~ Take me
Chapter 4 - Tease
Walk on through a red parade
And refuse to make amends
It cuts deep through our ground
And makes us forget all common sense
"I'm glad you're not dead, you know. I don't think you're annoying, or wish you weren't here. So don't think by not helping you I was trying to get rid of you. I wasn't."
Sakura moodily lowers herself further into the steaming water streaming into her bathtub, wincing slightly as the soapy warmth washes over the part of her back that's still a little tender. A long soak to ease the soreness from her muscles and the grime of travel from her skin is usually Sakura's favorite post-mission indulgence. But tonight the peacefulness of the bath only serves as free time for her mind to fixate on the last few words Sasuke spoke to her before disappearing. She'd really love nothing more than to be able to relax and just leave that kind of dissection alone, or at least until morning, but her ridiculous head keeps making the words crop up like a song that is stuck in her head.
"I'm glad you're not dead, you know."
Sakura snorts. Ridiculous, that things have actually gotten to the point where she's able to just be glad Sasuke Uchiha doesn't want to see her dead. That something that should be a given between teammates must actually be said aloud and even comes as a mild surprise to her – at least considering where they were in their relationship just a short year ago.
She feels like her thirteen year old self, back when she was lovesick and carefully analyzed every word he spoke to her for deeper meaning. Dunks her head beneath the scalding water in disgust at herself.
Her reluctant preoccupation is shattered by the stinging of her patched up wound. While hardly a mark is left to mar the pale skin of her back, Sakura knows the enemy shinobi's knife cut rather deeply into her muscles. And the deeper the wound, the harder and more protracted the healing process. She's still not one hundred percent, good as new. The kunoichi contemplatively traces designs in the perfect beads of water scattered over the lip of her bathtub. It is really kind of pitiful, a shame that such a simple wound will take more than minimal effort from her.
Suddenly Sakura's musing over a cut is not only a distraction from thoughts she would rather not be having; it is an epiphany. It is the key that opens the door to exactly the right thoughts to replace those traitorous, emotion-poisoned, idiot-teammate-preoccupied ruminations that she so hates herself for still indulging in.
She stands up immediately in the tub, excited, yet still careful not to slip as she darts out of the water and into a towel. The girl changes at lightning speed into comfy clothes, transfers the towel to twist around her hair so that it'll dry while she sleeps. She sets her alarm clock so that she's allowed just enough time for a decent nap to gain back some chakra.
The Godaime should be happy to have a late night visitor to give her an excuse for ignoring all that goddamned, omnipresent paperwork…
Said blond woman is, a weeks later, calling not just her favored young pupil but the entirety of Team Seven into her office.
The two more impassive men of the squad simply set their faces set in stern, professionally detached expressions, anticipating the order to undertake another mission. Of course the blond idiot wears a toothy grin that says he's game for tackling anything. Sakura looks rather tired, with dark hollows below her green eyes, but this isn't surprising to the Hokage. She knows what the girl has been up to after all.
Tsunade tents her red-tipped fingers pensively, the very picture of wise Village leader before she slowly allows her equally red-painted lips to melt into a smile. She pushes a few documents to the edge of her desk, not a mission scroll, but several leaves of loose paper.
"I wanted to let you all know first, considering how much you have done and how invaluable your efforts have been over the past couple of years regarding getting Konohagakure back on its feet," she begins, meeting each pair of now-questioning eyes individually. She quirks a blonde eyebrow a bit when she meets the coal eyes of former traitor Sasuke Uchiha, purses her lips, but lets it go. In the end he has wound up being much more of a help to Konoha than the temporary hindrance he had at one time declared himself. Bygones, as far as she is concerned.
Plus the Uzumaki brat would never have let her enjoy another moment of peace for as long as she lived if she hadn't pardoned the arrogant ass.
"Anyway. We're approaching the two year anniversary of the Akatsuki attack on the Village. As a way of boosting morale and celebrating all that has been accomplished toward rebuilding since, we have been planning a village-wide festival to mark the occasion. I'm telling you all especially because in some way or another you acted instrumentally in securing the Village's safety, whether it was against Pain or even Mandara." Tsunade senses the Uchiha boy relax slightly at that; he was no doubt fixing to be in an uncomfortable position among his more loyal teammates.
"For your services, the Village plans on recognizing you. So be prepared to maybe have to do a bit of public speaking."
Immediately, her office is full of voices. Sakura modestly protesting as usual that she is just doing her job as a medic nin. Kakashi holding up his hands warding off the threat of attention in the same pleading gesture he often used with his students when he was especially late. Sasuke says nothing of course, and Tsunade figures it will be surprising if he agrees to turn up to the festival at all. Of course Naruto is the one who reacts the most "positively".
