Chapter 3
Smart, gray curtains swayed with the early morning breeze. The sun would not rise for many hours and the moon hid behind heavy, foreboding clouds. The stars were beautiful, twinkling and pirouetting against a colorless void.
Karin swung her leg over the window frame and gracefully entered the room. Sasuke, in the throes of another sleepless night, had sensed her approach long before she scaled the building. A quick huff of air escaped his lips, the only outward sign of his displeasure.
With a wide smile and a playful sway of her vibrant red hair, Karin sauntered towards him, deliberately adjusting her shorts lower on her hips. "Finally caught up with you," she purred, her voice filled with a suggestive lilt.
"Caught up?" He asked as he threw his legs out of the bed to stand. She was beside him in a second. In her hand was an official Konoha mission scroll. Sasuke recognized Kakashi's seal. Without a word, the woman passes it along to Sasuke and watches as he scans the parchment. She can hardly contain her excitement.
Genin escort mission
D-Rank
Karin, your application for Konoha citizenship has been approved. However, due to your unverified credentials, you will be provisionally assigned the rank of Genin. To qualify for a higher rank, you must successfully complete three missions under Konoha's supervision. Your first assignment will be alongside Uchiha Sasuke, your former teammate. Departure is scheduled for no later than sunrise tomorrow, with a mission duration of no more than five days. Failure to comply with these terms may result in the revocation of your citizenship.
Warmest welcome,
Rokudaime Hatake Kakashi
Sasuke felt Karin's arms wrap around him, her cheek cold against his sleep shirt, glasses digging uncomfortably into his side. Though unaccustomed to affection, he hesitated to pry her off, aware of the internal battles he often fought to maintain control of.
"Karin,"
Karin pressed closer, inhaling the steady throb of Sasuke's dark, polluted chakra. She'd missed him and his taciturn ways. As she traced the contours of his back and felt the subtle ridges of his abdomen against her forearms, she couldn't help but wonder if he understood the magnitude of her sacrifice. Had he truly grasped the lengths she'd gone to for him, joining his dinky little village just to prove their shared ideals?
Suddenly, Karin sensed an approaching energy signature. The chakra, distinctly green, minty, and remarkably pure. It flowed with medicinal potency, reaching every chakra point a ninja could access. Its control was impeccable, even considering its immense volume.
Sakura entered the room with stealth and silence.
The outside lights cast an ethereal glow, making her hair appear more purple than pink. A kunai was held firmly between her puffy lips, a silent promise of backup should her fists fail her (and they rarely did). Instead, her thin eyebrows rose in surprise, a clear indication that she had been anticipating a fight instead of a romantic tryst. A blush crept across her cheeks.
"Oh, I—" The kunoichi speaks around her weapon.
She smelled of the outdoors. Sasuke took special care with his gaze, looking at the wrinkled state of her clothing and the smears of dirt along the sides of her calves. Her hair had been windblown. The long strands fanned her face in a way that seemed to annoy her, the tips prickling the curve of her face and neck. She held them down with her hand, backing away to exit.
Sakura felt like an idiot. Her body reacted instinctively when she saw the shadowy figure scale the building. Although she didn't know the exact location of Sasuke's room, she followed the familiar chakra signature, fearing an assassin (or a member of the clan he was searching for) had come to harm him.
Embarrassingly enough, she'd only interrupted a lovers rendezvous.
The room was dim, but Sakura instantly recognized Karin's silhouette. Memories of healing the woman after Sasuke's descent into darkness flooded her mind. Karin's face twisted into a mask of fury as she glared at Sakura, her finger jabbing accusingly.
Karin's voice dripped with accusation. "I knew I sensed you earlier, Pinky. So, you decided to ditch your responsibilities and run off with Sasuke-kun?"
Sakura halts at this, half of her body hanging out of the window. She removes her weapon from her mouth and eloquently responds. "Huh?"
Taking the scroll from Sasuke, the redhead passes it along. A proud smirk twists upon her lips as she harrumphs. "See for yourself."
Sakura does. She reads once, then twice, trying to make sense of the information.
Although her mission details were incomplete, Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that she had overlooked something crucial. It wasn't uncommon for ninja to receive vague orders, but the lack of information about her traveling companion or the mission's purpose had been gnawing at her. Had she truly made such a careless error?
Pursing her lips, Sakura spoke. "So you…were supposed to be escorting Sasuke to Cha no Kuni?"
"Duh," Karin snaps.
Mind whirring, Sakura slips off into the night.
Five skilled ninja traversed the valleys of Tea, their path shrouded in an eerie gloom cast by rain-laden clouds, despite the sun's zenith. A tense silence hung heavy in the air, broken only by sporadic bursts of idle chatter, as they journeyed onward.
"So, what did your mission scroll say again, Sakura?" Naruto asked for the umpteenth time. Sakura could feel another bout of embarrassment roll through her.
