.:To Trust Again:.
Chapter Two
Sakura sighed, debating whether or not she could slip out the back door and avoid him but decided against it. It was bound to happen eventually. She pushed against the glass doors and stepped into the crisp evening air.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto greeted her where he stood, leaning against the painted stone walls of the hospital.
"Naruto-kun," she nodded to him and began to walk in the direction of her home, knowing he would follow.
And he did, hands shoved deeply into his orange pockets. He took his place on her right and they walked in silence for a time, absorbing the peace of the night.
"You left training early," his voice was low, a rarity for the blonde. She shot him a weary glance.
"There was an emergency," hard green eyes stared off into the distance, refusing to meet his true-blue ones. "An entire team came in in shambles. Their conditions have only just stabilized."
He scanned her over; the shadows and bags under her exhausted green eyes, the defeated slump to her shoulders, and the scraping of her toes against the dirt road as her weary legs could only lift them so high, leaving shallow trenches in their midst. She was pale and fatigued and he hated seeing her like this.
He stopped her for a moment and kneeled down in front of her. She hesitated before reaching her arms around his neck as he grasped her thighs and hoisted her up. He resumed their previous path to her house and she snuggled into his warm, muscled back. It was just like the old days, before the war when there was only three medics and she was forced to work from dawn to dusk, and dusk to dawn. Every night, he would wait for her shift to end and would walk her home, supporting her if she was too exhausted to make it back on her own. He swore that it was because 'you never know just what kind of perverts can be lurking in the night!' but she suspected that he just didn't want to lose everyone on team seven. She missed those days, when bringing Sasuke home was their only goal. When things were simple and straightforward and not a tangled mess.
"How many surgeries did you perform today?" he asked quietly, so as to not disturb their serene surroundings. A gentle wind mused their hair, tangling pink and blonde.
"Seven," she murmured into his back, sending vibrations from the sound down his spine. He tightened his grip on her.
"They're killing you over there." he muttered to which she shook her head.
"Its all worth it," she whispered. "It will always be worth it."
He let out a breath. They walked in silence past Ichiraku Ramen and the Ancient Weaponry shop, both closed for the night.
"You remember what today is?" They rounded past the Academy grounds, now deserted. The swing tied to the tree in front swayed in the mellow breeze, abandoned.
"Mmh," she nodded into his back. "it's the anniversary of the day we originally became team seven, when Iruka first assigned us. And the anniversary of your first kiss."
"That didn't count!" he grumbled to which she giggled. He sighed and glanced to the indigo sky. "Its already been six years."
"Yeah," she craned her neck to rest her chin on his shoulder and her warm breath fanned against the sensitive skin of his neck. His ears grew warm. "and we're all back together again."
"Mmh," his eyes searched the sky for stars before he took a breath. "You and Sasuke, you guys really don't trust each other anymore?"
The arms around his neck stiffened for a moment before they relaxed again.
"Too much has happened since we were kids." she sighed.
"When we brought him back, I knew things were going to be different. Just, not like this."
"Do you think," she hesitated. "Do you think we'll ever really be a team again?"
He was silent and, for a moment, she wasn't sure if he was going to answer,
"We will," he said, determination weaving its way into his voice. "It will take time, but we will."
They reached her house and Naruto kneeled down by the door so she could slide off. All of the lights were off, her civilian parents having gone to bed several hours ago, leaving the house looking dark and empty.
"Naruto," she whispered. He turned to face her and she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."
He stiffened before giving her a tight squeeze in return. When they broke apart his cheeks were dusted with a blush but his grin still shone past it. He was still in love with her, she knew, and it would be so much simpler if she could reciprocate those feelings but her heart wouldn't let her. She left him with a final smile and twisted the lock in place, just like her mother had always reminded her to do.
Naruto was nervous. Sweating bullets, really, because they wouldn't talk to each other. And not just that, they wouldn't look at each other, acknowledge the others presence, anything! Sasuke had been here before him and when Sakura arrived she only greeted Naruto. Not that he would mind, usually. But this wasn't usually. This was a 'I refuse to talk to you,' type of thing, only with a bit more was leaning against one side of the bridge and Sakura was leaning against the other side of the bridge, and he didn't know who's side he was supposed to lean on. So he plopped down right in the middle and waited.
And waited.
And waited, but with added hostility.
And waited some more, until, thank God, a familiar 'poof ' interrupted their lovely bonding moments.
Kakashi looked between the three, noting the tension, and turned to Sakura.
"You're on time today," Kakashi glanced at his frustrated students.
"Wish I could say the same for you," she shot back.
"Ah, touché." He looked at his trio of not-really-youngsters and sighed. There was a lot of work to be done. "Are you going to stay until the end this time?"