"Are you serious?! Yes! This is gonna be awesome! Don't worry, Granny, I'll write the most kickass speech Konoha has ever heard. I'm great with words. You know I actually ghost-wrote one of the Icha Icha novels for Pervy Sage?" Kakashi is the only one who perks up at this news.
Oh dear. May the gods help her. There isn't enough hidden sake in the world for her to handle this job sometimes, Tsunade thinks, as the arguing picks up volume.
The official flyers go out later that week, the same sheets of paper Team Seven got a glimpse of on the Hokage's desk.
Ironically it is Sasuke Uchiha who is tasked with the D-ranked mission that is hanging them all over the Village. Despite being (arguably) the most skilled member of Team Seven, he is still technically the lowest ranked, due to a brief probationary period stalling any kind of efforts to promote him upon his return to Konoha. Since anyone with half a brain could tell the Uchiha is easily Jonin level, a technicality like this does nothing to impede the higher-ups from assigning him A-rank missions such as the recent fiasco to Wave Country. Unfortunately for Sasuke, this still opens him up to the passive-aggressiveness that is Tsunade gleefully tormenting him with the myriad of D and C-rank hells that she is perfectly within protocol of inflicting on a lowly Genin such as himself.
Naturally, he is not happy as he stalks around the Village with an arm full of papers, early in the morning so no one of consequence can witness this latest blow to his pride.
And as if it wasn't bad enough, he has even been assigned a partner on this "mission". A 'real' Genin, at the ripe, old age of twelve years old and fresh from the Academy. Thankfully the freezing glare Sasuke fixes him with when he eagerly opens his mouth (to presumably quiz the greatness that is the Sasuke Uchiha on his own exploits) is enough to keep the boy quiet and out of his way for the rest of the morning. This doesn't stop the ridiculously older ninja from being just short of openly fuming.
"Hey! Sasuke!"
The dark-haired boy holds in a groan as his best friend disappears from the apartment window he has shouted the greeting from, only to appear a moment later running across the street and still in his pajamas, with his blond hair an absolute wreck.
"Damn, it's early," he scratches his side sleepily, "What the hell are you doing?"
Quietly infuriated to be caught with such a menial job as this, and in front of a rival who is just fine with constant open mockery no less, Sasuke stiffly holds out an arm so Naruto can see the flyers. Determined to not look so bad doing a mission like this, he decides to make it appear a sort of training exercise. He throws the pile up in the air so that the leaves of paper all flutter up, and lightning fast, his hands are summoning shuriken from the markings on his wrists. In the blink of an eye one throwing star cleaves neatly through the exact center of each tossed flyer, pinning it to a fence, telephone pole, or lamp post. Naruto doesn't bat an eye, but the little Genin's arms immediately go slack (causing him to drop all of his own flyers in the street) as well as his jaw.
Naruto glances more closely at a copy that has landed on the telephone pole nearest him, and his eyes visibly grow a little brighter and more awake.
"Aren't you excited to go to this next week?" the blond quips excitedly.
Sasuke doesn't even deign to respond to this. As if he would go to some stupid festival. And especially for something like this, considering many villagers are still wary of him. While everyone else is worrying about picking out a new kimono he should probably be guarding his door against rotten fruits and spray paint.
"You know, we should all go together! You, me, and Sakura! I've heard a lot of people are going with dates, so we should be a group," Naruto states this (completely asinine) plan with a triumphant grin and a shout more deserving of, say the discovery of a vaccine, or the end of a war.
Certainly not something as ridiculous and poorly thought out as going to a festival together.
"We can tell Sakura, so then we can all get kimonos with a matching color scheme or something cool! I recommend orange. And we can go for dinner at Ichiraku beforehand, and-"
"I'm not going."
Finally, the hyperactive onslaught of words halts. "What?" Naruto cocks his head in confusion.
"I am not going to some festival," Sasuke grumps, "What a waste of time."
Naruto smirks at him, "Um, I think you missed the point of the old lady calling us into her office to tell us about it. We're being honored; it's required that we show up. Do you really want to get yourself in any more trouble with the Village, bastard?"
The moron made a fair point. Not like he should really be honored for much of anything at all. Tsunade was probably being generous for Naruto and Sakura's sake.
"Then I'll come for the speeches and leave. I don't want to hang around some stupid festival," he hisses. Okay, not that a festival would be that bad, if they had festival food. But the thought of running around all night with Naruto and Sakura starts an uneasy feeling twisting in his stomach.
