Author's Note: Another Sakura chapter, so warnings for pretty bad panic attacks, themes of insecurity and some very threatening/bad behavior from a teacher/authority figure (Not Iruka). Luckily she has friends to help her out.
Sakura grins as she leans back low under a high kick, turning it into a backward roll as she realizes how off balance she is. Quick as a viper, she flings herself back up and swings a fist directly at Ino's face, but misses as Ino steps out of the way. Annoyed, but not deterred, Sakura pivots to the left and comes around again, feinting with her right and punching out with her left. However, Ino just dances back and out of the way.
Sakura glares. "Stop moving around so much Ino-chan," she calls out. "You're supposed to be practicing redirection. Running away is cheating!"
Ino laughs, "Don't telegraph your moves so much, Sakura-chan. No one's just gonna stand still and let you punch at them. That's not very authentic." Sakura scowls a little. Ino keeps trying to use big words to sound older, but she just sounds silly most of the time. "I'll show you, authentic, Ino-pig," she grits out, grabbing Ino by the ponytail so she can't get away this time.
Suddenly a large blur of orange runs into both of them, knocking them all over into a tangle of limbs. "Ha! I beat both of you two, believe it," Naruto yells at the top of his lungs.
"No you didn't," Ino grunts out, trying to shove Sakura's elbow off her face. "You jumped us and called it a win. It wasn't your turn to fight." She shoves uselessly at Sakura's shoulder as she adds, "And anyway, you can't win a real fight that way."
Sakura just rolls her eyes and tries to get out of the pile without injuring herself too badly. And, if she happens to elbow Ino in the face while she's at it, all the better. The three of them haven't been practicing together that long, but she's noticed Naruto can't deal with her and Ino arguing with each other. Even when it's a silly play fight, like today, he'll do anything to break it up or redirect their annoyance to him instead. It's kinda sweet, she guesses, if a little weird, and definitely something she'll have to talk to him about. But, the point is, he doesn't deserve to get picked on for it. "So let's try that again," Sakura says to change the subject. "This time, though," she pauses to shove Ino's leg off her chest and wriggle herself free, "we'll actually follow the exercise format."
Naruto scrunches up his nose, "But that's so boring," he says from where he's flopped out next to Ino on the ground. "And there's only three of us, so someone always has to sit out."
It's a good point, Sakura has to admit. "We could try doing a two on one excersie?" She hasn't done that before, but it sounds like a good idea.
Naruto volunteers to go first and It works pretty well, actually. She doesn't usually fight with Ino, but the two of them have practiced enough that after a few missteps and mistimed hits, they slot together. It helps that they're both using the basic academy form and it's pretty much designed to be used in teams of two or three. Still, it's pretty cool knowing where Ino is going to be. When Ino goes for a high kick, Sakura can feel it, like a prickle of anticipation on the back of her neck, so she ducks and punches low, or hooks right. And when she goes for a face punch, Ino is skipping around to the other side, boxing Naruto in.
But as good as they are, they almost never land an actual hit. While Naruto is really sloppy, he's also really slippery. He seems to make up his moves as he's going and she can't predict what he'll do next. It's effective, but also super annoying.
Finally, fed up with all the dancing around, Sakura decides to try to end it. When Ino goes for a strike from behind, Sakura tries a roundhouse kick. They have Naruto boxed in between the two of them, so it should be an easy point. But instead of trying a block or moving out of the way, he grabs her leg and won't let go. Sakura freezes.
Naruto twists and she feels herself falling. Sakura tries to curl up. Brings her arms up to protect her face, but her leg is stuck by something. She can't move it and she's falling, falling, falling.
"STOP, giver her room!" Sakura focuses on Ino's voice, but she can't think and she can't move and she knows she's in the school practice field, but she also knows that she's in an empty side alley, near the bakery. She can't see and she doesn't know if her eyes are open or closed. Nothing makes sense.
