheer when the gates came into view. Naru poured on the speed and managed to get ahead of Lee and she narrowly managed to get second place. Lee pouted a little but accepted his loss graciously. He also resolved to train even hard to win in the future.
Naru nodded in thanks to Gai and Lee and then headed towards Ichiraku. Gai'd planned a dinner with all the rookies from her class. It was a great motivator for her to keep going with that as an incentive. Gai really was more devious than people gave him credit for. He'd deliberately waited before issuing the race to increase their urgency.
Naru ducked into the stall and saw that she was indeed the last person to arrive. Ino was yelling at Choji and Shikamaru and Kiba was obnoxiously trying to encourage everyone to start without Naru. Naru walked over and punched Kiba in the back of the head (not hard, no need to damage the counter, after all). Sasuke raised one eyebrow. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry," Naru smiled. "We were in Sand this morning when Gai-sensei told us it was time to go home and that there was a party tonight."
Ino's eyes bugged out of her head. "Are you serious? Sand is a three-day hard run, there's no way you were there this morning!"
Naru smiled, although a more accurate description might be to say she bared her teeth. "You're free to check with Gai-sensei if you don't believe me."
Ino closed her eyes and held her tongue. Her sensei had talked to her about being nicer to Naru because it caused unnecessary friction on their team for her to be catty to her teammate's girlfriend. Eager to help diffuse the tension, Choji chimed in. "Well then you must be starving. Let's eat!"
Teuchi's timing was impeccable and as if on cue he came out with their bowls. For the next few minutes nothing further was said as everyone took their time enjoying their food.
Most of them finished after two bowls and then they were left watching the impromptu contest between Naru and Choji who were each on their tenth bowl. Neither one showed any sign of slowing down anytime soon.
After the fifteenth bowl Kiba let out a low whistle. "Damn. Teuchi is lucky, he never has to throw anything out. He can just use all the stuff that's going bad on you two and you'd probably never notice."
Sasuke and Sakura heard a little choking sound but when they looked Naru was gulping down the broth from her bowl like normal. There was a rigidity to her muscles that was unusual for her though. They were even more suspicious when she didn't order a new bowl. Naru could eat twice that on a normal day and after training with Gai and Lee is could be three or four times that.
Naru could clearly see their confusion but rather than answer the unspoken question she started talking to Shikamaru so that no one else would question the fact that she'd stopped eating.
After that it seemed that Naru was determined to avoid her team. Oh, she still showed up for training and given the random messes Sasuke would find around the house he knew she was still living with him, but other than that no one could find her. They didn't think she was using her special trick to hide from them, she was just using speed and her knowledge of their schedules to avoid them.
Concerned, Sakura approached Shikamaru, who shared their concerns. He didn't know Naru as well as they did yet, but he could tell she was acting strange. Whenever he tried to ask or indicated he'd be willing to listen she refocused on their sealing lessons, completely shutting down any attempts to talk.
They were heading out on a mission in the morning, their first one since Naru started avoiding them, and they were determined to get an answer.
As was quickly becoming the norm for Team Seven their mission did not go quite as expected. What should have been a very simple mission escorting merchants to their destinations led them through a territory that was apparently in the middle of a revolution to oust their tyrannical leader. They probably would have been able to escape unnoticed, but one of the merchants, ever the entrepreneur, was seen selling to the head of the king's guard and was declared an enemy of the state and people tried to kill him.
It was a very exhausted team that limped their way back to Konoha. They were resting for the night in their camp and Sakura was putting the finishing touches on the wild rabbit they'd caught. Everyone was tearing into their food with a gusto, worn out from their last few days.
Because he'd been so intent on his own meal it took a few minutes for Sasuke to notice that Naru was not eating.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, brow raised. Naru had never been all that picky about food and she was almost ruthlessly practical and unlikely to pass on food even if it was a little bland.
Naru's flinch was almost unnoticeable, but all of her teammates zeroed in on it at once. Naru flushed a bright red and it almost looked like she would answer, but after opening and closing her mouth a few times she set her jaw with a stubborn look and stormed into the tent to avoid them.
Though they were exasperated, and a little hurt at being blown off again, they would have let it go without pressing, but Kakashi jumped to his feet and followed her, prompting Sakura and Sasuke to follow as well. Kakashi sat down next to the figure huddled under a mountain of blankets and, being surprisingly gentle, though still firm, asked, "Why are you crying?"
