Author's Note: So sorry for the wait! I just love what everyone says about this! Thanks so much! The next chapter is going to be the big strength reveal for Sakura, I have something fun planned so I can't wait! The poll on the pair is now up on my page so don't forget to vote! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Dedicated to: Mistra Rose, for encourage me to continue and even giving me a wonderful idea that I will be working into the story in the future!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Warnings: Nothing much, maybe language.
Word Count: 7,141
Sakura had a dream that night. It was of herself, Ino, Hinata and Tenten. They were all over at Hinata's house. They were all laughing and joking around, talking about all sorts of things. Girl things; clothes, new shoes, cute hair styles, and Shinobi things; low rate on weapons at Anko's shop, missions that they had just been on, how their teams were doing. It was late into the night, Sakura had somehow forgotten that this was a dream, when something strange happened. They were all in the middle of laughing at something Tenten was telling them about a mission she was on with her team, and how it was steadily declining into a disaster when Ino turned to look at Sakura with wide light blue eyes.
"Sakura," Ino says, catching the pink haired girl's attention.
"Yeah?" Sakura asks, noticing that Ino and Hinata were now both staring at her intensly, like Sakura was iding something and they promised that they would find out what it was. Yet, Sakura wasn't hiding anything. At least not from them.
Sakura looks between them in a mixture of worry and confusion. "What's going on, you guys?"
All three girls stared at her now with uncharacteristically blank eyes, as if they suddenly weren't like themselves anymore. Ino, as pretty and girlie Sakura remembered, looked at her with a dead expression. There was a hallow, emptiness to each of their eyes as they stared back at her. Even the kindness of Hinata's eyes and the calculated joy in Tenten's fall blank in seconds.
"You can't forget what Naruto told you," Ino says.
"You can't forget the last time we spoke," Hinata says, her voice as soft as ever, but holding an even, emotionless tone to it.
Tenten tilts her head to the side, her long, thick dark brown hair that is usually trapped in her signature buns falls over her shoulders like a chocolate waterfall. "Don't forget about her. Remember Kaguya."
As soon as the words left Tenten's mouth, an image flashes across Sakura's eyes. Naruto, leaning over her, eyebrows pulled together in worry, but there was a determined look in his eye that seemed perpetually there. It was something that Sakura immediately latched onto. She looks deep into those familiar blue orbs and - passed the determination and confidence - there was deep worry and fear. The sight of it freezes Sakura to her core. His lips are moving, her brain tells her. Her eyes flicker down to his moving lips, trying to understand the words.
Her names. That she recognizes.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto says, eyes widening. "I need you to do something for me."
"What, Naruto?" Sakura asks, breathless. She's hurt. It's difficult to move. To breath, even.
"-e alone!" Naruto says. "-n't worry! Ju- trust-"
Sakura shakes her head. "Naruto, I... I don't understand what you're saying. Your words are all choppy."
"-away from the Goddess. -can't have you!" Naruto narrows his eyes. "-thers will protect you - til we can get to you. St- safe! Don't give- okay?"
Sakura shakes her head even harder, reaching out to grip onto her friend, only to feel her hands pass through him. "No, Naruto! Wait! Stop! I don't know what's going on! Keep what away from the Goddess? Naruto! Naruto, help me! I don't know what's going on! Please! I'm so lost! How do I get back to you guys! Naruto!" Try as she may, Skaura's arms kept swinging through all of Naruto, as if he were an illusion.
Her entire vision goes black and it stays like that for a few minutes, as Sakura loudly pants, trying to catch her breath. She spins around wildly in the blackness trying to find something - anything - that could indicate where she was or what was going on.
"Naruto!" Sakura yells, her voice going hoarse as she spins, eyes searching frantically for her blond haired friend. "Naruto! Where are you?"
"Who's Naruto?" A soft voice asks.
Sakura spins around to the source of the voice and freezes in her tracks. Kaguya stands before Sakura, her head tilted to the side, as if confused. She didn't look like the wild maniac that Sakura clearly remembers her as. She looks innocently confused, looking at Sakura with wide, lightly purple tinted eyes. Sakura recoils, as if slapped, taking a step back.
Kaguya looks down at Sakura's feet for a moment, before back up into her eyes. "Where are my grandsons? Have you seen them?"
Sakura's shaking her head briskly from side to side. "No. No, I haven't." Her grandsons? Asura and Indra?
Kaguya stares at her for a moment, before stepping closer. Sakura immediately retreats a step back, not wanting to be close should the Goddess decide to actually reach out and strike the pink haired girl.
"I can feel them on you," Kaguya says, narrowing her eyes slightly. "I recognize them. Why are you lying?" She takes another step closer, face darkening. "Why?"
