Obito-Sensei Chapter 23
Sakura Haruno
Sakura woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling.
She tried to sit up, and her leg and arm immediately told her that was a terrible idea. Her back ached, itching all over. Sakura followed their screamed instructions and lay back down. She settled for looking around instead, trying to figure out where she was.
Hospital, she realized after a moment. She was definitely in a hospital. The central hospital, if her window was any indication. It was getting dark outside. Sakura blinked. Had she been unconscious for that long? Her sword was nowhere to be seen. There was an IV in her left arm.
"Guh," she said, her mouth too dry to speak. She licked her lips and tried again. "Hello?"
"Sakura?!" Naruto busted the door down and beamed at her. "You're okay!"
"Naruto?" Sakura blinked. "Were you just… waiting outside?"
"I was waiting inside but Obito-sensei made me leave," Naruto pouted, coming to her bedside. "He said I was being creepy."
"Umm…" Sakura said, not sure what else to say. "Okay. What… what happened?"
"Oh." Naruto's face fell a little. "Uh, well, so-"
"You missed all the excitement, Sakura." Obito materialized in the corner of the room, and Naruto stomped his foot.
"How do you do that?" he asked, and Obito tapped his ear. There was a radio there, nestled underneath his hair.
"You're loud, Naruto," he said with a grin. "I asked to be told as soon as Sakura woke up. I knew you'd be the perfect alarm."
As Naruto pouted, Sakura looked to her sensei for answers.
"First off, Sakura," he said, stepping forward. "Amazing fight. Incredible. You did better than anyone could have dreamed."
"But?" Sakura said, sensing the unspoken word. Obito sighed, his grin growing a little sour.
"You couldn't have known, but you went a little overboard." He sighed. "The Kazekage didn't tell us about what Gaara's reaction would be to getting injured. He probably just didn't expect it…"
"Sensei, what happened?" Sakura asked, trying to lift her head again and failing. "What hit me? What was that…" The memory hit her like a hammer, and she shook. "That roar?"
"This is gonna be need to know, alright?" Obito said, and both Sakura and Naruto nodded. "Doesn't leave this room." He snorted. "Not that plenty don't know now anyway."
"Gaara is a Jinchuriki," he said, and suddenly very many things made sense to Sakura.
"Like mom?" Naruto blurted out, and Sakura jerked her head towards him, her arm screaming in pain. He gave her a look that clearly said "whoops."
"Sorry," he said, and Obito shook his head.
"Like Kushina," he said, and Sakura lay back, trying to digest two incredible pieces of information at once.
She knew what a Jinchuriki was, in theory. Someone with one of the Bijuu, or any other sort of demon, sealed inside of them. Either to contain the power, or harness it for themselves. All the villages had them; how many, and what demons exactly, was a secret kept religiously by each of them.
But if Gaara was one, and Kushina too…
'Is that why Naruto has those whiskers?'
"That was what happened at the end, then?" Sakura asked, and Obito nodded.
"Gaara is the sort of Jinchuriki created to use a Bijuu's power," Obito said. "His seal lets out the Beast's chakra if he's stressed, or angry." He scratched his chin. "Or at least, that's our assumption. The Kazekage isn't exactly sharing, even if we are allies."
"So when I stabbed him, the Tailed Beast came out?" Sakura asked. "I didn't…"
"Not your fault," Obito said. "Don't worry. It wasn't the whole thing. Gaara transformed into some kind of… hybrid."
"He was a real freak," Naruto finally spoke up. "He turned into a monster. Half sand-" he drew a line down the middle of his body, "and half him. Sasuke and I grabbed you; the Kazekage and my dad went after him."
"They subdued Gaara before he could do too much damage," Obito said. "But that happening in front of the whole audience, that damage was already done." He looked out the window with a thoughtful air. "Now all the villages will know Sand has a faulty weapon. You probably made an enemy of the Kazekage for that alone, Sakura."
Sakura blinked, and Obito blinked back. "Sorry. That was a little too frank."
"No, that's, uh…" Sakura felt faint. She'd just wanted to prove a point, not cause an international incident. It had just been a fight for her. "That's good to know." She looked down at her body under the sheets. "Am I okay?"
"Well, I'm sure you can tell your arm and leg are busted. Lacerations all over your back," Obito said with a grin. "Leg broken in multiple places. Compound fracture on your arm."
