The Wanderers
Chapter 67 – Time Enough for Love
A/N: I'd like to try something new in this chapter. While this one will mostly be on a single type, I want to try putting in little subtitles for each significant section. Please tell me if they enhance or detract from the reading experience.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be realistic romantic interactions.
***Previously-On***
Naruto and Hinata were reluctant at first, but they were eventually convinced to join Cascading Flow's rebellion. The two shinobi were integral in the taking of the village. Naruto's army of blood clones held off the Iwa shinobi's main force at the front, while Sasuke and Itachi blasted a hole in the side wall and Cascading Flow warriors poured in. After a short counterattack from Iwa, Fiore confronted the Tsuchikage in a midair battle, and was able to take him down with Sasuke's assistance. In defence of her husband, Hinata killed the Iwagakure main general. The Rebellion was successful and the village was taken. Naruto and Hinata were only able to convince Sasuke and Itachi to return with them, but luckily for them Fiore offered to come with. However they were unable to teleport to Otogakure, meaning they'd be forced to walk back to the village.
***End Summary***
Revelation
Inuzuka Kiba looked at his partner with a serious canine stare, trying to determine the best way to respond to what she had just told him.
"Are…wha…no…what?!"
Yamanaka Ino took in a deep breath and stared right back at him through her green eyes; this was just as hard on her as it was for him. If not more so.
"I'm telling you it isn't possible. I don't know what else to tell you, Kiba…But I'm certain."
The Konoha shinobi's confusion was more obvious in his expression than in the rampant shaking of his head, but it definitely was clear. Deciding that he couldn't deal with it standing up, Kiba decided to sit down on the table opposite their bed. He exhaled slowly, laying his furry tail at his side so he didn't sit on it. He'd done that in the past and it generally hurt like hell. "I don't…but…" He glanced back up at her, "How long have you known?"
His blonde lover hesitated for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor; it was difficult to look him in the eyes. "About three months."
"And you didn't think to tell me?!" Kiba's disbelief was quickly being replaced with anger.
Ino put a finger to her lips quickly with panic in her eyes, "Keep your voice down! I don't want Airi to wake up and hear us fighting."
Kiba groaned loudly, "Ino, the girl is telepathic. She can tell when you fart too loudly on the other side of the village."
The Yamanaka shinobi couldn't really dispute that; her daughter had a penchant for hearing things that a three-year-old shouldn't have to. Whether she chose that or not was still up for debate. "Just…keep your voice down, okay?"
Kiba breathed out through his fangs and leaned forward on his knees, clasping his hands together tightly. "This is really messed up, Ino. We've been together for over a year now. This is the kind of thing you're meant to talk to me about." He shook his head constantly, he still couldn't believe it. In front of him she was clearly trying to work out a way to make him feel better, but Kiba wasn't sure he wanted to feel better.
All he felt was anger.
Eventually he stood up from the table he was sitting on and scratched at his fur-covered ears with a bite of his lip. He went to say something but no words seemed to form in his throat.
Ino jumped up from the bed and tried to embrace him in a loving hug, but her partner turned away from her and walked to the window of their bedroom.
"Kiba…" she started
He put up a hand to stop her while the other opened the glass window into the windy desert village they resided in. "I'm going out for a run." Before she could attempt to stop him from leaving, the Inuzuka shinobi leapt into the village and into the windy storm-covered night.
He had a lot to think about and couldn't do it with her there.
Back inside the apartment, after closing the window behind Kiba, Ino dropped back onto the bed and let her tears slowly fall onto the sheets. She knew that it would've been difficult for him to process such a troublesome issue, but she'd thought he'd at least be willing to talk about it. She was certain he hated her for concealing the fact that she couldn't have children, despite the fact that neither of them had spoken of making a deeper commitment to each other.
With Kiba constantly on missions for the village and her long hours at the hospital, they had taken refuge with what they had. They'd almost never gotten the chance to talk properly and she'd laid this bombshell on him the first chance she got.
But she hadn't expected him to react like this.
From the corridor she heard the soft pattering of feet on her carpet floor, causing her to turn to see her little girl walking into her room rubbing at her eyes with her tiny hands, yawning wide enough for Ino to fit a small animal inside if needed.
"Mummy?" asked Airi at a whisper. "What's going on?"
Ino smiled sadly at her daughter's concern making sure to wipe her eyes before opening her hands and taking the little girl into her arms. The moment she collected her into her lap Airi fell asleep with cute breathing noises emerging from her mouth. Her young mother sighed quietly and ran her hands through her daughter's hair, pulling it away from her face and behind her ears.
With a free hand Ino wiped at her face again at the new tears and breathed out loudly while staring at the stone ceiling of her apartment. She tried to act strong for her daughter's sake even if she was asleep, but it was difficult to maintain a strong visage constantly. If she was still around, she'd take counsel in her mother's arms, but she was gone like the rest of her clan.
She had no idea what to do.
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Seeking Advice
Kiba landed on his feet on the roof of one of the many spiral buildings in Sunagakure, keeping his eyes closed to protect from the harsh wind. The shinobi village was protected from the worst of the elements from the surrounding desert, but on nights like this it got pretty bad even inside the perimeter.
It didn't help that it got freezing cold at night too.
He had dust in places he didn't know he had places, but Kiba was still able to pinpoint where he was going with little effort. Most of the time he didn't even need his shinobi senses to make his way around the general area. He considered going for a proper run around the surrounding area, but dismissed the idea as he remembered that there was a standing curfew in the village. Unlike some, he wasn't in the best standing with the border patrols either.
Perhaps I should visit the kennels. I'm sure Akamaru is hanging around somewhere.