Sakura jolts up in her bed, heart pounding so hard Sakura puts her hand over her chest in fear that her heart will suddenly burst from her breast plate and bounce around the room. Sakura is covered in a cold sweat, green eyes flying around the room, looking for the byakugan and sharingan wielding Goddess, only to see her new home in the up and coming Leaf Village.
Sakura takes a moment to let her heart settle back down before falling back against her pillow, closing her eyes again. She can still hear the Goddess voice in her head as clearly as she could once hear her own inner-Sakura. As Sakura grew older, the one time prominent second voice in her head began to diminish until now, she no longer hears her. Sakura always used to draw strength from that inner-her, but since she found herself, the need as become less and less frequent until she stopped hearing her all together.
The pink haired medic often came to wonder whatever triggered her inner self to appear, but always chalked it up to her own version of an imaginary friend that her lonely childish mind conjured up to protect herself from all her bullies.
Sakura looks up at the window, to see light of dawn beginning to filter in. With a groan, Sakura got out of bed to get ready for the day. She spent as little time as possible in her new house. As thankful as she was to Hashirama for making it for her, it was a painful reminder that she was alone. Her parents presences weren't in this house, nor would they ever.
Sakura pulled on her normal shinobi attire, only to pause. By today, if it hasn't already, word of Sakura's blow up will have worked its way around the entire village and the two clans that inhabit it. Sakura just has to keep her head down and break into a sprint all the way to the river and hope to avoid everyone along the way, maybe a few days away from the make-shift village will be enough to let the whole drama from the day before blow over. Sakura can hope, right?
"Fuck," Sakura grumbles under her breath as she steps outside to see Hashirama standing in front of her front door, but his back is to Sakura, and he's watching the sun rise. He turns his head a bit at the sound of Sakura's voice, but doesn't turn around yet. Sakura stops at the end of her front porch and stares at the back of the future First Hokage.
The height from the deck, which is probably almost six inches, Sakura is almost as tall as Hashirama, standing almost eye level with the Senju clan leader. She reaches up and rubs the back of her head, running her fingers through her soft pink hair, that's already beginning to air dry.
"I had no idea," Hashirama says softly, still not turning to look at Sakura. "When I saw you the other day. I never thought..." The wind picks up, pushing his pin straight, lower back length brown hair flows a bit behind him before settling back into place.
Sakura raises an eyebrow, not sure what to expect. Obviously he was referring to when Sakura first stepped out in her signature shinobi garbs. She crosses her arms over her chest, leaning heavily on her left hip. "Never thought, what?" She asks softly when it seems like he's not going to say anything else without prompt. Admittedly, she is a bit worried about what he's going to say. What will she do if he tells her to leave? To be asked by the future First Hokage to leave the future Leaf village to just leave will do nothing favorable to her self esteem.
Hashirama turns to look at Sakura, his eyebrows pull together worriedly. "When I saw you in the clothes from your home village," he sighs, shaking his head before looking back at Sakura, "I was in awe. I never thought that you looked anything other than beautifully unique."
Sakura blinks a few times, blushing deeply at the compliment. "Oh...?" She scratches the back of her neck, embarrassed. She wasn't expecting that. "Um, thank you, Hashirama-sama."
Hashirama smiles faintly. "I thought that you were so unique in how different your entire presence is. You are so different than what I'm used to seeing. Pink hair and green eyes and then the colors and clothes that you wear... it's the physical embodiment of everything I've been looking for. As soon as I saw you, I thought that how different you were from what we were used to was exactly the reason that I wanted to invite people into the this village. I wanted to know how different people look and act. How they are with people similar to them, and oh so very different."
The way that Hashirama spoke, closer to the end, was filled with so much passion and honest, pure desire. His dark brown eyes, so kind and caring every time Sakura had seen them, was lit up in excitement and happiness. The prospect of being able to meet and interact with people so different from himself was so sincere on his face and in his voice, that Sakura couldn't help but believe him, whole-heartedly. Not that she suspected anything malicious from him, but she's beginning to understand why he was able to rally so many different people together to form a village using the Will of Fire as the center piece. He honestly wants to learn about others and he's willing to do just about anything to make them feel welcome.
Sakura couldn't help but believe his words when he said he was in awe at her attire and overall person. Sakura wasn't the atypical woman for this era and was probably seen as exotic - which admittedly is a little weird to hear, she didn't feel all that exotic - because she was so different than what they were used to. Hashirama's ideals were revolutionary in Sakura's time, as well. The fact that he was so open to the differences in everyone was what made the idea of the Leaf possible to begin with.
Him, and Madara, Sakura supposed. It was a childhood dream of both of theirs, she's come to learn.
