Dislcaimer: I'm not even pretending to own Naruto.

Chapter 3: Concerning Words

Sakura moaned and rolled over to hit the snooze button for the third time that morning. Her sleepy eyes were not ready to face the morning. She was sore somewhere else, too, but she tried not to think about that.

"Sakura! If you don't get out of bed right now you know you'll never be ready in time!" Sakura's mother screamed from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up, I'm up, I swear," she called back to her mother as she stood up, before immediately collapsing back on her bed. By the time she had gotten home after taking care of the blankets, she only had 3 hours before she'd have to be up again, and she wanted to milk every extra minute she could before her usual meeting with Tsunade.

"SAKURA!"

"Ok, I'm up for real now, honest." She stumbled her way to the bathroom and discovered her reflection staring back at her with red swollen eyes. This doesn't look good. I guess I cried a little too much. Ok, eye drops, something, need to find something, she muttered while rummaging through toiletries. Ah, found some eye drops. Hopefully this will help. If it doesn't, I can always pretend to have a sudden fascination with wearing sunglasses indoors and then brilliantly it will become a fashion trend.

Luckily, the eye drops made the redness barely noticeable, and sneaking some of her mother's makeup she concealed the puffiness. She strolled as casually as she could manage down to the kitchen. Well, as casually as one could knowing they had just snuck off in the middle of the night and married a former teammate who was currently residing with the enemy of the village, and knowing that this little tidbit of information would cause a severe and violent reaction from her parents. Yeah, so her mom probably noticed something.

"You were out pretty late last night, Sakura. What were you doing?" her mother inquired.

"Training, of course," she replied with a smile. "Sorry it went so late, I ended up running into an old friend who I hadn't talked to in a while, so we were just messing around for a while." Well, that's not completely untrue anyway. You could describe what happened that way.

"Mm-hmn." Her mother glanced over at her father, who was obliviously munching away on the breakfast in front of him while studying a scroll. "Sakura dear, I have some errands to run in town. Why don't I walk you to Hokage-sama's office?"

"Um, ok." Sakura knew better than to refuse her mother's requests. At least they came out like requests, but were more equivalent to martial law in this household. Sakura hadn't inherited her righteous aggressiveness from thin air.

"Ok then, hurry up and eat while I get changed," her mother encouraged softly. But the softer the tone, the more adamant she was. It could be downright scary. Sakura swallowed back her breakfast in 2 bites and gathered all her training scrolls quickly, not wanting to leave her mother waiting.

Out in the bright sunlit streets of Konoha, her mother started with general conversation about the weather, how her favorite shop across the street is having really good sales right now, etc. Sakura just nodded and waiting patiently for what her mother really wanted to discuss. Her mother couldn't know about last night just by looking at her, could she? Mothers have strange abilities like that.

"Sakura," her mother paused. Oh god, here it comes, thought a wincing Sakura. "I think you train too much."

"Huh?"

"You should be more, you know, social. I think it's great that you're so focused and have an earnest desire to become a better ninja, but when was the last time you hung out with any of your classmates just for fun? Last night, you ran into a friend you hadn't seen in a while, but instead of catching up, you just worked out together? We're planning a trip to see family soon. Why don't you take a week off from training and come with us, like you used to? I think you could use the break."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. She doesn't know after all. "You know I can't just take off, Mom. I'm supposed to be on-call for emergencies."

"Yes, but considering you're Hokage-sama's personal student, I think you can manage getting permission. Besides, you're the only one left of your team. Naruto's been away training for a few years, and I doubt the other one is coming back anytime soon. I doubt you'll be missing any important missions if you come with us. We probably won't go for a few months yet, so you've got plenty of time to make arrangements."

'The other one'. That's how her mother always referred to Sasuke. Maybe she thought she was doing Sakura a favor by not mentioning his name, but to Sakura, that just made it sound like he had already past the point-of-no-return, and she refused to believe that. She could feel she was losing control over her emotions and that she should just keep her mouth shut and nod for the time being, but one sentence slipped out anyway.

"Training is all I have to hold onto right now and you're not taking that away!" she shrieked. It was still early, so there weren't too many people on the streets, but the ones that were immediately pretended to not notice while keenly perking up their ears.

"What do you mean that's all you have to hold on to? Sakura! Come back here!" her mother called at her figure retreating down the street. "I'm not done talking with you about this. We're going to have a serious discussion tonight, so you better come home early!" she called even louder to ensure that even if her daughter were a kilometer away she would still be able to hear.

Sakura arrived at Tsunade's office flustered and out of breath. "Whew, made it on time," she gasped as an excuse to explain her state, not wanting to go into details about the argument with her mother. She hoped Tsunade wouldn't press it, athough she did have a tendency to use her authority as hokage to "rightfully" put her nose in other people's business.

"Ready to start the morning's training?" Tsunade inquired.