"If there's not an emergency," her eyes darkened with mental guards but Kakashi just waved it off.
"I'm just kidding, Sakura-chan! I know how busy you are at the hospital nowadays. You made that quite clear yesterday." he added as a side note, causing the medic to blush.
"Sorry about that," she laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I didn't get much sleep that night." To this both Naruto and Sasuke made scoffing noises, knowing full well that by "not much" she meant "about five minutes." She glared at them.
Kakashi glanced between the three, amusement creeping into his voice as he drawled out a simple "Okay," and proceeded to forgive the kunoichi for her earlier moodiness. Satisfied that the morning pleasantries had concluded, Kakashi clapped his hands together to gather their attention.
"So, since yesterday didn't work out to well," Sasuke and Sakura refused to meet each others eyes. "instead, we will be teaching each other."
"EHHH?" Sakura and Naruto hollered.
"Well, more specifically Sasuke and Sakura will be teaching each other while I will be teaching you a new justu, Naruto."
"Yatta!" 'Anything to get away from those two.'
"B-but, Kaka-sensei," Sakura sputtered, still refusing to meet the Uchiha's eyes. "What are we supposed to teach each other?"
Kakashi looked as if he was pondering this for a moment, hand stroking his masked chin and she thought 'Hey, maybe he has a goatee under there.' before returning her thoughts to the matter at hand. Sure, she knew that she and Sasuke we're going to have to interact eventually, but this soon?
"If I remember correctly," he began, hand dropping to his pouch which held his infamous Icha Icha books. "you had a particular affinity for Genjutsu. We just never got around to developing that skill."
It was true, she supposed. He had mentioned that way back in their genin days, but he had become far too preoccupied with Naruto and Sasuke's training to ever get to her. By the time both of them had left the village in their own searches for power and he had had the time for her, she had already taken up tutelage under Tsunade. Her natural skills with Genjutsu were severely overshadowed by her gift with chakra control and medical jutsu and never developed.
"And Sasuke," Kakashi turned to him. "your chakra control is tolerable at best. Sakura can help you improve on your chakra control and maybe teach you some medical jutsu, and you can help her improve skills in Genjutsu."
Neither of them spoke, so he took that as a sign of agreement and motioned for Naruto to come with him, leaving the two of them to their training. If anything could get them to trust each other, it would be to share their knowledge in jutsu to the other.
Alone, Sasuke and Sakura were caught up in a sticky, awkward mixture of tension, unease, and hollowed out anger. Neither wanted to make the first move, the first noise, and both just wanted today to be over with but Sakura very well knew that she couldn't walk out today too. Sasuke just didn't want to admit defeat.
Several minutes were spent like this, an indirect and unspoken battle of wills, until Sakura finally sighed and broke through the barrier they had created.
"Lets get to it, then." and she began to walk off of the bridge to where she knew of an open training ground, Sasuke following close behind with his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. They walked in a murky silence and it was beginning to get to Sakura, only she didn't know how to fix it. Sasuke didn't really care to.
Sakura cleared her throat.
"I'm going to just assume that you've got the basics of chakra control and that you can walk up trees and on water," Sakura began, hoping to rouse some form of response out of the stoic one, but was met with no luck. Out of all honesty, she really didn't want to talk to him either, but Kakashi had given them an assignment and she'd be damned if she couldn't complete it. "The amount of chakra you have makes it less necessary to control and your specialty Justus are a testament to this."
He scoffed.
'Finally, a remark! Kind of, at least.'
"No, really," she remarked. "Most of your Justus involve a build-up of chakra, ending in a quick and powerful release. There really isn't a limit to how much chakra you put into it, only that the more you put in, the stronger it'll be. If I were to take a guess, I would have to say that you probably fail miserably at any justu which requires intricate chakra control."
He glared and harrumphed and crossed his arms, acting every bit like the grumpy teen who's "weakness" has been revealed but is desperate to prove that he has no such disability. She smirked at him.
"What, you think you can?" she taunted, expecting him to rise to the challenge.
He didn't disappoint.
"Hn,"
Well, he sort of disappointed, but it was better than nothing.
"How about this," she challenged, stopping and turning to him. "We'll just do an accuracy test." She stepped away from him and made her way to a near by tree, digging a small circle into it's rough bark, no bigger than her thumb nail. "From where you are right now, burn only the circle that I've drawn onto this tree."
He scoffed and she moved from the tree, motioning him to begin.
And he did, executing the seals swiftly and precisely. When he blew out his Katon, it was only a small, steady stream. It hit its mark for a few seconds before Sasuke ceased the stream and stuffed his hands back into his pockets, looking to be the definition of arrogant. She studied his handiwork.
