Shikaku watches the girl watch Sarutobi, and he wonders at the blank expression on her face. It's not even that she's hiding her expression, the way that even the shinobi who don't regularly wear masks learn to do after enough time in the field.
There's just...nothing there. Her face could've well been carved out of stone.
'I don't exist outside of the shadows'
That had rattled him.
More so than the actual wording, it was the tone which she had used that had hit him. Like she was stating a simple fact of life. Like it was normal that a child who can't be much older than Shikamaru didn't have a life outside of Konoha's Black-Ops.
He watches as she finally shifts one of her crutches into her other hand and extends her free hand to take the chunin jacket and hitai-ate from Sarutobi. The state she's in had also struck him when she'd walked in; half her leg is in a cast, and the parts of her body that are visible are riddled with bruises and scars, both old and new. An alarming amount for someone so young. But worst of all is how casual she seems about her injuries. How little she appears to notice them, beyond the occasional glare at the crutches, as if they're simply a nuisance.
He wonders what Inoichi would say.
To distract himself, he watches as she slips the headband into the pocket of her vest and brings her new jacket close to her body, though she doesn't move to put it on, staring at the garment in her grasp. Shikaku doubts she's actually seeing it.
He tries not to think about why she looks like Sarutobi just signed the order for her execution.
"May I request something, Hokage-sama?" she asks quietly, her eyes still trained on the flak jacket in her hand.
Sarutobi appears surprised for the briefest of seconds, then nods indulgently, and the girl takes a quiet breath and raises her eyes, her gaze steely, her back ramrod straight.
"I'd like to remain on my ANBU team and help out with Team 7 part-time. My team will be Village-bound for the foreseeable future anyway due to an internal issue, which should allow me the time to help with Team 7 as requested. But I'd like to be able to prioritise my ANBU missions, once my team is cleared."
Ah.
Now Shikaku understands why Bear had argued so vehemently – at least for that man's standards of emoting – against making the girl a jounin from the get-go.
"Kid's a born infiltrator, Nara. I'm not letting her go unless she wants out, and her being a jounin would make it difficult to bring her back into the shadows. Agents like Hatake and Shiranui are the exception, not the standard."
He wonders whether the desperate need to keep a child in the shadows is testament to the skill of the child or the state of the shadows.
He decides he'd rather not know.
"I don't see why not." Sarutobi decides after a pregnant pause, and Shikaku belatedly remembers that the girl had asked something of the man. "As long as you can manage both responsibilities to the best of your ability, you may stay with your team."
Be careful of burn-out. Shikaku wants to say, the memory of Chouza's worry for the shadows under Genma's eyes when Genma had still been a kid, barely sixteen and already tokujo and ANBU, trying to pretend like switching between the two really was as easy as putting on a mask.
But he doesn't say anything, and the girl nods, her lip quirking ever so slightly, yet the expression transforms her entire face.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." She murmurs, inclining her head, and in the brief moment when she drops her gaze, Shikaku catches surprise flicker across the Sandaime's face, but it's gone with the next blink.
The girl straightens, and she doesn't make eye-contact this time, switching her focus to the flak jacket in her grasp, though she still doesn't put it on. Instead, she threads her free arm through both of the sleeve holes then grabs her crutch again, sandwiching the vest between her armpit and her crutch before she turns to the Hokage and nods one more time.
"If I may be excused?"
When Sarutobi waves her off, she turns on her heel and hobbles out, and Shikaku gaze catches on the way her smile drops the second her back is turned. Though her posture remains remarkably tension-free, the white-knuckled grip she's got on the handles of her crutches says she is not as unaffected by this exchange as he would've otherwise believed.
Just who is this?
Inosuke doesn't expect any visitors, particularly after the ordeal he'd had with the nurse upon waking up from his drugged nap.
You don't drug jounin. Particularly not Yamanaka jounin.
(He may have glared at her until she ran out of the room when she came to check his vitals.)
(Maybe.)
He's just glad Mongoose hadn't been in the room at that point.
[It had been…novel, to have someone offer to let him use the Mind-Walk on them. Mongoose hadn't flinched, hadn't hesitated or backed out even after they'd clarified what the Mind-Walk entails. She'd simply maintained a small smile while he'd covered the distance between their beds, as if he was the one that needed comfort or reassurance in that situation.
Maybe he was.
The kid had been right, though; seeing Hatake's dumbfounded face upon receiving the news that he'd been duped so thoroughly – his shock visible even with the mask on – had definitely been the highlight of his week.
But when the memory had ended, Mongoose's grasp on it had slipped, and he caught a glimpse of the rest of her mindscape.
It seemed…elaborate.
Two corridors split off, dozens of doors on either wall, both paths running so deep into her mindscape that he couldn't see their ends. One corridor was considerably better-lit than the other, and much more cared for, though Inosuke wasn't sure how much of the mental upkeep was conscious.
Still, the instinct to reach out and pull one of the doors from the darker corridor open overwhelmed him, but when he'd gone to do so, he found that his hand had frozen on the doorknob.
'I'm afraid you've overstayed your welcome.'
A cold, hollow voice had called out, similar and yet not to Mongoose's voice. Similar in the pronunciation and intonation, but alien because it was flat. No warmth, no inflection, no emotion.
And then, he'd felt a tugging in his mind, and next thing he knew, his consciousness was fully back in his body, a bitch of a headache pulsing in his temples.
Mongoose had startled when he jerked back from her, her eyes wide. "Everything okay?"
"Fine." he'd waved her off, then turned to walk back to his bed to try and piece together whatever he had just experienced, and the fact that the kid didn't seem to realise that she'd forced a Yamanaka jounin out of her mind, but he stopped half-way. "Thank you for the memory. You were right; I did enjoy it."
She'd laughed, and he'd almost been able to pretend he hadn't seen anything unusual at all.]
So he's not expecting for the door to burst open and Mongoose to stumble in on her crutches, her face deathly pale and her breathing quiet but quick, though not the same type of quick as he'd expect from simple exertion.
She drops her crutches, seemingly not caring that the jacket she'd had on her arm falls to the floor as well, and presses her back against the door until it shuts. Her chest is moving unnaturally quickly, her breaths shallow, and she slides her back down the door until she's sitting down, eyes wide, sweat beading on her forehead.
Hyperventilating.