He sighed at the thought with a shake of his head, now wasn't the time to talk to his canine companion. Akamaru was likely still spending time with his new litter. At that thought he felt his frustration rising, even his animal companion had started a family.
Some things just refused to work the way he wanted them to.
Shaking himself out of his depression, Kiba focused his senses on the one other place he could go to. With a tiny amount of chakra to steady himself, the Inuzuka heir leapt down into the village with impressive speed.
Landing in front of the round door he'd aimed for, Kiba took a moment to think about it before knocking lightly with the back of his hand. He knew that if he tried to open the door without announcing himself he would suffer the consequences of all the traps that had been put in place. He'd seen the results of some of them; they were definitely less than pleasant.
After quite a while the door opened slowly. He let out a slow breath of relief as he saw Nagisa standing in the doorway, wearing a thin shirt he didn't recognise. Her dark hair just begged to be brushed and cared for, something that always bugged him about her. She rubbed at her eyes with a wide yawn, "Kiba? What are you doing here?"
"I…I dunno actually," said the Inuzuka clan heir. "I guess I just need someone to talk to…I dunno, it seems stupid now that I'm here…"
Nagisa sighed and forced her eyes open wide in an attempt to wake herself up more, slapping herself lightly in the face. "Kiba…can this wait? We just came back from the front and I need some rest."
"I know, I know. I just…I don't exactly have anyone else to talk to."
The Inuzuka kunoichi sighed and motioned for him to enter inside with a dispassionate wave of her hand. She closed the door behind him and took him into the kitchen, flicking on the kettle and grabbing a mug for herself from a nearby shelf.
She didn't offer to get him anything.
Kiba looked at his cousin with a suspicious look in his eyes; it looked like she'd been asleep in the middle of the floor. She wasn't wearing the makeup that she usually wore when on duty, though her red fangs with black lining tattoos were still clear despite several scars across her cheeks. He didn't consider his cousin a pretty woman by any stretch, but even in her current state he still thought of her as striking. He had to keep reminding himself that they were related.
"Now, what is so important?" she said with a tired sigh, not hiding her exasperation at all. She could see that her cousin was wound-up pretty tight, but he also seemed to be unable to deal with some of the larger issues they had to face as adults in the shinobi world.
It wasn't a good combination.
Kiba went to open his mouth to speak, but hesitated when he noticed an unfamiliar scent in her apartment. He turned with a suspicious look to see a figure walking from his cousin's bedroom. It was a young woman, no older than he was, though clearly younger than Nagisa. She wore a light blue towel around her waist that barely covered up her bare skin, with a similarly coloured towel bundled up in her hair. Kiba was surprised to see that she had purple marks on her face that were surprisingly similar to their cheek markings, though he could tell immediately that she clearly wasn't an Inuzuka. The young woman leant on the side of the doorway and regarded the two of them with faded blue eyes.
"Something wrong, Nagisa?" she asked with a raised eyebrow sent in Kiba's direction.
The Inuzuka kunoichi shook her head and smiled at the young woman with something that spoke of a relationship deeper than friendship even to Kiba's ignorant gaze, "It's okay, Maki, go back to bed. It'll be warm in there, the heater was just fixed."
She stared at their guest for a moment before sighing and rubbing the towel in her hair. "If you say so. Are you going to be a while?"
"Probably," said Nagisa with a nod to her cousin. "Do you want some coffee?"
The Sunagakure kunoichi yawned with a hand in front of her face before waving off the offer and turning around to walk back into the bedroom. Kiba gawked loudly as he saw that the towel around her waist wasn't actually covering anything that would have been considered modest, though she didn't seem to care that he could see it. "Nah, I'm just going to get into bed. Wake me up when you're finished."
Nagisa nodded with an affectionately smile before turning back to her cousin, giving him a strange look to accompany his own. "What?"
Kiba pointed to the now empty doorway for a moment before pointing her, and then back at the doorway with his mouth hanging open. Getting the picture, Nagisa rolled her eyes at his ignorance and reached for the finished kettle, pouring boiling water into her mug. She tossed in the contents of a small packet and stirred it slowly.
"You never told me you…" Kiba let his sentence trail off; he had no idea how to finish it.
"You never asked," replied Nagisa without emotion, taking a sip from her drink to test the temperature.
The Inuzuka heir's frown deepened; that was something he would have thought his cousin would have shared with him. They'd been working together for nearly three years and were the only family they had left, yet he knew little more than surface details about her and her lifestyle. "How long have the two of you…"
"None of your business," said Nagisa coldly. She stared at him through her canine eyes, sending a chill down Kiba's spine. It was the same kind of look his mother would give him when he did something wrong; it also tended to precipitate fairly brutal 'taijutsu' lessons. She was nothing like his mother, but he didn't like the reminder.
Deciding it would be better to change topics, Kiba told her about the revelation that Ino had dumped into his lap. His cousin continued to drink without pause until he had finished his explanation.
Nagisa finished off the last of her drink and placed her mug into the nearby sink and running water through it to clean it. "I know," she said simply.
"You knew?" exclaimed Kiba with no small amount of concern in his voice. "How the hell did you know?"
"Ino told me," said Nagisa as she leaned on the kitchen counter. "She was concerned that you wouldn't react well to the news. Clearly she was correct."
Kiba bit at his lip so hard that blood trickled down his face, it seemed like everyone knew about this before he did. He breathed out slowly to calm himself down and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm hardly overreacting. We've been together for over a year, and only now does she tell me that she can't have children! How the hell am I meant to react?!"
"That's exactly the problem, Kiba. You've only been together for a year. With the war and everything going on, children should be the last thing on your mind. Neither of you are likely to survive long enough to have children to begin with."
