Here we are again! Hope you're ready for BAMF!Sakura. I have to say: I am SO there for weirdly-smart-Naruto, I actually think he is quite an emotionally sensitive person, but he just talks in such a way that he comes across as a complete idiot (~glares at Sandaime for forcing Naruto into a shitty upbringing that could have be SO EASILY avoided~) Also: this chapter is rated M for (admittedly tame) sexual situations! This story's rating as a whole might go up to include more… uh "detailed" situations in later chapters, but I haven't quite decided yet.
Reviews are more than welcome, please let me know what you think! And a big thank you to Muetzenmaedchen, I feel the love ^_ ^ (and good luck with your thesis!)
Hakujitsumu VIII
"Sa-Sakura! You're back!" Tsunade stood gaping at her student for a moment or two, before she almost leapt over the desk and hurried to embrace her, which Sakura happily returned. "I feel like I haven't seen you in years, how are you? How was your training? You look stronger." Tsunade asked as she pulled back to lean on her desk, looking at her form student for a long moment. Sakura looked very settled, her expression was calm. Where before Sakura had always struck her as something of an anxious character — clever and aware of it, but never confident in it — she could easily extrapolate information and come to conclusions though she rarely presented the information as fact, rather a question and had been a bad habit Tsunade had tried to free her from for years. The Sakura stood in front of her now looked as if she had been gifted insight and carried it with ease.
"Hai, being awoken from the Tsukikomi was definitely a… shock… but I've enjoyed training with Mageruko-sama."
"How is that old slug?"
"Still grouchy and talks in riddles," Sakura replied, an easy smile on her face, which Tsunade returned,
"I've only met him once, when Grandfather summoned him, I must have only been about six or seven but I remember thinking he was ancient at that age."
"Haha."
"How has the training gone, were you successful?"
"Hai, it took some time for me to be able to utilise the energy and read it correctly, but we will not fail in breaking Otsutsuki's grip on the world."
"You sound very confident." Tsunade said, it was only a statement,
Sakura shrugged slightly, "It is not meant to be a boast, only that… in accessing the natural energy it allowed me to see the energy that binds the world together, it let me see how chakra works."
"Works?"
"Ah, it's very hard to explain verbally but chakra is… more like a virus… its natural to us, now, but it can be pulled from the body, it can be transferred between people… charka is finite but natural energy is not." Sakura said; Tsunade cocked her head slightly,
"I'm not sure I understand you."
"I don't think I can make it any more sensible unless I demonstrate, but, before that how has Shizune's research being going on the tree? Has she made any progress?"
"We've been more focused on Yamato and retraining what shinobi we have available to us at the moment. Yamato's condition remains unchanged at this point in time, though I have found some interesting—" Tsunade's sentence was bitten off by her office door slamming open by the forceful arm of the Raikage, the heavily muscled man took up the entire doorway and his imposing presence filled the room. In years gone, Sakura would have found herself intimidated by such a man, but now she didn't even flinch, he was just as mortal as any of them. For his bluster and bravado were just noise and failed to impress.
"Godaime! I—" A paused as he saw Sakura, "Who is that?"
"Haruno Sakura, she has just retuned from her sage-training." Tsunade replied cooly, no more impressed by him than her student,
"Why is she so tiny? How can she help us?" He asked, looking Sakura up and down with no small amount of derision; Tsunade and Sakura shared a brief look,
"Sage training is far more than brute force, Raikage-sama; though I certainly have plenty of that, too."
"Hmph," Raikage did not believe her; Sakura settled her movements and called upon her natural energy as the enormous man walked towards her, "I don't see any muscles," He was barely a pace from her, clearly annoyed that his standard game of intimidation wasn't working.
"Gather your chakra, Raikage-sama." Sakura merely replied, feeling the natural energy swirl; he looked over to Tsunade who merely shrugged, her confidence in Sakura not wavering for a second. He looked back and, although rather unnerved at the antennae that had sprouted from her hairline and the two stripes of Caribbean Current ran down either side of her head and neck; the Raikage would not back down from a challenge issued. He gathered his chakra to his right arm and pulled back, aiming a punch at her face.
