do not own nayruto
Phobia
By Riverhaze
Chapter Two
Hinata Hyuuga-Uzumaki's eyes fluttered opened and she squinted through the morning sun that was streaming in through the drawn curtains. Her ears were ringing slightly, and she rolled over to see the space next to her empty. It was unusual for Naruto to be an early riser, she noted with a small smile. He usually did not tell her about his work for the day until later, so she never knew what he was up to. Sitting up and stretching, she got to her feet and slipped a soft gold wedding band automatically on to her ring finger.
She made herself ready for the day, no longer being a ninja she had all of her time to herself as a homemaker. She wanted nothing more than to start having children, her dreams were filled with visions of a baby bundle in her arms. Naruto seemed reluctant to start having a family so early, he was still a young Hokage and was just learning the ropes of running the village.
Walking down to the kitchen to fix herself breakfast, she paused in the doorway with a start as she spotted Naruto at the table practically inhaling a bowl of noodles. She had harped on him time and time again, that a diet consisting soley of noodles was not healthy, and had tried to persuade him in to other meals but he had not budged.
"Oh! I thought you had left already." Hinata said as she crossed the room to the fridge.
"Mm-hrm." He mumbled between slurps and smacked his lips with a big grin and she gave him a disapproving stare.
"My mother asked if we would like to go to dinner with her and my father this Friday." Hinata said as she poured herself a glass of orange juice.
"What for?" Naruto frowned at his spoon as he observed his reflection.
"To visit."
"They always want us to visit." Naruto muttered to himself before sighing and getting to his feet. "I have to go, the Anbu are delivering an urgent report this morning." He said and briefly pecked Hinata on the cheek as he gathered his robe and headed to the door. A slight blush played across Hinata's cheek and she bid him goodbye pleasantly.
A small file was waiting for Naruto on his desk when he arrived, and the two Anbu that had gathered it were waiting for his next command. Warily, he pulled it open and read the report inside on the few sightings of the former ninja, Sakura Haruno. Naruto could just make out the crude outline of her path, she was travelling south going west, toward the wind country.
"She does not stay in the same place for very long, usually just two or three days." The Boar Anbu finished his oral report, and Naruto leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin. He wondered if Sakura genuinely liked her lonely life, tumbling on from place to place with no where to call her home all because of him. All because of him, he thought with a sorrowful sigh. He wondered, would a visit from an old friend bring her out of her ways? What if the cause tried to be the solution?
Abruptly, Naruto got to his feet and strode toward the door.
"Sir, where are you going?" The Cat Anbu asked, startled.
"Out, Shizune is in charge until I get back." He said and disappeared behind the office door.
At the doors to the Hokage Tower, Konohamaru paced back and forth with a curt irritated stride. He ground his teeth and swore inwardly, Naruto better not have forgotten. He had been 'loitering' in the lobby when the secretary kicked him out, so now he was out here with his mood deteriorating by the second. The door was flung open as soon as he glanced at it, and with a jump he recognized his sensei.
"HEY! Old Man, you said you'd help me with training!" Konohamaru pointed at Naruto, who stopped and looked at him curiously as if he had never seen his apprentice before.
"Not now, I'm busy." He said and kept moving.
"But you promised!" Konohamaru accused. Naruto froze mid step and suddenly flashed back, years ago, a much shorter and immature Naruto tailing after a white haired toad sage, hounding him for training lessons, and having to resort to extremes to get him to pay attention. With a wave of nostalgia, Naruto turned around.
"Fine, I'll need your help on a mission, it'll give you good experience in the field." Naruto said.
"A mission? ALRIGHT!" Konohamaru said eagerly and punched the air. "What are we going to be doing? Some super secret Hokage business?" Konohamaru rubbed his hands together.
"We're going to try and find someone." Naruto said, and was very creeped out by how familiar the situation was.
"A tracking mission? Alright, who?" Konohamaru asked and fell in step with Naruto.
"My old friend, Sakura Haruno." Naruto breathed.
Line Break
Sakura glanced down at her hand. Not good. Not good at all, but they couldn't know. Of course, she thought, she'd inherit her sensei's bad luck with gambling but obvious love of the game. But she did have to win back some of that money she lost while escapading in the Land of Waves.
She glanced back up at her opponents, having to squint through the thick haze of the poker room. Each had trained their features in to a perfect mask, all were waiting for her move.
"Alright boys, I'm goin' all in." Sakura said with a big grin and shoved the rest of her chips in the middle. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, they all exchanged glances, fooled that she might have a good hand. Not even pausing to wipe the sweat from her brow, Sakura watched as they all placed their bets and one by one laid their cards down. Never faltering she placed down her hand with the confidence of a much luckier woman.
A chorus of laughs was met with her hand, and one man on her right even fell out of his seat.