It was vastly different for Sakura. She grew up surrounded by people she was completely unfamiliar with. But in this time, they grew up with their families. Occasionally other allied clans would be intermixed, like the Sarutobi clan to the Senju nearing the end of the war, Sakura remembered learning in school. Once the alliance between the Senju and Uchiha was official, the allied clans to the Senju and Uchiha backed off so that the two clans could try and settle into their strange new form of alliance without the hindrance of others until they became acclimated.
Now it seems that the Sarutobi are coming to see if this new and strange idea - revolutionary, Sakura thinks with pride - is something that they want to pursue. If Sakura recalls correctly, the leader of the clan at this time is the Third's father, or grandfather, she couldn't remember which. But she did know that Sasuke Sarutobi, the Third's father, became best friends with Tobirama. But that was something off-handed that the Third had told her class back in the Academy, what feels like a lifetime ago.
"I believe you," Sakura says softly, looking into Hashirama's large brown eyes, realizing that he was staring at her, as if silently begging her to believe his words. It felt strange, saying those words. The exact same words Madara had said to her the day before. It leaves a strange heaviness in the pit of Sakura's stomach.
Hashirama walks up to Sakura, looking relieved. He also seems to notice that they are roughly the same height while Sakura's on the porch. "Thank you," Hashirama says softly. "I would have said something to you about..." his eyes trail down Sakura's body - her attire, more specifically - in an honest and none-shady way possible before looking back into Sakura's eyes sadly, as if he's deeply pained, "... your clothes, if I thought there was anything wrong with them."
Sakura can tell by his eyes that he's trying to be serious, he's trying to show that he honestly thought that nothing was wrong with her expressing herself in the way that was uniquely her. She honestly believed that he was being completely sincere. But just hearing his words and knowing that this seriousness was somewhat unlike the future First, Sakura couldn't help but tease.
"I gotcha," she says, laughing.
Hashirama blinks, as if he didn't understand. Once, twice, thrice, and then the realization strikes him and his eyes widen.
"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that! Is that what that sounded like? Oh, Sakura, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that," Hashirama says quickly, waving his hands around in front of his face, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.
Sakura laughs again, catching his hands swinging around and holds them tightly in her smaller ones. His tan prominent against pale whiteness of her skin. Hashirama sputters to a halt in his excuses when Sakura didn't seem upset.
"I'm just playing with you, Hashirama-sama. I understand. I'm just not used to people giving me praises, so I was just trying to lighten the situation. Believe me, Hashirama-sama, I know you weren't insinuating anything." Sakura giggles, smiling into the curious brown eyes. "You were just making me blush, is all and I had to stop you."
Hashirama laughs, smiling broadly, a very Naruto-like smile. Confident, friendly and without judgment.
"You got me," he admits, as if it weren't completely obvious. His laughter slowly dies out and his dark brown eyes lock onto hers curiously. "But in all seriousness, I never in a million years would have thought such slander would have spread between the clans. You are as much part of this family as they are, and I am so disappointed in them and myself. They should know better, or so I though," he says sadly, "and myself because I should have known better."
Sakura nods slowly. She opens her mouth to say... what? That she wasn't upset? That she wasn't a little disappointed herself? She was, but not in Hashirama, she didn't want him to be upset about his kind hearted... ignorance. Yes, a bad word, especially talking about a man she has come to admire, but it was the only one she could think of that fit. Perhaps it was a little bit of ignorance on everyone's part. Either way, Sakura really liked the way Hashirama is. Regardless of his ignorance. Or perhaps naiveté is the best word of all.
"I'm not mad at you, Hashirama-sama, I should have known as well," Sakura says, squeezing Hashirama's hands reassuringly. "I'm a little upset about it all, but it doesn't change the way I feel about this place. I still have high hopes for it. I believe in you, Hashirama-sama. Tobirama-sama and Madara-sama too. I believe in the three of you, and in the Will of Fire. Nothing more needs to be said."
Hashirama suddenly pulls Sakura into his arms, her chin buried in his shoulder. Sakura blinks rapidly at the suddenness of the hug.
"You truly are a sweet girl, Sakura-chan. Thank you," Hashirama whispers into her hair. "I promise you it won't be miss placed."
Sakura returns the hug, taking a moment to enjoy the warmth it provides. It seems like a long time since the last time she hugged someone. To really relish in the warmth of another and just relax, if even more a moment.
"Thanks," Sakura says, pulling back to smile. "It hurt my feelings, but I'm a big girl, I'll get over it eventually."
Hashirama shakes his head. "It shouldn't have to be like that." He sighs. "I hate those words." He doesn't have to specify what words. Obviously the things that his clansmen and the Uchiha clansmen were calling her behind her back. "My clan know that I don't like such words and yet they chose to use them anyway. I can't apologize enough."