His arm was swift and in less than a second his knuckles were grazing her cheek, though Sakura was faster, her left arm rose until her hand cupped the underside of his tricep; for all the power A could muster, none of it contacted her, but rather it bypassed her, passed harmlessly through her and fed right back into the Raikage's arm. With minimal effort on her part, she lifted him clean off his feet and slammed him down on his back in a clean arc; his right arm broken and mangled, the bones shattering right up to his collar bone and shoulder.
"Ugh!" The Raikage merely laid on his back for a few minutes, fighting the savage pain which coursed through him whilst trying to wrap his brain around what had just happened.
"Perhaps you need some time to think about how easily your eyes deceive you, Raikage-sama, I will happily heal you tomorrow… unless you would like to ask Tsunade-sama." Sakura said, looking down at the Raikage from the corner of her eye. He glanced over to see the smug expression on the Hokage's face and gritted his teeth,
"You have my apologies… Haruno-san, your skills are indeed… impressive."
"I'll heal you in a few moments, Raikage; Sakura, get some rest tonight, I'll meet with you and Naruto first thing tomorrow morning and we'll talk about strategies."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura, who'd reverted back to her normal state, bowed to her Hokage,
"And… if you think you're up to it, I think you and Kakashi need to have a conversation… but please don't break any of his bones. If you'd rather wait until all this is over, I understand."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura couldn't help the breath of laughter that escaped her, "We do need to talk. See you tomorrow, Shishou." Sakura glanced back down at the still prostrate man, "Raikage-sama." And with that, she was gone.
The village looked so different now, even though he'd been back for weeks, he still couldn't get the old image of Konoha out of his head: bustling with civilians and shinobi, green leaves and clear blue sky, but this Konoha was criss-crossed with deep shadows and suspended spectral beings. With such a small population now, it was too difficult to clean everything up and restore it to its former glory… he couldn't wait until they could finally awaken everyone and the village could go back to normal. Even though it won't be normal? Normal was back then, when I was Hokage, when I had Hinata and Iruka… and Sakura and Kakashi were happy… His thoughts reminding him of his former sensei and how he hadn't seen him hardly at all since they returned to Konoha. He's tried to catch his former sensei several times, occasionally to help him train — which Kakashi often politely rebuffed or half-heartedly humoured him by setting Naruto some challenge or other which usually took the Uzumaki far away from him. He'd had also tried dropping in on Kakashi at his apartment, but he had been met only with further resistance — once he'd even managed to provoke Kakashi's genuine anger and it had been a terrifying sight.
He'd popped in through his sensei's window at just about dinner time, only to find the apartment cold and the Copy Nin sat in dimming light; Naruto had found himself intensely concerned about the change in his sensei and had become almost obsessed with trying to help him return to his usual self. For all his efforts, though, they had not been appreciated and never before had he faced the brunt of Kakashi's profound anger — irritation and impatience often — but that evening, for the first time he'd been able to truly frighten Naruto. Never before had Naruto even entertained the idea that Kakashi would ever raise a serious hand to him (he even doubted that Kakashi would do as such to Sasuke, as much as the doofus might have often deserved it), but as he's shoved him out the door, there was some barbarous gleam in his dark eyes that Naruto had been unable to ignore. But just as fast as it appeared, the door slammed shut and Naruto was alone in the empty corridor.
He'd wandered the largely deserted streets for hours afterwards, too unnerved to return home and sleep; his mind whirred with just what was wrong with Kakashi and what on earth he could do to help him. If Iruka-sensei was still around, he's probably just tell him that Kakashi needed some space and that pushing him wouldn't help. But how could he do that? Kakashi-sensei was hurting and it was his duty as Team 7 Family to do what he could… but what would help? Kakashi was acting like Sasuke-teme when we were genin, he was alone but he rejected our company… Kakashi must feel alone, even thought there's a lot of the Leaf ninja around. Hmm, but I still feel alone, because Hinata isn't with me… and my little Iruka isn't with me. Naruto instinctively looked down to his side, where he could so easily imagine his small son hurrying to keep up with his long legs; his enormous blue eyes staring up at him, excitedly showing his farther anything and everything that caught his interest. Iruka's passion for life had mirrored Naruto's own at that age, though he'd never had anyone to share his excitement with and as a result, he made a point of never letting Iruka feel like he was bothering his father. Hinata had often warned him he was spoiling his son, but Naruto just couldn't bring himself not to.
