#hey there’s a way to fix that. it’s a genjutsu and we can make everyone happy

[driedlillies]

Itachi can talk about pacifism all he likes but if someone killed sasuke it’s on fucking sight. For the killer for doing it, the Konoha leadership for allowing it, Orochimaru for good measure, and anyone who dares to get in his way

[vannahfanfics]

We Could Be In Love

Category: Romantic Fluff

Fandom: Naruto

Characters: Shikamaru Nara, Sakura Haruno

Hello, everyone! This is my piece for ShikaSaku Week Hanami’s Day One prompt, “Dawn (We Celebrate Our Victories).” I hope everyone enjoys it~

Sakura’s breath was coming in small, ragged gasps as she hobbled unsteadily out of the medical tent. Leaning on the wooden pole that braced the large cloth structure, she peered through cringing eyes at the dark silhouette of the tree-line stretching in a circle around the medical camp; the black surface was becoming tinged with yellow-gray as the sun began to poke its burning head above the canopy to grace the world with dawn. Unknowingly, the medical ninja had worked through the night; it couldn’t be helped. After all, the Fourth Shinobi World War had produced countless injured, ranging from minor to critical.

After the sealing of Kaguya and the long-awaited resolution between Naruto and Sasuke that resulted in the dissipation of her genjutsu, all of the Allied Forces had congregated in the medical encampment in the woods far from the battlefield. It was swelled to max capacity, and of course the ratio of medical ninja to injured shinobi was helplessly skewed. For the last twenty-four hours, Sakura had been running from tent to tent overseeing the operations and lending aid where she could, especially for the most critical cases, such as Lady Tsunade, who had spent all of her power in the fight against Madara, and the two boys, whose lives were still in danger due to the beating they had put on each other. It had been a long, hard day, but Sakura could not rest yet.

“There’s still… More I can do,” she huffed through gritted teeth. She pushed herself off of the small pole only to stumble unsteadily a few feet in a semicircle, not even moving forward an inch. Her vision hazed with exhaustion and she reflexively reached out an arm, though she wasn’t quite sure what she was reaching for. A foggy dark shape pranced in her vision. It looked like someone she knew, but with her mind in clouds, she couldn’t think of who. The figure grabbed her arm at the elbow, firmly, keeping her from tipping backwards and falling gracelessly through the flaps of the medical tent.

“I think that’s enough helping for you. God, Sakura, when is the last time you’ve slept?” The corners of her mouth tugged upward in a pitiful attempt at a smile. With the heels of her boots planted in the ground and him holding her up, she was pretty much suspended like a puppet, and the energy that her muscles had been using diverted back to her mind; her vision cleared enough to reveal a familiar visage- bored expression, one hand in his pocket while the other rubbed at his neck, angled eyes and a high ponytail holding up his dark hair- Shikamaru Nara.

“Hey,” came her garbled, tired reply. God, she couldn’t think of anything better to say to him than “hey”? She really was out of it. Snorting in derision, he jerked her forward such that she fell clumsily against his chest. As she bounced back a little, he fixed firm hands on her shoulders, black eyes piercing into her own lidded spring-green ones.

“You’re a mess.”

“That’s no way to talk to a lady, Shikamaru.” If she wasn’t using every ounce of her energy to hold herself up, she would’ve socked him. Although, Sakura doubted she could put a thousandth of her lethal force into it if she did. It felt like her entire body was being weighed down by chunks of iron; her knees wobbled so precariously that they repeatedly knocked together. As if to warn her against trying anything stupid, a bolt of fiery pain rocketed up one of her legs, disbalancing her and causing her to slump against him. “Nnngh…”

“Ugh, why are girls such a pain?” Shikamaru muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes. She had her eyes closed now, the pain too much, and was just concentrating on getting oxygen into her system. With every strained breath, she caught hints of Shikamaru’s aroma- a mixture of sweat, pine trees, and morning dew that was somehow not unpleasant. I must be going delirious if I’m thinking about how nice he smells, she thought with a small groan. “You can’t even walk, can you?” Somehow, she managed to shake her head. “What a drag.” She could only grunt as he stooped down to loop one arm under her knees and the other around her upper back. Her head lolled over his shoulder as he effortlessly lifted her from the ground, her breath puffing in labored gasps against his neck. “You can’t push yourself like this, you know.”

“Did I… ask your opinion?” It meant to come out savage, but instead, she sounded reminiscent of a kicked puppy. Her fingers curled tightly into the fabric of his green vest in a display of frustration, though if anyone say them, they would dare it was an intimate action. She cracked one eye open to peer up at him; a pang of guilt twisted into her heart as she saw the almost hurt expression on his face. It instantly switched back to that disinterested frown, and he tossed his gaze somewhere else, acting as if her attitude didn’t affect him in the slightly. “Ah… I’m sorry…” she grumbled in apology. He was only acting in her best interest, after all. Her stubbornness and pride were unwarranted.

He was still staring somewhere off to his right, but she was relieved to see the corner of his mouth inch up into a wry smirk.

“All you girls… Way to tough for your own good, y’know. It’s okay for you to worry about yourselves every once in a while.” Sakura only hummed in response. His shoulder almost seemed to embrace her the way a pillow would, and the gentle heat that was radiating from his body was lulling. The way his body moved as he walked almost was rocking her to sleep. She shifted in his arms, instinctively sliding one arm to hook it around his neck. She felt his body stiffen at the gesture, but she didn’t care. She was so comfortable… If she had to describe the feeling she felt while being held in his arms, it was… safe and cherished. Sakura was no fool. He had to have been watching her all night, refusing to sleep waiting for her imminent collapse. For Shikamaru to deprive himself of sleep was, well… Nothing short of pure concern.

“You were really worried about me, huh?” she said teasingly. Through the gaps in her eyelashes, she could see a blaze of pink rush over his cheeks, though he would’ve argued it was the dawn washing over his face. “When’s the last time you’ve slept, Shikamaru?”

“Got your cockiness back, huh? I preferred you nearly unconscious,” he muttered. Sakura giggled and snuggled further into his neck, making his muscles tense tighter than a string drawn taut. Maybe it was because she was delirious from exhaustion, but she was enjoying this; she almost fancied the idea that she could love him. Sakura liked to fool herself that she still loved Sasuke, and maybe those feelings could resurface if he ever reciprocated… But she had buried those hopeless endeavors a long time ago. Did Shikamaru think that she hadn’t noticed? The way his gaze drew to her when they were near each other? The happenstance “bumping-into-each-other” that always seemed to lead to him walking her home? She wondered, if in his Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, he had envisioned her. All of this was delirious fever but also dangerously close to reality; all these thoughts she tossed around in her mind as he bore her across the encampment towards the faraway individual tents. At some point during her feverish contemplations, she had begun twisting her fingers into the thick hair on the back of his neck, tugging a few long strands from his ponytail to play with them. “Are you even awake right now?”

“I’m awake,” she yawned into his shoulder padding. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled with just as much wearied force. She had been staring at his face the whole time, watching his expressions shift, but as the light glinted in the corners of her eyes, she shifted her vision to the bubbling sun rising over the tops of the trees. Around it, the colors of dawn spread out in a halo, white merging into yellow into orange then pink then red, with the faintest fringes of the dark blue of night desperately trying to cling to life. “It’s beautiful, don’t you think?” she murmured.

“Sure is.” She looked back to him, and it was his turn to blush, for he wasn’t looking at the sunrise at all. His gaze was trained on her, accented by a soft smile that sent her heart to palpitating in her chest. Yes, she really could love him.

“Shika-“

She was interrupted by the harsh flapping of a tent being thrown open. The dawn was absorbed by the dark fabric, leaving the interior of the tent in golden gloom. Shikamaru squatted down, holding her with one arm while he used the other to throw back the blankets arranged messily on the ground. It all happened so quickly that Sakura didn’t have much time to process the shift in environment, so she just stared stupidly at the blankets like she had no idea what to do with them. She gasped, just a feather of a breath, as he gently lowered her down into them, then covered her up with one quick flourish.

