Disclaimer: Hubby bought me something. . . Come out little maid girl . . . checks in the closet. . . come out where ever you are. . . checks under the bed . . . it's not nice to play hide and seek. . .besides in this house that's dangerous.
Hubby: Honey what are you doing?
Disclaimer: Oh I'm looking for the maid you got me when you bought me the copy-rights.
Hubby: Uh Hon I bought you a microwave.
Disclaimer: NANI!! Whaaaaaa I still don't own Naruto Whaaaaaaa
Author Note: I don't normally respond to critiques in story but I finally got a suggestion on a review. Actually that's why this chapter is so late in coming out. I had to think about whether or not the idea fit the story. Hawkgirl90 I am sorry but Sakura can not be the title of forgiveness as in my story she has never once forgiven anyone for anything in her entire existence. To be the bearer of a title means you embody that aspect. Therefore if she is the one asking for forgiveness it would be the person she has to ask who would embody it. But you are correct that forgiveness is a quality human beings need and it will be represented. And there really is only one person in the entire Narutoverse who can carry that title. But don't worry. I have not forgotten her. Just keep reading.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Growing
In the village, while Tsunade and Shizune were working with their clones, Sakura was trimming hedges and listening as old Mrs. Tsu told of her younger days when she'd had a choice between three suitors. "Of course back then I thought I could settle for nothing less than the best the town had to offer and that young man, of course, was not the least bit interested in the likes of me. I was just a poor commoners daughter. I would not inherit a grand home or rich estate. A title would not fall onto the head of my betrothed."
"I would inherit my fathers business only if my uncle passed on before my father did. Otherwise, even that jewel would pass into my cousins capable hands. All I was entitled to was a dowry and a husband of reputable nature."
"But the young are full of themselves and their own importance is the light that shines brightest for them. And so it was with me. I saw not those young men of my station and fixed my eyes upon him. The one in the golden coat and shoes that did not step but rather glided across the ground."
"Careful there, Dear. You almost snipped the rose bud off it's perch again." Sakura gasped and paid closer attention to what she was doing but kept listening with her ears. She used to think old people were boring but this old woman could paint pictures with her mind that would take her to a time before she was born and show her a world of romance and intrigue she had never known.
"Now where was I? . . . Oh yes. The golden clothed young man saw only a fair beauty high above my lowly station and, luckily for him, she saw him as well. She was just as smitten with him as he was with her and, a month after I saw my prince of a boy, his father announced the betrothal of the two great houses. The girl, who was my rival and far above me, was to be his wife. I was green-eyed with jealousy and tore my father and mother to shreds for not being rich enough to get him for me. Mother kept telling me to be thankful for what I have while father warned of being glad of small favors. I, of course, had no idea what he was talking about and continued to rale against everyone."
"One day a few months after the wedding festival I was helping mother, grudgingly I'll admit, to take around the healing herbs and charity baskets to the shut-ins who couldn't get out in the cold wet weather. I hated this chore, and normally found a way to get out of it, but Mother insisted and so I went with her carrying the basket of herbs on my back. At first everything went normal but then we reached her house."
"And there my world shattered. The lovely young woman, I had thought so lucky to be highborn enough to attract that golden robed young man's eye, was laying on the far bed in a broken heap. Everywhere she was battered and broken. I stood rooted to the spot as my mother tended to her injuries and as we finally left I asked my mother what had happened to her. My Mother told me something then that I never forgot to this day. What looks pretty and delicious on the outside is often rotten and horrible on the inside. She proceeded to tell me the young wife was to be kept alive until she birthed the boy's child. Once he had his heir then she would be allowed to die in peace. I asked my Mother why not just allow the girl to die now and she looked at me as if she didn't know me at all. I didn't understand what I had said wrong. The girl was in terrible pain and nothing a girl could ever have done would have justified that kind of beating if she still had her hair and head. It seemed cruel to me to force her to live just to bring him an heir into the world.
But when I told Mother that she asked if I really wanted to see another young girl walk into his bedchamber. I was shocked. He had done that to her in their bedchamber? I shook my head and mother said that she was his wife. It was her duty to provide him an heir and by fulfilling her duty she would save another her fate. The boy was being kept alive until the successful birth of the child because the old man, who was his father, needed a suitable heir but as soon as it was born he would meet the headsman's axe. To be fair her father-in-law had given her the choice. If she had wished to die and deny him a child of her body he would order it done. But she chose to save another from her fate."
"A few months later a little girl was born and on the mid-wife pronouncing the girl fit to live the young man, whom I had in all my ego found to be worthy of me, met his fate. His beautiful head was separated from his golden robes as his young wife took her last breaths also. She had survived him by mere moments but it was enough to bless the girl's life with hope for a better tomorrow."
"Ever since then I have tried to be worthy of that young woman's story. To pass on the wisdom I learned from her to others I see who've made my mistake. Who've treasured something for how it looks rather than seeking the value of what it is. I know she was probably in the beginning just as vain as I was but by the second time I met her she had gained a wisdom I had not. She had learned to put the welfare of others ahead of herself and maybe she always knew that. At her station she didn't have a lot of choices about her life. A convent or a political marriage. She chose the marriage and tried to make the best of it. He was just the wrong choice."
