Chapter III: Royalty
The next morning, the team loitered about their client's hotel in the early morning drizzle. Sakura did her best not to affect the men with her sour mood. After all, they did vacate the bed as a penance to her ruined room and equipment though the men had also sustained a bit of damage themselves.
Naruto was also none too chipper. Not only did he miss out on a full night's sleep, he had not seen or consumed ramen in over twenty-four hours. A single glance and one would be convinced that there are indeed serious effects of withdrawal concerning ramen.
Sasuke had withdrawn himself into his mind and refused to speak to anyone in the morning. Kakashi was the only one that seemed unaffected by the group's melancholy or the weather, which was ironic due to the fact that he was the only person who sustained any physical damage.
What also attributed to the team's dark mood was that the damages resulting from last night were not taken without a scene from the manager. Apparently someone had sabotaged the fuse box the night, and being fully capable ninjas, the blame and bill was received by Team Seven. Sakura calculated and deduced that either Hokage-sama would take care of their expenses or the team would have to lobby for an extremely generous pay raise.
Their client, on the other hand, never looked…better. In a very loose expression.
"Ah, I've forgotten that this is the time when the monsoon sets in for the summer," the man guttered.
A monsoon. Sakura thought. A monsoon. Why couldn't they just have a damned hurricane to blow the whole caravan to kingdom come!
Violent images of the Cloud's Feudal Lord blown into the air and impaling himself on landing made Sakura's eyes glimmer with a lunatic's twinkle and her mouth twist into a rather Cheshire smile. Sasuke and Naruto slowly shuffled away from the euphoric woman and decided that leaving a generous buffering distance, just in case Sakura blew her top was necessary today.
—
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto bounced up to the kunoichi having already forgotten the dangers of the volatile nature of feminine emotions.
"Do you want me to carry you?" The statement made Sakura start. What was with these guys? Her leg was healing well though she would have a large scar in place of a welt. Pity that she would be denied bragging rights on such a heroic-looking scar. Purging the thought of potential bodyguards, she decided to pine for another reason for Naruto's offer. After all, he did have Hinata.
"No, after all, I am a medic-nin."
"Hmm... Does it work that way?" While contemplated this bit of information, Sakura.
"Is it about senpai carrying me yesterday?" she asked. To her relief, Naruto straightened up and said "Of course! He may have moved on to Icha Icha Violence (whatever that's about), but that doesn't mean he's not a pervert anymore!"
Sakura giggled and Naruto's pout broke into his toothy trademark grin. Sasuke found that breathing came more naturally after watching Sakura's expression loosen. What was it Shikamaru said? Something about women being masters with a whip… Or whipping masters… In either case, it seemed like all three men were to be subjected to Sakura's emotions for the rest of the mission.
"If you really want to know, I'd remind you that you three are old enough to read the series." Naruto and Sakura froze then turned to face Kakashi, laughing sheepishly. Naruto took that as a cue to retreat to the opposite side of the trail and Sakura fell silent, too remorseful to move, but too embarrassed to speak. For the next two hours, neither of them said a word. On the other side of the caravan, Sasuke faced the full brunt of Naruto's chatter alone for the second day in a row.
The distance that was to be covered today was less than that of the previous, but boredom had occupied a good amount of time without any persuers.
"Sakura, you're limping." Dammit. Sakura gritted her teeth. Her healing technique still needed tweaking. Though the surface looked fine, the flesh underneath the skin was still bruised. She only had a slight limp, but that was enough to catch Kakashi's attention.
"I know," she huffed impatiently. Today I'm not going to be carried like some spoiled princess. She engraved the mantra deeply into her mind to shoo away the the event of last night.
"That's nice, but aggravating your wound won't help your performance." Sakura started violently, wondering if Kakashi had read her mind or if he was just replying to her statement. The episode left her speechless for a moment, letting the jounin continue to speak.
"You can always hitch a ride on the back of the carriage. I highly doubt the bulls would mind."
"I'm fine." She really was, but the man did not look convinced.
