Chapter 6
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Human beings are flexible. They adjust. Konoha rebuilds, it buries the last of its dead. Names are etched into the memorial stone and the missions office opens up once again, overseen by the Godaime Hokage.
Team 7 falls into a rhythm of shared space and chores. Sasuke still does most of them. Sakura would still rather scrub the bathtub than do dishes. Naruto still buys toilet paper in bulk. Kakashi still checks in and mooches off their dinner. They still plan for that and make enough for four.
Sakura doesn't go back to training with Sasuke.
It doesn't bother me, he tells himself with a bitter edge to his inner voice. If anything, it's better this way. She's not wasting his time, needing corrections to her form. She's not around to sulk and be worried over. She's certainly not fawning all over him.
It's terrible, but Sasuke prefers her this way; she's not so annoying.
He tells himself that he doesn't hate the voice in his head that says these things. But he does. He hates himself a little more every day.
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With the mission office open, the possibility of freedom makes Naruto itch. He wants to go out into the world and do something. It's better than sitting around waiting. What he's waiting for, he's not even sure, but it's the way he feels: stuck.
So at 10am on the dot he leaps from bed and runs into the kitchen to find Sakura searching through the cabinets and Sasuke reading a newspaper. Like the nerd he is.
Naruto makes a face. "OKAY EVERYBODY! Up and at'em, we're getting a mission."
"Sakura and I have been up since 6," Sasuke grunts and retreats behind the newspaper again.
The hyperactive boy clears his throat to hide his embarrassment, "Yeah well, who cares! I wanna go out and kick some ass."
Sakura closes the cabinet and glances at Sasuke while scowling, "Let's go," she agrees firmly, with steel in her eyes. "Anything to get out of here for a while."
Naruto takes this quip at face value, but Sasuke looks at her over the top of the paper and frowns.
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"Alright! Now that's what I'm talking about. A B-rank mission!"
"Settle down Naruto," Kakashi says airily.
"We're just transporting a scroll. We might as well be a mail service," Sakura complains. This is unlike her, she's generally agreeable and positive when it comes to their assignments, whatever they may be. She never once complained about being the one to protect the client.
The envoy carrying the scroll, doesn't seem pleased about being reduced to "mail". As ambassador for Konoha, Arakawa Shinji has been tasked with carrying a treaty co-signed by Lady Tsunade and the Council to Sand. It is to be signed, copied and returned to the village.
This is an important mission and Sasuke sort of can't believe it's been given to his team. Something like this should have been handled by ANBU or a Jounin protective detail. It makes him think that something else is going on. With the way Sakura is side-eyeing Arakawa, Sasuke thinks she must be equally suspicious.
His skin itches, he feels like they're being watched.
It would usually take three days to get to Suna, but they're travelling with a civilian emissary, so it will take five. They're avoiding towns and villages along the way to avoid being seen, so this time is spent mostly camping.
Sasuke doesn't mind. He likes the fresh air, the smell of woodsmoke and the alertness this offers. When they camp out, he's always aware of where each member of his team is. It's a soothing feeling.
On the first night, Sasuke builds the fire, like he always does. Naruto loudly proclaims that he'll go catch them something to eat.
"No!" Sakura shouts, before covering her mouth, like the words escaped without her permission. After a long pause she swallows and says with more strength, "I… I'll go find us something."
This is a small upheaval of their status quo. Team 7 has always had a pattern when it came to mission duties. They all found firewood, Sasuke built the fire, Naruto would use his shadow clones to overwhelm some fish, squirrels, rabbits or once, even a dear. Sakura always cooks their dinner. Kakashi naps. It's the way of things.
Sasuke wants to protest. He does not want to each whatever berries Sakura manages to find. And even if she does find something worth eating, he won't touch it if Naruto's cooking it. A mouthful of raw meat is a mistake one doesn't repeat twice (and that time, he'd had access to appliances!).
"Sure thing Sakura!" Naruto acquiesces too easily these days. He knows that he's just trying to make up for their fight, but it's frustrating. They can't handle her with kid gloves the rest of their lives. Certainly it's not what he wanted when he was in her place.
But he's got to stop comparing them. It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing at all. That's his whole point.
It strikes him then, that he's prepared to deal with Team 7 the rest of his life. And that is a dangerous supposition.
