Another First Time
Chapter 6: A New Stage
"You know, for a shinobi in the bingo book, he really wasn't that hard to beat," Sakura mused, as she methodically cleaned up the various minor injuries the two sported.
Sai had to agree; the fight had barely lasted fifteen minutes, and their wounds were superficial compared to what they had been through before. Sakura had several shallow cuts from stray kunai and a burn from a particularly nasty Katon jutsu about the size of her hand, and all Sai had were several bruises in varying degrees of swollenness, all of which had been healed by Sakura within ten minutes.
"Perhaps we got lucky. I've run across shinobi who got put into bingo books purely by association. Don't let this be an ego-boost, Ugly," Sai said lightly, while waiting for her to finish packing up her medical supplies. Internally, however, he was quite happy with the fact that Sakura had held up so well against that nin. Not only was it her first time playing a seductress, but it was also (technically) her first ANBU mission.
"I'm not the one with the big ego," Sakura muttered under her breath, but she remembered his words all the same. It was true that shinobi should never let their achievements get to their head – even if you had just successfully exterminated a supposedly dangerous missing-nin from the bingo book.
"So…where are we off to next?" Sakura asked, finally ready, with her backpack straps tight around her shoulders.
"Well…it has been two months since we've been in Konoha, right? So I was thinking we could go back for a week or two, as a vacation, for us to see friends and such. And besides, in Konoha, there are actual bathhouses, and I really think you need a real one. You still stink, Ugly," he smiled at her. With a twitching vein in her forehead, Sakura grabbed Sai by his collar and socked him in the jaw.
"If I stink, you do too!" she growled, dropping Sai in a heap on the ground. Said male got up slowly and rubbed his bruising jaw, muttering, "That really hurt."
"And I don't need a vacation, Sai. Can't we just train more?" Sakura asked, her expression now devoid of irritation.
Shaking his head, Sai replied, "There really is no need for more training. You are just about up to ANBU standards, so all you need now is just practice, and maybe the occasional ninjutsu. We could do that all in the village. Besides, I also have to report to Hokage-sama about you and that missing-nin we just got rid of. So even if you don't need a vacation, I need one away from you."
Sakura sighed, and to Sai's surprise, smiled softly. "I really am annoying, aren't I?"
Sai tipped his head to his side and said, "I never said that. I just said you're ugly. Ugly and annoying are two different things."
Sakura's jade eyes widened, and then softened with gratitude. "Thanks Sai," she softly said, giving him a hand up from the hard ground he was still on. He accepted her hand and got up, brushing himself up.
"Well…sometimes you're so ugly that you're annoying," Sai added in afterthought.
Sakura's punch landed on his nose, causing him to fall back onto the moist ground.
Turning around in the direction of the Fire Country and home, Sakura started walking and said, "See you in Konoha, you bastard."
Noticing there was no anger in her voice, only exasperation and faint amusement, Sai got up (again) and followed her, an invisible smile upon his lips.
"I don't know how much I've missed Konoha," Sakura softly intoned, as she and Sai came upon the achingly familiar walls of their home.
"But weren't you just saying before how you didn't want to go home?" Sai questioned, tipping his head slightly to the side. He just didn't understand her sometimes – she often said what she didn't mean and mean what she didn't say. To Sai, things were still easier without emotions to mess them up.
Sakura didn't answer but continued to smile. Shrugging, he stuck his hands in his pockets and reached the gates. Giving a cheerful wave to the two chuunin on gate duty, he strolled in. Noticing that he was walking alone, Sai turned back to see Sakura hesitating at the gate, her smile gone.
Frowning, he called, "Hey, Ugly? What's keeping you?"
Biting her lip, Sakura turned away, unable to keep his gaze. Now that she was back at Konoha, Sai's gaze once again reminded her of another dark-haired man.
"Hey Ugly, right now, you smell so bad that you don't have to worry at all about running into Uchiha. He'll just run in the opposite direction anyways."
Sakura's head shot up, surprised that he had caught onto her uncertainty so quickly. She could see the ghost of a smile on his lips – something that, no matter how hard he might try, Sasuke would never be able to replicate.
Knowing it was Sai's retarded way of telling her everything would be okay, she smiled and said, "Alright."
After two long and tiring, albeit fruitful months, they were finally home.
