Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
A/N: Wow, thanks for all of the love! Please see ending notes for comments!
Song Inspo: WALLS by Kings of Leon
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TWO
"I can get there on my own.
You can leave me here alone.
I'm just trying to do what's right."
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Ino had been waiting outside of Sakura's door for the last twenty minutes and she was tired. Her feet were swollen, Inojin was kicking, and she just wanted to sit next to her best friend and complain about what this pregnancy was doing to her perfect figure. Was that too much for a girl to ask?
Shifting her weight, Ino tapped her manicured fingertips against her purple covered belly. Sakura had said she'd be home a quarter after four and it was already five. That woman had been completely wonky lately—kind of like a shell of her former self—and Ino would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit concerned.
After that disastrous mission where Sakura had been tortured by the Snake-sannin, she hadn't been the same. Besides the unhealthy pallor of her skin, she barely ate, she was never in the village, she wore burgundy eyeshadow of all things, and Ino could have sworn she'd once seen the other woman scurrying out the village with snow white hair.
Whatever phase Sakura was going through, Ino wasn't sure she liked it and she was fully prepared to use her rampant pregnancy hormones as an excuse for an intervention.
Speak of the Devil…
Ino's glossed lips curled happily as she saw the distinctive pink of her friend's hair slowly make her way towards her.
"Forehead!" She called, waving jubilantly.
Sakura glanced up from where her eyes seemed glued to her booted feet and Ino could see the bright grin even from where she was standing. To her, it looked a bit forced—but everything Sakura did seemed a bit forced, nowadays.
"Ino-pig!" Sakura pulled her into a warm hug and Ino returned it, even if she shivered a bit.
Sakura's skin always felt so cold!
It was like the woman had poor circulation or something—which spoke a lot of how well she was taking care of herself as a medic-nin.
Pulling away from her dearest friend, Ino pouted. "You know, Forehead, weaker women than I would have burst into tears at such a greeting."
Sakura rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips twitching. "Well, it's a good thing you're so much stronger and prettier than them, right?"
Ino burst into laughter, tossing her long ponytail over her shoulder with a flourish. "You know it!"
Stepping aside, the taller blonde waited for the rosette to fish her keys out of her pocket and open the door. She took this time to sweep her sharp gaze over her friend's person, and she did not like what she saw.
She might have been off the active duty roster, but Ino was still a kunoichi through and through. Her observational skills were still incredibly sharp; she would have had to have been blind to not notice the alarmingly pale hue her friend's once flushed skin had taken.
Yes, her husband's skin was just as pale, but Sai at least had some life to him. Sakura's skin, and Ino would never say it out loud, looked like it belonged on a corpse—and it was not a good look for her pretty friend.
The door to Sakura's apartment swung open with a creak (one that Sakura narrowed her eyes to) and Ino toed off her sandals, kicking them haphazardly to where she knew Sakura had placed her own. She could barely see her toes, excuse her if she didn't feel the need to bend down and organize her ratty—but so comfortable—sandals!
"Do you want anything to drink?" Sakura asked as she padded over to the refrigerator while Ino took a seat at the kitchen island.
"I'd like a mimosa, please."
Rolling her eyes good-naturedly when the rosette turned to level her with an unamused stare, Ino pouted, "Boo, you suck. Juice is fine."
By the time Sakura returned with two glasses of juice, Ino was already half a column deep in tabloid gossip from a trashy magazine left on the counter.
"Oh my gosh," The blonde snorted as she blindly reached for one of the glasses set in front of her. "The Daimyo's son is having a baby!"
Sakura blinked. "Another one? What number is he at now, eight?"
"Ten." Ino corrected as she took a dainty sip from the cute bendy straw her best friend knew she loved, only to instantly regret it as its unholy sweetness assaulted her poor taste buds.
Hastily spitting it back into the chilled cup, Ino gagged, "Oh my god, what is that? Battery acid?!"
As she dabbed at her tongue with a napkin, the blonde watched from her peripherals as the other woman swapped their drinks. "And that would be mine, Pig."
"See," Sakura pointed at the pink bendy straw. "Mine is always pink, yours is purple. It's not my fault you weren't paying attention, with that pregnancy brain of yours."
"That doesn't explain why you're trying to give yourself diabetes!"