“Go to sleep,” he ordered. The shadows fell over his face in such a way that it was difficult to tell how he was looking at her. He looked away for a moment, rubbing at the back of his neck and looking as if he wanted to say something-

But then he stiffly rose and went to exit the tent. At that point, Sakura was running on adrenaline, so she was going to do as she damn well pleased, any little whim that popped into her frazzled mind.

“Wait!” she shouted and sprung at his back. He cried out in alarm as her arms hooked over his shoulders, and he was pulled down onto his rump by her weight. He fell back with a grunt, with Sakura’s upper half splayed over his left arm while her lower body curled around his head. “Sakura, what the he-“ She interrupted him by turning to kiss him full on the mouth, messily and with much passion. He went as rigid as stone as she did, and his hands hung in the empty air like he didn’t know quite what to do with them. It was then that Sakura’s consciousness finally began to fade for real, and her lips slid slowly from his as her head slumped down into his neck.

“Stay with me,” she whispered into his throat. The hands that had been frozen twitched into life, slowly descending to thread in her messy, crimped strands of cherry blossom-pink hair. The darkness was encroaching on her vision as her eyes slowly pulled closed, and she struggled to hang on to the waking world, loving the sensation of his fingers sliding across her scalp.

“Say stuff like that, and I might fall in love with you for real, you know. What a drag…” Those words, so soft and tender breathed into her ear, accompanied her into the world of sweet dreams.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @deliathedork @searchfortheonepiece @shikasaku-week

[sns-tropes]

fic: heart in your hands: ch10

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6,

Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9

chapter summary: Just when he thought he had it figured out, he's lost again. His only compass: a loudmouth blonde.

pairing: sasuke/naruto (ninja!verse) post-698

rating: Mature

warnings: angst, hurt/comfort

A/N: heyyyyy peeps. uhh so i was gonna scrap this whole fic. but then i thought, hey, no, i'm actually proud of this thing that i did. so anyway, here's another chapter. it's kind of angsty lowkey. i'm semi-satisfied with this chapter. hope you guys like it.

- jeni

The balcony is chilly. Sasuke lets the smoke fill his lungs through the end of a filtered stick of tobacco. He looks down over the side of the railing. He can see Shikamaru down there, striding slow, hands in his pockets like usual. Shikamaru looks up at him. Sasuke can’t see expression very well. He can’t see anything very well lately. He might need glasses. He might really be going blind by the time he hits thirty. Maybe even before.

It’s not light out yet. The sun hasn’t come up yet. There’s just a dim promise of it starting to creep up over the Konoha treetops in the distance. He sighs deeply. He doesn’t change out of his sleep pants and he doesn’t put his shoes on either. He strides through the apartment passing a sleeping Naruto in the bed, not bothering to put his cigarette out. Smoke briefly billows as he passes to the front door and down the steps. He feels strange, and a little too exposed. Shirtless. Armless. Makes him glad the village is still asleep.  

Shikamaru is there at the base of the steps, standing on the cobblestone quite expectantly.  

He raises a brow, taking in Sasuke’s demeanor.  

“You haven’t slept.” 

Sasuke takes a drag silently and blinks slowly, letting that be his only answer.  

He gestures for Sasuke to walk with him. Sasuke follows for a morning stroll, still not caring about being barefoot. He feels reckless this morning. 

He doesn’t know why they walk towards the gates. It seems like a mute point to come here. It used to be a place where he stood so many times and looked back at the village with the thought that he would never return. Funny how as much as he wanted it, it never quite worked out.  

“Why’re we here?” Sasuke mumbles around nothing, pulling another cigarette from his pocket and lighting it with pure, concentrated chakra.  

Shikamaru smirks, amused. “I’ve created a monster.” He says teasingly. 

Sasuke shrugs. “Maybe.” 

Shikamaru holds his hand out in waiting. Sasuke hands him the pack. Shikamaru lights his own quite mundanely with a regular lighter, mumbling something about how he’s not as crafty as Sasuke. 

“You didn’t pass.” 

“I didn’t.” Sasuke confirms, surprisingly feeling no tension over the confession.  

“What did Naruto say?” 

Sasuke smirks, eyes fixed on the thick brush of the forest. “That I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.” 

“He would say that.” 

Sasuke hums in response, taking another drag. Naruto isn’t angry or disappointed. Naruto loves him. But why does Naruto doubt him? Why does he think he’ll leave again? He never said it out loud, but his subconscious says otherwise. Sasuke is at an impasse with himself. Naruto fears are buried so deep that he’s not even fully aware of them. Sasuke doesn’t know how to bring something like that up.  

Perhaps if there’s nothing grounding Sasuke to the village, Naruto assumes he will have no reason to stay here at all. And then he he’ll simply leave him. Leave him like he’s always done.  

“What now?” Shikamaru pries, picking up on Sasuke’s brooding easily. Not that it’s hard to do in the first place. 

“Wanna run away.” Sasuke half jokes. 

“Shut up. No you don’t.” Shikamaru scolds, somehow managing to sound bored like always, but in a weird, wise kind of way. “What about Naruto?” 

Sasuke laughs bitterly. “Want him to run away with me.” 

Shikamaru scoffs. “You’re living in a romance novel.” 

“So?” He says defiantly. So what if he is? Is that so bad? It's about time he did. 

“So you think he would really do that?” Shikamaru  asks, almost condescendingly. 

“Don’t know.” 

He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know anything. And it doesn’t show besides the slight tremor in his hand, but he is terrified. Terrified of even bringing it up. He was terrified always. Even a few months ago when he first brought it up. When he threatened to leave again and Naruto doubled over in sheer panic, losing his breath at the very thought.  

“Tell him.” in a natural situation, it’s a fair suggestion, but really, it’s not. He doesn’t understand. 

Sasuke laughs bitterly at this. Tell him he says, like it’s really that easy. Like it’s so feasible. Shikamaru doesn���t know about how Naruto’s breathe stops in his lungs, how he doubles over in fear, how he has haunting dreams about being left all alone again.  

Sasuke can’t bear that. It makes him wince with regret to even think about how long it went on over the years. 

“You don’t have to run away Sasuke.” Shikamaru states, tone laced with finality. “Don’t tell him you want to run away. Tell him you want to leave. And then ask if he’d like to come with you.” 

“Okay. That’ll go well.” He quips sarcastically. 

“You’re so fucking thick sometimes.” 

“Excuse me?” He deadpans.  

“You don’t have to be permanently gone. You’re not going missing-nin, jackass. Just go away for a while. Both of you. Take a damn vacation.” 

“Vacation.” He repeats, feeling dumb. 

“Yeah. A vacation.” He’s never heard Shikamaru talk so much. “Then come back.” He finishes his stolen cigarette, then crushes it in the dirt. 

Sasuke looks down at the glowing ash as it dies down, his mind buzzing as Shikamaru walks away from him. 

Sasuke looks into field study. He knows it’s a long shot, and it kind of feels like he’s reaching at this point. But he knows that if he wants to leave with the promise of returning, he can’t come back empty handed.   

He sets an appointment with Sakura for late afternoon. Yes, an appointment. Apparently, she's much too busy to meet casually. When he sits down in her office she looks tired, but concerned. She seems eager to hear him out. She looks at him expectantly, knowing that he failed his evaluation.  

He’s not sure how to open the subject. Her eyes scan over the meeting request, so formal and strange.  

“You smell like smoke.” 

He hums in affirmation, ignoring her nose scrunching is displeasure and she reads on. 

“Field study?” She deadpans. “What did they do to you during that exam?” 

Sasuke sighs, displeased. Not what he wanted to hear. 

“No, no, I'm not rejecting the idea.” Her eyes lift, tossing the useless form in the trash. “There isn't much to cover. Field study is for Shinobi that suck at being shinobi.” 