Maybe Kakashi wanted Sakura back but she's not here? Kakashi probably wanted his Misaki back too, but she doesn't even exist…
He'd eventually taken himself home for a fitful night's sleep, the anxiety of Hinata and their relationship gnawed at him relentlessly until he eventually gotten out of bed far earlier than he usually bothered to do so and hurried out of his apartment.
Naruto had intended to march right into the compound and find Hinata but as soon as he saw the main arch he found himself loosing his nerve. Before he knew it he'd been hovering in the entryway for nearly half an hour,
"Naruto-kun?" A sudden voice behind him said,
"Ack!"
"Um… what are you doing? Are you here to see Hinata-sama?"
"H-hai, is she all right? I haven't seen her for ages." Naruto replied, Yiro gesturing for Naruto to follow him into the compound,
"Hai, Hinata-sama is well, she has been working hard to restore the buildings, we've been helping as much as we can, but there is still a lot we need to wait until we have more clan members revived,"
"I could help! I can be lots of people, what do you need me to do?"
"Ah, I'm sure Hinata-sama will be delighted with the help, you should talk with her first." Yiro led him across to the main house and in through the open fusuma; Naruto had only been in the Hyuuga compound a handful of times — in his dreams — and back then he's certainly felt the coldness and impersonal nature of the main hall. There had never been any photographs on display, only two tapestries had flanked either side of the hall: the emblems of the Leaf and the Clan. The tapestries still hung, though were still covered in dust. "I apologise for the uncleanliness of the house, Naruto-kun."
"Um, no, its okay, my house is still a mess, too." He chuckled, eliciting a smile from Yiro, "So… is Hinata taking over as head of the Clan? Or will Hiashi-ojii-san take back over when we wake him up?"
"I believe Hinata-sama is planning on taking over leadership permanently," Yiro answered, his voice expressing no discernible emotion,
"And… are you happy about that?" Naruto prodded, though before he could get an answer, Yiro stopped walking,
"Hinata-sama, Naruto-kun is here to see you," He called out,
"Hai, show him in please." She answered from the far side of the fusuma; Yiro slid open the panel, bowed low and gestured for Naruto to walk in.
"Thanks," Naruto said, receiving another bow from Yiro, who slid then slid the door closed and his quiet footsteps carried him off down the hall. "Um, hi, Hinata, how are you?" Naruto stood awkwardly by the door, barely able to see his former wife from beneath the mountains of paperwork; every drawer and cupboard on the twin tansus were open, their contents spilled out as if an tornado had suddenly sprouted from nowhere, terrorised the room and then promptly disappeared. "Is this all… damage from the tree? Haha, it's such a mess in here."
"I've been going through my father's records and clan history, Naruto, sorry I haven't spoken to you for a while, I've been busy here. How are you?" Hinata answered, peering up from over the pile of disorganised papers to look at him,
"Um, good… we're just waiting for Sakura to come back then we're gonna go and fight Otsutsuki and wake up everyone."
"You make it sound very simple."
"Um, well, a lot of things are actually simple but I guess we like to overcomplicate them." Naruto answered, feeling very much like a stranger, due to both the setting and the company.
"That is true." Hinata looked at him oddly for a moment,
"Ah, I was going to ask, do you want to have lunch with me? Maybe as a, uh, date?"
"I don't really have the time at the moment, Naruto and until the issue with Otsutsuki and the tree is resolved, I'm not sure its… appropriate." Her voice was gentle but firm, her attention quickly returning to document in hand; Naruto stood in front of her awkwardly for a few minutes, his emotions suddenly welling in him. His vision blurred before he could help it.
"No-nothing's ever gonna go back, is it?"
"Naruto?" Hinata leapt to her feet at the sight of his tears, "What's happening? Are you okay?"
"Everything's wrong! No one's happy… we're not together, our little boy is gone." He sobbed, "Kakashi is so sad, he doesn't have Misaki or Sakura… our children are never gonna play together again and grow up together and be put on the same Genin team and learn teamwork and be cool rivals and do awesome missions." Naruto babbled through his sobs, Hinata pulled him into her arms,
"I'm so sorry Naruto, I'm not rejecting you and I think Kakashi and Sakura will get back together."
"But—but— even if they do and have a kid— it won't be Misaki… Even if we have a— another child it won't be Iruka, will it? It will be some different kid… they'll look different, they'll grow up differently… how do we live with that?"
