The shuriken whistled past her cheek as she dogged to the left, cartwheeling hand over foot as Kakashi-sensei appeared before her, a kunai raised and aimed to where her exposed throat had previously been. She twisted mid-acrobat, dropping her hip and swinging out her foot, just barely missing the older ninja's feet as he leapt into the air once more. Sakura grit her teeth, fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt of her own kunai and subconciously sent out threads of chakra in every direction of the training field.
There.
Kakashi appeared three meters to her left, the earth rumbling beneath his feet. His eyes snapped wide, just barely missing the blade flying through the air, aimed directly at his face. She smirked, already moving over the shifting earth, her fist flying. She knew that the kunai would miss. It was never her intension to actually hit true. Instead, it had done well to shift her old sensei off his feet, off his center of gravity, and as she moved to punch, his arm shooting up to block, Sakura twisted her foot outwards, hooking it behind his knee.
Kakashi cursed, latching onto her forearm and dragging her down with him, the two rolling over the grass, grappling for the upper hand. She snarled, twisting through his arms, relying on feel and training. She had spent years apprenticing under Tsunade, not only learning to become the best Healer in her generation- possibly ever- but building her physical strength and fighting skills. She and the retired Hokage would spar and wrestle for hours before Shizune would insist that Tsunade was required to return to her duties of leading the village, much to the shagrin of both shinobi. And while she, Kakashi and Naruto trained regularly, it wasnt often that it came down to this.
Kakashi's arm twisted, reaching around her neck as she moved, pressing her back into his chest. She ducked her chin, blocking his access as she planted her feet onto the ground between his legs and shot her hips upward. Her arms twisted over her head, her feet following bringing her back up to a standing position with her sensei not far behind. Sakura smirked, pale green eyes locked on his, the two of them choking down air like they were fish out of water. She wasnt sure how long they had been going for, it must have been a while if the sweat dripping off of them were any indication.
"Truce?" Sakura's eyes glinted, her smirk widening at his question.
"Ill take that as your surrender." Kakashi rolled his lone, dark eye, his body straightening out of his defensive stance and sheathed the kunai in his hand onto his thigh. Sakura hesitated for a moment, her chakra threading out in search of any shadow clones or nasty tricks that he would occasionally pull on them before she finally breathed a sigh and stood as well. Her hair clung to her neck where it had fallen from the short ponytail on the back of her head, and as she shifted, rolling out her shoulders, she felt the aches of bruising beginning along her ribs and thighs. "Go have a seat and Ill fix your arm." Kakashi gave her a nod, moving in the direction of the two other members of their team who had collapsed beneath the shade of the trees, still catching their breaths from their own sparing match on the other end of the field. She had managed to catch Kakashi's arm with a shiriken, leaving a shallow gash along his bicep that dribbled blood.
"Damn, Sakura," Naruto cried as they approached, "I havent seen you fight like that in a while!" Sakura couldnt help the grin that stretched across her lips, brushing the damp strands of hair off her forehead. She followed Kakashi to where he collapsed against a nearby tree, crouching down beside him, her hand beginning to glow a bright, pale green around his upper arm.
"It's been a minute," she agreed, not looking up. She could feel two separate gazes on her, studying her as she quickly healed the small scratch she had given to their teammate. Sasuke sat with his back to a tree on the other side of Naruto, who lay on his back in the grass, just barely within the shade. He had removed the dark cloak he had been wearing earlier that morning, leaving him in a pair of dark pants and a grey shirt that reminded her vaguely of the type of clothing he had worn when he had been dressing as Orochimaru's apprentice. Sweat glistened on his face and chest, which, thanks to the rather low opening at the top gave her a decent view of the well-defined muscles, had begun to slow as he regained his breath.
Sakura shifted, falling onto her butt as she finished healing Kakashi and leaned back to rest her weight on one hand, staring out towards the field. The side that she and Kakashi had been sparring on remained relatively unharmed, aside from the slight shifting of the earth that he had caused not long before their truce. The boys side, however, was a mess. Several Naruto and Sasuke-sized craters had formed where they had both plummeted each other into the earth. Rolling her eyes, Sakura wasnt overly surprised. At least they had kept any major jutsu out of it.
"Who won?" She glanced over to Kakashi, who had raised his brow in question to the two boys.
"It was a tie," Sasuke muttered. It didnt surprise either of them.
"Us too." Sakura smirked.
"Only because Im hungry." The silver-haired ninja shot her a look that had her sticking out her tongue. He chuckled.