Sakura cups his face, looking into Hashirama's dark brown eyes. "It's alright, Hashirama-sama. Truly. I hit Kana for Kami's sake. I think we can agree that the rest is up to you guys, but just so you know, I'm not mad anymore. My feelings were a little hurt, yes, but what's really hurt tight now is my stomach and my legs."
Hashirama quirks an eyebrow at that. "Oh? Why?"
"Madara-sama is a manipulative slave driver," Sakura mutters, rubbing her aching stomach. "I was telling him about the festival idea while we were sitting on this fallen over tree trunk hovering parallel to the ground. It kills. He was goading me, I knew he was, and I still fell for it and hurt in the end."
Hashirama barks out a laugh, throwing his head back to let out this hardy noise. Sakura couldn't help but smile along side him.
"That means he likes you," Hashirama says through his breathy laughs. "He's odd, isn't he?"
Sakura rolls her eyes. "I have yet to come across someone who isn't the least bit strange around here." Hashirama pouts at that. Sakura smiles a bit and pats his arm. "Thanks for the talk, I really needed it. I'm got to get going. The girls are waiting for me."
Hashirama nods, stepping back a bit to put a respectful distance between them. "Thank you for hearing me out, Sakura-chan." Sakura jumps down to the dirt and slips past the Senju clan leader making it only a few steps before he calls out to her again. "Sakura?"
"Yes?" Sakura pauses, twisting around at the waist to look back at the long brown haired man.
"Thank you for giving us a second chance."
Sakura beams at him. "Don't worry about it. Okay? Ja ne." She waves her hands around in farewell before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
About two months passed. There was alliance talks with the Yamanaka and Sarutobi clans and after two meetings with the Sarutobi and five meetings with the Yamanaka and both clans signed on to join the alliance. About a week after the Yamanaka and Sarutobi both moved their clans to the make-shift village, the Akimichi asked for meetings. Three meetings later, and they joined too. And their soon-to-be-thought-of-fondly cuisine so unique to the families.
Sakura had been surviving off the Senju cooking, and what she makes herself, and it's bland. Both are, but it's the way that they've been living for a long time. Most of these clans have had to worry a lot more about war rather than the taste of their food. When the Akimichi showed up, they insisted they would be in charge of cooking for the village. It's not as good as the Akimichi shops back home, but it is leaps and bounds better than what she's had in a while.
Something about the Yamanaka coming before the Akimichi didn't sound right, but for the life of her, Skaura couldn't exactly remember what was wrong. But she couldn't focus on that. In the midst of her training Aya and Salma, who are both steadily getting stronger in the medical arts, the Senju and Uchiha are both helping to build homes for the newly arriving clans and working hard to make them feel welcome.
Sakura spent the first few days avoiding the village as much as possible to keep the illusion that everything was peaches and cream to the newly arriving clans. It may be a bit deceptive, but Sakura didn't want to do anything that would somehow mess up the future, but when she was finally caught walking around, some people outright apologized for their behavior. Some just bowed and murmured their apologies before rushing off. Kana had stopped by and apologized, obviously begrudgingly, but for the most part kept herself scarce. Sakura barely saw the Uchiha in passing anymore.
After a month of everyone walking around, trying to awkwardly intermix, the three founders, along with the three new clan leaders, agreed to hold Sakura's festival idea. After it was explained to the later three, they liked it and wanted to have a more in-depth discussion about it, so for the seemingly millionth time, Sakura is brought in to explain it again.
Sakura's not sure if it was planned or just a strange twist of fate, but Sakura happened to be standing before the three founders and the three clan leaders in a medical kimono. She, Aya and Salma, had gone to the clinic and began helping the dwindling number of remaining patients. Keito was one of them that they visited. He was up and working though rehabilitation that Sakura was over looking and was showing them how the muscles in the human body worked and how they should be moving. The meeting was multi-purpose but ended up working in Sakura's favor.
They finished right as Sakura was called to the meeting building. She dismissed the girls and came straight here, not having time to change back into her normal clothes. Which, now standing in front of the three founders and the three clan leaders - all of which being men - Sakura might be a bit thankful.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Hashirama says from his usual place at the head of the table. "Where you busy?"
"Not at all, Hashirama-sama," Sakura says, bowing politely in greeting. "I was doing a bit of teaching to Aya-chan and Salma-chan while getting Kaido's rehabilitation for the day over with. We just got done when I was called here, so there's no issue."
"Both at the same time, huh?" Hashirama asks, eyes lit up. "What were you showing them?"
"The muscles and tendons in the arm, how they develop and what to look for if they aren't working properly, things like that," Sakura says simply, not wanting to go too in depth with something that is probably go over everyone's head except for maybe Hashirama.
"How's he doing?" Hashirama asks, seemingly more interested in Sakura's work rather than why she was called here.
