"Blind?" Genma asked in a stunned voice. He could see clearly that her eyes didn't react when the sunlight hit them. He could see from that that she was blind, but for some reason the information just wouldn't sink in. He couldn't believe it. This whole time he and the others hadn't noticed. When he watched her in the inn, she moved flawlessly, she hadn't dropped anything, needed help, she didn't even walk into things. Truth be told, had she not told him, he doubted he ever would have picked up on it.
"HEY GENMA! STOP YOUR FLIRTING WITH SAYURI AND HURRY UP!" Naruto's boisterous yell tore through the forest. Sayuri laughed softly and tilted her head at him with a wide grin.
"Yeah Genma, stop flirting with me." she smirked before walking on. Genma blinked at her and slowly smirked before he followed her. "Oh and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell the others…If they find out and treat me the way your medic, Sakura I will scream." she added.
"So she didn't want you to walk because of that and not because of your legs?" he asked watching her nod as he fell into step next to her.
"But if she wants me to be carried, then I'll be carried…" she said with a sly smile.
By the time they reached the others, they were already ready to set off again. Smiling, Sayuri walked next to Sakura. "Am I still to be carried?" she asked calmly. Sakura nodded but then stopped herself, knowing she couldn't see her so spoke. "Yeah, I think it would be best." Without another word, Sayuri nodded and walked over to stand next to a certain raven-haired male.
"Will you carry me?" she asked innocently, her hands held to her chest to avoid hurting her ribs. Her tone was soft however it held a certain charm and seductive hint to it. Any request in that voice was sure to crack even the strongest of male wills. It clearly had an affect on the usually stoic Uchiha who although was used to girls his age and younger swooning over him and was able to ignore them without so much as a blink. A woman like Sayuri however who didn't swoon and was older than him made him clear his throat, glance away from Sayuri's blank, innocent expression that had the hint of a sultry smile curving her lips and then back to her again before answering. "I suppose so…" he said slightly unsure of himself. Genma watched the woman with a gleeful grin. He only wished that she'd asked him especially in that voice. His gaze looked to Sakura whose jaw dropped, eyes widened and began to look more and more furious.
"I don't think it's necessary." she blurted out as Sayuri was about to climb up onto Sasuke's back. Sasuke looked to Sakura and Sayuri climbed on regardless, brushing scarlet locks from her face before lightly turning her head to the medic.
"But why not? You did say it was best for me to be carried and well…you do know best." she smiled, fixing her legs lightly on either side of Sasuke's hips making the Uchiha hold her carefully and securely hold her bandaged thighs. "Besides, after that walk my legs are starting to feel a little sore." Sayuri continued, her tone was sweet and polite as she spoke to Sakura. Genma grinned at Sayuri. She was a cunning one, although how she knew to target Sasuke, he didn't know. It was clear to him that this woman could look after herself just fine.
"Is there a reason Sasuke shouldn't carry her, Sakura?" Genma asked curiously with a wicked smile.
"I mean it's not like I'm all that heavy…" Sayuri added, letting her hands touch Sasuke's forearms lightly. "…and he's clearly strong and capable enough to carry me." Sakura glared at Genma for his interference and clenched her jaw.
"Fine, let's just get going…" she grumbled, storming passed Sasuke to stand next to Rock Lee. Genma chuckled and glanced to Kiba who was trying not to laugh. Genma observed the young Inuzuka and wondered if he knew about Sayuri. He didn't have a lot of time to think on the subject as they all leapt up to the trees and continued on their way towards Konoha. Sakura's foul mood could be felt by everyone but a former inn manager smiled happily to herself. She always loved getting back at people who immediately thought her vulnerable and helpless when they learned that she was blind.
"So Sayuri…is your tattoo meant to mean or represent anything?" Sakura suddenly asked, glancing back to see Sayuri smile.