Her cousin went to protest, but he had to admit she made a good point. They'd only recently returned from a long mission against the scouting elements of one of the Quiraji armies and in a few days would be leaving again for the front. They had little time for personal lives, but Kiba wasn't about to let the war destroy what little enjoyment he could find in life.
Besides, that wasn't the issue at hand.
"If she can't have children…then I don't think I should be with her. I have a duty to restore the clan."
Nagisa snorted loudly, "The clan…please. I've heard so many things done in service to 'the clan', that some days I don't even care that none of them are left."
Kiba's face darkened immediately, "Don't talk about our family that way. They might have done some bad things in the past, but we always had the best intentions at heart."
"Save the speech, Kiba, you're wasting your breath." Nagisa was too tired to give a damn about his feelings. "The clan died when Konoha did. You might want to revive it for some honour-based reason, but you have to face the fact that you probably won't be able to." She gestured with her hands to extenuate her point, "One person creating a whole clan is a rare thing, particularly in times of war."
Kiba did his best to contain himself during her tirade, though something was bothering him as she spoke. After a little bit it occurred to him what it was. "Why are you talking as if you won't be trying to revive the clan? Don't you want to have children?"
Nagisa shrugged lightly, "It's not something I think about. I might be dead tomorrow or the day after. There's no need to worry about it until then."
"Is that why you are spending your time with that woman?" asked Kiba accusingly. "Because you don't want to fulfil your obligation?"
"I'm spending my time with Maki because I prefer women, Kiba. Not because of some bizarre pathetic excuse." Nagisa glanced over at the empty doorway with a sigh, "I should get angry at you for making such a judgement, but you're too much like your mother. She was exactly the same. Blunt and ignorant."
Kiba took that as a good thing, even though he knew it wasn't. "Well…what do you think I should do?"
"That's a stupid question," said his cousin as she turned back to him. "Do you love the Yamanaka girl?"
Kiba thought about it for a second; that was a difficult question to answer. Whenever he thought about the blonde kunoichi he got a strange mixture of feelings in his stomach, but when he tried to identify them as love he always seemed to fall short. He preferred to spend his time with her whenever he could, but there were plenty of times he wanted to stay away from her.
Nagisa pointed to him with a single finger, "That hesitation is your answer."
The Inuzuka heir's eyes dropped to the floor, it was a difficult thing to think about. "I can't say I love her completely. But that doesn't mean I don't want to at least try. I have an obligation."
His partner sighed loudly, "Think about this from her perspective, Kiba. She's just found out that she cannot have children, despite having an adopted daughter already. Any chance of the Yamanaka clan being revived died the moment she discovered that, so consider how difficult this is for her. It's not all about you and your need to increase your numbers by any means possible."
Nagisa picked at her dark hair for a few moments before brushing off the shoulders of her shirt, "If I was in your position, I'd be trying my best to be the one thing in her life that isn't fighting against her."
Kiba bit at his lip hard, his thoughts causing his tail to flail about behind him uncontrollably. He shook his head as if to come to some kind of conclusion. "I should go talk to her…"
"Yes, you should."
He looked back up at his cousin to thank her for what little help she offered, but Nagisa was already making her way to her bedroom with her back facing him. "Shut the door on the way out."
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Long Days
Ino's chakra glow intensified over the patient's chest as she attempted to repair the severed blood vessels before he bled out. Her hands were covered in blood despite her technique and a nurse was constantly padding at her forehead in a vain attempt to keep sweat from falling into her eyes.
"Doctor, we're losing blood pressure," said one of the nurses at a nearby machine that was beeping loudly.
Ino swore and turned to one of her assistants, "Ready the paddles and get me 3 milligrams of Proamatine." She intensified her chakra output and threaded the patient's vessels together in a rough manner before moving her hands up closer to his heart. "Keep pressure on the wound and bring in suction."
The machine monitoring the patient's heartbeat buzzed loudly, causing all the doctors to look at it with dread. Ino swore again and ordered the nurse to use the paddles, but after several attempts it was clear that their efforts were in vain. Letting a nurse wash her hands of blood before drying them on a nearby towel, Ino sighed and wiped at her long blonde hair on her face. Despite the fact that it tended to get in the way most of the time, she refused to cut it to a more appropriate length.
She glanced at the clock on the wall before breathing out slowly. "Time of death: 9:14."
The nurses didn't say anything when she left the surgery room, they knew it was their duty to take care of the body and didn't want to interfere with her mental state at that moment. Ino was a brilliant doctor, one of the best Suna had ever seen, but she was human just like the rest of them.
"You seem agitated," observed a fellow doctor when she saw Ino enter the locker room.
Ino turned to her and attempted to give her a smile in greeting, but failed. "It's nothing. Business as usual."
The doctor didn't make a follow-up comment, she'd heard about the patient. "I think the Chief wants to speak to you. Sounded important."
Rolling her eyes, Ino slapped her own cheeks lightly before shutting her locker door, "There's always something. I was meant to take Airi to meet her new teachers." She looked at the watch on the underside of her wrist, trying her best to work out the timing. "If she doesn't keep me long I could still make it, I guess."
Her fellow doctor smiled and clapped her on the shoulder, "You do far too much, Ino. If you don't slow down, you're going to burn out."
Ino dismissed her concern quickly, "I should get going. Are you done for the day?"
"No, I've got a double in Intensive until 3." The doctor nodded to Ino before leaving for her shift. She closed the door behind her and left Ino to her thoughts.
The blonde doctor let out a long breath and leaned her head on her locker door. It seemed like things were going all out of whack at the same time, but she couldn't let the small things overcome her. If she broke down, she wasn't sure what would remain to pick up the pieces.
The only way she was going to be able to cope was to deal with things one at a time.
She made her way up two sets of staircases before knocking loudly on the large wooden door in front of her. She didn't wait for a response before opening it and walking inside.