"SAKURA-CHANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Sai and Sakura froze in their tracks, turning to be greeted with the sight of Naruto hurtling towards them. In the blink of an eye, Sakura was suddenly knocked backwards with the force of Naruto's (overly) affectionate embrace.
"Oh look, it's the dickless wonder," Sai said, looking down at Naruto. He scowled up at Sai but soon turned back to Sakura when said kunoichi said, "Naruto, get off of me."
"Sorry," Naruto sheepishly rubbed his head while the green-eyed kunoichi dusted herself off (not that the extra dust made any difference to her disheveled appearance).
"It's been a while, hasn't it, Naruto?" she smiled warmly at one of her two best friends. Slapping on his signature grin, Naruto answered, "Yeah! Too long! And guess what, Sakura-chan?"
Humoring him, Sakura laughed and answered, "What?"
"I'm a jounin now!" Naruto announced, puffing out his chest proudly.
"Congratulations!" shrieked Sakura, utterly delighted that her friend had come one step closer to achieving his dream of becoming the Hokage.
"And Hinata-chan made it too!" he went on, looking hopelessly proud of his white-eyed girlfriend.
Sakura's smile turned slightly wistful as Naruto happily proclaimed the news. How she had longed for such steadfast support and love from Sasuke…but that felt like an eternity ago. While she still wanted the support and encouragement, it would be have to be from a different man now.
"Hey Dickless, can you let Ugly go home and shower before she kills the village with her stench?" Sai interrupted Sakura's musings with another well-timed, yet rather tactless, comment.
"You smell worse than Sakura-chan," Naruto replied, blowing a wet raspberry at the dark-haired ink-user.
"Ha! Told you!" Sakura pointed accusingly at Sai, who shrugged and replied, "I never denied the fact that I probably smell."
"You're hopeless," Sakura moaned. Sai merely dimpled at her and waved to Naruto, turning to go. Sakura gave Naruto a smile and a squeeze and headed off behind Sai in the direction of the local bathhouse, eager for a good soak.
"Hey, Sai?" Sakura ventured, speeding up slightly to catch up to him. Sai unconsciously slowed down a little to accommodate her pace and replied, "Yes?"
"Thank you."
Confused, Sai asked, "For what?"
"For training me. I never got around to thanking you for that," Sakura replied, a smile lighting up her delicate features. "You're a good friend, you know?"
With a small bubble of laughter, Sakura sped off, leaving Sai far behind.
"A good friend…" Sai repeated to himself. Watching the small cloud of dust behind the retreating kunoichi get smaller with distance, he smiled slightly and murmured, "I think I rather like the sound of that."
Sakura couldn't help but let out a loud sigh of relief and contentment as she sunk her tired body into the steaming depths of the water. Ignoring the babbling gossip of the women around her, Sakura closed her eyes and relaxed, feeling more secure and freer than she had in weeks.
Her serenity didn't last long as a loud voice shrieked, "Sakura!!!!!!!"
"Hey Ino," Sakura cracked one eye open and flashed her best female friend a wide grin.
Ino promptly crushed Sakura in a tight embrace, causing a small tidal wave in the water. Pulling back, she held Sakura at an arm's length and said, "When did you come back? And why didn't you stop by my place?"
"I just got back. And Sai kept complaining that I smelled funky, so I decided to clean up a bit before seeing anyone," Sakura explained.
Still holding Sakura in her grasp, Ino studied her friend critically. Sighing with affectionate exasperation, Sakura said, "Does my appearance meet your expectations?"
"Hmm…you don't look as malnourished as I thought you would look…your ribs don't stick out, that's good…but damn, girl, you've gotten real fit!" Ino crowed, examining one of Sakura's toned arms.
"Hell yeah, training non-stop from daybreak to evening every day for two months does that to a person," Sakura snorted, taking back her arm.
"No way," Ino covered her mouth. "Sai-kun worked you that hard?"
Nodding, Sakura replied, "It really wasn't that bad. I learned a lot more than I could have here. And I learned a lot about him on the way too."
Ino's lips warped into a coy smile as the blond female said, "Oh, Sakura…you and Sai…?"
Simultaneously choking and blushing, Sakura wheezed, "What the hell?"
Laughing, Ino thumped Sakura on the back and answered, "I was just kidding! But honestly, Forehead, Sai-kun would be quite the catch."