Kakashi stared out of his window, watching the last of the light fade to black as he waited for his dinner to heat; he wasn't hungry for anything he could find, but his body needed fuel and he fuel it he would. He stood leaning against the counter for so long that his eyes lost focus and he was staring at nothing and subsequently the bing! of the timer nearly made him jump out of his skin. Cursing himself for his uncharacteristic carelessness, he hurried to grab a tea towel and pull the dish of leftovers from the oven; he heard his window open and close,
"Naruto, if that's you, I only have enough dinner for one." He stated half-wishing it was just his ears playing tricks on him,
"It's not." Came the reply, forcing Kakashi to spin on his heels, to confirm what his ears were telling him; there stood Sakura, just in front of the window. He could do nothing but stare at her for a few long moments, she looked different yet the same; her arms looked bigger, even though her dark overshirt, stronger and settled, in her eyes was a look of cool collectedness. He just stared until the pain in his hands reminded him he was still holding a hot plate, which he promptly dropped, the plate shattered and his meagre dinner splattered over the floor. "Aiya!"
"Here," Sakura was upon him in a second, her hands inches from his, her healing chakra bridging the narrowest of gaps that now separated them, though the gulf remained. "Feel better?"
"Yes." He breathed, uncomfortably conscious of how close she was; she stepped back half a pace, her intense green eyes boring into his,
"I know everything's a mess right now and I have no idea how you feel, about this situation, about the Tsukikomi, about the relationship we had or even how you feel about me now. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how I feel about all of it, things have changed very fast over a very short period of time." She said, her eyes not budging from his, as though the words had been simply waiting to escape her, as if they had been a caged leopard: tensed and ready to flee at the first opportunity. Sakura issued a short huff, her eyes slipping from his to glance around his apartment as if shocked by them herself; an irresistible smile suddenly pulled at her lips,
"What?"
"Mr Ukki looks so small… I hate this feeling that things have been reset." She looked back to him, "I know I have a whole bunch of things that have happened in my life I wished I had a reset button for and I'm sure you can think of a few things yourself, but out of everything that's ever happened to me the only thing I wished would never be reset was our relationship." Sakura spoke barely above a whisper, "Hinata said something to me, right before I left and it made a lot of sense: we've been given another chance, Kakashi, a chance to live another life, to explore other possibilities." She stepped away from him and took a seat on his table; he was paralysed, unable to do anything other than listen. "If we get back together something tells me that it won't go back to exactly how it was, we might have memories of things we thought we'd discussed and understood about each other, but they might be false… In my head, your favourite breakfast was western style scrambled eggs, but is that still true? Or was it something that just developed because of the conditions of the Tsukikomi? Our dreams, no matter how crazy, always seem to make sense to us at the time." She offered a short half-shrug, not even sure where she was going with her thoughts herself.
"Sakura, I want you… I mean, I still want to be with you. I know things can't go back to exactly how they were but I want to try." He found himself whispering, inching closer to her as he spoke, as strong as she looked, she still seemed so little compared to him. His hand leapt to his mask, pulling it down to his neck and Sakura lips were upon him in the same moment, her hand weaving in his hair. Her kiss was urgent but familiar, her scent and warmth bringing him back to the first time they'd been intimate; he was acting almost on instinct as their tongues met and his hands found her hips to pull her body against his. Her legs had wrapped around him and her free hand had crept under his shirt and up his side in a moment, her slender fingers carefully smoothing over every dip and scar she found with tantalising pressure. He finally broke the kiss to draw in a deep ragged breath, her own pluming over his bare neck as she moved to press tiny, tantalising kiss along his jaw, pulling him over as she did so. His weight pressing her against the table as he rocked his hips into hers, relishing her groan of satisfaction as his straining erection rubbed her just so. "Sakura." He breathed, his hand finding its way beneath her shirt to her breast, regretful they were still bound—
"Oi! Kakashi!" Naruto's brash voice sliced through the moment better than any kunai could've, "Kakashi!" He rapped on the door sharply, "I know you're angry with me and I'm sorry about the other day, but Tsunade-baa-chan wants to see us! Its about Sasuke!"
