"You're all going to die," said Inari the next morning. The ninja at the table stopped to stare at the little boy calmly declaring their death. All but one were surprised at his audacity. But Sakura was angry.
"What was that," said Sakura, standing up from her place at the table with a sneer on her face.
"You all are going to fight, and Gato is going to win, and you'll all-"
Inari dropped to the ground, cradling his head and staring at the shoes of the pink-haired kunoichi towering over him. "What shit," she said, crouching down until their faces were almost touching, "are you talking? Never mind that you're saying this to people fighting for you, or your own grandfather who is fighting for your future. Never mind you said it to one of the greatest minds of the ninja world, or the last heir to a great clan, or a ninja with enough power that even the smallest fraction of it could crush you." She ignored the annoyed grunt behind her from her more surly teammate. She made a fist and raised it up."You said it to me. And you of all people will not tell me I will lose."
Her fist fell, and stopped only because Kakashi was suddenly there beside her, his hand pressed into her elbow, holding her back. Even as he did so, it took a small fraction of a second for her fist to stop, and she felt him slowly increase his own effort until it did. Even he underestimates me, underestimates my strength, she thought, turning to glare at her sensei. Kakashi met her eyes with his own, then shook his head a tiny fraction. His one eye turned slightly towards the child where he had fallen out of his chair in surprise, then back to her. Not sure what he was getting at she also looked at the civilian kid.
And the thought struck her; I just tried to strike a child. She looked down at the kid, crying and covering his head, and she realized just how young he was compared to them. An untrained child, and I tried to hit him as hard as I hit Naruto. Like I would a foe. The horror was slowly growing, a cold chunk of ice in her gut spreading throughout her body. She could feel the cold stares of every person in the room.
Her hands unclenched and she turned to leave, only to feel a slight tug from her arm, still in Kakashi's grip. She looked up at him and watched his one eye stare at her, his eyebrow going up slightly, then his gaze turned back to Inari, who was starting to manage his tears.
She turned back and bowed to Inari, a deep bow, which she held for some time. "I am sorry, Inari-san, for striking you. It is not right to refute words with blows, regardless how one feels. Please forgive me." She rose and, with a nod from Kakashi, retired to her room.
"Inari," said Naruto, walking over and putting a friendly arm around the kid's shoulders, "Maybe we should go for a walk." He lead the still-stunned kid in the direction of the front door, and as he opened it, he shot a glare at Sasuke, who was still sitting unmoved where he had been all this time. He pointed up the stairs after Sakura, and glared until Sasuke gave a sigh and began to stand. He then led the little boy outside and shut the door.
Sasuke knocked on the door and waited. After a few moments of silence, he knocked again.
"Go away, Naruto," Sakura said through the wall, her voice shaking slightly. "I don't want to talk."
Sasuke stood there for some time, debating what he was going to do. He had no desire to talk to Sakura. She had been an annoying fangirl for most of his life, one of the loudest, shrillest, and most aggressive of them all, rivaled only by the damned blonde she always competed with. Her desperate calls for his attention had been a major part of his time at school, and it had taken years to learn to ignore it.
Had been, he thought to himself, taking note of his internal tirade. Was. She had been annoying... but he begrudgingly admitted that she was getting better, much better. When they sparred, he had to work just as hard to win against her as he did against Naruto, but where Naruto was a challenge because of his innovation and clones, Sakura was a challenge on skill and ferocity alone. She had yet to use any sort of jutsu in their fights, even when permitted, and while she still lost when they were one-on-one, the gap was getting smaller with each day.
Their power is my power.
He found enough respect in himself, and in her, to knock once more, and managed to grunt out, "It's me."
No screaming was heard through the walls, no gasps of romantic delight, not even the smallest of cheers greeted him. He heard Sakura quietly pad over to the door and open it with almost no sound, and she stood before him, eyes brimming with tears, biting her lip so hard he could see the marks it was leaving.
He stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. He slowly walked to the window, took his time looking out at Naruto and Inari on the dock below, and when he turned back to her, she was in control, calmer than he could really expect from her.
"What happened," he said, in the same tone he always used, and winced slightly with the frost in his own voice.
She walked into the middle of the room and sat, head down, his shadow blocking the sun from her face, leaving it in darkness. Her mouth worked, and he heard the slightest of whispers come from her, but nothing understandable. He waited, but she did not repeat herself. He sighed, then stepped away from the window and sat down in front of her, trying to meet her eyes through her bangs. Still, she said nothing.
I dedicate my soul to any deity who will answer my one greatest wish, that this will not make her revert to type.
