Hi, everyone :)
This chapter starts off right after the last one when Sakura fell asleep with the pack around her. It feels a bit too filler-ish to me but I wanted a bit of a change of pace before things start picking up again and we dive into the hugeass time skips. I also wanted to bring some characters back into scene hehe
I posted this on friday night at the same time I posted on AO3 (like I usually do) but for some reason the chapter didn't upload! It was even green for me, saying it had uploaded and showed up in my story stats and all but when I went to check it wasn't there then I spent like an hour today trying to update this version of it and it was being really stubborn... I'm sorry about that! You guys are a day behind AO3 now :(
Enjoy!
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Sakura woke up with a headache and with fur inside her mouth. It was barely dawn but Hideki and Misaki were already quietly playing, their snickering heard from across the clearing. Sakura stretched, pinching some of Tamotsu's fur and kicking Kaede accidentally in the process.
"Good! You're awake," Hotaka called out while he made his way to where Sakura was sitting up and rubbing her hands against her face. "The pup just came back to the village through the eastern barrier. The pack was thinking of going over there to say hello before heading out."
Sakura grumbled and nodded her head at the wolf, barely awake.
The pack was annoyingly chipper at such an early time of the day but Kaede kept to her left, quietly telling her through her mind the silent signals the pack was passing. It was weirdly easy to move with them. She fit well in their middle, taking point with Hotaka to her right and Kaede to her left.
Kakashi and Tenzo were moving towards the entrance to headquarters that was designed as a rock when they reached them. Tenzo turned towards them with horrified eyes before he seemed to recognise her and Kakashi merely waved.
The twins seemed to be too tired to engage him and Kimi was the only one that went up to him to lick at his glove covered hands. It was the first time Sakura realised Kakashi was wearing the ANBU uniform.
He looked taller and more imposing for some reason and it took Sakura a while to figure out why. He wasn't slouching. His posture was lazy as ever but his spine was straight with tension like he was expecting to be attacked even while inside the village. Sakura could definitely relate.
"Your wolves are insane, Hatake." Sakura glared at him even as her lips flirted with a smile. She kneeled before each of the wolves and took care of their injuries while Tenzo spluttered in the background.
"They're your wolves now, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said over his partner's voice. Usually that would come with a fake smile and overly bright tone, but that day Sakura was seeing a different Kakashi. His voice was light enough but there was something about it that made Sakura's spine stiffen in response, his face—already without the porcelain mask just like Tenzo's but still with its extra cloth protection—held tension that made her pause.
Hotaka bumped his head against his middle and Sakura watched as Kakashi seemed to relax a bit, some of the tension in his posture bleeding out.
"Did everything go okay with your mission?" She asked them both but looking only at Tenzo now. Her taichou smiled at her.
"I think our night went better than yours, Sakura." He looked a little worried, his eyebrow crinkling in the middle as he took on the state of her ruined ANBU undershirt. "It looks like you were mauled by a bear… No offence."
Sakura snorted.
"Not a bear, no," she said with a cheery smile, "Tamotsu."
She pointed with a hand towards the giant wolf. Tamotsu whimpered high on his throat, his head bowing in anxiety and Sakura tried to soothe him. She tried to project her thoughts towards him, how it was okay, she was okay, don't worry. With steady hands, she smoothed the fur on his neck.
"Alright," Hotaka said, "We just came to say goodbye. I hope we see each other soon, pup." He bit the black material of Kakashi's pants in a bit of teasing reproach.
Sakura vowed that she would make that happen.
"We'll see, Taka-ojisan." Kakashi gave him one of his non committal replies, making Kimi huff.
"Sakura-hime," Hotaka bumped his head on her shoulder and Sakura smoothed her hand over his scarred forehead without thought. "Call us again soon so we can train more, okay? We still have a lot to teach you."
"Hai, hai," She waved a hand to the others and smiled. "Let's hope I don't almost die again, ne?"
There was a chorus of "See you son, Sakura-hime!" while Sakura rested her head against Kaede's in goodbye. The young wolf gave her a cheeky lick on the cheek before giving her a cheeky wolf-smile. As one, the pack disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sakura coughed at the chakra-heavy smoke and waved a hand in front of her to dissipate some of it. Goddamn it, she was tired.
"Taichou…" She looked at Tenzo then, a mocking pout on her lips. "Are you sure you wanna have the training session today?"