Inosuke is on his feet and out of his bed before he quite realises what he's doing, the pain that shoots through him at the sudden movement barely registering.
"Mongoose." he calls, stopping about a metre from the kid, not sure whether she'd even recognise him now.
The girl keens and raises her hands, grasping fistfuls of her short hair and pulling until her knuckles turn white, but she doesn't otherwise react to his words.
"Sakura." he tries again, reaching over and wrapping his fingers around her left wrist, though when he tries to pull it away from her hair, she sobs loudly, so he stops, but doesn't relax his grip.
"Look at me!" he snaps.
He doesn't usually raise his voice, doesn't need to when most of his subordinates wouldn't dare go against him anyway. But this isn't to assert authority over the situation, no – he just needs to drag the kid out of whatever spiral she'd fallen down, and he doesn't know what else to do.
Luckily, it seems to work. He waits until dazed green eyes finally meet his, then waits some more until the fog starts to clear.
"You're in the hospital." he tells her quietly, tugging lightly at the wrist he still holds captive, and he's slightly surprised when she relaxes her grip on her hair and lets him tug her hand away.
She's still breathing too fast and her face is still worriedly pale, but her eyes have lost the desperate panic that shone in them before.
This, at least, he can deal with. He crouches next to her, mindful not to crowd her, and turns the hand in his grip to press it to his own sternum, splaying her fingers out over his chest.
He takes a deep breath.
"Match my breathing." He orders curtly, since it seemed like the tone had worked before, and he adds in a brief glare when the kid just stares at him blankly.
Almost as if chastised, she hastens to do as ordered, though she nearly chokes on the first inhalation, and it takes her a solid five minutes to have her breathing even remotely matching his.
"Alright." He murmurs, releasing his grip on her wrist and letting it fall to her lap. He tips over from his crouch to sit his ass on the floor, legs crossed loosely in front of him, and he pins the kid with an assessing look. "Wanna tell me what that was about?"
To his surprise, Mongoose snorts, though it's weak.
"You're not actually my shrink, y'know." She mumbles tiredly, shooting him a wan smile.
"No, but I am your captain." He points out, baffled when the girl winces.
"They made me a chunin." She says, a propos nothing, glaring at what he belatedly realises is a flak jacket crumpled on the floor next to them. "Kakashi must've pulled some strings- Genma probably told him, the bastard- they tried to pull me out, and I-!"
She cuts herself off and squeezes her eyes shut, taking a deep, shuddering breath which they both pretend she doesn't choke on, before she tries again.
"The Hokage made me assistant-sensei to Kakashi's genin team." She relays tonelessly, blankly, like one would deliver a mission report. Like ROOT would relay a report, he thinks but doesn't say. "Tried to pull me fully from ANBU, but I didn't let him."
The impassive mask cracks for the briefest of seconds, an unexpected burst of viciousness escaping from the girl at that last part.
Inosuke takes a few seconds to absorb that, but before he pulls the full story from the kid, he needs to check one thing:
"Why would you oppose being pulled out of ANBU? From what I've gathered, it hasn't been easy for you." he asks, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible, and carefully doesn't react at the sharp, humourless smile the girl shoots him in return.
"I wasn't meant to survive ANBU, I know." She agrees flatly, almost spitefully. "But I did, not just the shadows but the sabotage too. Disappearing me didn't work when I was fully in the shadows, I'm not going to let him try again."
Inosuke hisses out a breath and shoots her a warning glare.
'The walls have ears here' He signs, and the kid looks startled, then appropriately chagrined. 'Be careful'
"Sorry." She sighs, and she sounds so tired that Inosuke almost slips up and tries to comfort her.
Instead, he pushes to his feet and holds out a hand. At her curious glance, he raises an eyebrow. "Do you want the nurses to nag?"
Huffing a quiet laugh, the kid lets him pull her up, then accepts the arm he holds out to help her to her bed.
[Both of them studiously ignore the flak jacket on the floor.]
Once they're in their respective beds, he asks for the rest of the story.
"What did you mean, 'Genma probably told him'?"
Mongoose looks at him, sighs, and spills.
By the time Sakura is done with telling Inosuke everything that had happened since her poison-cooking session with Genma to her meeting with the Hokage, her throat's a little sore, but she's almost able to forget the panic attack she'd had upon leaving the Sandaime's office.
Almost.
[There was a reason she hadn't sought either of the boys out since she'd gotten this chance at a redo. She hadn't realised how subconscious her decision not to involve herself in either of their lives had been until it had been wrenched to the forefront of her mind by the Hokage's announcement. Honestly, fuck Kakashi.]
Worst thing was, she wouldn't have been able to explain why that decision had shaken her so badly if Inosuke had asked.
[Naruto and Sasuke had killed her, in her previous life. Now she's going to be their sensei. Fucking fantastic.]
She wasn't a big believer in lucky stars or good karma, but she thanks all her lucky stars at that moment that Inosuke doesn't ask, appearing content to just sit there and listen.
They sit in silence for a few seconds after she's done with her tale, and Sakura takes the opportunity to sip her water and soothe her throat with her chakra. She doesn't think she's spoken that much at once since her team dinner with Team Ro and Shin when they finally found out about her Mokuton.
"Anything to say, senpai?" she asks after more than a minute has passed without Inosuke so much as twitching.
"I…appreciate you defending me." He says at last, hesitating slightly as if he doesn't know how to react. "But Shiranui wasn't entirely wrong."
Sakura does a double-take, then narrows her eyes.
"How so?" she presses, tilting her head, and Inosuke smiles, but it's small and wry and decidedly humourless.
"So you really didn't ask anyone." He observes, and he appears torn between reluctantly amused and somewhat…touched? Sakura waves the thought off.
"Ask about?" she presses instead, and he shoots her a wry smile.
"Me." He answers simply.
"I figured you'd tell me if you wanted to." She answers evenly, repeating the same thing she'd told Genma. "And if you didn't, then it was none of my business."
Inosuke's smile dims slightly, then he sighs and appears to steel himself.
"I had a genin team." He begins quietly, and from the past tense alone, Sakura knows this story isn't going to have a happy ending.
"Managed to get them through the Third War in one piece somehow." He chuckles humourlessly. "Then all the treaties were getting signed, kill-on-sight orders rescinded, and we got a border run. Konoha to Suna, through River. Seemed easy enough to the mission desk."
