And I decided to do it this way.


Year 4

Toppling Dominoes, Ripples in a Pond.


Just as Sakura avoids him, Hyuga-sama almost seems to do the same.

Yet, for all his famed Byakugan skills, their encounters and careful side steps cannot be anything other than well timed and perfectly planned.

Hinata-chan often hints at her father's, and her clan's wish to thank her.

Sakura likes to think of herself as good enough, diverting the conversation topic as needed. She's uncomfortable, really, being thanked for bringing back the equivalent of a corpse.

And her companion always, always gives in.

She maintains her grades in dancing classes, pouring tea, naming and differentiating over a dozen scented teas.

Her gait is well timed, moves with just the right amount of poise. Not too practised, just enough of the natural vibe.

"It gives the entire dance a more alluring feel, Sakura-chan."

But speaking of more important matters, Hinata-chan has a pretty large crush on Naruto-kun.

Sakura, as young/old as she is, finds it endearing.

"Then talk to him more. Be his friend. Don't just be someone he knows through me."

She knows most childhood crushes don't endure, but she knows that if Hinata keeps this inside, and never expresses herself, then she will turn inward and start idolising him.

And that's not good for anyone.

The next day, Hinata stands up for Naruto-kun, even before Sakura does herself.

Hyuga-sama is proud, Sakura can tell.

Even as he mildly disapproves of Hinata acting not of her standing, he's glad that she has a real backbone.

Ah my, why are his expressions always printed so clearly across his face?

He insists on snagging her for a chat.

It's been… April, May, June, 10 months since she brought that box back, 10 months worth of dodging them, 10 months of them respecting that she wanted to be left alone.

So why does he press now?

"Is there nothing that you will ask for in return, Lady Haruno?"

There's a tinge of desperation in his voice she can't quite understand.

She mulls it over, eye brows furrowing.

She smiles genuinely, because he's become a father who shows Hinata that he loves her, and now she views him as human.

Maybe she thinks he's worth knowing, maybe she just trusts him for being her friend's father.

"Call me Sakura. And promise me that you'll believe in Hinata."

To him, her eyes are oddly serious, and it strikes him as odd.

"I will always believe in my daughter, Sakura-san."

He nonetheless replicates the same seriousness, and for Sakura, that's good enough.


Suzuki-sensei presses her for her accompaniment, and she chooses to use her chakra.

Sensei doesn't outright tell her to think of another, merely that if she were undercover, that would be ruled out immediately.

Sakura must have always had a stubborn streak, because she devotes the rest of class to manipulating her chakra in varied ways.

For example, by releasing a steady stream of chakra from her index and middle fingers, she could join them, and weaving circles the air, making it seem as if she were twirling with a strip of sparkly cloth.

Then, if she were to move while releasing chakra from any point, she would leave behind trails.

They were all lovely light effects, and the beauty of it was that her chakra, upon dissipating, lingered in the air.

That meant that they were only waiting for her to call upon them again, whether to make the air shimmer, or to join in her next showy burst of art.

She chooses to make her chakra solidify, and maybe, sensei subtly approves of it.

She could just as easily substitute her chakra streams for actual strips of silk, but the chakra constructs glowed, and sensei didn't deny that it was an impressive display of chakra control.

"I have no doubt that your examiners will be impressed by it, if you can sustain it."

From Suzuki-sensei, that's high praise.

Sakura works hard to make her chains stay in the ribbon like shape.

She finds it's easiest to work with chains that are hers, and that those coloured chains turned into equally coloured ribbons.

It's far from second nature, no matter how compliant her chains are.

To accentuate the colour, and to make it thin and appear like a ribbon, the mental challenge is refreshing, and not entirely unwelcome.

She tries not to think too much of it.

It reminds her too much of operating on Tenkawa-san.


Senpai promises to grant her Medic-nin status once she becomes Genin.

"It'll be in time to be considered for your team placings, I promise."

She cocks her head at him, as they walk down a hallway.

"Does it matter?"

He looks down at her, over the clip board, before around them.

He gives her an almost mischievous grin, winking.

"You know, my ID card now grants me quite a bit of access everywhere. Not to mention, because my father's the head and all, people are pretty lenient with me. I looked through the records of all the medically trained academy students. They've always ended up on teams which are built for front line assault."