He knows that. At this point, he feels like he kind of sucks at being one. Or at least, that’s the way everyone here makes it feel. 

“Is there anything open?” He asks, ignoring the aggravating thought. 

“Your kind of over-qualified... and the only thing I can think of that would suit you is elemental Ninjutsu. Which is already being covered by more than the necessary researchers.” 

He crosses his arms and sits back in the chair, not satisfied. 

She takes in his demeanor, and perhaps for the very first time, sees through it. She sighs deeply, pulling out a large spiral bound text of who knows what, flipping to a tabbed page. She scans over it. He waits. 

“There’s one.” 

“What is it?” 

“Kagero village.” 

Sasuke doesn’t even know where that is, or what the hell he would find there. But it seems like that’s all she’s got. 

“In the land of the mountains. There’s word that that the small village has unconventional methods of enhancing their chakra abilities, but not honing it for any type of physical or elemental ninjutsu. Seeing as Genjutsu is one of your strong suits, this would be ideal for you also.” 

“Suspicious.”  

“Yes, we think so too. But it also could just be rumors. For all we know, they could just practicing intensified meditation, or perhaps spirit healing. It’s all mysterious right now. The entire study would be about a year’s journey. Which is short for a field study.  You would have to write a lot, speak with a lot of villagers, and most likely have to take up a semi-permanent residence. Traveling to neighboring villages for intel is also part of the job. The report is expected to be long, detailed, and handwritten in black ink.” 

Sasuke gulps. “What’s the objective?” 

“To learn and record. Nothing more, nothing less.” She tells him a clipped tone, clearly working up to a greater statement. “The benefits of completing the study don’t hold much merit. If you find something useful, you could use the study as easy entry to teaching.” 

“Teaching?” He says quietly, staring to feel very unsure. He remembers his time at the academy like a poorly rendered slideshow of angst and irritation. 

“If you wanted. It would be a good start. But there’s no obligation.” 

“What are the qualifications?” 

Sakura laughs. Genuinely laughs.  “Chunin rank is all you need.” 

Sasuke rolls his eyes. Of course, everything is still about stupid ranks and politics. And of course, the one thing he needs for this mission is the one thing he never got. 

“You’re joking.” 

“No. Normally you would have to rank Chunin or higher. But going through the exam now... Well- that would clearly be unfair. Especially with that.” She says, gesturing to his Rinnegan. Makes sense. “I’m sure Kakashi will clear you. Your skill outweighs your rank any day.” 

He doesn’t need flattery. He just came for a job.  

“Can I think about it?” 

“Of course. It’ll take at least a week to clear you, maybe two. And then a few days for briefing”  

He nods mutely. She crosses her arms, surveying him, gaze slightly scrutinizing.  

“Sasuke, field studies... they're not lone missions. It has to be two or more shinobi.” 

“I know.” He says flatly. 

She purses her lips, looking accusatory. She opens her mouth to speak, then closes it. He feels like pushing the envelope. 

“What?” He snaps. He doesn’t mean to. It’s that temper. 

She leans in. “I know you want to get out of here. And right now, this seems like the only way. But... you should consider others as well.” 

He scoffs. He hates when she talks like this. Like she knows everything. He stands to leave, worried that if he stays any longer, he’ll say something unnecessary that he can’t take back. He feels like a child being scolded. 

“Sasuke.” 

He stops at the door. Waits. 

“It doesn’t hurt to ask him. But don’t do anything irrational if you don’t like his answer.” 

He closes his eyes. Tries to breath, and leaves. 

He only wants one thing right now. Well, two things. He wants to be with Naruto, and he wants to not think about anything. The complex is so quiet. He comes into a mostly dark apartment. Naruto is laying the bed, sound asleep. He looks peaceful, unmoving and breathing evenly. Sasuke sighs deeply, a part of him wishing that He came home to Naruto awake. He’s spent the whole day away from him. He didn’t mean to.   

He changes into something more comfortable and turns on a dim lamp in the kitchen. The space is small. He can see Naruto halfway covered in the bed, as he puts a tea kettle on the stove, only a small table in the middle of the path.  

He leans against the counter as he prepared himself a cup of tea. Mint. It’s supposed to calm him down. He’s not sure if it actually works. He boiled extra hot water, just in case Naruto wakes up. 

He lets the leaves soak. His eyes hurt. They feel tired and strained, and often not like they're his own. Partially because in some way, they aren't. He wonders if it ever bothers anyone. Sometimes he forgets it’s there until someone like Sakura points it out.  

He doesn’t think that Naruto minds it. Just like Naruto doesn’t mind that he doesn’t want to utilize prosthetics for his arm. He respected the decision, and even looked at him with reverence when he made the decision. A silent understanding passed between them. That’s something that he could never give up.  

It’s great that they’ve been talking, that they’ve been communicating better, But Sasuke thinks he values the understanding in their shared silence more than anything else. They don’t have to talk. Not if they don’t want to. And somehow, he knows that everything will still pass between them with clarity.  

It hurts to have this looming over him. He wants to do the field study. He really does. It sounds nice to just listen and live and learn, feeling unrushed, and unpressured to live up to anything, simply going day to day journaling all he finds. Which could be significant, or it could be nothing. There’s no expectation other than him simply writing it all down. He would have a year's time to think and reflect and get back to himself again.  

But he can’t do it alone. He can’t do it without Naruto. And that’s the thing, isn't it? Is that he doesn’t know if Naruto would ever do such a thing. He has yet to even think of how to present it. But maybe Shikamaru was right. Maybe he should just say it.  

And maybe he will. Not now, and maybe not even tomorrow, but he will. And he won’t do anything irrational. He’s promising himself now. He’s not going to be that person anymore. He can’t. And maybe Naruto says that he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. But that isn't really true. He does. To one person. Just Naruto. 

His thoughts are suddenly brought to a halt. Naruto shifts in the bed, looking disturbed from his peaceful sleep. He tosses around, an irritated whine leaving his lips. He faces away from Sasuke now. He can’t see his face anymore. Sauske sets the mug down on the counter, eyeing him curiously. 

His concern spikes when he sees Naruto’s shoulders start to shake. He thinks that at first, he’s imagining it. But no, he isn't. He continues to shake, and before Sasuke can even move towards him, he hears a small sob muffle against the pillow.  

Something pangs in his heart. Something strange and sometimes foreign feeling, even now. He makes his way to the bed and scoots up beside Naruto, where surprisingly, he seems somewhat awake.  

Sasuke blinks at him, not knowing what to think. He’s hurting. Something hurts.  

“Why are you crying?” Sasuke whispers so low, he’s not even sure if he really said it out loud.  

Naruto scoots closer, reaching for him. “You’re here?” His voice cracks. Sasuke’s heart thunders with worry. 

“I’m here.” He says softly. “I’m here, Naruto.” He reaches up to push blonde hair off his face and look into his teary eyes. They’ve become so sensitive now. Maybe it’s age that’s made them weak like this.  

“You were gone.” He says hollowly, like it’s some kind of premonition.  

Sauske scoffs gently and pulls him close. “I was at the council building.” 

“For what?” 

“Looking for a job.” and he thinks that that's all he’ll really say about it for now. 

Naruto doesn’t press. He stays quiet. Sasuke feels tired, but he doesn’t really want to go to sleep. And Naruto, even though he was sleeping before, is wide awake now. And it seems that they’re content like that, just staring on at each other for no reason in particular.  

And then he sees it. He sees that mirror again. That mirror of pain. Of suffering. Of fear and anxiety. He sees himself, and he sees Naruto. He sees bright blue eyes that can be broken one moment and so hopeful the next. He sees someone who only built him up even when he was landing a punch.  

He sees this person in from of him, lying in his bed in the late hours of the night and he can’t help it.  

He loves him. He loves him so much. 

He touches a hand to his face, and Naruto allows the comfort. He’ll allow any comfort. He asks silently with only his gaze and he think’s maybe he hears and answer through the slow blinks of Naruto’s bright eyes, even in the dark. 

