Wow, this is a large one. Very dialogue-y, but that was necessary I guess. Hope you still like it.
Tpurpleleaves: no to the first, yes to the second! Thanks:D
There's no training on Friday. Instead they meet in the little teashop to methodically review their progress – they're instructed to take notes.
This time they're allowed to choose their own tea, encouraged even, because for all his insistence on obedience, the jounin seems to be all for forming your own opinions. There's even sweets.
After two o'clock she's free to do whatever she wants for the rest of the day. She's strongly tempted to just go back home and sleep. Instead she goes looking for Naruto.
At this time of day Ichiraku's is her best bet.
Ducking into the shop, she spots Naruto's blond head right away. The midday sun reflects off his hair and makes it shine like a beacon; there's a stack of bowls next to him that wobbles precariously whenever he hits it with his elbow.
"Baka," she says and he jerks to attention like a well trained puppy.
"Nee-chan! What are you doing here?"
"What now, aren't you glad to see me?"
He sputters.
"Yes, yes! I thought you were busy with your new team."
She reaches over to ruffle his hair and sits down next to him.
"Beef ramen, please! Just because I'm busy doesn't mean I don't have time for you anymore."
"I've come to see you yesterday and the day before," he whines, "and you were always already asleep."
Oh. Yes, that would be true. Kohaku-sensei has been carefully taking them apart in the last few days, just as promised. 'To control your environment you first have to control yourself,' he said. So he's actively been trying to make them lose control in whatever way possible.
"My sensei is a slave driver," she explains. "We haven't even gotten any missions yet, because he thinks we're not ready."
"Whaaaat … that's boring, dattebayo … We've got to meet your team! I'll straighten out your sensei for you!"
That's kind of the last thing she wants. Her bond with her team is tentative at best – it hasn't been a week yet – and she doesn't know how they're going to react to the Kyuubi container. She wants them to trust her judgment first, wants that her say-so is enough to give Naruto a chance. Also, the thought of Naruto calling Kohaku-sensei's eyes freaky makes her stomach flip flop in dread.
"How's Sakura?" she asks, hoping to distract him. Naruto makes a face.
"Fine," he grumbles, "or that's what she says. Senpai is a bit worried. Ino wants to be friends again, but Sakura-chan says it's only because she wants to get to the teme."
She pokes him in reproach and he bursts into snickers.
"Sasuke-chan," he corrects with a grin.
"But … Ino's been trying for a while now, right? I thought they're already friends again?"
"Nee-chan, you're way behind. They've been talking. It's been fine. But now Ino's been turning up during training. Where Sasuke is."
Oh.
"So Sakura doesn't trust her?"
"Well," he hedges, "can't really blame her, right? Ino is Sasuke's biggest fan and Sakura-chan is his friend."
For a girl this connection is obvious. That Naruto of all people figured it out surprises her. She wonders if Sakura explained it to him.
In any case, she needs to talk to Sakura. After all it was Hisana herself who encouraged Ino to mend their friendship. She didn't expect there to be any resistance on Sakura's part, which was probably foolish; Sakura is stubborn as a mule, just like her mother.
Her ramen arrives, steaming and fatty and smelling strongly of beef. Suddenly she's really hungy. Teuchi smiles knowingly at her.
"First week as a genin, right? My friend Hayama – from the bento shop downtown, you know the one – his kid did it last year. Poor boy was always eating or sleeping."
Hisana laughs.
"That's exactly what I want to do too."
She's not usually so open with adults, cautious of being too friendly and inviting the wrong people to meddle in her life. There's a bland quirk of her lips especially reserved for polite chit chat with strangers. But Teuchi always did and would take care of Naruto and she feels she owed him better than that.
"Ayame-nee-chan!" Naruto suddenly blares, wriggling in his seat. "Ayame-nee-chan, come and listen! Nee-chan is a real ninja now!"
Ayame's head pops out from the kitchen. The girl is only a few years older than Hisana and one of those civilians who think ninjas are the best thing since sliced bread.