It's a half frown on her face, and his voice dips into concern.

"Do you want me to delay the application for you to be recognised as a medic?"

She shakes her head, "It's alright. Just wondering why not a support team. Besides, even before I'm officially registered, isn't it already known?"

Kabuto-senpai shrugs, "From what I know, the Jonin Commander, the Hokage, and your academy senseis, along with the Jonin senseis who will be taking teams, are involved in forming the groups. My sensei says that your academy files are open for perusal, so unless it's explicitly stated there, or someone in that small group of people raises that point, they probably won't."

He's quiet for a moment, before smiling down at her, "I'll let you know what's in your file closer to the examination date. Then that way you can be sure. If your medic speciality is highlighted in it, and not downplayed enough to pass off, I'll certify you. Hopefully you'll get less flak."

She pulls the door open for them, "Isn't it too troublesome?"

"Nah, I mean, you're you, and we young medics are always considered inexperienced. But young people can be very deadly too. We're going to be checking up on Rock Lee-san."

The name itself means little to but the clip board is interesting.

Should be roomed alone.

Ensure patient remains in bed until fully healed.

Ensure patient is resting.

Chakra insensitive – Refer to detailed notes.

Reason for hospitalisation: Exhaustion after training

She arches an eyebrow at her senpai, but he only smiles, "Just wait and see, you'll understand."


In that standard hospital bed, there's a child, a well-built male, dressed in his hospital garb, doing push ups.

Older than her, clearly, but young.

Her senpai flutters over, gently reprimanding the boy, telling him to rest.

"I was in my bed, as promised Medic-san!"

She can't fault the boy for that.

He sounds earnest.

Sakura extends her chains, gently nudging her senpai out of the way.

"I will be running a simple diagnostic, please relax, Lee-san."

They glow green, and she frowns, looking back at her senpai for guidance.

"Muscles have been healed, I think another night of rest, to let the new tissues age, and Lee-san will be free to go."

Kabuto-senpai hums in confirmation, jotting that down on the clip board.

"Any more comments?"

He gives her slight nod, and she knows that what she's found is what he's looking for.

She looks at the boy, his hair lightly ruffled, but still a fairly rounded shape, he sits cross legged, bandages across his hands and legs.

How hard has he been training, that he's in this kind of shape?

"Lee-san, have you never been able to manipulate chakra?"

Those black eyes, look at her, surprise evident.

"Yes, that is true, Medic-san! How do you know this though?!"

He's loud, that's the second thought.

"Tone down a bit, okay, Lee-san? There are people resting next door, after all."

He immediately trumpets his apologies, before clapping a hand over his mouth.

Senpai laughs, exasperated.

"The nerves that are supposed to be connected to your chakra points are almost entirely non-existent."

Her mind begins to race.

In theory, she could reconnect the nerves, however, by the time you reach 7 years of age, the chakra system has integrated into the human body itself. Civilians who don't use chakra naturally have their nerves degenerate, so only the smallest amounts, needed to sustain their body are left.

In practical terms, that meant that even if she reconnected those nerves, Lee-san's body would not have that 'muscle memory' to pull chakra.

Unlike Tenkawa-san, whose body was actively trying to pull chakra through destroyed veins, which coincidentally, helped her plot the path, Lee-san's would possibly even attack the nerves, if she were to create any.

She thinks quickly, smiling at Lee-san.

"I'm sure that everyone has their own specialities."

She laughs here, genuinely, "I will never hope to even reach your level of physical fitness. That's pretty pro, I can't even do a push up. But you have to know your limits better. Senpai will see to your discharge tomorrow."

"If you rest, in bed, without exercising, Lee-san."

They smile, bow, and Lee-san waves.


The door closes behind them, and senpai hands her the clip board.

"What do you think?"

She shakes her head.

It's the conclusion she has come to.

Senpai almost frowns.

"It would mean so much to Lee-san if he could just use a tiny bit of chakra, some semblance of normality… something… is there no chance at all?"

Sakura wonders if Kabuto-senpai knows.

The guilt is killing her from inside out and she scared if she does this Lee-san will die.