"Hey, Sakura," someone says. "Hey, I need you to focus on my voice." Sakura tries, but it's hard. She can't get any air. She's breathing as fast as she can, but there's no air. She can't breathe and she's dying and—
"Can you breathe in for me? Nice and slow?" Sakura tries, but her chest is tight and doesn't want to work. "Very good. Now let's breathe out." Right, that's a good idea. She forces her lungs to relax. "Perfect, you're doing great Sakura-chan," Sakura isn't so sure about that, but Ino's voice sounds so calm and certain.
Slowly, painfully slowly, Sakura is able to get her breathing under control. She opens her eyes and sees Naruto's eyes in her face, so she shoves him a little further away and sits back up. Ino smiles a little thinly at her, silently asking if she's okay now. Sakura nods.
"You wanna talk about it?" Ino looks kinda funny hovering over her like a mother hen. It doesn't suit her.
"Not really," Sakura murmurs, then after a minute, "Do you think Iruka-sensei will let me skip the stupid self-defense class, if I tell him I'm not feeling good?"
"Not really," Ino says back to her. "I think he'd just say that was even more of a reason to go."
Sakura scowls. "You know it isn't going to help, don't you?"
Ino nods. "You're probably right," she agrees, "but maybe you'll learn something cool."
That seems pretty unlikely. "Iruka-sensei says it's a class for civilians. I don't think they'll be covering anything new." Sakura chews on her lip and tries to think of a good way to phrase what she wants to say, but decides that there just isn't one. "Hey, Ino-chan? I was kinda wondering about the defense class, actually. Do you think," she pauses, a little embarrassed, "do you think Iruka-sensei is just making me go because my parents are civilians?" She rushes the last bit out all in one breath. It's been bothering her for a while, but she's noticed a sort of favoritism for the clan born kids. This self-defense class is pointless and Iruka-sensei must know that. He's an adult and a teacher too. It feels like punishment for not being a clan kid. If it was Ino having trouble, Iruka-sensei would just tell her parents and she might have to repeat a year, if it didn't get better on its own. He would never even think about kicking her out of the academy. "It's just that it seems pretty unusual, you know? What does he think the self-defense class will do? I mean, I know he treats you guys better in general. He never gives me or Naruto or any of the other civilian kids the benefit of the doubt, but Nara-kun sleeps through class and is still in the top half."
Ino looks like she wants to say something right away, but stops herself and thinks about her words. Sakura is glad that she's taking the question seriously and not laughing. She was half afraid Ino would. This has been bothering her for a while, and while she knows this isn't what Ino meant when she offered to talk, Sakura thinks this is probably more important.
"I don't think Iruka-sensei thinks about any of our parents, when he's teaching," she finally says. "He might assume that people like Shikamaru-kun will be able to get help from their parents on homework or if they have questions. But I don't think he's treating us differently on purpose. And I don't think he's trying to be mean to you either. The self-denfense thing is kinda dumb. I don't see what a civilian class could teach you that he couldn't teach himself, or hasn't taught already. But I do think he's trying to help you. And it's only an hour once a week, so it can't be that bad. Right?"
Sakura nods, slowly. She's not sure how she feels. She's sort of glad Ino doesn't think Iruka-sensei hates civilian born kids, but she can't quite bring herself to believe that he actually wants to help them either. And even if he does… She's found she really doesn't like his help.
"Eh adults are all kinda mean and dumb." Sakura blinks, she'd forgotten Naruto was still here. She immediately blushes, embarrassed. Iruka-sensei would be very disappointed. Situational awareness was supposed to be something they learned last year. Not that she cares what he thinks. Most of the time. Maybe.
"Adults are just kids that stayed alive long enough to think they know stuff. But mostly they don't really have any more of an idea than we do, believe it! There's no reason you have to listen to them. I don't and I'm doing great!" He grins at her. "If you don't wanna go to that class, just ditch it. Ya know? What's Iruka-sensei going to do? It's outside school hours so he can't force you. He can't even fail you for skipping."