Sakura keeps quiet even as Inosuke grimaces and closes his eyes, the scar on his face pulling painfully with his grimace.
"I didn't think much of it either; my kids had been chunin-level for a good few months at that point, and they'd survived a lot. A border run would be a paid vacation, I thought. But what nobody in the Tower had considered was that the peace treaties that were signed were only signed between the Great Nations. All the smaller countries that got the most fucked over by the War got nothing. But fuck them, right? They're just the buffer-zone."
He snorts derisively and opens his eyes, gaze trained on the ceiling, and Sakura waits for him to continue.
"Some disillusioned Ame-nin were lurking around the borders of River and Fire. Set up traps, area-effect genjutsu, poison bombs, the lot." He swallows, then sighs quietly. "We walked straight into it. I sent out a request for backup after I'd dealt with them, but it didn't come."
He lowers his gaze and meets her eyes, and Sakura is struck by the heartbreak on his face. "We set out as a team of four…and came back as a one man and three body scrolls."
"I'm so sorry." Sakura whispers after a few seconds, after she manages to swallow past the lump in her throat, her eyes wide. Inosuke inclines his head but doesn't comment, and she feels horribly lost.
After a few minutes, he clears his throat and looks up again. "That's not the reason people don't like me, however."
Sakura is thrown by the self-satisfied, bloodthirsty smile that suddenly splits his face, the earlier grief washed away, replaced instead with a slightly manic light in his eyes.
"I did the dance with the shrinks to get cleared for field-work after and tracked the fuckers down." His gaze falls to his hands, and Sakura can see all the way from the other end of the room that they're trembling. "I ripped their jutsu from their minds and used the same techniques they used against my team to kill every Ame-nin I came across."
Sakura stills.
"It took Psych another three months and numerous complaints to realise that only a Yamanaka should be able to clear another Yamanaka for field-duty." He adds, the vicious note still in his voice, and Sakura thinks he sounds proud of himself.
"Complaints?" she asks quietly, the word standing out to her, and Inosuke's sharp smile gains teeth.
"My team-leaders had to contend with a manic, suicidal Yamanaka able to pry out their worst nightmares and bring them to life through genjutsu." He summarises, and Sakura stifles a sympathetic wince. "I don't remember much from those months, but other people do. Apparently, I didn't really distinguish between friend and foe."
They lapse into silence, and Sakura tries to wrap her head around what she's learnt.
"Is that why you let me go to Wave?" she asks after a few minutes of silence, and Inosuke appears thrown by her question, because his vicious half-smile finally fades, and he tilts his head at her. "Because when you called for backup, it didn't come?"
Inosuke blinks at her, seemingly completely thrown, then hangs his head and laughs quietly, that same jagged, rusty-sounding laugh she'd heard back in Wave.
"That's what you got from that?" he asks, his tone a touch disbelieving. "I tell you I terrorised enemies and allies alike with their worst nightmares in technicolour and you ask if I felt empathetic for Hatake's situation?"
"Yes." She agrees, not hesitating in the slightest, which seems to catch Inosuke off-guard. "You are not the first person to lose their genin team, and I'm unfortunately certain that you won't be the last. You are also not the only person who's acted regrettably out of grief. While it is tragic, and I am deeply sorry you had to go through that, beyond the unique combination of genjutsu with your Clan's techniques, I don't see anything unusual in your story."
When Inosuke continues to just…stare at her, Sakura runs a frustrated hand through her hair and sighs.
"I'm no stranger to survivor's guilt." She says quietly, and it's her turn to drop eye-contact in favour of staring at her lap, Neko's mask flashing through her mind. "The things I did in ROOT…I'm not proud of them. But," she takes a deep breath and forces her gaze up to meet her captain's eyes. "I would not blame you for losing your team any more than I would blame the Yondaime for losing two-thirds of his, so-"
She shrugs, wrestling with her words to try and make them express what she wants to say.
"-so, I want to thank you for trusting me, but I still think Genma was wrong."
She tries not to fidget in the ringing silence that falls between them at her declaration, then, when she's about to start trying to explain herself, Inosuke finally chuckles.
"I can't decide what fucked you up more, ROOT, or Hatake." He announces drily, then meets her startled gaze with the most genuine smile she's seen from him so far. "But thank you."
Two days later, Sakura gets the all-clear from the doctor to go home, though she's sternly reminded not to overexert herself because she had shattered thirteen bones. She thanks the doctor, grabs her crutches, and bites her cheek to avoid laughing when he walks out of the room muttering about how bizarrely quickly she had healed.
Then, when he's out of the room, she flicks through a familiar set of seals and presses her hand to the blanket on her bed. Once the smoke clears, and she notes the worryingly-large drain of her reserves, Tamaki and Chie sit on her bed, Chie looking around curiously while Tamaki seems content to wait for Sakura to explain what she wants from them.
"Senpai," she calls, though she knows Inosuke hasn't looked away since she started gathering chakra for the summoning, "you've met Tamaki-chan before." She points at the sensing-specialising summon, and sees the moment Inosuke recognises the tiger as the one that had led them to Sai in Wave.
"This is Chie-chan." she continues when she has his full attention, and points at the slightly larger tiger, though still smaller than either Ryū or Yū. "If you don't mind, I'd like for her to stay with you until you're released."
Inosuke's attention sharpens.
"The nurses might object to a summon in the room." He points out evenly, though Sakura's become familiar enough with his tone to know that he's digging.
"Not if they can't see her." She shoots back, and Chie allows herself to be picked up and carried to the foot of Inosuke's bed. Once on the covers, the tiger curls up so she's comfortable and disappears. "Chie-chan specialises in stealth. She can do an approximation of what you used in Wave, I think."
"…Is this about Bat?" her captain asks after a beat, and now it's Sakura's turn to blink confusedly because she didn't know that Inosuke knew.
"…Partly." She agrees, settling for truth. "And also because falling asleep to a purring cat is much nicer than falling asleep to drugs."
Inosuke's startle is just as funny as it is tragic.
"Don't worry, I've informed her direct superior." She tells him with only a touch of schadenfreude, "She won't be working with high-level shinobi for a while."
Another brief silence, and then a sharp, "Are you sure you don't need a shrink?"