She scrawls her thoughts across the clip board, theories running wild, and she writes across the front, then the back, and she repeats points, and doubles back to elaborate.

She has no case study to quote, because her operation was off the record and until she submits it as a theory, it's only something she felt.

"If you could somehow re-attune his body to chakra, or de-age it to be sufficiently pliant, then perhaps, someone with sufficient skill could reconstruct his chakra and neural system's links. But if you can't stop the white blood cells from attacking the new cells, and you can't help him use the pathways, it'll be useless no matter what. Forcing chakra through will only hurt him."


Sakura could be considered a prodigy, he tells his patient, who pays rapt attention.

But I have no doubt that Sakura puts in a lot of effort too. Just maintaining those chains?

It's takes great will power to force them in shape.


So no, there were still things that senpai didn't know.


It's one Friday night, there are insistent knocks on her door.

There's a panicking ball of nervous energy outside.

It's just past midnight, way past Shikamaru's normal bed time.

She unlocks the door, and he grabs her hand.

On one hand, it's Shika-chan.

On the other hand, it's a pre-teen out on the streets when the red-light district is active.

But she can always tell, his face is tight, worried, and if she was right, close to tears.

She locks the door behind her, running with him, through the streets in her next day's school uniform.

As they run, Sakura notes that he grips her hand tighter and tighter, as if fearing to lose his grip on her.

She gently coaxes, trying to find out what's wrong.

"Dad's not breathing right, and he won't wake up."

Seamlessly, she slips into medic mode.

"But he's breathing?"

He nods jerkily, "He's alive."

"Why not the hospital?"

She tries to keep the panic out of her voice.

"It's on the other side of the village and your house is closer and besides I know you and my dad is more likely to trust you and Chouji and Ino's dads are all sleeping and I was so glad you're awake so I thought maybe you'd be able to do something while I run to the hospital-"

She shushes him as they slip through the clan gates, left slightly ajar, telling him to breathe.

He unlocks the door to his clan compound, and Sakura can almost immediately tell what's wrong.

"Shikamaru, has Nara-sama been drinking?"

He bites his lower lip, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"A bit," he tells her, refusing to look her in the eye, despite the fact that he's taller than her.

She's gentle, because it's never easy admitting that your parent is drinking heavily, "How much did he drink today?"

He attempts to down play it.

She finds her way into the kitchen.

Empty bottles, half-filled bottles, unopened bottles.

Whisky, Vodka, Sake, Beer, Wine.

The combinations and types of drinks certainly looked endless to her.

Alcohol poisoning, definitely.

"Bring a large empty tub, and a glass of water upstairs."

He hurries to do as he's told, and she runs up the stairs as best as she can.


Even before opening the door, she can smell the alcohol in the air.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say it made her feel dizzy.

Her chains glow, and they enter him, trying to ascertain the blood alcohol content.

Almost simultaneously, his chakra lashes out at her.

It was night, and shadows were plenty.

She only didn't expect to be physically thrown back.

Especially since the user was completely out of it.

Her chains aren't solid, they meld into his system, fooling it into thinking that they are one and the same.

0.32

Shikamaru would have taken quite some time to panic and decide that his father would need help.

Her chains boost Nara-sama's metabolism rate, and she actively purges his body.

She hasn't mastered the Delicate Extraction Technique over a wide volume, and she's worried that concentrating the alcohol anywhere for the extraction will cause tissue damage.

Ethanol is a toxin.

She purges his blood in batches, in isolation vessels of chakra.

Waste products are channelled out, into the basin that Shika-chan brings up.

"Help Nara-sama sit up. In case he regains consciousness, and begins to vomit, please help angle the basin."

She's curt, but the only reason why she can be, is because this is Shika-chan, who knows very well what is going on.

0.25

He vaguely stirs, but does not vomit.

His breathing is more often, but even more erratic.

There's a shortness of breath.

His body temperature steadily rises, and in response to the discomfort, he's trying to lose heat.

"Try to get Nara-sama to drink something."

He drinks.

Even if subconsciously, he drinks like a parched man in the desert.

She gently shoos Shika-chan off to refill the cup of water.

It's only after the door closes behind him that she induces vomiting.


Induce would be wrong to use, but it is the body's natural instinct in order to purge the system of poisons.

