It was the unholy yowling of a cat that woke Sakura the next morning.
Like the trained kunoichi she was, Sakura was off the bed and on her feet the very next moment, her hand clutching a kunai that she had stashed away under her pillow out of habit. Her civilian father had the scare of his life when he tried surprising her with an early breakfast on her thirteenth birthday. Luckily, a moustache could always be grown back again unlike say, a finger or limb.
Whatever Sakura was expecting to see, it was not the sight of Gaara at his desk pinning the sand-cat down with his elbows as he dug his fingertips firmly into the cat's back.
Animal abuse, her mind irrationally screamed at her.
Except that Gaara was a compassionate man who did not visit unwarranted violence upon others, childhood rampages aside. Tucking the kunai into her sleeve, she approached the table and asked, "What are you doing to my cat?"
With his eyes still fixed on the sand-cat, Gaara replied, "I'm trying to infuse more metal particles into Mun. If he is indeed evolving, he should have no trouble carrying more protection with him."
And there it was - if Sakura squinted just right, she could see an almost-invisible cloud of red dust surrounding both the Kazekage and the sand-cat, swirling as languidly as waves on a calm sea as Gaara concentrated on pushing those particles into the fur-like sand covering Mr. Fluffy-kins.
The sand-cat, however, had never taken kindly to Gaara's attempts to probe it since its creation, let alone trying to inject it with more of his chakra-infused metallic dust. Its cries alternated between desperate meows and angry howls, and if it was not for the sound barrier, Sakura was certain that they would have been besieged by Gaara's ever-vigilant ANBU by now.
"Don't force him," Sakura finally said, placing one of her hands over Gaara's, "Mr. Fluffy-kins has never failed to aid me, and I don't think your kekkei genkai works that way, either."
Okay, so she was speculating; since the sand-cat was sentient and thus no longer an extension of Gaara, it seemed correct to assume that it would not be able to command metallic particles in the sand like Gaara's kekkei genkai afforded him. Also, Mr. Fluffy-kins was not exactly Gaara's to command (could anyone command a cat, anyway?).
"Let him go, please," Sakura finally requested firmly as the sand-cat turned its pleading eyes towards her, and there was no reasonable way for Gaara to refuse her. The cloud of metallic dust in the air funnelled itself back into his gourd, the cork sealing back in place once all traces of it had slipped inside.
The moment Gaara took his elbows off the sand-cat, it erupted into an angry cloud of dust that flew right into his face. The redhead flinched, but said nothing as he commanded his own sand from his gourd to assist him in pushing the swirling sand-cat-cloud away.
Sakura quietly backed off and allowed her boyfriend and her pet cat to fight it out while she freshened herself up for the morning, the low wind-like whistle of their battle barely registering as she splashed cold water onto her face behind the screen.
When she started to dry her face off, her own reflection came into focus, and Sakura could not help the rush of blood to her face.
Her neck was absolutely covered with bruises in the shape of the Kazekage's mouth and teeth.
"Oh, stars," she sighed softly, bringing a healing hand up to her neck to begin mending and concealing Gaara's signs of possessiveness. She did not need to be parading love bites around like some love-sick teenager.
"Is something the matter?" Gaara asked as the sound of his entanglement with the sand-cat died down.
Somewhat miffed at the ridiculous number of tell-tale bruises in her neck and shoulders, Sakura chose not to answer. Gaara wisely did not come around the screen either to press her, his sense of decorum not allowing him to invade a woman's privacy uninvited.
She turned her neck from side to side, checking that she had healed all the marks on her skin. Satisfied that she would not become the target of a fresh barrage of rumours, Sakura finally attired herself in a new set of clothes before emerging.
The sand-cat was standing on Gaara's desk, its hindquarters pointed at his face (and pressed uncomfortably close) as it meowed out to her.
An actual meow.
Sakura decided not to read too much into it.
"I will be speaking to the other Kage's about Hatake-san's report and other matters today. Please send my regards to Nartuo, and I will see you later tonight." Gaara gave her his estimated whereabouts for the day (the War Council as always - no big surprise there), while pointedly reminding Sakura of her return to his side once more.
There was a flicker of something in Gaara's eyes as he spoke, as if disbelieving that Sakura had agreed to his continued courtship despite her misgivings not even half a day ago. Smiling at him, she went to where he was seated and drew her fingers along his jawline, tilting his chin up to invite a kiss. Gaara's response was a minute relaxation of the tension in his shoulders, and he slanted his mouth over hers a moment later.
"Begging your forgiveness, Kazekage-sama."
Sakura drew sharply away from Gaara at the sound of another person's voice in the tent, and it was a good thing he had placed his hands on her waist by then and managed to stop Sakura from tripping over backwards in a bout of self-consciousness.
"Baki," Gaara turned his head towards the long-suffering jonin who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here at this moment, most likely due to his unfortunate timing. "I gather you are here for Sakura?"
The jonin nodded, pointedly not looking at Gaara's hands that were still anchored to Sakura's body. "I apologise for this disturbance. Uzumaki-san is in Sakura-san's medic tent, and he has been complaining about the wait."