"That's a tad personal and shouldn't really be any of your concern." she answered. "I mean it's a bit like me asking what your sex life is like. It would be highly unnecessary for me to ask for a number of reasons. One; I hardly know you. Two; I'd never really need to know or use that bit of information for anything. Three; it pertains to your private life that I have no right to know about unless of course you trusted me enough to tell me. Four; it can be an embarrassing question to be asked in front of a lot of people. I mean you could still have a public image of the good little virgin girl and yet only one or two people apart from yourself would know that that public image is wrong." Sayuri said sweetly, taking great delight in the fact that the man she was being carried by had gotten tenser as she furthered her explanation, momentarily losing his footing as he pushed off the branches when the topic of Sakura's sex life came up. She also took further enjoyment in the gasp and tension radiating off of the medic. Brightly she smiled. "You should look ahead, you might knock into something. But to answer your question; yes it does mean something and if anyone is wondering, it's a black panther on my lower back."
Sakura snapped her head forward, silently fuming, she looked to Kakashi who was staring ahead. She was annoyed that he hadn't said or done anything. But the woman's statement had shocked everyone into silence, some looking at Sakura with wide eyes. However at the back of the group Kiba, Genma and even Naruto were grinning widely. Sayuri held a satisfied smile on her face as she enjoyed being carried to Konoha. At the front of the group, the masked ninja was silent for a number of reasons. Since that day at the river he had his suspicions that she was a ninja because of the glare from what he realised could have come from a headband. She had no doubt been annoyed at Sakura since the inn and after seeing her subtly propositioning Sasuke out of all the possible people to be carried by and now managing to cut Sakura with just words and logic it was clear she wanted to get her back. But knowing these things was odd. He doubted Genma would have told her anything. But then again…while the two were walking he could have told Sayuri to go to Sasuke to make Sakura jealous. But questioning Sakura's virgin status? Not even a sex and woman loving man like Genma could tell who was a virgin from just one look. It seemed he was going to have to try and test Sayuri in some way and hopefully before they got to Konoha. After a few hours of travelling, they all stopped for a rest, thankfully they had reached the Fire Country Border so there was less chance of rouge attacks. On their way back there had been a few rogues and criminals attacking them but with Neji's Byakugan and Kiba and Akamaru's stronger sense of smell they were able to send a few of the group to deal with them before things got out of control. Sayuri leaned against a large oak tree while the others sat down.
"I want to check your legs." Sakura said in a low voice, appearing next to her.
"If this is about the boy that carried me and what I had said, I'm not going to talk it back." Sayuri responded in just as low a voice.
"What have you got against me?" Sakura asked in annoyance.
"Nothing. I just don't like someone finding out that I can't see and immediately thinks me to be someone who can't walk on her own and travel with ninja and not need to be carried." she said. "You haven't told anyone have you?" she asked suddenly.
"No…Kiba knows because he was there when I treated you though."
"I know he knows, and he hasn't treated me differently. I would like for you to ignore that I'm blind. I have been able to take care of my self for the past thirteen years." she said with a smile. "Oh and the boy that carried me got very jealous when I implied that you weren't pure." she grinned, hearing Sakura gasp.
"Really?"
"Mhmm, I bet he's still a little annoyed. He might be a little sore from carrying me for so long. A great medic like you should go and see if he needs assistance." she grinned. Sakura laughed and decided to take the woman's advise.
"You don't hold a grudge for very long…" Genma mused, dropping down from the tree to stand next to her.
"She wasn't intentionally trying to offend me. I got her back for it and now it's settled." she shrugged. "How much longer before we are in this Konoha place anyway?"
"A couple of hours -" Genma began before Naruto landed onto Genma's back.
"Hey, Sayuri can I carry you back?" he asked with a grin. "Bushy brows and I want to race while carrying someone. He's going to carry Tenten on his back. What do you say?" he asked with a huge excited smile.
"Sounds fun. When do we start?" she asked only to let out a startled yelp when she was suddenly thrown into the air and landed on Naruto's back.