The corner of her lips quirk up a bit. "He'll actually be able to start full shinobi training by next week. He's healed great."
Hashirama interlaces his fingers on the wood in front of him. "Any restrictions?"
Sakura shakes her head. "None, sir. It'll take him a bit more time to build up the lost muscle strength in his right arm, but once he's up to snuff, he'll be able to continue all lines of shinobi work he participated in before his injuries."
Hashirama, Tobirama and Madara all exchange looks. The former most showing his obvious approval at this. Tobirama's eyebrows were high and Madara was nodding slowly, mumbling something under his breath for only Hashirama, who was closest to him to hear, and Tobirama, who was looking at his lips at the time to read. The clan leaders of the Yamanaka, Akimichi and Sarutobi, all glance around at each other confused.
Hashirama quickly fills them in. "Two months ago, while we were opening up areas for homes a Senju cousin was accidently burned by one of our Uchiha counter parts. It was all just an accident but the burn was pretty bad on his right arm and a bit on his torso. Our head medic, Sakura here, did a procedure that managed to heal the horrible burns and, from what it sounds like, return his shinobi capabilities to him." He smiles at her, pleased.
Sakura flushes in embarrassment. Head medic? Sakura has to wonder if he was just giving her a fancy title to make it seem more professional, or if this was something that was going to be brought up again later. Like, an actual place in this growing society. Sakura doesn't know if it scares her or excites her more.
"How bad was the burn?" the Sarutobi clan leader asks, eyebrows raised in interest.
Sakura smiles bashfully. "Not bad enough to not be able to heal." That got some looks around the table. Not wanting to take up any more of their time, Sakura looks over at Tobirama, knowing he probably would want to get this entire thing moving along as well. "What is it that you called me here for, my lords?" As if she didn't know.
Tobirama seemed pleased that they were going to deviate from their current topic onto the reason that they were there.
So, once again, she was asked to explain to the new clan leaders about her idea and answered their questions simply. After there was no more questions, Sakura took this moment to mention something else, something she hadn't quite thought about until now.
"This is merely a suggestion, not that I would know how it works one way or another, but there is the chance that you could do this to start building a profit for the village," Sakura says slowly, wondering if she may be overstepping her boundaries. Her words, though, catch their attention.
"What do you mean by that?" the Yamanaka clan leader asks, pupil-less blue eyes, so similar to Sakura's long time friend's, stare up at her skeptically. Sakura is a young woman, obviously, what would she know about money? He didn't have to say anything, Sakura could see it in his eyes. Wouldn't he piss himself if he learned that his future son's heir would be an heiress. Even in this time, heiress's would be married off to other clans to strengthen bonds and forge alliances. Some of that is still done in Sakura's time, so it's not too surprising.
It still doesn't stop Sakura's eyes from darkening at the lilt of condescension in the young leader's voice. All Sakura did was tilt her head, just a little bit - minute, even, if anyone asked Sakura; it was hardly noticeable, but all three founders lock on to her.
"Sakura!" All three founders say out suddenly, in varying degrees of haste. Sakura and the other clan leaders all jump at the noise and look over at the three at the far end of the table. Tobirama glares at the wood grain, adverting his eyes. Madara huffs, narrowing his own eyes, daring anyone to speak while Hashirama looks boyishly bashful.
"Uh, sorry," Hashirama mutters, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. All the other clan leaders and Sakura look at each other in confusion.
"Sakura," Madara says suddenly, his deep voice pulling her attention back to him, "tell us about this idea you have."
Sakura blinks a few times, trying to clear up the previous anger that was swelling in her chest before relaxing again, turning her attention to the long black haired Uchiha clan leader. "Well, you could spread word to the nearby villages that there is going to be an opportunity to get in more of the shinobi market or local attraction. For a small fee of whatever you want to set up shock within the grounds and sell their wares to the shinobi here. That gives people the opportunity for civilians to see what we have to offer and to see the growing promise this village is expressing."
Sakura reaches up and pulls the white ribbon holding her pink hair up, letting it fall around her shoulders. It has grown a lot n the past two months. It's almost to the middle of her shoulder blades. She shakes her head a bit, letting her hair fall back into it's normal place before looking back at the collection of men.
"Well, that's just me. It's your choice," she says simply, shrugging her shoulders.
"It's a good idea, Sakura-chan," Hashirama says, seemingly relieved about something. Sakura quirks an eyebrow but decides not to mention it.
"Is that all?" Sakura asks, straightening up.
Hashirama nods. "Yes, thank you, Sakura. You may be dismissed." Sakura bows respectfully before turning around and heading for the door, opening it, before sitting down and smoothly slipping on her boots. She closes the door softly behind her and heads back to the clinic to get her clothes.