Unable to help herself, Sakura snickers.
"There are quite a lot of S-Rank secrets in my head, senpai." She informs him dryly once she gathers herself. "And a lot of my issues are directly connected to them. I wouldn't want to involve anyone in my mess, patient confidentiality be damned."
"And if they offered?" Inosuke asks without missing a beat, and Sakura actually pauses, reading between the lines of what he's actually saying.
"If they offered, I'd be grateful, but I'd still wait until they were back to full physical health themselves." She meets his gaze to drive her point home. "And I'd want them to know that letting my summon stay with them would be very beneficial to my mental wellbeing."
Inosuke snorts. "Manipulative brat."
Sakura just shoots him a mock salute and walks back to her own bed, shrugging on her new chunin vest despite how much it feels like a noose around her neck, then picking up Tamaki and wrapping the cat around her shoulders like a vibrating scarf.
"I'll see you around, senpai." she calls, and hobbles out of the room upon receiving an affirmative grunt, though she casts a quick concealment genjutsu on Tamaki's fur so it appears black instead of its rather characteristic marking.
"Remember the dog scent that's often around Sai?" she asks quietly, taking care to move her mouth as little as possible as she navigates the hospital corridors with Tamaki around her neck. At the press of a cold nose under her jaw, she adds, "Do you remember the chakra?"
"Thunderstorms." Tamaki replies, shifting so her head is resting more on Sakura's clavicle.
"That's right. Can you tell me how to avoid it if it comes close to us?"
Kakashi hadn't thought much about his request to get Sakura as his assistant sensei beyond needing to ensure that she doesn't share the fate of Wolf's other teenage associates.
In fact, it was not until Nara Shikaku caught his elbow in the Mission Assignment office, a cryptic, 'I don't know who the kid is to you, or why you did it, but I don't think she's happy with her reassignment' that he even entertained what Sakura might think about her new position.
Still, from 'she's not happy', there's still quite a long way to 'she'll actively dodge your attempts at coming closer on her way back from the hospital'. Kakashi doesn't think he deserves that degree of cold-shoulder, but on his fifth unsuccessful try to catch Sakura without causing a scene in public, [which, considering that the girl is on crutches but still manages to disappear on him, is a) rather impressive, and b) makes him realise that he should have connected Sai's lack of presence to ROOT stealth training much, much sooner, he resigns himself to a house-visit.
What was it one of his many shrinks over the years had said? That he needs to 'avoid running from things that make him uncomfortable'? Well, he's trying to run towards them this time, but it's still not working.
With a quiet sigh, he changes course from following his kouhai and heads directly to the Barracks, scaling the building and settling on the roof, trying to decide how long he should give it before he knocks on their window.
On the half-hour mark, he drops down to the third floor to the half-open window of Sakura and Shin's living room and perches on the outside window-sill.
"She's mad at you."
Kakashi does not jump.
Not even a little.
"Fu-! You need a bell." He swears at Shin, glaring at where the teen pokes his head out from the next window along.
He gets a judgemental eyebrow in response, and the sheer level of 'unimpressed' that radiates from Shin would be enough to make lesser men sweatdrop.
"I think you'll find that I'm in my own house, Hatake, and it's you who should be polite and announce himself, instead of lurking like a pervert." The teen remarks, and Kakashi doesn't wait for the official welcome before he slips through the window and straightens to his full height.
"Happy?" he snaps, immediately slumping into his usual slouch.
"No. My sister is still mad at you." he shoots back, also turning so he's leaning against the wall instead of leaning out of the window. "At Shiranui more, but you're not blameless. So. Fix it."
"Any insight as to why she's mad?" Kakashi presses, not enjoying the churn in his stomach. They'd not had much opportunity to talk since she'd come to the Jounin HQ to accuse him of dereliction of duty, and he'd rather not fuck over this relationship entirely. "Minimal sarcasm, if you could?"
"Social interaction for emotionally-stunted geniuses 101;" Sakura's voice rings out, and Kakashi realises that he'd forgotten she was just a thin wall away, "next time you do something that directly affects another person's immediate future, ask them about it first."
Kakashi sighs, though he inclines his head to show he understands. "I'm sorry."
Sakura, however, merely raises an eyebrow, and Kakashi's struck by how similar the expression is to the one Shin had aimed at him mere minutes earlier. "For what? For going behind my back, or for trying to get me off Wolf's team?"
"For going behind your back." Kakashi admits, because he's not sorry for reducing Sakura's chances at interaction with a man whose teammates' survival rate is zero out of six.
Even he's only at zero out of three. It's hard to be worse than him, and yet Yamanaka Inosuke succeeded.
"Well." Sakura sighs, and some of the earlier iciness melts away, though he can tell she's still a bit cross. "It's a start."
"And," Kakashi swallows, wraps Inoichi's words around him like an invisible blanket, and adds, adamantly not looking at Shin, "I'm sorry for not looking after your brother."
By the way her face softens, Kakashi knows Sakura understands he's referring to what transpired between them in the Jounin HQ.
"Apology accepted." She smiles, and Kakashi feels an invisible weight melt off his shoulders. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry if I humiliated you in the HQ."
"It's alright." He shrugs, suddenly uncomfortable. "Others have done worse for less."
To his surprise, Sakura frowns. "It's not 'alright'. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. I'm sorry, taicho."
Maybe it's the tone, maybe it's the title she tacks on at the end which he hasn't heard in a while, but Kakashi relaxes fully and reaches out to ruffle her hair.
"It's okay, kouhai." He replies, mirroring her intonation. Then, with a shrug, he adds an only half-joking, "My shrink would probably agree that I needed the kick."
Inoichi had made it clear they were going to talk about things, and as the man had been friends with Minato and occasionally taken over 'Team Minato babysitting duty' when Minato had been busy with Kushina, Kakashi couldn't run away from the man as easily or as guilt-free as from the other Yamanaka shrinks.
"Stop the presses," Shin drawls from where he's still leaning against the wall, and Kakashi really needs to stop spacing out like this, "Hatake Kakashi, bastard extraordinaire, is going to his mandated therapy sessions?"
"It happens when your genin-who's-not-a-genin knows too many of the Psych buzzwords and makes the shrinks strongarm you into therapy or suspension." He shoots back, sending Shin the stink-eye, before adding, saccharine-sweet, "Maybe you'd know something about that?"