Tenzo laughed and shook his head but Sakura could see the slightest of blushes on his cheeks.
"Noon, taichou," he answered. "Sharp."
Sakura sighed in defeat, preparing to go now. They probably were in as much a hurry to get their reports in and catch some shuteye as she was to get into her bed.
"Sakura-hime?" Tenzo asked, surprising her. "Do you think that's going to catch?" He turned towards Kakashi.
"Well, she is the Senju heir," Kakashi answered with a shrug. "Seems fitting, doesn't it? We should start the rumour."
Sakura gaped at them both, surprised to see them teasing like that but also a bit appalled at the notion that people would start going around calling her Sakura-hime.
"Don't you dare," she threatened after coming back to herself, eyes narrowing at the two men-children in front of her. Completely giving up on Kakashi, she turned to Tenzo. "Tenzo-taichou, be reasonable."
"Don't worry, Sakura." Tenzo laughed and Sakura narrowed her eyes at him a moment longer before joining in. She figured he wouldn't say a thing. Kakashi though…
"Well, I'm going to head home to gather some strength for this unavoidable training session," Sakura said, giving Tenzo a pointed look in hope that he would take the hint. He didn't.
They gave each other their final goodbyes and Sakura shunshined away leaving a cloud of cherry blossoms behind. When she got to her house, she didn't even bother looking for Tsunade, just stripped off all her gear and passed out belly-down on her newly bought queen-sized bed.
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The training session was gruelling as usual, but Tenzo took pity on them and ended it just a few short hours later. Sakura plopped tiredly on the ground and waited until Genma sat down on the base of a tree before half crawling half dragging herself towards him.
He laughed at her antics and offered her the water bottle he'd been drinking from. Sakura groaned her thanks and gulped down its contents in seconds before resting her head on Genma's lap.
The others had come to sit around them and were drinking from their own bottles of water laughing at Sakura's misery. Genma started carting his fingers through the messy flyaways from her braid and Sakura closed her eyes, completely content.
"Did you know Sakura's summons call her Sakura-hime?" Tenzo asked when Sakura was about to fall asleep. She gasped and opened her eyes to shoot him a look.
"Traitor!" She couldn't believe she'd been so wrong in her assessment of his personality to assume he wouldn't say anything to their friends.
"Since when do you have summons?" Yugao asked, an amused smile on her pretty face.
"Since yesterday," Sakura grumbled but it was mostly for show.
"She has giant wolves," Tenzo said. "Giant Hatake wolves."
"No way," Genma looked at her, shock clear on his face. "He gave you his father's pack?"
Sakura shrugged, but she knew full well how momentous it was. She wondered how well Team Ro knew Kakashi, if they only got to see the façade he put on for ANBU or if they'd truly known the man behind the mask. Genma had been in his graduating class, she remembered. He was a few years older than the Copy Ninja but she figured they looked familiar enough with each other.
"He gave it to me as a jounin graduation gift. Yesterday," Sakura answered, hoping they would commiserate with her at how ridiculous it was that she got her present five months late.
"In my graduation he gave me a pack of kunai," Yugao pouted.
Sakura was in the middle of laughing at her teammates' barely hidden jealousy when a voice interrupted her.
"You were never my student like Sakura, Kohai-chan."
Kakashi was standing on a branch on the tree next to the one they were leaning against. His eyebrow was raised as if to say, "You're all elite ninja and none of you noticed me here?" But he didn't voice that thought.
Sakura immediately sat up, feeling a bit like she was caught red-handed but she had no idea why. Kakashi's eyes took in the scene before him as the others greeted him with various degrees of excitement.
She wondered if he saw how comfortable she was with her team. Carefree and trusting in a way she never really had been with Team 7. Back then she was always feeling like she had something to prove, be it that she was worthy of Sasuke or even that she deserved to be placed in dai-nana-han.
She noticed Kakashi surreptitiously take in her messy hair and the way Genma casually tugged on the tail of her braid to get her to lay back down, on the way Yugao was absentmindedly massaging the muscles of Sakura's calf when she put them on her lap. Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly and pointedly snuggled back into Genma's lap. She had nothing to prove to him.
"We were thinking about going over to Yakiniku Q for dinner, senpai," Tenzo said, breaking Sakura out of her reverie. "Do you want to join us?"
