3. Spontaneous

"Sakura, what are you doing here?"

With a groan and briefly noting a sharp pain shooting up her spine, Sakura rolled over to see a pair of hands resting on a pair of dark violet clad hips. The hands were dry and cracked, in some places pink from skin splitting open. Its fingers were long and slender, feminine. Sakura's jades drew up to see a soft, curious face. Clearing her throat, Sakura sat up in the hospital bed.

"Good morning, Shizune," Sakura mumbled, still obviously tired.

Shizune smiled. "Do you miss the hospital already?"

Sakura forced up a chuckle before pushing her sore body off the lumpy hospital bed—now she understood why bed-ridden patients were so cranky. The bed squeaked under the shift of weight. "No," Sakura said, "I was staying with my"—Sakura beckoned her head over to the empty bed that she thought hosted her father—"dad."

Shizune shifted her weight to her other foot uncomfortably. She began to pick at the skin on her hands as she waited for Sakura to say something.

There was a deep aching in her chest while looking at the untidy bed. Sakura didn't know if it was out of sadness or just mere disappointment. Her father frustrated her to the point of hair loss. She didn't know how many days she spent trying to help him climb out of the hole he's dug. Half those days, she spent tugging at her roots and contemplating jumping off a bridge out of spite.

Sakura didn't understand one bit why her father always ran away from her like this. It wasn't anything new. He ran when Sakura's twenty-two year old, pregnant mother asked him to marry her and didn't come back until she gave birth to Sakura. Her mother always said he didn't want to commit to her and stop his shinobi life—which Sakura knew quickly ended just after his rejection. When the hospital bill came, her mother said he disappeared once more.

It wasn't much of a surprise when her mother left him when Sakura moved out. Ever since, Sakura never contacted her mother and vice versa. Dad never asked about her. Then again, he never asked much at all besides the basic, "How are you" and "What is going on?"

Why did people reject help when they know it's for the best? Did he enjoy running away from money sharks on the daily? Did he enjoy drinking to the point of oblivion, wasting money he didn't have? Did he enjoy gambling the same nonexistent money? Was having an empty pocket a comforting feeling? Did the hole burning in his back pocket keep him warm and toasty at night? Sakura didn't understand!

She wanted to sit down and talk to him about it but he constantly ran away. She wanted to treat him to breakfast that morning but he ran. Sometimes Sakura wondered if he wanted to keep her in his life. Did he ask her to come over for dinner just to avoid a close burning of a bridge? He kept her on such a thin string; she wondered why she wasn't the one to cut it.

"He must have something important to do. I'll go find him." Sakura jumped out of bed and brushed past Shizune without another word though all Sakura wanted to do was to hug Shizune and cry. But tears and hugs had to wait. Sakura needed to find her father and she had a feeling she knew where he was. Just joking, she didn't have one clue.

Sakura knew where to start. It may have been midday and perhaps an odd time to go for a drink but for her dad, all the time was the time to drink and gamble.

"Have you seen Kizashi around?" Sakura asked the bartender of her father's favorite bar and grill. At this hour, when school and work dismissed, families cluttered the tables and one or two shinobi sat at the bar with their tired heads hung low.

The bartender frowned at the mention of Kizashi. "No, haven't seen him around in a while."

"Not at all?"

"No but good riddance. He was wiping me out of all my booze."

Sakura didn't know how to respond. She was used to people bad mouthing her father but today of all days, she didn't know how to handle it. Instead of biting the bartender's head off with her fierce temper and possibly ill-chosen words, Sakura grabbed a mug and smashed it against the tabletop.

Glass sprinkled to the ground and just before the man behind the counter noticed what happened, she was out the door.

The sun hung low in the early evening sky. It began to set behind Hokage Mountain when Sakura entered the last bar she knew Kizashi, her father, regularly visited. Sakura huffed to herself in self-pity. Looking for her dad in casinos and bars wasn't the ideal way she wanted to spend her second day off.