He had indeed hit the mark, but the burn marks bled out of the little circle she had made. She shook her head and his brow furrowed.
"Look, you're outside of the lines."
"Hardly,"
"If this were a medical jutsu, hardly would cut through the wall of your femoral artery. Hardly would put clots in all of your other veins and arteries as you try to fix your femoral artery. Hardly could easily be the difference between making an incision and bleeding to death." she informed him.
"This isn't medical jutsu."
She shook her head. "The point is that, by my stand point at least, your chakra control is relatively inadequate."
"And you could do that?" he challenged. 'Well, someone's ruffled your feathers.' she mentally applauded herself.
"I'm a close range fighter and I don't know fire jutsu." she waved her hand about as she decided to continue walking. He paused a moment before following her example, sulking all the way. As they continued on Sakura's mind began to race on just how she would teach him to better control his chakra, or at least she tried to. Her mind felt sluggish and fuzzy, like something was interfering.
The reason for her predicament hit her along with a burning flash of rage.
"Kai!"
They were back by the tree, though it would be more fitting to say that they never left.
Sakura whipped her head around, splaying her pink hair out around her, and she found the Uchiha leaning against that damn tree with his failure of a burn mark, Sharingan activated and a stupid, stupid goddamn smirk on his face.
"Six seconds," he stared at her smugly. "You know six seconds could kill you in a battle?"
"Shut up, Uchiha."
And with that they began walking, for real this time, towards the open training grounds, albeit with added hostility. They were back to refusing to talk or look at each other and this time Sakura refused to be the one to break it. She walked stiffly and he walked smugly and it annoyed her to no end. Before she had arrived at the bridge earlier that morning, she felt stubborn but guilty and debated apologizing for slapping him. But not anymore, not when he was being such an ass.
They reached the training ground in silence, agonizing silence, and then proceeded to play the waiting game. Who would say the first word? Not her, that's for sure.
He cleared his throat.
She scuffed her shoes in the grass, feeling the individual blades tickle her exposed toes.
He glared at a tree.
She stared at the sky.
"We're here,"
"Yeah," she figured she'd give him a taste of his own medicine.
He was practically burning a hole in that poor tree.
She rocked on her heels, feeling almost giddy. 'Take that bastard!'
He sighed. "And I'm going to teach you how to perform Genjutsu?"
"Or I'm going to teach you how to control your chakra." Oh, she'd seen what he'd done there, leaving out that he needed help too.
"Annoying,"
"Hm?" she ceased her rocking and glanced at him.
"Do you know any Genjutsu?" he skillfully changed the subject. She briefly paused and thought back to her training with Tsunade, flipping though memories like files in a cabinet.
"Only a few," she said thoughtfully. "When I was training with Tsunade it was usually on medical ninjutsu and evasion techniques but she taught me how to recreate the environment once. After that it was back to the textbooks, though, and we never went further down that particular road."
"So you understand the basics of it?"
"Yes," she began, reciting the words her shishou had once taught her. "In order for Genjutsu to be effective, you must extend your chakra flow through the cerebral nervous system of your opponent in order to control their minds chakra, effecting their five senses. Attention to detail is key or else it would be seen through easily and it requires precise chakra control and a high level of intelligence. In fact, if it weren't for your Sharingan, Genjutsu would probably be particularly difficult for you. Have you ever tried to perform it without Sharingan activated?"
"Hn," he didn't meet her eyes.
"Try it," she urged. "Right now, try it on me."
"What?"
"I'm not kidding. Try it right now so I can see if you can manipulate chakra well enough to do it without your Sharingan."
He gave her a look which clearly read 'are you insane?' but her leveled stare on him had him readying his hands for more seals. He really had never needed to perform Genjutsu without the aid of his Sharingan. In fact, he couldn't think of a single instance where he had even tried.
His hands flew through the seals, becoming nothing more than a pale blur against his dark shirt. He stared deep into her vibrant green eyes, in more of a habit than a necessity, and enacted the first Genjutsu that came to mind. Immediately those clear viridian eyes lost focus and looked off into the distance.
She was standing over the operating table, the patient was so, so pale and cold. The scalpel clasped in her gloved hand trembled as she stared down at the man who's entire form began to quake. In the back of her mind she barely registered the spastic beeping of the electrocardiogram. Ventricular fibrillation.
Her muscles wouldn't allow her to move, to call out for a defibrillator, perform CPR, anything. Then the beeping became a drone, a flat line. She stared down at the man who had been reduced to a body, and felt the searing pain of failure envelop her. A white sheet was pulled over the body and almost immediately blood began to blossom, seeping into the linen. She had never had a chance to close the incision.
