After months of bathing in a cold river the communal showers of the Genin Corps feel like absolute luxury to Sakura. The warm water feels heavenly against her sore, aching body. The hot sprays wash away the dirt and grime of today's training with team 7, and Sakura turns her face into the water until her muscles relax and she imagines even the stress of the last few months have washed down the train.
Only then does she reach for the washcloth and soap. There is soap provided in the showers, so she uses that, making sure to wash every inch of her body. She's particularly careful to wash the numerous scrapes, hissing quietly to herself as she does so. Badly tended to injuries will scar, and little girls should not not be marred by ugly scars, she reminds herself. That is one thing her shinobi training and aunt Kasumi's teachings have in common, at least.
Thankfully it is still early enough in the afternoon that she's alone in the showers; the members of the Genin Corps probably still busy working missions.
Once she's fully clean she washes again with her own, favourite scented soap. The one that reminds her of her mother. Then she proceeds to the baths to enjoy a long soak, which leaves her muscles fully relaxed and her mind feeling as if it's drifting on clouds. Only when she hears a group of women entering the showers does she get out.
Back in her room she thinks longingly of team 10. Ino usually has a marvellously effective ointment for scrapes and bruises - courtesy, Sakura suspects, of the Yamanaka greenhouses and the Nara healing knowledge. But Ino, Shikamaru and Choji are busy with the second stage of the Chunin Exams.
Because unlike her, they passed.
She shakes her head, chasing the thought aside, and reaches for her new uniform instead. The light blue slacks and matching shirt is a little bit large on her small frame, and the feeling of actually wearing trousers is strange for Sakura who has always favoured dresses. It's not too bad though, she decides, checking herself out in the mirror. In fact, the full-length trousers are probably practical when kneeling for weeding and such. For now though, the awkward feeling of the fabric moving against her skin creeps her out, so she borrows a trick from Kakashi-sensei's book and wraps the lower part of her legs in bandages to keep them in place. Which still feels awkward, but at least has the advantage of the fabric not moving so much against her skin.
The sleeves are a bit too long on her, so she folds them up and makes a mental note to hem them later - she's not as great of a seamstress as aunt Kasumi, or even Kiku for that matter, but hemming is well within her capabilities. She should be more than capable of passing the scrutiny of the Genin Corp's tailor.
Glancing at the clock she realises that it is already dinnertime. Suddenly the prospect of unlocking the door and going to the mess hall, which will undoubtedly be full at this time, seems daunting. It is only the promise of food that isn't of her own making that gives her the courage to unlock the door and step out into the hall.
Coincidentally the door opposite of hers opens at almost the exact same time, and Hajime gives her a wide grin. "Punctual, huh?" he asks.
And just like that, some of her worries disappear.
"Do you remember the way, or do you need me to show you again?"
"I think I remember," she grins back at him.
Hajime gestures for her to lead the way, and with him following they head for the mess hall. He only has to correct her once, and soon enough they enter the large and indeed very busy mess hall. They get in line for food, and Sakura's stomach rumbles loudly at the salivating scents. She serves herself generously of the dishes on offer; seasoned rice, miso soup, pickled vegetables, stir-fried pork slices and even a spoonful of a stew of what looks like beef and potatoes. It is a far cry from her own cooking, even if it has gotten better lately with the advice from Kakashi-sensei.
Hajime eyes her generous serving with amusement but doesn't comment. Somewhere in the back of her mind there is a voice reminiscent of aunt Kasumi reminding her that a lady must watch what she eats, but Sakura honestly can't find it in herself to even feel ashamed.
"Do you have anyone to sit with already or do you want to meet my friends?" Hajime asks as they come to the end of the serving line.
Quickly looking around the room she realises that the large mess hall is full of unfamiliar faces, dozens upon dozens of them. The noise is overwhelming and she suddenly finds that she's not quite brave enough to face all of this on her own.
"I'd love to sit with you, if that's not too much trouble?"
He flashes her an understanding smile and wordlessly leads her to a table by a window, where four other people are already seated. Three of them, Sakura realises with a mixture of horror and curiosity, are familiar. She feels her step falter.
"Hello guys," Hajime greets them as he sits down at the table. "This is Sakura, she's brand-spanking-new and probably a little bit overwhelmed right now, so I promised she could sit with us. Play nice, ok?"
The last part is playfully directed at the three younger members of the group, who eye Sakura with the same kind of scepticism she herself feels. The fourth person, a woman of similar age as Hajime, gives her an encouraging smile and gestures for her to sit down.