Was she even that late?
Sakura glanced towards the alarm clock by Gaara's bedside, and she could not help the embarrassed squeak that escaped her lips. Clearly, sleeping with… correction, sleeping next to Gaara was more relaxing than she had thought possible, luring her into dozing an hour past her usual time. A quick glance in Gaara's direction revealed a healthier hue to his skin, as if he too, had finally experienced a good night's rest despite waking up before her.
Baki cleared his throat as politely as he could, but it came out sounding obnoxious, anyway.
She would have been at the tent's entrance and on her way by now, if it wasn't for Gaara's firm grip on one of her hands. Making sure that he had her undivided attention, he tipped his head to plant a kiss against the back of her hand before finally releasing her.
"Tonight," he promised.
"Okay," she whispered.
Baki's stoic companionship as he escorted her to the medic base was a curious one - he generally avoided accompanying her unless requested, with the understanding that Sakura regarded his presence as one rebuking hers as the fairer sex. Certainly, Baki knew that Sakura could handle herself in a pinch, and could probably put him to shame with her taijutsu and incredible strength as well. That he walked with her today was merely out of courtesy.
And probably to stop any too-eager gossip mongers from jumping down her throat; her reconciliation with the Regimental Commander had been the talk of the mess hall thanks to a certain individual's loud mouth.
As they approached her medic tent, Baki slowed his steps. That prompted Sakura to check her pace, and she turned to regard him with curiosity.
"Sakura-san, I am glad that everything has worked out," Baki tipped his head in a small bow before abruptly turning on his heels to leave.
Too stunned to formulate a reply in time, Sakura could only stand and stare at the man's retreating back before finally giving up and entering her tent.
Naruto had been waiting for a long time now, if the Hokage building he had successfully assembled out of cotton swabs was any indication. Presently, he was putting the finishing touches to a replica of the Hokage Monument that he had constructed out of cotton balls, tongue depressors and a liberal amount of gauze.
"Naruto, stop wasting perfectly good medical supplies!" Sakura grabbed the nearest object - it looked to be his medical chart, which was an impressively thick folder - and brought it smack down on the flat on his head.
"Ouch! Sakura-chan! I was just soooo bored! Ya have no magazines to read here!" Whined the blonde Jinchuuriki as he rubbed exaggeratedly at his head.
"You don't even read."
"I was bored enough to try."
Casting a glance at the mini visages of Konoha that Naruto had assembled - it really was quite good, actually - Sakura decided it would be a more efficient use of her time to take her notes on the cot instead of clearing her desk. While Naruto triumphantly drew on Tsunade's seal with a marker he borrowed from Sakura's desk, she busied herself with reading his file. The sand-cat ducked quickly under the cot and stayed there, hissing quietly as it glared at Naruto's feet.
"This is going to be a run-of-the-mill physical, Naruto. Minus the blood work, since we don't have the facilities for that here. Unless it's a medical emergency, we don't normally send blood work back to the medic team at the headquarters to be analysed." Sakura laid his file flat on the cot at the page of his last physical's results, and she put her stethoscope on, "Shirt off, please."
Naruto, long used to exposing himself through his Sexy Jutsu, had no qualms whipping his shirt off his back. If he did flex a little under her probing hands as she listened to his heart while doing a deeper scan with her own chakra at the same time, he was sorely disappointed to note that he had absolutely no effect on his teammate at all. Then again, Sakura in medic-nin mode was always scarily business-like.
"Man, I'm glad we don't have to do any blood work this time!" Naruto's voice rang out a little too cheerfully, belying his nervousness, "I really hate needles!"
"Wuss," Sakura mock-scolded him as she twirled her finger over his head, indicating for him to turn around on the stool. Naruto did just that, and she found herself presented with his back as she listened to his lungs.
Not as impressive as Gaara's, her mind helpfully noted.
Everything else was routine - weight, height, blood pressure, followed by checking his ears and throat. Naruto had whined a little as she shone a light directly into his pupils, but he definitely whined the loudest when she politely and calmly asked him to drop his pants.
"Whaddya mean, ya gonna fondle my balls?!"
Sakura fought off the urge to smack herself in the face in mortification at the blonde shinobi's crude choice of words, and a moment later, she actually smacked herself in her forehead when she remembered that her medic tent? Did not come with a sound barrier like Gaara's did.
"I'm doing a physical examination, and that means checking your reproductive health as well," Sakura bit out as she flushed, more upset at the potential misunderstanding for any eavesdroppers outside than anything else.
"No way! Ya just tryin' to feel me up! I never had to get my balls checked!" Naruto shoved his hands in front of his pants as if protecting his family jewels from a potentially dangerous situation, which probably was the case in his mind.
"Testicles. They are called testicles. You mean to tell me you haven't had them checked since puberty?" She could not believe she was even having this conversation at this point.
Naruto defiantly shook his head, then jabbed a finger at her, "I bet ya girls don't have to undergo something so intrusive! It's us men who have to suffer your cold medic-nin hands!"