Inside the office the Chief of Medicine put down the clipboard she was examining and greeted the blonde doctor with a wave of her hand, indicating for her to take a seat in front of her desk.
"You asked to see me?" said Ino with no small amount of impatience in her voice.
Haruno Sakura sighed loudly and clasped her hands together, "It seems like that's what I have to do to see you, old friend."
Ino stared into her friend's green eyes directly, "I've been busy, Sakura. As have you. What's this all about?"
The Chief shook her head, "Ino, it doesn't take a doctor to see that something is wrong with you. I'm just worried about you. We all are."
"Sakura, cut the dramatic crap. What's brought this about? Is it because of the patient today?"
The pink-haired doctor stood up from her chair and walked around to lean in front of her old friend, "I heard about your fight with Kiba. I know things have been difficult lately, and I wanted to tell you that if you wanted someone to talk to, I'm here."
"Why does everyone think I'm some precious flower that needs caring for?" Ino placed her hands on her knees and clenched them tightly. "I don't need your help, Sakura. I don't need Kiba's help. I'm…fine."
"Even so, I'm not about to let you destroy yourself by working yourself to death. I know you take pride in your work, but with things being as they are, I think you need to take some leave."
Ino looked up at her friend to protest, but she could feel a great pressure pushing down on her shoulders. It was difficult to admit, but she'd been holding in a lot of her emotions, and if she were diagnosing herself she would force herself to relax. She sighed and unclenched her muscles, despite their equal beginnings as Genin; Sakura had authority over her and had her best interests at heart. "I guess it would be good to take some time off."
"Thank you," said Sakura with relief in her voice. "I can and do admire the things you do, but you need to look after yourself, Ino. Take Airi somewhere nice, maybe sit on a beach somewhere."
Ino snorted and rubbed at the back of her neck, "Yeah, and after that I'll go punch out the Kazekage just for kicks."
Sakura smirked at her friend's comment; that was the Yamanaka Ino she knew. "Spend a few days with your daughter, okay? I'll get someone to cover for you."
"I'll get you back for this," said Ino as she stood up and thanked her friend. She gave her a small smirk, "It's still hard to think of you as my boss. How many years were we rivals?"
"We still are," said Sakura with a similar smirk. "Only I'm winning."
Ino groaned and left her friend's office, unwilling to let her gloat about her position even though she knew it was only in jest.
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Expected Endings
Ino gently placed her daughter into bed and covered her with a thin blanket. She smiled warmly as she watched the little girl's chest rise and fall with each breath. Anything that tried to anger or disappoint her in her daily life seemed trivial every time she saw her daughter sleeping.
Walking back into the corridor of her apartment, Ino thought about what Sakura had 'suggested' she do for the next few days. While in a constant state of war Suna was under complete lockdown; she seriously doubted that she'd be able to stay away from the hospital for more than a day. With their village the main target for Quiraji aggression, there were always patients needing medical care and she was one of their best doctors.
Ino took a cautionary sniff of her shirt before recoiling in disgust; it had been a very long day. Resolving to clean herself up before going to bed for the night, Ino had a long shower before drying herself off and making a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate. She wore a light towel over her waist and let her wet hair drip onto the floor. The heating in her apartment was at full blast and felt nice against her pale skin; since the village was centralised in the desert it got particularly cold at night. It was no small source of irritation that despite how long she'd been in the desert, she still didn't have a nice tan.
A noise near the front of her apartment drew her attention, though with a quick check with her sensory skills told her it was the last person she wanted to see at that moment. Leaving her hot chocolate on the kitchen counter, Ino made her way to the door and opened it to see her apparent partner standing there with a solemn expression on his face.
She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned deeply, "I don't have anything to say to you, Kiba." Her patience with him had disappeared completely.
"Can I come in at least?" asked the Inuzuka shinobi with a legitimately regretful expression on his face. "I feel I deserve at least that."
Ino clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth for a second before letting out a tsk and leaving the door open as she walked back into the kitchen. Kiba gave her his thanks and shut the door behind himself before following quickly behind her.
Picking up her hot chocolate again and testing the heat with her fingers, Ino took a small sip and regarded him with an angry expression. "Let's hear it."
Kiba hesitated for a moment, he hadn't been sure what to expect but it seemed like Ino had moved past her sadness and was in a fairly angry mood.
The last time she'd been angry with him, she'd broken three of his fingers.
From the other side of the room.
"We never talked about it," he said finally.
Ino raised an eyebrow on the visible side of her face, "Talked about what?"
"Having kids. We don't really talk about anything, Ino." Kiba scratched at his tail quickly; it always seemed to itch at the worst times. "The whole world is upside down, nothing seems to make any sense anymore, and we don't talk."
"You made your feelings pretty clear, Kiba. Perhaps the reason we don't talk is because you have nothing worth saying."
"That's not fair, Ino. This is hard for both of us." He shook his head rapidly, "I don't even know if I could be a father, but I've always wanted the option."
Putting down her drink, Ino sighed loudly before staring into his canine eyes. "Last night told me something that I think we both already knew. Something I think we've known for a while."
Kiba nodded grimly, he knew exactly what she meant. "So…what do we do now?"
Ino uncrossed her arms and took a sip from her drink before noticing that the temperature had dropped rapidly in the few minutes they'd been talking. "I don't know. But I do know that I'm happier when you aren't around than when you are."
The Inuzuka shinobi's eyes dropped to the ground, he had negative things he wanted to say about her as well, but he felt like there was no point in bringing them up. It would only serve to put a larger gap between them. "I'll find somewhere to stay for the next little while. Do you want me to grab my things now?"