He reached out and cupped her face in his hand, raising it up until she met his eyes. He stared at her, motionless, his expression as cold as it ever was, feeling the dampness on her skin under her eyes, and waited. Eventually, her eyes hardened, and she lifted her head from his hand and gave him a nod. Miracles do exist, he thought, and permitted himself a small smile at this most pleasant surprise. "What happened," he repeated, trying to keep that small smile, to let a little of its unfamiliar warmth into his voice.
"I snapped," she said, her tone of voice as dull as his own habitually was, and hearing it from her, he felt a twinge of regret at using it exclusively with others. It makes her sound dead, he thought, so I wonder what it does for me.
"Why," he asked.
She frowned at him. "I... don't wish to say. You will think less of me than usual, and I think it will annoy you greatly."
Sasuke smirked at that. "I abandoned my meal and came up here to talk. You can presume I am annoyed. Don't let it stop you, it never really did before." There was a flash in her eyes at that, a streak of anger, and Sasuke was careful not to smile. Let her be angry, it's better than being dead.
She took a deep breath and let it out before speaking. "I became angry at being considered a failure. Again. I was a failure when we left the academy, grades aside. I knew plenty about shinobi, but nothing about being one. Kakashi showed me that, and I have worked hard to become better. But there is a little part of me that doubts my efforts, that doubts that him, or Naruto, or... or you will ever see me as anything but weak." She blushed and looked away, and Sasuke felt sudden dread, the cold grasp of a fangirl confession squeezing his heart.
"I know," she said, looking at him with pain in her eyes, and he wondered if his face had conveyed his dread. "I know you dislike what I was. And I know you'll never feel anything for me, you do not need to tell me. But I'm only human." She looked away again. "Now, all I want is to be strong enough to stand beside you, and Naruto, instead of in your shadows."
Sasuke frowned and thought carefully for a moment. He then swept his hand out, palm flat, slapping at her face.
With barely a look, her arm raised in a block. Her eyes turned harsh, and she sent her other hand out in return, a slap that he blocked with ease. Then she turned her hands inward, grabbing him by the wrist, and pulled him towards her. He braced himself, leaning away, expecting a dreaded hug or, kami be damned, a kiss, and was completely unprepared for the headbutt.
It was beautiful, a textbook example, the steel of her headband smashing into his nose, his upper lip, rocking his head back. He felt his nose compact, nearly breaking under the strike, and his upper lips were slashed by his own teeth. His body recoiled, and he fell flat on his back.
He then gave a short, sharp laugh.
After a moment, he heard her snort in return, a perfect imitation of his own manner of amusement. It struck him as odd, but pleasant and somehow deeply amusing. He found himself laughing, not some meager, deliberate, derisive snort, but a full, warm chuckle from deep within his chest, the likes of which he had never felt, even in the old days, before his brother...
And even that pain was just a little less sharp.
Ok, so Kakashi was right, it hurts less. Like hell I'll admit it to him.
"Kakashi told me something," he said from the floor. He lifted his head slightly, and saw her laying on the floor, mirroring his own pose, her hand on her forehead rubbing at the mark the steel head plate had left in her skin.
"What," she said, sitting up.
He dragged himself up into a sitting position as well. "He said all three of us have problems."
"No, really." she said, her voice toneless, her eyes wide in feigned surprise.
"Ha, ha," he said in return. "He told me that Naruto has abandonment issues, and with no guidance in his youth, he has self control problems." Sakura let out a fake gasp, but he ignored her for now. "He also said you have self esteem issues, and having your assumption of capability crushed like it was when we became a team might have made it worse."
Sakura grunted at that, but she didn't dispute it. Instead, she tented her hands and stared at him over them. "And you?" she asked.
Sasuke frowned, his good cheer draining away. He had zero desire to talk about what Kakashi had said about the matter to him... but he realized that if he was not honest with her here and now, then all of his efforts would have been fruitless. Better to be discomforted now than have to do this again later. And if Kakashi was right before, about so many things, maybe he was right now. Maybe I am not as alone as I tend to presume.
"He calls it a chip on my shoulder. I call it my duty. But either way, my brother needs to die for his crimes. It makes me focused, driven... and distant." Sakura did her best, but a small giggle and nod arrived at that declaration. He frowned at her, and made a deliberate and difficult effort not to simply stop talking and walk away. "It's not funny, Sakura. I feel... pressured. You can't possibly understand."
"Tell me."
He looked at her, sitting in the sunlight streaming from the window. No obsession, no obligation, and no judgment shone in her eyes. She sat quietly as he stared at her, making no effort to push him along, and offering no punishment for declining.
"He killed my family," he said, unable to meet her eyes any longer. "He slaughtered them, and then challenged me to do something about it, to hunt him down and slay him. He used his power against me, made me live... it... over and over again. He must die, and I must do it. And every moment I spend not gaining power is a moment wasted, another moment where I allow him to live unpunished. Where my family is unavenged." His eyes dropped, and for a moment, all he could see was his mother and father… again.
