Helloooo and welcome back! Sorry for the long wait! Hopefully, with my motivation back, I'll actually work on this lovely little creation. And now onto reviews (because I have decided to start answering them):
To various people: Don't worry about Naruto, he won't be an idiot. I hope he doesn't come off as such when I finally reintroduce him.
Silverknight17 - No one has spoken truer words. Real-life is such a bother, isn't it? Thank you for the words of encouragement- they have been cataloged and I will remember this when I undoubtedly take over the world.
Now, without further ado, the chapter (which is friggin short because I'm a terrible human being)~
Kiba arrives not too much after Sakura had called Hinata. Andy escorts Sakura and Ino out, the two disguised shinobi bouncing around in the way children are prone to do. Sakura bounds up to Kiba when she spots him, Ino on her heels. Sakura makes a beeline for Akamaru while Ino head more in Kiba's direction.
"Uncle Kiba!" Ino says excitedly, latching onto their fellow shinobi. Sakura giggles as Akamaru licks her cheek. Kiba greets them, ruffling Ino's hair (Sakura absently wonders if Ino will murder him for that later), before looking up at Andy.
"Thank you for taking care of them," He says, smiling a bit, "I really need to get going though so if you need anything from us speak now or forever hold your peace." Andy grins a little at that before sobering.
"I don't believe we need anything from you so you're free to go- oh! Before you go, was there a reason that Hinata- err... Hyuuga-san? -wasn't able to pick them up?" Kiba blinks at him before rubbing at the back of his neck with a bit of a sheepish expression.
"Ah- yeah. That's my fault. I accidentally hurt the kids' father in a spar at the dojo and Hinata's been taking care of him. She was actually just going to fix his cast- and beat him over the head for messing with it -when Sarada called." Kiba explains, his lie performed flawlessly. Andy nods, laughing a tiny bit.
"Ok, now you are free to go." Kiba grins and opens the back door of his car.
"Children, in," He says before opening the front door, "Akamaru." Sakura and Ino clamber into the backseat, sending a jealous look at the dog who gets the front seat. Once everyone's settled in, Kiba drives off, careful to keep the facade of fun Uncle until they're out of sight of the Scepter 4 Officers. When the facade drops, Sakura and Ino drop their disguises. The pinkette scowls at the lack of space now that she's adult-sized.
"Got anywhere, in particular, you want me to drop you off at or should I just bring you home?" Kiba asks. Ino glances at Sakura, giving her the option to chose.
"Yeah. I need to get to HOMRA's bar. Take the next left- you'll get there faster." Sakura orders. Kiba follows her instructions without question, and Ino watches the city pass by, memorizing the route so she can get around the city easier. They slowly get into a darker part of the city- not rundown just with a more dangerous feel. They've left Scepter 4's territory and are now traversing HOMRA's. From there, it doesn't take too long to get to the bar, only a minute or two. The two girls thank Kiba for getting them out of that mess and then disembark. Sakura leads the way into the bar, noting Kusanagi's absence as she smiles genially at the ones who greet her. Ino stays quite, finding Tatara and then one or two others Sakura had described to the group the night before. They both take seats at the bar, Tatara sliding into a seat on Sakura's side.
"Helloooooo," Tatara nearly sings, smiling brightly.
"Nice to see you again," Ino says, a bit tiredly, and smiles at him. Tatara looks between them, undoubtedly spotting the tension consuming the pair of them- they can't ever let their guards down in Sceptor 4 territory now -and raises a questioning eyebrow. Ino waves him off half-heartedly and mutters something under her breath that Sakura thinks has to do with Sceptor 4 and being infected with idiot-ness. The shinobi and clansman exchange amused glances before leaving the grumbling woman alone and starting their own conversation. And ordering beers, of course. Sakura doesn't see the obvious womanizer approaching Ino until it's too late.
"Hello, beautiful," The man purrs while Sakura looks on, having broken off her conversation with Tatara for the moment. She's torn between intervening or letting this escalate and eventually settles on hoping Ino will finish this maturely. Ino lifts her head from where it had been resting on her palm and stares at the man for a long moment before turning away, completely disinterested. Sakura breathes a silent sigh of relief.