Forcing herself to breathe again, Sakura steps forward and takes a seat between Hajime and the woman. Since they're both at least twice as old as her she feels like a child, and Hajime's joke about her being nervous is just a little bit true for her comfort.
"I'm Ihara Tomomi," the woman next to Sakura introduces herself. She has dark brown hair and sharp eyes, eyeing Sakura speculatively.
Sakura replies with something she hopes passes for appropriate pleasantries, most of her attention focused on not trying to stare at the other three.
"Do you already know each other?" Hajime asks, looking between Sakura and the others. "You must've been in the same class at the Academy, right?"
An awkward silence settles over the table as Sakura meets the eyes of Aimi, Hiroshi and Takeshi; three of her least favourite classmates from the Academy.
Aimi, whose parents live just down the street from the Haruno clan's compound, who would walk to the Academy with Sakura for the first few days when they'd just started, before refusing to do so anymore for fear of them being associated. Who's been blessed with perfectly normal, brown hair and a perfectly normal-sized forehead, allowing her to taunt Sakura for hers. As if Aimi's own father doesn't have Konoha-foreign orange hair or her mother has the most gorgeous, blue tresses, both of them clearly and proudly displaying their heritage from the Old Country. But Aimi's always behaved as if she's somehow better than Sakura.
Hiroshi, who with his blonde hair and brown eyes claims a distant relation to the Senju-clan, at least on his mother's side. Who may not formally belong to any of the major shinobi clans, but who's still got grandparents and great-grandparents and cousins and uncles and aunts and an apparently endless list of relatives that have fought and died for Konoha for generations and therefore vehemently distrust anyone who's family has not done the same.
Takeshi, who's family may not be shinobi at all but who, with his dark hair and green eyes, have roots in Konoha dating back as long as the very trees of the forest, and who's distrust of foreigners is as great as Hiroshi's. Who on one memorable occasion even accused Iruka-sensei of being a foreign spy, based solely on Iruka-sensei mentioning that his grandparents came to Konoha from Kiri.
"Yeah," Sakura says at last. "We know each other."
They eat in mostly awkward silence. Hajime and Tomomi make small talk, about missions and people they know, and do their best to pull both Sakura and Aimi, Hiroshi and Takeshi into the conversation. Sakura focuses mostly on the food, the awkwardness of the company not enough to diminish her hunger. She keeps her own answers short but polite, and thankfully no one pressures her about sharing her reason for joining the Genin Corps.
After dinner the group collectively heads for the training ground, as do most of the others in the mess hall. Sakura, still stiff and sore from training with team 7 all day, awkwardly excuses herself and heads back to her room instead. Telling herself she isn't running.
From her window she has an excellent view of the training ground; a large area of hard packed dirt and gravel, surrounded on three sides by the wings of the Genin Corps' Headquarters and fanning out towards a nearby river on the fourth side. Earlier it had been empty, but now the field has come alive with people.
She spots Hajime and the others over by the river, doing what she recognises as a series of warm-up exercises in the shade of a couple of trees. They're talking and laughing, apparently far more relaxed without her.
There doesn't seem to be anyone specific in charge, and people apparently come and go as they please. Hajime and Tomomi lead Aimi, Hiroshi and Takeshi through a series of sit-ups and push-ups, running laps and practising katas. Other groups do the same, or spars or even practice jutsu.
After a while Sakura turns away from the window, turning instead to properly stock her new uniforms in the wardrobe. She only hesitates briefly before reaching for her sealing scroll - mentally cursing herself for having forgotten to ask Kakashi-sensei about it again - and joins her old, worn clothing to the new uniforms.
That done she sits down on the floor, back leaned against the bed, and empties out her weapon pouch and kunai holster. Most of them are still in great condition, but some are in need of polishing and so she busies herself with that whilst listening to the sound of exercising shinobi coming from the training ground outside.
Once all of her weapons are in pristine condition, or as pristine as she can manage at any rate, she puts them away in a convenient drawer of her wardrobe, changes into an old t-shirt and lies down on the bed. It's too early to go to sleep yet, but the bed is soft beneath her, the linen smooth and smelling fresh. She buries her head into the pillow, breathing in the scent and marvelling in the fact that this will be hers for at least another month.
It still seems surreal.
With her stomach full, her body exhausted and her mind still in awe about the luxury of having a bed again, it is not long before she's asleep.