"Sunrise, guide Genin to Cha, four days"
"That's it?" The man pries. "No other information–not a who, a what, a why?"
Sakura shook her head.
"That just doesn't seem like Kakashi…he's usually too detailed with his paperwork."
"Not with me," Sakura defends. "Pakkun had delivered it. He's done the same several times in the past. Kakashi sends me out on little errands sometimes–things that need to be taken care of that others think they're too good for." She sent a snotty look to Naruto, who turned his head quickly. "We don't have nearly as much help as we have in the past…"
Hinata agreed with the young woman, nodding her head fervently. "It's not unusual for a Jonin to receive less instruction, especially someone as trustworthy as Sakura…"
Hinata's heart raced as she abruptly halted, her gaze flickering nervously between shadows and sunlight out at the grasslands beyond. "Sakura?"
The urgency in her voice sliced through the air, prompting Sasuke and Naruto to pause, confusion etched across their faces as they turned back to her.
"I saw," Sakura replied, her tone as sharp and unwavering as a blade. She did not falter, her back still to Hinata, exuding an aura of relentless determination that seemed to come from nowhere. "We didn't take this route before. These fields—they're too well-cultivated, pointing west. There's something here."
A heavy silence fell, thick with unspoken tension, as Sakura continued. "I'll send out a report as soon as I get home."
Naruto seemed to have just as much trouble as Sasuke did, following the sudden veer in conversation. "What?"
At this, Sakura and Hinata exchanged a knowing glance. Though shinobi and kunoichi were largely similar in battle tactics, women possessed a few unique tricks. Hinata's response was intentionally vague: "Someone has left a warning."
The blond abruptly halted, bringing the entire group to a standstill. His blue eyes darted between his wife and his friend. "What warning? Where do you see it?" he asked, his voice filled with urgency.
"The flowers," Hinata responds.
Karin laughed, understanding just as much as the boys to her side did. "Flowers? What on earth are the two of you talking about?"
Sakura's voice was even as she spoke, drastically different from the amused redhead. "Red Spider Lily is warning amongst kunoichi."
Caught in the spotlight of their attention, Sakura hesitated, torn between sharing her knowledge of hanakotoba and the urgency to reach Konoha. The latter tugged at her with undeniable force, a yearning for the familiar and a respite from the emotional turmoil that had plagued her since encountering Sasuke. Yet, the weight of their expectant gazes and her innate desire to share knowledge held her captive, a battle between duty and longing playing out in her mind.
Sakura was exhausted, struggling to recall the last time she'd indulged in sleep or a day of rest. Her relentless dedication to her village and friends had reached a point where even idleness triggered guilt. She couldn't help but wonder how many lives she could have saved at the hospital while attending to mundane tasks like laundry or cleaning.
Feeling overextended already, being around Sasuke had added new, heartbreaking revelations to her already damaged heart.
No, Karin's intimate embrace and Sasuke's curtness hadn't triggered her outburst. Even the mission-confusion, (though embarrassing), wasn't the sole reason for her anger. Simply put, Sakura resented explaining hanakotoba to those who wouldn't value the knowledge she shared. Yet, her nature compelled her to do so anyway.
"In the academy, young girls were taught the language of flowers. It is a means to communicate without words. It is much like our sign language, but at a greater distance."
Naruto frowned with appreciation. "Oh, that's cool."
Hinata laced her fingers within his. "Red Spider Lily means death—it is a flower we are taught to look out for. They die easily if not properly maintained."
Karin crosses her arms. "So what's the warning mean?"
Sakura adjusted her pack, jumping a little to situate the bag higher upon her shoulders. "Well, the flower is of course related to death but also with sadness. Legends say that this plant grows people who once used to be alive. It can mean a "last goodbye", or if they're in a bouquet—"
"Okay," Karin interrupts, speaking quickly and impatiently. "Are you going to answer my question or are you going to just keep blathering?"
Sakura's eye twitched. She had an easier time dealing with Sai's constant belittling remarks. "I don't know. I'd have to investigate."
"Then why bring it up in the first place if you didn't—you know what? I can't do this. I'm not standing out waiting for the rain to start, listening to two girls talk about flowers. Catch up to us when your nail-polish dries."
Hinata's dark brows shot up in shock, and Sakura clamped her mouth audibly shut. The women offered each other knowing looks—for they were close enough not to need words, signs, or flowers to communicate.
"Wow, she's fun." Naruto announces dryly. "Any special reason you keep her around, Sasuke?"
Much like Hinata and Sakura, the boys speak non-verbally. Sakura could not decipher what was said, but Naruto appeared to take the hint to back off. He shrugged his shoulders and the men turned back towards their path, matching their footsteps to one another.