"Yeah, Im hungry too!" Naruto cried, suddenly jumping up and looking between the rest of them. "Come on, lets go get breakfast!" Sakura shook her head, with a laugh.
"Fine, but you're buying." The blonde paused, blinking at her as if the words did not seem to compute.
"Wait, what!?" She grinned, green eyes glinting, "why am I buying? You said loser buys and there's no loser!"
"Yes," she agreed, pushing herself up and dusting off her hands. She moved towards him, ignoring the dark eyes that followed every move and clapped her friend on the shoulder. She pushed herself up onto her toes, planting a kiss on his whiskered cheek, "but someone very rudely woke me up this morning, so you owe me."
"Aww, come on, Sakura!" She shoved him away, making her way towards the path that would lead them back towards the village center.
"Are you hungry or not?" It didnt take long for Naruto to race up behind her, appearing by her side in a flutter of orange and shaggy blonde hair. Within a few steps, Kakashi appeared on his other side, and a dark figure fell into step on her right, standing closer than she was with Naruto.
Sakura blinked, feeling his energy graze hers, like phantom fingers touching her lower back, guiding her through the trees back to the village. Her lips thinned, her chin dipping as she barely tipped her head in his direction, looking over her shoulder to where he walked close enough for their arms to brush one another. Her eyes narrowed, her steps shifting until she walked closer to Naruto, and sped up her pace.
No one said a thing.
She knew that the boys noticed. Knew that Kakashi and Naruto had felt the shift in energy around them, had allowed her to step ahead of them- just barely- leading them in the direction of the small breakfast place they frequented after every weekend training session. Biting the inside of her cheek, she knew that Naruto had shared a glance with Sasuke; knew that they had shared some sort of silent communication with one another, telling him:
Be patient. Dont push her.
Like that would do anything. She shook her head, just barely, a slight shift of her head that had her pink hair shuttering in the summer breeze, and took a sharp left as they entered town. Sakura forced herself to think about something else, anything else, other than the dark tendrils of chakra that she could feel reaching out to cautiously brush against her own. He didnt it once, her energy withdrawing away from him like a startled street cat, fingers curling into fists at her sides as she walked quickly down the now-busy street. She could see the restaurant up ahead, already busy with customers, her mind focused on the banana foster pancakes she would always order.
Another nudge. Another graze. Her chakra pulled back once more, her jaw clenching.
She heard Naruto mutter something behind her and Sakura rolled her shoulders, attempting to ease the ache and tension that was beginning to travel up her neck to the back of her head. She stepped up to the hostess, pasting a smile on her face.
"Good morning, Sakura-san," the girl grinned, recognizing the group immediately, "four today?"
"Yes, Mai," she nodded, "thank you." The dark haired girl smiled with a nod, gathering the menu's and motioning for the group to follow. It was as Sakura moved to step into the restaurant that she felt the graze of energy against her chakra a third, and final time. Without so much as a blink, her chaka lashed out, snapping at the darkness behind her that had Sasuke faultering a step, a curse slipping from his lips. Following Mai through the maze of tables, Sakura couldnt help but smirk as she heard Kakashi utter quietly behind her, "he warned you".
The group were sat on the back patio beneath a red and white stripped umbrella, looking out over the center square of Konoha. Kakashi lounged in his chair, nose buried into the orange Icha Icha novel that Sakura was sure he could recite in his sleep, to her left. To her right, Naruto basked in the sun, face turned to the sky with his fingers threaded together behind his head, silent for once. Sakura waited patiently for her food, one leg crossed over the other, picking at her nails with a kunai, and purposefully ignoring the studious gaze of her final companion from across the table. Sat entirely within the shade of the umbrella, the Uchiha, leaned onto the table, fingers steepled in front of his face, watching as she picked the dirt out from beneath her nails. The girl he remembered would have never unsheathed a weapon at the eating table.
The girl he knew is dead, she thought to herself, flicking the small specks of dirt over the arm of the chair.
It had been a while since they had placed their orders with the waitress, leaving the four of them to converse amongst themselves, or, in this case, sit in uncomfortable silence. While it was not at all a surprise that neither Kakashi nor Sasuke would actively start or hold a conversation for long, Sakura glanced over to Naruto, wondering if the boy had managed to fall asleep in the sun. It was the only reasonable explanation for him to remain silent for so long.