Her sleep is deep and sound in a way it hasn't been in months.
As a result of falling asleep so early she also wakes early the next morning. For a few moments she stays still, confused as to where she is, until the events of yesterday come back to her.
With an unladylike groan she gingerly rolls out of bed, her body even more stiff and sore today than it was yesterday, and heads for the showers. Nothing like a warm shower to help soften up sore muscles, and why waste the opportunity to enjoy the luxury?
Showered and once more dressed in her uniform she heads to the mess hall for breakfast. Despite the early hour it's only slightly less busy than the previous day, already buzzing with activity and unfamiliar they're looking, she realises as she serves herself breakfast. Looking at her.
With her tray full of food she nervously looks around the room. There are so many people here! Where is she supposed to go?
Spotting Hajime and Tomomi she only hesitates briefly before heading towards their table. Aimi, Hiroshi and Takeshi are nowhere in sight. Perhaps she's a coward prefering to sit with people twice her age, but they smile welcomingly regardless.
It's almost enough to let her ignore the curious eyes burning into her back and the not-particularly-discrete whispering.
"Who's the pink one?"
"Is she even old enough to have graduated?"
"Look at that hair!"
"What is she even doing here? She's not one of the regular Academy-graduates, is she?"
"-the hair!"
"-dumped here by her jounin-sensei, I'm telling you. Those high-and-mighty jounin think she's too much trouble for them to deal with, so now they expect us to-"
Shoulders hunched, Sakura pretends that she can't hear the whispers and busies herself eating.
"You really stand out, Pinky," Hajime grins at her, his voice jovial. "I don't think we've gotten this kind of attention in years!"
Sakura can only offer a weak smile in return.
"You shouldn't have coloured it such an unusual colour if you didn't want the attention," Tomomi comments succinctly. "It's better to leave hair the natural way."
Her voice isn't unfriendly but Sakura finds herself flinching regardless. Not for the first time she wishes that she didn't stand out so much. Why did she have to be born with pink hair, of all possible colours?
"I didn't colour it," she quietly defends herself. "I was born with it."
"Really?" The older woman gives her a doubtful look.
Aimi, Hiroshi and Takeshi join them then, and Sakura finds that she can only nod quietly in affirmation. Tomomi frowns, but eventually shrugs as if it doesn't really matter anyway.
Shortly thereafter Commander Hatake walks into the room, followed by two assistants carrying large stacks of scrolls. They sit down at a small table by the door, dumping the scrolls on the table until it is overflowing with them.
"Seems like the boss is here with today's missions," Hajime states. "You plan on coming with us, Pinky, or do you have other plans?"
Frowning at the nickname but unwilling to make an issue out of it either, Sakura shrugs. "I don't have a team or anything right now."
"You don't say?" one of the boys mutters from the other side of the table. Hiroshi is sipping his tea and Takeshi slurping soup, so she can't even tell which one of them it is.
"I'll go and get us a mission while the rest of you finish up," Tomomi says, getting up.
"Make it good ones!" Hajime calls after her.
Tomomi just waves him off dismissively, putting away her tray before heading towards the Commander.
"The Genin Corps doesn't operate in strict teams," Hajime explains to Sakura. "We do work in groups, but the groups themselves are fluid and vary a lot depending on the needs for the mission or the experience of the individual members."
Sakura nods gratefully, having already assumed something similar but appreciating the clarity anyway.
"Newer members are often paired up with older ones, and most of us old-timers are happy to provide any mentoring we can. So if you don't want to stick to Tomomi and me you're free to choose someone else, or we can introduce you to someone."
For a moment or two Sakura considers her possibilities. Commander Hatake handed her off to Hajime, and he's been great to her so far, save for the fact that he also seems to be mentoring Aimi and the others. She's reluctant to go be with someone else - something about her history with team 7 and her spending so much time with team 10 just doesn't sit right with that thought. But then staying with Hajime and Tomomi will clearly also mean staying around Aimi, Hiroshi and Takeshi, which Sakura really isn't looking forward to. And Hajime is giving her a way out, she realises. So the question then is, does she want out?
"I'll stay," she decides. The least she can do is give this team a chance, right?
"Great!"
Tomomi returns a little bit later, two scrolls in hand. When Hajime reaches for them with an excited squeal completely unbefitting of a man his age she readily hands them over, rolling her eyes at his antics.