"Ugh, so gross," Naruto muttered, shaking his head. "Was coming right out your elbow." He got a thoughtful look. "I guess your elbow was coming right out your elbow…"
"Thanks, Naruto," Sakura said dryly, and Naruto blushed. She felt a little bad for her tone. "And thanks for saving me, too."
The blush intensified. "Someone else woulda if I hadn't," he said, rubbing the back of his head, and Sakura smiled.
'But you were the one who did.'
"So, this is gonna be your home for the next day or two," Obito said. "Get used to that bed."
That sounded fine to Sakura. Lying in bed for the next couple days would be beautiful, if she were being honest with herself.
"Okay." Sakura tried to catch her breath, trying to remember what was important. Now that the euphoria of waking up had passed, the pain in her limbs was growing unbearable. "Okay. Two things."
"Shoot," Obito said, and Sakura took a deep breath. Focus. You can sleep afterwards.
"One: where's my sword?" she asked, and Obito laughed.
"I've got it," he said. "You want me to bring it to you?"
"Would it be weird if I said yes?" Sakura asked, and Obito laughed again.
"Not at all," he said. "What's two?"
"Did I pass?" Sakura asked, and Obito frowned.
"Hasn't been determined yet," he said. "The judgements got delayed, for obvious reasons."
"Do you think I'll pass?" she asked, and Obito shrugged.
"Hard to say," he said.
"What?" Naruto protested. "But she kicked ass!" Sakura started to speak up, and he spun on her. "Shut up! You kicked ass! Why wouldn't you pass?"
"That's up to the judges," Obito said. "The three Kage, and the representative jonin from each Village. And it's not as simple as kicking ass, as you put it. There are other factors to consider." He crossed his arm, tapping a finger against his forearm. "We'll see."
Despite asking, Sakura found herself not really caring if she had passed. It was a distant concern. She was alive. She'd stood up to Gaara in front of the whole village, and made him bleed. Right now, that was more than enough for her.
"Alright," she said, laying back. Her head was fuzzy again; she was sure Obito had noticed. "That's okay…"
"Your arm hurting?" Obito asked, and Sakura laughed.
"My everything," she admitted, and Obito smiled at her.
"We're all really proud of you, Sakura," he said, and Naruto vigorously nodded. "I'll grab a medical ninja; get you something for the pain. Just take it easy, okay?"
Sakura nodded, and Naruto and Obito said their goodbyes and left. A medical ninja came a minute later, just as Obito had promised, and injected her IV with something that carried her away.
###
Sakura ended up only spending two more days in the hospital. She left early on the third day, her right arm and left leg in a cast, and with a crutch to help her walk.
Sasuke was with her when she left; Naruto and Obito were already at their destination. He'd come to take her to chunin determination. Sakura was happy to be out; she'd grown bored lying in bed as medical ninja fussed over her, making sure her bones had reconnected properly. Going from the most exciting day of her life to a couple of the most boring had left her seriously wired.
She'd had plenty of visitors to keep her from going mad. Her teammates had come by at least once a day, and so had her sensei. Ino and her team, and Hinata and hers, had both come by on separate days to offer their congratulations. Hinata had brought food, meat and salad, and Ino a book, some fiction about a ninja who fought with their hair. Sakura had been immensely grateful to them in different ways.
Tenten had shown up the day before; her team hadn't.
"You dumbass," Tenten had said, sitting at her bedside and trying to read the book over her shoulder. "You're lucky he didn't kill you."
"He's lucky I didn't kill him," Sakura had grumbled, not sure if it was bravado or the truth, and Tenten had cracked a smile. She had been covered in small, circular bandages, each placed over a scabbed lump of raised skin; senbon exit wounds weren't pretty to look at, and neither was the inflammation they caused. Sakura hadn't even wanted to guess at what her friend's chest looked like.
"It was a hell of fight, you know," she'd said, her smile fading. "But Sakura…"
'You might have taken it too far,' Sakura remembered, as she stumped through the streets of Konoha, stubbornly keeping pace with Sasuke. She couldn't say Tenten had been wrong.
Everywhere she went, people were looking at her. Some of them were whispering.
That's her, the whispers went in a dozen different permutations. That's Sakura Haruno, the girl who went crazy during the Exam. Look at her hair, there's no mistaking it. She still has her sword, even though she's in a cast. That's a shinobi for you.
Some of the whispers were for the sake of admiration, others confusion, some concern. But no matter what they were expressing, they whispered, and Sakura felt eyes on her every step of the way to the Hokage's tower.