After Sakura changed back into her regular clothes, she's sitting in front of the clinic, putting her shoes on when she spots a certain brown haired Senju she knows fondly sneaking away into the forest heading toward the mountain. She looks around nervously before slipping between the trees. Sakura tilts her head to the side and stands up, moving to follow after the brunette.
"Salma!" Sakura calls after the sneaking brunette after a yard or so away from the clans.
The girl jumps, obviously having not expected to have been followed. She spins around, eyes wide, looking extremely guilty. If it was anyone else, Sakura would be worried about this shady activity, but Sakura knew for a fact that Salma didn't have a lot of training in the shinobi life outside of medical ninjutsu that Sakura's been teaching her. And the most shinobi part of that training is that they are using chakra. Sakura hasn't gotten close to the fighting aspect of the training. She's not sure how much the girls will be able to fit hers, and Lady Tsunade's, style of fighting.
Lady Tsunade taught Shizune, Sakura, Ino and Hinata. While Sakura was the only one that was taken on as an apprentice and taught everything, but she's also the only one that she can see, other than Tsunade, being able to do that battle style. A part of Sakura is still hesitant on whether she'll end up teaching the Destructive Fist style to her two apprentices or not. Medical ninjutsu is medical ninjutsu, but the Destructive Fist was something that Tsunade made herself and it also added to her impressiveness.
Admittedly, there was a little piece of Sakura that wanted to keep something of her master's to herself. Perhaps her fighting style would be it.
But that's not what this was all about. What mattered was, Sakura wasn't concerned that she was about to get jumped or something when Salma turned to her with a blatantly guilty look on her face.
"Sakura," Salma says, running her fingers through her side pony tail, pale digits working the knots out of her hair. "W-What are you doing here?" She averts her eyes from Sakura's,
The pink haired girl crosses her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow. "I saw something a little shady - you know, a pretty brown haired Senju sneaking into the forest away from the village - but other than that, enjoying the weather." Sakura raises the other eyebrow, leaning back and forth on her feet, from heels to toes then back.
Salma's eyes hone in on Sakura's feet, still avoiding Sakura's green eyes. "I... uh... I don't know..."
Not believing that for a second, Sakura just stares at her. "Uh huh..." After a full minute of awkward silence, Sakura stops shifting her weight and drops her arms to her sides and says, "Okay then, well, we should go back to the village then. It's dangerous out here without proper training."
Salma scratches the back of her head, glancing around nervously. "I... I'm safe..."
"Not if you're heading away from the village. There are a lot of stupid people out there, Salma, some might just be stupid enough to get close to a collected group of clans trying to form a village. One stray lamb is a goldmine for dirtbags, you know?" Sakura says simply. "Come on." Sakura waves for the slightly older woman to follow her back, wondering if she's going to do that, or explain what she's doing.
"I.." Salma looks hesitant, glancing deeper into the forest before looking back at Sakura and sighing. "I can't. I'm going to meet someone. A... a boy..."
Sakura blinks in surprise. "A boy?"
Salma nods guiltily. "We aren't doing anything," she quickly says, looking at Sakura with wide green eyes. "I just... our relationship is complicated and I..." she throws her hands over her eyes. "I don't know what to do. I... I'm scared."
Sakura steps a bit closer, eyes still wide with surprise. "Why? What do you have to be afraid of?"
"I... I like him, but... my husband... how can I do this to him?" Salma leans against a tree, shaking a bit. "What am I doing? What am I doing?"
Sakura steps up to the brunette and wraps her arms around the other's shaking shoulders. "Salma, do you remember what I told you the night you stayed at my house?"
Salma sniffles loudly, the noise muffled by her hands. She quickly wipes her tears away before wrapping her arms around Sakura and burying her face into the side of Sakura's neck. "Yeah..."
"You have to do things for yourself, Salma, if whomever your going to meet is going to make you happy, then you should pursue it. The only exception is if whomever you're with or whatever your doing is dangerous to you. Is it?" Sakura asks softly, smoothing out some long brown hair.
"No, no. He's a good man. I just..." Salma shakes her head. "Am I betraying my husband? What if everyone says I am?"
"Mind over matter, Salma," Sakura says, pulling back to look into watery green eyes. Salma blinks a few times, eyebrows pulled tightly together, face red with tears filling her eyes. "Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter, don't mind. If they love you, it shouldn't matter who you're with or what you're doing. If they do care, then they aren't good enough to be in your life. Do you understand that?"
Salma nods slowly, eyes still watering. Sakura tucks a stray strand of long brown hair that slipped from her white ribbon behind her ear.
"Yes... but... what should I do?" Salma asks softly, her voice low and throaty from her grief. "I like him. I don't know how well, yet, but he's just so... perfect. Seiichio will always be number one in my life and I miss him but... I'm so lonely, Sakura. And he... the man waiting for me, he doesn't ask anything from, just my time. I really... I like him." She sighs, wiping the tears from her eyes, shoulders slumping. "I'm not ready to commit anything and I just..." she sighs again. "What am I doing here?"