"Alright, folks, let's see what our options are!" Hajime exclaims. "Do you want to hunt for a stray dog that's causing trouble for some of the merchants, or do you want to mow the lawn at a public park?"
Neither mission requires six genin, so Aimi, Hiroshi and Takeshi take the lawn-mowing mission and Sakura finds herself following Hajime and Tomomi towards the market place to search for a stray dog.
It is not a particularly long walk, especially considering the nice weather, but it's made that much longer by the lingering sensation of being watched. Sakura tells herself that she's just imagining things. It's just lingering paranoia from being watched back in the mess hall - which is perfectly natural, by the way. She is new, she is joining the force at a strange time and she does have pink hair that makes it impossible to just blend in.
Eventually she realises that she's not just imagining things though. Tomomi is watching her, a thoughtful expression on her face. And a part of her wants to avert her gaze and hunch her shoulders, weary of the older woman's disapproval and unwilling to push the issue. Another part of her thinks that even an angry Tomomi can't possibly be as bad as an angry Kakashi-sensei, and so she asks with as polite of a voice as she can manage;
"What is it?"
Tomomi does not look embarrassed to have been caught staring.
"Is it really natural?" she asks back, gesturing towards Sakura's hair.
Sakura frowns, feeling vaguely insulted.
"Of course it is!"
To her surprise Tomomi steps closer then, tugging lightly at Sakura's hair and bending down to study it. Which is definitely a bit too close for Sakura's comfort, but she awkwardly holds still regardless.
"Satisfied?" she asks after a moment, unable not to sound a little bit impatient.
Rather than answering, Tomomi places a hand under Sakura's chin, gently lifting her face until their eyes meet, and Sakura suddenly finds herself looking straight into Tomomi's darker eyes.
"Eyebrows and eyelashes too," Tomomi mutters.
Sakura's cheek starts to burn with something between embarrassment and annoyance.
"Can we keep going, or what?" Hajime asks, interrupting the moment.
Abruptly, Sakura tries to pull away but Tomomi's grip on her chin firms, keeping her in place with an almost painful grip.
"Why don't you use your surname, girl?" Tomomi asks, her voice sharper now. "You ashamed of your father or something?"
"Tomomi-" Hajime starts to say, but interrupts himself with a sigh.
"I don't have a-" Sakura says, trying to pull away again but Tomomi won't let her, the grip on her chin almost bruising by now and her eyes hard as crystals.
"Bullshit! You're not some nameless orphan of the war. Your parents gave you a perfectly good name, why don't you use it?"
Finally Sakura brings her hands up, slapping Tomomi's hand away, and at last Tomomi lets go of her chin. Her look, however, is no less disapproving.
"Tomomi, I don't think-"
"What does it matter to you?" Sakura asks, angry and defensive now. Yes, she's clanless and nameless but that doesn't give Tomomi the right to judge her like this! "If you've got a problem with-"
"I do have a problem with it, actually!" Tomomi interrupts, crossing her arms and glaring down at Sakura. "Kizashi was damned proud of the name he gave you and you should respect that!"
Opening her mouth to object, Sakura suddenly finds the words stuck in her throat.
"You know, when you were born he even changed his fucking hairstyle to look like a cherry blossom! Looked ridiculous, it did, and probably took him hours to get it done every morning, but that's just how proud he was of you! And you're not even using his name! That's disrespectful of you and I won't stand for it!"
As if under a will of its own, Sakura's mouth opens and closes several times, but no words come out. Her mind is still whirling with thoughts and she's scrambling to make sense of it.
"Tomomi, that's not fair. Give her a break, will you?" Hajime says quietly.
"No, I won't! You, too, remember how crazy proud Kizashi was, don't stand there and pretend like this insult to his name doesn't bother you!"
"You-you knew my dad?" Sakura manages to stammer at last.
Both of them turn to her, Tomomi's gaze still sharp and Hajime's wearily apologetic.
"'Course we did," Hajime states. "Tomomi was his teammate, before they failed their jounin sensei's test-"
"Which was only because that rat-arsed bastard was too antagonistic of civilian-born shinobi to begin with to even give us a real chance to begin with!"
"True, though to be fair he might also have seen that you guys were pushed out of the Academy way too early and hopelessly unfit to be sent to the frontlines, like you would've been if you'd been afforded a jounin sensei-"
"Fucking sexist snob is what he was!"