"Hai! I'll meet you at the hospital." Kakashi barked before slumping into Sakura, resting his forehead on the cool table, he felt Sakura's breath of laughter against his ear as she wrapped her arms around him,
"Naruto never fails, does he?"
"Maa." Kakashi only grumbled in reply,
"Nor Sasuke for that matter… I guess we'll have to go, for Kami-sama's sake." Sakura squeezed him close for a moment before pulling her arms from around his back entirely and Kakashi lazily pushed himself to nearly upright, the tightness in his trousers resisting him all the way. Still bracing his weight over the table he awkwardly helped Sakura upright, she perched on the edge of the table,
"Does Tsunade-sama want you to take one of Sasuke's eyes?"
"Eh?" He answered, caught off guard by her question, "Yes, she mentioned it."
"It would be a prudent move." She answered, "But are you okay with that decision? Do you want the eye?"
"I can't think of a good reason to say no and a hundred reasons why I should say yes. I still wake up sometimes with my left eye still closed and walk around like that for ages until I remember," He admitted, a breath of embarrassed laughter escaping him,
"You don't have to have a reason to say 'no'."
"I know, but, there's more at stake than just me, here." Kakashi adjusted his trousers and pulled his mask back up, "And we're going to need every edge we can get, it's a small price to pay." He walked over to where her flack-jacket lay and slipped it over his shoulders. Sakura slid off the table and smoothed her hair out,
"You might not even have to make the call tonight, let's just go and see what Tsunade-sama wants us for."
…
"Sakura? Oh my god, Sakura! You're back!" Naruto was nearly frothing at the mouth when he saw a flash of pink and had scooped her up in a bone crushing hug within seconds.
"Hai, hai, I just got back an hour or so ago, Naruto." She hugged him back, surprising herself with just how happy she was to see him.
"How was the sage training? Do you turn into a slug? What was it like? Did you learn any katas?"
"Well, I get the little eye-stalks but I don't go full slug."
"We should train! I wanna see how strong you are!"
"There will be plenty of time for training tomorrow," Tsunade interrupted, "But right now we're going awaken Ino, Naruto why did you tell them to come here? Why are you even here, for that matter?" Tsunade questioned a clearly embarrassed Naruto,
"Ah, I guess I just heard you say something about Sasuke and thought something was happening with him..?"
"Baka," Tsunade scolded, "Well, this was just a false alarm, you two go home, but Sakura, since you're here you might as well be there when Ino wakes up."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura replied, casting a quick glance at Kakashi before she walked off down the corridor, to follow Tsunade, "Is there any particular reason you're waking her up now?"
"There isn't much point now, Sasuke isn't able to communicate with her any longer and with you back, we'll soon be ready to make a move regardless and I'd like Ino to be at full strength as soon as possible, I had been intending to wake her up a lot earlier, but then you arrived."
"Hmm, has Zetsu been making any more appearances?"
"Here and there, why?"
"Any doubts to his loyalty?" Sakura asked,
"No, not a solid 'no' either way, but there isn't anything we can really do about him, its better to focus on what we can do right now and Ino will be a big help."
"Hgn…what—?" Ino groggily answered, her eyes slowly opening,
"You were under the Infinite Tsukikomi, remember? Sasuke told you about it?" Tsunade said,
"Wh… oh yeah, where am I?"
"Konoha, we were able to move you back here, sorry for the unexpected awakening but Sasuke's too ill to talk to you anymore."
"Yeah, I guessed as such, its been such a long time since I've seen him." She sat up slowly pushing away the plant fibres from her body, helped by Sakura and Tsunade, "Where's Gai? Has he been woken up?"
"Not just yet, his body is very badly damaged so we'll need to be more careful with him, we haven't had the resources nor manpower to properly set up an ICU for him."
"What?-!"
"Don't you remember?"
"No! Kami-sama, he'll be crushed!" Ino wiped her hand over her eyes, "We've been training a lot together under the Tsukikomi… he's going to be heartbroken."
"Don't worry, we'll find a way to fix him once this is all over." Sakura said, drawing Ino's attention, "We have to defeat Ootsutsuki first."
"Yeah…"
"How you feel, Ino? Any pains anywhere? Any numbness?" The Godaime asked,
"No, no I feel fine."
"Come on, I'll walk you home." Sakura offered, stretching out her hand to help Ino to her feet,
"Ino I want you to report to me tomorrow afternoon, you might have a bit of trouble sleeping, but take it easy over the next few days."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama."