That was the second time in less than a week that someone complained about her hands being cold. Sakura unconsciously flexed her fingers to force more blood to flow into the tips, and briefly she wondered if it had anything to do with the stress of the past fortnight.
Suddenly realising the challenge in Naruto's words, a dark glint came to her eyes.
"What?" Naruto leaned away slightly, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Humming softly to herself, Sakura pulled open a lower drawer and rooted around in it loudly. Naruto was starting to sweat profusely from where he was sitting, and the slow deliberateness of her movements was grinding his nerves to shreds. When she finally pulled out a strange metal implement that looked like a cross between a plier and a lever and brandished it in front of herself, Naruto outright yelped and scooted several metres back while holding onto the stool he was sitting on.
"When a woman reaches the age of twenty-one, as part of her physical, she is required to do what is called a pap smear. That is when we take this device called a speculum and insert it into the vagina. It keeps her vagina stretched open so the doctor can push a long swab inside of her to collect samples from her cervix to check for cancer as it is quite treatable is detected early enough," Sakura recited as she pressed the handle of the speculum for emphasise, and Naruto's eyes were threatening to bulge right out of their sockets at the angle which the tool opened. "This is what a woman's physical entails. It's not fun, that's for sure."
"Not fun? It looks like torture!" Naruto shouted as he eyed the tool as if it was a dangerous weapon.
Shrugging, Sakura twirling the device in one hand as she would a kunai and asked, "So, what's it going to be? Do you want a male examination, or a female one?"
Naruto shook his head violently, his own predicament forgotten with all his attention now on the speculum as if it posed a real threat to him, or at least to his sanity. "There is no way that thing can fit inside a woman! Heck, it's bigger than my dick!"
Taking pity on Sakura's increasingly red face, Katsuyu slithered out of Sakura's medic pouch and headed over to the sand-cat to whisper a command. It twitched its ears as it listened to her suggestion, and finally crawled out from under the cot to head out of the tent, making sure to hiss at Naruto as it walked past. Naruto grimaced at Mr. Fluffy-kins briefly in exchange before returning his suspicious glare to the instrument of female torture that Sakura was now holding limply in her hand.
A few seconds later, the interior of the tent darkened, and Sakura heaved a sigh of relief that at least someone here had enough common sense to erect a sand barrier around her tent to muffle Naruto's inhumanly loud voice, because it sure as heck was not her right now.
"First of all, almost every woman can fit this inside of her, although we do have a smaller model for women who have not experienced coitus. Secondly, I do not want to know the size of your penis," Sakura set the speculum down on the table while reaching to turn on her overhead light, knocking over the mini Hokage building as she did so.
The slow, deliberate collapse of the cotton swabs under the weight of the speculum did absolutely nothing to put Naruto's mind at ease.
"It looks seriously painful," Naruto continued to insist, then his whiskers turned upwards as he grinned broadly at her, "But I guess after ya gotten Gaara's dick, everything else looks manageable to ya, huh?"
From the outside of the sand barrier, several passing shinobi and medic-nin noticed how the sand structure bulged out abruptly in the front before it slowly sunk back into a dome shape once more. Muffled screaming and shouting could be heard inside, but anyone curious enough to want to eavesdrop was deterred by the dangerous sound of hissing emitting from the sentient sand barrier.
Inside the tent, Naruto was now sporting an impressive-looking bruise on the front of his chest thanks to Sakura's fist, and he crawled back towards the stool that he had been punched out of.
"Just… There is no correlation between large penis size and satisfactory coitus, okay?" Sakura closed her eyes and turned away to mentally count backwards from fifty; Naruto's observation about the more-than-intimidating size of the speculum was actually not that far off when held in comparison to… goddamn it, stop thinking about it, Sakura!
When Naruto failed to answer her after she finished counting, Sakura turned to look at him, only to be met with a slack-jawed Naruto as he stared unabashedly at her. After a few more moments of silence, she self-consciously rubbed at her cheek. "Do I have something on my face or what?"
"So those rumours are true," Naruto muttered with a tone of awe in his voice.
"What. Rumours."
Naruto clambered back into the stool, and had now taken to scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"I thought it was too crazy when I first heard it, but seeing that bite mark on the back of ya neck, I guess those guys in the mess hall weren't kiddin'." At this point, both of Sakura's hands flew up to the back of her neck as she turned completely pink, and she remembered too late that Gaara had left one final love bite on her neck last night before they fell asleep. She had not noticed it this morning because of its location, but with her now shorter hairstyle, if she even moved her head slightly, it was there for anyone with working eyes to see evidence of the Kazekage's passion. Which apparently meant everyone she walked past since she left their tent this morning.
Wonderful.
However, before her mortification could fry her working brain completely, Sakura remembered that Naruto had been to the mess hall already, and he had then been waiting for her since even before she stirred. The rumour that he was referring to was not the result of her (accidentally) parading her love bite around.
"Seriously, Naruto. What rumours?"
