Chapter Nine

Naruto summons both Sasuke and Sakura to the Hokage's tower on a bright Tuesday morning, and for a moment she thinks he has somehow figured out that his teammates are sleeping together. But Sakura knows her worries are baseless as soon as she enters the meeting chamber and sees Ino, Shikamaru, Lee, Kakashi-sensei, Shino, Kurenai, Hanabi, and other jounin. If Naruto wanted to confront them he wouldn't invite a cohort of Konoha's elite ninja to witness it.

"What do you think this is about?" she asks Sasuke.

He says, "Probably the chunin exams. There was something similar last year right before we went to Iwa." He frowns, brows drawing closer together over his eyes, and the expression is so familiar and so Sasuke that Sakura nearly smiles in return. He asks, "Why haven't you been part of the exam entourage before?"

"Tsunade wouldn't let me. She said I was too valuable a medic to remove from the hospital for so long unless it was for a mission where there might actually be some bloodshed." Sakura rolls her eyes and wonders once again whether her shishou will return to Konoha. "I guess that hasn't occurred to Naruto, so don't tell him. I'd love to go to Kiri. Never been before."

Sasuke lifts one shoulder in a dull shrug and says, "The Water Country is nothing special."

"You've been there?"

He nods. "I traveled quite a bit with Orochimaru."

"Oh," Sakura says, because she's always unsure of how to react whenever his time as a missing-nin comes up in conversation.

"It's all mist and ocean and some strange shinobi who look half-fish." Then Sasuke smirks and adds, "Like Suigetsu."

"Do you miss them?" she asks. "Your other team, I mean?"

To Sakura's knowledge, Sasuke hasn't seen Juugo, Suigetsu, or Karin since the war ended and he returned to Konoha.

"Not really."

Although his expression remains impassive, Sakura suspects he may not be telling the truth. She's learning that there is often a world of difference between what Sasuke thinks and what Sasuke says. Despite his facade of coldness, he is, in truth, a man of great passion. Whether it's love or anger, lust or hatred, he feels fully and deeply. She imagines it must be exhausting, keeping such turbulent emotions in check all the time.

A few more jounin join their group, and then Naruto calls out over the tired, early morning chatter for everyone to sit down. The room fills with the scraping sound of wooden chair legs on stone as a dozen-odd shinobi find seats at the large, rectangular table. Sakura claims the spot next to Sasuke and assures herself that this doesn't look odd. He is her teammate, after all.

Kakashi-sensei sits to her right. She can't see his mouth, but Sakura can tell from his eyes that he's smiling when he looks at her.

"I hear you have genin almost as difficult as mine were," he says.

"Very funny. And no, not nearly." Her students haven't given her half the grief Team 7 gave Kakashi. "Izumi's a handful. Saito is full of himself, though with good reason. And Hachiro needs a little extra attention, but he's going to make a great shinobi someday."

"Sounds familiar," Kakashi says. "It's too bad—"

Exactly what is too bad, Sakura doesn't find out, because Naruto shouts, "Hey! Everybody pay attention to me."

Sasuke leans over and says to her, "I guess some things never change."

Sakura coughs over a laugh and looks up at her friend. Naruto sits at the head of the table and says, "You're probably all wondering why you're here—"

"Not really," Ino says around a yawn. "Chunin exams again, right?"

"Oh. Well, yeah, but—"

Whatever he's trying to say gets drowned out by more chatter. Kurenai laughs at something Shikamaru tells her, Anko flirts with the men on either side of her, and Ino and Hanabi start gossiping. Naruto turns red. He's a new Hokage, the youngest Konoha has ever seen, and an informal one. It's going to take time for him to establish his authority, Sakura knows this, but all she can see is her friend: twelve years old again, being ignored by the people whose respect he so desperately wants.

"Hey!" Sakura yells. "Shut up! The Hokage is talking."