"Uh, Sasuke?" she asked, and he glanced over at her. "Why's everyone, um, know me?"
"You made a scene," Sasuke said, quietly amused. "People could hear the screaming across the whole village. You almost woke up a demon right in the middle of it, you know."
"Oh," Sakura muttered, feeling a blush creep over her cheeks. "I didn't…"
"Didn't Obito already do this with you?" Sasuke said, and Sakura nodded. "Then don't bother. There's nothing to be sorry for." He grinned, uncharacteristically earnest. "You made Naruto's day, kicking that guy's ass. Neither of us knew how advanced you'd gotten with your jutsu."
"I didn't really know either," Sakura admitted. "I mean, I knew how to use it, but never like that…" She laughed. "I was just so angry. I guess that might have helped. And I couldn't have done anything without Naruto's seals."
"He did a pretty good job," Sasuke said, and Sakura felt an immense well of gratitude towards him welling up inside her soul. Helping her forget the pain in her arm and leg, the stares, and the whispers… Sasuke had always been friendly, but he'd rarely reached out like this before.
The last shred of doubt that they were real teammates, real friends, evaporated at the back of her mind like a puddle simmering away in the midday sun, and Sakura barely noticed its departure.
They passed the rest of the journey to the Hokage's tower in companionable silence, Sakura learning to ignore the people who could not ignore her as best she could. It was strange, to suddenly be known. She remembered walking home from her training with Obito the day she'd told him she was giving up: no one had paid her any mind that day.
Maybe that anonymity would return with time. Sakura hoped so. The attention made her uncomfortable. When they reached the tower, Sasuke gave her a look out of the corner of his eye.
"Do you want help?" he asked, and Sakura grimaced. The Hokage's office was seven floors up; seven flights of narrow winding stairs that could be annoying to climb with two feet, let alone one. "I could… carry you."
Sakura stuck out her tongue, going a little red at the mental image, and Sasuke laughed. She wasn't sure she could handle that embarrassment.
"Just go slow," she asked, and her teammate grinned and nodded. "I'll keep up, promise."
They started ascending the tower, and Sasuke pulled ahead, occasionally looking back to watch her progress. Step by step, Sakura stumped up the tower. It was a delicate process: right leg forward, crutch under her left arm up, make sure footing was solid, bring level, repeat until you want to vomit.
This sucks, Sakura thought, and laughed at the clarity of the thought. How far were they now? Just the second floor? What the hell, it had definitely been more than that.
Her arm jostled, and she grit her teeth, trying not to imagine the bone punching back through her skin. It was set now; the pain just meant it was healing. She pulled herself up another step, feeling a drop of sweat run down her face. Sasuke gave her a concerned look, and she grinned back, hoping it didn't come out as shaky as she felt.
Halfway there.
'Gaara couldn't finish you off, there's no way some stairs could.'
She laughed at the thought, and immediately tripped on the last step of the fourth set of stairs.
"Ah fu-" she started to say, and then Sasuke caught her with one hand, keeping her from slamming face first into the floor. A curious jonin stuck his head around the corner of the hall, and snorted at the sight of her. Sakura glared at him, and he pantomimed surrender and retreated back to whatever he'd been doing in his office.
"Okay," Sasuke smirked. "Good try, alright?" Then he hoisted her up in one hand, chakra keeping it stuck to her shoulder. "Let's do this instead."
Sakura gave up and nodded, and Sasuke ran them up the last three flights of stairs with surprising speed, pushing her ahead of him and being careful not to jostle or bump her against any of the walls. It was kinda relaxing, Sakura had to admit; being carried by him wasn't the worst thing in the world.
On the seventh flight, he deposited her on her feet, and Sakura sighed, leaning back onto her crutch. "Thanks, Sasuke," she said, and the boy shrugged.
"You'd do the same for me, right?" he asked, and then strode ahead without waiting for a response. Sakura followed him around the corner, and found Naruto and Obito waiting for her.
"Hey!" Naruto waved, and Sakura smiled back. She eyed Obito, and he answered her unspoken question.
"We're the last," Obito said. "Well, you guys are the last. The other teams have already been judged."
"We're getting judged as a team then?" Sasuke asked, and Obito nodded. "It's not pass-fail as a unit-"
"No, it's by individual," Obito clarified, crossing his arms. "None of the teams so far have been all one or the other."