Sakura stares at him. "I— you— that's— No!" She doesn't know what to say. She can't just skip. That would be against the rules. If her parents ever found out. No. That won't work.
Naruto shrugs at her. "You always have a choice, that's all," he says. "And, if it'll make you feel better, Ino-chan and me will go with you. That way you won't be stuck in there all alone! Believe it!"
Sakura looks helplessly at Ino who just kinda shrugs as well. "I mean, the class does sound kinda boring," she says, "but I can't leave my best non-clan friend trapped in afterschool school all by herself. And maybe it won't be so bad."
Sakura nods. She knows it's going to be terrible. But maybe it won't be. Maybe it'll be fun and all this anxiety and terror will have been for nothing. Still, she can't shake the solid weight of dread in her stomach. It's all she can think of as she, Ino and Naruto all head in so they're not late for class.
Class is even worse than she had expected. Unlike Naruto, Sakura doesn't typically struggle with bookwork. But today, it's hard to focus, especially on things as pointless as fractions and multiplication. Part of it is a terrible burning anger in her stomach whenever she looks at Iruka-sensei. She wants to believe Ino and believe that Iruka-sensei has her best interests in mind, but it just doesn't make sense. He's an adult, he knows that this defense class won't do anything. Or even worse, maybe he doesn't. Maybe he just doesn't care about her and all he sees is a little girl who can't throw a punch, but because she's not one of his clan kids it isn't worth the effort to find out why. It's not fair. She has to fight to push down her anger. The last thing she needs is to cry in front of her whole class and prove how weak she is.
The worst part though, is the building dread in her chest as the seconds tick down until school ends she has to go to that class. Any focus she could normally drag up is gone. Her mind keeps coming up with more and more unlikely scenarios of all the ways self-defense will go wrong. Her real fear though, the one she tries to push down, but can't fully stop thinking about is that this class will just prove to everyone that Iruka-sensei is right. That she really isn't meant to be a ninja and should just give up now and resign herself to running the family store with her parents. The fear gnaws at her until it's worn away even her anger and all that is left is a numb empty hole in her chest.
Time moves strangely. It seems to stretch out like a rubber band before snapping back all at once. Occasionally Iruka-sensei asks her to answer questions. That breaks her out of her thoughts for a bit, but she can't work up the effort to actually think them through and so she just says the first thing that comes to mind. It works at first, but after the second or third time she gets an answer wrong, he asks to speak to her in the hallway.
Iruka-sensei's face is all wrinkled up in pretend concern. "Haruno-chan, I'm worried about you," he says. His voice sounds sincere but Sakura wishes he would just drop the act. It's not fooling anyone. "Are you feeling alright? This isn't like you."
It takes a lot of effort to force a response, but she manages to mumble "I'm just feeling a little tired today, Iruka-sensei. I'm sorry."
He kneels down so he's about her height and puts a hand on her shoulder. Sakura wishes he wouldn't, but doesn't do anything. It's not worth the effort "Haruno-chan, you know that I care about you, right? You're one of my best students. If something's bothering you, please talk to me about it. That's what I'm here for, to help you, okay?" He smiles at her, but it looks pasted on. He's not really happy. If anything, he looks kinda sad, and Sakura wonders why he's even bothering. "Now, let's go back in there and do our best!" Sakura nods, but knows it won't change anything.
Afternoon classes pass even faster than the morning ones. Sakura doesn't even have time to think before they're over and she and Ino and Naruto are walking to the village center, looking for the "Ninja Fish Dojo." It's a dumb name for a dumb dojo. Ino and Naruto both agree with her. And walking with the two of them, she feels almost normal again. It's almost fun.