"Yeah, Hatake, come with us," Genma insisted before he could say no. "It's been a while since I managed to catch you around the village."
"You'll see me tonight at the Rusty Kunai." Kakashi smiled behind his mask and dropped down from the tree so they could all see each other better. "Gai's kid's birthday, remember? He's been hounding me about this as soon as I came back."
"Wait, what?" Sakura sat up straight again, this time slapping Genma's hand away when he tugged on her braid. Then she immediately felt bad about it and caught it in hers before he could retreat. "Which kid?"
"His carbon copy," Genma answered.
"Shit," Sakura said, slapping her free hand on her forehead. "I forgot it was Lee's birthday. Shit, shit, shit."
Sakura started gathering her things, clipping her forgotten mask to her belt and sheathing her tanto.
"Oh, yeah," Genma drawled, stretching lazily as he got up too. "I forgot you used to train with the kid."
"I did and, oh my God, I haven't even seen him in so long!" Sakura hurriedly took her hair out of its messy braid to put it up in a slightly less messy bun. "I have to run and see if Tenten's shop is still open."
"Calm down, Petal," Genma laughed and took a hold of her arm. Sakura fought the urge to glare at how tidy his ponytail was. He always put his hair up when in ANBU gear and somehow always looked ready for a date even when he was supposed to look disgusting like she did. "I got Gai a gift for his birthday that I never got around to giving to him. You can have it."
"What did you get?" Sakura asked, suddenly hopeful. Genma shrugged.
"A tiny green suit." Genma shrugged. "It was a gag gift."
Sakura smacked her forehead again, feeling it sting from continuous abuse.
"Genma!" Sakura tried to look crossed but she couldn't help a little huff of a laugh. The others joined in.
"I bought a new collapsible bo staff," Yugao offered. "You can take it and then get another one for me whenever you can, Wolfie-chan."
"Senpai." Sakura crouched to grab both sides of the woman's face. "You're a lifesaver. I owe you big time."
Yugao laughed and waved her off, her cheeks slightly red.
"Don't worry about it!"
They all left the training grounds a few moments later, her team scheduling to meet up in half an hour and Kakashi promising he wouldn't be too late for Lee's birthday. Sakura felt her heart full in a way it hadn't been in a long time.
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Sakura went back to the estate just long enough to shower and change out of her ANBU uniform. She put on her mid-thigh lycra shorts and a matching long-sleeved shirt, strapped on her pouches, grabbed her haori and was out the door in less than fifteen minutes. Ino would kill her when she saw that she was basically wearing her uniform.
She didn't let her hair finish drying and instead weaved it into her usual braid as she made her way to Yakiniku Q. Usually she'd wear her hitai-ate on her forehead but after so long working with ANBU, it didn't feel comfortable anymore.
It wasn't like most people in the village didn't know who she was, anyway.
Sakura slid into a booth next to Genma across from Tenzo and Yugao. She wasn't surprised that Kakashi wasn't there. Still, it was annoying that the tiniest bit of disappointment coiled itself on her belly.
They were both the ones left behind. They were what was left of Team 7. Sakura had found comfort in Team Ro, she had found companionship and care and support. She wished his history with Team Ro would be enough to make him stay.
Despite her increasingly depressive thoughts, the meal was perfect. Like any other team meeting, there was a lot of teasing and laughter, most of it surrounding her newfound nickname, Sakura-hime. She left with her arms wrapped around one of Genma's and together they made their way towards the Rusty Kunai.
The place was bustling with activity, the Rookie 9 plus Team Gai were in one corner with Genma's friends in the other and the few other unlucky patrons were being pushed around by the rowdiness of the two groups. It looked like everyone had gotten started a while back.
"Who're you looking to score tonight?" Genma wiggled his eyebrows at her, his senbon bobbing between his teeth.
"Don't be crass." Sakura sniffed, faking primness she had long since shed. Genma laughed and she smirked in response.
He liked to tease that the best day of his life was when she told him she'd lost her virginity, Genma thought she'd make the best wingman in history when she was old enough. And he was right. The two of them often set each other up with pre-approved companions for the night, be it in ANBU or outside the village. Sakura especially liked setting him up with ninja-hungry civilians, the stories she made up for him were always fun to spin.
