White Flag
Sakura had heard it from Tsunade; she heard almost all bad news from the Hokage. As genuinely sorry as she felt about Umino Iruka's death, that sympathy was directed more towards Naruto's attachment to the Chuunin than it was for the memory of the teacher himself. The deceased instructor had many to mourn his loss; Naruto still had few to comfort him in sorrow. Sakura had chosen to stay.
Now, however, the news of a death startled Sakura. Uzumaki Naruto was loud, at twenty-two he was still obnoxious, he was talented, and headstrong. What he wasn't- what he couldn't be- was dead. A permanent fixture in Sakura's life, Naruto was deemed indestructible in her eyes, even in their Genin years when he was an obstacle for her affections towards Sasuke.
There was a shock of deep blue just beyond Sakura's sight. The Hokage's chair creaked as she stood.
"One of his Genin brought this back," Tsunade said softly as she passed a long and bloodied hitai-ate to Sakura; there was no doubt to whom it had belonged. Sakura barely nodded as she took the dirtied scrap in her hand.
"Will that be all, Godaime-sama?" Sakura forced out the words. Tsunade merely nodded.
Sakura stepped out of the door of the Tower onto the cold, rainy, and moderately crowded streets of Konoha. From her place in front of the Hokage's Tower, she took no heed of direction in specific and began to follow no plotted course. Her feet took care of her as she shut down her mind.
A shinobi must not let emotions show.
She found herself on a back street somewhere in the southern district, and it took her some time to know where precisely and, better yet, why. Naruto's apartment. It was in the very complex behind which she stood where he had lived. Sakura's memory sprung to life once more and before she could abate them, her tears began freefalling.
Her vision blurred; she steadied herself against the complex's wall still furiously clutching her fallen comrade's hitai-ate. The rain fell chill on her bare shoulders, her breath condensed before her in a small cloud, and she shivered. Without warning, the dam broke and she found herself sobbing violently in the alleyway.
End ChapitrePost-Mission Analysis Stay tuned; more to come. This chapter and the next are currently the two longest. I'm quite pleased with them. I'm quite fond of chapter eight as well.