"What I don't get," Naruto is saying "is why anyone would want to be a fish ninja. Like, fish are slimy, ya'know?" Sakura wants to shove him and tell him to keep his voice down, but can't bring herself to stop hugging her stomach long enough to do it. There are people looking at them and the attention makes her nervous. Naruto is always loud, but it's not usually a problem. Ninja, even ones in training, are all kind of weird. But, ever since they entered the more civilian part of town people have just been staring at them. She isn't sure what's so weird about a bunch of kids walking around, but Naruto has this obsession with standing out, so it's probably him. No one usually pays any attention to Sakura or Ino when they're out by themselves.
Ino manages to stop Naruto's rambling by actually finding the place. It takes up the first floor of a small, three story residential building. The outside is painted a cheery green color and there are huge glass windows looking in on an open room with traditional tatami mats. There's a pretty poorly painted fish on the window and the words "Ninja Fish Dojo: Fire Nation's Only Source for 'Warrior Ninja Training.'" Ino smiles a little at the words and stage whispers, "I can't wait to learn how 'Warrior Ninjas' are different from ANBU or any of my dad's jonin friends."
Sakura laughs and looks over at Naruto to point out how dumb the sign is, but he actually looks kinda excited now. "Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, let's go in! This is gonna be so cool! Warrior Ninjas! I bet they teach all the awesome jumping moves and stuff from TV!" Sakura only just keeps from rolling her eyes, but Naruto's excitement is a little infectious, and for the first time since being told she was going to have to take classes here, she feels a little less terrible about everything.
When they enter the dojo, a little bell rings and all three adults inside turn around. Two of them are dressed in white gi with brown belts. The final one, the sensei, is dressed in head-to-toe black. He has a pointed face and an eyepatch over his left eye.
"Akane-sensei?" Sakura tries to keep her voice steady, "Iruka-sensei said he talked to you about taking a self-defense-"
"YOU WILL BOW WHEN YOU ENTER THE DOJO, UNDERSTAND GIRL!?" The shout is so loud and so sudden, that Sakura freezes, eyes wide. She nods and quickly bows.
"Akane-sensei, Iruka-sensei sent me to take a self-defense class with you." Sakura keeps her voice steady, but it's hard with him towering over her.
The man looks her up and down and is clearly unimpressed. Sakura wants to curl in a ball and hide forever. She knew this was a bad idea.
"Haru, get the girl something decent to wear! Street clothes are unacceptable in my dojo!"
One of the two white dressed men nods and bows "Yes sensei, right away sensei!"
Ino steps forward then, "Haru-san," she says sweetly, "could you make that three uniforms? Naruto and I will be joining Sakura today."
Haru freezes and looks at Akane-sensei with wide, rabbit-like eyes. Akane-sensei glares at Ino and puts his finger in her face. "No one ever said anything about me having to take on a clan brat or that monster. I don't teach little pissants. The only reason I'm taking on Haruno is because a very close friend asked me to. Understood?" Spit flies out of his mouth as he talks, and even when he isn't yelling, his voice is loud and angry.
Ino straightens to her full 1.3 meters and glares, hands on her hips. "Sakura-chan is my friend and if she stays, I'm staying with her." Ino pauses for a moment, "And Naruto too."
At that, Akane-sensei's face goes a deep angry red and he looks like he wants to hit something. He balls up his fists and clenches his jaw and shakes his head and for a moment, Sakura thinks that's all he's going to do. But then he says, voice even and almost quiet, "A clan brat, I will accept. Even a little girl like you. But, I refuse to let that monster into my class. It is a threat and will scare off paying customers. So if you want in, fine. But that beast has to go."
"How dare you call my friend a monster?" Ino sounds indignant. "He's a little rude, but that's going too far. He's- he's my friend! And a person. You can't talk about him like that!"