"You loose, pinky." The winner of the game, a large older man growled directly across from her.
"That I do sir, but do you really need all that? I mean, you're already rich." Sakura winked devilishly and his eyes bulged.
"If you can't pay me, then we'll just need to find a different method." He smiled under his thick moustache. Sakura understood him, and her skin crawled.
"Sorry sir, but I'm saving myself for the right guy, ya know?" Sakura said and in one fluid motion she kicked her chair back and swept all of the chips in to her bag. The men all stumbled away from the table, roaring their protests and the door was thrown open as several vagabonds the casino used as security streamed in.
"Thief! GET HER!" The winner yelled as she jumped clear over the table. She easily ducked out of the way of the clumsy security guards and dashed down to the lobby. The guests in the tea room watched curiously as Sakura slid down the banister and darted for the door. There were more shouts as the men tailed after her like goons from a bad movie.
"Catch me if you can, I'm the gingerbread man!" She yelled behind her back with a laugh, tossing a few handfuls of chips behind her like rice at a wedding and easily scaled the nearest building. To her surprise, a few actually kept pace with her over the rooftops, so they must have been employed rogue nins. Nothing Sakura couldn't easily handle, of course. She flung several of the chips over her shoulders like shuriken, and with the force and speed she had tossed them at, they knocked out a few cold.
She landed with a large thud on her feet to the street below outside of the hotel she had checked herself in to. When she arrived in the tourist friendly town, she had felt like being a high roller for once and purchased one of the loveliest suites on credit. Jingling the heavy bag of chips in her hand, she strolled in to the lobby to pay her debt, and she'd be gone within the half hour to the next town.
Line Break
"That bitch took all my money and took off over the buildings, you know how much she took!? That's money she stole you know!" A rather large man was cursing at Naruto. He winced and rubbed the back of his head and Konohamaru muttered something next to him that sounded like 'idiot'.
"Um, I'm sorry for her behaviour. I'll personally reimburse you for your loss. Did your men manage to catch up to her?" Naruto asked, really wanting to end his conversation with the unpleasant man.
"No, my men tracked her down to the Newcastle Hotel, but she had checked out by the time they got there! Can you believe that!?" The man said, tugging at his tousled hair. Apologizing again for Sakura's behaviour, Naruto dragged Konohamaru away from some questionable women and they stopped just outside the village. If Sakura had recently been there, only a day ago, then her chakra signature would still be lingering around. Hopefully he could pick it up and track her down, a handy trick he had learned from Hinata.
"Hey! Why is she so important anyway? She sounds like what my dad would call a loose-woman!" Konohamaru grumbled after Naruto explained what he was doing.
"She's a dear friend, and could help with the epidemic." Naruto said with his eyes closed. They had seen some unfortunate souls exiled on the outskirts of the village, bent and warped with disease. Time was running out.
With a jolt, he picked up something very familiar. A faint path opened up before his eyes, and he could sense the source, only a few miles away to the north.
"Besides Konohamaru, you've meet her before. She was on my old team." Naruto threw over his shoulder, and Konohamaru quieted down for once, lost in thought.
"The pink-haired girl!" He blurted out and Naruto nodded. "She was pretty, and didn't you date her?"
"Yes I did, but sometimes things don't work out the way you think they will." Naruto cut in with a hard voice, trying not to remember the unfortunate incident. Konohamaru looked at Naruto curiously, he could act so odd sometimes.
"Well, doesn't matter anyway, you've got a pretty hot wife." He said with a large grin and earned a smack to the head by the Hokage.
Trailing after Sakura's chakra for a day or so, they arrived at a tiny barely-there village on the outskirts of Konoha. Masking his own chakra, and having Konohamaru doing the same, they entered the village with tangled nerves. Mostly on Naruto's side, he wondered what Sakura's reaction would be when she would see him. Would she be happy to see an old face? Or would she be angry that he had violated her self banishment?
They asked around the village for the better part of the morning, if anyone had seen a pink haired traveller. To his surprise everyone said no, until he had approached a vendor in the market. The old man pointed lazily up the hill behind the village, said he saw her disappear up there just a few minutes ago. Following his lead, they eagerly dashed up the steep hill.
Naruto got to the top first while Konohamaru complained, he turned around to take in the view. As far as the eye could see, a sea of emerald green trees rolled across the valley. Just in the distance, a depression, and Konoha's gates. Naruto couldn't help but be in awe of the natural wonder, even Konohamaru gave a half handed observation.
Standing not even ten feet in front of them under a willow tree was a familiar pink haired figure, her back to them she didn't turn around. Naruto thought for a second he must be seeing things, but then she glanced over her shoulder and blinked at him once.
"Pretty cool sight, huh?"
revised 3/6/13
revised-revised 8/30/15