There's something about this place. Sakura thought to herself as she pulled on one of Kakashi's shirts. Her grief didn't numb her this morning, but she could feel something else tugging at her heart. She ignored it walking into the kitchen and casually leaned against the counter. Sakura saw Kakashi's eyes wrinkle from a small smile and she returned it.
"The test is today." She mumbled quietly wringing her hands nervously in front of her. Kakashi gave her a slight nod.
"You should eat something." Sakura remained silent as she felt the stir of butterflies in her stomach.
"I'm going to take a shower and borrow your shirt since mine was umm well you know." She mumbled averting her gaze and feeling the familiar stain appear on her porcelain skin. She quickly ducked out of the kitchen and clamoured into the shower hoping it would soothe her nerves. It didn't. Sakura felt the cool metal under her hand as she paused in the doorway. "Can I come back here after?" She asked hesitantly turning to look back at Kakashi. He nodded his head and Sakura gave him a small smile before leaving his apartment. She didn't bother to ask him if she was ready or not, because she was going to do this no matter what people thought.
The sun had set and Sakura stood on Kakashi's step holding her hand to the door, but didn't knock. She shivered slightly from the cold and flinched from the pain it caused her aching body. The door opened flooding the step with light and Sakura felt her knees buckle from the exhaustion. Kakashi quickly swooped her into his arms and closed the door with his foot. He brought her to the leather chair and set Sakura down gently in it.
"Jesus Sakura what happened?" Kakashi asked voice full of concern as he studied her. He could see bruises on her face as a streak of blood dried from the corner of her mouth. His shirt had been stained with a mixture of blood and mud and he could see a number of cuts along her body. Mud marred her pale skin and clumped to her pink hair.
"It's not as bad as it looks." Sakura told him faintly as she tried to push herself from the chair, but felt strong hands pushing her firmly back into it. Kakashi disappeared but was back in a matter of seconds with a bowl of water and a cloth. He dipped the cloth into the warm water and began to gently wipe away the mud and blood from her face. "You don't have.." She began but was cut off with a firm shhh from Kakashi.
"What did they make you do?" He asked gently while peeling of the bloody shirt and washing the rest of her cuts.
"Fist part was easy. A written test and I've always excelled at those." Sakura said with a little smirk. "Second part was a test on how to perform certain seals and how well you can control your chakra. Third part.." Her voice turned dark and flinched at the pain.
"Pick a number and line up in the order starting from one." A serious man called out while holding a small box out to Sakura. She felt the little pieces of paper between her fingers and grasped one showing the examiner the number. He gave her a pitying look before continuing on down the line.
Sakura could hear screams travelling through the door and a little wave of water squeezed through the tiny crack at the bottom stained with blood. She glanced out the window to see the dieing rays of the sun reach her before a sharp voice called back her attention.
"Number nine you may proceed." Sakura gave a little nod swallowing hard trying to calm her nerves. She stepped outside into the cool air and felt her feet sink in the mud while she made her way to stand in front of the judges. Tsunade sat in the center and gave her a sharp nod and Sakura returned it setting her blood ablaze with anger and determination.
"We will be judging you on how well you are able to handle yourself in taijutsu. The examiner will end the match if you're no longer able to fight, knocked out, or give up. Any deaths will result in immediate failure for you." A man at the table concluded before nodding his head to the examiner. She immediately recognized him to be Genma as a wave of anxiety swept through her. He opened a door beside the one Sakura had come out of and her eyes widened in shock. Fear trickled down her spine as the man came to stand in front of her, cracking his knuckles dangerously and giving a malicious grin. He was at least 6"2 and his large muscle rippled as he prepared his stance. Memories seeped into her mind of her first serious mission and the man standing before her reminded her of Zabuza, the silent assassin.
"Well I managed to knock out my first opponent." Just barely. She added bitterly to herself and flinched again when Kakashi cleaned a cut on her knee. "But then Tsunade made the task a tad bit more difficult for me as she promised."
Sakura bent down grasping the black cloth in her hands and secured it around her arm again as her breathing returned to normal. She stood in front of Tsunade giving her a defiant look as she felt blood trickle from her newly acquired wounds.
"You may proceed to the medic-nin now." A voice called out quiet and in disbelief. Sakura studied the faces of the judges and saw them all looking in shock at her and back to the unconscious man laying in the mud. She gave them a small nod and was about to leave when a voice cut through the air.
"Not quite yet. I want to present her with a second test." Tsunade called out dangerously.
"But Hokage she has all ready..." The man stuttered stopping abruptly when she gave him a venomous glare.
"Examiner if you will." Tsunade concluded calmly staring at Sakura without a hint of emotion. Sakura narrowed her jade eyes and glared until she sensed five chakras approaching her with an incredible speed and malicious intent.
"Tsunade presented me with a second test where I had to face five ninjas at once simulating a real combat situation. I know I knocked out two for sure, but the third one I don't know and the remaining ones." Sakura paused remembering the intense pain she had felt from them. "I woke up in the hospital and then came here." She mumbled quietly feeling the exhaustion sweeping over her once again.
"And why weren't you healed at the hospital." Kakashi asked giving her an intense stare. Sakura averted her gaze as memories of her throwing bed pans across the room and screaming that she was a god damned medic-nin and could take care of herself flashed through her mind.
"I couldn't stand the thought of Tsunade walking in and gloating over my bed as I lay there being healed." Sakura finished sheepishly. She heard Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh and she snapped her head back to glare at him. "I'll be fine. I can fix myself in the morning when I have enough chakra. They had all ready healed the broken bones when I woke up." She concluded angrily. Kakashi left Sakura to her thoughts and she could hear water running for a bath when he returned. He picked her up in his arms going back to the bathroom and set her down gently on the edge of the tub before quickly leaving and closing the door.
She left the bathroom clean and her muscles somewhat soothed from the hot water to find some of Kakashi's clothing laid out on the bed for her. She slipped them on gratefully and looked longingly at his bed. He won't mind if I crawl into that bed will he? She thought to herself hesitantly. Her body ached, she was exhausted, and wouldn't have the strength to walk to her apartment. She was surprised that she had managed to make it to Kakashi's without passing out in the street. Sakura debated with herself, but in the end she settled for the bed and pulled the covers tightly around her.
She felt herself being gently shaken awake and groaned slightly when she opened her eyes.
"You're going to be late for work." Kakashi muttered quietly obviously sorry that he had to wake her. Sakura nodded her head slowly and sat up gingerly feeling her stiff muscles protest as she moved. She made her way to the bathroom where she gasped at the bruises on her face and went to work immediately on removing them. It only took her a couple of minutes to seal any cuts and remove the bruises from her body, but her mind weighed heavily on her. I'm sorry Sasuke. Looks like you were right about me. Sakura could feel her throat tighten painfully while her stomach pooled into knots.
"Thanks for last night." Sakura muttered quietly when she entered the kitchen. Kakashi gave her a slight nod and turned his attention back to the fridge. "Is it ok if I borrow these to get to my apartment?" Kakashi let out a slight chuckle from her question.
"Well we couldn't have you walking around naked. People might begin to wonder about you." He said mischievously while pulling out some leftovers.
"Yeah I guess so. I'll bring them back tonight." Her voice was detached as she tried to push her emotions away from her mind.
"When do you find out your results?"
"Oh umm one week and six days. But I'm pretty sure I already know the results." She replied voice wavering slightly. Sakura quickly turned leaving the kitchen so Kakashi wouldn't see the tears gathering in her eyes. "See you later." She yelled before closing the door to his apartment.
Bunked out on the fight scenes but Sakura kicked some serious ass! Cheers
Cance