A/N: Day thirteen. So close, agh!
Sometimes, they get injured. It's expected, of course, considering the danger of their line of work. She tends to downplay it, since it's her normality, but there's always been the chance that her team ̶ her family ̶ could be fatally injured at any moment. Most of the time, the injuries aren't untreatable. They aren't completely life threatening, if only because Shisui demands excellence and they're not excellent if their injuries are life threatening.
"Hey, Sai…" she smiles, wiping away the sweat lining his brow. Her chest is tight and she feels like something's about break, but she attempts to rein in the emotions that wish to burst out and drown her like the harsh waters of the sea. "You're supposed to be sleeping."
Neji's securing their perimeter, the cave they're occupying just large enough for the three of them. It just has be raining of course, because it's not dramatic if it's not raining. It's also a reason why her olfactory genjutsu was at a disadvantage during the battle.
Her brother shifts, giving her a strained smile. "But I want to see you before I die, Sakura-neesama…" he replies, his amicable tone laced with inner turmoil. She pushes his bangs away from his face, thinking that they're getting a little long and she'll have to cut them soon.
"You're not going to die." she assures him, but her voice is harsher than she expects. So she attempts to rectify it. "Not yet, anyway. You still have to be with me when we surprise Neji with our discovery on how to deactivate his seal."
Sai chuckles, for a moment before coughing. "I think he might actually blush. Perhaps we should have a camera handy when we tell him." is his amusing response. It's strange, seeing how pale even his paper white skin gets. The hue is a little disconcerting, if she thinks about it.
Her skill in medical ninjutsu isn't as expanded to deal with his injury, but she could use one of her storage seals and modify it to hold a living body. The storage scroll naturally preserves the items within it, so it would essentially be stopping Sai's degradation until they return home. It irritates her that she's neglected medical ninjutsu as much as she has, since she thought that her current proficiency was enough.
Neji walks in, solemn and drenched from the rain. "How is he?" he asks, beginning to remove his soaked clothing. She passes him the scroll containing their spare clothes.
Her gaze falls back onto Sai, who's quickly fallen asleep. She continues to run her fingers through his hair, comforting herself with the fact that he's still there. For how long, the cynical part of her wonders? Another part is stricken with early grief and fury, for having allowed this to happen.
They're better than this.
"I'm thinking of modifying one of my seals to store him in it, so he'll be in a stasis until we get him back to Konohagakure." she answers, feeling Neji's cool but comforting presence sit beside her. "We'll be able to achieve what we set out for this way, but it'll just be you and I. He won't make it by the time we're done if I leave him out here."
They've already spent nearly a month on this mission, and they're nowhere near Hi no Kuni at the moment. They can't rely on anyone else to help Sai, but it would also feel… wrong to not complete the mission that he's put so much effort into.
Neji wraps his arms around her, resting his head against hers. "They'll pay for this." he promises with a cold whisper. "Like we'd give them the satisfaction of ruining our success streak."
She smiles, though she feels like it's a little sharper than usual. "Yeah, otherwise Shisui-taichou will be mad at us." Sakura chuckles, but they both know she's not joking since Shisui is the type to be offended that we didn't live up to his teachings. Their captain will deal with them, then he'll go deal with the enemy without permission from the Hokage and then it would all just turn into chaos.
No, she thinks, he'll still be pissed off that Sai got so badly injured in the first place. They'll just have to worry about that later.
Transporting by ships isn't a normal occurrence for their team, usually because it's more convenient to travel by Sai's Chouju Giga with a genjutsu cloaked over them so they remain inconspicuous. They don't have that option at the moment, because Sai's half-dead and sealed inside of a scroll.
She and Neji are both using the Henge no Jutsu as disguises, since two lone children travelling together brings up quite a few questions. It's a common technique to use, but it's always been a little strange seeing the world at a different height.