Sakura tilts her chin up and smiles kindly. "You're living, Salma. There is nothing wrong with that. If he's not pressing you for anything, then he might just be the good kind of guy that will be willing to wait for you to be ready to commit. And Salma," the brown haired Senju looks at her, "that doesn't have to be now."
Salma nods, taking a deep breath and letting it relax her a bit. "Thank you, Sakura. How did you become so wise?"
Sakura shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. Sometimes I open my mouth and my master comes out." Salma laughs, looking a bit better. Softly, Sakura asks, "Do you trust this guy?"
Salma nods slowly. "He's an honorable man. If he wanted to do something to me, he could have long ago."
Sakura frowns at that, wondering how long this was going on without her knowledge. Salma is an adult - she was married once for Kami's sake! - but to Sakura; she is about as innocent as they come. She's becoming pretty protective of the sweet brunette.
"Is that so?" Sakura murmurs, pursing her lips. "Well, I'll let you go for now, but if I don't see you in an hour, I'll come searching and bring an army, okay?"
Salma laughs, her face finally returning to it's normal color. "Yes, ma'am." A pause, then, "Maybe one day I'll introduce the two of you. I'm sure you'd come to like one another."
Sakura nods. "I'll be eager awaiting. If he hurts you in any way, I'll kick his ass for you."
Salma hugs Sakura one more time, whispering her thanks into Sakura's shoulder before pulling away, turning around and, after pausing a moment to take a deep breath to settle her nerves, heads deeper in. Sakura mentally wars herself on whether she should break the silent promise between them and follow Salma anyway, but decides that she wouldn't dare betray the young woman's trust like that. So, she turns and heads back to the village, but sticks close to the forest, keeping her ears perked in case she hears anything shady.
"Hi there," Hashirama calls up to Sakura, who was sitting on a branch, looking into the forest.
"Hi, Hashirama-sama," Sakura calls down, waving with her hand for him to join her. He does, straddling the branch like the ten year boy, kicking his legs back and forth cutely. "What's up?"
"I'm hiding from Tobirama," he admits, smiling. Sakura barks a laugh, not expecting that.
"Why?" Sakura asks, giggling a bit.
Hashirama sighs. "My darling little brother seems to forget, often mind you, that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and feels the need to micromanage every little bit of my day."
Sakura tilts her head thoughtfully, leaning back more against the tree behind her. "What's he trying to get you to do?"
Hashirama shrugs his shoulder nonchalantly, obviously unable to care less. "No idea. I'm punishing him by hiding. I sent like fifty wood clones running around in the forests to distract him for a while. He'll capture and kill all of them until he finds me. It's a fun game we used to play as kids."
Sakura laughs again. "Capture and kill aniki's clones?"
Hashirama laughs at that. "Perhaps."
After a few moments of the two of them staring out into the forest, Sakura finally turns back to Hashirama. "So, what was with the three of you yelling at me earlier in the meeting room?"
Hashirama blinks a few times, pulling his eyes away from the forest to look into Sakura's emerald green eyes. Once he recalls what she's talking about, he laughs. "You were about to rip into the Yamanaka clan leader, Sakura-chan. We just wanted to put your mind onto something else."
Sakura stares at him blankly. "No I wasn't."
"You have a rage tell," Hashirama says mirthfully. "So does Tobi, so no worries. Your rage tell is that your entire body freezes up and your voice lower, the final straw is when you tilt you head to the side, then you lash out like a snake at an unsuspecting prey. Tobirama's is that he goes into a blind rage that is next to impossible to stop."
"That's unbelievable," Sakura mutters, eyes wide.
Hashirama tisks, shaking his head. "Believe it. One time I almost fucked up my elbow trying to stop him."
"No I-" Sakura gives the First a weird look. "No, I meant about me. But that is a little fucked up too."
Hashirama laughs. "Oh trust me, it's not fun to see. As for yourself, the first time I saw it was when you were healing Kaido and Kana was getting on your nerves and you snapped at her. The second time was when you hit her."
"How do you know that's not just how I react around Kana?" Sakura asks coyly.
Hashirama shrugs. "I suppose I don't." He jerks suddenly, as if zapped.
"Hashirama-sama?" Sakura asks, suddenly worried about the stiffened man in front of her. Hashirama smiles sheepishly at her.
"Remember that thing about rage I told you about?" He asks, jumping to his feet.
Sakura blinks rapidly, confused. "Uh, yeah?"