"Oh, ya know." Obviously, she did not. Naruto tilted his head as if trying to make sense of what he was recounting, "Something about how much Gaara hassled ya for sex that ya needed to dodge him for a fortnight? Like he wouldn't take no for an answer even when ya on the rag? I think?"
Naruto watched with undisguised fascination as Sakura grabbed the pillow off the cot, buried her face in it, and screamed her lungs out in one extended, loud exhale.
By the time Sakura had pulled the pillow away, it was hard to tell if the redness of her cheeks was due to her breathlessness, or if she was embarrassed beyond belief.
It was probably a mixture of both.
Naruto leaned forward and patted her shoulder sympathetically. Sakura scrubbed her fingers through her fringe and sighed deeply, hanging her head as she did so.
"If it helps, I don't believe a lick of it!" Naruto declared cheerfully, acting as if his good mood could simply be rubbed off onto her, "Besides, with a dick his size, I don't think any girl would be tryin' to dodge him."
"Naruto." Sakura deadpanned, "Seriously, stop talking about penises, please."
Her blond teammate mimed pulling a zipper over his mouth as he continued to pat her shoulder, unaware that Sakura was currently torn between allying herself to Madara so he would grant her unfathomable powers to smite the rumour mongers with, or wondering if it would be easier to obliterate the Allied Shinobi Forces with her own two hands instead.
"So… ya gonna be ok?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
Sakura nodded, anyway.
He gave her one last clap to her back, a charismatic grin lighting up his features as he rose to take his leave. "I'm going to find Lee to train with since I got the day off! I'm really glad to hear that everything is fine between ya and Gaara now."
Stopping in front of the sand barrier that was pushed right up against the tent flap, Naruto pondered his options before knocking on it tentatively.
"Yo, kitty! Lemme out?"
The sand barrier rustled briefly before disintegrating into a pile of sand at the entrance, then it re-shaped itself into a green-eyed feline that never failed to glower at Naruto each time their paths crossed. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki smiled widely at it and gave its head a few good scratches before he strode out into the sunlight. Mr. Fluffy-kins bared its teeth at him, but kept its growling to a minimum.
"Thanks for not touching my balls, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out backwards as he jogged off.
The tent flap was held open, thanks to the sand-cat standing halfway inside the tent. That gave the lingering shinobi and civilians outside a lengthy peek into the tent to see Sakura's wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression. Both cat and kunoichi stared after the blond shinobi's retreating form, and when they finally met each other's eyes, a moment of understanding passed between them.
Naruto's next physical was going to be excruciating.
With the weight of the newest rumours swirling about her, Sakura did not feel comfortable going to the mess hall by herself. Sure, she had lived through some of the craziest rumours about her supposed love life she had ever heard even when comparing them to some of Ino's more outlandish trashy romance novels, but that was before Gaara decided to make good on a few of those rumours as his courtship progressed towards including physical affection.
Right now, she felt that there was an awkward hint of truth to everything being whispered about Gaara and her. However, she had skipped breakfast in her rush to get to Naruto, and the medic-nin in her knew it would not be prudent to skip lunch as well.
That was the reason she was seeking out familiar female companionship as she made a beeline for Ino's tent. The blonde kunoichi's wartime assignment was not tied to any one specific role, and she shuffled through the different sectors that required an extra hand every few days. Currently, Ino was responsible for patching up some of the worn-out tents, and she had complained about how sexist the job was.
"You don't see men being assigned to this task, do you?" Ino had groused to her several days ago as she jabbed the needle harder into the fabric than she needed to. Behind her in her tent was a pile of tents in need of repairs and a bolt of canvas to patch them with.
Sakura had nodded in agreement, but could not stay to help as she had her own rotation at the medic camp to attend to. She also deliberately ignored Ino shouting after her to get her flowers moved elsewhere, and she wondered if her friend would forgive her for taking over so much of her precious living space.
Except that when she arrived at Ino's tent, she suddenly found herself with an armful of grateful kunoichi.
"Oh, thank goodness! Thank you, thank you, thank YOU for getting those lilies taken care of! I was actually going to die of hayfever!" Ino declared dramatically, throwing her head back and touching the back of her hand to it as she continued to hug Sakura.
"But I didn't…"
Still, there was no refuting the fact that Ino's tent was now devoid of all traces of the lilies that Gaara had gifted her, and now that she thought about it, the pots outside their tent were missing as well.
It would probably be safe to assume that the ones in her tent (she still had to take it down and return it to the Unit Supply Specialist team before someone complained) have been removed as well. Where the lilies, she had no idea.
"Ino, I didn't move them," Sakura clarified.
Ino smiled as she drew back. "Of course I knew that. Your cat came and took them all away this morning!"
Sakura snapped her head towards the sand-cat next to her feet so quickly that her hair almost hit Ino in the face. Mr. Fluffy-kins looked up at her, purring contentedly as it bumped itself against her calf.
"Where did you take all the flowers to, Mr. Fluffy-kins?"
A meow. Not very helpful.