"Yeah, I guess the crowd tonight is a bit young for your tastes." Genma nodded, his eyes scanning the place as they pushed their way forward to reach their respective friends.
That wasn't entirely true. It wasn't that Sakura actively sought out older guys, it was just that the few Genma had thrown her way that were her age were too… innocent. They didn't have any understanding behind their eyes when talking about missions, the bright shine and idealism in their eyes always present and most of them didn't even compensate with being adequately experienced in bed. Shinsei may have spoiled her a bit during their one week together.
Sakura couldn't connect with any of them and even when she really forced herself, she couldn't enjoy the experience as much as they seemed to.
"Who are you looking to score?" Sakura asked instead of answering. Just because they would spend the night in opposite corners of the bar didn't mean she couldn't perform her duties as wingwoman.
"Knowing how Gai can be, I'll probably be too drunk to do anything tonight." Genma laughed.
"Oi, Genma!" Ebisu called from their right, waving his arms frantically in the air and almost hitting the people he was with on the table. "Over here!"
Sakura snickered and raised a bit on her feet to place a kiss on Genma's cheek.
"Good luck." She smiled when Genma flicked her on the forehead. "Come find me if you need help getting home."
Sakura didn't spare their table a second look but she thought she'd seen a flash of white hair in the corner of her eye. Kakashi had beat them there. They were really late.
Sakura hurried over to her friends and was soon swept away in their drunken antics. Lee, although thankfully sober, seemed to be drunk on the environment, crying over her present, hugging everyone who came within two meters of him and singing loudly to whatever songs were playing.
Ino was talking Sakura's ear off, something about her not getting any if she chose to always be wearing her uniform on a night out, when Sakura noticed someone standing next to Shikamaru by the darts.
"Temari-san!" Sakura waved her hand in the air.
The blonde girl turned her head to look and immediately shot her a pleased smile when she recognised her. Despite having talked about meeting whenever Temari came over to help with the Chunin Exams, they had never gotten the chance.
Sakura was sent on so many missions at that time that the short week Temari had been in Konoha went by without them meeting once. Over the years, they had kept up with each other through correspondence but they had never gotten too deep in their discussions. Since Sakura's life had been solely turned towards her career as a kunoichi and Temari's was about helping her brother in his role as Kazekage, the not confidential topics they could discuss were very small.
Still, Sakura would consider the blonde girl a friend.
"Hi, Sakura!" The blonde surprised Sakura by punching her on the shoulder. "I can't believe it's this hard to find you around your own village, you bitch."
Sakura laughed at the complete lack of formality. It seemed Temari was already on her way to being drunk and, really, Sakura wasn't all that far behind. She was already on her third bottle of sake.
"I'm being kept busy by Tsunade-shishou." Sakura shrugged.
"Sakura and Neji are the only ones who made jounin so far," Shikamaru explained, leaning closer so he could be heard. "We barely see the two of them."
Sakura raised an eyebrow not at what he was saying but at how close the two of them were. She caught Temari's eyes and was surprised when the slightest of flushes dusted her tanned cheeks. Sakura barked a laugh. Seems like dear Shika-kun had finally made a move. Although, knowing the two of them, it was more probable that Temari had been the one to push for more.
Good for them.
"Psht!" Ino waved her hand around, going for dismissive but settling somewhere between maniac and apoplectic. "We see more of Neji's great shiny hair than Sakura! The girl is a ghost!"
Sakura smiled at her drunk friend and pulled her into a sideways hug.
"I'm a busy girl, Ino-chan." She laughed at Ino's indignant squawk at the honorific. "Now, tell me more about Neji's great, shiny hair."
The night went on and Sakura was content in her little corner, standing a bit away from where most of the Konoha 11 were causing a big ruckus. She was well into drunk territory, leaning against the bar and watching her friends with a nostalgic smile on her face.
It really had been too long since she'd gotten together with any of them. Ever since she made jounin and even a bit before that, she barely had time to invest in her social life. Sometimes Ino managed to kidnap her between missions to hang out with the girls or something but with most of her missions nowadays being ANBU, she couldn't easily find her around the village anymore.
It wasn't that she was completely alone. Team Ro always made an effort to get together after a mission or training session and she had taken to spending much of her time in headquarters. She always had lunch there when she was around the village, either with someone from her team or some of her students.
It was just that she missed the simplicity of the Konoha 11. And god dammit, she missed her boys so much.