Ino knew for a fact that Sakura only indulged on such copious amounts of sugar on a bad day, and even then it wasn't in one serving! It just solidified the fact that something wasn't right with her friend because Sakura was a health nut to the point of irritation; and lately, Ino had noticed that all Sakura ever had were bad days.
Besides that, when she did eat, it was never a meal that wasn't overly sweet or spicy.
"Stop being so dramatic, it's not that bad," Sakura made a face as she grabbed the magazine from where Ino had dropped it. "Ew, that guy is disturbingly virile."
Knowing a change of topic when she saw one, Ino narrowed her eyes at her friend's face as she took a sip from her much tamer drink. Normally, she would have something to say about such disregard for a loved one's health, but she recognized the lines of stress in her friend's oh-so-big forehead and decided to drop it. She'd harass her another day.
But still, what type of best friend would she be if she didn't poke fun at her expense?
Ino's lips curled slyly. "You do know that you're drinking my backwash, right?"
Sakura choked, her hand coming to her lips as she coughed, "Gross, Ino!"
Laughing as Sakura moved to dump the rest of her drink into the sink, Ino placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, c'mon! It's not so bad! I'm chock full of mommy antibodies right now and you should take advantage of that!"
When Sakura glared at her from over her shoulder, Ino added, "It was a gift! Because I love you!"
"Ugh, I hate you, Pig. So much."
"Love you too, Forehead."
Laughing, Ino picked up the glass of juice meant for actual normal people and made her way to Sakura's old, hand me down loveseat. It was a washed out orange with blue and green flowers held together by silver stitching, and it was easily the ugliest thing she had ever seen, but it was also the most comfortable piece of furniture Ino had ever rested her ass on.
When she had first seen it, Ino had begged Sakura to get rid of it. Such a hideous thing was sure to scare off any potential boyfriends—or friends, for that matter. But, apparently, Naruto had given it to her and the blonde had loved it so much that Sakura couldn't bear to be rid of it. He called it The Team 7 Couch, and made it a point to sit there at least once whenever he visited.
If it weren't so damned comfortable, Ino would have made him keep it in his apartment if he loved it so much. But even Hinata grimaced at the sight of it!
Huffing, Ino spread herself languorously across the monstrosity, sighing as the cushions molded to the contours of her body, and peered through lowered lashes at the state of her friend's home.
It was another thing that concerned her. Sakura, on top of being anal retentive, was a major clean freak—something about being on Team 7 made her seek order in her own life—and her apartment was looking like a bunch of squatters had taken residence.
There were clothes strewn about the back of chairs and in the corner. Books were laid open and discarded all throughout the apartment and mission gear was nearly everywhere she looked.
"Hey, Sakura," Ino called as she leaned over to pick up a book on botany and set it on her belly, "Are you sure you and Naruto haven't switch apartments? 'Cause it's looking like it!"
"Shut up, Pig!" Sakura snapped, not unkindly, from where she had moved to rummage in her closet. "You know I've been super busy. I don't have time to be a clean freak anymore!"
Ino scoffed, rolling her eyes as she drummed her fingernails thoughtfully on the textbook's hardcover. She felt Inojin move in her womb and she winced when he evicted a rib. Damn kid was going to rearrange her entire skeleton if he didn't settle down!
She glanced up when Forehead came around the corner with a pack slung over her shoulders and arms full of scrolls. Ino frowned; she was going on a mission again? So soon? While it wasn't unusual for shinobi to be sent out on back to back missions when the village was low on available personnel, the blond knew it wasn't the case during this era of peace. In fact, all they had were available shinobi. She had even once caught dog breath Kiba trying to bribe the Hokage-baka with all he could eat ramen for a C-Rank mission.
A C-Rank!
Konoha's ninja were that bored. Therefore, Ino couldn't understand why Sakura refused to give herself a break and let one of the many idiots running around the village take over for a change. It's not like they were busy.
Giving voice to thought, Ino watched from between her lashes as Sakura dropped her pack onto the floor with a sigh. With the type of efficiency she was known for, Forehead started grabbing things from different parts of the room to toss them into her pack. Waiting silently, she catalogued each item: a spare weapons pouch with extra kunai, scrolls, clothing, a travelling cloak, canteens, a med-kit, and some rations.