Sakura nodded obediently.

"Well then, would you like to work on theory or practice today?"

"Let's practice. I have some frustration I'd like to work off," she replied, grinning despite her situation. She loved her matches with Tsunade. After fighting against her, Sakura felt she could take on either of her teammates. Of course, that thought brought to mind the origin of the frustration that her mother just added to. What did I get myself into? Sakura numbly followed her teacher outside to where they usually practiced.

Both readied themselves in fighting stances. "Now remember, your objective is to dodge more than strike. As the medical-nin of the group, they're relying on you not to get hurt so you can heal their injuries."

Seeing her student nod, Tsunade immediately charged in for the attack, hoping to catch her off guard. As she reached out with a chakra-enhanced punch, Sakura gathered her own chakra into her legs and sprung above the attack at the last second. Following her student's actions, Tsunade threw a kunai in the direction Sakura had leaped, but the weapon found only a log to embed itself in. She has gotten faster, Tsunade bemused with a smirk.

Tsunade then gracefully lifted her left arm behind her and casually flicked her index finger to catch a charging Sakura smack in the center of her forehead. "What did I say about not worrying about striking?" Tsunade lectured. "It's not your strong point. Stick with finding holes in the opponent's attacks with that brain of yours, don't take the risk of creating your own."

"You're right, Tsunade-sama. I just thought I could make it in time."

"Was it worth the risk? Had this been a real battle, you would've been dead," she scolded, although she thought to herself, Of course, what are the chances you'd be fighting with someone on my level. You could probably hold your own in a fight by now. A normal counter-attack would've taken longer than my finger flick, so it might have worked.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Let's try that scenario again, but this time think of another counter-attack that puts you farther from harm's way," Tsunade instructed. They continued sparring for almost an hour when she noticed Sakura was lacking her usual concentration. Trusting her instinct not to bring up her observation with Sakura, she decided to change activity to test it herself instead.

"Ok, that's enough sparring for now. Why don't we see how your chakra capacity and focus is coming along? I think it's already past time for me to teach you this anyway."

Sakura looked on in curiosity as her teacher pulled out a large scroll. Setting it on the ground, she opened it with a dramatic flair to reveal a list of signatures made in blood.

"What's this?" Sakura questioned.

"This," she started with emphasis, "is the scroll for slug summons. And I want you to add your name to the list as my successor."

Sakura tried not to show how excited she was for Tsunade to acknowledge her like this. Her compliments were few and far between, but she was grateful for the harsh training. It really pushed her to grow stronger than she could have ever hoped to be. I might even be strong enough now to help Naruto bring Sasu-…. Sakura refused to finish that thought. Enough about Sasuke for now, she chided herself.

She walked over to where one of the legendary San-nin was waiting for her. "All you have to do is sign in blood, and then we'll get started with the summoning technique, ok?"

"Yup." Sakura held her breath as she bit her finger and she didn't release it until her name was completed on the scroll.

"Ok, now I want you to gather up as much chakra as you possibly can. You already have efficient control over your chakra, but even so, you're going to need every bit you can muster to do this. Now watch me first and then you give it a try," Tsunade advised. Biting her own finger, she concentrated chakra in her hand, performed the seals, and slammed her hand onto the ground, calling out "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Sakura carefully observed Tsunade's every movement. Of course, she did the seals a little slower than she normally would so Sakura could easily catch each one and put them to memory after one viewing. She jumped back slightly at the size of the summoned slug. It was HUGE!

"Good day, Tsunade-sama. What reason have you summoned me today?" spoke the slug.

"Katsuyu, this is my student Sakura. I wanted to introduce you to her since I have let her add her name to the summons scroll."

The slug turned toward the pink-haired shinobi. "Pleased to meet you. I look forward to you calling on me in the future."

"Um, nice to meet you, too. I look forward to summoning you." She felt kind of silly giving a bow to a slug, but you pretty much have to bow to anyone speaking more politely than her grandmother.

"That's all Katsuyu. Thank you for your time, and just maybe we'll be seeing you again this morning," she said with a wink toward Sakura. Katsuyu disappeared with a 'poof'.

"Ok, Sakura. You're turn. Let's see what you can do. I assume you have all the seals down and everything?"

"Of course! Well, here goes." Sakura followed exactly what Tsunade did, but the results were slightly different. "Well, it's kinda cute for an infant slug," Sakura conjectured.

Tsunade wasn't expecting wonders on her first try, but she thought Sakura was farther along than this. I probably shouldn't be encouraging this, but if this will help motivate her…. She glanced over at her student who stood looking rather sheepishly, one hand resting behind her head.

"Sakura, think of it this way. This summoning technique could be the difference between seeing Sasuke again or not." Tsunade observed the immediate seriousness that descended on the younger shinobi. "Ok, give it another go."