The room goes quiet and Naruto smiles. "Thanks, Sakura-chan. Anyway, like I was saying, the chunin exams are in ten days, and I've chosen you guys to escort me to Kiri. Technically, you're my guards, but it's the genin who will really need protection…"

They're in bed together when Sasuke says, "I think it would be best not to see each other while we're in the Mist."

Sakura props herself up on an elbow and frowns. "Why not?"

No doubt the Mizukage's administration will provide all the Konoha shinobi with quarters at the same inn, just as the Tsuchikage's aides did last year in Iwa. Ninja or not, it would be difficult to hide sneaking in and out of each other's rooms with their peers all around. This is what Sasuke tells Sakura, but his reasoning sounds weaker out loud than he imagined it would. Maybe because he's lacking conviction.

"Are you sure? We could be in Kiri for weeks." Sakura runs her fingers up and down his chest. A small seduction—whether inadvertent or calculated, he can't tell.

Sasuke says, "Yes," and her touch stills over his heart. She pulls her hand away.

"Do you really care so much about what people would think?" Sakura's tone is studied and careful, like her question is almost too delicate to ask.

"No. But this is between us and I want to keep it that way."

"Fine," she says, though it's obvious that she's dissatisfied with his answer.

They spend more time together than usual in the days leading up to chunin exams. Frequent visits to one another's apartments become nightly. And when he turns down a short A-rank mission to Sound, Sasuke tells himself it's because he's tired, if he never sees that place again it will be too soon, and he doesn't want to chance missing the beginning of the exams if the mission runs long.

The evening before Leaf ninja set out for Kiri, Sasuke goes to Sakura's flat. As soon as he walks inside, she pushes him against the front door and kisses him. She tastes warm, all cinnamon tea and heat. Sakura slides her hands underneath his shirt, touches his stomach with possessive authority, and as quick as that he wants her. They don't make it to the bed. They barely make it to her living room couch, where he presses her onto the faded blue cushions. He pulls at her clothes and she pulls at his until his pants are down and her skirt is up and Sakura's underwear are twisted in his fist. When he isn't watching the woman beneath him—her pale eyes grown a shade greener in passion, a subtle change only he would notice—Sasuke looks at the token he holds in his hand. White cotton panties striped with candy pink.

Afterward, they lay there, bodies still joined, and Sakura whispers, "I'm going to miss you."

He could say it back, and it would be true, but Sasuke doesn't say anything.

The next morning he and Sakura part ways, even though they're going to the same place. He takes his time, so he shows up at the village gate a full five minutes behind her. When he arrives she's laughing with Ino, and she seems so young when she smiles. Like the girl he knew from their adolescence. At a glance she appears too sweet to be a kunoichi—an illusion dispelled once she's on the battlefield. And that has never changed, not really. Sakura remains a study in contradictions. A healer with monstrous strength, as expert at breaking bones as she is at mending them. Gentle one moment and fierce the next. A calm, level-headed woman until you awaken her hot temper.

She tucks a lock of pink hair behind her ear, glances away from Ino, and catches his eye. Sakura's smile fades from bright to soft, from public to private. Something for him alone, despite the company they're in.

The Hokage, thirteen jounin, and a crop of Konoha's genin, as young as they are nervous, leave Konoha just as dawn breaks over the horizon.

It takes most of the day to make it the port city of Shizugata, where a harried captain takes their group of shinobi aboard his ship. The Ryujo departs in the late afternoon, when the sun is high overhead but listing toward the west. The first mate promises that they will be in the Water Country by tomorrow night.

Sasuke doesn't like boats. He discovered this years ago during his travels with Orochimaru, and it's as true today as it was when he was fourteen. The endless, depthless blue of the ocean inspires no feeling in him, and he hates the cramped quarters, the forced interaction with other passengers. At least he doesn't suffer from seasickness like Hanabi, who spends their first evening on the Ryujo emptying her stomach.

Sasuke finds Naruto at the bow of the ship, standing up on the railing in a way that probably isn't safe. He's grinning and pointing at the pelican that flies overhead. "Hey, Sasuke!" he shouts. "Do you see that bird? It just scooped up a fish right out of the water."