"It gets to be a bit too much at times, doesn't it?" Neji said, startling Sakura out of her depressive thoughts. She knew there had been someone moving towards her but she was surprised they had decided to talk to her, even more so when she realised who it was.
Neji was wearing his traditional hakama and kimono set with his pouches on, just like Sakura. He didn't look drunk but there was a certain flush to his cheeks that could be either that or because of the heat inside the bar. He turned his head slightly to the side when Sakura didn't answer right away.
"I guess I'm just not used to it anymore," Sakura replied at last, her voice calm and not really betraying how drunk she was. She offered him a tiny, a bit self-deprecating smile before turning back around to watch Ino shamelessly flirt with both Kiba and Shino at the same time and Temari laugh at something Shikamaru had said.
"How's ANBU?" Neji asked, his deep voice completely unbothered, as if he hadn't just asked her about something confidential. Sakura simply blinked at him but he didn't bother to wait for a reply. "Everyone knows it, Haruno, or at least highly suspect it. Especially the jounin. Did you know it's common for new jounin to take missions together? It's so we can get used to each other's fighting style since unless you were from the same genin team, most of us don't know each other very well. Mozuku and I have been in almost five missions together, none of them with you."
Mozuku was the sweet TI guy who had made jounin with Neji and Sakura. And no, she didn't know it was common for newbie jounin to do that, even though it made sense. There wasn't much she could really tell him, though, so Sakura just smiled at him, a bit more familiarly than she would be normally.
"You're chatty tonight, Neji." She winked cheekily at him and was only satisfied when his cheeks flushed darker. She wondered how much darker she could make them. "You know, Ino was right, your hair really is great and shiny."
Neji seemed to choke a bit on his next breath and Sakura pressed further.
"You know, you and Ino both have great hair. I'm sure if you want some company for later, she'll love to talk about that…" Sakura smirked when Neji visibly composed himself, averted his eyes from hers and raised his chin a bit.
"Don't be boorish." Sakura barked a laugh at how similar he was reacting to when she'd mockingly replied to Genma earlier in the night.
"I'm just teasing, Hyuga," Sakura raised her hands in a sign of backing off and bumped her shoulder with his. She didn't want to actually upset the guy. He rolled his pale eyes but Sakura had enough experience with the sullen and silent type to know what that slight twitch of his lips meant. He was amused.
"Besides," he shrugged, "I'm almost certain my night will end in getting all of team Gai to their houses safely. I doubt they will remember how."
Sakura hummed and thanked the bartender when he placed the bottle of sake she had asked for earlier. With a bit of a stretch, she grabbed another cup for Neji from behind the bar and poured for him.
"I imagine that's how my night is going to end too." Sakura smiled at him when he returned the favour and they both clinked their glasses. "Kanpai."
"Kanpai," he echoed.
They drank in silence for a while, quietly observing their friends' antics. They seemed to be losing steam, finally, some of them had passed out already. With a quick look towards Genma's side, Sakura saw that he and Ebisu were both leaning against each other. The others at the table were either talking loudly over each other or passed out. Gai was face-down on top of the table and Anko was drawing something on the seat of his spandex suit.
"I miss Naruto."
Sakura's breath stuttered in her chest. She was surprised by the statement but also at how much it hurt. It felt like a punch to the gut. One of Shishou's.
"I do too," Sakura murmured, not being able to muster anything more than that.
"I can't imagine what you went through, losing your team like that." Neji shrugged and finished his drink. "I admire you, Haruno. Not many would have been able to come back from that, let alone someone with a civilian background. And yet here you are, one of the most important people in the village. You're the true example that Naruto was right, our destinies depend only on us."
Sakura stared at him but when he turned his head towards her, she couldn't hold his stare. She swirled the last of her sake on her cup before downing it.
"I don't know about being one of the most important people in the village, Neji-san," Sakura scoffed, trying to think of ways to move on from this topic.
"Maybe not today, but there will come a time when the village will look at our generation for guidance and you'll be there, the Hokage's apprentice, the Senju apparent heir, a kunoichi that climbed the ranks faster than any of her peers." Neji smiled then and Sakura was struck by how different that simple act changed everything about him. "People will start realising that pretty soon, I imagine."
Sakura gave a breathy little laugh, not really sure how to reply. She shook her head a little and Neji's smile grew.