Ino sighed and walked forward to place a hand on his chest, "You're a good person, Kiba. I know that you'll find someone for you. It just isn't me. I don't think it ever was."
Taking her hand into his, Kiba reached down and kissed it gently before turning to leave. "If you ever need help, you know I'll come for you."
Ino waited until he closed the door behind him and was out of his considerable hearing range before whispering quietly to herself.
"I know…"
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Sakura gasped loudly and clutched at her throat, trying to claw her way out of the terrible mask that encompassed her entire head. She thrashed around violently as she tried to pry it off, but after several moments of gasping for breath she remembered where she was and forced herself to calm down. Opening her eyes with a loud gasp, Sakura tried her best to get a grip of her surroundings; they were very different from how she remembered in the nightmare.
The ceiling above her was the same as she'd left it; the silk blanket that covered her was the same; the dark purple shirt she'd worn to bed was the same.
However she was alone in the bed, and that wasn't the same.
With a grimace she felt at her throat, feeling several scratches from her fingernails. She'd been clawing at it again in her sleep, something that she had been doing at an increasing volume over the past few months. Without accounting for anything else around her, she made sure that she wasn't bleeding before checking to make sure she hadn't hurt herself anywhere else. That was always the risk.
Eventually she sat up on her bed, letting her blanket fall over her naked lower half. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark during the night, though it wasn't difficult for her to notice a figure standing against the wall on the other side of the bedroom.
Sighing loudly and running her hands through her short pink hair, Sakura looked at the figure with an apologetic look. "Sorry if I woke you…"
The figure shook his head slowly, "It's fine, I was up anyway."
Sakura went to get out of the bed, but found her legs were still asleep even though she was now wide awake. The dreams were getting more and more vivid; there were times when she couldn't distinguish between the dreams and reality. Even now in her awoken state she could feel the images pressing in around her, reminding her of why she suffered in the first place.
"Who was it this time?" asked the figure.
Sakura took a deep breath and pulled her blanket back over her top half, "It was…it doesn't matter." She tried to keep up a strong face, but she knew he could see right through her. It wasn't something she could necessarily cope with on her own, but she knew that if she were to ever deal with the knowledge and memories of what she'd done, she'd have to do so on her own.
They were her demons and hers alone.
"What time is it?" she asked quietly, leaning her head back into her pillow.
The figure walked forward a few steps into proper view, "Not more than a few hours into the night. Go back to sleep."
"Are you coming back to bed?" She tried not to make it sound like a plea, but he could see right through her.
Rock Lee shook his head slightly even as he watched his partner's eyes begin to close. He could see she was struggling with her nightmares, but he couldn't bring himself to stay with her at that point.
He still couldn't shake the images he'd seen out of his head, regardless of how many times he tried to think of other things. It had been happening more and more often these days; he had no idea why.
But he couldn't shake the image of being pinned to the ground by spikes of water, staring up helplessly as his masked enemy brutally murdered him without prejudice.
He knew she wasn't that figure anymore, but Lee's body remembered it perfectly. His muscles still twitched at the phantom pain.
Lee hated to admit it, but he couldn't be near her at this stage. He loved Sakura as much as he had loved Gai-sensei, perhaps more so, in a different manner.
But occasionally things were difficult between the two of them because of past events and he had no way of understanding why or how to solve it.
All he knew was that if he were to be close to her with such images in the forefront of his mind, he couldn't guarantee that his body wouldn't react without his knowledge. His instincts were so finely tuned that such a thing wouldn't be impossible; he'd once fought against an entire battalion of Quiraji soldiers while being fast asleep. It was something he was proud of, but also very wary of.
Trying his best to shake himself out of it, Lee made his way out of their bedroom and towards where he'd placed his things. He'd only just returned from a long scouting mission deep in the Land of Fire, but already felt like he needed to be back in the field.
He wanted to spend this time with Sakura, but not like this.
Why couldn't things be perfect?
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Morning Discussion
The next morning Lee came back from his usual hundred laps around Suna to prepare himself a light breakfast before going to the next stage of his morning training. A smile grew on his face as he saw Sakura standing in the kitchen, wearing one of his training shirts and nothing else, sipping on a hot cup of coffee. She looked absolutely stunning.
Sneaking up behind her, Lee threaded his arms around her waist and kissed at the side of her neck gently. They rarely had much time together and Lee wasn't usually an overly affectionate person, but they had to take whatever opportunities presented themselves.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked quietly.
Sakura sighed and rubbed at one of his arms with her free hand, "A little bit." She turned her head slightly and pecked him on the cheek, "Did you get much sleep last night?"
"I'm fine," said Lee, though they both knew he was lying. His stamina was impressive and he could go days without sleep, but he didn't make mention of why that was necessary at the moment.
Sakura let it go and finished off her coffee, washing it clean before a thought came to her and she turned back to see him wolfing down a small bowl of rice. "Oh, I forgot, there's something I need you to do for me."
Lee looked up at her over his bowl, "I'm only in the village for a little while, Sakura. Is it important?"
The green eyed doctor smiled knowingly, "It's something only you can do, dear. I promise it won't take all day. We'll still have some time together."
With a smile, Lee got up and kissed her lightly on the cheek, tossing his bowl into the sink. "I can't say no to you, you know that." He turned around and drew her close to him with his bandaged hands, enjoying the warm touch of his skin on his body. "What do you need me to do?"
Sakura smirked and clutched at his hands, bringing them up to her face. She kissed them lightly before placing them at his side and turning to pick up a piece of paper from the counter.
"There's a rare plant in the Suna desert about three days west of the village that we need. Here's a description of it." She handed him the paper and watched him carefully. Three days run for a normal shinobi was something he could take care of in a matter of hours, and the surrounding desert was extremely dangerous for prolonged periods of time. He was the perfect fit for such a mission.