He laughs. "Gotta go!" He jumps into the forest just seconds before Tobirama appeared right were he was moments before. Tobirama growled his brother's name and chased after. Sakura is left alone, just staring off into the darkness, wondering what just happened. A few minutes later, Sakura could hear the sound of battle that could only attest to Tobirama catching up with Hashirama. It's only for a few minutes before the forest falls silence once more.
As promised, an hour later Salma appears out of the forest, looking cutely happy. She's blushing happily is - does Sakura dare think it? - bubbly. Very much like a teenage girl forming a crush on a boy. At least she's not annoying about it like Sakura used to be. But at least she's happy. Sakura's willing to overlook the strange feeling in the pit of her gut in exchange for the brunette to have this little sliver of happiness reserved just for her.
For the Reviewers:
1. spiderqween1: Thank you! I had fun writing the scene between Sakura and Hashirama. He's just so cute! XD Yeah, the friend will be in a few chapters, there's still a ways to go, but they'll come. Right now she's growing it out but I think I like it short too. We'll see. :3 Oh yeah, don't forget to vote. I really like all of them so it's hard to decide. Any could work for this story. You will definitely have to let me know when you write your story, I would love to read it! :D
2. Starkiss666: Oh no, you aren't making me uncomfortable. I'm just not used to people praising me. /.\\ Oh no, everyone has a word! We are going by popular vote here. Haha. Thanks!
3. animefan36: Aww, thank you for saying all that. You guys are all so sweet! I was hoping people would like that bit from the previous Senju matriarch. It just goes to show was a little bit of a difference in perspective does. Tobirama probably never would have thought about that had Sakura never brought it up. Thanks so much!
4. Guest 1: Yeah, Kana is out of the picture for a bit, but she'll probably come back. Oh yeah, my brain totally hurt after all of that. x.x Thank you so much!
5. Otakugal: Yush, sorry. I'll try and cut them shorter. x.x Thanks!
6. Taraneh Rose: Thank you!
7. Guest 2: Women are the bomb! ;D My tribute to my other female compatriots! Oh my gosh! That is so nice for you to say, but I'm sure there are lots of other amazing stories out there. ^.^ But, thank you so much! I added a bit about Tsunade, but right now they are focusing on the medical side. But she will pass on that vital knowledge. Yes, there is a method to my madness. Thankies!
8. Ayumi: Aww! That was cute.
9. Vampirelover12100: Thank you so much!
10. LChan3706: Thankies! And yes!
11. Xxdark wolf girlxX: Thank you!
12. NarutoXHonoka: Oh, trust me, it wasn't easy. x.x But so rewarding! :) No, I never thought about that! That's so cool! It's awesome how things work out that way! Great eye! Oh wow, eating a god? Intense. 0.0
13. RedGoddessEclipse: Thankies! I hope you liked it!
14. dreadwings: That's probably because I didn't explain it well. I'll try better next time. Yeah, I probably should have researched it a bit. I was just going off memory. Sorry!
15. silverwolfighter00: I know! It's so humbling. People are so kind! Thanks!
16. mani nova: Thanks! I'm having fun writing them interacting.
17. SweetestChick: Haha, that might be because I'm horrible about explanations. So sorry. xD Oh no, you don't have to worry! You aren't being pushy at all! There is going to be a clear understand on why Sakura can be with any of them without fucking up anything! :)
18. Mameha: I'm happy to hear it! Thank you so much!
19. LoonyTuned: Haha, I just want to give everyone a fair chance to fall in love with all of them. ^.^ I'm happy to hear it made your day! Women are awesome. XD
20. ShatteredGreen: Sorry for the wait!
21. britneybish: Thanks!
22. Mistra Rose: Yeah, Sakura's just so strange and contradictory to everything they know that it's impossible to catch their attention. You will find the answer to these questions in the next chapter. XD Hehe, yeah!
23. Ratchadwi: Thank you! I don't plan on abandoning it any time soon. Or at all. XD
24. Mandioca: Yep. Tobirama is a hot piece of man that can't be held down by one woman. XD That would be crazy, yeah? Imagine everyone else's faces when the three founders suddenly recognize someone born many years after their deaths? Except Madara's. His was a bit closer.
25. CookiesRNotEnemy: No, I don't think this will follow cannon. It wasn't a choice I put in the poll. :-/ I kinda want one of the three founders in this story. I know, this is just easier. XD
26. PeopleOrderOurPatties: In one day? No way! Thanks so much for your kind words!
27. Zero-Tails317: And a little hint was given. XD
28. AnimeGirl45xoxo: . D'uu thanks!
29. Llyrica: You're welcome. ^.^
30. Avarianna: Me too, I think. I like her more in this time than cannon.
31. Lily Noir: Thank you so much! Oh yes, you will see the true power of women's skin in the next chapter. XD Thakies again!
32. katsekala: Aw! Thanks!