Sasuke watched her, noting the faraway look with something akin to pride until those viridian eyes began to water. It was only then that he realized just what Genjutsu had come to his mind first. His heart dropped like lead and he reached out to touch her shoulder, giving her a shock of chakra to stop the spastic flow of chakra to her mind.
She was looking at the body's family. Their uncertain looks, begging her for reassurance that she couldn't give and she couldn't open her mouth to tell them. To say how she couldn't save him. That he was-
"Sakura!"
Her glazed over eyes regained focus and found his face, so close and pale. Pale like that man who had become only a body. Worried, like that man-body's family as they stared at her expectantly, waiting to hear that everything went smoothly. That he would come back to them, good as new. She remembered that he had been the first patient she had ever lost. A drip of moisture trickled down her cheek, sliding in between her clamped lips.
"Sakura!" she realized that she was being shaken and stared brokenly into his dark eyes. She licked her lips, tasting the salt of her tears and started to realize just what had happened. Anger quickly replaced her sadness, but not at him. She should have realized just how stupid it was to ask an Uchiha of all people to cast a Genjutsu on her. Whether it be for informative purposes or not, it would never be worth it.
She tried to pull herself together and he slowly released her shoulders. She brushed the back of her hand against her moist cheeks and stared at the bridge of his nose, not daring to look him in the eye.
"You can manipulate chakra leading to the temporal lobes, instigating memories to resurface and replay. It is enough to distract your opponent for an extended period, depending on them memory, and would create a big enough opening to capture or kill your opponent. The chakra control it takes is substantial." Her voice sounded raw to her own ears and she quickly cleared it. After her mind had fully returned to reality she began to dissect everything she had experienced and combined it with her knowledge on the subject. Only then did she realize the flaws. That family belonged to a different patient, another one she couldn't save. "Your control is pretty good, but you were unable to hold it well enough. I experienced two different memories, meaning that your chakra fluctuated intensities in the middle of performing the Genjutsu."
He scrutinized her silently, scanning her expression for any psychological damage that his jutsu could have caused, but was only met with her professional demeanor. He wasn't sure of whatever painful memory he had drug out of her subconscious, but it quickly became apparent to him that she had already tucked it back into the recesses of her mind to dwell on later. She was shielding her emotions, a feat that he was unaware she could accomplish until recently.
"Aa," was all he could think of as a reply to her as she began to explain different ways to learn how to control his chakra better, to keep the strength and flow of it constant, but her explanation became nothing but background noise to his own thoughts.
He had hurt her, again. Even if she had asked for it this time, he had hurt her. The absolute pain that had filled her expression during those few moments of delirium were a testament to this. He watched her try to help him and wondered 'Why bother?' but couldn't bring himself to voice his thoughts out loud. Sometimes he really despised himself.
"Sasuke? You listening?"
He was snapped out of his angsty musings by her curious voice and glanced at her guarded expression. In that moment, he froze over any and all emotions and became Uchiha Sasuke.
"Hn,"
"Please, pay attention so I don't have to explain this twice."
He stared at her as she continued to break apart his techniques, his flaws and he hated it. He hated that he had any weaknesses to break down. He hated that Kakashi was trying to fix them. He hated that they needed to be fixed. She felt like a stranger to him, now, and treated him as such and he hate, hate, hated it.
She had stopped talking and was staring at him impatiently. He glanced up at her.
"I can't teach you anything if you don't pay attention."
"Hn,"
Her hands found her hips and her foot began to tap against the grass. He sighed.
"What?"
"Are you going to pay attention, now?"
"Aa,"
And with that, she continued her lesson in the presence of the once-avenger's attentive gaze, thinking that she felt more comfortable with him ignoring her. She could only help him so much, though. For her, chakra control came naturally. Sure, it took inordinate concentration when she was in the operating room, stitching back together flesh and organs, but for mundane training? It didn't compute in her brain how someone couldn't just do it. Although, she figured, he and Naruto had such excessive supplies of chakra that they never really needed to control it. But she had never had too terribly much chakra and had always had to control it to a hair. She had no idea how to teach to others what came naturally to her, she could only tell him what he was doing wrong.
That afternoon, after training and before her shift at the hospital, she visited the place which was like a second home to her; the library, making her way to the back section.
"Chakra Control and Techniques"
Woowoo, chapter two! Oh man, you guys totally made my week with all of your reviews! Seriously, the "check engine" light in my car (which I only got a week ago) decided to turn on and I ripped my pants at work (only on the leg, luckily) but, at the end of the day, all of your reviews still managed to make me smile, so thank you :)
But, hey, in case more bad things happen again this week... more reviews are nice :D