Throughout the day, people usually recognized her as either the Hokage's apprentice (because she usually was the one called to care for the people stupid enough to fight) or Kizashi's daughter (because she was also the one called to make sure he returned home safe). It was the former usually.

Sakura shoved the door open with more force than necessary and winced when a bell jingled loudly upon her arrival, catching the patrons' attention for a brief second. The bartender, an attractive gal with tattoos covering her biceps, waved at her and shouted a hello. Sakura waved and stalked towards the counter, avoiding looks from the familiar faces. The last thing she wanted was a small talk conversation with someone she cared little for—as harsh as it sounded, Sakura was not in the mood for talk.

The bar began to fill as five o'clock hit. Shinobi and civilians cluttered the tables and barstools. With each passing moments, the sound of the place gave Sakura a numbing headache.

"How ya doin', hun?" the bartender asked. She carried a slight accent but Sakura couldn't place a finger on it. "Want anything to drink?"

Sakura shook her head. "Maybe later. I'm looking for someone named Kizashi; maybe you've seen him around. Tall guy with uh, my color hair—well, it's not really; it's more like raspberry sherbet color…uh…never mind," Sakura sputtered when the lady's eyes glazed over and Sakura realized she lost her attention.

A hand clapped her on the shoulder. With a fierce look, Sakura glanced over with a threat tickling her lips. A boy a few hairs shorter than her stared at her like he had something on his mind. He was on a mission—a mission to annoy the piss out of her. He looked about fifteen and wore a brand new, shiny vest—fresh out of the Chunin exams she assumed. His eyes held innocence and looked almost puppy-like. Sakura was in the kinds of moods that wanted to literally rip that look off his face.

"You're Haruno Sakura," he stated. The shake in his voice washed all assumption that he was looking for a fight or at least was a cocky, little bastard like most new Chunin, "I'm so bad ass" kids. The boy gulped down a nervous lump.

"Thanks for the reminder," she said in a bitter manner. Sakura brushed his hand away and turned to stalk out of the bar. His hand grabbed her elbow. She stumbled back and resisted the urge to punch him right between the eyes. "Look, I don't know what you want, but it's gonna have to wait!"

His hand dropped from her elbow and fell to his side. A smile twitched on his lips but after a second of fighting his anxious emotions, he settled for a stoic look but Sakura could tell he felt hesitant to say something just by the worried look in his eye.

Sakura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If you want to ask about studying under the Hokage, I'm really the wrong person to talk—"

"Kizashi is here," he said hastily; his words falling out of his mouth like rushing water. "Follow me," and just like that, he spun around and speed walked to the door leading into the kitchen. Sakura didn't have a problem catching up to him but it was still a pain in the ass.

The Chunin led her through the kitchen, which she took the time to admire how impeccably clean it was compared to other bars and restaurant kitchen she's seen. Two cooks chatted animatedly as Sakura and her little escort breezed through the kitchen and into the storage area of the pub.

"So where's my dad?"

The boy knocked on a door that read "Office" on the glass. He beckoned her over. Sakura could already her voices on the other side of the door.

"Dammit," a gruff voice sounded. It sighed. "Kizashi, it's been two months and you've racked quite a tab here. I gave you as much time you said you needed. Now, I need that money, Haruno."

Silence fell. It lasted a few long seconds before a weak, slurred voice responded, "I don't have the money." The words came slow and heavy like it was difficult for him to speak, or even breathe for the matter.

"I don't mind taking a few fingers, then. Maybe a hand. How about your daughter?"

A cold blade suddenly appeared across her neck. Her eyes flitted to the boy's face, which was half hidden by her shoulder. She could see that his teeth were clenched, eyes nervous and his hand that yielded the blade shook. Sakura smacked her lips and almost grinned when she heard his feet slide back against the hard wood floor.

"Endangering the life of a comrade?" She questioned and continued to watch the boy's internal battle with himself. Should he stay or should he run like hell before Sakura tore his hair out? When he stood his ground, Sakura frowned. "The Hokage will love to hear about this one."