"'fraid not." Shin shrugs, though there's a small smile playing around his lips which Kakashi chooses not to read into. "Kudos to that genin, though."
"You're hilarious." Kakashi deadpans, and Shin's ghost of a smile morphs into a full-on grin for a second, before he turns and hops onto the windowsill.
"Alright. I've exceeded my daily quota for emotion and this house is teeming with it. Later!" and jumps.
Kakashi turns to Sakura, who appears torn between fond and exasperated. "Sometimes, I think Hayate-san might've been onto something." She sighs, then moves to the kitchen, completely ignoring the indignant noise Kakashi makes.
"So…" he draws the word out, ambling carefully over to where Sakura has started chopping something, "will you be my assistant-sensei? Voluntarily?"
To his surprise, Sakura smiles. "Yes, taicho." She agrees, then shoots him a look. "But you are aware that I'm the same age as them, right?"
"And a lifetime more experienced, yes." He adds drily, and Sakura laughs quietly, wordlessly conceding the point. "Only Sasuke is likely to have an issue with respect, but he appears to respect strength, so worst comes to worst, we can just have you fight him."
He's shocked when Sakura's smile drops, and she fumbles the knife, almost cutting her finger. "I thought you liked your team." She tries to joke, but her voice is much weaker than before, and Kakashi doesn't know why.
"I do." He answers slowly, eye trained on Sakura for her reaction. "But a superior is a superior, even if you're the same age as them, and Sasuke unfortunately doesn't like to do things 'just because'."
"Alright." Sakura sighs, and this time, when she shoots him a small smile, it's a touch more genuine. "But let's hope it won't come to that."
"You'll be fine." he reaches out to ruffle her hair again, but this time, Sakura dodges, pointing the knife she'd since picked up at him, so he gives up with an eye-smile. "Till tomorrow, then, kouhai. Training ground seven, aim for around noon."
And he's gone before she can throw the knife at him.
The next morning, Sakura spends about ten minutes staring at her open wardrobe. The temptation to just take out ANBU standard uniform is almost overwhelming, and she hasn't realised how much she hadn't developed an individual style until she's faced with her wardrobe and the fifty shades of grey and black that fill it.
In the end, she settles for dark grey cargo pants which she tucks into her boots, and steals an oversized black t-shirt from Sai's wardrobe, taking advantage of Sai having stayed the night at Shino's again. The shirt is plain, and despite the sleeves technically being 'short', they almost reach her elbow, which leaves only an inch or so of bare arm before her ANBU-issue gloves begin. She tucks her t-shirt into her trousers and throws her chunin vest on top, the green looking strangely out-of-place with the otherwise monochrome outfit.
She combs her fingers through her hair then ties her forehead protector over her throat, covering the delicate cartilage with the metal plating.
With a deep breath, she steps out of the house and heads for training ground seven, feeling somewhat like she's walking to her death.
She finds Kakashi in a tree overlooking the grounds five minutes before noon and shoots him a quick smile. "What time did you tell them?"
"Nine." Kakashi answers with a guileless eye-crinkle.
"You sick bastard."
Kakashi's quiet laughter shakes the branch they're on, and, once he stops laughing, he drops to the ground, and Sakura has little choice but to follow.
"My cute genin, your attention please." Kakashi calls as they step out of the treeline and onto Training Ground 7, expertly ignoring Naruto's indignant squawk and Sasuke's put-upon glare. "I want to introduce my other cute kouhai, who from today onwards shall be your assistant-sensei."
"Assistant...sensei?" Naruto mumbles, oddly quiet, even as he gawks at her shamelessly.
"I thought only jounin are made sensei." Sasuke points out, and though his tone is far less acidic than that of his adult self, the judgement and overblown sense of self-importance is still there, and it grates at her.
Kakashi just smiles, but the crease of his eye tells her that it's a hint sharper than his usual ones.
"That's mostly correct."
Sasuke's face says 'then why is she here?' clearer than if he'd shouted it from the rooftops, and Kakashi must realise it because his phony smile only grows, but he stays silent.
"I believe," Sai speaks up for the first time since Sakura entered the clearing, and she chances a glance at her brother, only to find him already looking at her, "that Sasuke-san is confused as to your kouhai's presence here, seeing as she appears to be close to our age."
Sakura carefully doesn't let her gaze linger on Sai, sending a mental apology to the boy for springing this on him without a word, though in all fairness, she's only been aware of this development for about 72 hours.
"Oh, well, you should've just said so, Sasuke." Kakashi chastises idly, and Sakura realises with no small degree of exasperation that he's enjoying this. "My kouhai was made your assistant sensei because she is, in fact, a jounin-level kunoichi."
Immediately, it's as if a switch has been flicked – Naruto snaps to attention even as Sasuke glares.
"What?! But- but she's our age!"
At that, Kakashi's good humour temporarily vanishes.
"Do you remember what I told you when we faced Zabuza the first time?" He asks coldly, and again, it's Sai who answers.
"'In this world, there are some younger than us, but stronger than you'." He recites dutifully, and Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widen as they remember their first real battle.
Kakashi merely nods, that cold look still in his eyes. "It would do you well to remember that."
When Naruto continues to gawk and Sasuke's glare turns assessing instead of scornful, Sakura stifles a sigh.
"I think," she addresses Kakashi, drawing the boys' attention to her face while her left hand subtly signs 'spar' to Kakashi, waiting till his own hand twitches in confirmation, "that a 'show of strength' will dispel any lingering doubts far faster than words."
Kakashi makes a great spectacle of looking speculative for a split second before he brightens.
"Good idea. Sasuke!" He calls, and the Uchiha raises an eyebrow. "Since you're the most distrustful of your new sensei's ability, you'll fight her. Go all out."
Sasuke smirks, radiating confidence, and heads off to the middle of the training grounds.
"Sakura," Kakashi addresses her this time, too quiet for Sasuke to hear, but not bothering to hide what he's saying from Naruto and Sai, "taijutsu and the Academy Three only. And watch your foot. I saw your medical chart."
Naruto's eyes widen but he stays uncharacteristically silent, choosing to watch her as she moves to face Sasuke instead, and Sai's eyes drill holes in the back of her head, but she'll explain herself later.