Her relatively uninjured brother enters their room, though his hair isn't as shiny or the colour of syrup. His irises are hickory and he actually has visible pupils, making him look ordinary and not as distinctive as he really does. Of course, his frown remains no matter how much he's physically changed.
"We'll arrive at Degarashi Port in about three days." he informs her, shutting the door and glancing at the sparks that scatter around the room. It's one of her seals, since they can never be too careful. They did just sabotage one of the islands of Umi no Kuni, after all. It took them longer than they expected to finish the mission, so she's glad that they didn't hesitate over putting Sai in a scroll otherwise he would be dead and they'd have bring his corpse home.
Sakura hums, returning her eyes back to the small window of their room. "I suppose we should use this time to rest, since we've got to travel from Cha no Kuni to Hi no Kuni by foot." that alone will probably take a few more weeks before they're back in Konoha.
Neji settles beside her. "It's not your fault." he mutters, sounding both irritated and concerned. She smiles, leaning against him.
"I became stronger with the exact intention of not letting things like this happen." she reveals, falling back onto the bed. Neji shifts, to look back at her fully. He glances at the berry-shaded hair pooling around her head, since it's much longer than her actual hair. "It just irritates me that it's happened anyway, even though I know my standards are unrealistic."
"He's still alive. We're still alive and we've been going on high-risk ANBU missions for years now." he tells her, frowning at her long legs. She supposes it's still a little weird seeing one another as adults. "This is the first time this has happened to us, because we're strong. Just because it's finally happened doesn't mean any of us are weak."
She shifts, angling herself to better see his face. A smile tugs at her lips when he looks disgusted with himself for saying such words, as usual. "Such a cute otouto you are, trying to cheer me up like that." she can't help but tease, laughing when he smacks her thigh in aggravation.
"I shouldn't even try!" he growls, his currently tan skin reddening with embarrassment.
Sakura sits up once more, bringing her legs to her chest and resting her cheek on her knees. "Thank you." she murmurs, blinking when he turns towards her with a deep and adorable frown. "You know Sai and I appreciate you, even if we always tease you."
Neji scoffs, returning the gesture of leaning against her. "He'll be alright… Right?" he whispers, the uncertainty he's been bottling up now spilling out.
"We just have to get him to Konoha's hospital." she reassures him, once more shifting so that he can rest his head on her lap. He doesn't protest, adjusting himself accordingly. "They've easily become the best in recent years, so they'll be able to heal Sai with little trouble."
Her fingers run along his scalp in a soothing motion, his eyes falling shut. The crease between his brow eases, though it's still noticeable. "They'd better. It would be a pain to find a new brother and teammate."
She smiles. "Yeah, it would. I doubt we'd be able to find another one like Sai." though they would never want to replace him.
When she returns to Konoha, it's expected that she immediately makes her way to the hospital with Neji easily behind her. Perhaps it might be an inconvenience to the guards, but she and her brother have spent weeks reassuring one another that Sai will be fine as soon as they get back. Now they're buzzing with anxiety because they've finally returned.
What's not expected is when she nearly smashes her face into a gigantic bosom that should cause chronic back pain. It's fortunate that she doesn't and backs up with little trouble, but is then faced with a legend who's glaring down at her as if she's ruined the woman's entire day.
Eyes the shade of penny flick to the higanbana on her head, then to the ANBU tattoo on her shoulder and finally back onto her lynx mask. Long, manicured fingers twitch as if wanting to rip off the porcelain shield and see what's underneath.
"What are you in a rush for?" snaps the woman who should look far older than she currently does. Why is it that only Jiraiya looks somewhere near his own age?
Sakura tilts her head, wondering if the irritability is because of the back pain caused by mega breasts. "My teammate needs immediate medical attention… Tsunade-sama." she answers, adding on the woman's name as more of an afterthought than anything else.
Said woman scoffs, before shifting her gaze over to Neji. "He seems to be fine." is the Sannin's sassy response, apparently finding it appropriate to place her hands on her wide hips in an equally sassy manner.
