Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the other proper entities.
Summary: Sakura had been by his side since he lost his family, following him around since they were seven years old, trying to ease his loneliness in whatever way she could. He didn't even know why he allowed it. He just silently allowed her to claim the seat next to him at the beginning of every term.
Rating: M
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: SasuSaku
Rays of Spring Sunshine
Chapter Twenty One
Sasuke found Sakura at their usual meeting place. She looked as tired as he felt; she was anxiously ringing her hands, peering up the road that he usually appeared from each morning, bottom lip between her teeth. Having taken the rooftops on his way over, Sasuke surprised her by landing directly beside her.
"S-Sasuke-kun!" She cried, clutching her chest. "You scared me!"
He grunted. "Come on." He grabbed her wrist and pulled.
"What? Sasuke-kun, wait! Where are we going?" She tripped after him, but didn't try to escape his grip.
He glanced back at her. She had a faint pink tinge across her cheeks. He turned ahead and kept tugging. "The training grounds."
"But Naruto and Kakashi-sensei—"
"We don't need those two idiots to train." He insisted. "Naruto won't be here for another half an hour, and who the fuck knows when Kakashi will bother to show up. We're getting started now."
Sakura lapsed into silence and let him drag her across to their usual training ground. He released her wrist and turned to face her, crossing his arms and scowling.
She peered at him with big, green eyes. "Are you mad at me, Sasuke-kun?"
"No." He snapped. Then, he sighed. "Yes. I guess."
"Is it because of last night?"
"Yes."
"I see." She didn't apologise, like he thought she might—and he wasn't about to, either. For any of it. She must have known that, because she squared her shoulders. "But I was right."
"We'll see about that." Sasuke shrugged. Then he drew a kunai and slipped into an offensive stance. "Let's go."
"I'm mad at you, too, you know." She drew her own kunai, slipping into a textbook defensive stance. Her bright features were twisted into a scowl.
He snorted. "Whatever. Come at me."
Kakashi arrived at the bridge three hours late, exactly as he planned. He took in the scene and blinked.
"Where are Sasuke and Sakura?" He asked Naruto, who was strangely the only one there.
The boy didn't even chastise him for being late. "They never showed up." He said, face a picture of confusion. "I thought maybe you guys ditched me or something."
Kakashi frowned. It wasn't like either of them not to show up for training. Granted, Sasuke had been under a lot of strain, yesterday, with the curse mark, and Sakura had been worrying herself nearly sick over it—but he'd expected them both to show up for their first team training session in almost two months. Then again, after yesterday, he'd be surprised if Sakura hadn't sought Sasuke out that morning. He felt confident that where he found one, he would find the other.
"Come on." Kakashi waved for Naruto to follow him. "I'll get you started on some solo exercises and then I'll go find them."
Naruto was unusually quiet on the way to the training grounds. He only complained about his missing teammates three times before they rounded the small patch of trees and came to Team Seven's usual sparring ground, just in time to see Sasuke slip under Sakura's guard and send her flying to the ground with a punch to the gut.
Naruto gaped for a full three seconds. Even Kakashi was stunned.
"Oi! What the hell, you bastard!" Naruto darted forward, murderous intent beginning to roll off of him. "Why are you beating up Sakura-chan again?!"
Kakashi approached at a slower pace, eye taking in the scene. Both were sweaty; Sakura's many grass stains suggested that this was not her first meeting with the ground that morning. She had a few superficial cuts along her arms, suggesting that the kunai in Sasuke's right hand had seen some limited use; the back of her qipao was sliced open, too, suggesting an attack from behind. Sasuke on the other hand, other than the sweat, seemed relatively untouched.
"I'm training with her, you dumbass." Sasuke dodged Naruto's punch.
"You don't have to hit her that hard!"
"It's fine, Naruto." Sakura was slowly picking herself up. "I want him to." Now that he was closer, Kakashi could see bruises beginning to flower along her arms and legs. For once, it seemed that Sasuke wasn't holding back against his friend—and he wasn't blind with rage, like yesterday. Promising.
"She's a kunoichi, idiot." Sasuke kicked out, forcing Naruto back. "Besides, she got beat up worse than this in the forest." Naruto froze at the reminder of their disastrous exam. "If we keep coddling her like a baby she's just going to end up staying weak and getting herself killed." He sneered.
Kakashi snatched out to grab Naruto by the back of his collar as the boy howled in rage and dove at Sasuke. He considered his troubled student carefully. "What are you doing, Sasuke?" He asked in a measured tone.
Sasuke glared up at him. "What does it look like?" He demanded.
Kakashi took a moment to consider the scene before him. Sakura had made it to her feet, now, but was favouring her left side heavily. She was a mess of cuts and scrapes and bruises, grass stains leaving ugly brown patches on her qipao. But there was a determination in her face that Kakashi had never seen before. For the first time since he'd met her, she actually looked like a proper kunoichi.
He smiled under his mask. "It looks like you're finally taking Sakura seriously as a shinobi." He said lightly.
"Huh?" Naruto gaped at him. Kakashi let him go and he sagged in disbelief. Even Sakura was staring at him in surprise.
"Someone has to." Sasuke snapped, giving Kakashi a pointed look.
Ouch, Kakashi thought, point taken. Perhaps his inability to figure out what to do with the girl had been noticed after all.
"What are your observations, then?" He asked mildly. All three stared at him. "Well?" He raised his eyebrow. "I'm assuming you both showed up at the bridge early and decided to get a head start without us, which means you've been here for a little over three hours. Plenty of time to make an assessment of a shinobi's skills."
