Exhaustion
Sakura was exhausted.
Sakura was always exhausted.
Tsunade worked her to the marrow – chakra control practice, hospital shifts, genjutsu analysis, seminars and lectures and God knew what else. At least she saw more of Ino and Hinata, who were also learning medical ninjutsu from Shizune-sempai.
She saw the boys from time to time, too – Neji-san for tight wrists, Shikamaru for his headaches, Lee for a plethora of bangs and bumps, Shino for his weak immune system.
It was Shino she saw the most often, at weekly intervals, to get special medicine Tsunade had concocted especially for his predicament.
"It's the bugs," Hinata explained to Sakura one day when she mentioned it in passing. "He has the strongest colony in three generations, apparently. He's hard put to keep up."
Strongest in three generations. Sakura would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous, but she knew the price of such strength and she'd rather not have millions of mites tunneling in her bones.
The door opened and a nurse let Shino in as she remembered her conversation with Hinata, and Sakura let her chair legs fall to the floor with a bang, sweeping her legs off her desk.
"Shino!" she exclaimed, a little flustered. "I'm afraid you're a little early – in fact, I haven't even had a chance to get started," she said, blushing the same color as her hair.
"I know," he said – she didn't bother asking how. "I was wondering if I could come watch and learn."
"Oh." Sakura blinked. "Oh. Of course. Please come in," she said weakly.
And that was how Aburame Shino started coming for weekly classes in medical ninjutsu and medicine. He reminded Sakura of Sasuke – intelligent, stoic, and mysterious, but lacking a distinct flavor Sakura suspected to be obsession.
He also talked a lot more.
"I presumed as much. I'll explain why," he would say.
When Sakura listened, she was enthralled. When she didn't, she allowed herself to relax a little, zone out even.
"Thank you," he said one day." I'll be able to do this on my own now. Thank you for your assistance and… patience up till now."
"No," Sakura replied, smiling, "thank you for being a great patient and student, Shino. Take care."
"This is for you," he said, and pulled out a small fan from his pocket.
On it was a trio of pressed cherry blossoms, crowned with a ring of leaves.
"Oh," she said softly as she took it in both hands to see better, careful not to disturb the thin paper.
"It's beautiful. How…?"
"Hinata presses flowers," Shino explains. "When she has some left over… I arrange them."
"Thank you, Shino," she breathed. "I'll treasure it."
Shino nodded, no smile, no show of any emotional at all. He left then, leaving Sakura touched and a little bemused. She put it carefully away in her desk cabinet, and crossed her feet on her desk, imagining a new glass home for the fan.
Thank you for reading :)