Ino looks like she's getting ready to start a fist fight right then and there and Sakura doesn't like the idea of hitting a teacher, but she thinks she might make an exception in this case, when Naruto steps forward. "It's fine Ino-chan, Sakura-chan. I can wait outside, I guess. This class is only an hour or so, right?" He looks at Sakura, "I don't mind waiting, I'm no good at school stuff anyway, so it's probably better this way, yeah?" His smile is the most forced one Sakura has ever seen. He turns to look at Ino, "And Sakura does better with company, so don't get thrown out fighting over me, alright?" Ino nods sharply and steps back.
"And don't hover near the windows, brat, or I'll call the cops on you for loitering!" Akane-sensei adds.
Ino grabs Naruto's arm as he's walking to the door and says, "We'll meet up at that ramen stand you like after class, okay? It'll be my treat."
Naruto grins at her and smiles, "Yeah? You sure about that? I can eat a lot." His voice is sing-songy, but Sakura knows he's still hurt. Akane-sensei has no right to treat him like that. She's furious. She's never met anyone she thought less deserving of her respect and of the title sensei.
Ino just shrugs, "Clan brat, remember? I doubt you can eat more than I can afford." Naruto just smirks in reply, sticks his tongue out at Akane-sensei and leaves the dojo.
Haru-san comes back with two uniforms and they get changed in the back storage room, folding their clothes in a pile by the wall. The uniform is a stiff, mass produced fabric with the logo of the dojo in bright colors across the back. Even the small is too large for them, but Sakura is used to wearing clothing bought large enough to grow into it. She shows Ino how to properly cuff the pants and then two of them join the rest of the class.
When they come out, most of the class is assembled. Akane-sensei doesn't bother introducing them, just gestures for them to join the back of the room. They do a few stretches and then a light jog to warm up.
Akane-sensei divides the class into groups based on belt color. They're the only ones with white belts, so they're assigned to an older green-belted woman and forgotten in a corner for the first half of the class.
Mita-senpai is nice in a motherly sort of way. She doesn't really know what she's doing, but she tries to figure out what Sakura and Ino can do. She goes to show them some very basic blocks and grabs, but keeps forgetting steps in the middle. At first Sakura doesn't do anything, not wanting to interrupt her, but eventually she can't help herself. It's just frustrating how incompetant the woman is.
"I think it might be a little like this, Mita-senpai?" She goes slowly, to make sure Mita-senpai can follow the movements. Her right arm goes up in a high block, then she twists her body sideways to minimize her profile before finally pivoting back and using the momentum of the movement in a careful left handed punch. Mita-senpai grins and nods.
"Yes, just like that! You guys pick this stuff up really fast, huh?" She seems so genuinely happy for them that Sakura feels bad for earlier irritation. It's just, this whole thing is so pointless. This is baby stuff. It's so boring Sakura could do it in her sleep.
Mita-senpai figures out pretty quickly that Sakura and Ino are already good at all the basics, so without anything she can really teach them, she has them practice throwing punches and kicking. It turns out to be a lot more fun than Sakura had anticipated after Mita-senpai grabs a handheld pad of some sort that makes a loud clap noise when you land a good hit. Sakura and Ino take turns holding and kicking, turning it into a game.
Of course, that's when Akane-sensei finally makes his way over. "What do you think you two are doing?" He isn't quite yelling, but it's loud enough that all the other students stop to look at them. Sakura can feel the first fingers of anxiety trying to crawl their way up her spine.
"I thought I told you to practice with Mita-san, not horse around with expensive Dojo equipment." He turns to look at Mita-senpai. "And you, woman, just letting them do whatever they want? Well, what've you got to say for yourself? Huh?"
Mita-senpai looks like she wants to cry as Akane-sensei towers over her and shoves her back against the wall. But it's as if that breaks some sort of spell. Mita-senpai pushes herself forward again and looks up at him, "I did what you said, Akane-sensei," she declares, "Once I ascertained that they already knew all the first belt content, I gave them the kicking pad to practice with, since there was nothing else I was asked to teach them." She gives a curt bow after her report, but continues to look Akane-sensei in the eye, like a challenge.
