Title: Are You Ready?
Chapter: 49 - Steady
Author: Killaurey
Rating: T
Word Count: 4,996
Summary: AU. Sakura gives up on Kakashi as a teacher after Team 7 falls apart. Too bad fate, enemy ninja, and sheer bad luck have other plans.
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. Part 49 of ? Unbeta'd.
The next few days fall into a routine for Ino, which is kind of nice, though there's a lot of not-so-nice things all around the edges of her schedule.
Dad and her are back to normal, though, which she's glad for, even though normal involves her pretending she doesn't see the long glances he gives her now and then, since she knows he hates that she's got her mind locked down.
Training goes well, even though it's kind of weird to have lessons in Sakura's hospital room, but Hatake-sensei lectures well and she pays attention because he's earned that much from her. Sakura is getting better, too, which is great news.
She is, however, avoiding talking to Hatake-sensei about Sakura's parents because that is a whole conversation she's not sure she's allowed to have. Sakura's always been touchy about her parents and, given that they're obviously not coming to visit her, Ino hasn't wanted to bring it up. Stress is bad for the heart, after all, and Sakura's heart is still healing.
Hatake-sensei knows she's avoiding that conversation and, while he seems a little frustrated, she also thinks he gets it, since he hasn't pushed it the way he could.
She hasn't seen Chouji or Shikamaru at all.
In fact, it's on the eve of the day before Sakura's release from the hospital that she's finally given notice that she's supposed to go and have dinner with her 'Aunt Yoshino and Uncle Shikaku'. The restaurant indicated is more expensive than Ino thinks is necessary but, then, she's been kept carefully out of a lot of things.
She hates that but, without her bloodline, she's forced to mostly accept it. Sakura needs company more than Ino needs to know things and Hatake-sensei can't be the one at Sakura's bedside all the time. Not when he looks tired every time she sees him.
Ino turns the note over in her hands, thoughtfully.
"What is it?" Sakura asks curiously.
"Just, apparently I've got dinner plans I-forgot about," she says, knowing that Sakura will know she did no such thing as forgetting about something like that. She raises one eyebrow. "With my aunt and uncle."
Sakura reaches for the invitation and Ino doesn't protest as she takes it. There's not much to it, really, and none of it is private.
"Swanky," Sakura says, eyes widening as she reads the invitation. "You're going to have to go home and get changed. Training gear is good for the day to day stuff but, like, you need to put some effort in."
"I'm gorgeous no matter what," Ino says loftily.
"And you've been training," Sakura points out.
Ino laughs. "Yeah, I guess so. I still have some time, though."
"I'm surprised they don't have Shikamaru's name on here, complete with a little obelus, given how things are going," Sakura comments as she hands the invitation back. "Has anyone seen him since-?"
"Not that I know of," Ino says. "Not anyone who isn't a Nara, so far as I know. I haven't really been looking to find out otherwise, though, since it's kind of... well, it's better if I don't. I haven't even seen Chouji. We're all not really avoiding each other but..."
"But staying apart all the same," Sakura finishes, narrowing her eyes slightly. "You know, you don't have to stay here until someone else comes to keep me company."
"I like your company," Ino says comfortably. "Don't call me out like that."
Sakura laughs. "Well, if you insist... I had a thought."
"Oh no," Ino says. "We're doomed."
"Stop that," Sakura says, but she's still laughing so Ino just grins at her from the foot of Sakura's bed. "As I was saying, wretch, if you're going to stay here, I think I've got some formal clothes here."
Ino considers that for a moment. "And Tsunade-sama didn't say I couldn't use your shower."
"And I could do your hair after," Sakura says brightly. "Grab the bags and let's see what we've got to work with. Everything in the green one and the midnight blue are clean."
"Putting me to work, are you?" Ino complains, even as she bounces up to grab the bags.
"That's right," Sakura says, nodding. "It's my duty as your teammate to boss you about."
Ino dumps out the contents of both bags right on Sakura's lap, revelling in the sound of Sakura's giggly outrage.
"You want to try that again?" Ino says, setting the bags aside.