Sasuke grabs Naruto by the back of his jacket and pulls him down to the deck. "Don't make Hinata a widow by falling off the boat, dobe."

Naruto laughs and says, "Are you worried about my safety, Sasuke?"

"It would embarrass Konoha if our Hokage drowned to death."

"Right," Naruto says, still smiling. "Wanna spar?"

"And destroy this ship?" Sasuke asks. "I don't think the captain would appreciate that."

"We could fight on the water. It'd be like the Valley of the End, except this time I'll win and you won't be going anywhere."

It's a stupid, foolhardy idea, as Naruto's plans often are. They'll have to catch up with the boat in the dark when they're done, and if either of them are injured no one will be around to heal them.

But Sasuke has a hard time backing down from a fight with Naruto, so he says, "Fine. Let's go."

He summons chakra to the soles of his feet—a task so second-nature now that he can't remember why it once gave him such trouble—and jumps overboard. Sasuke lands on the surface of the water, beside the ship. He gives the hull a wide berth and heads toward the stern, then past it, into the open space behind the Ryujo. Naruto follows him, and then they square off, facing one another with nothing between them but rolling waves of blue.

Sasuke draws his katana and runs at Naruto, who pulls a kunai. The screech of steel on steel fills the air as the two blades meet, part, and meet again. He's better with ninja tools than Naruto, always has been, and within a minute he has Konoha's greatest Hokage scrambling backwards, doing his level best just to keep Sasuke at bay.

Naruto grunts, pockets his kunai, and quickly performs the hand seals for his shadow clone jutsu. A dozen identical Narutos bombard Sasuke from all sides, and he has to awaken his Sharingan to keep track of them all. Suddenly the world is alive with new color and depth, and he sees where only moments before he might as well have been blind. He cuts through one clone, kicks another, elbows a third, and the doppelgangers disappear in puffs of smoke. Sasuke fights off more of them, but they just keep coming. He jumps away and summons his clan's signature fireball jutsu. Clones burn away beneath the flames, and steam rises from the surface of the sea. The real Naruto dodges the attack.

If this were a true battle, Sasuke would infuse his sword with chidori and run his opponent through with it. But this is only a spar, and he and Naruto established ground rules for their fights years ago. Sasuke will not use chidori or any ocular powers beyond his basic Sharingan, and Naruto will avoid senjutsu, the rasengan, and any of his abilities as a jinchuriki.

Now they turn to taijutsu. Naruto lands a sharp kick to his stomach, and Sasuke falls back, winded. He forces himself to ignore the blunt pain in his abdomen, to focus. He's still faster than Naruto, still has the advantage of the Sharingan. He presses forward, overwhelming his friend with kicks and punches.

Sasuke attacks with a confidence of motion, and he knows with the certainty borne from endless practice that today he's going to win.

Sakura is sitting on the deck, enjoying the salt-scented breeze, braiding Ino's long, blonde hair when she hears it. The unmistakable sound of Naruto and Sasuke shouting as they wreck their surroundings with jutsu. The ship rocks from the force of the upset water, and she has to grab the railing to keep from falling.

"What the hell was that?" Ino asks.

"Morons," Sakura says. She stands up and looks out over the ocean. Her teammates are maybe ten yards away from the stern, running toward one another on the water.

Kakashi walks over, unhurried as ever, hands in his pockets. "What do you think, Sakura? Should we stop this or not?"

She looks up at her sensei. There are lines beginning to furrow the skin beside his dark eyes now, and she wonders if there are other signs of age hiding beneath his mask. He remains as inscrutable as always, but Sakura is sure he must be as tired of chasing Naruto and Sasuke as she is.

"Just let them have it out," Sakura says.

The boat goes on, steaming ahead, and she watches the distance between herself and her teammates widen, leaving the men—no, the boys—behind.

She doesn't see either of them again until after sunset. She retires early, exhausted from the long day of travel. Her little cabin has two beds, but the second remains empty; Ino is her bunkmate, and her friend prefers to sleep with Shikamaru.