"Who passed?" Sakura asked, feeling like she already knew the answers. If she had to guess, it would be-
"Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, Haku Yuki, Suigetsu Hozuki, and Temari of the Sand all passed," their sensei said, his eyes narrowing a little. Sakura nodded, pursing her lips and adjusting her crutch. She felt a thrill travel up from the bottom of her stomach. Tenten had passed, and so had Haku! It was more than she could have hoped for. Neji wasn't any surprise to her as well.
Poor Lee, she thought. Both his teammates had risen in rank and he was stuck as a genin, just because he'd had a bad match-up.
'Like you.'
Worrying for no reason. Sakura dispelled the thought, and marveled at the ease of it. Even if her arm and leg were shattered, she felt more confident than ever. Had it been that simple, or had stepping up to Gaara in a moment of anger broken something in her?
And if it was the latter… was that a bad thing?
"They're going to call you in in a moment," Obito said, and Naruto shifted. Obito caught the movement and grinned. "Hey. You all know how proud of you I am, right?"
"Yeah," Naruto grumbled. "We know."
"Cool, cause I'm not going to be talking you up everywhere I go," Obito laughed. "You've all made names for yourselves already; you're not going to need my help."
Before Sakura had time to ponder that, the door to the Kage's office opened, and Shikaku Nara stepped out. He had a freshly healed cut on his temple, a little thing that ran from just above his ear to his eyebrow.
"Ready," he declared, and one by one Team Seven filed into the room.
There were five other shinobi inside aside from Shikaku. The Hokage, Kazekage, and Amekage, who were sitting, drew the most attention. Sakura had seen the Hokage and Kazekage before, but Ame's, she'd only glimpsed from a distance. The woman, Konan, had a severe beauty. Her hair was blue and her eyes gold, and beneath her Kage hat there was an exquisite origami flower tucked in her hair. Her eyes tracked them, and Sakura in particular, as they entered the room. Sakura felt like she was being picked apart right there; she forced herself to make eye contact, and the woman's icy facade cracked, a minuscule smile creeping over her face.
The other two shinobi were jonin representatives from the other villages, like Obito had mentioned. Sand's was a stocky brown man; half his face was concealed by a soft white turban that hung down over it, and the other was marked with long red tattoos that ran over his cheeks. He had dark eyes, and they dismissed Naruto and Sasuke in just a moment. But like the Amekage's had, they lingered on Sakura.
Sakura didn't keep eye contact with him like she had the Kage: she caught a glimpse of deep disgust in them, and decided it would be better to look away.
The jonin from Rain was huge, over six feet tall, and incredibly muscular. He was wearing a sleeveless black vest that showed off his arms, and had bushy black hair that stuck up in all directions like a nest of blades. None of that drew Sakura attention though: it was his smile, which showed off his pointed teeth, jagged like a shark's, and the huge sword slung over his back. The blade was just as tall as him, with metal so black it refused to reflect light, and was shaped like a butcher's knife instead of a traditional sword. There was a neat hole cut in the top, and a semicircle carved out near the grip.
Shikaku joined the line-up, standing behind and to the left of the Hokage, mirroring the other jonin and their Kage.
"Team Seven," the Hokage said, and Naruto gave a jaunty wave while Sasuke and Sakura bowed. Clumsily, in Sakura's case. His father rolled his eyes. "Are you ready to receive your determinations?"
"'Course," Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded.
"I'm ready," Sakura said, trying to stay calm. It felt like everyone was staring at her again. That had to be her imagination. Why would three Kage be staring at her?
"Very well then," the Hokage said, and he extended a hand. All three of the Kage stood up from their chairs, joining their jonin on their feet.
"Naruto Namikaze," the Kazekage said, and Sakura wondered who had determined who would speak to who. The man sounded bored; it was like he didn't care that his son had almost turned into a demon and slaughtered her. If he really was her enemy now like her sensei had said, he was doing a good job of hiding it. "You showed admirable strength of character and expertise in your battle." He frowned. "However, you also showed a severe lack of judgement; in an uncontrolled environment, you would have exhausted yourself and died." He sat back down, crossing his legs. "There is more to being a chunin than making a crowd cheer," he said disdainfully, and Naruto's shoulders slumped, just a little.
Sakura understood, right in that second, that they would all be staying genin.