"You boss me about all the time," Sakura points out.
"Ah," Ino says, "but that's okay, when it's me."
"Hypocrite," Sakura mutters.
"Takes one to know one," Ino sing-songs, then frowns and yanks a dress out of the pile. "Sakura, really, you bought a dress with an apple pattern? Did you want to look like a particularly attractive piece of fruit?"
Sakura, though, is looking at it in horror. "I've never worn that!" she protests. "I never will! Look, the tag is still on it! Burn it!"
"No, no, that's being too dramatic," Ino says, studying the abomination. It's well made, she'll give it that. The seams are sturdy and the buttons are well affixed. "If it was for a toddler it'd be cute, you know? I think we should see if we could sell it and use the money to get other, better clothes."
"We leave the tags on, though," Sakura says. "So no one ever thinks I wore it, okay?"
"Your secret is safe with me," Ino tells her, and they go back to sorting through clothes.
Eventually they settle on a lovely green and blue dress with lines that aren't too civilian, which is Ino's reasoning for rejecting about a quarter of them right out of hand.
"I can fight in this," Ino decrees, holding it up against her. "It's slit up the sides the right way."
"It's not like you're going on a mission," Sakura says, though the objection sounds half-hearted. "You'll look great in that. Now go, shower, and hang the dress on a hook so the steam gets rid of the wrinkles."
Ino salutes her, not making a fuss about being bossed about this time, because she knows good and well that they're running out of time.
The one nice thing about Sakura having been in the hospital for so long is that she has all her proper toiletries here. They're not the same ones that Ino uses—she prefers lilac over cherry, and lemon over sandalwood, if she's going to use something scented—but they smell nice, they clean well, and they're far, far better than the hospital's supplies.
And it seems fitting that, since Sakura can't go with her in person, that Sakura can come with through her scents and her dress.
I'm armed in my best friend's protection, Ino thinks and once she realizes that, she really has no complaints at all.
She bundles her hair up into a towel, wriggles into clean underthings, shimmies into Sakura's dress, and then walks out and poses dramatically for Sakura's verdict.
Sakura looks at her for a long moment. Then-
"Your boobs are growing," she says. "We're not going to be able to trade clothes for all that much longer if they keep doing that. Otherwise, you look beautiful. I hate you."
Ino shrugs and laughs. "It's not like I can have a conversation with them about that," she says, waggling her eyebrows. "Relax, you'll get there. Ready to do my hair?"
Sakura perks up. Ino knows Sakura had always loved the hair modules back in the Academy.
"Get over here and take a seat," Sakura orders and Ino obliges, smoothing the dress as she sits down so that it won't wrinkle up again after just having been steamed.
Sakura hums a little as she works, first brushing out Ino's hair and then doing something that pulls part of it back so tightly that it feels it's been wound around wrest pins. Luckily, that part doesn't last long, and her hair is loosened back to something mostly comfortable.
They say that beauty is pain but, like, I refuse to be in pain to go out to eat with Yoshino-san and Shikaku-san. Not unless I absolutely have to.
And she knows it's not necessary. Ino knows she could show up in a paper bag—and wouldn't that be a scandal all by itself—and they'd be polite, since this is a political meal, not a friendly one.
But I'll be polite and respectful of them because I love them. It's not hard. I'm glad Sakura had clothes here though. I didn't want to leave her alone, even if she said she'll be fine. It's still strange for her to not always be the last priority.
And there's pluses, too, since Ino loves having her hair played with—it's one of the best parts of having long hair, even if hers is still pretty short and needing to regrow—and there's rarely a time or chance for anyone to do so.
She closes her eyes, just enjoys it, and when Sakura says, "And done!", and passes her a hand mirror, Ino is not at all surprised to find that she looks as pretty as the north star as it hangs in the sky.
"Thanks," she says, leaning back against Sakura. "You're the best."
"As long as you know it," Sakura says, hugging her tightly, briefly, before letting her go. "It's too bad we don't have any make-up here, though."
