I'm expecting to have a lot more time to write this week, so prepare yourselves for more frequent updates!
.:Restoration:.
Chapter 3: Arrival
The front gates of Sunagakure loomed overhead, the only thing tall enough to block the sun within a five mile radius. It was early evening and the sun was just starting to set over the Land of Wind.
Team Kakashi's second day of travelling had proven to be uneventful. They trudged their way through the sand and heat, not stopping. Many ninja from Konoha had made the long trek to the Sand Village, but no one would get used to the journey. The wind was harsh, the heat was almost unbearable, and the cloaks barely helped.
Sakura understood why they had to wear the heavy things; it would protect their skin from the sun's rays, although it did a terrific job at insulating their bodies, warming them up in the already sweltering heat.
But at least the journey was finally over. As if planned, the sandy winds died down when the four approached the adobe gate. Moving her sweaty hair out of her face, Sakura squinted at three figures standing not far before them. "Kaka-sensei, is that…?"
"Gaara!" Naruto shouted, running ahead of them. Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura eventually caught up, and the four stood before the Sand Siblings.
"Welcome back." Gaara said, a trace of a smile on his face, as he placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Thank you." Kakashi answered for all of them. From Gaara's right side, Temari hoisted her large fan onto her shoulder, placing her other hand at her hip.
"Did the sand treat you too badly on the way here?" she asked, a playful smile tugging at her lips.
Naruto groaned and tilted his head back. "It was horrible, as always! You guys need to do something about that. I mean, how can you even live here?"
"Hey, we grew up here. We got used to it real fast." Kankuro said from Gaara's other side, pointing his finger at the blond. Naruto sighed.
"Well, you guys should come in," Temari said, "We'll put you up in an inn. Take a shower, get comfy." She led them into the village. The group ended up splitting into two on the way to the inn: Sakura, Sai, and Temari up front and Gaara, Kankuro, Kakashi, and Naruto in the back.
"So tell me, how's Shikamaru doing?" Temari asked wistfully, looking up into the darkening sky.
Sai smiled one of his trademark smiles. "You're asking about him because you like him, right? Sakura told me that-" Sakura clamped her hand over his mouth.
"Heh, shut up, Sai," she sang desperately into his ear. "Oh, sorry about that, he doesn't know what he's talking about!" she said to Temari, who merely shook her head.
The back group caught up now, and they were standing before the inn. It was a quaint little place, made of adobe (like all the other buildings in Sunagakure), and looked quite unassuming. There was limited greenery, just a few shrubs around the perimeter of the building, but even that was pretty good for any place in the Sand Villge to accomplish. Despite the somewhat mediocre exterior, Sakura knew, though, that the rooms inside were nicer than some of Konoha's own hotels.
Her thoughts were only confirmed when the Sand Siblings led them into a room specially reserved for travelling shinobi. It had a main conference area with a seating area and small kitchen, a bathroom, then off to the side were three rooms for sleeping in, separated by sliding doors made of bamboo. The window provided a view of the Kazekage's office building, where Gaara spent his days.
Sakura dropped her stuff into one of the bedrooms, knowing that Naruto and Sai were going to share one, while Kakashi took the third. That had almost always been their setup, and it was understood that that was how it was going to work this time around as well. After depositing her bag, travelling cloak, and bedroll into the room, she came back out to the seating area, where everyone else was standing.
"So I assume you know what business we have here?" Kakashi asked the Kazekage.
"Yeah, Tsunade-san sent me a scroll yesterday. We'll take you in to meet the medics tomorrow." Gaara answered, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms.
Kankuro sighed loudly from the windowsill. "I don't see why we call them medics. They don't do anything for anyone," he sniffed.
Sakura looked questioningly at him. "Why not?"
The face-tattooed boy turned his head towards her, meeting her gaze lazily. "They're more of a research team. They don't work in the hospital; they're not active shinobi; those guys are deadweight, doing some kind of 'research' that no one else knows about. This poison thing is the first advancement they've ever made. And they can't even figure out what it is! That's why you guys are here, I guess, to get a sample for the Hokage to look at, right?"
Naruto answered his question with a nod. "Yeah. Wow, so they probably won't pose much of a fight, huh?"
"A fight?" Temari asked, standing a little straighter.
"Tsunade-sama said that the researchers would want to fight us before they hand over the samples. They want to make sure that we can protect it on its way back to Konoha." Sai said.
Kankuro stretched, arms raised above his head. "They must be dumb too, if they're challenging you guys. They don't stand a chance! You'll take them out easily, just don't be too rough, okay?" He stood up and walked over to Temari and Gaara, who were already by the door. "By the way," he looked at Sai, "When I first saw you guys walk up, I thought you were Sasuke. You sure look a hell of a lot like the Uchiha."
Sakura's heart clenched, and she spoke, as if on instinct, "He's not coming back." She wanted to take the words back as soon as she spoke them. Oh, why did she have to ruin a perfectly light conversation? Now everyone was looking at her oddly. Gaara and Kankuro looked confused, Temari looked at her with pity, and Naruto and Kakashi looked a little shocked. Only Sai was devoid of emotion, which wasn't saying much. Sakura sat down at the nearest couch as the Sand Siblings left their inn room.