People leave, people die. People have goals that must be accomplished. Sasuke reminds himself that that should be his focus and he tries unsuccessfully to harden his heart against them. His failure is a long foregone conclusion. Perhaps it's habit, but he tries anyway.
Two hours later, Naruto's stomach is rumbling so loudly that Sasuke can hear it across the clearing. Arakawa has fallen into a doze on top of his sleeping bag and Kakashi flips through his book, unconcerned. Sakura still isn't back.
Sasuke sighs like he's taken the measure of the world, apparently it will fall to him to make sure Sakura hasn't fallen down a pit or gotten lost or anything. He stands up just as the rustling of leaves can be heard and promptly sits down.
Sakura's short hair has a twig in it, she's got scrapes on her arms and matching smudges of dirt on her nose and knees. But in her hands are two plump rabbits and when she turns out her pockets there's enough seeds, nuts and mushrooms for a meal.
Naruto only complains about the mushrooms a little bit.
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What they don't see is that Sakura tracked one rabbit to its burrow. She collapsed it and tearfully dragged them out. Her hands shook as she withdrew a senbon and drove it through their eyes. She sobbed for half an hour afterwards.
Sakura couldn't help wondering if there were any little baby bunnies around, missing their parents.
She ate very little that night, and none of the meat.
When it was her turn to take watch, she relieved Kakashi-sensei and waited a few minutes before unwrapping a ration. They were awful, tasteless and had a weird texture. Team 7 almost never ate them if they could help it.
She ripped tiny pieces off of the gelatinous, lumpy protein bar and chewed with a sour expression, trying to keep it off her tongue. She needed water to get it down.
Desperate, she woke Naruto early for his watch and dashed into the forest to pee.
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The next morning they set out again. Kakashi leads the way, Naruto right behind him. Sasuke likes to bring up the rear. This leaves Sakura and Arakawa keeping pace with each other. He tries to engage her in conversation, sensing (incorrectly) that she's the most approachable of the group. She's not in the mood to be social.
Instead, she gazes up at the canopy above and listens.
The leaves quiver in the breeze and a forest tune fills her mind. The sun on her face is warm and the twinge in her gut calms for a little while.
Naruto fills the gap, as he's prone to doing. He can find something to talk about with basically anyone. Sakura is grateful. Practiced ears can tune him out and very little is required of her now. She's left to pay attention to the world itself.
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Sasuke's paranoia reaches its height with the sun. By noon he's whipping around at every suspicious rustle.
Naruto laughs when he throws a kunai and misses a hummingbird by a hair's breadth.
If there is one thing a shinobi must always do, it's trust his instincts. Sasuke has complete and utter faith in himself. It isn't ego, it's experience. There is something in the forest.
His neck is on a swivel, chin tilted up, towards the sun. By the end of the day, his nose is sunburned and he looks like he's fighting a cold. The whole of his being is ready to be vindicated now. He can't live like this. Patience is not a virtue in his repertoire, nor in any among team 7. Except Kakashi. Maybe. Whether the quality he possesses is patience or negligence is up for debate.
They set up camp, as usual. Naruto reclaims his usual responsibility and Sakura sulks.
They lie down in their sleeping bags and no one says a word. Kakashi bids them all goodnight, only Naruto and Arakawa respond.
An hour later, he still can't sleep. The ground is uneven and hard packed beneath him. There's something itchy about the fabric on the inside of his sleeping bag. Sasuke rolls onto his other side, trying to get comfortable. Sakura lays half a foot to his left.
She wriggles, trying to find peace as well. Eventually, she rolls over and Sasuke finds himself confronted with glowing jade eyes, free of accusations or anger—just tired, like him. She doesn't smile, but she doesn't glare either. Sakura squints in the darkness and throws a hand up to fail to cover a jaw-cracking yawn. It's contagious, he yawns too.
"Can't sleep?" she asks.
"Obviously not."
Her cheeks puff out in annoyance. "You're the worst."
"You're both the worst." Kakashi concludes, from his spot lounging among the tree roots. " Go to sleep."
"Good suggestion, we'll take it under advisement." Sakura grumbles.
"Bed time or you're grounded."
They sleep.
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The next day isn't any easier. Sasuke is more on edge than ever and it has started to infect the rest of the party. Arakawa is silent and Sakura keeps anxiously glancing around.