Lee sighed and nodded slowly, "I'll get it done. Maybe we can get together for dinner or something. We don't spend half as much time together as I'd like."
Sakura smiled with love in her eyes and stepped forward to kiss him passionately on the lips. She leaned her forehead into his and stared straight into his wide honest eyes. "I want that too. It's a date."
Not one to waste time, Lee gave her a kiss farewell and left their apartment. He made sure to keep his speed to a reasonable level so as to not knock over anything in his path, but once he left the doorway she heard the familiar sound of his feet kicking against the air. Even as a doctor, she had no idea how he was able to do such a physically inconceivable technique, but being able to run on air was impressive nonetheless.
She disliked lying to him, but sometimes there were things that had to be kept close to the chest. She did truly need the plant that she was sending him out to get, if she was right it might be the critical component to solving Ino's problem. It had been the result of weeks of work, but she wasn't sure of anything until she had the plant in hand.
However at the moment there were other things that she had to get done, that required his absence.
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Dusty Trail
Judging by how close the sun was to setting, Lee judged there was only about an hour till nightfall. He passed through the final checkpoint to enter Suna and tapped his feet on the ground. He had the plant Sakura had asked him to get; he figured she'd want it as soon as possible, meaning his first stop would be her office in the main hospital building.
Getting to the area indicated by her note had been simple enough, though Lee was reminded of how good the desert was for training. From the intense heat, sand-covered tracks that made getting a grip difficult, and the variety of deadly animals, the deserts around Suna were the perfect training ground. He made a note to go back to the area when he returned from his next assignment, whenever that was.
Lee wasn't the type to use his top speed for normal tasks, but at his level of skill it was difficult not to. Even with weights he broke the sound barrier with little effort.
Pushing off the ground with dozens of small kicks, Lee shot through the air towards the centre of the village. The defences were tightest around the hospital and the Kazekage's building, yet he appeared as little more than a green blur to the standing guards. Pushing himself off the air through a feat of strength he knew Gai-sensei would've been proud of, Lee made it to the window that led into Sakura's office in little time at all.
He fumbled around his pack for a moment before producing a small key, one that she'd given him after it became obvious that he wasn't good at going through doors. He figured she was just happy he'd stopped doing 'Dramatic Entries' every time he entered a building.
Opening the window from above before swinging himself inside, Lee felt a twinge of disappointment when he saw that her office was empty. As Chief of Medicine, Sakura was almost never not at her desk or the surrounding area, but after a few minutes of searching it became clear that she wasn't anywhere on the hospital floor at all.
Lee shook his head in confusion and leaned his hands on her desk; perhaps she'd gone home for the afternoon. He nodded to himself and went to leave, but hesitated as he saw a note attached to the inside of the window.
A fleeting home, one destroyed, another found.
Forever together, forever apart.
Rock Lee was not a complex man; but even he could understand the meaning of the note. It was written in Sakura's handwriting; it was clear she was telling him to go to their shared apartment. It wasn't far from the hospital, Lee leapt out of the window straight towards it without thinking to shut it behind him.
Within a minute he arrived at the front door of their apartment, his mind still trying to work out why she had left such a strange note when she could have said it more plainly. He reached forward and clutched the doorknob, but for some unknown reason it refused to open. Lee frowned deeply, the door was designed to respond to his imprint and open at his touch, even through his bandaged hands, yet it refused to budge.
Not one to let a mere door get in his way, Lee concentrated for only a moment before tightening his grip on the doorknob and turning it hard. His increased strength easily tore apart the latches keeping the door locked, though he was careful not to tear the doorknob off the door completely; that was expensive to replace and they weren't exactly rolling in money.
He swung the door open and took a step inside, only to find himself confronted by a large pillar in the middle of the doorway. Lee resisted the urge to destroy it with a single punch on sheer principle of its impeding his progress, but looked it over quickly. It was clear that something strange was going on, and after a few moments he found a note attached to the stone near his ankles.
Friends lost in time, whether known or unknown.
We love, we lose, we grieve.
The dead do not care for guilt.
This note made less sense than the previous one to Lee. He reached to either side of the pillar and grunted as he picked up the heavy stone and moved it to just outside their front door. A quick check of their reasonably sized apartment told him what he had already figured out; she wasn't here either.
Lee shook his head and placed the note on their kitchen counter, looking over it carefully. He was sure it was Sakura trying to tell him something, but he couldn't work out what it was.
A part of him was terrified she'd gotten herself into trouble and was calling for his aid in a rather peculiar manner, but while Sakura was a complex women, she was not the type to string him along.
He made himself a small cup of coffee and continued to stare at the note, comparing it to the first one he had taken from her office.
After nearly half an hour, his eyes widened as the pieces fell into place in his head. He let out a confirmatory 'ah' and shoved both the notes into one of his many pockets before checking to make sure that the plant was still on his person. She hadn't mentioned what she needed it for, but it must be serious if she was willing to go through this much trouble.
Unlike Konoha, Suna only had gravestones for the deceased that were significant contributors to the village. Once the war broke out, Gaara had ordered the graves moved to underground locations within the village, meaning that to mourn the dead one had to traverse into underground tombs that had once been caved in escape tunnels.
Lee waited upon the patience of the guards for this part of his journey, despite working for Suna for a number of years and gaining the respect of the villagers and the Kazekage, he was still seen as an outsider. After a short conversation about his intentions, they let him into the crypts, reminding him not to disturb the grieving family members within.
Following the candle-lit paths, Lee made his way through the crypt, feeling a sense of purpose as he felt like he knew where he needed to go. After a few winding trips and paying his respect to the fallen Suna shinobi he had worked with in the past, Lee entered a small opening that held a single stone tablet.