So she wasn't planning on being gone for too long, then.
When it seemed like an answer from Forehead wasn't forthcoming, Ino's lips tightened into a thin line. Sitting up, grimacing at the way Inojin protested the movement by punching her in the spleen, she huffed.
"Sakura-chan," she began, her friend's hands stilling over her pack at the childhood moniker, "I'm worried about you."
Swallowing, Sakura resumed rearranging items within her bag and Ino took it as an invitation to continue. If Forehead thought she could beat her in the game of pigheadedness, she had another thing coming!
"You really haven't been the same since, well—you know," Ino said, voice uncharacteristically subdued, "And it's not like you want to tell anyone what really happened to you—"
"Ino…" Sakura sighed. "The Hokage knows what happened."
"Yeah, well, he's not me," Ino snapped. "And I know you better than anyone else and this-this," swollen hands gestured in Sakura's direction, "this zombie isn't you! Look at you!"
Ino stood to her feet, her lower lip wobbling dangerously. Damn it, she wasn't supposed to cry today! She was supposed to get her toes done by her idiot of a best friend and talk about boys and figure out what the hell was up!
"You're so pale, you don't eat," Ino's cheeks flushed as distress and frustration curled tightly in her chest. "You don't have time for anyone anymore, and you're so busy with these stupid missions that I'm lucky if I see you around the village!
Did you forget that there's more to life than work?!"
Ino stomped towards her wide-eyed friend and jabbed a finger into her chest, uncaring of how quickly she was dissolving into angry hysterics. Sakura deserved to hear a piece of her mind!
"Did you forget that there are people who love and care about you?" She cried, swiping angrily at her dampening cheeks. "Because let me tell you, I haven't! And what if you died out there?! On one of those missions you didn't even have to take! How selfish can you be that you can't see that there are people here who need you!"
Sakura looked stricken, her shoulders drawing into her chest and head bowing in what Ino knew was shame. Still, she continued her angry tirade because she had had enough.
Stupid Forehead, making a pregnant woman cry.
Stepping back, Ino placed her hands on her hips and glowered down at the shorter woman. "Everyone's been tiptoeing around you like you're going to break if they say anything to you, but I'm not doing that anymore! The Sakura I know is stronger than this! She wouldn't let whatever the hell this is get her down and keep her there!
And I'm telling you right now, Inojin needs a strong godmother or so help me God I'll tell the entire village about your collection of cheesy erotica!"
Sakura stilled, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the stubborn jut to Ino's chin. "You wouldn't dare…"
"Try me, Forehead," Ino challenged, her arms crossing over her ample chest. "Keep this up and everyone in the Shinobi Alliance will be talking about how sweet, little Haruno Sakura gets down. So what the hell is up?!"
Sakura instantly deflated at the final pleading tone in Ino's voice. It wasn't like her stubborn friend was trying to get answers out of her for her own gain, she was only concerned for her wellbeing. Her own lower lip trembled at the burning guilt that threatened her already precarious state of mind. Ino was right; she was being selfish.
She had thought that isolating herself from her friends was the most selfless thing to do, when it had been the opposite. They loved her and she had been cruel in pulling away. How many times had she hurt them by denying their invitations to dinner or training? How many times had their faces fallen when she'd brushed off attempts at conversation and worried questions about her health?
"Sakura?"
How many times had she hurt Ino?
Out of everyone, she hated to hurt her blonde friend the most. Ino was everything to her. While Naruto was everyone's best friend—and she would always love him with the type of loyalty reserved for Team 7—Ino was hers. If it weren't for her, she wouldn't be Sakura; and she owed it all to the woman in front of her.
"I'm a horrible person."
Ino reeled back and blinked. "Huh?"
Shaking her head, Sakura toyed with the scroll in her hands. "You're right, I was being selfish. I'm sorry."
Ino's cornflower blue eyes settled on her suspiciously. "Are you just saying that to get me to shut up?"
"No." Sakura winced, cheeks flushing red. So Ino had caught on to how evasive she'd been in the past.
Placing the scroll in her pack, Sakura gently curled her fingers around Ino's hand and led her to her horrendously ugly couch. The two women sat down and a heavy silence settled between them.