"Fine, fine," Naruto raises his hands, palms out, in an acquiescing sort of posture, and Sasuke raises an eyebrow suspiciously, because Naruto never gives in to anyone that easily.
"I guess Sakura and I will just make it a date. I'll ask her to wear that really pretty green and gold kimono that shows off her nice ti-"
"I'll come," Sasuke grits out before he can hear any more. It's amazing really, the sharp eye this asshole of a best friend seems to have for spotting his weaknesses.
Naruto beams innocently, "Oh yeah? That's awesome! I'll go get dressed and hunt Sakura down to tell her right away!" The blond cheerfully bounds back up to his apartment for a fresh jumpsuit and hopefully a comb, leaving Sasuke fuming in the street below and wondering just how the loudmouth blond can always manage to get his way. He always thought himself above such crude manipulation really.
The brooding dark-haired boy is so busy sulking at the retreating back of his friend that he doesn't notice his Genin partner standing behind him suddenly throw an armful of flyers into the air while reaching clumsily for his weapons pouch. But no matter how preoccupied he is, there is no way in hell Sasuke doesn't notice the four shuriken that completely miss their mark and imbed themselves painfully into his left arm.
The boy behind him goes stark white.
Sasuke is not having a good morning.
Sakura is having a great morning.
She's spent the most wonderful past week holed up in the Hokage tower with Lady Tsunade, and it has been exactly what her poor head and heart have needed. Her beloved mentor had been perfectly inundated with paperwork plus the added chore of approving tasks going into the war festival, so Sakura has come at a good time for her as well. The middle-aged woman was pleased to be visited past midnight by her favorite pupil, who toted along a bottle of liquor and a proposition.
Help Sakura perfect a new idea of quicker deep tissue healing that she's been toying around with, and in return her pupil will split Tsunade's paperwork for her. The Sannin has always been secretly fascinated and even a bit envious of the girl's uncanny ability to speed read and memorize with that brain of hers. The woman recalls how that Uzumaki brat can hardly sit still for more than half an hour, much less analyze wordy contracts and documents, and wonders if her own apprentice shouldn't be next in line for Hokage after all.
That first night they'd struck the deal, retired to Tsunade's private chamber adjacent to her office, and opened the liquor while Sakura soundly beat the ever-unlucky Godaime at a game of cards. In the morning they'd broken out the hangover healing jutsu (Sakura was rather rusty with disuse; Tsuande's was perfect), and headed for the private Village library. Just like old times. They'd chatted about techniques and traded stories about battles. There is no place there for men-related sadness. Together like this they never speak of the resurrected Dan coming back a second time to break Tsunade's heart, of the death of Jiraiya, the disappointments of Sasuke and Orochimaru, or even their shared worry for Naruto. Days like this they are just like an older and younger sister together. One relationship to remain pure amid a flurry of the bittersweet.
It takes Sakura the week to find the key to the new technique. She relishes every minute of it because it's the first time in a long time she's been able to let go of things and really focus. Remember her purpose as a healer. Center herself. Needless to say, Tsunade is pleased with the strides her pupil makes, both physical and mental.
Sakura is in the hospital this Tuesday morning, making the regular rounds among the patients that she undertakes on odd days when she isn't training. It's early, but she's already had two Genin come in for kunai wounds, a young woman with an animal bite, and a civilian man who accidentally sliced open his arm while on his first day of work at the butcher's. It almost scares her patients, how excited the pink-haired girl seems to be that they are injured (really, she's just eager to practice the technique). So far it has worked perfectly every time, the successfulness of her treatment making her guinea pigs a little more at ease with her almost morbid preoccupation with their pain.
When a medic nin heals a wound, they start from the outside in, knitting skin and flesh and bones back together. For some reason, the nature of the jutsu is so that the outermost layer will heal completely, and every subsequent layer to a lesser degree. Especially deep wounds would require more extensive treatment, and would continue to ache for days afterward due to not being totally healed all the way through. Almost like rare meat that looks deceptively done on the outside.
At least this was the case until Sakura Haruno, her big brain, and her godlike chakra manipulation came along.
"Absolutely no more pain, Haruno-san," the clumsy butcher gushes as he shakes Sakura's hand for the tenth time on the way out of the hospital. She tries not to grin too crazily wide in return.
"Haruno-san, another patient has come in with the kind of injuries you requested to be reserved for your personal treatment today," a hospital worker comes along to inform her, "Shuriken wounds. I put him and his friend in exam room seven."
"Oh, thanks! I'll get right on it."