The men. Yes, how strange it was to call Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke men. It seemed just yesterday they were all kids. Dog walks and fence fixing quickly turned into life-or-death battles. Still, there were days where nothing eventful happened and they could all train together as a team, carefree, excited for what their lives would hold.
Naruto did not know he would lose friends.
Sasuke did not know he would lose his mind.
Sakura did not know she would lose her boys, in place of the towering legends before her.
Against her will, Sakura's eyes followed the sway of Sasuke's back. She used to be the tallest, standing less than an inch over her teammates (still counted!). Sasuke had certainly beaten her now.
He walked differently as well. Broad shoulders held his head high, resonating confidence. He'd always been cocksure, but there was no stiffness in his gait. As a boy, he was coiled and ready to pounce. Now, his relaxed, long strides seemed unbothered. He feared nothing and no one.
As if sensing Sakura's gaze, Sasuke abruptly stopped and turned, his purple-rimmed eye momentarily freed from the confines of his hair, locking onto hers. Sakura's heart skipped a beat, a blush creeping up her cheeks as she wondered if he had caught her staring. Sasuke, however, simply gestured towards a patch of wildflowers, a silent question hanging in the air.
"What…? O-oh. They grow naturally."
He nodded, accepting her answer. "What are they?"
"Knotweed…and Demons Eye,"
He waited for her to continue. She took a step towards him.
"They're actually considered a nuisance. They have very small seeds that spread out and cover large areas of land. The white-green flowers you see are probably sprouting because of the weather change. The Demon's Eye is the purple, circular bud…"
This seemed acceptable to Sasuke. He absorbed the knowledge, and then turned to walk past Naruto. Sakura didn't see it, but the whiskered man shot his friend a sly smirk, which Sasuke casually ignored.
Making their way to Tea had be than their way back. Traveling with more people, and in inclement weather, meant their pace had slowed considerably. The soft, sweeping valleys had filled with water during the downpour. Sakura was thankful for her standard-issue ninja cloak. Karin had not thought to prepare for anything except sunshine, however. With no extras to pass around, the group made a unanimous decision to wait out the rain.
Sasuke had led them to a towering rock overhang. Though it was damp, it shielded them well enough. Sasuke shook out the wetness from his locks and removed his cloak, laying it beside the others over a large, rounded boulder.
"There's some dead straw towards the back of this cave." Naruto says, picking up a few sticks that had blown in long ago. "I think we'll go ahead and make a fire. It'll dry our—"
With a swift, fluid motion, Karin removed her top, tossing it carelessly onto the pile of jackets, soaking them anew. Unashamed, clad only in a bra that offered minimal coverage, she reached for her shorts, but Sakura's voice stopped her.
"Karin, I've got some spare clothing. You don't need to undress out here."
She scoffed. "What, a red top and bottoms? No, thanks."
"You'd rather be naked?" Naruto balked with his hands over his eyes and his back facing them.
Sakura could not find it in herself to look at Sasuke, for fear of seeing him unaffected.
Or worse. Affected.
"You guys are prudes. I'm obviously not naked, I'm wearing underwear—"
"Here," Sasuke says from behind Sakura. He tosses something towards her.
It was a shirt. The material looked fresh and clean, deep black and not faded in the least. Karin pulled the short-sleeved material over her body and the hem hung several inches above her knees. She was taller than Sakura, and her legs were longer. She was thinner, too, with hard edges and slopes. She looked like the women in magazines.
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" Her smile was bright...much brighter than Sakura thinks she could manage.
Soon after, with the warmth of their fire raging and the howl of the storm reaching its head outside, Naruto decided he needed rest. Curled under a blanket together, the Uzumaki couple slowly started to drift to sleep. Sakura was used to hearing his echoing snore. He slept noiselessly with Hinata.
To her side, leaned back on her palms and with her legs apart, Karin let out a yawn. She had nothing to sleep on and the floor was cold. Sakura looked at her cozy bedroll, and then to Karin and Sasuke.
"I'll take the first watch. You're welcome to my bedding, Karin."
"Fine by me," She responded, stretching her arms above her head. "But, I'm allergic to cotton. Can I sleep on your deerskin, Sasuke?"
Sasuke hadn't gotten anything out to rest on. Sakura knew, theoretically, he had the ability to conjure traveling materials using his rinnegan. Karin had obviously seen his sleeping supplies somewhere during their travels.
"My shirt is cotton."
Sakura hid her smile behind her hand, but she could not trap her giggle as easily. Both ninja looked towards her sharply—one with frustration and the other with a studious gaze.
Huffing, making a big show of lying on top of Sakura's bedroll instead of in it, Karin succumbed to sleep rather quickly. Sakura was envious of her.
…in many ways.