He kisses him. He presses his lips to Naruto and tries so hard to let it say everything he has yet to say out loud. And Naruto breathes it. He curves himself into Sasuke’s space and wraps his arms around him, like he might disappear if he doesn’t.  

Naruto bristles away sleepily after a moment, and tries to ignore the ache of fear that still lingers in his chest. He’ll voice it. He voices everything. 

“You’ll be here in the morning?” 

Sasuke kisses him again, much softer than he thinks he ever has.  

“I’ll be here.”

[borusawa]

Heaven

A/N: This is my first oneshot on tumblr. Sorry ahead for the mistakes. Hope y'all enjoy read as much as I enjoyed writing :). They're 14/15 here. 

Pairings: BoruSara, hints on MitsuCho and SaiIno

Warnings: none

Word count: 1,831

“We should play a game!” Chocho said clapping her hands and widening her eyes like she just had a epiphany.

Those five words would ruin Sarada's night, and she knew it. But what choices did she have anyway? The only possible escape was playing along her friend's idea, although tonight shouldn't be about it. Sarada, Chocho, Boruto, Shikadai, Mitsuki and Inojin were having a little get together at Inojin's due to the recent promotion of the two teams to chunnins. The “party” started at 7pm and Inojin's house was chosen because, once again, his parents were traveling to who knows where. They were all sitting on the floor, Sarada and Boruto side by side. She, pouring her drink calmly into her mouth, and he, playing with his already empty cup, when Chocho presented her idea.

 “We should totally play a game!” Inojin agreed getting visibly excited to start doing something besides talking. 

Boruto and Sarada exchanged glances. If Chocho and Inojin agree, this could not end well. Mitsuki only smiled and nodded. I'm not surprised he's up to it though, he would do anything Chocho demands him, Sarada thought, holding the urge of rolling her eyes.

 “Okay, so what do you guys think we should play?” Boruto asked finally resting the cup in front of him, crossing his legs, and placing his arms on the floor behind him. 

“Hey, I already gave the idea of playing. You guys can think the rest.” Chocho affirmed. 

“What a drag.” Shikadai shouted from the other side of the room where he was taking a nap resting on some puffs. He got up and walked closer to the group. 

“Oh, look who's finally awake and complaining. Was your nap good?” Inojin said with a sarcastic tone. 

“What are you guys even talking about?” Shikadai hold back a yawn while talking. 

“You're not gonna like it.” Sarada answered him with a worried look on her face. 

“We are deciding which game we should play. I don't see a prob-.” Shikadai got up again and started to come back to his former place. “What happened?” Mitsuki send his best confused-smiling look when Shikadai got up in the middle of his sentence. 

“I'm not gonna be a part of it. I still remember last time.” Shikadai laid on the floor and got ready to another nap. 

“Last time was not that bad!”Chocho shouted at him. 

But indeed last time was that bad. 

At least for Shikadai, whose mom was the most problematic of the group. Either way, her teaching method worked, and he shall not give in to peer pressure anymore. Well, not that time. 

“Chocho, I ended up running naked at midnight. ON. THE. STREET.” 

“Okay, okay, Inojin. Then no truth or dare for us tonight. Jeez, you boring people.” During this whole talk Sarada and Boruto stood in silence just thinking that maybe if they didn't say a word his friends would forget their presence. And it was all working as planned until... “What's up with your faces? This is a celebration after all.”

“Nothing really, Chocho. I'm just thinking in which trouble you two are getting us all into tonight.” An annoying look showed on Sarada's face while she spoke referring to Chocho and Inojin as the troublemakers. Her drink was finally over, so she took both Boruto and her cups and put them together up on the center table behind her. 

A creep smile grows on Chocho face getting everyone scared “I know what we could play.” 

“Oh, no. We're done, Sarada.” Boruto said with widened eyes shifting between Chocho and Sarada. 

“We are so gonna have fun tonight.” Making sure everyone were looking at her, Chocho restarted talking. “My mom told me that she used to play this game when she was our age so it's safe, I swear. No naked running this time.” She glared Inojin. “It's called seven minutes in heaven. We lock two people in a dark room for seven minutes, and they can do whatever they want and nobody needs to know what. Once the time is over we unlock them and that's all.” She got up and started fixing her clothes. “So, Boruto and Sarada, ready to get in the room?” 

“WHAT?” they both said in unison, disbelief stamped in their faces. 

Mitsuki grin grew wider understanding the meaning behind Chocho's suggestion. “Yes, you are both getting in the room. It's just a game, it can do no harm.” He also got up grabbing Boruto's arm while Chocho grabbed Sarada's. Inojin stayed on the floor understanding nothing that was happening. 

“Guys, I'm pretty sure that's not how it works.” Sarada tried to argue while both she and Boruto were dragged to the main room. 

“Common, it's not even fair-ttebasa!” But their complaints proved useless and soon they were thrown through the door. 

The bedroom was beautifully enlightened by the moon. The windows were open and the night breeze made the white curtains dance almost non-stop. This was the first thing they saw. A beautiful room on moonlight.

“We'll be back in seven minutes or so.” Chocho said on the other side of the door. 

“Or so? Chocho, let us out!” Sarada said but it was no use since her friends were already far. Boruto reached the handle just to find that in fact they were locked. Seeing his reaction Sarada said: “Guess we are literally stuck in here, huh.” 

“Yeah, but it's okay. It's not our first time alone. I don't feel weird around you.” He walked toward the bed in the middle of the room and sat. 

Sarada knew he was right. They had been alone a lot of times before, so why does this time feel so different? That was a question she was not willing to know the answer. Accepting that they still had at least seven minutes locked there she sat on the bed right beside her best friend. “What should we do?” 

“Kiss?” A smirk played on his lips. Boruto made it sound as he was playing, but he couldn't deny if she was up to it. 

Sarada rolled her eyes and faced her friend. “Really? Now is not the time.” 

“I guess that's what they expect us to do. We can pretend, then.” 

“Or we can just say the truth. What's wrong with you?” he shrugged at her question. “We should do something, though.” 

“Well... There's a window here. We can run away.” 

At that point Sarada couldn't stand anymore. She was mad at her friends for expect such a thing for them. It was visible to everyone the special bond she shared with Boruto but that was all they shared. A bond. They were good childhood friends, best friends even, but nothing more. They were so different that she doesn't even want to start to go about it. But somehow she was really attracted by him for a long time, wanting to be by his side and lost track of the time in his blue eyes. She started pacing around the room with her arms crossed; trying to get any heavy thought out of her mind, until Boruto's movement caught her attention. He stood up and walked toward a big glass door that leads to a small cute balcony. Right after sitting on the floor of the balcony, he tapped the place beside him without taking his eyes off of the sky. 

“What are you doing?” she asked but got closer either way, confusion drawn in her face. 

“It's just that the sky is really clear and beautiful tonight, don't you think?” Boruto was now looking right into Sarada's eyes and that alone made she blush hard, counting on the darkness to hide it, now grateful that none of them thought about turning the lights on. 

“You are being so un-you. Are you sure you're okay?” she sat beside him, giggling and hugging her legs. 

“I've been thinking a lot lately.” he turned his sight to the sky once again. 

“You knew how to do this all along and never tried using it?” Boruto smiled and stared at her. She didn't have any idea why but when he smiled that way her heart always skipped a beat and that made her blush even harder than before. Sarada did her best to avoid his gaze and concentrate on the sky. 

“We know each other for a long time, right?” He spoke and Sarada only nodded, fully concentrated in not to letting him see the nonfading blush of her face. “Yet I never noticed before how beautiful you are on the moonlight like this.” 

Once they both realized what Boruto had just said their eyes widened and became impossible to Sarada ignore him. She turned to look right into his eyes, and they just stared at each other's eyes for a while before Sarada finally recover the ability to talk. 

“What did you just said?” 