Her hand found his wrist and expertly twisted his arm behind his back, causing him to drop the kunai. Sakura felt a twinge of guilt as he released a painful cry and her guilt grew tenfold when she slammed her elbow into the back of his head. She let go of the young boy and allowed him to drop to the floor without as much as a cushion to break his fall.

The door knob easily shattered at the hand of a chakra surged squeeze—Sakura really considered jiggle the door knob and possibly knocking but after what happened, she really just wanted to kick some ass. The door squeaked open and just as Sakura took a step, a kunai shot out of the dark room, taking a swipe for her face. Sakura stepped back and slammed the door as the blade came back for another try for her face. The point webbed the glass.

Sakura opened the door once again, ultimately dragging the person who yielded the blade. The older man desperately tried to yank the kunai for the glass but it didn't budge. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Sakura howled, grabbed the man's collar and backed him up to the wall despite her father's begging. Sakura glanced at her father.

Kizashi's wrists were cuffed to the table and from the scarlet ring of dried blood, Sakura knew he had been here a while. His fingers were spread out across the wood with a knife set between his hands. Kizashi gazed at his daughter through swollen, black eyes and a frown set on his bloodied lips as if he disapproved of Sakura's destructive behavior.

Sakura turned her attention back to the man cowering behind his hands. Her grip tightened around his collar and she could feel energy flowing into her right fist.

"I'm a ci-civilian! You can't hurt me!" the man cried. "I have rights!"

"Oh yeah?" Sakura challenged. "Last I checked the ability to use torture and attempting to use a man's daughter as a hostage to get what you want isn't included. Cute idea, though. Real movie villain like." Sakura dropped the man to his feeble knees.

With an irate sigh, she turned to her father only to see a man in black working on her father's cuffs.

"If you're a person who wants money, you're gonna have to deal with me!" she yelled as she launched her fist in his direction. He vanished, as well as her father, just as she thought she made contact.

"This is such a weird day," Sakura mumbled before running out of the bar.

Kizashi leaned against the building, rubbing his wrists and mumbling something to himself. "Hello, Sakura," he said rather cheerfully as if she did not just save his fingers and hands. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura noticed black flash across the rooftops. Her feet stepped towards the black cladded man, wanting to chase him and ask him why he has followed her.

"Go," Kizashi said, surprisingly sober. Had he faked it this whole time? His eyes were clear and coursed with acute adrenaline. "I'll be fine."

"Dad, you're hurt. I should get you home."

"You should go," he repeated sternly.

Her body and conscience pulled her in two different directions. Her body after the stranger, her conscience towards her father.

"C'mon, let's get you home."

"You really didn't have to walk me home, honey."

Sakura ignored her father; she was for the past hour while she chased him around the house trying to heal his wrists and face until now with him pinned under her.

"Sakura, talk to me."

"I don't understand," she mumbled. A bit louder, she said, "I don't understand how you can be so careless with your life. The alcohol is only going to kill your liver and you can only take so many beatings from those people."

Kizashi's lips twitched into a short-lived smile. "I'm being spontaneous. We live once, right? You don't have to worry about your old man."

"I can't just stop worrying. You're my dad."

"Unconditional love is a real bitch, huh?" He chuckled and closed his eyes when Sakura moved her green glowing hands to his face. If Kizashi's face wasn't damaged enough, Sakura would have punched him and hoped that knocked some sense into him.

"Love is love," Sakura sighed. "People do whatever they want when love's involved."

"People hurt others when it's involved."

Sakura pursed her lips and continued to heal his face. She knew who he referred to.

Kizashi took a deep breath and opened his eyes to look at his daughter hovering over him. He smiled. "You really can't trust anyone nowadays, can you?" he whispered, causing Sakura's hands to still. "If I told you how truly sorry I was, would you believe me?"

Would she? "I would."

Kizashi brushed her hands away from his face and sat up. "Leave, Sakura."

"But, I haven't—"

"Leave!"