Ino shrugs a little. "It wouldn't really be appropriate for this kind of dinner anyway," she says. "I've got lip gloss and that'll be enough for appearances. If I was older, I'd need make-up, but I'm young enough that it's okay to go without it."
Sakura nods her agreement. "Well, in that case, you'd better get your gloss on and get going," she says. "You don't want to arrive there out of breath. That would look bad too."
"Good even-," Hatake-sensei falls silent as he steps into the room and takes in the scene of the, er, crime. Ino supposes they should've cleaned up a bit. "What's going on?"
"Oh, good!" Ino says, happy that Sakura won't be alone. "You're here, that's great, I've got to go! Sakura, I'll see you tomorrow and let you know how it goes!"
Then, laughing, she waves, darts around Hatake-sensei, and leaves everything for Sakura to explain.
She's going to make me pay for that tomorrow. I can't wait!
Sakura flushes when Hatake-sensei turns from watching Ino flee-how dare she! she's totally fleeing!-with open amusement.
"Should I ask?" he says, closing the door behind him and looking at the mess.
They'd... maybe... been a little too enthusiastic about sorting through her bags and the apple dress had been lobbed all the way across the room, where it was lodged in a corner looking like the saddest apple-anything she's ever seen.
"Ino had sudden dinner plans with her Aunt Yoshino and Uncle Shikaku," Sakura says, careful to refer to them the way Ino had. "I... was helping her get ready?"
"I see," Hatake-sensei says, and she's glad he still sounds amused. "And she's left you holding the bag."
"I'm going to kill her," Sakura tells him, then ruins it by giggling. "I'm sorry, Hatake-sensei. I'll pick everything up."
He hums thoughtfully as he steps around several piles and sets the take-out he's got with him on her side table. "We'll eat supper first," he says, which fills her with a warm sort of confusion that he's still doing this for her. "Then we'll figure it out."
"I'm healthy enough to pick up clothes," she protests. "I'm barely even under the weather now!"
This is, of course, a complete exaggeration. Sakura knows she's still in the hospital for a reason, just like she knows she'll be living at Tenten's place for a reason.
"I'll pick them up," he tells her. "You may fold them and put them back into your bags."
She heaves a put-upon sigh. "Yes, Hatake-sensei," Sakura says. "I'll do what you say."
Even though, really, she's pretty sure she could manage it.
Inner laughs at the something in the depths of her mind.
I'm pretty sure I could manage it if I went slowly and carefully! she snaps back at her other half.
Inner just laughs, again, something that is so unlike her harsh, biting laughter but, instead, something ethereal but beautiful and Sakura is left as unsettled by that as she is comforted by the fact that Inner is still there.
It's nice, having someone there, even if they do laugh at me way too much.
But laughter, Sakura reminds herself, especially this kind of laughter, is far better than the deep wells of hatred and mockery that had made all of Inner's edges so painfully sharp.
She and Hatake-sensei eat in comfortable, amiable silence, and somehow, even though she's watching for it, the clothes wind up in a pile on the foot of her bed by the time she's done eating.
Sakura squints at the pile. Then at Hatake-sensei.
"What jutsu was that?"
Hatake-sensei smiles at her, his one eye curving with what she thinks is real amusement. "I don't know what you're talking about," he says lightly. "You'd best fold those clothes though."
She laughs a little. "How am I going to get better if the only thing I'm allowed to do is go to the bathroom and shower by myself? I can't have someone watching me every minute of every day."
"And you won't," Hatake-sensei says as he clears away their take out containers. "Starting tomorrow. You'll be at your friend's house, with more independence, but you'll still have to take it easy, Sakura."
"I know," she says. "It's just. I feel better. I want things to go back to normal."
"Normal," he muses. "What is normal?"
And, the worst part is, even as she folds a t-shirt and resists the urge to lob it at him, he's right.
What is normal, anyway, for Team Seven?
"Come on," Hatake-sensei says. "We'll finish tidying up here and then we can start gathering stuff up so you're all packed to go to Tenten's place."
Sakura folds another dress. "I'm kind of nervous," she admits. "I know Ino's already brought my stuff over, that's not the issue, it's just..."