It was a shock for Sakura and Sasuke to realize that Naru was indeed crying, now they were alarmed. Naru never cried. Not even when talking about her rape. What could possible have caused her to do so now?
Naru shook her head, trying in vain to deny that she was crying, but she was so miserable she started crying even harder.
Though he looked vaguely uncomfortable at all the emotions that were happening, Kakashi scooped Naru into his arms and gently rocked her back and forth. The foreign sensation of actually being comforted broke the last dam and Naru was hysterically sobbing, leaving her team even more baffled and worried.
Eventually her tears started to slow down and Naru was laying against Kakashi completely silent as the occasional tear slid down her cheek. Sakura and Sasuke had been quiet the entire time, giving Naru her privacy, but now Sakura asked, "What's wrong Naru?"
Naru's voice was hoarse from sobbing as she quietly answered, "I'm just so hungry."
A little put off by yet another evasion but understanding how draining crying could be Sakura offered to go grab Naru's portion of rabbit but paused when she saw the barely concealed anxiety in Naru's face. Sasuke and Kakashi saw it too and zeroed in on the expression.
Naru knew she couldn't keep pretending, and truthfully, she didn't want to. "I can't eat," she whispered, ashamed.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked. There was no judgment in the tone, merely curiosity.
"I have problems with food sometimes," Naru said. "When I lived on the streets people put things in the food and even when I bought food from stores people would only give me food that had gone bad or they did something to it. Usually I just have to make sure everything is really fresh, and it was cooked right, but that's not always enough. I still can't eat most meat, only stuff that we hunted and killed and cooked thoroughly. But Ichiraku's has always been safe. Teuchi is always so careful to cook everything thoroughly and he likes me and would never put anything in my food. He saw someone try to put something in my bowl once and he threw that guy out and permanently banned him. It's safe. But when Kiba made that stupid comment about Teuchi using ingredients about to go bad it set me off. And I can't eat anything. I can barely drink water without getting sick after. Usually I can get through it by eating really bland foods that don't really go bad but it's not working. And I'm so hungry."
Sasuke was definitely killing Kiba when they got back to Konoha. He knew he'd heard something right after the mutt made his comment, but he'd just let it go.
Sakura was every bit as angry as Sasuke, but she had a much more pressing concern. "Are you telling me you haven't eaten in three weeks?" Sakura blurted out in horror.
Naru shook her head, looking small and miserable and guilty. Kakashi and Sasuke were just as horrified as Sakura. Kakashi's gaze landed on Sakura. "Do you have anything that can help, or do we need to make for Konoha now?"
The serious tone and the urgency of the situation made Sakura want to freeze up. She pushed those feelings aside and turned to face Naru. "What stops you from eating? Is it the flavor, the texture? Or the actual thought of eating something?"
Naru furrowed her brow. "It being in my mouth, I think. I avoid flavors because they go sour so fast, but feeling the texture, it becomes slimy or thick and I try to swallow but I end up gagging."
Sakura nodded. "Alright, right now our priority is getting something into you, we can work on the rest afterwards. I know a jutsu that deadens the nerves in an area. It's used for surgery, but you won't be able to feel or taste anything. If we cut everything small enough, we should be able to make a stew that you should be able to drink without choking."
Sasuke quickly set to work chopping up the meat into small pieces along with various herbs they'd collected. It didn't even matter what they were, they were just trying to cram as many nutrients as possible in there. Sakura was trying to make a broth so that they could give Naru multiple servings.
Kakashi watched his students with a mix of pride at their teamwork and profound sadness that he'd missed one of his student's pain. He was giving serious thought to defecting again. It seemed like every time he thought he'd finally come to terms with the worst of Naru's suffering he'd always find something new to kick him right in the teeth. He listened with no small amount of pride as Sasuke informed Naru in no uncertain terms that mealtimes would now be a supervised activity and if necessary, he would taste test every single dish for her.
Naru's reply was feint. She was genuinely ashamed to have caused so much trouble. It really felt like she should be over this by now, she'd been dealing with her food issues for years and she'd thought she'd finally gotten better which is why the relapse was so hard for her. She thought she'd finally gotten over it.