"Right, " Hajime sighs. "Anyway, your father sort of took a kunai for me a year or so later-"
"Kizashi did no such thing! He took the blame when you nearly lost two weeks' worth of provisions-"
"Which the old Commander would have cut me to pieces with a dull kunai for!"
"He would not! Kizashi got reprimanded and put on D-ranks for a month."
"Only 'cause he was a Haruno. Even the old Commander knew not to mess too badly with Haruno Kaori's grandson."
Tomomi huffs in annoyance but tilts her head in acknowledgement of the point.
"So yeah, anyway, of course we knew your dad!" Hajime finishes, once more turning to smile at Sakura.
Sakura can only blink and stare, her mind still struggling to catch up with the last minute-and-a-half.
"And Haruno Sakura is a damned good name, so you should wear it with pride and not insult Kizashi's memory by denying it," Tomomi adds.
Her mouth is open, Sakura suddenly realises, abruptly closing it. She swallows a couple of times, bringing moisture to her suddenly dry mouth and scrambling to collect enough mental capacity to some kind of coherent reply. Or even a coherent thought, for that matter.
"I didn't know," she manages at last. "Mom never mentioned-"
She winces, suddenly overwhelmed with the guilt of not having paid enough attention to her mother's stories. To anything her mother said, really. If she'd known she'd be gone so soon, she would've done so many things differently, would have prioritised her mother more … But that kind of thinking isn't really helping anything, she reminds herself.
Tomomi mirrors Sakura's wince. "Yeah, that's … stupid stuff in the past. Old childhood rivalries and such. Probably best left in the past, and mostly my fault anyway."
She waves her hand dismissively, looking supremely awkward, which Sakura can't help but think looks extremely strange on a woman her age.
"Anyway, your dad was a great guy, and your mom didn't get enough cred, but you should respect their memories, alright? Be proud of your name!"
And abruptly they're back to that, and another wave of guilt momentarily overtakes Sakura.
Such a disappointment. Just like your father: heedless of the clan in favour of your own, personal - Sakura shakes her head, trying to chase the memory of her great-grandmother's voice out of her mind.
"It's not," she starts, stumbling over the words and the sheer pain her clanlessness brings, "it's not because of them. Because of my parents, I mean."
She meets their gaze, Tomomi's awkward and a little guilty but still hard beneath that and Hajime's somewhat softer, willing them to understand without her having to explain. But heavenly comprehension fails to dawn upon either of them, and so she forces herself to continue.
"It's because of the clan - that is my aunt and my great-grandmother and I just - they wouldn't let me, and I -"
She tries to breathe but it's as if her lungs won't work, as if there's no oxygen in the air, and her eyes are suddenly burning and her vision blurred and -
"Fuck," Tomomi says.
A moment later there's arms surrounding her, pulling her closer into a warm body, one hand comfortingly placed on her back while the other one gently guides her head to rest upon a blue-clad chest.
"I'm sorry, girl. Alright? I'm sorry. I thought you were just trying to be cool or whatever, but you're not, right? It's that bitch, isn't it?"
The hand on her back rubs in comforting circles and the chest beneath her head rises and sinks steadily, slowly coaching Sakura's own breathing to match. Slowly, the world comes back into focus again.
"She was always messing with Kizashi as well, trying to intervene in his missions and his dreams and whatever, and I should have realised -"
Tomomi's voice is both sharp and comforting at once, in that particular way that makes Sakura feel as if the sharpness isn't actually directed at her. As if someone is actually upset on her behalf. Someone who doesn't even know half of it, and yet they're still upset for her sake, and how strange isn't that though?
The thought makes her laugh a little, and she pulls away to dry her eyes.
"Sorry," she says automatically, "it's just-"
"You don't need to apologise," Tomomi immediately objects. "I was too hard on you, and I should've realised-"
Sakura just shakes her head a little, and Tomomi falls silent.
"'S not your fault either," she states.
"Definitely Kizashi's girl," Hajime joins in, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, I see that now," Tomomi agrees. Then she turns to frown at Kizashi. "When did you figure it out?"
Hajime sweeps out with his arms as if to indicate innocence.
"What? How many pink-haired people have you seen around Konoha?"
"Well, just about the one, I suppose. Two now."
"And the name was a dead giveaway besides," Hajime continues, his smile broadening. "So between the hair and the name and her being about the right age … about five seconds?"
Tomomi slaps his arm, but there's no real force behind the blow and she's smiling.
"Anyway, are we going to catch that stray, or do we want to stand here and talk all day?"