"Is it true?" she gasps. "What is it like? Are your teammates dreamy? Who is you teacher – are they famous?"
Then she slaps her hands over her mouth, shocked by her own forwardness. Teuchi snorts.
"Girl, being a ninja isn't all romance and fairy tales," he intones, as if he's told her a million times already. "You'll see once Wednesday-Miso-Ramen comes back from the hospital – got half of his leg blown off, I heard. We'll see if you still find him dreamy like that."
Ayame blushes and huffs.
"He's charming and a gentleman. I don't care if he's missing all of his leg."
She says it so vehemently, Hisana's inclined to believe her. Teuchi shakes his head and returns to the kitchen. Once he's out of sight, Ayame leans over the counter.
"Are they though? Dreamy?"
"Yeah, Nee-chan, are they?" Naruto jeers and makes kissy faces at her.
"Eat your ramen," she deadpans. "Nightmarish more like," she tells the girl. "No, that's probably not fair to the boys. But Sensei definitely is."
"Who is it?" she breathes, eyes wide and sparkling in anticipation.
"A Hyuuga. I don't know if he's famous, but he's insane, so probably. Hyuuga Kohaku."
"Hmmm, doesn't ring any bells," Ayame admits in disappointment. "But that doesn't mean anything. Maybe he's got a nickname?"
"Hyuuga?" Naruto asks, reinforcing Hisana's decision that he's never going to meet Kohaku-sensei, "Don't they have those freaky eyes?"
"Naruto, I will have freaky eyes at some point. Don't call them that."
"So what about your teammates?" Ayame prods doggedly. Hisana only shrugs.
They're both awkward little boys to her; she honestly can't say.
"Aww – you'll have to bring them!"
"Yes, Nee-chan, bring them!"
"You'll eat them alive and I still need them. At least until the Chuunin Exams."
The two deviants giggle stupidly. Hisana drains the last of her ramen.
"Naruto, do you know where Sakura might be?"
He shrugs.
"At home, I guess? She's been taking off earlier lately to go straight home – avoiding Ino."
On her day off, tired and – still! – hungry, the Haruno home is probably the very last place she wants to be. This has less to do with the house itself and more with the woman who opens the door for her.
"Haruno-san, good afternoon. I have to speak to your daughter."
"Of course you do," the woman sneers. "I heard Genma-sensei is her team leader now, so you really have no business here anymore. Please leave; I don't want the neighbors to think we're associating with hooligans and murderers."
The pleasant veneer that used to cover her derision seems to have completely fallen away. Hisana gives a mental shrug. If that woman wants to play dirty, she can do that.
"If you don't want the neighbors to know, I'd suggest you get Sakura now. Or I'll feel forced to knock on someone else's door and tell them a sob story about how she's not allowed to see her friends anymore. Maybe even give them a letter to pass to her – not sealed, of course, so anyone can read it."
"Sayuri-chan," it booms from inside. "Darling what's taking so long? Who is it?"
Sakura's father, a tall hulking man with scarlet red hair, appears in the doorway.
"Haruno-san," Hisana simpers in her best little-girl-voice, "good afternoon! I was just telling your wife how badly I need to talk to Sakura-chan!"
"Oh?" he says and slightly crouches down to her with a smile, "Is that so? Did she cause you trouble, that little brat?"
His voice is fond, as if he expected no less from his daughter. It's not that brat who troubles me, Hisana thinks.
"Oh no," she says out loud, "you see, I told Ino-chan – you know, from the Yamanaka Flower Shop, she's such a sweet girl – I told her she should make up with Sakura-chan, because they were such good friends. But it seems I caused trouble instead."
"Daichi-kun," Sayuri blusters, "don't let that little monster lie to you! She's putting all kinds of ideas into Sakura's head – "
Hisana puts her hand over her mouth, affecting a hurt gasp, and averts her gaze.
"Sayuri! She's just a child! For heaven's sake, I told you: if Sakura wants to be a ninja, let her try. One day she'll see it's not the right world for such a gentle girl; but until then stop trying to force her."