Ino suddenly snapped her fingers as if remembering something, and she reached under her pillow to pull out what appeared to be an envelope. She handed it to Sakura, grinning as she did so.
The handwriting on the envelope was in her father's penmanship.
Sakura felt her stomach tumble right into her toes; she now had a very good idea of where all the lilies ended up.
"Your cat came back with this on its final trip. He was turning himself into a cloud and transporting them in batches since early this morning." All this Ino explained as she bounced slightly on her heels, and Sakura knew that her best friend was simply dying to know what her father had written.
Pleased that her fingers only trembled for a brief moment, Sakura turned the envelope around to slip her index finger through the back flap to tear it open. Inside was a small piece of paper, hastily torn from the notepad she knew her parents kept next to the refrigerator. Unfolding it, she could not suppress the rush of emotions at seeing her father's handwriting after so many months apart. Like most of her peers, she continued to live with her parents, as it was the custom for unmarried children to do so in Konohagakure, and she had a good idea what to expect from her father's letter.
"Sakura-chan,
Whoever your suitor is, we ask that you tell him to be less extravagant. He should be setting aside his savings to set up your future together instead of wasting it on flowers.
Unless he is the Kazekage. Kage's pretty much have an unlimited discretionary budget, right? Then again, Sunagakure had been economically compromised for several decades already.
Anyway, we have moved most of your lilies into the communal gardens with the help of your cat. If our plans to purchase a countryside farm materialise, we can put them into the ground then. Right now, I don't even know how we are going to keep the pollen from getting onto everyone's laundry in the neighbourhood. But I understand these are important to you, so we will do our best to keep them alive.
I will ask Ino's mother for some tips.
Stay safe, and come home to us soon.
PS: If your suitor is the Kazekage, I expect an appropriately-sized dowry.
Cordially,
Your father."
Sighing, she re-folded the letter and tucked it back inside the envelope. Some of her earlier correspondence to her parents must have finally made it back to the village, and she did mention briefly in one missive that she had given up on pursuing Sasuke and was instead going to give her full attention towards being a kunoichi of Konohagakure and making Tsunade proud by fulfilling her assignment to the Kazekage to the best of her abilities. Her parents must have put two-and-two together, working out that a powerful Suna-nin had gifted her Mr. Fluffy-kins, and with the accompanying and very ostentatious gift of potted lilies by the dozens, that his intentions were serious.
The mention of a dowry was what made her eyebrows knit together in annoyance; She knew that her parents were more traditional, and if she were to end up in a foreign land, her parents would certainly expect to be compensated for the loss of her companionship. If she stayed in Konoha, that might not be an issue.
"Ooo, daddy Haruno is expecting a bride price already?" Ino teased as Sakura put the letter inside her medic pouch for safe-keeping.
"Please don't refer to my father as 'daddy'." Sakura winced. "And no, I think he's just kidding. He knows I never liked the idea of being bartered for marriage."
"Your feminist ideals don't matter, Forehead-girl. It's a tradition that has been carried out since before the founding of the Five Great Shinobi Nations. And you're an only child, so imagine if the Kazekage whisked you away from your village. Your parents are in the right to demand a bride price," Ino intoned sagely, and she held a finger up as she often did when lecturing Sakura.
Sakura shook her head forlornly; what was she doing, contemplating a future that was so far away? True, Naruto was safely back with them, but the fact that he brought no victory back meant that the Allied Shinobi Forces were once again playing the waiting game. That their own army had not made any moves since told of their own dismal outlook at a victory if they were to mount an all-out assault against Akatsuki right now.
Waiting without knowing when the enemy would strike them down… it was agonising.
"So, what did you come here for, anyway?" Ino set her work neatly aside on her cot, then proceeded to stretch herself out like a cat. "Are you headed for lunch? Because I could use a bite right about now."
Sakura nodded, "Yes, that's what I came to find you for, actually. I missed breakfast this morning."
A Cheshire grin lighting up Ino's face was never good news.
"Oh ho, so the rumours about your epic, earth-shaking reconciliation sex with the Kazekage is true?" Ino could not resist teasing the pink-haired kunoichi, even if she knew that Sakura was still very much in possession of her chastity; if Sakura had lost it, there was no doubt in her mind that she would have been privy to that knowledge if not the next day, then within the week that it occurred - such were the perks of being Sakura's best female friend.
"Ino-Pig," Sakura flushed as she rubbed at the back of her neck absentmindedly - she had healed that love bite after Naruto's pointing out of its presence, "You should know better than to believe half the stuff that comes out of the rumour mill."
"Ah, so the other half is actually valid!"
"Are we going to eat, or not?"
Ino led the way out of her tent and towards the mess hall, keeping pace with Sakura as she did so. Her presence was a balm to Sakura's tense nerves, and with the blonde kunoichi's head held high and glaring at those who dared to stare too long in their direction, Sakura could feel her own bravado shoring up as well.
It promptly crashed back down to earth the moment they pushed open the doors to the mess hall, and several groups of dining shinobi turned to face them.
Keep your head up, maintain eye contact, and don't blink too much.