Boruto broke eye contact avoiding her gaze. “Sorry. I made this weird. Let's start again.” He let out a long sigh and looked at her once more. She was wearing her best blank face. “I like you. And I'm not playing with you, Sarada, believe me. You don't even have to like me back. I know this may sound sudden but I've liked for so long right now that I could-” 

“I like you too.”

“-not keep it inside me anymore.” 

A silence fell upon the young couple. They just kept there, eye to eye and no idea of how feelings worked. All they knew was that wherever they were feeling it was reciprocal and that made their hearts as happy as it could be. None of them had any idea of how much time passed since they were locked but nothing of it mattered anymore. Sarada felt as she could touch the clouds and was already wondering if she was either dreaming or under a genjutsu. He loves me back, was all she could think of. Suddenly a question popped in her mind. 

“What should we do?” 

He smirked at her. “Kiss?” She smiled in response. 

----- 

 “I'm not sure that was a good idea, guys...” Inojin frowned his brows. 

“They will be okay. And if they break something Sarada will pay it.” Chocho answered smiling. 

“They are locked there for fifteen minutes and I hear no complaints but I do think it's time to unlock them.” Mitsuki affirmed. 

“Okay, let's go then. You guys are boring.” rolling her eyes Chocho directed herself to the room's door followed close by Mitsuki. She knocks low. “Hey guys, your heaven is over.” 

No answer. 

“Boruto? Sarada?” Mitsuki shouted. 

“Oh, so we are finally leaving.” It was Sarada's voice. 

Once Chocho opened the Boruto and Sarada projected themselves outside while pushed Mitsuki and Chocho inside. Sarada rushed to close and lock the door. 

“It's your turn now, enjoy your minutes locked.”

“LET. US. OUT.” Chocho claimed. 

Boruto and Sarada high-five and laughed. But only one thing was passing through Sarada's mind: I hope they experience the heaven too.

[kegareki]

tbh i'm always curious about the kaguya causes the apocalypse au, but rarely have concrete questions to ask. so um, what are sakura and obito's abilites like? how powerful are they, both as a team and individually? sakura canonically had healing and super strength, which are great, but I'm also a fan of aus where she branches out and learns other things, so i gotta ask. does she learn genjutsu from obito? also they survived a WHILE in the apocalypse, right, presumably they got even better (1/3)

and learned new stuff from each other? and/or from other survivors in their group? what are their go-to weapons? how does their power level now compare to people in the past? (2/3)

(3/3) ALSO! they travel to other dimensions using kamui, right. where does the kamui spit them out when they go a new dimension? somewhere randomly? (if so, how many times have they ended up dumped in a swamp, or in the middle of nowhere?) some fixed place every time? wherever obito wants? where? and can they choose when they arrive in a new dimension, or are they also just randomly spit out whenever and good luck figuring out in what time and place they are?

these are really good questions!!! i apparently wrote 1100 words in response, so: under the cut!

sakura and obito did survive a while in the apocalypse, yeah. people survived in groups–konoha especially espouses teamwork–and people took positions well-suited for them, at first, like they have been trained to do. hyuuga, inuzuka, aburame, yamanaka, and sensors were good at keeping track of people and directing the groups to safe spaces and such, for example. but people die, and at some point you stop being able to replace them

so people learn to cover those positions in any way they can. enhancing their senses with chakra; trying to recreate barrier seals that you’ve only seen and never studied; etc. people share information about what they remember. people go off and come back with clan scrolls, because there’s no point in hoarding clan information if that information will help keep them alive.

obito and sakura learn together, and what they teach other is–incidental, at first? sakura is healing someone, and she nabs a passing obito into helping her. obito can heal himself just fine, thanks to hashirama’s DNA, but–well. he has deep chakra reserves, as well as the ability to absorb and transfer chakra, so he might as well learn how to heal other people, because at some point they’re going to run short of medics, and it’s better for everyone if most people have even rudimentary medical skills

obito… okay i’m going to be entirely honest here: obito is fucking HORRIFIED at how sakura was treated as a genin. obito’s already complicated relationship with kakashi is complicated even further because he cannot BELIEVE that kakashi didn’t teach her SHIT, didn’t CULTIVATE her OBVIOUS TALENTS, didn’t direct her to anyone who WOULD. kakashi failed sakura, and obito is pissed off on her behalf, because that shouldn’t have happened!!!! obito offers sakura his knowledge Readily and Gladly because she should never, ever feel useless again. she should never, ever be given less than what he or anyone else can offer.

it had been noted in canon that sakura would have been adept at genjutsu, and he gives her techniques. they have to be adapted some, because genjutsu with a sharingan is formed differently than genjutsu without a sharingan, but sakura figures it out. she’s quick and eager to learn! and she’s GOOD at genjutsu! she learns how to conceal people and things; she learns how to subtly redirect a person’s attention so that their eyes skip over something without truly seeing it; she learns how to muddle a person’s sense of balance, of temperature, of pain.

and obito teaches her some ninjutsu, because that’s ANOTHER area where she was failed! why the FUCK did kakashi skimp out on even THIS?!!

sakura has water and earth release, so obito basically goes: okay, cool, here’s some mist techniques. here’s a few iwa techniques that i saw when i was 12 and that i picked up from deidara. you’re going to be so badass, i’m so proud of you.

sakura especially becomes more well-rounded than she was previously, and honestly kind of terrifying because she’s ENJOYING being versatile which means making use of her new techniques, but obito’s pretty happy with his end of the deal, too. his self-healing is passive rather than active, so learning how to use medical techniques and gaining medical knowledge is Actually Helpful because, hey, now he knows what the fuck is going on and now he can actually heal other people. AND now he knows how to do stuff like making blood clots! while that may not help much against kaguya, he’s not going to NOT appreciate new and interesting ways of killing people!

in terms of power, it’s hard to tell when your opponent is a Literal God, but by the time everyone else is dead and they abandon this world, they’re kind of stupidly powerful. like 12-year-old sasuke would eye them warily and challenge them to a fight in a hotel hallway because he can Tell they’re powerful, maybe more powerful than even Bane Of His Life Itachi, and he needs to see how he matches up against them. like–they don’t really escape because they’re dying; they escape because there’s nothing left for them, and staying would just mean dying meaninglessly.

weapons like shuriken, kunai, and senbon had become, increasingly, a scarcity, because making more becomes difficult and then impossible. they picked over past battlefields for weapons that they’ve thrown. not a lot of people had Many Throwing Weapons after a point

but when obito and sakura hang out in kamui, it’s not like THEY’RE going to lose weapons now, so obito pulls out some from his Long-Discarded Weapons Stash and they sort of idly brush up on their bukijutsu. is sakura likely to ever have need of a gunbei? no, but obito’s going to show her how to use it, anyway.

the mechanics of kamui in this ‘verse are like–

the sort of “neutral ground” is the space that obito is used to, the grey landscape of blocks where everything he puts inside of kamui shows up. in order to access anywhere else, kamui needs a set of parameters, conscious or subconscious.

in the beginning, the only parameters are the conscious “not our world” and the subconscious “please be empty,” so the destinations were random and without people. an empty forest; an abandoned cabin; a peopleless island.

obito isn’t USED to making use of this aspect of kamui, so at first, aiming for particular places and times would be difficult. he’d overshoot or undershoot, or get there at the right time but not the right place. but he’d get more precise about it and learn what sorts of parameters work best with what he has in mind (ex. events can come quicker or be delayed or happen somewhere else, depending on the circumstances! some events are sort of fixed in time and place–october 10 in konoha for the kyuubi attack, for example–whereas others shift–like who kumo takes to make a jinchuuriki). if he isn’t clear on a specific variable, what comes out will be random–like if sakura was like “i miss hashirama trees. can we go check that out” and obito’s parameters were just 'hashirama trees around konoha’, they could drop ANYWHERE in that particular forest and at any time where those trees exist

obito and sakura kind of–tend toward peaceful times and places, at first. they gather themselves up and put themselves back together as much as they can. they’re tired.

but then one day sakura makes a comment, like i wish i’d known you sooner, and obito thinks: but you could.

not this sakura, of course, but another one. a different one.

they find an obito crushed under rock, still alive, and obito can use his mangekyo to take him into kamui, and sakura can heal him from there–at least enough to keep him from dying, at least enough to take him to konoha.

being able to help–that goes a long way, after such a long period of helplessness and hopelessness, and when they think about it, there are so many things that they could help prevent, so many lives they can save with the information that they have now.

so they basically become S-class dimension-hopping superheroes just because

[fiercyy]

if you can't hold on, hold on [3/?]