She procures the scroll containing Sai. "My other teammate, who's currently residing in here." she clarifies, feeling the niggle of irritation beginning to bubble in her chest. "I did what I could, but my expertise isn't in medical ninjutsu."
Tsunade frowns, staring down at her in scrutinising manner. Honestly, it feels like the woman is often irked by small things. "Storage scrolls aren't meant to contain living human tissue." she states, a strange mix of tones in her voice. Sakura blinks, before nodding. That seems to set the Sannin off, since arms are immediately flung into the air. "Fuck sake! They were right about you, god, it's the second coming!"
She glances back to Neji, whose shoulders are wrought with tension. It would seem that he's as confused as she is.
"Fuck it! I'll treat your teammate!" Tsunade announces, puffing her chest out and forcing Sakura to step back lest she gets hit in the face. "In return, you become my student for a while so shit like this doesn't happen again."
She pauses, tilting her head and wondering what the hell and how the hell it's gotten to this point. "Uh… Sure?" she agrees, though tentatively because she doesn't really understand what's going on and how to deal with the slug Sannin's erratic pace.
The very same slug Sannin smirks, triumphant. "Don't look so confused, pink stuff. I've heard about you and your chakra control, so you should excel in medical ninjutsu. The reason I reject all those requesting to be my student is because they'll never be able to handle all the advanced shit." she explains, though it doesn't help much.
Another blink from Sakura. "So you want me to be your apprentice because you think I'll be able to handle the advanced levels of your expertise?" she hums, considering. Whilst she wants to expand her knowledge of medical ninjutsu, it feels suspicious that the greatest medic in the world actually wants her as an apprentice.
"This is my fault too, yeah." Shion drawls, her scratchy voice husky from sleep. Shion probably woke up because of Tsunade's loud voice. "She wanted me to learn medical ninjutsu from her but I was doing my whole spite thing with Orochimaru, so you know. Tsunade's probably holding a grudge because I decided to forego some important skills for spite, yeah. Then there's dango berry…"
Of course, she sighs. "Only if you teach my teammates as well." is her condition, because there might be a time when it's her who gets fatally injured and she's unable to heal herself. Each of them have a good grasp of chakra control anyway, so it'd be good to learn even a little from the slug Sannin herself.
Tsunade sneers at her, before taking on an expression of consideration. "Your ANBU captain's Uchiha Shisui, right?" she questions, most definitely rhetorically as a vicious grin takes form. "Yeah, I can accept that. Steal that fucking scum's little monsters for a little while. Piss him off a bit."
"Sai still needs to be healed." Neji coughs, bringing the blonde and somewhat manic woman back to reality. What does Tsunade have against Shisui, Sakura muses?
Sai's made a full recovery, his skin back to its usual pastiness rather than a sickly pastiness. He had to deal with a few weeks of after effects from being stuck in a storage scroll for so long, such as vomiting and whatnot, but at least he's alive and not buried in the earth. She's not sure how she would cope if he died and she looked upon his corpse. Now she understands Kakashi a little more, because he's lost so many of those he cared about. Just about all of them, really.
She nearly forgot how pitiful he is, how rude of her.
"Aren't you being a little too affectionate?" Neji raises a brow, looking upon Sai basically nuzzle her like a spoiled cat. "Did the medication mess you up?"
Sai hums, content as he settles and rests his head on her lap. She smiles, indulging him. "I realised that I have not been affectionate enough all these years, so I wanted to make up for all the time lost before my untimely death." he explains, staring up at her with that gentle adoration she often sees in his eyes. "You should join in on the affection, otouto."
Neji sneers, content to sit on the edge of her bed. "I'm fine. You can continue smothering Sakura with your affection without me." and really, it sounds like he's sulking.
Her pale, pale brother thinks so too as he shifts and hugs her waist, looking over to their fairer brother. "Sakura-neesama will only be affectionate with me, then." he smiles, making a point of once again nuzzling her. It's all very endearing to her.