Fixing her friend with an "are-you-stupid" look, Sakura said, "You weren't the one who spent three years with him on your team."
Biting her finger thoughtfully, Ino replied, "Yeah, I suppose that's true. But look at it this way – he's an elite, specialized ANBU, so he's way beyond jounin level. He's absolutely gorgeous, you can't deny that. And he's nice when he wants to be. What more can you ask for?"
"Sai? Nice?" Sakura asked incredulously. Tilting her head at her friend, Ino replied, "Yeah?"
Turning away, Sakura couldn't help but agree that Sai really could be nice if he wanted to. Like when she was all messed up over Sasuke, he was a lot more supportive than she would have expected, and he even agreed to train her, and-
Waitwaitwaitwait…this was Sai she was thinking about. While Inner Sakura melted into a pool of goo at the thought of Sai being nice, the real Sakura shook her head violently, trying to clear her traitorous mind of the thoughts.
Noticing her friend's actions, Ino rolled her eyes and sighed. Sakura really didn't know how to appreciate what was in front of her.
"Anyway, Forehead, it really is time for you to get a new guy. Honestly, there are so many other decent guys here that you shouldn't be hung up over that loser Sasuke anymore," Ino began. Sakura shook her head and smiled wryly, knowing that once Ino got started, she would go on forever.
"Really, Forehead, Kiba isn't that bad – he's pretty gorgeous without that stupid hood of his on…"
Here Sakura rolled her eyes – even with a boyfriend, Ino never stopped her wandering eye.
"…and Lee-san is quite sweet, if you don't mind his extravagant mannerisms,"
Sakura nearly choked – Lee was sweet, yes, sweet enough to give her cavities and toothaches.
"…Shino-san's the mysterious, brooding type, you might like that, since Sasuke was like that,"
Sakura couldn't help but think that Sasuke moodiness and brooding was rather sexy, while Shino moodiness and brooding was rather creepy.
"…too bad Neji-san and Shika are both taken, they would've been good…"
Neji – the one who constantly wore an expression that clearly said 'I'm-so-much-better-than-you', and Shikamaru, someone who was Konoha's self-proclaimed lazy bastard.
Sakura shook her head.
"…but if you wanna go for someone older than that, there's always Kotetsu-san, he's still free, and we'd be able to double date more 'cause they're friends like we are…or Genma, he's quite the looker, isn't he?"
Shiranui Genma, apart from being "quite the looker", also had a reputation for being a bit of a playboy. Actually, "a bit" was a rather grave understatement.
Sighing, Sakura stopped her friend's tirade by saying, "Look, Ino, I'll get a guy when I want to and when I find someone worthwhile, 'kay? And you'll be the first to know, 'kay?"
"Fine, fine," Ino groused, clearly put-off at the fact that Sakura wasn't appreciating her 'help', "but he better be someone good for you. Heaven knows you don't need another Sasuke…"
Sakura's throat tightened slightly at her friend's honest words. It was true; Sakura didn't know what she would do if she got her heart broken again.
"Erm…Ino, how has been Sasuke doing lately?" Sakura asked, rather lamely.
Giving her friend a look of disbelief, Ino shook her head and answered, "Don't know why you'd still wanna know about him, but since you asked, he got married to what's-her-name. Starts with an 'a', I think."
"I…see…" Sakura slowly intoned.
"If it makes you feel any better, he totally ignores her. It's like two strangers living in one house – I heard from Naruto that Sasuke opened a bank account for her and tells her to get whatever she needs, whether it be food or whatever, by herself," Ino informed her.
"That's not very nice of him," Sakura mumbled, feeling rather sorry for the girl. If that had been the life Amaya had been living, Sakura felt the last traces of anger at the girl evaporate – no matter how much she had hated Amaya for having Sasuke's baby, no woman deserved to be treated like that, much less by her own husband.
"Che," Ino snorted, "I just don't understand why you're so sympathetic. I mean, dammit, this girl is carrying Sasuke's baby! Your ex-boyfriend's baby! Hell, if it were me, I'd be raging."
It was Sakura's turn to be snorting as she replied, "Yeah, well that's you, Ino-pig."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ino rolled her eyes. "We'd better get out before we turn into prunes, Forehead."