"Oh and I almost forgot, due to damages in Konoha, you're going to have to stay with Hinata at the Hyuuga compound just for a few days, I've already spoken to her and she's agreed."
"Wh-hang on, what? What happened to my apartment?"
"It was crushed under one of the branches of the tree, sorry." Sakura explained, trying not to laugh at Ino's outraged expression, "Come on." They both walked away, off the roof and down through the corridors of the hospital,
"It's weird how quiet it is here… and how dark, it was the middle of the afternoon in my, uh, dreams, I guess."
"Weird, isn't it? At least you didn't have to wake up in the middle of a half-dead forest and sleep out with no supplies."
"Ugh, yeah, at least I can go home… well, to a home anyway. How long ago were you woken up? From your perspective, I mean?"
"Almost a month ago."
"For me, its been almost a year… I'd thought you'd been acting weird, Shikamaru too, so I guess it wasn't the biggest shock when Sasuke appeared and told me about the jutsu."
"How did you know I was acting weird?" Sakura asked, as they stepped out onto the street,
"I tested you once, I asked you about Sasuke and you acted as if you barely remembered he existed, it was largely the same for the others—whoa! This place looks like shit!"
"Haha, I thought that too when I first go back, but apparently everyone's been tidying up loads, too even though it still looks like this."
"When you got back?" Ino queried, "From where?"
"I went off to master the sage arts in the Shikkotsu Forest."
"What?-!"
"With such limited manpower we didn't think we'd stand much of a chance without a bit extra and Katsuyuu thought I had a good chance to learn it, so I went."
"Just like that?" Ino asked, incredulity colouring her words,
"Try not to sounds too jealous, Ino." Sakura chided, unable to keep the smile off her face,
"I wasn't! I didn't meant it like that, Forehead, I just meant you said it so casually, like just went out for some groceries and came back with the sage arts."
"Hahaha!" Sakura laughed loudly, "I'm glad you're back, Ino, I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Forehead."
"Haruno-san, Yamanaka-san, welcome." Yiro bowed to the both as he stood at the entrance the Hyuuga compound, "Please follow me and I'll take you to Hinata-sama."
"Ah, thank you," Ino replied, bowing in return, half surprised at the juxtaposition of his formality; he led them across the empty square, the enormous tree at its centre gleaming in the moonlight. The three wooden steps creaked slightly as the climbed onto the engawa; Yiro slid open the fusuma and allowed Ino and Sakura to walk into the main hall,
"Please take a seat. Hinata-sama will be here in a moment." Yiro said politely,
"Thank you for showing them in, Yiro-san, but you don't need to be quite so polite, they are friends, after all." Hinata said, as she strode into the room, "Ino, Sakura, how are you both?"
"Uh, pretty good, considering the circumstances." Ino replied, shocked at the relaxed confidence Hinata was exuding,
"Yes, Tsunade-sama told me they were waking you up today, it's been a bit of shock, right?"
"Well, I was sort-of briefed by Sasuke ahead of time, so it hasn't been a complete bombshell, but…" Ino trailed off, raising her eyebrows slightly by way of signalling her feelings, Hinata let out a breath of laugher and nodded her head,
"I think I understand; Sakura, how did your sage training go? I'm pleased you're back."
"Thanks, Hinata, it went well, Naruto and I will be starting training tomorrow." Sakura replied, "Speaking of which, I should go and get a goodnight's sleep. Goodnight, Hinata, Ino."
"Night!" Ino replied,
"Night, Sakura." Hinata said as the kuniochi disappeared in a puff of smoke, "I'll show you to your room, Ino, where you can get a shower and some clean clothes."
"Thanks, and thanks for taking me in, I can't believe I've lost my apartment."
"It's not a problem, we have plenty of room with most of the clan still under." Hinata rose to her feet and Ino did the same,
"What will happen when the rest wake up? I guess Hiashi will take over again?"
"No, I am taking over as head of the clan. Whether Hiashi likes it or not." Hinata firmly replied,
"You… sound really confident about it, Hinata." Ino said, prompting Hinata to turn her enormous pale eyes on her, "It suits you." Ino said with complete sincerity, Hinata smiled broadly,
"It was about time, wasn't it?"