She stops at the sink outside of the exam rooms to wash her hands before dealing with this next patient. As she lathers up, she swears over the sound of gushing water she can hear bickering coming from room seven. She rolls her eyes. Shuriken wounds, wasn't it? Probably some stupid Genin. She knocks twice on the door before twisting the knob.
Technically, she was right.
"Sakura-chan! I forgot you were working today!" the splash of yellow and orange in the corner hollers gleefully, but she's a little more preoccupied with her patient.
Sasuke Uchiha is sitting on the crackly paper of the exam table, slowly staining it red. His right arm rests on his leg, but his left arm dangles limply at his side, caked thick with congealing blood. It looks painful, but of course her teammate doesn't allow such an emotion to show on his face.
"Oh, hi, guys. Sparring together again?" She rolls her eyes. These two are constantly overdoing it.
Sakura is surprised to instead hear Naruto snicker and begin to say "Not exactly…" before Sasuke venomously hisses at him to shut his stupid mouth, and what does it matter where he got the damn thing, and could she just fix it or not?
"Of course I can fix it," her eyes narrow at his tone, but he pushes his arm toward her cooperatively so she can take a look. She murmurs to Naruto to hand her the pair of scissors resting on the counter, which she uses to cut away the ragged, bloody remains of Sasuke's left sleeve. She holds the now-bare arm gingerly for a moment as if evaluating where to go from here. Sasuke watches as a little wrinkle between her eyes digs itself deeper and deeper into her skin until suddenly her face clears and her green eyes flutter shut.
There is a faint light the exact same shade of those eyes, glowing around his injured limb. Sasuke's been healed plenty of times by Sakura, so while he recognizes the color, he can see that the light is different somehow this time. Usually Sakura's healing jutsu appears like a glowing, amorphous ball of chakra in her hands that he can feel mending his skin from the outside working in, as if he is warming himself by a fire.
Today it's more like the very blood inside of his body has been replaced with boiling water, immediately heating him from the inside out and much more thoroughly. His arm glows a pale green as if it is some sort of strangely shaped lamp. When Sakura breaks the jutsu and opens her eyes, he is surprised to feel literally no residual pain. Usually he was left with some degree of stiffness – no jutsu is perfect after all, especially for something like healing – but even when he experimentally flexes his arm there is nothing.
Sakura notices that he has noticed. She looks on quietly, as if he is trying a new dish she's cooked and is anxious to know if he likes it.
"What was that?" he finally asks.
She smiles at him faintly, "I've been working on perfecting deep tissue healing. I wanted to eliminate that awkward stiffness patients would get in the innermost layer that was too difficult to penetrate completely. This way they'll literally be good as new and ready to fight."
"How do you do it?" he presses, admittedly fascinated with her.
Her smile unintentionally grows a bit wider and brighter, and she launches eagerly in the thought-process she followed in developing the new method. Sasuke finds himself hanging on her words, even the bits he doesn't understand. He's not concerned with the fundamentals so much as the knowledge that little Sakura, who used to spend her time brushing out her hair and sitting around in the background, is capable of something like this. He's smug – with good reason – over the improvements to Kakashi's basic chidori that he's made over the years. Proof of his Uchiha prodigy no doubt. He never would have guessed his overly pink, sweetly trivial teammate would share such a classification as jutsu inventor with him.
Sasuke doesn't react the way he does when he finds out Naruto has in some way proven himself to be of equally impressive caliber as him. They've always been rivals, competing, half-begrudging the other any evidence of growth. And it's supposed to be this way. Hell, a lot of the value of Naruto's friendship lies in the blond's uncanny ability to prompt him to improve (it's not like he likes hanging around people obsessed with ramen and peeping into bathhouses).
Not that Sasuke cared about much back in the day aside from his revenge, but it's never been like him to be oblivious to his surroundings. He may have acted like everything was below his notice, but really those Uchiha eyes saw everything. He may not have done much by way of acknowledging his teammates at times, but that just made the instances he went out of his way for them all the more noticeable.
All little Genin Sakura got from being teammates with him and Naruto was protection on their missions. Everyone seemed to just accept that the boys were so far ahead of her that she may as well just stand motionless in the background. It wasn't like he had a problem protecting her. She was his friend, and what boy's ego wouldn't be fed at least a bit from always playing hero to the damsel in distress? But why should she stay the damsel? So thirteen year old Sasuke had gone out of his way subtly encouraging her, since she wouldn't respond to competition. On some subconscious level he seemed to have noticed her self-esteem issues, and intuitively known to soften a bit toward her…
Naruto is also listening to her explanation of the healing jutsu, his blond eyebrows seeming to settle deeper and deeper over his blue eyes until a predictable look of deep confusion is etched into his features. He starts to squirm a bit like an impatient student in the middle of a boring lecture until finally, the loudmouth must interrupt.