Sakura has already changed into her night clothes when she hears her door open. Only one person would be bold enough to enter her room without knocking, and she recognizes the familiar, measured fall of his footsteps as well. Sasuke.

"Will you heal me?" he asks.

Before she can answer, he closes the door, takes off his shirt, and sits on the edge of her bed. He clearly assumes that she won't say no.

"I shouldn't," Sakura scolds. She puts her hands on her hips, mostly to keep them from straying to the fresh bruises blooming across his torso. "You deserve every injury."

"Hn." Sasuke looks at her, unimpressed and expectant.

She sighs and rolls up her pajama sleeves. Sakura can't turn away a patient, and no matter how annoyed she might be with him she could never refuse to help Sasuke. So she stands in front of him, focuses her chakra to her hands, and places them over the contusions on his chest and stomach. She feels for cracked ribs or internal bleeding and finds nothing. Not even a hairline fracture. And the bruises aren't deep, the damage limited to his skin and the tissue beneath, not settled into the muscle or bone. Really, his injuries are light for a battle with Naruto.

"You won, didn't you?" she asks.

Sasuke's lips upturn in the smallest of smiles. "Yes."

It only takes a few minutes to heal him. She's surprised he bothered to come to her at all, with injuries this minor.

"There. You're good as new."

"Thank you," he says.

Those words inevitably remind her of the night he left Konoha, but instead of being angry or resentful all Sakura feels is a certain contentment. Sasuke so rarely shows gratitude, and she is one of the few people he ever expresses it to.

"You're welcome," she says.

He stands, and their bodies are close enough that if this were anyone but Sasuke she would feel the need to take a step back. But she doesn't move, and he puts his hands on her waist, pulls her against him.

"Ino could come back," Sakura says.

This is doubtful, though, and Sasuke must know that. He trails kisses down her cheek, her jaw, her neck. Nips at the sensitive skin of her throat and begins unbuttoning her pajamas.

"I thought—" Sakura takes a deep breath when he opens her shirt enough to cup her breast. "I thought we weren't going to see each other in Kiri."

Sasuke picks her up, lifting her into his arms with ease, and drops her on the mattress unceremoniously. He takes off his shoes, pants, undershorts. Naked and lean and beautiful, he joins her in the little bed. Sakura can't help but touch him, can't help but want this man.

Sasuke kisses her, then says, "We're not in Kiri yet."

They don't sleep much that night.

Sasuke sneaks out of her cabin just before sunrise, and Sakura spends most of the voyage to the Water Country in bed, resting. The Ryujo docks at seven o'clock, and then the Konoha shinobi set out for Kiri.

The journey from the coast to the hidden village is a short one, and when they arrive one of the Mizukage's aides, a tall green-haired man named Noburu, greets them at the gate. He looks to be part harried assistant and part shark, and Sakura wonders what exactly it is that they do to their people in Kiri to give them such unusual appearances. Night fell some time ago, and between the darkness and the ever present mist, she can see little of the village. Columned stone buildings, green vegetation, shinobi and civilians walking the streets. The air feels damp and cool, clammy against her skin, and Sakura doesn't like it. She prefers the warmth of Konoha, even the arid heat of Suna.

Noburu leads them through the heart of the village to a ryokan. The large, rather traditional looking inn reminds Sakura of a grander version of the minshuku she and Sasuke shared that night in Kyobetsu. She wonders if Sasuke is also thinking of their last mission together: the pounding rain, that cramped little bed, his nightmare. She can't begin to guess what the dream was about. So much of Sasuke's life must haunt him, and she has no way of knowing which demons were on his doorstep in Kyobetsu.

There have been other nights since then, of course. Other nightmares. Sakura always wakes Sasuke from whatever past terror has him in its thrall. Holds him and kisses him and promises that it's over, that it wasn't real, until he calms. They never talk about these things the next morning, just like they do not discuss their relationship.