Hajime looks at Tomomi, who looks to Sakura, who dries the last remnants of tears from her face.
"I'm ready," she reassures them.
"Dog-catching it is then," Tomomi states, smiling.
Together they head towards the marketplace, Sakura's heart feeling just a little bit lighter. And just as they arrive at their destination Tomomi places a hand on Sakura's shoulder, squeezing gently.
"If you need someone to talk to, I promise not to be so judgemental again," she says.
Sakura can only nod in gratitude.
Hajime takes the lead, questioning the merchant who has paid for the mission about the troublesome dog. Large, wild and a pest, he surmises. Always snooping around, stealing wherever he can and costing the poor merchants both wares and business, but especially this butcher, who has the unfortunate honour of being the beasts favourite target.
Just as they're about to wrap things up and go searching for said beast, there's a loud bang in the back of the shop and then a black and white blur of fur positively flies past them, dragging a band of sausages with it.
"There he is!" the merchant cries angrily.
They're off immediately, chasing after it as the merchant's angry shouts disappear behind them.
"Sakura, you follow on the ground!" Hajime orders as they get outside, where the marketplace is now full of people. "Tomomi and I'll take the roof tops."
Before Sakura can even reply in the affirmative they're both off, shooting off towards the roofs in high arches that would have Sakura drooling in envy if she wasn't otherwise focused. As it is she makes a mental note to ask them to teach her how to do that - or maybe experiment a bit on her own, because it's just a continuation of tree climbing anyway, right, so how hard can it be? - and focuses instead on the dog ahead of her.
Effortlessly her target dodges in and out between the people milling about, easily avoiding legs and carriages and even the occasional grasping hand. Sakura, by comparison, is both slower and far more clumsy.
"Sorry!" she exclaims as she runs headfirst into a tall man. "Sorry! I'm so sorry, sort of on a mission right now!"
She almost runs over a child and a mother has to hastily pull her stroller aside. Angry shouts disappear behind her as she struggles to keep sight of the dog.
Suddenly he - or she, she's not actually sure if it's a girl-dog or a boy-dog - swerves to the left, dodging under a stall table displaying homemade jams, forcing Sakura to follow. The dog easily clears the table's legs and the skirts of the stall's owner, but Sakura is not so graceful. The legs of the table scrape loudly against the ground as she stumbles into them, dragging the table several feet aside. Sakura rolls as she hits the ground, emerging on the other side just in time to see several jars falling off of the table and straight towards her.
On pure instinct she catches two of the jars but there's a third, quickly approaching her face, and -
"What do you think you're doing?!"
The merchant lady catches the last jar, quickly putting it back on the table and glaring daggers at Sakura.
"Sorry! Just chasing a dog, you see …"
As quickly and carefully as possibly she stands, puts the jars back on the table and backs away.
By the time she turns around the dog is nowhere to be seen.
"You alright, Pinky?" Hajime asks, landing beside her.
"Yeah, but I think I lost the dog."
"Tomomi's after him. They went this way."
Hajime takes off again, running beside her for a moment or two before jumping for the roofs again. However, his pace is slow enough that she can easily follow from the ground.
He leads her to the edge of the market place and down a side street, then catches up to Tomomi on a roof about halfway down.
"I lost him too," Tomomi states once Sakura is close enough to hear. "Last I saw him was in the alley over there."
Hajime and Tomomi join Sakura on the ground, and they spend a couple of minutes searching for any traces of the dog. The cobble-stoned path makes for bad tracking, however, and Sakura is just about ready to give up when Tomomi calls them over.
"Look at this," she says when Hajime and Sakura approach, indicating a small hole in the wall behind a dumpster.
"You think that's large enough for the dog to get through?" Hajime's voice is doubtful as he eyes the hole.
"Must be. I don't see any other way he could've escaped."
With a sigh Hajime steps back, eyeing the large building sceptically.
"Well, that's the old bath house. Been abandoned for years, so I guess it'd make a decent home for a stray."
"We should block this entrance and find another way in, so we can search for him," Tomomi decides, already reaching for the dumpster to search for something to use.
Hajime eyes the hole again, then looks at Sakura. Sakura swallows nervously, realising what he's thinking.
"What do you think, Pinky? Think you could fit through there?"
Tomomi pauses, looking hesitantly between Hajime, Sakura and the hole.
"I don't know. Maybe?" Sakura says. The hole is small.