She trails off there, hesitating, before she remembers that she's supposed to be at least trying to face the things she doesn't like about herself. It's the only way she and Inner are ever going to truly get along.
"What if they don't like me?" she asks, and it comes out a little plaintively, but thankfully, she thinks it avoids sounding whiny.
Hatake-sensei pauses thoughtfully. "What if they don't like you?"
"I mean," Sakura says, feeling a little flustered. "It's not... I've never been a popular person. Not everyone does like me."
"And not everyone will," Hatake-sensei says. "I'm sure they will, however, if they don't, then all you can do is be polite, be a good guest, and leave them with a good impression."
He smiles.
"Besides," he says. "Tenten likes you. You've already conquered the first hurdle."
And, somehow, when looked at that way, it makes Sakura feel better.
"Right," she says. "I can do this."
"I don't doubt that."
Ino is the first one to the restaurant and, since it is a swanky kind of place and she doesn't want to swan in ahead of her elders (it would be so disrespectful!) she amuses herself by listening to other peoples' conversations from the benches outside of it.
She enjoys the way an elderly civilian proclaims that a city has fallen, and goes on about how, back when he'd been young, he'd seen it fall with his own eyes. It's totally not true, given that the city he's talking about is mythical, but he's a good storyteller all the same.
She's so interested in the story that, when Nara Shikaku and Aunt Yoshino show up, she's almost sorry to leave off listening in on a conversation not meant for her.
Ino takes one look at them, though, and is both glad she dressed up as she had, and also has to try not to giggle. Yoshino-san looks absolutely breathtaking and Shikaku-san has been cleaned up but-
He's so grumpy about it!
She bows to both of them, then straightens, grinning impishly.
Shikaku-san looks at her for a moment. "You're as bad as your father," he says, in a voice so low she's doubts anyone but she and Yoshino-san can hear it.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Uncle Shikaku," Ino says, and allows her grin to widen. "Aunt Yoshino, you look so pretty! Is that a new dress? Where did you get it?"
Yoshino-san and her handle most of the talking, which is about what Ino had expected, as they enter the restaurant and are escorted to their very nice table. She studies the wall hangings and the lamps with curious eyes
She does not suggest that the copious application of pastry will make Shikaku-san feel better but, all the same, she absolutely makes sure to order one for him.
It's worth it to watch him try not to laugh when he realizes what she's doing.
It's only once their meals have been served and they've been left in quiet, tasteful privacy, that is nonetheless in full view of anyone who cares to look at them, that they can talk at all freely.
"How is everything?" Ino asks anxiously, even as she keeps smiling. She'll keep smiling until she dies, it feels like. "I am truly, deeply sorry for all the hassle my choices have caused you and yours."
Yoshino-san and Shikaku-san exchange glances. Ino wishes she could read their minds but decides it's probably better to not be able to, given the circumstances. Her dad would've told her if there was anything to be wary of mentioning.
"It's not your fault," Shikaku-san says, after a moment. "It's a confluence of unfortunate things that were all present before you made your choices. They just started to fall when you did something unexpected."
Ino sips her drink as she considers that. She's not sure if she knows all the unfortunate things that Shikaku-san is talking about but-okay, she can see what he's getting at, even if just a little.
"That's what happens when you get ahead by a century rather than stay with the times, so to speak," Yoshino-san says. "You fall out of sync with people and either people adjust or people fall apart."
Ino shifts. "I didn't mean to make people fall apart."
"We know that," Shikaku-san says. "And the burden put on you was unfair. There's been a lot of conversations going on about the matter. A good team is meant to balance each other, not have the bulk of the stability fall on one person to maintain."
She tries not to bristle at the idea that everyone is talking about her behind her back. She knows they have been, she knows that as much as she knows anything, but it still sucks a lot to be the topic of conversation but not invited to the table.
"Had our son and Chouji-kun been better attended to beforehand," Yoshino-san says, "they would have been more able to regain their own balance. While you leaving the team voluntarily was unexpected, all teams should be prepared for what would happen if they lost someone from their team. It happens in the field all the time. That they weren't able to stick the landing is no fault of yours."