They sat together in a long and uncomfortable silence. Sakura did not approach him, made no move to comfort him or give him solace. She stared at him, and when he finally lifted his eyes to her face, she was not crying, nor sad, or even angry. She was thinking, entirely focused on her thoughts, her eyes narrowed and her hands clenched into fists. She looked up, and her eyes were ablaze like a forge, hot coals burning strong enough to turn mere iron into steel.
"I will join you in your revenge," she said after a long moment, her voice as quiet as a blade in the darkness, "and I bet when the time comes, so will Naruto. You'll fight your brother, and we'll be there, not to slay him for you, but to support you, to ensure that, come what may, you will have your vengeance."
Their strength is my strength.
He nodded to her, a moment of understanding passing between them, an epiphany. Sakura was placing success above method, offering her strength unconditionally, possibly sacrificing herself for his goal. There was no schoolgirl romance involved, no declaration of undying love, not even an assumption of friendship, only the determination to do what needed to be done.
She understood exactly what it was to be an avenger.
"Sakura," he said, giving her a small smile, "I accept your offer. Not out of friendship, or kinship, or any other reason, but in acknowledgment. You may not be as strong as you can be. You may have to work yourself to an early grave to keep up. But you are strong, and between the two of us, we'll demolish anyone who says otherwise." Her smirked. "Think of everything else before then as practice."
He held out his arm, fist clenched tight.
After a moment, she did the same.
Naruto and Inari sat at the dock, their shoes off and their feet soaking in the water. Inari was slumped forward, hat pulled low over his eyes as he stared at the water. "Sorry, Inari," said Naruto, kicking his heels slightly, "Sakura-chan can be scary."
After some more silence, Naruto sighed and mirrored the kid's slump. "Why do you think we are going to die?"
"Because everyone who fights dies. Shopkeepers die. Bridge workers die." His voice became quiet, but just on the edge of his hearing, Naruto heard Inari whisper the final person on his list, and the most important. "My dad died."
Naruto sat there quietly and tried to think. He was not well suited to this conversation, and he knew it. It was not, after all, a subject he had any real right to comment on. In the end, he defaulted to blunt honesty, which at least had the benefit of being uncomplicated. "I never knew my dad," he said with a shrug. "My mom either. I was brought up alone for the most part. Maybe that's the difference. You know, between us. Or maybe it's the sameness between us. I never knew my parents, and hurt for my lack. You knew your dad, and hurt for your loss. Either way, we both hurt."
"So why fight," came the quiet reply.
Naruto leaned back, resting his head on his folded arms, and stared at the bright blue sky. "Well," he said, trying to put his thoughts in order. "I don't know. Is not fighting any better? You might be safe, but then again, you might not be. Nothing is stopping this Gato bastard from just walking up here and killing you, with or without the bridge. It might be we're all going to die. It happens. If you are going to die..." He raised his hand, clasping at the distant sun as if to make it his own, closing his fist around it. "If you're going to die anyhow, maybe it's better to go out fighting. Who knows," he said, smiling to himself, "You might just save someone else. You cannot protect anyone if you never raise your arms to help them."
Inari leaned back and looked at the sky. His face was no longer sad, but thoughtful.
EDIT: Thanks to Pom Rania, who has now gone over this chapter in an effort to finally stamp out the early installment weirdness *GLUG*
Author's Notes: Sakura's increased strength and aggression comes at a price. Nobody goes from doormat to fighter without a little loose baggage, and as it turns out, directly or indirectly, canon!Sakura has some convenient baggage to carry anyhow, in the form of (sometimes excessive) self doubt.
A short chapter, low on action and high on talky talk. I had originally intended to leap directly into Zabuza's assault on the bridge, as Inari's little emo act always annoyed me to no end and I saw little need to rehash it. But it is also a vital part of the story, and a chance for a little character growth in my version, so I decided to go for it. Next up is training, where the difference between canon and this story will grow a bit more, then on to the fight, which I think you will find quite interesting.
SpontaneousMusician: I appreciate folks having a preferred ship, but frankly, shipping is not going to happen any time soon. In truth, I have plans for entire omake style chapters dedicated to shipwrecks of all sorts, because I am a cruel, cruel man, who drinks the salty tears of ship rekt fic'ers. Naruto does not have anything close to official shipping until late Shippuden, and I intend to keep to that spirit of non-shipping until at least early post-time skip era. For those who might be wondering, the above chapter is not intended to be the opening salvo of the probably dreaded by some Sasuke x Sakura 440mm Canon Cannon, but instead, as an actual person learning to be slightly more human and less of a pillock, while another person is permitted to feel as a teammate and equal.