"Hajime and I could find another way in, but it'd help if you could enter this way." Tomomi's voice is calm, without even a hint of pressure in it. "And it might be easier to find where the dog's gone if we're able to enter the same way he did."
It's strange, Sakura thinks, to have these little moments mid-mission to discuss strategy. To have teammates who not only wait for her to catch up to them, but who actively take a moment to make sure she's fine before rushing on.
"I guess I can try," Sakura agrees, thinking of Naruto, who'd probably have crawled through the hole already, and Sasuke-kun who would've found another way in.
With a grimace she kneels on the ground, trying not to think about how dirty the cobblestones are before she lays down on her stomach to crawl forward.
"You sure Pinky?"
On even level with the hole now it does indeed look like she might just be able to press through, at least if she keeps her head down. Her hair will get dirty though. Already it's dragging against the ground, and she can see some spider web further into the wall. She spares a longing thought for a proper hair tie, or even a hair pin or comb to put her hair up, before sticking her head in to investigate further.
"Yeah, sure," she answers Hajime. "Just, uh …"
She reaches forward with a hand, trying to feel how thick the wall is, and just about barely able to reach the other side of the hole. The wall is thick.
"Just please hang around long enough to make sure I don't get stuck, please?" she finishes her sentence, pulling back to look up at them.
Both Hajime and Tomomi are still there, looking down at her with slightly worried frowns.
"Of course!" Hajime says, sounding indignated at the implication that he might even think to do anything else.
Tomomi nods in agreement, and Sakura takes another moment to marvel at how different they are from Naruto and Sasuke-kun.
"Thank you," she says, before taking a deep breath and crawling forward.
She's thankful for the Genin Corps' uniform as her body drags against the ground, which surely would have given her a few scrapes at least had she been wearing her old dress. Not to mention the dirt that would've been directly against her skin! She suppresses a shudder at the thought, focusing instead of reaching the other end of the little tunnel.
With the hole being so small and the wall so thick there is very little room for her to move, so her progress is slow, but eventually her hands, her arms and eventually her head emerges on the other side. Pausing to study her surroundings she finds no immediate traces of the dog. It takes her eyes a couple of moments to adjust to the darkness, used as they are to the daylight outside, before she can make out the shapes of the room she's now in.
Satisfied that there's no immediate danger she pulls all the way through, wincing a little as she stabs a toe against the wall.
"I made it," she calls through the hole, back to Tomomi and Hajime. "I think I'm in a storage room or something. There's shelves on the wall."
"Good. Don't move, and Hajime and I'll find another way in, alright?"
As their footsteps retreat outside, Sakura pulls herself out from beneath one of the shelves and stands, reaching for the pouch on her hip. As the flashlight turns on she determines that her guess was correct; she's in a big storage room, with large shelves lining the walls, covered in dust.
On the other side of the room there's an open door, from which a little bit of light flows into the room. A quick, cursory search of the room confirms that there is indeed no dog here, so she makes her way across the room to investigate further. The door leads out into a hallway, which ends in a large room which smells of mildew and sewers and has large, barricaded windows high upon the walls, letting some sunlight in.
Unwilling to venture much further into the building on her own, and thereby disobey Hajime's andTomomi's orders, Sakura waits by the door to the storage room, curiously looking around. There are a number of other doors in the corridor, but most of them are closed. There is a layer of dust on the ground as well as in the air, stirred up by her presence no doubt. She wrinkles her nose, suppressing the urge to sneeze, and watches as the dust-particles dance in the light of her flashlight.
"Sakura?"
Hajime's voice calls from further down the corridor, and she answers him back. Their voices sound unnaturally loud in the otherwise empty bath house, echoing between the walls. As do Hajime's and Tomomi's footsteps as they approach her.
A couple of moments later they round a corner, guided by their own flashlights. Hajime pauses to quickly search another room with an open door, before shaking his head.
"I think he went this way," Sakura states, indicating a patch of the floor which has less dirt on it, leading towards the larger room.
"I think you're right," Tomomi agrees.
There are no actual tracks to follow, but the absence of dust and dirt indicates a path used at least semi-regularly. Tomomi takes the lead, with Hajime and Sakura following behind.
The large room is made up of multiple smaller pools, most of which are empty or mostly empty of water. The smell of mildew and sewers are stronger here, and Sakura brings the sleeve of her uniform up to her nose. Another advantage to the uniform, she muses quietly.