"Sasuke Uchiha," the Hokage said, and Sasuke pulled himself up straight. "You showed yourself adept in ninjutsu and taijutsu in your battle, and did your clan proud." He was expressionless. "Unfortunately, you showed a similar lack of judgement and recklessness with your final attack. By engaging Naruto on his own terms, you placed yourself in unacceptable danger; a chunin must not disregard safer options, for themselves or for the village, unless there is no other choice." He sat back down. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke didn't slump. He stayed upright, staring straight ahead. He'd been expecting this, Sakura thought. He was too smart not to have.
"Sakura Haruno." The Amekage had a voice as beautiful and severe as her appearance, and she regarded Sakura with a curious expression, looking over her casts and crutch with something that might be called amusement.
"You showed tremendous bravery and aptitude in the exam, and faced an opponent that held all the advantages. You also surrendered when it was safe to do so, instead of pushing yourself too far, and thus showed much sounder judgement than your teammates." The woman smiled. "However, you also chose to fight when there was no need. Gaara of the Desert had no interest in the match. Though it is in the nature of shinobi to fight, one of the most important duties for any ninja, and especially a chunin, is to be careful when picking those fights." She sat back down, the smile fading. "Just like the rest of your team, if you had been in an uncontrolled environment, you would have died. And others would have as well."
Others, Sakura thought. What would have happened if the Kage hadn't been there? Who else could have stopped a rampaging Tailed Beast?
"Because of these factors," the Hokage said, "we have determined that none of you are quite ready to be chunin. Your skills have developed; your attitudes have not." He shrugged. "That's all there is to it. You're dismissed."
Team Seven left in silence, and Obito waited until they were two floors down to say anything.
"Honesty can sting," he noted, and Sasuke chuckled.
"You don't disagree with anything they said, sensei?" he asked, and Obito gave him a cockeyed look.
"They were too soft on you guys, if anything," he said, and Sakura winced at the truth of it. "Naruto: you were too flashy. Sasuke: you were doing fine until the end. That Rasengan looked amazing, but it was dumb as hell. And Sakura…"
He sighed. "I told you I was proud of you for standing up to Gaara, but you let your anger control you. If you hadn't attacked first, the match probably would have been called in your favor because of his refusal to fight." He held up a hand before she could protest. "And if you'd waited for him to attack, which he might have, it would have shown more maturity on your part. That's what they were looking for, and none of you guys showed enough."
"Stupid…" Naruto muttered. "Now we're gonna have to take the whole damn exam again."
"Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and get a battlefield promotion instead," Obito said dryly, and Naruto perked up. Their sensei coughed. "Don't look so excited: just be glad you can get promoted in a fancy tournament instead of a war, huh?"
"Fiiine," Naruto said, and Sakura watched as he shook off his disappointment in real time. She was surprised she wasn't feeling more herself, but if she were being honest with herself, she'd never expected to be promoted. Stabbing Gaara had been more than sufficient for her; anything else had been gravy.
"Well, what now, Obito-sensei?" she asked, and Obito raised an eyebrow. He pointed to her.
"Bedrest," he said, and Sakura groaned. She was sick of being bored. "You, I don't care," he said, pointing to Naruto, who stuck his tongue out at him. "And you… we've got some clan stuff to discuss," he said pointing to Sasuke last, who jerked in surprise. "Sakura, where you headed? I'll be happy to take you there."
Sakura considered. "Home, I guess," she eventually decided. At least she had more books at home. If she was going to be stuck in bed, her own would be preferable.
"Coming right up." Obito grabbed her shoulder, and that nauseating slippery feeling washed over Sakura. The Hokage's tower vanished, but Sakura's home didn't appear. Instead, they appeared somewhere else.
Sakura had only been here once before, the strange dimension that only Obito's eyes could access. It was an endless space of stone cubes, and she tried not to think about where it was or why it looked like it did. Where did the air in it come from? All the stones had their own barely visible luminosity, and they lent the space an eerie half-light.
"Sensei?" she asked, wondering why they had stopped halfway, and Obito turned towards her.
"Sorry," he said, not sounding it. "Sakura, I just wanted to ask… are you alright?"
"Huh?" Sakura gestured to her arm and leg, and shrugged. "As much as I can be."
"That's not what I meant," Obito said, and Sakura frowned. "You'll heal; I don't doubt that. I meant you."
"Sensei… I don't understand," Sakura said, not sure if she was being truthful.