She has a moment of unbidden anxiety at Kakashi's restriction, her mind flashing back to memories of her previous life, of Sasuke-the-genin being hailed as a genius, but then, a voice in her head that sounds a lot like Shin calls her an idiot and banishes all doubts.
For all that Sasuke is a genius on the backdrop of their graduating class, he's got nothing on Shisui when he was his age. Hell, he's got nothing on Sai, and though he's fast for a genin, Sakura is faster.
She still forgets sometimes, but she's a genius too in this timeline.
She won't lose.
But she has to be careful not to accidentally kill him.
And she still can't meet his eyes.
"Go!" Kakashi calls suddenly, and Sasuke doesn't need further invitation.
He doesn't waste a moment, striking out with a barrage of admirably accurate shuriken, but Sakura isn't keen to turn this into an exhibition match. She deflects the shuriken with kunai of her own, each hitting one of the throwing stars and either deflecting them or pinning them harmlessly to the ground around them. And, in a move that's becoming a favourite of hers, she throws one extra and lets it sail wide by Sasuke's head.
Quicker than he can blink, she uses a seal-less kawarimi to switch places with the kunai and strikes out at Sasuke's knees, catching his arms as he falls and twisting them behind his back in a mimicry of what he had once done to the Sound-nin Zaku in the Forest of Death.
"Kawarimi." She mutters under her breath, just loud enough for Sasuke to hear, and he freezes under her hands.
"Ahaha teme, you lost!" Naruto exclaims from the side-lines, apparently choosing to focus on his glee over Sasuke losing instead of the sheer disbelief at someone their age being able to beat Sasuke so quickly.
"Round two!" Kakashi announces cheerfully, signature book in full view though his eye is trained on their spar.
Sasuke squares up again once she lets Sasuke up, and the earlier confidence has given way to a wary contemplation on the Uchiha's face.
"Go!" Kakashi calls again, and no sooner has he uttered the words does Sasuke produce a massive Fireball and send it flying straight for her. Sakura kawarimis with one of the deflected shuriken, calls up three bunshin and masks her chakra before rushing Sasuke.
She weaves and changes places with the bunshin at such speeds that, without his Sharingan, Sasuke has no chance of tracking her movements, though that doesn't stop him from striking out with a wide side kick. Sakura slides under it and, in a move reminiscent of what Rock Lee had once pulled, she pushes off the ground with her hands and kicks Sasuke right in the chin with her non-injured foot, sending him flying a good two metres vertically in the air.
She follows after him, pushing off the ground while circulating chakra through her legs. As she reaches Sasuke, he tries to strike out at her with a kunai but it's so predictable she doesn't bother deigning it with a block, just grabs his wrist and knocks the knife from his hold, then uses said wrist to flip him over.
She lets Sasuke fall slightly lower than her and delivers a downward heel kick to his solar plexus, taking care to not use any chakra in the hit.
She wants Sasuke winded, not dead, after all.
Still, even with her precaution, they were only about a metre above the ground when she hit him, so Sasuke slams into the ground, dust rising and hairline cracks forming in the earth and spreading a few centimetres out from the point of impact. She feels the tiniest flicker of guilt when he wheezes, doubtless completely winded, but if she remembers anything from the Sasuke of her time, he would scorn any help she were to offer now, so she lets him pick himself back up in his own time, and when he's finally on his feet, she glances at the spot between his eyebrows, the closest to his eyes she can make herself look, and mutters only one word.
"Bunshin."
Sasuke's eyes widen and it seems he's finally caught on to what she's doing if the way his gaze darts to Kakashi is anything to go by. But even suspecting that there's only one more technique to go, nothing can prepare him for what Sakura does when Kakashi says 'go' for the third time.
Sakura herself can barely believe she's doing it, even as she brings up a mental image of the man and lets herself assume the face and outfit of Uchiha Itachi on the day of the Uchiha Massacre.
Sasuke freezes.
She can feel Kakashi's shock and absently registers Naruto's confused demands as to what she's doing, but her focus is on Sasuke.
The boy is trembling, hands shaking at his sides, then she watches as the shock melts into pure, unadulterated rage, and that is the moment she strikes.
She is within Sasuke's guard in a blink and meets his uncoordinated blows with ease, and feels a flicker of satisfaction when she notices that Sasuke's anger is making him sloppy.
More vicious, yes, but sloppy.
So it's easy, almost too easy, to add half-remembered bits of the Uchiha Style she learnt from Shisui into her attack pattern, watching as Sasuke loses a little more of his already fragile control with every move he recognises.
Within half a minute, Sasuke is red-faced, his swings beginning to look more like Naruto's brawl-like taijutsu than the polished style he usually favours, and that's when Sakura adds a touch more speed. After that, it's less than ten seconds before she's got Sasuke on the ground, right wrist pinned under her foot, and a kunai pointed at his throat.
"Henge." She says at last, drops the transformation and steps away.
"And that's a match." Kakashi calls when she turns to him, seemingly recovered from his shock, and claps his hands.
"Now, Sasuke, before you complain," he waits until the Uchiha picks himself off the ground and Sakura sees him meet Sasuke's baleful glare before he continues, "I was the one who told Sakura to only use taijutsu and the Academy Three, and seeing as she still trounced you 3-0, I expect you to show her the deserved respect. If I hear of any cases of insubordination, it'll be back to D-Ranks for a month."
"Why tell me to go all-out if you're going to give her restrictions?" Sasuke bites out, angry and humiliated, and though he's clearly revaluating her, he's too much of an Uchiha at heart to let that showing teach him any sort of humility.
"Because, you arrogant brat," Kakashi replies, voice saccharine-sweet and his fake eye-smile in place, and it takes Sakura a second to actually register his words, "she is a jounin-level kunoichi. If I'd told her to go all-out, she'd have killed you in three seconds. Allow me to demonstrate."
He beckons Sakura to the middle of the field and they stand opposite each other just like Sakura and Sasuke had not three minutes ago.
"Let's give them a show, hm, kouhai?" Kakashi asks good-naturedly, and Sakura nods. Even with the minimal instruction, she has a feeling she knows precisely what sort of 'showing' Kakashi means, and she feels an answering grin to the one she can see beneath his mask bloom on her face.
They wait until Sasuke is safely by Naruto and Sai, then, they spring.