"Well it's getting late. I'm going to bed." Sakura said. After an exhausting day she felt like her legs could give in right at that moment. But most of all she wanted, needed, to get away from her teammates questioning eyes.
Sakura sat on the floor in front of the mirror, brushing her long hair when a light knock sounded at her door. "Come in," she said softly, after a pause. She had considered pretending to be asleep, but she figured that if it was Naruto, he'd come in anyway and she'd be found out.
"Hey," the blond said quietly as he stepped into her room, shutting the door behind him. He was softly lit by the small lamp in the corner of the room, and was wearing his pajamas. His eyes seemed a clearer blue than usual, and he had a peculiar look on his face. Sakura put her brush down and stood up, facing Naruto. For the nth time she noticed how tall he'd become. She'd stopped growing at around 5'5'', but he'd continued to grow until he was 5'10''. The top of her forehead came up to about his chin, and her eyes to his chest.
She wondered how tall Sasuke was.
Immediately her arms wrapped around her torso and she let her hair fall in front of her face. Sakura didn't cry anymore, but whenever she thought about all the lost moments, all the times they'd never have with Sasuke, her reaction was almost instantaneous. She'd feel vulnerable and sad. It wasn't anything new to Naruto.
"Hey, shh, don't. What's wrong?" He walked over to her, unwrapping her arms from around her body and holding her hands in his. Naruto bent his knees so he could look her straight in the face. "Sakura, tell me."
She lifted her green eyes to meet his, giving him a little smile. "You're going to make me ramble."
He returned her smile with one of his. "I like it when you ramble!" Sakura walked over to the bed and sat down against the headboard, while Naruto sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, looking at her expectantly.
She tugged at the bottom of her sleeping shorts, unsure of where to start. Luckily Naruto did. "Why did you say Sasuke wasn't coming back?"
"I don't know, I'm sorry Naruto," she sounded defeated, even to her own ears. He reached a hand out and entwined their fingers comfortingly.
"Hey, don't be sorry. Just talk to me."
She sighed, then began, "We don't know where he is. We don't know what he's doing. It's been five years and two meetings and we weren't able to get him to come back all the other times, so why should I think we'd be able to get to him the next time we meet?"
Naruto smiled ruefully. "You don't think I can keep my promise?"
"No, it's not that… It's just… I mean, he looked… beyond. Like our Sasuke doesn't exist anymore." She lowered her eyes. He didn't speak until she looked back into his blue orbs, edged with intensity.
"Sakura, I saw into him that day. I know Sasuke's still in there, somewhere. He's just so overcome with other things that he can't see us. Trust me, Sakura, we'll get him back to the village. I made a promise, and I never break promises. You know that." He pulled her into a hug.
She whispered into his chest, "I never meant to doubt you."
He whispered into her hair, "I know. Just trust me."
Her barely audible breath, "I do."
A dripping senbon whizzed past Sakura's face. The poison hit the ground, sizzling. Her communications unit crackled to life in her ear. "Sakura, there's one at your 12 o'clock as soon as you look up," came Kakashi's voice. Taking a deep break, Sakura whipped out a handful of shuriken from her pouch and stood up, abandoning her cover behind the rock. Sure enough, right in front of her, was a sand clone. Without hesitation she threw the batch of weapons at the figure, and the man collapsed into sand.
Just thirty minutes ago Gaara had led Team Kakashi to the research lab where the medics worked. Three men in lab coats had greeted them, accepting Sakura as Tsunade's representative. After the formalities were over, they challenged the Leaf shinobi to a brawl, just as promised.
To increase their numbers, and probably to protect themselves, the researchers had decided to use Sand Clones equipped with senbon dipped in poison. They were then led to an indoor arena-like place that consisted of a large room full of sand with large boulders, simulating the desert except without the heat.
The clone Sakura had just taken out was the first of the final four, leaving three left roaming somewhere in the arena. By her right she saw Kakashi take one out with a kunai, and through her comms unit could hear the roar of one of Sai's ink lions. "I got one!" Naruto's voice called. She didn't need any kind of equipment to hear that shout. She smiled to herself. That was it, all the clones were gone and they could finally get on with their mission.
They all met at the door. "Congratulations. Please come this way and we'll give you the samples," one of the researchers said. They were led into a room that was lined with computers on every wall and smelled sterile. In the middle of the room sat a small glass-encased vial. The poison.
"That's all you were able to extract?" Sakura asked skeptically, examining a digital tablet that showed the details of the composition of the poison. She didn't recognize the patterns, and decided that this was, in fact, and original discovery. What she could tell though, was that this poison was lethal. There were components that could kill within a second, and combined they would kill even faster. Her eyebrows raised in curiosity. Tsunade-sama would like this.
"Yes, but we are working on simulating the chemistry and synthesize more of it. We've made four vials here for you to take back to the Hokage." In his outstretched palm were four seal test tubes with clear liquid inside. The shinobi each took one and placed it safely in their pouches.
"Thank you. Would you like us to send you details of what Tsunade-sama finds out about this, once she comes up with a conclusion?" Sakura asked the man.
His eyes widened. "Of course! We discovered it, we should have the right to know what it is."
Sakura nodded. "Okay then. We'll send a scroll once an examination has been completed." The team turned to leave the room. The mission was three-fourths of the way done and now it was time to go back home.
Somewhere in the forest between Sunagakure and Konoha, red eyes flashed.
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