"Not interested," Ino says simply, laying her head back onto her palm. The man looks unbalanced, like he isn't used to being rejected so quickly and with such an air of finality. Sakura sees him open his mouth to continue with the womanizing and she decides she should step in before Ino snaps or Sai magically hears about what's going on and teleports here.
"Hey, anyone want to play poker for a bit?" She calls. There's quick agreement from quite a few people and soon, an entire poker tournament is set up. Soon it becomes obvious that no one can beat her and the only ones who stand as any sort of opposition are Tatara and Ino. Surprisingly, despite the large number of dollar bills that have found their way into Sakura's possession, everyone is having a great time. For the most part, the games go by quickly. Everyone's really into it, and Sakura enjoys it more than she probably should. She'd picked up a lot of habits from Tsunade- some of then good, some not so much. Alcoholism and gambling are things she's had to be careful with because if she indulges in them too much she'll undoubtedly fall into the same pit her former sensei had.
It's tiring, but it makes times like this, when she can just hang out with a group of people and not worry, all the more worth it. Especially, she thinks as rakes another pile of cash towards herself, if I get some money out of it. The door swings open and Tomura stops mid-deal. Sakura glances toward the door, smiling at Kusanagi and the young girl with him- Anna, she thinks, but she's not entirely sure. She whacks an encroaching hand away from her fairly-earned stack of cash almost absentmindedly.
"Hello," She greets. Kusanagi hums in acknowledgment and Anna trots over to the couch.
"Who's your friend?" The bartender asks with a nod towards Ino.
"This is Ino- she's one of the ones helping me with your little issue."
"Little?" He asks with a raised brow, slumping onto the couch next to Anna. Ino shrugs from her spot at the designated poker table.
"It could be worse. Tatara could be dead." The Yamanaka points out simply. Sakura blinks, hitting her fist against her palm.
"Speaking of-" She turns to the aforementioned silver-haired man, "-you haven't been experiencing any after effects, have you? Pain in your chest, trouble breathing, anything like that?"
"Ah- not that I've noticed, no." She nods at him.
"Good. Tell me if anything like that does crop up. I can't have you dying on me after spending energy on healing you." Ino snorts and Sakura gives her best friend a look. The blonde raises her hands in defeat but she's smirking- she knows that underneath it all, Sakura has a soft spot a mile wide for non-idiotic patients. Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand... if they ended up on a hospital bed there's one of two options- they did something stupid, again, or she put them there herself.
"What just happened?" A red clan member, Misaki, asks in confusion.
"A conversation. You should try it sometime," Ino shoots back quickly. The redhead turns a hilarious shade of red and grumbles something under his breath that's filled with enough stutters that he resembles younger Hinata quite a bit. By Ino's expression, she's thinking the same thing. Sakura pulls herself reluctantly back on task, turning back to the couch and its inhabitants.
"So, down to business. How should we go about hunting down Tatara's almost-killer?"
Cerulean blue eyes scan the calm waters of the ocean as their owner leans lazily against the ship's guardrail. He's spent almost two full days on the ship and he's honestly getting pretty sick of the constant rocking and the endless blue. The company could be better, as well, but he guesses it could always be worse, even if Sai isn't the most fun of people. Naruto hums when the pale teen steps up next to him as if summoned by his thought.
"How much longer will it take to reach land?" The blonde had originally wanted to run across the ocean but Sai had convinced him that even if he could make it, the blackette would run out of chakra long before reaching any shore.
"Anywhere from eight to eighteen days, depending on the weather and where we make port." Naruto huffs. He just wants to be back with his team and his wife- err, girlfriend. Honestly, why had he let Sai convince him to go all the way across the world?
"Sounds great," Naruto says drily. He settles down for the wait of an eternity. He wonders, not for the first time, why they didn't take a plane or better yet- use Sai's ink-bird as transportation. (Naruto and Sai took a plane over and both decided to never ride in one again and Sai probably wouldn't have enough chakra to make it all the way over the ocean. The use of common sense to force him into waiting on for so long on this Kami-forsaken boat sickens Naruto, but there's nothing he can do about it.)