Ninja's with greater chakra capacities, that is to say, those who have the most chakra at time of poisoning, would recover quickly.

Certainly there could always (And there are) chakra-parasitic poisons.

However, as a general rule of thumb, because of chakra's physically boosting qualities, ninja have higher basal metabolic rates.

In being precise, the ninja with more chakra running about in their system, boosting it, would be able to break down the poisons faster.

Ethanol is an organic compound formed from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

In turn its break down is affected by chakra volume.

Subconsciously, these work when the body goes into its restoration phase, as the chakra manipulation to boost healing is not an active task.


She carefully monitors his heart rate, pulse rate and levels of wakefulness.

As he lightly stirs, chakra expenditure increases, Nara-sama actively channelling chakra for a reason unknown to Sakura.

Shika-chan pushes open the door, hurrying over, carrying a jug of water, a plastic cup floating inside.

In his hurry, he trips.

A tiny, startled cry in the quiet of that room.

Sakura's chains snap out, catching Shikamaru, separate chains flattening into a shield to protect him from the glass jug that will no doubt shatter.

"Bind."

The jug, and Shikamaru for that matter, are covered in black lashings, frozen where they are.

It's a low intonation, and the dark patches almost seem alive.

The ones around the jug gently lower it to the ground, and the ones on Shikamaru gradually dissipate, letting him regain his balance naturally.

Sakura takes the filled basin, exiting the room, leaving Shikamaru instructions to give his father water.

"You'll want to replenish the water before you fetch his usual hangover cure. He'll be fine, though I'd still recommend a visit to the hospital."

And her words are even, because things like these should never leave one's family, because it's personal, and seeing another family like this makes her heart ache.

It's so foreign but cruel and it's so reminiscent to Kurotaki-san just dissolving without Tenkawa-san.


She doesn't press, simply cleaning up their house, diluting most of the stronger alcohols, clearing out their trash bin, filled with all manner of bottles discreetly.


She doesn't press, and so Sakura doesn't know.

She only knows that Nara-sama didn't go to the hospital.

Oh certainly, she must have realised that there was something to do with the Lady Nara, but she didn't know specifically.

Their next Thursday dinner that Shikamaru drags her home has her decline the invite to the private mourning session, knowing she's out of place there, with her pink hair, and eyes too green to be any one of them.

Doesn't know of the stark resemblance between Tenkawa-san and Lady Nara.


And she submits a medical write up of the operation she did in Kumo, and under the payment section, she declares that she just asked the lady to tell her about her life.

And that story, the story of what the lady felt, the story of the lady's forgotten family, it passed onward.

With that, Kabuto-senpai throws himself into research, trying to ascertain if there's any way to help Rock Lee-san.

With that, Hyuga-sama knows what she's done to bring back his brother's remains.


More that that…

Shikaku formed a link.

One that wouldn't go away no matter how he thought, because it made too much sense.

So even if Sakura didn't know, Shikaku knew, and when he looks at Sakura he can no longer tell whether he should thank the child for healing his wife, or hate her for killing his wife.

Because he is a rational man, and knows that if Sakura never healed his wife, his wife would have been in psychological agony, but he also knows that if Sakura never healed his wife, she wouldn't have been out in the treacherous terrain of the Land of Lightning, and would never have died.

But at times, he is an irrational man, and those words, "She and Kurotaki-san loved each other with all their heart," repeat in his head, and he wonders if those words were a lie or a truth, and he feels this crushing sense of emotional agony.

"I think, if that girl decided to quit being a ninja, she could become a novelist."

And Inoichi can only look at his friend with pained eyes.

Such descriptive words cut so deep despite sounding so superficial.

Lastly, like toppling dominoes, the chain linkage, every time he thinks of Yoshino he thinks of Sakura by association.

The way she sighs, one exasperated, one tired.

The way she cares for Shikamaru, one loving, one caring.

The way she closed the door, quietly.

The lines blur and sometimes the female in his dreams has pink hair, and he wonders if he's perpetually drunk, because Yoshino had black hair.


I'd like to hear how you all interpret this chapter, and how the years have changed Sakura. Hope you enjoy your day, I've got 7 more hours of class to go.