After she unpacks her bag, Sakura runs hot water into the ofuro, strips, and steps into the wooden tub. She watches steam rising off the surface of the bath, allows herself to soak in its warmth, and thinks about Sasuke. His room is two floors below hers, so far away that she has no excuse to even visit his hall. Maybe she could convince him to chance it, to come see her anyway like he did last night on the ship. Sakura still can't believe he did that. She's almost certain that he only came to her with his injuries, slight as they were, as a ploy to get inside her cabin, to make love with her. Regardless of his intentions, it was risky and reckless, utterly unlike Sasuke, and she doesn't know what to make of it.

Genin from all the competing hidden villages are swept away by Kiri proctors to take their individual tests early the next morning. The nature of the assessments are kept secret, so that any jounin with testing students cannot leak information to their genin. Dishonesty and deception always run rampant in any ninja examination, and Sasuke is certain that Sakura was the only shinobi from his first chunin exam who passed the written test without cheating. He doubts things will be much cleaner here, no matter what precautions are taken.

The first day of the exams leaves the Hokage's escorts with little to do in the way of official business, so they split up to explore the Mist Village. Sasuke joins Team 7 in their tour of Kiri. Naruto rushes ahead of the group, pointing at landmarks and stopping by vendors' stalls to buy knickknacks. Sasuke hangs back, listening to Kakashi and Sakura discuss her students' chances in the exams.

"Izumi has the best shot of making chunin," she says. "She's well ahead of the boys in terms of ninjutsu and taijutsu. Besides, Hachiro's nerves might get the best of him, and you know it's harder for medic-nin like Saito to get promoted."

Kakashi shakes his head. "She's still going to have a rougher time of it than they are. Examiners are harder on girls. There are plenty of old-fashioned shinobi who think kunoichi have no place on the battlefield."

"You think I don't know that?" Sakura asks. "I'm a woman and a medic-nin. I understand how hard it is. But Izumi is that one in a dozen genin who actually has the skill to pass her chunin exam the first time around."

Kakashi shrugs. "Don't underestimate the power of ignorance. If she's promoted I'll be surprised."

"You're always surprised when anyone is promoted," Sasuke says.

Kakashi laughs. "That's true. Honestly, this batch of kids is too green, too young. I wouldn't pass any of them."

Sakura smiles at their sensei and says, "If you had your way, the three of us would be eternal genin."

"Well, Sasuke and Naruto were well on their way. Seventeen is a pitiful age to make chunin—"

"Hey!" Naruto shouts. "I was kinda busy learning with Pervy Sage and saving the damn world to take my test on time."

"Yes, and Sasuke was becoming an international criminal." Kakashi says. "I know."

Sakura and Naruto look at Sasuke, obviously nervous, waiting to see how he will answer this. If they're waiting for a temperamental response, then they'll be disappointed. It's lies Sasuke takes offense to, not the truth.

Naruto sniffs out a restaurant that serves ramen, and the four of them get lunch together. It's the first time Sasuke has spent with the rest of Team 7 since he and Sakura started sleeping together. He isn't worried about this—Naruto is too oblivious and Kakashi too disinterested to notice anything different—but he can tell from the pointed way that Sakura refuses to meet his eyes that she's a little anxious.

Kakashi sits next to Naruto, leaving the opposite side of the booth to Sasuke and Sakura. There's no option but to sit close together, and by the time their waitress comes to serve them, he's beginning to realize that this is going to be harder than he anticipated. Sakura looks beautiful when she laughs, looks beautiful when she scowls, and he has the sudden urge to put his arm around her shoulders. He doesn't, but throughout the entire meal he ignores the need to touch her. Fights the desire to make a public claim that this woman belongs to him.

Sasuke eats little and says less and by the time the bill arrives, he realizes that things may have become more complicated than he expected.

Author's Note: This chapter gave me more trouble than the first eight combined. I couldn't have turned it into something decent without the help of my wonderful betas, tall-girl-in-a-small-world and uchihasass. So thank you to my betas, and thank you to everyone who's been giving me feedback!