"So, you finally decided to drag your ass back, Sakura," Tsunade scowled at the freshly scrubbed Sakura, who was standing in front of her cluttered desk.
Sakura grinned. "It's great to see you too, shishou."
Tsunade's expression relaxed and she flashed her student a smile.
"Everyone's missed you here. People at the hospital are always asking me why you aren't around," Tsunade laughed. Sakura joined her, and after several moments of laughter, the younger kunoichi said, "I should probably head over and say hello to all of them after, just to make sure they don't think that I've died."
"Well, judging by Sai's report, I assume training went well?" Tsunade questioned, gesturing down at an opened scroll bearing a familiar and artistic script.
Sakura found herself a little surprised yet very happy that Sai had written what seemed like positive things in the report. She nodded and replied, "I've learned so much in these two months. Especially in terms of ninjutsu."
Tsunade smirked and said, "I'd be pissed if you came back with no new skills. Those were my instructions, after all. I had told him to drill on your ninjutsu. Everything else was fine, all you needed was to hone the skills that you already had."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Sakura smiled, grateful that her teacher really did know her very well. Even without asking, the Hokage had known exactly what Sakura wanted (and needed) to work on. But that was probably due to the years that the two had worked together.
"I'd love to chitchat some more with you, especially over sake," Tsunade winked, "but I've got some rather important-looking scrolls that I gotta take a look at. Come see me tomorrow morning, alright?"
"I will," Sakura promised, as she turned around to leave. Opening the door, she stepped outside and paused to say, "You know, Tsunade-sama, you really could just ask Shizune-neechan to do that stuff for you!"
Giving her teacher one last cheeky wink, Sakura left. Tsunade grinned wickedly and snapped her fingers.
"Shizune!"
"Ah, this feels so nice," Sakura crowed, as she face-planted herself onto her soft bed. She hadn't been in her room in two months, and as such, things were a little dusty. Thanks to Ino's frequent visits, however, the sheets and such were clean and her apartment was more airy than she would have expected. Sakura knew she had a good reason for keeping Ino around.
Finally mustering up the will to get up from her comfortable position, Sakura yawned and stretched, heading over to her dresser to find a pair of comfy pajamas.
Picking out a stretchy camisole and cotton shorts, Sakura changed, and turned out the lights. Tucking herself into bed, she sighed in happiness and was about to close her eyes when she felt a presence enter her room.
Moving on instinct alone, her hand wrapped around a kunai she kept under her pillow and within a second, that kunai was embedded in her bedroom wall, where the intruder had been less than a second ago.
In the intruder's place was a scroll with the Hokage's seal on it. Wrenching her kunai out of the wall, she sat down and examined the scroll. Sakura had no doubt that it was delivered by an ANBU member – not many shinobi were capable of dodging a kunai she threw on instinct. She felt her heart pound in anticipation as she opened the scroll and caught a glimpse of black ink on white paper.
By the dim streetlight filtering through her translucent curtains, Sakura could read seven simple words:
Come to the Hokage Tower right away.
a/n: I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the lonnnnnng wait! So, so, so, SO sorry. I hope you guys didn't think I gave up on this story. So are you guys ready to hear my excuses? XD
Well basically, I've been working and all (as a counselor at a children's day camp) and I've been coming home late and exhausted. Damn, those kids have SO MUCH ENERGY. Gosh, not even an ice cap kept me awake, and that's really saying something for me. And this chapter was rather hard to write. Actually, REALLY hard to write. I just couldn't string some scenes together. And I kinda got addicted to Blood+. heehee.
Anyways, now I'm back on track and hopefully, I'll update as often as I used to. Mmm, by the way, have you guys read the latest Naruto chapter? OMGOMGOMG!!!!!!! Akatsuki members finally revealed. Can't say more - go check it out yourselves :D
And sorry about the lack of a battle scene - let's just put it to you this way: I SUCK at writing action scenes. And I didn't have the patience to. But don't worry; action will come up later.
Last thing: Sorry, this chapter isn't beta-d, so please excuse any mistakes and just drop me a note and I'll fix it. Thank you very much, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
EDIT: Chapter is now beta-d! yay! Anyways, just some minor grammar stuff. And by the way, "Dickless wonder" was for you, Silver Matter! ;) I forgot to mention that when I mailed you XD