"I told you you let your anger control you," he said, and Sakura's frown deepened. "I wasn't kidding about that. You did something incredible against Gaara, but you did it because you were furious. It made you take risks you wouldn't have otherwise."
"And what's wrong with that?" Sakura demanded. "He was a monster; I shouldn't get angry with those kinds of people?"
Her sensei sighed. "I'm not good with kids," he muttered, and Sakura scoffed. "Sakura, you gotta get what I'm saying, right? I was worried, watching you get that angry. I know Naruto and Sasuke were too."
"I was just angry, sensei," Sakura said, leaning back on her crutch. "I snapped out of it. It's nothing to be worried about."
"Hmm," Obito said, and Sakura felt an intense urge to lash out at him. It was her broken bones, she thought. They just wouldn't stop hurting. It was making her irritable. "Did your parents ever visit you, Sakura?"
"What?"
She was caught flatfooted, and Obito noticed it. Damn Uchiha, she thought. You couldn't hide anything from them.
"I asked if your parents ever visited you, when you were in the hospital."
"No, Sakura said. "They didn't have time."
Obito looked disappointed. "They did," he said. "I had Rin monitor all your visitors, Sakura. They came the first day, as soon as you were awake."
Sakura looked down, unwilling to make eye contact. She just stared at the stone beneath her feet, wanting more than anything for the conversation to end.
"But they only came that one time," Obito said. "Why just once?" He knelt down, coming face to face with her, but Sakura refused to look up. "You were badly hurt. You were there for several days. They were at the exam."
"I don't know," Sakura whispered. "I'd like to go home."
"I don't want to take you home if it's not where you should be," Obito said, too blunt to be kind, and Sakura felt her eyes grow hot. "Why didn't they visit you?"
"I..." Sakura said. "I said I didn't want to see them."
Obito nodded. "I figured. Rin told me there was an argument. The whole floor heard it."
Sakura felt like it would have been better if Gaara had killed her, or maybe put her in a coma. At least then she wouldn't have to have this conversation.
"They didn't want me to fight. They were afraid I'd get hurt."
"That's natural, they're your parents. Was that what the argument was about?"
"I don't know." Sakura choked. "Sensei, can I please go home? I want to lie down."
She couldn't tell what Obito was thinking. The scar that ran from below his eye to his chin crinkled.
'Why did you fight? You knew he was crazy! He didn't even want to fight you, but you attacked anyway! You could have been killed!'
What had she said? That she'd had to? That she couldn't let him walk away? It had been a stupid answer.
'Honey, we're worried-'
Get out. She'd told them to get out.
And now she was asking to go home, like nothing had happened. Maybe she was hoping that if she acted like that, it would be the truth.
Her sensei stayed there for another couple seconds, and then eventually stood up. "You know you can talk to me, if you need to," he said.
"I know," Sakura said quietly. "I promise, I know."
"Okay." Obito settled for it. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"It's okay," Sakura muttered. "I'm sorry too."
Obito sighed, and took hold of her shoulder again. "You can do amazing things, Sakura." He smiled, a little sadly. "But make sure you're doing them for the right reasons."
Then Sakura was in her room, and her sensei was gone.
She stood there for a moment, and then limped over to her bed and sat down. She looked around the room, feeling like it belonged to a different Sakura Haruno. The house was quiet; her parents weren't home.
Sakura lay back, wincing as her back stung, and blew out a deep breath. She closed her eyes, listening to her breathing.
She was alive, and home. She could figure out the rest later. She fell asleep with all her clothes on, the crutch clattering to the floor, and did not dream.
###
When Sakura woke up, it was pitch black outside. The village was quiet and lit with countless lights, the cold February air oppressively bearing down on it. Sakura shivered, tugging at her blanket with one hand. Her face was freezing; the rest of her was warm in bed.
She hazily wondered why that was, her head lolling back and forth. After a minute or so, she realized what was wrong. She was under the covers, and in her pajamas. The window was open. Someone had undressed and redressed her after she'd fallen asleep, and opened the window to let some fresh air in; it had been closed when Obito had dropped her off.
The back of Sakura's neck prickled, goosebumps rising. Without a conscious thought, she found herself looking for her sword again. She found it at her bedside, resting against the nightstand on her left side. She didn't remember leaving it there; it was next to her crutch. Her parents must have been responsible. They'd come home and found her passed out, and tucked her in. She felt a pang of guilt, but it was buried by a sudden paranoia.