"But today young women in villages like this one have way more choices than we did back then. All you have to do is open your eyes and your heart to see which is the right path for you."
"And I am like you were, aren't I? Wanting only what is pretty and shiny and attracts the most attention from others."
The old woman said nothing and just let Sakura work it out herself. It was enough her cousin had died to that horrible young man. Sakura didn't need to know how close she herself had come to that death on a bed also. She had found out after that visit that if the young woman had chosen to deny the child existance she would die and Mrs. Tsu would take her place as the bride of the young man within that year. The Old Man had known the Golden Boy was his only chance at an heir and even if a multitude of girls lost their lives, the boy would live until his offspring survived. But that didn't mean the Old Man thought the sacrifice of those girls lives were meaningless. In a society were women were possesions he had been willing to take any survivng child as his heir so long as it carried his blood. The girls of the village were just lucky that Mrs. Tsu's cousin valued them over herself and chose to live long enough to birth the child.
After a look towards a faroff cemetary where the young woman was buried, she hobbled out of her chair and went back inside leaving Sakura to her thoughts and trimming work. The girl was settling down finally. Getting over the angry remorse she'd first shown and working past the tearing down of her own merits to her own detriment. Now she just had to get her to really look at those she called friends and figure out, if they were than, why were they her friends. Of what value were they to her and she to them. Once the girl did that, she'd be ready to re-embrace the world of people and she'd be ready to find the love she sought. By that time she would know herself well enough to understand what she had to offer the young man she was destined to be with. And yes Mrs. Tsu truly believed there was a person for every soul born they were destined to be with through all eternity no matter how many times they took a turn on the wheel of life. For Shinobi she knew the chances of living long enough to find their soulmate was extremely slim but she'd known when she first laid eyes on the green-eyed girl she would find hers.
Kakashi was making progress on the wall. He and Anko had spent the night learning by touch how to use chakra to sand the wood. When they could sand medium sized chunks without blowing them into smithereens or splitting off little toothpicks for Genma then they moved on to larger surfaces. They were still working with living wood rather than cut wood but Kakashi didn't expect to get it over night and Anko was too surprised there was something she could learn, to mention that they were supposed to be sanding the wall. Well he was anyway. Tsunade hadn't given a time limit on it and so, as long as he wasn't breaking any of the rules Anko didn't mind taking time off to learn a new skill. Who knew when she might be able to use this new ability in an interrogation?
But now he was running low on chakra and he said, "Anko, we need to take a break. We've been doing this all night and I'm running rather low now. Let's go get some food and rest and hit it later this afternoon. Please."
Anko finished the chunk of log she had been smoothing and noticed it was very rough along the edges. She nodded and sent her summon back before leading the way to his apartment which was closer than hers was. On the way Kakashi decided to talk to her again. He'd given up the idea of trying to get out of her bad graces and now just accepted he'd never be one of her favorite people.
"Anko, why do you think no one ever thought of working the wood like that before?"
"I don't know. Probably because there isn't much call for it in the battlefield. Look how long it's taking us to sand each log we worked on and what's the application in the battleground? I can think of a nasty trap you could set using it but you're still going to need a lot of time to set it up and it will take skill to maneuver the enemy into it. Most of the time you don't get to choose the battlefield that well in advance and if you do it's because you're fighting on your home turf. And there you wouldn't want to be laying traps waiting for the enemy to walk into them. It might just be your own that get caught."
"What kind of trap?"
"Well, you could peel the wood up into spikes like small senbons and coat them with poison so that when the enemy gets pricked by them he gets poisoned. But like I said it would take a long time to set it up and then you take the chance of an innocent getting caught in it first."
"Yeah, that's not so good. Especially if you use the poison but what if you did it in an area where you know the enemy is going to move and instead of spikes had the trees form branches to block their way, turning them back towards you where you were waiting for them? Wouldn't that work better?"
"Only if you had enough chakra to make it work fast but it seems to me that nature manipulation isn't a fast manipulation. I think most of us don't use it because not only do we not know we can but because it's too slow for us. We need to be able to cast on the fly, so to speak, and nature is patient. Probably why I have such a hard time with it anyway. Patience isn't my strong suit."
"Yeah, I'm lightening, water based. I'm not known for my patience in battle either but I'd be willing to learn if it'll help him complete his goal."
Anko's eyes flashed as the comment brought back to her exactly how bad this man had treated one of the only people who had ever really seen her as just a human being. "You aren't learning this to help him. He's helping you," she snapped. She stepped ahead of him through the gate and walked up the path to his front door.
He sighed. He'd said the wrong thing. Again. "What do you think he meant about that title thing? I know damn well I was never a good or even decent sensei to him but it almost sounded as if there was a different one he was supposed to give me."