"Holy crap!" Naruto exclaims, unable to help himself as Kaka-sensei and his new 'assistant' spring into motion. "She really went easy on you, teme!"
Sasuke grunts and there's a scowl on his face, but his eyes are wide as he, too, struggles to keep track of the sparring duo.
"It's like Kakashi-sensei said," Sai speaks up, settling down on Sasuke's left, and Naruto glances briefly at the artist before gluing his eyes back to the fight, "if a- if Sakura-san had gone all-out, we could've fit all that would have been left of Sasuke into a matchbox."
Naruto can see that, as angry and embarrassed as Sasuke is likely to be at having been beaten so thoroughly and with the Academy Three of all things, he's beginning to understand that his defeat had nothing to do with him.
Kakashi and his 'kouhai' are simply on another level.
"I don't think he moved that fast when he was fighting Zabuza." Naruto mumbles, more to himself than anything else. "I can barely freakin' see them and there's no mist this time!"
Just then, Kakashi disengages from the flurry of too-fast-to-see taijutsu and flashes through some handsigns, and the wind he produces is sharp enough to score deep marks into the bark of the trees surrounding their training grounds.
The girl seems unfazed as she flashes through her own seals and a second later, a gust of fire erupts from her mouth and Naruto notices Sasuke twitch at his side.
For some reason, the burst of fire doubles in size when it meets Kaka-sensei's jutsu and suddenly, it's their sensei who has to kawarimi out of the path of the inferno heading straight for him.
The second Kakashi's feet touch the ground on the girl's other side, he's flashing through more seals and holding his arm straight up. Suddenly, a literal lightning bolt flashes down from the sky, and Kakashi barely lets it touch him before redirecting it right where his kouhai is standing.
Naruto thinks he hears a muttered curse, then the girl makes the cross seal that forms 90% of his battle plans and the clone she makes grabs her arms and spins, throwing her a good thirty feet up, out of the path of the coming lightning bolt.
She grins, the expression visible even from as far as they are, and lets a kunai fly, heading straight for Kakashi, yet before he has a chance to throw his own to deflect it, she switches place with the blade, suddenly less than a metre from the other jounin.
Naruto winces as Kakashi's retaliatory kunai digs into the meat of her forearm but then her heel touches the ground and the world trembles.
"What the hell-!" Naruto shrieks as he scrambles to his feet and away from the cracks that form in the earth, spidering out from the literal crater that suddenly appears in the middle of their training ground, with the girl and a dusty-looking Kakashi at its epicenter.
Sasuke seems comparably shell-shocked at the level of destruction wrought by a single kick, and that, more than anything, appears to banish the remaining anger he'd felt towards Kakashi at the restrictions he'd placed on their new 'sensei' for their spar.
"I think that was sufficiently educational." They hear Kakashi laugh quietly, reaching out to ruffle the girl's short hair, and she quirks a smile and nods before they both climb out of the crater and make their way towards the three genin.
"That was insane, 'ttebayo!" Naruto cheers, because now that he knows that Kakashi-sensei is not just some crazy old man after the fight with Zabuza, seeing someone who could've, by all respects, been in the same graduating class as them match him blow-for-blow is mind-boggling. "Are you really gon' be our sensei? Really-really?"
"Be quiet, dobe." Sasuke grunts, but his earlier acid and anger are completely gone now – at least, as gone as can be for Sasuke.
"Really-really." she confirms, speaking for the first time since she'd damned Sasuke by beating him 3-0 with nothing but the Academy Three and some taijutsu, a small smile on her face, though she still won't meet their eyes for some reason. "Taicho has told me a great deal about his team, and you all sound like interesting individuals. I look forward to working with you."
Naruto's mind catches on the word 'taicho' and he gets distracted by the way Sasuke freezes by his side at the term, side-eyeing Sai for some reason.
"How about introductions? Same style as before." Kakashi proposes after a beat passes in silence, but his kouhai holds up a hand and steps towards Sasuke, and, right in front of their eyes, her hand is enveloped in a pale green sheen of chakra.
"I kicked you harder than I'd intended." She explains when Sasuke eyes her distrustfully. "Will you let me check your ribs?"
Naruto watches as Sasuke scowls, glancing at Kakashi, who just smiles like he always does, then, to Naruto's surprise, Sasuke turns to Sai.
And Sai just nods, the corner of his lips quirking up. "It'd be wise to listen to the medic."
Sasuke's scowl doesn't fade, but he nods at their new sensei and lets her do…whatever it is she means to do.
"Alright." Kakashi-sensei calls once the girl drops her hand and steps away, seemingly satisfied. "So. The introductions?"
Wonder of wonders, it's Sasuke who speaks up first.
"Uchiha Sasuke." He tells their new sensei, and he looks oddly serious. "I enjoy training. My specialisation is Uchiha Fire-style and taijutsu. My goal is to find a certain man and…ask him something."
Their new sensei twitches the slightest bit at that, a motion Naruto only catches because he hasn't looked away from her since Kakashi had spoken, but her expression doesn't change.
He grins.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he declares proudly, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "I like ramen and my team! I will be Hokage one day!" then, he realises what the other two have said and scratches his head. "Uh, I'm good at making clones and traps and stuff!"
Unlike all the other people he's made that declaration to, their new sensei merely cocks her head and nods thoughtfully.
"I'm Sai." Sai finally speaks, and the girl's eyes seem to soften as they fall on the artist. "I enjoy drawing and spending time with my siblings. I specialise in medium to long-range combat. My goal is for my family to be happy."
Naruto cocks his head at the wording, a tiny frown marring his brow as he tries to remember what was different from the first introduction he'd given.
"I'm Sakura. Despite what taicho has implied, I'm a chunin. My specialisation is mid to long-range ninjutsu and taijutsu. I enjoy reading and spending time with my brothers. My goal is…hm. My goal is to one day fight with my unit again."
Naruto doesn't bother hiding his confusion at her odd 'goal', but Kakashi interrupts before he can ask for a clarification.
"I think that'll do for today. Meet back here tomorrow at eight, and be ready to show me and my kouhai everything you've learnt since graduating."
Kakashi ruffles Sakura's hair, more for the stink-eye that gets him than anything else. "You did much better than I did on the first meeting. Well done, kouhai."