Akane-sensei just grins a little and steps back to look at Sakura and Ino. "Is that so? Got a little prodigy here, have we?" He looks at both of them for a moment. "Well then, let's test how good you really are, girl. Let's have you spar with Kenji-kun here, yeah?" He gestures at a man about Iruka-sensei's age. He has sandy blonde hair and thin, wiry muscles. He also has a dark brown belt and a mean smirk.
"No!" Sakura blinks and turns. Ino is glaring at Akane-sensei threateningly. "That's not appropriate and you know it. He's way older and heavier than either of us, and this is the first day of lessons. You're meant to be teaching us, not bullying Sakura-chan just because you're jealous she's more skilled than you are!"
Sakura wants to melt into the ground. She wishes Ino would just stop talking.
Akane-sensei whirls on Ino. "Jealous, of some little academy washout?" He laughs, "Do you know who I am, clan-brat? I'm a full fledged chunin. I teach these self-defense classes out of the goodness of my heart, because unlike some, I believe that everyone in the village should be able to defend themselves. Not just those blessed with a clan or chakra." Sakura can feel the sharp, biting of his anger in the chakra around him. It snarls and wears on her senses. "Now, little girl," He's crowding Ino, standing right in front of her and looking directly down at her, " You can either stop your whining and let me teach my class my way, or you can leave? Understand?"
Ino starts to say something, but Akane-sensei cuts her off. "I said, understand?" Ino clenches her jaw tightly, but nods once.
Sakura follows Akane-sensei to the middle of the Dojo. There's a roughly taped box on the ground and both she and Kenji are asked to stand in it. They both bow and Sakura tries to center herself. She can do this. She's training to be a ninja and he's just some civilian. A big, tall one yeah. But she's probably trained better than he is. Probably.
The fight starts off okay. Sakura is fast and knows where her body is. She's been practicing most with Ino, but Iruka-sensei made sure they all knew how to fight opponents bigger than they are. The trick is just to not get hit. And it's actually as easy as that. At first. Sakura ducks under his first punch and is inside his guard. She taps his gut twice and his kidney once. And that should be match, that's three full points. But Akane-sensei doesn't call it.
So she dodges under his kick and then has to do a backwards roll to get some distance when he lunges. She tries to and succeeds in getting back inside his reach, stepping to the side when he goes for a grab and then swinging back and going into a palm strike straight into his unprotected face. She pulls back at the last moment, turning it into a tap, but that could have been a fatal blow. Even without chakra, a strike to the nose has the potential to kill, if you angle it right. But Akane-sensei still doesn't call it.
She turns to look at him and that's when Kenji-san strikes. He jumps on top of her and she tries to get away. She does, for the most part. But he's able to grab onto her too big gi and pull her back to him. He's stronger than she is and as much as she squirms and hits and tries to break his hold, she can't. He throws her to the ground and kneels over her, pinning her to the mat. Sakura tries to tap out, but Akane-sensei doesn't notice.
She tries to curl up, protect her face, but Kenji-san pins both her arms with a single hand. She's trapped. She can't move, she's not in control of her body and suddenly Kenji-san is gone. In his place is a man dressed entirely in black. His evil, soulless eyes stare into her. "You thought you had escaped me, didn't you foolish little girl?" He laughs at her helplessness. At her fear. "You thought your village would keep you safe? They don't care. Not for someone as weak and pathetic and useless as you. Why would they? You are nothing Sakura-chan. A little nobody civilian girl who thought just because she had chakra she could be somebody special. What a joke." Everything hurts. Her face and ribs and chest are sore. Sakura can feel tears running down her cheeks as she tries to force him off of her. But it doesn't work. It can't work. He controls her body like a puppet. She can't move. She can't breathe. She—
It isn't real. It isn't. She forces her eyes open and stares at Kenji-san. He's standing over her now, no longer touching her anywhere. Suddenly she realizes that her face throbs, like he punched it a few times. Her chest too. Akane-sensei is talking, but she can't make out his words.