He turns towards Hisana.
"You're the Uchiha girl, aren't you? Terrible business with your family, terrible business. I'm sorry that my wife hurt you, she's just worried."
Sayuri looks incensed rather than worried. Her lips are pressed into a thin line, as if it physically hurts to keep her scathing words from bursting out.
"Come, Sayuri-chan," he grouses, gently steering her back inside by the shoulders. "I think you need a cup of tea and some quiet time. I will get Sakura."
Sakura appears not two minutes later, with her arms crossed and a scowl.
"Nee-san, did you mess with Okaa-san again?"
"She started it."
They stare at each other for a moment before Sakura's scowl disappears.
"Nee-san, what are you doing here? I mean, not that I'm not glad, but I thought you were busy?"
"I heard you've acquired a stalker, so I thought I'd check in."
"Ino-pig," the girl huffs and closes the door behind her. "If we're going to talk about this, I'll need ice cream."
"Alright, I could eat."
She doesn't actually expect Sakura to last until they reach the ice cream vendor just off the main street. The girl looks about ready to explode, red-faced and teary-eyed, but she does last. In fact, she lasts until they each get a cone and reach a nearby bank to curl up on. Hisana is hit by a vague sense of déjà vu; it's a scene she knows well, with herself being Sakura and Marie buying the ice cream.
"I can't believe her!" the girl suddenly bursts out, while Hisana takes the first lick of her ice cream.
"She – she just turns up after training and then during training! We're talking now – that's great, I mean, she needs me, right? I'm the only one who can stand her little ego trips for long – I can be her friend! I really though she's serious, but now … it's obvious she's trying to use me to get to Sasuke. We're friends now; the timing is really suspicious, right?"
Her face is red like a tomato now and ice cream is dripping down her hand.
"Alright," Hisana says, trying to take in all the information, "Alright, I think you got that all wrong. Eat your ice cream and let me explain."
Sakura stares desolately at her melting cone; she takes a bite out of it – a bite! Hisana shudders – as if it's a punishment.
"Ok, listen: I talked to Ino before. It's been a while, I guess shortly before she started talking to you again. And she told me she wants to try and be friends again. I encouraged her, because I think it's a good idea for you to have girl friends."
"I have you," Sakura points out. Which is sweet, but misses the point by a mile.
"Yes of course. But I can't always be there. You even said so, I was really busy this week. I'll be busy again, with missions maybe, or training, or exams. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone else to talk to?"
"I don't want to talk to her if she's using me."
"She didn't say a word about Sasuke. It was just about you."
"So then she really wants to be friends. That doesn't mean she doesn't want Sasuke too. I don't want to be friends with someone who's only taking me as a nice extra while they're really angling for something else."
That's true of course, but an entirely different problem.
"Say, Sakura … do you still like Sasuke?"
Instead of blushing to the roots of her hair, like she did the first time, Sakura's shoulders sag.
"Maybe. Yes. But not like … like before. We're friends now! It's different. I like how it is right now. I want it to stay like this. He doesn't need to be my boyfriend; I just want him to like me."
This is good, Hisana thinks. This is great. She has no idea if Sasuke would ever return such feelings, but this right here, it means they could still be friends even if he never does. This is solid.
She'll need to talk to Sasuke, but right now she thinks he would be the lesser problem.
"But now," Sakura continues, watching her own feet dangle from the bench, "Ino is there. And boys have always loved Ino – even while they still thought girls are icky, because she's funny and cool and has awesome secret techniques. She'll be a great ninja. And even my parents think I won't."
Oh yes, the parents. This conversation is long overdue, even though Sakura's by far not old enough for it. For a nine-year-old their parents should still be heroes; invincible and always right. But Sakura is also a prodigy in her own right, and Hisana wants to put a stop to these self doubts before they have even more time to fester like an infected wound.
She grabs Sakura's melted, forgotten ice cream and throws it and her own into the nearest trash can, before taking the girl's hands.