Sakura willed herself to return the gazes that her fellow shinobi threw her way, and most of them eventually ducked their heads or returned to their meals soon after. Ino bumped into her side encouragingly before they made for the line of shinobi queuing up for food, and that prompted her to return the gesture with a small smile of her own.
It was difficult to blend into the crowd when one had a crown of pink hair; it was even harder when not one but three shinobi openly came up to her to thank her for keeping them safe during Madara's attack. She had left for the Land of Waves almost immediately after that, and the past weeks were spent burying herself in work as her mind lingered on the Kage-level secrets that she had learnt, her frowning expression during her irregular meal times having kept the less brave shinobi away. However, now that she had a chirpy blonde by her side and was smiling, a few shinobi took it as their best opportunity to express their gratitude.
The gift of wildflowers being thrusted into her hands by a flustered man who looked at least a decade older than her was something she could do without, though. Ino's open snickering next to her did her nerves no favour, and Sakura wondered briefly if the rumours of her break-up still outpaced those of her reconciliation with the Regimental Commander.
"Thank you." It would not be polite to refuse a gift, especially one given out of genuine appreciation. Sakura placed the flowers on her tray and smiled at the bashful young man as he bowed and walked away.
"Oh my, so many handsome suitors. I should have focused on healing as my specialty, huh?" Ino said cheekily with a finger to her chin.
Sakura shook her head. "It would not have been possible without Katsuyu-sama. She deserves all their thanks."
"You know that my ability to heal is tied to your chakra levels, Sakura. If you didn't have so much stored away, I wouldn't have been able to do all that. Learn to take a little credit." The slug summon poked out from Sakura's medic pouch, gazed around the mess hall, then peered pointedly at the flowers sticking out over the edge of the tray, "I don't think a slug will get a gift of flowers, in any case."
Sakura was ready to reply that Katsuyu's physical appearance did not factor into how gratitude should be expressed, when she turned sharply to her left side to face a burst of irritated aura directed at her.
It took her several moments to place a name to the face that was approaching her, the smile that was once used to greet her now completely taken over by a bitter scowl. Unconsciously, she pulled the tray a little closer to herself, and that drew Ino's attention to the approaching brown-haired kunoichi who was accompanied by a long-haired brunette.
"Look," Matsuri began a little too loudly for her words to be merely a conversation directed at her companion, "All I'm saying is that if Gaara-sama has needs, they should be attended without complaint. If the kunoichi he has chosen for his bed is unwilling to see to his desires, he should be looking elsewhere."
Whatever Sakura or Ino was about to say was promptly cut off by Yukata tilting her head, genuine confusion in her face as she queried, "But Matsuri, didn't you say that Gaara-sama should not allow a woman's desires to drain him of his physical strength? Why is it ok for him to make those requests of a woman, but not her of him?"
A sudden silence descended over the entire queue and the surrounding area as Matsuri glared viciously at Yukata for her unwitting betrayal.
It was broken by a loud, unlady-like guffaw from Ino as she doubled over in laughter.
"Yeah, that's a good point. Why should a man get to make booty calls but the woman gets shamed for doing the same?" Ino crowed out loud enough for everyone within earshot to hear.
As if finding kinship in a long-lost friend, Yukata nodded eagerly at Ino and added, "Yes! It's incredibly sexist if only women get shamed for their desires! And can you imagine Gaara-sama sleeping around?"
"No, sister, I cannot." Ino reached out and patted Yukata on her arm, "I don't want to imagine the Kazekage getting busy at all. Especially with my best friend."
The wildflowers fell slowly to the ground as Sakura's tray tipped, and she fought back the urge to cover her face with it. Knowing her luck, she would probably end up smashing her forehead against it and draw more attention to herself; half the hall listening in on this too-loud exchange was more than enough.
While Ino and Yukata giggled between themselves, Matsuri had turned an interesting shade of purple. She glared hard at Sakura, and in a strange moment of spite, the pink-haired kunoichi straightened her posture and returned the glare with a harsher one.
"Matsuri," Sakura greeted her placidly.
"Haruno-san," came the curt reply. Gone were the days that this kunoichi would refer to her by her given name.
They held each other gazes, neither party willing to look away first.
In the end, it was the disgruntled clanging of a metal from the server behind the counter that broke the tension in the air. Oblivious to the killing intent radiating from the brown-haired kunoichi in front of him, an elderly man with an apron was knocking his ladle against a metal serving tray.
"Next in line!" He barked out impatiently.
Matsuri was the first to turn away, her lips pulled into a scowl as she snagged Yukata by her upper arm and pulled her along. "Let's go, Yukata."
"Bye, Sakura-san and her friend!" Yukata waved cheerily as she was half-dragged out of the mess hall.
Both kunoichi watched them leave and eventually it was the loud grumblings of the server and a few shinobi further back down the line that prompted them to bring their trays up to be served.
"So, I figured since you don't often make time to eat here in the mess hall with us plebs," Ino joked, shaking her head to cut Sakura off, "I figured it will be just as good a time as any for us to do this."