"Yeah, cool, Sakura! Anyway, guess what we were on our way over here to tell you before this bastard let himself get all torn up?!" Naruto exclaims excitedly.
How does he not notice the slight look of hurt in Sakura's eyes at her accomplishment being glossed over, Sasuke wonders? Those huge, green eyes are easier to read than a book. Sometimes he wonders how she manages to practice deception as a kunoichi with them. He elbows his clueless friend, scoffs at his idiocy.
"What, Naruto?" Sakura asks, ignoring the jab Sasuke gives Naruto and the short string of bickering between them it immediately prompts. She loves her team to death, but sometimes it is just too early in the morning to handle them.
"I came up with the –ahem– brilliant idea of all three of us going to the War Festival together! And the bastard actually agreed, so now you have to say yes, Sakura-chan," Naruto chants triumphantly. Sakura's green eyes flicker briefly toward Sasuke, wondering if this could possibly be true or if Naruto is just exaggerating, but the dark-haired boy has muttered something derogatory about the blond's use of the word "brilliant", and they are hissing at each other again. She pinches the bridge of her nose, suddenly feeling all the chakra she's already used today on her deep-healing technique. That sneaky jinchuriki bastard, managing to catch her while she's weak, busy, and sick of their noise.
"Okay, fine, we can all go together. Now go… buy new dress clothes or something. Just get out of here so I can get back to work," the pink-haired girl snaps, to Naruto's immense joy. He grabs the brooding Uchiha by the arm and whisks him out of the hospital with a cheery hollered goodbye.
Well, there went her morning.
The night of the festival, Ino walks with Sakura to the usual bridge meeting place of Team Seven. They'll only be meeting Naruto and Sasuke there though, as Kakashi managed to get out of Naruto's group plan by sticking with the other sensei-aged Jonin. The girls walk together from Ino's house where they got ready together and Ino's mother offered them free blossoms from her flower shop to weave through their hair. The pair chat easily about their clothes and make-up while Shikamaru Nara, who is holding Ino's hand on the side opposite from Sakura, looks up at the barely visible twilit clouds and pretends he can't hear them. The couple will be meeting up as a team with Choji later, but Ino insisted on delivering Sakura to her own boys at the last possible moment. The blonde is sure her best friend is nervous about the night ahead of them and could use the support.
"You look awesome, forehead bitch!" she shouts with a thumbs up as Sakura walks toward Sasuke and Naruto, making sure to be loud so the boys can hear her. In Ino's opinion, boys are ridiculous creatures who must be reminded of what they think and what they want, no matter how obvious it should be. "Try not to break as many hearts as I will be!" she adds. Shikamaru grumbles something under his breath.
The Team Seven boys look on in bafflement as Ino Yamanaka rather aggressively deposits their remaining teammate. They'll never understand the strange, rather violent-seeming relationship between girlfriends, or why Sakura frequently tolerates Ino referring to her as "bitch". Sakura has explained that it's supposed to be friendly, but they don't really get it.
"Hi, Sakura-chan, you do look awesome!" Naruto grins, and Ino smirks at the success of her handiwork as Shikamaru drags her away. Sasuke agrees silently.
The boys look handsome and rather grown-up in simple, dark haori jackets and hakama bottoms, though Naruto's clothing displays some defiant bits of orange patterning. His kimono is a rather loud whirlpool pattern as well. Sasuke is in all black, save the Uchiha crests on the sides of his jacket front.
The Sakura Haruno who walks toward them this evening looks like a delicate creature, all jade and flower petals. Looking at her you'd never guess that she is frequently punching Naruto into next week with her terrible strength and terrifying temper. The green and gold of her formal kimono set are the exact viridian of her eyes and the metallic make-up lining them. The combination sets off the pink of her hair and the paleness of her skin perfectly. She tips her painted lips up into the most genuinely excited smile the boys have seen in awhile, and on impulse loops one arm around Naruto's waist and the other around Sasuke's. The blond immediately slings his arm around her neck, and while Sasuke doesn't embrace her back he doesn't move away either. She swears she sees him smirk out of the corner of her eye.
"Let's do this, guys!" Naruto whoops, and they start walking alongside one another.
The sun has set completely by the time Team Seven reaches the Village streets that have been cordoned off for the festival, but paper lanterns shine like gems in the darkness. Their rich shades of red and gold and green remind Sakura of the exotic lanterns of Wave Country. The colorful streets are lined with booths of food and games, and the air is filled with the sounds of laughter and chatter as the citizens of Konoha thoroughly enjoy themselves.