The Hyuuga glares at Sai, his fingers twitching before those distinctive eyes of his meets hers. She raises her brows, wearing a patient smile because he will crack soon. He's a little gummy turdmuffin that longs for affection too, after all.
"We should tell him now." Sakura suggests, running her fingers through Sai's hair. "How we've managed to break another law by learning how to deactivate the Kago no Tori no Juin, so he's free from being enslaved by the main family."
She hears Neji's breath hitch, even with the distance between them. "What?"
"It has taken us a while, because of how little information there is in regards to the seal itself." Sai explains, finally sitting up. She grins when she sees that his hair is a mess, deciding to run her hands through it to mess it up even more. "We wanted to surprise you a little earlier, but my injury postponed it."
Their brother says nothing, though they allow him a few moments to digest it all. He frowns at the sheets, opening and closing his mouth since it would seem he doesn't know what to say. Then she sees the glistening of his eyes.
"Are you going to cry?" Sai queries, leaning forward.
Neji makes a sharp turn away, his luscious hair whipping through the air. She and Sai glance at one another, before deciding to ambush their brother with the affection that he won't admit he wants. It's honestly surprising when he doesn't shout in protest, instead trying to focus more on keeping his composure.
When it seems like he's finally about to say something, Sakura leans back and sharply turns towards the open window. There, in all his glory, is a grimy Shisui decked out in his ANBU gear. He's crouching, as the window almost seems too small for him. He's grinning down at them with his typical psychotic flair.
Unfortunately, he also looks displeased. "Hey, my cute little monsters!" he greets, so sickeningly sweet that she's sure they all internally shiver. They've all turned to face him, with varying expressions because he's really a large and terrifying shadow looming over them all.
Sakura wonders why the seals aren't going off, before she remembers that she had to register his chakra signature or he would blow up the entire house.
"So I go on a solo mission ̶ very fun, lots of flying limbs ̶ and then I come back, only to hear that this old fucking hag with melon tits has temporarily stolen my team to teach them about medical ninjutsu! Isn't that just crazy?" he's looking directly at her with his spinning eyes, because he knows that none of that would have happened if she had just declined Tsunade.
Shisui disappears from her window, now inside her room and leaning down towards her. He smells like dirt and blood, the scents only increasing when he cups her face and makes sure she can't look away. "Then I hear this all happened because one of you got fatally injured, and I was so incredibly disappointed to learn that it wasn't a lie, you see?"
Sakura sighs, feeling like this was expected to happen sooner or later. "She offered to heal Sai and in return, we become her students and learn about medical ninjutsu. Isn't it convenient to learn more about it?" she tries, though her voice is in a defeated monotone because he's never satisfied.
"You three are mine." Shisui smiles, tilting his head and really emphasising his insanity. "If you were to learn medical ninjutsu, I'd teach it to you or you'd learn it by yourselves. That hoe's been rubbing it in my face and I want to punch her in the fucking tit, but that's a disastrous battle for another time."
"So… Does that mean we are not going to be learning medical ninjutsu under Tsunade-sama?" Sai dares to ask.
Shisui's dirty hands are still holding onto her face, which is starting to become a bother. His brows twitches, his smile widening a fraction. "You are. Team Yamaneko is an ANBU team of excellence and the Hokage agrees that medical ninjutsu should be in your arsenal." then he wraps his arms around them all, squeezing the life out of them rather than giving them a hug. "I suppose that this calls for some renewed schedules, yes? Train with the twin-tailed pig face during the day, then with me at night for the rest of the year!"
Sakura really just wants to know what Shisui and Tsunade have against each other.
Chapter Word Count: 3,216
Total Word Count: 42,562
Targeted Word Count: 1,667
A/N: Haha! Less than ten minutes left and I fucking made it! HAHA! Canon next chapter, I think. 'Kay, talk later.
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