Sakura didn't know where to begin; or how to begin, for that matter. Should she lie or tell her the truth? Ino knew her well enough to know when she wasn't being honest, but Sakura was afraid of the consequences of revealing her condition. What if Ino was afraid of her? Would she run away and never come back?
Something in her knew that Ino would never tell a soul if she told her the truth; and a part of her wanted to believe that Ino would remain unfazed, but a bigger part of her knew that fear was a powerful thing. It was why many shinobi cowered in the face of the rare genjutsu master.
Sakura didn't think she'd be able to handle it if Ino left her, too.
"Is this about Sasuke?"
Ino's soft voice jolted Sakura out of her thoughts as if she'd been slapped. Angling her body towards her, Sakura raised a brow.
"Sasuke?" She asked, blinking in confusion. "What about him?"
Ino worried her bottom lip between straight white teeth before blurting out: "Karin's pregnant."
Sakura's hands tightened around her knees, sharpened nails digging into the skin beneath her pants as her lips pulled into a scowl—nearly four months later and the words still stung. Schooling her face into an expression of indifference, Sakura nodded in acknowledgement.
"Yes, I know she's pregnant. She's due in five months, right?" She said blithely, forcing herself to release the painful grip she had on her poor knees. "That's great for Sasuke, all he's ever wanted was a family."
"Oh, c'mon, Sakura!" Ino threw herself further into the couch, exasperated. "Cut the bullshit!"
"No, Ino, really! I'm happy for—"
"Bullshit!" Ino cried, throwing her hands in the air. "I call bullshit! I don't know how that hussy managed to sink her claws into your Sasuke-kun, but everyone knew that you two were endgame! Everyone!"
As reassuring as it was to know that everyone believed in the power of her love, Sakura could only smile sadly.
"Sasuke wasn't mine to have, Ino." Sakura said sadly, "He never was."
Growling, Ino jumped to her feet with the type of fluidness Sakura hadn't seen from her since she got pregnant to shove a finger into her face. Beryl eyes crossed over themselves to focus on a sparkly gold fingernail and Sakura offhandedly admired her friend's choice in nail polish.
"That's bullshit," Ino hissed slowly. "You know it and I know it. What you two had was something out of a badly written novel and I refuse to believe that you just one day woke up and decided, 'Oh, I don't want to have freaky pink haired Uchiha babies, anymore!'"
A vein bulged in her forehead at Ino's unflattering imitation of her voice and Sakura crossed her arms.
"But that is what happened, Pig," Sakura declared through clenched teeth. "I don't love him anymore."
Ino laughed humorlessly. "Forehead, you are such a bad liar."
"Now come on," Ino yanked Sakura to her feet and the girl yelped in surprise, "I came here to get my toes done and if my toes aren't golden by the time I walk out your door, I'm gonna tell everyone about that time you farted while doing sit ups."
"Oh my god, Ino! I was six!"
Ino's laughter followed Sakura to her bedroom as she left to retrieve their stashed nail polish collection. Pausing in front of her dresser mirror, she frowned at the girl staring back at her.
Her body was hers and her hair—while a bit paler than usual—was hers. Her face was her own, and her eyes were the same green she'd known all her life, and yet, she didn't recognize her.
Taking a moment to breathe, Sakura leaned against the dresser with her palms splayed out beneath her. Releasing a shuddering breath, she felt the tension ease out of her shoulders and neck.
Ino was right. She was stronger than this and maybe, Sakura glanced out the doorway, maybe she didn't have to do it alone.
"Hey, Forehead!"
"Yeah?!"
"Did you hear about that cannibal stealing organs from the morgue?!"
Sakura's breath lodged in her throat.
"N-no?!"
"Yeah! It's super scary! Now get out here and paint my ugly toes!"
Swallowing, Sakura opened a drawer and grabbed the bottle of gold nail polish, the same shade as Ino's nails, and other nail care items.
She was wrong; she was completely alone in this.
Walking out into the living room where the din of a popular soap opera was playing, Sakura set all her items onto the floor and sat down at Ino's feet. The blond beamed when she grabbed a dainty foot and started working the tension out of the pressure points with skilled thumbs and the aid of medical chakra.