Something was wrong. The thought gradually worked its way up past the fog in her brain. Something was wrong, but she had no idea what. She began cautiously reaching for the sword. Who would care if she slept with it? If someone wanted to judge that, they could-
"You have great instincts, Sakura."
Sakura's cautious motion transformed into a panicked one: she snatched up her sword in a flash, bringing it above and close to her body. Adrenaline sent her bolt upright, ignoring the dull agony in her arm and leg. Then, she recognized the voice.
'No way.'
"Haku?" she whispered, and the boy stepped out of the shadows that cloaked the room. Sakura started, clutching her sword closer. She felt vulnerable, hidden under the blankets and with two limbs immobilized. It was one thing to be friendly with the boy from Rain; it was another entirely to be alone with him in the middle of the night.
"What are you doing here?" she asked cautiously, her brain buzzing, and the ninja stayed still, intentionally presenting no threat. He was wearing his Akatsuki haori and a black shirt and pants: even the red clouds were dark enough to become part of the shadows.
"I didn't mean to frighten you," he said, and Sakura laughed.
"Maybe you shouldn't have come into my house in the middle of the night then," she said, and the boy chuckled. "Can you… leave?"
"In a moment," Haku said, and Sakura tensed up, just growing more nervous. What was happening? Was this a dream? He stepped forward, and Sakura raised her sword on instinct. He stopped again.
"Your fight was amazing," he said, and something in Sakura sparked at the compliment. "Though I'm told you did not make chunin. I'm sorry for that."
"It was the right call," Sakura said, and she believed it. "I didn't make the smart decision."
"That might be true," Haku said. "We're going to be leaving tomorrow morning. All of us, going back to our own little corners of the world. I'm not sure I'll see you again." He stepped forward, and the moonlight coming through the window played across his face. He looked intense, focused. It reminded Sakura of their last midnight conversation, in the Forest of Death. "But you're a remarkable person, Sakura. I didn't want to leave without seeing you."
"You're freaking me out," Sakura said frankly, and Haku laughed.
"Sorry," he said, and he rubbed the back of his head. "I've never been very good at this."
"If you came to say goodbye, I appreciate it." Sakura thought about it, and then smiled. "I hope we'll meet again. And not as shinobi, you know."
"I know," Haku chuckled. "But it's not just that."
Haku reached into the pocket of his haori and removed a strip of paper. It was plain white and about the size of Sakura's hand, and he handled it with a gentle but unmistakable reverence. He extended his hand and slipped the paper in Sakura's direction, and to her astonishment it flitted across the room to her, darting on invisible currents until it drifted into her lap. She looked down and found nothing remarkable about it.
"What is this?" she asked, and Haku smiled the same sad smile Obito had before he'd left her.
"Just some paper," he said. "Actually, it's what Kabuto was getting; why he was late. I was going to give it to you after your match, but with how it ended…"
"What's it for?"
"Sakura…" Haku hesitated. "You asked how we knew so much. It's because we were keeping an eye out for people like you."
Sakura blinked, and Haku continued. "What you told me in the forest… you understand this system isn't sustainable. You don't want to be just another ninja fighting wars that don't matter for people who don't deserve it."
"What are you saying?" Sakura said, a dreadful suspicion building in her gut.
"If you ever feel like Konoha isn't the right place for you," Haku said, his conviction building. "If you ever feel like you need to fight injustice in this world, that you can't do it here-"
"Stop," Sakura demanded, and Haku ignored her.
"Just write on that paper. Anything will do. 'Save me,' 'Come get me,' 'I want to leave,' 'My name is Sakura Haruno,' whatever you want. We'll understand; the Akatsuki will understand. Someone will appear to help you."
"Haku," Sakura said, and then she stopped, having no idea what to say beyond that. "I don't… I don't want that." I don't want to go with you, she thought. You misunderstood me. I'm a ninja of the Leaf.
"You don't have to do anything with it," Haku said. "You can throw it away if you want. Just remember it." He shifted, and Sakura saw a heart full of insecurity. "Please."
"Please leave," Sakura said, and Haku backed up. "Now. Right now."
"Alright," Haku said, making his way towards the window. He stepped out, over the sill, and looked back over his shoulder, his hair streaming past his pale face in the moonlight. "Until next time, Sakura."
Then he was gone, and Sakura was left with a blank piece of paper and her own doubts. She clutched her sword to her chest for the rest of the night, and did not fall asleep until the sun rose.