As highly ranked ninja, any festival games would be criminally easy for them. If she were on a date, Sakura might flirt by asking the guy to win her some kind of prize, but like hell is she doing that with her teammates. So, feeling a little old, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke bypass the games in favor of festival food. Tsunade has given them a heads-up that the speeches will begin at ten outside of the shinobi center, so they decide to slowly eat their way to the edge of the festival where the tower stands. At the first booth they come to, Naruto lights up as if he were staring at a cart for Ichiraku Ramen.
"I got this one, guys," the blond puffs out his chest importantly. Sakura's birthday is in March and Sasuke's in July, making Naruto the baby of the team, much to his chagrin. His birthday was just a couple of weeks ago, and he's been begging for an opportunity to flaunt is new legal drinking status. Despite how adult he is supposed to be, running off to buy them alcohol, Sakura and Sasuke smirk as he fishes out his ridiculous froggy-themed wallet.
~ O ~
Sakura is holding her fourth bottle of beer by its neck and the boys their third (can't all have alcoholic senseis teach them how to drink, now can they?) when they see Kiba Inuzuka scooping goldfish for Hinata in a game booth. The pink in his cheeks from all the beers he must have already had seems to be putting the Jonin on a more civilian skill level, because there are several broken paper nets on the ground yet no goldfish in Hinata's hands. Naruto stops in his tracks and watches the game for a moment, the expression on his whiskered face unreadable to Sakura. He seems to suddenly make up his mind, and chugs the rest of his beer as if he wants more alcohol in his system.
"C'mon, Sakura-chan. I'm winning you a fish. He'll be orange and you can name him after me!" he tosses his empty bottle at Sasuke, who nimbly catches it like he hasn't had a drop to drink, and pulls the pink-haired girl into the booth. Sakura doesn't protest at how he's jerking at her arm, because she sees where this might be going.
They sit down at a fishing spot as far from Kiba and Hinata as possible, and Naruto gets to work. Either he has underestimated the difficulty of the game or the alcohol has started to make him tipsy, but he seems to also have a bit of a hard time catching the elusive, glittering fish. Sakura sits at his side, sipping her drink and chatting with him as he works.
"It's been nice being able to be at the hospital these past few weeks while we're out of the mission rotation," she comments.
His tongue is stuck between his teeth in concentration as another slippery, scaly body twists fluidly away from him.
"Mm hmm, Sakura-chan."
"Medical ninjutsu is great for clearing the head, you know. If I wasn't stuck with the two most infuriating shinobi on the planet, I'm sure I would always be the picture of calm and composed," she teases, dangling a sleeve of her kimono over the edge of the water to warn the fish away.
Naruto's blue eyes pin her with a dirty look before returning to the game pond.
"It's been wonderful catching up with Shishou. And Ino's been coming by more and more lately for practice too. Shikamaru walks her over every time, the poor guy," she chuckles at the thought of the sadly whipped Nara boy.
Naruto raises his eyebrows but keeps his concentration. "Why are you laughing at them? I thought you'd think that was romantic. You're always yelling at me to be more chivalrous," he scrunches up his face at the thought.
"Well yes," Sakura says slowly, green eyes flickering contemplatively toward Hinata, draped in her pretty, silver kimono across the booth, "Chivalry is good. But I think I've realized what I want right now is not to be in a relationship at all. I feel like focusing on other things, like my medical ninjutsu, and helping Lady Tsunade with Hokage stuff. Hell, Shikamaru had me fill in for him at the Academy once or twice, and I even like teaching the kids."
She has his attention now, the scooping net hanging loose in his hand as he looks at Sakura, who is still looking at Hinata. "I'm still really young, you know? Shika's goal is to retire after he has his kids grow up, so the sooner he can get on that and start living a life of nothing but Go and cloud watching, the better for him. Ino wants kids too, and her mom needs help with the flower shop more and more as she gets older. That's why she's been coming to the hospital, for tips on treating her mom's joint pains and stuff.
"I don't think I'm like that though. I've become a lot more suited to being a medic than I thought, and right now there's nowhere to go but up. Why let myself get distracted, or married off to become a housewife? That's why Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei never got married, you know. If she'd married into the Sarutobi clan they'd have made her stop teaching and going on missions to look after the babies."
Naruto's eyes stray from Sakura's face to where she is still looking, at Hinata, whose pale face wears its usual blush. This time presumably in embarrassment at her drunken teammate.
Go be with her, Naruto. I'm trying to tell you I'm fine. Quit being worried about me. I'm happy enough.