Unlike the others within the crypts, this one did not have any bodies underneath it. Rather it merely had names carved into it with a long chisel, ones that he recognised; he'd placed several there himself.
This was the tombstone that represented those lost from Konoha, and those from the village that had died since its destruction. Reaching forward, Lee lightly brushed his fingers over several names, feeling the familiar grief he'd been dealing with for a long time.
"Why did you bring me here?" he asked at a whisper, knowing that there was nobody to hear him.
He quietly paid his respects to the fallen and burnt a stick of incense before clapping his hands together and praying silently. In the manner he'd been taught as a child, he pressed his fist to his heart before pressing it skywards, indicating that his teacher's strength was still with him.
As he did so, his eyes caught a glimpse of a small piece of paper stuck on the ceiling with a strange adhesive. Lee held back a groan and jumped up a small distance to pull it off.
Everything that has a beginning, has an end.
But only by making the jump, can you truly be happy.
No holes are permanent, all earth adapts and changes.
Lee was stumped. At least the previous two notes had given him some indication of where he needed to go next. This one just seemed like a nice piece of wisdom, something he could almost read in Gai-sensei's voice.
Feeling the note carefully in his fingers with a confused shake of his head, Lee sighed and contemplated his next move. It would be simpler to wait for her back at their apartment, but something about the notes and the significance of the places she'd been sending him gave him the indication that he shouldn't give up without trying.
He went to place it in his pocket and leave the crypt so he could read it properly under better light, but the paper came away from him and slowly fell to the floor. As he reached down to pick it up, he noticed a tiny piece of writing on the back, one that he wouldn't have noticed except under close examination. Bringing it up to his eyes, a small smile came across his face.
Ask Shikamaru.
True to his nature, the Nara shinobi deduced the answer almost at the same time as Lee asked the question. He was practically drowning in paperwork, but still took the time to look into nearby locations before pointing him to a small hole in the side of one of the large cliffs surrounding the village. It had once been an armoury, but had since been abandoned for a better location to accommodate their defences, and was the only one left of its kind. Lee thanked him for his assistance and left for the location at top speed, his mind straining at the effort of trying to work out what to expect.
When he leapt into the cliff opening, he was surprised to see a large wooden door that likely led to the abandoned armoury. Unlike the previous ones, this time the note for him was right in front of him, stuck in the middle of the door. He plucked it off the wood and his smile widened as he read it quickly.
There's always time to take a leap of faith.
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Surprise
Pushing open the wooden door, Lee thought he was prepared for anything that could have been contained inside. He took pride in being prepared for anything. It was why he carried so many things in his backpack, despite it slowing down his speed slightly.
He certainly could never have seen this coming.
Inside the open doorway was a small room no larger than the living room in his apartment, containing little furniture beyond a few tables and chairs. A dark red rug covered the stone floor that gave it an appealing look that he was sure would have earned further examination had his attention not been immediately drawn elsewhere.
The room was lit with hundreds of candles; giving the room so many shadows that Lee couldn't hope to count them. He figured it would have taken a very long time to light them all in such a precise fashion, which only served to impress him further. But Lee wasn't concentrating on that.
Standing in the middle of the mass of candles was Sakura.
Lee slowly walked to stand in front of her with a slowly growing smile on his face, "Sakura…"
The pink haired woman waited until he was in front of her properly before widening her smile and looking directly into his eyes.
With slow deliberation, she knelt down onto one knee.
Lee felt a thousand things at once, but the look in his partner's eyes told him that saying anything at that moment would spoil it. He kept his mouth shut.
"We've been together…a long time," began Sakura, her voice shaking with emotion. "In that time you've always protected me, kept me safe. It…hasn't always been easy for me, but you've always been there to pick me up and tell me that everything is going to be okay." She thought about the powerful memory she had of regaining her mind at his hand and being freed from Sensou's control. "Even when I didn't deserve saving."
She motioned for him to kneel with her, placing forward her hands to take his bandaged hands into her own. "I know it's been hard on you too. But that's not what I want for us. When I think about you, and how I feel about you, I get this overwhelming warmth in my chest. It seems to want to burn me out from the inside, but I never want that feeling to go away."
Patting his hands affectionately, she looked back up into his face, feeling her confidence peak at that moment. "I want to take care of you; to feel every smile and hurt as my own, to be with you for as long as life will let us. Lee, you are the man I want to sit quietly and pass the time with, the man I want to grow old with, the man I want to die with."
Before Lee could process all the things she was saying, Sakura reached into the front pocket of her shirt and produced a small crimson box with silver lining. They weren't what would be considered a traditionalist couple, but she didn't want to give him the chance to do it first.
With deliberation that bordered on sadism, Sakura opened up the box. Inside was a ring with a large jasper stone, coloured dozens of different shades of red. She knew that it was the gemstone Lee liked the most; it represented self-confidence and purpose in life. It was also extremely difficult to obtain.
She offered him the ring with emotional tears slowly dripping down her face, "Rock Lee, will you marry me?"
The taijutsu master was not an eloquent man by any stretch of the imagination, and in a situation like this he knew he'd never have the words to describe how he felt about her offer. He'd been confused about the state of their relationship for a long time, yet such a scenario hadn't been far from his mind.
Though certainly not in this fashion.
Looking into her green eyes, Lee could see the strength of her resolve, something he hadn't seen in her in a long time. It was this Sakura that he'd fallen in love with; this Sakura that he'd fought so hard to save and keep safe.
Regardless of how his pride felt hurt at her beating him to the punch, he already knew his answer.
Taking her hands into his and smiling into her eyes, Lee nodded slowly. "Of course I will."