Sakura rose, kissed her dad on the forehead and left him in his empty house, otherwise known as her childhood home. It's been about four years since she left and it pained her to see the drastic changes over the years. Her father neglected the flower boxes hanging on the windows; he neglected to dust, sweep and mop. He even sold majority of the furniture because money was tight. The house felt cold and didn't feel like a home anymore.

Sakura stood at the door and turned to her father who sat at the lone chair sitting at a table that could comfortably host two people. He stared at his wrist, which were now a pale pink and on their way to healing scar-free. His dull pink hair was matted and his bread was beginning to grow.

"I love you," she said before closing the door behind her.

"One more!" Ino and Sakura shouted simultaneously as they slammed their shot glasses on the table. Just the exertion of smashing the glass down made Sakura black out for a quick moment, causing her to fall sideways into Hinata's lap. Hinata squeaked in surprise while Ino belched out a howling laugh and ultimately collapsed the other way but Tenten was evil enough to slide out of her seat, allowing Ino to face plant into a wooden barstool.

"I think you two had too much to drink," Hinata said while awkwardly combing her fingers through Sakura's tangled hair. "We should go home and go to bed."

"No!" Sakura shot up into an upright position and ignored the nauseating spinning and the haziness in her vision. She scanned the room for her blonde drinking buddy. "Ino, wha' the 'ell you doin'?" she slurred, snatching Ino up by the back of her shirt. Ino's head bobbed to the side. "This is no time 'or sleeping!"

Ino opened her eyes and peeked through half-lidded eyes, dull aqua eyes staring up at Sakura. "Sakura," she sighed in a pity-me way. It sounded like she held back tears.

"Yes, Ino?" Sakura mimicked the tone, causing Tenten and Hinata to roll their eyes.

Sakura never drank until the point she was sloppy drunk, unable to tie her shoes or know the difference between up and down. She was the mother of her friends for a reason, always making sure no one died of alcohol poisoning, stubbed toes and jumping off any buildings or cliffs higher than two stories.

Tonight, however, was her night to drown out her sorrows and chug a glass or ten with her best friends—well, best friend because the other two decided to be their sober sisters for the night. She, also, was on vacation.

"I don't understand why everything is so stinkin' hard, ya know? All I want is a boyfriend, a nice, stable boyfriend. I don't want to go between two boys. I just want…one."

Sakura gazed at Ino with bright eyes as if Ino revealed the meaning to life or some very juicy gossip or invited her to an all fees paid shopping spree. "That's exactly what I was thinking!" she cooed—even though she really wasn't thinking about a boyfriend at all—and smacked her friend hard on the back.

Ino's mouth twisted. "Yeah, guess great minds thin' alike!" the blonde slurred, slapping Sakura on the back with just as much force as she did. Sakura coughed as her chest rammed into the edge of the table, not expectant that Ino would hit back.

"They really do!" Sakura smacked Ino back, making her body to bang into the table as well and tipping over her water cup. Water dripped down over the edge of the table, dropping cold drops into Ino's lap. Ino jumped up and swayed. She gained her balance on the wall.

"Is that how it's going to be, eh, Sakura?" Ino challenged, sloppily grinning at her friend.

Sakura hoisted herself to her feet and leaned against the wall, so close to Ino that they faced nose to nose, eyes crossed and both as dangerous as any drunken twenty-year-old could be.

Before an explosion of weapons and smoke could destroy the bar, Hinata and Tenten dragged the two kunoichi out of the building despite their pleas, complaints about ruining their make-ups and clothes and their threats about hanging upside down by their pinky toes.

Tenten swung the training ground gates opened and tosses Ino into the field, as did Hinata with Sakura. With an ear-piercing squeak that made Ino and Sakura's heads throb, Tenten closed the entrance and locked the chain around it. She turned around to look at the blonde and the rosette who struggled to stand on their feet. Tenten crossed her arms and with a stern look said, "Off with you two. Don't come back until you've sobered up."