"You know your mom and I don't get along, right? She's your mother and you love her, and I really want to like her just because of that. But I don't. Because I think she's wrong about you and she doesn't want to change her mind."
Sakura makes a face as if she wants to protest, but there is nothing to protest. It's true. She loves her mother, but her mother thinks she's a stupid girl playing games. There's no convincing her otherwise – she's tried.
"I know she only wants what she thinks is best for you, but she's hurting you with it. You should know though that your father is very proud of you."
"He also thinks I'll change my mind."
"Yes, because he's a civilian. Everyone says we're all the same, but that's a lie. Have you ever shown him a jutsu before? I'm sure you told him and he thought it was cute and entertaining, but that's because he hasn't seen it. He hasn't really realized what you are doing. My bet is, he's already had to do with ninjas, and they scared him. He'll always have a hard time thinking as his cute little daughter as one of them."
Sakura shrugs.
"He does trips sometimes," she admits. "Long ones for business. Then he hires ninjas for protection; especially if he has to carry a lot of money around."
"Imagine someone tried to rob him then, and the ninjas killed them. Just like that. I'm sure he thinks you could never do that, because good people like you don't kill people."
"Iruka-sensei says … that sometimes you can't avoid it. That people who risk their lives for things like money, don't value any lives. 'You protect those who can't protect themselves. Those who decide they can pit their lives against yours don't need or want your protection'."
It's indoctrination in its truest form. Those romantic notions that seasoned ninjas so look down upon in civilians is exactly what the Academy uses to ease its students into the reality of their new lives.
'You're not killing, you're protecting,' is what they tell the student.
'It's you or them,' they tell the genin.
'It's risk optimization,' learns the chuunin.
'It's your duty,' knows the jonin.
'Do it,' hears the Anbu.
"That's right," Hisana says. "You're a protector. But they don't know that. Yet."
Sakura nods.
"They'll have to see it when I graduate, right? I can show them then. When I have the hitai-ate, no one can say I'm not a real ninja."
"That's right," Hisana encourages and reaches up to ruffle Sakura's hair. "Until then, you'll just have to be extra strong. You have your team. They believe in you – I believe in you. Genma-senpai believes in you, too."
At the mention of her team Sakura's tentative smile evaporates.
"Hey," Hisana reminds her, "didn't we just establish that you're going to be a great ninja? Secret clan techniques don't mean a damn thing. Did you ever ask Naruto and Sasuke what they think?"
"No," she admits sheepishly, "because it's silly and they'll laugh. I don't want them to think …"
…that you're jealous.
"Ask them," she urges. "I talked to Naruto today and he wasn't too happy about Ino's little visits. Because they make you unhappy. And how do you think Sasuke feels? To be chased all over the village because he's 'so cool', not because they actually like him."
"So you don't think they'll forget all about me?"
"Of course not. You should give Ino a chance. If she's really honest about it, you could gain an important friend. If she's not serious, it'll hurt, but she won't take anything away from you. She doesn't have that sort of power."
"That – that's good. I can do that. It's just … the first time I've ever had so many friends. I don't want to share."
There's an opportunity there, Hisana can see it. It doesn't quite feel right to use this, Sakura's trust, to manipulate her, but she doesn't know if there'll ever be such an opportunity again. So easy and so perfect.
"You're growing up Sakura, you might have to get used to sharing them."
"What, why?"
"Because you might not be a team forever. You'll graduate. At last one of the boys will probably be on a different genin team. That doesn't mean they won't be your friends anymore. Just that you don't get to keep them all to yourself."
The girl fidgets, her brain working on overdrive.
"How do I … ?"
'How do I get to keep them all to myself?'
"What do you think? If you want something, you have to fight for it."
"You're right," Sakura blurts out abruptly and jumps up from the bench. "I need to talk to the boys, right now."
She runs a few feet, before turning around and running back to throw herself at Hisana.
"Thanks Nee-san! I need to go now, take care and don't work so hard!"
And then she's gone, hair whipping behind her like a banner in the wind.