Sakura always wished she could relate to her teammates better. She wishes she could take it back.

In which Sasuke acquires some unwanted roommates and a team becomes a family.

Chapter 1

.

.

With Naruto gone, the apartment has become quiet.

Sasuke feels awkward and unsettled; he doesn't know how he's supposed to act. The three of them have an established dynamic and routine. With Naruto gone, that balance has been upset. Naruto fills most of the silence, especially these days.

When he said something stupid, Sakura could always be relied upon to share a longsuffering look. Hers being generally more fond than his.

She's quieter these days, but not this quiet. With Naruto gone, there's one less major distraction. He thinks she must be dwelling. He keeps catching her looking out the window, or past the television set.

The best solution he has is to keep her on a schedule. It's what he did, after it happened. So Sasuke conscripts Sakura into his Don't Think About Your Feelings, Only Vengeance regimen.

He wakes up at 5am and kicks her door.

She stumbles into the kitchen, bleary eyed. The first day she'd whispered, "what's going on?" Now she knows to come to the table, dressed.

He hands her a protein bar, takes one for himself and they head out.

They train. They take a water break. Train some more. They spar. They go home.

It's a quiet existence. And it's unnerving because of how unnatural it feels.

Sakura likes to talk. She has so much to say. She should feel comfortable enough to talk. Sasuke isn't equipped for this. He doesn't have the language to console her or explain his issues even to himself.

He hasn't processed his own trauma, he doesn't know how he's supposed to help her with hers.

Even so, he feels closer to her than he ever has. And isn't that sick?

In the past, he's told her and Naruto that they could never understand him or his pain. They hadn't gone through what he had. Now Sakura was the closest anyone could come. And they cannot commiserate. He cannot manage to pass on anything to her. Because nothing makes it easier.

On the third day, as she pants in the dirt after their spar, he asks if she wants to go for ramen.

"Yes," she says, too quick.

Teuchi asks them where Naruto is, Sakura smiles brightly and genuinely at him, "He's off to find our next Hokage! It's a really important mission, but hopefully he'll be back soon." Teuchi responds with pride of course, he likes Naruto a lot. He takes their orders and retreats into the back.

Sasuke is jealous of Naruto. His and Sakura's situations are the same, but it's Naruto who is able to reach out to her and make her feel better. He's always able to tell what she needs; be it a distraction or a shoulder or a blanket fort.

He feels inept. He's never wanted to talk about feelings, but his teammate is hurting. And he has no way of fixing that.

It occurs to him that night, as intrusive thoughts sometimes do, that this whole thing is a distraction from his revenge. He's worrying about Sakura, and his team is living with him. He's concentrating on her pain instead of his. He needs to be single minded if he wants to accomplish his goals.

He physically bats those thoughts away and presses a hand to his forehead. He turns to look at the empty bed by the window and growls. He knows what the right thing to do is.

Tomorrow he'll try harder.

The next day he wakes her up and they train as always. They go home and prepare dinner together. Sasuke asks her some leading questions while frying up the vegetables.

For his efforts, he receives a sweet and wobbly smile.

After dinner they sit on the couch and watch tv, Sakura's woolen blanket spread out over their laps. They fall asleep like that, on opposite sides, feet tangled together in the middle.

.

.

Things never remain simple for long.

.

.

Sakura comes to life in her panic, grabbing Sasuke's hand and dragging him out the door in a way that he would never allow under normal circumstances.

They'd just got word that Kakashi was in the hospital.

In some ways, they always believed their teacher to be invincible. It was so easy to forget that he was anything but.

She needs to keep moving, or else she's going to sink into the earth. Sakura is barely keeping her head above water these days and if something happens to Kakashi… She doesn't know what she'll do.

The hand in hers is dry and warm. She glances back at Sasuke, who doesn't let the worry show quite like she does, but it's there. She squeezes his hand in assurance. He doesn't squeeze back but he nods at her and doesn't shake her off. That's enough.

At the hospital front desk, a paternal nurse with bushy eyebrows and grey streaks at his temples guides them to Kakashi's room in intensive care. It's already crowded. Asuma, Kurenai stand propped up against the wall by the window. Gai occupies a chair by his eternal rival's side.

Sakura gasps and her hands fly to her mouth, "What's wrong with him?"

He doesn't seem that injured, but he's unconscious.

Gai glances back at the other jounins before answering, "He keeps fading in and out. He was under the influence of a very powerful genjutsu. The aftereffects are…concerning."

Kurenai, being the genjutsu expert, averts her eyes as if fearing she'll be caught in one. "It's trying on the mind. None of the medics in the village are equipped to handle a case like this."

"Will he get better?"

Kurenai's heart goes out to the girl. Kakashi told her about Sakura's parents. He asked her for advice that she didn't have. The best she could do was treat a traumatized girl the way he would one of the boys. Having met Sasuke though, she wasn't sure he had the best grasp of that either.

"We're not sure."

"That means no Sakura," Sasuke's cutting interruption startled everyone.

"You don't know-"

"Yes I do," red eyes shifted between all the adults in the room. "Who did this?" If Sasuke knew one thing, it was vengeance.

Kurenai and Gai exchange a look, but Asuma stares at the boy impassively.

"TELL US!"

Sakura winces at the volume and anger in his voice. Gai's immediate instinct is to mitigate that. "Everything's going to be-"

"Don't lie to us!" Sakura surprises them all by siding with

At that very moment a nurse walks in, staring at his clipboard, concentrating deeply, "I'm sorry to say that we're not quite sure how to mitigate the effects of the Magekyou. We haven't had the opportunity to study it before-"

Like an anchor tied to his chest, dropped into the ocean. Sasuke can't breathe. He's being sucked downwards, spiralling into feelings he can't parse. Anger, shock, confusion.

"Why. WHY WAS HE HERE?!"

"Who?" Sakura whispered, worried.

"-I'm so sorry!" the nurse cries.

Asuma pushes off from the wall. At this point, he already knows too much. They'll have to find out this part eventually.

"Your brother is part of an organization called Akatsuki. They were after Naruto."

.

.

"Wait, STOP!" Sakura shouts, running after Sasuke. "You have to think about this!" She catches his arm and holds fast.

"There's no time to waste," he wrenches his arm from her grip. "I have to find my brother."

"But why? What's going on? And if he took out Kakashi-sensei, how are you going to beat him?"

"Shut up!" He doesn't want to hear logic. This is the first word he's heard of his brother in years.

"I will not! You're going to get yourself killed."

Bravery keeps her knees from quaking, determination stops the hyperventilating. She can't lose him. She can't lose him. She grabs his arm again, but this time he shoves her. By now they're a block away from the gate. He pushes her up against a telephone poll. She's taller than him still, so she manages to stay on her toes. Sakura winces, the rusted staples from old flyers dig into her back. There's a dangerous and unhinged look in his Sharingan eyes. "Stay out of my way."

Then he's gone. Too fast for her to ever hope she could catch up.

.

.

Sakura isn't done yet. She is a hurricane, blowing into Kakashi's hospital room. A storm of anger and accusations.

"Who have you sent?!" she demanded, "Who did you send to warn Naruto, to protect him?!"

As the adults around her exchange looks, abdicating responsibility, she wants to scream. They've failed him. More and more, Sakura is noticing the way adults seem to fail them all. She spoke to her social worker about it. Who looked after Naruto his whole life? He never had parents, did he always live alone? Who fed Sasuke after his family died?

