"Hatake-san." Suzu froze on the roof of her building, staring at the man in surprise. She shifted back slightly, hand pressing against the still fresh wound below her ribs. His face tensed underneath the mask, nose turning away from her.
"You were on a mission." The words fell flat. He rubbed at his chin, eyes roaming over her tightly.
"Yes," said Suzu quietly. She stepped forward hesitantly, trying not to let her confusion show on her face. Hadn't she warned him about Sakura? She let out a small pulse of chakra, checking on the runes in her apartment. None of them have been touched, though Hatake would be dead if he tried.
She wanted badly to go home, take a shower, and heal herself.
Then, sleep.
Kami, she could sleep for a thousand years.
"Did something happen while I was gone?" she asked to distract herself from the pain.
Hatake's eye curled. "No."
Annoyance building, she waited for him to elaborate. When he didn't, she snapped, "Are you going to tell me what you want? Or should I just finish bleeding out while you figure that out?"
"My book." He held out his hand flat in the air.
Her face dropped into a blank mask. Was he serious? Kami, it was like that time she and Ron hid Hermione's textbooks and spent the week paying for it. Suzu had the sudden, inexplicable urge to push Hatake off the roof.
"Pay a visit to Inoichi after this," she said bluntly. "See if he can put some social skills into that head of yours. Maybe fix the monosyllabic speech patterns too while he's at it."
When he didn't respond, she let out an angry huff, tugging on the ends of her hair. Hatake narrowed his eyes in her direction, lingering on the wet tear in her side. His eyes curled again into a smile so false that he may as well have bought it.
"Get some rest, kunoichi-san. I'll come back later," he finally said, fluffing his hair. The gesture made her heart ache in its familiarity—how many times had she done that in her old life, had James Potter done it too?
Hatake disappeared as she blinked. Suzu shook her head, shoving away all her thoughts about how weird all Konoha's jounin are. It was easier to pretend she was the normal one.
Once inside, she dropped her pack by her bedroom window and stumbled out of the room towards Sakura.
Sakura was asleep, huddled between numerous pillows, covered by three blankets. The tension in her body fell away, the pain dulling to a slight throb. Seeing Sakura safe made every mission worthwhile.
Her sister was small and slight in the bed, looking increasingly like their mother every day. Suzu ran a hand over her hair, leaning down to press a kiss to Sakura's forehead. The girl shifted slightly in her sleep, the scent of her flowery shampoo rising to fill the air. Suzu made a note to buy Sakura kunoichi standard lotions and shampoo in the morning.
Sighing, she limped to the bathroom they shared in the hall. Dropping her armguards and armor to the floor, she peeled away the tight black fabric. It stuck to her skin; the combination of blood and heat have seared some of her shirt to her skin.
Suzu grimaced, willing her magic into being and muttered a diagnostic charm under her breath before beginning on the process of repairing the damage. It took longer than she thought it would, the chunks of fabric melted to her skin, resisting the pull of her magic. Chakra fabrics were always a pain.
As her skin knit back together, she turned on the shower, letting the hot steam fill the room and ease the tension in her shoulders.
Sakura let her sleep in. Suzu heard her sister briefly enter her room before quietly shutting the door. Suzu, through her haze of sleep, could only hope she remembered to vanish her bloody clothes last night. When she did wake, it was to the lingering smell of fresh rice and miso and the sound of the shower running. Groaning, Suzu pulled herself from the soft comfort of her bed, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders, and walked toward the living room.
Suzu flopped onto the couch, reaching in-between the couch cushions to pull out the famed Icha-Icha book. Thankfully, Sakura didn't clean while she was away—not that she ever did. Suzu read the first couple of pages quickly, falling easily into the plot.
"This is so dumb," she muttered, pulling a pencil from thin air, and writing in the margins of the book. What Kunoichi would leave themselves bare for an attack? Did Jiraiya-san even know any Kunoichi?
"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, bumping her elbow. Suzu closed the book with a snap, hiding it away in her sweater before her innocent baby sister can see the title.
"Nothing," she muttered. Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously but dropped the issue. Suzu took a moment to look over at her sister. Her newly gained Hitai-ate stood out starkly against her hair. Her chest tightened.
She was proud of Sakura. But that didn't stop the pain that came from knowing that her sister would be in constant danger. Sometimes, Suzu felt as if she was betraying the memory of her old life by raising her sister to be a soldier.
Harriet Potter had the luxury of being a pacifist.
Haruno Suzuran did not.
"Are you happy?" she asked Sakura, pushing her hair behind her ear, and tugging at the end of the Hitai-ate. She could easily steal her sister away to some place quiet and peaceful like the Land of Tea.
"I got top scores," said Sakura proudly. "Even Ino didn't do as well as me."
"Do you want to invite her over tonight? We can have a sleepover before you guys have to march off to training."
Out of all of Sakura's friends, Suzu liked Ino and Naruto the best. Both blondes had such bright personalities that their small apartment seemed to house the sun whenever they stay over. If she could, she would force Naruto to stay with them and never return to the run-down apartment the Hokage had given him.
Without realizing it, Suzu's hand ruffled through Sakura's hair, messing up her neat locks. Suzu resolves to walk Sakura to school knowing it would probably be the last time she did so.