Sakura blinked in open confusion at Ino's words, and part of her inwardly shuddered at what Ino's 'this' could mean.
"Sakura."
She turned her head in the direction of the familiar voice calling out for her, and Sakura's gaze landed on a table full of faces she both recognised and held dear to her heart. While walking to the mess hall earlier, Ino decided to check in on their friends telepathically and arranged for this little get-together, and fortuitously, all of them were either already there or were on their way.
The Konoha Eleven and Sai; minus Naruto and Lee, presently, but this was the first time she had seen all her friends together in the mess hall since the war started. Even Shikamaru was here, and he usually dined with the other officers in their dedicated mess hall. Naruto had been gone for months since the start of the war, having been training with the Hachibi Jinchuuriki, and was most likely responsible for Lee's current absence. Other members of the Konoha Eleven had been deployed to the front or assigned to different divisions. Until now, when their numbers dwindled enough for them all to congregate as one division instead of five.
"Have a seat." Shikamaru gestured to a spot big enough for both kunoichi that was between himself and Kiba. The Inuzuka male shot Ino a wolfish grin, and she returned it with a smile of her own. The blonde kunoichi had made no further mention of her romp with Kiba, and neither did she note any change in her relationship with him that Sakura was aware of. Clearly, whatever they had was a one-time thing, and it had not affected their friendship at all.
Sakura noted with some satisfaction that Tenten was sitting to the side of Neji, the brunette nudged a little closer to him than what she assumed was the perimeter of his personal space. The Hyuuga's were a conservative clan that did not condone public displays of affection, and the fact that Neji allowed his teammate close enough for their shoulders to bump comfortably against each other hinted at their newfound closeness.
Sakura tried not to sigh wistfully at how easily intimacies came to those around her. Meanwhile, she was too busy dancing around shinobi politics and the looming war, letting them direct the progression of her physical relationship with Gaara. At the back of her mind, she could understand and even accept his reasoning that he wanted to take that final step with her only when the war was over, both to ensure that their first time's memory was something untouched by war, and also when she was no longer duty-bound to serve him, thereby correcting the power imbalance between them.
A ridiculous notion, really. He was a Kage, and she was a mere jonin from an allying village. There would never be a way to ensure that they met each other as true equals in the eyes of the shinobi world. Unless somehow she ended up as an interim Hokage, for reasons she hoped would never come to pass.
"Earth to Forehead-girl. What are you brooding about now?" Ino elbowed her in the ribs rather pointedly, and Sakura looked up to see a few of her friends looking at her with concern.
Embarrassed at being caught, she quickly picked up her chopsticks and gestured down the table. "I was wondering where Naruto and Lee are, that's all."
Ino shot her a look that said she did not buy Sakura's explanation, but she closed her eyes in a huff. It took Sakura a moment to realise that she was communicating telepathically, no doubt trying to locate the two shinobi she had mentioned.
Sighing loudly, Ino opened her eyes and said, "Lee said he's sorry about being late, but Naruto insisted on finishing their sparring session before he would leave. They're on their way now."
"They're going to miss out on the choice dishes," Shino noted, "You never want to be too late to the mess hall, or it is just vegetables and rice."
"Food is food," Sai commented plainly as he popped a slice of pickled radish into his mouth mechanically, "You need to eat more, Ugly. Otherwise, your breasts will shrink to nothing from all the stressing out you've been doing."
Everyone at the table turned to gape at Sai, whose only reaction was to continue eating as if he had not said a single word. Sakura blanched, but it was more due to her shame at being so thoroughly read by the former Root member than anything else; she had indeed skipped several meals as she buried herself in work both in the medic camp and elsewhere, all in a bid to take her mind off of Gaara in the past fortnight.
Still, it was rude for him to take note of something like that; she instinctively folded her arms over her chest and was readying a response when Ino reached across the table and smacked Sai upside the head instead, causing his head to snap backwards.
"You need a little more tact, Sai," Ino admonished.
Sai blinked, mild disbelief on his face at being abused by someone besides Sakura for a change. "Is it not a sign of friendship to tell someone to stop worrying themselves sick?"
"Yes, but not so…" Ino waved an arm around vaguely, "Bluntly. You don't mention a woman's assets so openly, especially if you don't have something nice to say about it."
"Ah," Sai's lips curled up into one of his trademark smiles, and Sakura cringed as she realised what her former teammate was about to do. "In that case, I will certainly have nothing bad to say about yours, Beautiful, as they are very impressive and not in danger of shrinkage anytime soon."
Ignoring Ino's sudden blush, Sai turned his head to a stricken-looking Hinata who was next to Kiba, and he began to speak, "And Lioness, yours are also very-"
"Yo! Sorry we're late!" Naruto's voice carried across the mess hall as the doors slammed open loudly.
Perfect timing.
Hinata had stopped holding her breath, and did not look so ready to faint (though her skin still looked paler than usual).
But she still might, Sakura realised, if Naruto decided to claim the empty spot at the bench next to her.