Her social worker responded that they only had two allotted sessions left, is she sure she wants to spend them talking about her teammates?

This is fucked up. This is so fucked up.

"Who would we send?" Asuma asks.

"Anyone!"

"We don't know where they are," Kurenai adds, "Besides, Lord Jiraiya is with him and he's a legendary Sannin. There's literally no one better to protect him."

"If it's so hard, why has Sasuke gone off to find them just now?"

.

.

A knock at the door of his hotel room elicits a grown from Naruto.

"Got shut down already Pervy Sage? When are you gonna-" he swings the door open and comes face to face with a man in a black cloak, with red clouds. This would have left the bigger impression, were it not for unnervingly familiar, glaring, red eyes, pining him in place.

.

.

Next

(x)

a/n: Been slow on updating because I've been working on another fic at the same time. The other one had a clearer direction in my mind (and has a really fun dynamic to write) so I got a little sidetracked. I've found the thread of this one though! Reviews are always loved and cherished.

PS: You can find me on tumblr as fiercyy! I love getting asks and prompts for oneshots or just to say hey.

- Fi

[fictionliv-ing]

03 || First

view this chapter on wattpad!

There's a commotion on the second floor of the venue's building.

"Hey, why are those guys picking on all the examinees?" Mira asks. "Oh? Look, it's Hyuga Neji!"

At the mention of last year's number one rookie, I stand alert. So, he's going to be participating too? Seems like the competition's going to be tough.

"Why does the sign say it's the third floor when we've only just climbed up to the second?" Mira continues. She's right. The other genin are surrounding a door that has been labelled as Room 301, but the three of us are pretty sure that this is the floor right above the entrance to the building.

"It's a genjutsu." Kono pipes up. "They must be weeding out the genin who can't detect an illusion like this one. Although, they could've used better disguises..."

"What do you mean?" I ask, shifting my gaze to the two shinobi that are picking on everyone else. They stand confidently, smirking down at the genin they were able to fool.

"I've seen those guys before. They're chunin. They've been working with my parents in organizing this whole thing." Kono points out. "Probably trying to lessen the number of examinees by making people late for the exam. Come on, we should go."

"Shouldn't we tell the others? You know, that it's a genjutsu?" I ask, following my teammates up the stairs.

"What for? You want more competition?" Kono says over his shoulder.

I pause thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought about it like that."

Mira looks back at me just as we reach the third floor. "Best to just leave them there, Sumi-chan. If they can't handle a genjutsu like that, they probably can't handle the exams."

"Neji was there, though." I point out. "And he's the top graduate of his class."

She shrugs. "Genjutsu must not be his forte. My point still stands."

Eventually, the three of us reach the real Room 301. Though we enter quietly, the room full of ninjas from different villages turns to look at us, quietly assessing our appearances and probably mulling over whether or not we're going to make for easy targets. I find Team 8 in the crowd and make eye contact with Kiba, nodding as a greeting. He nods back, smiling at me encouragingly. Akamaru even looks in my direction and barks, making me smile. Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, we find a corner of the room to settle in, keeping quiet and generally being lowkey.

Even though the other ninjas have looked away and no one's paying attention to us anymore, there's still the lingering feeling of someone watching me. I can feel someone's eyes boring a hole into my back, making me turn around to look. Almost immediately, my eyes meet a pair of light jade ones, and when my brain registers who the person is, my body freezes.

Sabaku no Gaara.

His eyes stare right back into mine, green boring into grey. Even though he looks at me with no malice, I can't help the shiver that runs through my body and the fear that strikes my bones. I'm frozen in place, but the sight of his gourd reminds me of the blood infused in his sand, and that is enough for me to break our eye contact and turn away.

I'm on edge now.

Just as I open my mouth to tell Kono and Mira that we're being watched, the doors open again. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke step through, and everyone in the room turns to look at them, just as they did for us. Sakura and Naruto both look pretty intimidated at the roomful of shinobi, but Sasuke stands unbothered, eyes only narrowing a fraction at the competition.

The other Konoha rookies approach to greet them, and pretty soon, they're all having one big conversation in front of the other examinees. I can tell that the other examinees are getting annoyed at their carefree approach to these exams; none of the rookies look like they're taking these exams particularly seriously.

I don't pay attention to what the grey-haired Leaf shinobi says to Team 7, but there's a small fight that breaks out after the participants from the Sound Village attack. The sudden movement immediately puts Kono, Mira, and I into a defensive stance, ready to block anything, but thankfully, they're not interested in us at all. Instead, they go after the grey-haired ninja, who dodges and spills the contents of his stomach all over the floor.

The little conflict doesn't go unnoticed, and the exam proctor is quick to arrive at the scene, immediately scolding the Sound genin for initiating an attack like that. We're then instructed to exchange our application forms for examinee numbers and to take our assigned seats. The first exam is written, which makes me nervous; theoretical work isn't something I'm fond of or particularly good at. What makes it worse is that I'm seated right next to the person I want to avoid the most: Sabaku no Gaara.

Our exam proctor, a tall and broad Jonin with scars on his face who goes by the name Morino Ibiki, explains to us the rules of the written test. Each examinee starts with a total of ten points, and for every wrong answer, one point will be deducted. Two points are deducted for every time you're caught cheating, and if you're caught five times, it's an automatic fail for you and your teammates. The tenth question will be given fifty minutes into the exam, he says, then gives us the go signal to start answering.

Trying my best to ignore the redhead beside me, I immediately get to work. Soon enough, I've read through the entire test without answering a single question. What the hell? These problems are way too difficult for genin to understand. I don't even remember these concepts being discussed in the academy. Plus, I'm a weapons specialist. I have never, in my life, needed to compute for the height I need to throw my kunai at to hit moving target B.

This makes no sense. How am I supposed to answer this when the questions are clearly not genin-level? I'm pretty sure none of the other examinees know what to write either. Do they want to fail all of us? Is that it?

I do a quick sweep of the examinees in front of me, confirming that no one else is confidently answering. Almost convinced that there is no way to answer these questions, my eyes land on a particular genin, just a couple of seats to my right. He's steadily answering the questionnaire, pencil scratching against his paper calmly but productively.

Damn. Exactly how much did this guy have to study to be able to answer a test like thi- Oh.

Suddenly, it all makes sense. The scoring system, the intense difficulty, even the setup of the classroom. Why teammates are separated, why they put so much stress on deducting points when caught cheating, why the exam itself makes you question whether you've actually learned anything in all the time you spent training as a genin. We're supposed to cheat.

Well then. All those years of being academically honest really came back to bite me in the ass.

This brings me to my next problem: how am I supposed to cheat successfully when I've never done it before?

I'm in the middle of planning different ways to cheat when something tickles my arm. It's the slightest movement, and when I look it's a couple of grains of sand. Fear strikes me immediately as I remember the blood I sensed in my first encounter with this sand. I do my best to calm myself. Surely, Gaara wouldn't attack me, not right now at least?

When the sand floats away, I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding. In the corner of my eye, I can see him form an eye out of the sand, dispersing it almost immediately. Remembering that his sand is infused with blood, I close my eyes and reach out, looking for where he had sent the sand eye to.

I sense the eye somewhere behind me, and I don't exactly know what I do, but I reach out to feel the blood that's mixed in the sand. When I feel it, I push my consciousness towards it- imagining myself in the place of that blood, and pretty soon, I can see what the eye is seeing: a test paper full of answers. Jackpot.

Memorizing as much as I can, I pull out when I feel the sand growing agitated. Weird. For some reason, it felt as though the sand is alive, because it pushes me out right away. After writing down what I saw, I scan the examinees in front of me, looking for my teammates. I only see Kono to my right, and he's writing down answers slowly. Pretending to nervously fidget, I bite my thumb several times, drawing enough blood for me to send to Kono and spell out the answers for him. I see him copy it quickly, and when he puts down his pencil, I bring the blood back to me, pushing it back inside my thumb and sealing off the cut.