In childhood, Sakura was inseparable from a hand mirror, her constant companion in morning rituals. Each day, she meticulously checked her reflection, anxious about any trace of dried drool or a rogue strand of her long, pink hair. Though her hair had grown longer since those days, it still hadn't reached the length it once had during her Genin years. Now, as she absentmindedly twirled a tendril around her finger, pulling it snugly against her upper lip, it became clear: Sakura was no longer consumed by her appearance.
Her arms and legs were fleshy. It was because of the underlying muscle, not toned enough to carve through her skin unless she focused on flexing. With a sigh, she pressed her warm cheek against her knee, wrapping her forearms beneath it. In this position, her belly gently curved outward, and for a fleeting moment, she felt the urge to sit up straight and present herself with confidence in front of Sasuke.
Instead, she hid, keeping her eyes on the flickering fire.
Minutes turned to hours. Still, Sasuke refused to sleep. The scrape of his blade on whetstone was rhythmic. Scrape, tap-tap, scrape, tap-tap…
"Shouldn't you try and rest?"
"I'm fine,"
"You looked tired when you arrived in Konoha," Sakura confessed and lifted her palm toward the flickering flames, savoring the soothing warmth. "We set out before dawn this morning, and I can tell you haven't had more than a handful of sleep in at least three days."
"I'm used to it."
"No one gets 'used to' not getting sleep." Then, mumbling under her breath. "Maybe if you hadn't refused to wake me up, you could have actually gotten some rest."
Sakura watched the flames dance, their glow casting flickering shadows across her face. She could see the exhaustion etched into Sasuke's features, the way his eyes seemed to carry the weight of countless sleepless nights. Each flicker of the fire mirrored the turmoil she sensed within him, a silent testament to the burdens he bore.
"I didn't refuse to wake you up." Sasuke said. He started on his whetstone again, graciously ignoring the way her head snapped back towards him. Scrape, tap-tap, scrape, tap- "I called your name."
Sasuke's eyes focused on his task, but his mind was somewhere else. Somehow, in the midst of all that he was and all the pain he had caused her, Sakura found a sense of safety in his presence. She slept peacefully, her body relaxed, undisturbed by the memories that haunted her. There were no restless turns, no jolts of wakefulness at the slightest shift of his movements.
It was as if, despite the scars of their shared past, a fragile trust had woven its way through the darkness, allowing her to surrender to the comfort of slumber beside him.
It was selfish of him to bask in that, but truly, he'd called her name.
She looked at him quizzically. It had not crossed her mind that he had actually tried. How could she have fallen into such a deep sleep? "You called my name? Was it loud?"
Sasuke's head remained downcast, but his eyes met hers. "Loud enough."
He had wanted to take it in, to share space with another human who harbored no ill will towards him.
Selfish, selfish, selfish.
Sakura's hand went closer to the fire. It was not comfortable anymore. It burned. This time, she didn't mother to mumble. "If it was loud enough, then I would have woken up."
Without warning, a piece of kindling spat out a fat spark. The flame licked Sakura, searing the flesh of her hand quickly. Letting out a yelp, the woman pulled her hand back and stared at the pink singe.
She could heal it. It wouldn't take a lot of effort, and it certainly wouldn't take long. However, there was something incredibly telling in this pain…in this mark.
Sasuke was fire. He was heat and char and smoke and ash…. No one could bid a flame to act outside of its nature. Was this what she was doing? Did she want Sasuke to act outside of his nature–to be something or someone he would never be?
Sakura squeezed her hand tightly, thinking of the Morning Glory she'd crushed in her grasp at the hotel.
I don't want to love him anymore.
Sasuke sheathes the kunai and stone, approaching silently. As he reaches for her, Sakura fears admonishment. She's made mistake after mistake—what kind of ninja sleeps during their watch, misreads the mission, draws attention by yelling in public, or gets hurt on the job?
Instead, he touches her wrist and guides it towards his face.
Her cheeks flare as she studies him in their close proximity. "I…can heal it."
His browline was more prominent than she'd remembered. His nose, wider, his eyes more narrow, and his hands were harsh and battlewarn. Sakura focused on his thumb as it coaxed her fingers, opening each with a surprising delicacy.
Looking at the glow of the fire as it reflects his mature face, Sakura mourned his youth. When she gets Konoha and Sasuke leaves again, she will have nothing but her memories of him. Their old team picture shows a boy who no longer exists.
I don't want to love him anymore. But I do.
He blew gently on the wound, his cool breath soothing the pain like a whisper of life. His gaze never left her hand as he reached into the medkit strapped to Sakura's thigh. His touch was respectful yet electrifying, sending shivers through her as his fingers brushed against her skin.
As he peeled away the bandage, pressing it against her tender flesh, Sakura closed her eyes, surrendering to the moment. It had been far too long since someone had cared for her like this. It felt extravagant, almost indulgent—a waste of precious supplies for a wound that could be mended in an instant. Yet, in that fleeting moment, it was everything she needed.
"There," He said with a nod.
I love him just as much as I ever have.