He was barely able to get a glimpse at her face before she shot forward and wrapped him up into her arms so tightly he wasn't sure whether she was trying to strangle him or not. He could feel her tears falling onto his neck above his green tights, but he knew they were tears of happiness not sadness.
Sakura finally pulled her arms off of him and pressed her forehead into his, looking him in the eyes so much that she could have sworn she could see his soul. "I love you."
Lee grinned, "And I definitely love you." His eyes dropped to the ring in her hands.
The doctor nodded in understanding and took the ring out of the box before moving to place it on his hand. It was comical enough with her trying to push the ring over his bandaged finger that the two of them couldn't help but laugh. Eventually she gave up, but Lee didn't care. He took her face into his hands and kissed her deeply.
There would be enough time to sort out little things like that later.
The Sound Intervention
Dosu sat in the bushes silently. It had been hours since they'd arrived and his part of their setup was complete, but he was beginning to get impatient. He could hear his companions' heartbeats over the plethora of sounds nearby, but until he got the right tone he wasn't able to begin their plan. A patient shinobi by nature, nevertheless he could hear his own heartbeat pulsing faster than he would've thought possible. If there was anyone that had his level of hearing, the whole plan was already screwed.
Across the battlefield in front of him was a resting army of thousands, more than he could possibly attempt to count on his own. Unlike the warriors they faced at the Kage Summit, these appeared to be more basic troops, ones that bled and died like any other.
But there were a hell of a lot more of them.
His position was high atop a cliff facing down on the army, a precarious position if there ever was one. It would only take a single soldier looking skyward and he would be swarmed in minutes, but Dosu knew humans rarely looked up unless they had to. The dead bodies of the Quiraji scouts had been melted away with a specialist acidic material to leave no trace behind; Dosu figured that the soldiers below trusted their scouts to not be taken out as easily as they had been. It had been almost insultingly easy, though they'd been careful not to use chakra until now.
By using only the most minute amount of chakra to enhance his hearing, Dosu could tell he was avoiding detection from their chakra sensors, as they hadn't come after him so far. They still didn't have any intelligence on what they looked like, but Dosu had faith in their networks; someone had to come up with something eventually.
He moved his head slightly, there was something in the midst of the chaos of sounds that he sought to concentrate on. It took a moment, but he was eventually able to pinpoint it.
"Alpha Noble Omega." It was as quiet as the faintest whisper from a great distance away, only someone with Dosu's hearing could have picked up on it. He acknowledged the signal with the smallest of nods and turned to his side to complete the final calibration. The signal told him three specific details about their mission. One of them was not entirely in position, but close enough to do significant damage, but the other two were ready. It also told them that their allies that weren't aware of their presence were drawing closer, meaning they had little time left to complete their task.
Finally, it told him that one of the Four was present.
That was enough to convince Dosu that it was time to start before they were detected.
Adjusting the wires connected to the five large speakers he had set up along the cliff's edge, Dosu calibrated them to the appropriate frequency and took a deep breath.
Standing behind the speakers so as to not suffer the effects, he activated the weapons array.
The speakers shuddered along the rocky cliff, shooting long wide shockwaves of sound down into the resting Quiraji army beneath his position. Soundwaves were able to be calibrated to do a variety of damaging effects; from nausea to temporary loss of consciousness.
Each Quiraji soldier that was struck by Dosu's soundwaves screamed out in pain and clutched at their heads, unable to do anything as their eardrums burst within their heads and their blood thundered within their veins. Normally they had immunities to shinobi weaponry of such a manner, but after fighting the Quiraji for so long, the Oto shinobi had developed many different ways of combating their foes.
Hundreds of Quiraji soldiers fell under his long distance attacks, but Dosu was not alone in that valley.
Two massive columns of razor sharp wind blades shot over the army, slicing through armour and skin with relative ease. Dosu watched the devastation with a twisted sense of satisfaction; they hadn't been sure whether they'd be able to get those weapons ready in time.
The Quiraji soldiers tried to rally around their siege weaponry and organise a defensive grid, but before they could get into position, huge bursts of pressurised air slammed into the wooden structures, smashing them into tiny pieces. He could hear the shouted orders from the Quiraji leaders trying to rally their troops, even as three single figures moved rapidly from the opposite side of the cliff to his position. The damage had been done to the Quiraji army and they could no longer risk staying any longer. Dosu knew they could do terrible damage to the Quiraji army if they stayed, but that wasn't their mission.
"How many do you think?" came a voice at his side. Dosu turned to acknowledge his former teammate with a single-eyed stare. Zaku ignored the stare and glanced down at the army, "Better than the estimates, I reckon."
A dark haired female shinobi appeared between them, breathing heavily. "They're onto us. Nearly a score of hunters, coming in hot."
Dosu nodded to her in acknowledgement and put up his hand into a single handseal. He activated the explosion tags on the speakers behind him and the weapons that Zaku and Rene had utilised, since they had no means of bringing it back to the village while on the run.
He stood up and put down his hand, "You both know the plan. Move out."
The two Otogakure shinobi nodded to their team leader and disappeared at a reasonable pace away from the Quiraji army. In one swift blow they had crippled the war effort in this area, but it was only one of hundreds of battles to come.
Assuming the Quiraji moved in the way they needed them to.
Author's Note:
I have a question to ask of you guys actually. I'm always one to want to include a variety of different situations and perspectives. To this end, I've wanted to explore more homosexual relationships, and as you can see I've had a few female ones, but not a male one yet. This is my question, out of the existing characters that don't have a clear partner, which of them do you think could be in a male homosexual relationship? It doesn't have to be a major character; it's just something I'm wanting to write on.
I hope I got the proposal scene across properly. Sakura is the kind of character that gets a hard rap a lot of the time, but I feel like that would be something she would do.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.