"You became a jounin when I did," she chose to remind him. Neji shook his head and some of his hair brushed Sakura's hand where it rested on the bartop. It was only then that she realised it wasn't being held in his usual loose ponytail.
"You're on another level where you are," he said simply. And really, he was right. Nothing quite compared to ANBU. She just wished that she could find the words to tell him that there shouldn't be this much yearning for it in his voice. In the end, she couldn't say more, they really weren't close and alcohol was seriously muddling her thoughts. "I think I'm going to rescue Gai-sensei now."
Sakura turned to follow his gaze. Anko had probably gotten bored and had moved on to climb Ebisu. Quite literally climb him like a tree. Genma was laughing uproariously at something she was saying and poor Ebisu's face was so red, Sakura feared for his blood pressure. Kakashi was grabbing Gai by the back of his vest.
"I think Kakashi has it handled." She pointed with her chin towards where Lee was crying and singing at the same time while sitting on top of Tenten's shoulders. "You should help those two get home."
Sakura placed her cup on the bar and started to leave. She didn't know what exactly stopped her, but she turned around to shoot a small smile towards Neji.
"I hope we can go on missions in the future, Hyuga." Sakura gave him a small wave. "Take care of everyone, okay?"
She had already turned to leave when she heard him reply.
"I hope so too, Haruno. Take care of yourself."
Sakura reached Genma just as he was beginning to slide down the side of the booth, his legs no longer able to support him with how hard he was laughing. Anko was still making a scene with Ebisu and Ino's sensei was the only one to see her hold him up. Kakashi was already halfway out of the bar.
"C'mon, old man," Sakura grunted with effort, her whole world tipping sideways, as she ducked beneath Genma's arm to support him. "Let's go home already."
"Blossom, as my good old friend Gai would say, the you—!" Genma stopped mid sentence, his face palling considerably as he took a huge gulp of air. Then burped.
"I swear to fuck, Shiranui, you make me clean up your puke again and I'll shove my fist so far up your ass…" Sakura started threatening but was interrupted by a sharp bark of laughter. It was Ino's sensei. Apparently he'd gotten up when he had seen she was trying to help Genma and came closer while she was distracted.
"Need help, kid?" He pointed with his chin towards Genma and Sakura turned her head at him just enough so she could see that her best friend had his eyes closed as he took deep breaths. Sakura rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Asuma.
"That's okay, Asuma-san," Sakura said, shaking her head but quickly aborting the movement because it made her world spin. "I, uh, I got him."
Asuma was already shaking his head and moving towards Genma's other side to duck beneath his arm and take most of his weight.
"It's fine, I was already heading home too."
Sakura didn't bother pointing out that his beer bottle on the table was still full and that Kurenai-san didn't exactly seem like she was ready to leave. It was obvious that the two of them had something, even though they tried hard to hide it. Ino was such a gossip and she made sure to keep Sakura in the loop of every single detail that popped up.
"Do you mind?" Asuma asked when they finally got through the crowd and left the bar. He was waving a packet of cigarettes in the air so she could see it.
"Not at all," Sakura said. "Can I have one?"
Asuma narrowed his eyes at her for a minute while he lit his cigarette one-handed. He shrugged then, almost sending Genma to the floor and handed the pack and the lighter over.
"Ah, shit man, yeah. You're a jounin and not my kid," he muttered to himself and Sakura laughed.
"You're a medic!" Genma exclaimed, seemingly having recovered from his bout of sickness. "You can't smoke."
"I'm a medic!" Sakura mimicked, taking a drag before passing everything back to Asuma. "I can heal my lungs."
And while that was true it wasn't like she needed to. Smoking had become natural during her time with Shinsei and while she didn't keep it up as a habit, it was something she enjoyed when she was drunk. Or after sex, sometimes.
"Just don't tell Hatake, alright kid?" Asuma grumbled as they trudged up the slight slope that would send them towards the main street. Sakura snorted. She wouldn't normally comment on this, but she was drunk and her lips were loose and the nicotine was making her fingers tingly.