Then, before she can kick him, he shunshins to the treeline, masking his chakra immediately as he lands amid the branches.
He's seen the way Sasuke has been eyeing his kouhai since their little 'exhibition match', and he wonders what the Uchiha wants from the girl. And, more than anything, he wonders how Sakura will react to his little sourpuss Uchiha's less-than-stellar social skills.
And indeed, Sasuke lingers, waiting until Sai and Naruto disappear between the trees before he speaks.
"Sakura-san." Sasuke calls as his kouhai is about to head off, and she pauses obligingly, turning back around.
Inwardly, Kakashi is surprised that Sasuke remembered the honorific, even if it seems more like an afterthought than actual manners.
"Yes, Sasuke?" Sakura asks, and her tone is a curious mix of intrigue and careful politeness, though the latter seems almost like it's masking something. Her eyes, curiously enough, never rise higher than Sasuke's nose. "Did you need anything?"
"Why do you call Kakashi 'taicho'?" Sasuke demands, blunt as ever, and Kakashi despairs. Then, he almost topples out of his branch at Sakura's answer.
"It's what I've always called him." She replies with a shrug, offering Sasuke a tiny smile. "It feels weird to call him anything else."
"You were ANBU, then." Sasuke concludes, and Kakashi would've been surprised at his quick deduction if not for who his brother had been.
"Still am, actually." Sakura tells the Uchiha lightly, and Kakashi isn't imagining the way Sasuke's eyes widen at the news, then narrow as he scrutinizes her in silence for a few seconds.
"You knew my brother." He states, and he's not accusative, not really, but Kakashi's sure any other shinobi would've at least blinked at Sasuke's directness, but Sakura's expression merely turns a little melancholy.
"I did, although very briefly." She acknowledges, and Kakashi sits up straight.
This is news to him. She's told them about Shisui, however reluctant that had been, but she's never mentioned Itachi.
"But I was one of the first on the scene when he…left." She explains, sounding apologetic, and her smile turns sad. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Sasuke."
Kakashi goes very, very still.
But Sasuke doesn't even acknowledge her sympathy – instead, he frowns.
"Why did you henge into him?" he asks, and there's an odd note of…something in his voice. Something Kakashi can't quite decipher, but Sakura is apparently better-versed in interpreting Uchiha-speak, because she sighs.
"Half to test your mental state." She admits, quirking a wry smile which Sasuke clearly doesn't understand the reason for, but Sakura continues before he can question it. "And half to teach you something."
She flashes to just in front of Sasuke, startling him, and lays a hand on his shoulder before he can step back.
"You wear your weaknesses on your sleeve, Sasuke-kun." She tells him simply – or rather, she tells his eyebrow – her hand tightening on Sasuke's shoulder when he visibly tenses. "Literally and figuratively."
"Explain." Sasuke says, but it sounds breathless and scared, and definitely not like the demand he likely intended it to be.
"Most shinobi are not good people." Sakura replies obligingly, and Sasuke frowns at the non-sequitur. "And most are very opportunistic. If they see a weakness to exploit, a sore spot to poke, a button to push, they will. You wear yours like a target on your back."
She tugs on the high collar of Sasuke's shirt for emphasis, and Sasuke's eyes widen when he no doubt realises she's referring to the uchiwa on the back.
"I'm not saying you should renounce your heritage, or not take pride in your identity, but perhaps do so in a manner that doesn't broadcast your sore spots to any potential enemies quite so obviously, hm?" she explains, and though her tone is light, it seems Sasuke knows better than to ignore the weight behind her words.
"So, you henged into a- into him, to…teach me?" he asks, and Kakashi can see the pain it causes Sasuke to talk about his brother.
Sakura nods, and her expression is serious, her gaze heavy, the earlier lightness gone.
"Taicho has praised your taijutsu a few times." She offers, and Sasuke startles, clearly pleased by the praise, but suspicious as to its purpose.
Sakura doesn't keep him waiting.
"But, in your anger at seeing just the illusion of your brother, you fought less like the Uchiha heir and Rookie of the Year and more like a drunk civilian."
Ouch. Kakashi winces in sympathy at the way Sasuke almost flinches back at the assessment, and though it's not wrong, his kouhai clearly doesn't believe in mincing her words.
"Emotions are beautiful, and they can move and motivate and touch the deepest places in our hearts, but you can't let yourself be ruled by them, Sasuke. What you feel, that's yours – you shouldn't let somebody else take advantage of your feelings."
"So, not reject emotion, but…hide it?" Sasuke checks, and he looks more contemplative than angry or indignant now. "Like you and Sai do?"
That seems to be a curveball Sakura wasn't expecting, because she takes a moment longer to reply than before.
"…I beg your pardon?"
If Sasuke were anyone else, Kakashi is willing to bet he would've rolled his eyes. As it is, his lip curls up the slightest bit, as if pleased with himself to have been able to surprise Sakura.
"You and Sai. You seem genuine and straightforward, but I have no idea if what you say is what you mean." Then, Sasuke scoffs and looks away. "Kakashi does it too, but at least he's obvious about it."
Though he can only see her profile, Kakashi gets the distinct impression that Sakura is collecting herself. As if she doesn't quite know what to say to that.
"I…can only speak for myself," she begins hesitantly, and Sasuke seems surprised she's actually addressing his accusation, "but after you've been a shinobi for long enough, a certain degree of subterfuge becomes second nature."
Sasuke mulls over that for a bit, then something both curious and a little cruel flits through his eyes.
"And how long have you been a shinobi?" he presses, and Kakashi isn't certain what he's trying to achieve with the question. Has he found a new yardstick to measure himself by? Is he comparing Sakura to Itachi? Or is he simply hoping to get under Sakura's skin the same way she got under his?
It seems Sakura has the same thought process, or she thinks less kindly of Sasuke than Kakashi does, because her smile turns sharp, and for the first time since their introduction, she meets Sasuke's gaze without hesitation.
"The first time I killed a man, I was six years old." She says blandly, the reply cruel in its simplicity, and her hand finally falls from Sasuke's shoulder when he flinches back in surprise. "Extrapolate from that what you will."
And then, without so much as a breeze or a puff of smoke to betray her, she disappears.
Well, Kakashi thinks as he watches Sasuke collect himself before he leaves, that could've gone better.