Ino runs over to her, shoving other students out of the way. "Sakura, are you— I mean, I was, you were." Ino pauses for a moment. "You should have won that, at least once." She glares at Akane-sensei as she says that, but he doesn't seem particularly bothered. He just snorts and throws an ice pack at them.
"You should take your friend to the clinic, get some pain meds. That's gonna be a real shiner tomorrow," he says. And he almost sounds apologetic about it. But since it's his fault it even happened, Sakura can't bring herself to care about his thoughts or feelings. She lets Ino pull her up and help support her as they leave. Her whole rib cage aches with every step she takes. She still feels wobbly. Shakey.
At first, being outside helps. But this is near the part of Konoha that she avoids and bad thoughts keep trying to bubble through. She can feel her stomach getting nauseous and even as she holds tighter onto Ino, it feels like the world is starting to fall away. Her breathing is too fast and her heart is even faster and how can she be a ninja if fighting civilians is too hard for her? She's useless and—
"Sakura, Sakura! You with me?" Ino sets her down on the ground and sits next to her. "I need you to tell me three things you can see right now. Okay?"
Sakura wants to ask why, but Ino looks so serious right now and whenever Sakura tries to think, bad thoughts slip in, so she just nods. "I see a wooden cart, a red and yellow building and," Sakura looks around for a second "a dog that looks kinda like an old man."
"Good, very good. What about two things you can smell?"
Sakura has to think more about that one. Two different scents? "I can smell… the air? It's kinda humid and warm? And I guess… fried food. Oh no! Naruto, we're supposed to meet up with him right after class, at that ramen place he likes."
Sakura jumps up, completely forgetting about how sore she is until her ribs are kind enough to remind her.
Ino grins up at her before hopping to her feet as well. "If you're feeling better we should go then."
Sakura stops and looks at Ino. She tilts her head. "That thing just now. The looking and smelling thing. You knew that would help, didn't you?"
Ino nods slowly. "Yeah? You were panicking?"
This isn't the first time Ino's helped her with that, Sakura realizes. Earlier today, she helped her with her breathing and a couple of other times she's helped Sakura focus on the here and now too. "How did you know what to do? What did you do? Can you teach me?"
Ino blinks at her. "I mean yeah, sure. I'm not great at it, so my dad might be more help, but they're just simple grounding techniques. Why don't we get some dinner with Naruto and then head back to my place and see if he's home. If not, I guess I can teach you what I know, but it would probably be a good idea to talk to him about it sometime anyway."
Sakura nods, "That sounds good." As they're walking back to the ramen stand she asks, "So how come he taught you about those 'grounding techniques'? No one's ever mentioned them to me before."
Ino looks thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Our clan deals a lot with mental stuff, that's why dad's head of something over in T&I. We spend a lot of time seeing things in people's heads that no one should have to see. So it's important that we know how to deal with the stress that can cause before it's ever a problem. I dunno why no one would have ever taught them to you though. I figured they had." Ino looks away then, "Or at least hoped they had. Dad says that the village can be kinda weird about fixing anything they can't see."
"That's dumb," Sakura says after a moment. "If there's a way to make," she gestures at herself and the village and everything, "this better, then the village should just do it. Whether they're good at it or not."
Ino laughs, "I think the part they're not good at is noticing that it's even a problem. But you should know, it's not some sort of miracle cure. These are just tools to help you focus on the here and now. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, and that isn't your fault and it doesn't mean you did anything wrong."
Sakura grins and for the first time in ages, she feels hopeful. She knows that there's still a lot of work to do. She hasn't even really started. But the thought that she might not be in this alone. That there might actually be something she can do to finally get some control back in her life feels…amazing. Sakura hugs Ino and buries her face in her shoulder. "Thank you, thank you thank you," she whispers and she doesn't care if Ino hears or understands. Because for the first time in over a year, Sakura might finally be able to see a path to freedom.