"Or you could have Naruto or Sasuke carry you…"
"I'm fine," she repeated impatiently. "Besides, they have girlfriends. I'd be intruding."
"Oh? Hm… Looks like a lot has happened while I was gone…" Sakura smiled, a bit relieved that now they were straying from the topic of her health. She plunged eagerly into a purpsefully long explanation of what had happened since the three had deviated into their own separate paths.
The only thing that happened was that they had grown up. Naruto had Hinata and Sasuke… Well, he had someone, but no one really knew who. For all she knew, he could have created a rumor to ward away his slowly disbanding group of fan girls. There were always a few annoying stragglers, he said.
"What about you?" The question triggered a muddle of feelings to surface. Though admitting it was painful, Sakura knew that somewhere inside her, she yearned for a romantic relationship. The pang of disdain she always experienced when walking by couples on the street was a sure sign a concealed jealousy.
"Not yet," she replied semi-jokingly. "What about you, um, senpai?"
"Hm? Well, life's like that." What the hell—what kind of answer was that? The answer was a bit too reminiscent of his first introduction. At least that meant nothing's changed, Sakura thought.
"Now back to your leg…"
"I'm fine. Really." Giving a smile that she knew Kakashi would ignore, Sakura straightened up and was about to walk away when she felt her body fly up into the air. After a moment of confusion, she numbly realizing that her body was not connected to the earth.
Kakashi caught up to the carriage and placed Sakura gently on the back. The latter was still a bit stunned at the little time that elapsed from when she was walking to now where she was sitting.
"You will stay there for the remainder of the trip."
"But—"
"I will not have a medic on this team that cannot take proper care of themselves." The argument was short and the victor was clear. Sakura watched Kakashi return to his earlier position about the carriage and felt a hot and bitter lump rise in her throat.
She hated him right now… She hated him because even though all she had was a bruise, Kakashi would not allow her to walk just because he did not know the severity of her state. He cares too much, Sakura thought bitterly. In a corner of her mind, Sakura noted how Kakashi made her experience a spectrum of emotions she would rather not feel.
She averted her attention to Naruto and Sasuke. To see the two together was such a common sight in Konoha. After the whole Orochimaru ordeal, Naruto had returned, dragging Sasuke back from what seemed to be Hell. Since then, the two had been inseparable. What had happened during the mission was never discussed outside of Sasuke's personalized rescue squad and Sakura felt alienated as she watched the two thrive in their tightly knitted friendship.
Until the three passed the next chunnin exam, Kakashi had turned to training Sakura's abilities. Understanding that she did not want to be left behind, Kakashi respected that fact by training her to the point where she could enter and pass the chunnin exam without having to doubt her abilities. Kakashi's circumstances during the previous exam that led to neglect on Sakura's part was understandable: She had failed passing the preliminary round, Sasuke was to fight a homicidal maniac and Naruto's only problem seemed to be chakra control.
I guess he wanted to make it up to me, Sakura concluded. But was Kakashi even capable of remorse at all? The insane amount of time he made everyone wait for his arrival led her to believe otherwise. A normal person would at least feel the slightest bit guilty.
The raindrops were growing fatter and fatter. Sakura removed her sandals and dangled her legs over the muddy trail, watching rivulets of water stream down her toes. Scowling at her unblemished skin, she felt disgusted at her lack of battle scars.
She hated being a princess.
—
Author's Notes:
[EDIT April 2013: Changed a few details for consistency, cleaned up here and there]
Though I didn't like this one because it was horribly uneventful, I thought it was necessary to show what had happened thus far as well as Sakura's current state in character. Also to explain the inconsistency in Chapter 1.
I'm an abomination of the Action/Adventure catagory...
kUnOichi-sAkUrA: No, I don't think I'll add lemon...
Silent Angel: Attempted to fix all the problems you pointed out ;
Maya Amano: Kakashi is tall for his own age, so I kept him taller than everyone. And the client just looks like a frog, he's not an actual frog.
"Fanartist"