Sakura and Ino glanced at each other. In a split second, they collided in a clumsy manner. Ino's movements appeared slower than usual to Sakura and her own were sluggish and heavy like she had weights strapped to every inch of her body. For a moment, while she watched Ino kick her leg back for the wind up, Sakura wondered how Lee mastered his Drunken Fist when fighting this drunk felt terrible and dizzying.

Ino failed with her kick, missing Sakura by a few arms' length. Ino wound back for a punch but ultimately fell backwards at the sudden action. Sakura laughed. From her periphery, she noticed a figure running across the clearing along the tree line with the moonlight catching a sliver of pale skin and navy blue clothing. Sakura's laugh cut short even as Ino rose to her feet only to fall down on her rump.

As soon as Sakura stepped towards the direction of the stranger, the man's attention hurtled over to hers and then he vanished into the trees. Sakura jumped over Ino's crumpled body and ran after him, disregarding that her head felt too heavy for her body and if she ran much longer, she'd collapse into the dirt head first.

The trees blurred into a screen of black and indigo blue. She didn't see the uprooted roots and the bushes that happened to crawl into her path of pursuit but no matter how often she fell, scraper her knees or face planted into the ground, Sakura pushed her body back up and continued to follow the man who quickly doubled the distance between the two of men.

Sakura stumbled out of the trees, her head feeling lighter and somewhat clearer after that devilish run through the woods. With haste, she pulled out the pieces of branches and who-knows-what else out of her hair and brushed off the mud from her rumpled clothes.

The stranger lurked in the shadows to her right, just close enough to see pale skin under the hood. "Who are you?" Sakura practically screamed as she advanced towards him. Her legs quivered under each step and eventually, they gave out, sending her to crumple in the grass. She sighed, exasperated. "You've followed me." When he didn't answer, Sakura stretched her legs out in front of her and eyes with disgust how horrifically she torn her legs. The numbness of the alcohol was dying and the stringing sensation of her grazes, bumps and bruises gradually began to set in.

The grass crunched. Sakura glanced over at the stranger. "You're bleeding," he said.

"Oh, Sakura," a familiar voice sang. Ino emerged from the trees with a kunai in her hand. It glinted a menacingly black in the moonlight. Sakura didn't catch the tag hanging from the handle until—with a devilish, drunken grin—Ino flung the blade at Sakura's feet. The alcohol still in her system didn't allow her to process the amount of danger that was about to happen, but arms wrapped around her and a dark fabric clouded her sight just as the earth began to shake.

"Never in my term as the Hokage have I gotten a call so vulgar and rude! I thought I had a filthy mouth but this woman took the fucking cake! Imagine my disappointment when I see that the culprits behind this were my apprentice, the heiress to the Hyuuga clan, Ino whom I know Asuma taught better than to be a hooligan and Tenten! I know Gai and the ANBU council will be thrilled hearing about this incident!"

The three young women recoiled at Tsunade's words. Sakura pursed her lips and stood her ground as her superior's honey eyes bore into her jades. Tsunade couldn't tattle tale to any one on Sakura because Tsunade was the one ultimately in charge of Sakura's behavior—ignoring the fact that Sakura was nearly twenty (as well as the three women behind her) and she could obviously care for herself.

Tenten dropped to the floor in a full-fledged bow. Her forehead bonked the hardwood floor with enough force to make Sakura wince in pain. "I'm begging you, Lady Tsunade; please overlook hits incident!"

Sakura sighed. Genma came to the grounds a few minutes after the explosion. Ino, knocked down by the blast of the explosion, covered in dirt and grass, was delirious and sputtered nonsense when Hinata and Tenten showed up with the older man. Sakura, also in a daze, sat on the opposite side of the clearing and the stranger vanished.

Ino and Sakura sobered up surprisingly fast when Genma announced that Tsunade would love an urgent meeting with the four. On the way to the office, Ino and Tenten cried and complained about being in trouble and sent to jail for disturbing the peace. Hinata remained characteristically quiet and she carried a gloomy air to her. Sakura kept quiet as well, mentally wining about the cuts on her legs that burned every time she took a step and that the fact that was so close to her stalker.