"CHARGE! LET'S GO BUSHY BROWS!" The blonde yelled out before taking off, sending a large plume of dust in his wake.
"Naruto! Take Sayuri to the Hokage tower as soon as you arrive!" Kakashi called after the blonde ninja while Lee snatched Tenten and fixed her onto his back before charging off after Naruto.
"Why take her to the Hokage Tower, Kakashi?" Genma asked curiously.
"She'll need to be introduced to Tsunade-sama sooner or later. Plus if she's staying in the village she needs to go through the Hokage."
The sun was beginning to go down when the rest arrived in Konoha. Kakashi chuckled to see Izumo and Kotetsu still trying to brush all of the dust and dirt from their guard post.
"So who won?" the masked ninja asked with a grin.
"It was close but I think Naruto just beat Lee…by the way, who was that young woman on Naruto's back?" Kotetsu asked with a smirk.
"Her name is Sayuri , she was some sort of captive of Kosuke's so we brought her back for safety." Genma answered before looking at Kakashi. "We should all head to the Hokage's office to report our arrival."
After a wave and nod goodbye to Izumo and Kotetsu, they all set off for the Hokage's building. Upon their arrival they found that Sayuri was no longer there. Naruto, Lee and Tenten were in front of Tsunade looking slightly shocked and confused.
"Where's Sayuri?" Genma asked looking around.
"With ANBU. She's giving them all of the information she has on Kosuke. After that she'll be assigned to a Jounin to live with. "
"She isn't getting a place of her own?" Sasuke asked with a frown.
"For protection, since Kosuke is still out there and might come after her. That and I think she needs to have someone to look after her because of her situation." Tsunade explained. Genma looked at Sakura and Kiba which Tsunade noticed. "You know?"
"Know what?" Kakashi asked glancing at Genma.
"Sayuri's blind and having her in a village that she doesn't know and placing her in an apartment she isn't used to might be hard. She didn't seem happy about it but asked that when she's used to the village and layouts of the apartments if she could live on her own."
"She's blind?" Neji repeated with a frown. "She didn't act like it…"
"I didn't notice either…Genma how did you know?" Kakashi asked. Genma slowly chewed on his senbon before sighing.
"She told me…and didn't want anyone else to know."
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"It's why she was annoyed with me, because I insisted on her being carried. She doesn't like people seeing her as weak and unable to look after herself just because she doesn't have her sense of sight…" Sakura explained. Kakashi frowned and looked to Tsunade.
"Which jounin will she be placed with?" he asked casting a glance to a grinning Genma and back to the blonde behind the desk.
"Not sure yet…I was thinking of a female but most are out on a mission so I can't ask them. The rest are either married or already living with someone. " she sighed sitting back, fixing her gaze on both Kakashi and Genma. "Would either of you be interested? I mean you did rescue her and she knows you more than the other ninja in this town, so some level of trust must already be established." she said logically. Plus having either of them do it would save her the time of gathering all jounin here.
"I'll do it." Kakashi spoke up, after receiving many curious gazes he sighed. "Genma as we all know is too promiscuous and almost always brings a woman back to his place every night. It would make her uncomfortable…not to mention who knows what she might catch from just staying in his home." he explained, lightly joking. Tsunade slowly nodded.
"Very well. Tenten has offered to go out with her to get some clothes and other things she'll need. I'll have her leave Sayuri to yours later on." she told Kakashi before evenly meeting the gazes of the others. "The matter of tracking Kosuke and his men down will be by ANBU. The information that Sayuri gives to them will no doubt be very useful. For now you are all dismissed. " she said and watched the ninja leave one by one. Once they had all left and the door was shut behind her she rubbed her temples.
"And what of Sayuri's other request Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked softly, biting her lip as Tsunade opened her top drawer and looked at the pristine headband silently, not recognising the symbol. "Are you going to consider that too?"
"I don't know Shizune. For now…we'll just have to see what happens." the Hokage answered before shutting the drawer and reluctantly resuming her work.