… or, well, you can't keep making yourself the one responsible for my happiness. Go live your own life already. You've done so much for me as it is.
His blond eyebrows pull down over clear, blue eyes, reading her meaning. Sakura gives him a little smile, nudges the hand with the net in Hinata's direction. She gets to her feet carefully, unused to moving in her kimono, but before she does she plants a quick kiss on the messy hair spilling over her teammate's forehead.
"I have a couple of fish in the tank at home, Naruto; I don't think they feel like sharing the room with one more, but thank you." She walks out of the booth toward where Sasuke is still waiting. The dark-haired boy has taken the liberty of buying them each another drink. Sakura silently cracks open her beer and they watch their goof of a teammate walk over and tap Hinata on the shoulder, saying something about how it would be criminal if no one won someone as pretty as her a fish, and Kiba clearly isn't up to the challenge tonight.
Said boy takes his cue and stumbles out of the tent so Naruto can sit down next to the furiously blushing Hyuuga heiress. The brown-haired boy quickly catches sight of Sakura and Sasuke sitting together in the darkness, and as he walks toward them his grin gets a bit wider and his haphazard steps become straight and purposeful.
"It's about time the moron grew a pair," Kiba complains loudly, rolling his bright eyes, "Thanks for helping get him over there, Sak. She's been upset since he left on that last mission without saying goodbye first. Asshole." He bends down to wrap his arms around Sakura, wild hair tangling against her cheek.
Sakura smirks, "Kiba Inuzuka, you terrible liar."
He scoffs at her, "What kind of lightweight would be stumbling over drunk like that after only a couple hours? Honestly, I'm trying not to be too offended right now at her lack of faith in me," he snatches Sakura's bottle out of her hands to take a swig. Sasuke scowls at his easy familiarity with his teammate. He's never liked the wild boy. Rude.
"Later, Haruno. Gonna go hang with Shino before he gets all emo over being abandoned. Make sure they play nice, yeah?" The boy from Team Eight runs off with a wink.
Kiba takes the chatter with him, and the two teammates sit together in silence, finishing off their drinks. Sakura had no idea he likes alcohol so much, and idly wonders if he would act like more of a normal person if she could get him drunk. Sasuke glances down at her every now and then, surprised with himself at the realization that he likes watching her drink. Her mouth goes over the neck of the bottle gracefully, and she never even so much as giggles at the effects she must be feeling by now. There's something very Sakura about how she stomachs the punch of the alcohol, ladylike and without complaint, subtly strong like silk thread. He respects it.
Sakura amuses herself for a few moments with a couple of ideas of what Drunk Sasuke must be like, and she nearly misses it for lack of paying attention when Naruto and Hinata leave the goldfish scooping game without joining Sasuke or Sakura.
"Come on," the pink-haired girl starts to see Sasuke standing over her, holding out a hand to help her off the bench. She sees the couple slipping away a little furtively, an orange fish in a plastic bag cradled in Hinata's slender hands, and smirks triumphantly. She lets Sasuke help her up, too preoccupied with happy thoughts for Naruto and Hinata to realize that it's rather out of character for Sasuke Uchiha to actually offer her his hand, and they continue through the festival together.
Ten o' clock comes and goes quickly; by the time it's that late the festival has been going on for several hours and many of the shinobi, unused to having time off to relax and party a bit, have overdone it a little on the sake. Tsuande herself is predictably flushed looking as she calls people up for recognition. Kakashi is nowhere to be found – Team Seven guesses he'll show up once the public speaking is over, claiming he was just running late. Naruto gets the crowd to cheer back at him like he's at a pep rally, and his speech slowly morphs into what is practically an acceptance speech for the honor of being 'basically made Sixth Hokage'. Sakura gets a bit emotional from the alcohol. Sasuke unhappily mutters something about second chances and pride in protecting what so many others have died for in the past.
The night is a hit and they all have the next day off, so everyone stays out as late as they can. Sakura doesn't see Naruto again except for when he goes onstage, toting Hinata behind him as part of his speech veers into how awesome he finds her dedication. Everybody 'aw's.
Sasuke sticks with her though, whether from courtesy or what, she's not quite sure. Things started out almost painfully awkward between them with the loss of Naruto as a buffer. But Sakura slowly loosens up a little over the night, and the perpetual tightness around Sasuke's eyes softens. It's probably the alcohol making her silly. She chatters quietly and harmlessly about what's been going on in the Village and at the hospital, since he has a nonexistent social life.
She talks about how Kurenai had her baby girl, now a toddler who has long since been carried home to bed, much to the chagrin of her vodka-loving mother. Sakura tells him about exchanging baby-sitting for genjutsu lessons, and another mystery surrounding her resolves itself. Sasuke doesn't have to ask where she picked up how to drink.