"Look, Kakashi and I are not like Lee and Gai, okay?" Sakura waved the hand that wasn't clutching at Genma's back around and took another drag before the word vomit began. "I mean sure, it's cute that he considers me, you know, pack, and gave me his father's wolves but like? You know? He was never a good teacher to me. Or a teacher, period. He never looked at me like his kid and we never had real bonding moments like he had with S-Sasuke-kun and—oh, wow, I called him Sasuke-kun. Hadn't done that in a while." Sakura hiccuped. "Then okay, we're—we're family, I guess. Pack. 'Cause he's Team 7 and I'm Team 7 and that means we stick together. That's the only thing he really taught me, you know."
Sakura took a deep breath. She didn't remember being this drunk. She took another drag and then glared at the cigarette in her hands. Stupid nicotine had made her drunker.
"Flower," Genma said as he brought his hand towards her head to smush it closer to him. His words were still slurring more than hers, she noticed, feeling victorious over it for some reason. "Hatake taught you how to tree walk."
Sakura scoffed and waved her hand in the air so hard the cigarette flew from her fingers.
"I got it on my first try, that was hardly teaching," Sakura mumbled and interrupted herself with a yawn. She blinked at the apartment complex in relief. Thank god they got there and she didn't need to embarrass herself in front of Ino's sensei anymore.
"Thanks, man, we got it from here." Genma pushed away from Asuma, putting more weight on Sakura in the process. She swore loudly and used chakra to overcompensate the jellyness of her limbs. Maybe a little too much chakra because her feet cracked the ground where she dug her heels.
"Oops," she said.
"I'll get you upstairs and then take Sakura home." Asuma was considerably less drunk than either of them but even he couldn't hide the slur of his sentence.
"Sakura's staying here, it's fine," Genma said and waved his hand, preparing to go.
"I think it'll be faster if we go up the wall," Sakura pouted at Genma's window which he always left open whenever he was in the village. "Come on, we're ANBU, I think we can handle some wall climbing, old man."
"ANBU?" Asuma said in surprise and then fumbled to catch his cigarette before it fell. Shit, was she not supposed to say that? "Oh, yeah. I remember during the jounin exams…"
Well. Classified information leakage averted.
"She's our co-captain." Genma hugged the arm still around her shoulders closer to him, smashing Sakura in the forehead with his chin in the process. "Next month, she'll be a fully fledged captain! I just hope she doesn't leave us then…" He pouted and Sakura was shocked out of her drunken stupor by the tears in his eyes.
"You're just like Gai-sensei, aren't you?" Sakura patted his chest in comfort and tried to centre herself enough to make the jump to his balcony. "Alright, time for sleep. Say bye-bye to Asuma-san, Gen-chan."
Genma pouted at her and started going on about being treated like a child and if she was going to keep doing that the least she could do was breastfeed him.
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What do you think? Too much like a filler episode? Some things are quite important in this chapter, I would say there's a lot of foreshadowing in this one even though it feels a bit like I wrote a chapter about nothing haha This was originally supposed to be one huge chapter along with next week's update but I just felt like they were too different and would stand better apart. Do let me know what your favourite part of this one was!
Btw, did you guys notice I managed to update on every friday for like... over a month?! I'm just so fucking proud of myself, I've never managed to write this much and this consistently. I gotta be honest, I didn't think I could do it and that's why I never even mentioned it to you guys to be on the lookout for a new chapter, especially cause I still haven't quite gotten the hang of updating during a set time... Well, that can be my next goal, I guess! For now, help me create a name for our lucky fridays like Update Friday? New Chapter Friday? I dunno, I'm too sleepy to keep going haha it's almost Saturday!
I was wondering if you guys would prefer I update every two weeks with a longer chapter? I don't really keep tabs on how long a chapter is before I update, I mainly divide things by how they feel and how they should be read but I know it can get a bit frustrating to only receive a bit of the story at times. What do you guys think?
Yo, deadass? You guys are fucking wonderful. I love y'all so much and I don't think you'll ever realise how much you make my day better. I'm really behind on answering reviews but you guys know by now that I love replying to each individually without giving a general "thank you :)" like some authors do and that takes time. Time that it's currently being used to write a lot every week .' I'm currently SWAMPED by uni stuff so I probably won't be able to reply to them before the end of the month but I swear I'll try my best. I totally understand if you get discouraged by this and decide not to comment until I have time but it would mean the world to me if you can keep giving me feedback until then!
Oh, and Happy Halloween :)
Much love, J
P.S.: Don't forget to come and say hi to me over on Tumblr, I'm justjstuff over there ;-)