Fortunately, Naruto decided to force himself between Shino and Sai, planting himself firmly in front of Sakura as he dragged and shoved Lee next to him. Lee whispered and waved out apologies to those whose bench they were so rudely intruding on, but everyone simply shifted down both ends to make space for the new additions to the table.
"Wow, this is the first time I'm seeing everyone in ages!" Naruto grinned, then he began pointing up and down the table at everyone's trays, "Ya guys started without us?!"
"You were late, Naruto. We're not going to be left with scraps just to be polite." Kiba was the one who spoke up, and from behind him, Akamaru gave a loud bark of agreement.
Having trailed quietly beside Sakura the entire time, the sand-cat shot the nin-dog a warning look to stay away from him. Kiba pretended not to notice how Akamaru had shifted further away from the sand-cat even as he scooted down the bench himself.
Naruto groaned aloud and glanced towards the mess hall line that has dwindled to just a few stragglers. "Rats! So there's nothin' good left to eat?"
"Vegetables are very good for you, Naruto. You should consume at least five portions a day to fuel your youthful energy levels!" Lee gave him a thumbs-up as he rose from his seat, dragging Naruto along with him to the end of the queue, "Let's both grab extra-large portions so we can reap the full benefit from it!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura could see Hinata quietly picking several pieces of chicken out from her rice bowl into an empty plate. She reached for it, winking at Hinata for good measure before plopping the plate down in the middle of the table.
"Ok, boys, you all know the drill," Sakura announced as the plate clattered noisily, its slow spinning motion drawing everyone's eyes to it.
Several loud groans emitted from around the table. Neji and Shikamaru were the first to move, taking several pieces of whatever protein they had to add to the plate. The other shinobi around the table followed their action with varying levels of reluctance (she reserved an especially hard glare for Chouji who was predictably noncompliant), by now familiar with this ritual of sharing in their wealth with the Jinchuuriki they once shunned out of childish (and their parents') fears.
Once the plate was piled high, Sakura was usually the one in charge of handing it to Naruto. Except that this time, she nudged the plate back in Hinata's direction. Ino had filled her in on how Naruto had spun Hinata around with a dance or several during Gaara's birthday celebrations, and the poor girl had been beside herself, caught between almost fainting from his closeness and getting a headrush from all the blood rising to her flaming cheeks that night.
It was time Hinata did something besides stammering bashfully around Naruto, Sakura decided.
The Hyuuga heiress turned a very bright shade of pink at the implication, and Kiba had to secure a hand to her shoulder to keep her from bolting.
"Well, that blows." Naruto dropped his tray onto the table, not a piece of meat in sight. Lee, on the other hand, was cheerfully balancing a tray overflowing with kale and spinach that he nudged encouragingly towards the blond shinobi. Snapping his pair of disposable chopsticks, Naruto heaved a loud, dramatic-sounding sigh as he poked at his rice, muttering, "I shoulda just gone to the War Council's kitchen. Did ya guys know they serve ramen there? I bet Gaara wouldn't mind taking me there… Hey, I should just go find Gaara right now-"
While her teammate jabbered on, Sakura elbowed Ino, who in turn pinched Kiba, who then squeezed Hinata's shoulder encouragingly.
Emitting a bashful-sounding squeak, Hinata picked up the plate of meat with both hands and practically shoved it in Naruto's face. With her eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment, she did not catch the way his brows furrowed in confusion before his bright blue eyes lit up in sudden understanding.
"Wow! Thanks, Hinata-chan! This is almost as good as ramen!" Naruto accepted the plate and placed it in front of himself. He started shoving several pieces into his mouth in rapid succession before a look of confusion came over his face, and with stuffed cheeks he pointed his chopsticks in Sakura's direction to ask, "Wait a minute - aren't ya usually the one savin' me the good stuff, Sakura-chan?"
"Yes, because I'm sure the Kazekage will take his girlfriend feeding you so well," noted Ino sarcastically.
"Bah," Naruto waved his chopstick carelessly, "Gaara isn't the jealous type. Otherwise he would have something to say about Sakura doing ball exams on her male patients."
Shino was the only one to do a spit-take, but that probably had more to do with the fact that he was drinking at the moment of Naruto's utterance. The rest of the table merely stared at Naruto with varying degrees of disappointment and disgust at his choice of words.
Naturally, Sakura was left speechless, her mouth hanging open at how wonderfully Naruto's too-loud voice reverberated throughout the mess hall. The shinobi at the nearby tables, most of them having already begun eavesdropping the moment the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki arrived, were outright leaning towards them in open curiosity by now.
It became a tale handed down through the generations, telling of how a pink-haired kunoichi had fearlessly punched the powerful Kyuubi Jinchuuriki clear through the wall of the mess hall and received no punishment for her actions. Some said it was due to her favoured position as the Regimental Commander's lover; others said it was due to her inhuman strength that no one dared rebuke her.
In any case, it was especially whispered amongst the kunoichi's that Haruno Sakura was not one to be trifled with, and that suited her just fine.