Hell, they've both had a little too much at this point. Sasuke himself picked up the habit during the darker days of his return to Konoha, a sort of anesthesia for the pain of his reopened wounds. Sakura is a sensible person, and she's still not about to let her guard down completely around him, so it's not like he has to convince her it's time to leave. They throw away the remains of their festival food and drinks and head out. Sasuke starts walking with her in the direction of her apartment without asking. It's past midnight now, and the light emanating from just a sliver of moon overhead is all there is to see by now that they have left the dimming festival lanterns behind them.
Sakura keeps on with the scattered bits of polite conversation, and Sasuke interrupts her with a question when they are nearly to her door. For some reason it's been nagging at him much of the night.
"When did you and Kiba get close?" He asks it just like that, because Sasuke Uchiha is comfortable enough with himself to be blunt and not beat around the bush when he wants to know something.
"We trained together some over the years," she doesn't miss a beat, as if she's perfectly used to her stoic teammate actually sustaining a conversation with her about something so inane, "He's very fast, so I recruited him to help me defend against attackers with speed. It was one of my weaker points. I can take anyone out once I make contact, but sometimes actually managing to touch them can be the tricky part."
"Hm."
The usual Sakura, when confronted with a boy questioning her interactions with another boy, like any other girl would feel the urge to say 'why do you ask?'. Mildly drunk Sakura can be a bit spacey and not register the implications behind such a question. Overprotectiveness, perhaps. Maybe even jealousy.
The usual Sasuke would never even ask a question that could in any way be interpreted as possessive or jealous, even if he really feels that way. Drunk Sasuke is a bit of an emotional drunk. The poor boy has tried for so long at repressing everything, then for the sake of his goals and his pride and now because old habits die hard, that when his exhaustingly tightly held self-control finally slackens, it definitely shows.
They reach Sakura's door, and she flicks on the porch light to help the search for her keys. The bulb backlights the crown of her head so that the little flyaway hairs escaping the twist Ino worked so hard on earlier are illuminated like a delicate, pink little halo. Her green eyes are contrastingly dark and hazy beneath her brows.
"Okay," she jingles the newly retrieved keys in her hand, " 'Night, Sasuke," she smiles, and a little impulsively, reaches on tiptoe so she can wrap her arms around his neck for a hug. He's gotten much taller than her over the years. Her face rests against the front of his shoulder, unable to even clear it.
Immediately, Sakura starts to pull away, realizing what she has done. This is Sasuke. He doesn't like being touched the way Naruto does. Hell, she's still supposed to be angry/weird/confused/whatever with him. She should stop this.
There's no way she's expecting it when his arms tighten around her so that she can't move away. In fact if anything, he crushes her closer to him. She can feel his heartbeat, pressed this close up against his body.
His chin comes to rest against the top of her much shorter head. He breathes deeply, trying to take in as much of the scent of her as his lungs will allow. He doesn't know why – she doesn't even wear perfume – but he can't help himself. She shivers at the sensation of his warm breath saturating the strands on her head.
She pulls herself out of his grasp, shaking her head side to side a little as if to clear her head.
"Um, good night, Sasuke," she repeats, slipping through her front door quickly without looking at his face.
She sighs heavily into the darkness of her apartment, tries her hardest to quash the heat gathering beneath her skin from his unexpected touch. It's just the alcohol, she tells herself. It's not like he meant anything by it.
Besides, Sakura's decided she is finally spent of emotion when it comes to Sasuke Uchiha. She feels like she just doesn't have it in her to keep letting her heart do this to itself.
She's made her decision.
I used to be really on the fence about Shikamaru/Temari or Shikamaru/Ino. I don't mind either couple, and I feel like there are hints at both in the series. But I came across this bit of trivia recently and just had to incorporate it into the fic somehow: Shikamaru's mother is named Yoshino. Yep. Ino's name is literally in Shikamaru's mom's name. And since the names of this team seem to love echoing the past, and since Shikamaru is just like his dad, I thought "wow, this seems really likely to me now". (Well, either that or he's been gay for Shino all along, haha.)
… now if only SasuSaku fans would get thrown a nice, blatant hint like that, so we can stop freaking analyzing the meaning of Sasuke putting Sakura on the bench years ago.
Grump grump grump.
Songsperation shout out to Zedd and their song "Clarity", which provided the usual little intro bit.
Sorry for taking so long, as always! About 8000 words though; am I forgiven? Hope you all enjoyed. R&R :)
- An Engineer