Ino nods, feeling relieved at that.
She hesitates a moment and then shrugs her shoulders a little. This is the first chance that she's had to really talk to either Shikamaru or Chouji's parents alone.
"It feels like it's my fault," she says.
"Don't let it get to you," Yoshino-san tells her. "I can't speak for the Akimichi but the Nara, well, we're getting them in hand."
"The Akimichi weren't ever as riled up about it anyway," Shikaku-san says. "They know you've always done what you've wanted and that you do your best for those you care about."
But the Nara don't? Ino wonders.
Some of that thought must show on her face-sloppy of her-because Yoshino-san pats her arm comfortingly.
"None of that, Ino-chan," Shikamaru's mother says. "For all that we've corrections to be made in regards to Shikamaru's training and growth, we don't blame you now. Oh, maybe we did at first-change is shocking and, without knowing what was going on in your team, we were unaware of the state of things."
"Shikamaru didn't say anything?" she wonders.
"Nothing that seemed concerning," Shikaku-san admits. "We knew he played shougi with his sensei and that you nagged," she makes a face at him and he laughs, "and that you went for barbeque rather frequently, but in isolation, none of these things have to mean anything is wrong."
He doesn't say the words, that he apologizes, but Ino knows he is apologizing all the same. She smiles, nods, and they steer the conversation to less fraught waters until their meal is long done and they're stepping outside into the very last vestiges of the sun's dying light.
"I heard that Asuma-sensei went to the Nara compound to speak with you," she says, not certain if she ought to ask but still too curious to not, especially since it does involve her, if only because she's the one that drew back the curtain and let the light in.
"Yes," Shikaku-san says. "You'll hear more from your father, no doubt, once it's been settled."
Ino tilts her head slightly, considering that. It sounds like Asuma-sensei is still on Nara lands. That would explain why no one knows what's going on with him or has heard anything about how his conversation had gone.
That's... that's interesting, she decides.
"Yes, Uncle," she says. "Thank you both for dinner."
"Of course, sweetheart," Yoshino-san says, and even though the term of affection isn't usually used, the love is just the same as it always is, so Ino knows it'll be fine.
"I'll part ways from you here," Ino says, since the Nara are dressed for romance and, while she's loved, she knows too when to get out of the way. "Have a great night!"
They make their farewells too and, as they saunter, arm-in-arm off down the street, Ino grins after them.
I hope, some day, I love someone who'll love me that way, she thinks. But that's a far ways off.
Freedom from the hospital, and the alysm of being confined to a bed, is the most precious, most amazing gift she's ever been given! Sakura dwells on the brilliant hyperbole of that thought and not on the way her legs feel like jelly and her face feels flushed just from the walk from the hospital to Tenten's home.
She also ignores the way that Hatake-sensei is watching her like a hawk for any sign of weakness.
Ino just bounces forward and raps once on the door of what, for at least a little while, will be Sakura's new home.
They're in the back alley, having ignored the store entrance out front, and before Ino can knock a second time, Tenten flings the door open, grinning at them.
"Welcome, welcome!" she says. "Come on in!"
Sakura marvels at how Tenten can make a plain pair of pants and a t-shirt look like a million ryo as she steps aside and waves them in.
"Mom's in the front, dealing with customers and Dad's out on a delivery," Tenten says cheerfully. "So you're stuck with me for now. We'll introduce you to Mom once she's free. Come on, your room's this way, Sakura!"
Sakura allows herself to be swept away by Tenten, aware of the fact that Ino and Hatake-sensei are staying back a bit, giving her space, and-
Oh, they're making sure I can get along here by myself. Of course.
Though given the way Tenten's good cheer is so obvious, Sakura can't help but give an embarrassingly shy smile back and just... just let herself feel welcome.
There's no reason this wouldn't be anything other then genuine. Tenten didn't have to offer this. Her parents didn't have to approve of it. So, as weird as it seems to me, I think I'm actually... wanted here.