Brow furrowed, muscles taut, Sakura bit down hard on her finger and feverishly performed the seals before slamming her hand down onto the ground as it cracked beneath her.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

This time, it was the slug of all slugs who showed up.

"Katsuyu?" bemused a bemused Tsunade.

"I see you have found yourself a worthy student, Tsunade-sama."

"I have indeed." Was that anger I saw on Sakura's face when she did that? Not exactly the feeling I expected.

It was approximately dinner time when Sakura headed for home. Tsunade was so shocked at her summoning that she gave her the rest of the day off. Normally she would be helping the hokage with office duties in exchange for the training. And normally, she would have used the free time for training, but this time she decided to just spend the afternoon lying in an isolated grassy spot with the sunshine and her thoughts as her only company.

And as for her thoughts, she had let all the ones about Sasuke flow freely.

But now, it was time to bottle up that part of her again. And she had other things to worry about, namely her mother had said she wanted a 'serious discussion' with her tonight.

"Mom, I'm home," Sakura called tentatively.

"Sakura-chan! I'm so glad you could make it for dinner. I'm preparing your favorite meal!"

This did not look good. "Look, Mom, I'm sorry about this morning. I was just stressed out. Like you said, too much training. You'll be happy to know I took the afternoon off to just relax. And I'll try to come home for dinner more often, ok? So don't worry so much, I'll take your advice."

"Well, that's good to know, that you finally realized that your mother always knows best. But that's not what I wanted to discuss tonight. But let's eat dinner first." Her mother motioned to the dining room. "Your father's waiting."

After the meal, Sakura helped her mother with the dishes while her father visited with her grandparents. Shortly after they had gotten into the rhythm of washing and drying, her mother finally spoke up.

(Track 3)
"Sakura, what did you mean the only thing you had to hold onto was training?"

"I don't know what I meant. I was just upset," Sakura replied vaguely.

"It has something to do with Sasuke-san, doesn't it? Don't think I haven't noticed how you changed after he left." She paused to contemplate. "No, wait, it started during your first Chuunin exam."

Sakura stared, mouth agape at her mother.

"Come on, Sakura. It wasn't that hard to figure out. You've been saying he's your crush since I can't remember when, and then you wouldn't even come down for meals when he was missing from the hospital – don't look at me that way, just because I'm not a shinobi doesn't mean I know nothing about what goes on in the village. Really." Her mother handed her a bowl to dry while she continued. "And then it was after Sasuke-san left that I knew it was serious because then you acted like everything was fine."

Mother and daughter washed and dried for a few minutes in silence.

Finally, Sakura worked up the nerve to speak. "Mom, I just don't know how to explain it. When he left…when he left…it was like the world suddenly didn't make sense anymore. I knew what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei, and me. We're a team. I tried to say everything I could think of to convince him to stay," the words started pouring out, "but it just wasn't enough. I guess I wasn't enough. I wasn't strong enough to stop him from leaving, and I wasn't good enough to be a reason for him to stay." Sakura looked down to see her tears collecting in the bowl she had just dried. "He always seemed to see us as burdens, we were just slowing him down. Toward the end, though, it seemed he finally saw us as comrades, as people he shared something with. But it wasn't enough, because then his older brother showed up and I knew he was going to leave. Just when he was warming up to us, that's when he left to find another way to become stronger. We were just in the way again. I thought maybe if I became really strong…I don't know what I thought. I just wanted to do something," she choked out. "I couldn't convince him to stay," she whimpered.

Her mother stopped and put her arm around her daughter. "This wasn't your fault. I know, it may feel that way to you, but I'm sure he would have made the same decision regardless of who tried to convince him to stay." She watched her daughter continue to sob uncontrollably. "I'm not saying what he did was right, but neither one of us has been through what he has, and I'm sure he had some reason that drove him to leave like that, whether it was a good or bad one. But whatever the reason, it wasn't your fault. All you can do now is hope, for his sake."

She looked down to see Sakura wiping away her tears. Does she really still care about him this much after 2 years? Her mother added, "Of course, my hope is that you'll be able to forget about him soon and find someone who will always be there for you."

Sakura saw her mother stare expectantly down at her. "Well, I at least want to wait and see how things will be if he does come back to Konoha…" her mother just kept staring. "Ok, ok. I promise I'll keep an open mind to other possibilities. There, is that good enough?"

"You mean it?"

"Yes, yes, I promise."

"Ok then, because you know I'm only looking out for what's best for my one and only daughter," her mother joked with a small smile. "But seriously, I want you to stop worrying about Sasuke-san so much and think about what's best for you. Now go on ahead and do what you want, I'll finish up here."

"Thanks, Mom!" Sakura called while running up the steps to her room. She stopped at the top to say, "I'm glad we had this talk."

"Me, too."

Sakura proceeded to her room to study some scrolls before going to bed.