The floor here is less dusty, dustless paths leading back and forth all over the floor between and sometimes through the pools. They spread out, scanning the room.
"Looks like that dog isn't alone in here," Hajime states grimly.
"Looks like it," Tomomi agrees.
Suddenly Hajime's flashlights move to shine on Sakura, momentarily blinding her.
"Do you know how to climb a tree, Pinky? Without your hands, that is?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because if we're attacked, you're going to use that skill to climb these walls as high as you can, you hear me? This is a stray we're after, and if he's got company we don't know how many dogs we're dealing with or how they'll react if cornered."
"We don't know what diseases they might have," Tomomi explains, her voice more gentle than Hajime's. "Some diseases spread through their bite, and it's stupid to take risks even when we're in Konoha and close to the hospital."
Sakura nods to show that she understands, shivering at the thoughts of those diseases. "I think I'm going to need a shower when we're done."
"Me too," Tomomi agrees.
"Look at this," Hajime says, having paused by one of the pools.
Approaching, Sakura gags at the stench that reaches her nose even through the sleeve of her uniform. It's not just the mildew and the sewage, but something smells positively rotten.
Something big and bloated floats in the half-full pool, and it takes Sakura a few moments to realise what it is that she's looking at.
"Is that a-?" she asks, bile rising in her throat.
"Puppy," Tomomi states. "Nothing we can do. Let's keep going."
She tries not to think about how the puppy might have ended up dead in the water, guiltily relieved as they move further away from the stench.
At the end of the large room they reach another corridor, and slowly they make their way down it. There are more doors open here, so they pause more often to search the rooms on either side. Somehow Sakura finds herself in between Tomomi and Hajime, either one of them always closer to the rooms.
The scent in this corridor is different, the odour from the large room still present but joined by that faeces and animals.
A squeak somewhere above her makes Sakura look up, the light of her flashlight reflecting back at her in multiple, small eyes. A shriek escapes her, and a moment later there's a hand over her mouth, clamping it shut.
"Bats," Hajime states quietly, his voice right next to her ear. "Don't make too much noise and they shouldn't bother us."
He turns her flashlight away from the little creatures and Sakura can feel her skin crawl with disgust, but as Hajime removes his hand from her mouth she dutifully keeps quiet. Instead of screaming she takes a shuddering breath, trying to steel herself. She can do this. Probably. Even if there are dozens of flying rats above her head, just waiting to drop down on her.
"Over here," Tomomi says, a little bit further down.
Approaching the very last open door Sakura can hear quiet growling, and she reaches with her free hand towards her kunai holster before remembering Hajime's warning. With a deep breath she lets go of the kunai, preparing instead to jump at the wall if they're attacked.
Except climbing the walls will bring her closer to the bats in the rafters. A whimper escapes her at the thought.
"I don't think we're in danger," Tomomi says.
As Sakura comes up next to her she can see why; the stray from earlier stands in the middle of the room, surrounded by five smaller dogs. All six dogs are staring at them, the five smaller ones fearfully and the larger one intently, growling quietly.
"I don't know, mothers can be scary," Hajime states.
Wordlessly Tomomi kneels, aiming her flashlight away from the dog so as to not blind it, and slowly reaching out with her hand. The dog continues growling for a moment, before growing quietly and hesitantly stepping forward.
Hajime gently pulls Sakura backwards, so that they're stepping away from Tomomi whilst still keeping her in sight. The dog eyes them wearily, before hesitantly stepping even closer to Tomomi to sniff her hand.
"Good girl," Tomomi says, her voice soft and encouraging. "You're just trying to take care of your babies, aren't you? You're such a good mother!"
Hesitantly the dog starts to wag its tail, stepping even closer to Tomomi. Seeing their mother relax the puppies approaches too, curiosity shining in their eyes.
"What do we do now?" Sakura asks. "We can't kill them, right?"
"I think I have a better plan than that," Tomomi smiles back at her.
Two hours later they step out of the Inuzuka compound, having surrendered the dog and her puppies to a friendly vet who promised to find them all good, loving homes.
"Not too bad for your first mission with the Genin Corps, huh, Pinky?" Hajime asks as they make their way back towards the Headquarters for lunch and quick showers.
Formal acknowledgement that I am a very white, Scandinavian woman and have no personal experience with racism. My writing is very much self-indulgent, and I am just trying to include an intersectional perspective in that and hope that nothing I choose to include comes across as offensive, but white privilege is a thing.