Naruto huffs. He's so bored. What does a guy have to do to get some action on a B-rank mission?! This might as well be a D-rank for all the effort he's expending.
He complains about this vocally. Loudly. Unrelentingly.
Kakashi would tell him that someday, he'll yearn for missions like this. That an easy mission with good pay is hard to come by and he should count his blessings. Someday, missions will mean horrible deeds, head-spinning political implications, moral quandaries. The future stretches out in front of him and all Kakashi wants is a different one for these kids.
He worries that war will come and their lives will be the same as his; spent as fodder for a power struggle that benefits no one but fear itself.
War has come to the Land of Fire before and they have weathered it. They are a strong people, with will and resilience burning in their hearts. But they're just kids with their own battles to fight.
Silly children, he chuckles. Sasuke's eyes cut to him from his place up ahead and Kakashi responds with an innocuous grin. No clue what the world really is. It's for the best. They're so cute.
"Did you think of something dirty?" Naruto is such a pain in the ass.
Gracefully, Kakashi pulls out his book, squats and swipes the boy's feet out from under him.
Naruto lands on his ass with a grunt, "Hey-!"
A jagged knife barely misses his nose as he falls on his back. They're surrounded by three shinobi, two men and a woman. They wear no forehead protectors. The woman, who is the broadest among them, lunges at Kakashi. The thick trunks of her arms move much faster than should be possible. She grips Kakashi's neck in her hands and snaps it.
The crackle of broken bones and then a pop and in Kakashi's place is a log.
One of the men is thin, wiry and moves like a river flows; fluid, fast but predictable. Sasuke blocks the curved sickles gripped in each hand with his kunai. The blades slide against each other and he cannot find purchase on the crescent. He ducks before he loses a hand and kicks out at his attacker's knees. He hears the satisfying crunch of a broken kneecap and comes at him again, this time with an elbow to the kidneys. He dodges just enough to be hit on the hip instead.
The attacker falls back in the direction of the second male, who violently grips his comrades knee and thrusts it back into place. His hand glows green and it is as if the knee is unhurt.
"W-what?!" Sakura sputters.
"He's a healer!" Sasuke knows what they means, they have to go for him first.
Kakashi reappears and engages once again with the brick wall of a woman.
"Sakura, take care of Arakawa!" Kakashi orders.
The healer smirks and cracks each individual knuckle before making a slicing motion with each hand. Green light trails after his fingers and knives of chakra taper to sharp points, 10 inches long.
Naruto and Sasuke retake their stances.
"NO!"
Sakura leaps through the paltry barricade two twelve-year-old boys make and goes for the healer.
"Sakura, stop!"
The healer slashes his right arm in an arc parallel to the ground. Sakura instinctively drops into a backbend, her momentum carrying her forward. She slides on her knees, kunai in hand, she slashes the tendon in the healers calf. He drops to one knee and stabs down with both arms. Sakura twists desperately to get away.
Naruto barrels into his chest, knocking him off balance, so Sakura can scamper back.
"What are you doing?!" Sasuke demands.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" She goes for the sickle wielder next.
Her eyes are wild as she attacks, unthinking, unplanned. It's unlike her to be so foolhardy with her own life. She's insane, to put herself in danger like that without a thought to- who does that? Sasuke patently ignores the similarities between them. He does that.
But he's strong. He has a chance at winning.
Sakura is going to die if he doesn't do something.
Naruto makes a tone of clones and tries to overwhelm the healer, this buys them some time on that score.
He leaps into the fray with Sakura, trading blows with the sickle wielder and blocking for Sakura in turns.
"Stop it, you're in my way!" She shrieks when he takes an elbow to the chest for her.
"You're in my way!" he shouts back.
They're unused to cooperating together. They've never properly fought side by side before. How is that possible?
Using wire, he tangles up one of the sickles in an attempt to force is from his hands, but from the corner of his eye, Sasuke sees something that distracts him for just a moment.
It all happens at once. A fourth attacker appears and goes for the unprotected Arakawa. Sakura takes advantage of the sickle wielder's bound state to attach him from behind. She doesn't expect him to see her. The back blade of a sickle slashes across Sakura's frame, from hip to shoulder.
Sasuke can do nothing for either of them.
He doesn't know whose scream rings in his ears. It could be anyone's, even his.