"And it's even more disappointing that alcohol was involved! If anyone is to consume too much alcohol and fight, it's me…and Lee. Were any of you aware that you could have died while fighting under the influence? Are you four stupid? And who set off that bomb, huh? I want to know!"

Ino reluctantly raised a hand, her face downcast.

"And from what I understand, it was aimed at Sakura? You can be trialed for attempted murder if I so please to have you punished. If you had killed Sakura, you would end up in prison for life—not just any prison but in Grass where they hold the biggest, most fucked up criminals there. Since you're a shinobi, there is no gender when it comes to that place, do you understand me, Yamanaka? Death is more promising compared to that prison."

From her peripheral, Sakura saw Ino gulp.

"However, as this event didn't escalate to anything bigger and the Elders have yet to hear about it, you will all suffer a minor punishment that I see fit. I mean, no one died and you only disrupted the peace…and ruined one of the training grounds.

"Ino, you are to serve desk duty at Intel for the next month, no jutsu, no missions, just paperwork. Hinata and Tenten, since you two didn't have much to do with it other than letting dumb and dumber into the grounds; I supposed you can be my assistances for the next two weeks, starting tomorrow—well, starting when you return Hinata." Sakura bit her cheek to suppress a laugh. She'd much rather serve desk work for a month than run Tsunade's errands and listen to her bitch—as much as she loved Tsunade, Sakura had enough while she was her full-time apprentice. "Also, you three will help Iruka clean up the entire academy after the school day for a month as well. Ino and Tenten, do not expect any missions for the time being. For your services, you will receive Genin pay every two weeks."

Tenten sucked in a sharp breath as if to protest but released a pitiful squeak instead. Ino scoffed and opened her mouth to say something and even stepped forward but as Tsunade cocked an eyebrow at the blonde, Ino zipped her lips and stepped into her place beside Sakura.

Tsunade's attention glanced over Sakura. She seemed to look past Sakura rather than at her. "Sakura, stay for a bit. I have further issues to discuss with you," Tsunade said monotonously. "The three of you are dismissed."

Sakura felt the wind as the three women quickly bowed and made a beeline for the door, kicking and shoving each other out of the way in order to leave the office first before Tsunade could place any more punishment.

Sakura mentally sighed and resisted rolling her eyes—and here comes Tsunade's crazy rampage. For a full minute, Sakura expected flying furniture, fire and curse words she didn't know existed but Tsunade sat still at her desk, hands folded and smoldering eyes staring like a very, very intimidating and pissed off statue.

"Sakura," she said calmly, making Sakura reflexively jump back, "is this how you're going to treat your vacation that I so willingly gave you?" Tsunade paused for a long while but Sakura remained quiet, frightened that the slightest peep from her could send her superior off into the deep end. "This upset is going to make me think twice about giving you another vacation in the future. But I do digress; at least you had fun."

Huh? "Lady T-Tsun—" Sakura was taken aback and all the alcohol she forgot she consumed made her waver a bit.

"I will end your vacation early. On Friday, report to the Northern Gates at six A.M for an extensive mission."

It took everything Sakura had not to drop to her butt in astonishment. Was she hearing her master right? Tsunade was sending her on a mission? Sakura didn't know whether it was reality or the drunk version of the world talking but either way, the words "extensive mission" were music to her ears. This couldn't be a punishment!

"Details will be sent with you so you can read them once you're in the right mind set."

"May I ask who I'll be with?"

"Shino and Hinata?"

"Aren't there four members?"

Tsunade nodded. "Of course." Just as she finished speaking and as if it was some cue, a figure dressed in black clad stepped into the office through the open window. He had long legs covered in sweatpants issued to all shinobi. His arms were bare, narrow and wired with thin muscles and white scars from battle. He was pale like he was sick with strong facial features, obsidian eyes and a hard pressed line for lips and coal black hair that resembled something close to a chicken's behind or a cockatiel.

"I'm sure you're acquainted with Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura."

Thank you for reading!
Have a fantastic day!