"Oh my god," Ino moaned blissfully. "I love you. Can you teach Sai how to do this?!"
Sakura rolled her eyes playfully, but a fond smile curled her lips as her best friend continued to make embarrassing noises. Maybe she was alone in the more obscure part of her life, but she was damn sure not alone in this one.
Love was abundant in her life and it looked like she had another thing to thank Ino for.
Until a sudden foul odor assaulted her poor unsuspecting nostrils.
"Oh, Ino!"
"Sorry! Blame Inojin! He's the one that likes red bean paste!"
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The next morning saw Sakura making her way to the village gates. The sun had just begun to rise and Konoha was full of the bustling sounds of waking villagers. Store owners were unlocking doors while other establishments filled the air with the smell of baking and cooking goods. She noticed a few Genin teams shuffling their way towards the training grounds with bleary eyes and even spotted a few nurses walking home from the night shift, the young girls barely energized enough to wave hello.
The sun peaked over the green line of trees and bathed the world in golden light, casting shadows on yawning gate guards and returning shinobi. Some nodded their heads at her as she passed by while others stopped her to say hello and ask about her mission.
After her conversation with Ino, Sakura made it a note to enjoy life as much as she could. Just because things were different now, it didn't mean she couldn't continue being the same person. She was the same person; she just had a different…palate than before.
And if she had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be that way for long.
Springtime was coming to a close and was giving way to summer, the sun blazing hotter with each passing day. Fellow shinobi winced sympathetically when she told them her destination was Suna as the desert sun was unforgiving. Whereas Konoha was overflowing with trees, Wind Country was a barren wasteland where nothing grew.
It was a shinobi's least favorite destination, but Sakura felt she didn't mind it all that much. Well, now she didn't. Before, she had despised how easily she sunburned and the feeling of bathing in her own sweat. Now, because at the core of everything she was quite dead, these things didn't happen anymore.
In fact, Sakura deduced that she'd be able to make it to Suna in three days time rather than the standard week. She no longer needed to sleep, rest, or even hydrate. All she needed was something to eat and she'd be fine. Luckily, or unluckily for some poor soul, she had brought along her last bit of food and would be fine until next week when she needed to hunt again.
She made sure to bring all the human flesh she had stashed away in her home and sealed it into a special scroll. It was one Tsunade had designed herself for the use of transporting or storing essential organs like, say, eyeballs. It could only be opened by the shinobi who had sealed it with their own blood and unique combination of hand signs, and Sakura found it to be a godsend. Both blonds in her life had a habit of opening her scrolls and rummaging through her fridge, and Sakura was glad she wasn't dumb enough to keep human organs in her freezer in some type of container.
Naruto had given her four weeks to complete a relatively easy courier mission; the rank was only for the contents of the scroll and she appreciated his coddling in this aspect of her life. If she handed the scroll to its recipient in four days, then she'd have enough time to hunt for food and Kabuto.
Realistically, to find Kabuto she had to find the ruins of Oto and it was easier said than done. She had once tried going back to the general area of where she had first woken up and found it curiously empty. No lab, no corpses, nothing—as if they hadn't been there at all.
That had been an infuriatingly frustrating day.
Her best bet at finding anything Oto related was by finding one of Orochimaru's henchmen and beating it out of them. Again, that was easier said than done. Those freaks were annoyingly slippery.
Maybe if she contacted Sasuke…?
Sakura punted that thought out of her mind as soon as it had appeared. While it would be a great help, as he had been a former Oto-nin and must know the location of at least one base, she had no desire to give him the opportunity to ask any invasive questions.
She, like most things, would have to do this on her own.
Inhaling deeply, Sakura's eyes fluttered shut and she basked in the soothing scent of fresh cut grass and clean air. An errant breeze caressed her cheeks, her hair whipping gently about her sun warmed face and she exhaled.
At her side, leather gloves creaked with the tightening of her fists.
Opening her eyes, determination set into the lines of her face.
Time to get to work.
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tbc
A/N: Wow! I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter! I'm still a little undecided about pairings, but I'm kind of stuck between ItaSaku and KakaSaku. I have drawn up scenarios for both and I could make one platonic and the other romantic. Or I could not have any at all...
Hm. I can't decide! I LOVE THEM BOTH.