Anko just shrugged. As far as she was concerned it didn't matter to her one bit. The village had given him a title for Naruto and He'd blown it. Naruto had done his part. Kakashi had chosen his path also. Now he had to walk it. She moved into the kitchen and raided his refrigerator. She pulled out some food and some pans from the cabinets. Motioning towards the bathroom, she sent him on his way while she got the food going.
After he finished his shower, he took over while she showered and then they ate before crashing out for a few hours. Kakashi slept alone in his room while Anko sprawled out on his small couch. Good thing she was a fairly small person, she thought as she wiggled around to find just the right position for a comfortable rest.
Banging on the door brought them awake. Not being a person who liked being woken up for any reason, Anko growled and went to answer it while Kakashi stopped in the hallway just out of sight of the door. She was not in a good mood and he didn't wish to make her mood any worse than it already was. He knew full well there would only be Anbu or one of his two students standing there and he had a feeling it wasn't Anbu. Sure enough standing outside was Sasuke. He tried to push his way past her into the small place but she knocked him back. He was so surprised he lost his balance and fell on his butt. From his seat on the ground he blinked up at her.
"Bitch, get out of my way. I need to see Kakashi and I'm going to see him now." Kakashi winced. Big mistake Brat, he thought. Noone ever got away with calling Anko a Bitch to her face and only the ignorant would do so when she was already ticked off.
"No, you aren't. Kakashi is restricted from seeing any members of Team Seven for any reason. He has not sought you out which is good because I do not have to punish him but if you care for him at all you will not force him to see you either. Else I will still have to punish him. And for that comment I just might punish you if you are still here in three seconds."
Past caring, Sasuke snapped, "I will see him and I will see him now! I have been waiting out here all morning for the two of you to come back from your breakfast date and personally I don't care what kind of bedroom games you are playing. Go away. He and I have business to discuss and your little games aren't part of it."
"I told you. Kakashi is not allowed to see you. That is not by his order. It is by the Hokage's. Go pester her if you wish to be a nuisance. I'm tired." She turned on her heel and slammed the door in his face but not before summoning three little snakes to take her revenge on the arrogant brat.
He pounded on it for a few minutes before going around to Kakashi's bedroom window just to find the bed empty and Anko standing at the foot of it with her arms crossed while the second largest snake he had ever seen lay on the sill just daring him to put his tender flesh within range. He turned around and stormed off. Next time that stupid snake woman wouldn't be around.
He just wished he knew what the 'ell was going on around here. First Naruto comes back and is really messed up. Then he doesn't want to see them but Kakashi is white as a sheet. Then Sakura is glum and morose and doesn't want to see him while she thinks some things over and finally that female tells him Kakashi can't see him. That he'll get punished if he does. Who the 'ell gave her the right to punish the great Copy-nin? Kakashi was one of the greatest of the Leaf shinobi. Very few people had a higher standing than he did.
Ok, he can understand Naruto being messed up but his brother would have to be dead not to want to fight with him to test themselves. As for Sakura well, that was neither here nor there. She'd come around when she was ready and girls did seem to have to do this thinking-things-through stuff sometimes. He'd just never noticed before how long it could take. But Kakashi . . .man that was just beyond weird. He didn't understand what was going on there at all. Sakura and Kakashi were the only two he felt he could really trust and count on when the chips were down and he needed for someone to have his back, since he'd come back. Been forced back. But still come back.
He knew something had happened in Tsunade's office. Something that had an awful lot to do with Naruto but he had no idea what. No one would tell him and he didn't know why. All he knew was he wanted to see his friend again and he wanted to have his important people back. Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura. Was there anyone else if he lost any of them? He already knew there wasn't. Naruto had been gone for six long years and for more before then but for those first few years he hadn't even considered trying to find another to fill his shoes. During those last six years, about the only times he didn't think of him were when Sakura or Kakashi were trying to turn his brain off but even then he'd never tried to find another friend who was like a brother to him. He had never even let anyone else close enough to try.
His feet took him to the cemetery where all his kin were buried and he stopped in front of his Mother's grave. He never felt the little snakes as they bit his ankles before disappearing into small puffs of smoke. He stepped to the side and knelt between the headstones. His Mother. His Father. Both right here and yet so very far away. So close but yet they couldn't be farther. The hallucination began seemlessly as he thought of what he'd lost. He never saw his fingers tremble as they brushed away the stubborn moss from the engraving on the stones. He never felt the tears that fell down his cheeks or felt the moisture as it dripped into his collar. All he knew is the questions stopped for a few minutes as he smelt his mother's perfume mingled with his fathers cologne. He was at peace as he felt the whisper soft caress of their love reach out to him from his Mother, as it always had in life, and from his Father, as he wished it had but never did. But right here right now he even forgot that. He just let himself feel their love and acceptance. From the graves all around him he seemed to feel the acceptance from the soule of the person it represented. Aunts. Uncles. Cousins. Here, now, today, it seemed they all saw him and loved him. They all accepted him as they never had in life. Here now today it was not Itachi they saw as the prodigy. Right now he was their everything and in his delusion he reveled in the feeling.