Sasuke scowled at his teacher as his teammates looked to him. For a moment, Kakashi thought he wouldn't answer. But then, "She's slow, and clumsy in defending her left side." He spat the words like they were poison. "She hits hard, but her form is sloppy and easy to dodge." Sakura looked down at the ground in shame. Kakashi wouldn't have put it quite like that, but he nodded along. Sasuke's observations were things he'd noticed as well, on the rare occasions that Sakura actually engaged in taijutsu.
Then, Sasuke surprised them. "But she has a decent tolerance for pain, from what I can tell. And her observation is good; I can tell she can see things coming even if she's not fast enough to react to them. Her aim with shuriken and kunai isn't bad, but it can be improved. Her endurance is improving. And I didn't use any, but we all know she's decent at detecting and dispelling genjutsu."
"A fair assessment." Kakashi patted him on the head, ignoring his scowl. Sasuke swiped at his hand when he started to ruffle the boy's hair. "But I think Sakura's taken all the physical punishment she can for the moment. Why don't you take a break for half an hour and then spar with Naruto for a while? Taijutsu only."
Sasuke frowned at him, then shrugged and turned on his heel and marched toward his backpack under a nearby tree, withdrawing a water bottle and drinking savagely. Kakashi looked at the other two kids. "Naruto, why don't you start some kick exercises against the posts while you wait for Sasuke to rehydrate? Sakura, come with me."
Sakura limped after him as Naruto grumbled and set to his exercise. Kakashi eyed her injuries warily; they looked mostly superficial. Sasuke had clearly been attacking with the intent to overpower, not harm. Not like he had with Naruto on the rooftop of the hospital. That was good news. Perhaps he'd gotten through the boy's thick skull after all.
He motioned for her to sit on the edge of the river, under the shade of a tree. Gingerly, she lowered herself onto the ground. Kakashi observed her for a moment before he sighed and withdrew his portable med pack from a pocket in his flak jacket. Crouching in front of her, he inspected the cuts on her arms. She let him move her arms around with little more than a hiss of discomfort.
"I want to apologise." Kakashi said in a low voice as he unscrewed the small bottle of disinfectant. Sakura made a sound of confusion. "It appears that Sasuke has noticed that I've been a… less than stellar teacher to you." He said ruefully. "I don't know what's prompted it, but…"
Sakura was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was small. "I do. At least, I think I do."
Kakashi's eyebrow rose. "Oh?"
She seemed to war with herself. "Sensei, if I tell you something, do you swear you won't tell anyone?" She asked. "Not even the Hokage?"
Kakashi's brow skyrocketed. "That depends on what it is." He said in a measured tone, using a cotton ball and tweezers to dab the antiseptic on her cuts. Sakura hissed under her breath. "If I believe the information to be a security risk for the village, I'm legally bound to report it. As are you." He reminded her sternly.
"I don't want to get Sasuke-kun in trouble." She whispered, tears beginning to collect in the corners of her eyes.
"Has he done something to get into trouble?" Kakashi asked gently, starting to wrap her arm in soft, clean bandages. Against the grass stains and smears of dirt on her skin, they looked too stark and pristine.
"No, but he nearly did." Sakura bit her lip and met his eye. Kakashi tilted his head, inviting her to tell him more. Then, so quietly he nearly didn't hear her, she whispered, "Sasuke-kun tried to leave to go to Orochimaru last night."
Kakashi felt a chill crawl down his spine. He felt sure that he'd gotten through to Sasuke with his little speech. "Tell me what happened."
"I—I had a really bad feeling last night." Sakura said in a murmur. "I don't know how, but I just… I knew. So I waited for him in front of the gates. When he showed up, I begged, and begged… he decided to stay, but I don't know why. I don't even know if he won't try again." Tears started trailing down her dirty face. "I couldn't sleep at all last night because I was worried he'd leave anyway after he walked me home."
Kakashi was silent for a moment as he moved to disinfect the cuts on her other arm. He was more troubled than he let on; if Sasuke had truly made the decision to pursue Orochimaru's offer… "You know I can't keep this a secret, Sakura." He said kindly. "I'm going to have to report it to Hokage. He probably won't get into trouble since he didn't actually go, but the Hokage needs to know. I can guarantee you—Orochimaru is watching, and he'll try for Sasuke again."
"Please," Sakura's bandaged hand snatched his wrist. "Please don't tell him it was me who told."
He smiled up at her tear-streaked face. "Don't worry, Sakura. We live in a village of shinobi. I'll have to tell the Hokage the whole truth, but it's a small white lie to tell him that someone saw the two of you last night. You'll most likely be pulled in for questioning, but he won't be able to blame you."
She sniffled. "Thank you, sensei."
Tsunade scowled down at the report Kakashi handed her later that afternoon. "It seems we've got a problem on our hands." She said with a sigh.
Kakashi nodded. "Sakura managed to dissuade him once, but there's no guarantee that he won't be tempted a second time."
Tsunade's mouth twisted unpleasantly. "If I know anything about Orochimaru, he'll be slithering about soon enough." She agreed. "I'm going to have to assign the boy an ANBU watch. There's no way in hell I'm letting that snake get his hands on one of my shinobi. Especially not a kid."
"One more thing, Hokage-sama."
"What?"
Kakashi sighed. "Sakura wants to remain anonymous as the one who gave the information. She and Sasuke are close friends, and from what I can tell, he trusts her. Finding out that she reported him would break that trust."
Tsunade leaned back in her chair. "Then all he needs to know is that a shinobi saw them at the gates and reported what he overheard." She shrugs.
"That's what I told her we'd likely say." Kakashi nodded again. "Are you going to send them a summons?"
"Tomorrow." Tsunade nodded. "Bring them by before you get your mission for the day. I'll have Shizune shift my meetings to fit you in at nine. There'll be a squad on Uchiha's tail within the hour."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"You're dismissed."