The fifty minutes pass by quicker than I can tell, and pretty soon, Ibiki is calling our attention to ask the tenth question.

"Before we begin," he starts. "You have a choice on whether or not you want to answer the question."

Huh?

"If you choose to not answer it, your entire team fails, but can come back to try again in six months." He fixes us all with a menacing glare. "But if you do choose to answer it and you get it wrong, you're banned from taking the chunin exams. Forever."

My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. What kind of choice is that? It's like daring someone to walk off a cliff by channeling enough chakra to walk on air.

All of us test-takers are taken aback. Kiba even speaks up his protest, and so does that girl from the Sand, but a handful just raise their hands and leave the room with their teammates, choosing to fail rather than to risk it. I grit my teeth, staring holes into Kono's back. I'm confident that he and Mira won't walk out, they're both a lot smarter than I am. If I end up not knowing the answer, I can always just send him a sheet of blood to write the answer on and copy off of him.

Okay. That settles it. None of us are backing down.

Suddenly, there's an outburst from a couple of rows in front of me. Oh, hey look, Mira's been sitting there this whole time.

"You can act tough all you want. You don't scare me!" Naruto exclaims, pointing at our Jonin proctor, standing in his seat. "I'm not giving up, even if I get stuck as a genin! I'll still become Hokage one day!"

He sits back down with a huff, though it's obvious his words have some effect on the remaining genin in the room. Even as Ibiki continues to ominously remind us of the risk we're taking by not backing out, no one raises their hand anymore. Naruto's words have given everyone an extra boost of confidence, his approach to the test contagiously rooting everyone to their seats.

Ibiki smirks when he realizes that no one's leaving anymore. "Hm. You all pass!"

I raise an eyebrow. Well, that was easy.

"Wait a second. What?" Sakura stands up abruptly. "What do you mean? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki laughs, somewhat sheepishly. "There never was one. Not a written one at least. Your decision to stay was the answer to the last question."

The girl from the sand speaks up again, sounding agitated. "So, the other nine questions were useless? You just wasted our time, is that what you're saying?"

"On the contrary," Ibiki says. "The other nine questions were given to test your ability to gather information. Surely, you noticed that they were difficult- too difficult for genin like you to answer."

I lean back in my seat as he goes on to explain that the test was designed to encourage us to cheat, and how a couple of chunin were planted among us test-takers to serve as sources of correct answers- one of them being the person I copied off of earlier.

Phew. At least my answers are correct.

In the corner of my eye, I catch my seatmate staring at me. Gaara's trying to do it discreetly, but I notice. He's studying me seriously and doesn't even look away when my eyes meet his. After what feels like forever, he averts his eyes. I do too, but the chill in my bones doesn't leave.

"You have passed the first test." Ibiki is saying. "There's nothing left to do but to wish you guys good luck."

At the end of his speech, something huge comes crashing through the window. A wide curtain is hung from the ceiling and a woman with a long trench coat stands in front of it.

"Heads up, everyone! It's too early to be celebrating." She announces grandly. "I'm your proctor for the second exam, Mitarashi Anko! Are you ready? Follow me!"

No one does, though. I stifle a laugh. Everyone stays rooted to their seats and gives the loud woman nothing but blank stares.

"You're early." Ibiki drawls, peeking out from behind the curtain. "Again."

Flushing a bright red, her eyebrow twitches as she stares at Ibiki embarrassedly. Then, she scans the room.

"How many are left?" She asks, turning to Ibiki. "You let this many pass?"

When he says nothing, she scoffs. "Your test was too easy. You're getting soft."

"Or the candidates this time around are tougher than usual." Ibiki says.

"Hm. Doesn't seem like it." She smirks at all of us menacingly. "Believe me, after I'm through with them, more than half will be eliminated."

At this, I narrow my eyes, trying to assess the seriousness of her words. Everyone else looks worried as well. She doesn't expound, though, and instead gives a couple of final reminders before dismissing us.

Exiting the building with my teammates, we chat about the first test and come up with possible scenarios for the second exam. We're in the middle of Mira's story of having sat beside Naruto and the boy not answering a single question when something slithers up my leg and latches onto my wrist. The sensation is unfamiliar, and when I look down, fear strikes again.

A band of sand latches onto my wrist, strong and steady. No matter how hard I pull, I can't break free.

"Sumi-chan, what's-" Kono turns to look at me, Mira doing the same. They stop in their tracks, looking at something behind me with a wary expression.

"What are you?" a dark, raspy voice comes.

I look up and see him standing ten feet away. Sabaku no Gaara.

"What?" I frown, struggling against the sand. "Let me go!"

"Answer me first." He says. The sand's hold on me gets tighter and I have to clench my fist to keep it from going numb. "What are you?"

"What do you mean what am I?" I ask, doing my best to mask the fear bubbling in my chest. "I'm a human being, a shinobi, just like you." My voice is more panicked than usual, my tone insistent. I refuse to lose my hand in the middle of the chunin exams.

"No one is like me." Gaara raises his eyes to meet mine, his stare freezing me in my tracks. "No normal shinobi would be able to do what you did. How did you crawl into my sand eye?"

I stop struggling. How do I answer that?

I'm quiet for a while, and obviously he's growing impatient, because his sand squeezes tighter. "Answer me."

If the sand's hold was uncomfortable before, now, it's painful. I grimace, but I don't back down. Instead, I stand straighter, staring back at him with the same ferocity he's giving me.

"I am Sumi of the Takao clan, the last living member, and the only person capable of Blood Manipulation." I state confidently, more confidently than I'd ever felt in my whole life. "I don't know how to explain what I did earlier, but I sense blood in your sand. Lots of it. I just made use of the resources available to me."

"Let me go, please." I finish with a request. Gaara seems surprised that I'm able to sense the blood in his sand, though I'm not sure he believes my words completely. With a suspicious look on his face, he releases my wrist. I draw it back calmly, rubbing at the sore patch with my other hand. The three of us turn to continue on our way, only to be met with the other two sand genin.

"Look who it is." The taller one in dark clothing taunts- his name is Kankuro, from what I can remember. "The boy who can't keep his nose out of other people's business and his girlfriends."

"Kankuro-" his female teammate starts, tone objecting.

"Is that what you think?" Kono grits his teeth and clenches his fists, never being one to back down after being provoked. Though Mira and I are usually there to back him up, this time I put a hand on his arm and hold him back.

"This isn't the time and place to be engaging in petty fights, Kono." I remind him. "Big day tomorrow."

"She's right, Kankuro." Gaara calls from behind me. He walks closer and now stands a couple of feet behind me. "The fighting can wait."

Kankuro scoffs and turns on his heel, walking away. The kunoichi on their team meets my eyes briefly, giving me what I can barely distinguish as an apologetic look, and follows after him. Gaara trails after the two of them eventually, and when he rounds the corner, Mira lets out a breath.

"That was-" she breathes out, not bothering to finish her sentence.

"I know." I agree, still tense. "I could practically feel his bloodlust rolling off of him."

"Damn. Really?" Kono whistles lowly. "Shouldn't have talked back to him like that then."

I raise an eyebrow. "Huh? Who?"

He looks at me, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Who else? That Kankuro guy."

I shake my head. "I was talking about Gaara."

They're both staring at me in confusion.

"But he told Kankuro to stand down?" Mira asks.

"He did." I say. "Or maybe he was holding off on revealing their abilities until we cross paths in a fight. It's a common strategy."

"Oh..." Mira trails off, voice quiet and still shaken up from interacting with the Sand genin.

"Either way, we can't continue like this." I say. "I've been trying to avoid them, but they just keep finding us. We'll have to make more of an effort to stay out of their way."

Kono and Mira nod their agreement. "Tomorrow then."

The three of us walk home, the setting sun painting the village a rich orange. Sleep doesn't come easily that night, and I lie in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, wrist still sore.

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