It's a peculiar feeling.
It's different, being wanted by Ino or Hatake-sensei, when Ino is her best friend and Hatake-sensei is trying to make up for the failures of Kakashi-sensei. But this... this, Sakura treasures differently as it's so new to her.
"And this," Tenten says, and Sakura realizes she's missed half the tour, "is your room!"
The door Tenten flings open leads to a room that isn't that large, but it has a bed with soft blankets on it, and a desk. The walls are a pale brown, easy and pleasing on the eyes, and there's a window. On the window sill are a bunch of waving lucky cats.
Tenten follows her gaze and smiles. "Well, we thought you might need the luck," she says. "What do you think?"
"I love it," Sakura says, trying to keep her voice steady. She absolutely, positively refuses to cry here. Not in front of Tenten. That would be the absolute worst thing to do.
I'm already still healing-hardly more than an invalid. I'm not going to be a crybaby too!
Tenten beams at her. "We've got your bags just in the closet here. Ino hung up most of your clothes already, and put your underwear and socks and things in the drawers over here. She said it was easier if she did it than if we had to wait for you."
Sakura laughs. "She just wanted to snoop."
"Maybe a bit," Tenten admits lightly as Sakura takes a careful seat on the bed, which is just as soft has it had looked.
Sakura looks at the desk and realizes that someone, probably Ino, has put a framed picture of her, Hatake-sensei and Ino there.
I don't even know when that was taken, Sakura marvels. It looks like we were at training? It's definitely candid, not posed at all.
"Ino's a bit like a sneeze," Sakura says, smiling to imagine Ino's expression if she heard that. "Whether you want her to or not, she's going to make an appearance."
"Is it really unsolicited sneezing, though, if you invite her in?" Tenten asks, then grins. "I'll let you decide if you're ever going to explain that one to her."
"Probably not," Sakura admits. "She'd get offended, we'd scream at each other, it would be terrible and normal all at once."
"Speaking of terrible and normal," Tenten says, "only not really, but my mom will kill me if I leave guests just kicking around our kitchen by themselves, I'll go put tea on. Do you want anything? You can hang out up here, get used to it, or come down and join us, if you want. Whatever you feel like, it's cool. The only restrictions are no entering anyone else's bedrooms without permission and if you take something from the shop, you've got to pay for it."
Sakura tries to imagine having the nerve to steal from a weapon shop when she's staying with the owners.
She fails.
"Those rules won't be a problem," Sakura says. "I'm going to stay up here for a few minutes, catch my breath. You go on. I'll be down shortly."
Tenten eyes her and, belatedly, Sakura realizes that insinuating that she can't breathe right is probably a bad choice since she's on medical leave, but after a moment, Tenten seems to decide she was exaggerating (and she had been) and so, with a wave, leaves Sakura to her own devices.
In her own room. In someone else's house.
Sakura, feeling unsettled at that, gets up and goes to look at the picture on her desk. Only, once she's there, she realizes there's another one, too, having been laid face-down on the desk and that there's a note too.
I wasn't sure if you'd want this one, Forehead, Ino's bubbly writing goes, but I thought you should, even if you just stick it in a drawer somewhere. After all, without it, you wouldn't be at this point presently.
Sakura frowns at the note and then turns over the picture frame.
It's her old team picture, of her, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei. They all look so young.
Her gaze shifts to her new team photo, the candid, and then back to the old one, the one she'd kept on her desk at home, from before things had gotten so very complicated. Right now, looking at it feels like she's getting prank calls from unknown callers or strangers looking for—something.
She misses them but also doesn't miss them at all.
Can you love a stranger? It's funny how you can miss one. I wonder if they ever miss me?
She doesn't know.
After what feels like ages but probably isn't that long, really, Sakura puts the photo, gently and face-down, into one of the desk drawers. Ino's note goes with it.
One day, I'll be strong enough to keep that picture out where anyone can see it. One day.
Sakura picks up the new picture and smiles before settling it where she'll be able to see it from her bed.
But it's okay that today isn't that day.
Then she heads downstairs to find her team.