She was just about to reach out and overturn his chair when the petite waitress appeared at her side, tray resting her shoulder. Naruto's eyes flashed open, growing wide with excitement as the food was place before them, digging into his waffles like he hadnt eaten in weeks. The poor waitress just barely got her fingers out of the way. Sakura shook her head, giving the girl a polite smile as her banana foster pancakes were placed before her, picking up her fork and cutting off a bite. The other two eagerly started their meals, Kakashi politely putting his novel away, and the four ate their breakfast in relatively silence.
For about thirty seconds.
"Isnt this food so good, Sasuke?" Naruto grinned around a mouthful of food, "we come here after every weekend training session!" Sasuke glanced to his left, taking a bite of scrambled eggs.
"Hn." Sakura didnt bother to look up, continuing to eat her breakfast silently. Naruto continued to chatter away, talking around his food like the absolute imbicile he could often be, with Kakashi interjecting every now and then as well. Sakura remained quiet, her eyes on her food and her mind distant, the dark shadowed eyes across the table still watching her with each bite he took of his food. She ignored it, pushing a slice of banana around her plate as she chewed her pancake. She had allowed herself to retreat inward, to follow her channels of chakra to the sore muscles and bruises forming beneath her skin, healing herself internally. She sighed through her nose, reaching up and brushing a pink strand of hair behind her ear-
"...right, Sakura?" Her eyes flashed up, blinking once, twice, to where Naruto stared at her expectantly.
"Im sorry?" Her friend frowned, shoulders slumping.
"Were you not listening?" She cringed.
"Sorry, no." Kakashi glanced over at her.
"What's on your mind?" Sakura shot him a look, a small, apologetic smile on her lips.
"Just internal healing," she shrugged, "you hit me in the ribs pretty hard earlier." Kakashi sketched a brow.
"That usually doesnt take you long to heal," he pointed out, "you seemed pretty far off in space." Sakura turned back to her food, pointedly ignoring the watchful gaze of the man sitting across from her and shrugged.
"I play around in my chakra systems sometimes." Naruto frowned, opening his mouth to no doubt question further, when a buzzing at her hip had her jumping in her seat. Sakura cursed, snatching the pager off her hip and reading the message blinking across it, green eyes growing wide.
"Fuck!" She scrambled out of her seat, throwing the napkin laid across her lap onto her half-empty plate as her other hand yanked her wallet from her back pocket. "Sorry guys, emergency at the hospital. I have to go, now." Ignoring Naruto's objection, Sakura yanked out a wad of cash and threw it onto the center of the table, "breakfast is on me. See you later." Not bothering to make her way back through the restaurant to the front door, Sakura launched herself upward and took off across the rooftops towards the hospital, disappearing in a blur of black, red and pink that left the three men staring after her.
"Wow," Naruto muttered, his blue eyes falling back to the half-eaten pancakes and wad of cash on the table - that looked to be far too much for what their meal would cost- "I wonder what kind of emergency it was to have her leaving that fast."
"Whatever it is," Kakashi shook his head, "Im sure she will handle it." Naruto nodded, reaching over and grabbing her discarded breakfast and dumping it onto his plate. Kakashi shook his head.
"Is she often called in on her days off?" Kakashi glanced over to Sasuke, who sat hunched over his food with a frown.
"Not as much anymore," he explained, "she used to be, but after having a word with the management at the hospital, it's not as frequent of an occurance unless there is a true emergency." Sasuke glanced up then, his dark eyes guarded, but intrigued.
"Arent there other medics that can handle emergencies?" Kakashi went to answer, only to be cut off by Naruto, now speaking around his food once more.
"Sakura-chan is the best medic-nin in Konoha!" He prided, "Maybe the best medic-nin out there! She surprised granny-Tsunade years ago, and she's now the one who runs the hospital!" Sasuke blinked, grip slackening on his fork slightly before he seemed to catch himself and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He turned back down to his food, digesting the information.
Sakura ran the hospital. She was the best medic-nin and had surpassed Lady Tsunade in strength and skill. Just another thing that seemed to have changed about her. Another thing that he didnt know.
Sasuke knew she was strong. He always had. And during the Fourth Great Ninja War, she had proved that by fighting alongside him and Naruto against Madara and Obito. But this? To be running an entire hospital and she was barely eighteen years old...
"It's why we like to steal her away on her days off," Kakashi continued, "it helps distract her as well as prevents her from going into the hospital on her own to... 'check in' on things."
"Hn." Sasuke muttered once more, pushing his eggs around the plate.